be attended by disastrous results. Mr. Morton, however, was a man of firmness and decision, and, in the spirit of true patriotism, he enrolled his vote in favour of the liberty of his country. Considering his novel and solemn situation, he deserves to be remembered with peculiar respect, by the free and independent yeomanry of America.

In the following year, he assisted in organizing a system of confederation, and was chairman of the committee of the whole, at the time it was finally agreed to, on the 15th of November, 1777. During the same year, he was seized with an inflammatory fever, which, after a few days, ended his mortal existence, in the 54th year of his age. Mr. Morton was a professor of religion, and a truly excellent man. To the poor he was ever kind; and to an affectionate family, consisting of a wife, three sons, and five daughters, he was an affectionate husband and father. His only enemies were those who would not forgive him because of his vote in favour of independence. During his last sickness, and even on the verge of the eternal world, he remembered them, and requested those who stood round him, to tell them, that the hour would yet come, when it would be acknowledged, that his vote in favour of American independence was the most illustrious act of his life.

GEORGE CLYMER.

GEORGE CLYMER was born in the city of Philadelphia, in the year 1739. His father was descended from a respectable family of Bristol, in England; and after his emigration to America became connected by marriage with a lady in Philadelphia. Young Clymer was left an orphan at the age of seven years, upon which event the care of him devolved upon William Coleman, a maternal uncle, a gentleman of much respectability among the citizens of Philadelphia.

The education of young Clymer was superintended by his uncle, than whom few men were better qualified for such a charge. The uncle possessed a cultivated mind, and early instilled into his nephew a love of reading. On the completion of his education, he entered the counting-room of his uncle. His genius, however, was little adapted to mercantile employments, being more inclined to literary and scientific pursuits. At a suitable period he commenced business for himself, in connexion with Mr. Robert Ritchie, and afterwards with two gentlemen, father and son, by the name of Merediths, a daughter of the former of whom he subsequently married.

Although Mr. Clymer embarked in the pursuits of commerce, and continued engaged in that business for many years, he was always decidedly opposed to it. During his mercantile operations, he found much time to read. He was distinguished for a clear and original mind; and though he never pursued any of the learned professions, he became well versed in the principles of law, history, and politics.

At the age of twenty-seven, he was married, as has already been noticed, to a daughter of Mr. Meredith, a gentleman of a generous and elevated mind, as the following anecdote of him will show. While yet a young man, General Washington had occasion to visit Philadelphia, where he was an entire stranger. Happening in at the public house where Washington lodged, Mr. Meredith observed him, inquired his name, and finding him to be a stranger in the place, invited him to the hospitalities of his house, and kindly insisted upon his continuance with his family while he remained in the city. This accidental acquaintance led to a friendship of many years continuance, and at Mr. Meredith's, Washington ever after made it his home when he visited Philadelphia.

Mr. Clymer may be said to have been by nature a republican. He was, also, a firm and devoted patriot. His feelings were strongly enlisted, at an early age, against the arbitrary acts of the British government. Gifted with a sort of prescience, he foresaw what was meditated against his country, and was ready to hazard every interest in support of the

pillars of American freedom. Hence, when conciliatory measures with the parent country were found unavailing, he was one of the foremost to adopt measures necessary for defence. He early accepted a captain's commission in a company of volunteers, raised for the defence of the province, and manfully opposed, in 1773, the sale of tea, which was sent out by the British government for the purpose of indirectly levying a contribution on the Americans without their consent. Never was a plan more artfully laid by the ministry of Great Britain; never was an attack upon American liberty more covert and insidious; and never was a defeat more complete and mortifying. On the arrival of the tea destined to Philadelphia, the citizens of that place, in a numerous meeting, adopted the most spirited resolutions, the object of which was to prevent the sale of it. A committee was appointed, of which Mr. Clymer was chairman, to wait upon the consignees, and to request them not to attempt to sell it. This was a delicate office; the committee, however, fearlessly and faithfully discharged the duties of their appointment; and not a single pound of tea was offered for sale in the city of Philadelphia.

