States, from the State of New York, having Gen. Schuyler for his colleague.* His career as Senator, which then began, and which, with intervals between the terms of service, extended through twentythree years of his life, was one for which his acquirements, his studies, his habits of thought, and his talents as a speaker, eminently qualified him. The following is a list of the Senators who have represented the State of New York in the Congress of the United States: Date of Appointment. .... Senators. July 15, 1789.. (Philip Schuyler, Feb. 1, 1803....Theodorus Bailey, Resigned, Jan. 16, 1804 By Gov. Dec. 7, 1803....Jno. Armstrong, George Feb. 23, 1804 Clinton. Feb. 4, 1804....Jno. Smith, Jan. ....D. S. Dickinson, Do. Jan. 18, 1845....John A. Dix, March, 1849 March, 1851 Feb. 7, 1849....Wm. H. Seward, March, 1855 (Ed. Reg.) He was the associate and trusted friend of Washington, Hamilton, Schuyler, Jay, the Adamses, Pickering, Wolcott, Ames, Cabot. He was, it need hardly be added, a federalist, steadfast to the end, yet never ultra in his party predilections, looking always first and caring always most for country, let who might, be its rulers. The high character which Mr. King established for himself in the Senate, pointed him out to Washington, in 1796, as a fit successor to Major Thomas Pinckney, of South Carolina, at the Court of England, whence that gentleman wished to return, and accordingly Mr. King was appointed, and in July, 1796, embarked for England. There he remained as Minister of the United States during the remainder of Gen. Washington's second term, the whole of that of John Adams, and was recommissioned by Mr. Jefferson, after his accession to the Presidency in 1801. Having at that juncture an important negotiation on his hands, Mr. King remained until he had successfully closed it, and then asked to be recalled, and was permitted to return home in 1803, after an absence from his country, in the public service, of seven years. Perhaps no more stirring or interesting period, even amid the eminently stirring events which closed the last and commenced the present century, could be pointed out, than that during which Mr. King was minister in London. That he acquitted himself well, ably and honorably, is attested by the recorded approval of all the three administrations under which he served, and by the results of his negotiations. He was not less trusted by his own government than confided in by the government to which he was accredited, for his frank yet courteous deportment, his uprightness, and his wise moderation. Perhaps no foreign minister ever rendered himself more acceptable to the court to which he was sent, as no one ever more faithfully served his own country and government. On Mr. King's return in 1803, he found the country divided into violent parties. The members of the federal party, of which he was one, were almost entirely excluded from office, and mere personal qualifications were not deemed sufficient to procure a station under the general government. Mr. King had been so long abroad, and had, while abroad, been so wholly devoted to the interests of the country, as a whole, and not of any party, that he could not witness without pain the bitter feuds which he found raging at home, and therefore, after a short residence in the city of New York, he purchased an estate at Jamaica, L. I., and thither he retired; content with his books and his farm, not unmindful of, much less indifferent to, public affairs, and the honor and welfare of his country, holding himself at the call of that country whenever his services might be deemed useful, but estimating his own peace and worth too justly to thrust himself into the arena to court public favor. Mr. King was thus pursuing the even tenor of his way when the war of 1812 was declared. He had anticipated it in some degree and sought earnestly by correspondence either to warn against it, or to urge that the actual declaration should be postponed till the country could be placed in some better attitude both of offence and defence. A war following immediately after a long embargo, succeeded by a non-intercourse act, which had left the land, from Maine to Louisiana, destitute of the ordinary supplies of manufactured articles of all sorts, for which we then depended almost wholly on Europe; such a war seemed to him most rash, and so he pronounced it. But when it was begun, and when the conduct of the enemy was such as to show his utter disregard of the rules of civilized warfare, Mr. King at once stepped forward and with voice and purse and influence gave himself to the support of the administration in its efforts to defend the flag and honor and rights of the nation. He changed no opinion of the rashness or inexpediency of the war-he gained by nearer insight when elected to the Senate of the United States, as he was in 1813, no higher estimate of the capacity of the existing administration to carry on the war, yet all the more,as he said, because of their feebleness and insufficiency, he felt it to be an obligation for all good citizens to throw the whole weight and influence which they might possess into the scale of the country. In the Senate he voted, often against his own political friends even, for money when called for by the administration. On them, said he, is the responsibility, and it cannot be adequately met, if the Congress refuse the aid which the President declares needful. Every call within the constitutional limit, Mr. King supported, but the measure of a universal conscription for recruiting the armies, which was seriously proposed, and some other at least questionable measures, he resisted. On the return of peace, difficulties hardly inferior to those of war, had to be met and overcome. On all occasions