the scene of disaster, and was, as usual, foremost, by personal and pecuniary sacrifices, in the work of its restoration to soundness. Having been so thoroughly identified with this great enterprise, he felt keenly the reflections made on his sagacity, which were somewhat liberally indulged in. In a letter to one of his family, at this period, complaining of these attacks, he says, “I have done nothing I am ashamed of, and nothing that I feel a conviction of wrong in; and I am heartily thankful that I have a larger amount in our stock than any other man; as it shows, that if others confided in my representations, I was candid in them, and that I never pressed the enterprise that I was not willing to take the lead in every way."

The latter period of his life was passed in the active duties of benevolence and philanthropy. The disease which terminated it was contracted on a tour to the West, for the establishment of two manual labor schools, which he founded and endowed by his will. Under this, two bodies of land, in the States of Iowa and Indiana, comprising several thousand acres, have been purchased, and corporations created, to educate, in perpetuity, "poor children, white, colored, and Indian."

He filled various offices, the most prominent having been Canal Commissioner of the State.

In person, he was short and somewhat stout; his habits were exemplary, frugal, temperate, and always strictly subordinate to business. Indomitable perseverance formed the grand characteristic and secret of his success. That his views were far-reaching and sound, is abundantly illustrated by that success, to which we are greatly indebted for the internal improvements of the State, the development of its mineral resources, and especially the liberal enjoyment of the best of fuel and the purest of water. Charles V. Hagner, speaking of Josiah White, says, " White & Hazard were using, in their rolling-mill, bituminous coal; they knew of the large body of anthracite at the head of the Schuylkill, and early commenced making experiments with it. They had some brought down in wagons, at an expense of one dollar per bushel, twenty-eight dollars per ton, expended a considerable sum of money in experimenting, but could not succeed in making it burn. The hands working in the mill got heartily sick and tired of it, and it was about being abandoned; but on a certain occasion, after they

had been trying for a long time to make it burn, without success, they became exasperated, threw a large quantity of the black stones,' as they called them, into the furnace, shut the doors, and left the mill. It so happened that one of them had left his jacket in the mill, and in going there for it, some time afterwards, he discovered a tremendous fire in the furnace, the doors red with heat. He immediately called all hands, and they run through the rolls three separate heats of iron with that one fire.

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Upon making this discovery, Mr. White immediately began to make experiments in contriving various kinds of grates to make the anthracite applicable for domestic use, in which he finally succeeded to admiration.

"Mr. White started and originated the Schuylkill Navigation Company, which was chartered March 8th, 1815, and this was another of his beneficial acts. As an evidence of the utilitarian character of Mr. White in everything he undertook, at the time he was starting the Navigation Company, he drew with chalk, on one of the large beams or girders of his mill, a plan of his proposed works along the Schuylkill, and under it wrote, 'Ten dollars in every man's pocket;' meaning, I suppose, that that sum would be saved to every one in cost of fuel when we could get coal down the river. At that time wood was the universal fuel, and was annually getting higher in price. I have always considered Josiah White the originator of the Fairmount Dam and Water-works. There had been used previously two antiquated steam-engines for raising the water, using wood for fuel. I know of no man to whom the citizens of Philadelphia are so much indebted as they are to Josiah White; originating the idea of Fairmount Water-works, and, finally, originating the Lehigh Works; and the day will come, when all now living shall have passed off the stage of existence, when the future historian, who shall look into the facts that I have imperfectly detailed, and comparing them with the results in his own age, will place the name of Josiah White where it justly belongs, alongside of the other benefactors of his race.”

GENERAL JONATHAN WILLIAMS.

JONATHAN WILLIAMS, an American citizen and soldier, born in Boston, in 1752, for many years was at the head of the engineer corps of the army. He died in 1815, at the age of sixty-three years, in Philadelphia, where he had resided many years. Among the civil offices which he held was that of member of Congress. His publications comprised,-in 1799, "A Memoir of the Thermometer in Navigation;" in 1801, "Elements of Fortification ;” and, in 1808, "Kosciusko's Manoeuvres for Horse-Artillery."

THOMAS WILLING.

BY THOMAS BALCH.

ONE whose integrity, patriotism, and public services have justly commanded the praise and esteem of his countrymen.

