26G BANCROFT his principles to bo for universal suffrage and uncompromising democracy. He was elected in 1830, without his knowledge, to the legis- lature of Massachusetts, but refused to take his seat, and the year after he declined a nomina- tion, though certain to have been elected, for the senate of his state. In 1834 appeared the first volume of his "History of the United States." In 1835 ho drafted an address to the people of Massachusetts, at the request of the young men's democratic convention, and was for a time actively engaged in political speak- ing, and in drawing up resolutions and ad- dresses. He removed in this year to Spring- field, where he resided three years, and com- pleted the second volume of his history. In 1838 he was appointed by President Van Buren collector of Boston. Duties were at that time paid by bonds, and unpaid bonds had accumu- lated to a large amount as debts to the govern- ment ; but not a single bond taken during the term of Mr. Bancroft was unpaid at the time when he resigned the office, and his collections amounted to several millions. He wa's at this period a frequent orator in political assemblies, was pursuing his studies zealously, and was particularly interested in the philosophical movement subsequently known as transcenden- talism. In 1840 the third volume of his history was published. In 1844 he was nominated by the democratic party for governor of Massa- chusetts, and, though not elected, received more votes than -any candidate has received either before or since on the purely democratic ticket. During the canvass he was in the city of New York, studying manuscripts and docu- ments illustrative of our early history. After the accession of Mr. Polk to the presidency in 1845, Mr. Bancroft entered the cabinet as sec- retary of the navy. He signalized his adminis- tration of this office by the establishment of the naval academy at Annapolis. The im- provement of education in the navy had been desired by some of his predecessors, but little had been done to promote it, and Mr. Bancroft was the first to design a school for the naval service, corresponding to the military school at West Point. At his request the secretary of war, with the approval of the president, made over to the navy department the military fort and grounds at Annapolis, and the school was at once set at work by Mr. Bancroft, who re- ceived for the purpose all the appropriations for which he asked. He was also influential in obtaining additional appropriations for the Washington observatory, and in introducing some new professors of great merit into the corps of instructors. A reform in the system of promotion in the naval service being re- quired by many, he planned a method by which promotion should depend not on age alone, but also on experience and capacity ; but bis scheme was never fully developed or applied. While secretary of the navy Mr. Bancroft gave the order to take possession of California, and it was carried into effect before he left the naval department. During his term of office he also acted as secretary of war pro tern, for a month, and gave the order to Gen. Taylor to march into Texas, which caused the first occu- pation of Texas by the United States. In 1846 Mr. Bancroft exchanged his position in the cabinet for the office of minister plenipoten- tiary to Great Britain. Ho successfully urged upon the British ministry the adoption of more liberal laws of navigation. The arrest of some Irish Americans gave him an opportunity also to vindicate the rights of naturalized American citizens; and at his demand they were set free. During his residence in England he made many friends among the men of letters of that country. In 1849 the university of Oxford made him a doctor of civil law, and he had before been chosen correspondent of the royal academy of Berlin, and also of the French in- stitute. He used the opportunity of his resi- dence in Europe to perfect his collections on American history. He made several visits to Paris, to study the archives and libraries of that city, being aided in his researches by Gui- zot, Mignet, Lamartine, and De Tocqueville. In England the ministry opened to him the records of the state paper office, embracing a vast array of military and civil correspondence, and also the records of the treasury. In the British museum, also, and in private collections, he found valuable manuscripts. He returned to the United States in 1849, took up his residence in New York, and began to prepare for the press the fourth and fifth volumes of his his- tory, which were published in 1852. The sixth volume was issued in 1854, the seventh in 1858, and the eighth soon after. Up to 1866 he de- clined any public office, though several were tendered him, and resided in New York, en- gaged in literary labor. In February of that year, at the request of Congress, he delivered an address in memory of Abraham Lincoln. The ninth volume of his history also appeared dur- ing that year. On May 14, 1867, he was ap- pointed minister to Prussia, and accepted the office ; in 1868 he was accredited to the North German confederation, and in 1871 to the Ger- man empire. Under his auspices, important treaties concerning the naturalization of Ger- mans in America were concluded with the va- rious states of the confederation in February. 1868. In August of the same year Mr. Bancroft received from the university of Bonn the hon- orary degree of Doctor Juris, and in September, 1870, he celebrated the 50th anniversary of receiving his first degree at Gottingen. On this occasion he was congratulated by many German societies and faculties, as well as by prominent men of several nations. He still gives much of his time to labor on his unfin- ished "History of the United States," and has the tenth and last volume nearly ready for the press (1873). Mr. Bancroft is a member of many American and foreign learned socie- ties. Besides the works mentioned above, he has published numerous essays in the " North
