had received the sanction of the great National Council, and the time arrived for signing the instrument, Mr. Read affixed his signature to it, with all the cordiality of those who had voted in its favor.

Mr. Read was President of the Convention which formed the first Constitution of the State of Delaware. In 1782, he accepted the appoint. ment of Judge of the Court of Appeals, in admiralty cases, an office which he held until the abolition of the court. In 1787, he represented the State of Delaware, in the Convention which framed the Constitution of the United States, under which he was immediately chosen a member of the Senate. The duties of this exalted station, he discharged till 1793, when he accepted of a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of Delaware, as Chief Justice. He died in this office, in the autumn of 1798.

The legal attainments of Mr. Read were extensive; and his decisions are still respected as precedents of no slight authority. In private life he was esteemed for an expanded benevolence to all around him.

CESAR RODNEY.

CESAR RODNEY was a native of Dover, in Delaware, where he was born about the year 1730. He inherited from his father a large landed estate. At the age of twenty-eight, he was appointed High Sheriff in the county where he resided, and on the expiration of his term of service, was created a Justice of the Peace and a Judge of the lower Courts. In 1762, and perhaps at an earlier date, he represented the county of Kent, in the Provincial Legislature. In the year 1765, he was sent to the first General Congress, which assembled at New York, to adopt the necessary measures for obtaining a repeal of the stamp act, and other odious measures of the British ministry.

In 1769, Mr. Rodney was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, an office which he continued to fill for several years. About the same time, he was appointed Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence with the other colonies. He was a member of the wellknown Congress of 1774; when he had for his colleagues, Thomas M'Kean, and George Read.

ware.

At the time that the question of independence came before Congress, Mr. Rodney was absent on a tour of duty, in the southern part of DelaMr. M'Kean, and Mr. Read, his colleagues, were divided upon the subject. Aware of the importance of an unanimous vote, Mr. M'Kean dispatched, at his private expense, an express into Delaware, to acquaint Mr. Rodney of the delicate posture of affairs, and to hasten his return to Philadelphia. With great exertion, he arrive on the spot. just as the members were entering the door of the State-House, at the final discussion of the subject.

In the autumn of 1776, a Convention was called in Delaware, for the purpose of framing a new Constitution, and of appointing delegates to

the succeeding Congress. In this Convention, the influence of the roy alists proved sufficiently strong to deprive Mr. Rodney of his seat in Congress. He remained, however, a member of the Council of Safety, and of the Committee of Inspection, in both of which office s he exerted himself with great diligence. In 1777, he repaired in person to the camp near Princeton, where he remained for nearly two months, in the most active and laborious employment. During the same year, he was reappointed a delegate to Congress, but, before taking his seat, was elected President of the State. In the latter office he continued for about four years, at the close of which period he retired from public life. He was again elected to Congress, but it does not appear that he ever after took his seat in that body. A cancer, which had afflicted him for some time, and which had greatly disfigured his face, now increased its ravages, and, in the early part of the year 1783, brought him to the grave. Mr. Rodney was distinguished for a remarkable degree of good humor and vivacity; and in generosity of character, was an ornament to human

nature.

GEORGE ROSS.

GEORGE ROSS was born at New-Castle, Delaware, in the year 1730. At the age of eighteen, he entered upon the study of the law, and when admitted to the bar established himself at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Here he married, and devoted himself, with great zeal to the duties of his profession.

Mr. Ross commenced his political career in 1768, when he was sent a representative to the Assembly of his adopted State. Of this body he continued a member until the year 1774, when he was elected a Delegate to the Continental Congress. To this office he was annually reelected till January, 1777, when he retired. The high sense entertained by his constituents, of his public services and patriotism, was expressed, not merely by thanks, but by a present of one hundred and fifty pounds. This offer was respectfully but firinly declined.

Mr. Ross was an active and influential member of the Provincial Legislature. He was also a member of the Convention which assembled to prepare a declaration of rights on behalf of the State, and to define what should be considered high treason against it. In 1779, he was appointed a Judge of the Court of Admiralty, for the State of Pennsylvania. In July of the same year, he died of a sudden attack of the gout. in the fiftieth year of his age. He left behind him the reputation of a thorough and skilful lawyer, a consistent politician, and an estimable

man.

BENJAMIN RUSH.

BENJAMIN RUSH was born in Byberry, Pennsylvania, on the 24th of December, 1745. His father died when he was only six years of age, and the care of his education devolved upon his mother, whose prudent management of her son may be learned from the result.

After completing his preparatory studies, he was entered, in 1759, a student in the college of Princeton. On leaving college, he commenced the study of medicine, under the superintendence of Dr. Redman, of Philadelphia. In 1766, he went to Edinburgh, where he spent two years at the university in that city, and from which he received the degree of M. D., in 1768. The next winter after his graduation he passed in London, and having visited France, he returned, in the autumn of the same year, to Philadelphia, and commenced the practice of medicine. In 1769, he was elected professor of chemistry in the college of Philadelphia; and was afterwards appointed professor of the institutes, and practice of medi. cine, and of clinical practice, in the same university.

In the year 1793, Philadelphia was visited by that horrible scourge, the yellow fever. For some time after its commencement, no successful system of management was resorted to. Dr. Rush afterwards met with a manuscript, which contained an account of the yellow fever, as it prevailed in Virginia, in 1741, and which was given to him by Dr. Franklin, and had been written by Dr. Mitchell, of Virginia. In this manuscript, the efficacy of powerful evacuants was urged, even in cases of extreme debility. This plan Dr. Rush adopted, and imparted the prescription to the college of physicians. An immense accession of business was the consequence, and his mode of treatment was wonderfully uccessful. The following entry, dated September 10th, is found in his notebook: "Thank God, out of one hundred patients, whom I visited or prescribed for this day, I have lost none."

