Chapter VII: Preface (5)

From 1789 to 1794 Mr. Adams was lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts, and from that time to 1797 was governor of that state. He performed the executive duties with great ability, and contributed largely in raising his native domain to a flourishing condition and dignified standing. He watched over all her interests with a parental care, and viewed her rising greatness with an honest pride. He had seen her sons writhing under the lash of oppression, and the bones of her daughters bleaching in the wind. He now beheld the people independent and happy, prosperous and virtuous. He could now depart in peace. His infirmities and age admonished him to retire from the great theatre of public action, on which he had so long been a prominent actor, and having filled the gubernatorial chair for three years, he bid a final farewell to political life, approved by his country, his conscience and his God. His health continued to decrease gradually with each returning autumn, and on the 3d of October, 1803, his immortal spirit left its tenement of clay, and soared aloft, on wings of faith, to mansions of bliss beyond the skies, where flow rivers of joy for evermore. He died, rejoicing in the merits of his glorified Redeemer, who had triumphed over death and the grave. He had fought the good fight of faith, as well as that of LIBERTY; and felt a full assurance of receiving a crown of glory at the hands of King Immanuel.

Amidst all the turmoils of political and revolutionary strife, Mr. Adams never neglected religious duties. When at home, he was faithful to the family altar, and uniformly attended public worship when practicable. He was a consistent every-day Christian, free from bigotry and fanaticism, not subject to sudden contractions and expansions of mind, rather puritanical in his views, yet charitable in his feelings, and not disposed to persecute any one for the sake of opinion. He adorned his profession of Christianity by pure moral conduct, and the most scrupulous honesty, during his whole life. As a public man and a private citizen, he was highly esteemed, and richly earned a place in the front rank of the fathers of the American revolution. He placed a low value upon riches, and died poor, but not the less esteemed because of his poverty. He placed a high value upon common school education, and a _proper_ estimate upon the higher branches of science. He was strongly in favour of teaching the great mass of the people the rudiments of an English education, even should it be at the expense of the classics. General intelligence, widely and thoroughly disseminated, he considered one of the strongest bulwarks to preserve the independence of a nation against the innovations of intriguing and designing men, who regard _self_ more than the glory of their country. He took a liberal, expansive, and philosophic view of every subject he investigated, and formed his conclusions only from a close conviction that they were based upon correct premises and sound common sense. In the cause of freedom he laboured incessantly, from his youth through a long life, and was ever ready to throw himself in every breach made by the creatures of the crown upon the rights of his country. At town meetings, in the formation of independent societies, in the columns of a newspaper, in the assembly of his own state, and in the national legislature, he always filled a broad space and moved in a large circumference. He was pure in his motives, bold in his plans, open and frank in his sentiments, firm in his purposes, energetic in his actions, and honourable in his course. He wielded an able pen, varying his style to suit every occasion. But few of his productions have been preserved. His answer to Thomas Paine’s writings against Christianity, is perhaps superior to any thing that has been written on the subject. His four letters on government, published in 1800, show a clear head, a good heart, and a gigantic mind. His political essays, penned before and during the revolution, were soul-stirring appeals, and contributed largely in rousing the people to a defence of their inalienable rights.

As an orator, he was eloquent, chaste, and logical, always rising with the magnitude of his subject. It was only on great occasions that his powers were _fully_ developed; but on _all_ occasions he was listened to with profound attention. He always spoke sensibly and to the point, addressing the understanding rather than the passions.

His manners were urbane, plain, and unaffected; his mode of living frugal and temperate; his attachments strong, sincere, and uniform; his whole life was one continued chain of usefulness, devoted to the good of his fellow men, the liberty and prosperity of his country, and the happiness of the human family. Let his example be imitated, and our Union may long be preserved from the iron grasp of ambitious partisans and the fatal snares of designing demagogues: let them be discarded, and it will prove a rope of sand, the temple of our LIBERTY will crumble and moulder with the dust of SAMUEL ADAMS.

DR. BENJAMIN RUSH.

A sacred halo surrounds this name, as imperishable as the pages of history. In the service of his country, and in the pursuit of his profession, BENJAMIN RUSH filled the measure of his glory. His revered memory is cherished by many surviving friends; his fame will be chaunted by millions yet unborn.

