question would "ultimately like Aaron's rod, swallow up" all other questions, as indeed it did.

58

Cooper seems to have carried to his grave the conviction that the Union would not endure. He sought to encourage Van Buren in a conciliatory policy in order that disruption might be prevented, but to the very end his chief concern was to arouse the citizens of South Carolina to a consciousness of their own rights and a determination to resist every infringement of them. This passionate utilitarian, who regarded sentimental attachment to the Union as ridiculous, unquestionably did much to convince the state that the Union was useless to her and thus played a not inconsiderable part in preparing South Carolina for secession. The seeds of dissatisfaction which he sowed fell upon a soil fertile in discontent and were destined to bear an abundant and bitter harvest. But if this great prophet of secession could himself be present to make rejoinder to any reproachful accusation, we have no doubt but that he would say that had his warnings been heeded earlier, and had the issue been tested sooner, the outcome would have been different.

The days of his calculating, denouncing, and intriguing were almost over. In July, 1838, he wrote Biddle that he was becoming feeble, asthmatic, and dropsical, that his machine was fast falling to pieces, but that he hoped that his head would yet remain in a tolerable state and that he might still be useful. His last letters were not written in his customary close, neat script, but the writing was spread large on account of his failing vision. One letter he said he could not read with "large magnifyors,” although all the letters in it were the size of capitals. Some months before his death, he amused himself by making a catalogue of the more than two thousand five hundred 58 March 19, 1838, ibid., XXXII.

volumes in his library, and this remains in the library of the college as a memento of him." Painstaking as the work was, the cataloguer with true scholarly spirit was chiefly aware of its imperfections, its inadequate and imperfect classifications. No better indication of the interests of the man remains than this list of volumes. His library was rich in science, history, political economy, theology, and especially the classics. It contained thirty volumes of Dr. Priestley, and eleven of Voltaire. It contained more than a hundred volumes dealing with voyages and travels, and a surprising number of works on curiosities of all sorts. There were volumes treating of hieroglyphics, witchcraft, Chinese writing, and Egyptian monuments; there were works in Latin, Greek, French, and Spanish; there were Hebrew lexicons and grammars. But there was practically no fiction or English poetry. Amusement he found elsewhere chiefly; sentiment he did not value.

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In March, 1839, he was forced to give up his work on the Statutes, and reports of his death appeared in the Charleston papers, to be hastily corrected. He lingered on for almost two months more, until the end came on May 11. His old journalistic foes referred to his services to science and literature, without mentioning politics, but the Telescope published a long account of his life, which

59 Meriwether Collection.

co Years before, he had contributed several articles on poetry to the Port Folio, and in January, 1836, an article of his entitled "Sonnets" appeared in the Southern Literary Journal, I, 313-18. In the latter he commended the sonnet because of its brevity, which rendered it more suitable for an age which asked only temporary amusement from poetry. He quoted an Italian sonnet-although not in conventional sonnet form-with a very respectable translation by himself under the title, "On Helen Contemplating Herself in a Mirror." Professor Yates Snowden called this to the attention of the present writer. So far as we know, Cooper never elsewhere ventured into verse, and even here he damned verse with faint praise.

was duly copied by the Mercury and even the Courier. This is the best brief summary of his long career which we have yet discovered. It is sympathetic and highly appreciative, without being excessively eulogistic or sentimental. The writer was evidently one who had known Cooper intimately. The comments which he made upon his intellectual character and social life are particularly illuminating.

The predominant qualities of Dr. Cooper's intellectual character were intrepidity and activity. His mind coursed the whole field of learning with untiring rapidity. It incessantly sought for knowledge; not with any apparent drudgery or toil, but, up to the last moments of his life, with that youthful and fresh alacrity which belongs to the pursuit of pleasure. He did not hesitate to follow his reasoning wherever it led, and what he thought he said. Authority had but little weight with him. He always endeavored to apply the touchstone of reason to every proposition, and to judge of it by that test alone.

His multifarious studies, and his uncommonly wide observation of society, had enriched his memory with vast stores of useful and agreeable topics; and these, combined with a cheerful temper, a social spirit, and a most pleasant style of conversation, rendered him a most delightful companion. He was an admirable talker-terse, epigramic, gay and instructive. He was rarely in a company in which he did not say the best thing that was uttered. His conversation was illustrated by well turned anecdotes, ornamented by sparkling classical allusions, and enriched by sensible and judicious remarks. His temper was most agreeable, and his whole maniere d'etre distinguished by a pervading bon hommie and kindliness of nature. He was benevolent, friendly and impulsive, prompt to do a good turn, "to spread friendships and to cover hearts." He was fond of children, addicted to pets, and kind to servants. Throughout his whole behavior there was a winning simplicity and directness; always agreeable, but in one of his age, learning and abilities, peculiarly 61 May 21, 1839; Courier, the same date.

captivating. He resided amongst us for the last twenty years, and we doubt whether he has ever been known to manifest a feeling of personal unkindness towards any individual.

Not all his fellow citizens had such pleasant memories of Thomas Cooper, for many of them had known him in controversy. There is a grim significance in the inscription which one can yet read on his tombstone in the Guignard plot, Trinity churchyard, Columbia. It is stated that the stone was erected in his memory by a portion of his fellow citizens.

CONCLUSION

JUDGED by the standard of immediate results, the long, varied, and tempestuous career of Thomas Cooper appears to have been one of persistent failure. Baffled in his efforts for reform and unsuccessful in business, he abandoned Great Britain to the tender mercies of the "privileged orders" and sought to erase all memories of a land where he had been unappreciated. Many of the causes for which he fought so valiantly while a citizen of Manchester-the abolition of the slave trade, the repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts, and parliamentary reformwere ultimately crowned with success, but too long after his emigration for him to exult greatly in the victory or to attribute it directly to any efforts of his own.

For the success of the Jeffersonian party in the election of 1800, Cooper could rightly claim a very respectable share of credit, but, significantly, he contributed to the Republican cause in part through personal misfortune, for during six months of the election year he lay imprisoned, a victim of the Sedition Law. After the victory of Jefferson, he failed to receive a political reward which was commensurate with his abilities or his contributions to the success of his party, and he failed even to realize fully upon such opportunities for constructive public service as were now presented to him in Pennsylvania. His admirable work as Luzerne commissioner was marred in the end by unseemly controversy, resulting in part from his own indiscretions, and seems never to have