344

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER.

boats, until ordered to supersede Commodore Barron in command of the Chesa peake. During the war with Great Britain that soon followed, he was distinguished for his gallantry in action and generosity to the vanquished. In January, 1815, while in command of the President, he was made a prisoner, but was soon released by the treaty of peace. He was afterward despatched, with a squadron, to the Mediterranean, and in a very short time, during the Summer of 1815, he completely humbled the piratical Barbary Powers-Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoliand compelled them to make restitution of money and prisoners. He did more: he compelled them to relinquish all claims to tribute hitherto given by the United States since 1795. Full security to American commerce in the Mediterranean was obtained, and the character of the government of the United States was greatly elevated in the opinion of Europe. Then was accomplished, during a single cruise, what the combined powers of Europe dared not to attempt.

On his return to the United States, Commodore Decatur was appointed one of the Board of Navy Commissioners, and resided at Kalorama, formerly the seat of Joel Barlow, near Washington city. For a long time unpleasant feelings had existed between Decatur and Barron; and, in 1819, a correspondence between them resulted in a duel at Bladensburg. Both were wounded; Decatur mortally. That event occurred on the 22d of March, 1820, and Decatur died that night, at the age of forty years. The first intimation that his wife had of the matter was the arrival at home of her dying husband, conveyed by his friends. Thirty-five years have since rolled away, and his "beloved Susan" yet [1855] remains the widow of Stephen Decatur.

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER.

THE shall wear as an equal.

Iname of James Fenimore Cooper, is first on the list of American novelists,

"He was one of those frank and decided characters who make strong enemies and warm friends-who repel by the positiveness of their convictions, while they attract by the richness of their culture and the amiability of their lives." Mr. Cooper was born at Burlington, New Jersey, on the 15th of September, 1789. His father, an immigrant from England, had settled there some twenty years before. When James was two years of age, the family removed to the banks of Otsego Lake, and there founded the settlement and beautiful village of Cooperstown. The lad was prepared for college by Rev. Mr. Ellison, rector of St. Peter's Church, Albany; entered Yale as a student, in 1802, and was graduated there in 1805. He chose the navy as the theatre of action, and entered it as a midshipman, in 1806. After a service of six years, he was about to be promoted to lieutenant, when he loved and married Miss Delancey (sister of the present [1855] Bishop Delancey of the diocese of Western New York), and left the navy forever. It was a school in which he was trained for the special service of literature in a peculiar way; and to his nautical information and experience during that six years, we are indebted for those charming sea-stories from his pen, which gave him such great celebrity at home and abroad.

Mr. Cooper's first production, of any pretensions, was a novel entitled Persecu tion, a tale of English life. It was published anonymously, met with small success, and the author was inclined to abandon the pen that had so deceived him with false hopes. He resolved to try again, and The Spy was the result. His triumph was now greater than his previous failure. That work was a broad foundation of a brilliant superstructure, and Fame waited upon the author with

I. Zenimore Cooper

abundant laurels. In 1823, his Pioneers appeared; and as the series of LeatherStocking Tales-The Prairie, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, and The Deerslayer-were published, they were read with the greatest eagerness. His fame was fully established; and by the publication of his novels in Europe, American literature began to attract attention in quarters where it had been sneered at. His series of admirable sea-stories were equally successful; and as The Pilot, The Red Rover, The Water Witch, The Two Admirals, and Wing and Wing, were issued from the press, they were sought after and read with the greatest avidity.

In 1826, Mr. Cooper went to Europe, preceded by a fame that gave him a key to the best society there. On all occasions he was the noble and fearless champion of his country and democracy, and his pen was often employed in defence of these, even while his genius was receiving the homage of aristocracy. While abroad, he wrote The Bravo, The Heidenmaur, The Headsman, and one or two inferior tales; and on his return home, he wrote Homeward Bound, and Home as Found. These were preceded by a Letter to his Countrymen. The preparation and publication of these works were unfortunate for the reputation and personal ease of Mr. Cooper; and his sensitiveness to the lash of critics speedily involved him in law-suits with editors whom he prosecuted as libelers. His feuds increased his naturally irritable nature, and for several years they embittered his life. They finally ceased; his ruffled spirit became calm; the current of popular feeling which had been turned against him resumed its old channels of admira

tion, and the evening of his days were blessed with tranquillity. At his hospitable mansion on the banks of the Otsego, he enjoyed domestic peace and the society of intellectual friends; and there, on the 14th of September, 1851, his spirit went to its final rest, when he lacked but one day of being sixty-two years of age.

