a favorable wind and tide, and sailed into the port of Charleston, beyond the reach of his guns. His post being thus rendered less important, he hastened with a part of his garrison into the city to defend the lines.

Di

On this occasion, in a most signal manner, he manifested that determined spirit and heroic selfdevotion, which was his peculiar characteristic. After a long and obstinate defence, the garrison was reduced almost to extremity. minished in numbers; exhausted by fatigue and famine; in an unwalled town merely defended by field fortifications; with a superior beseiging army, pressing them on every side, and preparing for an assault, escape became hopeless, and resistance seemed unavailing.

In this juncture, a council of war was called, to deliberate on the propriety of surrendering the city. Pinckney being asked for hisopinion, calmly said, “I will not say if the enemy attempt to carry our lines by storm, that we shall be able to repel them; but I am convinced that we shall so cripple their army, that though we may not live to enjoy the benefits of our resistance, yet to the United States they will prove incalculably great. Considerations of self are out of the question. They cannot influence any member of this council. My voice is for rejecting all terms of capitulation, and continuing hostilities to the last extremity." This proposition, although seconded by the gallant Laurens, was not adopted; and Charleston was surrendered to the British. After the capitulation, Pinckney was detained as a prisoner, until all opportunity of gaining fresh reputation in the field had passed.

In his captivity, however, he

gave additional evidence of his incorruptible patriotism. In order to intimidate others, Pinckney was selected as an object of oppression. Peculiar severities were resorted to. He was confined more rigorously than others, and every exertion of power was employed to crush his lofty spirit. He was even denied the melancholy consolation of attending the remains of an only son to the tomb.

The oppressions, however, of his country's foes, were but little calculated to shake his firmness. Tyranny could not bend nor break his spirit; nor could the offers, which were subsequently made him, to induce him to aid in an effort to reconcile the colonies to the mother country, shake the steadiness of his principles. To the British officer, who approached him for the purpose of engaging him to lend his influence to effect that object, he replied in such a manner; that, as that gentleman afterwards confessed, he felt humiliated by the task he had undertaken.

After the return of peace, he was elected from his native state, as a representative to the convention, which formed the federal constitution; and was very instrumental in procuring the assent of South Carolina to the system of government, which was there agreed upon as the bond of union.

When the father of his country was called to fill the presidential chair, he evinced the estimation in which he held general Pinckney, by offering to him a seat on the bench of the supreme court of the United States. This he declined.

Upon the resignation of general Knox, as secretary of war, in 1795, the vacant place was tendered to Pinckney; and again, upon the

dismissal of Edmund Randolph, the same year, Pinckney was requested to become secretary of state. From private considerations, these offers were declined; but the subject of this notice expressed a willingness to perform any public duty, to which such considerations ought to yield. This occasion soon arrived. In 1796, our relations with France being still unsettled, Mr. Pinckney was appointed, by general Washington, to succeed Mr. Monroe, as minister to France.

The French directory, thinking to treat us still as a dependent nation, refused to receive Mr. Pinckney; until the grievances, demanded of the American government by the French republic were redressed.

At the same time, Mr. Pinckney was informed, that there was a law forbidding foreigners to remain in Paris, without permission from the directory, and that he would probably receive a notice on that subject from the minister of police. He determined, however, not to be placed upon that footing; but, being accredited as the minister of an independent power, and relying upon the protection of the law of nations, remained at his post until the middle of February, 1797, in the momentary expectation of receiving instructions.

After the great and unexpected success of Napoleon, in Italy, was heard at Paris, the directory feeling emboldened by the news, sent, the next day, an official notice to our -ambassador, to quit the French territories.

With this order Mr. Pinckney complied, and retired to Amsterdam; and all diplomatic intercourse between the two countries was suspended. Mr. Adams, however, was desirous to remove the

misunderstanding existing between the two countries, and, as a fresh evidence of the amicable feeling of the American government, John Marshall and Elbridge Gerry were united with Mr. Pinckney, as commissioners, for the purpose of terminating all differences between the United States and France. They arrived at Paris in October, 1797, and immediately requested an interview with the minister of foreign affairs. They were informed, that, for the present, they could not have a public audience with the directory, but cards of hospitality were sent to them.

