Memoir of Mr. J. W. Featherstonhaugh.—By J. D. F. 221 
sion, whose duty it should be to review the controversy of 
more than fifty years, to make a minute personal examination 
of the territory in dispute, to establish barometrical altitudes, 
and fix the latitude and longitude of prominent points. A 
similar commission was appointed by the United States. 
Accordingly Colonel Z. Mudge, of high astronomical reputa¬ 
tion, and Mr. Featherstonhaugh were appointed her Majesty’s 
commissioners for the disputed boundary in North America. 
These gentlemen entered upon their duties at once, and after 
a thorough examination, traversing the wilderness on foot and 
in canoes, presented to the houses of parliament a substan¬ 
tially accurate map with an accompanying report, embracing 
the subject in all its historical and existent details. Not long 
after this Commissioner Featherstonhaugh, when called upon 
to speak of the subject at a numerously attended public din¬ 
ner, outlined an equitable compromise, which was eventually 
agreed upon by Mr. Webster and Lord Ashburton, and finally 
ratified by the United States senate. 
Subsequently to this happy and rational termination of the 
irritating controversy, Mr. Featherstonhaugh was appointed 
by the English government to the responsible office of consul 
for the Department of the Seine, France, where he resided 
with his family until the time of his decease, having married 
Charlotte, youngest daughter of Bernard Carter, a well-known 
Virginia gentleman. 
It was during his residence at Havre that he was called 
upon to be the effective agent in accomplishing the escape of 
Louis Philippe and the queen from the imminent dangers of 
the revolution of 1848. The plan was arranged that an Eng¬ 
lish gentleman should escort the Duchess of Orleans to the 
frontiers of Belgium, with a passport made out as if for his 
own wife and children. Or failing that, assist the others in the 
king’s flight, as he was cautiously making for the sea-coast, 
near Havre. The Duchess and her children happily escaped 
by other means, and all efforts were concentrated on the safety 
of the king. At length reaching the coast in a sorry plight 
from the tempestuous weather, the royal party crossed in a 
ferry-boat to H4vre, in a drenching rain, and Mr. Smith in a 
dreadnaught coat and a south wester hat assumed to be on a 
visit to his nephew, the English consul. 
Arriving at Havre the travellers were received by the consul, 
