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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Homes of American Statesmen, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Homes of American Statesmen
+       With Anecdotical, Personal, and Descriptive Sketches
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: November 2, 2011 [EBook #37910]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOMES OF AMERICAN STATESMEN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Steven Brown and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  HOMES
+  OF
+  AMERICAN STATESMEN.
+
+
+  [Illustration: Birth-place of Henry Clay]
+
+
+  HARTFORD.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration: Marshfield, Residence of Daniel Webster]
+
+
+
+
+  HOMES
+  OF
+  AMERICAN STATESMEN:
+
+  WITH
+
+  Anecdotical, Personal, and Descriptive Sketches,
+
+
+  BY VARIOUS WRITERS.
+
+
+  ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD, FROM DRAWINGS BY D�PLER
+  AND DAGUERREOTYPES: AND FAC-SIMILES OF AUTOGRAPH LETTERS.
+
+
+  HARTFORD:
+  PUBLISHED BY O.D. CASE & CO.
+
+  LONDON:
+  SAMPSON LOW, SON & CO.
+
+  M.DCCC.LVI.
+
+
+
+
+  Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by O.D. CASE &
+  CO., in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States,
+  for the District of Connecticut.
+
+
+
+
+PUBLISHERS' NOTICE.
+
+
+We need hardly commend to the American public this attempt to describe
+and familiarize the habitual dwelling-places of some of the more
+eminent of our Statesmen. In bringing together such particulars as we
+could gather, of the homes of the men to whom we owe our own, we
+feel that we have performed an acceptable and not unnecessary service.
+The generation who were too well acquainted with these intimate personal
+circumstances to think of recording them, is fast passing away; and
+their successors, while acknowledging a vast debt of gratitude, might
+still forget to preserve and cherish the individual and private memories
+of the benefactors of our country and race. We therefore present our
+contribution to the national annals with confidence, hoping that in
+all respects the present volume will be found no unworthy or unwelcome
+successor of the "Homes of American Authors."
+
+Dr. R.W. Griswold having been prevented by ill health from
+contributing an original paper on Marshall, we have availed ourselves,
+with his kind permission, of the sketch which he prepared for
+the "Prose Writers of America." All the other papers in the present
+volume have been written expressly for it: and the best acknowledgments
+of the publishers are due to the several contributors for the zealous
+interest and ability to which these sketches bear witness.
+
+For several of the original letters which we have copied in
+_fac-simile_, we are indebted to the kindness of the Rev. Dr. Sprague
+of Albany.
+
+The drawing of the residence of the "Washington Family," and a few of
+the smaller cuts, have been copied, with some variations, from
+Mr. Lossing's very valuable work, "The Field-Book of the Revolution."
+Most of the other illustrations have been engraved from original
+drawings, or daguerreotypes taken for the purpose.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+  WASHINGTON                    MRS. C.M. KIRKLAND                   1
+  FRANKLIN                      C.F. BRIGGS                         64
+  JEFFERSON                     PARKE GODWIN                        77
+  HANCOCK                       RICHARD HILDRETH                    95
+  JOHN ADAMS                    CLARENCE COOK                      123
+  PATRICK HENRY                 EDWARD W. JOHNSTON                 151
+  MADISON                       EDWARD W. JOHNSTON                 179
+  JAY                           WILLIAM S. THAYER                  197
+  HAMILTON                      JAMES C. CARTER                    231
+  MARSHALL                      R.W. GRISWOLD, D.D.                261
+  AMES                          JAMES B. THAYER                    276
+  JOHN QUINCY ADAMS             DAVID LEE CHILD                    299
+  JACKSON                       PARKE GODWIN                       339
+  RUFUS KING                    CHARLES KING, L.L.D.               353
+  CLAY                          HORACE GREELEY                     369
+  CALHOUN                       PARKE GODWIN                       396
+  CLINTON                       T. ROMEYN BECK, M.D.               413
+  STORY                         FRANCIS HOWLAND                    425
+  WHEATON                                                          447
+  WEBSTER                       HENRY C. DEMING                    471
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+  MARSHFIELD, RESIDENCE OF DANIEL WEBSTER                 Frontispiece
+  BIRTH-PLACE OF HENRY CLAY                                 Cover page
+  SITE OF WASHINGTON'S BIRTH-PLACE                                   3
+  GREENOUGH'S STATUE OF WASHINGTON                                   6
+  HOUDON'S STATUE OF WASHINGTON                                      8
+  CHANTREY'S STATUE OF WASHINGTON                                   10
+  RESIDENCE OF THE WASHINGTON FAMILY                                13
+  MOUNT VERNON                                                      16
+  TOMB OF WASHINGTON'S MOTHER                                       19
+  WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, CAMBRIDGE, 1775                        23
+  WASHINGTON'S PEARL-STREET, NEW-YORK, 1776.                        25
+  HOUSE NO. 1 BROADWAY, NEW-YORK                                    26
+  WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, MORRISTOWN, N.J., 1779                 28
+  WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, CHAD'S FORD, 1777                      32
+  WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, WHITE MARSH, 1777                      33
+  WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, VALLEY FORGE, 1777                     34
+  WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, TAPPAN, 1778                           37
+  WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, NEWBURGH, N.Y.                         41
+  WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, ROCKY HILL, N.J., 1783                 45
+  MOUNT VERNON, REAR VIEW                                           49
+  HOUSE OF THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL LEVEE, CHERRY-STREET, NEW-YORK    52
+  WASHINGTON'S TOMB                                                 60
+  OLD SOUTH CHURCH, BOSTON                                          69
+  GRAVE OF FRANKLIN, PHILADELPHIA                                   74
+  FRANKLIN'S MONUMENT, BOSTON                                       76
+  MONTICELLO, JEFFERSON'S RESIDENCE                                 79
+  HANCOCK HOUSE, BOSTON,                                            97
+  RESIDENCE OF THE ADAMS FAMILY, QUINCY, MASS.                     125
+  RESIDENCE OF PATRICK HENRY, VA.                                  153
+  OLD CHURCH AT RICHMOND, VA.                                      164
+  OLD COURT HOUSE, VA.                                             178
+  MONTPELIER, MADISON'S RESIDENCE                                  181
+  JAY'S RESIDENCE, BEDFORD, N.Y.                                   199
+  BALL HUGHES' STATUE OF HAMILTON                                  233
+  HAMILTON'S RESIDENCE, NEAR MANHATTANVILLE, N.Y.                  243
+  MONUMENT TO HAMILTON, TRINITY CHURCH-YARD, N.Y.                  259
+  MARSHALL'S HOUSE AT RICHMOND, VA.                                263
+  BIRTH-PLACE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS                                 301
+  HERMITAGE, RESIDENCE OF JACKSON                                  341
+  RUFUS KING'S HOUSE, NEAR JAMAICA, L.I.                           355
+  ASHLAND, RESIDENCE OF HENRY CLAY                                 371
+  CLAY'S BIRTH-PLACE                                               394
+  CLINTON'S RESIDENCE, MASPETH, L.I.                               415
+  H.K. BROWN'S STATUE OF CLINTON                                   424
+  STORY'S HOUSE AT CAMBRIDGE, MASS.                                427
+  WHEATON'S RESIDENCE NEAR COPENHAGEN                              449
+  WEBSTER'S BIRTHPLACE                                             473
+
+
+=Fac-similes of Letters.=
+
+  WASHINGTON.                                                        2
+  FRANKLIN.                                                         65
+  JEFFERSON.                                                        78
+  HANCOCK.                                                          96
+  JOHN ADAMS.                                                      124
+  PATRICK HENRY.
+  MADISON.                                                         180
+  JOHN JAY.                                                        198
+  MARSHALL.                                                        262
+  AMES.                                                            277
+  JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.                                               300
+  JACKSON.                                                         340
+  RUFUS KING.                                                      354
+  HENRY CLAY                                                       370
+  CALHOUN.                                                         397
+  DEWITT CLINTON.                                                  414
+  STORY.                                                           426
+  WHEATON.                                                         448
+  WEBSTER.                                                         472
+
+
+
+
+=Washington.=
+
+[Illustration: Washington fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Site of Washington's Birth-place]
+
+WASHINGTON.
+
+1732--1799.
+
+
+To see great men at home is often more pleasant to the visitor than
+advantageous to the hero. Men's lives are two-fold, and the life of
+habit and instinct is not often, on superficial view, strictly consistent
+with the other--the more deliberate, intentional and principled one,
+which taxes only the higher powers. Yet, perhaps, if our rules of
+judgment were more humane and more sincere, we should find less
+discrepancy than it has been usual to imagine, and what there is
+would be more indulgently accounted for. The most common-place
+man has an inner and an outer life, which, if displayed separately,
+might never be expected to belong to the same individual; and it would
+be impossible for him to introduce his dearest friend into the sanctum,
+where, as in a spiritual laboratory, his words and actions
+originate and are prepared for use. Yet we could accuse him of no
+hypocrisy on this ground. The thing is so because Nature says it should
+be so, and we must be content with her truth and harmony, even if they
+be not ours. So with regard to public and domestic life. If we
+pursue our hero to his home, it should be in a home-spirit--a spirit
+of affection, not of impertinent intrusion or ungenerous cavil. If we
+lift the purple curtains of the tent in which our weary knight reposes,
+when he has laid aside his heavy armor and put on his gown of ease, it
+is not as malicious servants may pry into the privacy of their superiors,
+but as friends love to penetrate the charmed circle within which disguises
+and defences are not needed, and personal interest may properly take
+the place of distant admiration and respect. In no other temper is it
+lawful, or even decent, to follow the great actors on life's stage to
+their retirement; and if they be benefactors, the greater the shame if
+we coolly criticize what was never meant for any but loving eyes.
+
+The private life of him who is supereminently the hero of every true
+American heart, is happily sacred from disrespectful scrutiny, but less
+happily closed to the devout approach of those who would look upon it
+with more than filial reverence. This is less remarkable than it may at
+first sight appear to us who know his merit. The George Washington of
+early times was a splendid youth, but his modesty was equal to his other
+great qualities, and his foresee the noon of such a morning. And when
+the first stirring time was over, and the young soldier settled himself
+quietly at Mount Vernon, as a country gentleman, a member of the Virginia
+House of Burgesses, a vigorous farmer and tobacco planter, a churchwarden
+in two parishes, and a staid married man with two step-children, to whom
+he was an active and faithful guardian, no one thought of recording his
+life and doings, any more than those of his brother planters on the
+Potomac, all landed men, deer and fox-hunters and zealous fishermen, who
+visited each other in the hospitable Southern fashion, and lived in rustic
+luxury, very much within themselves. Few, indeed, compared with the
+longings of our admiration, are the particulars that have come down to
+us of Washington's Home--the home of his natural affections; but he had
+many homes of duty, and these the annals of his country will ever keep
+in grateful memory. Through these our present design is to trace his
+career, succinctly and imperfectly indeed, and with the diffidence which
+a character so august naturally inspires. Happily, many deficiencies in
+our sketch will be supplied by the intimate knowledge and the inborn
+reverence of a large proportion of our readers.
+
+It seems to be a conceded point that ours is not the age of reverence,
+nor our country its home. While the masses were nothing and individuals
+every thing, gods or demigods were the natural product of every public
+emergency and relief. Mankind in general, ignorant, and of course
+indolent, only too happy to be spared the labor of thought and the
+responsibility of action, looked up to the great and the fortunate till
+their eyes were dazzled, and they saw characters and exploits through
+a glorious golden mist, which precluded criticism. It was easy, then,
+to be a hero, for a single success or a happy chance sufficed. Altars
+sprang up in every bye-road, and incense fumed without stint or question.
+
+To-day the case is widely different. We give nothing for nothing.
+Whatever esteem or praise we accord, must be justified, inch by inch, by
+facts tangible and productive, successes undimmed by any after failure,
+and qualities which owe nothing to imagination or passion in the observer.
+No aureole is allowed about any head unless it emanate from it. Our
+Apollo must actually have sent the shaft, and to the mark, too, or we
+sneer at the attitude of triumph. If we erect a statue, no robe is
+confessed to be proper drapery but the soiled and threadbare one of
+every-day life and toil. No illusion--no poetry! is the American maxim
+of our time. Bald, staring, naked literality for us! He is the true
+philosopher who can
+
+    Peep and botanize
+  Upon his mother's grave
+
+if the flowers required by science happen to grow there.
+
+All this may be very wise and knowing, yet as long as the machine called
+man has something within it which is not exactly a subject for
+mathematical measurement, there will remain some little doubt of the
+expediency of thus stripping life of its poetry, and bringing all that
+is inspiring to the test of line and plummet. Just now, however, there
+is no hearing for any argument on this side.
+
+[Illustration: Greenough's Statue of Washington]
+
+What shall we think, then, of a character which, in a single half
+century, has begun, even among us, to wear something of a mythical
+splendor? What must the man have been, whom an age like this deliberately
+deifies? Who but Washington has, in any age, secured for himself such a
+place in the universal esteem and reverence of his countrymen, that simple
+description of him is all that can be tolerated, the public sense of his
+merits being such as makes praise impertinent, and blame impious?
+
+WASHINGTON! It were almost enough to grace our page and our volume with
+this honored and beloved name. The commentary upon it is written in every
+heart. It is true the most anxious curiosity has been able to find but a
+small part of what it would fain know of the first man of all the earth,
+yet no doubt remains as to what he was, in every relation of life. The
+minuti� may not be full, but the outline, in which resides the expression,
+is perfect. It were too curious to inquire how much of Washington would
+have been lost had the rural life of which he was so fond, bounded his
+field of action. Providence made the stage ready for the performer, as
+the performer for the stage. In his public character, he was not the man
+of the time, but for the time, bearing in his very looks the seal of a
+grand mission, and seeming, from his surprising dignity, to have no
+private domestic side. Greenough's marble statue of him, that sits
+unmoved under all the vicissitudes of storm and calm, gazing with
+unwinking eyes at the Capitol, is not more impassive or immovable than
+the Washington of our imaginations. Yet we know there must have been
+another side to this grand figure, less grand, perhaps, but not less
+symmetrical, and wonderfully free from those lowering discrepancies
+which bring nearer to our own level all other great, conspicuous men.
+
+[Illustration: Houdon's Statue of Washington.]
+
+We ought to know more of him; but, besides the other reasons we have
+alluded to for our dearth of intelligence, his was not a writing age on
+this side the water. Doing, not describing, was the business of the
+day. "Our own correspondent" was not born yet; desperate tourists had
+not yet forced their way into gentlemen's drawing-rooms, to steal
+portraits by pen and pencil, to inquire into dates and antecedents, and
+repay enforced hospitality by holding the most sacred personalities up
+to the comments of the curious. It would, indeed, be delightful to
+possess this kind of knowledge; to ascertain how George Washington of
+Fairfax appeared to the sturdy country gentlemen, his neighbors; what
+the "troublesome man" he speaks of in one of his letters thought of the
+rich planter he was annoying; whether Mr. Payne was proud or ashamed
+when he remembered that he had knocked down the Father of his Country
+in a public court-room; what amount of influence, not to say rule, Mrs.
+Martha Custis, with her large fortune, exercised over the
+Commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States. But rarer than
+all it would have been to see Washington himself deal with one of those
+gentry, who should have called at Mount Vernon with a view of favoring
+the world with such particulars. How he treated poachers of another sort
+we know; he mounted his horse, and dashing into the water, rode directly
+up to the muzzle of a loaded musket, which he wrenched from the astounded
+intruder, and then, drawing the canoe to land, belabored the scamp soundly
+with his riding whip. How he would have faced a loaded pen, and received
+its owner, we can but conjecture. We have heard an old gentleman, who
+had lived in the neighborhood of Mount Vernon in his boyhood, say that
+when the General found any stranger shooting in his grounds, his practice
+was to take the gun without a word, and, passing the barrel through the
+fence, with one effort of his powerful arm, bend it so as to render it
+useless, returning it afterwards very quietly, perhaps observing that
+his rules were very well known. The whole neighborhood, our old friend
+said, feared the General, not because of any caprice or injustice in his
+character, but only for his inflexibility, which must have had its own
+trials on a Southern plantation at that early day.
+
+[Illustration: Chantrey's Statue of Washington]
+
+Painting and sculpture have done what they could to give us an accurate
+and satisfying idea of the outward appearance of the Father of our
+Country, and a surpassing dignity has been the aim if not the result, of
+all these efforts. The statue by Chantrey, which graces the State House
+at Boston, is perhaps as successful as any in this respect, and white
+marble is of all substances the most appropriate for the purpose. From
+all, collectively, we derive the impression, or something more, that in
+Washington we have one of the few examples on record of a complete and
+splendid union and consent of personal and mental qualifications for
+greatness in the same individual; unsurpassed symmetry and amplitude of
+mind and body for once contributing to the efficiency of a single being,
+to whom, also, opportunities for development and action proved no less
+propitious than nature. In the birth, nurture and destiny of this man,
+so blest in all good gifts, Providence seems to have intended the
+realization of Milton's ideal type of glorious manhood:
+
+    A creature who, endued
+  With sanctity of reason, might erect
+  His stature, and, upright, with front serene,
+  Govern the rest, self-knowing; and from thence,
+  Magnanimous, to correspond with Heaven;
+  But, grateful to acknowledge whence his good
+  Descends, thither, with heart and voice and eyes,
+  Directed in devotion, to adore
+  And worship God supreme, who made him chief
+  Of all his works.
+
+We may the more naturally think this because Washington was so little
+indebted to school learning for his mental power. Born in a plain
+farm-house near the Potomac--a hallowed spot now marked only by a
+memorial stone and a clump of decaying fig-trees, probably coeval with
+the dwelling; none but the simplest elements of knowledge were within
+his reach, for although his father was a gentleman of large landed estate,
+the country was thinly settled and means of education were few. To
+these he applied himself with a force and steadiness even then remarkable,
+though with no view more ambitious than to prepare himself for the
+agricultural pursuits to which he was destined, by a widowed mother,
+eminent for common sense and high integrity. His mother,
+characteristically enough, for she was much more practical than
+imaginative, always spoke of him as a docile and diligent boy,
+passionately fond of athletic exercises, rather than as a brilliant or
+ambitious one. In after years, when La Fayette was recounting to her,
+in florid phrase, but with the generous enthusiasm which did him so much
+honor, the glorious services and successes of her son, she replied--"I
+am not surprised; George was always a good boy!" and this simple phrase
+from a mother who never uttered a superfluous word, throws a clear light
+on his early history. Then we have, besides, remnants of his
+school-exercises in arithmetic and geometry, beautiful in neatness,
+accuracy and method. At thirteen his mathematical turn had begun to
+discover itself, and the precision and elegance of his handwriting were
+already remarkable. His precocious wisdom would seem at that early age
+to have cast its horoscope, for we have thirty pages of forms for the
+transaction of important business, all copied out beautifully; and joined
+to this direct preparation for his future career are "Rules of Civility
+and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation," to the number of one
+hundred and ten, all pointing distinctly at self-control and respect for
+the rights of others, rather than at a Chesterfieldian polish or policy,
+and these he learned so well that he practised them unfailingly all his
+life after.
+
+[Illustration: Residence of the Washington Family.]
+
+A farm in Stafford County on the Rappahannoc, where his father had lived
+for several years before his death, was his share of the paternal estate,
+and on this he lived with his mother, till he had completed his sixteenth
+year. He desired to enter the British Navy, as a path to honorable
+distinction, and one of his half brothers, many years older than himself,
+had succeeded in obtaining a warrant for him; but the mother's
+reluctance to part with her eldest boy induced him to relinquish this
+advantage, and to embrace instead the laborious and trying life of a
+surveyor, in those rude, early days of Virginia exposed to extraordinary
+hazards. Upon this he entered immediately, accepting employment offered
+him by Lord Fairfax, who had come from England to ascertain the value of
+an immense tract of land which he had inherited, lying between the Potomac
+and Rappahannoc rivers, and extending beyond the Alleghanies. The
+surveying party was accompanied by William Fairfax, a distant relative
+of his lordship, but the boy of sixteen was evidently the most important
+member of the party. When the hardships of this undertaking became too
+exhausting, he returned to the more settled regions, and employed himself
+in laying out private tracts and farms, but he spent the greater part
+of three years in the wilderness, learning the value of lands, becoming
+acquainted with the habits and character of the wild Indian tribes, then
+so troublesome in the forests, and fitting himself by labor, study, the
+endurance of personal hardships and the exercise of vigilance and
+systematic effort, for the arduous path before him.
+
+At nineteen Washington had made so favorable an impression that he was
+appointed, by the government of Virginia, Adjutant-General with the rank
+of Major, and charged with the duty of assembling and exercising the
+militia, in preparation for expected or present difficulties on the
+frontier. He had always shown a turn for military affairs, beginning
+with his school-days, when his favorite play was drilling troops of
+boys, he himself always taking command; and noticeable again in his
+early manhood, when he studied tactics, and learned the manual exercise
+and the use of the sword. It was not long before the talent thus
+cultivated was called into action. Governor Dinwiddie sent Major
+Washington as commissioner to confer with the officer commanding the
+French forces, making the delicate inquiry by what authority he presumed
+to invade the dominions of his Majesty King George III., and what were
+his designs. A winter journey of seven hundred and fifty miles, at least
+half of which lay through an unbroken wilderness, haunted by wild
+beasts, and more formidable savages, was the first duty of the youthful
+Major under this commission, and it occupied six weeks, marked by many
+hardships and some adventures. The famous one of the raft on a
+half-frozen river, in which Washington narrowly escaped drowning, and
+the other of a malcontent Indian's firing on him, occurred during this
+journey; but he reached the French post in safety, and had an amicable,
+though not very satisfactory conference, with the Sieur St. Pierre, a
+courteous gentleman, but a wily old soldier. Governor Dinwiddie caused
+Major Washington's account of the expedition to be published, and when a
+little army was formed for the protection of the frontier, Washington
+received a command, with the rank of Colonel, at twenty-two years of
+age. Advancing at once into the wilderness, he encountered a French
+detachment, which he took prisoners, with their commander, and so
+proceeded during the remainder of the season, with general success. The
+next year, serving as a volunteer, it was his painful lot, when just
+recovering from a severe illness, to witness Braddock's defeat, a
+misfortune which, it is unanimously conceded, might have been avoided,
+if General Braddock had not been too proud to take his young friend's
+prudent counsel. All that an almost frantic bravery could do to retrieve
+the fortunes of this disastrous day, Washington, whom we are in the
+habit of thinking immovable, and who was at this time weak from the
+effects of fever, is reported to have done; and the fact that he had two
+horses shot under him, and his coat well riddled with rifle balls, shows
+how unsparingly he exposed himself to the enemy's sharp-shooters. A
+spectator says--"I saw him take hold of a brass field-piece as if it had
+been a stick. He looked like a fury; he tore the sheet lead from the
+touch-hole; he pulled with this and pushed with that; and wheeled it
+round as if it had been nothing. The powder-monkey rushed up with the
+fire, and then the cannon began to bark, and the Indians came down."
+Nothing but defeat and disgrace was the result of this unhappy
+encounter, except to Washington, who in that instance, as in so many
+others, stood out, individual and conspicuous, by qualities so much in
+advance of those of all the men with whom he acted, that no misfortune
+or disaster ever caused him to be confounded with them, or included in
+the most hasty general censure. It is most instructive as well as
+interesting to observe that his mind, never considered brilliant, was
+yet recognized from the beginning as almost infallible in its judgments,
+a tower of strength for the weak, a terror to the selfish and dishonest.
+The uneasiness of Governor Dinwiddie under Washington's superiority is
+accounted for only by the fact that that superiority was unquestionable.
+
+[Illustration: Mount Vernon]
+
+After Braddock's defeat, Washington retired to Mount Vernon,--which had
+fallen to him by the will of his half-brother Lawrence--to recoup his
+mind and body, after a wasting fever and the distressing scenes he had
+been forced to witness. The country rang with his praises, and even the
+pulpit could not withhold its tribute. The Reverend Samuel Davies hardly
+deserves the reputation of a prophet for saying, in the course of a
+eulogy on the bravery of the Virginian troops,--"As a remarkable
+instance of this, I may point out that heroic youth, Colonel Washington,
+whom I cannot but hope Providence has hitherto preserved in so signal a
+manner for some important service to his country."
+
+When another army was to be raised for frontier service, the command was
+given to Washington, who stipulated for a voice in choosing his
+officers, a better system of military regulations, more promptness in
+paying the troops, and a thorough reform in the system of procuring
+supplies. All these were granted, with the addition of an aid-de-camp
+and secretary, to the young colonel of twenty-three. But he nevertheless
+had to encounter the evils of insubordination, inactivity, perverseness
+and disunion among the troops, with the further vexation of deficient
+support on the part of the government, while the terrors and real
+dangers and sufferings of the inhabitants of the outer settlements wrung
+his heart with anguish. In one of his many expostulatory letters to the
+timid and time-serving Governor Dinwiddie, his feelings burst their
+usual guarded bounds: "I am too little acquainted, sir, with pathetic
+language, to attempt a description of the people's distresses; but I
+have a generous soul, sensible of wrongs and swelling for redress. But
+what can I do? I see their situation, know their danger and participate
+in their sufferings, without having it in my power to give them further
+relief than uncertain promises. In short, I see inevitable destruction
+in so clear a light, that unless vigorous measures are taken by the
+Assembly, and speedy assistance sent from below, the poor inhabitants
+that are now in forts must unavoidably fall, while the remainder are
+flying before a barbarous foe. In fine, the melancholy situation of the
+people, the little prospect of assistance, the gross and scandalous
+abuse cast upon the officers in general, which reflects upon me in
+particular for suffering misconduct of such extraordinary kinds, and the
+distant prospect, if any, of gaining honor and reputation in the
+service, cause me to lament the hour that gave me a commission, and
+would induce me, at any other time than this of imminent danger, to
+resign, without one hesitating moment, a command from which I never
+expect to reap either honor or benefit; but, on the contrary, have
+almost an absolute certainty of incurring displeasure below, while the
+murder of helpless families may be laid to my account here. The
+supplicating tears of the women and moving petitions of the men melt me
+into such deadly sorrow, that I solemnly declare, if I know my own mind,
+I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy,
+provided that would contribute to the people's ease."
+
+[Illustration: Tomb of Washington's Mother.]
+
+This extract is given as being very characteristic; full of that fire
+whose volcanic intensity was so carefully covered under the snow of
+caution in after life; and also as a specimen of Washington's style of
+writing, clear, earnest, commanding and business-like, but deficient in
+all express graces, and valuable rather for substance than form. We see
+in his general tone of expression something of that resolute mother,
+who, when her son, already the first man in public estimation, urged her
+to make Mount Vernon her home for the rest of her days, tersely
+replied--"I thank you for your affectionate and dutiful offers, but my
+wants are few in this world, and I feel perfectly competent to take care
+of myself." Directness is the leading trait in the style of both mother
+and son; if either used circumlocution, it was rather through
+deliberateness than for diplomacy. Indeed, the alleged indebtedness of
+great sons to strong mothers, can hardly find a more prominent support
+than in this case. What a Roman pair they were! If her heart failed her
+a little, sometimes, as what mother's heart must not, in view of toils,
+sacrifices, and dangers like his; if she argued towards the softer side,
+how he answered her, appealing to her stronger self:
+
+            MOUNT VERNON, 14th Aug., 1755.
+
+  "HONORED MADAM,
+
+"If it is in my power to avoid going to the Ohio again, I shall; but if
+the command is passed upon me by the general voice of the country, and
+offered upon such terms as cannot be objected against, it would reflect
+dishonor upon me to refuse it; and that, I am sure, must, or ought to,
+give you greater uneasiness than my going in an honorable command. Upon
+no other terms will I accept of it. At present I have no proposals made
+to me, nor have I advice of such an intention, except from private
+hands.
+
+      "I am, &c."
+
+When the object for which he had undertaken the campaign--viz.: the
+undisturbed possession of the Ohio River--was accomplished, Washington
+resigned his commission, after five years of active and severe service,
+his health much broken and his private affairs not a little disordered.
+The resignation took effect in December, 1758, and in January, 1759, he
+was married, and, as he supposed, finally settled at Mount Vernon--or,
+as he expresses it in his quiet way--"Fixed at this seat, with an
+agreeable partner for life, I hope to find more happiness in retirement
+than I ever experienced amidst the wide and bustling world." And in
+liberal and elegant improvements, and the exercise of a generous
+hospitality, the young couple spent the following fifteen years; the
+husband attending to his duties as citizen and planter, with ample time
+and inclination for fox-hunting and duck-shooting, and the wife, a kind,
+comely, thrifty dame, looking well to the ways of her household,
+superintending fifteen domestic spinning-wheels, and presiding at a
+bountiful table, to the great satisfaction of her husband and his
+numerous guests. When the spirit of the people began to rise against the
+exactions of the mother country, Washington was among the foremost to
+sympathize with the feeling of indignation, and the desire to resist,
+peaceably, if possible, forcibly if necessary. Of this, his letters
+afford ample proof. When armed resistance was threatened, Washington was
+immediately thought of as the Virginia leader. When Congress began, in
+earnest, preparations for defence, Washington was chairman of all the
+committees on the state of the country. When the very delicate business
+of appointing a commander-in-chief of the American armies was under
+consideration, Washington was the man whose name was on every tongue,
+and who was unanimously chosen, and that by the direct instrumentality
+of a son of Massachusetts, though that noble State, having commenced the
+struggle, might well have claimed the honor of furnishing a leader for
+it. What generosity of patriotism there was, in the men of those days,
+and how a common indignation and a common danger seem to have raised
+them above the petty jealousies and heart-burnings that so disfigure
+public doings in time of peace and prosperity! How the greatness of the
+great man blazed forth on this new field! What an attitude he took
+before the country, when he said, on accepting the position, "I beg
+leave to assure the Congress that as no pecuniary consideration could
+have tempted me to accept this arduous employment, at the expense of my
+domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to make any profit from it. I
+will keep an exact account of my expenses. These, I doubt not they will
+discharge, and that is all I desire." There was a natural, unconscious
+sovereignty in thus assuming to be the judge of what it might be proper
+to expend, in concerns the most momentous, extensive, and novel, as well
+as in taking the entire risk, both of payment and of public
+approbation,--in a direction in which he had already found the
+sensitiveness of the popular mind,--that equals any boldness of
+Napoleon's. We can hardly wonder that, in after times, common men
+instinctively desired and expected to make him a king.
+
+The battle of Bunker Hill had taken place in the time that intervened
+between Washington's consent and the receipt of his commission, so that
+he set out for Cambridge, with no lingering doubt as to the nature,
+meaning, or result of the service in which he had pledged all. He writes
+to his brother, "I am embarked on a wide ocean, boundless in its
+prospect, and in which, perhaps, no safe harbor is to be found." His
+residence at Cambridge, a fine old mansion, still stands, and in worthy
+occupancy. Here it was that he undertook the intolerable duty of
+organizing a young army, without clothes, tents, ammunition, or money,
+with a rich, bitter and disciplined enemy in sight, and boiling blood on
+both sides. Here it was that General Gage, with whom he had fought, side
+by side, twenty years before, on the Monongahela, so exasperated him by
+insolent replies to his remonstrances against the cruel treatment of
+American prisoners, that he gave directions for retaliation upon any of
+the enemy that might fall into American hands. He was, however,
+Washington still, even though burning with a holy anger; and, ere the
+order could reach its destination, it was countermanded, and a charge
+given to all concerned that the prisoners should be allowed parole, and
+that every other proper indulgence and civility should be shown them.
+His letters to General Gage are models of that kind of writing. In
+writing to Lord Dartmouth afterwards, the British commander, who had
+been rebuked with such cutting and deserved severity, observes with
+great significance, "The trials we have had, show the rebels are not the
+despicable rabble we have supposed them to be."
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, Cambridge 1775.]
+
+Washington was not without a stern kind of wit, on certain occasions.
+When the rock was struck hard, it failed not in fire. The jealousy of
+military domination was so great as to cause him terrible solicitudes at
+this time, and a month's enlistments brought only five thousand men,
+while murmurs were heard on all sides against poor pay and bad living.
+Thinking of this, at a later day, when a member of the Convention for
+forming the Constitution, desired to introduce a clause limiting the
+standing army to five thousand men, Washington observed that he should
+have no objection to such a clause, "if it were so amended as to provide
+that no enemy should presume to invade the United States with more than
+_three_ thousand."
+
+Amid all the discouragements of that heavy time, the resolution of the
+commander-in-chief suffered no abatement. "My situation is so irksome to
+me at times," he says after enumerating his difficulties in a few
+forcible words, "that if I did not consult the public good more than my
+own tranquillity, I should long ere this have put every thing on the
+cast of a die." But he goes on to say, in a tone more habitual with
+him--"If every man was of my mind, the ministers of Great Britain should
+know, in a few words, upon what issue the cause should be put. I would
+not be deceived by artful declarations, nor specious pretences, nor
+would I be amused by unmeaning propositions, but, in open, undisguised
+and manly terms, proclaim our wrongs, and our resolution to be
+redressed. I would tell them that we had borne much, that we had long
+and ardently sought for reconciliation upon honorable terms; that it had
+been denied us; that all our attempts after peace had proved abortive,
+and had been grossly misrepresented; that we had done every thing that
+could be expected from the best of subjects; that the spirit of freedom
+rises too high in us to submit to slavery. This I would tell them, not
+under covert, but in words as clear as the sun in its meridian
+brightness."
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, 180 Pearl street, New-York
+1776.]
+
+[Illustration: House No. 1 Broadway
+
+    The house No. 1 Broadway, opposite the Bowling-green, remained
+    unaltered until within a year or two in the shape here presented,
+    in which it had become familiar to all New-Yorkers. It was built
+    by Captain Kennedy of the Royal Navy, in April, 1765. There Lee,
+    Washington, and afterwards Sir Henry Clinton, Robertson, Carleton,
+    and other British officers were quartered, and here Andr� wrote
+    his letter to Arnold.--_Lossing._ It was afterwards occupied by
+    Aaron Burr. Very recently, this interesting house, which in
+    New-York may be termed _ancient_, has been metamorphosed by the
+    addition of two or three stories, and it is now _reduced_ to be
+    the Washington Hotel.]
+
+When the British evacuated Boston, Congress voted Washington a gold
+medal, with abundant thanks and praises; and, thus compensated for the
+cruel anxieties of the winter, he proceeded with unwavering courage to
+New-York, where new labors awaited him, and the mortifying defeat at
+Gowanus, turned into almost triumph by the admirable retreat afterwards.
+
+The movement from New-York city to Harlem Heights should have been
+another glory, and nothing on the part of the Commander-in-Chief was
+wanting to make it such, but a panic seized two brigades of militia, who
+ran away, _sans fa�on_, causing Washington to lose, for a moment, some
+portion of the power over his own emotions for which he is so justly
+celebrated. He dashed in among the flying rout, shouting, shaming them,
+riding exposed within a few yards of the enemy; and, finding this of no
+avail, drew his sword and threatened to "run them through," and cocked
+and snapped his pistol in their faces. But all would not do, and General
+Greene says, in a letter to a friend, "He was so vexed at the infamous
+conduct of the troops, that he sought death rather than life."
+Washington, the "man of marble," would have preferred a thousand deaths
+to dishonor.
+
+A new army was now to be raised, the term of the last enlistment having
+expired; and, to form a just opinion of Washington's character and
+talents, every letter of his, to Congress and others during this period,
+should be studied. Such wisdom, such indignation, such patience, such
+manly firmness, such disappointment! every thing but despair; the
+watchfulness, the forethought, the perseverance displayed in those
+letters, give a truer idea of the man than all his battles.
+
+Take a single passage from one of his letters:--"I am wearied almost to
+death with the retrograde motion of things, and I solemnly protest, that
+a pecuniary reward of twenty thousand pounds a year would not induce me
+to undergo what I do; and after all, perhaps, to lose my character, as
+it is impossible, under such a variety of distressing circumstances, to
+conduct matters agreeably to public expectation, or even to the
+expectation of those who employ me, as they will not make proper
+allowances for the difficulties their own errors have occasioned."
+
+And besides that which came upon him daily, in the regular line of duty,
+the yet more difficult work of bearing up the hearts of others, whose
+threats of abandoning the service were the running bass that made worse
+the din of war. "I am sorry to find," writes the Chief to General
+Schuyler, "that both you and General Montgomery incline to quit the
+service. Let me ask you, sir, what is the time for brave men to exert
+themselves in the cause of liberty and their country, if this is not?
+God knows there is not a difficulty that you both very justly complain
+of, which I have not in an eminent degree experienced, that I am not
+every day experiencing. But we must bear up against them, and make the
+best of mankind as they are, since we cannot have them as we wish." In
+studying the career of Washington, nothing strikes one more frequently
+than that no fame came to him fortuitously, not only did he borrow none,
+usurp none, fall heir to none that belonged to others; he earned every
+tittle that has ever been awarded to him, and evidently contributed very
+much, by his secret advice and caution to officers placed in difficult
+positions, to enhance the measure of praise bestowed on his companions
+in arms.
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, Morristown, New Jersey. 1779.]
+
+Dark as these times were, Washington's peculiar merits were every day
+becoming more and more evident; indeed the darkest hours were his
+opportunities. He might well say, after the loss of Fort Washington,
+which had been held contrary to his judgment,--"No person ever had a
+greater choice of difficulties to contend with than I have;" yet he
+carried the war into New Jersey with all the resolution and courage of a
+victor. Never without a party, too often a very large one, ready to
+disparage his military skill, and throw doubts upon his energy in the
+conduct of the war, he pursued his plans without swerving a hair's
+breadth to court the popular gale, though a natural and honorable love
+of reputation was one of the ruling passions of his soul. It was
+impossible to make the people believe that a series of daring encounters
+would have cost the Commander-in-chief far less than the "Fabian policy,"
+so scorned at the time; but Washington saw then, in the very heat of
+the contest, what the result has now made evident enough to all, that
+England must carry on a war on the other side of the globe under an
+immense disadvantage, and that considering the general spirit of the
+American people, the expense to an invading power must be greater than
+even the richest nation on earth could long sustain. That the necessity
+for delay was intensely mortifying to him, we have a thousand proofs;
+and it was not the least bitter drop in his cup, that in order to
+conceal from the enemy the deficiencies occasioned by the delay of
+Congress to meet his most strenuous requisitions, he was obliged to
+magnify his numbers and resources, in a way which could not but increase
+the public doubts of his promptness. No one can read his letters,
+incessant under these circumstances, without an intense personal
+sympathy, that almost forgets the warrior and the patriot in the man.
+
+His being invested with what was in reality a military dictatorship, did
+not help to render him more popular, although he used his power with his
+accustomed moderation, conscientiousness and judgment. In this, as in
+other cases, he took the whole responsibility and odium, while he
+allowed others to reap the credit of particular efforts; giving to every
+man at least his due, and content if the country was served, even though
+he himself seemed to be doing nothing. This we gather as much from the
+letters of others to him as from his own writings.
+
+The celebrated passage of the Delaware, on Christmas-day, 1776,--so
+life-like represented in Leutze's great picture,--flashed a cheering
+light over the prospects of the contest, and lifted up the hearts of the
+desponding, if it did not silence the cavils of the disaffected. The
+intense cold was as discouraging here as the killing heat had been at
+Gowanus. Two men were found frozen to death, and the whole army suffered
+terribly; but the success was splendid, and the enemy's line along the
+Delaware was broken. The British opened their eyes very wide at this
+daring deed of the rebel chief, and sent the veteran Cornwallis to
+chastise his insolence. But Washington was not waiting for him. He had
+marched to Princeton, harassing the enemy, and throwing their lines
+still more into confusion. New Jersey was almost completely relieved,
+and the spirits of the country raised to martial pitch before the
+campaign closed. Those who had hastily condemned Washington as half a
+traitor to the cause, now began to call him the Saviour of his Country.
+Success has wondrous power in illuminating merit, that may yet have been
+transparent without it. But even now, when he thought proper to
+administer to all the oath of allegiance to the United States, granting
+leave to the disaffected to retire within the enemy's lines, a new
+clamor was raised against him, as assuming undue and dangerous power. It
+was said there were no "United States," and the Legislature of New
+Jersey censured the order as interfering with their prerogative. But
+Washington made no change. The dangers of pretended neutrality had
+become sufficiently apparent to him; and he chose, as he always did, to
+defer his personal popularity to the safety of the great cause. And
+again he took occasion, though the treatment of General Lee was in
+question, to argue against retaliation of the sufferings of prisoners,
+in a manly letter, which would serve as a text in similar cases for all
+time.
+
+What a blessing was Lafayette's arrival! not only to the struggling
+States, but in particular to Washington. The spirit of the generous
+young Frenchman was to the harassed chief as cold water to the thirsty
+soul. No jealousies, no fault-finding, no selfish emulation; but pure,
+high, uncalculating enthusiasm, and a devotion to the character and
+person of Washington that melted the strong man, and opened those
+springs of tenderness which cares and duties had well-nigh choked up. It
+is not difficult to believe that Lafayette had even more to do with the
+success of the war than we are accustomed to think. Whatever kept up the
+chief's heart up-bore the army and the country; for it is plain that,
+without derogation from the ability or faithfulness of any of the heroic
+contributors to the final triumph, Washington was in a peculiar manner
+the life and soul,--the main-spring and the balance-wheel,--the spur and
+the rein, of the whole movement and its result. Blessings, then, on
+Lafayette, the helper and consoler of the chosen father of his heart,
+through so many trials! His name goes down to posterity on the same
+breath that is destined for ever to proclaim the glory of Washington.
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, Chad's Ford, 1777.]
+
+Chad's Ford, in Delaware, was the scene of another of those disasters
+which it was Washington's happy fortune to turn into benefits. The
+American army retreated from a much superior force, and retreated in
+such disorder as could seem, even to its well-wishers, little better
+than a flight. But when, after encamping at Germantown, it was found
+that the General meant to give battle again, with a barefooted army,
+exhausted by forced marches, in a country which Washington himself says,
+was "to a man, disaffected," dismay itself became buoyant, and the
+opinion spread, not only throughout America, but even as far as France,
+that the leader of our armies was indeed invincible. A heavy rain and an
+impenetrable fog defeated our brave troops; the attempt cost a thousand
+men. Washington says, solemnly, "It was a bloody day." Yet the Count de
+Vergennes, on whose impressions of America so much depended at that
+time, told our Commissioners in Paris that nothing in the course of our
+struggle had struck him so much as General Washington's venturing to
+attack the veteran army of Sir William Howe, with troops raised within
+the year. The leader's glory was never obscured for a moment, to the
+view of those who were so placed as to see it in its true light.
+Providence seems to have determined that the effective power of this
+great instrument should be independent of the glitter of victory.
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, White Marsh, 1777.]
+
+Encamped at Whitemarsh, fourteen miles from Philadelphia, Washington,
+with his half-clad and half-fed troops, awaited an attack from General
+Howe who had marched in that direction with twelve thousand effective
+men. But both commanders were wary--the British not choosing to attack
+his adversary on his own ground, and the American not to be decoyed from
+his chosen position to one less favorable. Some severe skirmishing was
+therefore all that ensued, and General Howe retreated, rather
+ingloriously, to Philadelphia.
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, Valley Forge, 1777.]
+
+This brings us to the terrible winter at Valley Forge, the sufferings of
+which can need no recapitulation for our readers. Washington felt them
+with sufficient keenness, yet his invariable respect for the rights of
+property extended to that of the disaffected, and in no extremity was he
+willing to resort to coercive measures, to remedy evils which distressed
+his very soul, and which he shared with the meanest soldier. His
+testimony to the patience and fortitude of the men is emphatic: "Naked
+and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable
+patience and fidelity of the soldiery, that they have not been, ere
+this, excited by their sufferings to a general mutiny and dispersion."
+And while this evil was present, and for the time irremediable, he
+writes to Congress on the subject of a suggestion which had been made of
+a _winter campaign_, "I can assure those gentlemen, that it is a much
+easier and less distressing thing to draw remonstrances, in a
+comfortable room, by a good fireside, than to occupy a cold bleak hill,
+and sleep under frost and snow, without clothes or blankets. However,
+although they seem to have little feeling for the naked and distrest
+soldiers, I feel super-abundantly for them, and from my soul I pity
+those miseries which it is neither in my power to relieve nor prevent."
+
+It was during this period of perplexity and distress on public accounts,
+that the discovery of secret cabals against himself, was added to
+Washington's burthens. But whatever was personal was never more than
+secondary with him. When the treachery of pretended friends was
+disclosed, he showed none of the warmth which attends his statement of
+the soldiers' grievances. "My enemies take an ungenerous advantage of
+me," he said, "they know the delicacy of my situation, and that motives
+of policy deprive me of the defence I might otherwise make against their
+insidious attacks. They know I cannot combat their insinuations, however
+injurious, without disclosing secrets which it is of the utmost moment
+to conceal." * * * "My chief concern arises from an apprehension of the
+dangerous consequences which intestine dissensions may produce to the
+common cause."
+
+General Howe made no attempt on the camp during the winter, but his
+foraging parties were watched and often severely handled by the
+Americans. When Dr. Franklin, who was in Paris, was told that General
+Howe had taken Philadelphia, "Say rather," he replied, "that
+Philadelphia has taken General Howe," and the advantage was certainly a
+problematical one. Philadelphia was evacuated by the British on the 18th
+of June, 1776, General Clinton having superseded General Howe, who
+returned to England in the spring. Washington followed in the footsteps
+of the retreating army, and, contrary to the opinion of General Lee,
+decided to attack them. At Monmouth occurred the scene so often cited as
+proving that Washington _could_ lose his temper--a testimony to his
+habitual self-command which no art of praise could enhance. Finding
+General Lee with his five thousand men in full retreat when they should
+have been rushing on the enemy, the commander-in-chief addressed the
+recreant with words of severe reproof, and a look and manner still more
+cutting. Receiving in return a most insolent reply, Washington
+proceeded, himself, by rapid manoeuvres, to array the troops for battle,
+and when intelligence arrived that the British were within fifteen
+minutes march, he said to General Lee, who had followed him, deeply
+mortified,--"Will you command on this ground, or not?" "It is equal with
+me where I command," was the answer. "Then I expect you to take proper
+measures for checking the enemy," said the General, much incensed at the
+offensive manner of Lee. "Your orders shall be obeyed," said that
+officer, "and I will not be the first to leave the field." And his
+bravery made it evident that an uncontrolled temper was the fault for
+which he afterwards suffered so severely. During the action Washington
+exposed himself to every danger, animating and cheering on the men under
+the burning sun; and when night came, he lay down in his cloak at the
+foot of a tree, hoping for a general action the next day. But in the
+morning Sir Henry Clinton was gone, too far for pursuit under such
+killing heat--the thermometer at 96�. Many on both sides had perished
+without a wound, from fatigue and thirst.
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, Tappan, 1778.]
+
+The headquarters at Tappan will always have a sad interest from the
+fact that Major Andr�, whose fine private qualities have almost made the
+world forget that he was a spy, there met his unhappy fate. That General
+Washington suffered severely under the necessity which obliged him, by
+the rules of war, to sanction the decision of the court-martial in this
+case, we have ample testimony; and an eye-witness still living observed,
+that when the windows of the town were thronged with gazers at the stern
+procession as it passed, those of the commander-in-chief were entirely
+closed, and his house without sign of life except the two sentinels at
+the door.
+
+The revolt of a part of the Pennsylvania line, which occurred in
+January, 1781, afforded a new occasion for the exercise of Washington's
+pacific wisdom. He had felt the grievances of the army too warmly to be
+surprised when any portion of it lost patience, and his prudent and
+humane suggestions, with the good management of General Wayne, proved
+effectual in averting the great danger which now threatened. But when
+the troops of New Jersey, emboldened by this mild treatment, attempted
+to imitate their Pennsylvania neighbors, they found Washington prepared,
+and six hundred men in arms ready to crush the revolt by force--a
+catastrophe prevented only by the unconditional submission of the
+mutineers, who were obliged to lay down their arms, make concessions to
+their officers, and promise obedience.
+
+As we are not giving here a sketch of the Revolutionary War, we pass at
+once to the siege and surrender at Yorktown, an event which shook the
+country like that heaviest clap of thunder, herald of the departing
+storm. All felt that brighter skies were preparing, and the universal
+joy did not wait the sanction of a deliberate treaty of peace. The great
+game of chess which had been so warily played, on one side at least, was
+now in check, if not closed by a final check-mate; and people on the
+winning side were fain to unknit their weary brows, and indulge the
+repose they had earned. Congress and the country felt as if the decisive
+blow had been struck, as if the long agony was over. Thanks were
+lavished on the commanders, on the officers, on the troops. Two stands
+of the enemy's colors were presented to the Commander-in-Chief, and to
+Counts Rochambeau and De Grasse each a piece of British field ordnance
+as a trophy. A commemorative column at Yorktown was decreed, to carry
+down to posterity the events of the glorious 17th of October, 1781.
+There was, in short, a kind of wildness in the national joy, showing how
+deep had been the previous despondency. Watchmen woke the citizens of
+Philadelphia at one in the morning, crying "Cornwallis is taken!" Sober,
+Puritan America was almost startled from her habitual coolness; almost
+forgot the still possible danger. The chief alone, on whom had fallen
+the heaviest stress of the long contest, was impelled to new care and
+forecast by the victory. He feared the negligence of triumph, and
+reminded the government and the nation that all might yet be lost,
+without vigilance. "I cannot but flatter myself," he says, "that the
+States, rather than relax in their exertions, will be stimulated to the
+most vigorous preparations, for another active, glorious, and decisive
+campaign." And Congress responded wisely to the appeal, and called on
+the States to keep up the military establishment, and to complete their
+several quotas of troops at an early day. With his characteristic
+modesty and courage, Washington wrote to Congress a letter of advice on
+the occasion, of which one sentence may be taken as a specimen.
+"Although we cannot, by the best concerted plans, absolutely command
+success; although the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to
+the strong; yet, without presumptuously waiting for miracles to be
+wrought in our favor, it is an indispensable duty, with the deepest
+gratitude to Heaven for the past, and humble confidence in its smiles on
+our future operations, to make use of all the means in our power for our
+defence and security."
+
+It was this man, pure, devoted, and indefatigable in the cause of his
+country and her liberties, that some shortsighted malcontents, judging
+his virtue by their own, would now have persuaded to finish the struggle
+for liberty by becoming a king. The discontent of the officers and
+soldiers, with the slowness of their pay, had long been a cause of
+ferment in the army, and gave to the hasty and the selfish an excuse for
+desiring a change in the form of government. The king's troops had been
+well fed, well clothed, and well paid, and were sure of half-pay after
+the war should be finished, while the continentals, suffering real
+personal destitution, were always in arrear, drawing on their private
+resources, and with no provision whatever for any permanent pecuniary
+recompense. As to the half-pay, Washington had long before expressed his
+opinion of the justice as well as policy of such a provision. "I am
+ready to declare," he says, "that I do most religiously believe the
+salvation of the cause depends upon it, and without it your officers
+will moulder to nothing, or be composed of low and illiterate men, void
+of capacity for this or any other business. * * * Personally, as an
+officer, I have no interest in the decision; because I have declared,
+and I now repeat it, that I never will receive the smallest benefit from
+the half-pay establishment." But the deep-seated jealousy of the army,
+which haunted Congress and the country, like a Banshee, throughout the
+whole course of the war, was too powerful for even Washington's
+representations. All that could be effected was an unsatisfactory
+compromise, and some of the officers saw or affected to see, in the
+reluctance of the government to provide properly for its defenders, a
+sign of fatal weakness, which but little recommended the republican
+form. Under these circumstances, a well written letter was sent to the
+Commander-in-Chief, proposing to him the establishment of a "mixed
+government," in which the supreme position was to be given, as of right,
+to the man who had been the instrument of Providence in saving the
+country, in "difficulties apparently insurmountable by human power," the
+dignity to be accompanied with the title of KING. Of this daring
+proposition a colonel of good standing was made the organ. Washington's
+reply may be well known, but it will bear many repetitions.
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, Newburgh, N.Y.]
+
+            NEWBURGH, 22 May, 1782.
+
+  "SIR,
+
+"With a mixture of great surprise and astonishment, I have read with
+attention the sentiments you submitted to my perusal. Be assured, Sir,
+no occurrence in the course of the war has given me more painful
+sensations than your information, of there being such ideas existing in
+the army as you have expressed, and I must view with abhorrence, and
+reprehend with severity. For the present, the communication of them will
+rest in my own bosom, unless some further agitation of the matter shall
+make a disclosure necessary.
+
+"I am much at a loss to conceive what part of my conduct could have
+given encouragement to an address, which, to me, seems big with the
+greatest mischiefs that can befall my country. If I am not deceived in
+the knowledge of myself, you could not have found a person to whom your
+schemes are more disagreeable. At the same time, in justice to my own
+feelings, I must add that no man possesses a more sincere wish to see
+ample justice done to the army than I do; and as far as my powers and
+influence, in a constitutional way, extend, they shall be employed to
+the utmost of my abilities to effect it, should there be any occasion.
+Let me conjure you, then, if you have any regard for your country,
+concern for yourself or posterity, or respect for me, to banish these
+thoughts from your mind, and never communicate, as from yourself or any
+one else, a sentiment of the like nature.
+
+      "I am, Sir, &c.,
+      "GEORGE WASHINGTON."
+
+This letter is extremely characteristic, not only because it declines
+the glittering bait, for that is hardly worth noticing where Washington
+is in question, but for the cool and quiet tone of rebuke, in a case in
+which most other men would have been disposed to be at least
+dramatically indignant. The perfectly respectful way in which he could
+show a man that he despised him, is remarkable. He does not even admit
+that there has been injustice done to the army, though the fact had cost
+him such loads of anxious and ingenious remonstrance; but only promises
+to see to it, "should there be any occasion." It would have been easier
+for him, at that very moment, at the head of a victorious army, and with
+the heart of the nation at his feet, to make himself a king, than to
+induce Congress to do justice to the troops and their brave officers;
+but identifying himself with his army, he considered that his own
+private affair, and would accept no offer of partnership, however
+specious. Happily the name of the "very respectable" colonel has never
+been disclosed; an instance of mercy not the least noticeable among the
+features of this remarkable transaction.
+
+During the negotiations for peace which so soon followed the surrender
+at Yorktown, the discontent of the army reached a height which became
+alarming. Meetings of officers were called, for the purpose of preparing
+threatening resolutions, since called "the Newburgh addresses," to be
+offered to Congress. The alternative proposed was a relinquishment of
+the service in a body, if the war continued, or remaining under arms, in
+time of peace, until justice could be obtained from Congress.
+Washington, having timely notice of this danger, came forward with his
+usual decision, wisdom, and kindliness, to the rescue of the public
+interest and peace. While he took occasion, in a general order, to
+censure the disorderly and anonymous form proposed, he himself called a
+meeting of officers, taking care to converse in private beforehand with
+many of them, acknowledging the justice of their complaints, but
+inculcating moderation and an honorable mode of obtaining what they
+desired. It is said that many of the gentlemen were in tears when they
+left the presence of the Commander-in-Chief. When they assembled, he
+addressed them in the most impressive manner, imploring them not to
+tarnish their hard-won laurels, by selfish passion, in a case in which
+the vital interests of the country were concerned. He insisted on the
+good faith of Congress, and the certainty that, before the army should
+be disbanded, all claims would be satisfactorily adjusted.
+
+His remonstrance proved irresistible. The officers, left to
+themselves,--for the General withdrew after he had given utterance to
+the advice made so potent by his character and services,--passed
+resolutions thanking him for his wise interference, and expressing their
+love and respect for him, and their determination to abide by his
+counsel. In this emergency Washington may almost have been said to have
+saved his country a second time, but in his letters written at the time
+he sinks all mention of his own paramount share in restoring
+tranquillity, speaking merely of "measures taken to postpone the
+meeting," and "the good sense of the officers" having terminated the
+affair "in a manner which reflects the greatest glory on themselves."
+His own remonstrances with Congress were immediately renewed, setting
+forth the just claims of those who "had so long, so patiently, and so
+cheerfully, fought under his direction," so forcibly, that in a very
+short time all was conceded, and general harmony and satisfaction
+established.
+
+His military labors thus finished,--for the adjudication of the army
+claims by Congress was almost simultaneous with the news of the signing
+of the treaty at Paris,--Washington might, without impropriety, have
+given himself up to the private occupations and enjoyments so
+religiously renounced for eight years,--the proclamation of peace to the
+army having been made, April 19, 1783, precisely eight years from the
+day of the first bloodshedding at Lexington. But the feelings of a
+father were too strong within him, and his solicitudes brooded over the
+land of his love with that unfailing anxiety for its best good which had
+characterized him from the beginning. Yet he modestly observes, in a
+letter on the subject to Col. Hamilton, "How far any further essay by me
+might be productive of the wished-for end, or appear to arrogate more
+than belongs to me, depends so much upon popular opinion, and the temper
+and dispositions of the people, that it is not easy to decide." He wrote
+a circular letter to the Governors of the several States, full of
+wisdom, dignity, and kindness, dwelling principally on four great
+points--an indissoluble union of the States; a sacred regard to public
+justice; the adoption of a proper military peace establishment; and a
+pacific and friendly disposition among the people of the States, which
+should induce them to forget local prejudices, and incline them to
+mutual concessions. This address is masterly in all respects, and was
+felt to be particularly well-timed, the calm and honoured voice of
+Washington being at that moment the only one which could hope to be
+heard above the din of party, and amid the confusion natural during the
+first excitement of joy and triumph.
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, Rocky Hill, N.J., 1783]
+
+Congress was not too proud to ask the counsel of its brave and faithful
+servant, in making arrangements for peace and settling the new affairs
+of the country. Washington was invited to Princeton, where Congress was
+then sitting, and introduced into the Chamber, where he was addressed by
+the President, and congratulated on the success of the war, to which he
+had so much contributed. Washington replied with his usual self-respect
+and modesty, and retired. A house had been prepared for him at Rocky
+Hill, near Princeton, where he resided for some time, holding conference
+with committees and members, and giving counsel on public affairs; and
+where he wrote that admirable farewell to his army, perhaps as full of
+his own peculiar spirit as any of his public papers. His thanks to
+officers and soldiers for their devotion during the war have no
+perfunctory coldness in them, but speak the full heart of a brave and
+noble captain, reviewing a most trying period, and recalling with warm
+gratitude the co-operation of those on whom he relied. Then, for their
+future, his cautions and persuasions, the motives he urges, and the
+virtues he recommends, all form a curious contrast with those of
+Napoleon's addresses to his troops. "Let it be known and remembered," he
+says, "that the reputation of the federal armies is established beyond
+the reach of malevolence; and let a consciousness of their achievements
+and fame still incite the men who composed them to honorable actions;
+under the persuasion that the private virtues of economy, prudence, and
+industry, will not be less amiable in civil life, than the more splendid
+qualities of valor, perseverance and enterprise were in the field." Thus
+consistent to the last he honored all the virtues; showing that while
+those of the field were not misplaced in the farm, those of the farm
+might well be counted among the best friends of the field--his own life
+of planter and soldier forming a glorious commentary on his doctrines.
+
+The evacuation of New-York by the British was a grand affair, General
+Washington and Governor George Clinton riding in at the head of the
+American troops that came from the northward to take possession, while
+Sir Guy Carleton and his legions embarked at the lower end of the city.
+The immense cavalcade of the victors embraced both military and civil
+authorities, and was closed by a great throng of citizens. This absolute
+_finale_ of the war brought on the Commander-in-Chief one of those
+duties at once sweet and painful--taking leave of his companions in
+arms; partners in toil and triumph, in danger and victory. "I cannot
+come to each of you to take my leave," he said, as he stood, trembling
+with emotion, "but I shall be obliged if each of you will come and take
+me by the hand." General Knox, the warm-hearted, stood forward and
+received the first embrace; then the rest in succession, silently and
+with universal tears. Without another word the General walked from the
+room, passed through lines of soldiery to the barge which awaited him,
+then, turning, waved his hat, and bade to friends and comrades a silent,
+heartfelt adieu, which was responded to in the same solemn spirit. All
+felt that it was not the hour nor the man for noisy cheers; the spirit
+of Washington presided there, as ever, where honorable and high-minded
+men were concerned.
+
+The journey southward was a triumphal march. Addresses, processions,
+delegations from religious and civil bodies, awaited him at every pause.
+When he reached Philadelphia he appeared before Congress to resign his
+commission, and no royal abdication was ever so rich in dignity. All the
+human life that the house would hold came together to hear him, and the
+words, few and simple, wise and kind, that fell from the lips of the
+revered chief, proved worthy to be engraved on every heart. In
+conclusion he said:--"Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire
+from the great theatre of action; and, bidding an affectionate farewell
+to this august body, under whose orders I have so long acted, I here
+offer my commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public
+life." He said afterwards to a friend:--"I feel now as I conceive a
+wearied traveller must do, who, after treading many a step with a heavy
+burden on his shoulders, is eased of the latter, having reached the
+haven to which all the former were directed, and from his house-top is
+looking back, and tracing with an eager eye the meanders by which he
+escaped the quicksands and mire which lay in his way, and into which
+none but the all-powerful Guide and Dispenser of human events could have
+prevented his falling." And to Lafayette, he says:--"I am not only
+retired from all public employments, but I am retiring within myself,
+and shall be able to view the solitary walk, and tread the paths of
+private life with a heartfelt satisfaction. Envious of none, I am
+determined to be pleased with all; and this, my dear friend, being the
+order of my march, I will move gently down the stream of life until I
+sleep with my fathers."
+
+That the public did not anticipate for him the repose and retirement he
+so much desired, we may gather from the instructions sent, at the time
+he resigned his commission, by the State of Pennsylvania, to her
+representatives in Congress, saying that "his illustrious actions and
+virtues render his character so splendid and venerable that it is highly
+probable the world may make his life in a considerable degree public;"
+and that "his very services to his country may therefore subject him to
+expenses, unless he permits her gratitude to interpose." "We are
+perfectly acquainted," says the paper, "with the disinterestedness and
+generosity of his soul. He thinks himself amply rewarded for all his
+labors and cares, by the love and prosperity of his fellow-citizens. It
+is true no rewards they can bestow can be equal to his merits, but they
+ought not to suffer those merits to be burdensome to him. * * * We are
+aware of the delicacy with which such a subject must be treated. But,
+relying in the good sense of Congress, we wish it may engage their early
+attention."
+
+The delegates, on receipt of these instructions, very wisely bethought
+themselves of submitting the matter to the person most concerned before
+they brought it before Congress, and he, as might have been expected,
+entirely declined the intended favor, and put an end to the project
+altogether. If he could have been induced to accept pecuniary
+compensation, there is no doubt a grateful nation would gladly have made
+it ample. But Washington, born to be an example in so many respects, had
+provided against all the dangers and temptations of money, by making
+himself independent as to his private fortune; having neglected no
+opportunity of enlarging it by honorable labor or judicious management,
+while he subjected the expenses of his family to the strictest scrutiny
+of economy.
+
+[Illustration: Mount Vernon (rear view).]
+
+His first care, on arriving at Mount Vernon, was to ascertain the
+condition of his private affairs; his next to make a tour of more than
+six hundred miles through the western country, with the double purpose
+of inspecting some lands of his, and of ascertaining the practicability
+of a communication between the head waters of the great rivers flowing
+east and west of the Alleghanies. He travelled entirely on horseback, in
+military style, and kept a minute journal of each day's observations,
+the result of which he communicated, on his return, in a letter to the
+Governor of Virginia, which Mr. Sparks declares to be "one of the
+ablest, most sagacious, and most important productions of his pen," and
+"the first suggestion of the great system of internal improvements which
+has since been pursued in the United States." On a previous tour,
+through the northern part of the State of New-York, he had observed the
+possibility of a water communication between the Hudson and the Great
+Lakes, and appreciated its advantages, thus foreshowing, at that early
+date, the existence of the Erie Canal. In 1784, Washington had a final
+visit from Lafayette, from whom he parted at Annapolis, with
+manifestations of a deeper tenderness than the weak can even know.
+Arrived at home, he sat down at once to say yet another word to the
+beloved: "In the moment of our separation, upon the road as I travelled,
+and every hour since," (mark the specification from this man of exact
+truth,) "I have felt all that love, respect and attachment for you, with
+which length of years, close connection, and your merits have inspired
+me. I often asked myself, as our carriages separated, whether that was
+the last sight I should ever have of you? And though I wished to say No!
+my fears answered Yes!" He was right; they never met again, but they
+loved each other always. Lafayette's letters to Washington are
+lover-like; they are alone sufficient to show how capable of the softest
+feeling was the great heart to which they were addressed.
+
+Space fails us for even the baldest enumeration of the instances of care
+for the public good with which the life of Washington abounded, when he
+fancied himself "in retirement," for we have unconsciously dwelt, with
+the reverence of affection, upon the picture of his character during the
+Revolution, and felt impelled to illustrate it, where we could, by
+quotations from his own weighty words; weighty, because, to him, words
+were things indeed, and we feel that he never used one thoughtlessly or
+untruly. Brevity must now be our chief aim, and we pass, at once, over
+all the labor and anxiety which attended the settlement of the
+Constitution, to mention the election of Washington to the Presidency of
+the States so newly united, by bonds which, however willingly assumed,
+were as yet but ill fitted to the wearers. The unaffected reluctance
+with which he accepted the trust appears in every word and action of the
+time; and it is evident that, as far as selfish feelings went, he was
+much more afraid of losing the honor he had gained than of acquiring
+new. The heart of the nation was with him, however, even more than he
+knew; and the "mind oppressed with more anxious and painful sensations"
+than he had words to express at the outset, was soon calmed, not only by
+the suggestions of duty, but by the marks of unbounded love and
+confidence lavished on him at every step of his way by a grateful
+people. The Inaugural Oath was taken, before an immense concourse of
+people, on the balcony of Federal Hall, New-York, April 30, 1789, and
+the President afterwards delivered his first Address, in the Senate
+Chamber of the same building, now no longer standing, but not very
+satisfactorily replaced by that magnificent Grecian temple wherein the
+United States Government collects the Customs of New-York. The house in
+which the first Presidential levee was held will always be a point of
+interest, and the consultations between Washington and the great
+officers of state about the simple ceremonial of these public
+receptions, are extremely curious, as showing the manners and ideas of
+the times, and the struggle between the old-country associations natural
+to gentlemen of that day, and the recognized necessity of accommodating
+even court regulations to the feelings of a people to whom the least
+shadow of aristocratic form was necessarily hateful. We must not condemn
+the popular scrupulousness of 1789 as puerile and foolish, until we too
+have perilled life and fortune in the cause of liberty and equality.
+
+[Illustration: House of the First Presidential Levee, Cherry street]
+
+A dangerous illness brought Washington near the grave, during his first
+Presidential summer, and he is said never to have regained his full
+strength. In August his mother died, venerable for years and wisdom, and
+always honored by her son in a spirit that would have satisfied a Roman
+matron. She maintained her simple habits to the last, and is said never
+to have exhibited surprise or elation, at her son's greatest glory, or
+the highest honors that could be paid him. Her remains rest under an
+unfinished monument, near Fredericksburgh, Virginia.
+
+Of the wife of the illustrious Chief, it is often said that little is
+known, and there is felt almost a spite against her memory because she
+destroyed before her death every letter of her husband to herself, save
+only one, written when he accepted the post of Commander-in-Chief. But,
+to our thinking, one single letter of hers, written to Mrs. Warren,
+after the President's return from a tour through the eastern States,
+tells the whole story of her character and tastes, a story by no means
+discreditable to the choice of the wisest of mankind. Mr. Sparks gives
+the letter entire, as we would gladly do if it were admissible. We must,
+however, content ourselves with a few short extracts:--
+
+"You know me well enough to believe that I am fond only of what comes
+from the heart. Under a conviction that the demonstrations of respect
+and affection to him originate in that source, I cannot deny that I have
+taken some interest and pleasure in them. The difficulties which
+presented themselves to view in his first entering upon the Presidency,
+seem thus to be in some measure surmounted. * * * I had little thought,
+when the war was finished, that any circumstances could possibly happen
+which would call the General into public life again. I had anticipated
+that from that moment we should be suffered to grow old together, in
+solitude and tranquillity. That was the first and dearest wish of my
+heart. I will not, however, contemplate with too much regret,
+disappointments that were inevitable, though his feelings and my own
+were in perfect unison with respect to our predilection for private
+life. Yet I cannot blame him for having acted according to his ideas of
+duty, in obeying the voice of his country. The consciousness of having
+attempted to do all the good in his power, and the pleasure of finding
+his fellow-citizens so well satisfied with the disinterestedness of his
+conduct, will doubtless be some compensation for the great sacrifice I
+know he has made. * * * With respect to myself, I sometimes think the
+arrangement is not quite as it ought to have been, that I, who had much
+rather be at home, should occupy a place with which a great many younger
+and gayer women would be extremely pleased. * * * I am still determined
+to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have
+learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery
+depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances. We carry the
+seeds of the one or the other about with us, in our minds, wherever we
+go." The whole letter bespeaks the good, kind, dutiful and devoted wife,
+the loving mother,--for she represents her grandchildren as her chief
+joy,--and the sensible, domestic woman. What more can any man ask in the
+partner of his bosom? She was the best wife possible for Washington, and
+he thought her such, and loved her entirely and always. The picture by
+Stuart shows her, even in the decline of life, to have been of a
+delicate and sprightly beauty.
+
+Another eight years of public duty and public life--two presidential
+terms--were bravely borne by the pair always longing for Mount Vernon.
+The reluctance of Washington to the second term of office was even
+stronger than that which he had expressed to the first, but he was
+overborne by stress of voices. "The confidence of the whole Union,"
+writes Jefferson, "is centred in you. * * * There is sometimes an
+eminence of character on which society have such peculiar claims, as to
+control the predilection of the individual for a particular walk of
+happiness, and restrain him to that alone arising from the present and
+future benedictions of mankind. This seems to be your condition, and the
+law imposed on you by Providence in forming your character, and
+fashioning the events on which it was to operate." And Hamilton says--"I
+trust, and I pray God, that you will determine to make a further
+sacrifice of your tranquillity and happiness to the public good." And
+such were, throughout, the sentiments of the first men of the country,
+without distinction of politics. Thus urged, he yielded once more, even
+after he had prepared a farewell address to the people on his
+contemplated resignation.
+
+It was during this second term that Fox spoke of Washington before
+Parliament, concluding thus:--"It must indeed create astonishment, that,
+placed in circumstances so critical, and filling for a series of years a
+station so conspicuous, his character should never once have been called
+in question. * * * For him it has been reserved to run the race of glory
+without experiencing the smallest interruption to the brilliancy of his
+career." And Mr. Erskine, writing to Washington himself, says:--"I have
+taken the liberty to introduce your august and immortal name in a short
+sentence which will be found in the book I send you.[1] I have a large
+acquaintance among the most valuable and exalted classes of men; but you
+are the only human being for whom I ever felt an awful reverence. I
+sincerely pray God to grant a long and serene evening to a life so
+gloriously devoted to the universal happiness of the world."
+
+The evening was indeed serene, but it was not destined to be long. Two
+years were spent in domestic and social duty and pleasure, the old
+Virginia hospitality being carried to an enormous extent at Mount
+Vernon, over which General and Mrs. Washington presided, with all that
+good sense, dignity, and _bonhommie_ united, which seems now to have
+characterized their home life. Mrs. Washington, content with the
+greatness described by the wise king, looked well to her maidens, and so
+managed the affairs of a large establishment that "the heart of her
+husband could safely trust in her, so that he had _no need of spoil_."
+Who knows how much the good management of his household affairs had to
+do with Washington's superiority to the temptations of gain? The ladies
+should see to it that they so regulate their habits of expense that
+their husbands have "no need of spoil." The extravagant tastes of Mrs.
+Arnold, amiable woman though she was, are known to have heightened her
+husband's rapacity, and thus added to the incentives which resulted in
+treason and just ruin. Mrs. Washington, when she was in the highest
+position in the nation, wore gowns spun under her own roof, and always
+took care, in her conversation with the ladies about her, to exalt
+domestic employments, and represent them as belonging to the duty of
+woman in any station. She was supposed to have written a patriotic
+paper, published in 1780, called "The Sentiments of American Women," but
+the authorship has not been ascertained. The energy and consistency of
+her patriotic feeling was, however, perfectly well understood, and she
+is said to have borne her part in the conversation of the distinguished
+company at Mount Vernon, with invariable dignity and sweetness. The
+General had returned with unction to his rural and agricultural
+pursuits, keeping up his life-long habit of rising before the sun, and
+after breakfast making the tour of the plantation on horseback. These
+employments were somewhat interrupted by the speck of war which troubled
+our horizon in 1798, on which occasion all eyes were turned to him, and
+his friends and the President called upon him once more to give his
+services to the country. His reply was consistent with the tenor of his
+life, "In case of actual invasion by a formidable force, I certainly
+should not intrench myself under the cover of age and retirement, if my
+services should be required by my country in repelling it." Without
+waiting for his reply, the Senate had appointed him to the post of
+Commander-in-Chief, and the Secretary at War was despatched immediately
+to Mount Vernon with the commission, which was at once accepted. This
+involved Washington once more in a press of correspondence and many
+anxious duties; and his letters during this time show that his mind had
+lost none of its fertility or his judgment of its soundness. He
+predicted at once that France would not invade the United States, and
+the event justified his foresight. But another Enemy lay in wait for
+him, and to this one the hero succumbed, in the same manly spirit in
+which he had battled with an earthly foe. Great suffering was crowded
+into the twenty-four hours' illness which served to prostrate that
+vigorous form, and to still that active brain; but he could look up, at
+the last, and say--"I am not afraid to die."
+
+December 14, 1799, was the day of his death, and the 18th of the same
+month saw him laid, by a weeping multitude, in the family vault at Mount
+Vernon; not the tomb in which his ashes now repose, but the old one,
+which he had been planning to rebuild, saying "Let that be done first,
+for perhaps I shall want it first."
+
+We have thus traced the Father of our Country through all his earthly
+Homes, to that quiet one by the side of the Potomac, the object of
+devout pilgrimage to millions yet unborn. One more Home there is for
+him, even in this changing world--that which he possesses in the hearts
+of his countrymen, one which we cannot picture or describe, but from
+which he can never be displaced by the superior merit of mortal man.
+Other heroes may arise, will arise, as the world shall need them,
+exponents of their times and incarnations of the highest spirit of the
+race from which they spring; but America can have but one
+Washington--one man in whom the peculiar virtues of the _American_
+character found their embodiment and their triumph. In saying this we
+may well be proud but not vainglorious. If the great truth it implies be
+not yet known and read of all men, we should be humbled by the thought
+that we are so slow to follow our immortal leader. Washington's
+indomitable spirit of freedom, as evident when at nineteen he withstood
+the English governor, as when in 1774 he "went to church and fasted all
+day," in sympathy with the people of Boston, in their resolution against
+the Port Bill; his self-control, the perfection of which made his fierce
+passions the sworn servants of virtue; his humanity, which no personal
+suffering or fatigue could blunt, and no provocation extinguish; his
+manly temper, never daunted by insolence or turned into arrogance by
+triumph; the respect for the civil virtues which he carried with him
+through all the temptations and trials of war; the faith in God and man
+which sustained him, and was indeed the secret of his power and his
+success,--what a legacy are these! All that he accomplished is less to
+us than what he was. To have left an example that will never need
+defence or substitution to the end of time; an ideal that will warm the
+heart and point the aspiration of every true American, when hundreds of
+millions shall be proud of the name; to stand forth, for ever, as what
+we, happy citizens of the country in which that great soul was cradled,
+and to which his heart and life were devoted, think a MAN ought to
+be--what a destiny for him! It is his reward. God has granted his
+prayers. Nothing earthly would have satisfied him, as we know by what he
+rejected. He has received that for which he labored. Who dare imagine
+the complacency--only less than divine, with which the retrospect of
+such a life may be fraught! Let us indulge the thought that when in the
+heat of party, the lust of power, or the still deadlier hunger for
+wealth, we depart from his spirit, he is permitted to see that the
+dereliction is but temporary and limited; that his country is true to
+him if his countrymen sometimes err; that there is for ever imprinted,
+on the heart and life of the nation, the conviction that in adherence to
+his precepts and imitation of his character there is safety, happiness,
+glory; in departure from that standard, deterioration and decay. It must
+be so, for can we conceive him blest without this?
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Tomb.]
+
+As if to stamp the American ideal with all perfection, it is remarkable
+that Washington stood pre-eminent in manly strength and beauty, and that
+a taste for athletic exercises kept him, in spite of illnesses brought
+on by toil, anxiety, and exposure, in firm health during most of his
+life. His picture at sixty-two, that which he himself thought the best
+likeness that had been taken of him, exhibits one of the loveliest
+faces that an old man ever wore. And it is marvellous how any one that
+ever looked into the clear blue depths of the eye in Stuart's unfinished
+picture, could be persuaded to believe Washington stern, cold, and
+unfeeling. Some have even thought it added to his dignity to represent
+him thus. All the historians in the world could not prove such a
+contradiction to the stamp of nature. But the picture by Pine--the old
+man, faded somewhat, and a little fallen in outline, wears the face of
+an angel; mild, firm, modest, sensitive, aspiring, glorious! It meets
+your gaze with a tenderness that dims our eye and seems almost to dim
+its own. Of all the portraits of Washington, this and the half-imaginary
+one made by Mr. Leutze from a miniature taken when Washington was
+seventeen, are the most touchingly beautiful, and, as we verily believe,
+most characteristic of the man.
+
+It is proper, though scarcely necessary, to say that this sketch of
+Washington's life is drawn from Mr. Sparks' history, since no research
+can discover a single fact overlooked by that faithful and just
+chronicler.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] On the causes and consequences of the war with France.
+
+
+
+
+=Franklin.=
+
+[Illustration: Franklin fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+FRANKLIN.
+
+
+An English traveller in the United States once expressed his
+astonishment at nowhere finding a monument of Franklin. He regarded it
+as a new proof of the ingratitude of republics. But if we have erected
+no columns, nor statues, to the memory of our first great man, we have
+manifested our gratitude for the services he rendered us, and the hearty
+appreciation of his character, which is universal among us, in a better,
+more affectionate and enduring manner. We name our towns, counties,
+ships, children, and institutions after him. His name is constantly in
+our mouth, and his benevolent countenance and lofty brow are as familiar
+to us as the features of Washington. We have Franklin banks, Franklin
+insurance companies, Franklin societies, Franklin hotels, Franklin
+markets, and even Franklin theatres. One of our line of battle ships is
+called the Franklin, and there will be found a Ben Franklin, the name
+affectionately abbreviated, on all our western lakes and rivers. The
+popular heart cherishes his memory more tenderly than that of any of our
+great men. Washington's heroism and lofty virtues set him above us, so
+that while we look up to him with veneration and awe, we hardly feel
+that he was one of us. His impossible grandeur forbids the familiar
+sympathy which we feel for our own kind. But Franklin's greatness is of
+that kind which makes the whole world kin. In him we recognize the
+apotheosis of usefulness. He was our Good Genius, who took us by the
+hand in our national infancy, and taught us the great art of making the
+most of the world. He warmed our houses by the stove which still bears
+his name, and protected us from the terrifying thunderbolt by his simple
+rod. He showered upon us lessons of wisdom, all calculated to increase
+our happiness, and his wise and pithy apothegms have become an important
+part of our language. Never before was a young nation blessed with so
+beneficent and generous a counsellor and guide. The influence of
+Franklin upon the national character is beyond estimate. He taught us
+alike by precept and example; and, in his autobiography, he laid the
+corner stone of our literature, bequeathing us a book which will always
+be fresh, instructive, and charming, while our language endures, or we
+look to literature for instruction and entertainment.
+
+Franklin was a pure, unadulterated Englishman; he came of that great
+stock whose mission it is to improve the world. Though we claim him, and
+justly, as an American, he was born, and lived the better part of his
+life, a subject of the English crown. There was never a more thorough
+Englishman, nor one whose whole consistent life more happily illustrated
+the Anglo-Saxon character, nor one who was better entitled to be called
+an American, or who showed a more lively and enduring love for his
+native soil.
+
+Every schoolboy is familiar with the history of Franklin; his
+autobiography is our national epic; it is more read than Robinson
+Crusoe; and our great national museum, the Patent Office, has been
+filled with the results of ambitious attempts to follow in the path of
+the inventor of the lightning-rod. One boy reads Robinson Crusoe and
+runs off to sea, while another reads Franklin's Life and tries for a
+patent, or begins to save a penny a day, that he may have three hundred
+pennies at the end of the year. There are writers who have accused
+Franklin of giving a sordid bias to our national character. But nothing
+could be more unjust. There is nothing sordid in the teachings of our
+great philosopher; while the example of his purely beneficent life has,
+doubtless, been the cause of many of the magnificent acts of private
+benevolence which have distinguished our countrymen.
+
+Franklin says in his autobiography, in reference to his stove, which has
+warmed so many generations of his countrymen, and rendered comfortable
+so many American homes: "Governor Thomas was so pleased with the
+construction of this stove that he offered to give me a sole patent for
+the vending of them for a term of years; but I declined it from a
+principle which has ever weighed with me on such occasions, viz., that
+as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be
+glad of an opportunity to serve others by an invention of ours: and this
+we should do freely and cordially." No, there was no sordidness in the
+teachings of Franklin.
+
+His immortal biography was commenced at the ripe age of sixty-six, while
+he was in England, a time of life when most men have lost the power to
+instruct or amuse with the pen; but it has the ease, the freshness, and
+the vigor of youth. It was continued at Passy, in France, and concluded
+in Philadelphia. He was one of the few instances of a precocious genius
+maintaining his powers to an advanced period of life. There were no
+signs of childishness in his almost infantile compositions, or of
+senility in his latest productions.
+
+Every body knows that the grandfather of Doctor Franklin was the sturdy
+old puritan, Peter Folger, who wrote the homely verses which Mr. Sparks
+doubts the propriety of calling poetry, and who dwelt in "Sherborn
+Town." The house in which he lived, and where the mother of Franklin was
+born, was still in existence but a few years since, though in a very
+dilapidated condition. We remember making a pilgrimage to it in our
+boyish days, after reading the Life of Franklin, and wondering in which
+of its little rooms the grandfather of the philosopher sat, when he
+penned the lines which the grandson thought were "written with manly
+freedom and a pleasing simplicity." The house stood near the water, at
+the head of a little cove, or creek, and near it was a bubbling spring,
+from which the mother of the philosopher must have often drank. At that
+time there were no evidences of the surrounding grounds having been
+cultivated, and a wretched family inhabited the ruin. There are many
+descendants of Peter Folger still living, some of whom have been eminent
+for their learning and talents; but, it is a remarkable circumstance,
+that, though Franklin's father and grandfather each had five sons, who
+grew up to man's estate, there is not one male descendant living of that
+name.
+
+[Illustration: Old South Church, Boston.]
+
+Franklin was born on the 6th of January, old style, 1706, in a house
+that stood on the corner of Milk-street, opposite the old South Church,
+Boston, in which he was christened. The church is still standing, but
+the house has been demolished, and, in its place, there is a large and
+handsome granite warehouse, which is made to serve the double purpose of
+a store and a monument. On the frieze of the cornice is the inscription
+in bold granitic letters, THE BIRTH-PLACE OF FRANKLIN. We cannot help
+thinking that it is just such a monument as he would have recommended,
+if his wishes had been consulted. But the house in which our great
+philosopher spent his earlier years, and to which his father removed
+soon after the birth of his youngest son, is still standing, very nearly
+in the same condition in which it was during his youth. It is on the
+corner of Hanover and Union streets, and the wooden gilt ball of the old
+soap-boiler is still suspended from an iron crane, with the inscription
+JOSIAS FRANKLIN, 1698. The ball is the original one, but it must have
+been many times regilt and relettered. The building is occupied by a
+shoe dealer in the lower part, but the upper rooms are in the occupancy
+of an industrial whose art had no existence until near a century after
+the death of Franklin's father. A daguerrean artist now takes likenesses
+in the rooms where the boy-philosopher slept, and sat up late at night
+to read Defoe's Essay on Projects, and Plutarch's Lives, by the
+glimmering light of one of his father's own dips. It was here too that
+he read the Light House Tragedy, after having cut wicks all day; and it
+was in the cellar of this house, too, that he made that characteristic
+suggestion to his father, of saying grace over the barrel of beef, which
+he saw him packing away for the winter's use, to save the trouble of a
+separate grace over each piece that should be served up for dinner. This
+anecdote may not be strictly true, but it is perfectly characteristic,
+and very much like one he tells of himself, when he was the
+Commander-in-Chief of the military forces of Pennsylvania. The chaplain
+of his regiment complained to him that the men would not attend prayers,
+whereupon, says Franklin, "I said to him, 'it is perhaps below the
+dignity of your profession to act as steward of the rum; but if you were
+only to distribute it out after prayers you would have them all about
+you.' He liked the thought, undertook the task, and, with the help of a
+few hands to measure out the liquor, executed it to satisfaction, and
+never were prayers more generally and more punctually attended."
+
+This kind of humorous good sense, was one of the marked peculiarities of
+his character; there was lurking wit and humor in all his acts, and in
+his gravest essays, of which his epigrammatic letter to his old friend
+Strahan, the king's printer, is a notable example.
+
+The old house in which Franklin spent his boyhood is now a long distance
+from the water, and in the midst of a wilderness of brick and granite
+buildings, but he speaks of it as near the shore, and it was close by
+that he built the little wharf of stolen stones, which induced his
+father to impress upon him the great truth that "that which was not
+honest could not be truly useful."
+
+Where the young apprentice lived when he was boarded out by his brother,
+and first "went in" to vegetarianism, we have not been able to
+ascertain; and, on his flight from Boston, in his seventeenth year, he
+does not appear to have remained long enough in New-York to have had a
+home. The first place he slept in, in Philadelphia, was a quaker
+meeting-house; but his first home in the city which he afterwards
+rendered famous, from having resided in it, was at a public house in
+Water-street, known as the Crooked Billet; not a very significant sign
+to us of the present generation. Wherever Franklin went, or in whatever
+new sphere he applied himself to business, he immediately inspired
+confidence in his ability, and gained friends, as all able men do. The
+runaway boy of seventeen had hardly begun to put Bradford's printing
+office in order when he was called upon by Colonel French, and Sir
+William Keith, governor of the province, who invited him to a tavern,
+offered him a bottle of Madeira, and proposed to set him up in business;
+yet he was not of a glib tongue and a prepossessing appearance.
+
+At the age of eighteen he made his first voyage to London, and lived in
+Little Britain with his friend Ralph at a cost of three shillings and
+sixpence a week. Franklin worked in Palmer's famous printing house in
+Bartholomew Close, near a year, and for the first and only time of his
+life was improvident and extravagant, spending his earnings at plays and
+public amusements, and neglecting to write to Miss Read in Philadelphia,
+with whom he had "exchanged promises." He worked diligently, though, and
+during that time wrote and published "A Dissertation on Liberty and
+Necessity, Pleasure and Pain," This essay gained him the friendship of
+an author who took him to the Horns, a pale ale-house, introduced him to
+Dr. Mandeville and promised him a sight of Newton. He afterwards removed
+to lodgings in Duke-street, and occupied a room up three pairs of
+stairs, which he rented of a widow, who had an only daughter, with whom
+he used to sup on half an anchovy, a very small slice of bread and
+butter, and half a pint of ale between them. He remained eighteen months
+in England, and returned to Philadelphia with the expectation of
+entering into mercantile business with his friend Denman.
+
+It was during his voyage from London to Philadelphia that he wrote out
+the plan for regulating his future conduct, which, he says, he had
+adhered to through life. The plan has not been preserved, but we have
+the life which was conformed to it, and can easily conceive what it was.
+
+Fortunately for mankind his friend Denman died soon after the return of
+Franklin to Philadelphia, whereby his mercantile projects were
+frustrated, and he was compelled to return to his trade of printing; he
+was just turned of twenty-one, and not finding employment as a
+merchant's clerk, he undertook the charge of his former employer's
+printing office. Here his inventive genius was taxed, for he had to make
+both types and ink, as they could not be procured short of London. He
+also engraved the copper plates, from his own designs, for the paper
+money of New Jersey, and constructed the first copper plate press that
+had been seen in the country. He could not long remain in the employment
+of another, and, before the end of the year, had established himself in
+business as a printer, in partnership with his friend Meredith. His life
+now commenced in earnest, he was his own master, and held his fortune in
+his own hands; he had already discerned "that truth, sincerity, and
+integrity, were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life;" and
+day by day his genius ripened and his noble character was developed. In
+the year 1730, he was married to Miss Read, and laid the foundation of
+the Pennsylvania Library; the first public library that had been
+commenced in the country. The two succeeding years of his life were not
+marked by any striking event, but they were, perhaps, the two most
+important in his history, as during that time he schooled himself to
+virtue by a systematic course of conduct, the particulars of which he
+has given in his biography. At the end of this period he commenced his
+"Poor Richard's Almanac," the publication of which was continued by him
+twenty-five years. It was the first successful attempt in authorship on
+this side of the Atlantic. His first "promotion," as he calls it,
+meaning his first public employment, was on being chosen Clerk of the
+General Assembly; and the next year he was appointed Postmaster at
+Philadelphia. His private business all the time increased; he founded
+societies for philosophical purposes; continued to publish his paper;
+wrote innumerable pamphlets; was elected colonel of a regiment; invented
+his stove, and engaged in all manner of beneficial projects; he
+established hospitals and academies, made treaties with the Indians,
+became Postmaster General, and after devising means for cleaning the
+streets of Philadelphia, turned his attention to those of London and
+Westminster.
+
+[Illustration Grave of Franklin, Philadelphia]
+
+But, it is with the "Homes" of Franklin that our limited space must be
+occupied, and not with his life and actions. Although he occupied, at
+various times, almost as many different houses as there are headquarters
+of Washington, yet there are few of them now left; living always in
+cities, the houses he inhabited have been destroyed by the irresistible
+march of improvement. In his fifty-first year, he was sent to London by
+the General Assembly to present a petition to the king, and to act as
+the agent of Pennsylvania in England. He sailed from New-York and
+arrived in London in July, 1757, and at this point of his life his
+autobiography ends. From an original letter of his in our possession,
+written on the eve of his departure from Philadelphia, he directs that
+letters must be sent to him in London at the Pennsylvania Coffee House,
+in Birchin Lane, where he doubtless lived on his first arrival, but his
+permanent home in London, during fifteen years, was at Mrs. Stevenson's
+in Craven-street. He travelled much in Great Britain and on the
+continent, was present at the coronation of George III., and returned to
+America in 1762, having stopped awhile at Madeira on the voyage. He went
+to England again in 1764, and after a brilliant and most serviceable
+career abroad, returned to his native home in season to sign his name to
+the Declaration of Independence, giving a greater weight of personal
+character, and a more potent popular influence to the cause than any
+other of the immortal participators in that glorious act. He died in the
+year 1790, on the 17th of April, at 11 o'clock at night, in his 85th
+year, in his house in Market-street, Philadelphia, which he had built
+for his own residence. His remains lie by the side of his wife's, in the
+burying ground of Christ Church, covered by a simple marble slab, in
+conformity with his directions. There is a small granite pyramid in the
+Granary burying ground in Boston, which the economical citizens make do
+double duty, as a memorial of the greatest name of which their city can
+boast, and a monument to his parents.
+
+[Illustration: Franklin's Monument, Boston]
+
+
+
+
+=Jefferson.=
+
+[Illustration: Jefferson fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Monticello, Jefferson's Residence]
+
+JEFFERSON.
+
+
+Jefferson would have been a notable man in any country and any age,
+because he possessed both genius and character. Without the former he
+could never have succeeded, as he did, in moulding the opinions of his
+contemporaries and successors, and without the latter, he would not have
+been, as he was, bitterly hated by his enemies and cordially loved by
+his friends. His genius, however, was not of that kind which in the
+ardor of its inspiration intoxicates the judgment; nor was his
+character, on the other hand, of the sort which moves an admiration so
+profound, unquestioning and universal, as to disarm the antagonism its
+very excellence provokes. There was enough error and frailty, therefore,
+mingled with his eminent qualities both of mind and heart, to involve
+him in seeming contradictions, and to expose his life to double
+construction and controversy. At the same time, it has happened to him
+as it has often happened in human history, that the hostility awakened
+by his acts during his life, has dwindled with the lapse of time, while
+his fame has grown brighter and broader with every renewal of the
+decisions of posterity. No man, we may now safely say, who has figured
+on the theatre of events in this country, with the single exception of
+Washington, occupies a larger share of the veneration of Americans.
+
+He was born at Shadwell, in Albemarle county, Virginia, in 1743. His
+father, dying when he was twelve years of age, left him a large
+inheritance. He was educated at the College of William and Mary, studied
+law under the celebrated George Wythe, began the practice of it in 1767,
+and in 1769 was chosen a member of the provincial legislature, where his
+first movement--an unsuccessful one--was for the emancipation of the
+slaves. But a greater question soon engrossed his mind. Already a spirit
+of opposition had been excited in the colonies to the arbitrary measures
+of the parliament of Great Britain,--that very legislature was dissolved
+by the Governor, in consequence of the sympathy displayed by its leading
+members with the patriotic proceedings of Massachusetts,--it appealed to
+the constituency, and was triumphantly returned,--and then in 1773, its
+more active spirits organized, in a room of a tavern at Raleigh, a
+system of correspondence, designed to inflame the zeal and unite the
+efforts of the colonists against the encroachments of power. As a result
+of this activity, a convention was called in Virginia for the purpose of
+choosing delegates to a more general Congress. Jefferson was a member of
+it, but not being able, on account of ill-health, to attend, drew up a
+paper on the Rights of British America, which the convention did not
+adopt, but which it published; "the leap he proposed," as he says,
+"being too long for the mass of the citizens,"--and which Edmund Burke
+in England caused to run through several editions. The pamphlet procured
+him reputation, and the more honorable distinction of having his name
+placed in a bill of attainder, moved in one of the houses of Parliament.
+Thus early was he identified with the champions of liberty in the new
+world.
+
+In 1775, Jefferson took his seat for the first time in the Continental
+Congress, whither he carried the same decided and liberal tone which had
+marked his legislative efforts. He was soon appointed on the most
+important committees, and especially on that, which, on the motion of
+the delegates of Virginia, was raised to prepare a Declaration of
+Independence for the colonies. It was a measure carried only after a
+strenuous and hot debate, but it was finally carried by a large
+majority; and to Jefferson was assigned the task, by his associates, of
+preparing the document destined to inaugurate a new era in the history
+of mankind. How he executed the duty the world knows; for this paper
+became the charter of freedom to a whole continent; and annually to this
+day, millions of people read it with gratitude, reverence, joy, and
+praise to God. For a second time, then, we behold our Jefferson, a
+chosen champion of liberty, linking his name, not with a bill of
+attainder this time; but with the most signal event in the destiny of
+his country,--and one, second to none in the political fortunes of
+humanity.
+
+The Declaration proclaimed, Mr. Jefferson retired from his place in the
+Congress to resume his seat in the legislature of his native State;
+where, an imperfect Constitution having been adopted, during his
+absence, he was immediately involved in the most indefatigable labors
+for its reform. In connection with Wythe, Mason, Pendleton, and Lee, he
+prepared no less than 136 different acts, from which were derived all
+the most liberal features of the existing laws of the Commonwealth. They
+laid the foundation, in fact, of the code of Virginia,--as a mere
+monument of industry, they were a most extraordinary work, but when we
+consider the importance of some of the principles of legislation which
+they introduced, sufficient in themselves to have immortalized the name
+of any man. Among these principles, were provisions for the abrogation
+of the laws of entail and primogeniture, for the establishment of
+religious freedom, for a complete amelioration of the criminal code,
+including the abolition of capital punishments in all cases, except of
+treason and murder, for the emancipation, at a certain age, of all
+slaves born after the passage of the act, for the division of the
+counties into wards and towns, and the establishment thereby of free
+municipal institutions, and for the introduction of a system of popular
+education, providing for schools in each town, academies in each county,
+and a University for the State. The three first were carried into
+effect; but the others, in consequence of his personal absence on other
+duties, failed. But what a different destiny would have been that of
+Virginia if they had not failed! How intrepid, too, the mind which could
+conceive and urge such measures at that time! Society in Virginia was
+then divided into three classes, the land and slave-owners, the
+yeomanry, and the laboring people. Jefferson was by birth and position
+of the first class, but his chief associations had been among the second
+class, while his sympathies were with the third class, or rather with
+all classes. Had his suggestions been adopted, these distinctions would
+have been destroyed, and Virginia raised to the first place among the
+free nations of the earth. Thus, for a third time, we find Jefferson
+among the foremost advocates of the liberty and advancement of the
+people.
+
+In 1779 he was chosen the successor of Patrick Henry, as the Governor of
+the State; but war having been declared, and a military invasion being
+at hand, he resigned the position on account of his want of military
+talents, in favor of General Nelson. He had barely time to escape with
+his family before the enemy entered his house. Congress twice solicited
+him to go abroad, first to negotiate a peace, and then a treaty of
+alliance and commerce with France, but as "the laboring oar," in his own
+language, "was at home," it was not until the year 1782, when the
+assurance that a general peace would be concluded, became stronger, that
+he consented to quit his country. The preliminary articles of a peace,
+however, were received before the time of his departure, and the objects
+of his mission being thus accomplished, he was again chosen to Congress
+in 1783.
+
+The great question then, was the formation of a better government for
+the colonies, than the weak and ill-jointed confederation of the time
+had afforded. Jefferson was prepared to enter into its discussion with
+ardor, bringing to the task that keen sagacity and that stern republican
+spirit, which were among his chief characteristics, when he was joined
+to Adams and Franklin in a commission for negotiating treaties of
+commerce with foreign nations. He arrived in Paris in June of 1785. His
+practical insight into affairs, his vast information, and his determined
+will, made him a valuable acquisition even to the distinguished
+abilities of his colleagues. His labors were incessant, and yet he found
+time to participate, as far as his diplomatic functions allowed, in the
+stirring and brilliant scenes then going forward on the theatre of
+Europe. The part that he had performed in the great battles for liberty
+in America, attracted towards him the regards and the confidence of all
+the prominent actors of the revolutionary drama of France. It was at his
+house that the patriots most frequently met; it was in his house that
+the Declaration of Rights which preceded the first French Constitution
+was drafted; it was at his house that the First Constitution was
+proposed; it was from him that Lafayette received many of his best and
+noblest impulses, and to him that the earlier leaders of the struggle
+looked for sympathy, concurrence, and direction. In after years, in the
+bitter political contests of the day, it was a topic of reproach that he
+was under French influence, but the truth was, as some one has
+sagaciously remarked, that the French had been brought under an American
+influence. He simply continued to be abroad what he had always been at
+home, the pioneer and consistent friend of popular rights,--the
+unflinching supporter of popular liberty.
+
+It was during this interval of absence in Europe, that the controversy
+in respect to a better constitution of government for the colonies, to
+which we have just alluded, was brought to a head. There had always been
+a substantial union between them, founded upon contiguous geographical
+position and their common interests, as well as their community of
+origin, languages, laws and religion, which the common danger of the
+Revolution had served to strengthen and cement. But as yet their
+political union was inchoate and fragile. It was a simple improvement
+upon the classical confederacies of history, such as had prevailed in
+ancient Greece, on the plains of Etrusca, before Rome was, among the
+dikes of Holland, or along the declivities of the Swiss Alps,--and such
+as Montesquieu and the accepted writers praised as the perfection of
+political arrangement, clear of all defects, and secure from foreign
+violence and domestic weakness. Yet, in the practice of the New World,
+it had not justified the praises of the theorists, for a fatal vice, an
+alarming and radical weakness had been developed in its want of due
+centripetal force. In other words, it was rather a conglomerate than a
+united whole, and the difficulty of the new problem which it raised
+consisted in the proper adjustment of the federal and central with the
+State and local authority. Parties were, of course, immediately formed
+on the question of the true solution of it, the one favoring a strong
+central power, taking the name of Federalist; and the other, disposed to
+adhere to the separate sovereignty and independence of the States,
+taking the name of Anti-Federalist. In the end, the Constitution
+actually adopted, a work only second in importance to the Revolution
+itself, or more properly the constructive completion of it, was a
+compromise between the two, although the original parties still
+maintained their relative positions, as the friends and foes of a
+preponderating general government.
+
+Jefferson inclined to the anti-federalists, but not being in the midst
+of the debate, was scarcely mingled with its more exciting quarrels. It
+is hard to say, what shape, or whether a different shape at all, would
+have been given to the instrument of union, had he been at home to take
+part in its formation. We think it probable, however, that his immense
+personal influence, combined with his sharp forecast and decentralizing
+tendency, would have succeeded in modifying its more aristocratic and
+conservative features, especially in regard to the absorbing power of
+the Executive and the irresponsible tenure of the Judiciary. Be that as
+it may, the choice of him by Washington, in 1789, for the post of the
+first Secretary of State, gave him an opportunity of exercising his
+talents and manifesting his disposition, in the organization of the new
+experiment.
+
+There were two antagonisms which he found it necessary at the outset to
+meet; first, the tendency to federal absorption, and second, the
+reliance upon law rather than liberty, both embodied in the person of
+Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, a man of genius, of
+energy, of sincere convictions, and the confidant of Washington. The two
+men were, therefore, speedily self-placed in strong opposition. Hamilton
+had been educated in a military school, he admired the British
+Constitution, and, though he was an earnest patriot, as his efficient
+services in the war, and his masterly vindications of the Constitution
+had proved, he cherished a secret distrust of the people. Jefferson, on
+the other hand, had sympathized all his life with the multitude,
+approved, or rather had anticipated, the French philosophy, which was
+then in vogue, disliked the English models of government, and was
+sanguine of the future. It was inevitable, consequently, that the
+opposition of such men, both able, both decided, both earnest in their
+plans, should widen into an almost irreconcilable hostility. In 1793,
+Jefferson resigned, but not until, by his reports to Congress on the
+currency, the fisheries, weights and measures, and by his correspondence
+with foreign ministers, he had placed his department on a level with the
+Foreign Offices of the older nations. It is to him that we are indebted
+for our decimal coinage, and through him, as Mr. Webster, a competent
+and not too friendly judge, has confessed, our diplomatic intercourse
+was raised to a dignity and strength which will bear comparison with any
+that other governments can produce.
+
+In 1797 Jefferson was called from his retirement to act as
+Vice-President of the United States,--a place of not much practical
+efficiency, but which he illustrated by compiling a manual of
+Parliamentary Practice, which has ever since been the standard by which
+the proceedings of legislative bodies in this country are regulated.
+There was no position, indeed, which he does not appear to have been
+able to turn to some advantage to his country and his fellow-men.
+
+At the close of his term as Vice-President, he was chosen President,--a
+choice in which a final blow was given to the doctrines of Federalism,
+and the democratic republic finally inaugurated. We shall not, however,
+enter into the contests of that period, nor attempt to detail the
+measures of his administration. They are subjects for history, not for
+an outline like this we sketch. Suffice it to say, that the aspirations
+of the people were not disappointed by the results of his action. He
+rescued the functions of government from the improper direction which
+had been given to them, he organized strength through simplicity, he
+almost doubled the territory of the Union, he caused the vast regions of
+the west, now the seat of populous empire, to be explored, he gave us
+character abroad, and maintained tranquillity at home,--and, last of
+all, against the solicitation of his friends, with a popular prestige
+that would have carried him in triumph through a third or fourth term of
+office, even to the close of his days, he consecrated for ever the
+example of Washington, by resigning, as that great man had done, at the
+end of eight years.
+
+These are the simple facts of Jefferson's active career, and they need
+no comment. They present a character obviously too transparent to allow
+of much mistake. All his life points to a few simple but great objects.
+By his sanguine temperament, his keen insight, his quick and cherishing
+sympathies, his strong love of justice, his kindly visions of the
+future, he was made a democrat; and, under no circumstances could he
+have been any thing else. He hated tyranny, he loved truth, and he was
+not afraid of man; how then could he avoid becoming what he was, the
+apostle of freedom, author of the Statutes of Virginia and the
+Declaration of Independence, founder of the republican party, a name of
+power to future generations which have scarcely yet come up to the
+greatness and breadth of his enlightened opinions? Errors of conduct he
+may have committed, for who is perfect? impracticable views he may have
+enunciated, for who is all-wise? but the glory of his achievements is an
+imperishable remembrance of his countrymen, illustrating their history
+to all nations and to all times. "A superior and commanding intellect,"
+it has been eloquently said, "is not a temporary flame burning brightly
+for a while, and then giving place to returning darkness. It is rather a
+spark of fervent heat, as well as radiant light, with power to enkindle
+the common mass of human mind; so that when it glimmers in its own
+decay, and finally goes out in death, no night follows, but it leaves
+the world all light, all on fire, from the potent contact of its own
+spirit."
+
+The retirement of Mr. Jefferson at Monticello was passed in the
+cultivation of his estate, in the pursuit of letters, in cheerful
+intercourse with friends, in the duties of a liberal hospitality, and in
+advancing his favorite project of a University of Virginia. His notes on
+Virginia, and his contributions to scientific periodicals, together with
+his extensive correspondence, had brought him to the acquaintance of the
+most distinguished scientific men of the world, and his eminent
+political services had made him known to statesmen. His house was,
+therefore, always thronged with visitors, who, attracted by his fame,
+were charmed by his conversation, astonished by his learning, and warmed
+into love by the unaffected kindliness of his deportment. A beautiful
+retirement, full of grandeur, of simplicity, of dignity and repose! A
+patriarch of the nation which he had helped to found, and which he lived
+to see in a condition of unparalleled advancement,--illustrious in two
+hemispheres,--his name connected with events that introduced a new era
+in the history of his race,--surrounded by the grateful admiration of
+growing millions of people; his old age was passed in the serenest
+contentment, amid the blandishments of literature and science, the
+interchanges of friendly offices, and in useful labor in the library or
+on the farm.
+
+Monticello, which is the name which Mr. Jefferson had given to his home,
+was built in one of the most enchanting regions of Virginia. "It seemed
+designed by nature," says a writer, "as the very seat from which, lifted
+above the world's turmoil, one who has exhausted what it can bestow of
+eminence, might look down, withdrawn from its personal troubles, but
+contemplating at leisure the distant animation of the scene. It was a
+place scarcely less fit for the visionary abode of the philosophic
+speculatist, than by its far-spread and shifting beauties of landscapes
+to inspire a poet with perpetual delight." On a spire of the romantic
+Blue Ridge, whose varying outlines stretch away from it till they are
+lost to the sight, with a sylvan scene of unsurpassed loveliness in the
+vale below, the quiet Rivanna meandering through rich fields on one
+side, the pleasant village of Charlotteville dotting the other, while
+the porticoes and domes of the University rise in the distance behind,
+it overlooked a combination of natural pictures that are rarely found in
+one spot.
+
+"The country," says the visitor we have just quoted, "is not flat, but a
+gently waving one; yet, from above and afar, its inequalities of surface
+vanish into a map-like smoothness, and are traceable only in the light
+and shade cast by hill and plain. The prospect here has a diameter of
+near a hundred miles: its scope is therefore such that atmospheric
+effects are constantly flickering over it, even in the most cloudless
+days of a climate as bright if not quite so soft as that of Italy; and
+thus each varying aspect of the weather is reflected, all the while,
+from the features of the landscape, as the passions are over the face of
+some capricious beauty, that laughs, and frowns, and weeps almost in the
+same breath. Near you, perhaps, all is smiling in the sunlight; yonder
+broods or bursts a storm; while, in a third quarter, darkness and light
+contend upon the prospect, and chase each other. The sky itself is thus
+not more shifting than the scene you may have before you. It takes a new
+aspect at almost every moment, and bewitches you with a perpetual
+novelty."
+
+The mansion of the philosopher was placed on the top of an eminence
+commanding this beautiful scene. It was somewhat fantastic in its
+architecture, owing to the additions and rebuildings that had been
+constantly going on, to adapt it to the enlarged wants and changing
+tastes of the occupant, but it was spacious, richly furnished and
+commodious. The rarest treasures of literature adorned the library, and
+indeed every part bore witness to the affluence and cultivated pursuits
+of the venerable sage. A farm of some fourteen thousand acres lay about
+among the hills, which was laboriously and carefully husbanded, and
+which gave employment in various ways to a number of artificers and
+mechanics, whose dwellings were distributed about the slopes. His
+estate, in short, was a small and almost independent community in
+itself, capable of supplying the ordinary needs and even the luxuries of
+a highly civilized condition of social existence. As a proof of this, we
+may state by the way, that the carriage of the proprietor, as well as
+many of the tools and implements in daily use, had been manufactured on
+the premises. But the wonder of the place was the library, which was not
+only extensive, but extensively rich in its rare possessions, which the
+master had seduously collected during his long residence abroad from
+every nook and corner of Europe. Unfortunately many of these books,
+afterwards presented to Congress, were burned in the conflagration of
+the Capitol. Of the man himself, a guest, who was any thing but an
+admirer, has left this record.
+
+"Dressed, within doors, as I saw him last, no longer in the red
+breeches, which were once famous as his favorite and rather conspicuous
+attire; but still vindicating by a sanguine waistcoat his attachment to
+that Republican color; in gray shorts, small silver kneebuckles, gray
+woollen stockings, black slippers, a blue body-coat, surmounted by a
+gray spencer; tall, and though lithe of person and decidedly graceful
+and agile of motion and carriage, yet long and ill-limbed, Mr.
+Jefferson's figure was commanding and striking, though bad, and his face
+most animated and agreeable, although remarkably ugly. His legs, by no
+means shunned observation; yet they were scarcely larger at the knee
+than in the ankle, and had never been conscious of a calf. Still, though
+without strength, they had always borne him along with vigor and
+suppleness. These bodily qualities and a health almost unfailing, he
+preserved, in a singular degree, to the very close of his long life. At
+the time I speak of, when he was in his eighty-first year, he not only
+mounted his horse without assistance and rode habitually some ten miles
+a day, but, dismounting at a fence breast-high, would leap over it, by
+only placing his hand on the topmost rail. He walked not only well and
+swiftly, but with a lightness and springiness of tread, such as few
+young men even have. It was a restless activity of mind, which informed
+all this unusual mobility of body; and the two, I think, were, in him,
+greatly alike. For his intellect had, like his person, more size than
+shape, more adroitness than force, more suppleness than solidity, and
+affected its ends by continuity of action not mass of power, by
+manipulation not muscularity. You may batter to pieces with a small
+hammer that which a cannon-ball would not shiver. He was never idle:
+nay, hardly a moment still. He rose early and was up late, through his
+life; and was all day, whenever not on foot or a-horse-back, at study,
+at work, or in conversation. If his legs and fingers were at rest, his
+tongue would sure to be a-going. Indeed, even when seated in his library
+in a low Spanish chair, he held forth to his visitors in an almost
+endless flow of fine discourse, his body seemed as impatient of keeping
+still as his mind, it shifted its position incessantly, and so twisted
+itself about that you might almost have thought he was attitudinizing.
+Meantime, his face, expressive as it was ugly, was not much less busy
+than his limbs, in bearing its part in the conversation, and kept up,
+all the while, the most speaking by-play, an eloquence of the
+countenance as great as ugly features could well have. It stood to his
+conversation like the artful help of well-imagined illustrations to the
+text of a book: a graphic commentary on every word, that was as
+convincing to the eyes as was his discourse to the ears. The impression
+which it conveyed was a strong auxiliary of all he uttered: for it begat
+in you an almost unavoidable persuasion of his sincerity."
+
+Jefferson's conversation is described as the most agreeable and
+brilliant of his day; but was it this which gave him his personal power?
+He was not in other respects a man of any pre-eminent personal
+qualities; he did not possess commanding military skill; he was no
+orator, having seldom spoken in public; and though a good writer, he was
+not particularly distinguished in that line. His conversation,
+therefore, may have helped him in acquiring a mastery of the minds of
+men; but the real secret of his success consisted in two things--in his
+general superiority of intellect, and in his rich, generous, noble
+intuitions. He saw the truths and spoke the words, which the world
+wanted to see and hear, at the right time--a little in advance of his
+generation, but not too much in advance so as to "dwarf himself by the
+distance." His sympathetic genius beat responsive to the genius of his
+age. His instincts were the instincts of the men of his day; more
+decided and pronounced than theirs, but still recognized as a prophecy
+of what they felt the deepest and wanted the most. All the talent, all
+the cunning, all the selfish calculation of the world could not have
+enabled him to reach the heights which he attained by the simple and
+consistent utterance of his nature. He conquered, as Emerson says in
+speaking of the force of character over and above mere force of some
+special faculty, because his arrival any where altered the face of
+affairs. "Oh, Iole, how did you know that Hercules was a God?"
+"Because," answered Iole, "I was content the moment my eyes fell upon
+him. When I beheld Theseus, I desired that I might see him offer battle,
+or at least guide his horses in the chariot race; but Hercules did not
+wait for a contest; he conquered whether he stood or walked, or sat, or
+whatever thing he did."
+
+Happy in his life, Jefferson was no less happy in his death, for he went
+peacefully to rest on the fiftieth anniversary of the great day which he
+had done so much to make great, the Jubilee of our national
+freedom,--when the shouts of the people, as they ascended from the
+innumerable vales, to his receding ears, must have sounded as a prelude
+to the swelling voices of posterity.
+
+
+
+
+=Hancock.=
+
+[Illustration: Hancock fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Hancock House, Boston]
+
+HANCOCK.
+
+
+In the mouths of the people of New England, and indeed throughout the
+United States, the name of John Hancock has become a household word. In
+the State of Massachusetts, where he was born, lived, and died, and in
+the affairs of which he took, for five-and-twenty years, so very active
+and leading a part, he enjoyed a degree and a permanence of popularity
+never yet obtained by any other man. And yet we may observe and the same
+thing may be noted in other and more recent instances--a remarkable fact
+that deserves to be pondered--that his high degree of popularity was not
+at all dependent upon any peculiar embodiment or manifestation on his
+part of the more prevailing and characteristic traits of the community
+about him. Indeed the popular favor which Hancock enjoyed would seem to
+have been determined, as the attachment of individuals so often is, and
+as has happened also in other notable instances, rather by the
+attraction of opposites.
+
+And yet Hancock's line of descent was such as might naturally enough
+have inspired the expectation of finding in him a good many more marks
+of the old puritan temper and manners than he ever exhibited. From the
+days of the first settlement of New England, down to the period of the
+Revolution and afterwards, the "ministers" constituted a sort of
+clerical nobility, enjoying a very high degree of influence and
+consideration; and it is to forefathers of that order, that a large part
+of the most distinguished and influential New England families may trace
+their origin. The elder sons of these ministers, commonly, and the
+younger ones often, were educated to the profession of their fathers,
+long regarded in New England as the most certain road to distinction,
+whether spiritual or temporal. But as the demand for ministers was
+limited, and as their families were generally pretty large, many of
+their sons found it necessary to engage in the avocations of civil life,
+in which they not uncommonly attained to wealth and high social
+positions. Yet, for the most part, however zealous and successful they
+might be in the pursuit of temporal objects, they still continued to
+exhibit pretty evident marks of their clerical descent and breeding in a
+certain stiff, cold, and austere gravity, if not, indeed, in a certain
+sanctimonious air even in the very act of concluding the very tightest
+and sharpest of bargains;--all the attributes, in fact, comprehensively
+and impressively conveyed to an inhabitant of New England by the title
+of _Deacon_, which office, as if still clinging to the horns of the
+altar, they often filled; thus becoming pillars and supports of that
+church of which their fathers had been the candlesticks.
+
+The grandfather of John Hancock, himself called John, was for more than
+fifty years, as if by a sort of vaticination of the future, minister of
+Lexington, near to Concord; thus associating with that of Hancock
+another name, now to all American ears so familiar as the scene of the
+first revolutionary bloodshed. We are told by a biographer of this first
+John Hancock, that he possessed "a facetious temper," but in the grim
+old portrait which still hangs on the walls of his grandson's family
+mansion-house, very small traces of facetiousness appear; and so far as
+physiognomy goes, we should be rather inclined to look to his
+grandmother, to whose accompanying portrait the artist has given a fine
+open countenance, with something of a magnificent and voluptuous style
+of beauty, for the source of those social qualities and captivating
+manners by which their famous grandson was distinguished. The minister
+of Lexington had two sons, both also ministers, one of whom became his
+father's colleague. The other, the father of our John Hancock, was
+settled at Braintree, near Boston, in that part of it which now
+constitutes the town of Quincy; and it was here that in the year 1737
+our John Hancock was born, only a short distance from the birth-place of
+John Adams, who was some two years his senior. The old house in which
+the future patriot first saw the light was destroyed by an accidental
+fire previous to the Revolution; and the land on which it had stood
+coming subsequently into the possession of John Adams, he presented it
+to the town of Quincy as a site for a future academy.
+
+At the age of six or seven years, the young John Hancock was left
+without a father; but in his uncle, Thomas Hancock, he found a guardian
+and protector, who not only loved him, but was able to assist him.
+Thomas Hancock early in life had been placed as an apprentice to a
+Boston stationer, and had afterwards set up in that line of business for
+himself: but subsequently extending the sphere of his operations, he
+became one of the most eminent and successful merchants of New England.
+As he had no children, he adopted, as his own, his young nephew, whose
+affable and joyous temper had not failed to make him dear to his uncle,
+as they did to so many others; and having sent him to Harvard College,
+where he graduated at the early age of seventeen, he took him afterwards
+into his counting-house to be initiated into the mysteries of
+merchandise; and in due season admitted him as a partner. It was,
+perhaps, as well on business as for pleasure, or general improvement,
+that the young Hancock visited England, whither he went in company with
+the returning Governor Pownall, whose taste for social enjoyment was
+similar to his own, and where he saw the funeral of George II. and the
+coronation of George III., little thinking at that moment how active a
+part he was himself soon to take in curtailing the limits of the British
+monarchy, and in snatching from the young king's crown its brightest
+jewel.
+
+Thomas Hancock, the uncle, died in 1764, leaving behind him a fortune
+amassed by his judicious and successful mercantile enterprises, of not
+less than $350,000, one of the largest ever acquired in Boston, up to
+that time, though small in comparison with several of the present day,
+when even ten times as much may be produced by combined good fortune,
+tact, and perseverance. Thomas Hancock bestowed by his will some
+considerable legacies for charitable purposes, among others a thousand
+pounds to Harvard College to endow a professorship of oriental
+languages, being thus, as the historian of the college assures us, the
+first native American to endow a professorship in any literary
+institution;--but the great bulk of his fortune he bequeathed to his
+favorite nephew, $250,000 at once, and a reversionary interest in
+$100,000 more, of which his widow was to enjoy the use during her life.
+
+Thus in 1764, at the early age of twenty-seven, and just upon the eve of
+the commencement of the revolutionary disputes with the mother country,
+John Hancock came into possession of one of the largest fortunes in the
+province.
+
+Yet, though this large estate was an instrument and a stepping-stone,
+without the help of which Hancock would never have attained to that
+social and political distinction which he coveted and enjoyed so much,
+yet without his rare personal gifts and accomplishments it would have
+been wholly unavailing to that end; and so far from qualifying him,
+would have disqualified him, as it did so many other of the rich men of
+that time, for playing the conspicuous part he did in political affairs.
+Though for some time after his uncle's death he continued in business as
+a merchant, there were others who knew much better than he how to
+increase estates, already in the popular estimate--especially
+considering the use made of them--quite too large. Indeed, his business
+operations do not seem to have had mainly or primarily in view the
+making of money; for though he started new enterprises, going largely
+into ship-building, it was rather, at least so Hutchinson insinuates, as
+a politician than as a capitalist, looking more to the number of people
+he employed, and the increase thereby of his influence and popularity,
+than to the enlargement of his already plentiful fortune. There were
+others also who knew much better than he how to keep what they had, at
+least as they thought, men who used no less economy in spending their
+money than they or their fathers had done in acquiring it. But although
+the rich man who keeps his capital entire, and even increasing, is, in
+some sense, certainly a public benefactor, yet the fountain that
+overflows, sending forth a copious stream which the thirsty passers-by
+are all free to drink from, or at least to look at, is always more
+joyfully seen and more pleasingly remembered--even though it does run
+the risk of some time running dry--than the deep well, whose water is
+hardly visible, and which, though quite inexhaustible, yet for want of
+any kind of a bucket that can be made to sink into it, or any rope long
+enough to draw such a bucket up, is very little available to the parched
+throats of the fainting wayfarers, who, in the spirit and with the
+feelings of Tantalus, are thus rather disposed to curse than to bless
+it.
+
+To be able to make money is, at least in New England, a very common
+accomplishment, to be able to keep it not a rare one; but very few have
+understood so well as Hancock did, how to make the most of it in the way
+of spending it, obtaining from it, as he did, the double gratification
+of satisfying his own private inclinations, at the same time that he
+promoted his political views by the hold that he gained on the favor and
+good-will of his fellow-citizens.
+
+He possessed, indeed, in a degree, those tastes which wealth is best
+able to gratify, and to the gratification of which it is most essential.
+In the very face and eyes of the puritanical opinions and the staid and
+ultra-sober habits of New England, he delighted in splendid furniture,
+fine clothes, showy equipages, rich wines, good dinners, gay company,
+cards, dances, music, and all sorts of festivities. Nothing pleased him
+so much as to have his house full of guests to share with him in these
+enjoyments, and few were better qualified, by winning manners, graceful
+and affable address, a ready wit, a full flow of spirits, and a keen
+enjoyment of the whole thing, to act the part of master of the feast.
+But while thus luxuriously inclined, he had no disposition for gross
+debauch: and the presence of ladies at all his entertainments, while it
+seemed to give to them a new zest, banished from his house that riotous
+dissipation into which mere male gatherings are so certain to sink; and
+which in times past, in New England, made the idea of gross dissipation
+almost inseparable from that of social enjoyment, nor even yet is the
+distinction between them fully apprehended by every body.
+
+Among other property which Hancock had inherited from his uncle, was a
+stone mansion-house, still standing, and now in the very centre of the
+city of Boston, but which then was looked upon as quite retired and
+almost in the country. This house, which was built about the year that
+Hancock was born, fronts eastwardly on Boston Common, since so
+elaborately improved and converted into so beautiful a park, with its
+gravel walks, trees, and smooth-shaven lawns, but which was then a
+_common_ in the old English sense of the word, a common pasture for the
+cows of the neighbors, and a training field for the militia, with very
+few improvements except a single gravel walk and two or three rows of
+trees along Tremont-street. This house was situated a little west of the
+central and highest summit of that triple hill, which had early acquired
+for the peninsula of Boston the name of Trimountain,--since shortened
+into Tremont, and preserved in the name of the street above mentioned,
+which central summit was, from an early period, known as Beacon Hill, a
+name preserved in that of Beacon-street. This name was derived from the
+use to which this highest central summit had been put from a very early
+period--materials being always kept in readiness upon the top of it for
+kindling a bonfire, as a means of alarming the country round in case of
+invasion or other danger. After having been a good deal graded down,
+this summit is now occupied as a site for the State House, which, with
+its conspicuous dome, crowns and overlooks the whole city.
+
+It was in this mansion-house of his uncle's, which seems as if by a sort
+of attraction to have drawn the State House to its side, that Hancock
+continued to live except when absent at Philadelphia in attendance on
+the Continental Congress; and not content with its original dimensions,
+to afford more room for his numerous guests, he built at one end of it a
+wooden addition, since removed, containing a dining-room, dancing-hall,
+and other like conveniences. It was here Hancock, assisted by his
+amiable and accomplished wife, who entered into all his tastes and
+feelings, and who contributed her full share to give expression and
+realization to them, presided over so many social dinner parties and gay
+assemblages, dressed out, both host and guests, in that rich costume
+which Copley, who was one of Hancock's near neighbors, loved so well to
+paint, and of which his pencil has transmitted to us so vivid an idea.
+Nor did he show himself abroad with less display than he exhibited at
+home, his custom being to ride on public occasions in a splendid
+carriage drawn by six beautiful bays, and attended by several servants
+in livery.
+
+While the public attention was thus drawn upon him by a display which at
+once attracted and gratified the eyes of the multitude, whose envy at
+that time there was less fear than now of exciting, and by a generous
+and free hospitality, the more captivating for not being either
+indigenous or common, the part which Hancock took in the rising disputes
+with the mother country converted him into that popular idol, which he
+continued to be for the remainder of his life; and which, to one so
+greedy as he was of honor and applause, must have been in the highest
+degree gratifying. It is indeed not uncommon to depreciate the public
+services of such men as Hancock, by ascribing all to vanity and the love
+of distinction; as if without the impulse of these motives any great
+efforts would be made to serve the public! Worthy indeed of all honor
+are those men in whom these impulses take so honorable a direction; and
+happy the nation able to purchase such services at so cheap a rate!
+
+In 1766, two years after his uncle's death, Hancock was chosen, along
+with James Otis, Samuel Adams, and Thomas Cushing, one of the four
+representatives from Boston to the General Court. The seizure, two years
+after, of his sloop Liberty, for alleged violations of the revenue laws,
+in evading the payment of duties on a cargo of wine imported from
+Madeira, closely and personally identified him with the resistance then
+making throughout the colonies to the attempt to collect a revenue in
+America by parliamentary authority alone. This seizure led to a riot
+which figures in all the histories of that period, by which the
+commissioners of the customs were driven from the town, and in
+consequence of which two or three British regiments were ordered to
+Boston--the first step on the part of the mother country towards a
+military enforcement of the authority which she claimed. Hancock felt
+personally the consequences of this riot, in a number of libels or
+criminal informations filed against him in the Court of Admiralty, to
+recover penalties to the amount of three or four hundred thousand
+dollars, for violations of the revenue laws. "It seemed," writes John
+Adams in his Diary, and he had ample opportunity to know, for he was
+retained as Hancock's counsel, "as if the officers of the court were
+determined to examine the whole town as witnesses." In hopes to fish out
+some evidence against him; they interrogated many of his near relations
+and most intimate friends. They even threatened to summon his aged and
+venerable aunt: nor did those annoyances cease till the battle of
+Lexington, the siege of Boston, and the expulsion of the British from
+that town shut up the Admiralty Court, and brought the prosecution, and
+British authority along with it, to an end.
+
+At the commencement of the disputes with the mother country, the
+sentiment against the right of parliament to impose taxes on the
+colonies had seemed to be almost unanimous. The only exceptions were a
+few persons holding office under the crown. The rich especially, this
+being a question that touched the pocket, were very loud in their
+protests against any such exercise of parliamentary authority. But as
+the dispute grew more warm and violent, threatening to end in civil
+commotions, the rich, not doubting that the mother country would triumph
+in the end, and fearing the loss of their entire property in the attempt
+to save a part of it, began to draw back; thus making much more
+conspicuous than ever the position of Hancock as a leader of the popular
+party. Indeed there was hardly a wealthy man in Boston, he and Bowdoin
+excepted, both of whom had not accumulated but inherited their property,
+who did not end with joining the side of the mother country. And the
+same thing may be observed of Massachusetts, and indeed of New England
+generally. Of all the larger and better-looking mansion-houses, of
+eighty years old and upwards, still standing in the vicinity of Boston,
+of which the number is considerable, there are very few that did not
+originally belong to some old tory who forfeited his property out of his
+very anxiety to preserve it. Hancock's acceptance of the command of the
+company of cadets or governor's guard, whence the title of colonel by
+which for some time he was known; his acting with that company as an
+escort, at the funeral of Lieutenant-Governor Oliver, who was very
+obnoxious to the patriots; his refusing to go all lengths with Samuel
+Adams in the controversy with Hutchinson as to the governor's right to
+call the General Court together, elsewhere than in Boston; and the
+circumstance that although he had been several times before negatived as
+a member of the council, Hutchinson had at length allowed his name on
+the list of counsellors proposed by the General Court; these and perhaps
+some other circumstances excited indeed some suspicions that Hancock
+also was growing lukewarm to the popular cause. But these he took care
+to dissipate by declining to sit as counsellor, by acting as orator at
+the Anniversary of the Boston Massacre, and by accepting, not long
+after, an appointment as one of the delegates to the Continental
+Congress. The oration above alluded to, delivered in March, 1774, and
+which Hancock's enemies pretended was written for him by Dr. Cooper, was
+pronounced by John Adams, who heard it, "an eloquent, pathetic, and
+spirited performance."
+
+"The composition," so he wrote in his diary, "the pronunciation, the
+action, all exceeded the expectation of every body. [These last were
+certainly not Cooper's.] They exceeded even mine, which were very
+considerable. Many of the sentiments came with great propriety from him.
+His invective, particularly against a preference of riches to virtue,
+came from him with a singular dignity and grace." A passage in this
+oration, which was afterwards printed, on the subject of standing
+armies, gave great offence to the British officers and soldiers by whom
+the town continued to be occupied, and not long after Governor Gage
+dismissed Hancock from his command of the company of cadets; whereupon
+they disbanded themselves, returning the standard which the governor on
+his initiation into office had presented to them.
+
+The sensibilities of the British officers and soldiers being again
+excited by some parts of an oration delivered the next year by Dr.
+Warren, on the same anniversary, a few weeks before the battle of
+Lexington, a military mob beset Hancock's house and began to destroy the
+fences and waste the grounds. Gage sent a military guard to put a stop
+to their outrages.
+
+But it was no longer safe for Hancock to remain in such close contiguity
+to the British troops. He was president of the Provincial Congress of
+Massachusetts, which, in consequence of the act of parliament to modify
+the charter of that province, had lately assumed to themselves the power
+of the purse and the sword. He was also president of the provincial
+committee of safety, which, under authority of the Provincial Congress,
+had begun in good earnest to prepare for taking arms for the vindication
+of those rights which the men of Massachusetts claimed under the now
+violated and (so far as parliament had the power) abrogated Charter of
+the province. Under these circumstances, Hancock abandoned his house,
+which was subsequently occupied by Lord Percy as his headquarters; and
+at the time of the march of the British troops for Concord, he was
+living at Lexington, in company with Samuel Adams. Indeed it was
+supposed that one of the objects of this march was to seize the persons
+of those two patriots, to whom Gage seemed to point as the authors of
+the collision at Lexington by the issue of a proclamation, in which
+pardon was offered to all who, giving over their late traitorous
+proceedings, would furnish proof of their repentance and of their
+renewed allegiance to their king, by submitting to the authority of his
+duly appointed governor, and of the late act of parliament: but from
+this pardon John Hancock and Samuel Adams were excepted, their offences
+being too flagrant to be passed over without condign punishment.
+
+Before the issue of this proclamation, Hancock had already proceeded to
+Philadelphia, where the famous Continental Congress of 1775 was already
+in session, composed, to a great extent, of the same members with its
+predecessor of the year before, but of which he had been chosen a member
+in place of Bowdoin. He was a fluent and agreeable speaker, one of those
+who, by grace of manner, seem to add a double force and weight to all
+which they say; yet in that illustrious assembly there were quite a
+number, including John Adams, from his own State, compared with whom he
+could hardly have claimed rank as an orator. There were also in that
+assembly several able writers; the state papers emanating from whose
+pens were compared by Chatham to the ablest productions of the
+republican ages of Greece and Rome; but Hancock was not one of those.
+There were men of business there who undertook, without shrinking, all
+the Herculean labors of organizing the army and navy, the treasury and
+the foreign office of the new confederation--but neither in this line
+does Hancock appear to have been greatly distinguished. And yet it was
+not long before, by his appointment as president of that body, he rose
+to a position in Continental affairs, no less conspicuous than that
+which we have seen him exercising in those of his own province.
+Circumstances led indeed to this situation, quite apart from Hancock's
+personal qualifications, and yet had he not possessed those
+qualifications in a high degree, he would never have had the opportunity
+of immortalizing himself as he has done by his famous signature at the
+head of the Declaration of Independence,--a signature well calculated to
+give a strong impression with those who judge of personal character by
+handwriting, of the decided temper and whole-hearted energy of the man.
+Virginia, as the most populous and wealthy of the colonies, had received
+the compliment of furnishing the President of the Congress of 1774; and
+Peyton Randolph--a planter and lawyer, an elderly gentleman of the old
+school, formerly attorney general of that province, and in Governor
+Dinwiddie's time, sent by the Assembly on a special message to England,
+to complain of the governor for the fees he exacted on patents of
+land--had been first selected for that distinguished station. He had
+again been chosen as President of the new Congress; but being also
+speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and that body having been
+called together by Lord Dunmore, in what proved to be its last meeting,
+to consider Lord North's conciliatory propositions, it became necessary
+for Randolph to return home. His place in Congress was filled, in
+compliance with an arrangement previously made by the House of
+Burgesses, by no less distinguished a successor than Thomas Jefferson;
+but in filling up the vacant seat of President of Congress, during what
+was then regarded as but the temporary absence of Randolph, it was
+natural enough to look to Massachusetts, the next province to Virginia
+in population and wealth, no ways behind her in zeal for the cause, and,
+as the result proved, far her superior in military capabilities. Nor
+among the delegates present from Massachusetts, was there any one who
+seemed, on the whole, so well fitted for the station, or likely to be at
+all so satisfactory to the delegates from the other States, as John
+Hancock. Had James Bowdoin been present, he would perhaps have been more
+acceptable to the great body of the members than Hancock, as being less
+identified than he was with violent measures. But though chosen a
+delegate to the first Congress, the sickness of Bowdoin's wife had
+prevented his attendance; and the same cause still operating to keep him
+at home, John Hancock had been appointed, as we have mentioned, in his
+place. Of Hancock's four colleagues, all of whom were older men than
+himself, Samuel Adams certainly, if not John Adams also, might have
+disputed with him the palm of zeal and activity in the revolutionary
+cause; but not one of them risked so much as he did, at least in the
+judgment of his fellow-members from the middle and southern provinces,
+who were generally men of property. He alone, of all the New England
+delegates, had a fortune to lose; and while his wealthy southern
+colleagues looked with some distrust upon the Adamses, regarding them
+perhaps a little in the light, if we may be pardoned so coarse an
+illustration, of the monkey in the fable, who wished to rake his
+chestnuts out of the fire at the risk and expense of other people's
+fingers, no such idea could attach to Hancock, who, in point of fortune,
+had probably as much to lose as any other member, except perhaps John
+Dickinson--for the wealthy Charles Carrol, of Maryland, had not a seat
+in the Congress. At the same time Hancock's genial manners and social
+spirit, seemed to the members from the southern and middle provinces to
+make him quite one of themselves, an associate in pleasure and social
+intercourse, as well as in business; while the austere spirit and
+laborious industry of the Adamses threatened to inflict upon them the
+double hardship of all work and no play. But while the moderate members
+found, as they supposed, in the fortune which Hancock had at stake a
+pledge that he would not hurry matters to any violent extremes; the few
+also most disposed to press matters to a final breach, were well
+satisfied to have as president, one who had shown himself in his own
+province so energetic, prompt, decisive, and thorough.
+
+Yet Hancock's colleagues, and the members generally from New England,
+never entirely forgave the preference which had been thus early shown to
+him; and upon many of the sectional questions and interests which soon
+sprung up, and by which the Continental Congress was at times so
+seriously belittled and so greatly distracted, Hancock was often accused
+of deserting the interests of New England, and of going with the
+southern party. The internal and secret history of the Continental
+Congress or rather of the temporary and personal motives by which the
+conduct of its members, as to a variety of details, was influenced,
+remains so much in obscurity that it is not easy to ascertain the
+precise foundation of those charges, reiterated as they are in letters
+and other memoirs of those times; but on the whole, no reason appears to
+regard them otherwise than as the natural ebullition of disappointed
+partisanship against a man, who, in the struggle of contending factions
+and local interests, strove to hold the balance even, and who did not
+believe, with Samuel Adams and some others, that political wisdom was
+limited to New England alone.
+
+The President of Congress, in those times, was regarded as the personal
+representative of that body and of the sovereignty of the Union; and in
+that respect filled, to a certain degree, in the eye of the nation and
+of the world, the place now occupied by the President of the United
+States, though sharing, in no degree, the vast patronage and substantial
+power attached to the latter office. In his capacity of personal
+representative of the nation the President of Congress kept open house
+and a well-spread table, to which members of Congress, officers of the
+army, attach�s of the diplomatic corps foreign and domestic,
+distinguished strangers, every body in fact who thought themselves to be
+any body--a pretty large class, at least in America--expected
+invitations; whereby was imposed upon that officer pretty laborious
+social duties, in addition to his public and political ones, which were
+by no means trifling. All these duties of both classes, Hancock
+continued to discharge with great assiduity and to general satisfaction,
+for upwards of two years and a half, through a period at which the power
+and respectability of the Continental Congress was at its greatest
+height, before the downfall of the paper money and the total exhaustion
+of the credit of the nation at home and abroad had reduced the
+representative of the sovereignty of the nation to a pitiful dependence
+on the bounty of France, and upon requisitions on the States, to which
+very little attention was paid. Feeling all the dignity of his position,
+Hancock took one of the largest houses in Philadelphia, where he lived
+in profuse hospitality, and all upon advances made out of his own
+pocket. After his day, it became necessary for Congress to allow their
+president a certain annual stipend out of the public treasury to support
+the expenses of his household. In Hancock's time, this was not thought
+of; and it was not till near the close of the war, after the precedent
+had been established in the case of his successors, that he put in any
+claim for the reimbursement of his expenses.
