skirmishing movement of a considerable force on the enemy's flank, while the main body of the American army should maintain such a relative position as would afford an opportunity to act as the circumstances might require. There was, however, here, a disagreement as to the proper strength of the skirmishing force. Marshall says: "General Washington still retained his inclination to engage the enemy; and finding himself supported by the private wishes of some officers whom he highly valued, he determined to take his measures on his own responsibility, and without calling another council." The result was the battle of Monmouth, on 28th June, 1778, in which General Cadwalader was engaged.

Within a week afterwards, he received a challenge from General Conway, whom General Washington had, six months previously, designated as "a dangerous incendiary." A combination had been formed, in and out of the army, to supplant General Washington, and substitute General Gates, in the chief command. From the character and constancy of General Conway's intrigues to effect this object, the movement acquired the name of Conway's Cabal, which it has historically retained. General Cadwalader, who uniformly enjoyed the confidence and friendly regard of General Washington, was conspicuous in his opposition to this cabal. His animadversions upon General Conway's behavior, in certain respects, at the battle of Germantown, were the direct cause of the challenge. In the duel which followed, General Conway fell, wounded severely, and, as it was thought, mortally. He ultimately recovered; but, in the meantime, when this result was unlooked for, he wrote, in July, 1778, to General Washington, expressing "sincere grief for having done, written, or said anything disagreeable" to him; adding, "My career will soon be over; therefore, justice and truth prompt me to declare my last sentiments. You are, in my eyes, the great and good man. May you long enjoy the love, veneration, and esteem of these States, whose liberties you have asserted by your virtues."

General Cadwalader never was in the military service of the United States. When his command in the Pennsylvania line was not in the field, he acted in battle either as a volunteer, or under a special designation for particular service. That he had not a

permanent command in the Continental service, was the result of his own choice.

of

On the 21st February, 1777, he was appointed by Congress one of ten Brigadier-Generals, but declined the appointment. He then was in service under the State, with, sometimes, about eighteen hundred of the Pennsylvania troops under his command. If he could keep such a force in the field, this was, perhaps, at that period, the more useful service. In September, 1778, he was chosen, unanimously, by Congress, Brigadier-General of the cavalry of the United States, nominally composed of three regiments. This appointment he likewise declined, believing, with many others, that the war was very near to its close, and preferring civil to military life, unless his country needed the active services of a soldier. He was of opinion that, in consequence of the recognition by France of the nationality of the United States, Great Britain could not withhold the acknowledgment of their independence. The evacuation of Philadelphia by the British army had been followed by overtures peace from the British Government. The failure of the British Commissioners in the attempted negotiation which ensued, showed that negotiations, in order to succeed, must be reopened on the basis of a recognition of American Independence. He, and others, thought that motives of self-interest would induce an acquiescence by the British Government in this necessity. The error was not in these opinions, but in the measurement of the length of time required for such political causes to produce their effects. General Washington was of opinion that the war would not be so soon terminated. General Cadwalader, two years afterwards, wrote to General Washington that he had since found reason to regret that he had not accepted the command of the cavalry. General Washington wrote in reply, giving his reasons for having, himself, at an intervening period, entertained an opinion" that the hour of deliverance was not far distant, since, however unwilling Great Britain might be to yield the point, it would not be in her power to continue the contest. But," he added, "These prospects, flattering as they were, have proved delusory." General Washington, who had earnestly solicited General Cadwalader to accept the appointment, repeated, in this letter, the expression of regret that he was not in

the army, and of a desire to see him there again. Their mutual friendship was unabated while they lived.

After the war, General Cadwalader was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Maryland. We have no memorial of him as a speaker. Some extant productions of his pen are not wanting in historical and political importance. As a writer, he was not less remarkable for precision in style than force of expression.

