no inconsiderable agency in devising and maturing those measures. During that period of the contest, therefore, he may be truly said to have borne his full part in the hazards and public transactions of the day. But his views against the mother country were not pushed to the same extremity with those of many of his compatriots and friends. His object was reform rather than revolution-redress of grievances rather than independence. Accordingly when the question of an entire separation of the colonies from the British empire began to be first agitated in private meetings, he was opposed to the measure, and when, at length, independence was declared, he thought the step precipitate and rash. Nor could any considerations of interest, policy or ambition, induce him after that epoch, to aid by his counsels proceedings which were contrary to the decisions of his judgment, and perhaps I may add, to the affections of his heart. For it is scarcely probable that his sentiments of good will towards the government by which he had been so repeatedly and so highly honoured, and under the protection of which he had already spent the prime of his years, were entirely subverted by 'the first shock of our conflict for freedom. He, therefore, in the year 1776, withdrew himself entirely from public concerns, and passed the remainder of the revolutionary period in the capacity of a private and peaceful citizen. But notwithstanding the neutral and unpopular line of conduct he now pursued, the spirit of party, that relentless and promiscuous destroyer, had respect for his virtues, even in the most intolerant of times, and never ventured to sully with a blot the purity of his character. He never for a moment threw off, his nature was utterly incapable of throwing off, that inbred and ardent love of his native land, which is entwined with every fibre of the virtuous heart. Nor though publicly separated from them, did he either forego the private society, or forfeit, in any measure, the personal friend-ship and esteem of some of the most distinguished revolutionary characters. First on the list of his personal associates was Washington himself, who, having been on terms of intimacy with Mr. Chew from the year 1755, cherished his acquaintance' in all the different situations in which he moved, and frequently, while president of the United States, marked his respect for his

VOL. V.

venerable friend, by visiting him at his house; a compliment he is known to have paid but to few.

Though on the first declaration of independence, Mr. Chew was mistaken, in his views and apprehensions of that measure, as the issue of things most happily proved, yet the rectitude of his intentions and the purity of his motives, were never impeached. To the shades of private life he carried with him the regret but not the hostility of the whigs of the day; and his former political associates, who still took him to their bosom as a companion and friend, would have gladly received him to a share in their public counsels, could they have shaken by any means the resolu tion he had formed to remain in a private station. Essays of a tempting nature were not wanting to induce him to take a part in the concerns of the nation.

As an apology for Mr. Chew's opposition to the policy of independence, when first declared, we might adduce the example of some of the most distinguished orators and statesmen of the time, whose dislike of the measure was no less strong and notorious than his. The only difference which marked their conduct, on the occasion, was, that he perseveringly retained his original impressions, while they, more pliable and perhaps more prudent, changed with the current of public opinion. To the motives of each party it is but candour to ascribe an equal degree of purity and honour. And had not Heaven most signally interposed in behalf of our country-had not the arms of Freedom been almost supernaturally crowned with victory and glory, posterity, judging only from the event, would have regarded the transactions of that momentous period with impressions widely different from those which occupy, at present, the public mind. What we now justly terni, a glorious revolution—a virtuous and manly struggle for all that freemen ought to prize, they would have received the sanction of mankind in denominating a rebellioncharacters engaged in it would have been denounced under an appellation equally offensive, while those who remained inactive during the contest, would have been eulogized as friends to order and good government. So precarious is the foundation of human applause! and so thin and perishable the partition which scparates the praise from the ensure of the world!

After the close of the revolution, and the final achievement of American independence, it became essential to the existence and wellbeing of the state, to repair and put again in motion, those peaceful establishments and civil institutions, which had been shattered and suspended by the operations of the war. To the accomplishment of an object so extensive and complicated as this, nothing less than the united wisdom, experience, and energy of the nation was adequate. They were, accordingly put in general requisition, wherever they were found pre-eminent in degree, and associated with well known patriotism and virtue. Under these circumstances Mr. Chew was again called into public life, a decisive proof, had proof been wanting, of his exalted standing in the estimation of his country.

