affairs of the navy, until the close of the year 1784. His expansive faculties, his habits of order, his energy and rigid justice in the transaction of business, enabled him to acquit himself creditably in this sphere. In 1786, Mr. Morris consented to be elected into the assembly of Pennsylvania, in order to obtain the renewal of the charter of the bank of North America. Party spirit prevailed over his logic and eloquence; but the exertions of the friends of the institution were, in the succeeding legislature, crowned with success. In 1786, he was elected a member of the convention which framed the federal constitution. No man had more often and severely felt the want of an efficient government. He had incessantly asked for a stronger bond, or instrument, than the old confederation, for "a firm, wise, manly system of federal government;" and he strenuously coöperated in devising and recommending the present. In 1788, the general assembly of Pennsylvania appointed him to represent the state in the first senate of the U. States, which assembled at New York. As a member of that body, he distinguished himself by wise counsels, and particularly by an irresistible speech for the repeal of the tender laws. He was a fluent, correct, and impressive orator; he wrote with ease and terseness; his fund of political knowledge could not but be ample; his acquaintance with the affairs of the world exceeded, in extent and diversity, that of any of his fellow patriots, Franklin excepted; his conversation was therefore replete with interest and instruction. When the federal government was organized, Washington offered him the post of secretary of the treasury, which he declined; and, being requested to designate a person for it, he named general Hamilton, a most happy though not an expected choice. At the conclusion of the war, he was among the first who engaged in the East India and China trade. In the spring of 1784, he despatched the ship Empress of China, captain Green, from New York to Canton, being the first American vessel that ever appeared in that port. He also made the first attempt to effect what is termed an out of season passage to China. This passage is effected by going round the south cape of New Holland, thus avoiding the periodical winds prevalent at certain periods in the China sea. In prosecution of this object, the ship Alliance, captain Read, equipped with ten twelvepounders, and sixty-five men, sailed from the Delaware, June 20, 1787, and arrived

in safety, Dec. 22, at Canton, where considerable inquiries were made by the European commanders respecting the route that had been taken, as it was wholly a novel thing for a vessel to arrive at that season of the year. As no ship had ever before made a similar passage, great astonishment was manifested; and the lords of the admiralty subsequently applied to Mr. Morris for information with regard to the track of the ship. It is said that her probable route was, previous to her departure, marked out by Mr. Morris, with the assistance of Mr. Gouverneur Morris. In his old age, Mr. Morris embarked in vast land speculations, which proved fatal to his fortune. The man to whose financial operations the Americans were said to owe as much as to the negotiations of Franklin, or even the arms of Washington, passed the latter years of his life in prison, confined for debt. He sunk into the tomb on the 8th of May, 1806. Mr. Morris was of large frame, with a fine, open, bland countenance, and simple manners. Until the period of his impoverishment, his house was a scene of the most liberal hospitality. It was open, for nearly half a century, to all the strangers of good society who visited Philadelphia. He was temperate in food, but fond of convivial meetings. No one parted with his money more freely for public or private purposes of a meritorious nature.

MORRIS, Gouverneur, an eminent American statesman and orator, was born at Morrisania, near the city of New York, January 31, 1752. He was educated at King's college in that city, where he was graduated bachelor of arts in May, 1768. Immediately after he entered the office of William Smith (the historian of the colony), as a student of law. In 1771, he was licensed to practise law. His proficiency in all his studies was remarkable. He acquired early much reputation as a man of brilliant talents and various promise. His person, address, manners, elocution, were of a superior order. In May, 1775, Mr. Morris was chosen a delegate to the provincial congress of New York. In June of that year, he served on a committee with general Montgomery, to confer with general Washington respecting the manner of his introduction to the congress. He entered with zeal and efficiency into all the questions and proceedings which referred to a vigorous resistance to the pretensions of the mother country. In 1776 (Dec.), he acted as one of the committee for drafting a constitution for the state of New York, which was reported

