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 210 LAURENS was greatly enfeebled, and suffered also from frequent attacks of gout. He was solaced, how- ever, by the kind attentions of many friends, among whom was Edmund Burke. The British government made frequent attempts on his patriotism, but in vain ; all that they obtained from him was a petition for his enlargement, in which he stated that he had honestly striven to prevent the final rupture between the crown and the colonies. Though his health was broken when he was released, he received the commission of congress as one of its ministers for negotiating the peace. He proceeded to Paris, where on Nov. 30, 1782, with Franklin and Jay, he signed the preliminaries of the treaty. On his return to America he was wel- comed with the highest consideration. Offices were tendered him, which the state of his health and of his private affairs compelled him to decline. By an injunction in his will, his body was burned according to detailed direc- tions of his own, and the remains were col- lected and buried. He left numerous original and valuable papers, a portion of which have been published in the collections of 4he South Carolina historical society. II. John, an Amer- ican soldier, son of the preceding, born in South Carolina about 1756, killed there, Aug. 27, 1782. He was educated in England, returned home at the opening of the revolutionary war, and joined the army in 1777. He became aide to Washington, and was frequently his secretary, writing many of his letters and despatches, and was his chief medium of communication with foreigners in the service. He distinguished himself at Brandywine, was wounded at Ger- mantown and again at Coosawhatchie, and was of great service to Moultrie when besieged in Charleston. He was one of the first to mount the British lines at the attack on Savannah, and was prominent in the defence of Charleston when it was besieged by Sir Henry Clinton. After the fall of the latter city he rejoined Washington, and was designated by him as the special representative of the army to proceed to France and appeal to the king for succor. He set out in the autumn of 1781, succeeded in his mission, and returned to his military du- ties. At the siege of Yorktown he led the forlorn hope and captured one of the two re- doubts which were stormed. When operations had ceased in the north he joined the army f>t the south under Greene, and by his activity checked every effort of the British garrison in Charleston, and confined them for many months to the walls of the city. He was killed in a skirmish on the Combahee river with a marauding party of British. Washington la- mented with keen feeling the loss of Laurens, who had shared his confidence and had requi- ted his preference with the most affectionate devotion. Laurens once rushed between him and danger at Monmouth, and afterward shot in a duel Gen. Charles Lee for disrespectful language to his general. His correspondence, which was voluminous, exhibits an easy, grace- LAURENTUM ful, and vigorous style, marked equally by thought, information, and originality, and free- dom of opinion. His army correspondence, with a memoir by W. G. Simms, was printed in 1867 for the Bradford club of New York. LAURENT, Francois, a Belgian historian, born in Luxemburg, July 8, 1810. He studied at Louvain and Liege, where he graduated as a lawyer in 1832. He practised his profession in his native city till 1834, when he became connected with the ministry of justice in Brus- sels. In 1835 he accepted the professorship of civil law in the university of Ghent, and he was sustained by the government in this post not- withstanding his antijultramontane writings. His principal work, Etudes sur VMstoire de TJiumanite (14 vols., Brussels and Paris, 1860- '68), is a collective edition of his publications on the various eras of history. LAURENTIAN MOUNTAINS, a range of British North America, extending in its general direc- tion from Labrador in a curve around the S. and W. shores of Hudson bay to the Arctic ocean, upward of 3,000 m. In its E. portion it forms the watershed separating the tribu- taries of the St. Lawrence river from those of Hudson bay. Beyond the basin of the St. Lawrence it is traversed by two affluents of the bay, Nelson and Churchill rivers ; and still further N. it divides for 800 m. the tributaries of Mackenzie river from the streams flowing into Hudson bay. Its general elevation is from 1,500 to 1,600 ft, with some peaks about the Saguenay river of 4,000 ft. It is mostly well wooded with pine or spruce on the summits, and hard wood on the lower elevations and in the valleys. A remarkable feature of the range is the immense number of ponds and lakes, expansions of the streams, that dot its surface. The principal break in its general di- rection is on the Ottawa river, above Ottawa, where it crosses that stream, sweeps round S. to the Thousand islands near the exit of the St. Lawrence from Lake Ontario, then bends N. W. to the S. extremity of Georgian bay, and continues along the N. E. and N. shores of Lakes Huron and Superior, resuming it general course. The rocks of this range sedimentary strata, which have become highl crystalline, and are the most ancient known on the American continent. The Canadian geolo- gists have given to this formation the name the Laurentian system. LAURENT1E, Pierre Sebastien, a French his rian, born at Houga, department of Gers, Jan. 21, 1793. He was a professor at Paris, for som( time inspector general of studies, and for manj years editor of the Quotidienne and other joui nals in the legitimist interest. Among his nu- merous works are : De la legitimite et de Vi pation (1830); Eistoire de France (8 vols., 1841-'3; with supplement, 1855) ; Histoire Vempire romain (4 vols., 1861-'2) ; and sev( pamphlets in opposition to Renan (1862-'3). LAURENTUM, an ancient city of Latium, be- tween Ostia and Lavinium, 15 m. S. S. W.