Mr. Douglas devoted himself exclusively to his profession until 1840, when he entered into the famous presidential campaign of that year with so much ardor that he traversed the state in all directions for 7 months, and addressed more than 200 political gatherings. To his exertions was ascribed the adherence of Illinois at that election to the democratic party. In Dec. 1840, Mr. Douglas was appointed secretary of state of Illinois. In Feb. 1841, he was elected by the legislature a judge of the supreme court, which office he resigned in 1843 to accept the democratic nomination for congress, which was urged upon him against his known wishes, on the ground that he was the only democrat who could be elected. After a spirited canvass Mr. Douglas was chosen by upward of 400 majority. He was reelected in 1844 by a majority of 1,900, and again in 1846 by nearly 3,000 majority. He did not, however, take his seat under the last election, having in the mean time been chosen to the senate of the United States for 6 years from March 4, 1847. In the house of representatives Mr. Douglas was prominent among those who, in the Oregon controversy with Great Britain, maintained that our title to the whole of Oregon up to lat. 54° 40' was "clear and unquestionable." He declared that "he never would, now or hereafter, yield up one inch of Oregon, either to Great Britain or any other government." He advocated the policy of giving notice to terminate the joint occupation; of establishing a territorial government over Oregon, protected by a sufficient military force; and of putting the country at once in a state of preparation, so that if war should result from the assertion of our just rights, we might drive “Great Britain and the last vestiges of royal authority from the continent of North America, and make the United States an ocean-bound republic." He denied the right of the federal government to prosecute a system of internal improvements in the states, though he maintained the constitutionality and expediency of improving rivers, harbors, and navigable waters, and advocated a scheme of tonnage duties for that purpose, to be levied and expended by the local authorities. He was mainly instrumental in securing the passage of the law extending the maritime and admiralty jurisdiction of the federal courts over the great chain of northern lakes, having reported the bill as a member of the judiciary committee, and put it upon its passage, when a member of the house of representatives. He was among the earliest advocates of the annexation of Texas, and after the treaty for that object had failed in the senate, he was one of those who introduced propositions, in the form of joint resolutions, as a substitute for that treaty. As chairman of the committee on territories in 1846 he reported the joint resolution declaring Texas to be one of the United States of America, and he vigorously sustained the administration of President Polk in the measures which it adopted for the prosecution of the war with Mexico, which was the ultimate consequence of that

act. As chairman of the territorial committee, first in the house of representatives, and afterward in the senate, he reported and successfully carried through the bills to organize the territories of Minnesota, Oregon, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, Kansas, and Nebraska, and also the bills for the admission into the Union of the states of Iowa, Wisconsin, California, Minnesota, and Oregon. So far as the question of slavery was involved in the organization of territories and the admission of new states, he early took the position that congress should not interfere on the one side or the other, but that the people of each territory and state should be allowed to form and regulate their domestic institutions to suit themselves. In accordance with this principle he opposed the "Wilmot proviso" when first passed in the house of representatives in 1847, as an amendment to the bill appropriating $3,000,000 to enable President Polk to make a treaty of peace with Mexico, and afterward in the senate when offered as an amendment to the bill for the organization of the territory of Oregon. In August, 1848, however, he offered an amendment to the Oregon bill, extending the Missouri compromise line indefinitely westward to the Pacific ocean, in the same sense and with the same understanding with which it was originally adopted in 1820, and extended through Texas in 1845, prohibiting slavery in all the territory north of the parallel of 36° 30', and by implication recognizing its existence south of that line. This amendment was adopted in the senate by a decided majority, receiving the support of every southern, together with several northern senators, but was defeated in the house of representatives by nearly a sectional vote. The refusal of the senate to adopt the policy of congressional prohibition of slavery in all the territories, and the rejection in the house of representatives of the proposition to extend the Missouri compromise to the Pacific ocean, gave rise to the sectional agitation of 1849-50, which was temporarily quieted by the legislation known as the compromise measures of 1850. Mr. Douglas supported these measures with zeal and vigor; and on his return to his home in Chicago, finding them assailed with great violence, he defended the whole series in a speech to the people (Oct. 24, 1850) which is regarded by his friends as one of the ablest he has ever made. In this speech he defined the principles on which the compromise acts of 1850 were founded, and upon which he subsequently defended the Kansas-Nebraska bill, in these words: "These measures are predicated on the great fundamental principle that every people ought to possess the right of framing and regulating their own internal concerns and domestic institutions in their own way. . . . . These things are all confided by the constitution to each state to decide for itself, and I know of no reason why the same principle should not be extended to the territories." Mr. Douglas was an unsuccessful candidate before the democratic national convention at Baltimore

