sity of Vermont, and at the conclusion of his studies there and a course of law was admitted and commenced practice. He held the position of superintendent of schools in Franklin county for a time, and also served as its district attorney. In 1850 and 1851 he represented his county in the lower house of the New York assembly, and in 1858 and 1859 was a member of the senate, of which he was president pro tem. In 1867 and 1868 he served as a member of the State Constitutional convention, over which he had the honor to preside. Elected to congress by a constituency which had come to appreciate his ability and understand his worth, he faithfully served from the Thirty-seventh to the Forty-fourth congress, inclusive, and left that post of honor only to accept a higher. When General Hayes was made the Presidential nominee in the Republican convention of 1876, Mr. Wheeler was unanimously chosen as his associate; and, when the Electoral commission made its report, was inaugurated vice-president of the United States on March 4, 1877. As a presiding officer he exhibited fairness, courage and good sense, while his whole course was marked by an appreciation of the honor of the position and of the dignity with which it should be maintained. He left the office with the respect of the people of all classes. His public labors ended therewith. During the remainder of his life he lived quietly, and on June 4, 1887, passed away from brain troubles, with which he had been afflicted for some six months or more.

DA

DAVID DAVIS.

AVID DAVIS was born in Cecil county, Maryland, on March 9, 1815, and graduated from Kenyon college, at Gambier, Ohio, in 1832. Some time was given to the study of law in Massachusetts, and afterward at the law school in New Haven. In 1835 the young man settled in Bloomington, Illinois, and was successful in his practice almost from the first. In 1844 he was elected to the legislature on the Whig ticket, and in 1847 was made a member of the convention that framed the Illinois constitution. In the year following he was elected judge of the Eighth judicial court of the state, and reëlected in 1855 and again in 1861. He was a member of the convention in 1860 that placed Lincoln before the people, and was earnest in his support both in the convention and before the people. On December 8. 1862, Mr.

Lincoln appointed him an associate justice of the United States supreme court, and in that position he exhibited great judicial ability, and will ever be regarded as one of the strongest associates of that great body.

In February, 1872, the National convention of the Labor Reform party nominated Judge Davis as its candidate, an honor which he passively accepted in the following words: "Be pleased to thank the convention for the unexpected honor which they have conferred upon me. The Chief Magistracy of the Republic should neither be sought nor declined by any American citizen." His name was used in the Liberal-Republican convention of the same year, where on the first ballot he received 921⁄2 votes. When the regular nominations had Leen made, he decided to retire, and did so in a formal and final answer to the party upon whose ticket he had been placed.

On January 16, 1877, the legislature of Illinois commenced balloting. for a United States senator as successor of John A. Logan. The contest was continued without result until the twenty-fifth, when the Independents, who had made Judge Davis their candidate, were reinforced by the Democrats, who were afraid that a prolonged contest might result in the election of a Republican. Judge Davis thereupon, on March 4, resigned his seat upon the supreme bench and took his place in the senate, where he acted independently of both political parties, although many questions of minor importance found his vote upon the side of the Democrats. When Vice-President Arthur assumed the Presidency on the death of Garfield, there was a tie in the senate and Judge Davis was chosen as presiding officer. In 1883 he retired from the senate. and from active life. He died at his home in Bloomington, Illinois, în June 26, 1886.

TH

THURLOW WEED.

HURLOW WEED, eminent as an editor and politician, was born at Cairo, Greene county, New York, on November 15, 1798. Of humble parentage, he was engaged in manual labor of various kinds in boyhood, and when fourteen years of age was set to learn the printer's trade. He was employed as a compositor for several years, and in 1815 went to New York city to seek his fortune. In 1819 he established the Agriculturist at Norwich, Chenango county.

but after a couple of years he removed to Manlius, where he started the Onondaga County Republican. He was connected with other papers of minor note during these years of early experience, and during the Anti-Masonic excitement caused by the abduction of Morgan, he started a journal called the Anti-Masonic Enquirer, which at once met with a large share of popular favor and gave its editor leading place in the councils of the new party. Mr. Weed was twice elected to the legislature on an Anti-Masonic platform, and while there his political ability was so well recognized that he was chosen as the proper man to contend with the so-called "Albany regency," then in full power in New York affairs. Accordingly, in 1830, he established the Albany Evening Journal, which took a prominent part in the formation of the Whig party, as it afterwards did that of the Republican. During the thirty-five years in which he had it in control, it held a prominent and influential position in party journalism and brought him into intimate relation with the leading politicians of the country. In many ways he was one of the most prominent political managers of the age, both in state and National affairs, from the days of John Quincy Adams to those of Grant. He made several trips to Europe, that of 1861 being one of National importance, as his mission was to place the struggle in which the Nation was then engaged in a favorable light before Europe, and to ask the European governments to refrain from intervention on behalf of the south.

