Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/216

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

the acquaintance of the cultivateil liicksite Quakers, and his faith in both Methodism and slavery was somewhat impaired. He also became a student of the works of Em- erson, with whom he corresponded. In 1852 he was appointed to a circuit in Frederick county, Maryland, but soon resigned to enter the Unitarian Divinity School at Cambridge, Massachusetts, from which he received his B. D. degree (1854). He was a minister of the Unitarian church at Washington, D. C., from 1854 to 1857, when his anti-slavery discourses caused a division in the society. I' or a time he preached to those who adhered tc him. but finding the two sides willing to unite on Mr. Channing as a successor, lie accepted an invitation from the First Con- gregational Church in Cincinnati. Here hi.'-, first book appeared. "Tracts for To-chy" (1858). In i860 he founded the "Dial" in Cincinnati, to which Emerson contributed. C)n the breaking out of the civil war, Mr. Conwav went through Ohio, delivering ad- dresses in favor of emancipation as the true weapon of liberty and union, and meeting, at times, rough, opposition. In 1861 he pub- lished his views in a little book, "The Re- jected Stone," which gained a wide circu- lation. It was followed (1862) by "The Golden Hour. ' Mr. Conway was invited to oive a lecture on the subject at the Smith- cnian Institution, and he also delivered a sermon in the senate chamber. About this same time, his father's slaves being within the lines of the Federal army of the I'oto- r:ac, he gathered them together and colo- nized them in Ohio. In 1863 he was chosen editor of the Boston "Commonwealth," es- tidjlished in the interest of emancipation. He visited England in 1863, and there gave many addresses on the issue in America,

wrote papers in "Fraser" and the "Fort- nightly," and published his "Testimonies Concerning Slavery" (1864). Under in- structions from the abolitionists of America he made overtures to James M. Mason, the Confederate commissioner, to ef?ect the in- dependence of the south on condition of its abolishing slavery. Accepting an invitation to the South Place chapel, London, he was itp minister until 1S84. but always retained his .American citizenship. Mt. Conway was a member of several learned societies in London, and lectured occasionally at the Royal Institution. In 1885 he returned to the United States, and became a resident of New York City. Besides many printed dis- courses, a large number of magazine articles and letters to the New York "Tribune" and the Cincinnati "Commercial," of which papers he was successively the London cor- respondent, Mr. Conway has published the ft.llowing works in England and America: "The Earthward Pilgrimage" (1870); "Re- publican Superstitions" (1872) ; "The Sacred Anthology" (1876); "Idols and Ideals" (1877) ; "Demonology and Devil-Lore" (1879); "A Necklace of Stories" (1880); "Thomas Carlyle" (1881) ; "The Wandering Jew" (1881); "Travels in South Kensing- ton" ( 1882) ; "Emerson at Home and Abroad" (1882): "Pine and Palm. A Novel" (1887) ; "Life of Edmund Randolph" (1888) "George Washington and Mount \'ernon" (1889): "Life of Hawthorne" ( 1890) : "Prisons of .Air. A Novel" (1891) ; "Life of Thomas Paine" (1892), and many later works. In 1858 Mr. Conway married Miss Ellen Davis Dana. He died in Paris. France. November 13. T907.

Darling, James Sands, born in New York City. February 3, 1832, son of Hamilton