Diplomatist; born in New York City in 1793; graduated at Columbia College in 1810, and settled, as a lawyer, in New Orleans, where, in 1829-30, he was United States district attorney.
He served in the State legislature, and from 1843 to 1845 was in Congress.
In the latter year he was appointed
United States minister to
Mexico, and in 1853 was elected to the United States Senate, where he remained, by re-election, until February, 1861.
He was a very conspicuous Confederate, and withdrew from the United States Senate to engage in furthering the cause.
He was sent as a commissioner of the
Confederacy to
France, in the fall of 1861, when he was captured by a cruiser of the
United States under command of
Capt. Charles Wilkes (q. v.). After his release from
Fort Warren, he sailed for
England, Jan. 1, 1862, where he resided until his death, July 29, 1871.
