HIDDLE
BIDDLE.
for a few years longer at his studies. He
was sent to the College of New Jersey, where
he M-as graduatei-l in ISOl, at the age of
fifteen, with the valedictory honors. He de-
voted himself to the study of the hvw, but being
too young for admission to the bar, lie, in 1804,
accepted the position of secretary to John Arm-
strong, the United States minister to France.
As a member of the United States legation he
witnessed the coronation of Nafxtleon, and
afterwards, when the diplomatic relations be-
tween France and the United States became in-
volved, he was deputed to audit and pay certain
olnims preferred against the United States, the
Louisiana purchase money furnishing the fimds.
After four years of Parisian life he made a tour
through Italy and the countries of the Levant,
where he studied the modern Greek tongue, and
to refresh his classic lore abode for a time at
Delphos and Athens. Then, returning by way of
Paris, he joined James Monroe, then U. S. minis-
ter to England, as his secretary. The friendship
he thus formed with Monroe lasted to the end of
that statesman's life. It is related that on a visit
with Monroe to Cambridge, when conversing
with certain of the professors on subjects of rela-
tion between the Homeric and modern Greek
tongues, young Biddle astonished them by his
familiarity with both the living and dead idioms,
and his knowledge of modern Greek being
superior to that of the Cambridge professors, he
had them at a disadvantage, to the gratification
of Monroe's national pride. He returned to
Philadelphia in 1807, was admitted to the bar,
married, and began the practice of the law; but
finiling it irksomely uncongenial to his tastes, he
soon abandoned it for literature and ixjlitics, and
for the expensive occujiation of gentleman farm-
ing at his beautiful estate, " Andalusia," on the
banks of the Delaware. He became the associate
editor of the Portfolio, then the only literary
journal of repute in the country, and after the
death of Dennie, its proprietor, was sole editor for
a number of years. He was elected to the state
legisLiture in 1810, where his talents and states-
manship gave him influence and standing in that
botly. His first speech was one advocating the
re-chartering of the United States bank, and
brought him great repute as a financier, securing
the commendation of Chief Justice Marshall.
Then came the war of 1812, during which he was
a consistent advocate of all reasonable war meas-
ures. Unruffled by the exacerbation of party
feeling, his wise and moderate understanding of
the public situation, which called for undivided
and unanimous patriotism, was of great .service
to the government. He was in advance of his
times in his ideas regarding popular education, as
is evinced by a bill embodying the present com-
mon-school .system of the state of Pennsylvania,
drawn by Iiim in 1814. but not passed and adopted
until 18:30. In 1819 President Monroe signed the
bill of incorporation of the re-chartered United
States bank, and appointed Nicholas Biddle one
of the twenty-five government directors; and
when Langdon Cheves resigned the jiresidency
of the l)aiik. in 1823, Mr. Biddle succeeded him.
His contluct of the affairs of the bank met the
uu(iualified approval of the entire country. Dur-
ing the first years of his connection with the bank.
President Monroe, by authority of Congress, ap-
pointed him to prepare a " Digest of the Commer-
cial Laws of the World," which was for very
many j^ears a standard authoritj*. Presidents
Monroe and John Quincy Adams placed no
obstacles in the waj* of the prosperity of the
United States bank; but in 1829 President Jack-
son inaugurated the " bank war," which eventu-
ated in the decline of the credit of the bank.
Jackson objected to its re-charter on the grounds
that he feared " ix)litical corruption, " and vetoed,
in 1832, a bill which had passed both houses of
Congress for anticipating its re-charter, when its
existence would end, in 1836, and in the following
year withdrew the government deposit of ten
million dollars on his own responsibility, causing
a financial depression which overwhelmed the
entire nation. Nothing but the financial ability
of such a man as Nicholas Biddle could at this
crisis have sustained the reputation of the bank,
and the as.sertion of Mr. Biddle's friends that his
refusal to use the influence of the bank to the
furtherance of partisan ends had secured the
hostility of the President gained credence. The
state of Pennsylvania presented to Mr. Biddle a
magnificent memorial service of plate in recogni-
tion of his ability. In 1837 the bank suspended,
a misfortune which had been induced by Jack-
son's unfortunate financial polic,v, and Biddle's
spirit was so wounded by the censure of unthink-
ing persons who charged as due to him that which
he had for many years averted by his masterly
skill, that in l.'^39 he resigned his onerous position,
having succeeded in placing the stock at par: in
1841 the bank failed. The publications concern-
ing the " bank war " are numerous, and perhaps
one of the most important is a collection of the
letters of Mr. Biddle, in which he explains and
vindicates his conduct of the bank's affairs. His
public services were not confined to the manage-
ment of the United States bank. During susjiec-
sion of interest payment on Pennsylvania's debt,
he piiblished a series of " Essays with Suggestions
for its Payment," some of which the legislature
adopted. July 4, 1833, he laid the cornerstone of
Girard college, as president of board of trus-
tees; Sept. 30, 183"), he delivered an eloquent
address to the alumni of Princeton college on
