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CUKTIS. 677 CURTIS. celebrated impeachment trial of 1868 he was one ul' President Julinson's counsel. He jnib- lished several valuable collections of law reports, including Keporls of Cases in the Circuit Courts •of the United States (2 vols., 18.54) ; Uecisions of the Supreme Court of the United States (22 vols.) ; and Digest of the Opimons of the Su- })renie Court of the United States tu /<S'.j.}. Con- sult ilemoirs and Writings of lienjamin R. Cur- tis (Boston, 1880), the first volume of which is -a memoir by his brother, George Ticknor Curtis, (q.v.). CURTIS, George TiCK.NOR (1812-94). A dis- tinguished American jurist and writer on the constitutional history of the United States. He vas born in Waterto« n, JIass. ; graduated at Harvard in 1832; was admitted to the bar in 1836, and began the practice of the law in Worcester, JIass. In the following }'ear he re- moved to Boston, where he continued with short intermissions to practice law until 1802, from "which time until his death he practiced in Xew York City and before the United States Supreme Court in 'ashington, D. C. While in Boston he acted for man}' years as United States Com- missioner, and in this capacity, though his sj-mpathies were strongly against the institu- tion of slavery and the rendition of the fugitive slaves, he ordered the return of Thomas Sims (q.v.) to his master in accordance with the I'ugitive Slave Law in 1852, and for so acting ^^■as denounced b_y the Abolitionists throughout "the country. Among the well-known cases in "which he appeared as counsel are the Dred Scott ease, the legal-tender cases, the Colt revolver suits, and the sewing-machine cases. He was popular as a public speaker and delivered many able addresses dealing for the most part with legal or political subjects. He will best be re- membered as a writer, and especially as the author of the valuable Constitutional History of the United States from their Declaration of Independence to the Close of their Civil War (1896), a part of which was first published in 1854 as The Eistonj of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States; and of the Life of Daniel Wehster ( 1870) , and the Life of James Buchanan ( 1883) . He also published, besides numerous magazine articles: Digest of the English and American Admiraltg Decisions (1839) ; Rights and Duties of Merchant Seamen (1841) ; American Convey- ancer (1846); Law of Patents (1849); Equity Precedents (1850) ; Commentaries on the Juris- prudence, Practice, and Peculiar Jurisdiction of the Courts of the United States (1854-.';8); Me7noir of lienjamin R. Curtis (1880) ; Creation or Evolution : A Philosophical Inquiry (1887); and a novel entitled, John Chamhers : A Tale of the Ciril War in America (1889). CURTIS, George William (1824-92). An American critic, essayist, and publicist, born in Providence. R. I., February 24, 1824. After a few years at school he began life as a clerk, in New York, joined the Brook Farm Community at West Roxbury, Mass., in 1842, went thence, after eighteen months, to Concord, Ma.ss., and afterwards spent some years in Italy, Ger- many, and the Orient. Returning to America in 18.50. he became well known through his books of travel and his editorship of /'M<na»i'.9 .l/onf/i.^!/. In Harper's Monthly he published a series of l)apcr3 called The Editor's Easy Chair, from i8.")3 onward, which increased his reputation. He was popular also as an anti-slavery orator and lecturer, was long the chief editor of Harper's Weekly, took an active part as Rcpuldican (till 1884) in politics, and after 1871 in the agilatiou for civil-service reform. He declined oilers of diplomatic service abr()a<l. Shortly before his death, which occurred at ^'est I'.rigliton, S, 1., August 31, 1892, he became chancellor of the Uni- versity of New York. He was the master of an attractive style, and his book.s of travel and light essays paved the way for the more important services rendered by liis polished lectures and orations and by his single-hearted, i>atriotic labors in liehalf of a pure civil service. His strictly literary reputi^tion seems hardly so well assured as it did a few years since, but the man and orator are still remend)ercd with pleasure and gratitude. His youthful years s]ieut at Brook Farm are charmingly set forth in his letters exchanged with .Jolin S. Dwight, which have l)een pul)lishcd in a volume (1898). His most impor- tant publications are: Nile Notes of a Hoicadji (1851j; The Hoicadji in Syria (1852); Lotus Eating (1852) ; The Potiphar Papers (1853), a satire on New York social life; Prue and I ( 1856 ) , generallj' thought the best of his early books; Trumps: A Novel (1861); Eulogy on Wendell Phillips (1884); three series of essays from the "Easy Chair" ( 1892, 1893, 1894, etc.). He edited the Correspondence of Motley in 1889 (2 vols.). Charles Eliot Norton edited his Orations and Addresses in 1893-94 (3 vols.). Edward Cary wrote his biogiaphy for the "Ameri- can Jlen of Letters Series" (Boston, 1894). CURTIS, Samuel Rtax (1807-66). An American soldier. He was born near Champlain, N. Y., but when very young removed to Ohio. In 1831 lie graduated at West Point, and in the following year resigned from the service to be- come a civil engineer. He afterwards studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced from 1843 to 1845. In the Mexican War he served as a colonel of volunteers, and from 1847 to 1848 was Governor of Saltillo. He was then succes- sively an engineer and a lawyer in the West, and for two terms and a part of the third was a mem- ber of Congress from Iowa. He became a briga- dier-general of volunteers in 1801, commanded the southwestern district of Missouri from De- cember, 1861, to February, 1862, and the Army of the Southwest from Februarv to August, 1862, and on March 7-8, 1862, defeated the Con- federate general Van Dorn, in the battle of Pea Ridge (q.v.K Soon afterwards he was raised to the rank of major-general, and subse- quently commanded the departments of Missouri (1802-63), of Kansas (1864-65), and of the Northwest (1865) ; and in 1865, as United States Commissioner, negotiated treaties with several Indian tribes. CURTIS, William (1746-99). An English botanist, bom at .Alton, Hampshire. He studied botany, pharmaceutics, and entomology, estab- lished botanic gardens at Lambeth JIarsh and at Bronipton, and published a number of valuable works on subjects of natural history. His writ- ings include: Flora Londinensis (1777-87; the same work, edited by Graves and Hooker, was republished in 5 volumes in 1817-28) ; British Grasses (1790 and several later editions); and