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brother, Gouverneur, on which occasion that body passed a resolution complimenting him and his col- leagues "for their long and faithful services."' He afterward served as a member of the New Yoi'k legislature, and major-general of the state militia. After peace had been declared he returned to agri- cultural pursuits. — His eldest son, Lewis, was graduated at Princeton in 1774, entered the army, and served as aide to Gen. John Sullivan, with the rank of major, throughout the latter's Indian cam- paign. He afterward accepted Gen. Nathanael Greene's invitation to enter his military family, and took part in that officer's brilliant operations in the Carolinas. At their close he received the thanks of congress and a colonel's commission. — Another son, Richard Valentine, was appointed captain in the navy in June, 1798, and was in command of the Mediterranean squadron in 1802-'8. He was dismissed from the service, 14 May, 1804, and died in New York city in May, 1815. — Lewis the sign- er's brother, Staats Long", soldier, b. in Morris- ania, N. Y., 27 Aug., 1728 ; d. in 1800, entered the British army and became captain of the 36th foot, 31 May, 1756. He was soon afterward promoted lieutenant-colonel of the 89th Highlanders, served at the siege of the French colony of Pondicherry, India, in 1761, was made brigadier-general. 7 July, 1768, major-general in 1777, and general in 1796. He married the Duchess of Gordon, and sat in parliament. In 1797 he was appointed gover- nor of Quebec. — Lewis the signer's half-brother, Gronverneur, senator, b. in Morrisania, N. Y., 31 Jan., 1752 ; d. there, 6 Nov., 1816, was graduated at King's (now Columbia) college in 1768, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1771. At the age of eighteen he published a series of anonymous newspaper articles against a pro- ject, then before the New York assembly, for raising money hj issu- ing bills of credit. He was a delegate to the 1st Provincial congress in 1775, and early at- tracted attention by a report and speech on the mode of issuing a paper currency by the Continental congress, the chief suggestions of which that body subse-

quently adopted. He

served on the committee that drafted the state con- stitution in 1776, and the following year took the seat of his half-brother, Lewis, in the Continental congress, which he held until 1780. When the army was in winter-quarters at Valley Forge, Mr. Morris spent some time there as one of a committee that had been appointed to examine, with Gen. Washing- ton, into the condition of the troops. He was also chairman of a committee of five in 1779 whose duty was to consider despatches fromthe Amei'ican commissioners in Europe, and whose report formed the basis of the treaty of peace. In the early part of 1780 he published a series of essays signed " An American," in the " Pennsylvania Packet," on the state of the national finances, which were then at their lowest ebb. In May of the same year he was thrown from his carriage in Philadel- phia, where he was then residing, and his leg was so severely injured that it had to be amputated. To a friend who called the next day to offer consolation, and who pointed out the good eflPects that such a trial might produce on his character by preventing him from indulging in the pleasures and dissipations of life, he replied : " My good sir, you argue the matter so handsomely, and point out so clearly the advantages of being with- out legs, that I am almost tempted to part with the other." During the remainder of his life he woi-e a wooden leg. which once proved valuable to him. Being assailed by the Paris mob with cries of

" Aristocrat " during the French revolution, while he was driving through the streets of that city, he turned the taunts into cheers by thrusting his wooden leg out of the carriage-window and shouting : " An aristocrat ! Yes, one who lost his limb in the cause of American liberty." In 1781 Robert Morris {q. v.) was placed at the head of the finances of the nation, which hitherto had been managed by a committee of congress. His first act was to appoint Gouverneur Morris his assistant. The latter accepted the office, and fulfilled its duties three years and a half. In 1786, on the death of his mother, he purchased from his brother, Staats Long, the Morrisania estate, which he henceforth made his home. (See illustration.) In 1787 he took his seat as a delegate in the con- vention that framed the U. S. constitution, the draft of that instrument being placed in his hands for final revision. On 18 Dec, 1788. Morris sailed for France, and reached Paris on 3 Feb. following, where he was engaged in the transaction of private business for the next two years. In January, 1791, he went to England, having been appointed by President Washington a confidential agent to negotiate with the British government regarding certain unfulfilled articles of the treaty of peace. Conferences were prolonged till September without result. During his stay in London he was made U. S. minister to France. Being succeeded in that office by James Monroe in August, 1794, he made an extensive tour throughout Europe, and while at Vienna used strenuous efforts to obtain the release of Lafayette from confinement in the fortress of Olmütz. He returned to this country toward the close of 1798, and the following spring was elected to the U. S. senate from New York, to fill a vacancy, and served from 3 May, 1800, till 3 March. 1803. During this period he actively opposed the abolition of the judiciary system and the discontinuance of direct taxation, but favored the purchase of Louisiana. He was an active advocate of New York's great canal project, and acted as chairman of the canal commissioners from their first appointment in 1810 until his death. Morris, like many energetic men, was in the habit of expressing his opinions with a freedom that often involved him in difficulties, which his gift of sarcasm tended to increase. His openness and sincerity of character, however, were held by his friends to atone for these defects. Of his abilities as a public speaker James Ren wick says in his