in 1852, for the nomination for the presidency. On the 30th ballot he received 92 votes, the highest number given to any candidate on that ballot, out of a total of 288 votes. At the congressional session of 1853-4, he reported from the committee on territories the celebrated bill to organize the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, which effectually revolutionized political parties in the United States, and formed the issues upon which the democratic and republican parties became arrayed against each other. The passage of this bill caused great excitement in the free states of the Union, and Mr. Douglas as its author was widely and vehehemently denounced, and in many places was hanged and burned in effigy. The whole controversy turned on the provision repealing the Missouri compromise, which Mr. Douglas maintained to be inconsistent with the principle of nonintervention by congress with slavery in states and territories. After repealing the Missouri restriction, the bill declared it to be the "true intent and meaning of the act, not to legislate slavery into any state or territory, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the constitution of the United States." Whatever diversity of opinion may exist in regard to the correctness of this principle and the propriety of its application to the territories, it must be admitted that Mr. Douglas has proved faithful to it under all circumstances, and defended it whenever assailed or violated. In 1856 Mr. Douglas was again a candidate for the presidential nomination before the democratic national convention at Cincinnati. The highest vote he received was on the 16th ballot, which stood, for Mr. Buchanan 168, for Mr. Douglas 121, for Mr. Cass 6. In the congressional session of 1857-'8, he denounced and opposed with energy and ability the Lecompton constitution, upon the distinct ground that it was not the act and deed of the people of Kansas, and did not embody their will. Before the adjournment of that session of congress he returned home to vindicate his action before the people of Illinois in one of the most exciting and well-contested political canvasses ever known in the United States. He had to encounter the determined hostility of the federal administration and all its patronage, and the powerful opposition of the republican party. But he succeeded in carrying the election of a sufficient number of state senators and representatives to secure his return to the U. S. senate for 6 years from March 4, 1859, by 54 votes for him to 46 for Abraham Lincoln, his able and distinguished opponent. It was manifest, however, by the popular vote for certain state officers who were chosen simultaneously with the members of the legislature, that a majority of the people were opposed to Mr. Douglas. The republican candidate for superintendent of common schools received 124,566 votes; the Douglas candidate for the same

office, 122,413; and the Buchanan or administration candidate, 5,173. During the whole of that contest he maintained and defended the doctrine of non-intervention and popular sovereignty, in the same sense in which he had previously proclaimed it in congress. Subsequently, in a debate in the senate (Feb. 23, 1859), he avowed and defended the same doctrine when assailed by several of the ablest senators of the democratic party.-Mr. Douglas has been remarkably successful in promoting the local interests of his own state during his congressional career. To him, more than to any other individual, is Illinois indebted for the magnificent grant of lands which secured the construction of the Illinois central railroad, and contributed so much to restore the credit and develop the resources of the state. He has always been a warm supporter and advocate of a railroad from the Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean, having been a member of the various select committees of congress on that subject, and being the author of several bills reported by those committees. Mr. Douglas's views in regard to our foreign relations have seldom been in accordance with the policy of the administration. He opposed the treaty with England limiting the Oregon territory to the 49th parallel, contending that England had no rights on that coast, and that the United States should never recognize her claim. He opposed the treaty of peace with Mexico on the ground that the boundaries were unnatural and inconvenient, and that the provisions in regard to the Indians could never be executed. The United States have since paid Mexico $10,000,000 to change the boundaries and relinquish the stipulations in regard to the Indians. He opposed the ratification of the Clayton and Bulwer treaty, and endeavored to procure its rejection, upon the ground, among other things, that it pledged the faith of the United States in all time to come never to annex, colonize, or exercise dominion over any portion of Central America. He declared that he did not desire to annex that country at that time, but maintained that the isthmus routes must be kept open as highways to the American possessions on the Pacific, that the time would come when the United States would be compelled to occupy Central America, and that he would never pledge the faith of the republic not to do in the future in respect to this continent what its interests and safety might require. He has also declared himself in favor of the acquisition of Cuba whenever the island can be obtained consistently with the laws of nations and the honor of the United States.-Mr. Douglas was married, April 7, 1847, to Miss Martha D. Martin, daughter of Col. Robert Martin of Rockingham co., N. C., by whom he had 3 children, 2 of whom are liv ing. She died Jan. 19, 1853. He was again married, Nov. 20, 1856, to Miss Adèle Cutts, daughter of James Madison Cutts of Washington, D. C., second controller of the treasury.