He was a native of Bristol, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, born on the 24th of December, 1745. His ancestors immigrated to this country under the auspices of William Penn, as early as 1683. His father was a highly respectable agriculturalist, and died when this son was but a child. At the age of nine years, Benjamin was placed under the tuition of his maternal uncle, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Finley, whose literary attainments were of a high order, and who was subsequently elected president of the college at Princeton, New Jersey. Young Rush continued under the instruction of this accomplished teacher until he was fourteen, when he entered Princeton college, then under the direction of President Davis. Like an expanding flower courting the genial warmth of spring, the talents of this young freshman rapidly unfolded their rich lustre beneath the shining rays of the sun of science. So astonishing was his proficiency, that in one year after he commenced his collegiate course, he received the degree of bachelor of arts; a high compliment to his former instructor, a merited tribute to his own industry, acquirements and genius. During his brief stay at Princeton, he gained the friendship of all around him, and was esteemed one of the most eloquent public speakers among the students. With the best wishes of the professors and his classmates, he left them the following year, and commenced the study of medicine with Dr. John Redman, then one of the most eminent practitioners in the city of Penn. The same industry that had marked his previous course, made him a favourite son of Æsculapius. The same urbanity and modesty that had made him a welcome guest in every circle in which he had previously moved, constantly gained for him new and influential friends. After pursuing his study with great assiduity for six years under the instruction of Dr. Redman, he entered the medical university of Edinburgh, in Scotland, where he reaped the full benefit of the lectures of the celebrated professors Munro, Cullen, Black and Gregory; and received the degree of doctor of medicine in 1768. Although then laden with an unusual store of knowledge in the healing art, his investigating mind led him to explore still farther the important field of science before him, and reduce to practice, under the superintendence of able practitioners, his vast stock of theory. He accordingly went to London, where he was admitted to practice in the hospitals of that city. He soon became eminent as a bold and successful operator, a skilful and judicious physician. After remaining there nearly a year, he visited Paris, and, in the spring of 1769, returned to the warm embrace of his connections and friends, and commenced his useful career in the city of Philadelphia.

His professional fame had preceded him, and his superior acquirements were immediately called into action. In addition to an extensive practice, he was elected one of the professors of the medical school that had recently been organized by Drs. Bond, Kuhn, Morgan and Shippen. This mark of distinction was conferred upon him within a few months after his return. Upon a substantial basis he continued to build an honest and enduring fame, participating in all the passing events that concerned his country’s good and his country’s glory; at the same time discharging his professional duties promptly and faithfully.

Although he had apparently been absorbed in the study of medicine, it was soon discovered that he had made himself familiar with the relative situation of the mother country and the American colonies. He had closely examined the unwarranted pretensions of the former, and the aggravated grievances of the latter. His noble soul was touched by the sufferings of oppressed humanity, and warmed by the patriotic fire of FREEDOM. He became a bold and able advocate in the cause of liberty, a firm and decided opposer of British tyranny, a strong and energetic supporter of equal rights. Mingling with all classes through the medium of his profession, his influence was as extensive and multiform, as it was useful and salutary. The independence of his country was the desire of his heart; to see her regenerated and free, was his anxious wish. So conspicuous a part did he act in the passing scenes of that eventful period, that he was chosen a member of the Congress of 1776, and sanctioned the declaration of independence, by affixing his name to that sacred instrument.

The year following, he was appointed physician-general of the military hospital for the middle department, and rendered himself extensively useful during the whole of the revolution. He was ever ready to go where duty called, and exerted his noblest powers in the glorious cause he had espoused, until he saw the star spangled banner wave in triumph over his native land, and the incense of LIBERTY ascending to Heaven, in sappharine clouds, from the altar of FREEDOM.

This great work accomplished, he desired to be occupied only by his profession. For a time, his services were diverted from this channel, by his being elected a member of the convention of Pennsylvania to take into consideration the adoption of the federal constitution. Having examined the arguments as they progressed in the national convention that formed it, he was fully prepared to enter warmly and fully into the advocacy of that instrument. When it received the sanction of a majority of the States, the measure of the political ambition of Dr. Rush was filled. He retired from that kind of public life, crowned with laurels of immortal fame, that will bloom and survive, until patriotism shall be lost in anarchy, and the last vestige of liberty is destroyed by the tornado of faction. The only station he ever consented to fill under government subsequently was that of cashier of the United States Mint.

From that period forward, he devoted his time and talents to the business of his profession, to the improvement of medical science, and the melioration of the ills that flesh is heir to.

In 1789, he was elected professor of the theory and practice of physic, as the successor of Dr. Morgan, and in 1791 he was appointed to the professorship of the institutes of medicine and clinical practice, and upon the resignation of Dr. Kuhn, in 1806, he was honoured by the united professorships of the theory and practice of physic and of clinical medicine, which stations he ably filled until death closed his useful career.

Besides those already mentioned he performed many duties in various associations formed for benevolent purposes. He was president of the American Society for the Abolition of Slavery, vice president of the Philadelphia Bible Society, president of the Philadelphia Medical Society, one of the vice presidents of the American Philosophical Society, and a member of several other philanthropic institutions both in this country and in Europe. For many years he was one of the physicians of the Pennsylvania Hospital, and took a deep interest in its prosperity and welfare. Wherever he could be useful by counsel, influence, or action, he was sure to be found. To soothe the troubled bosom heaving with anguish, to alleviate the suffering patient writhing under pain, to supply the pinching wants of the poor and needy sinking under adversity, afforded Dr. Rush more pleasure than to have been placed on the loftiest pinnacle of political fame; a richer joy than to have been the triumphant chieftain of a conquered world.

Amidst his multifarious duties he arranged his time with so much system and order as to produce a routine of harmonious action. His professional duties, his books, and his pen, were all attended to in proper time. He wrote numerous literary, moral, and philosophical essays, and several volumes on medical science, among which were his “Medical Inquiries and Observations,” and a “History of the Yellow Fever.” He spent much time in the investigation of that fatal disease, and in endeavouring to arrive at the best mode of treatment. In this, as well as in many other cases, the lancet was his anchor of hope. During the prevalence of any disease his exertions to alleviate distress and arrest its progress, were unremitting and indefatigable. He obeyed the calls of the poor and needy as promptly as those of the rich and affluent. He was particularly attentive to those who had employed him when prosperity cheered their onward course, and were subsequently prostrated by adversity. He was not a sunshine friend.