Mr. Cooper is best known to the world as a novelist, yet he was the author of several works of graver import. Among these may be named a Naval History of the United States, Gleanings in Europe, Sketches of Switzerland, and several smaller works, some of them controversial. "He still lives," says a pleasant writer, "in the hearts of grateful millions, whose spirits have been stirred within them by his touching pathos, and whose love of country has been warmed into new life by the patriotism of his eloquent pen."

NICHOLAS BIDDLE.

HE contest between President Jackson, chief magistrate of the Republic, and a most interesting chapter in our political and social history. The latter was a native of Philadelphia, the scene of that warfare, where he was born on the 8th of January, 1786. His ancestors were among the earlier settlers in that State, and came to America with William Penn. His father was distinguished for his patriotic services during the War for Independence; and while Dr. Franklin was chief magistrate of that commonwealth, he was vice-president. Nicholas was educated first in the academy at Philadelphia, then in the college department of the University of Pennsylvania, and completed his collegiate course in the college at Princeton, in September, 1801. He was unsurpassed in his class, for scholarship, when he was graduated. The law was his choice as a profession, and he was almost prepared to enter upon its practice, in 1804, when he accepted an invitation from General Armstrong (who had been appointed minister to France), to accompany him as his private secretary. He visited several countries on the Continent before his return, and was private secretary, for awhile, to Mr. Monroe, representative of the United States at the English court.

Mr. Biddle returned to America, in 1807, and commenced the practice of his profession in Philadelphia, where, in connection with Mr. Dennie, he edited the "Port-Folio," until the death of the latter. He also prepared a history of Lewis and Clarke's expedition to the Pacific Ocean, across the Continent, from material, placed in his hands. In the Autumn of 1810, he was elected to a seat in the lower house of the legislature of Pennsylvania, where he distinguished himself by efforts in favor of a common-school system; and also in favor of the re-charter of the Bank of the United States. He declined a reëlection, in 1811, but was a member of the State Senate, in 1814, where he evinced much sound statesmanship. He was afterward twice nominated for Congress, but his party (democratic) being in the minority, he was not elected. In 1819, he was appointed one of the government directors of the Bank of the United States, at which time Langdon Cheves became its president. That gentleman resigned, in 1823, and Mr. Biddle was chosen to succeed him, by an unanimous vote. For sixteen years he stood at the head of that great moneyed institution, and conducted its affairs with wonderful ability. When President Jackson brought all the influence of his position to bear against the re-charter of the bank, Mr. Biddle summoned the resources of his genius, and sustained the unequal contest for a long

time. But he was obliged to yield. The bank expired by its charter-limitation, in 1836, when it was incorporated by the State of Pennsylvania. Mr. Biddle continued at the head of the institution until 1839, when he retired to private life, to enjoy repose at his beautiful estate of Andalusia, on the banks of the Delaware, above Philadelphia. There the great financier died, on the 27th of February, 1844, at the age of fifty-eight years. Among other papers of value prepared by Mr. Biddle, was a volume compiled at the request of Mr. Monroe, and published by Congress, entitled Commercial Digest.

LI

JOHN SULLIVAN.