He was the centre of a large circle of devoted friends. If any persons were his enemies, their enmity ceased at his death. When he was living, Thomas Paine was considered his enemy. A fortnight after his death, an epitaph, in the form of a monumental inscription, appeared in a Baltimore newspaper. Thomas Paine was its author. It was in the following words:

In memory of

GENERAL JOHN CADWALADER,

Who died, February the 10th, 1786,
At Shrewsbury, his seat in Kent County,
In the 44th year of his age.
This amiable and worthy gentleman
Had served his country
With reputation

In the character of a soldier and statesman:
He took an active part and had a principal
Share in the late Revolution;

And, although he was zealous in the cause
Of American freedom,

His conduct was not marked with the

Least degree of malevolence or party spirit.
Those who honestly differed from him in opinion,
He always treated with singular tenderness.
In sociability and cheerfulness of temper,
Honesty and goodness of heart,
Independence of spirit, and warmth of friendship,
He had no superior,

And few, very few, equals.

Never did any man die more lamented

By his friends and neighbors;
To his family and near relations

His death was a stroke still more severc.

GENERAL THOMAS CADWALADER.

THOMAS CADWALADER, born 28th October, 1779, died 26th October, 1841, the son of General John Cadwalader, was admitted to the bar, at Philadelphia, in 1801. The punctual and efficient discharge of his duties, as a man of business, was the cause of an early accession of confidential employments, in which he was engaged, as an agent and a trustee, for various important interests. His necessary attention to these engagements withdrew him, in early youth, from the legal profession, without encroaching, afterwards, upon his opportunities for the performance of domestic and social duties, and the cultivation of refined literary tastes.

He was never of the military profession; but his biography is, in part, that of a soldier. During the naval war against France, at the close of the last century, the danger of hostilities on land was thought imminent. Acts of Congress authorized the President to raise a military force. General Washington, from his retirement, at Mount Vernon, accepted the command. Mr. Cadwalader, then a student of the law, applied for a commission in the army, which, however, was not raised. The enforcement of a law, levying a tax to support the charges of hostilities against France, was resisted in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania. Persons arrested there under a criminal charge, for this resistance, were forcibly rescued from the Marshal's custody by an assemblage of armed men. The parties thus liberated voluntarily surrendered themselves, but the force which had rescued them did not disperse ; and the Marshal of the United States was unable to resume the performance of his duties in that part of the State. Under a requisition from the President, the Governor of Pennsylvania called seven troops of the volunteer cavalry of the State into the service of the United States. These troops, under the command of General Macpherson, proceeded, in the beginning of April, 1799, towards the place at which the persons against whom the movement was directed were assembled. At the end of a day's march, General Macpherson, having halted for the night, sent forward a detachment of

sixteen of his best mounted men to this place. Riding for several miles with great speed, they reached it in the same evening, surprised the persons there assembled, dispersed them; and, encountering no resistance, captured some of the alleged ringleaders of the insurrection, and brought them as prisoners to General Macpherson, whose expedition was thus terminated. Some of the prisoners were afterwards capitally convicted of high treason, and others were to have been tried, when all of them were pardoned. Mr. Cadwalader, a private in a troop of cavalry, was one of the sixteen men of the detachment by whom they were captured. He was then in the twentieth year of his age. From this time, he was a careful student of military science, with occasional practice in the volunteer cavalry. In the war of 1812, with England, he became a Captain, and afterwards, the Lieutenant-Colonel of a regiment of volunteer cavalry. He held the latter commission in September, 1814, when the British squadron, with the army which had been landed at Washington, and afterwards at Baltimore, appeared in the bay of the Delaware. A large force of the Pennsylvania militia was in the field a few miles below Philadelphia. Below them, and in advance, an unorganized, hastily levied volunteer force, was encamped. The latter force was without a commander. No officer in the camp was of rank higher than that of Captain. Colonel Cadwalader was, by common consent, there and at Philadelphia, selected as the proper person to command this force. It should have constituted a part of the brigade composed of the volunteers and militia of the City of Philadelphia. The former General of this brigade, an eminent citizen, whose commision had shortly before expired, was then in the field as a private in a troop of cavalry. The officer who had succeeded him in the command of the brigade, resigned his commission, in order to make room for Colonel Cadwalader's appointment. This appointment was made informally by a letter from the Governor, then absent from the seat of government of the State. At such periods, legal niceties are disregarded. Under this letter of appointment, General Cadwalader, some days before his commission was received, took the command. His "advanced light brigade" was then immediately organized. It was composed of a squadron of uniformed cavalry, a battalion of uniformed artillery, a regiment of uniformed infantry, and a battalion of ununiformed militia. The