gesting the substitution of Ghent in preference to Gottenburg, as the seat of the negotiation, which was subsequently acceded to by the American ministers. Mr. BAYARD left London on the 23d May, and, arriving in Paris on the 28th, left it on the 15th June for Ghent, where he arrived on the 27th of the same month, and found Mr. Adams and Mr. Russell. In a few days, they were joined by Messrs. Clay and Gallatin; the members of the mission having been informed that they might expect the arrival of the British ministers about the 1st of July. The latter, however, did not arrive until the 6th August; and on the next day the negotiations commenced, which terminated in a treaty of peace, which was signed on the 24th December, 1814.

Mr. BAYARD left Ghent on the 7th January, 1815, and arrived in Paris on the 11th of the same month; here he designed to remain until it should be necessary to repair to London, to assist with the other members of the mission, in the negotiation of a treaty of commerce with Great Britain, with which they had also been charged. On the 4th March, however, he was attacked with the disease which was to prove fatal to his life. After severe suffering and a confinement for most of the period to his chamber, he left Paris in a state of great debility on the 10th of May, and embarking immediately on his arrival at Havre, the vessel sailed for Plymouth, where she arrived on the 14th of the same month. Here, in daily expectation of the arrival of Mr. Clay from London, who was to take passage in the same ship, he was detained for five weeks, during which time he was unable to leave his berth, but remained in a state of excessive suffering and alarming debility. The appointment of minister to Russia had been conferred on him by the president, and confirmed by the senate; but he promptly declined its acceptance. At length the ship was ordered to sail, and arriving in the Delaware on the 1st of August, Mr. BAYARD found himself once more, after an absence of more than two years, in the bosom of his family. But it was only to receive their welcome, and to mingle the tears of joy at his return with those of grief for their final separation. He expired on the 6th August, 1815, at the age of forty-eight years, and that Providence which saw fit to remove him from this life, in the maturity of his powers, and the highest capability of usefulness, indulged the fond wish of his heart, to embrace once more his wife and children, and draw his last breath in the land of his nativity.

10

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATIONS

1

JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN.

JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN was born March 18th, 1782, in Abbeville district, South Carolina, where his youngest brother, Patrick, now resides. His grandfather, James Calhoun, emigrated with his family from Ireland, and settled, in 1733, in Pennsylvania. His father, Patrick Calhoun, was then six years old. Several years afterwards the family removed to the western part of Virginia; but, upon Braddock's defeat, the settlement was broken up, and they went to South Carolina, where, in 1756, they established themselves in a place which was called "Calhoun's settlement." Here the Cherokees, their immediate neighbors, very soon attacked them. The struggle was violent. Half the males, and among them, the eldest brother, James Calhoun, who commanded on the occasion, fell; and, after the defeat, their aged mother, with several of the other females and many of the children, were butchered by the savages. Patrick Calhoun, who displayed daring courage, was immediately appointed by the provincial government to command a body of rangers for the defence of the frontier, and showed himself worthy of the station. Upon the conclusion of peace, the family, which had been dispersed, re-occupied their "settlement."

In 1770, Patrick Calhoun was married to Martha Caldwell, of Charlotte county, Virginia, niece of the Rev. James Caldwell, of New Jersey, a presbyterian divine, who stood prominent in the revolutionary war. The issue of this marriage were four sons and one daughter, of whom the subject of this memoir was the youngest but one, and as a tribute of respect to the memory of his uncle, Major John Caldwell, a zealous whig, who had been inhumanly butchered by the tories, he received the name of JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN.

Both parents were exemplary for piety and virtue. The father was a hardy and enterprising pioneer; but unlike most of that class, he placed a high value upon education. Though he was entirely self-taught, and lived the greater part of his life on the frontier, surrounded by danger, he made himself an excellent English scholar, and an accurate and skilful surveyor, which profession he long fol

lowed. He was the first member ever elected to the provincial legislature from the interior of South Carolina. Of this body, and the state legislature, after the revolution, he continued a member for thirty years without intermission, except for a single term, until his death, in 1796. He was a zealous whig, and a disinterested patriot. He opposed the adoption of the federal constitution on the ground that it conferred rights on Congress incompatible with the sovereignty of the states.

At thirteen years of age young CALHOUN was placed at the academy of his brother-in-law, the Rev. Dr. Waddel, since so distinguished, as a teacher, in the Southern states. The death of his father, however, interrupted his studies, and the academy ceased for a time. He continued to reside with Dr. Waddel, and made ample use of a circulating library, of which his brother-in law was librarian. Hither he resorted instinctively, and without any direction, passing over lighter, and, to persons of his age, usually more alluring literature, fixed his attention upon history. With such unremitting industry did he labor, that he is said to have read, in the course of fourteen weeks, Rollin's Ancient History, Robertson's Charles V. and America, Voltaire's Charles XII., the large edition of Cooke's Voyages, the first volume of Locke on the Human Understanding, and several smaller works. Under this severe application, in which his meals and rest were neglected, his eyes were injured, his countetenance grew pallid, and his whole frame became emaciated. His mother, alarmed for his health, took him home; where separation from books, air and exercise very soon reinstated him; and to his love of books, succeeded, by a natural transition, a passion for the sports of the country. Though the progress of his education was now arrested, yet his new manner of life laid the foundation of a vigorous constitution, and he contracted, also, that fondness for agriculture, which has distinguished so many illustrious names.

In the midst of family arrangements, and in consequence of his growing attachment to agricultural pursuits, JOHN had abandoned all thought of his former studies, when his brother James, who had been placed in a compting house in Charleston, returned home to spend the summer of 1800, and was so struck with his capacity, that he importuned him to turn his attention at once to a classical education, though it was not till after great persuasion, that he yielded to his brother's judgment, Accordingly he proceeded to Dr. Waddel's academy, which had been reöpened in Columbia county, Georgia, where, in 1800, he may properly be said to have begun, at the age