+
+There is a story, that Hancock, when chosen President of Congress,
+blushed and modestly hung back, and was drawn into the chair only by the
+exertion of some gentle force on the part of the brawny Harrison, a
+member from Virginia, and afterwards governor of that State. And yet,
+according to John Adams, Hancock was hardly warm in his seat when he
+aspired to a much more distinguished position. He expected to have been
+appointed Commander-in-Chief of the American armies, and displayed in
+his countenance, so Adams says in his Diary, the greatest vexation and
+disappointment when Washington was named for that station. It is certain
+that he had some military aspirations, for he wrote to Washington
+shortly after his assumption of command, requesting that some place in
+the army might be kept for him, to which Washington replied with
+compliments at his zeal, but with apprehension that he had no place at
+his disposal worthy of Colonel Hancock's acceptance. Not long after his
+return to Boston, his military ardor revived. He procured himself to be
+chosen a major-general of the Massachusetts militia, and he marched the
+next summer (1778) at the head of his division to join the expedition
+against Newport, in which the French fleet and troops just arrived under
+D'Estaing, a detachment from Washington's army under Sullivan, Greene,
+and La Fayette, and the militia from the neighboring States were to
+co-operate. But D'Estaing suffered himself to be drawn out to sea by the
+English fleet, which had appeared off Newport for that express purpose,
+and after a slight running engagement, the fleet, while struggling for
+the weather gauge, were separated by a violent storm, in which some of
+D'Estaing's ships were dismasted and others greatly damaged, so that he
+judged it necessary to put into Boston to refit. The American army
+meanwhile had crossed to Rhode Island, and established itself before
+Newport, but as Count D'Estaing could not be persuaded to return, it
+became necessary to abandon the island, not without a battle to cover
+the retreat. With this expedition, Hancock's military career seems to
+have terminated; but on arriving at Boston, he found ample work on hand
+better adapted perhaps to his talents than the business of active
+warfare. Sullivan, of a hot and impetuous temper, and excessively vexed
+at D'Estaing's conduct, was even imprudent enough to give expression to
+his feelings in general orders. It was like touching a spark to tinder,
+and the American army before New-York, which shared the general's
+feelings, encouraged by his example, "broke out," so Greene wrote to
+Washington, "in clamorous strains." The same disappointment was bitterly
+felt also at Boston; for the British occupation of Newport had long been
+an eyesore to New England, occasioning great expense in keeping up
+militia to watch the enemy there, and in projects for their expulsion;
+and the prevailing dissatisfaction at the conduct of the French admiral
+soon found expression in a serious riot between the populace of the town
+and the sailors of the French fleet, threatening to revive all those
+violent prejudices against the French, fostered in the colonies for near
+a hundred years, and which the recent alliance with France had glossed
+over indeed, but had not wholly subdued. Upon this occasion, Hancock
+exerted himself with zeal and success to prevent this ill-temper, which
+had broken out between the classes least accustomed to restrain their
+feelings or the expression of them, from spreading any higher. He opened
+his house to the French officers, who, delighted at the opportunity of
+social enjoyment and female society, kept it full from morning till
+night, and by his "unwearied pains," so La Fayette wrote to Washington,
+did much to heal the breach which Sullivan's imprudence had so
+dangerously aggravated. On this occasion, at least, if on no other,
+Hancock's love of gayety, and of social pleasures, proved very
+serviceable to his country.
+
+During his absence at Philadelphia, his popularity at home had undergone
+no diminution, and he soon resumed, as a member of the council, on which
+since the breach with Gage the executive administration had devolved, a
+leading influence in the State administration; and when at last, after
+two trials, a constitution was sanctioned by the people, he was chosen
+by general consent the first governor under it. This was a station of
+vastly more consideration then than now. Under the old confederation, at
+least after the Continental Congress, by the exhaustion of its credit
+and the repudiation of its bills, had no longer money at command, the
+States were sovereign in fact as well as in words; while all that
+reverence which under the old system had attached to the royal
+governors, had been transferred to their first republican successors.
+Since that period the State governments have sunk into mere
+municipalities for the administration of local affairs, and all eyes
+being constantly turned towards Washington, the executive offices of the
+States, even the station of governor, are no longer regarded except as
+stepping-stones to something higher.
+
+Hancock discharged his office as governor to good acceptance for five
+years, when he voluntarily retired, making way for James Bowdoin, who
+might be regarded in some respects as his rival, the head of a party,
+perhaps more intelligent, and certainly far more select, than that great
+body of the population by whom Hancock was supported; but whom, so at
+least his opponents said, he rather studied to follow than aspired to
+lead. During Bowdoin's administration, occurred Shays' insurrection, one
+of the most interesting and instructive incidents in the history of
+Massachusetts, but into the particulars of which we have not space here
+to enter. This insurrection, of which the great object was the
+cancelling of debts, an object which the States now practically
+accomplish by means of insolvent laws, was thought to involve, either as
+participators more or less active, or at least as favorers and
+sympathizers, not less than a third part of the population of the State.
+The active measures taken at Bowdoin's suggestion for putting down the
+insurgents by an armed force, and the political disabilities and other
+punishments inflicted upon them after their defeat, did not at all tend
+to increase Bowdoin's popularity with this large portion of the people.
+Though Hancock's health had not allowed him to take his seat in the
+Continental Congress, to which he had again been chosen a delegate, and
+by which he had, in his absence, been again selected as their
+president--yet, weary of retirement, he suffered himself to be brought
+forward as a candidate, and to be elected as governor over Bowdoin's
+head--a procedure never forgiven by what may be called the party of
+property, against which the insurrection of Shays had been aimed, whose
+members thenceforth did not cease, in private at least, to stigmatize
+Hancock as a mere demagogue, if not indeed almost a Shaysite himself.
+Nor indeed is it impossible, that the governor, with all his property,
+had some personal sympathies with that party. He, like them, was
+harassed with debts, which, as we have seen in the case of the college,
+he was not much inclined, and probably not very able, to bring to a
+settlement. He still had large possessions in lands and houses in
+Boston, but at this moment his property was unsalable, and to a
+considerable extent unproductive; and a stop law might have suited his
+convenience not less than that of the embarrassed farmers in the
+interior, who had assembled under the leadership of Shays to shut up the
+courts and put a stop to suits. This scheme, however, had been
+effectually put down prior to Hancock's accession to office, and it only
+remained for him to moderate, by executive clemency, the penalties
+inflicted on the suppressed insurgents--a policy which the state of the
+times and the circumstances of the case very loudly demanded, however
+little it might be to the taste of the more imperious leaders of the
+party by which those penalties had been inflicted. But even this same
+party might acknowledge a great obligation to Hancock for the assistance
+which they soon after obtained from him in securing the ratification by
+Massachusetts of that federal constitution under which we now so happily
+live. Still governor of the State, he was chosen a delegate from Boston
+to the State convention, called to consider the proposed constitution:
+and though incapacitated by sickness from taking his seat till near the
+close of the session, he was named its president. The federal
+constitution had been already ratified by five States, Delaware,
+Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut. But Virginia, New
+York, and North Carolina, were known to be strongly against it, and its
+rejection by Massachusetts would, in all probability, prevent its
+acceptance by the number of States required to give it effect. The
+convention was very equally divided, and the result hung long in doubt.
+At last Hancock came upon the floor and proposed some amendments,
+principally in the nature of a bill of rights, agreed to probably by
+concert out of doors, to be suggested for the approval of Congress and
+adoption by the States under the provision for amendments contained in
+the constitution, and most of which were afterwards adopted. Thus
+sweetened, the constitution was fairly forced down the reluctant throat
+of the convention; and unlike the typical book of St. John, though so
+bitter in the mouth, it has fortunately proved sweet enough and very
+nourishing in the digestion.
+
+On the occasion of Washington's visit to Boston, subsequently to his
+inauguration as President, a curious struggle took place between him and
+Hancock, or perhaps we ought rather to say, between the Governor of
+Massachusetts and the President of the United States, on a question of
+etiquette. Hancock, as Governor of Massachusetts, insisted upon the
+first call, a precedence which Washington, as President of the United
+States, refused to yield. Finding himself obliged to succumb, Hancock's
+gout and other complicated diseases served him for once in good stead;
+for in the note which he finally sent, announcing his intention to wait
+upon Washington, they answered as a convenient excuse for not having
+fulfilled that duty before.
+
+Some two or three years after, we find Governor Hancock, out of
+deference to the puritanical opinions and laws of the State, involved in
+another noticeable controversy, but one into which he could not have
+entered with any great heart. Shortly after the adoption of the federal
+constitution, a company of stage-players had made their appearance in
+Boston, and though the laws still prohibited theatrical exhibitions,
+encouraged by the countenance of the gayer part of the population, they
+commenced the performance of plays, which they advertised in the
+newspapers as "Moral Lectures." Some of their friends among the
+townsfolks had even built a temporary theatre for their accommodation, a
+trampling under foot of the laws, which seemed the more reprehensible as
+the legislature, though applied to for that purpose, had twice refused
+to repeal that prohibitory statute. "To the legislature which met
+shortly after," we quote from the fourth volume of Hildreth's History of
+the United States, "Governor Hancock gave information that 'a number of
+aliens and foreigners had entered the State, and in the metropolis of
+the government, under advertisements insulting to the habits and
+education of the citizens, had been pleased to invite them to, and to
+exhibit before such as attended, stage-plays, interludes, and theatrical
+entertainments, under the style and appellation of Moral Lectures.' All
+which, as he complained, had been suffered to go on without any steps
+taken to punish a most open breach of the laws, and a most contemptuous
+insult to the powers of government. Shortly after this denunciation by
+the governor, suddenly one night, in the midst of the performance of
+'The School for Scandal,' the sheriff of the county appeared on the
+stage, arrested the actors, and broke up the performances. When the
+examination came on, having procured able counsel (one of whom, if we
+mistake not, was the then young Harrison Gray Otis), the actors were
+discharged on the ground that the arrest was illegal, the warrant not
+having been sworn to. This error was soon corrected, and a second arrest
+brought the performances to a close. But the legislature, finding that
+the sentiment of the town of Boston was strong against the law, and that
+a new and permanent theatre was in the course of erection, repealed the
+prohibitory act a few months after."
+
+This temporary triumph over the poor players was one of the last of
+Hancock's long series of successes; unless indeed we ought to assign
+that station to the agency which he had in procuring the erasure from
+the federal constitution of a very equitable and necessary provision,
+authorizing suits in the federal courts against the States by
+individuals having claims upon them. At such a suit, brought against the
+State of Massachusetts, Hancock exhibited a vast deal of indignation,
+calling the legislature together at a very inconvenient season of the
+year, and refusing to pay the least attention to the process served upon
+him. Yet the Supreme Court of the United States, not long after, decided
+that such suits would lie, as indeed was sufficiently plain from the
+letter of the constitution. But the sovereign States, with all the
+insolence customary to sovereigns, whether one-headed or many-headed,
+scorned to be compelled to do justice; and the general clamor raised
+against this reasonable and even necessary provision, caused it to be
+ultimately struck from the constitution.
+
+Before this was accomplished, Hancock's career of life was over. Worn
+down by the gout and other aristocratic diseases, which the progress of
+democracy seems, since his time, to have almost banished from America,
+he expired at the early age of fifty-six, in the same house in which he
+had presided over so many social and political festivities, lamented by
+almost the entire population of the State in whose service he had spent
+the best part of his life, and whose faithful attachment to him, spite
+of some obvious weaknesses on his part, had yet never flagged.
+
+Had we space and inclination, many lessons might be drawn from the
+history of his life. We shall confine ourselves to this one, which every
+body's daily experience may confirm: that success in active life,
+whether political or private, even the attainment of the very highest
+positions, depends far less on any extraordinary endowments, either of
+nature or fortune, than upon an active, vigorous, and indefatigable
+putting to use of such gifts as a man happens to have. What a
+difference, so far as name and fame are concerned, and we may add, too,
+enjoyment and a good conscience, between the man who puts his talent to
+use and him who hoards it up, so that even its very existence remains
+unknown to every body but himself and his intimate friends.
+
+
+
+
+=John Adams.=
+
+[Illustration: John Adams fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Residence of the Adams Family, Quincy, Mass.]
+
+JOHN ADAMS
+
+
+"Oh that I could have a home! But this felicity has never been permitted
+me. Rolling, rolling, rolling, till I am very near rolling into the
+bosom of mother earth."
+
+Thus wrote the venerable John Adams to his wife, in the sixty-fifth year
+of his age, and the last of his Presidency. A few years previous he had
+uttered the same sigh, nor is it infrequent in his letters. "I am weary,
+worn, and disgusted to death. I had rather chop wood, dig ditches, and
+make fence upon my poor little farm. Alas, poor farm! and poorer family!
+what have you lost that your country might be free! and that others
+might catch fish and hunt deer and bears at their ease!"
+
+This was written in the days when there was such a thing as genuine
+patriotism; when, as in the noble Greek and Roman years, there lived
+among us also noble men, who freely surrendered all that life offered
+them of sweet and splendid, to work for their fellows, and to exalt
+their country's state, content that old age should find them poor in
+fortune and broken in health, so only that integrity remained, and a
+serene conscience led them undisturbed to the end of life.
+
+Among these former glories of our Republic, the name of John Adams
+stands in the clearest sunlight of fame. No purer patriot ever lived.
+The names which dazzle us in history become no fables when read by his
+light; Plutarch tells no nobler story, records no greater claims; Athens
+and Sparta smile upon him from their starry places, and Rome holds out
+her great hand of fellowship to him--for there is no virtue which has
+lived that may not live again, and our own day shows that there has
+never been a political corruption so base as to despair of being
+emulated.
+
+Concerning the civil life of such a man, much might with ease be
+written. The head and front of every great political movement of his
+country, from his thirtieth year to the day of his death he lived no
+obscure life, and was missed from no contest. "The great pillar of
+support to the Declaration of Independence," as Jefferson called him,
+its fearless and eloquent defender, the right hand of his country's
+diplomacy, and the strength of her treaties, he is a portion of her
+history and his acts are her annals. But this devotion to the great
+political struggles of his time was not consistent with home delights.
+These he was to scorn and to live laborious days. Early immersed in the
+stirring events of his day, he surrendered to the duty of serving, all
+private claims; he gave up his profession, he separated himself from his
+wife and children to go wherever he could be useful; he abandoned a mode
+of life most dear to him; and leaving his little Sabine farm and his
+friendly books, with no hopes of personal aggrandizement, and small,
+unjoyous prospect of success in the venture he was aiding, went out to
+fight. His first act of importance, a worthy beginning to such career,
+was his defence of Preston, in the famous trial for the murder of
+certain citizens of Boston by British soldiers, in 1770. Preston was the
+captain of the British troops stationed in Boston, and under government
+orders. As may easily be imagined, in the uneasy state of public
+feeling, exasperated by real injuries and petty tyrannies, suspicious,
+discontented and spurred on by men who circulated a thousand injurious
+reports, the people and the foreign soldiery were ready at any moment to
+break out into open quarrel. Finally, this did indeed happen. The
+soldiery, provoked beyond endurance, resisted the assaults of the
+people, and fired upon them. Captain Preston was arrested and
+imprisoned; five citizens had been killed and many wounded, and it was
+with difficulty that the people were restrained from rising into furious
+rebellion. Preston was taken to prison to await his trial, but it was
+for a time impossible to obtain counsel, so great was the hatred of the
+people to the soldiery, and so strong the feeling that no man would be
+safe from violence who would attempt to defend these foreigners for the
+murder of his own fellow-citizens. John Adams--then a rising lawyer in
+Boston, and a man who had already given hints of coming greatness--was
+sent for by the unfortunate captain, who begged him to undertake his
+cause. "I had no hesitation in answering," says Adams in his
+autobiography, "that counsel ought to be the very last thing that an
+accused person should want in a free country; that the bar ought, in my
+opinion, to be independent and impartial at all times, and in every
+circumstance, and that persons whose lives were at stake ought to have
+the counsel they preferred. But he must be sensible this would be as
+important a cause as was ever tried in any court or country in the
+world; and that every lawyer must hold himself responsible, not only to
+his country, but to the highest and most infallible of all tribunals,
+for the part he should act. He must therefore expect from me no art or
+address, no sophistry or prevarication in such a cause, nor anything
+more than fact, evidence, and law would justify." And a little after he
+tells us what it cost him to act up to his own standard of duty. "At
+this time I had more business at the bar than any man in the province.
+My health was feeble. I was throwing away as bright prospects as any man
+ever had before him, and I had devoted myself to endless labor and
+anxiety, if not to infamy and to death, and that for nothing, except
+what was and ought to be all in all, a sense of duty. In the evening, I
+expressed to Mrs. Adams all my apprehensions. That excellent lady, who
+has always encouraged me, burst into a flood of tears, but said she was
+very sensible of all the danger to her and to our children, as well as
+to me, but she thought I had done as I ought; she was very willing to
+share in all that was to come, and to place her trust in Providence."
+
+Such were the politicians of that day; and though we do not doubt that
+private virtue as much abounds with us as with them, and that as great
+private sacrifices as this was public can be instanced in these later
+times, yet no one will be so hardy as to say that any politician of this
+day would brave such hazards or so daringly face peril. Politics are
+become a trade with us. The curse of popular governments is this, that
+they make office desirable in proportion to the ease with which it is
+attained, and that seeking place becomes in time as legitimate a
+profession as seeking oysters. No one will so mock at common sense, or
+hold the judgments of his fellow spectators in such light esteem, as to
+aver that any one of our public men serves his country for his country's
+sake, or for any better reason than because it is conducive to bread and
+butter. Hence it is with us a jeer and a by-word to talk about
+patriotism. The fact seems to be, that our material prosperity is so
+great, our resources so boundless, our outlook so glorious, our liberty
+so well assured--or at least the liberty of those among us who are
+white--that there is no call for sacrifice and patriotic service. The
+country is rich and can well afford, if she will be served, to pay the
+servant; but we speak of devotion to principle, which we believe is
+clean gone out from us, and can be predicated of no public man.
+
+John Adams, son of John Adams and Susannah Boylston Adams, was born at
+Quincy, Massachusetts, on the 19th day of October, 1735. He received the
+best education that the times afforded, graduated at Harvard College,
+and afterward commenced the study of divinity with a view to the
+ministry; at the same time he was occupied in teaching school, that
+universal stepping-stone in New England to professional life. Indeed,
+there was then hardly more than there is now any such thing as a
+schoolmaster by profession; and without doubt a sufficing reason for the
+fact that our young men are so inefficiently educated, is, that the
+teachers are in nine cases out of ten only one lesson in advance of
+their scholars. In those days, however, the schoolmaster was apt to be a
+person of some consequence. He held a position very often next in
+importance to that of the parson, and ruled an autocrat over his little
+flock of beardless citizens. Nowhere has he been better described than
+in "Margaret," in the character of Master Elliman, whose mingled
+pompousness, verbiage, and pedantry, admirably represent the class to
+which he belonged. But the character gradually lost its individuality as
+society advanced, until at length the great bulk of teachers, except in
+the colleges, were merely young men preparing for the learned
+professions.
+
+The injurious effect of this state of things, which has made a very
+decided mark upon our national character, we will not discuss here, but
+it is well to note the differences between the manners of the colonial
+times, and those of our present day--and of these differences none is so
+striking as the great decrease of respect in which professional men are
+held with us compared with that which was yielded to them by our
+forefathers. With them the schoolmaster, the parson, the physician, the
+lawyer, were considered and treated as a sort of sacred nobility, apart
+from the vulgar, and wholly refusing admixture with them; they were
+placed in the seats of honor, and counted among counsellors; their
+company was sought by the wealthy and the educated, their acts were
+chronicled, and their words were echoed from mouth to mouth. In the
+streets, when the schoolmaster or minister appeared, the children at
+play drew up into a hurried line, took off their caps, made deferential
+bows and listened with humility to the greeting or word of advice.
+Nowadays, the Pope himself would be hustled in an omnibus, and if Master
+Elliman were to appear in the streets and offer advice to the children,
+ten to one but that they would throw dirt at him. It was in the twilight
+which followed the departing day of these venerable times and preceded
+the coming on of these degenerate darker hours, that John Adams became a
+pedagogue. He was hardly at that age fit to be a teacher. He was
+thoughtful, ambitious and lofty in his aims, but he was also somewhat
+indolent and wanted persistency. It is true that his mind was hardly
+made up as to what he should do for a living. We have said that he began
+with studying for the ministry, but he tells us that he at one time read
+much in medical books, and inclined to the study of physic.[2]
+
+Yet I imagine that his inclination to either of these professions was
+never very strong. His education at Cambridge, then the high seat of
+orthodoxy, and perhaps the advice of his parents, his father holding an
+office in the church government of his town of some importance at that
+day, may have led his mind in the direction of the ministry, and his
+studies in that line were very regular and persistent for some time.
+Surgery and medicine had probably merely the fleeting fascination for
+him which they have for multitudes of eager young men, striving to pry
+into all the subtile secrets of nature, and to find out all the
+mysteries which environ us. But as he says of himself, "the law drew me
+more and more," and in his Diary under the date of Sunday, 22d of
+August, 1756, we have the following entry:--
+
+"Yesterday I completed a contract with Mr. Putnam to study the law,
+under his inspection, for two years. I ought to begin with a resolution
+to oblige and please him and his lady in a particular manner; I ought to
+endeavor to please every body, but them in particular. Necessity drove
+me to this determination, but my inclination, I think, was to preach;
+however, that would not do. But I set out with firm resolutions, I
+think, never to commit any meanness or injustice in the practice of law.
+The study and practice of law, I am sure, does not dissolve the
+obligations of morality or of religion; and, although the reason of my
+quitting divinity was my opinion concerning some disputed points, I hope
+I shall not give reason of offence, to any in that profession, by
+imprudent warmth."
+
+He now gave up his school, and somewhat changed his manner of life.
+Before we leave him let us hear his quaint description of the schoolboys
+of his day--not very different from the youngsters of 1853.
+
+"15. Monday (1756).--I sometimes in my sprightly moments consider myself
+in my great chair at school, as some dictator at the head of a
+commonwealth. In this little state I can discover all the great
+geniuses, all the surprising actions and revolutions of the great world,
+in miniature. I have several renowned generals not three feet high, and
+several deep projecting politicians in petticoats. I have others
+catching and dissecting flies, accumulating remarkable pebbles,
+cockle-shells, &c., with as ardent curiosity as any virtuoso in the
+Royal Society. Some rattle and thunder out A, B, C, with as much fire
+and impetuosity as Alexander fought, and very often sit down and cry as
+heartily upon being outspelt as C�sar did, when at Alexander's sepulchre
+he recollected that the Macedonian hero had conquered the world before
+his age. At one table sits Mr. Insipid, foppling and fluttering,
+spinning his whirligig, or playing with his fingers, as gayly and
+wittily as any Frenchified coxcomb brandishes his cane or rattles his
+snuff-box. At another, sits the polemical divine, plodding and wrangling
+in his mind about "Adam's fall, in which we sinned all," as his Primer
+has it. In short, my little school, like the great world, is made up of
+kings, politicians, divines, L.L.D.'s, fops, buffoons, fiddlers,
+sycophants, fools, coxcombs, chimney-sweepers, and every other character
+drawn in history, or seen in the world. Is it not, then, the highest
+pleasure, my friend, to preside in this little world, to bestow the
+proper applause upon virtuous and generous actions, to blame and punish
+every vicious and contracted trick, to wear out of the tender mind every
+thing that is mean and little, and fire the new-born soul with a noble
+ardor and emulation? The world affords us no greater pleasure. Let
+others waste their bloom of life at the card or billiard-table among
+rakes or fools, and when their minds are sufficiently fretted with
+losses, and inflamed by wine, ramble through the streets, assaulting
+innocent people, breaking windows, or debauching young girls. I envy not
+their exalted happiness. I had rather sit in school and consider which
+of my pupils will turn out in his future life a hero, and which a rake,
+which a philosopher, and which a parasite, than change breasts with
+them; though possessed of twenty laced waistcoats and a thousand pounds
+a year.[3]"
+
+One of the most interesting features of the early part of the "Diary"
+from which these extracts have been taken, is the perfect simplicity and
+truthfulness with which the writer details his efforts to attain
+steadfastness of purpose and diligence in study. He feels in moments of
+reflection the value of his time and the sacredness of duty; he makes
+the best resolutions, and concocts the wisest plans for improvement and
+the most liberal schemes of study; but his animal spirits, which flowed
+on in cheerfulness, even to his latest day of life, his social nature,
+and his admiration for women, all played sad pranks with his resolves,
+and drew out from him many a repentant sigh over lost and wasted time.
+Yet this trouble ceases almost as soon as he begins to study law and
+gives up his uncertain dallyings with schoolkeeping, divinity, and
+medicine. Having once put his shoulder to the wheel, he worked with
+vigor, and began to show what greatness of character there was in him.
+Let it not be understood from what we have said, that John Adams was
+ever a seeker after low or vulgar pleasures. More than once in his
+"Diary" he ridicules the foolish, extravagant, licentious amusements of
+the young men of his time. Card-playing, drinking, backgammon, smoking,
+and swearing, he says are the fashionable means of getting rid of time,
+which excited in his mind only contempt. "I know not," he says, "how any
+young fellow can study in this town. What pleasure can a young gentleman
+who is capable of thinking, take in playing cards? It gratifies none of
+the senses, neither sight, hearing, taste, smelling, nor feeling; it can
+entertain the mind only by hushing its clamors. Cards, backgammon, &c.,
+are the great antidotes to reflection, to thinking, that cruel tyrant
+within us! What learning or sense are we to expect from young gentlemen
+in whom a fondness for cards, &c., outgrows and chokes the desire of
+knowledge?"
+
+Up to the time of his commencing the study of law with Mr. Putnam, John
+Adams had resided in Braintree, sharing in the social intercourses of
+the place, its tea-parties, clubs of young men, visiting and receiving
+visitors, and all the common civilities of country life. On one
+occasion, we find him taking tea and spending the evening at Mr.
+Putnam's, in conversation about Christianity. This was at the time when
+Adams was studying divinity, and it is evident that he discussed
+religion and theological subjects with a good deal of interest, since we
+find that the talk at almost all these meetings turns in that direction.
+There seems to have been a decided leaning towards speculation and doubt
+in the minds of many men, on the subject of Christianity, at that day,
+and we frequently find their opinion very frankly expressed in the
+"Diary," and left almost without comment by the recorder. He was very
+fond of chatting with his neighbors over a social cup of tea, sometimes
+after a day spent in hard study, at other times resting from the
+fatigues of attending to little affairs about the farm, loading and
+unloading carts, splitting wood, and doing other chores. He is apt to be
+a little impatient with himself. He finds it easier to say before going
+to bed that he will rise at six than to get up when the hour arrives.
+Several days in the "Diary" bear for sole record--"Dreamed away this
+day," and once when several had slipped by without any seeming good
+result, he writes--"Thursday, Friday. I know not what became of these
+days;" and again--"Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. All spent in
+absolute idleness, or which is worse, gallanting the girls." The next
+day--"Tuesday. _Sat down and recollected my self_, and read a little in
+Van Muyden, a little in Naval Trade and Commerce."
+
+And so the good seems always leading him on, always eluding him, and
+playing sad momentary havoc with his peace of mind. But he consents to
+no doubtful terms with the enemy. He determined to conquer the foes of
+sloth, inattention, social indulgence, and do his whole duty. With the
+responsibilities of time came the cure for youthful follies, and his
+marriage in the thirtieth year of his age, dealt the last fatal blow to
+all his enemies. In 1764 he thus writes:--
+
+"Here it may be proper to recollect something which makes an article of
+great importance in the life of every man. I was of an amorous
+disposition, and, very early, from ten or eleven years of age, was very
+fond of the society of females. I had my favorites among the young
+women, and spent many of my evenings in their company; and this
+disposition, although controlled for seven years after my entrance into
+college, returned, and engaged me too much till I was married.
+
+"I shall draw no characters, nor give any enumeration of my youthful
+flames. It would be considered as no compliment to the dead or the
+living. This I will say:--they were all modest and virtuous girls, and
+always maintained their character through life. No virgin or matron ever
+had cause to blush at the sight of me, or to regret her acquaintance
+with me. No father, brother, son, or friend, ever had cause of grief or
+resentment for any intercourse between me and any daughter, sister,
+mother, or any relation of the female sex. These reflections, to me
+consolatory beyond all expression, I am able to make with truth and
+sincerity; and I presume I am indebted for this blessing to my
+education.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I passed the summer of 1764 in attending courts and pursuing my
+studies, with some amusement on my little farm, to which I was
+frequently making additions, until the fall, when, on the 25th of
+October, I was married to Miss Smith, second daughter of the Rev.
+William Smith, minister of Weymouth, granddaughter of the Hon. John
+Quincy, of Braintree, a connection which has been the source of all my
+felicity, although a sense of duty, which forced me away from her and my
+children for so many years, produced all the griefs of my heart and all
+that I esteem real afflictions in life."[4]
+
+In 1758, his term of study with Mr. Putnam being expired, John Adams
+left Worcester, having determined for several reasons not to settle
+there, but to establish himself, if possible, in Braintree, where his
+father and mother resided. They had invited him to live with them, and
+he says that as there had never been a lawyer in any country part of the
+county of Suffolk, he was determined to try his fortune there. His
+acquaintances told him that "the town of Boston was full of lawyers,
+many of them of established characters for long experience, great
+abilities, and extensive fame, who might be jealous of _such a novelty
+as a lawyer_ in the country part of their county, and might be induced
+to obstruct me. I returned, that I was not wholly unknown to some of the
+most celebrated of those gentlemen; that I believed they had too much
+candor and generosity to injure a young man; and, at all events, I could
+try the experiment, and if I should find no hope of success, I should
+then think of some other place or some other course." The result was
+that he established himself in Braintree, living at his father's house,
+and continuing his studies patiently and perseveringly until clients
+began to appear. He gives an amusing account of his first "_writ_," and
+chronicles its failure with a nonchalant stoicism which can hardly
+conceal his vexation at being laughed at by his acquaintances among the
+young lawyers of the town. His residence in Braintree seems to have been
+a pleasant one. He had much leisure for study and reading, and made good
+use of his time. He was acquainted with all the people of consequence in
+the town, and was, as we have said, fond of visiting, calling in to take
+a social pipe or glass, as was the fashion of the day, to chat with the
+wife or daughter of the house, to discuss with the head of the family
+the last political bubble of the hour, the prospect of the crops, the
+expediency of this or that proceeding in the village, or any of the
+local topics of the day. Sometimes we find him with a knot of young
+fellows met together of an evening, discussing with one or two some
+question in morals or rhetoric, or sitting abstracted with a book or his
+pipe on one side the chimney, the room filled with smoke, the rest of
+the party engaged in card-playing, backgammon, or other sedative game.
+At another time, though somewhat later, he speaks of hearing "the ladies
+talk about ribbon, catgut, and Paris net, riding-hoods, cloth, silk, and
+lace;" and again he has a pleasant picture of taking tea at his
+grandfather Quincy's--"the old gentleman inquisitive about the hearing
+before the governor and council, about the governor's and secretary's
+looks and behavior, and about the final determination of the board. The
+old lady as merry and chatty as ever, _with her stories out of the
+newspapers_." He had through life a serene equable mind, he took the
+kindness and unkindness of fortune with even looks, and preserved his
+relish for a joke undiminished, in all his circumstances. We have before
+us two portraits of John Adams painted, the one when about forty years
+of age, the other when he was ninety. The younger likeness is a face of
+remarkable beauty, the forehead broad, serene, and intelligent, the
+eyebrows dark and elegantly arched over a pair of eyes which we make no
+doubt did fierce execution among the young women of the period who came
+under their sparkling influence. The lips full, finely curved, and
+giving an expression of great sweetness to the face, are yet firmly set,
+and combine with the attitude of the head to convey an impression of
+haughtiness and dignity. The chin is full, rounded, and inclined to be
+double; the powdered hair and the stiff coat take away from the youthful
+appearance of the picture.[5] The other portrait is from an original by
+Gilbert Stuart, and was painted when John Adams was in his ninetieth
+year. At this time he was obliged to be fed from a spoon; yet no one,
+looking at this noble, vigorous head, with its fine color and
+magnificent forehead, would suppose his age so great. The beauty of the
+young man has grown into the fuller nobility of a face in which there
+appears no trace of any evil passion, no mark of any uneasy thought, but
+an undisturbed serenity that looks back on life and awaits death with
+the happiest memories and the gladdest anticipations.
+
+In 1768, Mr. Adams, by the advice of his friends, who were urgent with
+him, removed to Boston, and took the house in Brattle Square called the
+White House. His son, John Quincy Adams, was born the year before--his
+life commenced with the most stirring period of his country's history,
+and it was his good fortune to bring down to our times so clear a memory
+of those events as to make a conversation with him on the subject an era
+in the life of an American. Shortly after the removal of John Adams to
+Boston, he was requested to accept an office under government; but
+although it was offered to him without respect to his opinions, which
+were well known to be hostile to the British rule in Massachusetts, and
+although the office was very lucrative, yet he insisted on refusing it,
+because he feared that he should sacrifice his independence in some
+manner to the influences of the position. He therefore declined any
+connection with the government, and continued the practice of the law,
+which had now become the source of a very handsome income, and was
+leading him by rapid steps into a very wide and honorable repute.
+
+Before leaving Braintree, John Adams had become accustomed to a great
+deal of exercise, riding horseback to Boston, Germantown, Weymouth, and
+other adjoining towns; cutting down trees, superintending planting and
+harvesting, and every way taking a good share of the work on his farm.
+Some of the pleasantest portions of the "Diary" are those in which he
+describes this part of his life. The following extract gives a moral
+picture of his habits:--
+
+"October, 22. Friday. Spent last Monday in taking pleasure with Mr.
+Wibird. * * * * * * * *
+
+Upon this part of the peninsula is a number of trees, which appear very
+much like the lime tree[6] of Europe, which gentlemen are so fond of
+planting in their gardens for their beauty. Returned to Mr.
+Borland's,[7] dined, and afternoon rode to Germantown, where we spent
+our evening. Deacon Palmer showed us his lucerne growing in his garden,
+of which he has cut, as he tells us, four crops this year. The Deacon
+had his lucerne seeds of Mr. Greenleaf, of Abington, who had his of
+Judge Oliver. The Deacon watered his but twice this summer, and intends
+to expose it uncovered to all the weather of the winter for a fair
+trial, whether it will endure our winters or not. Each of his four crops
+had attained a good length. It has a rich fragrance for a grass. He
+showed us a cut of it in 'Nature Displayed,' and another of St. Foin,
+and another of trefoil. The cut of the lucerne was exact enough; the pod
+in which the seeds are is an odd thing, a kind of ram's-horn or straw.
+
+"We had a good deal of conversation upon husbandry. The Deacon has about
+seventy bushels of potatoes this year on about one quarter of an acre of
+ground. Trees of several sorts considered. The wild cherry-tree bears a
+fruit of some value; the wood is very good for the cabinet-maker, and is
+not bad to burn. It is a tree of much beauty; its leaves and bark are
+handsome, and its shape. The locust; good timber, fattening to soil by
+its leaves, blossoms, &c.; good wood, quick growth, &c. The larch-tree;
+there is but one[8] in the country, that in the lieutenant-governor's
+yard at Milton; it looks somewhat like an evergreen, but is not; sheds
+its leaves.
+
+"I read in Thompson's Travels in Turkey in Asia, mention of a turpentine
+called by the name of turpentine of Venice, which is not the product of
+Venice, but of Dauphin�, and flows from the larch tree. It is thick and
+balsamic, and used in several arts, particularly that of enamelling.
+
+"24. Sunday. Before sunrise.--My thoughts have taken a sudden turn to
+husbandry. Have contracted with Jo. Field to clear my swamp, and to
+build me a long string of stone wall, and with Isaac to build me sixteen
+rods more, and with Jo. Field to build me six rods more. And my thoughts
+are running continually from the orchard to the pasture, and from thence
+to the swamp, and thence to the house and barn, and land adjoining.
+Sometimes I am at the orchard ploughing up acre after acre, planting,
+pruning apple-trees, mending fences, carting dung; sometimes in the
+pasture, digging stones, clearing bushes, pruning trees, building to
+redeem posts and rails; and sometimes removing button-trees down to my
+house; sometimes I am at the old swamp burning bushes, digging stumps
+and roots, cutting ditches across the meadows and against my uncle; and
+am sometimes at the other end of the town buying posts and rails to
+fence against my uncle, and against the brook; and am sometimes
+ploughing the upland with six yoke of oxen, and planting corn, potatoes,
+&c., and digging up the meadows and sowing onions, planting cabbages,
+&c., &c. Sometimes I am at the homestead, running cross-fences, and
+planting potatoes by the acre, and corn by the two acres, and running a
+ditch along the line between me and Field, and a fence along the brook
+against my brother, and another ditch in the middle from Field's line to
+the meadows. Sometimes am carting gravel from the neighboring hills, and
+sometimes dust from the streets upon the fresh meadows, and am sometimes
+ploughing, sometimes digging those meadows to introduce clover and other
+English grasses."[9]
+
+Thus passed the days of his early married life in Braintree, between the
+earnest study of the law, the participation in social intercourse with
+friends and neighbors, and occasional Bucolical episodes. In 1768, as we
+have said, he removed to Boston, and but seldom went into the country.
+In 1771, however, we find him writing as follows:
+
+"The complicated cares of my legal and political engagements, the
+slender diet to which I was obliged to confine myself, the air of the
+town of Boston, which was not favorable to me, who had been born and
+passed almost all my life in the country, but especially the constant
+obligation to speak in public, almost every day, for many hours, had
+exhausted my health, brought on a pain in my breast, and a complaint in
+my lungs, which seriously threatened my life, and compelled me to throw
+off a great part of the load of business, both public and private, and
+return to my farm in the country. Early in the Spring of 1771, I removed
+my family to Braintree, still holding, however, an office in Boston. The
+air of my native spot, and the fine breezes from the sea on one side,
+and the rocky mountains of pine and savin on the other, together with
+daily rides on horseback and the amusements of agriculture, _always
+delightful to me_, soon restored my health in a considerable degree.
+
+"April 16. Tuesday evening. Last Wednesday, my furniture was all
+removed to Braintree. Saturday I carried up my wife and youngest child,
+and spent the Sabbath there very agreeably. On the 20th or 25th of
+April, 1768, I removed into Boston. In the three years I have spent in
+that town, have received innumerable civilities from many of the
+inhabitants; many expressions of their good will, both of a public and
+private nature. Of these I have the most pleasing and grateful
+remembrance. * * * * *
+
+"Monday morning I returned to town, and was at my office before nine. I
+find I shall spend more time in my office than ever I did. Now my family
+is away, I feel no inclination at all, no temptation, to be any where
+but at my office. I am in it by six in the morning, I am in it at nine
+at night, and I spend but a small space of time in running down to my
+brother's to breakfast, dinner, and tea. Yesterday, I rode to town from
+Braintree before nine, attended my office till near two, then dined and
+went over the ferry to Cambridge. Attended the House the whole
+afternoon, returned and spent the whole evening in my office alone, and
+I spent the time much more profitably, as well as pleasantly, than I
+should have done at club. This evening is spending the same way. In the
+evening, I can be alone at my office, and nowhere else; I never could in
+my family.
+
+"18. Thursday--Fast day. Tuesday I staid at my office in town; yesterday
+went up to Cambridge, returned at night to Boston, and to
+Braintree,--still, calm, happy Braintree,--at nine o'clock at night.
+This morning, cast my eyes out to see what my workmen had done in my
+absence, and rode with my wife over to Weymouth; there we are to hear
+young Blake--a pretty fellow.
+
+"20. Saturday. Friday morning by nine o'clock, arrived at my office in
+Boston, and this afternoon returned to Braintree; arrived just at
+tea-time; drank tea with my wife. Since this hour, a week ago, I have
+led a life active enough; have been to Boston twice, to Cambridge twice,
+to Weymouth once, and attended my office and the court too.
+
+"But I shall be no more perplexed in this manner. I shall have no
+journeys to make to Cambridge, no General Court to attend; but shall
+divide my time between Boston and Braintree, between law and
+husbandry;--_farewell politics_."[10]
+
+During Mr. Adams's residence in Boston he did not always occupy the same
+house. In April, 1768, he removed, as we have said, to the White House
+in Brattle Square. In the spring, 1769, he removed to Cole Lane, to Mr.
+Fayerweather's house. In 1770, he removed to another house in Brattle
+Square.
+
+In 1772 he again removed to Boston with his family, and finding, as he
+says, that "it was very troublesome to hire houses, and to be often
+obliged to remove, I determined to purchase a house, and Mr. Hunt
+offering me one in Queen-street, near the scene of my business, opposite
+the Court House, I bought it, and inconvenient and contracted as it was,
+I made it answer, both for a dwelling and an office, till a few weeks
+before the 19th of April, 1775, when the war commenced."
+
+In 1774 Mr. Adams was appointed delegate to the first American Congress
+at Philadelphia, and was obliged to leave his family in Braintree, while
+he himself remained with the Congress. He continued to reside in
+Philadelphia, visiting his family but seldom, and then in a very hurried
+manner, till the year 1776, when he was appointed commissioner to France
+in the place of Silas Deane, who was recalled. The treaty with France
+having been concluded by Dr. Franklin before Mr. Adams reached Paris, he
+returned home after an absence of a year and a half.
+
+Hardly had he returned before he was again dispatched as Minister to the
+Court of St. James. While abroad at this time he made some stay in
+Paris, was afterwards at Amsterdam for the purpose of negotiating a loan
+and forming a treaty of amity and commerce with Holland, and still
+later, in 1785, was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain.
+During all this time he had been separated from his wife--a space of
+nearly six years--but in 1784, finding that there was no prospect of a
+return, he sent for Mrs. Adams to join him in London. On reaching
+London, Mrs. Adams found that her husband was in Paris; her son, John
+Quincy Adams, was sent by his father to escort his mother and sister to
+France. The letters of Mrs. Adams, describing their mode of life in
+Paris, or rather at the little town of Auteuil, and also those which
+give an account of her residence in London, are most charmingly written,
+and we wish there was room for long extracts from them, but we already
+trespass upon the reader's kindness. We have space for only one pretty
+domestic picture.
+
+The family are expecting a packet of letters from America, which their
+friend Mr. Charles Storer has sent from London to Paris. They had some
+difficulty in procuring them from the post-office.
+
+"About eight in the evening, however, they were brought in and safely
+delivered, to our great joy. We were all together. Mr. Adams in his easy
+chair upon one side of the table, reading Plato's Laws; Mrs. A. upon the
+other, reading Mr. St. John's "Letters;" Abby, sitting upon the left
+hand, in a low chair, in a pensive posture;--enter J.Q.A. from his own
+room, with the letters in his hand, tied and sealed up, as if they were
+never to be read; for Charles had put half a dozen new covers upon them.
+Mr. A. must cut and undo them leisurely, each one watching with
+eagerness. Finally, the originals were discovered; 'Here is one for you,
+my dear, and here is another; and here, Miss Abby, are four, five, upon
+my word, six, for you, and more yet for your mamma. Well, I fancy I
+shall come off but slenderly. Only one for me.' 'Are there none for me,
+sir?' says Mr. J.Q.A., erecting his head, and walking away a little
+mortified."
+
+On his return from Europe, Mr. Adams resided--whenever political duties
+permitted his absence from the seat of government--at the mansion in
+Quincy, the name by which the more ancient portion of Braintree was
+called.
+
+The estate was purchased after the revolution. The house had been built
+long before by one of the Vassall family, a well-known republican name
+in England in the time of the commonwealth, some members of which had
+transferred themselves to Jamaica under Cromwell's projects of
+colonizing that island, and from thence had come to Massachusetts. But
+time had changed them from republicans to royalists, and when the
+revolution broke out they were on the side of the mother country. In
+Quincy, however, the race had run into females, and the house belonged
+to a descendant by the name of Borland, who sold it to the agent of Mr.
+Adams. It was then, however, very different from what it is now. Mr.
+Adams nearly doubled the size of it, and altered the front. It has since
+been altered once or twice, and lately by the present occupant, Mr.
+Charles Francis Adams, a grandson of the President.
+
+In this house Mr. Adams continued to reside till his death in 1826.
+During the time that he was in Philadelphia and Washington as President
+and Vice-President, Mrs. Adams remained at Quincy, partly on account of
+her health, partly to take charge of her husband's private property,
+which had never been large, and which had suffered much diminution from
+the expenses incident to public life.
+
+Mrs. Adams's account of her residence in Washington--the troubles which
+she had in procuring almost the necessaries of life in that out of the
+way settlement--her description of Washington and the White House at
+that early date, have been printed too often in newspapers all over the
+country, to need insertion here. Not less interesting than these letters
+are those which describe her life in Philadelphia; her little sketches
+of society in that city, then the seat of government, have all the
+charms which the unaffected letters of an elegant woman cannot fail to
+display.
+
+The following letter will conclude our article, showing, as it does, the
+peaceful occupations of this happy aged couple, retired to their beloved
+home to await the inevitable summons, to which they looked forward with
+the beautiful resignation of minds in love with virtue, and conscious of
+no offence against the laws of God or man.
+
+            TO THOMAS B. ADAMS.
+
+            QUINCY, _12 July, 1801_.
+
+  "MY DEAR SON:
+
+"I am much delighted to learn that you intend making a visit to the old
+mansion. I wish you could have accomplished it so as to have been here
+by this time, which would have given you an opportunity of being at
+Commencement, meeting many of your old acquaintances, and visiting the
+seat of science, where you received your first rudiments.
+
+"I shall look daily for you. You will find your father in the fields,
+attending to his haymakers, and your mother busily occupied in the
+domestic concerns of her family. I regret that a fortnight of sharp
+drought has shorn many of the beauties we had in rich luxuriance. The
+verdure of the grass has become a brown, the flowers hang their heads,
+droop, and fade, whilst the vegetable world languishes; yet still we
+have a pure air. The crops of hay have been abundant; upon this spot,
+where eight years ago we cut scarcely six tons, we now have thirty. 'We
+are here, among the vast and noble scenes of nature, where we walk in
+the light and open ways of the divine bounty, and where our senses are
+feasted with the clear and genuine taste of their objects.' * * * * *
+
+"I am, my dear Thomas, affectionately, your mother,
+
+           "ABIGAIL ADAMS."
+
+Mrs. Adams died at Quincy on the 28th of October, 1818, aged seventy-four
+years.
+
+John Adams died at the good age of ninety-one years, on the 4th of July,
+1826. We thank God, as he did, that a life spent in the service of his
+country should close without pain and in perfect tranquillity of soul,
+on the anniversary of the best day in her history, and a day with which
+his name is for ever associated in our gratefullest memories.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] "Three months after this (during the second quarter), the Selectmen
+procured lodgings for me at Dr. Nahum Willard's. This physician had
+a large practice, a good reputation for skill, and a pretty library.
+Here were Dr. Cheyne's works, Sydenham, and others, and Van Swieten's
+Commentaries on Boerhaave. I read a good deal in these books, and
+entertained many thoughts of becoming a physician and surgeon."--_The
+Works of JOHN ADAMS, edited by CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS_--Vol. II., p. 7.
+
+[3] The Works of John Adams--Vol. II., page 9.
+
+[4] The Works of John Adams--Vol. II., p. 145.
+
+[5] This picture is engraved in the "The Life and Works," Vol. II.,
+Frontispiece. We are obliged to guess at the age when it was taken,
+since we find no hint concerning it--indeed no reference to the picture
+any where in the book.
+
+[6] "The American nettle-tree. One of these is still to be seen growing
+out of the top of the rock at this place."--_Ed. The Life and Works._
+
+[7] "This is the mansion afterwards purchased by the writer, in which he
+lived from the date of his last return from Europe until his death in
+1826.--_Ib._
+
+[8] This tree still remains in fine condition on Milton Hill.--_Ed.
+The Life and Works._
+
+[9] The Life and Works--Vol. II., p. 136-138.
+
+[10] The Life and Works--Vol. II., p. 255.
+
+
+
+
+=Patrick Henry.=
+
+[Illustration: Patrick Henry fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Residence of Patrick Henry, Va.]
+
+PATRICK HENRY.
+
+
+There is no "Home of an American Statesman" that may more fitly claim
+the leading place in this our repository than the dwelling of Patrick
+Henry--the earliest, the most eloquent, and the wisest of those whose
+high counsels first swayed us as one people and drew us to a common
+cause; as resolutely as ably directed that cause to its noble event;
+and, in a word, performing in the civil struggle all that Washington
+executed in the military, achieved for us existence as a nation.
+
+In the Heroic Age, however, such as was to us the Revolution, men build
+not monuments nor engrave commemorative inscriptions: those of nature,
+identified by rude but reverential tradition, alone attest where the
+founders of a race, the great-fathers of an empire, have sprung.
+
+If there be, among the many men of that brave day, one prompter and more
+unfaltering than all the rest; if, among all who moved by stirring words
+and decisive acts the general mind of the country, there was one who
+more directly than any, or than all, set it in a flame not to be
+extinguished; if amidst those lights there was one, the day star, till
+whose coming there was no dawn, it was certainly Henry. It is true that,
+before him, Massachusetts had her quarrel with England, but not with the
+common sympathy of the colonies. For, averse, from her very foundation,
+to not merely the dominion, but the very institutions of the mother
+country, she had kept up with it a continual bickering, religious as
+well as civil; a strife at best local, often ill-tempered and factious;
+so that her too frequent broils, commanding little regard, would have
+continued to come to nothing had not an opposition to English measures
+sprung up in a more loyal quarter. The southern colonies, meanwhile, had
+always loved the parent land, both church and state, and naturally had
+been indulgently dealt with by its legislation. Thus, until that
+ill-advised measure, the Stamp Act, came, to affect all the American
+plantations alike, there had been nothing to draw us together in a
+common cause, a common resistance. The Stamp Act gave that cause, and
+Henry led that resistance. Young, obscure, unconnected, unaided,
+uncounselled, and even uncountenanced, he yet, by the sudden splendor of
+his eloquence, his abilities, and his dauntless resolution, carried
+every thing before him; animated the whole land to a determined
+assertion of their rights; established for himself a boundless influence
+over the popular mind; used it, whenever the occasion came, to sound the
+signal of an unshrinking opposition to every encroachment; led the way,
+independently of all movements elsewhere; devised and brought about
+every main measure of preparation; rejected all compromise; clearly the
+first to see the certain issue of the contest in European interposition
+and the establishment of our Independence, pursued steadily that aim
+before even he could openly avow it: and finally, when things were ripe;
+assumed it for his State, instructed her deputation to propose it to all
+the rest, and indeed, involved them in it beyond avoidance, by setting
+up a regular and permanent Republican Constitution in Virginia; a step
+that allowed no retreat, and was not less decisive than the heroical act
+of Cortez, when, marching upon Mexico from his landing-place, he burnt
+his vessels behind him. Henry was, in a word, the Moses who led us forth
+from the house of bondage. If there had been an opposition before his,
+it was not the appointed, and would have been an ineffectual one. There
+had, no doubt, been Jews enough that murmured, even before he who was to
+deliver them appeared. We may, therefore, fitly apply to Henry, in
+regard to the bringing about of our Independence, all that Dryden so
+finely said of Bacon in science:
+
+    "Bacon, like Moses, led us forth, at last:
+    The barren wilderness he passed;
+    Did on the very border stand
+    Of the blest promised land;
+    And from the mountain-top of his exalted wit,
+    Saw it himself and showed us it."
+
+And yet Henry, like nearly all his illustrious fellow-laborers of
+freedom, sleeps in an undistinguished grave. At his death, party spirit
+denied to his memory the tokens of public admiration and regret, offered
+in that very legislature of which he had been the great light, and
+which, indeed, he had called into being. Since that sorry failure--for
+all faction should have been hushed over the body of a citizen and a man
+so admirable--no further notice has been taken of him; and he who
+merited a national monument, only less proud than that due to Washington
+himself, slumbers beneath an humble private one at Red Hill, the
+secluded residence where he died.
+
+But we turn to those personal particulars of this extraordinary man
+which are appropriate to the design of the present volume. Not a few of
+them will be found to involve important corrections of the received
+account of his early years, and a new view, therefore, of his genius and
+character.
+
+In that received account, his sole original biographer, Mr.
+Wirt--writing without any personal knowledge of him, and neglecting to
+consult the most obvious and authentic source of information, his four
+surviving sisters, ladies of condition and of remarkable
+intelligence--has fallen into the vulgar error, to which the peculiar
+position and fortunes of Mr. Henry at first gave rise, and which he
+afterwards, for warrantable political purposes, encouraged. When he
+suddenly burst out from complete obscurity, an unrivalled orator, a
+consummate politician, and snatched the control of legislation and of
+the public mind from the veteran, the college-bred, the wealthy and
+high-born leaders who had till then held it, the homeliness of dress
+which befitted his narrow circumstances, the humility of aspect and the
+simplicity of manners, which were unaffected traits of his disposition,
+naturally assigned him in the eyes of both those who were of it and of
+those who looked down upon it, to the plebeian class. It suited the envy
+of these, it delighted the admiration of those, to regard him--that
+unintelligible marvel of abilities, which had thus all at once effaced
+every thing else--as a mere child of the people. The really skilful, who
+understand intellectual prodigies and never refer them to ignorance or
+chance, must have seen at once, through the cloud in which he stood, a
+great and an enlightened understanding, too competent to a high and a
+complex public question, not to be strong in knowledge as well as
+faculties. The few cannot have mistaken him for that fabulous thing, an
+ignorant genius; for they must have seen in his commanding and complete
+eloquence the art, in his masterly measures the information, of one
+thoroughly trained, though in secret, to the business of swaying men's
+minds, and of conducting their counsels, though hitherto apart from
+them. All but this highest class, however, of the rivals whom he at once
+threw into eclipse naturally sought to depreciate him as a mere
+declaimer, a tribunitian orator, voluble and vehement as he was rude,
+rash, and illiterate. Could the tapers that, at Belshazzar's feast, went
+out before the blaze of that marvellous handwriting on the wall, have
+been afterwards permitted to give their opinion of it, they would, of
+course, have talked disdainfully of its beam, as mere phosphorus or some
+other low pyrotechnic trick. Such was the reputation which the
+vanquished magnates in general, and their followers, endeavored to fix
+upon the young subverter of their ascendency. He was not of one of the
+old aristocratic families; he was a low person, therefore he had never
+been within the walls of a college, still less had he, like many of
+them, finished, with the graces of foreign travel, a public discipline
+of learning; he was, therefore, by their report, illiterate, although,
+certainly, in his performances, all the best effects of education were
+manifest, without its parade. While they called him ignorant, he always
+proved himself to know whatever the occasion demanded, and able
+victoriously to instruct foe and friend. Shunning, from his sense, all
+assumption, and from his modesty, all display, he never pulled out the
+purse of his acquirements to chink it merely, but only to pay; so that
+no man could tell what he had left in the bottom of his pocket; and
+thus, a ragged-looking Fortunatus, he always surprised men with his
+unguessed resources. Strange powers, undoubtedly, he had, that must have
+not a little confounded the judgment of the best observers; unexercised
+in the forum, he had risen up a consummate master of the whole art of
+moving in discourse the understanding or the passions; unpractised in
+public affairs, he had only to appear in them, in order to stand the
+first politician of his day; unversed in the business and the strategy
+of deliberative assemblies, he had only to become a member of one, in
+order to be its adroitest parliamentary tactician. As he was dexterous
+without practice, so was he prudent without experience; for, from the
+first he shone out as the wisest man in all the public councils. He
+seems to have escaped all that tribute of error which youth must almost
+invariably pay, as the price of eminence in public affairs; he fell into
+no theory, he indulged no vision, he never once committed a blunder; in
+short, ripe from the beginning, he appeared to be by instinct and the
+mere gift of nature, whatever others slowly become only by the aid of
+art and experience. Bred up in seclusion, though (as the high
+cultivation of his sisters testified to all who knew them) in a
+household whose very atmosphere was knowledge, he had, beyond a good
+acquaintance with Latin, the rudiments of Greek, French, mathematics,
+and an early familiarity with the best English authors--those of the
+Elizabethan age, of the Commonwealth, and of Queen Anne's day-received
+little direct instruction; none, but from his father and books, his
+early companions, so that his scholastic instruction was really slender.
+But he had been taught, betimes, to love knowledge and how to work it
+out for himself; how, in a word, to accomplish what best unfolds a great
+genius, self-education. For schools and colleges--admirable contrivances
+as they are for keeping up among mankind a common method and a common
+stock of information--are but suited, as they were but designed, for the
+common run of men. Applying to all the same mechanical process; bringing
+to the same level the genius and the dunce, they act excellently to
+repair the original inequality, sometimes so vast, with which nature
+deals out understanding among the human race. In a word, they are
+capital machines for bringing about an average of talent; but it is at
+the expense of those bright parts which occasionally come, that they do
+it. Their methods clap in the same couples him who can but creep and him
+who would soar; harness in the same cart the plough-horse and the
+courser. The highest genius must be its own sole method-maker, its own
+entire rule. From what it has done, rules are deduced; but for its
+inferiors, not for it: its whole existence is exceptional, original; and
+whatever, in its disciplining, would tend to make it otherwise, serves
+but to check and to diminish its development.
+
+No greater error, therefore, than to suppose that a man as extraordinary
+as Patrick Henry, who, mature from the first, rose up a consummate
+speaker and reasoner, and, amongst men of large abilities, knowledge,
+and experience, constantly showed himself, in matters the weightiest and
+the most difficult, superior to them all, could have been uneducated. In
+reality he had learned of the best possible master, for such a
+man--himself. That he knew, that he even knew more solidly, because more
+effectually and to the purpose, than all those around him, the great
+subjects with which he dealt so wonderfully, is beyond all question.
+Now, though the genius of Mr. Henry was prodigious, and though there be
+things which genius does, as it were, intuitively and spontaneously,
+there are other things which are not knowable, even by genius itself,
+without study; which the utmost genius cannot extemporize, cannot
+produce from nothing, cannot make without their materials previously
+amassed in its mind, cannot understand without their necessary
+particulars accumulated in advance; and it was in just such things--the
+highest civil ability, which comes of wisdom, not genius; the greatest
+eloquence which cannot be formed but by infinite art and labor--that he
+stood up at all times supreme. The sagacity of statesmanship with which
+he looked through the untried affairs of this country, saw through
+systems and foretold consequences, has never been surpassed; and his
+eloquence, judged (as we have alone the means of judging it) by its
+effects, has never been equalled.
+
+Such then, even upon the traditionary facts out of which his biographer
+has shaped into a mere fable his sudden rise and his anomalous
+abilities, is, of necessity, the rational theory of Mr. Henry's
+greatness. But, without any resort to induction, the simple truth, if
+Mr. Wirt had sought it in the natural quarter, would have conducted him
+to the same conclusions as we have just set forth.
+
+At the time when Mr. Wirt collected his materials, he was yet, though of
+fine natural abilities, by no means the solid man that he by and by
+became. His fancy was exuberant, his taste florid, his judgment
+unformed. Himself in high repute for a youthful and gaudy eloquence,
+which, however, he afterwards exchanged for a style of great severity
+and vigor--he had been urged to his immature and ambitious undertaking,
+by admirers who conceived him to be little less than a second Henry. His
+besetting idea seems to be much akin to Dr. Johnson's "who drives fat
+oxen should himself be fat:" namely that the life of a great orator
+should be written by a great orator; and that he was to show not only
+Mr. Henry but himself eloquent. In general his book does him credit, as
+merely a literary performance, although sadly deformed, in what were
+intended for its best passages, by an inflation of which he must have
+been afterwards greatly ashamed, as a sin against all style, but
+especially that proper to his subject--the historic. Let us add--in
+simple justice to a man of great virtues and elevation, as well as
+gentleness of mind and feelings, whose memory has upon us, besides, the
+claim of public respect and of hereditary friendship--that his
+biography, wherever his own, is, in spite of party spirit, written with
+the most honorable candor, and vindicates Mr. Henry with equal fairness
+and ability from the aspersions cast upon his conduct in the "Alien and
+Sedition" business by the Jeffersonian faction. Wherever he (Mr. Wirt)
+has depended upon his own researches alone, he displays both diligence
+and discrimination; but unhappily, he accepted the loose popular
+traditions, which are never any thing but a tissue of old women's tales;
+he relied upon a mass of casual contributions, chiefly derived from the
+same legendary sources or from uncertain, confused, and (as himself lets
+us see) often contradictory memories; and above all, he adopted
+implicitly the information supplied by a certain Thomas Jefferson; who,
+besides being a person of whom the sagacious and upright Henry cherished
+a very ill opinion--so that _he_ could not well be supposed a very
+special repository of the orator's personal confidences--was a gentleman
+who had all his life driven rather the largest and most lucrative trade
+in the calumny of nearly all the best and greatest of his
+contemporaries, that has ever been carried on in these United States,
+much as that sort of commerce has long flourished and yet flourishes
+amongst us. Upon such things he had come to a splendid political fortune
+while he lived, and when he died, with a pious solicitude to provide for
+his posterity, he bequeathed to his grandson all the unspent capital
+stock of his slanders (his Memoirs and Ana) to carry on the old business
+with and keep up the greatness of the family.
+
+The effect of all this was to turn what before was strange or obscure,
+in Henry's history, into little better than a fable, a sort of popular
+and poetic myth of eloquence, in which the great speaker and statesman
+fades away into a fiction, a mere creation of the fancy, scarcely more
+real or probable than the account in old Master Tooke's "Pantheon," of
+Orpheus's drawing the rocks and trees and the very wild beasts along
+with him by his powers of song. Nay, in one main point, Master Tooke's
+legend more consults verisimilitude: for _he_, instead of shocking all
+probability by representing his hero to have been without education,
+sends him as private pupil to the Muses themselves, who are reputed to
+have kept, then as now, the best Greek and Latin colleges a-going.
+
+It is certainly true, in excuse for all this, that the mighty men who,
+for their exploits and services, became the demigods of fable, "the fair
+humanities of old religion," had scarcely more struck the excited
+imagination of their times than had Henry. Like theirs was the obscurity
+of his birth, the mystery of his education, the marvel of his
+achievements. Of his many great speeches, scarcely one uncorrupted
+passage can be said to survive; so that even of that which all felt and
+know we have but the faintest shadow. A fragmentary thought is all of
+genuine that is left us out of a whole immortal harangue; some powerful
+ejaculation stands for an entire oration, and dimly suggests, not
+explains its astonishing effects. To all purpose historic of his
+eloquence, he might just as well have lived before alphabetic writing
+was invented. At best, the oratory that entrances, agitates, enraptures,
+transports every man in a whole assembly, and hurries him totally away,
+thrilling and frenzied with sensations as vehement as novel, sets all
+reporting, all stenography at defiance. Before it, shorthand--at most,
+the dim reflection of such things; a cold copy, a poor parody where it
+is not a burlesque of speech in its great bursts--drops its pen, and
+forgets even to translate; which, after all (_haud inexpertus loquor_),
+is the utmost it can do. But of not even such translation did Mr. Henry,
+upon any occasion but two,[11] receive the advantage such as it is.
+Every where in these the single but skilful reporter confesses, by many
+a summary in parenthesis, that at certain passages he lost himself in
+the speaker, and could not even attempt to render him. Thus it comes
+that, of his transcendent harangues--those which made or directed the
+Revolution--we have only a few scattered sentences, and the seemingly
+amazed descriptions which attest their extraordinary effects. There is
+but one exception: a version, to appearance tolerably entire, though
+still evidently but a sketch, of his "Liberty or Death" speech, when, on
+the 20th March, 1775, he told the Convention of Virginia, assembled in
+the "Old Church" at Richmond (St. Johns), that "they must fight," and
+moved to arm and organize the militia. This, even in its existing form,
+is a prodigiously noble speech, full of vigor in the argument, full of
+passion in the appeals, breathing every where the utmost fire of the
+warrior, orator, patriot, and sage. Fitly uttered, it is still--though of
+course it must have lost greatly in the transmission--a discourse to
+rouse a whole nation invincibly to arms, if their cause and their
+courage were worthy of it. That speech evidently, and that speech alone,
+is, in the main, the true thunder of Henry: all the others are but the
+mustard-bowl.
+
+[Illustration: Old Church Richmond, Va.]
+
+But though from all these causes, he already, in Mr. Wirt's day, stood,
+as seen through the fast-gathered haze of tradition, a huge but shadowy
+figure, it was the business of the biographer, instead of merely showing
+him to us in that popular light, to set him in a true one. The critical
+historian clears up such mists, defines such shadows, and calls them
+back not only to substance but proportion, color, life, the very
+pressure and body of the times. What if the historic truth had passed
+into a poetic fable? Mr. Wirt should have dealt with it, not as a bard,
+a rhapsodist, but a philosophical mythologist, who from fable itself
+sifts out the unwritten facts of a day, when fable was the only form of
+history.
+
+Besides, however, adopting for the fundamental facts of Mr. Henry's
+character all these false sources, his biographer utterly neglected (as
+we have already intimated) the most obvious and the most natural ones.
+He had then four surviving sisters, women not merely of condition but
+intellectually remarkable.
+
+To none of these did Mr. Wirt resort for any domestic particulars of his
+early life, which of course none knew so well as they. Well acquainted
+with them all--sprung from one of them--we have cause to know the
+astonishment with which they met this written account of his early years
+and his breeding up. Had Mr. Wirt personally known these highly
+cultivated and very superior ladies, distinguished as they were for the
+completeness and solidity of their old-fashioned education, he must have
+seen at once that his own story of Henry's youthful institution and ways
+is about as true as it is that Achilles was born of a sea-goddess, had a
+centaur for his private tutor, and was fed upon lion's marrow to make
+him valiant.
+
+His very lineage was literary. His father, John Henry, a Scottish
+gentleman of Aberdeen, was a man of good birth, of learned education,
+and, when he migrated to Virginia, of easy fortune. He was the nephew of
+Robertson, the great historian of his own country and of ours. The name
+of his mother, Jane Robertson, an admirable and accomplished person, is
+still preserved and transmitted among her female descendants. His
+cousin, David Henry, was the associate editor of the "Gentleman's
+Magazine," then a leading publication, with Edward Cave, the last of the
+learned printers; whose brother-in-law and successor he became. The
+family bred many of its members for the church, which in Britain implies
+such influence as secures preferment. John's younger brother, Patrick,
+thus taking orders, received a rectorship near him, and followed him to
+this country. In those days of Episcopacy, benefices drew after them not
+merely comfortable reverence, but goodly emolument and even authority in
+civil life; so that the parsons were a power in the State. All this
+Patrick, a man worthy of it, employed. His brother already possessed it;
+and thus both took their station among the gentry, though not the
+aristocracy, of the land--its untitled nobility: for, in effect, such an
+order, sustained by primogeniture and entails, then existed throughout
+lower or tide-water Virginia.
+
+John attained to the command of the regiment of his county, to its
+surveyorship, and to the presiding chair of its magistracy; stations
+then never conferred but upon leading men in the community. More
+careless, however, of his private interests than of the public, without
+exactly wasting his fortune, he gradually frittered it away; and though
+he repaired it for a time, by an advantageous marriage with the young
+and wealthy widow (a Winston by birth) of his most intimate friend, Col.
+John Syme, of the Rocky Mills, yet before the tenth year of Patrick, his
+second son (born 29th May, 1736), he found himself so straitened as to
+have need to make himself an income by setting up in his house a private
+classical school. Assisted to this by the reputation of being one of the
+best scholars in the country, he taught for a number of years with great
+approval the children of his friends and his own; abandoning the pursuit
+only when one of its inducements--the education of his own sons and
+daughters (two of the former and five of the latter)--had ceased.
+
+Under such circumstances, and especially when we repeat that those four
+of his daughters whom we knew were persons greatly admired for the
+masculine goodness and extent of their education, it may be judged how
+likely, how possible it is that Patrick, with his boundless
+aptitude--always, in after life, applied most rapidly and successfully
+to whatever he had need to understand--can have grown up to manhood
+almost uninstructed, ignorant, and idle. Genius, of which it is the very
+essence that it has an uncontrollable affinity for the knowledge proper
+to its caste, has often been seen to surmount obstacles seemingly
+invincible to its information; never yet wilfully, incorrigibly, and in
+spite of every influence around, to shut out the open and easy daylight
+of intelligence, and darken itself into voluntary duncedom. The thing,
+we repeat is a flat, a bald and a flagrant impossibility. You might as
+well tell us that a young eagle, instead of taking to the sky as soon as
+its pinions were grown, has, though neither caged nor clipped, remained
+contented on foot and preferred to run about the barn-yard with the
+dunghill fowls. No! your "mute Miltons" and your harmless Cromwells
+sound very prettily to the fancy, but in plain fact, were no Miltons
+unless they sang, no Cromwells unless they conquered. Genius and
+Heroism--the most strenuous of human things--were never dull, slothful,
+idle; never slighted opportunity, but always make, if they do not find
+it.
+
+Accordingly, the sisters of Mr. Henry always asserted that, whatever
+their brother might appear abroad, he was a close voluntary student at
+home; exploring not only his father's library, which was large and good,
+but whatever other books he could lay his hands upon; dwelling, with an
+especial delight, upon certain great authors, of whom he seemed to make
+his masters; but cultivating assiduously what was then called "polite
+learning," and merited the name, along with history at large, and that
+of the free states of antiquity, and of England in particular. His great
+favorites were Livy and Virgil; not (as Mr. Wirt supposes of the former)
+in a translation, but the original. That the sisters were right on this
+point is sufficiently proved by the fact that, a few years ago, his
+Latin Virgil was in existence, its margins all filled with his
+manuscript notes. We need hardly say that he who was not content with
+Dryden as a translator was clearly not a-going to take up with poor old
+Philemon Holland, then the current English disfigurer of the most
+animated and picturesque of historians. Henry's sisters indeed, and the
+only one of his schoolfellows that we have ever met, were persuaded that
+he read Latin almost as readily as English. Mr. Wirt himself had learned
+that the great Paduan was ever in his boyish hands; now, that single
+point established, he might without hesitation have proceeded to five
+clear and important inferences: first, that no boy has a favorite book
+but because he is fond of books generally; secondly, that when his
+favorite is, though of the highest merit, a very unusual one, he must
+not only have read much, but with great discrimination: thirdly, that if
+his favorite was in a special class (not a mere miscellanist) he was
+well read in that class, addicted to it: fourthly, that he was enamored
+of such a favorite for his matchless merits, both of matter and of
+style; his sensibility to the former of which particulars implied
+information, to the latter a well-formed taste: fifthly, that no mere
+translation of Livy--especially not flat, tame old Holland--nothing short
+of the golden original, could have inspired such a Livian affection. But
+this is not all; when--coming to be put into the possession of the
+scanty remaining body of Mr. Henry's papers (ill-preserved by his not
+very wise progeny) and invited to write his life more authentically--we
+ourselves began first to study his speeches and his mind critically, it
+did not take us long to perceive, what is indeed easily seen, that Mr.
+Henry's early passion for Livy--born of course of Livy's conformity to
+his genius--had deeply tinged the peculiar style of his eloquence, the
+peculiar character of his politics, was, in sooth, the immediate source
+of both; that the harangues in Livy had been his models of discourse;
+that the sentiments of public magnanimity, which Livy every where, and
+we may say Livy alone breathes, were transfused into Henry's spirit, and
+gave to his ideas of a state that singular grandeur, that loftiness,
+that heroism, which fills and informs them. His love of freedom
+even--his republicanism--was such as Livy's; popular, yet patrician: not
+your levelled liberty, too low to last, which, to keep down the
+naturally great, sets up the base on high; but a freedom consistent with
+the eminence and the subordination of natural orders mutually dependent;
+equal under the law, but distinct in their power to serve the state, as
+bringing to its aid, this rank higher counsels and obligations, that,
+force and numbers; in short, not merely a tumultuary, a mob liberty, but
+a social and a regulated concert of all classes, the absolute
+predominance of none; a republican, not a democratic aim. Less learned
+than Milton, certainly, but of a highly kindred spirit, he was very like
+him in his general political system; but was more practical, better
+acquainted with men. The one had more of the poetical element in him,
+the other more of the political. Both were deeply religious; without
+which no man can be a safe politician. Each towered above all the men of
+his day, except one, a warrior; and nearly such relation as Milton held
+to Cromwell did Henry hold to Washington. Alike in the antique cast of
+their minds, they were yet alike in being, withal, thoroughly English in
+their notion of actual freedom: for Henry's mind was just as little
+touched with any of the Jeffersonian fancies of Frenchified liberty as
+Milton's own. Both were of the historic, not the so-called philosophic
+school of politics: for history was evidently the only treatise on
+government that either thought worthy of any attention. If they had ever
+stooped to the systematic writers, from the great sources (wise
+histories) out of which those writers can at most draw, it can only have
+been to despise nearly every mother's son of them. Finally, alike in so
+many things, they were not unlike in their fate: both "fell upon evil
+times," and lost their public credit in the land of which they had
+matchlessly vindicated the public cause: Milton died sightless, and
+Henry too blind for the light of the Virginia abstractions.
+
+Every thing confutes the vulgar theory of his greatness. Had he been
+ignorant at his first rise, the growth of his talent, as well as of his
+knowledge, would have been traceable in his performances; but on the
+contrary, he burst out, from the first, mature and finished. By the
+universal consent, his very earliest speeches were quite equal to any
+thing he ever after pronounced. Had these been at sixteen, it would go
+far to prove that his eloquence, his ability, and even his information
+came (as such things never came in any other instance) without
+cultivation: but his first speech, that in "the parson's cause," at
+Hanover Court House, in 1763, when he was twenty-nine years old; the
+same period of life at which Demosthenes and Cicero shone out; a period
+after which there may be large additions to artificial knowledge, but
+can seldom be any to the natural splendor of the faculties.
+
+We have known many who knew Mr. Henry, in the entire unreserve of that
+domestic life, in which he so much loved to unbend himself. All such
+agreed that he was a man of very great and very various information. He
+read every thing. At home, his interval between an early dinner and
+supper-time (after which he gave himself up to conversation with his
+friends, or to sport with his children, or to music on the violin and
+flute, which he played) was always consecrated to study: he withdrew
+from company to his office and books. His very manner of reading was
+such as few attain, and marks the great and skilful dealer with other
+men's thoughts: he seldom read a book regularly on; but seemed only to
+glance his eye down the pages, and, as it were, to gallop athwart the
+volume; and yet, when he had thus strid through it, knew better than any
+body else all that was worth knowing in it contents. A learned physician
+who dwelt near him, told us, in speaking of this wide range of his
+knowledge, that he had, for instance, to his surprise, found him to be a
+good chemist, at a time when an acquaintance with that science was
+almost confined to medical men. Except in private, however, he kept the
+secret of his own attainments, content to let them appear only in their
+effects. This was, originally, out of his singular modesty; but by and
+by when his vanquished rivals of college-breeding sought to depreciate
+him as low-born and uneducated, he from policy conformed to imputations
+which heightened the wonder of his performances and therefore added to
+his success.
+
+Let us add one more fact, substantive and significant. The range of a
+man's mind, the very particulars of his studies may usually, when he is
+not a mere book-collector or other affector of letters, be pretty
+definitely ascertained from the contents of his library. In that view,
+finding that a list of Mr. Henry's was embraced in the records of the
+Court of Probate of his county, we examined and copied it. For that day,
+his library, besides its merely professional contents, is quite a large
+one--some five hundred volumes, mostly good and solid. We found it to
+contain the usual series of Greek school-books, probably all he had ever
+read; for the language was then slightly learnt in Virginia: a good many
+of the Latin authors, and various French ones. The last language we
+know, from other sources, that he understood. Now, he was the man in the
+world the least likely to have got or to keep books that he did not
+comprehend.
+
+Such was the enigma of Patrick Henry's mind; and such is its clear
+solution: a solution which, at least, must be confessed to substitute
+the rational for the irrational, the possible for the impossible, the
+positive of domestic evidence for the negative of popular tradition.
+
+Apart, however, from such testimony, there were other proofs that should
+have suggested themselves to the anatomist of life character, the
+physiologist of his genius. When we ourselves first began minutely to
+consider his speeches, their effects, all that is told of the manner in
+which those effects were brought about, the reach and the diversity of
+his powers, their admirable adaptation to all occasions and to all
+audiences--for he swayed all men alike by his eloquence, the low and the
+high, the ignorant and the learned; the unapproached dramatic perfection
+of his voice, gesture, manner, and whole delivery; his mastery, not only
+in speech, but off the tribune and man to man, of all that can affect
+either men's reason or their imagination, we could not, for our lives,
+help coming to the conclusion that all this must be skill, not chance;
+and that instead of being the mere child of nature, he was the most
+consummate artist that ever lived. Nature bestows marvellous things, but
+these are not within even her gift. She gives the gold, but she does not
+work it into every beautiful form; she gives the diamond, but she does
+not cut it; she bestows the marble, but did not carve the Olympian Jove
+nor the Belvidere Apollo. In fine, we had, in much acquaintance with men
+the ornaments of the public life of our times, been accustomed to
+understand all the minute mechanism of civil abilities; and when we came
+to examine closely this matchless piece of machinery, we could not avoid
+believing, in spite of all assertions to the contrary, that each
+particular part, however nice and small, must have been made by hand and
+most painfully put together. And thus, perceiving every thing else in
+this prodigious speaker to have been so masterly, we became convinced
+that his style, his diction must have been, in the main, as excellent as
+every thing else about him. It could not have been otherwise. He whose
+thought was so high and pure, whose fancy was so rich, and the mere
+outward auxiliaries of whose discourse (voice, and action) had been so
+laboriously perfected, can, by no possibility, have failed to make
+himself equally the master of expression. What we have as his, is mere
+reporter's English; and no man is to be judged by that slop of sentences
+into which he is put and melted away by their process. In that menstruum
+of words, all substances are alike. It is the true universal solvent, so
+long sought, that acts upon every thing and turns it into liquid babble.
+Mr Henry knew and often practised, not only upon the multitude but the
+refined; the power of a homely dialect, and saw how wise or brave or
+moving things may be made to come with a strangely redoubled effect, in
+the extremest plainness of rustic speech. His occasional resort to this,
+however, of course struck much upon the common attention and got him the
+reputation, among other foolish reputations, of habitually using such
+locutions; when, in reality, he was master of all modes of discourse
+alike, and only employed always that which best suited his purpose.
+
+There is yet one more false notion, in regard to him, which Mr. Wirt has
+done much to propagate: the notion, we mean, that Henry never
+condescended to be less than the great orator; that, instead of
+sometimes going about his business on foot, like other lawyers and
+legislators, he rode for ever in a sort of triumphal car of eloquence,
+dragging along a captive crowd at his conquering wheels; and, in short,
+that
+
+    "He could not ope
+  His mouth, but out there flew a trope."
+
+On the contrary, no man was ever less the oration-maker. He never used
+his eloquence but as he used every thing else--just when it was wanted.
+In the mass of public business, eloquence is out of place, and could not
+be attended to. A man who was always eloquent would soon lose all
+authority in a public body. Mr. Henry kept up always the very greatest,
+and merited it, by taking a leading part in all important matters and
+making more and better business speeches than any body else.
+
+A long preliminary this; but we trust not uninteresting. It was, at any
+event, necessary that we should first, in the Bentonian phrase,
+"vindicate the truth of history," and set a great character in its
+proper public light, before passing to those humble particulars of
+private life to which we now proceed.
+
+In person, he was tall and rather spare, but of limbs round enough for
+either vigor or grace. He had, however, a slight stoop, such as very
+thoughtful people are apt to contract. In public, his aspect was
+remarkable for quiet gravity. It seems to have been a rule with him
+never to laugh and hardly to smile, before the vulgar. In their presence
+he wore an air always fit to excite at once their sympathy and their
+reverence; modest, even to humility; and yet most imposing. In all this
+he played no assumed, though he could not have played a more skilful
+part: for the occasion and the presence appear always to have so duly
+and so strongly affected him, as at once to transform him into what was,
+at each instant, fittest. Thus his art, of which we have already spoken,
+might well be consummate; for he was all that, for mere purposes of
+effect, he should have seemed to be, the very impersonation of the cause
+and the feelings proper to the hour. Great wisdom, indeed, an
+unshrinking courage, and yet an equal prudence, a patriotism the most
+fervent, a profound sensibility, a rare love of justice, yet a spirit of
+the greatest gentleness and humanity, and in a word, the highest
+virtues, public and private, crowned with a disinterestedness, an
+absence of all ambition most singular in a democracy (which above all
+things breeds the contrary) made him--if Cicero be right--the greatest
+of orators, because the most virtuous of men that ever possessed that
+natural gift. No man ever knew men better, singly or in the mass; none
+ever better knew how to sway them; but none ever less abused that power,
+for he seems ever to have felt, in a religious force, the solemnity of
+all those public functions, which so few now regard. It was probably the
+weight of this feeling, along with his singular modesty, that made him
+shun official honors as earnestly as others seek them. It is evident
+that no power, nor dignity, nor even fame could dazzle him. It was only
+at the public command that he accepted trusts from his State; and he
+always laid them down as soon as duty permitted. All offers of Federal
+dignities,[12] up to the highest, he rejected. He had served his State
+only in perilous times, when (as the Devil says in Milton) to be highest
+was only to be exposed foremost to the bolts of the dreaded enemy; or at
+some conjuncture of civil danger; but when peace and ease had come and
+ambition was the only lure to office, he would not have it.
+
+If, however, he was thus grave, on what he considered the solemn stage
+of public life, he made himself ample amends in all that can give
+cheerfulness to the calm of retirement in the country. When at last
+permitted to attend to his private fortune, he speedily secured an ample
+one. It was enjoyed, whenever business allowed him to be at home, in a
+profuse and general, but solid and old-fashioned hospitality, of which
+the stout and semi-baronial supplies were abundantly drawn from his own
+large and well-managed domain. His house was usually filled with
+friends, its dependencies with their retinue and horses. But crowds,
+besides, came and went; all were received and entertained with
+cordiality. The country all about thronged to see the beloved and
+venerated man, as soon as it went abroad that he was come back. Some
+came merely to see him; the rest to get his advice on law and all other
+matters. To the poor, it was gratuitous; to even the rich without a fee,
+except where he thought the case made it necessary to go to law. All
+took his counsel as if it had been an oracle's, for nobody thought there
+was any measure to "Old Patrick's" sense, integrity, or good nature.
+This concourse began rather betimes, for those who lived near often came
+to breakfast, where all were welcomed and made full. The larder seemed
+never to get lean. Breakfast over, creature-comforts, such as might
+console the belated for its loss, were presently set forth on
+side-tables in the wide entrance hall. Of these--the solid, not the
+liquid parts of a rural morning's meal--breakfast without its slops, and
+such as, if need were, might well stand for a dinner, all further comers
+helped themselves as the day or their appetites advanced. Meanwhile, the
+master saw and welcomed all with the kindliest attention, asked of their
+household, listened to their affairs, gave them his view, contented all.
+These audiences seldom ceased before noon or the early dinner. To this a
+remaining party of from twenty to thirty often sat down. It was always,
+according to the wont of such houses in that well-fed land, a meal
+beneath which the tables groaned, and whose massive old Saxon dishes
+would have made a Frenchman sweat. Every thing is excellent at these
+lavish feasts; but they have no luxuries save such as are home-grown.
+They are, however, for all that is substantial and plain, the very
+summit of good cheer. At Governor Henry's, they never failed to be,
+besides, seasoned with his conversation, which at table always grew gay
+and even gamesome. The dinner ended, he betook himself, as already told,
+to his studies until supper, after which he again gave himself up to
+enjoyment. In this manner came, with the kindliest and most cheerful
+approach, the close of his days; upon which there rested not a stain nor
+(such had been through life his personal benignity) a hostility. Except
+tyrants and other public enemies, he had lived at peace with man and
+God, achieving most surprising and illustrious things, and content, save
+the sight of his liberated country, with little reward beyond that which
+he bore in his own approving bosom.
+
+[Illustration: Old Court House, Va.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[11] The debates in the Virginia Convention on the Federal Constitution,
+and his forensic argument against the recovery of the forfeited British
+debts.
+
+[12] He is said (_Wirt_, p. 404) to have been offered by Washington the
+Secretaryship of State and the embassy to Spain. He certainly was, by
+him, also offered the War Department, and by Mr. Adams the embassy to
+France. These are known. When the papers of Alexander Hamilton come to
+be published down to those of 1796, it will be seen that he was then
+offered, by the heads of the Federal party, through John Marshall, the
+nomination for the Presidency, as Washington's successor, but declined
+it.
+
+
+
+
+=Madison.=
+
+[Illustration: Madison fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Montpelier, Madison's Residence]
+
+MADISON.
+
+
+Science has had, and perhaps will ever have, its fancies; and fancy has
+often aspired to become science; for between the two--wide apart as they
+are said to lie--stretches an uncertain domain, which they seem
+alternately to occupy by incursion, and of which, when thus seized upon,
+each appears, oddly enough, often to take possession in the rival name
+of the other. Thus Astronomy, growing visionary, has pretended to trace
+from the aspects of the heavenly bodies, not merely their laws and
+motions, but the vicissitudes of human fate; and chemistry has had its
+poetic visions of an elixir of life and of the philosopher's stone;
+while, on the other hand, mere imagination has quite as often attempted
+to erect, out of the airiest things, a philosophic realm of her own, and
+to deduce into positive sciences the bumps upon the human skull, the
+freaks of Nature in the conformation of the features, and even the
+whimsical diversities of people's handwriting. From all these have been
+set up grave methods of arriving at a knowledge of men's faculties and
+characters.
+
+It is surprising that, among these fantastic systems of physiognomy,
+that easy and natural one should never have been set on foot, which
+might connect the structural efforts of individuals with the cast of
+their minds and feelings. To do this would be especially easy in new
+countries, where nearly every one is compelled to build his own abode,
+and where, for the most part, there is so little of architectural
+solidity that habitations seldom last for above a generation, and even
+he who inherits a house inherits but a ruin. Thus the simplicity of
+Patrick Henry's habits and tastes might be inferred from the
+primitiveness of his dwelling. You might have guessed his
+unambitiousness from the absence about his home of any thing that
+betrayed a longing for grandeur. All was plain, substantial, good;
+nothing ostentatious or effeminate. The master's personal desires
+coveted nothing beyond rural abundance and comforts--such blessings as
+are quite enough to make private life happy and preserve it uncorrupt.
+In all this you might discern the public man who cherished, as a
+politician, no visions, no novelties; sought, of course, to build up for
+his fellow-citizens no other nor better happiness than such as crowned
+all his own wishes; believed little in pomp and greatness; loved our old
+hereditary laws, manners, liberties, victuals; and dreaded French
+principles and dishes as alike contaminating and destructive.
+
+Man, as we have already intimated, is a constructive animal. He alone is
+properly such. For the inferior creatures that build do so upon a
+single, instinctive, invariable method, always using the same material;
+he, rationally and inventively, as outward circumstances may require, or
+as, when these constrain him little, his individual fancy, desires, or
+judgment may prompt. In the nomadic state a tent of skins, a lodge of
+bark, are the sole structures for shelter that fit his wandering life;
+and the rudeness of these invites to no decoration, while convenience
+itself forbids all diversity of contrivance for him, who, paying no
+ground-rent, may decamp to-morrow; and, bound by no leasehold, may carry
+his tenement with him, like that travelling landlord, Master Snail, or
+abandon it like that lodger by the season, Dame Bird. In short, he comes
+not under the terms of zoological or botanical description, as having a
+_habitat_; under the line he lives, as did father Adam and mother Eve
+(whose housekeeping in Eden, Milton so well relates), in a bower of rose
+and myrtle; at the pole, he burrows beneath the snow or makes his
+masonry of ice; in Idumea, he dwells, like its lions, in a cavern; on
+the Maranon, he perches his house in a tree-top, and his young
+ones--plumeless bipeds though they be--nestle among the feathered
+denizens of the mid-air; in certain mining regions, he is born and dies
+hundreds of fathoms under ground, and perhaps never sees the light of
+day; in Naples, he lives, as do the dogs and cats of Constantinople, in
+the streets. Thus, whatever idea, whatever purpose, whatever need,
+whatever fancy, predominates in him when he builds, it takes shape, it
+finds expression, it embodies itself, forthwith, in fitting material,
+fittingly contrived, and is, according to his habitative wish, his taste
+in a tabernacle, possibly a pig-sty, possibly a palace; for his range of
+invention stretches over every thing that lies between the two.
+
+The founders of the great commonwealths of antiquity--the Grecian
+statesmen and warriors, the Roman consuls--lived at home, during the
+most glorious period of their several states, in an extreme simplicity;
+content with a truly noble penury, while they built up the grandeur of
+their country. The constructive propensity of the Athenian instead of a
+private direction towards his personal gratification, took the generous
+form of a passion for public monuments; that of the Roman turned itself,
+until the decline of the Republic began, upon the rearing of trophies
+and triumphal arches, rather than of lordly mansions; and dictators
+sometimes, consuls often, were called from the cot and the plough to the
+supreme trusts of war and peace. But this was all in the spirit of ages
+and institutions, when the citizen lived in the state and sought his
+private, in the public greatness and happiness. Modern times present few
+individual instances of the like. In those ancient politics, the state
+leaned on the citizen; in our modern, the citizen leans on the state.
+Then, public life was much, private life was little; now, it is
+reversed, the citizen wants not to help the state, but wants the state
+to help him. Now, over-civilization has so multiplied the conveniences
+of life, and habit has rendered its indulgences so necessary, that he
+who, being great, can live without and above them, has need to be of a
+rare elevation, an inherent grandeur of soul.
+
+The statesman whose mansion and whose habits in retreat we are about to
+describe, without being altogether of that heroical cast of mind which
+graced the character of a Washington, a Henry, or a Clay, had yet much
+of that elevated simplicity which marks the highest strain of greatness.
+Mr. Madison, when he laid down what he had so worthily and wisely worn
+as to have disarmed all previous reproach and hostility--the supreme
+dignity of the Union--returned quietly to his hereditary abode, resumed
+the unaffected citizen, and seemed to be as glad to forget his past
+greatness as to escape from the anxieties and envy that attend power as
+shadows do the sun. He went back, after his stormy but successful
+presidency of eight years, to his father's seat, Montpelier, where, but
+for the accident--the same which befell a hero of Irish song, Denis
+Brulgruddery--of his mother's being on a visit to her mamma at the time,
+he would certainly have been born. There, like a sensible man, and a
+good fellow to boot (as he was), he sat down on a fine plantation, in a
+good old-fashioned house, with a fine old cellar of old-fashioned wines
+under it, and the best old Virginian servants in it, to spend the rest
+of his days upon that wise plan which King Pyrrhus proposed to himself,
+but, postponing too long, did not live to execute. He (that is, Mr.
+Madison, not Pyrrhus) sat down like an actor who has played out his part
+with applause, calmly to look at the rest of the piece, no further
+concerned in its business, but not affecting (as others have done) the
+uninterested spectator of the performance. He did not assume the
+philosophic sage; he did not bury himself in a monastic gloom like
+Charles V.; nor, like the same discrowned prince and Mr. Jefferson,
+betake himself to mending watches; nor, like Dioclesian, to cultivating
+cabbages; but in the bosom of that pleasant retreat, which had witnessed
+his youthful preparation for public toils, sought the repose from them
+which he had fairly earned; and sweetening it with all that could give
+it zest, in the companionship of the amiable wife who had shared with
+him and adorned public honors, and in the society of the many personal
+friends that his virtues and talents drew about him, passed the evening
+of his days in gentlemanly and genial ease and hospitality.
+
+Montpelier, the residence to which, as an only child, he had succeeded
+at his father's death, is a plain but ample, and rather handsome
+habitation of brick, around which spreads out, in such undulations of
+gently-waving swells and irregular plains as pleasantly diversify the
+view, a fertile domain of some two thousand six hundred acres; a part of
+it well cultivated, but a still larger part yet in all the wildness of
+nature. The region is one where she has shed, in great beauty, the
+softest picturesque of hill and dale, forest and glade. At hand, in the
+rear, rises, as if to adorn the prospect with bolder contrasts, the
+gracefully wavering chain of the southwest mountain, to fence on one
+side the vale of Orange and Albemarle, on whose southeastern edge of
+nodding woods and green fields Montpelier lies embosomed and embowered;
+while on the other side, in the airy distance beyond that vale, tower in
+fantastic line the blue peaks of the long Appalachian ridge, breaking the
+horizon, as if to form another and a more fanciful one. The wide scene,
+caught in glimpses through the mantling trees, or opening out in the
+larger vista of farm beyond farm, or shining in loftier prospect above
+the tree-tops and the low hills, offers to the ranging eye, many a
+charming view,--sweet spots of pastoral beauty; jutting capes and
+copses, or nodding old groves of woodlands; the rich and regular
+cultivation of spreading plantations, amidst which glisten now a stately
+mansion, and now a snug farm-house, each decorated with its peculiar
+growth of trees for shade or fruit; and far away, mountain regions,
+whose heights, and whose rude and massy but undefined forms, suggest to
+the fancy the savage grandeur of that remoter landscape which the eye
+knows to be there, though it mocks the sight with what is so different.
+All these are, at frequent points, the aspects of that fine country from
+Orange court-house up to Charlottesville; they are nowhere seen in
+greater perfection or abundance than just around Montpelier. At almost
+every turn, one discovers a new pleasure of the landscape; at nearly
+every step, there is a surprise. It looks like a realm of pictures; you
+would almost think that not nature had placed it there, but that the
+happiest skill of the painter had collected and disposed the scenes.
+
+The house, we have said, is plain and large. Its size and finish bespeak
+gentlemanly but unpretending ease and fortune. It has no air of assumed
+lordliness or upstart pretension. No foreign models seem to have been
+consulted in its design, no proportions of art studied; yet it wants not
+symmetry as well-planned convenience, comfort, and fitness lend, as if
+without intention. A tall, and rather handsome columned portico, in
+front, is the only thing decorative about it; but is not enough so to be
+at all out of keeping. It is of the whole height of the central
+building, of two stories, and covers about half its length of some
+forty-five feet. Broad steps, five in number, support and give access
+along its entire front. Its depth is about one-third its width. The main
+building itself is a parallelogram, near half as deep as it is long. At
+each flank, a little receding, is a single-storied wing of about twenty
+feet, its flat roof surmounted by a balustrade. The house stands on a
+gently-rising eminence. A wide lawn, broken only here and there by
+clumps of trees, stretches before it. On either side are irregular
+masses of these, of different shapes and foliage, evergreen and
+deciduous, which thicken at places into a grove, and half screen those
+dependencies of a handsome establishment--stables, dairies and the
+like--which, left openly in sight, look very ill, and can be made to
+look no otherwise, even by the trying to make them look genteel: for
+they are disagreeable objects, that call up (attire them as you will)
+ideas not dainty. As, therefore, the eye should not miss them
+altogether--for their absence would imply great discomfort and
+inconvenience--the best way is to half-veil them, as is done at
+Montpelier.
+
+In the rear of the house lies a large and well-tended garden. This was,
+of course, mainly the mistress's care; while the master's was, as far as
+his bodily feebleness permitted, directed towards his agricultural
+operations. In the Virginia economy of the household, where so much must
+be ordered with a view to entertaining guests all the while, the garden
+plays an important part. Without ample supplies from it, there would be
+no possibility of maintaining that exuberant good cheer with which the
+tables continually groan, in all those wealthier habitations where the
+old custom of a boundless hospitality is still reverently observed. In
+such--and there are yet many, although the Jeffersonian "Law of
+Descents," and the diffusion of the trading spirit are thinning them out
+every day, as rum and smallpox are dispeopling our Indian tribes--there
+is little pause of repletion. Every guest must be feasted: if a
+stranger, because strangers ought to be made to pass their time as
+agreeably as possible; if a friend, because nothing can be too good for
+one's friends. Where such social maxims and such a domestic policy
+prevail, there will seldom, according to Adam Smith's principle of
+"Demand and Supply," be any very serious lack of guests. Indeed, the
+condition is one hard to avoid, and so pleasant, withal, that we have
+known persons of wit and breeding to adopt it as their sole profession,
+and benevolently pass their lives in guarding their friends, one after
+another, from the distresses of a guestless mansion. But, to return to
+the garden of Montpelier; there were few houses in Virginia that gave a
+larger welcome, or made it more agreeable, than that over which Queen
+Dolly--the most gracious and beloved of all our female
+sovereigns--reigned; and, wielding as skilfully the domestic, as she had
+done worthily and popularly the public, sceptre, every thing that came
+beneath her immediate personal sway--the care and the entertainment of
+visitors, the government of the menials, the whole policy of the
+interior--was admirably managed, with an equal grace and efficiency.
+Wherefore, as we have said, the important department of the garden was
+excellently well administered, both for profit and pleasure, and made to
+pour forth in profusion, from its wide and variously-tended extent, the
+esculents and the blooms, herb, fruit, flower, or root, of every season.
+Nor was the merely beautiful neglected for the useful only; her truly
+feminine tastes delighted in all the many tinted children of the
+parterre, native and exotic; and flowers sprang up beneath her hand, as
+well as their more substantial sisters, the vegetables. In a word, her
+garden was rich in all that makes one delightful; and so of all the
+other less sightly but needful departments of her large and well-ordered
+establishment.
+
+We should, however, slight one of its most pleasing features, were we to
+omit mentioning the peculiar purpose to which was consecrated one of
+those low wings of the building which we have briefly described. There
+dwelt, under the most sacred guard of filial affection, yet served in
+her own little separate household by servants set apart to her use, the
+very aged and infirm mother of Mr. Madison; a most venerable lady, who,
+after the death of her husband, thus lived under the tender guardianship
+of her son and of her daughter-in-law, down to near her hundredth year,
+enjoying whatever of the sweets of life the most affectionate and
+ingenious solicitude can bestow upon extreme decrepitude. Here she
+possessed without the trouble of providing them, all the comforts and
+freedom of an independent establishment; and tended by her own
+gray-haired domestics, and surrounded at her will by such younger
+relatives as it gratified her to have about her, she passed her quiet
+but never lonely days, a reverent and a gentle image of the good and
+indeed elevated simplicity of elder times, manners, and tastes. All the
+appointments of her dwelling bespoke the olden day; dark and cumbrous
+old carved furniture, carpets of which the modern loom has forgotten the
+patterns; implements that looked as if Tubal Cain had designed them;
+upholstery quaintly, if not queerly venerable. In short, all the objects
+about her were in keeping with her person and attire. You would have
+said that they and she had sat to Sir Godfrey Kneller for a family
+picture; or that you yourself had been suddenly transported back to
+Addison's time, and were peeping by privilege into the most secluded
+part of Sir Roger de Coverley's mansion. Indeed, to confirm the
+illusion, you would probably find her reading the Spectator in the large
+imprint and rich binding of its own period, or thumbing--as our
+degenerate misses do a novel of the Dickens or Sue school--the leaves of
+Pope, Swift, Steele, or some other of those whom criticism alone (for
+the common people and the crowd, of what is now styled literature, know
+them not) still recalls as "the wits of Queen Anne's day." These were
+the learning of our great-grandmothers; need we wonder if they were
+nobler dames than the frivolous things of the fancy boarding-school,
+half-taught in every thing they should not study, made at much pains and
+expense to know really nothing, and just proficient enough of foreign
+tongues to be ignorant of their own? The authors we have mentioned,
+their good contemporaries, and their yet greater predecessors, who gave
+to our language a literature, and are still all that holds it from
+sinking into fustian and slipslop, a tag-rag learning and a
+tatterdemalion English, were those that lay around this ancient lady,
+and beguiled her old age as they had formed and delighted the youth of
+her mind and heart. If you made her refer to them, as the favourite
+employment of her infirmity-compelled leisure, it was pleasant to hear
+her (as in that other instance which we have given of Patrick Henry's
+sisters) talk of them as if they had been dear and familiar personal
+friends. Perhaps, however, authors were then better loved and more
+respected by their readers than they are nowadays; and possibly this was
+because they deserved to be so; or indeed there may be a double decline,
+and readers as much worse than the writers. Not that either of these is
+the fact, or even a conjecture which we ourselves entertain. We merely
+mention it _en passant_, as a bare possibility. The opinion would be
+unpopular, and should not be admitted in a democracy; of which it is the
+very genius to have no opinions but such as are popular; and therefore
+to think no thoughts that might betray one into an opinion not that of
+the majority.
+
+Such books then, and, when her old eyes grew weary, the almost equally
+antiquated occupation of knitting, habitually filled up the hours of
+this old-time lady; the hours, we mean, which pain or feebleness
+remitted her for occupation. As to those sadder moments of suffering, or
+of that sinking of the bodily powers which presses at times upon
+far-advanced age, she bore them with the cheerfullest patience, and even
+treated them as almost compensated by the constant delight of the
+affections which the pious care of her children gave her all the while.
+Nothing could exceed their watchfulness to serve her, soothe her,
+minister to her such enjoyments as may be made by lovingness to linger
+around even the last decline of a kindly and well-spent life. In all
+such offices, her son bore as much part as his own frail health and the
+lesser aptitude of men for tending the sick permitted; but no daughter
+ever exceeded in the tender and assiduous arts of alleviation, the
+attentions which Mrs. Madison gave to her husband's infirm parent.
+Reversing the order of nature, she became to her (as the venerable
+sufferer herself was accustomed fondly to say) the mother of her second
+childhood. Mistress as she was of all that makes greatness pleasing and
+sheds a shining grace upon power, Mrs. Madison never appeared in any
+light so worthy or so winning, as in this secret one of filial affection
+towards her adopted mother.
+
+It was a part, however, of her system of happiness for the ancient lady,
+at once to shut out from her (what she could ill sustain) the bustle of
+that large establishment, and the gayeties of the more miscellaneous
+guests that often thronged it, and yet to bring to her, in special favor
+towards them, such visitors as could give her pleasure and break the
+monotony of her general seclusion. These were sometimes old and valued
+friends; sometimes their hopeful offspring; and occasionally personages
+of such note as made her curious to see them. All such she received,
+according to what they were, with that antique cordiality or amenity
+which belonged to the fine old days of good-breeding, of which she was a
+genuine specimen. To the old, her person, dress, manners, conversation,
+recalled, in their most pleasing forms, the usages, the spirit, the
+social tone of an order of things that had vanished; an elevated
+simplicity that had now given way to more affected courtesies, more
+artificial elegancies. To the young, she and her miniature household
+were a still more singular spectacle. They had looked upon their host
+and hostess as fine old samples of the past, and the outer, the exoteric
+Montpelier, with its cumbrous furniture and rich but little modish
+appointments, as a sort of museum of domestic antiquities; but here,
+hidden within its secret recesses, were a personage, ways, objects,
+fashions, that carried them back to the yet more superannuated elegance
+of days when what now struck them as obsolete must have been regarded as
+the frivolous innovations of an impertinent young generation.
+
+We have already described the house, and glanced at its appointments,
+but may add that the former seemed designed for an opulent and an easy
+hospitality, and that the latter, while rich, was plainly and solidly
+so. No expedients, no tricks of show met the eye; but all was well set
+forth with a sort of nobleness, yet nothing of pomp. The apartments were
+of ample size; the furniture neither scanty nor (as now seems the mode)
+huddled together, as if the master were a salesman. Nothing seemed
+wanting, nothing too much. A finished urbanity and yet a thorough
+cordiality reigned in every thing: all the ways, all the persons, all
+the objects of the place were agreeable and even interesting. You soon
+grew at your ease, if at arriving you had been otherwise: for here was,
+in its perfection, that happiest part and surest test of
+good-breeding--the power of at once putting every one at ease. The
+attentions were not over-assiduous, not slack; but kept, to great
+degree, out of sight, by making a body of thoroughly-trained and most
+mannerly servants their ministrants, so that the hosts performed in
+person little but the higher rites of hospitality, and thus seemed to
+have no trouble and much pleasure in entertaining you. Accordingly,
+there has seldom, even in the hilarious land of old Virginia, been a
+house kept--especially by elderly people--at which it was pleasanter to
+be a sojourner. They always made you glad to have come, and sorry that
+you must go.
+
+Such was the main interior life of Montpelier. Its business seemed but
+the giving pleasure to its guests, of whom a perpetual succession came
+and went. Little was seen of the working machinery of the fine, and on
+the whole, well-managed estate, that poured forth its copious supplies
+to render possible all this lavish entertainment, this perennial flow of
+feasting. For here, be it observed, as elsewhere in the rural
+hospitalities of Virginia, it was not single visitors that were to be
+accommodated, but families and parties. Nor did these arrive unattended,
+for each brought with it a retinue of servants, a stud of horses, and
+all were to be provided for. Meantime, the master was seen little to
+direct in person the husbandry of his domain; and indeed, he was known
+to be too feeble to do so. Nevertheless, the tillage of Montpelier was
+productive and its soil held in a state of progressive improvement.
+Indeed, capable of every thing he had engaged in, except arms (in which
+the Jeffersonian dynasty, except Monroe, must be confessed not to have
+excelled)--wise, attentive, and systematic, he had established his
+farming operations upon a method so good and regular, that they went on
+well, with only his occasional inspection, and the nightly reports of
+his head men of the blacks. The mildest and humanest of masters, he had
+brought about among his slaves, by a gentle exactness, and the care to
+keep them happy while well-governed, great devotion to him and their
+duties, and a far more than usual intelligence. Every night he received
+an account of the day's results, and consulted freely with his managers,
+on the morrow's business. All was examined and discussed as with persons
+who had and who deserved his confidence. Thus encouraged to think, the
+inert and unreflecting African learnt forecast, skill, self-respect, and
+zeal to do his duty towards the master and mistress who were so good to
+him. We do not say that the like could be done to the same extent every
+where. Montpelier was cultivated merely to support itself, and not for
+profit; which is necessarily the ruling end on the plantations
+generally, and perhaps compels more enforced methods; which, indeed, can
+scarcely be expected to cease, as long as fanatical interference from
+without, between the master and the slave, shall only serve to breed
+discontent on the one part and distrust on the other, and driving the
+threatened master to attend to the present security of his property,
+instead of occupying himself with its future amelioration. Men of any
+sense abroad should surely have perceived, by this time, that the method
+of driving the Southern States into Emancipation does not answer; but,
+on the contrary, is, so far as the temper of that region is concerned,
+only postponing it, and meanwhile aggravating the condition of both
+classes.
+
+Thus gentle, genial, kindly, liberal, good and happy, passed the life of
+Montpelier. Public veneration shed all its honors; private friendship
+and communion all their delights upon it. Even those dignities which, in
+this country of party spirit, beget for the successful more of reproach
+than fame, had left the name of Madison without a serious stain. His
+Presidency past, the wise and blameless spirit of his official
+administration came speedily to be acknowledged on all sides, and envy
+and detraction, left without an aim, turned to eulogy. An ample fortune,
+the greatest domestic happiness, and a life prolonged, in spite of the
+original feebleness of his body, to the unusual age of eighty-five, gave
+him in their full measure, those singular blessings which the goodness
+of God deservedly dealt to him and the admirable partner of his
+existence. A philosophic, and yet not a visionary ruler, he should stand
+among ours as next to Washington, though separated from him by a great
+interval. The Jeffersons and the Jacksons come far after him, for
+
+    "He was more
+  Than a mere Alexander; and, unstained
+  With household blood and wine, serenely wore
+  His sovereign virtues: still we Trajan's name adore."
+
+
+
+
+=Jay.=
+
+[Illustration: Jay fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Jay's Residence, Bedford, N.Y.]
+
+JAY.
+
+
+Although the City of New-York claims the honor of being the birth-place
+of John Jay, it cannot properly be regarded as the home of his early
+years. Not far from the time of his birth, on the 12th of December,
+1745, his father, Peter Jay, who, by honorable assiduity in the
+mercantile vocation, had accumulated a handsome fortune, purchased an
+estate in Rye, about twenty-five miles from the city, with the intention
+of making it his future residence. This town, situated on the
+southeastern corner of Westchester County, ranks among the most
+delightful summer resorts that adorn the northern shores of Long Island
+Sound. The village proper stands about a mile and a half from the Sound,
+on the turn-pike road between New-York and Boston. From the hills
+extending along its northern limits, the Mockquams (Blind Brook) a
+perennial stream, flows southwardly through it, adding much to the
+beauty of its scenery. On the outskirts are many elegant villas, the
+favorite haunts of those who rejoice to exchange the cares of business
+and the dust and heat of the neighboring metropolis for its grateful
+seclusion and the refreshing breezes that visit it from the ocean.
+
+For the description of the Jay estate at Rye, in the absence of personal
+knowledge, we shall, in the main, rely upon the account furnished by
+Bolton, in his excellent History of Westchester County, adhering
+principally to his own language.
+
+The situation of the estate is very fine, embracing some of the most
+graceful undulations of a hilly district, highly diversified with rocks,
+woods, and river scenery. Contiguous to the southern portion of it and
+bordering the Sound is Marle's Neck and the neighboring islands of Pine
+and Hen-hawk. The curious phenomenon of the Mirage is frequently
+witnessed from these shores, when the land on the opposite coast of Long
+Island appears to rise above the waters of the Sound, the intermediate
+spaces seeming to be sunk beneath the waves.
+
+The family residence is situated near the post-road leading to Rye, at a
+short distance from the river. The building is a handsome structure of
+wood, having a lofty portico on the north. The south point commands a
+beautiful and charming view of the Sound and Long Island. Some highly
+interesting family portraits adorn the walls of the hall and
+dining-room, among which are the following: Augustus Jay, who emigrated
+to this country in 1686, a copy from the original by Waldo; Anna Maria
+Bayard, wife of Augustus Jay, by Waldo; Peter Augustus Jay, as a boy,
+artist unknown; an old painting upon oak panel, supposed to represent
+Catherine, wife of the Hon. Stephen Van Cortlandt, of Cortlandt, South
+Holland. This lady appears habited in a plain black dress, wearing a
+high neck-ruffle, and, in her hand, holds a clasped Bible. In one corner
+of the picture is inscribed "�tat. 64, 1630." In the library is the
+valuable cabinet of shells, amounting to several thousands, of which the
+collector, John C. Jay, M.D., has published a descriptive catalogue.
+Noticeable among the family relics is the gold snuff-box, presented by
+the Corporation of New-York with the freedom of the city to "his
+Excellency, John Jay," on the 4th of October, 1784, not long after his
+return from diplomatic service in Spain and at Paris. An old French
+Bible contains the following memoranda: "Auguste Jay, est n� a la
+Rochelle dans la Royaume de France le 23/13 Mars, 1665. Laus Deo. N.
+York, July ye 10th, 1773, this day at 4 o'clock in ye morning dyed Eva
+Van Cortlandt, was buried ye next day ye 12 en ye voute at Mr.
+Stuyvesant's about six and seven o'clock."
+
+In the opening of a wood on the southeast of the mansion is the family
+cemetery, where are interred the remains of the ancestors of the Jays.
+Over the grave of the Chief Justice is the following inscription,
+written by his son, Peter Augustus Jay:
+
+  IN MEMORY OF
+
+    JOHN JAY,
+
+  EMINENT AMONG THOSE WHO ASSERTED THE LIBERTY
+  AND ESTABLISHED THE INDEPENDENCE
+  OF HIS COUNTRY,
+  WHICH HE LONG SERVED IN THE MOST
+  IMPORTANT OFFICES,
+  LEGISLATIVE, EXECUTIVE, JUDICIAL, AND DIPLOMATIC,
+  AND DISTINGUISHED IN THEM ALL BY HIS
+  ABILITY, FIRMNESS, PATRIOTISM, AND INTEGRITY,
+  HE WAS IN HIS LIFE, AND IN HIS DEATH,
+  AN EXAMPLE OF THE VIRTUES,
+  THE FAITH AND THE HOPES
+  OF A CHRISTIAN.
+
+  BORN, _Dec._ 12, 1745,
+
+  DIED, _May_ 17, 1829.
+
+According to his expressed desire, the body of Mr. Jay was not deposited
+in the family vault, but committed to the bosom of the earth. He always
+strenuously protested against what he considered the heathenish attempt
+to rescue the worthless relics of mortality from that dissolution, which
+seems to be their natural and appropriate destination. Within the same
+cemetery are also memorials to Sir James Jay, Peter Jay Munroe, Peter
+Jay, Goldsborough Banyar, Harriet Van Cortlandt, and other members of
+the family.
+
+Pierre Jay, to whom the Jays of this country trace their origin, was one
+of those noble and inflexible Huguenots who were driven from France by
+the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, a measure which deprived that
+kingdom of more than one-fourth of the most industrious and desirable
+class of its population. His descendants, settling in this country,
+retained the characteristics which had distinguished their forefathers,
+and became among its most respectable and prosperous inhabitants. Peter
+Jay, the grandson of Pierre Jay, and, like him, engaged in mercantile
+pursuits, was married in the year 1728 to Mary, the daughter of Jacobus
+Van Cortlandt, and was the father of ten children, of whom John was the
+eighth. Seldom has a son been more fortunate in his parents. "Both
+father and mother," we are told by the biographer, "were actuated by
+sincere and fervent piety; both had warm hearts and cheerful tempers,
+and both possessed, under varied and severe trials, a remarkable degree
+of equanimity. But in other respects they differed widely. He possessed
+strong and masculine sense, was a shrewd observer and accurate judge of
+men, resolute, persevering and prudent, an affectionate father, a kind
+master, but governing all under his control with mild but absolute sway.
+She had a cultivated mind and a fine imagination. Mild and affectionate
+in her temper and manners, she took delight in the duties as well as in
+the pleasures of domestic life; while a cheerful resignation to the will
+of Providence during many years of sickness and suffering bore witness
+to the strength of her religious faith."
+
+Under the tutelage of such a mother was John Jay educated till his
+eighth year, and from her he learned the rudiments of English and Latin
+grammar. Even at this tender age, the gravity of his disposition, his
+discretion and his fondness for books were subjects of common remark.
+When eight years old, he was committed to the care of Mr. Stoope, a
+French clergyman and keeper of a grammar-school at New Rochelle, with
+whom he remained for about three years. This gentleman being unfitted by
+reason of his oddities and improvidence for the efficient supervision of
+the establishment, left the young pupils, for the most part, to the
+tender mercies of his wife, a woman of extremely penurious habits; by
+whom, we are told, they were "treated with little food and much
+scolding." Every thing about the house under the management of this
+ill-assorted pair went to ruin, and the young student was often obliged,
+in order to protect his bed from the drifting snow, to close up the
+broken panes with bits of wood. Various other inconveniences fell to the
+lot of young Jay, but it is probable that the rigid discipline of Mrs.
+Stoope was not without its advantages. It had the effect of throwing its
+subject on his own resources, and taught him to disregard those thousand
+petty annoyances which, after all, are the chief causes of human misery,
+and which often disturb the tranquillity of the strongest minds.
+
+From Mr. Stoope he was transferred to a private tutor, and in his
+fifteenth year entered King's, now Columbia College, at that time in its
+infancy. Here, as might have been supposed, his conduct, exemplary
+character and scholarship won him the esteem and respect of all. Beside
+the improvement and expansion of his intellect, and the opportunity of
+measuring himself with companions of the same age and the same studies,
+he received other advantages from these four years of college training.
+His attention being called to certain deficiencies which might impede
+his future success, he at once set himself at work to remedy them. An
+indistinct articulation and a faulty pronunciation of the letter L, he
+was able by the constant study and practice of the rules of elocution
+entirely to remove. Special attention was also paid to English
+composition, by which he attained that admirable style, which in purity
+and classical finish was afterwards not surpassed by that of any other
+contemporary statesman, a style polished but not emasculate, and of such
+flexibility as to adapt itself equally well to the vehemence of
+patriotic appeal, the guarded precision of diplomatic correspondence, or
+to the grave and authoritative judgments of the bench. He also adopted
+Pope's plan of keeping by his bedside a table supplied with writing
+materials, in order to record at the moment of its suggestion any idea
+which might occur to him in waking.
+
+During his senior year, the young student had occasion to display that
+decision and firmness which at a later period shone so conspicuously in
+affairs of greater moment. Certain mischief-making classmates, perhaps
+to avenge themselves on the steward, undertook to break the table in the
+college hall. The noise produced by this operation reaching the ears of
+Dr. Cooper, the President, that arbitrary personage suddenly pounced
+upon them without leaving them a chance of escape. The young men were at
+once formed in a line and two questions--"Did you break the table? Do
+you know who did?"--were each answered by an emphatic "No," until they
+were put to Jay, the last but one in the line, who had indeed been
+present at the disturbance but took no part in it; to the first question
+he replied in the negative, to the second his answer was "Yes, sir," and
+to the further inquiry--"Who was it?"--he promptly said, "I do not
+choose to tell you, sir." The remaining student followed Jay's example.
+The two young men, after resisting the expostulations of the President,
+were summoned before the Faculty for trial, where Jay appeared for the
+defence. To the allegation that they had been guilty of violating their
+written promise, on their admission, of obedience to the college
+statutes, Jay responded that they were not required by those statutes to
+inform against their companions, and that therefore his refusal to do so
+was not an act of disobedience. Reasonable as this defence might appear,
+it, of course, failed to satisfy judges, clothed with executive powers,
+and anxious to punish the least disregard of their own authority, and
+the two delinquents were at once rusticated. At the termination of his
+sentence Jay returned to college, where his reception by the instructors
+proved that he had suffered no loss of their esteem. On the 15th of May,
+1764, he was graduated with the highest collegiate honors.
+
+On leaving college, Jay entered the office of Benjamin Kissam, in the
+city of New-York, as a student at law. Between this gentleman and
+himself a degree of familiarity and mutual respect existed, quite
+remarkable considering their relative positions and their disparity of
+years. For two years in the office of Mr. Kissam, he was the fellow
+student of the celebrated grammarian, Lindley Murray, with whom he
+formed an enduring friendship, and who, in a posthumous memoir of
+himself, thus alludes to his companion: "His talents and virtues gave,
+at that period, pleasing indications of future eminence; he was
+remarkable for strong reasoning powers, comprehensive views,
+indefatigable application, and uncommon firmness of mind. With these
+qualifications added to a just taste in literature, and ample stores of
+learning and knowledge, he was happily prepared to enter on that career
+of public virtue by which he was afterward so honorably distinguished,
+and made instrumental in promoting the good of his country." Murray was
+a tall, handsome man, the son of Robert Murray, a venerable quaker of
+New-York, the location of whose farm at the lower part of the city is
+still pointed out by the antiquarian. Mr. Jay was admitted to the bar in
+1768, and in the pursuit of his profession so extended his reputation
+that he was soon after appointed secretary of the commission named by
+the king to determine the disputed boundary between the States of
+New-York and New Jersey. In 1774 he was married to Sarah, the youngest
+daughter of William Livingston, an eminent supporter of the American
+cause during the Revolution, and afterwards for many years governor of
+New Jersey.
+
+The limits to which we are confined allow us to take but a brief notice
+of Mr. Jay's numerous and most valuable public services, extending over
+a period of twenty-eight years, and terminating with his retirement in
+1801 from the office of governor of his native State. In no one of the
+colonies had the cause of resistance to the mother country less
+encouragement than in New-York, and in no other could Great Britain
+number so many influential allies, yet, on the receipt of the news of
+the enforcement of the Boston Port Bill, Mr. Jay took a decided stand on
+the side of the patriots. At a meeting of the citizens of New-York, May
+16, 1774, we find him on a committee of fifty appointed "to correspond
+with the sister colonies on all matters of moment." Young as he was, he
+was required to draft the response to the proposal of the Boston
+committee for a Congress of deputies from "the colonies in general." In
+the first Congress in the same year, he was a member of some of the most
+important committees. The "Address to the People of Great Britain," the
+distinguishing act of that Congress, was drafted by Mr. Jay. This
+eloquent document was pronounced by Jefferson, then ignorant of its
+author, to be "the production certainly of the finest pen in America,"
+and Mr. Webster considered it as standing "at the head of the
+incomparable productions of that body [the first Congress], productions
+which called forth the decisive commendation of Lord Chatham, in which
+he pronounced them not inferior to the finest productions of the master
+minds of the world."
+
+In the interim between the close of the first, and the opening in May
+1775 of the second Congress, Jay was incessantly engaged in the service
+of his country; and when the delegates had reassembled, his pen was
+again employed in the preparation of the two addresses to the
+inhabitants of Jamaica and of Ireland. Some reluctance being shown on
+the part of wealthy and influential citizens to serve in a military
+capacity, he, without hesitation, sought and accepted a commission as
+colonel of a regiment of the new militia; but his legislative ability
+and eloquence were too highly valued to allow of his absence from
+Congress, and he never actually joined his company. A second address of
+Congress to the king having been treated with insult, and all hope of
+accommodation being abandoned, he became one of the foremost advocates
+of warlike measures; and, while on a committee for that purpose, devised
+a series of plans for crippling the resources of England, which were
+adopted by Congress in March 1776, nearly three months previous to the
+formal act of severance in the Declaration of Independence. At the
+adoption of this measure, in consequence of his election to the
+Provincial Congress of New-York in April of that year, Jay was unable to
+affix his signature to that instrument, but, as chairman of the
+committee to whom the subject had been referred, he reported a
+resolution, pledging that State to its support. Shortly after came the
+most gloomy period of the revolutionary cause in New-York; a hostile
+army was invading the State from the north, inspired by the defeat of
+the American forces on Long Island, the city was in possession of the
+enemy, and what was worse, treachery and despair existed among the
+people themselves. A committee of public safety was appointed by the
+Provincial Congress, clothed with dictatorial powers, of which Jay acted
+as chairman. At this juncture also, Mr. Jay, by appointment, put forth
+the thrilling address of the convention to their constituents, an appeal
+written in the most exalted strain of patriotic eloquence, in which he
+rebukes the defection and stimulates the flagging hopes of the people
+with the zeal and indignant energy of an ancient prophet.
+
+In 1777, Jay, from a committee appointed the year before, drafted a
+State Constitution, which received the sanction of the legislature.
+There were certain provisions which he desired to introduce in that
+instrument, and which he thought more likely to be adopted when proposed
+in the form of amendments than if they should be incorporated into the
+first draft; but a summons to the side of his dying mother prevented the
+realization of his wishes. One of the amendments which he intended to
+urge, was a provision for the gradual abolition of slavery within the
+limits of the State. Under the new constitution, having been appointed
+to the office of Chief Justice, he was ineligible by that instrument to
+any other post, except on a "special occasion," but, in consequence of a
+difficulty arising between his own, and the neighboring State of
+Vermont, the legislature took advantage of the exception, and elected
+him delegate to Congress. Without vacating, therefore, his judicial
+seat, he complied with their appointment, and soon after his entrance in
+Congress became its presiding officer. The impossibility, however, of
+doing full justice to both his judicial and legislative duties, induced
+him to resign his seat on the bench. Congress now employed his pen in
+writing the circular letter to the States, urging them to furnish
+additional funds for the war. This statesmanlike exposition of the
+government's financial condition closes with a noble appeal to the
+national honor.
+
+"Rouse, therefore, strive who shall do most for his country; rekindle
+that flame of patriotism, which, at the mention of disgrace and slavery,
+blazed throughout America and animated all her citizens. Determine to
+finish the contest as you began it, honestly and gloriously. Let it
+never be said that America had no sooner become independent than she
+became insolvent, or that her infant glories and growing fame were
+obscured and tarnished by broken contracts and violated faith, in the
+very hour when all the nations of the earth were admiring and almost
+adoring the splendor of her rising."
+
+In 1779, accompanied by his wife, he sailed for Spain, as minister
+plenipotentiary, in order to secure the concurrence of that kingdom in
+the treaty with France, recognizing the independence of the United
+States; and though his diplomatic negotiations were conducted in the
+most honorable spirit, and with consummate prudence and ability, the
+object of his mission was finally frustrated by the selfish policy of
+the Spanish government, in requiring America to surrender the right of
+navigating on the Mississippi. It was during his residence at the
+Spanish court, that the desperate financial embarrassments of Congress
+prompted a measure equally unjust to their representative abroad and
+hazardous to the national credit. Presuming upon the success of his
+mission, they had empowered their treasurer to draw on Mr. Jay bills
+payable at six months, for half a million of dollars. As these bills
+came in, the minister was placed in a situation of extreme perplexity,
+but his regard for his country's reputation overcame all private
+considerations; he adopted the patriotic but desperate expedient of
+making himself personally responsible for their payment, and his
+acceptances had exceeded one hundred thousand dollars before any relief
+came to hand. Mr. Jay's residence in Spain also subjected him to other
+trials, only less severe than the one just mentioned; the vexatious
+obstacles placed in way of his negotiations by the Spanish government;
+the insufficiency of his salary at the most expensive court in Europe;
+the frequent removal of the court from place to place, at the royal
+pleasure, involving the absence of his wife, whom, for pecuniary
+reasons, he was unable to take with him; the death of his young child,
+and his anxiety for the family whom he had left at home, exposed to the
+dangers of war, and from whom, for more than a year, not a line had been
+received, might well have harassed a less sensitive nature than his. The
+fortitude with which he sustained these annoyances may be seen in a
+letter written by him about this time to his friend, Egbert Benson, of
+New-York. It commences thus:
+
+  "DEAR BENSON:
+
+"When shall we again, by a cheerful fire, or under a shady tree,
+recapitulate our juvenile pursuits or pleasures, or look back on the
+extensive field of politics we once have trodden? Our plans of life
+have, within these few years past, been strangely changed. Our country,
+I hope, will be the better for the alterations. How far we individually
+may be benefited is more questionable. Personal considerations, however,
+must give way to public ones, and the consciousness of having done our
+duty to our country and posterity, must recompense us for all the evils
+we experience in their cause."
+
+From Spain, by order of Congress, Jay proceeded to Paris to arrange, in
+conjunction with Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, and Laurens, the Definitive
+Treaty of Peace with England,--the most important diplomatic act of the
+eighteenth century; and we have the testimony of Mr. Fitzherbert, then
+the English minister resident in Paris, that "it was not only chiefly
+but SOLELY through his means that the negotiations of that period
+between England and the United States were brought to a successful
+conclusion." Mr. Oswald had arrived in Paris with a commission, in which
+the United States were mentioned under the designation of "colonies,"
+but Jay, although his associates did not participate in his scruples,
+refused to begin negotiations without a preliminary recognition on the
+part of England of the Independence of the United States; and owing to
+his firmness a new commission was obtained from the king, in which that
+most essential point (as the sequel proved) was gained. Declining the
+appointment now tendered him by Congress of commissioner to negotiate a
+commercial treaty with England, Jay returned to his country. On arriving
+at New-York he was welcomed by a most enthusiastic public reception, and
+was presented by the corporation of New-York with the freedom of the
+city in a gold box. The office of Secretary for foreign affairs, which,
+for the want of a suitable incumbent, had been vacant for two years, was
+at this time urged by Congress upon his acceptance, and he did not feel
+at liberty to refuse his services. He was now virtually at the head of
+public affairs. The whole foreign correspondence of the government, the
+proposal of plans of treaties, instructions to ministers abroad, and the
+submission of reports on all matters to which Congress might call his
+attention, came within the scope of his new duties.
+
+Mr. Jay was among the first of our statesmen to perceive the defects of
+the confederation, and to urge the necessity of a new and more efficient
+system of government. Besides his contributions to the Federalist, he
+wrote an address to the people of New-York, then the very citadel of the
+opposition to the proposed Constitution, which had no unimportant effect
+in securing its adoption. In the State Convention, which had assembled
+with only eleven out of fifty-seven members in its favor, Jay took a
+most influential part, and mainly owing to his exertions was it finally
+ratified. At the commencement of the administration of Washington, he
+was invited by that great man to select his own post in the newly-formed
+government. He was accordingly appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme
+Court, and well did he justify, in his new capacity, the glowing
+eulogium of Webster, that "when the spotless ermine of the judicial robe
+fell on John Jay it touched nothing less spotless than itself." In the
+performance of his duties as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme
+Court, much was accomplished by him in organizing the business of the
+court, expounding the principles of its decisions, and in commending
+them to a confederacy of sovereign States, already sufficiently jealous
+of its extensive but beneficent jurisdiction. His decision in the novel
+case of a suit instituted against the State of Georgia by a citizen of
+another State, is a memorable instance of his firmness and judicial
+ability.
+
+The year 1794 opened with every prospect of a disastrous war between
+Great Britain and the United States. The Revolution did not terminate
+without leaving in the minds of Americans a strong and perhaps an
+unreasonable antipathy to the mother country, which was stimulated by
+the unwise interference of Genet, the French minister, in our politics,
+and by the exertions of a large class of British refugees, who had
+escaped to our country still smarting under the oppressions which they
+had experienced at home, and who were extremely desirous of plunging the
+American government into the contest which was then raging between
+France and England. There were also certain substantial grievances
+universally admitted by our citizens, which would give some countenance
+to such a measure on the part of America. Among these were enumerated
+the detention in violation of the treaty of the posts on our western
+frontier by British garrisons, thereby excluding the navigation by
+Americans of the great lakes, the refusal to make compensation for the
+negroes carried away during the war by the British fleet, the exclusion
+and capture of American vessels carrying supplies to French ports, and
+the seizure of our ships in the exercise of the pretended right of
+search. These, and other outrages, were justified by Great Britain, on
+the ground of certain equivalent infractions of the treaty by the
+American nation. Washington however could not be induced to consent to
+hazard the national interests, by transgressing that neutrality so
+necessary to a young republic only just recovering from the severe
+experience of a seven years' war, and he saw no other honorable means of
+averting the impending danger than the appointment of a special envoy,
+empowered to adjust the matters in dispute. For this purpose, on his
+nomination, Mr. Jay was confirmed on the 20th of April, 1794, by the
+Senate, as Minister to England, at which country he arrived in June of
+that year. The treaty was signed in November following, and the
+negotiations of the two ministers, Lord Grenville and Mr. Jay, were
+greatly facilitated by their mutual esteem and the good understanding
+existing between them; and their correspondence, which was characterized
+by signal ability on both sides, affords an instance of diplomatic
+straightforwardness and candor almost without a parallel in history. It
+as not consistent with the plan of our sketch to speak of the provisions
+of the treaty thus secured: it was not, in all respects, what Jay, or
+the country desired; but in view of the immense advantages to our
+commerce obtained by it, the complicated and delicate questions
+adjusted, and the disasters which would have befallen the nation had it
+been defeated, it will challenge comparison with any subsequent
+international arrangement to which the United States have been a party.
+Yet, incredible as would seem, the abuse and scurrility with which both
+it and its author were loaded, discloses one of the most disgraceful
+chapters in the records of political fanaticism. By an eminent member of
+the opposing party, he was declared to have perpetrated "an infamous
+act," an act "stamped with avarice and corruption." He himself was
+termed "a damned arch-traitor," "sold to Great Britain," and the treaty
+burned before his door. Enjoying the confidence of the illustrious
+Washington, and of the wisest and best men of his country, in his
+course, and above all, the inward assurance of his unswerving rectitude,
+Jay might well forgive these ebullitions of party spleen and await the
+sanction which has been conferred on his actions by the impartial voice
+of posterity.
+
+But no statesman of that time had, on the whole, less reason to complain
+of popular ingratitude than Jay; before he reached his native shore, a
+large majority of the people of New-York had expressed their approbation
+of his conduct by electing him to the office of Governor. While in this
+office, the appropriate close of his public career, besides suggesting
+many useful measures in regard to education and internal improvements,
+the benefits of which are experienced to this day, he had the happiness
+of promoting and witnessing the passage by the Legislature of the act
+for the gradual abolition of slavery in his native State. Of this
+measure he was one of the earliest advocates, having served as the first
+President of the Society of Manumission, which had been organized in
+1786 by a number of the most respectable gentlemen in New-York, and to
+whose disinterested exertions the success of the anti-slavery cause was
+mainly due. On accepting the seat tendered to him in the Supreme Court,
+Jay, fearing that the presidency of the society might prove an
+embarrassment in the decision of some questions which might come before
+him, resigned the office and was succeeded by Hamilton, who continued to
+discharge its duties till the year 1793.
+
+At the expiration of his second gubernatorial term in 1801, Jay,
+contrary to the importunities of his friends, retired from public life,
+having, for twenty-seven years, faithfully served his country in every
+department of legislative, diplomatic, and judicial trust. Declining the
+office of Chief Justice, which was again pressed by the President upon
+his acceptance, he prepared to enjoy that congenial seclusion under the
+shade of his patrimonial trees, which, through all the varied and
+agitating scenes of political life, had been the object of his most
+ardent desires. In accordance with this design, he had built a
+substantial house at Bedford, about forty-four miles from New-York, on
+an estate embracing some eight hundred acres, which had come to him by
+inheritance. Here, in one of the most delightful localities in the
+fertile county of Westchester, in the care of his family and estates, in
+the society of his friends and his books, in the discharge of the duties
+of neighborly benevolence, and in the preparation for those immortal
+scenes which he had reason to suppose would soon open upon him, he
+passed the tranquil remainder of his days. But his enjoyments were not
+destined to exempt him from those bitter but universal visitations,
+which, at times, overthrow the happiness and frustrate the most pleasing
+anticipations of our race. In less than twelve months after his
+retirement, the partner of his joys and sorrows, who, by her
+accomplishments, her unobtrusive virtues and solicitous affection, had
+been at once his delight and support, was taken from him. At the final
+hour, Jay, as the biographer tells us, stood by the bedside "calm and
+collected," and when the spirit had taken its departure, led his
+children to an adjoining room, and with "a firm voice but glistening
+eye" read that inspiring and wonderful chapter in which Paul has
+discussed the mystery of our future resurrection.
+
+Considering its natural advantages and its connection by railway with
+the great metropolis, Bedford, the ancient half shire town of
+Westchester County, can hardly be praised on the score of its
+"progressive" tendencies. At the time of Jay's residence there, the
+mail-coach from New-York, employing two long days in the journey,
+visited the town once a week, and even now the locomotive which thunders
+through it perhaps a dozen times a day, hardly disturbs its rural
+quietude. It may, however, claim considerable distinction in the annals
+of Indian warfare, for, within its limits, on the southern side of
+Aspetong Mountain, is still pointed out the scene of a bloody conflict
+between the savages and the redoubtable band of Captain Underhill, in
+which the latter coming suddenly at night on a village of their foes,
+slaughtered them without mercy to the number of five hundred; "the
+Lord," as the record goes, "having collected the most of our enemies
+there, to celebrate some festival." Bedford was formerly under the
+jurisdiction of Connecticut, and the apparent thrift and independent
+bearing of its farming population are decided indications of their New
+England descent. Its situation is uncommonly pleasant and healthful, and
+although the surface of the country is somewhat rocky and uneven, the
+soil is excellently adapted for agricultural purposes. The higher
+grounds display an abundant growth of all varieties of oak, elm, ash,
+linden, chestnut, walnut, locust, and tulip trees, while its fertile
+valleys and its sunny hillside exposures furnish ample spaces for
+pasturage or cultivation. A number of beautiful streams water the
+meadows, of which the two largest, the Cisco or Beaver Dam, and Cross
+River, after flowing for a long distance separately, just before leaving
+the town, wisely conclude to unite their forces and bear a generous
+tribute to the waters of the Croton. The Beaver Dam derives its name
+from having once been the favorite haunt of the beavers, who in former
+times found a plentiful sustenance in the bark of the willows, maples
+and birches which still linger on its banks.
+
+The traveller who wishes to survey the mansion of "the good old
+governor," as Mr. Jay is still called by those villagers who remember
+his liberality and benevolent interest in their welfare, leaves the
+Harlem railroad at Katona, the northwest portion of the town, so called
+from the name of the Indian chief, who formerly claimed dominion of this
+part of the country, and proceeds in a southeasterly direction along a
+road somewhat winding and hilly, tiresome enough certainly to the
+pedestrian, but occasionally relieving him with exhilarating prospects
+on either side of farmhouses with well-stored and ample barns, wooded
+hills with green intervales, waving fields of grain, and pastures of
+well-fed, contemplative cattle, who shake their heads as if their
+meditations were a little disturbed by his presence. Every thing about
+the farms has the aspect of good order and thrift, and nothing mars the
+general impression except the occasional sight of some happy family of
+swine, who appear to exercise a sort of right of eminent domain among
+the weeds and roots on the roadside. A snow-white sow with thirty
+snow-white young, according to an ancient poet, was the immediate
+inducement to �neas in selecting the site of his future city; whether
+such an attraction would prove equally potent in our own times, is more
+questionable. As one approaches the estate of Jay, the marks of superior
+taste and cultivation are apparent; the stone walls are more neatly and
+compactly built, and the traveller is refreshed by the grateful shade of
+the long rows of maples and elms which were planted along the road by
+Jay and his descendants, some of whom still make their summer residence
+in Bedford. After proceeding for two or three miles from the railroad
+station, we turn up a shaded avenue on the left, which winds round the
+southern slope of the hill, at the top of which stands the modest
+mansion of John Jay. This is a dark brown wooden two-storied building,
+facing the southwest, with an addition of one story at each end, the
+main building having a front of forty-five feet, along which is extended
+a porch of ample dimensions. Passing through the hall we find in the
+rear a background of magnificent woods, principally oak and chestnut,
+though nearer the house are a number of gigantic willows still
+flourishing in the strength and verdure of youth. Concealed in the
+foliage of these woods, a little to the west, is the small school-house
+of stone erected by Jay for his children, and on the other side of the
+mansion, towards the northeast, are the barns, carriage-house, and the
+farm-house, occupied by a tenant, who has supervision of the estate.
+These tenements are almost screened from view by a grove of locust
+trees, for which Jay showed a special partiality, and whose snow-white
+robe of blossoms in the latter part of spring affords a pleasing
+contrast with the light green of the tasselled chestnuts, and the dark
+and glossy shade of the oak and walnut foliage behind. In front of the
+barn, on the eastern side of the house, is the garden, which, though not
+making any pretension to superiority in its extent or its cultivation,
+displays an excellent variety of fruits and flowers, for the most part,
+such as thrive easily in that soil, and are most useful and appropriate
+to the wants of an American household. Jay, though for his period
+uncommonly versed in horticultural matters, did not, in his
+old-fashioned simplicity, choose to waste much time in transplanting
+those contumacious productions of foreign countries which "never will in
+other climates grow." Ascending the hill a short distance, we come again
+to the house, immediately in front of which, without obstructing the
+view, stands a row of four handsome lindens. Before the dwelling, which
+is nearly half a mile from the main road, stretches the green lawn
+irregularly diversified with groups of trees, and beyond is seen the
+sightly ridge of "Deer's Delight," once the resort of the beautiful
+animal from which it takes its designation; and certainly the choice of
+such a delectable locality would have done credit to creatures far more
+reasonable. This spot is crowned with the elegant country-seat of Mr.
+John Jay, a grandson of the Chief Justice, who, in taking advantage of
+its natural beauties, and adapting it to the purposes of his residence,
+has shown a degree of taste which has rarely been surpassed. On the
+western slope, which is somewhat more abrupt than the others, is the
+orchard, and from a thatched arbor on the brink of the descent, the eye
+surveys a large part of that circle of hills in which Bedford appears to
+be almost inclosed. A most enchanting rural landscape is here spread
+out, embracing a wide extent of country dotted with thriving farms and
+villages, graceful declivities wandered over by numerous herds of
+cattle, valleys and pellucid streams, glimmering at intervals from thick
+and overshadowing foliage. Further towards the west is the long line of
+hills just shutting off the view of the Hudson, and overlooked by the
+still loftier range of the highlands on the other side of the river,
+conspicuous among which towers the Dunderberg or bread-tray mountain.
+From this spot the magnificent variations of sunset are seen to great
+advantage. No man endowed with the least susceptibility to the charm of
+outward nature, can contemplate without enthusiasm the broad suffusion
+of crimson blazing along those western hills, gradually passing into
+orange and purple; and finally closing with a deep glowing brown, while
+the clear brilliant sky above pales and darkens at the almost
+imperceptible coming on of night.
