JAMES MONROE,

FIFTH president of the United States, was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, May 15, 1759, and graduated at the college of William and Mary, the alma mater of many of our most distinguished statesmen, 1776. He immediately joined the standard of his country, and bravely fought in the actions of Haerlem Heights, White Plains, and Trenton. In this last affair he was dangerously wounded, and for his intrepid conduct was rewarded by promotion. In the campaigns of 1777, and 1778, he acted as aid-de-camp to Lord Stirling, and was engaged in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. In these battles his conduct was marked by the distinguished approbation of the commander-inchief.

In 1780, after the capture of Charleston, he visited the southern army, then under the command of Baron de Kalb, at the request of governor Jefferson, in the character of a military commissioner. In the latter part of this year,

he commenced the study of law, in the office of governor Jefferson.

In 1782, he commenced his legislative career as a member of the assembly of Virginia, and shortly after was called to a seat in the executive council.

In 1783, he was elected a member of the congress of the United States, and continued to fill that station with great ability for three years.

In 1787, he was a member of the grand convention which met to frame a constitution for the United States, and although the youngest member of that august body, the course that he pursued acquired for him a fame as lasting as the constitution itself.

He was a member of the Virginia convention, which was amongst the first to adopt it.

Soon after the adoption of the federal constitution, he was elected a member of the senate of the United States, and bore a conspicuous part in the establishment of the Judiciary and financial system, and aided essentially in organizing the department of state, the treasury, the army, and the navy.

In 1794, he was appointed by president Washington, minister plenipotentiary to the

court of France. Here, the unadorned majesty of his character shone with a lustre, which, while it conciliated the ardent leaders of the French revolutionists, maintained, unimpaired, the exalted administration of Washington.

On his return home, he was elected, in 1799, governor of Virginia. At the expiration of the constitutional term, he declined a re-election, and received a unanimous vote of thanks for the faithful, dignified, and impartial manner in which he had discharged the duties of chief magistrate.

In 1802, he was appointed by president Jefferson, in conjunction with Mr Livingston, then resident minister in France, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to that country; and he was empowered to act, in concert with Mr C. Pinckney, in the same character in Spain. In this embassy he exhibited profound talents as a diplomatist, and assisted in the purchase of the territory of Louisiana.

He next repaired to London, in the summer of 1803, to succeed Mr King, who had requested permission to return home.

In 1806, Mr Pinckney, a distinguished advo

cate of the Maryland bar, was associated with Mr Monroe, under a special mission, to negotiate with lords Holland and Auckland for Great Britain.-By these commissioners a treaty was formed, but its provisions were so exceptionable in the view of president Jefferson, that he took upon himself to return it. Several attempts were made by our commissioners to bring matters to a more acceptable result, but without success. The affair of the Chesapeake produced a rupture between the two governments, and Mr Monroe returned home.

In 1810, he was again called to the gubernatorial chair of his native state, and while in the exercise of this office, in the following year, he was appointed by president Madison secretary of state. In this station the scholar, the patriot, and the statesman shone conspicuously. No British subtility could enthral-no vapid promises allure-no menacing tone could deter the secretary. The firm language of remonstrance gave place to the sonorous notes of war. Hostilities commenced against Great Britain, and he was called upon to discharge also the duties of secretary at war. Thus upon one day he had to act a sig

nificant part in the cabinet-upon another, to give an official direction to the thunders of Plattsburgh, the Canadian peninsula, and New-Orleans.

In 1817 he succeeded Mr Madison in the presidential chair; and during a happy administration of eight years, which has passed away in a period of profound peace, a public debt of sixty millions has been discharged; the internal taxes have been repealed; relief has been granted to the aged and indigent among the surviving warriors of the revolution; the Floridas have been acquired; and our boundary has been extended to the Pacific Ocean; the independence of the states of South America has been recognized; the African traffic in slaves has been suppressed; the interior regions of the United States have been explored; provision has been made for cultivating the mind of the Aborigines and turning their attention to the cultivation of the soil; and in preparing by scientific researches and surveys, for the further application of our national resources to the internal improvement of our country.