Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/323

 BINNEY.

BIKGE.

President Jackson removed from the United States bank the deposits of the treasury, and vetoed the bill for its recharter. This aroused indignation in the friends and officials of the bank, and led Mr. Binney to accept a seat as rep- resentative in the 23d Congress, where he vigor- ously opposed the acts of the administration. His last appearance in the courts was in 1844, when he was appointed by the city council to argue the Girard will-case in the supreme court of the United States. In this case an attempt was made to invalidate the will of Stephen Girard, who had left his fortune for the establislmient and maintenance of a college for orphans. In the argument Mr. Binney was matched against Mr. Webster, and, while the latter brought all his eloquence to defend the Christian religion, the only plea advanced against the validity of the will, Mr. Binney confined himself to a lucid exposition of the law of charitable bequests, and its application to the case. In 1850 he withdrew entirely from professional labor and devoted his time to study, keeping in touch with modern thought, and making occasional contributions to current literature. During the civil war he sustained all the acts of President Lincoln, and when that official suspended the writ of habeas corpus by proclamation, without the consent of Congress, Mr. Binney published three pam- phlets supporting the president's action. He received the honorary degree of A.B. from Brown university in 1797, and that of LL.D. from Har- vard in 1827. He was a member of the Ameri- can philosophical society, of the Massachusetts historical society, and a fellow of the American academy. Among his publications are : ' ' An Eulogium upon the Hon. William Tilghman, late chief ju.stice of Pennsylvania " (1827) ; "An Eulogy on the Life and Character of John Mar- shall " (1835) ; " Remarks to the Bar of Philadel- phia on the Occasion of the Deaths of Charles Chauncy and John Sergeant" (1853); "Inquiry into the Formation of Washington's Farewell Address" (1859); and "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus under the Constitution " (186JJ-'65). He died Aug. 12, 1875.

BINNEY, Joha, educator, was born in Phila- delphia, Pa., Feb. 23, 1844; son of Horace and Eliza Francis (Johnson) Binney. He was grad- uated at Harvard in 1864, and at Berkeley divinity school, Middletown, Conn., in 1868. He was or- dained deacon June 5, 1868, priest May 28, 1869, and was an assistant at St. James' Episcopal church, New London, Conn., 1868-'70, and rector of Christ church, Norwich, Conn., 1870-'74. He became professor of Hebrew in the Berkeley di- vinity school in 1874, and subsequently dean. He was married. May 20, 1869, to Charlotte Bick- well Bush, of Brookline, Mass.

BIRD, Robert riontgomery, author, was born at Newcastle, Del., Feb. 5, 1805. He was educated in Philadelphia as a physician, but soon turned his attention to literature, producing three very popular tragedies — " The Gladiator," " Oraloosa," and tlie " Broker of Bogota." During the years 1834 to 1839 he published several novels which attained a wide popularity, notably, " Calavar," "The Infidel," "The Hawks of Hawk Hollow," " Nick of the Woods," " Sheppard Lee," "Peter Pilgrim," and '• Robin Day." Towards the close of his life he became editor of the N'orth American Gazette at Pliiladelphia. He died Jan. 22, 1854.

BIRDSALL, William W., educator, was born in Richmond, Ind., April 5, 1854. He was grad- uated from Earlliam college, Richmond, Ind., in 1873 ; was teacher of mathematics at the high school, Richmond, Ind., 1877-'82 ; principal of the boys' high school, Wilmington, Del., 1882-85 ; in- structor in mathematics at the Friends' central school, Philadelphia, Pa., 1885-'93 ; principal of the boys' department there, 1893-'98, and was president of Swarthmore college. Pa., 1898.

BIRQE, Edward Asahel, educator, was born in Troy, N. Y., Sept. 7, 1851 ; son of Edward White and Ann (Stevens) Birge ; grandson of Asahel Birge, and of Thaddeus Stevens, and a descendant of Ricliard Birge, an original settler of Old Wind- sor, Conn. He was graduated fi-om Williams col- lege in 1873, and studied zoology in the Agassiz museum of comparative zoology at Harvard, 1873- '75. He was an in.structor in natural histor}- at the University of Wisconsin, 1875-'79 : professor of zoology from 1879 ; studied histology and physiol- ogy at the University of Leipzig. Germany, 1880- '81, became dean of the college of letters and science of the University of Wisconsin in 1891, and acting president in 1900. He received the degree of Ph.D. from Harvard in 1878 : andSc.D. (honorary) from the Western university of Penn- sylvania in 1897. He was made a member of the commissioners of fisheries of Wisconsin in 1894, and director of the geological and natural his- tory survey of Wisconsin in 1897. He contrib- uted to the Archiv fur Physiologie and to the Trans actions of the Wisconsin academy of sciences, arts and letters : edited the revision of Prof. James Orton's "Comparative Zoology" (1882); wrote the article on " Entomostraca" in the "Stand- ard Natural History " (1884), and edited the bul- letins of the Wisconsin geological survey.

BIRGE, Henry Warner, soldier, was born at Hartford, Conn., about 1830. He was commis- sioned major of the 4th Connecticut volunteers, May 22, 1861 ; became colonel of the 13th Connec- ticut regiment. Nov. 5, 1861. and participated in the expedition against New Orleans. He com- manded the defences of New Orleans ; engaged in the battle of Georgia Landing, and commanded