in March, and adopted in April, of that year, after repeated and very able debates, in which Jay, Morris, and Robert R. Livingston were the principal speakers. In July, 1777, he served as member of a committee from the New York congress, to repair to the head-quarters of Schuyler's army, to inquire into the causes of the evacuation of Ticonderoga. In October of that year, he joined the continental congress at York, Pennsylvania, and, in 1778, wrote the patriotic and successful pamphlet called Observations on the American Revolution, which he published at the beginning of 1779. We must refer to the journals of congress for an account of his many and valuable services, rendered in that body to the revolutionary cause. In July, 1781, he accepted the post of assistant superintendent of finance, as the colleague of Robert Morris. He filled every office to which he was called with characteristic zeal and ability. After the war of the revolution, he embarked, with Robert Morris, in mercantile enterprises. In 1785, he published an Address to the Assembly of Pennsylvania on the Abolition of the Bank of North America, in which he cogently argued against that project. In December, 1786, he purchased from his brother the fine estate of Morrisania, and made it his dwelling-place. Here he devoted himself to liberal studies. In the following year, he served with distinction as a member of the convention for framing the constitution of the U. States. December 15, 1788, he sailed for France, where he was occupied in selling lands and pursuing money speculations until March, 1790, when he proceeded to London as private agent of the American government with regard to the conditions of the old treaty, and the inclination of the British cabinet to form a commercial treaty. In November, 1790, he returned to Paris, having made a tour in Germany. In the interva! between this period and the beginning of the year 1792, he passed several times on public business between the British and French capitals. February 6, 1792, he received his appointment as minister plenipotentiary to France, and was presented to the king June 3. He held this station with great éclat until October, 1794. He witnessed the most interesting scenes of the revolution in the capital, and maintained personal intercourse with the conspicuous politicians of the several parties. The abundant memorials which he has left of his sojourn in France, and his travels on the European continent, possess the high

est interest and much historical value. He made extensive journeys after he ceased to be minister plenipotentiary, of which he kept a full diary. In the autumn of 1798, Mr. Morris returned to the U. States, to engage in politics, with enhanced celebrity and a large additional stock of political and literary knowledge. He was universally admitted to be one of the most accomplished and prominent gentlemen of his country. In 1800, he entered the senate of the U. States, where his cloquence and information made him conspicuous. The two eulogies which he pronouncedone on general Washington, and the other at the funeral of general Hamiltonare specimens of his rhetorical style. His delivery was excellent. Mr. Morris, at an early period, gave special and sagacious attention to the project of that grand canal by which the state of New York has been so much honored and benefited. In the summer of 1810, he examined the canal route to lake Erie. The share which he had in originating and promoting that noble work, is stated in the regular history which has been published of its conception and progress. In May, 1812, he pronounced a public and impressive eulogium on the venerable George Clinton; in the same year, an oration before the New York historical society; in 1814, another on the restoration of the Bourbons in France; in 1816, a discourse before the New York historical society. Mr. Morris died at Morrisania, November 5, 1816. He passed the latter years of his life at Morrisania, exercising an elegant and munificent hospitality, reviewing the studies of his early days, and carrying on a very interesting commerce of letters with statesmen and literati in Europe and America. The activity of his mind, the richness of his fancy, and the copiousness of his eloquent conversation, were the admiration of all his acquaintance. A selection from his voluminous and valuable papers, accompanied by a sketch of his life, is about to be published, by Mr. Jared Sparks.

MORRIS CANAL. (See Inland Navigation.)

