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mitted to the bar in New York, and, practising in the intervals of his duties as surveyor, according to Smith, the historian of the colony, "attained great eminence for his profound legal knowledge, sagacity, and penetration." In 1720, Governor Burnet appointed him a member of his council. According to the biographer, — “ It was not merely as a lawyer, a politician, or a statesman, that Mr. Alexander was distinguished, but also as a man of science. He was not only the principal author, with Dr. Colden, of the memorable report on the Indian trade, in defence of the policy of Governor Burnet, but, together with Dr. Franklin, Francis Hopkinson, and others, founded the American Philosophical Society. He maintained, moreover, a constant correspondence with Halley, the Astronomer Royal at Greenwich, and other learned mathematicians in different parts of Europe, upon subjects relating to their common pursuits." James Alexander died in 1756, leaving an ample fortune to his children.

William Alexander had received the best education the country at that time afforded, and had the advantage of private instruction from his father in the exact sciences. Early in life he had engaged in commercial pursuits, and subsequently joined the commissariat of the army.

"The zeal, activity, and military spirit he displayed in the discharge of his duties, in the field as well as in the camp, attracted the notice of the commander-in-chief, General Shirley, whose staff he was eventually invited to join as aide-de-camp and private secretary. In this capacity he served during the greater part of the war, which, although not formally declared in Europe until 1756, had actually commenced on this continent some years before. It was thus that young Alexander had an early opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of military affairs, during three severe campaigns in which he served with General Shirley."

In an interval of his service with the army, the enlightened benevolence which marked his character exhibited itself in his uniting with five of his fellow-townsmen in laying the foundation, by a donation of "six hundred pounds to purchase books for the people," of the admirable institution now known as the New York Society Library. About this period he married Sarah, the eldest daughter of Philip Livingston, proprietor of Livingston manor.

General Shirley having been superseded in the military command in the Colonies,

"Major Alexander accompanied him to England in the autumn of 1756, to aid in the settlement of his accounts, and to indicate by his testimony the character of his commander. He was accordingly examined as a witness on his behalf at the bar of the House of Commons, in April, 1757, and his evidence contributed materially to the justification of his friend and patron. The candor and intelligence of the young American in giving his testimony received the marked approbation of the House, and contributed, with the interest of Shirley, and the letters he had brought with him from other military men of rank and family, to facilitate his introduction to some of the most eminent public characters in England; while his conciliatory manners, social accomplishments, general information, and enlightened views in regard to the mutual interests of the mother country and her colonies, recommended him strongly to their esteem and confidence. Among the friends distinguished by rank and station that he made at this period was the eloquent and ingenious Charles Townshend, the versatility of whose talents has obtained a permanent celebrity in the splendid eulogy and quaint metaphors of Edmund Burke."

James, the father of William Alexander, was known, at the time of his leaving Scotland, to be the presumptive heir to the title of the Earl of Stirling. On the death of that nobleman, in 1737, James Alexander was probably prevented from laying claim to the title by the circumstances under which he left his native country, being implicated in the rebellion of 1715.

His son, William Alexander, being free from reproach on this account, and having received from his father a considerable inheritance which he had increased by marriage, so as to render his fortune sufficient for the support of a Scotch earldom, felt bound to make good nis claim to a title which he considered rightfully his own. Nor was Mr. Alexander's object in procuring himself to be judicially recognized as the heir male of the deceased Earl of Stirling limited to the attainment of the peerage alone. The estates of the last earl in Scotland had all been sequestrated for the benefit of his creditors. But there remained large tracts of country in America, which had been granted to his ancestors, and which had escaped the sequestration, as well on account of their remoteness, as their inconsiderable value at that period. The progress of time, settlement, and the consequent development of resources, had now given to these tracts no trifling present,

and immense prospective value, which their enumeration will suffice to show.

They consisted first of Nova Scotia, next of Long Island, and lastly of St. Croix or Sagadahock, a territory comprising all the present State of Maine lying eastward of the Kennebec river. The last Earl of Stirling had conveyed his title to Long Island and St. Croix to the Duke of York, in consideration of an annuity of £ 300, which is said never to have been in any part paid. The right of the earl to make this conveyance was also questioned, by reason of his having refused to enter on the inheritance of his father, on account of the debts with which it was encumbered, chiefly in consequence of the, expenses incurred by his father in colonizing his American estates; he had therefore abandoned it to sequestration. The American estates had eventually come to be administered by the crown, which now enjoyed the quitrents.

