THE

GENERAL GEORGE W. JONES.

HE following sketch of General George W. Jones we extract from Lanman's "History of Congress," of 1859: "Jones, George W., born at Vincennes, Indiana, and gradu ated at Transylvania University, Kentucky, in 1825. He was bred to the law, but ill health prevented him from practising. He was Clerk of the United States District Court in Missouri in 1826; served as an aide-de-camp to General Henry Dodge in the Black Hawk war; was chosen Colonel of Mili tia in 1832, subsequently Major-General — also as Judge. In 1835 was elected Delegate to Congress from the Territory of Michigan, and served four years. In 1839 was appointed by President Van Buren Surveyor General of the Northwest was removed in 1841, on account of his politics, but re-appointed by President Polk, and remained in the office until 1849. In 1848 he was elected an United States Senator from Iowa for six years, and re-elected in 1852, and is now Chairman of the Committee on Pensions, and on Enrolled Bills, and a member of the Committee on Territories." General Jones's term of service, as Senator, expired on the 4th of March, 1859.

When his old political and personal friend, President Buchanan, with whom, as Delegate and Senator, he had served for several years in Congress, unknown to him, or to any friend, save the members of his Cabinet, nominated him to the Senate as United States Minister Resident at Bogota, the nomination, at the instance of Senators Harlin and Grimes, of Iowa, political opponents, was unanimously confirmed, without a reference to the Committee on Foreign Relations, as is usual, the rules of the Senate having been unanimously suspended for the purpose.

General Jones, being informed of the high compliment paid him by the Administration and the Senate, immediately declined an acceptance of the same. But on his return home to Dubuque, Iowa, he was induced by his family and friends (his physicians at Washington City and Dubuque concurring therein, as a means of restoring his health,) to signify to the President that he would recall his letter declining the honorable position, if agreeable to that officer.

Mr. Buchanan, believing that the General would regret his refusal to accept the position, purposely refused to make any other appointment, though often and earnestly urged to do so, by applicants for the mission. He directed General Cass, the Secretary of State, to notify General Jones of his re-appointment, requesting him at the same time to return to Washington for his instructions, and to proceed to the Legation at Bogota, which he very promptly did. Sailing from New York on the 7th of May, 1859, and receiving at the time highly complimentary notices from the press, and, as he rode down the bay, a salute from the guns at Fort Lafayette, little did he then think that ere three years should elapse he would spend three long, wearisome months in that Fort, a victim to the perfidy of William H. Seward.

General Jones having successfully arranged the important International question which hurried him to Bogota, under the orders of Secretary Cass, obtained a leave of absence, and returned home in the summer of 1860, where he received at the hands of all parties - the whole community participating therein a magnificent ovation, such as had scarcely ever been tendered to any public servant on returning to his home. Public meetings of the citizens and of the City Council were called by order of the Mayor, then, and still, a leading, wealthy, and influential Republican, to make arrangements for his reception, the Mayor and Council crossing the Mississippi to welcome him on his arrival. On landing on the wharf at his home, he was met and escorted by a committee of reception on the part of the people, when Mr. Bissell, the late Republican Attorney General of Iowa, as orator of the

day, made an eloquent and pathetic reception address. A long procession of military, and citizens on foot, in carriages, and on horseback, escorted the General to his residence in the suburbs, on the Bluff, when he was again the recipient of six or seven other formal addresses by the commanders of volunteer companies and others of the legal profession.

General Jones returned to his mission in South America in the fall of 1860; and, finding the country there involved in civil war, which broke out during his absence, he made the most strenuous efforts, with both parties engaged in it, to procure a reconciliation and cessation of hostilities, as his despatches, on file in the State Department at Washington, fully show. Those despatches are conclusive that he would have succeeded, in all probability, in making peace between the contending parties, but that the Government, or Conservative party, as it was called, could not brook the idea of treating with the rebels, or Liberals, as the other party was designated. The latter party, under General Mosquera, triumphed over the Government, and took possession of the city of Bogota on the 18th of July, 1861.