+
+The interior arrangements of the house have not been essentially varied
+since the lifetime of its first illustrious occupant. They all bear
+marks of that republican simplicity and unerring good taste which were
+among his distinguishing characteristics. The furniture, though of the
+best materials, was obviously chosen more for use than ornament, and is
+noticeable chiefly for an air of antique respectability and comfort,
+which, in spite of the perpetually changing fancies in such matters, can
+never go out of fashion. On the right of the hall, as one enters, is the
+dining-room, an apartment of perhaps some twenty feet square; in this
+and in the parlor opposite, which has about the same dimensions, are
+several interesting family portraits, the works mostly of Stewart and
+Trumbull, among which are those of Egbert Benson, Judge Hobart, Peter
+Jay, John Jay, and Augustus Jay, the first American ancestor of the
+family, the artist of which is unknown. Passing through the parlor, we
+enter the small room at the west end of the house, occupied as a
+library, and containing a well-assorted but not extensive supply of
+books. Here were the weighty folios of Grotius, Puffendorf, Vattel, and
+other masters of the science of international law, besides a number of
+standard theological and miscellaneous works, with the classic authors
+of antiquity, among whom Cicero appears to have been his special
+favorite. In the library hangs a portrait of Governor Livingston, the
+father-in-law of Jay; a vigorous manly boy, the characteristics of whose
+youthful features have been retained with singular distinctness in those
+of his descendants. He is represented as dressed in the full-sleeved
+coat and elaborate costume of his time, and with a sword hanging at his
+side, an outfit hardly in accordance with so tender an age. The oaken
+press and strong-bound chest of cherry wood are also in this room, the
+latter the receptacle perhaps of Jay's important papers;--these ancient
+heirlooms are presumed to have crossed the ocean more than a century and
+a half ago.
+
+Notwithstanding the infirmities of the last twenty years of his life,
+Jay enjoyed an old age of remarkable tranquillity and happiness. He set
+an example of undeviating punctuality; the hour and the man always came
+together, and in his habits he was extremely regular. In order to assist
+him in rising early, an aperture, shaped like the crescent moon, was
+made in the solid oaken shutter of his apartment, by which a glimpse
+might be caught of the first rays of the uprising dawn. The reading of
+prayers was succeeded by breakfast, after which the greater part of the
+day was commonly spent in attending to the affairs of his extensive
+farm. Most of the time when thus engaged, he rode on the back of a
+favorite sorrel mare, of the famous Narraganset breed, now extinct. This
+faithful creature died in 1819, after a service of twenty-three years.
+Two of the same stock belonging to Mr. Jay had died in succession
+previously, the grandam having been given by his father in 1765. It was
+probably of the latter animal that he wrote from Europe in 1783, under
+the apprehension that she might have fallen into the hands of the enemy.
+
+"If my old mare is alive, I must beg of you and my brother to take good
+care of her. I mean that she should be well fed and live idle, unless my
+brother Peter should choose to use her. If it should be necessary to
+advance money to recover her, I am content you should do it even to the
+amount of double her value."
+
+At half-past one came the dinner hour, after which he was wont to
+indulge moderately in smoking. A few of his long clay pipes are still
+preserved. They were imported for him from abroad, and were considered
+in their time an unusually select and valuable article. His evenings
+were devoted to reading and the company of his family and neighbors.
+Once or twice a year, Judge Benson, Peter Jay, Monroe, or some other old
+friend, would take a journey to his hospitable home to pass a week in
+living over, in conversation, their long and varied experience, and
+occasionally some stranger from foreign lands, attracted by his
+wide-spread reputation, would receive at his hands a cordial yet
+unostentatious welcome. Though possessed of a large landed property from
+which he enjoyed a respectable income, his family expenses and the
+management of his estate were regulated by a judicious and liberal
+economy. Remarkably affectionate in his disposition and solicitous for
+the welfare of his children, his demeanor towards them was marked with
+unvarying equability and decision. An extract from a letter to Mrs. Jay,
+dated London, 5th Dec., 1794, illustrates his views on this head:
+
+"I hope N---- will amuse herself sometimes with her spinning-wheel. God
+only knows what may one day be her situation. Polite accomplishments
+merit attention, useful knowledge should not be neglected. Let us do the
+best we can with, and for our children, and commit them to the
+protection and guidance of Providence."
+
+By his servants, his poorer neighbors, and all who were in any way
+dependent on him, he was reverenced and loved. He promptly and liberally
+responded to all movements calculated to promote the general good. In
+one instance of this kind, he showed an adroitness in his beneficence
+which is somewhat amusing. The townspeople were about to erect a
+school-house, and it was apprehended that from mistaken considerations
+of economy, the building would be less substantial in its construction
+than was desirable. When, therefore, the subscription list was presented
+to Jay, he put down a liberal sum against his name "if of wood, if of
+stone, _double_." Another example occurs in his dealings with his less
+fortunate neighbors, evincing the union of austere and inflexible regard
+for public justice with the most sensitive sympathy with individual
+suffering, which is cited in Professor McVicar's appreciative and
+eloquent sketch of Jay's life. The case referred to is that of "a poor
+blacksmith in his neighborhood, who had encroached with his building on
+the public highway, and refused to recede; Jay prosecuted him to the
+extreme rigor of the law, and having duly punished the _offender_,
+proceeded to make it up tenfold to the _poor man_ by deeding to him an
+acre or two of ground from his own farm, in order that his necessities
+might be no plea for any further breach of the law."
+
+A pleasing reminiscence of Jay has been told by the son of the recipient
+of his bounty, a poor widow, whose utmost exertions were barely
+sufficient for the support of her family. Some time after the Governor's
+death, she received a note from Mr. William Jay, the occupant of the old
+mansion, requesting her to visit him as he had some pleasant news for
+her. In great perplexity as to the nature of the promised communication,
+the good woman complied, and on arriving at the house, was thus
+addressed by that gentleman: "My father, before he died, requested to be
+buried in the plainest manner; 'by so doing,' said he, 'there will be a
+saving of about two hundred dollars which I wish you to give to some
+poor widow whom you and your sister may consider most worthy, and I wish
+you to get the silver money and count it out now,' and," continued Mr.
+Jay, "my sister and I have selected you and here is the money." The
+gratitude of the widow found no answer but in tears as she bore away the
+treasure to her dwelling. The recollection of deeds like these is the
+imperishable inheritance which Jay has left to his descendants, and it
+is a distinction besides which mere heraldic honors fade into
+insignificance, that, from the beginning to this day, the great name of
+Jay has been inseparably linked with the cause of the neglected and
+oppressed against the encroachments of unscrupulous power.
+
+The personal appearance of Jay, at the age of forty-four, is thus
+described by Mr. Sullivan: "He was a little less than five feet in
+height, his person rather thin but well formed. His complexion was
+without color, his eyes black and penetrating, his nose aquiline, and
+his chin pointed. His hair came over his forehead, was tied behind and
+lightly powdered. His dress black. When standing, he was a little
+inclined forward, as is not uncommon with students long accustomed to
+bend over a table." With the exception of the mistake as to the color of
+his eyes, which were blue and not black, this is probably an accurate
+picture. But it gives no idea of the blended dignity and courtesy which
+were apparent in his features and his habitual bearing, to a degree,
+says a venerable informant, never witnessed in any other man of that
+time. His general appearance of reserve was sometimes misconstrued by
+those who were little acquainted with him into haughtiness. This was
+undoubtedly native, in some measure, to his character, but much, we have
+reason to suppose, existed more in appearance than in reality, and was
+the unavoidable expression of one long and intensely engaged in affairs
+of great moment,
+
+    "Deep on whose front engraved
+  Deliberation sat, and public cares."
+
+Not without a keen sense of the ludicrous, he rarely indulged in jocose
+remarks; yet he is said, at times, when much importuned for certain
+information or opinions which he did not care to reveal, to have shown a
+peculiarly shrewd humor in his replies, which baffled without irritating
+the inquirer. Perhaps a delicate piece of advice was never given in more
+skilfully worded and unexceptionable phraseology than in his answer to a
+confidential letter from Lord Grenville, inquiring as to the expediency
+of removing Mr. Hammond, the British Minister at Washington, who, for
+some reason or other, had become extremely distasteful to the government
+there. As Mr. Hammond was a personal friend to Jay, the inquiry was
+naturally embarrassing, but he still deemed it his duty to advise the
+minister's recall. Accordingly, in his reply, after first declaring his
+friendship for Mr. Hammond and his entire confidence in that gentleman's
+ability and integrity, he refers to the unhappy diplomatic difficulties
+of that gentleman, and concludes by saying, "Hence I cannot forbear
+wishing that Mr. Hammond _had a better place_, and that a person well
+adapted to the existing state of things was sent to succeed him."
+
+As William Penn said of George Fox, Mr. Jay was "civil beyond all forms
+of breeding;" the natural refinement and purity of his disposition were
+expressed in his appearance and manners, and perhaps we might apply with
+propriety the remainder of Penn's description:--"He was a man whom God
+endowed with a clear and wonderful depth,--a discoverer of other men's
+spirits and very much the master of his own. The reverence and solemnity
+of his demeanor and the fewness and fulness of his words often struck
+strangers with admiration." In his character, the qualities of wisdom,
+decision, truthfulness, and justice held a supreme and unquestioned
+sway. Under their direction, he was often led into measures which seemed
+at first to hazard his own interests, as when at Paris he violated his
+congressional instructions for the benefit of his country; but these
+measures were adopted with such deliberation, and pursued with so
+unhesitating perseverance that their results invariably justified the
+course he had taken. The three most important concessions ever gained by
+America from foreign countries, the concessions which now our country
+most values and would be least willing to surrender, namely, the
+Navigation of the Mississippi, the Participation in the British
+Fisheries and the Trade with the West Indies, are due almost solely to
+the foresight, the diplomatic ability and the firmness of John Jay. When
+we consider the comparative insensibility of Congress at that time, and
+the country at large, to the incalculable value of these rights, we may
+feel assured that had America sent abroad an agent of different
+character, the wily diplomatists of Europe would have found little
+difficulty in wresting them from us. Jay was moreover a man of deep and
+fervent piety--not that merely occasional ecstasy of devotional feeling,
+which, although perfectly sincere, is compatible with an habitual
+violation of all laws human and divine, but a constant sense of
+responsibility to a Supreme Being for every action of his life, under
+which he labored
+
+  "As ever in the Great Taskmaster's eye."
+
+It was this combination of attributes, "inviting confidence, yet
+inspiring respect," setting him apart from other men, yet drawing the
+multitude after him, that accounts for the constantly recurring demands
+upon his public services. The people felt that they could trust a man
+whose patriotism was not a temporary passion, but a well-defined and
+immovable principle, and they were never disappointed. In the complete
+harmony of his moral and intellectual qualities, so wholly free from the
+disturbing influence of painful and dangerous eccentricities and the
+considerations of self, he approached nearer than any other statesman of
+his age to the majestic character of Washington, and on no one of his
+illustrious coadjutors did that great man place so uniform and so
+unhesitating a reliance.
+
+Jay had already exceeded the longest period allotted by the psalmist to
+the life of man, in the enjoyment of all those satisfactions which
+comfortable outward circumstances, the affection of friends and kindred,
+and the honor and reverence of a country whose vast and still enlarging
+prosperity were so much due to his exertions, can supply, when he
+received the unmistakable premonitions of his end. On the 17th of May,
+1828, having previously summoned the numerous members of the family to
+his bedside, and having bestowed on each his parting advice and
+benediction, he resigned his soul to the care of its Maker; and now, in
+the quiet grave-yard at Rye, near the spot where he passed the early
+years of his life, repose the august remains of John Jay.
+
+
+
+
+=Hamilton.=
+
+[Illustration: Ball Hughes' Statue of Hamilton]
+
+
+
+
+HAMILTON.
+
+
+We have not the means of presenting a sketch of Hamilton's birth-place,
+or of the incidents of his early life before he became a resident in
+this country; and so much of his subsequent life was spent in the camp
+and in the service of his country, wherever that service required him to
+be, that he can hardly be said to have had a "Home" until a few years
+before his splendid career was so suddenly and mournfully closed.
+
+He was born in the year 1756, in the Island of St. Nevis, one of the
+British West Indian possessions, whither his father, a native of
+Scotland, had gone with the purpose of engaging in mercantile pursuits;
+and he was himself at the early age of twelve, placed in the
+counting-house of an opulent merchant, in one of the neighboring
+islands. But such a situation was ill suited to his disposition; and his
+ambition, even at that early period of his life, strongly developed,
+could not find in those narrow colonies a sufficient field for its
+exercise. The wishes of his friends favored his own inclinations, and he
+was sent to New-York, that he might avail himself of the more ample
+facilities for acquiring an education which that place and its vicinity
+afforded.
+
+He went through with the studies preparatory to entering college at a
+school in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, which was under the patronage of
+Governor Livingston and Mr. Boudinot, in the former of whose families he
+resided. He soon qualified himself for admission to King's (now
+Columbia) College, and was then permitted to pursue a course of study
+which he had marked out for himself, without becoming a member of any
+particular class. At this early period he evinced those traits of
+character which afterwards conducted him to such high distinction, and
+which marked his career throughout. He brought to his tasks not only
+that diligence which is often exhibited by more ordinary minds, but that
+enthusiastic devotion of the soul, which was perhaps the most marked
+trait of his character.
+
+It was while he was yet in college, that the disputes between the
+colonies and the mother country, just preliminary to the breaking out of
+hostilities, arose; but they even then engaged his earnest attention. It
+is probable that the tendency of his mind at that time, as in the later
+period of his life, was towards conservative views; and indeed he has
+himself said "that he had, at first, entertained strong prejudices on
+the ministerial side." But a mind so investigating and a spirit so
+generous as his would not be likely to entertain such prejudices long;
+and having made a visit to Boston and become excited by the tone of
+public feeling in that city, he directed his attention to the real
+merits of the controversy, and this, aided perhaps by the natural order
+of his temperament, produced in him a thorough conviction of the justice
+of the American cause. With his characteristic earnestness, he threw
+himself at once into the contest, and while but eighteen years of age he
+addressed a public meeting upon the subject of the wrongs inflicted by
+the mother country, and acquitted himself in a manner which amazed and
+delighted his hearers, and drew to him the public attention.
+
+A meeting of the citizens of New-York had been called to consider upon
+the choice of delegates to the first Congress. A large concourse of
+people assembled, and the occasion was long remembered as "the great
+meeting in the fields." Hamilton was then, of course, comparatively
+unknown, but some of his neighbors having occasion to remark his
+contemplative habits and the vigor and maturity of his thoughts, urged
+him to address the multitude, and after some hesitation he consented.
+
+"The novelty of the attempt, his slender and diminutive form, awakened
+curiosity and arrested attention. Overawed by the scene before him, he
+at first hesitated and faltered, but as he proceeded almost
+unconsciously to utter his accustomed reflections, his mind warmed with
+the theme, his energies were recovered; and after a discussion, clear,
+cogent, and novel, of the great principles involved in the controversy,
+he depicted in glowing colors the long continued and long endured
+oppressions of the mother country. He insisted on the duty of
+resistance, pointed out the means and certainty of success, and
+described the waves of rebellion sparkling with fire and washing back
+upon the shores of England the wrecks of her power, her wealth, and her
+glory. The breathless silence ceased as he closed, and the whispered
+murmur--'it is a collegian, it is a collegian,' was lost in expressions
+of wonder and applause at the extraordinary eloquence of the young
+stranger."[13]
+
+About the same time he published anonymously two pamphlets in reply to
+publications emanating from the ministerial party, and in vindication of
+the measures of the American Congress. The powerful and eloquent manner
+in which the topics in controversy were discussed, excited great
+attention. The authorship of the pamphlets was attributed by some to
+Governor Livingston and by others to John Jay, and these contributed to
+give to those gentlemen, already distinguished, an increased celebrity;
+and when it was ascertained that the youthful Hamilton was the author of
+them, the public could scarcely credit the fact.
+
+Upon the actual breaking out of hostilities, Hamilton immediately
+applied himself to the study of military science, and obtained from the
+State of New-York a commission as captain of a company of artillery. His
+conduct at once attracted the observing eye of Washington, who soon
+invited him to become one of his staff with the commission of Lieutenant
+Colonel.
+
+Hamilton accepted the offer, and for the space of four years remained in
+the family of Washington, enjoying his unlimited confidence, carrying on
+a large portion of his correspondence, and aiding him in the conduct of
+the most important affairs. A hasty word from the latter led to a
+rupture of this connection, and Hamilton left the staff and resumed his
+place as an officer in the line; but Washington's confidence in him was
+not in the least impaired, and their friendship continued warm and
+sincere until the death of the latter.
+
+In thus separating himself from the family of the Commander-in-Chief,
+Hamilton was influenced by other motives than displeasure at the conduct
+of Washington. He knew that great man too well, and loved him too well,
+to allow a hasty word of rebuke to break up an attachment which had
+begun at the breaking out of the war, and which a familiar intercourse
+of four years, an ardent love of the cause, and a devotion to it common
+to them both had deepened and confirmed. But the duties of a secretary
+and adviser, important as they then were, were not adequate to call
+forth all his various powers, and the performance of them, however
+skilful, was not sufficient to satisfy that love of glory which he so
+fondly cherished. He was born to act in whatever situation he might be
+placed a first rate part. He longed to distinguish himself in the
+battles as well as in the councils of the war. He felt that his country
+had need of his arm as well as of his pen; and thus the dictates of
+patriotism, which he never in the course of his life allowed to stand
+separate from the promptings of his high ambition, pointed out to him
+the course he took. He would not, of his own motion, leave the immediate
+services of Washington; but when the opportunity was presented by the
+latter, he at once embraced it, and would not be persuaded by any
+considerations to return to his former place.
+
+A short time previous to his leaving the family of Washington he had
+formed an engagement with the second daughter of Gen. Philip Schuyler,
+of New-York, to whom he was married on the 14th of December, 1780, at
+the residence of her father at Albany, and thus became permanently
+established in New-York. His union with this lady was one of unbroken
+happiness, and at a venerable age she still survives him.
+
+His rank in the army was soon after advanced, and an opportunity for
+exhibiting his military skill and prowess, which he had so ardently
+wished for, was shortly presented. The falling fortunes of the British
+army in the south, under Lord Cornwallis, invited an attack in that
+quarter. The combined French and American forces were fast closing up
+every avenue of retreat, and the British commander finding that to avoid
+a general engagement was impossible, at last intrenched himself at
+Yorktown with the determination of making a final stand against the
+victorious progress of the American arms. In the decisive battle which
+succeeded, Hamilton signalized himself by a most brilliant achievement.
+Two redoubts in the fortifications of the enemy were to be carried in
+face of a most destructive fire. The attack upon one of them was
+assigned to a detachment of the French troops, and that upon the other
+to a division of the American forces. The command of the latter, at his
+earnest request, was given to Hamilton. At the appointed signal he "gave
+the order to advance at the point of the bayonet, pushed forward, and
+before the rest of the corps had ascended the abatis, mounted over it,
+stood for a moment on the parapet with three of his soldiers,
+encouraging the others to follow, and sprung into the ditch. The
+American infantry, animated by the address and example of their leader,
+pressed on with muskets unloaded and fixed bayonets. They soon reached
+the counterscarp under a heavy and constant fire from the redoubt, and,
+surmounting the abatis, ditch, and palisades, mounted the parapet and
+leaped into the work. Hamilton, who had pressed forward, followed by the
+rear-guard under Mansfield, was for a time lost sight of, and it was
+feared he had fallen; but he soon reappeared, formed the troops in the
+redoubt, and as soon as it surrendered gave the command to Major Fish.
+
+"The impetuosity of the attack carried all before it, and within nine
+minutes from the time the abatis was passed the work was gained."[14]
+This brilliant exploit received the decisive commendation of Washington.
+"Few cases," said he, "have exhibited greater proofs of intrepidity,
+coolness, and firmness than were shown on this occasion."
+
+The battle of Yorktown decided the event of the war of the Revolution.
+The profession of a soldier could no longer give sufficient scope to the
+restless activity of Hamilton; although then occupying a distinguished
+place among the most illustrious of his countrymen, and yielding, though
+not without regret, his arms for the _toga_, he selected for his future
+employment the profession of the law--a pursuit for which his general
+studies and the character of his mind, as well as his inclination,
+eminently fitted him.
+
+From the period of his admission to the bar until the assembling of the
+convention which framed the constitution under which we now live, his
+time and labors were divided between the practice of his profession and
+the service of the public in various capacities. Of the convention he
+was chosen a member, and he brought to the performance of his duties in
+that body the purest patriotism, and abilities unsurpassed, if indeed
+equalled, in that assembly of illustrious men. He took from the outset a
+most conspicuous part in its deliberations, throwing upon every
+important subject which was discussed, the blended lights of his genius,
+experience, and learning. As the sessions of the convention were held in
+secret, we have but an imperfect knowledge of its proceedings; and the
+meagre and fragmentary reports which we possess of the speeches which
+were delivered in it give us a very inadequate notion of the masterly
+efforts of Hamilton. But the testimony of his associates in the
+convention, and the imperfect records we have of its deliberations, join
+in ascribing to him a foremost place; and an impartial student of our
+constitution and history, himself a profound statesman and philosopher,
+M. Guizot, has said that there is in our political system scarcely an
+element of order and durability for which we are not in a great measure
+indebted to the genius of Hamilton. Indeed he was the very first to
+point out the radical defects in the old confederation, and the absolute
+necessity of a government based upon a different foundation, and
+invested with more ample powers. The restoration of the public credit,
+the creation of a currency, the promotion of commerce, the preservation
+of the public faith with foreign countries, the general
+tranquillity--these were topics which he had discussed in all their
+relations long before the meeting of the convention, and he had early
+arrived at the conclusion that these great ends were to be reached in no
+other way than by the establishment of a NATIONAL GOVERNMENT, emanating
+directly from the people at large, sovereign in its own sphere, and
+responsible to the people alone for the manner in which its powers were
+executed. In the Constitution, when it was presented for adoption,
+Hamilton saw some objectionable features. These he had opposed in the
+convention; but finding that such opposition was likely to throw
+obstacles in the way of any final agreement, and reorganizing in the
+instrument proposed to be adopted the essential features of his own
+plan, and wisely regarding it as the best scheme that could unite the
+varying opinions of men, he patriotically withdrew his opposition and
+gave it his hearty assent.
+
+Hamilton was chosen a member of the convention which met at Poughkeepsie
+to consider the question of ratifying it, and he urged the adoption of
+it in a series of masterly speeches, which powerfully contributed to its
+final ratification. At the same time, in conjunction with Madison and
+Jay, he was engaged in the composition of those immortal papers, which,
+under the name of the "Federalist," exercised at the time such a potent
+influence, and which have even since been received as authoritative
+commentaries upon the instrument, the wisdom and expediency of which
+they so eloquently and successfully vindicated. In view of the
+extraordinary exertions of Hamilton in behalf of the Constitution, both
+with his tongue and pen, and of the fact that if New-York had rejected
+it, it would probably have failed to receive the sanction of a
+sufficient number of States, we think that it may without injustice to
+others be said, that for the ratification of our Constitution we are
+more indebted to the labors of Hamilton than to those of any other
+single man.
+
+When the new government went into operation with Washington at its head,
+Hamilton was called to fill what was then the most important place in
+the cabinet, that of Secretary of the Treasury. He then addressed
+himself to the task of carrying out the great purpose for which the
+Constitution was adopted--a task, the successful accomplishment of which
+rested more in the skilful administration of the Treasury department
+than that of any office under government; for upon this hung the great
+issues of the currency and the public credit. With what ability he
+executed his great trust in the face of a powerful and most virulent
+opposition, the event has fully shown. The system of finance which he
+concocted and applied has been adhered to without substantial change
+throughout the subsequent history of the government, and well justifies
+the magnificent eulogy which Webster has bestowed upon its author. "He
+smote the rock of the national resources, and abundant streams of
+revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead corpse of the Public Credit,
+and it sprung upon its feet. The fabled birth of Minerva from the brain
+of Jove was hardly more sudden or more perfect than the financial system
+of the United States, as it burst forth from the conceptions of
+ALEXANDER HAMILTON."[15]
+
+From the Treasury department he returned to the practice of his
+profession, and the calmer walks of private life; but his love for his
+country and the anxiety he felt for her welfare would not permit him to
+relinquish the prominent place he held as the leader of the Federal
+party. He regarded with great distrust and apprehension the principles
+and the practices of the rapidly increasing Democratic party. Many of
+its leaders he believed to be destitute of principle, and he spared no
+exertions in opposing them, and in endeavoring to stay the progress of
+radical opinions, and to infuse a spirit of moderation and wisdom into
+the politics of the nation.
+
+He was now in the prime of life. A practice in his profession at that
+time without parallel in extent and importance, afforded him an abundant
+income, and held out a prospect of a competent fortune. He therefore
+retired from the city, purchased a beautiful spot in the upper part of
+the island of New-York, and there built the tasteful residence of which
+an engraving is prefixed to this sketch, and which of the many places
+where he resided may most appropriately be called his "Home." It is, we
+believe, the only house in New-York, in which he lived, that is now
+standing. Of the one in the island of St. Nevis, in which he was born,
+we have never seen any representation or description. During a small
+portion of his college life, he resided with Mr. Hercules Mulligan in
+Water-street; but the house was long since torn down.
+
+After the close of the war, and during the first years of his practice
+at the bar, Hamilton occupied a house in Wall-street, nearly opposite
+the "Federal Hall," the site of the present Custom House. It was on the
+outer balcony of Federal Hall that Washington took the oath of
+inauguration upon his first election, and Hamilton, with a party of his
+friends, witnessed that imposing ceremony from the balcony of his own
+house. This building has, with most others of its time, been taken down,
+and a new one erected in its place to accommodate that mighty march of
+commercial enterprise which is fast sweeping away the last vestiges
+which mark the dwelling-places of the last generation.
+
+The spot which Hamilton selected for his "Home," and to which he gave
+the name of "Grange," from that of the residence of his grandfather in
+Ayrshire, Scotland, was chosen with taste and judgment, both on account
+of its natural beauty, and the interesting and inspiring recollections
+which its vicinity suggested. It was, at that time, completely in the
+country, without an object to remind one of the neighborhood of the
+town; and even now the population of the city, so prodigiously expanded,
+has not much encroached upon its original limits. It is situated upon
+the old King's Bridge road, about eight miles from the heart of the
+city, and something less than a mile above the ancient village of
+Manhattan, and is about midway between the Hudson River on the one side
+and the Harlem on the other. The west side, which lies on the King's
+Bridge road, is adorned by a fine growth of large shade trees. From
+these it extends with gentle undulations to a declivity, at the base of
+which lie the Harlem commons. The grounds are simply but tastefully laid
+out, chiefly with a view to take advantage of and display the natural
+features of the place. The house is situated nearly in the centre of the
+grounds, and is reached by a gently-winding carriage-way. The stable is
+placed in the rear of the house and at a distance from it, and is
+concealed by a thick growth of trees. A gravelled walk winds among the
+shade trees along the road, and thence across the grounds and along the
+other side. The space in front and on the left of the house is laid out
+in a fine lawn, in which the uneven surface of the ground is preserved,
+dotted here and there with fine trees, the natural growth of the spot.
+Near the house and on the left are thirteen flourishing gum trees, said
+to have been left by Hamilton himself when clearing the spot, as an
+emblem of the thirteen original States.
+
+[Illustration: Residence of Alexander Hamilton, near
+Manhattanville, N.Y.]
+
+The house itself is in form nearly square, of moderate size and well
+proportioned. The front is on the southern side; it is two stories in
+height, exclusive of the basement, and would have been at the time it
+was built a handsome and expensive one. The basement is used for
+culinary purposes, and the first story, which contains the parlors, is
+reached by a short flight of steps. You enter a commodious hall of a
+pentagonal form. On either side is a small apartment, of which the one
+on the right was the study, and contained the library of Hamilton. At
+the end of the hall are the doors, one on the right and the other on the
+left, which open into the parlors. These are of moderate size and
+connected by doors, by opening which they are thrown into one large
+room. The one on the right as you enter the house, is now, and probably
+was when Hamilton occupied it, used as a dining-room. The other parlor
+is furnished for the drawing-room. It is an octagon in form, of which
+three sides are occupied by doors, leading to the hall in front, the
+dining-room, and to a hall in the rear. In two of the opposite sides are
+windows reaching to the floor, and opening upon the lawn on the easterly
+side of the house. The three doors before mentioned are faced with
+mirrors, and being directly opposite the windows, they throw back the
+delightful landscape which appears through the latter with a pleasing
+effect. The story above is commodious, and divided into the usual
+apartments. On the north the prospect is interrupted by higher ground,
+and on the south by trees. On the west a view is caught of the beautiful
+shore of New Jersey, on the opposite side of the Hudson. From the
+eastern side, and especially from the balcony which extends in front of
+the windows of the drawing-room, a magnificent prospect is presented.
+The elevation being some two hundred feet above the surrounding waters,
+a complete view of the lower lands and of the country in the distance is
+commanded. Harlem with its river, the East River and Long Island Sound
+now dotted with a thousand sails, the fertile county of Westchester, and
+Long Island stretching away to the horizon, with its lovely and
+diversified scenery, are all in full view.
+
+This spot has, and probably had for Hamilton, its attractions in another
+respect. In its immediate neighbourhood were the scenes of some of the
+memorable and interesting events of the Revolution. He had passed
+directly over it with the American army in its retreat from New-York,
+after the disastrous battle of Long Island. Within a short distance from
+it are the Harlem Heights, where by his bravery and address, while yet
+but a boy, he had attracted the eye of Washington, and enjoyed his first
+interview with him. A little further towards the north is Fort
+Washington, in which the continental army made its last stand upon the
+island, and the loss of which sealed the fate of New-York for the war.
+It was this fort which, in the ardor of his youthful enthusiasm and
+burning with chagrin at its capture, he promised Washington he would
+retake, if he would place a small and select detachment under his
+command--an enterprise which the Commander-in-Chief thought too
+hazardous. Just across the river on the Jersey side is Fort Lee, which
+fell into the hands of the enemy soon after the capture of Fort
+Washington; and a short distance above, in the King's Bridge road, is
+the house which after the death of Hamilton became the residence of his
+bitter and fatal antagonist, Aaron Burr.
+
+When he had fixed his residence in this beautiful and attractive spot he
+was in the prime of life, in excellent health, and in prosperous
+circumstances. He had been most fortunate in his domestic relations, and
+had around him a happy family to which he was fondly devoted. His
+unrivalled natural powers had been exercised and improved by a training
+of thirty years in the camp, the forum, the senate and the cabinet. He
+was almost worshipped by his friends and his party, and regarded by all
+as one of the very pillars of the State. Every thing in his situation
+and circumstances seemed auspicious of a still long career of happiness
+and honor to himself, of usefulness and honor to his country. But in the
+midst of all this, he was suddenly cut off by the melancholy and fatal
+duel with Col. Burr.
+
+The public and private character of Burr, Hamilton had long known and
+despised. He regarded him as a dangerous man, and one wholly unfit to
+fill any office of trust or emolument. And this opinion, although
+avoiding open controversy with Burr himself, he had not scrupled to
+express privately to his own political friends, for the purpose of
+dissuading them from giving any support to one so little to be depended
+on. He recognized himself no other claim to political distinction than
+honesty of purpose, the ability and the will to serve the country,
+united with what he deemed to be sound political principles, neither of
+which recommendations could he discover in Aaron Burr.
+
+Burr had, on the other hand, few ends in life save his own advancement,
+and he scrupled at no means by which this object might be compassed; but
+in his most deeply laid schemes, he saw that the vigilant eye of
+Hamilton was upon him, and after his defeat in 1804 as a candidate for
+governor of the State of New-York, stung with mortification at his
+overthrow, and justly deeming the influence of Hamilton as one of the
+most potent causes of it, he resolved to fix a quarrel upon him. Seizing
+upon an expression which was contained in a letter, published during the
+recent political contest, but which had been forgotten by every one save
+himself, he dragged it before Hamilton's attention, tortured it into an
+imputation upon his personal honor, demanded of Hamilton an explanation
+which it was impossible for him to give, and made his refusal the
+pretext for a peremptory challenge.
+
+In accepting the challenge of Burr, Hamilton was but little under the
+influence of those motives which are commonly uppermost in such
+contests. To the practice of duelling he was sincerely and upon
+principle opposed, and had frequently borne his testimony against it.
+His reputation for personal courage had been too often tried, and too
+signally proved to be again put at risk. His passions, though strong,
+were under his control, and that sensitiveness on the score of personal
+honor, which a man of spirit naturally cherishes, and which the habits
+of a military life rendered prompt and delicate, was in him satisfied by
+a conscious integrity of purpose. His disposition was forgiving and
+gentle to a fault, and made it impossible for him to feel any personal
+ill will even towards such a man as Burr. The manifold obligations which
+as an honest and conscientious man he was bound to regard--his duties to
+a loved and dependent family, and his country, which held almost an
+equal place in his affections, united to dissuade him from meeting his
+adversary. And yet these latter, viewed in connection with his peculiar
+position, with popular prejudices, and the circumstances of the times,
+were what impelled him to his fatal resolution. His theoretic doubts
+respecting a republican form of government, while they did not in the
+least diminish his preference for our political system, yet made him
+painfully anxious in regard to its success. He thought that every thing
+depended upon keeping the popular mind free from the corruption of false
+principles, and the offices of trust and honor out of the hands of bad
+men. To these ends he had been, and still was, employing all his energy
+and influence. He could not bear the thought of losing or weakening by
+any step, however justifiable in itself, that influence which he had
+reason to think was not exerted in vain. These were the large and
+unselfish considerations which governed him; and though a cool observer
+removed from the excitement and perplexities of the time may pronounce
+them mistaken, still if impartial he must regard them as sincere. They
+were what Hamilton himself, in full view of the solemnity of the step he
+was about to take, and of the possible event of it, declared to be his
+motive. "The ability," said he in the last paper he ever wrote, "to be
+in future useful, whether in resisting mischief or effecting good in
+those crises of our public affairs which seem likely to happen, would
+probably be inseparable from a conformity with prejudice in this
+particular."
+
+After some fruitless endeavors on the part of Hamilton to convince Burr
+of the unreasonableness of the request which the latter had made, all
+explanations were closed, and the preliminaries for the meeting were
+arranged. Hamilton having no wish to take the life of Burr, had come to
+the determination to throw away his first shot,--a course too which
+approved itself to his feelings for other reasons.
+
+The grounds of Weehawk, on the Jersey shore opposite New-York, were at
+that time the usual field of these single combats, then chiefly by the
+inflamed state of political feeling of frequent occurrence, and very
+seldom ending without bloodshed. The day having been fixed, and the hour
+appointed at seven o'clock in the morning, the parties met, accompanied
+only by their servants. The bargemen, as well as Dr. Hosack, the surgeon
+mutually agreed upon, remained as usual at a distance, in order, if any
+fatal result should occur, not to be witnesses. The parties having
+exchanged salutations, the seconds measured the distance of ten paces,
+loaded the pistols, made the other preliminary arrangements, and placed
+the combatants. At the appointed signal, Burr took deliberate aim and
+fired. The ball entered Hamilton's side, and as he fell, his pistol too
+was unconsciously discharged. Burr approached him, apparently somewhat
+moved, but on the suggestion of his second, the surgeon and bargemen
+already approaching, he turned and hastened away, Van Ness coolly
+covering him from their sight by opening an umbrella. The surgeon found
+Hamilton half lying, half sitting on the ground, supported in the arms
+of his second. The pallor of death was on his face. "Doctor," he said,
+"this is a mortal wound;" and, as if overcome by the effort of speaking,
+he swooned quite away. As he was carried across the river the fresh
+breeze revived him. His own house being in the country, he was conveyed
+at once to the house of a friend, where he lingered for twenty-four
+hours in great agony, but preserving his composure and self-command to
+the last.[16]
+
+The melancholy event of the duel affected the whole country, and
+New-York in particular, with the deepest indignation and grief. The
+avenues to the house where Hamilton was carried before he expired, were
+thronged with anxious citizens. His funeral was celebrated by a mournful
+pageant, and an oration in Trinity Church by Governeur Morris, which
+stirred up the people like the speech of Antony over the corpse of
+Caesar, to a "sudden flood of mutiny." Burr, with an indictment for
+murder hanging over him, fled secretly from the city to the South, where
+he remained until the excitement had in a measure subsided. His wretched
+end, and the place which history has assigned to him, leave room at
+present for no other emotions save those of regret and pity. In the deep
+gloom which the death of Hamilton occasioned, his political opponents
+almost equally shared. In contemplating his character they seemed to
+catch some portion of his own magnanimity, and the animosities of which
+he had been so conspicuous an object, were swallowed up in the
+conviction that a great and irreparable loss had fallen equally upon
+all.
+
+There was not, we think, at that time, a life which might not have been
+better spared than that of Hamilton. Certainly no man represented so
+well as he, the character and the principles of Washington; and no man
+was gifted with an array of qualities which better fitted him either as
+a magistrate or a man to control aright the opinions and the actions of
+a people like that of the United States. He was a man "built up on every
+side." He had received from nature a most capacious and admirable
+intellect, which had been exercised and developed by deep study and
+large experience in the practical conduct of affairs. His education was
+like that which Milton describes as "fitting to a man to perform justly,
+skilfully and magnanimously, all the offices, both public and private,
+of peace and war." His opinions were definite and fixed; were held with
+the confidence which is the result of complete conviction; and came from
+him recommended by a powerful eloquence, and a persuasive fairness and
+magnanimity. The strength of his passions gave him an almost unbounded
+influence over the minds of others, which he never perverted to selfish
+purposes or unworthy ends.
+
+A lofty integrity was one of the most prominent traits of his character.
+It was not, as in his great contemporary Jay, clothed with the
+appearance of austerity, nor did it, perhaps, so much as in the latter
+spring from a constant and habitual sense of responsibility to a Supreme
+Being; but it was rather a rare and noble elevation of soul, the
+spontaneous development of a nature which could not harbor a base or
+unworthy motive, cherished indeed and fortified by a firm faith and a
+strong religious temperament. It was this which enabled him to spend so
+long a period of his life in the public service in the exercise of the
+most important public trusts--among them that of the Treasury
+department, with the whole financial arrangements of the country under
+his control, and come from it all without a stain or a suspicion. His
+character for uprightness might be presented as an example in
+illustration of the fine precept of Horace:
+
+   ---- Hic murus aheneus esto
+    Nil conscire sibi, nulla pallescere culpa.
+
+Political hostility and private malice explored every corner of his life
+with the hope of fixing a stain upon his official integrity; but these
+miserable attempts had no other effect than to bring defeat and disgrace
+on the authors of them. His honesty was as conspicuous in his private as
+in his public career, and was indeed sometimes carried to an extent
+which we fear might seem in our times like an absurd refinement. When
+about to enter upon his duties as Secretary of the Treasury, he was
+applied to by some friends engaged in monetary transactions for
+information with respect to the policy which he proposed to pursue, the
+disclosure of which would perhaps promote their interests, and not
+injure those of the public. But this he utterly refused to give, holding
+it as inconsistent with his duty as a public servant, to make his office
+even the indirect means of contributing to the emolument of friends by
+imparting to them information which was not open to all alike. While at
+the bar, and practising only as counsellor, he was associated with the
+Messrs. Ogden, who were then leading members of the profession in
+New-York city, and he received only the retaining and trial fees, though
+his reputation brought to the office a large proportion of all the
+important suits which arose. It was proposed to him to form a connection
+with other attorneys, by which engagement he might receive a portion of
+the attorney's fees in addition; but this offer he at once rejected,
+saying that he could not consent to receive any compensation for
+services not his own, or for the character of which he was not
+responsible.
+
+In his disposition he was one of the most amiable and attractive of men;
+and though capable of strong indignation, which made him always
+respected and sometimes feared by his adversaries, he was yet of such a
+mild and placable temper that no man could be long and sincerely his
+enemy. In person he was rather below the average height, his form was
+well proportioned, and his manner dignified and conciliating. The lower
+features of his countenance were regular and handsome, and beaming with
+the warm affections and generous sentiments of his heart. His brow and
+forehead were of a massive cast, expressive of the commanding intellect
+which lay behind. He was fond of society, full of the most lively and
+various conversation, which made him the delight and ornament of every
+circle he entered. During his time the Supreme Court used to hold its
+terms at New-York and Albany alternately, and the bar was then obliged
+to follow it back and forth between those cities, the journey occupying
+at that time three or four days. Of course this was a season of
+hilarity, and upon such occasions Hamilton was the life of the party,
+sometimes charming the whole company by his ingenious and eloquent
+discussions of the various subjects of conversation, and at others
+calling forth shouts of laughter by his pointed and genial wit. An
+anecdote has been related to us by one who was present on the occasion,
+which well illustrates the power which lay in his fascinating manner and
+conversation. During the hostilities between France and England, which
+succeeded the revolution in the former country, a French man of war
+having on board Jerome Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon, and
+afterwards king of Westphalia, was chased into the harbor of New-York by
+two English frigates. It was during the visit which Jerome was thus
+compelled to make to this country, that he became acquainted with and
+married the beautiful Miss Patterson, of Baltimore. The genius and the
+fortunes of Napoleon were then for the first time astonishing the world,
+and caused Jerome to be received with the most extraordinary marks of
+attention in the different cities of the United States. While he was in
+New-York Hamilton made a dinner party for him, to which a number of the
+chief personages of the time were invited. He was then living at
+"Grange," and, as it happened, upon the very day of the party was
+engaged in the argument of an important cause in the city, which
+detained him there until after the hour for which his guests were
+invited. A long delay ensued after the company had assembled, and the
+embarrassment of Mrs. Hamilton may be imagined. There was evidently a
+feeling of uneasiness and discontent springing up in the minds of the
+guests, and especially was this the case with the distinguished brother
+of the First Consul. He was affected with the usual sensitiveness of a
+_novus homo_ upon the point of etiquette, and it seemed to pass his
+comprehension how a man of Hamilton's private and official eminence
+should be engaged in any of the ordinary pursuits of life, and
+especially that such concerns, or any concerns whatever, should be
+allowed to detain him a single moment from the society of his guests,
+one of whom had the honor to be no less a person than Jerome Bonaparte.
+At a late hour, after the quality of the dinner and the temper of the
+guests had become about equally impaired, Hamilton arrived. He was met
+by his desponding wife, and informed of the distressing predicament
+which his delay had occasioned. After making a hasty toilet, he entered
+the drawing-room, and found that the affair indeed wore a most perilous
+aspect. The appearance of the distinguished Frenchman was especially
+unpromising. But Hamilton was quite equal to the emergency. Gracefully
+apologizing for his tardiness, he at once entered into a most animated
+and eloquent conversation, drew out his different guests with admirable
+dexterity, and enlisted them with one another, and especially
+recommended himself to the late Miss Patterson by a lively chat in
+French, of which language he was a master. The discontented features of
+the Bonaparte began to relax, and it soon became evident that he was in
+the most amiable mood, and one of the most gratified of the party. The
+dinner passed off admirably, and it seemed to be generally conceded that
+the delay in the beginning was amply atoned for by the delightful
+entertainment which followed.
+
+We should do injustice to one of the most amiable traits of Hamilton's
+character if we omitted particularly to notice the strength and
+tenderness of his friendships. Incapable of treachery, free from all
+disguise, and imbued with the largest sympathies, he drew to himself the
+esteem and affection of all who knew him; and such was his admiration
+for noble and generous qualities, that he could not see them displayed
+without clasping their possessors to his heart. He was a general
+favorite in the army, and between some of the choicest spirits in it and
+himself, there was an almost romantic affection. Those that knew him
+best loved him most. The family of Washington were as dear to him as if
+they were kindred by blood. Meade, McHenry, Tilghman, the "Old
+Secretary," Harrison, and the generous and high-souled Laurens, were in
+every change of fortune his cherished and bosom friends. The following
+extract from a letter to Laurens, shows the nature of Hamilton's
+attachment. "Cold in my professions, warm in my friendships, I wish my
+dear Laurens it were in my power, by actions rather than by words, to
+convince you that I love you. I shall only tell you that till you bid us
+adieu, I hardly knew the value you had taught my heart to set upon you.
+Indeed, my friend, it were not well done. You know the opinion I
+entertain of mankind; and how much it is my desire to preserve myself
+free from particular attachments, and to keep my happiness free from the
+caprices of others. You should not have taken advantage of my
+sensibility to steal into my affections, without my consent." The
+openness of his heart and the flexibility of his manners made him a
+great favorite with the French officers. Lafayette loved him as a
+brother, and in one of his letters to him thus writes: "I know the
+General's (Washington's) friendship and gratitude for you, my dear
+Hamilton; both are greater than you perhaps imagine. I am sure he needs
+only to be told that something will suit you, and when he thinks he can
+do it, he certainly will. Before this campaign I was your friend, and
+very intimate friend, agreeably to the ideas of the world; since my
+second voyage, my sentiment has increased to such a point the world
+knows nothing about. To show _both_, from want and from scorn of
+expression, I shall only tell you, adieu." Talleyrand, the celebrated
+minister of Napoleon, whatever may be said of the character of his
+diplomacy, had a heart that was capable of friendship, and while in this
+country conceived a particular fondness for Hamilton, and on his
+departure for France he took from the house of the latter, without
+permission, a miniature belonging to Mrs. Hamilton of her husband. When
+fairly out of reach he addressed a note to Mrs. Hamilton confessing the
+larceny, and excusing it on the ground that he wanted a copy of it, but
+knew that she would not let him take the original away to be copied if
+he had made the request. He had an excellent copy of the miniature taken
+upon Sevres china, which he always kept in a conspicuous place in his
+apartment until late in life, when he presented it with a lock of his
+hair to a son of Hamilton, James A. Hamilton Esq., of Dobb's Ferry, N.
+Y., who still retains it. The indignation of Talleyrand at the conduct
+of Burr in bringing about the melancholy duel was unbounded; and when
+Burr, subsequently to that event, was on a visit to France, he wrote a
+note to Talleyrand, requesting the privilege of paying him a visit. Of
+course the French minister could not refuse this favor to a man who had
+been Vice-President of the United States, and in other respects so
+eminent a person; but his answer was something like this: "The Minister
+of Foreign Affairs would be happy to see Col. Burr at--(naming the
+hour); but M. Talleyrand thinks it due to Col. Burr to state, that he
+always has the miniature of General Hamilton hanging over his
+mantel-piece."
+
+In contemplating the life of Hamilton, it is of course impossible not to
+feel the deepest regret that so much genius, so much usefulness, and so
+much promise, should have been so prematurely cut off. Great as was his
+actual performance, it is natural and reasonable to suppose that the
+results of his youth and early manhood would have been far eclipsed by
+those of his splendid maturity. But as it is, "he lived long enough for
+glory." The influence of his presence and manners, the excitements in
+which he mingled when alive--every thing which tends to give a
+fictitious importance to present greatness, have passed away. But his
+reputation, which some have thought to rest upon these very
+circumstances, stands unaffected by their decay,--a fact which
+sufficiently attests the enduring nature of his fame.
+
+[Illustration: Monument To Hamilton, Trinity Church-yard, N.Y.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[13] Life of Hamilton, by his son, John C. Hamilton, Vol. I. p. 22.
+
+[14] Life of Hamilton, Vol. I. p. 382.
+
+[15] Works of Daniel Webster, Vol. I, p. 200.
+
+[16] Hildreth's History of the United States. New Series, vol. ii.
+p. 524.
+
+
+
+
+=Marshall.=
+
+[Illustration: Marshall fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Marshall's House at Richmond, Va.]
+
+MARSHALL.
+
+
+John Marshall, son of Colonel Thomas Marshall, a planter of moderate
+fortune, was born in Germantown, Fauquier County, Virginia, on the
+twenty-fourth of September, 1755. When twenty-one years of age, he was
+commissioned as a lieutenant in the continental service, and marching
+with his regiment to the north, was appointed captain in the spring of
+1777, and in that capacity served in the battles of Brandywine,
+Germantown, and Monmouth; was at Valley Forge during the winter of 1778,
+and was one of the covering party at the assault of Stoney Point, in
+June, 1779. Having returned to his native State at the expiration of the
+enlistment of the Virginia troops, in 1780 he received a license for the
+practice of the law, and rapidly rose to distinction in that profession.
+In 1782 he was chosen a representative to the legislature, and afterward
+a member of the executive council In January, 1783, he married Mary
+Willis Ambler, of York, in Virginia, with whom he lived for fifty years
+in the tenderest affection. He was a delegate to the convention of
+Virginia which met on the second of June, 1788, to take into
+consideration the new constitution, and in conjunction with his friend,
+Mr. Madison, mainly contributed to its adoption, in opposition to the
+ardent efforts of Henry, Grayson, and Mason. His name first became
+generally known throughout the nation by his vindication, in the
+legislature of the State, of the ratification of Jay's treaty by
+President Washington. No report of that speech remains, but the evidence
+of its ability survives in the effects which it produced on the
+legislature and the country. He continued in the practice of the law,
+having declined successively the offices of Attorney General of the
+United States and Minister to France, until 1797, when with General
+Pinkney and Mr. Gerry, he was sent on a special mission to the French
+republic. The manner in which the dignity of the American character was
+maintained against the corruption of the Directory and its ministers is
+well known. The letters of the seventeenth of January and third of
+April, 1798, to Talleyrand, the Minister of Foreign Relations, have
+always been attributed to Marshall, and they rank among the ablest and
+most effective of diplomatic communications. Mr. Marshall arrived in
+New-York on the seventeenth of June, 1798, and on the nineteenth entered
+Philadelphia. At the intelligence of his approach the whole city poured
+out toward Frankford to receive him, and escorted him to his lodgings
+with all the honors of a triumph. In after years, when he visited
+Philadelphia, he often spoke of the feelings with which, as he came near
+the city on that occasion, with some doubts as to the reception which he
+might meet with in the existing state of parties, he beheld the
+multitude rushing forth to crowd about him with every demonstration of
+respect and approbation, as having been the most interesting and
+gratifying of his life.
+
+On his return to Virginia, at the special request of General Washington,
+he became a candidate for the House of Representatives, and was elected
+in the spring of 1799. His greatest effort in Congress was his speech in
+opposition to the resolutions of Edward Livingston relative to Thomas
+Nash, alias Jonathan Robbins. Fortunately we possess an accurate report
+of it, revised by himself. The case was, that Thomas Nash, having
+committed a murder on board the British frigate Hermione, navigating the
+high seas under a commission from the British king, had sought an asylum
+within the United States, and his delivery had been demanded by the
+British minister under the twenty-seventh article of the treaty of amity
+between the two nations. Mr. Marshall's argument first established that
+the crime was within the jurisdiction of Great Britain, on the general
+principles of public law, and then demonstrated, that under the
+constitution the case was subject to the disposal of the executive, and
+not the judiciary. He distinguished these departments from one another
+with an acuteness of discrimination and a force of logic which
+frustrated the attempt to carry the judiciary out of its orbit, and
+settled the political question, then and for ever. It is said that Mr.
+Gallatin, whose part it was to reply to Mr. Marshall, at the close of
+the speech turned to some of his friends and said, "_You_ may answer
+that if you choose; _I_ cannot." The argument deserves to rank among the
+most dignified displays of human intellect. At the close of the session,
+Mr. Marshall was appointed Secretary of War, and soon after Secretary of
+State. During his continuance in that department our relations with
+England were in a very interesting condition, and his correspondence
+with Mr. King exhibits his abilities and spirit in the most dignified
+point of view. "His despatch of the twentieth of September, 1800," says
+Mr. Binney, "is a noble specimen of the first order of state papers, and
+shows the most finished adaptation of parts for the station of an
+American Secretary of State." On the thirty-first of January, 1801, he
+was appointed Chief Justice of the United States, in which office he
+continued until his death. In 1804 he published the Biography of
+Washington, which for candor, accuracy, and comprehension, will for ever
+be the most authentic history of the Revolution. He died in Philadelphia
+on the sixth of July, 1835.
+
+Mr. Marshall's career as Chief Justice extended through a period of more
+than thirty-four years, which is the longest judicial tenure recorded in
+history. To one who cannot follow his great judgments, in which, at the
+same time, the depths of legal wisdom are disclosed and the limits of
+human reason measured, the language of just eulogy must wear an
+appearance of extravagance. In his own profession he stands for the
+reverence of the wise rather than for the enthusiasm of the many. The
+proportion of the figure was so perfect, that the sense of its vastness
+was lost. Above the difficulties of common minds, he was in some degree
+above their sympathy. Saved from popularity by the very rarity of his
+qualities, he astonished the most where he was best understood. The
+questions upon which his judgment was detained, and the considerations
+by which his decision was at last determined, were such as ordinary
+understandings, not merely could not resolve, but were often inadequate
+even to appreciate or apprehend. It was his manner to deal directly with
+the results of thought and learning, and the length and labor of the
+processes by which these results were suggested and verified might elude
+the consciousness of those who had not themselves attempted to perform
+them. From the position in which he stood of evident superiority to his
+subject, it was obviously so easy for him to describe its character and
+define its relations, that we sometimes forgot to wonder by what
+faculties or what efforts he had attained to that eminence. We were so
+much accustomed to see his mind move only in the light, that there was a
+danger of our not observing that the illumination by which it was
+surrounded was the beam of its own presence, and not the natural
+atmosphere of the scene.
+
+The true character and measure of Marshall's greatness are missed by
+those who conceive of him as limited within the sphere of the justices
+of England, and who describe him merely as the first of lawyers. To have
+been "the most consummate judge that ever sat in judgment," was the
+highest possibility of Eldon's merit, but was only a segment of
+Marshall's fame. It was in a distinct department, of more dignified
+functions, almost of an opposite kind, that he displayed those abilities
+that advance his name to the highest renown, and shed around it the
+glories of a statesman and legislator. The powers of the Supreme Court
+of the United States are such as were never before confided to a
+judicial tribunal by any people. As determining, without appeal, its own
+jurisdiction, and that of the legislature and executive, that court is
+not merely the highest estate in the country, but it settles and
+continually moulds the constitution of the government. Of the great work
+of constructing a nation, but a small part, practically, had been
+performed when the written document had been signed by the convention: a
+vicious theory of interpretation might defeat the grandeur and unity of
+the organization, and a want of comprehension and foresight might
+fatally perplex the harmony of the combination. The administration of a
+system of polity is the larger part of its establishment. What the
+constitution was to be, depended on the principles on which the federal
+instrument was to be construed, and they were not to be found in the
+maxims and modes of reasoning by which the law determines upon social
+contracts between man and man, but were to be sought anew in the
+elements of political philosophy and the general suggestions of
+legislative wisdom. To these august duties Judge Marshall brought a
+greatness of conception that was commensurate with their difficulty; he
+came to them in the spirit and with the strength of one who would
+minister to the development of a nation; and it was the essential
+sagacity of his guiding mind that saved us from illustrating the
+sarcasms of Mr. Burke about paper constitutions. He saw the futility of
+attempting to control society by a metaphysical theory; he apprehended
+the just relation between opinion and life, between the forms of
+speculation and the force of things. Knowing that we are wise in respect
+to nature, only as we give back to it faithfully what we have learned
+from it obediently, he sought to fix the wisdom of the real and to
+resolve it into principles. He made the nation explain its constitution,
+and compelled the actual to define the possible. Experience was the
+dialectic by which he deduced from substantial premises a practical
+conclusion. The might of reason by which convenience and right were thus
+moulded into union, was amazing. But while he knew the folly of
+endeavoring to be wiser than time, his matchless resources of good sense
+contributed to the orderly development of the inherent elements of the
+constitution, by a vigor and dexterity as eminent in their kind as they
+were rare in their combination. The vessel of state was launched by the
+patriotism of many: the chart of her course was designed chiefly by
+Hamilton: but when the voyage was begun, the eye that observed, and the
+head that reckoned, and the hand that compelled the ship to keep her
+course amid tempests without, and threats of mutiny within, were those
+of the great Chief Justice. Posterity will give him reverence as one of
+the founders of the nation; and of that group of statesmen who may one
+day perhaps be regarded as above the nature, as they certainly were
+beyond the dimensions of men, no figure, save ONE alone, will rise upon
+the eye in grandeur more towering than that of John Marshall.
+
+The authority of the Supreme Court, however, is not confined to cases of
+constitutional law; it embraces the whole range of judicial action, as
+it is distributed in England, into legal, equitable, and maritime
+jurisdictions. The equity system of this court was too little developed
+to enable us to say what Marshall would have been as a chancellor. It is
+difficult to admit that he would have been inferior to Lord Eldon: it is
+impossible to conceive that he could at all have resembled Lord Eldon.
+But undoubtedly the native region and proper interest of a mind so
+analytical and so sound, so piercing and so practical, was the common
+law; that vigorous system of manly reason and essential right, that
+splendid scheme of morality expanded by logic and informed by prudence.
+Perhaps the highest range of English intelligence is illustrated in the
+law; yet where, in the whole line of that august succession, will be
+found a character which fills the measure of judicial greatness so
+completely as Chief Justice Marshall? Where, in English history, is the
+judge, whose mind was at once so enlarged and so systematic, who so
+thoroughly had reduced professional science to general reason, in whose
+disciplined intellect technical learning had so completely passed into
+native sense? Vast as the reach of the law is, it is not an exaggeration
+to say that Marshall's understanding was greater, and embraced the forms
+of legal sagacity within it, as a part of its own spontaneous wisdom. He
+discriminated with instinctive accuracy between those technicalities
+which have sprung from the narrowness of inferior minds, and those which
+are set by the law for the defence of some vital element of justice or
+reason. The former he brushed away like cobwebs, while he yielded to the
+latter with a respect which sometimes seemed to those "whose eyes were"
+not "opened," a species of superstition. In his judicial office the
+method of Marshall appeared to be, first to bow his understanding
+reverently to the law, and calmly and patiently to receive its
+instructions as those of an oracle of which he was the minister; then to
+prove these dictates by the most searching processes of reason, and to
+deliver them to others, not as decrees to be obeyed, but as logical
+manifestations of moral truth. Undoubtedly he made much use of adjudged
+cases; but he used them to give light and certainty to his own judgment,
+and not for the vindication or support of the law. He would have deemed
+it a reproach alike to his abilities and his station, if he should have
+determined upon precedent what could have been demonstrated by reason,
+or had referred to authority what belonged to principle. With singular
+capacity, he united systematic reason with a perception of particular
+equity: too scrupulous a regard for the latter led Lord Eldon, in most
+instances, to adjudicate nothing but the case before him; but Marshall
+remembered that while he owed to the suitors the decision of the case,
+he owed to society the establishment of the principle. His mind
+naturally tended, not to suggestion and speculation, but to the
+determination of opinion and the closing of doubts. On the bench, he
+always recollected that he was not merely a lawyer, and much less a
+legal essayist; he was conscious of an official duty and an official
+authority; and considered that questions might be discussed elsewhere,
+but came to be settled by him. The dignity with which these duties were
+discharged was not the least admirable part of the display. It was
+wisdom on the seat of power, pronouncing the decrees of justice.
+
+Political and legal sense are so distinct from one another as almost to
+be irreconcilable in the same mind. The latter is a mere course of
+deduction from premises; the other calls into exercise the highest order
+of perceptive faculties, and that quick felicity of intuition which
+flashes to its conclusions by a species of mental sympathy rather than
+by any conscious process of argumentation. The one requires that the
+susceptibility of the judgment should be kept exquisitely alive to every
+suggestion of the practical, so as to catch and follow the insensible
+reasonings of life, rather than to reason itself: the other demands the
+exclusion of every thing not rigorously exact, and the concentration of
+the whole consciousness of the mind in kindling implicit truth into
+formal principles. The wonder, in Judge Marshall's case, was to see
+these two almost inconsistent faculties, in quality so matchless, and in
+development so magnificent, harmonized and united in his marvellous
+intelligence. We beheld him pass from one to the other department
+without confusing their nature, and without perplexing his own
+understanding. When he approached a question of constitutional
+jurisprudence, we saw the lawyer expand into the legislator; and in
+returning to a narrower sphere, pause from the creative glow of
+statesmanship, and descend from intercourse with the great conceptions
+and great feelings by which nations are guided and society is advanced,
+to submit his faculties with docility to the yoke of legal forms, and
+with impassible calmness to thread the tangled intricacies of forensic
+technicalities.
+
+There was in this extraordinary man an unusual combination of the
+capacity of apprehending truth, with the ability to demonstrate and make
+it palpable to others. They often exist together in unequal degrees.
+Lord Mansfield's power of luminous explication was so surpassing that
+one might almost say that he made others perceive what he did not
+understand himself; but the numerous instances in which his decisions
+have been directly overthrown by his successors, and the still greater
+number of cases in which his opinions have been silently departed from,
+compel a belief that his judgment was not of the truest kind. Lord
+Eldon's judicial sagacity was a species of inspiration; but he seemed to
+be unable not only to convince others; but even to certify himself of
+the correctness of his own greatest and wisest determinations. But Judge
+Marshall's sense appeared to be at once both instinctive and analytical:
+his logic extended as far as his perception: he had no propositions in
+his thoughts which he could not resolve into their axioms. Truth came to
+him as a revelation, and from him as a demonstration. His mind was more
+than the faculty of vision; it was a body of light, which irradiated the
+subject to which it was directed, and rendered it as distinct to every
+other eye as it was to its own.
+
+The mental integrity of this illustrious man was not the least important
+element of his greatness. Those qualities of vanity, fondness for
+display, the love of effect, the solicitation of applause, sensibility
+to opinions, which are the immoralities of intellect, never attached to
+that stainless essence of pure reason. He seemed to men to be a
+passionless intelligence; susceptible to no feeling but the constant
+love of right; subject to no affection but a polarity toward truth.
+
+As has already been stated, the great chief justice was married when
+twenty-eight years of age, to Miss Ambler, of York, in Virginia; there
+have been few such unions in every respect more fortunate and
+delightful; the wife died but a short time before the husband, who, not
+more than two days previous to his own decease, directed that his body
+should be laid with hers, and that the plain stone to indicate the place
+of their rest should have only this simple inscription:
+
+    "John Marshall, son of Thomas and Mary Marshall, was born on the
+    24th of September, 1755, intermarried with Mary Willis Ambler on
+    the 3d of January, 1783, and departed this life the ---- day
+    of ---- 18--."
+
+With no other alteration than the filling of the blanks, this is
+engraved on the modest white marble which is over their remains in the
+beautiful cemetery on Shoccoe Hill, of Richmond.
+
+The chief justice always lived in a style of singular simplicity; when
+Secretary of State at Washington, he resided in a brick building hardly
+larger than most of the kitchens now in use, and his house in Richmond,
+to which he soon after removed, was characteristically unostentatious.
+From Richmond he frequently walked out three or four miles to his farm
+in the county of Henrico; and once a year he made a protracted visit to
+his other farm, near his birth-place, in Fauquier.
+
+No man had a keener relish for social and convivial enjoyments, and
+numerous anecdotes are told in illustration of this trait in his
+character. Nearly all the period of his residence in Richmond, he was a
+member of a club which met near the city once a fortnight to pitch
+quoits, and mingle in relaxing conversation; there was no one more
+punctual in his attendance at its meetings, or who contributed more to
+their pleasantness; and such was his skill in the manly game he
+practised, that he would hurl his iron ring, weighing two pounds, with
+rarely erring aim, fifty-five or sixty feet, and when he or his partner
+made any specially successful exhibition of skill, he would leap up and
+clap his hands with the light-hearted enthusiasm of boyhood.
+
+
+
+
+=Ames.=
+
+[Illustration: Ames fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+AMES.
+
+
+The house in which FISHER AMES was born was pulled down somewhere about
+1818. It used to stand on the main street of Dedham, a little to the
+northeast, and over the way from where the court-house now stands. It
+was a roomy, two-story, peaked-roofed old building, with its end to the
+street; the oldest part having an addition of more modern construction
+on the front, or what, with reference to the street, was the end. The
+rooms were low, the windows small, and the lower floor was sunken a
+little below the ground. A large buttonwood overshadowed it in front,
+and from behind an elm, the latter still standing. There was no fence
+between the house and the street, and the intervening space was covered
+with grass of that thick and stubbed growth peculiar to such localities.
+Behind was a large barn, while on both sides, and back for fifty or
+sixty rods, to the Charles River, stretched a broad field of irregular
+surface. Just across the street was the "Front Lot," a piece of
+unoccupied land, including that on which the court-house now stands, and
+extending east nearly as far as the post-office. On the corner of this
+lot, directly in front of the house stood, subsequently,--that is, to
+the year 1776, when it was erected,--a stone pillar supporting a column,
+surmounted by a wooden head of Pitt, the same having been set up by the
+"Sons of Liberty," a brother of Fisher Ames among the number, on the
+repeal of the Stamp Act. This structure, after testifying to America's
+gratitude for a number of years, and furnishing to the corner on which
+it stood, the name of "Pitt's Head," was eventually overthrown. The
+stone pillar with its glowing inscription, after lying awhile by the
+roadside, and offering a seat to chatting children, and a place, in the
+spaces of the letters, for cracking nuts, was at length set up in its
+old place, on the erection of the court-house some twenty-five years
+since, where it still stands. But of the fate of the column and the head
+we have no account. This wooden head, intended by its enthusiastic
+raisers, without a doubt, to be "�re perennius," lay kicking about the
+street; and perhaps found refuge at last from the vicissitudes of the
+weather and the wasting jack-knife of the schoolboy, in the wood-box or
+the garret of some hospitable patriot.
+
+The old house was long kept as an inn, both by Dr. Nathaniel Ames, the
+father of Fisher, and, after his death, by his wife. Innkeeping in those
+days was not so engrossing an occupation as at present, and Dr. Ames, by
+no means mainly a Boniface, found time for the care of his farm, for the
+practice of his profession, for the study of mathematics, astronomy, and
+kindred subjects; and for the application of the knowledge thus
+acquired, in the making of almanacs; a business which he carried on for
+forty years. In their veracious pages, besides indicating the doings and
+intentions of the heavenly bodies, and predicting storms with all the
+accuracy of which the case was susceptible, Dr. Ames used to portray the
+exciting events of the time in verse, more patriotic and vivid, perhaps,
+than poetic. He was, in truth, a man of no small consideration in
+Dedham, of much natural ability, of wit and spirit.
+
+He showed these last qualities once on a time, when the colonial judges
+decided some law case against him. He thought they had disregarded the
+law, and their Reverences were soon seen, sketched on a sign-board in
+front of the tavern, in full bottomed wigs, tippling, with their _backs_
+to the volume labelled "The Province Law." The authorities at Boston
+taking umbrage at this, dispatched some officers to Dedham to remove the
+sign. But Dr. Ames was too quick for them; and the baffled tipstaves on
+reaching the house found nothing hanging but a board, on which was
+inscribed, "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh for a sign, but
+no sign shall be given them."
+
+Dr. Ames died in 1764, when his son Fisher, the youngest child, was six
+years old; having besides him, a son of his own name and profession, who
+was afterwards a violent democrat and opponent of Fisher Ames, two other
+sons and a daughter. Of these, Fisher was the only one who left
+descendants. Mrs. Ames continued to keep the inn, and married again. She
+was a very shrewd and sensible woman, of a strong and singular cast of
+mind. She took a hearty interest in politics, and hated the Jacobins
+devoutly. Innkeeping was a favorite occupation with her, and she carried
+matters with a high hand. We have heard her compared to Meg Dods, the
+landlady in St. Ronan's Well. She outlived her son Fisher some ten years
+or more.
+
+Fisher Ames was a delicate child, and the pet of his mother, whose
+maiden name he bore. He had such an extravagant fondness for books,
+devouring all that fell within his reach, and showed, in other ways, to
+the fond perception of his parent, such unmistakable signs of genius,
+that she early determined to make a lawyer of him, and put him to the
+study of Latin at six. The little fellow worked bravely at his lessons
+for six years, reciting sometimes to the school-teacher, when that
+functionary happened to be more than usually learned, sometimes to old
+Mr. Haven the minister, with whom he early made friends, and to various
+other persons. In 1770, twelve years old, he was admitted to Harvard
+College. Here he spent four years with credit and success, acquiring
+greater distinction in the study of the languages and in oratory, than
+in the abstract sciences. He was conspicuous, even at this early age, as
+a speaker, being one of the leading members of a society for improvement
+in eloquence, then newly established. This society, under the style of
+"The Institute of 1770," is still flourishing at Cambridge, and turns
+out annually as many orators, perhaps, as any similar body in our
+country. The writer of this remembers to have heard there, in his own
+college days, a great deal of sublime elocution. Fisher Ames's name
+occurs on the records a number of times, as a speaker, and a critic, and
+once as follows: "June, 1, 1773.--Voted, that Ames, Clarke, and Eliot,
+be fined 4 pence for tardiness." Young Ames passed through college with
+unblemished morals. "Happily," in the elegant phrase of his biographer,
+"he did not need the smart of guilt to make him virtuous, nor the regret
+of folly to make him wise."
+
+In the summer of 1774, he returned to his mother's house.
+Notwithstanding her predilection for law, he had some idea of studying
+medicine or divinity. But, the year of the Boston Port Bill was no good
+time for deciding upon a course of life, or beginning it when determined
+on. Besides, Fisher Ames was but sixteen, and his mother was poor. For a
+short time, therefore, he engaged in teaching school; and, after a few
+years spent in desultory but unceasing study and reading, he began law
+in the office of Wm. Tudor, of Boston.
+
+During this time the contest was going on in which his country's
+liberties were involved, and young Ames was a watchful and anxious
+observer of its progress. It was at his mother's house that the good men
+of Dedham used to meet, to see what they and the country were to do.
+Only a month or two after his return from college, a convention from all
+the towns of Suffolk county, of which Dedham was then a part, met here
+to deliberate. We can imagine the heart of our boy of sixteen burning
+within him, and his eye flashing as he heard the outraged citizens of
+Boston tell their grievances, and as he longed to be a man, that he
+might take a part with those determined patriots in their resolution to
+try the issue with Great Britain, if need be, at the point of the sword.
+Dedham sent some brave soldiers to the service, and Fisher Ames, young
+as he was, went out in one or two short expeditions.
+
+In 1781 we find him entered upon the practice of law at Dedham, where he
+soon became distinguished as an advocate. In those days the manners of
+the bench were very rough. The road to eminence in law seemed often to
+lie between rows of semi-barbarous judges, who hurled at aspiring
+barristers every missile of abuse. There is always much, it is true, in
+the deportment of young lawyers to vex the temper of a judge, and perhaps
+in those days of callow independence there may have been more than common.
+There appears to be something about that great science to which, in the
+language of Hooker, "all things in heaven and earth do homage, the least
+as feeling her care, and the greatest as not exempted from her bounty,"
+that breathes unusual dignity into its servants, especially its young
+ones. In its various duties, the giving of counsel, the questioning of
+witnesses, and the frequent display of capacity before courts and
+juries, the seeds of vanity find propitious soil and start into rank
+growth. From this or whatever cause, the judges of old times were crusty
+and abusive; and old Judge Paine, besides being all this, was moreover
+deaf, and used to berate counsel roundly at times for what was no fault
+of theirs. "I tell you what," said Fisher Ames, as he came out of court
+one day, "a man, when he enters that court-room, ought to go armed with
+a speaking trumpet in one hand and a club in the other." At another
+time, Ames expressed a rather derogatory opinion of the intelligence of
+the court. He was arguing a case before a number of county justices, and
+having finished, turned to leave the room. "Ain't you going to say any
+thing more, Mr. Ames?" anxiously whispered his client. "No," rejoined
+Ames; "you might as well argue a case to a row of skim-milk cheeses!"
+Perhaps his dislike to these dignitaries may have been an inheritance.
+May not the old Doctor, in his indignation about the Province Law
+matter, like another Hamilcar, have made his son, a youthful Hannibal,
+swear eternal hatred to his foes?
+
+Mr. Ames was now a rapidly rising man. Various essays on political
+subjects from his pen appeared in the newspapers, and contributed to
+draw public attention to him. When quite young, he was sent to a
+convention held at Concord, to consider the depreciated state of the
+currency, where he made an eloquent speech. In 1788, he was a member of
+the convention for ratifying the federal constitution. Here he added
+much to his fame by a number of excellent speeches. One on the biennial
+election of representatives was considered the best, and is the only one
+given in his works. It is lucid, statesmanlike, and eloquent. The
+occasion of it was an inquiry by Samuel Adams, why representatives were
+not made elective annually. To this Ames alludes in the closing
+paragraph: "As it has been demanded why annual elections were not
+preferred to biennial, permit me to retort the question, and to inquire,
+in my turn, what reason can be given why, if annual elections are good,
+biennial elections are not better?" Adams professed himself entirely
+satisfied. This same year Ames represented Dedham in the legislature.
+
+In 1789, Suffolk county sent him as her first representative to
+Congress, in opposition to Samuel Adams. He was in Congress eight years,
+during the whole of Washington's administration, and was one of the most
+prominent leaders of the federal party, giving to the President uniform
+and important support. In this period, he acquired a reputation for
+candor, integrity, ability, and eloquence, second to that of no man in
+Congress. At times, particularly towards the end of his term, ill-health
+compelled his absence; yet he examined with care every important
+question that presented itself, and spoke upon almost every one. But of
+his numerous efforts in Congress, only two are printed among his works,
+one on certain resolutions of Madison's for imposing additional duties
+on foreign goods, delivered in 1794, and the speech on Jay's treaty, two
+years later, his most brilliant effort, "an era," says his biographer,
+"in his political life." This speech was written out from memory by
+Judge Smith and Samuel Dexter, receiving a revision from Ames. It is
+thus alluded to by Hildreth: "He (Ames) had been detained from the House
+during the early part of the session, by an access of that disorder
+which made all the latter part of his life one long disease. Rising from
+his seat, pale, feeble, hardly able to stand or to speak, but warming
+with the subject, he delivered a speech which, for comprehensive
+knowledge of human nature and of the springs of political action, for
+caustic ridicule, keen argument, and pathetic eloquence, even in the
+imperfect shape in which we possess it, has very seldom been equalled on
+that or any other floor." The question was to have been taken that same
+day, but one of the opposition moved that it be postponed till the next,
+that they should not act under the influence of an excitement of which
+their calm judgment might not approve.
+
+After reducing the question to one of breaking the public faith, the
+speaker adds: "This, sir, is a cause that would be dishonored and
+betrayed, if I contented myself with appealing only to the
+understanding. It is too cold, and its processes are too slow for the
+occasion. I desire to thank God that, since he has given me an intellect
+so fallible, he has impressed upon me an instinct that is sure. On a
+question of shame and dishonor, reasoning is sometimes useless, and
+worse. I feel the decision in my pulse; if it throws no light upon the
+brain, it kindles a fire at the heart." It is the spirit that breathes
+in this splendid burst that stirred the minds of the hearers, wearied
+and disgusted with a discussion of nearly two months, so that, in the
+blunt language of John Adams--"there wasn't a dry eye in the House,
+except some of the jackasses that occasioned the necessity of the
+oratory."
+
+Ames's speeches show great clearness of mind and power of reasoning, and
+have about them an air of candor that induces conviction. He brought to
+every subject on which he was to speak, that thorough understanding of
+it, in which, if we may believe Socrates, lies the secret of all
+eloquence. It appears to have been customary with him to wait till a
+question had undergone some discussion, that he might the better
+appreciate the arguments on both sides. He would then rise, and
+disperse, as with the wand of Prospero, the mists of prejudice and
+sophistry that had gathered over the question in the course of debate,
+while he placed the subject before the House with convincing eloquence
+and precision. His well-stored mind poured forth illustrations at every
+step, and his imagination illuminated each point on which he touched.
+Now and then it would light up into a pure and steady blaze as he dwelt
+on some topic that stirred his deepest emotions, and transfigured it in
+apt and nervous language. In this union of imagination and feeling,
+making every period glow with life, with logical power, Ames resembled
+Chatham.
+
+He was not in the habit of trusting to notes, but used to think out a
+sketch of what he was to say, and trust for the rest to the inspiration
+of the occasion. At first his manner was slow and hesitating, like one
+in reflection; but as he went on, his thoughts and his language flowed
+fast, and his face beamed with expression. We have heard his manner
+characterized by one who had frequent opportunities of hearing him, in
+the words of Antenor's description of Ulysses:
+
+    "But when Ulyssus rose, in thought profound,
+    His modest eyes he fixed upon the ground,
+    As one unskilled, or drunk, he seemed to stand,
+    Nor raised his head nor stretched his sceptred hand;
+    But when he speaks, what elocution flows!
+    Soft as the fleeces of descending snows,
+    The copious accents fall, with easy art;
+    Melting they fall and sink into the heart!"
+
+His voice is described as rich and melodious. His personal appearance is
+thus given by Wm. Sullivan: "He was above middle stature, and
+well-formed. His features were not strongly marked. His forehead was
+neither high nor expansive. His eyes blue, and of middling size; his
+mouth handsome; his hair was black, and short on the forehead, and in
+his latter years unpowdered. He was very erect, and when speaking he
+raised his head; or rather his chin was the most projected part of his
+face." Before a jury he was very effective. There was nothing bitter or
+sarcastic in his manner; but mild, cool, and candid, it made a jury, as
+we heard it expressed, "want to give him the case, if they could." He is
+contrasted with his friend Samuel Dexter, as preferring to illustrate by
+a picture, while Dexter would explain by a diagram.
+
+Mr. Ames was the author of the "Address of the House of Representatives
+to Washington," on his signifying his intention to withdraw from office.
+His own health had been, and was still so feeble, that he could not
+stand for re-election. Accordingly, he retired to Dedham in March, 1797,
+intending to devote himself, as far as possible, to the practice of his
+profession and the enjoyment of domestic happiness.
+
+In July 1792, Mr. Ames had married Miss Worthington, of Springfield.
+This marriage was an exceedingly happy one. Mrs. Ames was much beloved
+and respected by her neighbors, and, in her sphere, was considered as
+remarkable as her husband. She was a woman of gentle and retiring
+disposition, devoted to her family, kind, motherly and sensible. Mr.
+Ames seems to have found in her a companion who called forth and
+appreciated all those amiable qualities which were a part of his
+character. She took a good deal of interest in public affairs, and was a
+woman of cultivated mind. She survived her husband, and died some
+sixteen years since, at the age of seventy-four. They had seven
+children, six sons and a daughter. The daughter died young and
+unmarried, of consumption. Three of the sons are now living, one in
+Dedham, one in Cambridge, and another somewhere at the West. All the
+children however survived their father.
+
+Previous to his marriage Mr. Ames had lived with his mother. After that
+event he moved to Boston and took a house on Beacon Street, next to
+Governor Bowdoin's. He appears to have lived here about two years, when
+he returned to Dedham, and began the building of a new house. This house
+was finished and occupied by the winter of 1795; during the interval Mr.
+Ames lived in a house opposite the old mansion now occupied by the
+Dedham Gazette. This new house of Ames's is still standing in Dedham,
+externally much the same as of old; a large square-built, two-story
+house, flat-roofed, simple and substantial. Internally, however,
+together with the ground about it, it has undergone many alterations.
+Formerly it had not the piazza now in front of it, and the various
+chimneys were then represented by one fat, old-fashioned, solid
+structure in the middle. It passed out of the hands of the family about
+1835, and is at present owned by Mr. John Gardiner.
+
+Mr. Ames seems to have inherited most of the old homestead, to the
+extent of twenty-five acres, on which he built his house, facing the
+south, a little to the east, and back of his mother's. He employed
+himself a good deal henceforth in the cultivation of his farm. The
+"Front Lot" was surrounded with a rail fence and a row of Lombardy
+poplars, and was used at different times as a mowing lot, a cornfield,
+and a pasture for the cows. On the east side of the house, extending in
+length from the street to the river, and in width from directly under
+the windows, far enough to include a street and a row of small houses,
+since constructed, was a pasture and orchard including seven or eight
+acres, and stocked with the best fruit. Directly back of the house was
+the garden, a long and rather barren strip of land, of peculiar surface.
+Two straight walks went from the house the whole length of it. At the
+farther end of it was a low oval space, with a walk running around it,
+and a pond in the middle. All this part of the garden was low, and
+surrounded at the sides and end with a bank, in the form of an
+amphitheatre. Three or four terraces lay between it and the higher
+ground. These and the oval space with its walk, still remain, but the
+fence between the garden and the orchard has been removed, and the two
+straight walks somewhat changed, to suit the modern appetite for grace.
+The place is still full of the fruit-trees that Fisher Ames planted,
+some crossgrained pear-trees, and venerable cherries being the chief.
+The boys used to look over in this orchard and garden, at the big pears,
+weighing down the trees and covering the ground, as if it were the very
+garden of the Hesperides, and the dragon were asleep. Once in a while
+the gates would be thrown open to these hungry longers, and they helped
+themselves; when winter came too the pond afforded them a capital
+skating place. A large shed ran out from the back of the house, on the
+west end, used, among other purposes, as a granary. To the west and back
+of this, was the barn of the old house, and a large new one built by Mr.
+Ames, and behind the latter, the ice-house, in those days quite a
+novelty. Back of this was an open field. On the west side of the house,
+a flight of steps led from one of the lower windows down the bank, with
+an old pear-tree growing through it.
+
+The house stood about two rods from the street; a semi-elliptical walk
+led up to the door, and two horse-chestnuts grew in the yard. There were
+but few trees near the house, for Mr. Ames liked the light and the fresh
+air. He planted a great many shade trees however on the street, and some
+of the fine old elms about the common were set out with his own hands.
+The front door opened into a large room, which took up the whole
+southwestern end, used as a hall, and on occasion of those large dinner
+parties so common among men of Mr. Ames's class, in those days, as a
+dining-room. At such times this was thrown into one with the adjoining
+front room, a large apartment, with a big fireplace, commonly used as a
+parlor. Back of this was the library overlooking the garden. The
+southeastern end was Mr. Ames's favorite one. His chamber, that in which
+he died, was here, on the second story. Below stairs, was a cellar
+kitchen, and a dairy; this last quite a magnificent matter, with marble
+flagging, and ice bestowed around in summer, for coolness.
+
+From the bank at the end of the garden, Mr. Ames's land covered with
+fruit-trees, sloped gracefully to the water. Charles River is here only
+twenty or thirty feet wide, and winds with a tranquil current through a
+narrow meadow; not as broad, but brighter and clearer than where at
+Cambridge it calls forth the admiring apostrophe of the poet. It is only
+a short way below this where Mother Brook issues from the Charles,
+flowing towards the east, and joining it with the Neponset, and making
+an island of all the intervening region, which embraces Boston, Roxbury,
+and Dorchester. This singular stream, though its banks are wooded with
+venerable trees, and it is in all respects like one of nature's own, is
+nevertheless an artificial course of water. And what is very remarkable,
+it was constructed by the Puritan settlers, only three years after their
+arrival in 1639, when there could not have been a hundred men in the
+place. They were in want of a flow of water for mill purposes, and
+accordingly dug a canal a mile in length, from the Charles eastwardly.
+Here the land descended, and the water, left to its own course, wound in
+graceful curves to the Neponset. There are still a number of mills on
+this stream. This achievement of Young America, considering his extreme
+youth at the time, amounting in fact to infancy, was not unworthy of his
+subsequent exploits.
+
+After returning from Congress, Mr. Ames passed a life of almost unbroken
+retirement. In 1798 he was appointed commissioner to the Cherokees, an
+office he was obliged to refuse. In 1800 he was a member of the
+Governor's Council, and in the same year delivered a eulogy on
+Washington, before the Legislature. He was chosen in 1805, President of
+Harvard College, but ill health, and a disinclination to change his
+habits of life, led him to decline the honor.
+
+He had also resumed the practice of his profession with ardor, but the
+state of his health compelled him gradually to drop it; and towards the
+close of his life, he was glad to throw it aside altogether. Mr. Ames
+was not much of a traveller, though getting back and forth between
+Dedham and Philadelphia, which he used to do in his own conveyance, was
+no small matter in those days. He visited among his acquaintances in the
+neighborhood, at Christopher Gore's in Waltham, at George Cabot's in
+Brookline, and at Salem, where Timothy Pickering and others of his
+friends resided. He was also in the habit of driving to Boston in his
+gig two or three times a week, when his health permitted, and passing
+the day. But he took few long journeys. We hear of him at Newport in
+1795, in Virginia visiting the mineral springs for his health, in the
+following year, and in Connecticut in 1800; and he speaks in one of his
+letters of "jingling his bells as far as Springfield" as a matter of
+common occurrence. His wife's relations lived there, among others the
+husband of her sister, Mr. Thomas Dwight, at whose house Mr. Ames was a
+frequent guest.
+
+Ames, like so many of the best statesmen of that time, and of all time,
+appears to have always had a relish for farming. In a letter written at
+Philadelphia in 1796, while groaning over his ill health, which makes
+him "the survivor of himself, or rather the troubled ghost of a
+politician compelled to haunt the field of battle where he fell," he
+says, "I almost wish Adams was here, and I at home sorting squash and
+pumpkin seeds for planting." The latter part of the wish was soon to be
+realized, but not till this survivor of himself had outdone all the
+efforts of his former life, and risen like a Phoenix in his splendid
+speech on the Treaty. He frequently wrote essays on agricultural
+subjects, and into many of his political articles similes and
+illustrations found their way, smelling of the farm. He had an especial
+fondness for raising fruit trees, and for breeding calves and pigs. All
+the best kinds of fruit were found in his orchard, experiments were
+tried on new kinds of grass, and improvements undertaken in the
+cultivation of crops. A piggery was attached to the barn, conducted on
+scientific principles, and furnished with the best stock. New breeds of
+cattle were introduced, and cows were kept with a view both to the sale
+of milk, and to the sale of their young. The produce of the farm used to
+be sent to Boston in a market wagon. For the carrying on of this
+establishment, Mr. Ames kept some half a dozen men. He himself was able
+to do but little active service. His disease was called by the
+physicians marasmus, a wasting away of the vital powers, a sort of
+consumption, not merely of the lungs, but of the stomach and every thing
+else. This, while it produced fits of languor and depression, and had
+something to do probably with his excessive anxiety on political
+subjects, never seemed to take from the cheerfulness of his manners. He
+was obliged to practise a rigid system of temperance, and to take a good
+deal of exercise, in horseback riding and other ways. Besides the
+society of his family, a constant source of happiness, he used to solace
+himself with the company of his friends, with writing letters, and with
+reading his favorite authors. History and poetry he was especially fond
+of. Shakspeare, Milton, and Pope's Homer he read throughout his life,
+and during his last year, re-read Virgil, Tacitus and Livy, in the
+original, with much delight.
+
+His friends were frequently invited out to partake of his "farmer's
+fare," and rare occasions those must have been, when such men as
+Theophilus Parsons, and Pickering, and Gore, and Samuel Dexter, and
+George Cabot were met together, with now and then one from a greater
+distance. Hamilton or Gouverneur Morris, or Sedgwick, or Judge Smith;
+while at the head of the table sat Fisher Ames himself, delighting every
+one by his humor, and his unrivalled powers of conversation. In
+conversation, he surpassed all the men of his time; even Morris, who was
+celebrated as a talker, used to be struck quite dumb at his side. His
+quick fancy and exuberant humor, his brilliant power of expression, his
+acquaintance with literature and affairs, and his genial and sunny
+disposition, used to show themselves on such occasions to perfection.
+His conversation, like his letters, was mainly upon political topics,
+though now and then, agriculture or literature, or the common news of
+the day was introduced. When dining once with some Southern gentlemen in
+Boston, General Pinckney among the number, after an animated
+conversation at the table, just as Ames was leaving the room, somebody
+asked him a question. Ames walked on until he reached the door, when,
+turning round and resting his elbow on the sideboard, he replied in a
+strain of such eloquence and beauty that the company confessed they had
+no idea of his powers before. Judge Smith, his room-mate in
+Philadelphia, stated, that when he was so sick as to be confined to his
+bed, he would sometimes get up and converse with friends who came to see
+him, by the hour, and then go back to his bed completely exhausted. His
+friends in Boston used to seize upon him when he drove in town, and
+"tire him down," as he expressed it, so that when he got back to Dedham,
+he wanted to roll like a tired horse.
+
+Ames wrote a good many newspaper essays. This was a habit which he
+always kept up, particularly after his retirement. About 1800, on the
+election of Jefferson, he was very active in starting a Federal paper in
+Boston, the Palladium, and wrote for it constantly. He had great fears
+for his country from the predominance of French influence, and deemed it
+the duty of a patriot to enlighten his countrymen on the character and
+tendency of political measures. His biographer informs us that these
+essays were the first drafts, and they appear as such. The language is
+appropriate and often very felicitous, but they are diffuse and not
+always systematic. There is considerable argument in them, but more of
+explanation, appeal and ornament. He wrote to set facts before the
+people, and to urge them to vigilance and activity; and his essays are
+in fact so many written addresses. They cost him no labor in their
+composition, being on subjects that he was constantly revolving in his
+mind. They used to be written whenever he found a spare moment and a
+scrap of paper, while stopping at a tavern, at the printing office in
+Boston, or while waiting for his horse; and are apparently expressed
+just as they would have been if he were speaking impromptu. We have
+heard him characterized by one of his old friends as essentially a poet;
+but it would be more correct to say, that he was altogether an orator.
+He had indeed the characteristics of an orator in a rare degree, and
+these show themselves in every thing he does. While his mind was clear
+and his powers of reasoning were exceedingly good, imagination, the
+instinctive perception of analogies, and feeling predominated. His
+writings do not justify his fame; yet viewed as what they really are,
+the unlabored transcripts of his thoughts, they are remarkable. The flow
+of language, the wit, the wealth and aptness of illustration, the
+clearness of thought, show an informed and superior mind. They have here
+and there profound observations, that show an acquaintance with the
+principles of government and with the human heart, and are full of
+testimonials to the purity of the author's patriotism, and the goodness
+of his heart.
+
+Besides the essays that are published among his works, he wrote many
+others perhaps equally good, as well as numerous short, keen paragraphs,
+adapted to the time, but not suitable for republication. He also wrote
+verses occasionally, among others "an Ode by Jefferson" to the ship that
+was to bring Tom Paine from France, in imitation of Horace's to the
+vessel that was to bear Virgil from Athens.
+
+He wrote a great many letters, and it is in these that we are presented
+with the finest view of his character. They are full of sensible remarks
+on contemporary news and events, and sparkle with wit of that slipshod
+and easy sort, most delightful in letters, while in grace of style they
+surpass most of the correspondence of that period. The public has
+already been informed that the correspondence of Fisher Ames, together
+with other writings, and some notice of his life, is in course of
+publication by one of his sons, Mr. Seth Ames of Cambridge. But few of
+his letters were published in his works, as issued in 1809; a few more
+appeared in Judge Smith's life, and some twenty in Gibbs's
+"Administration of Washington and Adams," but these bear but a very
+small proportion to his whole correspondence. Within a short time as
+many as one hundred and fifty letters have been found in Springfield,
+written to Mr. Dwight, of various dates from 1790 to 1807. A large
+number are said to have disappeared, that were in the hands of George
+Cabot, and some were burned among the papers of President Kirkland. For
+a delightful specimen of Mr. Ames' familiar letters, the reader is
+referred to page 89 of that capital biography, the "Life of Judge
+Smith."
+
+Mr. Ames was a man of great urbanity among his neighbors. It was his
+custom to converse a good deal with ignorant persons and those remote
+from civil affairs. He was desirous to see how such persons looked at
+political questions, and often found means in this way of correcting his
+own views. He was a great favorite among the servants, and used to sit
+down in the kitchen sometimes and talk with them.
+
+He attended the Congregational church at Dedham, and took a good deal of
+interest in its affairs. On one occasion he invited out a number of
+friends to attend an installation. But about 1797, on the minister's
+insisting upon certain high Calvinistic doctrines, Mr. Ames left, and
+always went, after that, to the Episcopal church. A certain good old
+orthodox lady remarked to him one day, after he left their church, that
+she supposed, if they had a nice new meeting-house, he would come back.
+"No, madam," rejoined Ames, "if you had a church of silver, and were to
+line it with gold, and give me the best seat in it, I should go to the
+Episcopal." Though a man of strong religious feelings, he was nothing of
+a sectarian, and did not fully agree with the Episcopal views. He was a
+friend of Dr. Channing, who visited him in his last illness, and he
+ought probably to be reckoned in the same class of Christians with that
+eminent clergyman. He was very fond of the Psalms, and used to repeat
+the beautiful hymn of Watts, "Up to the hills I lift mine eyes." The
+Christmas of 1807, the year before his death, he had his house decked
+with green, a favourite custom with him.
+
+He died at the age of fifty, on the fourth of July 1808, at five o'clock
+in the morning, leaving to his family a comfortable property. The news
+of his death was carried at once to Boston, and Andrew Ritchie, the city
+orator for that day, alluded to it in this extempore burst: "But, alas!
+the immortal Ames, who, like Ithuriel, was commissioned to discover the
+insidious foe, has, like Ithuriel, accomplished his embassy, and on this
+morning of our independence has ascended to Heaven. Spirit of
+Demosthenes, couldst thou have been a silent and invisible auditor, how
+wouldst thou have been delighted to hear from his lips, those strains of
+eloquence which once from thine, enchanted the assemblies of Greece!"
+Ames' friends in Boston requested his body for the celebration of
+funeral rites. It was attended by a large procession from the house of
+Christopher Gore to King's Chapel, where an oration was pronounced by
+Samuel Dexter. It was afterwards deposited in the family tomb at Dedham,
+whence it was removed a few years since, and buried by the side of his
+wife and children. A plain white monument marks the spot, in the old
+Dedham grave-yard, behind the Episcopal church, with the simple
+inscription "FISHER AMES."
+
+
+
+
+=John Quincy Adams.=
+
+[Illustration: Quincy Adams fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Birth-place of John Quincy Adams]
+
+JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
+
+
+John Quincy Adams was fortunate in the home of his birth and childhood.
+It was a New England farm, descended from ancestors who were never so
+poor as to be dependent upon others, nor so rich as to be exempted from
+dependence upon themselves. It was situated in the town of Quincy, then
+the first parish of the town of Braintree, and the oldest permanent
+settlement of Massachusetts proper.[17] The first parish became a town
+by its present name, twenty-five years after the birth of Mr. Adams,
+viz. in 1792. It was named in honor of John Quincy, Mr. Adams's maternal
+great-grandfather, an eminent man. His death, and the transmission of
+his name to his great-grandson, are thus commemorated by the latter:
+
+"He was dying when I was baptized, and his daughter, my grandmother,
+present at my birth, requested that I should receive his name. The fact,
+recorded by my father at the time, has connected with that portion of my
+name a charm of mingled sensibility and devotion. It was filial
+tenderness that gave the name. It was the name of one passing from earth
+to immortality. It has been to me a perpetual admonition to do nothing
+unworthy of it."
+
+The farm-house stands at the foot of an eminence called Penn's Hill,
+about a mile south of Quincy village. It is an old-fashioned dwelling,
+having a two-story front, and sloping far away to a single one in the
+rear. This style is peculiar to the early descendants of the Puritan
+fathers of America. Specimens are becoming rarer every year; and being
+invariably built of wood, must soon pass away, but not without "the
+tribute of a sigh" from those, who associate with them memories of the
+wide old fireplaces, huge glowing backlogs, and hospitable cheer.
+
+With this modest material environment of the child, was coupled an
+intellectual and moral, which was golden. His father, the illustrious
+John Adams, was bred, and in his youth labored, on the farm. At the
+birth of his son, he was still a young man, being just turned of thirty,
+but ripe both in general and professional knowledge, and already
+recognized as one of the ablest counsellors and most powerful pleaders
+at the bar of the province.
+
+The mother of John Quincy Adams was worthy to be the companion and
+counsellor of the statesman just described. By reason of slender health
+she never attended a school. As to the general education allowed to
+girls at that day, she tells us that it was limited "in the best
+families to writing, arithmetic, and, in rare instances, music and
+dancing;" and that "it was fashionable to ridicule female learning."
+From her father, a clergyman, from her mother, a daughter of John
+Quincy, and above all from her grandmother, his wife, she derived
+liberal lessons and salutary examples. Thus her education was entirely
+domestic and social. Perhaps it was the better for the absence of that
+absorbing passion of the schools, which for the most part rests as well
+satisfied with negative elevation by the failure of another, as with
+positive elevation by the improvement of one's self. The excellent and
+pleasant volume of her letters, which has gone through several editions,
+indicates much historical, scriptural, and especially poetical and
+ethical culture. In propriety, ease, vivacity and grace, they compare
+not unfavorably with the best epistolary collections; and in constant
+good sense, and occasional depth and eloquence, no letter-writer can be
+named as her superior. To her only daughter, mother of the late Mrs. De
+Wint, she wrote concerning the influence of her grandmother as follows:
+
+"I have not forgotten the excellent lessons which I received from my
+grandmother, at a very early period of life. I frequently think they
+made a more durable impression upon my mind than those which I received
+from my own parents. Whether it was owing to a happy method of mixing
+instruction and amusement together, or from an inflexible adherence to
+certain principles, which I could not but see and approve when a child,
+I know not; but maturer years have made them oracles of wisdom to me.
+Her lively, cheerful disposition animated all around her, whilst she
+edified all by her unaffected piety. I cherish her memory with a holy
+veneration, whose maxims I have treasured, whose virtues live in my
+remembrance--happy if I could say they have been transplanted into my
+life."
+
+The concluding aspiration was more than realized, because Mrs. Adams
+lived more than the fortunate subject of her eulogy, and more than any
+American woman of her time. She was cheerful, pious, compassionate,
+discriminating, just and courageous up to the demand of the times. She
+was a calm adviser, a zealous assistant, and a never failing consolation
+of her partner, in all his labors and anxieties, public and private.
+That the laborers might be spared for the army, she was willing to work
+in the field. Diligent, frugal, industrious and indefatigable in the
+arrangement and details of the household and the farm, the entire
+management of which devolved upon her for a series of years, she
+preserved for him amidst general depreciation and loss of property, an
+independence, upon which he could always count and at last retire. At
+the same time she responded to the numerous calls of humanity,
+irrespective of opinions and parties. If there was a patriot of the
+Revolution who merited the title of _Washington of women_, she was the
+one.
+
+It is gratifying to know that this rare combination of virtue and
+endowments met with a just appreciation from her great husband. In his
+autobiography, written at a late period of life, he records this
+touching testimony, that "his connection with her had been the source of
+all his felicity," and his unavoidable separations from her, "of all the
+griefs of his heart, and all that he esteemed real afflictions in his
+life." Throughout the two volumes of letters to her, embracing a period
+of twenty-seven years, the lover is more conspicuous than the statesman;
+and she on her part regarded him with an affection unchangeable and ever
+fresh during more than half a century of married life. On one of the
+anniversaries of her wedding she wrote from Braintree to him in Europe:
+
+"Look at this date and tell me what are the thoughts which arise in your
+mind. Do you not recollect that eighteen years have run their circuit,
+since we pledged our mutual faith, and the hymeneal torch was lighted at
+the altar of love? Yet, yet it burns with unabating fervor. Old ocean
+cannot quench it; old Time cannot smother it in this bosom. It cheers me
+in the lonely hour."
+
+The homely place at Penn's Hill was thrice ennobled, twice as the
+birth-place of two noble men--noble before they were Presidents; and
+thirdly as the successful rival of the palaces inhabited by its
+proprietors at the most splendid courts of Europe, which never for a
+moment supplanted it in their affections. Mrs. Adams wrote often from
+Paris and London in this strain: "My humble cottage at the foot of the
+hill has more charms for me than the drawing-room of St. James;" and
+John Adams still oftener thus: "I had rather build wall on Penn's Hill
+than be the first prince of Europe, or the first general or first
+senator of America."
+
+Such were the hearts that unfolded the childhood of John Quincy Adams.
+
+Of all the things which grace or deform the early home, the principles,
+aims and efforts of the parents in conducting the education of the child
+are the most important to both. The mutual letters of the parents, in
+the present case, contain such wise and patriotic precepts, such
+sagacious methods, such earnest and tender persuasions to the
+acquisition of all virtue, knowledge, arts and accomplishments, that can
+purify and exalt the human character, that they would form a valuable
+manual for the training of true men and purer patriots.
+
+Although the spot which has been mentioned was John Quincy Adams's
+principal home until he was nearly eleven, yet he resided at two
+different intervals, within that time, four or five years in Boston; his
+father's professional business at one time, and his failing health at
+another, rendering the alternation necessary. The first Boston residence
+was the White House, so called, in Brattle-street. In front of this a
+British regiment was exercised every morning by Major Small, during the
+fall and winter of 1768, to the no little annoyance of the tenant. But
+says he, "in the evening, I was soothed by the sweet songs, violins and
+flutes of the serenading Sons of Liberty." The family returned to
+Braintree in the spring of 1771. In November, 1772, they again removed
+to Boston, and occupied a house which John Adams had purchased in Queen
+(now Court) street, in which he also kept his office. From this issued
+state papers and appeals, which did not a little to fix the destiny of
+the country. The ground of that house has descended to Charles Francis
+Adams, his grandson. In 1774 Penn's Hill became the permanent home of
+the family, although John Adams continued his office in Boston, attended
+by students at law, until it was broken up by the event of April 19th,
+1775.
+
+Soon after the final return to Quincy, we begin to have a personal
+acquaintance with the boy, now seven years old. Mrs. Adams writes to her
+husband, then attending the Congress in Philadelphia:
+
+"I have taken a very great fondness for reading Rollin's Ancient History
+since you left me. I am determined to go through with it, if possible,
+in these my days of solitude. I find great pleasure and entertainment
+from it, and I have persuaded Johnny to read me a page or two every day,
+and hope he will, from a desire to oblige me, entertain a fondness for
+it."
+
+In the same year the first mention is made of his regular attendance
+upon a teacher. The person selected in that capacity was a young man
+named Thaxter, a student at law, transferred from the office in Boston,
+to the family in Quincy. The boy seems to have been very much attached
+to him. Mrs. Adams assigned the following reasons for preferring this
+arrangement to the public town school.
+
+"I am certain that if he does not get so much good, he gets less harm;
+and I have always thought it of very great importance that children
+should be unaccustomed to such examples as would tend to corrupt the
+purity of their words and actions, that they may chill with horror at
+the sound of an oath, and blush with indignation at an obscene
+expression."
+
+This furnishes a pleasing coincidence with a precept of ancient
+prudence:--
+
+    Let nothing foul in speech or act intrude,
+    Where reverend childhood is.
+
+There is no disapprobation of public schools to be inferred from this.
+These are indispensable for the general good; but if from this narrative
+a hint should be taken for making them more and more pure, and worthy of
+their saving mission, such an incident will be welcome.
+
+Of the next memorable year we have a reminiscence from himself. It was
+related in a speech at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1843.
+
+"In 1775 the minute men, from a hundred towns in the Provinces, were
+marching to the scenes of the opening war. Many of them called at our
+house, and received the hospitality of John Adams. All were lodged in
+the house whom the house would contain, others in the barns, and
+wherever they could find a place. There were then in my father's house
+some dozen or two of pewter spoons; and I well recollect seeing some of
+the men engaged in running those spoons into bullets. Do you wonder that
+a boy of seven years of age, who witnessed these scenes, should be a
+patriot?"
+
+He saw from Penn's Hill the flames of Charlestown, and heard the guns of
+Bunker Hill and Dorchester Heights.
+
+In one of her letters from France, Mrs. Adams remarks that he was
+generally taken to be older than his sister (about two years older than
+he), because he usually conversed with persons older than himself--a
+remarkable proof of a constant aim at improvement, of a wise discernment
+of the means, and of the maturity of acquisitions already made. Edward
+Everett remarks in his eulogy, that such a stage as boyhood seems not to
+have been in the life of John Quincy Adams. While he was under ten, he
+wrote to his father the earliest production of his pen which has been
+given to the public. It is found in Governor Seward's Memoir of his life,
+and was addressed to his father.
+
+           BRAINTREE, June 2d, 1777.
+
+Dear Sir:--I love to receive letters very well, much better than I love
+to write them. I make but a poor figure at composition. My head is much
+too fickle. My mind is running after bird's eggs, play and trifles, till
+I get vexed with myself. Mamma has a troublesome task to keep me a
+studying. I own I am ashamed of myself. I have but just entered the
+third volume of Rollin's History, but I designed to have got half thro'
+it by this time. I am determined this week to be more diligent. Mr.
+Thaxter is absent at Court. I have set myself a stent this week to read
+the third volume half out. If I can keep my resolution, I may again, at
+the end of a week, give a better account of myself. I wish, sir, you
+would give me in writing some instructions in regard to the use of my
+time, and advise me how to proportion my studies and play, and I will
+keep them by me, and endeavor to follow them.
+
+With the present determination of growing better, I am, dear sir, your
+son, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
+
+P.S. Sir, if you will be so good as to favor me with a blank-book, I
+will transcribe the most remarkable passages I meet with in my reading,
+which will serve to fix them on my mind.
+
+Soon after the evacuation of Boston by Lord Howe, Mrs. Adams announces
+that "Johnny has become post-rider from Boston to Braintree." The
+distance was nine miles, and he was nine years old. In this hardy
+enterprise, and in the foregoing letter, we may mark the strong hold
+which the favourite maxims of the parents had taken of their child's
+mind. Among those maxims were these:
+
+To begin composition very early by writing descriptions of natural
+objects, as a storm, a country residence; or narrative of events, as a
+walk, ride, or the transactions of a day.
+
+To transcribe the best passages from the best writers in the course of
+reading, as a means of forming the style as well as storing the memory.
+
+To cultivate spirit and hardihood, activity and power of endurance.
+
+Soon after this, the lad ceased to have a home except in the bosom of
+affection, and that was a divided one. On the 13th of February, 1778, he
+embarked for France with his father, who had been appointed a
+commissioner, jointly with Dr. Franklin and Arthur Lee, to negotiate
+treaties of alliance and commerce with that country. From the place of
+embarcation his father wrote: "Johnny sends his duty to his mamma, and
+love to his sister and brothers. _He behaves like a man._"
+
+When they arrived in France, after escaping extraordinary perils at sea,
+they found the treaty of alliance already concluded. The son was put to
+school in Paris, and gave his father "great satisfaction, both by his
+assiduity to his books and his discreet behavior," all which the father
+lovingly attributes to the lessons of the mother. He calls the boy "the
+joy of his heart."
+
+He was permitted to tarry but three months, when he was commissioned to
+negotiate treaties of independence, peace, and commerce with Great
+Britain. He embarked for France in the month of November, accompanied by
+Francis Dana as secretary of legation, and by his two oldest sons, John
+and Charles.[18] The vessel sprung a leak and was compelled to put into
+the nearest port, which proved to be Ferrol, where they landed safe
+December seventh. One of the first things was to buy a dictionary and
+grammar for the boys, who "went to learning Spanish as fast as
+possible." Over high mountains, by rough and miry roads, a-muleback, and
+in the depth of winter, they wound their toilsome way, much of the time
+on foot, from Ferrol to Paris, a journey of a thousand miles, arriving
+about the middle of February, 1780. On this occasion, it is to be
+presumed, Master Johnny must have derived no small benefit from the
+service he had seen as "post-rider."
+
+At Paris he immediately entered an academy, but in the autumn
+accompanied his father to Holland, who had received superadded
+commissions to negotiate private loans, and public treaties there. For a
+few months the son was sent to a common school in Amsterdam, but in
+December he was removed to Leyden, to learn Latin and Greek under the
+distinguished teachers there, and to attend the lectures of celebrated
+professors in the University. The reasons of this transfer are worth
+repeating, as they mark the strong and habitual aversion which John
+Adams felt and inculcated, to every species of littleness and meanness.
+
+"I should not wish to have children educated in the common schools of
+this country, where a littleness of soul is notorious. The masters are
+mean-spirited wretches, pinching, kicking and boxing the children upon
+every turn. There is a general littleness, arising from the incessant
+contemplation of stivers and doits. Frugality and industry, are virtues
+every where, but avarice and stinginess are not frugality."
+
+In July, 1781, the son accompanied to St. Petersburgh Mr. Francis Dana,
+who had been appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the court of Russia.
+The original purpose was study, observation, and general improvement,
+under the guidance of a trusty and accomplished friend. The youth was
+not, as has been stated, appointed secretary of the Minister at the time
+they started; but by his readiness and capability he came to be employed
+by Mr. Dana as interpreter and secretary, difficult and delicate trusts,
+probably never before confided to a boy of thirteen.
+
+In October, 1782, the youth left St. Petersburgh, and paying passing
+visits to Sweden, Denmark, Hamburg, and Bremen, reached the Hague in
+April, 1783, and there resumed his studies. Meantime his father, having
+received assurances that Great Britain was prepared to treat for peace
+on the basis of independence, had repaired to Paris to open the
+negotiation. He found that Dr. Franklin and Mr. Jay, two of his
+colleagues on the same commission, had commenced the business first with
+informal agents, and afterwards with a commissioner of his majesty,
+George the Third. The Definitive Treaty was signed September the third,
+1783, at which act John Quincy Adams was summoned by his father to be
+present, and to assume the duties of secretary. In that capacity he made
+one of the copies of the treaty. The father on this occasion wrote:
+"Congress are at such grievous expense that I shall have no other
+secretary but my son. He, however, is a very good one. He writes a good
+hand very fast, and is steady at his pen and books."
+
+In this autumn the two made a trip to London, partly for the health of
+the elder, which had been seriously impaired by incessant labor, and
+partly for the benefit of the younger, as it was expected then that both
+would bid adieu to Europe and embark for America in the ensuing spring.
+John Adams had the satisfaction of hearing the King announce to the
+Parliament and people from the throne, that he had concluded a Treaty of
+Peace with the United States of America.
+
+In January, 1784, the father and son proceeded to Holland to negotiate a
+new loan for the purpose of meeting the interest on the former one.
+There they remained until the latter part of July, when a letter came
+communicating the arrival of Mrs. Adams and her daughter in London. John
+Adams despatched his son to meet them, and wrote to his wife:
+
+"Your letter of the twenty-third has made me the happiest man upon
+earth. I am twenty years younger than I was yesterday. It is a cruel
+mortification to me that I cannot go to meet you in London; but there
+are a variety of reasons decisively against it, which I will communicate
+to you here. Meantime I send you a son, who is one of the greatest
+travellers of his age, and without partiality, I think as promising and
+manly a youth, as is in the whole world. He will purchase a coach, in
+which we four must travel to Paris; let it be large and strong. After
+spending a week or two here you will have to set out with me for France,
+but there are no seas between; a good road, a fine season, and we will
+make moderate journeys, and see the curiosities of several cities in our
+way,--Utrecht, Breda, Antwerp, Brussels, &c. &c. It is the first time in
+Europe that I looked forward to a journey with pleasure. Now I expect a
+great deal. I think myself made for this world."
+
+John Quincy Adams reached London the thirtieth of July. "When he
+entered," says Mrs. Adams, "we had so many strangers that I drew back,
+not really believing my eyes, till he cried out, 'O my mamma, and my
+dear sister!' Nothing but the eyes appeared what he once was. His
+appearance is that of a man, and in his countenance the most perfect
+good-humor. His conversation by no means denies his station. I think
+you do not approve the word _feelings_. I know not what to substitute in
+lieu, nor how to describe mine." The son was then seventeen, and the
+separation had continued nearly five years.
+
+Notwithstanding that the husband's letter had forbidden hope of his
+participating in this re-union, he did so after all, practising a
+surprise charmingly delicate and gallant. It was a blissful meeting not
+only of happy friends, but of merit and reward, a beautiful and
+honorable consummation of mutual sacrifices and toils. Seldom does the
+cup of joy so effervesce.
+
+Independence predicted in youth, moved and sustained with unrivalled
+eloquence in manhood, at home--confirmed and consolidated by loans,
+alliances, ships, and troops--obtained, in part or all, by him,
+abroad--Washington nominated Chief of the army--the American Navy
+created--peace negotiated--this, this (if civic virtues and achievments
+were honored only equally with martial) would have been the circle of
+Golden Medals, which John Adams might have laid at the feet of his
+admirable wife!
+
+Five months after this, as if too full for earlier utterance, she wrote
+to her sister: "You will chide me, perhaps, for not relating to you an
+event which took place in London, that of unexpectedly meeting my long
+absent friend; for from his letters by my son, I had no idea that he
+would come. But you know, my dear sister, that poets and painters wisely
+draw a veil over scenes which surpass the pen of the one and the pencil
+of the other."
+
+The family reached Paris in the latter part of August, and established
+their residence at Auteuil, four miles from the city. The son pursued
+his studies, his mother, by his particular desire, writing her charming
+letters to American friends by his fireside. Sometimes he copied them in
+his plain and beautiful hand, always equal to print, and made her think,
+as she gayly remarks, that they were really worth something. The circle
+of familiar visitors included Franklin, Jefferson and his daughter, La
+Fayette and his wife; of formal, all the ministers domestic and foreign,
+and as many of the elite of fashion and of fame as they chose. But Mrs.
+Adams was always a modest and retiring woman. Of Franklin she wrote:
+"His character, from my infancy, I had been taught to venerate. I found
+him social, not talkative; and when he spoke, something useful dropped
+from, his tongue."
+
+Of Jefferson, "I shall really regret to leave Mr. Jefferson. He is one
+of the choice ones of the earth. On Thursday I dine with him at his
+house. On Sunday he is to dine with us. On Monday we all dine with the
+Marquis."
+
+In the spring of 1785 John Adams received the appointment of Minister
+Plenipotentiary to Great Britain, the first from the United States of
+America. A new separation ensued. He, his wife and daughter departed for
+London, but not the son, as has been stated. He departed for Harvard
+University, where, in the following March, he entered the Junior Class,
+and graduated with distinguished honor in 1787. He studied law at
+Newburyport in the office of Theophilus Parsons, afterwards the eminent
+Chief Justice. He entered upon the practice of the law in Boston in
+1790, and boarded in the family of Dr. Thomas Welsh. He continued thus
+four years, gradually enlarging the circle of his business and the
+amount of his income. Meantime, great and exciting public questions
+arose, and in discussing them he obtained a sudden and wide distinction.
+A tract from his pen in answer to a portion of Paine's Rights of Man,
+and expressing doubts of the ultimate success of the French Revolution,
+appeared in 1791, was republished in England and attributed to John
+Adams. This was at a time when the enthusiasm for the great French
+movement was at its height in this country. Events too soon showed that
+the writer had inherited his father's sagacity.
+
+Another publication of his, which appeared in 1793, maintained the
+right, duty and policy of our assuming a neutral attitude towards the
+respective combatants in the wars arising from the French Revolution.
+This publication preceded Washington's Proclamation of Neutrality. In
+the same year Mr. Adams reviewed the course of Genet, applying to it and
+the condition of the country the principles of public law.
+
+These writings attracted the attention of Washington, and he is supposed
+to have derived essential aid from them in some of the most difficult
+conjunctures of his administration. Upon the recommendation of
+Jefferson, made as he was about to retire from the office of Secretary
+of State, Washington determined to appoint John Quincy Adams Minister
+Resident in Holland. An intimation from Washington to the
+Vice-President, in order that he might give his wife timely notice to
+prepare for the departure of her son, was the first knowledge that any
+member of the family had, that such an appointment was thought of. Mr.
+Adams repaired to his post, and remained there till near the close of
+Washington's administration, with the exception of an additional mission
+to London in 1795, to exchange ratifications of Jay's treaty, and agree
+upon certain arrangements for its execution.
+
+On this occasion he met, at the house of her father, the American consul
+in London, Miss LOUISA CATHERINE JOHNSON, who afterwards became his
+wife. In consequence of a rumor of his intending to resign, Washington
+wrote to the Vice-President:
+
+"Your son must not think of retiring from the path he is in. His
+prospects, if he pursues it, are fair; and I shall be much surprised,
+if, in as short a time as can well be expected, he is not at the head of
+the Diplomatic Corps, be the government administered by whomsoever it
+may."
+
+Subsequently Washington expressed himself still more strongly, aiming to
+overcome the scruples of President Adams about continuing his son in
+office under his own administration. Just before his retirement,
+Washington appointed him Minister Plenipotentiary to Portugal. This
+destination was changed by his father to Berlin. Before assuming the
+station, he was married in London to Miss Johnson.
+
+While in Prussia he negotiated an important commercial treaty, and wrote
+letters from Silesia, which were published in the portfolio, and passed
+through some editions and translations in Europe. In 1801 he was
+recalled by his father, to save, as it is said, Mr. Jefferson from the
+awkwardness of turning out the son of his old friend, whose appointment
+he had recommended. If such was the motive of the recall, it was a
+miscalculation, for Jefferson did not hesitate to remove him from the
+small office of commissioner of bankruptcy, to which he had been
+appointed by the district judge of Massachusetts upon his return from
+abroad. Mr. Jefferson defended himself from censure for this little act,
+by alleging that he did not know when he made the removal, nor who the
+incumbent of the office was; an excuse more inexcusable than the act
+itself.
+
+Mr. Adams re-established himself with his family in Boston. He occupied
+a house in Hanover-street, not now standing, and another which he
+purchased at the corner of Tremont and Boylston streets, now used for
+stores, and owned by his only surviving son.
+
+In 1802 he was elected to the Senate of Massachusetts from Suffolk
+county.
+
+In 1803, to the Senate of the United States.
+
+In 1806, Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory in Harvard University, but in
+subordination to his duties in Congress.
+
+In 1808 he resigned his seat in the Senate, the Legislature of his State
+having instructed him to oppose the restrictive measures of Jefferson,
+and he having given a zealous support to the embargo.
+
+In 1809 he was appointed by Madison Minister Plenipotentiary to Russia;
+and resigned his professorship in the University.
+
+In 1811 he was nominated by Madison and unanimously confirmed by the
+Senate, as judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Adams
+having declined this office, Judge Story was appointed.
+
+In 1814 he was appointed first commissioner at Ghent to treat with Great
+Britain for peace.
+
+In 1815, Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain.
+
+In 1817, Secretary of State.
+
+In 1825, elected President of the United States.
+
+Mr. Adams, released from the toils of thirty-five years of unintermitted
+public service, now sought a home which remains to be described.
+
+John Adams, while yet minister in England, purchased a seat in Quincy of
+Mr. Borland, an old friend and neighbor, descended from the Vassals, a
+considerable family in the town and province: this was in 1786. On his
+return from Europe in 1788, the purchaser took possession with his
+family; and with the exception of two terms as Vice-President, and one
+as President of the United States, he never left it until his death on
+the fourth of July, 1826. This estate descended to his son, as did also
+that at Penn's Hill.
+
+It is situated about half a mile north of Quincy village, on the old
+Boston road, where massive mile-stones, erected before the birth of John
+Adams, may still be seen. The farm consists of one hundred acres, now
+productive, though in a rude state when acquired. Mrs. John Adams
+described her husband in 1801 as "busy among his haymakers, and getting
+thirty tons on the spot, which eight years before yielded only six."
+
+The house is supposed to be a hundred and fifty years old. It is built
+of wood, quite unpretending, yet from association or other cause, it has
+a distinguished and venerable aspect. Approached from the north or city
+side, it presents a sharp gable in the old English style of
+architecture. The opposite end is very different, and has a hipped or
+gambrel gable. The length may be some seventy feet, the height thirty,
+consisting of two stories, and a suit of attic chambers, with large
+luthern windows. A piazza runs along the centre of the basement in
+front. The south or gambrel-roofed section of the edifice, was built by
+John Adams. The principal entrance is at the junction of this section
+with the main building. It opens into a spacious entry with a staircase
+on the right, and busts of Washington and John Quincy Adams on the left.
+At the foot of the stairs is the door of the principal apartment, called
+the Long Room. It is plainly finished, and about seven feet in height.
+It contains portraits of John Adams and his wife by Stewart, John Quincy
+Adams and his wife by the same; Thomas Jefferson in French costume,
+taken in France by Browne. He appears much handsomer than in most of his
+portraits. Over the fireplace is a very old and curious picture of a
+child, supposed by John Quincy Adams to be his great-grandfather, John
+Quincy. There are several other portraits of less note. The chairs are
+of plain mahogany, with stuffed seats and backs, and hair-cloth
+coverings. They belonged to Mrs. Adams. Opposite to the door of this
+room, on the left side of the entry, is the door of the dining-room,
+called the Middle Room. This is within the original building. It
+contains a number of portraits; the most conspicuous is that of
+Washington in his uniform. It was painted by Savage, and was purchased by
+the elder Adams. It has a more solemn and concentrated look than
+Stewart's Washington--more expressive, but not so symmetrical. It
+resembles Peale's Pater Patri�. John Quincy Adams considered it a better
+likeness than the popular portraits. It is said to have been taken when
+Washington had lost his teeth, and had not substituted artificial ones.
+The lips appear much compressed, the visage elongated and thinner than
+in Stewart's picture. By its side is Mrs. Washington, painted by the
+same artist. There is a fine engraving of Copley's picture of the Death
+of Chatham. It is a proof copy, presented by the painter to John Adams.
+Passing from the Middle Room through another but small front entry, we
+reach the north basement room, called the Keeping Room. This is finished
+with considerable luxury for a provincial parlor of its time. It is
+panelled from floor to ceiling with mahogany. The effect is somewhat
+heavy, to obviate which the elder Mrs. Adams, a votary of all
+cheerfulness, had it painted white. It has now been restored, and
+presents an antique and rich appearance. Nearly all the furniture of
+this as well as the Middle Room, including the Turkey carpet of the
+latter, still bright and substantial, was John Adams's. All these
+apartments are connected by a longitudinal passage in the rear, which
+communicates with the kitchen.
+
+The Library is in the second story over the Long Room. This chamber was
+constantly occupied by the Elder President, both for a sitting and
+sleeping room during his latter years. Here the writer saw him at the
+age of nearly ninety, delighted with hearing Scott's novels, or Dupuis'
+Origine de tous les Cultes, or the simplest story-book, which he could
+get his grandchildren to read to him. He seemed very cheerful, and ready
+to depart, remarking that "he had eat his cake." When his son came home
+from Washington, he converted this room into a library. Of course his
+books are very miscellaneous both as to subjects and languages; but they
+are not all here. Some are arranged on the sides of passage-ways and in
+other parts. A portion of them compose in part a library at his son's
+town residence. John Adams in his lifetime gave his library--a very
+valuable one--to the town of Quincy, together with several tracts of
+land for the erection of an academy or classical school, to which his
+library is ultimately to attach. The entire library of John Quincy Adams
+comprises twelve thousand volumes. To this must be added a chest full of
+manuscripts, original and translated, in prose and poetry. They show
+unbounded industry. From his boyhood to the age of fifty, when he took
+the Department of State, he was an intense student. In this chest are
+many of the earlier fruits, such as complete versions of a large number
+of the classics, of German and other foreign works.
+
+The garden lies on the north, contiguous to the house, and connects with
+a lawn, narrow in front of the house, but widening considerably south of
+it. The whole is inclosed on the roadside by a solid wall of Quincy
+granite, some six feet high, except the section immediately before the
+house, which is a low stone wall, surmounted by a light wooden fence of
+an obsolete fashion, with two gates in the same style, leading to the
+two front doors. The whole extent does not much exceed an acre. It
+embraces an ornamental and kitchen garden, the former occupying the side
+near the road, and the latter extending by the side and beyond the
+kitchen and offices to an open meadow and orchard. The principal walk is
+through the ornamental portion of the garden, parallel with the road,
+and terminates at a border of thrifty forest trees, disposed, as they
+should be, without any regard to order. From the walk above-mentioned
+another strikes out at a right angle, and skirts the border of trees,
+till it disappears in the expanse of meadow. Most of the trees were
+raised by John Quincy Adams from the seeds, which he was in the habit of
+picking up in his wanderings. The most particular interest attaches to a
+shagbark, which he planted more than fifty years ago. It stands near the
+angle of the two alleys. In this tree he took a particular satisfaction,
+but he was an enthusiast in regard to all the trees of the forest,
+differing in this respect from his father, who, as an agriculturist of
+the Cato stamp, was more inclined to lay the axe to them than to
+propagate them. From this plantation Charles Francis Adams was supplied
+with a great number and variety of trees to embellish a residence, which
+he built in his father's lifetime on the summit of a high hill, west of
+the old mansion. This is called President's Hill. It affords one of the
+finest sea landscapes which can be found. John Adams used to say that he
+had never seen, in any part of the world, so fine a view. It comprises a
+wide range of bays, islands and channels seaward, with seats and
+villages on the intervening land. This prospect lies eastward, and
+includes Mount Wollaston, situated near the seashore, and remarkable as
+the first spot settled in the town and State, and as giving its name for
+many of the first years to the entire settlement. This belonged to the
+great-grandfather, John Quincy, and is now a part of the Adams estate.
+
+The meeting-house is half a mile south of the old mansion. The material
+is granite, a donation of John Adams. It has a handsome portico,
+supported by beautiful and massive Doric pillars, not an unfit emblem of
+the donor. Beneath the porch, his son constructed, in the most durable
+manner, a crypt, in which he piously deposited the remains of his
+parents; and in the body of the church, on the right of the pulpit, he
+erected to their sacred memories a marble monument surmounted by a bust
+of John Adams, and inscribed with an affecting and noble epitaph.
+
+After leading "a wandering life about the world," as he himself calls
+it--a life of many changes and many labors, John Quincy Adams, at
+sixty-two, sought the quiet and seclusion of his father's house. He was
+yet, for his years, a model of physical vigor and activity; for, though
+by nature convivial as his father was, and capable, on an occasion, of
+some extra glasses, he was by habit moderate in meat and drink, never
+eating more than was first served on his plate, and consequently never
+mixing a variety of dishes. He used himself to attribute much of the
+high health he enjoyed to his walks and his baths. Early every morning,
+when the season admitted, he sought a place where he could take a plunge
+and swim at large. A creek, with a wharf or pier projecting into it,
+called Black's Wharf, about a quarter of a mile from his house, served
+these purposes in Quincy. At Washington he resorted to the broad
+Potomac. There, leaving his apparel in charge of an attendant, (for it
+is said that it was once purloined!) he used to buffet the waves before
+sunrise. He was an easy and expert swimmer, and delighted so much in the
+element, that he would swim and float from one to two or three hours at
+a time. An absurd story obtained currency, that he used this exercise in
+winter, breaking the ice, if necessary, to get the indispensable plunge!
+This was fiction. He did not bathe at all in winter, nor at other times
+from theory, but for pleasure.
+
+He bore abstinence and irregularity in his meals with singular
+indifference. Whether he breakfasted at seven or ten, whether he dined
+at two, or not at all, appeared to be questions with which he did not
+concern himself. It is related that having sat in the House of
+Representatives from eight o'clock in the morning till after midnight, a
+friend accosted him, and expressed the hope that he had taken
+refreshment in all that time; he replied that he had not left his seat,
+and held up a _bit of hard bread_. His entertainments of his friends
+were distinguished for abundance, order, elegance, and the utmost
+perfection in every particular, but not for extravagance and luxury of
+table furniture. His accomplished lady, of course, had much to do with
+this. He rose very early, lighting the fire and his lamp in his library,
+while the surrounding world was yet buried in slumber. This was his time
+for writing. Washington and Hamilton had the same habit.
+
+He was unostentatious and almost always walked, whether for visiting,
+business or exercise. At Quincy he used to go up President's Hill to
+meet the sun from the sea, and sometimes walked to the residence of his
+son in Boston before breakfast. Regularly, before the hour of the daily
+sessions of Congress, he was seen wending his quiet way towards the
+Capitol, seldom or never using, in the worst of weather, a carriage. He
+stayed one night to a late hour, listening to a debate in the Senate on
+the expunging resolution. As he was starting for home in the face of a
+fierce snow-storm, and in snow a foot deep, a gentleman proposed to
+conduct him to his house. "I thank you, sir, for your kindness," said
+he, "but I do not need the service of any one. I am somewhat advanced in
+life, but not yet, by the blessing of God, infirm, or what Dr. Johnson
+would call 'superfluous;' and you may recollect what old Adam says in
+'As you Like it'--
+
+    "'For in my youth I never did apply
+    Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood.'"
+
+While he was President, the writer was once sitting in the drawing-room
+of a highbred lady in Boston. A hat not very new glanced under the
+window sill. The owner rung at the door; and not finding the gentleman
+at home, continued his walk. A servant entered and presented the card of
+JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. "I do wonder," exclaimed the lady, "that the
+President of the United States will go about in such a manner!"
+
+His apparel was always plain, scrupulously neat, and reasonably well
+worn. It was made for the comfort of the wearer, who asked not of the
+fashions.
+
+When he retired from the Presidency, he resolved to pass the remainder
+of his days under the paternal roof and the beloved shades. He
+anticipated and desired nothing but quiet, animated by the excitements
+of intellectual and rural occupations. He had before him the congenial
+task, to which he had long aspired, of dispensing the treasures of
+wisdom contained in the unwritten life and unpublished writings of his
+father. He was ready to impart of his own inexhaustible wealth of
+experience, observation and erudition, to any one capable of receiving.
+It takes much to reconcile a thoughtful mind to the loss of what would
+have been gained by the proposed employment of his leisure. And we had
+much.
+
+Had the record of his public life, ample and honorable as it was, been
+now closed, those pages on which patriots, philanthropists and poets
+will for ever dwell with gratitude and delight, would have been wanting.
+Hitherto he had done remarkably well what many others, with a knowledge
+of precedents and of routine and with habits of industry, might have
+done, if not as well, yet acceptably. He was now called to do what no
+other man in the Republic had strength and heart to attempt.
+
+He was endowed with a memory uncommonly retentive. He could remember and
+quote with precision, works which he had not looked at for forty years.
+Add to this his untiring diligence and perseverance, and the advantages
+of his position and employment at various capitals in the old world, and
+the story of his vast acquisitions is told. His love lay in history,
+literature, moral philosophy and public law. With the Greek, Latin,
+French, German, and Italian languages and principal writers he was
+familiar. His favorite English poet was Shakspeare, whom he commented
+upon and recited with discrimination and force, surpassing, it is said,
+in justness of conception, the great personators of his principal
+characters. Among the classics, he especially loved Ovid, unquestionably
+the Shakspeare of the Romans. Cicero was greatly beloved, and most
+diligently studied, translated, and commented upon. For many of his
+latter years he never read continuously. He would fall asleep over his
+book. But to elucidate any subject he had in hand, he wielded his
+library with wakefulness and execution lively enough.
+
+He was fond of art in all its departments, but most in the pictorial. In
+his "Residence at the Court of London," Mr. Rush has drawn an attractive
+sketch of him at home.
+
+"His tastes were all refined. Literature and art were familiar and dear
+to him. At his hospitable board I have listened to disquisitions from
+his lips, on poetry, especially the dramas of Shakspeare, music,
+painting and sculpture, of rare excellence and untiring interest. A
+critical scholar in the dead languages, in French, German and Italian,
+he could draw at will from the wealth of these tongues to illustrate any
+particular topic. There was no fine painting or statue, of which he did
+not know the details and the history. There was not even an opera, or a
+celebrated composer, of which or of whom he could not point out the
+distinguishing merits and the chief compositions. Yet he was a
+hard-working and assiduous man of business; and a more regular,
+punctual, and comprehensive diplomatic correspondence than his, no
+country can probably boast."
+
+Mr. Adams was generally regarded as cold and austere. The testimony of
+persons who enjoyed an intimacy with him is the reverse of this. Mr.
+Rush says that "under an exterior of at times repulsive coldness, dwelt
+a heart as warm, sympathies as quick, and affections as overflowing as
+ever animated any bosom." And Mr. Everett, that "in real kindness and
+tenderness of feeling, no man surpassed him." There is an abundance of
+like evidence on this head.
+
+He was taciturn rather than talkative, preferring to think and to muse.
+At times his nature craved converse, and delighted in the play of
+familiar chat. Occasionally he threw out a lure to debate. If great
+principles were seriously called in question, he would pour out a rapid
+and uninterrupted torrent.
+
+The poets had been the delight of his youth. He read them in the
+intervals of retirement at Quincy with a youthful enthusiasm, and tears
+and laughter came by turns, as their sad and bright visions passed
+before him. Pope was a favorite, "and the intonations of his voice in
+repeating the 'Messiah,'" says an inmate of the family, "will never
+cease to vibrate on the ear of memory." He was a deeply religious man,
+and though not taking the most unprejudiced views of divinity, what he
+received as spiritual truths were to him most evident and momentous
+realities, and he derived from them a purifying and invigorating power.
+"The dying Christian's Address to his Soul" was replete with pathos and
+beauty for him. He is remembered to have repeated it one evening with an
+intense expression of religious faith and joy; adding the Latin lines of
+Adrian, which Pope imitated. He was thought by some to have a tendency
+to Calvinistic theology, and to regard Unitarianism as too abstract and
+frigid. Thus he used sometimes to talk, but it was supposed to be for
+the purpose of putting Unitarians upon a defence of their faith, rather
+than with a serious design to impair it.
+
+On one occasion he conversed on the subject of popular applause and
+admiration. Its caprice, said he, is equalled only by its worthlessness,
+and the misery of that being who lives on its breath. There is one
+stanza of Thomson's Castle of Indolence, that is worth whole volumes of
+modern poetry; though it is the fashion to speak contemptuously of
+Thomson. He then repeated with startling force of manner and energy of
+enunciation, the third stanza, second canto, of that poem.
+
+     "I care not, fortune, what you me deny;
+      You cannot rob me of free nature's grace,
+      You cannot shut the windows of the sky,
+      Through which Aurora shows her brightening face;
+      You cannot bar my constant feet to trace
+      The woods and lawns by living streams at eve:
+      Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace,
+      And I their toys to the great children leave;
+    Of Fancy, Reason, Virtue, nought can me bereave."
+
+He did not much admire the poetry of Byron. One objection which he is
+recollected to have made to the poet was the use of the word "rot."
+There is some peculiarity in Byron in this respect; thus in Childe
+Harold:--
+
+    "The Bucentaur lies _rotting_ unrestored,
+    Where meaner relics must not dare to _rot_."
+
+This, if a sound objection, which it is not, was narrow for so great a
+man. The cause of this distaste lay deeper. Mr. Adams, though a dear
+lover of Shakspeare, was of the Johnsonian school of writers. His
+diction is elaborate, stately, and in his earlier writings verbose, but
+always polished, harmonious, and sustained. He liked unconsciously Latin
+English better than Anglo-Saxon. Byron, in common with a large and
+increasing class of moderns, loved to borrow the force of familiar and
+every-day language, and to lend to it the dignity and beauty of deep
+thought and high poetic fancy. Not improbably, the moral obliquities of
+the poet had their influence in qualifying the opinion formed of his
+writings, by a man of such strict rectitude as Mr. Adams.
+
+He was fond of Watts's Psalms and Hymns, and repeated them often,
+sometimes rising from his seat in the exaltation of his feelings. Among
+favorite stanzas was this one:
+
+    Sweet fields, beyond the swelling flood,
+      Stand dressed in living green;
+    So to the Jews old Canaan stood,
+      While Jordan rolled between.
+
+Until his private letters shall be published, no adequate conception can
+be formed of the devotion he paid to his mother. This may give an
+inkling of it. A young friend inquired of him, when he was once at
+Hingham on their annual fishing party in his honor, in which of his
+poems a certain line was to be found, viz.--
+
+    "Hull--but that name's redeemed upon the wave,"
+
+referring to the surrender of General Hull, so soon followed (only three
+days after, August 16-19, 1812) by the capture of the Guerriere by
+Captain Hull. "I do not," he replied, "but I have been often struck by
+the coincidence. I think, however, the line occurs in a poem _addressed
+to my mother_."
+
+The best saying of Mr. Adams was in reply to the inquiry, What are the
+recognized principles of politics?
+
+MR. ADAMS. There are none. There are recognized precepts, but they are
+bad, and so not PRINCIPLES.
+
+But is not this a sound one, "The greatest good of the greatest number?"
+
+MR. ADAMS. No, that is the worst of all, for it looks specious, while it
+is ruinous; for what is to become of the minority? This is the only
+principle--THE GREATEST GOOD OF ALL.
+
+It must be admitted that much tyranny lurks in this favorite democratic
+tenet, not half as democratic, however, as Mr. Adams's amendment. Wrongs
+and outrages the most unmerciful, have been committed by majorities. It
+may even happen where the forms of law are maintained; but what shall be
+said when the majority resolves itself into a mob? When rivers of
+innocent blood may (as they have) run from city gates. The tyranny of
+majorities is irresponsible, without redress, and without punishment,
+except in the ultimate iron grasp of "the higher law."
+
+Mr. Adams's view, so much larger than the common one, may, with a strong
+probability, be traced to the mother. In her letters to him, she insists
+again and again upon the duty of universal kindness and benevolence.
+Patriot as she was, she pitied the Refugees. She said to him,
+
+"Man is bound to the performance of certain duties, all which tend to
+the happiness and welfare of society, and are comprised in one short
+sentence expressive of universal benevolence: 'Thou shalt love thy
+neighbor as thyself.'
+
+    "Remember more, the Universal Cause
+    Acts not by partial, but by general laws;
+    And makes what happiness we justly call,
+    Subsist, not in the good of one, but ALL.'"
+
+In other letters she illustrated observations in the same spirit by
+these quotations:
+
+    "Shall I determine where his frowns shall fall,
+    And fence my grotto from the lot of ALL?"
+
+      "Prompt at every call,
+    Can watch and weep and pray and feel for ALL."
+
+One evening, at his house in F street in Washington, he spoke of Judge
+Parsons, of his depth and subtlety, and the conciseness of his language.
+"Soon after I entered his office he said to us students--'Lord Bacon
+observes that "reading makes a full man, conversation a ready man,
+writing a correct man." Young gentlemen, my advice to you is, that you
+study to be full, ready and correct.' I thought," said Mr. Adams, "that
+I never heard good advice so well conveyed."
+
+He was asked by the writer whether he had ever received any
+acknowledgment of his services, any mark of gratitude from the colored
+people of the District? "None," said he--"except that I now and then
+hear, _in a low tone_, a hearty GOD BLESS YOU! That is enough."
+
+It was enough; enough for recompense and for justification, since we are
+in the sad pass that justification is needed--since
+
+    "Virtue itself of Vice must pardon beg,
+    And pray for leave to do him good."
+
+So then, in this Republic there are millions of human hearts, which are
+not permitted to love a benefactor, and dare not utter for him an
+invocation, kindred to their devotion to God, except "in a low tone!"
+
+When in 1846 Mr. Adams was struck the first time with palsy, he was
+visited by Charles Sumner, who sat much by his bedside. As he became
+better, he said one day to his visitor: "You will enter public life; you
+do not want it, but you will be drawn into the current, in spite of
+yourself. Now I have a word of advice to give you. _Never accept a
+present._ While I was in Russia, the Minister of the Interior, an old
+man, whose conscience became more active as his bodily powers failed,
+grew uneasy on account of the presents he had received. He calculated
+the value of them, and paid it all over to the Imperial treasury. This
+put me to thinking upon the subject, and I then made a resolution never
+to accept a present while I remained in the public service; and I never
+have, unless it was some trifling token, as a hat or cane."
+
+A neighboring clergyman, to whom this conversation was related,
+exclaimed--"A hat! That cannot be, for he never had any but an old one."
