Lewis Cass. By Andrew C. McLaughlin. (Houghton and Mifflin, Boston
and New York.)—This is one of the series of American Statesmen," of which some twenty, including Wash- ington, J. Q. Adams, Monroe, Jefferson, Daniel Webster, and Henry Clay, have already been published. Lewis Cass was born in 1782, at Exeter, New Hampshire. His father, originally a, blacksmith, had fought in the War of Independence, and rose to a position of some importance in the service. Lewis studied law, and at twenty was admitted a barrister. Four years afterwards, while still under the legal age, he was elected a Member of the Ohio Legislature. He took part, as the Colonel of a regiment of Volunteers, in the War of 1812, and made his first public utterance, in expressing his confidence that the " Eagle of America would be found more than a match for the British Lion." The American Eagle fared rather badly in this particular part of the field. In 1813, Cass was appointed Governor of Michigan Territory. In 1831, the Cabinet of President Jackson was changed, apparently for social reasons, and Cass became Secretary for War in the new Ministry. In 1837, he went as Minister to France, developing there a strong anti-English feeling. He became a Member of the United States Senate in 1845, and was the Democratic candi- date for the Presidency in 1848. He was Secretary of State in Buchanan's Cabinet, and resigned in December, 1860, on account of the President's refusal to reinforce the Charleston forts. With this his public career ended. He died six years afterwards, at the age of eighty-four. The Life is almost exclusively of American interest; but as a factor in the history of the States, Lewis Cass was undoubtedly of importance.
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