Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/97

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McCARROLL
McCARTHY
77

while attacking stranded blockade-runners. He captured at sea three of the latter loaded with cot- ton, together with forty-five of the officers and crew. The vessels and cargoes were subsequently sold for half a million dollars. During the battle of Mobile Bay, 5 Aug., 1864, the " Kennebec " was lashed to the " Monongahela," fifth in line of bat- tle. McCann was relieved from the " Kennebec " in December, 18G4, and was engaged in various routine duties until 8 Dec, 1867, when he was commissioned commander. He was promoted captain, 21 Sept., 1876, and commodore, 26 Jan.. 1887 ; was commandant of the Boston navy-yard in 1888, and retired in May, 1892.


McCARROLL, James, journalist, b. in Lanes- boro, Ireland, ;J Aug., 1814; d. in New York, 11 April, 1892. He came with his family to Canada in 18^1, and soon afterward contributed prose and verse to the newspapers. In 1845 he became pro- prietor and editor of " Peterborough Chronicle," and in 1847 removed to Cobourg, where he taught music in addition to his journalistic work. He be- came connected with the customs department in 1849, in 1851 was appointed collector at Miagara Falls, and about 1854 out-door surveyor of Toronto, which place he retained until the ofhce was abol- ished. While in Toronto he edited several news- papers. In 1866 he removed to Buffalo, N. Y., and after a few years to New York, where he was after- ward engaged as a musical and dramatic critic, and as a writer of general literature. He was the au- thor of various inventions, the last of which in- creases the light and flame in the chimney of an Argand gas-burner, or of any other burner, to double their volume by retarding the escape of uncon- sumed carbon through the chimney. He was well known as a poet, and published in book-form his humorous letters, under the pen-name of Terry Fin- negan, to Thomas D'Arcy McGee (Toronto, 1864); " The New Ganger " (1864) ; " The Adventures of a Night" (1865); and "The New Life- Boat" (1866).


McCARTEE, Robert, clergvman, b. in New York city, 30 Sept., 1791 ; d. in Yonkers, N. Y., 12 March, 1865. He was graduated at Columbia in 1808, studied law, and was admitted to the New York bar, but after a few years of practice en- tered the theological seminary of the Associate Reformed church in the city of New York. He was licensed to preach in April, 1816, and ac- cepted a call from the Old Scots church in Phila- delphia. He resigned this charge on 21 April, 1821. and became in 1822 pastor of the Irish Presbyterian church in New York. The church was at that time composed of only about thirty members, mostly emigrants from Ireland. Dr. Me- Cartee built a new edifice and increased the at- tendance to one thousand communicants. He was not only pastor, but also the adviser, the legal counsellor, and informally the magistrate of his congregation. In 1836 failing health compelled him to abandon this post, and he was successively pastor of churches in Port Carbon, Pa., and Goshen and Newburg, N. Y., till 1856, when he became pastor of an Associate Reformed church in New York city. He retired from pastoral duties in 1862, and removed to Yonkers. He received the degree of S. T. D. from Columbia in 1831. — His wife, Jessie Graliaiii, poet, b. in New York city in October, 1796: d. in Newburg, N. Y., 17 Feb', 1855, was a sister of Rev. George W. Bethune. She was the author of various poems, chiefly of a religious character, some of which were print- ed in various periodicals during her lifetime. — Their son, Divie Bethune, missionary, b. in New York city, 13 Jan., 1820, was educated at Columbia and at the University of Pennsylvania, and sailed for China in 1843. Besides mastering the Chinese language and practising as a physi- cian, he acted frequently as U. S. consul at Ning- po, and sat as judge in the mixed court at Shang- hai. In May, 1861, at the request of U. S. Flag- OfRcer Stribling, he entered Nanking, through the lines of the Tai-Ping rebels, and obtained from the " Heavenly King " a sealed document granting non-molestation, not only to Americans in China, but to all Chinese in their employ. By this meas- ure large numbers of native Christians and their friends were rescued when the rebels entered Ningpo. In 1872, when the coolies of the Peru- vian ship " Maria Luz " were freed by the Japanese government upon his suggestion, a commission was appointed from Peking to proceed to Tokio to bring home the freedmen, and Dr. McCartee was nominated secretary and intei'preter, receiving for his services a gold medal and complimentary let- ters. Remaining in Japan, he was from October, 1872, until April, 1877, a professor in the Imperial university of Tokio, and he also acted as secretary of the Chinese legation in that citv, but returned to the United States in 1880, and "in 1882 visited Hawaii on business connected with Chinese immi- gration. In 1885 he acted as American secretary of the legation of Japan in Washington. In 1887 he returned to China and Japan. Dr. McCartee's writings on Asiatic history, linguistics, natural science, medicine, and politics, in the publications of the American geographical society, the Ameri- can oriental society, and other associations, have been numerous and valuable. His religious writ- ings in Chinese are still widely circulated and read. " Audi Alteram Partem " (Yokohama, 1879) treats of the conflicting claims of China and Japan concerning the Loochoo islands.


McCARTHY, Justin. Irish author, b. in Cork, Ireland, 22 Nov., 1830. He was liberally educated in his native city, and from 1846 till 1853 he was connected with the Cork " Examiner." He then joined the staff of the " Northern Times " at Liverpool. In 1860 he was a reporter in the house of commons for the London " Morning Star," of which he was subsequently foreign editor, and in 1864 chief editor. In 1868 he resigned, in order to visit the United States, where he remained for nearly three years, lecturing and travelling. Be- fore his return to England he was employed for a time on the editorial stafl' of the New York "Tribune," and also on that of the New York " In- dependent." In 1879 he was elected to parliament for Longford, Ireland, and re-elected in 1880, in both instances without a contest. At the general election in 1885 he contested Derry, and was de- feated by a majority of twenty-nine, but was im- mediately chosen for Longford by an overwhelm- ing majority. In 1886 he was returned from the latter town unopposed. He afterward again vis- ited this country on a lecturing tour. Mr. McCar- thy has contributed to English and American peri- odicals and served as political-leader writer for the London press. Besides many novels, he has pub- lished "Con Amore," a collection of critical essays (London, 1868); "Prohibitory Legislation in the United States," an account of a study of such leg- islation and its workings in Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Iowa, etc. ; " Modern Leaders," a series of articles on living celebrities (1872); "A History of Our Own Times" (1878-97); and "The Epoch of Reform" (1882). Mr. McCarthy's most impor- tant work is his " History of Our Own Times." He has also published a "History of the Four Georges " (1884) and " Life of W. E. Gladstone " (1898).