1 8 "5 3900200255972 YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY c/c^j #x /' -*A Af ?:' /'„"., xr f •¦-/¦!: / , ^'^ cm< /¦ yy/ /yr ? // - Co?',)-/ (' *§ ^ ./ -a. >r r 5 ,X f#. ,// T"? L, /V c7 \ /c\-> /T<- ' t^s <*.&-? . r> if f,^.. An -A ~ A & ¦7S rr f / ^ 4. - -^ , , ' <-y , , . " ( a ' s // -v ./' y A^ "r v / x V -Lj^ -? "-£, J\ c i r <~ -G. (." ^ ^ , ,'9-C i'.i'A ENGRAVED FOR THE ECLECTIC BYPERINE «- GILES, II Y IDRJoSCflADSiyeS IflftAMOS AlffiAlffl^ UNITED STATES DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR SERVICE. OUR REPRESENTATIVES ABROAD: BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCHES EMBASSADOES, MINISTEES, CONSULS-GENERAL, AND CONSULS OP THE UNITED STATES IN FOEEIGN COUNTEIES ; INCLUDING ALSO A FEW EEPRESENTATIVE AMEEICANS EESIDING ABEOAD IN UNOFFICIAL CAPACITIES. SECOND EDITION. WITH PORTRAITS OR STEEL. EDITED BY AUGUSTUS C. ROGERS. NEW YOEK: ATLANTIC PUBLISHING AND ENGRAVING CO. 1876. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year EigMeen Hundred and Seventy-sis., By A. C. ROGERS, * in tne Office of tlie Librarian of Congress, at Washington. TO GENERAL JOHN WATTS de PEYSTER, OF NEW YORK, BBEVET MAJOR-GENERAL S. K. Y., BY SPECIAL ACT OR CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATURE OF 1866, "FOR MERITORIOUS SERVICES," THE FIRST AND ONLY OFFICER RECEIVING THIS, THE HIGHEST HONOR FROM THE STATE, AND THE ONLY OFFICER THUS BREVETTED MAJOR-GENERAL IN THE UNITED STATES ; MILITARY AGENT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK IN EUROPE 1851-53 ; HONORARY MEMBER OP THB MILITARY ORDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION OF TH-E UNITED STATES ; FIRST HONORARY MEMBER OF THE THIRD CORPS {ARMY OF TH-E FOTOMAO) UNION; MEMBER AND DIRECTOR OF THE GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD MEMORIAL ASSOCIA TION, ETC., ETC., THE ABLE MILITARY AUTHOR AND HISTORIAN; TnE SCHOLAR AND GENTLEMAN, THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED AS A TRIBUTE OF HIGH APPRECIATION AND SINCERE REGARD, AUGUSTUS C. EOGEES. PKE F ACE. The honored few who have been called to represent their country abroad, in official capacities, have, as a rule, been selected for such distinction on account of ability in public service, or of literary or social eminence, and personal worth. Being so selected, their antecedent as well as subsequent careers naturally become proper and desirable subjects for some historical record beyond what may be found in Blue Books and State Department Documents. This volume, therefore, is intended, in a measure at least, to meet this requirement; and also to satisfy the reasonable curiosity to see in one group, as in a gallery of portraits, many of the representatives of our government abroad, and to show what manner of men they are, as may be judged from brief sketches of their origin, education^ and deeds both at home and in foreign countries. In the selection of the names presented, we have not confined ourselves altogether to those now in the diplomatic and consular service of the United States, but have included others who have at different periods represented the govern ment abroad, with acknowledged credit and distinction. We have also introduced sketches of a few representative Amer icans, who, although residing abroad in unofficial capacities, have, no less than our diplomatists, done much to illustrate the genius of our people, and to reflect honor upon their native country. While we can lay no claim to comprehensiveness or com pleteness within the limits of a single volume, we nevertheless believe that we have not failed to present, in an attractive and popular form, much biographical and other material that will prove acceptable to the American public. CONTENTS. ENVOYS EXTKAOKDINARY AND MINISTERS PLENIPOTENTIARY. Adams, Charles Francis 9 Bancroft, George 27 Bingham, John A 39 Boker, George H 165 Cushing, Caleb 42 Faulkner, Charles James 49 Foster, John W 65 Gibbs, Richard 486 Jay, John 68 Page. Logan, Cornelius A 87 Marsh, George P 484 Motley, J. Lothrop 458 Partridge, J. R 98- Schenck, Eobert C 469 Sickles. Daniel E 101 Thomas, Francis 113 Washburne, Elihu B 120 Watts, Heury M 134 MINISTERS RESIDENT. Andrews, Christopher C 148 Bassett, Ebenezer D 157 Baxter, Henry 163 Cramer, M. J 170 Jones, Joseph Kussell 173 Lewis, Charles H 178 Osborn, Thomas 0 464 Peirce, Heury A 180 Pile, WilliamA 184 Eead, John Meredith 189 Rublee, Horace 199 Stevens, John L 202 Tuckerman, Charles K 207 Turner, J. Milton 475 White, Julius 211 Wing, E. Rumsey 21s Wullweber, Christian 482- CONSULS-GENERAL AND CONSULS. Adamson, Thomas 220 Allen, Charles M 222 Bailey, David H 489 Beauchamp, Emory P 226 Bruner, Elias D 229 Byers, S. H. M 231 Canisius, Theodore 494 Cassard, A. J 237 Dailies, Nicolas 238 Dart, William A 241 De Hass, F. S 246- Diman, Henry W 249 Dockery, A. V 251 Donnan, . James M 253 Driggs, George W 2E5 Dudley, Thomas H 257 Duncan, B. Odell 269 Elfwing, -Nere A 428 CONTENTS. Page. TErni, Henry 274 Evans, W. H 276 Fairchild, Lucius 279 Farnham, Benjamin F 285 Farrington, Edward A 497 Foster, Samuel S 499 Fox, Alfred 286 Fox, Horatio 386 Fox, Howard 306 Freer, Romeo H 504 Gerrish, Benjamin, Jr 289 Gould, J. B 254 Goutier, Stanislas 291 Hance, S.Byron 506 Hay, J. Baldwin 298 Hoechster, Emil... 511 Jackson, Mortimer M 299 Johnson, R. M 424 Lacombe, A..:. 295 Lindsey, Benjamin 509 Long, Owen M 308 Mathews, Felix A '313 Mattoon, Calvin S 329 Monti, L 333 Morrill, Augustus 335 Murphy, John 338 Newwitter, Nathan J 513 -Owen, Edward 339 Partridge, F. W 343 Pearson, Richmond 515 Peixotto, B. F 347 Phillips, A. C 350 J?ike, Nicolas 352 Page. Post, Philip Sidney 360 Price, M. M 366 Quarles, John F 368 Richards, F. S 369 Sawyer, Henry 517 Seeley, Aaron 376 Shaw, Albert D 378 Siler, James W 380 Sims, Clifford S 336 Skilton, Julius A 383 Smith, Jasper 385 Smith, Timothy C. 387 Smith, Thomas P. 395 Spencer, O. M 397 Spencer, Thomas 522 Thorington, James 401 Torbert, A. T. A 416 Townsend, W. H 423 Turner, David 425 Vail, S. M... 427 Vaughan, Edwin 297 Weaver, James Riley 429 Webster, C. B 435 Willard, Alexander 525 Wilson, John 530 Wingate, J. C. A 433 Wiuser, Henry J 535 Wright, William T 436 Evans, Thomas W 438 Meiggs, Henry 448 Appendix 538 CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. T IS remarkable how seldom father and son have ac quired distinction of the first class in any line of em inence. In English history, one calls to mind the two Cecils, the two Pitts, and the two Foxes. The two Bacons, so unequal was their importance, make scarcely an exception to the rule. Of the two Shaftesburys, one was the other's grandson. In the uppermost circle there is no positive instance of the hereditary prominence in question but that of Edward III. and his strenuous namesake. In French history it is sought to still less purpose ; while among American states men, since the Union was established, there is as yet but one exam ple ; and that example is much the more striking, as having been duplicated through two immediate successions. In the history of our diplomatic service — to say nothing now of public services and other kinds — there is no name to be placed by the side of that which has been borne by the diplomatists of our three wars. Full biographies of the first two who have illustrated it have been long in possession of the public. An attempt to sketch briefly the career of the third, though premature and incomplete, is forbidden by no considerations of delicacy, connected as his life has been with the course of public events through parts of a quarter of a century. Charles Francis Adams was born in the year 1807, in Boston, where his father was then residing, after being in the public service for seven years, under appointments from President Washington as Minister to the Hague and to Berlin, and for three years as a Senator of the United States, which position he still filled. In August, 1809, the subject of this notice, the youngest of three sons, of whom he is now the only survivor, went to St. Petersburg with his father,, who at that critical period of our affairs had been commissioned by Mr. Madison as Minister to the Emperor Alexan der. From Russia, where he remained five years, till the capture 10 CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. of Paris and the abdication of Napoleon, Mr. Adams went to Ghent, to meet Mr. Bayard, Mr. Clay, and Mr. Russell, who were associated with him to negotiate with British commissioners a treaty of peace. After its conclusion on the 24th of December, 1814, Mr. Adams was rejoined by Mrs. Adams and their son at Paris, whence in a few months he went over to England as Minister to that court. At Ealing, a suburb of London, where Mr. Adams took up his residence, his son first went to an English school. But it was wisely thought that the time was come when he should be getting his education among the young fellow-countrymen with whom in after years he was to live and act, and he came home in 1817, to be fitted for college at the Boston Latin School. At Cambridge, where he graduated in 1825, the year in which his father became President of the United States, he was the classmate of Judge Ames, of the late Mayor Chapman, of Admiral Davis, of the sculp tor Horatio Greenough, of Dr. John B. S. Jackson, of the Rev erends Dr. Hedge and Dr. Lothrop, of Sears Walker, the astronomer, and of other distinguished men. On leaving college, Mr. Adams went to Washington, and there studied law tWo years under his father's direction. He completed his course by another year in the office of Daniel Webster in Boston, and was admitted to the bar in 1828. The first years of Mr. Adams's manhood were mostly passed with his books, and, allied and educated as he was, it was impossi ble that his studies should not, to a great extent, take the direction of political history and science, and of whatever goes to the forma tion of a statesman. Meantime, he exercised his pen in the news papers. In the Boston Daily Advertiser, the National Advocate, and especially the Boston Courier, he frequently took a part in the controversies of the day, treating of matters of currency, finance, secret societies, and constitutional law. A list of writers in the North American Review shows some fourteen papers contributed by him to different numbers, between forty and twenty-five years ago, mostly on subjects belonging to political economy, and to political history and biography, American and English. Among pamphlets issued by him within twelve years after leaving college, two bore the title of " Reflections and Further Reflections on the Present State of the Currency of the United States ;" and another " An Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs, by a Whig of the CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. 11 Old School," discussed with great learning and ability ; the ques tion, moved in General Jackson's time by Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Clay, and recently revived in our own, of the constitutional power of the President to remove office-holders without the consent of the Senate. In 1843, Mr. Adams pronounced the Fourth-of-Juiy oration before the municipal government of Boston. In 1841, Mr. Adams came into the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a member for Boston, elected by Whig votes. At the end of the session of the Legislature, a committee of the Whig members issued a pamphlet, entitled "A Review of its Pro ceedings, with an Appeal to the People against the Violent Course of the Majority,"— a vigorous paper, understood to be from the pen of Mr. Adams. He was a member of a committee which pub lished an elaborate address of the Whig 'members of the Senate and House of Representatives of Massachusetts to their constitu ents, occasioned by the inaugural address of the Governor, and may have been the author of that document. Through the three years of his service, he was House Chairman of the Joint Commit tee on Public Lands. In 1842, he was at the head of the important HouSe committee for dividing the Commonwealth into districts for the choice of members of Congress, and took an active part in breaking down the discrimination against colored people as travel ers in public conveyances, — a measure which, unobjectionable as it seems to us now, was opposed then with no little passion. In 1844 and 1845, Mr. Adams was a member of the Senate of Massachusetts, and Chairman of the Committees on Public Lands and on the Library. As yet there was no recognized split in the Whig party, but still less was there any entente cordiale. In 1845, the increase of the domain of slavery, by the annexation of Texas, was imminent, and annexation was for the moment the crucial question between the promoters and the opponents of the extension of the patriarchal institution. The treaty, made for the purpose by Mr. President Tyler and Mr. Secretary Calhoun, had failed in the National Senate, for want of the constitutional majority of two thirds. In his message to Congress, in December, 1844, the President advised that the annexation should be effected by a joint resolve of the two Houses. The House sanctioned the proposal in the last week of the following month, and the Senate five weeks later. But it was the short session, and the Congress expired without 12 CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. having pushed through any formal legislative act, so that there was still a glimmer of hope for escape. The exigency brought men into association who had not, or not lately, acted together before, as Mr. Adams, Mr. (lately Attorney-General) Hoar, Mr. Stephen C. Phillips, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Sumner, Judge Allen, erf the Con science Whigs ; Mr. Whittier, Mr. Sewall, Mr. Wright, Mr. Pier- pont, of the Liberal party ; Mr. Garrison and Mr. Wendell Phil lips, of the Abolitionists proper. In October, 1845, at a meeting held in Cambridge, barely five weeks before the assembling of the Twenty-ninth Congress, a committee of fifty persons was raised to obtain an expression of the people of Massachusetts on the annex ation of Texas. The committee circulated a campaign newspaper called The Free State Rally, and arranged meetings in all parts of the Commonwealth, which were earnestly addressed by opponents of the annexation plot. The result was, that remonstrances went from Massachusetts to Washington, with nearly sixty thousand signatures, against the admission of Texas into the Union " as a slave State." The catastrophe was not averted, but the public mind of the North took important steps towards that revival of sense and virtue which finally shivered the system of slavery to atoms. In the manly enterprise of that time, no one had a more conspicuous or effective part than Mr. Adams. And it was not a part to be taken except at heavy cost. Whoever chose it, was pur sued by the Whigs of the Cotton wing with an animosity the like of which was, perhaps, never before seen in this country ; certainly not since the lively times of the War of 1812. Friendships going back for their beginning to the days of childhood and youth, were furiously broken. In the streets, men passed without recognition those whom they had loved like brothers. People, whose living in any way depended on their neighbors' good-will, learned that it was contingent on hard, new conditions. Mr. Adams's unquestionable position and easy fortune mad» him less assailable than others, but only less so. The cold shoulder of those whom one has esteemed and obliged is no exhilarating sight, even to the most self-sus tained and the most sufficient to themselves. Some stepped back ward sand escaped the annoyance ; but that was not Mr. Adams's way. And the circles, like « the newspapers, did their little best against him, though, one may believe, not as vigorously as they might have done, could they have flattered themselves that they would be able to deter, or distress, or disturb him. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. 13 In the important movement of that autumn, which ultimately led to the formation of the Free-soil party, Mr. Adams was con stantly active with speech and pen. On the dissolution of the Massachusetts State Anti-Texas Committee, an elaborate "Ad dress to the Public," which he prepared, recited the action of the committee, re-stated its principles, and committed the seed of future patriotic endeavors to the good soil of a wide field. " The committee," he said in this paper, " entertain no shadow of doubt of the necessity of making resistance to slavery paramount to every other consideration of a political nature." The aggressive ness of pro-slavery Whiggism demanded a stout resistance, aud Mr. Adams, for the first and last time in his life, became connected with a newspaper. The Boston Whig, which he consented to con duct for several months in the political department, did not a little in that critical time to keep the adversary in check and uphold the courage of good men. In the summer of 1847, it had become probable that General Taylor, recently brought into notice by his successa*i»in Mr. Polk's Mexican war, would be the candidate of the Whig slave-holders and their Northern friends for the Presidency at the next election. Mr. Webster hoped that the nomination might fall to himself. In the last week of September a convention for nominating State officers for Massachusetts met at Springfield. Mr. Webster, though not a member, came to it with some of his intimates, and made a speech designed to win the favor of the growing anti-slavery sec tion. A delegate who wanted, if possible, to get cm record some thing" definite, introduced a resolve, " That the Whigs of Massa chusetts will support no men as candidates for the offices of Presi- ¦ dent and Vice-President but such as are known by their acts or declared opinions to be opposed to the extension of slavery." This led to a stormy debate and a rough scene. The supporters of Gen eral Taylor united with the supporters of Mr. Webster in hooting down the friends of the resolve. Amidst tumultuous outcries and other interruptions, Mr, Adamsj Mr. Sumner, Judge Allen, and others, got what could scarcely be called a hearing in favor of it ; while Mr. Winthrop, and two other gentlemen of Boston, devoted to General Taylor or Mr. Webster, opposed it with equal earnest ness. The vote was taken after nightfall, when in so crowded an assembly the count was difficult, and when numerous delegates from the western towns, where the doctrine of the resolve was pop- 14 CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. ular, had retired to their homes. The president, Mr. Ashman, who was not in favor of it, had appointed two tellers, both of his own inclining, who reported that it was defeated by a small ma jority. The better opinion on both sides was that the tellers had counted incorrectly. In nearly all, if not all, the county conven tions held presently afterwards, except Suffolk (Boston, and a suburb or two), the resolve, defeated in the convention, was passed in the same words, or in substance. The Whig party of Massachusetts, if it could be trusted as speaking the mind of its majority, would not listen to any further extension of slavery. A reconciliation of two policies so discordant and so vital was impossible. The Whig party of the nation could no longer hold together. In the Thirtieth Congress, which presently met, a small number of Whigs (two or three only, for party bonds were im mensely strong) refused their votes to Mr. Winthrop as Speaker of the House, and he was only chosen by an adhesion of members from Mississippi and South Carolina. Nor was the Democratic party any longer without its divisions and anxieties. The Banquo head reared itself at the Democratic feasts in New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and elsewhere. The two healthy organizations having nominated their respec tive candidates— General Cass and General Taylor — for the next Presidency, it was felt to be time for the Free-soil party, so in sensibly and yet so loosely constituted, to take form and action. Three weeks after the nomination of General Taylor, a meeting of citizens of Massachusetts — to the number, it was said, of five thousand — was held in Worcester. In spirited resolves they de clared their adherence to the often-professed principles of Massa chusetts on the subject of slavery, and their purpose to maintain them in political action. On the 9 th of August, a national con vention of the citizens of the same way of thinking came together at Buffalo, in New York. Delegates appeared from seventeen or eighteen States, and the number of sympathizers who had assem bled were variously estimated at from thirty to fifty thousand. The prominence of Mr. Adams in the Free-soil ranks was recog nized by his appointment to preside over the convention. It was probably the general expectation of those who had come into the Free-soil party from among the Whigs — at all events, it was their general wish — that the new party's nomination for the Presidency should fall upon Judge John McLean, of Ohio, a per- CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. 15 son in universal esteem for the best qualities of man. In the fluid state of the great Whig party, and indeed of both parties, at that time, it is not highly improbable that, had that nomination been made, it might have been carried in a sufficient number of States to bring the election into the House of Representatives, and there ultimately have been sustained by an election through the alterna tive constitutional process. But the great influence of Mr. (since Chief-Justice) Chase, of the same State as Judge McLean, was against that nomination, and it was opposed by that preponderat ing force of New York Free-soilers who had come from the Demo cratic ranks. Mr. Butler, formerly Mr. Van Buren's Attorney- General, with other scarcely less able and distinguished intimates of the late President, exerted themselves to satisfy the convention that that gentleman's recent assertion of Free-soil convictions might be relied upon, and that he, and he only, could carry the large electoral vote of New York for the new party, and shiver the Democratic combination throughout the Northern States. Mr. Van Buren was accordingly nominated as candidate for the Presi dency, and Mr. Adams, representing in former years a very different type of political thought and character, was named for the second office. The nomination of Mr. Van Buren was a staggering blow to the Free-soil party in New England, in which region lay its greatest strength. A portion of ttat party still retaining their Whig affinities, could not make up their minds to give a vote for one who had so long had a front place in their maledictions ; and numbers, on their tremulous transition way, were repelled and driven back. Ultra Whiggery revived, as by a rejuvenating spell. Contrary to all the indubitable recent tendencies of thought, General Taylor, or rather Mr. Lawrence and his co-workers, had their way in Mas sachusetts, though there, in spite of the immense discouragement, the new party cast nearly one third of the whole number of votes. A worse thing than defeat befell the Free-soil party of Mr. Adams's State. There was a portion of it too impatient of present ill-success. For more reasons than one, they thought they could not afford to wait for the healthy triumph of the doctrine they maintained to install them in the seats of power. That "success is a duty " was a maxim adopted by. them with too little consider ation of its sense and bearings. " Flectere si nequeo," etc. It soon 16 CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. appeared that Mr. Wilson and some others differed from Mr. Adams and some others in respect to the further course incumbent on the baffled friends of freedom. Mr. Adams had great faith in principles, and not so much in expedients, and in some sorts of plausible expedients he had no faith whatever. Mr. Wilson looked more to quick achievement, and was less averse to instru mental inconsistencies and indirections. The difference between the two policies is well known, so often have they come into con trast and conflict. The instructed statesman, with the reach of a " large discourse, looking before and after," trusts confidently to the ultimate success of righteous principles, which never failed yet, nor will till the " pillared firmament is rottenness." A different class of actors esteem unduly an immediate appearance of success, however embarrassed by concomitants that strip it of its integrity and worth. At the annual election of 1850 in Massachusetts, when the exasperation at Mr. Webster's then recent advocacy of the Fugitive- slave Bill was at the highest, members were returned to the Legislature by the three parties respectively, — Whig, Free-soil, and Democratic, — according as one or another had a majority in the different constituencies. Some compact or understanding for joint action had been supposed to exist between a few persons active in the two latter parties, but in all or most of their newspapers the plan had been disavowed. When, however, the Legislature came together, it was announced in potential quarters that such an understanding existed. Scrupulous men of the Free-soil party were solicited to acquiesce, on the ground that one result of it would be the return of Mr. Sumner to the Senate of the United States ; while, on the other hand, it was urged that the compact alleged had not been made by, or known to, the body of the electors ; that the policy urged, besides being more than questionable on higher grounds, was not even recommended by considerations of present expediency ; that even the election of Mr. Sumner, the great lure to friends of the cause which he had been so con spicuously maintaining, would be as likely or more likely to be secured by a consistent and untrammeled action on their part ; and that, at the worst, the indications were that the popular will would bring him in at the next election, without any trading with his enemies. Such considerations, however, failed to convince. The compact presumed was now made, if it had not been made before— CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. 17 at least between certain busy leaders. By the Legislature, which had to select between the three candidates, — since in the tripartite contest there had been no choice by the popular vote, — Mr. Bout- well, the candidate of the Democrats, was chosen Governor, and the first fruit of the unpleasant alliance of the Free-soil party was that the chief magistrate of Massachusetts, made so by their votes, delivered in his inaugural address an argument in defense of the Fugitive-slave Bill. And, after all, the sanguine Free-soil managers barely escaped the mortification of that enthusiast for Whitefield's preaching, who found on better information that he had soiled his dress for nothing. The Democrats, having secured their share, did not come up to their engagement, if engagement they made, and, after a contest of many weeks, Mr. Sumner was chosen by a change of the vote of a Whig representative, given under instructions from his town. Mr. Boutwell, under another election of the same hybrid kind, was Governor for a second year, two successive candidates mean while accepting the nomination of the Free-soil party, in hopes of keeping it together for service in better times. At the nominating convention held in 1852, the candidate of the preceding- year, in consideration of the divided sentiments of the party, withdrew his name. It was thought by many that Mr. Wilson would be nom inated in his place, but the choice fell on Mr. Horace Mann, who had served in two Congresses as successor to Mr. John Quincy Adams. The canvass of the Free-soil party was not so spirited as it might have been had not Mr. Wilson, the most active member of the State committee, and perhaps at that time its chairman, been absent from the State during the first month. Some of the party were made uneasy and dispirited by the deflections which they had witnessed, and for which they could not consent to Be responsible. Whigs who had recently come to them, or were on their way, found an easy excuse for turning back ; and again a Whig administration was inaugurated in Massachusetts, with Mr. Clifford at its head. If there is to be relief from this, thought the concocters of the late coalition, it must be had by another move in the same direction. They stirred for a convention to amend the State Constitution. Into such a body it was likely that there might be brought a conglomeration of indifferents and malcontents, subjects for such manipulation as might combine them in joint action for the tempo- 18 CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. rary purpose, in hand. The point seized upon in justification of the measure was, that for a considerable time there had been well- founded complaint of an unequal adjustment of power among the towns as represented in the lower branch of the State Legislature. If there was anything else in the Constitution that demanded a change, it was not of such importance as to attract much attention; arid, at all events, any change that was really desirable might easily and deliberately be made by the method pointed out in the Constitution itself, — that is, a resolve of two successive Legislatures, confirmed by a vote of the whole people in the towns. But this would not have served the present turn. The sight of Whigs in power was irritating to many : to many more it was justly painful. The Whigs wanted no convention. Democrats and numerous Free-soilers voted for it : their joint vote prevailed, and the con vention met. Against the meeting of the convention in the summer of 1853 the coalition tactics had been assiduously worked over by the parties concerned, and the resulting rules were stringently applied. Some men seemingly competent to contribute something to the deliberations of such a council were carefully excluded by the con tracting parties. It is safe to say that no man in the Common wealth was more largely qualified for that service, whether by integrity, ability, study, or experience, than Mr. Adams. He might have been returned as a member (so was the electing system arranged) by any town in the Commonwealth; but he was under the ban of the present guides of all parties, — of the Whigs and Democrats,— because of his testimony against the pro-slavery leaning ; of the new Free-soil leaders, because he held off from their abnormal alliance ; so that, in Cromwell's phrase to the Parliament, there was " no longer need of him." Mr. Boutwell and Mr. Wilson were of the innermost council of the convention, and prime agents in its busy scenes. In their interest, Mr. Presi dent Banks, though not ignorant of parliamentary law, ruled wildly. The confident body lost sight of the ostensible purpose of its convocation, and branched out into various schemes, as the theoretical vagaries of individual members prompted, or the expediencies incident to welding more closely together the two unsympathizing parties. The result of its three months' discussion was the composition of a full draft of an amended Constitution, to be passed upon by the popular vote. In the place of that unequal CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. 19 representation in the lower branch of the Legislature which had been the avowed occasion of its meeting, it proposed another system still more unequal in the same way, and more objection able in various ways. Several offices hitherto conferred by the appointment of the Executive, the Legislature, or the Judicial y (the offices of attorney-general, secretary, and treasurer, sheriffs and prosecuting officers, clerks of courts), it made elective, throwing them into the party scramble of the primary meetings. Above all, it proposed to banish from Massachusetts the institution of an independent, capable, and impartial judiciary, by limiting the terms of judicial service, and making the appointment of judges from time to time by the Governor an element in the party contests of the successive years. The danger of the time, and a disposition to concede much for the sake of saving something when a comprehen sive wreck seemed to be threatened, must be supposed to have helped the reckless powers that were in their successful endeavors to win over to their plans men not often known to fail in bringing courage and good sense to the public service. So late" as three weeks before this disastrous project was to be voted on by the people, there was extremely little doubt, on the part whether of friend or foe, that it would be carried through, so overpowering seemed the motley union, in act, of the parties per sisting in their opposite professions in general politics. Mr. Adams was one of those who did not lose hope. In speech and print he addressed his fellow-citizens with vigorous expositions of the danger which was upon them. The danger was averted, though by a most narrow escape. A majority of 4,859 in 123,863 votes, sent the portentous scheme to its place. If life, liberty, property, and repu- tation are at this day in Massachusetts secure under safeguards such as contrast with the processes of judicial administration in New York, no name more than Mr. Adams's deserves honor for the constancy and wisdom that stood for them victoriously in that time of appalling peril. The alliance in the convention had overleaped itself; and, having no principle of cohesion connected with the public good, it was demoralized by its defeat, and the Whig dynasty kept its power in the State through the next year. In the autumn of 1854, Mr. Wilson being then the candidate of the Free-soil party for the office of Governor, the advancing rush of the Know-nothing train was unmistakably heard. A brisk leap brought Mr. Wilson 20 CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. upon the thundering' engine as it neared the watering-place at the Election Station, and he was presently set down by it on the plat form of the Senate of the United States. Within a fortnight before the time for the fall election, it was announced that Mr. Wilson withdrew himself from the service of the Free-soil party as their candidate for the chief magistracy of the State. It was too late to do anything with any other candidate, and the party was effectually disarmed. If it had not been' so intensely sad on the score of public morality, it would have been amusing to see the clean sweep which, in that dislocated state of politics, the extemporized Know- nothing party made. Leaves driven before a tornado were a faint image of the fury with which it scattered things along the track. The lately multitudinous Democratic party, the lately firm- seated Whig party, found themselves nowhere. Not enough was left of either in Massachusetts to pick up and splinter and dress. Till revived under another title after two or three years, the Free-soil party had no longer, anywhere, more than a name to live. The story of the extraordinary career of the Know-nothing party is not savory, nor is there any occasion now for memory to revive the sensations imparted by that unpleasant atmosphere. The saving quality of the reign was that it was short. Mr. Adams had not liked the Massachusetts coalition project in its different phases ; to the scheme for spoiling the Constitution he had stood in victorious resistance ; he did not like the Know-nothing move ment ; and his disaffection was cordially requited by the ill-yoked leaders, not so much to his own cost as to that of the public which he might have served so well. Relegated by an absolute ostracism to private life, while the electors of the Congressional district of his residence, or the jobbers, who wrought upon them, considered Mr. Damrell to be more competent to appear for them in the councils of the nation, he was not left without the means of disrni- fied employment for his time, nor without opportunities to be useful to his countrymen in labors to which their votes were not needed to introduce him. He devoted himself, as his main occupa tion, to preparing for the press a portion of the writings of his grandfather, the second President. Of this great work, which, after rigid selection and condensation of matter, had to extend over ten closely-printed octavo volumes, the first volume was pub- . lished in 1850 ; the last, containing a biography, in 1856. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. 21 The life of a statesman can only be fitly written by a statesman. The life of John Adams — coeval, till beyond middle age, with the colonial times, of importance second only to- that of one other life • in the struggle from which our country came forth as one of the family of nations, and intimately complicated with all the contro versies of our early interior national politics — could only be satisfactorily recorded by a scholar of the best historical knowledge, and could only be worthily analyzed by a thinker who, in addition to having within his mind's range of view the whole political field of the time, understood the weakness and the strength, the dangers and the securities, of the various political systems, and the motives, worthy and generous, selfish and threatening, which more or less through all recorded time have acted on the minds of men intrusted with the conduct of public affairs. As a tribute to ancestral services and greatness, Mr. Adams may well have thought the time well spent which was devoted to this carefully finished com position. But he had a right to think far more highly of it still as a contribution to the knowledge of his fellow-citizens on matters of the weightiest practical concern, and to wholesome influences upon the national character. Literary critics will extol the merits of this memoir as a felicitous essay in one of the most attractive departments of fine writing. Lovers of historical truth will prize the information and conviction they obtain from it on grave matters disputed in our fathers' days, as the designs of our French ally in connection with the peace of 1783, the wisdom of the undertaking to deal with the French Directory in 1797, and the military appointments at the time of our quarrel with the French in 1798. But what will most take the attention of the reflecting patriot is the high and strict standard of rectitude and public spirit in public action which is everywhere upheld throughout this work. 0 si sic omnes ! The grandson was no indiscriminating champion of the illustrious character which he undertook to exhibit. He was equal to judging, better than most men, what there was to criticise, as well as what to defend or applaud, and he was equally true to both offices as occasions arose. But, whether censure or commen dation was the theme, one thing, as far as this specimen was concerned, was always apparent — that at the bar of American history the question respecting American rulers would be, whether with unselfish purpose they had striven for the public good. Disintegrated and apparently demolished as the Free-soil party 22 CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. had been, its principles proved to. have an indestructible vitality, and their vigor was quickened ' by the course of the Southern politicians. * » ' » « « * Republican was an inoffen sive name. It provoked no angry pride of consistency. So, under a salutary lead of prevailing public sentiment, hack politicians of the old parties, having their eyes anointed to see which was going to be the winner in the struggle and the giver of gifts,— along with much larger numbers of better men, honest champions long ago of the Free-soil doctrine, and recent converts to it, — became banded in a formidable party, and were training under the name of Re publicans as early as some time in 1855. The comprehensive character of this arrangement, and still more a conviction, enforced by the thickening perils of the time, opened a door for the admission of more character and capacity into the public . service than of late had seemed to be thought needful. In 1858, Mr. Adams, having then, since 1845, with the consent of the guides of the " inside of politics " of all descriptions, filled that post of honor, a private station, was chosen by the third district of Masachusetts to represent it in the Thirty-sixth Con gress of the United States. The crisis had been approaching with steady and not slow pace. Under the lead of Mr. Douglas, the Missouri Compromise had been repealed (May 13th, 1854), after all the benefits for which it was designed had been reaped by the slave-power advocates, and when the time had come for it to work the other way. Represen tatives from South Carolina had made an all but fatal assault upon a Massachusetts Senator in his place in the Capitol (May 22d, 1856). The National Republican party, organized in a convention at Philadelphia (June 17th, 1856), had been defeated (November, 1856) in the attempt to raise Mr. Fremont to the Presidency, and the Democracy had chosen Mr. Buchanan. * * * * * Such was the state of parties — the Know-nothing party being still in flower — that till the end of the first eight weeks of Mr. Adams's first service in Congress the House did not get farther than the choice of a Speaker. The ultimate election of Mr. Pennington, of New Jersey, to that place was a triumph for the Republican party. In both Houses the session was an excited one. A series of resolves, introduced into the Senate by Mr. Jefferson Davis, indicated the policy to be pursued by his party in the approach ing Presidential election. In the debate upon them, as well as on CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. 23 other occasions, Senators and Representatives from the South dealt freely in the threat that if a Republican President should be chosen, the slave-holding States would detach themselves from the Union, and the expectation was confidently expressed that they would have so much aid from their party friends at the North as would make it impossible to resist them. Mr. Adams, as has been usual with judicious men entering on an untried sphere, abstained from using opportunities for promi nence, while he watched closely the course of proceedings and the characters of men. He was the acting member of the important Joint Committee on the Library, and Chairman of the Committee on Manufactures, which, as things turned out, had little business referred to it during the session. Toward the close of the first session, he addressed the House (May 31st, 1860) in an elaborate and forcible speech, vindicating the principles of the Republican party, and exhibiting its "indispensable necessity to the actual salvation of our free institutions." Just at the same time, he attracted the surprised attention of the House by a characteristic act. It was alleged that members of the controlling party, professing to act for their associates, had made a bargain with a person named Defrees, that they would choose him to the place of public printer for the House, with a very large compensation, if he would give them half the profits for the circulation of electioneer ing documents; and a member (Mr. Clopton, of Alabama) affirmed in debate that the job was defeated for want of the one Republican vote of Mr. Adams. That it was defeated, there is no doubt. That in defeating it Mr. Adams stood alone, it would be painful to believe, though there is no doubt he would have held such a position calmly, notwithstanding his finding himself solitary in it. In the interval between the two sessions of his Congressional service, Mr. Adams, in company with Mr. Seward, made a journey in some of the North-western States, where personally he had not hitherto been much known, and addressed several popular assem blies on the Presidential election which was approaching. When Congress met again in December, the choice of electors had been made, determining the succession of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency ; and within the next two weeks the South Carolina Senators had resigned their seats, and the Legislature of Georgia had appropri ated a million of dollars to arm its militia. * * * a Immediately after the inauguration of President Lincoln, Mr. 24- CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Adams was commissioned as Minister Plenipotentiary to England, in the place of Mr. Dallas, and he sailed from Boston for that service in the first week in May. He was now in the sphere for the exercise and manifestation of his rare qualities. They were illus trated by the great discouragements which he had to encounter. The great civil war had broken out. The ministry and the ruling classes of England were unfriendly. The Tory party could not but welcome the prospect of a downfall of the great republic, whose prosperity had so potently backed up the argument of English friends to free principles and free institutions. The Whig aristocracy, alarmed by the progressive radicalism of their own allies at home, were not unwilling that it should receive a check from the failure of the American experiment. Except the great names of the Duke of Argyll, Mr. Bright, and Mr. Cobden, there were few in the first rank of English statesmen who looked favorably or justly on the rights or prospects of this country. In the commer cial circles, in which, since the squirarchy has become more enlightened, the intensest burliness of John-Bullism resides, the ruin of the great maritime power across the water was a welcome conclusion. The suffering that would fall on the laboring classes in consequence- of the stoppage of the supply of cotton from America was apparent ; and the decision with which, as it proved, they not only refrained from pressing their government into hostile measures, but pronounced their advocacy of that cause of freedom in America which they instinctively felt to be their own, showed a sense and magnanimity which it would have seemed visionary to look for. The clergy, from Cornwall to the Tweed, rejoiced in the new demonstration that social order was only to be had under the shadow of a church-sustaining throne. The Carlton Club was elate. The Reform Club was bewildered and double-minded. Lord Palmerston, even beyond his wont, was flippant and cheerful. Mr. Adams stepped into the circle collected, prepared, grave, dignified, self-poised, with the port of one who felt that he had great rights to secure, that he knew how to vindicate them, and .that he had a stout power behind him for their maintenance. The British ministry — not over-reluctant themselves — were pressed by solicitations from across the Channel, Vis well as by taunts and importunities at home, to espouse the cause of the insurgent States. That. they were held to a neutrality, however imperfect, instead CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. 25 of proceeding to an active intervention, was largely due to the admirable temper and ability with which our diplomacy was con ducted. A short time sufficed to make it appear that Mr. Adams was not to be bullied, or cajoled, or hoodwinked, or irritated into an imprudence, and every day of his long residence near the British court brought its confirmation to that profitable lesson. Under provocations and assumptions the more offensive for being sheathed in soft diplomatic phrase, not a petulant word was .to be had from the American Minister, nor a word, on the other hand, indicative of a want of proud confidence in the claims and in the future of his country. A timid and yielding temper would have invited encroachments ; a testy humor or discourteous address would have been seized upon as excuse for reserve or counter- irritation. Nor by the preparation of study was he less equal to the difficult occasion than by native qualities of mind and charac ter, as was proved more than once when, Lord John having nattered himself that he had discovered some chink in our mail in some passage of our treatment of Spain and the South- American republics, the pert diplomatist had to learn that it would be prudent for him to go into a more careful reading of the records of past American' administrations. It is of less consequence to say that Mr. Adams's personal accomplishments, his familiarity with the usages of elegant society, his cultivated taste in art, and the good scholarship of his acquaintance with the classical historians, orators, and poets (a sort of attainment t nowhere more considered than in England), added to the estimation which attached to him. Going to that country in circumstances of the extremest perplexity and trial, he left it, after seven years, the object of universal respect, and of an extent and earnestness of private regard seldom accorded, in any circumstances, to the representative of a foreign power. To maintain at once an inflexible and an inoffensive attitude; to assert, without a jot or tittle of abatement, a country's unconceded right, yet expose no coigne of vantage to the aggressor by a rash advance; to enforce justice and tranquilize passion at the same time, — are the consummate achievement, the last crowning grace, of diplomacy. Since Mr. Adams was recalled from England at his own request, he has, as in former years, lived in Boston in the winter, and in the summer months has managed his extensive farm at Quincy, eight miles from town, where he has occupied the ancient house 26 CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. which John Adams, attached to it by early recollections, purchased before his return from Europe in 1788. His later connection with public affairs has almost entirely grown out of this well-accomplished diplomatic duty ; for, since his return to America, he has taken no part in politics at home, but has devoted his time to matters con nected with international law. In December, 1870, he delivered an address upon American neutrality before the New York Historical Society, at their request. When, by the terms of the Treaty of Washington, it was decided to submit the Alabama and kindred claims to arbitration at Geneva, Mr. Adams was unhesitatingly selected as the arbitrator to be ap pointed on the part of America. His discharge of that duty is too fresh in the minds of all to need recounting here. By special invitation of the New York Legislature, Mr. Adams was chief orator in the Memorial Service held in honor of the late William H. Seward, at Albany, N. Y., April 18th, 1873. His oration on that occasion was a splendid scholarly tribute to the character and services of the deceased statesman, and fitly crowned the great career which it commemorated. " It was," as expressed by another, "one of the most earnest and impassioned eulogies ever uttered by- one friend over the grave of another." Mr. Adams, in speaking of his own relation to the day's event and its subject, feelingly referred to the fact that in the same place, twenty-five years ago, Mr. Seward was the eulogist of his illustrious father ; " and," to continue the authority above quoted, " impressed the audience with the fact that his heart, as well as the best gifts of his mind, was fully enlisted in the task he had set before him." He then proceeded to give an in teresting review of the political history of the country with which Mr. Seward was so intimately identified, following him through his active career in State and National affairs, touching meantime upon some of the secret springs which guided campaigns and influenced public events, and referring with delicacy and judgment to the prominent events in the life of Mr. Seward, giving, in doing so, a kaleidoscopic picture of the past of rare beauty and singular com pleteness. In person, Mr. Adams is rather below than above the middle height. His figure, as he advances in life, tends somewhat to full ness, as did that of his father and grandfather. His head and features are strongly marked with the family likeness, and express the vigor, decision, and repose of his mind and character. f///.s'7.7iMlV J GEORGE BANCROFT. By Gen. John Watts de Petsteb. Bl-^F men could divest themselves of prejudice, or of the % I Ms en?ects °f early training and predilections, or shake them- jj|[s|jy selves free from the influences of association — if such a thing were possible as the writing of history from an inde pendent stand-point with every opinion weighed in the balance against the just weights of unbiassed authorities— if such could be the case, then, indeed, it could be said that few men who live, or have lived, were better fitted by a thorough education to fulfill the sacred duty of a historian than George Bancroft As such alone he will continue to exist to posterity, although he has filled so many important official positions — and last, not least, that of Envoy Extraordinary, and Minister Plenipotentiary to the new born German Empire — indeed, as such alone he will continue to exist ; for as Chateaubriand says : " After all, what do mishaps or ill-success amount to, if one's name, pronounced by remote posterity in the future, makes a single generous heart beat with a responsive throb two thousand years after one's career on earth is ended." Nothwithstanding the galaxy of talent which in this country has been devoted to the presentation of history, it would be unjust to withhold the palm from Bancroft, were it not that through the sturdy stems, the exquisite foliage and magnificent development of his paragraphs and pages, shines the unhappy influences of a strong leaning to the race from which he sprung and to that political demo cracy which is false not only to the very ideas of its founders, but to the original and the true meaning of the term, since the democratic party in this country is simply partisan, and represents the aristocratic party oi the old world, inasmuch as it is a party in which the masses are passively led and blindly directed by an astute or sagacious, politic and selfish few. 28 GEORGE BANCROFT. As a writer of American history, indeed as general writer, George Bancroft has seldom been surpassed in the elegant use of a language which affords a wider scope to the clearer conveyance of ideas than any since the exquisitely flexible Greek, or its superior, the almost perfect Sanscrit. He has used our English as it has seldom been used. He often, very often, soars upon it and through it to the sublime, and, with exceptional instances, so beautifully does he express himself, that his works, one and all, which come within the area of historical productions, possess an attractiveness upon which the mind floats in complete abandonment along. In almost every other history the reader is compelled again and again to pause, to collect himself, to exert his thought, as if it required guidance to avoid the frequent obstacles which are utterly incompatible with that perfection of style which must be conceded to the subject of this sketch. It cannot be said of Bancroft's writings, as it has been said of the logic of the Epistle to the Hebrews, that "it is execrable Greek," but that this " execrable Greek " contains all the beauty and all the philos ophy of Plato, since it is only in his deductions and never in his pre sentation of them that blemishes are to be found. Had Bancroft been born, and reared, and taught in cosmopolitan New York — (established by the freest race which has ever achieved freedom, and in the palmiest days of its republican simplicity) — whither as to a new world, a transatlantic asylum of free thought, converged repre sentatives of the grandest races which had ever combatted for civil and religious emancipation — the Hollander an expression of that Low German which made England all that she grandly became ; of the Huguenot, that element, deprived of which France has never ceased to sink and to suffer ; an element which has mingled and in fluenced every glory of protestant Europe, but especially England and Prussia, which has influenced every step of progress and ameliora tion of humanity within the last two centuries ; of the Walloon, the sturdiest of a preeminently energetic people ; in fact of every race which has lent its impulse to human advancement : with his magnifi cent capacity if Bancroft had been cradled and grown to manhood on the shores of that river which drains "the Flanders of America," he would have left a memorial of word-painting such as that of Raphael upon canvas, and of historic truth such as the anatomy of Michael Angelo. Thus born and nurtured he could not have looked to New England, as the day-spring of all that is great, but GEORGE BANCROFT. 29 would have acknowledged that New York — then as now the Empire State — that every other colony had an equal share in the marvellous result of our colonial increment, in that confederation merging into a nationality, whose first conception may be traced to the same natal soil on which the decisive conflict, due to a son of New York, was consummated upon the headwaters of the Hudson, nor would he have been carried away by New England predilections to cast a shadow upon the reputation of a General second to none ; of a patriot unsur passed in his devotion ; of a gentleman almost peerless in liberality of sentiment ; one whom friend and foe, where no personal interest interposed, delighted to honor while bearing testimony to his wisdom in every civil and military position of trust, — Philip Schuyler. But while thus lamenting the errors of his judgment, no honest man can deny the vast powers of Bancroft's intellect, nor the force and the elegance of his pen ; nay more, his astonishing powers of , mind wherever it has been exerted, divested of considerations imbibed — and not, perhaps, innate. It would almost be sufficient to indicate the National Naval School at Annapolis to claim for his administra tion of the Naval department a progressive beneficial resultiveness, a memento, such as no other at the head of that department has left. Indeed, George Bancroft has evinced a solid capacity for business which has seldom in this world been united with a thorough scholastic and philosophical development The mere application, the utiliza tion of the copious streams of learning for which his mind served as a vast reservoir, argues a marvellous intellect ; for where one can make these subservient to every purpose of his life, hundreds, thousands would have been converted thereby into a pedant, a mere specialist Not so with Bancroft ; all that he received he has given forth again, better, richer from the attrition of their passage through his mind, even as the precious stone comes forth a gem from the hands of its cutter. It would have been more fortunate for his future renown as an historian, if that cutting had been executed in the style and completeness of the diamonds finished in Amsterdam (Holland), agreeable to the taste of the whole world, double facetted, and not cut in the English style, or rather — to make the metaphor more apposite in this particular ease, according to the very peculiar taste of New England, whose founders, the overestimated Pilgrim Fathers, quitted the soil which ever welcomed the persecuted,. " inas much as in ten years' time, whilst their church sojourned among the Dutch, ' they could not bring them to reform anything amiss among 80 GEORGE BANCROFT. them I ' " — inasmuch as they, like their representative Bancroft, were insensible to the inevitable benefit which must result from " a liberal interchange of opinions with the refugees from every corner of Christendom there congregated." In the time of the Puritans, Hol land was acknowledged to be "the asylum of human thought/' the bulwark of the universal refuge and salvation of the human race," (Michelet) ; Bancroft should have recognized and felt the same truth in regard to the New Netherlands, New York. Some of Bancroft's conceptions are actually as magnificent as the Alpine scenery, which he traversed on foot to better to observe and be enabled to appreciate it, at a time when his mind was fresh from studying the moral sublimities of the teachings of those mental giants, for which and for whom he had so early in life manifested an eager desire to explore and a rare capacity to enjoy. Where no bias interferes, his results are as unexceptionable as charming ; his similies are as clear as palpable ; witness among other many notable examples his treatment of the Huguenots, (iii, xiii, 174 &c.) ; the Anglo-Dutch contests, (iii, xv, 322 &c.) ; his conception of the character of Wil liam III. (iii, xix, 2— i), " the childless^ man (who) seems like t/ie un known character in Algebra, which is introduced to form the equation, and dismissed when the problem is solved." But enough of disquisi tions, let us consider the fact of Bancroft's life. George Bancroft was born with the century. His birthday was the 3d of October, 1800. He was the son of a Congregational clergy man of Worcester, Massachusetts, who distinguished himself by his literary productions, especially his sermons, which President Adams compared to "a chain of diamonds set in links of gold." A careful parental training prepared the son for the Phillips Exeter Academy, in New Hampshire, whence at thirteen he entered Harvard in 1813. There he graduated at seventeen with the second honors of his class. In college his special attention was directed to metaphysics and ethics ; and it is claimed that he developed, even at this early period, an un usual fondness for the teachings of the " boast of Athens," Plato. The effects of these tendencies are evident in all his subsequent pro ductions. In 1818 he made a voyage to Europe, to finish his educa tion in the profound universities of Germany. He was at Gottingen, two years profiting by the instructions of the eminent scholars who illustrated this seat of learning. Benecke, '(linguist) in German, and Artaud (de Montor ?) and Bunsen, (the world wide-known antiquarian, diplomatist, and general man of science ?) GEORGE BANCROFT. 31 in French and Italian literature ; Blumenbach the " celebrated phys iologist in natural history; John Gottfried Eichhorn, "the orien talist, theologian and German historian " in the oriental languages and the inteipretation of the Scriptures ; Heeren, the " Celebrated German historian in ancient history ;" Haanch in ecclesiastical and more recent ancient history ; finally Dissen was his instructor in the antiquities arid literature of Greece and Rome, and as this learned professor was an enthusiastic admirer of the greatest philosopher of antiquity, Plato, he not only went through a complete course of general Greek philos ophy, but read, in the original, nearly all the compositions of the man whose works seem nearer the result of inspiration than those of any other heathen. Having obtained the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Mr. Ban croft proceeded to Berlin, where he listened to the lectures of Wolf, the editor of Homer ; of the Prussian, Schleiermacher, " divine, philosopher and philologist," 1768-1834; and Hegel, the German philosopher and author of a system. At Heidelberg he studied with the historian Schlosser, all the while enjoying the acquaintance of the eminent scholars of the day. '-'¦ "Before returning to America," to quote the recital of the inde fatigable E. A. Duyckinck, " he made the tour of England, Switzer land, Germany, and Italy, storing his mind with the ample materials for reflection furnished in their galleries of art and science, and their living social condition. At Paris he became acquainted with Cousin, Alexander von Humboldt, and Benjamin Constant; he had seen Goethe in Germany; in Italy he fell- in with Lord Byron, Manzoni at Milan, and Chevalier Bunsen and Niebuhr at Rome. The exam ple of the German scholars taught him the value of labor in research, while their philosophical acumen pointed out the way to make that. labor a kindling, life-imparting reality. The thoroughness of his studies, says the account in the 'Cyclopedia of American Literature,' is shown in the philosophical summaries of Roman history and policy, and of the literature of Germany, then rapidly gaining .the ascendant; which he, not long after, published in America ; while a thin volume of poems, published at Boston in 1823, witnesses to his inquisitive enthusiasm for art and nature, as he surveyed the ruins of Italy, and traversed the sublime scenery of Switzerland About this time, also, between his eighteenth and twenty-fourth year, he wrote a series of translations in verse, of some of the chief minor poems of Schiller, Goethe, and other German authors, which were published in the 32 GEORGE BANCROFT. North American Review. He furnished, likewise, for the American Quarterly Review, edited by the late Robert Walsh, a number of ar ticles, marked by their academic and philosophic spirit ; among oth ers, a striking paper on the 'Doctrines of Temperaments,' a kindred philosophical essay on 'Ennui,' and papers on Poland and Russia, of historical sagacity and penetration. In 1824, he published a trans lation of Heeren's ' Reflections on the Politics of Ancient Greece.' He also brought before the public, other works of Heeren on the states of antiquity, and the political system of Europe and the colonies, from the discovery of America to the termination of the struggle for free dom of the British Colonies." At the outset, Mr. Bancroft's studies were directed to theology, and " he preached," says Mr. Allibone in his " Dictionary of English Literature," " several discourses, which produced a favorable opin ion of his talents in this department ; but a love of literature proved the stronger attachment" From the bent of his mind, we may pre sume, had he continued in that relation, he would have distinguished himself by his metaphysical speculations. His able discourse on Jonathan Edwards, read before the New York Historical Society, and published in " Appleton's Cyclopedia," is an indication of the firmness and strength of his powers in this theological direction." In order to connect this consideration of Mr. Bancroft's minor productions — minor in size, but major in the amount of intellect dis played — and complete the series before adverting to his great and distinguishing labor, reference seems appropriate here to his pub lication in 1855, of a volume of "Literary and Historical Miscella nies," including several of the early compositions to which allusions have already been made, with the addition of several occasional addres ses, among them an oration in commemoration of Andrew Jackson, and an anniversary discourse before the New York Historical So ciety on " The Necessity, the Reality, and the Promise of the Pro gress of the Human Race," one of the most elaborate of his philo sophical essays. To this enumeration we may also add his lectures on " The Culture, the Support, and the object of Art in a Republic ;" " The Office, appropriate Culture, and Duty of the Mechanic ;" an historical oration at the celebration of the Battle of Kings' Mountain, (the decisive battle as to the fortunes of the Southern Colonies, in 1780), in 1855, and a brief oration at Cleveland, Ohio, at the inaugu ration of a (the Kentuckian sculptor, Wm. Walcutt's) Statue of Com modore Perry." GEORGE BANCROFT. 83 lu 1822-23, immediately after his return from Europe, Mr. Ban croft's name appears on the list of tutors at Harvard College, where he gave instruction in Greek, but almost immediately (in 1823) he became associated with Dr. J. G. Cogswell, afterwards the first Li brarian of the Astor Library, one of the best and the best-informed men of our country, as remarkable for his genial disposition as his cultivated mind : these established at Northhampton, on the Connec ticut river, in Massachusetts, the Round Hill School, which at that time, enjoyed a national reputation. Among their scholars was the celebrated Major-General Philip Kearny ; and the manner in which this able man always spoke of it, proves that it must have been an excellent institution. Meanwhile he was an earnest student of poli tics, in history, and in the national life around him; His observation resulted in his becoming an ardent member of the successful Demo cratic party which afr this time rejoiced in the determined leadership of General Jackson. His strenuous advocacy of the doctrines of this party promoted its interests and his own, and President Van Buren, in 1838, rewarded his efforts with the collectorship of the Port of Boston. He held the office for three years, discharging its duties with his accustomed energy. In 1845 he was the unsuccessful can didate, on the Democratic ticket, in Massachusetts, for the office of ¦Governor. In 1844 he was recompensed, for thus leading a forlorn hope, by President Polk with an invitation to enter his cabinet as Secretary of the Navy, and there he made a mark for himself with out forgetting the interests of his party. He succeeded in organizing the Naval School at Annapolis, and evinced the warmest interest in the Astronomical Observatory at the Capitol. The selection of Annapolis as the site of this institution as a nursery for officers of the National Marine — (since the Military Acad emy at West Point had been located at the North) — was a stroke Of policy to aid in securing the Southern feeling in favor of the party he represented, and rewarding its devotion to the interests of that Democracy, whose chief source of strength lay south of Mason and Dixon's line. While at Northampton, Mr. Bancroft commenced his celebrated " History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent" This the writer thinks is the grandest historical work ever conceived and executed in this new world, and as a unity un surpassed. The first volume appeared in 1834. It covers a space of 168 years, and treats of the discovery of America and its first set- 34 GEORGE BANCROFT. tlement by the French and Spaniards ; of England taking possession of what was afterwards the United States; of the colonization of Virginia and of Maryland ; of early Slavery ; of the Pilgrims, their character, and of the United Colonies of New England This was, in deed, a book of promise — a foretaste of succeeding intellectual treats ; and herein, as everywhere, when its author was affected by no pre judice, his work and consequents are in the highest degree exemplary. The second volume was published in 1838. It opened with the Re storation of the Stuarts in England, in 1660 ; its effect upon the Col onies, and closed with the seventeenth century, 1690. In 1840, the expectant public welcomed the third volume, whose principal con sideration, perhaps it might be noted, was the effect of European civ ilization in and upon America, commencing with the eighteenth century, and bringing the narrative down to 1748. Already the " English encroachments on the Colonial monopoly of Spain prepare American independence ;" Louisburg, although subsequently restored to France, had fallen by an effort due chiefly to colonial" enterprise and valor. The first chapter of the third volume is of exceeding interest to a New Yorker. Among other important matters, it treats of Leis- ler's administration and martyrdom ; and, candidly speaking — it does not do justice to the first real — not pseudo or political — democrat in this country ; the first acknowleged asserter of the popular rights. " The celebrated German historian, Heeren, a native of the free city of Bremen (who died 7th March, 1842, at Gottingen), who has left a great name in the history of letters," said of the last volume with justice : " We know of few historic works in which the author has reached so high an elevation at once as an historical enquirer, and as an historical writer." It is a great pity, as previously remarked herein, that the pre ceding volumes were written in New England, since, so soon as this wonderful work entered upon a phase in which the influence of the Eastern or Puritan colonies could be exalted at the expense of others equally deserving of consideration, as to their ultimate effect upon the embryo nationality, the peculiar training and education of the distinguished author gave a complexion to his mode of thinking, which, it is but just to believe, would have been toned down, or es sentially changed had he been sooner brought in contact with a more enlarged scope of vision, of a more flexible, genial. (and it might even GEORGE BANCROFT. 35 be said in candor), generous capacity for a juster estimate of cause and effect as evinced in the development of our people. In 1846, Mr. Bancroft exchanged his position in the United States Cabinet for the office of Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James, where he remained three years, and, among other diplomatic transactions, accomplished such modifications in the restrictions of the British Navigation Laws as made them even more liberal than our own. While abroad he availed himself of every opportunity to obtain access to public and private sources of information, not only in England and France, but elsewhere, for the prosecution of the great work of his life. In 1849, he returned to the United States, and made the city of New York his future residence. In 1852, he gave to the world the fourth and fifth volumes of his history, which had been anxiously expected, and were welcomed with even enthusiastic admiration. The fourth volume treats of the period beginning in 1748, in the twenty-second year of the Reign of George II, and ending in 1763. This was the era which prepared the way for those marvelous achieve ments, which deprived the French and Latin race of their possessions and influence in the new world; successes, of which, again, the Amer ican Revolution seemed to be the inevitable result. The author's opening chapter is headed " America claims legislative independence of England." The conquest of the valleys of the West, and of the * St Lawrence, and of the Lakes, gave the priceless jewel of temper ate North America nominally to England, but virtually to the Anglo- Saxon race, and laid the corner-stone and foundation, whose only fitting superstructure was the United States. Bancroft's treatment of the "Seven Years' War," and his percep tion of the grand rdle so grandly fulfilled by Frederick the Great ; likewise of the strokes of genius of the noble Wolfe, will satisfy every one who has the capacity to measure such a phenomenon as the non pareil (der Einzige) Prussian, or the feelings to appreciate the devo tion of the enthusiastic conqueror of Louisburg and Quebec. The fifth volume, embracing the period between 1763 and 1766, treats of European affairs in relation to America, their influence upon the growing dominion of freedom. The sixth volume, published in 1854, covers from May, 1766, to May, 1774, and brought this history down to the "commencement of the American Revolution. It presents the actual outbreaks in New York and Massachusetts, and was published in 1854. In 1858, the work was 36 GEORGE BANCROFT. resumed with the seventh volume ; the first of those immediately relating to our great war for Independence, of which the second, the eighth of the whole series, appeared in 1860. The seventh volume ushers in " the period of the Revolution," from May, 1774, when " America declares itself independent," down to 17th of June, 1775. The curtain falls on the marvelous combat and moral victory of militia — or minute-men and volunteers, newly embodied, over veteran troops, than whom none braver in the world, none ever more gallantly led, none ever so gallantly resisted by a yeomanry, new to the soldiers' grim business, than on Bunker's or Breed's Hill. The eighth volume opens with the results of this glorious feat, of a people in arms, and closes with the official declaration of American Independence, 4th and 5th of July, 1776. The ninth volume, issued from the press in 1866, the last, as yet, in possession of the public. It treats of the effect of the Declaration of Independence, and brings the story of our national emancipation, by force of arms, down to the end of the momentous year of 1777. Those who feel that admiration for Bancroft's mellifluous pen, yet are not blind to his errors, must ever regret that some true friend did not possess sufficient influence to induce him to withhold or recon sider this portion of his labors. Perhaps it is unfortunate that this ninth volume did appear, or rather, that its contents had not been written in obedience to better influences. It awakened a storm of indignation, especially from those who felt bound in truth and justice, to defend the honor of their an cestors against (to use a mild term) the misconceptions of the elegant historian. Mr. Bancroft had already shown in the amendments to his previous volumes in each succeeding edition, that his original and peculiar views had become greatly modified by new associa tions, and, if the expression be pardonable, in regard to so great a writer — for truly great he is — more matured judgment In previous volumes, if he displayed anything of the partisan, something may be conceded to- that early bias, which to overcome requires an almost superhuman force of mind. In this volume he was no longer swayed by a bias, excusable under any circumstance, for he had ceased to be just — nay, even seeming to be just. But criticism is not the object of a mere biographical sketch. Let us turn again from his career as an author to that as a Fed eral official However much a few or the many may differ with the GEORGE BANCROFT. 37 historian, no one can gainsay that he has done, and does great honor to his country in every public position throughout his life. As Amer ican minister at the Court of Berlin, Mr. Bancroft has justified President Grant's selection of the champion of New England as representative of the whole restored United States. As such he has acted with tact, ability, and effect. In regard to the great Franco- German war, he displayed a prescience, which showed that a close study of history had completely cleared the judgment of the diplo matist In his views from the very first he was thoroughly German, that is sagacious, and he confidently predicted the defeat of the French. He never was deceived by the ficticious appeals of the thor oughly beaten nation, to that magnanimity which they had never shown to a vanquished foe nor to those violations of its laws, writ ten in blood and spoliation which stain the annals of almost every war in which it had been engaged since its great foreign religious contests of the seventeenth century. Though the Germans have generally been characterized as Goths and Vandals, on account of their destructive bombardment of Paris, Mr. Bancroft said in his correspondence with the home government on one occasion : " Several causes have combined to delay operations against Paris, far beyond the time that was at first assigned for them. The King is disinclined to damage the city. The officers of the army have been relying for success on the deficiency of food among the besieged ; the heavy carts that transport from the termination of the railways have cut up the roads, and made them almost bottoinless ; two hundred wagons have been used where two thousand are needed, and the construction of the batteries, and collection of material, have proceeded somewhat languidly. * * * In short, it is evident that the Germans wish to avoid a bombardment if possible, although they are preparing for it as for an eventual necessity." Here is another characteristic extract from Mr. Bancroft's report. The last sentence is epigrammatic, pointed, and true. " In my former reports I have led you to expect for United Germany the establish ment of the most liberal government on the continent of Europe ; and all that I may have led you to expect seems likely to be realized. In one sense the new government is the child of America ; but for our success in our civil war it would not have been established. Our victory in that strife sowed the seeds of the regeneration of Europe." Another instance of Mr. Bancroft's felicitous manner of express ing himself, will be found in the following letter written to Mr. Fish 38 GEORGE BANCROFT. on the 1st of February, 1871. It says : " With regard to Germany, present appearances indicate that, after the close of this war, it will devote itself exclusively to the employments of peace. Compared with the great objects of this war, which involved the question of national existence, all conceivable causes for a future war will appear trivial and indifferent This war has carried sorrow into almost every fam ily, alike into the houses of that class from which the officers are chiefly taken, and those of the poor. Two hundred of the students "of Konigsberg University are serving, for the most part, in the ranks ; and the other universities have contributed to the army in the same proportion, so that for the future' no motive to war that is likely to occur can seem worthy of a repetition of equal sacrifices. " Indeed, people of every degree long for peace, and long for its continuance. I am, therefore, of the opinion that Germany, in the coming years, will devote its immense energies to the improvement of its laws, the establishment of its liberties, and the development of its great resources. "The relations between "our own country and the new empire are, happfly, those of reciprocal good- will and amity. The heart of the German people, at the beginning of the war, turned with affectionate confidence toward America. This warmth of feeling was somewhat chilled by the exportations of the munitions of war from America to France ; but the minister here has been just to our government, know ing well the condition of our laws, and our treaty stipulations with Prussia in regard to traffic in contraband articles of war, established, on our part, by Franklin, John Adams, and Jefferson, in the days of Frederick the Great, aud renewed by John Quincy Adams, and again by Henry Clay, during the reign of the father of the present King, and continued in force to the present day." Bug 'tyG-E. Ferine 0 &c/ /c HO N. J 0 H N A. .BT N G- HA M . HHlVEKSBNTA'TVi!: FROM OHIO. JOHN A. BINGHAM. Bx Whiiam Hokatio Baknes. OHN A. BINGHAM, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Japan, was born in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, in 1815. After pursuing a course of study at an academy, he worked two years in a printing-office. He then entered Franklin College, Ohio, but owing to ill health did not pursue his studies to graduation. He entered upon the study of law in 1838, and at the end of two years was ad mitted to the bar. He estabhshed himself for the practice of law in Cadiz, the county-seat of Harrison County, Ohio. He devoted him self with great diligence to his profession, in which he attained distinguished eminence. In 1854, he was elected a Representative in Congress from the sixteenth district of Ohio, and was subsequently re-elected seven times — serving altogether sixteen years. The only interruption in his continuous service was during the Thirty-eighth Congress, to which he was not elected. In this interval (1863-65), he served six months as a Judge- Advocate in the Army. He was subsequently appointed by President Lincoln Solicitor in the Court of Claims, and held the office until March 4th, 1865, when he took his seat in the Thirty-ninth Congress. When the assassins of Mr. Lincoln were sent for trial before the Military Court by President Johnson, Mr. Bingham was appointed a Special Judge- Advocate, in which capacity he assisted Judge Holt in the prosecution. To the former was committed the stupendous labor of sifting the mass of evidence, of replying to the corps of lawyers for the defence, of setting forth the guilt of the accused, and of vin dicating the policy and duty of the Executive in an exigency so novel and so full of tragic solemnity. The crime was so enormous, and the 40 JOHN A. BINGHAM. trial of those who committed it so important in all its issues, imme diate, contingent, and remote, as to awaken universal interest. The labor devolved upon Mr. Bingham during this difficult and protracted trial was immense. For six weeks his arduous duties allowed him but brief intervals for rest He occupied nine hours in the delivery of the closing argument, which is a monument of re flection, research, and argument, exhibiting the erudition of a pro~ found scholar, and the eloquence of a great orator. In Congress, Mr. Bingham had a distinguished career, marked by many important services to the country. He always had a prominent place on important committees. During his first term he was a member of the Committee on Elections, and made a report on the Illinois contested' cases, which was adopted. He was chairman of the Managers of the House in the impeachment of Judge Humphrey, in May, 1862. Upon the formation of the Joint-Committee on Recon struction, December 14th, 1865, he was appointed one of the nine members on the part of the House. He was active in advocating the great, measures of Reconstruction, which were proposed and passed in the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses. For several years he served on the Judiciary Committee, and during his last two terms was chairman of that important Committee. The House of Representatives having resolved that President Johnson should be impeached for " high crimes and misdemeanors," Mr. Bingham was appointed on the Committee to which was intrust ed the important duty of drawing up the Articles of Impeachment This work having been done to the satisfaction of the House, Mr. Bingham was elected Chairman of the Managers to conduct the trial before the Senate. On him devolved the duty of making the closing argument He began its delivery on Monday, May 4th, and occupied the attention of the Senate and a vast auditory on the floor and in the galleries during three successive days. His speech on this occasion ranks among the greatest forensic efforts of the age. In the summer of 1873, Mr. Bingham was nominated United States Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Japan, and soon after sailed for his post of duty. The recent opening of commercial and diplomatic relations with that ancient and long isolated empire has given great importance to this mission. Attend ant upon the growing desire which exists in Japan to imitate American usages are the remains of the ancient jealousy of foreigners. This renders our diplomatic relations with them extremely difficult and JOHN A. BINGHAM. 41 delicate. Judge Bingham's long experience in public life, his- familiarity with American law, and his acknowledged general ability, give assurance of great success in his diplomatic duties. Mr. Bingham is slight in form — of quick, active habit and nerv ous temperament As a speaker he attracts attention by his brilliant oratory, his cutting sarcasm, and the evident earnestness with which he advocates his side of a question. He is master of rhetoric, and unsurpassed in his skill in putting his positions. He is an able lawyer, and is especially skillful in cross-examining witnesses. In the numerous trials he has conducted he has exhibited this skill in a. marked degree. In diplomatic service he will find a new class of abilities called . into exercise, and will miss the excitement of forensic contests, with which he has been so long familiar. There is no doubt, however,. that with his versatile talents and abundant resources, he will acquit -himself with honor to his country. CALEB CUSHING. 'ON. CALEB CUSHING, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain, is well known as one of the remarkable men of the nineteenth century. During the past fifty years he has taken an active part American politics, and has been conspicuously associated M> with many of the most important events in the history of that period. The work which he has accomplished, in various capacities, public, official, and otherwise, is, as expressed by a late writer, " almost appalling to contemplate. It is the work of half a dozen active lives condensed into one." His eminent accomplish ments as a scholar, and his experience as a legislator, jurist, advocate, diplomatist, soldier, and statesman, have found frequent appreciation in the high and responsible trusts which have been confided to him from time to time ; and the cordial approval and satisfaction, ex pressed by the American press and public, on the announcement of his present diplomatic appointment, best avouch his fitness for the delicate and difficult position to which he has been accredited at the Court of Spain. Mr. Cushing descends from an old colonial family of political, judicial and military distinction, aud was born in Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts, January 17th, 1800. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1817, and was subsequently a tutor of mathe matics and natural philosophy in that University. He then studied law at Cambridge, was admitted to the bar in 1822, and com menced practice at Newburyport, devoting, in the meantime, his intervals of leisure to contributions, on historical and legal subjects, to the North American Review. In 1825, he entered public life as a representative from Newburyport,in the lower house of the Mass achusetts Legislature, and in 1826 was elected State Senator. In 1829, he visited Europe, on a tour of observation and pleasure ; and on his return, two years later, the result of his travels appeared in ^r Luib-t JW]j;sl]ri.t1&i;i]i',,v,vu!.j i;0. Hew y„L.[- CALEB CUSHING. 43: an entertaining book of " Reminiscences of Spain," and an able " Historical, and Political Review," in two volumes, of the three days' revolution of 1830 in France, which dethroned Charles X,, and made Louis Philippe King of the French. Mr. Cushing was again chosen to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1833, and continued therein until 1835, when he was elected, as representative of the Essex district, to Congress, where he served four consecutive terms. He acted with the Whigs in Congress until 1842, when President Tyler's vetoes of Henry Clay's bills for es tablishing a national bank caused the breach between the Whig party and the administration. Upon this issue between President Tyler (elected Vice' President as a Whig with Harrison) and the Whig Congress, Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, and Caleb Cushing were among the half dozen members of the House, who, with the Secretary of State, Daniel Webster, chose to sustain the position of the President ; whilst William C. Rives, of Virginia, with Rufus Choate, of Massachusetts, against Clay himself, were the leaders of- the forlorn hope of the dissidents in the Senate. These events brought Mr. Cushing into bold relief before the country, in common with Wise. Indeed, from this period may be dated, in a national view, his public career. From this point, says a writer : " Outside the circle of his im mediate neighbors, he was under the ban of Massachusetts, and was never again chosen to represent her in Congress. A bolt from the regular orthodox state church, which would not be tolerated in the case of Webster, was by Cushing an outrageous act of presumption." President Tyler manifested his appreciation of Mr. Cushing's zealous and efficient aid to the administration, by nominating him in 1843 for Secretary of the Treasury. The Whig Senate, however, refused to confirm him, and he was eventually sent by the President as Commissioner to China, to negotiate the first treaty between that Empire and the United States. In 1844, the conditions of that treaty were concluded with the Emperor of China, and, in view of the privileges of trade thus secured to the United States, Mr. Cushing's mission was esteemed a great, success. On his return home in 1846, he was again elected to the Massachusetts Legislature, where he was conspicuous for his advocacy of the Mexican war. Failing to induce the Massachusetts Legislature to aid in equipping a volunteer regiment, he furnished the requisite means himself ; was chosen Colonel of the regiment, and joined General Taylor on the 44 CALEB CUSHING. Rio Grande, in 1847, which in effect consummated his separation - from the Whigs. He was afterwards made Brigadier-General by President Polk, and during the progress of the war he was one of the Board of three officers with General Towson and Colonel Belknap, appointed to investigate certain charges against Generals Scott, Worth, and Pillow. In 1847, while still in Mexico, he was nominated for Governor of Massachusetts by the Democrats, but was, of course, defeated. Mr. Cushing represented Newburyport in 1850, for the sixth time, in the Massachusetts Legislature, and was active in opposing the election of Charles Sumner to the United States Senate, and the coalition between the Free-Soil and Democratic parties. In 1851, he was made Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, which position he filled with marked ability, until 1853, when President Pierce made him United States Attorney General. This office he held for four years, and won distinction for the ability of his opinions in questions of great gravity and complexity submitted to him by the Cabinet, which occupy three volumes of the published " Opinions of the Attorneys General of the United States." At this time, al though immersed in the duties of the office of Attorney General, he still found leisure to contribute, almost daily, an editorial article on some subject to the Democratic organ in Washington, and the importance of such literary work may be inferred, when it is re membered that as a newspaper writer, Mr. Cushing is, in many respects, unsurpassed. The National Democratic Convention assembled at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1860, for the nomination of their Presidential ticket. The situation was grave ; already the strife of faction and section had grown to such fierceness, as to presage the coming con flict, and the ultimate appeal to the arbitrament of the sword. Wis dom, moderation, and forbearance were expected of a body, upon whose deliberations and conclusions depended, in a measure, at least, the future of the country. From the beginning, thete was general apprehension that the conflicting ideas and interests and cross pur poses of the Northern and Southern Democracy, Douglas and anti- Douglas, would result in a rupture of the Convention and the party. In view of the gravity of the situation, and in the interests of order and harmony among the factions, it was of the utmost importance to secure an able, eminent, and self-possessed presiding officer, and such was found in the election of Caleb Cushing. The history of CALEB CUSHING. 45 that- Convention is well known, and need not be here repeated. Suffice it to say, that the sectional hostilities, there represented, were beyond remedy: The Convention broke up, and with it the party. An opening was thus made for the Republicans on their out-spoken anti-slavery manifesto, and through this opening they came into power, elected Abraham Lincoln President, and then followed the long and terrible war between the North and South. Throughout the struggle Mr. Cushing kept aloof from party action, but supported the war measures of the Government in the Legislature of Massachusetts, to which he was again twice elected. Subsequently, being excluded from military service for imputed friendship to -the Southern States, he was appointed by President Lincoln to represent the Government before the Mixed Commission to liquidate certain claims of Great Britain against the United States, and- in 186.6, President Johnson appointed him one of the three commissioners to codify the laws of the United States. Mr. Cushing was also for several years advocate of the Mexican Govern ment before the Mixed Commission at Washington for adjusting the claims between that Republic and the United States. These local occupations were interrupted in 1867 and 1868 by a special mission which he fulfilled from his Government to the United States of Colombia. During the present (Grant's) administration he was appointed one of the Counsel of the United States on the Alabama claims, before the High Tribunal of Arbitration, convened at Geneva, Switzerland. Here he presented a very striking figure, and suc ceeded in concentrating upon himself the attention of the British press and people, as the most skillful, adroit, and uncompromising advocate of the extreme pretensions of the United States, while at the same time, he acquired much fame in this country for his con duct of the case and the subsequent successful issue. On his return from Europe, he published a history of the arbitration, en titled " The Treaty of Washington, its Negotiation, Execution and the Discussions relating thereto," which evoked much comment and attention at home and abroad, and, by its strictures on Sir Alex ander Cockburn, the British Arbitrator, proved especially entertain ing to American readers. Independent of his public duties, Mr. Cushing has been re markably active in his profession as a lawyer, holding briefs in the most important cases coming before the Supreme Court of the 46 CALEB CUSHING. United States, and participating in not a few of the great legal contests of the time. From Lincoln's administration to the present day, he has been held in reserve, so to speak, to be called on, when occasion required, for the settlement of difficult questions of law in reference to domestic and foreign affairs, and he has thus rendered most valuable services to the Government. He is considered one of the best informed men in this country on the political history of the United States and our relations with foreign Powers. Almost a contemporary of Edward Everett at college, and associated with him in the literature and politics of Massachusetts during many years of his early manhood, Mr. Cushing entered pub lic life as a member of the old Republican party, and on that party's division, he went with the Whigs for John '_ Quincy Adams for President. For many years he was conspicuous as one of the ablest of the Whig leaders. Under Tyler's administration, as before stated, he returned to his old faith, and to the Democratic party. Mr. Cushing has not been, in the ordinary sense of the term, a popular man. Positive, earnest, and even aggressive in the political preferences and principles, more especially of his earlier life, he has naturally evoked much opposition in his section of the United States. He was a Democrat there, when to have been otherwise would have assured political preferment. Massachusetts, not always ready to forget or forgive, much less to reward, the merit, however great, of those of her sons who become alienated from the political faith and ideas of the dominant party, disapproved the democracy of Mr. Cushing then, as she has more recently rejected the liberalism of Charles Sumner. Had Mr. Cushing come from a State in accord with him politically, he would have been honored with the highest office in the gift of his constituents. On the other hand, had he re mained in his native State, it is but fair to suppose that much of his usefulness would have been lost to the country. The circumscribed policy of New England, too often slow to comprehend anything beyond sectional interests, was, it may be presumed, distasteful to one whose hopes and aims were more comprehensive, more generous, and more national. Hence, much of Mr. Cushing's life has been passed in the more congenial surroundings of national politics at Washington, where, from time to time, in the glories and triumphs of his party, represented by many of the purest and greatest states men of the republic, he has found more pleasing companionship, and a more righteous recognition and appreciation. CALEB CUSHING. 47 Mr. Cushing is an attractive and able speaker, a remarkable con versationalist, and a fine linguist. His mastery of the modern lan guages is so perfect, that he is said to speak with equal ease and fluency the French, Italian, and Spanish; and he has published trans lations of some of the best poets of Italy and Spain, many of which appear in Mr. Longfellow's collection. He is a widower without children, a man of wealth, and is particularly fond of reading and study. His vast stores of learning, long experience, and various successes in the past, render him " equal to any position, and any emergency of peace or war, at home or abroad." Such, in brief, is the man who has been called to represent our government at Madrid. Although he has attained the ripe age of seventy-six years, he possesses, nevertheless, all the vigor of mind and body necessary to fit him for that important, delicate, difficult, and responsible mission. Shortly after Mr. Cushing's appointment and confirmation as Minister to Spain, he was nominated by President Grant to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The nomination, entirely unsought and unexpected by Mr. Cushing, gave unqualified satisfaction to a large number of the American people; but it was bitterly opposed, for political and personal reasons, by a majority of the Republican Senate. This opposition developed to such an extent that President Grant deemed it advisable to withdraw the nomina tion; and Mr. Cushing also requested the withdrawal, as explained in the following letter to the President : Washington, Jail. 14th, 1874. To the President: — Sir — Animated by the sense of profound gratitude for tne honor you have done me in nominating me to the high office of Chief Jus tice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and perceiving that the continuance of my name before the Senate may be the cause or occasion of inconvenience to yourself or your political friends there, I respectfully request you to withdraw the nomination. Permit me to add that the charges of disloyalty to the Union and the Constitution which have been brought against me in this connec tion are utterly destitute of foundation in truth or in fact. I indig nantly repel the imputation. In all the time anterior to the com mencement of hostilities in the Southern States, every act of my political life, in whatever relation of parties, was governed by the single dominant purpose of aiming to preserve the threatened integ rity of the Union ; and to avert from my country the calamity of its disruption and of consequent fratricidal carnage. How could such a purpose be promoted, otherwise than by political association or per- 48 CALEB CUSHING. sonal intercourse with citizens of different States, including those of States professedly disaffected to the Union ? Should the only possible means of laboring to prevent civil war be stigmatized as dis loyalty to the Constitution ? Immediately on the occurrence of the first blow of hostility to the Union being struck in the State of South Carolina, I took my stand with the Union and its government. I publicly announced my adhesion to them in the most unequivocal terms. I tendered my services to the government in the field, or in any other way which might testify my fidelity to it ; and I have continued from that day to this, as well in official as in unofficial action, to tread in the path of unswerving devotion to the Union, whether during the actual progress of hostilities against it or in the subsequent events of its reconstruction, and of the successive amend ments of .the Constitution, rendered necessary by the changed con ditions and relations of the several States of the United States and of their respective inhabitants. The recent amendments of the Constitution, each and all of them, as they were in turn adopted, and the legislative acts for their enforcement and for accomplishing reconstruction, had my co-operation and adhesion, and I have sup ported them constantly, if not in political debate, for which my comparatively reserved habits of life afforded neither occasion nor opportunity, yet in legal opinion or in courts, and in council or dis- " cussion with officers of the government, members of Congress and private persons. I entertained the same general respect for these amendments as for the other provisions of the Constitution ; and also rendered the special observance due to them as the just and necessary incidents of the reconstruction of the Union. While my nomination was undergoing consideration in the Senate it would have been unbecoming for me to speak in explanation of my acts or my opinions ; but now, with relative indifference to whatever else may have been said, either honestly or maliciously, to my prejudice, it belongs to my sense of public duty, and it is my right, to reaffirm and declare that I have never, in the long course of a not inactive life, done an act, uttered a word, or conceived a thought of disloyalty to the Constitution of the Union. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, C. Cushing. It is proper to state that the objections to Mr. Cushing as Chief Justice did not affect his legal or other qualifications for the position, but were largely based upon allegations that he was not in accord with the Republican party upon important measures of re construction and the constitutional amendments which authorized them. Personal feeling, it may be presumed, also entered to some extent into the consideration of the matter in the Senate. Our portrait is engraved from a photograph taken in Madrid, in July, 1875. lintic2at)li3liing flwnn*'? CoV CO © H . CM AR LES 4 AM IE S F&M LK N E II CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER. By George Alfred Townbend. HE misconceptions , and perversions of the late civil conflict have given to certain events in the life of this gentleman an intense conspicuity which does injustice to his general, personal and political character. Returning to his country, after indefatigable and suc cessful services as its Minister to France, he encoun tered that period in the contest when the right of a citi zen to be heard in his defense was denied by the Directory and abandoned by the people. He was immediately arrested, and not for any want of fidelity to his* trust — not by the State Department, which takes cognizance of a Minister's misconduct — but by the war power, and as a hostage — a Virginian to equalize an imprisoned Penrisylvanian. This is nrobably a new and interesting fact to many readers, but it is an old fact, nevertheless; and will yet, in good time, take its place in history. A man wronged by governmental oppression must bide his time, and await his chance, and often maintain silence, lest he reduce his own stature by an undignified anxiety for his vindication. A public impression cannot be cudgeled out, and a high-minded man will not coax it. His friends can state the points of vindication, and leave them on record, as we do briefly in this notice, which will not admit of a biography of Mr. Faulkner. He was born in Berkeley County, Virginia, where he has main tained his residence and influence for nearly half a century, having entered the House of Delegates in the year 1831, at the age of twenty-five. The war has changed neither his social, professional, pecuniary, nor public rank. As in 1832, he advocated gradual emancipation in the Virginia Legislature ; so forty years later he was a leader in the Constitutional Convention of West Virginia, and vin dicated there the prescience and-principles of his youth. 50 OHAELES JAMES FAULKNER. Too elastic and too useful to spend his time lamenting what he never advised, Mr. Faulkner entertains the heartiest views of the future of the whole country ; and his immediate neighborhood, which was the scampering ground of cavalry during the entire war, now shows by its brightening aspect the wisdom of his views and the vigor of his assistance. Mr. Faulkner was attached to the Whig party until 1852, when, impressed with the abandonment of its principles by that organiza tion, he declined to support Winfield Scott, and gave his earnest efforts to the election of the Democratic nominee to the Presidency. For eight years he was the representative in Congress of the most ¦ exposed constituency in the South, occupying the salient angle at the outlet of the great valley of Virginia, where the ebb and flow of fugitives and emissaries poured across the narrow skirt of Maryland soil, until at last Captain Brown's band and Mr. Faulkner's constitu ents opened the war in the Shenandoah Valley— 4he sign and portent of the mighty conflict to follow. Had the representative of this invaded constituency been either a demagogue or a conspirator, his opportunity was a brilliant one to turn this occasion to mutiny ; but he hoped all things in the Union. He even represented Captain . Brown in the preparatory part of the trial ; and, in the full confi dence of the country's repose, he accepted a foreign mission from Mr. Buchanan, and retained it until the great conflict was actually begun. His paternity on both sides had been defenders of the country. His mother's father was an officer with Washington, and wounded in the battle of Brandywine. His own father had worn a sword, voted by the Legislature of Virginia for the gallant defense of Nor folk, in 1813 ; and, dying from disease incurred there, left his boy without kin in the country — the protector and pilot of himself alone. The positive authors of the Revolution of 1861 were not of this practical, self-reliant, objective stamp of man. They had long dreamed Jheir dream, and educed their conclusion from tenets with which Mr. Faulkner never charged his mind He had no destructive ambi tion, and the interests of his constituency lay wholly in the preserv ation of the Union. That he was an adviser in the great rupture, it is needless to refute. Yet it- may be proper to refer to that subject, so far as it may cast light upon his fidelity to his commission while in our diplomatic service. The Confederate Government never com municated with his legation. His responses to the early secession clamor did not add to his popularity with that class. And after he returned to America he was not called into the diplomatic or civil CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER. 51 service of the Confederate Government, and never presented himself for Congress or a command It was not that he did not keep full friendship and kinship with Virginia, but the assiduity and extent of his labors as United States Minister at Paris had wholly occupied his mind Thus much by way of preface. It was in Mr. Faulkner's power to have proceeded to Paris . aa soon as Mr. Buchanan acceded to the Presidency ; but he deferred to the incumbent, Hon. John Y. Mason, who was his personal friend, and would not take the mission until the latter died at his post in October, 1859. Then nominated and promptly confirmed, Mr. Faulkner sailed abroad with his family in January, on the Ameri can steamship Fulton. On the eve of sailing a complimentary dinner was tendered him, of which an out-of-door serenade was a feature ; and his speech that night, as printed in the newspapers, shows that he entered upon his mission in the true spirit of an American patriot and statesman. Mr. Faulkner arrived in Paris February 18th, and he was offi cially presented to the Emperor on the 4th of March — just one year prior to the inauguration of President Lincoln. The work which he faithfully accumulated in that one year is a monument of industry, zeal, and efficiency; and another refutation of the theory that he was spending his time cajoling the EmperOr, and smoothing the way for Southern recognition. His despatches to the State Department numbered about one hundred and twenty,. or a despatch every third day; and some of them are of such length and involve such research and close reasoning as to evoke renewed admiration for their vigorous thought and pure diction. These dispatches make four huge folio volumes, which are kept in the custody of the State Department at Washington, and, according to rule, are shown only upon the especial permit of the Secretary of State. As no copies can be taken in any event, and as even Ministers are not allowed to reserve duplicates of their own dis patches, the work of Mr. Faulkner is a sealed book to the public. The war blew upon the face of affairs so suddenly that the diplomatic correspondence of the preceding year was never printed, except in so far as it might apply to the elucidation of the schism at home. There were two dispatches from Mr. Faulkner to Mr. Sew ard which thus saw the light, and these were written at the close of his mission, expressing his apprehension of the impending collision, and seeking to avert the conflict They clearly show, however, that he requested Napoleon to make no recognition of the Confederacy, and 52 CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER. at that period Mr. Seward's views were in accord with his own on the subject of coercion. This appears in a letter addressed to the Secretary of State— a letter nearly identical with several of the same tenor which were written subsequent to Mr. Faulkner's return to the United States. " I refer to my official correspondence," said Mr. Faulkner, " as a proof of my fidelity to my trust. Not an act nor an opinion of mine was disapproved by any of your predecessors ; but wherever. they were alluded to at all, they were approved. No act, and but one opinion that I expressed, was disapproved by you. That was the private and unofficial opinion which I expressed to M. Thouve- nel in reply to an inquiry addressed by him to me ; to wit : That the United States Government did not contemplate resorting to coercion. This opinion was expressed on the 15th of April, 1861. In noticing that opinion on the 4th of May following, you say:; ' The time when such questions had any plausibility has passed away.' Again, you say : ' The case is now altogether changed.' These qualifications in your disapproval of that opinion of mine were just both to me and to yourself as the exponent of the policy of the Administration. For in your own dispatches, up to the 15th of April, 1861, there is a clear enunciation of the policy of the Administration not to resort to coercion." We may ask, indeed, who, beyond the limits of the United States, realized coercion as early as the 15th of April — for that was the day Mr. Lincoln issued his first proclamation for troops,' which Mr. Faulkner, in Paris, could not have known, as com munication then stood, for nearly a fortnight more. We have said that but two dispatches out of one hundred and twenty appear in the diplomatic correspondence ; exception must be made in favor of eight others, which would have shared the com mon obscurity but for the fact that they affected the great question of military duty due to European Governments by their expatriated subjects in America. In 1866 the Senate called for the corres pondence on this subject, and among the rest came Mr. Faulkner's buried labors and vindication. It was shown that in 1860 he pressed this issue upon Napoleon, obtained the first concession in favor of our naturalized citizens ever made by a Continental Power on so tender a point ; and, if permitted by Mr. Cass, would have made it a treaty obligation. Thus tens of thousands of young men of North German and French birth owe in great part to Mr. Faulk ner their immunity to revisit their native land without the peril of CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER. 53 arrest, punishment, and military peonage. Mr. Faulkner's doctrine on this point was laid down in a letter to M. Thouvenel, April 2d, 1860— less than a month after his presentation at Court. The high character of this lett er may be judged of by the approving reference to it of Hon. Wm. Beach Lawrence in his " Standard Commentary upon Wheaton's Law of Nations." " No exercise of personal liberty," said Mr. Faulkner, " is held by us more essential to human happiness than the right of a man of ma ture years to abandon a community whose laws, religion, climate, form of government, or system of industrial pursuits are found destructive of his peace and comfort, and to identify himself with another nation of people, if consistent with their policy, whose tastes and institu tions are more congenial to his own. * * * His allegiance to his native country is by this act severed forever. He experiences a new political birth. A broad and impassable line separates him from his native land. Should he return there for temporary pur poses of business or pleasure, he goes there an American citizen, with all the privileges and obligations of his new nationality fully im pressed upon him." M. Thouvenel showed the strongest opposition to this American assumption, which affected the very foundation of the Imperial power in France, the army — that army recruited by a vast ubiquitous and equally pressing conscription. . The French Government gave way, however, in the cases of Michael Zeiter and P. Puyoon, two natives, who had been arrested for evasion of military duty in the German provinces of France. "It was impossible," says Mr. Faulkner in one of his despatches, " that our doctrine of the right of expatriation could be more fully and triumphantly vindicated than in these two cases by the judicial and administrative authority of France." Mr. Cass, however, was doubtful of the expediency of pressing the subject upon France for the recognition of this principle by treaty. Mr. Faulkner responded : "I do not see how the insertion of an article in a treaty by which France should abandon all claim to military service from those of her natives who had become natural ized Would detract from the high ground upon which we place that doctrine as a matter of right" The attempt to get the treaty stipu lation was renewed by Mr. Faulkner; but the Administration thought a great feather was in its cap already, and stopped the ardent envoy. President Buchanan's Annual Message of Decem ber 3d, 1860, expressed his gratulation as follows : 54 CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER. " To employ the language of our present Minister to France, who has rendered good service on this occasion, 'I do not think our French naturalized fellow-citizens will hereafter experience much annoyance on this subject. I venture to predict that the time is not far distant when the other Continental powers will adopt the same wise and just policy which has done so much honor to the enlight ened Government of the Emperor.' " In the era of President Grant, Hon. George Bancroft has secured by treaty from Prussia a recognition of this principle — the same which Mr. Faulkner wished to anticipate by two Presidential terms. To the subject of our sketch is due the first proposition of the statesmanlike idea to put the safety of the foreign-born American citizen into the written obligations of mankind, and to make his exemption from the enrolling officer no more a subject of appeal, but of broad understanding and international accord — a result which it is obvious would have been accomplished during his mis sion but for the timidity of the Secretary of State. Mr. Faulkner's assiduity and devotion were exercised also in other directions. His education, candor and dignity placed him within the sphere of Napoleon's special consideration, and gratified his desire of knowledge and usefulness by frequent interviews with ¦ that master of diplomacy whom he occasionally met in the privacy of St Cloud, and always promptly communicated his study of the man and the facts of the interview to his Government. When these dispatches shall be disinterred, they will serve the historian who wishes to be assisted to an estimate and portraiture of the late Em peror, and will also display the adaptability and literary grace of the American Minister. His method and power in detail will as well be shown in the great variety of application he directed to the elucida tion and correction of minor matters pertinent to his mission and the history of the period. His dispatches present among other things a brief epitome of the history of the Second Empire, and of the leading political events in Europe during his residence at that Court ; a full discussion of the commercial interests of France and the United States, and of the extent to which those interests might or might not be promoted by the treaty which he was authorized to negotiate. They also embrace his interviews with high officials, and his reflections on the war then being waged by France and England against the Chinese Empire ; the proposed movements against Mex ico ; the Massacre of the Christians in Syria ; the Sicilian Revolu tion, etc., etc His review, in a letter to the Minister of Foreign CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER. 55 Affairs, of the controversy between the local authorities of Cher bourg and the American Consul, involving the construction of the Eleventh Article of the Consular Convention between France and the United States, and growing out of the wreck of the ill-fated ship Luna, may well be referred to as a monument of diplomatic labor and ability. Our diplomatic relations with France, from the beginning of the Republic, have been the most romantic and intimate of our history, and we have been served at that Court and Capital by a series of the most illustrious statesmen we have produced. The year of Mr. Faulkner's residence there was not prolific in great occurrences im mediately affecting our own history ; but it was a year requiring the more application, because France was then mature, formative, and well gathered up under a ruler fond of surprises, rather covet ous of achievement and possessions in America, and able to do as he chose. The Palmerston alliance and the control of France over Spain led to a rumor of a tripartite attempt on Mexico, which Mr. Faulkner promptly protested against, and received the thanks of his Government for his prompt interference. The social life at his residence, in the Avenue Montaigne, near the Champs Elysee, was meantime hospitable and graceful, and the Minister popular with all. When Mr. Faulkner was subsequently a prisoner at Fort Warren, he received marked attention from the most distinguished men of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, who had remembered his invariable courtesy, generous hospitality, and faithful devotion to his duties as Minister. The crisis, however, was impending at home, and there were doubtless travelers of the McCracken character abroad in those days ready to distort, pervert, and write anonymous letters. Some of these may have desired the consideration of the new Administra tion ; others, with malice aforethought, already classed every South ern man as an enemy, and made a distinction in favor of none. Mr. Faulkner resolved to conclude his mission, so as to preserve at least his own self-respect — whatever might be the influence of mis representation. In the letter to Mr. Seward, already quoted, he met those old imputations upon his ministerial honor in the following paragraphs, which we quote here as new and interesting matter to the reader : "But it might be said that, whilst my official dispatches from Paris may be perfectly unexceptionable, yet my private actions and 56 CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER. Opinions may have encouraged treason and rebellion against the Government " I have but limited means of showing what my private opinions and actions were in France, for I never anticipated that they would be called in question when I left there. But as limited as those means are, I think they will be found ample and satisfactory." He then shows very conclusively that there was no foundation for any imputation upon his fidelity. He might have further corroborated his defense by a reference to the following testimonials : The correspondent of the Philadelphia Press, of the 7th of January, 1861, says : " Though I have never entertained any special sympathy for the political party with which Mr. Faulkner has acted, I am free to concede that few distinguished men of either of the great political parties of the United States could more impar tially or more satisfactorily discharge the duties of so responsible a position. He has very recently been laboring most indefatigably to secure the abolition of the passport system between France and the United States, and his efforts are likely to be crowned with success at an early date. In the present calamitous exigency of political affairs in America, Mr. Faulkner has expressed very strongly his devotion to the maintenance of the Union, and his earnest hope that a separation between the two sections may be averted by the mutual good sense and patriotism of both parties." The correspondent of the New York Times (Dr. Johnson), over the signature of " Malakoff," says, April 2d, 1861 : " Now that the Southern Confederacy has named its foreign diplomatic agents, and that their avant courier (Mr. King) has already arrived, you will naturally be interested in knowing how the recognition question stands here. But, first, a word in regard to England; Mr. Dallas stands firm for the Union in all its integrity, and his Republican successor will find no treason in that office. - " In regard to France, Mr. Faulkner stands firm to the Union, and will remain firm as long as he holds the post of Minister. If Virginia secedes, he will vacate the office at once ; he will not remain to act treason under a flag he no longer acknowledges. As we firmly hope that Virginia will not secede, we hope long to number Mr. Faulkner among the warmest, the ablest, and the most devoted friends of the Union." The same correspondent, in his letter of the 18th of April, 1861, referring to Mr. Faulknei 's last interview with M. Thouvenel, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and to the protest made by him against the recognition of the Confederate States by the CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER. 57 French Government, closes his letter as follows : " We have thus the gratification of stating that up to the last moment every step has been taken by Mr. Faulkner which the occasion required, and that in all probability the manner of reception of Dudley Mann & Co. has. already been decided on by the French Government We think we have no reason for fear as to the nature of this reception." On the 28th of November, 1861, whilst he was yet a prisoner in Fort Warren, Governor Raymond, editor of the New York Times, in commenting upon the allusion made by Jefferson Davis to hig imprisonment in his Message of that month, says : " No charge has ever been made, so far as we are aware, that Mr. Faulkner abused the 'privileges or opportunities of his position abroad to aid the rebellion in any way, 'according to the statement of our Paris corresporiflerit, who was in a position to be well informed on the subject His conduct and language, both in official and unofficial intercourse, were uniformly loyal and correct ; aiid Mr. Faulkner himself, we believe, repels with warmth any imputation that while holding a diplomatic position under the United States Government he expressed himself in any way that was inconsistent with its obligations." From an article in the National Intelligencer, of the 25th of July, 1865, the editors sum up the result of the testimony, of their Paris correspondent, and their own recollections of Mr. Faulkner's con duct as Minister to France, in the following language : " We notice that some careless journals1 Of the North, in allud- . ing to this gentlemari, have charged him with iehding his influence and efforts to the interest of the rebels during the last few months of his service as Minister of the United States to France We are satisfied, by recorded evidence in our Columns, that there is no found ation for this imputation. No such charge, so far as we are informed, has ever been made against him by the State Department, or any person professing to act in the name and under the authority of the United States. The fact of his inflexible fidelity to, his trust seems to have been conceded by all who are familiar with his movements in Paris. Our own intelligent correspondent in that city, as well as the correspondents of some of the leading Republican journals of New York, bore at the time unequivocal testimony to his fidelity to the Union, both in his official and unofficial conduct, up to the' close Of his mission. It is true Mr. Faulkner was arrested in this city, en route from Paris to his home ; and the public, in the absence of better information; might have very naturally concluded that the ar- 58 CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER. rest was founded on some objection to his conduct as Minister. But this was soon ascertained not to be the case ; and in announcing the real ground of his arrest, which we did in the Intelligencer in August, 1861 (to wit: his detention as a hostage for the safe return of Harris and Magraw), we took occasion to remark that ' we were sure our readers will be glad to learn that the arrest of this distinguished gentleman has not been prompted by any considerations relating to his personal demeanor as a citizen, or as a foreign representative of the United -States.' We feel perfectly satisfied that every inquiry into the conduct of Mr. Faulkner whilst Minister from the United States to France will strengthen his claims to the character of a iaithful representative of the interests and honor of the country whilst abroad." And yet in the face of these clear and unquestionable facts the public mind had become so generally impressed with an opposite conclusion, from the circumstances of his arrest and imprisonment upon his return from France, that he felt constrained to call upon the Secretary of State to do him a simple act of justice, and to re quest the Secretary to furnish him with such an exoneration of his offi cial character, in his relations with the Department of State, as the truth would warrant. We come now to the nature of the pretense which the press of the country seized upon to apologize for the arrest of Mr. Faulkner as a hostage by the Secretary, of War. That arrest,, in the absence of any charges from the State Department, was felt to be such an ungrateful return for faithful public services, that the Government papers, per force, came to the rescue of the Directory with' guesses, imaginings, and all manner of diatribe which the loosely written histories of the war period have accepted as material for their works. In the Spring of 1861, the Confederate authorities at Montgom ery, Alabama, had selected three Commissioners to proceed to Eu rope — William L. Yancey, A Dudley Mann, and P. A Rost. These persons proceeded in a loitering manner to Europe, stopped some time in England, and none of them reached France until Mr. Faulk ner had taken leave of the Imperial family and quitted the country. Yet a newspaper paragraph went the rounds of the American papers to the effect that Mr. Faulkner had given a public reception to the Commissioners of the Confederate States, and introduced them to M. Thouvenel, and had also provided a day for their official pre sentation to the Emperor. Mr. Faulkner never saw any of the Commissioners until he met them incidentally in England, some CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER. 59 weeks after he had definitely quitted France on his return to the United States. His published dispatches show that his behavior was just the contrary. April 15th he called upon M. Thouvenel, delivered a copy of President Lincoln's inaugural Message, and assured the Minister that " the . President of the United States . entertains full confidence in the speedy restoration of the harmony and unity of the Government by a firm, yet just and liberal policy." He said to M. Thouvenel that a distinguished citizen of the State of New Jersey would soon supply his own place, and requested the Minister to re. cognize no dismemberment of the American Union in advance of Mr. Dayton's arrival, who would come fully instructed as to the matured wishes and views of the Government This dispatch is printed in the diplomatic correspondence, and soon after writing it Mr. Faulkner left the Empire. Thus the charge that Mr. Faulkner took the Confederate Com- ' missioners under his patronage has nothing to rest upon, and slander is left to jump at the conclusion that Napoleon could not have been so prompt to recognize the belligerency of the Confederates unless Mr. Faulkner had warped his judgment in advance. The action of the Governments of Western Europe toward the belligerent sections in America was outside of the influence of Min isters and Commissioners. It was the apparent, the probable, the sequential policy of France, England and Spain, and consonant with what their statesmen considered the mutual interest of those nations. Mr. Faulkner had done more to attract respect to his Government by sturdily insisting upon the right of our naturalized citizens to return to their native countries, and be exempt from conscription, than by any words he could have addressed to the Emperor of France favor able to the seceding States. The Emperor Napoleon was the uni versal ally of the side of distraction m contemporaneous Powers, as he had shown in Russia, China, Austria, Italy, and India ; and as he further showed in the affairs of Mexico long after Mr. Faulkner had retired from public life, and even after the American conflict had been determined. In this he followed the traditional diplomacy of France and England, which for several years had been in .accord, and they had even operated together with military force. As early as May 21st, 1861, Mr. Seward wrote to Mr. Adams that Lord John Russell had already informed Mr. Dallas as to the understanding between the British and French Governments, which would lead them to tate one and the same course as to recognition ; and that 60 CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER. "other States had been apprised of this agreement, and were ex pected to concur with or follow them." Mr. Seward added: "The President regrets that Mr. Dallas-did not protest against the proposed unofficial intercourse between the British Government and the mis sionaries of the insurgents. It is due to Mr. Dallas to say that our. instructions had been given only to you, and not to him." Here we see that a Northern man — a Pennsylvanian — received. quasi blarne from the Department, and was puzzled how to act; but' had he lived below the border, and been equally blameless, or what' seemed to be of more consequence, had he been a valuable hostage to exchange for some friend of the War Secretary, or some roving, Congressman, his reward could have been no less than military arrest and confinement in a fortress. The public mind is educated to exaggerate the influence which an individual may exert upon States and alliances. A higher com pliment could not have been paid to Mr. Faulkner, had it been his due, than Mr. Greeley's oft-expressed conceit, that he had shaped affairs in France so as to hasten the concession of belligerent rights to the insurgents by the decree of the llth of June, 1861, long after he had left the country, and the United States had been otherwise represented. Mr. Greeley could have found another motive for the Emperor in the constant attacks of his paper upon Napoleon's per sonal and dynastic legitimacy, which was the rule of the Republican press; and he might have observed, as a vigilant journalist, that the personal weight of all the Confederate- Commissioners was almost impalpable. They returned at an early period, leaving little evidence of influence behind them, and even the sympathetic and notorious circumstances under which Messrs. Mason and Slidell arrived in Eu-. rope got them small countenance at Court Mr. Faulkner had im- pressed the French Emperor as Ministers seldom had done, but it was as the American, and not as the Confederate Envoy. Yet the current histories of the war have tumbled into the fine of super ficial inference, and we may quote Lossing's voluminous book in evidence. That author says : " At the powerful French Court, the source of much of the polit ical opinion of the ruling classes of continental Europe, Charles J. Faulkner, of Virginia, the American Minister Plenipotentiary, it was believed, was an efficient accomplice of the conspirators in the work of misrepresenting their Government and maturing plans for securing the recognition of the independence of the seceded States." But almost in the next paragraph this writer of loose •inferences CHARLES J.AMES FAULKNER. 