+It was a tradition in Cambridge that Mr. Adams, while Professor in the
+University, was noted for indifference to personal appearance, and his
+well-worn hat was particularly remembered.
+
+In the relation of husband Mr. Adams showed the same fidelity and
+devotedness which characterized him in every other. He was united to a
+woman whose virtues and accomplishments blessed and adorned his home. In
+a letter written shortly after his noble vindication of the character of
+woman, and the propriety and utility of their intervention in public
+affairs, he said:
+
+"Had I not, by the dispensation of Providence, been blessed beyond the
+ordinary lot of humanity in all the domestic relations of life, as a
+son, a brother, and a husband, I should still have thought myself bound
+to vindicate the social rights and the personal honor of the
+petitioners, who had confided to me the honorable trust of presenting
+the expression of their wishes to the legislative councils of the
+nation. But that this sense of imperious duty was quickened within my
+bosom by the affectionate estimate of the female character impressed
+upon my heart and mind by the virtues of the individual woman, with whom
+it has been my lot to pass in these intimate relations my days upon
+earth, I have no doubt."
+
+In 1840 he had a severe fall, striking his head against the corner of an
+iron rail, which inflicted a heavy contusion on his forehead, and
+rendered him for some time insensible. His left shoulder was likewise
+dislocated. This occurred at the House of Representatives after
+adjournment. Fortunately several members were within call, and gave him
+the most tender and assiduous assistance. He was carried to the lodgings
+of one of them, and a physician called. With the united strength of four
+men, it took more than an hour to reduce the dislocation. "Still," says
+a witness of the scene, "Mr. Adams uttered not a murmur, though the
+great drops of sweat which rolled down his furrowed cheeks, or stood
+upon his brow, told but too well the agony he suffered." At his request
+he was immediately conveyed to his house; and the next morning, to the
+astonishment of every one, he was found in his seat as usual. He was
+accustomed to be the first to enter the House and the last to leave it.
+Mr. Everett tells us that he had his seat by the side of the veteran,
+and that he should not have been more surprised to miss one of the
+marble pillars from the hall than Mr. Adams.
+
+That this painful accident did not impair the vigor of his mind is
+evident from the fact that he subsequently argued the Amistad case, and
+sustained the fierce contest of three days on the expulsion resolution
+in the House. It was three years later also that he made the journey for
+the benefit of his health, which turned out an improvised and continuous
+ovation. He had designed merely to visit Lebanon Springs. He was so much
+pleased with his journey thus far into the State of New-York, that he
+concluded to prolong it to Quebec, Montreal, and Niagara Falls, and
+return to Massachusetts through the length of the empire State. This
+return was signalized by attentions and homage on the part of the people
+so spontaneous and unanimous, that nothing which has occurred since the
+progress of La Fayette, has equalled it. "Public greetings, processions,
+celebrations, met and accompanied every step of his journey." Addresses
+by eminent men, and acclamations of men, women, and children, who
+thronged the way, bore witness of the deep hold which the man, without
+accessories of office and pageantry of state, had of their hearts. Of
+this excursion he said himself towards the close of it, "I have not come
+alone, the whole people of the State of New-York have been my
+companions." In the autumn of the same year he went to Cincinnati to
+assist in laying the foundation of an observatory. This journey was
+attended by similar demonstrations. At a cordial greeting given him at
+Maysville, Kentucky, after an emphatic testimony to the integrity of Mr.
+Clay, he made that renewed and solemn denial of the charges of "bargain
+and corruption."
+
+He suffered a stroke of paralysis in November, 1846, but recovered, and
+took his seat at the ensuing session of Congress. He regarded this as
+equivalent to a final summons, and made no subsequent entry in his
+faithful diary except under the title of "posthumous." After this he
+spoke little in the House.
+
+In November, 1847, he left his home in Quincy for the last time. On the
+twentieth of February he passed his last evening at his house in
+Washington. He retired to his library at nine o'clock, where his wife
+read to him a sermon by Bishop Wilberforce on Time. The next morning he
+rose early and occupied himself with his pen as he was wont. With more
+than usual spryness and alacrity he ascended the stairs of the Capitol.
+In the House a resolution for awarding thanks and gold medals to several
+officers concerned in the Mexican war was taken up. Mr. Adams uttered
+his emphatic _No!_ on two or three preliminary questions. When the final
+question was about to be put, and while he was in the act of rising, as
+it was supposed, to address the House, he sunk down. He was borne to the
+speaker's room. He revived so far as to inquire for his wife, who was
+present. He seemed desirous of uttering thanks. The only distinct words
+he articulated were, "This is the end of earth. I am content." He
+lingered until the evening of the twenty-third, and then expired.
+
+Thus he fell at his post in the eighty-first year of his age, the age of
+Plato. With the exception of Phocion there is no active public life
+continued on the great arena, with equal vigor and usefulness, to so
+advanced an age. Lord Mansfield retired at eighty-three; but the quiet
+routine of a judicial station is not as trying as the varied and
+boisterous contentions of a political and legislative assembly. Ripe as
+he was for heaven; he was still greatly needed upon earth. His services
+would have been of inestimable importance in disposing of the perilous
+questions, not yet definitively settled, which arose out of unhallowed
+war and conquest.
+
+There is not much satisfaction in dwelling upon the general effusions of
+eloquence, or the pageantry which ensued. A single glance of guileless
+love from the men, women and children, who came forth from their smiling
+villages to greet the virtuous old statesman in his unpretending
+journeys, was worth the whole of it. The hearty tribute of Mr. Benton,
+so long a denouncer, has an exceptional value, the greater because he
+had made honorable amends to the departed during his life. That he was
+sincerely and deeply mourned by the nation, it would be a libel on the
+nation to doubt. His remains rested appropriately in Independence and
+Faneuil Halls on the way to their final resting place, the tomb he had
+made for those of his venerated parents. There he was laid by his
+neighbors and townsmen, sorrowing for the friend and the MAN. His
+monument is to stand on the other side of the pulpit.
+
+Happy place which hallows such memories, and holds up such EXAMPLES.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[17] It is supposed that the State derives its name from a hill in the
+north part of the town, situated near the peninsula called Squantum,
+likewise a part of the town. Squantum was a favorite residence of the
+Indians; and the Sachem, who ruled over the district "extending round
+the harbors of Boston and Charlestown, through Malden, Chelsea,
+Nantasket, Hingham, Weymouth and Dorchester," had his seat on the
+neighboring hill, which was shaped like an arrow-head. Arrow-head in the
+Indian language was _mos_ or mous, and hill _wetuset_. Thus the great
+Sachem's home was called _Moswetuset_ or Arrow-head Hill, his subjects
+the Moswetusets, and lastly the Province Massachusetts, but frequently
+in the primitive days "the Massachusetts."
+
+[18] Died early in the city of New-York, soon after entering upon the
+practice of law.
+
+
+
+
+=Jackson.=
+
+[Illustration: Jackson fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Hermitage, Residence of Jackson]
+
+JACKSON.
+
+
+The events of Jackson's life, even in their chronological order, dispose
+themselves into a number of combinations, which a skilful pen, guided by
+the hand of a poet, might easily work up into a series of impressive and
+contrasted pictures. We have not the ability, had we the space here, to
+undertake this labor, but we see no reason why we should not present
+some outlines of it, for the benefit of future more competent artists.
+
+In such a series, we should first see the flaxen-haired, blue-eyed son
+of Irish emigrants, driven from their home by a sense of British
+oppression, opening his young eyes in South Carolina, amid the stormy
+scenes of our Revolution. Around him, his friends and neighbors are
+training for the battle, and preparing to defend their homes from an
+invading foe; his eldest brother Hugh, is brought back dead from the
+fatigues of active service; the old Waxhaw meeting-house, a temporary
+hospital, through which he wanders, is crowded with the wounded and
+dying, whose condition moves him to tears, and fills him with melancholy
+impressions of the horrors of war, coupled with a deepening sense of
+English cruelty and oppression, of which he had before heard in the
+tales of his mother and her kindred about the old country from which
+they had fled; while, finally, he himself, but little more than thirteen
+years of age, in company with a brother Robert, takes up arms, is made a
+prisoner, suffers severely from wounds and the smallpox of the jail,
+loses first his brother by that disease, and then his mother by a fever
+caught on board a prison-ship, whither she had gone to nurse some
+captive friends, and is thus left alone in the world, the only one of
+all his family spared by the enemy.
+
+We should next see the friendless, portionless orphan wending his
+solitary way through the immense forests of the Far West, (now the State
+of Tennessee), where the settlements were hundreds of miles from each
+other, while every tree and rock sheltered an enemy in the shape of some
+grisly animal, or the person of a more savage Indian. But he succeeds in
+crossing the mountains, he reaches the infant villages on the Cumberland
+River, he studies and practises the rude law of those distant regions,
+takes part in all the wild vicissitudes of frontier life, repels the red
+man, fights duels with the white, encounters in deadly feuds the
+turbulent spirits of a half-barbarous society, administers justice in
+almost extemporized courts, helps to frame a regular State constitution,
+marries a wife as chivalric, noble, and fearless as himself, and at
+last, when society is reduced to some order, is chosen a representative
+of the backwoods in the Congress at Washington.
+
+Arrived at the seat of government, a tall, thin, uncouth figure, with no
+words to express himself in, and apparently without ambition,--he yet
+shows himself, with all his wild western coarseness, a man of insight
+and decision. He made no speeches, he drew up no reports, he created no
+sensation in the committee-room, or the lobbies,--he was not at all
+known, as a leader or a prominent individual, but he was one of the
+twelve democrats of the House, who dared to oppose returning an answer
+to Washington's last address, when the fame and the personal influence
+of that exalted man were almost omnipotent. He doubtless estimated the
+services and the character of Washington as highly as any member, but
+the measures of the administration his judgment did not approve, and he
+voted as he thought--a silent uncultivated representative,--odd in his
+dress and look, but with grit in him, not appalled even by the
+stupendous greatness of Washington! On the other hand, he saw in
+Jefferson a man for the times; became his friend, voted for him, and
+helped his State to vote for him as the second President.
+
+In the next phases of his life we discover Jackson, as the dignified and
+impartial judge, asserting the law in the face of a powerful combination
+of interested opponents; as the retired and prosperous planter,
+gathering together a large estate, which he surrounds with the comforts
+and luxuries of a refined existence, but sells at once when a friend's
+misfortunes involves him in debt, and retires to a primitive log cabin
+to commence his fortunes once more; as an Indian fighter achieving amid
+hardships of all kinds--the want of funds, the inclemency of the season,
+the ravages of disease, the unskilfulness of superiors, the
+insubordination of troops--a series of brilliant victories that made his
+name a terror to the Creeks and all their confederates. His campaign in
+the Floridas broke the power of the Indians, secretly in league with the
+British, forced them into a treaty, and wrested Pensacola from the
+possession of the Spanish governor, who had basely violated his
+neutrality, and who, when he wished to negotiate, was answered by
+Jackson, "My diplomacy is in the mouths of my cannon."
+
+But a different foe and a wider theatre awaited the display of his
+military genius at New Orleans. Worn down with sickness and exhaustion,
+with raw and undisciplined troops--many of them the mere rabble of the
+wharves, and some of them buccaneers from neighboring islands--scantily
+supplied with arms and ammunition, in the midst of a mixed population of
+different tongues, where attachment to his cause was doubtful,
+continually agitated by gloomy forebodings of the result, though
+outwardly serene, he was surrounded by the flower of the British army,
+led by its most brave and accomplished generals. The attack commenced:
+from his breastwork of cotton bales his unerring rifles poured a
+continuous flame of fire. The enemy quailed: its leaders were killed or
+wounded; and the greatest victory of the war crowned the exertions of
+Jackson as the greatest military genius of his time. A universal glow of
+joy and gratitude spread from the liberated city over the whole land;
+_Te deums_ were sung in the churches; children robed in white strewed
+his way with flowers; the nation jubilantly uttered its admiration and
+gratitude. It was thus the desolated orphan of the Carolinas avenged the
+wrongs of his family, and asserted the rights of his country, to the
+lasting dishonor of Great Britain.
+
+Years pass on, and we see the successful General the President of the
+People, engaged once more in a fearful struggle; this time not against a
+foreign foe, but with an internal enemy of vast power and tremendous
+means of mischief. He is fighting the monster bank--another St. George
+gallantly charging another dragon--and, as usual, comes out of the
+contest victorious. The innumerable army of money-changers, wielding a
+power as formidable, though unseen, as that of an absolute monarch, is
+routed amid a horrible clangor of metal and rancorous hisses. The great
+true man, sustained by an honest people, was greater than the power of
+money. He wrought the salvation of his country from a hideous
+corruption--from bankruptcy, disgrace, and long years of political
+subjection. His near posterity has recognized the service, and placed
+him among the most illustrious of statesmen.
+
+Finally, we see the patriot soldier and civilian, a bowed and
+white-haired old man, in his secluded Hermitage, which is situated near
+the scenes of his earliest labors and triumphs. The companion of his
+love, who had shared in his struggles, but was not permitted to share in
+his latest glory, is with him no more; children they had none; and he
+moves tranquilly towards his grave alone. No! not alone: for travellers
+from all lands visit his retreat, to gaze upon his venerable form; his
+countrymen throng his doors, to gather wisdom from his sayings,--his
+friends and neighbors almost worship him, and an adopted family bask in
+the benignant goodness of his noble heart--his great mind, too, "beaming
+in mildest mellow splendor, beaming if also trembling, like a great sun
+on the verge of the horizon, near now to its long farewell." Thus, the
+orphan, the emigrant, the Indian fighter, the conquering General, the
+popular President, the venerated Patriarch, goes to the repose of the
+humble Christian.
+
+What were the sources of Jackson's pre-eminent greatness, of his
+invariable success, of his resistless personal influence, of his deep
+hold upon the minds of his fellows? He was no orator, he was no writer,
+he had in fact no faculty of expression, he was unsustained by wealth,
+he never courted the multitude, he relied upon no external assistances.
+What he did, he achieved for himself, without aid, directly, and by the
+mere force of his own nature. Neither education, nor family, nor the
+accidents of fortune, nor the friendship of the powerful, helped to
+raise him aloft, and push him forward in his career. The secret of his
+elevation, then, was this,--that he saw the Right and loved it, and was
+never afraid to pursue it, against all the allurements of personal
+ambition, and all the hostility of the banded sons of error. There have
+been many men of a larger reach and compass of mind, and some of a
+keener insight and sagacity, but none, of a more stern, inflexible,
+self-sacrificing devotion to what they esteemed to be true. He carried
+his life in his hand, ready to be thrown away at the call of honor or
+patriotism, and it was this unswerving integrity, which commended him so
+strongly to the affections of the masses. Whatever men may be in
+themselves, their hearts are always prone to do homage to honesty. They
+love those whom they can trust, or only hate them, because their justice
+and truth stands in the way of some cherished, selfish object.
+
+Jackson's will was imperious; the report does not follow the flash more
+rapidly than his execution of a deed followed the conception of it; or
+rather his thought and his act were an instinctive, instantaneous,
+inseparable unity. Like a good marksman, as soon as he saw his object he
+fired, and generally with effect. This impulsive decision gave rise to
+some over-hasty and precipitate movements, but, in the main, was
+correct. What politicians, therefore, could only accomplish if at all by
+a slow and cunning process of intrigue, what diplomatists reached by
+long-winded negotiations, he marched to, without indirection, with his
+eye always on the point, and his whole body following the lead of the
+eye. We do not mean that he was utterly without subtlety,--for some
+subtlety is necessary to the most ordinary prudence, and is particularly
+necessary to the forecast of generalship,--but simply that he never
+dissimulated, never assumed disguise, never carried water on both
+shoulders, as the homely phrase has it, and never went around an
+obstacle, when he could level it, or push it out of the way. The foxy or
+feline element was small in a nature, into which so much magnanimity,
+supposed to be lionlike, entered.
+
+The popular opinion of Jackson was, that he was an exceedingly irascible
+person, his mislikers even painting him as liable to fits of roaring and
+raving anger, when he flung about him like a maniac; but his intimate
+friends, who occupied the same house with him for years, inform us that
+they never experienced any of these strong gusts; that, though sensitive
+to opposition, impatient of restraint, quick to resent injuries, and
+impetuous in his advance towards his ends, he was yet gentle, kindly,
+placable, faithful to friends and forgiving to foes, a lover of children
+and women, only unrelenting when his quarry happened to be meanness,
+fraud or tyranny. His affections were particularly tender and strong; he
+could scarcely be made to believe any thing to the disadvantage of those
+he had once liked, while his reconciliations with those he had disliked,
+once effected, were frank, cordial and sincere. Colonel Benton, who was
+once an enemy, but afterwards a friend of many years, gives us this
+sketch of some of his leading characteristics:
+
+"He was a careful farmer, overlooking every thing himself, seeing that
+the fields and fences were in good order, the stock well attended, and
+the slaves comfortably provided for. His house was the seat of
+hospitality, the resort of friends and acquaintances, and of all
+strangers visiting the State--and the more agreeable to all from the
+perfect conformity of Mrs. Jackson's disposition to his own. But he
+needed some excitement beyond that which a farming life could afford,
+and found it for some years in the animating sports of the turf. He
+loved fine horses--racers of speed and bottom--owned several--and
+contested the four mile heats with the best that could be bred, or
+bought, or brought to the State, and for large sums. That is the nearest
+to gaming that I ever knew him to come. Cards and the cock-pit have been
+imputed to him, but most erroneously. I never saw him engaged in either.
+Duels were usual in that time, and he had his share of them, with their
+unpleasant concomitants; but they passed away with all their
+animosities, and he has often been seen zealously pressing the
+advancement of those, against whom he had but lately been arrayed in
+deadly hostility. His temper was placable, as well as irascible, and his
+reconciliations were cordial and sincere. Of that, my own case was a
+signal instance. There was a deep-seated vein of piety in him,
+unaffectedly showing itself in his reverence for divine worship, respect
+for the ministers of the Gospel, their hospitable reception in his
+house, and constant encouragement of all the pious tendencies of Mrs.
+Jackson. And when they both afterwards became members of a church, it was
+the natural and regular result of their early and cherished feelings. He
+was gentle in his house, and alive to the tenderest emotions; and of
+this I can give an instance, greatly in contrast with his supposed
+character, and worth more than a long discourse in showing what that
+character really was. I arrived at his house one wet, chilly evening in
+February, and came upon him in the twilight, sitting alone before the
+fire, a lamb and a child between his knees. He started a little, called
+a servant to remove the two innocents to another room, and explained to
+me how it was. The child had cried because the lamb was out in the cold,
+and begged him to bring it in--which he had done to please the child,
+his adopted son, then not two years old. The ferocious man does not do
+that! and though Jackson had his passions and his violences, they were
+for men and enemies--those who stood up against him--and not for women
+and children, or the weak and helpless, for all of whom his feelings
+were those of protection and support. His hospitality was active as well
+as cordial, embracing the worthy in every walk of life, and seeking out
+deserving objects to receive it, no matter how obscure. Of this I
+learned a characteristic instance, in relation to the son of the famous
+Daniel Boone. The young man had come to Nashville on his father's
+business, to be detained some weeks, and had his lodgings at a small
+tavern, towards the lower part of the town. General Jackson heard of
+it--sought him out--found him, took him home to remain as long as his
+business detained him in the country, saying, 'Your father's dog should
+not stay in a tavern while I have a house.' This was heart! and I had it
+from the young man himself, long after, when he was a State Senator of
+the General Assembly of Missouri, and as such nominated me for the
+United States Senate at my first election in 1820--his name was Benton
+Boone, and so named after my father. Abhorrence of debt, public and
+private, dislike of banks and love of hard money--love of justice, and
+love of country, were ruling passions with Jackson; and of these he gave
+constant evidences in all the situations of his life."
+
+The same distinguished authority has drawn a picture of Jackson's
+retirement from the Presidency, with which we close our remarks:
+
+"The second and last term of General Jackson's presidency expired on the
+3d of March, 1837. The next day at twelve he appeared with his
+successor, Mr. Van Buren, on the elevated and spacious eastern portico
+of the capitol, as one of the citizens who came to witness the
+inauguration of the new President, and no way distinguished from them,
+except by his place on the left hand of the President-elect. The day was
+beautiful: clear sky, balmy vernal sun, tranquil atmosphere; and the
+assemblage immense. On foot, in the large area in front of the steps,
+orderly without troops, and closely wedged together, their faces turned
+to the portico--presenting to the beholders from all the eastern windows
+the appearance of a field paved with human faces--this vast crowd
+remained riveted to their places, and profoundly silent, until the
+ceremony of inauguration was over. It was the stillness and silence of
+reverence and affection, and there was no room for mistake as to whom
+this mute and impressive homage was rendered. For once the rising was
+eclipsed by the setting sun. Though disrobed of power, and retiring to
+the shades of private life, it was evident that the great ex-President
+was the absorbing object of this intense regard. At the moment that he
+began to descend the broad steps of the portico to take his seat in the
+open carriage that was to bear him away, the deep, repressed feeling of
+the dense mass broke forth, acclamations and cheers bursting from the
+heart and filling the air, such as power never commanded, nor man in
+power ever received. It was the affection, gratitude, and admiration of
+the living age, saluting for the last time a great man. It was the
+acclaim of posterity breaking from the bosoms of contemporaries. It was
+the anticipation of futurity--unpurchasable homage to the hero-patriot
+who, all his life, and in all the circumstances of his life--in peace
+and in war, and glorious in each--had been the friend of his country,
+devoted to her, regardless of self. Uncovered and bowing, with a look of
+unaffected humility and thankfulness, he acknowledged in mute signs his
+deep sensibility to this affecting overflow of popular feeling. I was
+looking down from a side window, and felt an emotion which had never
+passed through me before. I had seen the inauguration of many
+presidents, and their going away, and their days of state, vested with
+power, and surrounded by the splendors of the first magistracy of a
+great republic; but they all appeared to me as pageants, brief to the
+view, unreal to the touch, and soon to vanish. But here there seemed to
+be a reality--a real scene--a man and the people: he, laying down power
+and withdrawing through the portals of everlasting fame; they, sounding
+in his ears the everlasting plaudits of unborn generations. Two days
+after I saw the patriot ex-President in the car which bore him off to
+his desired seclusion: I saw him depart with that look of quiet
+enjoyment which bespoke the inward satisfaction of the soul at
+exchanging the cares of office for the repose of home.
+
+
+
+
+=King.=
+
+[Illustration: King fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Rufus King's House, Near Jamaica, L.I.]
+
+RUFUS KING.
+
+
+When in the year 1803, after having served his native country with
+distinguished ability for more than seven years as Minister
+Plenipotentiary of the United States at the Court of St. James, Rufus
+King returned to New-York, the city of his adoption, he found his
+political friends in a hopeless minority, and the rule of party
+absolute, exclusive, and even vindictive. Mr. King had trained himself
+from early life to the duties of a Statesman, and to that end neglected
+no study, and above all, no self-discipline that might qualify him for
+the career he desired to pursue. After serving several years as a
+Delegate from Massachusetts in the Continental Congress (from 1785 to
+1789), and having, as a member of the Convention called for the purpose,
+been actively instrumental in forming the Constitution of the United
+States, Mr. King became in 1788 a resident of the city of New-York,
+where he had married two years before, MARY, the only child of JOHN
+ALSOP, a retired merchant of that city. Mr. King was much known in
+New-York, for the Continental Congress during his term of service held
+its sessions there; and the character he had established for himself on
+the score of talent and capacity, may be estimated by the fact, that he,
+with General Schuyler for a colleague, was selected as one of the first
+Senators of the United States from the State of New-York, under the new
+constitution.
+
+His services proved so acceptable, that on the expiration of his first
+term, in 1795, he was re-elected, and it was in the second year of his
+second term--in 1796, that he was appointed by Washington Minister to
+England.
+
+In that post Mr. King continued throughout the residue of General
+Washington's administration, through the whole of that of John Adams,
+and, at the request of President Jefferson, through two years of his
+administration, when, having accomplished the negotiations he had in
+hand, Mr. King asked to be, and was, recalled.
+
+During this long residence abroad, remote from the scene of the angry
+partisan politics which disturbed the close of Washington's term, and
+the whole of that of Mr. Adams, and which resulted, in 1800, in the
+entire overthrow of the old Federal party, and the success of Mr.
+Jefferson and the Republican party--Mr. King had devoted his labors, his
+time and his talents, to the service of his whole country, and was
+little prepared, therefore, either by taste or temper, for participation
+in the angry broils which, on his return home, he found prevailing
+throughout the Union. Adhering, as he did to the end, to the political
+principles of his early life, he never doubted, nor saw occasion to
+change the faith which had made him a Federalist, when the name included
+the Telfairs and Habershams of Georgia, the Pinkneys and Rutledges of
+South Carolina, the Davieses and the Sitgreaves of North Carolina, the
+Washingtons and the Marshalls of Virginia, the Carrolls and the Hindmans
+of Maryland, the Bayards and the Kearnys of Delaware, the Tilghmans and
+the Binghams of Pennsylvania, the Patersons and the Stocktons of New
+Jersey, the Jays and Hamiltons of New-York, the Woolcots and the
+Johnsons of Connecticut, the Ellerys and Howells of Rhode Island, the
+Adamses and Otises of Massachusetts, the Smiths and Gilmans of New
+Hampshire, the Tichenors and Chittendens of Vermont. But that faith was
+now in "dim eclipse." The popular air was in another direction, and Mr.
+King was of too lofty a character to trim his bark to the veering
+breeze. Having acquired, or rather confirmed by his residence in England
+(where country life is better understood and more thoroughly enjoyed,
+probably, than any where else) a decided taste for the country Mr. King
+soon determined to abandon the city, where--having no professional
+pursuits nor stated occupation--he found few attractions, and make his
+permanent abode in the country. After looking at many points on the
+Hudson River and on the Sound, he finally established himself at the
+village of Jamaica, in Queens county, Long Island, distant about twelve
+miles from the city of New-York. In comparison with some of the places
+which he had examined on the waters of the Sound and the North River,
+Jamaica offered few inducements of scenery or landscape. But it did
+offer what to him, and especially to his wife, were all-important
+considerations--proverbial healthiness, and ready access to church,
+schools and physicians. Mrs. King's health was already drooping, and
+from the quiet, regular life of the country, its pure air, and the
+outdoor exercise to which it leads, and of which she was so fond, the
+hope was indulged that she might be completely restored. The property
+purchased by Mr. King, consisting of a well-built, comfortable and roomy
+house, with about ninety acres of land, is situated a little to the west
+of the village, on the great high road of the Island from west to east.
+It is a dead level, of a warm and quick soil, readily fertilized, the
+ridge or back-bone of Long Island bounding it on the north. He removed
+his family thither in the spring of 1806, and at once commenced those
+alterations and improvements which have made it what it now is--a very
+pretty and attractive residence for any one who finds delight in fine
+trees, varied shrubbery, a well cultivated soil, and the comforts of a
+large house, every part of which is meant for use, and none of it for
+show.
+
+When Mr. King took possession of his purchase, the house, grounds and
+fences were after the uniform pattern, then almost universal in the
+region. He soon changed and greatly improved all. The house, fronting
+south, was in a bare field, about one hundred yards back from the road,
+and separated from it by a white picket fence. A narrow gravel path led
+in a straight line from a little gate, down to the door of the house,
+while further to the east was the gate, through which, on another
+straight line, running down by the side of the house, was the entrance
+for carriages and horses. Two horse-chestnut trees, one east and the
+other west of the house, and about thirty feet from it, were, with the
+exception of some old apple trees, the only trees on the place; and the
+blazing sun of summer, and the abundant dust of the high road at all
+seasons, had unobstructed sweep over the house and lawn, or what was to
+become a lawn. Not a shrub or bush was interposed between the house and
+the fence, to secure any thing like privacy to the abode. On the
+contrary, it seemed to be the taste of the day to leave every thing open
+to the gaze of the wayfarers, and in turn to expose those wayfarers,
+their equipages, and their doings, to the inspection of the inmates of
+all roadside houses. Mr. King, who had cultivated the study of Botany,
+and was a genuine admirer of trees, soon went to work in embellishing
+the place which was to be his future home, and in this he was warmly
+seconded by the taste of Mrs. King. The first step was, to change the
+approach to the house, from a straight to a circular walk, broad and
+well rolled; then to plant out the high road. Accordingly, a belt of
+from twenty to thirty feet in width along the whole front of the ground,
+was prepared by proper digging and manuring, for the reception of shrubs
+and trees; and time and money were liberally applied, but with wise
+discrimination as to the adaptedness to the soil and climate, of the
+plants to be introduced. From the State of New Hampshire, through the
+careful agency of his friend, Mr. Sheaffe of Portsmouth, who was
+vigilant to have them properly procured, packed, and expedited to
+Jamaica, Mr. King received the pines and firs which, now very large
+trees, adorn the grounds. They were, it is believed, among the first, if
+not the first trees of this kind introduced into this part of Long
+Island, and none of the sort were then to be found in the nurseries at
+Flushing. Some acorns planted near the house in 1810, are now large
+trees. Mr. King indeed planted, as the Romans builded--"for posterity
+and the immortal gods," for to his eldest son, now occupying the
+residence of his father, he said, in putting into the ground an acorn of
+the red oak--"If you live to be as old as I am, you will see here a
+large tree;" and, in fact, a noble, lofty, well-proportioned red oak now
+flourishes there, to delight with its wide-branching beauty, its
+grateful shade, and more grateful associations, not the children only,
+but the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of him who planted the
+acorn. Mr. King possessed, in a remarkable degree, all the tastes that
+fit one for the enjoyment of country life. He had a large and well
+selected library, particularly rich in its books relating to the
+Americas, and this library remains unbroken. With these true, tried,
+unwavering and unwearying friends--and such good books are--Mr. King
+spent much time; varying, however, his studious labors with outdoor
+exercise on horseback, to which he was much addicted; and in judgment of
+the qualities, as well as in the graceful management of a horse, he was
+rarely excelled. He loved, too, his gun and dog; was rather a keen
+sportsman, and good shot; though often, when the pointer was hot upon
+the game, his master's attention would be diverted by some rare or
+beautiful shrub or flower upon which his eye happened to light, and of
+which--if not the proper season for transplanting it into his border--he
+would carefully mark the place and make a memorandum thereof, so as to
+be enabled to return at the fitting time, and secure his prize. In this
+way he had collected in his shrubberies all the pretty flowering shrubs
+and plants indigenous to the neighborhood, adding thereto such strangers
+as he could naturalize; so that during a visit made to him many years
+after he began his plantation, by the _Abb� Corr�a_, then Minister from
+Portugal to this Government, but even more distinguished as a man of
+letters, and particularly as a botanist--the learned Abb� said he could
+almost study the _Flowers_ and the _Trees_ of the central and eastern
+portion of the United States in these grounds. Mr. King loved, too, the
+song of birds--and his taste was rewarded by the number of them which
+took shelter in this secure and shady plantation, where no guns were
+ever allowed to be fired, nor trap nor snare to be set. The garden and
+the farm also came in for their share of interest and attention; and
+nowhere did care judiciously bestowed, and expenditure wisely ordered,
+produce more sure or gratifying results.
+
+About the year 1817 Mr. King turned his attention to the importation of
+some cattle of the North Devon breed. In the preceding year he received
+as a token of a friendship contracted during his residence in England,
+from Mr. Coke of Holkham (the great English Commoner, and warm friend of
+America in the revolutionary contest, and always interested in whatever
+might promote the welfare of the people in whose early struggle for
+their rights he had sympathized), two beautiful cows of the North Devon
+breed, as being particularly adapted, as Mr. Coke supposed, to the
+light, level soil of the southern slope of Long Island,--similar in
+these qualities to that of his own magnificent domain at Holkham, in
+Norfolk. Mr. King was so much pleased with these animals, so beautiful
+in themselves, of a uniform mahogany color, with no white marks, finely
+limbed almost as deer, with regularly curved and tapering horns, of
+extreme docility, and easily kept, that in 1817 he imported several
+more, and was thus enabled to preserve the race in purity, and
+measurably to supply the demand for the pure stock, which is now widely
+scattered throughout the country.
+
+While thus enjoying with the real zest of a cultivated mind, and of a
+disposition keenly alive to the aspect, the voices and the beauties of
+nature, the pleasures of a country life; Mr. King was not unmindful of,
+nor indifferent to the great and interesting contemporaneous drama of
+politics, which, although mainly played out in Europe, swept our
+republic too at last into its vortex. His early training, early
+instruction, and early and eminent successes in public life, made it
+alike unsuitable and impossible for him to withdraw himself wholly from
+the scene. And accordingly, although never in the whole course of his
+life seeking office, or putting himself forward, Mr. King was frequently
+appealed to, in his retirement, by political friends, sometimes
+consulted by political opponents,--while he was in the habit of
+receiving with elegant and cordial hospitality at Jamaica, distinguished
+visitors, both of his own country, and from abroad. Among such visitors
+was the Abb� Corr�a, as already stated, about the period when, as
+Secretary of State to President Monroe, John Quincy Adams was asserting
+in his correspondence with the English Minister the right of the United
+States to the free navigation of the St. Lawrence. After discussing with
+Mr King in the library, the points of international law brought up by
+this claim,--in the course of which, somewhat to the surprise of the
+Abb�, Mr. King evinced entire familiarity with the analogous points
+brought up and settled, as regards European rivers, in the then recently
+held Congress of Vienna; and maintained the position, that what was law
+between states in Europe conterminous to great navigable streams, must
+be law here; and that what Great Britain had assented to, and had joined
+in requiring others to assent to, in respect to the Rhine, she must
+assent to in respect to the St. Lawrence,--the Abb� proposed a walk in
+the grounds, and once there, laying aside politics, diplomacy, and
+international law, the two statesmen were soon very deep in botany and
+the system of Linn�us, and agriculture, and in all the cognate questions
+of climate, soils, manures, &c., and seemed quite as eager in these
+pursuits, as in those grave and more solemn questions of state policy,
+which occupy, but do not, in the same degree, innocently and surely
+reward the attention and interest of public men. It was on occasion of
+this visit, that the Abb� Corr�a expressed his gratification at finding
+in the plantation of Mr. King so large a collection of the plants and
+shrubs indigenous to that part of our country,--a gratification
+enhanced, as he added, by the previous discussions in the library, in
+the course of which he had such demonstration of Mr. King's varied and
+comprehensive, yet minute knowledge of the great public questions which
+had agitated Europe, and of the more recent, as well as more ancient
+expositions of international law applicable thereto.
+
+Previously to this period, however, Mr. King had been recalled to public
+life. At the commencement of the war of 1812 with Great Britain, Mr.
+King, though disapproving both of the time of declaring, and of the
+inefficiency in conducting, the war, and reposing little confidence
+either in the motives or the abilities of the administration, did
+nevertheless feel it his duty, the sword being drawn, to sustain, as
+best he might, the cause of his country. Among the first, and for a time
+most discouraging results of the war, was the stoppage of specie
+payments by all the banks south of New England. The panic in New-York
+unavoidably was very great; and very much depended upon the course to be
+taken by its banks and its citizens, as to the effect to be produced
+upon the national cause and the national arm, by the suspension of
+payments. In this emergency, appealed to by his former fellow-citizens,
+Mr. King went to the city, and at the Tontine Coffee House, at a general
+meeting called to deliberate on the course to be taken by the community
+in regard to the banks, and in general in regard to the rights and
+duties alike, of creditors and debtors under the circumstances, he made
+a speech to the assembled multitude, in which, after deploring the
+circumstances which had forced upon the banks the necessity of
+suspension, he went on to show that it was a common cause, in which all
+had a part, and where all had duties. That the extreme right of the
+bill-holder, if enforced to the uttermost against the banks, would
+aggravate the evil to the public, although possibly it might benefit a
+few individuals; while, on the other hand, good to all, and strength and
+confidence to the general cause, would result from a generous
+forbearance, and mutual understanding that, if the banks on their part
+would restrict themselves within the limits as to issues and credits
+recognized as safe previous to the suspension, the community at large on
+their part, might, and possibly would continue to receive and pass the
+bills of the banks as before, and as though redeemable in coin. He urged
+with great power and earnestness the duty of fellow-citizens to stand
+shoulder to shoulder in such an emergency,--when a foreign enemy was
+pressing upon them, and when, without entering into the motives or
+causes which led to the war, about which men differ,--all Americans
+should feel it as their first and foremost obligation to stand by their
+country. The particular province of those he addressed was not so much
+to enlist in the armed service of the country, as to uphold its credit,
+and thus cherish the resources which would raise and reward armies; and
+if New-York should on this occasion be true to her duty--which also he
+plainly showed to be her highest interest--the clouds of the present
+would pass away, and her honor and her prosperity, with those of the
+nation of which she formed part and parcel, would be maintained and
+advanced. The effect of this address was decisive, and to an extent
+quite unprecedented in any commercial community under such
+circumstances; confidence was restored, and the course of business went
+on almost unruffled and undisturbed.
+
+In 1813, Mr. King, after a lapse of seventeen years from his former
+service as a Senator of the United States, was again chosen by the
+Legislature of the State of New-York, as one of its Senators in
+Congress; and from the moment he resumed his seat in the Senate, he took
+leave, for the remainder of his life, of the undisturbed enjoyments of
+his rural abode; for a large portion of his time was necessarily spent
+at Washington, it being part of his notion of duty, never to be remiss
+in attendance upon, or in the discharge of, any trust committed to him.
+Still, his heart was among his plantations and his gardens, and even
+when absent, he kept up a constant correspondence with his son and his
+gardener, and always returned with fond zest to this quiet home.
+
+In 1819, Mrs. King, whose health had been long declining, died, and was
+buried with all simplicity in the yard of the village church; where
+together they long had worshipped, and which stood on ground originally
+forming part of Mr. King's property. At the time of her death, all the
+children had left the paternal roof, and settled in life with their own
+families around them; and solitude, therefore, embittered the loss to
+Mr. King of such a companion. And she was eminently fitted by similarity
+of tastes and acquirements, to share with her husband the cares and the
+pleasures of life, as well as its weightier duties. She was in an
+especial manner a lover of the country, and had cultivated the knowledge
+which lends additional charms to the beauties and the wonders of the
+vegetable creation. Over all these beauties, her death cast a pall; and
+although he repined not, it was easy to see how deep a sorrow
+overshadowed his remaining years. Yet he nerved himself to the discharge
+of his public duties with unabated zeal and fidelity; and when
+re-elected in 1820 to the Senate, was punctual as always at his post,
+and earnest as ever in fulfilling all its requirements. His own health,
+however, before so unshaken, began to fail; and at the closing session
+of 1825, Mr. King, in taking leave of the Senate, announced his purpose
+of retiring from public life; having then reached the age of seventy
+years, of which more than one half had been spent in the service of his
+country, from the period when he entered the Continental Congress in
+1784, to that in which he left the Senate of the United States in 1825.
+But John Q. Adams, who had become President, pressed upon Mr. King the
+embassy to England. His enfeebled health and advanced age induced him at
+once to decline, but Mr. Adams urged him to refrain from any immediate
+decision, and to take the subject into consideration after he should
+return home, and then determine. Recalling with lively and pleasant
+recollection the years of his former embassy to England, and hoping
+assuredly to be able--if finding there the same fair and friendly
+reception before extended to him--to benefit his country by the
+adjustment of some outstanding and long-standing points of controversy
+between the two nations; influenced too, in a great degree, by the
+opinion, of eminent physicians, that for maladies partaking of weakness,
+such as he was laboring under, a sea-voyage could hardly fail to be
+beneficial, Mr. King, rather in opposition to the wishes of his family,
+determined to accept the mission,--first stipulating, however, that his
+eldest son, John A. King, should accompany him as Secretary of Legation.
+It is proof of the strong desire of the then administration to avail of
+Mr. King's talents and character, and of the hope of good from his
+employment in this mission, that an immediate compliance with this
+request was made; and the gentleman who had been previously nominated
+to, and confirmed by, the Senate, as Secretary of Legation, having been
+commissioned elsewhere, Mr. John A. King was appointed Secretary of
+Legation to his father.
+
+The voyage, unhappily, aggravated rather than relieved the malady of Mr.
+King; his health, after he reached England, continued to decline, and he
+therefore, after a few months' residence in London, asked leave to
+resign his post and come home. He returned accordingly, but only to die.
+He languished for some weeks, and finally, having been removed from
+Jamaica to the city for greater convenience of attendance and care, he
+died in New-York, on the 29th of April, 1827.
+
+As with Mrs. King, so with him--in conformity with the unaffected
+simplicity of their whole lives--were the funeral rites at his death.
+Borne to Jamaica, which for more than twenty years had been his home,
+the body was carried to the grave by the neighbors among whom he had so
+long lived,--laid in the earth by the side of her who had gone before
+him, to be no more separated for ever; and a simple stone at the head of
+his grave, records--and the loftiest monument of art could do no
+more--that a great and a good man, having finished his course in faith,
+there awaits the great Judgment. Children, and grandchildren, have since
+been gathered in death around these graves, which lie almost beneath the
+shadow of trees planted by Mr. King, and within sight of the house in
+which he lived.
+
+It was desired, if possible, to introduce a glimpse of the pretty
+village church into the engraving, but the space was wanting.
+
+Mr. John A. King, the eldest son of Rufus King, now occupies the
+residence of his father, and keeps up, with filial reverence and
+inherited taste, its fine library, and its fine plantations. The
+engraving presents very accurately the appearance of the house; the
+closely shaven lawn in its front, and the noble trees which surround it,
+could find no adequate representation in any picture.
+
+
+
+
+=Clay.=
+
+[Illustration: Clay fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Ashland, Residence of Henry Clay]
+
+CLAY.
+
+
+The Dryads are plainly no American divinities. A reverence for trees and
+groves, for woods and forests, is not an American passion. As our
+fathers and many of ourselves have spent the best of our strength in
+wrestling with, prostrating, using up the leaf-crowned monarchs, gray
+with the moss of age ere Columbus set foot on Cat Island, to expect us
+to love and honor their quiet majesty, their stately grace, were like
+asking Natty Bumpo or Leather-stocking to bow down to and worship
+Pontiac or Brandt, as the highest ideal of Manhood. An uncouth
+backwoodsman lately stated our difficulty with immediate reference to
+another case, but the principle is identical: "When I was a boy," said
+he, plaintively, "it was the rule to love rum, and hate niggers; now
+they want us to hate rum, and love niggers: For my part, I stick to the
+old discipline." And so it were unreasonable to expect the mass of
+Americans now living, to go into heroics over the prospect of a comely
+and comfortable mansion, surrounded by a spacious lawn or "opening" of
+luxuriant grass, embracing the roots and lightly shaded by the foliage
+of thrifty and shapely trees.
+
+Why is it, then, that the American's pulse beats quicker, and his heart
+throbs more proudly as, walking slowly and thoughtfully up a noble
+avenue that leads easterly from Lexington,--once the capital and still
+the most important inland town in Kentucky,--he finds the road
+terminating abruptly in front of a modest, spacious, agreeable mansion,
+only two stories in height, and of no great architectural pretensions,
+and remembers who caused its erection, and was for many years its owner
+and master?
+
+That house, that lawn, with the ample and fertile farm stretching a mile
+or more in the distance behind them, are hallowed to the hearts of his
+countrymen by the fact, that here lived and loved, enjoyed and suffered,
+aspired and endured, the Orator, the Patriot, the Statesman, the
+illustrious, the gifted, the fiercely slandered, the fondly idolized
+Henry Clay.
+
+A friend who visited Ashland as a stranger in May, 1845, thus writes of
+the place and its master:
+
+"I have at last realized one of my dearest wishes, that of seeing Mr.
+Clay at Ashland. I called on him with a friend this morning, but he was
+absent on his farm, and Charles, his freed slave, told us he would not
+be at home till afternoon; so we returned to Lexington, and, at five
+P.M., we retraced our steps to Ashland. Mr. Clay had returned; and
+meeting us at the door, took hold of our hands before I could even
+present a letter of introduction, and made us welcome to his home. His
+manners completely overcame all the ceremonies of speech I had prepared.
+We were soon perfectly at home, as every one must be with Henry Clay, and
+in half an hour's time we had talked about the various sections of the
+country I had visited the past year, Mr. Clay occasionally giving us
+incidents and recollections of his own life; and I felt as though I had
+known him personally for years.
+
+"Mr. Clay has lived at Ashland forty years. The place bore the name when
+he came to it, as he says, probably on account of the ash timber, with
+which it abounds; and he has made it the most delightful retreat in all
+the West. The estate is about six hundred acres large, all under the
+highest cultivation, except some two hundred acres of park, which is
+entirely cleared of underbrush and small trees, and is, to use the words
+of Lord Morpeth, who staid at Ashland nearly a week, the nearest
+approach to an English park of any in this country. It serves for a
+noble pasture, and here I saw some of Mr. Clay's fine horses and Durham
+cattle. He is said to have some of the finest in America; and if I am
+able to judge I confirm that report. The larger part of his farm is
+devoted to wheat, rye, hemp, &c., and his crops look most splendidly. He
+has also paid great attention to ornamenting his land with beautiful
+shade trees, shrubs, flowers, and fruit orchards. From the road which
+passes his place on the northwest side, a carriage-road leads up to the
+house, lined with locust, cypress, cedar, and other rare trees, and the
+rose, jasmine, and ivy, were clambering about them, and peeping through
+the grass and the boughs, like so many twinkling fairies, as we drove
+up. Mr Clay's mansion is nearly hidden from the road by the trees
+surrounding it, and is as quiet and secluded, save to the throng of
+pilgrims continually pouring up there to greet its more than royal
+possessor, as though it were in the wilderness."
+
+Here let the house, the lawn, the wood, the farm, pass, if they will,
+from the mind. They are all well in their way, and were doubtless well
+adapted in his time to smooth the care-worn brow, and soothe the
+care-fraught breast of the lofty, gallant, frank, winning statesman, who
+gave and still gives them all their interest. Be our thoughts
+concentrated on him who still lives, and speaks, and sways, though the
+clay which enrobed him has been hid from our sight for ever, rather than
+on the physical accessories which, but for him, though living to the
+corporal sense, are dead to the informing soul.
+
+For it was not here, in this comfortable mansion, beneath those
+graceful, hospitable, swaying trees, that THE GREAT COMMONER was born
+and reared; but in a rude, homely farm-house,[19] which had any man
+given five hundred dollars for, he would have been enormously swindled,
+unless he paid in Continental money,--in a primitive, rural, thinly
+peopled section of Hanover County (near Richmond), Virginia; where his
+father, Rev. John Clay, a poor Baptist preacher, lived, and struggled,
+and finally died, leaving a widow and seven young children, with no
+reliance but the mother's energies and the benignant care of the widow's
+and orphan's God. This was in 1782, near the close of the Revolutionary
+War, when so much of the country as had not been ravaged by the enemy's
+forces, had been nearly exhausted by our own, and by the incessant
+exactions of a protracted, harassing, desolating, industry-paralyzing
+civil war. The fifth of these seven children was Henry, born on the 12th
+of April, 1777, who remained in that humble home until fourteen years of
+age, when his mother, who had married a second time, being about to
+remove to Kentucky, placed him in a store at Richmond, under the eye of
+his oldest brother, then nearly or quite of age, but who died very soon
+afterwards, leaving Henry an orphan indeed. He was thus thrown
+completely on his own exertions, when still but a child, and without
+having enjoyed any other educational advantages than such as were
+fitfully afforded by occasional private schools, in operation perhaps
+two or three months in a year, and kept by teachers somewhat ruder than
+the log tenement which circumscribed their labors. Such was all the
+"schooling" ever enjoyed by the ragged urchin, whose bright summer days
+were necessarily given to ploughing and hoeing in the corn-fields,
+barefoot, bareheaded, and clad in coarse trowsers and shirt, and whose
+daily tasks were diversified by frequent rides of two or three miles to
+the nearest grist-mill, on a sorry cob, bestrode with no other saddle
+than the grain-bag; whence many of his childhood's neighbors,
+contrasting, long afterward, the figure he cut in Congress, at Ghent, in
+Paris or London, with that which they had seen so often pass in scanty
+garb, but jocund spirits, on these family errands, recalled him to mind
+in his primitive occupation as _The Mill-Boy of the Slashes_, by which
+_sobriquet_ he was fondly hailed by thousands in the pride of his
+ripened renown.
+
+Forty-five years after his childish farewell to it, Henry Clay stood
+once more (in 1840), and for the last time, in the humble home of his
+fathers, and was rejoiced to find the house where he was born and
+reared, still essentially unchanged. Venerable grandames, who were
+blooming matrons in his infancy, had long since indicated to their sons
+and daughters the room wherein he was born; and the spring whence the
+family had drawn their supplies of water wore a familiar aspect, though
+the hickory which formerly shaded it, and was noted for the excellence
+of its nuts, had passed away. Over the graves of his father and
+grandparents the plough had passed and repassed for years, and he only
+fixed their position by the decaying stump of a pear-tree, which had
+flourished in his childhood, and often ministered to his gratification.
+Beyond these, nothing answered to the picture in his memory, and he
+would not have recognized the spot, had he awoke there unconscious of
+the preceding journey. Familiar groves and orchards had passed away,
+while pines which he left shrubs, just dotting with perennial green the
+surface of the exhausted "old fields," unhappily too common throughout
+the Southern States, had grown up into dense and towering forests, which
+waved him a stately adieu, as he turned back refreshed and calmed, to
+the heated and dusty highway of public life.
+
+The boy Henry, spent five years in Richmond,--only the first in the
+store where his mother had placed him; three of the others in the office
+of Mr. Clerk-in-Chancery Peter Tinsley; the last in that of
+Attorney-General Brooke. From Mr. Tinsley, he learned to write a
+remarkably plain, neat, and elegant hand,--more like a schoolmistress's
+best, than a great lawyer and politician, and this characteristic it
+retained to the last. From Mr. Tinsley, Mr. Brooke, and perhaps still
+more from the illustrious Chancellor Wythe, who employed him as his
+amanuensis, and repaid him with his friendship and counsel, young Clay
+derived his knowledge of the principles of Common Law, whereof he was,
+all his life, a devoted champion. At length, in November, 1797, when
+still lacking some months of his legal majority, he left Richmond and
+Virginia, for the location he had chosen--namely, the thriving village
+of Lexington, in the then rapidly growing Territory of Kentucky--the
+home of his eventful adult life of more than half a century. How he here
+was early recognized and honored as a Man of the People, and rapidly
+chosen (1803) member of the Legislature, once (1806) appointed to fill a
+vacancy in the United States Senate, and soon after (1809) elected out
+of, and by the legislature, to fill another and longer vacancy in that
+same dignified body; chosen in 1811 a Member of the more popular branch
+of Congress, and, immediately on his appearance on its floor, elected
+its Speaker--probably the highest compliment ever paid to a public man
+in this country--appointed thence (1814) a Plenipotentiary to G�ttingen
+(afterwards changed to Ghent), to negotiate a Treaty of Peace with Great
+Britain, which was signed near the close of that year; re-elected,
+immediately on his return, to a seat in the House, and to the
+Speakership, which he retained thenceforth (except during a temporary
+retirement from public life, rendered necessary by heavy pecuniary
+losses as an indorser), down to March 3d, 1825, when he finally retired
+from the House on being appointed Secretary of State by President John
+Q. Adams; quitting this station for private life on the Inauguration of
+President Jackson in 1829, returning to the Senate in 1831, and
+continuing one of its most eminent and influential members till 1842,
+when he retired, as he supposed for ever; but was returned, by an
+unanimous vote of the Legislature, in 1849, and dying a Senator in
+Washington on the 29th of June, 1852, aged more than seventy-five years,
+of which more than half had been spent in the public service, and nearly
+all, since his majority, in active, ardent, anxious familiarity with
+public men and public measures,--this is no place to set forth in
+detail. The merest glance is all we can give to the public, official
+career of Henry Clay.
+
+For our business is not here with Tariffs, Banks, Vetoes, and
+Presidential contests or aspirations. Our theme is the _man_ Henry
+Clay,--what he was intrinsically, and in his daily dealings with, and
+deportment toward, his fellow-beings. If there be a better mode of
+developing his character than Plutarch's, we have not now time to
+ascertain and employ it, so we must e'en be content with that.
+
+A tall, plain, poor, friendless youth, was young Henry, when he set up
+his Ebenezer in Lexington, and, after a few months' preliminary study,
+announced himself a candidate for practice as an attorney. He had not
+even the means of paying his weekly board. "I remember," he observed in
+his Lexington speech of 1842, "how comfortable I thought I should be, if
+I could make �100 Virginia money, per year; and with what delight I
+received my first fifteen shilling fee. My hopes were more than
+realized. I immediately rushed into a lucrative practice."
+
+Local tradition affirms that the Bar of Lexington, being unusually
+strong when Mr. Clay first appeared thereat, an understanding had grown
+up among the seniors, that they would systematically discountenance the
+advent of any new aspirants, so as to keep the business remunerating,
+and preserve each other from the peril of being starved out. It was some
+time, therefore, before young Clay obtained a case to manage in Court;
+and when he did appear there, the old heads greeted the outset of his
+argument with winks, and nods, and meaning smiles, and titters, intended
+to disconcert and embarrass him. So they did for a few minutes; but they
+soon exasperated and roused him. His eyes flashed, and sentence after
+sentence came pouring rapidly out, replete with the fire of eloquence
+and genius. At length, one of the old heads leaned across the table and
+whispered to another, "_I think we must let this young man pass._" Of
+course they must!--the case was as plain as the portliest of noses on
+the most rubicund of faces. Henry Clay passed, _nem. con._, and his
+position and success at that Bar were never more disputed nor doubted.
+
+General Cass, in his remarks in the Senate on the occasion of Mr. Clay's
+death, has the following interesting reminiscence:
+
+"It is almost half a century since he passed through Chilicothe, then
+the seat of government of Ohio, where I was a member of the Legislature,
+on his way to take his place in this very body, which is now listening
+to this reminiscence, and to a feeble tribute of regard from one who
+then saw him for the first time, but who can never forget the impression
+he produced by the charms of his conversation, the frankness of his
+manner, and the high qualities with which he was endowed."
+
+That an untaught, portionless rustic, reared not only in one of the
+rudest localities, but in the most troublous and critical era of our
+country, when the general poverty and insecurity rendered any attention
+to personal culture difficult, almost impossible, and graduating from a
+log school-house, should have been celebrated for the union in his
+manners, of grace with frankness, ease with fascination, is not unworthy
+of remark. Of the fact, those who never knew Mr. Clay personally, may
+have abundant attestations, which none others will need.
+
+While in Europe as a negotiator for Peace with Great Britain, Mr. Clay
+was brought into immediate and familiar contact, not only with his
+associates, the urbane and cultivated John Quincy Adams, whose life had
+been divided between seminaries and courts; the philosophic Gallatin and
+the chivalric Bayard, but also with the noble and aristocratic
+Commissioners of Great Britain, and with many others of like breeding
+and position, to whom the importance of their mission, its protracted
+labors and its successful result, commended our Plenipotentiaries. A
+single anecdote will illustrate the impression he every where produced.
+An octogenarian British Earl, who had retired from public life because
+of his years, but who still cherished a natural interest in public men
+and measures, being struck by the impression made in the aristocratic
+circles of London by the American Commissioners, then on their way home
+from Ghent, requested a friend to bring them to see him at his house, to
+which his growing infirmities confined him. The visit was promptly and
+cheerfully paid, and the obliging friend afterwards inquired of the old
+Lord as to the impression the Americans had made upon him. "Ah!" said
+the veteran, with the "light of other days" gleaming from his eyes, "I
+liked them all, but _I liked the Kentucky man best_." It was so every
+where.
+
+One specimen has been preserved of Mr. Clay's felicity of repartee and
+charm of conversation, as exhibited while in Paris, immediately after
+the conclusion of Peace at Ghent. He was there introduced to the famous
+Madame de Stael, who cordially addressed him with--"Ah, Mr. Clay! I have
+been in England, and have been battling your cause for you there." "I
+know it, madame; we heard of your powerful interposition, and are
+grateful and thankful for it." "They were much enraged against you,"
+said she: "so much so, that they at one time thought seriously of
+sending the Duke of Wellington to command their armies against you!" "I
+am very sorry, madame," replied Mr. Clay, "that they did not send his
+Grace." "Why?" asked she, surprised. "Because, madame, if he had beaten
+us, we should have been in the condition of Europe, without disgrace.
+But, if we had been so fortunate as to defeat him, we should have
+greatly added to the renown of our arms."
+
+At his next meeting with "Corinne," at her own house, Mr. Clay was
+introduced by her to the conqueror at Waterloo, when she related the
+above conversation. The Duke promptly responded that, had it been his
+fortune to serve against the Americans, and to triumph over them, he
+should indeed have regarded that triumph as the proudest of his
+achievements.
+
+Mr. Clay was in London when the tidings of Waterloo arrived, and set the
+British frantic with exultation. He was dining one day at Lord
+Castlereagh's, while Bonaparte's position was still uncertain, as he had
+disappeared from Paris, and fled none knew whither. The most probable
+conjecture was that he had embarked at some little port for the United
+States, and would probably make his way thither, as he was always lucky
+on water. "If he reaches your shores, Mr. Clay," gravely inquired Lord
+Liverpool (one of the Ministers), "will he not give you a great deal of
+trouble?" "Not the least," was the prompt reply of the Kentuckian; "we
+shall be very glad to receive him; to treat him with all hospitality,
+and very soon make him a good democrat." A general laugh here restored
+the hilarity of the party.
+
+The magnetism of Mr. Clay's manner and conversation have perhaps
+received no stronger testimony than that of Gen. Glascock, a political
+antagonist, who came into Congress from Georgia, during the fierce
+struggle which followed the removal of the Deposits. "Gen. Glascock,"
+said a mutual friend, at a party one evening, "shall I make you
+acquainted with Mr. Clay?" "No, Sir!" was the prompt and stern response;
+"I choose not to be fascinated and moulded by him, as friend and foe
+appear to be, and I shall therefore decline his acquaintance."
+
+Mr. Clay had a natural repugnance to caucuses, conventions, and the
+kindred contrivances whereby great men are elaborated out of very small
+materials, and was uniformly a candidate for Congress "on his own hook,"
+with no fence between him and his constituents. Only once in the course
+of his long Representative career was he obliged to canvass for his
+election, and he was never defeated, nor ever could be, before a public
+that he could personally meet and address. The one searching ordeal to
+which he was subjected, followed the passage of the "Compensation Act"
+of 1816, whereby Congress substituted for its own per diem a fixed
+salary of $1,500 to each Member. This act raised a storm throughout the
+country, which prostrated most of its supporters. The hostility excited
+was especially strong in the West, then very poor, especially in money:
+$1,500 then, being equal to $4000 at present. John Pope (afterward Gen.
+Jackson's Governor of Arkansas), one of the ablest men in Kentucky, a
+federalist of the old school, and a personal antagonist of Mr. Clay,
+took the stump as his competitor for the seat, and gave him enough to do
+through the canvass. They met in discussion at several local
+assemblages, and finally in a pitched battle at Higbie; a place central
+to the three counties composing the district, where the whole people
+collected to hear them. Pope had the district with him in his
+denunciation of the Compensation Bill, while Clay retorted with effect,
+by pressing home on his antagonist the embittered and not very
+consistent hostility of the latter to the war with Great Britain,
+recently concluded, which uniformly had been very popular in Kentucky.
+The result was decisive: Mr. Clay was re-elected by about six hundred
+majority.
+
+That excited canvass was fruitful of characteristic incidents like the
+following:
+
+While traversing the district, Mr. Clay encountered an old hunter, who
+had always before been his warm friend, but was now opposed to his
+re-election on account of the Compensation Bill. "Have you a good rifle,
+my friend?" asked Mr. Clay. "Yes." "Did it ever flash?" "Once only," he
+replied. "What did you do with it--throw it away?" "No, I picked the
+flint, tried it again, and brought down the game." "Have _I_ ever
+flashed but upon the Compensation Bill?" "No!" "Will you throw me away?"
+"No, no!" exclaimed the hunter with enthusiasm, nearly overpowered by
+his feelings; "I will pick the flint, and try you again!" He was
+afterward a warm supporter of Mr. Clay.
+
+An Irish barber in Lexington, Jerry Murphy by name, who had always
+before been a zealous admirer and active supporter of Mr. Clay, was
+observed during this canvass to maintain a studied silence. That silence
+was ominous, especially as he was known to be under personal obligation
+to Mr. Clay for legal assistance to rescue him from various difficulties
+in which his hasty temper had involved him. At length, an active and
+prominent partisan of the speaker called on the barber, with whom he had
+great influence, and pressed him to dispel the doubt that hung over his
+intentions by a frank declaration in favor of his old favorite. Looking
+his canvasser in the eye, with equal earnestness and shrewdness, Murphy
+responded; "I tell you what, docthur; I mane to vote for the man _that
+can put but one hand into the Treasury_." (Mr. Pope had lost one of his
+arms in early life, and the humor of Pat's allusion to this
+circumstance, in connection with Mr. Clay's support of the Compensation
+Bill, was inimitable.)
+
+Mr. Clay was confessedly the best presiding officer that any
+deliberative body in America has ever known, and none was ever more
+severely tried. The intensity and bitterness of party feeling during the
+earlier portion of his Speakership cannot now be realized except by the
+few who remember those days. It was common at that time in New England
+town-meetings, for the rival parties to take opposite sides of the broad
+aisle in the meeting-house, and thus remain, hardly speaking across the
+line separation, from morning till night. Hon. Josiah Quincy, the
+Representative of Boston, was distinguished in Congress for the ferocity
+of his assaults on the policy of Jefferson and Madison; and between him
+and Mr. Clay there were frequent and sharp encounters, barely kept
+within the limits prescribed by parliamentary decorum. At a later
+period, the eccentric and distinguished John Randolph, the master of
+satire and invective; and who, though not avowedly a Federalist, opposed
+nearly every act of the Democrat Administrations of 1801-16, and was the
+unfailing antagonist of every measure proposed or supported by Mr. Clay,
+was a thorn in the side of the Speaker for years. Many were the passages
+between them in which blows were given and taken, whereof the gloves of
+parliamentary etiquette could not break the force: the War, the Tariff,
+the early recognition of Greek and South American Independence, the
+Missouri Compromise, &c. &c., being strenuously advocated by Mr. Clay
+and opposed by Mr. Randolph. But of these this is no place to speak.
+Innumerable appeals from Mr. Clay's decisions, as Speaker, were made by
+the orator of Roanoke, but no one of them was ever sustained by the
+House. At length, after Mr. Clay had left Congress, and Mr. Randolph
+been transferred to the Senate, a bloodless duel between them grew out
+of the Virginian's unmeasured abuse of the Kentuckian's agency in
+electing J.Q. Adams to the Presidency; a duel which seems to have had
+the effect of softening, if not dissipating Randolph's rancor against
+Mr. Clay. Though evermore a political antagonist, his personal antipathy
+was no longer manifested; and one of the last visits of Randolph to the
+Capitol, when dying of consumption, was made for the avowed purpose of
+hearing in the Senate the well-known voice of the eloquent Sage of
+Ashland.
+
+On the floor of the House, Mr. Clay was often impetuous in discussion,
+and delighted to relieve the tedium of debate, and modify the sternness
+of antagonism by a sportive jest or lively repartee. On one occasion,
+Gen. Alexander Smythe of Virginia, who often afflicted the House by the
+verbosity of his harangues and the multiplicity of his dry citations,
+had paused in the middle of a speech which seemed likely to endure for
+ever, to send to the library for a book from which he wished to note a
+passage. Fixing his eye on Mr. Clay, who sat near him, he observed the
+Kentuckian writhing in his seat as if his patience had already been
+exhausted. "You, sir," remarked Smythe addressing the Speaker, "speak
+for the present generation; but I speak for posterity." "Yes," said Mr.
+Clay, "and you seem resolved to speak until the arrival of _your_
+auditory."
+
+Revolutionary pensions were a source of frequent passages between
+eastern and western members; the greater portion of those pensions being
+payable to eastern survivors of the struggle. On one occasion when a
+Pension Bill was under discussion, Hon. Enoch Lincoln (afterwards
+Governor of Maine) was dilating on the services and sufferings of these
+veterans, and closed with the patriotic adjuration, "Soldiers of the
+Revolution! live for ever!" Mr. Clay followed, counselling moderation in
+the grant of pensions, that the country might not be overloaded and
+rendered restive by their burden, and turning to Mr. Lincoln with a
+smile, observed--"I hope my worthy friend will not insist on the very
+great duration of these pensions which he has suggested. Will he not
+consent, by way of a compromise, to a term of nine hundred and
+ninety-nine years instead of eternity?"
+
+A few sentences culled from the remarks in Congress elicited by his
+death, will fitly close this hasty daguerreotype of the man Henry Clay.
+
+Mr. Underwood (his colleague) observed in Senate that "his physical and
+mental organization eminently qualified him to become a great and
+impressive orator. His person was tall, slender and commanding. His
+temperament, ardent, fearless, and full of hope. His countenance, clear,
+expressive, and variable--indicating the emotion which predominated at
+the moment with exact similitude. His voice, cultivated and modulated in
+harmony with the sentiment he desired to express, fell upon the ear with
+the melody of enrapturing music. His eye beaming with intelligence and
+flashing with coruscations of genius. His gestures and attitudes
+graceful and natural. These personal advantages won the prepossessions
+of an audience even before his intellectual powers began to move his
+hearers; and when his strong common sense, his profound reasoning, his
+clear conceptions of his subject in all its bearings, and his striking
+and beautiful illustrations, united with such personal qualities, were
+brought to the discussion of any question, his audience was enraptured,
+convinced and led by the orator as if enchanted by the lyre of Orpheus.
+
+"No man was ever blessed by his Creator with faculties of a higher order
+than Mr. Clay. In the quickness of his perceptions, and the rapidity
+with which his conclusions were formed, he had few equals and no
+superiors. He was eminently endowed with a nice discriminating taste for
+order, symmetry, and beauty. He detected in a moment every thing out of
+place or deficient in his room, upon his farm, in his own or the dress
+of others. He was a skilful judge of the form and qualities of his
+domestic animals, which he delighted to raise on his farm. I could give
+you instances of the quickness and minuteness of his keen faculty of
+observation, which never overlooked any thing. A want of neatness and
+order was offensive to him. He was particular and neat in his
+handwriting and his apparel. A slovenly blot or negligence of any sort
+met his condemnation; while he was so organized that he attended to, and
+arranged little things to please and gratify his natural love for
+neatness, order, and beauty, his great intellectual faculties grasped
+all the subjects of jurisprudence and politics with a facility amounting
+almost to intuition. As a lawyer, he stood at the head of his
+profession. As a statesman, his stand at the head of the Republican Whig
+party for nearly half a century, establishes his title to pre-eminence
+among his illustrious associates.
+
+"Mr. Clay was deeply versed in all the springs of human action. He had
+read and studied biography and history. Shortly after I left college, I
+had occasion to call on him in Frankfort, where he was attending court,
+and well I remember to have found him with Plutarch's Lives in his
+hands. No one better than he knew how to avail himself of human motives,
+and all the circumstances which surrounded a subject, or could present
+themselves with more force and skill to accomplish the object of an
+argument.
+
+"Bold and determined as Mr. Clay was in all his actions, he was,
+nevertheless, conciliating. He did not obstinately adhere to things
+impracticable. If he could not accomplish the best, he contented himself
+with the nighest approach to it. He has been the great compromiser of
+those political agitations and opposing opinions which have, in the
+belief of thousands, at different times, endangered the perpetuity of
+our Federal Government and Union.
+
+"Mr. Clay was no less remarkable for his admirable social qualities,
+than for his intellectual abilities. As a companion, he was the delight
+of his friends; and no man ever had better or truer. No guest ever
+thence departed, without feeling happier for his visit."
+
+Mr. Hunter of Virginia (a political antagonist) following, observed: "It
+may be truly said of Mr. Clay, that he was no exaggerator. He looked at
+events through neither end of the telescope, but surveyed them with the
+natural and the naked eye. He had the capacity of seeing things as the
+people saw them, and of feeling things as the people felt them. He had,
+sir, beyond any other man whom I have ever seen, the true mesmeric touch
+of the orator,--the rare art of transferring his impulses to others.
+Thoughts, feelings, emotions, came from the ready mould of his genius,
+radiant and glowing, and communicated their own warmth to every heart
+which received them. His, too, was the power of wielding the higher and
+intenser forms of passion, with a majesty and an ease, which none but
+the great masters of the human heart can ever employ."
+
+Mr. Seward of New-York, said: "He was indeed eloquent--all the world
+knows that. He held the key to the hearts of his countrymen, and he
+turned the wards within them with a skill attained by no other master.
+
+"But eloquence was nevertheless only an instrument, and one of many,
+that he used. His conversation, his gestures, his very look, were
+magisterial, persuasive, seductive, irresistible. And his appliance of
+all these was courteous, patient, and indefatigable. Defeat only
+inspired him with new resolution. He divided opposition by the assiduity
+of address, while he rallied and strengthened his own bands of
+supporters by the confidence of success, which, feeling himself, he
+easily inspired among his followers. His affections were high, and pure,
+and generous; and the chiefest among them was that one which the great
+Italian poet designated as the charity of native land. In him, that
+charity was an enduring and overpowering enthusiasm, and it influenced
+all his sentiments and conduct, rendering him more impartial between
+conflicting interests and sections, than any other statesman who has
+lived since the Revolution. Thus, with great versatility of talent, and
+the most catholic equality of favor, he identified every question,
+whether of domestic administration or foreign policy, with his own great
+name, and so became a perpetual Tribune of the People. He needed only to
+pronounce in favor of a measure or against it, here, and immediately
+popular enthusiasm, excited as by a magic wand, was felt, overcoming and
+dissolving all opposition in the Senate Chamber."
+
+In the House, about the same time, Mr. Breckenridge of Kentucky
+(democrat), spoke as follows:
+
+"The life of Mr. Clay, sir, is a striking example of the abiding fame
+which surely awaits the direct and candid statesman. The entire absence
+of equivocation or disguise in all his acts, was his master-key to the
+popular heart; for while the people will forgive the errors of a bold
+and open nature, he sins past forgiveness who deliberately deceives
+them. Hence Mr. Clay, though often defeated in his measures of policy,
+always secured the respect of his opponents without losing the
+confidence of his friends. He never paltered in a double sense. The
+country never was in doubt as to his opinions or his purposes. In all
+the contests of his time, his position on great public questions was as
+clear as the sun in the cloudless sky. Sir, standing by the grave of
+this great man, and considering these things, how contemptible does
+appear the mere legerdemain of politics! What a reproach is his life on
+that false policy which would trifle with a great and upright people! If
+I were to write his epitaph, I would inscribe as the highest eulogy, on
+the stone which shall mark his resting-place, 'Here lies a man who was
+in the public service for fifty years, and never attempted to deceive
+his countrymen.'"
+
+Let me close this too hasty and superficial sketch, with a brief
+citation from Rev. C.M. Butler, Chaplain of the Senate, who, in his
+funeral discourse in the Senate Chamber, said:
+
+"A great mind, a great heart, a great orator, a great career, have been
+consigned to history. She will record his rare gifts of deep insight,
+keen discrimination, clear statement, rapid combination, plain, direct,
+and convincing logic. She will love to dwell on that large, generous,
+magnanimous, open, forgiving heart. She will linger with fond delight on
+the recorded or traditional stories of an eloquence that was so
+masterful and stirring, because it was but himself struggling to come
+forth on the living words--because, though the words were brave and
+strong, and beautiful and melodious, it was felt that, behind them,
+there was a soul braver, stronger, more beautiful, and more melodious,
+than language could express."
+
+Such was the master of Ashland, the man Henry Clay!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+After this article was in type, we received from a Western paper the
+following notice of the sale of the Ashland estate.
+
+"We are glad to learn that Ashland, the home of Henry Clay, which was
+sold September 20th, at public auction, was purchased by James B. Clay,
+eldest son of the deceased statesman. The Ashland homestead contained
+about 337 acres. It lies just without the limits of the city of
+Lexington. The country immediately surrounding it, is justly regarded as
+the garden spot of the West, and Ashland, above all others, as the most
+beautiful place in the world. The associations about it are of the most
+interesting character. When Kentucky was, in fact, the 'dark and bloody
+ground,' the country around Lexington was the only oasis--every where
+else, the tomahawk and the rifle were more potent than laws. How many
+incidents of these terrible days are garnered in the minds of the
+descendants of the old families of Kentucky! In those thrilling days,
+Ashland belonged to Daniel Boone, whose name is connected with many of
+the daring tragedies enacted in the then Far West. It passed from his
+hands into those of Nathaniel Hart, who fell, gloriously fighting, in
+the battle at the River Raisin, where so many Kentuckians offered up
+their lives in defence of their country. Henry Clay married Lucretia
+Hart, to whom the demesne of Ashland descended.
+
+"There is so much of the Arab in the habits of the Americans,--there is
+so much migratoriness, and so little love for old homesteads,--we were
+afraid the children of Henry Clay would allow classic Ashland to pass
+into other and alien hands. But our fears are to gladness changed; and
+Ashland is still the dwelling-place of the Clays.
+
+"Mr. Clay was thoroughly versed in agricultural matters, and was never
+better contented (as the editor of the Ohio Journal truly remarks), than
+when surrounded by his neighbors, many of whom knew and loved him when
+he was quite young and obscure, and afterwards rejoiced at his fame, and
+followed his fortunes through every phase of a long and eventful career.
+The residence does not present any imposing appearance, but is of a
+plain, neat, and rather antique architectural character, and the grounds
+immediately surrounding it are beautifully adorned, and traversed by
+walks; not in accordance with the foolish and fastidious taste of the
+present day, for this, in every thing connected with the place has been
+neglected, and the only end seems to have been to represent Nature in
+its proudest and most imposing grandeur. Many of the walks are retired,
+and are of a serpentine character, with here and there, in some secluded
+spot along their windings, a rude and unpolished bench upon which to
+recline. The trees are mostly pines of a large growth, and stand close
+together, casting a deep and sombre shade on every surrounding object.
+The reflections of one on visiting Ashland are of the most interesting
+character. Every object seems invested with an interest, and although
+the spirit with whose memory they are associated, has fled, one cannot
+repel the conviction, that while reposing under its silent and
+sequestered shades, he is still surrounded by something sublime and
+great. Old memories of the past come back upon him, and a thousand
+scenes connected with the life and history of Henry Clay, will force
+themselves upon you. The great monarchs of the forest that now stretch
+their limbs aloft in proud and peerless majesty, have all, or nearly all
+been planted by his hand, and are now not unfit emblems of the towering
+greatness of him who planted them.
+
+"The walks, the flowers, the garden and the groves, all, all are
+consecrated, and have all been witnesses of his presence and his care.
+In the groves through which you wander, were nursed the mighty schemes
+of Statesmanship, which have astonished the world and terrified the
+tyrant, beat back the evil counsels for his country's ruin, and bound
+and fettered his countrymen in one common and indissoluble bond of
+UNION."
+
+[Illustration: Clay's Birth-place]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[19] See vignette title-page to this volume.
+
+
+
+
+=Calhoun.=
+
+[Illustration: Calhoun fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+CALHOUN.
+
+
+In writing the lives of our American Statesmen, we might say of almost
+any of them, "that he was born in such a year, that he was sent to the
+common school or to college, that he studied law, that he was chosen,
+first a member of the State Legislature, and then of the National
+Congress, that he became successively, a Senator, a foreign Ambassador,
+a Secretary of State, or a President, and that finally he retired to his
+paternal acres, to pass a venerable old age, amid the general respect
+and admiration of the whole country." This would be a true outline in
+the main, of the practical workings and doings of nine out of ten of
+them: but in filling in the details of the sketch, in clothing the dry
+skeleton of facts with the flesh and blood of the living reality, it
+would be found that this apparent similarity of development had given
+rise to the utmost diversity and individuality of character, and that
+scarcely any two of our distinguished men, though born and bred under
+the same influence, bore even a family resemblance. It is said by the
+foreign writers, by De Tocqueville especially, that very little
+originality and independence of mind can be expected in a democracy,
+where the force of the majority crushes all opinions and characters into
+a dead and leaden uniformity. But the study of our actual history rather
+tends to the opposite conclusion, and leads us to believe that the land
+of Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, the Adamses, Clay,
+Webster and Calhoun, is favorable to the production of distinct,
+peculiar, and decided natures. At least we may be sure, that our annals
+are no more wanting than those of other nations, in original,
+self-formed, and self-dependent men.
+
+Among these, there was no one more peculiar or more unlike any
+prototype, than John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina. In the structure of
+his mind, in the singular tenacity of his purposes, in the rare dignity
+and elevation of his character, and in the remarkable political system
+to which he adhered, he was wholly _sui generis_, standing out from the
+number of his forerunners and contemporaries in bold, positive and
+angular relief. He could only have been what he was, in the country, and
+during the times, in which he flourished: he was a natural growth of our
+American society and institutions: had formed himself by no models
+ancient or modern; and the great leading principles of his thought
+faithfully rendered in all his conduct, were as much an individual
+possession as the figure of his body or the features of his face. In
+seeing him, in hearing him speak, or in reading his books, no one was
+ever likely to confound him with any second person.
+
+Mr. Calhoun was born in the Abbeville District of South Carolina, on
+the 18th of March, 1782. His parents on both sides were of Irish
+extraction, who had first settled in Pennsylvania, and then in Virginia,
+whence they were driven by the Indians, at the time of Braddock's defeat,
+to South Carolina. The father appears to have been a man of the most
+resolute and energetic character, equally ready to defend his home
+against the incursions of the savages, and his rights as a citizen
+against legislative encroachments. On one occasion, he and his neighbors
+went down to within thirty miles of Charleston, armed, to assert a right
+of suffrage which was then disputed; and he always steadily opposed the
+Federal Constitution, because it allowed other people than those of South
+Carolina to tax the people of South Carolina. "We have heard his son
+say," writes a friend of the latter, "that among his earliest
+recollections was one of a conversation when he was nine years of age,
+in which his father maintained that government to be best, which allowed
+the largest amount of individual liberty compatible with social order
+and tranquillity, and insisted that the improvements in political
+science would be found to consist in throwing off many of the restraints
+then imposed by law, and deemed necessary to an organized society. It
+may well be supposed that his son John was an attentive and eager
+auditor, and such lessons as these must doubtless have served to
+encourage that free spirit of inquiry, and that intrepid zeal for truth,
+for which he has been since so distinguished. The mode of thinking which
+was thus encouraged may, perhaps, have compensated in some degree the
+want of those early advantages which are generally deemed indispensable
+to great intellectual progress. Of these he had comparatively few. But
+this was compensated by those natural gifts which give great minds the
+mastery over difficulties which the timid regard as insuperable. Indeed,
+we have here another of those rare instances in which the hardiness of
+natural genius is seen to defy all obstacles, and developes its flower
+and matures its fruit under circumstances apparently the most
+unpropitious.
+
+"The region of the country in which his family resided was then newly
+settled, and in a rude frontier State. There was not an academy in all
+the upper part of the State, and none within fifty miles, except one at
+about that distance in Columbia county, Georgia, which was kept by his
+brother-in-law, Mr. Waddell, a Presbyterian clergyman. There were but a
+few scattered schools in the whole of that region, and these were such
+as are usually found on the frontier, in which reading, writing and
+arithmetic were imperfectly taught. At the age of thirteen he was placed
+under the charge of his brother-in-law to receive his education. Shortly
+after, his father died; this was followed by the death of his sister,
+Mrs. Waddell, within a few weeks, and the academy was then discontinued,
+which suspended his education before it had fairly commenced. His
+brother-in-law, with whom he was still left, was absent the greater part
+of the time, attending to his clerical duties, and his pupil thus found
+himself on a secluded plantation, without any white companion during the
+greater portion of the time. A situation apparently so unfavorable to
+improvement turned out, in his case, to be the reverse. Fortunately for
+him, there was a small circulating library in the house, of which his
+brother-in-law was librarian, and, in the absence of all company and
+amusements, that attracted his attention. His taste, although
+undirected, led him to history, to the neglect of novels and other
+lighter reading; and so deeply was he interested, that in a short time
+he read the whole of the small stock of historical works, contained in
+the library, consisting of Rollin's Ancient History, Robertson's Charles
+V., his South America, and Voltaire's Charles XII. After dispatching
+these, he turned with like eagerness to Cook's Voyages (the large
+edition), a small volume of essays by Brown, and Locke on the
+Understanding, which he read as far as the chapter on Infinity. All this
+was the work of but fourteen weeks. So intense was his application that
+his eyes became seriously affected, his countenance pallid, and his
+frame emaciated. His mother, alarmed at the intelligence of his health,
+sent for him home, where exercise and amusement soon restored his
+strength, and he acquired a fondness for hunting, fishing, and other
+country sports. Four years passed away in these pursuits, and in
+attention to the business of the farm while his elder brothers were
+absent, to the entire neglect of his education. But the time was not
+lost. Exercise and rural sports invigorated his frame, while his labors
+on the farm gave him a taste for agriculture, which he always retained,
+and in the pursuit of which he finds delightful occupation for his
+intervals of leisure from public duties."
+
+It is not our purpose, however, to enter into any detail of the life of
+Mr Calhoun. Suffice it to say that he was educated, under Dr. Dwight, at
+Yale College, that he studied law at Litchfield in Connecticut, that he
+was for two sessions a member of the Legislature, that from 1811 to 1817
+during the war with Great Britain, and the most trying times that
+followed it, he was a member of the lower House of Congress. That he was
+then appointed Secretary of War, under Madison, when he gave a new,
+thorough, and complete organization to his department. That he was
+chosen Vice-President in 1825, and subsequently served his country as
+Senator of the United States, and Secretary of State, until the year
+1850, when he died. During the whole of this long period his exertions
+were constant, and he took a leading part in all the movements of
+parties. Acting for the most of the time with the Democratic party, he
+was still never the slave of party, never guilty of the low arts or
+petty cunning of the mere politician, always fearless in the discharge
+of his duties, and though ambitious, ever sacrificing his ambition to
+his clearly discerned and openly expressed principles. Mr. Webster, who,
+during nearly the whole of his legislative career, and on nearly all
+questions of public concern, had been an active opponent, in an obituary
+address to the Senate, bore this testimony to his genius and his
+greatness.
+
+"Differing widely on many great questions respecting our institutions
+and the government of the country, those differences never interrupted
+our personal and social intercourse. I have been present at most of the
+distinguished instances of the exhibition of his talents in debate. I
+have always heard him with pleasure, often with much instruction, not
+unfrequently with the highest degree of admiration.
+
+"Mr. Calhoun was calculated to be a leader in whatsoever association of
+political friends he was thrown. He was a man of undoubted genius and of
+commanding talents. All the country and all the world admit that. His
+mind was both perceptive and vigorous. It was clear, quick, and strong.
+
+"Sir, the eloquence of Mr. Calhoun, or the manner in which he exhibited
+his sentiments in public bodies, was part of his intellectual character.
+It grew out of the qualities of his mind. It was plain, strong, terse,
+condensed, concise: sometimes impassioned, still always severe.
+Rejecting ornament, not often seeking far for illustration, his power
+consisted in the plainness of his propositions, in the closeness of his
+logic, and in the earnestness and energy of his manner. These are the
+qualities, as I think, which have enabled him through such a long course
+of years to speak often, and yet command attention. His demeanor as a
+Senator is known to us all, is appreciated, venerated, by us all. No man
+was more respectful to others; no man carried himself with greater
+decorum, no man with superior dignity. I think there is not one of us,
+when he last addressed us from his seat in the Senate, his form still
+erect, with a voice by no means indicating such a degree of physical
+weakness as did in fact possess him, with clear tones, and an
+impressive, and, I may say, an imposing manner, who did not feel that he
+might imagine that we saw before us a Senator of Rome, while Rome
+survived.
+
+"Sir, I have not, in public, nor in private life, known a more assiduous
+person in the discharge of his appropriate duties. I have known no man
+who wasted less of life in what is called recreation, or employed less
+of it in any pursuits not connected with the immediate discharge of his
+duty. He seemed to have no recreation but the pleasure of conversation
+with his friends. Out of the chambers of Congress, he was either
+devoting himself to the acquisition of knowledge pertaining to the
+immediate subject of the duty before him, or else he was indulging in
+those social interviews in which he so much delighted.
+
+"My honorable friend from Kentucky[20] has spoken in just terms of his
+colloquial talents. They certainly were singular and eminent. There was
+a charm in his conversation not often equalled. He delighted especially
+in conversation and intercourse with young men. I suppose that there has
+been no man among us who had more winning manners, in such an
+intercourse and such conversation, with men comparatively young, than
+Mr. Calhoun. I believe one great power of his character, in general, was
+his conversational talent. I believe it is that, as well as a
+consciousness of his high integrity, and the greatest reverence for his
+talents and ability, that has made him so endeared an object to the
+people of the State to which he belonged.
+
+"Mr. President, he had the basis, the indispensable basis of all high
+character; and that was, unspotted integrity and unimpeached honor.
+If he had aspirations, they were high, and honorable, and noble. There
+was nothing grovelling, or low, or meanly selfish, that came near the
+head or the heart of Mr. Calhoun. Firm in his purpose, perfectly
+patriotic and honest, as I am sure he was, in the principles that he
+espoused, and in the measures which he defended, aside from that large
+regard for the species of distinction that conducted him to eminent
+stations for the benefit of the republic, I do not believe he had a
+selfish motive or selfish feeling. However he may have differed from
+others of us in his political opinions or his political principles,
+those principles and those opinions will now descend to posterity under
+the sanction of a great name. He has lived long enough, he has done
+enough, and he has done it so well, so successfully, so honorably, as to
+connect himself for all time with the records of his country. He is now
+an historical character. Those of us who have known him here, will find
+that he has left upon our minds and our hearts a strong and lasting
+impression of his person, his character, and his public performances,
+which, while we live, will never be obliterated. We shall hereafter, I
+am sure, indulge in it as a grateful recollection, that we have lived in
+his age, that we have been his contemporaries, that we have seen him,
+and heard him, and known him. We shall delight to speak of him to those
+who are rising up to fill our places. And, when the time shall come that
+we ourselves must go, one after another, to our graves, we shall carry
+with us a deep sense of his genius and character, his honor and
+integrity, his amiable deportment in private life, and the purity of his
+exalted patriotism."
+
+The event in Mr. Calhoun's political life which will give him the
+greatest distinction in our history, was the bold and perilous course he
+took on the subject of nullification. It brought him and his native
+State directly in conflict with the powers of the Federal government,
+and but for the compromise of the Tariff question, out of which the
+controversy grew, would have ended in civil war. We shall not undertake
+to narrate the origin or the purpose of this most fearful crisis,
+referring our readers to the regular memoirs of Mr. Calhoun for the
+details, but we cannot refrain from expressing our high admiration of
+the gallant bearing of the great South Carolinian during the whole of
+the protracted and embarrassing dispute. The energy with which he
+pursued his ends, the originality with which he defended them, the
+boldness of his position, the devotion to his friends, the formidable
+objects that he had to encounter, the calm, earnest self-reliance with
+which he encountered them, and, in the end, the graceful concessions on
+both sides, by which the difficulties of the juncture were avoided, are
+brilliant illustrations both of the lofty energies of his spirit, and of
+the happy, peaceful working of our national institutions. In any other
+country, and under any other government, if it had been possible for
+such a conflict to arise, it could only have terminated in bloodshed or
+war. Either the reigning authority would have been overturned, or the
+chief agent in the insurrection would have been executed as a traitor.
+Under the benign and conciliatory genius of our constitution, by that
+pacific legislation, which knows how to temper the rigid and inflexible
+exercise of law by the spirit of concession, the struggle ended in
+compromise.
+
+It was in his domestic life that Mr. Calhoun won the warmest homage of
+the heart. Miss Bates, who was for many years a governess in his family,
+and who enjoyed the finest opportunities for observing him, has given us
+the following record of his private virtues and peculiarities.
+
+"In Mr. Calhoun were united the simple habits of the Spartan lawgiver,
+the inflexible principles of the Roman senator, the courteous bearing
+and indulgent kindness of the American host, husband, and father. This
+was indeed a rare union. Life with him was solemn and earnest, and yet
+all about him was cheerful. I never heard him utter a jest; there was an
+unvarying dignity and gravity in his manner; and yet the playful child
+regarded him fearlessly and lovingly. Few men indulge their families in
+as free, confidential, and familiar intercourse as did this great
+statesman. Indeed, to those who had an opportunity of observing him in
+his own house, it was evident that his cheerful and happy home had
+attractions for him superior to those which any other place could offer.
+Here was a retreat from the cares, the observation, and the homage of
+the world. In few homes could the transient visitor feel more at ease
+than did the guest at Fort Hill. Those who knew Mr. Calhoun only by his
+senatorial speeches, may suppose that his heart and mind were all
+engrossed in the nation's councils; but there were moments when his
+courtesy, his minute kindnesses, made you forget the statesman. The
+choicest fruits were selected for his guest; and I remember seeing him
+at his daughter's wedding take the ornaments from a cake and send them
+to a little child. Many such graceful attentions, offered in an
+unostentatious manner to all about him, illustrated the kindness and
+noble simplicity of his nature. His family could not but exult in his
+intellectual greatness, his rare endowments, and his lofty career, yet
+they seemed to lose sight of all these in their love for him. I had once
+the pleasure of travelling with his eldest son, who related to me many
+interesting facts and traits of his life. He said he had never heard him
+speak impatiently to any member of his family. He mentioned, that as he
+was leaving that morning for his home in Alabama, a younger brother
+said, 'Come soon again, and see us, brother A--, for do you not see that
+father is growing old? and is not father the dearest, best old man in
+the world!'
+
+"Like Cincinnatus, he enjoyed rural life and occupation. It was his
+habit, when at home, to go over his grounds every day. I remember his
+returning one morning from a walk about his plantation, delighted with
+the fine specimens of corn and rice which he brought in for us to
+admire. That morning--the trifling incident shows his consideration and
+kindness of feeling, as well as his tact and power of adaptation--seeing
+an article of needlework in the hands of sister A--, who was then a
+stranger there, he examined it, spoke of the beauty of the coloring, the
+variety of the shade, and by thus showing an interest in her, at once
+made her at ease in his presence.
+
+"His eldest daughter always accompanied him to Washington, and in the
+absence of his wife, who was often detained by family cares at Fort
+Hill, this daughter was his solace amid arduous duties, and his
+confidant in perplexing cases. Like the gifted De Sta�l, she loved her
+father with enthusiastic devotion. Richly endowed by nature, improved by
+constant companionship with the great man, her mind was in harmony with
+his, and he took pleasure in counselling with her. She said, 'Of course,
+I do not understand as he does, for I am comparatively a stranger to the
+world, yet he likes my unsophisticated opinion, and I frankly tell him
+my views on any subject about which he inquires of me.'
+
+"Between himself and his younger daughter there was a peculiar and most
+tender union. As by the state of her health she was deprived of many
+enjoyments, her indulgent parents endeavored to compensate for every
+loss by their affection and devotion. As reading was her favorite
+occupation, she was allowed to go to the letter-bag when it came from
+the office, and select the papers she preferred. On one occasion, she
+had taken two papers, containing news of importance which her father was
+anxious to see, but he would allow no one to disturb her until she had
+finished their perusal.
+
+"In his social as well as in his domestic relations he was
+irreproachable. No shadow rested on his pure fame, no blot on his
+escutcheon. In his business transactions he was punctual and
+scrupulously exact. He was honorable as well as honest. Young men who
+were reared in his vicinity, with their eyes ever on him, say that in
+all respects, in small as well as in great things, his conduct was so
+exemplary that he might well be esteemed a model.
+
+"His profound love for his own family, his cordial interest in his
+friends, his kindness and justice in every transaction, were not small
+virtues in such a personage.
+
+"He was anti-Byronic. I never heard him ridicule or satirize a human
+being. Indeed he might have been thought deficient in a sense of the
+ludicrous, had he not by the unvarying propriety of his own conduct
+proved his exquisite perception of its opposites. When he differed in
+opinion from those with whom he conversed, he seemed to endeavor by a
+respectful manner, to compensate for the disagreement. He employed
+reason, rather than contradiction; and so earnestly would he urge an
+opinion and so fully present an argument, that his opponent could not
+avoid feeling complimented rather than mortified. He paid a tribute to
+the understandings of others by the force of his own reasoning, and by
+his readiness to admit every argument which he could, although advanced
+in opposition to one he himself had just expressed.
+
+"On one occasion I declined taking a glass of wine at his table. He
+kindly said, 'I think you carry that a little too far. It is well to
+give up every thing intoxicating, but not these light wines.' I replied,
+that wine was renounced by many for the sake of consistency, and for the
+benefit of those who could not afford wine. He acknowledged the
+correctness of the principle, adding, 'I do not know how temperance
+societies can take any other ground,' and then defined his views of
+temperance, entered on a course of interesting arguments, and stated
+facts and statistics. Of course, were all men like Mr. Calhoun
+temperance societies would be superfluous. Perhaps he could not be aware
+of the temptations that assail many men--he was so purely intellectual,
+so free from self-indulgence. Materiality with him was held subject to
+his higher nature. He did not even indulge himself in a cigar. Few spent
+as little time, and exhausted as little energy in mere amusements.
+Domestic and social enjoyments were his pleasures--kind and benevolent
+acts were his recreations.
+
+"He always seemed willing to converse on any subject which was
+interesting to those about him. Returning one day from Fort Hill, I
+remarked to a friend, 'I have never been more convinced of Mr. Calhoun's
+genius than to-day, while he talked to us of a flower.' His versatile
+conversation evinced his universal knowledge, his quick perception, and
+his faculty of adaptation. A shower one day compelled him to take
+shelter in the shed of a blacksmith, who was charmed by his familiar
+conversation, and the knowledge he exhibited of the mechanic arts. A
+naval officer was once asked, after a visit to Fort Hill, how he liked
+Mr. Calhoun. 'Not at all,' said he--'I never like a man who knows more
+about my profession than I do myself.' A clergyman wished to converse
+with him on subjects of a religious nature, and after the interview
+remarked, that he was astonished to find him better informed than
+himself on those very points wherein he had expected to give him
+information. I had understood that Mr. Calhoun avoided an expression of
+opinion with regard to different sects and creeds, or what is called
+religious controversy; and once, when urged to give his views in
+relation to a disputed point, he replied, 'That is a subject to which I
+have never given my attention.'
+
+"Mr. Calhoun was unostentatious, and ever averse to display. He did not
+appear to talk for the sake of exhibition, but from the overflowing of
+his earnest nature. Whether in the Senate or in conversation with a
+single listener, his language was choice, his style fervid, his manner
+impressive. Never can I forget his gentle earnestness when endeavoring
+to express his views on some controverted subject, and observing that my
+mind could hardly keep pace with his rapid reasoning, he would
+occasionally pause and say, in his kind manner, 'Do you see?'
+
+"He did not seek to know the opinion of others with regard to himself.
+Anonymous letters he never read, and his daughters and nieces often
+snatched from the flames letters of adulation as well as censure, which
+he had not read. Although he respected the opinions of his fellow-men,
+he did not seek office or worldly honor. A few years since, one to whom
+he ever spoke freely, remarked to him that some believed he was making
+efforts to obtain the presidency. At that moment he had taken off his
+glasses, and was wiping them, and thus he replied: 'M----, I think when
+a man is too old to see clearly through his glasses, he is too old to
+think of the presidency.' And recently he said to her, 'They may impute
+what motives they please to me, but I do not seek office.' So much did
+he respect his country, that he might have been gratified by the free
+gift of the people; so much did he love his country, that he might have
+rejoiced at an opportunity to serve it; but would he have swerved one
+iota from his convictions to secure a kingdom? Who, that knew him,
+believes it?"
+
+Mr. Calhoun was an author as well as a statesman, and in the
+dissertations on the constitution and on government published since his
+death, has bequeathed us the ripened fruits of his life-long study.
+They are works of the rarest penetration and sagacity, of subtle logic,
+of earnest conviction, of profound observation of men and things, and of
+unquestionable genius. The particular conclusions at which the writer
+arrives, as to the nature and limits of government, and as to the
+amendments that ought to be made in the constitution of the United
+States, will not be adopted by large classes of readers; but none of
+them will arise from a perusal of his pages, without an additional
+admiration of the keenness and force of his intellect, the ardor of his
+patriotism, and the purity of his character.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[20] Mr. Clay.
+
+
+
+
+=Clinton.=
+
+[Illustration: Clinton fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Clinton's Residence, Maspeth, L.I.]
+
+CLINTON.
+
+
+The Academy of Sciences at Dijon recently asked of their municipality,
+that all houses in the commune which deserved to be historical, might be
+marked by commemorative inscriptions. The Council, we are told, readily
+acceded to the request, and among the birth-places and residences thus
+designated are those of Buffon, Crebillon, Guyton De Morveau, and the
+Marshal Tavennes.
+
+We in this country, whether fortunately or unfortunately, live in too
+progressive an age to allow us to ask for similar remembrances. Unless a
+statesman happens to be reared in a rural district, the house of his
+birth seldom survives his youth, possibly his manhood. New structures
+arise, and the succeeding generation know little or nothing of what
+preceded.
+
+In the instance of DEWITT CLINTON, the difficulty is increased by the
+diversity of statements that are made relative to his birth-place. He
+was the son of James Clinton, a gallant soldier in both of the now
+classic wars of this country. Commissioned as an ensign in the war of
+1756, Mr. Clinton served during most of its campaigns. The Continental
+Congress, in 1775, appointed him colonel of one of the New-York
+regiments; and after particularly distinguishing himself at Fort
+Montgomery and Yorktown, he retired from the army of the Revolution with
+the rank of major-general.
+
+It was after the close of the French War that Mr. Clinton was married to
+Mary DeWitt. She is represented as having been beautiful in her
+youth--an only sister, with nine brothers. To them four sons were born,
+of whom DeWitt was the second. The date of his birth is well
+settled--being the year 1769;--not so the place. Many of his biographers
+unite in stating that this was Little Britain, in Orange County, where
+his father resided. Some assert that he was born at New Windsor, in the
+same county, in a house still standing, and which can be seen from the
+river; while others relate the tradition that his parents were on a
+visit to the fort at Minisink, then under the command of Colonel DeWitt,
+a brother of Mrs. Clinton; that a severe and long-continued snow-storm
+occurred, and that the mother was there confined.
+
+On his education it is scarcely necessary to dwell, farther than to
+trace its influence on his subsequent career. His parents bestowed on
+him that inestimable gift--the best education that the State could
+afford--first at Kingston Academy, and subsequently at Columbia College.
+The professors' chairs were filled by eminent men, who appear to have
+appreciated the talents of their pupil. He was the first graduate after
+the Revolution.
+
+At the age of seventeen he commenced the study of the law with the elder
+Samuel Jones, whose eminence as an advocate, and honesty as a high state
+officer, still linger amongst our earliest reminiscences.
+
+Thus prepared, as well by preliminary instruction as by earnest
+self-improvement, he was about entering on the profession of the law,
+with elders and contemporaries equal to any bar in the Union, when his
+destiny was at once and permanently changed. He was the nephew of George
+Clinton, the governor of the young State of New-York; distinguished by
+his civil and military talents; admirably qualified to guide the rising
+republic through its forming stages, although possibly too tenacious of
+his peculiar opinions, and, unfortunately, too long opposed to the
+adoption of the Constitution.
+
+The parties that from time to time controlled the destinies of the
+country were now in active collision. In the State of New-York, Jay and
+Hamilton were the leaders and guides of the Federalists, and Governor
+Clinton needed all the intellectual aid that could be brought to bear on
+the contest. He selected his nephew as his private secretary, and the
+sagacity, at least, of the choice has never been disputed. Several
+papers on subjects of public and permanent interest, known to have
+emanated from the pen of DeWitt Clinton, are still preserved.
+
+We are told that he remained in this station until 1795--the close of the
+long administration (continued by re-elections) of his uncle.
+
+In 1797, he was elected a member of the Assembly from the city of
+New-York, and the next year, of the Senate. The tenure of the first of
+these was annual, and of the last for four years. From the above date to
+the hour of his death, with short intervals, he continued to be chosen
+in succession to the Senate, and as lieutenant-governor and governor. He
+was for the space of two years a member of the United States Senate.
+From 1803 to 1807, and from 1808 to 1815, he served as mayor of the city
+of New-York. This is a brief outline of the situations he held, and it
+is only necessary to fill up the sketch with notices of what he proposed
+and accomplished, to complete the picture.
+
+His "homes," with the brief exception of two winters at Washington,
+were, of course, mainly in New-York and Albany.
+
+In the former, his town residence was at the lower end of Broadway--then
+the fashionable part of the city, and where wealthy bankers, and
+merchants, and distinguished professional men loved to fix their
+dwellings. At a short distance from the Bowling-green and the Battery,
+the breezes from the ocean occasionally found their way and shed their
+influences. Commerce has commanded the removal of most of these private
+residences, and she has been rigidly obeyed. The merchandise of the Old
+and of the New World needs still increasing depositories.
+
+While remaining in New-York, he owned a country-seat at Maspeth, on Long
+Island, to which he frequently resorted, and where he indulged in his
+favorite pursuits of angling and hunting. He was greatly attached to
+these, until in after life an unfortunate accident rendered active
+exercise too laborious.
+
+Of Albany, the place in which a large portion of his mature life was
+spent, we feel some constraint in giving, what we consider, a just
+account. By many, even intelligent travellers, it is only known as a
+place of transfer from steamboats and railroads--as excessively hot in
+summer, and as the capital of the State, where the Legislature holds its
+sessions during the winter.
+
+But its antiquities--if antiquities are to be spoken of in this
+country--are of some interest. Here an American Congress once assembled,
+of which Franklin was a member. Whenever England and France contended
+for mastery on this continent, many of the officers and troops of the
+former halted here for a while, or passed on for the finally
+accomplished object of the conquest of Canada. Here for a time were Howe
+and Abercrombie, Amherst and Sir William Johnson; while, to the French,
+it seems to have been the limit, which, though they burnt Schenectady
+and ravaged the western part of the State, they seemed scarcely able to
+reach.
+
+Passing over intermediate occurrences, during the war of 1812 there was
+here concentrated a large portion of the military force of the United
+States, which went forth in all the pomp and circumstance of war to its
+mingled career of defeat and success.
+
+Two dwellings still remain in Albany dear to Revolutionary memory--the
+residences of General Philip Schuyler and General Abraham Ten Broeck.
+The latter was distinguished as a brave and capable militia officer. The
+services and talents of the former are not as yet sufficiently
+appreciated. The wise man--the trusted of Washington--the able
+statesman--who early pointed out the way to internal improvement in the
+State of New-York, only needs an impartial and well-instructed
+biographer to be duly known.
+
+It is a matter of satisfaction that both of these residences--crowning
+heights north and south of the city--are in excellent preservation,
+owned by wealthy persons, and destined, we may hope, to a long
+existence.
+
+Governor Clinton occupied during his residence in Albany (part of the
+time he was out of office) two different houses, which possess an
+interest only inferior to those we have just mentioned. One of them,
+formerly almost a country residence,--built by Peter W. Yates, an
+eminent counsellor at law, and now owned by another of the same
+name,--was, for a series of years, the dwelling-place of governors of
+the State of New-York. Here Tompkins dispensed his hospitality, while he
+wielded, in a manner but partially understood, the destinies of the
+nation during the war of 1812; and from this beautiful seat he departed,
+in an evil hour to himself, to be Vice-President of the United States.
+Clinton succeeded. In this house he met with a severe accident,--a
+fracture of the knee-pan from a fall; after a slow recovery he was
+enabled to use the limb with but slight indication of the injury. Still
+it prevented him from taking exercise on horseback, to which he had been
+much accustomed, and it probably led to an increased fulness of habit,
+in the later years of his life.
+
+Subsequently to this he occupied a house (it was that in which he died)
+in Pearl-street, built by Goldsboro Banyer, one of the last deputy
+Secretaries of State of the Colony of New-York. It was bequeathed to his
+son's widow, a daughter of Governor Jay, and on her removal to New-York,
+was taken as a governor's residence.
+
+It would scarcely be proper to conclude these sketches, without briefly
+enumerating the services of DeWitt Clinton to his State and country.
+Most of these were thought of, developed and produced ready for
+adoption, within the sacred precincts of his "home."
+
+As mayor of New-York, he was at that time head of the judicial
+department of the city. Subsequently that officer has been relieved of
+these duties, and several local courts have been found necessary, to
+dispose of the cases which the tangled relations of commerce are
+constantly bringing forth. Some records of his ability both as a civil
+and a criminal judge still remain. A Catholic priest had been called
+upon to disclose what had been communicated to him at the confessional.
+In his opinion, Mr. Clinton sustained the sacred nature of the secret
+thus imparted, and subsequent legislation, doubtless founded on this
+case, extended the exemption not only to the clergyman, but also to the
+physician. He also aided with great energy in putting down and punishing
+riots, caused by excited political feelings. Nor should we omit to say,
+that before him was tried the peculiar case of Whistelo, in which the
+wit of Counsellor Sampson, and the peculiarities of Dr. Samuel Latham
+Mitchill were equally conspicuous.
+
+As a member of the Senate of New-York, he became _ex officio_ also a
+member of the highest court in the State--the court for the trial of
+impeachments, and the correction of errors in the inferior courts.
+Several of his decisions are to be found in the volumes of New-York
+State Reports. He grappled with the subjects of insurance law, of libel,
+the power of committing for contempt, the construction of the Habeas
+Corpus Act, and the effect of foreign admiralty decisions. "Some of
+these," says Chancellor Kent, "are models of judicial and parliamentary
+eloquence, and they all relate to important questions, affecting
+constitutional rights and personal liberty. They partake more of the
+character of a statesman's discussions, than that of a dry technical
+lawyer, and are therefore more interesting to the general scholar."
+
+As a legislator, it is quite sufficient to refer to the long list of
+laws drawn up and supported by him, as it is given in the eighth chapter
+of Professor Renwick's life, to appreciate the high class of subjects to
+which he applied his best efforts. We select only a portion. An act
+respecting a digest of the public laws of the State. An act to enlarge
+the powers of and to endow the Orphan Asylum society,--to amend the
+insolvent laws, to prevent the inhuman treatment of slaves, for the
+support of the quarantine establishment, to revise and amend the militia
+law, to incorporate the society for the relief of poor widows with small
+children, for promoting medical science, for the further encouragement
+of free schools, for securing to mechanics and others, payment for their
+labor and materials in the city of New-York. It has been urged that
+others by their efforts, or their votes, have been as useful as was Mr.
+Clinton, in procuring the passage of these and similar laws. Be it so.
+It is not even attempted to deny this. It would be treason to the great
+interests of humanity to claim exclusive honor for a single man. But he
+knows little of practical legislation, who is not perfectly aware how
+efficient and important it is to have one individual, eminent in
+talents, high in power, who is willing to initiate useful
+measures--propose their adoption, and support them with his best
+abilities.
+
+In the matter of the Canals of New-York, this is his high honor; this
+his crowning glory. Even during life, he gave due credit to all who
+suggested or supported the work; but his pre-eminent merit is, that he
+adopted the canal policy as his own party policy. It has been said, in
+words which cannot be bettered, that "in the great work of internal
+improvement, he persevered through good report and through evil report,
+with a steadiness of purpose that no obstacle could divert; and when all
+the elements were in commotion around him, and even his chosen
+associates were appalled, he alone, like Columbus, on the wide waste of
+waters, in his frail bark with a dis-heartened and unbelieving crew,
+remained firm, self-poised and unshaken."
+
+Heaven in its goodness allowed life till the great work was completed.
+
+Of Governor Clinton's devotion to science and to literature, of his
+patronage and support of societies and institutions, for their
+diffusion, all are knowing; but it is not sufficiently understood, that
+these were amateur pursuits, followed during hours that he could
+scarcely spare from his legitimate duties. Whatever of imperfection or
+of crudeness may therefore be found in them, should be charitably
+considered.
+
+His domestic habits were simple and unobtrusive. He was industrious
+through life--the earliest riser in the house--frequently, if not
+generally, making his office fire in the winter, and dispatching most of
+his voluminous correspondence before the breakfast hour.
+
+In his family, he was every thing that became a man--a kind and faithful
+husband; an affectionate, indeed indulgent father; a warm, devoted, and
+often self-sacrificing friend. What wonder is it, that his memory should
+continue to be cherished with sincere love and ever increasing esteem.
+
+[Illustration: H.K. Brown's Statue of Clinton]
+
+
+
+
+=Story.=
+
+[Illustration: Story fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Story's House at Cambridge, Mass.]
+
+STORY.
+
+
+It is a common saying among lawyers, that in proportion to the labor
+which their profession exacts, and the degree of distinction which
+success confers upon them during their lifetime, their fate is a hard
+one in the struggle for immortality. They are accustomed to say in a
+tone of half complaint, that the zeal and ability which would earn for
+them a cheap celebrity in some other pursuit, is expended upon the
+establishing of some nice distinction, or the solving of some intricate
+problem which no one but themselves can appreciate, and in which no one
+but themselves (and their clients) take any interest. There is some
+truth in all this. The whole community stands ready to read the last
+production of the literary man, so only that he make it worth reading,
+and often without requiring even so much; whereas, the neatest point
+that a lawyer could take is constitutionally repulsive to one-half of
+creation, and dry and unmeaning to the greater part of the remainder.
+Even those whose names are on the lips of men, owe their good fortune
+often to something other than their law. If Blackstone were not among
+the most classical writers of the English language, we should not have
+lived to see twenty-one English editions of his Commentaries. He was
+probably a less profound lawyer than several sergeants who practised
+before him in the Court of Common Pleas, whose names would escape an
+insertion in the most Universal Biographical Dictionary. So the
+successful lawyer must content himself with his worldly prosperity,--if
+in his lifetime he receives his good things, that must be his comfort,
+and in truth it is no small one.
+
+But the nature of a lawyer's employment, even if he combine with it the
+kindred one of politics and legislation, is not apt to invest his home
+with that attraction to the stranger which the home of the literary man
+possesses. We are at once interested to know who the author is, who has
+charmed us by the quaintness of his conceits, or the freshness and
+purity of his style. We want to see the house and the room, where those
+intricate plots are matured, or those life-like characters are first
+conceived. But Coke upon Littleton, seems pretty much the same, whether
+read upon the green slope of a country hill, or in the third story of an
+office down town. Besides, the author is at liberty to seek the most
+secluded spots, and dwell amongst the most romantic scenery, and
+surround himself with all that makes life beautiful to contemplate; and
+it is for his interest to do this, in order that his mind may be kept
+open to impressions, his spirits elevated and serene, and his whole life
+calm and happy. The lawyer on the other hand, must seek communion, not
+with nature, but with men; he must dwell among large communities, and
+rail even there where merchants most do congregate.
+
+The home of the distinguished lawyer and statesman whose name is placed
+at the head of these lines, is an exception from the homes of others of
+his peers; if it be true that it is the fate of a lawyer's home to be an
+object of interest to its inmates alone. There was something in his
+frank, enthusiastic and generous nature, which made him always
+susceptible to the influences of home, and always fitted to awake and to
+wield those enchantments with which a home is invested. The secluded
+peninsula of Marblehead, with its long firm beach upon one side, and its
+rocky precipitous shore upon the other, begirt on three sides by the
+ever-changing Atlantic, is considered by his biographer to have had its
+effect in moulding the character of the boy; and in the quiet, tame
+inland beauty of Cambridge, with its academical proprieties, and its
+level streets, and its spacious marshes, through which the winding
+Charles "slips seaward silently;" many remain outside of the family
+circle, to testify to the magical attraction which once hung about the
+narrow brick house where he lived, and the cordial greeting which the
+visitor received at the hands of its former occupant.
+
+Judge Story was born in the antiquated, primeval fishing town of
+Marblehead; a town presenting such a rocky and barren surface, that when
+Whitfield entered it for the first time, he was fain to inquire, "Pray,
+where do they bury their dead?" Story himself speaks of his birth-place
+as "a secluded fishing town, having no general connection with other
+towns, and, not being a thoroughfare, without that intercourse which
+brings strangers to visit it, or to form an acquaintance with its
+inhabitants." In fact it could not well be a thoroughfare, since it
+leads only from Salem to the sea, and the inhabitants of the latter town
+have a sufficiently ready access of their own. But though Marblehead
+with its scanty soil, and its isolated position, is neither an Eden nor
+a thoroughfare, it is at least a stout old place where men are grown;
+where an entire regiment was furnished for the cause of American
+Independence, completely officered and manned by brave men, to whom the
+dangers of war were but a continuation of previous lives of peril, and
+who supplied besides more privateers than history has recorded, to
+harass the enemy upon an element with which they were more familiar.
+
+The town of Marblehead is supported by the fishery business. A large
+portion of its inhabitants are simple fishermen, whose manhood is passed
+in voyages to the Great Banks, and voyages back; a constant succession
+of those perils which are incident to the sea, with long winter evenings
+of sailors' yarns and ghost stories, in one monotonous round, till they
+finally depart
+
+    "On that drear voyage from whose night
+    The ominous shadows never lift."
+
+It was among a population of this kind, and at a time when a long and
+disastrous war had crippled their resources, that the youthful Story
+began with his accustomed enthusiasm to acquire that education whose
+root is bitter when grown in the most favorable soil. Without advantages
+of good schooling, or a plentiful supply of books, he did what thousands
+of others, great and small, have done and are doing; that is, he
+acquired an education without the modern improvements on which our boys
+rely, and whose value their parents and teachers are so apt to
+over-estimate. In the shop of the Marblehead barber, the village great
+men assembled to hear the news, and to hold forth upon the condition and
+prospects of the young republic, as well as to have their ambrosial
+locks powdered and their beards removed. Here, in place of the modern
+lecture room, our young hero resorted, and listened reverently to
+oracular utterances from wise mouths in the intervals of the shaving
+brush and the razor. The village barber himself, endowed with an easy
+garrulity, more natural and professional than the stately reserve of his
+metropolitan brother, could, at his leisure, retail the wisdom of his
+many councillors, diluted to the point where it admitted of the mental
+digestion of a child.
+
+This, together with the usual toils and discouragements of the classics,
+and the hopes and fears which a college examination inspires, made up a
+boy's life in Marblehead before this century began. The old Judge, late
+in life recalling these early Marblehead times, speaks of other
+influences, some of whose effect is, we imagine, derived from the fact
+that he is viewing them in his maturity, as they then appear, softened
+as seen down the long vista of nearly forty years. "My delight," he
+says, "was to roam over the narrow and rude territory of my native town;
+to traverse its secluded beaches and its shallow inlets; to gaze upon
+the sleepless ocean; to lay myself down on the sunny rocks, and listen
+to the deep tones of the rising and the falling tides; to look abroad
+when the foaming waves were driven with terrific force and uproar
+against the barren cliffs or the rocky promontories, which every where
+opposed their immovable fronts to resist them; to seek, in the midst of
+the tremendous majesty of an eastern storm, some elevated spot, where,
+in security, I could mark the mountain billow break upon the distant
+shore, or dash its broken waters over the lofty rocks which here and
+there stood along the coast, naked and weather-beaten. But still more
+was I pleased in a calm, summer day, to lay myself down alone on one of
+the beautiful heights which overlook the harbor of Salem, and to listen
+to the broken sounds of the hammers in the distant ship-yards, or to the
+soft dash of the oar of some swift-moving boat, or to the soft ripple of
+the murmuring wave; or to gaze on the swelling sail, or the flying bird,
+or the scarcely moving smoke, in a revery of delicious indolence."
+
+When Story left Marblehead and entered Harvard College in 1795, he was
+brought in contact with somewhat different circumstances and different
+temptations from those which there await the youthful student in these
+days. Coming from a small and tolerably illiterate fishing town, into
+the midst of such literary shades, being in daily converse with young
+men at an age when the mind is lively, and full of the easy
+self-confidence which the mutual flattery of a College begets, his
+enthusiasm was quickened anew, and his generous nature attacked on its
+weakest side. "I seemed," he says, "to breathe a higher atmosphere, and
+to look abroad with a wider vision and more comprehensive powers.
+Instead of the narrow group of a village, I was suddenly brought into a
+large circle of young men engaged in literary pursuits, and warmed and
+cheered by the hopes of future eminence." There is, perhaps, no
+impropriety in saying, that at fifteen, we look abroad with a wider
+vision and more comprehensive powers than we do at twelve, and such
+young men as Channing, his friendly rival in College, and Tuckerman, his
+chum, might well be warmed and cheered by the hopes of future eminence.
+The students in those days enjoyed as much seclusion as now, with
+perhaps a little less general culture and a little more dissipation.
+But, as we have intimated, in some respects the changes were greater.
+The anti-republican system of "fagging" had not then become quite
+obsolete and forgotten, but existed at least in oral tradition, whereas
+now, its less rigorous substitute has recently fallen into disuse. In
+those days there was not even an unsuccessful attempt, to render the
+intercourse between the Professors and the students in any sense
+parental, but the formal and unconfiding manners of the old school were
+preached, as well as practised. The line of division between the College
+and the town was sharply drawn and unhesitatingly maintained on the part
+of the former, and the opportunities for social intercourse with Boston
+were comparatively limited, when omnibuses were unknown, and the bridge
+regarded as a somewhat hazardous speculation. Now the students are to be
+seen in Washington street on Saturdays, and there is scarce an evening's
+entertainment in Boston, without young representatives from Cambridge.
+And the old town itself has added so many new houses to its former
+number, that a great change is coming over the face of Cambridge
+society. The term "the season" is beginning to have its proper
+significance, the winter months being pretty well filled with the
+customary social observances. It is true that the College is still the
+controlling element. Festivities are mostly suspended during the first
+two months of the year, which is the time of the winter vacation, and
+revive again with the return of the spring and the students. But from
+faint symptoms which may be detected by the anxious observer, there is
+reason to fear that it may not be long before the great body of the
+students will have cause on their part, to complain of that
+exclusiveness which they have exercised as their prerogative for more
+than two centuries.
+
+The four short years of Story's undergraduate existence were passed
+free, alike from this species of social pleasure and social anxiety. He
+was naturally fond of company, and had a healthy, youthful taste for
+conviviality; but he shrank instinctively from excesses, and was,
+fortunately, also ambitious to win a high rank for scholarship. His
+companions were of his own age, and those divinities who people the
+inner chambers of a young man's fancy at the age of nineteen, were not
+upon the spot to distract overmuch his attention from his studies. He
+left his home within the College walls before he had arrived at manhood,
+and returned again some thirty years after in the maturity of his
+powers, to repay to his foster mother the debt which he owed for his
+education, by imparting to her younger children the results of his
+experience. Cambridge is to be considered as his home; it was there that
+he won his greatest fame, it was there that he fondly turned to refresh
+himself after his labors on the full bench and the circuit; this was the
+home of his affections and his interests, and there his earnest and
+active life was brought to its calm and peaceful close.
+
+In Brattle-street, a little distance on the road from the Colleges to
+Mount Auburn, there stands a narrow brick house, with its gable end to
+the street, facing the east, and a long piazza on its southern side. It
+is situated just at the head of Appian Way--not the Queen of Ways,
+leading from Rome to Brundusium, over which Horace journeyed in company
+with Virgil, and Paul's brethren came to meet him as far as Appii Forum
+and The Three Taverns, but a short lane, boasting not many more yards
+than its namesake miles; leading from Cambridge Common to
+Brattle-street, journeyed over by hurrying students with Horace and
+Virgil under their arms, without a single tavern in it, and hardly long
+enough to accommodate three. The external appearance of the house would
+hardly attract or reward the attention of the passer by. It stands by
+itself, looking as much too high for its width as an ordinary city
+residence in New-York, that has sprung up in advance of the rest of its
+block. The street in which it stands is flat and shady, but wonderfully
+dusty nevertheless, for Cambridge is a town
+
+    "Where dust and mud the equal year divide."
+
+The old inhabitants may be supposed to be reconciled to that dust, of
+which they are made, and to which they naturally expect in a few years
+to return. Thus Lowell finds it in his heart to sing the praises of
+Cambridge soil,
+
+    "Dear native town! whose choking elms each year
+      With eddying dust before their time turn gray,
+    Pining for rain,--to me thy dust is dear;
+      It glorifies the eve of Summer day."
+
+But, however native Cantabs may feel, the temporary resident hails the
+friendly watering-cart, which appears at intervals in the streets, since
+the old town has changed itself into a city.
+
+A flower-garden on the south side, separates Judge Story's house from
+the village blacksmith, who has had the rare happiness of being
+celebrated in the verses of his two fellow-townsmen, the poets
+Longfellow and Lowell;
+
+    "Under a spreading chestnut tree,
+      The village smithy stands;
+    The smith, a mighty man is he,
+      With large and sinewy hands,
+    And the muscles of his brawny arm
+      Are strong as iron bands.
+
+    "His hair is crisp, and black, and long,
+      His face is like the tan,
+    His brow is wet with honest sweat,
+      He earns whatever he can,
+    And looks the whole world in the face
+      For he owes not any man.
+
+    "Week in, week out, from morn to night,
+      You can hear his bellows blow;
+    You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,
+      With measured beat and slow,
+    Like a sexton ringing the village bell,
+      When the evening sun is low.
+
+    "And children coming home from school
+      Look in at the open door;
+    They love to see the flaming forge,
+      And hear the bellows roar,
+    And catch the burning sparks that fly
+      Like chaff from a threshing floor."
+
+Among the children who thus looked in upon the old smith in former days,
+was Lowell himself, who has embodied this juvenile reminiscence in a few
+lines, which may be appropriately inserted here, and the curious reader
+may contrast the image they contain, with the parallel one in the
+concluding lines from Longfellow, quoted above.
+
+      "How many times prouder than King on throne,
+    Loosed from the village school-dame's A's and B's,
+      Panting have I the creaky bellows blown,
+    And watched the pent volcano's red increase,
+      Then paused to see the ponderous sledge brought down
+      By that hard arm voluminous and brown,
+    From the white iron swarm its golden vanishing bees."
+
+The village blacksmith is dead now; the fires which he lighted in the
+forge have gone out, and an unknown successor wields the sledge, which
+may still be heard as ever, from the piazza of his neighbor's house, and
+down the road on the other side, as far as the row of lindens which
+overshadow a mansion once inhabited by the worthy old Tory, Brattle, who
+has given his name to the street.
+
+The external appearance of Judge Story's house does not add much to the
+poetry of its surroundings. It runs back in an irregular way, a long
+distance from the street, and at its furthermost end, in the second
+story, is, or used to be, the library, commanding the same view which
+constituted such a recommendation to Dick Swiveller's house, namely, the
+opposite side of the way. There is not, therefore, an opportunity for
+much romance to cluster about it, nor is its attractiveness increased,
+when the reader is reminded that the story beneath answered the purposes
+of a woodshed. But the house which witnessed the daily labors of such a
+man, need not covet or pretend to those outside attractions which it
+unquestionably lacks.
+
+Judge Story removed to Cambridge, for the purpose of taking charge of
+the Law-school connected with the University. This institution had just
+received an endowment from Nathan Dane, which, together with the labors
+and reputation of the new Professor, were the prime causes of its
+establishment upon such a durable foundation, that the number of its
+students was increased five fold. From this period, his time was divided
+among Washington, during the sitting of the Supreme Court, the first
+circuit in the New-England States, and Cambridge, which henceforward was
+his home. The Law-school he regarded as his favorite and most important
+field of labor, and always recurred to his connection with it, with
+pleasure and pride; and a word concerning this Institution may, with
+propriety, be coupled with a description of his personal habits, so that
+both together will furnish, better than any thing else, a correct
+picture of the daily life of the man.
+
+At the time that Story accepted the Dane Professorship in the Law-school
+in Cambridge he had already achieved the labor of a lifetime. A
+lucrative business at the bar, was quitted for a seat upon the bench of
+the Supreme Court of the United States. He began his political life as a
+democrat and stanch supporter of Jefferson, when there were not many
+such in Massachusetts; but in later life he became a whig. The natural
+effect of a judicial station upon a mind like his, was to make him
+cautious and conservative; and he finally seemed a little distrustful of
+even the party with which he was associated. In the convention of 1820,
+which formed the existing constitution of Massachusetts, he took an
+active part with such men as Webster, Parker, Quincy and Prescott, and
+many of our important mercantile statutes and bankrupt laws were drawn
+by him, nearly, or quite in the form in which they were finally passed
+by Congress. He had been for about eighteen years an associate Justice
+of the Supreme Court, when, without resigning that position, he assumed
+the almost equally onerous duties of a Professor of Law. This new field
+of activity was entered upon with earnestness and zeal, and it is not
+necessary to state the success with which his efforts were attended.
+Towards the students his manner was familiar and affectionate. He was
+fond of designating them as "my boys," and without assuming any
+superiority, or exacting any formal respect, he participated so far as
+he was able in their success and failure; and extended beyond the narrow
+period of the school, far into active life, that interest in their
+behalf which he had contracted as their teacher. His lectures upon what
+are commonly considered the dry topics of the law, were delivered with
+enthusiasm, and illustrated with copious anecdotes from the store-house
+of his memory and his experience, and filled with episodes which were
+suggested to his active mind at almost every step. Indeed, if one were
+disposed to point out his prominent fault as a legal writer, he would
+probably select that diffuseness of style and copiousness of
+illustration, which, though it contributes somewhat to fulness and
+perspicuity, does it nevertheless at the cost of convenient brevity;
+which can more easily be dispensed with in a poem than in a law-book.
+But that characteristic which might perhaps be considered as a blemish
+in his legal treatises, only rendered him better, qualified for a
+successful oral lecturer. A printed volume admits of the last degree of
+condensation, because repeated perusals of one page will effect every
+thing which could be expected from a prolonged discussion over many; and
+to text-books of law, the student or the practitioner resort principally
+for a statement of results, with the addition of only so much general
+reasoning as may render the results intelligible. In an oral lecture on
+the other hand, as the attention cannot be arrested; or time taken to
+overcome difficulties, repetition and reiteration, so far from being a
+blemish, is a merit. To these qualifications Story added engaging
+manners, and a personal presence, which gave him extraordinary influence
+over the young men who crowded to receive the benefit of his
+instructions. His zeal was contagious, and awakened similar feelings in
+his hearers, and the enthusiasm of the speaker and the audience acted
+and reacted upon each other. Many anecdotes are related to show the
+interest in the study of the law, which, under his magical influence,
+was awakened, not only among the few who are naturally studious, but
+among the whole body of the students almost without exception.
+
+Saturday is a day of rest in Cambridge by immemorial usage. To force
+upon the undergraduates a recitation on Saturday afternoon, would
+outrage their feelings to such an extent, as to justify in their opinion
+a resort to the last appeal, namely, a rebellion. Yet under Story's
+ministrations the law-students were eager to violate the sacredness of
+Saturday, to which the Judge assented, animated by a zeal superior to
+their own. So that the whole week was devoted to lectures, and the
+conducting in moot courts of prepared cases. "I have given," says the
+Judge in a letter to a friend, "nearly the whole of last term, when not
+on judicial duty, two lectures every day, and even broke in upon the
+sanctity of the _dies non juridicus_, Saturday. It was carried by
+acclamation in the school; so that you see we are alive." One of the
+pupils describes a similar incident; a case was to be adjourned, and
+Saturday seemed the most convenient time, "the counsel were anxious to
+argue it; but unwilling to resort to that extreme measure. Judge Story
+said--Gentlemen, the only time we can hear this case, is Saturday
+afternoon. This is _dies non_, and no one is obliged or expected to
+attend. I am to hold Court in Boston until two o'clock. I will ride
+directly out, take a hasty dinner, and be here by half-past three
+o'clock, and hear the case, if you are willing. He looked round the
+school for a reply. We felt ashamed, in our own business in which we
+were alone interested, to be outdone in zeal and labor by this aged and
+distinguished man, to whom the case was but child's play, a tale twice
+told and who was himself pressed down by almost incredible labors. The
+proposal was unanimously accepted." The same interesting communication
+describes the scene which took place when the Judge returned to
+Cambridge in the winter from Washington. "The school was the first place
+he visited after his own fireside. His return, always looked for, and
+known, filled the library. His reception was that of a returned father.
+He shook all by the hand, even the most obscure and indifferent; and an
+hour or two was spent in the most exciting, instructive, and
+entertaining descriptions and anecdotes of the events of the term.
+Inquiries were put by the students from different States, as to leading
+counsel, or interesting causes from their section of the country; and he
+told us as one would have described to a company of squires and pages, a
+tournament of monarchs and nobles on fields of cloth of gold:--how
+Webster spoke in this case, Legar� or Clay, or Crittenden, General
+Jones, Choate or Spencer, in that; with anecdotes of the cases and
+points, and all the currents of the heady fight."
+
+Judge Story's gracious and dignified demeanor upon the bench is too well
+known, and not closely enough connected with an account of his home
+life, to justify a description here. All who have spoken upon the
+subject, have borne witness to the kindness and courtesy with which he
+treated the bar, particularly the younger members, who most need, and
+best appreciate such consideration. No lawyer was provoked by captious
+remarks, or mortified by inattention or indifference, or that offensive
+assumption of superiority which places the counsel at such disadvantage
+with the judge, and lowers his credit with his clients and the
+spectators. With novices at the bar his manner was patient and
+encouraging, with the leaders whose position was nearly level with his
+own, attentive, cordial, at times even familiar, but always dignified.
+Among the prominent lawyers upon the Maine circuit, was his classmate in
+college, and intimate friend, Hon. Stephen Longfellow, the father of the
+poet, of whom the following story is told. When any objection or
+qualification was started by the Court, to a point which he was pressing
+upon its attention, too courteous to question or oppose the opinion of
+the Judge, he would escape under this formula, "But there is this
+_distinction_, may it please your honor;" which distinction, when it
+came to be stated, was often so exceedingly thin, that its existence
+could be discerned only by the learned gentleman himself. This little
+mannerism was known and observed among his friends in the profession,
+one of whom now living composed and passed round the bar this epitaph:
+"Here lies Stephen Longfellow, LL. D. Born &c. Died &c. With this
+_Distinction_. That such a man can never die." This epitaph reached the
+bench; and Mr. Longfellow himself, who not long afterwards on an
+argument, was met by a question from the Judge. "But, may it please your
+honor, there is this dis----" "Out with it, brother Longfellow," said
+Judge Story with a good-humored smile. But it would not come. The
+epitaph records the death of the distinction.
+
+The interest which Judge Story felt in the prosperity of his University,
+was not wholly confined to the Law-school, with which he was immediately
+connected. He was one of the overseers of the College, and entered
+warmly and prominently into every question affecting the welfare of the
+Institution; from an elaborate and recondite argument upon the meaning
+of the word "Fellows," in the charter of the college,--the doubt being,
+whether none but resident instructors were eligible as Fellows, or
+whether the word is merely synonymous with _socius_ or associate,--down
+to a reform in the social observances of the students upon the occasion
+of what is called Class Day. The old custom had been for the students on
+the last day of their meeting, before Commencement, to partake together
+of an undefined quantity of punch from a large reservoir of that
+beverage previously prepared. In more modern times, this habit came to
+be justly considered as subversive of sobriety and good order, and it
+was proposed to recast entirely the order of exercises. Of this reform
+Judge Story was an advocate; he was present at the first celebration
+under the new order of things, and was much gratified and elated at the
+change. Class Day is now the culminating point of the student's
+life--the exercises are an oration and poem in the morning, and a ball
+and reception in the afternoon and evening. More ladies visit the
+College on that day, than on any other, and the students have in lieu of
+their punch the less intoxicating recreation of a polka.
+
+Judge Story was about five feet eight inches tall, not above the middle
+height, with a compact and solid figure; and active and rapid in his
+movements. He seldom, if ever, loitered along; his customary gait was
+hasty and hurried, and he had a habit of casting quick eager glances
+about him as he moved. The expression of his face was animated and
+changing, his eyes were blue, his mouth large, his voice clear and
+flexible, and his laugh hearty and exhilarating. Late in life he was
+bald upon the top of his head, and his white hair below, and the benign
+expression of his countenance, gave him a dignified and venerable
+appearance, particularly when seated upon the bench. His personal habits
+were regular and systematic in the extreme. He never rose before seven,
+and was always in bed by half-past ten. His constitution required eight
+good hours of sleep, and he did not hesitate to gratify it in that
+particular. It was never intended that all men should rise at the same
+hour, and it is no great exercise of virtue on the part of those who do
+not enjoy sleep, to get up early. After breakfasting he read a newspaper
+for a half hour, and then worked faithfully, till called off to attend
+the lecture room or the court. After dinner he resumed his labors so
+long as daylight lasted, and the evening was devoted until bedtime to
+light reading, or social recreation in the midst of his family. He could
+pass easily from one species of employment to another without loss of
+time, and by working steadily when he did work, he was enabled to go
+through a very great amount of labor without any excessive fatigue or
+exhaustion. In this way his life was prolonged, and he retained to the
+last, undisturbed possession of all his faculties. He died in September
+1845, at the age of sixty-six, having been for thirty-four years a Judge
+of the Supreme Court of the United States, and for sixteen years a
+Professor of law in the school at Cambridge.
+
+
+
+
+=Wheaton.=
+
+[Illustration: Wheaton fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Wheaton's Residence Near Copenhagen]
+
+WHEATON.
+
+
+Among the persons whom religious persecution compelled to leave England
+during the reign of Charles I., and seek an asylum in the new world, was
+Robert Wheaton, a Baptist clergyman. He first established himself in
+Salem, but when the intolerance of that community led those of his
+persuasion to remove elsewhere, he joined Roger Williams, and assisted
+him in founding the now flourishing State of Rhode Island.
+
+From him Henry Wheaton was descended. He was born in Providence, 1786,
+and entered Rhode Island College at the age of thirteen. He was already
+remarkable for his love of reading, particularly in the branches of
+history and literature, and appears to have studied more from the
+pleasure he had in the acquisition of knowledge, than from any love of
+distinction. He graduated at the age of seventeen, and immediately after
+entered upon the study of the law, in compliance with his father's
+wishes rather than from personal inclination; for at that period he is
+said not to have entertained any particular leaning towards the legal
+profession. In 1806 he went abroad to complete his education. He passed
+some time at Poitiers, where he learned to speak and write French
+fluently, and had an opportunity of studying French law, and especially
+the Code Napoleon, which had then but recently been promulgated. He also
+attended the courts of justice, and heard some of the most distinguished
+lawyers of the time, of whose eloquence he often spoke in his letters to
+his family. He always recurred with pleasure in later years to the time
+he passed at Poitiers. The kindness he experienced from the family in
+which he lived, the graceful politeness and cheerfulness of the French
+character, gave him ever after a predilection in favor of France. After
+spending a few weeks in Paris, he went to England, where he applied
+himself to the study of English law. He was often at the house of Mr.
+Monroe, then our Minister in London, who seems to have taken some pains
+to converse with him on the political and social state of Europe.
+Perhaps these conversations contributed to form his taste for diplomatic
+life, in which he was destined to play so distinguished a part, and also
+to lead him in its course to show that willingness to impart information
+of a similar kind, to the young men by whom he was himself surrounded,
+which was so pleasing a trait in his character.
+
+Soon after his return from Europe he was admitted to the bar in his
+native State, where he continued to practise till 1813. At that period,
+feeling the want of a wider field in which to exercise his talents, he
+determined, having previously married his cousin, the daughter of Dr.
+Wheaton of Providence, to remove to New-York with his wife. We must not
+omit to mention, that before leaving Providence he pronounced a Fourth
+of July Oration, in which he spoke with generous indignation of the
+bloody wars which then distracted Europe, and the disastrous
+consequences of which his residence in France had given him an
+opportunity to observe. But although thus warmly opposed to wars of
+conquest, there were cases in which he deemed resistance a sacred duty;
+he therefore zealously devoted his pen to encouraging his
+fellow-countrymen in resisting the unjust encroachments of England.
+During two years he edited the National Advocate, and the spirit as well
+as the fairness with which its leading articles were written, insured
+the success of the paper, and established his reputation in New-York. At
+the same time he held the office of Justice of the Marine Court, and for
+a few months that also of Army Judge Advocate. In 1815 he returned to
+the practice of his profession, and published in the same year a
+Treatise on the Law of Maritime Captures and Prizes, which Mr. Reddie of
+Edinburgh has since pronounced to have been the best work then published
+on the subject; no small praise, if we consider that Mr. Wheaton was
+only thirty years of age at the time it was written. In 1816 he was
+named Reporter of the Supreme Court at Washington, and continued to hold
+this place until 1827. The Reports, of which he published a volume
+yearly, and which were highly esteemed by American lawyers, were
+abridged without his consent soon after he went abroad. The publication
+of this abridgment occasioned a lawsuit, which ended only with his life.
+The following letter, for which we are indebted to the kindness of
+Professor Parsons, of the Law-school in Cambridge, will, we think, be
+read with interest. We must only remark, that it is an error to suppose
+that Mr. Wheaton shunned general society after he went to Europe; he
+joined in it, on the contrary, more than is usual to men of his age in
+our country.
+
+                Cambridge, May 22, 1853.
+
+"I am very glad to offer even a slight contribution to this memorial, of
+one so worthy of all respect as the late Mr. Wheaton. And you must
+permit me to express the hope that the sketch you now propose to make,
+will hereafter be expanded into that history of his life and exhibition
+of his character, which should be given to the world, in justice to him
+and to the very many to whom it would be most acceptable. I can speak of
+him from personal acquaintance, only after a long interval, when even
+recollections so pleasant as those of my intercourse with him have
+become somewhat dim.
+
+"It was at the very close of the year 1821, that I went to Washington,
+to pass some months there. The commissioners to distribute the money due
+to American citizens under the then recent treaty with Spain, began
+their sessions that winter. Mr. Webster was employed by most of the
+large claimants in New England, and I went with him to assist him
+generally, and also charged by some of those claimants with the especial
+care of their interests. In New-York I became acquainted with Mr.
+Wheaton; and he was with us during a part of the journey to Washington.
+As fellow-travellers, we became intimate, and during the whole of my
+stay in Washington,--nearly three months,--this intimacy was kept up.
+From many parts of the country, eminent lawyers were at Washington, in
+attendance upon the Supreme Court, or charged with the care of cases
+before the commissioners under the Spanish treaty, and I was meeting
+them continually in society; and I had the good fortune also to, become
+acquainted with many of the most distinguished members of government and
+of Congress, and visited freely in the whole range--then less broad than
+now--of society in Washington.