Between the 8th and 15th of September, Dr. Rush visited and prescribed for a hundred and a hundred and twenty patients a day. In the short intervals of business, which he spent at his meals, his house was filled with patients, chiefly the poor, waiting for his gratuitous advice. For many weeks he seldom ate without prescribing for many as he sat at table. While thus endangering his health and his life by excess of practice, Dr. Rush received repeated letters from his friends in the country, entreating him to leave the city. To one of these letters he replied, that he had resolved to stick to his principles, his practice, and his pa tients, to the last extremity."

The incessant labors of Dr. Rush, during this awful visitation, nearly prostrated his constitution; but he was finally so far restored as to resume the duties of his profession. His mode of treatment was also called into question by many of his contemporaries, notwithstanding the success which had attended it. At length the prejudices against him infected not only physicians, but a considerable part of the community. The public journals were enlisted against him, and in numerous pamphlets his system was attacked with great severity He was even called a

BENJAMIN RUSH.

murderer, and was at length threatened to be prosecuted and expelled the city.

Notwithstanding the great labors of Dr. Rush as a lecturer and practitioner, he was a voluminous writer. His printed works consist of seven volumes, six of which treat of medical subjects, and the other is a collection of essays, literary, moral, and philosophical. He was a constant and indefatigable scholar. He extracted so largely from the magazine of information accumulated in the mind of Benjamin Franklin, that he once mentioned to a friend, his intention of writing a book with the title of Frankliniana, in which he proposed to collect the fragments of wisdom, which he had treasured in his memory, as they fell in conversation from the lips of that great man.

Doctor Rush was a member of the celebrated Congress of 1776, which declared these States free and independent. The impulse given to learning and science by this event he used to estimate of incalculable value. In 1777, he was appointed Physician General of the military hospital in the middle department. In 1787, he became a member of the Convention of Pennsylvania, for the adoption of the Federal Constitution. This instrument received his warmest approbation. For the last fourteen years of his life, he was Treasurer for the United States Mint, by appointment of President Adams.

Doctor Rush took a deep interest in the many private associations, for the advancement of human happiness, with which Pennsylvania abounds. He led the way in the establishment of the Philadelphia Dispensary, and was the principal agent in founding Dickinson College, in Carlisle. For some years he was President of the Society for the Abolition of Slavery, and also of the Philadelphia Medical Society. He was a founder of the Philadelphia Bible Society, and a Vice-President of the American Philosophical Society. He was an honorary member of many of the literary institutions, both of this country and of Europe. In 1805, he was honored by the King of Prussia, with a medal, for his replies to certain questions on the yellow fever. On a similar account, he was presented with a gold medal in 1807, from the Queen of Etruria; and in 1811, the Emperor of Russia sent him a diamond ring, as a testimony of his respect for his medical character.

The pen of Doctor Rush was powerfully employed against some of the vices and habits of mankind. His "Inquiry into the effects of ardent spirits upon the human body and mind," has been more read than any of his works. He was a brilliant and eloquent lecturer; and he possessed in a high degree those talents which engage the heart.

The life of Doctor Rush was terminated on the 19th of April, 1813, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. During his illness, which was but When at of few days' continuance, his house was beset by crowds of citizens, such was the general anxiety in respect to this excellent man. length he died, the news of his decease spread a deep gloom over the city, and expressions of profound sympathy were received from all parts of the country.

EDWARD RUTLEDGE.

EDWARD RUTLEDGE was born in Charleston, South Carolina, November, 1749. After receiving a respectable education in the learned languages, he commenced the study of the law with his elder brother, who, at that time, was becoming the most eminent advocate at the Charleston bar.

When arrived at the age of twenty-one years, Edward Rutledge sailed for England, to complete his legal education. In 1773, he returned to his native country, and began the practice of his profession. He soon became distinguished for his quickness of apprehension, fluency of speech, and graceful delivery. The general estimation in which his talents were held, was evinced in 1774, by his appointment to the General Congress as delegate from South Carolina. He was at this time but twenty-five years of age.

In the Congress of 1776, Mr. Rutledge took a conspicuous part in the discussions, which preceded the Declaration of Independence. At a subsequent date, he was appointed, with Doctor Franklin and John Adams, a commissioner to wait upon Lord Howe, who had requested Congress to appoint such a committee to enter with him into negociations for peace. Mr. Rutledge was again elected to Congress in 1779; but in consequence of ill health, he was unable to reach the seat of government, and returned 'home. In 1780, during the investment of Charleston by the British, he was taken prisoner by the enemy, and sent to St. Augustine, where he was detained nearly a year before he was exchanged.

On the evacuation of Charleston by the British, he returned to the place of his nativity, and, for the space of seventeen years, was successfully engaged in the practice of his profession; rendering from time to time important services to the State, as a member of her Legislature. In 1798, he relinquished his station at the bar, and was elected Chief Magistrate of South Carolina. He continued to perform the duties of this office until within a short time before his death, which took place on the 23d day of January, 1800. Military and other honors were paid to his memory; and universal regret was expressed at his departure."

ROGER SHERMAN.

ROGER SHERMAN was born in Newton, Massachusetts, on the 19th of April, 1721. He was early apprenticed to a shoemaker, and followed the business of one for some time after he was twenty-two years of age. The father of Roger Sherman died in 1741, leaving his family, which was quite numerous, dependent upon his son for support. He entered upon the task with great cheerfulness. Towards his mother, whose life was protracted to a great age, he always manifested the tenderest affection, and assisted two of his younger brothers to qualify themselves for clergymen.