COOPER. 376 COOPER. eighteen years was president of the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company. He invented a method of propelling canal-boats by an endless chain, which, while not adopted at the time, was used later on the Delaware and Karitan Canal. Mr. Cooper served in both branches of the New York Common Council and as a tmstee in the Public School Society, an or- ganization formed to adance the cause of public education. Upon the union of that body with the Koard of Education he became a school commis- sioner. In 187G he received the Independent nomination for President. Peter Cooper engaged in many forms of mercantile life and was suc- cessful in all. In gratitude for his success and wishing to afford others opportimities which he himself had never enjoyed, he established in 1853 the 'Cooper Union' (q.v. ) in New York City. Consult Carter, "Life of Peter Cooper," in Cen- tury Magazine (New York, 1883-84). COOPER, Susan Fenimore (1813-94). An American author, born at Scarsdale, N. Y. She was the daughter of James Fenimore Cooper, the famous American novelist. Her chief publica- tions include: Rural Hours (1850), a year's journal of country scenes; Rhyme and Reason of Country Life (1854), a volume of selections; and Mount Vernon to the Children of America (18.58). COOPER, Thomas (1759-1840). A British- American scientist, political economist, educa- tor, and publicist, conspicuous for his versa- tility and his radicalism in politics. He was born in London, studied for a time at Ox- ford, and was admitted to the bar. In 1792 he spent four months in Paris and while there acted with -lames Watt, the famous inventor,* as a delegate from the Manchester Constitu- tional Society to the Patriotic Societies of France. For this both he and Watt were warm- ly criticised at home, especially by Edmund Burke, who took them to task in a somewhat in- temperate speech before Parliament. To this speech Cooper replied in a caustic pamphlet en- titled A Reply to Mr. Burke's Invective Against Mr. Cooper and Mr. Watt (1792), the circula- tion of which in a cheap edition designed to reach the lower classes was prohibited by the British Government. After an unsuccessful at- tempt, as a bleacher and calico-printer, to apply a secret process learned in France for preparing chlorine from sea-salt, he emigrated to America in 1795, and for a short time practiced law in Northumberland County, Pa, He soon began to take an active part in support of the Anti- Federalists in current political discussions, and for a violent attack u])on President John Adams in the Reading Adrcrtiscr of October 26, 1799, was tried inider the Sedition Law ( see Alien and Sedition Acts), was convicted of libel, and, besides being fined $400, was sentenced to six months' imprisonment. He was appointed a land commissioner for the State of Pennsylvania in 1806, and subsequently acted as president judge of a common pleas district until 1811, when he was removed because of his alleged arbi- trary conduct and overbearing temper. He was professor of chemistry in Dickinson College, Pa., from 1811 to 1814. and of mineralogy and chem- istry in the University of Pennsvlvania from ISli) to 1821, and from' 1820 to 1834 was presi- dent of South Carolina College, where he acted also as professor of chemistry and political econ- omy, and for a time of 'rhetoric, criticism, and belles-lettres.' From 1834 until his death he V. as engaged, with Dr. ilcCord, in revising the statutes of South Carolina, which were published in ten volumes (Columbia, 1830-41). Though he was strongly condemned by many for his radical- ism in philosophy, religion, and politics, he un- doubtedly exercised a powerful inlluence in the South, especially in South Carolina, and did much to inculcate in the minds of the politicians of his State the doctrine of extreme States' rights, nullification, and free trade. In a speech which was widely circulated in 1827, he openly urged both nullification and .secession upon South Carolina, and he was unquestionably responsible to a considerable degree for the nullification measures of 1832-33. Besides editing The Em- porium of Arts and Sciences at Philadelphia from 1812 until 1814 and writing numerous pamphlets and articles for the press, he pub- lished: Some Information Respecting America (1794); Political Essays (1800); An English Version of the Institutes of Justinian (1812) ; A Practical Treatise on Dyeing and Calico Print- ing (1815) ; Lectures on the Elements of Politi- cal Economy (1826); and A Treatise on the Law of Libel and the Liierty of the Press (1830). COOPER, Thomas (1805-92). An English agitator, one of the leaders in the Chartist movement, poet and author. In youth he was a shoemaker, but at the ' age of twenty- three became a schoolmaster. He was the leader of the Leicester Chartists in 1841, lectured during the riots of that year, was found guilty of conspiracy and sedition, and was sent to prison for two years. While in jail he wrote an epic poem. The Purga- tory of Suicide, and a series of stories entitled Wise Sous and Modern Instances. Some time afterwards he wrote papers on The Cotidition of the People: later still, Triumphs of Persever- ance and Triumphs of Enterprise (1856). In 1848 he was lecturing: in 1849 he edited a rad- ical penny paper, The Plain Speaker, and in 1850 a free-thinking publication. Cooper's Jour- nal. Near the close of 1855 he gave up skepti- cism, and afterwards lectured in support of Christianity. He published The Bridge of His- tory Over the Gulf of Time (1871) : an Auto- biography (1872) ; and Collected Poems (1878). COOPER, Thomas Adtuorpe (1776-1849). -a actor who was born at Harrow, England, but came to this country in 1796 and for many years held a leading place on the American stage. He made his debut in Edinburgh, and afterwards played at Covent Garden, London, bef<ire coming to America, where he made his first appearance in Philadelphia, in the role of Macbeth. He quickly won great popularity. Later he went to New ork and remained several years, gaining a wide reputation. In 1803-04 he was again in London and had a successful engagement at Driiry Lane, in Shakespearean tragedy. A later visit to London, in 1827, met with a less flatter- ing reception, for which he was requited, how- ever, on his return to America : but before he retired from the stage his popularity in this country had greatly declined, as had also, appar- ently, his artistic talents. Among his best part-s were Shylock, Richard III., Othello, Damon, and
irginius. In later life he was for a time a
custom-house officer in New York, a son of Presi-
