434 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



guished merit for two generations, both in the Tinted 

 States and in England. In the parts of "Richard III.," 

 " Macbeth," and "Othello," his acting was of the highest 

 order. Died. 1872. 



Foster, John Watson, diplomatist; born in Pike 

 County. Ind., March 2, 1836; graduated from Indiana 

 State University, 1855; student one year at Harvard 

 Law School (LL. D., Princeton. Y:il.-. \\ abash College); 

 admitted to Indiana bar; was major, lieutenant-colonel, 

 and colonel in Indiana regiments. After war editor of 

 "Evansville Daily Journal"; postmaster. Kvansville, 

 1869-73; minister to Mexico, 1873-80; to Russia, 1880- 

 81. Established, 1881, in practice in international 

 cases in Washington, representing foreign legations be- 

 fore commissions, arbitration boards, etc. Minister to 

 Spain, 1883-85; special plenipotentiary to negotiate 

 reciprocity treaties with Brazil, Spain, Germany, British 

 West Indies, etc., 1891 ; secretary of state. United States 

 1892-93; agent for United States in Bering Sea Arbitra- 

 tion, at Paris, 1893; invited by Emperor of China and 

 participated in peace negotiations with Japan; ambas- 

 sador on special mission to Great Britain and Russia, 

 1897; member Anglo-Canadian Commission, 1898; 

 agent for United States Alaskan Boundary Tribunal, 

 London, 1903. Author: "Biography of Matthew Wat- 

 son Foster," "A Century of American Diplomacy," 

 " American Diplomacy in the Orient," "Arbitration and 

 The Hague Court." 



Fox, Charles James, statesman; born in West- 

 minster in 1749; was the third son of Henry Fox, Lord 

 Holland, who early inducted him into gambling and the 

 other fashionable vices, which clung to him through life. 

 Educated at Eton and at Hertford College, Oxford, he 

 entered parliament at the age of 19 as member for Mid- 

 hurst, and, having immediately made his mark as a de- 

 bater, became a lord of the admiralty, and was in 1773 

 nominated lord of the treasury. He soon, however, 

 quarreled with Lord North. In 1782, Fox became 

 secretary of state under Lord Rockingham, but on the 

 latter's death (in the same year), refused to serve under 

 Lord Shelburne. On the collapse of the Shelburne ad- 

 ministration in 1783, he entered into a coalition with 

 Lord North. The ministry thus formed was defeated 

 on Fox's India bill owing to the machinations of George 

 III. in the House of Lords, arid it was twenty-two years 

 before Fox was again called to office, so deep-seated was 

 the king's dislike to him. In the interval he threw him- 

 self into an enthusiastic advocacy of the French* revo- 

 lution. At first he found himself in company with most 

 of the Whig party, but, as the revolution ran into wild 

 excesses, there was a large defection of Whigs to the 

 Tory party, and Fox was left with a scanty and dis- 

 pirited band of followers. His name was struck off the 

 list of privy councilors, and in 1797, he retired from 

 parliamentary life to superintend the education of his 

 nephew, Lord Holland, and to write the " History of the 

 Reign of James II." When his great rival, Pitt, formed 

 his last administration, he wished Fox to join it, but 

 the king gave a steady refusal. On Pitt's death, in 1806, 

 he was at last obliged to admit him to office, and Fox 

 became foreign secretary in Grenville's ministry of "All 

 the Talents." But the term of his life had nearly run 

 out, and he had no time to realize the high expectations 

 of his followers. His last motion in parliament was 

 directed against the slave trade, and he died (at Chis- 

 wiek in 1806), within a few months of the measure 

 founded upon it being passed into law. He was ad- 

 mittedly the first orator of his time; he was also a man 

 of wide reading, and he showed himself equal to sacri- 

 fices to principle such as few statesmen have cared to 

 make. 



Fox, George, founder of the Society of Friends; 

 was born in County Leicester, England, in 1624. Early 

 adopting the peculiar tenets and manners known as 

 Quakerism, he suffered for many years continual perse- 

 cution. In 167 1, he sailed for the West Indies and the 

 American Colonies, to propagate the doctrines of the 

 sect he had originated; and on his return to England, 

 in 1673, he was again imprisoned, but soon released 

 through the influence of William Penn. After the ac- 

 cession of William III. to the throne, the public worship 

 of the Society of Friends became tolerated and legalized. 

 Died in London in 1690. 



Francis, Joseph Charles, Emperor of Austria and 

 King of Hungary; born in 1830; is the son of the Em- 

 peror Francis I., and nephew of the Emperor Ferdinand I. 

 The revolution of 1848 compelled Ferdinand to abdi- 

 cate, and his brother resigning his claims to the throne 

 in favor of his own son, the latter was at the early 

 age of 18 called to rule an empire shaken by civil war. 

 He took part in the campaign against the Hungarians, 

 and was present at the capture of Raab in June, 1849. 

