QUIXCY. JOSIAH. 



QUTXCY JOSIAH, an American statesman, 

 born in Boston, February 4, 1772, died in 

 Quiccy, Mass.. July 1, 1864. He was the only 

 son of Josiah Quincy, jr., the noted patriot and 

 orator of ante-revolutionary times, who dying 

 a few months before the outbreak of the war 

 of independence, bequeathed to his infant off- 

 spring the works of Sidney, Locke, and Bacon, 

 with the additional wish, " May the Spirit of 

 of Liberty rest upon him ! " Young Quincy 

 received his preliminary education at Phillips' 

 Academy, Andover, Mass., and was graduated 

 at Harvard College in 1790, with the highest 

 honors of his class. In 1793 he commenced 

 the practice of the law in Boston, but amidst 

 the political turmoil of the time he showed less 

 inclination for a professional than for a public 

 career, which seemed more suited to his pecu- 

 liar turn of mind, and to which the example of 

 his father and the expectations of his friends 

 incited him. Though courted by the anti-fed- 

 eralists, he early associated himself with the 

 federal party, to which he remained faithful 

 while it had a name or organization, and from 

 the principles of which he never swerved to 

 the day of his death. In 1797 he married 

 Eliza, daughter of Col. John Morton, of Xevr 

 Y'ork, with whom he lived most happily for fifty- 

 three years; and in 1800, being then twenty- 

 eight years of age, he was brought forward by 

 the federalists as their candidate to represent 

 the Boston district in Congress, bnt was de- 

 feated by William Eustis, afterwards Secretary 

 of the Navy. At the next congressional elec- 

 tion, John Quincy Adams was the federal can- 

 didate, but met with even less success than 

 Mr. Quincy, who in 1804 finally prevailed over 

 his old antagonist by a handsome majority, and 

 in December, 1805, took his seat as a member 

 of the Ninth Congress. By successive elections 

 he held this position until 1813, when he de- 

 clined a renomination and retired to private 

 life. His oratorical abilities, readiness in de- 

 bate, wit, sarcasm, and extensive political 

 knowledge, made him the leader of the small 

 but resolute band of federalists, who maintained 

 in the national legislature a hopeless opposition 

 to the dominant republican party. He proved 

 a constant thorn in the side of the administra- 

 tions of Jefferson and Madison, and in the acri- 

 monious warfare then carried on in Congres 5 , 

 no one showed himself a more consummate 

 master of fence. He often indeed went beyond 

 the limits of parliamentary decorum, seeming 

 rather to court than to shun opposition ; and 

 some of his speeches are remarkable for pas- 

 sionate declamation and invective. The em- 

 bargo, the purchase of Louisiana, and the war 

 of 1812, were among the chief measures which 

 he opposed, and he was one of the first to de- 

 nounce the slaveholding interest as a rising and 

 dangerous tyranny. 



Upon retiring from Congress Mr. Qnincy, 

 having at his command an ample fortune, hoped 

 to be able to devote much of his time to agri- 

 cultural pursuits at his country seat in Quincy, 

 near Boston. But he had assumed too con- 

 spicuous a position to be at once spared by his 

 party, and he was almost immediately elected 

 to the Massachusetts State Senate, where he 

 continued to be a no less earnest opponent of 

 the war than when in Congress. One of his 

 most conspicuous acts in the former body, was 

 the framing of a preamble and resolution on 

 the capture of the British corvette Peacock, 

 by the Hornet, under Captain Lawrence. 

 The preamble praised the conduct of the com- 

 mander, officers, and crew of the Hornet, but 

 the resolution which followed declared that the 

 " vrar was waged without justifiable cause," 

 and that it did not become a moral and relig- 

 ious people to express approbation of exploits 

 not immediately connected with the defence of 

 the seacoast and harbors of the country. He 

 remained in the Senate until 1820, when, on 

 the ground that his course was. compromising 

 the interests of his party, he failed to obtain a 

 renomination. He was immediately, however, 

 elected to the Massachusetts House of Repre- 

 sentatives from Boston, and became speaker 

 of that body. He filled the same office at the 

 next session of the Legislature in 1821, but re- 

 signed before the expiration of his term, in 

 order to accept the position, of judge of the 

 Municipal Court of Boston. In this capacity 

 he laid down, for the first time, the doctrine, 

 now generally accepted, that the publication of 

 the truth with good intentions and for a justifi- 

 able motive, is not libellous. In 1823 lie was 

 elected mayor of Boston, and held the office by 

 successive reflections until 1828, when he was 

 appointed President of Harvard University to 

 succeed Dr. Kirkland. He was inaugurated in 

 June, 1829, and discharged the duties of his 

 office with eminent ability and usefulness until 

 the summer of 1845, when, having reached the 

 ripe age of 73, he retired permanently to 

 private life. 



His remaining years were rendered agree- 

 able by the pursuit of literature, and by the 

 society of his numerous friends and of his fam- 

 ily. A constitution of remarkable strength 

 enabled him to undertake duties usually assumed 

 by men of early manhood or middle life, and he 

 entered into them with .in enthusiasm charac- 

 teristic of his early career. Even after he had 

 passed his 90th year, his hale and but slightly 

 bowed figure could frequently be seen about 

 the streets of Boston, where he was universally 

 respected, and even venerated, as the sole sur- 

 vivor of an older race of statesmen. His man- 

 ners, frank, cordial, and conciliating, his un- 

 selfish kindness of heart, and his integrity of 

 character, against which not even his most in- 



