Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/237

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MARCY
MARECHAL
203

York, where he has acquired an extensive and lu- crative practice, ranking among the first of his school in the United States. In 1852 he estab- lished the " North American Journal of Homoe- opathy," which he edited until 1865. Dr. Marcy has written numerous essays on medical and chem- ical subjects, besides which he has published in book-form "Theory and Practice of Medicine" (New York, 1850); "Homoeopathy vs. Allopathy" (1852); "Theory and Practice of Homoeopathy" (2 vols., 1858) ; " Christianity and its Conflicts " (1867) ; and " Life Duties " (1869) ; and he has also edited " flahnemann's Lesser Writings" (1856).


MARCY, William Learned, statesman, b. in Southbridge, Mass., 12 Dec, 1786 ; d. in Ballston Spa., N. Y., 4 July, 1857. He was graduated at Brown in 1808, and then studied law in Troy, N. Y., where, after being admitted to the bar, he opened an office. The war with Great Britain soon be- gan, and young Marcy, holding a lieutenancy in a light-infantry company, tendered the services of his command to the governor of New York. This offer was accepted, and the company was sent to French Mills, on the northern frontier. On the night of 23 Oct., 1812, he surprised and cap- tured the Canadian forces that were stationed at St. Regis. These were the first prisoners taken on land, and their flag was the first captured during the war. This exploit gained for him recognition from Gen. Henry Dearborn, and his command was attached to the main army, but, after serving the time for which he had enlisted, he returned to his practice, having attained the rank of captain. In 1816 he was appointed recorder of Troy, but his opposition to I)e Witt Clinton led to his removal from office, and remains as one of the earliest cases of political proscription in the history of New York. He then became editor of the " Troy Budget," a daily newspaper, which he soon made a well-known organ of the Democratic party. The earnest support that he gave to Martin Van Bu- ren resulted in his affiliation with the division of the Democratic party of which Van Buren was leader, and in 1821 he was made adjutant-general of the state militia. He was a member of the " Albany regency." (See Cagger, Peter.) His political capa- bilities showed themselves to advantage in the pas- sage of the act that authorized a convention to revise the constitution. He became in 1823 comptroller of the state, an important office at that time, owing to the large expenditures on the Erie and Cham- plain canals, and the increase of the state debt. In 1829 he was appointed one of the associate justices of the supreme court of New York, and in that capacity presided over numerous important trials, among which was that of the alleged murderers of William Morgan {q. v.). He continued on the bench until 1831, when he was elected as a Demo- crat to the U. S. senate, serving from 5 Dec, 1831, and becoming chairman of the judiciary committee. His maiden speech was in answer to J3enry Clay's aspersions on Martin Van Buren, and was followed soon afterward by his answer to Daniel Webster's speech on the apportionment. His career as a senator gained for him a strong hold on the confi- dence of the people of his state and elsewhere. He resigned in, 1833 to fill the governorship of New York, to which he had been elected, and held that office through three terms, until 1839. For a fourth time he was nominated, but he was defeated by William H. Seward. In 1839 he was appointed by Martin Van Buren one of the commissioners to decide upon the claims against the government of Mexico, under the convention of that year, and was so occupied until 1842, He presided over the Democratic state convention at Syracuse in Sep- tember, 1843. and during the subsequent canvass he used his influence in causing the state of New York to cast its votes for James K. Polk, by whom, after his election, he was invited to be- come secretary of war. The duties of that office were per- formed by him with signal ability, espe- cially duiing the Mexican war. The difficulties of his task were somewhat in- creased by the fact that the two victo- rious generals, Win- field Scott and Zach-

ary Taylor, were of

the opposing political party, and charged Mr. Marcy with using his official power to embarrass and retard their mili- tary operations. These accusations were made so persistently and openly that it became necessary for him to defend himself against such attacks, which he did with so much force that he completely silenced all censure. During his term of oJSce he exerted his diplomatic powers to advantage in the settlement of the Oregon boundary question, also advocating the tariff of 1846, and opposing all in- terference on the slavery question. At the close of his term of office he retired to private life, but in 1853 he returned to Washington as secretary of state under Franklin Pierce. While in this office he carried on a correspondence with the Austrian authorities in reference to the release of Martin Koszta by Capt. Duncan N. Ingraham {q. v.). The questions that were involved were in a measure new, and affected all governments that recognized the laws of nations. His state papers on Central Ameri- can affairs, on the enlistment question, on the Dan- ish sound dues, and on many other topics of na- tional interest, still further exhibited his ability as a writer, statesman, and diplomatist. On the close of Pierce's administration, he again retired to pri- vate life, and four months afterward he was found dead one evening in his library with an open vol- ume before him. Mr. Marcy had the reputation of being a shrewd political tactician, and probably has never been surpassed in this respect by any one in New York except Martin Van Buren. He was regarded among his countrymen of all parties as a statesman of the highest order of adminis- trative and diplomatic ability.


MARECHAL, Ambrose (mah-ray-shal), arch- bishop, b. in Ingre, near Orleans, France, 5 Dec, 1768 ; d. in Baltimore, Md., 29 Jan., 1828. He was educated in a college in Orleans, and early mani- fested a desire to enter the clerical profession, but yielded to the views of his parents and studied law. Afterward, gaining his parents' consent, he entered on a course of ecclesiastical studies in the Sulpitian seminary of Orleans. He went to Paris toward the end of 1791, but was forced to fly from the city early in 1792, and was ordained priest in Bordeaux at the risk of his life. Immediately afterward he was forced to disguise himself, fled to Havre, and embarked for the United States, arriv- ing in Baltimore. 24 June, 1792. His first mission was in St. Mary's county, Maryland, where he re- mained for a few years. He was then assigned to the Bohemian station on the eastern shore of this state, where he labored till 1799. He was next appointed professor of theology in St. Mary's