resigned, he received a warm acknowledgement of his services and patronage, in a letter of thanks, which is now upon the records of the society. He was always a patron of learning, and a friend to learned men. Without the advantages of a college education, he was an example to stimulate those who have been blessed with every advantage in early life; but cannot exhibit such improvement of their talents, or such exertions in the cause of literature. It was his opinion, that republics cannot exist without knowledge and virtue in the people.

He received an honorary degree of doctor of medicine from Dartmouth University.

Governor Bartlett did not live long after he resigned his public employments. His health had been declining a number of years. He died suddenly, May, 1795.

BEATTY, WILLIAM, was born in Fredrick county, in the state of Maryland, on the 19th of June, 1758. He was the eldest of twelve sons. In stature he was erect and stately, and in person vigorous and athletic; capable of enduring the greatest fatigue, and of suffering the utmost privation. His attachments were warm and permanent; his feelings glowing and enthusiastic, and his patriotism ardent and almost romantic. To a mind thus constituted, the "tented field" would necessarily present charms not easily resisted, and when in connection with this, an opportunity was offered for the indulgence of his ruling passion, it may readily be conceived that he would not be among the last to rush to the standard of his country, and offer his services in the defence of its liberties and its rights.

It is to be regretted, that the materials for the biography of men, even of the most distinguished reputation, are often found so scanty and limited. When an individual has risen by intellectual or moral excellence, above the ordinary level. of society, and becomes known to fame, the world feels an interest in every thing that concerns him, even to the most minute event of his life; and nothing is deemed tedious or unimportant, which serves to develope his character or to unfold the secret operations of his mind, or the latent feelings of his heart. On this aceount, therefore, auto-biographies are the most interesting, and perhaps the most useful; because the information we receive is derived immediately from the individual himself, who lays before the world the incidents and events of his life, with the full knowledge of the motives and feelings, and causes that led to them, which no stranger could so well understand, or so feelingly delineate.

Of the patriots of the Revolution, there are but few, for whose lives materials sufficiently abundant and circumstantial

have been left; and of the lives of those, who, though less distinguished, were perhaps not less meritorious officers, it is difficult at this remote period to procure more than a bare and meagre outline. Such is the fact in relation to the subject of this brief memoir.

In 1776, when but eighteen years of age, he obtained the appointment of ensign in colonel Grifith's regiment, in what was termed the flying camp" of Maryland. This regiment, which was hastily raised in the early part of the summer, and was to serve until the 1st of December following, received orders to march in July, to the city of New York, which it reached without accident, and thence proceeded immediately to head quarters on York island. The regiment to which young Beatty was attached, continued, during the campaign, under the command of general Washington, and at the expiration of his period of service, he returned to his native state. He did not, however, remain long in this state of inglorious inaction, a condition which ill-suited his young and ardent mind; for in a short time he was appointed a lieutenant in the Maryland line of continental troops, and spent the winter in raising recruits for the regiment to which he belonged. In the discharge of this unpleasant and difficult duty, he acquitted himself with much credit, and in the following spring joined the army at Middlebrook, in New Jersey.

His merit, as an officer, was soon discovered by the commander in chief, and he was promoted to a captaincy in the 1st Maryland regiment, which had the honour of being for some time under general Washington's immediate command. The first regiment, however, under the command of colonel Gunby, to which captain Beatty was transferred, and of which he was now the senior captain, was finally ordered to join the southern division of the American army in the Carolinas, and to co-operate with the force there, in resisting the progress of the enemy. The distinguished feats of this division are familiar to every American, and must be peculiarly gratifying to the people of Maryland, whose troops bore so conspicuous a part in that contest, especially the 1st regiment, which, according to Marshall, "gained the battle of Cowpens, and was pre-eminently distinguished in the retreat through North Carolina, and at the battle of Guilford." In this last battle, which was fought on the 15th of March, 1781, young Beatty signalized himself in a particular manner, by engaging in single combat a gallant British soldier, whom he pierced to the heart with his espontoon. This brave regiment to whose valour the glory of the day must be partly attributed, sustained its high character for courage and discipline, and acquired a reputation that never will be lost. "At the same

instant," says Johnson, in his life of Greene, "Howard (who now commanded this regiment, Gunby having been unhorsed) rushed upon them, the British, from the left, and the battle was literally fought hand to hand. It was a contest not only for victory, but reputation, Officers and soldiers equally valued themselves as the Jovians and Herculians of the two armies: nor were the incidents of it destitute of the features of chivalry and romance." Young Beatty rose high in the estimation of his superior officers, and of the army. His conduct had been such as to merit and receive no ordinary praise, and his patriotism and personal courage promised, at no great length of time, to elevate him to high rank in the army of his country. But fortune is not always propitious to the brave. His brilliant career was destined soon to be brought to a close; but the laurels he had won were doomed to acquire a fresher bloom and a richer verdure by the manner of his death. At the battle of Hobkick's hill, near Camden, which was fought on the 25th of April, in the same year, captain Beatty, while gallantly leading on the right company of the first Maryland regiment, received a mortal wound, and died, as he had always wished to die, in the lap of glory. Thus fell this brave and promising young officer, in the twenty-third year of his age, who has been emphatically termed by judge Johnson, "the delight of his command," who was indeed the pride of his regiment, and of the army, and whose untimely death was universally lamented by a grateful and magnanimous nation.