+
+"Wherever I went I met Mr. Wheaton. Every where he was upon the footing,
+not of a received, but of a welcomed guest; and he seemed to be most
+intimate in the best houses. It was easy to see the cause of this. His
+important position as Reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court of
+the United States--which office he had then held for six years--brought
+him into immediate contact not only with the judges of the court, but
+with all who practised in it; and it might be supposed that with them he
+would be on terms of intimacy and friendship. But there was something in
+the character of that friendship, that no mere position explained; and
+he inspired an equally warm regard in many who never met him in his
+official duties. Among all his friends, if I were to name any persons, I
+think it would be Mr. Webster himself, who treated him as he might a
+brother; Sir Stratford Canning, Minister from England, and M. de
+Neuville, the French Minister, who appeared to give tone and character
+to Washington society so far as any persons can influence elements so
+diversified and refractory, and in whose houses he stood on the footing
+of a confidential friend; Mr Lowndes of South Carolina, a most wise and
+excellent man; and lastly and most of all, Chief Justice Marshall. Let
+me pause a moment to say one word of this great and good man, to whose
+greatness and whose goodness, equally, this country is, and while its
+prosperity endures, will be indebted; for his greatness rested upon his
+goodness as its foundation. Even his wide and accurate learning, his
+clear and close reasoning, his profound insight into the true merits and
+exact character and bearing of every question, and the unerring sagacity
+which enabled him to see the future in the present; all these together,
+and whatever more there might have been of merely intellectual power,
+would not have enabled him to lay the foundations of our national and
+constitutional jurisprudence with the depth, breadth, and firmness,
+which all attacks upon them have, as yet, only made more apparent, if it
+had not been for his moral character. Here lay the inmost secret of his
+power. Men felt, and the nation felt, his incorruptibility; meaning by
+this, not merely the absence of that baser and more obvious selfishness,
+which most men of decent self-respect overcome or suppress; but his
+perfect and manifest freedom from all motives and all influences
+whatever, which could tend to cloud or warp his understanding, or
+qualify the utterance of his wisdom. He did not stand before us a man of
+living ice, perfectly safe because perfectly cold; for he was
+affectionate and gentle as a child; excitable even to enthusiasm, when
+that kind heart was touched; listening, not only with an equal strength
+to the strongest, but with a perfect sympathy to the eloquent, and with
+a charming courtesy to all. There he stood, and no one ever saw him and
+heard him, and did not know that his one wish was to do his great duty;
+and that his admirable intellect came to its daily tasks, and did them,
+wholly free from all possible distortion or disturbance, not because he
+was strong enough to repel all the influences of party, or passion, or
+prejudice, or interest, or personal favor, but because none of these
+things could come near enough to him to be repelled. By the happy
+constitution of his nature, there was no flaw in him to give entrance to
+any thing which, could draw him one hair's breadth aside from the
+straight course of truth and justice, and of the law, which in his mind
+was but their embodiment and voice. Of this good and great man there is
+as yet no adequate memorial; and it would require a strong hand, and if
+not an equal, at least a sympathizing mind and heart, to construct one
+which shall indeed be adequate. But I indulge the hope that it will be
+given to us before the generation which knew him shall pass wholly away.
+And you, I am sure, will pardon me for using this opportunity to render
+to his cherished memory this slight and evanescent tribute. I do but
+indulge myself in saying a part of what I have frequent occasion to say
+to the many students to whom it is my official duty to teach the law of
+their country as well as I can, and therefore to speak often of
+Marshall.
+
+"The Chief Justice treated Mr. Wheaton with the fondest regard, and this
+example would have had its influence had it been necessary; but in fact
+the best men then in Washington were on the most intimate and
+confidential terms with him. The simple truth is, that universal respect
+was rendered to him because he deserved it. He was a gentleman: and
+therefore the same gentleman to all and under all circumstances; yes, he
+was indeed and emphatically a gentleman, and combined--with no base
+admixture--all the elements which go to compose what we mean, or should
+mean, by that word, as thoroughly as any one that I have ever known.
+
+"I did not meet him after leaving Washington until a short time before
+his death, and then not often. I saw very little change in his manner,
+for he appeared to be as glad as I was to revive the pleasant
+recollections of that distant winter. But I have been told that after he
+went abroad, he was considered somewhat silent, and even disposed to
+avoid rather than seek general society. I cannot say how this was during
+those later years; but when I knew him in Washington, no one more
+enjoyed society, and few sought it more, or were more sought by it. He
+was,--not perhaps gay,--but eminently cheerful; and his manner was
+characterized by that forgetfulness of self, which, as in great things,
+it forms the foundation for the highest excellence, so in the lesser
+matters of social intercourse it imparts a perpetual charm, and
+constitutes almost of itself, the essence of all true politeness.
+
+There was with Mr. Wheaton, no watching of opportunity for display; no
+indifference and want of interest when the topics of conversation, or
+the parties, or other circumstances, made it impossible for him to
+occupy the foreground; no skilful diversion of the conversation into
+paths which led to his strongholds, where he might come forth with
+peculiar, advantage. Still less did he--as in this country so many
+do--play out in society the game of life, by using it only as a means of
+promoting his personal or professional objects. Certainly, one may
+sometimes help himself importantly in this way. Very useful
+acquaintances may thus be made and cultivated, who might be rather shy
+if directly approached. Facts may be learned, and opportunities for
+advancement early discovered, or effectually laid hold of, by one who
+circulates widely in a society like that in Washington, or indeed any
+where. Nor perhaps should it be a ground of reproach to any one, that in
+a reasonable way and to a reasonable extent, he seeks and cultivates
+society for this purpose. But, whatever may be the moral aspect of this
+matter, or whatever the degree in which conduct of this kind is or is
+not justifiable, there was in Mr. Wheaton's demeanor nothing of this;
+nothing of it in appearance, because nothing of it in fact; for one who
+is mainly, or in any considerable degree governed by a purpose of this
+kind, must be cunning indeed, to hide it effectually; and cunning of any
+sort, was a quality of which he had none whatever. Every body felt and
+knew this: and therefore every body met him with a sense of confidence
+and repose, which of itself would go far in making any person more
+acceptable as a friend or as a mere companion, in a society of which the
+very surface constantly exhibited the many whirling under currents of
+Washington life. In one word, there was in him nothing of _trick_; but
+that constant and perfect suavity which is the spontaneous expression of
+universal kindness; and an excellent understanding, well and widely
+cultivated, and always ready to bring forth all its resources, not to
+help himself, but to help or gratify others, and all others with whom he
+came into contact, and all this, with no appearance of purpose or design
+of any kind; for it was but the natural outpouring of mind and heart, of
+one who was open to the widest sympathy, and whose interest in all
+persons and things about him was most real and honest, because he loved
+nothing so well as to do all the good he could, by word or deed, or
+little or much, to one, or few, or many. He was therefore most popular
+in society. But when we speak of Mr. Wheaton's social _popularity_, we
+must be careful to use this word in a higher than its common sense; and
+if I have made myself at all intelligible, I think you will understand
+both the cause and the character of that popularity.
+
+"And more than this I cannot say. Time has effaced from my memory
+details and especial circumstances; nor can I therefore, by their help,
+illustrate this slight sketch of Mr. Wheaton's character and position,
+during those pleasant months which he helped so much to make pleasant.
+Of these particulars, my recollection is dim enough. But no lapse of
+time will efface from my mind the clear and distinct recollection of the
+high excellence of his character, or the charms of his conversation and
+manners; nor shall I ever lose any portion of the affection and respect
+with which I regard his memory.
+
+    "I am, very sincerely,
+    "Your friend and obedient servant,
+    "THEOPHILUS PARSONS."
+
+  CAMBRIDGE, May 23, 1853.
+
+In 1821, Mr. Wheaton was elected a member of the Convention for revising
+the Constitution of the State of New-York, which having been formed amid
+the tumults and perils of war, seemed defective and insufficient to the
+wants of a richer, more enlightened, and more numerous society. In his
+sittings he turned his attention more particularly to the organization
+of the tribunals. In 1824, he was appointed by the New-York Legislature
+a member of the commission appointed to draw up the civil and criminal
+code of the State, a work in which he continued to be engaged until
+1827. It has been remarked that this was the first effort made by any
+State possessing the common law, to reduce its disconnected and
+diffusive legislation to the unity of a code; so that his name is thus
+connected with one of the most important landmarks in the history of
+American law.
+
+It may easily be imagined, that a person of so serious and thoughtful a
+disposition could not have failed at some period of his life, to turn
+his attention to the important subject of religion. While in college,
+and during the ensuing years, he had studied deeply the works of the
+great English theologians, and when the Unitarian Church was established
+in New-York, he united himself with it.
+
+His other occupations did not prevent him from entering into literary
+pursuits. In 1820 he pronounced a discourse before the Historical
+Society of New-York, and in 1824, one at the opening of the New-York
+Athen�um, both of which are considered to have unusual merit; he was in
+the habit of contributing to the North American Review, and also
+translated the Code Napoleon. Unfortunately, this manuscript and some
+other interesting papers were soon after destroyed by fire. In 1826 he
+published the life of William Pinkney, whom he had known in Washington,
+and for whom he had the highest regard and admiration. This he
+afterwards abridged for Sparks's American Biography. His familiarity
+with the French language, laws, and customs, led to an intimacy with
+most of the exiles whom the downfall of Napoleon brought to this
+country. Count R�al, the minister of police under the empire, Count
+Regnault, the most brilliant orator of that time, General Bernard and
+Prince Achille Murat, all considered him as a friend, and retained as
+long as they lived a warm recollection of the kind welcome they had
+found at his house.
+
+In 1827 he was appointed by President Adams, Charg� d'Affaires to
+Denmark, and charged with negotiations the object of which was to obtain
+an indemnity for the American vessels seized during the last war between
+France and England. He embarked in July for England, where he had the
+satisfaction of again seeing the friends whose kindness had made his
+first visit to that country so pleasant, and also of meeting some of the
+most distinguished literary and legal characters of the day. Among the
+former, was Dr. Bowring, with whom he afterwards became intimate, and
+who was indeed one of the warmest friends he had in Europe.
+
+Although the first few months passed in Copenhagen were not without the
+trials attendant on a removal to a foreign home, and in this instance
+were still more overshadowed by the news of his father's death, and by
+the illness and death of his wife's brother, who had gone with them, Mr.
+Wheaton soon became acclimated, formed pleasant acquaintances among his
+colleagues and among the Danes, who are remarkably kind and hospitable
+to foreigners, and availed himself of the resources the country offered
+to one of his tastes. The letter to Judge Story, of which we give a
+_fac-simile_, will show his first impressions of Copenhagen.
+
+The climate of Denmark is damp like that of England, and its verdure
+quite as beautiful. Copenhagen is prettily situated, and contains as
+many objects of interest as any city of the size in Europe. It has fine
+palaces, a military and a naval academy, admirable hospitals, an
+extensive public library, a valuable collection of Northern antiquities,
+a good gallery of pictures, and fine public walks. The vicinity of the
+capital, although level, is highly cultivated, and affords a number of
+charming residences. The most pleasant of these are situated on the
+Strandvei, a road which runs along the shore of the Baltic to the
+Dyr-Hange, a fine park well stocked with deer, which is a favorite place
+of resort during the summer season to the Danes, who enjoy out-of-door
+life as much as the inhabitants of a Southern clime. Many of the houses
+which stand at intervals along the pleasant Strandvei are rented by
+their proprietors to foreigners. Of one of those occupied by Mr. Wheaton
+and his family, we engrave a cut, from a view painted by an artist of
+the country. It stood, and still stands, at some distance from the road,
+with a green lawn before it, and surrounded by lilacs, laburnums and
+beech-trees, whose white bark and light green leaves give a peculiar
+character to the scenery of Denmark. From the windows of the house the
+blue waves of the Baltic, studded with every variety of sail, may be
+seen, and in clear weather the opposite coast of Sweden is discernible.
+The road is enlivened by the brilliant equipages of the Royal family and
+nobility, by the Holstein-wagen, long open carriages which contain ten
+persons, two only being seated abreast, and much used for parties of
+pleasure, and by the women from the neighboring fishing villages, with
+their green petticoats and red boddices, carrying large baskets of fish
+to the city.
+
+At the time of Mr. Wheaton's arrival in Denmark, Count Schimmelmann
+occupied the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs. This nobleman was
+possessed of great talents and worth, and for nearly thirty years was
+employed in the service of his government. Although a great part of his
+income was derived from his estates in the Danish West Indies, it was
+chiefly by his influence that the emancipation of the negroes was
+effected. He was a generous patron of art and science, and one of the
+earliest friends of Niebuhr. By such a man Mr. Wheaton could not fail to
+be appreciated; and although the business transacted between them was of
+a delicate, and to the Danish government, which had been greatly
+impoverished by the war, of a trying nature, these meetings were always
+pleasant to both. The negotiations were terminated in 1831, by the
+signature of a convention, by which the American government obtained
+nearly all it had demanded.
+
+While thus engaged, Mr. Wheaton had not neglected the literary pursuits
+to which, in moments of leisure, he always turned with pleasure. He
+prepared himself by the study of the languages, literature, and history
+of Northern Europe, for writing a work which was published in London, in
+1831, under the title of History of the Northmen. At that period,
+Scandinavia was a new, and almost untrodden field, but although much has
+since been added to the information we then possessed respecting its
+history and antiquities, this work is still considered very valuable by
+those who take an interest in the subject to which it relates. It was
+translated into French in 1842, and a new edition of it being desired in
+this country, Mr. Wheaton undertook the task of preparing it, but did
+not live to complete it.
+
+In the course of these studies he became acquainted with the most
+distinguished literary characters of Denmark, such as Bask, Rafn,
+Finn-Magnusen, the poet Ohlenschl�ger, M�nter, Bishop of Zealand, and
+others. We must not omit to add Madame Frederika Brun, the sister of
+M�nter, and herself a poetess of celebrity, whose splendid mansion in
+Copenhagen and charming country-seat of Fredericksdal, were for many
+years the resort of the most distinguished persons in Denmark.
+
+It was in 1835 that he bade adieu to the country where nine pleasant
+years had been passed, and where his amiable disposition, high integrity
+and talents, had won him many friends. For more than a quarter of a
+century, our country had no representative in Prussia; but our increased
+trade with Germany rendering it important that we should renew our
+relations with that country, he was appointed by President Jackson,
+Minister Resident to the court of Prussia. On his arrival in Berlin, his
+new colleagues took pleasure in pointing out to him the house which had
+been the residence of his predecessor, John Quincy Adams, so long
+before.
+
+Mr. Ancillon, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was the descendant of a
+Huguenot family, who, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
+sought an asylum in Germany, and is even better known as a philosophical
+writer and historian, than as a statesman. To him Mr. Wheaton presented
+his credentials, and as the King, Frederick William III., and his
+ministers, soon after left Berlin, according to custom, for the summer
+months, he devoted the interval to visiting the Rhenish provinces, in
+order to examine their resources and report to Government concerning
+them. During the ensuing summers he made excursions into different parts
+of Germany with the same object. In his private letters, he speaks with
+delight of the beauty and fertility of the country, to which historical
+associations gave additional charm in his eyes. In a dispatch, he says:
+"Having diligently explored every state and every province, comprehended
+in the Customs-Association, with the view of studying their economical
+resources, I have been forcibly struck with the vast variety and rich
+productions with which Heaven has endowed this beautiful and highly
+favored land. Its fields teem with luxuriant harvests of grain and
+fruit, the hillsides are clad with vineyards yielding the most exquisite
+wines, the mountains contain inexhaustible treasures of useful minerals,
+whilst the valleys are filled with health-giving fountains of salubrious
+waters. When we add to these productions of nature and of agricultural
+labor, the vast variety of useful and ornamental fabrics, furnished by
+the persevering and patient industry of the German people, and their
+extensive consumption of the peculiar staple productions of the New
+World, we must be convinced of the great and increasing importance of
+the constituent elements of German commerce, of the valuable exchange it
+offers to the trade of other countries, and of the benefits which may be
+derived to our own country, from cultivating and extending the
+commercial relations between the United States and Germany."
+
+In 1837, Mr. Wheaton was raised by President Van Buren to the rank of
+Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary; and we cannot forbear
+remarking, that after the opposition which--although never a violent
+party man--he had in previous years shown Mr. Van Buren, it is most
+honorable to the latter, that no feeling of rancor or pique, withheld
+him from making a nomination which he felt the public services of his
+former opponent to deserve.
+
+In 1836, he published, in England and in the United States, his
+"Elements of International Law," and in 1846 republished it in this
+country with numerous additions. In 1841 he wrote in French, "Histoire
+du Progr�s du Droit des Gens depuis la paix de Westphalie," which
+obtained a _mention honorable_ from the French Institute. This work was
+published in French at Leipsic, 1844, and afterwards in New-York, under
+the title of "History of the Law of Nations." Competent judges have
+spoken of it as the best work of the kind ever written; Mr. Reddie and
+Mr. Manning in Great Britain, Baron Gagern in Germany, and the
+enlightened and accomplished Minister of the King of Sardinia, Marquis
+d'Azeglio, have all awarded high praise to it. By diplomatists, it is
+considered an invaluable book of reference; by British statesmen, it has
+several times been quoted in Parliament, and there can be no
+exaggeration in saying, that it has entitled the author to a lasting
+reputation in the Old World.
+
+In 1840, Mr. Wheaton had the misfortune to lose his eldest son, a lad of
+great promise, who died after a few days' illness in Paris, where he was
+at school. From that moment, all the father's hopes centred in Robert,
+his only remaining son. Of the latter, this is not the place to speak
+fully; but we cannot forbear to say, that he lived long enough to
+realize the fondest anticipations of his parents, and that his early
+death, at the age of twenty-five years, will ever be a source of regret
+to all who knew him. He died on the 9th of October, 1851, only three
+years after his father.
+
+In 1843, he was made a corresponding member of the French Institute, in
+the section of Moral and Political Sciences. This nomination increased
+the pleasure he felt in visiting Paris, which he did, whenever his
+official duties would permit. In the literary and political circles of
+that great capital, he found the stimulus which every mind like his
+requires, and of which, he felt the want in Berlin, where men of letters
+and _savans_ do not mix in the court-circles, which his official
+position compelled him frequently to attend. He knew most of the eminent
+statesmen and politicians of France; he was particularly well acquainted
+with M. Guizot, for whose character and talents he entertained the
+highest respect, and with M. Thiers, the charm of whose conversation he
+admired no less than his works, He also enjoyed the opportunity he had
+in Paris of meeting his countrymen, of whom comparatively few visited
+Berlin. Nor did he neglect when there, to transmit to Government such
+information respecting the general state of Europe, as his long
+residence abroad, and his relations with the leading men in several of
+its countries, enabled him to collect. In the ten years during which his
+mission to Berlin lasted, scarcely a week elapsed without his addressing
+a dispatch to Government. These dispatches are extremely interesting,
+both from the variety and extent of information they contain concerning
+the political and commercial state of Prussia, and the picture they
+present of Europe and of European governments, and, if ever published,
+will form a valuable addition to the history of American and European
+diplomacy.
+
+In many respects, Mr. Wheaton was peculiarly well qualified for
+diplomatic life. His knowledge of international law, the soundness of
+his judgment, the calmness and impartiality with which he could look at
+the different sides of a question, his gentle and forbearing
+disposition, his amiable and conciliating manners, were all in his
+favor. To these advantages, he added the purest integrity, and the
+highest sense of the duties and responsibilities attached to the
+profession he so long followed. In the speech made at the public dinner
+offered him in New-York, on his return to his native country after an
+absence of twenty years, he said, and this was the true expression of
+his feelings on the subject: "You will excuse me for remarking that the
+mission of a diplomatic agent is, or ought to be, a mission of peace and
+conciliation; and that nothing can be further removed from its true
+nature and dignity, than intrigue, craft, and duplicity; qualities too
+often, but in my opinion, erroneously, attributed to the diplomatic
+character. At least, it may I believe be confidently asserted, that the
+ablest public ministers, and those who have most effectually advanced
+the honor and interest of their country, have been those who were
+distinguished for frankness, directness, and a strict regard to truth."
+
+The amount of business which devolved on him during his mission to
+Berlin, independent of the negotiations for a commercial treaty with the
+German Customs-Union or Zollverein, can hardly be estimated by reading
+his dispatches only. Not a week elapsed without his receiving letters
+from different parts of Germany and the United States, asking for advice
+with regard to emigration, or to the disposition of property left by
+friends in America or in Germany, and all requiring immediate attention.
+But notwithstanding these demands upon his time, he did not neglect the
+pursuits of literature. In 1838 he published, jointly with Dr. Crichton,
+the volumes entitled "Scandinavia," which form a portion of the
+Edinburgh Family Library; and in 1842, and the succeeding years, wrote a
+number of interesting letters addressed to the National Institute at
+Washington, which were published in the columns of the National
+Intelligencer.
+
+In 1844, he was named Member of the Academy of Sciences at Berlin, and
+we must not omit to mention, that he was the only foreign diplomat to
+whom the honor had then been awarded. With Raumer and Ranke, with
+Ritter, the celebrated geographer, Encke, the astronomer, he was of
+course acquainted; Savigny, Gans, and Eichorn, he knew well; and with
+Alexander von Humboldt he was on the most friendly and familiar terms.
+Count Raczynski, whose work on "Modern Art," has made his name known in
+this country, and whose fine gallery is to amateurs of painting one of
+the chief objects of interest in Berlin, was also his intimate friend.
+With Bunsen, one of the most agreeable as well as intellectual men in
+Germany, whose diplomatic duties kept him absent from Berlin, he passed
+many delightful hours in Switzerland, and in London. All his colleagues
+in Berlin met him on the most friendly terms; but the Russian, French
+and English ministers were those whose company he most enjoyed, and who
+perhaps entertained for him the most cordial friendship. The two latter
+gave him their entire confidence, often showing him their dispatches,
+and freely discussing with him the interests of their respective
+governments.
+
+It was in the spring of 1844, that the negotiations with the Zollverein,
+with which Mr. Wheaton had been charged, and which the various interests
+of the nineteen different states which it then included, had protracted,
+drew to a close. On the 25th of March he signed a convention with Baron
+Bulow, the Prussian Minister of Foreign Affairs, of whose enlightened
+and liberal views he always spoke in high terms. This treaty, to the
+accomplishment of which he had devoted all his energies during several
+years, and which he fondly hoped would prove satisfactory to Government
+and the country, was rejected by the Senate. It is hardly necessary to
+say, that he felt this disappointment deeply.
+
+In 1846, he was recalled by President Polk, and on the 22d July had his
+farewell audience of the King of Prussia, by whom he had always been
+treated with marked distinction and courtesy. He went to Paris to pass
+the ensuing winter, during which he read to the Academy of Sciences a
+paper on the Schleswig-Holstein question, which is still unpublished. In
+May, 1847, he returned to his native land. A public dinner, to which we
+have already alluded, was given him in New-York, where so much of his
+early life had been spent, and where he had first distinguished himself;
+a dinner was also offered him in Philadelphia, but this, circumstances
+compelled him to decline. The city of Providence requested him to sit
+for his portrait, to be placed in the hall of the City Council, "as a
+memorial of one who shed so much honor on the place of his nativity." It
+is interesting to mark the contrast between this portrait, which was
+painted by Healy, and one painted by Jarvis nearly thirty years before.
+Though the countenance has lost something of the animation of youth, and
+the eyes have no longer the fire which flashes from the portrait of
+Jarvis, the head has gained in intellectual expression, and the brow
+wears that air of thoughtful repose, the mouth that pleasant smile,
+familiar to those who knew him in his later years.
+
+In September, 1847, he delivered an address in Providence, before the
+Phi Beta Kappa Society, the subject of which was the Progress and
+Prospects of Germany. This was the last public occasion on which his
+voice was heard. The chair of International Law at Harvard University,
+to which he had been called, on his return home, he never lived to fill.
+His health gradually failed, and on the 11th of March, 1848, he breathed
+his last.
+
+
+
+
+=Webster.=
+
+[Illustration: Webster fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Webster's Birth-place]
+
+WEBSTER.
+
+
+What justice can be done "in an half-hour of words, to fifty years of
+great deeds on high places." The most meagre epitome of Daniel Webster's
+career, can not be compressed into the few pages allotted him in this
+book. Foremost, in the highest spheres of intellectual exertion, as a
+lawyer, orator and statesman--great in all these, yet greater as a
+man--how can his character, even in outline, be sketched by an unskilled
+pencil, on so small a canvas? High as were his stations, and severe as
+were his labors, they were not high nor severe enough, to exhaust his
+force, or exhibit his full proportions, but while meeting and mastering
+all, it was still manifest, that he had powers in reserve, superior to
+greater tasks than were ever imposed. At the bar, the puzzles of
+jurisprudence yielded too readily to his analysis. In Congress, but one
+question only ever wrung his withers or strained his strength. He shook
+off the perplexities of diplomacy, like dew-drops from his mane; too
+great for party, too great for sycophancy, too great to be truly
+appreciated, the exalted position to which he aspired, would have added
+no new lustre to his name, no additional guarantee of its immortality.
+There was no niche in our temple, vast enough for his colossal image.
+
+Consider too, the extent and profundity of his opinions, during the
+half-century of his public life. On all questions of our foreign and
+domestic policy, on all the important epochs of our history, on
+everything respecting the origin, growth, commerce, peace and prosperity
+of this union of states, "everywhere the philosophical and patriotic
+statesman and thinker, will find that he has been before him, lighting
+the way, sounding the abyss. His weighty language, his sagacious
+warnings, his great maxims of empire, will be raised to view and live to
+be deciphered, when the final catastrophe shall lift the granite
+foundation in fragments from its bed." Merely to review the record of
+these opinions, his public speeches, historical discourses, and state
+papers would be to write the civil and constitutional history of the
+country since the war of 1812.
+
+Assaying none of these ambitious flights, and bearing in mind the title
+of this book, we shall confine ourselves to the humble task of collating
+from the fragmentary reminiscences of personal friends, and from his own
+autobiographical allusions, a brief account of the homes and home life
+of Webster.[21]
+
+There is a "vulgar error," which needs no Sir Thomas Browne to refute,
+that the possession of great intellectual endowments, is incompatible
+with the growth and development of the affections. During his entire
+career Mr. Webster suffered from this misconception. When he refused to
+adopt any of the arts of popular adulation; when he manifested his real
+respect for the people, by addressing their understandings, rather than
+by cajoling their weaknesses; when, rapt in his own meditations, he
+forgot to bow, to smile, to flatter, and bandy unmeaning compliment;
+when the mean stood abashed before his nobleness, and the weak before
+his strength, disappointed self-conceit, invariably turned from his
+presence, with the sneering remark, "Webster has no soul."
+
+Death strips off all disguises. Calumny is silent over the graves of the
+great. It was not, until he was removed beyond the reach of party
+warfare and interested depreciation, it was not, until the veil that hid
+his true lineaments, was drawn aside, that Mr. Webster's inner life, and
+social relations, were revealed to his countrymen, and they began to
+discover, that underneath the giant's brain, there was a giant heart.
+The disclosures of those who enjoyed his familiarity and confidence,
+have now placed it beyond all controversy, that home, home affections,
+home pursuits, home enjoyments, were more congenial to Mr. Webster's
+nature, than the dizzy heights of office, or the stormy forum.
+
+He saw not merely in HOME, the walls that protected him, from Boreas and
+the dog-star, the spot of earth appropriated to himself, the place that
+ministered to his material enjoyments, but while the sense of comfort
+and the sense of property entered into its complex idea, his sentiments
+and affections gave to it a higher and holier meaning. The word HOME
+carried him back to his infancy, and forward to his age. It connected
+itself with all his affections, filial, fraternal, parental, with those
+grand and solemn epochs of humanity, birth, marriage and death. To his
+lofty imagination, the roof-tree was consecrated with ceremonies, more
+imposing than those of our Saxon ancestors. It symbolized the family
+tie, the domestic virtues, the Lares and Penates of classic mythology.
+Home was his retreat from the world of action, to the world of
+contemplation. Here he was to _live_. These walls would witness those
+experiences, sweet, bitter, mournful; those communings with God, with
+friends, kindred and himself; those aspirations, dreams,
+disappointments--that are embraced in that word of infinite
+significance, _Life_. Here his wife was to administer love and
+consolation; here children were to be born, hostages to fortune,
+heritors of name and fame, idols upon whom can be lavished the
+inexhaustible treasures of love. Here the pilgrimage was to end, here he
+was to die.
+
+On the bleak and rugged soil of Salisbury, New Hampshire, in a green
+nook, hardly sheltered from the wintry blasts, he was born. Under an
+aged elm, whose branches reach across the highway, stands this ancient
+habitation. It is in the shadow of lofty mountains, while a broad and
+rapid river winds through the meadows spread out before the door.
+"Looking out at the east window," says he, in one of his letters, from
+this hallowed spot, "my eye sweeps along a level field of one hundred
+acres. At the end of it, a third of a mile off, I see plain marble
+grave-stones, designating the places where repose my father and mother,
+brother and sisters. The fair field is before me. I could see a lamb on
+any part of it. I have ploughed it, and raked it, but never mowed it;
+somehow, I could never learn to hang a scythe."
+
+As Webster advances, in years and distinction, he seems only to have
+been drawing a lengthened chain from his first home. With what constancy
+does he carry its features in his mind, Kearsarge, the Merrimack and
+Punch Brook! He spares no expense to cultivate the old acres and keep,
+the old house in repair. With what regularity does he revisit it and
+explore all his boyish haunts, the orchard, the mill, the meeting-house,
+the well, the hillside and the trout stream! With what a swelling
+heart, and moistened eye, does he sit beneath the ancestral elms that
+stretch their arms, in benediction, over the old homestead, while busy
+fancy repeoples these familiar scenes with the absent and the dead, the
+mother that bore him, the father on whose shoulder he wept, the much
+beloved brother, whose education he earned, "with weary fingers by the
+midnight lamp?" How from the great popular gathering, from the "sea of
+upturned faces," and even from the important issues that hung on his
+eloquence, does his mind impulsively wander to this cherished
+home--"Raised amid the snow-drifts of New Hampshire, at a period so
+early that, when the smoke first rose from its rude chimney, and curled
+over the frozen hills, there was no similar evidence of a white man's
+habitation between it and the settlements on the rivers of Canada. Its
+remains still exist. I make to it an annual visit. I carry my children
+to it to teach them the hardships endured by the generations which have
+gone before them. I love to dwell on the tender recollections, the
+kindred ties, the early affections, and the touching narratives and
+incidents, which mingle with all I know of this primitive family abode.
+I weep to think that none of those who inhabited it are now among the
+living; and if ever I am ashamed of it, or if I ever fail in
+affectionate veneration for HIM who reared and defended it against
+savage violence and destruction, cherished all the domestic virtues
+beneath its roof, and, through the fire and blood of seven years'
+revolutionary war, shrunk from no danger, no toil, no sacrifice to serve
+his country, and to raise his children to a condition better than his
+own, may my name and the name of my posterity be blotted forever from
+the memory of mankind."
+
+"Take care," says he, in one of the last letters which he wrote to John
+Taylor, "take care to keep my mother's garden in good order, even if it
+cost you the wages of a man to take care of it." One of Mr. Webster's
+most cherished relics, which he sometimes carried in his vest pocket,
+and exhibited to his friends, was an antique tea-spoon, covered with
+rust, which John Taylor found in this very garden of his mother. In the
+library at Marshfield, the eye turns from Healey's splendid portraits,
+to a small and unpretending silhouette, with the inscription, "my
+excellent mother," in the handwriting of her immortal son.
+
+When he selected as the home of his manhood, the old mansion by the
+far-resounding sea, how completely was every want of his nature
+represented in the grand and impressive features of the place.
+MARSHFIELD lies within the limits of the Pilgrims' earliest colony, and
+on Mr. Webster's farm stands the house to which Edward Winslow carried
+his household gods, from aboard the tempest-tost Mayflower, and the
+house to which a company of British soldiers bade final adieu, when they
+marched from it to storm the redoubts on Bunker Hill. It thus connects
+two chapters of that colonial history, which Mr. Webster loved to study
+and paint, and two imperishable monuments to his own renown. It is
+surrounded by vast and fertile fields, meadows and pastures green,
+dotted here and there with groves and orchards, for one who worshiped,
+as in a sanctuary, beneath the over-hanging branches of trees, and
+dotted also with great herds of red and black oxen, for one who "was
+glad when his cattle lifted up their large-eyed, contemplative faces,
+and recognized their master by a look." Its border, landward, is hedged
+with nothing less than a vast forest of pines, and within a few hours'
+ride, lies a fresh wilderness, unbroken, as when the Pilgrims first saw
+it from the Mayflower's mast-head, where the wild eagle still soars, and
+the timid deer "glances through the glade." His eye, far as its glance
+could penetrate, rested on the most sublime of all nature's attractions,
+on thee--
+
+            "glorious mirror where the Almighty's form
+    Glasses itself in tempests; in all time,
+    Calm or convulsed--in breeze, or gale, or storm,
+    Icing the pole, or in the torrid zone
+    Dark heaving; boundless, endless, and sublime,
+    The image of eternity, the throne
+    Of the Invisible."
+
+Scattered over its far-reaching expanse, he could always see the white
+sails of that commerce he loved to defend, and occasionally, one of
+those "oak leviathans," bearing the glorious flag of the union--"not a
+stripe erased, or polluted, not a single star obscured;" memorials at
+once of the nation's glory, and of his own proudest triumph.
+
+As deep answereth unto deep, none of the majestic harmonies of the
+domain, but found a full and equal response in the bosom of its lord.
+Old ocean never rolled its waves, at the feet of one who could better
+grasp their immeasurable extent, unfathomable depth. When, with these
+surroundings, he stood on that autumn eve, beneath that magnificent elm
+that grows by his door-side, the sea's eternal anthem in his ear, and in
+his eye, the infinite vault of the starry heavens, he could find in
+recorded language but this one utterance: "When I consider thy heavens,
+the work of thy fingers; the moon and the stars, which thou hast
+ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man,
+that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the
+angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor."
+
+While his tastes were thus attuned to the grandest aspects of nature,
+all the rural sights and rural sounds of this chosen spot, ministered to
+the delight of his acute sensibilities. "The smell of new-mown hay,"
+says Mr. Hillard, "and of the freshly turned furrows of spring, was
+cordial to his spirit. The whetting of the mower's scythe, the beat of
+the thresher's flail, the heavy groan of loaded wagons, were music to
+his ear!" The rich verdure of clover, the waving of the golden grain,
+the shriek of the sea-mew and the softest song of the nightingale;
+all the varying aspects of sky and field and sea, furnished him with a
+distinct and peculiar enjoyment. The shrinking quail whistled in his
+garden shrubbery, and fed, unscared, in his carriage-way.
+
+The observer can not fail to notice characteristics of Webster in all
+the features of this favorite abode. His door-yard is a broad field of
+twenty acres, unbroken by fence or hedge. Around it, sweep in concentric
+circles, of vast diameter, great belts of forest-trees, planted with his
+own hands, offering secluded recesses and shady walks, where "musing
+solitude might love to roam." Gotham Hill, once a sand-bank, piled up by
+the ocean, and long defeating, by its barrenness, the ingenuity of his
+culture, he at length clothed with a green garment of beautiful clover.
+Cherry Hill was converted from a lean and parched mole, into a cool and
+inviting grove, within a rod of his door, almost an alcove to the
+library. Everything in and about the house were as thoroughly systemized
+and adapted to each other, as the points of one of his briefs. The
+appurtenances of the mansion, the main barn, the sheep barn, the
+piggery, are all where the necessities of the farm and the comeliness of
+the homestead require them to be placed. In the interior, the parlors,
+the library filled with the lore of all ages, the ample hospitality of
+the dining-room, the breakfast-room, opening toward that morning light
+he loved so dearly, the dairy cooled by its proximity to the ice-house,
+the gun-room furnished with every appliance for field sports, the
+decorations and the furniture; everything in his mansion as in his
+arguments, bespeaks the mind of Webster.
+
+Within a stone's throw of this parlor-window, observe those two young
+English elms; they are called "the Brother and Sister," and were thus
+named and thus planted, by the bereaved father, when Julia and Edward
+were torn from his heart. "I hope the _trees_ will live," said he, with
+touching pathos of tone, as he completed this labor of love. There is no
+more pathetic expression of parental sorrow, to be found in our
+language, than the dedication of the sixth volume of his works, to the
+same departed twain. "With the warmest parental affection, mingled with
+afflicted feelings, I dedicate this, the last volume of my works, to the
+memory of my deceased children, Julia Webster Appleton, beloved in all
+the relations of daughter, wife, mother, sister and friend; and Major
+Edward Webster, who died in Mexico, in the military service of the
+United States, with unblemished honor and reputation, and who entered
+the service solely from a desire to be useful to his country, and do
+honor to the state in which he was born.
+
+    "Go, gentle spirits, to your destined rest;
+    While I--reversed our nature's kindlier doom--
+    Pour forth a father's sorrow on your tomb."
+
+And yet Mr. Webster was "cold as marble; all intellect."
+
+But let us pass into the library; the LIBRARY! Here Vulcan forged those
+infrangible chains, that impenetrable armor--the shield of Achilles and
+the sword of Hector. Here you feel nearer to Webster than even when you
+enter his tomb; much that is in this room his immortal spirit carried
+with it in its upward flight. It is not that life-like portrait, by
+Healey, that introduces you, as it were, into the visible presence of
+the great statesman. It is the inspiration of the place, these scattered
+tools, just as they were dropped by the master-workman, that well-worn
+manual, thumbed by his own hand; that turned leaf, indicating the last
+page of human lore upon which his eye ever gazed; that arm-chair, his
+favorite seat. He seems just to have left it, and you will now find him,
+in one of those shady lanes, that lead to Cherry Hill, walking slowly,
+as he welds together the facts and principles he has gleaned from yonder
+opened folio. Here then, with these surroundings, with that beautiful
+landscape in his eye, DANIEL WEBSTER studied, pondered, and communed
+with these old tomes as with familiar faces. How often has he turned
+from the living world, to find kindred here in Bacon, Chatham, Fox and
+Burke! How often has his eye run over that complete set of parliamentary
+debates! How often has he conned those volumes of Hansard, and these of
+McCullough! How often has he resorted to that full alcove of
+dictionaries, to learn the precise and exact meaning of some important
+word; and to you, Shakspeare, Milton and Gray, how often has he fled for
+refreshment and consolation! How often, harassed by cares, and stung by
+ingratitude, has he murmured, in this air, the music of his favorite
+Cicero, "H�c studia adolescentiam alunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas
+res ornant, adversis perfugium ac solatium pr�bent, delectant domi, non
+impediunt foris, pernoctant nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur."
+
+Let us now ascend this staircase, (adorned with no costly paintings,
+but with some choice engravings, interesting from the associations they
+recall, or as mementos from friends, or tributes from artists,) and
+approach this darkened chamber, looking toward the setting sun; tread
+softly and slowly! Within these walls, on that plain bedstead, beneath
+that window commanding an ocean prospect, Webster died. Here occurred
+that grand and affecting leave-taking, with kindred, friends and the
+world; here, "the curfew tolled the knell of parting day;" here occurred
+a death-scene, which can find no parallel in human history, but in the
+death of Socrates; here, with the assured consciousness, that his own
+contributions to the fund of human wisdom were imperishable, and that
+the "next ages" could not fail to do justice to his patriotic labors, he
+faintly murmured, as his spirit took its flight, and his eye closed
+forever, "I still live."
+
+On an eminence overlooking the sea, by the side of the burial-place of
+the first Pilgrims, is Webster's last home. A mound of earth and marble
+slab, mark the spot where sleeps all that is mortal of the great
+American.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[21] We have consulted principally the "Memorials of Daniel Webster,"
+published by the Appletons, containing the letters of Gen. Lyman, and
+the eulogies of Everett, Choate and Hildreth, all enjoying the precious
+favor of his personal intimacy. The reminiscences of Mr. Lanman, his
+private secretary, and Everett's life prefixed to the complete edition
+of his works, are our authority for many of the following details.
+
+
+
+
+  +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                                                              |
+  | TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES                                          |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Spelling has been made consistent throughout but kept to     |
+  | authors' original format except where noted.                 |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Small Caps has been capitalized in this text version.        |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the |
+  | closest paragraph break. "Washington's" has been added to    |
+  | captions for Headquarters on pages 23, 25, 28, 32, 33, 34,   |
+  | 37, and 45.                                                  |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Footnotes have been moved to the end of the chapters. Also,  |
+  | "The" has been added to "Works of John Adams" (for footnotes |
+  | 2-3) and "Life and Works" (for footnotes 5-6 and 8-10) for   |
+  | consistency.                                                 |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page viii: Page numbers added to "Fac-similes of Letters".   |
+  | Henry Clay is added to the list, whereas Patrick Henry's     |
+  | copy is not available.                                       |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 8: (Hudson's Statue) changed to (Houdon's Statue)       |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 17: (to recruit in mind and body) changed to (to        |
+  | recoup his mind and body)                                    |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 50: (great Lakes) changed to (Great Lakes)              |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 68: (old style, 1706, on a house) changed to            |
+  | (old style, 1706, in a house)                                |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 141: Hyphen removed (much like the-lime tree of Europe) |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 146: " removed from ("In 1774 Mr. Adams was appointed)  |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 159: ? changed to , (early companions? so that his)     |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 186: (Apalachian) changed to (Appalachian)              |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 387: , replaces ; in (His countenance, clear,           |
+  | expressive; and)                                             |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 397: Typo "then" corrected in (Legislature, and thne)   |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 429: , replaces ; in (the other; begirt)                |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 438: (Webster, Parker, Quincy and Prescott,) replaces   |
+  | (Webster and Parker, and Quincy; and Prescott,)              |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 441: ; removed from (a tale twice told and; who was)    |
+  |                                                              |
+  +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Homes of American Statesmen, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOMES OF AMERICAN STATESMEN ***
+
+***** This file should be named 37910-8.txt or 37910-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/9/1/37910/
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Homes of American Statesmen, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Homes of American Statesmen
+       With Anecdotical, Personal, and Descriptive Sketches
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: November 2, 2011 [EBook #37910]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOMES OF AMERICAN STATESMEN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Steven Brown and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<h1><big>HOMES</big><br />
+<small>OF</small><br />
+<big>AMERICAN
+STATESMEN.</big></h1>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="cover_page"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 471px; height: 400px;" alt="Birthplace of Henry Clay" src="images/illus002.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">Birthplace
+of
+Henry Clay</span></p>
+<p class="center smcap"><big>HARTFORD.</big></p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="frontispiece"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 678px; height: 401px;" alt="Marshfield, Residence of Daniel Webster" src="images/illus001.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">Marshfield,
+Residence of Daniel Webster&nbsp;</span></p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_i"></a>[ i ]</span></p>
+<h1><big>HOMES</big><br />
+<small>OF</small><br />
+<big>AMERICAN
+STATESMEN</big></h1>
+<p class="center"><big>WITH</big><br />
+</p>
+<p style="font-style: italic;" class="center"><big>Anecdotical,
+Personal, and Descriptive Sketches,</big><br />
+</p>
+<p class="center smcap">BY VARIOUS WRITERS.<br />
+</p>
+<p class="center smcap">
+ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD, FROM DRAWINGS BY D�PLER<br />
+AND DAGUERREOTYPES: AND FAC-SIMILES OF AUTOGRAPH LETTERS.
+</p>
+<p style="font-style: italic;" class="center"><big>
+HARTFORD:</big><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p class="center">PUBLISHED BY O.D. CASE &amp; CO.</p>
+<p class="center">LONDON:</p>
+<p class="center">SAMPSON LOW, SON &amp; CO.</p>
+<p class="center">M.DCCC.LVI.</p>
+<hr />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_ii"></a>[ ii ]</span></p>
+<p class="center">
+Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854,</p>
+<p class="center">by O.D. CASE &amp; CO.,</p>
+<p class="center">in
+the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the</p>
+<p class="center">District of Connecticut.</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_iii"></a>[
+iii ]</span>
+</p>
+<h2><a name="publishers_notice" id="publishers_notice"></a>PUBLISHERS'
+NOTICE.</h2>
+<p>We need hardly commend to the American public this attempt to
+describe and familiarize the habitual dwelling-places of some of the
+more eminent of our Statesmen. In bringing together such particulars as
+we could gather, of the homes of the men to whom we owe our own, we
+feel that we have performed an acceptable and not unnecessary service.
+The generation who were too well acquainted with these intimate
+personal circumstances to think of recording them, is fast passing
+away; and their successors, while acknowledging a vast debt of
+gratitude, might still forget to preserve and cherish the individual
+and private memories of the benefactors of our country and race. We
+therefore present our contribution to the national annals with
+confidence, hoping that in all respects the present volume will be
+found no unworthy or unwelcome successor of the "Homes of American
+Authors."<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_iv"></a>[
+iv ]</span></p>
+<p>Dr. R.W. Griswold having been prevented by ill health from
+contributing an original paper on Marshall, we have availed ourselves,
+with his kind permission, of the sketch which he prepared for the
+"Prose Writers of America." All the other papers in the present volume
+have been written expressly for it: and the best acknowledgments of the
+publishers are due to the several contributors for the zealous interest
+and ability to which these sketches bear witness.</p>
+<p>For several of the original letters which we have
+copied in <i>fac-simile</i>,
+we are indebted to the kindness of the Rev. Dr. Sprague of Albany.</p>
+<p>The drawing of the residence of the "Washington Family," and a
+few of the smaller cuts, have been copied, with some variations, from
+Mr. Lossing's very valuable work, "The Field-Book of the Revolution."
+Most of the other illustrations have been engraved from original
+drawings, or daguerreotypes taken for the purpose.</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_v"></a>[
+v ]</span></p>
+<h2><a name="contents" id="contents"></a>CONTENTS.</h2>
+<table style="width: 90%; text-align: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 35%;"></td>
+<td style="width: 35%;"></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">Page.</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#washington">WASHINGTON</a></td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">Mrs. C.M. Kirkland</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#washington">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#franklin">FRANKLIN</a></td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">C.F. Briggs</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#franklin">63</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#jefferson">
+JEFFERSON</a> </td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">Parke Godwin</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#jefferson">77</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_095">
+HANCOCK</a></td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">Richard Hildreth</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_095">
+95</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_123">
+JOHN ADAMS</a></td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">Clarence Cook</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_123">123</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_151">
+PATRICK HENRY</a></td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">Edward W. Johnston</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_151">151</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_179">
+MADISON</a></td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">Edward W. Johnston</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_179">179</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_197">
+JAY</a></td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">William S. Thayer</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_197">197</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_231">HAMILTON</a></td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">James C. Carter</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_231">231</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_261">
+MARSHALL</a></td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">R.W. Griswold, D.D.</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_261">261</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_275">
+AMES</a></td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">James B. Thayer</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_275">275</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_299">
+JOHN QUINCY ADAMS</a></td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">David Lee Child</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_299">299</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_339">
+JACKSON</a></td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">Parke Godwin</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_339">339</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_353">
+RUFUS KING</a></td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">Charles King, L.L.D.</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_353">353</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_369">
+CLAY</a></td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">Horace Greeley</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_369">369</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_395">
+CALHOUN</a></td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">Parke Godwin</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_395">395</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_413">
+CLINTON</a></td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">T. Romeyn Beck, M.D.</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_413">413</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_425">
+STORY</a></td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">Francis Howland</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_425">425</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_447">
+WHEATON</a></td>
+<td></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_447">447</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_471">
+WEBSTER</a></td>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">Henry C. Deming</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#pg_471">471</a></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_vi"></a>[ vi ]</span></p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_vii"></a>[ vii ]</span></p>
+<h2><a name="illustrations" id="illustrations"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
+<table style="width: 90%; text-align: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">Page.</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#cover_page"><span class="smcap">Birth-place
+of Henry Clay</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#cover_page">Cover Page</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#frontispiece"><span class="smcap">Marshfield,
+Residence of Daniel Webster</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#frontispiece">Frontispiece</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus013"><span class="smcap">Site of
+Washington's Birth-place</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus013">3</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus018"><span class="smcap">Greenough's
+Statue of Washington</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus018">6</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus020"><span class="smcap">Houdon's
+Statue of Washington</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus020">8</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus022"><span class="smcap">Chantrey's
+Statue of Washington</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus022">10</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus025"><span class="smcap">Residence
+of the Washington Family</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus025">13</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap"></span><a href="#illus028"><span class="smcap">Mount
+Vernon</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus028">16</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus031"><span class="smcap">Tomb of
+Washington's Mother</span></a><br />
+</td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus031">19</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap"></span><a href="#illus035"><span class="smcap">Washington's
+Headquarters, Cambridge</span>,
+1775<span class="smcap"></span></a><br />
+</td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus035">23</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus037a"><span class="smcap">
+Washington's Headquarters,
+Pearl-street, New-York</span>, 1776</a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus037a">25</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap"></span><a href="#illus037b"><span class="smcap">House
+No. 1 Broadway, New-York</span></a><span class="smcap">
+</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus037b">26</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus40"><span class="smcap">Washington's
+Headquarters, Morristown,
+N.J.</span>, 1779</a><span class="smcap">
+</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus40">28</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus44"><span class="smcap">Washington's
+Headquarters, Chad's Ford</span>,
+1777</a><br />
+</td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus44">32</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap"></span><a href="#illus45"><span class="smcap">Washington's
+Headquarters, White Marsh</span>,
+1777</a><span class="smcap"></span><br />
+</td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus45">33</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap"></span><a href="#illus46"><span class="smcap">Washington's
+Headquarters, Valley
+Forge</span>, 1777</a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus46">34</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus49"><span class="smcap">Washington's
+Headquarters, Tappan</span>,
+1778</a><br />
+</td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus49">37</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus53"><span class="smcap">Washington's
+Headquarters, Newburgh,
+N.Y.</span></a><span class="smcap">
+</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus53">41</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus59"><span class="smcap">
+Washington's Headquarters, Rocky
+Hill, N.J.</span>, 1783</a><span class="smcap">
+</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus59">45</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus63"><span class="smcap">Mount
+Vernon, Rear View</span></a><span class="smcap">
+</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus63">49</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus66"><span class="smcap">House of
+the First Presidential Levee,
+Cherry-Street, New-York</span>.</a><span class="smcap">
+</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus66">52</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus74"><span class="smcap">Washington's
+Tomb</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus74">60</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus83"><span class="smcap">Old South
+Church, Boston</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus83">69</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus88"><span class="smcap">Grave of
+Franklin, Philadelphia</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus88">74</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus90"><span class="smcap">Franklin's
+Monument, Boston</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus90">76</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus93"><span class="smcap">Monticello,
+Jefferson's Residence</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus93">79</a><span class="pagenum">[ viii ]</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus111"><span class="smcap">Hancock
+House, Boston</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus111">97</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus139"><span class="smcap">Residence
+of the Adams Family, Quincy,
+Mass.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus139">125</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><span class="smcap"><a href="#illus167">Residence of
+Patrick Henry, Va</a>.</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus167">153</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus179"><span class="smcap">Old Church
+at Richmond, Va.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus179">164</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus194"><span class="smcap">Old Court
+House, Va.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus194">178</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus197"><span class="smcap">Montpelier,
+Madison's Residence</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus197">181</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus215"><span class="smcap">Jay's
+Residence, Bedford, N.Y.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus215">199</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus249"><span class="smcap">Ball
+Hughes' Statue of Hamilton</span>.</a><br />
+</td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus249">233</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus261"><span class="smcap">Hamilton's
+Residence, Near
+Manhattanville, N.Y.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus261">245</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus277"><span class="smcap">Monument
+To Hamilton, Trinity
+Church-yard, N.Y.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus277">259</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus281"><span class="smcap">Marshall's
+House at Richmond, Va.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus281">263</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus319"><span class="smcap">Birth-place
+of John Quincy Adams</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus319">301</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus359"><span class="smcap">Hermitage,
+Residence of Jackson</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus359">341</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus373"><span class="smcap">Rufus
+King's House, Near Jamaica, L.I.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus373">355</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus389"><span class="smcap">Ashland,
+Residence of Henry Clay</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus389">371</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus412"><span class="smcap">Clay's
+Birth-place</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus412">394</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus433"><span class="smcap">Clinton's
+Residence, Maspeth, L.I.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus433">415</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus442"><span class="smcap">H.K.
+Brown's Statue of Clinton</span></a><br />
+</td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus442">424</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus445"><span class="smcap">Story's
+House at Cambridge, Mass.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus445">427</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus467"><span class="smcap">Wheaton's
+Residence Near Copenhagen</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus467">449</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td align="left" valign="middle"><a href="#illus491"><span class="smcap">Webster's
+Birth-place</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#illus491">473</a></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<h2><a name="letters" id="letters"></a>
+</h2>
+<h6>Fac-similes of Letters</h6>
+<table style="width: 90%; text-align: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><span class="smcap">Page.</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"><a href="#letter_02"><span class="smcap">Washington.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#letter_02">2</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"><a href="#letter_64"><span class="smcap">Franklin.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#letter_64">64</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"><a href="#letter_78"><span class="smcap">Jefferson.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#letter_78">78</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"><a href="#letter_96"><span class="smcap">Hancock.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#letter_96">96</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"><a href="#letter_124"><span class="smcap">John
+Adams.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#letter_124">124</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"><span class="smcap">Patrick
+Henry.</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle">152</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"><a href="#letter_180"><span class="smcap">Madison.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#letter_180">180</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;">
+<a href="#letter_198"><span class="smcap">John
+Jay.</span></a>
+</td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#letter_198">198</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"><a href="#letter_262"><span class="smcap">Marshall.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#letter_262">262</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"><a href="#letter_276"><span class="smcap">Ames.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#letter_276">276</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"><a href="#letter_300"><span class="smcap">John
+Quincy Adams.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#letter_300">300</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"><a href="#letter_340"><span class="smcap">Jackson.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#letter_340">340</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"><span class="smcap"><a href="#letter_354">Rufus
+King</a>.</span></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#letter_354">354</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"><a href="#letter_370"><span class="smcap">Henry
+Clay.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#letter_370">370</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"><a href="#letter_396"><span class="smcap">Calhoun.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#letter_396">396</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"><a href="#letter_414"><span class="smcap">Dewitt
+Clinton.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#letter_414">
+414</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"><a href="#letter_426"><span class="smcap">Story.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#letter_426">426</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"><a href="#letter_448"><span class="smcap">Wheaton.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#letter_448">448</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 75%;"><a href="#letter_472"><span class="smcap">Webster.</span></a></td>
+<td align="center" valign="middle"><a href="#letter_472">472</a></td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_001"></a>[1]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="washington"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Washington.</span>
+</h6>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="letter_02"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 598px; height: 800px;" alt="Washington fac-simile of letter" src="images/letters/washington.png" /></a>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_002"></a>[2]</span>
+</div>
+<hr  />
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus013"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 508px; height: 400px;" alt="Site of Washingtons Birthplace" src="images/illus013.jpg" /></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_003"></a>[3]</span>
+</div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">Site
+of Washingtons Birthplace</span></p>
+<h2>WASHINGTON.</h2>
+<h3>1732&#8212;1799.</h3>
+<p>To see great men at home is often more pleasant to the visitor
+than advantageous to the hero. Men's lives are two-fold, and the life
+of habit and instinct is not often, on superficial view, strictly
+consistent with the other&#8212;the more deliberate, intentional and
+principled one, which taxes only the higher powers. Yet, perhaps, if
+our rules of judgment were more humane and more sincere, we should find
+less discrepancy than it has been usual to imagine, and what there is
+would be more indulgently accounted for. The most common-place<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_004"></a>[4]</span>
+man has
+an inner and an outer life, which, if displayed separately, might never
+be expected to belong to the same individual; and it would be
+impossible for him to introduce his dearest friend into the sanctum,
+where, as in a spiritual laboratory, his words and actions originate
+and are prepared for use. Yet we could accuse him of no hypocrisy on
+this ground. The thing is so because Nature says it should be so, and
+we must be content with her truth and harmony, even if they be not
+ours. So with regard to public and domestic life. If we pursue our hero
+to his home, it should be in a home-spirit&#8212;a spirit of affection, not
+of impertinent intrusion or ungenerous cavil. If we lift the purple
+curtains of the tent in which our weary knight reposes, when he has
+laid aside his heavy armor and put on his gown of ease, it is not as
+malicious servants may pry into the privacy of their superiors, but as
+friends love to penetrate the charmed circle within which disguises and
+defences are not needed, and personal interest may properly take the
+place of distant admiration and respect. In no other temper is it
+lawful, or even decent, to follow the great actors on life's stage to
+their retirement; and if they be benefactors, the greater the shame if
+we coolly criticize what was never meant for any but loving eyes.</p>
+<p>The private life of him who is supereminently the hero of
+every true American heart, is happily sacred from disrespectful
+scrutiny, but less happily closed to the devout approach of those who
+would look upon it with more than filial reverence. This is less
+remarkable than it may at first sight appear to us who know his merit.
+The George Washington of early times was a splendid youth, but his
+modesty was equal to his other great qualities, and his neighbors could
+not be expected to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_005"></a>[5]</span>
+foresee the noon of such a morning. And when the first stirring time
+was over, and the young soldier settled himself quietly at Mount
+Vernon, as a country
+gentleman, a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, a vigorous
+farmer and tobacco planter, a churchwarden in two parishes, and a staid
+married man with two step-children, to whom he was an active and
+faithful guardian, no one thought of recording his life and doings, any
+more than those of his brother planters on the Potomac, all landed men,
+deer and fox-hunters and zealous fishermen, who visited each other in
+the hospitable Southern fashion, and lived in rustic luxury, very much
+within themselves. Few, indeed, compared with the longings of our
+admiration, are the particulars that have come down to us of
+Washington's Home&#8212;the home of his natural affections; but he had many
+homes of duty, and these the annals of his country will ever keep in
+grateful memory. Through these our present design is to trace his
+career, succinctly and imperfectly indeed, and with the diffidence
+which a character so august naturally inspires. Happily, many
+deficiencies in our sketch will be supplied by the intimate knowledge
+and the inborn reverence of a large proportion of our readers.</p>
+<p>It seems to be a conceded point that ours is not
+the age of
+reverence, nor our country its home. While the masses were nothing and
+individuals every thing, gods or demigods were the natural product of
+every public emergency and relief. Mankind in general, ignorant, and of
+course indolent, only too happy to be spared the labor of thought and
+the responsibility of action, looked up to the great and the fortunate
+till their eyes were dazzled, and they saw characters and exploits
+through a glorious golden mist, which precluded criticism. It <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_006"></a>[6]</span>was
+easy,
+then, to be a hero, for a single success or a happy chance sufficed.
+Altars sprang up in every bye-road, and incense fumed without stint or
+question.</p>
+<p>To-day the case is widely different. We give nothing for
+nothing. Whatever esteem or praise we accord, must be justified, inch
+by inch, by facts tangible and productive, successes undimmed by any
+after failure, and qualities which owe nothing to imagination or
+passion in the observer. No aureole is allowed about any head unless it
+emanate from it. Our Apollo must actually have sent the shaft, and to
+the mark, too, or we sneer at the attitude of triumph. If we erect a
+statue, no robe is confessed to be proper drapery but the soiled and
+threadbare one of every-day life and toil. No illusion&#8212;no poetry! is
+the American maxim of our time. Bald, staring, naked literality for us!
+He is the true philosopher who can</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">Peep
+and botanize</span></span><br />
+<span class="poem">Upon his
+mother's grave</span></p>
+<p>if the flowers required by science happen to grow
+there.</p>
+<p>All this may be very wise and knowing, yet as long as the
+machine called man has something within it which is not exactly a
+subject for mathematical measurement, there will remain some little
+doubt of the expediency of thus stripping life of its poetry, and
+bringing all that is inspiring to the test of line and plummet. Just
+now, however, there is no hearing for any argument on this side.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus018"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 322px; height: 402px;" alt="Greenough's Statue of Washington" src="images/illus018.jpg" /></a>
+</div>
+<p style="text-align: center;">
+<span class="caption">Greenough's Statue of Washington</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>What shall we think, then, of a character which, in a single
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_007"></a>[7]</span>
+half century, has begun, even among us, to wear something of a mythical
+splendor? What must the man have been, whom an age like this
+deliberately deifies? Who but Washington has, in any age, secured for
+himself such a place in the universal esteem and reverence of his
+countrymen, that simple description of him is all that can be
+tolerated, the public sense of his merits being such as makes praise
+impertinent, and blame impious?</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Washington</span>! It
+were almost enough to grace our page and our volume with this honored
+and beloved name. The commentary upon it is written in every heart. It
+is true the most anxious curiosity has been able to find but a small
+part of what it would fain know of the first man of all the earth, yet
+no doubt remains as to what he was, in every relation of life. The
+minuti� may not be full, but the outline, in which resides the
+expression, is perfect. It were too curious to inquire how much of
+Washington would have been lost had the rural life of which he was so
+fond, bounded his field of action. Providence made the stage ready for
+the performer, as the performer for the stage. In his public character,
+he was not the man of the time, but for the time, bearing in his very
+looks the seal of a grand mission, and seeming, from his surprising
+dignity, to have no private domestic side. Greenough's marble statue of
+him, that sits unmoved under all the vicissitudes of storm and calm,
+gazing with unwinking eyes at the Capitol, is not more impassive or
+immovable than the Washington of our imaginations. Yet we know there
+must have been another side to this grand figure, less grand, perhaps,
+but not less symmetrical, and wonderfully free from those lowering
+discrepancies which bring nearer to our own level all other great,
+conspicuous men.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus020"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 224px; height: 399px;" alt="Houdon's Statue of Washington." src="images/illus020.jpg" /></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_008"></a>[8]</span>
+</div>
+<p style="text-align: center;">
+<span class="caption">Houdon's Statue of Washington.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>We ought to know more of him; but, besides the
+other reasons
+we have alluded to for our dearth of intelligence, his was not a
+writing age on this side the water. Doing, not describing, was the
+business of the day. "Our own correspondent" was not born yet;
+desperate tourists had not yet forced their way into gentlemen's
+drawing-rooms, to steal portraits by pen and pencil, to inquire into
+dates and antecedents, and repay enforced hospitality by holding the
+most sacred personalities up to the comments of the curious. It would,
+indeed, be delightful to possess this kind of knowledge; to ascertain
+how George Washington of Fairfax
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_009"></a>[9]</span>
+appeared to the sturdy country
+gentlemen, his neighbors; what the "troublesome man" he speaks of in
+one of his letters thought of the rich planter he was annoying; whether
+Mr. Payne was proud or ashamed when he remembered that he had knocked
+down the Father of his Country in a public court-room; what amount of
+influence, not to say rule, Mrs. Martha Custis, with her large fortune,
+exercised over the Commander-in-chief of the armies of the United
+States. But rarer than all it would have been to see Washington himself
+deal with one of those gentry, who should have called at Mount Vernon
+with a view of favoring the world with such particulars. How he treated
+poachers of another sort we know; he mounted his horse, and dashing
+into the water, rode directly up to the muzzle of a loaded musket,
+which he wrenched from the astounded intruder, and then, drawing the
+canoe to land, belabored the scamp soundly with his riding whip. How he
+would have faced a loaded pen, and received its owner, we can but
+conjecture. We have heard an old gentleman, who had lived in the
+neighborhood of Mount Vernon in his boyhood, say that when the General
+found any stranger shooting in his grounds, his practice was to take
+the gun without a word, and, passing the barrel through the fence, with
+one effort of his powerful arm, bend it so as to render it useless,
+returning it afterwards very quietly, perhaps observing that his rules
+were very well known. The whole neighborhood, our old friend said,
+feared the General, not because of any caprice or injustice in his
+character, but only for his inflexibility, which must have had its own
+trials on a Southern plantation at that early day.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus022"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 196px; height: 399px;" alt="Chantrey's Statue of Washington." src="images/illus022.jpg" /></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_010"></a>[10]</span>
+</div>
+<p style="text-align: center;">
+<span class="caption">Chantrey's Statue of Washington.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>Painting and sculpture have done what they could to give us an
+accurate and satisfying idea of the outward appearance of the Father of
+our Country, and a surpassing dignity has been the aim if not the
+result, of all these efforts. The statue by Chantrey, which graces the
+State House at Boston, is perhaps as successful as any in this respect,
+and white marble is of all substances the most appropriate for the
+purpose. From all, collectively, we derive the impression, or something
+more, that in Washington we have one of the few examples on record of a
+complete and splendid union and consent of personal and mental
+qualifications for greatness
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_011"></a>[11]</span>
+in the same individual; unsurpassed
+symmetry and amplitude of mind and body for once contributing to the
+efficiency of a single being, to whom, also, opportunities for
+development and action proved no less propitious than nature. In the
+birth, nurture and destiny of this man, so blest in all good gifts,
+Providence seems to have intended the realization of Milton's ideal
+type of glorious manhood:<br />
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+A creature who, endued</span></span><br />
+<span class="poem">With sanctity of reason, might erect</span><br />
+<span class="poem">His stature, and, upright with front
+serene</span><br />
+<span class="poem">Govern the rest, self-knowing; and from
+thence</span><br />
+<span class="poem">Magnanimous, to correspond with Heaven;</span><br />
+<span class="poem">But, grateful to acknowledge whence his
+good</span><br />
+<span class="poem">Descends, thither, with heart voice and
+eyes,</span><br />
+<span class="poem">Directed in devotion, to adore</span><br />
+<span class="poem">And worship God supreme, who made him
+chief</span><br />
+<span class="poem">Of all his works.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>We may the more naturally think this because Washington was so
+little indebted to school learning for his mental power. Born in a
+plain farm-house near the Potomac&#8212;a hallowed spot now marked only by a
+memorial stone and a clump of decaying fig-trees, probably coeval with
+the dwelling; none but the simplest elements of knowledge were within
+his reach, for although his father was a gentleman of large landed
+estate, the country was thinly settled and means of education were few.
+To these he applied himself with a force and steadiness even then
+remarkable, though with no view more ambitious than to prepare himself
+for the agricultural pursuits to which he was destined, by a widowed
+mother, eminent for common sense and high integrity. His mother,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_012"></a>[12]</span>
+characteristically enough, for she was much more practical than
+imaginative, always spoke of him as a docile and diligent boy,
+passionately fond of athletic exercises, rather than as a brilliant or
+ambitious one. In after years, when La Fayette was recounting to her,
+in florid phrase, but with the generous enthusiasm which did him so
+much honor, the glorious services and successes of her son, she
+replied&#8212;"I am not surprised; George was always a good boy!" and this
+simple phrase from a mother who never uttered a superfluous word,
+throws a clear light on his early history. Then we have, besides,
+remnants of his school-exercises in arithmetic and geometry, beautiful
+in neatness, accuracy and method. At thirteen his mathematical turn had
+begun to discover itself, and the precision and elegance of his
+handwriting were already remarkable. His precocious wisdom would seem
+at that early age to have cast its horoscope, for we have thirty pages
+of forms for the transaction of important business, all copied out
+beautifully; and joined to this direct preparation for his future
+career are "Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and
+Conversation," to the number of one hundred and ten, all pointing
+distinctly at self-control and respect for the rights of others, rather
+than at a Chesterfieldian polish or policy, and these he learned so
+well that he practised them unfailingly all his life after.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus025"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 459px; height: 400px;" alt="Residence of the Washington Family." src="images/illus025.jpg" /></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_013"></a>[13]</span>
+</div>
+<p style="text-align: center;">
+<span class="caption">Residence of the Washington Family.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>A farm in Stafford County on the Rappahannoc, where his father
+had lived for several years before his death, was his share of the
+paternal estate, and on this he lived with his mother, till he had
+completed his sixteenth year. He desired to enter the British Navy, as
+a path to honorable distinction, and one of his half brothers, many
+years older than himself, had succeeded in obtaining a warrant for him;
+but the mother's reluctance to part with her eldest boy induced him to
+relinquish this advantage, and to embrace instead the laborious and
+trying life of a surveyor, in those rude, early days of Virginia
+exposed to extraordinary hazards. Upon this he entered immediately,
+accepting employment offered him by Lord Fairfax, who had come from
+England to ascertain the value of an immense tract of land which he had
+inherited, lying between the Potomac and Rappahannoc rivers, and
+extending beyond the Alleghanies. The surveying party was accompanied
+by William Fairfax, a distant relative of his lordship, but the boy of
+sixteen was evidently the most important member of the party. When the
+hardships of this undertaking became too exhausting, he returned to the
+more settled regions, and employed himself in laying out private tracts
+and farms, but he spent the greater part of three years in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_014"></a>[14]</span>
+wilderness, learning the value of lands, becoming acquainted with the
+habits and character of the wild Indian tribes, then so troublesome in
+the forests, and fitting himself by labor, study, the endurance of
+personal hardships and the exercise of vigilance and systematic effort,
+for the arduous path before him.</p>
+<p>At nineteen Washington had made so favorable an
+impression
+that he was appointed, by the government of Virginia, Adjutant-General
+with the rank of Major, and charged with the duty of assembling and
+exercising the militia, in preparation for expected or present
+difficulties on the frontier. He had always shown a turn for military
+affairs, beginning with his school-days, when his favorite play was
+drilling troops of boys, he himself always taking command; and
+noticeable again in his early manhood, when he studied tactics, and
+learned the manual exercise and the use of the sword. It was not long
+before the talent thus cultivated was called into action. Governor
+Dinwiddie sent Major Washington as commissioner to confer with the
+officer commanding the French forces, making the delicate inquiry by
+what authority he presumed to invade the dominions of his Majesty King
+George III., and what were his designs. A winter journey of seven
+hundred and fifty miles, at least half of which lay through an unbroken
+wilderness, haunted by wild beasts, and more formidable savages, was
+the first duty of the youthful Major under this commission, and it
+occupied six weeks, marked by many hardships and some adventures. The
+famous one of the raft on a half-frozen river, in which Washington
+narrowly escaped drowning, and the other of a malcontent Indian's
+firing on him, occurred during this journey; but he reached
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_015"></a>[15]</span>
+the French
+post in safety, and had an amicable, though not very satisfactory
+conference, with the Sieur St. Pierre, a courteous gentleman, but a
+wily old soldier. Governor Dinwiddie caused Major Washington's account
+of the expedition to be published, and when a little army was formed
+for the protection of the frontier, Washington received a command, with
+the rank of Colonel, at twenty-two years of age. Advancing at once into
+the wilderness, he encountered a French detachment, which he took
+prisoners, with their commander, and so proceeded during the remainder
+of the season, with general success. The next year, serving as a
+volunteer, it was his painful lot, when just recovering from a severe
+illness, to witness Braddock's defeat, a misfortune which, it is
+unanimously conceded, might have been avoided, if General Braddock had
+not been too proud to take his young friend's prudent counsel. All that
+an almost frantic bravery could do to retrieve the fortunes of this
+disastrous day, Washington, whom we are in the habit of thinking
+immovable, and who was at this time weak from the effects of fever, is
+reported to have done; and the fact that he had two horses shot under
+him, and his coat well riddled with rifle balls, shows how unsparingly
+he exposed himself to the enemy's sharp-shooters. A spectator says&#8212;"I
+saw him take hold of a brass field-piece as if it had been a stick. He
+looked like a fury; he tore the sheet lead from the touch-hole; he
+pulled with this and pushed with that; and wheeled it round as if it
+had been nothing. The powder-monkey rushed up with the fire, and then
+the cannon began to bark, and the Indians came down." Nothing but
+defeat and disgrace was the result of this unhappy encounter, except to
+Washington, who in that instance, as in so many <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_016"></a>[16]</span>others,
+stood out,
+individual and conspicuous, by qualities so much in advance of those of
+all the men with whom he acted, that no misfortune or disaster ever
+caused him to be confounded with them, or included in the most hasty
+general censure. It is most instructive as well as interesting to
+observe that his mind, never considered brilliant, was yet recognized
+from the beginning as almost infallible in its judgments, a tower of
+strength for the weak, a terror to the selfish and dishonest. The
+uneasiness of Governor Dinwiddie under Washington's superiority is
+accounted for only by the fact that that superiority was unquestionable.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus028"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 396px; height: 400px;" alt="Mount Vernon." src="images/illus028.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;">
+<span class="caption">Mount Vernon.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>After Braddock's defeat, Washington retired to Mount <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_017"></a>[17]</span>
+Vernon,&#8212;which had fallen to him by the will of his half-brother
+Lawrence&#8212;to recoup his mind and body, after a wasting fever and the
+distressing scenes he had been forced to witness. The country rang with
+his praises, and even the pulpit could not withhold its tribute. The
+Reverend Samuel Davies hardly deserves the reputation of a prophet for
+saying, in the course of a eulogy on the bravery of the Virginian
+troops,&#8212;"As a remarkable instance of this, I may point out that heroic
+youth, Colonel Washington, whom I cannot but hope Providence has
+hitherto preserved in so signal a manner for some important service to
+his country."</p>
+<p>When another army was to be raised for frontier
+service, the
+command was given to Washington, who stipulated for a voice in choosing
+his officers, a better system of military regulations, more promptness
+in paying the troops, and a thorough reform in the system of procuring
+supplies. All these were granted, with the addition of an aid-de-camp
+and secretary, to the young colonel of twenty-three. But he
+nevertheless had to encounter the evils of insubordination, inactivity,
+perverseness and disunion among the troops, with the further vexation
+of deficient support on the part of the government, while the terrors
+and real dangers and sufferings of the inhabitants of the outer
+settlements wrung his heart with anguish. In one of his many
+expostulatory letters to the timid and time-serving
+Governor Dinwiddie, his feelings burst their usual guarded bounds: "I
+am too little acquainted, sir, with pathetic language, to attempt a
+description of the people's distresses; but I have a generous soul,
+sensible of wrongs and swelling for redress. But what can I do? I see
+their situation, know <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_018"></a>[18]</span>
+their danger and participate in their sufferings,
+without having it in my power to give them further relief than
+uncertain promises. In short, I see inevitable destruction in so clear
+a light, that unless vigorous measures are taken by the Assembly, and
+speedy assistance sent from below, the poor inhabitants that are now in
+forts must unavoidably fall, while the remainder are flying before a
+barbarous foe. In fine, the melancholy situation of the people, the
+little prospect of assistance, the gross and scandalous abuse cast upon
+the officers in general, which reflects upon me in particular for
+suffering misconduct of such extraordinary kinds, and the distant
+prospect, if any, of gaining honor and reputation in the service, cause
+me to lament the hour that gave me a commission, and would induce me,
+at any other time than this of imminent danger, to resign, without one
+hesitating moment, a command from which I never expect to reap either
+honor or benefit; but, on the contrary, have almost an absolute
+certainty of incurring displeasure below, while the murder of helpless
+families may be laid to my account here. The supplicating tears of the
+women and moving petitions of the men melt me into such deadly sorrow,
+that I solemnly declare, if I know my own mind, I could offer myself a
+willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy, provided that would
+contribute to the people's ease."</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus031"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 288px; height: 403px;" alt="Tomb of Washington's Mother." src="images/illus031.jpg" /></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_019"></a>[19]</span>
+</div>
+<p style="text-align: center;">
+<span class="caption">Tomb of Washington's Mother.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>This extract is given as being very characteristic;
+full of
+that fire whose volcanic intensity was so carefully covered under the
+snow of caution in after life; and also as a specimen of Washington's
+style of writing, clear, earnest, commanding and business-like, but
+deficient in all express graces, and valuable rather for substance than
+form. We see in his general tone of expression something of that
+resolute mother, who, when her son, already the first man in public
+estimation, urged her to make Mount Vernon her home for the rest of her
+days, tersely replied&#8212;&#8212;"I thank you for your affectionate and dutiful
+offers, but my wants are few in this world, and I feel perfectly
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_020"></a>[20]</span>
+competent to take care of myself." Directness is the leading trait in
+the style of both mother and son; if either used circumlocution, it was
+rather through deliberateness than for diplomacy. Indeed, the alleged
+indebtedness of great sons to strong mothers, can hardly find a more
+prominent support than in this case. What a Roman pair they were! If
+her heart failed her a little, sometimes, as what mother's heart must
+not, in view of toils, sacrifices, and dangers like his; if she argued
+towards the softer side, how he answered her, appealing to her stronger
+self:<br />
+</p>
+<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="smcap">Mount
+Vernon</span>,
+14th Aug.,
+1755.
+</span></div>
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Honored Madam</span>,</p>
+<p>"If it is in my power to avoid going to the Ohio
+again, I
+shall; but if the command is passed upon me by the general voice of the
+country, and offered upon such terms as cannot be objected against, it
+would reflect dishonor upon me to refuse it; and that, I am sure, must,
+or ought to, give you greater uneasiness than my going in an honorable
+command. Upon no other terms will I accept of it. At present I have no
+proposals made to me, nor have I advice of such an intention, except
+from private hands.</p>
+<div style="text-align: right;">"I am, &amp;c."
+</div>
+<p><br />
+When the object for which he had undertaken the
+campaign&#8212;viz.:
+the undisturbed possession of the Ohio River&#8212;was accomplished,
+Washington resigned his commission, after five years of active and
+severe service, his health much broken and his private affairs not a
+little disordered. The resignation took effect in December, 1758, and
+in January, 1759, he was married, and, as he supposed, finally settled
+at Mount Vernon&#8212;or, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_021"></a>[21]</span>
+as he expresses it in his quiet way&#8212;"Fixed at this
+seat, with an agreeable partner for life, I hope to find more happiness
+in retirement than I ever experienced amidst the wide and bustling
+world." And in liberal and elegant improvements, and the exercise of a
+generous hospitality, the young couple spent the following fifteen
+years; the husband attending to his duties as citizen and planter, with
+ample time and inclination for fox-hunting and duck-shooting, and the
+wife, a kind, comely, thrifty dame, looking well to the ways of her
+household, superintending fifteen domestic spinning-wheels, and
+presiding at a bountiful table, to the great satisfaction of her
+husband and his numerous guests. When the spirit of the people began to
+rise against the exactions of the mother country, Washington was among
+the foremost to sympathize with the feeling of indignation, and the
+desire to resist, peaceably, if possible, forcibly if necessary. Of
+this, his letters afford ample proof. When armed resistance was
+threatened, Washington was immediately thought of as the Virginia
+leader. When Congress began, in earnest, preparations for defence,
+Washington was chairman of all the committees on the state of the
+country. When the very delicate business of appointing a
+commander-in-chief of the American armies was under consideration,
+Washington was the man whose name was on every tongue, and who was
+unanimously chosen, and that by the direct instrumentality of a son of
+Massachusetts, though that noble State, having commenced the struggle,
+might well have claimed the honor of furnishing a leader for it. What
+generosity of patriotism there was, in the men of those days, and how a
+common indignation and a common danger seem to have raised them above
+the petty jealousies and heart-burnings
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_022"></a>[22]</span>
+that so disfigure public doings
+in time of peace and prosperity! How the greatness of the great man
+blazed forth on this new field! What an attitude he took before the
+country, when he said, on accepting the position, "I beg leave to
+assure the Congress that as no pecuniary consideration could have
+tempted me to accept this arduous employment, at the expense of my
+domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to make any profit from it.
+I will keep an exact account of my expenses. These, I doubt not they
+will discharge, and that is all I desire." There was a natural,
+unconscious sovereignty in thus assuming to be the judge of what it
+might be proper to expend, in concerns the most momentous, extensive,
+and novel, as well as in taking the entire risk, both of payment and of
+public approbation,&#8212;in a direction in which he had already found the
+sensitiveness of the popular mind,&#8212;that equals any boldness of
+Napoleon's. We can hardly wonder that, in after times, common men
+instinctively desired and expected to make him a king.</p>
+<p>The battle of Bunker Hill had taken place in the
+time that
+intervened between Washington's consent and the receipt of his
+commission, so that he set out for Cambridge, with no lingering doubt
+as to the nature, meaning, or result of the service in which he had
+pledged all. He writes to his brother, "I am embarked on a wide ocean,
+boundless in its prospect, and in which, perhaps, no safe harbor is to
+be found." His residence at Cambridge, a fine old mansion, still
+stands, and in worthy occupancy. Here it was that he undertook the
+intolerable duty of organizing a young army, without clothes, tents,
+ammunition, or money, with a rich, bitter and disciplined enemy in
+sight, and boiling blood on both sides. Here <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_023"></a>[23]</span>
+it was that General Gage,
+with whom he had fought, side by side, twenty years before, on the
+Monongahela, so exasperated him by insolent replies to his
+remonstrances against the cruel treatment of American prisoners, that
+he gave directions for retaliation upon any of the enemy that might
+fall into American hands. </p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus035"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 389px; height: 399px;" alt="Washington's Headquarters, Cambridge, 1775" src="images/illus035.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;">
+<span class="caption">Washington's Headquarters,
+Cambridge, 1775.
+</span></p>
+<p><br />
+He was, however, Washington still, even
+though burning with a holy anger; and, ere the order could reach its
+destination, it was countermanded, and a charge given to all concerned
+that the prisoners should be allowed parole, and that <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_024"></a>[24]</span>
+every other
+proper indulgence and civility should be shown them. His letters to
+General Gage are models of that kind of writing. In writing to Lord
+Dartmouth afterwards, the British commander, who had been rebuked with
+such cutting and deserved severity, observes with great significance,
+"The trials we have had, show the rebels are not the despicable rabble
+we have supposed them to be."</p>
+<p>Washington was not without a stern kind of wit, on certain
+occasions. When the rock was struck hard, it failed not in fire. The
+jealousy of military domination was so great as to cause him terrible
+solicitudes at this time, and a month's enlistments brought only five
+thousand men, while murmurs were heard on all sides against poor pay
+and bad living. Thinking of this, at a later day, when a member of the
+Convention for forming the Constitution, desired to introduce a clause
+limiting the standing army to five thousand men, Washington observed
+that he should have no objection to such a clause, "if it were so
+amended as to provide that no enemy should presume to invade the United
+States with more than <i>three</i> thousand."</p>
+<p>Amid all the discouragements of that heavy time,
+the
+resolution of the commander-in-chief suffered no abatement. "My
+situation is so irksome to me at times," he says after enumerating his
+difficulties in a few forcible words, "that if I did not consult the
+public good more than my own tranquillity, I should long ere this have
+put every thing on the cast of a die." But he goes on to say, in a tone
+more habitual with him&#8212;"If every man was of my mind, the ministers of
+Great Britain should know, in a few words, upon what issue the cause
+should be put. I would not be deceived by artful declarations, nor
+specious pretences, nor would I be amused by unmeaning propositions,
+but, in open, undisguised and manly terms, proclaim our wrongs, and our
+resolution to be redressed. I would tell them that we had borne much,
+that we had long and ardently sought for reconciliation upon honorable
+terms; that it had been denied us; that all our attempts after peace
+had proved abortive, and had been grossly misrepresented; that we had
+done every thing that could be expected from the best of subjects; that
+the spirit of freedom rises too high in us to submit to slavery. This I
+would tell them, not under covert, but in words as clear as the sun in
+its meridian brightness."<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_025"></a>[25]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus037a"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 308px; height: 400px;" alt="Washington's Headquarters, 180 Pearl street, New-York. 1776." src="images/illus037a.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;">
+<span class="caption">Washington's Headquarters, 180 Pearl
+street, New-York. 1776.
+</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style='width: 500px;'><a class="figcenter" name="illus037b">
+<img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 493px; height: 403px;" alt="House No. 1 Broadway." src="images/illus037b.jpg" /></a>
+<p style="text-align: center;">
+<span class="caption">House No. 1 Broadway.
+</span></p>
+
+<p><small>The house No. 1 Broadway, opposite the Bowling-green,
+remained unaltered until within a year or two in the shape here
+presented, in which it had become familiar to all New-Yorkers. It was
+built by Captain Kennedy of the Royal Navy, in April, 1765. There Lee,
+Washington, and afterwards Sir Henry Clinton, Robertson, Carleton, and
+other British officers were quartered, and here Andr� wrote his letter
+to Arnold.&#8212;<i>Lossing.</i> It was afterwards occupied by
+Aaron Burr. Very recently, this interesting house, which in New-York
+may be termed <i>ancient</i>, has been metamorphosed by
+the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_026"></a>[26]</span>
+addition of two or three stories, and it is now <i>reduced</i>
+to be the Washington Hotel.</small></p>
+</div>
+
+<div style="clear: both;"></div>
+
+<p>When the British evacuated Boston, Congress voted
+Washington a
+gold medal, with abundant thanks and praises; and, thus compensated for
+the cruel anxieties of the winter, he proceeded with unwavering courage
+to New-York, where new labors awaited him, and the mortifying defeat at
+Gowanus, turned into almost triumph by the admirable retreat
+Afterwards.</p>
+<p>The movement from New-York city to Harlem Heights should have
+been another glory, and nothing on the part of the Commander-in-Chief
+was wanting to make it such, but a panic seized two brigades of
+militia, who ran away, <i>sans fa�on</i>, causing
+Washington to lose, for a moment, some portion of the power over his
+own emotions for which he is so justly celebrated. He dashed in among
+the flying rout, shouting, shaming them, riding exposed within a few
+yards of the enemy; and, finding this of no avail, drew his sword and
+threatened to "run them through," and cocked and snapped his pistol in
+their faces. But all would not do, and General Greene says, in a letter
+to a friend, "He was so vexed at the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_027"></a>[27]</span>
+infamous conduct of the troops,
+that he sought death rather than life." Washington, the "man of
+marble," would have preferred a thousand deaths to dishonor.</p>
+<p>A new army was now to be raised, the term of the last
+enlistment having expired; and, to form a just opinion of Washington's
+character and talents, every letter of his, to Congress and others
+during this period, should be studied. Such wisdom, such indignation,
+such patience, such manly firmness, such disappointment! every thing
+but despair; the watchfulness, the forethought, the perseverance
+displayed in those letters, give a truer idea of the man than all his
+battles.</p>
+<p>Take a single passage from one of his letters:&#8212;"I
+am wearied
+almost to death with the retrograde motion of things, and I solemnly
+protest, that a pecuniary reward of twenty thousand pounds a year would
+not induce me to undergo what I do; and after all, perhaps, to lose my
+character, as it is impossible, under such a variety of distressing
+circumstances, to conduct matters agreeably to public expectation, or
+even to the expectation of those who employ me, as they will not make
+proper allowances for the difficulties their own errors have
+occasioned."</p>
+<p>And besides that which came upon him daily, in the
+regular
+line of duty, the yet more difficult work of bearing up the hearts of
+others, whose threats of abandoning the service were the running bass
+that made worse the din of war. "I am sorry to find," writes the Chief
+to General Schuyler, "that both you and General Montgomery incline to
+quit the service. Let me ask you, sir, what is the time for brave men
+to exert themselves in the cause of liberty and their country, if this
+is not? God knows there is not a difficulty that you <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_028"></a>[28]</span>
+both very justly
+complain of, which I have not in an eminent degree experienced, that I
+am not every day experiencing. But we must bear up against them, and
+make the best of mankind as they are, since we cannot have them as we
+wish." In studying the career of Washington, nothing strikes one more
+frequently than that no fame came to him fortuitously, not only did he
+borrow none, usurp none, fall heir to none that belonged to others; he
+earned every tittle that has ever been awarded to him, and evidently
+contributed very much, by his secret advice and caution to officers
+placed in difficult positions, to enhance the measure of praise
+bestowed on his companions in arms.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus40"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 501px; height: 403px;" alt="Washington's Headquarters, Morristown, New Jersey. 1779" src="images/illus040.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">Washington's
+Headquarters, Morristown, New Jersey. 1779.
+</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>Dark as these times were, Washington's peculiar merits were
+every day becoming more and more evident; indeed the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_029"></a>[29]</span>
+darkest hours were
+his opportunities. He might well say, after the loss of Fort
+Washington, which had been held contrary to his judgment,&#8212;"No person
+ever had a greater choice of difficulties to contend with than I have;"
+yet he carried the war into New Jersey with all the resolution and
+courage of a victor. Never without a party, too often a very large one,
+ready to disparage his military skill, and throw doubts upon his energy
+in the conduct of the war, he pursued his plans without swerving a
+hair's breadth to court the popular gale, though a natural and
+honorable love of reputation was one of the ruling passions of his
+soul. It was impossible to make the people believe that a series of
+daring encounters would have cost the Commander-in-chief far less than
+the "Fabian policy," so scorned at the time; but Washington saw then,
+in the very heat of the contest, what the result has now made evident
+enough to all, that England must carry on a war on the other side of
+the globe under an immense disadvantage, and that considering the
+general spirit of the American people, the expense to an invading power
+must be greater than even the richest nation on earth could long
+sustain. That the necessity for delay was intensely mortifying to him,
+we have a thousand proofs; and it was not the least bitter drop in his
+cup, that in order to conceal from the enemy the deficiencies
+occasioned by the delay of Congress to meet his most strenuous
+requisitions, he was obliged to magnify his numbers and resources, in a
+way which could not but increase the public doubts of his promptness.
+No one can read his letters, incessant under these circumstances,
+without an intense personal sympathy, that almost forgets the warrior
+and the patriot in the man.</p>
+<p>His being invested with what was in reality a military <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_030"></a>[30]</span>
+dictatorship, did not help to render him more popular, although he used
+his power with his accustomed moderation, conscientiousness and
+judgment. In this, as in other cases, he took the whole responsibility
+and odium, while he allowed others to reap the credit of particular
+efforts; giving to every man at least his due, and content if the
+country was served, even though he himself seemed to be doing nothing.
+This we gather as much from the letters of others to him as from his
+own writings.</p>
+<p>The celebrated passage of the Delaware, on
+Christmas-day,
+1776,&#8212;so lifelike represented in Leutze's great picture,&#8212;flashed a
+cheering light over the prospects of the contest, and lifted up the
+hearts of the desponding, if it did not silence the cavils of the
+disaffected. The intense cold was as discouraging here as the killing
+heat had been at Gowanus. Two men were found frozen to death, and the
+whole army suffered terribly; but the success was splendid, and the
+enemy's line along the Delaware was broken. The British opened their
+eyes very wide at this daring deed of the rebel chief, and sent the
+veteran Cornwallis to chastise his insolence. But Washington was not
+waiting for him. He had marched to Princeton, harassing the enemy, and
+throwing their lines still more into confusion. New Jersey was almost
+completely relieved, and the spirits of the country raised to martial
+pitch before the campaign closed. Those who had hastily condemned
+Washington as half a traitor to the cause, now began to call him the
+Saviour of his Country. Success has wondrous power in illuminating
+merit, that may yet have been transparent without it. But even now,
+when he thought proper to administer to all the oath of allegiance to
+the United States, granting leave to the disaffected to retire within
+the enemy's lines, a new clamor was raised against him, as assuming
+undue and dangerous power. It was said there were no "United States,"
+and the Legislature of New Jersey censured the order as interfering
+with their prerogative. But Washington made no change. The dangers of
+pretended neutrality had become sufficiently apparent to him; and he
+chose, as he always did, to defer his personal popularity to the safety
+of the great cause. And again he took occasion, though the treatment of
+General Lee was in question, to argue against retaliation of the
+sufferings of prisoners, in a manly letter, which would serve as a text
+in similar cases for all time.</p>
+<p>What a blessing was Lafayette's arrival! not only
+to the
+struggling States, but in particular to Washington. The spirit of the
+generous young Frenchman was to the harassed chief as cold water to the
+thirsty soul. No jealousies, no fault-finding, no selfish emulation;
+but pure, high, uncalculating enthusiasm, and a devotion to the
+character and person of Washington that melted the strong man, and
+opened those springs of tenderness which cares and duties had well-nigh
+choked up. It is not difficult to believe that Lafayette had even more
+to do with the success of the war than we are accustomed to think.
+Whatever kept up the chief's heart up-bore the army and the country;
+for it is plain that, without derogation from the ability or
+faithfulness of any of the heroic contributors to the final triumph,
+Washington was in a peculiar manner the life and soul,&#8212;the main-spring
+and the balance-wheel,&#8212;the spur and the rein, of the whole movement and
+its result. Blessings, then, on Lafayette, the helper and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_032"></a>[32]</span>
+consoler of
+the chosen father of his heart, through so many trials! His name goes
+down to posterity on the same breath that is destined for ever to
+proclaim the glory of Washington.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus44"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 446px; height: 403px;" alt="Washington's Headquarters, Chad's Ford, 1777." src="images/illus044.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">Washington's
+Headquarters, Chad's Ford, 1777.
+</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>Chad's Ford, in Delaware, was the scene of another of those
+disasters which it was Washington's happy fortune to turn into
+benefits. The American army retreated from a much superior force, and
+retreated in such disorder as could seem, even to its well-wishers,
+little better than a flight. But when, after encamping at Germantown,
+it was found that the General meant to give battle again, with a
+barefooted army, exhausted by forced marches, in a country which
+Washington himself says, was "to a man, disaffected," dismay itself
+became buoyant, and the opinion spread, not only throughout America,
+but even as far as France, that the leader of our armies <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_033"></a>[33]</span>
+was indeed
+invincible. A heavy rain and an impenetrable fog defeated our brave
+troops; the attempt cost a thousand men. Washington says, solemnly, "It
+was a bloody day." Yet the Count de Vergennes, on whose impressions of
+America so much depended at that time, told our Commissioners in Paris
+that nothing in the course of our struggle had struck him so much as
+General Washington's venturing to attack the veteran army of Sir
+William Howe, with troops raised within the year. The leader's glory
+was never obscured for a moment, to the view of those who were so
+placed as to see it in its true light. Providence seems to have
+determined that the effective power of this great instrument should be
+independent of the glitter of victory.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus45"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 516px; height: 403px;" alt="Washington's Headquarters, White Marsh, 1777." src="images/illus045.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">Washington's
+Headquarters, White Marsh, 1777.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>Encamped at Whitemarsh, fourteen miles from Philadelphia,
+Washington, with his half-clad and half-fed troops, awaited an attack
+from General Howe who had marched in <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_034"></a>[34]</span>
+that direction with twelve
+thousand effective men. But both commanders were wary&#8212;the British not
+choosing to attack his adversary on his own ground, and the American
+not to be decoyed from his chosen position to one less favorable. Some
+severe skirmishing was therefore all that ensued, and General Howe
+retreated, rather ingloriously, to Philadelphia.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus46"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 582px; height: 401px;" alt="Washington's Headquarters, Valley Forge, 1777." src="images/illus046.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">Washington's
+Headquarters, Valley Forge, 1777.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>This brings us to the terrible winter at Valley
+Forge, the
+sufferings of which can need no recapitulation for our readers.
+Washington felt them with sufficient keenness, yet his invariable
+respect for the rights of property extended to that of the disaffected,
+and in no extremity was he willing to resort to coercive measures, to
+remedy evils which distressed his very soul, and which he shared with
+the meanest soldier. His testimony to the patience and fortitude of the
+men is emphatic: "Naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough
+admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiery, that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_035"></a>[35]</span>
+they have not been, ere this, excited by their sufferings to a general
+mutiny and dispersion." And while this evil was present, and for the
+time irremediable, he writes to Congress on the subject of a suggestion
+which had been made of a <i>winter campaign</i>, "I can
+assure those gentlemen, that it is a much easier and less distressing
+thing to draw remonstrances, in a comfortable room, by a good fireside,
+than to occupy a cold bleak hill, and sleep under frost and snow,
+without clothes or blankets. However, although they seem to have little
+feeling for the naked and distrest soldiers, I feel super-abundantly
+for them, and from my soul I pity those miseries which it is neither in
+my power to relieve nor prevent."</p>
+<p>It was during this period of perplexity and
+distress on public
+accounts, that the discovery of secret cabals against himself, was
+added to Washington's burthens. But whatever was personal was never
+more than secondary with him. When the treachery of pretended friends
+was disclosed, he showed none of the warmth which attends his statement
+of the soldiers' grievances. "My enemies take an ungenerous advantage
+of me," he said, "they know the delicacy of my situation, and that
+motives of policy deprive me of the defence I might otherwise make
+against their insidious attacks. They know I cannot combat their
+insinuations, however injurious, without disclosing secrets which it is
+of the utmost moment to conceal." * * * "My chief concern arises from
+an apprehension of the dangerous consequences which intestine
+dissensions may produce to the common cause."</p>
+<p>General Howe made no attempt on the camp during the winter,
+but his foraging parties were watched and often severely handled by the
+Americans. When Dr. Franklin, who
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_036"></a>[36]</span>
+was in Paris, was told that General
+Howe had taken Philadelphia, "Say rather," he replied, "that
+Philadelphia has taken General Howe," and the advantage was certainly a
+problematical one. Philadelphia was evacuated by the British on the
+18th of June, 1776, General Clinton having superseded General Howe, who
+returned to England in the spring. Washington followed in the footsteps
+of the retreating army, and, contrary to the opinion of General Lee,
+decided to attack them. At Monmouth occurred the scene so often cited
+as proving that Washington <i>could</i> lose his temper&#8212;a
+testimony to his habitual self-command which no art of praise could
+enhance. Finding General Lee with his five thousand men in full retreat
+when they should have been rushing on the enemy, the commander-in-chief
+addressed the recreant with words of severe reproof, and a look and
+manner still more cutting. Receiving in return a most insolent reply,
+Washington proceeded, himself, by rapid man&#339;uvres, to array the troops
+for battle, and when intelligence arrived that the British were within
+fifteen minutes march, he said to General Lee, who had followed him,
+deeply mortified,&#8212;"Will you command on this ground, or not?" "It is
+equal with me where I command," was the answer. "Then I expect you to
+take proper measures for checking the enemy," said the General, much
+incensed at the offensive manner of Lee. "Your orders shall be obeyed,"
+said that officer, "and I will not be the first to leave the field."
+And his bravery made it evident that an uncontrolled temper was the
+fault for which he afterwards suffered so severely. During the action
+Washington exposed himself to every danger, animating and cheering on
+the men under the burning sun; and when night came, he lay down in <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_037"></a>[37]</span>
+his cloak at
+the foot of a tree, hoping for a general action the next day. But in
+the morning Sir Henry Clinton was gone, too far for pursuit under such
+killing heat&#8212;the thermometer at 96�. Many on both sides had perished
+without a wound, from fatigue and thirst.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus49"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 384px; height: 399px;" alt="Washington's Headquarters, Tappan, 1778." src="images/illus049.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">Washington's
+Headquarters, Tappan, 1778.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>The headquarters at Tappan will always have a sad interest
+from the fact that Major Andr�, whose fine private qualities have
+almost made the world forget that he was a spy, there met his unhappy
+fate. That General Washington suffered severely under the necessity
+which obliged him, by the rules of war, to sanction the decision of the
+court-martial in this case, we have ample testimony; and an eye-witness
+still living observed, that when the windows of the town were thronged
+with gazers at the stern procession as it passed, those of the
+commander-in-chief were entirely closed, and his house without sign of
+life except the two sentinels at the door.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_038"></a>[38]</span></p>
+<p>The revolt of a part of the Pennsylvania line, which occurred
+in January, 1781, afforded a new occasion for the exercise of
+Washington's pacific wisdom. He had felt the grievances of the army too
+warmly to be surprised when any portion of it lost patience, and his
+prudent and humane suggestions, with the good management of General
+Wayne, proved effectual in averting the great danger which now
+threatened. But when the troops of New Jersey, emboldened by this mild
+treatment, attempted to imitate their Pennsylvania neighbors, they
+found Washington prepared, and six hundred men in arms ready to crush
+the revolt by force&#8212;a catastrophe prevented only by the unconditional
+submission of the mutineers, who were obliged to lay down their arms,
+make concessions to their officers, and promise obedience.</p>
+<p>As we are not giving here a sketch of the Revolutionary War,
+we pass at once to the siege and surrender at Yorktown, an event which
+shook the country like that heaviest clap of thunder, herald of the
+departing storm. All felt that brighter skies were preparing, and the
+universal joy did not wait the sanction of a deliberate treaty of
+peace. The great game of chess which had been so warily played, on one
+side at least, was now in check, if not closed by a final check-mate;
+and people on the winning side were fain to unknit their weary brows,
+and indulge the repose they had earned. Congress and the country felt
+as if the decisive blow had been struck, as if the long agony was over.
+Thanks were lavished on the commanders, on the officers, on the troops.
+Two stands of the enemy's colors were presented to the
+Commander-in-Chief, and to Counts Rochambeau and De Grasse each a piece
+of British field ordnance as a trophy. A commemorative column at
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_039"></a>[39]</span>
+Yorktown was decreed, to carry down to posterity the events of the
+glorious 17th of October, 1781. There was, in short, a kind of wildness
+in the national joy, showing how deep had been the previous
+despondency. Watchmen woke the citizens of Philadelphia at one in the
+morning, crying "Cornwallis is taken!" Sober, Puritan America was
+almost startled from her habitual coolness; almost forgot the still
+possible danger. The chief alone, on whom had fallen the heaviest
+stress of the long contest, was impelled to new care and forecast by
+the victory. He feared the negligence of triumph, and reminded the
+government and the nation that all might yet be lost, without
+vigilance. "I cannot but flatter myself," he says, "that the States,
+rather than relax in their exertions, will be stimulated to the most
+vigorous preparations, for another active, glorious, and decisive
+campaign." And Congress responded wisely to the appeal, and called on
+the States to keep up the military establishment, and to complete their
+several quotas of troops at an early day. With his characteristic
+modesty and courage, Washington wrote to Congress a letter of advice on
+the occasion, of which one sentence may be taken as a specimen.
+"Although we cannot, by the best concerted plans, absolutely command
+success; although the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle
+to the strong; yet, without presumptuously waiting for miracles to be
+wrought in our favor, it is an indispensable duty, with the deepest
+gratitude to Heaven for the past, and humble confidence in its smiles
+on our future operations, to make use of all the means in our power for
+our defence and security."</p>
+<p>It was this man, pure, devoted, and indefatigable in the cause
+of his country and her liberties, that some shortsighted <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_040"></a>[40]</span>
+malcontents, judging his virtue by their own, would now have persuaded
+to finish the
+struggle for liberty by becoming a king. The discontent of the officers
+and soldiers, with the slowness of their pay, had long been a cause of
+ferment in the army, and gave to the hasty and the selfish an excuse
+for desiring a change in the form of government. The king's troops had
+been well fed, well clothed, and well paid, and were sure of half-pay
+after the war should be finished, while the continentals, suffering
+real personal destitution, were always in arrear, drawing on their
+private resources, and with no provision whatever for any permanent
+pecuniary recompense. As to the half-pay, Washington had long before
+expressed his opinion of the justice as well as policy of such a
+provision. "I am ready to declare," he says, "that I do most
+religiously believe the salvation of the cause depends upon it, and
+without it your officers will moulder to nothing, or be composed of low
+and illiterate men, void of capacity for this or any other business. * * *
+Personally, as an officer, I have no interest in the decision;
+because I have declared, and I now repeat it, that I never will receive
+the smallest benefit from the half-pay establishment." But the
+deep-seated jealousy of the army, which haunted Congress and the
+country, like a Banshee, throughout the whole course of the war, was
+too powerful for even Washington's representations. All that could be
+effected was an unsatisfactory compromise, and some of the officers saw
+or affected to see, in the reluctance of the government to provide
+properly for its defenders, a sign of fatal weakness, which but little
+recommended the republican form. Under these circumstances, a well
+written letter was sent to the Commander-in-Chief, proposing to him the
+establishment of a "mixed government," in which the supreme position
+was to be given, as of right, to the man who had been the instrument of
+Providence in saving the country, in "difficulties apparently
+insurmountable by human power," the dignity to be accompanied with the
+title of <span class="smcap">king</span>. Of this
+daring proposition a colonel of good standing was made the organ.
+Washington's reply may be well known, but it will bear many repetitions.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_041"></a>[41]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus53"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 360px; height: 398px;" alt="Washington's Headquarters, Newburgh, N.Y." src="images/illus053.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">Washington's
+Headquarters, Newburgh, N.Y.</span><br />
+</p>
+<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="smcap">Newburgh</span>,
+22 May, 1782.
+</span></div>
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,</p>
+<p>"With a mixture of great surprise and astonishment, I have
+read with attention the sentiments you submitted to my perusal. Be
+assured, Sir, no occurrence in the course of the war has given me more
+painful sensations than your information, of there being such ideas
+existing in the army as you have expressed, and I must view with
+abhorrence, and reprehend with severity. For the present, the
+communication of them will rest in my own bosom, unless some further
+agitation of the matter shall make a disclosure necessary.</p>
+<p>"I am much at a loss to conceive what part of my conduct
+could have given encouragement to an address, which, to me, seems big
+with the greatest mischiefs that can befall my country. If I am not
+deceived in the knowledge of myself, you could not have found a person
+to whom your schemes are more disagreeable. At the same time, in
+justice to my own feelings, I must add that no man possesses a more
+sincere wish to see ample justice done to the army than I do; and as
+far as my powers and influence, in a constitutional way, extend, they
+shall be employed to the utmost of my abilities to effect it, should
+there be any occasion. Let me conjure you, then, if you have any regard
+for your country, concern for yourself or <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_042"></a>[42]</span>
+posterity, or respect for me,
+to banish these thoughts from your mind, and never communicate, as from
+yourself or any one else, a sentiment of the like nature.</p>
+<div style="text-align: right;">"I am, Sir, &amp;c.,<br />
+<span class="smcap">"George Washington."</span></div>
+<p><br />
+This letter is extremely characteristic, not only because it
+declines the glittering bait, for that is hardly worth noticing where
+Washington is in question, but for the cool and quiet tone of rebuke,
+in a case in which most other men would have been disposed to be at
+least dramatically indignant. The perfectly respectful way in which he
+could show a man that he despised him, is remarkable. He does not even
+admit that there has been injustice done to the army, though the fact
+had cost him such loads of anxious and ingenious remonstrance; but only
+promises to see to it, "should there be any occasion." It would have
+been easier for him, at that very moment, at the head of a victorious
+army, and with the heart of the nation at his feet, to make himself a
+king, than to induce Congress to do justice to the troops and their
+brave officers; but identifying himself with his army, he considered
+that his own private affair, and would accept no offer of partnership,
+however specious. Happily the name of the "very respectable" colonel
+has never been disclosed; an instance of mercy not the least noticeable
+among the features of this remarkable transaction.</p>
+<p>During the negotiations for peace which so soon followed the
+surrender at Yorktown, the discontent of the army reached a height
+which became alarming. Meetings of officers were called, for the
+purpose of preparing threatening resolutions, since called "the
+Newburgh addresses," to be offered to Congress. <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_043"></a>[43]</span>
+The alternative
+proposed was a relinquishment of the service in a body, if the war
+continued, or remaining under arms, in time of peace, until justice
+could be obtained from Congress. Washington, having timely notice of
+this danger, came forward with his usual decision, wisdom, and
+kindliness, to the rescue of the public interest and peace. While he
+took occasion, in a general order, to censure the disorderly and
+anonymous form proposed, he himself called a meeting of officers,
+taking care to converse in private beforehand with many of them,
+acknowledging the justice of their complaints, but inculcating
+moderation and an honorable mode of obtaining what they desired. It is
+said that many of the gentlemen were in tears when they left the
+presence of the Commander-in-Chief. When they assembled, he addressed
+them in the most impressive manner, imploring them not to tarnish their
+hard-won laurels, by selfish passion, in a case in which the vital
+interests of the country were concerned. He insisted on the good faith
+of Congress, and the certainty that, before the army should be
+disbanded, all claims would be satisfactorily adjusted.</p>
+<p>His remonstrance proved irresistible. The officers, left to
+themselves,&#8212;for the General withdrew after he had given utterance to
+the advice made so potent by his character and services,&#8212;passed
+resolutions thanking him for his wise interference, and expressing
+their love and respect for him, and their determination to abide by his
+counsel. In this emergency Washington may almost have been said to have
+saved his country a second time, but in his letters written at the time
+he sinks all mention of his own paramount share in restoring
+tranquillity, speaking merely of "measures taken to postpone the
+meeting," and "the good sense of the officers" having terminated the
+affair <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_044"></a>[44]</span>
+"in a manner which reflects the greatest glory on themselves."
+His own remonstrances with Congress were immediately renewed, setting
+forth the just claims of those who "had so long, so patiently, and so
+cheerfully, fought under his direction," so forcibly, that in a very
+short time all was conceded, and general harmony and satisfaction
+established.</p>
+<p>His military labors thus finished,&#8212;for the adjudication of the
+army claims by Congress was almost simultaneous with the news of the
+signing of the treaty at Paris,&#8212;Washington might, without impropriety,
+have given himself up to the private occupations and enjoyments so
+religiously renounced for eight years,&#8212;the proclamation of peace to the
+army having been made, April 19, 1783, precisely eight years from the
+day of the first bloodshedding at Lexington. But the feelings of a
+father were too strong within him, and his solicitudes brooded over the
+land of his love with that unfailing anxiety for its best good which
+had characterized him from the beginning. Yet he modestly observes, in
+a letter on the subject to Col. Hamilton, "How far any further essay by
+me might be productive of the wished-for end, or appear to arrogate
+more than belongs to me, depends so much upon popular opinion, and the
+temper and dispositions of the people, that it is not easy to decide."
+He wrote a circular letter to the Governors of the several States, full
+of wisdom, dignity, and kindness, dwelling principally on four great
+points&#8212;an indissoluble union of the States; a sacred regard to public
+justice; the adoption of a proper military peace establishment; and a
+pacific and friendly disposition among the people of the States, which
+should induce them to forget local prejudices, and incline them to
+mutual concessions. This address is masterly in all respects, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_045"></a>[45]</span>
+was felt to be particularly well-timed, the calm and honoured voice of
+Washington being at that moment the only one which could hope to be
+heard above the din of party, and amid the confusion natural during the
+first excitement of joy and triumph.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus59"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 563px; height: 400px;" alt="Washington's Headquarters, Rocky Hill, N.J., 1783" src="images/illus059.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">Washington's
+Headquarters, Rocky Hill, N.J., 1783</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>Congress was not too proud to ask the counsel of its brave and
+faithful servant, in making arrangements for peace and settling the new
+affairs of the country. Washington was invited to Princeton, where
+Congress was then sitting, and introduced into the Chamber, where he
+was addressed by the President, and congratulated on the success of the
+war, to which he had so much contributed. Washington replied with his
+usual self-respect and modesty, and retired. A house had been prepared
+for him at Rocky Hill, near Princeton, where he resided for some time,
+holding conference with committees and members, and giving counsel on
+public affairs; and where he wrote that <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_046"></a>[46]</span>
+admirable farewell to his army,
+perhaps as full of his own peculiar spirit as any of his public papers.
+His thanks to officers and soldiers for their devotion during the war
+have no perfunctory coldness in them, but speak the full heart of a
+brave and noble captain, reviewing a most trying period, and recalling
+with warm gratitude the co-operation of those on whom he relied. Then,
+for their future, his cautions and persuasions, the motives he urges,
+and the virtues he recommends, all form a curious contrast with those
+of Napoleon's addresses to his troops. "Let it be known and
+remembered," he says, "that the reputation of the federal armies is
+established beyond the reach of malevolence; and let a consciousness of
+their achievements and fame still incite the men who composed them to
+honorable actions; under the persuasion that the private virtues of
+economy, prudence, and industry, will not be less amiable in civil
+life, than the more splendid qualities of valor, perseverance and
+enterprise were in the field." Thus consistent to the last he honored
+all the virtues; showing that while those of the field were not
+misplaced in the farm, those of the farm might well be counted among
+the best friends of the field&#8212;his own life of planter and soldier
+forming a glorious commentary on his doctrines.</p>
+<p>The evacuation of New-York by the British was a grand affair,
+General Washington and Governor George Clinton riding in at the head of
+the American troops that came from the northward to take possession,
+while Sir Guy Carleton and his legions embarked at the lower end of the
+city. The immense cavalcade of the victors embraced both military and
+civil authorities, and was closed by a great throng of citizens. This
+absolute <i>finale</i> of the war brought on the
+Commander-in-Chief <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_047"></a>[47]</span>
+one of those duties at once sweet and painful&#8212;taking
+leave of his companions in arms; partners in toil and triumph, in
+danger and victory. "I cannot come to each of you to take my leave," he
+said, as he stood, trembling with emotion, "but I shall be obliged if
+each of you will come and take me by the hand." General Knox, the
+warm-hearted, stood forward and received the first embrace; then the
+rest in succession, silently and with universal tears. Without another
+word the General walked from the room, passed through lines of soldiery
+to the barge which awaited him, then, turning, waved his hat, and bade
+to friends and comrades a silent, heartfelt adieu, which was responded
+to in the same solemn spirit. All felt that it was not the hour nor the
+man for noisy cheers; the spirit of Washington presided there, as ever,
+where honorable and high-minded men were concerned.</p>
+<p>The journey southward was a triumphal march. Addresses,
+processions, delegations from religious and civil bodies, awaited him
+at every pause. When he reached Philadelphia he appeared before
+Congress to resign his commission, and no royal abdication was ever so
+rich in dignity. All the human life that the house would hold came
+together to hear him, and the words, few and simple, wise and kind,
+that fell from the lips of the revered chief, proved worthy to be
+engraved on every heart. In conclusion he said:&#8212;"Having now finished
+the work assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of action; and,
+bidding an affectionate farewell to this august body, under whose
+orders I have so long acted, I here offer my commission, and take my
+leave of all the employments of public life." He said afterwards to a
+friend:&#8212;"I feel now as I conceive a wearied traveller must do, who,
+after treading many a step <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_048"></a>[48]</span>
+with a heavy burden on his shoulders, is
+eased of the latter, having reached the haven to which all the former
+were directed, and from his house-top is looking back, and tracing with
+an eager eye the meanders by which he escaped the quicksands and mire
+which lay in his way, and into which none but the all-powerful Guide
+and Dispenser of human events could have prevented his falling." And to
+Lafayette, he says:&#8212;"I am not only retired from all public employments,
+but I am retiring within myself, and shall be able to view the solitary
+walk, and tread the paths of private life with a heartfelt
+satisfaction. Envious of none, I am determined to be pleased with all;
+and this, my dear friend, being the order of my march, I will move
+gently down the stream of life until I sleep with my fathers."</p>
+<p>That the public did not anticipate for him the repose and
+retirement he so much desired, we may gather from the instructions
+sent, at the time he resigned his commission, by the State of
+Pennsylvania, to her representatives in Congress, saying that "his
+illustrious actions and virtues render his character so splendid and
+venerable that it is highly probable the world may make his life in a
+considerable degree public;" and that "his very services to his country
+may therefore subject him to expenses, unless he permits her gratitude
+to interpose." "We are perfectly acquainted," says the paper, "with the
+disinterestedness and generosity of his soul. He thinks himself amply
+rewarded for all his labors and cares, by the love and prosperity of
+his fellow-citizens. It is true no rewards they can bestow can be equal
+to his merits, but they ought not to suffer those merits to be
+burdensome to him. * * * We are aware of the delicacy with which such a
+subject must be treated. But, relying in the good sense of Congress, we
+wish it may engage their early attention."</p>
+<p>The delegates, on receipt of these instructions, very wisely
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_049"></a>[49]</span>
+bethought themselves of submitting the matter to the person most
+concerned before they brought it before Congress, and he, as might have
+been expected, entirely declined the intended favor, and put an end to
+the project altogether. If he could have been induced to accept
+pecuniary compensation, there is no doubt a grateful nation would
+gladly have made it ample. But Washington, born to be an example in so
+many respects, had provided against all the dangers and temptations of
+money, by making himself independent as to his private fortune; having
+neglected no opportunity of enlarging it by honorable labor or
+judicious management, while he subjected the expenses of his family to
+the strictest scrutiny of economy.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus63"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 480px; height: 398px;" alt="Mount Vernon (rear view)." src="images/illus063.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">Mount
+Vernon (rear view).</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>His first care, on arriving at Mount Vernon, was to ascertain
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_050"></a>[50]</span>
+the condition of his private affairs; his next to make a tour of more
+than six hundred miles through the western country, with the double
+purpose of inspecting some lands of his, and of ascertaining the
+practicability of a communication between the head waters of the great
+rivers flowing east and west of the Alleghanies. He travelled entirely
+on horseback, in military style, and kept a minute journal of each
+day's observations, the result of which he communicated, on his return,
+in a letter to the Governor of Virginia, which Mr. Sparks declares to
+be "one of the ablest, most sagacious, and most important productions
+of his pen," and "the first suggestion of the great system of internal
+improvements which has since been pursued in the United States." On a
+previous tour, through the northern part of the State of New-York, he
+had observed the possibility of a water communication between the
+Hudson and the Great Lakes, and appreciated its advantages, thus
+foreshowing, at that early date, the existence of the Erie Canal. In
+1784, Washington had a final visit from Lafayette, from whom he parted
+at Annapolis, with manifestations of a deeper tenderness than the weak
+can even know. Arrived at home, he sat down at once to say yet another
+word to the beloved: "In the moment of our separation, upon the road as
+I travelled, and every hour since," (mark the specification from this
+man of exact truth,) "I have felt all that love, respect and attachment
+for you, with which length of years, close connection, and your merits
+have inspired me. I often asked myself, as our carriages separated,
+whether that was the last sight I should ever have of you? And though I
+wished to say No! my fears answered Yes!" He was right; they never met
+again, but they loved each other always. Lafayette's letters to <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_051"></a>[51]</span>
+Washington are lover-like; they are alone sufficient to show how
+capable of the softest feeling was the great heart to which they were
+addressed.</p>
+<p>Space fails us for even the baldest enumeration of the
+instances of care for the public good with which the life of Washington
+abounded, when he fancied himself "in retirement," for we have
+unconsciously dwelt, with the reverence of affection, upon the picture
+of his character during the Revolution, and felt impelled to illustrate
+it, where we could, by quotations from his own weighty words; weighty,
+because, to him, words were things indeed, and we feel that he never
+used one thoughtlessly or untruly. Brevity must now be our chief aim,
+and we pass, at once, over all the labor and anxiety which attended the
+settlement of the Constitution, to mention the election of Washington
+to the Presidency of the States so newly united, by bonds which,
+however willingly assumed, were as yet but ill fitted to the wearers.
+The unaffected reluctance with which he accepted the trust appears in
+every word and action of the time; and it is evident that, as far as
+selfish feelings went, he was much more afraid of losing the honor he
+had gained than of acquiring new. The heart of the nation was with him,
+however, even more than he knew; and the "mind oppressed with more
+anxious and painful sensations" than he had words to express at the
+outset, was soon calmed, not only by the suggestions of duty, but by
+the marks of unbounded love and confidence lavished on him at every
+step of his way by a grateful people. The Inaugural Oath was taken,
+before an immense concourse of people, on the balcony of Federal Hall,
+New-York, April 30, 1789, and the President afterwards delivered his
+first Address, in the Senate Chamber of the same building, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_052"></a>[52]</span>
+now no longer standing, but not very satisfactorily replaced by that
+magnificent Grecian temple wherein the United States Government
+collects the Customs of New-York. </p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus66"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 530px; height: 398px;" alt="House of the First Presidential Levee, Cherry street." src="images/illus066.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">House
+of the First Presidential Levee, Cherry street.</span></p>
+<p><br />
+The house in which the first
+Presidential levee was held will always be a point of interest, and the
+consultations between Washington and the great officers of state about
+the simple ceremonial of these public receptions, are extremely
+curious, as showing the manners and ideas of the times, and the
+struggle between the old-country associations natural to gentlemen of
+that day, and the recognized necessity of accommodating even court
+regulations to the feelings of a people to whom the least shadow of
+aristocratic form was necessarily hateful. We must not condemn the
+popular scrupulousness of 1789 as puerile and foolish, until we too
+have perilled life and fortune in the cause of liberty and equality.</p>
+<p>A dangerous illness brought Washington near the grave, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_053"></a>[53]</span>
+during his first Presidential summer, and he is said never to have
+regained
+his full strength. In August his mother died, venerable for years and
+wisdom, and always honored by her son in a spirit that would have
+satisfied a Roman matron. She maintained her simple habits to the last,
+and is said never to have exhibited surprise or elation, at her son's
+greatest glory, or the highest honors that could be paid him. Her
+remains rest under an unfinished monument, near Fredericksburgh,
+Virginia.</p>
+<p>Of the wife of the illustrious Chief, it is often said that
+little is known, and there is felt almost a spite against her memory
+because she destroyed before her death every letter of her husband to
+herself, save only one, written when he accepted the post of
+Commander-in-Chief. But, to our thinking, one single letter of hers,
+written to Mrs. Warren, after the President's return from a tour
+through the eastern States, tells the whole story of her character and
+tastes, a story by no means discreditable to the choice of the wisest
+of mankind. Mr. Sparks gives the letter entire, as we would gladly do
+if it were admissible. We must, however, content ourselves with a few
+short extracts:&#8212;</p>
+<p>"You know me well enough to believe that I am fond only of
+what comes from the heart. Under a conviction that the demonstrations
+of respect and affection to him originate in that source, I cannot deny
+that I have taken some interest and pleasure in them. The difficulties
+which presented themselves to view in his first entering upon the
+Presidency, seem thus to be in some measure surmounted. * * * I had
+little thought, when the war was finished, that any circumstances <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_054"></a>[54]</span>
+could possibly happen which would call the General into public life
+again. I
+had anticipated that from that moment we should be suffered to grow old
+together, in solitude and tranquillity. That was the first and dearest
+wish of my heart. I will not, however, contemplate with too much
+regret, disappointments that were inevitable, though his feelings and
+my own were in perfect unison with respect to our predilection for
+private life. Yet I cannot blame him for having acted according to his
+ideas of duty, in obeying the voice of his country. The consciousness
+of having attempted to do all the good in his power, and the pleasure
+of finding his fellow-citizens so well satisfied with the
+disinterestedness of his conduct, will doubtless be some compensation
+for the great sacrifice I know he has made. * * * With respect to
+myself, I sometimes think the arrangement is not quite as it ought to
+have been, that I, who had much rather be at home, should occupy a
+place with which a great many younger and gayer women would be
+extremely pleased. * * * I am still determined to be cheerful and
+happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have learned from
+experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on
+our dispositions and not on our circumstances. We carry the seeds of
+the one or the other about with us, in our minds, wherever we go." The
+whole letter bespeaks the good, kind, dutiful and devoted wife, the
+loving mother,&#8212;for she represents her grandchildren as her chief
+joy,&#8212;and the sensible, domestic woman. What more can any man ask in the
+partner of his bosom? She was the best wife possible for Washington,
+and he thought her such, and loved her entirely and always. The picture
+by Stuart shows her, even in the decline of life, to have been of a
+delicate and sprightly beauty.</p>
+<p>Another <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_055"></a>[55]</span>
+eight years of public duty and public life&#8212;two
+presidential terms&#8212;were bravely borne by the pair always longing for
+Mount Vernon. The reluctance of Washington to the second term of office
+was even stronger than that which he had expressed to the first, but he
+was overborne by stress of voices. "The confidence of the whole Union,"
+writes Jefferson, "is centred in you. * * * There is sometimes an
+eminence of character on which society have such peculiar claims, as to
+control the predilection of the individual for a particular walk of
+happiness, and restrain him to that alone arising from the present and
+future benedictions of mankind. This seems to be your condition, and
+the law imposed on you by Providence in forming your character, and
+fashioning the events on which it was to operate." And Hamilton says&#8212;"I
+trust, and I pray God, that you will determine to make a further
+sacrifice of your tranquillity and happiness to the public good." And
+such were, throughout, the sentiments of the first men of the country,
+without distinction of politics. Thus urged, he yielded once more, even
+after he had prepared a farewell address to the people on his
+contemplated resignation.</p>
+<p>It was during this second term that Fox spoke of Washington
+before Parliament, concluding thus:&#8212;"It must indeed create
+astonishment, that, placed in circumstances so critical, and filling
+for a series of years a station so conspicuous, his character should
+never once have been called in question. * * * For him it has been
+reserved to run the race of glory without experiencing the smallest
+interruption to the brilliancy of his career." And Mr. Erskine, writing
+to Washington himself, says:&#8212;"I have taken the liberty to introduce
+your august and immortal name in a short sentence which will be found
+in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_056"></a>[56]</span>
+book I send you.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> I
+have a large acquaintance
+among the most valuable and exalted classes of men; but you are the
+only human being for whom I ever felt an awful reverence. I sincerely
+pray God to grant a long and serene evening to a life so gloriously
+devoted to the universal happiness of the world."</p>
+<p>The evening was indeed serene, but it was not
+destined to be
+long. Two years were spent in domestic and social duty and pleasure,
+the old Virginia hospitality being carried to an enormous extent at
+Mount Vernon, over which General and Mrs. Washington presided, with all
+that good sense, dignity, and <i>bonhommie</i> united,
+which seems now to have characterized their home life. Mrs. Washington,
+content with the greatness described by the wise king, looked well to
+her maidens, and so managed the affairs of a large establishment that
+"the heart of her husband could safely trust in her, so that he had <i>no
+need of spoil</i>." Who knows how much the good management of his
+household affairs had to do with Washington's superiority to the
+temptations of gain? The ladies should see to it that they so regulate
+their habits of expense that their husbands have "no need of spoil."
+The extravagant tastes of Mrs. Arnold, amiable woman though she was,
+are known to have heightened her husband's rapacity, and thus added to
+the incentives which resulted in treason and just ruin. Mrs.
+Washington, when she was in the highest position in the nation, wore
+gowns spun under her own roof, and always took care, in her
+conversation with the ladies about her, to exalt domestic employments,
+and represent them as belonging to the duty of woman in any station.
+She was supposed to have written a patriotic paper, published in <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_057"></a>[57]</span>
+1780, called "The Sentiments of American Women," but the authorship has
+not
+been ascertained. The energy and consistency of her patriotic feeling
+was, however, perfectly well understood, and she is said to have borne
+her part in the conversation of the distinguished company at Mount
+Vernon, with invariable dignity and sweetness. The General had returned
+with unction to his rural and agricultural pursuits, keeping up his
+life-long habit of rising before the sun, and after breakfast making
+the tour of the plantation on horseback. These employments were
+somewhat interrupted by the speck of war which troubled our horizon in
+1798, on which occasion all eyes were turned to him, and his friends
+and the President called upon him once more to give his services to the
+country. His reply was consistent with the tenor of his life, "In case
+of actual invasion by a formidable force, I certainly should not
+intrench myself under the cover of age and retirement, if my services
+should be required by my country in repelling it." Without waiting for
+his reply, the Senate had appointed him to the post of
+Commander-in-Chief, and the Secretary at War was despatched immediately
+to Mount Vernon with the commission, which was at once accepted. This
+involved Washington once more in a press of correspondence and many
+anxious duties; and his letters during this time show that his mind had
+lost none of its fertility or his judgment of its soundness. He
+predicted at once that France would not invade the United States, and
+the event justified his foresight. But another Enemy lay in wait for
+him, and to this one the hero succumbed, in the same manly spirit in
+which he had battled with an earthly foe. Great suffering was crowded
+into the twenty-four hours' illness which served to prostrate that
+vigorous form, and to still that <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_058"></a>[58]</span>
+active brain; but he could look up, at
+the last, and say&#8212;"I am not afraid to die."</p>
+<p>December 14, 1799, was the day of his death, and the 18th of
+the same month saw him laid, by a weeping multitude, in the family
+vault at Mount Vernon; not the tomb in which his ashes now repose, but
+the old one, which he had been planning to rebuild, saying "Let that be
+done first, for perhaps I shall want it first."</p>
+<p>We have thus traced the Father of our Country through all his
+earthly Homes, to that quiet one by the side of the Potomac, the object
+of devout pilgrimage to millions yet unborn. One more Home there is for
+him, even in this changing world&#8212;that which he possesses in the hearts
+of his countrymen, one which we cannot picture or describe, but from
+which he can never be displaced by the superior merit of mortal man.
+Other heroes may arise, will arise, as the world shall need them,
+exponents of their times and incarnations of the highest spirit of the
+race from which they spring; but America can have but one
+Washington&#8212;one man in whom the peculiar virtues of the <i>American</i>
+character found their embodiment and their triumph. In saying this we
+may well be proud but not vainglorious. If the great truth it implies
+be not yet known and read of all men, we should be humbled by the
+thought that we are so slow to follow our immortal leader. Washington's
+indomitable spirit of freedom, as evident when at nineteen he withstood
+the English governor, as when in 1774 he "went to church and fasted all
+day," in sympathy with the people of Boston, in their resolution
+against the Port Bill; his self-control, the perfection of which made
+his fierce passions the sworn servants of virtue; his humanity, which
+no <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_059"></a>[59]</span>
+personal suffering or fatigue could blunt, and no provocation
+extinguish; his manly temper, never daunted by insolence or turned into
+arrogance by triumph; the respect for the civil virtues which he
+carried with him through all the temptations and trials of war; the
+faith in God and man which sustained him, and was indeed the secret of
+his power and his success,&#8212;what a legacy are these! All that he
+accomplished is less to us than what he was. To have left an example
+that will never need defence or substitution to the end of time; an
+ideal that will warm the heart and point the aspiration of every true
+American, when hundreds of millions shall be proud of the name; to
+stand forth, for ever, as what we, happy citizens of the country in
+which that great soul was cradled, and to which his heart and life were
+devoted, think a <small>MAN</small>
+ought to be&#8212;what a destiny for him! It is his reward. God has granted
+his prayers. Nothing earthly would have satisfied him, as we know by
+what he rejected. He has received that for which he labored. Who dare
+imagine the complacency&#8212;only less than divine, with which the
+retrospect of such a life may be fraught! Let us indulge the thought
+that when in the heat of party, the lust of power, or the still
+deadlier hunger for wealth, we depart from his spirit, he is permitted
+to see that the dereliction is but temporary and limited; that his
+country is true to him if his countrymen sometimes err; that there is
+for ever imprinted, on the heart and life of the nation, the conviction
+that in adherence to his precepts and imitation of his character there
+is safety, happiness, glory; in departure from that standard,
+deterioration and decay. It must be so, for can we conceive him blest
+without this?</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_060"></a>[60]</span><a class="figcenter" name="illus74"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 317px; height: 399px;" alt="Washington's Tomb." src="images/illus074.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">Washington's
+Tomb.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>As if to stamp the American ideal with all perfection, it is
+remarkable that Washington stood pre-eminent in manly strength and
+beauty, and that a taste for athletic exercises kept him, in spite of
+illnesses brought on by toil, anxiety, and exposure, in firm health
+during most of his life. His picture at sixty-two, that which he
+himself thought the best likeness <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_061"></a>[61]</span>
+that had been taken of him, exhibits
+one of the loveliest faces that an old man ever wore. And it is
+marvellous how any one that ever looked into the clear blue depths of
+the eye in Stuart's unfinished picture, could be persuaded to believe
+Washington stern, cold, and unfeeling. Some have even thought it added
+to his dignity to represent him thus. All the historians in the world
+could not prove such a contradiction to the stamp of nature. But the
+picture by Pine&#8212;the old man, faded somewhat, and a little fallen in
+outline, wears the face of an angel; mild, firm, modest, sensitive,
+aspiring, glorious! It meets your gaze with a tenderness that dims our
+eye and seems almost to dim its own. Of all the portraits of
+Washington, this and the half-imaginary one made by Mr. Leutze from a
+miniature taken when Washington was seventeen, are the most touchingly
+beautiful, and, as we verily believe, most characteristic of the man.</p>
+<p>It is proper, though scarcely necessary, to say that this
+sketch of Washington's life is drawn from Mr. Sparks' history, since no
+research can discover a single fact overlooked by that faithful and
+just chronicler.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_062"></a>[62]</span></p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_063"></a>[63]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="franklin"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Franklin.</span>
+</h6>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="letter_64"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 600px; height: 784px;" alt="Franklin fac-simile of letter" src="images/letters/franklin.png" /></a>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_064"></a>[64]</span>
+</div>
+<hr  />
+<h2>FRANKLIN.</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_065"></a>[65]</span>
+An English traveller in the United States once expressed his
+astonishment at nowhere finding a monument of Franklin. He regarded it
+as a new proof of the ingratitude of republics. But if we have erected
+no columns, nor statues, to the memory of our first great man, we have
+manifested our gratitude for the services he rendered us, and the
+hearty appreciation of his character, which is universal among us, in a
+better, more affectionate and enduring manner. We name our towns,
+counties, ships, children, and institutions after him. His name is
+constantly in our mouth, and his benevolent countenance and lofty brow
+are as familiar to us as the features of Washington. We have Franklin
+banks, Franklin insurance companies, Franklin societies, Franklin
+hotels, Franklin markets, and even Franklin theatres. One of our line
+of battle ships is called the Franklin, and there will be found a Ben
+Franklin, the name affectionately abbreviated, on all our western lakes
+and rivers. The popular heart cherishes his memory more tenderly than
+that of any of our great men. Washington's heroism and lofty virtues
+set him above us, so that while we look up to him with veneration and
+awe, we <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_066"></a>[66]</span>
+hardly feel that he was one of us. His impossible grandeur
+forbids the familiar sympathy which we feel for our own kind. But
+Franklin's greatness is of that kind which makes the whole world kin.
+In him we recognize the apotheosis of usefulness. He was our Good
+Genius, who took us by the hand in our national infancy, and taught us
+the great art of making the most of the world. He warmed our houses by
+the stove which still bears his name, and protected us from the
+terrifying thunderbolt by his simple rod. He showered upon us lessons
+of wisdom, all calculated to increase our happiness, and his wise and
+pithy apothegms have become an important part of our language. Never
+before was a young nation blessed with so beneficent and generous a
+counsellor and guide. The influence of Franklin upon the national
+character is beyond estimate. He taught us alike by precept and
+example; and, in his autobiography, he laid the corner stone of our
+literature, bequeathing us a book which will always be fresh,
+instructive, and charming, while our language endures, or we look to
+literature for instruction and entertainment.</p>
+<p>Franklin was a pure, unadulterated Englishman; he came of that
+great stock whose mission it is to improve the world. Though we claim
+him, and justly, as an American, he was born, and lived the better part
+of his life, a subject of the English crown. There was never a more
+thorough Englishman, nor one whose whole consistent life more happily
+illustrated the Anglo-Saxon character, nor one who was better entitled
+to be called an American, or who showed a more lively and enduring love
+for his native soil.</p>
+<p>Every schoolboy is familiar with the history of Franklin; his
+autobiography is our national epic; it is more read than <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_067"></a>[67]</span>
+Robinson Crusoe; and our great national museum, the Patent Office, has
+been
+filled with the results of ambitious attempts to follow in the path of
+the inventor of the lightning-rod. One boy reads Robinson Crusoe and
+runs off to sea, while another reads Franklin's Life and tries for a
+patent, or begins to save a penny a day, that he may have three hundred
+pennies at the end of the year. There are writers who have accused
+Franklin of giving a sordid bias to our national character. But nothing
+could be more unjust. There is nothing sordid in the teachings of our
+great philosopher; while the example of his purely beneficent life has,
+doubtless, been the cause of many of the magnificent acts of private
+benevolence which have distinguished our countrymen.</p>
+<p>Franklin says in his autobiography, in reference to his stove,
+which has warmed so many generations of his countrymen, and rendered
+comfortable so many American homes: "Governor Thomas was so pleased
+with the construction of this stove that he offered to give me a sole
+patent for the vending of them for a term of years; but I declined it
+from a principle which has ever weighed with me on such occasions,
+viz., that as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others,
+we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by an invention of
+ours: and this we should do freely and cordially." No, there was no
+sordidness in the teachings of Franklin.</p>
+<p>His immortal biography was commenced at the ripe age of
+sixty-six, while he was in England, a time of life when most men have
+lost the power to instruct or amuse with the pen; but it has the ease,
+the freshness, and the vigor of youth. It was continued at Passy, in
+France, and concluded in Philadelphia. He was one of the few instances
+of a precocious <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_068"></a>[68]</span>
+genius maintaining his powers to an advanced period of
+life. There were no signs of childishness in his almost infantile
+compositions, or of senility in his latest productions.</p>
+<p>Every body knows that the grandfather of Doctor Franklin was
+the sturdy old puritan, Peter Folger, who wrote the homely verses which
+Mr. Sparks doubts the propriety of calling poetry, and who dwelt in
+"Sherborn Town." The house in which he lived, and where the mother of
+Franklin was born, was still in existence but a few years since, though
+in a very dilapidated condition. We remember making a pilgrimage to it
+in our boyish days, after reading the Life of Franklin, and wondering
+in which of its little rooms the grandfather of the philosopher sat,
+when he penned the lines which the grandson thought were "written with
+manly freedom and a pleasing simplicity." The house stood near the
+water, at the head of a little cove, or creek, and near it was a
+bubbling spring, from which the mother of the philosopher must have
+often drank. At that time there were no evidences of the surrounding
+grounds having been cultivated, and a wretched family inhabited the
+ruin. There are many descendants of Peter Folger still living, some of
+whom have been eminent for their learning and talents; but, it is a
+remarkable circumstance, that, though Franklin's father and grandfather
+each had five sons, who grew up to man's estate, there is not one male
+descendant living of that name.</p>
+<p>Franklin was born on the 6th of January, old style, 1706, in a
+house that stood on the corner of Milk-street, opposite the old South
+Church, Boston, in which he was christened. The church is still
+standing, but the house has been demolished, and, in its place, there
+is a large and handsome granite warehouse, which is made to serve the
+double purpose <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_069"></a>[69]</span>
+of a store and a monument. On the frieze of the cornice
+is the inscription in bold granitic letters, <span class="smcap">the
+birth-place of Franklin</span>. </p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus83"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 271px; height: 403px;" alt="Old South Church, Boston." src="images/illus083.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">Old
+South Church, Boston.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>We cannot help thinking that it
+is just such a monument as he would have recommended, if his wishes had
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_070"></a>[70]</span>
+been consulted. But the house in which our great philosopher spent his
+earlier years, and to which his father removed soon after the birth of
+his youngest son, is still standing, very nearly in the same condition
+in which it was during his youth. It is on the corner of Hanover and
+Union streets, and the wooden gilt ball of the old soap-boiler is still
+suspended from an iron crane, with the inscription <span class="smcap">Josias Franklin</span>, 1698. The ball
+is the original one, but it must have been many times regilt and
+relettered. The building is occupied by a shoe dealer in the lower
+part, but the upper rooms are in the occupancy of an industrial whose
+art had no existence until near a century after the death of Franklin's
+father. A daguerrean artist now takes likenesses in the rooms where the
+boy-philosopher slept, and sat up late at night to read Defoe's Essay
+on Projects, and Plutarch's Lives, by the glimmering light of one of
+his father's own dips. It was here too that he read the Light House
+Tragedy, after having cut wicks all day; and it was in the cellar of
+this house, too, that he made that characteristic suggestion to his
+father, of saying grace over the barrel of beef, which he saw him
+packing away for the winter's use, to save the trouble of a separate
+grace over each piece that should be served up for dinner. This
+anecdote may not be strictly true, but it is perfectly characteristic,
+and very much like one he tells of himself, when he was the
+Commander-in-Chief of the military forces of Pennsylvania. The chaplain
+of his regiment complained to him that the men would not attend
+prayers, whereupon, says Franklin, "I said to him, 'it is perhaps below
+the dignity of your profession to act as steward of the rum; but if you
+were only to distribute it out after prayers you would have them all
+about you.' He liked the thought, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_071"></a>[71]</span>
+undertook the task, and, with the help of a few hands to measure out
+the liquor, executed it to satisfaction, and never were prayers more
+generally and more punctually attended."</p>
+<p>This kind of humorous good sense, was one of the marked
+peculiarities of his character; there was lurking wit and humor in all
+his acts, and in his gravest essays, of which his epigrammatic letter
+to his old friend Strahan, the king's printer, is a notable example.</p>
+<p>The old house in which Franklin spent his boyhood is now a
+long distance from the water, and in the midst of a wilderness of brick
+and granite buildings, but he speaks of it as near the shore, and it
+was close by that he built the little wharf of stolen stones, which
+induced his father to impress upon him the great truth that "that which
+was not honest could not be truly useful."</p>
+<p>Where the young apprentice lived when he was boarded out by
+his brother, and first "went in" to vegetarianism, we have not been
+able to ascertain; and, on his flight from Boston, in his seventeenth
+year, he does not appear to have remained long enough in New-York to
+have had a home. The first place he slept in, in Philadelphia, was a
+quaker meeting-house; but his first home in the city which he
+afterwards rendered famous, from having resided in it, was at a public
+house in Water-street, known as the Crooked Billet; not a very
+significant sign to us of the present generation.</p>
+<p>Wherever Franklin went, or in whatever new sphere he applied
+himself to business, he immediately inspired confidence in his ability,
+and gained friends, as all able men do. The runaway boy of seventeen
+had hardly begun to put Bradford's printing office in order when he was
+called upon by Colonel <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_072"></a>[72]</span>
+French, and Sir William Keith, governor of the
+province, who invited him to a tavern, offered him a bottle of Madeira,
+and proposed to set him up in business; yet he was not of a glib tongue
+and a prepossessing appearance.</p>
+<p>At the age of eighteen he made his first voyage to London, and
+lived in Little Britain with his friend Ralph at a cost of three
+shillings and sixpence a week. Franklin worked in Palmer's famous
+printing house in Bartholomew Close, near a year, and for the first and
+only time of his life was improvident and extravagant, spending his
+earnings at plays and public amusements, and neglecting to write to
+Miss Read in Philadelphia, with whom he had "exchanged promises." He
+worked diligently, though, and during that time wrote and published "A
+Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain," This essay
+gained him the friendship of an author who took him to the Horns, a
+pale ale-house, introduced him to Dr. Mandeville and promised him a
+sight of Newton. He afterwards removed to lodgings in Duke-street, and
+occupied a room up three pairs of stairs, which he rented of a widow,
+who had an only daughter, with whom he used to sup on half an anchovy,
+a very small slice of bread and butter, and half a pint of ale between
+them. He remained eighteen months in England, and returned to
+Philadelphia with the expectation of entering into mercantile business
+with his friend Denman.</p>
+<p>It was during his voyage from London to Philadelphia that he
+wrote out the plan for regulating his future conduct, which, he says,
+he had adhered to through life. The plan has not been preserved, but we
+have the life which was conformed to it, and can easily conceive what
+it was.</p>
+<p>Fortunately for mankind his friend Denman died soon <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_073"></a>[73]</span>after
+the
+return of Franklin to Philadelphia, whereby his mercantile projects
+were frustrated, and he was compelled to return to his trade of
+printing; he was just turned of twenty-one, and not finding employment
+as a merchant's clerk, he undertook the charge of his former employer's
+printing office. Here his inventive genius was taxed, for he had to
+make both types and ink, as they could not be procured short of London.
