Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/400

 384 RODNEY became a member of the provincial assembly, in which he served till 1774, being speaker in 1769 and thereafter. In 1766 he was sent to the stamp act congress at New York. In the colonial assembly he earnestly advocated a bill forbidding the importation of slaves, which failed by only two votes. The colonies enter- ing into correspondence upon the subject of their common defence, he became chairman of the committee of safety for Delaware ; and in 1774, meetings of the people having been held at New Castle and Dover to demand the assem- bling of a convention, he issued a call as speak- er of the assembly, convoking the representa- tives of the people at New Castle on Aug. 1. Ho was made chairman of the convention, and was elected a delegate to the continental congress, in which he was a member of the general committee to draw up a recital of the rights and grievances of the colonies. In March, 1775, he was again elected to con- gress. In May he was made colonel, and soon afterward brigadier general of the Delaware militia. In 1776 ho was alternately in his seat in congress, and at work in Delaware stimula- ting the patriots and repressing the loyalists. In response to a special message, he rode with all speed to Philadelphia, just in time to give Delaware's vote for the declaration. After his retirement from congress he went to Tren- ton, where Gen. Stirling made him post com- mandant, and then to Morristown, whence by Washington's permission he returned home in February, 1777. He suppressed an insurrec- tion in Sussex, and when in August the British advanced into Delaware, he took the field with what militia he could raise, and annoyed the flank of the enemy as they faced the American position on Red Clay creek. In September he was made major general of militia, and in De- cember he was again elected to congress, but did not take his seat. A few days later he was elected president or executive officer of the state, which post he filled till January, 1782, when he declined reelection. He was then chosen to congress, and again in 1783, but did not take his seat. II. Cxstr Augnstns, an Amer- ican statesman, nephew of the preceding, born in Dover, Del., Jan. 4, 1772, died in Buenos Ayres, June 10, 1824. He graduated at the university of Pennsylvania, and studied law. In 1802 he was elected to congress as a demo- crat, and was a member of the committee of ways and means, and one of the managers in the impeachment of Judge Chase. In 1807 he became attorney general of the United States, which place he resigned in 1811. During the war of 1812 he commanded an artillery com- pany. In 1817 he was sent to South America by President Monroe as one of the commission- ers to investigate and report upon the propri- ety of recognizing the independence of the Spanish- American republics, which he strongly advocated after his return. In 1820 he was again elected to the house of representatives, and in 1822 became a member of the United States senate, being the first democrat who ever sat in that chamber from Delaware. In 1823 Monroe appointed him minister plenipo- tentiary to the United Provinces of La Plata. With J. Graham he published "Reports on the Present State of the United Provinces of South America" (8vo, London, 1819). RODNEY, George Brydges, baron, an English ad- miral, born at Walton-upon-Thames, Surrey, Feb. 19, 1718, died in London, May 21, 1792. At the age of 12 he was taken from Harrow school and sent to sea; in 1739 he became a lieutenant, in 1742 a captain, and in 1748 went to the Newfoundland station as governor and commander-in-chief. In 1752 he returned to England and was elected to parliament, and in 1759 he was created rear admiral. In 1761 he was appointed commander-in-chief at Bar- badoes and the Leeward islands, and reduced the islands of Martinique, Santa Lucia, and Grenada. In 1762 he was made vice admiral, in 1764 a baronet, in 1765 master of Green- wich hospital, and in 1768 was returned to parliament. He resigned his governorship of Greenwich hospital in 1771, on being appointed commander-in-chief at Jamaica. In 1774 he returned to England, but was obliged to seek refuge from his creditors in France. Finally he obtained money sufficient to pay his debts, and with the rank of admiral sailed in 1779 for the Barbadoes station, where he had been again appointed commander-in-chief. His squadron consisted of 22 ships of the line and 8 frigates, and after capturing several Spanish transports and ships of war, he fell in with a Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent in January, 1780, under Don Juan de Langara. This consisted of 11 ships of the line and 2 frigates, and of these 7 were taken or destroyed. On April 17, 1780, he came up with the French fleet near Marti- nique, but was prevented from capturing any of their vessels by the refusal ol his captains to follow. He however broke through the en- emy's lines with a portion of his squadron, and was rewarded with the thanks of both houses of parliament and a pension of 2,000. The same year he was elected to the house of com- mons from Westminster, and made a K. B. In December, 1780, he made an unsuccessful at- tack upon St. Vincent. War breaking out be- tween Great Britain and Holland, he took the Dutch island of St. Eustatius without firing a shot, and then Demerara, Esseqtiibo, and Ber- bice. In the autumn of 1781 he returned home, and was created vice admiral of England, and assigned the command of the West Indies. Returning thither, he went in pursuit of the French fleet under the count de Grasse. A partial action took place on April 9, 1782, and a general engagement on April 12. The battle began at 7 o'clock in the morning, and lasted till 6 in the evening, and the British took seven ships of the line, including the French flag ship, and two frigates. The whigs meanwhile had come into office, and as Rodney was opposed to that party, an officer was sent to supersede