Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, Volume XII Part 9

George Watterston (1783-1854), was appointed first librarian of Congress by President Madison (March, 1815). He was a well-known writer on Was.h.i.+ngton life and scenes.--ED.

[116] Observations sur le Gouvernement et les Lois des U. S. p.

20.--FAUX.

_Comment by Ed._ Gabriel Mably (1709-1785) was educated at a Jesuit college in Lyons, and lived the life of a scholar, publis.h.i.+ng numerous works on history and law. The above book embodied his views on the United States Const.i.tution, and was written at the request of Congress (1784).

[117] Henry Clay was appointed by President Madison one of the commissioners to negotiate peace with Great Britain. He firmly opposed granting the right of navigating the Mississippi River. After five months of negotiation, the Treaty of Ghent was signed, December 24, 1814.--ED.

[118] The House of Representatives, like the House of Commons, is sometimes very disorderly. Heat and cold have the same effect upon the feelings of the members; for both make them quit their seats, and the authority of the speaker often fails to bring them back. It is in vain to call to order; cold has benumbed their fingers, or heat has dissolved their solids, and they can neither think nor act.--FAUX.

[119] William Pinkney had a long diplomatic career. Born in Annapolis, Maryland (1764), his father was a loyalist, but he joined the patriotic side in the Revolutionary War. He studied law with Judge Chase, and was admitted to the bar. In 1796 Was.h.i.+ngton appointed him commissioner of claims against Great Britain arising under Jay's Treaty of 1794, and on this business he remained in England until 1804. Two years later he was again a commissioner to England to treat regarding aggressions upon American commerce. In 1816 he was appointed minister to Russia.

Returning to the United States, he was elected to the senate (1818), but died (1822), before the expiration of his term.--ED.

[120] William Wirt (1772-1834), one of the ablest lawyers of his time, was appointed attorney-general in 1817, and served until Jackson's accession to the presidency.--ED.

[121] Rufus King was born in Maine in 1755. Graduating from Harvard, he studied law, and in 1784 was elected to Congress. As a delegate to the Federal const.i.tutional convention, he took a prominent part in framing that instrument. Removing to New York City in 1788, he was, the following year, elected to the United States senate, and for seven years was minister to England (1796-1803).--ED.

[122] James Barbour (1755-1842) sat in the Virginia house of delegates from 1796 to 1812, when he became governor of Virginia. Elected to the United States senate, he was repeatedly chairman of the committee on foreign relations. President Adams appointed him secretary of war (1825), and three years later minister to England; but, being opposed to the Jackson party, he was immediately recalled upon Jackson's accession.--ED.

[123] Philip Pendleton Barbour (1783-1841), was elected to Congress in 1814, becoming speaker of the House in 1821. President Jackson appointed him a circuit court judge, and in 1836 he was elevated to the supreme bench.--ED.

[124] Jonathan Roberts (1771-1854) first represented his district in Pennsylvania in the Twelfth Congress. He was elected to the senate in 1814, serving until 1821.--ED.

[125] Now Sir Charles Bagot.--FAUX.

_Comment by Ed._ Sir Charles Bagot (1781-1843), a well-known British diplomat and amba.s.sador to France, Russia, and Holland, and finally governor-general of Canada.

[126] Hyde de Neuville (1776-1857), a royalist during the republic and the empire, was minister of France to the United States (1816-21).--ED.

[127] This was Benjamin O'Fallon, whose mother was a sister of George Rogers Clark, his father being Dr. James O'Fallon, a Revolutionary officer and prominent among Kentucky pioneers.--ED.

[128] For the early history of Council Bluffs, see Brackenridge's _Journal_, volume vi of our series, note 28.--ED.

[129] Red Jacket, or Sagoyewatha (1751-1830), was a Seneca chief, and after the death of Brant the most prominent Indian among the Six Nations. He fought on the American side in the War of 1812-15, and refused to be drawn into Tec.u.mseh's conspiracy. He is best known for his eloquent speech against ratifying the treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784), which ceded western New York to the whites. In later life he was a helpless drunkard.--ED.