+He also engraved the copper plates, from his own designs, for the paper
+money of New Jersey, and constructed the first copper plate press that
+had been seen in the country. He could not long remain in the
+employment of another, and, before the end of the year, had established
+himself in business as a printer, in partnership with his friend
+Meredith. His life now commenced in earnest, he was his own master, and
+held his fortune in his own hands; he had already discerned "that
+truth, sincerity, and integrity, were of the utmost importance to the
+felicity of life;" and day by day his genius ripened and his noble
+character was developed. In the year 1730, he was married to Miss Read,
+and laid the foundation of the Pennsylvania Library; the first public
+library that had been commenced in the country. The two succeeding
+years of his life were not marked by any striking event, but they were,
+perhaps, the two most important in his history, as during that time he
+schooled himself to virtue by a systematic course of conduct, the
+particulars of which he has given in his biography. At the end of this
+period he commenced his "Poor Richard's Almanac," the publication of
+which was continued by him twenty-five years. It was the first
+successful attempt in authorship on this side of the Atlantic. His
+first "promotion," as he calls it, meaning his first public employment,
+was <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_074"></a>[74]</span>
+on being chosen Clerk of the General Assembly; and the next year he
+was appointed Postmaster at Philadelphia. His private business all the
+time increased; he founded societies for philosophical purposes;
+continued to publish his paper; wrote innumerable pamphlets; was
+elected colonel of a regiment; invented his stove, and engaged in all
+manner of beneficial projects; he established hospitals and academies,
+made treaties with the Indians, became Postmaster General, and after
+devising means for cleaning the streets of Philadelphia, turned his
+attention to those of London and Westminster.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus88"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 384px; height: 402px;" alt="Grave of Franklin, Philadelphia." src="images/illus088.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">Grave
+of Franklin, Philadelphia.</span><br />
+</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_075"></a>[75]</span>
+But, it is with the "Homes" of Franklin that our limited space
+must be occupied, and not with his life and actions. Although he
+occupied, at various times, almost as many different houses as there
+are headquarters of Washington, yet there are few of them now left;
+living always in cities, the houses he inhabited have been destroyed by
+the irresistible march of improvement. In his fifty-first year, he was
+sent to London by the General Assembly to present a petition to the
+king, and to act as the agent of Pennsylvania in England. He sailed
+from New-York and arrived in London in July, 1757, and at this point of
+his life his autobiography ends. From an original letter of his in our
+possession, written on the eve of his departure from Philadelphia, he
+directs that letters must be sent to him in London at the Pennsylvania
+Coffee House, in Birchin Lane, where he doubtless lived on his first
+arrival, but his permanent home in London, during fifteen years, was at
+Mrs. Stevenson's in Craven-street. He travelled much in Great Britain
+and on the continent, was present at the coronation of George III., and
+returned to America in 1762, having stopped awhile at Madeira on the
+voyage. He went to England again in 1764, and after a brilliant and
+most serviceable career abroad, returned to his native home in season
+to sign his name to the Declaration of Independence, giving a greater
+weight of personal character, and a more potent popular influence to
+the cause than any other of the immortal participators in that glorious
+act. He died in the year 1790, on the 17th of April, at 11 o'clock at
+night, in his 85th year, in his house in Market-street, Philadelphia,
+which he had built for his own residence. His remains lie by the side
+of his wife's, in the burying ground of Christ Church, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_076"></a>[76]</span>
+covered by a simple marble slab, in conformity with his directions.
+There is a small granite pyramid in the Granary burying ground in
+Boston, which the economical citizens make do double duty, as a
+memorial of the greatest
+name of which their city can boast, and a monument to his parents.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus90"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 296px; height: 403px;" alt="Franklin's Monument, Boston." src="images/illus090.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">Franklin's
+Monument, Boston.</span><br />
+</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_077"></a>[77]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="jefferson"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Jefferson.</span>
+</h6>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="letter_78"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 768px; height: 600px;" alt="Jefferson fac-simile of letter" src="images/letters/jefferson.png" /></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_078"></a>[78]</span>
+</div>
+<hr  />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_079"></a>[79]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus93"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 512px; height: 403px;" alt="Monticello, Jefferson's Residence." src="images/illus093.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Monticello,
+Jefferson's Residence.</a></span></p>
+<h2><a class="figcenter">JEFFERSON.</a></h2>
+<p><span class="smcap">Jefferson</span> would
+have been a notable man in any country and any
+age, because he possessed both genius and character. Without the former
+he could never have succeeded, as he did, in moulding the opinions of
+his contemporaries and successors, and without the latter, he would not
+have been, as he was, bitterly hated by his enemies and cordially loved
+by his friends. His genius, however, was not of that kind which in the
+ardor of its inspiration intoxicates the judgment; nor <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_080"></a>[80]</span>
+was his character, on the other hand, of the sort which moves an
+admiration so
+profound, unquestioning and universal, as to disarm the antagonism its
+very excellence provokes. There was enough error and frailty,
+therefore, mingled with his eminent qualities both of mind and heart,
+to involve him in seeming contradictions, and to expose his life to
+double construction and controversy. At the same time, it has happened
+to him as it has often happened in human history, that the hostility
+awakened by his acts during his life, has dwindled with the lapse of
+time, while his fame has grown brighter and broader with every renewal
+of the decisions of posterity. No man, we may now safely say, who has
+figured on the theatre of events in this country, with the single
+exception of Washington, occupies a larger share of the veneration of
+Americans.</p>
+<p>He was born at Shadwell, in Albemarle county, Virginia, in
+1743. His father, dying when he was twelve years of age, left him a
+large inheritance. He was educated at the College of William and Mary,
+studied law under the celebrated George Wythe, began the practice of it
+in 1767, and in 1769 was chosen a member of the provincial legislature,
+where his first movement&#8212;an unsuccessful one&#8212;was for the emancipation
+of the slaves. But a greater question soon engrossed his mind. Already
+a spirit of opposition had been excited in the colonies to the
+arbitrary measures of the parliament of Great Britain,&#8212;that very
+legislature was dissolved by the Governor, in consequence of the
+sympathy displayed by its leading members with the patriotic
+proceedings of Massachusetts,&#8212;it appealed to the constituency, and was
+triumphantly returned,&#8212;and then in 1773, its more active spirits
+organized, in a room of a tavern <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_081"></a>[81]</span>
+at Raleigh, a system of
+correspondence, designed to inflame the zeal and unite the efforts of
+the colonists against the encroachments of power. As a result of this
+activity, a convention was called in Virginia for the purpose of
+choosing delegates to a more general Congress. Jefferson was a member
+of it, but not being able, on account of ill-health, to attend, drew up
+a paper on the Rights of British America, which the convention did not
+adopt, but which it published; "the leap he proposed," as he says,
+"being too long for the mass of the citizens,"&#8212;and which Edmund Burke
+in England caused to run through several editions. The pamphlet
+procured him reputation, and the more honorable distinction of having
+his name placed in a bill of attainder, moved in one of the houses of
+Parliament. Thus early was he identified with the champions of liberty
+in the new world.</p>
+<p>In 1775, Jefferson took his seat for the first time in the
+Continental Congress, whither he carried the same decided and liberal
+tone which had marked his legislative efforts. He was soon appointed on
+the most important committees, and especially on that, which, on the
+motion of the delegates of Virginia, was raised to prepare a
+Declaration of Independence for the colonies. It was a measure carried
+only after a strenuous and hot debate,&nbsp;but it was finally
+carried by a
+large majority; and to Jefferson was assigned the task, by his
+associates, of preparing the document destined to inaugurate a new era
+in the history of mankind. How he executed the duty the world knows;
+for this paper became the charter of freedom to a whole continent; and
+annually to this day, millions of people read it with gratitude,
+reverence, joy, and praise to God. For a second time, then, we behold
+our Jefferson, a chosen <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_082"></a>[82]</span>
+champion of liberty, linking his name, not with
+a bill of attainder this time; but with the most signal event in the
+destiny of his country,&#8212;and one, second to none in the political
+fortunes of humanity.</p>
+<p>The Declaration proclaimed, Mr. Jefferson retired from his
+place in the Congress to resume his seat in the legislature of his
+native State; where, an imperfect Constitution having been adopted,
+during his absence, he was immediately involved in the most
+indefatigable labors for its reform. In connection with Wythe, Mason,
+Pendleton, and Lee, he prepared no less than 136 different acts, from
+which were derived all the most liberal features of the existing laws
+of the Commonwealth. They laid the foundation, in fact, of the code of
+Virginia,&#8212;as a mere monument of industry, they were a most
+extraordinary work, but when we consider the importance of some of the
+principles of legislation which they introduced, sufficient in
+themselves to have immortalized the name of any man. Among these
+principles, were provisions for the abrogation of the laws of entail
+and primogeniture, for the establishment of religious freedom, for a
+complete amelioration of the criminal code, including the abolition of
+capital punishments in all cases, except of treason and murder, for the
+emancipation, at a certain age, of all slaves born after the passage of
+the act, for the division of the counties into wards and towns, and the
+establishment thereby of free municipal institutions, and for the
+introduction of a system of popular education, providing for schools in
+each town, academies in each county, and a University for the State.
+The three first were carried into effect; but the others, in
+consequence of his personal absence on other duties, failed. But what a
+different destiny would have been that of Virginia <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_083"></a>[83]</span>
+if they had not failed! How intrepid, too, the mind which could
+conceive and urge such
+measures at that time! Society in Virginia was then divided into three
+classes, the land and slave-owners, the yeomanry, and the laboring
+people. Jefferson was by birth and position of the first class, but his
+chief associations had been among the second class, while his
+sympathies were with the third class, or rather with all classes. Had
+his suggestions been adopted, these distinctions would have been
+destroyed, and Virginia raised to the first place among the free
+nations of the earth. Thus, for a third time, we find Jefferson among
+the foremost advocates of the liberty and advancement of the people.</p>
+<p>In 1779 he was chosen the successor of Patrick Henry, as the
+Governor of the State; but war having been declared, and a military
+invasion being at hand, he resigned the position on account of his want
+of military talents, in favor of General Nelson. He had barely time to
+escape with his family before the enemy entered his house. Congress
+twice solicited him to go abroad, first to negotiate a peace, and then
+a treaty of alliance and commerce with France, but as "the laboring
+oar," in his own language, "was at home," it was not until the year
+1782, when the assurance that a general peace would be concluded,
+became stronger, that he consented to quit his country. The preliminary
+articles of a peace, however, were received before the time of his
+departure, and the objects of his mission being thus accomplished, he
+was again chosen to Congress in 1783.</p>
+<p>The great question then, was the formation of a better
+government for the colonies, than the weak and ill-jointed
+confederation of the time had afforded. Jefferson was prepared to enter
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_084"></a>[84]</span>
+into its discussion with ardor, bringing to the task that keen sagacity
+and that stern republican spirit, which were among his chief
+characteristics, when he was joined to Adams and Franklin in a
+commission for negotiating treaties of commerce with foreign nations.
+He arrived in Paris in June of 1785. His practical insight into
+affairs, his vast information, and his determined will, made him a
+valuable acquisition even to the distinguished abilities of his
+colleagues. His labors were incessant, and yet he found time to
+participate, as far as his diplomatic functions allowed, in the
+stirring and brilliant scenes then going forward on the theatre of
+Europe. The part that he had performed in the great battles for liberty
+in America, attracted towards him the regards and the confidence of all
+the prominent actors of the revolutionary drama of France. It was at
+his house that the patriots most frequently met; it was in his house
+that the Declaration of Rights which preceded the first French
+Constitution was drafted; it was at his house that the First
+Constitution was proposed; it was from him that Lafayette received many
+of his best and noblest impulses, and to him that the earlier leaders
+of the struggle looked for sympathy, concurrence, and direction. In
+after years, in the bitter political contests of the day, it was a
+topic of reproach that he was under French influence, but the truth
+was, as some one has sagaciously remarked, that the French had been
+brought under an American influence. He simply continued to be abroad
+what he had always been at home, the pioneer and consistent friend of
+popular rights,&#8212;the unflinching supporter of popular liberty.</p>
+<p>It was during this interval of absence in Europe, that the
+controversy in respect to a better constitution of government <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_085"></a>[85]</span>
+for the
+colonies, to which we have just alluded, was brought to a head. There
+had always been a substantial union between them, founded upon
+contiguous geographical position and their common interests, as well as
+their community of origin, languages, laws and religion, which the
+common danger of the Revolution had served to strengthen and cement.
+But as yet their political union was inchoate and fragile. It was a
+simple improvement upon the classical confederacies of history, such as
+had prevailed in ancient Greece, on the plains of Etrusca, before Rome
+was, among the dikes of Holland, or along the declivities of the Swiss
+Alps,&#8212;and such as Montesquieu and the accepted writers praised as the
+perfection of political arrangement, clear of all defects, and secure
+from foreign violence and domestic weakness. Yet, in the practice of
+the New World, it had not justified the praises of the theorists, for a
+fatal vice, an alarming and radical weakness had been developed in its
+want of due centripetal force. In other words, it was rather a
+conglomerate than a united whole, and the difficulty of the new problem
+which it raised consisted in the proper adjustment of the federal and
+central with the State and local authority. Parties were, of course,
+immediately formed on the question of the true solution of it, the one
+favoring a strong central power, taking the name of Federalist; and the
+other, disposed to adhere to the separate sovereignty and independence
+of the States, taking the name of Anti-Federalist. In the end, the
+Constitution actually adopted, a work only second in importance to the
+Revolution itself, or more properly the constructive completion of it,
+was a compromise between the two, although the original parties still
+maintained their relative positions, as the friends and foes of a
+preponderating general government.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_086"></a>[86]</span>Jefferson
+inclined to the anti-federalists, but not being in
+the midst of the debate, was scarcely mingled with its more exciting
+quarrels. It is hard to say, what shape, or whether a different shape
+at all, would have been given to the instrument of union, had he been
+at home to take part in its formation. We think it probable, however,
+that his immense personal influence, combined with his sharp forecast
+and decentralizing tendency, would have succeeded in modifying its more
+aristocratic and conservative features, especially in regard to the
+absorbing power of the Executive and the irresponsible tenure of the
+Judiciary. Be that as it may, the choice of him by Washington, in 1789,
+for the post of the first Secretary of State, gave him an opportunity
+of exercising his talents and manifesting his disposition, in the
+organization of the new experiment.</p>
+<p>There were two antagonisms which he found it necessary at the
+outset to meet; first, the tendency to federal absorption, and second,
+the reliance upon law rather than liberty, both embodied in the person
+of Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, a man of genius,
+of energy, of sincere convictions, and the confidant of Washington. The
+two men were, therefore, speedily self-placed in strong opposition.
+Hamilton had been educated in a military school, he admired the British
+Constitution, and, though he was an earnest patriot, as his efficient
+services in the war, and his masterly vindications of the Constitution
+had proved, he cherished a secret distrust of the people. Jefferson, on
+the other hand, had sympathized all his life with the multitude,
+approved, or rather had anticipated, the French philosophy, which was
+then in vogue, disliked the English models of government, and was
+sanguine <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_087"></a>[87]</span>
+of the future. It was inevitable, consequently, that the
+opposition of such men, both able, both decided, both earnest in their
+plans, should widen into an almost irreconcilable hostility. In 1793,
+Jefferson resigned, but not until, by his reports to Congress on the
+currency, the fisheries, weights and measures, and by his
+correspondence with foreign ministers, he had placed his department on
+a level with the Foreign Offices of the older nations. It is to him
+that we are indebted for our decimal coinage, and through him, as Mr.
+Webster, a competent and not too friendly judge, has confessed, our
+diplomatic intercourse was raised to a dignity and strength which will
+bear comparison with any that other governments can produce.</p>
+<p>In 1797 Jefferson was called from his retirement to act as
+Vice-President of the United States,&#8212;a place of not much practical
+efficiency, but which he illustrated by compiling a manual of
+Parliamentary Practice, which has ever since been the standard by which
+the proceedings of legislative bodies in this country are regulated.
+There was no position, indeed, which he does not appear to have been
+able to turn to some advantage to his country and his fellow-men.</p>
+<p>At the close of his term as Vice-President, he was chosen
+President,&#8212;a choice in which a final blow was given to the doctrines of
+Federalism, and the democratic republic finally inaugurated. We shall
+not, however, enter into the contests of that period, nor attempt to
+detail the measures of his administration. They are subjects for
+history, not for an outline like this we sketch. Suffice it to say,
+that the aspirations of the people were not disappointed by the results
+of his action. He rescued the functions of government from the improper
+direction which had been given to them, he organized strength <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_088"></a>[88]</span>
+through simplicity, he almost doubled the territory of the Union, he
+caused the
+vast regions of the west, now the seat of populous empire, to be
+explored, he gave us character abroad, and maintained tranquillity at
+home,&#8212; and, last of all, against the solicitation of his friends, with
+a popular prestige that would have carried him in triumph through a
+third or fourth term of office, even to the close of his days, he
+consecrated for ever the example of Washington, by resigning, as that
+great man had done, at the end of eight years.</p>
+<p>These are the simple facts of Jefferson's active career, and
+they need no comment. They present a character obviously too
+transparent to allow of much mistake. All his life points to a few
+simple but great objects. By his sanguine temperament, his keen
+insight, his quick and cherishing sympathies, his strong love of
+justice, his kindly visions of the future, he was made a democrat; and,
+under no circumstances could he have been any thing else. He hated
+tyranny, he loved truth, and he was not afraid of man; how then could
+he avoid becoming what he was, the apostle of freedom, author of the
+Statutes of Virginia and the Declaration of Independence, founder of
+the republican party, a name of power to future generations which have
+scarcely yet come up to the greatness and breadth of his enlightened
+opinions? Errors of conduct he may have committed, for who is perfect?
+impracticable views he may have enunciated, for who is all-wise? but
+the glory of his achievements is an imperishable remembrance of his
+countrymen, illustrating their history to all nations and to all times.
+"A superior and commanding intellect," it has been eloquently said, "is
+not a temporary flame burning brightly for a while, and then giving
+place to returning darkness. It is rather <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_089"></a>[89]</span>
+a spark of fervent heat, as well as radiant light, with power to
+enkindle the common mass of human
+mind; so that when it glimmers in its own decay, and finally goes out
+in death, no night follows, but it leaves the world all light, all on
+fire, from the potent contact of its own spirit."</p>
+<p>The retirement of Mr. Jefferson at Monticello was passed in
+the cultivation of his estate, in the pursuit of letters, in cheerful
+intercourse with friends, in the duties of a liberal hospitality, and
+in advancing his favorite project of a University of Virginia. His
+notes on Virginia, and his contributions to scientific periodicals,
+together with his extensive correspondence, had brought him to the
+acquaintance of the most distinguished scientific men of the world, and
+his eminent political services had made him known to statesmen. His
+house was, therefore, always thronged with visitors, who, attracted by
+his fame, were charmed by his conversation, astonished by his learning,
+and warmed into love by the unaffected kindliness of his deportment. A
+beautiful retirement, full of grandeur, of simplicity, of dignity and
+repose! A patriarch of the nation which he had helped to found, and
+which he lived to see in a condition of unparalleled
+advancement,&#8212;illustrious in two hemispheres,&#8212;his name connected with
+events that introduced a new era in the history of his race,&#8212;surrounded
+by the grateful admiration of growing millions of people; his old age
+was passed in the serenest contentment, amid the blandishments of
+literature and science, the interchanges of friendly offices, and in
+useful labor in the library or on the farm.</p>
+<p>Monticello, which is the name which Mr. Jefferson had given to
+his home, was built in one of the most enchanting <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_090"></a>[90]</span>
+regions of Virginia.
+"It seemed designed by nature," says a writer, "as the very seat from
+which, lifted above the world's turmoil, one who has exhausted what it
+can bestow of eminence, might look down, withdrawn from its personal
+troubles, but contemplating at leisure the distant animation of the
+scene. It was a place scarcely less fit for the visionary abode of the
+philosophic speculatist, than by its far-spread and shifting beauties
+of landscapes to inspire a poet with perpetual delight." On a spire of
+the romantic Blue Ridge, whose varying outlines stretch away from it
+till they are lost to the sight, with a sylvan scene of unsurpassed
+loveliness in the vale below, the quiet Rivanna meandering through rich
+fields on one side, the pleasant village of Charlotteville dotting the
+other, while the porticoes and domes of the University rise in the
+distance behind, it overlooked a combination of natural pictures that
+are rarely found in one spot.</p>
+<p>"The country," says the visitor we have just quoted, "is not
+flat, but a gently waving one; yet, from above and afar, its
+inequalities of surface vanish into a map-like smoothness, and are
+traceable only in the light and shade cast by hill and plain. The
+prospect here has a diameter of near a hundred miles: its scope is
+therefore such that atmospheric effects are constantly flickering over
+it, even in the most cloudless days of a climate as bright if not quite
+so soft as that of Italy; and thus each varying aspect of the weather
+is reflected, all the while, from the features of the landscape, as the
+passions are over the face of some capricious beauty, that laughs, and
+frowns, and weeps almost in the same breath. Near you, perhaps, all is
+smiling in the sunlight; yonder broods or bursts a storm; while, in a
+third quarter, darkness and light contend <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_091"></a>[91]</span>
+upon the prospect, and chase
+each other. The sky itself is thus not more shifting than the scene you
+may have before you. It takes a new aspect at almost every moment, and
+bewitches you with a perpetual novelty."</p>
+<p>The mansion of the philosopher was placed on the top of an
+eminence commanding this beautiful scene. It was somewhat fantastic in
+its architecture, owing to the additions and rebuildings that had been
+constantly going on, to adapt it to the enlarged wants and changing
+tastes of the occupant, but it was spacious, richly furnished and
+commodious. The rarest treasures of literature adorned the library, and
+indeed every part bore witness to the affluence and cultivated pursuits
+of the venerable sage. A farm of some fourteen thousand acres lay about
+among the hills, which was laboriously and carefully husbanded, and
+which gave employment in various ways to a number of artificers and
+mechanics, whose dwellings were distributed about the slopes. His
+estate, in short, was a small and almost independent community in
+itself, capable of supplying the ordinary needs and even the luxuries
+of a highly civilized condition of social existence. As a proof of
+this, we may state by the way, that the carriage of the proprietor, as
+well as many of the tools and implements in daily use, had been
+manufactured on the premises. But the wonder of the place was the
+library, which was not only extensive, but extensively rich in its rare
+possessions, which the master had seduously collected during his long
+residence abroad from every nook and corner of Europe. Unfortunately
+many of these books, afterwards presented to Congress, were burned in
+the conflagration of the Capitol. Of the man himself, a guest, who was
+any thing but an admirer, has left this record.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_092"></a>[92]</span>"Dressed,
+within doors, as I saw him last, no longer in the
+red breeches, which were once famous as his favorite and rather
+conspicuous attire; but still vindicating by a sanguine waistcoat his
+attachment to that Republican color; in gray shorts, small silver
+kneebuckles, gray woollen stockings, black slippers, a blue body-coat,
+surmounted by a gray spencer; tall, and though lithe of person and
+decidedly graceful and agile of motion and carriage, yet long and
+ill-limbed, Mr. Jefferson's figure was commanding and striking, though
+bad, and his face most animated and agreeable, although remarkably
+ugly. His legs, by no means shunned observation; yet they were scarcely
+larger at the knee than in the ankle, and had never been conscious of a
+calf. Still, though without strength, they had always borne him along
+with vigor and suppleness. These bodily qualities and a health almost
+unfailing, he preserved, in a singular degree, to the very close of his
+long life. At the time I speak of, when he was in his eighty-first
+year, he not only mounted his horse without assistance and rode
+habitually some ten miles a day, but, dismounting at a fence
+breast-high, would leap over it, by only placing his hand on the
+topmost rail. He walked not only well and swiftly, but with a lightness
+and springiness of tread, such as few young men even have. It was a
+restless activity of mind, which informed all this unusual mobility of
+body; and the two, I think, were, in him, greatly alike. For his
+intellect had, like his person, more size than shape, more adroitness
+than force, more suppleness than solidity, and affected its ends by
+continuity of action not mass of power, by manipulation not
+muscularity. You may batter to pieces with a small hammer that which a
+cannon-ball would not shiver. He was never idle: nay, hardly a moment
+still. <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_093"></a>[93]</span>
+He rose early and was up late, through his life; and was all
+day, whenever not on foot or a-horse-back, at study, at work, or in
+conversation. If his legs and fingers were at rest, his tongue would
+sure to be a-going. Indeed, even when seated in his library in a low
+Spanish chair, he held forth to his visitors in an almost endless flow
+of fine discourse, his body seemed as impatient of keeping still as his
+mind, it shifted its position incessantly, and so twisted itself about
+that you might almost have thought he was attitudinizing. Meantime, his
+face, expressive as it was ugly, was not much less busy than his limbs,
+in bearing its part in the conversation, and kept up, all the while,
+the most speaking by-play, an eloquence of the countenance as great as
+ugly features could well have. It stood to his conversation like the
+artful help of well-imagined illustrations to the text of a book: a
+graphic commentary on every word, that was as convincing to the eyes as
+was his discourse to the ears. The impression which it conveyed was a
+strong auxiliary of all he uttered: for it begat in you an almost
+unavoidable persuasion of his sincerity."</p>
+<p>Jefferson's conversation is described as the most agreeable
+and brilliant of his day; but was it this which gave him his personal
+power? He was not in other respects a man of any pre-eminent personal
+qualities; he did not possess commanding military skill; he was no
+orator, having seldom spoken in public; and though a good writer, he
+was not particularly distinguished in that line. His conversation,
+therefore, may have helped him in acquiring a mastery of the minds of
+men; but the real secret of his success consisted in two things&#8212;in his
+general superiority of intellect, and in his rich, generous, noble
+intuitions. He saw the truths and spoke the words, which the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_094"></a>[94]</span>
+world wanted to see and hear, at the right time&#8212;a little in advance of
+his
+generation, but not too much in advance so as to "dwarf himself by the
+distance." His sympathetic genius beat responsive to the genius of his
+age. His instincts were the instincts of the men of his day; more
+decided and pronounced than theirs, but still recognized as a prophecy
+of what they felt the deepest and wanted the most. All the talent, all
+the cunning, all the selfish calculation of the world could not have
+enabled him to reach the heights which he attained by the simple and
+consistent utterance of his nature. He conquered, as Emerson says in
+speaking of the force of character over and above mere force of some
+special faculty, because his arrival any where altered the face of
+affairs. "Oh, Iole, how did you know that Hercules was a God?"
+"Because," answered Iole, "I was content the moment my eyes fell upon
+him. When I beheld Theseus, I desired that I might see him offer
+battle, or at least guide his horses in the chariot race; but Hercules
+did not wait for a contest; he conquered whether he stood or walked, or
+sat, or whatever thing he did."</p>
+<p>Happy in his life, Jefferson was no less happy in his death,
+for he went peacefully to rest on the fiftieth anniversary of the great
+day which he had done so much to make great, the Jubilee of our
+national freedom,&#8212;when the shouts of the people, as they ascended from
+the innumerable vales, to his receding ears, must have sounded as a
+prelude to the swelling voices of posterity.</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_095"></a>[95]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="hancock"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Hancock.</span>
+</h6>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="letter_96"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 600px; height: 780px;" alt="Hancock fac-simile of letter" src="images/letters/hancock.png" /></a>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_096"></a>[96]</span>
+</div>
+<hr  />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_097"></a>[97]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus111"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 428px; height: 403px;" alt="Hancock House, Boston." src="images/illus111.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Hancock House, Boston.</a></span></p>
+<h2>HANCOCK.</h2>
+<p>In the mouths of the people of New England, and indeed
+throughout the United States, the name of John Hancock has become a
+household word. In the State of Massachusetts, where he was born,
+lived, and died, and in the affairs of which he took, for
+five-and-twenty years, so very active and leading a part, he enjoyed a
+degree and a permanence of popularity never yet obtained by any other
+man. And yet we may observe and the same thing may be noted in other
+and more recent instances&#8212;a remarkable fact that deserves to be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_098"></a>[98]</span>
+pondered&#8212;that his high degree of popularity was not at all dependent
+upon any peculiar embodiment or manifestation on his part of the more
+prevailing and characteristic traits of the community about him. Indeed
+the popular favor which Hancock enjoyed would seem to have been
+determined, as the attachment of individuals so often is, and as has
+happened also in other notable instances, rather by the attraction of
+opposites.</p>
+<p>And yet Hancock's line of descent was such as might naturally
+enough have inspired the expectation of finding in him a good many more
+marks of the old puritan temper and manners than he ever exhibited.
+From the days of the first settlement of New England, down to the
+period of the Revolution and afterwards, the "ministers" constituted a
+sort of clerical nobility, enjoying a very high degree of influence and
+consideration; and it is to forefathers of that order, that a large
+part of the most distinguished and influential New England families may
+trace their origin. The elder sons of these ministers, commonly, and
+the younger ones often, were educated to the profession of their
+fathers, long regarded in New England as the most certain road to
+distinction, whether spiritual or temporal. But as the demand for
+ministers was limited, and as their families were generally pretty
+large, many of their sons found it necessary to engage in the
+avocations of civil life, in which they not uncommonly attained to
+wealth and high social positions. Yet, for the most part, however
+zealous and successful they might be in the pursuit of temporal
+objects, they still continued to exhibit pretty evident marks of their
+clerical descent and breeding in a certain stiff, cold, and austere
+gravity, if not, indeed, in a certain sanctimonious air <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_099"></a>[99]</span>
+even in the
+very act of concluding the very tightest and sharpest of bargains;&#8212;all
+the attributes, in fact, comprehensively and impressively conveyed to
+an inhabitant of New England by the title of <i>Deacon</i>,
+which office, as if still clinging to the horns of the altar, they
+often filled; thus becoming pillars and supports of that church of
+which their fathers had been the candlesticks.</p>
+<p>The grandfather of John Hancock, himself called John, was for
+more than fifty years, as if by a sort of vaticination of the future,
+minister of Lexington, near to Concord; thus associating with that of
+Hancock another name, now to all American ears so familiar as the scene
+of the first revolutionary bloodshed. We are told by a biographer of
+this first John Hancock, that he possessed "a facetious temper," but in
+the grim old portrait which still hangs on the walls of his grandson's
+family mansion-house, very small traces of facetiousness appear; and so
+far as physiognomy goes, we should be rather inclined to look to his
+grandmother, to whose accompanying portrait the artist has given a fine
+open countenance, with something of a magnificent and voluptuous style
+of beauty, for the source of those social qualities and captivating
+manners by which their famous grandson was distinguished. The minister
+of Lexington had two sons, both also ministers, one of whom became his
+father's colleague. The other, the father of our John Hancock, was
+settled at Braintree, near Boston, in that part of it which now
+constitutes the town of Quincy; and it was here that in the year 1737
+our John Hancock was born, only a short distance from the birth-place
+of John Adams, who was some two years his senior. The old house in
+which the future patriot first saw the light was destroyed by an
+accidental <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_100"></a>[100]</span>
+fire previous to the Revolution; and the land on which it
+had stood coming subsequently into the possession of John Adams, he
+presented it to the town of Quincy as a site for a future academy.</p>
+<p>At the age of six or seven years, the young John Hancock was
+left without a father; but in his uncle, Thomas Hancock, he found a
+guardian and protector, who not only loved him, but was able to assist
+him. Thomas Hancock early in life had been placed as an apprentice to a
+Boston stationer, and had afterwards set up in that line of business
+for himself: but subsequently extending the sphere of his operations,
+he became one of the most eminent and successful merchants of New
+England. As he had no children, he adopted, as his own, his young
+nephew, whose affable and joyous temper had not failed to make him dear
+to his uncle, as they did to so many others; and having sent him to
+Harvard College, where he graduated at the early age of seventeen, he
+took him afterwards into his counting-house to be initiated into the
+mysteries of merchandise; and in due season admitted him as a partner.
+It was, perhaps, as well on business as for pleasure, or general
+improvement, that the young Hancock visited England, whither he went in
+company with the returning Governor Pownall, whose taste for social
+enjoyment was similar to his own, and where he saw the funeral of
+George II. and the coronation of George III., little thinking at that
+moment how active a part he was himself soon to take in curtailing the
+limits of the British monarchy, and in snatching from the young king's
+crown its brightest jewel.</p>
+<p>Thomas Hancock, the uncle, died in 1764, leaving behind him a
+fortune amassed by his judicious and successful mercantile <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_101"></a>[101]</span>enterprises,
+of not less than $350,000, one of the largest ever acquired in Boston,
+up to that time, though small in comparison with several of the present
+day, when even ten times as much may be produced by combined good
+fortune, tact, and perseverance. Thomas Hancock bestowed by his will
+some considerable legacies for charitable purposes, among others a
+thousand pounds to Harvard College to endow a professorship of oriental
+languages, being thus, as the historian of the college assures us, the
+first native American to endow a professorship in any literary
+institution;&#8212;but the great bulk of his fortune he bequeathed to his
+favorite nephew, $250,000 at once, and a reversionary interest in
+$100,000 more, of which his widow was to enjoy the use during her life.</p>
+<p>Thus in 1764, at the early age of twenty-seven, and just upon
+the eve of the commencement of the revolutionary disputes with the
+mother country, John Hancock came into possession of one of the largest
+fortunes in the province.</p>
+<p>Yet, though this large estate was an instrument and a
+stepping-stone, without the help of which Hancock would never have
+attained to that social and political distinction which he coveted and
+enjoyed so much, yet without his rare personal gifts and
+accomplishments it would have been wholly unavailing to that end; and
+so far from qualifying him, would have disqualified him, as it did so
+many other of the rich men of that time, for playing the conspicuous
+part he did in political affairs. Though for some time after his
+uncle's death he continued in business as a merchant, there were others
+who knew much better than he how to increase estates, already in the
+popular estimate&#8212;especially considering the use made of them&#8212;quite too
+large. Indeed, his business operations <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_102"></a>[102]</span>do not seem to
+have had mainly
+or primarily in view the making of money; for though he started new
+enterprises, going largely into ship-building, it was rather, at least
+so Hutchinson insinuates, as a politician than as a capitalist, looking
+more to the number of people he employed, and the increase thereby of
+his influence and popularity, than to the enlargement of his already
+plentiful fortune. There were others also who knew much better than he
+how to keep what they had, at least as they thought, men who used no
+less economy in spending their money than they or their fathers had
+done in acquiring it. But although the rich man who keeps his capital
+entire, and even increasing, is, in some sense, certainly a public
+benefactor, yet the fountain that overflows, sending forth a copious
+stream which the thirsty passers-by are all free to drink from, or at
+least to look at, is always more joyfully seen and more pleasingly
+remembered&#8212;even though it does run the risk of some time running
+dry&#8212;than the deep well, whose water is hardly visible, and which,
+though quite inexhaustible, yet for want of any kind of a bucket that
+can be made to sink into it, or any rope long enough to draw such a
+bucket up, is very little available to the parched throats of the
+fainting wayfarers, who, in the spirit and with the feelings of
+Tantalus, are thus rather disposed to curse than to bless it.</p>
+<p>To be able to make money is, at least in New England, a very
+common accomplishment, to be able to keep it not a rare one; but very
+few have understood so well as Hancock did, how to make the most of it
+in the way of spending it, obtaining from it, as he did, the double
+gratification of satisfying his own private inclinations, at the same
+time that he promoted <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_103"></a>[103]</span>
+his political views by the hold that he gained on
+the favor and good-will of his fellow-citizens.</p>
+<p>He possessed, indeed, in a degree, those tastes which wealth
+is best able to gratify, and to the gratification of which it is most
+essential. In the very face and eyes of the puritanical opinions and
+the staid and ultra-sober habits of New England, he delighted in
+splendid furniture, fine clothes, showy equipages, rich wines, good
+dinners, gay company, cards, dances, music, and all sorts of
+festivities. Nothing pleased him so much as to have his house full of
+guests to share with him in these enjoyments, and few were better
+qualified, by winning manners, graceful and affable address, a ready
+wit, a full flow of spirits, and a keen enjoyment of the whole thing,
+to act the part of master of the feast. But while thus luxuriously
+inclined, he had no disposition for gross debauch: and the presence of
+ladies at all his entertainments, while it seemed to give to them a new
+zest, banished from his house that riotous dissipation into which mere
+male gatherings are so certain to sink; and which in times past, in New
+England, made the idea of gross dissipation almost inseparable from
+that of social enjoyment, nor even yet is the distinction between them
+fully apprehended by every body.</p>
+<p>Among other property which Hancock had inherited from his
+uncle, was a stone mansion-house, still standing, and now in the very
+centre of the city of Boston, but which then was looked upon as quite
+retired and almost in the country. This house, which was built about
+the year that Hancock was born, fronts eastwardly on Boston Common,
+since so elaborately improved and converted into so beautiful a park,
+with its gravel walks, trees, and smooth-shaven lawns, but which was
+then a <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_104"></a>[104]</span>
+<i>common</i> in the old English sense of the word,
+a common pasture for the cows of the neighbors, and a training field
+for the militia, with very few improvements except a single gravel walk
+and two or three rows of trees along Tremont-street. This house was
+situated a little west of the central and highest summit of that triple
+hill, which had early acquired for the peninsula of Boston the name of
+Trimountain,&#8212;since shortened into Tremont, and preserved in the name of
+the street above mentioned, which central summit was, from an early
+period, known as Beacon Hill, a name preserved in that of
+Beacon-street. This name was derived from the use to which this highest
+central summit had been put from a very early period&#8212;materials being
+always kept in readiness upon the top of it for kindling a bonfire, as
+a means of alarming the country round in case of invasion or other
+danger. After having been a good deal graded down, this summit is now
+occupied as a site for the State House, which, with its conspicuous
+dome, crowns and overlooks the whole city.</p>
+<p>It was in this mansion-house of his uncle's, which seems as if
+by a sort of attraction to have drawn the State House to its side, that
+Hancock continued to live except when absent at Philadelphia in
+attendance on the Continental Congress; and not content with its
+original dimensions, to afford more room for his numerous guests, he
+built at one end of it a wooden addition, since removed, containing a
+dining-room, dancing-hall, and other like conveniences. It was here
+Hancock, assisted by his amiable and accomplished wife, who entered
+into all his tastes and feelings, and who contributed her full share to
+give expression and realization to them, presided over so many social
+dinner parties and gay assemblages, dressed out, both host <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_105"></a>[105]</span>
+and guests,
+in that rich costume which Copley, who was one of Hancock's near
+neighbors, loved so well to paint, and of which his pencil has
+transmitted to us so vivid an idea. Nor did he show himself abroad with
+less display than he exhibited at home, his custom being to ride on
+public occasions in a splendid carriage drawn by six beautiful bays,
+and attended by several servants in livery.</p>
+<p>While the public attention was thus drawn upon him by a
+display which at once attracted and gratified the eyes of the
+multitude, whose envy at that time there was less fear than now of
+exciting, and by a generous and free hospitality, the more captivating
+for not being either indigenous or common, the part which Hancock took
+in the rising disputes with the mother country converted him into that
+popular idol, which he continued to be for the remainder of his life;
+and which, to one so greedy as he was of honor and applause, must have
+been in the highest degree gratifying. It is indeed not uncommon to
+depreciate the public services of such men as Hancock, by ascribing all
+to vanity and the love of distinction; as if without the impulse of
+these motives any great efforts would be made to serve the public!
+Worthy indeed of all honor are those men in whom these impulses take so
+honorable a direction; and happy the nation able to purchase such
+services at so cheap a rate!</p>
+<p>In 1766, two years after his uncle's death, Hancock was
+chosen, along with James Otis, Samuel Adams, and Thomas Cushing, one of
+the four representatives from Boston to the General Court. The seizure,
+two years after, of his sloop Liberty, for alleged violations of the
+revenue laws, in evading the payment of duties on a cargo of wine
+imported from <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_106"></a>[106]</span>
+Madeira, closely and personally identified him with the
+resistance then making throughout the colonies to the attempt to
+collect a revenue in America by parliamentary authority alone. This
+seizure led to a riot which figures in all the histories of that
+period, by which the commissioners of the customs were driven from the
+town, and in consequence of which two or three British regiments were
+ordered to Boston&#8212;the first step on the part of the mother country
+towards a military enforcement of the authority which she claimed.
+Hancock felt personally the consequences of this riot, in a number of
+libels or criminal informations filed against him in the Court of
+Admiralty, to recover penalties to the amount of three or four hundred
+thousand dollars, for violations of the revenue laws. "It seemed,"
+writes John Adams in his Diary, and he had ample opportunity to know,
+for he was retained as Hancock's counsel, "as if the officers of the
+court were determined to examine the whole town as witnesses." In hopes
+to fish out some evidence against him; they interrogated many of his
+near relations and most intimate friends. They even threatened to
+summon his aged and venerable aunt: nor did those annoyances cease till
+the battle of Lexington, the siege of Boston, and the expulsion of the
+British from that town shut up the Admiralty Court, and brought the
+prosecution, and British authority along with it, to an end.</p>
+<p>At the commencement of the disputes with the mother country,
+the sentiment against the right of parliament to impose taxes on the
+colonies had seemed to be almost unanimous. The only exceptions were a
+few persons holding office under the crown. The rich especially, this
+being a question that touched the pocket, were very loud in their
+protests against any such <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_107"></a>[107]</span>
+exercise of parliamentary authority. But as
+the dispute grew more warm and violent, threatening to end in civil
+commotions, the rich, not doubting that the mother country would
+triumph in the end, and fearing the loss of their entire property in
+the attempt to save a part of it, began to draw back; thus making much
+more conspicuous than ever the position of Hancock as a leader of the
+popular party. Indeed there was hardly a wealthy man in Boston, he and
+Bowdoin excepted, both of whom had not accumulated but inherited their
+property, who did not end with joining the side of the mother country.
+And the same thing may be observed of Massachusetts, and indeed of New
+England generally. Of all the larger and better-looking mansion-houses,
+of eighty years old and upwards, still standing in the vicinity of
+Boston, of which the number is considerable, there are very few that
+did not originally belong to some old tory who forfeited his property
+out of his very anxiety to preserve it. Hancock's acceptance of the
+command of the company of cadets or governor's guard, whence the title
+of colonel by which for some time he was known; his acting with that
+company as an escort, at the funeral of Lieutenant-Governor Oliver, who
+was very obnoxious to the patriots; his refusing to go all lengths with
+Samuel Adams in the controversy with Hutchinson as to the governor's
+right to call the General Court together, elsewhere than in Boston; and
+the circumstance that although he had been several times before
+negatived as a member of the council, Hutchinson had at length allowed
+his name on the list of counsellors proposed by the General Court;
+these and perhaps some other circumstances excited indeed some
+suspicions that Hancock also was growing lukewarm to the popular cause.
+But these he took care to dissipate by <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_108"></a>[108]</span>
+declining to sit as counsellor,
+by acting as orator at the Anniversary of the Boston Massacre, and by
+accepting, not long after, an appointment as one of the delegates to
+the Continental Congress. The oration above alluded to, delivered in
+March, 1774, and which Hancock's enemies pretended was written for him
+by Dr. Cooper, was pronounced by John Adams, who heard it, "an
+eloquent, pathetic, and spirited performance."</p>
+<p>"The composition," so he wrote in his diary, "the
+pronunciation, the action, all exceeded the expectation of every body.
+[These last were certainly not Cooper's.] They exceeded even mine,
+which were very considerable. Many of the sentiments came with great
+propriety from him. His invective, particularly against a preference of
+riches to virtue, came from him with a singular dignity and grace." A
+passage in this oration, which was afterwards printed, on the subject
+of standing armies, gave great offence to the British officers and
+soldiers by whom the town continued to be occupied, and not long after
+Governor Gage dismissed Hancock from his command of the company of
+cadets; whereupon they disbanded themselves, returning the standard
+which the governor on his initiation into office had presented to them.</p>
+<p>The sensibilities of the British officers and soldiers being
+again excited by some parts of an oration delivered the next year by
+Dr. Warren, on the same anniversary, a few weeks before the battle of
+Lexington, a military mob beset Hancock's house and began to destroy
+the fences and waste the grounds. Gage sent a military guard to put a
+stop to their outrages.</p>
+<p>But it was no longer safe for Hancock to remain in such close
+contiguity to the British troops. He was president of the Provincial
+Congress of Massachusetts, which, in <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_109"></a>[109]</span>
+consequence of the act of
+parliament to modify the charter of that province, had lately assumed
+to themselves the power of the purse and the sword. He was also
+president of the provincial committee of safety, which, under authority
+of the Provincial Congress, had begun in good earnest to prepare for
+taking arms for the vindication of those rights which the men of
+Massachusetts claimed under the now violated and (so far as parliament
+had the power) abrogated Charter of the province. Under these
+circumstances, Hancock abandoned his house, which was subsequently
+occupied by Lord Percy as his headquarters; and at the time of the
+march of the British troops for Concord, he was living at Lexington, in
+company with Samuel Adams. Indeed it was supposed that one of the
+objects of this march was to seize the persons of those two patriots,
+to whom Gage seemed to point as the authors of the collision at
+Lexington by the issue of a proclamation, in which pardon was offered
+to all who, giving over their late traitorous proceedings, would
+furnish proof of their repentance and of their renewed allegiance to
+their king, by submitting to the authority of his duly appointed
+governor, and of the late act of parliament: but from this pardon John
+Hancock and Samuel Adams were excepted, their offences being too
+flagrant to be passed over without condign punishment.</p>
+<p>Before the issue of this proclamation, Hancock had already
+proceeded to Philadelphia, where the famous Continental Congress of
+1775 was already in session, composed, to a great extent, of the same
+members with its predecessor of the year before, but of which he had
+been chosen a member in place of Bowdoin. He was a fluent and agreeable
+speaker, one of those who, by grace of manner, seem to add a double
+force and weight to all which they say; yet in that illustrious
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_110"></a>[110]</span>
+assembly there were quite a number, including John Adams, from his own
+State, compared with whom he could hardly have claimed rank as an
+orator. There were also in that assembly several able writers; the
+state papers emanating from whose pens were compared by Chatham to the
+ablest productions of the republican ages of Greece and Rome; but
+Hancock was not one of those. There were men of business there who
+undertook, without shrinking, all the Herculean labors of organizing
+the army and navy, the treasury and the foreign office of the new
+confederation&#8212;but neither in this line does Hancock appear to have been
+greatly distinguished. And yet it was not long before, by his
+appointment as president of that body, he rose to a position in
+Continental affairs, no less conspicuous than that which we have seen
+him exercising in those of his own province. Circumstances led indeed
+to this situation, quite apart from Hancock's personal qualifications,
+and yet had he not possessed those qualifications in a high degree, he
+would never have had the opportunity of immortalizing himself as he has
+done by his famous signature at the head of the Declaration of
+Independence,&#8212;a signature well calculated to give a strong impression
+with those who judge of personal character by handwriting, of the
+decided temper and whole-hearted energy of the man. Virginia, as the
+most populous and wealthy of the colonies, had received the compliment
+of furnishing the President of the Congress of 1774; and Peyton
+Randolph&#8212;a planter and lawyer, an elderly gentleman of the old school,
+formerly attorney general of that province, and in Governor Dinwiddie's
+time, sent by the Assembly on a special message to England, to complain
+of the governor for the fees he exacted on patents of land&#8212;had been
+first selected for that <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_111"></a>[111]</span>
+distinguished station. He had again been chosen
+as President of the new Congress; but being also speaker of the
+Virginia House of Burgesses, and that body having been called together
+by Lord Dunmore, in what proved to be its last meeting, to consider
+Lord North's conciliatory propositions, it became necessary for
+Randolph to return home. His place in Congress was filled, in
+compliance with an arrangement previously made by the House of
+Burgesses, by no less distinguished a successor than Thomas Jefferson;
+but in filling up the vacant seat of President of Congress, during what
+was then regarded as but the temporary absence of Randolph, it was
+natural enough to look to Massachusetts, the next province to Virginia
+in population and wealth, no ways behind her in zeal for the cause,
+and, as the result proved, far her superior in military capabilities.
+Nor among the delegates present from Massachusetts, was there any one
+who seemed, on the whole, so well fitted for the station, or likely to
+be at all so satisfactory to the delegates from the other States, as
+John Hancock. Had James Bowdoin been present, he would perhaps have
+been more acceptable to the great body of the members than Hancock, as
+being less identified than he was with violent measures. But though
+chosen a delegate to the first Congress, the sickness of Bowdoin's wife
+had prevented his attendance; and the same cause still operating to
+keep him at home, John Hancock had been appointed, as we have
+mentioned, in his place. Of Hancock's four colleagues, all of whom were
+older men than himself, Samuel Adams certainly, if not John Adams also,
+might have disputed with him the palm of zeal and activity in the
+revolutionary cause; but not one of them risked so much as he did, at
+least in the judgment of his fellow-members <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_112"></a>[112]</span>from the middle
+and
+southern provinces, who were generally men of property. He alone, of
+all the New England delegates, had a fortune to lose; and while his
+wealthy southern colleagues looked with some distrust upon the Adamses,
+regarding them perhaps a little in the light, if we may be pardoned so
+coarse an illustration, of the monkey in the fable, who wished to rake
+his chestnuts out of the fire at the risk and expense of other people's
+fingers, no such idea could attach to Hancock, who, in point of
+fortune, had probably as much to lose as any other member, except
+perhaps John Dickinson&#8212;for the wealthy Charles Carrol, of Maryland, had
+not a seat in the Congress. At the same time Hancock's genial manners
+and social spirit, seemed to the members from the southern and middle
+provinces to make him quite one of themselves, an associate in pleasure
+and social intercourse, as well as in business; while the austere
+spirit and laborious industry of the Adamses threatened to inflict upon
+them the double hardship of all work and no play. But while the
+moderate members found, as they supposed, in the fortune which Hancock
+had at stake a pledge that he would not hurry matters to any violent
+extremes; the few also most disposed to press matters to a final
+breach, were well satisfied to have as president, one who had shown
+himself in his own province so energetic, prompt, decisive, and
+thorough.</p>
+<p>Yet Hancock's colleagues, and the members generally from New
+England, never entirely forgave the preference which had been thus
+early shown to him; and upon many of the sectional questions and
+interests which soon sprung up, and by which the Continental Congress
+was at times so seriously belittled and so greatly distracted, Hancock
+was often accused of <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_113"></a>[113]</span>
+deserting the interests of New England, and of
+going with the southern party. The internal and secret history of the
+Continental Congress or rather of the temporary and personal motives by
+which the conduct of its members, as to a variety of details, was
+influenced, remains so much in obscurity that it is not easy to
+ascertain the precise foundation of those charges, reiterated as they
+are in letters and other memoirs of those times; but on the whole, no
+reason appears to regard them otherwise than as the natural ebullition
+of disappointed partisanship against a man, who, in the struggle of
+contending factions and local interests, strove to hold the balance
+even, and who did not believe, with Samuel Adams and some others, that
+political wisdom was limited to New England alone.</p>
+<p>The President of Congress, in those times, was regarded as the
+personal representative of that body and of the sovereignty of the
+Union; and in that respect filled, to a certain degree, in the eye of
+the nation and of the world, the place now occupied by the President of
+the United States, though sharing, in no degree, the vast patronage and
+substantial power attached to the latter office. In his capacity of
+personal representative of the nation the President of Congress kept
+open house and a well-spread table, to which members of Congress,
+officers of the army, attach�s of the diplomatic corps foreign and
+domestic, distinguished strangers, every body in fact who thought
+themselves to be any body&#8212;a pretty large class, at least in
+America&#8212;expected invitations; whereby was imposed upon that officer
+pretty laborious social duties, in addition to his public and political
+ones, which were by no means trifling. All these duties of both
+classes, Hancock continued to discharge with great assiduity and to
+general satisfaction, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_114"></a>[114]</span>
+for upwards of two years and a half, through a
+period at which the power and respectability of the Continental
+Congress was at its greatest height, before the downfall of the paper
+money and the total exhaustion of the credit of the nation at home and
+abroad had reduced the representative of the sovereignty of the nation
+to a pitiful dependence on the bounty of France, and upon requisitions
+on the States, to which very little attention was paid. Feeling all the
+dignity of his position, Hancock took one of the largest houses in
+Philadelphia, where he lived in profuse hospitality, and all upon
+advances made out of his own pocket. After his day, it became necessary
+for Congress to allow their president a certain annual stipend out of
+the public treasury to support the expenses of his household. In
+Hancock's time, this was not thought of; and it was not till near the
+close of the war, after the precedent had been established in the case
+of his successors, that he put in any claim for the reimbursement of
+his expenses.</p>
+<p>There is a story, that Hancock, when chosen President of
+Congress, blushed and modestly hung back, and was drawn into the chair
+only by the exertion of some gentle force on the part of the brawny
+Harrison, a member from Virginia, and afterwards governor of that
+State. And yet, according to John Adams, Hancock was hardly warm in his
+seat when he aspired to a much more distinguished position. He expected
+to have been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the American armies, and
+displayed in his countenance, so Adams says in his Diary, the greatest
+vexation and disappointment when Washington was named for that station.
+It is certain that he had some military aspirations, for he wrote to
+Washington shortly after his assumption of command, requesting that
+some <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_115"></a>[115]</span>
+place in the army might be kept for him, to which Washington
+replied with compliments at his zeal, but with apprehension that he had
+no place at his disposal worthy of Colonel Hancock's acceptance. Not
+long after his return to Boston, his military ardor revived. He
+procured himself to be chosen a major-general of the Massachusetts
+militia, and he marched the next summer (1778) at the head of his
+division to join the expedition against Newport, in which the French
+fleet and troops just arrived under D'Estaing, a detachment from
+Washington's army under Sullivan, Greene, and La Fayette, and the
+militia from the neighboring States were to co-operate. But D'Estaing
+suffered himself to be drawn out to sea by the English fleet, which had
+appeared off Newport for that express purpose, and after a slight
+running engagement, the fleet, while struggling for the weather gauge,
+were separated by a violent storm, in which some of D'Estaing's ships
+were dismasted and others greatly damaged, so that he judged it
+necessary to put into Boston to refit. The American army meanwhile had
+crossed to Rhode Island, and established itself before Newport, but as
+Count D'Estaing could not be persuaded to return, it became necessary
+to abandon the island, not without a battle to cover the retreat. With
+this expedition, Hancock's military career seems to have terminated;
+but on arriving at Boston, he found ample work on hand better adapted
+perhaps to his talents than the business of active warfare. Sullivan,
+of a hot and impetuous temper, and excessively vexed at D'Estaing's
+conduct, was even imprudent enough to give expression to his feelings
+in general orders. It was like touching a spark to tinder, and the
+American army before New-York, which shared the general's feelings,
+encouraged by his example, "broke out," so Greene wrote to Washington,
+"in <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_116"></a>[116]</span>
+clamorous strains." The same disappointment was bitterly felt also
+at Boston; for the British occupation of Newport had long been an
+eyesore to New England, occasioning great expense in keeping up militia
+to watch the enemy there, and in projects for their expulsion; and the
+prevailing dissatisfaction at the conduct of the French admiral soon
+found expression in a serious riot between the populace of the town and
+the sailors of the French fleet, threatening to revive all those
+violent prejudices against the French, fostered in the colonies for
+near a hundred years, and which the recent alliance with France had
+glossed over indeed, but had not wholly subdued. Upon this occasion,
+Hancock exerted himself with zeal and success to prevent this
+ill-temper, which had broken out between the classes least accustomed
+to restrain their feelings or the expression of them, from spreading
+any higher. He opened his house to the French officers, who, delighted
+at the opportunity of social enjoyment and female society, kept it full
+from morning till night, and by his "unwearied pains," so La Fayette
+wrote to Washington, did much to heal the breach which Sullivan's
+imprudence had so dangerously aggravated. On this occasion, at least,
+if on no other, Hancock's love of gayety, and of social pleasures,
+proved very serviceable to his country.</p>
+<p>During his absence at Philadelphia, his popularity at home had
+undergone no diminution, and he soon resumed, as a member of the
+council, on which since the breach with Gage the executive
+administration had devolved, a leading influence in the State
+administration; and when at last, after two trials, a constitution was
+sanctioned by the people, he was chosen by general consent the first
+governor under it. This was a station of vastly more consideration then
+than now. Under the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_117"></a>[117]</span>
+old confederation, at least after the Continental
+Congress, by the exhaustion of its credit and the repudiation of its
+bills, had no longer money at command, the States were sovereign in
+fact as well as in words; while all that reverence which under the old
+system had attached to the royal governors, had been transferred to
+their first republican successors. Since that period the State
+governments have sunk into mere municipalities for the administration
+of local affairs, and all eyes being constantly turned towards
+Washington, the executive offices of the States, even the station of
+governor, are no longer regarded except as stepping-stones to something
+higher.</p>
+<p>Hancock discharged his office as governor to good acceptance
+for five years, when he voluntarily retired, making way for James
+Bowdoin, who might be regarded in some respects as his rival, the head
+of a party, perhaps more intelligent, and certainly far more select,
+than that great body of the population by whom Hancock was supported;
+but whom, so at least his opponents said, he rather studied to follow
+than aspired to lead. During Bowdoin's administration, occurred Shays'
+insurrection, one of the most interesting and instructive incidents in
+the history of Massachusetts, but into the particulars of which we have
+not space here to enter. This insurrection, of which the great object
+was the cancelling of debts, an object which the States now practically
+accomplish by means of insolvent laws, was thought to involve, either
+as participators more or less active, or at least as favorers and
+sympathizers, not less than a third part of the population of the
+State. The active measures taken at Bowdoin's suggestion for putting
+down the insurgents by an armed force, and the political disabilities
+and other punishments inflicted upon them after their defeat, did <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_118"></a>[118]</span>not
+at all tend to increase Bowdoin's popularity with this large portion of
+the people. Though Hancock's health had not allowed him to take his
+seat in the Continental Congress, to which he had again been chosen a
+delegate, and by which he had, in his absence, been again selected as
+their president&#8212;yet, weary of retirement, he suffered himself to be
+brought forward as a candidate, and to be elected as governor over
+Bowdoin's head&#8212;a procedure never forgiven by what may be called the
+party of property, against which the insurrection of Shays had been
+aimed, whose members thenceforth did not cease, in private at least, to
+stigmatize Hancock as a mere demagogue, if not indeed almost a Shaysite
+himself. Nor indeed is it impossible, that the governor, with all his
+property, had some personal sympathies with that party. He, like them,
+was harassed with debts, which, as we have seen in the case of the
+college, he was not much inclined, and probably not very able, to bring
+to a settlement. He still had large possessions in lands and houses in
+Boston, but at this moment his property was unsalable, and to a
+considerable extent unproductive; and a stop law might have suited his
+convenience not less than that of the embarrassed farmers in the
+interior, who had assembled under the leadership of Shays to shut up
+the courts and put a stop to suits. This scheme, however, had been
+effectually put down prior to Hancock's accession to office, and it
+only remained for him to moderate, by executive clemency, the penalties
+inflicted on the suppressed insurgents&#8212;a policy which the state of the
+times and the circumstances of the case very loudly demanded, however
+little it might be to the taste of the more imperious leaders of the
+party by which those penalties had been inflicted. But even this same
+party might <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_119"></a>[119]</span>
+acknowledge a great obligation to Hancock for the
+assistance which they soon after obtained from him in securing the
+ratification by Massachusetts of that federal constitution under which
+we now so happily live. Still governor of the State, he was chosen a
+delegate from Boston to the State convention, called to consider the
+proposed constitution: and though incapacitated by sickness from taking
+his seat till near the close of the session, he was named its
+president. The federal constitution had been already ratified by five
+States, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut.
+But Virginia, New York, and North Carolina, were known to be strongly
+against it, and its rejection by Massachusetts would, in all
+probability, prevent its acceptance by the number of States required to
+give it effect. The convention was very equally divided, and the result
+hung long in doubt. At last Hancock came upon the floor and proposed
+some amendments, principally in the nature of a bill of rights, agreed
+to probably by concert out of doors, to be suggested for the approval
+of Congress and adoption by the States under the provision for
+amendments contained in the constitution, and most of which were
+afterwards adopted. Thus sweetened, the constitution was fairly forced
+down the reluctant throat of the convention; and unlike the typical
+book of St. John, though so bitter in the mouth, it has fortunately
+proved sweet enough and very nourishing in the digestion.</p>
+<p>On the occasion of Washington's visit to Boston, subsequently
+to his inauguration as President, a curious struggle took place between
+him and Hancock, or perhaps we ought rather to say, between the
+Governor of Massachusetts and the President of the United States, on a
+question of etiquette. <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_120"></a>[120]</span>
+Hancock, as Governor of Massachusetts, insisted
+upon the first call, a precedence which Washington, as President of the
+United States, refused to yield. Finding himself obliged to succumb,
+Hancock's gout and other complicated diseases served him for once in
+good stead; for in the note which he finally sent, announcing his
+intention to wait upon Washington, they answered as a convenient excuse
+for not having fulfilled that duty before.</p>
+<p>Some two or three years after, we find Governor Hancock, out
+of deference to the puritanical opinions and laws of the State,
+involved in another noticeable controversy, but one into which he could
+not have entered with any great heart. Shortly after the adoption of
+the federal constitution, a company of stage-players had made their
+appearance in Boston, and though the laws still prohibited theatrical
+exhibitions, encouraged by the countenance of the gayer part of the
+population, they commenced the performance of plays, which they
+advertised in the newspapers as "Moral Lectures." Some of their friends
+among the townsfolks had even built a temporary theatre for their
+accommodation, a trampling under foot of the laws, which seemed the
+more reprehensible as the legislature, though applied to for that
+purpose, had twice refused to repeal that prohibitory statute. "To the
+legislature which met shortly after," we quote from the fourth volume
+of Hildreth's History of the United States, "Governor Hancock gave
+information that 'a number of aliens and foreigners had entered the
+State, and in the metropolis of the government, under advertisements
+insulting to the habits and education of the citizens, had been pleased
+to invite them to, and to exhibit before such as attended, stage-plays,
+interludes, and theatrical entertainments, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_121"></a>[121]</span>under the style
+and
+appellation of Moral Lectures.' All which, as he complained, had been
+suffered to go on without any steps taken to punish a most open breach
+of the laws, and a most contemptuous insult to the powers of
+government. Shortly after this denunciation by the governor, suddenly
+one night, in the midst of the performance of 'The School for Scandal,'
+the sheriff of the county appeared on the stage, arrested the actors,
+and broke up the performances. When the examination came on, having
+procured able counsel (one of whom, if we mistake not, was the then
+young Harrison Gray Otis), the actors were discharged on the ground
+that the arrest was illegal, the warrant not having been sworn to. This
+error was soon corrected, and a second arrest brought the performances
+to a close. But the legislature, finding that the sentiment of the town
+of Boston was strong against the law, and that a new and permanent
+theatre was in the course of erection, repealed the prohibitory act a
+few months after."</p>
+<p>This temporary triumph over the poor players was one of the
+last of Hancock's long series of successes; unless indeed we ought to
+assign that station to the agency which he had in procuring the erasure
+from the federal constitution of a very equitable and necessary
+provision, authorizing suits in the federal courts against the States
+by individuals having claims upon them. At such a suit, brought against
+the State of Massachusetts, Hancock exhibited a vast deal of
+indignation, calling the legislature together at a very inconvenient
+season of the year, and refusing to pay the least attention to the
+process served upon him. Yet the Supreme Court of the United States,
+not long after, decided that such suits would lie, as indeed was
+sufficiently plain from the letter of the constitution. <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_122"></a>[122]</span>But
+the
+sovereign States, with all the insolence customary to sovereigns,
+whether one-headed or many-headed, scorned to be compelled to do
+justice; and the general clamor raised against this reasonable and even
+necessary provision, caused it to be ultimately struck from the
+constitution.</p>
+<p>Before this was accomplished, Hancock's career of life was
+over. Worn down by the gout and other aristocratic diseases, which the
+progress of democracy seems, since his time, to have almost banished
+from America, he expired at the early age of fifty-six, in the same
+house in which he had presided over so many social and political
+festivities, lamented by almost the entire population of the State in
+whose service he had spent the best part of his life, and whose
+faithful attachment to him, spite of some obvious weaknesses on his
+part, had yet never flagged.</p>
+<p>Had we space and inclination, many lessons might be drawn from
+the history of his life. We shall confine ourselves to this one, which
+every body's daily experience may confirm: that success in active life,
+whether political or private, even the attainment of the very highest
+positions, depends far less on any extraordinary endowments, either of
+nature or fortune, than upon an active, vigorous, and indefatigable
+putting to use of such gifts as a man happens to have. What a
+difference, so far as name and fame are concerned, and we may add, too,
+enjoyment and a good conscience, between the man who puts his talent to
+use and him who hoards it up, so that even its very existence remains
+unknown to every body but himself and his intimate friends.</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_123"></a>[123]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="john_adams"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">John Adams.</span>
+</h6>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="letter_124"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 600px; height: 795px;" alt="John Adams fac-simile of letter" src="images/letters/johnadams1.png" /></a>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_124"></a>[124]</span>
+</div>
+<hr  />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_125"></a>[125]</span>
+</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus139"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 519px; height: 403px;" alt="Residence of the Adams Family, Quincy, Mass." src="images/illus139.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Residence of the Adams Family, Quincy,
+Mass. </a></span></p>
+<h2>JOHN ADAMS.</h2>
+<p>"Oh that I could have a home! But this felicity has never been
+permitted me. Rolling, rolling, rolling, till I am very near rolling
+into the bosom of mother earth."</p>
+<p>Thus wrote the venerable John Adams to his wife, in the
+sixty-fifth year of his age, and the last of his Presidency. A few
+years previous he had uttered the same sigh, nor is it infrequent in
+his letters. "I am weary, worn, and disgusted to death. I had rather
+chop wood, dig ditches, and make fence upon my poor little farm. Alas,
+poor farm! and poorer family! what have you lost that your country
+might be free! <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_126"></a>[126]</span>
+and that others might catch fish and hunt deer and bears
+at their ease!"</p>
+<p>This was written in the days when there was such a thing as
+genuine patriotism; when, as in the noble Greek and Roman years, there
+lived among us also noble men, who freely surrendered all that life
+offered them of sweet and splendid, to work for their fellows, and to
+exalt their country's state, content that old age should find them poor
+in fortune and broken in health, so only that integrity remained, and a
+serene conscience led them undisturbed to the end of life.</p>
+<p>Among these former glories of our Republic, the name of John
+Adams stands in the clearest sunlight of fame. No purer patriot ever
+lived. The names which dazzle us in history become no fables when read
+by his light; Plutarch tells no nobler story, records no greater
+claims; Athens and Sparta smile upon him from their starry places, and
+Rome holds out her great hand of fellowship to him&#8212;for there is no
+virtue which has lived that may not live again, and our own day shows
+that there has never been a political corruption so base as to despair
+of being emulated.</p>
+<p>Concerning the civil life of such a man, much might with ease
+be written. The head and front of every great political movement of his
+country, from his thirtieth year to the day of his death he lived no
+obscure life, and was missed from no contest. "The great pillar of
+support to the Declaration of Independence," as Jefferson called him,
+its fearless and eloquent defender, the right hand of his country's
+diplomacy, and the strength of her treaties, he is a portion of her
+history and his acts are her annals. But this devotion to the great
+political struggles of his time was not consistent with home delights.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_127"></a>[127]</span>
+These he was to scorn and to live laborious days. Early immersed in the
+stirring events of his day, he surrendered to the duty of serving, all
+private claims; he gave up his profession, he separated himself from
+his wife and children to go wherever he could be useful; he abandoned a
+mode of life most dear to him; and leaving his little Sabine farm and
+his friendly books, with no hopes of personal aggrandizement, and
+small, unjoyous prospect of success in the venture he was aiding, went
+out to fight. His first act of importance, a worthy beginning to such
+career, was his defence of Preston, in the famous trial for the murder
+of certain citizens of Boston by British soldiers, in 1770. Preston was
+the captain of the British troops stationed in Boston, and under
+government orders. As may easily be imagined, in the uneasy state of
+public feeling, exasperated by real injuries and petty tyrannies,
+suspicious, discontented and spurred on by men who circulated a
+thousand injurious reports, the people and the foreign soldiery were
+ready at any moment to break out into open quarrel. Finally, this did
+indeed happen. The soldiery, provoked beyond endurance, resisted the
+assaults of the people, and fired upon them. Captain Preston was
+arrested and imprisoned; five citizens had been killed and many
+wounded, and it was with difficulty that the people were restrained
+from rising into furious rebellion. Preston was taken to prison to
+await his trial, but it was for a time impossible to obtain counsel, so
+great was the hatred of the people to the soldiery, and so strong the
+feeling that no man would be safe from violence who would attempt to
+defend these foreigners for the murder of his own fellow-citizens. John
+Adams&#8212;then a rising lawyer in Boston, and a man who had already given
+hints of coming greatness&#8212;was sent for by <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_128"></a>[128]</span>the unfortunate
+captain, who
+begged him to undertake his cause. "I had no hesitation in answering,"
+says Adams in his autobiography, "that counsel ought to be the very
+last thing that an accused person should want in a free country; that
+the bar ought, in my opinion, to be independent and impartial at all
+times, and in every circumstance, and that persons whose lives were at
+stake ought to have the counsel they preferred. But he must be sensible
+this would be as important a cause as was ever tried in any court or
+country in the world; and that every lawyer must hold himself
+responsible, not only to his country, but to the highest and most
+infallible of all tribunals, for the part he should act. He must
+therefore expect from me no art or address, no sophistry or
+prevarication in such a cause, nor anything more than fact, evidence,
+and law would justify." And a little after he tells us what it cost him
+to act up to his own standard of duty. "At this time I had more
+business at the bar than any man in the province. My health was feeble.
+I was throwing away as bright prospects as any man ever had before him,
+and I had devoted myself to endless labor and anxiety, if not to infamy
+and to death, and that for nothing, except what was and ought to be all
+in all, a sense of duty. In the evening, I expressed to Mrs. Adams all
+my apprehensions. That excellent lady, who has always encouraged me,
+burst into a flood of tears, but said she was very sensible of all the
+danger to her and to our children, as well as to me, but she thought I
+had done as I ought; she was very willing to share in all that was to
+come, and to place her trust in Providence."</p>
+<p>Such were the politicians of that day; and though we do not
+doubt that private virtue as much abounds with us as <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_129"></a>[129]</span>with
+them, and
+that as great private sacrifices as this was public can be instanced in
+these later times, yet no one will be so hardy as to say that any
+politician of this day would brave such hazards or so daringly face
+peril. Politics are become a trade with us. The curse of popular
+governments is this, that they make office desirable in proportion to
+the ease with which it is attained, and that seeking place becomes in
+time as legitimate a profession as seeking oysters. No one will so mock
+at common sense, or hold the judgments of his fellow spectators in such
+light esteem, as to aver that any one of our public men serves his
+country for his country's sake, or for any better reason than because
+it is conducive to bread and butter. Hence it is with us a jeer and a
+by-word to talk about patriotism. The fact seems to be, that our
+material prosperity is so great, our resources so boundless, our
+outlook so glorious, our liberty so well assured&#8212;or at least the
+liberty of those among us who are white&#8212;that there is no call for
+sacrifice and patriotic service. The country is rich and can well
+afford, if she will be served, to pay the servant; but we speak of
+devotion to principle, which we believe is clean gone out from us, and
+can be predicated of no public man.</p>
+<p>John Adams, son of John Adams and Susannah Boylston Adams, was
+born at Quincy, Massachusetts, on the 19th day of October, 1735. He
+received the best education that the times afforded, graduated at
+Harvard College, and afterward commenced the study of divinity with a
+view to the ministry; at the same time he was occupied in teaching
+school, that universal stepping-stone in New England to professional
+life. Indeed, there was then hardly more than there is now any such
+thing as a schoolmaster by profession; and without doubt a <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_130"></a>[130]</span>sufficing
+reason for the fact that our young men are so inefficiently educated,
+is, that the teachers are in nine cases out of ten only one lesson in
+advance of their scholars. In those days, however, the schoolmaster was
+apt to be a person of some consequence. He held a position very often
+next in importance to that of the parson, and ruled an autocrat over
+his little flock of beardless citizens. Nowhere has he been better
+described than in "Margaret," in the character of Master Elliman, whose
+mingled pompousness, verbiage, and pedantry, admirably represent the
+class to which he belonged. But the character gradually lost its
+individuality as society advanced, until at length the great bulk of
+teachers, except in the colleges, were merely young men preparing for
+the learned professions.</p>
+<p>The injurious effect of this state of things, which has made a
+very decided mark upon our national character, we will not discuss
+here, but it is well to note the differences between the manners of the
+colonial times, and those of our present day&#8212;and of these differences
+none is so striking as the great decrease of respect in which
+professional men are held with us compared with that which was yielded
+to them by our forefathers. With them the schoolmaster, the parson, the
+physician, the lawyer, were considered and treated as a sort of sacred
+nobility, apart from the vulgar, and wholly refusing admixture with
+them; they were placed in the seats of honor, and counted among
+counsellors; their company was sought by the wealthy and the educated,
+their acts were chronicled, and their words were echoed from mouth to
+mouth. In the streets, when the schoolmaster or minister appeared, the
+children at play drew up into a hurried line, took off their caps, made
+deferential <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_131"></a>[131]</span>
+bows and listened with humility to the greeting or word of
+advice. Nowadays, the Pope himself would be hustled in an omnibus, and
+if Master Elliman were to appear in the streets and offer advice to the
+children, ten to one but that they would throw dirt at him. It was in
+the twilight which followed the departing day of these venerable times
+and preceded the coming on of these degenerate darker hours, that John
+Adams became a pedagogue. He was hardly at that age fit to be a
+teacher. He was thoughtful, ambitious and lofty in his aims, but he was
+also somewhat indolent and wanted persistency. It is true that his mind
+was hardly made up as to what he should do for a living. We have said
+that he began with studying for the ministry, but he tells us that he
+at one time read much in medical books, and inclined to the study of
+physic.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+<p>Yet I imagine that his inclination to either of these
+professions was never very strong. His education at Cambridge, then the
+high seat of orthodoxy, and perhaps the advice of his parents, his
+father holding an office in the church government of his town of some
+importance at that day, may have led his mind in the direction of the
+ministry, and his studies in that line were very regular and persistent
+for some time. Surgery and medicine had probably merely the fleeting
+fascination for <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_132"></a>[132]</span>
+him which they have for multitudes of eager young men,
+striving to pry into all the subtile secrets of nature, and to find out
+all the mysteries which environ us. But as he says of himself, "the law
+drew me more and more," and in his Diary under the date of Sunday, 22d
+of August, 1756, we have the following entry:&#8212;</p>
+<p>"Yesterday I completed a contract with Mr. Putnam to study the
+law, under his inspection, for two years. I ought to begin with a
+resolution to oblige and please him and his lady in a particular
+manner; I ought to endeavor to please every body, but them in
+particular. Necessity drove me to this determination, but my
+inclination, I think, was to preach; however, that would not do. But I
+set out with firm resolutions, I think, never to commit any meanness or
+injustice in the practice of law. The study and practice of law, I am
+sure, does not dissolve the obligations of morality or of religion;
+and, although the reason of my quitting divinity was my opinion
+concerning some disputed points, I hope I shall not give reason of
+offence, to any in that profession, by imprudent warmth."</p>
+<p>He now gave up his school, and somewhat changed his manner of
+life. Before we leave him let us hear his quaint description of the
+schoolboys of his day&#8212;not very different from the youngsters of 1853.</p>
+<p>"15. Monday (1756).&#8212;I sometimes in my sprightly moments
+consider myself in my great chair at school, as some dictator at the
+head of a commonwealth. In this little state I can discover all the
+great geniuses, all the surprising actions and revolutions of the great
+world, in miniature. I have several renowned generals not three feet
+high, and several deep <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_133"></a>[133]</span>
+projecting politicians in petticoats. I have
+others catching and dissecting flies, accumulating remarkable pebbles,
+cockle-shells, &amp;c., with as ardent curiosity as any virtuoso in
+the Royal Society. Some rattle and thunder out A, B, C, with as much
+fire and impetuosity as Alexander fought, and very often sit down and
+cry as heartily upon being outspelt as C�sar did, when at Alexander's
+sepulchre he recollected that the Macedonian hero had conquered the
+world before his age. At one table sits Mr. Insipid, foppling and
+fluttering, spinning his whirligig, or playing with his fingers, as
+gayly and wittily as any Frenchified coxcomb brandishes his cane or
+rattles his snuff-box. At another, sits the polemical divine, plodding
+and wrangling in his mind about "Adam's fall, in which we sinned all,"
+as his Primer has it. In short, my little school, like the great world,
+is made up of kings, politicians, divines, L.L.D.'s, fops, buffoons,
+fiddlers, sycophants, fools, coxcombs, chimney-sweepers, and every
+other character drawn in history, or seen in the world. Is it not,
+then, the highest pleasure, my friend, to preside in this little world,
+to bestow the proper applause upon virtuous and generous actions, to
+blame and punish every vicious and contracted trick, to wear out of the
+tender mind every thing that is mean and little, and fire the new-born
+soul with a noble ardor and emulation? The world affords us no greater
+pleasure. Let others waste their bloom of life at the card or
+billiard-table among rakes or fools, and when their minds are
+sufficiently fretted with losses, and inflamed by wine, ramble through
+the streets, assaulting innocent people, breaking windows, or
+debauching young girls. I envy not their exalted happiness. I had
+rather sit in school and consider which of my pupils will turn out in
+his future life a <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_134"></a>[134]</span>
+hero, and which a rake, which a philosopher, and
+which a parasite, than change breasts with them; though possessed of
+twenty laced waistcoats and a thousand pounds a year."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+<p>One of the most interesting features of the early part of the
+"Diary" from which these extracts have been taken, is the perfect
+simplicity and truthfulness with which the writer details his efforts
+to attain steadfastness of purpose and diligence in study. He feels in
+moments of reflection the value of his time and the sacredness of duty;
+he makes the best resolutions, and concocts the wisest plans for
+improvement and the most liberal schemes of study; but his animal
+spirits, which flowed on in cheerfulness, even to his latest day of
+life, his social nature, and his admiration for women, all played sad
+pranks with his resolves, and drew out from him many a repentant sigh
+over lost and wasted time. Yet this trouble ceases almost as soon as he
+begins to study law and gives up his uncertain dallyings with
+schoolkeeping, divinity, and medicine. Having once put his shoulder to
+the wheel, he worked with vigor, and began to show what greatness of
+character there was in him. Let it not be understood from what we have
+said, that John Adams was ever a seeker after low or vulgar pleasures.
+More than once in his "Diary" he ridicules the foolish, extravagant,
+licentious amusements of the young men of his time. Card-playing,
+drinking, backgammon, smoking, and swearing, he says are the
+fashionable means of getting rid of time, which excited in his mind
+only contempt. "I know not," he says, "how any young fellow can study
+in this town. What pleasure can a young gentleman who is capable of
+thinking, take in playing cards? It gratifies none of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_135"></a>[135]</span>senses,
+neither sight, hearing, taste, smelling, nor feeling; it can entertain
+the mind only by hushing its clamors. Cards, backgammon, &amp;c.,
+are the great antidotes to reflection, to thinking, that cruel tyrant
+within us! What learning or sense are we to expect from young gentlemen
+in whom a fondness for cards, &amp;c., outgrows and chokes the
+desire of knowledge?"</p>
+<p>Up to the time of his commencing the study of law with Mr.
+Putnam, John Adams had resided in Braintree, sharing in the social
+intercourses of the place, its tea-parties, clubs of young men,
+visiting and receiving visitors, and all the common civilities of
+country life. On one occasion, we find him taking tea and spending the
+evening at Mr. Putnam's, in conversation about Christianity. This was
+at the time when Adams was studying divinity, and it is evident that he
+discussed religion and theological subjects with a good deal of
+interest, since we find that the talk at almost all these meetings
+turns in that direction. There seems to have been a decided leaning
+towards speculation and doubt in the minds of many&nbsp;men, on the
+subject
+of Christianity, at that day, and we frequently find their opinion very
+frankly expressed in the "Diary," and left almost without comment by
+the recorder. He was very fond of chatting with his neighbors over a
+social cup of tea, sometimes after a day spent in hard study, at other
+times resting from the fatigues of attending to little affairs about
+the farm, loading and unloading carts, splitting wood, and doing other
+chores. He is apt to be a little impatient with himself. He finds it
+easier to say before going to bed that he will rise at six than to get
+up when the hour arrives. Several days in the "Diary" bear for sole
+record&#8212;"Dreamed away <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_136"></a>[136]</span>
+this day," and once when several had slipped by
+without any seeming good result, he writes&#8212;"Thursday, Friday. I know
+not what became of these days;" and again&#8212;"Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
+Monday. All spent in absolute idleness, or which is worse, gallanting
+the girls." The next day&#8212;"Tuesday. <i>Sat down and recollected
+my self</i>, and read a little in Van Muyden, a little in Naval
+Trade and Commerce."</p>
+<p>And so the good seems always leading him on, always eluding
+him, and playing sad momentary havoc with his peace of mind. But he
+consents to no doubtful terms with the enemy. He determined to conquer
+the foes of sloth, inattention, social indulgence, and do his whole
+duty. With the responsibilities of time came the cure for youthful
+follies, and his marriage in the thirtieth year of his age, dealt the
+last fatal blow to all his enemies. In 1764 he thus writes:&#8212;</p>
+<p>"Here it may be proper to recollect something which makes an
+article of great importance in the life of every man. I was of an
+amorous disposition, and, very early, from ten or eleven years of age,
+was very fond of the society of females. I had my favorites among the
+young women, and spent many of my evenings in their company; and this
+disposition, although controlled for seven years after my entrance into
+college, returned, and engaged me too much till I was married.</p>
+<p>"I shall draw no characters, nor give any enumeration of my
+youthful flames. It would be considered as no compliment to the dead or
+the living. This I will say:&#8212;they were all modest and virtuous girls,
+and always maintained their character through life. No virgin or matron
+ever had cause to blush at the sight of me, or to regret her
+acquaintance with me. No father, brother, son, or friend, ever had
+cause of <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_137"></a>[137]</span>
+grief or resentment for any intercourse between me and any
+daughter, sister, mother, or any relation of the female sex. These
+reflections, to me consolatory beyond all expression, I am able to make
+with truth and sincerity; and I presume I am indebted for this blessing
+to my education.</p>
+<hr  />
+<p>"I passed the summer of 1764 in attending courts and pursuing
+my studies, with some amusement on my little farm, to which I was
+frequently making additions, until the fall, when, on the 25th of
+October, I was married to Miss Smith, second daughter of the Rev.
+William Smith, minister of Weymouth, granddaughter of the Hon. John
+Quincy, of Braintree, a connection which has been the source of all my
+felicity, although a sense of duty, which forced me away from her and
+my children for so many years, produced all the griefs of my heart and
+all that I esteem real afflictions in life."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+<p>In 1758, his term of study with Mr. Putnam being expired, John
+Adams left Worcester, having determined for several reasons not to
+settle there, but to establish himself, if possible, in Braintree,
+where his father and mother resided. They had invited him to live with
+them, and he says that as there had never been a lawyer in any country
+part of the county of Suffolk, he was determined to try his fortune
+there. His acquaintances told him that "the town of Boston was full of
+lawyers, many of them of established characters for long experience,
+great abilities, and extensive fame, who might be jealous of <i>such
+a novelty as a lawyer</i> in the country part of their county,
+and might be induced to obstruct me. I returned, that I was not wholly
+unknown to some of the most celebrated <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_138">
+</a>[138]</span>of those gentlemen; that I
+believed they had too much candor and generosity to injure a young man;
+and, at all events, I could try the experiment, and if I should find no
+hope of success, I should then think of some other place or some other
+course." The result was that he established himself in Braintree,
+living at his father's house, and continuing his studies patiently and
+perseveringly until clients began to appear. He gives an amusing
+account of his first "<i>writ</i>," and chronicles its
+failure with a nonchalant stoicism which can hardly conceal his
+vexation at being laughed at by his acquaintances among the young
+lawyers of the town. His residence in Braintree seems to have been a
+pleasant one. He had much leisure for study and reading, and made good
+use of his time. He was acquainted with all the people of consequence
+in the town, and was, as we have said, fond of visiting, calling in to
+take a social pipe or glass, as was the fashion of the day, to chat
+with the wife or daughter of the house, to discuss with the head of the
+family the last political bubble of the hour, the prospect of the
+crops, the expediency of this or that proceeding in the village, or any
+of the local topics of the day. Sometimes we find him with a knot of
+young fellows met together of an evening, discussing with one or two
+some question in morals or rhetoric, or sitting abstracted with a book
+or his pipe on one side the chimney, the room filled with smoke, the
+rest of the party engaged in card-playing, backgammon, or other
+sedative game. At another time, though somewhat later, he speaks of
+hearing "the ladies talk about ribbon, catgut, and Paris net,
+riding-hoods, cloth, silk, and lace;" and again he has a pleasant
+picture of taking tea at his grandfather Quincy's&#8212;"the old gentleman
+inquisitive about the hearing before the governor and <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_139"></a>[139]</span>council,
+about
+the governor's and secretary's looks and behavior, and about the final
+determination of the board. The old lady as merry and chatty as ever, <i>with
+her stories out of the newspapers</i>." He had through life a
+serene equable mind, he took the kindness and unkindness of fortune
+with even looks, and preserved his relish for a joke undiminished, in
+all his circumstances. We have before us two portraits of John Adams
+painted, the one when about forty years of age, the other when he was
+ninety. The younger likeness is a face of remarkable beauty, the
+forehead broad, serene, and intelligent, the eyebrows dark and
+elegantly arched over a pair of eyes which we make no doubt did fierce
+execution among the young women of the period who came under their
+sparkling influence. The lips full, finely curved, and giving an
+expression of great sweetness to the face, are yet firmly set, and
+combine with the attitude of the head to convey an impression of
+haughtiness and dignity. The chin is full, rounded, and inclined to be
+double; the powdered hair and the stiff coat take away from the
+youthful appearance of the picture.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> The other portrait is from an
+original by Gilbert Stuart, and was painted when John Adams was in his
+ninetieth year. At this time he was obliged to be fed from a spoon; yet
+no one, looking at this noble, vigorous head, with its fine color and
+magnificent forehead, would suppose his age so great. The beauty of the
+young man has grown into the fuller nobility of a face in which there
+appears no trace of any evil passion, no mark of any uneasy thought,
+but an undisturbed serenity that looks back on life and awaits <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_140"></a>[140]</span>death
+with the happiest memories and the gladdest anticipations.</p>
+<p>In 1768, Mr. Adams, by the advice of his friends, who were
+urgent with him, removed to Boston, and took the house in Brattle
+Square called the White House. His son, John Quincy Adams, was born the
+year before&#8212;his life commenced with the most stirring period of his
+country's history, and it was his good fortune to bring down to our
+times so clear a memory of those events as to make a conversation with
+him on the subject an era in the life of an American. Shortly after the
+removal of John Adams to Boston, he was requested to accept an office
+under government; but although it was offered to him without respect to
+his opinions, which were well known to be hostile to the British rule
+in Massachusetts, and although the office was very lucrative, yet he
+insisted on refusing it, because he feared that he should sacrifice his
+independence in some manner to the influences of the position. He
+therefore declined any connection with the government, and continued
+the practice of the law, which had now become the source of a very
+handsome income, and was leading him by rapid steps into a very wide
+and honorable repute.</p>
+<p>Before leaving Braintree, John Adams had become accustomed to
+a great deal of exercise, riding horseback to Boston, Germantown,
+Weymouth, and other adjoining towns; cutting down trees, superintending
+planting and harvesting, and every way taking a good share of the work
+on his farm. Some of the pleasantest portions of the "Diary" are those
+in which he describes this part of his life. The following extract
+gives a moral picture of his habits:&#8212;</p>
+<p>"October, 22. Friday. Spent last Monday in taking pleasure <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_141"></a>[141]</span>with
+Mr. Wibird. * * * * *<br />
+Upon this part of the peninsula is a number of trees, which
+appear very much like the&nbsp;lime tree<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> of Europe, which gentlemen
+are so fond of planting in their gardens for their beauty. Returned to
+Mr. Borland's,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>
+dined, and afternoon rode to Germantown, where we spent our evening.
+Deacon Palmer showed us his lucerne growing in his garden, of which he
+has cut, as he tells us, four crops this year. The Deacon had his
+lucerne seeds of Mr. Greenleaf, of Abington, who had his of Judge
+Oliver. The Deacon watered his but twice this summer, and intends to
+expose it uncovered to all the weather of the winter for a fair trial,
+whether it will endure our winters or not. Each of his four crops had
+attained a good length. It has a rich fragrance for a grass. He showed
+us a cut of it in 'Nature Displayed,' and another of St. Foin, and
+another of trefoil. The cut of the lucerne was exact enough; the pod in
+which the seeds are is an odd thing, a kind of ram's-horn or straw.</p>
+<p>"We had a good deal of conversation upon husbandry. The Deacon
+has about seventy bushels of potatoes this year on about one quarter of
+an acre of ground. Trees of several sorts considered. The wild
+cherry-tree bears a fruit of some value; the wood is very good for the
+cabinet-maker, and is not bad to burn. It is a tree of much beauty; its
+leaves and bark are handsome, and its shape. The locust; good timber,
+fattening to soil by its leaves, blossoms, &amp;c.; good wood,
+quick growth, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_142"></a>[142]</span>
+&amp;c. The larch-tree; there is but one<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>
+in the country, that in the lieutenant-governor's yard at Milton; it
+looks somewhat like an evergreen, but is not; sheds its leaves.</p>
+<p>"I read in Thompson's Travels in Turkey in Asia, mention of a
+turpentine called by the name of turpentine of Venice, which is not the
+product of Venice, but of Dauphin�, and flows from the larch tree. It
+is thick and balsamic, and used in several arts, particularly that of
+enamelling.</p>
+<p>"24. Sunday. Before sunrise.&#8212;My thoughts have taken a sudden
+turn to husbandry. Have contracted with Jo. Field to clear my swamp,
+and to build me a long string of stone wall, and with Isaac to build me
+sixteen rods more, and with Jo. Field to build me six rods more. And my
+thoughts are running continually from the orchard to the pasture, and
+from thence to the swamp, and thence to the house and barn, and land
+adjoining. Sometimes I am at the orchard ploughing up acre after acre,
+planting, pruning apple-trees, mending fences, carting dung; sometimes
+in the pasture, digging stones, clearing bushes, pruning trees,
+building to redeem posts and rails; and sometimes removing button-trees
+down to my house; sometimes I am at the old swamp burning bushes,
+digging stumps and roots, cutting ditches across the meadows and
+against my uncle; and am sometimes at the other end of the
+town buying posts and rails to fence against my uncle, and against the
+brook; and am sometimes ploughing the upland with six yoke of oxen, and
+planting corn, potatoes, &amp;c., and digging up the meadows and
+sowing onions, planting cabbages, &amp;c., &amp;c. Sometimes I
+am at the homestead, running <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_143"></a>[143]</span>
+cross-fences, and planting potatoes by the
+acre, and corn by the two acres, and running a ditch along the line
+between me and Field, and a fence along the brook against my brother,
+and another ditch in the middle from Field's line to the meadows.
+Sometimes am carting gravel from the neighboring hills, and sometimes
+dust from the streets upon the fresh meadows, and am sometimes
+ploughing, sometimes digging those meadows to introduce clover and
+other English grasses."<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+<p>Thus passed the days of his early married life in Braintree,
+between the earnest study of the law, the participation in social
+intercourse with friends and neighbors, and occasional Bucolical
+episodes. In 1768, as we have said, he removed to Boston, and but
+seldom went into the country. In 1771, however, we find him writing as
+follows:</p>
+<p>"The complicated cares of my legal and political engagements,
+the slender diet to which I was obliged to confine myself, the air of
+the town of Boston, which was not favorable to me, who had been born
+and passed almost all my life in the country, but especially the
+constant obligation to speak in public, almost every day, for many
+hours, had exhausted my health, brought on a pain in my breast, and a
+complaint in my lungs, which seriously threatened my life, and
+compelled me to throw off a great part of the load of business, both
+public and private, and return to my farm in the country. Early in the
+Spring of 1771, I removed my family to Braintree, still holding,
+however, an office in Boston. The air of my native spot, and the fine
+breezes from the sea on one side, and the rocky mountains of pine and
+savin on the other, together with daily rides on horseback and the
+amusements of agriculture, <i>always</i> <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_144"></a>[144]</span><i>delightful
+to me</i>,
+soon restored my health in a considerable degree.</p>
+<p>"April 16. Tuesday evening. Last Wednesday, my furniture was
+all removed to Braintree. Saturday I carried up my wife and youngest
+child, and spent the Sabbath there very agreeably. On the 20th or 25th
+of April, 1768, I removed into Boston. In the three years I have spent
+in that town, have received innumerable civilities from many of the
+inhabitants; many expressions of their good will, both of a public and
+private nature. Of these I have the most pleasing and grateful
+remembrance. * * * * *</p>
+<p>"Monday morning I returned to town, and was at my office
+before nine. I find I shall spend more time in my office than ever I
+did. Now my family is away, I feel no inclination at all, no
+temptation, to be any where but at my office. I am in it by six in the
+morning, I am in it at nine at night, and I spend but a small space of
+time in running down to my brother's to breakfast, dinner, and tea.
+Yesterday, I rode to town from Braintree before nine, attended my
+office till near two, then dined and went over the ferry to Cambridge.
+Attended the House the whole afternoon, returned and spent the whole
+evening in my office alone, and I spent the time much more profitably,
+as well as pleasantly, than I should have done at club. This evening is
+spending the same way. In the evening, I can be alone at my office, and
+nowhere else; I never could in my family.</p>
+<p>"18. Thursday&#8212;Fast day. Tuesday I staid at my office in town;
+yesterday went up to Cambridge, returned at night to Boston, and to
+Braintree,&#8212;still, calm, happy Braintree,&#8212;at nine o'clock at night. This
+morning, cast my eyes out to <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_145"></a>[145]</span>
+see what my workmen had done in my absence, and rode with my wife over
+to Weymouth; there we are to hear young Blake&#8212;a pretty fellow.</p>
+<p>"20. Saturday. Friday morning by nine o'clock, arrived at my
+office in Boston, and this afternoon returned to Braintree; arrived
+just at tea-time; drank tea with my wife. Since this hour, a week ago,
+I have led a life active enough; have been to Boston twice, to
+Cambridge twice, to Weymouth once, and attended my office and the court
+too.</p>
+<p>"But I shall be no more perplexed in this manner. I shall have
+no journeys to make to Cambridge, no General Court to attend; but shall
+divide my time between Boston and Braintree, between law and husbandry;&#8212;<i>farewell
+politics</i>."<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p>
+<p>During Mr. Adams's residence in Boston he did not always
+occupy the same house. In April, 1768, he removed, as we have said, to
+the White House in Brattle Square. In the spring, 1769, he removed to
+Cole Lane, to Mr. Fayerweather's house. In 1770, he removed to another
+house in Brattle Square.</p>
+<p>In 1772 he again removed to Boston with his family, and
+finding, as he says, that "it was very troublesome to hire houses, and
+to be often obliged to remove, I determined to purchase a house, and
+Mr. Hunt offering me one in Queen-street, near the scene of my
+business, opposite the Court House, I bought it, and inconvenient and
+contracted as it was, I made it answer, both for a dwelling and an
+office, till a few weeks before the 19th of April, 1775, when the war
+commenced."<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_146"></a>[146]</span></p>
+<p>In 1774 Mr. Adams was appointed delegate to the first
+American Congress at Philadelphia, and was obliged to leave his family
+in Braintree, while he himself remained with the Congress. He continued
+to reside in Philadelphia, visiting his family but seldom, and then in
+a very hurried manner, till the year 1776, when he was appointed
+commissioner to France in the place of Silas Deane, who was recalled.
+The treaty with France having been concluded by Dr. Franklin before Mr.
+Adams reached Paris, he returned home after an absence of a year and a
+half.</p>
+<p>Hardly had he returned before he was again dispatched as
+Minister to the Court of St. James. While abroad at this time he made
+some stay in Paris, was afterwards at Amsterdam for the purpose of
+negotiating a loan and forming a treaty of amity and commerce with
+Holland, and still later, in 1785, was appointed Minister
+Plenipotentiary to Great Britain. During all this time he had been
+separated from his wife&#8212;a space of nearly six years&#8212;but in 1784,
+finding that there was no prospect of a return, he sent for Mrs. Adams
+to join him in London. On reaching London, Mrs. Adams found that her
+husband was in Paris; her son, John Quincy Adams, was sent by his
+father to escort his mother and sister to France. The letters of Mrs.
+Adams, describing their mode of life in Paris, or rather at the little
+town of Auteuil, and also those which give an account of her residence
+in London, are most charmingly written, and we wish there was room for
+long extracts from them, but we already trespass upon the reader's
+kindness. We have space for only one pretty domestic picture.</p>
+<p>The family are expecting a packet of letters from America,
+which their friend Mr. Charles Storer has sent from London to <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_147"></a>[147]</span>Paris.
+They had some difficulty in procuring them from the post-office.</p>
+<p>"About eight in the evening, however, they were brought in and
+safely delivered, to our great joy. We were all together. Mr. Adams in
+his easy chair upon one side of the table, reading Plato's Laws; Mrs.
+A. upon the other, reading Mr. St. John's "Letters;" Abby, sitting upon
+the left hand, in a low chair, in a pensive posture;&#8212;enter J.Q.A. from
+his own room, with the letters in his hand, tied and sealed up, as if
+they were never to be read; for Charles had put half a dozen new covers
+upon them. Mr. A. must cut and undo them leisurely, each one watching
+with eagerness. Finally, the originals were discovered; 'Here is one
+for you, my dear, and here is another; and here, Miss Abby, are four,
+five, upon my word, six, for you, and more yet for your mamma. Well, I
+fancy I shall come off but slenderly. Only one for me.' 'Are there none
+for me, sir?' says Mr. J.Q.A., erecting his head, and walking away a
+little mortified."</p>
+<p>On his return from Europe, Mr. Adams resided&#8212;whenever
+political duties permitted his absence from the seat of government&#8212;at
+the mansion in Quincy, the name by which the more ancient portion of
+Braintree was called.</p>
+<p>The estate was purchased after the revolution. The house had
+been built long before by one of the Vassall family, a well-known
+republican name in England in the time of the commonwealth, some
+members of which had transferred themselves to Jamaica under Cromwell's
+projects of colonizing that island, and from thence had come to
+Massachusetts. But time had changed them from republicans to royalists,
+and when the revolution broke out they were on the side of the mother
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_148"></a>[148]</span>
+country. In Quincy, however, the race had run into females, and the
+house belonged to a descendant by the name of Borland, who sold it to
+the agent of Mr. Adams. It was then, however, very different from what
+it is now. Mr. Adams nearly doubled the size of it, and altered the
+front. It has since been altered once or twice, and lately by the
+present occupant, Mr. Charles Francis Adams, a grandson of the
+President.</p>
+<p>In this house Mr. Adams continued to reside till his death in
+1826. During the time that he was in Philadelphia and Washington as
+President and Vice-President, Mrs. Adams remained
+at Quincy, partly on account of her health, partly to take charge of
+her husband's private property, which had never been large, and which
+had suffered much diminution from the expenses incident to public life.</p>
+<p>Mrs. Adams's account of her residence in Washington&#8212;the
+troubles which she had in procuring almost the necessaries of life in
+that out of the way settlement&#8212;her description of Washington and the
+White House at that early date, have been printed too often in
+newspapers all over the country, to need insertion here. Not less
+interesting than these letters are those which describe her life in
+Philadelphia; her little sketches of society in that city, then the
+seat of government, have all the charms which the unaffected letters of
+an elegant woman cannot fail to display.</p>
+<p>The following letter will conclude our article, showing, as it
+does, the peaceful occupations of this happy aged couple, retired to
+their beloved home to await the inevitable summons, to which they
+looked forward with the beautiful resignation of <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_149"></a>[149]</span>
+minds in love with
+virtue, and conscious of no offence against the laws of God or man.<br />
+</p>
+<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="smcap">TO THOMAS B. ADAMS.</span></div>
+<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="margin-right: 2em;"><span class="smcap">Quincy</span>, 12 <i>July</i>, 1801.</span></div>
+<p>"<span class="smcap">My Dear Son</span>:</p>
+<p>"I am much delighted to learn that you intend making a visit
+to the old mansion. I wish you could have accomplished it so as to have
+been here by this time, which would have given you an opportunity of
+being at Commencement, meeting many of your old acquaintances, and
+visiting the seat of science, where you received your first rudiments.</p>
+<p>"I shall look daily for you. You will find your father in
+the fields, attending to his haymakers, and your mother busily occupied
+in the domestic concerns of her family. I regret that a fortnight of
+sharp drought has shorn many of the beauties we had in rich luxuriance.
+The verdure of the grass has become a brown, the flowers hang their
+heads, droop, and fade, whilst the vegetable world languishes; yet
+still we have a pure air. The crops of hay have been abundant; upon
+this spot, where eight years ago we cut scarcely six tons, we now have
+thirty. 'We are here, among the vast and noble scenes of nature, where
+we walk in the light and open ways of the divine bounty, and where our
+senses are feasted with the clear and genuine taste of their objects.' * * * * *</p>
+<p>"I am, my dear Thomas, affectionately, your mother,</p>
+<div style="text-align: right;">"<span class="smcap">Abigail Adams</span>." &nbsp; &nbsp;</div>
+<p>Mrs. Adams died at Quincy on the 28th of October, 1818, aged
+seventy-four years.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_150"></a>[150]</span>
+John Adams died at the good age of ninety-one years, on the
+4th of July, 1826. We thank God, as he did, that a life spent in the
+service of his country should close without pain and in perfect
+tranquillity of soul, on the anniversary of the best day in her
+history, and a day with which his name is for ever associated in our
+gratefullest memories.</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_151"></a>[151]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="patrick_henry"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Patrick Henry.</span>
+<br />
+</h6>
+<hr />
+<p><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_153"></a>[153]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus167"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 411px; height: 403px;" alt="Residence of Patrick Henry, Va." src="images/illus167.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Residence of Patrick Henry, Va.</a></span></p>
+<h2>PATRICK HENRY.</h2>
+<p>There is no "Home of an American Statesman" that may more
+fitly claim the leading place in this our repository than the dwelling
+of Patrick Henry&#8212;the earliest, the most eloquent, and the wisest of
+those whose high counsels first swayed us as one people and drew us to
+a common cause; as resolutely as ably directed that cause to its noble
+event; and, in a word, performing in the civil struggle all that
+Washington executed in the military, achieved for us existence as a
+nation.</p>
+<p>In the Heroic Age, however, such as was to us the Revolution,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_154"></a>[154]</span>
+men build not monuments nor engrave commemorative inscriptions: those
+of nature, identified by rude but reverential tradition, alone attest
+where the founders of a race, the great-fathers of an empire, have
+sprung.</p>
+<p>If there be, among the many men of that brave day, one
+prompter and more unfaltering than all the rest; if, among all who
+moved by stirring words and decisive acts the general mind of the
+country, there was one who more directly than any, or than all, set it
+in a flame not to be extinguished; if amidst those lights there was
+one, the day star, till whose coming there was no dawn, it was
+certainly Henry. It is true that, before him, Massachusetts had her
+quarrel with England, but not with the common sympathy of the colonies.
+For, averse, from her very foundation, to not merely the dominion, but
+the very institutions of the mother country, she had kept up with it a
+continual bickering, religious as well as civil; a strife at best
+local, often ill-tempered and factious; so that her too frequent
+broils, commanding little regard, would have continued to come to
+nothing had not an opposition to English measures sprung up in a more
+loyal quarter. The southern colonies, meanwhile, had always loved the
+parent land, both church and state, and naturally had been indulgently
+dealt with by its legislation. Thus, until that ill-advised measure,
+the Stamp Act, came, to affect all the American plantations alike,
+there had been nothing to draw us together in a common cause, a common
+resistance. The Stamp Act gave that cause, and Henry led that
+resistance. Young, obscure, unconnected, unaided, uncounselled, and
+even uncountenanced, he yet, by the sudden splendor of his eloquence,
+his abilities, and his dauntless resolution, carried every thing <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_155"></a>[155]</span>before
+him; animated the whole land to a determined assertion of their rights;
+established for himself a boundless influence over the popular mind;
+used it, whenever the occasion came, to sound the signal of an
+unshrinking opposition to every encroachment; led the way,
+independently of all movements elsewhere; devised and brought about
+every main measure of preparation; rejected all compromise; clearly the
+first to see the certain issue of the contest in European interposition
+and the establishment of our Independence, pursued steadily that aim
+before even he could openly avow it: and finally, when things were
+ripe; assumed it for his State, instructed her deputation to propose it
+to all the rest, and indeed, involved them in it beyond avoidance, by
+setting up a regular and permanent Republican Constitution in Virginia;
+a step that allowed no retreat, and was not less decisive than the
+heroical act of Cortez, when, marching upon Mexico from his
+landing-place, he burnt his vessels behind him. Henry was, in a word,
+the Moses who led us forth from the house of bondage. If there had been
+an opposition before his, it was not the appointed, and would have been
+an ineffectual one. There had, no doubt, been Jews enough that
+murmured, even before he who was to deliver them appeared. We may,
+therefore, fitly apply to Henry, in regard to the bringing about of our
+Independence, all that Dryden so finely said of Bacon in science:<br />
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+"Bacon, like Moses, led us forth, at last:</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+The barren wilderness he passed;</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Did on the very border stand</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Of the blest promised land;</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+And from the mountain-top of his exalted wit,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Saw it himself and showed us it."</span></span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_156"></a>[156]</span>
+And yet Henry, like nearly all his illustrious fellow-laborers
+of freedom, sleeps in an undistinguished grave. At his death, party
+spirit denied to his memory the tokens of public admiration and regret,
+offered in that very legislature of which he had been the great light,
+and which, indeed, he had called into being. Since that sorry
+failure&#8212;for all faction should have been hushed over the body of a
+citizen and a man so admirable&#8212;no further notice has been taken of him;
+and he who merited a national monument, only less proud than that due
+to Washington himself, slumbers beneath an humble private one at Red
+Hill, the secluded residence where he died.</p>
+<p>But we turn to those personal particulars of this
+extraordinary man which are appropriate to the design of the present
+volume. Not a few of them will be found to involve important
+corrections of the received account of his early years, and a new view,
+therefore, of his genius and character.</p>
+<p>In that received account, his sole original biographer, Mr.
+Wirt&#8212;writing without any personal knowledge of him, and neglecting to
+consult the most obvious and authentic source of information, his four
+surviving sisters, ladies of condition and of remarkable
+intelligence&#8212;has fallen into the vulgar error, to which the peculiar
+position and fortunes of Mr. Henry at first gave rise, and which he
+afterwards, for warrantable political purposes, encouraged. When he
+suddenly burst out from complete obscurity, an unrivalled orator, a
+consummate politician, and snatched the control of legislation and of
+the public mind from the veteran, the college-bred, the wealthy and
+high-born leaders who had till then held it, the homeliness of dress
+which befitted his narrow circumstances, the humility of <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_157"></a>[157]</span>aspect
+and the
+simplicity of manners, which were unaffected traits of his disposition,
+naturally assigned him in the eyes of both those who were of it and of
+those who looked down upon it, to the plebeian class. It suited the
+envy of these, it delighted the admiration of those, to regard him&#8212;that
+unintelligible marvel of abilities, which had thus all at once effaced
+every thing else&#8212;as a mere child of the people. The really skilful, who
+understand intellectual prodigies and never refer them to ignorance or
+chance, must have seen at once, through the cloud in which he stood, a
+great and an enlightened understanding, too competent to a high and a
+complex public question, not to be strong in knowledge as well as
+faculties. The few cannot have mistaken him for that fabulous thing, an
+ignorant genius; for they must have seen in his commanding and complete
+eloquence the art, in his masterly measures the information, of one
+thoroughly trained, though in secret, to the business of swaying men's
+minds, and of conducting their counsels, though hitherto apart from
+them. All but this highest class, however, of the rivals whom he at
+once threw into eclipse naturally sought to depreciate him as a mere
+declaimer, a tribunitian orator, voluble and vehement as he was rude,
+rash, and illiterate. Could the tapers that, at Belshazzar's feast,
+went out before the blaze of that marvellous handwriting on the wall,
+have been afterwards permitted to give their opinion of it, they would,
+of course, have talked disdainfully of its beam, as mere phosphorus or
+some other low pyrotechnic trick. Such was the reputation which the
+vanquished magnates in general, and their followers, endeavored to fix
+upon the young subverter of their ascendency. He was not of one of the
+old aristocratic families; he was a low person, therefore he had never
+been <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_158"></a>[158]</span>
+within the walls of a college, still less had he, like many of
+them, finished, with the graces of foreign travel, a public discipline
+of learning; he was, therefore, by their report, illiterate, although,
+certainly, in his performances, all the best effects of education were
+manifest, without its parade. While they called him ignorant, he always
+proved himself to know whatever the occasion demanded, and able
+victoriously to instruct foe and friend. Shunning, from his sense, all
+assumption, and from his modesty, all display, he never pulled out the
+purse of his acquirements to chink it merely, but only to pay; so that
+no man could tell what he had left in the bottom of his pocket; and
+thus, a ragged-looking Fortunatus, he always surprised men with his
+unguessed resources. Strange powers, undoubtedly, he had, that must
+have not a little confounded the judgment of the best observers;
+unexercised in the forum, he had risen up a consummate master of the
+whole art of moving in discourse the understanding or the passions;
+unpractised in public affairs, he had only to appear in them, in order
+to stand the first politician of his day; unversed in the business and
+the strategy of deliberative assemblies, he had only to become a member
+of one, in order to be its adroitest parliamentary tactician. As he was
+dexterous without practice, so was he prudent without experience; for,
+from the first he shone out as the wisest man in all the public
+councils. He seems to have escaped all that tribute of error which
+youth must almost invariably pay, as the price of eminence in public
+affairs; he fell into no theory, he indulged no vision, he never once
+committed a blunder; in short, ripe from the beginning, he appeared to
+be by instinct and the mere gift of nature, whatever others slowly
+become only by the aid of art and experience. <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_159"></a>[159]</span>Bred up in
+seclusion,
+though (as the high cultivation of his sisters testified to all who
+knew them) in a household whose very atmosphere was knowledge, he had,
+beyond a good acquaintance with Latin, the rudiments of Greek, French,
+mathematics, and an early familiarity with the best English
+authors&#8212;those of the Elizabethan age, of the Commonwealth, and of Queen
+Anne's day&#8212;received little direct instruction; none, but from his
+father and books, his early companions, so that his scholastic
+instruction was really slender. But he had been taught, betimes, to
+love knowledge and how to work it out for himself; how, in a word, to
+accomplish what best unfolds a great genius, self-education. For
+schools and colleges&#8212;admirable contrivances as they are for keeping up
+among mankind a common method and a common stock of information&#8212;are but
+suited, as they were but designed, for the common run of men. Applying
+to all the same mechanical process; bringing to the same level the
+genius and the dunce, they act excellently to repair the original
+inequality, sometimes so vast, with which nature deals out
+understanding among the human race. In a word, they are capital
+machines for bringing about an average of talent; but it is at the
+expense of those bright parts which occasionally come, that they do it.
+Their methods clap in the same couples him who can but creep and him
+who would soar; harness in the same cart the plough-horse and the
+courser. The highest genius must be its own sole method-maker, its own
+entire rule. From what it has done, rules are deduced; but for its
+inferiors, not for it: its whole existence is exceptional, original;
+and whatever, in its disciplining, would tend to make it otherwise,
+serves but to check and to diminish its development.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_160"></a>[160]</span></p>
+<p>No greater error, therefore, than to suppose that a man as
+extraordinary as Patrick Henry, who, mature from the first, rose up a
+consummate speaker and reasoner, and, amongst men of large abilities,
+knowledge, and experience, constantly showed himself, in matters the
+weightiest and the most difficult, superior to them all, could have
+been uneducated. In reality he had learned of the best possible master,
+for such a man&#8212;himself. That he knew, that he even knew more solidly,
+because more effectually and to the purpose, than all those around him,
+the great subjects with which he dealt so wonderfully, is beyond all
+question. Now, though the genius of Mr. Henry was prodigious, and
+though there be things which genius does, as it were, intuitively and
+spontaneously, there are other things which are not knowable, even by
+genius itself, without study; which the utmost genius cannot
+extemporize, cannot produce from nothing, cannot make without their
+materials previously amassed in its mind, cannot understand without
+their necessary particulars accumulated in advance; and it was in just
+such things&#8212;the highest civil ability, which comes of wisdom, not
+genius; the greatest eloquence which cannot be formed but by infinite
+art and labor&#8212;that he stood up at all times supreme. The sagacity of
+statesmanship with which he looked through the untried affairs of this
+country, saw through systems and foretold consequences, has never been
+surpassed; and his eloquence, judged (as we have alone the means of
+judging it) by its effects, has never been equalled.</p>
+<p>Such then, even upon the traditionary facts out of which his
+biographer has shaped into a mere fable his sudden rise and his
+anomalous abilities, is, of necessity, the rational theory <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_161"></a>[161]</span>of
+Mr.
+Henry's greatness. But, without any resort to induction, the simple
+truth, if Mr. Wirt had sought it in the natural quarter, would have
+conducted him to the same conclusions as we have just set forth.</p>
+<p>At the time when Mr. Wirt collected his materials, he was yet,
+though of fine natural abilities, by no means the solid man that he by
+and by became. His fancy was exuberant, his taste florid, his judgment
+unformed. Himself in high repute for a youthful and gaudy eloquence,
+which, however, he afterwards exchanged for a style of great severity
+and vigor&#8212;he had been urged to his immature and ambitious undertaking,
+by admirers who conceived him to be little less than a second Henry.
+His besetting idea seems to be much akin to Dr. Johnson's "who drives
+fat oxen should himself be fat:" namely that the life of a great orator
+should be written by a great orator; and that he was to show not only
+Mr. Henry but himself eloquent. In general his book does him credit, as
+merely a literary performance, although sadly deformed, in what were
+intended for its best passages, by an inflation of which he must have
+been afterwards greatly ashamed, as a sin against all style, but
+especially that proper to his subject&#8212;the historic. Let us add&#8212;in
+simple justice to a man of great virtues and elevation, as well as
+gentleness of mind and feelings, whose memory has upon us, besides, the
+claim of public respect and of hereditary friendship&#8212;that his
+biography, wherever his own, is, in spite of party spirit, written with
+the most honorable candor, and vindicates Mr. Henry with equal fairness
+and ability from the aspersions cast upon his conduct in the "Alien and
+Sedition" business by the Jeffersonian faction. Wherever he (Mr. Wirt)
+has depended upon his own researches alone, he displays <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_162"></a>[162]</span>both
+diligence
+and discrimination; but unhappily, he accepted the loose popular
+traditions, which are never any thing but a tissue of old women's
+tales; he relied upon a mass of casual contributions, chiefly derived
+from the same legendary sources or from uncertain, confused, and (as
+himself lets us see) often contradictory memories; and above all, he
+adopted implicitly the information supplied by a certain Thomas
+Jefferson; who, besides being a person of whom the sagacious and
+upright Henry cherished a very ill opinion&#8212;so that <i>he</i>
+could not well be supposed a very special repository of the orator's
+personal confidences&#8212;was a gentleman who had all his life driven rather
+the largest and most lucrative trade in the calumny of nearly all the
+best and greatest of his contemporaries, that has ever been carried on
+in these United States, much as that sort of commerce has long
+flourished and yet flourishes amongst us. Upon such things he had come
+to a splendid political fortune while he lived, and when he died, with
+a pious solicitude to provide for his posterity, he bequeathed to his
+grandson all the unspent capital stock of his slanders (his Memoirs and
+Ana) to carry on the old business with and keep up the greatness of the
+family.</p>
+<p>The effect of all this was to turn what before was strange or
+obscure, in Henry's history, into little better than a fable, a sort of
+popular and poetic myth of eloquence, in which the great speaker and
+statesman fades away into a fiction, a mere creation of the fancy,
+scarcely more real or probable than the account in old Master Tooke's
+"Pantheon," of Orpheus's drawing the rocks and trees and the very wild
+beasts along with him by his powers of song. Nay, in one main point,
+Master Tooke's legend more consults verisimilitude: for <i>he</i>,
+instead of <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_163"></a>[163]</span>
+shocking all probability by representing his hero to have
+been without education, sends him as private pupil to the Muses
+themselves, who are reputed to have kept, then as now, the best Greek
+and Latin colleges a-going.</p>
+<p>It is certainly true, in excuse for all this, that the mighty
+men who, for their exploits and services, became the demigods of fable,
+"the fair humanities of old religion," had scarcely more struck the
+excited imagination of their times than had Henry. Like theirs was the
+obscurity of his birth, the mystery of his education, the marvel of his
+achievements. Of his many great speeches, scarcely one uncorrupted
+passage can be said to survive; so that even of that which all felt and
+know we have but the faintest shadow. A fragmentary thought is all of
+genuine that is left us out of a whole immortal harangue; some powerful
+ejaculation stands for an entire oration, and dimly suggests, not
+explains its astonishing effects. To all purpose historic of his
+eloquence, he might just as well have lived before alphabetic writing
+was invented. At best, the oratory that entrances, agitates,
+enraptures, transports every man in a whole assembly, and hurries him
+totally away, thrilling and frenzied with sensations as vehement as
+novel, sets all reporting, all stenography at defiance. Before it,
+shorthand&#8212;at most, the dim reflection of such things; a cold copy, a
+poor parody where it is not a burlesque of speech in its great
+bursts&#8212;drops its pen, and forgets even to translate; which, after all (<i>haud
+inexpertus loquor</i>), is the utmost it can do. But of not even
+such translation did Mr. Henry, upon any occasion but two,<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a>
+receive the advantage such as it is. Every <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_164"></a>[164]</span>where in these the
+single
+but skilful reporter confesses, by many a summary in parenthesis, that
+at certain passages he lost himself in the speaker, and could not even
+attempt to render him. Thus it comes that, of his transcendent
+harangues&#8212;those which made or directed the Revolution&#8212;we have only a
+few scattered sentences, and the seemingly amazed descriptions which
+attest their extraordinary effects. There is but one exception: a
+version, to appearance tolerably entire, though still evidently but a
+sketch, of his "Liberty or Death" speech, when, on the 20th March,
+1775, he told the Convention of Virginia, assembled in the "Old Church"
+at Richmond (St. Johns), that "they must fight," and moved to arm and
+organize the militia. This, even in its existing form, is a
+prodigiously noble speech, full of vigor in the argument, full of
+passion in the appeals, breathing every where the utmost fire of the
+warrior, orator, patriot, and sage. Fitly uttered, it is still&#8212;though
+of course it must have lost greatly in the transmission&#8212;a discourse to
+rouse a whole nation invincibly to arms, if their cause and their
+courage were worthy of it. That speech evidently, and that speech
+alone, is, in the main, the true thunder of Henry: all the others are
+but the mustard-bowl.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus179"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 346px; height: 402px;" alt="Old Church Richmond, Va." src="images/illus179.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Old Church Richmond, Va.</a></span></p>
+<p>But though from all these causes, he already, in Mr. Wirt's
+day, stood, as seen through the fast-gathered haze of tradition, a huge
+but shadowy figure, it was the business of the biographer, instead of
+merely showing him to us in that popular light, to set him in a true
+one. The critical historian clears up such mists, defines such shadows,
+and calls them back not only to substance but proportion, color, life,
+the very pressure and body of the times. What if the historic truth had
+passed <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_165"></a>[165]</span>
+into a poetic fable? Mr. Wirt should have dealt with it, not as
+a bard, a rhapsodist, but a philosophical mythologist, who from fable
+itself sifts out the unwritten facts of a day, when fable was the only
+form of history.</p>
+<p>Besides, however, adopting for the fundamental facts of Mr.
+Henry's character all these false sources, his biographer utterly
+neglected (as we have already intimated) the most obvious and the most
+natural ones. He had then four surviving sisters, women not merely of
+condition but intellectually remarkable.</p>
+<p>To none of these did Mr. Wirt resort for any domestic
+particulars of his early life, which of course none knew so well as
+they. Well acquainted with them all&#8212;sprung from one of them&#8212;we have
+cause to know the astonishment with which they met this written account
+of his early years and his breeding up. Had Mr. Wirt personally known
+these highly cultivated and very superior ladies, distinguished as they
+were for the completeness and solidity of their old-fashioned
+education, he must have seen at once that his own story of Henry's
+youthful institution and ways is about as true as it is that Achilles
+was born of a sea-goddess, had a centaur for his private tutor, and was
+fed upon lion's marrow to make him valiant.</p>
+<p>His very lineage was literary. His father, John Henry, a
+Scottish gentleman of Aberdeen, was a man of good birth, of learned
+education, and, when he migrated to Virginia, of easy fortune. He was
+the nephew of Robertson, the great historian of his own country and of
+ours. The name of his mother, Jane Robertson, an admirable and
+accomplished person, is still preserved and transmitted among her
+female descendants. His cousin, David Henry, was the associate editor
+of the "Gentleman's Magazine," then a leading publication, with <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_166"></a>[166]</span>Edward
+Cave, the last of the learned printers; whose brother-in-law and
+successor he became. The family bred many of its members for the
+church, which in Britain implies such influence as secures preferment.
+John's younger brother, Patrick, thus taking orders, received a
+rectorship near him, and followed him to this country. In those days of
+Episcopacy, benefices drew after them not merely comfortable reverence,
+but goodly emolument and even authority in civil life; so that the
+parsons were a power in the State. All this Patrick, a man worthy of
+it, employed. His brother already possessed it; and thus both took
+their station among the gentry, though not the aristocracy, of the
+land&#8212;its untitled nobility: for, in effect, such an order, sustained by
+primogeniture and entails, then existed throughout lower or tide-water
+Virginia.</p>
+<p>John attained to the command of the regiment of his county, to
+its surveyorship, and to the presiding chair of its magistracy;
+stations then never conferred but upon leading men in the community.
+More careless, however, of his private interests than of the public,
+without exactly wasting his fortune, he gradually frittered it away;
+and though he repaired it for a time, by an advantageous marriage with
+the young and wealthy widow (a Winston by birth) of his most intimate
+friend, Col. John Syme, of the Rocky Mills, yet before the tenth year
+of Patrick, his second son (born 29th May, 1736), he found himself so
+straitened as to have need to make himself an income by setting up in
+his house a private classical school. Assisted to this by the
+reputation of being one of the best scholars in the country, he taught
+for a number of years with great approval the children of his friends
+and his own; abandoning the pursuit only when one of its
+inducements&#8212;the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_167"></a>[167]</span>
+education of his own sons and daughters (two of the
+former and five of the latter)&#8212;had ceased.</p>
+<p>Under such circumstances, and especially when we repeat that
+those four of his daughters whom we knew were persons greatly admired
+for the masculine goodness and extent of their education, it may be
+judged how likely, how possible it is that Patrick, with his boundless
+aptitude&#8212;always, in after life, applied most rapidly and successfully
+to whatever he had need to understand&#8212;can have grown up to manhood
+almost uninstructed, ignorant, and idle. Genius, of which it is the
+very essence that it has an uncontrollable affinity for the knowledge
+proper to its caste, has often been seen to surmount obstacles
+seemingly invincible to its information; never yet wilfully,
+incorrigibly, and in spite of every influence around, to shut out the
+open and easy daylight of intelligence, and darken itself into
+voluntary duncedom. The thing, we repeat is a flat, a bald and a
+flagrant impossibility. You might as well tell us that a young eagle,
+instead of taking to the sky as soon as its pinions were grown, has,
+though neither caged nor clipped, remained contented on foot and
+preferred to run about the barn-yard with the dunghill fowls. No! your
+"mute Miltons" and your harmless Cromwells sound very prettily to the
+fancy, but in plain fact, were no Miltons unless they sang, no
+Cromwells unless they conquered. Genius and Heroism&#8212;the most strenuous
+of human things&#8212;were never dull, slothful, idle; never slighted
+opportunity, but always make, if they do not find it.</p>
+<p>Accordingly, the sisters of Mr. Henry always asserted that,
+whatever their brother might appear abroad, he was a close voluntary
+student at home; exploring not only his father's <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_168"></a>[168]</span>library,
+which was
+large and good, but whatever other books he could lay his hands upon;
+dwelling, with an especial delight, upon certain great authors, of whom
+he seemed to make his masters; but cultivating assiduously what was
+then called "polite learning," and merited the name, along with history
+at large, and that of the free states of antiquity, and of England in
+particular. His great favorites were Livy and Virgil; not (as Mr. Wirt
+supposes of the former) in a translation, but the original. That the
+sisters were right on this point is sufficiently proved by the fact
+that, a few years ago, his Latin Virgil was in existence, its margins
+all filled with his manuscript notes. We need hardly say that he who
+was not content with Dryden as a translator was clearly not a-going to
+take up with poor old Philemon Holland, then the current
+English disfigurer of the most animated and picturesque of historians.
+Henry's sisters indeed, and the only one of his schoolfellows that we
+have ever met, were persuaded that he read Latin almost as readily as
+English. Mr. Wirt himself had learned that the great Paduan was ever in
+his boyish hands; now, that single point established, he might without
+hesitation have proceeded to five clear and important inferences:
+first, that no boy has a favorite book but because he is fond of books
+generally; secondly, that when his favorite is, though of the highest
+merit, a very unusual one, he must not only have read much, but with
+great discrimination: thirdly, that if his favorite was in a special
+class (not a mere miscellanist) he was well read in that class,
+addicted to it: fourthly, that he was enamored of such a favorite for
+his matchless merits, both of matter and of style; his sensibility to
+the former of which particulars implied information, to the latter a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_169"></a>[169]</span>
+well-formed taste: fifthly, that no mere translation of Livy&#8212;especially
+not flat, tame old Holland&#8212;nothing short of the golden original, could
+have inspired such a Livian affection. But this is not all; when&#8212;coming
+to be put into the possession of the scanty remaining body of Mr.
+Henry's papers (ill-preserved by his not very wise progeny) and invited
+to write his life more authentically&#8212;we ourselves began first to study
+his speeches and his mind critically, it did not take us long to
+perceive, what is indeed easily seen, that Mr. Henry's early passion
+for Livy&#8212;born of course of Livy's conformity to his genius&#8212;had deeply
+tinged the peculiar style of his eloquence, the peculiar character of
+his politics, was, in sooth, the immediate source of both; that the
+harangues in Livy had been his models of discourse; that the sentiments
+of public magnanimity, which Livy every where, and we may say Livy
+alone breathes, were transfused into Henry's spirit, and gave to his
+ideas of a state that singular grandeur, that loftiness, that heroism,
+which fills and informs them. His love of freedom even&#8212;his
+republicanism&#8212;was such as Livy's; popular, yet patrician: not your
+levelled liberty, too low to last, which, to keep down the naturally
+great, sets up the base on high; but a freedom consistent with the
+eminence and the subordination of natural orders mutually dependent;
+equal under the law, but distinct in their power to serve the state, as
+bringing to its aid, this rank higher counsels and obligations, that,
+force and numbers; in short, not merely a tumultuary, a mob liberty,
+but a social and a regulated concert of all classes, the absolute
+predominance of none; a republican, not a democratic aim. Less learned
+than Milton, certainly, but of a highly kindred spirit, he was very
+like him in his general political system; but was <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_170"></a>[170]</span>more
+practical,
+better acquainted with men. The one had more of the poetical element in
+him, the other more of the political. Both were deeply religious;
+without which no man can be a safe politician. Each towered above all
+the men of his day, except one, a warrior; and nearly such relation as
+Milton held to Cromwell did Henry hold to Washington. Alike in the
+antique cast of their minds, they were yet alike in being, withal,
+thoroughly English in their notion of actual freedom: for Henry's mind
+was just as little touched with any of the Jeffersonian fancies of
+Frenchified liberty as Milton's own. Both were of the historic, not the
+so-called philosophic school of politics: for history was evidently the
+only treatise on government that either thought worthy of any
+attention. If they had ever stooped to the systematic writers, from the
+great sources (wise histories) out of which those writers can at most
+draw, it can only have been to despise nearly every mother's son of
+them. Finally, alike in so many things, they were not unlike in their
+fate: both "fell upon evil times," and lost their public credit in the
+land of which they had matchlessly vindicated the public cause: Milton
+died sightless, and Henry too blind for the light of the Virginia
+abstractions.</p>
+<p>Every thing confutes the vulgar theory of his greatness. Had
+he been ignorant at his first rise, the growth of his talent, as well
+as of his knowledge, would have been traceable in his performances; but
+on the contrary, he burst out, from the first, mature and finished. By
+the universal consent, his very earliest speeches were quite equal to
+any thing he ever after pronounced. Had these been at sixteen, it would
+go far to prove that his eloquence, his ability, and even his
+information came (as such things never came in any other instance)
+without cultivation: but his first speech, that in "the parson's
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_171"></a>[171]</span>
+cause," at Hanover Court House, in 1763, when he was twenty-nine years
+old; the same period of life at which Demosthenes and Cicero shone out;
+a period after which there may be large additions to artificial
+knowledge, but can seldom be any to the natural splendor of the
+faculties.</p>
+<p>We have known many who knew Mr. Henry, in the entire unreserve
+of that domestic life, in which he so much loved to unbend himself. All
+such agreed that he was a man of very great and very various
+information. He read every thing. At home, his interval between an
+early dinner and supper-time (after which he gave himself up to
+conversation with his friends, or to sport with his children, or to
+music on the violin and flute, which he played) was always consecrated
+to study: he withdrew from company to his office and books. His very
+manner of reading was such as few attain, and marks the great and
+skilful dealer with other men's thoughts: he seldom read a book
+regularly on; but seemed only to glance his eye down the pages, and, as
+it were, to gallop athwart the volume; and yet, when he had thus strid
+through it, knew better than any body else all that was worth knowing
+in it contents. A learned physician who dwelt near him, told us, in
+speaking of this wide range of his knowledge, that he had, for
+instance, to his surprise, found him to be a good chemist, at a time
+when an acquaintance with that science was almost confined to medical
+men. Except in private, however, he kept the secret of his own
+attainments, content to let them appear only in their effects. This
+was, originally, out of his singular modesty; but by and by when his
+vanquished rivals of college-breeding sought to depreciate him as
+low-born and uneducated, he from policy conformed to imputations which
+heightened the wonder of his performances and therefore added to his
+success.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_172"></a>[172]</span></p>
+<p>Let us add one more fact, substantive and significant. The
+range of a man's mind, the very particulars of his studies may usually,
+when he is not a mere book-collector or other affector of letters, be
+pretty definitely ascertained from the contents of his library. In that
+view, finding that a list of Mr. Henry's was embraced in the records of
+the Court of Probate of his county, we examined and copied it. For that
+day, his library, besides its merely professional contents, is quite a
+large one&#8212;some five hundred volumes, mostly good and solid. We found it
+to contain the usual series of Greek school-books, probably all he had
+ever read; for the language was then slightly learnt in Virginia: a
+good many of the Latin authors, and various French ones. The last
+language we know, from other sources, that he understood. Now, he was
+the man in the world the least likely to have got or to keep books that
+he did not comprehend.</p>
+<p>Such was the enigma of Patrick Henry's mind; and such is its
+clear solution: a solution which, at least, must be confessed to
+substitute the rational for the irrational, the possible for the
+impossible, the positive of domestic evidence for the negative of
+popular tradition.</p>
+<p>Apart, however, from such testimony, there were other proofs
+that should have suggested themselves to the anatomist of life
+character, the physiologist of his genius. When we ourselves first
+began minutely to consider his speeches, their effects, all that is
+told of the manner in which those effects were brought about, the reach
+and the diversity of his powers, their admirable adaptation to all
+occasions and to all audiences&#8212;for he swayed all men alike by his
+eloquence, the low and the high, the ignorant and the learned; the
+unapproached <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_173"></a>[173]</span>
+dramatic perfection of his voice, gesture, manner, and
+whole delivery; his mastery, not only in speech, but off the tribune
+and man to man, of all that can affect either men's reason or their
+imagination, we could not, for our lives, help coming to the conclusion
+that all this must be skill, not chance; and that instead of being the
+mere child of nature, he was the most consummate artist that ever
+lived. Nature bestows marvellous things, but these are not within even
+her gift. She gives the gold, but she does not work it into every
+beautiful form; she gives the diamond, but she does not cut it; she
+bestows the marble, but did not carve the Olympian Jove nor the
+Belvidere Apollo. In fine, we had, in much acquaintance with men the
+ornaments of the public life of our times, been accustomed to
+understand all the minute mechanism of civil abilities; and when we
+came to examine closely this matchless piece of machinery, we could not
+avoid believing, in spite of all assertions to the contrary, that each
+particular part, however nice and small, must have been made by hand
+and most painfully put together. And thus, perceiving every thing else
+in this prodigious speaker to have been so masterly, we became
+convinced that his style, his diction must have been, in the main, as
+excellent as every thing else about him. It could not have been
+otherwise. He whose thought was so high and pure, whose fancy was so
+rich, and the mere outward auxiliaries of whose discourse (voice, and
+action) had been so laboriously perfected, can, by no possibility, have
+failed to make himself equally the master of expression. What we have
+as his, is mere reporter's English; and no man is to be judged by that
+slop of sentences into which he is put and melted away by their
+process. In that menstruum of words, all substances are alike. It is
+the true universal solvent, so long sought, that <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_174"></a>[174]</span>
+acts upon every thing
+and turns it into liquid babble. Mr Henry knew and often practised, not
+only upon the multitude but the refined; the power of a homely dialect,
+and saw how wise or brave or moving things may be made to come with a
+strangely redoubled effect, in the extremest plainness of rustic
+speech. His occasional resort to this, however, of course struck much
+upon the common attention and got him the reputation, among other
+foolish reputations, of habitually using such locutions; when, in
+reality, he was master of all modes of discourse alike, and only
+employed always that which best suited his purpose.</p>
+<p>There is yet one more false notion, in regard to him, which
+Mr. Wirt has done much to propagate: the notion, we mean, that Henry
+never condescended to be less than the great orator; that, instead of
+sometimes going about his business on foot, like other lawyers and
+legislators, he rode for ever in a sort of triumphal car of eloquence,
+dragging along a captive crowd at his conquering wheels; and, in short,
+that</p>
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"He could not ope</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">His mouth, but out there
+flew a trope."</span>
+</p>
+<p>On the contrary, no man was ever less the oration-maker. He
+never used his eloquence but as he used every thing else&#8212;just when it
+was wanted. In the mass of public business, eloquence is out of place,
+and could not be attended to. A man who was always eloquent would soon
+lose all authority in a public body. Mr. Henry kept up always the very
+greatest, and merited it, by taking a leading part in all important
+matters and making more and better business speeches than any body else.</p>
+<p>A long preliminary this; but we trust not uninteresting. <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_175"></a>[175]</span>
+It was, at any event, necessary that we should first, in the Bentonian
+phrase, "vindicate the truth of history," and set a great character in
+its proper public light, before passing to those humble particulars of
+private life to which we now proceed.</p>
+<p>In person, he was tall and rather spare, but of limbs round
+enough for either vigor or grace. He had, however, a slight stoop, such
+as very thoughtful people are apt to contract. In public, his aspect
+was remarkable for quiet gravity. It seems to have been a rule with him
+never to laugh and hardly to smile, before the vulgar. In their
+presence he wore an air always fit to excite at once their sympathy and
+their reverence; modest, even to humility; and yet most imposing. In
+all this he played no assumed, though he could not have played a more
+skilful part: for the occasion and the presence appear always to have
+so duly and so strongly affected him, as at once to transform him into
+what was, at each instant, fittest. Thus his art, of which we have
+already spoken, might well be consummate; for he was all that, for mere
+purposes of effect, he should have seemed to be, the very impersonation
+of the cause and the feelings proper to the hour. Great wisdom, indeed,
+an unshrinking courage, and yet an equal prudence, a patriotism the
+most fervent, a profound sensibility, a rare love of justice, yet a
+spirit of the greatest gentleness and humanity, and in a word, the
+highest virtues, public and private, crowned with a disinterestedness,
+an absence of all ambition most singular in a democracy (which above
+all things breeds the contrary) made him&#8212;if Cicero be right&#8212;the
+greatest of orators, because the most virtuous of men that ever
+possessed that natural gift. No man ever knew men better, singly or in
+the mass; none ever better knew how to sway them; but none ever less
+abused that power, for he seems ever to have felt, in <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_176"></a>[176]</span>a
+religious
+force, the solemnity of all those public functions, which so few now
+regard. It was probably the weight of this feeling, along with his
+singular modesty, that made him shun official honors as earnestly as
+others seek them. It is evident that no power, nor dignity, nor even
+fame could dazzle him. It was only at the public command that he
+accepted trusts from his State; and he always laid them down as soon as
+duty permitted. All offers of Federal dignities,<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a>
+up to the highest, he rejected. He had served his State only in
+perilous times, when (as the Devil says in Milton) to be highest was
+only to be exposed foremost to the bolts of the dreaded enemy; or at
+some conjuncture of civil danger; but when peace and ease had come and
+ambition was the only lure to office, he would not have it.</p>
+<p>If, however, he was thus grave, on what he considered the
+solemn stage of public life, he made himself ample amends in all that
+can give cheerfulness to the calm of retirement in the country. When at
+last permitted to attend to his private fortune, he speedily secured an
+ample one. It was enjoyed, whenever business allowed him to be at home,
+in a profuse and general, but solid and old-fashioned hospitality, of
+which the
+stout and semi-baronial supplies were abundantly drawn from his own
+large and well-managed domain. His house was usually filled with
+friends, its dependencies with their retinue <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_177"></a>[177]</span>and horses. But
+crowds,
+besides, came and went; all were received and entertained with
+cordiality. The country all about thronged to see the beloved and
+venerated man, as soon as it went abroad that he was come back. Some
+came merely to see him; the rest to get his advice on law and all other
+matters. To the poor, it was gratuitous; to even the rich without a
+fee, except where he thought the case made it necessary to go to law.