In 1775, Mr. Clymer was chosen a member of the council of safety, and one of the first continental treasurers. On the 20th of July, of the following year, he was elected a member of the continental congress; and though not present when the vote was taken on the question of independence, he had the honour of affixing his signature to that instrument in the following month.

In September, Mr. Clymer was appointed to visit Ticonderoga, in conjunction with Mr. Stockton, to inspect the affairs of the northern army. In December of the same year, congress, finding it necessary to adjourn to Baltimore, in consequence of the advance of the British army towards Philadelphia, left Mr. Clymer, Robert Morris, and George Walton, a committee to transact such business in that city as might be found necessary.

In 1777, Mr. Clymer was again a member of congress His duties during this session were particularly arduous, and

owing to his unremitting exertions, he was obliged to retire for a season, for the recovery of his health.

During the fall of this distressing year, the family of Mr. Clymer, which, at that time resided in the county of Chester about twenty-five miles from Philadelphia, suffered severely, in consequence of an attack by a band of British soldiers. The furniture of the house was destroyed, and a large stock of liquors shared a similar fate. Fortunately, the family made their escape. Mr. Clymer was then in Philadelphia. On the arrival of the British in that place, they sought out his residence, and were proceeding to tear it down, and were only diverted from their purpose by the information, that the house did not belong to him.

During this year, Mr. Clymer was appointed a commis sioner, in conjunction with several other gentlemen, to proceed to Pittsburg, on the important and confidential service, of preserving a good understanding with several indian tribes in that country, and particularly to enlist warriors from the Shawanese and Delaware indians into the service of the United States. During his residence at Pittsburg, he narrowly escaped death from the tomahawk of the enemy, having, in an excursion to visit a friend, accidentally and fortunately taken a route which led him to avoid a party of savages, who murdered a white man at the very place where Mr. Clymer must have been, had he not chosen a different road.

In our biographical sketch of Robert Morris, we have given some account of the establishment of a bank by the patriotic citizens of Philadelphia, the object of which was the relief of the army, which, in 1780, was suffering such a combination of calamities, as was likely to lead to its dis banding. Of the advocates of this measure, Mr. Clymer was one, and from the active and efficient support which he gave to the bank, he was selected as a director of the institution. By means of this bank, the pressing wants of the army were relieved. Congress, by a resolve, testified the high sense which they entertained of the generosity and patriotism of the association, and pledged the faith of the

United States to the subscribers to the bank, for their ultimate reimbursement and indemnity.

Mr. Clymer was again elected to congress in 1780; from which time, for nearly two years, he was absent from his seat but a few weeks, so faithfully and indefatigably attentive was he to the public service. In the latter part of 1782, he removed with his family to Princeton, in New-Jersey, for the purpose of giving to his children the advantages of a collegiate education, in the seminary in that place. After the many toils and privations through which he had passed, it was a luxury, indeed, to enjoy the peace of domestic life, especially having to reflect that the glorious object for which he and his fellow-countrymen had laboured so long, was now with certainty soon to be accomplished.

In 1784, Mr. Clymer was again summoned by the citizens of Pennsylvania, to take a part in the general assembly of that state. Of this body he continued a member until the ineeting of the convention to form a more efficient constitution for the general government; of which latter body he was elected a member, and after the adoption of the constitution, he represented the state of Pennsylvania, in congress, for two years; when declining a re-election, he closed his long and able legislative career.

In the year 1791, congress passed a bill imposing a duty on spirits distilled in the United States. To the southern and western part of the country, this duty was singularly abnoxious. At the head of the excise department, in the state of Pennsylvania, Mr. Clymer was placed. The duties of this office were rendered extremely disagreeable, by reason of the general dissatisfaction, which prevailed on account of the law. This dissatisfaction was particularly strong in the district of Pennsylvania lying west of the Alleghany mountains, and here the spirit of discontent broke out into acts of open opposition. At the risk of his life, Mr. Clymer made a visit to this theatre of insurrection, to ascertain the existing state of things, and if possible to allay the spirit of opposition, which was manifesting itself. His instructions, however, were so limited, that he was able to produce but