Robert Milligan McLane
1858 portrait
27thUnited States Minister to France
In office May 14, 1885 – May 20, 1889
President	Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison
Preceded by	Levi P. Morton
Succeeded by	Whitelaw Reid
39th Governor of Maryland
In office January 9, 1884 – March 27, 1885
Preceded by	William T. Hamilton
Succeeded by	Henry Lloyd
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMaryland's4th district
In office March 4, 1879 – March 3, 1883
Preceded by	Thomas Swann
Succeeded by	John Van Lear Findlay
In office March 4, 1847 – March 3, 1851
Preceded by	William Fell Giles
Succeeded by	Thomas Yates Walsh
United States Minister to Mexico
In office April 6, 1859 – December 22, 1860
President	James Buchanan
Preceded by	John Forsyth, Jr.
Succeeded by	John B. Weller
United States Minister to the Qing Empire
In office November 3, 1854 – December 12, 1854
President	Franklin Pierce
Preceded by	Humphrey Marshall
Succeeded by	Peter Parker
Chair of the Democratic National Committee
In office 1852–1856
Preceded by	Benjamin Franklin Hallett
Succeeded by	David Allen Smalley
Member of theMaryland Senate
In office 1877–1879
Member of theMaryland House of Delegates
In office 1845–1847
Personal details
Born	(1815-06-23)June 23, 1815 Louis McLane House Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
Died	April 16, 1898(1898-04-16) (aged 82) Paris, France
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Georgine Urquhart McLane
Relations	Louis McLane, Jr. (brother) Robert McLane (nephew)
Children	2
Parent	Louis McLane (father)
Signature
National Governors Association, Governor's Information, Maryland Governor Robert Milligan McLane

Robert Milligan McLane (June 23, 1815 – April 16, 1898) was an American politician, military officer, and diplomat. He served as U.S. minister toMexico,France, andChina, as a member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMaryland's 4th congressional district, as chairman of theDemocratic National Committee, and as the39th governor of Maryland.^[1]

McLane was born inWilmington, Delaware, in 1815, the son ofLouis McLane andCatherine Mary Milligan. His birthplace, theLouis McLane House, was added to theNational Register of Historic Places in 1973.^[2][3] He received early education from a private school conducted by John Bullock, a Quaker. He received higher education fromSt. Mary's College inBaltimore, Maryland until he moved with his family to Europe, after his father had been appointed as an ambassador to England. He was sent to Paris to receive further education from Collège Bourbon, where he became acquainted with theMarquis de Lafayette. His elder brother wasLouis McLane, former president ofWells Fargo & Co.^[4]

McLane and his family moved back to the United States in 1833 when his father was appointedSecretary of the Treasury. The same year, McLane was appointed as a cadet in theUnited States Military Academy at West Point by PresidentAndrew Jackson, and graduated in July 1837 with a commission as second lieutenant of Artillery in theUnited States Army. McLane was deployed with his regiment to Florida during theSeminole War in 1837 under the command of GeneralThomas S. Jesup, and in 1838 was re-deployed to the west under GeneralWinfield Scott.

In 1838, he was transferred to theCorps of Topographical Engineers under GeneralZachary Taylor. In 1841, he was sent to theNorthern Lakes for survey work and was also sent to Europe to examine the dikes and drainage systems in theNetherlands and Italy. While in Europe, he met his future wife, Georgine Urquhart, and eventually fathered two children with her. McLane resigned his commission in 1843 to pursue the study of law, and was admitted to the bar the same year. He commenced practice in Baltimore thereafter.

In 1845, McLane was elected as a representative of Baltimore City to theMaryland House of Delegates after successfully campaigning for PresidentJames K. Polk a year previous. In 1846, McLane ran for Congress and defeated his Whig opponent,John P. Kennedy, by 500 votes. He was re-elected two years later, and served from March 4, 1847, to March 3, 1851. In Congress, McLane was seen as an exceptional orator, and, during his second term, was chosen as chairman of theCommittee on Commerce. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1850. After his tenure in Congress, McLane moved to the Western United States to become a counsel for a mining corporation, which was engaged in legal activities regarding property in California. He remained out West until 1852, when he returned to Maryland to serve as presidential elector forFranklin Pierce.