IKE General St. Clair, General Sullivan was a meritorious but often unfortunate officer. His chief fault seemed to be a want of vigilance; and during the Revolution that weakness proved disastrous-first at Bedford, near Brooklyn, in 1776, and on the Brandywine a year later.' John Sullivan was of Irish descent, and was born in Berwick, Maine, on the 17th of February, 1740. His youth was spent chiefly in farm labor. At maturity he studied law, and established himself in its practice in Durham, New Hampshire, where he soon rose to considerable distinction as an advocate and politician. He was chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress, in 1774, and soon after his return from Philadelphia he was engaged, with John Langdon and others, in seizing Fort William and Mary, at Portsmouth. When, the following year, the Continental army was organized, he was appointed one of the eight brigadiers first commissioned by Congress; and early in 1776, he was promoted to major-general. Early in the Spring of that year he superseded Arnold in command of the Continental troops in Canada; and later in the season he joined Washington at New York. General Greene commanded the chief forces at Brooklyn, designed to repel the invaders, then on Staten Island, but was taken sick, and the leadership of his division was assigned to Sullivan. In the disastrous battle that soon followed, he was made prisoner, but was soon afterward exchanged, and took command of Lee's division, in New Jersey, after that officer's capture, later in the season. In the Autumn of 1777, General Sullivan was in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown; and in the succeeding Winter, he was stationed in Rhode Island, preparatory to an attempted expulsion of the British therefrom. He besieged Newport, in August, 1778, but was unsuccessful, because the French Admiral D'Estaing would not cooperate with him, according to promise and arrangement. General Sullivan's military career closed after his memorable campaign against the Indians, in Western New York, early in the Autumn of 1779. He resigned his commission because he felt aggrieved at some action of the Board of War, and was afterward elected to a seat in Congress. From 1786 to 1789, he was president or governor of New Hampshire, when, under the provision of the new Federal Constitution, he was appointed district judge. That office he held until his death, which occurred on the 23d of January, 1795, when he was in the fifty-fifth year of his age.

1. The first was at the close of Angust, 1776. That conflict is generally known as the Battle of Long Island, On account of Sullivan's want of vigilance, Sir Henry Clinton, unobserved, got in his rear near Bedford, cut off his retreat to the American lines, and placed the Americans between the balls and bayonets of the British in the rear and the Hessians in front. Because of a lack of vigilance on the Brandywine, in September, 1777, Sullivan allowed Cornwallis to cross that stream, unobserved, and to fall upon the rear of the American army.

2. See sketch of Lang lor.

348

JAMES BROWN. OLIVER HAZZARD PERRY.

JAMES BROWN.

NE of the early enterprising Americans who sought and obtained wealth and distinguished Senator and diplomatist. He was born near Staunton, Virginia, on the 11th of September, 1766. He was one of a dozen children of a Presbyterian clergymen, and was educated at William and Mary College, at Williamsburg. After studying law under the eminent George Wythe, he went to Kentucky, and joined his elder brother, John, who represented that State in Congress for about twenty years. When that brother was called to political life, James succeeded him in his law practice, and soon rose to eminence. In 1791, he commanded a company of mounted riflemen, under General Charles Scott, in an expedition against the Indians in the Wabash Valley. When, in 1792, Kentucky was admitted into the Union as a sovereign commonwealth, Governor Shelby appointed Mr. Brown Secretary of State. He resided at Frankfort most of the time. He and Henry Clay married sisters, daughters of Colonel Thomas Hart, and were cotemporaries at the bar.

After the purchase of Louisiana, Mr. Brown went to New Orleans, and at once entered into an extensive and lucrative practice, for there was an immense amount of valuable property requiring identification of ownership, through the medium of the new courts. He was associated with Mr. Livingston in the compilation of the civil code of Louisiana, and continued his lucrative law practice in New Orleans, until 1813, when he was elected one of the first Senators in Congress from the newly-organized State. He also held the office of United States District Attorney, by the appointment of President Jefferson. In Congress he ably sustained the administration, in its war measures. He left the Senate in 1817, but returned to it again, after a reëlection, in 1819. President Monroe esteemed him very highly; and, in 1823, he appointed him minister plenipotentiary to France. He filled that station with great dignity and ability until the Autumn of 1829, when he obtained permission to return home. He then retired to private life, and could never be induced to leave its coveted repose afterward. He died of apoplexy, in the city of Philadelphia, on the 7th of April, 1835, in the sixty-ninth year of his age.

OLIVER HAZZARD PERRY.

HE laconic despatch of Commodore Perry-We have met the enemy and they lels on the page of History. The gallant author of that despatch was born in South Kingston, Rhode Island, on the 23d of August, 1785. His father was then in the naval service of the United States, and dedicated his infant son to that profession. He entered the navy as a midshipman, at the age of thirteen years, on board of the sloop-of-war, General Greene. At that time, war with France seemed inevitable; but young Perry was not permitted to see active service until the difficulties with Tripoli afforded him an opportunity, he being in the squadron of Commodore Preble. Always thoughtful, studious, and inquisitive on ship-board, he soon became a skilful seaman and navigator, and an accomplished disciplinarian.

In 1810, Midshipman Perry was promoted to lieutenant, and placed in com