He was the man whose liberal mind
Wished general good to all mankind;
Who, when his friend by fortune’s wound,
Fell tumbling headlong to the ground,
Could meet him with a warm embrace,
And wipe the tears from off his face.

A pious and exemplary Christian, he poured the balm of consolation into the wounds of the desponding heart as freely as he administered to alleviate the pains of the body. His counsels were full of wisdom and benevolence, and rescued many a frail bark from total shipwreck. His soul-cheering advice and enlivening presence drove despair from many an agonized mind, imparting fresh vigour by administering the elixir of hope and the tonic of perseverance.

Blessed with a vigorous constitution, Dr. Rush was able to discharge his numerous duties until a short time previous to his death, which occurred on the 19th of April, 1813. Although advanced in years new honours continued to gather around him; new fields of usefulness were constantly opening before him; the lustre of his fame had scarcely arrived at its high meridian; the zenith of his glory would unquestionably have reached a loftier summit had his life and health been spared a few years longer.

As the news of his death spread, a universal sorrow pervaded all classes; funeral sermons were preached, eulogies pronounced, and processions formed throughout the United States, as a faint tribute to the memory of the departed sage, patriot, scholar, and philanthropist. When the sad tidings reached England and France, the same demonstrations of respect were manifested there; the tears of sympathy and mourning for departed worth stood trembling in many European eyes. In the halls of science on both sides of the Atlantic, Dr. Rush was well known, and held in the highest estimation. By our own country his loss was most keenly felt; by the civilized world, deeply lamented. The graves of but few men have been moistened by as many tears from the high and the low, the rich and the poor, as that of Dr. BENJAMIN RUSH. His fame is based upon substantial merit; his name is engraven in deep and indelible traces upon the hearts of his countrymen; his reputation is written on the tablet of history in letters of gold by the finger of justice, dipped in the font of gratitude, and will endure, unscathed and unimpaired, until the last trump shall proclaim to the astonished world, TIME SHALL BE NO LONGER.

The private character of this great and worthy man, was as unsullied and pure as his public career was brilliant and useful. His heart was richly stored with the milk of human kindness; his benevolence sometimes carried him beyond his professional income in donations to the poor, to churches, seminaries of learning, and to other objects calculated to benefit mankind.

He was temperate in his habits, neat in his apparel and person, social and gentlemanly in his intercourse with society, urbane and courteous in his manners, interesting and instructive in his conversation, modest and unassuming in his deportment. He was a warm and affectionate companion, the widow’s friend, and the orphan’s father.

In size he was above the middle stature, rather slender, but well proportioned. His mouth and chin were well formed, his nose aqueline, his eyes blue and animated, with a high and prominent forehead. The diameter of his head, from back to front, was unusually great. His combined features were commanding and prepossessing, his countenance indicated a powerful and gigantic intellect.

When attacked by the disease which terminated in death, he was aware that a rapid dissolution awaited him. He was fully prepared to enter upon the untried scenes of another and a brighter world; he could look back upon a life, well spent; he had run a noble race, and was then ready to finish his course, resign his tabernacle of clay to its mother dust, and his immortal soul to Him who gave it.

OLIVER WOLCOTT.

The unqualified and unrestrained oppressions emanating from crowned heads and exercised with impunity in former times, have been shorn of half their terrors by modern light and intelligence. As the genial rays of liberty illuminate the minds of the human family, thrones will be held by a more slender tenure, and monarchies will become more limited if not completely annihilated. In Europe, kingly power has been vibrating for the last century, as if shaken by an earthquake. The love of freedom has never been extinguished in the old world; the same feelings that prompted the pilgrim fathers to tempt the dangers of this western hemisphere, still pervade the bosoms of millions who are writhing under the goring lash of potent sceptres.

When our forefathers planted themselves upon the shores of America many of them appear to have understood clearly the principles of a republican government, as appears from the articles of association entered into by several and distinct settlements. Among those who commenced their superstructure upon the foundation of equal rights, the name of Wolcott stands conspicuous. It is closely associated with the history of New England for the last two centuries. Henry Wolcott, the patriarch ancestor of this eminent family, was a native of England, and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, as early as 1630. In 1636, he, with several others, founded the town of Windsor, in Connecticut, and established a commonwealth, based on republican principles, consisting of Windsor, Hartford, and Weathersfield.

The revised constitution of Connecticut is substantially the same as the one penned by Roger Ludlow, and adopted by this infant colony; a high compliment to the pilgrim fathers—a proud memorial of their virtue and intelligence.

During the perils of the Indian wars, during the difficulties with the Canadian French, and through all the various vicissitudes that have pervaded New England down to the present time, the descendants of Henry Wolcott have acted a conspicuous part in the field and in the legislative hall.