MORRIS-DANCE (from Morisco, Moorish), supposed to have been derived from the Moriscos in Spain, was formerly danced at puppet-shows, May-games, &c., in England. According to some writers, it was introduced into England in the reign of Edward III, when John of Gaunt returned from Spain; but it was more probably borrowed from France or the Low countries. In the reigns of Henry VII

and VIII, it was a principal feature in the popular festivals. In the May-games of Robin Hood, and the pageant of the Lord of Misrule, morris-dancers formed an important part. The more ancient Maygame and morris consisted of the following characters: Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, the queen or lady of the May, the fool, the piper, and several dancers, variously habited. A hobby-horse and a dragon were afterwards added. In the reign of Henry VIII, the morris-dancers were dressed in gilt leather and silver paper, and sometimes in coats of white and spangled fustian. Bells, to the number of thirty or forty, hung from their garters, and purses were stuck in their girdles. (See Douce's Dissertation on the Ancient English Morris-Dance, in vol. ii. of his Illustrations of Shakspeare.) MORRISON, Robert, was sent to China, in 1816, by the English Bible society, for the purpose of acquiring the language of the Chinese, in order to make a correct translation of the Holy Scriptures into it; and he accompanied lord Amherst to Pekin. Canton or Macao was his usual place of abode, and he there filled the situation of Chinese translator to the East India company. He has published Hora Sinica, or Translations from the popular Literature of the Chinese; a Grammar of the Chinese language; an Anglo-Chinese Dictionary, in several parts; and a complete version of the New Testament, in eight volumes. In 1820, he erected an Anglo-Chinese college at Malacca, for instruction in English and Chinese literature, and for the propagation of Christianity. In 1826, he returned to England, bringing with him a collection of 10.000 Chinese books, with a store of information relative to the country.

MORSE. (See Walrus.)

MORTALITY. The law of mortality is that which determines the proportion of the number of persons who die in any assigned period of life or interval of age, out of a given number who enter upon the same interval, and consequently the proportion of those who survive. Tables showing how many out of a great number of children, as 10,000 or 100,000, born alive, die in each year of their age, and consequently how many complete each year, and exhibiting this law through the whole extent of life, are called tables of mortality. The basis of such calculations must be an accurate register of the number of births and deaths, and in the case of the latter, at what ages, in a given district or extent of country. In England, the bills of mortality, or abstracts

from parish registers, show the numbers who are born and die in the different parishes; and in other countries similar mortuary registers are kept. The results furnished by such tables are very various, and of great interest. If the registers are kept with sufficient accuracy and minuteness, they would enable us to determine the proportion of deaths, not only at different ages, and in different regions, but at differ ent seasons, in persons of different occupations and habits, in towns, or the country, and would afford valuable materials for the science of political economy. Although much more attention has been paid to this subject in recent times, yet the observations have not been so extensive nor so accurate as is desirable. The first table of mortality was constructed by doctor Halley, from the mortuary registers of Breslau, for five years ending with 1691, and was inserted in his paper on the subject in the Philosophical Transactions for 1693, with many useful observations on the purposes to which such tables may be applied. In 1742, the celebrated work of Süssmilch on this subject appeared under the title of Die göttliche Ordnung in die Veränderungen des menschlichen Geschlechts, &c. (2 vols.), of which a third edition was published in 1775, with a supplementary volume by Baumann. Since that period, many valuable works have been published on the subject, by Deparcieux, Struyck, Birch, Muret, Messance, Price, Krafft, Barton (American Phil. Soc., 1793), &c., and registers have been kept more generally and with greater care. (For different views of the subject, see Annuities, Longevity, Physiology.)

MORTAR is a kind of short cannon, of a large bore, with chambers. Mortars are made of stone, brass, or iron. Their use is to throw hollow shells filled with powder, which, falling on any building, or into the works of a fortification, burst, and their fragments destroy every thing within reach; also balls of stone, carcasses (q. v.), bags filled with grape shot, &c. They were first used in sieges, for throwing great balls of stone and of red-hot iron, before the invention of shells. On this account, the caliber of a mortar, in Germany, is generally estimated by the weight of a stone of the size of the bomb which it is intended to throw. In Denmark and Russia, on the contrary, the caliber is estimated by the actual weight of an iron ball fitting it; in England and France, by its diameter in inches. In the larger states of Europe, 10, 16, 25, 30, 50 and 60 pound mortars, according to