61 admits that " already an understanding existed between the British Government and the French Emperor that they were to act together in regard to American affairs; they had even gone so far as to apprise other European Governments of this understanding, with the expectation that they would concur with them and follow their example — whatever it might be." The times were out of joint There were no circumstances under which Mr. Faulkner could have been otherwise than misrepresented, for he was of the old Administration, and a Virginian ; he was the only Southern man at the head of a first-class mission; in the con flict of sections, he was expected to do more than to look homeward and grieve and plead for moderation ; and had he gone about loudly, constantly, and vituperatively to injure the Union, his meed would have been no worse. His position was not unlike that which Hallam ascribes to a distinguished member of the royal family at the out break of the French Revolution : "Persons situated as he was could not take a decided part one way or the other without doing violence either to the dictates of reason and justice, or to all their natural sentiments ; the only way for such persons is to stand aloof from a struggle in which they have no alternative, but to commit a parricide on their country, or their friends, and to await the issue in silence and at a distance. No con fidence can be placed in those excesses of public principle which are founded on a sacrifice of every private affection and of habitual self- esteem." There remains to relate only the story of Mr. Faulkner's arrest, which has been almost wholly misunderstood. He recruited his health, which had suffered by the labor and con finement of his mission, in a few months' excursion through the British islands, and arrived at New York at a gloomy period for the North, August 5th, 1861. Three days afterward he reached Wash ington, and, stopping at Brown's Hotel, proceeded to the State De partment on the 10th, where he adjusted his account of the Conth> gent Fund, as is the custom, and was provided with a safe conduct and passport from Mr. Seward to his home beyond the lines. The next day but one succeeding — two days after General Lyon had been killed at Wilson's Creek, three weeks after the defeat of Bull Run, ominous times for a man whose home was beyond the lines — Mr. Faulkner was arrested by General Andrew Porter, Provost Marshal- General, who had brought to his hotel a great array of troops and constabulary, without charges of any kind, and, as we have related. 62 CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER. by the order of the Secretary of War. He was not an offender, therefore, but a captive within the lines ; and his record was not charged to be at fault, but only his place of abode. And the Amer ican Minister to France, just honorably discharged from the diplo matic service, was taken to the common jail of Washington, where the sense of decency in Captain Willard, the Deputy Provost, would not permit him long to remain. He was accommodated with a more honorable imprisonment amongst the officers at their quarters, and here he addressed a letter to the Secretary of War, asking the cause of his detention. To this Mr. Cameron replied frankly, and the words were taken down by Captain Willard : " Tell Mr. Faulkner that, as a distinguished citizen of Virginia, he has been arrested as a hostage for Henry S. Magraw, State Trea surer of Pennsylvania ; and that, with my consent, he shall not be released until Colonel Magraw be set at liberty." It appeared that a few weeks before this time, Colonel Cameron, brother of the Secretary of War, had commanded a regiment in the first battle of Bull Run, and had been killed in battle, and his body left upon the field. At Secretary Cameron's request, Mr. Magraw was sent within the Confederate lines for the purpose of recovering the body of the fallen colonel. He was provided with a pass ad dressed simply " To whom it may concern," and making no recogni tion of General Beauregard, or of the Confederate forces. Deeming such a paper not entitled to respect, Beauregard ordered Magraw and his party to be arrested and conveyed to Richmond, which was done. They were detained there several months before satisfactory negotiations were had for their release. That this was the sole motive and object of the arrest was ad mitted by the National Intelligencer of Washington, at that time the recognized organ of the Administration. But this unprecedented and violent treatment of a non-combatant and an eminent Minister of the Government was not to be excused by fair-minded people, and hence the Administration presses began to trump up " vague surmises and frivolous suspicions " affecting Mr. Faulkner's fidelity at Paris, in order to apologize for the arbitrary act Mr. Seward himself seemed to have felt that the outrage required some show of defense, and he took notice of these imputations in a letter to Colo nel Burke, Commandant at Fort Lafayette, more than a month after the arrest. Mr. Faulkner was detained a prisoner about one month at Washington, six weeks in Fort Lafayette, New York Harbor, and six weeks at Fort Warren, near Boston, and released on the 9th of CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER. 63 December, 1861, when he returned to his home in Virginia. Whilst in prison he had an opportunity of learning the impression which his conduct as Minister had produced on the many able, patriotic indi viduals of this country who had visited Paris during his residence there as Minister. With not a single exception, their letters to him assured him of their unabated confidence in the honor of his charac ter, and his fidelity to the Government whose commission he had held The frequency of such arrests blunted the public sensibility after a time, and the duration and eventfulness of the war has, until of late, left little opportunity for justice to the misrepresented character of individuals. Mr. Faulkner never ceased, however, to vindicate the faithfulness and propriety of his conduct at the French Court, corresponded with distinguished men on the subject while in confine ment, and at the- end of the war promptly reopened communication with the State Department Mr. Lincoln, sensible of the injustice done to Mr. Faulkner, sent Mr. Ward H. Lamon, his subsequent biographer and confidential friend, to find Mr. Faulkner immediately after the occupation of Richmond, and regain his services in aid of the tranquilization and repose of Virginia; and Mr. Lamon has pub lished a most interesting statement on the subject since Mr. Lincoln's death, from which the following is an extract . " I know Mr. Lincoln disapproved of his arrest," wrote Mr. Lamon to John E. Schley ; " he said there was no just ground for it, but added that these were critical times, and he did not like to in terfere with that act of the Secretary of War, especially as Mr. Faulkner had made no appeal to him. The President had long en tertained a high regard and kind feeling for Mr. Faulkner as a public man, and kept by him in Illinois a copy of Mr. Faulkner's speech on the subject of slavery, often used it on the stump, and could re peat considerable portions of it from memory. He often talked with me on the subject, knowing that Mr. Faulkner was a favorite of my family in West Virginia." Mr. Lamon then states in detail what he well knew as Mr. Lincoln's Marshal, that in 1865 he addressed Mr. Faulkner an auto graph letter,, inviting him to return to his home, and offering him, the protection of the Government The letter was placed in the hands of Theodore Wilson, an officer, to be delivered to General Grant, and by him forwarded through the lines. At that period of the war it missed its destination. Marshal Lamon then narrates this inci dent, quaint and touching as it will be to Mr. Faulkner's posterity : 64 CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER. " I well remember my last interview with President Lincoln. It Was the day previous to his assassination. He was sending me to Richmond, which had then fallen, and was in possession of our troOps, on a special mission. In taking leave of him, the last Word3 he addressed to me were, ¦' Now, Lamon, be sure you don't return from Richmond without bringing Faulkner with you.' " Mr. Faulkner's shrewd observation and judgment detected the seeds of disorganization and failure as soon as he entered the Con federacy, and he spent the greater part of three years and a half there in scholastic retirement at the abode of his daughter, Mrs. Bocock, in Appomattox County. The official battle reports of Stonewall Jackson, which have been admired on both sides of the Potomac, were the compositions of Mr. Faulkner, written out from the rough notes of that celebrated commander. Of these he wrote tWenty-two, and all but the last were revised and signed by General Jackson. With this literary labor, which shows his grasp of great movements and faithfulness of detail, his active life in the Confede racy began and terminated. It has been said that the Southern revolt produced many heroes, but few who survived it with heroism. Amongst these latter the subject of our sketch may be classed as probably the most notable example in the South Reflective, studious, with a cheerful tem perament and flexible faculties, yet blessed with a remarkable tena city of purpose, he emerged from the war without self-accusation, and proceeded to redeem his affairs, resume the practice of his pro fession, and give aid and confidence to his neighborhood. "He has brought his large estate into excellent condition, and is President of the Berkeley County Agricultural and Mechanical Association, and President of the Martinsburg and Potomac Railroad Company. His practice is one of the largest in the South, and is pursued chiefly in the Supreme Court of the United States,4 the Court of Appeals of West Virginia, and the Courts of the Judicial Circuit where he resides. • '•¦'¦ Mr. Faulkner is now upward of sixty years of age, and of an agree able and Courteous address and refined appearance. He has blue eyes, which are of clear and quiet expression, and features express ive of decision and sensibility. His hair, formerly of a rich brown color, is tending to grey, but it retains the luxuriance of uniform health. He has a large family of children, who have become con nected by marriage with some of the most excellent households in the North and South. JOHN ¥. FOSTER. ON. JOHN W. FOSTER, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico, was born in Evans- ville, Indiana, and is now about thirty-eight years of age. He was graduated at the University of Bloomington, In diana, in 1855, and afterwards studied law in the University of Harvard at Cambridge, Massachusetts, from which he re ceived his degree. He then became associated with Governor Baker of Indiana in the practice of the law, and continued thus engaged until the breaking out of the war. His military record is briefly stated by a well-informed authority as follows : " In the Summer of 1861, he entered the army as Major of the Twenty-fifth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers. Shortly after organi zation, the regiment was ordered to St. Louis, where Gen. Fremont was in command, against Gen. Price, who then seemed to have the upper hand, and likely to gain possession of the State. In routing Price and his troops, the 25th Indiana played a conspicuous part ; and when the work was completed the regiment was ordered to Cairo, where they joined in the memorable movements against Forts Henry and Donelson, and won fame at Shiloh. The regiment led the charge at Fort Donelson, and suffered immense saorifice-of life, but not of honor. At the battle of Shiloh, Col. Vietch was in command of a brigade, Lieut CoL Morgan was severely wounded, and the burden of command through that hot, desperate storm fell upon Major Foster. But so gallant was his conduct and determined his bravt ery that promotion to Lieutenant-Colonel followed. After the army reached Memphis, while home on a furlough, he was commissioned to lead the 65th Indiana Regiment, and assigned to the Green River Department in Kentucky, between Green and Cumberland rivers, and soon became the terror of the guerrilla hordes in this locality. 66 JOHN W. FOSTER. Next he served under Burnside in Tennessee, and was the first to enter the oity of Knoxville, which had held out against the Federal forces in an unyielding siege up to the last moment Shortly after the capture of Knoxville he resigned his commission, but at the spe cial solicitation of Govs. Morgan and Baker, was induced to accept the Colonelcy of the 136th Indiana Regiment, and re-entered the service in May, 1864, serving with the same steadfast patriotism un til the close of the war. His army record manifested his qualities not only as a commander and disciplinarian, but as an executive officer, capable of conceiving plans and executing them at all hazard. At his resignation as Colonel of the 65th Regiment, he was recom mended by Gen. Burnside, and warmly indorsed by Gen. Grant, for a Brigadier-Generalship ; and this stamps with true desert the promo tion which his bravery had merited." Col. Foster served until the end of the war, and then passed two years in Cincinnati, after which he returned to Evansville, and became, in 1866, one of the editors and proprietors of the Evansville Journal, resuming, at the same time, the practice of his profession. Identifying himself fully with the growth and prosperity, as well as all the best interests of his native place, he became an active and efficient agent in obtaining the favorable congressional legislation which that city has enjoyed from time to time, including such meas ures as : The United States District Court ; Board of Steamboat In spection ; embracing Evansville in the list of Ports of Entry ; Gov ernment improvement of the harbor, a work now in progress ; the United States railroad bridge, and the new Government Building. In politics Col. Foster is, and has long been a zealous Republican, working earnestly and successfully in behalf of his party wherever occasion required for the past fifteen years. He was Presidential Elec tor of Indiana, a member of the National Republican Committee, and, in October, 1871, was chosen Chairman of the State Central Com mittee, in which position his able and skillful work is said to have done much toward the favorable Republican returns in the exciting political campaign of the Fall of 1872. Col. Foster was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, March 14th, 1873, and was confirmed on the 17th of the same month. Prior to his departure, the Chamber of Com merce of New Orleans entertained him with a grand banquet in his honor. The Union League of New York city were also desirous of JOHN W. FOSTER. 67 honoring him in the same manner, but were prevented by the Colo nel's inability, on account of previous arrangements, to accept He Sailed from New Orleans for Vera Cruz on May 20th, 1873, in the United States naval steamer Canandaigua, and in due time arrived in the city of Mexico, and entered upon his diplomatic duties. An illustrated Spanish paper of New York, in a biographical notice of Col. Foster, concludes as follows : " To the qualifications of fine natural talents, thorough education, sound judgment and political sagacity, are added in him a spotless character, dauntless courage and charming modesty, united with the firmest principle. Those who know him best, are confident that one who has so honorably and successfully discharged the duties heretofore devolved upon him, will, in his new position, while main taining the honor of the country he represents, win the confidence and esteem of that to which he is accredited Minister." Successful as a soldier, a journalist and a politician, it is but rea sonable to predict that the same will be his record as a diplomatist, in the very responsible and arduous field of labor to which he has been called JOHN JAY. . OHN JAY, Envoy Extraordinary, and Minister Pleni potentiary to Austria, was born in New York, 23d June^ 1817. He is the son of Judge William Jay, known as a jurist and philanthropist, and grandson of John Jay, the first Chief Justice. Young Jay lived in the family of his grandfather, at Bedford, Westchester County, New York, until the death of the latter in 1829. His. education, commenced' at home under private tutors, was con tinued at Dr. Muhlenbergh's Institute, at Flushing, where Bishops Bedell, of Ohio, and Odenheimer, of New Jersey, were his classmates, and at Columbia College, New York, where he graduated second in his class in 1836. He read law with the late Daniel Lord, Jr., in whose office Attorney General William M. Evarts was his fellow student. He married, in 1837, Eleanor, daughter of Mr. H. W. Field, and continued in the practice of the legal profession until 1858 ; when, upon the death of his father, with whom he had been constantly associated in the anti-slavery movement, he removed to the family place at Bedford. While in college, in 1834, he became a manager of the New York Young Men's Anti-Slavery Society, a branch of the National associa tion, which had been formed at Philadelphia by the representatives often States, December 30th, 1833. The Philadelphia Convention, at the suggestion of Judge William Jay, and in accord with the views declared by Congress in 1791, had recognized the right of each State to legislate exclusively on the subject of slavery within its limits, while they maintained the right and duty of Congress to abolish slavery in the Territories subject to its exclusive control ; and at the same time they declared that they would never in any way countenance the slaves in vindicating their rights by physical force. Despite these declarations, they were denounced by presses claiming to be respectable, as " plotters of murder, rapine, and a dissolution of the Union ; " and on the 4th of July, 1834, an anti-slavery meeting Japmc ),rnrf>j,vm-M/:'1'" CORNELIUS A. LOGAN. BY EDGAR S. MURRAY. 'ON. CORNELIUS A. LOGAN, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Chile, was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts, in the year 1832. In the year 1840, the family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where young Logan's boyhood and youth were spent. In this city, he received his academic and collegiate education, and in the year 1849 began the study of medicine nnder Profes sor John T. Shotwell, then one of the most distinguished surgeons in the West, whose office and residence occupied the site of the present handsome post-office and Government building of Cincin nati. Dr. Shotwell dying of cholera, in the year 1850, young Logan was transferred to the tutelage of Professor R. D. Mussey, whose reputation as a surgeon extended to the best schools of Europe. Mr. Logan gave early promise of great skill and usefulness in his profession, and in the Spring of 1853, he graduated from the Miami Medical College with high honors, and was im mediately elected by the faculty as the resident physician of St. John's Hospital, in which capacity he served for a period of about two years. Soon after, he was made assistant to the pro fessor of chemistry in Miami College, and in the following year was elected as the lecturer on chemistry, in a summer school of medicine. Seized, however, with the desire to seek a field where the opportunities for a young man might bring more immediate usefulness, he was induced by a friend to remove to a small, but then promising town in Indiana, where he at once entered upon a large and laborious practice. He had been there but a year, how ever, when he discovered that he had made a mistake in his selection of a residence, and, the Kansas excitement being at its height, he removed to Leavenworth in 1856, where he has ever since resided. 88 CORNELIUS A. LOGAN. Though educated in the democratic school of politics, Mr. Logan entered Kansas as a " Free-State man," and braved the dangers to which such sentiments exposed the early residents of that blood-baptized commonwealth. Though never an active politician, being singularly devoted to his profession, in which he has -attained great eminence, yet his voice and influence have con stantly been for the interests of freedom, and the pure principles of the Republican policy. Being an ardent student, and possessed of all the elements constituting the successful physician, Mr. Logan soon rose to the head of the Kansas profession. Upon the breaking out of the war in 1861, he was appointed by the Governor of Kansas, as the Chairman of the State Board of Medical Examiners, a position he held throughout the war, to the credit of himself and the State. In this capacity, he had occasion to " go to the front " during the " Price Raid " of 1864, and participated in the battle of West- port, and others of that campaign. In 1865 he was appointed a member of the Geological Corps of the State, and made a Report upon its Sanitary Relations, which was published with the principal report ; and which, as be ing about the first general contribution to the medical interests of Kansas, is regarded as possessed of great merit, and furnished ex tracts for a long time to the emigrant advertisements put forth by the various portions of the State. In 1868, with an associate, he estabhshed and edited " The Leavenworth Medical Herald," a publication which soon became noted for the vigor and strength of its articles. The periodical still exists, as the only medical journal in Kansas. In 1860, the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, conferred upon him the ad eundem degree, and in 1867 the Bellevue Hos pital Medical College of New York did the same. In 1868, Yale College conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. Be sides these distinctions, Mr. Logan has been elected to member ship by various literary and scientific societies ; while his con tributions have been many and various. But it is not alone in the department of medicine in which Mr. Logan has demonstrated his great worth to the State in which he lives. To him and his associate, Dr. Sinks, is due the demon stration and developement of the great coal field of northern CORNELIUS A. LOGAN. 89» Kansas. Up to 1860, various scientists had denied the existence of coal, in a workable quantity, north of the Kansas valley. Mr. Logan and the associate mentioned, had satisfied themselves of the bona fide existence of a coal-bed under the city of Leaven worth ; but, as it was known to be at the distance of, perhaps, several hundred feet, the question, how to infuse capitalists with their own faith and enthusiasm, and enlist the money for so gigan tic an enterprise, became a most serious one. The first step was to obtain a franchise, and with this view Mr. Logan went to Washing ton, and'succeeded in having a bill passed, giving the company which had been organized, the right to purchase twenty acres in . fee-simple of the Fort-Leavenworth Government Reservation, lying upon the north line of Leavenworth city, together with the exclu sive right to mine for all coal under that Reservation, embracing about seven thousand acres of land. This franchise was soon after augmented by Act of the Legislature of Kansas, and the City Council of Leavenworth granting the company the exclusive right to mine the streets and alleys of the city. With these rights secured, the search was commenced by boring. Owing to the unfavorable nature of much of the material to be passed through, three drill-holes were lost, which successively cost large sums of money. Discouraged at each loss, and with but little faith from the outset, the stockholders were frequently upon the point of abandoning the whole enterprise. It was a work of great difficulty to sustain the confidence of those whose capital could be remuneratively employed in undoubtedly secure investments, but Mr. Logan was equal to the emergency, and by his own enthusiasm, the waning fires were rekindled as often as they began to dim. At length, a coal-bed was reached by the drill at a distance of something over seven hundred feet from the surface. The next question was how to raise the funds to reach it with a shaft. Even after the demonstration by drill, there were few who would believe in the existence of a coal-bed at that locality, as high geological authority had pronounced against the possibility of its occurrence. It is a characteristic of most great minds, that they grow stronger under opposition, and it was fortunate for the people of Leavenworth that there was a man behind the enterprize, whose faith was of the sort which moves moimtains ; and whose mind never slept, whose arm never 90 CORNELIUS A. LOGAN. tired, and whose courage never failed, until the bmied wealth, destined to give impetus to a thousand industries, and comfort to millions of earth's toilers in the present and the future, was ren dered safely accessible to those who sought it. The importance of this developement cannot be overestimated. Its good results inure not alone to the benefit of the people of Leavenworth, to whom thousands of dollars are saved every year in the great re duction of the price of fuel consequent upon the opening of the mine, but to the whole people of northern Kansas, to whom is furnished a new and cheaper supply of fuel, and also a guide for future operations looking to the development of other coal veins throughout the section named. In the memorable Presidential campaign of 1872, Mr. Logan was induced to take as active a part as the growing cares of his business life would permit ; and the writer of this notice has been informed by a correspondent in Kansas, to whom he is indebted for its materials, that Mr. Logan's private influence and speeches — which are characterized as " profoundly eloquent in language, and convincing in argument," did much to augment the brilliant majority with which the Republicans carried the State of Kansas. So suddenly did the development of Mr. Logan's powers as a speaker carry him from the quiet paths along which his life had been spent, that some of Ms enthusiastic friends insisted upon making him a candidate for the United States Senate, before the Legislature which assembled in the month of January, 1873, and which body was to elect a successor to Senator Pomeroy. The history of that remarkable session, whereby Senator Pomeroy lost his place, if nothing more, is so well known to the country at large, as to need no repetition here. Up to the night of the " Anti- Pomeroy" caucus, immediately preceding the day of election, Mr. Logan was believed to be the coming man-; and his near friends still believe he was the choice of the " caucus " by a large majority. The bad faith of some members of his own delegation, however, induced his withdrawal, and his influence was thrown in favor of the caucus nominee, who was subsequently elected. No man perhaps, ever possessed truer or warmer personal friends, and believing Mr. Logan to be especially fitted for a public life, his name was presented to President Grant as a person emi- nently qualified to reflect credit upon his country at a foreign CORNELIUS A. LOGAN. 91 Capital. As a consequence of this representation, and of his wide reputation, he was nominated by the President on March 17th,, 1873, as Minister to Chile, and in a few days afterward was unani mously confirmed by the Senate. Mr. Logan decided to accept the position, and sailed from New York on the 20th of May, having been the recipient, a few days before, of a flattering testi monial, in the shape of a banquet, at the Union League Club Rooms, from the Odd- Fellows of New York City; of which in fluential and useful body he was then the Grand Sire, or head. officer of the institution throughout its jm*isdiction. For the foregoing facts, the writer is indebted to correspond ents in Kansas, who have known Mr. Logan intimately during his residence in that State. What, follows is gleaned from his own knowledge and observation, since Mr. Logan's advent in Chile. Arriving in Valparaiso on the 18th of June, he was formally received by the President on the 27th of the same month, as the accredited Minister of the United States near this Republic. Possessed of most agreeable and courteous manners and a fine ex pression, he soon rose to a position of flattering prominence in the diplomatic corps, and of great respect and esteem upon the part of the Government and people of Chile. To so great an extent was this the case, that within the first six months of his mission, he was selected by the Governments of Bolivia and Chile as Arbi trator to decide the boundary dispute, which has so long been a subject of discussion upon the part of, and has so frequently threatened hostilities between those governments. The district in dispute covers two degrees of latitude, comprehends all of the rich silver mines of " Caracoles," and involves a question of many millions of dollars. Owing to internal dissensions in the former country, and a change of Government, the amicable proceedings in the case have, been arrested; but it is confidently hoped and expected, they will again be resumed upon the restoration of peace and order in Bolivia. Determined to avail themselves of the services of so clear headed and upright a man, the Government of Chile, in April, 1874, proposed to the Government of Peru that the difference growing out of their alliance against Spain, in 1865, '66 and '67, should be submitted to Mr. Logan as Arbitrator, with the full faculties of a Judge, empowered to pronounce a sentence from 92 CORNELIUS A. LOGAN. which there should be no appeal. Secure in a sense of full and impartial justice, Peru at once accepted the proposition and a Protocol was duly executed constituting Mr. Logan Arbitrator. Seflor Felix C. C. Zegarra was appointed by his Government, the representative of Peru in the case, and Senor Joaquin Blest Gana the representative of Chile ; Senor Juan B. Lopez as Secretary, and Mr. Lionel Garden as the Secretary of the Arbitrator. The Court, thus constituted, proceeded to the business, and after seve ral months of hard and patient labor, Mr. Logan rendered his decision and award, in the salon of the Minister of Foreign Relations of Chile, on the 7th day of April, 1875. The occasion was a notable one, and will not soon be forgotten by those who witnessed it. The questions involved in the controversy were of a very delicate character, hinging upon the indefinite provisions of the Treaty of Alliance between the two nations, the radically different constructions of which had brought about the irreconcilable de mands of the allies. These questions had claimed the attention of, and had been profusely discussed by the most learned states men of both countries ; but after seven years, spent in the effort to meet upon a common ground, the parties found themselves no nearer a settlement, and had resolved to entrust the decision of the case to the acumen and research of a respected diplomat and friend. One of the prominent features of Mr. Logan's character is intense energy, combined with great industry, and these two faculties alone were of eminent service in the settlement of the knotty issues of the case. With a ready and rapid penetration, the Arbitrator quickly solved the hitherto contested points, and prescribed the true and proper basis upon which the liquidation of the allied accounts should be made. This work, which demanded not only legal acquirement, but also copious reference to authorities upon civil and international law, was, however, but the commence ment of the labor proper. This consisted in examining piles upon piles of vouchers, covering an expenditure of several million dollars, irregular and incomplete, with many hundred pages of correspondence ; all in a language, to which, eighteen months pre viously, the arbitrator had been an entire stranger. The wonder of how he accomplished it, and that too in the remarkably short period of about four months, has not yet been solved ; and is only CORNELIUS A. LOGAN. 93 equalled by the other fact, of his having rendered a decision so manifestly just and equitable, that both parties were entirely satis fied, and testified it by the most flattering expressions, official and unofficial. Indeed, the questions of the case, which had been written upon for several years, were presented in such a different light, and the true interpretation of the treaty was so entirely new, and supported by such convincing authority, as to carry acquies cence to both contestants. As an act closely connecting itself with our national history and honor, and therefore worthy of more permanent record than the pages of a newspaper afford, the following sketch of the scene upon the delivery of the sentence, taken from a Chilean paper, may, not inappropriately, be inserted here : AWARD OP THE ARBITRATOR. We informed our readers some months ago that the Peruvian and Chilian governments had mutually agreed to submit the questions arising out of the liquidation of the accounts of the allied squadron during the war with Spain, to arbitration, and that the choice of the representatives of both nations had fallen upon the Honorable Cornelius A. Logan, Envoy Extraordinary aud Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to this country, as arbitrator upon the points at issue. We took advantage of the opportunity then presented to us to con gratulate both countries on the selection they had made of arbitrator, and to express our belief that in the hands of such an able and judicious Referee as the Honorable Cornelius A. Logan, the question at issue between the two republics would be promptly and satisfactorily solved. The result has proved the correct ness of our opinions. The labors of the honorable arbitrator have been of no light nature, for he has had to sift the truth out of an entangled mass of docu ments that had set at defiance all previous attempts at a settlement, and this very onerous duty has been performed in such a manner, as to give unmixed satisfaction to everybody concerned in the matter. The arbitrator's award, which is a masterly document, was delivered, in duplicate, on the 7th instant, in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in the presence of Senor Enrique Cood, Minister for Foreign Affairs ; Senor Adolfo Ibaiiez, ex- Minister for Foreign Affairs ; Senor Bleat Gana, representative of Chile ; aud Selior Zegarra, repre sentative of Peru. After presenting his award the Honorable C. A. Logan spoke as follows : — Honorable Sirs, — Having concluded mytaskasarbitratorin the question that has been, pending between your respective governments, it is now my duty to communicate to you my decision. With this view I at first thought it would be best to read to you the sentence in extenso ; but, on second consideration, I have resolved, with your permission, to simply place a copy of the sentence in the hands of each of your representa tives. This procedure appears to be the most proper one in view of the sentence, which requires, in order that it may be clearly understood in all its parts, to be carefully considered, giving to it all that attention which it would be impossible to do if it were simply read by a third party. 94 CORNELIUS A. LOGAN. I have prepared, therefore, two copies of the sentence, one for each of the parties to the case, and in placing them in your hands, it will not be out of place to say a few words respecting the contents of these documents. I have found the task confided to me much more laborious and compli cated than I had imagined when I accepted your mark of confidence. This has arisen in part from the very irregular nature of the questions pending between the allies, if I may be allowed so to speak ; and in part from the fact that the arbitrator has been under the necessity of giving a different interpre tation to the treaty and to the manner of carrying out the liquidation, to that adopted by the honorable parties to the alliance. Hence arises the neces sity for making almost an entirely new liquidationr One of the difficulties has been that neither of the parties appears to have known how much money had been expended by the other on account of the alliance. In the liquidation Calvo-Reyes one ally was credited with a disbursement much smaller than it really made, while scarcely anything was conceded to the other. The alteration made by the arbitrator in the date of the commencement of the alliance ; the different view he takes with regard to the time in which each allied vessel became chargeable to both parties, and with respect to ex penditure that did not -properly belong to the joint account, gives to the balance a very different result to that of the original liquidation. If the arbitrator has incurred any errors, they are errors of judgment, ml by no means intentional: nor could they arise from want of assiduity, for he has labored with activity and zeal to find the true solution of the difficult questions involved in the matter. . In fulfilment of the desires of the honorable representatives, the arbitra tor has named the total sum of the net balance ; and, as is expressed in the same document, from this sum there must be deducted the exact amount paid in money on account. In conclusion, I desire to give my sincere thanks to Senor Adolfo Ibanez, ex-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Chile, for his kind attentions during the course of this work, and to the honorable representatives of Peru and Chile for the kindness and patience with which they have assisted me. Such as it is I deposit this work in your hands, as the judgment and sentence given in conformity with the protocol appointing me arbitrator, and I trust that the careful revision and study of the opinions on which the decision is founded, will convince both parties of its justice. The Minister for Foreign Affairs replied as follows : — Honorable Sir: — It is pleasing to me on this occasion to be-able to fulfil a duty, not only of courtesy, but of justice. In making known to you the acknowledgements of my government for the importaut service you have rendered to two nations, I do nothing more than offer a just tribute to your zeal and untiring assiduity. When the two Republics confided to your care the grave matter that you have just decided, they were both convinced that they would find in Mr. Logan a mutual friend, whose upright judgment, guided by the strictest impartiality, would soon bring it to a termination. I can assure you that my Government will know howto appreciate properly the new title that you have added to the many you already possess to the sincere esteem which I feel it to be an honor to offer to you. Together with the satisfaction of having faithfully fulfilled a highly delicate CORNELIUS A. LOGAN. 95 mission, you can also rest assured that you have contributed in an efficacious manner to remove a motive of discord between two countries and two govern ments that are desirous of maintaining the most cordial relations. Senor Zegarra, the representative of Pert, expressed himself as follows : The Government of Pert will shortly receive the grateful news that the questions arising out of the accouats of the alliance have been settled by the award of the honorable arbitrator. I believe that I faithfully interpret its feelings when I assure you that on its part it is animated by the same sentiments as those expressed by H. E. the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and that it will learn with pleasure that there has disappeared a controversy that had been already prolonged much more than was compatible with the fraternal relations of Pert and Chile. The award of the honorable arbitrator, whatsoever may be its details, will be a just and equitable settlement of all the complicated and difficult questions that we have been discussing during some months past; and, on the other hand, it will confirm the high opinion my Government has ever had, and which it has - always been proud to express, of the vast attainments, strict impartiality, aud unsullied honor of H. E. the Honorable C. A. Logan, to whom it is to me a pleas ing and an honorable duty to offer to-day, in the name of the Government of Pert, its most cordial acknowledgements, for his untiring efforts to bring to a happy conclnsion the delicate questions submitted to his decision. Senor Blest Gana, the representative of Chile, expressed himself as follows : Sir, — lam as yet unacquainted with the terms of your award. Nevertheless, I do not hesitate to affirm that they will be the genuine expression of justice. As the representative of the Republic in this complicated business, and having been associated with yon in your labors, I have had the opportunity of comprehending the elevated spirit and impartial opinion by which you have ever been guided in our difficult investigations. Thanks to the clearness of your observations, it has been possible for us to arrive at the happy end of a journey whose obstacles have not been less than its duration. The better part of it belongs, sir, to you, and as a witness of it, I fulfil the obligation of declaring to you that together with the gratitude of two Republics, you have gained a well earned guerdon for your indefatigable constancy. It must be as satisfactory to you, sir, as it is to us, to know that the sentence given in this entangled controversy, far from weakening the intimate relations of Chile and Pert, will, on the contrary, be a new bond that will strengthen them. The desire of both governments has been to arrive at the truth by means of an amicable discussion. Whatsoever that may be which in your opinion repre sents the rights of each one of the contending parties, they cannot forget that, having existed during many years as brothers, it is their duty to continue to strengthen their uninterrupted fraternity. The ex-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sefior Ibanez, thanked Mr. Logan for the kind expression he had used towards him, and said that it afforded him great pleasure to be able to add his testimony with respect to the assiduity with which the arbitrator had fulfilled his task, and. added that the Government had found in Senor Blest Gana, a representative whose labors corresponded in every respect to the importance and complicated nature of the matter. The good results of this work are not entirely personal to Mr. Logan, but reflect an honor upon his country, which it may well accept 'with self-congratulation. The two South American 96 CORNELIUS A. LOGAN. Repubhcs, between which there had always been a cordial amity, but whose good relations were frequently upon the . point of severance, growing out of their vexatious contest, have again been brought together, through the efforts of the representative of a friendly nation ; and the immediate effect has been, not alone to awaken a sense of gratitude toward him, but to create a f eeling of greater respect and of warmer yearning for the " Great Re public," than had previously existed ; and these sentiments have found copious and emphatic expression from the people, the press, and the Executives of the two Governments. Mr. Logan has distinguished himself highly, also, in the brief period of his incumbency, in the more immediate line of his official duties; and, by the position of confidence and regard which he enjoys at the Chilean Capital, he has been instrumental in forwarding the interests of our Government to an unexpected extent. This is evidenced by many of his official acts, and nota bly that of bringing the Chilean Government to acquiesce in the justice of a claim of certain citizens of Massachusetts, for the seizure and detention of the whaling-ship " Good Return," in the year 1832. This acquiescence had been steadily resisted by the Chilean Government, and the correspondence upon the subject had been voluminous, exhaustive and barren of good result. Mr. Logan's advocacy of the claim so changed the opinions of the Government of Chile, that in eighteen months from his arrival, its fulljustice was recognized to the extent of paying promptly, in cash, the whole indemnity asked for by the claimants. Other instances of efficiency might be cited, but it may be briefly said, that in such estimation is Mr. Logan held by the Government of Chile, that many persons of different nationali ties seek his influence in preference to all others ; as, having acquired the reputation of strict probity, and conscientious regard for the rights of all, it is well-known his voice is never unheard, nor his suggestions unheeded. Amid all the cares of official position, however, Mr. Logan has still found time to prosecute scientific inquiries, which will doubtless be of much service to his fellow-men, hereafter. Chief among these are his experiments upon the remarkable, and in these countries alarming, phenomena of earthquakes. As" is well- known, these frequently disastrous occurrences are generally CORNELIUS A. LOGAN. 97 attributed, by the most recognized authorities, to volcanic action ; but a close observation of their habits and incidents soon convinc ed Mr. Logan of their electrical character; and the experiments made by him seem so conclusive as to leave little doubt of the correctness of his theories. These theories have a reference, which the writer is not able to elaborate or clearly explain, to the clouds brought from the Atlantic by the trade winds, being caught by those lofty peaks of the Andes, never pressed by the foot of man, and robbed, not only of their moisture, but, in the earthquake season, of their electricity; and to opposite currents or electrical states flowing from the pole in the winter season, whereby the earth and ocean become conductors for enormous currents of electricity, the passage of which from cloud to ocean, and vice versa, at certain intervals, gives rise to all of the effects of earthquakes. The passage of these currents during every " shake," has been proven by Mr. Logan in two ways. First, by the magnetic needle, to which he has affixed an ingenious little contrivance, whereby every deflexion of the needle is made self- registering upon the dial plate. Every earthquake invariably shows a deflexion of the needle, varying in extent according to the violence of the shock and -direction of the current. And second, by an instrument termed the gold-leaf electrometer, which, being placed just beneath the surface of the earth, and observed during a shock, gives violent evidence of the electrical current. Mr. Logan has also made constant experiments upon the atmos phere, in relation to the agent or body called ozone, with the view of recording its maximum and minimum, before and after the oc currence of an earthquake. These theories and experiments, as before stated, cannot be explained by the writer, but it is the in tention of Mr. Logan to publish them in the shape of a treatise, upon his return to the United States. This notice, intended to be very brief, has grown so under the pen, as to admonish the writer of the necessity of bringing it to a speedy close. It could be lengthened to a much greater extent, but the observations already made will, doubtless, serve to demon strate, that, though the post is not one of first-class importance, yet the present Minister to Chile has so well improved his talent, as to entitle him to rank at the very head of the diplomatic service of the United States. JAMES R. PARTRIDGE. ON. JAMES RUDULPH PARTRIDGE, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to Brazil, was born in Baltimore, Mary land, on the 26th October, 1823. He was graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1841, and then studied law r$&~ at the-Harvard Law School until 1843. For a few years thereafter, Mr. Partridge traveled in Europe, returning to the United States in 1845, and, in 1846, he entered at the bar of Baltimore and practiced law for a few years only until 1854. He was sent on a commission to Mexico, in October, 1852, and in November, 1855, he was elected member of the House of Delegates of Maryland, where he was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. In January, 1858, he was appointed by Governor Hicks, Secretary of the State of Maryland, and held that position until April, 1861. Mr. Partridge was appointed Minister Resident to the Republic of Honduras, in January, 1862, and in the following November, was transferred to Salvador, where he continued as Minister Resi dent until his resignation in May, 1866. He was offered the posi tion of Minister Resident to the Argentine Republic, by Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, in April, 1866, but de clined the appointment. In May, 1870, he was appointed Minister Resident to Venezuela, where he remained until May, 1871, and in November of that year, he was sent on a commission to the Rio Grande frontier, Mexico. He was there engaged until' February, 1872. Mr. Partridge was appointed United States Envoy Extraordin ary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Brazil, in June, 1872, and '" ""'tefonq tMfwnw Ca'tif" Iifk ^^^-^^^^i^^yy^ JAMES R. PARTRIDGE. 99 continues to hold that important diplomatic post at this time (1876). It will be seen from /the foregoing, that-Mr. Partridge has had a long and varied experience in the diplomatic service of our government, and it is but simple justice to add that he has dis charged the duties of the offices to which he has been called, with such ability and efficiency as to command the approval and satis faction of the Honorable Secretaries of State, Seward and Fish, as well as of the several administrations under which he has served. In fact he is regarded as one of the ablest, most experienced and most trustworthy of our diplomatists. His reports to- the State Department on various matters affecting Brazil and pertaining to his mission, evince a thorough knowledge of the interests and institutions of the country to which he is ac credited. Brazil is just now attracting the attention of the people of this country, and its commercial importance is being more generally appreciated than heretofore. It is the only monarchy in the New World, and embraces two-fifths of the great South American continent. Its principal staples are coffee, cotton, and unrefined sugar. The country is, however, rich in precious metals and diamonds, the exportation of the latter amounting to about $1,500,000 annually. The commercial relations of the Empire with the United States could be largely increased with increased means of communication between the two countries. The United States offer the chief mart for Brazilian coffee, which article stands for one-half the entire quantity exported, and we in return send machinery, implements ofyarious kinds, and notions, the consump tion of which is steadily increasing in the "Empire. In the last volume of " Foreign Relations of the United States," issued in 1875 by the State Department at Washington, appear quite a number of interesting communications from Mr. Partridge, among which may be mentioned : a statistical report of the finan cial condition of Brazil for a series of years ; a full and valuable report of the revenue system of Brazil taken from the estimates and facts set forth in the report of the Brazilian Minister of Finance for 1874 ; a report on the proposed duty on coffee imported into the United States, with special reference to the tariff laws of Brazil and the United States ; the exportation to and consumption of coffee in the United States, together with interesting statistics con cerning the same ; the depression in commercial affairs partly due 100 JAMES R. PARTRIDGE. to excessive importation ; imports into Rio Janeiro, and a review of the financial condition and the causes leading thereto. There are also reports on agricultural interests ; the heavy export duty as affecting the cultivation of sugar, and the revenue difficulty ; as also a further discussion of the Brazilian export of coffee to the United States, the effects of the probable restoration of the duty on coffee in the United States, and tables showing the exports of coffee from Brazil for a number of years. Concerning the expor tation of coffee to this country Mr. Partridge gives the following information in one of his reports just mentioned : " The consumption of coffee in the United States is steadily and almost regularly increasing, and does not appear to be at all affect ed by the recurrence of financial distress. Thus, in the twelve months preceding June 30, 1873, there were imported into the United States 293,000,000 pounds of coffee ; and in the next ensu ing twelve months, up to 30th June, 1874, including the nine months following the September (1873) " panic," there were im ported over 295,000,000 pounds ; showing an increase of over 2,000,000 pounds, notwithstanding the lessened commercial activity and prosperity of the country during that year. And the differ ence in the price paid therefor is still more striking. During the year first named, (up to June 30, 1873,) the declared (custom house) value of the (293,000,000 pounds of) coffee then imported, was $44,000,000 ; while during the following year, (including the effects of the panic,) the 295,000,000 pounds of coffee was valued at $55,000,000 ! Thus during a year of distress the people of the United States consumed 2,000,000 pounds of coffee more, and paid therefor a sum greater by $11,000,000 (25 per cent, more) than they had done during the year preceding, which is, now at least, thought to have been a time of inflation and wild speculation. During that year (1873-4) the shipments from Brazil to the United States were only about 188,000,000 pounds (against 215,000,000 in 1872-3 ; 236,500,000 in 1874-5,) and making only about 64 per cent, of that whole import, instead of the usual proportion of from 70 to 77 per cent. This falling off, however, in coffee from Bra zil during that year (while the whole import from other countries was much greater) was due to the fact of the very high price of coffee in Rio in that year for shipment to Europe, where prices had much risen in consequence of short crops in those countries (Ceylon, Java, &c.) from which supplies for Em-ope came." Reference is here made to but a few of the many reports made by Mr. Partridge to the State Department and published in the volume before mentioned. DANIEL E. SICKLES. Bt Gen. John Watts de Petsteb. *N presenting to our readers a brief memoir of Major-Gen- eral Daniel E. Sickles, late Envoy Extraordinary and Min ister Plenipotentiary to Spain, it is scarcely possible to do full justice to one who is a complete type of the American, per se; that is, a man formed by our institutions, and so developed by them and their influences upon the bases of nat ural abilities, as to be fit for every position to which he has been called by ordinary and extraordinary circumstances. His career is an eminent proof of the reverse of the proverb — or the truth of one of the most striking exceptions to an acknowleged rule — that one who undertakes to shine on the most opposite lines cannot become a proficient in any. Sickles has embraced the most contrary professions, and in each and all has been rewarded with such brilliant success, as demonstrates that he possesses a remarkable com bination of innate or instinctive capacity, adaptability, and compre hensive power. He has swung like a pendulum from the extremes of politics to soldiership, sweeping in like manner through the inter mediate degrees from common law to diplomacy or statesmanship, and in each and every position assumed by self-confidence or im posed by the people upon him, through their faith in him, the individ ual of their choice, he has made his mark, and a shining one, in the history of the period which has elapsed since he obtained man's estate. He has not only served his constituents and country with success and sagacity, but he has borne himself with such courteous dignity and mental force that he has made world-wide talk, and excited wonder at the lad who grew into the representative in Congress, the persuasive and (in that sense) eloquent orator, the reliable lawyer, the able soldier, the excellent general, and the accomplished diplomat, capable in all these of matching himself against the brightest spirits of the age, in the halls of legislation or of justice ; upon the rostrum 102 DANIEL E. SICKLES. or in the senaculum ; upon the " sublime " battle-field, and amid the less grand but equally important preparations for the bloody struggle which tried and tested the manliest souls ; and at foreign courts. Indeed, at Madrid-;— during a period of unusual difficulty — he proved himself a fit exponent of American feeling. He bore himself with such a manly straightforwardness and mental power, as -to win the confidence, on the one hand of those who sent him thither to represent this, the greatest republic of all time ; and on the other hand, the respect of those who administered the affairs of a people the most susceptible and jealous, the most difficult to bring to a resultive decision among the family of European nations. All the memoirs in this work are too restricted in space to admit of a detailed examination of the life of even the greatest of our repre sentative men, therefore, let us commence the retrospect of this man's wonderful career when the initiative clash of the " Great American •Conflict," summoned every citizen to take sides for or against the Union. Although a Democrat of the most decided views, the patriotism of Sickles was proof against the wiles and shackles of party. He threw down the gauntlet to faction and to section, and he hastened to organize a Brigade, which assumed as its designation the motto of ¦ his native State, " Excelsiob," a title which it afterwards proved that it could wear as deservedly as it had adopted it proudly and with a self-consciousness of ability to sustain it meritoriously. He was among the first to appear in arms for the rescue of the menaced capitol of the nation. Well did that Brigade repay the cares and energy of its military parent. It was prominent in the crimson aurora of the con test at Williamsburg, May 5th, 1861, and carried off, there, the first honors of that bloody fray, which demonstrated to the world how short a space of time was requisite to convert — under a leader of ad dress and ability — law-abiding American citizens into unsurpassed fighting men and first-rate soldiers. Through every fluctuating phase of the ensuing four-years-ebb and flow of the campaigns of The Ar my of the Republic (The Army of the Potomac), that Brigade con-' tinued to glorify the name of its originator, organizer, and first com mander, until, at length, a scanty remnant still in arms and under comrades who had experienced their baptism of fire in its first en gagement, witnessed, as victorious veterans, the culminating catas trophe at Appomattox Court House. How much of the ultimate triumph was due to the exertions of such patriots as their original. DANIEL E. SICKLES. 103 organizers and leaders, among whom stands forth prominently Daniel E. Sickles. Promoted to the command of Hooker's white diamond division, by a marvel of re-habilitation, Sickles, in two months, brought up that glorious fought-out fighting power, this half of the original " glorious Old Third Corps " (reduced to less than 4,500 men by battles and sufferings, through doing more than its share of labors and battles on the Peninsula and under Pope) to the strength of 11,000 men. These were then reviewed by President Lin- ' coin, Gen. Banks, and other distinguished officials, who were all as tonished at the recuperative power of the division through the new life infused into this command by Sickles. For the next two months Sickles, with the assistance of two squadrons of cavalry, protected the left of. McClellan's army, and maintained intact the whole line, not only of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, but also the tele- , graphic communication from Alexandria down to Warrenton, pre serving, last but not least, the most important bridge across Cedar Creek. ' Such was his work, thoroughly performed, until the supersedere of McOlellan by Burnside gave a new turn to affairs, and with his, the first command of " Fighting Joe" Hooker's Division, Sickles rejoined the Third Corps, and the Army of the Potomac. This corps the writer has a personal innate conviction was to the Eastern Army what Davoust declared that his Third Corps would be to the Grand Army of Napoleon, even that which the Tenth Legion had been to Caesar. Comprising Kearny's old red patch division under Birney ; Hooker's original white diamond, under Sickles ; and the newly original blue lozenge under Whipple, once more, if not in reality for the first time complete, it moved off southward to participate in the slaughter — due in a great measure to that spirit which had already done so much to render Pope's effort abortive — on the banks of the lower Rappah annock. There Sickles had little opportunity to exhibit the stuff of which he was made ; but what little was allotted to him was sufficient to demonstrate, in addition to his previous services, that one of our best regular Corps Commanders was perfectly correct in his judgment of the new Volunteer Corps Commander. "Sickles," he declared " was the smartest man in the Army of the Potomac :" — not the best soldier, but the smartest man in the army which contained so very many able men. 104 DANIEL E. SICKLES. Again elevated and now promoted to the command of the Third Corps itself — that noble body of tried and true, learned to idolize him as the type of a considerate, capable, and courageous chief He displayed at Chancellorsville' a tenacity and reliability, which made -the fighting of his famous Red, White, and Blue Diamonds the grand feature of that extraordinary combination of resultive glories and re- sultless exhibitions of the grandest military qualities ; the former at tributable chiefly, and the latter due in no degree to the troops which Sickles commanded It was Sickles and the Third Corps fought the battle of Hazel Grove, at Chancellorsville proper, on Sunday, 3d May, 1863, and if the decimated fragments of the organizations wearing the Lozenge patches yielded the ground to the overwhelming forces hurled upon them, all that is resplendent in the action and the atti tude of both generals and soldiers, was undeniably theirs. Hurried from the sanguinary Wilderness of Chancellorsville to the crimsoned slopes and bloodier Peach Orchard at Gettysburg, it was Sickles, who, responsive to the summons of the cannon of the first days' battle, first, of his own instinctive soldiership, hastened to the xescue, and appeared on "the field of decision." How his Corps fought and suffered in deciding that the great battle at the East — the culminating battle of the war on the Atlantic slope of the Allegha- nies — should be fought and fought, and at Gettysburg, is a matter now of " sifted " history. In the death grapple, The battle of the three days' fighting there, the Third Corps was reduced again from a strong Corps, to a Division, less in numerical force than the new division, which was added after the conflict to the two other depleted veteran ¦divisions, and there, Sickles, on the 2d July, 1863, at the Peach Or chard, in preserving the Round Tops, the key point of the field, lost his right leg in the mid-melee, holding his shattered regiments up to their terrible and incalculably important work. With this mutilation Sickles' military career in the field terminated Not necessarily so, because such was his energy and vitality, that within eighteen days after the amputation Sickles paid his respects in person to the President, and within three weeks he was on horseback. He might have taken the field again with honor to himself and his Corps, which idolized him, had he not been prevented by those baneful influences which have deprived so many countries and armies of the services of their wisest and bravest, at moments of vital im portance to the result That he did not lead his Corps again was no fault of his nor of his loving soldiers. DANIEL E. SICKLES. 105 Witness his reception at Fairfax Slation by his old troops, on his return to the field. The " reception " which Sickles experienced from his old divisions (three fused into two), " the Third Corps as WE understand it" ought to have consoled him, in a great measure, for his failure to recover his command of the Third Corps. It was a parallel to the " adieux " when he was torn with equal injustice from the Excelsior Brigade, in the Spring of 1861 ; when the cries of his. troops only grew, silent with the dissipation of the smoke of the steamer which bore him away ; only ceased long after the vessel itself had disappeared from sight. This incident has often been dwelt upon ; it stirred the hearts of men deemed insensible to emotion, and lingered as a touching and remark able event in their memories. The news of his arrival at Fairfax Station was no sooner made known,, than all the regiments which prided themselves on having served under him as their brigade, division, and corps, commander, from the period of gloom succeeding the first Bull Run into which he threw the first gleam of light ; from that of the sickening disasters on the Peninsula; from that of the sadder slaughter at the first Fredericksburg; from that most glorious Sabbath at Hazel Grove; and from that even more persistent exhibition of valor between the Peach Orchards — redder with his own and comrades' blood than any fruit, with ripeness — and the Round Tops (Gettysburg) ; all these, veterans, — baptized and then annealed in the fire of battle and the sweat of labors and of marches — formed in double rank, without arms, on either side along the whole length of the road which he had to traverse to reach Birney's headquarters. Birney met the mutilated " hero of Gettysburg " with a wagon and four. Their appearance was the signal for explosions of " welcome," such as were seldom heard even in the old imperial Napoleonic armies. The horses could only advance at a slow walk. From one end of the line to the other, cheer upon cheer burst forth like crashes of thunder, succeeding so fast and loud that the acclamations blended into one continued peal, which did not cease with his passage, but followed it with equal fervor. The air was filled, overburthened with plumed hats and caps and wild hurrahs, and the welcome exhibited every phase of that honest, heartfelt, affectionate enthusiasm, which is so rare — an enthu siasm born of the thorough appreciation of the cool, smiling bravery his men had so often witnessed in the field. This made the spontaneous ovation to their beloved commander an honest expression of the. 106 DANIEL E. SICKLES. deepest respect and the loftiest love; and even when Sickles "had disappeared within the tent of Birney, escorted by the brigadiers, the men assembled in mass around, and gave way yet, for a long time, to the unrestrained expression of their joy simply at having seen him again. '* These hurrahs for Sickles seemed to have made his enemies' ears tingle for a long time afterwards, and found expression and relief in the hazing or harassing of those who had uttered them." , Outsiders and civilians may undertake to argue that all this lip homage was a mere " hurrah ! " Those who cannot appreciate how very near a brave and able general comes to being transmuted into an idol by a soldiery who have followed him into the fire, watched how he bore himself there like a hero, and seen him share their sufferings and fatigues, will hardly yield their faith to any argument, because they are incapable of such a state of feeling — because, never having been in a like position, their hearts cannot expand sufficiently to comprehend it. To such, and they are -legion, let another fact speak — a fact which even cold-blooded egotists can understand. The Third Corps felt not only with their lips but in their pockets for Sickles. On the 14th of August previous, " the camps (of the Third Corps) witnessed an affecting spectacle. The veterans of many honorable battles — the officers and men of Kearny's and Hooker's divisions of the Third Corps — contributed their pay for one day to purchase for Gen. Sickles, their gallant and disabled commander, a magnificent carriage, horses and harness, as an expression of their lov ing respect; and when the wounded returned from the hospitals they would not be pacified -till their names were added to the long list The good opinion of these brave soldiers — of one man who bore a musket, and had seen and admired his conduct at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg — was offar greater weight than the carping of generals who sat in their chairs of ease and safety at Washington. The cheers of such voices, and especially those from the ranks, will resound through future centuries;" while the contemptible sneers at Gen. Sickles and the heroes of Newbern and Lookout Mountain are im perceptible." " This reception," to translate Gen de Trobriand (ii., 188), " it must be confessed, was not a manifestation in honor of their former corps commander alone. ******** In war, soldiers are perfectly able to appreciate the intrinsic worth of their generals. It is not by tacitly permitting some one or an other vulgar vice prohibited to them, or by converting authority into DANIEL E. SICKLES. 107 the instrument of intrigues, that a general acquires the confidence of his troops." To this fact the^ famous Marshal de Rochambeau, the friend and comrade of Washington, bears eloquent testimony. " Their confidence is won only when he shows that he is fit to command. Be just and you can be severe, without exciting any resentment, even in the breasts of those who have been subjected to merited punishment. Be partial; and your indulgence towards some, like your exactions in regard to others, will result equally in the contempt of both— the fevored and the wronged. In his heart of hearts the soldier always cherishes a sentiment of justice, which regulates his judgment of his superior. His own nearest personal interest is immediately connected with this ; for how often the life of the private depends upon an. order of his general — the result of a correct or erroneous inspiration. This is the reason why bad generals spoil the best of troops, whereas good generals retrieve bad troops. ' The same men fight altogether differently, according as they are well or ill commanded If troops have confidence in their general, they dash upon the enemy with an enthusiasm which knows no limit ; because they feel satisfied that their regiment will not be compromised unnecessarily ; and that if die they must, their deaths will at least be useful to the> cause to which they have devoted themselves. On the other hand, if they feel that they are badly commanded — if they feel a conviction that they are to be sacrificed without result, through a want of judgment, or by an intelligence obscured by the fumes of whiskey — then indecision takes the place of enthusiasm. They advance under fire simply -in obedience to discipline, and for the preservation of their self-respect In such a case, if they meet with energetic resistance, it is safe to bet that they will fall back, growling against the commander whom, in their distrust, they hold responsible for their check — whereas, in the former Case* they will carry the position without counting the cost. There fore it is not surprising that, when an occasion presents itself, soldiers testify somewhat boisterously the interest they feel in the selection (bv others) of a general imposed upon them." In this view of the case — and it would seem a perfectly just one — the testimony of this reception settled the vexed question: that "the Third Corps, as WE understand it, endorsed, justified and exalted Sickles ; and who is there but must bow to the verdict of the fight ing soldier upon a commander who has shared his perils, who has fought, who has bled, who has been mutilated in the forefront of battle by his side." 108 DANIEL E. SICKLES. From that time forward Sickles was assigned to various positions of trust, requiring peculiar qualifications, but as a General, the battle field witnessed no more of his smiling serenity, his calm courage, his fiery alacrity and able handling of large masses of men. It has been averred that about the time when Hooker was harassed into resigning, Sickles was talked about for the command of the Army of the Po tomac, and that Lincoln, if left to himself, would have conferred that high trust upon the volunteer chief. Had the President done so, there is no doubt that he would have commanded the Army with wonderful ability, if the application of his remarkable characteristics could have found a compensative power for his inexperience in such a trying position, in the assistance of the able men he would have undoubtedly assembled about him, but more particularly in his military family or staff. The world has presented some of the most noted examples of civilians, of born generals, who have achieved by instinct all that is generally supposed to be due to steady training and experience. Consider, for instance, the spontaneous capacity for command in the field displayed by Lucullus, cited by the great Frederick ; Spinola, whose feats of generalship, pure and simple, made him a match for the master military spirit of the age ; Cromwell ; Clive, the most won derful instance of all as to grand results — and, not to multiply references — Schuyler and Greene of Revolutionary celebrity, second to none in this country's struggle- for independence. These examples are cited, not to institute a comparison, but because the world is too prone to believe that no man can become fit to command without a long apprenticeship, forgetting that genius and even less common- sense capacity and training, in other parallel lines, involving the leadership of men, can leap many grades, by which one by one ordi nary ability has to climb slowly and laboriously to the point, for which the former seem to have been adapted by nature. Perhaps there is no better proof of the fitness of Sickles for a 'great trust, hke the one referred to, than the acquisition by him, in the brief space of a few months, of the esteem and absolute devotion of his Corps — a love which not only permeated every grade of rank, but was transfused throughout the rank and file. Time has not abated this affection, for it bums as warmly and brightly to-day as when he was struck down in their midst This fact alone would be sufficient to stamp Sickles as an extraordinary man. DANIEL E. SICKLES. 109 It must not be supposed that Sickles' usefulness closed with his military command in July 2d, 1863. He was one of those men whose services could not be dispensed with in the throes of an imperiled country. He was shortly after intrusted with an important mission of military inspection throughout the Southwest, which duties he fulfilled with rare intelligence. After this, he was dispatched as Minister to Bogota, capital of the Republic of New Grenada, in South America. On his return, and subsequent to the conclusion of hostilities, the pacification, or, perhaps more properly speaking, the reorganization of one of the districts of the conquered confederacy was confided to his energetic vigilance and experienced powers of ad ministration. With his headquarters at Charleston, the fountain-head of resistance to the national authority, he displayed a capacity for government which, in that respect, ranked him second to no other in the country. This result fortifies the previous remark, that a man who has displayed an innate power to lead and control men has been fitted by nature for any command, even military command, always provided that in addition thereto, Providence has gifted him with another peculiar attribute — possessed in a prominent degree by William III, of England — the power of rising with the necessities of moment and position, a comprehensive power which presupposes great personal courage and that rarer quality, coup-d'ceil, a term almost untranslatable, which has been adopted from the French into all languages, which is only faintly expressed in English by a fortunate aptitude of eye involving an instantaneous clear perception of what is doing and must be immediately done. Ifi 1869, one of Grant's first selections to represent the nation at foreign courts was that of Sickles, who had done so much towards his election as President General Sickles' reception by the Spanish government, over which Gen. Serrano presided at the time, was such as indicates that his rep utation as one of the bravest of soldiers, one of the most able of public men, and as one of- the most highly patriotic of citizens had preceded him to his new sphere of duties. Such, indeed, must be the im pression made upon any one who has examined the accounts of his introductory intercourse with the Spanish authorities. After that his course was one of dignified firmness, for the position of an Amer ican representative at the Court of Madrid must have been any thing but a " bed of roses." Under circumstances which, if we can trust the ordinary vehicles of intelligence, might have eventuated 110 DANIEL E. SICKLES. in terrible explosions of popular antipathy such as characterized the official residence of Marshal Villars in 1700-1 ; of Bernadotte in Vienna, 1798 ; of Joseph Bonaparte at Rome in 1798, at which time General Duphot lost his life, and such as led to the assas sination of the French Plenipotentiaries, Bonnier and Roberjot, in 1799, at Rastadt, Sickles steered his diplomatic bark through the environing dangers — through the shoals on which he could have stranded the national honor, and the rocks on which he could have shattered his individual fortune — with a calm courage and a polished dexterity which entitle him to the admiration and respect of his countrymen. This must be admitted, even by those who can scarcely divest themselves of the violent prejudices engendered. through political antagonism, or out of that almost incomprehensible bitterness which springs up in public life like certain poisonous weeds, which, when once they have sown, themselves, can scarcely ever be extirpated by the most watchful care or the most judicious culture. Standing between a home administration which had to conduct itself so as at once to protect the national interests and honor, and yet avoid wounding too deeply a public opinion founded not upon reflection, but upon passion — an administration which may, therefore, even seem weak to the masses, while it appears strong in its integrity to those thoroughly acquainted with the facts — and a government and a nation in the throes of constant revolution and political changes — a government, which, without invidious criticism, seems to have re tained little of its greatness or its strength, but a false estimate of both founded on memories of the distant past, for as Lanfrey (IV, 159) remarks, " That Spain was a monarchy in decadence since the time of Isabella and of Charles V, it will never enter into the mind of any one to deny " — for Sickles to have maintained himself erect as an intermediary between such antagonistic influences, argues a self- consciousness of power and a self-possession which puts the final seal to that which has been claimed for him in this biographical sketch, that he is an extraordinary man. Sickles, in one respect, certainly resembles Talleyrand, who encountered Napoleon's furious outbreaks "as a man combats an element" — with a superb calm. That he Was able to sustain himself at all — that he was able to retain the confidence of his own government without losing the respect of the Spanish administration (one of the most difficult to manipulate of all the European and even of the great Asiatic Sov- . ereignties) is, indeed, sufficient to stamp Sickles as one of the few in- DANIEL E. SICKLES. Ill « diyiduals who Only require the absolutely necessary co-operation of circumstances to rise amid difficulties to the highest place among those who impress their individuality indelibly upon the times in which they live and act Standing for himself alone in almost every possible public atti tude, Sickles is endowed with a gift of eloquence which is positively wonderful in its effects. This was demonstrated during the Grant Presidential campaign of 1868. The marked characteristic of his eloquence is persuasion. He convinces rather than wins, and his delivery is so effective, that many who come determined not to be influenced, remain to applaud. He realizes upon the speaker's stage the -impression produced by the great Florentine sculptor's concep tions' of the reflective Florentine politician, Giuliano {not Lorenzo) de Medici {II Pensiero, Thought, or 11 Pensieroso, the Thoughtful one), and then, when he rises to address a strange audience — one whom he has to measure or weigh, in order to fit his speech to their ¦capacity to apprehend, or their willingness to receive his arguments ; then any one who knows Sickles intimately or observes him closely, will realize in the orator, the man, that striking simile of Sir Joshua Reynolds in criticising one of Raphael's figures in the Cartoon of " St. Paul,, speaking on Mars Hill " : " By this happy correspondence between the expression of the countenance and the disposition of the parts, the figure appears to think from head to foot." It is well known that General Sickles was very desirous of re tiring from his diplomatic post, and had repeatedly tendered his resignation long before the Government finally acquiesced in his wishes in the matter. In December, 1873, this resignation was again tendered, and accepted, as will appear in the following telegraphic correspondence between Secretary Fish and Minister Sickles : Madrid, December 6th, 1873. ' Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, Washington. " It is published semi-officially that the Government disapproves of my conduct in the case of the Virginius. If, in the opinion of the President, my resignation would facilitate a satisfactory termina tion of that question, or be otherwise advantageous to the public interests, such resignation may be considered as hereby respectfully tendered. SlCKLEa" 112 DANIEL E. SICKLES. * Washington, December 6th, 1873, Sickles, Minister, Madrid: " The alleged publication of disapproval of your conduct is en tirely unauthorized. No dissatisfaction has been expressed or inti mated, and it is deemed important that you remain. Your resigna tion at .this time would not be accepted, as it would interfere with the prospects of an accommodation. FlSH." Madrid, December 16th, 1873. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, Washington. "I respectfully request that my telegram of the 6th inst, tender ing my resignation, and your reply of the same date, may be now published. Sickles." Washington, December 17th, 1873. Sickles, Madrid. " Your tender of resignation was only hypothetical, and your telegram referred to is of alleged publications unknown here, at tributing dissatisfaction which had not been expressed. Under these circumstances, publication is not deemed necessary, and cannot be authorized Fish." Madrid, Saturday, December 20th, 1873. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, Washington. " I respectfully renew the tender of my resignation, which I trust may be accepted now, without interfering with the prospects of an accommodation. Sickles." Washington, December 20th, 1873. Sickles, Madrid: " Your resignation will be accepted. Letters of recall, with instructions, will be forwarded by next mail. Fish." Eng fby G/E-Peis0-8" SZa^s*^ //s^±^^± HON. FRANCIS THOMAS, HEPRE 3ENTATWE PROM MAHfLAND FRANCIS THOMAS. fON. FRANCIS THOMAS, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Peru, was born February 3rd, 1799, in the Catoctin Valley, Frederick County, Mary land. His ancestors were among the early and prominent settlers of the State, and his father, Colonel John Thomas, held many positions of honor and trust among his fellow citi zens. Young Thomas early manifested a decided taste for reading and study. At the age of twelve he entered Frederick College, and afterward continued his studies at St John's College, Annapolis. During these years of study and reflection, Mr. Thomas became strongly convinced of the evils of slavery, and it may be said that the earnest and uncompromising opposition which he invariably offered to this institution in his after public life, was in harmony with his early convictions, strengthened by the wisdom and observ ation of maturer years. He studied law in Annapolis, and was admitted to the bar, and commenced the practice of his profession at Frederick, in 1820. He was elected at the age of twenty-three to the House of Delegates of Maryland, was twice re-elected, and was chosen Speaker of the House in 1829. Mr. Thomas' subsequent .public career is thus related in Barnes' "History of the Fortieth Congress:" " In 1831 Mr. Thomas was elected a Representative in Congress, and held this office by re-election for ten successive years. In 1833 he ran for Congress as the regular nominee of the Jackson Democ racy. The Whigs had made no nomination, and were disposed to support an independent Jackson candidate, whose name was Dixon. On the day of the election, Henry Clay, passing through Maryland by stage on his way to Washington, stopped for a short time in the village of Middletown. He asked who were the candidates, and on being informed he said with emphasis : ' I would rather vote for Frank Thomas than for any other Jackson man in Maryland.' The 114 FRANCIS THOMAS. influence of Clay's emphatic endorsement was such that in this vil lage Mr. Thomas received five hundred and fifty votes against fifty for his opponent, nearly all the latter having been cast before Mr. Clay's arrival. "In 1832 Mr. Thomas was a member of a committee associated with John M. Clayton, John Quincy Adams, Richard M. Johnson, McDuffie, and Cambrelling, to examine into the condition of the United States Bank. They went to Philadelphia and took rooms at the same hotel, prosecuting their work assiduously for more than a month. The shrewdness of Mr. Thomas aided materially in discov ering evidences of fraud and corruption in the Bank. " While in Congress Mr. Thomas boldly and earnestly opposed the schemes of the Southern Nullifiers. At one time, John Quincy Adams having in the House of Representatives presented a petition signed by negro slaves of Fredericksburg^ the extreme Southerners became very indignant, and offered a resolution in the House, the substance of which was that no member who presented a petition from slaves should be regarded as a gentleman or a friend of the Union. The resolution was promptly and decisively voted down. Mr. Thomas was soon after appointed on a committee to inform Mr. Van Buren of his election to the Presidency of the United, States. Having performed this duty, on his return to the Hall of Represent atives, he was surprised to see the seats of the Southern members all vacant, and was informed that the Representatives from the Slave States were holding a consultation in the Committee Room of Claims. Supposing there was mischief brewing, Mr. Thomas went immediately to the designated room, where he found about seventy Representatives assembled. Asking whether his presence would be considered an intrusion, he was answered in the negative, since all Representatives from Slave States had been invited Having learned that they were seriously considering the question of a summary secession from Congress, on account of the rejection of the resolution, Mr. Thomas took the floor, and spoke earnestly and eloquently against the rashness and folly of the movement proposed He closed with a motion to adjourn, which was carried, and nothing more was heard of the rash design of the offended slaveholders. " At one time during the administration of Mr. Van Buren, eight Southern members attempted to control Congress, and were thwarted in their schemes by Mr. Thomas. The Whigs and Democrats in the House were then very nearly equally divided. The position of pub- FRANCIS THOMAS. 115 lie printer was very lucrative, and much sought after. Gales and Seaton were supported by the Whigs, and Blair and Rives by the Democrats. Eight Southerners bargained with the latter firm that they should have their votes to secure for them the public printing, provided the influence of the firm would be given to throw the votes of the Democratic party for Dixon H. Lewis, one of their number, for the Speakership. Mr. Thomas, however, and ten other Demo crats, resolved that this should not be, and, by steadily holding out, prevented the election, which was to be secured by bargain and cor ruption. At one stage in the contest, President Van Buren 's son vis ited Mr. Thomas, and urged him, as a special favor to the President, to yield and vote for Lewis. ' Not all the power and patronage of your father,' he replied, ' could induce me to do a thing which I re gard as so dangerous to the country.' He was one of a committee appointed in 1837 to draft a resolution, as a standing order of the House, directing the mode in which petitions for the abolition of slavery should be disposed of. Soon after the committee had as sembled, Dixon H. Lewis, of Alabama, Francis W. Pickens, and R. Barnwell Rhett, of South Carolina, entered the room and announced themselves as the representatives of a party then known as the " Nullifiers," comprising only eight members of the House of Rep resentatives. They professed to be anxious that they and those they represented should act in concert with the Democratic party, but re gretted that it had not yet taken ground satisfactory to them on the question of slavery. Mr. Thomas asked them what they desired. They replied : - Our people of the South expect and require that the Democratic Representatives declare that Congress has no power to prohibit the introduction of slavery into the Territories.' Mr. Thomas answered : ' I will not wait for gentlemen on this Com mittee from the Northern States to respond to this proposition. I will not myself vote for any resolution to that effect. It would in evitably lead to combinations against the institution of slavery, and ultimately to its overthrow. It would be equivalent to a declaration that the Missouri compromise line ought to be repealed. That line was established under Mr. Monroe's administration, when he was surrounded by leading Southern men in his Cabinet It was sanc tioned by the votes of leading Southern men in both branches of Congress, and I will not myself assist to disturb it' The Committee, of which Mr. Atherton of New Hampshire was chairman, refused to adopt such a resolution, and Mr. Calhoun's representatives retired. 116 FRANCIS THOMAS. "During the long period of his first service in Congress, Mr. Thomas took rank among the most influential and efficient mem bers. He occupied for a considerable time the important position of Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He originated a measure, which was adopted by Congress, to settle the controversy between Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, about the southern boundary of the last named State. " In 1841, Mr. Thomas declined a re-election to Congress, desiring to devote himself to the work of bringing about in Maryland a con stitutional reform which he had agitated many years before. " By the old Constitution of Maryland, the slaveholding counties were allowed three-fifths of the representation in the Legislative As sembly of the State. Baltimore, with a population of two hundred thousand, was allowed but two representatives, and the entire west ern portion of the State, with a preponderance of wealth and popula tion, had so meagre a representation as practically to possess no power whatever. The Whigs controlled the slaveholding counties, and the Democrats the western counties and Baltimore city. " By the Constitution of the State a College of Electors was chosen by the" people, consisting of forty members, whose duty it was to elect a Governor and a Senate for a term of five years. Mr. Thomas, being a Democrat in politics and an ardent hater of slavery, deter mined to use all the influence he possessed to break up the constitu tional oligarchy which ruled the State. " The fortunate election of a College of Senatorial Electors, consist ing of twenty-one Whigs and nineteen Democrats, gave to Me Thomas an opportunity which he had long desired Since no busi ness could be done without a quorum of three-fifths, three Democrats were necessary for the organization of the body. Mr. Thomas in duced the nineteen Democrats to enter into a solemn agreement that they would not take seats in the College of Electors, unless the latter would consent to give to the western counties a fair proportion of the representation, and make the Governor elective by the people. The Democratic Electors went in the same boat from Baltimore to Annapolis, accompanied by Mr. Thomas, who secured quarters for all at the same hotel. They made an organization, with a president and secretary, through whom they submitted their terms to the ma jority, taking care that no three should at any one time go together. The majority not acceding to the proposition, the Democrats under the lead of Mr. Thomas adjourned and left Annapolis. After this FRANCIS THOMAS. 117 revolution — for it was nothing less, the old Constitution being prac tically annulled — Mr. Thomas issued a call upon the voters to select delegates to a Convention for the formation of a new Constitution As he saw great obstacles in the way of securing this result imme diately, the most he expected.to accomplish by issuing a call for a Convention, was to consolidate all parties in the western portion of the State, and thereby secure acquiescence in the just demands of that section. While the call for a Constitutional Convention was pending, and after the Whig Electors had been at the Capitol two months, impatiently waiting to effect an organization, Mr. Thomas consented that three Democratic members elect, who lived nearest, should go, and apparently on their own responsibility propose to form a quorum, on condition that the Constitution should be altered so that the Governor and State Senators should be elected by the people. The desired result was gained A more just and equal representation was secured, and the Governor was ever after elected by the people. Mr. Thomas himself was the second Governor elected under the amended Constitution. He held the office one term, and retired from the gubernatorial chair in January, 1845. Two years later he declined to be a candidate for Congress. In 1850, he was a member of the Maryland State Constitutional Con vention. " Many years before he had purchased a tract of land on the line of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad in the extreme western end of Maryland. Soon after the close of his public service as' Governor, he went into the wilderness on this great estate, and devoted himself for many years to its development and improvement From his re tired residence among the Alleghanies, Mr. Thomas viewed events that were passing in the country, with the profound interest of a patriot and philanthropist. " Mr. Thomas was drawn from his retirement by the danger which he saw gathering against the country in 1860. Having in the course of his long service in Congress, thoroughly learned the character of the Southern men engaged in the conspiracy against the Govern ment, he understood their designs in breaking up the Charleston Convention. He believed that the plan of the Breckenridge party was to get as large a vote in Maryland, and other border States as possible, with the expectation that those who voted with them would be ready to join them in rebellion. Under this impression Mr. Thomas, yielding to the invitation of his old constituents, came from 118 FRANCIS THOMAS. his seclusion and made numerous speeches against the treason of secession prior to the Presidential election of 1860. " When President Lincoln issued his proclamation for seventy-five thousand men to put down the rebellion, Governor Hicks responded that he would send the quota of Maryland with the express under standing that the troops should go no further than Washington, and be used only in defending the CapitoL When Mr. Thomas beard of this response, he at once wrote to Governor Hicks, protesting against such a narrow construction of the duty of Maryland, and asking au thority to raise a regiment of men in his own Congressional District who would be willing to go anywhere in the service of the country against its enemies. " Before the proposition was acted upon by Governor Hicks, his proclamation appeared convening the Legislature of Maryland, both branches of which were known to be in sympathy with the rebellion. Thereupon Mr. Thomas wrote to the Secretary of War and asked permission to raise a brigade of Marylanders, to quell the insurrec tionary movement in that State. Failing to get this authority, Mr. Thomas next laid his plans before President Lincoln, who directed Secretary Cameron to make out the requisite authority. " In a short time, as the result of the efforts of Mr. Thomas, thirty- five hundred men were enrolled as volunteers. All this was done with little expense to the Government, since Mr. Thomas would ac cept no pay for his personal services, and refused the offer of a Brig adier-General's commission. In March, 1863, Mr. Thomas proposed to Mr. Lincoln and his Cabinet, a plan which was designed to rid Maryland of slavery. To effect this it was necessary to secure the election of a Legislature which would order a Convention to revise the Constitution of the State. Mr. Thomas expected by his personal influence to carry the western counties for the scheme, and as the Government had a controlling influence in Baltimore; the measure could be carried against the solid opposition of the lower or slave- holding counties. " The President and Cabinet at once approved of the plan, and, by an arrangement then made, the movement was started under the im mediate auspices ojf Mr. Thomas, who addressed a public meeting in Cumberland, in support of a resolution instructing the Legislature to call a Convention to reform the State Constitution. A full report of the proceedings of this meeting was, by direction of the Government, copied into the Baltimore papers, and thus the movement was fully FRANCIS THOMAS. 119 inaugurated. The Legislature was carried in the fall for the meas ure, and a Convention was called in 1864, which submitted to a vote of the people a Constitution securing the abolition of slavery in Maryland It received their sanction by a small majority, and thus Maryland was placed beyond the reach of agitation in relation to the ' vexed question of slavery.' The next time Mr. Thomas visited the White House after the accomplishment of this result, President Lin coln arose to meet him, and grasping both his hands, exclaimed in his peculiarly cordial and emphatic manner : ' That is a big thing, that is a big thing, that is a big thing!' His proposing and assist ing to carry into effect a measure emancipating nearly one hundred thousand human beings, and ridding a State forever of the curse of Slavery, was an achievement sufficient to make a statesman distin guished for all time. " In the Thirty-seventh Congress Mr. Thomas took his seat for his sixth term as a Representative, and was successively re-elected to the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, and Fortieth Congresses. He served with usefulness upon one of the most important Committees of the House — that of the Judiciary. Closing his ninth term in Congress, in March, 1869, Mr. Thomas went voluntarily into retirement, believ ing that the great work which he had, at an advanced period of life, come into Congress to assist in consummating, was virtually accom plished. Reviewing the long and public life of Mr. Thomas at the close of his Congressional service, the Frederick Examiner said: ' We have a right to claim for our loyal Representative, the proud title of the Emancipator of Maryland' " In March, 1869, as above stated, Mr. Thomas, desiring to retire finally from Congressional life, declined to be a candidate for re-elec tion. Soon afterward, without any solicitation either by himself or his friends, the office of Collector of Internal Revenue, for the Fourth Revenue District of Maryland, formed of the counties of Car roll, Frederick, Washington and Alleghany, was offered to him, and accepted. The District was comprised in that section of Maryland which he had so long represented in Congress. In the spring of 1872, Mr. Thomas was appointed by the Presi dent and unanimously confirmed by the Senate, Envoy Extraordi nary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Peru. He closed all his ac counts as Collector satisfactorily, and repaired to his post of duty, arriving at Lima, July 3d, 1872. ELIHU B. WASHBURNE. Br Jane Gbat Seateb. LIHU B. WASHBURNE, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to France, was born at Liver- more, Maine, September 23d, 1816. He became a printer by trade, having served an -apprenticeship in the office of the Kennebec Journal. After this he studied law at Harvard University, and, in 1840, removed to the State of Illinois, and settled at Galena in the practice of his profession. Mr. Washburne was elected as a Whig to the Thirty -third Congress, and was eight times re-elected. From the organization of the Republican party he acted with them, always voting for freedom, from his vote against the Kansas bill to his vote for the Constitutional Amendment, ex tending suffrage without distinction of color. In the Thirty-eighth Congress he became the "father of the House," having served a longer continuous period than any other member. In each Congress, from the Thirty-fifth to the Thirty- ninth, he was Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, and, after the death of Thaddeus Stevens, he also became Chairman of the Com mittee on Appropriations. Mr. Washburne distinguished himself during the first term of his Congressional services by not only op posing every subsidy, but by diligently seeking to bring to light every game of fraud ; and thereby honestly earned the praisworthy appellation " Watch Dog of the Treasury", conferred upon him by some of his confreres. Perhaps one of his most distinguished services to the country is that of having brought to public notice the abilities of General Grant Grant was a clerk in his father's leather store in Galena, and had resided in that city for some years at the breaking out of the war be tween the North and South. Up to this time Mr. Washburne had never known him. A war meeting being held in the town to muster Volunteers, Grant was present, but took no particular part A com- g*tyGE.Perme HON. ELIHU B.WASHBURNE. REPRESENTATIVE FROM ILLINOIS ELIHU B. WASHBURNE. 121 pany was raised, electing one Chetlain, Captain. Jesse Grant's part ner, who was a peace Democrat, called Mr. Washbume's attention to Grant as one who, having been educated at West Point, and already having served eleven years in the Army, he declared as his opinion, should have been elected Captain instead of Chetlain. The result of this conference was that Mr. Washburne immediately called upon Grant, and invited him to go to Springfield, where he was employed to assist in Gov. Yates' office, and in mustering Regiments. Subse quently, Gov. Yates appointed him Colonel of a Regiment, but he was indebted for his next promotion to Mr. Washburne. President Lincoln, having sent circulars to the Illinois Senators and Represent atives, requesting them to nominate four Brigadiers, Mr. Washburne presented the claims of Grant on account of the many volunteers his section had raised. Grant, Hurlburt, Prentiss and McClernand were appointed. When Grant heard of his promotion he said that it had never been from any request of his own, and must have been some of Washbume's doings. Whilst Grant was in command at Cairo, Oct. 1861, Mr. Washburne paid him a visit, and it is said that from that date he became convinced that Grant was to be the "coming man." After the battle of Fort Donelson, Grant no longer needed Mr. Washbume's assistance, notwithstanding the latter often found an op portunity of using his influence in Grant's behalf; and in every move ment towards the General's, progress, and to the chief command of the Army, Mr. Washburne was his firmest friend and supporter. In turn, upon Gen. Grant's accession to the Presidency Mr. Wash burne was appointed Secretary of State. He, however, held this position but a few days when he was appointed United States Min ister to France. Mr. Washbume's heroic conduct as the Representative of the United States at Paris, during the siege and the bloody Commune, in the years 1870-71, cannot be too highly commended. He be came quite as much the German as the American Minister, assuming the responsibilities and arduous duties, at the request of the German Government, and by the assent of President Grant. Thirty thousand Germans at once fell under his care, and not only destitute Of sufficient clothing to protect them from the severity of the weather, but often in a starving condition did he find them when making his daily round. Whole families were huddled together in one small attic room, without food, or without fire. His offices were thronged night 122 ELIHU B. WASHBURNE. and day with these wretched creatures, seeking aid of every sort, food, clothing, money, passports to the frontier, and advice, all of which were freely given, in the shortest and best way possible. His labors during these trying times were indeed most arduous, his severe, delicate, and philanthropic work often demanding eighteen hours out of twenty-four. He was frequently to be found at the railroad station nearly all night providing these unfortunates with tickets to reach their homes. He assisted the poor in prison, unbarring their prison doors, loosening their chains from their ankles, and setting them free. From one prison alone he rescued seventy-four poor working- women. He either went in person whenever he heard of a case of suffering, or sent efficient aid. At one time he heard of a whole family that were perishing from cold and hunger, and, upon visiting them, he found them in a most pitiable state. A father, mother, and five chil dren were huddled together in one small attic room, without fire, or any means of subsistence, save dry bread, and with one child of seven years, a flaxen-haired boy, lying upon a pallet of straw, so weakened by hunger, as to be unable to raise his head This wretched family had burned their last bedstead in trying to keep warm the life blood which was fast chilling in their veins for want of proper nourishment. Mr. Washburne lost no time in administering to their wants. And this is but one instance of thousands. During the frightful reign of the Commune our Minister was the only friend and protector that the poor Germans found in the beseiged city. At one time he rescued eleven German nuns who had been arrested and cast into prison. The following letters, taken from Mr. Washbume's correspondence with the Department of State, at Washington, contain a graphic account of the situation, and will give something of an idea of his arduous, responsible, and self-imposed duties during this memorable period : [ Mr. Washburne to Mr. Fish.] Legation of the United States, Pakis, November 18th, 1870. Snt: I was in hopes before this time to have made to you a fall and complete re port of my action as connected with the protection of the subjects of the North German Confederation, Saxony, Hesse Grand Ducal, and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, in France, with which I had been charged, during the existing war between those powers and France. But as my duties still continue, I cannot now make a final report, which would have to embrace my account with the Prussian government ELIHU B. WASHBURNE. 123 In the account for the contingent expenses of this legation, for the quarter ending on the 30th of September last, I have not included any of the items of expenditure pertaining to that business, for the reason that such expenses run into the present quarter, and that it would be better to have them all put into one account. I hope, at the end of the present quarter, to be able to include everything. I will state, how ever, for your general information, that such expenses so far scarcely reach a thou sand dollars. These expenses already paid, and to be paid, independent of certain amounts, to which I will hereafter allude, will not reach more than fifteen hundred dollars. All the items will be given in detail, and I hope the amount will not be regarded as extravagant, when the extent of the service is considered. I was glad to know that the Department coincided with Mr. Bancroft and myself in the opinion that all these expenses should be paid by the United States. It would certainly have been unworthy of a great Government like ours to permit itself to be paid for hospitalities extended to the subjects of other nations, for whom our protection had been sought. When, in accordance with your directions in July last, I took upon myself the protection of the German subjects in France, I had but a faint idea of what the undertaking was going to involve, for I had hardly supposed it possible that I would be charged with the care and with the superintendence of the departure of- more than thirty thousand people, expelled from their homes upon so short a notice. Prom the time of the breaking out of the war, and as soon as it became known that the Germans had been placed under my protection, you can well imagine, considering so large a population, what would take place in that exciting period. The legation began to be crowded from day to day by persons desiring protection, advice, informa tion, and assistance. Many were thrown into prison, charged with being "Prussian spies;" many were under arrest as dangerous persons, and the lives and property of others were threatened in their neighborhood. My good offices were sought for and cheerfully rendered in alLsuch cases, and I believe I never failed in accomplishing all I undertook in such emergencies. The first extraordinary order of the French government, prohibiting all such Germans from leaving France who might by possi bility owe military service, and about which I had so long a correspondence with the Duke de Grammont, created great alarm among a large number of them who were extremely anxious to get away. The practical operation of that order prevented any German from leaving French territory without special authority to that end, first had and obtained from the Minister of the Interior, and all applications for such authority had to be made through me; and after all this was changed, and the expul sion of the Germans decreed, it was required that I should vise1 the passports, or give a laisser-passer to every German leaving France. I have spoken of thirty thousand as the number of Germans placed under my protection, and who were expelled from France. I make this estimate from the number of visas and passports which I gave -out, and that number, as recorded in the legation, amounts* to eight thousand nine hundred. In the rush and hurry of business there was no record made in many cases, and it is entirely safe to say that the whole number of visas and passports going through the legation amounted to not less than nine thousand ; the larger number of these passports included the husband, wife, and children. It is a moderate estimate to say that there was an average of three and one-third persons to each passport. That would make the thirty thousand souls. We issued our own cards, which, by an arrangement with the railroad company, entitled the holder to a railroad ticket from Paris, through Belgium, to the German 124 ELIHU B. WASHBURNE. frontier, for nine thousand three hundred and tbirty-twp persons, and gave pecuniary assistance to a smaller number. This involved an examination of each person as to) his or her want ef the necessary means to get out of the country, for our instructions were not to make advances to people who had the means to pay their own expenses., It also involved the necessity of sending two or three persons from the legation to. the railroad depot every night, in order to see that the holders of the cards received their railroad tickets, and were properly sent off. It was about the middle of August when expulsion of the Germans from Paris began to be enforced, and when I received the credit of fifty thousand thalers from the Prussian government to assist them. From that time till the middle of Septem ber, when the northern railroad was cut, we were literally overwhelmed with these poor people, seeking the visas of their passports and the means of getting away. For days, and I may even say for weeks, the street was completely blocked up by them^awaiting their turns to be attended to. On one day more than five hundred had gathered in front of the legation before seven o'clock in the morning ; and in some days there were not less than from twenty-five hundred to three thousand per sons in waiting. It took a police force of six men to keep the crowd back and keep the door open, so that the people could enter in their turn. With such an amount of work so suddenly thrown upon the legation, I found it almost impossible to get the necessary help to assist me, though authorized by the Department to employ the requisite force. I was fortunate in being able to procure the services of the secreta ries of the Saxon and Darmstadt legations, and of the clerk of the Prussian consul general in Paris, all of whom proved invaluable, from their knowledge of both the; French and German languages. I had also the benefit of the servicer rendered voluntarily, by your son, by Mr, Eustis, and by several other friends. Some days there were no less than eleven persons engaged at the legation, but with all the force we had, it was impossible to keep up with the demands upon us. And in further connection "with this matter, I now beg leave to make a suggestion. I have stated what will be the probable amount of the expense actually paid out and to be paid out of the contingent fund. In my judgment that amount should ba added to. The extra duties which have been devolved upon the two secretaries and the messenger of the legation have been arduous and responsible, and certainly such as have never been contemplated. They have been discharged with a zeal and fidelity worthy of all praise. I think, therefore; in justice that they are entitled to some extra compensation, and I hope it may be granted to them. I say this the more readily as I disclaim anything of the kind for myself. My salary is ample, and I would receive no extra compensation on any pretext whatever. Not so with the per sons to whom I refer, for their salaries are low. When the extra and exceptional services they have rendered, and the vastly increased prices of living consequent upon the siege, are considered, I do not think a claim for extra compensation on their behalf can be considered as unreasonable. I shall hope, therefore, that Congress will consent that you shall allow Wickham Hoffman, the first secretary of legation, $600 ; Frank Moore, the second secretary of legation, $500 ; Antoine Schmit, the messenger of the. legation, $300; and Antoine Roger, the concierge (who had to guard the door fourteen hours a day for two months), $100. These amounts added to the expenses already incurred and to be incurred in this behalf will not reach more than $3,000, which is not half the amount I have taken for passports since the war broke out, and which the state of war obliged our countrymen to have, I will add a few observations in regard to the present condition of the Germans in Paris at the present time who are under my protection. Considering the large ELIHU B. WASHBURNE. 125 German population here prior to the breaking out of the war, it is not a matter of wonder that a good many were found here when all communication was finally cut off. When it became evident that the city was to be besieged, I redoubled my exer tions to get these unfortunate people away. Deprived of all work, their little resources exhausted, the intense hostility of the French people toward them, bad as their condition was, it was to become infinitely worse in case of a siege. Many were in prison for vagabondage, and many were detained charged with being spies, dan gerous persons, &c. Upon my application to Mr. Gambetta, he concerted with the Count de Ke'ratry, the prefect of police, for their discharge en masse, and for sending them, at the expense of the French government, to the Belgian frontier. But quite a number yet remained. Many were too old and infirm to leave. Some were sick, some were children left behind who had been put out to service; but perhaps the larger number were female domestics, most of whom had been persuaded by their employers to remain, under pledges of protection. But as the siege progressed and the price of living augmented, many of these persons, discharged by their employers or denounced to the authorities, were turned into the street, only to be arrested and imprisoned. In one of the prisons, which I visited some three or four weeks since, I found seventy-four persons of this class. I arranged- for the release of most of' them, and have had them comfortably cared for, and with the promise of the French authorities that they shall be protected. There are others yet in prison, and I hope soon to complete an arrangement for the release of all who do not "stand charged with some criminal offense, ftot a day passes now that there is not some new appli cation for assistance. I have now one hundred and fifty that I am providing for. From the Prussian fund still remaining in my hands, I think I have sufficient to take care of them till the end of the siege. In conclusion I beg to say that the duties imposed upon me in virtue of the func tions with which I have been charged in this regard have been laborious, responsible, and delicate, and it is perhaps too much to expect that I have discharged them in a manner entirely satisfactory to both the belligerent powers and to my own Govern ment. My position has sometimes been very embarrassing. None of the writers on public law, so far as I have been able to find, have laid down any rule to be observed, or refer in any manner as to what is proper to be done by the representative of a neutral power charged with the protection of the subjects of one belligerent power remaining in the country of the enemy during a state of war. I have had, therefore, to grope somewhat in the dark and do the best I could. I have not shrunk from any duty or any labor. During two months I was occupied every day from twelve to eighteen hours. When the pressure for the departure of the Germans was the great est, I went myself to the railroad depot at night, sifter working all day at my legation, and remained till midnight to superintend their departure and to seek out and pro vide for cases of extreme destitution that had not been made known. You will per mit me to say that whatever services I have been able to render have been rendered most willingly and most cheerfully, for with the means so generously placed at my disposal by the Prussian government, I have had the satisfaction of relieving a vast amount of suffering and misery. It is pleasant to know that no complaint of any German has ever reached this legation of a failure on my part to do everything that could properly be done by me in respect of protection, advice, or assistance. On the other hand, all classes have signified to me their thankfulness and gratitude for what I have been able to do for them. I will only add further, in closing this dispatch, that during the period about which I have been writing the business properly belonging to our legation was in- 126 ELIHU B. WASHBURNE. creased to an extent never before known, and I have endeavored faithfully and satis factorily to discharge all the duties I owed to my Government, and to our countrymen abroad, who have in any manner sought my good offices, protection, or advice. I have, &c. , E. B. WASHBURNE. [ Mr. Washburne to Mr. Fish.] [ Extract.] Legation ot the United States, Pabis, April 23d, 1871. gjjj. ******* You are aware that Monseigneur Darboy, the archbishop of Paris, was seized some time since, by order of the Commune, and thrust into prison to be held as a hostage. Such treatment of that most devout and excellent man could have but created a great sensation, particularly in the Catholic world. On Thursday night last I received a letter from Monseigneur Chigi, archbishop of Myre and nuncio apostolic of St. Lie'ge, and also a communication from Mr. Louoner, chanoine of the diocese of Paris; Mr. Lagard, the vicar-general of Paris ; and Messrs. Bourset and Allain, chanoines and members of the Metropolitan Chapter of the church of Paris, all making a strong appeal to me, in the name of the right of nations, humanity, and sympathy, to interpose my good offices in behalf of the imprisoned archbishop. I have thought that I should have been only conforming to what I believed to be the policy of our Government, and carrying out what I conceived to be your wishes under the circum stances, by complying with the request of the gentlemen who have addressed me. I, therefore, early this morning put myself in communication with General Cluseret, who seems, at the present time, to be the directing man in affairs here. I told him that I applied to him not in my diplomatic capacity, but simply in the interest of good feeling and humanity, to see if it were not possible to have the archbishop re lieved from arrest and confinement. He answered that it was not a matter within his jurisdiction, and however much he would like to see the archbishop released, he thought, in consideration of the state of affairs, it would be impossible. He said that he was not arrested for crime, but simply to be held as a hostage, as many others had been. Under the existing circumstances he thought it would be useless to take any steps in that direction. I, myself thought the Commune would not dare, in the present excited state of public feeling in Paris, to release the archbishop. I told General Cluseret, however, that I must see him to ascertain his real situation, the condition of his health, and whether he was in want of anything. He said there would be no objection to that, and he immediately went with me, in person, to see the prefecture of police; and upon his application I received from the prefect a per mission to visit the archbishop freely at any time. In company with my private secretary, Mr.McKean, I then went to the Mazas prison, where I was admitted with out difficulty, and being ushered into one of the vacant cells, the archbishop was very soon brought in. I must say that I was deeply touched at the appearance of this venerable man. With his slender person, his form somewhat bent, his long beard, for he has not been shaved apparently since his confinement, his face haggard with ill-health, all could not have failed to have moved the most indifferent. I told him I had taken great pleasure, at the instance of his friends, in intervening on his behalf, and while I could not promise myself the satisfaction of seeing him released, I was very glad to be able to visit him to ascertain his wants, and to assuage the cruel ELIHU B. WASHBURNE. 127 position in which he found himself. He thanked me most heartily and cordially for the disposition I had manifested toward him. I was charmed by his cheerful spirit and his interesting conversation. He seemed to appreciate his critical situation, and to be prepared for the worst. He had no word of bitterness or reproach for his persecutors, but on the other hand remarked that the world judged them to be worse than they really were. He was patiently awaiting the logic of events and praying that Providence might find a solution to these terrible troubles without the futher shedding of human blood. He is confined in a cell about 6 feet by 10, possibly a little larger, which has the ordinary furniture of the Mazas prison, a, wooden chair, a small wooden table, and a prison bed. The cell is lighted by one small window. As a political prisoner he is permitted to have his food brought .to him from outside of the prison, and in answer to my suggestion, that I should be glad to send him anything he might desire, or furnish him with any money he might want, he said that he was not in need at present. I was the first man he had seen from the outside since his imprisonment, and he had not been permitted to see the newspapers, or to have any intelligence of passing events. I shall make application to the prefect of police to be allowed to send him newspapers and other reading-matter, and shall also avail myself of the permission granted me to visit him, to the end that I may afford him any proper assistance in my power. I cannot conceal from myself, however, the great danger he is in, and I sincerely hope that I may be instrumental in saving him from the fate which seems to threaten him. I have, &c, E. B. WASHBURNE. [ Mr„ Washburne to Mr. Fish.] [Extracts.] Legation oe the United States, Paeis, April 25th, 1871. gus; ******* Before the Journal Officiel of the Commune had reached the legation this morning, Mr. Malet, of the British embassy, called to see me in relation to a decree of the commune, which appeared in that paper of to-day, by which requisition was made of all the vacant apartments in Paris. As this was a matter of great importance to both English and American residents, who have furnished apartments in the city, we determined it was necessary to make immediate steps for the purpose of protecting Such apartments from being occupied. We therefore addressed ourselves to M. Paschal Grousset, the delegue' aux affaires e"trangeres. * .* * He is a man of intelligence, education, and genteel personal appearance. He received us with genuine politeness, in the same room where I had been received by eight or ten different ministers of foreign affairs of the regular government. After explaining to him the object of our visit, he was very prompt to say that it was never intended that the decree should include the apartments of foreigners, though by inadvertence it was not so stated. He said he would have the correction made, and that orders should be given that the apartments of foreigners should not be molested; and if we should hear of any disturbance of such apartments, belonging either to the Americans or the English, and would inform him of the fact, he would take im mediate measures to have the evil corrected. We thanked him for so promptly and so satisfactorily responding to our wishes, and took our leave. * * * From the foreign office I went in person to the prefecture of police, to obtain the discharge of 128 ELIHU B. WASHBURNE. several Germans, one of them a priest, incarcerated at Mazas. There I found a young man in charge, who very promptly complied with my request, and gave me written orders to have them set at liberty. Yesterday an American lady called at the legation to beg me to interest myself to procure the release from prison of two Sisters of Charity (French). This lady was herself a Sister of Charity, and a daughter of the late Governor Roman, of Louisiana. The two nuns in prison were her friends, and had been torn away from the convent by some members of the national guard, about three or four weeks ago. She, of course, felt the greatest un easiness in regard to their fate. I told her that while I could interfere in-no way officially, I would, as an-act of friendship to her as an American, call the attention of the authorities to the case of her friends. I accordingly mentioned the matter to the man in charge of the prefecture, and without hesitation he gave me an order for their release also. This I took in person to the depot of prisoners at the concier- gerie, and, after waiting about an hour to have some formalities gone through, I had the pleasure of seeing the two Sisters safely outside the prison-walls. From the con- ciergerie I went to Mazas, and there I found no difficulty in securing the release of the three German prisoners, including the priest. I availed myself of the occasion of again being in the prison, and called upon the archbishop of Paris, taking to him some newspapers and a bottle of old Madeira wine. I found him about the same as he was on Sunday, and manifesting the same cheerful spirit. I was sorry I could not communicate to him a favorable change in the situation. * * * * I have, &c. , E. B. WASHBURNE. [ Mr. Washburne to Mr. Fish,] Pabis, May 24th, 1871. Sir: My narration of the prodigious events which have been transpiring in Paris since Sunday last closed at noon of yesterday. As it was impossible to reach those parts of the city in which the fighting was going od, I only knew that the contest was raging with unparalleled fury in the central portion of it. At half past 5 or 6 o'clock of yesterday it was evident that an immense fire had broken out at the chan- cellerie of the legion of honor. Soon we saw the smoke arising in other parts of the city, showing but too plainly that the terrible threats of the Commune of a general conflagration had commenced to be carried out. I was at the headquarters of Mar shal McMahon, at Passy, at about 9 o'clock in the evening, for the purpose of soli citing the sending of troops at the earliest moment for the release of the Archbishop of Paris and others hostages in the prison of Mazas, and there I was told by an officer of the staff that the palace of the Tuileries was on fire. On my return I could discover nothing, and I hoped that he had been mistaken. At 1 o'clock this morning I was awakened by a friend, who told me that the palace was all in flames. I hurried to a position from which I had a full and complete view of the fire. It was a star light night, calm and beautiful. An insurgent battery, which had been for twenty- four hours Bhelling our part of the town, was still sending its bombs into the im mediate neighborhood of the legation every fifteen minutes. The roar of other cannon, the " erepitement " of the mitrailleuses and the sharp rattling of the chasse- pots fell upon the still of the night. The lurid flames rising from the burning palace lighted up half the heavens, and the whole scene was the most terrible I had ever witnessed. To the fire of the Tuileries were added other conflagrations, the ministry of finance, the buildings of the Rue Royalo, and other fires which seemed just ELIHU B. WASHBURNE. 