Author and diplomat, born in New York City on the 10th of February 1807. In 1828 he became associate editor of the New York Mirror. From 1837 to 1853 he was secretary of the American legation, in Berlin, Germany, and from 1853 to 1861 was minister resident in Bern, Switzerland, his diplomatic positions in the service of the United States covering twenty-five years. He afterward lived in retirement in Berlin. His works include Dreams and Reveries of a Quiet Man (1832); The Minute-Book (1835); Norman Leslie (1835); Views of Christianity (1856); History of Switzerland (1860); Great Outlines of Geography, an original and invaluable contribution to geographical science (1867); A History of Germany (1888); and Forty Dollars and the Boots, or Shall We Not Abolish Our Apostles’ Creed? (1897). In 1889 a translation appeared in America of his The Three Germanys, Glimpses into Their History, a graphic and scholarly work, reflecting vividly the stirring events of which the author was a personal witness. He died in Berlin on the 24th of November 1898. See also “New York” and “Catskill Mountains.”