OLIVER WOLCOTT, the subject of this brief sketch, was the youngest son of Roger Wolcott, who was appointed governor of Connecticut in 1751. Oliver was born the 26th of November, 1726, and graduated at Yale College at the age of twenty-one years. The same year he was commissioned to command a company which he raised and marched to the defence of the northern frontier, where he remained until the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. He then returned, applied himself to the study of medicine, until he was appointed the first sheriff of the county of Litchfield, formed in 1751. In 1755 he married Laura Collins, an amiable and discreet woman of great merit. In 1774 he was appointed counsellor, which station he filled for twelve successive years. He was also chief judge of the common plea court, and, for a long time, a judge of the court of probate. As a military officer he rose from the grade of captain to that of major-general. In the summer of 1776, he commanded the fourteen regiments raised by Governor Trumbull to act with the army in New York. He headed his brigade at the memorable battle that resulted in the capture of Burgoyne and revived the drooping cause of the bleeding colonies. He was uniformly consulted on important military movements, and was listened to with great confidence and respect. From its commencement he was a zealous and ardent supporter of the revolution.

In 1775 he was appointed by congress a commissioner of Indian affairs for the northern department, a trust of high importance at that time. During the same year his influence was happily exerted in reconciling disputes between the neighbouring colonies relative to their respective boundaries. Amiable and persuasive in his manners, aided by a sound discretion and a correct sense of justice, he was well calculated to be a mediator between contending parties.

In 1776 he took his seat in congress, and remained until he affixed his signature to that Declaration which burst the chains of slavery, gave birth to a nation in a day, astonished gazing millions, made the British king tremble on his throne, and stamped the names of its signers with a fame that will endure, unimpaired, through the rolling ages of time.

He then returned and took his station in the field, and on all occasions proved himself a brave, skilful, and prudent officer. When he deemed his services more useful in congress, he occasionally took his seat in that body until 1783.

In 1785 he was associated with Arthur Lee and Richard Butler to conclude a peace with the Six Nations. The year following he was elected lieutenant-governor, which station he filled for ten years, when he was chosen governor, the dignified duties of which station he performed until death closed his mortal career on the first of December, 1797, in the seventy-first year of his age, regretted by all, and most by those who knew him best.

In addition to his numerous public services, always performed without pomp or noise, his private character shone with peculiar lustre. He possessed all the sterling virtues, was a devout and consistent Christian, an honourable and honest man.

GEORGE READ.

When an individual is placed upon the horns of a dilemma, involving personal liberty, property or safety, his intellectual and physical powers are at once roused to action. He does not stop to explore the regions of obtuse metaphysics, speculative philosophy, or of fastidious etiquette. He flies to first principles, and strains his reason and understanding to their utmost tension to aid him. He puts forth his mightiest efforts, his boldest exertions, and his strongest energies, in order to extricate himself from surrounding difficulties and impending dangers. In this way he performs astonishing feats, and surmounts the cloud capt summit of an Alpine barrier, that, under ordinary circumstances, he would never reach.

The same course is pursued by a nation when placed in a similar situation. The history of the American revolution demonstrates, most clearly, the position here laid down. The colonists were placed upon the piercing points of the horns of an awful dilemma, and were apparently doomed to slavery or death: yet by their unparalleled efforts, aided by Heaven, they were ultimately delivered from their perilous situation, and, although badly gored, survived their wounds. This was effected by men of strong intellect, clear heads, good hearts, and sound judgments; men who could reason, plan and execute. The _flowers_ of literature were not culled for use; plain common sense, sterling worth, useful and practical knowledge, honesty of purpose, and persevering energy of action, all based upon pure patriotism and love of liberty, were the grand requisites to ensure popular favour.

All these were possessed by GEORGE READ, whose public career I will briefly trace. He was the eldest son of John Read, a wealthy and respectable planter, who emigrated from Dublin, Ireland, and located in Cecil county, Maryland, where George Read was born, in 1734. John Read subsequently removed to Newcastle county, Delaware, and placed this son in a respectable school at Chester, Pennsylvania, where he made good proficiency in the first rudiments of his education. From there he was transferred to the seminary of the Rev. Dr. Allison, at New London, who was eminently qualified to mould the young mind for usefulness, by imparting correct principles, practical knowledge, and general intelligence, fit for every day use, combined with refined classics and polite literature. Under this accomplished teacher, Mr. Read completed his education, preparatory to his professional studies. At the age of seventeen, he commenced reading law with John Moland Esq., a distinguished member of the Philadelphia bar. His proficiency was so great that in two years he was admitted to the practical honours of his profession. He was well qualified to enter the field of competition, having taken the entire charge of the docket of Mr. Moland for some time previous to his admission.

He commenced business in Newcastle, in 1754, and at once grappled successfully with the old and experienced counsellors around him, whose number and talents were neither few nor small. By his acuteness in pleading, and thorough knowledge of the primary principles of his profession, he soon gained the esteem of the courts, the admiration of his senior brethren, the confidence of the community, and obtained a lucrative practice. His forte consisted not in flowery show, but in that deep toned and grave forensic eloquence, that informs the understanding and carries conviction to the mind. He seldom appealed to the passions of the court or jury, preferring to stand upon the firm basis of the law and testimony, clearly expounded and truly exhibited.