[130] Jedidiah Morse was born in Woodstock, Connecticut (1761). Being graduated from Yale College he studied for the ministry, and in 1785 was licensed to preach. Four years later he became pastor of a Congregational church in Charleston, remaining there until 1820, when he removed to New Haven, and there preached until his death in 1826. He was interested in civilizing and christianizing the Indians. In 1820 the secretary of war deputed him to visit the western tribes and suggest measures for their improvement. The results of his investigation were published in his _Report to the Secretary of War on Indian Affairs_ (New Haven, 1822). He also published some text-books on geography, which were used extensively, and gained for him the t.i.tle of "Father of American geography."--ED.

[131] These portraits of the p.a.w.nee chiefs were hung in the Indian gallery in the department of war, being later destroyed by fire. Three of them are reproduced in color in McKenney's _History of the Indian Tribes of North America_ (Philadelphia, 1855), i, pp. iii, 33, 37, 143.

The artist, Charles B. King (1786-1862), was a native of Rhode Island.

For forty years his studio in Was.h.i.+ngton was frequented by the prominent men of the day.--ED.

[132] For the Oto Indians, see Bradbury's _Travels_, volume V of our series, note 42.--ED.

[133] I made them understand the man was hung for murder, which seemed to please them.--FAUX.

[134] Concerning the calumet of peace, consult Long's _Voyages_, in our volume ii, note 43.--ED.

[135] This was probably Luther Rice, a Baptist preacher of much power.

Born in Ma.s.sachusetts (1783), he was ordained as a Congregational minister, and sailed as a missionary to India (1812). There he united with the Baptists, and returning to America, travelled through the eastern states to interest that denomination in foreign missions. Mainly through his efforts, Columbian University was established at Was.h.i.+ngton, and he was for several years its agent and treasurer.--ED.

[136] Edward Everett, now in his twenty-eighth year, was professor of Greek at Harvard (1819-24).--ED.

[137] Burgess Allison (1753-1827) studied theology at Brown University, and was pastor of a church at Bordentown, New Jersey, his birthplace. In 1816 he was elected chaplain of the house of representatives, and later became chaplain at the navy yard, remaining there until his death.--ED.

[138] Thomas Law, sixth son of the Right Reverend Edmund Law, D.D., lord bishop of Carlisle, was born at Cambridge, England, October 23, 1756. In 1794, after acquiring some wealth in India, he came to America. Within a year he met Elizabeth Parke Custis, granddaughter of Martha Was.h.i.+ngton, whom he married (March 21, 1796). In 1802 Law went abroad, and returned in April, 1804. In the following August a legal separation was secured.

Law denied Faux's hint of impropriety of conduct on the part of his wife in a signed article, "A Reply to Certain Insinuations," published in the _Quarterly Review_, No. 58. He attributed the unfortunate occurrence to "a disagreement in disposition." For outline of Law's life, and of his unhappy marriage, see Allen Cullings Clark, _Greenleaf and Law in the Federal City_ (Was.h.i.+ngton, 1901), pp. 236-244; 285-290.--ED.

[139] Francis Scott Key (1779-1843), author of our national hymn, was for many years attorney of the District of Columbia.--ED.

[140] Commodore Decatur was killed in a duel with Commodore James Barron, March 23, 1820, near Bladensburg, Maryland.--ED.

[141] James Kirke Paulding, born in Dutchess County, New York, drifted to New York City at the age of nineteen (1798), and became acquainted with Was.h.i.+ngton Irving, publis.h.i.+ng with him, during the year of 1807, the satirical periodical _Salmagundi_. A few years later he published _The Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan_. In 1814 he entered the lists for the defense of America in the "War of the Reviewers," by writing a pamphlet, _The United States and England_, in reply to a review in the _Quarterly Review_ of Charles Ingersoll's _Inchiquin's Letters_. The sinecure referred to by Faux was secretary of the board of navy commissioners, Madison having appointed him to that position in 1816. He continued his literary work throughout life, also his interest in naval affairs, entering Van Buren's cabinet as secretary of the navy.--ED.

[142] For a brief account of Peale's museum, see Flint's _Letters_, volume ix of our series, note 21.--ED.

[143] The Otaheiteans are Hawaiians.--ED.

