FISHER AMES.

which he possessed with astronomy and mathematics, exhibited in the series of Almanacs, or Astronomical Diaries,

FISHER AMES, the eminent orator of | upon popular fame, in the acquaintance Federalism, belonged to one of the oldest of the Massachusetts families, which came near possessing quite a distinguished man for its first emigrant from which he annually sent forth for a pethe parent land, in the person of Wil-riod of nearly forty years.

liam Ames, one of the Calvinistic Cam- Fisher Ames was born at Dedham, bridge scholars, of whom there were April 9, 1758, and was but six years several representatives in the new old at his father's death. The widow world. This divine, who became was left, with a family of young chil know as a controversial writer, and the dren, to her own resources. With the author in particular of a work entitled prudence and love of independence the “Medulla Theologiæ," was driven of a New England matron, she resolved to a residence in the Netherlands. to continue the tavern. It is also The Frieslanders made him a professor, and he was at the Synod of Dort. Holland was at that day for such spirits the highway to America, and Ames would have emigrated, had not death interrupted his plans. They were carried out by his widow and children, in 1634.

We hear of the grandfather of Fisher Ames as a physician, in Massachusetts. His father, Nathaniel Ames, was also in the same profession. He was known in his town of Dedham as Doctor Ames; perhaps still better as the keeper of a tavern, it being no uncommon thing, in the early history of the country, to eke out a defective income in a reputable manner by innkeeping. He had also another hold

to be recorded to her honor, and as a proof of her instincts or discernment, that she saw from the outset the capa city of the future leader of men. She set him upon the study of Latin, and procured him the best aid Dedham then afforded in the town school, and occa sional recitations to the minister of the parish. In his thirteenth year, he was admitted a student at Harvard. His college life was marked by his good conduct, attention to his studies, and a determination of his tastes to oratorical exercises, and a practical sententious style of composition. In the finer elements of moral character, he made a decided impression.

He received his degree at Harvard, in 1774. The choice of a pursuit was

tration were to be settled which required the application of the first order of minds. The first appearance of Ames in a public question, marked his sagacity on a point of political economy. The wretched financial condition of the country and its depreciated paper currency, had thrown the ordinary busi ness of traffic into great confusion. A State Assembly of Massachusetts met to deliberate on the evil. The unwise policy was adopted of regulating prices to suit the money. It of course failed, and the failure was evident at the adjourned meeting of the delegates, to which Ames was sent as a member by his native town. He showed the futility of the interference, and that the self-adjusting powers of the body politic in such cases must be left to cure their own disorders.

next in order, and Ames chose the law. limits which confine the usual employ. The troubled state of the times, how-ments of a youthful attorney. Great ever, and his unsettled means of sup- questions of public policy and adminis port, somewhat delayed his entrance upon the profession. He was for a time engaged in that always honorable American resource for a scanty income, country school-keeping, with intervals of leisure which he devoted to miscel. laneous reading, with especial attention to his college classical authors, and good English literature; storing his mind with abundant stock of ethical wisdom, and felicitous illustration, which thus naturally appropriated by a youth of genius, became inwoven with his experience, and entered into the substance of his future oratory. The nutriment afforded to the mind of Ames by his classical reading, gives life and color to many passages of his writings. He was, we are told, fond of Greek and Roman antiquities, of the ancient mythology, and such accessories of the old poets. Virgil was a favo- We next hear of him as a political rite author with him; he committed to essayist, invigorating, by his arguments, memory many of his choicest passages. the powers of government in the sup The elegance, warmth and modesty of pression of the domestic insurrection in nature, the diffidence and pathos of the the western part of Massachusetts, Virgilian muse, were peculiarly accept-known as Shay's rebellion. His first able to his nature. A man is to be composition, signed "Lucius Junius known by the company of his books Brutus," appeared in the "Inde as well as by that of his friends. pendent Chronicle," at Boston, in October, 1786. When the rebellion was over, in the following year Ames pursued the subject in three essays, entitled "Camillus," in the same journal. He reviewed the disorganizing elements at work in the country, and with the skill and sagacity of a forma tive mind, grasped the conditions stability and success.

Ames served his regular apprenticeship to the law in the office of William Tudor, of Boston; was duly admitted to the bar, and commenced the practice of the profession at Dedham, in 1781. It was not, however, as a lawyer that he was to be best known to the public. The country had a call for such men, which lifted them out of the narrow

It was evident now that Ames was will of the people as immediate as being rapidly drawn into the fascinat- possible, and a due efficiency in the ing and engrossing pursuits of public discharge of the duty. "The term life; pursuits which have wrecked the of election," he said, "must be so long, business prospects of many a lawyer. that the representative may understand It is not always that the country the interests of the people, and yet so is better served by the decision. A limited, that Iris fidelity may be secured good lawyer is sometimes not the best by a dependence upon their approba politician, or as might be more appro- tion." He saw and maintained thus priately said, statesman. The latter early the principle of establishing needs a breadth of mind, an enlarged authority, under appropriate restric philosophical fund of knowledge, a tions indeed, but as a power to protect hearty sympathy seldom bred in the the whole. In the same year he was habits of attorneys. On the other hand, chosen a member of the House of these open qualities gain by a founda- Representatives in the State Legisla tion of business detail and profes- ture, distinguishing himself by his adsional skill. Ames had more of the vocacy of town schools. He saw in higher qualities. His sphere was pub- popular education a true safeguard lic life, and spite of some ineffectual against political delusions, as well as a efforts of the attorney's office, he soon constant means of individual happiness. reached it.

The next year brought the election Public life soon established its para to the first Congress of the United mount claims upon the man. He was States under the Constitution. The imchosen a member of the State Conven-portance of the occasion was universally tion which met at Boston in 1788, for felt and acknowledged. Some of the the consideration of the Constitution most eminent men whom the country of the United States, agreed upon the previous year, at Philadelphia. There was much discussion of its provisions, and considerable opposition to its adoption. Ames was on the Federal side, urging his views with ability and success. His speech on "Biennial Elections," the present term of the House of Representatives, for which it was then proposed to substitute an annual election, has been preserved. Its ar guments are closely presented, with an infusion of that conservative political wisdom which marked his future course. He found two things to be provided for, a representation of the

had produced were chosen from the various States. The Massachusetts delegation was rich in talent; but Fisher Ames was its foremost man. He was elected from the Boston district over Samuel Adams. His success was a distinguished triumph of the Federal cause. Ames was at his post at the opening of the Congress in New York. It was the formative period of the government. The entire working of a complex system was to be esta blished for the first time. The organization of the House, the reception of the President, the adjustment of eti quette, the determination of the future