SKETCHES OF DISTINGUISHED PENNSYLVANIANS. BY DAVID R. B. NEVIN. WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING IMPORTANT STATE PAPERS, Checked May 1913 PHILADELPHIA: PORTER & COATES, 822 CHESTNUT STREET. 1875. THE NEW YORK 165619 ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS 1900. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by DAVID R. B. NEVIN, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. PREFATORY. N the threshold of our Centennial festivities while the air is redolent with the rich aroma of cherished memories and pure resolves, we proffer no apology for giving to the world brief but truthful sketches of distinguished Pennsylvanians, whose wisdom in council, and valor in battle, contributed so much to the triumph of the national arms, in the grand old days of the Revolution. The galaxy of greatness developed in that historic period borrowed much of its splendor from our own local firmament, and the names of Franklin, Wayne, and Morris, stanch exponents of philosophy, valor, and finance, have always been recognized as among its brightest stars. A plain, unadorned recital of the virtues of such an ancestry cannot fail to impart a useful moral, and stimulate a noble ambition to emulate those heroic traits of which they were the bold, expressive type. Aside from our natural personal obligations to cherish their memories on the basis of gratitude and consanguinity, a closer scrutiny of their motives, |