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 ALEXANDER 285 self of his foothold on the American continent by the sale of Alaska. During the Franco- German war he secured at the London con- ference of 1870, by a modification of the treaty of Paris of 1856, the deneutraliza- tion of the Black sea. ALEXANDER ALEX- ANDBOVITOH, son of the preceding, and, since the death of his elder brother Nicholas in 1865, cezarevitch or heir apparent to the throne, was born March 10, 1845. In 1866 he married the Danish princess Dagmar, who had been engaged to his elder brother. Their eldest child, NICHOLAS ALEXANDROVITCH, was born May 18, 1868. The cezarevitch is noted for his sympathies with the old Russian party, who are prejudiced against the Germans, and against all foreigners. His younger brother, the grand duke Alexis, visited the United States in 187l-'2. ALEXANDER, the name of three kings of Scot- land. I. Succeeded his brother Edgar, Jan. 8, 1107, and died April 27, 1124. He was a prince of singular energy and capacity, which stood him in good stead during the rebellions that disturbed his reign, all of which he suppressed. He secured the independence of the Scottish hierarchy, opposed the pretensions of the Eng- lish bishops, and cultivated letters. II. Suc- ceeded his father, William the Lion, Dec. 4, 1214, and died July 8, 1249. He stands con- spicuous among Scottish kings for adminis- trative ability and equity. He united with the league of English barons against King John, and was consequently for two years un- der excommunication. On the accession of Henry III., Alexander ratified a peace with England by marrying Henry's sister, after whose death without issue Henry invaded Scotland; but the Scottish barons rallied in such force to the support of their king that the war was concluded without a battle. III. Son of the preceding by his second wife, a French lady, succeeded his father at the age of 8, mar- ried the daughter of Henry III. at the age of 10, and died March 16, 1286. He defeated the attempts of Henry to obtain a controlling in- fluence in Scottish affairs, repelled an invasion of Haco, king of Norway (1263), securing as a consequence the allegiance of the Hebrides and the Isle of Man, and brought about a marriage between his daughter Margaret and the Nor- wegian king Eric (1282). Margaret died the next year, leaving a daughter Margaret, called the Maiden of Norway, whose death on the way to take possession of her throne was the cause of great misfortunes to Scotland. ALEXANDER, Alexander Humphreys, a claimant of the earldom of Stirling, born in Birmingham, England, about 1783. In 1824 he obtained the royal license to assume the name of Alexander, on the ground that he had a maternal grand- father of that name, that his deceased mother was a great-great-granddaughter of the Hon. John Alexander, fourth son of the last earl of Stirling (see ALEXANDER, WILLIAM), and that, all intermediate heirs being extinct, he was sole heir to the honors and property of the earldom and charter. For a short time he succeeded in exercising the privileges of earl without un- dergoing any legal investigation of his claims, and he even claimed from the crown a vast territory in Nova Scotia, which he declared had been granted to the earls of Stirling. He raised large sums on these pretensions, and assumed various rights in connection with them ; but at last his claims were challenged by the crown lawyers of Scotland in 1839, and a trial ensued, in which Humphreys (Alexander) brought forward to prove his pedigree several documents purporting to be old manuscripts brought to light in various mysterious ways. These were, however, proved to be forgeries ; and his pretensions being thus brought to an end, he withdrew into obscurity. ALEXANDER, Archibald, D. D., an American Presbyterian divine, born in Augusta county (now Rockbridge), Va., April 17, 1772, died in Princeton, N. J., Oct. 22, 1851. His grand- father, Archibald Alexander, was of Scotch de- scent, though an emigrant from Ireland, whence he came to Pennsylvania in 1736, and, after a residence there of about two years, removed to Virginia. His son William, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a farmer and trader. At the age of 10 years Archibald was sent to the academy of the Rev. William Graham, at Timber Ridge meeting house, and at the age of 17 he became tutor in the family of Gen. John Posey, of the Wilderness, twelve miles west of Fredericksburg. He remained there but one year, and in 1789 he returned home and re- sumed his studies with Mr. Graham. At this time his mind became influenced by the re- markable religious movement which is yet spoken of as " the great revival," and he turned his attention to divinity. He was licensed at Winchester, Oct. 1, 179i, and spent some years in itinerant missionary service in different parts of his native state. In 1796 he succeeded Dr. John Blair Smith as president of Hampden Sidney college, but in 1801 resigned, and made a journey to New York and New England. While on his way to the north he visited the Rev. Dr. Waddel, the celebrated " blind preach- er" mentioned by Mr. Wirt in the "British Spy," and contracted a matrimonial engage- ment with his daughter, Janetta, whom he married on his return in 1802. He then re- sumed his former position at Hampden Sidney college, but owing to insubordination among the students he accepted a call from the Pine street church in Philadelphia, where he was installed pastor May 30, 1807. The degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by the college of New Jersey in 1810, and in the same year he was elected president of Union college in Georgia, a fact which remained unknown even by his family until after his death. The theological seminary at Princeton was estab- lished by the general assembly of the Presby- terian church in 1811, and Dr. Alexander was by common consent elected as its first theologi-