Attempts were then made to engage them in a negotiation with informal agents of the French government; and it was intimated to them, that a subsidy, in the shape of a loan, would be expected by the government from the United States, as an equivalent for the aid which was demanded from the American government under the treaty.

To this humiliating proposition, Pinckney indignantly made the celebrated reply, which has been adopted by the American people, as a national sentiment, " Millions for defence, not a cent for tribute."

Finally, the French government commenced a negotiation with the commissioners; but finding the commissioners well acquainted with the rights of the United States, and resolved to maintain them, its minister (Mr. Talleyrand) intimated a desire to continue a negotiation with Mr. Gerry alone, as the one "whose opinions were presumed to be more impartial, and promised more of that reciprocal confidence which was deemed indispensable." A dignified and suitable re

ply was made to this extraordinary intimation, by the commissioners, and the negotiations were abruptly closed. Passports were shortly after sent to Messrs. Pinckney and Marshall, and they returned to the United States.

Before Mr. Pinckney arrived, the relations between the United States and France, rendered it necessary to make preparations for the defence of the country; and an army being authorised, Washington was appointed commander-in-chief, with power to nominate the other officers.

Pinckney was, on this occasion, nominated a major-general; but with inferior rank to Hamilton, who had been his junior in the revolutionary army.

This preference, however, only gave him an opportunity to manifest the magnanimity of his temper. Upon being urged, by a man of influence, to refuse the appointment, and thus resent the injustice of the preference, as well as the injury done to his military character he replied, "I am confident, that general Washington had sufficient reasons for this preference. Let us first dispose of our enemies, we shall then have leisure to settle the question of rank."

This war being soon brought to a satisfactory conclusion, general Pinckney retired to the quiet of private life. In 1800, he was held up, with Mr. Adams, to the suffrages of the people, as vice-president; and it was well understood, that had he consented to unite his name with Mr. Jefferson, he might have obtained the unanimous vote of South Carolina, as vice-president. To this, however, he would not consent. His political principles were decidedly federal, and to

relinquish them with his opinions of their correctness, would have been repugnant to the frankness of his nature. The scheme of union was accordingly dropped, and Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Burr were accordingly elected president and vice president of the United States.

In the repose and quiet of private life, general Pinckney continued from the time of his retirement, until his death.

He did not, however, cease his efforts to promote the happiness and prosperity of the community in which he lived. Of all societies instituted for benevolent purposes, he was the zealous supporter. An advocate of universal toleration, he was also a sincere christian, and acted as the president of the Charleston bible society, from the time of its institution, until his decease.

Feeling the advantages of education himself, he was indefatigable in his exertions to promote the cause of science and learning.

The South Carolina college, at Columbia, owes its erection, in a measure, to his influence and efforts in the legislature. In his intercourse with society, there was a frankness in his manner, that at once attracted confidence.

He neither spoke to deceive, nor flattered to betray. The convictions of his mind were uttered unostentatiously, and with such propriety and delicacy, that although they might fail to convince, they never gave offence. His surviving brethren of the revolution, testified the estimation in which they held his chivalric character, by electing him the president of the Cincinnati society of the United States; and the following sketch drawn of him,

by a committee of his fellow citizens, shows, that he was best beloved where he was best known:

"Endowed by nature with a social judgment, an extensive capacity, and a vigorous mind, he prepared himself for the public and private duties of life, by a careful, enlarged, and generous education. He was thus, by nature and art, fitted for various functions and of fices at the bar, in the army, in the senate, and in diplomacy, he was always found adequate to the trust confided to him. As a law yer, he was learned, acute, and diligent, zealous, though candid, and entirely free from artifice. He always spoke with judgment and logic, often forcibly and eloquently. In the army, he carried a clear carriage, a masculine understanding, and a vehement spirit. By his intelligence, firmness, and practical ability in the state legislature, and in the conventions for forming constitutions, he greatly contributed to the enaction of wise laws, and of the admirable instruments, which, in America, give law to the laws. As an ambassador, he united the highest sense of national honor, with the greatest prudence; and, if he did not succeed in his negotiations in obtaining justice for his country, he kept alive that spirit which enabled her to enforce it. In politics, he was at the head of a party, without being a party man, uniting with his friends from an agreement in measures, but keeping himself from all selfish and vindietive passions.