129 started. At one time it appeared to those of us who were watching the progress of the conflagration that the "Hospital des Invalides" was certainly on fire, but as the night wore on, daylight disclosed its gilded dome intact, and we discovered, to our greatrgratification, the fire was a short distance beyond in the same direction. At 5 o'clock this morning I sent a messenger to Versailles with a telegraphic dispatch for you in regard to what had taken place. Coming to the legation at 9 o'clock, I heard that the Versailles troops had captured the strong positions at the Place de la Con corde and the Place Vendome. I at once took my carriage and proceeded in that direction, passing down the boulevard Haussman to the Place St. Augustin, and the Caserne Pepiniere. The insurgents had occupied the Caserne, and were driven out after a fight of about two hours, but it was at the foot of the Boulevard Malesherbe, behind the Madeline, and at the junction of several streets, that the insurgents had strong barricades ; in fact, the key of their position was there, for if the Versailles troops could once pass that point they could easily take the great barricades in the Rue Royale, the Rue de Rivoli, and the Place Vendome, in the reverse, and here the most desperate fighting took place for a period of nearly thirty-six hours. The neighbor hood presented a most dreadful appearance this morning. The sidewalks of the splendid Boulevard Malesherbe were filled with horses, baggage-wagons, and artillery carriages. The houses had been more or less torn with shot and shell ; the trees were all cut to pieces by the fire of the artillery and musketry, and their branches filled the street. A dead national guard was lying in an excavation for a cellar near by. In a small open space in the next street was the blood of two soldiers of the line, who had been summarily shot as deserters. Proceeding further, I reached the front of the church of the Madeleine, at the head of the Rue Royale, and many of the buildings of that great thoroughfare were in flames, and others seemed literally to have been torn in pieces by the fire of the cannon and musketry. Going further up the Boulevard Capucines, I found many of the buildings completely riddled, and upon the sidewalk was a dead national guard, and in a side street, a short distance from there, yet another dead body of the insurgent guard, people passing by and looking on them with apparent satisfaction. I went to the Place Vendome, which" had been evacuated during the night, and there for the first time saw the great column lying in the position in which it had fallen. The insurgents had not time to remove the bronze, which is now to be made use of in the speedy restoration of the column; the national assembly having decreed that it shall at once be restored. The Place de la Concorde was evacuated at the same time, the insurgents retreating in the direction of the Hotel de Ville and up the Rue Lafayette. From the Place Vendome I went to the Rue de Rivoli, and proceeded cautiously toward the Tuileries, under the arcade. The Tuileries building was still burning, and the flames were bursting out in a part of the building where they had not before reached. It seemed that it would be impossible to save the Louvre, but I hear, as I write, that its preservation is secured, with all its treasures of art and its historic interest. During the entire afternoon the fires have been raging in many directions, and from the legation the sound of battle can be distinctly heard, but it is almost impossible to procure any reliable intelligence in regard to what is taking place. Most certainly something more definite can be ascertained in the morning. Thtjbsday, May 25th. — When I closed my dispatch last night it was fire and battle. It is the same this morning. There were frightful burnings all the night. The great Hotel de Ville, with all its traditions and souvenirs of history, exists no longer. The Cour des Comptes, the Court of Cassation, the Prefecture of Police, and the celebrated old prison of the Conciergerie, have shared the same fate. All has been 130 ELIHU B. WASHBURNE. the work of organized incendiarism, and the insurrectionists have done everything in their power to destroy Paris. If the entry of the troops had been delayed much longer, they would certainly have succeeded. The Commune had already made "perquisitions" for all of the petroleum in the city, and prepared petroleum-boxes and other means of firing the place. Bands of men, women, and children were organized to do this diabolical work. During the past two days immense numbers of these persons have been detected in distributing these boxes, and in every case the most summary vengeance has been inflicted upon them, without regard to age, sex, or condition. An employe" of this legation counted, this afternoon, on the Avenue de Autin, the dead bodies of eight children, the eldest not more than fourteen years of age, who had been seized while distributing their incendiary boxes, and shot on the spot. The state of feeling now existing in Paris is fearful beyond de scription. Passing events have filled the whole population opposed to the Commune with horror and rage. Arrests are made by the wholesale, of the innocent as well as the guilty. Last night four Americans — two gentlemen and two ladies — innocent as yourself of all complicity with the insurrection, were seized, while dining at a restaurant, and marched through the streets to one of the military posts. They sent word to me as soon as possible of their arrest, and I lost no time in going to their relief. I addressed myself to General Douai, who, upon my statement, immediately ordered their release. He expressed much regret at what had happened ; but said that, in the existing excited state of feeling, it was impossible to prevent the arrest of innocent persons ; that if, unfortunately, the arrest of any other Americans occurred, they would be immediately released upon my application, unless charged with Grime for which they could be justly and legally held. I went down in the city this afternoon too see for myself what was the progress of events. Very little has been done towards putting matters into shape in the parts of the city already captured from the insurgents. The barricades everywhere remain. The fire was still raging in the Rue Royale. The ministry of finance is completely consumed, with every reeord and paper — a loss that is utterly incalculable. The insurgents having been ¦ driven beyond the Place Bastile, I was able to go much farther than I went yesterday. I passed up the Rue de Rivoli by the smoking ruins of the Tuileries, and had the inexpressible pleasure of seeing for myself that the Louvre, with all its untold and incalculable treasures, had been preserved. As I continued up the street it seemed as if I were following in the track of an army. Reaching the Hotel de Ville, I found the neighborhood had all the appearance of an intrenched camp. Immense barri cades were on every street leading into the square. But I am told that the insurgents abandoned it without a fight, finding themselves upon the point of being hemmed in. But before leaving, they applied the torch to that pile so interwoven with the history of Paris and of France, and the pride of all Frenchmen for centuries gone by. Now there was nothing but a mass of smoldering ruins. Two squares of magnificent buildings on the lower side of the Place de 1'Hotel de Ville had also been destroyed. It was indeed a sad sight to behold. There was a regiment of the troops of the line on the quay, but scarcely another soul was to be seen in the entire neigh borhood. Eight dead bodies of the insurgents, partially consumed by fire, lay on the ground right in front of what was the main entrace into the building, and presenting the most horrible appearance, and sad sights everywhere. At the Place de l'Opera, I saw some five hundred prisoners, men, women, and children, who were being driven to Versailles. There was a squad of cavalry marching in the front and in the rear of them, and foot, soldiers marching on either side. I must say they were the most hideous and sinister-looking persons I ever saw in the whole course rf my life. ELIHU B. WASHBURNE. 131 The sight of the prisoners excited the people to the highest pitch of indignation, and every opprobrious epithet was heaped upon them, and the escort alone prevented violence from being inflicted upon them on the spot. An officer told me this after noon that the order was to shoot every man taken in arms against the government. I do not vouch for the truth of what he told me, but I do know that large numbers of the national guard, and many others caught in some criminal act, have been summarily executed. I have had great fears that the Prussian embassy might be burned. I learned to-day that suspicious persons were lurking about the premises, and I immediately addressed a note to Marshal McMahon advising him of my ap prehensions, and asking him to detail a guard to protect the building. He answered rne promptly that my request had been complied with. It is with no small degree of satisfaction that I am able to inform you that during all these horrible excesses in Paris for the past ten weeks no material damage has been done to the property of Americans, neither to the property of the Germans, with whose interests I still con tinue to be charged. Some few Americans have been arrested, but all were im mediately released on my application. As I have written you before, the number of Germans and Alsatians whose release from prison I have obtained is quite large. Among the last persons to be released were eleven German nuns who had been seized at the convent of Picpus. After being set at liberty they came to the legation in a body, to thank me for my efforts in their behalf. What I feared most was the robbery of our countrymen under the pretext of taxes. Many demands for the payment of taxes to the Commune had been made upon Americans , but, as I have before advised you, I told all who consulted me on the subject not to pay, but take the chances. However, the machinery for collecting these taxes had just been got ready, and the day of the 25th instant was the time it was to be put into operation. Armed with mandates from the committee of public safety, the national guards would have gone everywhere, and demanded the payment of a certain sum as a tax upon all apartments, houses, business establishment, &c. If the amount was not paid by the proprietor, or, in his absence, his agent or concierge, the most valuable things would have been seized and carried off. You will see, therefore, that the entry of the Versailles troops en the 22d, was just in time to prevent this organized pillage. The only newspaper I have been able to get since the entry of the troops is the Verity two copies of which I send you, the last number appearing Wednesday morning, although dated to-day. No paper has appeared to-day, as far as I can learn, except a little sheet called the Constitution, which is out this evening. There is a not an omnibus running in the whole city, and scarcely a cab can be found. No persons, except such as have a diplomatic character, or their bearers of dispatches, are permitted to leave Paris. I have not time now to speak more fully of the scenes of carnage, fire, and blood, of which Paris has been the theatre for the last four days. They are without parallel in all its history. What took pla.ee on the days of July, 1830, when Charles the Tenth was overthrown; the days of February, 1848, when Louis Philippe was chased from the throne, and the subsequent days of the insurrection in June of the same year, was mere child's play as compared with the events of the present week. The fighting has been long, desperate, and persistent. The insurrectionists have fought at every step with the fury of despair. Even as I write, at the hour of midnight, the contest is not yet ended, for I hear the booming of the cannon beyond the Place de la Bastile. The government troops have displayed great bravery, and have never for a moment recoiled before the formidable and deadly barricades of the insurgents. They have shown the spirit of the old French army. 132 ELIHU B. WASHBURNE. Fbidax noon, May 26f Secession, in January,. 1861, under the direction of Governor E. D. Morgan of New York. he demonstrated before a committee of the Legislature the necessity of immediately placing the forces of the State upon a war footing. Events proved the soundness of this advice ; but it was not acted upon until the month of April, and after the fall of Fort Sumter. At that time he was named president of a committee of three, charged to prepare a bill appropriating three millions of dollars for the pur chase of arms and equipments. The duties incumbent upon him at this time were of a complicated character and of the gravest respon sibility. He acquitted himself in such a manner as to merit and re ceive the official thanks of the Secretary of War ; who congratulated him upon the energy, skill, and zeal which he had displayed in the organization and equipment of the troops, and in directing them, under the orders of the Governor, without delay towards the seat of war. In February, 1861, General Read was appointed by the Governor to preside over the commission charged to receive and compliment President Lincoln at Buffalo, aud to escort him thence to the capital of the State. It is a fact worty of note, just here, that out of the number of persons who accompanied President Lincoln at that time, only three were in the cortige which attended his assassinated body, while lying-in state at the Capitol in Albany, four years later, on its way to its final resting-place, and General Read was one of these. three persons. General Read has made himself known by a variety of scientific. 194 JOHN MEREDITH READ, JR. and literary productions, which have established his reputation in Europe not less than in America, and gained for him high distinc tion on both sides of the Atlantic. Amongst his best known works may be cited his " Historical Enquiry Concerning Henry Hudson ;" which obtained for him in foreign countries numerous and warm con gratulations. He had early been named member of the principal historical societies of our own country ; also of the American Philo sophical Society, founded by Franklin in 1744 ; corresponding mem ber of the American Ethnological Society ; of the New York State Agricultural Society ; of the New England Historic Genealogical Society ; and finally Honorary Fellow of the National Academy of Design — having taken an active interest in the prosperity of the lat ter body, and in freeing it from taxation. In 1867, on the proposition of the President, Lord Talbot de Malahide, and Sir Bernard Burke, C.B., he was elected to the Royal Irish Academy ; being the youngest member of this learned body. He was also nominated a Fellow and Founder of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries by the Prince Royal of Denmark. He was ¦complimented and thanked in the same year by the French Acad- -emy, at the twofold invitation of M. Sainte Beuve, the celebrated critic, and Count de Remusat, now Minister of Foreign Affairs of France. At the same time he received the thanks of the English East India Company, and of the Russian Company, founded by Se bastian Cabot in 1555, for having thrown light on certain obscure points in their origin and primitive history. Upon his instigation a •commission was appointed by the British Government to examine into the condition of the marvellous collection of historical papers and documents anciently possessed by the latter corporation ; docu ments both curious and precious, as illustrating the reigns of Ed ward VI. and Queen Elizabeth, and the period of the earliest diplomatic and commercial relations between Great Britain and Russia. General Read is a member or Fellow of many other learned bodies ; amongst which may be mentioned the " Societe de Legisla tion Comparee ; the Societe d' Anthropologic of Paris ; the Geograph ical Society of France; the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland ; the Royal Historical Society ; the Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain ; and the Society of An tiquaries of London, on the nomination of the President, Earl Stan hope. He has, also, taken a deep interest in the foundation of the JOHN MEREDITH READ, JR. 195 French Association for the Advancement, of Science ; and was a delegate to the Congress of this body recently held, September,. 1872, at Bordeaux. General Read has always been devoted to the cause of education. He was one of the incorporators and original trustees of Cornell University ; which, under, the Presidency of the Hon. Andrew D. White, has proved an entire success. To this institution, which bears his name, Senator Ezra Cornell has given the munificent sum of $800,000 ; while the State of New York has endowed it with the Congressional Land Grant amounting to one million of acres, which will eventually produce several millions of dollars. Among the distinguished names which have been associated with this great foundation are the Hon. E. D. Morgan ; the late Hon. Horace Gree ley ; the Hon. William Kelly ; the Hon. George William Curtis ; Professor James Russell Lowell, and Professor Goldwin Smith. General Read was formerly District Chairman of the Albany branch of the American Social Science Association, and President over the great Congress held in that city in 1868. In 1872 he was appointed a delegate from the American Asso ciation to the Social Science Congress at Plymouth, England, and was made a Vice-President of that body, Lord Napier and Ettrick being President. Entertaining a legitimate and profound respect for the military genius and rare executive abilities of General Grant, at the end of the war of secession General Read was one of the most zealous ad vocates of his nomination to the Presidency. Later he took an ex tremely active and important part in the campaign which resulted in the election of General Grant in 1868. As a recompense for the services which he had rendered his country, General Read was nominated by President Grant Consul- General of the United States at Paris ; and the appointment was confirmed by the Senate on the. 16th of April, 1869. This post, of a complex and highly responsible character, was created by Congress in the month of March previous, and General Read was the first person who filled it The Consulates-General at London and Paris are considered as posi tions of an importance equal to that of several missions established by America to some of the European powers. The Consulate-Gen eral at Paris is charged with the superior direction of the American Consulates and Consular Agencies throughout France. It is the 196 JOHN MEREDITH READ, JR. Central Bureau from whence proceed all instructions, and to which all reports are addressed. It is directly responsible for its acts to the Department of State at Washington. The Franco-German war enlarged General Read's sphere of ac tion, and created for him new duties as arduous as delicate, and which he performed with ability, energy, and tact. On this subject we quote from a French authority : " The name of General Read will always be honorably associated with the his tory of the Franco-German war of 1870-71, and that of the two sieges of Paris. Brave, generous, able, untiring ; always ready to meet danger and to assume responsibility ; he has by his charitable deeds, his unwearying kindness, rendered himself dear to a great number of persons of all nationalities. Joining benevolent acts to sympathetic words, he has especially acquired a durable, place in the affection and gratitude of the French people." For nearly two years General Read acted not only as Consul - Greneral of the United States, but also as Consul-General of Ger many for France and Algeria, and directed all the Consular affairs of that nation, including the protection, of German subjects and in terests. This important function he discharged with signal fidelity. The admirable course of the American Government ¦ and its representatives in that crisis has been the subject of frequent and just eulogy. It reflected lustre upon the American name, rendered incalculable service to the German people, and was so discreetly and delicately performed as to be entirely acceptable to France. In the labor and distinction of this work General Read fully shared. The President recognized his services as entitled to equal mention with those of Minister Washburne ; saying in his Annual Message : " It is just to add that the delicate- duty of this protec tion has been performed by the Minister and Consul-General at Paris, and the various Consuls in France under the supervision of the latter, with great kindness, as well as with prudence and tact." The efficient discharge of this double mission won warm expres sions of gratitude from the German Government. Both Count Wal- dersee and Count d'Arnim repeatedly expressed their acknowledg ments. In a letter to General Read, the latter German Ambassador wrote : " I would not omit to express to you once more, the senti ments of gratitude with which I am inspired by the persevering solicitude which you have never ceased to manifest, in procuring 197 for my compatriots the protection of the laws." But vigilant as Oeneral Read was in guarding the rights of German citizens, he at the same time acted so honorably and with so much tact that he lost nothing of the confidence of the French people and Government. As an illustration of the high esteem in which he is held in Paris, a single fact may be mentioned. In April, 1872, General de Cissey, the French Minister of War, honored him with an invitation to form and preside over a commis sion to examine into the progress made by the officers, stationed at the jfccole-Mililaire, in the English . language. The French Govern ment had been considering whether it should not abandon this course of study. General Read, in his report, advocated not only its retention, but its extension throughout the army. His report was accepted, and the Minister of War gave orders that the experiment should be widely extended. So satisfactory were its results, that after a sec ond examination and report by General Read, the scope of the plan was still further enlarged, with the promise of entire success, and of being eventually applied, to the whole army. This important move ment is due to General Read ; and the . French Minister, convinced of its wisdom, expressed his thanks in the following complimentary terms : " I have the honor to express to you my thanks and my grati tude for having been willing to accept the Presidency of this Com mission, and that you have replied to my appeal with so perfect a grace, and with a cordiality which has profoundly touched me." General Read's devotion to Americans and American interests during the siege and the Commune, are too well known to need mention here. His patriotic efforts in this direction have been re peatedly commended by individuals, by the press, and by our Gov ernment During the latter terrible period it was also his good fortune to be able to protect from harm various Catholic ecclesiastics, as well as other prominent French citizens. He had in his keeping, for nearly a year, large quantities of American property ; and was also the guardian of the precious relics and heirlooms of the descendants of General Lafayette. This sketch would be incomplete without a reference to the gen erous hospitalities which General Read has extended to persons of all nationalities, during his residence in France. We can in no bet- 198 JOHN MEREDITH READ, JR. ter way illustrate this than by quoting an American j ournal, which says: "General Read has been especially attentive to Americans; and all have come away from the enjoyment of his refined courtesies with the most agreeable recollections of their accomplished dispenser, and his charming wife, whose courageous conduct in the midst of the most fearful scenes, did infinite honor to American womanhood." General Read continued as Consul-General at Paris until November, 1873, when he was promoted to be Minister Resident to Greece, and unanimously confirmed by the Senate, on the as sembling of Congress in December following. His departure for his new post was the occasion of much regret to the people and the press of Paris, who were earnest in their praise of the retiring Consul. Galignani's Messenger devoted a column to complimenting him, and giving a sketch of his life; and the Debate said that before felicitating General Read on his diplomatic ele vation, it must express its regrets at the loss which Parisian society will experience in his departure. The Society of Antiquaries of London passed a resolution, which was conveyed by their President, Earl Stanhope, congratu lating General Read, who is a member of that body, on his nomi nation as Minister of the United States to Greece, and requesting him to afford his co-operation in forwarding such antiquarian infor mation as may come under his notice in that' classic land. Since the* foregoing, which appeared in our first edition, General Read visited the United States in the summer of 1874, and remained until the following November. His visit was characterized by a most distinguished welcome. A reception was given him at Albany ; a dinner at the Union League Club in Philadelphia, and a dinner also in Washington at which members of the Cabinet and officers of the army and navy were present. Invitations for similiar honors were likewise received from Chicago, Boston, Providence and New York. While General Read was on his return trip to Greece, his father died in Philadelphia, Nov. 29th, 1874, having only recently resigned the high office of Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. General Read has been as successful during the last three years at Athens as he formerly was at Paris. The Greek press speaks of him in terms of the highest praise ; Athenian society has given him a flattering reception ; the King has manifested towards him exceptional tokens of regard, and the several learned bodies in Greece have marked their appreciation of his scholarship by electing him to honorary membership. HORACE RUBLEE. 7ORACE RUBLEE, Minister Resident of the United States to Switzerland, was born in the town of Berkshire, Franklin county, Vermont, in 1829. He removed with his family to Wisconsin in 1840, and settled west of Sheboygan, in an almost unbroken wilderness. The educa tional opportunities there were somewhat limited, and after mastering all that was to be acquired in the common schools, he commenced a classical course of studies. He was prevented from completing it by failing health, and subsequently read law. He would have attained distinction, undoubtedly, in this profession, but his ability as a writer became known to Gen. David Atwood, editor of the Wisconsin State Journal, published at Madison, the capital, and he secured his services as an editor of the Journal, May 1st, 1853. At the end of the year he became an equal partner' in the establish ment The State was Democratic by a decided majority, and the Journal, which opposed democracy, had but little patronage. But its friends were inspired, by the vigor, boldness and power of its editorials, which were piquant, humorous and incisive, showing great research and fine literary taste. The reader, on turning to the files of the small and dingy paper of twenty years ago, will find in the columns a sparkle that vividly recalls the spirit of the times. In June, 1854, there was a Mass Convention at Madison of the opponents of democracy. The editors of the Journal were active participants in this convention, which formed the first Republican organization in the Union Mr. Rublee was a secretary of the meet ing, and the State Journal became an earnest champion of the princi ples of republicanism there enunciated. The struggle to gain political control of the State was a fierce one. The ruling party was strongly entrenched. The first Republican 200 HORACE RUBLEE. Governor elected was refused a certificate. His opponent, the incumbent, was declared re-elected. The successful candidate applied to the Supreme Court, and after a very exciting trial the canvass of votes was proved to be false and fraudulent, and the Republican was placed in the executive chair. This was in 1856, and the next year the Republicans elected a majority of one branch of the Legislature, and the party soon gained control of the State. Mr. Rublee was appointed chairman of the Republican State Central Committee, about 1859, and as chairman and editor, had a great influence in politics. At the breaking out of the war, he took advanced ground and urged the most vigorous measures for the preservation of the Union. Thousands of Wisconsin's patriotic soldiers were cheered by his hopeful words during the war. The Journal was their champion in securing State aid to their families, while they were absent, as well as relief from tax forfeitures and legal proceedings, and in the passage of an act giving them the right to vote in the army. It vigorously replied to the fire in the rear, kept up by opponents of the war, who came near regaining power in the State. •After the death of President Lincoln, Postmaster General Ran dall, the first war Governor of Wisconsin, and Senator Doolittle controlled the patronage in the State, and endeavored to " Johnsonize" the party, but failed. When the time came to choose a successor to Senator Doolittle, Mr. Rublee was named by many of his friends for the place; while others suggested that, on account of his knowledge of men, and his fine scholarly acquirements, he was peculiarly fitted for a foreign mission. The contest was quite spirited between men of experience and eminent ability. The informal ballot stood as follows : C. C. Washburn, 30 ; Matt H. Carpenter, 29 ; 0. H. Waldo, 14; Horace Rublee, 10; Ex-Gov. Edward Salomon, 4. Senator Carpenter was nominated on the 5th ballot. After the inauguration of President Grant, Mr. Rublee was ap pointed Minister to Switzerland. He wrote his last editorial in June, 1869, just previous to his departure with his family for Berne. Referring to his sixteen years' service as an editor, during which the population of the State had increased from three hundred thousand to over a million, and briefly reviewing the progress made, he closed as follows: "And, however I may fail in other respects, this much is certain : I shall always be found true and faithful, to the utmost of my ability, in all things pertaining to the honor and welfare of HORACE RUBLEE. 201 my country. She who can at will so terribly wield the thunderbolts of war, but whose surpassing glory it is to be even greater by her beneficence than by her power : — 'She that lifts up the manhood of the poor, She of the open heart and open door, With room about her hearth for all mankind ! ' " With warmest wishes to readers and friends, for their well-being and prosperity, I must, for the present, say ' good-bye,' -Auf Wieder- sehenl" He subsequently disposed of his interest in the paper — an enlarged and successful daily. His withdrawal from connection with the press " causes general regret," as was said by a contemporary, " on the part of those who know how much he has contributed by his graceful and yet powerful pen, to the success of the Republican party in Wisconsin. As the conductor of a party journal, Mr. Rublee is regarded, even by his opponents, as a man of unusual ability. His political writings, generally short, were always adroit, incisive and pungent, and sometimes highly argumentative. It is in the field of letters, however, that Mr. Rublee has displayed most talent He has no equal, as a versifier, in the State, and all his writings, whether in verse or prose, are full of rhythm and grace. We anticipate from his < pen, now happily freed from the restraints of party policy, something more vigorous, hearty and eloquent than ever before^-something in every way worthy of a mind highly gifted, well cultured, and richly stored with literary treasures." He has served his country with signal ability as Minister to Switzerland, a position of unusual importance during the last four years. He made a brief visit to Wisconsin in 1873, and though solicited to accept prominent editorial positions, he has concluded, we believe, to remain abroad four years longer. JOHN LEAYITT STEVENS. By Rev. C. R. Moob. )OHN LEAVITT STEVENS, United States Minister Resident to Uruguay and Paraguay, was born in Mount Vernon, Kennebec County, Maine, August 1st, 1820. His father, John Stevens, the descendant of a sturdy English family which settled in the vicinity of Newbury- port, in the early history of Massachusetts, was a native of Brentwood, New Hampshire, and when a young man, about 1805, settled in Mount Vernon, where he lived more than half a century, enjoying the esteem aud confidence of his townsmen to a remarkable degree, as a substantial farmer and a citizen of public spirit and firm integrity. The mother of John L. Stevens was Charlotte Lyford, also a native of Brentwood, New Hampshire, the sister of .Dudley Lyford, a much esteemed citizen of Mount Vernon, the father of Moses Lyford, for many years, and at the present time, a professor of Colby University, at Waterville, Maine. She was a woman of delicate organization, Of rare excellence of character, . who died in 1831, deeply lamented by her family and acquaintances. The subject of this sketch continued with his, father on the farm until eighteen- years of age, enjoying such advantages of education in the common schools as are usually provided by the agricultural towns of his native State — always taking the first place in his class in whatever elementary studies were pursued. He afterwards attained a good academic education at the Maine Wesleyan Seminary, and at the Waterville Liberal Institute in 1838, 1840 and 1841, though he has always regarded the inadequacy of his early opportunities for in struction among the inspiring incentives to the most persistent efforts for self-culture. In 1841, Mr. Stevens was induced by the strong religious con victions and views, which he still continues to cherish, to commence ^^z^y JOHN LEAVITT STEVENS." 203 a course of study preparatory to entering the Christian ministry of the Universalist denomination. Devoting himself assiduously to a course of theological and historical reading for several years, he was fully inducted into the ministerial profession at the age of twenty- four, in which he continued with unsullied reputation for more than ten years. In the meantime he had become the victim of a severe catarrhal affection, which occasioned him great inconvenience, and finally became chronic, baffling all efforts for relief, especially inter fering with constant-pulpit . speaking, so that he was compelled, after due deliberation, to change his. profession. Enjoying warmly the confidence of the religious fraternity to which he belonged, he sur rendered his credentials of fellowship, resolved not to confound the responsibilities of two professions. In January, 1855, Mr: Stevens became the partner of Hon. James G. Blaine, now Speaker of the National House of Representa tives, in the ownership and management of the Kennebec Journal, at Augusta, the capital of the State. This newspaper has long held a leading influence in Maine, and it is well known out of the State, having been established half a century since by Luther Severance, Who learned the trade of printer in the establishment of the old National Intelligencer, of Washington, under the salutary influence of Gales and Seaton, and who became a distinguished Whig editor, a prominent member of Congress, and afterwards United States Commissioner to the Sandwich Islands. From early boyhood the subject of this sketch had been a deeply interested reader Of the Kennebec Journal, and thus imbibed those views that were taught by Clay, Webster and Seward, of which Severance was so faithful and able an exponent. Thus he became acquainted with those princi ples and methods for developing American manufactures aud agri culture, by shielding American labor and capital against the crush ing competition of the poorly-paid labor and organized monopolies of Europe, by the incidental protection afforded by raising the neces sary revenues of the Government by taxing importations — views which he has cherished through his political life and earnestly advo cated with voice and pen as of vital importance to the growth and prosperity of the country. In 1858, Mr. Blaine sold his interest in and closed his editorial connection with that paper, and became editor of the Portland Ad vertiser. Mr. Stevens continued to retain his pecuniary interest in the Kennebec Journal, and had the chief editorial management for 204 JOHN LEAVITT STEVENS. nearly eleven years afterwards— until 1869 — the entire period of his "connection with it being fourteen years. Always an ardent oppo nent of slavery, his editorial writings show the most undeviating and uncompromising advocacy of anti-slavery views and measures. A member of the first Republican State Convention of Maine, he took a leading part in its deliberations, was one of the Committee of Re solutions ; and he and the lamented Judge Woodbury Davis were the sub-committee who drafted and presented the platform of princi ples. Through the exciting and momentous years from 1855 to 1869, Mr. Stevens gave most vigilant and constant devotion to the principles and measures of that great political organization which drove from power the party which had so long misused and dishon ored the legal authority of the Republic, and carried the Government triumphantly through the gigantic and terrible civil war of four years, and advanced the United States to their present commanding civic and financial position among the nations of the world. Mr. Stevens manifested marked energy and skill as an organizer. From 1855 to 1860 he was the chairman of the Republican State Commit tee, and, in a large degree, had the direction of the political cam paigns of those years, receiving ¦ the warmest approval of his politi cal associates for the minuteness of detail and completeness of the work which gave such sweeping victories and became the model of imitation in other States. In 1860 he was chosen by the Legislative Convention one of the four State Delegates at Large to the Republi can National Convention at Chicago for the nomination of a Presiden tial candidate, and to him it was, in a large degree, attributed that ten of the sixteen delegates from Maine, despite the strongest ad verse pressure, cast their votes in the Convention for William H Seward, of whom he was for many years a warm admirer and an effective advocate. For five consecutive years Mr. Stevens was a member of the Maine Legislature — three in the House and two in the Senate. As counsellor and debater, he always commanded the respect of his fel low-legislators, and he was generally successful in carrying through the measures to which he committed himself. He worked for what he regarded the best prosperity and the highest interests of the people. In the Senate he made one of the most powerful and every way effective speeches ever made in opposition to capital punish- ' ment His style of editorial composition was direct, nervous, often brilliant, and always high-toned He never descended to low per- JOHN LEAVITT STEVENS. 205 sonalities. He avoided that scurrility which too often disfigures politicalwritings. A sound morality runs through his editorial, pro ductions, and this also characterizes his public and private actions; That he is a man of principle in politics, his friends have no doubts. He is, moreover, a man of wide historical and general reading — of varied culture of mind and heart Few men of so active life have read and meditated so much as he. Few men of any profession are advancing, year by year, into fresh fields of learning and of wisdom so surely as he. . In March, 1870, President Grant appointed Mr. Stevens Minister to the Republic of Uruguay, residence Montevideo ; the Maine Dele gation in Congress having the preceding year unanimously voted to recommend him to a position of that grade. In the following April, by another commission from the President, the Paraguay Legation was also ' committed to his charge. He left the United States with his family in May, 1870, to enter on his official duties, which he has since discharged with marked ability, fidelity and success. In addi tion to the usual labors of the Legation, he has negotiated a Treaty of Friendship and Commerce with the Uruguay Republic, and is understood to have been very influential in the advocacy of success ful peace negotiations, by which was terminated the civil war be tween contending factions, which had long afflicted that rich and beautiful country of the Rio de la Plata. He repeatedly urged on those in possession of the legal powers of the Republic the substan tial line of action which finally received the approbation of the bel ligerent parties. In his non-official capacity he has been able to obtain from the Paraguayan Government the concession for ten years of the use of a valuable building in Asuncion for the pur poses of Protestant worship and Sabbath school, which, if used ac cording to the terms of the concession, will be the first opening of the doors of religious freedom in that country settled three eenturies since by Europeans, and where the views and methods of the Jesuits so long had absolute sway. Information received at the Washing ton Department of State, and in other quarters, bears testimony that he has been successful in affording protection to the persons and property of citizens of the United States in the disturbed conditions of the countries of the Rio de la Plata, and has maintained a policy of inflexible firmness as the most conducive to the honor and pres tige of his own country, and to the interests of the Government to which he is accredited 206i JOHN LEAVITT STEVENS.: He whose life, in some respects, has been thus briefly sketched,: could hardly fail to have an honorable position in all ways at home. Mr. Stevens is well known in Augusta, Maine, as one of the best public spirited and most influential of the citizens of that city. Its prosperity in material things, in education, in morals, and in religion has been very dear to him, and it has received much from his thought and labor. Though never in possession of large pecuniary means, yet with his characteristic far-sightedness and indomitable energy. he has contributed greatly to the perpetuity and the establishment of various enterprises that are special helps to the City and State, among which are some of the largest ever projected in that part of the country. He believes in the best schools that can possibly be had,, and would not fail to paycheerfully any tax which might be assessed to secure them — even if he had no child of his own to re ceive directly the blessings they confer upon the community. He believes iii « Very good thing that the Christian religion represents. and enforces, and would willingly give double the money, and do double the service which most good men of his means and strength would be willing to give and do, in order that every moral and spiritual force may have free course, and raise humanity to the heights of the Christian standard. In all the relations of life he is emphatically a wise and a good man. CHARLES K. TUCKERMAN. ; HE establishment of a Legation at Athens, Greece, was for many years in contemplation by our Government, and was decided upon soon after the arrival of Mr. Rangabez at Washington, as the Minister Plenipotentiary of His Majesty, King George of Greece. The appropriation for the Mission was made by Congress in the winter of 1868, and at the suggestion of Mr. Seward, then Secretary of State, President Johnson nominated Charles K. Tuckerman of New York, as Minis ter Resident at Athens. Although this nomination was made at a time when all the acts of the Administration were severely scruti nized by Congress — owing to the political breach which existed between those bodies and President Johnson- — Mr. Tuckerman, whose Republican sentiments were Well known to the Senate, was unanit- mously confirmed. The new Mission was inaugurated at Athens, on the 16th of June, 1868. On receiving his credentials, King George replied to Mr. Tuckerman as follows : " Mr. Minister— I thank you for the words which you have just pronounced. It is with a lively pleasure that I see a Minister from the United States accredited near to me. The sympathies which unite the Greek people to those of the United States, date from the very period pf the war which the former sustained to conquer her independence. Fully sharing in these sentiments of my people, I decided last year to send an Envoy Extraordinary to express them to the Presiden* of the United States, The reception of Mr. Ranga bez by the Chief Magistrate of the Republic and by the American people in general ; the Mission with which you are at present charged; the hopes and sentiments which you have just expressed, are so many proofs of the feeling which animates the Government and people of the United States in our behalf. My people and myself place a very high value upon the friendship of the United States. 208 CHARLES K. TUCKERMAN. There is more than one point of resemblance between the two nations. With one as with the other, the love of order- and of liberty form the basis of their character. Both conquered their independ ence by a long struggle, and passed through many trials to sustain these two principles. Having heard of your antecedents and of your talents, I am gratified, Mr. Minister, that the choice of .your Govern ment for its representative near me, has fallen upon yourself I shall always receive you with pleasure, audi am sure that my Gov ernment will hasten to establish intimate and cordial relations with you." : During the first year of Mr. Tuckerman 's residence at Athens, the Cretan insurrection against Turkey was at its height. Our countrymen had contributed largely to the support of the great num ber of Cretan refugees in Greece, and the new Minister had acted in New York as Secretary of the Committee formed for that purpose. His sympathies were therefore enlisted in the cause of the suffering islanders, and the polititical condition of Greece, in its relation to Crete, is largely treated upon in the dispatches published by Con gress. In October, 1868, the Greek Chamber of Deputies passed a decree "in the midst of the warmest applause," offering its " profound acknowledgments to the Senate, House of Representatives, and Peo- .ple of the United States of America, for the generous and benevo lent sentiments which the Republic has at all times manifested toward the Hellenic nation, and especially in regard to the cause of Candia, (Crete)." Mr. Tuckerman, in his letter acknowledging the reception of this decree from the Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs, remarked: " The expressions of interest on the part of the people of the United States for the struggling Christians of Crete, are but the utterances of those who would be faithless to the principles which made and preserved them as a nation did they refuse to extend the right hand of fellow ship to others wherever gathered on the earth's surface, who contend for the inestimable right to choose their own rulers. The people of the United States will consider it a happy circumstance for all the people of Eastern Europe, when the policy adopted toward them shall be in conformity with the sentiment which English statesmen have themselves admitted to be a political axiom, namely, that Trea ties can never unite populations which are dissevered by sympathies. Until this principle is recognized, peace may be maintained by expe dients, but can never be secured." CHARLES "K. TUCKERMAN. 209 In the following year diplomatic relations between Greece and Turkey were suspended, and a war between the two countries was considered imminent in consequence of the declaration of the Porte that the Greek Government had violated Intemational law by openly sending troops and munitions of war to the insurgents of Crete. During this crisis efforts were made on the part of Greece, to induce the United States Government to offer material aid to the insurgents, but received no encouragement from the American Minister^ being in violation of our hereditary policy of non-interference with the affairs of Foreign Powers. Repeated attempts to violate the flag of the United States in Greek waters, forji the subject of several of Minister Tuckerman's dispatches during the suspension of diplomatic relations between Greece and Turkey. Friendly relations between the two countries were resumed, when the Greek Government acceded to the demands of the representatives of the great Powers assembled at Paris, whereby strict neutrality was imposed upon Greece, and the war in Crete was brought to a termi nation by the inability of the insurgents to continue the struggle. The reduction of the import duty in the United States on dried currants, which is the chief article of export from Greece, was an object that Mr. Tuckerman had much at heart 'The Committees on the tariff were of opinion that as the consumption of this fruit was confined to the wealthier classes, no diminution of the duty would affect its importation. Mr. Tuckerman, on the contrary, argued that dried currants should be regarded as an article of necessity, and that the poorer classes would consume them largely as is the case in Eng-, land but for the existing duty which amounted almost to prohibi tion. In 1871 the United States duty on dried currants was reduced from five cents per pound to two and one-half cents per pound,, viz : one half. The result is, that the importation of this article has trebled with a corresponding increase of the revenue to the United States. Among the Papers relating to the foreign relations of the United States submitted to Congress by President Grant was one by Mr. Tuckerman, on brigandage in Greece. This paper excited some, attention in Eastern Europe, where it was reprinted in various journals. Mr. Tuckerman continued to represent the Government in Athens during President Grant's Administration, until March, 1871, 210 CHARLES K. TUCKERMAN. when he resigned, but at the request of the President retained his office for another six months. On quitting Greece, he was the re cipient of unusual honors at the hands of the King, and he appears to have won the enduring gratitude of the Greeks from his persistent efforts to defend them from the unjust aspersions of the European Powers. Since his return to the United States, Mr. Tuckerman has writ ten and published " The Greeks of To-day," (G. P. Putnam & Sons, 1872), a work which has been well received in this country, and of which the New York Tribune says : " During his residence at Athens as Minister of the United States, Mr. Tuckerman devoted! much attention to the study of the personal character of the people, as well as of the institutions of the country. Although he conceived a natural bias in their favor, while enjoying a singular degree of kindness and even of friendship at their hands, he has brought an impartial pen to the treatment of his theme ; nor has he yielded to the influence of sentiment in the exer cise of his critical judgment. He observes without illusion, and de scribes without passion. His work is mainly composed of the results of his own' experience, with little assistance from the researches of previous writers. It is- marked by great temperance and fairness in the expression of opinion, as well as by originality and attractive freshness. In point of style, without aiming at the highest literary finish, having been written hastily during the pauses of a long journey, it is direct and explicit, free from superfluous embellishment, but indicating a ripe and generous culture, and the habit of judicious selection in the choice of wOrds. The information contained in the volume is ample and various, and it cannot fait to hold a high rank among recent authorities on modern Greece." . Charles K. Tuckerman was born in Boston, in 1821, and was educated for a collegiate course, but pursued for many years a com mercial career. He passed several years in China and in various countries of Europe. He is the brother of the eminent writer, the late Henry T. Tuckerman, and although less known as a literary man, has for many years been a contributor to the American jour nals. During the American war, his pen was actively engaged in supporting the cause of the Union. JULIUS WHITE. ,ENERAL JULIUS WHITE, United States Minister Resident to the Argentine Republic, was bom at Cazeno- via, Madison Co., New York, September 29th, 1816. At the age of twenty years he emigrated to Illinois, and sub- sequently to Wisconsin, where he engaged in commercial pursuits. In 1849, he was elected a member of the Legisla ture from Milwaukee. The following year he removed to Chicago, and at the commencement of the great civil war, held the office of Collector of Customs at that Port, to which he had been appointed by President Lincoln. He promptly determined to enter the army, and applied to the Secretary of War, and obtained author ity to raise a regiment of Infantry — the 37th IUinois^tp serve for three years or during the war. This regiment was mustered into the service of the United States on the 18th of September, 1861. Mr. White having been commissioned Colonel, proceeded to Missouri under the orders of Majo^General Fremont, was assigned to the Division commanded by Brigadier-General John Pope, and accompanied the expedition under General Fremont to South-western Missouri, in October, 1861 ; re turned to Otterville, Mo., under the command of Major-General D. Hunter, in November, and remained in winter-quarters at that post, till January 25th, 1862. In December, 1861, Colonel White was assigned to the command of the 2d Brigade, 3d Division, of the Army of the Southwest, con sisting of his own regiment, the 3-7th Illinois, the 59th Illinois, and Davidson's Peoria Battery. On the 25th of January, the Division under command of Brigadier-General J. C. Davis, marched to Le banon, Mo., there joining the forces under Major-General Curtis in the pursuit of General Price. The enemy evacuated Springfield and retreated into Arkansas, closely followed by the forces under 212 JULIUS WHITE. General Curtis, but after being reinforced by Ben. McCulloch, they fought the battle of Pea Ridge. In this battle, the 2d Brigade, Colonel White's command, held a position against the attack of Mc- Culloch's entire force for three quarters of an hour unsupported, during which time the loss of the Brigade in killed and wounded was nearly equal to one fourth its strength. On being reinforced by the 1st Brigade, the enemy was driven in great confusion from the field, with the loss, among their,, killed, of Generals McCulloch and Mcintosh. The official reports of Brigadier-General Davis and Major-General Curtis, commended the conduct of Colonel White and his command, for their bravery and perseverance in this action. Colonel White having been disabled by fracture of the leg, re ceived a leave of absence for thirty days, commencing in the latter part of March, which was subsequently extended thirty days, he be ing unfit for duty at the expiration of the original term. On rejoin ing his regiment, he was placed in command of a district, comprising several counties in the extreme South-western part of Missouri. While in this position, he started an expedition into Arkansas, and, at Fayetteville, captured five Confederate officers, and eighty enlisted men, who were engaged in enforcing the conscription of men for the Confederate army. The expedition suffered no loss. For his con duct at Pea Ridge, Colonel White was promoted to Brigadier-General of Volunteers, to rank from June 7th, "1862, and ordered to report for duty to Major-General Fremont, commanding the mountain de partment in Virginia. That department was, however, immediately merged in the command of Major-General John Pope, known as the Army of Virginia, and General White was assigned to the command of a detached Brigade of the 1st Corps, stationed at Winchester, Va. This command Was assumed by him on the 28th day of July, 1862, and held until September 1st, when he was ordered by the General- in-chiefj to evacuate Winchester and retire to Harper's Ferry. Dur ing the occupation of Winchester, frequent skirmishes were had with the enemy, with inconsiderable results. The official report of Major-General Pope contains the following: " Brigadier-General Julius White, with one Brigade, was in the be ginning of the campaign placed in command at Winchester. He was selected for that position because I felt entire confidence in his courage and abilities, and during the whole of his service there he performed his duty with the utmost efficiency, and relieved me en tirely from any apprehension concerning that region of country." JULIUS WHITE. 213 On reaching Harper's Ferry, September 3d, 1862, General White was directed by Major-General Wool, who commanded that depart ment, to turn over his Brigade to Colonel Miles, commanding the post, and proceed to, and take command at Martinsburg, Va. While stationed at that place, the enemy's cavalry, known as Ashby's regi ment, attacked General White's -outposts, under Colonel Haabrouck Davis, and were defeated with the loss of twenty-five killed, and over fifty wounded, and forty-one prisoners with their horses and arms. For this engagement he received from the Hon. Secretary of War the following despatch by telegraph : " Your success this afternoon is very gratifying, and highly cre ditable to you. Every man must fight as if the safety of the country depended on his individual exertions." (Signed) "E. M. Stanton, ¦Sec of War." On the 10th of September, Stonewall Jackson approached Mar tinsburg with an overwhelming force, whereupon the place was evacuated, and General White with his troops retired to Harper's Ferry. That place was immediately invested by the enemy, and capitulated after four days' siege. On his arrival, General White declined to deprive Colonel Miles of the command of the post solely on account of superior rank, inasmuch as Colonel Miles was familiar with the topography of the place and vicinity, and especially, because Major-General Wool had in so marked a manner expressed his pref erence that the Colonel should remain in command. General White volunteered to serve under Colonel Miles, and was assigned- to the command of Bolivar Heights. During the siege, an attack, by the Confederate General A. P. Hill, on that position was repulsed. The surrender took place on the 15th of September, and was subsequently made the subject of investigation by a military commission, of which Major-General D. Hunter was President. The report of this com mission, among other things, contains the following : "Brigadier-General Julius White merits its (the commission's) commendation. He appears, from the evidence, to have acted with decided courage and capability." (In General Order A. G. 0. 183, series of 1862). In January, 1863, the troops captured at Harper's Ferry were exchanged. General White, who had received leave of absence in November, 1862, " till exchanged," applied immediately for orders, and was directed to report for duty to Major-General Wright, com manding the department of the Ohio, and was assigned to the com- 214 JULIUS WHITE. mand of the Eastern District of Kentucky, a mountainous region, which was overrun by guerrillas. This command; was assumed in the latter part of January, 1863. During the six months that ensued, General White and his forces were constantly employed in ridding the district of these bands. More than five hundred were killed or captured in small parties during the time. An attack by the Con federate General Humphrey Marshall on Louisa, Kentucky, was repulsed in March. In June, General White moved with his troops up the Sandy river, and dividing his force at Pikeville, Ky., into three columns, led the central one in a demonstration upon the Salt Works near Abingdon, Va., and sent a detachment on each side un der Colonel Cameron, of the 65th Illinois Infantry, and Major: Brown, of the 10th Kentucky Cavalry respectively, to the Tug Ford, of* the Sandy river, and to Gladesville, Va. The latter place was stormed at daylight on the 6th of July by Major Brown, killing twenty-one of the enemy, and wounding many. Carrdill, a Confederate Colonel^ with nineteen other officers and ninety -nine enlisted, men were cap tured Colonel Cameron had, a running fight with the enemy, killing three and capturing twenty.. The enemy directly in front of the central column, decamped in the night and _ retreated to their en trenchments at the Salt Works, sixty miles distant from Pikeville. The objects of the expedition having been attained, the command returned to Louisa, Ky., its total loss being nine wounded, none mortally. . In August, 1863, General White was assigned to command of a Brigade of Cavalry in a Cavalry Division of the 23d Army Corps. Shortly afterward, the command of the 2d Division of that Corps was given to him in consequence of the sickness of Brigadier- General Manson, who had been assigned to it This Division, con sisting of eight regiments of Infantry, three batteries of Artillery and a detachment of Cavalry, marched from Columbia, Ky., as a part of the force under Major-General Burnside, for East Tennessee, constituting the right wing, and starting from a point sixty miles west of the main body, joined it near the Emory river in Tennessee. The march was a toilsome one. In crossing the Cumberland .moun tains, it became necessary to employ from fifty to eighty men to each wagon and piece of artillery; in order to ascend the heights. In this way the entire train of two hundred and forty wagons, besides the artillery, was moved ten miles in one day, in order that the junction with the main body, at the time indicated in General White's orders, JULIUS WHITE. 215 might be accomplished. On communicating with Major-General Hartsuff, commanding the Corps, from Jamestown, Tenn., the latter expressed himself in the following language, among other things, by letter : " You have done wonderfully well, and are a day and a half ahead of all other troops of this army. You will wait further orders where you are." General White's command was Stationed at Loudon, on the Ten: nessee river, most of the time for the next two and a half months, during which it was not engaged with the enemy except in some in considerable skirmishes. On November 13th, 1863, General Long- street, of the Confederate army, crossed a part of his force over, the Tennessee river, at a point six. miles below Loudon ; Major-General Burnside directed the retirement of the troops at Loudon in the direction of Knoxville, but on reaching Lenoir station, the order was countermanded, and General White's command ordered forward, supported by a part of the . 9th Army Corps. The enemy was at tacked and driven back to his bridge. Repeated charges were made by General White's command, resulting, in each instance in dislodg ing the enemy from his positions. The 13th Kentucky Infantry comprising less than three hundred men, lost about sixty in killed and wounded in one of these assaults, General Whi,te was ordered to assault the bridge during the night,. supported by Ferrero's .Divi sion of the 9th Corps. The night proving exceedingly dark and stormy, the order of attack was countermanded by General Burnside, and on the following morning the entire force took, up the line of march for Knoxville, with General White's , command as rear-guard; the enemy immediately following and attacking on the rear and left flank. Owing to the exhaustion of the horses, and the very bad. state of the roads, one caisson was abandoned at the foot of the hill, where the ground was very unfavorable for fighting., The enemy Was repulsed "with heavy loss _ at the summit of the hill, where he made a furious attack. The pursuit was kept up by him, and light skirmishing was constant On the next day, November 15th, on ap proaching Campbell's Station, the junction of the roads leading fronr Knoxville to Loudon and Kingston respectively, the enemy attacked in great force and vigorously from both roads, on which he was ap proaching. General White's command was ordered into line of battle, the 9th Corps and the cavalry passing to the rear and- forming to support him. Two Brigades of the 9th Corps were advanced to positions, respectively on the right and left of the line established by 216 JULIUS WHITE. him. The enemy advanced in three lines, but was repulsed in* one partial and two general attacks. The position was held from 12 o'clock M., till dark, when the retreat was continued, and Knoxville reached the next morning. The losses of General White's command were less than two hun dred in killed, wounded and missing ; that of the enemy unknown, as they occupied the ground as fast as General Burnside retired from it For the part taken in these engagements, General White received for himself and his command, the official commendation of his Corps Commander, Brigadier-General Manson, as well as frequent verbal, and subsequently official, approval from Major-General Burnside. During the siege of Krtoxville, which continued seventeen days, viz : from November 16th, to December 4th, 1863, he was in com mand of a work known as Fort Huntington Smith, situated on the right centre of the line of intrenchments. His artillery was on sev eral occasions engaged with the enemy's batteries, and the line of skirmishers was almost continually fighting, but no assault was made on that line. On the raising of the siege his command was, with the remainder of the forces, ordered in pursuit of the enemy, and re mained in position at and about Blain's Cross Roads, Tenn., for about four weeks thereafter. On the 22d day of December, Brigadier-General Manson was re lieved of the command of the Corps "by Brigadier-General Cox, by order of Major-General Foster, then in command of the Department. General Manson being the ranking officer, was then assigned to the command of the 2d Division. On being relieved, General White, with the concurrence of the Corps and department commanders, availed himself of a leave of absence for thirty days, (which had been in his possession for several weeks). On his way North he was seized with violent illness, and was confined to the house during the entire remaining term of his leave. On recovering, he was ordered to duty at Springfield, His., in command of the general rendezvous for drafted men and volunteers in that State, where he remained until June, 1864, when he was ordered to report for duty to Major-General Meade, commanding the Army of the Potomac, and assigned to the 9th Army Corps under General Burnside At the request of the latter, he was appointed Chief of Staff, and served in that capacity. until July. He participated in the battle of July 30th, was assigned to the command of the 1st Division, 9th Corps, July 31st, and with the Division participated in two general engagements for tho posses- JULIUS WHITE. 217 sion of the Weldon Railroad, August 19th and 21st, 1864, defeating and, driving the left of the enemy's line from the field on the 19th, capturing seventy prisoners, and over five hundred stand of small arms thrown away by the enemy in his flight For this he was commended in the official reports of Generals Warren and Meade. Subsequently prostrating and protracted illness compelled General White to tender his resignation, which was accepted, and he returned to private life. At the close of the war, General White was brevetted Major- General, for "gallant and meritorious services during the war."* "- General White has been actively identified with the Republican party from its organization down to the present time. Immediately after the great fire at Chicago he was elected by a majority of seven thousand, one of the fifteen " County Commissioners " of. that County, and was subsequently made Chairman of, the Board In that capacity he introduced measures; which were adopted, changing ma terially the administration of the County government, and resulting in saving over one hundred thousand dollars annually' to the County. The position of Minister Resident to the Argentine Republic was first tendered to him by President Grant in July, 187.3, and was then declined on account of the pressure of his private business. The place was again tendered to him in November of the same year, and accepted * The facts relating to General White's military career are gathered from " The Patriotism of Illinois;" a volume written by Rev. T. M.Eddy, and "Burnside and the Ninth Army Corps," by Rev. Mr. Woodbury, of Boston, Mass. RUMSEY WING. ON. RUMSEY WING, Minister Resident to Ecuador, was bom in Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky, December 19th, 1844. He graduated as valedictorian at Greenville Presbyterial Academy in. 1859. He also graduated in 1861 at Centre College with the degree of Bach elor of Arts, and was chosen " society orator " the same year. Entering the Union army, Mr. Wing served on the staff of General James S. Jackson, who was killed at Perryville, Kentucky. He delivered the annual address to the Alumni of the Chamberlain Society in 1864; studied law with Chief Justice Robertson, and received license from the Judges of the Supreme Court of Ken tucky in 1865. He then practiced law in Louisville, Kentucky, until 1868, when he entered the canvass for Grant and Colfax. In 1869, Mr. Wing was nominated by the Republican party to make the race for State Treasurer, and was defeated, of course, owing to the heavy Democratic majority in the State. He was chosen orator for " Memorial Day " for the Union dead in Kentucky in 1869, and during this same year he. was tendered a prominent Consulate in France. In November, 1869, he was appointed by President Grant Min ister to Ecuador, and was officially received in Quito, June 23d, 1870. Minister Wing has negotiated several treaties, and settled, with the approval of the State Department, all questions pending or aris ing during his term. He has a place in the " Red Books " and " Commercial Reports " of 1871 and 1872. Notably among these is his correspondence with the Department of State, on " The Regula tions of the Fire Department at Guyaquil as affecting citizens of the United States." Minister Wing's conduct of the question, as explained in the cor- RUMSET WING. 219 respondence referred to, and his course throughout, elicited the fol lowing letter of approval' from Washington : Department of State, ) No. 35.] Washington, March 23d, 1871. , Sir — Your dispatch,, No. 64, of the 30th January, in regard to the regulations of the Fire Department, so far as it imposes per sonal service upon foreigners, or an exemption tax, has been received. In reply I have to inform you that your refusal to unite with other members of the diplomatic body in Quito in a formal remonstrance against the same, was discreet, and is approved, as is also your sub sequent conduct on that occasion, the propriety of which is shown by the result . I am, &c, Hamilton Fish. The Ecuadorian Secretary of State, in his message to the last National Congress, refers to Minister Wing in the following lan guage: * * * * " Finally the Cabinet at Washington knows how to select with circumspection and prudence, citizens who are friends of peace and progress, to come to Ecuador to represent the great Republic with discretion and ability, and to cultivate and strengthen the relations between the two countries, making the ties that bind them indissoluble — citizens, who like the Hon. Rumsey Wing, both in his capacity of Minister Resident and in his character as a private gentleman, has known how to win the respect and affection of the people of Ecuador." As a matter of pleasure Mr. Wing has written extensively for the Press in the United States. He is recognized as an able and forci ble writer and a graceful and effective speaker. It is understood that he is now preparing a work entitled the "Rights of Foreign Residents." THOMAS ADAMSON. > HOMAS ADAMSON, the younger of that name, Consul at Melbourne, Australia, was born in Schuylkill township, Chester County, Pehn., April 5th, 1827. From his parents, who were prominent members of the Society of 'Friends, and among the earliest members of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, he.. became, .thoroughly imbued, with Anti-Slavery principles, of ,i which he has always been an earnest advocate. He connected himself with the Liberty party in the early days of that organization, and afterward with its successors, the " Free Soil " and Republican parties. .,., In the autumn of 1861, his health demanding a change, of climate, his friends recommended him warmly to President Lincoln, for a Consular appointment He was first tendered the position of United States Consul at Laguayra, Venezuela, but declined it. He was then appointed Consul for Pernarnbuco, Brazil, where he resided for more than seven years. During 1863, the Anglo-rebel privateers cruising in the neighbor hood of Fernando, de Norpnha and along the Brazilian coast, com mitted sad ,havocr among our .shipping in that quarter, which fact made, Pernarnbuco one of the mpst important of our Consulates. The unwearying activity of Consul Adamson in endeavoring to , obtain information of the movements of those cruisers, his efforts to thwart their designs, and his economy of the public funds in expen ditures for the relief of the large number of seamen who came under his charge from vessels captured by the Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and others of that class, secured for him the confidence and uniform approval of the Department of State, and the warm com mendations of the United States Minister at Rio de Janeiro. During the Presidency of Mr. Johnson attempts were made to have him removed on political grounds, but all such failed because his services to the national cause at Pernarnbuco were held to have been so important, as to entitle him to retain that post THOMAS ADAMSON. 221 In May, 1869, he returned home on leave of absence, and his friends, believing that his ability and services entitled him to a more prominent position; recommended him to the President for pro motion. The Board of Underwriters of New York and Boston, as also several distinguished citizens of other States, joined with many of the most prominent Republicans of Pennsylvania, on that recommendation. On the 1st of June, 1869, he was appointed to the important Consulate at Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, and was specially charged with the duty of inaugurating various reforms which the Govern ment desired to make in the administration of that Consulate His services at Honolulu secured for him the confidence of his countrymen at that port, and the thanks of the Department of State for " faithful administration." His nomination as Consul at Hono lulu not having been acted upon by the Senate, the Committee on Commerce having failed to act thereon, it fell under the rule which makes void any nomination not confirmed before the end of the session. Before leaving Honolulu he was publicly presented with testi monials of respect and esteem by the principal clergymen, and by the other Americans residing there. . He returned home in the latter part of 1870. His friends then addressed the President, referring to the past services of Mr. Adam- son, and the manner of failure of his confirmation at Honolulu^ closing with the hope that he might receive " such an appointment as will testify that integrity and faithful services are appreciated and will be supported by the Government of the United States." On the 1st of February, 1871, he was appointed and confirmed as Con sul for Melbourne, Australia, where he now is. His appointment to Pernarnbuco was made November 25th, 1861, since which he has been continuously in the service of the Government, with the excep tion of about two months between return from Honolulu and appoint ment to Melbourne; CHARLES M. ALLEN. HARLES MAXWELL ALLEN, United States Consul at Bermuda, was born at Heath, Massachusetts, in 1822. When about four years old, his family moved to Win- hall, Vermont, where he resided until he attained the age of sixteen, at which time he left home and went to Mas sachusetts. He there attended an academy at Bridgewater, and afterward took up his residence in Boston. He remained at the latter place about eight years, being there connected with the carpet trade. When twenty-nine he moved to Wayne, Maine, and was there two years. In 1850 he again moved, and went with his family to Phillipsville (now Belmont), Allegany County, New York. The Erie Railway had not then reached so far west, and the journey was partly made on the Erie Canal. In 1851, a call for a meeting of Electors favorable to the forma tion of a " Republican party " was issued in Allegany County, and was signed by A. N. Cole, C. M. Allen, and E. D. Maxson. This call was heartily responded to, and received the support of the Genesee Valley Free Press, a local paper. The organization soon spread and increased in strength, until finally, it having become established throughout the State, a State Convention was called This call, thus issued in the " wilds of Allegany County," as the New York Herald says, in speaking of it, is believed to be of an earlier date than any other document of the Republican party, and to have been the means of originating an organization which is now intrusted with the government of our country. During the next eight years, Mr. Allen was engaged in the lum ber business. In 1859, on account of poor health, which rendered it almost impossible to endure the severe Northern winters, he went to Florida for a short time. He was ordered to leave Jacksonville by a Vigilance Committee, although he did not immediately comply with the request """"ASMH^ SHijmrimj CikJUW*'*- -z>zy CHARLES M. ALLEN. 223 Returning to Belmont, New York, and finding his, health little better, he was advised to remove permanently to a warmer climate. He accordingly made application to Mr. Lincoln, for a Consulate in a warmer climate, and was successful. Among others who supported his application, were Governor Washburne, of Maine, and the Hon. Augustus Frank, of Warsaw, New York. Mr. Allen's commission, signed by Mr. Lincoln, bears date of August 7th, 1861. On November 1st, 1861, he arrived at his. consular post, and at once entered upon the duties of .his office. At that time the block ade runners had not made Bermuda a depot, only one having arrived. They soon, however, began to come and go frequently, until, attracted by the gains and interests of the contraband trade, Southern emissaries and sympathizers swarmed into the island In the discharge of his duty, Mr. Allen encountered, throughout the war, every obstacle that the invention and malice of these men could safely offer. In the winter of 1862, he seized the bark Wheatland of Baltimore, and placed a new captain on board, thereby saving the sacrifice of the vessel. This was done only after a great many difficulties had been overcome, and support obtained from Governor Ord, then at the head of the local authorities. The Board of Underwriters in New York, in speaking of the Wheatland affair, and of the steamer Herald, extended, through Mr. Seward, their thanks to Mr. Allen for his prompt and efficient action. The Herald, a blockade runner, was detained three months in St G-eorge, Mr. Allen having induced the captain and entire crew to abandon the vessel. In the letter before mentioned from the Board of Underwriters, they stated that, "Jf his predecessor had pursued a similar independent and patriotic course, hundreds of thousands of dollars would have been saved to the commerce of the country." In the spring of 1862, the steamer Laaona came into St. George for coal. Unable to obtain a supply of other parties, the captain hoisted the American flag at the fore, and produced to Mr. Allen a United States Consular License, dated at Hull, to go to the port of Beaufort (then an open port under restrictions), and requested him to sell him enough coal to get the steamer across. The coal was in Mr. Allen's charge on account of the United States Government, it having been shipped for our cruisers, before a royal proclamation had forbidden the establishment of such depots for belligerent vessels. -Knowing the Ladona had contraband goods (twenty-five tons nitre) 224 CHARLES M. AlLLEN. on board, Mr. Allen refused to sell him coalj or to sell to any one for his : use. The Master resorted to bribes, and, finally, getting no coal at all in the port, supplied the Vessel with wood^ from old hulks, etc., and cleared for Nassau, with cargo valued at £160,000. . The clear ance for Nassau was used as a blind, and a few days afterward the Ladona was captured by the blockading vessels off Savannah, while trying to enter that port In June, 1864, Mr. Allen informed Rear Admiral Lee that the British schooner Resolution, then at St George, was fitting for a piratical enterprise in the West Indies, -and was undoubtedly com manded by John C. Braine, who had a little time before captured the Chesapeake. He also advised the stationing of a gun-boat to watch her. About three weeks after, the schooner sailed with thirty men, commanded by John C. Braine. The result of the voyage was the capture of the United States Mail steamer Roanoke, burned by Braine off Bermuda, in October, 1864. ¦ During 1865, the privateer Florida called in at St. George, receiv ing from an English fort the only salute ever paid by any of the higher powers to the Confederate flag. In St George she was se cretly supplied with coal, in spite of regulations to the contrary. Learning this, Mr. Allen caused her to stop supplying. A few days after, two of the Florida's men, one apparently an. officer, entered the Consular Office, and behaved in such a manner that they were Ordered out, when one of them attacked Mr. Allen, who felled him with a blow from an eyelet pUnch, which lay at hand. The man recovered at once, sprang to his feet, and assisted by his companions, over powered Mr. Allen, and endeavored to throttle him. At this junc ture the police were called in by a newsboy, who was delivering a local paper. This affair was made the subject of an indignant pro test by the New York Tribune, and other papers. In March, 1865, a Swede in the employ of the Confederate Agent at Bermuda, quarreled with his employer. Thinking his anger might make him of some use, Mr. Allen sounded the Swede upon matters of interest, with the hope of obtaining valuable information. The result was the discovery of the " Yellow Fever Plot," without par allel in the history of atrocities. Several trunks filled with clothing, stained and soiled from usage by yellow fever patients, and in many cases taken from the dead, were found ready for shipment to New York as soon as the weather should be warm enough to insure con tagion. The author and promoter of this plot was named Black- CHARLES M. ALLEN. 225 bum, and was noted for his skill in yellow fever cases. It was found afterward, that the death of eleven hundred persons from yel low fever in Newbern, North Carolina, was brought about by the same means which were frustrated by Mr. Allen's timely discovery. Dr. Blackburn was never punished The war coming to a close at this time, cleared the Bermudas of blockade runners, and allowed _ them to relapse into something of their ordinary monotony. The years since the war, varied only by events not unusual in all seaport Consulates, offer little of interest to the reader. From Consul Allen's report to the State Department, September 30th, 1871, we make the following extracts : " This being strictly a military and naval station, with no manu factories, the exports are limited to the products of the soil ; about one-tenth only of the islands, or two-square miles, are susceptible of cultivation. The principal crops, consisting of onions, Irish potatoes, and tomatoes, are grown in the winter months in the sheltered val leys, the higher ground being too much exposed to the gales of that season of the year to be of any use for agricultural purposes. *********** " The whole exports of the islands during the year 1870 amounted to $175,945,28, of which amount nearly five-sixths, or $145,041,60, consisting mostly "of vegetables, were shipped to the United States during the early spring months. Of the imports during the same year, amounting to $1,115,137,51, more than one-half, or $585,086, 40, were from the United States, consisting mostly of the products of the soil " The arrival at the two ports, Hamilton and St George's, during the year 1870 were 232 vessels, (71,690 tons;) of which number 57 (27,801 tons) were under the United States flag. The tonnage of all vessels entered at the two ports was divided nearly equal, the less number but greater tonnage entering St George's." Mr. Allen is one of a very few Consuls serving under commis sions signed by Abraham Lincoln. EMORY P. BEAUCHAMP. MORY P. BEAUCHAMP, United States Consul at Aix- la-Chapelle, Prussia, was born in the year 1848, in Clay County, Indiana, famous as one of the best coal-mining districts west of the Alleghany mountains. He is of French descent, as his name indicates, and his ancestors, who were ship-builders in Maryland, came to this country in 1796. His father, Purden Beauchamp, was born in Kentucky, and was one of the oldest and well-known government mail contractors in the Western States. Young Beauchamp, when five years of age, moved with his parents to Terre Haute, Indiana. He was sent to the public schools in that place until nine years of age, when his parents again moved to Put nam County, in the same State, and one of the finest " blue grass " and stock-raising counties in the West. Here his father, in connec tion with his government contracts, engaged in raising blooded stock and farming, in which the son took an active interest, soon acquiring, under paternal instruction, all the qualifications of an apt and a suc cessful trader. At the age of fourteen he was sent to the Bloomingdale Acad emy (under the control and direct supervision of the Society of Friends or Quakers), and remained there in the. prosecution of his studies during the Fall and Winter months, returning home in the Spring to assist his father in Spring and Summer " stock shipping," and in taking care of the harvest. This, to the young man, was an easy, romantic mode of life, rendered the more agreeable by the in dulgence of a good, honest, upright father, who refused him nothing in the way of money, and eventually advanced him means to trade in cattle on his own account. Profiting by his tact and adeptness in trade, he soon amassed quite a respectable sum, which he deposited to his account in bank. Meanwhile he grew weary of this manner of living, and his ambition prompted him to gp to college, with a EMORY P. BEAUCHAMP. 227 view of acquiring a higher education and preparing himself for the study and practice of the law. His father, however, opposed this idea, urging a very decided preference for his continuance in the oc cupation of a farmer and stock-raiser as the most independent and desirable. Persisting in his determination, and further encouraged by the friendly interposition of his old professor at the Academy — who avowed that the youth possessed the intelligence and ability to become a good and successful lawyer — the father, seeing further op position unavailing, relented and kindly consented to furnish the re quisite means without interfering with the son's money. Accord ingly he went to Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana, where he soon, by his genial, affable manner, and honest, upright habits, won the hearts of all who knew him. At the same time he made rapid progress in his studies, developing superior talent in the acquisition of the education to which he aspired. Before graduation, however, he was called away from college to attend the bedside of his father, who soon after died of typhus fever. Mr. Beauchamp did not return to college, but began reading law in the office of Hon. Thos. H Nelson and J. N. Pierce of Terre Haute, Indiana. At the age of twenty -one he was admitted to prac tice in all the courts of Indiana. A year later he purchased and owned large tracts of Western land ; his operations, in this particu lar, becoming in time very extensive. Indeed, he has owned more western land and traded more largely in the same than any man, per haps, of his age in the country. An ardent Republican, Mr. Beauchamp has been recognized as an energetic and hard working member of the party. In the last Presidential campaign (of 1872), he rendered most effective aid and valuable service to the Republican party in Indiana, giving freely of his time and money for the triumph of the cause he had so warmly espoused He was the originator of the great Irish defection in the sixth Congressional District, defeating the Hon. D. W. Voorhees in favor of Gen. M. C. Hunter. Mr. Beauchamp was made Assistant Attorney General for Indi ana, in 1873. He was also elected City Attorney of the flourishing City of Terre Haute — a very important and responsible position, re quiring the exercise of sound discretion and much legal acumen. On the 26th August, 1873, he was appointed by President Grant to the important Consulate at Aix-la-Chapelle, Prussia, and sailed for his post on 1st October following. 228 EMORY P. BEAUCHAMP. Mr. Beauchamp owes much of his success in life,:— and for one so young he has succeeded wonderfully, — to his generous disposi tion, genial spirit, and engaging manners. These, joined to an ability beyond question, give abundant assurance that he will prove a valuable and worthy consular representative in his present field of effort Aix-la-Chapelle is a populous and thrifty city, lying between the rivers Rhine and Meuse. It is famous for its mineral springs, as also for its manufactories. It claims great antiquity, and there are traces of its existence under the government of the Romans, to whom it was known as early as the time of Caesar and Drusus. Pliny men tions it under the name of Vetera. Here, according to some writers, the Emperor Charlemagne was born, and here he died in 814. Here were concluded the treaties of peace of 1668, which put an end to the war carried on against Spain by Louis XIV, and that of 1748, which terminated the Austrian war of succession ; and here also, in October and November, 1818, was held the congress of the great powers, which had conquered Napoleon. It is said that fifty-five emperors have been crowned in this city. By the peace of Lune- ville, concluded in February, 1801, which separated the left bank: of the Rhine from Germany, the city was transferred to France, and remained, until the overthrow of Napoleon, the chief town of the Department of the Roer. Its manufactories of woolen cloths and needles are extensive and celebrated The value of its exports annually to the United States aggregates something over two and a half million dollars in gold. The principal article of exportation to this country is woolen cloth, and amounts to about $1,800,000 gold annually. ELIAS D. BRUNER. By Rev. Db. J. A Swaket. LIAS D. BRUNER, United States Consul, Talcahuano, Chile, was born February 26th, 1834, in Frederick county, Maryland. His father, Jonathan Bruner, a descendant of one of the oldest families of Maryland, a farmer and a man of good natural abilities. He gave son, at an early age, the advantages of such schooling as could be obtained in Frederick City. The young school-boy showed a decided preference and ability for mathematics, which, following him into manhood, have been attended by considerable proficiency in the science of numbers, and especially in civil engineering. At the age of fourteen years, he was sent to Marshall College, Pennsylvania, where, however, \he was soon arrested in his collegiate studies by the California gold excitement. Prompted by a desire to see the world, and especially to visit those fields of gold which at tracted thousands of men from all parts of the earth, he induced his father to invest a thousand dollars in the Baltimore and Frederick Trading Company, then preparing to proceed to California. He sailed with the Company from Baltimore in the spring of 1849 ; but the undertaking proving a failure, he returned home at the end of a year. His voyage to California gave him a desire to follow the sea. His friends interested themselves in obtaining a place for him in the navy, and, through a representative in Congress, who was a friend of his father, he received the appointment of a midshipman ; but, hav ing been found to be above the prescribed age, he was disappointed in his aspirations. Still resolved to follow the sea, he went into the merchant service, and after making one or two short cruises out of Baltimore, he pro ceeded to Boston and joined a ship bound on a trading voyage to China, Japan, and the islands of the Pacific ocean. Disgusted with 230 ELIAS D. BRUNER. a sailor's life, he was discharged, at his own request, at Hilo, Hawaii, receiving $40 out of about $300 which were due him. It is a principle in nature that large bodies attract those which are small ; and it is a matter of fact that the masses of gold in California attracted many an empty pocket ; and Mr. Bruner evi dently went from Hilo in the line of such attraction. He worked his way to Honolulu, and thence to San Francisco, arriving at the latter place in the spring of 1853. And now we see him prospecting on Russian river ; operating in Butte county with a Company formed to flume a claim on Feather river ; and daily hunting gold, as many more have done, with ill success rewarding sweat and pains. About this time, in California, the American party was formed, and Mr. Bruner, though not entitled to a vote, entered upon his first political experience by working hard in behalf of the party. . At the point of his ill su'ccess in mining and of his wants of funds, his attention was turned to the fillibustering expedition of Gen. Walker. He recruited a company of volunteers ; sailed with them from San Francisco, on board of the Sierra Nevada, in October, 1855 ; met an agent of Walker at San Juan del Sur, who " furnished them tranportation on foot " to Virgin Bay, on lake Nicaragua, and soon afterward they joined Gen. Walker up the lake. Mr. Bruner, not approving of some of the proceedings of Gen Walker, and for tunately discovering that fillibustering was not his forte, obtained leave of absence and sailed for New York, where he arrived in December, 1855. In the following year he was married to Miss Caroline Baird, of Springfield, Ohio — known as the granddaughter of Maddox Fisher, whose wealth, natural ability, and persistent energy made him the leading character in the settlement and growth of Springfield After his marriage he settled in Mankoto, Minnesota, and opened an office for entering land, civil engineering and surveying. Here, moved by the massacre of whites at Jackson and Spirit Lake by a band of Sioux Indians, in the spring of 1857, he was among the first to pro tect the settlers on the frontier by volunteering, for that purpose, in a company of which he was elected first lieutenant The campaign was brief. In April, 1857, Mr. Bruner was appointed clerk of the Probate Court of Blue Earth county, Minnesota ; and, in the fall, of the same year, he was elected by the Democratic party, judge of the same Court and held the office for two years. In 1859 he was appointed ELIAS D. BRUNER. 231 Deputy U. S. Marshal for the District of Minnesota, and held this office until the breaking out of the civil war. At the beginning of the war, he offered himself to the govern ment as a volunteer in the navy, and, being accepted, was appointed Acting Master and ordered to join the frigate Potomac, then fitting out at the New York Navy Yard. Soon after, orders were received from the Navy Department for the vessel to proceed to the Gulf of Mexico to do blockading duty. In December, 1861, the Potomac was ordered to Vera Cruz, to observe the landing of the French, en gaged in the expedition against Mexico ; and, in the spring of 1862, she sailed from Vera Cruz to Pensacola bay, arriving a short time after the taking of the Navy Yard. In August, 1862, Mr. Bruner was ordered on expeditionary duty to Choctawhatchee bay, in command of the schooner Charlotte, with a crew of forty men ; and, soon after his arrival, he captured the schooner Independence, which was preparing to run the blockade out of East Pass. Having received a reinforcement of twenty-four men, he sailed to the head of the bay ; landed at 7 o'clock in the evening with thirty men ; marched through the sand fourteen miles, to the county-seat of Walton county, Florida, which was the Confederate Land Office for east Florida ; captured the records and mails of the Post Office, and all the records of the Land Office, in the face of a full Confederate Cavalry Company, stationed in the town; and, at 8 o'clock next morning, arrived in safety at the schooner, all hands weary enough from the night's work. Extensive salt works were situated between the gulf coast and the bay, on a small inlet out of the way of Yankee guns from the gulf, and were protected by a company of Confederate soldiers. The commander of the Charlotte, having received special orders to destroy all salt works in his district, and having discovered, from an adver tisement in the Montgomery Alabama Mail, the existence of the above named works, resolved to march across the land and make an attack in the rear. Taking forty men and a twelve-pound howitzer, and capturing two negroes to be pilots for the expedition, he came upon the enemy, after a march of two hours, at break of day, and while most of the soldiers were still in bed ; drove in the pickets, captured the camp, taking one hundred and ten prisoners, and eighty stand of arms, and destroyed all the works. The capture was easily made without the loss of a man, on account of the promptness of the measures, and the early hour of the attack. 232' E L I A S D. r BRUNER.' News was received through a Confederate deserter that a steamer, called the, Bloomer, was being fitted up as a gunboat at Geneva, Alabama, which was about 180 miles by water from where the Char: lotte lay, and about 90 miles by land. The Bloomer was to be. built up with cotton, behind which sharp-shooters were to be placed ; she was to have a schooner in tow, come down upon the schooner Char lotte and capture her, and then, loading her with cotton, run .her out of the bay for Havana — all of which would have been, easily accom plished if the commander of the Charlotte had not taken " time by the forelock." He immediately obtained a reinforcement of fifty men ; proceeded to the head of the bay, December 23d ; landed ninety men and a howitzer, and all necessary ammunition ; captured horses and other conveniences for the men, and marched across the land to Geneva. On the second day out he had one man killed, and the next morning, at daylight, he boarded the steamer. After consuming twenty-four hours to get the engines ready, he proceeded down the river, with a pilot for the steamer, who had been coerced into this necessary service, and, although fired upon several times from the banks of the river, safely arrived in the bay after a run of two days. The steamer was fitted up by the government and attached to the expedition, Mr. Bruner being in -command of her. . In 1863, he was detached from the expedition, and ordered to command the United States ship Nightingale. In the month of February, he was temporarily detached from the Nightingale, put in command of the Sarah Bruen, a large mortar schooner, and ordered to shell Fort Powell, at the entrance of Mobile bay, and, return ing from this duty in May to Pensacola bay, was ordered to resume command of the Nightingale. After the capture of the Bloomer, he was recommended for pro motion by Admiral Farragut, and was accordingly promoted in March of 1864. He was ordered north with the Nightingale, and ar rived in Boston, June 9th, 1864, and was detached and put on waiting orders. A " naval record, " referring at this time to the ship Nightingale, "Lieut. Commanding, E.D. Bruner," says : "She has had several spir ited engagements with the Rebel cavalry and infantry, who infest the woods between Pensacola and Warrington. This ship has the repu tation of being the fastest sailing vessel in the navy." After this, Mr. Bruner commanded the Clematis, the United States steamer Lillian, and the steamer General Bragg, and, in August, 1865, obtained leave of absence; at the expiration of which, the war being ended, he was honorably discharged from the navy. ELIAS D. BRUNER. 233 After steamshipping out of New York a year, he again entered the navy, and, having been ordered to the Tdhoma as navigator, sailed from Boston in time to be caught in the great hurricane of 1866. The vessel was nearly lost, and had to be taken to Pensacola for repairs. She was ordered thence to Vera Cruz, to afford an opportunity of observing the departure of the French from the soil of Mexico. Five years before, Mr. Bruner was on the frigate Potomac, to see the French land on the same soil. Those five years had bestowed no laurels on the invaders of Mexico ! At Key West, the Tahoma was ordered to assist in laying the Cuba cable, and thence she was ordered to New York, where Mr. Bruner was de tached. In a few days he was ordered, as navigator, to the U. S. ship Idaho, and sailed for Japan in September, 1867. In January, 1869, he was detached from the Idaho, and returned from Japan by steamer tq the United States, and in Ap il resigned his position in the navy. Two months afterward he was appointed Consul to Talcahuano, Chile, South America, and arrived at his post in September follow ing. Talcahuano is not the fir3t port on the Pacific coast, but there are seasons Of the year when it is one of the most important It is the great recruiting centre for the American Whalers, where, each season, in shipping and paying off some hundreds of men, intricate questions between masters and seamen require to be settled. The official proceedings of Consul Bruner in Talcahuano have been marked by the straight-forwardness, the independence of thought, and the ability which have characterized him in all his public duties. S. H. M. BYERS. By Jno. P. Laoey. H M. BYERS, United States Consul at Zurich, Switzer land, was born on the 23d of July, 1838, in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, He is of Irish and Scotch descent, and has inherited many of the peculiarities of both nation alities. His career has been an eventful one, and his adven tures by field and flood, and the record of his life in the prison, the camp and the field, would fill a volume. His father removed to Iowa in 1851, and settled at Oskaloosa, then a frontier town. When the writer first knew him in 1855, he was taking the apprentice degree in the craft of brick-masonry, but he was never a " bright mason" His unskilful workmanship was a source of annoyance to his father, who was a good workman. His family were poor, and his means of education were only such as he could avail himself of by attending school in the winters, which for tunately for him were exceedingly long in Iowa. Coming to the conclusion at an early age, that with him masonry would not be a success, he commenced the study of the law in the office of Hon. Wm. Loughridge, (now representative in Congress). At the outbreak of the war in 1861, he had just Been admitted to the bar, and had formed a partnership with Major S. G. Smith, of Newton, Iowa, and had, with fine prospects of success, entered upon the practice of his profession. But when the Fifth Iowa was being organized in 1861, he responded to the call for volunteers by enlist ing as a private in that regiment. He was soon appointed Quarter master Sergeant, and served some time on the non-commissioned staff of his regiment, in that anomalous position where, with the pay of an enlisted man, the duties and qualifications of a commissioned officer are expected Mr. Byers, in his position of Quartermaster Sergeant, did not regard himself as a non-combatant, but fought with his regiment in a number of engagements, and was finally promoted to the Adju- tantcy by General Matthies, who was then Colonel of the Fifth Iowa. S. H. M BYERS. 235 He served as Adjutant with his regiment in the field, and took part in a number of battles and skirmishes until the battle of Mission Ridge, where the greater part of his regiment was cut off, surrounded and captured. He was among the captured, and for sixteen months suffered at Columbia, Libby, and other prisons, the nameless horrors which, with starvation and filth, were undergone by many of those who were so unfortunate as to fall into the hands of the Confederates. He lay for seven months in Libby, watching, hoping and praying for an exchange. I quote from a poem written by him " In Libby," and inscribed to Captain Sawyer, who was under sentence of death. " Alone, alone ; how dark and drear Is life within this prison cell ; My cold, damp couch seems but a bier- — My very voice a funeral knell, That sadly tolls amid my pains, In mockery of these iron chains. " I hear the music of the bells Float out upon the Southern air ; Now like the sea their chorus swells, Now faintly as the breath of prayer — Tet lingering still, as if to bless My heart within its loneliness. " The tide comes up from out the bay, The sails ride to and fro ; I stand and watch them all the day Out on the stream below. But bending sail nor flowing sea Bring one sweet word of joy to me." # * * * * * * * * Thrice he escaped, and twice he was re'-captured before reaching the Federal lines. The first time that he escaped was from Macon, Georgia. He obtained a Confederate uniform and went into Atlanta, and joined in an attack on the Federal lines, seeking an opportunity to be left on the field under pretense of wounds. But, unfortunately, the enemy remained master of that portion of the field that he had selected. He was detected and arrested as a spy, but was finally re turned to prison, his confederate uniform taken from him, and with only his shirt and drawers was again turned into the prison pen at Macon. His second escape was from Columbia, but he was soon re-cap tured and again thrown into prison. His third attempt was more successful. Sherman was approaching Columbia. An evacuation was expected, and Mr. Byers, and several others secreted themselves 236 S. H. M. BYERS. in the garret of the prison hospital, and succeeded in being captured with the city. He has embodied his recollections of his prison life, in a very readable little book entitled " What I saw in Dixie, or Sixteen Months in Rebel Prisons." While in Columbia, news was received of Sherman's wonderful march to the sea ; Mr. Byers then wrote his beautiful song, " Sherman's March to the Sea," which was " brought out" in the prison, by an immense choir of voices, with great eclat Shortly after it was written, Lieutenant Tower, of Ottumwa, Iowa, was exchanged, and having a wooden leg he concealed a copy of this song in his brevet leg and took it North with him, where it was at once published, and speedily became famous ; and when Mr. Byers came North after his escape, he was surprised and pleased to learn that his song had gone before him, and was sung all over the Northern States. After Mr. Byers' final escape he was assigned to temporary duty on the staff of General Sherman, and was sent to General Grant with dispatches from Fayetteville. Declining a commission in Hancock's Corps, he returned to, Oskaloosa at the close of the war, and formed a partnership with Governor John R. Needham, and again resumed the practice of his profession But the severe hardships he had undergone had so impaire.l his health, that he found himself unable for the .labor required in his profession. Abandoning his practice he commenced the culture of grapes and other fruit, at which occupation he continued a couple of years, when he was appointed United States Consul at Zurich, Switzerland. He has now for four years honorably and successfully filled that position At an early age Mr. Byers showed a talent for poetry. Although he never became a professional author, he has written a number of beautiful songs and poems. His poem, "The Men of Iowa," written in 1861, had a great reputation throughout his State. Among his songs that are best known, are " Sherman's March to the Sea;" " The Boys in Blue are Coming;" "If you Want a Kiss, why Take it;" and "Will you Love me Then as Now?" Since his appointment as Consul he has not published much, but has diligently applied himself to the study of German, and to his consular business. He has translated Schiller's " Maid of Orleans," and a number of other German poems, none of which have been published A. J. CASSARD. UG. J. CASSARD, United States Consul at Tabasco, Mexico,, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana; in 1832, and was educated in the public schools of that city. From pupil he passed to' primary, and afterwards principal . teacher in those schools ; and was eventually made: a Secre!- tary of the School Board, in which capacity he served five years, or until the breaking out of the war between the North and South. -.-: - Although, a /Unionist in sentiment, and convictions, and strongly opposed to secession at the outbreak of the war, Mr. Cassard yielded to the popular tide and followed Louisiana when she seceded En tering the Confederate service he commanded a company in the 13th Louisiana Volunteers during the first year of the struggle. . He was placed by General Beauregard in military command of Jackson, Tennessee, at that time an important position; thence he was ordered to the field of Shiloh, where he was wounded, and con veyed back to New Orleans. During the period of his convalescence he availed himself of the amnesty proclamation of President Lincoln, and did not re-enter the Confederate service.' .-He, however, crossed over to , Mexico, where he soon received from Emperor Max'milian the appointment of General Director of the^Military Medical Stores, in which position he served three years, i Returning to New Orleans after peace was restored, he occupied positions of trust in several of the Banking institutions of that city, continuing thus employed un til he. became Secretary of the New Orleans and Jackson Gas Com pany. •¦¦',-¦ Mr. Cassard was appointed by President Grant, Consul at Tabasco, Mexico, in December, 1872, and continues to the present writing in charge of that office NICOLAS DANIES. IlCOLAS DANLES, United States Consul at Rio Hacha, United States of Colombia, was born in Curacoa, West Indies, June 10th, 1800. He left his native place when quite young, and settled in Rio Hacha, which has ever since been his home. From his youth Mr. Danies devoted his time, talents, and best energies to mercantile pursuits, and eventually established a successful business, growing in suc ceeding years to one of considerable magnitude and importance. During this period he visited various portions of Europe, and thereby greatly augmented and enhanced his commercial relationship. Prospering in his business career, as the result of well directed enterprise and ability, aided also by the fortunate surroundings with which nature had favored that country, Mr. Danies has not only ac quired fortune, but a social and commercial position and prominence as well, which have enabled him at various times to render most valuable service to the Colombian government On the 7th of March, 1859, he received the appointment of United States Consul at Rio Hacha, and soon afterward entered upon the duties of his office. This consulate is not an important one commer cially, but its labors and responsibilities have not been inconsider able. Mr. Danies has had frequent occasion to exercise his good offices in giving refuge and protection, particularly during the out rages of the civil war, to the persons and property of Americans and other foreigners residing in Rio Hacha He has also witnessed dur ing his long term of consular service many revolutionary movements in that ever turbulent country. In all of these, however, the flag and person of our Consul have been duly respected, with the excep tion of the audacious insult shown to the American flag in the year 1860, by the rebels against the Colombian government On that occasion Consul Danies acted with commendable promptness and resolution. Jealous of the rights and honor of the country he official- <*A "WGJaekrom NICOLAS DANIES. 239 ly represented, he took immediate and all necessary steps to enforce reparation of the injury, and soon had the satisfaction of securing an ample apology and atonement for the same. The circumstances of this affair were duly reported to the government at Washington, and the conduct of the Consul was fully approved. With this exception nothing has occurred to disturb the friendly and cordial relations existing between the Consul at Rio Hacha and the different repre sentatives of the Colombian Government Mr. Danies' term of office has extended over a period of about fifteen years, and is likely to continue indefinitely, inasmuch as his ample qualifications and experience leave nothing to be desired as regards the faithful and efficient discharge of all consular duties. Some time after his settlement in Rio Hacha, Mr. Danies married an estimable lady of that place, the fruits of which union were ten children, males and females ; the greater part of these reached the age of maturity and were married, so that he is now the head of a large and most respectable family. Identifying himself from youth, as before stated, with the mercantile interests of his adopted home, Mr. Danies has continued prospering in his pursuits, and growing in public confidence and esteem by a career of industry, enterprise, and rectitude until well deserved success is his reward, together with the grateful consciousness of a well spent life and an honored age. Rio Hacha is a thriving town of about five thousand inhabitants, and is situated on the northern coast of New Grenada, some little distance from the mouth of the river Magdalena. By land it is not far from the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo, with which, however, there is little traffic ; its business being done chiefly with the island of Curagoa and the Colombian town of Santa Martha. Its exports are dye woods, dividivi, and goat skins, to the United States and Europe, and cattle to Jamaica, and other British West India islands. It is four days sail from St Thomas, and about two days from Curagoa. Located on a sandy beach, ten degrees from the equator, the climate is naturally quite warm ; but fifty miles in the interior, for instance up one of the spurs of the Cordilleras, the temperature is cool and delightful. Rio Hacha is seldom visited by Americans, and is but little known to them and other foreigners, as also to many Colombians. Yet the country is far from unattractive, and, in the rich and varied products of its soil, which only need enterprise and industry to insure most profitable development, every inducement is offered to emigration. 240 NICOLAS DANIES. The surrounding country abounds in woods of all kinds, such as cedar, oak, lignum-vitse, caricoli, ebony, brazil, fustic, cancha, cana- quate, &c, &c. Medical and merchantable herbs, including Peruvian bark, ipecacuana, borage, violet flower, vanilla, doradilla, and many others are also abundant ; and among other products of the soil may be mentioned the banana, sugar-cane, cocoa, coffee, and rice. More over there is territory for nearly all the productions of the coid, temperate, and warm climates, not omitting cotton of a superior fibre and quality, and likewise extensive pasturage for flocks, and stock- raising. The mountains are rich in mines of gold, iron, copper, (the last two appearing on the surface),, coal, and gypsum ; and on the coast of the peninsula Goajira, near the port of Rio Hacha, is a pearl fishery, yielding gems of a brilliant quality. With all these elements and advantages, offering more than ordi nary inducements to emigrants, it is a matter of surprise that the country is not more rapidly populated The number of the in habitants, chiefly natives, is few, and many of these are far from enterprising. Consequently the unexplored soil, so to speak, awaits industrious arms and the appliances of modem skill and progress to gather the riches hidden in its bosom. At present there are. some French emigrants in Sierra Nevada, lying southwest of Rio Hacha, who are engaged in growing sugar-cane and wheat, particular the latter, with every prospect of a remunerative yield. -rf-ntmticlumishmc/ &. tft#&fK /AOAUy^ cfl. 3a^JAr^ WILLIAM A. DART. 70N. WILLIAM A. DART, United States Consul-Gen eral at Montreal, Canada, can lay claim to an ancient *and honorable pedigree, one of his ancestors having sailed from England in or about the year 1652, bringing with him to America the original patent from the crown for the Township of New London, Connecticut; and Mrs. Dart counts on her ancestral roll the names of Ethan Allen, of Revolu tionary fame, and Governor Winslow, of the May Flower, which brought over to Plymouth Rock the "Pilgrims," immortalized by the poet Longfellow. Mr. Dart was born at Potsdam, St Lawrence County, in the State of New York, October 25th, 1814. His father was a farmer, in mod erate circumstances, and unable to contribute much towards educating the son. He was therefore compelled to rely upon his own resources for the acquisition of the education he earnestly desired; and he event ually overcame the difficulty by teaching school in the winter seasons, and devoting the proceeds thereof to defraying the expenses of his academic course during the spring, summer and autumn. He was educated at St Lawrence Academy, an institution of high reputation in the State at that time ; and commenced the study of the law at Potsdam, in the office of his future father-in-law, Hon. Horace Allen, then Presiding Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of St Lawrence County, N. Y., and a lawyer of conceded ability, and of a spotless and exemplary life. In 1840 Mr. Dart was admitted to practice at the bar, and opened an office at Potsdam. The examination, on the occasion of his admission to practice, conducted by Judge Edmonds and Mr. Clerk of New York, and Mr. Reynolds of Albany, was peculiarly thorough and severe, and resulted in the rejection of quite a number of applicants. Mr. Dart, however, passed the ordeal with marked ability and distinction. 242 WILLIAM A. DART. On the 1st September, 1841, he was married to Harriet S., only daughter of Hon. Horace Allen. He has two children (daughters). His devotion to his profession, added to a cautious, industrious and correct character, soon brought him a large practice, and placed him in the front rank of the bar in his county. In 1845 he was appointed Post-master at Potsdam. During the same year, his legal ability and prominent position at the bar, pro cured him the appointment of District Attorney for the County of St Lawrence, at the earliest period when that office could be con ferred Upon him, it being necessary that he should have the degree of Counsellor-at-Law to hold it. This position he held until 1847, when the office, by the constitution of 1846, was made elective, and he declined continuing in it. In 1849 his political friends testified their confidence in him, by electing him to the honorable position of State Senator. At the capital of his State, at Albany, he had the opportunity of meeting many of the great men of the period, some of whom have written their names on the scroll of their country's greatness, and whom he also met in political debate, and in warm and earnest discussion on various questions of State policy. His speeches upon these questions, while in the Senate, and particularly those bearing upon the inter nal development of the State, by grants for her canals and railways, were able and influential, and were marked by a wise, liberal and far-seeing policy ; while he was earnest and uncompromising in his opposition to and denunciation of every species of partial, corrupt and unjust legislation, and also the rings, ring-masters, and lobbyists, by and through whose influence such legislation is effected. The Whig party in the Senate had seventeen votes, enough to pass any bill. But bills relating to finance, required the presence of three-fifths of the members to make them effective. A measure was introduced in the Senate, to lend the credit of the State, to the amount of $200,000, for the purpose of speedily enlarging the Erie Canal, in direct violation of the Constitution of the State; and the Whig party was pledged to its passage. To prevent this, Mr. Dart and eleven of his associates, resigned their seats in the Senate, and thereby rendered the. majority ineffectual. He was immediately re-elected, by a majority of more than double that by which he was first chose'n to the Senate. The bill above alluded to, was passed, however, at the subsequent session of the Legislature, but it was WILLIAM A. DART. 243 afterwards declared unconstitutional and void, by the Court of Appeals of the State of New York. " Mr. Dart held the office of State Senator until 1852, when he again returned to Potsdam, and resumed the practice of law. For several years thereafter he devoted himself exclusively to his pro fession. In 1861, Mr. Dart, by unremitting study and an extensive practice, had achieved for himself the deserved reputation of being an able and successful lawyer ; more even than this, he had so conducted himself, professionally and otherwise, as to be recognized by political opponents as well as friends, as a man fit to be trusted and honored; and in the year last named, by the solicitations of his political party and his personal friends, and the recommendation of the members of Congress from his State, in the House of Representatives and in the Senate of the United States, at Washington, he was appointed by President Lincoln, United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York — which comprised all of the State, except the counties bordering upon the Hudson river south of Albany, the City of New York, and Long Island — and his appointment was unanimously con firmed by the Senate, without reference to Committee. Through the trying times of the late war, he labored steadfastly and earnestly at his post, and, although his duties were most exhaustive, he was ever watchful and ready. In 1865, upon the expiration of his term of office, he was re-ap pointed, without a competitor, by President Lincoln, and was con firmed, as before, without reference to Committee. He was removed by President Johnson in 1866, with hundreds of others, for refusing to support unreservedly the policy of the Administration. Prior to this, and during the Fenian troubles in 1866, Mr. Dart won the gen eral approval of the National Government for the impartial and able manner in which he discharged his duty as United States Attorney, at a time when both the political parties were bidding scandalously high for Fenian support. The entire charge of preventing a Fenian invasion of Canada was committed to him by our Government, and commanders of military forces, captains of revenue cutters and col lectors of customs were required to report to and take their orders from him. That this trust was faithfully and fearlessly performed may be inferred from the fact that his services elicited the thanks of the various departments of the U. S. Government 244 WILLIAM A. DART. The zeal and ability which characterized Mr. Dart's discharge of the various, important and arduous duties devolving upon him as United States District Attorney for the Northern District of New York were most noticeable, and became the subject of much remark and commendation, not only by suitors in the United States Courts, but by officers and Judges in those courts, and his removal was a matter of sincere regret to all. The outside world will never, perhaps, fully and rightfully ap preciate the delicate and responsible duties devolving upon the United States Attorney in a time of civil war, when the writ of habeas corpus was suspended, and the liberty of the citizen largely depended upon the discretion of the prosecuting Attorney. During that trying and eventful period it may be said of Mr. Dart's official record, that many more persons were kept from Fort Lafayette by his advice, than were consigned there by his sanction, while, at the same time, he was an active, zealous, and often regarded as a severe prosecuting officer. It was his end and endeavor to protect the innocent as well as to punish the guilty. The political school in which Mr. Dart was educated was that of Silas Wright, John A. Dix, Azariah C. Flagg, and Preston King, with all of whom he was on terms of intimacy, enjoying their confi dence and friendship. He took an active part in the formation of the Republican party, and has ever since remained one of its zealous and unwavering sup porters. His county and town have given the largest Republican majority of any rural town or county in the Empire State In the discharge of all the official duties devolved upon Mr. Dart, during his long public career, we venture to state that he has never been charged with, or suspected of inefficiency or corruption ; and in saying this much we do not mean that he has been simply negatively good, but positively worthy, earnest, active and able In April, 1869, Mr.- Dart was appointed by President Grant to the office he now holds, that of United States Consul-General to British North America, embracing jurisdiction from Newfoundland to Puget Sound, and having quasi-ministerial functions, communicating di rectly with the Department of State, at Washington. Mr. Dart is deservedly popular in his present position. The Cana dian press expressed unqualified gratification at his appointment, and have since warmly commended his official conduct In speaking of his appointment, the editor of a leading Canadian paper says : WILLIAM A. DART. 245 " The intimate relationships, both social and commercial, existing between the Provinces and the United States, relationships extending from Newfoundland to New Westminster, render his office one of great delicacy and importance. Throughout British North America there are twenty Consuls and sixty Vice-Con suls and Consular agents, whose official communications have to be made to the Consul-General. It is therefore of the utmost consequence that this office should only be conferred on men of high social position, unblemished character and acknowledged ability, and in the person of Mr. Dart these attri butes are happily blended. " In official and social intercourse he is affable and courteous, and we believe studies earnestly to maintain friendly feelings between the two countries. His promotion to the responsible position he now holds has been well earned by long and faithful services, official and political, and President Grant, in selecting him for the high office, paid a fitting compliment to this country, in that he selected a gentleman of such standing, and one so well able to sustain the dignity of the nation he represents, and to respect the feelings of those to whose midst he is accredited. Mr. Dart's appointment was welcomed in Canada, and we are sure that his retirement would be viewed with regret" FRANK S. DE HASS. HE subject of this notice was appointed United States Con sul to Jerusalem in September, 1873, and sailed for his post on the 1st November following. From J. Alexan der Patten's " Lives of the Clergy of New York and Brook lyn," (Atlantic Publishing Company, New York, 1874), we take the following sketch of his life : — ¦ Rev. Dr. Frank S. De Hass was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, October 1st, 1821. The family was originally German, being known by the name of Von Hass, and having three distinct branches. In the year 1549, Baron Charles De Hass, the representa tive of one of the branches, removed to Strasburg, and after the join ing of the dukedom of Alsace to France, became the founder of the French noble family of that name. The arms of the city of Florence were awarded to him for his services in the conquest of Italy. Sub sequently the family, who were Protestant Huguenots, emigrated to Holland, and in 1772, some portion of them came to America, and settled in Pennsylvania. General Philip De'Hass, of revolutionary memory, was an immediate ancestor of the subject of our notice " Dr. De Hass was educated at Washington College, Pennsylvania, and was licensed as a Methodist preacher in 1843. His first appoint ment was at Leesburg, Ohio, in connection with the Pittsburg Con ference. He was ordained deacon in 1845, and elder in 1847. In 1845, he was stationed at Murraysville, in Pennsylvania ; in '46, Weston, Va.; in '47 and '48, Wheeling ; in '49 and '50, agent of Alleghany College; in '51 and '52, Wesley Chapel, Pittsburg ; in '53 and '54, Secretary of Tract Society of Methodist Church ; in '55 and '56, Trinity Church, Pittsburg ; in '57 and '58, again Secretary of Tract Society ; in '59 and '60, Seventh street, New York ; in '61 and '62, Washington street, Brooklyn. He was appointed to the Pacific street Church, Brooklyn, in 1863 ; and, three years later, went to the Metropolitan Church, in Washington City, where he remained ;{gpllgglll -RITV. FRANK £ DI-l HASS, D-JJ HEWYOPK GUMKfuVi-inE FRANK S. DE HASS. 247 three years. Among the attendants of this church were President Grant, Vics-President Colfax, Chief Justice Chase, and various other distinguished individuals. Two years were then spent with Trinity Church, Cincinnati, and two subsequent years in travel in Europe, Egypt and Palestine. In the Holy Land he secured a rare MSS. of the Book of Moses, found in a tomb, and supposed to date a cen tury before Christ. He has made four voyages across the Atlantic. On April 1st, 1872, he was appointed to the Lexington Avenue Church, New York. He received his degree of D. D. from Michigan University, in 1870. " Dr. De Hass enjoys considerable reputation as an eloquent speak er. Various sermons at camp meetings are spoken of as grand in the extreme. On one occasion he chained the attention of some ten thousand persons for one hour and twenty minutes. He attended the General Sunday School Convention, held in London, in 1852 ; and at one of the sessions made a speech of marked beauty and power. His publications are principally sermons. He is engaged in the prepara tion of a historical account of the planting of Methodism in the Val ley of the Mississippi "He has a well-proportioned figure, and fair hair and complexion. His face has a most amiable 'expression The brow is round and high. His eyes are bright, and when he talks his countenance lights up with an intelligent animation. In his manners he is social and genial, while there is always to be observed a certain measure of well- conceived dignity. He is a man of strong feelings and very deep sensitiveness. You can no more breathe upon a looking-glass without leaving the evidence of it, than you can touch him without striking the impression into his heart In fact, his nature in this respect has more of the sensitive delicacy of the woman than the callousness and indifference common to the man. Everything sinks down into the recesses of the heart, there to send forth rejoicing or sadness. Hence, as regards himself, he is scrupulously considerate of every word and act, and, it is to be seen that he is constantly and greatly affected by all 'that occurs about him. He has a peculiar tenderness of manners, and is cautious to give utterance to no wounding word. Of course, a nature hke this does not show an original, decided, governing tem perament, but it may not be the less pleasing, winning and control ling. And thus it is with Dr. De Hass. You find him the type of the least conspicuous and impressive kind of men, and yet his simplicity, his sensitiveness and his gentleness never fail to interest 248 FRANK S. DE HASS. those who come in contact with him, and are the sources of his influence. " His preaching shows the same characteristica It is extempora neous, and, while simple and unpretending, is very emotional. His effort is not to make a showy discourse, but it is to give utterance to the heart's faith, hope and love The argument is not deficient in order or comprehensiveness, and it is frequently illustrated by effec tive and original similes^ ' But this is the merest shadow of the pow er which springs from his mellow-toned words, his trembling lips, and sometimes glistening eyes. Sincere in the doctrines which he pro claims, filled with an ardent desire to impart them to others, and with a bosom overflowing with its sympathies and attachments, he speaks from the heart and to the heart He seems to be searching for this member, where it may nestle shrinking, saddened and dead, that he may touch it with some quickening sense of courage, joy and life. The preaching of Methodist ministers generally may be said to par take of this character. With Dr. De Hass; however, there is nothing of that high-wrought excitement, and that systematized pathos, so to speak, indulged in by so many of his ministerial associates. He dis cusses his subject with just sufficient animation to give force to his speaking; and his style of appeal to the feelings is as natural and unaffected as that of a mother to her babe. The inquirer for truth finds that the limits which exist between the. public speaker and the auditor are quickly changed to the closer communion of friend with friend." At the time of his appointment to the Consulate at Jerusalem, Dr. De Hass was pastor of the Lexington Avenue Methodist Church, of New York city, which charge he resigned soon after. A gentle man of high social culture, and of varied learning and accomplish ments, he is eminently qualified for all the requirements of his new office, and will doubtless make a faithful and worthy representative of our country abroad. It is understood that, apart from his con sular duties, Dr. De Hass will devote his leisure moments to Biblical researches in and around Jerusalem. HENRY W. DIMAN. fENRY WIGHT DIMAN, United States Consul at Lis bon, Portugal, was born April 2d, 1835, at Bristol, Rhode Island, where his family, which, according to tradition, was of French extraction, had been settled since the early part of the eighteenth century. His father, the Hon. Byron Diman, for many years a leading merchant in Bristol, at the time when the foreign commerce of the country had not become concentrated at a few ports, was also prominently engaged in political affairs. He was a member of the Harrisburg Conven tion, which nominated General Harrison for the Presidency, and after holding various subordinate offices, was elected Governor of Rhode Island in 1846. Through his mother, a daughter of the Rev. Henry Wight, D. D., Mr. Diman is descended from John Alden, the Ply mouth pilgrim, whose successful love-making has been celebrated by the muse of Longfellow. The early studies of Mr. Diman were pursued at home, and at the University Grammar School, Providence. At the age of sixteen he entered Brown University, where he was graduated in 1854. Avail ing himself of the elective system; then just introduced, he directed his attention especially to scientific branches. The year after gradu ating he spent in travel, visiting the West Indies and Europe — after his return home he engaged in manufacturing. In the year 1858 he was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives from his native town, a post which he continued to fill, with great acceptance, until 1862. Although a young man he soon gained an influential position in the legislature, and was personally much liked by all parties. In the memorable Presidential campaign of I860' he took an active part both as President of the State Republican Convention, and as Secretary of the State Central Committee. At the breaking out of the war he promptly enlisted in the 1st Rhode Island Regiment; but many more men offering than were required, the company to which he belonged was not ac- 250 HENRY W. DIMAN. cepted Soon after, he received the appointment of Assistant Paymaster in the Navy, and was ordered to the Kineo, then fitting for sea at the Charlestown navy-yard, and afterwards at tached to the West Gulf squadron under Farragut In this ves sel Mr. Diman took part in the capture of Forts Jackson and St Philip below New Orleans, April 24th, 1862, the Kineo being one of the number that made the daring passage between the forts. He was also in several minor engagements on the Mississippi, and in the battle of Baton Rouge, Aug. 5th, 1862, when the Confederates un der General Breckenridge were defeated by the Union forces under General Williams, and the iron-clad Arkansas was destroyed by the Union flotilla, commanded by Captain Porter. The following night Mr. Diman left for New Orleans on the army transport, Whit man, bearing dispatches to the Flag Officer. On board the steamer were the remains of General Williams, killed in battle, and about a hundred wounded officers and men. About midnight, as they were nearing Donaldson ville, the steamer came in collision 'with the sloop- of-war Oneida, and sankimmediately. A large number were drowned ; but Mr. Diman, being a good swimmer, was rescued by a boat While still at this post, Mr. Diman was tendered in June, 1862, the appointment of Consul at Oporto. As it then seemed likely that the Kineo would see no more active service, he resigned his com mission in the navy, in August, and after a brief visit home, sailed for Portugal, arriving at Oporto in November. Here he remained in the discharge of his consular duties until the autumn of 1869. The thoroughly English complexion of Oporto society rendered his posi tion at that juncture one of peculiar delicacy, but his official and social relations were managed with so much tact and urbanity that he soon attained an unexampled popularity, and his departure called forth universal expressions of regret A severe fall shortly before leaving Oporto, resulting in protracted suffering, now rendered some months of repose absolutely necessary. In July, 1870, Mr. Diman was appointed by President Grant Consul at Lisbon, the position which he still occupies. His long residence in the country, and his familiarity with its language and institutions admirably fitted him for duties which in various ways brought nim into more direct con tact with Portuguese society. In addition to the duties of the consul ate he has been called on to perform others of a diplomatic nature. On two occasions, in the absence of the Minister Resident, from May 5th to Sept 8th, 1872, and from Aug. 1st to Sept 10th, 1873, he was placed in charge of the Legation as Charge d' Affaires. ALFRED V. DOCKERY. LFRED V. DOCKERY, Consul at Oporto, Portugal, was born at Mangum, Richmond County, North Carolina, on the 26th of February, 1851. His father, the Hon. 0. H. Dockery, was a member of the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses, and his grandfather, General Alfred Dockery, also an ex-member of Congress, was a man of prominence anc influence in North Carolina for many years prior to the late civil war. Mr. Dockery received a common school education, and was appointed to the Naval Academy in September, 1868. Becoming dissatisfied there, he resigned in February, 1871, after having finished a thorough course of mathematics, and passed creditable examinations. He was appointed United States Consul at Stettin, Prussia, in April, 1871, and proceeded thither shortly afterward During his Consular duties at that post he had occasion to address the following communication to the State Department, in reference to the arrest of an American citizen in Prussia : " United States Consulate, Stettin, Peussia, December 14th, 1871. Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. " Sib — I have the honor to inform the Department, that on the 7th instant, Mr. Nathan Jacob, a naturalized American citizen, was arrested by the military authorities at Schrevelbein, in Prussia, and was brought to this city and placed in confinement. " The facts connected with the case are these : In 1865, Mr. Jacob, having served two years in the Prussian army, was granted an indefinite leave of absence ; he , obtained a passport good for one year, went to America and became naturalized in the ' city and State of New York. Meantime the war with Austria was declared, when he was called back to the Prussian army, but not being found in the country, a tine of fifty thalers was placed upon him. He returned about two months ago to Germany, on a visit, and was arrested as above stated. He had with him his natu ralization papers, together with a passport issued by the State Department at Wash ington, all of which were produced to me. "I immediately called upon the President of the District of Pommerania, and requested the release of Mr. Jacob by virtue of the interpretation of Article I of our 252 ALFRED V. DOCKERY. • Convention with the North German Confederation, as set forth in a circular letter of the German Minister of Justice, I claiming this as only a case of punishable emi gration, and not strictly a criminal one. " The civil authorities having referred the case to the military, I received a let ter from the Commanding General in which he justifies the arrest by Article n of the Convention aforesaid, claiming Mr. Jacob as a deserter from the army, and stating that he would be tried before a court-martial the next day. Article ILof the Convention, refers to punishable actions committed before emigration. Deser tion was subsequent to emigration, for a leave of absence had been obtained and also a passport, or what is the same, permission to leave the country. "I have now referred the matter with copies of the correspondence, to Mr. Ban croft, our Minister at Berlin, for such action as he may see fit to take in the premises. I am, sir, your obedient servant, AmtED V. Dockeet, United States Consul." From Consul Dockery's Commercial Report from Stettin, in 1871, we make the following extracts : " Although this section of the German Empire has suffered most from the effects of war, the general condition of the trade and indus try of this Consular district, has nearly if not quite gained its former importance. Substantial signs of improvement are everywhere to be seen. Commerce is flourishing, and manufactories thriving. New steamship lines are being started, new railroads constructed, new mercantile houses springing into existence. " Stettin is a very favorable point for emigration, since steamers can have the advantage of taking emigrants from Denmark, Norway and Sweden, at the ports of Copenhagen and Christiansand It might be thought that the success which has attended the German arms in the recent wars resulting in the union of Fatherland, would serve to check emigration ; but not so. Germans naturally love the land of their birth, and unceasingly praise their Government, yet they feel insecure, as they know not when they may be involved in another war, nor how it will terminate. When they take into consideration the possibility of a disturbed peace in Europe, they are immediately tempted by the offer of free homes in the United States, where mil itary service is not compulsory, where freedom is unconstrained, and • liberty the watchword." After filling, satisfactorily, the Consulate at Stettin for nearly two years, Mr. Dockery was promoted to the Consulate at Oporto, Por tugal, January, 1873, where he continues to the present time. He is, in all probability, the youngest Consular representative in the service of the United States Government JAMES M. DONNAN. AMES M. DONNAN, United States Consul at Belfast, Ireland, was born on the plantation known as "Mill Quarter," in Amelia County, Virginia, May 6th, 1824. His parents were Scotch, and emigrated from Scotland to Virginia in 1818. Having a large family to provide for they were obliged to put their son Janies to business at an early age, and he accordingly, in January, 1836, entered the grocery and commission house of Martin and Donnan, in Petersburg, "Virginia. Here he continued until June 1842, when he commenced the study of the law in the office of an elder brother, Alexander Donnan, of Petersburg, with whom he remained until he he was admitted to practice, in the Spring of 1845, having, in the meantime, studied for four months at the Law School of the late Judge Lucas P. Thomp son of Staunton, Augusta County, Virginia. After his regular admission to the bar as above mentioned, Mr. Donnan formed a co-partnership with his brother, — the firm being Alexander Donnan and Brother — for the 'practice of the law in the city of Petersburg and adjacent counties. This firm continued until January, 1847. War had been declared between the United States and Mexico in the Spring of 1846, and President James K Polk had called upon the State of Virginia for a regiment of volunteers. In response to this call Mr. Donnan volunteered in the First Regiment of Virginia Volunteers for the war, and served until its close, being honorably discharged with his regiment at Fortress Monroe in the Summer of 1848. The First Virginia Volunteer Regiment, in the Mexican war, was commanded by the late Col. Jno. F. Hamtranck, and was attached to that portion of the United States Army in Mexico commanded by Gen. Zachary Taylor, afterwards President of the United States. After Mr. Donnan's discharge from the army at the close of the Mexican war, he resumed the practice of his profession, as one of the firm of Jaynes and Donnan, which continued until the Fall of 1854, 254 J. B. GOULD. when the Hon. William T. Jaynes (afterwards a Circuit Judge and then one of the Judges of the Court of Appeals of Virginia), retired from the co-partnership, and his brother and himself continued the practice, under the firm name of Alexander and James M. Donnan, until July 1st, 1873. On May 12th, 1873, Mr. James M. Donnan was appointed by President Grant, United States Consul to Belfast, Ireland, and as sumed the duties of his office the following Summer. J. B. GOULD. B. GOULD, United States Consul at Birmingham, Eng land, was born in the little town of Hull, Massachusetts, April 7th, 1824. He was graduated at Wesleyan Uni versity as Bachelor of Arts in 1846, and then became a Methodist minister, filling most of the important appointments in the Providence Annual Conference. In 1862, he enlisted as chaplain of the llth Rhode Island Volunteers, and served during their term of nine months in Virginia, chiefly in defence of Washing ton, and at Suffolk wheri besieged by Gen. Longstreet In 1866, Mr. Gould went to Bangor, Maine, where he officiated as a minister with much success ; and, in the Grant campaign of 1868 he took an active part, speaking and otherwise promoting the interests of the cause he had espoused Soon after the inauguration of President Grant in 1869, Mr. Gould was appointed Consul at Birmingham, England. This consu late is a most important one, as the trade with the United States amounts to nearly ten million dollars annually. Mr. Gould is favorably known as a public speaker, and has been frequently called upon to speak in various parts of the kingdom, where he has freely discussed American subjects, and has doubtless assisted much in producing a better understanding of the people and principles, and purposes of the United States in that country. ' ^AriAJ GEO. W. DRIGGS. | EO. W. DRIGGS, United States Consul at Turks Islands, W. L, was bom at Rome, Oneida County, New York, on the 10th of January, 1832. In the year 1836, he emi grated with his parents to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he first experienced the wilds of a Western life, among the native Indians, and Canadian French, who, at that early period, were the principal settlers of that remote region of oountry. Here he passed his early school days. When about the age of eleven years, he removed with his parents to Calumet County, Wis., where he obtained his initiatory knowledge of farming, tn 1845, Fonddu Lac, Wis., then being in its infancy — but now a city, and boasting a population of some 12,000 to 18,000, — he removed thither, and is counted among its first settlers. He closed his scholastic career at Lawrence University, Appleton, Wis., where he graduated in 1853, after which he engaged in the printing business, but was compelled to retire from that occupation on account of declining health. He was Deputy Register of Deeds for Outagamie, and Fond du Lac Counties, and was employed for several years in the Attorney General's, and School Land Depart ments, at Madison, the capital of that State. He entered the Union Army, as a private in the 8th Wisconsin Volunteers, October 12th, 1861 ; was promoted to Sargeant Major of said Regiment 28th December, 1862, and received an honorable discharge from the service February 3d, 1865. During his connec tion with the Army he was War Correspondent of several Western papers, at which time he wrote and published a work entitled " Open ing of the Mississippi, or Two Years Campaigning in the South West," comprising a complete history of the Eighth Wisconsin, (Live Eagle) Regiment up to that period. Mr. Driggs was appointed to a Clerkship in the Internal Revenue Bureau, Treasury Depart ment, at Washington, September 23d, 1865, and resigned August 256 GEO. W. DRIGGS. 15th, 1868, when he was called to Florida, and by Governor Harrison Reed, appointed Assistant Secretary of State, March 1st, 1869. Dur ing his occupation of said office, he also served respectively in the Florida State Militia, as Captain, and Aide-de-Camp on the Staff of Brigadier General J. T. Bernard, and as Major, and Assistant Adju tant General on the Staff of Brigadier General W. J. Purman. On the 15th of December, 1870, he received from the President of the United States the appointment of United States Consul at Turks Islands, West Indies, and entered upon the discharge of his duties April 1st, 1871, succeeding Mr. John H. Stewart, of Pennsyl vania, who was transferred to the Consulate at Leipsic, Germany. Aside from his official duties, Mr. Driggs has been engaged du ring the past year (1872) in the preparation of a " History of the Turks and Caicos Islands," which has been forwarded to Washington, and will doubtless be published, under the supervision of the Department of State, at an early day. Consul Driggs' annual report on the trade and navigation of his Consular district for the year ending September 30th, 1871, shows the value of imports to be $101,685.27, and exports $83,806.41 ; the number of vessels entered 288, cleared 278, and concludes as follows : " In a commercial and financial point of view, the situation at these islands, at the present time, is rather an unenviable one. The gen eral complaint among the inhabitants is what they deem the ex cessive duty on their staple commodity, salt, their principal export, as exacted by our Government. The entire population of this island are watching with intense interest, yet with almost hopeless anxiety, every movement of Congress toward the abolition of the salt-duties, and I will venture the opinion that, if there is not some immediate relief afforded them in this respect, there will be much suffering and distress among the inhabitants here. Isolated as they are from the ' outer world,' thrown almost entirely upon their own resources, and relying wholly on the revival of trade in their only staple, with a market that at present affords them but slight remuneration over the expense of its manufacture, with a debt hanging over them, and in sufficient revenue to meet or liquidate it, there seems but little hope of their being able to extricate themselves from their embarrassment There is a general stagnation in trade here, a scarcity of provisions, and many of the laboring and poorer classes are actually reduced to want" THOMAS H. DUDLEY. ON. THOMAS H. DUDLEY, late United States Consul at Liverpool, is a man, the history of whose life and labors .cannot be recorded faithfully in a sim ple sketch. It is said that the most fitting tribute in honor of a public man is a faithful reeord of his public acts. Such a record of the public acts of Mr. Dudley would show him to be in the highest degree worthy of the honor and gratitude of his countrymen. But it is the object of this sketch to give only an outline of his life and work ; it must be left for history to pay the proper tribute to his worth. The active life of Mr. Dudley has been so intimately associated with the agitation and strife that preceded and led to the rebellion, and so interwoven with the great events of the war that it. is difficult to think or write of him, except in connection with therm But yet, back of all this, is the gentleman of excellent private character and disposition; the kind neighbor and good citizen; the close student, of men as well as of books; the able and successful professional man. Upon such foundations have been built the eminent career to be here briefly related. Mr. Dudley was born in the township of Evesham, Burlington County, New Jersey, October 9th, 1819. His father was a farmer, and he was trained for the same calling, the farm seeming to the parents to be the natural place for him. His father died when he was an infant, and he was left with his mother, to whose care and culture he regards his success in life. He obtained the best edu cation that could be obtained in that part of the country, but it was little to boast of, even as that of a common school, for the educa tional advantages of the day were very limited. He remained at home until nearly twenty-one years of age ; but, though having few educational privileges, the years had been well improved by private 258 THOMAS H. DUDLEY. reading and study. He had formed an inclination for the study of the law, and had prepared himself to enter regularly upon it Ac cordingly, when of age, he entered the law office of Mr. Jeffers, in the City of Camden, N. J, as a student. He was admitted to the Bar in 1845, and immediately commenced practice in the Supreme Courts of the State. Thorough study, close observation, and quick perceptions, added to good abilities, soon brought him into prom inence in the profession which he had chosen. Success followed swiftly upon his entering the field, and in a very few years the young lawyer enjoyed an exceedingly desirable and lucrative practice. It was his good fortune, as it was the natural consequence of integrity and fine ability, to possess the high esteem and confidence of the best men of the State in the legal profession, as well as out of it In politics Mr. Dudley is a Republican. He was formerly a Whig, and acted with that party up to the time of the organization of the Republican party, of which he was one of the founders and chief promoters. An active temperament led him, in all pursuits, to engage in them with great zeal ; and perceiving the issue to which the course of events was leading the nation, and believing that the success of the new party was essential to the welfare of the country, he was impelled to throw his whole strength into the work of organ izing, developing, and disciplining the Republican party. " In 1860, he was chosen as one of the Senatorial delegates from the State at large in the memorable Convention at Chicago, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President He was a mem ber of the committee which framed the platform adopted by that Convention, and it was he who introduced the plank favor ing incidental protection to American manufactures, and was mainly instrumental in carrying it through the Convention. He supported Mr. Lincoln as a candidate for nomination, in op position to Mr. Seward, and took a prominent part in bringing about that nomination The manner in which this nomination was effected, and Mr. Dud ley's part therein, is thus related at length by Charles P. Smith, in Beecher's (Trenton) Magazine. As these are facts of historic interest, we give the account in full : The Nomination ot Lincoln. As a member of the "Opposition State Executive Committee," I signed a call for a State Convention, to be held in Trenton, on the 8th of March, 1860, for the purpose of selecting delegates to the National Convention at Chicago. At that THOMAS H. DUDLEY. 259 period there was a respectable and extremely active portion of the party in East Jersey in favor of nominating Mr. Seward for the Presidency, and seeking to secure for him the vote of this State in Convention. Aside from the Presidential question, it was highly important tha't we achieve success in our own State, and this, I felt confident, could not be accomplished with Mr. Seward as our Presidential candi date. It occurred to me that our proper course would be to hold the vote of the State on Mr. Dayton, and possibly give him the nomination. At all events, it might at least aid in nominating a candidate with whom success in this State was possible. Mr. Thomas H. Dudley came into the Supreme Court office one day on professional business, and I called his attention to what I deemed the unfortunate tendency of affairs. He coincided with me in opinion, but argued that the loss ot the State under the circumstances was unavoidable — at least he perceived no resource. I suggested that we start a candidate in our own State, to hold the vote, and named Hon. Wm. L. Dayton. Mr. Dudley, after some consideration, assented. I then advised holding a caucus of leading men of the party to give force to the movement, whereupon Mr. Dudley agreed to notify such gentlemen' in the Eirst Congressional District as he might deem proper, and I was to summon from the State at large. We thus assembled some sixty prominent Jerseymen at Jones' Hotel, Chestnut street, Philadelphia. I also spent considerable time in securing the attendance of a number of active Philadelphia Republican politicians. My object was to induce them to join in the movement ; but they preferred Mr. Cameron. As far as their co-operation was concerned, the movement was without success. Abraham Browning, Esq., of Camden, presided at the meeting ; and, after consider able discussion, in«which Mr. Dudley took by far the most prominent part, the Jer seymen present unanimously determined to use their best efforts to secure delegates in favor of Mr. Dayton. The effect of this meeting was fully manifested in the State Convention. But a small moiety of the East Jersey delegates were for Mr. Seward, while the large majority were decidedly for Mr. Dayton. Mr. Dudley was selected as a delegate from the Eirst District, and at Chicago was one of the most prominent and active members of the New Jersey delegation, exercising all neces sary influence in holding the vote of his State for Mr. Dayton until he was able to cast it for Mr. Lincoln, and practically give him the nomination. It was conceded early in the session of the Convention that there were four doubtful States — New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois, and Pennsylvania ; and it was neces sary to carry at least two of these States in order to nominate a candidate other than Mr. Seward. New Jersey presented Mr. Dayton, Pennsylvania Mr. Cameron, and Indiana and Illinois Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Seward was the first choice of a majority of the New England States, but the event disclosed that they preferred the triumph of principle to the success of their favorite. A committee of these States, headed by Ex-Governor Andrew, waited upon the New Jersey delegation at their rooms, and declared that Mr. Seward was their choice, but if he oould not carry the doubtful States, they were willing to go for any one who could, but added : " Gentlemen, you see our difficulty ; you are not agreed among yourselves, but pre sent three different candidates. Now, if you will unite upon some one man who can carry them, then we will give him enough votes in the Convention to nominate him. If you continue divided, we shall go into the Convention and vote for Mr. Seward, our first choice." It was narrowed down to this : the four doubtful States must unite upon a candidate, or Mr. Seward would be nominated. The Convention assembled Wednesday morning; without change in this state of affairs. Mr. Dudley was assigned a place on the committee to frame a platform, and kept busy 260 THOMAS H. DUDLEY. t until Thursday noon. At that time the four doubtful States assembled at Cameron Hall to endeavor to unite upon some person. Ex-Governor Reeder presided. It was a noisy assemblage, and it very soon became evident that nothing could be accomplished as affairs then stood. Mr. Dudley then proposed to Mr. Judd, of Elinois, that the matter should be referred to a committee of three from each- of the four States. He made a motion to this effect, which was carried. Among those appointed were Judge David Davis, Caleb B. Smith, David Wilmot, and William B. Mann, of Pennsylvania. On the part of New Jersey, Judge Ephraim Marsh, Hon. E. T. Frelinghuysen, and Mr. Dudley. The committee met at six o'clock in Mr. Wilmot's room, and were in session until nearly ten p.m. before anything was accom plished. At that time it seemed that an adjournment would be carried without arriving at an understanding. The time had been consumed in talking, and trying to persuade each other that their favorite candidates were the most available, and best qualified. It was then that Mr. Greeley went to the door, and finding no agreement had been reached, telegraphed to the Tribune that Mr. Seward, would cer tainly be nominated the next morning as the Republican candidate. Finding that the committee was about to separate without achieving any result, Mr. Dudley took, the floor, and proposed that it should be ascertained which one of the three candidates had the greatest actual strength before the Con vention, and could carry the greatest number of delegates from the four States in the event of dropping the other two. Judge Davis stated as to Mr. Lincoln's vote on the first ballot, and the probable vote of the Illinois delegates, in the event of Mr. Lincoln being dropped — that is, how they would break. • The committee from Indiana and Pennsylvania also reported how the votes of their States would be cast if Lincoln and Cameron were both dropped. The New Jersey committee made a similar statement as to the strength of Judge Dayton. It was understood that a portion of the New Jersey delegates would drop Mr. Dayton after giving him a com plimentary vote, and go for Mr. Seward. This examination revealed the fact that of the three candidates Mr. Lincoln was the strongest. Mr. Dudley then proposed to the Pennsylvania committee that for the general good and success of the party, they should give up their candidates, and unite upon Mr. Lincoln. After some dis cussion, Mr. Dudley's proposition was agreed to, and a programme arranged to carry into execution. A meeting of the Dayton delegates from New Jersey was immediately called at James T. Sherman's room, at one o'clock that night ; most of the delegates who sustained him were present. Judge Marsh and Mr. Freling huysen, evidently not believing it possible to carry out the plan, did not attend the meeting ; thus Mr. Dudley was the only one from the committee present. He explained what had been accomplished, and after talking the matter over, they approved his action. It was understood that Judge Dayton was to receive one or more complimentary votes, and then the strength of the delegation to be thrown for Mr. Lincoln. It was also arranged that Mr. Dudley was to lead off in voting for Mr, Lincoln, and then they were to follow. The Pennsylvania delegation likewise adopted the plan, first giving Mr. Cameron a complimentary vote. The agreement of the committee was not generally known the next morning when the Convention assembled. On the first ballot, the entire New Jersey delegation voted Mr. Dayton; the next, that portion who favored Mr. Seward, voted for him; while the majority voted for Mr. Dayton. When New Jersey was called on the third ballot, Mr. Dud ley stated that he should vote for Mr. Lincoln, and was immediately followed by all the New Jersey delegates save one. The result is known. New England did what she promised, and Mr. Lincoln was nominated. It was the action of the com- THOMAS H. DUDLEY. 261 mittee from the four doubtful States which undoubtedly secured Mr. Lincoln's nomination; but for this Mr. Seward would have been nominated, and, there is little doubt, just as surely been defeated. This is a plain narrative of the manner in which the nomination of Abraham Lincoln was brought about. It cannot be disguised that, had it not been for Mr. Dudley's energy and tact in the committee of doubtful States, the nation in the emergency which so soon followed would not have had the service of that great and good man at the helm. Mr. Lincoln recognized his obligations to Mr. Dayton's friends by nominating that honored citizen to the important position of Minister to France. I wrote to Mr. Lincoln after his inauguration, stating fully Mr. Dudley's action in the Conven tion, and asking his appointment as Consul to Liverpool. Others likewise urged his claims, and he was appointed to the position, where his eminent services during the rebellion were scarcely inferior to those rendered by our Minister at the Court of St. James. Although Mr. Dudley had been for many years remarkably active in politics, he had, up to this time, persistently refused all favors for himself. He had labored to fulfill the duty a citizen owes his country, and desired no preferment. After the elec tion in 1860, at the close of an interview with the President elect, in consideration of Mr. Dudley's services to the party which had elected him, Mr. Lincoln said : " Mr. Dudley, is there anything I can do for you — is there an office you will take ? If there is, name it, and you shall have it" The reply was : " Mr. Lincoln, there is not an office in your gift that I would accept; I cannot afford to leave my profession; I do, not want office." Mr. Dudley was opposed to human slavery in every form, be lieving it to be radically wrong to hold any human being in bond age. But, inasmuch as slavery existed in most of the States at the time of the adoption of the Federal Constitution, he regarded that instrument as giving an implied sanction to the institution as it then existed, and was willing to tolerate it in such of those Southern States as saw proper to continue it, but was opposed to any exten sion or increase of the Slave power. He held that no one had the right to introduce slavery in any of the Territories of the United States, or to carry a slave into any free State or Territory, and that all and any such slaves so taken in any free State or Territory be came instantly free. He opposed all compromises, because it was evi dent that, no matter what was done by the opponents of slavery, the South would one day rise in armed resistance to all opposition to their schemes. Compromise would simply postpone the evil day, and it was Mr. Dudley's opinion that, it being inevitable, the sooner 262 THOMAS H. DUDLEY. it came the better it would be for the country. If the question were left for another generation to finally settle, he feared it would find the moral sense of the nation so weakened that the slave power could not be successfully resisted. His faith in the integrity of the present generation was fully justified when the collision at length occurred. As soon as the South took up arms, Mr. Dudley was in favor of striking at once at the cause of the Rebellion, by declaring the slaves all free. The severe mental and physical labor required by the nature of his profession, added to the work and excitement of the political campaign of 1860, had injured his health, and in the early part of 1861 Mr. Dudley was prostrated by illness. When partially recov ered, his physicians recommended change of climate as essential to perfect restoration. Accordingly, in June of the same year he sailed for Europe. While stopping in Paris, his health being much improved, Mr. Dudley was requested by the American Minister to France, Mr. Dayton, to take charge Of the office of Consul at Paris, until the pleasure of the Government could be ascertained in regard to the vacancy caused by the peremptory removal of Mr. Spencer, who was suspected of being in sympathy with the Confederacy. He complied with the request, and officiated until the arrival of Mr. Bigelow, Spencer's successor, afterwards Minister to France. Speaking of this appointment, the Philadelphia Evening Journal, of July 31st, 1861, said : " We congratulate the gentleman on his appointment, and feel confident our Government could have no abler or more efficient rep resentative. Mr. Dudley has been long recognized as one of the soundest and most consummate of New Jersey's distinguished jur ists, and was, in the last campaign, an earnest and active advocate of Republican principles. Though he will be missed in the scene of his former successful labors, we are sure that in the field of duty to which he has been unsolicitedly called, his services will be equally valuable, and in the science of diplomacy prove as able as in his character as a lawyer." After being relieved from duty there, Mr. Dudley returned home, intending to resume the practice of his profession ; but in this he was to be disappointed, for the old malady laid hold upon him a second time, and the physicians advised residence abroad as the only means of recovery. Business had to be sacrificed for the sake of health. At this juncture in October, 1861, Mr. Dudley's friends asked in his THOMAS H. DUDLEY. 263 behalf, and he received the appointment of Consul at Liverpool. He arrived at Liverpool, accompanied by his family, in November, and assumed the office of Consul on the 22d of that month. The most important work of Mr. Dudley's life was now before him. He was to serve his Government through a great war, and in a country where those who should serve faithfully the cause of the Union would be exposed to opposition, obloquy, and even danger. His task required great experience, sagacity, and energy. As regards the ordinary affairs of the Consulate, Mr. Dudley found them in a very irregular condition Its financial concerns were unsatisfactory to the Government, and one of the first dis patches from the Department of State to the new Consul was in respect to a more careful and economical administration of the office than had previously been practiced But there was little need of ex hortation on this point, for Mr. Dudley had already begun in the direction indicated, and it appeared at the end of eleven years that instead of the Government having had to supply the Liverpool Con sulate with money, that office had accounted to the Government for more than half a million dollars. The wrongs done to American seamen in the port of Liverpool, through the cruelty of ship's officers and the avarice of shipping agents and sailor-boarding-house keepers, were as notorious as wicked, and yet for years there had been little done by the American representative to protect American seamen. Mr. Dudley immedi ately recognized this as a most important department of his official duty, and he laid a strong hand upon these scandalous abuses. Courage was required to set the law in operation, for those interested in opposing . it were powerful and unscrupulous ; but it was done effectually. Never before at Liverpool did American sailors enjoy so great immunity. Meanwhile the war progressed ; treachery at home and official bad faith on the part of neutral nations combined to harass the United States Government The best service of every one of its officers abroad was needed, and how different would have been the result of many issues between our own and foreign Governments had each in his place been as faithful as Consul Dudley. In the early part of the struggle, a secret commission was sent to England, to make an examination into the true state of things there with relation to the war. It was found necessary by this Commission to place some one in a position to oversee and direct all the Consulates in the 264- THOMAS H. DUDLEY kingdom, exempting that of London. Mr. Dudley was so conspicu ous for his zeal and efficiency that he was requested to take the additional responsibility, and he accepted the trust This proceed ing afterwards proved of immense value to the United States, for the Consul at Liverpool was thus enabled to gather information regarding Rebel operations and plans which could never otherwise have been obtained. New vigor was in this manner also imparted to the subordinate offices. Before Mr. Dudley's- arrival at Liverpool, the Rebel ships, for whose escape from British waters England has had to suffer an adverse judgment from the Geneva Tribunal, had been contracted for, and two of them, the Florida (Oreto) and the Alabama (No. 290), were in the course of construction. It was soon evident for what purpose they were intended, and the work of obtaining proofs of well understood facts lay with the American Consul. Mr. Dudley labored to this end indefatigably, employing every means possible to obtain evidence which would either compel the British Govern ment to prevent the escape of the vessels referred to, or make them responsible to the United States for breach of neutral obligations. The formidable folios of evidence embraced in the American case laid before the Court of Arbitration at Geneva tell how faithfully intelligently and thoroughly Mr. Dudley performed his duty in this respect The British Government heeded neither evidence nor remonstrances in the case of the Rebel ships, and it is safe to say that there would never have come a day of reckoning, as there did, had it not been for Mr. Dudley's skill and assiduity. The Alexandra was seized upon evidence furnished by him, as were also the two iron-clad rams built by the Lairds. The steamer Pampero, built by James and George Thomson, of Glasgow, for the Confederates, was discovered by Mr. Dudley, and, through his vigilancg, seized and finally condemned by the Scotch court This seizure and condemna tion caused the Confederacy to sell to the Danish Government an immense iron-clad' steamer, called the Santa Maria, then being built for the South by the same firm. If other proof were wanting of the value and completeness of what he accomplished in Liverpool during the war, it would be sufficient that the enemies of the Union hissed and hooted him upon the streets of that city, lampooned and threatened him in the daily press, devised all manner -of means for securing his removal, and in every way showed their hatred and rage. THOMAS H. DUDLEY. 265 In November, 1868, Mr. Dudley returned to the United States on a short visit, which was made the occasion of a grand banquet, given in his honor by the prominent citizens of his State. We have only space here for the following extract of a newspaper mention of the event : — Banquet in Honoe of Thomas H. Dudmst, Esq. The temporary return of Hon. Thomas H. Dudley, our Consul at Liverpool, to his native State, was made the occasion by members of the bar, and his many per sonal and political friends, for a grand reception banquet on Wednesday evening last. The compliment was tendered him over the signatures of many of the most distinguished gentlemen of the State ; and the arrangements were placed in charge of a committee who seem to have left nothing to be desired. Mr. Dudley was appointed to his important position by Mr. Lincoln, at the breaking out of the rebellion, and with a brief interruption, has remained at his post and duty until this time. Probably a more difficult position than this has not been occupied by any other forfeign agent of our Government Located at the great British seaport of Liverpool, where the entire population were as hostile to our cause as that of South Carolina, the headquarters of blockade runners, and piratical Alabama*, with no sympathy or co-operation, beset with spies and informers, tabooed by the blockade running and tory aristocracy, Mr. Dudley, by unceasing effort, and indomitable pluck, did more to close the source of rebel supplies, prevent the fitting out of rebel cruisers, and, incidentally, the ultimate armed interference of Great Britain and France in our domestic war, than any other man. It is a mat ter beyond dispute, that of sixteen armed or armor-clad vessels fitted out in British ports to prey upon our commerce, Mr. Dudley, by his unsleeping vigilance, re strained all but four, and these only escaped through the negligence or design of the British Government in not heeding his warning. Not only in this, but a thou sand different ways was he the active and efficient agent of our country during the war for the life of the nation. But important as were his services abroad, in the eyes of the patriot, they were not less important at home. It is a matter susceptible of abundant proof, (but not brought forward at the banquet, ) that, under Heaven, the country is indebted to Thomas H. Dudley .for the nomination of Abraham Lincoln. Had Mr. Dudley not have performed the .important duties which it is known he did perform at Chicago, some other gentleman would have been the Republican Presidential candidate in 1860. His services in this respect have not been forgotten ; and when it was understood he was about to leave for the resumption of his laborious but honorable duties, the representative men of New Jersey gathered together to wreath him with the honors he has so nobly won. Such an array of talent and influence has but seldom assem bled around any festive board, and, in this State, has never on any similar occasion been excelled. In 1871, ten years after his appointment, Mr. Dudley returned to the United States, and tendered his resignation as Consul. But he was urged by the Government to reconsider the matter, as his assist ance was greatly needed in England in the preparation and comple- 266 THOMAS H. DUDLEY.. tion of evidence to be used in the trial of the Alabama Claims. His knowledge of the details of all the transactions connected with these claims could not be dispensed with in this -important business, and upon the advice of friends, he consented to return and see the end of the wcrk which he had commenced. Mr. Edward Dudley, son of Mr. Dudley, was appointed Vice-Consul, to conduct the im mediate business of the Consulate, while the Consul was engaged in the new field of labor assigned him. Mr. Dudley finally returned home in November, 1872, and presented his resignation to the Gov ernment, to take effect as soon as his successor could be appointed, which occurred in the following month. The Liverpool Daily Post, September 4th, 1872, pays him this tribute : The Retiring Amebican Consul. A Liverpool gentleman last night, out of the fullness of his heart — always open to good sympathies — took upon himself the pleasing office of expressing to Mr. Dudley, who is about to leave Liverpool, the feelings with which his course as American Con sul is regarded by those who have observed its tenor. It is impossible to regard such an event as Mr. Dudley's departure without reflecting on the remarkable con trast that is presented between the state of things in which Mr. Dudley resigns his office and that in which he undertook it. He left his country "with four millions of human beings held in bondage," and he returns to it when there is not a slave upon its territory, nor a man, woman, or child who does not enjoy a liberty as perfect as that of the air they breathe. The aspect of Liverpool society in reference to the United States presents almost as great a contrast. Within two or three days after Mr. Dudley's arrival in Liverpool the Trent difficulty broke out. There are few among us who do not remember the excitement which this produced; the irritated state of feeling upon which the news of the seizure of Mason and Slidell fell, like sparks up on tinder; and the strong disposition shown, especially amongst the higher and mer cantile classes, to favor, by every means short of actual belligerency, the cause of the Southern Confederation. We look back now upon this period with eyes greatly clarified by the course of subsequent events. These events were so necessarily Bequent upon the conditions of the great conflict which was then commencing that it seemed to some who spoke out at that time impossible to anticipate any other results; but this was not the general feeling. And an American Consul, bound by his posi tion to perform difficult duties, to make a strong stand on behalf of his country, and to resist every attempt, whether direct or insidious, to aid that great country's ene mies, held no enviable position. None that have known Mr. Dudley will hesitate to confess that throughout the embarrassing period of the civil war, while his firmness and shrewdness were continually exhibited on behalf of his country, he was found constantly courteous and just. No one brought into communication with him ever left him without a satisfactory explanation of his motives and as far as it was possi ble for persons approaching difficulties from opposite points of view to und erstand each other, all who had business with the American consulate, even in the most difficult period of Mr. Dudley's service, found that to transact it was to deal with a true gentleman, and one who was both a man of business and a statesman. All the untoward circumstances which rendered that period so trying have now THOMAS H. DUDLEY. 267 passed away, and one scarcely meets in any society an avowed partisan of the Con federacy which once looked so formidable. As a matter of partisan politics, one would not revive the recollection of a time when the American Civil War was a great ground of polemical difference: but much more was involved in the conflict than any mere partisanship; and to appreciate for a moment the intense feeling of satisfaction with which a politician of Mr. Dudley's calibre returns to America now that the great work of President Lincoln is consolidated is to understand that the principles at stake in the war were of permanent importance, and may well be regarded even now with interest and enthusiasm. There is much to be thankful for in the present state of the English mindas'to American politics. It is a consolatory thing to reflect that the higher classes in this country have been brought, if only by the teachings of suc cess, back again to that faith in the doctrines and practice of freedom which wavered so sadly during the civil war. Mr, Dudley's return to America will make many re flect wisely upon this subject who may hitherto have given it little consideration; while his personal qualities and the recollection of many pleasing dealings with him, even in the most unpleasant times, will secure for him from the commercial com munity of Liverpool very good wishes and a permanent interest in his public career. His return home was characterized by many demonstrations of welcome and hearty appreciation. At a public, reception given to Secretary Robeson,' the following resolutions, read by Samuel H. Grey, Esq., were unanimously adopted, amid loud cheers and the most marked enthusiasm : Resolved, That the Republicans of Camden, whilst reaffirming their confidence in and pledging their support to President U. S. Grant, heartily commend the able ad ministration of home and foreign affairs for which his appointees are more directly responsible. Resolved, That among these agents and chief advisers New Jersey points with pride to Hons. Geo. M. Robeson, Thos. H. Dudley, A. G. Cattell, F. T. Frelinghuysen, Justice Bradley, and other eminent statesmen, diplomats and jurists who have ac quired an enviable national reputation. *************** Resolved, That while we feci just cause for State pride in the distinction achieved by these honored sons of New Jersey, we tender a cordial welcome to Hon. Thos. H. Dudley, who returns to our midst after an absence of many years, voluntarily clos ing his honorable and eventful public mission with the successful termination of the Geneva arbitration, to which result he so materially contributed by a firm and pa triotic discharge of duty in a hostile land, when so many failed or faltered at home. Soon after his return he was -appointed Assistant Attorney-Gen eral of the United States, having in charge especially certain suits pending in England for the possession of rebel property claimed by the United States Government Of the fitness of this appointment, the New Republic, published at his home, in Camden, N. J, under date of December 7th, 1872, says : " This appointment, coming as it does so soon after Mr. Dudley's resignation of his Consulate, and following so immediately in the 268 THOMAS H. DUDLEY. wake of the sinister slanders which were circulated concerning the course of our honored townsman, is a most gratifying recognition of the value of his services, and a complete vindication of hi3 character from the aspersions cast upon it by the aiders and abettors of soul less shipping masters and vampire sailor-boarding-house keepers. Mr. Dudley, though out of practice of the law for a dozen years, proved in his management of the Alabama business that he had not lost his early proficiency, and we may therefore look for a satisfactory settle ment of American claims through his intervention." Mr. Dudley's opportunities for distinguished services were very great, and the archives of the State Department show that he im proved them as few civil officers of our Government did during the same eventful period He was repeatedly, during the war, tendered the thanks of the Government for what he did, and the official ex pressions of the President towards him, in many cases, amounted to eulogy. In a friendly conversation with Hon. William D. Kelley, of Pennsylvania, in 1864, in speaking of the " increasing and unrea sonable demands of place-hunters," and of certain efforts to have Consul Dudley removed, Mr. Lincoln said : " Yes, they want me to remove. Mr. Dudley, who has, I think, rendered the Government as important services as any of our foreign Ministers, and is, in my judgment, as devoted and capable an officer as we have in any branch of the service." Mr. Dudley now resides in a beautiful home upon the outskirts of the city of Camden, where he may enjoy well-earned rest for many years to come. B. ODELL DUNCAN. By Jane Gbat Seaveb. ODELL DUNCAN, United States Consul at Naples, Italy, is a native of Newberry, South Carolina, where his father, a most respectable planter, still resides. After graduating in his own State, in 1858, Mr. Duncan went to Germany where he prosecuted his studies, more especially in Philosophy and History, at the Universities of Bonn and Berlin, until interrupted by the great civil war "in America. Being Utterly opposed to the secession policy of his State, he resisted the Strong appeals of his old friends, and declined to return to his home and take part in the movement, thus forfeiting their friendship. Obeying the dictates of conscience, he remained abroad, lending to the cause of the Union his advice and pen, against the numerous and active agents employed by the Confederacy for the purpose of gaining over the public opinion of England, and of the Continent Through the assistance of his kind friend, Hon. Theodore S. Fay, long U. S. Minister to Switzerland, and of Hon Norman B. Judd, then U. S. Minister at Berlin, Mr. Duncan received from President Lincoln, in the autumn of 1862, the appointment of U. S. Consul for the Grand Duchy of Baden and Rhenish Bavaria. The Americans then resident at Berlin determined to present Mr. Duncan with a testimonial of their approval and esteem, prior to his departure for his post, in the form of an address beautifully written upon parchment, and with a large handsome silk flag, made by the ladies of the American Colony, the presentation of which is de scribed in, the following letter, written at the time by the Hon. Theodore S. Fay, to the Home Journal: " We had here on Saturday evening an interesting ceremony. When our great rebellion broke out, there was in Berlin a young South Carolinian, Mr. B. O. Duncan, completing his scientific studies. He was suddenly reduced to the alternative of either re- 270 B. ODELL DUNCAN. turning home to join his State in its treasonable course, or adhering to the North at the sacrifice, as he supposed, of all his prospects in life, to say nothing of his remittances. He did not hesitate, but in stantly took his position, and has remained an open defender of the North, with his tongue and pen, although I do not believe his native State has a single citizen more earnestly attached to her, or more ready to sacrifice his life for her true interests. President Lincoln no sooner heard of the circumstance, than he appointed Mr. Duncan American Consul for the Grand Duchy of Baden and Rhenish Bavaria. The Americans here, almost without exception estimable, intelligent, cultivated, and loyal, are truly pleased by the President's course in this matter, and, as I believe, in every other. They, therefore, formed the plan to surprise Mr. Duncan, by presenting him with an American flag; and the ceremony, being entirely unofficial, took place last night, at Dr. Abbott's. A numerous company assembled to honor the occasion ; among them were really interesting people. Our worthy Minister, Mr. Judd, and his charm ing lady, were absent, from indisposition, but were well represented by the rest of their amiable family. 'Poor Mr. Duncan, whose modesty is equal to his merit, and who can not believe he is entitled to any praise merely because he did not commit the crime of matri cide against his country, was called forth, and I don't know what would have become of the Consulate of Baden and Rhenish Bavaria, if I had not treacherously hinted to him, a little while before, the awful abyss upon the brink of which he stood. He is, however, a man of superior mind and high cultivation, an elegant writer and a very good speaker, and would not, probably, have been wholly extinguished, although he might have been embarrassed at being so unexpectedly called upon his legs. "The following letter was read to him: " ' Beeein, January 17, 1863. " ' B. 0. Duncan, Esquire, Consul of the United States of America for Baden and Rhenish Bavaria. " 'Sib : — We, the undersigned, Americans temporarily residing in Berlin, have marked your course in the great question now agitating our country. Your State, South Carolina, has led the way in the attempt to overthrow our government, but you have refused to go with her. You have resisted the material interest, the de plorable sophisms, and the wild passions to which so many others have yielded ; and you have abandoned State, family, fortune and prospects in life, rather than imbrue your hand in the blood of your country, or stain your heart with black treason. You were B. ODELL DUNCAN. 271 " faithful found Among the faithless ; * * * Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified, Your loyalty you kept, your love, your zeal ; Nor number, nor example, with you wrought To swerve from truth, or change your constant mind." " ' In this you have simply performed your duty ; but the performance of duty, under such circumstances, is followed, not only by the commendation of your own conscience, but. by that of your country and of all good men. We learn with satis faction that our eminent President has bestowed upon you a mark of his approval, by appointing you to the double Consulate of Baden and Rhenish Bavaria. On the occasion of your departure for your official post, we, also, desire to offer a me morial of our sentiments. We have selected an object without any intrinsic pecuniary value, but which, as a symbol of our country, of the principle of free government, of rational liberty, of Christian civilization, and of all the sacred bless ings for which man has struggled during so many thousand years, you have shown you know how to appreciate and to prefer before the more vulgar possessions of life. " 'Accept from our hands the American flag. This noble standard, although drenched in the blood of its brave defenders, and sorely threatened by the Powers of Evil, still floats far above the wiles of treason and the shock of war ; cherished at home, and honored abroad by all the wise and good of the earth. May God bless our endeavors, in which you have so heartily joined, to keep it there, and to wash away the only stain from its brilliant folds.' " Follow about forty signatures, headed by that of Mr. Judd, who, besides, testified, by a pretty little souvenir to Mr. Duncan, his approbation of the loyalty and moral courage he had shown. " Mr. Duncan replied : " 'Ladies and Gentlemen : — I should probably undertake nothing farther than to return my sincere thanks for the honor you have conferred upon me. Strong, indeed, are the emotions of my heart, but weak is my ability to express them. I see myself the recipient of an honor I am not conscious of having merited. It is conveyed, too, in language worthy of a gallant chieftain who has- borne the flag of his country triumphantly through the storms of battle. To merit all this, I have done absolutely nothing. I have been opposed, it is true, to the dissolution of our great country. But I have only followed the dictates of duty, of reason, and of conscience. I was convinced at the beginning, as were many of the very best men even in my own State, that secession was illegal and unnecessary; that it would bring upon the country the most unheard-of evils, and that the leaders of the move ment were designing, ambitious men. Would it have indicated either firmness or a high sense of honor for me to have taken sides with those men after they had brought upon the country the very evils I had foreseen ? Or have the reasons for changing my views become stronger since they have destroyed the last spark of liberty in the States under their control, and crimsoned their hills and valleys with the blood of brothers? Under different circumstances, I might have been com pelled to support, or, at least, lend silent obedience to a cause I abhorred. But, situated as I have been, where I was free to think and act, I could not, with due respect to my own conscience, have acted differently. " ' I am happy, indeed, if the course I have pursued has met the approval of 272 B. ODELL DUNCAN. those who are so capable of distinguishing between right and wrong. I accept with pleasure this testimonial of your approbation and confidence. It will be my duty so to act that you may never have reason to consider your confidence misplaced. The kind ladies who have prepared this beautiful banner should never be made to regret what they have done. The fair, the amiable, the noble-hearted giver, should never have cause to blush for what she has given. Again, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to return you my heartfelt thanks for the honor you have conferred upon me, and for the kindness you have ever shown me.' " The soiree which,-Of course, was in honor of Mr. Duncan, was not confined to the inspirations of eloquence or the sparkles of imagination. These airy enjoyments were mingled with others more substantial, and I am sure every one present was pleased to see fidel ity so promptly acknowledged, even in this world of treason and selfishness. *********** " I understand several other South Carolinians in Europe have shown the same enlightened and conscientious sense of duty as Mr. Duncan, and the names of certain distinguished men, yet in South Carolina, have been mentioned who would now, if they could, and will, when they can, follow the same example. Although I cannot " 'Look into the seeds of time And tell what grain will grow and what will not,' I venture to predict a distinguished career for our young country man." Thus was Mr. Duncan's attention first drawn away from a literary profession for which he had prepared himself. But intent on doing well whatever he undertook, and having already acquired the Ger man and French languages, he at once set to work to prepare him self for his new duties, by a careful study of consular regulations, and of International law as bearing on diplomatic and consular affairs. He remained in his new position for nearly four years, the first two of which were during the darkest days of the Union. Yet he never lost confidence, and never faltered in sus taining the credit of the Government, financially. During this time he had the opportunity of cultivating the acquaintance and friendship of many Germans well known to fame in politics, literature and art In the summer of 1866, Mr. Duncan was re called by President Johnson, at the same time that so many officials, both at home and abroad, were being removed, for not approving the President's peculiar "policy." He then returned to South Carolina for the first time after an absence of nearly eight B. ODELL DUNCAN. 273 years, to find her ruined materially, and in a perfect state of chaos politically. Though greatly against his tastes, he took an active part for the next three years, in the effort to reconstruct the State Government, and to restore the State to its place in the Union. He was never of the opinion that the reconstruction measures adopted by Congress were the wisest that could have been desired. Yet, under the circumstances he urged their adoption as the only mode of stopping ultra legislation, and restoring to the southern States the same control of their local affairs. ***** In 1868, Mr. Duncan represented his State in the Chicago Con vention which nominated General Grant for the Presidency, and, after the inauguration, seeing no hope of improvement for the time being, in the affairs of South Carolina, he sought and obtained his present position as Consul at Naples, that being the only position abroad given to South Carolina at the time. In this position, visited by thousands of Americans annually, Naples being a favorite resort of the American traveler, and the seat of important commercial relations with the United States, Mr. Duncan has so far given perfect satisfaction to our Government. But while representing his country abroad, he does not fail to take the liveliest interest in events at home, especially in the affairs of his native State. Mr. Duncan is well versed and thoroughly experienced in all consular affairs. He is also a fine linguist, which accomplishment is absolutely essential to a creditable representation of our country, abroad, though, unfortunately, this is too little appreciated at home. Being so well prepared for any form of examination, Mr. Duncan ' is, as might be expected, a most earnest advocate of Civil Service Reform. HENRY ERNI. [ENRY ERNI, A. M. M. D., United States Consul at Basle, Switzerland, was born January 22d, 1822, near Zurich, Switzerland, where his father owned a silk and wool printing establishment. From early childhood he exhibited considerable talent and fondness for drawing and painting, to which he devoted every spare hour not occupied at school. His father, however, though fostering his love for art, desired him as his eldest son, to follow his business. Henry was sent to the Industrial School, and afterward to the University of Zurich, where he studied Natural Sciences, and more particularly Chemistry. In the midst of .prosperity Henry's father suddenly took typhus fever and died within a week's time, not yet forty -seven years old The mother, with four dependent children, unable to carry on the business, was compelled to sell out the print works for a mere pit tance. In order to help support his mother and her younger chil dren, Henry resolved to emigrate to America. On the 18th of November, 1849, he left for Havre de Grace, and embarked in the French sailing vessel Myosotis for New York. ' The passage was a fearfully stormy one, and the ship was thrown about by the tempest so that the fifty-eighth day after leaving the port, the provisions and fresh water gave out, and the Captain was com pelled to steer back to the Azoric Islands. The Myosotis anchor ed in the month of February at the city of Horta, on the Island of Fayal. After a week's stay in this delightful climate, the vessel, fully provisioned, sailed for New York, arriving after a tedious, and to the passengers a never-to-be forgotten journey of eighty-five days. Provided with letters of recommendation, particularly to his countryman Professor Louis Agassiz at Cambridge, Mr. Erni soon succeeded in obtaining the position of first assistant in the chemical laboratory of Professors Silliman and Norton at Yale College, and after a year's stay there, he accepted a Professorship in East Ten nessee University at Knoxville. HENRY ERNI. 275 Meanwhile, his sister and brother arriving at Boston, he returned there himself, spending about two years in delivering lectures on Chemistry in Lyceums and the Normal Schools of Massachusetts, being engaged for that purpose by Mr. George B. Emerson, Presi dent of the Board of Education. Professor Erni next accepted a call to a, professorship of Natural Sciences in the Literary, and of Chemistry in the Medical Faculty in the University of Vermont, at Burlington. Previous to this, he had sent for his mother and youngest brother to meet him in the. new world. After some years of labor at Burlington, the honorary degrees of Master of Arts and of Doctor of Medicine, were bestowed upon him. Before going to Burlington Professor Erni was married to a lady of Tennessee, Mary Macfarlane, and in order to be nearer to the con nections of his wife, he resigned his position and went to Tennessee. The professorship of Pharmacy and Medical Chemistry having been proffered to him by the Faculty of Shelby Medical College, at Nash ville, Tenn., he accepted the same, and lived in that city until our civil war broke out, Whereby he lost both position and what property he had accumulated. Professor Erni left in 1863 with his family for the East, with the intention of settling at Washington, where he had some influential friends. Arriving at Baltimore, his eldest son took suddenly sick and died. Upon the urgent recommendation of scien tific friends; particularly Professor Agassiz' personal application, he obtained the position of chief chemist in the Agricultural Depart ment, under Commissioner Isaac Newton. Afterward he accepted an office in the United States Patent Office, as Assistant Examiner in the Departments of Physics and Chemistry. But while working assiduously in the temporarily constructed, damp and ill-ventilated laboratory of the Agricultural Department at the Patent Office, he contracted fever, and his general health began to fail. Under the next following administration of President Grant, Mr. Erni applied successfully for his present position as Consul of the United States at Basle, Switzerland. His acquaintance with the German, French, and English languages, and his general knowledge, render him particulary fit for Consular service abroad. Mr. Erni, while in Yale laboratory, completed a series of experi ments on the causes of fermentation, published in the Proceedings of the American Scientific Association, held at New Haven in 1850. He has also contributed largely to Medical Journals at Nashville, and is the author of a book on coal, oil, and petroleum, eta WILLIAM H. EVANS. (LLLIAM H. EVANS, Consul at Maranham, Brazil, is a native of Steubenville, Ohio, and was born August 19th, 1836. He was first appointed by President Lincoln, Consul to the Island of Cyprus, January 24th, 1862, but was afterward transferred (March 26th, 1862) to Maranham, Brazil, where he has ever since been performing the duties of the Consular office, and where his official relations with the authori ties have been most friendly and satisfactory. From Consul Evan's Commercial Report, under date of October 13th, 1871, we make the following extract concerning the country, its products, &c. : " During the years 1868-69, this province suffered, perhaps more than any other in Brazil, in its general trade, owing to a depreciated currency, and the extraordinary decline in the price of cotton, added to which was a great loss of laboring population. From 1860 to 1870, 5,466 freemen and 3,690 slaves — 9,156 men in all — left the province to join the army and navy engaged in war with Paraguay. During the same period, the total number of immigrants from foreign coun tries arriving at this port was only 1,024. Of those who went to the war but comparatively few have returned, and the population, estima ted in 1860 at 450,000 souls, will not, in the last ten years, have in creased. Of this population, 250,000 it is estimated, are slaves, and the backward state of agriculture is attributed, in a great degree, to this fact The neighboring provinces on the north and south, con sidered as almost free of slavery, are, without doubt, far more pros perous ; and a spirit of progress exists among their people which is by no means general here. Especially is this the case in the province of Ceara, where tbe number of slaves does not exceed a few hundred. "The production of sugar has, the last year, been considerably in creased, owing to more remunerative prices. With the decline of WILLIAM H. EVANS.' 277 cotton, it is reasonable to suppose that its cultivation will be greatly extended, especially since the recent introduction from the United States of cheap sugar-making machinery. In the article of sugar, however, the Brazilian planter labors nnder the disadvantage of a heavy export duty (14£ per cent), while from close estimate it is found that the actual production here is only about one-fifth, as com pared with the amount produced by the same number of laborers in the state of Louisiana. " What is known as the " Coast-Range " of mountains, extend in a semicircle from Cape Saint Roque around the provinces of Ceara, Pianky, and Maranham, to the Rio Tocantius. At the foot of these mountains, and following them is a plateau, or higher table-lands, known as the coffee-growing districts. This vast extent of country, varying in width from* thirty to more than one hundred miles, is reached in a few miles from the port of Ceara; and from that place to ^ the coffee plantations already estabhshed there, a railway is now in course of construction. The coffee grown in that province is re garded here as the finest in Brazil, and very nearly the whole crop is purchased and consumed in the empire. In Maranham.this plateau rises about two hundred miles from the coast, is penetrated by seven different navigable rivers, all of whieh, with the exception of two, flow into the arm of the sea which surrounds this Island I am far from asserting that coffee cannot be successfully grown in any part of the province, having seen the tree growing wild and bearing liberally here, upon the island, where the soil is notoriously poor ; but the dis trict referred to is not only better adapted to coffee, but likewise for cotton, corn, and in certain portions, grain of all kinds. The coffee- tree yields the third year after planting, and from that time bears plentifully from fifteen to twenty years. Its cultivation requires less labor ; as a production is at all times profitable, and, in my opinion, indicates the only way out of the embarrassments which of late seem to have overtaken the agriculturist in this portion of the country. The abandonment of cotton for coffee, and I may add, sugar, may be regarded as simply a question of time, in the accomplishment of which, however, we feel a more than ordinary interest, caused by prospec tive extension of commerce, an enlarged interchange; and which can not reasonably be expected upon a grand scale, so long as our chief productions are identical, and we are only competitors in the world's market Heretofore, coffee has been grown in small quantities only, for plantation use. In the last two or three years, however, several 278 WILLIAM H. EVANS. planters have given attention to its cultivation, and a small yield is expected the present year. " The effect which the act of emancipation just passed will have upon Brazil, it is generally believed, will be very favorable to its material prosperity, the only regret being that under the operation of the law its full benefits cannot be realized at an earlier period. The present slave, with certain exceptions, remains slave. All slaves born after the 28th of September, 1871, are declared free. The slaves of the State are made free; and certain sums and revenues are appropriated toward liberating annually a number equivalent to the amounts real ized. Children born free are to be educated by the State, or under stated regulations by the master of the slave mother. It is estimated that in twenty -five years the system will have become extinct ; but, in view of the growing feeling in-favor of freedom, it is probable that .the work contemplated by the law will receive from the people such additional aid as will accomplish it in a much less time. " The provincial legislature, at its last session, appropriated the sum of $22,500 to be expended in encouraging foreign immigration to, and for purposes of Colonization in, this province. Under the provisions of the law, agents will be appointed at different points in Europe, with authority to contract with and find passage for persons and families willing to come and locate in this part of Brazil. A few American colonists who settled in this province some four years ago have, with one or two exceptions, returned to the United States." During the progress of the late war in the United States, Consul Evans often found himself about the only American resident in Maranham, and, in a pro-slavery community, in the minority regard ing the great questions at issue between the North and South. He was, however, always treated with due respect by the people, and has now resided there long enough to see many of the strongest advo cates of slavery, and those who opposed the march of freedom at that time, as dangerous to the material interests of a nation, become among the firmest, warmest friends of slave emancipation in Brazil. LUCIUS FAIRCHILD. PN. LUCIUS FALRCHILD, United States Consul at Liverpool, England, and late Governor of Wisconsin, is one of the marked and representative men of the North west. He came from that " Western Reserve " in Ohio which has contributed so much of population and intelligence to his adopted State, and form a percentage marked by strength of character, and by a certain hospitality and largeness of nature. Bom at Franklin Mill, in Portage County, Ohio, December 27th, 1831, he resided at Cleveland in that State from an early age until 1846, when he came to Wisconsin, and, with the other mem bers of his father's family, shortly after found a home at Madison, the beautiful capital of that State. Soon the newly-discovered gold region of California attracted enterprising spirits, and the restless energy of the youth of seventeen drove him to the land of promise. In March, 1849, with an ox team, he started from Madison, in com pany with others from that vicinity, for a journey across the Plains, He remained in California until the summer of 1855, most of the period being spent in the mountains, in the hard and rough life of a miner, whose severe toils finally yielded him a reasonable degree of financial success. Various business occupied his attention after his return to Madison, in 1855, until the fall of 1858, when, as the Demo cratic candidate, he was elected Clerk of the Circuit Court for his County. The duties of this office he discharged with -great accept ance, his promptitude, energy and business habits being no less con spicuous than his courtesy towards attorneys and others doing busi ness in the Court In the autumn of 1860 he was admitted to prac tice at the Bar. In the spring of 1861, after the surrender of Fort Sumter, he was one of the first who hastened to the defense of an imperilled country. He enlisted promptly as a private in the " Governor's Guard," a well- known independent company of Madison, which was among the first to tender its services under the President's first call for three months' 280 LUCIUS FAIROHILD. troops. Elected captain of this company, which was assigned as Company K to the First (three months) Regiment of Wisconsin Vol unteers, he declined the position of Lieutenant-colonel, offered him by Gov. Randall, not feeling himself qualified by military knowledge or training for that office. The Regiment served its three months, from June 9th, 1861, in Eastern Virginia, where, on the 3d of July, it skirmished at Falling Waters with a part of Joseph Johnston's force — a skirmish remembered only as one of the earliest of the war, and the first in which Wisconsin troops were engaged. In August, 1861, President Lincoln appointed Fairchild captain in the 16th Regulars, and about the same time he received from Gov. Randall a commis sion as Major in the 2d Wisconsin Infantry, which had been in the battle of Bull Run, and was then in Washington. Accepting both appointments, he was the first officer of the regular army to receive a leave of absence to serve with a volunteer regiment Shortly after, he was appointed Lieutenant-colonel of the same regiment, haying declined the colonelcy of another, tendered him by Gov. Randall Col. O'Connor of the Second being in poor health, Lieut. Col Fair- child commanded the regiment most of the time. It rapidly im proved in discipline and efficiency, and acquired the reputation of being one of the best regiments in the service. With the 6th and 7th Wisconsin, and 19th Indiana, it formed a brigade first commanded by Gen. Rufus King of Wisconsin, and which afterward, under Gibbon, won an enviable fame.' As a part of the First Division of the First Corps, it took part in nearly all the great battles and cam paigns of the Eastern army, except those of the Peninsula, under McOlellan. In 1852 they participated in the movement on Manassas, and subsequently formed a part of the Army of the Rappahannock under Gen. McDowell. After spending some months, first in the neighborhood of Fredericksburg, and then in the abortive attempt to intercept Stonewall Jackson in his retreat from the Shenandoah Val ley, they were sent, late in July, to feel the enemy gathering in front of Gen. Pope, and after a successful skirmish, and a march of eighty miles in three days, returned to their camp at Falmouth, and engaged during the early part of August in supporting a successful movement for cutting the Virginia Central railroad, in the course of which duty they repulsed and drove Stuart's Confederate cavalry. They had hardly obtained a couple of days' repose before they were called to take part in the movement of the army of Virginia, under Pope, LUCIUS FAIRCHILD. 281 which had just fought the battle of Cedar Mountain. Retiring with that army, they had successive skirmishes with the enemy at Beverly Ford on the 19th, and at White Springs on the 28th of August On the evening of the 28th, while moving from Gainesville along the Warrenton road towards Centreville, this brigade encountered Jack son's famous division (which was moving westward from Centreville to form a junction with Longstreet), and fought it single-handed for an hour and a half. It was perhaps in this battle (known as that of Gainesville), that Gibbon's brigade won the proud title of " The Iron Brigade of the West." While marching by the flank, the 2d Wis consin in advance, it was attacked by a battery posted on a wooded eminence, which was situated on the left Advancing promptly up on the battery, it encountered the Confederate Infantry emerging from the woods. Here for about fifteen or twenty minutes, while awaiting the arrival of the rest of the brigade, it is said that this regiment sustained and checked the onset of the whole of Jackson's brigade. The other regiments came rapidly up, while the enemy was also reinforced by at least one additional brigade, and in this un equal contest Gibbon's command maintained their ground, until, at nine o'clock, darkness put an end to one of the fiercest conflicts of the war. Most of the time, Gen Gibbons states, the combatants were not more than seventy-five yards apart Here Col. O'Connor fell mortally wounded, arid Lieut. Col. Fairchild had his horse shot from under him. His regiment, which went into the fight with only four hundred and forty-nine men, lost more than half of them, killed or wounded. During the next few days occurred the second battle of Bull Run, where lack of harmony and combined effort on the part of our military leaders resulted in a retreat of our exhausted and discouraged forces at the end of the second day, while troops enough to have secured an easy victory lay within easy reach of the battle field The Iron Brigade, being in McDowell's Corps, did not reach the scene of battle until near the close of the first day. The next day, the 2d, being reduced by battle and sickness to one hundred and fifty muskets, was temporarily consolidated with the 7th Wisconsin, and took part in the fight on the right wing, under the command of Lieut Col. Fairchild, all the other field officers of both regiments be ing either killed or wounded. Upon the failure of the left to hold its ground, compelling the whole force to withdraw, " Gibbon's Bri gade," writes an eye witness, " covered the rear, not leaving the field until after nine o'clock at night, gathering up the stragglers as they 282 LUCIUS FAIRCHILD. marched, and presenting such an unbroken -front that the enemy made no attempt to molest them." Lieut Col. Fairchild's regiment was the extreme rear, and himself the last man to leave the field and cross the stone bridge. Soon after, he was made Colonel of the Second, to date from August the 20th. . In the battle of South Mountain, on the: 14th of September fol lowing, where the Iron Brigade so gallantly carried the strong centre of the enemy at Turner's Gap, Col. Fairchild was in command of his own regiment Detained in hospital by sickness during some of the subsequent day3, he was unable to return to the field until the latter part of the day of the great battle of Antietam on the 16th, where his regiment lost ninety-one of the one hundred and fifty men en gaged. It was after these two battles that Gen. McClellan declared these " equal to the best troops in any army in the world" After taking an active part in the unfortunate battle of Fredericks burg under Burnside, and the subsequent "Mud Campaign," Col. Fairchild, with men of his own and other regiments, made two suc cessful expeditions down the Potomac, in February and March, 1863, gathering up horses, mules, contrabands, provisions and prisoners. When the Army of the Potomac, under Hooker, advanced to the unfortunate field of Chancellorsville, the Iron Brigade (to which had been added the 24th Michigan, and which, even then numbered only fifteen hundred)^ crossed the Rappahannock, at Fitz Hugh's Cross ing, in pontoon boats under a galling fire, and then charging up the height, carried the enemy's rifle-pits by storm, capturing about two hundred prisoners, thus rendering it possible to lay the pon toon bridges. Arriving at the battle-ground near Chancellorsville early on the morning of May the 3d, Col. Fairchild was called by Gen. Wadsworth, his division commander, to serve on his staff, and did so. At Gettysburg, as the Iron Brigade, early on the first day of the battle, engaged in the desperate conflict on Semi nary Ridge, the 2d Wisconsin in the advance, lost, in less than half an hour, one hundred and sixteen of the three hundred men engaged ; and there Col. Fairchild fell, with his left arm shattered so that am putation near the shoulder became necessary. From the Seminary at Gettysburg (extemporized into a hospital), he was transferred to the home of the excellent Professor Schaffer, in the village, where he received the tenderest care and nursing. By means of this, with skilful surgical attention, and the strength of his constitution, he re covered sufficiently to return home. While thus recruiting his health, LUCIUS FAIRCHILD. 283 with ..the .desire and intention of rejoining the army (having been recommended by all the Generals under whom he had served for ap pointment; as a Brigadier-General), the Union Convention of Wis consin, much to his surprise, nominated him, with great unanimity and enthusiasm, for the office of Secretary of State. A life-long Democrat, the unqualified and earnest support he had rendered, both by word and deed, to the Government, the self-devotion and passion ate patriotism, rising above all .personal and party views, which marked his course from the commencement of hostilities, rendered. him an object of eminent confidence and affection on the part of those who tendered him the nomination. And, amid the perils which then seemed to encompass the Government, at the North as well as at the South, it was urged upon him by influential personal friends, that in his disabled condition, he could serve. the National cause more effec tively by accepting the nomination than in any other way. The present writer has never doubted that this was a correct view of the case ; though he believes that many times during the continuance of the war and since, Gen Fairchild has regretted that he did not follow his own impulses, and remain with the army. Having been ap pointed Brigadier-General, he resigned that position and his rank in the regular army, and was elected Secretary of State. After serving in that office with eminent ability for two years, he was, in 1865, nominated, without opposition in the Republican Union Convention, for Governor. The duties of his office were performed by Gov. Fairchild in a manner entirely to the satisfaction of the people, excepting of course the party opposition evoked by his views- on national affairs. The briefest account of his gubernatorial career must not omit to mention the intelligent earnestness and zeal with which he. sought to pro mote the educational interests of the State. He devoted an unusual portion of his time to the personal visitation of penal, reformatory, benevolent and educational institutions of his own State. When traveling beyond its limit he endeavored to make himself acquainted with like institutions in other States, that he might learn what im provements were practicable at home. He repeatedly urged the establishment of an additional State school, viz : one for the educa tion of the feeble-minded ; and in all the existing institutions his presence was ever welcomed by officers and inmates as that of a friend 284 LUCIUS FAIRCHILD. In 1867 he was re-nominated without opposition, and re-elected. At Chicago, during the summer of 1868 he was called upon to pre side over the deliberations of the National Soldiers and Sailors Con vention. In 1869, he was again nominated and elected by a majority of over eight thousand votea Such, in outline, is the career of a man who at the age of forty had thrice filled the first Executive office in his State. He has done and suffered too much, and in doing and suffering has made himself too much of a man, ever to be less than a distinguished and honored citizen of the State whose annals he has adorned in war and peace, and of the country he has helped to save. To the foregoing sketch, taken from the Western Monthly, we have only to add that during the year 1872, Gov. Fairchild was employed in furthering the scheme of a water route across Wisconsin, via Fox and Wisconsin rivers, in the interest of cheap transportation between the Eastern and Western States. During his six years of service as Governor of the State, he made it one of his chief efforts to convince the people of the magnitude of this matter ; at first with but little success, but now they are fully assured, and the subject of cheap transportation has become one of recognized national importance. At the request of the United States Government, he accepted the Office of United States Consul at Liverpool, England, one of the most important consulates in Great Britain, the duties of which posi tion he has discharged since December, 1872. BENJAMIN F. FARNHAM. ENJAMIN F. FARNHAM, United States Consul at Bombay, British India, was born in Salem, Mass., on the 1st of February, 1832. He had the benefit of a public school education at the Phillips and High schools of his native town. At the age of fifteen he was placed by his father in Shadriack Robinson's flour store on old City Wharf, Boston, where he remained four years, when he conceived the idea of going to India ; and accordingly made his first voyage thither, traveling in the ship Soldan. He went out as passenger to act as clerk to the supercargo in Calcutta ; and he subsequently made five voyages to and from. Calcutta as clerk and supercargo. He then es tablished himself as a merchant in Boston, but the severe monetary panic in 1857 led him once more to seek India, and he therefore quitted the United States, and went to Kurachee in Sinde, Tinder the auspices of J. S. Farlow & Co. of Boston. Remaining in Kura chee two years and a half he returned to this country, and ten months afterward started out again overland for India, and opened a commercial house in Bombay with a branch at Kurachee, in the former of which cities he has resided for nearly twelve years past Mr. Farnham was appointed Consul for Bombay by President Grant, in consequence of his long acquaintance with the shipping and commerce of that country. The Consulate is an important one, owing to the American tonnage visiting the port During his term of of fice Consul Farnham had the pleasure of entertaining as his guests, the Hon. Wm. H. Seward and nieces, while on their memorable jour ney around the world Mr. Seward arrived in Bombay by the great Indian Peninsular Railway from Calcutta, and remained a fortnight as a guest of the Consul, during which time he received distinguished consideration and attention from all classes of the community. Consul Farnham also accompanied Mr. Seward to Goa, where the the lat ter was welcomed with great honor by the Governor General. ALFRED FOX. LFRED FOX, Consul at Falmouth, was born in that place in 1794. His father, Robert Were Fox, was appointed by General Washington in 1793, as Consul of the United States at the port of Falmouth, and after his death in 1818, Robert Were Fox, brother of Alfred, was nominated as his successor, and continued to act as such until 1854, when under a new law an American gentleman was appointed, who after spending twelve months there, abandoned the post and returned to the United States. Alfred Fox began in 1855, with the sanction of the Hon. James Buchanan, then United States Minister in London, to discharge the Consular duties in Falmouth and its dependencies, and was subse quently nominated by the President as Consul, with his son, How ard Fox, as Deputy-Consul. Mr. Thurlow Weed in his autobiography, relates the following incident concerning Mr. Fox and the Consular post of Falmouth, which we copy from the New York Commercial Advertiser of July 19th, 1870: 1 ?* In the summer of 1861, a retired merchant of New York called upon me to say that he and other merchants were anxious to obtain a Consular appointment for an old and meritorious bookkeeper, who for more than thirty years had kept the books of one of our largest and most respectable commercial houses. The bookkeeper came to New York from England when he was quite a young man, and now in his old age, was anxious to "go home to roost" In other words, he desired to pass the remainder of his life in England, so that he jinight finally sleep where his fathers slept He was rep resented to me as a most deserving man, and who, as a bookkeeper, was endowed with all the habits and virtues which distinguished Tim Linkinwater. The house that he had served so long and faith- ALFRED FOX. 287 fully, and other merchants who knew him, were particularly anxious to gratify the old bookkeeper. I was then on my way to Washing ton, and took the application and testimonials, promising to do the best I could for him. While at breakfast the next morning with the Secretary of State, I made the application, and before I had half completed the enumeration of the old bookkeeper's merits, Mr. Sew ard requested his son Frederick, the Assistant Secretary, to find a place for him. I went to the Department with Frederick, and in looking over his Consular Register carefully, his eye finally rested upon Falmouth, where upon examination he found that the Consul was an Englishman, and had held the office more than twenty years. It was decided, therefore, that one Englishman should give place to another; that other being an Americanized Englishman. I reported this determination to the Secretary, who immediately sent my friend's name to the President; and when the -messenger returned with Mr. Lincoln's approval, Mr. Hunter, the chief clerk, was direct ed to fill up the commission and obtain the President's signature, in time for me to take it to New York that afternoon. Between four and five o'clock p. M., I went to Mr. Hunter for the commission which lay before him on his desk. He rose somewhat deliberately (as is his manner), took the commission in his hand and delivered it to me without speaking, but with evident reluctance. I said : ' Is it all right, Mr. Hunter?' He replied: 'I have obeyed orders.' ' But,' I added, ' you do not seem pleased. Is there anything wrong about the appointment?' 'I have nothing to say against the appointment, but 1 have never discharged a duty since I came into the Department with so much regret' Upon inquiring what caused his regret, he said : ' The first commission I filled out when I came into this office, twenty-six years ago, was for Mr. Fox; our Consul at Falmouth, who succeeded his then recently deceased father, who received his appointment from President Washington. The consular accounts of Mr. Fox are as neatly and accurately kept as those of General Washington during the Revolution. I think he is the best Consul in the service of the Government You will judge, therefore, whether the removal of such a Consul is not calcu lated to occasion regret' When he finished, while he stood looking at me with his pen in his vhand, I deliberately tore the commission into strips, threw them into the waste paper basket, and left the Department for the cars. When I explained in New York what had occurred at Washington, it was approved, not only by the gen- 288 ALFRED FOX. tleman who had asked me to interest myself, but by the applicant himself. " In 1862, while in London, I was sitting at the Legation with Mr. Moran, its Secretary, when a plain elderly gentleman in modern ized Quaker costume came in, and was introduced to me as Mr. Fox, our Consul at Falmouth. Before he left the room to see our Minis ter, Mr. Adams, I asked him if he knew how near he came to losing his official head a year ago. In replying that he had no such know ledge, he added that he had understood that he had had some nar row escapes in former times, but that since the rebellion broke out he had been so busy in trying to show his countrymen that, in a war to extend and strengthen slavery, their sympathies should be with the North, that he had not thought about being removed He then added, that it was not so much for the emolument as for the pleas ure of serving the American Government that he desired to retain the office which his father received from George Washington. He was evidently much gratified at the incident I related, and invited me cordially to visit him." Mr. Fox is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, both in years and term of service, of our Consular representatives. His duties have frequently called him to protect the interests of our country, and to render aid and advice to its citizens. His efficiency and faithfulness during the late war, won him the highest commendation from the Government, who treated him, to use his own expression, " in a most handsome and liberal spirit" Mr. Fox married Sarah, daughter of Samuel Lloyd, banker, Bir mingham, in 1828, by whom- he has had twelve children, ten of whom are now living. A,l«nic mtom,, x »™k, C« H>-"r"r'k BENJAMIN GERRISH, -JR. By Robebt Allan. ON. BENJAMIN GERRISH, Jr., Consul at Bordeaux, France, was born in Dover, New Hampshire, April 17thr 1839. He received an excellent education, and, after spending several months in traveling in the South and '"est, became assistant cashier in a State bank; in which position he remained three years, gaining by his energy and inflexible integrity the confidence of the community. After filling several positions of trust in his native city, he was elected Assistant Clerk of the House of Representatives, in June, 1862. Two months later he received appointment to the office of Deputy Secretary of State, — a sufficient proof that his abilities were promptly discerned and appreciated at the State capital. This posi tion, as well as that of Clerk of the House, to which he was sub sequently elected, he held until the spring of 1865, when, by the resignation of Hon. Allen Tenny, he was appointed Secretary of State. During the period in which Mr. Gerrish occupied these important positions in New Hampshire, the demands of civil war, with the in numerable details of preparation of departing troops, of provision for the wounded and the returned, and the care of those left as wards of the State, made the duties of a State officer extremely arduous, and required in their performance untiring and patriotic zeal. In the discharge of all these duties he brought to bear such earnestness and skill as to win the warm commendation of those higher in authority, and of the public in general. In 1866 and 1867 Mr. Gerrish was a prominent member of the House of Representatives from the city of Dover, serving as a member of the Committee on Finance, on State Library, and of several important special committees. In July, 1868, he was ap pointed Consul at Nantes ; but, being at that time Secretary of the Republican State Committee, he took active part in the presidential 290 BENJAMIN GERRISH, JR. campaign that resulted in the election of Gen. Grant, and did not proceed to his post till November of that year. Previous to this appointment, he had been the incumbent of offices in New Hampshire seldom if ever filled more satisfactorily, and especially by so young a man In whatever position placed, he exhibited an activity and enthusiasm that insured success. His in dependence and candor were admired even by political opponents, and he left a host of friends in all parts of the State. Mr. Gerrish readily adapted himself to his new position, for which he is admirably qualified, and has fully met its requisitions upon him as an officer and a gentleman, maintaining at all times the respect and confidence of the people to whom he is accredited, and performing.his manifold duties to the entire satisfaction of our govern ment. At the breaking out of the Franco-Prussian war, he was appoint ed temporary Consul for Prussia. In this capacity he endeavored .to secure for the German residents in his department, and for the scores of refugees who fled thither from Paris, such protection as should enable them to remain unmolested by the excited populace, and to obtain for them transportation to England, whither the most of them were sent. This his official position and standing with the authorities enabled him to do most successfully. Subsequently several thousand Prussian prisoners were sent into his district, many of them sick and wounded. Immediate application was made to those in charge of the prisons and hospitals for permission to visit the prisoners, which was granted him; and for many months he visited them almost daily, carefully examining into the condition of each individual, and furnishing them medicines, cordials, and such articles of clothing as they required. He did not hesitate to give personal attention even to those sick with small-pox, typhus and typhoid fevers, and other contagious diseases. His generous and persistent efforts to ameliorate the condition of the prisoners called forth not their gratitude only, but was publicly acknowledged by individuals and societies in Germany ; and when relieved cf the functions of temporary Consul for Prussia, he was the recipient of warm expressions of thanks from the Prussian Ambassador at Paris, in acknowledgement of his services. Mr. Gerrish was recently promoted to the Consulate at Bordeaux, his commission dating from October 24th, 1873. A genial, refined, and cultivated gentleman, he is, in all respects, a worthy and faithful representative of our government abroad. AAAo^^i^^-A-'Zi^ e^yi .jil.r:i-fl,i;:r..>.ii>:iuy. W^^iA, STANISLAS GOUTIER. STANISLAS GOUTIER, United States Consul for Capo Haytien and its dependencies, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 19th, 1822. In early youth he enjoyed the advantages of a good common school educa- (§50) tion, which his mind knew how to turn to excellent use, in *^- an ever progressive .self- culture. Uniting the practical to the theoretical in his training, he applied himself to acquire a knowl edge of the mechanical handicraft of his father, John Gjutiei, a respectable colored man, well known in Philadelphia as a first-class- painter. Having mastered his trade at eighteen years of age, the youthful Goutier went forth in 1840, to make his own position in life,. and settled down in New Orleans, where for twelve years he worked at his business as an imitator of wood and marble. Having attained great proficiency in this branch of his trade, he was much patronized by the inhabitants of his newly adopted city. Feeling, however, the evil effects of the paint upon his system, from a too assiduous application to his trade, he was obliged to abandon its pursuit, and for three years, he followed, in the same city, the occupation of a book-keeper. Finally, growing restive- under the oppression which men of his race were then compelled to endure in the United States, particularly in the Southern section thereof, he left New Orleans after having resided there for fifteen years, and went to Toronto, Canada West. In Toronto he gave private lessons, and succeeded in forming some very proficient pupils in the French language, with which Mr. Goutier's long residence in New Orleans -had given him a practical familiarity. He was one of the founders, and subsequently an active member of the Council of the " British American Phonetic Associa tion ; " and being an adept in the art, he successfully taught phonog raphy in that city to a large number of pupils, both in the correspond- 292 STANISLAS GOUTIER. ing and reporting style. He also assisted Dr. A. T. Augusta, in -establishing there, an " Association for the Education and Elevation of the colored people of Canada," and afterwards delivered a series of public lectures on Natural and Moral Philosophy, in furtherance of the object of the Association. He was the Toronto correspondent of the New York Anglo- African, and but a few years since an occasional correspondent of the New Orleans Tribune. In 1862, he went to Port au Prince, and from his knowledge of the French language, obtained immediate employment as book-keeper. Being a good accountant, he was called to occupy the responsible position of book-keeper at the Treasury Department of that Repub lic, and at the same time he filled the post of Assistant Accountant at the Bureau of the Minister of Finance — positions which he held for nearly two years ; when the triumph of the revolution overthrew the administration of President Salnave, under whom he was employed. He was attached, subsequently to the United States Legation at Port au Prince as Mr. Bassett's assistant Secretary, and continued in that employ until his appointment as United States Consul at Cape Haytien. During his long residence in New Orleans, he was generally esteemed, and made many warm friends, among whom was his insep erable companion, Oscar J. Dunn, late Lieutenant Governor of tht State of Louisiana, and now deceased. When it was known in New Orleans, that two sureties in the United States were required for the faithful performance of his duty as Consul, before his commission would be transmitted to him by the Department of State, his friends in that city telegraphed to Mr. Bassett, who was then on a visit to Washington, that they were ready to furnish security to any amount But it was not required, as Messrs. R. Murray, Jr., and 0. Cutts, had .signed the necessary bond for him. He was appointed Consul for Cape Haytien July 9th, 1870, and entered upon the duties of his office October 8th, of the same year. In the discharge of his Consular duties Mr. Goutier has given •entire satisfaction, and proven himself a zealous and worthy public servant From Mr. Goutier's report to the State Department, on navi gation and commerce between the United States and Cape Haytien for the quarter ending June 30th, 1871, we make the following extracts : The total imports from the United States foi this quarter amounted to STANISLAS GOUTIER. 293 $106,193.05 United States currency, were carried in ten vessels, aggregate tonnage a,130 88-100 ; while the exports to the United States amounted to $26,881.61. The amount of imports from the United States for the quarter ending March 31, 1871, was $126,695.46 and the exports to the United States for the same period amounted to $41,904.58, which shows a decline for the present quarter in the imports, of about 16 one-fifth per cent, and in the exports of 35 two-thirds per cent. * * * We can trace the cause of this decline in imports, both to the fact of the city people growing poorer, and consequently being obliged to deprive themselves of some of the necessaries of life ; and to the repugnance of the country people to receive, in payment of their coffee and other produce, a tattered, deteriorated paper money, with which they are fast becoming disgusted. They are, in fact, losing confidence in this currency, and prefer to keep their coffee than to sell it and keep the paper ; therefore, they only dispose of small quantities to satisfy immediate wants. This is also the principal cause of the great decrease in the exports. The people well remember the losses they endured by the arbitrary decree of the triumphant revolutionary party withdrawing from circulation, at 90 per cent, discount, over 700,000,000 of Haytien dollars issued by President Salnave. It may be well to add that nearly half of the " Salnave bills " have been kept back, and are still in the possession of numbers of persons who firmly believe that the first successful revolutionary party will receive them at par. It is, however, astonishing for a people so shrewd — always eager to overreach others in traffic — to be so slow in learning the immense advantages they would derive by selling their coffee for silver. This is the only country, which has a claim to civilization, where one cannot buy its staple commodities of the country people for specie. The government, the chambers, the press, as well as individuals, have since last year, taken up and discussed the paper currency question. However they may have differed in details, they all agree in denouncing it as an evil which must be eradicated without delay. But the method of abolishing it? This is a problem much easier solved, theoretically, in Hayti, than practically. Where is the specie to come from, which is to replace the paper now in circulation ? How will the government fill the deficit in the revenue ? These, and other questions cannot be answered practically by saying, '-We will augment the imposts ;" "we will borrow.'' These people are already heavily taxed. It must not be forgotten that a nation can only be taxed in proportion to its wealth ; and to tax beyond this a people already poor, would, in a very short time, make paupers of both people and government. As to a loan, this government can not easily obtain one. It will be borne in mind how it endeavored to repudiate all the debts contracted under the constitutional governmentof Salnave, and how it is ill-disposed, up to the present time, toward the numerous creditors of the late government. How can a govern ment that has advocated repudiation inspire sufficient confidence to obtain a loan on its simple faith ? As the French indemnity was the cause of the creation of this paper money, it may not be out of place to mention a few facts relative to that subject. It will be remembered that Charles X., King of Prance, sent Baron Makan, a captain in the navy, as bearer of an ordinance to President Boyer, accompanied by an imposing fleet ; that he arrived at Port-au-Prince, July 3, 1825. This was known as the ordinance of Charles X ; was dated April 17, 1825, and fixed the French indemnity at the enormous sum of 150,000,000 francs, payable in five years, commencing December 11, 1825. Boyer, through prudential motives, accepted the ordinance. To meet the first instalment, notwithstanding for seven 294 STANISLAS GOUTIER. years Boyer had husbanded the revenue of the country with his characteristic parsimony, there were not over $1 ,000.000 in the government's coffers. A loan of 25,000,000 francs had consequently to be raised. With more promptitude than prudence, the banking house of Lafitte, in Paris, advanced that sum, which has not yet been settled. After the payment of this instalment, the Haytien Government found itself ¦without sufficient means to carry on even the internal administration of the country. It was then that they were forced to issue paper money. This was in 1826. The second year the government failed in its payment of the indemnity. It was afterward proved to the French Government that Hayti was unable to pay such an extraordinary sum. The more liberal government of Louis Philippe reduced the balance of the indemnity to 60,000,000 francs ; and by the treaty of February 12, 1838, this latter sum was to be paid in thirty years, without interest, as follows : from 1838 to 1842, 1,500,000 francs per annum ; from 1843 to 1847, 1,600,000 francs per annum ; from 1848 to 1852, 1,700,000 francs per annum; from 1853 to 1857, 1,800,000 francs per annum; from 1858 to 1862, 2,400,000 francs per annum ; from 1863 to 1867, 3,000,000 francs per annum. The political troubles and civil wars which took place in 1843, and during a long time after, ^rendered it impossible for the government to pay from 1844 to 1848. These five years overdue were, by the convention of May 15, 1849, placed upon the list of arrears, to be settled from 1868 to 1872. There was a balance due in the French indemnity, on the 1st of January, 1863, of Francs 23,100,000 Balance due Lafitte, capital and interest " 12,710,945 Total "• 35,810,945 This double debt was regularly paid till 1866; since which time to the present day the entire annuities have never been paid. During Salnave's administration an agreement was entered into between the French Charge" d' Affaires and General A. Tate, Minister of Finances, charged ad interim with the portfolio of Foreign Affairs, by which the Haytien government abandoned 12£ per cent, of all its customs to France. Since the triumphof the revolution, a new convention has been made, by which 15 per cent, of all the customs is to be given to France, until the country is able to resume the payment of its annuities, as heretofore stipulated. I am told that over 20,000,000 francs were due on this double debt in 1870. The paper money when issued in 1826, was received at par, but as soon as a deficit occurred, the press was used to fill it, so that with the increased issue, paper began to depreciate, or in common parlance, gold went up. With this system, a Minister of Finance did not require any profound knowledge of politi cal economy, for the printing press was ever ready at his bidding to issue the millions needed to meet any emergency. In 1843 the Spanish dollar was worth $2J Haytien ; in 1858, it was worth $18 ; and in 1867 it was worth $20 Haytien. During Salnave's administration over $700,000,000 Haytien, were issued, and the Spanish dollar at one time was worth $4,000 Haytien ; but it subsequently fell to $2,000. The revolution brought it down to $100 ; but it soon commenced rising till it reached $430 ; and has since fallen to $350 Haytien, its present value. ADOLPHUS LACOMBE. OCTOR ADOLPHUS LACOMBE, our Consul at Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, is a citizen of the United States and was born 1st January, 1804. When a youth, he prosecuted his studies at the boarding school of Thomas M. Finlay, Manhattanville, New York, and afterwards completed his education in France. He studied medicine and practiced his profession as Physician and Surgeon several years in the City of New York, and also abroad. During this time he became a member of several medical faculties and - scientific societies, and held an honored and influential position in the profession. s In 1865, Dr. Lacombe was appointed Vice Consul at Puerto Cabello, by the Hon. E. D. Culver, then , Minister Resident to Venezuela, and this appointment was. duly approved by Hon. Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State, in 1866. He was appointed Con sul by President Johnson in 1867, and confirmed as such by the Senate. He has therefore been in the Consular service of the Government continuously for the past eleven years. Dr. Lacombe is the father-in-law of General Hoppolite Ar- naud, now commanding Grenoble, France. This gallant officer had his skull fractured at the battle of Sedan, and has subsequently undergone, at four different times, the difficult and dangerous operation of the trepan. Dr. Lacombe has a widowed daughter residing in Hamburg, Germany, and several grandsons established at Singapore, India, and in Germany, as merchants and farmers. Consul Lacombe's report to the State Department, of the business of his Consulate for the year ending September 30th, 1874, shows the value of the imports from the United States to be 416,973.06 " venezolanos," and the exports to this country for the same period, 1,828,456.11 " venezolanos," including all shipping expenses. The value of the " venezolano " is .93.02 cents United States specie. JOHN .BALDWIN HAY. xOHN BALDWIN HAY, United States Consul General at Beirut, Syria, was born October 18th, 1846, in the country near Jefferson City, Missouri. He is a great- nephew of President Madison, and great-grand -son of William Hay, a descendant ¦ of the Earls of Errol, who emigrated from Scotland in 1768, and became one of the early settlers of Virginia ; marrying Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Miles Cary, he had two sons, William and John. The former died in infancy, and the elder son, John Hay, died in Berry ville, Va., January 24th, 1852. Isaac Hite Hay, son of John Hay, and father of the subject of this sketch, married Ann Maury Baldwin, daughter of Dr. Cornelius Baldwin, of Winchester, Va., in 1845. He practised law at Jefferson City, Vicksburg, and New Orleans, and was associated with Judge Martin of Missouri, until his death in 1849 at his residence in Vicks burg. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Hay took her infant son, Baldwin, to Berryville, Va., and after the death of his grand-father, John Hay, in 1852, she sailed from New York for Athens, Greece, to join her sister, Miss Mary Briscoe Baldwin, a missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Board of Foreign Missions. She returned, in 1856, to the United States with her son for the purpose of giving him a classical education, and settled in Providence, Rhode Island, where he enjoyed the educational advantages afforded by that city. Family circumstances caused Mrs. Hay to return to Greece, in 1862, where her son continued his studies under the care of Prof. 0, Howes of Shurtieff College, 111., and subsequently he attended the University of Athens, where he acquired the modern Greek and French languages. In 1865, he was made Accountant of the Ionian Bank, Athens, a British corporation, with a head-office in London, and branches in all the Ionian islands and the principal towns" of Greece. EDWIN VAUGHAN. 297 On account of ill health he was induced to. visit Syria in 1868, and became so much interested in the country that, on his return to Athens, arrangements were made to remove thither. In 1869, Miss Mary B. Baldwin, his aunt, joined her sister and nephew in order to establish a Mission-school for Mohammedan and other boys at Jaffa (ancient Joppa). The same year Mr. Hay was appointed U. S. Consular Agent at Jaffa on the nomination of the Consuls for Jerusalem and Beirut A few months later, on the re signation of the Consul at Jerusalem, Mr. Hay was instructed to take charge of the post, the duties of which he performed until May, 1870, when returning to the United States, via Italy, Southern Europe, England, and Canada, he arrived in October the same year, after an absence of nine years. He availed of this opportunity to give a series of lectures upon "Life in Palestine," for the benefit of the Jaffa Mission. On the 3d of May, 1871, he married Cornelia H. Badger, of Philadelphia, and having been appointed by the President to be Consular Clerk and Vice Consul General at Beirut, Syria, he sailed for the post with his bride, soon afterwards! Upon the resignation of the Consul General for Syria, L. M. Johnson, Esq., of Conn., Mr. J. Baldwin Hay was promoted by President Grant, in January, 1872, to the office which he holds at the present time (1873). EDWIN YAUGHAN. "*\ APTAIN EDWIN VAUGHAN, United States Consul at Coaticook, Canada, was born at Chelsea, Vt, September 14th, 1832. He received his preparatory course of edu cation at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H, pay ing all expenses by teaching and manual labor. He com menced the study of law in 1854 ; entered the Law University at Albany, N. Y. in 1856, was admitted to the New York bar from that institution in the fall of 1857, and went into the practice of his 298 EDWIN VADGHAN. profession at Claremont, N. H. in 1858, in partnership with the late Col. Alexander Gardner, After more than three years of successful practice as a lawyer, the war having broken out, he enlisted in the New Hampshire Cavalry, December 13th, 1861, was rapidly promoted through both grades of Lieutenancy to the rank of Captain, and served with great credit to himself to the end of the war, receiving his discharge June 7th, 1865. He was for a time Adjutant of his regiment, and after wards acting Assistant Adjutant General on the staff of the Brigade Commander,. places which exposed him to constant danger, hardship, and responsibility. During the memorable raid of Gen Wilson, in the summer of 1864, he was disabled by a sunstroke, and after remaining for a time in hospital, was assigned to duty as Assistant Provost Marshal of the 8th Army Corps, at Baltimore, Md., and remained there until his discharge. He performed the duties of this latter post with such ability, faithfulness and zeal, as to call forth the highest commenda tions from his superior officer, Gen. Wooley. After his discharge he returned to the practice of the law at Claremont, and represented that town in the New Hampshire Legislature in 1866 and 1867. The effects of the sunstroke received in the war compelled him to abandon the practice of the law, and he was commissioned as Consul at Coaticook, Canada, April 16th, 1869, which place he now holds. The large amount of imports passing the government limits from his Consular district, which is of great extent, renders his post a very important one. By making himself thoroughly acquainted with the commercial values and resources of the district, he has greatly simplified and enlarged the business of his office, and thereby materially increased the fees and customs duties received from mer chandize from that section. ,W CjT> •' ''¦ ^^,nA^AAi^C ^&^A &z&/v*L> MORTIMEK M. JACKSON. ?ON. MORTIMER M. JACKSON, formerly one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, and whose name is honorably iiidentifled with the Consular service of the United States, was born in Rensselaerville, Albany county, State of New York. His father, the late Jeremiah *$$} °> Jackson — one of the early settlers of that county — was a prom inent farmer and an influential citizen, whose intelligence, enterprise and probity secured him the esteem and respect of his fellow-citizens. The subject of this sketch, in his earlier years, attended the schools of his native town until soon after the death of his father, when he was placed at the boarding-school of Lindley Murray Moore, at Flushing, Long Island. Subsequently he entered the Collegiate School of Borland and Forrest in the city of New York, where he remained for several years, and on the completion of his term of study was awarded a prize for being the best English scholar. Upon leaving that institution he entered a counting-house in New York, and became an active member of the Mercantile Library Association, of which he was chosen first a Director and afterwards Vice-President It was mainly through his efforts as chairman of the Lecture Committee, that the brilliant course of Lectures known as the "Associate Course," were gratuitously delivered before the Association in Clinton Hall, by the late Chancellor Kent, the late Gulian C. Verplanck, the late William Dunlap, -President of the National Academy of Design, William Beach Lawrence, William Cullen Bryant, and other distinguished Americans, who at that early day gave to this institution — now foremost among the public institutions of the kind in* the United States — their influence and support While a clerk in a counting-house he commenced a course of law studies, for which having a decided preference he resolved upon 300 MORTIMER M. JACKSON. adopting the law as his profession. Accordingly he entered the law office of the late David Graham, Esq., — an eminent lawyer and advocate — with whom he pursued his studies, and from whom he received the highest testimonials. In 1834 he was a delegate from the City of New York to the Young Men's State Whig Convention held in Syracuse, at which Hon. William H. Seward was first nominated for Governor. Mr. Jackson took a prominent part in its proceedings ; and was the author of the Address adopted by the Convention to the people of the State on the political issues, State and National, involved in the contest At that period the contest in New York between the Whig and Democratic parties engrossed a large share of public attention ; and enlisted either on the one side or on the other almost every American citizen. The young men of the city — especially the Merchants' clerks — who generally supported the Whig party, were, in conse quence of the part which they took in politics, objects of denunciation from their political opponents. In an address delivered by Mr. Jackson. at a public meeting of the Whig young men held in Masonic Hall, in which he vindicated the right and enforced the duty of every American citizen to par ticipate in the politics of his country, he paid the following well- merited and eloquent tribute to this numerous and highly respectable class of our fellow-citizens : " Who are the Merchant's clerks of the City of New York ? They sprang, most of them, from the honest yeomanry of the country ; — in their childhood, under the parental roof, they were taught by their mothers the sacred lessons of the Bible — by their fathers were in structed in the principles of the Declaration of Independence. " They are those, who, animated by that spirit of enterprise so laudable in the young, and so characteristic of ardent and generous minds, have left the endearing scenes of home and kindred, and all the delightful associations connected with the village church and the neighboring school — the hills and the dales — the fields, and groves, and streams which bound them, and still bind them, to their birth place, to seek, in this crowded mart, whatever of fame or fortune may be the rewards of industry, intelligence and honor. They are those whose brothers, many of them, as well as other connections near and dear — are dispersed, perhaps throughout the Union, engaged in various vocations ; some in mechanical, some in commercial, some MORTIMER M. JACKSON. 301 in agricultural, — all stimulated by the cheering hope of being able, by a course of honorable and persevering exertion to crown — ' A youth of labor with an age of ease.' " Can men thus reared and thus connected — identified by con sanguinity with the various classes of society, and by association with the diversified interests of our country — can such men be recreant to the principles of their ancestors, or forget the allegiance which they owe to their native land ? — Never — never ! " This passage from his address, which we reproduce from the Morning Courier and New York Enquirer, of the 27th of October, 1834, is equally applicable at the present time. It truthfully and forcibly describes the origin and character of the men who have so largely contributed to build up and extend the trade and commerce of New York; — to develop her various industries; — to found her noble charities ; — and to make her what she now is— the first City of the New World. In June, 1838, Mr. Jackson married Miss Catherine Garr, daughter of the late Andrew S. Garr, Esq., of New York. At that time the great North West — whose soil had been conse crated to freedom by the Ordinance of '87 — was attracting thither not only the hardy emigrant from the old world, but the young, the vigorous, the enterprising and the educated from the older States of the American Union. Wisconsin, then but recently organized as a Territory of the United States, was rapidly rising into importance, and Mr. Jackson determined to make it his future home. In December, 1838, he re moved to that Territory. In the following spring he attended the Circuit Courts held at Mineral Point and Green Bay — the former pre sided over by Hon. Charles Dunn, then Chief Justice of the Territory, and the latter, for the first time, by Hon. Andrew G. Miller, now and for many years a Judge of the United States District Court At this term, before Judge Miller, Louis Du Charne, indicted for a murder committed in the Stockbridge Settlement, was tried and acquitted. Mr. Jackson, in connection with Hon. Henry S. Baird arid Ex-Governor Horner, appeared on behalf of the prisoner, whose trial excited great public interest Having taken up his residence at Mineral Point — then a flourish ing town in Western Wisconsin — Mr. Jackson there engaged in the practice of his profession. The peculiar state of things then existing 302' MORTIMER M. JACKSON. in reference to the lead mines, gave rise to much important litigation, and he soon acquired a good practic, and became prominent at the bar. After visiting various portions of the Territory, and making him self acquainted with its wants and resources, he wrote a series of articles descriptive of the country, and conveying much useful in formation over the signature of "Wisconsin," calling the attention of intending emigrants to the West, as well as others, to the great natural advantages possessed by Wisconsin, and predicting its rapid growth and future greatness. These articles were extensively re-_ published. As a Whig of the Anti-Slavery School in politics, he identified himself at an early period with the Whig Party in Wisconsin — then in a minority — and became, and continued throughout its existence, one of its leading members and most distinguished public speakers. He was a member of the Territorial Convention held in Madison soon after the election of General Harrison to the Presidency, at which the Whig Party was first organized in the Territory, and was chairman of the Committee who prepared and reported the Resolu tions embodying the " platform " of the then Whig Party. He took a deep interest in the cause of education, and heartily supported all feasible measures for its advancement Upon the appointment by the President of Hon. James Duane Doty as Governor of Wisconsin, he tendered to Mr. Jackson the office of Attorney General of the Territory, which he accepted, and held for nearly five years, when he tendered his resignation to Governor Tallmadge — who was Governor Doty's successor — and who held his office under a National administration to which Mr. Jackson was opposed. Whilst Attorney General several important cases, civil and criminal, became the subject of his official action. Among the former, that of Doughty vs. The Territory — involving the question of the liability of the Territory to be sued ; and that of the People vs. Bank of Wisconsin, whose charter was declared forfeited for a violation of its provisions by the Directors and Officers of the Bank. The leading criminal prosecution with which, as Attorney General, he was connected — and one of the most conspicuous in the criminal annals of Wisconsin — was that against William Caffee, who was indicted and tried for murder in the Circuit Court for Iowa County, and convicted and executed MORTIMER M. JACKSON. 303 In the efforts made in Western Wisconsin — which were finally successful — to have the reserved mineral lands held by the United States Government, brought into market, he took a prominent part, and was the author of a Memorial addressed to President Polk on the subject, which was reported by the Committee on Mining and Smelting to the House of Assembly, and adopted by the Legislature. He justly held that the relation of landlord and tenant, as between the Government and its citizens, was injurious to the interests of both, and opposed to sound public policy ; while, by affording facilities to the cultivators to become the owners of the soil, thrift and industry were encouraged, and inducements held out alike to the farmer and the miner, to make more substantial and permanent improvements, and thus, while promoting their own welfare, more largely contribute to the wealth and prosperity of the country. Upon the organization of the State Government in 1849, Mr. Jackson was elected a Judge of the Supreme Court, and Judge of the fifth Judicial Circuit The fifth Circuit then embraced, the prin cipal portion of Western Wisconsin. In this. Circuit there was a vast amount of business, and many suits involving large amounts of property. Some of the most important criminal cases in the State were tried before Judge Jackson. As a Criminal lawyer, it was con ceded he had no superior upon the Bench. As a presiding Judge, he was dignified and courteous, and always faithful and impartial in the discharge of his duties. Upon the expiration of the term of Judge Hubbell as Chief Jus tice of the Supreme Court, Judge Jackson was unanimously chosen by his brother Judges to fill that high position ; but, while apprecia ting the honor conferred, in deference to the greater age, and, as he thought, stronger claims of Judge Whiton to the office, he declined to serve, and thus was the means of conferring upon another a dis tinction tendered to himself. As a Judge of the Supreme Court, his written opinions, which evince both industry and ability, are published in the earlier volumes of the Wisconsin Reports. He continued upon the Bench until the organization of a separate Supreme Court in 1854. At the next election for Circuit Judge, at which party lines were drawn, he was an unsuccessful candidate. He was a member of the Republican Party from its first organi zation, and in 1856 was its candidate for Attorney General of the 304 MORTIMER M. JACKSON. State, in opposition to Gabriel Bouck. the Democratic candidate, who was elected by a small majority. He was President of the Republican State Convention, held at the Capitol in Madison, to select delegates to the National Convention at Philadelphia, at which General Fremont was nominated for the Presidency. In the contest for United States Senator in 1857, which resulted in the election of Hon. James R. Doolittle, Judge Jackson was a prominent candidate ; and on several successive ballotings in the Legislative caucus was supported by many of the Western members of the Legislature for that office. After resuming his profession, he removed to Madison, and there continued in the practice of the law until appointed by President Lincoln, in 1861, to the office which he now holds, of United States Consul at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Circumstances connected with, and growing out of, the late civil war, gave to that Consulate during that period a special prominence and an importance second to none under the Government of the United States. The late John P. Hale, in commending, in the United States Senate, the official acts of Judge Jackson, as Consul, justly remarked that the " Halifax Consulate during the war was more important to our Government than half a dozen of our European Missions." To discharge efficiently the duties of the office at that crisis, in the midst of the difficulties and embarrassments surrounding the posi tion,, required abilities and qualifications of a high order. Not only tact and vigilance, integrity and firmness; loyalty and intelligence were requisite, but a thorough knowledge of all matters appertaining to the Consular office, as well as a knowledge of commercial and in ternational law, were required These qualities were in an eminent degree combined in Judge Jackson. It would transcend the limits of this sketch to attempt a history of the various labors and public services during the war with which, as Consul, his name is identified. They are attested by the public records of our country, and have been warmly commended by our government Since the termination of the civil war, important duties and labors have devolved upon Judge Jackson as United States Consul, in con nection with the British North American Fisheries. Various ques tions, long held in abeyance, arising out of the Fishery Controversy, MORTIMER M. JACKSON. 