DOUGLASS, DAVID BATES, LL.D., an Amer

ican engineer, born in Pompton, N. J., March 21, 1790, died in Geneva, N. Y., Oct. 19, 1849. He was graduated at Yale college in 1813, entered the army as 2d lieutenant of engineers, and was stationed at West Point. In the summer of 1813 he was ordered to the Niagara frontier, and arrived just in time to take part as a volunteer in the battle of Niagara. In the subsequent defence of Fort Erie, in August and September, he distinguished himself, and was at once promoted to a first lieutenancy, with the brevet rank of captain. He was ordered to West Point, Jan. 1, 1815, and made assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy. In 1819 he acted during the summer recess as astronomical surveyor of the boundary commission from Niagara to Detroit, and in the summer of 1820 accompanied Gov. Cass in a similar capacity to the northwest. In August of the same year, while on this duty, he was promoted to the professorship of mathematics in the military academy at West Point, vacant by the death of his father-in-law, Prof. Andrew Ellicott, with the rank of major in the army. In 1823 he was transferred at his own desire to the professorship of civil and military engineering. The science of engineering was then new in this country, and few great works had been executed. He devoted himself to it with unsparing energy, and soon acquired a wide reputation. Many advantageous offers were made him, but he chose to remain at West Point. He was however employed by the state of Pennsylvania during the summer recesses from 1826 to 1830 as a consulting engineer, and charged with the surveys of several of the more difficult parts in its system of public works. In 1831 he resigned his professorship, and became chief engineer of the Morris canal, residing in Brooklyn. In 1832 he was appointed professor of civil architecture in the new university of the city of New York, and prepared the designs for its building. In June, 1833, he commenced his surveys for the great work of supplying New York with water, and in November submitted his first report, demonstrating the feasibility of such a supply, and showing how to obtain it from the Croton river. He reviewed his surveys in 1834, and prepared plans and estimates for the city authorities, and the next spring it was determined by a vote of the citizens that the aqueduct should be built. Water commissioners were appointed, and Major Douglass was at once elected chief engineer, and proceeded to lay out minutely the line of the aqueduct and complete his plans. He had accomplished his preliminary work when he was superseded. In 1839 he planned and laid out Greenwood cemetery. In 1840 he was elected president of Kenyon college, Ohio, and removed to Gambier in the spring of 1841. He withdrew from this office in 1844, and returned to the vicinity of New York. In 1845 he delivered a course of lectures at New Haven on the Niagara campaign. They had been originally delivered in New York in 1839, and soon afterward repeated

at Albany during the session of the legislature, in the hall of assembly, and at Buffalo. In 1845-'6 he laid out the cemetery at Albany, and in 1847 was employed in developing the landscape features of Staten island. In 1848 he laid out the Protestant cemetery at Quebec, and in the same year he was elected professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in Geneva college. He accepted the office, and entered upon its duties in October, but died the next year. His published writings consist chiefly of reports on the numerous works on which he was employed, and which he projected.

