Biographical sketches of distinguished American naval heroes in the war of the revolution, between the American Republic and the Kingdom of Great Britain; comprising sketches of Com. Nicholas Biddle, Com. John Paul Jones, Com. Edward Preble, and Com. Alexander Murray. With incidental allusions to other distinguished characters ...

Front matter

Class U./37_i.

Ronlc W/^

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

Contents

PAGE.

I INTRODUCTION, . . . . . . .13

Biographical Sketch of Com. Nicholas Biddle, . 37

Appendix

Character, and Official Services of James Monroe, 357 Familiar Letters, of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson,

. 3«7

ERRATA.

From the rapiility with which this volume was forced through the

Eress. the following errors, amongst others probably undiscovered, ave occurred — more justly imputable to the Author than to the Printer —

Page 16, For vfere read was. 76, For is read was. 100, For givet read give. 15Z, For BiDDLE, read Preble. 162, For Capt. Stewart, read Lieut. Stewart 273, For Charleston read Charlestown. 276, For lolidted read appointed. 901, For eorUroUed read eonstrainediiri*m#Bw^ta^ii.

ADDRESSED TO THE ATTENTION OF THE YOUNGER CLASS OF READERS.

Memories of the ancient colonists of America, and heroes of the Army and Navy of the Revolution. — They were always freemen — were always their own defenders. — Presumption and ignorance of British officers in the " French War." — William Pitt. — The result of the French war in America. — British ambition and cupidity — Her attempts to coerce Americans — their resistance by argument — the eloquence of their statesmen in the senate, and firmness of their soldiers in the Army.— NAVAL HEROES of the REVOLUTION. — Congress, the States, and individuals aid them. — Vandalism of British officers and soldiers. — Firmness of Americ&ns in resistance.

IN the long catalogue of the worthies and benefactors of the human race — amongst the exalted spirits who have rescued MEN from the degradation of ignorance, and stimulated them to manifest their moral and intellectual powers — who have roused them from the humiliated state of bondage to the dignified attitude of Freemen, the Statesmen of the " Old Congress" — the oflicers of the American Army and Navy in the War of the Revolution, are entitled to pre-eminent rank. We might, in retrospect, by the rapid glance of historical recollection, transport the mind to a period still more remote, and contemplate, with solemn admiration, the great champions who laid the foundation of the two grand pillars upon which our Republic began to rise, and is still rapidly rising — Civil Liberty and Religious Freedom. From their toils and unceasing perseverance, our noble cities, charming towns and delitchlful villages have been rescued from a wilderness. From their

14 JNTHUDb\;i'IUi\.

science and literature, the language and the aria of civilization are heard and enjoyed, where yelling savages and howling beasts poured forth " horrid harmony," and the arrow and the hook furnished ferocious barbarians with precarious subsistence. When the present race of Americans reflect that these blessings were commenced in the seventeenth — were advanced and secured in the eighteenth — and that in the nineteenth century we are in the full fruition of all the enjoyments which the best and freest government on earth can impart, it surely becomes our duty, and ought to be our pleasure, to render all the grateful homage to the memories of our unrivalled ancestors which man may render to man, and all the adoration which man can render to his Creator.

It is the pastime of the untutored Laplanders to detail and to chaunt the achievements of their sleeping ancestors; and the savages of America, still exult in the fame oi Alknomok and Ouconnostota — of Logan and Philip. If barbarians thus commemorate the achievements of their progenitors, which, perhaps, were nothing more than encountering and conquering wild beasts, or capturing and torturing a christian or savage enemy, how much more imperioug and obligatory upon us is the injunction — " Honour tht Fathers."

