332 



CRITTENDEN, JOHN JAY. 



to the " Cornish Fauna," which arranged and 

 described the Zoophytes and Calcareous Coral- 

 lines of th e Cornish coast. The first and second 

 parts of this work were by his father, and treat 

 of the vertebrated, radiated, and testaceous 

 molluscs of the county. In 1843 Mr. Couch 

 settled down to the practice of his profession, 

 which soon became very extensive, at Pen- 

 zance. He paid particular attention to the dis- 

 eases and mortality of the miners of Cornwall, 

 and embodied his observations and deductions 

 in papers, which were published by the Poly- 

 technic Society of Cornwall, and were subse- 

 quently translated into French. In the Pen- 

 zance Natural History and Antiquarian Reports 

 he contributed papers " On the Morphology of 

 the different Organs of Zoophytes," " On the 

 Reproduction of Amputated Parts in the lower 

 Animals," and many other important subjects. 

 He also contributed to the Reports of the Roy- 

 al Institution of Cornwall. His researches in 

 geology were quite extensive, and many valu- 

 able and important documents from his pen are 

 preserved in the transactions of the Geological 

 Society of his town ; also an elaborate report 

 made by him every year upon the progress 

 made in examining the geology of the country. 

 CRITTENDEN, JOHN JAY (according to 

 some authorities his middle name was Jordan), 

 an American statesman, born in Woodford 

 county, Ky., about 1785, died at his residence in 

 Frankfort, Ky., July 26th, 1863. Early in the 

 present century he commenced the practice of 

 the law in Frankfort, and by his ability and 

 eloquence was soon recognized as one of the 

 leaders of the Kentucky bar. In 1816 he rep- 

 resented Franklin county in the Lower House 

 of the Kentucky Legislature, and in the suc- 

 ceeding year took his seat in the TJ. S. Senate 

 to fill an unexpired term of two years. Com- 

 ing into the latter body as one of its youngest 

 members, and scarcely known beyond the lim- 

 its of his native State, he almost immediately 

 brought himself into notice by a generous and 

 pathetic appeal in behalf of the unfortunate 

 Gen. St. Clair, who had petitioned Congress 

 for arrearages of pay ; and during the remain- 

 der of his term he participated frequently in 

 important debates as a supporter of President 

 Monroe. For many years subsequently to 1819 

 Mr. Crittenden was chiefly occupied with pro- 

 fessional duties, occasionally however represent- 

 ing his county in the Kentucky House of Rep- 

 resentatives, of which he was for several years 

 speaker. In 1828 he was nominated by Presi- 

 dent J. Q. Adams a judge of the IT. S. Supreme 

 Court, but the Senate refused to confirm him. 



He reentered public life in 1835 as a U. S. 

 senator for a full term of six years, at the con- 

 clusion of which ho entered the cabinet of 

 President Harrison as attorney general. Re- 

 tiring with his colleagues, except Mr. Webster, 

 in the succeeding September, in consequence of 

 Mr. Tyler's bank vetoes, he was elected to the 

 IT. S. Senate in 1842 for the residue of Mr. 

 Clay's term, and was subsequently reflected 



for a full term from March 4th, 1843. He resign- 

 ed in 1848 to accept the office of governor of 

 Kentucky, to which he had been elected by the 

 "Whig party by a large majority, and in July, 

 1850, he was appointed U. S. attorney general 

 by President Fillmore, which office he held 

 until the accession of President Pierce in 1852. 

 In 1855 he again entered the Senate for a full 

 term of six years. 



At the outset of his career a Republican (a 

 term then used) and subsequently a Whig, 

 Mr. Crittenden was, during the better part 

 of Mr. Clay's life, his devoted friend and sup- 

 porter ; and when, after the dissolution of 

 the Whig party in 1855-'56, its members in 

 the Southern States were absorbed by the 

 Democratic party and the newly formed 

 American party, he became a prominent lead- 

 er of the latter organization. The protec- 

 tive system and national bank found in him a 

 warm supporter, and in common with his party 

 he opposed the sub-treasury and other fiscal 

 measures of the Democrats. In international 

 disputes, as the Oregon boundary question, the 

 Mexican war, and the alleged illegal right of 

 search exercised by Great Britain in 1858, he 

 invariably counselled conciliatory measures, 

 whenever consistent with the honor of the 

 country ; and his course on the vexed question 

 of slavery was moderate and conservative for 

 one representing a large slaveholding constitu- 

 ency. He opposed the annexation of Texas as 

 unconstitutional, unwise^ and unnecessary ; also 

 the admission of Kansas under the Topeka 

 (anti-slavery) constitution in 1856,on the ground 

 principally of informality in the preparation 

 and adoption of that instrument. With no less 

 emphasis he opposed her admission under the 

 Lecompton constitution, which he denounced 

 as a fraud upon the people ; and he offered a 

 substitute for the bill, providing for the sub- 

 mission of the Lecompton instrument to a pop- 

 ular vote, which failed to pass both houses of 

 Congress. Throughout the exciting and em- 

 bittered debates on the Kansas question he 

 spoke often and with effect, and from his ex- 

 perience of parliamentary rules and political 

 history, and his conciliatory views, was more 

 than once enabled to become the arbiter of dis- 

 putes between others. He was also opposed, 

 though not in Congress at the time, to the re- 

 peal, in 1854, of the Missouri compromise. 



During the memorable second session of the 

 Thirty -sixth Congress, Mr. Crittenden, true to 

 the conciliatory policy which was the marked 

 feature of his public career, laid before the 

 Senate the plan of adjustment known as the 

 "Crittenden Propositions" or "Compromise," 

 hoping thereby to avert the threatened storm 

 of secession. He proposed to renew the Mis- 

 souri line of 36 30' ; to prohibit slavery north, 

 and to permit it south of that line ; to admit 

 new States with or without slavery as their 

 constitutions might provide ; to prohibit Con- 

 gress from abolishing slavery in the District of 

 Columbia so long as it exists in Virginia or 