He was

DOUGLASS, FREDERICK, an American abolitionist, born at Tuckahoe, near Easton, Talbot co., Md., about 1817. His mother was a negro slave and his father a white man. reared as a slave on the plantation of Col. Edward Lloyd, until at the age of 10 he was sent to Baltimore to live with a relative of his master. He secretly taught himself to read and write, was employed in a ship yard, and, in accordance with a resolution long entertained to achieve his freedom, at the age of 21 fled from Baltimore and from slavery, Sept. 3, 1838. He made his way to New York and thence to New Bedford, where he married and lived for 2 or 3 years, supporting himself by day labor on the wharves and in various workshops. In the summer of 1841 he attended an anti-slavery convention at Nantucket, and made a speech which was so well received that at the close of the meeting he was offered and accepted the position of agent of the Massachusetts antislavery society, to deliver public addresses on slavery. In this capacity he travelled and lectured through Massachusetts and other New England states for 4 years. In 1845 be published an autobiography, entitled the "Life of Frederick Douglass," and soon after its appearance he went to Europe and lectured on slavery to crowded audiences in nearly all the large towns of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. In 1846 his friends in England contributed £150 to buy him from his claimant in Maryland, and have him regularly manumitted in due form of law. He remained 2 years in Great Britain, and on his return to the United States in 1847 he began at Rochester, N. Y., the publication of "Frederick Douglass's Paper," a weekly journal which he still continues to edit. Mr. Douglass, at the beginning of his public career as a lecturer and editor, was a Garrisonian disunionist. Several years ago, however, he renounced disunionism, and now maintains in his paper and in his public addresses that slavery is illegal and unconstitutional. In 1855 he ewrote and enlarged his autobiography, under the title of "My Bondage and my Freedom," of which the 18th thousand was published at New York and Auburn in 1857.

DOURO, or DUERO, one of the largest rivers of the Spanish peninsula, rises on the frontiers of the provinces of Soria and Burgos, and flows into the Atlantic at Oporto. Its current is rapid, and its course, for the most part, through nar

row valleys. For a considerable distance it forms the boundary between Spain and Portugal. It is navigable for small vessels as far as the Spanish frontier, and receives the waters of the Pisuerga, Seco, Esla, Sabor, Tua, Tamega, Adaja, Tormes, Turon, Coa, and Tavora, beside many smaller streams. Navigation is often interrupted by freshets, and the river is but little used for commercial purposes. On its banks are the vineyards which produce the celebrated wines of Oporto. Its length, including windings, is estimated at from 400 to 500 miles.

DOUVILLE, JEAN BAPTISTE, a French traveller and naturalist, born in Hambie, Feb. 15, 1794. The death of a rich relative gave him the means of gratifying a taste for adventure, and he travelled in Europe, South America, and Asia, landing at Genoa on his return in 1824. In 1826 he went to Paris, where he was made member of the geographical society. He sailed from Havre, Aug. 6 of the same year, for Buenos Ayres, where he arrived Oct. 29. The La Plata was at that time under blockade by the Brazilians, and the French vessel was captured while endeavoring to violate it; but Douville was befriended by the Brazilian admiral, and after a short sojourn at Montevideo, was sent to Buenos Ayres, where, finding his resources nearly exhausted, he attempted to replenish them by mercantile operations. Having been accused of some fraudulent transaction in business, of which he was afterward acquitted, he left Buenos Ayres in disgust, and went to Rio Janeiro, Aug. 1827. On Oct. 15 he embarked for Congo, whence he returned to France in 1831. The stories of his discoveries in several kingdoms hitherto almost unknown to Europeans, and of his exploration of the Congo or Zaire and other rivers, aroused great enthusiasm among the Parisians. He received a medal from the geographical society; his researches were published under the title of Voyage au Congo et dans l'Afrique équinoxiale (4 vols., with a map, Paris, 1832), and his book and chart were used as the basis of subsequent maps of Africa. But the evident exaggeration of some of his statements soon awakened suspicion. The English "Foreign Quarterly Review" assailed him as an impostor, and a few weeks later his deceptions were more fully exposed in the Revue des deux mondes. To cover his shame by real discoveries, he sailed for Brazil in 1833, and penetrated to the interior of South America, by the Amazon. Nothing has since been heard of him. Recent discoveries in Africa prove the truth of the accusations against him, although it is supposed that he reached the interior of that country, or that at least he obtained his information from Portuguese documents before unpublished; and some geographers of repute still credit a portion of his

narrative.

