294 



FILLMOEE, MILLARD. 



Since then the exports have been steadily 

 rising in value. 



The "Polynesian Company" was projected 

 at Melbourne, for taking up the offer of cession 

 of 200,000 acres of land made by King Thakorn- 

 bau to the British Government, on considera- 

 tion of an indemnity being paid to the Amer- 

 ican consul for alleged damage done to the 

 consulate. In addition to the land, other spe- 

 cial concessions were also offered. The com- 

 pany was formed, and the transaction carried 

 out ; but the success of the company is not 

 favorably spoken of, though they have plenty 

 of good land, with fine harbors. 



The first proposition for the annexation of 

 the Feejee Islands to Great Britain was made 

 in 1859, and the well-known English consul, 

 Pritchard, took an active part in it. Lord John 

 Russell was at that time Secretary of State, and 

 declined the offer. Soon after the friends of 

 annexation sent Colonel Smythe to the islands 

 to report on the question. His report was un- 

 favorable, and the scheme of annexation failed 

 a second time. In 1870 the question came up 

 again, and very favorable opinions concerning 

 it were expressed at the conference of Austra- 

 lian colonies held in that year, but the new offer, 

 made in 1871, was once more declined by the 

 Colonial Secretary, Earl Kimberley. Owing, 

 however, to the pressure brought upon him, 

 the Colonial Secretary, in 1873, sent two com- 

 missioners to the islands to examine the ques- 

 tion again in all its aspects. Their reports were 

 published in 1874. They found throughout the 

 islands indescribable misery and disorder, and 

 strongly favored annexation, which, as already 

 stated, was now accepted by the British Gov- 

 ernment.* 



EILLMORE, MILLARD, LL. D., thirteenth 

 President of the United States, an American 

 statesman ; born at Summer Hill, in the town 

 of Locke, Cayuga County, N. Y., January 7, 

 1800 ; died in Buffalo, N. Y., March 8, 1874. 

 He was of Puritan stock, his ancestors having 

 been among the early settlers of Ipswich, Mass. 

 His father had migrated to Cayuga County, N. 

 Y., when it was a mere wilderness, and was 

 hence unable to give more than a very slender 

 education to his children. Millard Fillmore 

 had never seen a grammar or geography until 

 his nineteenth year. He was sent at an early 

 age to Livingston County, then a very wild re- 

 gion, to learn the clothier's trade, but, four 

 months later, was apprenticed to a wool-carder 

 in the town in which his father lived. The 

 boy had a passion for books, and every leisure 

 moment was spent in devouring such books as 

 the village library furnished, and in endeavor- 

 ing to add to his meagre stock of learning. At 

 the end of four years, Judge Wood, of Cayuga 

 County, perceiving his thirst for education, and 

 his capacity for higher pursuits than wool- 



* See Williams and .Calvert, " Fiji and the Fijians " 

 (new edition, London, 1870) ; Goodenough and Layard, 

 " Report on the Offer of the Cession of the Fiji Islands 

 to the British Crown" (published in " Foreign Relations 

 of the United States," 1874). . 



carding, offered him a place in his law-office, 

 and advanced him the means to prosecute a 

 preliminary course of study. These advantages 

 were promptly and gratefully accepted, and, 

 by teaching during the winter, he was able to 

 repay the judge's advances. In the autumn of 

 1821 he removed to the county of Erie, and 

 the following spring entered a law-office in 

 Buffalo ; was admitted to the bar in that city 

 in 1823, and commenced practice in Aurora, 

 Erie County. He was married, in 1826, to a 

 daughter of Rev. Lemuel Powers. He removed 

 to Buffalo in 1830, and went into partnership 

 with Hon. Nathan K. Hall, afterward his 

 Postmaster-General, who died one week before 

 him. In 1829 Mr. Fillmore was elected to the 

 Assembly of New York from Erie County, and 

 reflected in 1830 and 1831. Though in a mi- 

 nority, he distinguished himself by his advo- 

 cacy of the act to abolish imprisonment for 

 debt, a measure which he succeeded in having 

 passed. In the fall of 1832 he was elected to 

 the Twenty-third Congress on the anti-Jackson 

 ticket, and took his seat during the stormy 

 session succeeding the removal of the deposits 

 from the United States Bank. After serving 

 one term, he renewed the practice of his pro- 

 fession till the fall of 1837 ; he had been again 

 elected to Congress in November, 1836, and 

 took his seat in December, 1837. As a mem- 

 ber of the Committee on Elections, in the 

 famous New Jersey " broad seal " case, he 

 established his reputation in the House. The 

 agitation of this election case was among the 

 prominent causes that determined the over- 

 throw of the Democratic party and the Whig 

 triumph in the presidential election of 1840. 

 Mr. Fillmore was reflected to the Twenty- 

 seventh Congress, and there obtained the ar- 

 duous and responsible position of chairman of 

 the Committee of Ways and Means. The ses- 

 sion continued during a period of nine months, 

 during which he was not absent from his duties 

 in the House a single hour. The financial 

 affairs of the Administration were in great dis- 

 order, and the public reputation of Mr. Fill- 

 more was largely advanced at this time by hig 

 unwearying industry and the tact and judg- 

 ment he brought to bear upon national affairs. 

 He was regarded as the author of the Tariff of 

 1842. One of the most noted measures passed 

 during that session,, and througli his advocacy, 

 was that which required the departments, in 

 submitting estimates of expenses, to accompany 

 them with references to the laws which au- 

 thorized them. At the close of the first or long 

 session of the Twenty-seventh Congress Mr. 

 Fillmore declined a reelection to Congress, and, 

 in the spring of 1841, returned to Buffalo, and 

 devoted himself again to his profession. In 

 the National Whig Convention of 1844 Mr. 

 Fillmore was one of the candidates for the 

 vice-presidency, but his name was withdrawn 

 at his own request. In the fall of the same 

 year he was nominated for Governor of New 

 York, but was defeated by Silas Wright. In 