Our expanded and rapidly expanding Republic, in the full enjoyment of every blessing which political wisdom and science — moral and religious principles, and the diffusion of useful knowledge can impart, might now (1823) be in an humiliated colonial state under George IV. — his voluptuous lords temporal, and his corrupted lords spiritual, had it not been for the exalted and majestic spirit of freedom and independence which inspired the noble bosoms of our unrivalled ancestors. Let the free and high-minded people who inhabit that portion of the " Western World" which lies north of the Isthmus of Darien, contrast their situation with that of their fellow creatures south of that natural division of the American Continent. Although South America is centuries older in what is called civilization than North America, yet the north is two centuries older in the enjoyment of the Rights of Man than the south. From the days of the blood-glutted Pizarro, to this time, South Americans have been the most degraded vassals, to the most tyrannical monarchy, that ever wielded the sceptre of despotic power, and the most subjugated slaves to the most detestable and satanic priesthood, that ever imposed a chain upon the human mind. But from the time that true Eriglishmen, the descendants of true Saxons, landed in the North, they have ever been free; and their progeny may exclaim with the first of apostles, and one of the first of men " We were born free." While the Christian world may well exclaim — " The Sun of Righteousness arose in the East,'^^ and is diffusing his redeeming rays over the earth, an emancipated world will hereafter admit that — The Sun of Freedom arose in the West : and that in freedom, there is also a redeeming spirit which will ere long wrest from the hands of tyrants the rod of abused power — convert the chains they have forged for their subjects into ropes of sand, and make their thrones vanish beneath them like the " baseless fabrick of a vision,^^

The " Thirteen Colonies of North America^'' may at this time be called ihegerme of twenty- four Independent States, confederated together by a voluntary ligament that unites them to the American Republic. These ancient colonies, if the expression is admissible, may be said to be " selfcreated." — They neither originated from royal favour, nor were fostered by princely munificence. They were not acquired by the resistless arm of a potent monarch, but by the purchases of emigrant pilgrims from the oppressed countries of the old world, or by the voluntary conveyances of the native, and sole proprietors of the soil. It is inconsistent with the limits of these introductory remarks to the following "Sketches" to discuss the question whether the benefits which Europeans have gained, and the original rights which the aborigines have irretrievably lost, by the discovery of America, can be justified by the code usually called " The Laxo of Nations.'^'' Having had occasion to allude very briefly to this subject in two previous publications,* I hope to be excused for referring the reader to the hasty remarks made in these volumes.

The British monarch and the British nation, as well by intuitive, as by logical deductions, knew well that national wealth was national power, and that both essentially conduced to national glory. They therefore were assiduously engaged in draining from the East and the West, Indies, their immense wealth into their own coffers. They thought little of infant colonies, in an hitherto unexplored region, over a vast expanse of ocean. But France, their natural enemy, were either in actual possession, or had uncontrolled sway, over the whole western and northern boundaries of " His Britannic JMajesty^s Colonies in North America''^ from the mouth of the Mississippi, to the mouth of the St. Lawrence, two of the most important streams on earth. That aspiring monarchy cast an eye of cupidity upon these growing colonies which had, almost unobserved by East-

* " President's Tour," 3d ed, p. 268, 269. " Memoirs of Jackson," 5thed. p. 48,49.

yrn potentates, grown up to considerable importance. The British monarchy then began to think that their trans-atlantic possessions were worth defending. The king began to profess the most fatherly solicitude for his American subjects ; and his ministry most earnestly called upon them to defend themselves, and most graciously condescended to furnish a few British regulars, and a full quota of British officers to command all the American troops.

A sort of predatory warfare was carried on between the christian English and French, and the heathen Indians, who espoused the cause of that great father, over the great water, who offered the strongest allurements, and gave thena the most encouragement for gratifying their insatiable thirst for blood, carnage and plunder.

General Braddock was despatched to America, with a small body of troops, and wa-s joined by that prodigy of a man, designed to begin his splendid military career in aiding the British monarch to secure the colonies from French rapacity, and afterwards to lead his countrymen in wresting them from British tyranny— GEORGE WASHING- TON. Gen. Braddock, as commander in chief, and Col. Washington, the next in command, advanced upon the savage foe. The commander, claiming that importance which a man versed in the science of war — familiar with military tactics, and determined to slay savages secundem artem, lost his own life, and much of his force, by rashness and ignorance of savage warfare. The cool courage and consummate judgment of Washington saved the remnant of an army, the whole of which had been exposed to destruction by his superior in command. The American, or what was then called the provincial troops, were almost invariably successful when led by their own commanders.*

* Vide English and Americaa histories of the " French War.""

