ELIHU

BENJAMIN

See also:

• ELIHU BENJAMIN WASHBURNE (1816–1887)

WASHBURNE (1816–1887)  , American statesman, born in Livermore, Maine, on the 23rd of September 1816 . He was one of seven brothers, of whom four sat in Congress from as many different states . He received a common school education, graduated at the Harvard Law School in 1839, and was soon afterwards admitted to the bar . In 184o he removed to Galena, Illinois . He was elected to Congress in 1852, where, first as a Whig and afterwards as a Republican, he represented his district continuously until 1869, taking a prominent part in debate, and earning the name " watch-dog of the Treasury " by his consistent and vigorous opposition to extravagant and unwise appropriations . He contributed much to aid General Grant during the Civil War, and the latter on becoming President made Washburne secretary of state . On account of ill-health, however, he served only twelve days, and was then appointed minister to France, where during the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune he won much distinction as protector of German and other foreign citizens in Paris . He was the only foreign minister who remained at his post during the Commune . In 1817 he retired from public life, and died in Chicago, Ili., on the 22nd of October 1887 . He published Recollections of a Minister to France (2 vols., 1887), and edited The Edwards Papers (1884) .