HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY 



159 



triot during the revolution, and vice 

 president of the State of Pennsylvania 

 betw^een 1785 and 1788. yvhen Benjamin 

 Franklin was the president. Another son 

 was Captain Nicholas Biddle, a comrade 

 in early life of Horatio Nelson, when 

 both were midshipmen in the English 

 navy. His later career in the navy of 

 our own country is well known. It was of 

 him Paul Jones, writing of the "live Cap- 

 tains" appointed in the revolution, said: 

 "Four of them were respectable skippers; 

 and they all outlived the war! One of 

 them was the kind of naval captain that 

 the God of Battles makes. That one was 

 Nick Biddle — poor, brave Nick! and he 

 died in hopeless battle with a foe double 

 his own strength — half of his flagship 

 going down, and the other half going 

 up by explosion of his magazine." 



Vice-president Charles Biddle married, 

 in 1778, Hannah Shepard, and had ten 

 children. Two of these, Edward and 

 James, went into the United States navy. 

 Edward died during his first voyage, but 

 James became one of the most famous 

 naval officers. He served under Commo- 

 dore Bainbridge on the coast of Tripoli, 

 and shared with the crew of the ill-fated 

 "Philadelphia" the long period of im- 

 prisonment to which they were con- 

 demned by the Tripolitans. He was 

 first lieutenant of the sloop-of-war 

 "Wasp," in the sea fight with the British 

 sloop-of-war "Frolic," and led the board- 

 ers when the decks of the Englishman 

 were carried. He was captain of the 

 "Hornet," in the action with the British 

 ship "Penguin," when the latter was cap- 

 tured after a furious conflict, her cap- 

 tain being among the list of killed. He 

 was afterwards commander of the navy 

 yard and governor at the naval asylum 

 at Philadelphia, from 1838 to 1842. 

 Among special services rendered by him 

 was the taking possession of Oregon ter- 

 ritory in 1817; the signing of a commer- 

 cial treaty with Turkey in 1826; he ex- 

 changed ratifications of the first treaty 

 with China, and acted as United States 

 commissioner to that country; he also 

 touched at Japan and made an earnest effort 

 to conciliate by kindness and forbearance its 

 singular and exclusive people. 



Nicholas Biddle. whose name is first 

 associated with "Andalusia," (son 01 

 Vice-president Charles) was during 

 manv years the most noted member of 

 the family. He was secretary to General 

 Armstrong, United States Minister to 

 France, in 1804, and was present at the 

 coronation of Emperor Napoleon in 

 Paris. At tliis time the purchase of 

 Louisiana and the indemnification for in- 

 juries to American commerce were in 

 progress, and. although but eighteen 

 years of age, young Biddle managed the 

 details with the veterans of the French 

 bureau, in whom his juvenile appearance 

 and precocious ability excited much sur- 

 prise. Leaving the legation, he traveled 



in the continent of Europe, adding to his 

 classical attainments a thorough mastery 

 of the modern languages which he re- 

 tained through life. On reaching Eng- 

 land, he became secretary to Mr. Mon- 

 roe, then our Minister to London. On 

 his return to America in 1807, he engaged 

 in the practice of the law and devoted a 

 portion of his time to literary pursuits. 

 He became associated with Joseph Den- 

 nie in the editorship of the "Portfolio" in 

 181 1. His papers on the fine arts, bio- 

 graphical sketches and critical essays 

 exhibit a discriminating taste. When 

 Lewis and Clark had returned from 

 their explorations their journals and 

 memoradums were placed in the hands 

 of Mr. Biddle, who prepared from them 

 and the oral relation of Clark the nar- 

 rative of the expedition. Published in 

 1814, it has gone through various edi- 

 tions, and is recognized to-day as an au- 

 thoritative and admirably compiled ac- 

 count of this noted journey. 



He was in the state legislature in 1810, 

 advocating a system of popular educa- 

 tion. It was not until 1836 that the 

 ideas broached by him were fully carried 

 out by legisla/tive enactment. When 

 the renewal of the charter of the old 

 United States Bank was under discus- 

 sion in 181 1, he advocated the measure 

 in a speech which was widely circu- 

 lated at the time, and gained the dis- 

 tinguished approval of Chief Justice 

 Marshall. During the war with England 

 he was elected to the state senate and 

 gave a zealous and powerful support to 

 the measures of the national adminis- 

 tration for carrying on the contest. He 

 and all of his brothers were now en- 

 gaged in the service of the country — in 

 public councils, the navy, the army, and 

 the militia; of whom Commodore James 

 Biddle, Major Thomas Biddle, and Ma- 

 jor John Biddle gained particular mili- 

 tary reputation. The youngest of the 

 brothers, Richard Biddle, during the war 

 a volunteer at Camp Dupont, afterwards 

 settled at Pittsburg and was for many 

 years an acknowledged leader of the bar 

 of that city. 



After the capture of Washington, when 

 an invasion of Pennsylvania was ex- 

 pected, Nicholas Biddle in the senate 

 initiated the most vigorous measures for 

 the defense of the state. Towards the 

 close of the war he replied to the ad- 

 dress of the Hartford convention by an 

 elaborate report which was adopted in 

 the Pennsylvania legislature, a state pa- 

 per which attracted universal attention 

 and added greatly to the reputation of its 

 author. In 18T9 he became a government 

 director of the Bank of the United States 

 on the nomination of President Mon- 

 roe, and under a resolution of Congress 

 prepared a work on the laws and regula- 

 tions of foreign countries relative to com- 

 merce; moneys, weights and measures. 

 This was known in its day as "The Com- 