In May 1756, war was formally declared by Britain against France ; and in June fol lowing, by France against Britain. Another host of British officers arrived from Europe, amongst whom were Lord Loudon^ Gen. jibercrombie, Gen. Webb, Gen. Hopson, &;c. &c. One after the other made his entry and his exit, like actors at a theatre, performing sometimes a comic, sometimes a tragic, and more frequently a tragi-comic part ; and then retiring behind the scenes, followed by the hisses of some, the pity of others, and the contempt of all. At the close of the year 1758, by the tardiness, cowardice or ignorance of British generals, the British colonies in America were all but an appendage to the French monarchy. Americans, although loyal in the first degree to his Britannic Majesty, formed the most contemptible opinion of his ministry and his generals. Even a loyal British historian and biographer, speaking of the campain of 1758, says, " That it ended to the eternal disgrace of those who then commanded the armies, and directed the councils of Great-Britain.''^

In 1759 the Genius of war and carnage seemed to have crossed the Atlantic, and to have commenced his terrific reign in North America. But that merciful Being, under whose protecting arm the infant colonies were planted, still sustained them — " Qui transtulit sustinet.?'! A great and powerful friend of America, as yet but little known, advanced forward in all the majesty of innate greatness. A lowering and portentous cloud hung over his king, his country, and her colonies. " He stood alone — modern degeneracy had not reached him — With one hand he smote tht house of Bourbon, and wielded in the other the democracy of England.^'' The classical reader will immediately call to

f This IB the motto of the Arms of Connecticut, mind the first of orators, the greatest of statesmen, and the noblest of men, William Pitt, a " name which strikes all human titles dead ;" and which needed not the ennobling title of " Earl of Chatham" to add to his native greatness. He was the master spirit, under Providence, who directed the storm that was raging in two hemispheres. Profoundly versed in the science of human nature, he selected his officers for the reason, that they would confer more honour upon the station they filled, than they could derive from it. Gen. Amherst and Gen. Wolfe, were made commanders in America. The cool and judicious course pursued by the first,* reminds the historian of the Roman Fabius, and the fire and energy of the last, o(Scipio. This wonderful man, William Pitt, who dared, in youth, to repel manfully an attack from the imperious Walpole, dared also, although but a commoner, to expose the effeminacy of a degenerated English nobility. He cared little for the gaudy and evanescent splendour of royalty, but placed his reliance upon the bone and muscle of his country — the YEOMANRY. His vicws, like the rapidity of the passage of light, were directed to America. His prescience assured him that Anglo-Americans, who had encountered the dangers of the ocean — the appalling horrors of savage warfare — the dismaying prospects of famine, and all the calamities which ''^ fiesh is heir to,''^ were the men upon whom his king must place his reliance, to defend his American possessions. He addressed the governours of the several colonies. Although distinct in regard to interest, and different in form of government, he pathetically and energetically appealed to the interest, the pride, the patriotism, the loyalty, and, what was paramount, the religion, of all. His spirit operated upon the despairing Americans, like a shock of electricity upon a morbid system, — it infused life and vigour.

A single paragraph will suffice for the remaining part of this introduction, so far as it relates to the war of 1755. The Americans, aided by a tew of their English brethren, went on conquering and to conquer, until the tzoo Canadas — the two Floridas^ and half of the Mississippi, were added de facto to the British crown, but dejure to the Americans, by the Peace of Paris in 1763.

The nation now looked upon their immense territory in North America as indefeasibly its own, and rested contented in regard to it. Its views were withdrawn from the West, and directed to the East. With that avarice and cupidity which reminds the biblical scKolar of the daughters of the horse leach, " crying Give, give,'''' its views were extended to India. While they were conquering regions which before were conquered by effeminacy, wealth, and luxury, the Americans, without aspiring to conquest or dominion, were unambitiously engaged in the innocent and laudable pursuit of drawing wealth from their own resources, and drawing the wealth of other regions into the bosom of their country.