Mr. Willing, as appears from a tribute to his memory, understood to be from the pen of Mr. Binney ("Republican Court," 16), was a man who, in all the relations of private life, and in various stations of high public trust, deserved and acquired the devoted affection of his family and friends, and the universal respect of his fellowcitizens.

From 1754 to 1807, he successively held the offices of Secretary to the Congress of Delegates at Albany, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia, her representative in the General Assembly, President of the Provincial Congress, Delegate to the Congress of the Confederation, President of the first chartered Bank in America, and President of the first Bank of the United States. With these public duties he united the business of an active, enterprising, and successful merchant, in which pursuit, for sixty years, his life was rich in examples of the influence of probity, fidelity, and perseve

rance upon the stability of commercial establishments, and upon that which was his distinguished reward upon earth,-public consideration and esteem.

To such a comprehensive summary of his public and patriotic services, little, except in illustration or proof, can be added, except, perhaps, to mention that Mr. Willing, who had read law in the Temple, although he pursued the profession of a merchant, was a Justice of the Supreme Court, and had occupied a place on that bench for many years before the Revolution, having received his commission in September, 1761. As a judge, he was pure and intelligent; added to which, he possesssed an amenity of manner which rendered him popular with the Bar, and attractive in society. As Mr. Willing's remaining in the city gave offence to some of the furious Whigs, as one of the political parties is called in a newspaper of the day, the following extracts are, perhaps, proper to be inserted:

"Mr. Willing and his partner, Mr. Morris, had been, from the beginning of the war, the agents of Congress for supplying their naval and military stores. Their disaffection to their sovereign and their rebellious principles were proved by a number of letters intercepted by your noble brother, and therefore Mr. Galloway called on Mr. Willing in Philadelphia, by your express order, to take the oath of allegiance; and, although he refused, yet he found so much favor in your sight as to obtain a countermand of that order, and a dispensation from taking the oath."*

"At a critical period of the Revolutionary War, when there was great danger of the dissolution of the American Army, for want of provisions to keep it together, a number of patriotic gentlemen in Philadelphia, subscribed to the amount of about two hundred and sixty thousand pounds, payable in gold and silver, for procuring them. The provisions were procured. The two highest subscriptions were those of Robert Morris, for £10,000, and Blair McClenachan, £10,000. Thomas Willing subscribed £5000.”†

"Mr. Willing and his associate in commerce, Robert Morris, as well as his connection, Mr. Clymer, were all members of Congress

A Reply to the Observations of Lieutenant-General Sir William Howe. By Joseph Galloway, Esq. Philadelphia. Reprinted by Enoch Story, 1787, pp. 954-956.

† Littell's Saturday Magazine (1821), vol. i, p. 455.

of 1776. To the great credit and well-known patriotism of the house of Willing & Morris, the country owed its extrication from those trying pecuniary embarrassments so familiar to the readers of our Revolutionary history. The character of Mr. Willing was in many respects not unlike that of Washington, and in the discretion of his conduct, the fidelity of his professions, and the great influence both public and private which belonged to him, the destined leader (Washington) was certain to find the elements of an affinity by which they would be united in the closest manner.”* He died January 19th, 1821, aged seventy-nine years and thirty days.

RICHARD WILLING.

RICHARD WILLING, ESQ., was one of the oldest representatives of one of the oldest and most distinguished Philadelphia families. He expired at 2 o'clock, 18th June, 1858, at his residence in Third Street, corner of York Court. Mr. Willing was a son of Thomas Willing, former President of the old United States Bank. He was born at the old family mansion, Peale Hall, on the 25th of December, 1775, so that he was in the eighty-third year of his age.

Mr. Willing, having inherited great wealth, never engaged actively in business, though in his younger days he made several voyages to India and to Europe, as supercargo of vessels belonging to the firm of Willing & Francis. In 1814, he was elected Captain of the State Fencibles, who were ordered to Camp Dupont, in anticipation of a British invasion. But he declined the office, and indeed throughout his whole life he avoided public situations of all kinds. He was married in 1804 to Eliza, daughter of Thomas Lloyd Moore. Four daughters and one son survive him. One of the daughters is married to John Ridgeway, Esq., and resides in Paris. He was connected also with other distinguished families in this country and in Europe. A niece of his was the wife of Lord Ashburton.