305- involving the rights of American citizens were, upon the abrogation of the Reciprocity Treaty, revived. The seizure of American fishing vessels in colonial waters, for alleged, infractions of the Canadian fishery laws, rendered official action, on the part of our Consul at- Halifax- necessary, in order to protect the rights of our fishermen. At the request of the State Department, Judge Jackson sub mitted, in October, 1870, a report upon the Fisheries and Fishery Laws of Canada, in which the principal questions involved in the controversy between Great Britain and the United States, on the subject, were fully examined and discussed. - The report was trans mitted to Congress with the documents accompanying the President's annual message; A leading public Journal in the British Maritime Provinces, in commenting upon the report, observes •. — " Whatever diversity of opinion may exist as to some of the views expressed, all must concede that the report is dignified in style, and marked by great ability, and will form a valuable contribution to the State papers on the Fishery question." Happily the Treaty of Washington, by honorably adjusting all causes of difference between the two countries, has relieved both from this long-standing source of irritation. It is worthy of remark, that while as Consul Judge Jackson has striven on all occasions to protect- the rights and advance the interests of his own country, he has at the same time endeavored to- facilitate the trade and commerce, and promote friendly relations between the people of the British Provinces and the people of the United States. Neither should reference be omitted to the care and kindness be- . stowed by him upon destitute American seamen, as well as all others of his countrymen exposed to suffering and distress. Of the many representatives of the United States who have faithfully and ably served their country abroad, no name in our consular annals exhibits a more honorable record than that of Mortimer M. Jackson. On the 16th of August, 1875, at Halifax, Nova Scotia, the es timable and accomplished wife of Judge Jackson passed away. Thirty-seven years before, she left the luxuries and the blandish ments of a great city to share the fortunes of her husband in the distant West. Ardently attached to her native land, where she was beloved and esteemed by those who knew her best, her cultivated mind, her attractive manners, and her many 306 HOWARD FOX. ! excellencies of character had no less won the love and the esteem of the community in which, for more than f ourteen years, she had , resided as the honored arid respected wife of an American repre sentative, and where her death was universally mourned and regretted. As before stated, Mrs. Jackson was the daughter of the late Andrew S. Garr, Esq., a distinguished lawyer of New York. HOWARD FOX. OWARD FOX, United States Consul at Falmouth, England, was born in that place in 1836. His father, Alfred Fox, whose sketch appears in this volume (see page 286), filled the office up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1874. It will also be seen by reference v$£> to those pages that the Consulate has been held by different members of the family for a very long period. Mr. Howard Fox was appointed Deputy Consul under his late father, in 1863, and his official services for several years in that capacity, having received the marked approval of the Government, the appointment of Consul was readily conferred upon him in June, 1874, and the honor was still further enhanced by the ap pointment of his brother, George Henry Fox, as his Vice and Deputy Consul. With such training and associations it may well be supposed that Mr. Fox has become thoroughly versed in all Consular affairs, and is specially qualified to fill the position at Falmouth. He was mainly instrumental in building and establishing the Lizard Signal Station, in 1872, and in inducing the British Government to connect it with Falmouth by telegraph. This Station is found to be a great convenience, not only to transatlantic steamers bound up the English Channel, but also to the naval and mercantile marine of the world. HOWARD FOX. 307 Mr. Fox has also taken an active interest in promoting a more extensive and successful development of the sea-fisheries on the coasts of Cornwall and in other parts of the world. The family, of which he is one of the principal members, have for a very lengthened period held an influential and honored social position not only in his native country but far beyond its limits. Always prominent in promoting the spread of education, they have also labored to encourage and diffuse among the people a greater love for the arts and sciences, whilst, at the same time they have been devoted in their attachment to free political insti tutions. Consul Fox speaks, with ease and fluency, several languages, and has had a large and varied experience in matters connected with shipping and commerce. In short, his ability and qualifica tions are such as to warrant every confidence that the interests of the country he represents at Falmouth will be secure under his guardianship. The principal articles of export from Falmouth to the United States, are china clay and arsenic. Consul Fox's -report to the Department of State at Washington, gives the value of declared exports from his consular district to this country, for the year ending September 30th, 1874, at $60,420.52, being an increase' over the preceding year of $6,368.22. OWEN MOXLEY LONG. WEN MOXLEY LONG, M. D., United States Consul at Panama, was born in Frankfort, Kentucky. He removed at an early age to Illinois, then but sparsely settled, and, in deed, almost an uninhabited waste. He had previously adopted the profession of medicine from choice, and, entering in its practice, his services were much appreciated in those ¦early days. Although quite young he served in the Black Hawk War as Surgeon, after which he resumed the praotice of his profes sion in Jacksonville, 111., then but a small village. In 1847 he was . tendered the position of Surgeon of the 1st Regiment Illinois Volun teers in the Mexican War, by its lamented Colonel John T. Hardin. Domestic affliction, however, compelled him to remain at home at that time. Dr. Long was bitterly opposed to slavery from early youth, and hence at the outbreak of the late civil war, he entered heartily into all measures tending to the preservation of the Union and the emanci pation of the black race in the United States. He united with the "Middle Aged Patriots" of Jacksonville in the organization of a company for home defence, and with this company he drilled night after night during the early days of the great struggle for the life of the Union. In July, 1861, Governor Yates appointed him Surgeon of the llth Regt. (Infantry) Illinois Volunteer, (Col. Wm. H. L. Wallace, who fell at the. battle of Shiloh, commanding). Surgeon Long had previously been examined by the State Medical Board, and awarded a certificate as Surgeon of the first class. The llth Illinois Regiment ranked among the best of all the regiments recruited in the Mississippi valley. From its ranks sprang no less than three Major and five Brigadier Generals. Surgeon Long was in continuous service with this regiment from 1861 to 1864. During this time, however, he was Acting Medical Director for the Department of Cairo, and in 1863, he was detached "(AAA ~//t> <»^AA, ^n^t^ AAAAA OWEN MOXLEY LONG. 309 from his regiment, and, by special order of General Grant, assigned to the charge of the Overton General Military Hospital at Memphis, Tenn. In this most responsible position he exhibited consummate abilities in the discharge of all his hospital duties, the magnitude of which may be appreciated when we say that the Hospital at times contained in its many wards as many as twelve hundred and fifty patients, two hundred attendants, nine ward surgeons, and fifteen Sis ters of Charity. Here he remained until the active Operations before Vicksburg called him to that field of duty, where he rendered valua ble service to the army until his health failed, and he was reluctantly compelled to resign. He was preparing to return home on account of feeble health, when Governor Oglesby of Illinois, appreciating his ability, appointed him to the very important position of Military and Sanitary Agent of the State of Illinois, for the Department of the Gulf, with . head quarters at New Orleans. In this capacity it was his good fortune to relieve much suffering and distress, and contribute greatly to the comfort of the sick and wounded of the Illinois soldiery. He returned to Illinois in 1867 after closing up his agency. He had witnessed the rise, progress and fall of the Southern Confederacy, and had taken an active part in the struggle, rendering important services, besides those already mentioned,- at the battles of Belmont, Forts Henry and Donaldson, Shiloh and Corinth. He was in ^,11 the battles during the seige 'of Vicksburg, and also in that of Yazoo City, besides many minor engagements during the war. In consequence of feeble health, caused by the severe winters of Illinois, Dr. Long was induced to seek" a more temperate climate. He accordingly applied to his old commander, Gen. Grant, (who had but recently been elected to the Presidency,) for relief, and was ap pointed to the important position of Consul at Panama, United States of Columbia. This Consulate, being on the Isthmus, is the most im portant, perhaps, in all South America. Panama is the grand thor oughfare for all diplomatic and Consular correspondence North and South, and the Consul, in consequence of the great distance from the residence of the United States Minister at Bogota, is entitled the priv ilege of holding diplomatic correspondence with the authorities of the State of Panama, and of making all his reports directly to the State Department at Washington. Consul Long, during his residence in Panama, has been called upon to settle several delicate questions in International law, the 310 OWEN MOXLEY LONG. most prominent and important of which has been the claim of the United States against the Columbian government for an indignity and insult to the United States flag in the capture and detention of the American steamer Montijo, and for damages and compensation to the officers and crew for their unlawful capture and detention for the period of sixty -two days. The history of this case, obtained from an authentic source, is as follows : A few misguided and desperate young men, bankrupt in character and fortune, and knowing of no other way to replenish their exhausted exchequer, made their way to the. city of Dario, in the Department of Chiriqui, contiguous to Costa Rica, took passage on the Montijo, for Panama, and while en route on the high seas, cap tured and held the steamer, the same being the property of Ameri can merchants, doing business in Panama. Their object was to make use of the steamer in transporting troops to Panama for the purpose of overthrowing the existing government and capturing the President, who was then at Sona, half way between Dario and Pan ama. They failed to capture the President, who escaped, and made his way to Panama, where he rallied his forces to meet the approach ing enemy. The owners of the Montijo, as soon as they heard of the capture of their vessel, made formal protest in the office of the Consul, and demanded redress. Consul Long immediately sent a communication to the leaders of this rebellion, demanding that they restore, without delay, the steamer to its owners, otherwise the Consul would be com pelled to call in to his assistance the U. S. Man of War Resaca, which was then in the Bay of San Miguel, engaged on the special duty of making a survey for an Interoceanic Canal between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The insurgents protested against the right of the Consul or any other person intervening between themselves and what they called an oppressive government, and insisted that, as belliger ents, they were entitled to capture and appropriate to their use the property of any neutrals within their jurisdiction. Consul Long could not see it in this light, and he refused to recognize them as en titled to any belligerent rights whatever. He accordingly warned them that if he was compelled to call to his assistance any portion of the military forces of the United States, he should regard them as pirates, and, if captured, he would feel bound to transfer them to the United States in irons, to be tried for piracy, and, if found guilty, to be executed as pirates. The representatives of both State and Na- OWEN MOXLEY LONG. 311 tional Governments in Panama, by written decree, gave permis sion to the Consul to call to his aid any portion of the Naval forces of the United States that might be required to recapture the Montijo from the revolutionists. Full permission and authority were also given to enter any of the ports, rivers, and harbors of the State, and to land therein any forces that might be necessary to recapture the steamer, and vindicate the honor and dignity of the United States. Commander Selfridge, considering himself as assigned to a spe cial duty, regretted that he felt compelled to decline engaging in the recapture of the Montijo, until he had finished his survey, which was then rapidly progressing. Upon Consul Long's return to Panama, he found that, through Consular influence, negotiations had been en tered into between the two parties, by which the existing State au thorities agreed to a general amnesty and payments of all expenses incurred by both parties during the war. The authorities of Panama, however, showed in what bad faith they acted when they afterwards refused to pay the owners of the Montijo an amount decided upon by arbitrators, mutually chosen to adjudicate upon the claims. Consul Long then referred the whole matter to the Department of State at Washington, with a compendious and voluminous array of affidavits, proofs, and statements in the case, and, upon this repre sentation of the question, a formal demand was made upon the Co lumbian Government" through our then Minister at Bogota, General Hurlbut Gen. Hurlbut presented claims for compensation, damages, and indemnity in the sum of about $95,000, and the matter is now in adjudication between the two governments. An ample apology was made by the Columbian Government for the insult offered to the U. S. flag, but they declined to recognize any responsibility for the acts of the citizens engaged in this act of piracy. In fact they in structed the State Authorities in Panama to arrest and punish the "pirates engaged in the outrage." In the management of this case, Consul Long received the ap proval of his official action from the State Department, and also from Gen. Hurlbut. His record as a zealous and efficient Consul of the United States, in a country where revolutions are frequent, and deli cate questions often arise, necessitating the exercise, on his part, of the most intelligent consideration and skillful management, is un questioned and entirely satisfactory. " I have," says he, " in the dis charge of my official duties, always remembered the parting words 312 OWEN MOKLEY LONG. of President Grant when I called at the White House to bid him good-bye, ' You need have no fear of removal, so long as you faith fully and honestly discharge the duties of your office.' " - Dr. Long, as one of the pioneer settlers of Illinois, has been con spicuously identified with the progress and prosperity of that great State. He ranks among the friends of his youth such honored names as Hardin, Lincoln, Baker, Douglass, Duncan, Browning," Shields, McDougall, Cullum, Yates, Richardson, Higgins, Berdan, Edwards, Logan, and many others who have shed honor and lustre upon the State, and will live as statesmen and heroes in the history of the country. Referring to the affair of the steamer Montijo, to which allusion is made in preceding pages, President Grant in his mes sage to Congress, Dec. 7th, 1875, says : The arbitrator in the case of the United States steamer Montijo, for the seizure and detention of which the government of the United States of Colombia was held accountable, has decided in favor of the claim. This decision has settled a question which has been pending for several years, and which, while it continued open, might more or less disturb the good understanding which it is desirable should be maintained between the republics. FELIX A. MATHEWS. ELIX A. MATHEWS, United States Consul at Tangier, Morocco, was born in Tangier, March 15th, 1835. He is the youngest son of Dr. J. A. Mathews, who was a resi dent of Louisiana when that State was ceded to the United States in 1804, and was, in 1820, head Physician to the King of Spain. He commenced his education in Tangier, and subsequently continued his studies at Gibraltar and at the college of Stepone. He is a linguist of fine abilities, speaking the Arabic, English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish languages. Having lost his parents, he embarked, at the age of fifteen, for America, to join his uncle, and was shipwrecked on the trip at the island of Lanzarota. On this memorable occasion he received the thanks of his fellow-passengers, through a sealed document of the Consul, for saving the lives of three passengers, under trying circum stances. Mr. Mathews entered the navy in 1852, and served on board the United States Frigate Constitution (the old Ironsides), in the Medi- teranean and on the West Coast of Africa, St Helena, &c, engaged in the suppression of the Slave trade. He also served on the West Indies, Brazil, and Pacific stations in the United States Steamer Vixen, and Razee Independence, from which latter vessel he was em ployed at the United States Navy Yard, at Mare Island, California, (under Admiral Farragut, at that time Commander of the Navy Yard), in the Civil Engineer Department as Draughtsman. Here he remained until 1857, when Farragut left the Navy Yard, arid Mr. Mathews joined an Expedition to Vancouver and the Frazer River diggings, and also to the Walla-walla ; but, after fighting the Indians for some time, he abandoned the mines, returned to California, and, in 1858, opened a school for the tuition of foreign languages, painting in oil and water colors, and draughting. He married in January, 1859, and in July following, he organized an expedition for the purpose of exploring and prospecting the Pah Ute country, Mono and Walker lakes to Washoe silver regions. 314 FELIX A. MATHEWS. After several fights with the Indians, and the loss of all his horses except one, prospecting was abandoned, and Mr. Mathews, with three men, rode in one day a hundred miles through the hostile Indian country to the Sierra Nevadas, returning eventually to California in 1860. He next became interpreter of foreign languages to the courts of San Francisco, and afterwards in Contra Costa County. In 1861, he was appointed United States District Marshal, for the Northern District of the State of California; and when' the civil war broke out, he contributed in the enlistment of the native cavalry, and joined as volunteer the 1st Regiment of California Cavalry, serving until its disbandment in 1865. Always a warm and active supporter of the Republican party, he entered earnestly into the dif ferent campaigns, addressing audiences in English, and in Spanish to the native population with whom he always had considerable in fluence. He was twice elected Assessor, and in 1867, entered into commercial pursuits in California. In April, 1869, Mr. Mathews was appointed United States Consul to Tangier, Morocco, where he arrived with his family on the 4th September following, and entered upon his consular duties. Owing to the extraordinary and unprincipled misrepresentation made by his predecessor to the State Department, he was recalled in December, and returned to Washington in June, 1870, where an investigation ' was made, resulting in his re-appointment in July. He returned as "Consul to Tangier on September 4th, 1870, where he was received by his colleagues and the Moorish authorities with befitting honors. Concerning this remarkable affair of removal and re-instatement, we give the following opinions of the press, as published at the time : FELJX A. MATHEWS AND THE CONSULSHIP AT. TANGTER. The people of this county are all familiar with the grounds on which our fellow- citizen and late County Assessor, Felix A. Mathews, was recommended as a suitable person to occupy the post of United States Consul at Tangier, in the Empire of i Morocco ; and they may be briefly stated, as follows : While thoroughly American, not only by formal adoption, but also by intelligent comprehension and devotion to the principles of our Government, Mr. Mathews was deemed especially qualified for the duties of this post, from the fact that, having been bom in Morocco, and being familiar with the character of the people and their Arabic tongue, as well as with the languages and peoples of the other Mediterranean countries, he could better promote the interests of our commerce, and be of greater service to those of our citizens engaged in commerce or travel in that quarter, than a person not so quali fied. Mr. Mathews had Naval Commanders, (under whom he had served for many years, and was by them often employed as a medium in their official intercourse and negotiations with the Governments of the countries of the Mediterranean), who FELIX; A'. MATHEWS. 315 warmly urged his appointment to this Consulship.- Under such circumstances, it was a great surprise, not only to the personal friends of Mr. Mathews, but to the Government at Washington, that a letter should come to the State Department from the Emperor of Morocco, notifying our Government that the plebeian origin of the appointee was regarded as a vital objection to recognition as an international agent to his Court. As there could be no presumption that the Arabic letter was npt genu ine, and as it is an invariable rule of the Government not to retain agents abroad who are objectionable to the Powers to whom they are accredited, there was no alternative but the appointment of another in the place of Mr. Mathews — however trifling and absurd the babaric ground of objection must be considered by us. It now appears, however, that the purported letter of objections from the Emperor, was a bold forgery, supposed, as we hear, to have been perpetrated either by one of the other foreign Consuls (jealous of the influence Mathews might have from the knowledge of the language and the friendship of the Emperor), or by the immediate predecessor of Mr. Mathews in the Consulship. The fact of the forgery is proved by the receipt of authenticated letters, both here and at Washington, one from the Em peror to the new Consul, congratulating him on his appointment, and one to the President of the United States, expressive of the Emperor's gratification with the appointee. Having been once imposed on by a forgery, the Administration will, of course, take measures for the authentication beyond question, of these newly received documents, when there will be no doubt of the re-instatement of Mr. Mathews in the Consulship. The year following his .return to Tangier, as already mentioned, Consul Mathews made an official visit to the Sultan of Morocco. A description of this visit of the first American representative who ever carried the flag of the United States to the Capital in the interior of that barbarous and secluded Empire, is contained in the following communication, taken from the G&hioraia ^Sunday Gazette : "The following extracts, taken from a letter from Col. F. A. MatheWs, U. S. Consul at Tangier, Morocco, to Col. Geo. Cowie, of this city, will be read with interest, showing. that the representatives of the United States, when gentlemen and capable of filling the posi tions they occupy, are held in high esteem by some governments. Col. Mathews was appointed by President Grant in 1869. Charges were preferred against him, and he was recalled. These he so . com- • plefely refuted that he was immediately re-appointed and confirmed, and was returned to his former post in a United States vessel of war, an honor seldom conferred on a consul, thus fully vindicating his character. The Government of Morocco was gratified ai.his^feturn ; hence the official visit referred to in the- following extracts : Tangier, June 29th, 1871. ' " On the 20th of May last I left Tangier for the old capital of. Morocco Fez; on a visit to the Sultan, whicjil had promised to pay 316 FELIX A. MATHEWS. him as soon as it was convenient to both parties. I was accompanied by Mr. Scott, the Dragoman of this consulate, whom I appointed vice-Consul temporarily for the occasion ; Captain Cobb, an American, and four officers of the 74th Highland Regiment, stationed at Gibral tar, who requested leave to accompany me, with some others ; several of my colleagues accompanied me out of town some miles. I took from the Pasha at his request an escort of ten men to the first sta tion, where I was received by the Pasha of the adjoining province, who, with an escort of some two hundred mounted soldiers, gaily dressed, accompanied me to his boundary, where I was received by the other Pasha, and so on until the 27th of May, when we entered Fez. Our journey was a grand ovation, the mounted Arabs of the different tribes which met us, showing their astounding dexterity of horsemanship, by running with loose reigns and firing off their long guns, some of them standing erect on top of their saddles with their horses at full galop ; in fine, sights worthwhile seeing and not easily forgotten. On our way to Fez, we passed the spot and bridge of Alcozar Queiss, memorable as the fatal battle ground where Don Sebastian, King of Portugal, was killed,, and his army annihilated by the Moorish army, in 1558. '' The passage of ourselves, our animals (about seventy in number), besides one hundred and fifty escort, and our baggage across the river ' Sbose,' by means of two leaking and rotten old ferry-boats, propelled by a couple of planks instead of oars, was a task which occupied hours, and one not altogether unattended with danger. This river is two day's journey from Fez. After crossing the river, we were met by the largest escort with which we were honored dur ing the course of our journey. Five Caid governors of different districts in the province of Beni Hazen, with the twelve standards of the different Kabyles at the head of no less than eight hundred horse men, all armed and mounted on magnificent Arab chargers, with their long loose garments floating in the most fantastic style. The dexterity of maneuvres displayed by these horsemen of the desert at every halting place, was a grand sight. " We had large quantities of provisions sent to us, as well as camel loads of barley for our horses. Our entry into Fez was arranged to take place on the following morning, May 27th, and at an early hour an escort of cavalry from the Kabyle of Londana was in waiting to accompany us. Casting aside our soiled and ruined traveling garments, we arrayed ourselves in our various official uniforms, I wearing my. FELIX A. MATHEWS. 317 old California cavalry one, and at eight o'clock A. M. we left ' Nad Mikes,' a river where we encamped the previous night. After an hour's ride we entered the glorious and romantic valley of Fez, rich in magnificent scenery. Government and military officials were contin ually arriving to welcome us, and to inquire about our arrival, and, by the time we approached the city, our company had swollen to one of considerable size. " My reception was a most imposing one, and, as said by all, far surpassing in importance those offered to any previous legation ; for a mile from the city gates, the road was lined on both sides by the troops of the Emperor, his body-guard, his secretaries, military and civil authorities, the church people, and heads of departments, while the whole community shut up shops, and came out to receive the wel- coiried Americans. ' A hundred times welcome to our city, says his Majesty,' were the words of the Governor of the Sultan's palace, when he advanced at the head of a magnificent retinue of staff offi cers to shake hands with me, mounted on a splendid white charger, as a token of cordiality and peace to the new-comers. The different bands playing, and guns firing off, we passed through the files of troops presenting arms, &c. We were quartered in a magnificent palace, full of fountains, and surrounded by gardens of tropical luxuriance, with a body-guard of soldiers, stationed at the main en trance, and sentries at every door of the several buildings which we occupied. Enormous supplies of provisions and sweetmeats were sent to us from the Sultan's palace. " I was visited by the Prime Minister and other functionaries of the Emperor, with the most cordial marks of friendship, and they ex pressed their gratification at seeing the American Consul for Morocco amongst them. " They were delighted to see that I could talk to them in their own language, and tendered everything that I might require during my stay, which they expressed a hope would be a long one. " On the morning of the 30th of May, I paid my first visit to the Sultan at the palace or menshunar at 'Dardebiba,' about a mile from the city. We were conducted from our residence by the Governor of the palace, and a numerous guard of honor, of cavalry and infantry, and other military and civil authorities who were waiting for us. After alighting from our horses, and waiting a few minutes, the Sultan ap peared through the large gate of the garden of the palace, coming toward us through the lines of troops and bands of music, at the 318 FELIX A. MATHEWSs same time we approaching him until we each met half way, The Sultan was preceded by two Alberdeers, armed with lances, while on one side was the bearer of the State umbrella, and on the other, a man , who, with a piece of fine white linen, whisked the flies from the Sultan's person and horse, — a fine white charger with trappings of green embroidered with gold The* Sultan is a man of fifty -five years of age, the father of hundreds of children, and the devoted husband of hundreds of wives of all hues and ages, but mostly all very young. He was dressed out in white ; he is of an olive complexion, with some gray hair on his full black whiskers ; he stammers and coughs considerably at first sight ; his features are plain and very in telligent The interview lasted twenty minutes. " Three days afterward I was received privately in his parlor, and had an interview of one full hour, devoted by him to questions about America, and expressions of his fondness for the Yankees; &c. I then exhibited to him a Winchester rifle, eighteen shots ; a Reming ton and Berdan rifle and pistol, all American manufacture. He was delighted with them so much that I at once requested him to accept them from me as a small present. He accepted them with many thousand thanks, and said it was the first time he had ever seen such weapons, and observed that the Americans, with these weapons, never could be beaten in battle, &c. " The Sultan next day, as is customary, presented me with a horse and saddle ; also a horse and sword to Mr. Scott, a mule to the inter preter, one sword to each captain who accompanied me, and- one com plete Moorish suit of clothes to each of the soldiers of my suite which came from Tangier. " On the 6th of June, we took leave of the Sultan and all the ministers, and on the 7th, at eleven o'clock A. M., left Fez, and after an interesting, but tedious and warm journey of seven days on horse and muleback, I arrived at Tangier, where I was received a mile out side of the city by the Governor, civil authorities, and several of my colleagues, on the 14th of June." The Sacramento Daily Record of April 15th, 1873, contains the following interesting letter from Consul Mathews, descriptive of the strange country over which his consular jurisdiction extends: " Felix A. Mathews, United States Consul at Tangier, is a Califor- nian, long a resident of Contra Costa county. He was born in Tangier, and speaks Arabic, as well as all the modern Southern Eu ropean languages. A letter from him to Hon. A. A. Sargent, detail- FELIX A. MATHEWS. 319 ing a ;trip he made to some spots of interest near Tangier, has been forwarded to us, and we give it below. The letter was, of course, not intended for publication, but possesses so many merits that we invite attention to the account of one of the many trips Mr. Mathews has made, and which he so gracefully recounts : Tangier, November 30th, 1872. Hon, A. A.. Sargent, Washington, D. C. *********** " I am now at work on my book of Morocco, and as I am going to have it well illustrated with maps and sketches drawn from nature, it will take me yet over a year's work to finish it. Last July, I •transmitted to the Department of State a very extensive report on this country. As that department has done me the honor to publish in the annual book of commercial relations all my previous reports, and many inquiries have been made, addressed to me by Americans, either engaged in professional business or commercial pursuits, relative to the trade and general aspect of the West Barbary States, a land as yet but little known or explored, I engaged myself in procuring as much general information with regard to the country, its com merce, resources and system of government, as possible, together with the relative trade between Timbuctoo and Morocco ; also a tabu lar statement of the temperature and weather of Tangier for the year 1871. The information thus obtained, and which I forwarded to the State Department, T believe I am correct in saying contained many facts never as yet published in any account of the country. " Notwithstanding that I am the President of the Morocco Board of Health, and also President of the International Commission for the Maintenance of the Cape Spartel Light — a position which does not afford me a cent's profit, but is one only of honor, and which takes much of my leisure time, — and that I have to do all the work in French, I have made several excursions into the interior, of a few days, to have a better insight into the aspect of affairs of this country and the way of living among its inhabitants. My last Visit was to the southern 'Pillar of Hercules,' the modern Gebel-Monsa, which rears its cloud- capped summit to the skies, and I longed to be able to penetrate its fastnesses, the more so that it appeared to be veiled in a kind of mys- .tery, as I have never heard of its having been visited by any Ameri cans, and only recently has it been visited by one or two Europeans. In fact the district of Morocco in which this historical mountain is 320 FELIX A. MATHEWS. situated, is inhabited by a wild and lawless tribe of Moors, among whom it is far from safe for a European, without a strong guard, to travel. " The Mount Abyla of the ancients, is situated on the North-west ern coast of Barbary, between Tangier and Ceuta, and plunging its almost perpendicular northern slope into the waters of the Straits of Gibraltar. Its present Arabic name (signifying the Mountain of Monsa), is derived from the surname of Monsa ben Nezair, the Moor ish Viceroy of the Caliph Walld L In conjunction with his General, and afterward his rival, Tarik-ibn Zegad (who has bestowed his name on the European 'Pillar of Hercules,' Gebel Tarik, or Gibraltar), he invaded Spain in the early part of the eighth century, speedily subdued the Visigoth, and introduced Eastern civilization and refine ment into the country. The Gebel-Monsa is known to the Spaniards as Sierra Bullones, and to the English inhabitants of Gibraltar, as 1 Ape's Hill,' from a vulgar superstition that there exists a submarine passage from this hill, under the straits, for the express accommoda tion of the tailless quadrumana who are occasionally to be seen among the palmetto bushes with which the summit of the Rock of Gibraltar is covered " The Governor of the province of Angera (where the mountain is situated), who is an intimate friend of mine, furnished me with an expert guide named Safi, who was well acquainted with every track and mountain pass in the province. In order to accomplish the greater part of the journey on the starting day before the sun had attained its full power, I had the city gates opened at three o'clock in the morning. I was riding a very strong but shy mule, followed by my soldiers, armed with a rude, long Moorish firelock and an im mense cheese-knife. We soon were passing through the great market place outside the south gates of Tangier, and the country people, who ' had brought in their loads of produce on the previous evening, and had slept for the night in their small camel's hair tents, were already astir and preparing for the business in the market day ; Moorish women were already spreading before them their stocks of chickens, eggs, bread, salt, vegetables and country produce, and droves of camels were just arriving from the interior, laden with beeswax, grain and hides for shipment to Europe. Picking our way carefully, lest dur ing the dim of morning twilight we should trample upon some sleep ers, we were soon past the market-place, and a few minutes ride along the outside of the crumbling east wall and the old Portuguese flank FELIX A. MATHEWS. 321 fort and out-works, now occupied as the Jewish cemetery, brought us to the wide stretch of sand beach which surrounds the Bay of Tangier. " The sun was rising, casting a beautiful rosy tint over the Rock of Gibraltar and the distant hills of Spain on the other side of the waters, by the time we crossed the river Wad-el-Halk, near the mouth of which are the ruins of Tan-ga-el-Balea (old Tangier), the Tingis of the Romans, one of the cities founded by the giant Antaeus, the discomfite! opponent of Hercules. The ruins consist of a large wall of great thickness, and apparently of great strength. In the centre of the walls are the massive piers of a large gateway, built in alter nate courses of stone and tiles. This is alleged to have been the gateway through which the galleys entered the arsenal. The wall facing the sea waa repaired by the Moors, during the reign of Muley Ismael, and defended by a few old-fashioned twenty-four pounders, mounted on rude, clumsy wooden carriages, now falling to pieces from decay. We crossed, the river by a shallow ford, being at low tide, and after passing the salt marshes, struck into the hilly country, winding our way along the mountain passes and hill sides. By seven o'clock we reached the banks of the river Wald-el-Leean. This river is situated in a broad valley, which is nearly all cultivated in various patches here and there. Near its mouth there are some fine oyster beds, the oyster equal in size and flavor to those brought into the San Francisco market from Oregon. Tall oleanders and olive trees ornament the banks of the river. We crossed at a ford above the second bend, and traveled across some rather barren and rocky hills, till we descended to the seashore at the mouth of the river Wad-el- Kagar, on the right bank of which are the very extensive ruins of ' Alcagar-Seguer,' a very ancient city founded by the Romans, and afterwards rebuilt by the Moors, from whom it was taken by assault by the Portuguese under the command of their king, Alonzo, in the year 1458. They kept the city for many years ; and when they aban doned it, destroyed the town and castles, and up to this day it has been abandoned and deserted. From among the ruins large olive, fig and cork trees, evidently of great age, are growing. In some of the massive gates yet standing, still exists the ancient Portuguese coat of arms. We passed along some rich and well-cultivated soil, with the occasional sight of a small mud cottage, with its palmetto- leaf thatch, and in a few minutes of uphill travel we came to a fine spring of clear crystalline water under the shade of a very twisted and venerable fig-tree, where we halted and took our breakfast, after 322 FELIX A. MATHEWS. which, and when about starting on our journey, we met the Lieu tenant-Governor of the province, escorted by a dozen rough looking mountaineers as his body-guard. The chief approached with a great salutation and a prolonged salaam. ' You are very welcomed to our lofty lands, and to all the comforts under our power,' said the chief, touching my hand with his, and then placing it on his breast He said the Governor sent him as a courier to notify him of my coming through his district, and that he had strict orders to accompany me, and see to my wants. I thanked him very muGh and told him I had all I wanted, but that I should like only to procure some barley for my animals. He said we should soon be at the village, 'and there you shall have all you may desire from us, being that we all have you in such high esteem.' The barking Of a legion of dogs signaled our approach to the village, and in a few minutes the place was astir with men armed with their clumsy flint-lock guns, who were watching our arrival. We entered the village (under the guid ance of the chief), which is composed of a number of low mud houses or huts, roofed with palmetto leaves, the whole being enclosed by a hedge of aloes and prickly pears. As we passed the houses the women were peeping through the small doorways, and bobbing their heads in as soon as the Christian took a glance in return, while all the shaven headed boys followed in procession to the house, or rather hut, which I was to occupy for the night, and which, like most of the residences in the village, was an oblong erection some sixteen feet long by eight feet wide, formed of walls of dried clay, to the height of about five feet, on the top of which a roof of palmetto leaves, supported by rafters made of the long flower stem of the aloe, was placed. They have no windows in their houses, and the only aperture by which any light is admitted is the small doorway, which is closed at night time by a rough wooden door, fastened by a rude and clumsy wooden lock. The floor was the bare earth covered with rush mats, and a small Moorish carpet in one end of the hut to re ceive the bed. They have no furniture whatever ; but in a short time, having spread my bedding and other of my camp utensils, in cluding my California saddle, etc., the place looked quite habitable. They were most pressing in their attentions, bringing me fowl's eggs, honey, milk, and everything in the way of eatables which their vil lage afforded. After dinner I went out, accompanied by the chief, the Justice of the Peace of the village, and a squad of peasants, to shoot partridges (with which in numerous flocks that neighborhood FELIX A.. MATHEWS. 323 abounds), the, chief and Justice of the Peace, as I had no dog, beat ing the bushes to start the partridges for me to shoot. In an hour and a half, I bagged seventeen partridges and an enormous hare, when I returned to, my hut At eight I retired to my blankets and endeavored to sleep, but this was almost impossible to one who is not accustomed to resist the attacks of the insect pests, to which all travelers in Barbary must submit I was up at three the next morn ing ; and at four, after bidding adieu to the good people, we continued our journey. " Our road for about two hours lay amongst hills of a considerable elevation, between which and the Gebel-Monsa was a broad valley, into which we descended by a rough winding trail. This valley, which lies to the southwest of the Gebel-Monsa (on which side only the ascent is practicable), is partly cultivated with flax, etc., and is well watered by several small streams, the rocky banks of which were luxuriant with the beautiful maiden-hair fern. Presently we came to the foot of the mountain where there was a small waterfall, and where stood a very primitive mill. Here we halted and breakfasted, after which we passed the ruins of an old stone-built village which had formerly existed, and from here we set out upon our climbing expe dition. I was able to ride for the first half hour, but we then reached a wood, where we left our mules in charge of one of the Moors. The wood was composed of oak trees, growing so close, and so thickly matted together 'with vines and creepers of various kinds, that in many places, we had to cut a way with our hunting knives before we could pass between them. The boughs of the trees were festooned with a lichen of great length, which forms an article of sale among the Moors, who employ it for the purpose of stuffing cushions, etc. The ground was carpeted with the sweet-scented purple violet, and the bird's-nest orchis was not uncommon among the decaying leaves. It was a full hour before we were able to emerge from this wood, when we found ourselves at the foot of what appeared to be an an cient glacier, lying in a narrow gorge between two spurs of the mountain, and composed of loose stones which had been carried down by the ice that in its passage had left deep grooves in the rocks at each side. Almost the whole of our work hence to the summit was a hard scramble among the loose stones and bould ers. The sky was clear when we started in the morning, but by the time we reached the highest point of Gebel-Monsa, we were enveloped in a thick damp fog, which lasted for over an hour, when it partly 324 FELIX A. MATHEWS. cleared ; the view then was grand beyond description. The Straits of Gibraltar, the Mediteranean and the southern portion of Andalu sia, in Spain, lay as it were at our feet, and to the eastward the white houses and batteries of Ceuta stretched far out into the blue waters 3,700 feet below. At the very summit of the mountain I found a building, evidently of great antiquity, from the style of its architect ure. I assign it to the time of the Roman occupation of Mauritania, and it must have been designed for devotional purposes by some an chorite of the early Christian church. The building is quadrangular in shape, measuring twenty feet by ten feet, the walls being built of stone, with occasional- layers of hard red tiles, the roof being formed of a round arch of masonry. The doorway, which is situated on the north side, is surmounted by a lintel of a single slab of stone. Inside the building, exactly opposite the doorway, is a small domed niche, which may have served as the shrine of a Pagan divinity, or a Christian saint. Surrounding this small building are the ruined re mains of two lines of walls, formed chiefly of rough stones, such as might be collected in the immediate vicinity ; but among them were several hewn stones of considerable size. The ground was covered by many wild flowers. At one o'clock I commenced the descent, and in less than an hour we found ourselves at the entrance of the wood, where our mules awaited us. " Having mounted, we took the way to Ceuta, the road to which was through some of the most picturesque and .romantic scenes which I have witnessed, and reminded me of some of our Califor nia mountain scenery. For miles the road was through deep defiles and ravines watered by the swift Wad-Irma, the banks of which were fringed with luxuriant belts of oleander trees, while ever and anon we passed waterfalls among the rocky clefts of the hills, whose dark ly shadowed recesses were relieved by the light foliage of beautiful ferns, while in some places the road lay between narrow gorges of the mountains, which rose a thousand feet perpendicularly on each side, and which were luxuriant with the overhanging boughs of cork, myrtle and arbutus growing amongst the rocks. Then we ascended the range of hills lying immediately behind Ceuta, until we reached the boundary of Moorish territory, where stands the ' Em adda,' or Moorish guardhouse, garrisoned by forty Moorish soldiers under the command of a Caid, who was very glad to see me, and offered for my use his apartment, which I politely declined, preferring my own tent which we put up on the Moorish side of the line, where I could ob- FELIX A. MATHEWS. 325 tain abundance of wood for fuel and food for the mules, etc. The Spaniards have cleared their side of all trees and even brush, the better to use their batteries, which, since their late war with the Moors in 1860, they erected, guarding every height in the neighborhood of Ceuta. The next morning I rose early and entered Ceuta. " Ceuta is considered to be Esilissa of Ptolemy, and was once the Capital of Mauritania Tingitana. The Arabs call it ' Sebta ' (seven), after the Romans, who called it ' Septem Frases,' and the Greeks the same, on account of the seven mountains which are in the neighbor hood Ceuta, or Sebta, is evidently the modern form of this classic name. It is a very ancient city and celebrated fortress, situated fourteen miles south of Gibraltar, nearly opposite to it, as a species of rival stronghold, and placed upon a peninsula which detaches it self from the continent on the east (where it is swarming with bat teries and ditches), and turns then to the north. The city extends over the tongue of land nearest the continent ; the citadel occupies Modte del Hacho, called formerly Jibe-el-Mina, a name still preserved in Almina, a suburb to the southeast In the beginning of the eighth century, Ceuta, which was inhabited by the Goths, passed into the hands of the Arabs, who made it a point of departure for their ex peditions into Spain. It was conquered by the powerful Arab family of the Ben-Hamed, one of whom, called Mohamed Edris, invaded Spain, and, after several conquests, was proclaimed King of Cordova, in the year 1000; On the 21st of August, 1415, the Portuguese conquered it, and it was the first place they occupied in Africa. In 1578, at the death of Don Sebastian, Ceuta passed with Portugal and the rest of the colonies into the power of Spain ; and when, in 1640, the Portuguese recovered their independence, the Spaniards were left masters of Ceuta, which continues still in their hands, but is of no utility to them except as a presidio, which makes the fourth penal settlement possessed by them on this coast. . " It is, without any exception, the cleanest Spanish city I have ever been in, and the whole aspect of it is gay and cheerful. The streets present a great peculiarity, being all paved with small black, white and red tessera, disposed in various devices. The main street is planted with young trees, which have replaced an avenue of larger ones that were cut down at the time of the late revolution in Spain, to allow of guns sweeping the streets in case of an outbreak of the convicts ; for Ceuta, at the time of my visit, contained over three thousand of this class of people. 326 FELIX A. MATHEWS. ' " The population of Ceuta consists of six thousand free people,- beside the convicts and a garrison of three thdusarid men; they have also a battalion of Riffian (Moorish) soldiers, a fine, stalwart; hardy body of men, dressed somewhat after the fashion of the French Zouaves. Their wives might be seen in the market place, dressed in gaily colored clothes, with their thick black hair ornariiented with festoons of shells and silver coins. These women bring in large quantities of fruit, vegetables, poultry and eggs from the neighboring country to the market, which is an excellent, clean and well kept one ; while numbers of Moors keep the' place supplied with partridg es, rabbit, hare, and abundance of feathered game, with an occasion al wild boar, all of which are found in the country round about " After spending a day in Ceuta, visiting every place of note, ac companied by the Aid-de-camps of the Governor, by whom I was most kindly treated, I left the city gates at morning gun-fire of the following day, and proceeded on my journey to Tetuan. " The first part of the road is along the seashore and over the plain on which the battle of Castillejos was fought in 1859, between the Spaniards, under the late Gen.' Prim, and the Moors, commanded by the brother of the present Emperor of Morocco. I then struck across the plain of Buzaghal by the military road, constructed by the Span iards during the late war. The road for some distance passes/through rough, stony ground, covered by scant vegetation. To this barren waste succeeds a marsh of some three miles in breadth, and running for a considerable distance inland. This' marsh was teeming with wild fowl of every description, and would form a fine hunting ground for any ornithologist who might visit this part of Africa. This mili tary road (formed only twelve years ago), is already falling into de cay. Wooden bridges over the streams and dykes are tumbling to pieces, and in many places we had some difficulty in leading our mules safely over the swampy ground The plain of Buzaghal passed, we ascend a range of hills of about nine hundred feet in height which forms a bold promontory running into the sea, and known as Cape Negro. The bushes of cistus, myrtle, dwarf oak and cork, with which these rocky hills are clothed, form a splendid cover for great quantities of wild boar and jackals. " From the top of these hills I caught the first glimpse of Tetuan — a white spot on the slope of a hill some seven miles away — the broad, flat plain of Marteen intervenirig, and the Riff mountains rearing their snow-clad heads in the background In descending the hillside FELIX A. MATHEWS. 327 I met swarms of the red-legged partridge of Barbary. The approach to Tetuan from the north is through a lane bordered by deserted. gardens, formerly producing an abundance of the finest fruits ; but during the late war all the trees were felled, and the stumps only of the olive, peach, alrnond, apple, pomegranate, plum and fig trees remain to point out the former site of fruitful orchards. " Although I endeavored to keep the strictest incognito, I was sur prised to meet outside of the city gates of Tetuan, awaiting my arriv al, the Lieutenant-Governor, who most courteously offered his assist ance and services in the name of the Governor, who was indisposed, and requested I should take up my quarters at one of their houses. This I politely declined, being well provided with substantial tents, which I put up without the city walls, and, one hour after, we entered the holy city of Tetuan, as it is called by the Moors. Inside the gate were the forges of the blacksmiths, and it was some time ere my cortege ' could make its way through the narrow street, now crowded with mules and asses waiting their turn to be shod in the great market place. Here all was bustle. Country people were loading their mules with the goods they had purchased in the city, and pre paring to return to their homes. Riff men, distinguished among the rest of the crowd by their bare heads, being shaven with the excep tion of a single long lock of hair on one side, and by the number of murderous weapons with which they were armed, were carrying about jars of clear honey for sale. Water-sellers attracted attention by the tinkling of a small bell to the beverage which they bore in a goat Bkin slung on their shoulders. Women, their features carefully hid den by the white haikh, and wearing- hats of an enormous size to shield their heads from the rays of the sun, were endeavoring to dispose of their stock of wares by offering the last lot at an ' alarm ing sacrifice.' Jewish auctioneers, clad in long blue gaberdine and black skullcaps, were loudly calling out the highest bid they had received for the colored cushion or other article which they carried with them. Every one gesticulated energetically, every one shouted at the top of his voice, and every one jostled his or her neighbor without regard to any rule of the road or street. In Tetuan the Jewish population is separated from the Moorish, and their quarters are surrounded by walls, within which the descendants of Abraham are locked from sunset to sunrise. Each street is for the most part occupied by the proprietors of some especial article of manufacture or commerce. In one, nothing will be seen but articles of leather ; 328 FELIX A. MATHEWS. others are devoted to the manufacture and sale of fire and other arms ; while others, again, to the manufacture of the white woolen and silk haikh, or garment of the Moorish women. On the following morn ing I paid a visit to the Basha of the city, who took me over his gardens, where tea and sweetmeats were served to us. The guard was turned out in my honor, and a musical performance by drums, bugles and fifes was played while they presented arms. " On the whole, I was much gratified by my short visit to Tetuan. The whole place has a strange, Oriental appearance, reminding one of the scenes, incidents and personages read of in the charming tales of the Arabian Nights. "I left Tetuan at seven o'clock on the following morning for Tan gier, which is distant forty miles. After passing the orange and lemon groves which for several miles adorn the banks of the river — enchanting spots, of which no description can convey any adequate idea to a person who has not seen the orange tree flourishing in a state of nature — we passed through lands cultivated with- grain on both sides of the bridge, and up to the old olive tree, where peace was signed between the Moors and Spaniards after the battle of Wad-rass in 1860. Then succeeded a rocky mountainous country rendered notorious five years ago as the scene of the exploits of Aisah, a Moorish brigand, who had sworn a vedetta against the Jews of Tetuan, of whom he managed to slay thirty-six before he was captured and executed. At noon I arrived at Fondak, or half way house, and took luncheon at the beautiful spring under the olives, from whence an extensive view is 6btained right across the province of Ghavvia to the Atlantic. This district is a great induce ment to sportmen, for there exist immense quantities of game. We arrived at Tangier a little after sunset, after nine hour's ride." CALVIN S. MATTOON. , HE Consulate of the Hawaiian Islands at the chief whaling Port of the Pacific has, since its first establishment, always been regarded an important post in respect to the commer cial interests of America ; and the Department of State at Washington has invariably sought to fill the position with a man of ability, faithfulness, good judgment, and unquestioned patriotism. These requisites have been fully attained in the person of the subject of this sketch, the present United States Consul at Honolulu. Mr. Mattoon has not been distinguished by any remarkable achievements by " flood or field," but he has been, nevertheless, a useful worker, a preserver, and a benefactor among his fellow-men. When the war of secession came upon the country, he held a position in one of the Departments at Washington, and from day. to day witnessed the hosts of suffering men that crowded into the city from the battle-fields of Virginia. He there conceived the idea of doing good and noble work in behalf of these people. With this end in view he entered heartily into the matter, arid was one of the foremost and most active to collect means and provide facilities for the succor and relief of the wounded soldiers, who were brought into the Capital in such numbers as to far exceed the hospital accommodation then at the command of the government It was in this emergency that the energy, humanity and patriotism of Mr. Mattoon shone forth so con spicuously, and his administrative tact and ability were fully tested. It was his efforts in organizing the " Ohio Soldiers' Relief Association," that led to the prompt formation of similar patriotic organizations, for the benefit of the disabled soldiery of other States. Incalculable good was, as is well known, accomplished by these relief associations ; and thus Mr. Mattoon was instrumental in saving more life and better strengthening the cause of the Union, than many more distinguished men who won their laurels on the battle-field. 330 CALVIN S. MATTOON. These peaceful achievements during the dark hour of the Republic were recognized and appreciated by our government, and Mr. Mattoon — who had previously filled many posts of public duty in his own State, and at the Federal Capital — was tendered a.position of honor and trust abroad, where the interests of the Republic required the services of an able, cultured and high-minded citizen ; and thus he has been advanced from the retired routine of a bureau at Washington, to the more active and responsible office of Consul at the chief port of the Hawaiian Islands. Honolulu is an exceptional port as regards American interests, and the duties of the United States Consul involve far more labor and responsibility than attend many Consulates established in ports much wealthier and more frequented by American shipping. Being the rendezvous of the American whaling fleets, which are manned entirely in accordance with a system of lays or shares, it is the province of the Consul to exercise a very large judicial discretion ; and the rights and interests of multitudes of his countrymen, far removed from the protection of their own laws, may be seriously affected by his decisions. As an evidence of the responsibility and difficulty of the Consular duties at that port, it may be mentioned that the settlement of the voyage of every whaling vessel which makes a rendezvous at Honolulu, must be made at the Consulate. Such a settlement . demands the exercise of a nice discrimination in determining the value of the several interests of owners and whalemen, who are, according to the system, naturally in antagonism the one with the •other. The value of a voyage has to be determined by the Consul ; he fixes the price of oil, whalebone and ivory, and according as they are rated, these several parties are satisfied or dissatified, — the owners when at a low, and the whalemen when at a high price. Therefore it requires a good business experience, a high sense of justice, and some diplomatic tact in order to harmonize the conflicting interests of whalemen in the Pacific, and to satisfactorily adjust the interests of the owner of the ship, and consequently the holder and sole pur chaser of the whole proceeds of the voyage, with the antogonistie claims of men, who by their labor are entitled to an interest in the voyage.' And it has happened that serious complaints and complica tions have arisen, which was the case when Mr. Mattoon took charge of the office. With this initiatory difficulty he began his Consular career, and has continued with eminent success to the present time, as may be CALVIN S. MATTOON. 331 inferred from a communication before us, from which we extract the following emphatic endorsement to that effect : " It will be admitted by all parties', and by all nationalities in Honol ulu— and the writer of this ( an American resident of many years in the Islands,) will bear his testimony — that no Consul who has represented the United States in this Port has ever won the confidence of this community, and harmonized the conflicting interests of his countrymen, so readily and so efficiently as the present incumbent of the Consulate." In one especial instance, Consul Mattoon's ability and judgment were put to a test which would have taxed the resources of the ablest of administrative minds. The American Whaling fleet of about thirty vessels was caught in the icebergs on the Arctic coast The imprisoned ships would have been the tombs of their men, had not the latter hurriedly escaped. With the help of a few boats they reached a part of open sea where a few ships were saved which bore them to Honolulu. There were eight hundred and thirty ship wrecked and utterly -destitute American seamen thus thrown upon the hands of the Consul. Here was an army of well nigh naked and penniless men in pressing need of shelter, food and clothing. Many men would have been appalled at such a responsibility, and such a host of destitute people, who might become a dangerous element in the community, if not speedily provided for and occupied. But the organizer of relief for the suffering soldiery at Washington during the trying times of war, was now the right man in the right place to succor the throngs of helpless seamen at Honolulu. The charge of providing for these men devolved upon the United States government, and this paternal care of unfortunate seamen was most faithfully and efficiently attended to by Consul Mattoon, in the fulfillment of which important trust he won the applause of his country men in the Islands, and evidently gave satisfaction to the government at Washington. With urbane and agreeable manners, Consul Mattoon combines rare judgment and superior administrative ability. He gains popularity because all his actions bear the evidence of genuineness and sincerity ; and hence he is well calculated to wield a large social and political influence in a community like that which exists in the Hawaiian Islands, where education and free discussion open the way to such influences. Indeed it is evident that a gentleman of his courtesy and discretion is qualified for higher duties and results than those involved in the adjustment of quarter-deck and forecastle disputes. 332 CALVIN S. MATTOON. Consul Mattoon's frank and cordial bearing indicates his Western origin. He comes from the great State of Ohio, and has enjoyed acquaintance or friendship with the Corwins, Chases, Shermans, Schencks, Binghams, and other leading men of that State. He is the son of energetic New-England parents, who moved West to found an estate in the great prairies. He was born in Franklin county, ( Ohio,) and did duty in the early days at the home farm. Then, at about twenty years of age he went to Columbus, the Capital of the State, where he entered into business, and at the same time improved his mind during opportunities snatched from the busy pursuit of a livelihood. He became noticed and trusted. He was presented for ' County Treasurer. He regulated the financial affairs of the Columbus Post office. He was chief clerk to the Secretary of State of Ohio, and then Clerk to the House of Assembly of his State. And thus it appears he enjoyed amply the confidence of his fellow-citizens at home, — whose endorsement and appreciation led to his position in a Department at the Federal Capital, and subsequently to his present responsible duties abroad Mr. Mattoon is in the prime of life : he has a vigorous constitution, and enjoys the best of health. With his opportunities and qualifica tions he is calculated to wield an important influence, as already stated, in behalf of American interests in the Pacific. He resides in the midst of a cosmopolitan foreign community, made up of many opposing cliques, — owing to different nationalities and creeds — and, whilst a wise discretion keeps him from undue affiliation with any one, he has succeeded in pleasing all parties, by a uniform openness and cordiality of manner. Even the natives speak of him as the " Kanikela Maikai," or good Consul. LUIGI MONTI. JUIGI MONTI, United States Consul at Palermo, Sicily, was born in Palermo, Island of Sicily, in 1830. His father was an officer in the Neapolitan army, command ing at one time the arsenal at Palermo. Young Monti was educated at the Jesuits College until fourteen years of age, when he was sent to th e United States to obtain an English education, and was placed in a boarding school at Cape Cod, Mass. In 1848 the news of the Revolution in Sicily, and its spread all over Italy, reached the young student, and he embraced the first op portunity to take return passage in an Italian vessel bound to Sicily, where, on his arrival, he at once entered the service of the Sicilian Revolutionary army, and went through the campaign against the king (Bomba) of Naples. On the suppression of this Revolution, in 1849, and the reinstatement of the Bourbon Government in Sicily, young Monti escaped to the United States, after the fruitless revolu tionary attempt in January, 185Q. On reaching America, he repaired to his school in Cape Cod, and, after another year devoted to the study of English, he settled in Boston as a teacher of the Italian language. In 1854, he was appointed instructor in Italian at Harvard University, Cambridge ; and, in the same year, married Miss F. A. Parsons, of Boston, sister to the poet, T. W. Parsons. In 1855, Mr. Monti published a Gram mar of the Italian language, and also a Reader. In 1857 he received the honorary degree of Master of Arts, from the University of Har vard. In 1858-9 he published a translation of Guerrazzi's " Beatrice Cenci," and of " Isabella Orsini," besides a number of lectures on Italian Literature. On the breaking out of the civil war in America, Mr. Monti was appointed by President Lincoln, United States Consul at Palermo, his commission dating Aug. 3d, 1861. The fact of his having been 334 LUIGI MONTI. from youth a liberal, and having fought for Italian Independence, se cured him in his new position, the sympathy both of the people and authorities of the government of Italy. Many of the latter had been his companions in arms, in the struggle for Italian Independence in 1848-9. Consequently, in the discharge of his Consular duties he was the more easily enabled to obtain advantages both for American travelers and our commercial and shipping interests. Indeed it may be affirmed that many serious questions have been readily and amicably settled through Consul Monti's influence with the authorities, which might otherwise have been the subjects of long disputations, es pecially during the war. Consul Monti's efforts to encourage trade between Italy and the United States, so far at least as his Consular jurisdiction extends, have been successful, as the following facts will show. In 1862, the total value of merchandise exported to the United States from Pa lermo was $396,219, while for the year 1871-2 it was $1,776,952, being an increase in ten years of $1,380,733, or more than quadruple. There are four Consular agencies connected with the Palermo Consulate, which do also a considerable business in the exportation of brimstone, Marsala wine, and salt. From Consul Monti's commercial report under date Nov. 15th, 1871, we extract the following : " The improvement that has taken place since this part of the country was annexed to Italy is very great ; especially if one recalls the utter state of abandonment and degradation in which these pop ulations were held under the Bourbons of Naples. Of course they are very far back as compared with the more civilized parts of Europe, and a person coming directly from our country may still consider them as semi-civilized ; but as compared with what they were before the era of constitutional liberty, they have progressed very much. One instance alone will corroborate this statement The city of Palermo, containing over 200,000 inhabitants, supported un der the Bourbons only twenty-six public and private schools ; and these taught exclusively by the Jesuits, or by priests. Now the num ber has risen to 200, and mostly taught by civilians." - Mr. Monti enjoys the honor of being the " young Sicilian" intro duced by Longfellow among the dramatis persona in his " Tales of the Way-side Inn." x^fc^ AUGUSTUS MORRILL. UGUSTUS MORRILL, - U S. Consul at Manzanillo, Mexico, was born at Chichester, New Hampshire, July 7th, 1832. He is descended from the English, one of three branches that settled in America, about the year 1771, in the States of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. His parents, John and Nancy Morrill, were wealthy farmers, of high religious and . moral character, owners of the farm well known as "Morrill's farm," located at Horse Corner, Chichester, Merrimac County, New Hampshire. His father died in the year 1838, and left a family of eight children, of whom Augustus is the sixth. Owing to financial misfortunes — caused principally by the destruc tion, by fire, of the dwelling house and barn — which followed the death of the father, the farm was sold, and the family separated, each relying upon individual effort for success in life. In 1844, young Morrill was compelled to depend upon his own exertions for a living and an education, and, working in summer, went to school during the. winter. At the age of nineteen he em barked at New York for San Francisco, where he arrived in the month of February, 1852, and after trying his fortune in the mines, returned to Sacramento City and entered the wholesale drug house of his brother, Dr. Charles Morrill, which business he has followed ever since. In April, 1859, Mr. Morrill married Miss Camila A. Lanham, daughter of Mr. Thomas Lanham, of Butte County, California, na tives of Kentucky, at Suisune City. In November, 1860, he went with his family to Colima, Mexico, as partner'in a branch house of his brother Charles, which had been established in that city two years before, and where he has been residing ever since, doing a prosperous business in his own name, highly respected, and esteemed as well by the authorities as by the community in general. 336 CLIFFORD STANLEY SIMS. During the late civil war he was ever the exponent of the cause of the Union, and did much in aid thereof, during those trying years of strife for the life of the nation. August 13th, 1867, he was appointed Vice Consul of the United States for the Port of Manzanillo, and January 26th, 1869, he re ceived his commission from the Secretary of State. On August 5th, 1872, he was promoted by President Grant to full Consul, and is now discharging the duties of that office with the same zeal, fidelity and efficiency that have characterized all his undertakings. CLIFFORD STANLEY SIMS. LIFFORD STANLEY SIMS, U. S. Consul, Prescott, Canada, was born February 17th, 1839, at Emeline Fur nace, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He is descended from an ancient Scottish Border family, being the twenty- seventh in descent from Sym of Yetheram, County Cumber land, England, whose grandson, Bueth Sym, was killed at the conquest in 1066. He was educated at the Protestant Episcopal Academy in Philadelphia, and studied law in that city, being admitted to the bar May 6th, 1860. Mr. Sims entered the* United States Navy September 28th, 1862, as Captain's Clerk on the Steam Frigate Colorado, and was appointed Acting Assistant Paymaster March 10th, 1863. He received the thanks of his commanding officerfor working a 12 pound howitzer on the hurricane deck of the gunboat Queen City while exposed to the fire of over four hundred sharpshooters at very short range, at Carson's Landing, Mississippi, on the night of January 27th, 1864; was slightly wounded and taken prisoner at Clarendon, Arkansas, June CLIFFORD STANLEY SIMS. 337 24th, 1864 ; was appointed Judge Advocate General of Arkansas, with the rank of Colonel, by Governor Isaac Murphy, September 13th, 1864. .. ,. At the close of the war, he settled in Desha County, Ar kansas, and engaged in Cotton- planting ; was appointed United States Deputy Marshal for Eastern Arkansas in 1866 ; appointed a Justice of the Peace by MajorGeneral Ord in 1867, and was an active Magistrate' until the completion of the reconstruction of the Statd '"•" ' He was appointed President of the Board of Registrars for Desha County, Arkansas, May- 18th, 1867, but declined the appointment; was elected Delegate to the Constitutional Convention of Arkansas, November 5th, 1867, from Desha County, and in that body was Chairman of the Committees on "Legislative Department," and "Comparison of engrossed Copy of the Constitution with original Roll," and a "member of the Committees on "Arrangement arid Phraseology," "Executive Department," "Judiciary," "State Offi^ eers," "Salaries," "Finance," "Printing," and "Correspondence." On the 12th of February, 1868, he was appointed a Commissioner to Digest the Statutes of Arkansas; was also appointed a Commis^ sioner of Elections, February 15th, 1868 ; was elected a member of the -House of Representatives of Arkansas,' March 13th, 1868, and was Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means in that- body, and a member of the Committee on' Banks. He was appointed Judge Advocate General of Arkansas, with the rank of Brigadier General, by Governor Powell Clayton, July 14th, 1868. He is a rnemberof the Society of the Cincinnati of New Jersey, being the great grandson of Major John Ross of the Revolutionary Army ; arid is a Companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. Mr. " Sims is the author of "The Origin and Signification of Scottish Surnames," "History of the Society of the Cincinnati of New Jersey," of a revised edition of " Noy's Treatise on the Laws of England," and of various -contributions to newspapers and maga zines. He w4s appointed United States Consul- at Prescott, Cariada, On April 21st, 1869: His duties at that port have been simply, those of a commercial character, with the exception of conducting a, cor respondence with the Department of State relative to the action 'of the Canadian Parliament regarding the Washington Treaty. JOHN MURPHY. By Wm. C. Jones. ^OHN MURPHY, United States Consul at Payta, Peru, and the subject of this sketeh, is a young man who has borne an honorable and prominent part in life, and now repre sents his adopted country in an important position abroad. Mr. Murphy was born in the County Wexford, Ireland, on the 19th of November, 1845, and came to the United States with his parents in 1851. He had the advantage of a fair common school education, upon which he has steadily improved until he ranks among our public servants as a gentleman of no mean mental acquirements. A thorough lover of the Union and its institutions, he entered the Federal service at the very outset of the late war, and from 1862 until.the terrible battles of the Wilderness, in the summer of 1864, served faithfully, earning promotion by his bravery and steadiness in action. On the 2d of June, 1864, at the bloody contest in front of Cold Harbor, on the Peninsula, he was severely wounded — so se verely that the loss of an arm was feared, and he was compelled to undergo the operation of an exsection of the elbow joint After being confined to the hospital for eleven months, he received an hon orable discharge from the Army in 1865. He had served under Generals Dix, Butler, and Grant As active in civil pursuits as he was earnest in militaiy life, he immediately began the study of the law, and on the 16th of Novem ber, 1865, was duly admitted to practice as Counselor of the Su preme Court of the State of New York. He spent in New York City several pleasant and profitable years of professional life, inter rupted only by a dangerous fit of sickness, the result of the wound received in the Government service. His health continuing to fail he applied for and promptly received his present position. The port of Payta is an important one commercially, and Mr. Murphy has abiy performed all the responsible duties devolving upon him. His health is almost restored,, and he seems reserved for a long career of usefulness. EDWARD OWEN. DWARD OWEN, United States Consul at Tuxpan, Mexico, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, April, 1838. He went to New Orleans in 1857, and there engaged in the cotton business, continuing thus employed until the breaking out of the war. Warmly espousing the cause of the Confederacy, he promptly entered the Confederate Army as a . private in the Battahon Washington Artillery of New Orleans, where he rose to the rank of Captain of Artillery, and served with distinc tion throughout the war. Captain Owen's brilliant war record in the Confederate States' Army, is attested in the following papers, which, it is proper to state, were tendered him in 1870, at a time when he thought of entering the service of the Khedive of Egypt, and were designed to forward that object : New Orleans, May 1st, 1870. Captain Edward Owen. Dear Sir : It has been intimated to me that you would like it if I would say something in writing of your career and services as a soldier, during the period of four years, serving under my command in the Battalion Washington Artillery of this city, in the late war between the United States and the Confederate States of America. It will afford me peculiar satisfaction to comply with that wish, and I will proceed to do so to -the best of my ability, apprehending, however, the long time that has elapsed since the close of the war may render it difficult to do you all the justice your conspicuous and distinguished services merit Referring you to the following pages for the imperfect testimony I with great pleasure subscribe, I remain, very truly your friend, J. B. Walton, late Colonel and Chief of Artillery, C. S. A. 340 EDWARD OWEN. " Captain Edward Owen entered the war as a private in the Battalion Washington Artillery of New Orleans, under my command. When the Battalion was, by order of the Secretary of War of the Confederate States, in May, 1861, transferred to the seat of war in Virginia, he was promoted to be First Sergeant (Orderly) of the first battery, and in that capacity he rendered important service in organizing and dis ciplining his company, the effect- of which was never lost upon it during the entire period of the war. ¦¦'' "He was promoted to be First Lieutenant of his Battery; for meri torious services at the battle of Bull Run, July, 1861. He was present and in action with his Battery at the battle of Manasses, 21st July, 1861. Present with his Battery during the seven days battles around Richmond, in 1862. Present and engaged at Rappahannock ; August, 1862, at the second battle of Manassas.; September, 1862, at Sharpsburg (Battle of Antietam), in Maryland; May, 1863, at Chancellorsville* ; July, 1863, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. " After the battle of Gettysburg he was promoted to be Captain of Artillery. The army falling back from Gettysburg, Captain Owen, being on duty with his Battery guarding the baggage and wounded crossing the Potomac, became engaged with the enemy, and rendered distinguished and conspicuous service." Engaged in battle at Wat thai Station, in 1864 ; also at the battle of Drury's Bluff, on James River, near Richmond, in 1864. ; "Captain Owen was with his Battery constantly on duty during the year's siege and defence of Petersburg; he ' accompanied the retreat of General Lee to Appomattox, and surrendered with the army in 1865. "The above,! am satisfied, does but poor justice to the record of Captain Owen as an officer and gallant soldier ; it however embraces sufficient to show that he was ever at his post, on duty and in every battle. "Captain Owen was severely wounded by a fragment of shell at Sharpsburg (Antietam). While convalescing he served as Adjutant of the 1st Artillery Corps of Longstreet, of which I was Chief of Artillery, and in that capacity he riiade known to the entire command other qualities as an officer which had not before been discovered. He was promoted by the President upon the recommendation of his ' * He was captured at the battle of Chancellorsville, and confined in the old Capitol Prison at Washington. Was exchanged in June, 1863. F D W A R D, OWEN. ; 341 Generals and other officers, under whom he had served, for brilhant sexvices on every field. , ... „,;-_," He was again severely wounded at Drury's Bluff; where he was , mentioned in orders by General Beauregard, for gallant services. His Battery fought at fifty yards the Battery of Belcher" of the ^Federal army, -completely destroying it. for further service, capturing .Captain Belcher and his guns. By order of General Beauregardthe captured guns were inscribed and presented to Captain Owen as a mark of his appreciation.-. - :'..{_ , ' : ¦. ¦ i ¦ '• ¦;-. "During the whole war Captain Owen exhibited devotion to the cause, intelligence in his arm of the service, and administrative capa city rarely equaled. "T esteem Captain Owen competent to fill any position as a Com missioned Officer in the Artillery branch of the service! His thor- rough knowledge of all the minutest details, and the opportunity -four years active service in the field has given him, -^afford the- assur ance that he would fill with credit and distinction any position, however high, as an Officer of Artillery in the field,. . "J. B. Walton, late Colonel and Chief of Artillery, G. S. A." New Orleans, May 1st, 1870. On the foregoing paper the following endorsements were inscribed by Generals Longstreet and Beauregard, and ex-President Davis: New Orleans, May :10th,' 1870. Captain Edward Owen is well known by me, as an officer of the late Confederate Army, and as a gentleinan, "arid" rcneerfuUy recom mend him in either or both* capacities. His four years' service in actual,: give him advantages that few have had, and his intelligence, zeal and courage, have enabled him to receive the benefit of his most favorable opportunities. James Longstreet, Lieutenant-General late Confederate Army. New Orleans, May 19th, 1870. I concur with pleasure in the accompanying recommendation of Colonel J. B. Walton and 'General James Longstreet to Captain Owen, and certify to the truth of Colonel Walton's statement of the Captain's services at "the battle of Bull Run and Manassas, in 1861, and of Drury's Bluff, in*L864. G. T. Beauregard. t -342 EDWARD OWEN. Memphis, Tenn., June 8th, 1870. From personal and official knowledge of Edward Owen, an Officer of Artillery in the Army of the Confederate States of America, I willingly bear testimony to his high character as a gentleman and a soldier. His correct and urbane demeanor, his zeal,, intelligence, and unflinching fidelity, conspicuous in the field, and not less so in the day of his country's disaster, command alike my affection and esteem. I confidently recommend him to the favorable consideration of any Government to which he may offer his services. Jefferson Davis. After the war Captain Owen returned to New Orleans, and .engaged in business in Cotton and Commission, in partnership with General James Longstreet, under the firm name of Longstreet, Owen & Co. The following characteristic letter from General Robert E. Lee to the new firm, is worthy of reproduction in this connection. Lexington, Va., January 26th, 1866. Longstreet, Owen & Co., New Orleans. Gentlemen : I am much obliged to you for your business card, and the pleasure it has afforded me to know that you have entered into partnership. I know you will do your work well, and please myself therefore with the prospect of your great success. :I wrote to your senior a few days since, at Macon, Mississippi, and hope he will receive my letter. I do not consider my partner ship with him yet dissolved, and shall not let go him during life. Wishing you all happiness and prosperity, I am with great affection, Your obedient servant, R. E. Lee. In 1869, Captain Owen established himself in business in New York city, where he remained until 1872, when he went to Tuxpan, Mexico, to assume charge of a large export business. He was appointed United States Consul at the port of Tuxpan, in January, 1873, which position he still holds. It is said that his , Consular District embraces the largest American Colony in Mexico. F.W. PARTRIDGE. i ENERAL F. W. PARTRIDGE, United States Consul at Bangkok, Siam, was born and educated at Norwich, Ver mont In 1845 he went to.Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to take charge of the " Harrisburg Military Academy," his education having been military. He remained there, every Way successful in his capacity of Military Instructor, until the winter of 1847, when, having entered the United States Army, he was sent by the War Office as a secret agent to Mexico. He left the Army in the summer of 1847^ and removed to northern Illinois. In the course of time as the country settled, a town sprang up on the Chicago and Quincy Railroad at Sandwich, and here General Par tridge settled in 1857, as a lawyer. (This profession he had commenced to study in Concord, New Hampshire, in the office of Ex-President Pierce years before, but finished with the Hon. T. N. Arnold, at Chicago, Illinois). The Pa'rtridges were Democrats of the straitest kind, but in Illinois at that time they were " Free Soil Democrats," and the subject of this sketch became an active partisan among them. In 1860 he joined the iriovement to elect Mr. Lincoln President, and when the civil war broke out he was earnest and untiring for the Union and the supremacy of law. It is believed he raised the first Volunteer three years' company in the United States, and that the Thirteenth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, in which his company was afterward merged, and which the General for a long time commanded, was the first three years Regiment raised "for the War." He was several times wounded in the service, and " for extraordinary good conduct " was breveted at Missionary Ridge and Ringgold Gap. In July, 1864, he was " mustered out '' with his Regiment, and returned to Sandwich to the practice of the law. Soon afterward he was elected Clerk of the Courts and Recorder of the County, a lucrative and responsible office. At the expiration of his term of four years, he 344 F. W. PARTRIDGE. was appointed in April, 1869, United States Consul at Bangkok. Here he has remained until the present time, closely attending, in that trying climate, to his official duties. The United States have ex-territorial rights by treaty in Siam, and her Consul at Bangkok being our only Representative there, is both Consul and Minister, communicating difectly with the Govern ment It is believed that General Partridge has acquitted himself with signal ability of the important, and several times delicate in terests intrusted to him. The religious "community of the United States, represented by the different Foreign Missionary Societies, have many missionaries and a large pecuniary investment in Siam. In fact, it is stated, that for the thirty-five years of their existence in Siam, the misssionary stations in that country have cost the Home Societies directly or indirectly something like a million dollars. This interest was im perilled in the autumn of 1869, by a persecution commenced against them by the savage King of Cheangmai, a tributary of Siam. He seized two native converts of the Presbyterian missionaries settled in his capital city, and executed them at Once ; and was only hindered from murdering them all by his inability to' find them. The mis sionaries he, ordered to leave the country at once. He beheaded all converts to the Christian faith as traitors, and threatened apostates with decapitation. He also laid an interdict, upon communication with the Americans, so for a time they absolutely suffered for the necessaries' of life. The outside' missionaries and others tried in various ways to : relieve their beleaguered friends,' and in some way abate the rigor of the barbarous King, but without effect At this stage of the matter General Partridge, the United States Consul, came to hear of the affair. He promptly addressed a note to the Regent of Siam, and demanded that these Americans who had been invited to Cheangmai by its King, and who were peaceably pursuing their own business as they had aright to do under the Treaty^ should be protected, they and their servants and their property. The Siamese shuffled and proniised and prevaricated, until at last the Consul informed them that he (the Consul) should make one missionary, Vice-Consul of the United States at Cheangmai (the Siam ese King being Suzerain of that country), and the rest officers of the Vice-Consul's official family, and if they were interfered with the United States would • promptly find a certain way to resent it At the same time the' Consul, hearing that the King of Cheangmai had F. W. PARTRIDGE. 345 arrived at the Court of Bangkok to pay his respects, toou: measures to treat with him for the safety of the missionaries and their continu ed stay in his kingdom. These measures coming to the ears of the " Senebaivate " (the Siamese Privy Council), they at once instructed the Regent to assure the United States Consul, that the Americans should not be molested further in Cheangmai, and. their servants and property should be under the protection of the Siamese. The Siam ese were evidently afraid of the "- Laos " at Cheangmai, and when the old King soon afterward took sick at Bangkok and died before he reached his own dominions, it was said by some that he had been poisoned to enable the Siamese to keep their promise "to that reso lute Old. Consul of the United States." However this may be, his successor (made King by the Siamese), is a friend to Americans, and they remain, prospering greatly in that country. : This affair deservedly gained General Partridge much eclat, and tne Secretary of State at Washington sent him an autograph letter approving his conduct and congratulating him. , The predecessors of General, Partridge, at Bangkok, had generally been " Acting, Consuls " and connected with the American missions there. Perhaps th,at may account for the small estimation in which the Siamese andVothers held the Consulate. The missionary had a " specialty," and looking after the interest of the United States was made subsidiary to it. However this maybe, when General Part ridge arrived in Bangkok, America or her people or interests, were little thought of or cared for, and whatever influence the United States Consulate had, there was rather held by the good will and for the sole use of Her Britannic Majesty's Consul — the English influence dominating everything else foreign in Siam, in a greater degree even than elsewhere in the East This made the new Consul's duty especially difficult and delicate ; but soon by energy, skill and per sistant, he caused the United States Consulate to be considered a •positive quantity, feared and respected by the Siamese,, and it may also be affirmed that the tone and manner of the other Consuls there toward the Represeritative of the United States, are now, at least, satisfactory. The" Siamese are an ignorant and vairi, but imitative people. Just now they are trying hard to reproduce in Siam what they see and hear of in other countries, and they frequently find some of the very liberal provisions of the Treaties they have made .with the " Western Powers " to be in the way and thwart their projects. They try, therefore, in every manner, to avoid complying with the 346 F. W. PARTRIDGE stipulations of these Treaties, hoping in time in that way to destroy or break the force of these provisions by precedents. In dealing with the Government on such points General Partridge has been peculiarly happy, -retaining their good will and earning the gratitude of the foreign residents. A notable instance of this occurred recently in relation to the seizure by the Siamese of an American schooner for an alleged infraction of the Siamese Revenue laws. This General Partridge resented, and called upon the Government to apologize for it at once, and to indemnify the Master for the detention of the boat The Siamese were averse to any concession, and after a lengthy cor respondence stubbornly refused either apology or damages. In this emergency the Consul sent full accounts of the affair to the Secre tary of State, but the appearance of a United States man-of-war upon their coast was apparently the reason for a change of policy on the part of the Siamese. They made the required apology, and admitted they had no right under any pretext to seize a vessel flying the United States flag in Siamese waters, and they guaranteed that the United States should not be further annoyed in that way. They also paid the indemnity demanded by the Consul. Consul Partridge, in his report to the State Department, under date 30th September, 1871, speaks of the condition of the people and the Government of Siam as follows : " TheKing of Siam is absolute, and has been from time immemorial. All the people below the rank of noble are slaves, and are made to feel their servile condition in an infinite number of ways. Since the treaties with the Western Powers, first made with the United States, their condition has been gradually ameliorated, and the present King seems quite determined to be of some practical advantage to his long-suffering people. It is even said he has conceived the idea of enfranchising the people, and is about to promulgate a plan designed to secure them their liberties, thus giving his subjects a reason for industry and the accumulation of wealth., Formerly if a Siamese had rice enough for a few days' sustenance and a tical (60 cents) for "betul " he esteemed himself fortunate and was contented; but now things are changing, and the evidences of plenty and sometimes of wealth are becoming common. If the Government persists in the idea of freeing the laboring population from the grinding tyranny of their masters, I conceive there is hope that Siam may become a powerful kingdom." BENJAMIN F. PEIXOTTO. By I. S. Isaacs. ENJAMIN F. PEIXOTTO, United States Consul at Bucharest, Roumania, is the descendant of an old Spanish- Portuguese family, and his ancestry may be traced back to that dark and terrible period in the history of Spain, when 600,000 Hebrews were driven out from the country of their; adoption, and to whose greatness in science, the arts, literature, commerce and industry, they had so vastly contri buted. In vain did the minister, Don Isaac Abarbanel, himself an Israelite, plead with Ferdinand and Isabella against the terror of Papal excommunication and the crucifix of the Grand Inquisitor, the Queen's confessor, Torquemada. Abarbanel himself fell with his people, and sought refuge in Italy. Many of the expatriated found refuge in that country and in Holland. Among those who came to the latter were the Peixottos and Salzedos. Holland was almost the only land that afforded an asylum to those who preferred banish ment or death to a sacrifice of their liberty of conscience and the worship of one true God. From Holland to the West Indies and South America, wandered the Peixottos. Moses Levy Maduro Peixotto, paternal grandfather of Benjamin, was born in Curacoa. He married Judith Lopez Sal- zedo, during a visit to Europe, in the city of Amsterdam, and here Benjarriin's father, Daniel L. M. Peixotto, was born on the 18th of July, 1800. Benjamin Franklin Peixotto was bora in the city of New York, on the 13th of November, 1834. In 1837, his father having been elected President of the Willoughby Medical College, the family re moved to Ohio, returning again to New York in 1841. Benjamin's earliest education was at the grammar school of the great metropolis. In his thirteenth year, having lost his father a few years before, he left his native town for the then "Far West" Cleveland became 348 BENJAMIN F. PEIXOTTO. his home, and here he resided eighteen years, growing up and becom ing identified with that beautiful city, in all that contributed to her glory as one of the most cultivated cities of the Union.- Mr. Peix otto married early in life, and rejoices in the blessing of a hjghly accomplished wife, and a lovely family of children, consisting of four sons and four daughters. Recognized for his moral and intellectual worth, Mr. Peixotto be came a leader in the literary arid political societies of the day, and Was especially esteemed by the lamented Stephen A. Douglas, whose pupil and never swerving friend he remained up to the hour of that great statesman's death in 1861. Identified with the' Cleveland Plain Dealer (Senator Douglas's favorite and ablest organ), for many years his pen bore gallant service to the " Little Giant's " cause, and con tributed largely in the second year Of the war to the election of David Tod, as the Union candidate for Governor of Ohio. He bore also for many years a conspicuous part in the affairs of the Mercantile Library Association, and while Chairman brought before Western audiences for the first time such eminent savans, orators and poets, as Agassiz, Youmans, Lieutenant Maury, Pro fessor Richards, Chapin, Willets, Bayard Taylor, Townsend, and others. But it is as an Israelite, a child of the Orient, that he deserves spe cial attention. From early youth he espoused the cause of his peo ple, and has never wearied in defending, promoting, and elevating the moral, social, and intellectual character of the Jew. In 1863, he was chosen by the Federal Convention of the Independent Order Benai Berith, a Jewish Order, numbering over twenty thousand members, Grand Saar (or Grand Master), and was re-elected succes sively for four terms to this position, which he distinguished by his elo- quence and noble efforts in the cause of charity and education In 1864, he spoke in the principal cities of the States, in behalf of those objects, everywhere eliciting the most genuine appreciation and applause. Mr. Peixotto returned to his native city in 1866, but resided there only a few years, sailing for California early in 1869, which State re mained his home until 1870. Soon after his arrival in San Fran cisco, he applied himself to the study of the law, of which he had previously some considerable knowledge, and in April, 1870, he was admitted to practice in all the Courts. When the terrible news of the slaughter of the Jews of Roumania was cabled in June, 1870, he BENJAMIN F. PEIXOTTO. 349 at once offered to go to that demi-civilized country in the interest of his brethren and humanity, and was soon after appointed by Presi dent Grant, United States Consul at Bucharest, the capital of Rou- mania, and subsequently unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate. He departed for the scene of his self-imposed labors in December, 1870, and has since been doing valiant work. While necessarily there is little to demand his special attention as a Con sul, as little commerce exists between Roumania and this country, he'yet represents a land of liberty in a city which has barely emerged into a civilized state ; and while his attention is specially directed to the amelioration of the condition of the Roumanian Jews, he adds dignity to the American name, and earns for his country the respect of the nations. ANDREW CROSWELL PHILLIPS. NDREW CROSWELL PHILLIPS, United States Consul at Fort Erie, Ontario, was born March 24th, 1830, at Farmington, Maine. His father was a prominent physician and surgeon, for more than thirty years engaged in the active duties of his profession in Farmington, and adjacent towns, when he removed to Dubuque, Iowa, where he still resides in the enjoyment of a vigorous old age. It was fortunate for the subject of this notice that his childhood and youth were spent in this village, delightfully situated in the valley of the Sandy River, with scenery so varied and magnificent, and where unusual educational advantages were afforded, and where the excellence and high toned character of its schools, press and pulpit, were promotive of extended moral and intellectual culture. Under such influences and amid such surroundings, he sedulously improved his educational privileges in- youth, thus laying a sure foundation for a future career of usefulness and honor. At the age of fifteen he entered the Freshman Class of Waterville College, now Colby University, graduating in 1849, in the first rank of his class, especially excelling as a classical scholar,- and as a vigorous and polished writer. After his graduation, he was for two years principal of one of the city Grammar Schools in Portland, Maine. Resigning this position, he commenced the study of law at the State and National Law School at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and was admitted to practice in the city of New York, December 13th 1853. In March of the following year he located at Prairie du Chien, in the State of Wisconsin, and entered upon the practice of his profession, soon after becoming senior partner of the law firm of " Phillips and Hutchinson," afterwards "Phillips, Hutchinson and Merrill." He was District Attorney of Crawford County^' discharging the duties of the office satisfactorily and honorably for three years. Esteemed and prosperous as he was in his adopted State, with ANDREW CROSWELL PHILLIPS. 351 success in the present, and much promise of the future, the rigors of a Western climate told heavily upon a constitution, naturally vigorous, yet sensitive to the climatic maladies incident to his location, untilit seemed unwise longer to sacrifice health to ambition ; accord ingly he returned to his native State, and in 1858 located at Phillips, twenty miles north of his native town. Here, invigorated by the pure mountain air, he resumed the practice of law, gaining the esteem and confidence of clients and citizens, and proving himself a conservator of good morals and a vindicator of the rights of the oppressed. For five years he was Postmaster, resigning that office in 1866. ' In 1865 he was nominated and elected by the Republicans of Franklin County . to the office of Attorney for the State for that County, and was re-elected in 1868. In the discharge of his official duties, as prosecuting officer in the Supreme Court of the State, he evinced familiarity with the criminal law, and applied it with un flinching hand, tempered with discretion. In the preparation of his cases on the criminal and civil dockets, he was particularly careful and pains-taking, being seldom surprised in the progress of a trial in Court. At the bar he was persuasive, rather than eloquent : clear, succinct, and forcible in statement, courteous in manner, and, though quick to detect the weak points of an opponent, never offensive in exposing them, ever striving for right and success, rather than pop ular applause. In 1867 Mr. Phillips removed to Farmington and became the proprietor and editor of the Farmington Chronicle, the only Republican newspaper published in the County, and which was largely increased in circulation and influence under his management, doing efficient service for the Republican cause, both State and National, during the Campaign of 1868. In this position he continued until his appoint ment to his present office of Consul. Politically he acted with the Democratic party up to 1856. And from that time he has been a decided and influential Repubhcan, giving an earnest and active support to the measures of Lincoln and Grant, not as a partisan, but from the firm conviction that in the success and permanency of the principles of the Republican party are to be found the safety and prosperity of the country. In person Mr. Phillips is tall, and of good figure, in bearing a gentleman, and in all the relations of life, estimable and beyond reproach. NICOLAS PIKE. [ICOLAS PIKE, now Consul of the United States at Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean belonging to Great Britain, was born at Newburyport, Mass., in the year 1818, and was educated at the Latin High School at that place. Soon after he had completed his studies there, he re- removed to the city of Brooklyn, Long Island, which he still calls his home. Early in life he showed a great disposition for the study of Natural Science, and contributed many articles to different periodicals. He was one of the first to collect the Marine Botany of the Atlantic coast of North America, and assisted Professor Harvey of Dublin University, Ireland, and Professor Bailey of West Point in the working up of these plants. In 1849 Mr. Pike was elected Vice-President of the Brooklyn Natural Historical Society, and was chosen Vice-President of the Photographic Society of New York. In 1852 he was appointed Consul-General for Portugal, by Mr. Webster, Secretary of State. There he went through the usual routine of official duties to the entire satisfaction of the United States Govern ment Soon after his appointment he set to work collecting seeds of various vegetables, cereals, etc., for trial in America. He intro duced a quick growing olive tree into the Southern States, accom panied with a report on the method of pressing the oil, cultivation of the olive, etc. It was highly complimented at the time as being a very able document At the request of the Portuguese Government he visited the Upper and Lower Corjo wine districts, and examined the disease {Odium, Tuckeri) then ravaging the vineyards of all the wine-growing countries of Europe. The result was a very lengthy scientific report which was forward ed to the United States Government, and was published in Washing ton. Copies were presented to the Portuguese and French Govern- NICOLAS PIKE. 353 ments, and very handsome letters of thanks were sent from both. The pamphlet was well received in England, and one of the promi nent members of the Royal Society in London, much interested in the subject made extracts from it, and embodied them in a paper before that Society. Mr. Pike was the first to recommend sulphur for the vine disease in the large districts of the Douro, little thinking then how world wide a use the remedy would have in the future. Just before the breaking out of the late war, Mr. Pike returned to America bearing with him the good wishes of those with whom he had so long resided, from the King Dom Fernando downward through all ranks. Not alone were good wishes showered on him, but a handsome service of silver plate was presented to him on his de parture by the merchants of the country. Very soon after his return to his native land, the civil war broke out in all its fury, and he at once offered his services to the Government, which were accepted. He immediately set to work raising troops, frequently addressing large assemblies of people to induce them to volunteer to defend their country's flag. He took. charge of a Camp of Instruction at Williamsburg, where he prepared and drilled the newly elected volun teer officers and men of the various regiments. He received a commis sion as Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the Ninety-sixth, a regiment he partially raised and 'drilled He was very active during the whole war, doing duty wherever called upon up to its close. Notwithstanding his arduous military duties, he still found time to carry on one of his favorite pursuits, and was elected President of the Photographic Society of Brooklyn. He gave lectures on Photo graphy and on the Chemistry of the art, and instructed a school of young officers, about proceeding to the front to attach themselves to the staff of general officers, in photographing 'battle scenes, forts, earthworks of the enemy, etc. In 1866 Col. Pike was appointed U. S. Consul to Amoy, in China, which post he declined ; but soon after received a commission as Con sul for Mauritius and its dependencies, where he arrived in January, 1867. It was a most unfortunate time when he took this Con sulate, as the terrible epidemic fever (which - so long ravaged the Island), burst forth in its greatest virulence a month or so after his arrival During that terrible time when every one that could fled from Port Louis, Colonel Pike was the only Consul who remained at his post administering to his sick countrymen, many of whom died 354 NICOLAS PIKE. At last he was struck down himself, and several severe relapses almost cost him his life. He forwarded an interesting medical reporton the fever, which was published by the United States Government. Soon after arriving in Mauritius, the great abuses on board whaleships became evident to him, and he set to work with a bold hand to try and protect that much ill-used class — the crews of Amer ican whalemen, especially those cruising in the Indian Ocean. The lengthy and continuous dispatches on the subject to the Government show how earnestly and persistently he has striven in the cause, of course, meeting at every step the most violent opposition from those interested in the existence of the present disgraceful state of affairs,1 but which never turned him aside from the undeviating course of duty. Equal abuses were prevalent on shore, by which Captains of mer> chantmen and other vessels that put into this port for repairs were nearly ruined by exorbitant charges and extortion of every kind, and by firm and resolute conduct he has been enabled to combat these successfully. While diligently discharging the duties of his office,' Colonel Pike has spent his leisure hours in writing. a work on Mau ritius. The first volume — " Sub-Tropical Rambles in the Land of the Aphanapteryx," profusely illustrated from the author's own sketches ; with maps and valuable meteorological charts, was pub lished in London, August, 1873, and receivted very high commenda tions from all the leading London journals. The work has since been published in New York by Messrs. Harper and Brothers. The second volume, entirely On the Fauna and Flora, is nearly ready, and will be the first of the kind ever completed on the Mauritius. In 1865, Col. Pike presented to the Long Island Historical Society his large and valuable collection of Natural History : including a splendid collection of Algae, a costly herbarium of ferns, and one of zoophytes, &c, and also a collection of nearly all the birds of Long Island. These plants and birds cost him the labor of more than twenty years as an enthusiastic devotee of Natural Science. The Algae was regarded as the largest and best collection in America, and contained many thousand specimens. Consul Pike has also sent to the same Society, a large collection (comprising together over ten thousand specimens) of rare shells from the Indian Ocean, together with a number of curosities. He has sent valuable contributions to various other scientific institutions in America, and notably to the Museum of Compara- NICOLAS PIKE. 355 tive Zoology;. Cambridge, Mass.. The latter have elicited the fol lowing testimony to the worth of the objects forwarded : Boston, October 25th, 1871. To the Honorable Nicolas Pike : Sib— I have the pleasure to inform you. that at a meeting of the Trustees of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, held this day, it was on motion of Mr. Agassiz, unanimously voted that the thanks of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Com parative Zoology be tendered to the Honorable Nicolas Pike, United States Consul at Port Louis, for many invoices of the most valuable and well-preserved specimens -of Natural History from Mauritius and its Dependencies, sent by him to our Insti tution, which not only constitute important additions to our collections, but are at the same time in themselves most valuable contributions to our knowledge of the Fauna of that part of the world. In devoting himself to these researches, Mr. Pike has won an enviable place among naturalists, who will ever gratefully acknowledge his skill in hunting up and preserving specimens which at all times have taxed the ingenuity of explorers. I remain, sir, very respectfully yours, Mabttn Bbimmeb, Secretary. -> Colonel Pike hfis received the most cordial letters from Professor Agassiz himself, and is in correspondence with some of the most scientific men of Europe and America. Of all the specimens for warded from the vast treasures of the Indian Ocean he has sketches colored from life of over four hundred, and they are constantly re ceiving additions.- This is the first time a collection of paintings of the fish of Mauritius has been attempted on so large a scale. From Consul Pike's report to the Department of State, under date of February 17th, 1869, we make the following interesting extracts : f As Mauritius produces about one-ninth of the sugar grown in the whole world it deserves a special mention ; and perhaps a slight sketch of its early history may not be without interest. " The best authorities of ancient and modern times lead to the conclusion that China was the first to cultivate the cane and manu facture sugar, and that its use was known there two thousand years before its adoption by Europeans. Slowly the culture of the cane made its way to India, Arabia, and Egypt The Phoenicians are supposed to have: taken it to Greece ; and the early Greek writers mention it as Indian salt Its progress; among civilized nations was very slow, on accOunt of the jealousy of Indian cultivators, who feared the secret of its culture and manufacture spreading to the west ; also from the merchant vessels, in the early ages of navigation, being of such small dimensions that sugar was too bulky an article for freight, the trader naturally seeking for the least weighty and 356 NICOLAS PIKE. most profitable articles of commerce. It would take too long to trace its gradual introduction into different countries. Suffice it to say that in the thirteenth century is was planted in Sicily, and the King, William II, gave the monks of St. Bennet a mill for grinding the canes, but the sugar made was greatly inferior to that of the east In 1420 Don Henry Regent, of Portugal, introduced it into the Madeiras and Canaries with great success. After the discovery of America it spread with such surprising rapidity, that in 1518 the pro ceeds of the port duties on sugar imported from Hispaniola were so enormous that the magnificent palaces of Madrid and Toledo were erected from them. In 1520 St. Thomas had sixty sugar manufac tories, and made 4,650,000 pounds annually. In 1644 the English began to increase the manufactories in their possessions, and refining sugar was well known and practiced at that period It was, how ever, rarely used in England then, except for medicines, or as an article of extreme luxury ; first, on account of its dearness ; and secondly, from a prejudice against it, as possessing unwholesome pro perties if taken in any but the smallest quantities. " In the early part of the eighteenth century the sugar-cane was introduced by Mahe de la Bourdonnais into the Isle of France. It was with difficulty he could succeed in inducing the inhabitants to attend to its culture. Cloves, indigo, coffee, cotton, and different cereals so occupied the planters that it was long before sugar took its place as an article of supreme importance for exportation. When once it had gained the palm, everything else gradually succumbed to it, and for years it has reigned paramount in Mauritius, not one of the above-mentioned articles being now grown for commerce. The soil of this island has proved remarkably propitious to the culture of the cane. " Vast sums have been expended in procuring the best machines that Europe could produce, and the most skillful English and French engineers ; labor, at great cost, has been brought from India ; no ex pense has been spared ; and this little colony in the year 1863 pro duced 122,432 tons of sugar of very superior quality — perhaps equal to any in the world — and commanded the best prices. But since that period a general decadence has taken place from a combination of unfortunate circumstances, such as drought, fever, cyclones, and others, over which the planter had no control ; and, again, from those that result from overtaxing the energies of the land, faulty manur ing, and other causes, within his own power to remedy, and to which NICOLAS PIKE. . 35Y planters generally are growing very wide awake. The yield since the above-mentioned period has been gradually less, till in 1865 it fell to 70,000 tons. "The cyclone of March, 1868, put the climax to the distress long felt on every plantation. The violence of the wind prostrated and otherwise damaged the canes to a great extent. They were in a \ weakly state, and the roots not strong enough to give to the wind ; and I found, on a careful examination of some of the injured plants, that the spongioles of the radicles were greatly hurt They were, however, apparently resuscitated by the continuous rains that fell soon after, and they appeared restored to more than ordinary vigor and luxuriant vegetation. The planters all looked forward to heavy crops to make up their deficiencies, and the damage done to their mills and other buildings by the cyclone. When the time of the coupe (as the crop season is called here) arrived, dire was the disap pointment. Abundance of juice was given, but it contained far less than ordinary of saccharine matter. One writer on the sugar-cane says : 'The soil most favorable to the sugar-cane is a rich and moist, but not a wet one. An excess of soluble mineral constituents in the , soil is said to prevent the maturation of the cane, and it certainly has the effect of introducing into its juice soluble salts, which injure the sugar and diminish the yield' " From January, 1868, to May, the rain-fall was in such excess that it doubtless caused a failure in the yield ; from the reasons given in the above note, I can well imagine the anxiety with which all looked to the results of the coupe. Many a once wealthy planter, as he watched the work go on day. by day, must have felt his last hope die out of saving the property on which he had bestowed many years of labor and expense. Already heavily burdened with debt, accumulating at compound interest, nothing was left but bankruptcy. During the last three years many of the finest and oldest estates have passed away from their original proprietors and been brought to the hammer ; and I fear many more will be before the crisis is past " There appears to be three chief stocks from which most of the varieties now cultivated in Mauritius are derived, viz : Creole (orig inally indigenous to India), the Batavian, and the Otaheitan. The principal sorts most in favor at the present day are the White and Red Belloguet, the White Diard, White Striped and Red Bamboo, White Penang, and Guinghan. The latter canes, being harder, re- 358 NICOLAS1 PIKE. ' quire, of course, stronger machinery to crush them, and coming to maturity all at once, require to be cut down with great expedition ; and this, again, exacts a superior planter to work it through rapidly. ' " Mauritius offers everywhere to the eye spacious cane-fields, with here and there the long chimneys rising high above the sur rounding buildings, that generally lie embowered in a grove of trees, often the only ones visible for miles. The forests, which formerly covered the island to the water's edge, even close to Port Louis, have gradually ' disappeared, a few only remaining in the interior. Strict laws have long been in existence for the protection of the forests; but they do not seem to have been enforced much. As -wood and charcoal are the only things used for fuel, the destruction is still go- ¦ ing on. COuld La Bourdonnais see his much-loved isle in the pre sent day he would scarcely recognize any part of it. Where stood the monarchs of the forest are fields of waving cane or arid plains, every stream long dried up. Through districts only intersected by cattle tracks are now wide roads, and over them rush the railway trains, bearing their freights of the precious fabric to be shipped to all parts of the world. All is changed, and by the very people he fought so bravely to keep from getting a footing in the Isle of France. By them have all his hopes and plans been brought to fruition. Un like many other sugar-growing countries, in Mauritius the planter is . also the manufacturer of sugar, which multiplies tenfold the difficul ties of the administration of an estate. "The first operation, when a field is marked out for cultivation, is to extirpate all weeds, root up old stocks, and remove the rocks and stones which more or less encumber all ground, and place them in even rows. Between these, at even distances, about eighteen Or twenty inches apart, holes are dug twelve and a half inches deep, eighteen inches long, and eight inches wide. Generally, before planting, about ten or twelve pounds of well decomposed manure are placed in each hole and pressed down by the feet of the laborer when it is covered with a light layer of earth. The cuttings are made from the five or six tender joints or knobs nearest the heart of the cane, two,: three, or four of which are put into each hole, accord ing to the locality or season. The best months for planting are •December, January, February, and March. In quarters most ex posed to droughts, after planting the holes are filled up With dried leaves or grass, to protect the young shoots from the ardor of the sun. The cuttings are placed lengthwise in the holes," taking care that the eyes of each are turned in opposite directions, so as not to NICOLAS PIKE. 359 impede each other's growth. At the expiration of the time necessary for the shooting of the canes, the dead, fomented', and those with sickly buds, are replaced by fresh ones. The cuttings of the virgin, or first canes, are preferred, as being more healthy -than those of the second. To free the canes, before planting, from the insects that in fest them, they are plunged from ten to twelve ;hours jn a mixture of phenic or carbolic acid and water, an infallible remedy. Sometimes manuring is done after planting ; but then the litter is placed between the rows of canes, or in a circular trench dug around the stocks of the young plants. But all this is only a slight, portion of the work required in sugar culture. Then comes the cleaning the young canes of the weeds and runners which invade them, and picking up the earth so as to fender.it permeable to air and water. The. weeds grow with such marvelous rapidity that the planters are obliged to watch the tender canes with the greatest care. The number of cleanings depends on the soil, climate, and nature of the weeds on different estates. The different earths are divided into the rocky and free, to use a colonial expression. " Nearly the whole of the land literal in Mauritius is rocky ; in fact, to such an extent, in some parts, that with the stones cleared . off them, walls from two to four feet high are. raised- between the rows of canes. ' Yet they are of the greatest .fertility, very porous, easily imbibing water, and ; yielding good crops with proper manuring and rest The free earths are not, as their name would intimate, desti tute of rocks, but only less encumbered than the rocky. These lands lie more in the interior, except in some parts of Savanne and Grand Port, where they extend to the seashore. Loose, volcanic, rocky debris and stones are found from the coast to the tops of the moun tains. Constant turning up is required in the free soils, for the in troduction of air, and to decompose the vegetable matter in the earth. In some places a plow might be advantageously used in planting, but it has not yet been adopted, I believe. The stables and cattle- folds are the two great sources of manure for the plantations^ and the heads and leaves of the canes, employed as food or litter, afford them ample materials.- Except1 in the more humid localities, where woOd is plenty, all the sugar houses employ " bagasse "and cane leaves as fuel. The word bagasse is applied in Mauritius to de signate the fibrous and spongy parts left from the canes that have passed through the mill. Every plantation has thus a great quantity of ashes, which, when returned to the earth, form its most valuable. renovator." PHILIP SIDNEY POST. OfcENERAL PHILIP SIDNEY POST, United States ai Consul at Vienna, Austria, was born at Florida. Orange Co., New York, in 1833. His paternal ancestors were originally from Holland, and his great-grandfather came to Orange County at an early period, and acquired a tract of land, upon which the village of Pos.tville, township of War wick, was located. His father, Gen. Peter Schuyler Post, served in the war of 1812, and was a man of fine presence, and reso lute, soldierly bearing. His maternal grandfather was Hon. John D. Coe, whose name appears prominently in the early history of New York, having been a member of the Assembly and Senate of that State from 1789 to 1798. The Coes were English, Robert Coe, the founder of the family in this countiy, having sailed for America from Ipswich, Suffolk County, in 1634. He was a man of commanding influence, for many years filling the position of High Sheriff. His descendants include several distinguished officers of the Revolutionary War, the Rev. Dr. Jonas Coe, of Troy, New York, and the Hon. John D. Coe above mentioned. Gen. Philip Sidney Post graduated at Union College, Schenectady, New York, in 1855, studied law, and was in due time admitted to the bar. After traveling over all the northwestern States (his family in the meantime having removed to Illinois) he commenced the prac tice of law in Kansas, where he also established and edited a news paper. When the civil war broke out, he was appointed a second Lieutenant of the 59th Illinois infantry, the same regiment, of which eight months later, he became Colonel. He was rapidly promoted, and after the first Missouri campaign, became Major, and took com mand of the regiment At the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, while leading his men in that terrible conflict, which rescued from its perilous position the army that had penetrated so far into the hostile country, Gen. Post was severely wounded. Totally unfitted for duty, he PHILIP SIDNEY POST. 361 made an effort to reach home, and although the nearest railway station was several hundred miles distant, and the country intervening full of guerilla bands, he hired a conveyance to transport him thither, and when that proved too slow, had himself placed on his horse, and, accompanied only by his faithful negro servant, pressed forward, his wound remaining undressed during all that time. On reaching St. Louis, the surgeon expressed his astonishment at such a journey made with a gunshot wound, which had splintered the bones of the arm, and penetrated through the body nine inches, declaring that the arm ought rather to have been amputated in the field. As soon as the wound was dressed, Gen. Post left the hospital to go to his hotel, but on his way thither, an artery opened in it. Appreciating the danger, although half a mile from the hospital, he walked toward it, no carriage being at hand, and to the room where his wound had been dressed, pushed open the door, and fell fainting from loss of blood, only after he had reached the spot where assistance could be rendered. Fortunately the cljjef surgeon, Dr. Hodgen, was there, and instintly took the necessary means to stop the bleeding. The follow ing day it again commenced, but by means of severe surgical opera tions was finally checked While still in the hospital at St. Louis, he received his commission as Colonel of the 59th Illinois Infantry, for gallantry at the battle of Pea Ridge. Before he was able to mount his horse without assist ance, he re-joined the troops, then hurrying forward to Corinth, and was at once assigned to the command of a brigade. From May, 1862, to the close of the war, he was constantly at the front In the army of the Cumberland, as first organized, he command ed the 1st Brigade, 1st Division of the 20th Corps from its formation until the dissolution of the Corps — a brigade conspicuous in. all the engagements of that army under General Rosecrans. With it he commenced the battle of Stone River, driving the enemy ba,ck several miles, and capturing Leetown. Gen. Post was a careful student of military history, and a thorough tactician, and his brigade drills at Nashville, in 1862, attracted much attention. After the battle of Stone River, he was appointed on a commission to examine officers of the army of the Cumberland, as to their qualifications, and served upon it many months, without, how ever, yielding the command of his brigade. During the Atlanta campaign, he was transferred to General Wood's Division of the Fourth Army Corps, and when the latter was wounded, at the battle of Lovejoy Station, and carried from the field, Gen. Post took com- 362 PHILIP SIDNEY POST. mand of that Division With it he returned from Atlanta to Ten nessee, to oppose the progress of the enemy toward the north, sharing in that remarkable and glorious campaign, in which a small force held the entire Confederate army in check, at Columbia and Frank lin, while the scattered corps of the Union troops were being col lected, when Gen. Geo. H Thomas attacked and destroyed their whole army. The feat of arms performed by the army of General Thomas at Nashville, has had few parallels, and this decisive battle forms one of the most instructive examples to the student of the art of war. It was not a large army crushing a weak one, but a contest in which the odds appeared to be rather against the Union forces, and when the consequences of defeat would have been most disastrous to the Union cause. On the morning of the 15th of December, 1864, Gen. Post attacked Montgomery Hill, the most advanced fortification of the enemy, and carried it at the point of the bayonet, thus, to quote the language of General Thomas, " taking the initiative and inciting the whole army to the brilliant deeds fflf that day," and in the after noon he lead the attack on the second line of intrenchments, with equal success. In the following day's fighting, he again led an assault on Overton's Hill, the last stronghold of the enemy, the cap ture of which resulted in the complete discomfiture of the entire Confederate army. Gen. Post fell at the head of his command, almost upon the breast-works of the enemy. Gen. Thomas telegraphed from the battle-field to the Secretary of War, asking Gen. Post's promotion, and directed his chief-surgeon to go to him personally, and do everything that he could to save his life. A grape shot had crushed through the bones of the hip, making a frightful and dangerous wound, which for twelve days the surgeons deemed mortal, but a good constitution and careful nursing soon be gan to produce their effect, and, though it was four months before he could leave his bed, yet in July, 1865, he again reported for duty- There being at that time a concentration of troops on the Mexican border, he was appointed to the command of the Western District of Texas, with his head-quarters at San Antonio, sixteen regiments being stationed at that point While here, the 59th Regiment 111. Vet. Infantry were ordered to Hlinois to be mustered out, on which occasion Gen. Post addressed them as follows: — "Four years and a half you have devoted to the defence of your country's flag. Sfou have patiently toiled and manfully fought; and now that your cause is triumph- PHILIP SIDNEY POST. 363 ant and the victory complete, you are about to return to your peaceful homes. The history you have made during these years will sparkle upon the records of your country forever. "Rushing to arms when patriotism was neither stimulated by enormous bounties nor the apprehensions of a. speedy draft, you traversed the south-west, and on the border of the Indian Territory took a glorious part in the bloody, but victorous battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas; hurrying across the country to a new field of danger, many of you marching barefoot, and so rapidly that the last two hundred and fifty miles before reaching the Mississippi were passed over in less than ten dayg, you were able to join the forces besieging Corinth, and were among the first to press through that smoking town in swift pursuit of the enemy. After many affairs and skirmishes, among which figure your surprise and capture of Bay Springs, Mississippi, and your energetic expedition to Alsbro, Alabama, in which you marched thirty-six miles in eighteen hours, you turned northward and confronted the invading army under General Bragg, at Perry ville, and assisted in hurling it back in confusion whence it came. You initiated the battle of Stone River by driving the enemy before you nine miles, capturing Nolensville and storming the heights of Knob Gap. Xn the battle of Stone River, throughout the Tullahoma campaign, at Chickamauga, where you found yourselves in the rear of the whole Confederate army, your conduct was all that might become soldiers. During the seige of Chattanooga, you occupied the post of honor and of danger, the extreme front; you crossed the Tennessee, climbed Wild Gat Mountain, re-crossed the Tennessee and attacked the ememy on the giddy heights of Lookout Mountain, and again attacked him upon the rugged sides of Mission Ridge, and continuing the pursuit, inflicted a parting blow upon him at Ringgold. "In the great campaign of 1864, you first found the foe upon the ledges of Rocky- faced Ridge; you fought him again at Resaca; you brought him to bay at Cassville, and he confronted you at Dallas. You assailed his works at Kennessaw Mountain, and were the first United States soldiers to set foot in Marietta. "The fourth day of July you celebrated midst the. rattle of musketry and the whizzing of shot and shell from morn till night, in an open field, sweltering under a burning sun, and but a few yards from a determined foe, stoutly defending his works. You crossed the Chattahoochie, presented yourselves before the earthen walls which defended Atlanta, and took an honorable part at Lovejoy Station, when the last blow was given the enemy in that campaign. "You boldly confronted superior numbers at Columbia, Tennessee, defied them as they crossed Duck River, and punished their rashness at Franklin. In the giant struggle which obliterated rebel armies in the West, you were in the foremost rank. The battle of Nashville was a fit ending for your brilliant career, and the annals of the war bear no example of the desperate bravery of American soldiery which will shine brighter upon its pages than the reports of the storming of Montgomery and Overton Hills. "Tf your gallant services have not received just recognition, it cannot dim the splendor of your record. The fiat of man makes generals; God alone makes heroes, and they may exist unheralded by fame. You have marched more than ten thousand miles, and the blood of your comrade.? has flowed in nineteen battles and in many affairs and skirmishes. Of the two thousand men whose names have been entered upon your rolls, many sleep upon the fields which they helped to render immortal, and the memory of their gallant deeds is bequeathed to their companions in arms. You are about to disperse to your homes where anxious hearts are awaiting you. As you lay aside your weapons and the habits of camp and resume the occupations of civil life, you will show that the most heroic soldiers upon the battle field in time of 364 PHILIP SIDNEY POST. war, are the most affectionate fathers, brothers and sons, and the most honest, indus trious and independent citizens in time of peace. " I bid you all a good-bye and a God speed. Our connection is here severed. Our race as soldiers has been run, and as a soldier I desire nothing from fame but to record that I was a comrade of yours; that from Pea Ridge to Nashville my name stood at the head of your muster rolls, and that I am entitled with you to an equal share in the glorious reputation of the 59th Regiment Illinois Veteran Infantry. " General Post remained in command of this district until 1866, when the withdrawal of the French from Mexico, removed all danger of military complications on that frontier. He was earnestly recom mended by the Generals under whom he served, especially by General Geo. H Thomas and General T. J. Wood, for the appointment of Colonel in the regular army. In an official communication addressed to the Secretary of War by his Corps Commander, his military record is thus reviewed: "I most respectfully and earnestly recommend Brigadier General Philip Sidney Post as Colonel in the regular army of the United States. General Post entered the service as a second lieutenant, but soon rose by his superior merits to Major. He com manded his regiment in the obstinately fought battle of Pea Ridge, and was severely wounded. Shortly after that battle he was promoted Colonel of his regiment. Returning to the field, even before his wound was recovered, he rejoined his regiment in front of Corinth, and was placed in command of a Brigade. From that time to the end of the war, General Post's career was an unbroken term of ar duous service, useful labor and brilliant actions. He participated honorably in some of the most obstinately contested battles and glo rious victories of the war. In the great battle, and decisive triumph of Nashville, General Post's Brigade did more hard fighting and rendered more important service than any like organization in the army. In the grandest and most vigorous assault that was made upon the enemy's intrenchments near the close of the fighting on the second day, General Post fell, mortally wounded as it was at first sup posed, at the head of his Brigade, leading it to the onslaught A discharge of grape instanly killed his horse under him, and tore away a portion of his left hip. I know of no officer of General Post's grade, who has made a better or more brilhant record He is a gen tleman of fine manners, and high moral integrity; his physique, which is a matter of no light importance in making a soldier, is un commonly fine. All these advantages, combined with the knowledge he has aquired in an experience of four years of active service in a war of the grandest proportions, would make him a useful officer in the permanent military establishment of the countiy." PHILIP SIDNEY POST. 365 Gen. Geo. H. Thomas also filed in the records of the War Depart ment, a recommendation for his appointment as Colonel in the reor ganization of the army, saying that " Gen. Post is an active, energetic and intelligent officer, and his bravery in battle is beyond question. His capability and efficiency as a commander of troops has been fully demonstrated." Gen. Post was inforrhed of these recommendations by the War Department, where they were favorably considered, but he at once stated, that peace being established, he did not desire to remain longer in the military service. In 1866, he was married to Miss Cornelia A., only child of Hon. William T. Post, of Elmira, New York. While in command of troops in Texas, he had been much on horseback, and in consequence his wounded hip was troubling him greatly. Acting under the advice of his surgeon, he accepted the Consulship at Vienna, which had been tendered him, and the more readily that war had just been declared between Prussia and Austria, which was, however, decided in one brief campaign, and before he had reached the theatre of operations. Gen. Post has not been less active in his civil office than he was in the field. He made a report on the culture of beet root sugar in Austria, showing the enormous advantage the manufacture has been to that country, and urging it upomthe attention of the government and people of the United States. He also made a report on the patent laws of Austria, and pointed to the unfairness of these laws, as applied to American inventors in all the European states, and urged the necessity of securing these rights by treaty, and bringing them under the protection of interna tional law. Claiming that the laws of the United States secure the just rights of all inventors, whether citizens or foreigners, he insisted that they should be reciprocal ; that the petty, burdensome and unjust provisions, which practically transfer every invention to some rich manufacturer in the country, and secure no rights to the foreign in ventor, if a poor man, ought not to continue. The subject, which is of immense importance to the United States, has heretofore received but little attention ; but American inventors, and the press of Europe, are now beginning to discuss it in the inter est of justice and commercial morality. "The Statesman's Year Book," since 1870, has constantly quoted General Post's reports, to which it refers as authority, among the " Statistical and other books of reference concerning Austria." MILTON MURAT PRICE. ILTON MURAT PRICE, late Consul at Marseilles, France, was born the 25th of December, 1836, at Holli- daysburg, Pennsylvania. When he was seven years old, his father, Hon. Hiram Price, emigrated to what was then the " Far West," and settled at Davenport, Iowa. Mil ton graduated at Iowa College in 1854, and received his de gree of A. M. in 1863. He studied theology at the Seminary in Andover, Mass., for one year, and returning to Iowa in the summer of 1855, he entered the law office of Cook & Dillon. ; In 1857, at the fall term of the District Court, he was admitted to the Bar of Scott County, Iowa, and practiced law in the Courts of that district until October, 1858, when he crossed the Atlantic on a tour of pleasure and sight-seeing, and traveled over the countries of Europe for about one year. Among other interesting experiences he happened to be in Lombardy in 1859, and assisted at the out break of the Austro-Italian war. Returning to Iowa, he married in October, 1859. settled on a farm and devoted his attention to agricul ture until interrupted by the call to arms in 1861, which mustered into line of battle an army of volunteers. Commissioned by the Governor of the State to recruit an infantry regiment ; he was mustered into the United States service in September, 1861, as Lieut-Colonel of the Thirteenth Iowa,, and served with his regiment until after the battle of Pittsburg Landing. Being seriously wounded, and advised by medical certificate of protracted disability, he resigned his commission, and retired from the service on the 17th of April, 1862, having been honorably mentioned for gallant conduct on the field He returned to his farm to manage its affairs and lead a quiet, student life, until the falkof 1866, when he resumed the practice of law in Davenport In June, 1867, he was appointed Register in Bankruptcy, and held MILTON MURAT PRICE. 