The " mother country," as Britain was then called, with a rapacity unparralleled in the history of plunder, carnage and bloodshed, was ravishing from the unoffending natives of Asia, the fairest and richest portion of that continent, which may be called the parent of the world. Neither the Law that came by Moses, nor the Grace promulgated by the Gospel, restrained Englishmen from inundating the country in blood, in order to wrest from it its treasures.*

* The lang'uage of two British poets,

" That thieves at home must hang ; but he that puts

Neither the deleterious effects of the chmate, nor agony in the black hole of Calcutta, could restrain these relentless marauders, from accomplishing their diabolical work. As soon may we expect that the grave will say "it is enough," as to see a nation of misers satisfied with gold. But Col. Clive was immortalized, and the British treasury was enriched, and that's enough ! !

But notwithstanding the immense acquisition of wealth from the East, Great-Britain was in the depth of national bankruptc}^, as she fancied she was at the height of national glory. To keep up her sinking credit, and to enable her to prosecute her objects of unhallowed ambition, she resolved to replenish her cotfers by draining from her American subjects their hard earned gains.

The British parliament little knew what "stern stuff" it had to deal with upon the west side of the Atlantic. Englishmen, however, might have learned, in the war of 1755, that their American brethren had bone and muscle sufficient to conquer the best French generals, and their best troops ; Indian sachems and their best warriors. The statesmen of Old England supposed that Americans would not have the temerity to resist the mandates of their European mother. They supposed that they felt grateful for the protection extended to them, not remembering that the colonists had protected themselves by their own men and their own money ; and that the wealth acquired by Britain, by monopolizing their trade, very far overbalanced the money expended in aiding them. But that imperious monarchy was determined to show their power over the colonies, whether it acquired wealth by it or not.

" Into his overgorg'd and bloated purse

*' The wealth- oi Indian provinces, escapes !"

" One murder makes a villain — millions a hero !" 4

That wonderful statesman, William Pitt,* >\a3 woi« down by incessant service in the cause of his king and country. But although his majestic frame was tottering to its fail, his mind retained its native inspiration —

" His soul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd, "Let in new light thro' chinks which time had made."

His knowledge of Americans made him respect them, not

* The following extract from the Speech of William Pitt, (whose name was lowered for that of " Earl of Chatham'''') ought to be committed to memory by every American youth, and admired by every American Scholar, Statesman and Patriot. It was pronounced the January before the battle of Bunker Hill, in the British parliament :

" My Lords, " 1 rise with astonishment to see these papers brought to your table at so late a period of this business ; papers, to tell us what ?, Why. what all the world knew before ; that the Americans, irritated by repeated injuries and stripped of their inborn rights and dearest privileges, have resisted, and entered into associations for the preservation of their common liberties.

Had the early situation of the people of Boston been attended to, things would not have come to this. But the infant complaints of Boston were literally treated like the capricious squalls of a child, who, it was said, did not know whether it was aggrieved or not. But full well 1 knew, at that time, that this child, if not redressed, would soon assume the courage and voice of a man. Full well I knew, that the sons of ancestors, born under the same free constitution, and once breathing the same liberal air as Englishmen, would resist upon the same principles, and on the same occasions.

What has government done? They have sent an armed foi'ce, consisting of seventeen thousand men, to dragoon the Bostonians into what is called their duty ; and so far from once turning their eyes to the policy and destructive consequence of this scheme, are constantly sending out more troops. And we are told, in the language of menace, that if seventeen thousand men won't do, fifty thousand shall. It is true, my lords, with this force they may ravage the country ; waste and destroy as they march ; but, in the progress of fifteen hundred miles, can they occupy the places they have passed ? Will not a counis subjugated vassals, but as descendants of English freemen. He warned king, lords, and commons to beware how they moved in regard to America. His solemn monitions were like oracles, and his warning voice like a voice

try, which can produce three millions of people, wronged and insulted as they are, start up like hydras in every corner, and gather fresh strength from every opposition ? Nay, what dependence can you have upon the soldiery, the unhappy engines of your wrath? They are Englishmen, who must feel for the privileges of Englishmen. Do you think that these men can turn their arms against their brethren ? Surely no. A victory must be to them a defeat ; and carnage, a sacrifice. But it is not merely three millions of people, the produce of America, we have to contend with in this unnatural struggle ; many more are on their side, dispersed over the face of this wide empire. Every whig in this country and in Ireland is with thein.

