102 



in superintending the affairs of a respectable mercantile establishment 

 of our city. This was an eventful period in the history of the United 

 States; as the war, which took place with Great Britain, occasioned 

 extraordinary embarrassments in the commercial relations of the citi- 

 zens of the former with foreign countries. Mr. M'llvaine's duties 

 were very arduous; but he acquitted himself in a manner not only 

 satisfactory to his employers, but he was also enabled to render effi- 

 cient aid to several of his countrymen, who had become involved in 

 difficulties similar to his own. 



In April, 1826, Mr. M'llvaine was elected a member of this So- 

 ciety. The same year he was appointed chief cashier of the Bank of 

 the United States; and he entered, with alacrity, upon the perfor- 

 mance of his multifarious duties. This responsible office, we are as- 

 sured, was not of his seeking; it was tendered to him, by the Presi- 

 dent of the Institution, in a manner the best calculated to assure his 

 consent : a trust for which he was competent, but which subsequent 

 events convinced him, after due deliberation, it was advisable to re- 

 linquish. In the year 1832, he resigned the office of cashier; and 

 profiting by the lessons of experience, he resolved thenceforward to 

 devote himself to pursuits which were more congenial to one of his 

 taste and temperament. 



In 1838, Mr. M'llvaine, accompanied with his confidential friend, 

 Mr. Clement C. Biddle, crossed the Atlantic once more, with the in- 

 tention of making an extensive tour in Europe. Disembarking at 

 Liverpool, they proceeded to Ireland. The British Association for 

 the Advancement of Science holding, in August, its eighth general 

 meeting, at Newcastle upon Tyne, thither our travellers went ; and 

 they had the satisfaction of intercourse with some of those eminent phi- 

 losophers that this association annually draws together. From New- 

 castle they journeyed into Scotland; and when in the highlands, Mr. 

 M'llvaine and his companion separated ; the former directing his 

 course to the Hebrides, chiefly with the intention of beholding that 

 lasaltic curiosity, P^ingal's (Jave, in the Island of Staffa. After some 

 pleasant rambles in England, he crossed the channel to France. 

 While in Paris, which offers so many inducements for varied occu- 

 pation, a cutaneous affection, in his lower extreniitics, having become 

 aggravated by excessive exercise, he was induced to submit to em- 

 pirical remedies, which not only confined him to his chamber for 

 many weeks, but which were attended with symptoms that gave no 

 hope for permanent relief, under injudicious treatment. In the per- 

 suasion of the imprudence of extending his travels, under existing cir- 



