Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/710

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PATERSON
PATRICK

searches in the Theory and Calculus of Operations " (1872), printed in the " Transactions " of the Al- bany institute ; and a pamphlet announcing a new theory of gravitation (1874) ; also mathematical papei's in the " Cambridge Mathematical Journal," the " American Journal of Science," and other sci- entific periodicals.


PATERSON, William, Scottish colonist, _b. probably in Skipmyre, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, in the spring of 1658 ; d. in Westminster, England, 22 Jan., 1719. He was originally intended for the ministry of the Scottish church, and, to escape persecution under Charles II., he visited this coun- try, where he acquired much information from the buccaneers in regard to the Spanish main. It has been questioned whether he was not personally concerned with the marauders, but the accusation has not been proved. He was a merchant in Lon- don in 1692, and about this time made proposals to found a bank of England, publishing a tract en- titled " A Brief Account of the Intended Bank of England," and he was one of the first directors of that institution. He had conceived the idea of founding a colony at Darien during his first visit to this country, and, after several unsuccessful attempts toward the adoption of his scheme by the English and by continental countries, he procured its sanction from the Scottish parliament in 1695. In a short time the subscription lor stock amounted to £400,000 in Scotland, £800,000 in England, and £200,000 in Holland, but the subscriptions of the latter countries were almost wholly withdrawn in consequence of the severe measures that were passed by the English parliament at the instance of trad- ing corporations. The Scotch, however, favored the enterprise with increased zeal, and on 26 July, 1698, 1,200 men in five ships sailed from Leith for Panama, arriving after a voyage of three months. They then founded a colony at Acta (now Port Escoces), about thirty miles northwest of the Gulf of Darien, and gave the town the name of New Edinburgh, and the country that of New Caledonia. They bought lands of the natives, sent messages of amity to the nearest Spanish governors, and pub- lished a declaration of freedom of trade and re- ligion to all people. They had brought with them only a small supply of provisions, trusting to obtain them from the English colonists. But the Dutch and English East India companies had united in procuring orders from the king forbidding any one to render the colonists any assistance. Their num- bers were now rapidly reduced by disease. Pater- son lingered for eight months, but did not abandon the settlement till almost all had died or gone home. Meanwhile 1,300 men had been sent from Scotland to their relief, but these did not arrive until the departure of the last of the colonists. Paterson returned to Scotland and devised a new plan for the colony, but the death of William III., with whom he had influence, destroyed his pros- pects of reviving the project. He was an able ad- vocate of the union of England and Scotland, and when the treaty to that effect was passed it was recommended that indemnity be given him on ac- count of his losses in the Darien expedition, and for his " carrying on other matters of a public nature much to his country's service," but the money was not paid until the reign of George I. He was a member of parliament for Dumfriesshire in 1708, an early advocate for free-trade, and in all matters of finance his ideas were in advance of his time. Macaulay says of him : "He seems to have been gifted by nature with fertile invention, great powers of persuasion, and to have acquired some- where in the course of his vagrant life a perfect knowledge of accounts." His writings have been collected, with a biographical introduction (Lon- don, 1858). See also his life by Samuel Bannister (Edinburgh, 1858).


PATERSON, William, jurist, b. at sea in 1745 ; d. in Albany. N. Y.. 9 Sept., 1806. His par- ents, who were natives of Ireland, brought him to this country when he was two years old. He was graduated at Princeton in 1763. studied law with Richard Stockton, and was admitted to the bar in 1769. He was a member of the New Jersey state constitutional convention in 1776, and in the same year became state attorney-general and one of the legislative council. He was a delegate to the Continental congress in 1780-'l, and to the Na- tional constitutional convention in 1787, introduc- ing the resolution that the " state sovereignties shall be preserved, while power shall be placed in the general government to provide for the common defence and general welfare of the country." The resolution was opposed by Edmund Randolph, who introduced the proposition of a National govern- ment, the discussion resulting in a fusion of the two plans. He was U. S. senator in 1789, until his resignation in March of the next year, became gov- ernor of New Jersey in 1791, and was appointed by Washington a justice of the U. S. supreme court in 1793, which post he held until his death, which occurred while he was on a visit to his son-in-law. Gen. Stephen Van Rensselaer, his place of residence being New Brunswick. Bancroft says he was an accomplished writer. Harvard gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1806. He published a revised edition of the laws of New Jersey (Philadelphia, 1798-9).


PATILLO, Henry, clergyman, b. in Scotland in 1726 ; d. in Dinwiddle county, Va., in 1801. He emigrated to this country at nine years of age, settled in Virginia, and became a merchant's clerk. He subsequently studied for the ministry, was or- dained in 1758, and then removed to North Caro- lina, where he was in charge of Presbyterian churches until his death. He was active in pre- Revolutionary movements, a member of the North Carolina Provincial congress in 1775, was chaplain to that body, and chairman of the committee of the whole. He also taught for many years, and was an excellent classical scholar. His ministry was es- pecially successful among the negroes. Hampden Sidney gave him the degree of A. M. in 1787. He published in that year a small collection of ser- mons, edited an abridged edition of John Leland's " Deistical Writers," and left in manuscript a cate- chism, several essays, and a geographv.


PATRICK, Marsena Rudolph, soldier, b. in Houndsfield, N. Y., 15 March, 1811; d. in Dayton, Ohio, 27 July, 1888. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1835, served in the Mexican war, was made captain in 1847, and brevetted major in 1848 for " meritorious conduct while serving in the enemy's country." He resigned in 1850, engaged in farming in Jefferson county, N. Y., and in 1859 was appointed president of the State agricultural college. At the beginning of the civil war he was made inspector-general of the New York militia, became brigadier-general of volunteers in March. 1862, and served with Gen. Irwin McDowell in the Shenandoah valley in northern Virginia, and with the Army of the Potomac at South Mountain and Antietam. He became provost-marshal-general of that army in October of the same year, subsequently of the combined armies acting against Richmond, and, after Lee's surrender, of the Department of Virginia. He resigned 12 June, 1865, was president of the New York state agricultural society in 1867-'8, commissioner for New York state in