protection to all who would renew their allegiance to the British King, Colonel Taylor made his submission, and deserted to the enemy. Lieutenant-Colonel Scudder was immediately appointed by the Joint Meeting of the Legislature to fill the vacancy. During the contest no two men were more true, none more vigilant and active than Nathaniel and his brother William, who was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Third Regiment of Middlesex County. During the year 1777, in addition to the duties of his profession and his military command, we find him in prompt attendance upon the meetings of the Council of Safety.

On the 30th of November, 1777, he was elected a delegate to Congress, and took his seat the beginning of the following year. In the labors and responsibilities of legislation he took an active part. His powerful appeal to the Legislature of his native State, as expressed in his letter to the Speaker, dated July 13, 1778, and published in a work entitled "New Jersey Revolutionary Correspondence," stamps him at once as a strong writer, a clear thinker, and a whole-hearted patriot. It will be remembered that at that time authority had not been given to the delegates from Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey to sign the Articles of Confederation, which had been framed four days previous, and this appeal brought the required authority, and Dr. Scudder and his colleagues had the pleasure of signing their names to the Articles in behalf of their State. He was again elected to Congress November 6, 1778, and served until the close of the year 1779. In the list of Trustees of Nassau Hall we find him serving from the years 1678 to 1782. He was also an elder in the church of the celebrated Rev. William Tennent, on the old Monmouth battle-ground, and tradition says his Christian life was pure, and above reproach. During all the years of the Revolutionary War, Monmouth County was frequently excited by the incursions of forage parties of the British, and the attacks of tories. In an engagement, October 17, 1781, with a party of refugees at Black Point, near Shrewsbury, Colonel Scudder was killed while leading a battalion of his regiment. It has been stated, and probably with truth, that the bullet was in

tended for Brigadier-General David Forman, the terrible, unrelenting foe of every traitor of that day. Colonel Scudder was buried with all the honors of war in the old graveyard of Tennent Church, and his tomb stands until this day.

Thus died a gentleman whose pure character adorned the profession of medicine, whose clear mind and honest purpose were often shown in the councils of his State and the Government, whose good sword was freely drawn in the hour of national peril, and who at last, in the very heat of battle, gave his patriot life to death-a martyr for the liberties of his country.

ELIAS BOUDINOT.

BY HELEN BOUDINOT STRYKER.

(Centennial Collection.)

The great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who bore the same name, was a Huguenot emigrant from France, and came to America in 1686, shortly after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. Elias Boudinot was born in Philadelphia, April 21, 1740. Having received the best advantages of earlier education which the Colonies could afford, he studied law with Richard Stockton at Princeton, and commenced the practice of his profession at Elizabethtown, N. J., in 1760. In 1762 he married Hannah, sister of Richard Stockton, who also married Annis Boudinot, the sister of Elias-so there was a double marriage between the families. The high position which he immediately attained in local circles is shown by the fact that, at the age of twenty-five he was chosen President of the Board of Trustees of the Presbyterian Church of Elizabethtown, which embraced not a few men prominent in political and social life. Alexander Hamilton, who was also of Huguenot descent on his mother's side, was sent at the age of fifteen from his home in Santa Cruz to obtain an education, and entered the Grammar School at Elizabeth

