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our navigating, our manufacturing strength. Upon the knowledge of these, actual and prospective, he took his measures; and although they were not always wisely taken, since true liberality in the intercourse of nations is, in the end, apt to prove true wisdom: still, he took them in a spirit that was British.

He made it his boast, that British policy, British interests, the hope of British sway, were ever uppermost in his aspirations and schemes. To secure these, he called, as he said, the new states of America into existence. Truly he did, so far as the share that England had in that great work was concerned; and it goes to make up the richest portion of his fame; as the earlier forecast of Henry Clay, acting upon an expanded love of human liberty, earns for him laurels, still richer, in the same field. If this be not the award of justice to Mr. Clay, the part which the United States first took in that great work, must for ever pass for nothing in our eyes. If it be not the award of justice, the glorious recollection that the United States recognised them in 1822, must be struck from history, because England recognised them in 1825. Mr. Canning's settled devotion to the principles of monarchy, his constant, and, doubtless his honest conviction, of its intrinsic superiority over all other forms for the government of man, followed him into this hemisphere. official conferences with the French ambassador at London, record his preference of this form for the new states: agreeing here with the equally avowed predilections of France. Nor is it beneved that, to the day of his death, he abated any thing of this preference, though he had too much of practical wis

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dom to pursue its establishment in the new states.

With all our admiration of the mental powers of Mr. Canning, whether as inherited from nature, or carried to the highest pitch by the discipline of business and study; whether we marked their efforts when brought to the most momen. tous trials, or only gazed at them when they dazzled in lighter ones; truth compels us to state, that he was never the political friend of this country.

It is remarkable, that long as he was in office, there is no one occasion upon which he lent his sanction to any treaty or convention with the United States. That of 1815, one of fair reciprocity as far as it goes, both as to commerce and navigation, was the work of Lord Londonderry, on the side of Britain. Its renewal in 1818, was under the same auspices. From Mr. Canning literally nothing was obtained.

It was a remarkable distinction in the life of Mr. Canning, that he climbed to the highest station that a subject can occupy, by the unaided force of his intellectual supremacy. He was, indeed, one of

Fortune's jewels, moulded bright, Brought forth with their own fire and light;

but he fought his way to command under great disadvantages of ob. scure birth and limited means. By the dint of genius and cultivation, he distinguished his boyhood, and won the patronage of the haughty dictator of English policy ;-by the powers of his eloquence, he maintained for thirty-five years a complete ascendency over the most fastidious popular assembly of the world;-by a steady perseverance in the attempt to make the govern

inent keep pace with the knowledge of the people, he destroyed the tendency of the English cabinet to repose upon prescription and influence-by a courageous assertion of his own claims to honourable distinction, he consolidated an administration of unequalled firmness; -and, by a thorough knowledge of the tendencies of the age, he main. tained himself in power against the most violent and the most subtle attacks of the aristocracy.

Mr. Canning was the last, as he was the youngest, of those extraordinary men who played a leading part in that great drama of British politics, which formed one of the loftiest episodes of the fearful tragedy of the French revolution. This circumstance threw around

his political character a species of authority, which no comparatively modern man could have obtained. He came into public life at the early age of 22. He passed through the fever and turmoil of the days of Jacobinism, the most accomplished

skirmisher of Mr. Pitt's intellectual

forces. Whilst his master essayed the graver and loftier style of oratory, Mr. Canning wielded

"The light artillery of the lower sky."

He brought his literature to the aid of his politics, and accomplished as much by his pen as by his eloquence.

The eloquence of Mr. Canning was unquestionably of a more splendid and polished character than any efforts of his later contemporaries. He possessed in an eminent degree that charm of intellect, which, of all the gifts to man, is the most powerful for good or for evil-the charm of holding a mixed and di. vided assembly completely absorb.