In 1867 Mr. Weed became editor of the Commercial Advertiser of New York, which he was able to fill for only a year, because of failing health. The remainder of his life was spent in comparative quiet, varied by occasional letters to the public press and articles in other publications. He died at his residence in New York city on November 22, 1882.

CH

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

HARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, whose name will have a permanent place in the history of American diplomacy, came of a race already famous in American statesmanship, being the son of John Quincy Adams and a grandson of John Adams, both Presidents of the United States. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on August 18, 1807. The greatest advantages of education and intercourse

with the world were his from the start, and he made of them a most excellent use. While but two years of age he accompanied his father to St. Petersburg, where the latter was officially located, where he learned to speak several languages; and while he was yet a child his father was appointed minister to England. He spent some time in an English school, and upon his return to America was placed in the Boston Latin school, from whence he went to Harvard college, graduating in 1825. His father was then President of the United States, and the young man spent two years in Washington, after which he commenced the study of law in the office of Daniel Webster. Admitted to the bar in 1828, he gave some time to practice, but was soon called into active public life by an election, in 1831, to the Massachusetts legislature, where he remained for five years. Although a Whig, his sympathies were all against slavery-so much so that in 1848 he was nominated for vice-president, on a ticket with Martin Van Buren, by the new-made Free-soil party. In 1858 he was elected to congress by the Massachusetts Republicans, and reëlected in 1860. In 1861 he was selected by President Lincoln to fill the important post his grandfather and father had held before him-that of United States minister to England. It was, at that crisis in our National affairs, an office of grave responsibility, as the sympathies of the ruling classes in England were largely with the south, and only the surest wisdom and patriotic interest could administer it in behalf of safety and peace. Mr. Adams was compelled to deal with some of the most delicate and complicated cases that could arise between two nations, notably, the capture of the Confederate commissioners, Mason and Slidell, and the building of the Alabama and other Confederate cruisers in British ports. He showed great diplomatic ability, and so conducted all the important negotiations entrusted to his care as to preserve a peace, and merit and win the confidence and respect of both nations. He was as far as possible from being the wily and intriguing diplomatist, but his bold and outspoken methods were only equaled by his determination and command of himself.

In 1872 Mr. Adams, who had become dissatisfied with the Grant administration, took part in the Liberal-Republican movement, and was generally looked upon as one of the most formidable candidates for the Presidential nomination at the hands of that new organization. Just before sailing to Europe as arbitrator at Geneva on the Alabama claims, he addressed a letter to a friend, which was made public a day or two before the convention, in which he expressed indifference as to the nomination, and declared that he would not

accept if compelled to give guarantees or pledges for his own honesty. Notwithstanding this, his name was strongly urged upon the convention by a large following, and in the convention received the following votes: First ballot, 203; second, 243; third, 264; fourth, 279; fifth, 258, and sixth, 324. It was upon this sixth ballot that Mr. Greeley was nominated by 332 votes. Mr. Adams was the author of numerous addresses and published works, and was the editor of his grandfather's extensive memoirs and works. He died at Boston on November 21, 1886.

GE

GEORGE F. HOAR.

EORGE F. HOAR, the eminent Massachusetts senator and poIlitical leader, was born at Concord, in the state named, on August 29, 1826. He studied in early youth at Concord academy and from thence went to Harvard, where he graduated with the class of 1846. After a course of law at the Dane school, in Harvard university, he settled at Worcester, where he opened an office. He was elected to the lower house of the Massachusetts legislature in 1852, and promoted to the state senate five years later. Henceforth his life was almost one continuous public service, in which his conspicuous ability has only been matched by his high-minded patriotism and devotion to duty. Elected a representative in the Forty-first congress, he was returned to the Forty-second, Forty-third and Forty-fourth, and declined a renomination to the Forty-fifth. From 1874 to 1880 he served as an overseer to Harvard college; presided over the Massachusetts Republican state conventions for a number of years, and also ably presided over that of the National Republican party that nominated Garfield in 1880. Among the other public appearances of Mr. Hoar was as one of the managers on part of the house in the impeachment of General Belknap, secretary of war, in 1876; and also a representative of the Republicans of the house in the Electoral commission of 1877. So far had Mr. Hoar advanced in the respect of the people of his state that he was elected to the United States senate to succeed Senator Boutwell, his term commencing on March 5, 1877. He was also reëlected in 1883. In the senate, as in the house, he has been one of the leaders, has done efficient committee work and is recognized as one of the most powerful and finished orators at present in

congress.