In 1853, during theTaiping Rebellion, President Pierce appointed McLane as commissioner to China, with the powers of aMinister Plenipotentiary, and at the same time accredited to Japan,Siam,Korea, andCochin China. Despite the civil war, McLane was ordered to secure commercial relations between China and the United States, and was also ordered to negotiate with the rebels while also retaining diplomatic relations with the Imperial Government. He successfully renewed trade relations between both nations, but returned to the United States in 1854 due to poor health. After his return to the United States, he resumed his political activity by serving as delegate to theDemocratic National Convention in 1856, during which he supported future PresidentJames Buchanan.

The United States and Mexico had broken off diplomatic relations in 1858, after which civil war broke out in Mexico. McLane was appointedEnvoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico on March 7, 1859, and was charged to determine if the government ofBenito Juárez was worthy of recognition. He also negotiated, as ambassador, theMcLane-Ocampo Treaty, which would have expanded the transit rights of the U.S. across theIsthmus of Tehuantepec to include an interoceaniccanal concession. However, the treaty was not ratified by theUnited States Senate. McLane retired as Ambassador to Mexico on December 22, 1860.

During theAmerican Civil War, thefederal government, under PresidentAbraham Lincoln, forcibly forbade the state of Maryland from joining theConfederacy. McLane was a member of the delegation sent to Washington, D.C. to question the actions of the federal government. McLane personally believed that it did not have the constitutional right to force Maryland into submission but was determined, along with the rest of the delegation, that Maryland should not secede. During the rest of the war, McLane refocused his attention back towards his law practice, as he had been appointed counsel for theWestern Pacific Railroad in the winter of 1863.

McLane would continue to devote his energies towards his law practice until well after the end of the Civil War and did not re-enter politics until the Democratic National Convention in 1876. He entered theMaryland State Senate in 1877, representing Baltimore City. He left the State Senate in 1879 to again run for election to Congress. He was successful, and served two terms from March 4, 1879, to March 3, 1883. During his first term in Congress, he was chairman of theCommittee on Pacific Railroads.

McLane, according to Athen's Post newspaper of 22 March 1861, drew page 1 notice when harangued the audience delighted to hear him, "By the living God, the Susquehanna river will run red with blood....I pledge my life and heart to march with you.... For what? To prevent a single human being from crossing into Maryland to execute the laws of the United States." Like many, McLane pumped up the crowds with hate and fear, lots of bravado, but those men who pumped up crowds that way did not actually do anything but get others to invade and kill, while they found ways to avoid actual battle.:^[5]

In 1883, the Maryland Democratic Party nominated McLane to be the nextGovernor of Maryland. In the election, McLane handily defeated his Republican opponent,Hart Benton Holton, by 12,000 votes. During his tenure, several notable pieces of legislation were passed, including the establishment of the Bureau of Statistics and Labor Information, and the establishment of a universal time standard throughout the state. McLane only served as governor for slightly over a year, from January 8, 1884, until his resignation on March 27, 1885, having been appointed by PresidentGrover Cleveland as United StatesMinister Plenipotentiary to France.

McLane moved to France with his wife, whom he had met there many years previously, to carry out his ambassadorial duties. He established permanent residence in Paris even after his tenure as ambassador expired in 1889, due to his wife's declining health. His own health began to decline in 1891, culminating in 1898 when he died. His body was returned to Baltimore, and was interred atGreenmount Cemetery.

He was admitted as a hereditary member of TheSociety of the Cincinnati in the state of Maryland in 1858 and later served as the president of the Maryland Society from 1885 to 1899.^[6] The Maryland State Oyster Police Force (“Oyster Navy”), later the State Fishery Force steamerGovernor R. M. McLane, serving the state from 1884 to 1945 with a brief World War I period commissioned USSGovernor R. M. McLane (SP-1328) was named in his honor.

• Robert Milligan McLane,Reminiscences, 1827-1897 (1903)online
• Frank F. White Jr., The Governors of Maryland 1777–1970 (Annapolis: The Hall of Records Commission, 1970), 201–205.

• United States Congress."Robert Milligan McLane (id: M000537)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• The Society of the Cincinnati

• 1815 births
• 1898 deaths
• 19th-century American diplomats
• Ambassadors of the United States to China
• Ambassadors of the United States to France
• Ambassadors of the United States to Mexico
• Democratic National Committee chairs
• Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland
• Democratic Party governors of Maryland
• Politicians from Wilmington, Delaware
• United States Army officers
• United States Military Academy alumni
• 19th-century United States representatives
• 19th-century members of the Maryland General Assembly

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