The correspondence of the Minister Resident Jones with the State Department, under Secretary Cass, first, and Seward, his successor, shows that he made use of great tact and energy, if not ability, in his efforts to procure, by compromise concessions, an amendment of the laws or of the Constitution, to bring about a peace even before the expenditure of any great amount of money or effusion of blood, for which efforts he was highly complimented by all parties at the Court to which he was accredited, as well as by both Administrations of the Government at Washington.

General Jones was recalled by Secretary Seward as early as March, immediately after the induction of that functionary into the Secretaryship. The letter of recall itself, being of the most complimentary character, much surprised the Presi dent of the Republic-Mosquera—when he read it. He remarked, as he did so, that it was strangely contradictory, indeed, thus to treat a public servant, acknowledged in that

letter, as he was, to have been faithful and efficient, and by both Governments. But, as the letter said, the President and his Cabinet had "their friends to reward, and their political enemies to punish," and accordingly the fiat was sent forth.

General Jones did not reach the Federal City until Decem ber 5, 1861, his successor not having arrived at Bogota, to relieve him, until the 1st of November preceding.

On his arrival at Washington, the General was met first by Secretary Seward, at the entrance of the State Department, and greeted in the most affectionate and cordial manner, in the presence of a regiment of infantry from Cayuga County, New York, and some hundreds of citizens and strangers then present. Mr. Seward conducted him to the President's mansion, both being followed by the regiment and people, where, after President Lincoln had addressed the troops en route South, Mr. Seward, formally and in an im posing manner, introduced General Jones to the Chief Magis. trate as "Our friend, General Jones, just returning as Minister from Bogota." Mr. Lincoln, being equally warm and friendly in his reception of the General, said that he recollected forming a short but pleasant acquaintance with him at Springfield, some fifteen years before; which Mr. Jones not recollecting, the President invited him to call on him the next evening, at eight o'clock, when he would explain the circumstance of their first introduction to each other.

The following evening he called, and was kindly and respectfully treated by Mr. Lincoln, in the presence of the "Blair family," as he (Lincoln) termed F. P. Blair, Senior and Junior, and the Postmaster General. There were other gentlemen present, among them Mr. George D. Prentice, of the "Louisville Journal," who was endeavoring to effect the release from imprisonment of Dr. Gwin, late Senator from California, Mr. Calhoun Brenham, his brother-in-law, and Mr. Brent, they having been arrested by General Sumner, on board the Steamer "Uncle Sam," at Panama, New Granada in November, 1861, and were then prisoners in Fort Lafay

ette. These arrests were made in violation of the laws of our own country, of nations, and of the treaty with New Granada.

"Ch! what a tangled web we weave,

When first we practise to deceive."

While at Washington, Secretary Seward gave General Jones a diplomatic dinner, and extended to him other and the usual civilities between old friends. Strange and incomprehensible as it may appear, Seward, the Talleyrand of the day, was all the while meditating the arrest and imprisonment of his old friend and companion, to whom he had for years extended acts of hospitality and civility, just as he had done toward our returning Minister Plenipotentiary to France, the Hon. Charles J. Faulkner, of Virginia, who, as he too was on his way to join his family, was arrested and immured in Fort Lafayette.

General Jones remained in Washington for the settlement of his accounts as Minister returning home, until the 19th of December, when he took leave of his old Senatorial associate, Secretary Seward, who expressed an apparently earnest hope that he might have a speedy and pleasant trip, find his family well, etc.

On his arrival in New York city, General Jones was arrested, at the "New York Hotel," by Detective Farley, on the following telegram from Secretary Seward:

"WASHINGTON CITY, D. C., December 19, 1861. "Hon. George W. Jones, late Senator in Congress from Iowa, and late Minister to Bogota, leaves here this afternoon for New Vork. Arrest him, and send him to Fort Lafayette.

(Signed)

WM. H. SEWARD."

This despatch was addressed to Kennedy, the Superinterdent of Police, and was all the authority which he said he had for his arrest. General Jones availed himself of permission to write a letter to his wife, who was to meet him in the city, on the 25th instant, detailing his arrest, etc. Telegraphic despatches were sent to the President and the