[144] Probably _The Cow Chase_ (London, 1781), a satirical poem in three cantos, on an unfortunate sally made by Brigadier-general Anthony Wayne on Bergen Neck, on North River, July 20, 1780. It was written before Andre's apprehension, the last canto being published (at New York) on the very day of the author's capture. See "Introduction" to _The Cow Chase_ (Albany edition, 1866), p. 11--ED.

[145] Eleuthere Irenee Du Pont (born in Paris, 1771), was early interested in scientific subjects. At the instance of Lavoisier, superintendent of the government powder mills, he studied at the royal mills at Essonne in order to prepare himself for that position. But the French Revolution interfered with his plans. After being thrice imprisoned, his father came with the family to America (1799). Eleuthere turned his training to account by establis.h.i.+ng (1802) a powder factory on the Brandywine, near Wilmington, which, at the time of his death (1834), was the largest in the country.--ED.

[146] Captain Joseph Huddy, of the New Jersey line, had been captured by the British, falsely accused of being concerned in the death of Philip White, a desperate Tory, and hanged. In retaliation Was.h.i.+ngton was authorized by Congress to select by lot from his prisoners an officer of equal rank, to be executed. The lot fell to Sir Charles, but his execution was delayed, and Congress ultimately directed him to be freed.--ED.

[147] See _ante_, note 131.--ED.

[148] Theodore Dwight (1765-1846), who in 1817 founded the New York _Daily Advertiser_, was a brother of Timothy Dwight, the famous educator.--ED.

[149] John Broadhead Romeyn (1777-1825), graduated from Columbia College, and after preaching in Troy and elsewhere in eastern New York, became pastor of Cedar Street Presbyterian Church, New York City (1807).

He was one of the founders of Princeton Theological Seminary, and at the age of thirty-three was moderator of the general a.s.sembly of the Presbyterian church. He was offered the presidency both of d.i.c.kinson College and Transylvania University, but declined to leave his New York pastorate.--ED.

[150] For Judge Emmett, see _ante_ (volume xi), note 37.

William Sampson was born in Londonderry, Ireland, 1764. He became a barrister, and acted as counsel for members of the Society of United Irishmen, thereby incurring the suspicion of the English government.

After the rebellion of 1798, he was imprisoned, and upon gaining his freedom came to the United States, establis.h.i.+ng himself as a lawyer in New York, where he was influential in amending and codifying the state laws.--ED.

[151] Outbreaks of this character were so frequent in the years immediately following the War of 1812-15, that they found a place in the governor's annual messages. See Fortier, _History of Louisiana_ (New York, 1904), iii, p. 188.--ED.

[152] In 1801 Theodosia Burr was married to Joseph Alston, governor of South Carolina (1812-14). The "Patriot" was supposedly lost off Cape Hatteras in 1812. See Merwin, _Aaron Burr_ (Boston, 1899), p. 140.--ED.

[153] Isaac Roberdeau (1763-1829), came of a Huguenot family. His father settled in Philadelphia, and was a general in the Revolutionary army.

Isaac became an engineer, and a.s.sisted in laying out the city of Was.h.i.+ngton (1791). In 1813 he was appointed a major and topographical engineer in the regular army, and superintended the survey of the boundary between the United States and Canada, in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Ghent. In 1818 he organized and was made chief of the bureau of topographical engineers in the War Department.--ED.

[154] For a short sketch of Volney, see Flint's _Letters_, volume ix of our series, note 121.--ED.

[155] From the seed of the best species of Maryland tobacco received from this gentleman, my neighbour, Major Smith, of Somersham, in England, has, unaided by art, planted and manufactured tobacco, of a superior fragrance and flavour, and which he introduces to his friends on special occasions, when it is used as prime Canaster from Havannah.--FAUX.

[156] William Thornton was educated as a physician, and lived for many years in Philadelphia, where he was a member of the American Philosophical Society. He removed to Was.h.i.+ngton when the seat of government was transferred thither, and in 1802 was appointed head of the patent office, a place which he held through the remainder of his life. He was also an architect of ability, and designed the Philadelphia library building (1789).--ED.