367 the office until April, 1869, when he was appointed by President Grant, the United States Consul at Marseilles. The year after arriv ing at his post the Franco-Prussian war began, and the United States Consuls in France were, at the request of the Prussian Gov ernment, charged with the interests of German subjects residing in France. The Consul at Marseilles acted as Consul ad interim of the German Empire from July, 1870, until the 1st of January, 1872. Notably, in Marseilles, as nowhere else, the capricious character of the population, the fury and anarchy of a French Revolution, the constant arrival of German ships and their seizure by the mob, as well as the disputes between captains and crews, made the. position extremely laborious and delicate ; and in many instances great calm ness arid prudence were indispensible, during that long period of anxiety and civil commotion. Colonel Price was serenaded upon several occasions, and called upon to respond publicly to the con gratulations of the civil authorities of the Republic, and at one time, in a moment of wild disorder, he acted as mediator between the rival revolutionary factions. By his personal efforts he rescued the Prus sian Consul from violence, and procured his safe conduct out of France. A letter of acknowledgment from the Consul is on file in the State Department The duties and labors of this arduous and responsible charge ex tended over a most eventful period of history, and it is an abun dant source of congratulation, that the Consular officers of the United States, having had confided to them interests and affairs, perhaps as delicate and important as were ever intrusted to stran gers, have so. well and faithfully discharged their high 1rust, and received the acknowledgment of gratitude and commendation from a great nation, which can but remain ever a debtor to the courtesy and friendship of our. Government ' JOHN F. QUARLES. OHN F. QUARLES, United States .Consul at Port Mahon, Minorca, was born of slave parents, in Caroline County, "Virginia, July 5th, 1844. His parents removed to Georgia when he was quite young, where they have since resided, and where the son received an ordinary English education. Meanwhile he was apprenticed in a carriage- making establishment After serving out this apprenticeship, and being desirous of a higher and better education, at the close of the war he went to Ohio and entered Geneva Academy, near Bellefon- taine, in 1865. Here he spent nearly three years preparing for college. In the fall of 1868 he entered Westminister College, near Wilmington, Pennsylvania, taking his grade as Junior half advanced, and was graduated, with honors, from that institution, in June, 1870. Mr. Quarles then returned to Georgia and was made Principal of one of the city schools in Augusta, where he also commenced the study of the law. He subsequently graduated from the Law Depart ment of Howard University, February 27th, 1872. In March follow ing he was appointed Special Assistant Assessor for the 3d District of Georgia, the duties of which office he discharged until March 3d, 1873, when he received from President Grant the appointment as Consul at Port Mahon, Minorca. Mr. Quarles was delegate at large from the State of Georgia to the National Republican Convention which assembled at Philadelphia in 1872, and he canvassed his State in behalf of the nominees of that convention. The island of Minorca, situated in the Mediterranean, and be longing to Spain, is about thirty miles in length and ten in breadth. The surface is- uneven, the soil not generally fertile, the water scarce and the air moist. It owes its political and commercial im portance to the valuable harbor of Port Mahon. The exports con sist principally of rice, stone, bones, wines, dried and green fruits, eta F. S. RICHARDS. 1 ON. FRANK S. RICHARDS, United States Consul at Leeds, England, was born in Sadsbury township/ Craw ford County, Pennsylvania, January, 1st, 1825. His fa ther was a merchant, but was afterwards engaged in farm ing operations. When Frank was about fourteen years old, Mr. Richards was called upon, to pay a large sum of money which he had given security for, on behalf of other persons. Owing to this circumstance, his son was left without pecuniary aid to make his way in the world. Nothing discouraged, young Richards com menced his career on his own responsibiUty, employing himself in harvest work during the summer months, and in teaching during the winter. When the war broke out, he was engaged as general superintend ent of the Memphis and Tennessee Railway ; and, on Memphis being captured by the Union forces, he was appointed in connection with the United States Military Railway. On March 5th, 1864, Mr. Richards was elected Sheriff of Shelby County, Tenn., but, on learning that a number of Tennessee soldiers, temporarily stationed in the County, had cast their votes for him, thus giving him a majority, he honorably withdrew from the position to which he had been chosen. The following letter to that effect was sent to the Hon Andrew Johnson, then military Governor of the State : Memphis, Tenn., March 8th, 1864. Sir: At the election for county officers on the 5th inst., held by your authority as Military Governor of Tennessee, I was the " Unconditional Union " candidate for Sheriff of this (Shelby) County, and secured a majority of all the votes cast. Being fully satisfied that my majority was the result of illegal votes, I can not consistently with my honor, and what I conceive due the people, accept the office. Hon. A. Johnson, " I am, dear Sir, Military Governor of the State of Tennessee, Your obedient servant Nashville, Tenn. P. S. Riohaeds. 370 P. S. RICHARDS. In the Spring of 1865, Mr. Richards was nominated by the Union party for the Legislature of the State of Tennessee, to represent the counties of Fayette, Sheldon and Tipton, and was elected almost without opposition, and served for two -years. Upon the assembling of the Legislature, he was appointed Chairman of the Committee for Internal Improvements ; was also a member of the Finance, and Ways and Means Committees, the Committee on Books, and the Commit tee on Free Schools. In the winter of 1865-6, he brought in a bill on railway matters, the object of which was to fund the interest past due on the State debt proper (which had accumulated during the war), and also that due on bonds loaned to railroads by the State. In an article on this bill, the Nashville correspondent of the Memphis Argus thus wrote : " One of the great ends for which your Representative in the Legislature, your railroad men and your merchants have so unwearyingly and so persistently labored, is about being accomplished. I have just come from a meeting of the Joint Com mittee, to which was referred Governor Brownlow's recent recommendations for rendering assistance to the railroads, and preserving the credit of the State unim paired. By a unanimous vote of the committee, it was decided to report in favor of a bill submitted by Mr. Richards, of your city, and which is indorsed not only by Gov. Brownlow, but by every railroad man who has examined its provisions. It will be printed and laid before both Houses to-morrow. For me to remark that this is one of the most important, if not one of the most vitally essential measures, now being pressed upon the attention of the Legislature, would be useless. The Bill, of which I send you a complete synopsis, speaks for itself. "The first section provides that the Act of February llth, 1862, be so amended as to authorize the Governor to issue 6£ per cent, coupon bonds, (similar in every respect to the bonds issued under the former Act, and maturing at the same time) to an amount sufficient to pay off all the interest, past due, as well as that to fall due January 1st, 1866, on all bonds that were issued or indorsed by the State prior to the Act of Secession, of May 6th, 1861. These bonds are to be dated the 1st day of January, 1866, and are to be made payable at such time as the Legislature may see fit to arrange. They are not, in any event, to be sold or negotiated at less than their par value, but they may be exchanged for the interest coupon bonds, for which payment is provided in the bill, estimating each at their par value. "The amount of interest that is now due to the State, or that may become due by January 1st, 1866, by any railroad company, on such bonds, is to be charged to the account of the company, on the same terms and conditions of the original loan, under the Act of February llth, 1862. The State is to be protected by liens on all ¦of the roads to which aid is granted, their franchise and property, for the payment of the principal and interest of the bonds thus authorized, which interest is to be paid as it matures, in the same manner as ordered in the former Aot. " The law requiring all companies to pay into the Treasury two and a half per cent, per annum, as a sinking fund, on the amount of their indebtedness to the State, is suspended by this bill until January 1st, 1867, and the companies are relieved from the payment of the sinking fund now past due, but during the year 1867, four F. S. RICHARDS. 371 jfer cent, of the debt must be paid in as a sinking fund. The payment is to be made in bonds of the State, of a like character to those issued or indorsed for the com panies, and semi-annually, on April 1st, and October 1st of each year, until the whole debt is discharged. " The bonds thus authorized, are to be negotiated through whatever agents the Governor may see fit to employ, and the proceeds be applied to paying the interest now due, or to fall due January 1st, 1866. The expense of issuing and negotiating the bonds is to be borne by the companies thus benefitted. --. " The last feature of Mr. Richards bill is by no means, its least important. It provides' that any railroad company thus receiving aid from the State, that shall discriminate in its freight, or passenger tariff, against the business of any city or town in Tennessee, or carry freight lower in one direction- than in another, or refuse to give the citizens of this State equal facilities for transporting their freight to or from any point they may desire to ship to or from, whether the act be committed within the limits of the State or not, shall, upon conviction, be fined in the sum of not less than one hundred dollars, nor over one thousand dollars, for each and every offence,' one half of the fine to go to the State, and the other half to the party aggrieved. "You have here a complete synopsis of a bill, which, it is confidently expected, wiE meet all present exigencies, and place the future of our railroads on a firm basis. We must do the Goyernor justice to confess that we do not consider him utterly- bereft of reason on all points, whatever his singular infatuation on matters of a po litical nature may impel him to do. Like a sensible man, he has listened to the advice of 'those who thoroughly comprehended the matter in all its bearings, and he has made liberal use of their suggestions. To Mr. Richards, of our city, more than' any other one person, is the State indebted for the promising and encouraging aspect our railroad matters have now assumed. It was at his request and unceasing solicitations that Governor Brownlow's attention was directed to the importance of the subject, to the vastness of the interests it involved, and to the necessity of prompt and immediate action. To him the special message was submitted for re vision, and the insertion of whatever essential points that might otherwise have been omitted. I have watched this thing through all its various stages, and I can safely say, without giving Mr. Richards more than his due, or doing injustice to other gen tlemen who have been of material assistance, that to him belongs the large share of honor and credit to which so laudable an ambition and faithfulness to the interests of his constituents are entitled. Quiet and unobtrusive, taking no part in the petty wranglings arid disputes that have made the House a by-word and reproach, he has fairly gained the reputation of being the hardest working man in that body. The Joint Committee to-day accepted his bill, without hardly any discussion, and with out a dissenting voice, they saw that the measure emanated from a mind fully able to comprehend what was necessary to be done, and backed up by sufficient experi ence to put the bill beyond the risk of a mere experiment. I am not over confident in predicting that Mr. Richards' bill will be adopted by both Houses. No one here doubts that it will go through in very much its present form. It is looked upon as the very best that can be adopted, under the circumstances." Referring to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, a dispatch to the Associated Press said ; Mr. F. S. Richards, the careful and excellent legislator from Shelby (Memphis), made a five minutes speech, full of substantial reasons for the vote he was. about to give, which he said would be for the bill. Considering the locality from which Mr. 372 F. S. RICHARDS. Richards hails, and the temperature to which it may well be supposed he is subjected, his course has been one of thorough and consistent Unionism since he first occu pied a seat in the House. His remarks on the pending question were manly, co gent and. bold. He is one of the most practical gentlemen in the House of Repre sentatives, and the speech and vote delivered to-day, mark him as one of the most conscientious and true. In 1866, a bill was introduced into the House of Representatives, known as the Negro Testimony Bill, which had for its object the permitting of negroes to testify on oath as witnesses in the courts of justice. Mr. Richards strongly supported this measure. From a re port of an able speech on the subject, delivered by him in the House, on January 16th, 1866, we make the following extracts : "The first reason for supporting this measure, which strikes my mind, is its in trinsic justice. It is right in itself, for it proposes to give the colored citizen a right which we feel to be absolutely necessary for the defence and preservation of our own lives and property, and which, accordingly, can be no less necessary for him. For if we apply the disqualification which now attaches to the colored person, to our selves, and imagine ourselves denied the right of giving testimony in court, we will speedily realize how essential is this right to the protection of every citizen. With out courts of justice the citizen has no protection for life, liberty or property. "Testimony is the eye of the courts; consequently, he who is denied the right of testimony is exiled from our courts, and is made an outlaw. IS all men have an inherent and inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, they have an equally inherent and inalienable right to those agencies by which life, lib erty, and the pursuit of happiness are secured. In times of peace they have a right to all the privileges of the courts of justice, and in case of warlike violence, they have the right of self-preservation, which is called the first law of nature. Without the right of testimony, the negroes are wholly dependent upon the caprice and mercy of every unscrupulous white man who may seek to defraud them of their wages, or overreach them in a trade, or do them personal violence, or outrage their families. In this case, the freeman is more miserable than the slave, for the former must de pend upon himself, while the latter is in some sense shielded by the cupidity and self-interest of the master, who protects him for the same reason that he pro tects any other species of property. "Why, Mr. Speaker, to touch very cautiously upon the domain of theology, in which I am but little versed, is it not a fact that the Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, and other religious denominations of the South, have professed for years to have Christianized multitudes of the negroes, and made them fit for heaven ? And will these good people have us believe that a man may be a good Methodist, or Baptist, and yet not fit to be believed upon oath ? " That he may be worthy to take the Sacrament, and unworthy to stand in the witness-box ? That he may sing before the Almighty, as a saint in glory, but can not go before a Justice of the Peace, to swear to an acoount of five dollars, for work which he has done in the workshop or cotton field ? If this be religion, Mr. Speaker, and these the principles on which it is based, I think the less we have of them the better for public morality. "What is meant by this bugbear term of negro equality? Does it mean that the testimony of a truthful, honest colored person would be equally as credible as F. S. RICHARDS. 373 that of an honest, truthful white person, of like observation and intelligence? I presume no one will contend that any law which we may pass is required to estab lish that fact. Truth is truth, and falsehood is falsehood, whether we find them in whites, Africans, or Indiana; and no legislation can alter the fact. " Sir, at a time like this, when the fundamental principles of a free government, and of the rights of man are being examined and discussed, as they never have been since the days of the Revolution which gave birth to this nation, it becomes all men to perform an honorable part in the work of purifying and perfecting our laws, in the spirit of a comprehensive and exalted philanthrdphy, and to secure these rights to all men, from the highest to the lowest classes of society. Whatever artificial line society draws between men on account of family, position, or wealth, the law of an enlightened commonwealth should recognize no such distinction, but render ample justice to all men. " It becomes ub, as enlightened and conscientious law-makers, to stretch forth a friendly, helping hand to a long oppressed and deeply wronged class of our citizens. It is little honor to help the rich and powerful, for they can help themselves; but it has ever been regarded as a noble act to befriend the friendless, and to succor the wretched. To a:sist in this good work, I would invoke the help of every legislator in this House. " During 1866 and 1867, Mr. Richards took an active part in all the legislative work of the House. In August, 1867, he was re-elected Representative ; and, on the opening of the Legislature in the Fall, he was almost unanimously chosen Speaker of the House of Repre- " sentatives. He was a Delegate at Large from the State of Tennessee to the National Republican Union Convention, held at Chicago, May 20th, and 21st, 1868, which nominated General Grant for President, and he was honored by being made one of the three secretaries on tem porary organization. Mr. Richards occupied the important post of Speaker of the House of Representatives of Tennessee until March, 1869. On Jan uary 9th, of that year, he introduced a Suffrage Bill, " A bill to be entitled : An Act to provide for the calling of a convention for the purpose of so amending the Constitution as to establish Universal Suffrage, and the absolute and permanent equality before the law of all races." Mr. Richards spoke at some length in support of the measure as. follows : " Mr. Speakeb : It is my intention, on this occasion, to offer for the consideration of those who may accord me their attention, a few. of the principal reasons which will induce me to yield my cordial support to the most liberal and comprehensive of those measures which have been heretofore presented for our consideration, looking to the restoration of that portion of our citizens, now suffering under dis franchisement, to a full enjoyment of those rights and privileges of which it has been deemed needful, in times past, temporarily to deprive them. " I am well persuaded that there is no part of this world where, at this moment, 374 r. S. RICHARDS. the pathway of duty is more thickly and annoyingly beset with obstacles and em barrassments than in our own beloved commonwealth. But let us, I pray you, never think of yielding up' ourselves to a mean and cowardly despair. EspeciaUy does it become the members of the great and progressive party, with which we claim alliance in this golden moment of triumph, not to relax our exertions to give as sured and permanent ascendency to the principles which honorably distinguish us. Let us reflect upon the success with which our efforts have been heretofore crowned in defence of the Union established by our fathers, against the dangers with which it was environed, during the progress of the bloodiest and most exhausting civil war that the world has yet known. Never was a political party heretofore favored with such opportunities of doing good, and acquiring lasting gratitude and renown: and, for one, I augur for it a most successful and splendid future. We have com menced well in the selection of our civic chief. We have chosen one for the Presi dency of the nation known to be as remarkable for the qualities which adorn private life, as for his ability as a commander of great armies; a man of inflexible integ rity; of unspotted honor; of the greatest moderation of spirit; of a merciful and for giving temper; of an enlarged and magnanimous soul; a lover of his country, and bis whole country. ****** Such is the character of the man whom the Republi can party has recently elevated to the Presidential station. Such are the auspicious circumstances under which we, the members of the General Assembly of Tennessee, are called upon to act on the important question we are now considering. "It appears to me, indeed, not a little surprising that any man who supported Gen. Grant for the Presidency, and who knew, at the time he did so, that this dis tinguished personage had long avowed himself to be friendly both to universal am nesty, and universal manhood suffrage, could now be in favor of retaining in per manent servitude some eighty thousand of the citizens of this once flourishing and happy commonwealth. "No one deplores -more than I do the late unhappy war. No one more deci dedly condemns the conduct of all who had any hand in the origination of those measures which had a tendency to bring on that war. Nor is there a man in ex istence who holds in greater abhorrence than I do the fearful dogma of secession, which, in my judgment, is as absurd in theory as it is pernicious in practice. I have never been among those who doubted the power of the Federal Government to do all which was clearly needful to be done, in order to maintain its own exist ence against those who might endanger that existence. i " Let it also be borne in mind, that Tennessee had no participancy whatever in any of those movements which led to the late Civil War. Their Senators and Repre sentatives in Congress did not, as some others did, vacate the seats they occupied on account of t:ie election of the lamented Lincoln ; that not a single delegate was sent from this State to take part in that convention which held its fatal session in the city of Montgomery; that in February, 1861, the people of Tennessee, in a full election, voted down, in the most signal manner, the proposition to unite their fortunes with those of the Confederate States; that the approvers of what is known as the doctrine of secession, ha^e ever been exceedingly few in number in this State; that war was already raging before any considerable portion of this people were be trayed by their sympathies into the assumption of a hostile attitude toward the government of their fathers ; and lastly, that the peculiar ciroumstances connected with their eventually going into the war, were such as the' Congress of the Union supposed to justify the exemption of the people of Tennessee altogether from the operation of the Congressional plan of reconstruction. F. S. RICHARDS. 375 "And, finally, Mr. Speaker, let ns then re-enfranchise the whole white race among us. Let us retain the whole colored race in the possession of all their pres ent rights and immunities. Let us make of all the members of both races one peo ple. Let us supply to the members of both alike the blessings of education. Let us sow broadcast among the people of Tennessee, of all races and complexions, the seeds of amity and brotherly concord. Let us all, with unity and untiring efforts, under the protection of a wise and just government, and with the aid of a pure and faithful administration of the laws — see to it, that our rich fields in Tennessee are cultivated in accordance with the principles of a judicious and enlightened hus bandry; that our abundant mineral treasures are put in a course of active and ad vantageous development; that manufacturing industry shall be given all the facili ties needed for their assured and future magnificent success. Let meritorious immi grants be affectionately invited to settle among us, and be guaranteed the most ample protection that it is possible for a judicious and paternal government to bestow. Let foreign capital be encouraged to pour its refreshing streams through the bosom of our noble commonwealth, by the prospect of profitable investments, arid the main tenance of the most absolute good faith, both in public and private transactions. Let our railways be built up anew, and given a liberal and beneficial extension to the north, to the south, to the east, and to the west; and our beloved State will soon become one of the richest, most contented, most orderly, most united, most happy and most powerful civilized communities to be found in either hemisphere." This Bill, after a long and earnest discussion, was -defeated. Ac cording to the report to the Associated Press at the time : " The House differed with him (Mr. Richards, the Speaker), on the. Suffrage question. Admitting his ability and worthiness, they do not think that the time for general enfranchisement has arrived." On February 26th, 1869, the General Assembly of Tennessee resolved -to adjourn sine die, and upon this occasion the following resolution of thanks to the Speaker was passed : Whereas, Hon. F. S. Richards, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has presided for two years over this body, and has conducted himself honorably, impar tially; and courteously as such Speaker; therefore, Be it resolved, That the thanks of the members of the House of Representatives be, and are hereby tendered to our honorable Speaker, for the able and courteous manner in which he has discharged his onerous duties. Be it further resolved, That the thanks of the members of this House be tendered to the Officers thereof, for their faithfulness in the discharge of their duties. F. S. Riohabds, Adopted Feb. 26, 1869. Speaker of the House of Representatives. Mr. Richards was appointed United States Consul at Leeds, on the 21st April, 1869, and entered upon his official duties in the fol lowing month of July. AARON SEELEY. OLONEL AARON SEELEY, United States Consul at Mayence, Germany, was born in Bethel, Connecticut, August 7th, 1833. At an early age he moved with his parents to New York city, which has since been his home. He was educated at the best Connecticut boarding schools, and at the Grammar School in New York until sixteen years of age, when he entered into commercial pursuits, and, before attaining his majority, was admitted as partner in one of the largest wholesale grocery houses. He remained with this house three years, and then withdrew from the firm and embarked in business on his own account. At the age of twenty-three he married Miss Stanbery, a cousin of the Hon. Henry Stanbery, late Attorney-General of the United States. On the breaking out of the war, and immediately after President Lincoln's first proclamation in April, 1861, calling for troops, Mr. See ley gave up business and entered the army. He was appointed Quarter master of his regiment, with the rank of First Lieutenant, when mus tered into service. He was in the first battle of the war, that of Big Bethel, and served through the Peninsula Campaign with General McOlellan. He then took part in the capture of Norfolk, Virginia, May 10th, 1862, immediately after which he was promoted to the rank of Captain in the General Staff Corps, and assigned to duty on the staff of General Viele commanding the District of Norfolk and Portsmouth. Shortly afterward he was appointed Provost Marshal of said District Desiring a more active field of operations at the front with the main army, Captain Seeley obtained permission from the Governor of New York to organize a cavalry regiment, and was engaged in recruiting for that purpose, when the memorable riots broke out in the city of New York. Promptly tendering his services with what command he had, to General Sanford, commanding the city, who readily accepted the same, Colonel Seeley was continually on duty day and night, during AARON SEELEY. 377 the darkest days of the riot His command was distributed in the Custom House, Sub Treasury, Post Office, and Thirty -fifth street Arsenal. After the riots ended, and he had fully completed the organiza tion of his regiment, which was known and designated as the Twen ty-fifth New York Cavalry, Colonel Seeley was ordered to proceed with his command to Washington, and thence to the Shenandoah Valley, where he joined the famous "Custer Brigade," First Brigade, First Division Cavalry. He served with General Sheridan through the Valley Campaign. When General Custer was promoted to the command of the Third Division of Cavalry, Colonel Seeley was placed in command of the Brigade. While leading his Brigade in a charge against the enemy on the 9th of October, 1864, he was se verely wounded. Remaining away just long enough to be able to get about, his anxiety to be once, more to the front caused him to return to the field while yet on crutches, his wounds not being fairly healed. Colonel Seeley was with General Sheridan in his famous march, in which the Army of the Shenandoah made the junction with the Army of the Potomac, under General Grant, at the time of the sur render of General Lee and the Confederate Army. When the war was over and the troops were ordered to their re spective States, Colonel Seeley returned with his regiment to New York, and was mustered out of service. He then retired to private life, and so continued until the accession of General Grant to the Presidency. In April, 1869, Colonel Seeley was appointed United States Con sul for the Grand Duchy of Hesse Darmstadt (now a part of the Ger man Empire) with his Consulate Bureau at the city of Mayence, on the Rhine. During the late Franco-German war, the armies of the two contending powers were on the borders of his Consular District. This, together -with the emergencies arising on account of a large resident population of American citizens, necessitating protection and frequent official intervention, called his services in almost constant requisition, and rendered the duties of his office exceedingly arduous and delicate. The Consular District of Mayence comprises the great wine-pro ducing section of the celebrated Rhine wines, which are so largely imported into the United States. ALBERT DIME SHAW. LBERT DUANE SHAW, United States Consul at Toronto, Dominion of Canada, was born in Lyme, Jeffer son County, N. Y., December 27th, 1841. He was pre paring for college at Union Academy, Belleville, N. Y., at the breaking out of the great civil war in 1861 ; and, leaving that institution for the field, he was among the first from his native town to respond to the call of President Lincoln for troops. He enlisted in Co. A. 35th Regt N. Y. Vols, in June 1861, with which he served until the expiration of its term of service, for two years, participating in every engagement and sharing all the dangers and hardships through which this famous regiment passed. He was mustered put of service with his regiment in June, 1863, and almost immediately after received an appointment as Special Agent under Capt F. Emerson, the Provost Marshal, at Watertown, N. Y., which position he held until the close of the war. An extract from the order relieving him from duty will best explain the value of his services while in this position : — n * * * You will have no regrets in the future as to the part you have acted against this unholy war, having responded at the first call of your country, and served faithfully for two years in the field ; and then the remainder of the war in the hard and trying duties connected with these Head-quarters, serving faithfully in all things." After the close of the war, he resumed his collegiate studies at St Lawrence University, finishing the same in the fall of 1866. He was elected member of Assembly the same year from the Second District of Jefferson County, receiving the honor of being the young est man ever selected from his district for this position. As a legislator he took a high rank as a firm, uncompromising _ supporter of all deserving measures ; and no one ever questioned his integrity among his associates. He particularly distinguished him self while in the legislature in a speech, advocating a protective tariff, when a resolution was pending before that body requesting the senators and representatives of the State at Washington to vote in ALBERT DUANE SHAW. 379 support of the tariff question. The record he made while in Albany was one of which any young man might well be proud, and which, it was supposed, should have won him the undivided support of his party for a second term ; but local issues and jealousies, united with the dissatisfaction growing out of the passage of a bill which was inadvertantly drawn so as to possibly affect some of his constituents, caused his defeat Failure, however, is often the stepping-stone to success ; and in this instance it proved to be the case. In May, 1867, Gov. Fenton commissioned him Colonel of the 36th Regt. N. G. S. N. Y, a position which he creditably filled up to the time of his foreign ap pointment Being a ready speaker, persuasive in argument and forcible in delivery, he was engaged by the State Committee in the campaign of 1868 to help canvass the state during that, great political contest. Such was the success attending his efforts, that his numer ous political friends in all sections of the state united in recommend ing him to the President for the position of United States Consul at Toronto, to which he was appointed in June, 1869. In this position, as in all others he has filled, he has won the esteem and confidence of all parties. Being a thorough American, jealous of the good name of his country, he is ever watchful of her interests and alive to the responsibilities of his representative position. The fact of his residing temporarily in Canada has not prevented him from taking an active part in the politics of his native State, and in each political campaign, for some years past, he has canvassed the State with great credit to himself and benefit to the cause which he advocates. Genial in manners, an eloquent speaker, and with a wide acquaintance ex tending over the State, he is regarded as a discreet and useful member of the party, a firm and conscientious opponent of all forms of political corruption, and one thoroughly and actively in sympathy with those who demand a purer code of morals for the public men of the day. Mr. Shaw has gained a reputation as a lyceum lecturer, worthy of the emulation of many of our first class speakers, and his efforts iii this direction will doubtless, in time, place him in the front rank of the lyceum lecturers of the day. Among the rising young men of New York, whose high aims and noble sentiments stamp them as brave workers in the great movement of political and social reform, few give promise of a more useful future than the subject of this brief sketch. JAMES W. SHER. jAMES W. SILER, Consul at Santa Cruz, West Indies, was born in Morgan County, Indiana, January 24th, 1843. He was reared on a farm until thirteen years of age, when he was placed at an institution of learning known as the "Western Manual Labor School," at Annap olis, Indiana, and conducted under the auspices of the denom- , ination of Quakers. Remaining here three years, he acquired a fair academic education, returned to his native county, and was employed for one year as village schoolmaster. In the autumn of 1860 Mr. Siler removed to Paris, Illinois, where he contracted to read law with an old practitioner. The excitement which just preceded the civil war was so great, however, that he made little progress in his studies, and under the first call of the President for volunteers in the spring of 1861, he enlisted in the Twelfth Illinois Infantry. With this Regiment he served through the various campaigns of the Sixteenth Army Corps till the early part of 1864, when, with the rank of First Lieutenant of Cav alry, he was appointed to the command of a company composed of Southern loyalists, organized for guides and scouts. In this capacity he served until the close of the war. At this period, it will be remembered, the Archduke Maximilian, of Austria, was in Mexico, endeavoring to establish himself Emperor of that country. In common with the sentiment which prevailed so universally among the loyal masses of the country, Mr. Siler's sym pathies had become deeply enlisted in behalf of the Mexican Repub lic, and he resolved to tender his humble services to the authorities of that Government. With this intention- in view he proceeded to Brownsville, Texas, where he met, and made the acquaintance of General Negrete, then Secretary of War of Mexico, who was highly pleased with letters which Mr. Siler held from prominent officers of the United States Army, and commissioned him Captain of Cavalry. The city of Matamoras was in nossession of the Imperial forces, and JAMES W. SILER. 381 in order to join the Liberals he was compelled to travel up the Rio Grande, on the Texas side, as far as Ringgold Barracks, a distance of some fifty miles, where, crossing the river, he joined a brigade of Liberal troops commanded by General Servando Canales, who assigned him to duty temporarily on his ' staff. He subsequently served on staff duty with Generals Hinojoso, Trevino, and CarvajaL In May, 1866, he was assigned to command a detachment known as the "Legion of Honor," composed principally of Americans, and attached to General Canales' command. This detachment numbered from sixty to seventy-five men, and, although rough characters, they performed excellent service for the cause in which they were enlist ed. On the 16th of June, following his appointment to this command, occurred the memorable battle near Camargo, in which the Liberal arms were so signally victorious. The Liberal forces were commanded by General Escobedo in person ; and the Imperial ists under General Olvera, three thousand strong, were all killed or captured except about three hundred who made their escape. During this engagement, Captain Siler was ordered to charge with his command a battallion of Austrian infantry, and for the manner in which the order was executed he was highly complimented by General Escobedo, and promoted to the rank of Major on the field. On the second day of July, following, the Liberals entered Mata- moras with little opposition, the Imperialists, retreating to Tampico, and from thence to Vera Cruz. Soon after their entrance into the city of Matamoras, General Carvajal was installed as Military Gov ernor for the State of Tamaulipas, and by him Major Siler was appointed inspector and mustering officer for that command. The entire northern frontier of Mexico had now been freed from a foreign foe ; the attempt to establish an Empire had already failed, and every indication justified the hope that peace, which this dis- .tracted country so much needed, was near at hand. But not so; Mr. Siler remained in Matamoras three months, during which time he witnessed as many '' pronunciamentos " or revolutions among the troops composing the garrison ; and, as he had not come to Mexico for the purpose of assisting in the making and unmaking of Gov ernors and Generals, he therefore resolved to resign and leave a country for which he could see no hope of peace or prosperity. Accoi dingly, in the latter part of November he tendered his resigna tion, which was accepted, and he sailed for New Orleans, from whence he proceeded in a few, weeks to Little Rock, Arkansas. 382 JAMES W. SILER. Here he had come with the view of locating himself in business, should circumstances appear favorable. The only person in the city whom he knew, was Major-General E. 0. C. Ord, whose headquar ters were then at that place. Through General Ord's interposition he was appointed Deputy Clerk of the United States Court, Eastern District of Arkansas. At this period, the Unionists of Arkansas were about attempting the Congressional plan of reconstruction in that State. There was then but one newspaper in the State favorable to this movement, and that was published at the capital. In July, Mr. Siler was selected by the State Republican Executive Committee, to establish a news paper at Batesville, a town situated in the northeastern portion of the State. Accordingly he founded and established the Batesville Republi can, the second radical Republican newspaper ever published in Arkan sas. Those who remember the hostile feeling entertained by a large majority of the Southern people toward Union principles and North ern men at that period, may form some conception of what he had to contend with in this undertaking. His office was threatened by mobs, and by anonymous communications he was warned to leave the country etc.; but these demonstrations were unheeded, and Mr. Siler pursued his way as best he could under such circumstances for two years. At the expiration of this time a complete revolution in pub lic opinion had taken place,. and many who were then foremost and loudest in denouncing him are now warm personal friends. Having sold the Batesville Republican, Mr. Siler proceeded to Jacksbnport — a thriving commercial town, situated at the head of steamboat navigation on White river — and purchased the presses and tnaterial of a defunct Democratic journal, and soon afterward issued the first number of the Arkansas Statesman, which he continued to edit up to the date of his appointment as Consul to Santa Cruz, March 2d, 1871. Both these journals still exist, and are regarded as among the most substantial and influential Republican papers of the State ; whether or not the honor is merited, the credit has been ac corded to Mr. Siler of having performed as much as any other jour nalist of Arkansas toward redeeming the State from the condition of anarchy and confusion in which the close of the war left it - Since he has occupied his Consular position, no circumstance has presented itself by which his services could be distinguished, beyond the performance of the ordinary routine of official duties in a country at peace with all the world. tU^c^c^A // JULIUS A. SKILTON. ULIUS A. SKLLTON, United States ' Consul-General at Mexico City, Mexico, was born in Troy, New York, June 29th, 1833. He was the son of Avery J. and Mary Augusta Candee Skilton, the former Of Litch field, Connecticut, and the latter of New Haven. He graduated at Rensselaer Institute, Troy, in 1849, receiving the degree of B. N S. In 1853, having finished the course at the Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., he received the degree of A. B., and later, in the year 1856, that of A. M. from the same Alma Mater. In 1855, he graduated from the Medical Department of the Albany University, Albany, N. Y., with the degree of M. D. In 1856, he was united in marriage with Hattie E. Ingersoll, of Cazeno- via, N. Y., and then engaged in the practice of his profession, in co partnership with his father, one of the oldest physicians in Troy, justly celebrated for his practiced skill, and beloved for the excellen cies of his character and the virtues of his life. Dr. -Julius A. Skilton was soon appointed to positions of trust and influence in his profession, and was, also, a member of the Board of Education, all of which he continued to hold with credit to him self, and profit and satisfaction to those whom he served, until the commencement of the war in 1861, when he received the appoint ment of Assistant Surgeon in the 30th Regiment of N. Y. Volun teers. He was on duty with this Regiment in front of Washington, until the spring of 1862, when he was promoted to the rank of full Surgeon of the 87th Regiment of N- Y. Volunteers, and served with distinction through the entire Peninsular Campaign. He was operat ing Surgeon at Savage's Station, during the seven days' fight before Richmond, and volunteered to remain in charge of the wounded at Charles City Cross Roads. (See Dr. Mark's book on the Peninsular Campaign.) Soon after, he was taken prisoner and incarcerated in "Libby" Prison, his health suffering exceedingly from the fatigue, exposure, and hardships of prison life. 384 JULIUS A. SKILTON. In 1863, he was appointed Surgeon of the 14th N. Y. Cavalry, and was on duty in New York City during the riots which occurred in July of that year. In December he went with his regiment to •New Orleans, and was there promoted to the position of Medical Director of Cavalry of the Department , of the Gulf. In 1864, he took active part in the Red River Campaign. He was wounded in the foot at Cane River Crossing by a fall with his horse. In 1865, still acting as Medical Director of Cavalry of the Department of the Gulf, and of the forces of General Griersoh, operating in Florida and Alabama, he was present at the last action — the capture of Fort Blakely, in Mobile Bay, — and was mustered out of service soon after. In 1866, he went to Vera Cruz to observe the movements of the French, then invading Mexico. In 1867, he contributed important material to the history and data regarding the French evacuation of Mexico, and, in April, was compelled to leave Mexico at the instigation of Imperial authorities, but returned to Vera Cruz and . Mexico City with the family of President Juarez in July following. During this and the ensuing year, he continued to furnish contribu tions, in published articles, on the history of French intrigues against Maximillian, and the unsuccessful efforts of both against republican institutions on this Continent. He has, also, furnished many able and elaborate papers on the resources, climate, and internal wealth of Mexico. In 1869, he was appointed U S. Consul at Mexico, in . which capacity he served until 1872, when he received the appointment of Consul General of the United States in Mexico City, which position he still occupies, with distinguished credit to himself and honor to . the country that he represents, as well as with marked favor and ac ceptance to the Mexican people. His reports on Mexico and its com mercial relations with the United States are well received both in Mexico and the country represented by him. He has recently been made an Honorary Member of the Geographical and Statistical So ciety in Mexico City. Consul-General Skilton is a gentleman of broad culture, singular ly urbane of manner, genial, courteous, and hospitable, and possesses, in a remarkable degree, that rare tact or genius, which best qualifies a man to act as mediator between opposing natures, and to ad just the perpetually recurring difficulties which present themselves in a position at once so delicate and so important. The genial welcome and kindly social amenities awaiting strangers at the United States Consulate in the City of Mexico are widely known and appreciated JASPER SMITH. ASPER SMITH, Consul at Funchal, Madeira, was born at Coeymans, Albany County, New York, in 1816. His father, Dr. Jesse Smith, was of pure English origin, and practiced his profession for forty years at Coeymans, and his mother was of a Dutch family, one of the early emi grants from Holland to New York. When eleven years- old, young Smith was sent to the aeadeniy at Kinderhook — a town made famous' as the birth-place of President Martin Van Buren— where he remained three years, pursuing English- and classical studies. In 1832 he entered Union College, at Schenectady, New York, then under the Presidency of the celebrated Dr. Eliphalet Nott, and was graduated at that institution in 1835, always holding a good position in his class. Subsequently he received the degree of Master of Arts (A. M.) from the same institution. After graduation he studied law, first under Bobert Wilkinson, Esq., at Poughkeepsie, New York, and afterward under B. David Noxon and Elias W. Leaven worth, Esqs., then at the headof the bar at Syracuse, New York. Being admitted to the bar he practiced his profession at Syracuse and at Albany, for some years, during which time he contracted a disease of the throat which threatened serious consequences. After trying in vain medical treatment he abandoned all business and went to the home stead at Coeymans, where he remained four years, his main object being to invigorate his constitution by open air exercise. He here found much time for reading and study, which he did not fail to improve, and also took great pleasure in assisting in the cultivation of the small farm attached to the homestead, especially in the culti vation of choice fruits. Four years later, finding that his health was greatly improved, he accepted an appointment in the Department of State at Washington, offered to him by the Hon. William H. Seward, and after a few months' service in that Deparment he was appointed Consul at San Juan, Porto Rico, by President Lincoln. 386 HORATIO FOX. Consul Smith remained at San Juan, Porto Rico, less than a year, when finding the climate too debilitating for his health, not yet well established, he resigned and returned to the United States. He was immediately re-instated in his former position in the Department of State, where he remained during the whole of Mr. Seward's term of office, and until December, 1870, under Mr. Fish. For*about four years he was chief of the First Consular Bureau in that Department, the duties of which were very difficult and laborious. In December, 1870, Mr. Smith was appointed Consul at Fun- chal, Madeira, but did not proceed thither until the next spring. Since that time he has traveled through England, France, Spain and Portugal, thereby giving him much opportunity to observe the life and customs of the people of those countries. During his whole life he has kept up habits of study and reading, and has acquired a respectable knowledge of the French, Spanish and Portuguese lan guages. Of course, the opportunities he has had, give him a very thorough knowledge of all matters pertaining to the United States Consular service. HORATIO FOX. rORATIO FOX, United States Consul at Trinidad de Cuba, was born at Portland, Maine, August 27th, 1815, was educated and resided there until the year 1839, when he went to the city of Trinidad de Cuba, where he has ever since remained, with only occasional visits to the United States. Mr. Fox was appointed United States Consul for Trinidad de Cuba in February, 1869, and up to the present date (June, 1873,) continues as such. The Insurrection in Cuba which commenced in the month of October, 1868, involved in various ways a number of American born aud naturalized citizens residing within the Consular jurisdiction of Mr. Fox, in defence of whom, he endeavored in all cases to comply with the Consular instructions in relation to such matters. TIMOTHY C. SMITH. By A P. M. Tovet. ;IMOTHY CLARK SMITH, United States Consul at Odessa, Russia, was born at Monkton, Addison County, Vermont, June 14th, 1827. His father, of the same name, came when a young man from Northampton, Massachu setts, and set up business as a merchant and farmer in Monkton, where he married Miss Amanda D. Smith, daughter of Hezekia Smith. The subject of this sketch, therefore, was doubly entitled to the name of Smith ; his great-grandfather on the side of both father and mother, being (though not the same person) identical in name — Samuel. Smith. One brother, Hon. Harrison 0. Smith, and two sisters grew up to mature years. The grandmother on the mother's side, wife of Hezekia Smith, was Susannah Willoughby, daughter of Jo seph Willoughby, of Hollis, New Hampshire, whose father, John Willoughby of Billerica, Massachusetts, is believed to have been brother of Henry, the 16th Lord Willoughby, of Porhamin England. Young Smith's boyhood was passed in Monkton until he was nine or ten years of age, and afterward in New Haven until fifteen, in both of which places he attended the common school. He was sent to Col lege at Middlebury in his native county, where he graduated with a fair record of scholarship. Some years were then passed in mercantile business with his father in Monkton, when he commenced the study of medicine, but relinquished it soon after, having been, through the friendly interest of Hon. George P. Marsh, then member of Congress, recommended for a Government clerkship at Washington. That ap pointment not coming as soon as was expected, Smith wrote to the Hon. Jacob Collamer, then Cabinet Minister at Washington, on the subject and not long after received from him an answer very flatter ing to the young applicant The answer in substance was that he had been Cabinet Minister some months only, but during the time he had received as many hundred thousand letters, that out of all that 388 TIMOTHY C. SMITH. number he had answered, with his own hand, not more than six or eight, that the long letter he was then writing was one of the number, and that he might judge from that circumstance the appreciation he had put upon his letter to him, and the favorable impression it had produced in his mihd. . . ; Not long afterwards the appointment to a clerkship in the treasury from Mr. Meredith, its secretary; confirmed the friendly tone of Mr. Collamer's letter, and invited Smith forthwith to Washington. During four years, ending with the administration of Mr. Fillmore, he held that appointment, and was twice promoted to more responsible positions with higher salary. He was considered an unusually cor rect accountant, and in one instance it became known that he had de tected and corrected three hundred and more errors in the adjustment of one single quarterly account of a public officer, thus saving an enormous sum of money to the Government. This attracted to him the special attention of his superiors and of the officer in question, between whom a long controversy followed, the result of which was that the officer was ignominously dismissed from the service. A change of the Administration brought a change of subordinate officials, and he, although not known as a politician, was driven from the place that he had honorably and faithfully filled. Profiting by this circum stance he resumed the study of medicine where he left off, and, after attending two or three years at the University of New York, received March 7th, 1855, his diploma as Doctor in Medicine, and about the same time his second collegiate degree as Master of Arts. The Crimean war was then at its height, and being desirous of seeing other countries, and at the same time enjoying a field for Prac tical Surgery, he sought, through the Russian ambassador in Wash ington, a commission in the Imperial army. Preliminaries having been thus arranged, he left the United States in July of that same year for St Petersburg, where he obtained a commission as Staff-Surgeon in the. Russian Army, and was ordered to Odessa. The journey to Odessa was some days afterwards began by railway as far as Moscow (that being the only line then constructed in Russia) and from thence by sledges or sleighs with change of horses at every post-station of fifteen miles. The railway cars, although then in the month of De cember, were not heated, and no provision was made for ventilation. Surgeon Smith found them so uncomfortable and the atmosphere in them so deleterious to health from over-crowding — resembling that of emigrant ships — that he felt it his duty to call official attention to the TIMOTHY. C.. SMITH, 389 fact, "inasmuch as typhus and other forms of disease, similar to ship fever, were prevalent at the time. Resting some weeks at Moscow, •he wrote his opinion on the subject of ventilation and the facility -with which it could be effected by heating, and directed it, through the Cabinet Minister of foreign affairs, Count Nesselrode, to his Ma jesty the Emperor of Russia, and at the same time he asked to be at liberty to retire from the service whenever he might choose to do so, although formal engagement for three years had been taken. Arrived at Odessa, quarters were assigned him in a private man sion (military officers at that time being billetted in nearly all the -houses) and professional duties were allotted in one of the many hos pitals which were filled with sick and wounded from Sevastopol. Here he was informed by the general chief surgeon that his commun ication to the Emperor had been received with favor ; that in conse quence of it an investigation had been ordered on the subject of ventilation, and that his request, to be at liberty to resign his com mission at any time, had been granted. *********** After a residence of some time in Odessa in discharge of various official and professional duties, Surgeon Smith married Miss Catherine Prout, daughter of Dr. John Prout of Odessa, the latter a nephew of Dr. William Prout of London. Soon afterward the young surgeon's commission was given up, the war was finished and the newly mar ried couple set out for the United States. They passed five years in Vermont, chiefly in Monkton and the adjoining town of New Haven, in both of which places Dr. Smith had a farm. In 1861, President Lincoln tendered Dr. Smith the position of Consul at St. Petersburg, which he accepted, with the privilege of be ing allowed to exchange, if possible, with Mr. Arnold of Illinois, who had been appointed to the Consulate of Odessa, which latter, on ac count of its milder climate and also being the home of Mrs. Smith's relatives, would be more desirable for him. This change was effect ed with Mr. Arnold then at Washington, and both mutually satisfied with the arrangement, set out soon after for their respective destina tions. The first great battle of the war (Bull Run) was fought while Con sul Smith was crossing the sea, and the first news of its result he re ceived by cable despatches, on arriving at Liverpool Disheartening as was the result of that day's contest, it was rendered still more so by the general feeling apparent all through 390 TIMOTHY C. SMITH. England and the Continent, that the Confederacy was likely to be successful. The American war was the grand subject of conversation in every restaurant, on every steamer and every Railway train ; the opinions often openly expressed and unavoidably listened to, being unreasonable and uncomplimentary to the North. In Odessa, although the Russian Imperial Government was supposed to be friendly to the Union of the States, the aristocracy looked upon the struggle almost as if between themselves on the one side and the common people on the other. Their sympathies were really on the side of the South. A certain great Prince was heard to say in a pub lic place, whence it soon came to the ears of the Consul, that the peo ple of the northern States where little better than a rabble of greasy hirelings, and that the Southerners were their rightful masters. The Governor-general of southern Russia at that time was rather disposed to regard the Government of the United States as a problematical sov ereignty, and, had it not been for his knowledge of the Emperor's sym pathy for our country, he might very likely have openly so de clared. But firmly confident in the wisdom and final victory of the Union Government, the Consul quietly but successfully endeavored to secure some friendly voices in support of the Union cause. The British Consul-general at Odessa, though quite out of line with his Government ; the Austrian and Italian Consuls General and many Greeks of influence, and some others were very friendly and stood by. Books were lent, pamphlets and papers distributed tending to dissem inate a better knowledge of the real nature of the contest and of the parties to it, as also the probable issue to be expected. Little by lit tle the truth began to be understood, and the Union victories follow ing rapidly one after another turned the tide of opinion at last in favor of the North. A new Governor-general, of more liberal opinions and more in sympathy with general progress, had in the mean time taken the place of the former one, and the representatives of all foreign powers at Odessa as also unofficial persons found in him a more friendly in terest, and more courteous consideration. The act of emancipation of the serfs going into operation not long afterwards (the anniversary day of the Emperor's ascension to the throne, Feb. 19th, 1866), it was soon apparent in the waning prestige of the antiquated aristocracy. Liberal principles and equal rights were quick in taking root, and the great example of the great Republic became, so to speak, the model Then began a new order of things in Russia. Railways were opened, TIMOTHY C. SMITH. 391 schools were established, industries thrived, property increased in value. The relationship that had existed formerly between master and man lost its severity, and the gradual but visible transformation of ancient habit and caste civilization into the modern freedom of equal rights, universal brotherhood and common civilization was in augurated. The duties of au American representative in such a trans formation period became no doubt rather delicate, in consequence of the importance of encouraging and sustaining the one side, while re conciling the other, and at the same time not sympathizing ostensi bly with either party. The arrival of a company of seventy-five Americans, excursionists by the Steamer Quaker City, in the autumn of 1866, and their hospit able reception by the Emperor, Empress and Imperial family of Rus sia at their Livadia Palace in the Crimea, is a historical event A prolonged and familiar interview there with their majesties, and visit by invitation to the Palace at Orianda of his Imperial Highness the Emperor's brother, the Grand Duke Michel, where they were served to luncheon, the Emperor himself rejoining them there, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess vieing with each other in amiability and kindness, and retaining them several hours in the delightful groves about the palace — these were new experiences and new demonstra tions on the part of the autocratic family, not only as friendly acts to the party as Americans, but also as marking the beginning of the great transformation from the old to the new order of things in the Empire of the Czars. This Imperial condescension and Republican demonstration, on the part of their majesties, created a great wonder and excitement in Russia. The newspapers were quick to publish it, and to comment upon it. The old aristocracy shook their heads, condemning the freedom of their majesties ; while on the other hand the people and those of more liberal sentiment were rejoiced. It was another proof of progress, and that the great Emperor, who had giv en freedom to the slaves, was still their friend and was going to stand by the people. The agency of Consul Smith in arranging that interview for the Americans, is to be found only in the cordial relationship that existed between him and the Governor-general. It was he who, at the re quest of the Consul, prevailed over the old fogy counsellors of the Emperor, and confirmed their majesties in the belief that in thus re ceiving and honoring a party of representative republicans of a friend ly nation they would be putting their seal to the principle of human 392 TIMOTHY C. SMITH.' equality and their recognition of republicanism without diminishing n the lustre of their Imperial crown. That their majesties did not re gret the course they took may be inferred from the fact that his ex cellency the Governor-general afterwards proposed to Consul Smith an Imperial decoration in souvenir of the event - An American company, composed of thirty to fifty persons, formed by Colonel Go wan of Massachusetts, for the purpose of bringing up and restoring the Russian fleet sunk in the bay of Sevastopol during the war of the Crimea, was veryr successful, the last ship having been brought out in 1863, and the company having secured a handsonie recompense for their labors. An American petroleum party, being thirty in number under the lead of Major Clay, of Kentucky, includ ing borers, refiners, barrel makers, and experts of all the different branches of the business, after several years working in the valley of the river Kouban, which flows into the gulf of Taman between the Black and Azoff seas, at last, in 1867, came upon flowing wells. Not withstanding all precautions, so sudden was the gush, that vast quan tities ran to waste before they could arrange to save it. These wells continued to supply Naptha and oil in great abundance, though the Americans, wearied out with many trials and long absence from home, soon left the country to return to America. Another American company, engaged in lumbering and timber cutting under the direction of Captain Pierce of New York, worked some years on the east coast of the Black sea near the Port of Poti. They had large contracts for delivery in France, and would have been very successful but for some unavoidable accidents and unfortunate dealings with the Caucasian proprietors. These different companies required more or less watchfulness and protecting care on the part of the Odessa Consulate, within the jurisdiction of which they were all in operation. The duties of Americans residing in foreign countries, touching their conduct in furtherance of American ideas and republican prin ciples, have been at different times and by different persons differ ently understood and differently explained. During the early part of -our civil war some European cities witnessed furious orators who undertook, not only to their own but to their country's discredit, to force republicanism upon their unwilling auditories, and there is but little doubt that many people were thus prejudiced against the North, in' the beginning, that might otherwise have been in its favor all through the war. TIMOTHY C. SMITH. 393 Consul Smith, in an address delivered before a party of Ameri cans and others at Athens in Greece, on the day of our national Thanksgiving in Nov., 1868, took for a subject "America and her mis sion in the world." That address, which was published in part or in whole both in this country and in Europe, created some sensation amongst monarchists, on account of the future condition of the world, foreshadowed in it, as being the mission of America to bring about As to the duties of Americans living abroad respecting that mission, his words were : — " Heated discussions and enthusiastic articles in print can be productive of little good. They may be light shining in darkness, but the darkness comprehendeth it not. Better wait pa tiently the morning dawn, the sun-rising, the general illumination by the gradual advance of enlightened sentiment, which sooner or later is sure to cover the whole world." During the Rebellion in the Island of Crete, when the inability of Turkish forces to subdue it, after repeated trial, was apparently dem onstrated, and when Greek Privateers were not only preying upon Ot toman commerce, but carrying daily new recruits and provisions to sustain the revolters : when the European Governments stood aside, and refused to aid or even to counsel either of the belligerents, when the hopes of the Greeks were high in their efforts, and the chances- seemed not unreasonable that they might establish the independence of the.Island ; and the finances of the Turkish Government were re duced to such a condition that their Officials had not for a long time received their pay ; in such a state of affairs Consul Smith thought the moment opportune and the idea feasible of making a proposition to the Turkish Government for the purchase of the Island, especially as the Greeks had openly asked for the protection of our Government He was satisfied, although it had not been then demonstrated, that the Canal of Suez was going to be a success, and that the interests of the United States more than ever before, would be benefitted by the possession of such a stand-point in the east It is supposed that our Government has for many years been de sirous of obtaining a naval station in these waters. The advantages to be gained by such possession after the completion of that Canal, not only commercial but strategical and moral, would be doubtless great er than before. And the Island of Crete he thought, would be just what would be best A part of the mission which our country, in his opinion, is likely to accomplish, would be more surely and quickly fulfilled by the establishment of an American colony so near to Syria .394 TIMOTHY. C. SMITH. and the countries which, though still under the dominion of- the Sul tan, ought not and may not always be ruled over by the Turk. He believed it was a stigma upon the Christian world, that the followers of Mahomet should: be not only tolerated as custodians of the Holy- Sepulchre and places sacred to Christianity^ but that they: should be sustained and protected in their possession by the great civilized and Christian powers. 5j' So important appeared to him the influence of America upon the industrial, commercial, political and religious interests of those coun tries, that, in the impossibility of planting Americanism in the Island of Crete, he would have strengthened and maintained that little col ony, which, wisely planted by Robinson at Jaffa, was cruelly left to die out for want of Christian sympathy and support. With the same view of extending and increasing our influence over the eastern world, Consul Smith has for several years advocated and endeavored to have established stated steam communication between the ports of the Black and Mediterranean seas with New York. Such an estab lishment would, he believed,, greatly facilitate intercourse, and con sequently, the interchange of ideas and institutions, not less than of the material products of the two regions. The ordinary routine of Consular business, commercial and offi cial intercourse, the regulation of the affairs of transient travelers who are apt to need in Russia some diplomatic or consular assistance, to gether with official and general correspondence on the many, subjects that become matters of inquiry or important discussion and settle ment between governments or the inhabitants of different countries — these constitute varied and ever-continuing occupation for the Con sulate. In the discharge of these manifold duties, during a period of more than twelve years, Consul Smith has invariably manifested that promptness, faithfulness and ability, which have characterized all his undertakings. THOMAS P. SMITH. ;HOMAS P. SMITH, United States Consul, and Dean of the Consular Corps, at La Rochelle, France, was born in Boston, on the 14th January, 1837. He is the grandson of the late Ebenezer Smith, one of the "solid men of Boston," and his father, the late Thomas P. Smith, was a mer chant in that city. After graduating at the public schools in Boston, so famous for their discipline, young Smith was entered at the Boston Latin School, where, in his first year, he received the " Lawrence " prize for " exemplary conduct and punctuality ;" and also in his second year, the first " Lawrence " prize for Oratory, at the hands of a committee of Boston gentlemen, of whom Hon Edward Everett was chairman. This second achievement was the more remarkable in his second year, as the course of the school is six years, and it is usual to favor the graduating class. Consequently, Thomas, until he graduated, had to speak at exhibitions with a "star" to his name, indicating that he was "not a candidate for any prize, having received the first prize." On the occasion before men tioned he. received complimentary letters, congratulating him upon his success, and promise of future triumphs, from the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, and others. The death of his father at this time compelled him to change his career, as this event reduced his family from affluence to poverty. The typhoid fever also menaced, him and retarded his progress ; but he entered Harvard College and taught school during the winter to aid in his support, until his health, always delicate, compelled him in his Senior year, to go South. He accordingly went to Washing ton, commenced the study of the law in the office of Hon. J. S. Black, then Attorney General of the United. States, and became, at the same time, correspondent of the New York Times. The generosity of Mr. Smith's character and the keen love of 896 THOMAS P. SMITH humor that characterized his conversation, endeared him to the intel ligent correspondents of the New York Press at Washington, and he was promising well in his new field of effort But his extreme dili gence to his law studies on the one hand, and the arduous services rendered to the Government of President Lincoln on the other, again undermined his health, and he was accordingly appointed Con sul to France. After remaining at his post long enough to be the instrument of the discovery of the iron-clad ships then secretly building for the Confederacy, in France, he resigned and returned to Boston, where he entered the Suffolk bar from the office of Hon. Charles Levi Woodbury. The climate of Boston, however, was too severe after the milder one of Europe, and Mr. Smith was again sent to France as Consul at La Rochelle. At the breaking out of the war between France and Northern Germany, a meeting of the Consuls of England, Spain, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Norway and Sweden, was held at La Rochelle, and Thomas P. Smith was unanimously elected Dean of the Consu lar body, with full powers, etc. During the war Consul Smith was useful in aiding the departure of many unfortunate German families, getting them facilities on the railroads, etc., also in protecting the crews of the German prize-ships, and in various other ways. These and other services were recognized by our Government, and Congress, in an Act, March 3d, 1873, allowed " additional compensation to the Consul at La Rochelle, for extraordinary services during the late war in Europe." The visit of Minister Washburne to La Rochelle in the summer of 1870, again brought Consul Smith into prominent notice. A corr respondent of the Boston Journal, under date of July 27th, 1870, alluding to this event, further adds: "Our Consul, T. P. Smith, Esq., of the Suffolk Bar, was nominated last year to the Consulate at Paris, on account of the great service he rendered during the war by his timely discovery of the iron-clads building on the west coast of France, which, consequently, were prevented from sailing ; but he preferred to remain at his oldjpost" Consul Smith is a gentleman of fine presence, and engaging manners, and is a popular and efficient representative of our gov ernment abroad. He speaks several languages, and has thus been able more readily to familiarize himself with the various questions arising from time to time within his consular district 0. M. SPENCER. By Rev. L. M. Yebnon, D. D. LIVER M. SPENCER, United States Consul at Genoa, Italy, was born September 5th, 1829, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the eldest son of Rev. Robert O. and Jacinthia Spencer. His father was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a man of sterling character and amiable qualities, whose ministry was' eminently successful, and whose -name lingers yet " as ointment poured forth." From the father's itinerant life the son inherited a varied childhood. Ever vibrating among the rising towns of Southern Ohio, as duty called the father, this pensive lad found many occasions for speculation and wonder, if not for re gret and tears. To him the unchanging associations and deep-rooted attachments of an established home were but a dream, however pas sionately longed for. While these varying fortunes might rouse his susceptibilities and afford useful experience of the world, they prom ised little of true education and culture. Hence he early repaired to the Ohio University, where he began his collegiate studies. From here he passed to the Ohio Wesleyan University, then under the Presidency of the late lamented Bishop Thomson. Prosecuting his course with commendable assiduity, and ever maintaining a pleasing individuality and independence, he graduated with credit in 1848. The year following, Mr. Spencer was associated with the Methodist Expositor, then published in Cincinnati. Here he began writing for the press, and in his graceful communications to that paper gave good prophecy of the future. In 1849, he gratified the long cherished wish of his father by entering the ministry of the Methodist Episco pal Church. • The fields of labor allotted to young licentiates in Southern Ohio, that year of grace, 1849, were peculiar and original. They are kuown in tradition as a kind of modified ecclesiastical gant let, a habitual training ground for "breaking in " young theologues. 398 O. M. SPENCER. Remote " circuits," in the tangled forests of the hill-country amid primitive habitations and people, there was little in the places or their demands at all consonant with the sensitive nature of our slen der collegian. The material severities of the situation, and too solicit ous care to fully meet ill-adapted responsibilities, weighed heavily upon a constitution, never robust. After a faithful and acceptable ministry of two years, impaired health and growing literary tastes induced him to accept the Princi- palship of the Preparatory Department of the Ohio University. Mr. Spencer terminated his labors in that institution in 1852, by accept ing the Principalship of Worthington Female Seminary, near Colum bus, Ohio. Here, more kindly circumstanced, and passing somewhat from the practice of. the sterner virtues of patience and endurance, his nature unbent itself in the play of congenial activities, and. hope fully developed its own peculiar powers and excellencies with daily increasing strength. This pleasant relation continued four years, within which time, however, he was granted leave of absence, and made the tour of Europe. This visitation of the principal British and Continental cities evidently deeply and advantageously impressed him, and the results of his observations found graceful expression in a series of thoughtful letters. In 1856, Mr. Spencer was elected President of the Xenia Female College, Xenia, Ohio. ¦ Here he presided two years with great accept ability and success, when he was called to the charge of the Indian apolis Female College. The happy and skillful manner in which he discharged this trust, and the flattering appreciation accorded to his services by patrons and the public, is best attested by the fact that, in 1860, he was simultaneously elected to the Professorship of An cient Languages in the Indiana Asbury University, of Greencastle; and as Professor of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy, in the Iowa State University, at Iowa City. The Asbury University had already made a creditable history, was one of the most prominent institutions in the State of Indiana, and its chair of Ancient Languages was a position in every way useful, honorable and influential. The State University of Iowa, however, offered special attractions. Represent ing a most prosperous State, and located in a large and cultivated community, its proffered professorship, with its inviting scientific range, was accepted. In recognition of his culture, mature Christian scholarship and popular ability, the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon Mr. Spencer, in 1861, by both the Iowa Wesley' 0. M. SPENCFR. 399 an and Ohio Universities. Such was the assiduity and brilliancy with which he performed the. duties of his Professorship, and such was his popularity with students and the public, that, on the retire ment of Rev. Silas Totten, D. D., LL. D., in 1862, Dr. Spencer was unanimously called to the Presidency of the University. This was an unusually responsible and commanding position for so young a man, yet most appropriate for the exercise of his peculiar gifts and varied attainments. His services were no longer confined to the scientific lecture-room, or the student community, but extended abroad to the general interests of public education; and, whether in University halls, or convention platforms, or before the State Legislature, he evinced the same modest dignity, culture, and commanding ability. His elevation to the Presidency began a period of uriexampled pros perity for the University. At his inauguration, the institution num bered two hundred and fifty-four students ; when he resigned, four years later, he left in her halls, eight hundred and fifty-eight These facts themselves are the best and sufficient commendation of his Presidency, especially so remembering that it embraced four years of civil war. During that memorable period of national trial, Dr. Spencer not only thus increased the number of students, and im proved the organization and general tone of the University, but lent an inspiring voice to the friends and defenders of our imperiled na tionality. From the platform and 'through the press, he powerfully aided in marshaling those stalwart hosts that made the name of Iowa a pride on every battle-field. These patriotic services, not less than his eminence and deserved popularity as a man of letters, marked him for governmental favor. For want of something better at its disposal, with full recognition of its inadequacy, the Administration, in 1866, tendered him the Consulship at Genoa, Italy. The consuming care and nervous strain experienced in conducting a University so largely patronized, had sorely taxed his physical strength. Hoping from foreign travel and residence for advantages to health, and the realization of long cher ished literary dreams, he finally accepted the proffered Consulate, to the great regret of the University and its patrons. Genoa is the commercial metropolis of Italy, and its Consulship the most responsible and important A year's almost daily famil iarity with the office, enables the writer to testify knowingly to the unvarying regularity, promptness and urbanity with which Consul Spencer discharges his official duties. 400 O. M. SPENCER. It has been Consul Spencer's fortune to see a large increase in the business of his office during his incumbency ; and while this is, perhaps, principally due to Italy's improved political condition and reviving commerce, it is also measurably due to the admirable man ner in which American merchantmen find consular offices discharged at this post Prior to coming abroad, Dr. Spencer had acquired an enviable reputation as a public lecturer. In the principal cities of Iowa and elsewhere, the cultured and intelligent heard him with highest satis faction, and his performances were accorded the most flattering en comiums. To unusual self-possession, and a dignified and graceful action, he added a clear and mellifluous voice, while the choice ma terials of his discourse were presented with consummate order, lucidity and rhetorical elegance. It is as a writer, however, that Dr. Spencer reveals his noblest gifts, and shines with steadiest brilliancy. Never is he more happy, or more naturally posed, than when driving his facile and trenchant pen. His literary powers were first displayed by a series of letters,- during a European tour, in 1856, a part of which appeared in the Ladies' Repository, Cincinnati. These varied articles showed him an acute observer, an independent thinker, and a master of composition. They present admirable examples of con cise statement, subtle analysis, happy characterization and graphic description. More recently, Dr. Spencer has been an occasional con tributor to the Atlantic Monthly, a regular correspondent to Harper's Magazine, and some of the most finished and valuable articles of that publication are from his pen. His prime characteristic as a writer is his scrupulous conscientiousness, exacting the most faithful research and thoroughness in the preparation of his matter. His style is re markable for perspicuity and purity, and is charmingly seasoned with a chastened rhetoric. These qualities are illuminated by a raciness and humor, which allure when subject-matter and style no longer enchain. The best fruits of his industrious pen will, in due time, doubtless appear in permanent form. Too quiet and modest, to dazzle in society, Dr. Spencer yet ex emplifies the purest and most genial social virtues. Always and ev erywhere evincing whatever is courteous and gallant in the cultured Christian gentleman, he inspires universal respect and esteem. •^waeTWBjWy .SSnjiwin) MS*"^' JAMES THORINGTON. TON. JAMES THORLNGTON, United States Consul at Aspinwall, was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, May 7th, 1816. His father was a Protestant Irishman, who left Ireland when quite young, fleeing from an op pressive apprenticeship, came to this country, and after the war of 1812, settled in Wilmington, N. C. Here he followed the trade of ship-carpenter until he was about twenty years'of age, when he married the daughter of a Revolutionary soldier, who lost his life in the struggle for independence. The family emigrated some years afterwards to the then territory of Alabama, and settled in Mobile, where the' father pursued the business of master mechanic and. contractor. He took the contract for building the first capitol in the State, at Cahaba, whither he removed with his family and re sided for many years, and where he devoted himself to the study and practice of law, and established a large and increasing practice, which eventually yielded him. a competency. In 1827, he located in Mont gomery, and at once took rank at the head of the profession, which he. sustained during the remainder of his residence in the South. Young Thorington, the subject of this notice, was educated at the country schools of those days, and then at the Military School at Fayetteville, North Carolina, where he remained for two years, or until 1832, when the place and the institution were destroyed by fire. About this time, also,- occurred the death of his mother. He returned to Montgomery and entered the Alabama University, preparatory to assuming the study of law in his father's office. It may be men tioned just here, that the University of Alabama was, at that time, presided over by Rev. Dr. Alvin Woods, son-in-law of Chief Justice Marshall, and among Thorington's fellow students were C. C. Clay, afterwards United States Senator, Wm. R Smith, and others who were with him (Thorington) members of the Thirtyfourth Congress, he from Iowa and they from Alabama. 402 JAMES THORINGTON. He remained at College for several years, and then, in 1835, en tered his father's office for the study of the law. In the meantime, his father had determined upon removing to the Northwest, and James, accordingly, preceded him in the fall of 1835, and took up his abode in St. Louis, where his father and the rest of the family removed in the following spring. In 1837 young Thorington became enamored with the idea of a life on the frontiers, and soon resolved to take a trip across the con tinent, with the traders and trappers that annually started out in the spring from St. Louis across the plains, to rendezvous at the head waters of the Columbia and Missouri rivers. He was duly fitted out, and left, in the spring of 1837 with a company of hardy mountaineers, on a journey which was supposed, at the time, would not last more than a season, consisting of about twelve or fifteen months, but which was prolonged until the fall of 1839, a period of nearly two years, during which time he encountered all the hardships and dangers known to the mountain hunter, and became the companion of the famous Kit Carson, in whose thrilling travels and adventures, and hair-breadth escapes he participated while on a six months' trip beyond the Rocky Mountains. On his return to civilized life and society, Mr. Thorington brought, as the fruits of his frontier experience, a vigor of manhood, and a power of endurance, with a self-will and self-reliance which served him well in after life. He is to-day the sole survivor of a large family of broth ers and sisters, and is the senior of the name of Thorington. Soon after his return from the frontiers, his father and family determined upon moving further west, to the then territory of Iowa, and in 1839 they accordingly settled in Davenport Here the health of the senior Thorington failed- to such an extent, that he went, accompanied by his son, to New Orleans, in the fall of 1843, where he died the following year. Passing over the succeeding years of Mr. Thorington's life, includ ing the struggles and responsibilities necessitated by the charge of a large family, left upon his hands by the death of his father ; passing over his marriage in April, 1842, with Miss Mary Ann Parker, an amiable and accomplished lady, and a worthy wife and mother, and the following years of domestic happiness and brightening prospects, comprising, in time, positions of trust and honor — passing over much of a public career, which embraces his election as Mayor of Daven port for four consecutive years, Probate Judge of the County of Scott JAMES THORINGTON. 403 for seven years, six years as Sheriff of the County, four years as Recorder, four years again as Sheriff; and finally, eight years as Clerk of the District Court — passing over the history of all these, the rewards of an active and useful life, we come now to Mr. Thorington's career as a Representative in Congress. In 1855, in obedience to the earnest solicitations and wishes of his friends, he became a candidate for Congress from the Second Iowa Congressional District. The contest that followed was a most exciting one. The district, comprising the Northern part of Iowa, is one of the largest and most populous in the Union Mr. Thoring ton went to work in the canvass with his accustomed zeal and alac rity. He was then Clerk of the District Court of Scott County, and his opponent, the Hon. Stephen Hempstead, the Democratic candi date, was, at that time, Governor of Iowa. The canvass embraced not only the old party issues of Whig and Democrat, but also the new doctrines of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, with the Slavery question, and all its objectionable features. Added to these, the Governor deemed it in the interests of his cause to arraign Mr. Thorington as a temperance candidate and a Maine-Liquor-Law man. Mr. Thorington, at the time, was the Grand Worthy Patriarch of the Sons of Temperance, and so far as his temperance life and proclivi ties were arraigned, he cheerfully and fearlessly accepted the issue. Without further detail of the canvass and its issues, it is sufficient for our purpose to say, that Mr. Thorington was elected by a very handsome majority, and took his seat as a member of the Thirty- fourth Congress, Hon. N. P. Banks, Speaker. In Congress he con tented himself with the part of a business member, strictly represent ing his constituents. During the session the Railroad Land bills were passed, granting immense subsidies to the railroads of the country. The one to Iowa was regarded at the time, and is, perhaps, still regarded by the capitalists- and thinking men there, as of incalculable benefit to the material interests of that State. To Mr. Thorington is due the credit and praise for the passage of that act through Congress. Senator James Harlan, one of his colleagues, while a member of the United States Senate, publicly declared in a speech at Davenport, long after Mr. Thorington had retired from Congress, that of all men who had had anything to do in the passage of the Iowa Land-grant Bill, Mr. Thorington was, above all others, entitled to the credit. Inasmuch as Gen. Jones, Mr. Harlan's colleague in the Senate, thought proper to put forth a pamphlet covering the legislation of the 404 JAMES THORINGTON. Senate upon that subject, we take this occasion to refer to the Sena tor's remarks sustaining what has been said as to Mr: Thorington's part in this great measure. On May 9th, 1856, while the Bill was on its passage, Gen. Jones; before the Senate, said (referring to Gen. Schencky'That gentlemen Speculator, came to me twice in the House of Representatives, when this bill was pending there, desiring me to interpose there ; but I told him : 'Go to the Representative, your friend, who has the manage ment of the bill in the House (Mr. Thorington), and if he will con sent that your road shall be included, I shall, make no objection here.'" Senator Jones thought it advisable afterward, on the 14th of May, 1856, to retract, explain, and apologize for what he had said the day before of that distinguished gentleman— -as follows: "I regret the heat which I exhibited yesterday. It was the Consequence of an excitement which had been upon me for four days, which prevented me every night from sleeping, arid which compelled me to resort to morphine to settle my nerves. I believe that previous to .yesterday morning I had taken almost enough morphine to have killed a man, under ordinary circumstances. Regretting the remarks which I made, I hope my friends from Ohio and Kentucky will be satisfied with the explanation which I have made, and especially, as I directed the reporters of the Senate to omit from publication the severe ani madversions which I had made against their friend, Mr. Schenck." As an evidence of what the Senator knew of the bill he was advo cating, we quote his remarks made on the previous day, May 15th, to wit: "At this session, one of my colleagues, representing the northern district, a member of the Committee on Public Lands of the House of Representatives (Mr. Thorington) and myself, were exceed ingly anxious to have provision made for the Northern road from McGregor's Landing to the mouth of the Big Sioux river, which is the identical spot named in the bill before us, now called Sioux City, instead of the mouth of the Big Sioux. The Committee on Public Lands in the House of Representatives refused to consent to report to give us this road in the North. The committee would not consent to give more than- the road named in this bill, lying north of the Davenport road. They made their report, and that is the bill which passed- the House and is now before us." It happens there was just two roads mentioned in the bill, lying north of the Davenport road. It was in the bill then under discussion,. remained in the bill, and was passed in the bill, being what was JAMES THORINGTON. 405 known as the Lyons Road, passing across the State near the forty- second parallel of latitude, and the Dubuque and Sioux City Road. On the same day, referring to remarks by Senator Wade, Senator Jones said : " The Senator insists, as does the gentleman from Vermont, that the bill provides for four roads, running through the whole width of Iowa. That is not the case, as they may come together before reaching Sioux City, if deemed advisable." Mr. Wade replied : " I so understand." ¦ Mr. Jones of Iowa: "The Lyons and the Dubuque roads are to be run to a point on the correction line, as it is called, forty-two and one-half degrees north latitude, and then to go together to near Sioux City, which is the mouth of the Big Sioux river, the point to which the road from McGregor's Landing would have gone, if the House of Representatives had agreed to make a grant of land for that road." It is strange that learned and intelligent Senators permitted such statements to be made in the face and eyes of the facts before them. The bill contained grants for the four roads ; in that form it was passed by the House of Representatives ; in that form it was taken up and passed by the Senate, without amendment; the Senate was a Demo cratic body at that time, and, of course, Gen Jones as a Democrat, had charge of its passage in the Senate. Mr. Thorington never soughta renomination to Congress,. conse quently his mantle as a national legislator passed to other shoulders, and he retired to private life. During the war he was elected Sheriff of Scott County, and ren dered every assistance that was within his power to aid the cause of the Uniorii and iQ *ne support of Mr. Lincoln and his administration. The only two male members of Mr. Thorington's family, eligible and capable of bearing arms — John H, and Hamilton R., two brothers — entered the service, John H. in the Sixth Tennessee Cavalry, and served his time of enlistment and returned to Ins home in Iowa; Hamilton C. joined the Ninth Missouri Cavalry, at St. Louis, Mo;, contracted the typhoid fever, and died in the service, and his remains were brought to Iowa by his brother, John H, and now fills a sol dier's grave at Davenport, Iowa Mr. Thorington supported the nomination of Gen. Grant for the first term expired, and for his present term. In politics Mr. Thor ington had ever been a consistent Whig, during the existence of that party, having been such from the teachings of an nohored father. After his election to Congress, it was apparent that there was no 406 JAMES THORINGTON. longer a Whig party, and Mr. Thorington allied himself to the Re publican party, as embodying what he conceived to be the princi ples of that which constituted the true theory on which a Republican government should be conducted. Born and reared in a Slave State, he could not be an Abolitionist, in its odious sense, but, believing that labor should be free, he necessarily fell into the doctrine that the laborer should also be free, and that man's property in man was dangerous to any free government. He voted and acted with the Republicans, in preference to endorsing the Democratic pro-slavery party as he found it on the floor of Congress. He has quite a large family, the most of whom are well settled in life, two of his daughters being wedded to Episcopal ministers, and a third to the present Vice-Consul at Aspinwall. Jack Thorington, his oldest son, is a Cadet at West Point ; the remaining children, a son and three daughters, are at home, in Iowa, completing a com mon English education in the common schools of his State, at Dav enport, Iowa. His oldest daughter, a most estimable lady, wife of J. H. Bolton, Esq., died at Sioux City, Iowa. On the solicitation of Mr. Thorington's friends, Senators Wright and Harlan, and his immediate representative, Hon. A. R. Cotton of the House of Representatives, he was appointed in the fall of 1872, Con sul to Aspinwall, United States of Columbia, by the present admin istration. He entered upon the duties of his post the 28th of Feb. 1873, and in the month of June had an important experience in the Cuban question, growing out of the Virginius affair, now famous in the history of diplomacy of the United States. ¦ As this whole matter had its beginning from the act of Mr. Thorington, it may not be uninteresting to give the correspondence upon the subject, as taken from the official Records now on file at the State Department at Washington. For a proper understanding of the position of the vessels in Navy Bay, Aspinwall, U. S. of Colombia, apd also the style of build, &c, of the Spanish gunboat, we publish Commander Reed's dispatch to the Navy Department. — First : United States Steamer Kansas, Aspitre-ALL, June 24th, 1873. Hon. G. M. Robeson, Secretary of the Navy:— Sib — I have the honor to report the arrival here, the 21st, of the United States steamer Kansas, under my command, 59 hours from Greytown, with Commander E. P. Lull, United States Navy, and several of the officers of the Nicaragua Surveying Expedition as passengers. I found anchored here the steamer Virginius, an ex- JAMES THORINGTON. 407 blockade runner, flying the United States flag, the same vessel which in April, 1872, was convoyed to sea by this vessel at the time the Spanish steamer Pizarro threat ened to seize her. The evening of the 22d the Spanish gunboat Bazan arrived and anchored in line with the Kansas and Virginius, quite a coincidence, as that was the way they left the harbor on the occasion referred to, the Kansas keeping her position between the Virginius and the Spanish vessel. The next day I received ' a letter in Spanish from the commanding officer of the Bazan, a copy of which is herewith enclosed, as well as the correspondence resulting therefrom, and a letter from the United States Consul on the subject, which I have not had the opportunity of answering, and shall not before the Pacific mail steamer leaves for New York; but I shall give the protection requested, and for that purpose I will be obliged to remain here till the Virginius is ready to sail or until the arrival of another United States vessel, which, I am informed by the Consul, he has received notice of being ordered here; then I shall proceed to carry out the Department order of the 6th inst. The Bazan is an iron hull, schooner-rigged gunboat, carrying two pivot guns, and apparently quite fast. She was built in England, and resembles, at a short distance, the vessels built in New York for the Spanish government, but she appears rather larger. I do not anticipate a collision with her, but am ready for any emergency. Very respectfully, &c, ALLEN V. REED, United States Navy, commanding Kansas. Second. — The letter addressed to Commander Reed by Lieutenant Autran, commanding the Spanish gunboat Bazan : — Aspinwall, June 23d, 1873. Spanish Vessel-of-Wab Bazan. On my arrival at this port yesterday evening I found anchored here and along side the ship under your command, the steamer Virginius, . and I was very much surprised at seeing the United States ensign hoisted from the ensign's staff. This vessel had previously made a landing on the coast of Cuba, which was composed of Cubans in arms against Spain, of subjects of the United States in arms, and of ammunitions of war. This deed was judicially proved by prisoners of war captured in Cuba, some of whom had belonged to said expedition and testified to that effect ; and from the trial there is against the Virginius an accusation, proved by the Spanish courts, of having committed a hostile deed against Spain, without any motive to justify the aggression. It is true that the expeditionists affirm that the landing took place under the Cuban flag, but in that case the Virginius cannot now hoist the United States flag, as everybody knows that vessels under such an accusation as that pending against said steamer cannot be bought by another nation or private party without the risk of losing her either by force in certain circum stances or by the delivery of the vessel to the offended Power as a result of the cor responding claims. Now, I beg you to. inform me if the steamer Virginius is an American vessel, and if as such she has all her papers according to law ; because if she has, there will be no doubt that in the United States the law of nations is inter preted, at least in the present case, in a very different way from what it is in Spain, and therefore I will ask the Spanish Consul in Panama to transmit my remarks to the Spanish Minister in Washington, in order that this high officer may present to the American government the proper observations and claims, so that the Virginius may cease to fly the flag of a nation at peace with Spain ; and that, in case of cover- 408 JAMES -THORINGTON. ing that vessel with her flag, will compel Spain to take extreme measures or to ask the arbitration of some European Power in the filibuster question I am debating, because the beautiful example of arbitration we have contemplated between the Union and England urges us to follow it. No doubt the Spanish government will soon adopt that method of adjusting the differences which frequently arise between nations. I beg you again to inform me officially and in a definite roanner if the Virginius is a vessel of your nation, and not only carries as a caprice the North American flag, so that I may adjust my future acts to that definite answer. With assurances, &c., JOSE M. AUTRAN. To the Commander of the United States steamer Kansas. Thirds — Commander Reed's letter to Consul Thorington, submit ting Lieut Autran's letter, requesting information as to the steamer Virginius1 right to sail under the American flag. Also Consul Thorington's reply thereto. And Consul Thorington's letter to Com mander Reed, requesting him as the Senior Officer of the Navy pre sent, to protect the Virginius, and to see her clear of all possible interruption from the Bazan. U. S. Stb. Kansas, 3» Rate, Aspinwall, U. S. C, 23d June, 1873. Hon. James Thorington, U. S. Consul, Aspinwall, U. S. C. : Sib : I enclose herewith a letter in Spanish received this day from the command ing officer of the Spanish gunboat Bazan, which arrived here last evening, also a translation into English, and respectfully request that you will inform me as to the character of the steamer Virginius, now anchored here, whether her papers are all correct, and if she is a United States vessel, and authorized to sail under the American flag, so that I may furnish the information desired by Lieutenant com manding Autran, and for my own guidance. : Very respectfully^ your ob't :serv't, . ALLEN V. REED, Com'r U. S. N. Com'd'g Kama*. Consulate of the United States at Aspinwall, U. S. op C, June 24th, 1873. To Commander Allen V. Reed, U. S. N,. Steamer Kansas (3d Rate) : Sib : Your letter to me of yesterday, covering copies of a letter from the Com mander of the Spanish man-of-war Bazan, now at anchor near your ship, in which, you request to be informed whether the papers of the Virginius are all cor rect, and if she is a United States vessel and authorized to sail under the American flag, is received. In reply, permit me to say to all your inquiries, her papers are all correct; she is a United States vessel, and authorized to sail under the American flag. I am, Sir, very respectfully your ob't ser't, JAMES THORINGTON, U. S. Consul JAMES THORINGTON. 409 Consulate op the United States at Aspinwall, U. S. of C, June 26th, 1873. To Commander Allen V. Reed, U. S. N., Steamer Kansas. Sib : The Captain of the steamship Virginius, now lying in this port, under going repairs, has applied to me for protection from the war steamer Bazan, carrying the Spanish flag. Ordinarily we are at a loss for precedent, and our acts have to be governed by experiment. In this case, however, we have a precedent, where most of the circumstances and facts that surround that case surround this. On the 23d ol April, 1872, Mr. Hurlbut, the then Resident Minister to the Republic of Colombia, noticed the matter now in controversy, and gave what I conceive sound doctrine, in a letter addressed to Mr. White, the then commander of the Kansas, and requested him to see the Virginius safe to sea, and to give her that protec tion which she alone could afford on that occasion. To-day we are called upon to repeat that request, and I very cheerfully repeat the request then made, to wit : I respectfully request you, as the superior officer of the navy present, to see that the Virginius is not subjected to any unlawful exercise of force on the part of the Bazan. I also respectfully recommend that when the Virginius has completed her repairs— which will be in a few days — to see her clear of all possible interruption from the Bazan. Her papers are in complete order. I feel compelled to give my views as above, and to place the affair where it properly belongs, in the hands of that service whose paramount duty is the protection of American commerce. I have the honor to be, very respectfully your obedient servant, JAMES THORINGTON, U. S. Consul. Fourth. — Commander Reed's reply, agreeing to protect the Vir ginius as requested, though distasteful to him. ; U. S. Stb., Kansas, 3d Rate. Aspinwall, U. S. C, June 25th, 1873. Hon. James Thorington, U. S. Consul, Aspinwall. Sra: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your two communica tions of the 24th inst., the first in reply to my letter of the 23d, the second asking for protection for the steamer Virginius, now lying here, and that she is not subjected to any unlawful exercise of force on the part of the Bazan. To the latter I will answer that the Virginius shall have all necessary protection till I advise you further, although I believe that she has forfeited all right to pro tection from the U. S. Government. Very respectfully, your ob't serv't, ALLEN V. REED, Comd'r U. S. N., Comd'g Kansas. Fifth. — Commander Reed' informs the Officer in command of the Bazan of his conclusion to protect the Virginius, and why : United States Steameb Kansas; Aspinwall, June 24th, 1873. Sm : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 23d instant, relating to the nationality of the steamer Virginius, now at anchor in this harbor. 410 JAMES THORINGTON. On inquiring for the papers of the Virginius I found that they were in the hands of the United States Consul, and I wrote him a letter, enclosing a copy of yours, with a request that he would inform me as to her nationality and the correct ness of her papers, that I might reply to your communication with precision. His reply is just at hand, and I hasten to send you a copy of it, which is herewith enclosed. You will see by that she is considered entirely and completely a United States vessel and authorized to sail under the United States flag. I shall feel myself bound to consider her so. The grave charges which you haye made of her having changed her flag and per formed a hostile act toward the Spanish government I have no knowledge of beyond that contained in your letter;' and you must be aware that I cannot act on any information except that received from my own government or from personal know ledge. Such an act as you mention, if proved to the satisfaction, of the United States government, would cause the withdrawal of all protection to the vessel, as our laws regulating the transfer of vessels are very strict, and no foreign vessel could become a United States vessel without an act of Congress. You must be aware from the case of the Resolute, a vessel alleged to be a Cuban privateer, captured by the United States, taken to Newport, R. I., condemned and sold, that my government is disposed to act in all international questions of this character uprightly and honorably; without waiting for any demand or request on the part of the offended nation, when they have sufficient information to warrant it in its action, and with as little delay as possible. I am not aware that the hostile act complained of by you has ever been brought to the knowledge of the United States government, enabling it to take proper action in the case. Very respectfully, A. V. REED, Commanding United States steamer Kansas. To Lieutenant. Commanding Jose M. Autran, commanding Spanish gunboat Bazan. Lieutenant Autran replies to Commander Reed's letter of the 24th June, as follows : Aspinwall, June 25th, 1873. Sra : I have had the honor to receive your communication of yesterday, in reply to mine of the 23d, together with the enclosed copy of another from the American Consul at this port, by which I am informed that the Virginius is an , American vessel, having her papers in proper order, and authorized to sail under the flag she now flies ; but her papers being in proper order does not signify in any manner that the vessel may leave whenever she pleases, for the documents may appear legal and not be so.- The aet of the landing in Cuba, which I have denounced, is a matter of public notoriety, besides the confession of the very parties who perpetrated it. The crime has been committed. That is undeniable, and that the government of the American Union has not yet acted upon the complaint brought before it some time ago. Under these circumstances Spanish war vessels cannot permit the Virginius free passage to wherever she may wish to sail, or even to leave a neutral port where she has found protection and support. It is not the fault of the Spanish government that the United States has not withdrawn altogether its protection to the Virginius, for it is now many months that this vessel has been JAMES thorington; 411 engaged in business so foreign to that of any other merchant vessel as to require her to be constantly watched by the Spanish cruisers. If that protection is invoked for to-day, only because her papers appear in order, it is an arbitrary act ; for you must remember that one year ago the Virginius left a port in Venezuela, ridiculing the vigilance of the Pizzaro, which sailed with less speed than the Virginius, and, if I mistake not, the very vessel you command, was then in port and did not seek to interfere with the pursuit of the Pizzaro, which is a proof that the United States did not then protect her. On another occasion, more recent, the Pizzaro had springs on her cable in Port Cabello, to prevent the departure of the Virginius, and was not interfered with by the American man-of-war Canandaigua, lying at that port. The Virginius did not attempt to leave, though preparations had been made for her departure. I instance these to show you that the United States' protection does not and cannot exist for this vessel, which has placed herself outside the law of nations. I only wished to know if she has the right to fly the flag of the United States, out of respect to your presence in port, of whom I have requested an explan ation. It appears that there is but one thing to decide, whether the documents are legal or not. If the former, the authority which has extended them has been deceived ; if the latter, it does not entitle the Virginius to any possible protection from your government. I perfectly understand that you and the representative of the United States are at liberty to make whatever representations you deem proper to your government respecting the matter. But, in the meatime, I am convinced of my right to resolutely prevent her departure ; and I shall do so, in order to dis-. charge my duty, until I receive instructions to the contrary from the authorities to whom I am responsible. With consideration, &c, JOSE M. AUTRAN. To Commanding Oppioeb United States Steamer Kansas. To this threatening letter the following reply was returned. United States Steameb Kansas, Aspinwall, June 26th, 1873. Sib : The principal act of which you complain — viz : the running of a blockade and the landing of contraband of war— does not insure the forfeiture of the vessel unless caught in the act; and though she may be guilty, the offence is discharged at the end of the voyage, and the penalty never travels farther than the end of the return voyage. The Kansas has not been in any Venezuelan port for three years. As to the repeated question, whether the Virginius had the right to use the flag of the Union, I would refer you to my communication of the 24th inst. Very respectfully, A. V. REED. Commanding United States Steamer Kansas. To Lieutenant J. M. Autean, Spanish vessel-of-war Bazan. In continuation of the subject, Commander Reed, under date of July 1st, sent to the Navy Department the correspondence which ensued, in which letter he says : The Consul has had some further correspondence with the commander of the Bazan, but with no satisfactory result to the latter. On the 29th ult., t"he Canon- 412 JAMES THORINGTON. daigua, Captain Rockendorff, United States Navy, commanding, arrived here, and I submitted all the correspondence .to him, explained all the steps I had taken, and have acted under his direction since. This morning I received orders from him to convoy the Virginius to sea, which I did at six P.M., and when she was well clear of the land, I came back and anchored, in order to send this letter to the department. The Bazan made no demonstration. Sixth. — The Commander of the Spanish Gun-Boat Bazan ad dresses Consul Thorington direct upon the subject of the wrongs inflicted by the Virginius, and wishes the Consul to cause to be done certain acts. Spanish Steamer op Wab Bazan. Colon, June 27th, 1873. Sib : Since my arrival in this port I have had the honor of addressing two offi cial commnnications to the commander of the Corvette of your nation, the Kansas, for the object, the first, to find out if the Virginius could legally hoist the flag of the Union after having committed piratical acts on the coast of Cuba, and replied to in terms not satisfactory. I enclose the second, in which I pretended by the reasons therein given, that the Virginius should strike that flag which she can never boast of without its resulting to a great responsibility for the North American gov ernment. This being replied to in a negative sense, I find myself in the forced necessity to address you, to see if I am more fortunate, with an arrangement by rights, and I shall do so in the following terms : I denounce the steamer Virginius as a pirdte, in the name of the Spanish government, and request of you, in consider ation of the present good relations between both countries, and in the duty which this circumstance imposes upon you to attend to my petition ; that you will please order the said vessel to be sent to the United States,, there to be tried .by the corres ponding proper tribunals, and to which Spain shall send the proofs which she holds in her possession, it being well understood that should these proofs be insufficient to condemn the Virginius, then the Spanish government, in my name, becomes compelled on a future day to pay the damages and prejudices accrued thereby. I have given to the commander of the Kansas a copy of this communication for his information and the conclusions which may be convenient to him. In the meantime, I request that you will please accept the sincere expression of my greatest considerations. JOSE MARIA AUTRAN. To the Consul of the United States at Colon. Seventh. — Consul Thorington's reply to Lieutenant Autran de clining to cause to be done what he requests in reference to the Virginius, and his reasons therefor : Consulate op the United States at Aspinwall, U. S. of Columbia, June 28th, 1873. To Lieutenant-Commander Jose Maria Autran, Commanding Spanish Gunboat Bazan. Sra : Your letter addressed to me of date 27th inst. , is just received, and the letters referred to therein as having been sent to the commander of the Kansas, also Been and read. JAMES THORINGTON.- 413 In reply, I deem it my duty to say that the replies of the commander of the Kansas to your communications have had my approval. You left him no alternative but, either to defend the Virginius or cause to be withdrawn the flag of his country, which the Virginius had a right to fly. He chooses the former. You request me to cause to be sent to the United States for trial the Virginius, for offenses you allege against her. This I must at this time decline to do. You made your choice, and; after consultation with the commander of the Kansas, we have made ours. It is not to be presumed your statement of the facts and conclusions of law we could agree to. You tender yourself as surety for the faithful performance of any award to be made by the courts of my country against your country, for damages by- reason of my causing the Virginius being sent home for trial. Securities in this country are regarded in dollars and cents, and American gold is considered the true standard. What the value of the Virginius is in coin I am not prepared to say ; but before I could entertain a proposition to send her home it might be necessary to determine.' The same complaint from your Government was preferred when the Virginius and the Pizarro and the Kansas occupied similar positions to those Which you now occupy, the Bazan, the Virginius and Kansas. Your government did not then deem it advisable to follow the matter up, and I see no reason by analogy, why I should change the course of conduct now observed then. I may regret any collision that may take place, by reason of my advice or conduct in this matter — ¦ but I know of no other line of conduct than duty to my country and the sustaining of my country's flag, and after I have discharged that duty conscientiously, as I have in this case, consequences may take care of themselves. I am Sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JAMES THORINGTON, U. S. Consul. Eighth. — Copy of letter from Mr. Hurlbut to Mr. White, to which reference has been made, and which is given for a proper understand ing of the action of the American Consul, and of the precedent to which he refers .* Colon, April 23d, 1872. Sra : The Virginius, an American merchant steamer, lies in this port nearly ready for sea. It is understood that the Spanish man-of-war Pizarro is watching her, and her commander is believed to have orders, to detain her in this port or capture her in case of departure. I have endeavored to ascertain definitely the offenses alleged to have been committed by the Virginius. The only tangible matter capable of proof appears to be that she ran the blockade of Cuba with an armed party of Cuban revolutionists and a cargo of munitions, proceeding from some port in Venezuela, and making a landing in the eastern department of Cuba. This was during the past year. The law, as I understand it, is, that although the ship: during such voyage was liable to capture, and could not and would not be reclaimed by the United States, that such liability ceases when the unlawful voyage has been completed, and that no taint attaches to the ship which will in any way justify forcible seizure and deten tion by Spanish cruisers. In this state of affairs, if the ship presents herself in a neutral port with her papers in regular form, it cannot be permitted that she should be captured in such neutral waters, nor upon the high seas for a past act of blockade running. Especially is this to be considered the rule in the waters of the Isthmus, for by treaty between Columbia and the United States, we "guarantee the neutrality 414 JAMES THORINGTON. of the Isthmus and the sovereignity of Columbia over it," and Columbia more than a year since acknowledged the Cuban revolutionists as belb'gerents. It is expected by Mr. Perry, United States Consul in this place, that instructions will reach him by the next mail, on this question, or perhaps earlier by the Wyoming. Those instructions, if received, will remove all difficulty. If, however, they should not arrive before your departure, it appears to me to be your duty, if I may be permitted so to say, to see the Virginius clear of possible interruption from the Pizarro, her papers being of course in complete order. I do not hesitate to say that the fact of the long detention of this steamer in Columbian waters under surveillance of the Spanish navy, has injured our national reputation. I do not admit it to be an offence against the neutrality laws of the United States to charter a Steamer for the purpose named, from Venezuela to Cuba ; it certainly is not an offence for which Spain is entitled to capture the steamer, except in the act. Nor is an American vessel to be forcibly detained in neutral friendly waters upon any mere suspicion. When she is ready for sea, cleared in proper form, she is entitled to the protection of the navy from insult or force. For these reasons, in case no instructions arrive by the New York steamer, nor by the Wyoming, from superior authority, I request you as the senior officer of the navy present, to see that the Virginius is not subjected to any unlawful exercise of force on the part of the Pizarro. At the same time I recommend both to yourself and Mr. Perry, that she be not permitted to leave this port until after the arrival at least of the New York steamer. The commandant of the Pizarro states to me, in a note, that the Spanish govern ment has requested of the United States to send this steamer home for trial before our Courts, a, request which will undoubtedly have been granted, if any basis has been shown for the request, and the answer to which, if such- request has been made, must be due by the next arrival from New York. As the captain of the Virginius has appealed to me for protection, I feel compelled to give you my views as above, and to place the affair where it properly belongs, in the hands of that service whose paramount duty is the protection of American commerce. I have, &c, STEPHEN A. HURLBUT, Minister Resident United States of America. The conclusion at Aspinwall is thus summed up by a corres pondent : "The Kansas, on the 2d of July, convoyed the Virginius to the high seas, and the following day the Bazan left this port. As the Virginius steamed up, the Bazan brought her rear pivot gun to bear upon her ; the Kansas moved up between the Virginius and the Bazan. The American man-of-war Canandaigua let roll a 20 lb. shot into their rear pivot gun, and brought the point to bear upon the Bazan, and thus in position, the Virginius, with the American flag flying from three prominent points, steamed out of the bay, the Kansas keeping her position and moving in line ; the Canandaigua in position, with her men at the gun. Silence reigned among the JAMES THORINGTON. 415 thousands of people who lined the shore and crowded the light house to witness the scene. The Virginius and the Kansas left the bay, and as they passed out by the residence of the United States Consul, the flags of the two ships were lowered three times to that official's flag, and a murmur went forth, ' The Consul has protected the Stars and Stripes in Columbian waters,' and an hour afterward the Virginius was lost to view in the dim distance at sea, and the Kansas returned to port" The subsequent career and fate of the Virginius is too well kno\jn to require much mention here. Her capture by the Tornado, the heartless execution of over fifty of her passengers and crew at San tiago de Cuba, her restoration to the United Stales Government by Spain in obedience to the Fish-Polo Protocol, and finally her accidental sinking, just as matters began to grow again serious between the United States and Spain on her account, are facts famil iar to all, while the manifold complications and matters for diplomatic investigation arising therefrom are still unsettled, and no one can foretell their ultimate adjudication and result. It is proper to add that Consul Thorington's conduct in the Virginius affair at Aspinwall, was officially and warmly endorsed by the State Department at Washington, and also elicited most favorable comments from the press throughout the United States. Suffering from the consequences of an attack of Isthmus fever, he applied for and received leave of absence, and visited the United States and his home last summer, returning, recruited in health, to his post in November, 1873. In the application for this leave of. absence, Minister Scruggs, in his communication to the State De partment, stated that Consul Thorington's office gave evidence of industry and efficiency in the discharge of his duties, and that he had made quite a favorable impression upon, and was much respected by, the local authorities at Aspinwall. ALFRED T. A. TORBERT. By R. S. Swobds. REVET Major-General Alfred T. A. Torbert, United States Consul-General at Paris, France, and late Consul-General at Havana, Isle of Cuba, was born at Georgetown, Sussex County, State of Delaware, July 1st, 1833. He was the son of Jonathan R. Torbert,, who was also by birth a citizen of the State of Delaware ; lived at Georgetown, and was a man highly esteemed and very prominent among his people. He was a farmer by occupation, a cashier of a local bank, and a Methodist local minister. ,t , His son Alfred, the subject of this sketch, was put to school at Georgetown, the cherished idea of his father being to have him edu cated for the army at the United States Military Academy at West Point. The son seemed to have ho particular bias for army life, but in obedience to the wishes of his father, he entered the Military Acad emy, September 1st, 1851, at the age of seventeen years, where he .remained till July 1st, 1855, at which time he graduated, and was pro moted to the United- States Army as Brevet Second Lieutenant of Jnfantry. His father never lived to have his pride gratified by seeing his son an army officer, having died before the lad was graduated. Of the early military history of Torbert there is on record enough to show that in active service he soon commenced to repay his coun try for the cost of his education. He was immediately on his ap pointment in the army sent to the frontier for duty, in conducting recruits to Fort McIntosh,*Texas, and in scouting against the Lipan Indians. During this service he was promoted to Second Lieutenant Fifth Infantry, July 19th, 1855. In 1856-7 he served in the Florida hostilities against the Seminole Indians. In 1857 he went to Utah, under General Albert Sydney Johnson, and served in that expedition up to 1860. In that year he was on the march to New Mexico ; and, until 1861, was stationed at Fort Stanton, New Mexico. Early in 1861 he came to the States on his first leave of absence since the day z^a^H-^c ALFRED T. A. TORBERT. 