LOGAN, George, American statesman and philanthropist; grandson of James Logan (q.v.) : b. Stenton, now a part of Philadelphia, 9 Sept. 1753; d. there, 9 April 1821. He was educated in England, subsequently studied medicine in Edinburgh, where he took the de gree of M.D., and afterward returned in 1779 to America. For many years he devoted him self to agricultural pursuits, which he was one of the first in America to prosecute successfully in a scientific manner. He also served several terms in the Pennsylvania legislature. At the outbreak of the French Revolution he embraced with enthusiasm its democratic doctrines, and joined Jefferson and the Republican party in opposition to the Federalists. In 1798, the United States being then on the brink of a rupture with the French republic, he departed for France, under the idea that he might con tribute to the preservation of peace. He was well received by Talleyrand and Merlin, then chief of the Directory, and returned to Amer ica with the assurance of the desire of the French government to renew amicable relations with the United States. But as he had taken
with him letters of introduction from Jefferson and Governor McKean instead of passports from the State Department, he was denounced by the Federalists on his return as the treason able envoy of a faction who had undertaken to institute a correspondence with a foreign and hostile power. He was coldly received by Washington and President Adams, and in the latter part of 1798 an act, known as the "Logan act,* was passed by Congress, making it a high misdemeanor for a private citizen to interfere in a controversy between the United States and a foreign country as he had done. He was subsequently elected to the United States Senate, of which body he remained a member 1801-07; and in 1810, urged by the same philan thropic motives which had induced him to visit France 12 years before, he went to England in the hope of preserving peace. In 1797 he pub lished 'Experiments on Gypsum' and 'Rota tion of Crops.>