On the 13th of April, 1763, he was appointed attorney-general for the three lower counties of Delaware, and continued in that office until he was called to the higher duties of legislation. The same year he led to the hymeneal altar, an amiable, pious, and accomplished daughter of the Rev. George Ross, of Newcastle: thus adding largely to the stake he held in the welfare of his country, enhancing his earthly joys, and giving him an influence and rank in society never acquired by lonely bachelors. She fully supplied the vacuum abhorred by nature, and proved a valuable partner of his toils and perils, his pains and pleasures, through subsequent life.

Mr. Read was a republican to the core, and from the commencement to the close of the revolution, was a bold and unyielding advocate of equal rights and liberal principles. When the question of rights and wrongs became a subject of investigation between the two countries, he resigned the commission of attorney-general held under the crown, that he might enter the arena of discussion free and unshackled. In 1765 he was elected a member of the Assembly of the state of Delaware, and was instrumental in laying deep the foundations of the superstructure of liberty. He was prudent, calm, and discreet in all his actions; but firm, bold and resolute. He was a member of the Committee of the Delaware Assembly that so ably addressed the king upon the subject of grievances and redress. He was in favour of exhausting the magazine of petition and remonstrance, and if to no purpose, then to replenish with powder and ball. He did not, nor did any of the signers of the declaration, at the commencement of British oppression, contemplate a dissolution of the ties that bound the colonies to the mother country. But he understood well the rights secured to them by magna charta and the constitution of Great Britain; and he knew that those rights were trampled upon by the hirelings of the crown. To vindicate them he was firmly resolved. He opposed the principle of taxation without representation, and of raising a revenue in America to pamper royalty in England. He knew and weighed well the superior physical powers of his opposers; but he believed the majesty of eternal justice and the kind aid of Heaven, would sustain the patriots in their glorious cause. Nor did he reckon in vain. His written appeal to his constituents of the 17th of August, 1769, calling upon them to resist the encroachments of tyranny, was couched in bold and forcible language, portraying, in colours deep and strong, their rights and their wrongs, making the path of duty plain before them.

He sanctioned the various non-importation resolutions, passed by his own and other colonies; the first prominent mode adopted to thwart the designs and impositions of the British ministry after finding that petitions and remonstrances were treated with contumely. He was chairman of the committee of the Delaware patriots, appointed for the purpose of carrying these resolutions into effect. He was also chairman of the committee of twelve, appointed by the people of Newcastle, on the 29th of June, 1774, to obtain subscriptions for the Boston sufferers, who were writhing under the lash of the infamous port bill, passed by parliament, for the purpose of properly chastising the refractory inhabitants of that patriotic city. In February following, he remitted to the Boston committee, nine hundred dollars, money received from his constituents, which was eloquently acknowledged by Samuel Adams, who was one of his faithful correspondents.

Mr. Read was a member of the congress of 1774, and retained that elevated station during the revolution. He was also president of the convention that formed the first constitution of Delaware in 1776, and a member of her assembly constantly for twelve successive years, after his first election. A part of this time he was also vice president of his state, and in the autumn of 1777, when president M’Kinley fell into the hands of the enemy, Mr. Read was called from congress to perform the more arduous, because undivided duties of a chief magistrate. On his way home with his family, he was compelled to pass through Jersey, and in crossing the Delaware from Salem, his boat was discovered by the British fleet then lying just below. An armed barge was sent in pursuit. Mr. Read’s boat stuck fast in the mud, and was soon come up to. By effacing the marks upon his baggage during a few brief moments before he was boarded, and having with him his wife and children, he convinced those from the fleet that he was a country gentleman on his way to his farm, and solicited their assistance to put him and his family on shore. They promptly afforded their aid, took his boat out of the mud, and landed him and his precious charge safety on the Delaware side of the river. The perfect calmness of himself and lady, and their open frankness, saved them from the horrors of a prison ship, and probably him from an exhibition upon the yard arm of a man-of-war.

His duties now assumed an onerous character. Internal dissentions among his own people were to be reconciled; an intercourse by many of the inhabitants with the British fleet was to be broken up; ways and means for his own and the general government claimed his attention; his mind was burdened by an extreme anxiety to procure the exchange of the president; and a conquering foe was triumphing in victory in almost every direction. In the midst of all these perils, he stood firmly at the helm and rode out every storm. He proved equal to every emergency, and added new lustre to his growing fame. When the Declaration of Independence was under discussion, he believed the measure premature; but when it was adopted, he most cheerfully enrolled his name with his colleagues. In 1779 ill health compelled him to withdraw from public life for a year, when he again resumed his legislative duties. In 1782 he was appointed by congress a judge of appeals in the court of admiralty. In 1785 he was one of the commissioners to settle the boundary line between New York and Massachusetts. The next year he was a delegate of the convention of the states, convened at Annapolis, for the purpose of regulating the commerce of the union. In 1787 he was one of that talented convention that framed the federal constitution. He was a United States senator of the first congress under that constitution, and served six years. He was also chief justice of Delaware from 1793 to the time of his death. In the performance of all these responsible and multiform duties, he acquitted himself nobly, and did honour to his character, his country, and the cause of rational liberty. As a civilian, a statesman, a magistrate, a patriot, a philanthropist, a gentleman, a husband, a father, a private citizen, and a public benefactor, GEORGE READ was a model worthy of imitation. He was scrupulously honest and rigidly just. When he arrived at his majority, he assigned his portion of the paternal estate to his brothers, deeming the expenses of his education equivalent to his equitable share. He was opposed to chaos in the smallest concerns of life, and abhorred vice of every kind. He enjoyed good health in his old age, until the autumn of 1798, when, after a sudden and short illness, he closed his eyes on terrestrial scenes, and resigned his spirit into the hands of the wise Disposer of all events.

