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 736 ARMSTRONG action of Washington into an approval of the course previously proposed by the writer. At this meeting Washington addressed the officers with great feeling, assuring them of his ardent desire to cooperate with them in obtaining the ends which they had in view, but begging them not to follow the dangerous advice ol the writer of the addresses. His eloquence was successful, and he afterward obtained from congress what the soldiers required. Arm- strong wrote these anonymous productions at the request of many of his fellow officers, and although Washington had greatly blamed their author at the time, he afterward changed his opinion. Gen. Armstrong was subsequently sec- retary of state of Pennsylvania, and a member of the old congress. In November, 1800, he was chosen U. S. senator from New York, and in 1804 was sent as minister to France, where he served with ability, at the same time acting as minister to Spain. He returned home in 1810. At the commencement of the war of 1812 he received a brigadier general's commission, and the command of the district which included the city of New York. In the following year he was appointed secretary of war, and re- moved the war department to Sackett's Harbor. He incurred much blame for the capture of Washington in 1814, but very unjustly, as Gen. Winder, to whom the defence of the district had been intrusted, was appointed by the pres- ident in direct opposition to his advice. Gen. Armstrong's indignation at Mr. Madison for taking no steps to relieve him of this unde- served disgrace ended in his resignation. He wrote two treatises on farming and gardening, a criticism of Gen. Wilkinson's memoirs, bio- graphical sketches, and a history of the war of 1812. He also partly prepared a history of the American revolution. ARMSTRONG, John, a British physician, poet, and miscellaneous writer, born in Castleton parish, Roxburghshire, about 1709, died in 1779. His father was a clergyman. He studied at the university of Edinburgh, and after re- ceiving his medical diploma settled in London, where he published anonymously "An Essay for Abridging the Study of Physic" (1735), ridiculing the ignorance of the apothecaries. In 1737 he published an outrageously indecent poem entitled " The Economy of Love." In 1744 appeared " The Art of Preserving Health," a didactic poem whose merits were greatly overrated. In 1760, through the influence, as it is said, of John Wilkes, he was made phy- sician to the army in Germany, and held that office until the peace of 1763. His remain- ing published writings include a volume of "Sketches or Essays," a collection of short poems under the title of "Miscellanies," a " Short Ramble through France and Italy," and a volume of medical essays. ARMSTRONG, John, an English physician and author, born at Bishop-Wearmouth, May 8, 1784, died in London, Dec. 12, 1829. He grad- uated at Edinburgh university, and practised ARMY at Sunderland, where he wrote a work on "Typhus" (1816), which had a rapid sale throughout the kingdom. In 1818 he removed to London, where he failed to pass his exami- nation before the college of physicians ; but as that institution was exceedingly unpopular in the profession, his rejection was ascribed to jealousy, and he was soon afterward elected physician to the fever hospital. In 1821 he united with Mr. Grainger in founding the Webb street school of medicine, where his lec- tures were exceedingly popular. His chief defect was immoderate egotism. He regarded himself as a great reformer in the healing art, and ridiculed almost all medical learning ex- cept his own. His lectures, edited by Joseph Rix, were published in 1834. ARMSTRONG, Sir William George, an English engineer and inventor, born at Newcastle- upon-Tyne, Nov. 26, 1810. He was educated at Bishop- Auckland, and early busied himself with experiments in the physical sciences, the construction of models, &c. At his father's wish he began the study of law, though he had no inclination for that profession; he passed successfully through his preliminary studies, and became a partner in the firm with which he had been placed. But he devoted all his leisure to mechanical pursuits, and in 1838 produced his first invention, an important improvement in the hydraulic engine ; and in 1845 he invented a hydraulic crane, which im- mediately proved one of the most useful ma- chines of its kind. In 1842 he invented a ma- chine for the production of electricity from steam. Mr. Armstrong was made a member of the royal society in 1846, and in the same year was one of a company to establish the Elswick iron works, at which his cranes are manufactured, with large engines, iron bridges, &o. In 1854, during the Crimean war, the attention of Mr. Armstrong was attracted to improvements in ordnance, and somewhat later he produced the plan of the breech-loading cannon which bears his name. For this and his other inventions he was knighted in 1859. The construction of iron-clad ships of war led him to make in 1861-'2 numerous experiments on the penetrability of iron plates; in the course of these he came to the conclusion thafr shot fired at moderate distances, from muzzle- loading, smooth-bored cannon of large calibre, possess greater power of penetrating and crushing iron plates than the projectiles of the breech-loading rifled ordnance. This result has excited much comment from eminent artil- lery officers in England and elsewhere. Since 1858 Sir William Armstrong has been engi- neer of the war department, and superinten- dent of the manufacture of cannon at the gov- ernment foundery at Woolwich, and also manu- factures a large number at his own works at Elswick. ARMY, the organized body of armed men which a state maintains for the purposes of war. Of the armies of ancient history, the first of