Who, then, let me demand, has given, and continues to give, this strange and unconstitutional advice ? I do not mean to level at one man, or any particular set of men ; but thus much I will venture to declare, that, if his Majesty continues to hear such counsellors, he will not only be badly advised, but undone. He may continue indeed to wear his crown ; but it will not be worth his wearing. Robbed of so principal a jewel as America, it will lose its lustre, and no longer beam that effulgence which should irradiate the brow of majesty.

In this alarming crisis, I come with this paper in my hand to offer you the best of my experience and advice ; which is, that a humble petition be presented to his Majesty, beseeching him, that in order to open the way towards a happy setttement of the dangerous troubles ia America, it may gracjpusly please him, that immediate orders bo given to general Gage for removing his majesty's forces from the town of Boston. And this, my lords, upon the most mature aud deliberate grounds, is the best advice I can give you, at this juncture Such conduct will convince America that you mean to try her cause in the spirit oi freedom and inquiry, and not in letters of Hood. There is no time to be lost. Every hour is big with danger. Perhaps, while I am now speakjng, the decisive blow is struck, which ms^y involve millions iu the consequence. And believe me, the very fi rst drop of Mood which is shed, will cause a wound which may never be healed. "

from the tomb.* The then young and manly Charle? Jam^s Fox, the eloquent Burke, and the unyielding Barre, formed a trio of greatness ia favour of America. But that wrong-headed minister, Lord North, was incorrigible. He had an accommodating majority in parliament which would

* It was not far from this period, that Doct. Samuel Johnson wrote his celebrated pamphlet, " Taxation no Tyranny, '^'^ in which he sneered at American Rebels ; and, under the influence of a Pension, even frowned at the immortal Pitt. He lived just long enough to see George III. ratify the Peace of 1783, and surrender the " American Jewel." "Lord Littleton the Younger" not inaptly styled '■'■the paragon of virtue and of vice^"" thus expresses himself upon the subject of American Affairs •. How such a lord as Littleton, could amalgamate with such a lord as J^orth, is one of the mysteries in " state affairs" "• not to be told." —

" In the great subject of this daj''s politics, which seems to engulph every other, 1 am with them. I shall never cease to contend for the universality and unity of the British empire over all its territories and dependencies, in every part of the globe. I have not a doubt of the legislative supremacy of parliament over every part of the British dominions in America, the East and West Indies, in Africa, and over Ireland itself.

I cannot separate the ideas of legislation and taxadon ; they seem to be mere than twins ; they were not only born but must co-exist and die together. The question of right is heard of no more ; it is now become a question of power ; and it appears to me that the sword will detei-mine the contest. The colonies pretend to be subject to the king alone ; they deny subordination to the state, and, upon this principle, have not only declared against the authority of parliament, but erecteo a government of their own, independent of British legislation. To sup)>ort a disobedience to rights which they once acknowledged, they have already formed associations, armed and arrayed themselves, and are preparing to bnng the question to the issue of battle. This being the! case, it becomes highly necessary for us to arm also; we must prepare to quencli the evil in its infancy, and to extinguish a flame which the natui a! enemies of England will not fail to feed with unremitting; fuel, in order to consume our commerce, and tarnish our glory. If w'ise measures are taken, this business will be soon complefollow, wherever he lead. Their measures would remind one of the familiar adage —

" Quem Deus, perdere vult, prius'dementat." The parliament imposed a tax upon tea, so that the very matrons of America, while sipping this cheering beverage, should remember their Enghsh mother. Then followed the stamp-act, so that every transaction, evidenced by writing, should carry with it evidence of British supremacy. Then followed the tax upon painters^ colours, so that every

ted, to the honour of the mother country, and the welfare of the colonies ; who, in spite of all the assistance given them b}' the House of Bourbon, must, unless our government acts like an ideot, be forced to submission.