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JOHN EAGER HOWARD was born on the 4th of June, 1752, in BaltiHis grandfather, Joshua Howard, more county, state of Maryland. an Englishman by birth, having, while yet very young, left his father's house, in the vicinity of Manchester, to join the army of the duke of York, during Monmouth's insurrection, was afterwards afraid to encounter his parent's displea. sure, and came to seck his fortune in America, in the year 168586. He obtained

a grant of the land in Baltimore county, on which Col. Howard was born, and

which is still in the family, and married Miss Joanna O'Carrol, whose father had lately emigrated from Ireland. Cornelius, one of his sons by this lady, and father of John Eager Howard, married Miss Ruth Eager, the grand daugh. ter of George Eager, whose estate adjoined, and now makes a considerable part of the city of Baltimore. The Eagers came from England, probably soon after the charter of lord Baltimore; but the records af ford little information prior to 1668, when the estate near Baltimore was purchased.

John Eager Howard, not edu. cated for any particular profession, was determined to that of arms by the circumstances of his country

One of the first measures of defence adopted by the colonies, against the mother country, was the assemblage of bodies of the militia, termed flying camps. One of these was formed in Maryland in 1776, and Mr. Howard was appointed to a captaincy in the regiment of Col. J. Carvil Hall. His commission, signed by Matthew Tilghman, the president of the convention of Maryland, is dated the 25th of June, 1776, a few days after he had completed his twenty. fourth year. This corps was dismissed, however, in the December of the same year, congress having required of each of the states to furnish a certain portion of regular troops, as a more effective system of defence. On the organization of the seven regiments which were to be furnished by Maryland, Captain Howard, who had been retained by the wish of the commissioners empowered to appoint of ficers, was promoted to a majority in one of them, the 4th, under his former commander, Col. Hall. His commission is dated 10th of April, 1777. On the 1st of June, 1779, he was appointed lieutenant colonel of the fifth, and in the following spring he was transferred to the sixth; and finally, after the battle of Hobkick's Hill, he succeeded to the command of the second, in consequence of the death of Lieut. Col. Ford, who never recovered from a wound received in that battle.

To the services of Col. Howard, during the war, his contemporaries bear honourable testimony. In the chivalrous and hazardous operations of Greene in the south, he was one of his most efficient and

conspicuous coadjutors. "At the battle of Cowpens," says Lee, "he seized the critical mo

ment, and turned the fortune of the day. He was alike conspicuous, though not alike successful, at Guilford and the Eutaws; and at all times, and on all occasions, eminently useful." Besides the battles just mentioned, he was in the engagements of White Plains, of Germantown, of Monmouth, Camden, and Hobkick's Hill. Having been trained to the infantry service, he was always employed in that line, and was distinguished for pushing into close battle, with fixed bayonet; an honourable evidence of his intrepidity, as it is well known how seldom bayonets are actually crossed in battle, even with the most veteran troops. It was at Cowpens that this mode of fighting was resorted to for the first time in the war; and the Maryland line was so frequently afterwards put to this service, as almost to annihilate that gallant corps. In this battle, Col. Howard, at one time, had in his hands the swords of seven officers, who had surrendered to him personally. During the engagement, having ordered some movement of one of the flank companies, it was mistaken by the men for an order to retreat. While the line was in the act of falling back, Morgan rode up to him, exclaiming, "that the day was lost." "Look at that line," replied Colonel Howard;

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stirrup, and claiming quarter.O'Hara afterwards addressed to him several letters, thanking him for his life.

Colonel Howard continued in his command till the army was disbanded, when he retired to his pat. rimonial estate near Baltimore. He soon after married Margaret Chew, the daughter of Benjamin Chew, of Philadelphia; a lady whose courteous manners and elegant hospitality, will long be remember. ed by the society of Baltimore. In November, 1788, Col. Howard was chosen the governor of Mary. land, which post he filled for three years; and having, in the autumn of 1796, been elected to the senate of the United States, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resig. nation of Mr. Potts, he was, the same session, chosen for the full term of service, which expired on the 4th of March, 1803.

