Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/409

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EVARTS
EVE
385

ing secretary of the board in 1821, and retained that office until his death. He died while travel- ling for the benefit of his health. He wrote twen- ty-four essays on the rights of the Indians, under the signature of " William Penn," and also edited a, volume of "Speeches on the Indian Bill," writ- ing the introduction ; and wrote most of the re- ports of the board of missions, that of 1830 espe- cially being able. See "Memoirs of Jeremiah Evarts," by Ebenezer C. Tracy (Boston, 1845). — His son, William Maxwell, lawyer, b. in Boston, 6 Feb., 1818. He was prepared for college in the Boston Latin-school, graduated at Yale in 1837, and while in college, with four of his classmates, he founded the " Yale Literary Magazine." Choosing the profession of the law, he studied in Harvard law- school, and in the office of Daniel Lord, of jSTew York city, and was ad- mitted to the bar in New York in 1841. He soon es- tablished a repu- tation for learn- ing and acumen, and was often con- sulted by older lawyers. In 1849- '53 he was assist- ant district attor- ney in New York

city, and in 1851

successfully conducted the prosecution of the Cuban filibusters concerned in the " Cleopatra " expedition. The same year he was selected to argue in favor of the con- stitutionality of the Metropolitan police act. In 1857 and 18(50 he was retained by the state of New York to argue the Leramon slave case against Charles O'Conor, the counsel for the state of Vir- ginia, before the supreme court and the court of ap- peals. He became an active and prominent mem- ber of the Republican party, was chairman of the New York delegation in the Republican national convention of ISOO, and proposed the name of Will- iam H. Seward for the presidency. In 1861 he and Horace Greeley were rival candidates for the U. S. senatorship before the New York legislature, but finally his name was withdrawn to enable his sup- porters to secure the election of Ira Harris. In 1862 he conducted the case of the government to establish in the supreme court the right of the United States in the civil w^ar to treat captured vessels as maritime prizes, according to the laws of war. In 1865 and 1866 he maintained with suc- cess before the courts the unconstitutionality of state laws taxing U. S. bonds or National bank stock without the authorization of congress. In 1868 President Johnson chose him as chief coun- sel in the impeachment trial before the senate, and from 15 July, 1868, till the end of President John- son's administration, he filled the office of attor- ney-general of the United States. He acted in 1 872 as counsel for the United States before the tribunal of arbitration on the Alabama claims at Geneva, and presented the arguments on which the decisions favorable to the United States were to a large extent based. In 1875 he was senior counsel for Henry Ward Beeeher in the trial of the suit against him in Brooklyn. For many years his reputation had been national, and he had been engaged in a large number of cases involving great interests, among the more famous of which were the Parrish will case and the contest over the will of Mrs. Gardner, mother of the widow of President Tyler. His services were often sought in cases in which large corporations were parties, and he re- ceived in some instances fees of $25,000 or $50,000 for an opinion, such as that on the Berdell mort- gage upon the Boston, Hartford, and Erie railroad. The firm of Evarts, Choate & Beaman, of which he is senior partner, has among its clients many of the prominent merchants and bankers of New Y^ork city. In 1877 he was the advocate of the Re- publican party before the electoral commission, and during the administration of President Hayes he was secretary of state. His administration of the state department was marked by a judicious and dignified treatment of diplomatic questions, and especially by the introduction of a higher standard of efficiency in the consular service, and the publication of consular reports on economic and commercial conditions in foreign countries. In 1881. after the conclusion of his term of service in the cabinet, he went to Paris as delegate of the United States to the International monetary con- ference. On 4 IMarch, 1885, he took his seat in the U. S. senate for the term exjairing 3 March, 1891, having been elected as a Republican to succeed El- bridge 6. Lapham as senator from New York. Mr. Evarts is known as a brilliant speaker at con- vivial gatherings, and as a public orator of elo- quence and versatility. On many important occa- sions he has delivered addresses, several of which have been published. Among his public addresses are the eulogy on Chief-Justice Chase, at Dart- mouth college, in June, 1873 ; the Centennial ora- tion, in Philadelphia, in 1876 ; and the speeches at the unveiling of the statues of William H. Seward and Daniel Webster, in New York, and of Bar- tholdi's Statue of Liberty.


EVE, Joseph Adams, physician, b. in Charles- ton county, S. C, 1 Aug., 1805. He was graduated at the South Carolina medical college in 1828, and began to practise in Augusta, Ga., making a spe- cialty of obstetrics and diseases of women and children. He was one of the founders in 1832 of the Medical college of Georgia, and took the chair of materia mcdica and therapeutics, which he exchanged in 1839 for that of obstetrics and wom- en's and children's diseases. His papers on ma- teria medica and gynecology have appeared in the " Southern Medical and Surgical Journal." — His son, Robert Campbell, physician, b. m Augusta, Ga., 15 May, 1843, was graduated at the Medical college of Virginia in 1863, and, after practising some time at Staunton, Va., settled in Augusta, and became professor of materia medica and medi- cal jurisprudence in the Georgia medical college. He has written on the "Influence of the Ovaria in Uterine Disorders," " Epilepsy," and " Tonic Prop- erties of Mercury in Minute Doses." — Joseph Adams's niece, Maria Lou, author, b. near Augus- ta, Ga., about 1848, was graduated at Greensborough college, Ga.. and after leaving school contributed to " Scott's Magazine " and other southern literary journals. In 1879 she wrote a prize poem entitled " Conquered at Last," expressing gratitude for northern aid during the yellow-fever epidemic of 1878. She has published many poems in maga- zines and newspapers, some of which are included in " Woman in Sacred Song " (Boston), and some in George M. Baker's " Reading Club." — Joseph Adams's cousin, Paul Fitzsimons. physician, b. near Augusta, Ga., 27 June, 1806 ; d. in Nashville, Tenn., 3 Nov., 1877, was graduated at Franklin col-