The person of Mr. Read was above the middle size, well formed, with a commanding and agreeable deportment. He was a talented, virtuous, and amiable man.

THOMAS HEYWARD.

To understand, and estimate correctly, the magnitude and design of his creation, man must become familiar with the thousand springs and qualities of the undying spirit within him. The labyrinthian mazes of the immortal mind must be explored, and traced from earth to native Heaven. The depths of human nature must be sounded, and its channels clearly marked.

Upon the axis of reason, revolving thought performs its endless circuit with mathematical precision, guided by the centripetal force of a sound judgment, or it is projected from its proper orbit by the centrifugal momentum of random folly into the regions of senseless vacuity, or of wild and visionary sophistry. Its ceaseless motion is as perpetual as the purple stream of our arteries; its rapid flight is bounded only by eternity. It travels through space with more celerity than lightning; its earthly career can be arrested only by the hand of death.

To reflect, to investigate, to reason, and to analyze, is the province of our intellectual functions. To comprehend the grand and harmonious organic structure of nature, the wisdom of the great Architect of universal worlds, and the relation man bears to man, is to learn that human beings are endowed with equal and inherent rights, and that they are in duty bound to maintain them. Justice marks out the golden path, reason leads the way, and patriotism impels to action.

The man whose mind is cast in the mould of wisdom by the mighty hand of his Creator, if he brings into proper exercise the combined powers of intellectual and physical force, can never be made a willing slave. As his soul is expanded by the genial rays of intelligence, he duly appreciates his native dignity, becomes enraptured with the glories of liberty, and resolves to be free. If he is groaning under the oppressions of tyranny and wears the galling chains of servility, as light shines upon him he will be roused to a mighty effort to burst the ignominious thongs that bind him, assert his inalienable rights, and assume his legitimate station in the scale of being.

Thus acted the patriots of the American revolution—thus acted THOMAS HEYWARD, the subject of this brief sketch. He was the eldest son of Col. Daniel Heyward, a wealthy and highly respected planter, and was born in the parish of St. Luke, South Carolina, in 1746. His opportunities for obtaining a liberal education were freely afforded by his father, and were faithfully improved by the son. He became ardently attached to the Greek and Roman classics, and dwelt with rapture upon the history of republican freedom. The principles of rational liberty became deeply rooted in his mind at an early age, and when manhood dawned upon him they were thoroughly matured.

After completing his elemental education he commenced the study of law with Mr. Parsons, who stood high as a member of the bar. The proficiency of Mr. Heyward in that intricate science was creditable to himself and gratifying to his numerous friends. He possessed an investigating and analyzing mind, and never passed over a subject superficially. He was a close student, and explored the opening fields of civil and common law with a zeal and rapidity seldom known. When he became familiar with the principles laid down by Sir William Blackstone, and understood fully the rights secured to persons and property by Magna Charta and the British constitution, and compared them with the iron rod of restrictions held over the colonists by the mother country, he was roused to a just indignation.

After having completed his course with Mr. Parsons, he repaired to England, and entered the middle temple, where he became a finished lawyer and an accomplished gentleman. Although amply supplied with money, he was not led astray by the allurements of fascinating pleasures, that first flatter and please, then ruin and destroy. To enrich his mind with science and useful knowledge, was the ultimatum of his soul.

He mingled with what was termed refined society in London, which formed a striking contrast with the republican simplicity of that of the same grade in his own country. The fastidious hauteur of English etiquette was far from being congenial to his mind, and did not accord with his ideas of social life. He there met claims of superiority over native Americans that he knew were based alone upon pride and ignorance. His feelings were often wounded by indignities cast upon the colonial character. All these things combined to rivet his affections more strongly upon the land of his birth. They operated as fuel for the livid flame of patriotism, already glowing in his bosom. The pomp of royalty and the splendour of kingly courts had no charms for him. The awful distance between the haughty prince and the honest peasant, the towering throne and the worthy yeomanry, operated upon his mind like a talisman, and gave his soul a new impetus towards the goal of equal rights. The more he saw of practical monarchy, often the automaton of corrupt and corrupting advisers, the more he became opposed to its potent sway.

