Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 2.djvu/137

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VIRGINIA BIOGRArHY

graduated from the University of Pennsyl- vania in 1818, studied law at William and Mary College. X'irginia. and practiced law at Winchester. \'irginia. In 182O he was elected to the state legislature, and was re- elected until 1S32. He was a member of the X'irginia constitutional convention in i8j<). and in 1832 served as a presidential elector on the Jackson ticket, and was elect- ed i*» Congress as a Jackson Democrat in that year, and declined reelection at the end ot his term, preferring to return to law prac- tice. The \*irginia legislature elected him to till an unexpired term in the United Slates senate in 1847. and he was reelected twice. He resigned in 1861 to cast his for- tunes with the Confederacy. His fourteen years as senator were stamped with an abil- ity fur hard work. He served as chairman of the committee on foreign relations fur ten years. He was the author of the fugi tive slave law in 1850. and strongly opposed anti-slavery agitation. As soon as he re- signed his seat in the United States senate

he was elected to the Confederate congress, and was appointed, with John Slidell, com- missioner from the Confederate States to England and France. He sailed from Charleston. South Carolina, for Cuba, Oc- tiber 12. 1S61. and reached Havana safely. The two commissioners engaged passage en the r»ritish mail steamer Trent, and were captured by Captain Charles Wilkes, of the United Slater navy, as the vessel was pass- ing through the Bahama Channel. They were brought to Boston, and incarcerated ill Fort Warren. Boston Harbor, but after- ward, on demand of the British government, they were released. January 2. 1862, and jiroceeded on their mission to Eurc»pe. where, until the close of the civil war. they actively pushed the claims of the Confed- eracy for recognition. Senator Ma.son spent several years in Canada after the cessation or hostilities, but in 1868 returned to his home in Virginia*. He died at Alexandria, \'irginia. April 28. 1871.

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