General Lee, in his memoirs of the war in the southern department, speaking of this battle, says, "The British lost no officer of distinction, which was not the case with us. The wound of lieutenant colonel Ford proved mortal, and captain Beatty, of the first Maryland, was killed, than whom the army did not possess an officer of more promise."

99

Colonel John E. Howard, who had a distinguished command to the south, and whose meritorious services are so well known, and recorded in all the histories of the Revolutionary War, does justice to the gallantry of captain Beatty, in the following extract of a letter to William B. Rochester, Esq. member of Congress from New York.

"Baltimore, February 18, 1813. "It would give me much pleasure to add my testimony to that of general Greene and others, of the great merit of captain William Beatty. Indeed, the general in few words has so strongly portrayed his character, that little can be added.

"Extract from the letter of general Greene to Congress: Among the killed is captain Beatty of the Maryland line, one of the best of officers, and an ornament to his profession.'

Judge Johnson, in his Life of general Greene, says, "The first symptom of confusion was exhibited by the commencement of a firing, contrary to orders. This was scarcely suppressed, when captain Beatty, who led the right company of the first Maryland regiment, and who was the delight of his command, fell, pierced to the heart. Captain Beatty was under my command."

BIDDLE, NICHOLAS, captain in the American navy, during the Revolutionary War, was born in the city of Philadelphia, in the year 1750. Among the brave men, who perished in the glorious struggle for the independence of America, captain Biddle bolds a distinguished rank. His services, and the high expectations raised by his military genius and gallantry, have left a strong impression of his merit, and a profound regret that his early fate should have disappointed, so soon, the hopes of his country.

Very early in life he manifested a partiality for the sea, and before the age of fourteen, he had made a voyage to Quebec. In the following year, 1765, he sailed from Philadelphia to Jamaica, and the Bay of Honduras. The vessel left the Bay in the latter end of December, 1765, bound to Antigua, and on the 2d day of January, in a heavy gale of wind, she was cast away on a shoal, called the Northern Triangles. After remaining two nights and a day upon the wreck, the crew took to their yawl, the long-boat baving been lost, and with great difficulty and hazard, landed on one of the small uninhabited islands, about three leagues distant from the reef upon which they struck. Here they staid a few days. Some provisions were procured from the wreck, and their boat was refitted. As it was too small to carry them all off, they drew lots to determine who should remain, and young Biddle was among the number. He, and his three companions, suffered extreme hardships for the want of provisions and good water; and, although various efforts were made for their relief, it was nearly two months before they succeeded.

Such a scene of dangers and sufferings in the commencement of his career, would have discouraged a youth of ordinary enterprise and perseverance. On him it produced no such effect. The coolness and promptitude with which he acted, in the midst of perils that alarmed the oldest seamen, gave a sure presage of the force of his character, and after he had returned home, he made several European voyages, in which he acquired a thorough knowledge of seamanship.

In the year 1770, when a war between Great Britain and Spain was expected, in consequence of the dispute relative to Falkland's Island, he went to London, in order to enter into the British navy. He took with him letters of recommenda

tion from Thomas Willing, Esquire, to his brother-in-law captain Sterling, on board of whose ship he served for some time as a midshipman. The dispute with Spain being accommodated, he intended to leave the navy, but was persuaded by captain Sterling to remain in the service, promising that he would use all his interest to get him promoted. His ardent mind, however, could not rest satisfied with the inactivity of his situation, which he was impatient to change for one more suited to his disposition.

In the year 1773, a voyage of discovery was undertaken, at the request of the Royal Society, in order to ascertain how far navigation was practicable towards the North Pole, to advance the discovery of a north-west passage into the south seas, and to make such astronomical observations as might prove serviceable to navigation.

Two vessels, the Race Horse and Carcase, were fitted out for the expedition, the command of which was given to captain Phipps, afterwards lord Mulgrave. The peculiar dangers to which such an undertaking was exposed, induced the government to take extraordinary precautions in fitting out, and preparing the vessels, and selecting the crews, and a positive order was issued that no boys should be received on board.

To the bold and enterprising spirit of young Biddle, such an expedition had great attractions. Extremely anxious to join it, he endeavoured to procure captain Sterling's permission for that purpose, but he was unwilling to part with him, and would not consent to let him go. The temptation was, however, irresistible. He resolved to go, and laying aside his uniform, he entered on board the Carcase before the mast. When he first went on board, he was observed by a seaman who had known him before, and was very much attached to him. The honest fellow, thinking that he must have been degraded, and turned before the mast in disgrace, was greatly affected at seeing him, but he was equally surprised and pleased when he learned the true cause of the young officer's disguise, and he kept his secret as he was requested to do. Im pelled by the same spirit, young Horatio, afterwards lord Nelson, had solicited and obtained permission to enter on board the same vessel. These youthful adventurers are both said to have been appointed cockswains, a station always assigned to the most active and trusty seaman. The particulars of this expedition are well known to the public. These intrepid navigators penetrated as far as the latitude of eighty-one degrees and thirty-nine minutes, and they were, at one time, enclosed with mountains of ice, and their vessels rendered almost immoveable for five days, at the hazard of instant destruction.