After closing his course in the law temple, he made the tour of Europe, and then returned to the warm embrace of his relatives and friends, richly laden with the treasures of classic science and useful knowledge. He had become familiar with the theories of European governments, and had seen their principles practically demonstrated. He understood well the feelings and policy of the mother country relative to her American colonies. He had witnessed her political artificers at the forge of despotism, preparing chains for his beloved country. He had seen her coffers yawning wide, to receive the ill gotten treasures, wrested from his fellow citizens by hireling tax gatherers, in violation of chartered rights, legal justice, and the claims of mercy. His own estate had been laid under contribution to swell the unholy fund. His neighbours around him were groaning under the lash of British oppression. To enlighten their minds, and make them understand fully their danger, their interest, and their duty, became the business of this zealous patriot. Possessed of a bold and fearless mind, directed by a clear head, an honest heart, a sound judgment, and a rich fund of useful intelligence, his exertions were crowned with glorious success. His salutary influence was extensively felt—his sterling worth was duly appreciated. He was a member of the first assembly of South Carolina that set British power at defiance, and was also a member of the council of safety. He discharged his duties with firmness, prudence, and zeal. No fugitive fear disturbed his mind, no threatened vengeance moved his purposes. His eyes were fixed on the temple of freedom, his soul was insulated by the fluid of patriotism, his heart was resolved on liberty or death. His life, his property, and his sacred honour, were pledged in the noble cause. He was elected to the Continental Congress in 1775, but at first declined serving, in consequence of his young age. A large delegation of citizens subsequently waited upon him, and, at their urgent request, he took his seat in that august assembly of sages in 1776, and became a warm advocate for that memorable instrument, that proclaimed the birth of our nation to an astonished world, and shed fresh lustre on the intellect of man. His voice and his signature sanctioned its adoption—his conscience, his country, and his God, approved the act.

In two years after he was called to perform more painful duties. He was appointed a judge of the civil and criminal courts of his native state, under the new order of things. Several persons were arraigned before him, charged with a treasonable correspondence with the enemy—they were found guilty, and condemned to be hung in sight of the British lines at Charleston. With feelings of humanity, but with the firmness of a Roman, he performed his duty, and pronounced upon them the penalty of the law.

Judge HEYWARD also participated in the military perils of “the times that tried men’s souls.” He commanded a company of artillery at the battle of Beaufort, and was severely wounded. At the attack upon Savannah he was also actively engaged. At the siege of Charleston he commanded a battalion, and was one of the unfortunate prisoners who were transferred to St. Augustine. During his absence his property was pillaged, and his amiable and accomplished wife, the daughter of Mr. Matthews, whom he had married in 1773, was laid in the grave. The tidings of these heart-rending afflictions did not reach him until he was exchanged and returned to Philadelphia. With the calm and dignified fortitude of a christian, a philosopher, and a hero, he met the shafts of afflictive fate. He mourned deeply, but submissively, the premature exit of the companion of his bosom. His physical sufferings and loss of property he freely offered at the altar of liberty, without a murmur or a sigh.

He again resumed his judicial duties upon the bench, and discharged them ably and faithfully until 1798. He was an influential member of the convention that framed the Constitution of South Carolina in 1790. Old age and infirmity finally admonished him that his mission on earth was fast drawing to a close, and he retired from the public arena, covered with epic and civic honours, lasting as the pages of history. In the full fruition of a nation’s gratitude and of a nation’s freedom he spent his last years, and in March, 1809, went to his final rest, leaving his second wife, Miss E. Savage, and his children, to mourn the loss of a kind husband and tender father; and his country to regret the loss of a devoted patriot, an able judge, and an honest man.

ROBERT MORRIS.

Men, whose motives inducing them to action are free from self, aiming exclusively at public good, are like angels’ visits, few and far between. Perhaps no era recorded on the pages of ancient or modern history, presents as many examples of disinterested patriotism as that of the American revolution. The sages who conceived, planned, and consummated the declaration of our independence, pledged their LIVES, THEIR FORTUNES, AND THEIR SACRED HONOURS, to carry out the principles promulgated by that sacred instrument. Never did men perform their vows more faithfully; never did men redeem their pledges more nobly. Many of them not only placed all their available means in the public treasury, but extended their private credit to its utmost tension, to obtain supplies for the infant Republic, then bursting from embryo.—No one rendered more efficient pecuniary aid in the advancement of the cause of equal rights and American liberty than ROBERT MORRIS. He was an Englishman by birth, born at Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on the 20th day of January, 1734. His father was a respectable merchant, and immigrated to this country in 1746, and settled at Oxford, on the eastern shore of Maryland. He then sent for his son, whom he had left behind, who arrived when he was thirteen years of age. He received a good commercial education, but not classical.

At the age of fifteen, he was deprived of his father by death. He had previously entered the counting-house of Charles Willing, then one of the most thorough and enterprising merchants of the city of Philadelphia. After having acquired a knowledge of commercial concerns, Mr. Willing established him in business, and remained his constant friend and adviser. For several years he prospered alone, but finding the cares of time pressing upon him, he concluded to take a partner, to aid him in the journey of life. That partner was the amiable and accomplished Mary, daughter of Col. White, and sister to the late venerable and learned Bishop White of Philadelphia. She possessed every quality calculated to adorn her sex and render connubial felicity complete; and withal, was rich—a desideratum with some, but a miserable substitute for genuine esteem, sincere affection and true friendship. No man or woman, with a clear head, a good heart, and sound discretion ever married for the sake of riches alone.

“Can gold buy FRIENDSHIP? Impudence of hope!
As well mere man an angel might beget.”

Fortunately for Mr. Morris and his partner, their highest treasure was mutual affection, flowing from the pure fountain of their kindred hearts, anxious to promote the reciprocal happiness of each other, and the felicity of all around them.

