112 



CLIFFORD, NATHAN. 



COLOMBIA. 



ing to a close, and the complications of General 

 Scott, Mr. Trist, and Governor Marcy threat- 

 ened the success of much that had been won 

 by our arms, Mr. Clifford was sent to Mexico 

 with full powers to conclude a treaty. Super- 

 seding all the functionaries as commissioner 

 of the United States, he arranged the treaty of 

 peace by which California became an integral 

 portion of the United States. After bringing 

 about this important piece of diplomacy, and 

 having ratified the treaty with the reorganized 

 Mexican Eepublic, he received the appoint- 

 ment of minister to Mexico as a testimonial for 

 his valuable services. He remained there loug 

 enough to cement the new peace, and to secure 

 the cordial and complete execution of the arti- 

 cles of the treaty, when he resigned, and went 

 back to the practice of his profession in Port- 

 land, Maine. Although he did not again ap- 

 pear as a candidate for office during seven years, 

 lie found time to advocate the principles of 

 Democracy and State Rights on all important 

 occasions. At the bar of Maine he won an 

 enviable reputation for forensic skill, and com- 

 manded a large and lucrative practice. In 

 January, 1858, President Buchanan appointed 

 him Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of 

 the United States, and the intelligence of his 

 elevation to this dignity was received with 

 general satisfaction throughout the country, 

 especially in Maine. He had been the first 

 member of the Cabinet taken from that State, 

 and the only representative she ever had in the 

 Supreme Court. 



The many years of his service on the bench 

 were marked by a stern devotion to duty, as 

 well as by integrity and capacity, and his ap- 

 pointment to the presidency of the famous 

 Electoral Commission was everywhere re- 

 garded as most appropriate. He was a firm 

 believer in Tilden's title, and his position made 

 it necessary for him to sign the decisions 

 of the commission. The preparation of the 

 papers in the Florida case fell to Senator Hoar, 

 on account of Senator Edmunds's illness, and 

 their completion was delayed until within a 

 few minutes of noon of the 4th of March. By 

 insisting upon a rigid personal scrutiny of the 

 papers Judge Clifford could have pnt off their 

 execution until too late for the inauguration 

 of Mr. Hayes. He did not, however, throw 

 the smallest obstacle in the way of the work, 

 but showed almost equal anxiety with Mr. 

 Hoar in hurrying it forward, and promptly 

 affixed his signature as soon as the documents 

 were completed. During the administration 

 of Mr. Hayes, however, he never went to the 

 White House. In October, 1880, he was at- 

 tacked with a serious illness, which was so 

 severe that it not only incapacitated him from 

 work, but affected his reason ; despite a robust 

 and hardy constitution, a complication of dis- 

 orders arose, gangrene supervened, and it was 

 found necessary to amputate one of his feet. 

 From this illness he never recovered, and in 

 his death 'the country has lost a man distin- 



guished for diplomatic and legal talents of a 

 high order. 



CLINTON, J. J., died May 25, 1881, at At- 

 lantic City, New Jersey. He was the senior 

 bishop of the conference of the African Zion 

 Methodist Episcopal Church. Bishop Clinton 

 was born about the year 1820, and on joyed 

 school advantages which were at that time de- 

 nied to most of his race, and, although not a 

 graduate of any university, he receivtd an ex- 

 cellent academic education, and by his unusual 

 natural abilities soon rose into prominence. 

 He commenced his ministerial labors as an ac- 

 credited preacher in Philadelphia in 1839, and 

 as local preacher in 1840, entering the itiner- 

 ant sphere in 1841. He was ordained deacon 

 in 1844, elder in 1846, and was elected and con- 

 secrated to the episcopal office in May, 1864. 

 As a worker for the African Zion Connection, 

 he was among the first, and during the forty 

 years of his labors traveled through almost 

 every State in the Union. He was Missionary 

 Bishop to the South during and subsequent to 

 the war, and accomplished remarkable results 

 in establishing missions and annual conferences 

 which were the life of the colored Methodist 

 Church in the South. As a contributor to the 

 press he was forcible, eloquent as a public 

 speaker, and in his preaching wonderfully ef- 

 fective. Possessed of rare executive ability, it 

 was conceded by both white and colored peo- 

 ple that as an episcopal officer he had few su- 

 periors. His death resulted from paralysis, 

 and memorial services were held by all the 

 churches of the conferences in his honor. 



COLOMBIA (RErfJBLicA DE COLOMBIA). 

 For statistics relating to area, territorial di- 

 vision, population, etc., see "Annual Cyclopae- 

 dia " for 1877. Concerning the boundary ques- 

 tion with Costa Rica, an extract of resolutions, 

 passed in the Colombian Congress in 1880, was 

 given in our volume for that year. It has been 

 stated that toward the close of 1881 undoubted 

 information had been received at Washington 

 of a treaty said to have been signed between 

 the two republics, intended for the purpose of 

 securing European arbitration in the disputed 

 question of isthmian territory. By the terms 

 of the treaty, several arbitrators were pro- 

 posed: First, the King of the Belgians; next, 

 in case of that monarch's refusal, the King of 

 Spain; and, finally, should the latter too de- 

 cline, the President of the Argentine Republic. 

 Neither of the disputants had made official 

 communication of the treaty to the United 

 States Government. It was hoped that the 

 proposed arbitrators would refuse to act ; for, 

 if they accepted the offer, the Washington 

 Government would, in the opinion of the au- 

 thor of the report, protest " the United States 

 claiming the rights of a virtual protectorate 

 over the States upon the Isthmus of Panama 

 as far as to the northern boundaries of the 

 province of Chiriqui, and not disposed to re- 

 linquish that quasi-suzerainty, whatever the de- 

 cision of a European arbitrator might be. It 



