568 



PETERS, ABSALOM. 



PICKENS, FRANCIS W. 



passed by, however, with only a slight shock 

 on October 1st. Nothing unusual occurred, 

 and the people returned to their homes. 



The Government, pressed for money, and 

 with a multitude of clamorous creditors, nego- 

 tiated a loan with the firm Dreyfus, at Paris, 

 by the sale of 2,000,000 tons of guano, under 

 terms highly advantageous to the purchaser. 

 The Peruvian capitalists were, naturally, indig- 

 nant at seeing the probability of such a rich 

 prize slipping from their hands, more especial- 

 ly as they had made offers more acceptable in 

 public opinion than those of Dreyfus. Basing 

 their claim on an existing law, these capitalists 

 maintained the legal rights held by Peruvians 

 over foreigners in all cases where the national 

 treasure of guano was concerned. After a 

 long period of suspense, the Supreme Court of 

 Peru decided this pomt in favor of the Peru- 

 vian bankers and against the house of Dreyfus. 



An important decree received the Presi- 

 dent's approval, authorizing the construction 

 of a land and submarine telegraph from Lima to 

 Tumbez, the border port adjacent to the Repub- 

 lic of Ecuador. Already a land line is in opera- 

 tion from Lima to the city of Trujillo, nearly 

 260 miles to the north, and, with the exception 

 of a few miles of submarine wire, the whole 

 northern coast of Peru will be speedily trav- 

 ersed by this line. This enterprise is directed 

 by M. Carlos Paz-Soldan, who represents a 

 company composed of some of the most promi- 

 nent Peruvian capitalists, who, without asking 

 subsidy or guarantee from the Government, 

 have agreed to finish the work, placing Lima 

 in direct telegraphic communication with Pan- 

 ama in four years from the beginning of the 

 work. From Tuinbez north the line will be 

 submarine, and it is confidently expected that 

 the facilities offered to the public and to the 

 Governments of Peru and Ecuador, for the 

 speedy transmission of messages, will render 

 the undertaking profitable in its results. At 

 all events, this is another proof of the pro- 

 gressive spirit of Peru, and an evidence that 

 the Government of Colonel Balta is interested 

 and decided in aiding all measures that tend 

 toward promoting the welfare and consequent 

 peace of the country. 



PETERS, ABSALOM, D. D., a Congregational- 

 ist clergyman and author, born at Wentworth, 

 Grafton County, N. H., September 19, 1793 ; 

 died in New York City, May 18, 1869. He 

 was a son of General Absalom Peters, and, 

 upon his mother's side, a lineal descendant of 

 John Rogers, the Smithfield martyr. At six- 

 teen years of age young Absalom made appli- 

 cation for admission to the Military Academy 

 at West Point, and, while awaiting the result, 

 went to Troy as clerk in a store. Subsequently 

 his conversion turned him aside alike from 

 military and mercantile occupations, to fit 

 himself for the work of the ministry, and, 

 applying himself to study, he graduated at 

 Dartmouth College in 1816, and at Princeton 

 Seminary in 1819. The same year he accepted a 



commission as a home missionary for Northern 

 New York, and spent some months in a tour 

 of preaching in the destitute portions of Wash- 

 ington and Warren Counties. In 1820 he was 

 ordained, and installed pastor of the First 

 Church, in Bennington, Vt., and dismissed 

 December 14, 1825, to accept the secretary- 

 ship of the United Domestic Missionary So- 

 ciety, and as such to aid in the formation 

 of the American Home Missionary Society, 

 of which he was the first secretary, con- 

 tinuing such until 1837. During this period 

 he edited the Home Missionary and Pastors 

 Journal, and in 1838 commenced editing the 

 American Biblical Repository. In 1844 he 

 was installed pastor of the First Congrega- 

 tional Church in Williamstown, Mass., where, 

 for thirteen years, he labored acceptably and 

 with success, both in the town and in the 

 college, and, in view of advancing age, was 

 dismissed at his own request, September 4, 

 1857. While in the discharge of his pastoral 

 duties in Williamstown, he originated and 

 edited for a brief time the American Eclec- 

 tic, and also projected the American Jour- 

 nal of Education, which was, however, soon 

 merged in Dr. Henry Barnard's journal of 

 the same title. His latter years were spent 

 in literary labors and correspondence. After 

 he reached his seventieth year, he wrote and 

 published, his first volume of poems. During 

 a life of more than seventy-five years he had 

 never known sickness, and his last illness, 

 though severe and somewhat protracted, did 

 not impair the vigor of his intellect, or pro- 

 voke any symptoms of impatience. 



PICKENS, FKANCIS W., a Southern states- 

 man, diplomatist, and political leader, born 

 in Togadoo, St. Paul's Parish, S. C., April 

 7, 1807 ; died in Edgefield, S. C., January 25, 

 1869. He was the son of Andrew J. Pickens, 

 an eminent lawyer of South Carolina, was 

 educated at South Carolina College, Columbia, 

 and was admitted to the bar in 1829. Three 

 years after, he commenced his political career 

 in the State Legislature, of which he was 

 elected a member during the memorable nul- 

 lification excitement. He ranged himself on 

 the side of the milliners, and, proving an excel- 

 lent debater, he took a prominent place among 

 the advocates of the extreme State-Rights 

 doctrine. In 1834 he was elected to Congress, 

 of which he remained a member for ten years. 

 Declining a reelection in 1844, he retired into 

 private life. Reappearing on the political 

 stage in 1850, he was elected a delegate to the 

 Nashville Southern Convention, which met in 

 1850-'51 to consider the course to be pursued 

 by the South under the alleged aggressions of 

 the North. His services were next called into 

 requisition in 1854, when he was chosen to 

 preside over the South Carolina State Conven- 

 tion for the election of delegates to the General 

 Democratic Convention; and in 1856 he went 

 to Cincinnati as delegate to that Convention. 

 In 1857 President Buchanan appointed him 



