Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/683

Rh 1863 he was consecrated to the office of ordaining minister, corresponding to bishop in other churches, and in 1875 was elected president of the general convention of the church of the New Jerusalem in the United States. This office, the highest in the gift of his church, he continued to hold by annual re-election. During his residence in New York he edited the " Children's New Church Magazine " for four years, and the " New Church Messenger " for six years. He has published about two lunidred discourses as tracts, many of which have been translated into French, German, and Italian. His other publications include " Man as a Spiritual Be- ing," which has been translated into French, Ger- man, Norwegian, and Swedish (New York, 188) : " Stories for Children " (1868-'70) ; " The Incar- nation " (1870) : " Heavenly Blessedness " (Lon- don, 1872) ; " The Second Coming of the Lord " (Philadelphia, 1879); "Perfect Prayer" (1880); and " Valley of Diamonds " (London, 1881).

GILES, Henry, clergyman, b. in Crokford, County Wexford, Ireland, 1 Nov., 1809 ; d. near Boston, Mass., 10 July, 1882. He was educated in the Royal academy at Belfast, and was brought up in the Roman Catholic faith. Subsequently he united with the Unitarian church and became a minister of that denomination, preaching for two years in Greenock, Scotland, and then for three years in Liverpool, England. In 1839 he took an active part in the controversy between the Uni- tarians and Episcopalians, and delivered four of a course of thirteen lectures in Liverpool in that connection, the other Unitarian lecturers being James Martineau and John II. Thom. He came to the United States in 1840, and soon established for himself a reputation as a brilliant lecturer. He addressed many literary societies and library as- sociations, and delivered a course of lectures be- fore the Lowell institute on " The Genius and Writings of Shakespeare." He preached occasion- ally, but during the latter part of his life dwelt in retirement in the suburbs of Boston. Mr. Giles wrote much for periodicals, and was the author of essays that were marked by ingenuity of thought, fulness of diction, and fervor of style. These in- clude " Lectures and Essavs " (2 vols., Boston. 1845) ; "Christian Thought on "Life " (1850) ; " Illustra- tions of Genius in some of its Applications to So- ciety and Culture "(1854) ; " Human Life m Shake- speare "(1868); and " Lectures and Essays on Irish and other Subjects " (New York, 1869).

GILES, William Branch, statesman, b. in Amelia county, Va., 12 Aug., 1762; d. in Albe- marle county, Va., 4 Dec, 1830. He was educated at Hampden Sidney college, and at Princeton, and then studied law with Chancellor George Wythe. After his admission to the bar he practised for several years in Petersburg. Va., when he was elected to congress, and served continuously from Dec. 1791, till 3 March, 1803, except "during the 6th congress (1799-1801). His opposition to the bill creating a bank of the United States led to his estrangement from the Federal party and to his affiliation with the Democrats. On 23 Jan., 1793, he made an attack on Alexander Hamilton, then secretary of the treasury, charging him with corruption and peculation. Hamilton "vindicated himself in a report, and Giles replied by proposing resolutions censuring the secretary for undue as- sumption of power, and for want of respect to the house. In 1796 Giles strongly opposed the ratifica- tion of John Jay's treaty with Great Britain, and in 1798 the proposed war with Prance, for her out- rages on American commerce. In the latter year he became a member of the Virginia legislature, and co-operated with James Madison in procuring the passage of the celebrated resolutions of 1798, serving also as a presidential elector in 1801. In 1804 he was appointed U. S. senator, to succeed Wilson Cary Nicholas, and with subsequent elec- tions served until 3 March, 1815, when he resigned. He at once took the position of a Democratic leader in the senate, and held it until 1811, when he openly manifested his opposition to the adminis- tration of President Madison. Mr. Giles then re- tired from public life, and continued so until 1835, when he was again a candidate for the U. S. sen- ate, but was defeated by John Randolph. In 1826 he was induced to become a member of the legisla- ture of Virginia, principally from his strong op- position to the project of calling a convention to revise the constitution of the state. In the same year he was elected governor of Virginia, and held that office imtil 1829. The bill for calling a con- vention was revived, and passed at the session of 1827-'8, and Mr. Giles while governor was chosen a member. The convention sat in 1829-'30, and he took a distinguished part in its deliberations. As a parliamentary tactician he was unrivalled. " Mr. Giles was considered by John Randolph to be in the house of representatives what Charles Fox was admitted to be in the British house of commons — the most accomplished debater that his country had ever seen. But their acquired advantages were very different. Fox was a ripe scholar; Giles neither read or studied. Fox perfected himself in the house, speaking on every subject ; Giles out of the house, talking to everybody." He published a speech on the embargo laws (1808) ; political let- ters to the people of Virginia (1813) ; a series of letters, signed " A Constituent," in the Richmond " Enquirer," against a plan for general education (1818) ; a singular letter of invective against Presi- dent Monroe and Henry Clay for their " hobbies " ; the South American cause, the Greek cause, in- ternal improvements, and the tariff (1824); and a letter to Judge John Marshall disclaiming the ex- pressions, not the general sentiments, in regard to Washington ascribed to him in the debate of 1796 in Marshall's " Life of Washington " (1825).

GILFERT, Charles, theatrical manager, b. in Germany in 1787; d. in New York city, 30 July, 1829. He began his career in the United States as a composer and teacher of music, and became a manager of concerts and oratorios. Eventually he led the orchestra of the Park theatre in New York city, and was the conductor of the Musical-fund society. In 1815 he relinquished his musical career, and became lessee of the theatre in Charleston, S. C. At the close of an unsuccessful season, he went to Albany, N. Y., with his wife, and for several years managed the theatre in that city. In 1826. when the noted New York or Bowery theatre was built, he was offered the management, and be- came its lessee. Here he produced in rapid succession spectacular novelties, ballets, and operatic ensembles superior to any that had been seen in this country. But he was of an over-sanguine temperament, regardless of obligation, and reckless in money matters. As a consequence, his affairs became disordered, he was continually harassed, and not seldom imprisoned for debt within the " jail liberties" of his theatre. — His wife, Agnes, actress, b. in England in 1793, d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 19 April, 1833, first played at the Haymarket theatre in London, in 1811, in the character of Belvidera, in " Venice Preserved." In 1812 she came to this city with her father, Joseph George Holman, appeared at the New York Park theatre in the " Provoked Husband," made the tour of the large