417 he graduated, and was at his family home in Philadelphia. The war of the rebellion having then broken out, he was ordered, after spend ing some ten days at home, to report to the Governor of the State of New Jersey, at Trenton, for the purpose of mustering into the United States service the troops from that State. On the 25th of February, 186.1, just previous to this event, he had been promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant in the Fifth Regiment of United States Infantry. While engaged in this service at Trenton, he mustered in and out of the United States service all the three months' men (four regiments), and mustered in some seven or eight regiments of the three years' men. His efficient services, soldierly bearing, and gentle manners, soon won him the kindly regards of all with whom his duties asso ciated him, and especially of Governor Olden, the then Governor of the State. About the 1st of September of the same year (1861) Col. Mont gomery, then in command of the First New Jersey Regiment of Vol unteers, having been promoted to Brigadier-General, Governor Olden sought and obtained permission of the War Department to place Torbert in command of that regiment, then in camp near Alexandria, Virginia ; and he was accordingly, on September 16th, 1861, commis sioned as Colonel of the First New Jersey Volunteers, and took com mand immediately. On the 25th of the same month, his rank in the regular army was advanced to that of captain. He was a very young officer to take so important a command, and to succeed an officer so many years his senior. The care and responsibility of a thousand lives was a new thing to him, and he conscientiously realized its force. The gallant Phil. Kearney, who was then in command of the First New Jersey Brigade, which included Torbert's regiment, gave to him a kind and hearty reception, and supported his efforts to bring his regiment into a state of efficiency, which soon commanded the admiration of the gallant soldier who commanded the brigade. Colonel Torbert was with his regiment in the Virginia Peninsular campaign, and engaged in the siege of Yorktown from April 5th to May 4th, 1862 ; in the action at West Point, May 8th, 1862 ; in the battle of Gaines' Mill, June 27th, 1862 ; and the battle of Charles City Cross Roads, June 30th, 1862. In the Northern Virginia campaign, in the battle of Manasses, or second Bull Run, August 29th and 30th, 1862. By the death of General Taylor, who was then commander of the brigade, Torbert succeeded to the command of the First New Jersey 418 ALFRED T. A. TORBERT; Brigade, which had been so badly cut up in the last-named battle that it was kept some time in reserve. It was not brought into action again until the battle of South Mountain, or Crampton's Pass, Sepr tember 14th, 1862, under Colonel Torbert, in what is called, the Maryland campaign of the Army of the Potomac' Here occurred one of the most brilliant affairs of the campaign, and which doubtless placed the star on the shoulders of Torbert. The enemy were strongly posted on the Mountain, and commanded the pass, which it was ne cessary to carry at any hazard. Repeated attempts had been made to dislodge the enemy, who were posted behind stone walls at the foot of the slope ; but each attack had been repulsed, and the ammu nition of those in front had. been spent At this critical moment the general in command (Newton) came to Torbert and asked him whether or no he thought his men would storm the pass. With full confi dence in the courage of his men, and a little piqued by the question, he quickly replied, " My men will storm h — 1, sir, if I give the com mand ! " — " Go ahead, sir I " said the general ; and it was not long before the pass was won. These words of Torbert call to mind a little episode in the Revo lutionary war, in connection with one of the most brilliant events of the whole struggle— the storming of Stony Point, on the Hudson river — the American Gibraltar — by " mad Anthony Wayne," as he was nicknamed. When General Washington proposed the attack to him, his traditionary reply was, " You plan the attack, General, and I'll storm h— 1 ! " The following is a characteristic congratulatory order to the brigade, issued on the following day, by Colonel Torbert : — "Headquarters First Brigade, Fibst Division, "Sixth Corps, Camp in Crampton's Pass* " Maryland, September 15, 1862. "General Orders. "Soldiers of the First New Jersey Brigade: " The 14th day of September, 1862, is one long to be remembered ; for on that day you dashingly met and drove the enemy at every point Your advance in line, of battle, under a galling artillery fire, and final bayonet charge, was a feat seldom if ever surpassed. The heights you took show plainly what determined and well-disciplined soldiers can do. You have sustained the reputation of your State, and done great credit to your officers and yourselves. While we lament the death of our brave comrades who have fallen so gloriously, ALFRED T. A. TORBERT.. 419 we can only commend their souls to God, and their sorrowing friends to His sure protection. May you go from victory to victory is the hope and wish of the colonel commanding brigade. "A. T. A. Torbert, "Colonel Commanding." Three days after this followed the grand battle of Antietam, in which Torbert commanded his brigade. He was promoted to Brig adier-General United States Volunteers, November 29th, 1862, and continued in command of the First New Jersey Brigade, the old command of Philip Kearney, and became as much an object of devo tion to his officers and men as Kearney was before him. He was in the Rappahannock campaign, in Virginia; in the Pennsylvania cam paign, in June, 1863 ; in the battle of Gettysburg, July 2d and 3d, 1863 ; skirmish at Fairfield, Penn., July 5th, 1863 ; and pursued the retreating enemy to Warrentown, Va. For his gallant and merito rious services at the battle of Gettysburg, he was brevetted Major in the regular army, July 4th, 1863. In the Rapidan campaign, he was engaged in the combat at Rappahannock Station, November 7th, 1863, and operations at Mine Run from November 26th to December 3d, 1863. During this period he had been offered the command of a division, but his attachment to his own command and to the Sixth Corps outbalanced desire for promotion, and caused him to decline the offer. In April, 1864, General Meade, then "in command of the Army of the Potomac, sent for him and offered him the command of either of two divisions of cavalry, which he named. This offer was declined by Torbert on account of suffering at the time from an abscess, which frequently incapacitated him from riding. A second time he was . spoken to on the subject, and for the same reason declined. When General Sheridan came east and took command of the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, General Meade spoke to him of his desire to have Torbert command a division of cavalry. Sheridan thereupon sent for him, and made him an offer of a division, which he again declined on the same grounds as he had previously assigned to Gen. Meade ; but it seemed to be predetermined that he should be trans ferred to the cavalry, and the next day he was ordered to report to General Sheridan for duty, and was put in command of the First Division of Cavalry, April, 1864. While in this command he was engaged in the Richmond campaign ; in the skirmishes at Milford Station, May 21st, and North Anna River, May 23d, 1864; in the 420 ALFRED T. A. TORBERT. action of Hanovertown, May 27th ; in the battle of Hawes' Shop; May 28th ; in the action of Matadequian Creek, May 30th ; battle of Cold Harbor, May 31st and June 1st ; battle of Trevillian Station, June llth ; skirmish at Mallory's Ford Cross Road, June 12th ; action of Tunstall's Station, June 21st; and combat at Darbytown, July 28th, 1864. For gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Hawes' Shop he was brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel in the regular army, May 28th, 1864. '¦ In August following he went with his division to the Shenandoah Valley in company with General Sheridan, and was made by him Chief of Cavalry of the Middle Military Division, August 8th, 1864, having three divisions under his command. The services of his com mand here are well known in history, and were of the highest impor tance, being engaged in the action of Winchester, August 17th ; ac tion 'of • Kearnysville, August 25th; battle of Opequan, September 19th ; of Milford, September 22d ; Luray, September 24th ; Waynes boro, September 28th; Mount Crawford, October 2d; and Tom's Run, October 9th ; battle of Cedar Creek, October 19th ; actions near Middleton, November 12th ; Liberty Mills, December 22d, and Gor- dpnsville, December 23d, 1864. For his distinguished services during the rebellion he was made Brevet Major-General United States Volunteers, September 9th, 1864 ; and for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Winchester, Va., he was made Brevet Colonel in the regular army, September 19th, 1864. He was then placed in command of the Army of the Shenandoah, with his headquarters at Winchester ; and continued in that-position from April 22d to July 12th, 1865. • The war of the rebellion being ended, he, by a firm yet kind ad- • ministration of affairs in the Valley, endeared himself to the people, and did much to conciliate those who had but lately been in arms against the government. He was further promoted to the rank of Brevet Brigadier-General United States Army, March 13th, 1865, for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Cedar Creek, Virginia ; and, from the same date, Brevet Major-General United States Army, for gallant and meritorious services in the field during the rebellion. He was in command of the District of Winchester from July 12th to September 1st, 1865 ; and" of the District of Southeastern Virginia from September 1st to December 31st, 1865. He was mustered out of the volunteer service, January 15th, 1866. He then went on leave of absence from January 1st to November 1st, 1866. ALFRED T. A. TORBERT. 421 On the 17th day of January, 1866, he was married at Milford, Delaware, to Miss Mary E. Currey, of that place, an only child of the late Daniel Currey, who, in his lifetime was one of the most promi nent and leading men of the State. At this wedding were assembled many of the army officers, some of them of highest rank, the late companions-in-arms of General Torbert During his leave of absence he visited Europe, and, on his return, at the expiration of his' leave, he resigned his position in the army, October 31st, 1866. This comprises the army life and military services of Major-Gen eral Torbert.* After his resignation he took up his residence at Milford, Delaware, living the life of a private gentleman, and devoting his time to farming and fruit-growing, particularly the culture of the peach, of which he was the largest grower in his neighborhood. In the firsx presidential campaign of General Grant, he was nominated on the republican ticket of his district for Congress, but was defeated by his democratic opponent. On the 21st April, 1869, he was ap pointed by President Grant as Minister Resident to the Republic of Salvador, Central America, where he remained for the space of nearly two years ; and, while at his home on a leave of absence, by a mutual agreement with Mr. Biddle, the then Consul-General at Havana, a transfer was effected by the State Department, the one taking the place of the other, July 10th, 1871. Since that time General Torbert has filled the position of Consul-General at Havana. General Torbert is about five feet ten inches in height, and of a very handsome and distinguished appearance. He was noted in the army for his elegant getting up, and his splendid horsemanship. He possessed two of the most elegant horses in the Army of the Potomac, one of which was the gift of his staff officers while in command of the First New Jersey Brigade. His manner has a certain reserve and reticence, but is characterized by a perfect frankness and marked courtesy. His entire self-control, under all circumstances, and the gentle ways of a well-bred gentleman, render him very popular wherever he goes. Few men, either in private or public life, number so many friends as General Torbert * For most of the details of the military life of General Torbert, the writer of the above sketch is greatly indebted to the courtesy of General Cullum, and to his very valuable book entitled "Officers anrl Graduates of the United States Military Academy.'' 422 ALFRED T. A. TORBERT. Since the preceding sketch was written, its subject, has been pro moted from the Consulate General of Havana to that of the City of Paris, France. On the eve of his departure (November 13th), for his post in Cuba, after a short leave spent at his home in Delaware, General Torbert was notified by the State Department of his promo tion, and directed to await further orders. He sailed for Havre on the 13th December, 1873. .; The writer avails himself of the opportunity of this Addendum, to make mention of what was omitted in the preceding pages of this sketch, i. e. : the reputation of General Torbet as a tactitian, and an author. While a Regimental officer he brought his command into dis tinguished superiority for precision in its manoeuvres and tactical exercises. As he rose to a higher position, his Brigade and Division reaped the benefit of his instructions, in evolutions of the Line and Field Display. His parades and reviews were attractive to military men, who were always pleased, on such occasions, to see Torbert in command. Seeing the necessity of some simple manual of instruc tion, he compiled and published in 1864, a work'in pamphlet form, entitled " Forms for Parade and Review of Brigades, Divisions, and Corps of Infantry." To this was appended " General Rules for Reviews." The copyright of this work he disposed of to Brevet Major-General Emory Upton, who incorporated the treatise into his own Book on Tactics ; and the whole, approved by the War Depart ment, has since been recognized as the established authority. General Torbert was appointed Consul-General to Paris, in No vember, 1873, and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate, after the assembling of Congress, in the following month of December. WILLIAM H. TOWNSEND. By Eugene L. Townsend. [ILLIAM HUBBARD TOWNSEND, United States Consul at Cork, Ireland, is the son of Solomon and Amelia Townsend, and was born in the city of New port, Rhode Island, in the year 1803. While still an infant his parents removed to Providence, R. I, which place has since been his home. He received an academic education, and had considerable reputation as an amateur musician, being exceedingly proficient on the violin and flute. At a very early age he began a seafaring life under the supervision of his father, who was a prominent shipmaster in the East India trade from Providence. He continued this for several, years, until his father's health caused him to abandon the profession. ' He afterwards joined his father in manufacturing under a patent, at a place called Wonasquetucket in the vicinity of Provi dence, continuing in this until the expiration of the patent, when he resumed his original profession by becoming an attache of the New York, Providence and Boston Steamboat Line, in the capacity of clerk, and afterward as Captain. Subsequently a steamer, the John W. Richmond, was built for him by his father and other capitalists, which was known as the fastest boat that had yet appeared on Long Island Sound. He con tinued as Commander for several years, and was exceedingly popular in this capacity. For a period of six years Captain Townsend was serving as Purser, and occasionally as Executive Chief officer of the steam ship Atlantic, the pioneer of the Collins Line. In January, 1851, on the occasion of the accident to that steamer, which created unwonted emotion throughout England and America, he was promoted by Captain West from Purser to Chief Officer, and eventually had charge of the ship. He was attached to the Collins Line until it was discontinued. 424 RICHARD M. JOHNSON. At the close of the war Captain Townsend was appointed Pen sion Agent of the United States Government, for the State of Rhode Island. In October, 1870, he was appointed United States Consul at Cork, "Ireland, and in January, 1871, assumed the duties of the office, since which time he has continued to fulfill the same. RICHARD M. JOHNSON. ICHARD M. JOHNSON, Consul at Hankow and Kiu- kiang, China, was born at Belleville, St. Clair County, 111., on the 2d day of May, 1842. His ancestors were from Virginia, and settled in the old town of Kaskaskia, when the Great West was a wilderness. He entered McKen- dree College, at Lebanon, 111. when quite young, and finished his collegiate education in 1858. He then went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he studied, law for some three years. When the war broke out he entered the United States service, and remained therein for some years. Returning to St. Louis, he was appointed by Governor Fletcher Superintendent of the State Tobacco Warehouse rf Mis souri in 1865. In 1869 he received the appointment of Consul to Hankow from President Grant, which position he still continues to hold. Mr. Johnson is married and has three children. He is a man of fine personal appearance, some six feet in height, and strong and robust in constitution. He is specially noted for his admirable social qualities. At the Department he stands high as one of our most active, attentive and efficient foreign representatives. Hankow is an important Consular post, although unfortunately situated for a commercial port Built upon a flat, on a neck or point where the Han river makes a junction with the Yang-tse, it is, consequently subject to inundation, and has repeatedly suffered from destructive floods. The number of foreign residents is about one hundred and twenty five, DAVID TURNER. [ AVLD TURNER, United States Consul at La Paz, Mexi co, was born in Montville, Connecticut, September 30th, 1822. At the age of sixteen he made a voyage before the mast from New York to Pensacola, and passed a year fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. On his return he entered the mercantile business, in which he continued until 1849, when, in company with twenty-six other young men, he purchased a schoon er and worked her to San Francisco, arriving in November of the same year. He then opened a hotel, which was patronized by the best people of the city ; but it was unfortunately burned in 1850, leav ing him almost penniless. He next went into the mines, and worked with pick and shovel for one year with poor success; after which he again commenced merchandizing, but unfortunately located in the "Fremont Grant," which he finally left in 1863, without a dollar, and, to use his own language, " robbed of everything " by the parties interested in that questionable scheme. Since that time Mr. Turner was engaged in prospecting in Sina- loa, Chihuahua, Sonora and Lower California until April, 1869, when he received the appointment of United States Consul at La Paz, Mexico. From his official report, September 30th, 1871, we extract the following concerning his consular district : " While the government of Mexico continues so unequivocally hostile to Americans and their interests, it can hardly be expected that American merchants will risk themselves or their property in Mexico. Article 2 of a decree, dated February 1st, 1856, declares that no foreigner, without previous permission of the supreme gov ernment, shall be allowed to acquire real estate in any of the frontier States and territories, except at a distance of twenty leagues from the frontier; and on the 20th of July, 1869, President Juarez issued a decree, article 2 of which declares that all the inhabitants of the republic shall be allowed to denounce public lands in any of the States or territories, except the citizens of the nations adjoining 426 DAVID TURNER. Mexico, who shall not be allowed to acquire public lands by any title whatever in any State or territory which borders upon the nation of which they are citizens. It cannot be doubted that these decrees are directed especially against Americans ; and with this evidence of the hostility of the government toward Americans, it is not surprising that the custom-house and other officials of the Mexican government should consider that they are carrying out the views and wishes of their government in subjecting Americans to all the annoyances and inconveniences possible. *********** "The Pearl Fishery proved exceedingly profitable the past year, which has induced the parties engaged in it to extend their opera tions, and it is probable that the amount of pearls and shells taken this year will be far in excess of that of any previous year. The discovery of large quantities of orchil on the Pacific side of the peninsula has induced quite an immigration from the republic of Ecuador. South American capitalists, engaged in the gathering and shipment of 'this article, have brought in some hundreds of " peons " from Ecuador, who, although not a desirable class of immigrants, assimilate to the natives of this territory. The Lower California Company is also extensively engaged, in this business. The produc tion is almost unlimited, and Lower California must rule the orchil market in future. " Agriculture has not been increased to any considerable extent ; nor is it likely to be, until a different class of people possess the country. Although there is far more than sufficient good land to supply the wants of the country, the flour, corn, lard, sugar, and, in fact, nearly all the necessaries of life, are brought from California, or from the States of Sinaloa and Sonora. Mining is in a flourishing state, and the yield of silver and copper ore is steadily increasing *********** "The principal copper mines are located about three hundred miles north of La Paz, and are now furnishing large quantities of rich ore, which is generally shipped to Europe. During the past year some very rich gold mines have been discovered in the northern part of the peninsula, which has induced quite an immigration from California, and may reasonably be expected to operate very favor ably upon the business of that portion of the territory." STEPHEN M. VAIL. STEPHEN M. VALL, United States Consul for Rhenish Bavaria,1 was born in the town of Union Vale, Dutchess County, New York, January 15th, 1818. His parents were farmers, and he was brought up to that occupation until fourteen years of age, when, having early conceived a love for reading and study, he was sent to school at the Oneida Conference Seminary at Cazenovia, New York. Here he spent two years in study, prepared for college, and, at, the age of sixteen, he entered Bowdoin College at Brunswick, Maine, and was graduated from that institution with the customary degree of Bachelor of Arts, at the age of twenty years. He then returned to his native county and was employed as a teacher of the Latin and Greek languages for one year at the Amenia Seminary, Dutchess County, New York. In October, 1839, Mr. Vail became connected with the New York Union Theological Seminary as a student, and gave special attention. to the study of the Oriental languages, particularly Hebrew and Arabic, under Dr. Isaac Nordheimer, a distinguished German Orien talist He was graduated from that institution in May, 1842, and became connected with the New York Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as an itinerant preacher, in which he continued for five years, preaching mostly in his native county. He was elected principal of the New Jersey Conference Seminary at Pennington, New Jersey, in the Spring of 1847, and remained there until July, 1849. He was then elected Professor of Hebrew and Oriental languages in the Methodist General Biblical Institute, Con cord, New Hampshire. In this position he continued to labor for eighteen years until July,. 1867, when, with health much impaired, he retired to his farm on Staten Island, New York. In November, 1869, Mr. Vail was appointed by President Grant, United States Consul for Rhenish Bavaria, which office he now holds. 428 NERE A. ELFWING. Among the many literary publications emanating from Mr. Vail's pen may be mentioned : a work on " Ministerial Education ; " " The Bible Against Slavery ; " various contributions to the Methodist Quarterly Review, the Methodist, JZion's Herald, and other periodicals ; and numerous Sermons and addresses, 1842-1870. NERE A. ELFWING. (ERE A. ELFWING, United States Consul at Stock holm, was born in Sweden, in 1832: After having studied at the Royal Military Academy, and at the Uni versity at Upsala, he was for some years engaged in engineering work as eleve in the Corps des Ponts et Chasseurs^ In 1855, he went to America and was engaged as engineer and surveyor in various places until 1861, when he joined the 48th Infantry Regiment New York Voluuteers, as First Lieutenant With this regiment, and as Assistant Inspector General upon various staffs,. he served until the close of the war. He was wounded in the ancle, by a hand-grenade, at the storming of Fort Walker, on Morris Island, July 18th, 1863 ; subsequently received a slight wound at Olustee, Florida, and finally, lost a leg outside of Wilmington, North Carolina, on the 20th of February, 1865. He was breveted Lieuten ant Colonel, after Fort Fisher, by the President, and Colonel, by the Governor of New York ; and was mustered out of service as Lieut Colonel, September 12th, 1865. Colonel Elfwing returned to Sweden in January, 1866, where he was appointed teacher at the Royal Military School. On December llth, 1868, he was appointed Vice-Consul of the United States at Stockholm, and was promoted to full Consul, April 17th, 1871. The commerce of Stockholm, from a tabular statement before us, shows an "annual importation of over $30,000,000 in value, and ex ports to the amount of nearly $39,000,000. Iron is the principle article of export to the United States. JAMES RILEY WEAVER. OLONEL JAMES RILEY WEAVER, United States Consul at Antwerp, Belgium, is a native of Westmore land County, Pennsylvania, and was born in 1839.. His early life was passed in working upon the farm during the summer months, and attending the district school in the winter. From this he derived two great benefits : first, a strong physical development, that served him well in after army and long prison life ; and secondly, it afforded him a solid basis for future literary pursuits and a collegiate career. At the age of seventeen he left home to begin teaching in the district schools of his native county, and, using the funds gained by .teaching, to attend the academy and college. To "graduate was his highest ambition, and that independently of any paternal aid ; for, although a diligent farmer and having an abundance for the support of a large family of ten children, his father had not much to devote to the education of his boys. Young Weaver was quite successful in his efforts, and frequently taught as tutor in the various academies, and at the same time kept up all his studies. In the normal school at Latrobe, he taught for a time the Intermediate Department, six hours per day, and devoted the evening to severe, unremitting and assiduous study. This was trying work indeed, but he was encouraged and sustained by the hope of one day placing his diploma in the hands of a loved mother. He used the same diligence in study until and after he had entered the Alleghany College, at Meadville, Pa. Mr. Weaver had reached his Senior year. It was now during the trying times of war, in the year 1862, when McOlellan had fallen back from the Peninsula, and Lee had crossed the Potomac. It was then that the whole college rose as one man, in defence of the Union. One college Company had been organized before, and many of the older Southern students had gone to aid the South ; and now to those who remained, the call came too loud and sharp to be resisted. Of- 430 JAMES RILEY WEAVER. fleered by three recent graduates, another company of cavalry was enlisted, and with them Mr. Weaver went to the front But he was not to be thwarted in his design to graduate, and accordingly peti tioned the College to graduate him, if he would study the few re maining branches, and pass an examination before the officers of his company. This was granted ; he passed the examination, and the next spring was graduated, although he was then an officer. in com mand of a cavalry company, and on the severe march from Virginia into Pennsylvania, just previous to the battle Of Gettysburg. The pleasure of taking his diploma and presenting it to his mother was not permitted him until some years afterwards. On entering service, Mr. Weaver's company" was attached to the 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry, and he was immediately made Sergeant- Major. During the winter of 1862-3, the regiment performed picket duty around Fairfax Court House, and, though miserably armed, had to contend with the terrible Mosby, whose citizen-soldiery knew every cow-path of that country, and despite all vigilance, would often enter the lines, shoot a picket or steal a horse, sometimes doing things by wholesale. In the spring of 1863, Sergeant-Major Weaver was made a com missioned officer, and the regiment was attached to General Kil- patrick's division. How they were made to march, and fight, and charge, only the troops under their then popular commander (Kill- cavalry, as he was called), can ever comprehend. Immediately after the battle of Chancellorsville, they began the active campaign. By the discharge of his superior officers, Weaver took command of Com pany C, and with it his lot was cast ¦ during all his after army life. They took prominent part in the battle of Gettysburg, and the fol lowing pursuit of Lee across the Potomac, Rappahannock and Rap idan rivers. Finally, in October, 1863, when General Meade was compelled to fall back from Culpepper Court House, and the cav alry covered the retreat between the town and the Rappahannock, their division was entirely surrounded by the Confederate cavalry, on the old fighting ground at Brandy Station. It was only a word of charge, and the solid brigades passed through, led by General Custer ; but for the 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry, left on the extreme rear guard, it was no easy task to contend against two full brigades upon each side. Only one thing was to be done : Charge ! One squadron, did, and boldly, led by Major Van Voorhees, and sustained by Capt Weaver, The movement was successful, but in the eager pursuit of JAMES RILEY WEAVER. 431 their fleeing opponents they went so far that return was impossible, and, with the Major wounded, and all the charging column killed or captured, Captain Weaver found himself a prisoner with about thirty men. He was taken to Libby Prison, spent the long winter of 1863- 4, in confinement there, where he remained about nine months ; was then sent to Macon, Georgia ; then to Charleston, to be put under fire, and then to Columbia, South Carolina, where he passed the winter of 1864-5. In the spring of 1865, after a confinement of about seventeen months, he was released with other prisoners, and turned over to the Federal troops then holding Wilmington. For tunately, he escaped without a shattered constitution. After the close of the war he continued his studies, taking a course in the General Biblical Institute at Concord, N. H, which was finished at the Garrett Biblical Institute at Evanston, Illinois. After teaching one year as Principal of Dixon (111.) Seminary, he was elected Professor of Mathematics and Military Tactics of West Virginia University, located at Morgantown. He had received sev eral brevets for meritorious service during the war, so that with the rank of Brevet Colonel of Volunteers, he entered upon the duties of organizing the Military' Department of the University, which was then just starting, under the control of the State. He bore many superior testimonials for high rank in Mathematics, and obtained the position over several celebrated competitors. The Professors under whom he had passed his studies testified. that " during an experi ence of eighteen years, they had found none superior." His success in the University was signal and- gratifying, as the testimonials he now bears, and which came unasked, from Regents, Presidents and stu dents, avouch. He occupied the Professorship in the University for two years. In the spring of 1869, Colonel Weaver resigned the Professorship, to accept the Consulate then offered him, and after fitting himself for a foreign residence, and having, on the eve of departure, mar ried a daughter of Bishop Simpson, of Philadelphia, he left for Eu rope, on what has proven, to be a long wedding-tour. His first ap pointment was at Brindisi, a place of no importance, situated upon the Adriatic southeast shore of Italy ; but it gave him a fine oppor tunity for studying Southern Italy and the people of that country. In the following spring a transfer was secured to the more favorable and important Consulate at Antwerp, since which time he has con tinued to discharge the duties of that post. 432 JAMES RILEY WEAVER. Antwerp is one of the most important commercial ports on the Continent, and her American trade has rapidly developed into that of great magnitude. There arrive annually at that port an average of about sixty American vessels of large tonnage, in addition to the direct lines of steamers, and hundreds of foreign sailing vessels that trade regularly between that port and this country : consequently the duties of the Consulate are eminently commercial, and confined chiefly to the interests of our own merchant marine. From the very commencement of his official duties at Antwerp, Consul Weaver has labored earnestly and assiduously to develop this mutual intercommunication, and to promote the welfare of ship owners and seamen, by harmonizing as far as possible the conflicting interests of shipmasters and their crews. This was no easy task, as is well known by any one who lives at a seaport and is familiar with the peculiar temperament of sailors and seamen, and the various temptations to which they are exposed. To arrange the disputes, and settle the difficulties that frequently arise between the officers and poor " Jack " demands the greatest patience and judgment. The marked success that has attended the Consul's efforts is made manifest by the universal esteem and confidence in which he is held by all, both masters and seamen, who visited the port, and had occasion to ask his services. Another disagreeable and painful element in the duties of Consuls at seaport towns is to dispose of the poor and destitute of all nations, who strive through them to obtain aid to seek in America an asylum from every misfortune. During the last Franco-German war, especi ally, many destitute of both these nations appealed to the Consul for aid, which was always granted to the extent of his power. In addition to his official duties, Consul Weaver has seconded his good lady, in making their house a bright spot for all Americans, and others, who have visited Antwerp and enjoyed their hospitality. Thus, instead of losing their American home, they have carried.it with them, only to be enriched and embellished by the Literature and Art of the old world. That he has, in all his consular transac tions, reports, &c, acquitted himself most creditably of manifold and trying duties, is well known. He has observed great prompti tude, and has sought to obtain as near perfection as possible. For this he has received grateful and most complimentary recognitions from many quarters, official and otherwise. J. C. A. WINGATE. OSEPH CHARLES AUGUSTUS WINGATE, United States Consul at Swatow, China, was born in Stratham, New Hampshire, November 16th, 1830. He prepared for college at Phillips Exeter Academy, and was graduated at Bowdoin College in 1851. He then studied law in Exeter, was admitted to the bar in December, 1855, and at once opened an office at Chester. In December, 1856, he moved to Con cord, where, in January, 1859, he became Cashier of the Merrimack County Bank, which place he retained until the fall of 1861, when he was compelled to give up business in consequence of severe and long continued illness. In the Spring of 1863, the Swatow Consulate being vacant, Mr. Wingate was recommended to the State Department for the position, and in due time received his commission, bearing date April 6th, 1863. He arrived in China, via the Cape of Good Hope, in Novem ber, 1863, and at once assumed charge of the duties of his office. Consul Wingate's official term has been of. considerable length, extending over a period of more than ten years. During this time some of the business that has come before him has been both dif ficult and highly important but it was mainly of only local interest From his report to the State Department, November 7th, 1871, we make the following extracts concerning the Consulate : " The quarterly returns of the Commissioner of Customs ' show that the trade of the port is in a very flourishing condition. * * * Freights have generally been good, and are especially so at the end of this quarter, but the shipping has suffered many losses, owing to the frequency of typhoons on the coast " There has been an increasing demand for many foreign manu factures, especially for cottons. But unfortunately, the most marked increase in imports has been in opium. This increase, however, is not to be attributed to an equal increase in the consumption of the drug, but to the enforcement of the laws regarding its importation at the non-treaty ports between here and Hong Kong, which has in a meas- 434 3. C. A. WINGATE. ure prevented the smuggling to which I referred in my report lor 1869. It is more yleasant to note the increase in the export of sugar. *********** " The emigration to Singapore, Bankok, and Saigon, always large, has been, the past year, unusually so. The whole number of Chinese passengers from Swatow by foreign vessels was 27,022 ; of these there went by sailing-vessels 25,764, and by steamers 1,258. Most of those in sailing-vessels went during the northeast monsoOn. Thus there left by sailing-vessels, the last quarter of 1870, 18,430 ; the first quarter of 1871, 7,118 ; the second quarter, 216 ; and the third quarter, none. The number of passengers leaving by steamers is largest when sailing-vessels are not available ; thus there .left, the last quarter of 1870, 235 ; the first quarter of 1871, 263 ; the second quarter, 278, and the third, 482. The return of the emigrants is likewise, in a measure, regulated by the southwest monsoon ; thus there arrived by sailing-vessels, the last quarter of 1870, none ; the first quarter of 187.1, 258 ; the second quarter, 617 ; and the third, 2,589. By steamers there arrived, third quarter, 1870, 1,718 ; first quarter, 1871, 1,375 ; second quarter, 1,689 ; and the third, 2,227. Most of the passengers who arrive by steamer, come via Hong Kong, to which place they have found their way from Singapore, Bangkok, and Saigon, either by sail or steamer. The destination of the pas sengers was, to Singapore, 20,004 ; to Bangkok, 4,033 ; to Saigon, 1,719 ; to Hong Kong, 1,231 ; and to various coast ports, 35. The arrivals were, from Hong Kong, 6,304 ; Singapore, 2,887 ; Bangkok, 174 ; Saigon, 70 ; Viulau, 44 ; and coast ports, 994 The improved condition of the emigrants by their residence in Singapore and the other foreign fields of labor, is shown by the large numbers who are able to avail themselves of a return passage by steamer. The num: bers who go and come by junks is not noted. Only the very poorest now make use of the native craft. , " The spring of 1871 was very dry. The first rice-crop suffered from this cause at the time of planting; many fields could not be planted at all. But the loss from drought was insignificant compared with that which ensued from the subsequent floods. Both fields and villages suffered to a terrible extent. From the time the rain commenced up to the change of the monsoon, there has been a constant succession of heavy rains with much wind. In some dis tricts the fields are still under water. Both rice-crops are a failure, but the sugar-crop promises well. Fortunately rain was abundant J. C. A. WINGATE. 435 at other places ; hence the large import shown in table (A). The price is now low, but many are too poor to buy. Many persons have sold their children, and even themselves, to buy food, and I am in formed that the number of beggars in the city of Choo-Chow-foo has increased to 10,000. It is probable that the emigration to Singapore will be greatly stimulated from this cause. " This department may be said to be more orderly than in years past, owing to the severe punishment which is still being meted to refractory villages by General Fang. Clan fighting and the levying of black-mail are for the present stopped, and the arrears of tax are paid. The villages evidently deserve the severe punishment they are receiving, but the manner in which it is administered is shocking to western civilization, and the treachery by which possession of the culprits is obtained would brand any other than a Chinese general with infamy. A punishment equally severe, but so administered as to demonstrate the justice and honor of government, would probably be more lasting in its effects." C. B. WEBSTER. LAUDIUS BUCHANAN WEBSTER, A. M. M. D., Consul at Sheffield, England, is the son of Rev. Josiah Webster, and was born in Hampton, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, December 10th, 1815. He was gradu ated at Dartmouth College in 1836, and received, the degree of Doctor of Medicine at " The College of Physicians and Surgeons," in 'New York City, in 1844. Dr. Webster was engaged three years in our late war as "Acting Assistant Surgeon in the United States Army," in- charge of " Contraband, Camp Hospital," Washington, D. C. ; of Abbot Hospital, at Arlington, and also in charge of Hospital Trains from Nashville to Louisville, transporting sick and wounded soldiers. He was appointed Consul at Sheffield, England, in 1870, and continues to hold that position at the present time (December, 1873). WILLIAM T. WRIGHT. [TTl.TAM TURBUTT WRIGHT, United States Consul at Santos, Brazil, was born on his father's farm, near Centreville, Queen Anne County, Maryland, on the 16th August, 1833. His family, on both paternal and maternal sides, was one of the oldest and most respected in the State. His mother died in 1840, but the lessons of truth and rectitude learned upon her knee, and the inspiration of her loving heart and Christian example, left their impress upon the son's youth ful mind, and have comforted, sustained and directed the boy and the man in all his after life. Shortly after his mother's death, Mr. Wright's father, who, through the influence of his wife had been con verted to religion, became a minister of the Methodist Protestant Church, Maryland Conference or District His conversion and min istry were likened unto St. Paul's, and his obituary notice in 1862 (Methodist Protestant paper of Baltimore, May, 1862), spoke of him also as " a cavalier who could tilt a lance with Chesterfield." Mr. Wright's education was for some time conducted at the •"Primary School" near his home, where rapid progress was made in all his studies. At the age of fourteen years he entered Washington College, at Ches'tertown, Maryland, and was placed in the sophomore class after about two weeks' attendance.. He would have graduated in 1852, but having previously resolved to devote himself to either civil engineering: or commerce, he did not choose to complete his collegiate studies, and accordingly left the institution before graduation. In 1852, his relative, William H. De C. Wright, now deceased, sent him out as clerk to the commercial firm of Maxwell, Wright & Co., in Rio de Janeiro, then the first house in point of importance in South America. In a few years (about 1854), Mr. Wright became corresponding clerk to the firm, and hence their confidential clerk ; WILLLIAM T. WRIGHT. 437 and later, when one of the partners retired, he took his position in the financial department of the house. When Mr. R. K. Meade arrived in Rio de Janeiro as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Brazil, Mr. Wright was at once appointed and recognized as Secretary of Legation ad interim, which position he held for about eighteen months. In the meantime, Santos, situated on the coast further south, had grown to be a place of considerable commercial importance, and it was thought desirable by Maxwell, Wright & Co., (some of whose partners had been severely handled by the crisis of 1857) to have an agency there. In May, 1859, Mr. Wright went home to the United States, was appointed by President Buchanan Consul for Santos, etc., and in May, 1860, he returned to South America and opened his commercial house in Santos. This house bears the reputation of the best and most important there. Mr. Wright, as Consul in 1861, became involved in an official controversy with James Watson Webb, then United States Minister to Brazil, which caused him to resign his Consular position. In March, 1862, Mr. Wright married Carlota, daughter of the late Lieutenant-General Henrique Marques Lisboa, of the Brazillian army, by whom he has six children now living. In May, 1869, he visited the United States with his family, to spend some time and to rest, and returned in September, 1870. Shortly after his return he received official notification of his re-appointment as Consul of the United States for Santos. This appointment was made without solicitation on the part of Mr. Wright, but at the request of mer chants who do business with Santos. The chief article of export from Santos to the United States is coffee, which is considered equal in flavor to Mocha or Java, and is used to imitate the same by retailers in consuming countries. From Consul Wright's report for the year ending September 30th, 1871, it appears that there were exported from Santos to this country 73,427 bags of coffee of 160 lbs. each, and valued, in Brazilian cur rency, at 2,525,876:948. milreis. THOMAS WILLIAM EVANS. By Jane Gkay Seaveb. HOMAS WILLIAM EVANS, Surgeon-Dentist to the late Emperor Napoleon ILL, and to the Em perors of Russia, Prussia, and other European poten tates, Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, Mem ber of the Historical Society of Philadelphia, and other learned bodies, Commander of the Legion of Honor, etc., etc., was born at Philadelphia, where he received a good education, and, contrary to the wishes of his parents, who had destined for him another and less laborious profession, he devoted himself to the study of dentistry. After receiving his diploma, he commenced practice in his native city, and soon met with unprecedented success. When but eighteen years of age he was awarded, by the Frank lin Institute, a medal for the excellence of his method in the employ ment of gold applied to the filling of teeth. Later, in the pursuit of other inquiries and researches tending to the scientific develop ment of his profession, he applied himself to the discovery and per fection of some composition that could be employed as a substitute for gold or platina in the manufacture of artificial sets of teeth, the cost of these metals being too great except for the rich. After numerous experiments in that direction, he obtained a melange of vulcanized rubber. ' This- was, however, only an incomplete success, but it was quite enough to satisfy the Doctor that his work was well begun, and, once upon the track, the inventor was not slow to com plete the great progress and improvements in. dentistry, which entitle him, beyond all question, to recognition as a public benefactor. While achieving so much in dentistry, Dr. Evans was zealously pursuing his medical studies, and obtained a diploma as Doctor of Medicine ; after which he determined to go to France, and try his fortune in Paris. Accordingly, in 1850, he opened an office in the Rue de la Paix. He was still very young, and with modest re- 4/faHk/ THOMAS WILLIAM EVANS. 439 sources ; but in less than four years, by his skill and his profound knowledge of his art — perhaps less appreciated in France than it merited — he had succeeded in creating an extended practice, which included all the sovereigns of Europe. In 1854 the French Govern ment bestowed upon him the order of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, and, December 13th, 1865, he was raised to the rank of Officer of the Legion of Honor. In 1870 Lafayette College of Pennsylva nia conferred upon him the diploma of Doctor of Philosophy. This was an honor which he perhaps appreciated quite as much as if not more than any of the high distinctions which had been con ferred upon him by foreign powers ; as it assured him, that while he had been reaping many and well-merited rewards in a foreign land, his own countrymen had not been oblivious of the eminence he had attained, nor wanting in a due appreciation thereof October 15th, 1871, the rank and title of Commander of the Legion of Honor.-was conferred upon him. Dr. Evans is not ionly regarded by the public as a man of extraor dinary skill in his profession, but also as a humanitarian of large and enlightened views, employing his talent, his resources, and his position in the amelioration of suffering. With hands and brain never idle, so to speak, but constantly devoted to some charitable undertaking, some worthy effort in behalf of humanity, he has done much to merit the gratitude of his fellow-men Indeed, the measure of good he has accomplished in this most laudable direction stands as the noblest record of his extending usefulness. Notwithstanding the fact that he has amassed a large for tune, he still continues to apply himself as zealously to his profes sion as though he yet had both fame and fortune to make. " Doc tor," said a friend to him one day, " why do you continue to work so hard now that you have already a very large fortune ?" " My dear sir," replied the Doctor, "there are plenty of poor suffering creatures who need all that I can bestow upon them." What a beau tiful lesson could have been learned from that short response. Charity with Dr. Evans has become a constant occupation— and, in fact, a sublime monomania. After the close of the Crimean war he visited the hospitals of Moscow, Southern Russia, and in the Summer of 1859 the battle fields of Italy. Thanks to the favor of the Emperor Napoleon and the Minister of War, he received special passports which enabled him to visit the general military- hospitals of Turin, Miian, Brescia, 440 THOMAS WILLIAM EVANS. Castiglione, and several others, where he studied especially the treat ment given to wounds of the head and face. His report upon this tour of inspection to the French Government was the means of bringing about a reform in the medical service of the French army. He also addressed the same report to the Sisters of the "Sacred Heart," who had sent hospital nurses to the battle-fields of Italy. Whilst on a visit tb the United States during the late civil war, his attention was attracted to the sanitary works there employed.: He investigated thoroughly the methods and means devised, ob tained models of the various implements used, and wrote a large and exhaustive work upon the. subject, which he published and distrib uted gratuitously throughout Europe. The models he put upon exhibition at the Universal Exhibition of 1867, and they have since been placed on permanent exhibition in a building erected upon his. own grounds. Proud that his own country had taken the initiatory step in relief measures during the war, he was equally ardent in prop agating throughout Europe the happy methods then employed. With him Science was but the means — Charity the great and noble end. In France Dr. Evans has founded two societies, " The American Charitable Fund Association," and " The American International Sanitary Committee," for affording aid to the wounded, and which did such effective service during the Franco-Prussian war. It is but just to say, that during the several months of severe struggle which the Doctor had after the breaking out of the terrible conflict, in try ing to establish this generous and noble enterprise, the almost con stant and. seemingly insuperable obstacles, which beset the scheme on every quarter, would have daunted and discouraged a less ardent philanthropist In fact, the undertaking would have languished, and perhaps perished, had it not been for the leading spirit which con trolled, directed, and inspired it. The more threatening the aspect, the more zealously labored the philanthropist ; and long ere the con flict was ended, his worthy efforts were crowned with most complete Success, and had obtained a grateful recognition from the French Government During the Franco-Prussian war, Dr. Evans devoted himself alto gether to the amelioration of suffering. Failing to obtain from his Own countrymen the assistance for which he had hoped, he had recourse to the generosity of the English public, for the purpose of organizing a society for the clothing of the French prisoners in Ger- THOMAS WILLIAM EVANS. 441 many, Belgium, and Switzerland. He went in person from town to town distributing money, clothing, and food. It was after the close of the war that the French Republic, in recognition of most efficient services and noble deeds, bestowed upon him the Cross of Commander of the Legion of Honor — a distinction prized the more as marking a glorious epoch in an ever-useful life. Dr. Evans married Miss Agnes Josephine Doyle, of Philadelphia, a brilhant and accomplished lady ; and much of his success in life, as well as much of his charitable enthusiasm, he attributes to her gentle influence and Christian aid. I can in no better manner give proof of this than by copying the dedication of one of his works : v "Dedicated to My Wife, "Agnes Josephine Dotle Evans. " In dedicating this book to you, dear Agnes, I do not propose to give you simply a proof of my unalterable affection ; I desire as well to publicly recognize the part which belongs to you in this work, which has been written with the thoughts of contributing to the diminution of human suffering. " You, in fact, long before our marriage, when we were children in Philadelphia, our birth-place, had already given me the example of an indefatigable charity. "Since our union, for good or evil fortune, you have never ceased to assist our fellow-creatures — taking care of the sick, and consoling the afflicted. " You have thus inspired me with something of your Christian charity, while you have never ceased to aid and encourage me when I have sought to render the sufferings, which are caused by war among the human family, less terrible. " It is, therefore, with a sentiment of profound gratitude, dear Agnes, that this book is dedicated to you. " Thomas William Evans, " 'Bella Rosa,' Avenue de I'Imperatrice 41, Paris, 1868." In the great and good work of measures for sanitary reform in armies, succor to the wounded, and the amelioration generally of suffering entailed by war, Dr. Evans, as before stated, has labored most assiduously and effectively with hands and purse and pen. The following copies of letters are a few of the many tokens pf 442 THOMAS WILLIAM EVANS appreciation of his services in that direction, which he has received, from time to time, from the sovereigns of Europe. The first is an autograph letter from King William of Prussia, acknowledging the receipt of Dr. Evans' work upOn the United States Sanitary Com mission: " To Dr. Thomas William Evans : " Accept the assurance of the great interest derived from the work which you have transmitted me through the agency of the Queen She has conveyed to you in my name the token of esteem which I destined for you, on account of your important medical researches ; but I wish by these lines to state the purpose which honors them — the alleviation of suffering in general, and the amelioration of the sanitary condition of armies. "William. " Baden, this 13th day of October, 1865." " Coblentz, 20th July, 1867. " To Thomas W. Evans, M. D., Surgeon to the Emperor of the French : " During my sojourn in Paris, I received your most important work — a memorial of the War of 1866 ; I thank you heartily for it. As a competent judge, you have, by publishing this book, once more given a proof of the zeal and the charity which are your motives, and of which your American Sanitary Collection is the purest mani festation. " May a durable peace be the reward of your noble efforts to miti gate the horrors of war. " Augusta, « " Queen of Prussia." " Mainau, Grand Duchy of Baden. " Dr. Thomas W. Evans : " I regret very much not to have been able to send you sooner inclosed notes, though they have been written as early as it was pos sible to know even approximately the figures they contain. " I hope they will be useful for the noble work to which you have devoted your attention and your interest. " Louise, " Grand Duchess of Baden." THOMAS WILLIAM EVANS. 443 "Austrian Embassy, Paris, 26th February, 1867. " Thomas W. Evans, M. D. : " I take great pleasure in informing you that the Emperor, my august Sovereign, has received the works relating to Military Hygiene and the Sanitary Commission of the United States, which you requested me to present to him. " Appreciating the philanthropic thought which guided you in researches and studies, of which these^ publications are the meri torious fruit, and recognizing the beneficial influence your labors are destined to have upon Military Medicine and Hygiene, his Imperial Majesty has charged me to return to you his sincere thanks for these interesting volumes, to which a place has been assigned in his pri vate library. ." Yours very respectfully, "Prince de Metternioh." "Munich, (Bavaria) 4th February, 1865. " Dr. Thomas W. Evans : " Sir — I had the honor to receive your interesting publication upon the United States Sanitary Commission " The King and the Queen-Mother, to whom I transmitted two copies, have requested me to express to you their thanks. I embrace this occasion to send you my own thanks for the copy you had the kindness to designate for me. " Accept, my dear sir, the expression of my highest considera tion. " The Counselor of State, " Str. von Pfistermeister." " The Hague, 15th January, 1865. "Doctor Thomas W. Evans: " Dear Sir — Her Majesty, the Queen of Holland, has received the copy of your work upon the United States Sanitary Commission, which you have been so good as to send her. " Very sensible of this attention, I am requested by her Majesty to express to you her thanks — the more sincere, as through your labors she is enabled to appreciate the immense services rendered by that institution. " Her Majesty most earnestly desires the development of a work 444 THOMAS WILLIAM EVANS. which, she is convinced, will soon extend its benefits to every civil' ized nation. " Accept on this occasion, sir, the assurances of my esteem, and believe me, " Yours very respectfully, " W. J. Weekherlin, " Counselor of State." "Paris, 17th October, 1867. "Dr. Thomas W. Evans: " The visit which I made this morning to your Sanitary Collec tion has deeply interested me. I wish you to know this, and also to thank you for your kindness in furnishing me with useful informa tion concerning the principal objects which compose it. I wish also to tell you how sensible I am of the persevering efforts and sacrifices you are making in behalf of the great work of the International Commission of succor for the wounded. I remember what you wrote me at the time you sent me your book upon the United States Sanitary Commission, as well as my own reply. I see with an agreeable satisfaction that our mutual aspirations were well founded — what was then a hope, has to-day become a reality for the wel fare of humanity. " Believe me, my dear doctor; with the sincerest thanks, "Yours, Sophia, " Queen of Holland." "Paris, 13th May. 1862. "Dr. Thomas W. Evans: " In reply to your letter, I thank you for the information which you have given me, with reference to the organization and useful labors of the United States Sanitary Commission. " That institution has awakened my liveliest interest, and I gladly believe that at no distant day many associations, animated by the same spirit of charity and humanity, will be organized everywhere to give succor to the wounded and sick—to friends and enemies alike. "EuGfeOTE, " Empress of the French." [From the Queen of Prussia.J "Berlin, 30th August, 1870. " The Queen of Prussia is highly gratified to learn from the letter which Dr. Evans, as President of the American International THOMAS WILLIAM EVANS. 445 Sanitary Committee, has addressed to her, that the Americans resid ing in Paris have devoted themselves to the noble work of giving succor to the wounded of all nations in the present war. The Queen is convinced that the Committee will be of great use, and par ticularly from being able to avail itself of the experience of the Ameri can war. She has been anxious to give notice of Dr. Evans' commis sion to the Central Committee of all the German Sanitary Associations which has been established in Berlin, and which expresses in the enclosed answer its readiness to give any information wished for by the American Committee. The Queen states with satisfaction, that in the German army the care of the wounded is conducted strictly according to the article of the Convention of Geneva — that is, in all -the hospitals established throughout Germany — whether by Govern ment, by committee, or by private associations — all the wounded, German or French, are treated alike ; as also that, of the many hos pitals founded for the war, the greatest number have been built ac cording to the American system, which has also been adopted for the Queen's own hospital (Augusta Hospital). " To give an idea of the activity developed by the different asso ciations founded in Germany for the aid of the wounded, the Queen encloses a list of objects sent from -Berlin by the German Central Committee alone. With this other associations are working, among which may be mentioned the Hulfsverein and the Katerlandishe Transenverein, which latter was founded in 1866, is now spread over all Northern Germany, and is assisted by three hundred and thirty-eight auxiliary societies. "Notwithstanding the co-operation of all these different socie ties — aided also by the Knights of St John and the Knights of Malta, by the Sisters of Mercy (both Catholic and Protestant), by many thousands of ladies of all classes, who devote themselves to the attendance of the wounded, and by a great many men, too young or unfit to serve in the army, who go out to render aid where ever it is required — the Queen believes that every accessory suc cor must be hailed with expressions of gratitude, and therefore begs Dr. Evans to convey her thanks to the Committee for the support which it promises to give to the wounded of the German army. " To Dr. Thomas W. Evans." ; Among the many praiseworthy and beautiful acts of Dr. Evans' life, it is proper here to mention his protection to Eugenie, the Em- 446 THOMAS WILLIAM EVANS. press of the French, on the memorable 4th of September, 1870, when she escaped from the Tuileries, and sought an asylum from the fury of the mob at "Bella Rosa." his palatial residence in Paris. Friend of happy and prosperous days, he remained devoted to the Imperial family in the hours of adversity. Before day on the morning of the 5th of September a small and well-disguised party left the hospitable roof, and journeyed to England, where Dr. Evans had the satisfaction of reuniting the Imperial mother and her son ; and of feeling that, although he had jeopardized his own life, he had rescued a good and noble woman from the hands of her would-be-assassins. Dr. Evans has hitherto spoken but little of this incident of his life, and has maintained a reticence which will be readily appre ciated by those who understand how a temporary silence, in matters of a personal and private character, may occasionally be imposed as well by the obligations of common courtesy as by those of friend ship and loyalty. He has accordingly not thought it proper, up to the present time, to communicate to the public either how the Em press escaped from France, or the nature and extent of his own ser vices, in the accomplishment of that remarkable historical event ; preferring, rather than to expose unnecessarily the misfortunes of a fallen house, to leave uncorrected the errors which disfigure all the accounts of the " Flight of the Empress " that have thus far appeared in the public press. One fact, however, he has always boldly affirmed, viz. : That, the Empress having first found a refuge from the fury of the mob, on the 4th of September, 1870, in his own house, he never abandoned her person until after her immediate safety had been secured, and he had discovered for her Majesty a new home at Chiselhurst, as also the means of bringing together again her scattered household. This great service, in a time of mis fortune and peril, is feelingly and graciously acknowledged in the following autograph letter, addressed to Dr. Evans, by her Imperial Majesty : "Chiselhurst, Kent, September 4th, 1871. " My Dear Doctor Evans — I have to-day an opportunity of send ing to you, through a trusty person, a little souvenir*, which I beg you to offer in my name to Mrs. Evans. It will remind her, I * A bracelet, on which were engraved the words, "Souvenir, 4th September 1870." THOMAS WILLIAM EVANS. 447 hope, of the support I found during days of grievous trials m the sangfroid and courage of her husband. The date which I engraved upon it can never, alas ! be effaced from my heart — for it is that of the day when I bade adieu to France ! " I shall always entertain towards you every sentiment of grati tude and respect " Eugenie." In addition to the authorship of several works already men tioned, Dr. Evans has extended his literary labors to the translation into French of a number of American essays upon Military Hygiene and Therapeutics. He is still a young man, and seems particularly so when we take into consideration the distinction he has attained in his profession, and the many honors that have been bestowed upon him, both in his own country and abroad. It has often been the occasion of con siderable amusement to the Doctor when called upon to receive for the first time those who seek him professionally or otherwise, as the visitor not unfrequ entry remarks, when the Doctor presents himself: " Oh I sir ; I wish to see your father — the old Doctor !" Scarcely in the prime of life, passing years with attendant cares and responsi bilities have told but lightly on him, and his physique bespeaks robust health and all the vigor of young and active manhood. Socially, Dr. Evans is the agreeable and elegant gentleman, a hospitable host, a faithful friend, and a kind and devoted husband. HENRY MEIGGS. , HE name of this distinguished American has, for years past, been conspicuously associated with the history of South American progress. His achievements, in behalf of the internal improvement and consequent national develop ment of countries hitherto backward in many of the essentials of modern advancement and prosperity, have been wonderful indeed. It is not too much to say that his aims, in his chosen field of effort, have been always progressive, and the ends attained never less than signally beneficent. Remarkable for the grandeur and brilliancy of his conceptions, he has not been wanting in a rapidity and boldness of execution which has brought to successful issue some of the most gigantic undertakings of modern times, despite innumer able obstacles and extraordinary surroundings. His name and fame have given new impetus to the dormant energies of the peoples of the South Pacific coast, among whom he has labored and triumphed. Chili, Bolivia, and Peru have been quickened by his enterprise and inspired by his genius, and have in turn honored and rewarded him right royally as a public benefactor. Peru, more especially, has been the theatre of his operations, and his railroad enterprises there will take rank among the most stupendous and marvellous achievements of this wonderful century. Before speaking more directly of the career of Mr. Meiggs in South America, some facts pertaining to the rising republic of Peru may be here appropriately given. The conquest of Peru by the Spaniards took place at an early period after the discovery of this continent by Europeans. One of the most eventful and remarkable departments of American history pertains to that country. It furnished a subject, deemed by Mr. Prescott to be of sufficient importance and interest to occupy his patient research and graphic pen, for several years, in writing the history of its conquest. The present living history of such a nation has not only a local but a general interest It is a republic, and is acting its part in working out the great problem of self-government. HENRY MEIGGS. 449 On this account,, if no Other, its progress and prosperity are worthy of the attentive interest of citizens of the United States. Peru contains an area of about 500,000 square miles, with a population of 3,799,000. Of this number about fifty-seven per cent. are aborigines. Lima, its principal city, has 150,000 inhabitants. The total imports for 1871 amounted to $42,500,000, of which nearly 16,000,000 belonged to Callao. Its exports, the' chief article of which is guano, are large. In 1870, the amount of guano exported was valued at $16,250,000 ; and in 1871, there were $5,077,075 worth of nitre. The government is exceedingly liberal in appropriating money for public improvements. In 1871,. it decided to apply $15,000,000 to irrigate the coast lands, where there is seldom ever any rain. About the same time $20,000 were appropriated for the construction of a telegraph from Payta to Samana, to form a union with the sub marine cable between Aspinwall and Jamaica. ..-. ¦ There is one feature of the republic of Peru that renders it an anomaly among nations. Though it" government is republican, and dependent on the suffrages of the people for its existence, it possesses ample resources from revenue to render it independent of popular taxation. This is due to the immense natural wealth of the country, mainly in'guano, which is under the exclusive control, of the Govern ment This being the case the people do not feel that responsibility in respect to the affairs of the Government they otherwise would. It costs them nothing, and, therefore, they care little abqut it- It is of little practical concern to them how the money is expended that does not come out of their pockets. It has been said truly by one in speaking of this feature : '• The burden of supporting their rulers not being felt, the feeling of national responsibility is easily lost, or never learned by the masses. They are interested in the public treasury in theory; individually, they have contributed nothing. .They can have no vivid idea of, or claim for, compensatory returns, The vigilance and sagacity of the citizen are only awakened by the remembrance of his own sacrifices made to insure public order— an intimate sense ;of personal interest in the result, which should be peace, prosperity, and a righteous administration. His own toil has not been demanded in order to preate this public fund ; his own toil has not been taxed to defray the public expenses : why then should he concern himself very much in demanding a wise and politic dis bursement? An indifference as to the results of political strife grows upon him gradually, leaving him the willing subject of his personal 450 HENRY MEIGGS. sympathies, easily excited to revolution. The leaders of political parties know how to disguise their desires, and to interest the in different multitude by personal affection, or by newly invented issues. Some one gains the prize — who cares I ". This state of things, however, has undergone a change for the better within the past few years. This is attributable in a consider able degree to the influence of Colonel Don Jose Balta, a man of military ability and distinction, and deeply interested in agriculture, and other departments of productive industry. In 1868, by a train of favorable circumstances he was brought into open hostility with the then existing administration. After a short and decisive struggle he became the head of the executive power. He improved his op portunity. He saw clearly that the permanent material prosperity of the country could not be secured without a great change. Guano, the chief source of revenue, must sooner or later become exhausted, and the dormant energies of the people must be roused. He appre ciated what was needed, and with skill and energy he undertook the formidable task. He became fully convinced that an essential part of the work to be done must be the construction of railroads. He conceived the bold and grand plan of reaching the waters of the Amazonian tributaries by two lines of iron road, each crossing the heights of the Andes. To undertake the construction of these required roads, pro posals came in from different parties, native and foreign. But some great master-mind was needed to execute one of the most gigantic and difficult undertakings in the world's history. Such a mind appeared in the person of Henry Meiggs, from the United States. The results have shown that the Government was not mis taken in securing the man, of whom any nation might well be proud. He is eminently a representative American, and his grand career in Peru, and his general influence in relation to his native country, though not official, deserve special mention. Mr. Meiggs spent some time in California, before going to Peru. His capacious and active mind was engaged in great business enter prises in San Francisco. Having met, however, with unfortunate reverses, he resolved to go to South America. He first located in Chili, and there began operations which eventuated in his building the railroad from Valparaiso to Santiago. He made his home in the latter city, and there erected, at a cost of $600,000, a magnificent private residence. He now resides in Lima, Peru. An interesting HENRY MEIGGS. 451 article, which appeared in the Overland Monthly some two or three years ago, gives the following facts concerning Mr. Meiggs and his work in South America : — "Much of the history of this wonderful man is too well known in the United States to heed comment Old Californians, to whom his name is endeared as Harry Meiggs, well remember the great and eager grasp of his mind, the magnitude of his enterprises, and the generosity of his nature, during his business career in San Francisco. They remember also, with regret, the distress of his position when it was realized that the fruition of his labors was too slow to save him from ruin. While the grass was growing the horse was starving, with the wolf at his heels. Then followed a day of excitement ' Honest Harry ' no longer claimed the protection of the American flag. In the heat of the moment, much was said and done that has since been regretted. His career in South America has offered the true apology and explanation of his former misfortunes. Calm re flection now causes every Californian to consider as one of the most unhappy events in the history of his State the culmination of those disastrous transactions that drove him forever from his chosen field of action. ********** " Since his call to Peru, he has acquired also in Bolivia extensive rights. He is the proprietor of the great works now being pushed energetically forward at Mejillones, with extensive rights for the re moval of guano. Reports vaguely describe the nature of a contract between him and the Government of Bolivia, whereby he holds the monopoly for building railroads, and working rich mines, in a large section around Mejillones. Immensely rich silver mines have been recently discovered at Caracoles, in the mountains, forty leagues from this last-mentioned place, in consequence of which great excitement prevails in mining circles. Prominent bankers of Chili have notified Mr. Meiggs that they are ready to furnish the capital for building at once a railroad between the two points, and have urged his immediate action in undertaking the work. The enterprise will undoubtedly soon be inaugurated. Besides these things, he has established a bank in La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, loaned the Government a large sum of money, and received its aid in the circulation of his paper through out the country." The American Consul at Payta, Peru, in his official report, dated Oct 30th, 1871, states :— " Perhaps no country on the Pacific coast has exhibited so much 452 HENRY MEIGGS. perseverance and energy in the coUstrdction and completion of its railroad system as Peru. " The leading spirit in railroads on this coast is an American, named Henry Meiggs, whose name has become familiar to every foreigner on this coast, and who has overcome obstacles to the con struction of railroads in this1 and other republics on the Pacific coast that were heretofore considered insurmountable. " A contract for a railroad from this port to the city of Piura; a city of some twelve or fifteen thousand inhabitants, and the capital of this department, has been entered intoj and it is stated that the construc tion of this road will be commenced about the 1st of January next. By the terms of the contract the road is to be completed within twenty -two months from the signing of the agreement - I am also informed that the road is to be further extended to the city of Cata- caos, an Indian city of some 20,000 inhabitants, and distant about six miles from Piura. When this road will have been completed, we may look for a very rapid development of the agricultural interests of this department, and a very material increase in the exports of this port." The writer in the Overland Monthly, after specifying other similar enterprises and achievements, says further: — " The career of this energetic man has earned for his name a place among those of the most worthy and prominent in his native country as practical, daring, and successful operators. As such, he is the soul of railroad enterprise in the home of his adoption ' " It was the genius of this man that Peru needed to insure the success of its schemes of progress. Already had his name and character become well known to leading minds outside of Chili. An almost peremptory demand was made for his services. By special agents he was urgently requested to visit Peru, and contract for the construction of its railroads. He accepted the • offers. For twelve millions of soles he agreed to build the road from Mollendo to Are- quipa. Two millions in cash were placed at once in his hands, and, without requiring of him bonds or securities of any kind, he was at once installed as the railroad king in Peru. The work was inaugur ated by a brilhant reception,, and was pushed with vigor to com pletion. The difficulties were rapidly surmounted. The road, when completed— ^declared to be one of the finest in the world — was opened to the public in January, 1871. The ceremonies, on the occasion of laying the last tie, were of the most costly character. Two thousand HENJtY MEIGGS. 453 guests,. including the leading officers of -the republic, besides a large body of ;tbe; military, left Lima to participate in the celebration. It was a vast, luxurious excursion, lasting two weeks, and terminating in the. satisfaction of. all.. The expenses, which were borne by the successful contractor, have. been estimated at $200,000.. " Meanwhile/ greater enterprises had been commenced. For sixty millions of soles in Peruvian bonds, Mr. Meiggs had contracted- to continue the Arequipa road, now 114 miles long, across the Andes to Puno, which town is situated in the inferior, on Lake Titicaca; also, to construct another from Lima, up the valley of the Rimac, likewise across the Cordilleras, to a place on the eastern slope, called Oroya. It requires but a brief description of these two roads to impress the reader with an idea of their importance, and the greatness of the work undertaken. " The line from Arequipa to Puno, when finished, will be about' 230 miles in length. It crosses an altitude of 14,665 feet above the level of the sea, passing over a barren, rocky waste of mountains. When. completed, it will be the grand thoroughfare of Bolivia and the southern interior of Peru. This road, however, as well, as the Oroya, have only prospective termini. It is not intended to stop at either Puno or Oroya. Already surveys have been made from Puno to Cuzco, the ancient Inca capital, to ascertain the best means for making this road : available for the remote interior, and the ground broken for the continuation of the road, The Oroya road presents the greater difficulties. Within sixty miles of the coast, in an air line, 15,300 feet must be encountered, besides a chaos of frightful, rocky mountains. It is impossible to fairly describe the immense engineering difficulties to be overcome. From Oroya it is contem plated to continue the road, by the most available route, to the near est navigable waters of some river leading into the. Amazon. On these two roads, the amount of rock-cutting, necessary in establishing the gradients, of bridges and tunnels, of sharp curves, and of ingen ious expedients for lengthening the line in order to gain altitude, offers perplexing problems and involves great expenditures. The highest gradient permitted is four per cent, or 211 feet to the mile, Which must be adopted for a great proportion of the distance. . " Nothwithstanding these unprecedented difficulties, work is pro gressing as. rapidly on both roads as circumstances permit. Mr. Meiggs has leased for five years the line from Mollendo to Arequipa,' paying to the Government three per cent per annum on the capital required 454 HENRY MEIGGS. to build it, or 360,000- soles : also, running it at his own cost, and keeping it in perfect repair. This affords him facilities for the trans portation of men and materials needed on the Puno road. " An incident occurred at the commencement of the Oroya road, which is worthy of narration. The western terminus was originally to have been at Lima, which, as before stated, is seven miles inland from its port, Callao. At first, an attempt was made to enter into a reasonable contract with the Callao and Lima Railroad Company for the transportation of material over their line ; but not a point was yielded by the owners of the monopoly. They killed the fabled goose of the golden eggs. Their exorbitant demands had only the effect to produce a new display of ingenuity on the part of Mr. Meiggs. Quietly he purchased an extensive tract of vacant land ex tending from the borders of Lima to the harbor of Callao, and con- . structed a road on his own hacienda, with which no monopoly could interfere. This incident is characteristic of the man." Mr. Meiggs has found difficulty in obtaining the necessary labor, but his inventive mind has been able to remedy this in a great degree. The United States Consul at Callao, in his report of Nov. 1st, 1871, states : — " The question of labor in these undertakings has always been of a serious nature. Owing to indolence or indisposition, the natives of the country cannot be relied upon for any real effective assistance ; the number obtainable in any case is inconsiderable, and the frequency of national and church holidays, which are observed with unusual strictness, interferes with the regularity of the work. Hence Mr. Meiggs brought a large number of Chilian peons for the purpose of prosecuting his works. These, though men of powerful constitutions and much vigor, have been found inadequate to the necessities of the occasion, owing to their propensity to dissipation and the consequent generally fatal maladies resulting therefrom. Mr. Meiggs has now entered into an arrangement for the importation of 5,000 free Chinese laborers, to be liberally paid and well fed, and, at the expiration of ' their term of service, returned to their own country at his expense. The first installment of these workmen has arrived, and are already giving unequivocal proofs of the superior utility of this class of laborers." We insert another extract from the Overland Monthly : — " We now see this remarkable man the proprietor of large private interests in Chili ; dealing extensively in Bolivian guano ; the owner HENRY MEIGGS. 455 of a bank in La Paz ; the lessee of the Arequipa Railroad ; the con tractor of four railroads, amounting in value to about one hundred millions of soles ; the owner of large estates near Lima; and the probable conductor of other important enterprises. " Besides the roads enumerated, being built at the expense of the Government, private capital is enlisted in others. The Lima and Huacho road, which passes along the coast to the north of Lima, has been completed as far as Chancay, a distance of forty miles. The Pisco and lea road, in the grape-producing district, is nearly com pleted. Two roads are under way, one nearly completed, from ports on the coast, across the deserts, to the vast deposits of salpetre. A narrow gauge road is also projected from the silver mines of Cerro de Pasco toward the valley of Jauja, on the east of the summits of the Andes, intersecting the line of the Oroya road now building, be sides a short local road at the mines, already being constructed. " The sale of the first bonds, issued by the Government for the payment of the Oroya and Puno contracts, was effected in Europe, at eighty-two and oneihalf per cent, par value. This price was much beyond the expectation of Mr. Meiggs, who had figured on a much less value. Commissions on the negotiation were two and one- half per cent, leaving, net, eighty per cent, to the contractor. An arrangement was then made, whereby he released all claim to the bonds, the Government agreeing to pay him, at stated intervals, seventy -nine per cent., par value, in cash. These bonds are secured on the railroads, and future sales of guano. A negotiation, known as the Dreyfus Contract, was also made, to cover a deficit in the Treasury, and provide new funds. This transaction secures the sale of two million tons of guano, and a net receipt by the Government of thirty-four soles per ton. To effect these negotiations, much skill ful financiering has been done. The bonds have been sold principal ly in England, France, and Belgium. The late French war at first created much uneasiness, but the effects upon the public finances have been less than might have been expected." The Araquipa and Puno railroad was commenced June 7th, 1870, and is now, at the end of three years, completely graded to the latter place, a distance of 220 miles ; and the rails are laid on the Atlantic slope of .the Andes 146 miles. The contract between Mr. Meiggs and the Government provided that $30,500,000 be paid in gold, at the rate of $150,000 a mile. The entire length of railroads already arranged to be built, is 1 117 miles, of which 554 miles have been 456 HENRY MEIGGS. completed and are in operation, and 563 are in course of Construc tion. A late traveler in Peru, who took especial pains to 'personally examine the great enterprises of Mr. Meiggs, says : " Only a personal inspection of the work can give any man anything like ah adequate notion of this igigantic wrestle of American sagacity, skill, and de termination with the stubborn heart of the Andes." It is proper to state, in this connection, that Mr. John G. Meiggs, the brother of Henry,, performs a very important part in these undertakings. He is a man of great business capacity, and has the general management, none of the work being sub-contracted. President Balta was killed sometime ago in a military mutiny, and was succeeded by President Pardo, who held an important position for several years under his predecessor, and co-operated with him in efforts to promote national progress. He has the honor of being the first civilian President of Peru. His confidence in the undertakings of Mr. Meiggs seems to be unwavering. Mr. Meiggs is, we believe, a native of New York, and is about sixty years of age. Prior to his removal . to California he was an enterprising and successful business man in New York, for a number of years. In the authority, already freely quoted, he is thus describ ed : " The prominent features of his character mark him as a repre sentative American. His schemes, though always gigantic, are always practical. An intuitive knowledge of human nature, an almost in fallible judgment in the choice of men and measures, and a eool, re flecting, decisive mind, constitute him a successful diplomat Prompt action, perseverance, untiring: activity, perfect presence Of mind, self- control, and the most punctilious regard for punctuality in his en gagements, constitute him a business manager* His executive ability never shrinks from any scheme, however great. The presentation of physical, financial; or political difficulties immediately suggests the means of overcoming them. An open,, frank cordiality ; a constant regard for those who have done him good service :; an unostentatious generosity, and the fascination of- his pleasant manners, render him popular with all, from his servants to the capitalist His equanimity is disturbed by neither great losses nor unprecedented successes. He is the same Harry Meiggs to all persons, and at all times. Some very ridiculous, though well-intended letters, have been published in many parts of the United States, which seem to have created an impression in .the minds of those who do not personally know the facts concern- HENRY MEIGGS. 45.7 ing him and his enterprises, that he possesses a magic open sesame, in response to which fortunes are laid at his feet without a struggle, and that he has surrounded his private life with indescribable luxuries and enjoyments. He has been pictured as the most lavish and heed less of benefactors. The consequence is, that he has been called the ' American Aladdin ' and ' modern Count of Monte Christo ! ' These sensational items have had their effect Not a mail now arrives from Panama that does not bring to him scores of letters from absolute strangers in all parts of the world, whose serious demands on his benevolence would, if published, constitute the most humorous of comedies. One single budget recently contained begging demands in the aggregate for $188,000 — and all from strangers ! No impres sion of the character of this man, or of the works in which he is en gaged, could be more erroneous. "True, he has contracts for work and private enterprises, the value of which would bewilder the mind of an ordinary man ; but, at the same time, those contracts and enterprises present the necessity of such a degree of financial skill, such vast expenditures, and such appalling engineering difficulties, that few men would have the cou rage to undertake them. True, he frequently performs vast deeds of charity, and constantly is the benefactor of many, who in distress, besiege his door for assistance ; but this is all done without ostenta tion, and is marked with the judgment of a truly practical and generous nature. True, his family residence is elegantly furnished, and its hospitality great and cordial ; but there is no sumptuous or gaudy display of luxury and entertainment, other than would be be coming in the home of an American, whose foreign residence, wealth, and position place him in a prominent political and social situa tion." In the success of Henry Meiggs, we find all the essential elements of energy and perseverance coupled with unquestioned merit*" If he has succeeded wonderfully,, he has certainly deserved it abundantly.' His triumph is the result of well and earnestly directed effort and of legitimate and unwearying enterprise. His example as a representative American, doing good, and great, and valiant work, cannot fail to exercise a stimulating and ennobling influence over all who may become familiar with it JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY. By Rev. John Mooee. , HE subject of the present sketch is most widely known in the field of literature. As a historian he will take rank among the ablest of his day and generation. He never was specially devoted to politics, and never became an aspirant to or candidate for political preferment His Hfe has been a most active and laborious one, but comparatively quiet and uneventful. Hon. John Lothrop Motley, LL.D., was born in the town of Dor chester, Mass., April 15th, 1814. He was a member of the class that graduated at Harvard College, in 1831. Soon after, he went abroad and spent a few years at the universities of Gottingen and Berlin, and in traveling, chiefly in Southern Europe. After his return to America he entered upon the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1837. He had, however, but little enthusiasm in his profession, and soon abandoned it. He resolved to devote himself to authorship, and his first book appeared in 1839, a novel, bearing the title of "Morton's Hope, or, the Memoirs of a Young Provincial." This did not prove to be a success. A New York correspondent of the Troy Times thus recalls Motley's first literary effort and failure : " I well remember the time when Motley came to this city, a poor and ambitious author, with a catch-penny novel under his arm, looking for a publisher. The Harpers got the book out, and the writer had the pleasure of selling it behind the counter of a Broadway book store. It was called ' Morton's Hope,' and, like many other hopes, proved a severe disappointment Such was Motley Is beginning in 1839." In 1840 he received the appointment of Secretary of Legation to the American embassy to Russia, which position he held about eight months, and- returned home to America. In 1849 there was published JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY. 459 from his pen another novel, entitled " Merry Mount, a Romance of Massachusetts Colony." This book, though of considerable merit, attracted little attention. He wrote occasionally articles for some of the leading reviews. One was on De Tocqueville's Democracy in America, and another on Gcethe. These appeared in the New York Review. Another article from his pen, that produced- quite an -im pression, was on the character of Peter the Great, in the North American Review of October, 1845. Not long after this, by a certain train of circumstances, he became . interested in the history of Holland. He began to collect material for a work on that subject, but, becoming convinced that he could not find sufficient material at home for the due prosecution of his under taking, he resolved to go abroad. In 1851, he left for Europe with his family, that he might have access to the fountain-head of Dutch history. He spent several years in Berlin, Dresden, and the Hague, prosecuting his researches. He was not satisfied with the examina tion of printed books and documents, but most patiently examined manuscripts found in public and private collections. The first in stalment of his history was entitled — " The Rise of the Dutch Re public." It appeared in London, in 1856, 3 vols. 8vo., and was published by the Harpers in New York about the same time. The work took the world by surprise. None had been aware, except some of his particular friends, that such a work was in preparation. The inquiry was made generally— who is John Lothrop Motley ? It was not known whether he was English, Scotch, or American. He immediately took rank, by a single bound, with the first historians of the age, such as Macaulay and Prescott The work was translated into several of the principal languages of Europe, including Dutch and French. The sale was immense abroad and in this country. In 1860 was published " The United Netherlands," in two volumes, followed not long afterwards with two others. This work was really a continuation of his first, " The Rise of the Dutch Republic." His histories belong to what De Quincey calls the literature of power, jn distinction from that of mere knowledge. The historian should possess the power of transferring himself to distant times and places, so as to have a vivid conception of what he describes. He should have a burning indignation at wrong, and a corresponding love and admiration of the right, and a thorough love of freedom, and not be afraid to express himself accordingly. Without this, what ever his other qualifications may be, his productions can not belong 460 JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY. to the literature of power. Such not only inform, but they move. The histories of Mr. Motley are eminently of this character. His own individuality enters into them, — be feels his subject^ and, therefore^ he makes others feel. In one important sense he wrote on it because he could not help it In a letter to his friend Prescott, the historian, he remarked that the subject took him up, and not he it After the publication of " The Dutch Republic," different institu tions and learned societies seemed to vie with each other in confer ring honors upon him. The Institute of France elected him a member in the place. of Mr. Prescott, deceased. The University of Oxford conferred upon him the degree of D. C. L., and Harvard College that of LL. D. In 1861, Mr. Motley returned from Europe, and soon after was appointed, under President Lincoln, as United States Minister to Austria. While the appointment might be regarded as a recognition of literary merit, it was based mainly on the eminent qualifications he evidently possessed. At the time of the breaking out of the Southern rebellion he was residing in London, and he became most intensely interested in the struggle. His masterly articles in the London Times did a great deal to mold public opinion aright in England. They evinced great grasp of mind and an intimate know ledge of American and foreign political affairs. He there indicated great diplomatic skill, though not officially. He had private inter views with Lord Palmerston, Lord John Russell, and other leading British statesmen, and thus did much to make clear the real state of the case between the North and the South, to men in power and in fluence. For the time he suspended ,his literary labors that he might serve his country as he had the opportunity on account of his high social and literary rank. A leading Boston paper at the time, in speaking of the appoint ment, said: " John. Lothrop Motley, the newly appointed Minister to Austria, one of the most accomplished ever sent by the Government of the United States to represent it abroad, will sail from this city in the steamer to-morrow. Mr. Motley does not, as some journals seem to think, owe his appointment to the influence of powerful friends, or to his great literary reputation among scholars and historians of Europe, but to his demonstrated capacity for the performance of diplomatic duties, as shown by his services to the American cause in England, before our regular ambassador, Mr. Adams, arrived in London. In JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY. 461 the prosecution of his researches into the history of the sixteenth eeutury, Mr. Motley had not forgotten the political history of his own country. He was perfectly familiar with all the facts, argu ments, and principles on which the unionists and the secessionists re spectively relie'd, and he was perfectly familiar with all those avenues to the English mind, by availing himself of which an American can hope to convey intelligence on American affairs to English statesmen and men of letters. " We perceive that some journals congratulate Mr. Motley that his office will give him the means and the leisure to continue his ' His tory.' This, we feel assured, is a consideration which has no promi nence in his own ardent mind. He goes to Europe, not so much to obtain materials for his History of the Thirty Years' War, as to em ploy in the service of his country all his knowledge, all his intelli gence, all the charm of his frank and cordial manners, and all the consummate tact in dealing with men he has acquired by mingling freely in European society." After he went to Vienna, his interest in the civil war going on in this country occupied a large share of his attention. It filled a prominent place in his official correspondence. He never for a mo ment despaired of the ultimate result of the struggle. In one of his communications to Mr. Seward, he says : " I expect as much to see the sun set at noonday as to witness , the destruction of our noble commonwealth, and its dismemberment into a jarring, warring Eu rope, without the historical excuses of Europe." During Mr. Motley's official residence at Vienna, there were diffi culties that came up which required a most careful and judicious treatment. Such was the Schleswig Holstein war ; as also the Austro- Prussian war, and the attempt to establish an empire in Mexico, with Maximilian at its head. Austria was very directly complicated in the affair. Matters had advanced to such a point, that auxiliary troops from Austria had actually embarked for Mexico. Mr. Seward authorized Mr. Motley to express the most decided protest of the United States against this proceeding, and to prevent it, even at the risk of a diplomatic rupture. In a dispatch of the 6th of April, 1866, he says : " It is thought proper that you should state that in the event of hostilities being carried on hereafter in Mexico by Aus trian subjects, under the command or with the sanction of the Gov ernment of Vienna, the United States will feel themselves at liberty to regard those hostilities as constituting a state of war by Austria 462 JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY. against the Republic of Mexico, and in regard to such waged at this time, and under existing circumstances, the United States could not engage to remain as silent or neutral spectators." Mr. Seward shortly after called the attention of Mr. Motley to the correspondence between the United States and France on the sub ject, stating plainly the position of our Government in opposition to military intervention for political objects by Austria ; and concluded by saying : " You will therefore, act at as early a day as may be con venient Bring the whole case in a becoming manner to the attention of the Imperial Royal Government." Matters at this time' had become exceedingly delicate, and a diplo matic rupture between the United States and Austria was imminent With this before the mind of Mr. Motley, he must act promptly and fearlessly, yet wisely and judiciously. He communicated at once the views of our Government to Count Mursdorff, who, in reply, wrote that, " the necessary measures have been taken, in order to suspend the departure of the newly-enlisted volunteers for Mexico." Thus the difficulty was fortunately and amicably arranged ; and the Austrian troops were recalled, although they had been embarked, and were upon the point of sailing from the harbor of Trieste. The correspondence between Mr. Motley and Mr. Seward, as Secretary of State, was very extensive, and of a mutually friendly and respectful character, so far as we can judge from that portion of it officially published. Mr. Motley's career as a diplomatist was em inently able, skillful and creditable, but for reasons, which were understood to be entirely personal at the time, he was recalled from Vienna during the Presidency of Andrew Johnson After Gen. Grant became President, he was appointed to represent the United States as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipoten tiary to Great Britain. That position he did not long occupy. He had much to do in the diplomatic management of the Alabama diffi culty, but his course was not altogether satisfactory to either his own or the British Government After the death of Lord Clarendon, the British minister, it being supposed that the new minister would de sire to re-open negotiations, Mr. Motley was recalled, in order that our Goverment might be represented by a person supposed to be more in harmony with it, in respect to the settlement of the Alabama case. This was in the early part of 1870. Since that time Mr. Mot ley has been devoting himself to his literary labors. A new and im portant historical volume is expected soon from his pen. JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY. 463 Latterly Mr. Motley's health has been somewhat impaired, but it is hoped only temporarily. The London correspondent of the New York Tribune, writing on the subject, gives the following information concerning the distinguished historian : " Mr. Motley, after quitting London, some six weeks ago, was or dered back to it by his physician, on the pretext that the climate was good for him. The true reason in Mr. Motley's case I suspect to have been his physician's desire to have him under his eye, and con stantly within reach of the best attendance. Whether the attack under which he now suffers was foreseen I can not say. He has had a slight paralytic stroke. It occurred as Mr. Motley was taking Lady Margaret Beaumont down to dinner. His right arm suddenly fell . powerless by his side, and the side itself was also somewhat affected. He was carried to his hotel in Dover Street, and has not since left his room. The physicians agree in regarding the paralysis as by no means serious, nor likely to disable him for any long time. The truth I believe to be that Mr. Motley's nervous system has suffered partly from overwork, and partly from the circumstances of his retire ment from the mission to this court. He has never ceased to regard himself as ill-treated and insulted, and being a proud and sensitive man, the injury has not been forgotten. His habits of study have been severe. I remember his telling me that he always rose at six, and was at work, and very hard at work, with books and papers dur ing a great part of the day. The manuscript of his last book, The History of John of Barneveldt, was put into Mr. Murray's hands only two or three weeks since, and the book will be out this autumn, (1873)." THOMAS 0. OSBORN. ENERAL THOMAS O. OSBORN, United States Min ister Resident to the Argentine Republic, residence at Buenos Ayres, was born in Jersey, Licking County, Ohio, August llth, 1832. He received, in the schools of his native place, such preliminary educational training as pre pared him for college, and he entered the University of Ohio, from which, in due course, he was graduated with honors, in 1854. After completing his education as above stated, he began the study of the law with Lewis Wallace (now Major General) in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and was admitted to the bar in 1858. He immediately afterward removed to Chicago for the practice of his profession, and was rapidly attaining distinction therein when the war broke out, and at once diverted his talents and ambition in another channel. At the commencement of hostilities he telegraphed to Governor Yates, then Governor of Illinois, tendering his individual services in behalf of the government, and offering a regiment to be called the " Yates Phalanx." The Governor promptly signified his ac ceptance and the regiment was raised. There was, however, some delay in the acceptance of it, and Mr. Osborn tendered it direct to the Secretary of War. It was finally accepted as an independent regiment the day after the famous Bull Run disaster. Declining the Colonelcy, he was elected its Lieutenant Colonel but was promoted to full command during the year 1861. From this time began a brilliant military career and an advancement and achievement which reflect the highest credit for patriotism, "¦'if IB * illnil Ittplp •Al4r\ THOMAS O. OSBORN. 465 valor, and devotion, upon the subject of our sketch. Serving under General Lander at Winchester, he rendered most important aid |n gaining the only victory ever won over General Stonewall Jack- eon. He participated in all the work done in the Shenandoah YaHey, as also in much that was accomplished elsewhere under General McOlellan. His gallant conduct and soldierly efficiency attracted the attention of his superiors, and he was, in January, 1863, placed in command of the First Brigade of General Terry's Division and ordered to Hilton Head, from whence he took part in the seige of Morris Island, and in the capture of Forts Wagner and Sumter. While at Hilton Head, and after the fall of the forts mentioned, bis regiment, the 39th Hlinois, resolved to re-enlist for veteran ser vice, being the first regiment in the Department of the South that did so. He went with his regiment, in May, up James River with General Butler's expedition. At Drury's Bluff he had his right arm so badly shattered as to disable it permanently ; still for two hours he remained in the saddle in the discharge of his duty with the mangled and bleeding arm hanging beside him. He suffered intensely from this wound, and on leaving the hospital was sent home to recuperate. Happily he saved the limb from amputation, and is now able to use it although with some inconvenience. General Osborn employed his leave of absence in promoting and urging a vigorous prosecution of the war, and in making speeches in the Presidential Campaign of 1864. While still car rying his wounded arm in a sling, and unable to mount his horse without assistance, he reported for duty in front of Richmond and was placed in command of the First Brigade, First Division, Fourth Army Corps, having been brevetted Brigadier General for his gallantry at Drury's Bluff. On the 2d of April, 1865, General Osborn led the charge at Fort Gregg, the key to Petersburg and Richmond, and for his bravery on that occasion he was made a full Brigadier General, while at the same time the Secretary of War presented the Yates Phalanx with a magnificent brazen eagle. In the succeeding struggle, ending in the final conflict before Richmond, General Osborn and the forces under him rendered services of the utmost importance, and his personal intrepidity and activity may be inferred from the fact that he had three horses 466 THOMAS O. OSBORN. killed under him. For his conduct there he was made . Major General by brevet. ¦*..'* General Osborn resigned his commission in the following Octo ber, and returned to Chicago. He was afterward appointed Post master of Chicago by President Johnson, but, not choosing to accept the terms and conditions of the President, he did .not get his commission. He resumed the practice of law, and soon made rapid advances, continuing thus engaged until the early part of 1874, when he was appointed to succeed General Julius White, as United States Min ister Resident to the Argentine Republic, being appointed by the President on February 2d, 1874, and confirmed by the Senate on February 10th. General Osborn, during his official residence at Buenos Ayres, has made a number of interesting reports to the State Department on matters concerning the Argentine Republic, which bear evidence of a thorough acquaintance with the workings of the government to which he is accredited, and also show the industry, zeal and in telligence with which he is discharging the duties of his office. The Argentine Republic has latterly done much to invite Amer ican enterprise, and there is no doubt that the trade of that country with the United States could be very greatly extended and made profitable by increased facilities in the way of steamship navigation. A correspondent of the New York Tribune, writing from Wash ington under date of February 3, gives the following account of thrift and expansion in that Republic : " The latest dispatches received from the Argentine Republic report that the dispute between that country and the adjoining republics of Paraguay and Chili in regard to the location of their boundaries is likely to be settled in a peaceable manner, and in accordance with the demands of the Argentine Government. The policy of the Argentine Republic — not to take advantage of the dissensions of neighboring States to advance its own interests — has prevented it from making its demands upon Paraguay in as per emptory a manner as it otherwise might have done. This concil iatory policy meets the entire approval of the Argentine people. The commerce of the Argentine Republic, which has been depressed by financial embarrassments, is reported to be rapidly reviving. The customs receipts at Buenos Ayres for October, 1875, were THOMAS O. OSBORN. 467 $1,007,022. and for the ten months ending October 31, 1875, $10,208,236. The credit of the Government is reported to be gradually improving. Argentine stocks are in active demand in the London market, and Argentine bonds are freely taken by Eng lish capitalists. "The policy of the Argentine Republic to encourage immigra tion is already attracting many colonists from Europe. According to the official reports, the number of immigrants who arrived at the port of Buenos Ayres during 1875 was about 88,000. Each steamer from the Mediterranean brought from 500 to 600 settlers. flp v!t *Jf; fl& ^t yf± yfc " The Executive of the Republic submitted to Congress at its last session a draft of a general law for the encouragement of immigration, but as there was not time to give it sufficient consid eration, a provisional act was passed authorizing the Executive to grant to settlers on the public lands, or those in the provinces set aside for colonization, farms of 160 acres for each family ; it also authorizes the Executive to make an advance of 600 piasters to each family to pay the expense of immigration and of getting estab lished in the colonies. An appropriation of 300,000 piasters was made to enable the Executive to carry this act into execution. ******* " The first section of a great National Park was opened at Buenos Ayres on the llth of November. This park is constructed by the National Government, in commemoration of the overthrow of Rosas, on the 3d of February, 1852, and of the establishment of the principles of self-government. The park is to be known as the " February Park," and on the occasion referred to the eere- monies were performed in the presence of thousands of people, and an eloquent address was made by President Avellaneda. When completed, this park will have an area of 650 acres, and will unite some of the best features of Hyde Park in London and the Central Park in New York. " The second section of the Andes Railway, which is soon to unite the Argentine Republic with Chili, has been completed and accepted by the Argentine Government. This line will connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and open direct communication between Buenos Ayres and the United States by the way of the Pacific ports of South America. The only communication now is 46S THOMAS O. OSBORN. through Brazil, and is irregular. The section ending at Villa Mer cedes was opened by President Avellaneda in September. The portion of the line now completed is 304 miles in length, and extends from Rosario to Villa Mercedes. 7K ^K V *K V l|f -V W " The Ai'gentine Republic, by an act of Congress passed October 13, 1875, has undertaken the establishment of a normal school for the elementary education of female teachers at the capital of each province, and grants general aid to the local authorities for this purpose. These schools are to be under the control of the National Government until one course of instruc tion has been completed, after which they are to be turned over to the provincial authorities, provided they agree to defray the expenses for their support. It is proposed to attach to each normal school a graduate department, for the purpose of prepar ing teachers for service in more advanced schools. The normal course will be three years in length, and the graduate, course two years. " These schools, after having been established, are to be under the immediate control of the provincial school authorities, the National Executive retaining only such supervision as will enable it to obtain regular reports of the progress of the schools and to propose such changes in the plan as may from time to time be considered necessary. Ten scholarships are to be established in each school, amounting to $12 (silver) a month each. These are to be given to poor girls from the rural districts who may wish to prepare themselves to be teachers, on condition that they agree to spend twice as much time in teaching in their respective dis tricts as they occupied in the normal schools, free of charge. This service may be performed either in the public schools, where they will receive the usual salary, or in private schools without salary from the Government. The National Executive is authorized to engage teachers for these normal schools in foreign countries, provided it is unable to find suitable persons to fill these places in the Argentine Republic. An appropriation of $20,000 (silver) was made for carrying this law into execution." ^¦VGEftrinafcC-S**: (yA^+-^cA/tl_, ROBERT C. SCHENCK P.Ei-'KKSi,i.TTATfVE FKOM OHIO ROBERT C. SCHENCK. By Wtt.t.tam Horatio Bakkes. OBERT CUMMING SCHENCK, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain, was born in Franklin, Warren County, Ohio, October 4th, 1809. His father, General William C. Schenck, was one of the early settlers in the Miami Valley, and served in the Northwestern Army under General Harrison. He died at the capital of Ohio while a member of the General Assembly. At fifteen years of age young Schenck entered the Sophomore Class in the Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, where he graduated in 1827. He remained at Oxford as a tutor of Latin and French until he received his Master's degree in 1830. He then commenced the study of law in Lebanon, with the celebrated Thomas Corwin. Having completed his course of legal studies, he removed to Dayton, where he entered upon the practice of law. Here his legal acquire ments and ability as an advocate gave him rapid advancement in his profession, and secured him a large and lucrative practice. In 1838 he was first a candidate for public office. He ran on the Whig ticket for the legislature, and failed by a few votes to be elected. He entered with zeal into the Presidential canvass of 1840, and obtained' a reputa tion as a popular speaker second to none in Ohio, save that of Corwin. In 1841 he was elected to the Legislature of Ohio, and was recogniz ed as a leading spirit among the Whigs in that body. At the extra session of the Legislature, in the summer of 1842, he defeated the scheme of the Democrats to pass an apportionment bill, arranging the districts in such a way as to promote the interests of the Democratic party. Through his influence the Whig members of both branches of the Legislature resigned. The remainder, being less than a quo rum, were unable to carry out their plan of " Gerrymandering " the 470 ROBERT C. SCHENCK. State. At the following session an apportionment bill, not so odious as the first, was passed in time for the Congressional election Mr- Schenck was re-elected to the Legislature by an increased majority. He distinguished himself by laboring to secure economy in the finances, advocating internal improvements, and assisting to effect a revision of the school law. He rose so rapidly in the estima tion of his party, that he was, in 1843, nominated for Congress, and was elected by a large majority, in a district which was usually very close. He served in Congress with great efficiency during four successive terms. He was a member of several important Commit tees, and in the Thirtieth Congress was Chairman of the Committee of Roads and Canals. He was recognized as one of the Whig leaders of the House. He took a prominent part in discussions, and was re garded as a very formidable competitor in debate. In 1850, Mr. Schenck refused a re-nomination for Congress, and was the following year appointed, by President Fillmore, Minister to Brazil. His powers were subsequently extended by a commission to treat with the authorities of Uruguay and Paraguay. He negotiated several important treaties, by one of which the navigation of the river La Plata and its tributaries was made " free to the merchant flags of all nations." After his return to the United States, in 1854, for a number of years he took no active part in politics. In addition to occasional practice at the bar, he was engaged in the management of a line of railroad from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to the Mississippi River. At the election of a successor to Mr. Chase as United States Senator, Mr. Schenck received the vote of the opposition to the Democracy, but the preponderance of this party secured the election of its can didate, Mr. Pugh. Immediately after the attack on Fort Sumter, Mr. Schenck ten dered his services to President Lincoln, who commissioned him a Brigadier-General of Volunteers, on the 17th of May, 1861. On the 17th of June, following, General Schenck was ordered to take posses sion of the Loudon and Hampshire railroad as far as Vienna. Under instructions from General Scott, the road had been reconnoitered the day before, and no enemy discovered. General Schenck was ordered to place a regiment of his brigade in cars, and establish guards at certain points designated along the road. As the train was approach ing Vienna, with but two companies on board, it was fired upon by a masked battery. Three cars were disabled, ten men were killed, and two wounded. The locomotive being in the rear, the engineer ROBERT C. SCHENCK. 471 treacherously uncoupled, and returned to Alexandria, leaving the little band in .the midst of a largely superior force, supported by artillery and cavalry. The rebels numbered eight hundred men, mainly South Carolinians, under command of General Gregg. General Schenck with great coolness rallied his men. So much courage was displayed that the rebels withdrew, impressed with the belief that a heavy force must be in reserve. At the battle of Bull Run, July 21st, 1861,' General Schenck commanded a brigade, embracing the First and Second Ohio, the. Second New York, and a battery of six-pounders. His position was on the Warrenton Road, near the stone bridge. About four o'clock in the afternoon General Schenck received orders to retreat, and forming his brigade brought off his men in such an orderly manner as to distinguish them from the frightened mob which comprised the fragments of the disintegrated army. But for this orderly movement the day's disaster would have been far greater, for General Beauregard gave it as one reason why pursuit was not made that he was satisfied large re-inforcements held the Warrenton Road. General Schenck was next assigned to the command of a brigade in West Virginia, and was actively engaged in the campaigns on the Kenawha and New Rivers. On the death of General Lander, he was ordered to Cumberland, Maryland, where he found everything in a state of confusion. Here he found scope for the exercise of his ad ministrative abilities, and soon succeeded in restoring order and en forcing discipline. General Schenck was next ordered to move up the south branch of the Potomac. In obedience to this order, he successively occupied and held Moorfield, Petersburg, Franklin, and other important points. He was then ordered to push on to the relief of General Milroy, who was at McDowell with a force of about four thousand men. When within twenty-two miles of McDowell, a dispatch was received from General Milroy, stating that the enemy was at least fourteen thousand strong, and would undoubtedly attack the next morning. General Schenck pushed onward with about fifteen hundred infantry, one battalion of cavalry, and a battery of artillery. The march was continued all night, and a conjunction of the forces was effected early in the morning. On consultation, General Schenck and General Milroy agreed that they could not hold the place against such a force as the enemy possessed. Instead of awaiting an attack or commenc ing a retreat a feint of strength was made, and hard fighting con 4?2 ROBERT C. SCHENCK. tinued until dark. Meanwhile baggage was sent off in wagon trains, and, after the close of the day's demonstration, the entire army was brought off with slight loss, considering the immense odds against it. The commander of the department pronounced the march to the relief of Milroy, the battle, and the subsequent retreat, one of the most brilliant achievements that had thus far' marked the campaigns of that region. At the battle of Cross Keys, General Schenck occupied the right of the line. The rebels in heavy force attempted to flank his position They were promptly repulsed, and fell back under a well-directed artillery fire. Until three o'clock in the afternoon, the right continued to press the enemy, and in no instance lost any part of the field they had gained. When the left gave way, General Fremont ordered General Schenck to fall back to the strong position occupied in the morning. General Fremont, when relieved of his command, turned it over to General Schenck, who, in the absence of General Sigel, had command of the First Corps of the Army of Virginia. General Schenck, with his division, took an active part in the second battle of Bull Run. His orders were given with great prompt ness and judgment, and he displayed much coolness and bravery on the field. On the second day of the battle, in the thickest of the fight, he was severely wounded. A ball struck his right arm, by which his sword was thrown some distance from him. As the position was much exposed, his staff desired to carry him instantly off the field, but he persistently and repeatedly refused to go until his sword should be found. He was conveyed to Washington, and the day following his arrival the President and other distinguished persons visited him and gave him most cordial expressions of sympathy and praise. He was shortly afterwards promoted to the rank of Major- General. Secretary Stanton stated in a letter accompanying the commission, that no official act of his was ever performed with greater pleasure than the forwarding of this appointment General Schenck recovered slowly, and six months elapsed before he was again fit for field duty. Before he had entirely recovered from his wound, on the llth of December, 1862, he was assigned by the President to the command of the Middle Department, Eighth Army Corps, with headquarters at. Baltimore. This was one of the most difficult posts of duty in the entire service, and his fitness for it was inferred from his great reputation and experience in civil affairs. ROBERT C. SCHENCK. 473 General Schenck's administration fully met public expectation. He displayed great executive ability, firmness, and determination. He arrested and promptly punished many who to " declarations of sympathy with treason " added " acts of complicity." As" the rebels of Maryland attempted to fight the battles of the " Confederacy " at the' ballot-box, it became a part of General Schenck's duty to provide that Union men should be protected at the polls, and that voters should take a suitable oath of allegiance. To effect these objects, General Schenck issued " General Order Fifty- -three." celebrated among the official documents of the war, and especially odious to all secession sympathizers. Henry Winter Davis, and other Union leaders of Maryland were accustomed to speak of him as the savior of the State. On the 5th of December, 1863, General Schenck resigned his commission to take a. seat in Congress as a Representative from the Third Ohio District He was immediately appointed to the respon sible position of Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, which he held during the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses. In this position he had to do with questions of the utmost importance affecting the immense army then engaged in suppressing the rebel lion. He projected many important features in the military measures, which tended to promote the efficiency and success of the army. He was the firm friend of the volunteer as against the encroachments and assumptions of the regulars. He was a vigorous advocate of the draft, the enemy of deserters, and the champion of private soldiers. On taking his seat by re-election in the Fortieth Congress, General Schenck was appointed to the most important and responsible position in the House — the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ways and Means. His sound views on financial questions and his great industry well fitted him for the important and laborious duties pertaining to this committee. His force of character, his strength of will, his readi ness in debate, and his general abilities as a statesman, made him practically as well as technically "Leader of the House." As Chair man Of the same Committee in the Forty-first Congress he perfected and carried through the House the Tax Bill — an immense labor, which he performed to the satisfaction of the great majority in Con gress and the country. General Schenck was a candidate for re-election in 1870, but owing to divisions among Republicans in his district, he was defeated by a majority of fifty-three votes. He was subsequently nominated 474 ROBERT C. SCHENCK. and confirmed as United States Minister to England, but previous to his departure was designated to serve as a member of the Joint-High Commission to negotiate a treaty with Great Britain for the settle ment of the Alabama claims. The High Commission was composed throughout of men of the most distinguished culture and ability. But it is safe to say that there were few if any among them, who, in comprehensive grasp of principles, in readiness in adapting legal rules to known facts, in sterling common sense, and in that intimate ac quaintance with human nature,, which comes from a life of varied activity, were the superiors of General Schenck. The nation was greatly indebted to his talents and industry for the satisfactory result which was reached. It was thus General Schenck's good fortune as diplomatic envoy to England to have accomplished the most serious work of his mission before sailing for his post of duty. It is rare that any Minister has it in his power to render so substantial a service to his country during his whole term of office as that which General Schenck rendered as a preliminary to his mission. His career at the Court of St. James has been such as was to be expected from so auspicious a beginning. He has fully sustained the character and reputation of his country in a court where it had been represented by the ablest and most distin guished of our statesmen. '"wtcltibn&anj >..3mjrmnj »?»*'" J. MILTON TURNER. ON. J. MILTON TURNER, United States Minister Resident and Consul-General to Liberia, was born a slave, of pure negro parentage, at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1840. At the age of six months his own and his mother's manumission was purchased by the industry of his father, who, being himself illiterate, and having been defrauded in business, learned and appreciated the value of education, and resolved to expend his humble savings in educa ting his two children. Therefore, Mr. Turner received in early childhood such instruction as friendly whites could be prevailed upon to give him, in violation of the laws of Missouri which pro hibited the education of either free colored or slave children. At the age of fourteen his father placed him at school in Oberlin, Ohio, where he remained two years and six months. He spent all together four years and six months at school, but he was a close student and gained much valuable information from out side sources, and, having considerable oratorical talent, was regard ed by all who knew him as a promising boy. While at Oberlin, he learned also to appreciate the unfortunate condition of his race in slavery, and he there resolved to devote his life towards assisting in the emancipation and elevation of his people. At that time, but little could be done to ameliorate the condition of the negro, but young Turner cheerfully aided all who could be persuaded to forsake their owner, and escape to the freedom of the northern states and Canada, and he thus gladdened the hearts of many with the joyous boon of liberty. The beginning of the late war found him in St. Louis diligently laboring to instruct the few colored children he could reach with out the knowledge of the authorities. Anxious to contribute his services to the cause of the Government, but unwilling to enlist in 476 J- MILTON TURNER. an army whose avenues of promotion were not open alike to all classes, he therefore accompanied the federal troops without pay, and fought in the battles of Wilson Creek, Boonville, Pea Ridge, Island No. 10, and Pittsburg Landing. After this he returned to St. Louis, and busied himself in organizing and conducting societies for the purpose of assisting and caring for the freedmen who were then leaving the South in great numbers. Realizing now the great want of schools, he became a diligent student so as to prepare himself fully to carry forward this object. In 1865 he began teaching and organizing schools at Kansas City, St. Louis and other places in the State of Missouri. He next organized a State Central Committee to canvas the State in behalf of negro suffrage and equality before the law, acting part of the time as Chairman and for a while as Secretary of that committee, canvassing the State and making many speeches. In 1866 the committee procured the services of distinguished speakers from other States, and associated them with Mr. Turner in that campaign which was the first conducted exclusively by negroes west of the Mississippi. About this time, or rather in the year 1865, Mr. Turner and several other colored gentlemen of St. Louis petitioned Hon. Thos. C. Fletcher, then Governor of Missouri, to be commissioned to organize a regiment of soldiers under the militia law of that State, with the view of offering the service thereof to the general government. Governor Fletcher granted the petition and com missioned colored men to all the offices. Mr. Turner was at first captain of a company in the regiment, but in order that the organiza tion might be more thoroughly perfected, he resigned his captaincy and accepted the position of Adjutant with the rank of 1st Lieu tenant, and in that capacity he remained and completed the organ ization and equipment of the regiment. At the close of the campaign, the war being near its end, and it becoming evident that there would probably be no active service for his regiment, Mr. Turner resigned his commission and again returned to the work of teaching in Kansas City. In 1868, he taught the select high school at Leavenworth, where he- remained until the opening of the first presidential campaign of General Grant, when he entered the contest, and, in the interests of the Republican party and of his people in Missouri, combatted the J. MILTON TURNER. 