For my own part, I have not tha]t high opinion of their Roman spirit, as to suppose that it will influence them contendedly to submit to all the horrors of war, to resign every comfort in which they have been bred, to relinguish every hope with which they have been flattered, and retire to the howling wilderness for an habitation : and all for a dream of liberty, which, were they to possess to-morrow, would not give them a privilege superior to those which they lately enjoyed ; and might, I fear, deprive them of many which they experienced beneath the clement legislation of the British government."

CowPER, a legitimate British bard, wh6 lived during the " French War" in America, and who was at the height of poetical fame at the close of the " War of the American Revolution," thus alludes to the death of ih& first Pitt, (Earl of Chatham) and Gen. Wolfe.— " Farewell those hoaours, and farewell, with them, " The hope of such hereafter ! They have fallen, " Each in his field of glory ; one in arms, '* And one in council- — Wolfe upon the lap " Of smiling victory, that moment won, " And Chatham, heartsick of his country's shame ! !"

Speaking of the Independence of America, he says — " True we have lost an empire — let it pass — " That pick'd the jewel oat of England's crown."— ornament upon American buildings should remind the possessor of British power.

If the PaHiament of Britian could impose taxes upon the colonies without their consent, the King of Britain, the head of the " Holy Catholic Church," could send them Arch-hishops^ Bishops, Priests, Deacons, Curates, &lc. &;c. and the whole systematic ramification of a " Church Establishment." Tythes might be imposed to support the gorgeous pageantry of mechanical Christianity, and the Puritans might have been persecuted as schismatics, and their houses of worship denounced as conventicles.

The stern unyielding men who composed the population of the " Thirteen Colonies" were not of that lowborn, stubborn race of beings who resist the exercise of all necessary as well as arrogated power, nor were they so destitute of political science as to deny the right of legitimate rulers to impose salutary restraints, and necessary contributions. No ! amongst them were statesmen who would have graced the parliament of Britain, either amongst its Lords or Commons — statesmen who had learned the necessity of obedience, before they aspired to the arduous duty of commanding. The Adamses, John Hancock, James Otis, the Livingstons, Benjamin Franklin, the Clintons, Patrick Henry, the Randolphs, Henry Laurens, the Leks, Pinckneys, and an expanded constellation of exalted patriots like them, knew well how to manifest a cordial allegiance to a monarch, when in the exercise of legitimate and constitutional authority. Thanks to the stubborn resistance against arbitrary prerogatives and tyrannical power, these peerless and unsurpassed patriots and statesmen knew equally well how to expose the encroachments of tyrants, and to rouse up freemen to resist them. It would require a "Muse ofiire, to ascend the highest heaven of invention" to pen a suitable eulogy upon these Sampsons of the western wofld. Thej taught the people that they possessed the right of self-government : and spurned a doctrine since taught by American Aristocrats " that the people are their own worst enemies.'" Whatever were the nature of the different governments — whether exercised by royal Charters — proprietary governments, or their own municipal regulations, every govern ment in the colonies, emphatically exercised what jurists call the Jura summa imperii — the right of supreme power. Their legislative assemblies enacted laws — their judicial forums administered civil and criminal justice. They imposed taxes upon the people, and adopted the incontrovertible axiom — " That representation and Taxation should he correspondent,'''' They viewed the constitution of Britain, and saw an hereditary monarch — an hereditary senate ; and commons, which represented rotten burroughs, rather than a free people.

Notwithstanding the imperious court of Britain seemed to have fixed its course in regard to the colonies, yet their vacillating policy excited the contempt, as well as the indignation of American Statesmen. They imposed taxes, and seeing them resisted, omitted to enforce the collection. They passed acts and repealed them; but finally resolved " that the parliament had power to make lazvs to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever,'''' This was a new species of legislation, — it was a preamble without an act, an attempt to atone for an offence, and at the same time claiming the power to repeat it. Fox, Burke and Barre, in the House of Commons, poured forth peals of eloquence and satire, which the imperious Mansfield and North, and the minister's dupes, could meet drily by dumb legislation, and the physical power of voting. Said Fox to the minister, " In your infatuated conauct, resolutions and concession, evtr misplaced, have equally operated to the disgrace and ruin of the nation."