MOH1US. 



of relieving all tlie wonts which were referred to Ins 

 department, expoM-d him to slanderous charges and 

 harsh suspicions, which have in no instance withstood 

 a fair inquiry. The necessary supplies of every thing 

 required for Washington's expedition against Corn- 

 wallis were obtained chiefly by means of Mr Morris's 

 credit. He issued his own notes to the amount of 

 one million four hundred thousand dollars, which 

 were finally all paid. These were the sinews of 

 war, without which Cornwallis could not have been 

 captured. The history of the difficulties which he 

 had to evade or overcome, and the expedients to 

 which he resorted in the course of his financial ad- 

 ministration, would fill a volume. A number of 

 them are related, with interesting details, in the 

 sketch of his career, included in the Biography of the 

 Signers of the Declaration of Independence. They 

 are also stated, in the most instructive and impres- 

 sive manner, in that part of his able and voluminous 

 correspondence, which has been given to the world. 

 January 24, 1783, Mr Morris announced to the pre- 

 sident of congress his intention to resign the office of 

 superintendent of finance. Nothing but the public 

 danger could have induced him to accept it, and, the 

 danger being past, he felt himself at liberty to escape 

 from excessive toil and manifold liability. He con- 

 sented, however, to serve until the first of May. On 

 the 2d of May, after repeated conferences with a 

 committee of congress, he was prevailed upon to 

 continue in office, and he did not finally leave it until 

 November, 1784. At his request, in May of that 

 year, congress appointed a board of treasury commis- 

 sioners, who were toco-operate with and succeed him 

 in the management of the finances. In rendering an 

 account of his stewardship, he published an able 

 address to the inhabitants of the United States, con- 

 taining excellent counsel. In September, 1781, 

 congress had resolved that " until an agent of marine 

 should be appointed, all the duties, powers, and 

 authority assigned to that office should devolve on, 

 and be executed by the superintendent of finance." 

 The additional burden was irksome to Mr Morris. 

 No agent was appointed, and he was thus obliged to 

 administer the affairs of the navy, until the close of 

 the year 1784. His expansive faculties, his habits of 

 order, his energy and rigid justice in the transaction 

 of business, enabled him to acquit himself creditably 

 in this sphere. In 1786, Mr Morris consented to be 

 elected into the assembly of Pennsylvania, in order 

 to obtain the renewal of the charter of the bank of 

 North America. Party spirit prevailed over his 

 logic and eloquence ; but the exertions of the friends 

 of the institution were, in the succeeding legislature, 

 crowned with success. In 1786 he was elected a 

 member of the convention which framed the federal 

 constitution. No man had more often and severely 

 felt the want of an efficient government. He had 

 incessantly asked for a stronger bond, or instrument, 

 than the old confederation, for " a firm, wise, manly 

 system of federal government ;" and he strenuously 

 co-operated in devising and recommending the pre- 

 sent. In 1788, the general assembly of Pennsylvania 

 appointed him to represent the state in the first senate 

 of the United States, which assembled at New York. 

 As a member of that body, he distinguished himsel' 

 by wise counsels, and particularly by an irresistibh 

 speech for the repeal of the tender laws. He was i 

 fluent, correct, and impressive orator; he wrote will 

 ease and terseness; his fund of political knowledgi 

 could not but be ample; his acquaintance with th< 

 affairs of the world exceeded, in extent and diversity 

 that of any of his fellow patriots, Franklin excepted 

 his conversation >was therefore replete with interes 

 and instruction. When the federal government wa 

 organized, Washington offered him the post of secre 



tnry of the treasury, which he declined ; and, being 

 quested to designate a person for it, he named 

 general Hamilton, a most happy though not, tin 

 jxpeeted choice. At the conclusion of the war, he 

 vas among the first who engaged in the East India 

 and China trade. In the spring of 1784, lie despatched 

 ;he ship Empress of China, captain Green, from New 

 York to Canton, being the first American vessel that 

 ever appeared in that port. He also made the first 

 attempt to effect what is termed an out of season 

 passage to China. This passage is effected by going 

 round the south cape of New Holland, thus avoiding 

 'lie periodical winds prevalent at certain periods in 

 lie China sea. In prosecution of this object, the 

 ship Alliance, captain Read, equipped with ten 

 ,welve-pounders, and sixty-five men, sailed from the 

 Delaware, June 20, 1787, and arrived in safety, Dec. 

 J2, at Canton, where considerable inquiries were 

 made by the European commanders respecting the 

 route that had been taken, as it was wholly a novel 

 thing for a vessel to arrive at that season of the year. 

 As no ship had ever before made a similar passage, 

 great astonishment was manifested ; and the lords of 

 ,he admiralty subsequently applied to Mr Morris for 

 nformation with regard to the track of the ship. It 

 s said that her probable route was, previous to her 

 departure, marked out by Mr Morris, with the assist- 

 ance of Mr Gouverneur Morris. In his old age, Mr 

 Morris embarked in vast land speculations, which 

 Droved fatal to his fortune. The man to whose finan- 

 cial operations the Americans were said to owe as 

 much as to the negotiations of Franklin, or even the 

 arms of Washington, passed the latter years of his life 

 n prison, confined for debt. He sunk into the tomb on 

 the 8th of May, 1806. Mr Morris was of large frame, 

 with a fine, open, bland countenance, and simple 

 manners. Until the period of his impoverishment, 

 lis house was a scene of the most liberal hospitality. 

 [t was open, for nearly half a century, to all the stran- 

 jers of good society who visited Philadelphia. He was 

 temperate in food, but fond of convivial meetings. 

 No one parted with his money more freely for public 

 or private purposes of a meritorious nature. 



MORRIS, GOUVERNEUR, an eminent American 

 statesman and orator, was born at Morrisania, near 

 the city of New York, January 31, 1752. He was 

 educated at King's college in that city, where he was 

 raduated bachelor of arts in May, 1768. Imme- 

 liately after he entered the office of William Smith 

 (the historian of the colony), as a student of law. 

 In 1771, he was licensed to practice law. His profi- 

 ciency in all his studies was remarkable. He 

 acquired early much reputation as a man of brilliant 

 talents and various promise. His person, address, 

 manners, elocution, were of a superior order. In 

 May, 1775, Mr Morris was chosen a delegate to the 

 provincial congress of New York. In June of that 

 year, he served on a committee with general Mont- 

 gomery, to confer with general Washington respect- 

 ing the manner of his introduction to the congress. 

 He entered with zeal and efficiency into all the 

 questions and proceedings which referred to a vigor- 

 ous resistance to the pretensions of the mother 

 country. In 1776 (December), he acted as one of 

 the committee for drafting a constitution for the 

 state of New York, which was reported in March, 

 and adopted in April, of that year, after repeated 

 and very able debates, in which Jay, Morris, and 

 Robert R. Livingston were the principal speakers. 

 In July, 1777, he served as member of a committee 

 from the New York congress, to repair to the head- 

 quarters of Schuyler's army, to inquire into the 

 causes of the evacuation of Ticonderoga. In October 

 of that year, he joined the continental congress at 

 York, Pennsylvania, and, in 1778, wrote the patriotic 



