ed as the most accomplished gentleman of his age. Mr. Stockton frequently reverted with pleasure to his agreeable and interesting interview with that nobleman. The first impression produced in his mind, at the moment of introduction, was that of an infirm old man, who had lost his teeth and his hearing, and whose person was neither pleasing nor prepossessing. But when he began to speak, these transient ideas instantly vanished: his eyes became brilliant, and his whole manner was so persuasive and enchanting, as to cause Mr. Stockton, in relating the circumstance, to observe, that no language could convey an adequate idea of the powerful effect which it produced. "I forgot," he continued, "that he was deaf and without teeth, and he appeared to me remarkably handsome."

Mr. Stockton was forcibly impressed with the general ignorance prevalent in Great Britain in relation to the American character and people, which was observable among all classes of society. Finding that those who, in other respects, possessed extensive information, were little more enlightened on this subject than the ignorant and uninstructed, he immediately foresaw, with his natural sagacity, the unpleasant consequences that would probably result from this universal want of knowledge. Hence he used every practicable exertion to dissipate the ob

scurity which rested upon that important topic. As the mass of the people materially misunderstood and depreciated the character and feelings of the cisatlantic community, it was his earnest desire to remove these partial and illiberal impressions, by elevating the American character to that degree of just consideration, which, according to his opinion, it properly merited. Had the views and patriotic exertions of Mr. Stockton been more extensively propagated and supported, it is probable that an union might have been effected on principles consistent with the rights and interests of both countries. But the warnings and counsels of the best and wisest men in various parts of the empire were disregarded, and the nation was speedily precipitated into the calamities of a civil war, which, happily for America, terminated in the separation of the colonies from the mother country, and deprived the British king of what has been justly termed the fairest jewel in his crown.

Mr. Stockton had now been more than a year absent from home, during which period his professional business had been principally conducted by his friends, and more particularly by his brother-inlaw, the late Elias Boudinot, Esq. Under these circumstances he became anxious to return to America, and his solicitude was greatly increased by the

knowledge that his arrival was earnestly anticipated by his family and friends. Neither the amusements of the British capital, nor the fascinations of fashionable life, nor the pointed attentions which at that peculiar period were liberally lavished upon distinguished Americans, could longer detain him from the endearments of domestic life, and the society of a wife and family to whom he was tenderly attached. He embarked in a vessel bound to New York, in the month of August, and after a prosperous passage of twenty-six days, arrived at the port of destination about the 14th of September, 1767. He was received by his neighbours, relatives, and friends, who testified their admiration of his character by escorting him to his residence, with the highest respect and most cordial affection.

In the year 1768, he was elevated to a seat in the supreme royal legislative judiciary, and executive council of the province, enjoying at the same time the full favour of the royal government, and the undiminished confidence of his friends and fellow citizens. In 1774 he was appointed one of the judges of the supreme court, and for some time performed the duties of that office as an associate with his old preceptor, David Ogden, Esq. During a happy interval of a few years, he cultivated and embellished an extensive and fertile landed estate, where he re

sided in the perfect enjoyment of every domestic blessing, surrounded by his family, and possessed of an ample fortune.

But the storm which had been so long and gloomily gathering, now began to burst over the land, and prognosticate the desolation which attended the climax of its fury. The domestic felicity of Mr. Stockton was necessarily interrupted by the portentous aspect of public affairs, which indicated the approach of extensive private and political calamity. Holding a high and honourable station under the government of a monarch whose personal character he greatly respected, although he believed him to be misled by a corrupt ministry, and who had honoured him with especial marks of confidence, he was now compelled either to renounce his allegiance to that sovereign, or depart from the duties which he owed to his native land, and dissolve the ties that bound him to a country which contained the sepulchres of his ancestors.

Although the sacrifice may have been painful, it was made cheerfully and without hesitation. When the counsels of the marquis of Rockingham, the earl of Chatham, and other British patriots, were rejected, and he discovered that the British ministry had again resolved to enforce the odious right which they claimed of taxing the American colonies with

out their own consent, or granting them any representation in parliament, he promptly selected the course of conduct which he conceived it his duty to adopt. Although he had received numerous indications of official favour and personal attention from the king and many of the most eminent statesmen of the British empire, yet, after contributing his strenuous exertions, in the first stages of the dispute, to effect a reconciliation between the mother country and the colonies, on principles consistent with civil liberty and the just rights of his country, he considered himself bound by paramount obligations, when the crisis of serious contest had arrived, to enrol himself among the defenders of American freedom. Separating, therefore, from his fellow members of the royal council, to whom as individuals he was warmly attached, but who, with the exception of lord Stirling, John Stevens, Esq. and himself, were all royalists or neutrals, he exerted himself on all proper occasions among the primary assemblies of the people, to procure the organization of a prudent and well directed opposition to the arbitrary measures of the British ministry.

On the 21st of June, 1776, the public confidence reposed in the patriotism, firmness, and abilities, of Mr. Stockton, was honourably manifested by the proceedings of the provincial congress of New Jer