the stone weight measure, are used. In the Prussian army, 7, 10, 25, 50, 75 pound mortars are customary. Formerly they were used even of 120 pounds weight; but these are not employed at present, except in particular cases. Their length is generally from 23 to 34 times the diameter of the caliber. The interior parts of a mortar are the chamber, the bore, the mouth, the vent. The chamber is the place where the charge of powder is lodged. The shape of the chamber varies. It is generally conical, more or less truncated. Land mortars are those used iu sieges, and mounted on beds. The beds are made of very solid timber, and placed upon very strong timber frames. The bed is so made as to turn round. Stone mortars serve to throw stones into the enemy's works, when near at hand. Sea mortars are those which are fixed in bomb-vessels, for bombarding places by sea. They are made much longer, and somewhat heavier than land mortars. The use of mortars is thought to be older than that of cannon, for they were employed in the wars of Italy to throw balls of red-hot iron and stones long before the invention of shells. It is generally believed that the Germans were the inventors, and that they were used at the siege of Naples, in the reign of Charles VIII, in 1435. It is more certain that shells were thrown out of mortars at the siege of Wachtendonk, in 1588, by the count of Mansfeld. (For further information, see Bomb, and Howitzer.)

MORTAR. (See Cement.)

MORTGAGE. A mortgage is a conveyance or transfer of real or personal estate to secure the grantee or assignee the payment of some debt, or the performance of some agreement, with a condition or understanding that, in case of the debt being paid, or the agreement being performed, within a certain time, and in the specified manner, the conveyance or assignment shall be void, and the land, or personal property revert to, or rather, still belong to the mortgager. The English, and so the American mortgage of land is mostly borrowed from the civil law (see Kent's Commentaries, vol. 4, part 4, lecture 57; Brown's Civil Law, vol. i., p. 200), or, at least, many of the rules and incidents of the Roman hypotheca coincide with ours relating to mortgages. The essential characteristic of a mortgage, however, according to the import and definition of the term, must be the same in all countries, namely, an agreement that the property conveyed or transferred, whether

real or personal, shall not absolutely go, and belong to the grantee or assignee, in case the debt intended to be secured shall be paid, or the contract, whatever it may be, intended to be guarantied, shall be performed within the time and terms agreed upon. The rules and incidents of such an hypothecation will therefore have some resemblance under all codes of laws. There is no limitation of the kind of debts or contracts, the payment or performance of which may be secured by mortgage; for all legal ones may be so guarantied. What will be a sufficient conveyance of the property, whether real or personal, will again depend on the laws of the place. A conveyance of land, for instance, must, in most countries, be made in writing, and with certain formalities. So in England, the right of property in a ship must appear by a bill of sale. Whatever these rules are by which the absolute transfer of property is regulated, they will equally apply to a conveyance or assignment by way of hypothecation. As real estate is usually required by the laws to be conveyed by written documents, and according to the laws of most places, these conveyances are evidenced by public records of the instruments by which they are made, there is no necessity of an open, visible possession of the estate by the grantee, that the public may take notice of the grant, for they may find the evidence of it at the office of public record. The case is not the same with personal property, the title to which is usually confirmed and established to the purchaser by a delivery of the article into his possession. In respect to all chattels, of which manual possession and transfer from place to place is practicable, the delivery by the vendor, and actual possession by the purchaser, are very material circumstances in establishing the right of property in the latter. It is, indeed, laid down as a maxim of the English, and also of the American law, that movables cannot be validly sold or mortgaged without a delivery, actual or constructive, to the purchaser or mortgagee, and a possession by him. But this rule is very much modified and relaxed; not that a delivery to, and possession by the vendee and mortgagee are not considered requisite to establish his title, but a very liberal interpretation has been put upon circumstances showing a constructive delivery and possession. The object and policy of the law is to leave the movable, just as it does land, to be used either by the mortgager or mortgagee, without affecting their mutual rights and obligations