+All took his counsel as if it had been an oracle's, for nobody thought
+there was any measure to "Old Patrick's" sense, integrity, or good
+nature. This concourse began rather betimes, for those who lived near
+often came to breakfast, where all were welcomed and made full. The
+larder seemed never to get lean. Breakfast over, creature-comforts,
+such as might console the belated for its loss, were presently set
+forth on side-tables in the wide entrance hall. Of these&#8212;the solid, not
+the liquid parts of a rural morning's meal&#8212;breakfast without its slops,
+and such as, if need were, might well stand for a dinner, all further
+comers helped themselves as the day or their appetites advanced.
+Meanwhile, the master saw and welcomed all with the kindliest
+attention, asked of their household, listened to their affairs, gave
+them his view, contented all. These audiences seldom ceased before noon
+or the early dinner. To this a remaining party of from twenty to thirty
+often sat down. It was always, according to the wont of such houses in
+that well-fed land, a meal beneath which the tables groaned, and whose
+massive old Saxon dishes would have made a Frenchman sweat. Every thing
+is excellent at these lavish feasts; but they have no luxuries save
+such as are home-grown. They are, however, for all that is substantial
+and plain, the very summit of good cheer. At Governor Henry's, they
+never failed to be, besides, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_178"></a>[178]</span>seasoned with his
+conversation, which at
+table always grew gay and even gamesome. The dinner ended, he betook
+himself, as already told, to his studies until supper, after which he
+again gave himself up to enjoyment. In this manner came, with the
+kindliest and most cheerful approach, the close of his days; upon which
+there rested not a stain nor (such had been through life his personal
+benignity) a hostility. Except tyrants and other public enemies, he had
+lived at peace with man and God, achieving most surprising and
+illustrious things, and content, save the sight of his liberated
+country, with little reward beyond that which he bore in his own
+approving bosom.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus194"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 326px; height: 401px;" alt="Old Court House, Va." src="images/illus194.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Old Court House, Va.</a></span></p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_179"></a>[179]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="madison"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Madison.</span>
+</h6>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="letter_180"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 600px; height: 785px;" alt="Madison fac-simile of letter" src="images/letters/madison.png" /></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_180"></a>[180]</span>
+</div>
+<hr  />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_181"></a>[181]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus197"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 454px; height: 403px;" alt="Montpelier, Madison's Residence." src="images/illus197.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Montpelier, Madison's Residence.</a></span></p>
+<h2>MADISON.</h2>
+<p>Science has had, and perhaps will ever have, its fancies; and
+fancy has often aspired to become science; for between the two&#8212;wide
+apart as they are said to lie&#8212;stretches an uncertain domain, which they
+seem alternately to occupy by incursion, and of which, when thus seized
+upon, each appears, oddly enough, often to take possession in the rival
+name of the other. Thus Astronomy, growing visionary, has pretended to
+trace from the aspects of the heavenly bodies, not merely their laws
+and motions, but the vicissitudes of human fate; and chemistry has had
+its poetic visions of an elixir of <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_182"></a>[182]</span>
+life and of the philosopher's stone;
+while, on the other hand, mere imagination has quite as often attempted
+to erect, out of the airiest things, a philosophic realm of her own,
+and to deduce into positive sciences the bumps upon the human skull,
+the freaks of Nature in the conformation of the features, and even the
+whimsical diversities of people's handwriting. From all these have been
+set up grave methods of arriving at a knowledge of men's faculties and
+characters.</p>
+<p>It is surprising that, among these fantastic systems of
+physiognomy, that easy and natural one should never have been set on
+foot, which might connect the structural efforts of individuals with
+the cast of their minds and feelings. To do this would be especially
+easy in new countries, where nearly every one is compelled to build his
+own abode, and where, for the most part, there is so little of
+architectural solidity that habitations seldom last for above a
+generation, and even he who inherits a house inherits but a ruin. Thus
+the simplicity of Patrick Henry's habits and tastes might be inferred
+from the primitiveness of his dwelling. You might have guessed his
+unambitiousness from the absence about his home of any thing that
+betrayed a longing for grandeur. All was plain, substantial, good;
+nothing ostentatious or effeminate. The master's personal desires
+coveted nothing beyond rural abundance and comforts&#8212;such blessings as
+are quite enough to make private life happy and preserve it uncorrupt.
+In all this you might discern the public man who cherished, as a
+politician, no visions, no novelties; sought, of course, to build up
+for his fellow-citizens no other nor better happiness than such as
+crowned all his own wishes; believed little in pomp and greatness;
+loved our old hereditary laws, manners, liberties, victuals; and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_183"></a>[183]</span>
+dreaded French principles and dishes as alike contaminating and
+destructive.</p>
+<p>Man, as we have already intimated, is a constructive animal.
+He alone is properly such. For the inferior creatures that build do so
+upon a single, instinctive, invariable method, always using the same
+material; he, rationally and inventively, as outward circumstances may
+require, or as, when these constrain him little, his individual fancy,
+desires, or judgment may prompt. In the nomadic state a tent of skins,
+a lodge of bark, are the sole structures for shelter that fit his
+wandering life; and the rudeness of these invites to no decoration,
+while convenience itself forbids all diversity of contrivance for him,
+who, paying no ground-rent, may decamp to-morrow; and, bound by no
+leasehold, may carry his tenement with him, like that travelling
+landlord, Master Snail, or abandon it like that lodger by the season,
+Dame Bird. In short, he comes not under the terms of zoological or
+botanical description, as having a <i>habitat</i>; under
+the line he lives, as did father Adam and mother Eve (whose
+housekeeping in Eden, Milton so well relates), in a bower of rose and
+myrtle; at the pole, he burrows beneath the snow or makes his masonry
+of ice; in Idumea, he dwells, like its lions, in a cavern; on the
+Maranon, he perches his house in a tree-top, and his young
+ones&#8212;plumeless bipeds though they be&#8212;nestle among the feathered
+denizens of the mid-air; in certain mining regions, he is born and dies
+hundreds of fathoms under ground, and perhaps never sees the light of
+day; in Naples, he lives, as do the dogs and cats of Constantinople, in
+the streets. Thus, whatever idea, whatever purpose, whatever need,
+whatever fancy, predominates in him when he builds, it takes shape, it
+finds expression, it embodies <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_184"></a>[184]</span>
+itself, forthwith, in fitting material,
+fittingly contrived, and is, according to his habitative wish, his
+taste in a tabernacle, possibly a pig-sty, possibly a palace; for his
+range of invention stretches over every thing that lies between the two.</p>
+<p>The founders of the great commonwealths of antiquity&#8212;the
+Grecian statesmen and warriors, the Roman consuls&#8212;lived at home, during
+the most glorious period of their several states, in an extreme
+simplicity; content with a truly noble penury, while they built up the
+grandeur of their country. The constructive propensity of the Athenian
+instead of a private direction towards his personal gratification, took
+the generous form of a passion for public monuments; that of the Roman
+turned itself, until the decline of the Republic began, upon the
+rearing of trophies and triumphal arches, rather than of lordly
+mansions; and dictators sometimes, consuls often, were called from the
+cot and the plough to the supreme trusts of war and peace. But this was
+all in the spirit of ages and institutions, when the citizen lived in
+the state and sought his private, in the public greatness and
+happiness. Modern times present few individual instances of the like.
+In those ancient politics, the state leaned on the citizen; in our
+modern, the citizen leans on the state. Then, public life was much,
+private life was little; now, it is reversed, the citizen wants not to
+help the state, but wants the state to help him. Now, over-civilization
+has so multiplied the conveniences of life, and habit has rendered its
+indulgences so necessary, that he who, being great, can live without
+and above them, has need to be of a rare elevation, an inherent
+grandeur of soul.</p>
+<p>The statesman whose mansion and whose habits in retreat we are
+about to describe, without being altogether of that <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_185"></a>[185]</span>heroical
+cast of
+mind which graced the character of a Washington, a Henry, or a Clay,
+had yet much of that elevated simplicity which marks the highest strain
+of greatness. Mr. Madison, when he laid down what he had so worthily
+and wisely worn as to have disarmed all previous reproach and
+hostility&#8212;the supreme dignity of the Union&#8212;returned quietly to his
+hereditary abode, resumed the unaffected citizen, and seemed to be as
+glad to forget his past greatness as to escape from the anxieties and
+envy that attend power as shadows do the sun. He went back, after his
+stormy but successful presidency of eight years, to his father's seat,
+Montpelier, where, but for the accident&#8212;the same which befell a hero of
+Irish song, Denis Brulgruddery&#8212;of his mother's being on a visit to her
+mamma at the time, he would certainly have been born. There, like a
+sensible man, and a good fellow to boot (as he was), he sat down on a
+fine plantation, in a good old-fashioned house, with a fine old cellar
+of old-fashioned wines under it, and the best old Virginian servants in
+it, to spend the rest of his days upon that wise plan which King
+Pyrrhus proposed to himself, but, postponing too long, did not live to
+execute. He (that is, Mr. Madison, not Pyrrhus) sat down like an actor
+who has played out his part with applause, calmly to look at the rest
+of the piece, no further concerned in its business, but not affecting
+(as others have done) the uninterested spectator of the performance. He
+did not assume the philosophic sage; he did not bury himself in a
+monastic gloom like Charles V.; nor, like the same discrowned prince
+and Mr. Jefferson, betake himself to mending watches; nor, like
+Dioclesian, to cultivating cabbages; but in the bosom of that pleasant
+retreat, which had witnessed his youthful preparation for public toils,
+sought the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_186"></a>[186]</span>
+repose from them which he had fairly earned; and sweetening
+it with all that could give it zest, in the companionship of the
+amiable wife who had shared with him and adorned public honors, and in
+the society of the many personal friends that his virtues and talents
+drew about him, passed the evening of his days in gentlemanly and
+genial ease and hospitality.</p>
+<p>Montpelier, the residence to which, as an only child, he had
+succeeded at his father's death, is a plain but ample, and rather
+handsome habitation of brick, around which spreads out, in such
+undulations of gently-waving swells and irregular plains as pleasantly
+diversify the view, a fertile domain of some two thousand six hundred
+acres; a part of it well cultivated, but a still larger part yet in all
+the wildness of nature. The region is one where she has shed, in great
+beauty, the softest picturesque of hill and dale, forest and glade. At
+hand, in the rear, rises, as if to adorn the prospect with bolder
+contrasts, the gracefully wavering chain of the southwest mountain, to
+fence on one side the vale of Orange and Albemarle, on whose
+southeastern edge of nodding woods and green fields Montpelier lies
+embosomed and embowered; while on the other side, in the airy distance
+beyond that vale, tower in fantastic line the blue peaks of the long
+Appalachian ridge, breaking the horizon, as if to form another and a
+more fanciful one. The wide scene, caught in glimpses through the
+mantling trees, or opening out in the larger vista of farm beyond farm,
+or shining in loftier prospect above the tree-tops and the low hills,
+offers to the ranging eye, many a charming view,&#8212;sweet spots of
+pastoral beauty; jutting capes and copses, or nodding old groves of
+woodlands; the rich and regular cultivation of spreading plantations,
+amidst which glisten now a stately <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_187"></a>[187]</span>
+mansion, and now a snug farm-house,
+each decorated with its peculiar growth of trees for shade or fruit;
+and far away, mountain regions, whose heights, and whose rude and massy
+but undefined forms, suggest to the fancy the savage grandeur of that
+remoter landscape which the eye knows to be there, though it mocks the
+sight with what is so different. All these are, at frequent points, the
+aspects of that fine country from Orange court-house up to
+Charlottesville; they are nowhere seen in greater perfection or
+abundance than just around Montpelier. At almost every turn, one
+discovers a new pleasure of the landscape; at nearly every step, there
+is a surprise. It looks like a realm of pictures; you would almost
+think that not nature had placed it there, but that the happiest skill
+of the painter had collected and disposed the scenes.</p>
+<p>The house, we have said, is plain and large. Its size and
+finish bespeak gentlemanly but unpretending ease and fortune. It has no
+air of assumed lordliness or upstart pretension. No foreign models seem
+to have been consulted in its design, no proportions of art studied;
+yet it wants not symmetry as well-planned convenience, comfort, and
+fitness lend, as if without intention. A tall, and rather handsome
+columned portico, in front, is the only thing decorative about it; but
+is not enough so to be at all out of keeping. It is of the whole height
+of the central building, of two stories, and covers about half its
+length of some forty-five feet. Broad steps, five in number, support
+and give access along its entire front. Its depth is about one-third
+its width. The main building itself is a parallelogram, near half as
+deep as it is long. At each flank, a little receding, is a
+single-storied wing of about twenty feet, its flat roof surmounted by a
+balustrade. The house stands on a <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_188"></a>[188]</span>
+gently-rising eminence. A wide lawn,
+broken only here and there by clumps of trees, stretches before it. On
+either side are irregular masses of these, of different shapes and
+foliage, evergreen and deciduous, which thicken at places into a grove,
+and half screen those dependencies of a handsome establishment&#8212;stables,
+dairies and the like&#8212;which, left openly in sight, look very ill, and
+can be made to look no otherwise, even by the trying to make them look
+genteel: for they are disagreeable objects, that call up (attire them
+as you will) ideas not dainty. As, therefore, the eye should not miss
+them altogether&#8212;for their absence would imply great discomfort and
+inconvenience&#8212;the best way is to half-veil them, as is done at
+Montpelier.</p>
+<p>In the rear of the house lies a large and well-tended garden.
+This was, of course, mainly the mistress's care; while the master's
+was, as far as his bodily feebleness permitted, directed towards his
+agricultural operations. In the Virginia economy of the household,
+where so much must be ordered with a view to entertaining guests all
+the while, the garden plays an important part. Without ample supplies
+from it, there would be no possibility of maintaining that exuberant
+good cheer with which the tables continually groan, in all those
+wealthier habitations where the old custom of a boundless hospitality
+is still reverently observed. In such&#8212;and there are yet many, although
+the Jeffersonian "Law of Descents," and the diffusion of the trading
+spirit are thinning them out every day, as rum and smallpox are
+dispeopling our Indian tribes&#8212;there is little pause of repletion. Every
+guest must be feasted: if a stranger, because strangers ought to be
+made to pass their time as agreeably as possible; if a friend, because
+nothing can be too good for one's friends. <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_189"></a>[189]</span>
+Where such social maxims and
+such a domestic policy prevail, there will seldom, according to Adam
+Smith's principle of "Demand and Supply," be any very serious lack of
+guests. Indeed, the condition is one hard to avoid, and so pleasant,
+withal, that we have known persons of wit and breeding to adopt it as
+their sole profession, and benevolently pass their lives in guarding
+their friends, one after another, from the distresses of a guestless
+mansion. But, to return to the garden of Montpelier; there were few
+houses in Virginia that gave a larger welcome, or made it more
+agreeable, than that over which Queen Dolly&#8212;the most gracious and
+beloved of all our female sovereigns&#8212;reigned; and, wielding as
+skilfully the domestic, as she had done worthily and popularly the
+public, sceptre, every thing that came beneath her immediate personal
+sway&#8212;the care and the entertainment of visitors, the government of the
+menials, the whole policy of the interior&#8212;was admirably managed, with
+an equal grace and efficiency. Wherefore, as we have said, the
+important department of the garden was excellently well administered,
+both for profit and pleasure, and made to pour forth in profusion, from
+its wide and variously-tended extent, the esculents and the blooms,
+herb, fruit, flower, or root, of every season. Nor was the merely
+beautiful neglected for the useful only; her truly feminine tastes
+delighted in all the many tinted children of the parterre, native and
+exotic; and flowers sprang up beneath her hand, as well as their more
+substantial sisters, the vegetables. In a word, her garden was rich in
+all that makes one delightful; and so of all the other less sightly but
+needful departments of her large and well-ordered establishment.</p>
+<p>We should, however, slight one of its most pleasing <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_190"></a>[190]</span>features,
+were we to omit mentioning the peculiar purpose to which was
+consecrated one of those low wings of the building which we have
+briefly described. There dwelt, under the most sacred guard of filial
+affection, yet served in her own little separate household by servants
+set apart to her use, the very aged and infirm mother of Mr. Madison; a
+most venerable lady, who, after the death of her husband, thus lived
+under the tender guardianship of her son and of her daughter-in-law,
+down to near her hundredth year, enjoying whatever of the sweets of
+life the most affectionate and ingenious solicitude can bestow upon
+extreme decrepitude. Here she possessed without the trouble of
+providing them, all the comforts and freedom of an independent
+establishment; and tended by her own gray-haired domestics, and
+surrounded at her will by such younger relatives as it gratified her to
+have about her, she passed her quiet but never lonely days, a reverent
+and a gentle image of the good and indeed elevated simplicity of elder
+times, manners, and tastes. All the appointments of her dwelling
+bespoke the olden day; dark and cumbrous old carved furniture, carpets
+of which the modern loom has forgotten the patterns; implements that
+looked as if Tubal Cain had designed them; upholstery quaintly, if not
+queerly venerable. In short, all the objects about her were in keeping
+with her person and attire. You would have said that they and she had
+sat to Sir Godfrey Kneller for a family picture; or that you yourself
+had been suddenly transported back to Addison's time, and were peeping
+by privilege into the most secluded part of Sir Roger de Coverley's
+mansion. Indeed, to confirm the illusion, you would probably find her
+reading the Spectator in the large imprint and rich binding of its own
+period, or thumbing&#8212;as <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_191"></a>[191]</span>
+our degenerate misses do a novel of the Dickens
+or Sue school&#8212;the leaves of Pope, Swift, Steele, or some other of those
+whom criticism alone (for the common people and the crowd, of what is
+now styled literature, know them not) still recalls as "the wits of
+Queen Anne's day." These were the learning of our great-grandmothers;
+need we wonder if they were nobler dames than the frivolous things of
+the fancy boarding-school, half-taught in every thing they should not
+study, made at much pains and expense to know really nothing, and just
+proficient enough of foreign tongues to be ignorant of their own? The
+authors we have mentioned, their good contemporaries, and their yet
+greater predecessors, who gave to our language a literature, and are
+still all that holds it from sinking into fustian and slipslop, a
+tag-rag learning and a tatterdemalion English, were those that lay
+around this ancient lady, and beguiled her old age as they had formed
+and delighted the youth of her mind and heart. If you made her refer to
+them, as the favourite employment of her infirmity-compelled leisure,
+it was pleasant to hear her (as in that other instance which we have
+given of Patrick Henry's sisters) talk of them as if they had been dear
+and familiar personal friends. Perhaps, however, authors were then
+better loved and more respected by their readers than they are
+nowadays; and possibly this was because they deserved to be so; or
+indeed there may be a double decline, and readers as much worse than
+the writers. Not that either of these is the fact, or even a conjecture
+which we ourselves entertain. We merely mention it <i>en passant</i>,
+as a bare possibility. The opinion would be unpopular, and should not
+be admitted in a democracy; of which it is the very genius to have no
+opinions but such as are popular; and therefore <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_192"></a>[192]</span>to
+think no thoughts
+that might betray one into an opinion not that of the majority.</p>
+<p>Such books then, and, when her old eyes grew weary, the almost
+equally antiquated occupation of knitting, habitually filled up the
+hours of this old-time lady; the hours, we mean, which pain or
+feebleness remitted her for occupation. As to those sadder moments of
+suffering, or of that sinking of the bodily powers which presses at
+times upon far-advanced age, she bore them with the cheerfullest
+patience, and even treated them as almost compensated by the constant
+delight of the affections which the pious care of her children gave her
+all the while. Nothing could exceed their watchfulness to serve her,
+soothe her, minister to her such enjoyments as may be made by
+lovingness to linger around even the last decline of a kindly and
+well-spent life. In all such offices, her son bore as much part as his
+own frail health and the lesser aptitude of men for tending the sick
+permitted; but no daughter ever exceeded in the tender and assiduous
+arts of alleviation, the attentions which Mrs. Madison gave to her
+husband's infirm parent. Reversing the order of nature, she became to
+her (as the venerable sufferer herself was accustomed fondly to say)
+the mother of her second childhood. Mistress as she was of all that
+makes greatness pleasing and sheds a shining grace upon power, Mrs.
+Madison never appeared in any light so worthy or so winning, as in this
+secret one of filial affection towards her adopted mother.</p>
+<p>It was a part, however, of her system of happiness for the
+ancient lady, at once to shut out from her (what she could ill sustain)
+the bustle of that large establishment, and the gayeties of the more
+miscellaneous guests that often thronged it, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_193"></a>[193]</span>yet
+to bring to her,
+in special favor towards them, such visitors as could give her pleasure
+and break the monotony of her general seclusion. These were sometimes
+old and valued friends; sometimes their hopeful offspring; and
+occasionally personages of such note as made her curious to see them.
+All such she received, according to what they were, with that antique
+cordiality or amenity which belonged to the fine old days of
+good-breeding, of which she was a genuine specimen. To the old, her
+person, dress, manners, conversation, recalled, in their most pleasing
+forms, the usages, the spirit, the social tone of an order of things
+that had vanished; an elevated simplicity that had now given way to
+more affected courtesies, more artificial elegancies. To the young, she
+and her miniature household were a still more singular spectacle. They
+had looked upon their host and hostess as fine old samples of the past,
+and the outer, the exoteric Montpelier, with its cumbrous furniture and
+rich but little modish appointments, as a sort of museum of domestic
+antiquities; but here, hidden within its secret recesses, were a
+personage, ways, objects, fashions, that carried them back to the yet
+more superannuated elegance of days when what now struck them as
+obsolete must have been regarded as the frivolous innovations of an
+impertinent young generation.</p>
+<p>We have already described the house, and glanced at its
+appointments, but may add that the former seemed designed for an
+opulent and an easy hospitality, and that the latter, while rich, was
+plainly and solidly so. No expedients, no tricks of show met the eye;
+but all was well set forth with a sort of nobleness, yet nothing of
+pomp. The apartments were of ample size; the furniture neither scanty
+nor (as now seems <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_194"></a>[194]</span>
+the mode) huddled together, as if the master were a
+salesman. Nothing seemed wanting, nothing too much. A finished urbanity
+and yet a thorough cordiality reigned in every thing: all the ways, all
+the persons, all the objects of the place were agreeable and even
+interesting. You soon grew at your ease, if at arriving you had been
+otherwise: for here was, in its perfection, that happiest part and
+surest test of good-breeding&#8212;the power of at once putting every one at
+ease. The attentions were not over-assiduous, not slack; but kept, to
+great degree, out of sight, by making a body of thoroughly-trained and
+most mannerly servants their ministrants, so that the hosts performed
+in person little but the higher rites of hospitality, and thus seemed
+to have no trouble and much pleasure in entertaining you. Accordingly,
+there has seldom, even in the hilarious land of old Virginia, been a
+house kept&#8212;especially by elderly people&#8212;at which it was pleasanter to
+be a sojourner. They always made you glad to have come, and sorry that
+you must go.</p>
+<p>Such was the main interior life of Montpelier. Its business
+seemed but the giving pleasure to its guests, of whom a perpetual
+succession came and went. Little was seen of the working machinery of
+the fine, and on the whole, well-managed estate, that poured forth its
+copious supplies to render possible all this lavish entertainment, this
+perennial flow of feasting. For here, be it observed, as elsewhere in
+the rural hospitalities of Virginia, it was not single visitors that
+were to be accommodated, but families and parties. Nor did these arrive
+unattended, for each brought with it a retinue of servants, a stud of
+horses, and all were to be provided for. Meantime, the master was seen
+little to direct in person the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_195"></a>[195]</span>
+husbandry of his domain; and indeed, he
+was known to be too feeble to do so. Nevertheless, the tillage of
+Montpelier was productive and its soil held in a state of progressive
+improvement. Indeed, capable of every thing he had engaged in, except
+arms (in which the Jeffersonian dynasty, except Monroe, must be
+confessed not to have excelled)&#8212;wise, attentive, and systematic, he had
+established his farming operations upon a method so good and regular,
+that they went on well, with only his occasional inspection, and the
+nightly reports of his head men of the blacks. The mildest and humanest
+of masters, he had brought about among his slaves, by a gentle
+exactness, and the care to keep them happy while well-governed, great
+devotion to him and their duties, and a far more than usual
+intelligence. Every night he received an account of the day's results,
+and consulted freely with his managers, on the morrow's business. All
+was examined and discussed as with persons who had and who deserved his
+confidence. Thus encouraged to think, the inert and unreflecting
+African learnt forecast, skill, self-respect, and zeal to do his duty
+towards the master and mistress who were so good to him. We do not say
+that the like could be done to the same extent every where. Montpelier
+was cultivated merely to support itself, and not for profit; which is
+necessarily the ruling end on the plantations generally, and perhaps
+compels more enforced methods; which, indeed, can scarcely be expected
+to cease, as long as fanatical interference from without, between the
+master and the slave, shall only serve to breed discontent on the one
+part and distrust on the other, and driving the threatened master to
+attend to the present security of his property, instead of occupying
+himself with its future amelioration. Men of any sense <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_196"></a>[196]</span>abroad
+should
+surely have perceived, by this time, that the method of driving the
+Southern States into Emancipation does not answer; but, on the
+contrary, is, so far as the temper of that region is concerned, only
+postponing it, and meanwhile aggravating the condition of both classes.</p>
+<p>Thus gentle, genial, kindly, liberal, good and happy, passed
+the life of Montpelier. Public veneration shed all its honors; private
+friendship and communion all their delights upon it. Even those
+dignities which, in this country of party spirit, beget for the
+successful more of reproach than fame, had left the name of Madison
+without a serious stain. His Presidency past, the wise and blameless
+spirit of his official administration came speedily to be acknowledged
+on all sides, and envy and detraction, left without an aim, turned to
+eulogy. An ample fortune, the greatest domestic happiness, and a life
+prolonged, in spite of the original feebleness of his body, to the
+unusual age of eighty-five, gave him in their full measure, those
+singular blessings which the goodness of God deservedly dealt to him
+and the admirable partner of his existence. A philosophic, and yet not
+a visionary ruler, he should stand among ours as next to Washington,
+though separated from him by a great interval. The Jeffersons and the
+Jacksons come far after him, for<br />
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 15em;"><span class="poem">
+"He was more</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Than a mere Alexander; and, unstained</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+With household blood and wine, serenely wore</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+His sovereign virtues: still we Trajan's name adore."</span></span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_197"></a>[197]</span></p>
+<h6><a name="jay"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Jay.</span>
+</h6>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="letter_198"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 574px; height: 800px;" alt="Jay fac-simile of letter" src="images/letters/jay.png" /></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_198"></a>[198]</span>
+</div>
+<hr  />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_199"></a>[199]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus215"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 350px; height: 401px;" alt="Jay's Residence, Bedford, N.Y." src="images/illus215.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Jay's Residence, Bedford, N.Y.</a></span></p>
+<h2>JAY.</h2>
+<p>Although the City of New-York claims the honor of being the
+birth-place of John Jay, it cannot properly be regarded as the home of
+his early years. Not far from the time of his birth, on the 12th of
+December, 1745, his father, Peter Jay, who, by honorable assiduity in
+the mercantile vocation, had accumulated a handsome fortune, purchased
+an estate in Rye, about twenty-five miles from the city, with the
+intention of making it his future residence. This town, situated on the
+southeastern corner of Westchester County, ranks <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_200"></a>[200]</span>among
+the most
+delightful summer resorts that adorn the northern shores of Long Island
+Sound. The village proper stands about a mile and a half from the
+Sound, on the turn-pike road between New-York and Boston. From the
+hills extending along its northern limits, the Mockquams (Blind Brook)
+a perennial stream, flows southwardly through it, adding much to the
+beauty of its scenery. On the outskirts are many elegant villas, the
+favorite haunts of those who rejoice to exchange the cares of business
+and the dust and heat of the neighboring metropolis for its grateful
+seclusion and the refreshing breezes that visit it from the ocean.</p>
+<p>For the description of the Jay estate at Rye, in the absence
+of personal knowledge, we shall, in the main, rely upon the account
+furnished by Bolton, in his excellent History of Westchester County,
+adhering principally to his own language.</p>
+<p>The situation of the estate is very fine, embracing some of
+the most graceful undulations of a hilly district, highly diversified
+with rocks, woods, and river scenery. Contiguous to the southern
+portion of it and bordering the Sound is Marle's Neck and the
+neighboring islands of Pine and Hen-hawk. The curious phenomenon of the
+Mirage is frequently witnessed from these shores, when the land on the
+opposite coast of Long Island appears to rise above the waters of the
+Sound, the intermediate spaces seeming to be sunk beneath the waves.</p>
+<p>The family residence is situated near the post-road leading to
+Rye, at a short distance from the river. The building is a handsome
+structure of wood, having a lofty portico on the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_201"></a>[201]</span>north.
+The south point
+commands a beautiful and charming view of the Sound and Long Island.
+Some highly interesting family portraits adorn the walls of the hall
+and dining-room, among which are the following: Augustus Jay, who
+emigrated to this country in 1686, a copy from the original by Waldo;
+Anna Maria Bayard, wife of Augustus Jay, by Waldo; Peter Augustus Jay,
+as a boy, artist unknown; an old painting upon oak panel, supposed to
+represent Catherine, wife of the Hon. Stephen Van Cortlandt, of
+Cortlandt, South Holland. This lady appears habited in a plain black
+dress, wearing a high neck-ruffle, and, in her hand, holds a clasped
+Bible. In one corner of the picture is inscribed "�tat. 64, 1630." In
+the library is the valuable cabinet of shells, amounting to several
+thousands, of which the collector, John C. Jay, M.D., has published a
+descriptive catalogue. Noticeable among the family relics is the gold
+snuff-box, presented by the Corporation of New-York with the freedom of
+the city to "his Excellency, John Jay," on the 4th of October, 1784,
+not long after his return from diplomatic service in Spain and at
+Paris. An old French Bible contains the following memoranda: "Auguste
+Jay, est n� a la Rochelle dans la Royaume de France le 23/13 Mars,
+1665. Laus Deo. N. York, July ye 10th, 1773, this day at 4 o'clock in
+ye morning dyed Eva Van Cortlandt, was buried ye next day ye 12 en ye
+voute at Mr. Stuyvesant's about six and seven o'clock."</p>
+<p>In the opening of a wood on the southeast of the mansion is
+the family cemetery, where are interred the remains of the ancestors of
+the Jays. Over the grave of the Chief Justice is the following
+inscription, written by his son, Peter Augustus Jay:<br />
+</p>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_202"></a>[202]</span>
+<span class="smcap">in memory of</span><br />
+JOHN JAY,<br />
+<span class="smcap">eminent among those who asserted the
+liberty<br />
+and established the independence<br />
+of his country,<br />
+which he long served in the most<br />
+important offices,<br />
+legislative, executive, judicial, and diplomatic,<br />
+and distinguished in them all by his<br />
+ability, firmness, patriotism, and integrity,<br />
+he was in his life, and in his death,<br />
+an example of the virtues,<br />
+the faith and the hopes<br />
+of a christian.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Born</span>, <i>Dec.</i>
+12, 1745,<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Died</span>, <i>May</i>
+17, 1829.
+</p>
+<p>According to his expressed desire, the body of Mr. Jay was not
+deposited in the family vault, but committed to the bosom of the earth.
+He always strenuously protested against what he considered the
+heathenish attempt to rescue the worthless relics of mortality from
+that dissolution, which seems to be their natural and appropriate
+destination. Within the same cemetery are also memorials to Sir James
+Jay, Peter Jay Munroe, Peter Jay, Goldsborough Banyar, Harriet Van
+Cortlandt, and other members of the family.</p>
+<p>Pierre Jay, to whom the Jays of this country trace their
+origin, was one of those noble and inflexible Huguenots who were driven
+from France by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, a measure which
+deprived that kingdom of more than one-fourth of the most industrious
+and desirable class of its <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_203"></a>[203]</span>
+population. His descendants, settling in
+this country, retained the characteristics which had distinguished
+their forefathers, and became among its most respectable and prosperous
+inhabitants. Peter Jay, the grandson of Pierre Jay, and, like him,
+engaged in mercantile pursuits, was married in the year 1728 to Mary,
+the daughter of Jacobus Van Cortlandt, and was the father of ten
+children, of whom John was the eighth. Seldom has a son been more
+fortunate in his parents. "Both father and mother," we are told by the
+biographer, "were actuated by sincere and fervent piety; both had warm
+hearts and cheerful tempers, and both possessed, under varied and
+severe trials, a remarkable degree of equanimity. But in other respects
+they differed widely. He possessed strong and masculine sense, was a
+shrewd observer and accurate judge of men, resolute, persevering and
+prudent, an affectionate father, a kind master, but governing all under
+his control with mild but absolute sway. She had a cultivated mind and
+a fine imagination. Mild and affectionate in her temper and manners,
+she took delight in the duties as well as in the pleasures of domestic
+life; while a cheerful resignation to the will of Providence during
+many years of sickness and suffering bore witness to the strength of
+her religious faith."</p>
+<p>Under the tutelage of such a mother was John Jay educated till
+his eighth year, and from her he learned the rudiments of English and
+Latin grammar. Even at this tender age, the gravity of his disposition,
+his discretion and his fondness for books were subjects of common
+remark. When eight years old, he was committed to the care of Mr.
+Stoope, a French clergyman and keeper of a grammar-school at New
+Rochelle, with whom he remained for about three years. This <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_204"></a>[204]</span>gentleman
+being unfitted by reason of his oddities and improvidence for the
+efficient supervision of the establishment, left the young pupils, for
+the most part, to the tender mercies of his wife, a woman of extremely
+penurious habits; by whom, we are told, they were "treated with little
+food and much scolding." Every thing about the house under the
+management of this ill-assorted pair went to ruin, and the young
+student was often obliged, in order to protect his bed from the
+drifting snow, to close up the broken panes with bits of wood. Various
+other inconveniences fell to the lot of young Jay, but it is probable
+that the rigid discipline of Mrs. Stoope was not without its
+advantages. It had the effect of throwing its subject on his own
+resources, and taught him to disregard those thousand petty annoyances
+which, after all, are the chief causes of human misery, and which often
+disturb the tranquillity of the strongest minds.</p>
+<p>From Mr. Stoope he was transferred to a private tutor, and in
+his fifteenth year entered King's, now Columbia College, at that time
+in its infancy. Here, as might have been supposed, his conduct,
+exemplary character and scholarship won him the esteem and respect of
+all. Beside the improvement and expansion of his intellect, and the
+opportunity of measuring himself with companions of the same age and
+the same studies, he received other advantages from these four years of
+college training. His attention being called to certain deficiencies
+which might impede his future success, he at once set himself at work
+to remedy them. An indistinct articulation and a faulty pronunciation
+of the letter L, he was able by the constant study and practice of the
+rules of elocution entirely to remove. Special attention was also paid
+to <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_205"></a>[205]</span>
+English composition, by which he attained that admirable style,
+which in purity and classical finish was afterwards not surpassed by
+that of any other contemporary statesman, a style polished but not
+emasculate, and of such flexibility as to adapt itself equally well to
+the vehemence of patriotic appeal, the guarded precision of diplomatic
+correspondence, or to the grave and authoritative judgments of the
+bench. He also adopted Pope's plan of keeping by his bedside a table
+supplied with writing materials, in order to record at the moment of
+its suggestion any idea which might occur to him in waking.</p>
+<p>During his senior year, the young student had occasion to
+display that decision and firmness which at a later period shone so
+conspicuously in affairs of greater moment. Certain mischief-making
+classmates, perhaps to avenge themselves on the steward, undertook to
+break the table in the college hall. The noise produced by this
+operation reaching the ears of Dr. Cooper, the President, that
+arbitrary personage suddenly pounced upon them without leaving them a
+chance of escape. The young men were at once formed in a line and two
+questions&#8212;"Did you break the table? Do you know who did?"&#8212;were each
+answered by an emphatic "No," until they were put to Jay, the last but
+one in the line, who had indeed been present at the disturbance but
+took no part in it; to the first question he replied in the negative,
+to the second his answer was "Yes, sir," and to the further
+inquiry&#8212;"Who was it?"&#8212;he promptly said, "I do not choose to tell you,
+sir." The remaining student followed Jay's example. The two young men,
+after resisting the expostulations of the President, were summoned
+before the Faculty for trial, where Jay appeared for the defence. To
+the allegation that they had been guilty of <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_206"></a>[206]</span>violating their
+written
+promise, on their admission, of obedience to the college statutes, Jay
+responded that they were not required by those statutes to inform
+against their companions, and that therefore his refusal to do so was
+not an act of disobedience. Reasonable as this defence might appear,
+it, of course, failed to satisfy judges, clothed with executive powers,
+and anxious to punish the least disregard of their own authority, and
+the two delinquents were at once rusticated. At the termination of his
+sentence Jay returned to college, where his reception by the
+instructors proved that he had suffered no loss of their esteem. On the
+15th of May, 1764, he was graduated with the highest collegiate honors.</p>
+<p>On leaving college, Jay entered the office of Benjamin Kissam,
+in the city of New-York, as a student at law. Between this gentleman
+and himself a degree of familiarity and mutual respect existed, quite
+remarkable considering their relative positions and their disparity of
+years. For two years in the office of Mr. Kissam, he was the fellow
+student of the celebrated grammarian, Lindley Murray, with whom he
+formed an enduring friendship, and who, in a posthumous memoir of
+himself, thus alludes to his companion: "His talents and virtues gave,
+at that period, pleasing indications of future eminence; he was
+remarkable for strong reasoning powers, comprehensive views,
+indefatigable application, and uncommon firmness of mind. With these
+qualifications added to a just taste in literature, and ample stores of
+learning and knowledge, he was happily prepared to enter on that career
+of public virtue by which he was afterward so honorably distinguished,
+and made instrumental in promoting the good of his country." Murray was
+a tall, handsome man, the son of Robert Murray, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_207"></a>[207]</span>a
+venerable quaker of
+New-York, the location of whose farm at the lower part of the city is
+still pointed out by the antiquarian. Mr. Jay was admitted to the bar
+in 1768, and in the pursuit of his profession so extended his
+reputation that he was soon after appointed secretary of the commission
+named by the king to determine the disputed boundary between the States
+of New-York and New Jersey. In 1774 he was married to Sarah, the
+youngest daughter of William Livingston, an eminent supporter of the
+American cause during the Revolution, and afterwards for many years
+governor of New Jersey.</p>
+<p>The limits to which we are confined allow us to take but a
+brief notice of Mr. Jay's numerous and most valuable public services,
+extending over a period of twenty-eight years, and terminating with his
+retirement in 1801 from the office of governor of his native State. In
+no one of the colonies had the cause of resistance to the mother
+country less encouragement than in New-York, and in no other could
+Great Britain number so many influential allies, yet, on the receipt of
+the news of the enforcement of the Boston Port Bill, Mr. Jay took a
+decided stand on the side of the patriots. At a meeting of the citizens
+of New-York, May 16, 1774, we find him on a committee of fifty
+appointed "to correspond with the sister colonies on all matters of
+moment." Young as he was, he was required to draft the response to the
+proposal of the Boston committee for a Congress of deputies from "the
+colonies in general." In the first Congress in the same year, he was a
+member of some of the most important committees. The "Address to the
+People of Great Britain," the distinguishing act of that Congress, was
+drafted by Mr. Jay. This eloquent document was pronounced by Jefferson,
+then ignorant of its <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_208"></a>[208]</span>
+author, to be "the production certainly of the
+finest pen in America," and Mr. Webster considered it as standing "at
+the head of the incomparable productions of that body [the first
+Congress], productions which called forth the decisive commendation of
+Lord Chatham, in which he pronounced them not inferior to the finest
+productions of the master minds of the world."</p>
+<p>In the interim between the close of the first, and the opening
+in May 1775 of the second Congress, Jay was incessantly engaged in the
+service of his country; and when the delegates had reassembled, his pen
+was again employed in the preparation of the two addresses to the
+inhabitants of Jamaica and of Ireland. Some reluctance being shown on
+the part of wealthy and influential citizens to serve in a military
+capacity, he, without hesitation, sought and accepted a commission as
+colonel of a regiment of the new militia; but his legislative ability
+and eloquence were too highly valued to allow of his absence from
+Congress, and he never actually joined his company. A second address of
+Congress to the king having been treated with insult, and all hope of
+accommodation being abandoned, he became one of the foremost advocates
+of warlike measures; and, while on a committee for that purpose,
+devised a series of plans for crippling the resources of England, which
+were adopted by Congress in March 1776, nearly three months previous to
+the formal act of severance in the Declaration of Independence. At the
+adoption of this measure, in consequence of his election to the
+Provincial Congress of New-York in April of that year, Jay was unable
+to affix his signature to that instrument, but, as chairman of the
+committee to whom the subject had been referred, he reported a
+resolution, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_209"></a>[209]</span>
+pledging that State to its support. Shortly after came the
+most gloomy period of the revolutionary cause in New-York; a hostile
+army was invading the State from the north, inspired by the defeat of
+the American forces on Long Island, the city was in possession of the
+enemy, and what was worse, treachery and despair existed among the
+people themselves. A committee of public safety was appointed by the
+Provincial Congress, clothed with dictatorial powers, of which Jay
+acted as chairman. At this juncture also, Mr. Jay, by appointment, put
+forth the thrilling address of the convention to their constituents, an
+appeal written in the most exalted strain of patriotic eloquence, in
+which he rebukes the defection and stimulates the flagging hopes of the
+people with the zeal and indignant energy of an ancient prophet.</p>
+<p>In 1777, Jay, from a committee appointed the year before,
+drafted a State Constitution, which received the sanction of the
+legislature. There were certain provisions which he desired to
+introduce in that instrument, and which he thought more likely to be
+adopted when proposed in the form of amendments than if they should be
+incorporated into the first draft; but a summons to the side of his
+dying mother prevented the realization of his wishes. One of the
+amendments which he intended to urge, was a provision for the gradual
+abolition of slavery within the limits of the State. Under the new
+constitution, having been appointed to the office of Chief Justice, he
+was ineligible by that instrument to any other post, except on a
+"special occasion," but, in consequence of a difficulty arising between
+his own, and the neighboring State of Vermont, the legislature took
+advantage of the exception, and elected him delegate to <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_210"></a>[210]</span>Congress.
+Without vacating, therefore, his judicial seat, he complied with their
+appointment, and soon after his entrance in Congress became its
+presiding officer. The impossibility, however, of doing full justice to
+both his judicial and legislative duties, induced him to resign his
+seat on the bench. Congress now employed his pen in writing the
+circular letter to the States, urging them to furnish additional funds
+for the war. This statesmanlike exposition of the government's
+financial condition closes with a noble appeal to the national honor.</p>
+<p>"Rouse, therefore, strive who shall do most for his country;
+rekindle that flame of patriotism, which, at the mention of disgrace
+and slavery, blazed throughout America and animated all her citizens.
+Determine to finish the contest as you began it, honestly and
+gloriously. Let it never be said that America had no sooner become
+independent than she became insolvent, or that her infant glories and
+growing fame were obscured and tarnished by broken contracts and
+violated faith, in the very hour when all the nations of the earth were
+admiring and almost adoring the splendor of her rising."</p>
+<p>In 1779, accompanied by his wife, he sailed for Spain, as
+minister plenipotentiary, in order to secure the concurrence of that
+kingdom in the treaty with France, recognizing the independence of the
+United States; and though his diplomatic negotiations were conducted in
+the most honorable spirit, and with consummate prudence and ability,
+the object of his mission was finally frustrated by the selfish policy
+of the Spanish government, in requiring America to surrender the right
+of navigating on the Mississippi. It was during his residence at the
+Spanish court, that the desperate financial embarrassments of <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_211"></a>[211]</span>Congress
+prompted a measure equally unjust to their representative abroad and
+hazardous to the national credit. Presuming upon the success of his
+mission, they had empowered their treasurer to draw on Mr. Jay bills
+payable at six months, for half a million of dollars. As these bills
+came in, the minister was placed in a situation of extreme perplexity,
+but his regard for his country's reputation overcame all private
+considerations; he adopted the patriotic but desperate expedient of
+making himself personally responsible for their payment, and his
+acceptances had exceeded one hundred thousand dollars before any relief
+came to hand. Mr. Jay's residence in Spain also subjected him to other
+trials, only less severe than the one just mentioned; the vexatious
+obstacles placed in way of his negotiations by the Spanish government;
+the insufficiency of his salary at the most expensive court in Europe;
+the frequent removal of the court from place to place, at the royal
+pleasure, involving the absence of his wife, whom, for pecuniary
+reasons, he was unable to take with him; the death of his young child,
+and his anxiety for the family whom he had left at home, exposed to the
+dangers of war, and from whom, for more than a year, not a line had
+been received, might well have harassed a less sensitive nature than
+his. The fortitude with which he sustained these annoyances may be seen
+in a letter written by him about this time to his friend, Egbert
+Benson, of New-York. It commences thus:<br />
+</p>
+<p>
+"<span class="smcap">Dear Benson</span>:
+</p>
+<p>"When shall we again, by a cheerful fire, or under a shady
+tree, recapitulate our juvenile pursuits or pleasures, or look back on
+the extensive field of politics we once have trodden? <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_212"></a>[212]</span>Our
+plans of life
+have, within these few years past, been strangely changed. Our country,
+I hope, will be the better for the alterations. How far we individually
+may be benefited is more questionable. Personal considerations,
+however, must give way to public ones, and the consciousness of having
+done our duty to our country and posterity, must recompense us for all
+the evils we experience in their cause."<br />
+</p>
+<p>From Spain, by order of Congress, Jay proceeded to Paris to
+arrange, in conjunction with Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, and Laurens,
+the Definitive Treaty of Peace with England,&#8212;the most important
+diplomatic act of the eighteenth century; and we have the testimony of
+Mr. Fitzherbert, then the English minister resident in Paris, that "it
+was not only chiefly but <span class="smcap">solely</span>
+through his means that the negotiations of that period between England
+and the United States were brought to a successful conclusion." Mr.
+Oswald had arrived in Paris with a commission, in which the United
+States were mentioned under the designation of "colonies," but Jay,
+although his associates did not participate in his scruples, refused to
+begin negotiations without a preliminary recognition on the part of
+England of the Independence of the United States; and owing to his
+firmness a new commission was obtained from the king, in which that
+most essential point (as the sequel proved) was gained. Declining the
+appointment now tendered him by Congress of commissioner to negotiate a
+commercial treaty with England, Jay returned to his country. On
+arriving at New-York he was welcomed by a most enthusiastic public
+reception, and was presented by the corporation of New-York with the
+freedom of the city in a gold box. The office <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_213"></a>[213]</span> of Secretary for
+foreign
+affairs, which, for the want of a suitable incumbent, had been vacant
+for two years, was at this time urged by Congress upon his acceptance,
+and he did not feel at liberty to refuse his services. He was now
+virtually at the head of public affairs. The whole foreign
+correspondence of the government, the proposal of plans of treaties,
+instructions to ministers abroad, and the submission of reports on all
+matters to which Congress might call his attention, came within the
+scope of his new duties.</p>
+<p>Mr. Jay was among the first of our statesmen to perceive the
+defects of the confederation, and to urge the necessity of a new and
+more efficient system of government. Besides his contributions to the
+Federalist, he wrote an address to the people of New-York, then the
+very citadel of the opposition to the proposed Constitution, which had
+no unimportant effect in securing its adoption. In the State
+Convention, which had assembled with only eleven out of fifty-seven
+members in its favor, Jay took a most influential part, and mainly
+owing to his exertions was it finally ratified. At the commencement of
+the administration of Washington, he was invited by that great man to
+select his own post in the newly-formed government. He was accordingly
+appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and well did he justify,
+in his new capacity, the glowing eulogium of Webster, that "when the
+spotless ermine of the judicial robe fell on John Jay it touched
+nothing less spotless than itself." In the performance of his duties as
+the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, much was accomplished by
+him in organizing the business of the court, expounding the principles
+of its decisions, and in commending them to a confederacy of sovereign
+States, already sufficiently jealous of its <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_214"></a>[214]</span>
+extensive but beneficent
+jurisdiction. His decision in the novel case of a suit instituted
+against the State of Georgia by a citizen of another State, is a
+memorable instance of his firmness and judicial ability.</p>
+<p>The year 1794 opened with every prospect of a disastrous war
+between Great Britain and the United States. The Revolution did not
+terminate without leaving in the minds of Americans a strong and
+perhaps an unreasonable antipathy to the mother country, which was
+stimulated by the unwise interference of Genet, the French minister, in
+our politics, and by the exertions of a large class of British
+refugees, who had escaped to our country still smarting under the
+oppressions which they had experienced at home, and who were extremely
+desirous of plunging the American government into the contest which was
+then raging between France and England. There were also certain
+substantial grievances universally admitted by our citizens, which
+would give some countenance to such a measure on the part of America.
+Among these were enumerated the detention in violation of the treaty of
+the posts on our western frontier by British garrisons, thereby
+excluding the navigation by Americans of the great lakes, the refusal
+to make compensation for the negroes carried away during the war by the
+British fleet, the exclusion and capture of American vessels carrying
+supplies to French ports, and the seizure of our ships in the exercise
+of the pretended right of search. These, and other outrages, were
+justified by Great Britain, on the ground of certain equivalent
+infractions of the treaty by the American nation. Washington however
+could not be induced to consent to hazard the national interests, by
+transgressing that neutrality so necessary to a young republic only
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_215"></a>[215]</span>
+just recovering from the severe experience of a seven years' war, and
+he saw no other honorable means of averting the impending danger than
+the appointment of a special envoy, empowered to adjust the matters in
+dispute. For this purpose, on his nomination, Mr. Jay was confirmed on
+the 20th of April, 1794, by the Senate, as Minister to England, at
+which country he arrived in June of that year. The treaty was signed in
+November following, and the negotiations of the two ministers, Lord
+Grenville and Mr. Jay, were greatly facilitated by their mutual esteem
+and the good understanding existing between them; and their
+correspondence, which was characterized by signal ability on both
+sides, affords an instance of diplomatic straightforwardness and candor
+almost without a parallel in history. It as not consistent with the
+plan of our sketch to speak of the provisions of the treaty thus
+secured: it was not, in all respects, what Jay, or the country desired;
+but in view of the immense advantages to our commerce obtained by it,
+the complicated and delicate questions adjusted, and the disasters
+which would have befallen the nation had it been defeated, it will
+challenge comparison with any subsequent international arrangement to
+which the United States have been a party. Yet, incredible as would
+seem, the abuse and scurrility with which both it and its author were
+loaded, discloses one of the most disgraceful chapters in the records
+of political fanaticism. By an eminent member of the opposing party, he
+was declared to have perpetrated "an infamous act," an act "stamped
+with avarice and corruption." He himself was termed "a damned
+arch-traitor," "sold to Great Britain," and the treaty burned before
+his door. Enjoying the confidence of the illustrious Washington, and of
+the wisest and <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_216"></a>[216]</span>
+best men of his country, in his course, and above all,
+the inward assurance of his unswerving rectitude, Jay might well
+forgive these ebullitions of party spleen and await the sanction which
+has been conferred on his actions by the impartial voice of posterity.</p>
+<p>But no statesman of that time had, on the whole, less reason
+to complain of popular ingratitude than Jay; before he reached his
+native shore, a large majority of the people of New-York had expressed
+their approbation of his conduct by electing him to the office of
+Governor. While in this office, the appropriate close of his public
+career, besides suggesting many useful measures in regard to education
+and internal improvements, the benefits of which are experienced to
+this day, he had the happiness of promoting and witnessing the passage
+by the Legislature of the act for the gradual abolition of slavery in
+his native State. Of this measure he was one of the earliest advocates,
+having served as the first President of the Society of Manumission,
+which had been organized in 1786 by a number of the most respectable
+gentlemen in New-York, and to whose disinterested exertions the success
+of the anti-slavery cause was mainly due. On accepting the seat
+tendered to him in the Supreme Court, Jay, fearing that the presidency
+of the society might prove an embarrassment in the decision of some
+questions which might come before him, resigned the office and was
+succeeded by Hamilton, who continued to discharge its duties till the
+year 1793.</p>
+<p>At the expiration of his second gubernatorial term in 1801,
+Jay, contrary to the importunities of his friends, retired from public
+life, having, for twenty-seven years, faithfully served his country in
+every department of legislative, diplomatic, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_217"></a>[217]</span>judicial
+trust.
+Declining the office of Chief Justice, which was again pressed by the
+President upon his acceptance, he prepared to enjoy that congenial
+seclusion under the shade of his patrimonial trees, which, through all
+the varied and agitating scenes of political life, had been the object
+of his most ardent desires. In accordance with this design, he had
+built a substantial house at Bedford, about forty-four miles from
+New-York, on an estate embracing some eight hundred acres, which had
+come to him by inheritance. Here, in one of the most delightful
+localities in the fertile county of Westchester, in the care of his
+family and estates, in the society of his friends and his books, in the
+discharge of the duties of neighborly benevolence, and in the
+preparation for those immortal scenes which he had reason to suppose
+would soon open upon him, he passed the tranquil remainder of his days.
+But his enjoyments were not destined to exempt him from those bitter
+but universal visitations, which, at times, overthrow the happiness and
+frustrate the most pleasing anticipations of our race. In less than
+twelve months after his retirement, the partner of his joys and
+sorrows, who, by her accomplishments, her unobtrusive virtues and
+solicitous affection, had been at once his delight and support, was
+taken from him. At the final hour, Jay, as the biographer tells us,
+stood by the bedside "calm and collected," and when the spirit had
+taken its departure, led his children to an adjoining room, and with "a
+firm voice but glistening eye" read that inspiring and wonderful
+chapter in which Paul has discussed the mystery of our future
+resurrection.</p>
+<p>Considering its natural advantages and its connection by
+railway with the great metropolis, Bedford, the ancient half <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_218"></a>[218]</span>shire
+town
+of Westchester County, can hardly be praised on the score of its
+"progressive" tendencies. At the time of Jay's residence there, the
+mail-coach from New-York, employing two long days in the journey,
+visited the town once a week, and even now the locomotive which
+thunders through it perhaps a dozen times a day, hardly disturbs its
+rural quietude. It may, however, claim considerable distinction in the
+annals of Indian warfare, for, within its limits, on the southern side
+of Aspetong Mountain, is still pointed out the scene of a bloody
+conflict between the savages and the redoubtable band of Captain
+Underhill, in which the latter coming suddenly at night on a village of
+their foes, slaughtered them without mercy to the number of five
+hundred; "the Lord," as the record goes, "having collected the most of
+our enemies there, to celebrate some festival." Bedford was formerly
+under the jurisdiction of Connecticut, and the apparent thrift and
+independent bearing of its farming population are decided indications
+of their New England descent. Its situation is uncommonly pleasant and
+healthful, and although the surface of the country is somewhat rocky
+and uneven, the soil is excellently adapted for agricultural purposes.
+The higher grounds display an abundant growth of all varieties of oak,
+elm, ash, linden, chestnut, walnut, locust, and tulip trees, while its
+fertile valleys and its sunny hillside exposures furnish ample spaces
+for pasturage or cultivation. A number of beautiful streams water the
+meadows, of which the two largest, the Cisco or Beaver Dam, and Cross
+River, after flowing for a long distance separately, just before
+leaving the town, wisely conclude to unite their forces and bear a
+generous tribute to the waters of the Croton. The Beaver Dam derives
+its name from having <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_219"></a>[219]</span>
+once been the favorite haunt of the beavers, who
+in former times found a plentiful sustenance in the bark of the
+willows, maples and birches which still linger on its banks.</p>
+<p>The traveller who wishes to survey the mansion of "the good
+old governor," as Mr. Jay is still called by those villagers who
+remember his liberality and benevolent interest in their welfare,
+leaves the Harlem railroad at Katona, the northwest portion of the
+town, so called from the name of the Indian chief, who formerly claimed
+dominion of this part of the country, and proceeds in a southeasterly
+direction along a road somewhat winding and hilly, tiresome enough
+certainly to the pedestrian, but occasionally relieving him with
+exhilarating prospects on either side of farmhouses with well-stored
+and ample barns, wooded hills with green intervales, waving fields of
+grain, and pastures of well-fed, contemplative cattle, who shake their
+heads as if their meditations were a little disturbed by his presence.
+Every thing about the farms has the aspect of good order and thrift,
+and nothing mars the general impression except the occasional sight of
+some happy family of swine, who appear to exercise a sort of right of
+eminent domain among the weeds and roots on the roadside. A snow-white
+sow with thirty snow-white young, according to an ancient poet, was the
+immediate inducement to �neas in selecting the site of his future city;
+whether such an attraction would prove equally potent in our own times,
+is more questionable. As one approaches the estate of Jay, the marks of
+superior taste and cultivation are apparent; the stone walls are more
+neatly and compactly built, and the traveller is refreshed by the
+grateful shade of the long rows of maples and elms which were planted
+along the road by Jay and his descendants, some of whom still <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_220"></a>[220]</span>make
+their summer residence in Bedford. After proceeding for two or three
+miles from the railroad station, we turn up a shaded avenue on the
+left, which winds round the southern slope of the hill, at the top of
+which stands the modest mansion of John Jay. This is a dark brown
+wooden two-storied building, facing the southwest, with an addition of
+one story at each end, the main building having a front of forty-five
+feet, along which is extended a porch of ample dimensions. Passing
+through the hall we find in the rear a background of magnificent woods,
+principally oak and chestnut, though nearer the house are a number of
+gigantic willows still flourishing in the strength and verdure of
+youth. Concealed in the foliage of these woods, a little to the west,
+is the small school-house of stone erected by Jay for his children, and
+on the other side of the mansion, towards the northeast, are the barns,
+carriage-house, and the farm-house, occupied by a tenant, who has
+supervision of the estate. These tenements are almost screened from
+view by a grove of locust trees, for which Jay showed a special
+partiality, and whose snow-white robe of blossoms in the latter part of
+spring affords a pleasing contrast with the light green of the
+tasselled chestnuts, and the dark and glossy shade of the oak and
+walnut foliage behind. In front of the barn, on the eastern side of the
+house, is the garden, which, though not making any pretension to
+superiority in its extent or its cultivation, displays an excellent
+variety of fruits and flowers, for the most part, such as thrive easily
+in that soil, and are most useful and appropriate to the wants of an
+American household. Jay, though for his period uncommonly versed in
+horticultural matters, did not, in his old-fashioned simplicity, choose
+to waste much time in <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_221"></a>[221]</span>
+transplanting those contumacious productions of
+foreign countries which "never will in other climates grow." Ascending
+the hill a short distance, we come again to the house, immediately in
+front of which, without obstructing the view, stands a row of four
+handsome lindens. Before the dwelling, which is nearly half a mile from
+the main road, stretches the green lawn irregularly diversified with
+groups of trees, and beyond is seen the sightly ridge of "Deer's
+Delight," once the resort of the beautiful animal from which it takes
+its designation; and certainly the choice of such a delectable locality
+would have done credit to creatures far more reasonable. This spot is
+crowned with the elegant country-seat of Mr. John Jay, a grandson of
+the Chief Justice, who, in taking advantage of its natural beauties,
+and adapting it to the purposes of his residence, has shown a degree of
+taste which has rarely been surpassed. On the western slope, which is
+somewhat more abrupt than the others, is the orchard, and from a
+thatched arbor on the brink of the descent, the eye surveys a large
+part of that circle of hills in which Bedford appears to be almost
+inclosed. A most enchanting rural landscape is here spread out,
+embracing a wide extent of country dotted with thriving farms and
+villages, graceful declivities wandered over by numerous herds of
+cattle, valleys and pellucid streams, glimmering at intervals from
+thick and overshadowing foliage. Further towards the west is the long
+line of hills just shutting off the view of the Hudson, and overlooked
+by the still loftier range of the highlands on the other side of the
+river, conspicuous among which towers the Dunderberg or bread-tray
+mountain. From this spot the magnificent variations of sunset are seen
+to great advantage. No man endowed with the least susceptibility to the
+charm of <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_222"></a>[222]</span>
+outward nature, can contemplate without enthusiasm the broad
+suffusion of crimson blazing along those western hills, gradually
+passing into orange and purple; and finally closing with a deep glowing
+brown, while the clear brilliant sky above pales and darkens at the
+almost imperceptible coming on of night.</p>
+<p>The interior arrangements of the house have not been
+essentially varied since the lifetime of its first illustrious
+occupant. They all bear marks of that republican simplicity and
+unerring good taste which were among his distinguishing
+characteristics. The furniture, though of the best materials, was
+obviously chosen more for use than ornament, and is noticeable chiefly
+for an air of antique respectability and comfort, which, in spite of
+the perpetually changing fancies in such matters, can never go out of
+fashion. On the right of the hall, as one enters, is the dining-room,
+an apartment of perhaps some twenty feet square; in this and in the
+parlor opposite, which has about the same dimensions, are several
+interesting family portraits, the works mostly of Stewart and Trumbull,
+among which are those of Egbert Benson, Judge Hobart, Peter Jay, John
+Jay, and Augustus Jay, the first American ancestor of the family, the
+artist of which is unknown. Passing through the parlor, we enter the
+small room at the west end of the house, occupied as a library, and
+containing a well-assorted but not extensive supply of books. Here were
+the weighty folios of Grotius, Puffendorf, Vattel, and other masters of
+the science of international law, besides a number of standard
+theological and miscellaneous works, with the classic authors of
+antiquity, among whom Cicero appears to have been his special favorite.
+In the library hangs a portrait of Governor Livingston, the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_223"></a>[223]</span>
+father-in-law of Jay; a vigorous manly boy, the characteristics of
+whose youthful features have been retained with singular distinctness
+in those of his descendants. He is represented as dressed in the
+full-sleeved coat and elaborate costume of his time, and with a sword
+hanging at his side, an outfit hardly in accordance with so tender an
+age. The oaken press and strong-bound chest of cherry wood are also in
+this room, the latter the receptacle perhaps of Jay's important
+papers;&#8212;these ancient heirlooms are presumed to have crossed the ocean
+more than a century and a half ago.</p>
+<p>Notwithstanding the infirmities of the last twenty years of
+his life, Jay enjoyed an old age of remarkable tranquillity and
+happiness. He set an example of undeviating punctuality; the hour and
+the man always came together, and in his habits he was extremely
+regular. In order to assist him in rising early, an aperture, shaped
+like the crescent moon, was made in the solid oaken shutter of his
+apartment, by which a glimpse might be caught of the first rays of the
+uprising dawn. The reading of prayers was succeeded by breakfast, after
+which the greater part of the day was commonly spent in attending to
+the affairs of his extensive farm. Most of the time when thus engaged,
+he rode on the back of a favorite sorrel mare, of the famous
+Narraganset breed, now extinct. This faithful creature died in 1819,
+after a service of twenty-three years. Two of the same stock belonging
+to Mr. Jay had died in succession previously, the grandam having been
+given by his father in 1765. It was probably of the latter animal that
+he wrote from Europe in 1783, under the apprehension that she might
+have fallen into the hands of the enemy.</p>
+<p>"If my old mare is alive, I must beg of you and my <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_224"></a>[224]</span>brother
+to
+take good care of her. I mean that she should be well fed and live
+idle, unless my brother Peter should choose to use her. If it should be
+necessary to advance money to recover her, I am content you should do
+it even to the amount of double her value."</p>
+<p>At half-past one came the dinner hour, after which he was wont
+to indulge moderately in smoking. A few of his long clay pipes are
+still preserved. They were imported for him from abroad, and were
+considered in their time an unusually select and valuable article. His
+evenings were devoted to reading and the company of his family and
+neighbors. Once or twice a year, Judge Benson, Peter Jay, Monroe, or
+some other old friend, would take a journey to his hospitable home to
+pass a week in living over, in conversation, their long and varied
+experience, and occasionally some stranger from foreign lands,
+attracted by his wide-spread reputation, would receive at his hands a
+cordial yet unostentatious welcome. Though possessed of a large landed
+property from which he enjoyed a respectable income, his family
+expenses and the management of his estate were regulated by a judicious
+and liberal economy. Remarkably affectionate in his disposition and
+solicitous for the welfare of his children, his demeanor towards them
+was marked with unvarying equability and decision. An extract from a
+letter to Mrs. Jay, dated London, 5th Dec., 1794, illustrates his views
+on this head:</p>
+<p>"I hope N&#8212;&#8212; will amuse herself sometimes with her
+spinning-wheel. God only knows what may one day be her situation.
+Polite accomplishments merit attention, useful knowledge should not be
+neglected. Let us do the best we can with, and for our children, and
+commit them to the protection and guidance of Providence."</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_225"></a>[225]</span>
+By his servants, his poorer neighbors, and all who were in any
+way dependent on him, he was reverenced and loved. He promptly and
+liberally responded to all movements calculated to promote the general
+good. In one instance of this kind, he showed an adroitness in his
+beneficence which is somewhat amusing. The townspeople were about to
+erect a school-house, and it was apprehended that from mistaken
+considerations of economy, the building would be less substantial in
+its construction than was desirable. When, therefore, the subscription
+list was presented to Jay, he put down a liberal sum against his name
+"if of wood, if of stone, <i>double</i>." Another example
+occurs in his dealings with his less fortunate neighbors, evincing the
+union of austere and inflexible regard for public justice with the most
+sensitive sympathy with individual suffering, which is cited in
+Professor McVicar's appreciative and eloquent sketch of Jay's life. The
+case referred to is that of "a poor blacksmith in his neighborhood, who
+had encroached with his building on the public highway, and refused to
+recede; Jay prosecuted him to the extreme rigor of the law, and having
+duly punished the <i>offender</i>, proceeded to make it up
+tenfold to the <i>poor man</i> by deeding to him an acre
+or two of ground from his own farm, in order that his necessities might
+be no plea for any further breach of the law."</p>
+<p>A pleasing reminiscence of Jay has been told by the son of the
+recipient of his bounty, a poor widow, whose utmost exertions were
+barely sufficient for the support of her family. Some time after the
+Governor's death, she received a note from Mr. William Jay, the
+occupant of the old mansion, requesting her to visit him as he had some
+pleasant news for her. In great perplexity as to the nature of the
+promised <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_226"></a>[226]</span>
+communication, the good woman complied, and on arriving at the
+house, was thus addressed by that gentleman: "My father, before he
+died, requested to be buried in the plainest manner; 'by so doing,'
+said he, 'there will be a saving of about two hundred dollars which I
+wish you to give to some poor widow whom you and your sister may
+consider most worthy, and I wish you to get the silver money and count
+it out now,' and," continued Mr. Jay, "my sister and I have selected
+you and here is the money." The gratitude of the widow found no answer
+but in tears as she bore away the treasure to her dwelling. The
+recollection of deeds like these is the imperishable inheritance which
+Jay has left to his descendants, and it is a distinction besides which
+mere heraldic honors fade into insignificance, that, from the beginning
+to this day, the great name of Jay has been inseparably linked with the
+cause of the neglected and oppressed against the encroachments of
+unscrupulous power.</p>
+<p>The personal appearance of Jay, at the age of forty-four, is
+thus described by Mr. Sullivan: "He was a little less than five feet in
+height, his person rather thin but well formed. His complexion was
+without color, his eyes black and penetrating, his nose aquiline, and
+his chin pointed. His hair came over his forehead, was tied behind and
+lightly powdered. His dress black. When standing, he was a little
+inclined forward, as is not uncommon with students long accustomed to
+bend over a table." With the exception of the mistake as to the color
+of his eyes, which were blue and not black, this is probably an
+accurate picture. But it gives no idea of the blended dignity and
+courtesy which were apparent in his features and his habitual bearing,
+to a degree, says a <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_227"></a>[227]</span>
+venerable informant, never witnessed in any other
+man of that time. His general appearance of reserve was sometimes
+misconstrued by those who were little acquainted with him into
+haughtiness. This was undoubtedly native, in some measure, to his
+character, but much, we have reason to suppose, existed more in
+appearance than in reality, and was the unavoidable expression of one
+long and intensely engaged in affairs of great moment,<br />
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+"Deep on whose front engraved</span></span><br />
+<span class="poem">Deliberation sat, and public cares."</span>
+<br />
+</p>
+<p>Not without a keen sense of the ludicrous, he rarely indulged
+in jocose remarks; yet he is said, at times, when much importuned for
+certain information or opinions which he did not care to reveal, to
+have shown a peculiarly shrewd humor in his replies, which baffled
+without irritating the inquirer. Perhaps a delicate piece of advice was
+never given in more skilfully worded and unexceptionable phraseology
+than in his answer to a confidential letter from Lord Grenville,
+inquiring as to the expediency of removing Mr. Hammond, the British
+Minister at Washington, who, for some reason or other, had become
+extremely distasteful to the government there. As Mr. Hammond was a
+personal friend to Jay, the inquiry was naturally embarrassing, but he
+still deemed it his duty to advise the minister's recall. Accordingly,
+in his reply, after first declaring his friendship for Mr. Hammond and
+his entire confidence in that gentleman's ability and integrity, he
+refers to the unhappy diplomatic difficulties of that gentleman, and
+concludes by saying, "Hence I cannot forbear wishing that Mr. Hammond <i>had
+a better place</i>, and that a person well <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_228"></a>[228]</span>adapted
+to the
+existing state of things was sent to succeed him."</p>
+<p>As William Penn said of George Fox, Mr. Jay was "civil beyond
+all forms of breeding;" the natural refinement and purity of his
+disposition were expressed in his appearance and manners, and perhaps
+we might apply with propriety the remainder of Penn's description:&#8212;"He
+was a man whom God endowed with a clear and wonderful depth,&#8212;a
+discoverer of other men's spirits and very much the master of his own.
+The reverence and solemnity of his demeanor and the fewness and fulness
+of his words often struck strangers with admiration." In his character,
+the qualities of wisdom, decision, truthfulness, and justice held a
+supreme and unquestioned sway. Under their direction, he was often led
+into measures which seemed at first to hazard his own interests, as
+when at Paris he violated his congressional instructions for the
+benefit of his country; but these measures were adopted with such
+deliberation, and pursued with so unhesitating perseverance that their
+results invariably justified the course he had taken. The three most
+important concessions ever gained by America from foreign countries,
+the concessions which now our country most values and would be least
+willing to surrender, namely, the Navigation of the Mississippi, the
+Participation in the British Fisheries and the Trade with the West
+Indies, are due almost solely to the foresight, the diplomatic ability
+and the firmness of John Jay. When we consider the comparative
+insensibility of Congress at that time, and the country at large, to
+the incalculable value of these rights, we may feel assured that had
+America sent abroad an agent of different character, the wily
+diplomatists of Europe would have found little difficulty <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_229"></a>[229]</span>in
+wresting
+them from us. Jay was moreover a man of deep and fervent piety&#8212;not that
+merely occasional ecstasy of devotional feeling, which, although
+perfectly sincere, is compatible with an habitual violation of all laws
+human and divine, but a constant sense of responsibility to a Supreme
+Being for every action of his life, under which he labored</p>
+<p><span class="poem">"As ever in the Great
+Taskmaster's eye."</span>
+</p>
+<p>It was this combination of attributes, "inviting confidence,
+yet inspiring respect," setting him apart from other men, yet drawing
+the multitude after him, that accounts for the constantly recurring
+demands upon his public services. The people felt that they could trust
+a man whose patriotism was not a temporary passion, but a well-defined
+and immovable principle, and they were never disappointed. In the
+complete harmony of his moral and intellectual qualities, so wholly
+free from the disturbing influence of painful and dangerous
+eccentricities and the considerations of self, he approached nearer
+than any other statesman of his age to the majestic character of
+Washington, and on no one of his illustrious coadjutors did that great
+man place so uniform and so unhesitating a reliance.</p>
+<p>Jay had already exceeded the longest period allotted by the
+psalmist to the life of man, in the enjoyment of all those
+satisfactions which comfortable outward circumstances, the affection of
+friends and kindred, and the honor and reverence of a country whose
+vast and still enlarging prosperity were so much due to his exertions,
+can supply, when he received the unmistakable premonitions of his end.
+On the 17th of May, 1828, having previously summoned the numerous
+members <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_230"></a>[230]</span>
+of the family to his bedside, and having bestowed on each his parting
+advice and benediction, he resigned his soul to the care of its Maker;
+and now, in the quiet grave-yard at Rye, near the spot where he passed
+the early years of his life, repose the august remains of John Jay.</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_231"></a>[231]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="hamilton"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Hamilton.</span>
+</h6>
+<hr  />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_233"></a>[233]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus249"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 219px; height: 403px;" alt="Ball Hughes' Statue of Hamilton." src="images/illus249.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Ball Hughes' Statue of Hamilton.</a></span></p>
+<h2>HAMILTON.</h2>
+<p>We have not the means of presenting a sketch of Hamilton's
+birth-place, or of the incidents of his early life before he became a
+resident in this country; and so much of his subsequent life was spent
+in the camp and in the service of his country, wherever that service
+required him to be, that he can hardly be said to have had a "Home"
+until a few years before his splendid career was so suddenly and
+mournfully closed.</p>
+<p>He was born in the year 1756, in the Island of St. Nevis, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_234"></a>[234]</span>one
+of the British West Indian possessions, whither his father, a native of
+Scotland, had gone with the purpose of engaging in mercantile pursuits;
+and he was himself at the early age of twelve, placed in the
+counting-house of an opulent merchant, in one of the neighboring
+islands. But such a situation was ill suited to his disposition; and
+his ambition, even at that early period of his life, strongly
+developed, could not find in those narrow colonies a sufficient field
+for its exercise. The wishes of his friends favored his own
+inclinations, and he was sent to New-York, that he might avail himself
+of the more ample facilities for acquiring an education which that
+place and its vicinity afforded.</p>
+<p>He went through with the studies preparatory to entering
+college at a school in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, which was under the
+patronage of Governor Livingston and Mr. Boudinot, in the former of
+whose families he resided. He soon qualified himself for admission to
+King's (now Columbia) College, and was then permitted to pursue a
+course of study which he had marked out for himself, without becoming a
+member of any particular class. At this early period he evinced those
+traits of character which afterwards conducted him to such high
+distinction, and which marked his career throughout. He brought to his
+tasks not only that diligence which is often exhibited by more ordinary
+minds, but that enthusiastic devotion of the soul, which was perhaps
+the most marked trait of his character.</p>
+<p>It was while he was yet in college, that the disputes between
+the colonies and the mother country, just preliminary to the breaking
+out of hostilities, arose; but they even then engaged his earnest
+attention. It is probable that the tendency <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_235"></a>[235]</span>of his mind at
+that time,
+as in the later period of his life, was towards conservative views; and
+indeed he has himself said "that he had, at first, entertained strong
+prejudices on the ministerial side." But a mind so investigating and a
+spirit so generous as his would not be likely to entertain such
+prejudices long; and having made a visit to Boston and become excited
+by the tone of public feeling in that city, he directed his attention
+to the real merits of the controversy, and this, aided perhaps by the
+natural order of his temperament, produced in him a thorough conviction
+of the justice of the American cause. With his characteristic
+earnestness, he threw himself at once into the contest, and while but
+eighteen years of age he addressed a public meeting upon the subject of
+the wrongs inflicted by the mother country, and acquitted himself in a
+manner which amazed and delighted his hearers, and drew to him the
+public attention.</p>
+<p>A meeting of the citizens of New-York had been called to
+consider upon the choice of delegates to the first Congress. A large
+concourse of people assembled, and the occasion was long remembered as
+"the great meeting in the fields." Hamilton was then, of course,
+comparatively unknown, but some of his neighbors having occasion to
+remark his contemplative habits and the vigor and maturity of his
+thoughts, urged him to address the multitude, and after some hesitation
+he consented.</p>
+<p>"The novelty of the attempt, his slender and diminutive form,
+awakened curiosity and arrested attention. Overawed by the scene before
+him, he at first hesitated and faltered, but as he proceeded almost
+unconsciously to utter his accustomed reflections, his mind warmed with
+the theme, his energies <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_236"></a>[236]</span>
+were recovered; and after a discussion, clear,
+cogent, and novel, of the great principles involved in the controversy,
+he depicted in glowing colors the long continued and long endured
+oppressions of the mother country. He insisted on the duty of
+resistance, pointed out the means and certainty of success, and
+described the waves of rebellion sparkling with fire and washing back
+upon the shores of England the wrecks of her power, her wealth, and her
+glory. The breathless silence ceased as he closed, and the whispered
+murmur&#8212;'it is a collegian, it is a collegian,' was lost in expressions
+of wonder and applause at the extraordinary eloquence of the young
+stranger."<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
+<p>About the same time he published anonymously two pamphlets in
+reply to publications emanating from the ministerial party, and in
+vindication of the measures of the American Congress. The powerful and
+eloquent manner in which the topics in controversy were discussed,
+excited great attention. The authorship of the pamphlets was attributed
+by some to Governor Livingston and by others to John Jay, and these
+contributed to give to those gentlemen, already distinguished, an
+increased celebrity; and when it was ascertained that the youthful
+Hamilton was the author of them, the public could scarcely credit the
+fact.</p>
+<p>Upon the actual breaking out of hostilities, Hamilton
+immediately applied himself to the study of military science, and
+obtained from the State of New-York a commission as captain of a
+company of artillery. His conduct at once attracted the observing eye
+of Washington, who soon invited him to become one of his staff with the
+commission of Lieutenant Colonel.<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_237"></a>[237]</span></p>
+<p>Hamilton accepted the offer, and for the space of four years
+remained in the family of Washington, enjoying his unlimited
+confidence, carrying on a large portion of his correspondence, and
+aiding him in the conduct of the most important affairs. A hasty word
+from the latter led to a rupture of this connection, and Hamilton left
+the staff and resumed his place as an officer in the line; but
+Washington's confidence in him was not in the least impaired, and their
+friendship continued warm and sincere until the death of the latter.</p>
+<p>In thus separating himself from the family of the
+Commander-in-Chief, Hamilton was influenced by other motives than
+displeasure at the conduct of Washington. He knew that great man too
+well, and loved him too well, to allow a hasty word of rebuke to break
+up an attachment which had begun at the breaking out of the war, and
+which a familiar intercourse of four years, an ardent love of the
+cause, and a devotion to it common to them both had deepened and
+confirmed. But the duties of a secretary and adviser, important as they
+then were, were not adequate to call forth all his various powers, and
+the performance of them, however skilful, was not sufficient to satisfy
+that love of glory which he so fondly cherished. He was born to act in
+whatever situation he might be placed a first rate part. He longed to
+distinguish himself in the battles as well as in the councils of the
+war. He felt that his country had need of his arm as well as of his
+pen; and thus the dictates of patriotism, which he never in the course
+of his life allowed to stand separate from the promptings of his high
+ambition, pointed out to him the course he took. He would not, of his
+own motion, leave the immediate services of Washington; but when the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_238"></a>[238]</span>
+opportunity was presented by the latter, he at once embraced it, and
+would not be persuaded by any considerations to return to his former
+place.</p>
+<p>A short time previous to his leaving the family of Washington
+he had formed an engagement with the second daughter of Gen. Philip
+Schuyler, of New-York, to whom he was married on the 14th of December,
+1780, at the residence of her father at Albany, and thus became
+permanently established in New-York. His union with this lady was one
+of unbroken happiness, and at a venerable age she still survives him.</p>
+<p>His rank in the army was soon after advanced, and an
+opportunity for exhibiting his military skill and prowess, which he had
+so ardently wished for, was shortly presented. The falling fortunes of
+the British army in the south, under Lord Cornwallis, invited an attack
+in that quarter. The combined French and American forces were fast
+closing up every avenue of retreat, and the British commander finding
+that to avoid a general engagement was impossible, at last intrenched
+himself at Yorktown with the determination of making a final stand
+against the victorious progress of the American arms. In the decisive
+battle which succeeded, Hamilton signalized himself by a most brilliant
+achievement. Two redoubts in the fortifications of the enemy were to be
+carried in face of a most destructive fire. The attack upon one of them
+was assigned to a detachment of the French troops, and that upon the
+other to a division of the American forces. The command of the latter,
+at his earnest request, was given to Hamilton. At the appointed signal
+he "gave the order to advance at the point of the bayonet, pushed
+forward, and before the rest of the corps had ascended the abatis,
+mounted over it, stood for a moment on the parapet with three of his
+soldiers, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_239"></a>[239]</span>
+encouraging the others to follow, and sprung into the ditch.
+The American infantry, animated by the address and example of their
+leader, pressed on with muskets unloaded and fixed bayonets. They soon
+reached the counterscarp under a heavy and constant fire from the
+redoubt, and, surmounting the abatis, ditch, and palisades, mounted the
+parapet and leaped into the work. Hamilton, who had pressed forward,
+followed by the rear-guard under Mansfield, was for a time lost sight
+of, and it was feared he had fallen; but he soon reappeared, formed the
+troops in the redoubt, and as soon as it surrendered gave the command
+to Major Fish.</p>
+<p>"The impetuosity of the attack carried all before it, and
+within nine minutes from the time the abatis was passed the work was
+gained."<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>
+This brilliant exploit received the decisive commendation of
+Washington. "Few cases," said he, "have exhibited greater proofs of
+intrepidity, coolness, and firmness than were shown on this occasion."</p>
+<p>The battle of Yorktown decided the event of the war of the
+Revolution. The profession of a soldier could no longer give sufficient
+scope to the restless activity of Hamilton; although then occupying a
+distinguished place among the most illustrious of his countrymen, and
+yielding, though not without regret, his arms for the <i>toga</i>,
+he selected for his future employment the profession of the law&#8212;a
+pursuit for which his general studies and the character of his mind, as
+well as his inclination, eminently fitted him.</p>
+<p>From the period of his admission to the bar until the
+assembling of the convention which framed the constitution <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_240"></a>[240]</span>under
+which
+we now live, his time and labors were divided between the practice of
+his profession and the service of the public in various capacities. Of
+the convention he was chosen a member, and he brought to the
+performance of his duties in that body the purest patriotism, and
+abilities unsurpassed, if indeed equalled, in that assembly of
+illustrious men. He took from the outset a most conspicuous part in its
+deliberations, throwing upon every important subject which was
+discussed, the blended lights of his genius, experience, and learning.
+As the sessions of the convention were held in secret, we have but an
+imperfect knowledge of its proceedings; and the meagre and fragmentary
+reports which we possess of the speeches which were delivered in it
+give us a very inadequate notion of the masterly efforts of Hamilton.
+But the testimony of his associates in the convention, and the
+imperfect records we have of its deliberations, join in ascribing to
+him a foremost place; and an impartial student of our constitution and
+history, himself a profound statesman and philosopher, M. Guizot, has
+said that there is in our political system scarcely an element of order
+and durability for which we are not in a great measure indebted to the
+genius of Hamilton. Indeed he was the very first to point out the
+radical defects in the old confederation, and the absolute necessity of
+a government based upon a different foundation, and invested with more
+ample powers. The restoration of the public credit, the creation of a
+currency, the promotion of commerce, the preservation of the public
+faith with foreign countries, the general tranquillity&#8212;these were
+topics which he had discussed in all their relations long before the
+meeting of the convention, and he had early arrived at the conclusion
+that these great ends were to be reached in <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_241"></a>[241]</span>no other way than
+by the
+establishment of a <span class="smcap">National Government</span>,
+emanating directly from the people at large, sovereign in its own
+sphere, and responsible to the people alone for the manner in which its
+powers were executed. In the Constitution, when it was presented for
+adoption, Hamilton saw some objectionable features. These he had
+opposed in the convention; but finding that such opposition was likely
+to throw obstacles in the way of any final agreement, and reorganizing
+in the instrument proposed to be adopted the essential features of his
+own plan, and wisely regarding it as the best scheme that could unite
+the varying opinions of men, he patriotically withdrew his opposition
+and gave it his hearty assent.</p>
+<p>Hamilton was chosen a member of the convention which met at
+Poughkeepsie to consider the question of ratifying it, and he urged the
+adoption of it in a series of masterly speeches, which powerfully
+contributed to its final ratification. At the same time, in conjunction
+with Madison and Jay, he was engaged in the composition of those
+immortal papers, which, under the name of the "Federalist," exercised
+at the time such a potent influence, and which have even since been
+received as authoritative commentaries upon the instrument, the wisdom
+and expediency of which they so eloquently and successfully vindicated.
+In view of the extraordinary exertions of Hamilton in behalf of the
+Constitution, both with his tongue and pen, and of the fact that if
+New-York had rejected it, it would probably have failed to receive the
+sanction of a sufficient number of States, we think that it may without
+injustice to others be said, that for the ratification of our
+Constitution we are <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_242"></a>[242]</span>
+more indebted to the labors of Hamilton than to
+those of any other single man.</p>
+<p>When the new government went into operation with Washington at
+its head, Hamilton was called to fill what was then the most important
+place in the cabinet, that of Secretary of the Treasury. He then
+addressed himself to the task of carrying out the great purpose for
+which the Constitution was adopted&#8212;a task, the successful
+accomplishment of which rested more in the skilful administration of
+the Treasury department than that of any office under government; for
+upon this hung the great issues of the currency and the public credit.
+With what ability he executed his great trust in the face of a powerful
+and most virulent opposition, the event has fully shown. The system of
+finance which he concocted and applied has been adhered to without
+substantial change throughout the subsequent history of the government,
+and well justifies the magnificent eulogy which Webster has bestowed
+upon its author. "He smote the rock of the national resources, and
+abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead corpse of
+the Public Credit, and it sprung upon its feet. The fabled birth of
+Minerva from the brain of Jove was hardly more sudden or more perfect
+than the financial system of the United States, as it burst forth from
+the conceptions of <span class="smcap">Alexander Hamilton</span>."<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
+<p>From the Treasury department he returned to the practice of
+his profession, and the calmer walks of private life; but his love for
+his country and the anxiety he felt for her welfare would not permit
+him to relinquish the prominent place <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_243"></a>[243]</span>he held as the
+leader of the
+Federal party. He regarded with great distrust and apprehension the
+principles and the practices of the rapidly increasing Democratic
+party. Many of its leaders he believed to be destitute of principle,
+and he spared no exertions in opposing them, and in endeavoring to stay
+the progress of radical opinions, and to infuse a spirit of moderation
+and wisdom into the politics of the nation.</p>
+<p>He was now in the prime of life. A practice in his profession
+at that time without parallel in extent and importance, afforded him an
+abundant income, and held out a prospect of a competent fortune. He
+therefore retired from the city, purchased a beautiful spot in the
+upper part of the island of New-York, and there built the tasteful
+residence of which an engraving is prefixed to this sketch, and which
+of the many places where he resided may most appropriately be called
+his "Home." It is, we believe, the only house in New-York, in which he
+lived, that is now standing. Of the one in the island of St. Nevis, in
+which he was born, we have never seen any representation or
+description. During a small portion of his college life, he resided
+with Mr. Hercules Mulligan in Water-street; but the house was long
+since torn down.</p>
+<p>After the close of the war, and during the first years of his
+practice at the bar, Hamilton occupied a house in Wall-street, nearly
+opposite the "Federal Hall," the site of the present Custom House. It
+was on the outer balcony of Federal Hall that Washington took the oath
+of inauguration upon his first election, and Hamilton, with a party of
+his friends, witnessed that imposing ceremony from the balcony of his
+own house. This building has, with most others of its time, been taken
+down, and a new one erected in its place to accommodate <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_244"></a>[244]</span>that
+mighty
+march of commercial enterprise which is fast sweeping away the last
+vestiges which mark the dwelling-places of the last generation.</p>
+<p>The spot which Hamilton selected for his "Home," and to which
+he gave the name of "Grange," from that of the residence of his
+grandfather in Ayrshire, Scotland, was chosen with taste and judgment,
+both on account of its natural beauty, and the interesting and
+inspiring recollections which its vicinity suggested. It was, at that
+time, completely in the country, without an object to remind one of the
+neighborhood of the town; and even now the population of the city, so
+prodigiously expanded, has not much encroached upon its original
+limits. It is situated upon the old King's Bridge road, about eight
+miles from the heart of the city, and something less than a mile above
+the ancient village of Manhattan, and is about midway between the
+Hudson River on the one side and the Harlem on the other. The west
+side, which lies on the King's Bridge road, is adorned by a fine growth
+of large shade trees. From these it extends with gentle undulations to
+a declivity, at the base of which lie the Harlem commons. The grounds
+are simply but tastefully laid out, chiefly with a view to take
+advantage of and display the natural features of the place. The house
+is situated nearly in the centre of the grounds, and is reached by a
+gently-winding carriage-way. The stable is placed in the rear of the
+house and at a distance from it, and is concealed by a thick growth of
+trees. A gravelled walk winds among the shade trees along the road, and
+thence across the grounds and along the other side. The space in front
+and on the left of the house is laid out in a fine lawn, in which the
+uneven surface of the ground is preserved, dotted <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_245"></a>[245]</span>here
+and there with
+fine trees, the natural growth of the spot. Near the house and on the
+left are thirteen flourishing gum trees, said to have been left by
+Hamilton himself when clearing the spot, as an emblem of the thirteen
+original States.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus261"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 289px; height: 403px;" alt="Residence of Alexander Hamilton, near Manhattanville, N.Y." src="images/illus261.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Residence of Alexander Hamilton,
+near Manhattanville, N.Y. </a></span></p>
+<p>The house itself is in form nearly square, of moderate size
+and well proportioned. The front is on the southern side; it is two
+stories in height, exclusive of the basement, and would have been at
+the time it was built a handsome and expensive one. The basement is
+used for culinary purposes, and the first story, which contains the
+parlors, is reached by a short flight of steps. You enter a commodious
+hall of a pentagonal form. On either side is a small apartment, of
+which the one on the right was the study, and contained the library of
+Hamilton. At the end of the hall are the doors, one on the right and
+the other on the left, which open into the parlors. These are of
+moderate size and connected by doors, by opening which they are thrown
+into one large room. The one on the right as you enter the house, is
+now, and probably was when Hamilton occupied it, used as a dining-room.
+The other parlor is furnished for the drawing-room. It is an octagon in
+form, of which three sides are occupied by doors, leading to the hall
+in front, the dining-room, and to a hall in the rear. In two of the
+opposite sides are windows reaching to the floor, and opening upon the
+lawn on the easterly side of the house. The three doors before
+mentioned are faced with mirrors, and being directly opposite the
+windows, they throw back the delightful landscape which appears through
+the latter with a pleasing effect. The story above is commodious, and
+divided into the usual apartments. On the north the prospect is
+interrupted by higher ground, and on the south by trees. On <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_246"></a>[246]</span>the
+west a
+view is caught of the beautiful shore of New Jersey, on the opposite
+side of the Hudson. From the eastern side, and especially from the
+balcony which extends in front of the windows of the drawing-room, a
+magnificent prospect is presented. The elevation being some two hundred
+feet above the surrounding waters, a complete view of the lower lands
+and of the country in the distance is commanded. Harlem with its river,
+the East River and Long Island Sound now dotted with a thousand sails,
+the fertile county of Westchester, and Long Island stretching away to
+the horizon, with its lovely and diversified scenery, are all in full
+view.</p>
+<p>This spot has, and probably had for Hamilton, its attractions
+in another respect. In its immediate neighbourhood were the scenes of
+some of the memorable and interesting events of the Revolution. He had
+passed directly over it with the American army in its retreat from
+New-York, after the disastrous battle of Long Island. Within a short
+distance from it are the Harlem Heights, where by his bravery and
+address, while yet but a boy, he had attracted the eye of Washington,
+and enjoyed his first interview with him. A little further towards the
+north is Fort Washington, in which the continental army made its last
+stand upon the island, and the loss of which sealed the fate of
+New-York for the war. It was this fort which, in the ardor of his
+youthful enthusiasm and burning with chagrin at its capture, he
+promised Washington he would retake, if he would place a small and
+select detachment under his command&#8212;an enterprise which the
+Commander-in-Chief thought too hazardous. Just across the river on the
+Jersey side is Fort Lee, which fell into the hands of the enemy soon
+after the capture of Fort Washington; <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_247"></a>[247]</span>
+and a short distance above, in the King's Bridge road, is
+the house which after the death of Hamilton became the residence of his
+bitter and fatal antagonist, Aaron Burr.</p>
+<p>When he had fixed his residence in this beautiful and
+attractive spot he was in the prime of life, in excellent health, and
+in prosperous circumstances. He had been most fortunate in his domestic
+relations, and had around him a happy family to which he was fondly
+devoted. His unrivalled natural powers had been exercised and improved
+by a training of thirty years in the camp, the forum, the senate and
+the cabinet. He was almost worshipped by his friends and his party, and
+regarded by all as one of the very pillars of the State. Every thing in
+his situation and circumstances seemed auspicious of a still long
+career of happiness and honor to himself, of usefulness and honor to
+his country. But in the midst of all this, he was suddenly cut off by
+the melancholy and fatal duel with Col. Burr.</p>
+<p>The public and private character of Burr, Hamilton had long
+known and despised. He regarded him as a dangerous man, and one wholly
+unfit to fill any office of trust or emolument. And this opinion,
+although avoiding open controversy with Burr himself, he had not
+scrupled to express privately to his own political friends, for the
+purpose of dissuading them from giving any support to one so little to
+be depended on. He recognized himself no other claim to political
+distinction than honesty of purpose, the ability and the will to serve
+the country, united with what he deemed to be sound political
+principles, neither of which recommendations could he discover in Aaron
+Burr.</p>
+<p>Burr had, on the other hand, few ends in life save his own
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_248"></a>[248]</span>
+advancement, and he scrupled at no means by which this object might be
+compassed; but in his most deeply laid schemes, he saw that the
+vigilant eye of Hamilton was upon him, and after his defeat in 1804 as
+a candidate for governor of the State of New-York, stung with
+mortification at his overthrow, and justly deeming the influence of
+Hamilton as one of the most potent causes of it, he resolved to fix a
+quarrel upon him. Seizing upon an expression which was contained in a
+letter, published during the recent political contest, but which had
+been forgotten by every one save himself, he dragged it before
+Hamilton's attention, tortured it into an imputation upon his personal
+honor, demanded of Hamilton an explanation which it was impossible for
+him to give, and made his refusal the pretext for a peremptory
+challenge.</p>
+<p>In accepting the challenge of Burr, Hamilton was but little
+under the influence of those motives which are commonly uppermost in
+such contests. To the practice of duelling he was sincerely and upon
+principle opposed, and had frequently borne his testimony against it.
+His reputation for personal courage had been too often tried, and too
+signally proved to be again put at risk. His passions, though strong,
+were under his control, and that sensitiveness on the score of personal
+honor, which a man of spirit naturally cherishes, and which the habits
+of a military life rendered prompt and delicate, was in him satisfied
+by a conscious integrity of purpose. His disposition was forgiving and
+gentle to a fault, and made it impossible for him to feel any personal
+ill will even towards such a man as Burr. The manifold obligations
+which as an honest and conscientious man he was bound to regard&#8212;his
+duties to a loved and dependent family, and his country, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_249"></a>[249]</span>which
+held
+almost an equal place in his affections, united to dissuade him from
+meeting his adversary. And yet these latter, viewed in connection with
+his peculiar position, with popular prejudices, and the circumstances
+of the times, were what impelled him to his fatal resolution. His
+theoretic doubts respecting a republican form of government, while they
+did not in the least diminish his preference for our political system,
+yet made him painfully anxious in regard to its success. He thought
+that every thing depended upon keeping the popular mind free from the
+corruption of false principles, and the offices of trust and honor out
+of the hands of bad men. To these ends he had been, and still was,
+employing all his energy and influence. He could not bear the thought
+of losing or weakening by any step, however justifiable in itself, that
+influence which he had reason to think was not exerted in vain. These
+were the large and unselfish considerations which governed him; and
+though a cool observer removed from the excitement and perplexities of
+the time may pronounce them mistaken, still if impartial he must regard
+them as sincere. They were what Hamilton himself, in full view of the
+solemnity of the step he was about to take, and of the possible event
+of it, declared to be his motive. "The ability," said he in the last
+paper he ever wrote, "to be in future useful, whether in resisting
+mischief or effecting good in those crises of our public affairs which
+seem likely to happen, would probably be inseparable from a conformity
+with prejudice in this particular."</p>
+<p>After some fruitless endeavors on the part of Hamilton to
+convince Burr of the unreasonableness of the request which the latter
+had made, all explanations were closed, and the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_250"></a>[250]</span>
+preliminaries for the
+meeting were arranged. Hamilton having no wish to take the life of
+Burr, had come to the determination to throw away his first shot,&#8212;a
+course too which approved itself to his feelings for other reasons.</p>
+<p>The grounds of Weehawk, on the Jersey shore opposite New-York,
+were at that time the usual field of these single combats, then chiefly
+by the inflamed state of political feeling of frequent occurrence, and
+very seldom ending without bloodshed. The day having been fixed, and
+the hour appointed at seven o'clock in the morning, the parties met,
+accompanied only by their servants. The bargemen, as well as Dr.
+Hosack, the surgeon mutually agreed upon, remained as usual at a
+distance, in order, if any fatal result should occur, not to be
+witnesses. The parties having exchanged salutations, the seconds
+measured the distance of ten paces, loaded the pistols, made the other
+preliminary arrangements, and placed the combatants. At the appointed
+signal, Burr took deliberate aim and fired. The ball entered Hamilton's
+side, and as he fell, his pistol too was unconsciously discharged. Burr
+approached him, apparently somewhat moved, but on the suggestion of his
+second, the surgeon and bargemen already approaching, he turned and
+hastened away, Van Ness coolly covering him from their sight by opening
+an umbrella. The surgeon found Hamilton half lying, half sitting on the
+ground, supported in the arms of his second. The pallor of death was on
+his face. "Doctor," he said, "this is a mortal wound;" and, as if
+overcome by the effort of speaking, he swooned quite away. As he was
+carried across the river the fresh breeze revived him. His own house
+being in the country, he was conveyed at once to the house of a friend,
+where he lingered for twenty-four <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_251"></a>[251]</span>
+hours in great agony, but preserving
+his composure and self-command to the last.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
+<p>The melancholy event of the duel affected the whole country,
+and New-York in particular, with the deepest indignation and grief. The
+avenues to the house where Hamilton was carried before he expired, were
+thronged with anxious citizens. His funeral was celebrated by a
+mournful pageant, and an oration in Trinity Church by Governeur Morris,
+which stirred up the people like the speech of Antony over the corpse
+of Caesar, to a "sudden flood of mutiny." Burr, with an indictment for
+murder hanging over him, fled secretly from the city to the South,
+where he remained until the excitement had in a measure subsided. His
+wretched end, and the place which history has assigned to him, leave
+room at present for no other emotions save those of regret and pity. In
+the deep gloom which the death of Hamilton occasioned, his political
+opponents almost equally shared. In contemplating his character they
+seemed to catch some portion of his own magnanimity, and the
+animosities of which he had been so conspicuous an object, were
+swallowed up in the conviction that a great and irreparable loss had
+fallen equally upon all.</p>
+<p>There was not, we think, at that time, a life which might not
+have been better spared than that of Hamilton. Certainly no man
+represented so well as he, the character and the principles of
+Washington; and no man was gifted with an array of qualities which
+better fitted him either as a magistrate or a man to control aright the
+opinions and the actions of a people like that of the United States. He
+was a man "built up on every side." He had received from nature a most
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_252"></a>[252]</span>
+capacious and admirable intellect, which had been exercised and
+developed by deep study and large experience in the practical conduct
+of affairs. His education was like that which Milton describes as
+"fitting to a man to perform justly, skilfully and magnanimously, all
+the offices, both public and private, of peace and war." His opinions
+were definite and fixed; were held with the confidence which is the
+result of complete conviction; and came from him recommended by a
+powerful eloquence, and a persuasive fairness and magnanimity. The
+strength of his passions gave him an almost unbounded influence over
+the minds of others, which he never perverted to selfish purposes or
+unworthy ends.</p>
+<p>A lofty integrity was one of the most prominent traits of his
+character. It was not, as in his great contemporary Jay, clothed with
+the appearance of austerity, nor did it, perhaps, so much as in the
+latter spring from a constant and habitual sense of responsibility to a
+Supreme Being; but it was rather a rare and noble elevation of soul,
+the spontaneous development of a nature which could not harbor a base
+or unworthy motive, cherished indeed and fortified by a firm faith and
+a strong religious temperament. It was this which enabled him to spend
+so long a period of his life in the public service in the exercise of
+the most important public trusts&#8212;among them that of the Treasury
+department, with the whole financial arrangements of the country under
+his control, and come from it all without a stain or a suspicion. His
+character for uprightness might be presented as an example in
+illustration of the fine precept of Horace:</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+&#8212;&#8212;Hic murus aheneus esto</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Nil conscire sibi, nulla pallescere culpa.</span></span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_253"></a>[253]</span>
+Political hostility and private malice explored every corner
+of his life with the hope of fixing a stain upon his official
+integrity; but these miserable attempts had no other effect than to
+bring defeat and disgrace on the authors of them. His honesty was as
+conspicuous in his private as in his public career, and was indeed
+sometimes carried to an extent which we fear might seem in our times
+like an absurd refinement. When about to enter upon his duties as
+Secretary of the Treasury, he was applied to by some friends engaged in
+monetary transactions for information with respect to the policy which
+he proposed to pursue, the disclosure of which would perhaps promote
+their interests, and not injure those of the public. But this he
+utterly refused to give, holding it as inconsistent with his duty as a
+public servant, to make his office even the indirect means of
+contributing to the emolument of friends by imparting to them
+information which was not open to all alike. While at the bar, and
+practising only as counsellor, he was associated with the Messrs.
+Ogden, who were then leading members of the profession in New-York
+city, and he received only the retaining and trial fees, though his
+reputation brought to the office a large proportion of all the
+important suits which arose. It was proposed to him to form a
+connection with other attorneys, by which engagement he might receive a
+portion of the attorney's fees in addition; but this offer he at once
+rejected, saying that he could not consent to receive any compensation
+for services not his own, or for the character of which he was not
+responsible.</p>
+<p>In his disposition he was one of the most amiable and
+attractive of men; and though capable of strong indignation, which made
+him always respected and sometimes feared by his <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_254"></a>[254]</span>adversaries,
+he was
+yet of such a mild and placable temper that no man could be long and
+sincerely his enemy. In person he was rather below the average height,
+his form was well proportioned, and his manner dignified and
+conciliating. The lower features of his countenance were regular and
+handsome, and beaming with the warm affections and generous sentiments
+of his heart. His brow and forehead were of a massive cast, expressive
+of the commanding intellect which lay behind. He was fond of society,
+full of the most lively and various conversation, which made him the
+delight and ornament of every circle he entered. During his time the
+Supreme Court used to hold its terms at New-York and Albany
+alternately, and the bar was then obliged to follow it back and forth
+between those cities, the journey occupying at that time three or four
+days. Of course this was a season of hilarity, and upon such occasions
+Hamilton was the life of the party, sometimes charming the whole
+company by his ingenious and eloquent discussions of the various
+subjects of conversation, and at others calling forth shouts of
+laughter by his pointed and genial wit. An anecdote has been related to
+us by one who was present on the occasion, which well illustrates the
+power which lay in his fascinating manner and conversation. During the
+hostilities between France and England, which succeeded the revolution
+in the former country, a French man of war having on board Jerome
+Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon, and afterwards king of Westphalia,
+was chased into the harbor of New-York by two English frigates. It was
+during the visit which Jerome was thus compelled to make to this
+country, that he became acquainted with and married the beautiful Miss
+Patterson, of Baltimore. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_255"></a>[255]</span>
+genius and the fortunes of Napoleon were
+then for the first time astonishing the world, and caused Jerome to be
+received with the most extraordinary marks of attention in the
+different cities of the United States. While he was in New-York
+Hamilton made a dinner party for him, to which a number of the chief
+personages of the time were invited. He was then living at "Grange,"
+and, as it happened, upon the very day of the party was engaged in the
+argument of an important cause in the city, which detained him there
+until after the hour for which his guests were invited. A long delay
+ensued after the company had assembled, and the embarrassment of Mrs.
+Hamilton may be imagined. There was evidently a feeling of uneasiness
+and discontent springing up in the minds of the guests, and especially
+was this the case with the distinguished brother of the First Consul.
+He was affected with the usual sensitiveness of a <i>novus homo</i>
+upon the point of etiquette, and it seemed to pass his comprehension
+how a man of Hamilton's private and official eminence should be engaged
+in any of the ordinary pursuits of life, and especially that such
+concerns, or any concerns whatever, should be allowed to detain him a
+single moment from the society of his guests, one of whom had the honor
+to be no less a person than Jerome Bonaparte. At a late hour, after the
+quality of the dinner and the temper of the guests had become about
+equally impaired, Hamilton arrived. He was met by his desponding wife,
+and informed of the distressing predicament which his delay had
+occasioned. After making a hasty toilet, he entered the drawing-room,
+and found that the affair indeed wore a most perilous aspect. The
+appearance of the distinguished Frenchman was especially unpromising.
+But Hamilton was quite <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_256"></a>[256]</span>
+equal to the emergency. Gracefully apologizing
+for his tardiness, he at once entered into a most animated and eloquent
+conversation, drew out his different guests with admirable dexterity,
+and enlisted them with one another, and especially recommended himself
+to the late Miss Patterson by a lively chat in French, of which
+language he was a master. The discontented features of the Bonaparte
+began to relax, and it soon became evident that he was in the most
+amiable mood, and one of the most gratified of the party. The dinner
+passed off admirably, and it seemed to be generally conceded that the
+delay in the beginning was amply atoned for by the delightful
+entertainment which followed.</p>
+<p>We should do injustice to one of the most amiable traits of
+Hamilton's character if we omitted particularly to notice the strength
+and tenderness of his friendships. Incapable of treachery, free from
+all disguise, and imbued with the largest sympathies, he drew to
+himself the esteem and affection of all who knew him; and such was his
+admiration for noble and generous qualities, that he could not see them
+displayed without clasping their possessors to his heart. He was a
+general favorite in the army, and between some of the choicest spirits
+in it and himself, there was an almost romantic affection. Those that
+knew him best loved him most. The family of Washington were as dear to
+him as if they were kindred by blood. Meade, McHenry, Tilghman, the
+"Old Secretary," Harrison, and the generous and high-souled Laurens,
+were in every change of fortune his cherished and bosom friends. The
+following extract from a letter to Laurens, shows the nature of
+Hamilton's attachment. "Cold in my professions, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_257"></a>[257]</span>warm
+in my friendships,
+I wish my dear Laurens it were in my power, by actions rather than by
+words, to convince you that I love you. I shall only tell you that till
+you bid us adieu, I hardly knew the value you had taught my heart to
+set upon you. Indeed, my friend, it were not well done. You know the
+opinion I entertain of mankind; and how much it is my desire to
+preserve myself free from particular attachments, and to keep my
+happiness free from the caprices of others. You should not have taken
+advantage of my sensibility to steal into my affections, without my
+consent." The openness of his heart and the flexibility of his manners
+made him a great favorite with the French officers. Lafayette loved him
+as a brother, and in one of his letters to him thus writes: "I know the
+General's (Washington's) friendship and gratitude for you, my dear
+Hamilton; both are greater than you perhaps imagine. I am sure he needs
+only to be told that something will suit you, and when he thinks he can
+do it, he certainly will. Before this campaign I was your friend, and
+very intimate friend, agreeably to the ideas of the world; since my
+second voyage, my sentiment has increased to such a point the world
+knows nothing about. To show <i>both</i>, from want and
+from scorn of expression, I shall only tell you, adieu." Talleyrand,
+the celebrated minister of Napoleon, whatever may be said of the
+character of his diplomacy, had a heart that was capable of friendship,
+and while in this country conceived a particular fondness for Hamilton,
+and on his departure for France he took from the house of the latter,
+without permission, a miniature belonging to Mrs. Hamilton of her
+husband. When fairly out of reach he addressed a <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_258"></a>[258]</span>note
+to Mrs. Hamilton
+confessing the larceny, and excusing it on the ground that he wanted a
+copy of it, but knew that she would not let him take the original away
+to be copied if he had made the request. He had an excellent copy of
+the miniature taken upon Sevres china, which he always kept in a
+conspicuous place in his apartment until late in life, when he
+presented it with a lock of his hair to a son of Hamilton, James A.
+Hamilton Esq., of Dobb's Ferry, N.Y., who still retains it. The
+indignation of Talleyrand at the conduct of Burr in bringing about the
+melancholy duel was unbounded; and when Burr, subsequently to that
+event, was on a visit to France, he wrote a note to Talleyrand,
+requesting the privilege of paying him a visit. Of course the French
+minister could not refuse this favor to a man who had been
+Vice-President of the United States, and in other respects so eminent a
+person; but his answer was something like this: "The Minister of
+Foreign Affairs would be happy to see Col. Burr at&#8212;(naming the hour);
+but M. Talleyrand thinks it due to Col. Burr to state, that he always
+has the miniature of General Hamilton hanging over his mantel-piece."</p>
+<p>In contemplating the life of Hamilton, it is of course
+impossible not to feel the deepest regret that so much genius, so much
+usefulness, and so much promise, should have been so prematurely cut
+off. Great as was his actual performance, it is natural and reasonable
+to suppose that the results of his youth and early manhood would have
+been far eclipsed by those of his splendid maturity. But as it is, "he
+lived long enough for glory." The influence of his presence and
+manners, the excitements in which he mingled when alive&#8212;every <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_259"></a>[259]</span>thing
+which tends to give a fictitious importance to present greatness, have
+passed away. But his reputation, which some have thought to rest upon
+these very circumstances, stands unaffected by their decay,&#8212;a fact
+which sufficiently attests the enduring nature of his fame.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus277"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 336px; height: 403px;" alt="Monument To Hamilton, Trinity Church-yard, N.Y." src="images/illus277.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Monument To Hamilton, Trinity Church-yard,
+N.Y.</a></span></p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_261"></a>[261]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="marshall"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Marshall.</span>
+</h6>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="letter_262"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 600px; height: 763px;" alt="Marshall fac-simile of letter" src="images/letters/marshall.png" /></a>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_262"></a>[262]</span>
+</div>
+<hr  />
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus281"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 317px; height: 399px;" alt="Marshall's House at Richmond, Va." src="images/illus281.jpg" /></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_263"></a>[263]</span>
+</div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">Marshall's
+House at Richmond, Va.</span></p>
+<h2>MARSHALL.</h2>
+<p>John Marshall, son of Colonel Thomas Marshall, a planter of
+moderate fortune, was born in Germantown, Fauquier County, Virginia, on
+the twenty-fourth of September, 1755. When twenty-one years of age, he
+was commissioned as a lieutenant in the continental service, and
+marching with his regiment to the north, was appointed captain in the
+spring of 1777, and in that capacity served in the battles of
+Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth; was at Valley <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_264"></a>[264]</span>Forge
+during the
+winter of 1778, and was one of the covering party at the assault of
+Stoney Point, in June, 1779. Having returned to his native State at the
+expiration of the enlistment of the Virginia troops, in 1780 he
+received a license for the practice of the law, and rapidly rose to
+distinction in that profession. In 1782 he was chosen a representative
+to the legislature, and afterward a member of the executive council In
+January, 1783, he married Mary Willis Ambler, of York, in Virginia,
+with whom he lived for fifty years in the tenderest affection. He was a
+delegate to the convention of Virginia which met on the second of June,
+1788, to take into consideration the new constitution, and in
+conjunction with his friend, Mr. Madison, mainly contributed to its
+adoption, in opposition to the ardent efforts of Henry, Grayson, and
+Mason. His name first became generally known throughout the nation by
+his vindication, in the legislature of the State, of the ratification
+of Jay's treaty by President Washington. No report of that speech
+remains, but the evidence of its ability survives in the effects which
+it produced on the legislature and the country. He continued in the
+practice of the law, having declined successively the offices of
+Attorney General of the United States and Minister to France, until
+1797, when with General Pinkney and Mr. Gerry, he was sent on a special
+mission to the French republic. The manner in which the dignity of the
+American character was maintained against the corruption of the
+Directory and its ministers is well known. The letters of the
+seventeenth of January and third of April, 1798, to Talleyrand, the
+Minister of Foreign Relations, have always been attributed to Marshall,
+and they rank among the ablest and most effective of diplomatic
+communications. Mr. Marshall <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_265"></a>[265]</span>
+arrived in New-York on the seventeenth of
+June, 1798, and on the nineteenth entered Philadelphia. At the
+intelligence of his approach the whole city poured out toward Frankford
+to receive him, and escorted him to his lodgings with all the honors of
+a triumph. In after years, when he visited Philadelphia, he often spoke
+of the feelings with which, as he came near the city on that occasion,
+with some doubts as to the reception which he might meet with in the
+existing state of parties, he beheld the multitude rushing forth to
+crowd about him with every demonstration of respect and approbation, as
+having been the most interesting and gratifying of his life.</p>
+<p>On his return to Virginia, at the special request of General
+Washington, he became a candidate for the House of Representatives, and
+was elected in the spring of 1799. His greatest effort in Congress was
+his speech in opposition to the resolutions of Edward Livingston
+relative to Thomas Nash, alias Jonathan Robbins. Fortunately we possess
+an accurate report of it, revised by himself. The case was, that Thomas
+Nash, having committed a murder on board the British frigate Hermione,
+navigating the high seas under a commission from the British king, had
+sought an asylum within the United States, and his delivery had been
+demanded by the British minister under the twenty-seventh article of
+the treaty of amity between the two nations. Mr. Marshall's argument
+first established that the crime was within the jurisdiction of Great
+Britain, on the general principles of public law, and then
+demonstrated, that under the constitution the case was subject to the
+disposal of the executive, and not the judiciary. He distinguished
+these departments from one another with an acuteness of discrimination
+and a force of logic which frustrated <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_266"></a>[266]</span>
+the attempt to carry the
+judiciary out of its orbit, and settled the political question, then
+and for ever. It is said that Mr. Gallatin, whose part it was to reply
+to Mr. Marshall, at the close of the speech turned to some of his
+friends and said, "<i>You</i> may answer that if you
+choose; <i>I</i> cannot." The argument deserves to rank
+among the most dignified displays of human intellect. At the close of
+the session, Mr. Marshall was appointed Secretary of War, and soon
+after Secretary of State. During his continuance in that department our
+relations with England were in a very interesting condition, and his
+correspondence with Mr. King exhibits his abilities and spirit in the
+most dignified point of view. "His despatch of the twentieth of
+September, 1800," says Mr. Binney, "is a noble specimen of the first
+order of state papers, and shows the most finished adaptation of parts
+for the station of an American Secretary of State." On the thirty-first
+of January, 1801, he was appointed Chief Justice of the United States,
+in which office he continued until his death. In 1804 he published the
+Biography of Washington, which for candor, accuracy, and comprehension,
+will for ever be the most authentic history of the Revolution. He died
+in Philadelphia on the sixth of July, 1835.</p>
+<p>Mr. Marshall's career as Chief Justice extended through a
+period of more than thirty-four years, which is the longest judicial
+tenure recorded in history. To one who cannot follow his great
+judgments, in which, at the same time, the depths of legal wisdom are
+disclosed and the limits of human reason measured, the language of just
+eulogy must wear an appearance of extravagance. In his own profession
+he stands for the reverence of the wise rather than for the enthusiasm
+of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_267"></a>[267]</span>
+many. The proportion of the figure was so perfect, that the
+sense of its vastness was lost. Above the difficulties of common minds,
+he was in some degree above their sympathy. Saved from popularity by
+the very rarity of his qualities, he astonished the most where he was
+best understood. The questions upon which his judgment was detained,
+and the considerations by which his decision was at last determined,
+were such as ordinary understandings, not merely could not resolve, but
+were often inadequate even to appreciate or apprehend. It was his
+manner to deal directly with the results of thought and learning, and
+the length and labor of the processes by which these results were
+suggested and verified might elude the consciousness of those who had
+not themselves attempted to perform them. From the position in which he
+stood of evident superiority to his subject, it was obviously so easy
+for him to describe its character and define its relations, that we
+sometimes forgot to wonder by what faculties or what efforts he had
+attained to that eminence. We were so much accustomed to see his mind
+move only in the light, that there was a danger of our not observing
+that the illumination by which it was surrounded was the beam of its
+own presence, and not the natural atmosphere of the scene.</p>
+<p>The true character and measure of Marshall's greatness are
+missed by those who conceive of him as limited within the sphere of the
+justices of England, and who describe him merely as the first of
+lawyers. To have been "the most consummate judge that ever sat in
+judgment," was the highest possibility of Eldon's merit, but was only a
+segment of Marshall's fame. It was in a distinct department, of more
+dignified functions, almost of an opposite kind, that he displayed
+those abilities <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_268"></a>[268]</span>
+that advance his name to the highest renown, and shed
+around it the glories of a statesman and legislator. The powers of the
+Supreme Court of the United States are such as were never before
+confided to a judicial tribunal by any people. As determining, without
+appeal, its own jurisdiction, and that of the legislature and
+executive, that court is not merely the highest estate in the country,
+but it settles and continually moulds the constitution of the
+government. Of the great work of constructing a nation, but a small
+part, practically, had been performed when the written document had
+been signed by the convention: a vicious theory of interpretation might
+defeat the grandeur and unity of the organization, and a want of
+comprehension and foresight might fatally perplex the harmony of the
+combination. The administration of a system of polity is the larger
+part of its establishment. What the constitution was to be, depended on
+the principles on which the federal instrument was to be construed, and
+they were not to be found in the maxims and modes of reasoning by which
+the law determines upon social contracts between man and man, but were
+to be sought anew in the elements of political philosophy and the
+general suggestions of legislative wisdom. To these august duties Judge
+Marshall brought a greatness of conception that was commensurate with
+their difficulty; he came to them in the spirit and with the strength
+of one who would minister to the development of a nation; and it was
+the essential sagacity of his guiding mind that saved us from
+illustrating the sarcasms of Mr. Burke about paper constitutions. He
+saw the futility of attempting to control society by a metaphysical
+theory; he apprehended the just relation between opinion and life,
+between the forms of speculation and the force of things. <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_269"></a>[269]</span>Knowing
+that
+we are wise in respect to nature, only as we give back to it faithfully
+what we have learned from it obediently, he sought to fix the wisdom of
+the real and to resolve it into principles. He made the nation explain
+its constitution, and compelled the actual to define the possible.
+Experience was the dialectic by which he deduced from substantial
+premises a practical conclusion. The might of reason by which
+convenience and right were thus moulded into union, was amazing. But
+while he knew the folly of endeavoring to be wiser than time, his
+matchless resources of good sense contributed to the orderly
+development of the inherent elements of the constitution, by a vigor
+and dexterity as eminent in their kind as they were rare in their
+combination. The vessel of state was launched by the patriotism of
+many: the chart of her course was designed chiefly by Hamilton: but
+when the voyage was begun, the eye that observed, and the head that
+reckoned, and the hand that compelled the ship to keep her course amid
+tempests without, and threats of mutiny within, were those of the great
+Chief Justice. Posterity will give him reverence as one of the founders
+of the nation; and of that group of statesmen who may one day perhaps
+be regarded as above the nature, as they certainly were beyond the
+dimensions of men, no figure, save ONE alone, will rise upon the eye in
+grandeur more towering than that of John Marshall.</p>
+<p>The authority of the Supreme Court, however, is not confined
+to cases of constitutional law; it embraces the whole range of judicial
+action, as it is distributed in England, into legal, equitable, and
+maritime jurisdictions. The equity system of this court was too little
+developed to enable us to say what Marshall would have been as a
+chancellor. It is difficult <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_270"></a>[270]</span>
+to admit that he would have been inferior
+to Lord Eldon: it is impossible to conceive that he could at all have
+resembled Lord Eldon. But undoubtedly the native region and proper
+interest of a mind so analytical and so sound, so piercing and so
+practical, was the common law; that vigorous system of manly reason and
+essential right, that splendid scheme of morality expanded by logic and
+informed by prudence. Perhaps the highest range of English intelligence
+is illustrated in the law; yet where, in the whole line of that august
+succession, will be found a character which fills the measure of
+judicial greatness so completely as Chief Justice Marshall? Where, in
+English history, is the judge, whose mind was at once so enlarged and
+so systematic, who so thoroughly had reduced professional science to
+general reason, in whose disciplined intellect technical learning had
+so completely passed into native sense? Vast as the reach of the law
+is, it is not an exaggeration to say that Marshall's understanding was
+greater, and embraced the forms of legal sagacity within it, as a part
+of its own spontaneous wisdom. He discriminated with instinctive
+accuracy between those technicalities which have sprung from the
+narrowness of inferior minds, and those which are set by the law for
+the defence of some vital element of justice or reason. The former he
+brushed away like cobwebs, while he yielded to the latter with a
+respect which sometimes seemed to those "whose eyes were" not "opened,"
+a species of superstition. In his judicial office the method of
+Marshall appeared to be, first to bow his understanding reverently to
+the law, and calmly and patiently to receive its instructions as those
+of an oracle of which he was the minister; then to prove these dictates
+by the most searching processes of reason, and to deliver them <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_271"></a>[271]</span>to
+others, not as decrees to be obeyed, but as logical manifestations of
+moral truth. Undoubtedly he made much use of adjudged cases; but he
+used them to give light and certainty to his own judgment, and not for
+the vindication or support of the law. He would have deemed it a
+reproach alike to his abilities and his station, if he should have
+determined upon precedent what could have been demonstrated by reason,
+or had referred to authority what belonged to principle. With singular
+capacity, he united systematic reason with a perception of particular
+equity: too scrupulous a regard for the latter led Lord Eldon, in most
+instances, to adjudicate nothing but the case before him; but Marshall
+remembered that while he owed to the suitors the decision of the case,
+he owed to society the establishment of the principle. His mind
+naturally tended, not to suggestion and speculation, but to the
+determination of opinion and the closing of doubts. On the bench, he
+always recollected that he was not merely a lawyer, and much less a
+legal essayist; he was conscious of an official duty and an official
+authority; and considered that questions might be discussed elsewhere,
+but came to be settled by him. The dignity with which these duties were
+discharged was not the least admirable part of the display. It was
+wisdom on the seat of power, pronouncing the decrees of justice.</p>
+<p>Political and legal sense are so distinct from one another as
+almost to
+be irreconcilable in the same mind. The latter is a mere course of
+deduction from premises; the other calls into exercise the highest
+order of perceptive faculties, and that quick felicity of intuition
+which flashes to its conclusions by a species of mental sympathy rather
+than by any conscious process of argumentation. The one requires that
+the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_272"></a>[272]</span>
+susceptibility of the judgment should be kept exquisitely alive to
+every suggestion of the practical, so as to catch and follow the
+insensible reasonings of life, rather than to reason itself: the other
+demands the exclusion of every thing not rigorously exact, and the
+concentration of the whole consciousness of the mind in kindling
+implicit truth into formal principles. The wonder, in Judge Marshall's
+case, was to see these two almost inconsistent faculties, in quality so
+matchless, and in development so magnificent, harmonized and united in
+his marvellous intelligence. We beheld him pass from one to the other
+department without confusing their nature, and without perplexing his
+own understanding. When he approached a question of constitutional
+jurisprudence, we saw the lawyer expand into the legislator; and in
+returning to a narrower sphere, pause from the creative glow of
+statesmanship, and descend from intercourse with the great conceptions
+and great feelings by which nations are guided and society is advanced,
+to submit his faculties with docility to the yoke of legal forms, and
+with impassible calmness to thread the tangled intricacies of forensic
+technicalities.</p>
+<p>There was in this extraordinary man an unusual combination of
+the capacity of apprehending truth, with the ability to demonstrate and
+make it palpable to others. They often exist together in unequal
+degrees. Lord Mansfield's power of luminous explication was so
+surpassing that one might almost say that he made others perceive what
+he did not understand himself; but the numerous instances in which his
+decisions have been directly overthrown by his successors, and the
+still greater number of cases in which his opinions have been silently
+departed from, compel a belief that his judgment was not of <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_273"></a>[273]</span>the
+truest
+kind. Lord Eldon's judicial sagacity was a species of inspiration; but
+he seemed to be unable not only to convince others; but even to certify
+himself of the correctness of his own greatest and wisest
+determinations. But Judge Marshall's sense appeared to be at once both
+instinctive and analytical: his logic extended as far as his
+perception: he had no propositions in his thoughts which he could not
+resolve into their axioms. Truth came to him as a revelation, and from
+him as a demonstration. His mind was more than the faculty of vision;
+it was a body of light, which irradiated the subject to which it was
+directed, and rendered it as distinct to every other eye as it was to
+its own.</p>
+<p>The mental integrity of this illustrious man was not the least
+important element of his greatness. Those qualities of vanity, fondness
+for display, the love of effect, the solicitation of applause,
+sensibility to opinions, which are the immoralities of intellect, never
+attached to that stainless essence of pure reason. He seemed to men to
+be a passionless intelligence; susceptible to no feeling but the
+constant love of right; subject to no affection but a polarity toward
+truth.</p>
+<p>As has already been stated, the great chief justice was
+married when twenty-eight years of age, to Miss Ambler, of York, in
+Virginia; there have been few such unions in every respect more
+fortunate and delightful; the wife died but a short time before the
+husband, who, not more than two days previous to his own decease,
+directed that his body should be laid with hers, and that the plain
+stone to indicate the place of their rest should have only this simple
+inscription:</p>
+<p class="blockquot">"John Marshall,
+son of
+Thomas and Mary Marshall, was born on
+the 24th of September, 1755, intermarried with Mary Willis Ambler on
+the 3d of January, 1783, and departed this life the &#8212;&#8212; day of &#8212;&#8212; 18&#8212;."</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_274"></a>[274]</span>
+With no other alteration than the filling of the blanks, this
+is engraved on the modest white marble which is over their remains in
+the beautiful cemetery on Shoccoe Hill, of Richmond.</p>
+<p>The chief justice always lived in a style of singular
+simplicity; when Secretary of State at Washington, he resided in a
+brick building hardly larger than most of the kitchens now in use, and
+his house in Richmond, to which he soon after removed, was
+characteristically unostentatious. From Richmond he frequently walked
+out three or four miles to his farm in the county of Henrico; and once
+a year he made a protracted visit to his other farm, near his
+birth-place, in Fauquier.</p>
+<p>No man had a keener relish for social and convivial
+enjoyments, and numerous anecdotes are told in illustration of this
+trait in his character. Nearly all the period of his residence in
+Richmond, he was a member of a club which met near the city once a
+fortnight to pitch quoits, and mingle in relaxing conversation; there
+was no one more punctual in his attendance at its meetings, or who
+contributed more to their pleasantness; and such was his skill in the
+manly game he practised, that he would hurl his iron ring, weighing two
+pounds, with rarely erring aim, fifty-five or sixty feet, and when he
+or his partner made any specially successful exhibition of skill, he
+would leap up and clap his hands with the light-hearted enthusiasm of
+boyhood.</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_275"></a>[275]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="ames"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Ames.</span>
+</h6>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="letter_276"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 599px; height: 800px;" alt="Ames fac-simile of letter" src="images/letters/ames.png" />
+</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_276"></a>[276]</span>
+</div>
+<hr  />
+<h2>AMES.</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_277"></a>[277]</span>
+The house in which <span class="smcap">Fisher
+Ames</span> was born was pulled down somewhere about 1818. It
+used to stand on the main street of Dedham, a little to the northeast,
+and over the way from where the court-house now stands. It was a roomy,
+two-story, peaked-roofed old building, with its end to the street; the
+oldest part having an addition of more modern construction on the
+front, or what, with reference to the street, was the end. The rooms
+were low, the windows small, and the lower floor was sunken a little
+below the ground. A large buttonwood overshadowed it in front, and from
+behind an elm, the latter still standing. There was no fence between
+the house and the street, and the intervening space was covered with
+grass of that thick and stubbed growth peculiar to such localities.
+Behind was a large barn, while on both sides, and back for fifty or
+sixty rods, to the Charles River, stretched a broad field of irregular
+surface. Just across the street was the "Front Lot," a piece of
+unoccupied land, including that on which the court-house now stands,
+and extending east nearly as far as the post-office. On the corner of
+this lot, directly in front of the house stood, subsequently,&#8212;that is,
+to the year 1776, when it was erected,&#8212;a stone pillar supporting a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_278"></a>[278]</span>
+column, surmounted by a wooden head of Pitt, the same having been set
+up by the "Sons of Liberty," a brother of Fisher Ames among the number,
+on the repeal of the Stamp Act. This structure, after testifying to
+America's gratitude for a number of years, and furnishing to the corner
+on which it stood, the name of "Pitt's Head," was eventually
+overthrown. The stone pillar with its glowing inscription, after lying
+awhile by the roadside, and offering a seat to chatting children, and a
+place, in the spaces of the letters, for cracking nuts, was at length
+set up in its old place, on the erection of the court-house some
+twenty-five years since, where it still stands. But of the fate of the
+column and the head we have no account. This wooden head, intended by
+its enthusiastic raisers, without a doubt, to be "�re perennius," lay
+kicking about the street; and perhaps found refuge at last from the
+vicissitudes of the weather and the wasting jack-knife of the
+schoolboy, in the wood-box or the garret of some hospitable patriot.</p>
+<p>The old house was long kept as an inn, both by Dr. Nathaniel
+Ames, the father of Fisher, and, after his death, by his wife.
+Innkeeping in those days was not so engrossing an occupation as at
+present, and Dr. Ames, by no means mainly a Boniface, found time for
+the care of his farm, for the practice of his profession, for the study
+of mathematics, astronomy, and kindred subjects; and for the
+application of the knowledge thus acquired, in the making of almanacs;
+a business which he carried on for forty years. In their veracious
+pages, besides indicating the doings and intentions of the heavenly
+bodies, and predicting storms with all the accuracy of which the case
+was susceptible, Dr. Ames used to portray the exciting events of the
+time in verse, more patriotic and vivid, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_279"></a>[279]</span>perhaps, than
+poetic. He was,
+in truth, a man of no small consideration in Dedham, of much natural
+ability, of wit and spirit.</p>
+<p>He showed these last qualities once on a time, when the
+colonial judges decided some law case against him. He thought they had
+disregarded the law, and their Reverences were soon seen, sketched on a
+sign-board in front of the tavern, in full bottomed wigs, tippling,
+with their <i>backs</i> to the volume labelled "The
+Province Law." The authorities at Boston taking umbrage at this,
+dispatched some officers to Dedham to remove the sign. But Dr. Ames was
+too quick for them; and the baffled tipstaves on reaching the house
+found nothing hanging but a board, on which was inscribed, "A wicked
+and adulterous generation seeketh for a sign, but no sign shall be
+given them."</p>
+<p>Dr. Ames died in 1764, when his son Fisher, the youngest
+child, was six years old; having besides him, a son of his own name and
+profession, who was afterwards a violent democrat and opponent of
+Fisher Ames, two other sons and a daughter. Of these, Fisher was the
+only one who left descendants. Mrs. Ames continued to keep the inn, and
+married again. She was a very shrewd and sensible woman, of a strong
+and singular cast of mind. She took a hearty interest in politics, and
+hated the Jacobins devoutly. Innkeeping was a favorite occupation with
+her, and she carried matters with a high hand. We have heard her
+compared to Meg Dods, the landlady in St. Ronan's Well. She outlived
+her son Fisher some ten years or more.</p>
+<p>Fisher Ames was a delicate child, and the pet of his mother,
+whose maiden name he bore. He had such an extravagant <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_280"></a>[280]</span>fondness
+for
+books, devouring all that fell within his reach, and showed, in other
+ways, to the fond perception of his parent, such unmistakable signs of
+genius, that she early determined to make a lawyer of him, and put him
+to the study of Latin at six. The little fellow worked bravely at his
+lessons for six years, reciting sometimes to the school-teacher, when
+that functionary happened to be more than usually learned, sometimes to
+old Mr. Haven the minister, with whom he early made friends, and to
+various other persons. In 1770, twelve years old, he was admitted to
+Harvard College. Here he spent four years with credit and success,
+acquiring greater distinction in the study of the languages and in
+oratory, than in the abstract sciences. He was conspicuous, even at
+this early age, as a speaker, being one of the leading members of a
+society for improvement in eloquence, then newly established. This
+society, under the style of "The Institute of 1770," is still
+flourishing at Cambridge, and turns out annually as many orators,
+perhaps, as any similar body in our country. The writer of this
+remembers to have heard there, in his own college days, a great deal of
+sublime elocution. Fisher Ames's name occurs on the records a number of
+times, as a speaker, and a critic, and once as follows: "June, 1,
+1773.&#8212;Voted, that Ames, Clarke, and Eliot, be fined 4 pence for
+tardiness." Young Ames passed through college with unblemished morals.
+"Happily," in the elegant phrase of his biographer, "he did not need
+the smart of guilt to make him virtuous, nor the regret of folly to
+make him wise."</p>
+<p>In the summer of 1774, he returned to his mother's house.
+Notwithstanding her predilection for law, he had some idea of studying
+medicine or divinity. But, the year of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_281"></a>[281]</span>Boston Port Bill
+was no good
+time for deciding upon a course of life, or beginning it when
+determined on. Besides, Fisher Ames was but sixteen, and his mother was
+poor. For a short time, therefore, he engaged in teaching school; and,
+after a few years spent in desultory but unceasing study and reading,
+he began law in the office of Wm. Tudor, of Boston.</p>
+<p>During this time the contest was going on in which his
+country's liberties were involved, and young Ames was a watchful and
+anxious observer of its progress. It was at his mother's house that the
+good men of Dedham used to meet, to see what they and the country were
+to do. Only a month or two after his return from college, a convention
+from all the towns of Suffolk county, of which Dedham was then a part,
+met here to deliberate. We can imagine the heart of our boy of sixteen
+burning within him, and his eye flashing as he heard the outraged
+citizens of Boston tell their grievances, and as he longed to be a man,
+that he might take a part with those determined patriots in their
+resolution to try the issue with Great Britain, if need be, at the
+point of the sword. Dedham sent some brave soldiers to the service, and
+Fisher Ames, young as he was, went out in one or two short expeditions.</p>
+<p>In 1781 we find him entered upon the practice of law at
+Dedham, where
+he soon became distinguished as an advocate. In those days the manners
+of the bench were very rough. The road to eminence in law seemed often
+to lie between rows of semi-barbarous judges, who hurled at aspiring
+barristers every missile of abuse. There is always much, it is true, in
+the deportment of young lawyers to vex the temper of a judge, and
+perhaps in those days of callow independence there may have been more
+than common. There appears to be something <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_282"></a>[282]</span>
+about that great science to
+which, in the language of Hooker, "all things in heaven and earth do
+homage, the least as feeling her care, and the greatest as not exempted
+from her bounty," that breathes unusual dignity into its servants,
+especially its young ones. In its various duties, the giving of
+counsel, the questioning of witnesses, and the frequent display of
+capacity before courts and juries, the seeds of vanity find propitious
+soil and start into rank growth. From this or whatever cause, the
+judges of old times were crusty and abusive; and old Judge Paine,
+besides being all this, was moreover deaf, and used to berate counsel
+roundly at times for what was no fault of theirs. "I tell you what,"
+said Fisher Ames, as he came out of court one day, "a man, when he
+enters that court-room, ought to go armed with a speaking trumpet in
+one hand and a club in the other." At another time, Ames expressed a
+rather derogatory opinion of the intelligence of the court. He was
+arguing a case before a number of county justices, and having finished,
+turned to leave the room. "Ain't you going to say any thing more, Mr.