Nothing occurred to mar their prosperity until the revolutionary storm burst upon the colonies. Had self interest been consulted so far as pecuniary matters were concerned, Mr. Morris would have adhered to the crown. His interests, in point of property, were entirely commercial: and, in case of an opposition by him to the mother country, his wealth was very much exposed. But he had inhaled the atmosphere of freedom; his soul was fired with patriotism; he resolved to pledge his ALL in the cause of liberty. His influence was extensive; he was a cool, reflecting and high minded man, and arrived at conclusions only from mature deliberation. This being his character, his examples had great weight.

He was elected a member of the congress of 1774, and took a decided stand against British oppression. Being an able financier, he was looked up to as the most efficient manager of monetary matters, and, so far as providing ways and means were concerned, he was authorized to act. Most nobly did he acquit himself in the performance of this important trust. As no office of finance was then created, unfortunately for his country, he could not control the disbursements, but continued to provide money, often from his own resources. When Congress adjourned from Philadelphia to Baltimore on the approach of the conquering British army in 1776, after the declaration of independence, then called by many the death warrant of the signers, Robert Morris, who had affixed his name to that bold instrument, remained at the former city some time after his colleagues left, periling his personal safety in order to make arrangements to raise funds for the prosecution of the glorious cause he had espoused. During his stay, it became necessary that congress should raise a specific sum in specie for the use of the American army. Information was immediately communicated to Mr. Morris of the imperious wants of the commander-in-chief. Not a solitary dollar was in the government treasury. In a few hours after he received the intelligence, he met a member of the society of Friends whose confidence he possessed, who enquired of him “what news?” “The news is,” replied Mr. Morris, “that I am in immediate want of —— dollars of hard money, and that you are the man to obtain it for me. Your security is to be my note of hand and my honour.” The reply was as laconic as the appeal: “Robert thou shalt have it.” The money was promptly forwarded to the commander-in-chief and placed at his disposal, and enabled Washington to meet the enemy at Trenton with signal success.

Mr. Morris made no parade or vain show in the performance of his duties, and often furnished funds through agents under the injunction of secrecy, who, at the time, had the credit of affording relief on their own account. One instance will suffice for an example.

When General Green took the command of the troops in South Carolina, their destitute situation was deplorable. They were only partially covered with tattered garments; their food was of the coarsest kind, and but a scanty supply of that; their quantity of ammunition was small, and nothing but certain destruction seemed to hover around them. At that alarming crisis, Mr. Hall, of that state, advanced the necessary funds to supply the immediate wants of the army, and enable General Green to commence vigorous operations.

After the war had closed, and an account of the disbursements was exhibited, it was found that Mr. Hall had acted under the direction of Robert Morris, who had furnished the needful at the very time it was necessary to save the southern army from dissolution. General Green, on being made acquainted with the fact on his final settlement at the office of finance, was at first displeased with the measure, but upon reflection, greatly applauded and admired the wisdom of this secrecy, “because,” said he, “if I had known that I might have drawn upon Robert Morris, I should have demanded larger sums, and effected no more than was accomplished with the means placed in my hands.” The advances of Mr. Morris to the southern army were near accomplishing his pecuniary ruin.

As a financier his genius was of the most prolific kind. When he found one resource after another exhausted; the American troops writhing under the keenest privations; the credit of the infant Republic paralyzed, and her treasury drained of the last dollar, had his mind been cast in an ordinary mould, he must have fainted by the way. But amidst the embarrassments that surrounded him, he stood calm and undismayed upon the firm basis of his own resources. When he found that they were becoming crippled, he submitted to congress the plan of chartering the Bank of North America, which, after much discussion, was approved and adopted on the 7th of January, 1782.

The year preceding, the office of finance had been established, and Mr. Morris appointed financier. Previous to that, it appears he had not, at any time, been the disbursing agent of the public monies; and that no system had been adopted by Congress that gave any one individual the control, under them, of this important department. The consequence was, that the monies raised for the supplies of the army often fell into the hands of irresponsible agents and never reached their pristine destination.

After Mr. Morris was placed in authority over this vital branch of government, he reduced the expenditures for military operations from eighteen millions of dollars a year, to about five millions; and thus enabled the continental congress to prosecute the war successfully, when, without this retrenchment, its means would have been inadequate to meet the increasing demands, and the cause of liberty, to all human appearance, must have been abandoned. Like a Roman Curtius, he pledged his own fortune to save his country, and disenthral her from the chains of tyranny. To demonstrate this, I will mention one of the many instances of supplies being obtained upon his private credit.

When the expedition was planned by Washington against Cornwallis at Yorktown, the government treasury was empty, and her credit shivering in the wind. The army was in a destitute situation: the means of prosecuting a siege were to be provided, and Mr. Morris informed the commander-in-chief that unless he arrived at the conclusion that the necessary supplies could be raised on his (Mr. Morris,) credit, the expedition must fail. Washington expressed his entire confidence in the ability of the financier, and immediately took up the line of march.

In the short space of four weeks, Mr. Morris, aided by the patriotic Richard Peters, furnished near eighty pieces of battering cannon and one hundred pieces of field artillery, and all other necessary supplies not furnished from other sources, and became personally responsible to the amount of ONE MILLION FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS, upon his own notes, which were promptly paid at maturity. This, united with aid from Virginia and some of the other states, enabled the American army to give the finishing stroke to the revolution, and triumph, in victory complete, over a proud and merciless foe.