477 efforts and arguments of the eminent Missourian who was at that time the Democratic candidate for Vice President of the United States. Shortly after that campaign he was appointed principal teacher in the colored schools of Cooper County, Missom'i, and while thus engaged he began the study of law. He remained in those schools until the winter of 1869, when Prof. Thos. A. Parker, then State Superintendent of the public schools of Missouri, placed him in the office of Second Assistant State Superintendant, with the special duty of organizing schools for colored children, as provided for under the then new constitution of the State. About the same time, in 1869, Mr. Turner accepted the position of Assistant? to the Superintendent of the Freedman's Bureau for the State of Missouri. Being in these positions closely identified with the educational interests of his people, he saw the great -want of properly qualified teachers, and conceived the idea of a Normal School for the train ing of persons for that important purpose. He accordingly called a convention of the negro men and their friends to devise means for accomplishing that end, which convention met in Jefferson City in the early part of 1870. Mr. Turner Avas elected chairman over four other candidates, and at his suggestion the convention proposed to the Legislature then in session, to grant to the proposed Normal School the sum of $10,000 when it could show ownership of buildings and property to the amount of $15,000. The Legislature, by joint resolution, invited Mr. Turner to represent the cause of the Normal School, which he did in a comprehensive and eloquent speech before that body, and the proposition was earned. In six months, the $15,000 was raised, and the $10,000 thus secured. In fine, the Issue of that convention is the " Lincoln Institute " located at Jefferson City, Mo., and which is now developing into a first-class University, with buildings and property of a very respectable value. Mr. Turner was for some time, and especially during the erection of the buildings, an active and energetic member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees. During his connection with the educational interests of the State of Missouri, Mr. Turner was chosen delegate, and represented the interests of his State in the " National Labor and Educational 478 J- MILTON TURNER. Convention " held at Washington, D. C, in December, 1869. He was a prominent member of the Republican Convention held in Jefferson City, Mo., in the year 1870. This was the largest, and perhaps, the most important Republican Convention ever held in that State. Hon. Carl Schurz, then a member of the United States Senate, contended in that body for the admis sion of certain resolutions in the platform of the party, and thereby succeeded in dividing the Republican party in the State. Not more than two or three men struggled against the resolution with the ability and' earnestness of Mr. Turner, and it was generally conceded that he made the most eloquent and convincing speech of the convention, in reply to the distinguished Senator whose stren-. uous efforts were directed to the incorporation of those resolutions into the Republican platform. After the adjournment of the convention, Mr. Turner again entered the campaign in behalf of the Republican party, and won laurels with other leading Republicans in opposing the determined efforts of Hon. B. Gratz Brown, Frank P. Blair, Carl Schurz, and others, to carry the State of Missouri into the Democratic party. There were two amendments to be submitted to the vote of the people in that campaign : one for the enfranchisement of ex-Con federates in Missouri, and the other to erase the word white from the State Constitution. Mr. Turner, although in favor of both propositions, thought they should have been submitted in one amendment, so that- the success of one might prove the success of the other. His logical and eloquent speeches on those amendments won for him the repu tation of being one of the ablest speakers of the West, and brought him into notice as a national character. When that memorable campaign had closed it was found, as is well known, that the bolting Republicans had succeeded in handing the State over to the Democracy. In 1869 Governor McClurg and others associated with him in the State government of Missouri, together with United States Senators Drake and Schurz and the Republican Members of Con gress from Missouri, presented the name of Mr. Turner to the President for appointment to the position of Minister Resident and Consul-General to Liberia. He was, accordingly, appointed to that important post, on March 1st, 1871, where he still remains. J. MILTON TURNER. 479 The duties devolving upon a United States Minister to Liberia are not alone arduous, but likewise delicate and intricate. In 1871 a revolution of vast proportions occurred in Liberia ; society be came, disintegrated, all industries were paralyzed and frustrated, life was insecure throughout the country, the Postmaster-General was assassinated in the capital ; the President, chased by a mob through the streets of Monrovia, leaped into the ocean and lost his life in an attempt to escape capture ; indeed, the Government was deposed, and the nation seemed for a time unable to tide over the violence of the political tempest. In the midst of these disturbances Mr. Turner was urgently appealed to, by the several political factions, for recognition in the name of the United States. Being distant from Washington, he had not sufficient time to ask for instructions from his Government and receive a reply. He therefore assumed the neutrality of the United States and so declared. This act received the unqualified approval of the Government at Washington. During the year 1875, an unfortunate misunderstanding arose out of a long series of -unhappy circumstances between the Repub lic of Liberia and the Grebos, a powerful and influential tribe of Africans numbering about 30,000 soulf , and residing upon Liberian territory. The utmost endeavor of that government to maintain peaceful and friendly relations with the tribe proved abortive ; an appeal to arms followed, and, after several severe engagements, the decisive battle was won by the Grebo insurgents. This victory placed at the mercy of the tribe four hundred miles of the south-eastern portion of the Liberian territory. The Liberian army was not only defeated but demoralized ; provisions in the country were in adequate to the needs of the army and people of the Republic, and both were threatened with famine, while the national credit abroad was impaired and the treasury at home was absolutely empty. It was in the midst of the intense anxiety occasioned by these disheartening circumstances that the President of Liberia appealed to Mr. Turner, in his capacity as United States Minister, for aid to quell the insurrection. Mr. Turner responded promptly, under a provision contained in the VIII. Article of the treaty between the United States and Liberia, intended, apparently, to anticipate just such an emergency. He informed his Government at Wash ington of the sad state of affairs in Liberia, and of the application 480 J- MILTON TURNER. for assistance, and received in reply the presence of a U. S. man- of-war to co-operate with Liberia in the pacification of the tribe. In short, he was able by his discreet and most judicious course to smooth the way to a peaceful solution of the troubles, thereby saving immense loss of property and life. The late President Roberts, in his last annual message to the Liberian Legislature, made complimentary mention of Mr. Turner for the generous promptitude with which he responded to the appeal of. the~President in the hour of Liberia's peril. Mr. Turner has always been opposed to the idea of colonizing the colored people of the United States in any foreign country, and since his residence in Liberia — where he has extensive oppor tunities of seeing the misery, want and too frequently the prema ture death from climatic influences of that too credulous class of Americanswho have the misfortune to have been emigrated to Liberia by the American Colonization Society — his convictions in that have been confirmed. That he has been able so long without offense to any class to remain in that country, where the popular hope and expectation is that numerical accessions will yet be largely obtained from the ranks of the colored people of the United States, and at the same time discharge his duty toward that class of persons in his own country — is to his skill the highest commendation. Mr. Turner found in Liberia a disposition to ignore the abori ginal African in social, political and religious directions, instead of bringing the native tribes into such friendly relations as would be advantageous to the intermingling of his interests with those of other classes as rapidly as he may become prepared for responsi bility in that country. A disposition prevailed, and to a great extent still prevails, to introduce that character into the civilized com munities chiefly for the purpose of making him the nominal serf to all other classes. Meantime, the philanthropists and benevolent associations abroad, in Europe and America, are importuned for means, to aid the professed benefactor (the more civilized Liberian) in the civilization and evangelization of the native African. Mr. Turner has written and spoken freely and often with ref erence to this undesirable state of things, and he has attracted a reasonable amount of attention thereto from abroad. Especially and repeatedly has he spread before the notice of the Government J. MILTON TURNER. 4gl at Washington the absence of anything in the policy of Liberia, as practised, looking to the absorption of intelligence as acquired by the tribes, into integration of interests with those of other classes in that Republic. In his consular capacity, Mr. Turner would have doubtless been able, in a land whose agricultural interests are more developed and not so remote from the general course of commerce with the United States, to have accomplished greater results than have been permitted him in Liberia. Still, although they have there none of the appliances of modern farming, such as ploughs or machinery of any kind, or horses or oxen, he has by persistent effort succeeded in directing or assisting to direct an increase of attention to the soil of the country, especially to the cultivation of coffee, the principal Liberian staple for exportation. He has also aided in directing much of that product to the United States instead of to European markets, where it once tended. The commerce between that country and the United States can not foot up a very large sum, inasmuch as there are not more than five American vessels sailing each year from Liberia to this country. The amount of exports is about $95,000 annually, and -slowly, but steadily, increasing. The form of government is similar to our own ; in fact the organic system of Liberia is about a miniature of the government of the State of Massachusetts, except, of course, in the matter of prosperity. Mr. Turner, as may be inferred from what has already been said, believes firmly that whatsoever tends to point Liberia to the aboriginal African, with his thorough natural adaptation to life in that inhospitable climate, for accessions to her very scanty popula tion, will be most friendly to her real, lasting interest. Mr. Turner is one of the few colored men who have made their mark in life. Personally, he is a modest, courteous, genial gentle man and generous to a fault. To the few Americans residing on the inhospitable shores of Africa, he is more than United States Minister. His home is their resort, where they at all times find a welcome, and no American who has visited the United States Legation at Monrovia, will forget the gentlemanly and friendly offices of our able and honored Minister Resident and Consul General. CHRISTIAN WULLWEBER. 'ON. CHRISTIAN WULLWEBER, United States Minister Resident to Ecuador, was born in the town of Hagenow, between Hamburg and Berlin, Germany, July 1, 1833. He passed creditably through the schools of his native place, and entered college at Suerin (Schwerin) in 1847. Soon after the political revolution of that time, the revolution of 1848, was precipitated, in which his father, C. G. Wullweber, who had held various offices of trust and honor, participated. The revolution being unsuccessful, and the reaction having set in, his father resolved to emigrate with his family to America, and found a colony based upon the principles of Socialism. The family arrived at Dubuque in the autumn of 1850. The colony project, after being fairly inaugurated in Clayton County, between the Turkey and Volga Rivers, had to be abandoned as impracticable. By the emigration of the family young Wullweber's college course was interrupted, and after the failure of the colony project, his mind turned again to his studies. A collegiate course required money, with which the young but am bitious man was deficient. For some time he gave private lessons in German and the classics, and in 1853 he was appointed one of the Professors of Alexander College, holding the chair up to 1856, when the family returned to Europe. Now, he again entered college, and pursued his studies with energy, finishing his course and receiving his certificate of gradua tion at Hamburg. Subsequently, he entered the University at Berlin, and then studied the civil law and the higher branches of learning. Later, he proceeded to Heidelberg, where he continued his law studies at the famous University of that city. In 1858 CHRISTIAN WULLWEBER. 433 the family returned to the United States, and Mr; Wullweber entered the Dane Law School at Harvard College, from which he graduated- and received his diploma. In 1859, he returned to Du buque and commenced the practice of the law, in which he was engaged up to the time of his departure for South America. Politically, Mr. Wullweber has been a Republican from the day the party was organized to this time. Indeed, he was one of the charter members of the party in Iowa, having been a delegate to the first Republican State Convention held at Iowa City, Febru ary 22d, 1856. In 1872, he was one of the Electors at Large of Iowa, and made an able and thorough canvass of the State, during the Presidential campaign. His speeches were noted for their accuracy of statement, sound reasoning, perspicuity and thorough ness. Wherever he spoke, the cause was advanced, and his own reputation as an able man strengthened. Mr. Wullweber was first elected Vice President of the Dubuque Board of Education in 1864, was re-elected member of said Board in March, 1870, and elected its President in March, 1874, which latter office he continued to hold until his appointment as United States Minister Resident to Ecuador, in July, 1875. He left for his post in October, 1875, and arrived in November following. A Dubuque paper, speaking of this appointment, says : " A long residence in Dubuque has endeared Mr. Wullweber to the people in ties as strong as his own virtue. He is a lawyer of fine abilities, a scholar of varied and superior attainments, a citizen whose daily life is fashioned to every public and private ' duty, and a gentleman of the highest integrity and purity of character. His extensive historical and political reading, his strong natural intelligence, supplemented by a classical education, all resting on the substratum of a conservative and judicial mind, eminently qualify him for the important duties now imposed upon him. His character is stainless, and .his reputation without blem ish. In the discharge of public duties, Mr. Wullweber has always evinced great industry and alacrity, illustrating the maxim, that whatever was " worth doing at all, was worth doing well." In common with the entire population of this city and county, we congratulate the honorable gentleman on his appointment to this position, assured that the nation's foreign civil service at the court named will be as highly honored by him as he is by the office." GEORGE P. MARSH. ' ON. GEORGE PERKINS MARSH, United States Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Italy, was born in Woodstock, Vermont, on the loth March, 1801. He settled in Burlington, Vermont, as a lawyer, and, in 1835, was elected a member of the State Legislative Council. He was elected to Congress and rserved from 1842 to 1849, and from 1849-50 was sent as Ambas sador to Turkey. In 1852 he went on a special mission to Greece, and in 1861 was •commissioned Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Italy, which position he has held continuously to the present time. Mr. Marsh is distinguished as a philologist as well as a diploma tist. Besides essays and reviews in literary periodicals and news papers, he has written a " Compendious Grammar of the Old Northern or Icelandic Language," (privately printed, Burlington, 1838) ; "The Camel, his Organization, Habits, &e.," (Boston, 1856) ; " Lectures on the English Language," (New York, 1860) ; " The Origin and History of the English Language," (1862) ; and " Man and Nature," (1864). His wife, Caroline Crane, born at Berkley, Mass., 1st December, 1816, is also a lady of eminent literary attainments. She has furnished translations from the German, amongst others " The Hallig, or the Sheepfold in the Waters," (Boston, 1857). She also wrote " Wolfe of the Knoll, and other Poems," (New York, 1860). Mr. Marsh's recent ' communications to the Government at Washington, as appear in the volumes of " Foreign Relations of the United States," published in 1875, refer to the Italo-Swiss boundary GEORGE P. MARSH. 485 arbitration, in which he was authorized by the Department to act as umpire, and also officially requested by the arbitrators to serve in that capacity in accordance with the terms of the convention between the two countries respecting the territory in dispute. Mr. Marsh gives a full history of the case and his decision as umpire, which met the approval of the arbitrators and the parties interested. He also discusses at some length in the volume before men tioned, the important and hitherto embarrassing subject of the laws of Italy on the marriage of foreigners in that country, par ticularly as affecting the marriage of citizens of the United States in Italy since the Act of Congress of June 22d, 1860 ; and it appears, as the result of this correspondence with and instructions from the State Department, that cases are not likely to arise here after which will occasion any embarrassment to the legation in determining the legality or validity of such marriages. RICHARD GIBBS. ON. RICHARD GIBBS, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Peru, was born, of Irish parentage, in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1819. In 1828 his parents removed to Baltimore, Maryland, 'where his father became a contractor on the Baltimore and Susque hanna Railroad, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, during the years 1831-34. Young Gibbs attended school at Baltimore and Williamsport, Maryland, and in 1 835 the family removed to New York. Ac cording to the custom of those days the father instructed his son to choose a trade, and he was accordingly bound an apprentice to a silversmith, where he served some time over four years. While thus engaged learning his trade young Gibbs was a constant -student at the Apprentice's Library, rarely ever selecting light reading, but devoting his researches to ancient and modern history, so that when his time expired he was well versed in that branch of literature. In 1840 Mr. Gibbs went to Nuevitas, Cuba, employed as a clerk by Mr. B. H. Wright, who was the builder of the Nuevitas and Puerto Principe Railroad. He remained with Mr. Wright for two years until 1842, when he entered into mining operations, and in 1845 went to England and Wales for the purpose of forming mining companies. This voyage was made in a small schooner of fifty-four tons burthen, loaded with over seventy tons of copper ore. The crew consisted of six persons, with Mr. Gibbs as passen ger and acting assistant navigator. The vessel left Cuba December 26th, 1844, and arrived at Swansea March 4th, 1845, being in the meantime driven to three different ports for repairs. Mr. Gibbs now considers the trip a wild undertaking. He was in Em-ope eight months visiting different countries. Returning to Cuba all of his mining operations failed. RICHARD GIBBS. 487 In 1846 Mr. H. R. Riddle, a merchant and United States Con sular Agent at Nuevitas, offered Mr. Gibbs a situation as general clerk in his warehouse and office, which he accepted. In conse quence of the commercial panic of 1848 Mr. Riddle gave up his business in Cuba, leaving Mr. Gibbs to close it out and take charge of the Consular Agency, which position he held until he left the island in 1849. During that year parties in New York doing bus iness with Cuba, aware of Mr. Gibbs' character for industry and integrity, made advances in money and goods consigned to him, which were promptly repaid by shipments in return. These were the first steps towards the establishment of a commercial house afterwards well known throughout the island, first as Santos, Gibbs & Co., which was formed in 1858, and afterwards as -R. Gibbs & Co., through the death of the senior partner, Mr. Santos. Mr. Gibbs was in 1868 well on the road to fortune, with a good name and credit, the firm being owners of large warehouses, wharves, vessels and other property, employing their earnings and advancing capital to the owners of sugar plantations which were fast springing up in the central district of Cuba. The Cuban re bellion was proclaimed in Yara, October, 1868, and in April, 1869, Mr. Gibbs left Cuba with his family, financially ruined, taking nothing with him, but leaving all in charge of his agent. In a few weeks the revolution had swept away the product and savings of over twenty years of industrious effort. Through the influence of friends, Mr. Gibbs obtained a clerk ship, in 1872, in the Naval Department of the New York Custom [ House, which he held about six months, attending regularly to his duties and coming often in contact officially with the clerks of houses to whom he had been accustomed in former years to ship large cargoes. He was afterwards changed to the Appraiser's Of fice, holding a position in the Damage Department. In 1873, the same friends who had aided him in obtaining em ployment in the Custom House, secured his appointment as Super intendent of Street Improvements under Commissioner Van Nort, which position he held with credit for two years. During the Spring of 1874, some Americnn gentlemen con nected with various enterprises in Venezuela, having knowledge of Mr. Gibbs' acquaintance with the Spanish language and of his standing as a merchant when in Cuba, were desirous of having him 488 RICHARD GIBBS. appointed United States Minister Resident to Venezuela. This appointment was specially urged by these gentlemen because they knew Mr. Gibbs to be a proper person, from his well-known com mercial knowledge and experience, to extend American interests in Venezuela. A memorial or petition to that effect was signed by twenty-four commercial houses in New York, representing a capital of over $50,000,000. Another person, however, received the appointment. The same parties still interested themselves in behalf of Mr. Gibbs, and finally he was appointed by President Grant, on the 9th April, 1875, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Peru, which appointment was confirmed by the Senate in Decem ber, 1875. Mr. Gibbs is a thorough Spanish scholar, fully conversant with the customs and requirements of the Spanish American peo ple, and well qualified to discharge the duties of the important office he is now holding. DAVID H. BAILEY. ON. DAVID HAWORTH BAILEY, United States Consul at Hong Kong, was born in Wilmington, Ohio, September 27th, 1830, of Quaker parents of Virgi nia ancestry, dating back several generations. He re moved to Cincinnati in 1844, and spent the larger part of his boyhood (until 17 years of age) at school, completing his education at Woodward College, Cincinnati. He then studied law in the Cincinnati Law School. He took an active interest in politics at an early age. Was elected Right Worthy Grand Mas ter of the National Grand Lodge of the American Protestant Association in the year 1856, and served one term. He removed to Leavenworth City, Kansas, in L858, and prac ticed law there for several years in partnership with Daniel Mc Cook, of the celebrated McCook family of Ohio,1 who was after wards Brigadier General, and who fell at the head of his troops at Kenesaw Mountain. Mr. Bailey was engaged as one of the leading counsel in the celebrated Fugitive Slave case " Charley Fisher," in the year 1859, which resulted, after a long and very exciting contest, (during which period several hundred men were under arms on both sides- in hostile attitude,) in the successful resistance of the enforcement of that law in Kansas, and in the release of " Charley Fisher," who was actually the slave of one Rane C. Hutchinson of Louisi ana. This was, singularly enough, the last attempt to enforce that act in any part of the United States. Mr. Bailey and his co- counsel procured a writ of habeas corpus from a " Free State " Probate Judge, who had jurisdiction in habeas corpus under the Territorial .laws; and the Sheriff of the county, who happened also 490 DAVID H. BAILEY. to be a " Free State " man, executed the writ by forcibly taking the slave from the custody of the United States Marshal, although that officer had a guard of fifteen or twenty men around the house in which he held the fugitive, and some three or foiir hundred men under arms four squares away. The slave was immediately taken to the residence of the Probate Judge, who decided that the Fugitive Slave Law was unconstitutional, and thereupon libera ted the negro, who at once escaped to Lawrence, " the City of Refuge." This action created the most intense excitement in Leavenworth, and on the next night an immense mass-meeting was convened at Stockton Hall, where many speeches were made and resolutions were adopted denouncing in the strongest terms the course pursued by Mr. Bailey and his colleagues, and tele graphing their proceedings all over the county. The next night, a counter meeting was held at the same place, equally large, equally respectable, and far more resolute, endorsing in the strong est language all that had been done in liberating the slave, and pledging themselves to stand by Mr. Bailey and his associates to the bitter end. Mr. Bailey, the Probate Judge, Geo. W. Gardiner, Col. D. R. Anthony, Champion Vaughan, and several others, attorneys, etc., etc., in the case, were indicted in the United States District Court, and sued in a civil action for resisting the Fugitive Slave Law. Each one of the indicted persons refused to give bail, when at last the United "States Marshal offered to take their personal recog nizance — this was also refused, and then they were allowed "per necessitates" to go without bond and without imprisonment. When the cases came on for trial several months later, the excite ment was so high, the determination to resist so apparent, and a bloody collision so inevitable, that the United States District At torney entered in each case a nolle prosequi, and at the same time dismissed the civil actions at the plaintiff's cost. Thus ended a very notable case in which Mr. Bailey took a leading and uncom promising part. (See Leavenworth Daily Times, April, 1859.) The next year Mr. Bailey was nominated by acclamation by the Republican Convention of Leavenworth County as a candidate for the Bouse of Representatives in the Territorial Legislature. His county was entitled to four members of that branch of the Legis lature. At that time the county was largely Democratic, and DAVID H. BAILEY. 491 many conservative Republicans were timid as to supporting him in consequence of his connection with the fugitive slave case. Each party had four candidates in the field, and the contest was conducted with special activity and bitterness as against Mr. Bailey on account of the slave case ; indeed he was warned not to speak in one of the townships where a Republican meeting had been appointed, but he did speak there at the time and place appointed, in defiance of a drunken and threatening crowd of "border ruffians," and was congratulated by many of the very men who had denounced him. The result of the contest was the election of Mr. Bailey, all the other Republican candidates being defeated, he having a majority of one over the highest Democratic candidate, and of nearly one hundred over the lowest candidate on that ticket. In the Legislature he took an active and influential part, being chairman of several important committees. During the session he incurred the lasting hostility of Governor Robinson — the governor- elect of the State organization under the Wyandotte Constitution — in successfully opposing, with others, the foisting on the state of a large issue of territorial bonds, which it was held were tainted with fraud. Mr. Bailey's speech in favor of a joint resolution endorsing the action of Major Robert Anderson in evacuating Fort Moultrie and •taking possession of Fort Sumter, in the course of a very heated debate, was pronounced as the most masterly speech of the session, and attracted much attention. — (See Emporia News, January or February, 1861.) At the fall of Fort Sumter Mr. Bailey, who was then in Ohio, whither he had gone to -be married, went immediately to Wash ington and actively assisted in forming a military company, known as the " Frontier Guard," for the especial purpose of guarding the President and assisting in the defence of Washington. This or ganization was composed entirely of gentlemen, chiefly of Kansas, and was one hundred and eighty strong. It was commanded by General James H. Lane, then United States Senator from Kansas, and among the privates were United States Senator Pomeroy, Chief Justice Thomas Ewing, A. C. Wilder, Member. of Congress, Col. D. R. Anthony, and many others in official positions. The first night after the organization was effected, April 17, 1861, the Secretary of War, Mr. Cameron, requested General Lane to march 492 DAVID H. BAILEY. his company to the White House, as there was danger apprehended of an attempt to capture the President. At nine o'clock that night the entire company filed into the East Room as a military or ganization, but without arms. For several hours thereafter that celebrated room, together with the Blue and Red rooms, presented perhaps the most warlike appearance ever known in the Presiden tial mansion since the foundation of the Government. Arms and ammunition were being brought in in great cases, the clink of ham mers and the rattling of steel, fixing bayonets, giving out cartridges, the settled resolve on every face, presented an historic scene never to be forgotten by those who saw it. That night the company bivouacked in the East Room, the men sleeping on the floor with their arms in order for an emergency. A few nights after, when the company was guarding the bridge across the east branch of the Potomac, near the Navy Yard, Mr. Bailey was one of a small squad who crossed over into Maryland on a scouting expedition and captured the first Confederate flag taken in the war, and which was displayed across Pennsylvania Avenue in front of Willard's Hotel, April 19, 1861. In the following month, a sufficient num ber of troops having arrived from the North to give protection to Washington, the " Frontier Guard " was mustered out in the East Room of the White House by President Lincoln. At this time Mr. Bailey was tendered a position as lieutenant in. the regular army but declined, not desiring to make that his career. He returned to Ohio and was married to the daughter of Hon. R. B. Harlan, May, 1861, and repaired thence to his new home in Leavenworth City, where, during the earlier period of the war, he raised at different times three full companies and tendered his ser vices to the Governor of the State for the war ; but that functionary constantly refused to commission him because of Mr. Bailey's opposition to the territorial bond scheme. He continued the practice of law until 1862, when having been tendered the post of editor-in-chief of the Leavenworth Daily Times, he assumed that position, and by his vigor and indepen dence revived the waning fortunes of the paper, restoring it to its former prestige. In 1864 ill health required him to relinquish his arduous duties on the Times, and he returned to his home in Ohio, where for four years he was chiefly engaged in out-door pursuits, attending to the interests of his landed estate, and frequently acting DAVID H. BAILEY. 493 as attorney for the Cincinnati, Wilmington and Zanesville Rail road Company. In 1868 Mr. Bailey was chosen by the district convention of the Sixth Ohio Congressional District as Presidential Elector for Grant and Colfax. He canvassed his district with zeal and ability, speak ing day and night in nearly every part of the five populous coun ties comprising it. In the early part of 1870 Mr. Bailey became an associate editor on the Cincinnati Daily Chronicle, a position which he held when he was appointed by the President in July of that year as United States Consul to Hong Kong. Hong Kong being a British colony on the coast of China, and a great centre of the foreign trade with that vast empire, is one £>f the most important posts in the consular service of the United States. During his residence at Hong Kong Mr. Bailey has taken a very active part in bringing about the suppression of the Macao coolie trade, one of the most infamous systems of traffic in human beings known in modern times. Sir John Smale, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the colony, and Mr. Bailey acted in concert, each constantly reporting to their respective governments the revolt ing facts connected with the iniquitous trade, until the United States and Great Britain by joint pressure at last induced Portugal to abolish the traffic, (see U. S. Foreign Relations Correspondence) and thus the whole system is now entirely destroyed. In 1872, Mr. Bailey prepared and forwarded to the Secretary of State a despatch discussing the banking' relations and facilities between the United States and China and Japan, and among other recommendations urged the coinage of a new dollar, of equal value with the Mexican. This suggestion was approved by the Secretary of State and referred to the Secretary of the Treasury, who having warmly endorsed it, the despatch was published by a resolution of Congress, and the suggestion of coinage embodied in a law creating the new American Trade Dollar, which is now working out the great results which Mr. Bailey predicted, in favor of American trade with the East. Mr. Bailey next turned his attention to the suppression of the traffic in Chinese women shipped to the United States for lewd and immoral purposes. Large numbers of these unfortunate creatm-es 494 THEODORE CANISIUS. had been up to that time bought and sold like cattle for that vile purpose. Mr. Bailey urged the passage of a law by Congress, giving him more power to check this great evil. Accordingly, the Act of March 3d, 1875, was passed, forbidding immigration into the United States of Chinese women for lewd and immoral pur poses, and authorizing consular officers to refuse to grant cer tificates of emigration to that class of persons. The law is now being actively enforced and the traffic is about suppressed. In the discharge of the many duties of his important consulate, Mr. Bailey has proven himself an earnest, industrious and most efficient officer, worthy of the confidence reposed in him by our government, and deserving the highest commendation of his countrymen. THEODORE CANISIUS. JB. THEODORE' CANISIUS, United States Consul at Bristol, England, was born in Prussia, in 1829. He received a collegiate education, and in 1847, studied medicine at the University of Bonn, on the Rhine. He became an earnest supporter of the uprising of the young men of Germany in behalf of the unity and liberty of the Fatherland, but the reactionary days of 1849 disappointed these aspirations, and he left his native land and came to the United States. He located in St. Louis and attended medical lectures at the University of Missouri, from which he graduated, and, in 1852, removed to the State of Illinois, which has ever since been his home. He practiced the profession of medicine until shortly after the Fremont campaign, in which he took an active part, aiding in organizing the Republican party of the State, and discussing, with his German fellow citizens, the principles of that party. After the failure of the Republicans, in 1856, to elect an anti- THEODORE CANISIUS. 495 slavery President, Dr. Canisius redoubled his efforts in behalf of free-soil principles ; he abandoned his medical practice and started, on his own account, the paper called the The German Free Press at Alton, 111., the same city where Lovejoy was killed by a pro- slavery mob. The Free Press, although doing manful work, did not receive sufficient support to sustain it, and Dr. Canisius, after exhausting all his means, was forced to abandon its publication in 1858, and resume his medical practice. In the meantime, Mr. Lincoln, hearing of these facts, and of the character and ability of Dr. Canisius, wrote to him and urged him to come to Springfield and assume the editorial management of the German newspaper there, called the State Advertiser, which had been established but soon abandoned by the Democratic leaders of that city, and had become the property of Mr. Lincoln. Dr. Canisius accepted the offer and he and Mr. Lincoln were soon intimately acquainted, and thereafter firm friends. His was the first paper to announce the name of Abraham Lincoln for Presi dent, and he had the satisfaction of witnessing the election of his friend to that high office in 1860. It is known that the German Americans of the north-west supported Mr. Lincoln almost unanimously in that memorable campaign, and it is but just to say that Dr. Canisius rendered most effective service by voice and pen in. consummating that result. In 1861 President Lincoln, in recognition of these services, ap pointed Dr. Canisius United States Consul to Vienna, Austria, which position he held until recalled by President Johnson in 1866. During his official residence in Vienna he wrote a number of arti cles to the Neue Freie Presse, defending the cause of the Union and the financial policy of Mr. Lincoln in the darkest days of the civil war. His articles were freely copied throughout Austria and Germany, and did much toward strengthening the confidence of Germany in the ultimate triumph of the North, as well as in en couraging investments in American securities, then at their lowest valuation. Dr. Canisius published, in 1867, in the evening edition of the Freie Presse, an historical novel entitled "Abraham Lincoln," depicting in glowing colors the life and character of the " great President." This gave him reputation as a writer, and his sketches from America, subsequently written for the Feuilleton of the same 496 THEODORE CANISIUS. paper, were much appreciated by the educated classes of the Aus trian capital. After his return to the United States Dr. Canisius participated actively in the campaign for the election of President Grant to the presidency, for the first and also the second term, " stumping " Illinois and a part of Indiana in aid thereof. His literary contri butions to the Sunday issue of the Staats Zeitung in Chicago from 1868 to 1871, his sketches descriptive of the picturesque landscapes of Austria, as also of the peculiar manners and customs of the different races inhabiting that empire, will doubtless be remembered by the many German- American readers of that paper. At the request of the Vienna Freie Presse he wrote for that paper in 1870, four biographical sketches of General Grant, which were pronounced clear, succinct and graphic records of the life and character of the victorious leader of, the Union armies. For some time Dr. Canisius has made Chicago his home. In 1872 the present Governor of Illinois appointed him a member of the Board of Commissioners of the State Penitentiary at Joliet ; and, at the first meeting of the board, he was elected its president. Here his efforts in behalf of prison reform aided materially in making that fine penitentiary a self-sustaining and, at the same time, a reformatory penal institution. Dr. Canisius was appointed United States Consul at Bristol, England, by President Grant, in February, 1875, which appoint ment was duly confirmed by the Senate. He is now (1876) at his post discharging the duties of his consulate. EDWARD A. FARRINGTON. DWARD A. FARRINGTON, United States Consul at Valencia, Spain, is the son of Judge Thomas Far- rington, formerly State Treasurer and afterwards Adjutant General of the State of New York, and was born in Owego, N. Y., January 16th, 1846. He took a full college course in the classics and then entered the United States Naval Academy in June, 1862. In 1866, he resigned from the navy and studied law in his father's office until October, 1868, when he received the appointment as assistant to the Attorney of the Board of Health of New York City. He held this position until he received his present com mission as Consul at Valencia, dated April 24th, 1875. Valencia is the Capital' of the province of the same name, and was formerly one of the ancient kingdoms of Spain. Within and without the walls it has a population of about two hundred thou sand. It is situated on the Turia or Gaudilaviar River, and about two miles from its mouth. Five handsome stone bridges connect the city with the opposite shore. It stands in the midst of a fertile plain and the city proper is surrounded by walls of the fourteenth century, and pierced by eight gates. Valencia has a Moorish appearance, its streets being narrow and tortuous as a protection against the heat of the sun ; and the roofs of the houses are mostly flat and tiled. Many of its churches and convents are fine speci mens of the Gothic and Grecian styles of architecture. The city is well known for the famed Valencia oranges, great quantities of which are exported to all parts of the world. Its principal manu factures are silks, linen and woolen fabrics, fans and artificial flowers. The climate, though hot, is salubrious, and the winters are mild and comfortable, snow being entirely unknown in that 498 EDWARD A. FARRINGTON. plain. Valencia was taken and fortified by Scipio, destroyed by Pompey, and afterward rebuilt by Caesar. It was wrested from the Romans by the Goths and taken in the year 1094 by the re nowned Cid, Ruy Diez de Bivar. It was 230 years under the dominion of the Moors, from whom it was captured by King James, who for this deed has been much revered by the Valencians ever since. It was enlarged and embellished by Pedro IV., of Arragon. It was from the gates of this city that the dead body of the famous Cid, ingeniously braced into his saddle with sword in hand, issued forth to conquer the Moors for the last time. The city was taken by the French under Suchet in 1812, being held by them until the declaration of peace in the following year. It has been the theatre of many other memorable struggles, and has for centuries played a most prominent part in the military drama of Spain. Many public parks and gardens, some of which are beautiful, adorn the city. The finest of these is the Alameda, lying without the walls, of considerable dimensions and tastefully laid out. One of the greatest attractions of the city, from a Spanish point of view, is the Plaza de Toros, or bull ring, which is built of granite, of beautiful proportions, and capable of seating twenty thousand people. On the day of the fights an intensely interesting spectacle is presented to the eyes of a stranger. Fifteen miles from Valencia are the grand old ruins of the ancient Roman amphitheatre, considered by many to be fully as interesting and attractive as those of the Colliseum at Rome. From inscrip tions still remaining it is supposed to have been built by the Scipios. It is in a fair state of preservation, though it was greatly damaged by the French under Suchet, who used the stones for their fortifi cations. The value of declared exports from the Consular district of Valencia to the United States during the four quarters of the year ending September 30th, 1874, was $332,291.53, gold, being an increase over the preceding year of $129,157.41, as shown by the volume of Commercial Relations for 1874. The chief article of export is the Valencia orange, the value of these alone aggregating for the period just mentioned $313,916.62. A^*^A^ /f^isz^<^-j SAMUEL S. FOSTER. AMUEL STRATTON FOSTER, United States Consul to the Navigator's and Friendly Islands, with residence at Apia, Island of Upola, belonging to the Kingdom of Samoa, was appointed. Commercial Agent, April 22d, 1872, but the office being raised by act of Congress to that of full Consul on the 4th of June, 1873, he was, on the 17th of the same month, appointed and confirmed to fill that position. Mr. Foster's ancestors came to America in 1683, shortly after the arrival of William Penn, and settled in Philadelphia. The branch from which he sprang settled in Cumberland County, New Jersey, where the family continued to reside until 1821, when they removed to Philadelphia. Samuel S. Foster is the youngest of nine children and was born in Millville, N. J., May -27th, 1818. His mother was a Watson, also of English descent. In 1823, after the death of his father, she removed to Camden, N. J., where he was, at that early age, placed in fche Camden Academy and remained until 1830, at which time his mother again removed to Great Egg Harbor for the con venience of her sons trading from that place, three of them being masters of vessels. His opportunity of attending school at that place was limited to one winter, after which he determined, as his brothers had done, much against the advice of his good mother, to go to sea, and from, that time his wanderings as a sea-faring man began and were long continued. It was about this time that, after reading Captain Cook's Voyages, he formed the idea of finally settling in some one of the beautiful islands of the South Pacific, r although he resolved first to acquire by travel a thorough knowl edge of his own country. He went to sea as cabin boy in 1832, in which year his mother removed to Richmond, in company with one of her sons, where she shortly after died regretted by all who knew her. Mr. Foster was much attached to his mother and still reveres her memory with all the sincerity of true filial affection. 500 SAMUEL S. FOSTER. \ In 1833, Mr. Foster undertook to learn a trade, but soon aban doned it and went to sea again, following the coasting trade. In 1839, tired of the coasting trade, he went up to the great Northern Lakes, and for several years sailed there in sumnier, and passed the winters in trading from St. Paul and the Red River to the Gulf of Mexico. At one time he crossed the country on foot from the upper Mississippi to Lake Michigan. He finally made Chicago his home and traded north with the Indians. Here he identified himself with the • Democratic party and became an earnest advocate of its principles, until 1846, when he joined the Free Soil party and was sent as a delegate from Chicago to the Buffalo Convention. Hon. Charles Francis Adams presided, but another convention was formed from the convention at large, and over this latter Hon. Salmon P. Chase presided and upon this body devolved the duty of making the nomination for President. Mr. Foster, (democrat) Mr. Eastman, Editor of the Chicago Tri bune, (whig) and Dr. Dyer, (abolitionist) were chosen by the Illi nois delegation to cast the vote for that State. The history of that convention and its results are matters of history and need not be repeated here. This closed Mr. Foster's active participation in politics, and shortly afterwards, with a view to put into practice his cherished idea of going to the Pacific, he went to New York to take passage on a ship bound for the South Pacific islands, but failing to arrive in time he returned to Chicago. He then went to New Orleans hoping to go through Mexico, but being disappointed in this also he again returned to Chicago, and, on the breaking out of the gold excitement in California, he started thither and arrived in San Francisco in 1849. After trading for a time he went to the mines, but not liking this he started for Central America and traveled over the country until 1852, when he returned to California and then went to Oregon, where he found employment until the winter of 1853-4, when he was induced, on account of the cold affecting his health, to seek a warmer climate, and accordingly sailed for the South Pacific. Here he engaged in trade, making Tahiti his headquar ters, but, still claiming San Francisco as his home, where he went once every year and occasionally of tener. For a period of sixteen years he was thus engaged and was quite successful ; but after- SAMUEL S. FOSTER. 59^ wards, having been induced to go into the sugar planting and manufacturing business, he lost everything and, in 1870, commenced, as it were, life anew but with the additional responsibility of a wife and ten children to support. He removed with his family to the Navigator's Islands and again commenced trade with his usual success. At the same time he has made a most important discovery in the manuf acture of cocoanut oil, whereby, without machinery and with hand labor simply, double the quantity of oil may be made from the same number of nuts. By his process the whole of the kernel is utilized without leaving any oil cake and very little refuse. He has also discovered that the oil can be made by another process, in large quantities, com pletely sweet, suitable for the finest toilet soaps, and without any of that disagreeable odor which has heretofore puzzled our soap- makers. This kind of oil has long been used by the natives of the South Pacific to put on their hair and anoint their bodies, but in such limited quantities that it could not be made available for manufacturing purposes on account of its high price. By Mr. Foster's process it can now be furnished to the manufacturer at a price that will warrant its use advantageously for toilet soaps. The advantage of this discovery will be readily appreciated by those familiar with the business. His plans for the utilization of his discovery are not yet matured, but will probably be made known at some future time. We have been assured that Mr. Foster's intercourse with the natives has afforded an honorable contrast to that of most of the traders of the South Pacific. He has never sold them rum or ammunition and firearms, but has given them a fair equivalent for their produce and has invariably dealt with them equitably and justly. While thus engaged he has visited many islands and sta tions, even among the most ferocious cannibals, where no boat but his own could land with safety and impunity. On one occasion he took his wife and two children with him, visiting an island where he was welcomed by the natives, who took the little ones on their shoulders and carried them to ' the village. On their way thither Mrs. Foster overheard their conversation, which signified that if the children belonged to any one else they would " put them in the oven, as they were fat. and would make good eating." Mr. Foster has a thorough knowledge of the character and pecu- 502 SAMUEL S. FOSTER. liarities of these natives. Although invariably kind and concilia tory in his dealings with them, he never implicitly trusts them, but is always on the alert ready to defend himself and those with him from foul play or treachery. It is the knowledge of this, to gether with his character for fair dealing, that enables him to exercise so great an influence with and over them. He is frequently invited to attend their most important councils, and, in many in stances, has settled disputes between warlike tribes that would otherwise have resulted in bloodshed and war. He always advises peace, no matter what the aggravation may be, and favors the set tling of all disputes by arbitration. It was through his efforts, aided by the British Consul, J. C. Williams, Esq., and some prom inent missionaries, that the long and bloody war was recently brought to a close in Samoa ; and it was also Mr. Foster and these gentlemen who gave the Samoans a code, of laws adapted to their necessities, and which, being ready to go into operation, made the work of the United States Special Commission an easy one. The Samoans are a peculiar people, naturally quite intelligent, but also avaricious, envious and jealous of one another, so that when one chief attains a little prominence or influence over his competi tors and gains power and emoluments from the whites, he becomes at once the object of rivalry and conspiracy, and from this origina ted their many wars. The task of overcoming these difficul ties, of softening the ever recurring asperities and appeasing jeal ousies, and of settling upon a government that would suit all parties, was an arduous undertaking, but was finally accomplished by judicious and conciliatory management, and taking such meas ures into consideration as could only be suggested by an intimate acquaintance with their language, history and traditions. The British Consul, J. C. Williams, Esq. — whose father, the Rev. John Williams, was the first to introduce Christianity among these people — with the missionaries before alluded to, and Mr. Foster, were the real workers in this difficult effort, and to them is due whatever of peace and good government Samoa has experienced. What the future course of our government will be in regard to those islands is not now apparent, but it is safe to assume that Mr. Foster has sufficient influence among the high chiefs to prevent any other form of government from gaining undue advantages over the interests of the United States. The islands are destined, in the SAMUEL S. FOSTER. 503 opinion of many, to be the grand center of the commerce of the South Pacific. Their advantages of situation, of soil, climate and wealth in the sea and on land, destine them to be at some future time, the nucleus and outgrowth of a flourishing trade. There are ten islands in the Samoan group, containing 1,600 square miles and about 36,000 inhabitants. The climate is good and uniform, and the islands are not subjected to climatic diseases, fevers, dysen teries, &c, like many groups further to the westward. It rains every month in the year, but the principle rainy season is from November to April, and during these months strong gales some times prevail, but no severe hurricanes. The soil is very fertile, producing everything in abundance : sea island cotton of the finest quality, coffee, sugar cane, etc. As the mountains are neither high nor steep, they can be cultivated with success to their summits. The islands are well watered, especially Upolu, near the center of the group, and many of the rivers are large enough to supply good water powers. Indian corn can be grown to any ex tent, the same ground producing two or three crops annually. The usual garden vegetables grow equally well there, as also all kinds of tropical fruits and spices. Tobacco of a superior quality is cultivated and used by the natives for smoking. In short, every thing in abundance except our northern fruits which require frost. The principle article of export at present is copra, the kernel of the cocoanut, dried in the sun and then shipped to Europe and made into oil for the use of soap makers, producing 75 per ct. of oil. The forests are also rich in many kinds of marketable woods. The islands were converted to Christianity over forty years ago, and it is said that the inhabitants have been and are now the best observers of the Christian faith, so far at least as outward form is concerned, of any of the natives of the South Pacific. Our space forbids a more lengthy description of these islands ; their advantages and needs, and the good work accomplished there by Consul Foster, toward the advancement and improvement of the people and government. It is proper to add however, that in the discharge of the very responsible duties of his office, among a peculiar people, and with still more peculiar circumstances and surroundings, Consul Foster has displayed a fearlessness, an en ergy and intelligence coupled with a dignity that reflect credit upon himself and the government he represented. ROMEO H, FREER. , OMEO H. FREER, late United States Commercial Agent at San Juan del Norte, Nicaragua, was born in Trumbull Coimty, Ohio, November 9th, 1847. His parents were of Dutch origin, and were old citizens of the State of Ohio. They removed to Ashtabula County when the subject of this sketch was but three years of age, and remained there for many years. There young Freer grew up to manhood, and was kept in the com mon schools until he obtained a general knowledge of all the branches of a common English education. In 1860 he attended two terms at the academy known as the Grand River Institute, at Austinburg, Ohio, where he made a fair beginning in the study of the languages, the natural sciences and higher mathematics. At the close of the second term at this institute he accepted a position as teacher in the common schools of Madison County, in which business he remained until July 3d, 1861, when he enlisted as a private in the 86th Regiment of Ohio Infantry Volunteers. Though less than fourteen years of age, and of delicate constitu tion, he was mustered into the service of the United States and endured all the hardships incident to a soldier's life. He traveled over nearly all the Southern States, and with his regiment passed through a number of hotly contested battles unharmed, excepting a slight flesh wound. He remained in the service of his country until the war had ended and peace was restored. In March, 1866, he located at Charlestown, West Virginia, and began the study of the law in the office of Smith and Cracroft, and was admitted to the bar in April, 1867. He was a close stu dent and strove to excel in everything in which he engaged, conse- ROMEO H. FREER. 505 quently from the very first he received a remunerative practice as an attorney. During the years 1867-70 he was Assistant Prose cuting Attorney for the State in Kanawha County, which is the second in wealth and population in the State. In the fall of 1870 he was elected Prosecutor for the same county, which office he filled ably and efficiently for the term of. two years. He was also Commissioner of the United States District Court during the same time that he was Prosecutor, and in all his official positions he bore the reputation of a good business man and an able lawyer. In the campaign of 1872 he was nominated by the Republican State Convention as Presidential Elector for the Third Congres sional District of West Virginia, and was elected by a large major ity of the votes of his fellow citizens. About this time his health began to fail, and, being threatened with a pulmonary disease, his friends recommended a visit to a warmer climate, and accordingly obtained for him the position which he but recently held in Nic aragua. On the 25th of May, 1870, he married Miss Lillie S. Fuller, daughter of Judge I. N. Fuller, of Warren, Ohio ; and while they were en route for Nicaragua Mrs. Freer, who had been in delicate health for several years, on arriving at Havana, Cuba, became much worse, thereby necessitating an immediate return to her home, where she died a few days after her arrival in March, 1873. In politics Mr. Freer is a Republican. In West Virginia, amid the smoldering fires of the late conflict, he stood in the front, laboring for equal rights of all classes before the law, without regard to color or condition. This doctrine was unpopular in the South at the time the XIIL, XIV. and XV. Amendments were made to the Constitution of the United States, and it took men of character and nerve to advocate them before the people. Not withstanding this fact Mr. Freer was outspoken and fearless in their advocacy, and thereby made for himself an enduring record of honesty and ability. Mr. Freer possesses a large and vigorous intellect, and is a forci ble and effective speaker, being peculiarly gifted in oratory. Dur ing his several years' service as United States Commercial Agent in Nicaragua he discharged the duties of his office with credit to himself and honor to his Government. S. BYRON HANCE. BYRON HANCE, Consul at Kingston, Canada, was born in Ithaca, New York, Dec. llth, 1821. He was kept at school until sixteen years of age, when, he was apprenticed to Nathan Randall, then publishing the Ithaca Journal, a Democratic newspaper. He worked at the print ing trade until 1840, when failing health compelled him to seek other and less confining employment. In 1844 he married Miss Har riet E. Ainsworth, daughter of Willard Ainsworth, Esq., of Cape Vincent, N. Y., and soon after he became agent of the opposition line of steamers from Montreal to Toronto, with residence at King ston, where he remained but one season owing to the failure of the Company, by which he also lost nearly all his summer's work. Shortly afterwards the agency of the Royal Mail Line of steamers. running on the same route, was offered and accepted, and Mr. Hance located in Montreal where he remained until the. summer of 1847 (the season when the ship fever prevailed so violently there), when he resigned his position and returned to his native place. He then entered into mercantile pursuits, and continued in such, with different interests and varying success until 1853, when he moved' West, located at Bloomington, Illinois, and engaged in the book trade. Increasing business here soon directed his attention to build ing and banking, and to large speculations in city lots and farming lands, and other operations, which were paying well until the panic of 1857 came, and with it the treachery and faithlessness of certain business associates, bringing embarrassments and complications which involved the loss of the accumulations of years of honest en terprise and toil, and left him with nothing. Mr. Hance settled up his business as rapidly as possible after this memorable financial crash, and, on the breaking out of the war, en tered the Union army. He received from President Lincoln the ap pointment of Assistant Adjutant General, with the rank of Captain, and reported for duty to Brig. Gen. Paine in Kentucky as his chief of staff From Paducah, Ky., Gen. Paine was ordered the S. BYRON HANCE. 5.07 following winter to take command at Bird's Point, Mo., where a short ¦stay was made one of unusual activity by many marches into the country, the most important being a formidable movement, as a feint, against Columbus, Ky., for the purpose of relieving and reinforc ing Gen. Buell. In this successful movement, Capt. Hance suffered much by exposure and cold, from the effects of which he has never fully recovered. When Gen. Grant started up the Ohio and Cumber land Rivers to take Forts Henry and Donaldson, General Paine was or dered to take command at Cairo. Here the duties devolving upon Capt. Hance were particularly arduous, requiring his time day and night. He had to act both for Gen. Paine and Gen. Cullum, besides look ing to the forwarding of troops which came from St. Louis and other districts to Gen. Grant, together with receiving the wounded of both armies, disposing of the large number of prisoners arriving daily from up the river, as well as taking care of the troops then stationed at Cairo, and manifold other requirements. Worn out with this heavy work, which he did not forsake until all was quiet again, he obtained a furlough for twenty days and went East On his return he had but fairly become installed in his work when Columbus was evacu ated by the Confederates, and Capt. Hance was ordered to go there and •take possession, a small steamer having been provided for his use. Soon after this Gen. Paine, with his brigade, was ordered into the field, and started across the eastern part of Missouri to meet Gen. Grant, and the water batteries, and transports, that had gone down the river to take Island No. 10, and thence proceed to New Madrid. Through Missouri there was much skirmishing, . but little fighting ; on arriving, however, at New Madrid the fight commenced in earnest, both by land and water, and was hotly contested for two days. On the third day it was found that the enemy had fled under cover of night. Space forbids a detailed mention of the many subsequent engagements in which Capt Hance participated. Suffice it to say that he was in fourteen battles, the worst of which were New Mad rid ; Hamburgh (being the end of the battle of Shiloh); a daring re- connoissance with Gen. Paine and about five hundred cavalry in the enemy's lines ; Farmington swamp and Farmington proper, in which latter the Union troops were badly repulsed, with heavy loss. For what Gen. Paine styled " his bravery and promptness in exe cuting orders, changing position of troops, and the order in which he removed the batteries, as well as going in front of the enemy to order the retreat of the sharp-shooters, under a heavy fire all the time," 508 S. BYRON HANCE. Captain Hance was, at the request of Gen. Paine, promoted to the rank of Major. His military record throughout his term of service was most praisworthy, as many flattering testimonials in his posses sion, from such authorities as Gens. Halleck, C. F. Smith, E. A. Paine, Geo. W. Cullum, and others, will avouch. After remaining in service until the fall of 1862, Major Hance was reluctantly compelled to resign and leave army life on account of bad health, induced by exposure in the field and on. the march, and which, for a time, threatened serious consequences. As soon as he became able to travel he was tendered by President Lincoln the appointment of Supervising Special Agent of the Treasury Depart ment, to locate at Vicksburgh, Miss., which position he was constrained to decline on account of continued poor health. In the spring of 1864 Major Hance went to Washington, and with his friend, the Hon. Leonard Swett (who had before, at the out break of the war, aided him to an appointment), he called upon Pres ident Lincoln and applied for the Consulate at Kingston, Canada. Mr. Lincoln received him most cordially, aud after listening to his application, and considering the same for a time, said : " Well, Hance, you know there are about a thousand applicants for those places, but I will approve of you unbeknown to myself, as the temperate Irishman said when he put some brandy in his lemonade." He received his Consular Commission and passport, dated Oct. 14th, 1864, and on the following December the stars and stripes were pub licly hoisted for the first time in Kingston, where Consul Hance has since continued uninterruptedly if the discharge.of his official duties. By a judicious conduct and a dignified intercourse with the people among whom he has been located, Consul Hance has over come the bitter feeling that once existed against Americans, at least in that portion of the Dominion, and has contributed vastly to a better understanding of our country and people. In the meanwhile he has become deservedly popular with the Canadians, and has been frequently honored by them both socially and officially. The business of the Kingston Consulate consists principally in giving certificates as to value of goods exported to the United States — which, including agencies, amounts to about $5,000,000 per annum — and to looking after American shipping. The district over which Consul Hance has control, is a large one, extending about ninety miles west, and forty east, and embracing agencies at Belleville, Pic- tou, Napance and Gananoque. BENJAMIN LINDSEY. ENJAMIN LINDSEY, Consul at St. Catharine's Island, Brazil, was born in Boston, February 14th, 1805. His father, two years afterward, removed to New Bedford, "5" Massachusetts, where he commenced the publication of a weekly newspaper, the New Bedford Mercury, which, after a lapse of about twenty -five years fell into the hands of the son, Mr. B. Lindsey, as editor and publisher. In its political character, the Mercury supported the old Federal, Whig, and Republican parties respectively. Since 1840 to the present time it has been published both daily and weekly. It remained under the management of Mr. Lindsey until August, 1861, when he disposed of the establishment to other parties, under whose charge it has since been continued. Mr. Lindsey was appointed by President Lincoln, Consul at St. Catharine's, and he arrived at his post in December, 1861. The busi ness of that Consulate has been chiefly with American vessels engag ed in the whale fishery, the port, being a favorite resort for such to procure refreshments for their crews. Previous to Mr. Lindsey's appointment the Consulate had been dependent upon the fees col lected, but in consequence of the depredations upon commerce, by the Alabama, and other Confederate cruisers during the war, it was placed upon a salary of $1,500 per annum, which has been continued to the present time. During the long period (nearly twelve years), that Mr. Lindsey has remained at his post, he has saved some hundreds of thousands of dollars to owners and underwriters, in cases where vessels -would otherwise have been fraudulently condemned as nnseaworthy, .(such nefarious transactions being not uncommon at that port). The most signal service, perhaps, that he has rendered to the Government, con sisted in successfully using his influence with the President of the Province, in sending off on the 20th of November, 1863, without obtaining supplies for which she had put into that port, the Con federate brig Tuscaloosa, Captain Low, three hundred and fifty tons, a tender to the Alabama. The Alabama having landed prisoners at 510 BENJAMIN LINDSEY. the Island of Fernando de Noronha, had been prohibited by the Brazilian Government from entering any Brazilian port; while other Confederate vessels were permitted to enter, and to remain twenty- four hours to procure refreshments. Consul Lindsey urged as argument effectually with the Presi dent, that the Tuscaloosa, being a tender, was part and parcel of the Alabama ; and as Captain Low showed no disposition to leave, his vessel was taken in tow by a Brazilian war steamer and carried to sea without having obtained , supplies. She returned to the Cape of Good Hope, and was there taken in charge by the British authori ties, condemned and sold. On the day after her departure from St. Catharine's, the brig Brewster, Captain Carleton, with a cargo of assorted merchandize from Boston for San Francisco, touched at that port for supplies, and had the Tuscaloosa still remained there, as she had hoped, this brig must have fallen a prize into her hands. Another instance worthy of mention, is that of the ship Pyramid, sixteen hundred tons, which sailed from New York under the United States flag (although, as appeared, chiefly owned by an Eng lish house in New York), put into Nassau and came out thence under the British flag. Her cargo consisted chiefly of coal, and, as surmised, was intended to supply the Alabama, then cruising in the South Atlantic ocean. The Alabama, however, had proceeded to the Pacific ocean thus involving the Pyramid, meantime heavily in sured in New York, in a broken voyage. The Pyramid put in at St Catharine's in distress, was discharged and finally condemned as unseaworthy, despite sufficient proof that the only leak in the vessel proceeded from holes that had been bored through her hulk. She was sold by auction, under the Portuguese Consulate, for about two thousand dollars ; all necessary repairs were effected at a cost of less than two hundred dollars, when she took a five thousand dollar freight of oil from St. Catharine's to New Bedford in a passage of sixty days. In- consequence of Consul Lindsey's information to underwriters in New York, upon her arrival at New Bedford she was seized for their account and sold by order of court, for twenty-two thousand dollars ! and subsequently a compromise was effected between the underwriters and the parties who had before bought the vessel. These and other evidences, which might be indefinitely multi plied, of Mr. Lindsey's efficiency and promptness in the discharge of his Consular duties, have been recognized by the public, and have given satisfaction, to the various Departments at Washington. C---z-»-»-*^z <^Zs ( o-e. t>^*? * EMIL HOECHSTER. MIL HOECHSTER, late United States Consul at Barmen, Prussia, was born June 1st, 1836, at Frank- fort-on-the-Main. His father, Dr. E. H. Hoechster, a lawyer of high repute in Germany and France, removed, in 1840, to Elberfeld, Rhenish Prussia, where the subject of this sketch was sent to the Gymnasium or Latin School to prepare for the study of the law. In May, 1849, his father was compelled, in consequence of his taking a leading part in the revolutionary movements at Elberfeld, to leave the country and seek refuge at Berne, Switzerland, where he became a pro fessor of law in the University of that city. He afterwards settled in Paris, where he now resides, engaged in practising law. Young Hoechster did not accompany his family when they left Germany, but was sent to Berlin to resume his studies, and re mained there until he had gone through all the classes of the Latin College and was honorably graduated. Circumstances of a private character forced him to abandon his purpose of attending the University at Heidelberg to complete his legal studies, and he re turned to his father's home in Paris where he continued his studies, attending, also, lectures at the Paris Law University, and becoming in time proficient in the French language. With a number of other students he became involved in some difficulty with the Imperial police at Paris, on account of politics, and had to leave France, from whence he came to the United States, arriving at New York in the summer of 1854. Here, after many trials, arising in a measure from his inability to speak English, Mr. Hoechster at last prepared himself for the stage and performed for several years at the German Stadt Thea tre on the Bowery. During this time he studied English and the Common Law of England, as it was always his intention to become a lawyer in the United States. 512 EMIL HOECHSTER. In 1857 he traveled through the West on a professional tour, performing, with great success, leading parts in the German theatres at Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Louisville,. Chicago and Milwaukee, and in 1858 he went to St. Louis, where he performed at Boern- stein's Opera House. In 1859, being then a citizen of the United States, he took an active part in the State and Congressional elections in St. Louis, being president of the First. Ward Republican Club. He aided in the election of Abraham Lincoln as President and Hon. Francis P. Blair, then a prominent Republican, as Congressman, and made many speeches during the campaign. In 1860 he became local editor of the first Republican German paper of St. Louis, the Westliche Post, a journal of great influence, and now the organ of Hon. Carl Schurz. ' At the breaking out of the war Mr. Hoechster was a member of the St. Louis Turnverein, and enlisted with many fellow Turners in the First Missouri Regiment of Volunteers, Hon. Frank P. Blair, Colonel. He took part in the capture of Camp Jackson. After three months' service Mr. Hoechster recruited a company for Colonel Hecker's Regiment (24th Hlinois Volunteers) and was elected First Lieutenant of Company K. He resigned on account of feeble health in November, 1861, and went on a visit to his parents in Paris, France. After the restoration of his health he returned to St. Louis in the summer of 1862 and enlisted in the Missouri State Militia ; was Captain and Enrolling Officer in St. Louis, also at the Provost Marshal's office. He also took an active part in the struggles in Missouri against the Confederate General Price and others. Mr. Hoechster participated in the Presidential election of 1864, using his best endeavors in behalf of Mr. Lincoln. After the close of the war he removed to Chicago, Hlinois, where he became local editor of the Illinois Staats Zeitung, and at the same time a prominent member of the Republican party in that city. He was also for some time President of the Chicago Turngemeinde ; Secretary of several Republican Conventions, etc., etc. In the summer of 1868, he traveled through the States of Indiana and Illinois, making speeches for the Republican party. Mr. Hoechster was appointed, by President Grant, United States Consul at Barmen, Prussia, on the 31st March, 1869 ; was con- NATHAN J. NEWWITTER. 513 firmed by the Senate on 6th April, 1869, and entered upon the duties of his office on the 4th of June following. Barmen was formerly only a Consular Agency, the Consulate being at Aix-la-Chapelle, but in view of its commercial importance it was raised to a Consulate in 1869, and Mr. Hoechster was the first Consul appointed to that post. The Consular district embraces the whole Province of Westphalia and also some part of the Province of the Rhine, viz: the County Diisseldorf. The princi pal trade with the United States consists in cotton, woolen and silk goods and hardware and cutlery. The annual exportation of goods from that District to the United States amounts to from four to six millions' of dollars. Mr. Hoechster resigned the Consulate in the early part of 1875, and returned to the United States and located in Chicago, where he is now engaged in business. NATHAN J. NEWWITTER. ; ATHAN J. NEWWITTER, United States Consul at Hiogo and Osaka, Japan, was born in the City of Al bany, New York, on the 24th August, 1845. He is the eldest son of Julius Newwitter, who settled in that city in 1838, and in time became widely known and esteemed as a merchant and a scholar. The subject of this notice- entered the Albany Academy when quite a youth, and in the prosecution of his studies gained a repu tation for scholarship, and likewise for those commendable quali ties of head and heart which have characterized his after life. After completing his education at that institution, known probably at that time as second to none in the State, he was sent abroad, 514 NATHAN J. NEWWITTER. where he attended a college and for four years studied the langua ges of France and Germany. In 1860, he returned to the United States and thereafter resided in New York City, having become connected with a mercantile firm from which he retired but a few years since. On the recommendation of Ex-Governor Edwin D. Morgan, Hons. Thurlow Weed, George Opdyke, Salem H. Wales, Roscoe Conkling, Alonzo B. Cornell and others, Mr. Newwitter was ap pointed by President Grant, on the 9th September, 1875, to the important consular office he now holds in Japan. Mr. Newwitter was a member of the New York Republican Central Committee for a number of years, and after his appoint ment and shortly before his departure for Japan, the following action was taken by the Committee. We quote from the New York Times of September 22d, 1875 : " Mr. Charles S. Spencer said : 'Mr. Chairman, one of the mem bers of this committee, with whom we have been very pleasantly associated for some considerable time, is about to leave us for the discharge of the duties of an appointment which he has received from the President, and I have thought it an appropriate and pleas ant thing to prepare and offer the following resolution : " ' Resolved, That the members of the Republican Central Com mittee of the City of New York have with great pleasure learned of the appointment of one of our number by the President of the United States, Mr. Nathan J. Newwitter, of the Twentieth Assem bly District, as Consul to Japan, and that he has our warmest and most earnest good wishes for his success and happiness in his new field of labor.' " Mr. Darling said : * I have great pleasure in seconding that reso lution, and in testifying to the unwavering zeal with which Mr. Newwitter has always discharged his duties as a member of the Republican Association, both in this committee and in his Assem bly District. His appointment is well deserved at the hands of the President, and I am satisfied that he will not only reflect credit on himself in his new field of labor, but also on this association, and on the Republican party of the City and State. He is a young man, and has proved himself to be a very active, untiring, and working Republican, and it is certainly a source of very great gratification to the Republican young men, not only in this State but through the country, to know that the President of the United States is ready to recognize the service and fitness of our young men to fill these important positions as our national representatives abroad.' The report was adopted." RICHMOND PEARSON. , ICHMOND PEARSON, United States Consul at Ver- viers and Liege, Belgium, was born at Richmond Hill, North Carolina, January 26th, 1852. He pursued the regular academic course at the Oxford High School in Granville County of that State, from 1865 to 1868 ; entered Princeton College in September of the latter year ; gradua ted with the class of 1*872 and delivered the valedictory oration. He then studied law for two years at Richmond Hill, under Chief Justice Pearson ; was licensed to practice by the Supreme Court of North Carolina, in June, 1874, and during the same month was appointed United States Consul at Verviers and' Liege. Mr. Pearson is, probably, the youngest of our consular repre sentatives abroad, but his efficiency and thorough acquaintance with all the duties pertaining to his office, have been abundantly established during his official residence in Belgium. From his report of the industries of his consular district made to the State Department under date, November 26th, 1874, we make the fol lowing extracts : " The most important export of Belgium is coal ; the province of Liege is the center of a rich coal region. A concurrence of abnormal circumstances has given to this department of industry a brief but most extraordinary prosperity ; while, at the same time, the extreme dearness of coal has affected deleteriously nearly every other branch of trade ; in particular, it has caused a dullness in the markets for cloth, for arms, and for the various base metals. These articles constitute the principal exports from this district to the United States, and hence the high price of coal, in restricting these industries, has indirectly caused the diminution noted in the table of merchandise invoiced at this consulate during the year 1873. The signal activity in the coal trade in the years 1872 and 1873 is ascribable in part, first, to the very heavy demand for. iron 516 RICHMOND PEARSON. in order to repair the works injured or destroyed during the Franco- Prussian war, and the consequent call for coal by the owners of founderies and furnaces ; and second, in part to the reduction and temporary suppression of the exports of coal from England, com pelling France and Italy to call upon Belgium to supply the coal that England had been accustomed to furnish. The strength of these causes was increased by several others, minor and auxiliary, and their combined effect was to produce what was called a grande panique by the people of this well-regulated little kingdom. " At the end of 1871 the market price of coal was 13 francs per ton of 1,00.0 kilograms', 2,204.6 ppounds ; during the year 1872 the price rose to the unparalleled rate of 30 francs per ton, and reached its climax in March, 1873, standing then, and for some time, at 31 francs per ton. During this period the cost of produc tion did not exceed 12 francs per ton, and, of course, the coal dealers realized enormous profits. This was indeed their golden age, but it was of short duration. The exorbitant price of coal extinguished the f urnaces in the valleys of the Meuse and Moselle, and suppressed the very industries that had been feeding the dealers in coal, whose action in this regard (as justly remarked) resembled that of the man ' who killed the goose for the golden egg.' In May, 1873, the price began to decline, the strong competition set up by reason of the previous high prices gave increased momentum to the fall, so that by the end of the year the market price of coal was below the cost of production. * ***** * " The manufacture of firearms is the principal and characteristic industry of the city of Liege, the number made and proved in 1873 being 772,846. * * * * * " As the manufacture of firearms characterizes the city of Liege, so the manufacture of woolen goods is the distinguishing mercan tile feature, of Verviers. The exports of woolen fabrics for the .year 1870 amounted to 1,850,000 kilograms ; in 1871, 2,113*700 kilograms ; in 1872, 2,045,800 kilograms ; and in 1873, 1,920,000 kilograms. " The Chamber of Commerce of Verviers estimates the kilogram as worth, on an average, 16.50 francs, at which rate then- total ex ports amount to 31,194,850 francs per annum. They reckon the exports as one third of their total production , accordingly, the annual value of the cloth manufactured at Verviers is about 100,000,000 francs. All the disturbing elements directly or re motely consequent upon the late continental war seem now to have been eliminated, and business in general has resumed its regular and natural channels." Jto&mrtWiJwi/f sLfjfwy '' ^^^t^i^f r ^C^t^^yO^ HENRY SAWYER. 'ENRY SAWYER, United States Consul at Para maribo, Colony of Surinam, Dutch Guiana, was born in the City (then town) of Charlestown, Mass., near Bunker Hill, on the 14th June, 1826. His ancestors his father's side were the Pollards of Lexington, Con- "j$3 cord and Bunker Hill notoriety, and on his mother's side the Frosts of Exeter, England. After completing his education, he engaged in the West India and South American mercantile trade. In 1846, he was supercargo on board vessels through the West Indies, and in 1848 he went to Surinam .where he entered into business, building the first ice house and importing ice cargoes, and also engaging as a planter in rice culture, erecting the first steam rice mill. He married a French lady at Surinam, in 1849. In 1856 he received a medal from the King of Holland for his gallant attempt to save from drowning a citizen of Surinam, and was subsequently authorized to accept the same by Act of Congress, in the follow ing joint resolution : " Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress as sembled : That Henry Sawyer, Consul to Surinam be and is here by authorized to accept the medal recently transmitted to him by the King of Holland, for an act of humanity in an effort to save the life of a subject of that Kingdom. Approved January llth, 1862." Mr. Sawyer visited the United States in 1856, but returned to Surinam within three months and resumed business, continuing therein until 1858, when he was appointed Consul to Dutch Guiana and has resided there, at Surinam, ever since. He has devoted his leisure time to exploring the interior of the country among the natives, as far down as the boundary of the Brazils. In these 518 HENRY SAWYER. explorations he discovered many gold mines or " placers," and a company was organized in New York called the New York and Surinam Company, which sent out experienced miners and pros pectors who examined the " placers " and found the yields of gold satisfactory, as appears by the report of T. Hoyt, Esq., in 1872, Superintendent of the Company, who visited the country in per son. Mr. Sawyer accompanied Mr. Hoyt and pointed out to him the " placers " which he (Sawyer) had before discovered. In 1861, the Confederate privateer " Sumter " came into port at Surinam. Consul Sawyer had no instructions from his government, bnt he at once purchased all the coal to be had in the market, so as to detain the privateer until a United States man-of-war could arrive and blockade her. He went to the Governor and protested in the name of the United States against any supplies being al lowed, and asked the authorities to drive her out of port, which they refused. He also sent notice of her arrival to all the Consuls in the West Indies, and took such vigorous measures that, although not fully successful, he detained the vessel which expected to remain three days, twelve days in port. Consul Sawyer's conduct and efforts throughout this matter received the commendation and approval of our Government, as will appear by the following correspondence, in reply to his des patches on the subject : " Department of State, } Washington, October 4th, 1861. ) To Henry Sawyer, U. S. Consul, Paramaribo : Sie : — Your despatch, No. 18, dated September 4th, has been received. Your conduct in regard to the Sumter while at Para maribo is approved. The subject will be promptly brought to the notice of the Government of the Netherlands. I am, sir, your obedient servant, F. W. Sewakd, Assistant Secretary." " Department of State, Washington, October 19th, 1861. To Henry Sawyer, TJ. S. Consul, Parimaribo : Sir : — Your despatch, No. 20, has been received. You will please accept the thanks of the Department for the very full inf or- mation you have communicated to it relative to the piratical steamer Sumter. While it is much regretted that she was allowed HENRY SAWYER. 519 to coal at Paramaribo, it is gratifying to know that you used all the means in your power to prevent it and to detain her in port. For the expense incurred in the matter I will thank you to send an account, with vouchers, specifying the particular service for which payments were made by you. There is no fund appropriated for the relief of citizens of the United States who may be landed at a foreign port in a destitute condition, and any expenses incurred by our Consuls cannot be reimbursed without the authority of Congress. I am, sir, your obedient servant, F. W. Seward, Assistant Secretary." " Department of State, ) Washington, December 2d, 1861. ) Henry Sawyer, Esq., TJ. S. Consul : Sir : — Your despatch, No. 26, has been received, and a copy immediately transmitted to the Secretary of the Navy. You will accept the thanks of the Department for the information which you have communicated. I am, sir, &c, &c, F. W. Seward, Assistant Secretary." During the progress of the war, Consul Sawyer very nobly and generously offered to his Government one year's salary of his Con sulate to aid in the prosecution of the struggle. This offer was acknowledged by the State Department as follows : " Department of State, ) Washington, May 13th, 1863. > Henry Sawyer, Esq., XI. S. Consul, Parimaribo : SIB : — Your despatch, No. 8, dated April 13th, has been received. * * * I am instructed to assure you of the high appreciation in which the Department holds your generous offer to present one year's salary to the United States Government, to commence the day when your accounts have been adjusted to the satisfaction of the Department. I am directed to thank you for your liberal offer, but in view of existing circumstances.it is declined, except so far that the amount will be invested in Government securities for your benefit and transmitted to you. It is presumed that this disposition of the matter will answer your purpose. I am, sir, your obedient servant, F. W. Seward, Assistant Secretary." 520 HENRY SAWYER. Mr. Sawyer, although not subject to military duty in the United States, being then Consul at Surinam, stood the draft at Charles- town, Mass. Alluding to this, the local paper published the fol lowing editorially under the heading Another Act ov Patriotism. It is well-known to our citizens, that Henry Sawyer, Esq., of this city, who is now the American Consul at Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana, has on several occasions shown his devotion to the country by the most patriotic acts, which have been suitably noticed by the President in raising the grade and emoluments of his office. Last year he gave his salary for one year to the government to aid in putting down the rebellion, and he now shows his further devotion to the cause by asking that his name may be put on the enrolled list to take his chance with his fellow citizens in the draft. The following letter has just been received by Daniel Williams, Esq., City Clerk — United States Consulate, > Paramaribo, Nov. 20, 1863. j To the Cleric of the City of Charlestoum : Sir : I beg that my name may be included in the conscription list, the same as though I resided in Charlestown at the present moment. If drafted I shall ask the privilege of furnishing a good substitute or paying the commutation fee. I think it is no more than justice that I should bear a share of the burdens of my loyal fellow-countrymen in quelling this wicked rebellion. Had I been able to leave this Consulate in proper hands, at this critical period, I should, ere this, have asked a furlough from the President and returned to the United States and snared in the perils of the contest. I am with much respect your most obt. servant, Henry Sawyer, U. S. Consul. The last act of Mr. Sawyer has the ring of true metal. Independent of what he has done, we well know that Mr. Sawyer is chafing for a hand in this great national struggle. Though an old line Democrat, his devotion to the country does not abate one jot or tittle in these trying times. His loyalty knows no "ifs" or "buts," and he is every inch of him a whole souled loyal American, who, in his exile from the land of his birth, daily gathers fresh inspiration from the justice of the cause of his country. We are therefore proud to call Mr. Sawyer a true son of Bunker Hill. The spirit which he has shown is worthy of emulation, and we trust that this last act of devotion to his country will be published through the length and breadth of the land and find a response in every heart. During the war Consul Sawyer sent to the United States one hundred and fifty-three able-bodied men, mostly French political refugees, wh6 had been banished to Cayenne for life but found their way to that port. He paid their passage and clothed them at his own expense. These men were all entered upon the rolls, or crew list, of vessels bound to the United States, chiefly to Bos ton, as seamen. Some of the vessels had ten and twelve more than the regular crew. The total expense, about four thousand dollars in gold, was incurred by Mr. Sawyer, and he has never, directly or indirectly, received one cent in the way of reimbursement. Most HENRY SAWYER. 521 of the men were enlisted in Massachusetts and New York regi ments. A full list of their names and trades, as also the vessels they were sent in, is in the hands of the Department at Washington. Consul Sawyer speaks the German, French, Dutch and native patois languages, all of which are in daily use in Surinam. He is a cousin of Hon. Frederick A. Sawyer, late Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. He has carried on a correspondence with Pro fessor Agazzis at Cambridge, and also the Smithsonian Institute, and has forwarded many curious fish and bones of animals to the museum at Cambridge. Mr. Sawyer has been Consul at Surinam since 1858, a period of eighteen years, during all of which time he has been not only a faithful and efficient officer of the United States, but a most valu able citizen, active and intelligent in promoting the prosperity and advancement of the people with whom he has been so long associ ated and identified. From Consul Sawyer's reports to the State Department, pub lished in the volumes of " Commercial Relations " of the United States, it appears that the total population of the colony of Suri nam in 1873 was about 75,000, including the Indians and Maroons. The colony receives an annual subsidy from Holland. The expen ditures are about $400,000 per annum, and the income from direct taxes and customs-dues is $280,000. The Governor, whose term of office is four years, receives a salary of $12,000 from the home government, he being appointed by the king of Holland. The importation of coolies from the East as plantation laborers proved to be a total failure to all concerned. About three thousand were • imported during the years 1872-3-4, but the mortality among them was so great that many of the plantations were abandoned. The commerce at the port of Parimaribo for the year ending September 30th, 1874, is stated at $1,456,269.70 of imports, and $ 1 ,096, 433.07 of exports, while the navigation for the same period shows 36 steamers and 102 sailing vessels entered. The principal articles of export are sugar, cocoa, molasses and fancy woods. THOMAS SPENCER. HOMAS SPENCER, our consular representative at Hilo, Hawaii, was born at East Greenwich, Rhode Island, in 18 1 7. He is descended'f rom the earliest New Eng land settlers. His father, Captain Joseph Spencer, a highly respected citizen and an old ship master, is still living, and carries on a farm at the old family homestead situated at the head of Narragansett Bay, known as the Head of the Cove. At the early age of nine years, Thomas Spencer left his home and commenced a sea-faring life in the humble capacity of cabin > boy of a sloop. His natural abilities, joined to strong common sense and industrious habits, did not fail of recognition and appre ciation, and he rapidly advanced through the various grades of a seaman's profession until the year 1842 foundhim chief mate of the whale ship California, commanded by Captain Lawrence. In forty months this ship was filled with over four thousand barrels of sperm oil, and performed one of the most profitable voyages ever made out of New Bedford. On the return of the California, her agent and principal owner, Mr. Mott Robinson, a gentleman prompt to perceive and appreci ate ability, recognized the eminent qualifications of Mr. Spencer and gave him command of the ship Triton. In January, 1849, while in command of this vessel and when on shore trading at Sydenham Island, one of the King's Mill group, he was captured by the savages and held for some time until he narrowly escaped with his life. Captain Spencer gave a graphic and thrilling report of this adventure to the owners of the vessel, which appeared as a " Narra tive of the events attending the massacre of part of the crew belonging to the whale ship Triton by the natives of Sydenham's J"'"lSI-f„{,Y,7],',lt,I,j„j„„l,,!Jtt»i'i THOMAS SPENCER. 523 Island." - In this report he details the treachery which led to his own capture and imprisonment, the terrible suspense which attend ed his compulsory stay among the savages from whom he almost momentarily expected assassination, the tragical and barbarous massacre of part of his crew, and his final escape from his cap tors, in a manner which even at this late day cannot be pe rused without arousing the greatest interest and sympathy. Notwithstanding the misfortune of the Triton at the King's Mills Islands, the ship was ultimately very successful, making the season of 1849 in the Japan sea, under command of Captain Spencer, and returning to Honolulu with a full cargo of oil and bone early in August of the same year. Gold had been discovered in California in 1848, and business in consequence was brisk all throughout the Pacific coast and ocean. Captain Spencer, with his usual far-sighted discernment, saw that Honolulu, in consequence of the close vicinity of the gold fields, would become an advantageous location for trade, and having filled his ship and performed his share of the contract, sent her back to New Bedford in charge of the mate, and took his own way home by way of California and the Isthmus of Panama. Supplying him self with a full cargo of provisions and desirable ship chandlery, he came out again to Honolulu in the clipper ship Gentoo, arriving late in the year 1850. Here for many years he did a large and remunerative business with the whaling fleet, until the year 1861, when he bought out the business of Mr. Benjamin Pitman, a re tiring and very successful merchant of Byron's Bay, Hilo,' Island of Hawaii, there continuing the business of supplying ships, as well as that of sugar and coffee planting. At the present day Captain Spencer's American Eagle Brand of sugar is well known through California and Oregon, as also in Australiaand New Zea land, being of the best quality and commanding the highest prices. Captain Spencer is widely known throughout the Pacific ocean, and, it may be said, is universally respected and esteemed. His liberality to the officers and crews of shipwrecked vessels has been very often exemplified in substantial and generous aid in behalf of immediate relief. He is thoroughly American in his ideas and actions, and is an ardent lover of his country and its institutions. During the late war he proffered his personal services, and also a company of 100 men (Hawaiians), in aid of the cause of the Union. 524 THOMAS SPENCER. During the visit of Prince Alfred of England to Hilo, in a British war ship, Captain Spencer entertained His Royal -Highness in the most creditable and hospitable manner. Indeed, his well- known hospitality and social qualifications render his home specially agreeable to all who may come thither. The discharge of his consular duties is also characterized by that uniform promptness and efficiency which best avouch the qualifications of an able and worthy officer. Hilo, or Byron's Bay, is in the northern part of Hawaii. The anchorage of the port is excellent, being protected by a projecting reef, but as the surf breaks heavily on the beach the landing is sometimes difficult. It has, according to the census of December, 1872, a total native population of 3,749, being a decrease since 1866 of 586 natives. In the meantime, the foreign population has increased there as it has elsewhere in Hawaii. Indeed, it is asserted as a fact by those acquainted with the country that the Hawaiians as a nation, will ere long cease to exist, as the native population is surely and continually decreasing, there now remain ing only 49,000 out of a population in Captain Cook's time (1799) of 400,000, with an annual decrease of nearly 2 per cent. Many Americans have become residents of the islands, and to them should be accorded the credit for the progress the country has made in civilization, and agricultural and commercial development. The Hawaiian group consists of eight islands, seven of which are inhabited, and four barren rocks or islets ; of these, Hawaii is the principal, having an area of 4,000 square miles and a total population (in 1872) of 15,217 natives and 784 foreigners. Oahu, however, has a larger population (over 20,000) although much smaller in area. The total population of the whole group is 56,897, of which 49,044 are natives, 2,487 half breeds and 5,366 are foreigners. The government, in its administration of justice and in the execution of its laws for the protection of life and property, is a model kingdom and will compare favorably in those respects with any other in the civilized world. fflffl' ; AaA-'':: - "«'x.-a* rtm, iEn.-jrmmj Ci»"5 ^^u #*/ ; it**^ ALEXANDER WILLARD. LEXANDER WILLARD, United States Consul at Guaymas, Mexico, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsyl vania. He is descended, both on his father's and mother's side, from the oldest settlers in that part of the State, whose coming to this country dates back before our war of independence, in which many of them participated. Before young Willard became of age, in 1855, he left home alone for California via Nicaragua, and, after losing all his baggage on the trip across the Isthmus, arrived in San Francisco with no other worldly possessions but $45 in money and the clothes that he wore. He then made his way to Goodyear's Bar, Sierra Co., where he bought an interest in one of 1iie " placer diggings " and began operations as a miner. The undertaking was successful, he made money, and continued the mining business during his stay in California. He took- part in the local politics of the country, and, during the following year, 1856, was sent as one of the delegates from Sierra to the Democratic State Convention at Sacramento. This convention appointed delegates to the National Convention held in Cincinnati, and which nominated James Buchanan for the Presidency. About this time, Mr. Willard purchased an interest in a party paper, which, as a financial venture, proved a failure. In 1857, and while in his twenty-first year, he received an ap pointment as copying clerk of the Legislature of California. The following year, 1858, being disappointed in receiving the nomina tion for the Assembly from Sierra County, he wound up his mining business, as he was becoming tired of the life of a miner, and left California for the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico. The Louisiana-Tehuantepec Company, under the management of Emil La Sere, of Louisiana, as President, and W. H. Sidell and John McCloud Murphy as Chief and Superintending Engineers, 526 ALEXANDER WILLARD. had commenced active work on the Isthmus to open the route to the traveling public between San Francisco and New Orleans. Mr. Willard was, shortly after his arrival, appointed secretary and paymaster of transportation, under W. S. Stevens, superintendent of transportation. The history of that unfortunate company is well known ; the troubles growing out of the revolution or, rather, war between the anti-church party, or Liberals, and the church party, or Conservatives, and the want of money, caused principally by the suspension of the house of Hargoes, compelled the com pany in less than a year to suspend work, and finally they were forced, owing to the political troubles, to abandon the enterprise. In June, 1859, at the solicitation of Colonel S. W. Inge, of Cal ifornia, who came to the Isthmus for the purpose, Mr. Willard accompanied him overland from Tehuantepec to the City of Mex ico on important business connected with' the survey of Sonora. The dangers of this journey, as there was no security for life or property in the interior of the country, would occupy more space than can be spared in these pages. It was made, however, without any serious mishap, and the like good fortune attended their return to Acapulco, on the coast, in September of the same year. Find ing that the Louisiana-Tehuantepec Company had suspended oper ations, being compelled to do so, as before stated, by the Conserv ative party, then in possession of the greater part of the Isthmus, and that all of his money invested there was lost, Mr. Willard returned to California, and in two weeks thereafter, in October, left again for Mexico in the schooner Jeanette, to get back his- money (as he said) from the country in which he had lost it the previous year. He arrived at Mazatlan in November, but that port being in revolution and under a partial blockade by H. B. M. S. "Amethyst," he went thence to La Paz, and then to Guaymas, arriv ing in December of the same year after a narrow escape from shipwreck on the Mexican schooner "Anita." The next five months he spent in various parts of Sonora, two months of which was on a prospecting exploring expedition up the river Yagui with two com panions, visiting the different gold placers which are found at various points among the mountains towards its source. On his return in May, 1860, he entered into a pearl diving enterprise with Juan A. Robinson of Guaymas, the leading mer chant at the port, to search for pearls on the Lower California ALEXANDER WILLARD. 527 coast, at Mulege, but, after an experimental trip of three weeks, an embargo was laid on the vessel, which was chartered ; she was not allowed to leave port, and the enterprise was accordingly abandoned. From this time until the fall of 1861, he was engaged by Juan A. Robinson- in preparing the papers and reports on the copper mines of Guacaivo, in the grand barranca of Tararagua of the Sierra Madre of Chihuahua, and afterwards was employed by the Mining Company of Cirocahua to go to their mines in Chihua hua, five hundred miles from the Port of Guaymas. This latter company was among the first American companies formed in California to work silver mines on the west coast of Mexico in the Sierra Madre Mountains. In 1862, Mr. Willard was engaged in working and speculating in mines, and, in 1863, was employed as Assistant Superintendent of the mines of Setentrion in Chihuahua, and afterwards had full charge. The French intervention, or war commenced at this time on the Pacific coast of Mexico, and shortly afterwards the French forces held all of the ports ; communication was cut off from the coast, and the mails stopped. Secret messengers had to be sent to the coast for letters, which often resulted in the death of the mes senger and loss of correspondence. There was a general suspen sion of work at many of the mines, owing to the workmen being pressed into the army, which finally resulted in the ruin of nearly all of the foreign mining companies in the Sierra Madre of Chi huahua. These, with other causes, led to their abandonment. In 1867, Mr. Willard, having been eight years in Mexico, re turned to California, and a few days after his arrival was appointed by the President, United States Consul at Guaymas, Mexico, vice Edward Conner, deceased. This appointment was based on his knowledge of the people and the country, and his general fitness for the position. After a visit of eight months duration to his home in Philadelphia (the first he had made for twelve years) and having received his confirmation by the Senate, he proceeded to Guaymas and took possession of the office on the 4th July, 1868. He was cordially welcomed by the people, both native and foreign, to whom he was well-known. At that time the people of the Territory of Arizona, as well as those of Sonora, were interested in securing from the General Government of Mexico a privilege for transit of foreign merchan- 528 ALEXANDER WILLARD. dise through Sonora to Arizona, as it is the natural highway from the Gulf of California to that Territory. Consul Willard took a hvely interest in the matter, and made many communications on the subject to the United States Legation at Mexico. The priv ilege was finally granted, but the drawbacks', growing out of cus tom and Mexican laws, have operated against its effective working. In 1870, the Government of Sonora became convinced that the concession for a railroad from Guaymas to El Paso del Norte, granted by the Mexican Government some years before, could not or would not be carried to a successful completion, inasmuch as the company which held the concession for eight years had not even commenced work on the route. The Governor of Sonora therefore authorized Mr. Willard to form a company to construct a railroad from Guaymas to Arizona, with the end and object of connecting with the Texas Pacific Railway. Mr. Willard set about the undertaking ; he addressed himself to his friends in the United States and in England, and, in the fall of 1871, the Hon. Charles D. Poston, McEwen Brothers, and others formed a syndicate in London, and sent a commission to treat with the Sonora State Government as a preliminary step towards secur ing a concession to construct the road. After the arrival of the commissioner, James Eldredge, the Legislature of the State granted a concession to James Eldredge and associates, conditioned upon the approval of the same by the Federal Government of Mexico. This was in July, 1872. Mr. Willard, having received a six months' leave of absence for a visit home, as he had been con stantly at his post for four years, departed at once for the city of Mexico — the country at that time was in a general revolution, General Diaz against President Juarez — to aid in securing the sanction of the Federal Government to the concession. Owing to the fact that the attention of the Mexican National Congress was absorbed with the railway projects of General Rosecrans and E. S. Plumb, it was impossible to force decisive action by that body, but assurance was given that due attention would be given to the matter at the next session. Mr. Willard then left for Philadelphia and shortly afterwards returned to his post at Guaymas. In consequence of financial difficulties, the London syndicate was dissolved, and, in the early part of 1874, another was formed ALEXANDER WILLARD. 529 by Hon. C. D. Poston, Lord Claude Hamilton and others, for the purpose of carrying out the object of the original concession, if approved by the Mexican Government. During this period, although the State of Sonora, through its members of Congress, urged its approval, it was still held in suspension. The same year, (1874) Mr. D. B. Blair, who was connected with Mr. Eldredge, commissioner of the first syndicate, came to Sonora with J. C. Truman, agent of certain capitalists of New York. Mr. Blair had a preliminary survey made of the route ; a provisional com pany was formed in New York, and he proceeded to Mexico to secure the approval, if possible, of the original concession from the Federal Government of Mexico. In December of that year a concession was agreed upon by the Minister of Public Works (Fomento) of Mexico, in the name of David Boyle Blair and associates, and, in May, 1875, the same was approved by the National Congress of Mexico, and became a law, with the obligation that the surveys should be commenced in October, which time was afterwards extended to the year 1876. In the meantime the second London syndicate and the before mentioned provisional company formed in New York, are arranging to combine their interests to carry out the project. Such is the condition at this time (1876) of the enterprise. From the year 1871 to this .date, Mr. Willard has devoted his time and attention untiringly to the prosecution of this work. He has been the moving, leading spirit in the undertaking, and has given his best efforts in every way that was calculated to further the enterprise which, if carried out, will revolutionize the commercial and industrial pursuits of the west coast of Mexico, and will be of incalculable advantage to our territory bordering on Mexico to the north of Sonora. Mr. Willard has traveled extensively through Mexico, having visited on horse and mule back seventeen of the ' Mexican States. He is therefore thoroughly acquainted with the country, its habits and requirements. During the time he has been Consul at Guay mas his relations with the Mexican Government have been har monious, and he has, at the same time, protected American interests in the consular district of Sonora. He has enjoyed at all times the full confidence of the people and authorities among whom he resides. Difficulties have occurred along the Arizona and Sonora borders, which have been satisfactorily adjusted through his exer- 530 JOHN WILSON. tions. He has had the endorsement and approval of the different Ministers of our country accredited to Mexico, and to whom he has been subordinate. He is now thirty-nine years of age, is active, energetic and self-reliant, and has proven himself in every respect an intelligent, trustworthy and efficient officer. His annual reports on the commerce and condition of his con sular district bear additional evidence of an intimate and thorough knowledge of the country ; while his superior judgment and in telligence, joined to his acquaintance with the language and the people, abundantly attest his fitness for any position in our diplo matic or consular service in Mexico. JOHN WILSON. !>R. JOHN WILSON, United States Consul at Brussels, Belgium, is a native of Pennsylvania. His grandfather, Thomas Wilson, emigrated at an early day from the north of Ireland to that State, and settled on the south bank of the Allegheny River in the neighborhood of what was then called Fort Pitt (now the City of Pittsburgh). At that time the Indians had almost complete control of the north bank of the river, and frequently made predatory incursions amongst the settlements of the south bank, to guard against which the male portion of the little colony was compelled to organize itself into a vigilance committee and patrol the banks of the river for many miles above the fort. As a further security against the savages a wooden fort or block-house, called the Bullock Pens, was built on a site now within the corporate limits of the City of Pittsburgh, to which the inhabitants, whenever the Indians crossed the river, were often compelled to fly for safety with their cattle, children and household gods. His grandfather, during these primitive days, succeeded in pre- JOHN WILSON. 531 empting and purchasing in that locality a large body of land, which at his death was bequeathed to his two sons, George and Francis. Upon this property Francis, the father of John, was born ; and upon it, in comfort and independence, he lived until his death at the age of sixty-five years. He left seven children — four sons and three daughters — amongst whom his property was divided at his death. Having no taste for farming, John soon after sold to his brothers his interest in the estate and commenced preparing him self for the profession of medicine. He was educated at the West ern University of Penusylvania, studied medicine in the office of Dr. Edington, of Pittsburgh, and after three years of faithful application graduated in his profession at the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. He commenced practice in East Liberty, then a suburb but now one of the wards of the City of Pittsburgh, and in about two years after he was elected attending physician to the Western Pennsylvania Hospital over twenty applicants for that post. This position was entirely unsolicited by him, and, as he did not live within the corporation, so surprised him that on being notified of his appointment he immediately went to the president of the board of directors to inquire how it had happened. He was informed that the venerable Judge Wilkins, then a member of the board and a large contributor to the hospital, had so eloquently and persistently urged his appointment that all opposition was soon abandoned and he was unanimously elected. He held this position for a number of years, and until the increasing duties of his pri vate practice rendered it no longer possible to devote as much of his time to the hospital as its necessities required, and then resigned, receiving from the board of directors, on the tender of his resig nation, its grateful acknowledgement for the faithful services he had rendered. From that date he devoted himself exclusively to his private practice, with a success equal to his highest aspirations, until the autumn of 1860, when his health became so impaired that he was compelled to seek relaxation and rest in Europe. Whilst absent from home on this tour of recuperation, the attack upon Fort Sumter announced the opening of the great civil war, and he therefore hurried over the yet unvisited territory of his European tour and returned to his native land late in the spring of 1861, to find it convulsed throughout with the din of warlike preparation and the tread of marching armies. Congress had just 532 JOHN WILSON. passed a law for the creation of a corps of medical inspectors of camps and hospitals. It was provided that the members of this corps should be drawn from the old army, or from private practice, upon the sole ground of professional qualification, and incorpora ted into the regular army with the rank of lieutenant colonel. At the urgent solicitation of the Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, then Secre tary of War, Dr. Wilson went to Washington, entered the corps of United States Volunteer Staff Surgeons, and, after serving several months therein, was transferred to the corps of inspectors to fill the vacancy created by the promotion of Dr. Barnes from the position of Inspector to that of Inspector General. His first assignment to duty under his new commission was to the office of the Inspector General at Washington as Assistant Inspector Gene ral. His next assignment was to the army of the Potomac as its Medical Inspector-in-chief, with his station at Washington. Dur ing his connection with this army it passed through some of its most bloody and trying ordeals. Being the senior medical officer in the entire army, and respon sible, not only for its sanitary condition, but also for the intelli gent surgical and medical treatment of its sick and wounded, and their transfer from the field to the different general hospitals, these duties imposed upon Mm an amount of labor extremely trying to his mental and physical strength. The march of the army under Generals Grant and Meade, from the banks of the Rapidan to Richmond, disputed as it was, almost every inch of the way by the army of General Lee, was attended with such a fearful loss in killed and wounded, that to superintend the sanitary and surgical organizations and expedients necessary under such trying exigen cies, so exhausted him, that he had to be taken from Fredericks- burgh to Washington in a perilous condition of prostration, from which, with rest and care, he recovered in the course of a few weeks. As soon as he had sufficiently recovered, he was ordered by the Secretary of War to proceed to the department of the North-west, then embracing the States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois, for the purpose of making a thorough in spection of all the government hospitals in those States. He was afterwards sent by the War Department to Madison, Wisconsin, with authority to rent or purchase any property in that city which in his judgment he might deem suitable for a hospital for the sick JOHN WILSON. 533 and wounded soldiers of that State. He located the hospital, re turned to Washington and made his report, which was approved by the Department. He was again sent to that city to adjust a diffi culty which had arisen between the Surgeon in charge of the hospital and the Medical Purveyor in Cincinnati, which duty he performed to the satisfaction of the Department. Again, he was sent on a special mission to Dearborn Barracks, near the city of Detroit, with orders to examine those barracks and to report whether in his judgment they were suitable to be converted into a general hospital. He reported adversely, and his decision was accepted as satisfactory. Again, he was sent by the War Depart ment to Chicago, with orders to locate in that city an eye and ear infirmary, for the soldiers of the army who had suffered injuries of those organs, if in his judgment the location was suitable for such an institution. He located the hospital and made his report, which was again pronounced satisfactory. He was on another occasion sent to the city of Detroit to inspect St. Mary's hospital and the general administration of Dr. Tripler, who was then in charge of the hospitals of that city. His report of this duty was again approved by the War Department. It should be noted that all these special missions were undertaken by Dr. Wilson while connected with the army, and doing duty as Inspector of the De partment of Washington. Early in the last year of the war he was relieved from duty with the Army of the Potomac and assigned to the Department of Washington as Inspector of all the camps, barracks and hospitals in that department. On the memorable night of the assassination of President Lincoln and the assault upon the Secretary and the Assistant Secretary of State, he was called to the house of Mr. Seward and requested by the family to take professional charge of the Assistant Secretary, who, it will be remembered, was thought to have been fatally injured by the accomplice of Booth. Dr. Wilson accordingly assumed charge of the case throughout the long and painful illness of the Assistant Secretary ; he performed the operation which undoubtedly saved the patient's life, and was solely responsible for the treatment which resulted in his entire recovery. The long and wearisome watching of this case, and the painful solicitude it involved, added to the labor of visiting and inspecting the camps and hospitals of the entire district, so taxed 534 JOHN WILSON. Dr. Wilson's strength that as soon as he could leave the Assistant Secretary he informed the Secretary of State of his determination to quit the army and return to private life. On communicating this fact to Mr. Seward, the latter kindly offered to send Dr. Wil son abroad in a diplomatic or consular capacity. Among several other flattering offers, he accepted the consulate of Antwerp, in Belgium, and was commissioned November llth, 1865. In the following spring the cholera made its appearance in the East, and proved fearfully fatal amongst the Moslem pilgrims go ing to and returning from the shrines of Mecca and Medina. Tan- giers, situated on the north coast of Africa and on the narrow Straits of Gibraltar, although not the residence of the Sultan of Morocco, is, nevertheless, the diplomatic capital of that kingdom ; and as the followers of Mohammed are fatalists and ignore all san itary precautions, in deference to the opinion of European States represented at their court, the Sultans of Morocco, for more than a century, have constituted the foreign representatives a board of health not only for Tangiers, but for all that part of the Mediter ranean coast. On the occasion of this outbreak of cholera, from some difference of opinion as to the sanitary measures to be adopted to guard against a westward invasion of the disease, this board became totally disorganised. The Minister of State at Madrid, through the Spanish Minister at Washington, made a re quest upon the President of the United States that he would send some competent person to Tangiers who would assist in arranging this difficulty, and thus secure efficiency to the board. For this mission Dr. Wilson was appointed, and, leaving his Consulate in the care of his Vice-Consul, he proceeded to Tangiers, met the parties indicated in his instructions, arranged as far as possible the difficulty, made a report of the same and received, shortly after, a letter of thanks from the Department of State. He remained Consul at Antwerp until a year after the inaugura tion of General Grant as President of the United States, and was then replaced by J. R. Weaver, the present Consul. He returned after a few months to the United States with the intention of there remaining, and had been home but a short time when he was informed that if he would accept the Consulate of Brussels the President would appoint him. He consented to return, was ap pointed, and" is now (1876) at his post. HENRY J. WINSER. ' ENRY J. WINSER, United States Consul at Sonneberg, Germany, is the son of a retired English naval officer who was settled in Bermuda, on half pay, at the time of the son's birth, November 23d, 1833. His mother belonged to an old English family — the Tills of Kent — and £p his grandfather, upon his mother's side, was, for many years, Mayor of the town of St. George. When the subject of this sketch was but three months old his father died, leaving a widow and seven children. Under the tuition of the Rector of Pembroke Parish, and at the Springfield College, at Hamilton, young Win- ser received the best education the islands afforded, being fairly grounded, not only in the classics, but also in modern languages. Heeding the prayer of his devoted mother, he abandoned his long cherished hope of following the sea as a profession, and, at the early age of sixteen, turned his attention to literary matters. Ac cordingly, he left Bermuda and went to New York and engaged as proof reader in a large printing establishment, being more particularly retained to read French proof. Shortly after the New York .Daily Times started, 1852, he obtained a situation as proof reader in that office, contributing at the same time occasional articles for publication in the paper. He was soon made a reporter, and this position he filled with satisfac tion, until the breaking out of the late war, when he was commis sioned among the earliest of the war correspondents to proceed to the seat of operations. Having been personally acquainted with that young hero Elmer E. Ellsworth, some years prior to the war, — when Ellsworth, then a mere boy, was in New York, seeking, without friends, admission to the West Point Military Academy — the latter turned to Mr. Winser for aid in his endeavor to get up 536 HENRY J. WINSER. the 1st Regiment Fire Zouaves. The aid sought was cheerfully rendered, and, not only through the columns of the Times, but also by visiting the various engine houses, and haranguing the firemen, in company with Ellsworth, did Mr. Winser assist in the speedy organization of that regiment. Full of patriotic ardor, he accepted the appointment - of Military Secretary to the regiment (an office, however, which was not recognized by the War Depart ment). Following the regiment, he bivouacked with them near the Lunatic Asylum at Washington, sharing Ellsworth's tent. When the Zouaves left Washington for Alexandria, Va., Winser was detailed to accompany Ellsworth to the Marshall House to cut down the Confederate flag then floating over it. (A full account of this affair is given in Moore's Rebellion Record). Afterwards, President Lincoln sent for Mr. Winser to give him an account of the death of Colonel Ellsworth, and was much affected by the nar ration. Mr. Winser was then detailed to accompany the remains of his friend to Mechanicsville, and being called upon at Troy for an account of the matter, he made an eloquent address, for which he received complimentary notices in several of the newspapers. The death of Ellsworth severed Mr. Winser's connection with the Fire Zouaves, and shortly afterwards he was commissioned by the New York Times to accompany the celebrated military and naval expedition to Port Royal, South Carolina. Here he wrote graphic letters describing the storm which disintegrated the fleet, and the subsequent waltz of ships, which resulted in the capture of Forts Walker and Beauregard ; and these were followed by intelligent descriptions of the status and feelings of the contra bands. Subsequently he was dispatched with Admiral Porter's mortar flotilla and Farragut's fleet to the capture of New Orleans. His early training at Bermuda in boating stood him good service in this expedition. He secured a small boat and paddled his way from vessel to vessel in the fleet collecting news, which placed him in advance of his competitors. After the passage of Forts Jack son and St. Philip, he rowed alone down the Mississippi, in a dug out, and despatched his long and interesting description of the six days' incessant bombardment, by a schooner from the Southwest Pass to Havana, where it intercepted the steamer for New York, and thus conveyed to the people of the North the first authentic information of the proceedings at New Orleans, which account was HENRY J. WINSER. 537 published in the columns of the Times, three days in advance of the correspondence in any other paper. This was duly acknowl edged by Mr. Raymond in a handsome testimonial to Mr. Winser. He accompanied General Butler's expedition up the James River ; had his horse shot under him at Cold Harbor ; was present at the attack by Dupont with his ironclads on Fort Sumter, and in fact was present at many of the most important battles of the war, and was at all times a welcome guest at headquarters. At the close of the war Mr. Winser returned to the Times, and was made city editor, where he distinguished himself in writing editorially on the many topics which his important department of the paper presented for editorial comment. His services were highly appreciated by Mr. Raymond, who declined to listen to his proposal to leave the Times when a better position was elsewhere offered. Having travelled all over the United States for the Times, he made his first trip to Europe in 1867 at the time of the Paris Exposition, going over on the Dunderberg when that ironclad was sold to the French Government. In the year 1869, Mr. Winser was appointed United States Consul at Sonneberg, where he has served efficiently, sending many valuable reports to the Government. He resides, by permission of the State Department, at the neighboring city of Coburg, where he and his family are greatly respected. At the time of his ap pointment to the Consulate at Sonneberg he resided at Woodside, New Jersey, where he owned property, and was an officer of the township and senior warden of the Episcopal church of thaf; place. APPENDIX. Hon. Geoege Bancroft, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the German Empire, resigned in 1874, and was succeeded by J. Bancroft Davis, appointed June, 1874. Hon. Geoege H. Bokek, Minister Resident to Turkey, was pro moted, January, 1875, to Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Pleni potentiary to Russia. Horace Maynard succeeded him as Minister at Constantinople, appointed March, 1875. Hon. John Jay, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipoten tiary, resigned his office in 1875, and returned to the United States. His successor, G. S. Orth, appointed March, 1 875, has also re cently resigned. Hon. Robeet C. Schenck resigned as Envoy Extraordinary and- Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain, in February, 1876. Up to this time (May, 1876) his successor has not been confirmed by the Senate, which rejected the nomination of R. H. Dana, Jr. Hon. Feancis Thomas, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Peru, resigned his office in 1875, and was suc ceeded by Richard Gibbs, appointed March, 1875. Some time after his return home, Mr. Thomas met with an accident which caused his death. Hon. Joseph Russell Jones, Minister Resident to Belgium, re signed office in 1875, and was succeeded by Ayres P. Merrill. Hon. Charles H. Lewis, Minister Resident to Portugal, resigned his mission in 1875. His successor is Benjamin Moran. APPENDIX. 539 Hon. William A. Pile, Minister Resident to Venezuela, resigned office in 1874. His . successor, Thomas Russell, was ap pointed and confirmed in April, 1874.' Hon. John L. Stevens, Minister Resident to Uruguay and Para guay, resigned and returned to the United States in 1874. He was succeeded by John C. Cauldwell. Hon. Julius White, Minister Resident to the Argentine Repub lic, resigned his office in the early part of 1874. General Thomas O. Osborn of Hlinois was appointed and confirmed as his successor in February, 1874. (See page 464.) Hon. E. R. Wing, Minister Resident to Ecuador, died at Quito, in 1874, and was succeeded by Thomas Biddle, who also died at his post in 1875. Hon. Christian Wullweber of Iowa, was ap pointed and confirmed, July, 1875, as the successor of Mr. Biddle. (See page 482.) Thomas Adamson, Consul at Melbourne, Australia, has been made Consul General. Elias D. Brunee, Consul at Talcahuano, Chili, resigned office in 1875. A. J. Cassard, Consul at Tabasco, Mexico, resigned in 1874. W. H. Evans, Consul at Maranham, Brazil, died there in 1873. Alfred Fox, Consul at Falmouth, England, died in 1874, and was succeeded by his son Howard Fox. (See page 306.) S. B. Hance, Consul at Kingston, Canada, resigned office in 1874. John Baldwin Hay, Consul General to Beirut, Syria, resigned in 1874, and was appointed Consul to Swatow, China, but did not accept. 540 APPENDIX. Benjamin Lindsey, Consul at St. Catharine's, Brazil, resigned office and returned to the United States in 1874. Calvin S. Mattoon, Consul at Honolulu, Hawaii, resigned his consulate in 1874, and retnrned to the United States. L. Monti, Consul at Palermo, resigned the office in 1873. Edwaed Owen resigned his consular office at Tuxpan, Mexico, in 1874. Nicolas Pike, Consul at Port Louis, Island of Mauritius, re signed in 1873. General P. S. Post, Consul at Vienna, Austria, has been pro moted to be Consul General, to which position he was appointed in 1874. F. S. Richaeds, Consul at Leeds, England, resigned office in 1875. Aaron Seeley resigned in 1873, the Consulate at Mayence, Germany. Horatio Fox, Consul at Trinidad de Cuba, resigned in 1873. Thomas P. Smith, Consul at La Rochelle, France, has recently been transferred to the important consular office at Cognac, France. W. H. Townsend, Consul at Cork, resigned the office in 1875, and returned to his home in Providence, R. I. J. C. A. Wingate, Consul at Swatow, China, resigned the office in 1874. Note. — The changes here mentioned do not include all that have taken place in the diplomatic and consular service, but have refer ence only to the subjects appearing in this volume. YALE UNIVERSITY