town, of which Mr. Boudinot was one of the Trustees, and was admitted into that intimate friendship with the Boudinots, and other prominent patriot families, which exerted a most important influence upon his subsequent career, and which was maintained through life. Mr. Boudinot early became a devoted advocate of the patriot cause. The passing by the British Parliament of the Boston Port Bill in retaliation for the so-called Boston tea party, enkindled a furious flame of patriotism over the whole country. Town and county meetings were everywhere held to consider what should be done. The tidings reached this country May 10, 1774. On June 11th a meeting was held at the court house in Newark, at which resolutions were adopted calling on the people to stand firm in maintaining their rights, and inviting a Provincial Convention for the purpose of choosing delegates to a general Congress. Mr. Boudinot was a member of this Convention, which took the control of the State out of the hands of Governor Franklin. On the 15th of May, 1777, he was appointed by Congress Commissary-General of Prisoners, with the rank of Colonel. On November 30th of the same year he was elected to Congress, but continuing to serve as Commissary-General until the appointment of his successor, he did not take his seat in Congress until July 7, 1778. He was reappointed to Congress in 1780, and again in 1781 and 1782, and on the 4th of November of that year was chosen President of that body. In this capacity he had the honor on the 15th April, 1783, of affixing his signature to the treaty of peace with Great Britain. In 1789 he resumed the practice of law at Elizabethtown, and in 1790 received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Yale College. In 1795 he was appointed by Washington Director of the Mint at Philadelphia, and removed his residence thither. In 1805 he resigned his office, and retired to private life at Burlington, N. J., where possessed of ample means he exercised an elegant hospitality, and devoted the rest of his life to the pursuits of literature and benevolence. His wife dying in 1808, his household was presided over by his daughter and only child, the widow of William Bradford, who, at the time of his death, was Attor

ney-General of the United States under Washington. Mrs. Bradford was a lady of remarkable dignity of manner, possessed of many talents and virtues, and was one of the most influential female characters that graced the society of that period. From 1772 to 1805 Dr. Boudinot was a Trustee of the College of New Jersey, and founded its Cabinet of Natural History with a liberal contribution. In 1812 he was chosen a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He was active in the organization of the American Bible Society, becoming in 1816 its first President, endowing it with a gift of $10,000, and aiding also in the erection of the first Bible House. He wrote and published in 1790 "The Age of Revelation," to counteract Paine's "Age of Reason;" in 1793, a Fourth of July oration before the New Jersey Society of Cincinnati; in 1811, an address before the New Jersey Bible Society; in 1815, a work on the Second Advent of the Messiah; in 1816, "The Star of the West," an attempt to identify the North American Indians with the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. He died at Burlington, October 24, 1821. He left by his will the bulk of his large estate to various institutions and charities. Elias Boudinot was the trusted friend and counsellor of Washington, and was on terms of intimate intercourse with Hamilton and many other illustrious men who bore conspicuous part in the annals of our country during the eventful period of the Revolution, and the laying the foundations of the Republic. He was a person of great dignity, and at the same time of eminent courtesy of manner. He was exact in his habits of thought and expression, cool in judgment, prompt and decided in action. He was sought and trusted as a friend and counsellor by the poor as well as the rich. He was an earnest and consistent Christian, a man of prayer, a diligent student of the Bible.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1776.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF ITS MEMBERS.

BY WM. H. EGLE, M. D.

(Continued from page 101.)

BIDDLE, OWEN, of the city of Philadelphia, a great-grandson of William Biddle-one of the Proprietors of West Jersey, and for many years of the Governor's Council of that Colony-was born in Philadelphia in the year 1737. He was engaged in mercantile pursuits, and with his brother, Clement, signed the celebrated Non-importation Resolutions of October 25, 1765. He was a delegate to the Provincial Conference Jan. 23, 1775; member of the Committee of Safety from June 30, 1775, to July 22, 1776, and of the Council of Safety from July 24, 1776, to March 13, 1777; member of the Board of War March 13, 1777; of the Convention of July 15, 1776, and, in June, 1777, Deputy Commissary of Forage. His name appears in the list of Philadelphia merchants headed by Robert Morris, who became personally bound for various sums, amounting in the aggregate to over £260,000 sterling, for purchasing provisions for the army at a time when there was great difficulty in procuring supplies. During the occupancy of Philadelphia by the British, the enemy destroyed his residence, which was on the site of the Girard College grounds. He was an early and active member of the American Philosophical Society, one of its curators from 1769 to 1772, and secretary from 1773 to 1782, when he became one of the councillors, continuing as such until his death. He was one of the Committee of thirteen appointed by the Society to observe the transit of Venus on 3d of June, 1769. These observations were made with eminent success by three members of the Committee, Mr. Rittenhouse being stationed at Norristown, Dr. Ewing at Philadelphia, and Mr. Biddle at Cape Henlopen. Mr. Biddle died at Philadelphia on the 10th