DOUW, or Dow, GERARD, a Dutch painter, born in Leyden in 1613, died there in 1680. He had been engaged for some time in painting on glass, when he became a pupil of Rembrandt, under whom he studied for 3 years. He began

with portrait painting, but was so extremely slow in finishing that no one would submit to the tediousness of sitting to him. He then de voted himself to painting domestic scenes. He was so exact in the imitation of objects, that a glass is needed to appreciate the skill and delicate finish of his work. His drawing was neither bold nor correct, but his figures are not wanting in life and expression, and his coloring is strong, fresh, and harmonious. He shared none of the poetical taste of his master, for his pictures generally consist of 2 or 3 figures engaged in the most trivial and often disagreeable occupations, as many of their titles indicate. Among the most celebrated are the "Dropsical Woman," the "Village Grocer's Wife," the "Dentist," and the "Violin Player." His works are to be found in all the public galleries of Europe, but private fortunes were hardly sufficient to command them, for it was the rule of Douw to be paid for his pictures according to the time they cost him.

DOVE, a river of England, noted for its picturesque scenery. It rises near Buxton, among the hills of the Peak of Derbyshire, and falls into the Trent, after a southerly course of 39 miles. Near the town of Ashbourne it flows through a remarkable winding chasm 2 miles in length, called Dovedale.

DOVE, HEINRICH WILHELM, a German meteorologist, born in Liegnitz, Prussian Silesia, Oct. 6, 1803. He was educated at Breslau and Berlin, in 1826 became a teacher and subsequently a professor extraordinary in the univer sity of Königsberg, and in 1829 was invited to Berlin, where he has since filled the professorship of physics. For a series of years he has devoted much attention to the investigation of the laws which regulate atmospheric phenomena, and which he has evolved with clearness and precision. His reports and isothermal maps, prepared from an immense number of isolated observations, afforded the first representation of the isothermal lines of the whole globe for every month of the year, beside much kindred information, the importance of which to meteorologists can scarcely be overestimated. His investigations on the thermal influence of the gulf stream and on kindred subjects have also attracted the favorable notice of scientific men. As an experimenter in electricity he was the first to announce the presence of a secondary current in a metallic wire, at the moment that the circuit of the principal current is completed. Of his works, many of which have appeared in the "Transactions" of the Berlin academy of sciences, and in Poggendorf's Annalen, the principal are: Ueber Mass und Messen; Meteorologische Untersuchungen; Ueber die nicht periodischen Aenderungen der Temperaturvertheilung auf der Oberfläche der Erde; Untersuchungen im Gebiete der Inductionselektricitat; Temperaturtafeln; Monatsisothermen, &c. In a more popular style he has written several treatises on meteorological and electrical phenomena, which have found many readers. In the

