Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/706

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CLYMER
CLYMER

Colin, however, was a better soldier than states- man, and, though he secured the personal respect of all during the six years that he represented royalty in the province^ in his administration of the duties of the executive, he adhered too closely to his in- structions to give satisfaction to a people who were becoming conscious of their rights, as well as of their wrongs, and whose aspirations for increase of privileges and a larger share in the administra- tion of the government had infused a new life into the body-politic, even before the interregnum that succeeded the recalling of Sir Peregrine Maitland in 1832. In 1840 political agitation was at fever Keat in Nova Scotia, and, as Sir Colin deemed it a point of honor to support the executive coun- cil in its contest with the house of assembly, the latter reluctantly "petitioned for his recall, the re- sult being that he left the province in the autumn. In 1842 he became a colonel, and served in the ex- pedition against the Chinese. He distinguished himself as a general of brigade in India between 1848 and 1852, and with the Highland brigade, which he commanded in the Ci'iinean war, con- tributed to the victories of the Alma and Bala- klava, in 1854. In this year he became major- general, and in 1855 received the grand cross of the Bath. In July, 1857, he was appointed com- mander-in-chief of the army in India, and after a series of brilliant victories succeeded in crushing the Sepoy rebellion in 1858. The same year he was created Lord Clyde, and was made field-mar- shal, 9 Nov., 18G2. His life has been written by Lieut.-Gen. Shadvvell (Edinburgh, 1881).


CLYMER, George, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1789; d. in Morrisville, Bucks co.. Pa., 23 Jan., 1813. His father emigrated from Bristol, England, to Phila- delphia. Clymer was left an orphan at the age of seven, and was brought up and educated by his uncle, William Coleman, who took the boy into his counting-room, and left him most of his for- tune. But though pursuing a business career, he was averse to it, and, having early acquired habits of reading and reflection, made himself acquainted with law, history, and political and agricultural science. He was one of the first that opposed the arbitrary acts of Great Britain, and, when it was found necessary to arm in defence of colonial rights, he became captain of a volunteer company. At a meeting held in Philadelphia, on 16 Oct., 1773, to adopt measures to prevent the sale of taxed tea, he was made chairman of a committee to request those appointed to sell the tea to resign their appointments. He was a member of the council of safety, and on 29 July, 1775, became one of the first continental treasurers, converting all his specie into continental currency, and sub- scribing liberally to the loan. On 20 July, 1776, five men, including Mr. Clymer, were appointed by the legislature to succeed those members of the Pennsylvania delegation who had refused their as- sent to the Declaration of Independence, and had left their seats in congress. Although Mr. Cly- mer's signature is affixed to the Declaration, he was not present at its adoption. He was appoint- ed, with Richard Stockton, to inspect the north- ern army at Ticonderoga on 26 Sept., 1776, and in December of the same year, when the approach of the British forced congress to adjourn to Balti- more, he was one of a committee to execute all needful public business in Philadelphia. He was re-elected to congress on 12 March, 1777, and on 9 April was one of a committee to consider steps for opposing the enemy if they should attack Philadelphia. On 11 July, 1777, he was appointed one of three commissioners to investigate com- plaints against the commissary department of the army. At the meeting of the general assembly, held on 14 Sept., 1777, Mr. Clymer was not re- elected to congress. In the autumn of this year, just after the battle of the Brandywine, his house in Chester county was sacked by the British, and the hostility with which he was regarded by them was further shown by an attempt to destroy his aunt's house in Philadelphia, which they thought was his property. In this same year he was one of three commissioners to investigate the causes and extent of disaffection near Fort Pitt, and to treat with the Indians there. The pow- ers of the com- mission extended even to the sus- pension and im- prisonment of officers suspected of treason, and the appointment of others in their stead. Although its labors were not entirely suc- cessful, its report to congress on 27 April, 1778, in- duced that body to take energetic measures for the

conquest of Detroit and the carrying of the war into the enemy's country. In 1780

Mr. Clymer was active in an association of the pa- triotic citizens of Philadelphia, who formed a bank to facilitate the supply and transportation of pro- visions to the army, and in November of that year he was again chosen to congress. He was deputed by that body, with John Nixon, to organize the Bank of North America, and in 1782 was associated with Rutledge on his mission to the southern states. He removed to Princeton in the last-named year that he might educate his children at the college there, but was summoned from his retirement in 1784, and elected to the Pennsylvania legislature, where he aided in modifying the criminal code, laboring with zeal for the abolition of capital pun- ishment. He was a member of the convention that framed the Federal constitution, and in No- vember, 1788, was elected to the first congress held under its provisions. Here he opposed the be- stowal of titles on the president and vice-presi- dent, earnestly comliated the notion that a repre- sentative should always vote in accordance with the instructions of his constituents, favored the gradual naturalization of foreigners, and sup- ported the assumption of the state debts by the nation. In 1791, declining a re-election to con- gress, he was appointed collector of the duty on spirits, which, in Pennsylvania, led to the whiskey riots. After resigning this office he was, with Messrs. Pickens and Hawkins, appointed to nego- tiate a treaty with the Creeks and Cherokees. This was consummated on 29 June, 1796, and he then withdrew from public life. Besides other in- stitutions indebted to him, were the Pennsylvania agricultural society, of which he was vice-presi- dent, the Academy of fine arts, and the Pennsyl- vania bank, of both of which he was president. Mr. Clymer was scrupulously punctual in the smallest engagements, and was noted for brev- ity, both in speech and in his writings. He was