POLITICAL PORTRAITS WITH PEN AND PENCIL.

(No. III.)

JOEL R. POINSETT.

THE striking incident which the artist has, in part, represented in the opposite drawing of Mr. Poinsett, has passed into our history as one of its proudest personal associations, and is, in truth, so remarkable, that in a sketch purporting to give a life-like representation of the man, its stirring memories could not be omitted. Our readers will find a minute account of the circumstances in the subsequent pages; suffice it here to say, that the accompanying sketch gives a spirited representation of Mr. Poinsett's figure and features, although the energy of the scene seems necessarily to have imparted to his appearance, an excitement, the opposite of the quietness and repose which characterize his manner in ordinary life.

If brilliant talent, tried devotion to sound republican principles, and a conspicuous part in the changing scenes of American politics, give claim to an early place in the series of our portraits, the present Secretary of War well deserves it. A truer democrat, a more active and patriotic statesman, is scarcely to be named; and yet a life abounding in romantic incident and adventure-a taste for letters never suffered to languish-diversify those traits and impart at least as much of interest to the private as the public man.

He is descended from Peter Poinsett, who, with his wife, Sarah Fouchereau, natives of Soubisi, about twenty miles south of Rochelle, in France, emigrated soon after the revocation of the edict of Nantz, and established themselves in South Carolina, where the family has ever since resided. His father, Dr. Elisha Poinsett, accompanied the American division sent to cooperate with Count D'Estaing, and attended Pulaski when he received his death wound in the attack on Savannah.

After receiving the rudiments of education at Charleston, Mr. Poinsett was removed, while yet a youth, to a school at Greenfield,— a beautiful village in the valley of the Connecticut river. He remained there some time under the charge of Dr. Dwight,—a master not more distinguished for learning, than for his piety and a love of literature, equally various and refined. At about seventeen, the young scholar was sent to England, not merely to prosecute his studies, but to gratify a desire, early displayed, of visiting and rambling through foreign countries. At a good school, not far from London, he rapidly mastered the classical languages, and acquired the riches of their lore. Turning from these to natural science,

VOL. 1. NO. IL

[F2]

he repaired to Edinburgh, where he entered himself in the medical school, and pursued all the branches of that study,-so attractive to a young and inquiring mind,-with an ardor which a constitution, never very strong, soon proved unable to bear. To recruit his health, he made a rapid tour through the milder climates of the south of Europe, and when it was re-established, he returned to England with the intention of devoting himself zealously to the military profession, for which he had always a strong predilection, and which he then designed to be the object and business of his future life. Finding the doors of the Royal Military Academy, at Woolwich, not readily opened to a young republican, he placed himself under the instruction of Marquois, who had been a professor in that institution, and who was distinguished as a mathematician and teacher of the military art. In 1800-being then twenty-one years of agehe returned to his native country with the desire and intention of at once entering the army. The strong repugnance of his father prevented this, however, and he became, and continued, for nearly two years, a student of law, in the office of Mr. Desaussure, afterwards chancellor of South Carolina. Perhaps the dry volumes of legal learning presented little attraction to a young man fond of adventure and panting for a more active career;-certainly before his term of study was completed, he had again embarked for Europe, and we soon find him tracing, on foot, the hills and valleys of Switzerland, and penetrating the wildest recesses of the Alps. From these he visited the principal cities of Italy and Sicily,-went to Malta, and then, after a few months absence, again returned to Switzerland.

There was no celebrated spot, of that singularly picturesque country, which he did not visit, and to the interest attached to their natural beauties was added that of the political events of the period. The French troops had evacuated Switzerland, and under the sanction of the treaty of Luneville, the democratic cantons were seeking to re-establish, by force of arms, the old confederation. It was a sight, most interesting to a young republican,-to see these hardy mountaineers gathering in the valleys and marching through the narrow and ice-bound defiles, to unite under the banner of the gallant Aloys Reding;—and he followed them to Scheveitz, where he became acquainted with that celebrated Swiss leader. From that place he pursued his journey, by way of Zurich, towards Berne. Before reaching there, he was overtaken by the main body of the Swiss forces, who were marching to seize the city and dispossess the government established by the French Directory. The rude little army might have rivalled, in disorder, an equal body of untrained American militia,-and when some of the hospitable mountaineers recognized the young republican traveller who had been wandering among their hills, he was joyfully elevated upon one of their bag

gage waggons, and carried along with them to the gates of Berne. After witnessing them-in fond anticipation of future freedom-take possession of the government, almost without resistance, he proceeded to Geneva. There, and in the neighborhood of the Leman lake, he fixed his residence for some months. It was at the period when Neckar, sinking with years, and his accomplished daughter driven from the court of Napoleon, were residing in the neighborhood, at the village of Copet. To them the young, intelligent and enthusiastic American, often proved a welcome guest. On one of these occasions he happened to be present at a dinner given by Madame de Stael to Mr. Livingston, the American Minister to France, and then on a tour through part of Savoy and Switzerland. Neckar, though very infirm, and from the loss of his teeth scarcely intelligible, loved to dwell on the events of the revolution in which he had acted so conspicuous a part; and as Mr. Livingston was extremely deaf, the young traveller had the embarrassing task of interpreting between them. Madame de Stael, who perceived the difficulty, came to the rescue, and while she rendered into her own clear and elegant diction, the scarcely intelligible language of her father, gave new charms to the conversation by the comments which she made. Never did she appear so amiable as while watching over her father's fame and health. Although the vigor of his body was gone, she could not bear to believe, or permit it to be seen, that the faculties of his mind, which with filial affection she had always overrated, had suffered a similar decay. As he walked in the afternoon, supported by a servant through his garden, which extended along the beautiful margin of the lake, this remarkable woman,-who appears to the world to have lived only for literary reputation,--watched with the most anxious care, the tottering footsteps of her aged parent;-she hung with delightful reverence and attention upon all his words,—` and by the manner in which she explained them, gave full relief to the slightest observation that he made.

From Geneva, Mr. Poinsett passed into Bavaria, and from there, extended his travels through the Austrian empire. Receiving, while at Vienna, the melancholy intelligence of his father's death; he set out immediately, in the depth of winter, for Rotterdam, whence he sailed to the United States.

The sad occurrence, which thus hastened his return to his native country, was followed, shortly after his arrival, by domestic affliction, scarcely less severe. He found his sister sinking under the influence of a fatal disease,-and in following her soon after to the grave, he lost his only near relative. This event induced him to resume his travels. He returned to Europe and proceeded to visit the northern countries of that continent. At St. Petersburg he found the Emperor Alexander, then lately elevated to the throne,―and full of the curiosity and enthusiasm which marked his youthful charac