Mr. King was active and explicit in his course, for it was a principle inflexibly adhered to by him through his long public life, neither to neglect nor to evade any duty or responsibility imposed upon him. The state of the currency was one of the chiefest and earliest topics of discussion. As a consequence of the war all the banks of the country except those of Massachusetts had suspended specie payments, and therefore, although paper money circulated freely, it had been unduly increased in amount by the withdrawal of the only efficient check on excessive issues-a redemption in specie-and was necessarily at a discount, greater or smaller, according to the circumstances of each case, when compared with coin. Mr. King was strenuous for all proper measures to compel a general resumption of specie payments, although he opposed the project of a bank of the United States, introduced by the Secretary of the Treasury, as an administration measure, Mr. Madison being President, mainly because of the undue control which the project reserved to the federal government over the operations of the bank. To a bank organized on sound principles and depending for its success on regular business, and controlled by business men and not politicians, Mr. King not only did not object, but he considered such a bank as eminently useful and conducive to the prompt return to specie payments. A bank of the United States, nevertheless, was incorporated without the general restrictions aimed at by Mr. King. Another subject of Mr. K.'s care was the management of the public lands. The system of selling these lands on credit had long prevailed, and as a necessary result a large body of debtors to the United States was created, who, by their numbers and common interest, exercised such a control over the legislation of Congress, that from year to year acts were passed remitting the interest or postponing the payment of the principal of these debts. The certain evils, discontents and ultimate loss from a perseverance in this mode of management, impressed themselves strongly on his mind, and he applied himself therefore to effect a change, and succeeded in doing so, by causing the credit system to be entirely abolished-reducing the cash price of the public lands, and stipulating a large sacrifice of the indebtedness already incurred by settlers, on condition of prompt payment of the remaining balance. From this most important act of legislation may be said to date the real independence and signal prosperity of the Western country. The adjustment of the war tariff to a standard which without crippling commerce would yet serve to protect the infant manufactures that sprang up during the war; the reduction of the army and navy to a peace establishment which should be just at once to the gallant men, who, in both arms, had maintained the rights and exalted the renown of the nation, without violating the natural distrust of fleets and armies, which is the instinctor the wise economy which is the safety of a Republic; together with the claim asserted through long years, with marked ability and knowledge, by Mr. King, of our right to trade with the British West India islands; were among the subjects in which he took a leading part. In 1819, Mr. King's senatorial term expired. His name was presented for re-election but failed of success, and no election was had. In 1820, although, as in the preceding year, the majority in the Legislature was of adverse politics to his own, Mr. King was returned to the Senate. The great controversy concerning the admission of Missouri was then at its height, and Mr. King's wellknown sentiments in opposition to the extension of slavery, contributed probably to his re-election, since both Houses of the Legislature with almost unanimous voice passed resolutions instructing their Senators to oppose the admission of Missouri, unless slavery were prohibited therein. Mr. King faithfully obeyed these instructions and made a firm though unavailing stand in defence of free soil, and in obedience to the voice of his conscience and of his State. The elaborate yet calm examination into which he entered of the whole argument, exhausted the subject, and his published speeches have been the armory whence most of the logic and of the facts of recent discussions have been borrowed. Mr. King's course in the Senate was one of lofty patriotism, looking at every question as he conceived it would affect the whole people, and conceding to party only what party might honestly claim, and never postponing country to it. He exercised a large influence upon the deliberations and decisions. of that body. Yielding to the administration a liberal support whenever he approved their recommendations or measures, he yet maintained his personal independence and party preference without any wavering. During the sharp discussion in the Senate, and throughout the nation indeed, concerning General Jackson's acts in Florida, Mr. King had measurably sustained, and as far as could be done, vindicated the course of that remarkable man; yet, when the canvass for the Presidency in 1824 took place, he was openly and earnestly the advocate of John Q. Adams. Previous thereto, and while holding his seat as a Senator, Mr. King was elected a delegate for Queens, the county of his residence, to the State Convention of New York, assembled to consider of amendments to the Constitution. In that convention Mr. King took an active part, and bringing to it the light of much experience and much wisdom, he was always listened to with satisfaction, and generally with conviction. though entirely conservative in his views, he manifested no distrust of the popular element, which asserted the predominance in this convention; on the contrary, he went thoroughly with Al |