as to the property in the thing, as far as this indulgence can be carried without leading other persons into a misapprehension, and exposing them to fraud and imposition in giving credit to the mortgager, upon the supposition of his being the absolute owner of the property hypothecated. The various rules and distinctions by which the mortgage of chattels is regulated in this respect, constitute an essential part of the law upon this subject. But, after all, we may lay it down as a general doctrine, that a mortgaged chattel must be in possession of the mortgagee, in order to render his title secure; and where the mortgager has, by the law, been permitted still to use the thing, it is only in cases where his possession is, in legal construction, that of the mortgagee. The most material consideration relating to mortgages, whether of lands or chattels, is the effect of the non-performance of the condition by the mortgager. This will depend, it is true, in part, upon the terms of the contrac. of hypothecation or mortgage. If it be agreed between the parties, that, in case of non-performance of the condition of the hypothecation, the mortgagee shall sell the thing hypothecated, whether land or goods, and account to the mortgager for the proceeds in satisfaction of the debt or discharge of the obligation intended to be secured, and pay over the surplus if any, this is all that justice or the law can demand; and this is, in effect, what the law aims at where the parties do not make any such stipulation, but, on the contrary, agree, either expressly or impliedly, that, in case of a non-performance of the condition, the thing mortgaged shall be absolutely and immediately forfeited to the mortgagee, without any right on the part of the mortgager to redeem it, or to call upon the mortgagee to sell it and account with him for the proceeds. Thus, in the common form of mortgaging land, it is conveyed to the mortgagee with a provision, that, in case he shall pay a certain debt, or do a certain thing within a time specified, the conveyance shall be void. According to the literal construction, therefore, if this condition is not complied with, the thing thenceforth belongs absolutely to the mortgagee. But here the law steps in and controls the agreement, and attempts to prevent it from operating as a penalty or forfeiture, at the same time giving it all its force as a security or guaranty. For this purpose, different modes are adopted in different codes of laws, all of which agree in applying the value of the thing mortgaged in satisfaction and

discharge of the debt or obligation intended to be secured; so that by all the codes justice is done, if there is no surplus value. But if there be a surplus value, some of the codes will reach it, and others not, and the same code will reach it in regard to one kind of pledge, mortgage, or hypothecation, and not another. For example, by the English and American law, if a debtor pledges bills of exchange or any personal property for a debt, to an amount exceeding its value, the creditor must account for the proceeds, and pay over the surplus to his debtor; but in England, and so in some of the U. States, if the debtor mortgages lands, of which the creditor takes possession for breach of condition, the debtor has three years to redeem it, after which time the land is absolutely gone, though twice the amount of the debt in value. The law, in this case, supposes three years to be time enough to allow the debtor to redeem in case of an excess of value of the land; and this supposition is not wholly unreasonable, since the debtor has all that time to sell the land, if he can get more than the amount of the debt for it. The civil law, as more generally administered where it has been made the basis of modern codes, and so the laws of many of the U. States, adopt a different mode, prescribing an appraisement of the mortgaged land, and providing that it may be sold by auction, if two thirds of the appraised value is bid for it; and the proceeds of the sale are applied in satisfaction of the debt or obligation guarantied by the mortgage, and the surplus, if any, paid over to the debtor.

MORTIER, Edward Adolphus Casimir Joseph; duke of Treviso, marshal and peer of France, &c. He was born at Cambray, in 1768, received a careful education, entered the military service in 1791, as lieutenant in a regiment of carabineers; afterwards became captain of the first battalion of volunteers of the department of the north; took part in the battles at Quiberon (April 30, 1793), Jemappes, Neerwinden, Hondtschoote, and distinguished himself on all occasions. In 1794, he was conspicuous at the battle of Altenkirchen, and treated with the elector for the surrender of Mentz. In 1799, he was made general of brigade, and soon after general of division. March 15, 1800, he received the command of Paris, and evinced his attachment to Bonaparte at the time of the unsuccessful attempt against the life of the first consul on the third Nivose. After hostilities had recommenced against England, in 1803, he oc