A

In the organization of the judiciary department in the year 1791, under the present constitution of Pennsylvania, a high court of errors and appeals was established. It was composed of the judges of the supreme court, and the presidents of the district courts of common pleas, and was the highest and most august tribunal of the state. In selecting a president of this last and most sacred asylum of justice and right, it was requisite that the character of the individual should correspond in elevation and dignity to the eminence and responsibility of the station he was intended to fill. Mr. Chew was appointed to the office with universal satisfaction. The respectability of his talents, the maturity of his judgment, and the extent of his erudition and experience in law, added to the firmness of his character, the integrity of his principles, and the dignified urbanity of his manners, marked his peculiar fitness for a place so conspicuous. Nor did he, in the discharge of the duties of his office, disappoint the exalted expectations he had inspired. On no occasion was he found inferior to himself. Though the orb of his public services to his country was now fast descending to extinguish its fires in the evening wave, it had as yet lost nothing of its meridian splendor. It was indeed less ardent and dazzling, but its genuine brightness was still the same. Nor did in its lustre till it finally disappeared.

Mr. Chew had been for several years desirous of retiring from public concerns, and reposing in the lap of private life the solicitudes and growing infirmities of age. But at the earnest intreaty of his friends, he consented to retain the presidency of the high court of errors and appeals, till the year 1807, when that tribunal was abolished by an act of the legislature of the state. Thus closed a course of distinguished and almost uninterrupted services to his country protracted to the unusual term of sixty

years.

In the year 1808 Mr. Chew's health began perceptibly to decline. Nor was this declension to be regarded as exclusively— perhaps, not even principally, the effect of actual disease. It was the final shattering of his constitution under the pressure of years-the exhaustion of the powers of nature in their conflict with time. But it was his corporeal powers only that failed in the combat and submitted to the conqueror. The powers of his mind held out in vigour to the last, bidding a noble defiance to both time and disease. It was reserved for Death alone, the vanquisher of all that is sublunary, not indeed to subdue these, but to transfer them from their fallen mansion on earth to a fairer and imperishable dwelling in the Heavens-a dwelling, where they are destined to exercise their functions with the energy of celestials, to advance in endless and more elevated attainments, and to realize fruitions far beyond the conception of mor. tals.

On the 20th of January 1810 this venerable patriarch-a patriarch in virtues no less than in years, yielded up his spirit at the summons from above, having attained the advanced age of cighty-seven years, one month, and eleven days.

Mr. Chew had been twice married. His first wife was Mary the daughter of Samuel Galloway, of West River, Maryland, a lady of singular beauty, acquirements, and worth. She was alike distinguished for the graces of her person, the elegance of her manners, and the solid as well as the ornamental accomplishments of her mind. Nor were the qualities of her heart in any measure inferior to her other endowments. A rich, polished, and sprigthly conversation threw a charm around her in general

society, while an amiable disposition, accompanied by all the milder virtues, conferred on her a peculiar fitness to give and receive domestic happiness. His second marriage was with Elizabeth the daughter of James Oswald, of Philadelphia. As this lady is still living, an ornament and example to society at large, and all but the idol of her family and friends, it might be deemed indelicate to dwell on her character. It would be injustice, however, not to observe, that she is no way inferior to her to whose place she succeeded, and is, in every respect, worthy of him to whose fortunes she was united, and whose name she assumed. The children of Mr. Chew, by his two marriages were numerous, and most of them are now living. The writer of this. memoir, alike unwilling to flatter or to offend, has no wish to approach them with unmerited panegyric. Nor will he, as he believes, with those who know them, subject himself to the charge or even suspicion of this, in saying, that they and their descendants fill up, at present, in society a sphere equal in extent and genuine respectability to that filled by the descendants. of any individual in the United States.

Were I to attempt to sketch, in brief, a few of the outlines of Mr. Chew's character, the following, or something like it, would be the miniature I would form.

ness.

He was a man of consummate worth, rather than of real greatHis talents, though not the most elevated and commanding, were yet sufficiently elevated, to be of the most useful kind. They were solid and practical, calculated to benefit mankind, not buoyant and speculative, fit only to amuse and delight them. An excellant early education combined with subsequent habits of study and observation, had enriched them with all that culture could bestow. His industry, accuracy, and punctuality in business were much more than a substitute for the most exalted talents, where these cardinal qualities are wanting. His heart was a hotbed of the moral, social, and domestic virtues. His hospitality was without bounds, and his easy affluence enabled him to indulge this noble propensity. His soul was the seat of an expanded benevolence, and his hand the liberal dispenser of charity. Though he never achieved any thing to render his name peculiarly con