Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/583

Rh 1862, where he was so severely wounded as to be incapacitated for further active service in the lirld. On 8 Feb., 1864, he was promoted lieuten- ant-colonel of the 4th infantry, and in March. 1865, he was brevetted colonel and brigadier- general, U. S. army, for his meritorious services. Hi- was mustered out of the volunteer service in August, 1865, and was afterward sent to command Fort Laramie, where he died of heart disease.

SLENKER, Elmira Drake, author, b. in La Grange, N. Y., 23 Dec., 1827. She is a daughter of Thomas Drake, was educated at district schools, and then alternated between teaching and study- ing at higher schools. She married Isaac Slenker in 1856, and has long resided in Snowville, Va. Mrs. Slenker has contributed to various journals, and was in 1880-'! assistant editor of the New York " Physiologist and Family Physician." The " Children's Corner " in the " Boston Investigator," and " Klmina Column " in " The South Land," have been under her charge for several years, and she has

SLICER, Henry, clergyman, b. in Annapolis, Md.. in 1801 ; d. in Baltimore, 23 April, 1874. He rr. rived a good education, worked for a time as a furniture- painter, studying theology at the same time, and in 1821 was licensed as a preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church. After serving on the Hartford and Redstone circuits, he was transferred in 1824 to the navy-yard at Washing- ton. In 1833 he was appointed presiding elder of the Potomac district, and in 1837 he was elected chaplain of the U. S. senate, being twice re-elected. In 1846 he was stationed at Carlisle, Pa., was again elected chaplain of the U". S. senate, and held the office till 1850. In the following nineteen years he was stationed at Baltimore and Frederick city, was again chaplain of the senate, and a presiding elder for eight years. From 1862 till 1870 he was chaplain of the Seaman's chapel at Baltimore, and in 1870 he was again presiding elder of the Balti- more district. He had been a member of seven quadrennial general conferences. He received the degree of D. D. from Dickinson college, Carlisle. Pa., in 1860. While chaplain of the senate he de- livered a sermon against duelling, which power- fully aided the passage of the act making duels illegal (New York, 1838). His other works are "Appeal on Christian Baptism" (New York, 1835), and " A Further Appeal " (1836).

'''SLIDELL. John''', statesman, b. in New York city about 1793; d. in London, England, 29 July, 1871. He was graduated at Columbia in 1810, and engaged unsuccessfully in commerce. He then studied law, and in 1819 removed to New Orleans, where, making a specialty of commercial law, he soon acquired a large practice. In 1828 he was a defeated Democratic candidate for congress, and actively canvassed the state for Andrew Jackson, who appointed him U". S. district attorney for Louisiana, but after a year in office he resigned. Mr. Slidell was a candidate for the U. S. senate in 1834, but Charles Gayarre was chosen. He dis- posed of his practice in 1835 and continued as a leader in Louisiana politics until 1842, when he was elected to congress as a state-rights Democrat, and served from 4 Dec.. 1843, till 10 Nov., 1845. In November, 1845. he was sent as minister to Mexico by President Polk, to adjust the difficulty caused by the annexation of Texas to the United States: but that government refused to receive him, and he returned in January, 1847, when he resigned. He was again a candidate for the U. S. senate in ; but his party were in the minority, and in the canvass of 1852 he was active in behalf of I'Yimklin Pierce. On the inauguration of the lat- ter he refused a diplomatic appointment to Central America, but. on the acceptance by Pierre Soule of the French mission, he was sent to the U. S. sen- ate and served, with re-election, from 5 Dec., 1853, to 4 Feb., 1861. He rarely spoke, but was a member of important com- mittees, and ex- erted great influ- ence. Preferring to remain in the senate, he declinc-d a cabinet appoint- ment from Presi- dent Buchanan, but continued a confidential friend of the latter throughout his ad- ministration. Mr. Slidell was a stren- uous supporter of the doctrines of state-rights, and, when Louisiana passed the ordinance of secession, he withdrew from the senate with his colleague, after making a defiant speech. In September, 1861, he was appointed Confederate commissioner to France, and set out with James M. Mason for Southampton from Havana in November. He was seized on the high-seas by Capt. Charles Wilkes, and brought to the United States. After imprisonment in Fort Warren he was released and sailed for England on 1 Jan., 1862. From England he went at once to Paris, where, in February, 1862, he paid his first visit to the French minister of foreign affairs. His mission, which had for its object the recognition of the Confederate states by the French government, was a failure, but the well-known sympathy of Napoleon III., who at that time was deeply interested in the project of a Mexican empire under Maximilian, did much to favor the Confederate cause. In order to secure French aid, he proposed a commercial convention, by which France should enjoy valuable export and import privileges for a long period, and which, if carried into effect speedily, on the basis of breaking the blockade, because of its legal inefficiency, would give France control of southern cotton, and in return furnish the Confederacy with ample supplies, including arras and munitions of war. This was not accepted, on account of the emperor's refusal to recognize the Confederate states unless the British authorities should co-operate. But the sympathy of Napoleon III. proved of great value, for by his secret influence Mr. Slidell was able to begin the negotiation of the $15,000,000 Confederate loan. Early in 1863 the emperor permitted him to make proposals for the construction of four steam corvettes and two iron-clad rams at private ship-yards in Bordeaux and Nantes ; but later in the year, information of this fact coming to the knowledge of the U. S. representative in Paris, imperial orders were issued that the vessels should be sold to foreign powers. One of them was transferred to the Confederate navy in January, 1865, after being purchased by Denmark, as is claimed by the Confederates, though it is asserted on the other side that the purchase was fictitious. This vessel, the " Stonewall," set out for the United States, but did not reach Ha-