The fortunate situation of Colonel Howard's estate, in the immediate vicinity of Baltimore, not only placed him above the want which has pursued the old age of too many of our veterans, but was the foundation of subsequent opulence. The inconsiderable town which, at the close of the late war, numbered less than ten thousand souls, has since, under the influence of that liberty which he aided in asserting, expanded to a city of seventy-two thousand, embracing, by degrees, within its growing streets, the vene. rable shades which sheltered the retired soldier. An old age, warm. ed and enlivened by such topics of grateful reflection, is the most enviable of the conditions of human life, as well as an object of the utmost veneration and regard. Towards the soldier of the Cowpens, this regard was felt, not only by

his immediate neighbours, and by his companions in arms, but by the most eminent worthies of his day. The "Father of his country," n more than one letter, expressed to him his confidence and esteem. In one, he regrets Colonel Howard's declining to accept a post, as a loss both to himself and to the public, and requests, in another, the interposition of a gentleman in Philadelphia, to induce the colonel's acceptance. "Had your inclination," says Washington in his letter to Colonel Howard, "and private pursuits, permitted you to take the office that was offered to you, it would have been a very pleasing circumstance to me, and, I am persuaded, as I observed to you on a former occasion, a very accepta ble one to the public. But the reasons which you have assigned for not doing so, carry conviction along with them, and must, however reluctantly, be submitted to.'

At his death, colonel Howard was the highest officer in rank in the continental service, except General Lafayette-Gen. Sumpter, who is still living, having been an officer of militia, and without any continental commission.

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College, Dublin, commenced his preparatory professional studies at the university of Edinburgh, where he graduated in September, 1784, as M. D.

While in that university, he evinced the same untiring industry, and profound genius, which, at a later period of his life, and in another hemisphere, made him preeminent at the bar. The thesis, prepared according to the statutes, at the time of taking his degree, was selected for its merit, and ap. peared, among the best dissertations produced at that university, in the Thesaurus Medicus published at Edinburgh by Smellie, the naturalist. His inclinations, however, obviously tended to forensic pursuits, and so conspicuous was he at this early period as a speaker, that we find him acting as president of no less than five debating societies. One of these societies, termed the speculative, was not confined to topics connected with the study of medicine, but embraced the whole extent of poli tics, metaphysics, political economy, and literature. With the view of completely preparing himself for the medical profession, he also visited the most celebrated schools of the continent, making the tour of Italy and Germany.

After attaining as much reputation as can well fall to the share of a student, he returned to Ireland, with the intention of commencing the practice of his profession. A different destiny, however, awaited him. His brother, Christopher Temple Emmet, a member of the Irish bar, of surpassing talents, was cut off by a premature death, leaving a vacancy, which it was determined that the subject of this memoir should occupy. He ac

cordingly commenced the study of the law almost immediately after completing his medical studies. Two years were spent at London in attending terms in the Temple, and the courts at Westminster, where he often heard Erskine, then in the zenith of his fame.

He then returned to his native land; was admitted to the bar in 1791, and commenced the practice of the law in Dublin.

Shortly after his admission to the bar, he married Miss Jane Patten, the warm hearted and affectionate partner of his future life, and who showed, throughout the long and severe trials to which his political course subjected him, how justly she appreciated the character, and coincided in the views of the patriot of Ireland.

Mr. Emmet very soon rose to distinction at the Irish bar. He rode the circuit with Curran; to whom, in the opinion of many, he was superior in talents, and unquestionably in legal attainments, and general information.

This, however, was not the time for him to realize his anticipations of legal distinction. The condition of Ireland was such as to engross the constant thought of all who regarded her as their country. For ages she had been suf. fering under the most monstrous system ever devised by a bigoted and unjust government to oppress, impoverish, and enslave a conquered people. The resources and industry of Ireland had been regarded by their English neighbours as the legitimate objects of English cupidity, and the policy of the government had been directed, so as easiest to appropriate them to the use of the more favoured subjects of the empire. While

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