406 



8 TEUBEN STEWART. 



vi s>els entered here, in 1814, was 1534; cleared, 

 1180. Vessels drawing more than seven feet water 

 stop at Swinemunde. (See (></<r.) The leading 

 artieles of export are linen, corn, and timber; of 

 imports, coffee, sugar, cotton, d\e- woods, and wine. 

 The manufactures are verv various. 



STEUBEN, FREDERICK WILLIAM AUGUSTUS, 

 baron von ; a distinguished Prussian officer, who 

 attached himself to the American cause in the revo- 

 lution of 1776. He had been aid-de-camp to Fre- 

 deric the Great, and had attained the rank of lieu- 

 tenant-general in his army. Sacrificing his honours 

 and emoluments in Europe, Steuben went to Ame- 

 rica in 1777, and tendered his services to congress, 

 as a volunteer in their army, without claiming any 

 rank or compensation. He received the thanks of 

 that body, and joined the main army under the 

 commander-in-chief at Valley Forge. Baron Steu- 

 beri soon rendered himself particularly useful to the 

 Americans, by disciplining the forces. On the 

 recommendation of general Washington, congress, 

 in May, 1778, appointed the baron inspector-general 

 of the army, with the rank of major-general. His 

 efforts in this capacity were continued with remark- 

 able diligence, until he had placed the troops in a 

 situation to withstand the enemy. In the estimates 

 of the war office, 5000 extra muskets were gene- 

 rally allowed for waste and destruction in the army ; 

 but such was the exact order under the superin- 

 tendence of Steuben, that in his inspection return, 

 but three muskets were deficient, and those ac- 

 counted for. A complete scheme of exercise and 

 discipline, which he composed, was adopted in the 

 army by the direction of congress. He possessed the 

 right of command in the line, and at one period was 

 at the head of a separate detachment in Virginia. 

 At the battle of Monmouth, he was engaged as a 

 volunteer. When reviewing the troops, it was his 

 constant custom to reward the disciplined soldier 

 \vith praise, and to pass severe censure upon the 

 negligent. Numerous anecdotes are related illus- 

 trative of the generosity, purity, and kindness of 

 his disposition. After the treacherous defection of 

 Arnold, the baron held his name in the utmost ab- 

 horrence. One day he was inspecting a regiment 

 of light horse, when that name struck his ear. The 

 man was ordered to the front, and presented an ex- 

 cellent appearance. Steuben told him that he was 

 too respectable to bear the name of a traitor ; and 

 at his request the soldier adopted that of 'the baron, 

 whose bounty he afterwards experienced, and 

 brought up a son by the same name. At the siege 

 of Yorktown, baron Steuben was in the trenches at 

 the head of a division, where he received the first 

 offer of lord Cornwallis to capitulate. The mar- 

 quis de la Fayette appeared to relieve him in the 

 morning ; but, adhering to the European etiquette, 

 the baron would not quit his post until the surren- 

 der was completed or hostilities recommenced. The 

 matter being referred to general Washington, the 

 baron was suffered to remain in the trenches till the 

 enemy's flag was struck. After the capture of Corn- 

 wallis, when the superior American officers were 

 paying every attention to their captives, Steuben sold 

 his favourite horse in order to raise money to give 

 an entertainment to the British officers, as the other 

 major-generals had previously done. His watch he 

 had previously disposed of to relieve the wants of a 

 sick friend. On another occasion, when he desired to 

 reciprocate the invitation of the French officers, he 

 ordered his people to sell his silver spoons and forks, 

 Baying it \va; anti-republican to make use f such 



things, and adding, that the gentlemen should have 

 one good dinner if he ate his meals with a wooden 

 spoon for ever after. Steuben continued in the 

 army till Ihe close of the war, perfecting its disci- 

 pline. The silence and dexterity of his movements 

 surprised the French allies. He possessed the par- 

 ticular esteem of general Washington, who took 

 every proper opportunity to recommend him to 

 congress; from which body he received several 

 sums of money, that were chiefly expended in acts 

 of charity, or in rewarding the good conduct of the 

 soldiers. 



Peace being established, the baron retired to a 

 farm in the vicinity of New York, where, in the 

 society of his friends, and the amusements of books 

 and chess, he passed his time as comfortably as 

 his exhausted purse would allow. The state 

 of New Jersey had given him a small farm, and 

 that of New York 16,000 acres of land in the 

 county of Oneida. The exertions of colonel Hamil- 

 ton and general Washington subsequently procured 

 him an annuity of 2500 dollars, from the general 

 government. He built a log house, and cleared 60 

 acres of his tract of land, a portion of which he par- 

 titioned out, on easy terms, to twenty or thirty 

 tenants, and distributed nearly a tenth among his 

 aid-de-camps and servants. In this situation he 

 lived contentedly, until the year 1795, when an 

 apoplectic attack put an end to his life, in his sixty- 

 fifth year. An abstract of his system of military" 

 mano2uvres was published in 1779. The year pre- 

 ceding his death, he published a letter on the esta- 

 blished militia and military arrangements. 



STEVENS, GEORGE ALEXANDER, a whimsical 

 and eccentric character, was born in London, and 

 brought up to a mechanical business, which he 

 quitted to become a strolling player. In 1751, he 

 published a poem entitled Religion, or the Liber- 

 tine Repentant, which was succeeded in 1754, by 

 the Birthday of Folly. These were followed by a 

 novel called Tom Fool, and the Dramatic History 

 of Master Edward and Miss Ann. He subsequently 

 invented his entertainment, called a Lecture on 

 Heads, which possessed no small portion of drollery, 

 and became very popular. Several of his songs 

 have also been much admired. 



STEWARD. The lord high steward of Eng- 

 land was formerly an officer who had the supervi- 

 sion and regulation, next under the king, of all 

 affairs of the realm, both civil and military. The 

 office was hereditary, belonging to the earls of Lei- 

 cester until forfeited to Henry III. (See Montfort.) 

 The power of this officer was so great, that the 

 office has for a long time only been granted for 

 some particular act, as the trial of a peer on indict- 

 ment for a capital offence, the solemnisation of a cor- 

 onation, &c. The lord high steward is the first of 

 the nine great officers of the crown. The lord 

 steward of the household 'is the chief officer of the 

 king's household: his authority extends over all 

 officers and servants of the royal household except 

 those of the chamber, chapel, and stable. Under 

 the lord steward, in the counting-house, are the 

 treasurer of the household, cofferer, controller, 

 clerks of the green cloth, &c. It is called the 

 counting-house, because the household accounts are 

 kept in it. See Courts. 



STEWARD in naval affairs, is an officer in a 

 ship of war, appointed by the purser to distribute 

 the different species of provision to the officers and 

 crew. 



STEWART, SIR JAMES. DENHAM, an eminent 