Under these circumstances, Mr. Alexander was persuaded to hope, that if he could make good, as he had just reason to believe he should, his claim to the earldom of Stirling, the inheritance of the family estates in America might follow. This inheritance he offered to divide equitably with the descendants of the female branch of his family in England, who cordially assented to his proposition, and authorized him to proceed in their behalf. Having made his claims known to his friends in England as well as in this country, "it was," says his biographer, "from the encouragement of Mr. Townshend, the Duke of Argyle, and the Earl of Bute, in addition to the persuasions of General Shirley, and of his friends Messrs. Thomas and John Penn, the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, and of Mr. Morris, their governor of that province, that Mr. Alexander was induced to lay claim to the vacant earldom of Stirling."

Having obtained the highest legal opinions in favor of his claim, among others that of Mr. Wedderburne, afterwards Lord Chancellor and Baron Loughborough, he repaired to Edinburgh in the summer of 1757, and remained there a year, occupied, with the aid of eminent counsel, in collecting the testimony necessary to substantiate his title to the peerage, and in instituting the proper legal proceedings to establish it. These matters not having been accomplished without the law's usual delay, Mr. Alexander returned to

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London to await the result, where it was at length communicated to him by his legal adviser in Edinburgh, in March, 1759, in a letter which thus concluded: "We had a most creditable jury of the best gentlemen in town, who, with one voice, have found you nearest male-heir to the last deceased Earl of Stirling."

It had appeared in evidence before the jury, that Mr. Alexander was lineally descended from an uncle of the first Earl of Stirling, whose direct male line had failed on the death of his great-grandson in 1737. Under the Scottish laws, a patent of nobility, not confined to heirs male in the direct line, went to the nearest collateral branch. This was not the case in England; but as the claim was to a Scottish peerage, which carried no right, except by election, to a seat in the House of Lords, Mr. Alexander's counsel were of opinion, that his title to the peerage resulted from his having established his claim to be considered the nearest heir male.

Subsequently to the finding of the jury in his favor, Mr. Alexander was addressed by his title of Earl of Stirling, which he continued ever after to use and to receive in his correspondence with the ministers of the crown and other officers of state. His able legal adviser in Scotland was of opinion that, having gone through all the forms which the Scottish laws required to put him in possession of his title, he should now assume it and rest satisfied, until objections should be made at an election of Scottish peers to represent the body in the Imperial Parliament. This opinion coincided with his own. But the Duke of Newcastle, then prime minister, and others of his friends in England, urged him to petition the House of Lords to acknowledge his claim to the peerage, as the most respectful course towards that body, and most likely therefore to conciliate its favor. This he accordingly did.

Whilst the matter was still pending, with several other contested peerages, before that body, the death of his mother in New York made it necessary for him to return home. He accordingly sailed from Portsmouth in the Alcide manof-war, on the 28th of July. This ship had to convoy a fleet of merchant-vessels for the West Indies, as well as for North America. The circuitous voyage which this involved, as well as the dull sailing of some of the vessels, and their

general dilatoriness and disobedience of signals, so prolonged the passage, that the Alcide did not arrive at New York until the 21st of October, after a passage of eighty-five days. Soon after his arrival, he wrote to Lord Bute, congratulating him on the recent fall of Martinico, and expressing the opinion, that the force which had accomplished this conquest might advantageously be employed in the reduction of Havana, whose great importance in the hands of England he strongly enforced, especially as a means of subsequently conquering Louisiana. He suggested, moreover, that "if the troops already in the West Indies were insufficient, they might be reinforced by eight or nine good battalions from New York." Havana was, indeed, soon after taken, the expedition having sailed from England soon after Stirling's letter reached Lord Bute. It reinforced itself with the troops which had reduced Martinico, and was further aided in the siege, at a moment when failure seemed inevitable, by the timely arrival of a strong reinforcement from New York.

Stirling had intended returning in the following winter to England, to aid the favorable issue of his petition to the House of Lords. But his passage to New York had been so unexpectedly prolonged as to render this course incompatible with the necessary attention to his domestic affairs. His petition, which could only be entertained after several antecedent ones of a similar nature were disposed of, probably languished for the want of his personal attendance. He wrote to Lord Bute, explaining the circumstances which rendered his immediate return to England impossible, and asking the favor of his "protection and interest, so far as to obtain that justice which every one in like circumstances has enjoyed."

"I only ask," he added, "what the express terms of the patent give to me; what has constantly been the practice of succession in Scotland for a century or two before the union; what has not been altered by that treaty, but is confirmed by it; and this, my Lord, under your protection, I can make no doubt of obtaining; and therefore should be glad to have the proceedings in my case in Scotland brought before their lordships as soon as possible, that they may be satisfied that I hold my title agreeably to the practice of that country, in the most authentic manner.'

A change of ministry soon after followed, bringing in the Tories, and dispossessing the Whigs, who were personally

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