capacity of director of the Prussian observatories he publishes each year the results of their labors. Among his most recent writings are Klimatologische Beiträge (Berlin, 1857). DOVER. I. A city and capital of Strafford co., N. H., situated 12 m. from the ocean, on both sides of the Cocheco river, 68 m. N. of Boston, and 12 m. N. W. of Portsmouth; pop. in 1775, 1,666; 1820, 2,871; 1830, 5,449; 1840, 6,458; 1850, 8,166; 1859, about 9,200. The Cocheco river runs through the township, and furnishes great motive power, the principal fall being 32 feet. The supply of water is maintained through the dry season by draining Bow pond in the town of Strafford, which has been converted into an immense reservoir. The falls are situated at the head of tide water, to which point the river is navigable for sloops and schooners. The Cocheco company is one of the oldest incorporated manufacturing companies in the United States, and its operations have been among the most successful. It has 4 large mills for the manufacture of print cloths, also a large printery and machine shop, turning out about 9,000,000 yards per annum, and employing about 2,000 persons, the majority of whom are females. The mills are in the form of a quadrangle, and make an imposing appearance. There is also a mill for the manufacture of woollens, also an iron foundery, several tanneries, and other manufactures. The total capital employed is about $2,500,000. Black river, in the south part of the town, a smaller stream, furnishes water power which is used by establishments for the manufacture of flannels, carriages, and for various other mechanical employments. The town was settled in 1623 by the Laconia company of fishmongers of London, and is the oldest in the state. The first settlement was made on the tongue of land formed by the union of Cocheco and Piscataqua rivers. The settlement at "Strawberry Bank," or Portsmouth, was made about the same time, on the bank of the Piscataqua, a short distance down the river. It is one of the most fertile townships in the state, and the farms are in a high state of cultivation. The city is regularly laid out, and contains many elegant private residences. It is connected with Boston and Portland by the Boston and Maine railroad, and also with Winnepiseogee lake by the Cocheco road; the last named is a favorite route to the White mountains. The 3d Congregational church in the state was organized in this town about 1638. The first church edifice in the state stood on the ridge of land which rises gradually from the Piscataqua river, and was surrounded by palisades as a protection from the Indians. Jeremy Belknap, the first historian of the state, and the author and editor of several important works, was pastor of the church for 20 years from 1767 to 1787. There are 10 churches in the town, and about 70 stores. The city hall is a commodious and substantial brick edifice. The schools are excellent, and the high school building recently erected is one of the finest in the state. A monthly magazine and 3 weekly newspapers

are published here. II. A post town, capital of the state of Delaware and of Kent co., on Jones's creek, 5 m. above Delaware river; pop. in 1850, 4,207. It is regularly built, mostly of brick, on high ground, 50 m. S. from Wilmington, and 114 N. E. from Washington. The streets are wide, straight, and cross each other at right angles. The principal public buildings face an open square, the E. side of which is occupied by a handsome state house. In 1850 there were 4 churches, 2 large hotels, a newspaper office, an academy, 9 schools, 3 grist mills, and 2 saw mills. The town contains a monument to the memory of Col. John Haslett, who fell in the battle of Princeton, a telegraph office, and one bank. The line of the Delaware, New Castle and Wilmington, and Wilmington and Frenchtown railroads, from Philadelphia to Seaford, passes through it. The trade is chiefly in flour with Philadelphia. III. A village and township of Tuscarawas co., Ohio, on the right bank of Tuscarawas river, near the mouth of Sugar creek, 98 m. S. from Cleveland; pop. of the township in 1850, 3,248; of the village in 1853, 1,500. It is regularly laid out, on the W. side of the Ohio canal, across which and the river there is a bridge 346 feet long. It is the shipping point for large quantities of wheat and flour; in 1851 the amount was stated at 534,415 bushels of wheat, and 40,495 barrels of flour. The town has great facilities for manufacturing, and in 1854 contained a woollen factory, 2 furnaces, 3 tanneries, a saw mill, 2 grist mills, and churches of 6 denominations. The name of its post office is Canal Dover.

DOVER (Fr. Douvres; anc. Dubris), a parliamentary and municipal borough, cinque port, and fashionable watering place of Kent, England, situated on the N. W. shore of the strait of Dover; pop. in 1851, 22,244. It is built mainly in a valley, partly encompassed by an amphitheatre of chalk hills, cliffs, and downs, on which stand a castle, a citadel, and several fortresses. The castle, an immense structure, whose walls enclose 35 acres of ground, is supposed to have been founded by the Romans. Other portions, however, are of Norman and Saxon construction, while others again belong to still later epochs. It contains a spacious keep, used as a magazine and considered bomb-proof, and barracks for 2,000 men, beside which extensive barracks for the officers, outside of the castle, were erected in 1857. Within the precincts of the castle stands an octagonal watch tower, interesting not only as the earliest specimen of Roman architecture, but also as one of the most ancient pieces of regular mason-work in Great Britain. In the time of Edward the Confessor Dover castle was considered the key to the whole kingdom. In 1296 the French made a descent upon this place, and committed great depredations in the neighbouring country. It witnessed the landing of Charles II. on his restoration to the British throne, May 27, 1660, and the embarkation of Louis XVIII., April 24, 1814, on the restoration of the Bourbons in France. Dover now