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Religious and moral principles presided over all his faculties and pursuits, and gave a dignity, a constancy, and a sincerity to his character. In private life, he had the virtues, without the vices, of pro

sperity. He was munificent without ostentation, liberal without prodigality, and dignified without pride. The openness, and even freedom of his manners, inspired confidence and affection; and never diminished respect. His mind appears, through life, to have been happily balanced by enterprise and penitence, by vigor, steadiness, by the love of honor, and the most inflexible honesty. He, therefore,

passed prosperously through various trying and troubled scenes, without shaking the confidence of his friends, or losing the kindness of his fellow citizens. An ardent youth and a vigorous manhood, were succeeded by a secure and cheerful old age, and the reverence and love of the whole city attended him to the tomb."

ALEXANDER OF RUSSIA,

November 19, 1825.

At Taganrok, aged 48, his imperial majesty, Alexander, autocrat of all the Russias.

His imperial majesty was the eldest son of Paul I. by his second wife, Sophia-Dorothea-AugustaMaria-Fodorowna of Wurtemberg Studgard. He was born December 22, 1777, and the care of his education was committed to M. de la Harpe, a Swiss colonel, who neglected nothing to fit his pupil for the high station he was destined to fill.

As soon as Alexander could walk, an Englishman, Mr. Parland, was appointed his diadka, a term which may be translated runafter, but which has by some been interpreted by the expression mannurse. This gentleman is now living at Petersburg, after having experienced the imperial bounty in many ways; and is placed, not on

ly in comfortable, but affluent circumstances. At the age of fifteen Alexander was a very imposing youth, and had become a universal favorite among all classes of society. He was early placed under the guardianship of count Soltikoff, an enlightened man, who was well fitted for the duties of that high and important station; and the future sovereign, no doubt, benefitted much by his sage counsels and his exemplary conduct. That the emperor was highly pleased with his guardian, was proved by the veneration in which he held the count during life, and by his condescension in following his corpse to the grave in the year 1816, on foot, and bare-headed, along with the other chief mourners.

These facts, as well as many others, which need not be mentioned, show that gratitude was no stranger to the breast of the autocrat of all the Russias. Under able tutors, appointed with the consent of count Soltikoff, the then grand duke was taught Russian, French, German, Italian, Latin, Greek, and also a little English; besides the principles of the Greek religion, geography, history, political economy, military tactics, the duties of a sovereign, and some of the sciences. He was reared at the Russian court, under great care of, and subordinate to, his talented grandmother, Catharine II. ; under much filial respect for his tender and careful mother; and in absolute dread of his father, the late emperor Paul.

In the days of youthful and impetuous passion, in the midst of a voluptuous court, surrounded by almost all the beauty and fashion of Russia, unawed by examples of chastity and private virtue in the

highest individuals of the realm, seduced by the temptations and facilities of gratification, it is not to be wondered that the young and blooming Alexander should have had numerous love intrigues at an early period of his life. On the contrary, it may seem surprising, that the young prince, placed in the midst of so much evil example, so much depravity, and so great a deficiency of moral principle, should have wandered so little as he did from the path of virtue.

The above circumstances being taken into view, it might naturally enough be supposed that an early marriage was recommended; and accordingly he was married when 16 years of age, October 9th, 1793, to the princes Louisa of Baden Durlach, two years younger than himself, and still the reigning empress. The princess, on becoming of the Greek religion, assumed the name of Elizabeth Alexiena. The marriage was a political scheme of Catherine II., and though the young bride was handsome, beautiful, and interesting, there was a coolness in her manner that ill accorded with the warmth of Alexander's passion, and which rendered her not exactly the object of his choice. By her majesty the autocrat had two children, both of whom died in infancy. Since their death, to the regret of the imperial couple, and of the Russian nation, "God has given" no additional offspring.

Whether Alexander was aware of the intended murder of his father, or whether he knew of the time fixed for its perpetration, admits of discussion; but it is certain that at an early hour of the morning of the 12th of March, his friends and his counsellors rallied