452 FELTON, CORNELIUS C. 



thus continued until they were withdrawn to 

 the battle field of Pea Ridge, a few miles distant. 

 FELTON, CORNELIUS CONWAY, LL.D., an 

 American author, born at West Newbury, 

 Mass., Nov. 6, 1807, died at Chester, Pennsyl- 

 vania, Feb. 26, 1862. He attended a private 

 school at North Andover, from whence, after a 

 thorough course of study, he entered Harvard 

 College in 1827, where he was distinguished for 

 his literary tastes and his fondness for Greek 

 and Hebrew and the modern languages. Dur- 

 ing a portion of his junior year he aided in 

 his own support by teaching mathematics in 

 the Roundhill school at Northampton, under 

 Messrs. Cogswell and Bancroft. After his 

 graduation he was engaged for two years as 

 principal of the Livingston high school in 

 Genesee, N. Y. In 1829 he was called back to 

 his Alma Mater to fill the office of Latin tutor, 

 from which department he was transferred, the 

 next year, to the Greek tutorship. In 1832 he 

 was elected college professor of Greek, and in 

 1834 was appointed Eliot Professor of Greek 

 literature, which position he continued to fill 

 until his elevation to the presidency in 1860. 

 In 1853 he visited Europe, travelling through 

 the principal countries and devoting five months 

 to Greece, ancient and modern, and again in 

 1858 he spent a portion of another summer in 

 the same land. He examined the workings of 

 her political institutions, visited the halls of 

 legislation at the capital, and formed an acquain- 

 tance with the eminent scholars who adorn the 

 university of Athens. Not long after his return 

 from his first journey he published selections 

 from modern Greek writers, and revised for 

 publication Smith's " History of Greece," with 

 notes, and a continuation from the Roman con- 

 quest to the present time. As a Greek scholar 

 he was unsurpassed by any other in the coun- 

 try. He had a love of art which was cultivated 

 by his devotion to a language and literature so 

 calculated to improve and perfect the taste. 

 He was deeply interested in everything that 

 concerned Greece, her poets, orators, historians, 

 and philosophers, but especially her monuments 

 of art, and whatever reminded him of her an- 

 cient glory, or enabled him to understand more 

 fully the meaning of her ancient writers. His 

 works are numerous and of great value, per- 

 haps the most important are : .in edition of 

 Homer, with English notes and Flaxman's il- 

 lustrations, 1833; a translation of Menzel's 

 " German Literature," and a " Greek Reader," 

 1840 ; an edition of the " Clouds of Aristo- 

 phanes," 1841, republished in England. In 

 1843, in conjunction with Prof. Sears and 

 Prof. Edwards, he prepared a work, enti- 

 tled "Classical Studies." In 1847 appeared 

 his editions of the "Panegyricus of Isocrates" 

 and the "Agamemnum of ^Eschylus;" in 

 1849, the "Birds of Aristophanes;" and in 

 1852, " Selections from Greek Historians," and 

 " Selections from the Writings 'of Dr. Popkin, 

 with a Biographical Sketch." Among his 

 original works are his life of Gen. Eaton, 



FINANCES, U. S. 



in " Sparks' American Biography," upward of 

 fifty articles in the " North American Review " 

 and a large number in the "Christian Examiner" 

 and the "New American Cyclopaedia;" among 

 the latter, are Agassiz, Athens, Attica, Demos- 

 thenes, Euripides, and Homer. Prof. Felton 

 was a member of the Massachusetts Board of 

 Education, a Regent of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tute, and for many years a Regent of Harvard 

 University. He died of disease of the heart at 

 the house of his brother, while upon his way to 

 attend a meeting of the Regents of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, at Washington. 



FERNANDINA is at the north end of Amelia 

 island, on the east coast of Florida, 185 miles 

 east by north of Tallahassee, the capital of the 

 State. It is the terminus of the railroad from 

 Cedar Keys, on the Gulf of Mexico. The en- 

 trance to the harbor is defended by Fort Clinch, 

 which was evacuated on the approach of the 

 naval expedition from Port Royal on the 3d 

 day of March. 



FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 

 The national finances at the close of 1861 

 were in a very unsatisfactory condition. With 

 large and increasing expenditures forced by 

 circumstances upon the Government, the rev- 

 enue had declined to a nominal amount, and 

 the public credit, as marked by the prices of the 

 stock exchange, was rapidly sinking. Distrust 

 had seized upon the public mind, and the banks 

 suspended specie payments on the last day of 

 the year amid fears of a foreign war, which 

 would largely increase the expenses of the Gov- 

 ernment. In this position the Secretary was 

 compelled to come before Congress for loans 

 of a magnitude very much in excess of those 

 required at any former period. The misfortune 

 had been that the war was from its inception 

 regarded as of short duration. It was repeated- 

 ly urged at home and abroad that 60 or 90 days 

 would finish it, and although its magnitude 

 constantly increased and greater efforts in men 

 and money were required, both were raised as 

 temporary expedients. The public at first freely 

 loaned its capital, but a very large proportion 

 of what was then advanced was soon wasted 

 while Congress refused to assume any respon- 

 sibility in voting taxes. The first three months 

 of the war had been conducted on voluntary 

 offers from the people, and in the last six 

 months of the year there were continued efforts 

 to borrow. Congress had authorized loans of 

 $250,000,000. Of this amount $100,000,000 

 had been borrowed in 3 year bonds at 7 r 3 g- inter- 

 est ; $50,000,000 in stocks 20 years to run, at 6 ; 

 $50,000,000 in notes payable on demand to be 

 used as a currency. From all these loans the 

 Secretary had realized $185,817,863, and there 

 remained, for the service of the six months 

 that would close the fiscal year July 30, 1862, 

 $16,000,000 of demand notes, $50,000,000 of 3 

 year bonds, 7-^ interest, and $25,705,871 yet 

 undrawn of the $50,000,000 not taken by the 

 banks. These sums gave $9 1,000,000 authorized, 

 yet to be raised, to meet expenses estimated 