 Restored to the mastery of his dominions, he proceeded 



to undo the work of 1848. The Hungarian constitution 

 was suspended, the absolute authority of the Hahshuni 

 monarchy in the Austrian dominions proclaimed, ami 

 the imperial ministers were declared responsible only 

 to the emperor. The absolute regime was maintained 

 during the first ten years of his reign, though his own 

 sentiments inclined to a more liberal rule. It was not 

 till Austria had sustained severe reverses abroad that 

 the system fell. The demand of Napoleon III. that the 

 question of the Lombardo-Venetian states should be 

 referred to a European conference being refused, war 

 was declared. The Austrians were defeated at the battle 

 of Solferino on June 24, 1859, and the emperor was com- 

 pelled to sign the treaty of Villafranca, by which all 

 claims to Lombardy were resigned. A partial return 

 to constitutionalism was then attempted, and repre- 

 sentative diets were restored in the different states, but 

 the Hungarians did not cease to demand restoration 

 of their old national institutions in their integrity. A 

 dispute between Austria and Prussia as to Schleswig- 

 Hoistein led to war between the two nations in 1866. 

 Here again the Austrians were completely defeated, and 

 were compelled to accept the North German Confedera- 

 tion under the leadership of Prussia, and to give up Venice 

 to Italy. After these disasters the emperor restored 

 national self-government to Hungary, and in June, 1877, 

 was declared king of that country. In later years the 

 emperor's influence in foreign politics has been chiefly 

 directed to forming a closer alliance with Germany and 

 Italy. In 1878, the treaty of Berlin allowed Austria 

 to occupy Bosnia and the Herzegovina. In 1887 the 

 emperor took part in a series of military councils held to 

 provide for the defense of Galicia against Russia. By 

 the suicide of the Crown Prince Rudolph in February, 

 1889, he was deprived of all hope of a direct successor, 

 and the crown will pass, on his death, to his nephew, 

 Francis Ferdinand, son of his brother, Charles Louis. 



Franklin, Benjamin, born in 1706; statesman, 

 philosopher, and publisher; was the fifteenth of seven- 

 teen children of a soap-boiler of Boston, Mass. Quarrel- 

 ing with his brother, he went to Philadelphia almost 

 penniless. Here, in 1729, he purchased the " Pennsyl- 

 vania Gazette," formed a club called "The Junto," and 

 began to acquire political influence. He was chosen 

 clerk of the provincial assembly in 1736, and in 1753, 

 became postmaster-general for British North America. 



i In 1754, when a rupture with France was expected, he 

 sat as a delegate in the Congress at Albany, and in 1756, 

 for a third time held a military command. In 1757, he 

 was sent to England as agent for Pennsylvania, and his 

 reputation as a practical philosopher having preceded 



; him, he was received with great respect, Edinburgh, 



I Oxford, and St. Andrews conferring upon him the degree 

 of doctor of laws. In 1764 he revisited England as 

 colonial agent, and was mainly instrumental in securing 



1 the repeal of the stamp act. When the rupture with 

 England took place he was elected a member of the 

 American Congress, signed the Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence, and subsequently aided in framing the Con- 

 stitution of the United States. In 1776 he was ap- 

 pointed ambassador to France, and held the post until 

 1785. He returned to America to assume the office of 

 president of Pennsylvania, to which he was twice re- 

 elected, retiring from public life in 1788. Among his 

 scientific discoveries was the identity of lightning with 

 electricity, which he demonstrated by his famous kite 

 experiment. He also discovered the course taken by 

 storms over the North American continent. Died, 1790. 

 Frederick II., usually called "the Great," was born 

 in A. D. 1712; King of Prussia from 1740 to 1786. 

 During his reign the power of Prussia was greatly ex- 

 tended. The Seven Years' War (1756-63), in which he 

 took part with England, secured to him a decided in- 

 fluence in the affairs of Europe, and added Silesia to 

 his dominions; in 1772, he shared in the partition of 

 Poland, and obtained as his portion all Polish Prussia 

 and a part of Great Poland; and, in 1779, by the Treaty 

 of Teschen, he obtained Franconia. Thus, at his death, 

 his kingdom was one-half larger in area than it had been 

 at his accession; his army was as well organized as any 

 in Europe; and the internal affairs of the country were 

 directed by him with vigor, and, on the whole, with 



Fdence. He was in many respects one of the greatest 

 res in modern history. The "History of Friedrich 

 of Prussia, commonly called Frederick the Great," 

 by Thomas Carlyle, brings out clearly and forcibly the 

 good and the bad sides of his character. Died, 1786. 



Frederick Charles, Prince of Prussia, born in 1828; 

 known as the "Red Prince" from the color of his favor- 

 ite hussar uniform, was the eldest son of Prince Charles, 

 brother of the German Emperor William, his mother 

 being a sister of the Empress Augusta. He served in 

 the first Schleswig-Holstein War, and having become a 