+Ames?" anxiously whispered his client. "No," rejoined Ames; "you might
+as well argue a case to a row of skim-milk cheeses!" Perhaps his
+dislike to these dignitaries may have been an inheritance. May not the
+old Doctor, in his indignation about the Province Law matter, like
+another Hamilcar, have made his son, a youthful Hannibal, swear eternal
+hatred to his foes?</p>
+<p>Mr. Ames was now a rapidly rising man. Various essays on
+political subjects from his pen appeared in the newspapers, and
+contributed to draw public attention to him. When quite young, he was
+sent to a convention held at Concord, to consider the depreciated state
+of the currency, where he made <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_283"></a>[283]</span>
+an eloquent speech. In 1788, he was a
+member of the convention for ratifying the federal constitution. Here
+he added much to his fame by a number of excellent speeches. One on the
+biennial election of representatives was considered the best, and is
+the only one given in his works. It is lucid, statesmanlike, and
+eloquent. The occasion of it was an inquiry by Samuel Adams, why
+representatives were not made elective annually. To this Ames alludes
+in the closing paragraph: "As it has been demanded why annual elections
+were not preferred to biennial, permit me to retort the question, and
+to inquire, in my turn, what reason can be given why, if annual
+elections are good, biennial elections are not better?" Adams professed
+himself entirely satisfied. This same year Ames represented Dedham in
+the legislature.</p>
+<p>In 1789, Suffolk county sent him as her first representative
+to Congress, in opposition to Samuel Adams. He was in Congress eight
+years, during the whole of Washington's administration, and was one of
+the most prominent leaders of the federal party, giving to the
+President uniform and important support. In this period, he acquired a
+reputation for candor, integrity, ability, and eloquence, second to
+that of no man in Congress. At times, particularly towards the end of
+his term, ill-health compelled his absence; yet he examined with care
+every important question that presented itself, and spoke upon almost
+every one. But of his numerous efforts in Congress, only two are
+printed among his works, one on certain resolutions of Madison's for
+imposing additional duties on foreign goods, delivered in 1794, and the
+speech on Jay's treaty, two years later, his most brilliant effort, "an
+era," says his biographer, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_284"></a>[284]</span>
+"in his political life." This speech was
+written out from memory by Judge Smith and Samuel Dexter, receiving a
+revision from Ames. It is thus alluded to by Hildreth: "He (Ames) had
+been detained from the House during the early part of the session, by
+an access of that disorder which made all the latter part of his life
+one long disease. Rising from his seat, pale, feeble, hardly able to
+stand or to speak, but warming with the subject, he delivered a speech
+which, for comprehensive knowledge of human nature and of the springs
+of political action, for caustic ridicule, keen argument, and pathetic
+eloquence, even in the imperfect shape in which we possess it, has very
+seldom been equalled on that or any other floor." The question was to
+have been taken that same day, but one of the opposition moved that it
+be postponed till the next, that they should not act under the
+influence of an excitement of which their calm judgment might not
+approve.</p>
+<p>After reducing the question to one of breaking the public
+faith, the speaker adds: "This, sir, is a cause that would be
+dishonored and betrayed, if I contented myself with appealing only to
+the understanding. It is too cold, and its processes are too slow for
+the occasion. I desire to thank God that, since he has given me an
+intellect so fallible, he has impressed upon me an instinct that is
+sure. On a question of shame and dishonor, reasoning is sometimes
+useless, and worse. I feel the decision in my pulse; if it throws no
+light upon the brain, it kindles a fire at the heart." It is the spirit
+that breathes in this splendid burst that stirred the minds of the
+hearers, wearied and disgusted with a discussion of nearly two months,
+so that, in the blunt language of John Adams&#8212;<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_285"></a>[285]</span>
+"there wasn't a dry eye in the House, except some of the jackasses that
+occasioned the necessity
+of the oratory."</p>
+<p>Ames's speeches show great clearness of mind and power of
+reasoning, and have about them an air of candor that induces
+conviction. He brought to every subject on which he was to speak, that
+thorough understanding of it, in which, if we may believe Socrates,
+lies the secret of all eloquence. It appears to have been customary
+with him to wait till a question had undergone some discussion, that he
+might the better appreciate the arguments on both sides. He would then
+rise, and disperse, as with the wand of Prospero, the mists of
+prejudice and sophistry that had gathered over the question in the
+course of debate, while he placed the subject before the House with
+convincing eloquence and precision. His well-stored mind poured forth
+illustrations at every step, and his imagination illuminated each point
+on which he touched. Now and then it would light up into a pure and
+steady blaze as he dwelt on some topic that stirred his deepest
+emotions, and transfigured it in apt and nervous language. In this
+union of imagination and feeling, making every period glow with life,
+with logical power, Ames resembled Chatham.</p>
+<p>He was not in the habit of trusting to notes, but used to
+think out a sketch of what he was to say, and trust for the rest to the
+inspiration of the occasion. At first his manner was slow and
+hesitating, like one in reflection; but as he went on, his thoughts and
+his language flowed fast, and his face beamed with expression. We have
+heard his manner characterized by one who had frequent opportunities of
+hearing him, in the words of Antenor's description of Ulysses:
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_286"></a>[286]</span>
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">"But
+when Ulyssus rose, in thought profound,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+His modest eyes he fixed upon the ground,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+As one unskilled, or drunk, he seemed to stand,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Nor raised his head nor stretched his sceptred hand;</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+But when he speaks, what elocution flows!</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Soft as the fleeces of descending snows,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+The copious accents fall, with easy art;</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Melting they fall and sink into the heart!"</span></span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p>His voice is described as rich and melodious. His personal
+appearance is thus given by Wm. Sullivan: "He was above middle stature,
+and well-formed. His features were not strongly marked. His forehead
+was neither high nor expansive. His eyes blue, and of middling size;
+his mouth handsome; his hair was black, and short on the forehead, and
+in his latter years unpowdered. He was very erect, and when speaking he
+raised his head; or rather his chin was the most projected part of his
+face." Before a jury he was very effective. There was nothing bitter or
+sarcastic in his manner; but mild, cool, and candid, it made a jury, as
+we heard it expressed, "want to give him the case, if they could." He
+is contrasted with his friend Samuel Dexter, as preferring to
+illustrate by a picture, while Dexter would explain by a diagram.</p>
+<p>Mr. Ames was the author of the "Address of the House of
+Representatives to Washington," on his signifying his intention to
+withdraw from office. His own health had been, and was still so feeble,
+that he could not stand for re-election. Accordingly, he retired to
+Dedham in March, 1797, intending to devote himself, as far as possible,
+to the practice of his profession and the enjoyment of domestic
+happiness.</p>
+<p>In July 1792, Mr. Ames had married Miss Worthington, of
+Springfield. This marriage was an exceedingly happy one. Mrs. Ames was
+much beloved and respected by her neighbors, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_287"></a>[287]</span>and, in her
+sphere, was
+considered as remarkable as her husband. She was a woman of gentle and
+retiring disposition, devoted to her family, kind, motherly and
+sensible. Mr. Ames seems to have found in her a companion who called
+forth and appreciated all those amiable qualities which were a part of
+his character. She took a good deal of interest in public affairs, and
+was a woman of cultivated mind. She survived her husband, and died some
+sixteen years since, at the age of seventy-four. They had seven
+children, six sons and a daughter. The daughter died young and
+unmarried, of consumption. Three of the sons are now living, one in
+Dedham, one in Cambridge, and another somewhere at the West. All the
+children however survived their father.</p>
+<p>Previous to his marriage Mr. Ames had lived with his mother.
+After that event he moved to Boston and took a house on Beacon Street,
+next to Governor Bowdoin's. He appears to have lived here about two
+years, when he returned to Dedham, and began the building of a new
+house. This house was finished and occupied by the winter of 1795;
+during the interval Mr. Ames lived in a house opposite the old mansion
+now occupied by the Dedham Gazette. This new house of Ames's is still
+standing in Dedham, externally much the same as of old; a large
+square-built, two-story house, flat-roofed, simple and substantial.
+Internally, however, together with the ground about it, it has
+undergone many alterations. Formerly it had not the piazza now in front
+of it, and the various chimneys were then represented by one fat,
+old-fashioned, solid structure in the middle. It passed out of the
+hands of the family about 1835, and is at present owned by Mr. John
+Gardiner.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_288"></a>[288]</span>
+Mr. Ames seems to have inherited most of the old homestead, to
+the extent of twenty-five acres, on which he built his house, facing
+the south, a little to the east, and back of his mother's. He employed
+himself a good deal henceforth in the cultivation of his farm. The
+"Front Lot" was surrounded with a rail fence and a row of Lombardy
+poplars, and was used at different times as a mowing lot, a cornfield,
+and a pasture for the cows. On the east side of the house, extending in
+length from the street to the river, and in width from directly under
+the windows, far enough to include a street and a row of small houses,
+since constructed, was a pasture and orchard including seven or eight
+acres, and stocked with the best fruit. Directly back of the house was
+the garden, a long and rather barren strip of land, of peculiar
+surface. Two straight walks went from the house the whole length of it.
+At the farther end of it was a low oval space, with a walk running
+around it, and a pond in the middle. All this part of the garden was
+low, and surrounded at the sides and end with a bank, in the form of an
+amphitheatre. Three or four terraces lay between it and the higher
+ground. These and the oval space with its walk, still remain, but the
+fence between the garden and the orchard has been removed, and the two
+straight walks somewhat changed, to suit the modern appetite for grace.
+The place is still full of the fruit-trees that Fisher Ames planted,
+some crossgrained pear-trees, and venerable cherries being the chief.
+The boys used to look over in this orchard and garden, at the big
+pears, weighing down the trees and covering the ground, as if it were
+the very garden of the Hesperides, and the dragon were asleep. Once in
+a while the gates would be thrown open to these hungry longers, and
+they <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_289"></a>[289]</span>
+helped themselves; when winter came too the pond afforded them a
+capital skating place. A large shed ran out from the back of the house,
+on the west end, used, among other purposes, as a granary. To the west
+and back of this, was the barn of the old house, and a large new one
+built by Mr. Ames, and behind the latter, the ice-house, in those days
+quite a novelty. Back of this was an open field. On the west side of
+the house, a flight of steps led from one of the lower windows down the
+bank, with an old pear-tree growing through it.</p>
+<p>The house stood about two rods from the street; a
+semi-elliptical walk led up to the door, and two horse-chestnuts grew
+in the yard. There were but few trees near the house, for Mr. Ames
+liked the light and the fresh air. He planted a great many shade trees
+however on the street, and some of the fine old elms about the common
+were set out with his own hands. The front door opened into a large
+room, which took up the whole southwestern end, used as a hall, and on
+occasion of those large dinner parties so common among men of Mr.
+Ames's class, in those days, as a dining-room. At such times this was
+thrown into one with the adjoining front room, a large apartment, with
+a big fireplace, commonly used as a parlor. Back of this was the
+library overlooking the garden. The southeastern end was Mr. Ames's
+favorite one. His chamber, that in which he died, was here, on the
+second story. Below stairs, was a cellar kitchen, and a dairy; this
+last quite a magnificent matter, with marble flagging, and ice bestowed
+around in summer, for coolness.</p>
+<p>From the bank at the end of the garden, Mr. Ames's land
+covered with fruit-trees, sloped gracefully to the water. Charles River
+is here only twenty or thirty feet wide, and winds <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_290"></a>[290]</span>with
+a tranquil
+current through a narrow meadow; not as broad, but brighter and clearer
+than where at Cambridge it calls forth the admiring apostrophe of the
+poet. It is only a short way below this where Mother Brook issues from
+the Charles, flowing towards the east, and joining it with the
+Neponset, and making an island of all the intervening region, which
+embraces Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester. This singular stream, though
+its banks are wooded with venerable trees, and it is in all respects
+like one of nature's own, is nevertheless an artificial course of
+water. And what is very remarkable, it was constructed by the Puritan
+settlers, only three years after their arrival in 1639, when there
+could not have been a hundred men in the place. They were in want of a
+flow of water for mill purposes, and accordingly dug a canal a mile in
+length, from the Charles eastwardly. Here the land descended, and the
+water, left to its own course, wound in graceful curves to the
+Neponset. There are still a number of mills on this stream. This
+achievement of Young America, considering his extreme youth at the
+time, amounting in fact to infancy, was not unworthy of his subsequent
+exploits.</p>
+<p>After returning from Congress, Mr. Ames passed a life of
+almost unbroken retirement. In 1798 he was appointed commissioner to
+the Cherokees, an office he was obliged to refuse. In 1800 he was a
+member of the Governor's Council, and in the same year delivered a
+eulogy on Washington, before the Legislature. He was chosen in 1805,
+President of Harvard College, but ill health, and a disinclination to
+change his habits of life, led him to decline the honor.</p>
+<p>He had also resumed the practice of his profession with ardor,
+but the state of his health compelled him gradually to <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_291"></a>[291]</span>drop
+it; and
+towards the close of his life, he was glad to throw it aside
+altogether. Mr. Ames was not much of a traveller, though getting back
+and forth between Dedham and Philadelphia, which he used to do in his
+own conveyance, was no small matter in those days. He visited among his
+acquaintances in the neighborhood, at Christopher Gore's in Waltham, at
+George Cabot's in Brookline, and at Salem, where Timothy Pickering and
+others of his friends resided. He was also in the habit of driving to
+Boston in his gig two or three times a week, when his health permitted,
+and passing the day. But he took few long journeys. We hear of him at
+Newport in 1795, in Virginia visiting the mineral springs for his
+health, in the following year, and in Connecticut in 1800; and he
+speaks in one of his letters of "jingling his bells as far as
+Springfield" as a matter of common occurrence. His wife's relations
+lived there, among others the husband of her sister, Mr. Thomas Dwight,
+at whose house Mr. Ames was a frequent guest.</p>
+<p>Ames, like so many of the best statesmen of that time, and of
+all time, appears to have always had a relish for farming. In a letter
+written at Philadelphia in 1796, while groaning over his ill health,
+which makes him "the survivor of himself, or rather the troubled ghost
+of a politician compelled to haunt the field of battle where he fell,"
+he says, "I almost wish Adams was here, and I at home sorting squash
+and pumpkin seeds for planting." The latter part of the wish was soon
+to be realized, but not till this survivor of himself had outdone all
+the efforts of his former life, and risen like a Ph&#339;nix in his splendid
+speech on the Treaty. He frequently wrote essays on agricultural
+subjects, and into many <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_292"></a>[292]</span>
+of his political articles similes and
+illustrations found their way, smelling of the farm. He had an especial
+fondness for raising fruit trees, and for breeding calves and pigs. All
+the best kinds of fruit were found in his orchard, experiments were
+tried on new kinds of grass, and improvements undertaken in the
+cultivation of crops. A piggery was attached to the barn, conducted on
+scientific principles, and furnished with the best stock. New breeds of
+cattle were introduced, and cows were kept with a view both to the sale
+of milk, and to the sale of their young. The produce of the farm used
+to be sent to Boston in a market wagon. For the carrying on of this
+establishment, Mr. Ames kept some half a dozen men. He himself was able
+to do but little active service. His disease was called by the
+physicians marasmus, a wasting away of the vital powers, a sort of
+consumption, not merely of the lungs, but of the stomach and every
+thing else. This, while it produced fits of languor and depression, and
+had something to do probably with his excessive anxiety on political
+subjects, never seemed to take from the cheerfulness of his manners. He
+was obliged to practise a rigid system of temperance, and to take a
+good deal of exercise, in horseback riding and other ways. Besides the
+society of his family, a constant source of happiness, he used to
+solace himself with the company of his friends, with writing letters,
+and with reading his favorite authors. History and poetry he was
+especially fond of. Shakspeare, Milton, and Pope's Homer he read
+throughout his life, and during his last year, re-read Virgil, Tacitus
+and Livy, in the original, with much delight.</p>
+<p>His friends were frequently invited out to partake of his
+"farmer's fare," and rare occasions those must have been, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_293"></a>[293]</span>when
+such men
+as Theophilus Parsons, and Pickering, and Gore, and Samuel Dexter, and
+George Cabot were met together, with now and then one from a greater
+distance. Hamilton or Gouverneur Morris, or Sedgwick, or Judge Smith;
+while at the head of the table sat Fisher Ames himself, delighting
+every one by his humor, and his unrivalled powers of conversation. In
+conversation, he surpassed all the men of his time; even Morris, who
+was celebrated as a talker, used to be struck quite dumb at his side.
+His quick fancy and exuberant humor, his brilliant power of expression,
+his acquaintance with literature and affairs, and his genial and sunny
+disposition, used to show themselves on such occasions to perfection.
+His conversation, like his letters, was mainly upon political topics,
+though now and then, agriculture or literature, or the common news of
+the day was introduced. When dining once with some Southern gentlemen
+in Boston, General Pinckney among the number, after an animated
+conversation at the table, just as Ames was leaving the room, somebody
+asked him a question. Ames walked on until he reached the door, when,
+turning round and resting his elbow on the sideboard, he replied in a
+strain of such eloquence and beauty that the company confessed they had
+no idea of his powers before. Judge Smith, his room-mate in
+Philadelphia, stated, that when he was so sick as to be confined to his
+bed, he would sometimes get up and converse with friends who came to
+see him, by the hour, and then go back to his bed completely exhausted.
+His friends in Boston used to seize upon him when he drove in town, and
+"tire him down," as he expressed it, so that when he got back to
+Dedham, he wanted to roll like a tired horse.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_294"></a>[294]</span>
+Ames wrote a good many newspaper essays. This was a habit
+which he always kept up, particularly after his retirement. About 1800,
+on the election of Jefferson, he was very active in starting a Federal
+paper in Boston, the Palladium, and wrote for it constantly. He had
+great fears for his country from the predominance of French influence,
+and deemed it the duty of a patriot to enlighten his countrymen on the
+character and tendency of political measures. His biographer informs us
+that these essays were the first drafts, and they appear as such. The
+language is appropriate and often very felicitous, but they are diffuse
+and not always systematic. There is considerable argument in them, but
+more of explanation, appeal and ornament. He wrote to set facts before
+the people, and to urge them to vigilance and activity; and his essays
+are in fact so many written addresses. They cost him no labor in their
+composition, being on subjects that he was constantly revolving in his
+mind. They used to be written whenever he found a spare moment and a
+scrap of paper, while stopping at a tavern, at the printing office in
+Boston, or while waiting for his horse; and are apparently expressed
+just as they would have been if he were speaking impromptu. We have
+heard him characterized by one of his old friends as essentially a
+poet; but it would be more correct to say, that he was altogether an
+orator. He had indeed the characteristics of an orator in a rare
+degree, and these show themselves in every thing he does. While his
+mind was clear and his powers of reasoning were exceedingly good,
+imagination, the instinctive perception of analogies, and feeling
+predominated. His writings do not justify his fame; yet viewed as what
+they really are, the unlabored transcripts of his thoughts, they are
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_295"></a>[295]</span>
+remarkable. The flow of language, the wit, the wealth and aptness of
+illustration, the clearness of thought, show an informed and superior
+mind. They have here and there profound observations, that show an
+acquaintance with the principles of government and with the human
+heart, and are full of testimonials to the purity of the author's
+patriotism, and the goodness of his heart.</p>
+<p>Besides the essays that are published among his works, he
+wrote many others perhaps equally good, as well as numerous short, keen
+paragraphs, adapted to the time, but not suitable for republication. He
+also wrote verses occasionally, among others "an Ode by Jefferson" to
+the ship that was to bring Tom Paine from France, in imitation of
+Horace's to the vessel that was to bear Virgil from Athens.</p>
+<p>He wrote a great many letters, and it is in these that we are
+presented with the finest view of his character. They are full of
+sensible remarks on contemporary news and events, and sparkle with wit
+of that slipshod and easy sort, most delightful in letters, while in
+grace of style they surpass most of the correspondence of that period.
+The public has already been informed that the correspondence of Fisher
+Ames, together with other writings, and some notice of his life, is in
+course of publication by one of his sons, Mr. Seth Ames of Cambridge.
+But few of his letters were published in his works, as issued in 1809;
+a few more appeared in Judge Smith's life, and some twenty in Gibbs's
+"Administration of Washington and Adams," but these bear but a very
+small proportion to his whole correspondence. Within a short time as
+many as one hundred and fifty letters have been found in Springfield,
+written to Mr. Dwight, of various dates from 1790 to 1807. A <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_296"></a>[296]</span>large
+number are said to have disappeared, that were in the hands of George
+Cabot, and some were burned among the papers of President Kirkland. For
+a delightful specimen of Mr. Ames' familiar letters, the reader is
+referred to page 89 of that capital biography, the "Life of Judge
+Smith."</p>
+<p>Mr. Ames was a man of great urbanity among his neighbors. It
+was his custom to converse a good deal with ignorant persons and those
+remote from civil affairs. He was desirous to see how such persons
+looked at political questions, and often found means in this way of
+correcting his own views. He was a great favorite among the servants,
+and used to sit down in the kitchen sometimes and talk with them.</p>
+<p>He attended the Congregational church at Dedham, and took a
+good deal of interest in its affairs. On one occasion he invited out a
+number of friends to attend an installation. But about 1797, on the
+minister's insisting upon certain high Calvinistic doctrines, Mr. Ames
+left, and always went, after that, to the Episcopal church. A certain
+good old orthodox lady remarked to him one day, after he left their
+church, that she supposed, if they had a nice new meeting-house, he
+would come back. "No, madam," rejoined Ames, "if you had a church of
+silver, and were to line it with gold, and give me the best seat in it,
+I should go to the Episcopal." Though a man of strong religious
+feelings, he was nothing of a sectarian, and did not fully agree with
+the Episcopal views. He was a friend of Dr. Channing, who visited him
+in his last illness, and he ought probably to be reckoned in the same
+class of Christians with that eminent clergyman. He was very fond of
+the Psalms, and used to repeat the beautiful hymn of Watts, "Up to the
+hills I lift mine eyes." The Christmas of 1807, the year <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_297"></a>[297]</span>before
+his
+death, he had his house decked with green, a favourite custom with him.</p>
+<p>He died at the age of fifty, on the fourth of July 1808, at
+five o'clock in the morning, leaving to his family a comfortable
+property. The news of his death was carried at once to Boston, and
+Andrew Ritchie, the city orator for that day, alluded to it in this
+extempore burst: "But, alas! the immortal Ames, who, like Ithuriel, was
+commissioned to discover the insidious foe, has, like Ithuriel,
+accomplished his embassy, and on this morning of our independence has
+ascended to Heaven. Spirit of Demosthenes, couldst thou have been a
+silent and invisible auditor, how wouldst thou have been delighted to
+hear from his lips, those strains of eloquence which once from thine,
+enchanted the assemblies of Greece!" Ames' friends in Boston requested
+his body for the celebration of funeral rites. It was attended by a
+large procession from the house of Christopher Gore to King's Chapel,
+where an oration was pronounced by Samuel Dexter. It was afterwards
+deposited in the family tomb at Dedham, whence it was removed a few
+years since, and buried by the side of his wife and children. A plain
+white monument marks the spot, in the old Dedham grave-yard, behind the
+Episcopal church, with the simple inscription "<span class="smcap">Fisher
+Ames</span>."</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_299"></a>[299]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="jqadams2"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">John Quincy Adams.</span>
+</h6>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_300"></a>[300]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="letter_300"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 600px; height: 635px;" alt="John Quincy Adams fac-simile of letter" src="images/letters/jqadams2.png" /></a>
+</div>
+<hr  />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_301"></a>[301]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus319"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 563px; height: 402px;" alt="Birth-place of John Quincy Adams." src="images/illus319.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Birth-place of John Quincy Adams.</a></span></p>
+<h2>JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.</h2>
+<p>John Quincy Adams was fortunate in the home of his birth and
+childhood. It was a New England farm, descended from ancestors who were
+never so poor as to be dependent upon others, nor so rich as to be
+exempted from dependence upon themselves. It was situated in the town
+of Quincy, then the first parish of the town of Braintree, and the
+oldest permanent settlement of Massachusetts proper.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a>
+The first parish became a town by its present name, twenty-five years
+after the birth <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_302"></a>[302]</span>
+of Mr. Adams, viz. in 1792. It was named in honor of
+John Quincy, Mr. Adams's maternal great-grandfather, an eminent man.
+His death, and the transmission of his name to his great-grandson, are
+thus commemorated by the latter:</p>
+<p>"He was dying when I was baptized, and his daughter, my
+grandmother, present at my birth, requested that I should receive his
+name. The fact, recorded by my father at the time, has connected with
+that portion of my name a charm of mingled sensibility and devotion. It
+was filial tenderness that gave the name. It was the name of one
+passing from earth to immortality. It has been to me a perpetual
+admonition to do nothing unworthy of it."</p>
+<p>The farm-house stands at the foot of an eminence called Penn's
+Hill, about a mile south of Quincy village. It is an old-fashioned
+dwelling, having a two-story front, and sloping far away to a single
+one in the rear. This style is peculiar to the early descendants of the
+Puritan fathers of America. Specimens are becoming rarer every year;
+and being invariably built of wood, must soon pass away, but not
+without "the tribute of a sigh" from those, who associate with them
+memories of the wide old fireplaces, huge glowing backlogs, and
+hospitable cheer.</p>
+<p>With this modest material environment of the child, was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_303"></a>[303]</span>
+coupled an intellectual and moral, which was golden. His father, the
+illustrious John Adams, was bred, and in his youth labored, on the
+farm. At the birth of his son, he was still a young man, being just
+turned of thirty, but ripe both in general and professional knowledge,
+and already recognized as one of the ablest counsellors and most
+powerful pleaders at the bar of the province.</p>
+<p>The mother of John Quincy Adams was worthy to be the companion
+and counsellor of the statesman just described. By reason of slender
+health she never attended a school. As to the general education allowed
+to girls at that day, she tells us that it was limited "in the best
+families to writing, arithmetic, and, in rare instances, music and
+dancing;" and that "it was fashionable to ridicule female learning."
+From her father, a clergyman, from her mother, a daughter of John
+Quincy, and above all from her grandmother, his wife, she derived
+liberal lessons and salutary examples. Thus her education was entirely
+domestic and social. Perhaps it was the better for the absence of that
+absorbing passion of the schools, which for the most part rests as well
+satisfied with negative elevation by the failure of another, as with
+positive elevation by the improvement of one's self. The excellent and
+pleasant volume of her letters, which has gone through several
+editions, indicates much historical, scriptural, and especially
+poetical and ethical culture. In propriety, ease, vivacity and grace,
+they compare not unfavorably with the best epistolary collections; and
+in constant good sense, and occasional depth and eloquence, no
+letter-writer can be named as her superior. To her only daughter,
+mother of the late Mrs. De Wint, she wrote concerning the influence of
+her grandmother as follows:</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_304"></a>[304]</span>
+"I have not forgotten the excellent lessons which I received
+from my grandmother, at a very early period of life. I frequently think
+they made a more durable impression upon my mind than those which I
+received from my own parents. Whether it was owing to a happy method of
+mixing instruction and amusement together, or from an inflexible
+adherence to certain principles, which I could not but see and approve
+when a child, I know not; but maturer years have made them oracles of
+wisdom to me. Her lively, cheerful disposition animated all around her,
+whilst she edified all by her unaffected piety. I cherish her memory
+with a holy veneration, whose maxims I have treasured, whose virtues
+live in my remembrance&#8212;happy if I could say they have been transplanted
+into my life."</p>
+<p>The concluding aspiration was more than realized, because Mrs.
+Adams lived more than the fortunate subject of her eulogy, and more
+than any American woman of her time. She was cheerful, pious,
+compassionate, discriminating, just and courageous up to the demand of
+the times. She was a calm adviser, a zealous assistant, and a never
+failing consolation of her partner, in all his labors and anxieties,
+public and private. That the laborers might be spared for the army, she
+was willing to work in the field. Diligent, frugal, industrious and
+indefatigable in the arrangement and details of the household and the
+farm, the entire management of which devolved upon her for a series of
+years, she preserved for him amidst general depreciation and loss of
+property, an independence, upon which he could always count and at last
+retire. At the same time she responded to the numerous calls of
+humanity, irrespective of opinions and parties. If there was a patriot
+of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_305"></a>[305]</span>
+Revolution who merited the title of <i>Washington of women</i>,
+she was the one.</p>
+<p>It is gratifying to know that this rare combination of virtue
+and endowments met with a just appreciation from her great husband. In
+his autobiography, written at a late period of life, he records this
+touching testimony, that "his connection with her had been the source
+of all his felicity," and his unavoidable separations from her, "of all
+the griefs of his heart, and all that he esteemed real afflictions in
+his life." Throughout the two volumes of letters to her, embracing a
+period of twenty-seven years, the lover is more conspicuous than the
+statesman; and she on her part regarded him with an affection
+unchangeable and ever fresh during more than half a century of married
+life. On one of the anniversaries of her wedding she wrote from
+Braintree to him in Europe:</p>
+<p>"Look at this date and tell me what are the thoughts which
+arise in your mind. Do you not recollect that eighteen years have run
+their circuit, since we pledged our mutual faith, and the hymeneal
+torch was lighted at the altar of love? Yet, yet it burns with
+unabating fervor. Old ocean cannot quench it; old Time cannot smother
+it in this bosom. It cheers me in the lonely hour."</p>
+<p>The homely place at Penn's Hill was thrice ennobled, twice as
+the birth-place of two noble men&#8212;noble before they were Presidents; and
+thirdly as the successful rival of the palaces inhabited by its
+proprietors at the most splendid courts of Europe, which never for a
+moment supplanted it in their affections. Mrs. Adams wrote often from
+Paris and London in this strain: "My humble cottage at the foot of the
+hill has more charms for me than the drawing-room of St. James;" and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_306"></a>[306]</span>
+John Adams still oftener thus: "I had rather build wall on Penn's Hill
+than be the first prince of Europe, or the first general or first
+senator of America."</p>
+<p>Such were the hearts that unfolded the childhood of John
+Quincy Adams.</p>
+<p>Of all the things which grace or deform the early home, the
+principles, aims and efforts of the parents in conducting the education
+of the child are the most important to both. The mutual letters of the
+parents, in the present case, contain such wise and patriotic precepts,
+such sagacious methods, such earnest and tender persuasions to the
+acquisition of all virtue, knowledge, arts and accomplishments, that
+can purify and exalt the human character, that they would form a
+valuable manual for the training of true men and purer patriots.</p>
+<p>Although the spot which has been mentioned was John Quincy
+Adams's principal home until he was nearly eleven, yet he resided at
+two different intervals, within that time, four or five years in
+Boston; his father's professional business at one time, and his failing
+health at another, rendering the alternation necessary. The first
+Boston residence was the White House, so called, in Brattle-street. In
+front of this a British regiment was exercised every morning by Major
+Small, during the fall and winter of 1768, to the no little annoyance
+of the tenant. But says he, "in the evening, I was soothed by the sweet
+songs, violins and flutes of the serenading Sons of Liberty." The
+family returned to Braintree in the spring of 1771. In November, 1772,
+they again removed to Boston, and occupied a house which John Adams had
+purchased in Queen (now Court) street, in which he also kept his
+office. From this issued state papers and appeals, which did not a
+little to fix the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_307"></a>[307]</span>
+destiny of the country. The ground of that house has
+descended to Charles Francis Adams, his grandson. In 1774 Penn's Hill
+became the permanent home of the family, although John Adams continued
+his office in Boston, attended by students at law, until it was broken
+up by the event of April 19th, 1775.</p>
+<p>Soon after the final return to Quincy, we begin to have a
+personal acquaintance with the boy, now seven years old. Mrs. Adams
+writes to her husband, then attending the Congress in Philadelphia:</p>
+<p>"I have taken a very great fondness for reading Rollin's
+Ancient History since you left me. I am determined to go through with
+it, if possible, in these my days of solitude. I find great pleasure
+and entertainment from it, and I have persuaded Johnny to read me a
+page or two every day, and hope he will, from a desire to oblige me,
+entertain a fondness for it."</p>
+<p>In the same year the first mention is made of his regular
+attendance upon a teacher. The person selected in that capacity was a
+young man named Thaxter, a student at law, transferred from the office
+in Boston, to the family in Quincy. The boy seems to have been very
+much attached to him. Mrs. Adams assigned the following reasons for
+preferring this arrangement to the public town school.</p>
+<p>"I am certain that if he does not get so much good, he gets
+less harm; and I have always thought it of very great importance that
+children should be unaccustomed to such examples as would tend to
+corrupt the purity of their words and actions, that they may chill with
+horror at the sound of an oath, and blush with indignation at an
+obscene expression."</p>
+<p>This furnishes a pleasing coincidence with a precept of
+ancient prudence:&#8212;
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_308"></a>[308]</span>
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">Let
+nothing foul in speech or act intrude,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">Where
+reverend childhood is.</span></span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p>There is no disapprobation of public schools to be inferred
+from this. These are indispensable for the general good; but if from
+this narrative a hint should be taken for making them more and more
+pure, and worthy of their saving mission, such an incident will be
+welcome.</p>
+<p>Of the next memorable year we have a reminiscence from
+himself. It was related in a speech at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in
+1843.</p>
+<p>"In 1775 the minute men, from a hundred towns in the
+Provinces, were marching to the scenes of the opening war. Many of them
+called at our house, and received the hospitality of John Adams. All
+were lodged in the house whom the house would contain, others in the
+barns, and wherever they could find a place. There were then in my
+father's house some dozen or two of pewter spoons; and I well recollect
+seeing some of the men engaged in running those spoons into bullets. Do
+you wonder that a boy of seven years of age, who witnessed these
+scenes, should be a patriot?"</p>
+<p>He saw from Penn's Hill the flames of Charlestown, and heard
+the guns of Bunker Hill and Dorchester Heights.</p>
+<p>In one of her letters from France, Mrs. Adams remarks that he
+was generally taken to be older than his sister (about two years older
+than he), because he usually conversed with persons older than
+himself&#8212;a remarkable proof of a constant aim at improvement, of a wise
+discernment of the means, and of the maturity of acquisitions already
+made. Edward Everett remarks in his eulogy, that such a stage as
+boyhood seems not to have been in the life of John Quincy Adams. While
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_309"></a>[309]</span>
+he was under ten, he wrote to his father the earliest production of his
+pen which has been given to the public. It is found in Governor
+Seward's Memoir of his life, and was addressed to his father.&nbsp;<br />
+</p>
+<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="smcap">Braintree</span>,
+June 2d, 1777.
+</span></div>
+<p>Dear Sir:&#8212;I love to receive letters very well, much better
+than I love to write them. I make but a poor figure at composition. My
+head is much too fickle. My mind is running after bird's eggs, play and
+trifles, till I get vexed with myself. Mamma has a troublesome task to
+keep me a studying. I own I am ashamed of myself. I have but just
+entered the third volume of Rollin's History, but I designed to have
+got half thro' it by this time. I am determined this week to be more
+diligent. Mr. Thaxter is absent at Court. I have set myself a stent
+this week to read the third volume half out. If I can keep my
+resolution, I may again, at the end of a week, give a better account of
+myself. I wish, sir, you would give me in writing some instructions in
+regard to the use of my time, and advise me how to proportion my
+studies and play, and I will keep them by me, and endeavor to follow
+them.</p>
+<p>With the present determination of growing better, I am, dear
+sir, your son, </p>
+<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.</span></div>
+<p>P.S. Sir, if you will be so good as to favor me with a
+blank-book, I will transcribe the most remarkable passages I meet with
+in my reading, which will serve to fix them on my mind.<br />
+</p>
+<p>Soon after the evacuation of Boston by Lord Howe, Mrs. Adams
+announces that "Johnny has become post-rider from Boston to Braintree."
+The distance was nine miles, and he <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_310"></a>[310]</span>
+was nine years old. In this hardy
+enterprise, and in the foregoing letter, we may mark the strong hold
+which the favourite maxims of the parents had taken of their child's
+mind. Among those maxims were these:</p>
+<p>To begin composition very early by writing descriptions of
+natural objects, as a storm, a country residence; or narrative of
+events, as a walk, ride, or the transactions of a day.</p>
+<p>To transcribe the best passages from the best writers in the
+course of reading, as a means of forming the style as well as storing
+the memory.</p>
+<p>To cultivate spirit and hardihood, activity and power of
+endurance.</p>
+<p>Soon after this, the lad ceased to have a home except in the
+bosom of affection, and that was a divided one. On the 13th of
+February, 1778, he embarked for France with his father, who had been
+appointed a commissioner, jointly with Dr. Franklin and Arthur Lee, to
+negotiate treaties of alliance and commerce with that country. From the
+place of embarcation his father wrote: "Johnny sends his duty to his
+mamma, and love to his sister and brothers. <i>He behaves like a
+man.</i>"</p>
+<p>When they arrived in France, after escaping extraordinary
+perils at sea, they found the treaty of alliance already concluded. The
+son was put to school in Paris, and gave his father "great
+satisfaction, both by his assiduity to his books and his discreet
+behavior," all which the father lovingly attributes to the lessons of
+the mother. He calls the boy "the joy of his heart."</p>
+<p>He was permitted to tarry but three months, when he was
+commissioned to negotiate treaties of independence, peace, and commerce
+with Great Britain. He embarked for France in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_311"></a>[311]</span>month
+of November,
+accompanied by Francis Dana as secretary of legation, and by his two
+oldest sons, John and Charles.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> The vessel sprung a leak and
+was compelled to put into the nearest port, which proved to be Ferrol,
+where they landed safe December seventh. One of the first things was to
+buy a,dictionary and grammar for the boys, who "went to learning
+Spanish as fast as possible." Over high mountains, by rough and miry
+roads, a-muleback, and in the depth of winter, they wound their
+toilsome way, much of the time on foot, from Ferrol to Paris, a journey
+of a thousand miles, arriving about the middle of February, 1780. On
+this occasion, it is to be presumed, Master Johnny must have derived no
+small benefit from the service he had seen as "post-rider."</p>
+<p>At Paris he immediately entered an academy, but in the autumn
+accompanied his father to Holland, who had received superadded
+commissions to negotiate private loans, and public treaties there. For
+a few months the son was sent to a common school in Amsterdam, but in
+December he was removed to Leyden, to learn Latin and Greek under the
+distinguished teachers there, and to attend the lectures of celebrated
+professors in the University. The reasons of this transfer are worth
+repeating, as they mark the strong and habitual aversion which John
+Adams felt and inculcated, to every species of littleness and meanness.</p>
+<p>"I should not wish to have children educated in the common
+schools of this country, where a littleness of soul is notorious. The
+masters are mean-spirited wretches, pinching, kicking and boxing the
+children upon every turn. There is a <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_312"></a>[312]</span>
+general littleness, arising from
+the incessant contemplation of stivers and doits. Frugality and
+industry, are virtues every where, but avarice and stinginess are not
+frugality."</p>
+<p>In July, 1781, the son accompanied to St. Petersburgh Mr.
+Francis Dana, who had been appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the
+court of Russia. The original purpose was study, observation, and
+general improvement, under the guidance of a trusty and accomplished
+friend. The youth was not, as has been stated, appointed secretary of
+the Minister at the time they started; but by his readiness and
+capability he came to be employed by Mr. Dana as interpreter and
+secretary, difficult and delicate trusts, probably never before
+confided to a boy of thirteen.</p>
+<p>In October, 1782, the youth left St. Petersburgh, and paying
+passing visits to Sweden, Denmark, Hamburg, and Bremen, reached the
+Hague in April, 1783, and there resumed his studies. Meantime his
+father, having received assurances that Great Britain was prepared to
+treat for peace on the basis of independence, had repaired to Paris to
+open the negotiation. He found that Dr. Franklin and Mr. Jay, two of
+his colleagues on the same commission, had commenced the business first
+with informal agents, and afterwards with a commissioner of his
+majesty, George the Third. The Definitive Treaty was signed September
+the third, 1783, at which act John Quincy Adams was summoned by his
+father to be present, and to assume the duties of secretary. In that
+capacity he made one of the copies of the treaty. The father on this
+occasion wrote: "Congress are at such grievous expense that I shall
+have no other secretary but my son. He, however, is a very good one. He
+writes a good hand very fast, and is steady at his pen and books."</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_313"></a>[313]</span>
+In this autumn the two made a trip to London, partly for the
+health of the elder, which had been seriously impaired by incessant
+labor, and partly for the benefit of the younger, as it was expected
+then that both would bid adieu to Europe and embark for America in the
+ensuing spring. John Adams had the satisfaction of hearing the King
+announce to the Parliament and people from the throne, that he had
+concluded a Treaty of Peace with the United States of America.</p>
+<p>In January, 1784, the father and son proceeded to Holland to
+negotiate a new loan for the purpose of meeting the interest on the
+former one. There they remained until the latter part of July, when a
+letter came communicating the arrival of Mrs. Adams and her daughter in
+London. John Adams despatched his son to meet them, and wrote to his
+wife:</p>
+<p>"Your letter of the twenty-third has made me the happiest man
+upon earth. I am twenty years younger than I was yesterday. It is a
+cruel mortification to me that I cannot go to meet you in London; but
+there are a variety of reasons decisively against it, which I will
+communicate to you here. Meantime I send you a son, who is one of the
+greatest travellers of his age, and without partiality, I think as
+promising and manly a youth, as is in the whole world. He will purchase
+a coach, in which we four must travel to Paris; let it be large and
+strong. After spending a week or two here you will have to set out with
+me for France, but there are no seas between; a good road, a fine
+season, and we will make moderate journeys, and see the curiosities of
+several cities in our way,&#8212;Utrecht, Breda, Antwerp, Brussels,
+&amp;c. &amp;c. It is the first time in Europe that I looked
+forward to a journey with pleasure. Now I expect a great deal. I think
+myself made for this world."</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_314"></a>[314]</span>
+John Quincy Adams reached London the thirtieth of July. "When
+he entered," says Mrs. Adams, "we had so many strangers that I drew
+back, not really believing my eyes, till he cried out, 'O my mamma, and
+my dear sister!' Nothing but the eyes appeared what he once was. His
+appearance is that of a man, and in his countenance the most perfect
+good-humor. His conversation by no means denies his station. I think
+you do not approve the word <i>feelings</i>. I know not
+what to substitute in lieu, nor how to describe mine." The son was then
+seventeen, and the separation had continued nearly five years.</p>
+<p>Notwithstanding that the husband's letter had forbidden hope
+of his participating in this re-union, he did so after all, practising
+a surprise charmingly delicate and gallant. It was a blissful meeting
+not only of happy friends, but of merit and reward, a beautiful and
+honorable consummation of mutual sacrifices and toils. Seldom does the
+cup of joy so effervesce.</p>
+<p>Independence predicted in youth, moved and sustained with
+unrivalled eloquence in manhood, at home&#8212;confirmed and consolidated by
+loans, alliances, ships, and troops&#8212;obtained, in part or all, by him,
+abroad&#8212;Washington nominated Chief of the army&#8212;the American Navy
+created&#8212;peace negotiated&#8212;this, this (if civic virtues and achievments
+were honored only equally with martial) would have been the circle of
+Golden Medals, which John Adams might have laid at the feet of his
+admirable wife!</p>
+<p>Five months after this, as if too full for earlier utterance,
+she wrote to her sister: "You will chide me, perhaps, for not relating
+to you an event which took place in London, that of unexpectedly
+meeting my long absent friend; for from his <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_315"></a>[315]</span>
+letters by my son, I had no
+idea that he would come. But you know, my dear sister, that poets and
+painters wisely draw a veil over scenes which surpass the pen of the
+one and the pencil of the other."</p>
+<p>The family reached Paris in the latter part of August, and
+established their residence at Auteuil, four miles from the city. The
+son pursued his studies, his mother, by his particular desire, writing
+her charming letters to American friends by his fireside. Sometimes he
+copied them in his plain and beautiful hand, always equal to print, and
+made her think, as she gayly remarks, that they were really worth
+something. The circle of familiar visitors included Franklin, Jefferson
+and his daughter, La Fayette and his wife; of formal, all the ministers
+domestic and foreign, and as many of the elite of fashion and of fame
+as they chose. But Mrs. Adams was always a modest and retiring woman.
+Of Franklin she wrote: "His character, from my infancy, I had been
+taught to venerate. I found him social, not talkative; and when he
+spoke, something useful dropped from, his tongue."</p>
+<p>Of Jefferson, "I shall really regret to leave Mr. Jefferson.
+He is one of the choice ones of the earth. On Thursday I dine with him
+at his house. On Sunday he is to dine with us. On Monday we all dine
+with the Marquis."</p>
+<p>In the spring of 1785 John Adams received the appointment of
+Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain, the first from the United
+States of America. A new separation ensued. He, his wife and daughter
+departed for London, but not the son, as has been stated. He departed
+for Harvard University, where, in the following March, he entered the
+Junior Class, and graduated with distinguished honor in 1787. He
+studied law <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_316"></a>[316]</span>
+at Newburyport in the office of Theophilus Parsons,
+afterwards the eminent Chief Justice. He entered upon the practice of
+the law in Boston in 1790, and boarded in the family of Dr. Thomas
+Welsh. He continued thus four years, gradually enlarging the circle of
+his business and the amount of his income. Meantime, great and exciting
+public questions arose, and in discussing them he obtained a sudden and
+wide distinction. A tract from his pen in answer to a portion of
+Paine's Rights of Man, and expressing doubts of the ultimate success of
+the French Revolution, appeared in 1791, was republished in England and
+attributed to John Adams. This was at a time when the enthusiasm for
+the great French movement was at its height in this country. Events too
+soon showed that the writer had inherited his father's sagacity.</p>
+<p>Another publication of his, which appeared in 1793, maintained
+the right, duty and policy of our assuming a neutral attitude towards
+the respective combatants in the wars arising from the French
+Revolution. This publication preceded Washington's Proclamation of
+Neutrality. In the same year Mr. Adams reviewed the course of Genet,
+applying to it and the condition of the country the principles of
+public law.</p>
+<p>These writings attracted the attention of Washington, and he
+is supposed to have derived essential aid from them in some of the most
+difficult conjunctures of his administration. Upon the recommendation
+of Jefferson, made as he was about to retire from the office of
+Secretary of State, Washington determined to appoint John Quincy Adams
+Minister Resident in Holland. An intimation from Washington to the
+Vice-President, in order that he might give his wife timely notice to
+prepare for the departure of her son, was the first knowledge <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_317"></a>[317]</span>that
+any
+member of the family had, that such an appointment was thought of. Mr.
+Adams repaired to his post, and remained there till near the close of
+Washington's administration, with the exception of an additional
+mission to London in 1795, to exchange ratifications of Jay's treaty,
+and agree upon certain arrangements for its execution.</p>
+<p>On this occasion he met, at the house of her father, the
+American consul in London, Miss <span class="smcap">Louisa
+Catherine Johnson</span>, who afterwards became his wife. In
+consequence of a rumor of his intending to resign, Washington wrote to
+the Vice-President:</p>
+<p>"Your son must not think of retiring from the path he is in.
+His prospects, if he pursues it, are fair; and I shall be much
+surprised, if, in as short a time as can well be expected, he is not at
+the head of the Diplomatic Corps, be the government administered by
+whomsoever it may."</p>
+<p>Subsequently Washington expressed himself still more strongly,
+aiming to overcome the scruples of President Adams about continuing his
+son in office under his own administration. Just before his retirement,
+Washington appointed him Minister Plenipotentiary to Portugal. This
+destination was changed by his father to Berlin. Before assuming the
+station, he was married in London to Miss Johnson.</p>
+<p>While in Prussia he negotiated an important commercial treaty,
+and wrote letters from Silesia, which were published in the portfolio,
+and passed through some editions and translations in Europe. In 1801 he
+was recalled by his father, to save, as it is said, Mr. Jefferson from
+the awkwardness of turning out the son of his old friend, whose
+appointment he had recommended. If such was the motive of the recall,
+it was a <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_318"></a>[318]</span>
+miscalculation, for Jefferson did not hesitate to remove him
+from the small office of commissioner of bankruptcy, to which he had
+been appointed by the district judge of Massachusetts upon his return
+from abroad. Mr. Jefferson defended himself from censure for this
+little act, by alleging that he did not know when he made the removal,
+nor who the incumbent of the office was; an excuse more inexcusable
+than the act itself.</p>
+<p>Mr. Adams re-established himself with his family in Boston. He
+occupied a house in Hanover-street, not now standing, and another which
+he purchased at the corner of Tremont and Boylston streets, now used
+for stores, and owned by his only surviving son.</p>
+<p>In 1802 he was elected to the Senate of Massachusetts from
+Suffolk county.</p>
+<p>In 1803, to the Senate of the United States.</p>
+<p>In 1806, Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory in Harvard
+University, but in subordination to his duties in Congress.</p>
+<p>In 1808 he resigned his seat in the Senate, the Legislature of
+his State having instructed him to oppose the restrictive measures of
+Jefferson, and he having given a zealous support to the embargo.</p>
+<p>In 1809 he was appointed by Madison Minister Plenipotentiary
+to Russia; and resigned his professorship in the University.</p>
+<p>In 1811 he was nominated by Madison and unanimously confirmed
+by the Senate, as judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr.
+Adams having declined this office, Judge Story was appointed.</p>
+<p>In 1814 he was appointed first commissioner at Ghent to treat
+with Great Britain for peace.</p>
+<p>In 1815, Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_319"></a>[319]</span>
+In 1817, Secretary of State.</p>
+<p>In 1825, elected President of the United States.</p>
+<p>Mr. Adams, released from the toils of thirty-five years of
+unintermitted public service, now sought a home which remains to be
+described.</p>
+<p>John Adams, while yet minister in England, purchased a seat in
+Quincy of Mr. Borland, an old friend and neighbor, descended from the
+Vassals, a considerable family in the town and province: this was in
+1786. On his return from Europe in 1788, the purchaser took possession
+with his family; and with the exception of two terms as Vice-President,
+and one as President of the United States, he never left it until his
+death on the fourth of July, 1826. This estate descended to his son, as
+did also that at Penn's Hill.</p>
+<p>It is situated about half a mile north of Quincy village, on
+the old Boston road, where massive mile-stones, erected before the
+birth of John Adams, may still be seen. The farm consists of one
+hundred acres, now productive, though in a rude state when acquired.
+Mrs. John Adams described her husband in 1801 as "busy among his
+haymakers, and getting thirty tons on the spot, which eight years
+before yielded only six."</p>
+<p>The house is supposed to be a hundred and fifty years old. It
+is built of wood, quite unpretending, yet from association or other
+cause, it has a distinguished and venerable aspect. Approached from the
+north or city side, it presents a sharp gable in the old English style
+of architecture. The opposite end is very different, and has a hipped
+or gambrel gable. The length may be some seventy feet, the height
+thirty, consisting of two stories, and a suit of attic chambers, with
+large <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_320"></a>[320]</span>
+luthern windows. A piazza runs along the centre of the basement
+in front. The south or gambrel-roofed section of the edifice, was built
+by John Adams. The principal entrance is at the junction of this
+section with the main building. It opens into a spacious entry with a
+staircase on the right, and busts of Washington and John Quincy Adams
+on the left. At the foot of the stairs is the door of the principal
+apartment, called the Long Room. It is plainly finished, and about
+seven feet in height. It contains portraits of John Adams and his wife
+by Stewart, John Quincy Adams and his wife by the same; Thomas
+Jefferson in French costume, taken in France by Browne. He appears much
+handsomer than in most of his portraits. Over the fireplace is a very
+old and curious picture of a child, supposed by John Quincy Adams to be
+his great-grandfather, John Quincy. There are several other portraits
+of less note. The chairs are of plain mahogany, with stuffed seats and
+backs, and hair-cloth coverings. They belonged to Mrs. Adams. Opposite
+to the door of this room, on the left side of the entry, is the door of
+the dining-room, called the Middle Room. This is within the original
+building. It contains a number of portraits; the most conspicuous is
+that of Washington in his uniform. It was painted by Savage, and was
+purchased by the elder Adams. It has a more solemn and concentrated
+look than Stewart's Washington&#8212;more expressive, but not so symmetrical.
+It resembles Peale's Pater Patri�. John Quincy Adams considered it a
+better likeness than the popular portraits. It is said to have been
+taken when Washington had lost his teeth, and had not substituted
+artificial ones. The lips appear much compressed, the visage elongated
+and thinner than in Stewart's picture. By <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_321"></a>[321]</span>
+its side is Mrs. Washington,
+painted by the same artist. There is a fine engraving of Copley's
+picture of the Death of Chatham. It is a proof copy, presented by the
+painter to John Adams. Passing from the Middle Room through another but
+small front entry, we reach the north basement room, called the Keeping
+Room. This is finished with considerable luxury for a provincial parlor
+of its time. It is panelled from floor to ceiling with mahogany. The
+effect is somewhat heavy, to obviate which the elder Mrs. Adams, a
+votary of all cheerfulness, had it painted white. It has now been
+restored, and presents an antique and rich appearance. Nearly all the
+furniture of this as well as the Middle Room, including the Turkey
+carpet of the latter, still bright and substantial, was John Adams's.
+All these apartments are connected by a longitudinal passage in the
+rear, which communicates with the kitchen.</p>
+<p>The Library is in the second story over the Long Room. This
+chamber was constantly occupied by the Elder President, both for a
+sitting and sleeping room during his latter years. Here the writer saw
+him at the age of nearly ninety, delighted with hearing Scott's novels,
+or Dupuis' Origine de tous les Cultes, or the simplest story-book,
+which he could get his grandchildren to read to him. He seemed very
+cheerful, and ready to depart, remarking that "he had eat his cake."
+When his son came home from Washington, he converted this room into a
+library. Of course his books are very miscellaneous both as to subjects
+and languages; but they are not all here. Some are arranged on the
+sides of passage-ways and in other parts. A portion of them compose in
+part a library at his son's town residence. John Adams in his lifetime
+gave his <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_322"></a>[322]</span>
+library&#8212;a very valuable one&#8212;to the town of Quincy, together
+with several tracts of land for the erection of an academy or classical
+school, to which his library is ultimately to attach. The entire
+library of John Quincy Adams comprises twelve thousand volumes. To this
+must be added a chest full of manuscripts, original and translated, in
+prose and poetry. They show unbounded industry. From his boyhood to the
+age of fifty, when he took the Department of State, he was an intense
+student. In this chest are many of the earlier fruits, such as complete
+versions of a large number of the classics, of German and other foreign
+works.</p>
+<p>The garden lies on the north, contiguous to the house, and
+connects with a lawn, narrow in front of the house, but widening
+considerably south of it. The whole is inclosed on the roadside by a
+solid wall of Quincy granite, some six feet high, except the section
+immediately before the house, which is a low stone wall, surmounted by
+a light wooden fence of an obsolete fashion, with two gates in the same
+style, leading to the two front doors. The whole extent does not much
+exceed an acre. It embraces an ornamental and kitchen garden, the
+former occupying the side near the road, and the latter extending by
+the side and beyond the kitchen and offices to an open meadow and
+orchard. The principal walk is through the ornamental portion of the
+garden, parallel with the road, and terminates at a border of thrifty
+forest trees, disposed, as they should be, without any regard to order.
+From the walk above-mentioned another strikes out at a right angle, and
+skirts the border of trees, till it disappears in the expanse of
+meadow. Most of the trees were raised by John Quincy Adams from the
+seeds, which he was in the habit of picking up in his wanderings. <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_323"></a>[323]</span>The
+most particular interest attaches to a shagbark, which he planted more
+than fifty years ago. It stands near the angle of the two alleys. In
+this tree he took a particular satisfaction, but he was an enthusiast
+in regard to all the trees of the forest, differing in this respect
+from his father, who, as an agriculturist of the Cato stamp, was more
+inclined to lay the axe to them than to propagate them. From this
+plantation Charles Francis Adams was supplied with a great number and
+variety of trees to embellish a residence, which he built in his
+father's lifetime on the summit of a high hill, west of the old
+mansion. This is called President's Hill. It affords one of the finest
+sea landscapes which can be found. John Adams used to say that he had
+never seen, in any part of the world, so fine a view. It comprises a
+wide range of bays, islands and channels seaward, with seats and
+villages on the intervening land. This prospect lies eastward, and
+includes Mount Wollaston, situated near the seashore, and remarkable as
+the first spot settled in the town and State, and as giving its name
+for many of the first years to the entire settlement. This belonged to
+the great-grandfather, John Quincy, and is now a part of the Adams
+estate.</p>
+<p>The meeting-house is half a mile south of the old mansion. The
+material is granite, a donation of John Adams. It has a handsome
+portico, supported by beautiful and massive Doric pillars, not an unfit
+emblem of the donor. Beneath the porch, his son constructed, in the
+most durable manner, a crypt, in which he piously deposited the remains
+of his parents; and in the body of the church, on the right of the
+pulpit, he erected to their sacred memories a marble monument
+surmounted by a bust of John Adams, and inscribed with an affecting and
+noble epitaph.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_324"></a>[324]</span>
+After leading "a wandering life about the world," as he
+himself calls it&#8212;a life of many changes and many labors, John Quincy
+Adams, at sixty-two, sought the quiet and seclusion of his father's
+house. He was yet, for his years, a model of physical vigor and
+activity; for, though by nature convivial as his father was, and
+capable, on an occasion, of some extra glasses, he was by habit
+moderate in meat and drink, never eating more than was first served on
+his plate, and consequently never mixing a variety of dishes. He used
+himself to attribute much of the high health he enjoyed to his walks
+and his baths. Early every morning, when the season admitted, he sought
+a place where he could take a plunge and swim at large. A creek, with a
+wharf or pier projecting into it, called Black's Wharf, about a quarter
+of a mile from his house, served these purposes in Quincy. At
+Washington he resorted to the broad Potomac. There, leaving his apparel
+in charge of an attendant, (for it is said that it was once purloined!)
+he used to buffet the waves before sunrise. He was an easy and expert
+swimmer, and delighted so much in the element, that he would swim and
+float from one to two or three hours at a time. An absurd story
+obtained currency, that he used this exercise in winter, breaking the
+ice, if necessary, to get the indispensable plunge! This was fiction.
+He did not bathe at all in winter, nor at other times from theory, but
+for pleasure.</p>
+<p>He bore abstinence and irregularity in his meals with singular
+indifference. Whether he breakfasted at seven or ten, whether he dined
+at two, or not at all, appeared to be questions with which he did not
+concern himself. It is related that having sat in the House of
+Representatives from eight o'clock in the morning till after midnight,
+a friend accosted <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_325"></a>[325]</span>
+him, and expressed the hope that he had taken
+refreshment in all that time; he replied that he had not left his seat,
+and held up a <i>bit of hard bread</i>. His entertainments
+of his friends were distinguished for abundance, order, elegance, and
+the utmost perfection in every particular, but not for extravagance and
+luxury of table furniture. His accomplished lady, of course, had much
+to do with this. He rose very early, lighting the fire and his lamp in
+his library, while the surrounding world was yet buried in slumber.
+This was his time for writing. Washington and Hamilton had the same
+habit.</p>
+<p>He was unostentatious and almost always walked, whether for
+visiting, business or exercise. At Quincy he used to go up President's
+Hill to meet the sun from the sea, and sometimes walked to the
+residence of his son in Boston before breakfast. Regularly, before the
+hour of the daily sessions of Congress, he was seen wending his quiet
+way towards the Capitol, seldom or never using, in the worst of
+weather, a carriage. He stayed one night to a late hour, listening to a
+debate in the Senate on the expunging resolution. As he was starting
+for home in the face of a fierce snow-storm, and in snow a foot deep, a
+gentleman proposed to conduct him to his house. "I thank you, sir, for
+your kindness," said he, "but I do not need the service of any one. I
+am somewhat advanced in life, but not yet, by the blessing of God,
+infirm, or what Dr. Johnson would call 'superfluous;' and you may
+recollect what old Adam says in 'As you Like it'&#8212;<br />
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+"'For in my youth I never did apply
+</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood.'"</span></span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p>While he was President, the writer was once sitting in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_326"></a>[326]</span>
+drawing-room of a highbred lady in Boston. A hat not very new glanced
+under the window sill. The owner rung at the door; and not finding the
+gentleman at home, continued his walk. A servant entered and presented
+the card of <span class="smcap">John Quincy Adams</span>.
+"I do wonder," exclaimed the lady, "that the President of the United
+States will go about in such a manner!"</p>
+<p>His apparel was always plain, scrupulously neat, and
+reasonably well worn. It was made for the comfort of the wearer, who
+asked not of the fashions.</p>
+<p>When he retired from the Presidency, he resolved to pass the
+remainder of his days under the paternal roof and the beloved shades.
+He anticipated and desired nothing but quiet, animated by the
+excitements of intellectual and rural occupations. He had before him
+the congenial task, to which he had long aspired, of dispensing the
+treasures of wisdom contained in the unwritten life and unpublished
+writings of his father. He was ready to impart of his own inexhaustible
+wealth of experience, observation and erudition, to any one capable of
+receiving. It takes much to reconcile a thoughtful mind to the loss of
+what would have been gained by the proposed employment of his leisure.
+And we had much.</p>
+<p>Had the record of his public life, ample and honorable as it
+was, been now closed, those pages on which patriots, philanthropists
+and poets will for ever dwell with gratitude and delight, would have
+been wanting. Hitherto he had done remarkably well what many others,
+with a knowledge of precedents and of routine and with habits of
+industry, might have done, if not as well, yet acceptably. He was now
+called to do what no other man in the Republic had strength and heart
+to attempt.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_327"></a>[327]</span>
+He was endowed with a memory uncommonly retentive. He could
+remember and quote with precision, works which he had not looked at for
+forty years. Add to this his untiring diligence and perseverance, and
+the advantages of his position and employment at various capitals in
+the old world, and the story of his vast acquisitions is told. His love
+lay in history, literature, moral philosophy and public law. With the
+Greek, Latin, French, German, and Italian languages and principal
+writers he was familiar. His favorite English poet was Shakspeare, whom
+he commented upon and recited with discrimination and force,
+surpassing, it is said, in justness of conception, the great
+personators of his principal characters. Among the classics, he
+especially loved Ovid, unquestionably the Shakspeare of the Romans.
+Cicero was greatly beloved, and most diligently studied, translated,
+and commented upon. For many of his latter years he never read
+continuously. He would fall asleep over his book. But to elucidate any
+subject he had in hand, he wielded his library with wakefulness and
+execution lively enough.</p>
+<p>He was fond of art in all its departments, but most in the
+pictorial. In his "Residence at the Court of London," Mr. Rush has
+drawn an attractive sketch of him at home.</p>
+<p>"His tastes were all refined. Literature and art were familiar
+and dear to him. At his hospitable board I have listened to
+disquisitions from his lips, on poetry, especially the dramas of
+Shakspeare, music, painting and sculpture, of rare excellence and
+untiring interest. A critical scholar in the dead languages, in French,
+German and Italian, he could draw at will from the wealth of these
+tongues to illustrate any particular topic. There was no fine painting
+or statue, of <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_328"></a>[328]</span>
+which he did not know the details and the history. There
+was not even an opera, or a celebrated composer, of which or of whom he
+could not point out the distinguishing merits and the chief
+compositions. Yet he was a hard-working and assiduous man of business;
+and a more regular, punctual, and comprehensive diplomatic
+correspondence than his, no country can probably boast."</p>
+<p>Mr. Adams was generally regarded as cold and austere. The
+testimony of persons who enjoyed an intimacy with him is the reverse of
+this. Mr. Rush says that "under an exterior of at times repulsive
+coldness, dwelt a heart as warm, sympathies as quick, and affections as
+overflowing as ever animated any bosom." And Mr. Everett, that "in real
+kindness and tenderness of feeling, no man surpassed him." There is an
+abundance of like evidence on this head.</p>
+<p>He was taciturn rather than talkative, preferring to think and
+to muse. At times his nature craved converse, and delighted in the play
+of familiar chat. Occasionally he threw out a lure to debate. If great
+principles were seriously called in question, he would pour out a rapid
+and uninterrupted torrent.</p>
+<p>The poets had been the delight of his youth. He read them in
+the intervals of retirement at Quincy with a youthful enthusiasm, and
+tears and laughter came by turns, as their sad and bright visions
+passed before him. Pope was a favorite, "and the intonations of his
+voice in repeating the 'Messiah,'" says an inmate of the family, "will
+never cease to vibrate on the ear of memory." He was a deeply religious
+man, and though not taking the most unprejudiced views of divinity,
+what he received as spiritual truths were to him most evident and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_329"></a>[329]</span>
+momentous realities, and he derived from them a purifying and
+invigorating power. "The dying Christian's Address to his Soul" was
+replete with pathos and beauty for him. He is remembered to have
+repeated it one evening with an intense expression of religious faith
+and joy; adding the Latin lines of Adrian, which Pope imitated. He was
+thought by some to have a tendency to Calvinistic theology, and to
+regard Unitarianism as too abstract and frigid. Thus he used sometimes
+to talk, but it was supposed to be for the purpose of putting
+Unitarians upon a defence of their faith, rather than with a serious
+design to impair it.</p>
+<p>On one occasion he conversed on the subject of popular
+applause and admiration. Its caprice, said he, is equalled only by its
+worthlessness, and the misery of that being who lives on its breath.
+There is one stanza of Thomson's Castle of Indolence, that is worth
+whole volumes of modern poetry; though it is the fashion to speak
+contemptuously of Thomson. He then repeated with startling force of
+manner and energy of enunciation, the third stanza, second canto, of
+that poem.<br />
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+"I care not, fortune, what you me deny;</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+You cannot rob me of free nature's grace,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+You cannot shut the windows of the sky,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Through which Aurora shows her brightening face;</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+You cannot bar my constant feet to trace</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+The woods and lawns by living streams at eve:</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+And I their toys to the great children leave;</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+Of Fancy, Reason, Virtue, nought can me bereave."</span></span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p>He did not much admire the poetry of Byron. One objection
+which he is recollected to have made to the poet was <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_330"></a>[330]</span>the
+use of the
+word "rot." There is some peculiarity in Byron in this respect; thus in
+Childe Harold:&#8212;<br />
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+"The Bucentaur lies <i>rotting</i> unrestored,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Where meaner relics must not dare to <i>rot</i>."</span></span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p>This, if a sound objection, which it is not, was narrow for so
+great a man. The cause of this distaste lay deeper. Mr. Adams, though a
+dear lover of Shakspeare, was of the Johnsonian school of writers. His
+diction is elaborate, stately, and in his earlier writings verbose, but
+always polished, harmonious, and sustained. He liked unconsciously
+Latin English better than Anglo-Saxon. Byron, in common with a large
+and increasing class of moderns, loved to borrow the force of familiar
+and every-day language, and to lend to it the dignity and beauty of
+deep thought and high poetic fancy. Not improbably, the moral
+obliquities of the poet had their influence in qualifying the opinion
+formed of his writings, by a man of such strict rectitude as Mr. Adams.</p>
+<p>He was fond of Watts's Psalms and Hymns, and repeated them
+often, sometimes rising from his seat in the exaltation of his
+feelings. Among favorite stanzas was this one:<br />
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+Sweet fields, beyond the swelling flood,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Stand dressed in living green;</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+So to the Jews old Canaan stood,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+While Jordan rolled between.</span></span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p>Until his private letters shall be published, no adequate
+conception can be formed of the devotion he paid to his mother. This
+may give an inkling of it. A young friend inquired of him, when he was
+once at Hingham on their annual fishing party in his honor, in which of
+his poems a certain line was to be found, viz.&#8212;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_331"></a>[331]</span>
+<br />
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+"Hull&#8212;but that name's redeemed upon the wave,"</span></span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p>referring to the surrender of General Hull, so soon followed
+(only three days after, August 16-19, 1812) by the capture of the
+Guerriere by Captain Hull. "I do not," he replied, "but I have been
+often struck by the coincidence. I think, however, the line occurs in a
+poem <i>addressed to my mother</i>."</p>
+<p>The best saying of Mr. Adams was in reply to the inquiry, What
+are the recognized principles of politics?</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Adams.</span>
+There are none. There are recognized precepts, but they are bad, and so
+not <span class="smcap">principles</span>.</p>
+<p>But is not this a sound one, "The greatest good of the
+greatest number?"</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Adams.</span> No,
+that is the worst of all, for it looks specious, while it is ruinous;
+for what is to become of the minority? This is the only principle&#8212;<span class="smcap">The greatest good of all</span>.</p>
+<p>It must be admitted that much tyranny lurks in this favorite
+democratic tenet, not half as democratic, however, as Mr. Adams's
+amendment. Wrongs and outrages the most unmerciful, have been committed
+by majorities. It may even happen where the forms of law are
+maintained; but what shall be said when the majority resolves itself
+into a mob? When rivers of innocent blood may (as they have) run from
+city gates. The tyranny of majorities is irresponsible, without
+redress, and without punishment, except in the ultimate iron grasp of
+"the higher law."</p>
+<p>Mr. Adams's view, so much larger than the common one, may,
+with a strong probability, be traced to the mother. In her letters to
+him, she insists again and again upon the duty of universal kindness
+and benevolence. Patriot as she was, she pitied the Refugees. She said
+to him,</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_332"></a>[332]</span>
+"Man is bound to the performance of certain duties, all which
+tend to the happiness and welfare of society, and are comprised in one
+short sentence expressive of universal benevolence: 'Thou shalt love
+thy neighbor as thyself.'<br />
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+"Remember more, the Universal Cause</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Acts not by partial, but by general laws;</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+And makes what happiness we justly call,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Subsist, not in the good of one, but <small>ALL</small>.'"
+</span></span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p>In other letters she illustrated observations in the same
+spirit by these quotations:<br />
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+"Shall I determine where his frowns shall fall,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+And fence my grotto from the lot of <small>ALL</small>?"</span></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 10em;"><span class="poem">
+"Prompt at every call,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+Can watch and weep and pray and feel for <small>ALL</small>.</span></span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p>One evening, at his house in F street in Washington, he spoke
+of Judge Parsons, of his depth and subtlety, and the conciseness of his
+language. "Soon after I entered his office he said to us students&#8212;'Lord
+Bacon observes that "reading makes a full man, conversation a ready
+man, writing a correct man." Young gentlemen, my advice to you is, that
+you study to be full, ready and correct.' I thought," said Mr. Adams,
+"that I never heard good advice so well conveyed."</p>
+<p>He was asked by the writer whether he had ever received any
+acknowledgment of his services, any mark of gratitude from the colored
+people of the District? "None," said he&#8212;"except that I now and then
+hear, <i>in a low tone</i>, a hearty <span class="smcap">God bless you</span>! That is enough."</p>
+<p>It was enough; enough for recompense and for justification,
+since we are in the sad pass that justification is needed&#8212;since
+<br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_333"></a>[333]</span>
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">"Virtue
+itself of Vice must pardon beg,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+And pray for leave to do him good."</span></span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p>So then, in this Republic there are millions of human hearts,
+which are not permitted to love a benefactor, and dare not utter for
+him an invocation, kindred to their devotion to God, except "in a low
+tone!"</p>
+<p>When in 1846 Mr. Adams was struck the first time with palsy,
+he was visited by Charles Sumner, who sat much by his bedside. As he
+became better, he said one day to his visitor: "You will enter public
+life; you do not want it, but you will be drawn into the current, in
+spite of yourself. Now I have a word of advice to give you. <i>Never
+accept a present.</i> While I was in Russia, the Minister of the
+Interior, an old man, whose conscience became more active as his bodily
+powers failed, grew uneasy on account of the presents he had received.
+He calculated the value of them, and paid it all over to the Imperial
+treasury. This put me to thinking upon the subject, and I then made a
+resolution never to accept a present while I remained in the public
+service; and I never have, unless it was some trifling token, as a hat
+or cane."</p>
+<p>A neighboring clergyman, to whom this conversation was
+related, exclaimed&#8212;"A hat! That cannot be, for he never had any but an
+old one." It was a tradition in Cambridge that Mr. Adams, while
+Professor in the University, was noted for indifference to personal
+appearance, and his well-worn hat was particularly remembered.</p>
+<p>In the relation of husband Mr. Adams showed the same fidelity
+and devotedness which characterized him in every other. He was united
+to a woman whose virtues and accomplishments blessed and adorned his
+home. In a letter written shortly <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_334"></a>[334]</span>
+after his noble vindication of the
+character of woman, and the propriety and utility of their intervention
+in public affairs, he said:</p>
+<p>"Had I not, by the dispensation of Providence, been blessed
+beyond the ordinary lot of humanity in all the domestic relations of
+life, as a son, a brother, and a husband, I should still have thought
+myself bound to vindicate the social rights and the personal honor of
+the petitioners, who had confided to me the honorable trust of
+presenting the expression of their wishes to the legislative councils
+of the nation. But that this sense of imperious duty was quickened
+within my bosom by the affectionate estimate of the female character
+impressed upon my heart and mind by the virtues of the individual
+woman, with whom it has been my lot to pass in these intimate relations
+my days upon earth, I have no doubt."</p>
+<p>In 1840 he had a severe fall, striking his head against the
+corner of an iron rail, which inflicted a heavy contusion on his
+forehead, and rendered him for some time insensible. His left shoulder
+was likewise dislocated. This occurred at the House of Representatives
+after adjournment. Fortunately several members were within call, and
+gave him the most tender and assiduous assistance. He was carried to
+the lodgings of one of them, and a physician called. With the united
+strength of four men, it took more than an hour to reduce the
+dislocation. "Still," says a witness of the scene, "Mr. Adams uttered
+not a murmur, though the great drops of sweat which rolled down his
+furrowed cheeks, or stood upon his brow, told but too well the agony he
+suffered." At his request he was immediately conveyed to his house; and
+the next morning, to the astonishment of every one, he was found in his
+seat as <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_335"></a>[335]</span>
+usual. He was accustomed to be the first to enter the House and
+the last to leave it. Mr. Everett tells us that he had his seat by the
+side of the veteran, and that he should not have been more surprised to
+miss one of the marble pillars from the hall than Mr. Adams.</p>
+<p>That this painful accident did not impair the vigor of his
+mind is evident from the fact that he subsequently argued the Amistad
+case, and sustained the fierce contest of three days on the expulsion
+resolution in the House. It was three years later also that he made the
+journey for the benefit of his health, which turned out an improvised
+and continuous ovation. He had designed merely to visit Lebanon
+Springs. He was so much pleased with his journey thus far into the
+State of New-York, that he concluded to prolong it to Quebec, Montreal,
+and Niagara Falls, and return to Massachusetts through the length of
+the empire State. This return was signalized by attentions and homage
+on the part of the people so spontaneous and unanimous, that nothing
+which has occurred since the progress of La Fayette, has equalled it.
+"Public greetings, processions, celebrations, met and accompanied every
+step of his journey." Addresses by eminent men, and acclamations of
+men, women, and children, who thronged the way, bore witness of the
+deep hold which the man, without accessories of office and pageantry of
+state, had of their hearts. Of this excursion he said himself towards
+the close of it, "I have not come alone, the whole people of the State
+of New-York have been my companions." In the autumn of the same year he
+went to Cincinnati to assist in laying the foundation of an
+observatory. This journey was attended by similar demonstrations. At a
+cordial greeting given him at <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_336"></a>[336]</span>
+Maysville, Kentucky, after an emphatic
+testimony to the integrity of Mr. Clay, he made that renewed and solemn
+denial of the charges of "bargain and corruption."</p>
+<p>He suffered a stroke of paralysis in November, 1846, but
+recovered, and took his seat at the ensuing session of Congress. He
+regarded this as equivalent to a final summons, and made no subsequent
+entry in his faithful diary except under the title of "posthumous."
+After this he spoke little in the House.</p>
+<p>In November, 1847, he left his home in Quincy for the last
+time. On the twentieth of February he passed his last evening at his
+house in Washington. He retired to his library at nine o'clock, where
+his wife read to him a sermon by Bishop Wilberforce on Time. The next
+morning he rose early and occupied himself with his pen as he was wont.
+With more than usual spryness and alacrity he ascended the stairs of
+the Capitol. In the House a resolution for awarding thanks and gold
+medals to several officers concerned in the Mexican war was taken up.
+Mr. Adams uttered his emphatic <i>No!</i> on two or three
+preliminary questions. When the final question was about to be put, and
+while he was in the act of rising, as it was supposed, to address the
+House, he sunk down. He was borne to the speaker's room. He revived so
+far as to inquire for his wife, who was present. He seemed desirous of
+uttering thanks. The only distinct words he articulated were, "This is
+the end of earth. I am content." He lingered until the evening of the
+twenty-third, and then expired.</p>
+<p>Thus he fell at his post in the eighty-first year of his age,
+the age of Plato. With the exception of Phocion there is no active
+public life continued on the great arena, with equal vigor and
+usefulness, to so advanced an age. Lord <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_337"></a>[337]</span>Mansfield retired
+at
+eighty-three; but the quiet routine of a judicial station is not as
+trying as the varied and boisterous contentions of a political and
+legislative assembly. Ripe as he was for heaven; he was still greatly
+needed upon earth. His services would have been of inestimable
+importance in disposing of the perilous questions, not yet definitively
+settled, which arose out of unhallowed war and conquest.</p>
+<p>There is not much satisfaction in dwelling upon the general
+effusions of eloquence, or the pageantry which ensued. A single glance
+of guileless love from the men, women and children, who came forth from
+their smiling villages to greet the virtuous old statesman in his
+unpretending journeys, was worth the whole of it. The hearty tribute of
+Mr. Benton, so long a denouncer, has an exceptional value, the greater
+because he had made honorable amends to the departed during his life.
+That he was sincerely and deeply mourned by the nation, it would be a
+libel on the nation to doubt. His remains rested appropriately in
+Independence and Faneuil Halls on the way to their final resting place,
+the tomb he had made for those of his venerated parents. There he was
+laid by his neighbors and townsmen, sorrowing for the friend and the <small>MAN</small>. His monument is to stand on
+the other side of the pulpit.</p>
+<p>Happy place which hallows such memories, and holds
+up such <small>EXAMPLES</small>.</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_339"></a>[339]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="jackson"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Jackson.</span>
+</h6>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_340"></a>[340]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="letter_340"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 600px; height: 771px;" alt="Jackson fac-simile of letter" src="images/letters/jackson.png" /></a>
+</div>
+<hr  />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_341"></a>[341]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus359"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 350px; height: 402px;" alt="Hermitage, Residence of Jackson." src="images/illus359.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Hermitage, Residence of Jackson.</a></span></p>
+<h2>JACKSON.</h2>
+<p>The events of Jackson's life, even in their chronological
+order, dispose themselves into a number of combinations, which a
+skilful pen, guided by the hand of a poet, might easily work up into a
+series of impressive and contrasted pictures. We have not the ability,
+had we the space here, to undertake this labor, but we see no reason
+why we should not present some outlines of it, for the benefit of
+future more competent artists.</p>
+<p>In such a series, we should first see the flaxen-haired,
+blue-eyed son of Irish emigrants, driven from their home by a sense of
+British oppression, opening his young eyes in South Carolina, amid the
+stormy scenes of our Revolution. Around him, his <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_342"></a>[342]</span>
+friends and neighbors
+are training for the battle, and preparing to defend their homes from
+an invading foe; his eldest brother Hugh, is brought back dead from the
+fatigues of active service; the old Waxhaw meeting-house, a temporary
+hospital, through which he wanders, is crowded with the wounded and
+dying, whose condition moves him to tears, and fills him with
+melancholy impressions of the horrors of war, coupled with a deepening
+sense of English cruelty and oppression, of which he had before heard
+in the tales of his mother and her kindred about the old country from
+which they had fled; while, finally, he himself, but little more than
+thirteen years of age, in company with a brother Robert, takes up arms,
+is made a prisoner, suffers severely from wounds and the smallpox of
+the jail, loses first his brother by that disease, and then his mother
+by a fever caught on board a prison-ship, whither she had gone to nurse
+some captive friends, and is thus left alone in the world, the only one
+of all his family spared by the enemy.</p>
+<p>We should next see the friendless, portionless orphan wending
+his solitary way through the immense forests of the Far West, (now the
+State of Tennessee), where the settlements were hundreds of miles from
+each other, while every tree and rock sheltered an enemy in the shape
+of some grisly animal, or the person of a more savage Indian. But he
+succeeds in crossing the mountains, he reaches the infant villages on
+the Cumberland River, he studies and practises the rude law of those
+distant regions, takes part in all the wild vicissitudes of frontier
+life, repels the red man, fights duels with the white, encounters in
+deadly feuds the turbulent spirits of a half-barbarous society,
+administers justice in almost extemporized courts, helps to frame a
+regular State constitution, marries a wife as chivalric, noble, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_343"></a>[343]</span>
+fearless as himself, and at last, when society is reduced to some
+order, is chosen a representative of the backwoods in the Congress at
+Washington.</p>
+<p>Arrived at the seat of government, a tall, thin, uncouth
+figure, with no words to express himself in, and apparently without
+ambition,&#8212;he yet shows himself, with all his wild western coarseness, a
+man of insight and decision. He made no speeches, he drew up no
+reports, he created no sensation in the committee-room, or the
+lobbies,&#8212;he was not at all known, as a leader or a prominent
+individual, but he was one of the twelve democrats of the House, who
+dared to oppose returning an answer to Washington's last address, when
+the fame and the personal influence of that exalted man were almost
+omnipotent. He doubtless estimated the services and the character of
+Washington as highly as any member, but the measures of the
+administration his judgment did not approve, and he voted as he
+thought&#8212;a silent uncultivated representative,&#8212;odd in his dress and
+look, but with grit in him, not appalled even by the stupendous
+greatness of Washington! On the other hand, he saw in Jefferson a man
+for the times; became his friend, voted for him, and helped his State
+to vote for him as the second President.</p>
+<p>In the next phases of his life we discover Jackson, as the
+dignified and impartial judge, asserting the law in the face of a
+powerful combination of interested opponents; as the retired and
+prosperous planter, gathering together a large estate, which he
+surrounds with the comforts and luxuries of a refined existence, but
+sells at once when a friend's misfortunes involves him in debt, and
+retires to a primitive log cabin to commence his fortunes once more; as
+an Indian fighter achieving amid <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_344"></a>[344]</span>
+hardships of all kinds&#8212;the want of
+funds, the inclemency of the season, the ravages of disease, the
+unskilfulness of superiors, the insubordination of troops&#8212;a series of
+brilliant victories that made his name a terror to the Creeks and all
+their confederates. His campaign in the Floridas broke the power of the
+Indians, secretly in league with the British, forced them into a
+treaty, and wrested Pensacola from the possession of the Spanish
+governor, who had basely violated his neutrality, and who, when he
+wished to negotiate, was answered by Jackson, "My diplomacy is in the
+mouths of my cannon."</p>
+<p>But a different foe and a wider theatre awaited the display of
+his military genius at New Orleans. Worn down with sickness and
+exhaustion, with raw and undisciplined troops&#8212;many of them the mere
+rabble of the wharves, and some of them buccaneers from neighboring
+islands&#8212;scantily supplied with arms and ammunition, in the midst of a
+mixed population of different tongues, where attachment to his cause
+was doubtful, continually agitated by gloomy forebodings of the result,
+though outwardly serene, he was surrounded by the flower of the British
+army, led by its most brave and accomplished generals. The attack
+commenced: from his breastwork of cotton bales his unerring rifles
+poured a continuous flame of fire. The enemy quailed: its leaders were
+killed or wounded; and the greatest victory of the war crowned the
+exertions of Jackson as the greatest military genius of his time. A
+universal glow of joy and gratitude spread from the liberated city over
+the whole land; <i>Te deums</i> were sung in the churches;
+children robed in white strewed his way with flowers; the nation
+jubilantly uttered its admiration and gratitude. It was thus the
+desolated orphan of the Carolinas avenged the wrongs of his <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_345"></a>[345]</span>family,
+and
+asserted the rights of his country, to the lasting dishonor of Great
+Britain.</p>
+<p>Years pass on, and we see the successful General the President
+of the People, engaged once more in a fearful struggle; this time not
+against a foreign foe, but with an internal enemy of vast power and
+tremendous means of mischief. He is fighting the monster bank&#8212;another
+St. George gallantly charging another dragon&#8212;and, as usual, comes out
+of the contest victorious. The innumerable army of money-changers,
+wielding a power as formidable, though unseen, as that of an absolute
+monarch, is routed amid a horrible clangor of metal and rancorous
+hisses. The great true man, sustained by an honest people, was greater
+than the power of money. He wrought the salvation of his country from a
+hideous corruption&#8212;from bankruptcy, disgrace, and long years of
+political subjection. His near posterity has recognized the service,
+and placed him among the most illustrious of statesmen.</p>
+<p>Finally, we see the patriot soldier and civilian, a bowed and
+white-haired old man, in his secluded Hermitage, which is situated near
+the scenes of his earliest labors and triumphs. The companion of his
+love, who had shared in his struggles, but was not permitted to share
+in his latest glory, is with him no more; children they had none; and
+he moves tranquilly towards his grave alone. No! not alone: for
+travellers from all lands visit his retreat, to gaze upon his venerable
+form; his countrymen throng his doors, to gather wisdom from his
+sayings,&#8212;his friends and neighbors almost worship him, and an adopted
+family bask in the benignant goodness of his noble heart&#8212;his great
+mind, too, "beaming in mildest mellow splendor, beaming if also
+trembling, like a great sun on the verge of <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_346"></a>[346]</span>the horizon, near
+now to
+its long farewell." Thus, the orphan, the emigrant, the Indian fighter,
+the conquering General, the popular President, the venerated Patriarch,
+goes to the repose of the humble Christian.</p>
+<p>What were the sources of Jackson's pre-eminent greatness, of
+his invariable success, of his resistless personal influence, of his
+deep hold upon the minds of his fellows? He was no orator, he was no
+writer, he had in fact no faculty of expression, he was unsustained by
+wealth, he never courted the multitude, he relied upon no external
+assistances. What he did, he achieved for himself, without aid,
+directly, and by the mere force of his own nature. Neither education,
+nor family, nor the accidents of fortune, nor the friendship of the
+powerful, helped to raise him aloft, and push him forward in his
+career. The secret of his elevation, then, was this,&#8212;that he saw the
+Right and loved it, and was never afraid to pursue it, against all the
+allurements of personal ambition, and all the hostility of the banded
+sons of error. There have been many men of a larger reach and compass
+of mind, and some of a keener insight and sagacity, but none, of a more
+stern, inflexible, self-sacrificing devotion to what they esteemed to
+be true. He carried his life in his hand, ready to be thrown away at
+the call of honor or patriotism, and it was this unswerving integrity,
+which commended him so strongly to the affections of the masses.
+Whatever men may be in themselves, their hearts are always prone to do
+homage to honesty. They love those whom they can trust, or only hate
+them, because their justice and truth stands in the way of some
+cherished, selfish object.</p>
+<p>Jackson's will was imperious; the report does not follow the
+flash more rapidly than his execution of a deed followed <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_347"></a>[347]</span>the
+conception
+of it; or rather his thought and his act were an instinctive,
+instantaneous, inseparable unity. Like a good marksman, as soon as he
+saw his object he fired, and generally with effect. This impulsive
+decision gave rise to some over-hasty and precipitate movements, but,
+in the main, was correct. What politicians, therefore, could only
+accomplish if at all by a slow and cunning process of intrigue, what
+diplomatists reached by long-winded negotiations, he marched to,
+without indirection, with his eye always on the point, and his whole
+body following the lead of the eye. We do not mean that he was utterly
+without subtlety,&#8212;for some subtlety is necessary to the most ordinary
+prudence, and is particularly necessary to the forecast of
+generalship,&#8212;but simply that he never dissimulated, never assumed
+disguise, never carried water on both shoulders, as the homely phrase
+has it, and never went around an obstacle, when he could level it, or
+push it out of the way. The foxy or feline element was small in a
+nature, into which so much magnanimity, supposed to be lionlike,
+entered.</p>
+<p>The popular opinion of Jackson was, that he was an exceedingly
+irascible person, his mislikers even painting him as liable to fits of
+roaring and raving anger, when he flung about him like a maniac; but
+his intimate friends, who occupied the same house with him for years,
+inform us that they never experienced any of these strong gusts; that,
+though sensitive to opposition, impatient of restraint, quick to resent
+injuries, and impetuous in his advance towards his ends, he was yet
+gentle, kindly, placable, faithful to friends and forgiving to foes, a
+lover of children and women, only unrelenting when his quarry happened
+to be meanness, fraud or tyranny. His affections were particularly
+tender and strong; he could scarcely be made to <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_348"></a>[348]</span>
+believe any thing to
+the disadvantage of those he had once liked, while his reconciliations
+with those he had disliked, once effected, were frank, cordial and
+sincere. Colonel Benton, who was once an enemy, but afterwards a friend
+of many years, gives us this sketch of some of his leading
+characteristics:</p>
+<p>"He was a careful farmer, overlooking every thing himself,
+seeing that the fields and fences were in good order, the stock well
+attended, and the slaves comfortably provided for. His house was the
+seat of hospitality, the resort of friends and acquaintances, and of
+all strangers visiting the State&#8212;and the more agreeable to all from the
+perfect conformity of Mrs. Jackson's disposition to his own. But he
+needed some excitement beyond that which a farming life could afford,
+and found it for some years in the animating sports of the turf. He
+loved fine horses&#8212;racers of speed and bottom&#8212;owned several&#8212;and
+contested the four mile heats with the best that could be bred, or
+bought, or brought to the State, and for large sums. That is the
+nearest to gaming that I ever knew him to come. Cards and the cock-pit
+have been imputed to him, but most erroneously. I never saw him engaged
+in either. Duels were usual in that time, and he had his share of them,
+with their unpleasant concomitants; but they passed away with all their
+animosities, and he has often been seen zealously pressing the
+advancement of those, against whom he had but lately been arrayed in
+deadly hostility. His temper was placable, as well as irascible, and
+his reconciliations were cordial and sincere. Of that, my own case was
+a signal instance. There was a deep-seated vein of piety in him,
+unaffectedly showing itself in his reverence for divine worship,
+respect for the ministers of the Gospel, their hospitable reception in
+his house, and constant <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_349"></a>[349]</span>
+encouragement of all the pious tendencies of
+Mrs. Jackson. And when they both afterwards became members of a church,
+it was the natural and regular result of their early and cherished
+feelings. He was gentle in his house, and alive to the tenderest
+emotions; and of this I can give an instance, greatly in contrast with
+his supposed character, and worth more than a long discourse in showing
+what that character really was. I arrived at his house one wet, chilly
+evening in February, and came upon him in the twilight, sitting alone
+before the fire, a lamb and a child between his knees. He started a
+little, called a servant to remove the two innocents to another room,
+and explained to me how it was. The child had cried because the lamb
+was out in the cold, and begged him to bring it in&#8212;which he had done to
+please the child, his adopted son, then not two years old. The
+ferocious man does not do that! and though Jackson had his passions and
+his violences, they were for men and enemies&#8212;those who stood up against
+him&#8212;and not for women and children, or the weak and helpless, for all
+of whom his feelings were those of protection and support. His
+hospitality was active as well as cordial, embracing the worthy in
+every walk of life, and seeking out deserving objects to receive it, no
+matter how obscure. Of this I learned a characteristic instance, in
+relation to the son of the famous Daniel Boone. The young man had come
+to Nashville on his father's business, to be detained some weeks, and
+had his lodgings at a small tavern, towards the lower part of the town.
+General Jackson heard of it&#8212;sought him out&#8212;found him, took him home to
+remain as long as his business detained him in the country, saying,
+'Your father's dog should not stay in a tavern while <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_350"></a>[350]</span>I
+have a house.'
+This was heart! and I had it from the young man himself, long after,
+when he was a State Senator of the General Assembly of Missouri, and as
+such nominated me for the United States Senate at my first election in
+1820&#8212;his name was Benton Boone, and so named after my father.
+Abhorrence of debt, public and private, dislike of banks and love of
+hard money&#8212;love of justice, and love of country, were ruling passions
+with Jackson; and of these he gave constant evidences in all the
+situations of his life."</p>
+<p>The same distinguished authority has drawn a picture of
+Jackson's retirement from the Presidency, with which we close our
+remarks:</p>
+<p>"The second and last term of General Jackson's presidency
+expired on the 3d of March, 1837. The next day at twelve he appeared
+with his successor, Mr. Van Buren, on the elevated and spacious eastern
+portico of the capitol, as one of the citizens who came to witness the
+inauguration of the new President, and no way distinguished from them,
+except by his place on the left hand of the President-elect. The day
+was beautiful: clear sky, balmy vernal sun, tranquil atmosphere; and
+the assemblage immense. On foot, in the large area in front of the
+steps, orderly without troops, and closely wedged together, their faces
+turned to the portico&#8212;presenting to the beholders from all the eastern
+windows the appearance of a field paved with human faces&#8212;this vast
+crowd remained riveted to their places, and profoundly silent, until
+the ceremony of inauguration was over. It was the stillness and silence
+of reverence and affection, and there was no room for mistake as to
+whom this mute and impressive homage was rendered. For <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_351"></a>[351]</span>once
+the rising
+was eclipsed by the setting sun. Though disrobed of power, and retiring
+to the shades of private life, it was evident that the great
+ex-President was the absorbing object of this intense regard. At the
+moment that he began to descend the broad steps of the portico to take
+his seat in the open carriage that was to bear him away, the deep,
+repressed feeling of the dense mass broke forth, acclamations and
+cheers bursting from the heart and filling the air, such as power never
+commanded, nor man in power ever received. It was the affection,
+gratitude, and admiration of the living age, saluting for the last time
+a great man. It was the acclaim of posterity breaking from the bosoms
+of contemporaries. It was the anticipation of futurity&#8212;unpurchasable
+homage to the hero-patriot who, all his life, and in all the
+circumstances of his life&#8212;in peace and in war, and glorious in each&#8212;had
+been the friend of his country, devoted to her, regardless of self.
+Uncovered and bowing, with a look of unaffected humility and
+thankfulness, he acknowledged in mute signs his deep sensibility to
+this affecting overflow of popular feeling. I was looking down from a
+side window, and felt an emotion which had never passed through me
+before. I had seen the inauguration of many presidents, and their going
+away, and their days of state, vested with power, and surrounded by the
+splendors of the first magistracy of a great republic; but they all
+appeared to me as pageants, brief to the view, unreal to the touch, and
+soon to vanish. But here there seemed to be a reality&#8212;a real scene&#8212;a
+man and the people: he, laying down power and withdrawing through the
+portals of everlasting fame; they, sounding in his ears the everlasting
+plaudits of unborn <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_352"></a>[352]</span>
+generations. Two days after I saw the patriot
+ex-President in the car which bore him off to his desired seclusion: I
+saw him depart with that look of quiet enjoyment which bespoke the
+inward satisfaction of the soul at exchanging the cares of office for
+the repose of home.</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_353"></a>[353]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="rufus_king"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">King.</span>
+</h6>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_354"></a>[354]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="letter_354"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 571px; height: 800px;" alt="King fac-simile of letter" src="images/letters/king.png" /></a></div>
+<hr  />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_355"></a>[355]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus373"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 424px; height: 403px;" alt="Rufus King's House, Near Jamaica, L.I." src="images/illus373.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Rufus King's House, Near Jamaica, L.I.</a></span></p>
+<h2>RUFUS KING.</h2>
+<p>When in the year 1803, after having served his native country
+with distinguished ability for more than seven years as Minister
+Plenipotentiary of the United States at the Court of St. James, Rufus
+King returned to New-York, the city of his adoption, he found his
+political friends in a hopeless minority, and the rule of party
+absolute, exclusive, and even vindictive. Mr. King had trained himself
+from early life to the duties of a Statesman, and to that end neglected
+no study, and above all, no self-discipline that might qualify him for
+the career he desired to pursue. After serving several years as a
+Delegate <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_356"></a>[356]</span>
+from Massachusetts in the Continental Congress (from 1785 to
+1789), and having, as a member of the Convention called for the
+purpose, been actively instrumental in forming the Constitution of the
+United States, Mr. King became in 1788 a resident of the city of
+New-York, where he had married two years before, <span class="smcap">Mary</span>,
+the only child of <span class="smcap">John Alsop</span>,
+a retired merchant of that city. Mr. King was much known in New-York,
+for the Continental Congress during his term of service held its
+sessions there; and the character he had established for himself on the
+score of talent and capacity, may be estimated by the fact, that he,
+with General Schuyler for a colleague, was selected as one of the first
+Senators of the United States from the State of New-York, under the new
+constitution.</p>
+<p>His services proved so acceptable, that on the expiration of
+his first term, in 1795, he was re-elected, and it was in the second
+year of his second term&#8212;in 1796, that he was appointed by Washington
+Minister to England.</p>
+<p>In that post Mr. King continued throughout the residue of
+General Washington's administration, through the whole of that of John
+Adams, and, at the request of President Jefferson, through two years of
+his administration, when, having accomplished the negotiations he had
+in hand, Mr. King asked to be, and was, recalled.</p>
+<p>During this long residence abroad, remote from the scene of
+the angry partisan politics which disturbed the close of Washington's
+term, and the whole of that of Mr. Adams, and which resulted, in 1800,
+in the entire overthrow of the old Federal party, and the success of
+Mr. Jefferson and the Republican party&#8212;Mr. King had devoted his labors,
+his time and his talents, to the service of his whole country, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_357"></a>[357]</span>was
+little prepared, therefore, either by taste or temper, for
+participation in the angry broils which, on his return home, he found
+prevailing throughout the Union. Adhering, as he did to the end, to the
+political principles of his early life, he never doubted, nor saw
+occasion to change the faith which had made him a Federalist, when the
+name included the Telfairs and Habershams of Georgia, the Pinkneys and
+Rutledges of South Carolina, the Davieses and the Sitgreaves of North
+Carolina, the Washingtons and the Marshalls of Virginia, the Carrolls
+and the Hindmans of Maryland, the Bayards and the Kearnys of Delaware,
+the Tilghmans and the Binghams of Pennsylvania, the Patersons and the
+Stocktons of New Jersey, the Jays and Hamiltons of New-York, the
+Woolcots and the Johnsons of Connecticut, the Ellerys and Howells of
+Rhode Island, the Adamses and Otises of Massachusetts, the Smiths and
+Gilmans of New Hampshire, the Tichenors and Chittendens of Vermont. But
+that faith was now in "dim eclipse." The popular air was in another
+direction, and Mr. King was of too lofty a character to trim his bark
+to the veering breeze. Having acquired, or rather confirmed by his
+residence in England (where country life is better understood and more
+thoroughly enjoyed, probably, than any where else) a decided taste for
+the country Mr. King soon determined to abandon the city, where&#8212;having
+no professional pursuits nor stated occupation&#8212;he found few
+attractions, and make his permanent abode in the country. After looking
+at many points on the Hudson River and on the Sound, he finally
+established himself at the village of Jamaica, in Queens county, Long
+Island, distant about twelve miles from the city of New-York. In
+comparison with some of the places which he had examined on the waters
+of the Sound and <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_358"></a>[358]</span>
+the North River, Jamaica offered few inducements of
+scenery or landscape. But it did offer what to him, and especially to
+his wife, were all-important considerations&#8212;proverbial healthiness, and
+ready access to church, schools and physicians. Mrs. King's health was
+already drooping, and from the quiet, regular life of the country, its
+pure air, and the outdoor exercise to which it leads, and of which she
+was so fond, the hope was indulged that she might be completely
+restored. The property purchased by Mr. King, consisting of a
+well-built, comfortable and roomy house, with about ninety acres of
+land, is situated a little to the west of the village, on the great
+high road of the Island from west to east. It is a dead level, of a
+warm and quick soil, readily fertilized, the ridge or back-bone of Long
+Island bounding it on the north. He removed his family thither in the
+spring of 1806, and at once commenced those alterations and
+improvements which have made it what it now is&#8212;a very pretty and
+attractive residence for any one who finds delight in fine trees,
+varied shrubbery, a well cultivated soil, and the comforts of a large
+house, every part of which is meant for use, and none of it for show.</p>
+<p>When Mr. King took possession of his purchase, the house,
+grounds and fences were after the uniform pattern, then almost
+universal in the region. He soon changed and greatly improved all. The
+house, fronting south, was in a bare field, about one hundred yards
+back from the road, and separated from it by a white picket fence. A
+narrow gravel path led in a straight line from a little gate, down to
+the door of the house, while further to the east was the gate, through
+which, on another straight line, running down by the side of the house,
+was the entrance for carriages and horses. Two horse-chestnut <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_359"></a>[359]</span>trees,
+one east and the other west of the house, and about thirty feet from
+it, were, with the exception of some old apple trees, the only trees on
+the place; and the blazing sun of summer, and the abundant dust of the
+high road at all seasons, had unobstructed sweep over the house and
+lawn, or what was to become a lawn. Not a shrub or bush was interposed
+between the house and the fence, to secure any thing like privacy to
+the abode. On the contrary, it seemed to be the taste of the day to
+leave every thing open to the gaze of the wayfarers, and in turn to
+expose those wayfarers, their equipages, and their doings, to the
+inspection of the inmates of all roadside houses. Mr. King, who had
+cultivated the study of Botany, and was a genuine admirer of trees,
+soon went to work in embellishing the place which was to be his future
+home, and in this he was warmly seconded by the taste of Mrs. King. The
+first step was, to change the approach to the house, from a straight to
+a circular walk, broad and well rolled; then to plant out the high
+road. Accordingly, a belt of from twenty to thirty feet in width along
+the whole front of the ground, was prepared by proper digging and
+manuring, for the reception of shrubs and trees; and time and money
+were liberally applied, but with wise discrimination as to the
+adaptedness to the soil and climate, of the plants to be introduced.
+From the State of New Hampshire, through the careful agency of his
+friend, Mr. Sheaffe of Portsmouth, who was vigilant to have them
+properly procured, packed, and expedited to Jamaica, Mr. King received
+the pines and firs which, now very large trees, adorn the grounds. They
+were, it is believed, among the first, if not the first trees of this
+kind introduced into this part of Long Island, and none of the sort
+were then to be found in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_360"></a>[360]</span>
+nurseries at Flushing. Some acorns planted
+near the house in 1810, are now large trees. Mr. King indeed planted,
+as the Romans builded&#8212;"for posterity and the immortal gods," for to his
+eldest son, now occupying the residence of his father, he said, in
+putting into the ground an acorn of the red oak&#8212;"If you live to be as
+old as I am, you will see here a large tree;" and, in fact, a noble,
+lofty, well-proportioned red oak now flourishes there, to delight with
+its wide-branching beauty, its grateful shade, and more grateful
+associations, not the children only, but the grandchildren and
+great-grandchildren of him who planted the acorn. Mr. King possessed,
+in a remarkable degree, all the tastes that fit one for the enjoyment
+of country life. He had a large and well selected library, particularly
+rich in its books relating to the Americas, and this library remains
+unbroken. With these true, tried, unwavering and unwearying friends&#8212;and
+such good books are&#8212;Mr. King spent much time; varying, however, his
+studious labors with outdoor exercise on horseback, to which he was
+much addicted; and in judgment of the qualities, as well as in the
+graceful management of a horse, he was rarely excelled. He loved, too,
+his gun and dog; was rather a keen sportsman, and good shot; though
+often, when the pointer was hot upon the game, his master's attention
+would be diverted by some rare or beautiful shrub or flower upon which
+his eye happened to light, and of which&#8212;if not the proper season for
+transplanting it into his border&#8212;he would carefully mark the place and
+make a memorandum thereof, so as to be enabled to return at the fitting
+time, and secure his prize. In this way he had collected in his
+shrubberies all the pretty flowering shrubs and plants indigenous to
+the neighborhood, adding thereto such strangers as <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_361"></a>[361]</span>he
+could naturalize;
+so that during a visit made to him many years after he began his
+plantation, by the <i>Abb� Corr�a</i>, then Minister from
+Portugal to this Government, but even more distinguished as a man of
+letters, and particularly as a botanist&#8212;the learned Abb� said he could
+almost study the <i>Flowers</i> and the <i>Trees</i>
+of the central and eastern portion of the United States in these
+grounds. Mr. King loved, too, the song of birds&#8212;and his taste was
+rewarded by the number of them which took shelter in this secure and
+shady plantation, where no guns were ever allowed to be fired, nor trap
+nor snare to be set. The garden and the farm also came in for their
+share of interest and attention; and nowhere did care judiciously
+bestowed, and expenditure wisely ordered, produce more sure or
+gratifying results.</p>
+<p>About the year 1817 Mr. King turned his attention to the
+importation of some cattle of the North Devon breed. In the preceding
+year he received as a token of a friendship contracted during his
+residence in England, from Mr. Coke of Holkham (the great English
+Commoner, and warm friend of America in the revolutionary contest, and
+always interested in whatever might promote the welfare of the people
+in whose early struggle for their rights he had sympathized), two
+beautiful cows of the North Devon breed, as being particularly adapted,
+as Mr. Coke supposed, to the light, level soil of the southern slope of
+Long Island,&#8212;similar in these qualities to that of his own magnificent
+domain at Holkham, in Norfolk. Mr. King was so much pleased with these
+animals, so beautiful in themselves, of a uniform mahogany color, with
+no white marks, finely limbed almost as deer, with regularly curved and
+tapering horns, of extreme docility, and easily kept, that in <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_362"></a>[362]</span>1817
+he
+imported several more, and was thus enabled to preserve the race in
+purity, and measurably to supply the demand for the pure stock, which
+is now widely scattered throughout the country.</p>
+<p>While thus enjoying with the real zest of a cultivated mind,
+and of a disposition keenly alive to the aspect, the voices and the
+beauties of nature, the pleasures of a country life; Mr. King was not
+unmindful of, nor indifferent to the great and interesting
+contemporaneous drama of politics, which, although mainly played out in
+Europe, swept our republic too at last into its vortex. His early
+training, early instruction, and early and eminent successes in public
+life, made it alike unsuitable and impossible for him to withdraw
+himself wholly from the scene. And accordingly, although never in the
+whole course of his life seeking office, or putting himself forward,
+Mr. King was frequently appealed to, in his retirement, by political
+friends, sometimes consulted by political opponents,&#8212;while he was in
+the habit of receiving with elegant and cordial hospitality at Jamaica,
+distinguished visitors, both of his own country, and from abroad. Among
+such visitors was the Abb� Corr�a, as already stated, about the period
+when, as Secretary of State to President Monroe, John Quincy Adams was
+asserting in his correspondence with the English Minister the right of
+the United States to the free navigation of the St. Lawrence. After
+discussing with Mr King in the library, the points of international law
+brought up by this claim,&#8212;in the course of which, somewhat to the
+surprise of the Abb�, Mr. King evinced entire familiarity with the
+analogous points brought up and settled, as regards European rivers, in
+the then recently held Congress of Vienna; and maintained the position,
+that <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_363"></a>[363]</span>
+what was law between states in Europe conterminous to great
+navigable streams, must be law here; and that what Great Britain had
+assented to, and had joined in requiring others to assent to, in
+respect to the Rhine, she must assent to in respect to the St.
+Lawrence,&#8212;the Abb� proposed a walk in the grounds, and once there,
+laying aside politics, diplomacy, and international law, the two
+statesmen were soon very deep in botany and the system of Linn�us, and
+agriculture, and in all the cognate questions of climate, soils,
+manures, &amp;c., and seemed quite as eager in these pursuits, as
+in those grave and more solemn questions of state policy, which occupy,
+but do not, in the same degree, innocently and surely reward the
+attention and interest of public men. It was on occasion of this visit,
+that the Abb� Corr�a expressed his gratification at finding in the
+plantation of Mr. King so large a collection of the plants and shrubs
+indigenous to that part of our country,&#8212;a gratification enhanced, as he
+added, by the previous discussions in the library, in the course of
+which he had such demonstration of Mr. King's varied and comprehensive,
+yet minute knowledge of the great public questions which had agitated
+Europe, and of the more recent, as well as more ancient expositions of
+international law applicable thereto.</p>
+<p>Previously to this period, however, Mr. King had been recalled
+to public life. At the commencement of the war of 1812 with Great
+Britain, Mr. King, though disapproving both of the time of declaring,
+and of the inefficiency in conducting, the war, and reposing little
+confidence either in the motives or the abilities of the
+administration, did nevertheless feel it his duty, the sword being
+drawn, to sustain, as best he might, the cause of his country. Among
+the first, and for a <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_364"></a>[364]</span>
+time most discouraging results of the war, was the
+stoppage of specie payments by all the banks south of New England. The
+panic in New-York unavoidably was very great; and very much depended
+upon the course to be taken by its banks and its citizens, as to the
+effect to be produced upon the national cause and the national arm, by
+the suspension of payments. In this emergency, appealed to by his
+former fellow-citizens, Mr. King went to the city, and at the Tontine
+Coffee House, at a general meeting called to deliberate on the course
+to be taken by the community in regard to the banks, and in general in
+regard to the rights and duties alike, of creditors and debtors under
+the circumstances, he made a speech to the assembled multitude, in
+which, after deploring the circumstances which had forced upon the
+banks the necessity of suspension, he went on to show that it was a
+common cause, in which all had a part, and where all had duties. That
+the extreme right of the bill-holder, if enforced to the uttermost
+against the banks, would aggravate the evil to the public, although
+possibly it might benefit a few individuals; while, on the other hand,
+good to all, and strength and confidence to the general cause, would
+result from a generous forbearance, and mutual understanding that, if
+the banks on their part would restrict themselves within the limits as
+to issues and credits recognized as safe previous to the suspension,
+the community at large on their part, might, and possibly would
+continue to receive and pass the bills of the banks as before, and as
+though redeemable in coin. He urged with great power and earnestness
+the duty of fellow-citizens to stand shoulder to shoulder in such an
+emergency,&#8212;when a foreign enemy was pressing upon them, and when,
+without entering into the motives or causes which <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_365"></a>[365]</span>led
+to the war, about
+which men differ,&#8212;all Americans should feel it as their first and
+foremost obligation to stand by their country. The particular province
+of those he addressed was not so much to enlist in the armed service of
+the country, as to uphold its credit, and thus cherish the resources
+which would raise and reward armies; and if New-York should on this
+occasion be true to her duty&#8212;which also he plainly showed to be her
+highest interest&#8212;the clouds of the present would pass away, and her
+honor and her prosperity, with those of the nation of which she formed
+part and parcel, would be maintained and advanced. The effect of this
+address was decisive, and to an extent quite unprecedented in any
+commercial community under such circumstances; confidence was restored,
+and the course of business went on almost unruffled and undisturbed.</p>
+<p>In 1813, Mr. King, after a lapse of seventeen years from his
+former service as a Senator of the United States, was again chosen by
+the Legislature of the State of New-York, as one of its Senators in
+Congress; and from the moment he resumed his seat in the Senate, he
+took leave, for the remainder of his life, of the undisturbed
+enjoyments of his rural abode; for a large portion of his time was
+necessarily spent at Washington, it being part of his notion of duty,
+never to be remiss in attendance upon, or in the discharge of, any
+trust committed to him. Still, his heart was among his plantations and
+his gardens, and even when absent, he kept up a constant correspondence
+with his son and his gardener, and always returned with fond zest to
+this quiet home.</p>
+<p>In 1819, Mrs. King, whose health had been long declining,
+died, and was buried with all simplicity in the yard of the village
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_366"></a>[366]</span>
+church; where together they long had worshipped, and which stood on
+ground originally forming part of Mr. King's property. At the time of
+her death, all the children had left the paternal roof, and settled in
+life with their own families around them; and solitude, therefore,
+embittered the loss to Mr. King of such a companion. And she was
+eminently fitted by similarity of tastes and acquirements, to share
+with her husband the cares and the pleasures of life, as well as its
+weightier duties. She was in an especial manner a lover of the country,
+and had cultivated the knowledge which lends additional charms to the
+beauties and the wonders of the vegetable creation. Over all these
+beauties, her death cast a pall; and although he repined not, it was
+easy to see how deep a sorrow overshadowed his remaining years. Yet he
+nerved himself to the discharge of his public duties with unabated zeal
+and fidelity; and when re-elected in 1820 to the Senate, was punctual
+as always at his post, and earnest as ever in fulfilling all its
+requirements. His own health, however, before so unshaken, began to
+fail; and at the closing session of 1825, Mr. King, in taking leave of
+the Senate, announced his purpose of retiring from public life; having
+then reached the age of seventy years, of which more than one half had
+been spent in the service of his country, from the period when he
+entered the Continental Congress in 1784, to that in which he left the
+Senate of the United States in 1825. But John Q. Adams, who had become
+President, pressed upon Mr. King the embassy to England. His enfeebled
+health and advanced age induced him at once to decline, but Mr. Adams
+urged him to refrain from any immediate decision, and to take the
+subject into consideration after he should return home, and then
+determine. Recalling with <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_367"></a>[367]</span>
+lively and pleasant recollection the years of
+his former embassy to England, and hoping assuredly to be able&#8212;if
+finding there the same fair and friendly reception before extended to
+him&#8212;to benefit his country by the adjustment of some outstanding and
+long-standing points of controversy between the two nations; influenced
+too, in a great degree, by the opinion, of eminent physicians, that for
+maladies partaking of weakness, such as he was laboring under, a
+sea-voyage could hardly fail to be beneficial, Mr. King, rather in
+opposition to the wishes of his family, determined to accept the
+mission,&#8212;first stipulating, however, that his eldest son, John A. King,
+should accompany him as Secretary of Legation. It is proof of the
+strong desire of the then administration to avail of Mr. King's talents
+and character, and of the hope of good from his employment in this
+mission, that an immediate compliance with this request was made; and
+the gentleman who had been previously nominated to, and confirmed by,
+the Senate, as Secretary of Legation, having been commissioned
+elsewhere, Mr. John A. King was appointed Secretary of Legation to his
+father.</p>
+<p>The voyage, unhappily, aggravated rather than relieved the
+malady of Mr. King; his health, after he reached England, continued to
+decline, and he therefore, after a few months' residence in London,
+asked leave to resign his post and come home. He returned accordingly,
+but only to die. He languished for some weeks, and finally, having been
+removed from Jamaica to the city for greater convenience of attendance
+and care, he died in New-York, on the 29th of April, 1827.</p>
+<p>As with Mrs. King, so with him&#8212;in conformity with the
+unaffected simplicity of their whole lives&#8212;were the funeral rites at
+his death. Borne to Jamaica, which for more than twenty <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_368"></a>[368]</span>years
+had been
+his home, the body was carried to the grave by the neighbors among whom
+he had so long lived,&#8212;laid in the earth by the side of her who had gone
+before him, to be no more separated for ever; and a simple stone at the
+head of his grave, records&#8212;and the loftiest monument of art could do no
+more&#8212;that a great and a good man, having finished his course in faith,
+there awaits the great Judgment. Children, and grandchildren, have
+since been
+gathered in death around these graves, which lie almost beneath the
+shadow of trees planted by Mr. King, and within sight of the house in
+which he lived.</p>
+<p>It was desired, if possible, to introduce a glimpse of the
+pretty village church into the engraving, but the space was wanting.</p>
+<p>Mr. John A. King, the eldest son of Rufus King, now occupies
+the residence of his father, and keeps up, with filial reverence and
+inherited taste, its fine library, and its fine plantations. The
+engraving presents very accurately the appearance of the house; the
+closely shaven lawn in its front, and the noble trees which surround
+it, could find no adequate representation in any picture.</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_369"></a>[369]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="clay"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Clay.</span>
+</h6>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_370"></a>[370]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="letter_370"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 640px; height: 600px;" alt="Clay fac-simile of letter" src="images/letters/clay.png" /></a></div>
+<hr  />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_371"></a>[371]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus389"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 493px; height: 403px;" alt="Ashland, Residence of Henry Clay" src="images/illus389.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Ashland, Residence of Henry Clay</a></span></p>
+<h2>CLAY.</h2>
+<p>The Dryads are plainly no American divinities. A reverence for
+trees and groves, for woods and forests, is not an American passion. As
+our fathers and many of ourselves have spent the best of our strength
+in wrestling with, prostrating, using up the leaf-crowned monarchs,
+gray with the moss of age ere Columbus set foot on Cat Island, to
+expect us to love and honor their quiet majesty, their stately grace,
+were like asking Natty Bumpo or Leather-stocking to bow down to and
+worship Pontiac or Brandt, as the highest ideal of Manhood. An uncouth
+backwoodsman lately stated our difficulty with immediate reference to
+another case, but the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_372"></a>[372]</span>
+principle is identical: "When I was a boy," said
+he, plaintively, "it was the rule to love rum, and hate niggers; now
+they want us to hate rum, and love niggers: For my part, I stick to the
+old discipline." And so it were unreasonable to expect the mass of
+Americans now living, to go into heroics over the prospect of a comely
+and comfortable mansion, surrounded by a spacious lawn or "opening" of
+luxuriant grass, embracing the roots and lightly shaded by the foliage
+of thrifty and shapely trees.</p>
+<p>Why is it, then, that the American's pulse beats quicker, and
+his heart throbs more proudly as, walking slowly and thoughtfully up a
+noble avenue that leads easterly from Lexington,&#8212;once the capital and
+still the most important inland town in Kentucky,&#8212;he finds the road
+terminating abruptly in front of a modest, spacious, agreeable mansion,
+only two stories in height, and of no great architectural pretensions,
+and remembers who caused its erection, and was for many years its owner
+and master?</p>
+<p>That house, that lawn, with the ample and fertile farm
+stretching a mile or more in the distance behind them, are hallowed to
+the hearts of his countrymen by the fact, that here lived and loved,
+enjoyed and suffered, aspired and endured, the Orator, the Patriot, the
+Statesman, the illustrious, the gifted, the fiercely slandered, the
+fondly idolized Henry Clay.</p>
+<p>A friend who visited Ashland as a stranger in May, 1845, thus
+writes of the place and its master:</p>
+<p>"I have at last realized one of my dearest wishes, that of
+seeing Mr. Clay at Ashland. I called on him with a friend this morning,
+but he was absent on his farm, and Charles, his freed slave, told us he
+would not be at home till afternoon; so <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_373"></a>[373]</span>
+we returned to Lexington, and, at five <small>P.M.</small>,
+we retraced our steps to Ashland. Mr. Clay had returned; and meeting us at
+the door, took hold of our hands before I could even present a letter
+of introduction, and made us welcome to his home. His manners
+completely overcame all the ceremonies of speech I had prepared. We
+were soon perfectly at home, as every one must be with Henry Clay, and
+in half an hour's time we had talked about the various sections of the
+country I had visited the past year, Mr. Clay occasionally giving us
+incidents and recollections of his own life; and I felt as though I had
+known him personally for years.</p>
+<p>"Mr. Clay has lived at Ashland forty years. The place bore the
+name when he came to it, as he says, probably on account of the ash
+timber, with which it abounds; and he has made it the most delightful
+retreat in all the West. The estate is about six hundred acres large,
+all under the highest cultivation, except some two hundred acres of
+park, which is entirely cleared of underbrush and small trees, and is,
+to use the words of Lord Morpeth, who staid at Ashland nearly a week,
+the nearest approach to an English park of any in this country. It
+serves for a noble pasture, and here I saw some of Mr. Clay's fine
+horses and Durham cattle. He is said to have some of the finest in
+America; and if I am able to judge I confirm that report. The larger
+part of his farm is devoted to wheat, rye, hemp, &amp;c., and his
+crops look most splendidly. He has also paid great attention to
+ornamenting his land with beautiful shade trees, shrubs, flowers, and
+fruit orchards. From the road which passes his place on the northwest
+side, a carriage-road leads up to the house, lined with locust,
+cypress, cedar, and other rare trees, and the rose, jasmine, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_374"></a>[374]</span>ivy,
+were clambering about them, and peeping through the grass and the
+boughs, like so many twinkling fairies, as we drove up. Mr Clay's
+mansion is nearly hidden from the road by the trees surrounding it, and
+is as quiet and secluded, save to the throng of pilgrims continually
+pouring up there to greet its more than royal possessor, as though it
+were in the wilderness."</p>
+<p>Here let the house, the lawn, the wood, the farm, pass, if
+they will, from the mind. They are all well in their way, and were
+doubtless well adapted in his time to smooth the care-worn brow, and
+soothe the care-fraught breast of the lofty, gallant, frank, winning
+statesman, who gave and still gives them all their interest. Be our
+thoughts concentrated on him who still lives, and speaks, and sways,
+though the clay which enrobed him has been hid from our sight for ever,
+rather than on the physical accessories which, but for him, though
+living to the corporal sense, are dead to the informing soul.</p>
+<p>For it was not here, in this comfortable mansion, beneath
+those graceful, hospitable, swaying trees, that <span class="smcap">The
+Great Commoner</span> was born and reared; but in a rude, homely
+farm-house,<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a>
+which had any man given five hundred dollars for, he would have been
+enormously swindled, unless he paid in Continental money,&#8212;in a
+primitive, rural, thinly peopled section of Hanover County (near
+Richmond), Virginia; where his father, Rev. John Clay, a poor Baptist
+preacher, lived, and struggled, and finally died, leaving a widow and
+seven young children, with no reliance but the mother's energies and
+the benignant care of the widow's and orphan's God. This was in 1782,
+near the close of the Revolutionary War, when so much of the country as
+had not been ravaged by the enemy's <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_375"></a>[375]</span>
+forces, had been nearly exhausted
+by our own, and by the incessant exactions of a protracted, harassing,
+desolating, industry-paralyzing civil war. The fifth of these seven
+children was Henry, born on the 12th of April, 1777, who remained in
+that humble home until fourteen years of age, when his mother, who had
+married a second time, being about to remove to Kentucky, placed him in
+a store at Richmond, under the eye of his oldest brother, then nearly
+or quite of age, but who died very soon afterwards, leaving Henry an
+orphan indeed. He was thus thrown completely on his own exertions, when
+still but a child, and without having enjoyed any other educational
+advantages than such as were fitfully afforded by occasional private
+schools, in operation perhaps two or three months in a year, and kept
+by teachers somewhat ruder than the log tenement which circumscribed
+their labors. Such was all the "schooling" ever enjoyed by the ragged
+urchin, whose bright summer days were necessarily given to ploughing
+and hoeing in the corn-fields, barefoot, bareheaded, and clad in coarse
+trowsers and shirt, and whose daily tasks were diversified by frequent
+rides of two or three miles to the nearest grist-mill, on a sorry cob,
+bestrode with no other saddle than the grain-bag; whence many of his
+childhood's neighbors, contrasting, long afterward, the figure he cut
+in Congress, at Ghent, in Paris or London, with that which they had
+seen so often pass in scanty garb, but jocund spirits, on these family
+errands, recalled him to mind in his primitive occupation as <i>The
+Mill-Boy of the Slashes</i>, by which <i>sobriquet</i>
+he was fondly hailed by thousands in the pride of his ripened renown.</p>
+<p>Forty-five years after his childish farewell to it, Henry Clay
+stood once more (in 1840), and for the last time, in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_376"></a>[376]</span>humble
+home of
+his fathers, and was rejoiced to find the house where he was born and
+reared, still essentially unchanged. Venerable grandames, who were
+blooming matrons in his infancy, had long since indicated to their sons
+and daughters the room wherein he was born; and the spring whence the
+family had drawn their supplies of water wore a familiar aspect, though
+the hickory which formerly shaded it, and was noted for the excellence
+of its nuts, had passed away. Over the graves of his father and
+grandparents the plough had passed and repassed for years, and he only
+fixed their position by the decaying stump of a pear-tree, which had
+flourished in his childhood, and often ministered to his gratification.
+Beyond these, nothing answered to the picture in his memory, and he
+would not have recognized the spot, had he awoke there unconscious of
+the preceding journey. Familiar groves and orchards had passed away,
+while pines which he left shrubs, just dotting with perennial green the
+surface of the exhausted "old fields," unhappily too common throughout
+the Southern States, had grown up into dense and towering forests,
+which waved him a stately adieu, as he turned back refreshed and
+calmed, to the heated and dusty highway of public life.</p>
+<p>The boy Henry, spent five years in Richmond,&#8212;only the first in
+the store where his mother had placed him; three of the others in the
+office of Mr. Clerk-in-Chancery Peter Tinsley; the last in that of
+Attorney-General Brooke. From Mr. Tinsley, he learned to write a
+remarkably plain, neat, and elegant hand,&#8212;more like a schoolmistress's
+best, than a great lawyer and politician, and this characteristic it
+retained to the last. From Mr. Tinsley, Mr. Brooke, and perhaps still
+more from the illustrious Chancellor Wythe, who employed him as his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_377"></a>[377]</span>
+amanuensis, and repaid him with his friendship and counsel, young Clay
+derived his knowledge of the principles of Common Law, whereof he was,
+all his life, a devoted champion. At length, in November, 1797, when
+still lacking some months of his legal majority, he left Richmond and
+Virginia, for the location he had chosen&#8212;namely, the thriving village
+of Lexington, in the then rapidly growing Territory of Kentucky&#8212;the
+home of his eventful adult life of more than half a century. How he
+here was early recognized and honored as a Man of the People, and
+rapidly chosen (1803) member of the Legislature, once (1806) appointed
+to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate, and soon after (1809)
+elected out of, and by the legislature, to fill another and longer
+vacancy in that same dignified body; chosen in 1811 a Member of the
+more popular branch of Congress, and, immediately on his appearance on
+its floor, elected its Speaker&#8212;probably the highest compliment ever
+paid to a public man in this country&#8212;appointed thence (1814) a
+Plenipotentiary to G�ttingen (afterwards changed to Ghent), to
+negotiate a Treaty of Peace with Great Britain, which was signed near
+the close of that year; re-elected, immediately on his return, to a
+seat in the House, and to the Speakership, which he retained
+thenceforth (except during a temporary retirement from public life,
+rendered necessary by heavy pecuniary losses as an indorser), down to
+March 3d, 1825, when he finally retired from the House on being
+appointed Secretary of State by President John Q. Adams; quitting this
+station for private life on the Inauguration of President Jackson in
+1829, returning to the Senate in 1831, and continuing one of its most
+eminent and influential members till 1842, when he retired, as he
+supposed for ever; but <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_378"></a>[378]</span>
+was returned, by an unanimous vote of the
+Legislature, in 1849, and dying a Senator in Washington on the 29th of
+June, 1852, aged more than seventy-five years, of which more than half
+had been spent in the public service, and nearly all, since his
+majority, in active, ardent, anxious familiarity with public men and
+public measures,&#8212;this is no place to set forth in detail. The merest
+glance is all we can give to the public, official career of Henry Clay.</p>
+<p>For our business is not here with Tariffs, Banks, Vetoes, and
+Presidential contests or aspirations. Our theme is the <i>man</i>
+Henry Clay,&#8212;what he was intrinsically, and in his daily dealings with,
+and deportment toward, his fellow-beings. If there be a better mode of
+developing his character than Plutarch's, we have not now time to
+ascertain and employ it, so we must e'en be content with that.</p>
+<p>A tall, plain, poor, friendless youth, was young Henry, when
+he set up his Ebenezer in Lexington, and, after a few months'
+preliminary study, announced himself a candidate for practice as an
+attorney. He had not even the means of paying his weekly board. "I
+remember," he observed in his Lexington speech of 1842, "how
+comfortable I thought I should be, if I could make �100 Virginia money,
+per year; and with what delight I received my first fifteen shilling
+fee. My hopes were more than realized. I immediately rushed into a
+lucrative practice."</p>
+<p>Local tradition affirms that the Bar of Lexington, being
+unusually strong when Mr. Clay first appeared thereat, an understanding
+had grown up among the seniors, that they would systematically
+discountenance the advent of any new aspirants, so as to keep the
+business remunerating, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_379"></a>[379]</span>
+preserve each other from the peril of being
+starved out. It was some time, therefore, before young Clay obtained a
+case to manage in Court; and when he did appear there, the old heads
+greeted the outset of his argument with winks, and nods, and meaning
+smiles, and titters, intended to disconcert and embarrass him. So they
+did for a few minutes; but they soon exasperated and roused him. His
+eyes flashed, and sentence after sentence came pouring rapidly out,
+replete with the fire of eloquence and genius. At length, one of the
+old heads leaned across the table and whispered to another, "<i>I
+think we must let this young man pass.</i>" Of course they
+must!&#8212;the case was as plain as the portliest of noses on the most
+rubicund of faces. Henry Clay passed, <i>nem. con.</i>,
+and his position and success at that Bar were never more disputed nor
+doubted.</p>
+<p>General Cass, in his remarks in the Senate on the occasion of
+Mr. Clay's death, has the following interesting reminiscence:</p>
+<p>"It is almost half a century since he passed through
+Chilicothe, then the seat of government of Ohio, where I was a member
+of the Legislature, on his way to take his place in this very body,
+which is now listening to this reminiscence, and to a feeble tribute of
+regard from one who then saw him for the first time, but who can never
+forget the impression he produced by the charms of his conversation,
+the frankness of his manner, and the high qualities with which he was
+endowed."</p>
+<p>That an untaught, portionless rustic, reared not only in one
+of the rudest localities, but in the most troublous and critical era of
+our country, when the general poverty and insecurity rendered any
+attention to personal culture difficult, almost impossible, and
+graduating from a log school-house, should have been celebrated for the
+union in his manners, of grace with <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_380"></a>[380]</span>
+frankness, ease with fascination,
+is not unworthy of remark. Of the fact, those who never knew Mr. Clay
+personally, may have abundant attestations, which none others will need.</p>
+<p>While in Europe as a negotiator for Peace with Great Britain,
+Mr. Clay was brought into immediate and familiar contact, not only with
+his associates, the urbane and cultivated John Quincy Adams, whose life
+had been divided between seminaries and courts; the philosophic
+Gallatin and the chivalric Bayard, but also with the noble and
+aristocratic Commissioners of Great Britain, and with many others of
+like breeding and position, to whom the importance of their mission,
+its protracted labors and its successful result, commended our
+Plenipotentiaries. A single anecdote will illustrate the impression he
+every where produced. An octogenarian British Earl, who had retired
+from public life because of his years, but who still cherished a
+natural interest in public men and measures, being struck by the
+impression made in the aristocratic circles of London by the American
+Commissioners, then on their way home from Ghent, requested a friend to
+bring them to see him at his house, to which his growing infirmities
+confined him. The visit was promptly and cheerfully paid, and the
+obliging friend afterwards inquired of the old Lord as to the
+impression the Americans had made upon him. "Ah!" said the veteran,
+with the "light of other days" gleaming from his eyes, "I liked them
+all, but <i>I liked the Kentucky man best</i>." It was so
+every where.</p>
+<p>One specimen has been preserved of Mr. Clay's felicity of
+repartee and charm of conversation, as exhibited while in Paris,
+immediately after the conclusion of Peace at Ghent. He was there
+introduced to the famous Madame de Stael, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_381"></a>[381]</span>
+who cordially addressed him
+with&#8212;"Ah, Mr. Clay! I have been in England, and have been battling your
+cause for you there." "I know it, madame; we heard of your powerful
+interposition, and are grateful and thankful for it." "They were much
+enraged against you," said she: "so much so, that they at one time
+thought seriously of sending the Duke of Wellington to command their
+armies against you!" "I am very sorry, madame," replied Mr. Clay, "that
+they did not send his Grace." "Why?" asked she, surprised. "Because,
+madame, if he had beaten us, we should have been in the condition of
+Europe, without disgrace. But, if we had been so fortunate as to defeat
+him, we should have greatly added to the renown of our arms."</p>
+<p>At his next meeting with "Corinne," at her own house, Mr. Clay
+was introduced by her to the conqueror at Waterloo, when she related
+the above conversation. The Duke promptly responded that, had it been
+his fortune to serve against the Americans, and to triumph over them,
+he should indeed have regarded that triumph as the proudest of his
+achievements.</p>
+<p>Mr. Clay was in London when the tidings of Waterloo arrived,
+and set the British frantic with exultation. He was dining one day at
+Lord Castlereagh's, while Bonaparte's position was still uncertain, as
+he had disappeared from Paris, and fled none knew whither. The most
+probable conjecture was that he had embarked at some little port for
+the United States, and would probably make his way thither, as he was
+always lucky on water. "If he reaches your shores, Mr. Clay," gravely
+inquired Lord Liverpool (one of the Ministers), "will he not give you a
+great deal of trouble?" "Not the least," was the prompt reply of the
+Kentuckian; "we shall <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_382"></a>[382]</span>
+be very glad to receive him; to treat him with
+all hospitality, and very soon make him a good democrat." A general
+laugh here restored the hilarity of the party.</p>
+<p>The magnetism of Mr. Clay's manner and conversation have
+perhaps received no stronger testimony than that of Gen. Glascock, a
+political antagonist, who came into Congress from Georgia, during the
+fierce struggle which followed the removal of the Deposits. "Gen.
+Glascock," said a mutual friend, at a party one evening, "shall I make
+you acquainted with Mr. Clay?" "No, Sir!" was the prompt and stern
+response; "I choose not to be fascinated and moulded by him, as friend
+and foe appear to be, and I shall therefore decline his acquaintance."</p>
+<p>Mr. Clay had a natural repugnance to caucuses, conventions,
+and the kindred contrivances whereby great men are elaborated out of
+very small materials, and was uniformly a candidate for Congress "on
+his own hook," with no fence between him and his constituents. Only
+once in the course of his long Representative career was he obliged to
+canvass for his election, and he was never defeated, nor ever could be,
+before a public that he could personally meet and address. The one
+searching ordeal to which he was subjected, followed the passage of the
+"Compensation Act" of 1816, whereby Congress substituted for its own
+per diem a fixed salary of $1,500 to each Member. This act raised a
+storm throughout the country, which prostrated most of its supporters.
+The hostility excited was especially strong in the West, then very
+poor, especially in money: $1,500 then, being equal to $4000 at
+present. John Pope (afterward Gen. Jackson's Governor of Arkansas), one
+of the ablest men in Kentucky, a federalist <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_383"></a>[383]</span>of the old school,
+and a
+personal antagonist of Mr. Clay, took the stump as his competitor for
+the seat, and gave him enough to do through the canvass. They met in
+discussion at several local assemblages, and finally in a pitched
+battle at Higbie; a place central to the three counties composing the
+district, where the whole people collected to hear them. Pope had the
+district with him in his denunciation of the Compensation Bill, while
+Clay retorted with effect, by pressing home on his antagonist the
+embittered and not very consistent hostility of the latter to the war
+with Great Britain, recently concluded, which uniformly had been very
+popular in Kentucky. The result was decisive: Mr. Clay was re-elected
+by about six hundred majority.</p>
+<p>That excited canvass was fruitful of characteristic incidents
+like the following:</p>
+<p>While traversing the district, Mr. Clay encountered an old
+hunter, who had always before been his warm friend, but was now opposed
+to his re-election on account of the Compensation Bill. "Have you a
+good rifle, my friend?" asked Mr. Clay. "Yes." "Did it ever flash?"
+"Once only," he replied. "What did you do with it&#8212;throw it away?" "No,
+I picked the flint, tried it again, and brought down the game." "Have <i>I</i>
+ever flashed but upon the Compensation Bill?" "No!" "Will you throw me
+away?" "No, no!" exclaimed the hunter with enthusiasm, nearly
+overpowered by his feelings; "I will pick the flint, and try you
+again!" He was afterward a warm supporter of Mr. Clay.</p>
+<p>An Irish barber in Lexington, Jerry Murphy by name, who had
+always before been a zealous admirer and active supporter of Mr. Clay,
+was observed during this canvass to <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_384"></a>[384]</span>
+maintain a studied silence. That
+silence was ominous, especially as he was known to be under personal
+obligation to Mr. Clay for legal assistance to rescue him from various
+difficulties in which his hasty temper had involved him. At length, an
+active and prominent partisan of the speaker called on the barber, with
+whom he had great influence, and pressed him to dispel the doubt that
+hung over his intentions by a frank declaration in favor of his old
+favorite. Looking his canvasser in the eye, with equal earnestness and
+shrewdness, Murphy responded; "I tell you what, docthur; I mane to vote
+for the man <i>that can put but one hand into the Treasury</i>."
+(Mr. Pope had lost one of his arms in early life, and the humor of
+Pat's allusion to this circumstance, in connection with Mr. Clay's
+support of the Compensation Bill, was inimitable.)</p>
+<p>Mr. Clay was confessedly the best presiding officer that any
+deliberative body in America has ever known, and none was ever more
+severely tried. The intensity and bitterness of party feeling during
+the earlier portion of his Speakership cannot now be realized except by
+the few who remember those days. It was common at that time in New
+England town-meetings, for the rival parties to take opposite sides of
+the broad aisle in the meeting-house, and thus remain, hardly speaking
+across the line separation, from morning till night. Hon. Josiah
+Quincy, the Representative of Boston, was distinguished in Congress for
+the ferocity of his assaults on the policy of Jefferson and Madison;
+and between him and Mr. Clay there were frequent and sharp encounters,
+barely kept within the limits prescribed by parliamentary decorum. At a
+later period, the eccentric and distinguished John Randolph, the master
+of satire and invective; and who, though not <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_385"></a>[385]</span>avowedly a
+Federalist,
+opposed nearly every act of the Democrat Administrations of 1801-16,
+and was the unfailing antagonist of every measure proposed or supported
+by Mr. Clay, was a thorn in the side of the Speaker for years. Many
+were the passages between them in which blows were given and taken,
+whereof the gloves of parliamentary etiquette could not break the
+force: the War, the Tariff, the early recognition of Greek and South
+American Independence, the Missouri Compromise, &amp;c.
+&amp;c., being strenuously advocated by Mr. Clay and opposed by Mr.
+Randolph. But of these this is no place to speak. Innumerable appeals
+from Mr. Clay's decisions, as Speaker, were made by the orator of
+Roanoke, but no one of them was ever sustained by the House. At length,
+after Mr. Clay had left Congress, and Mr. Randolph been transferred to
+the Senate, a bloodless duel between them grew out of the Virginian's
+unmeasured abuse of the Kentuckian's agency in electing J.Q. Adams to
+the Presidency; a duel which seems to have had the effect of softening,
+if not dissipating Randolph's rancor against Mr. Clay. Though evermore
+a political antagonist, his personal antipathy was no longer
+manifested; and one of the last visits of Randolph to the Capitol, when
+dying of consumption, was made for the avowed purpose of hearing in the
+Senate the well-known voice of the eloquent Sage of Ashland.</p>
+<p>On the floor of the House, Mr. Clay was often impetuous in
+discussion, and delighted to relieve the tedium of debate, and modify
+the sternness of antagonism by a sportive jest or lively repartee. On
+one occasion, Gen. Alexander Smythe of Virginia, who often afflicted
+the House by the verbosity of his harangues and the multiplicity of his
+dry citations, had paused <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_386"></a>[386]</span>
+in the middle of a speech which seemed likely
+to endure for ever, to send to the library for a book from which he
+wished to note a passage. Fixing his eye on Mr. Clay, who sat near him,
+he observed the Kentuckian writhing in his seat as if his patience had
+already been exhausted. "You, sir," remarked Smythe addressing the
+Speaker, "speak for the present generation; but I speak for posterity."
+"Yes," said Mr. Clay, "and you seem resolved to speak until the arrival
+of <i>your</i> auditory."</p>
+<p>Revolutionary pensions were a source of frequent passages
+between eastern and western members; the greater portion of those
+pensions being payable to eastern survivors of the struggle. On one
+occasion when a Pension Bill was under discussion, Hon. Enoch Lincoln
+(afterwards Governor of Maine) was dilating on the services and
+sufferings of these veterans, and closed with the patriotic adjuration,
+"Soldiers of the Revolution! live for ever!" Mr. Clay followed,
+counselling moderation in the grant of pensions, that the country might
+not be overloaded and rendered restive by their burden, and turning to
+Mr. Lincoln with a smile, observed&#8212;"I hope my worthy friend will not
+insist on the very great duration of these pensions which he has
+suggested. Will he not consent, by way of a compromise, to a term of
+nine hundred and ninety-nine years instead of eternity?"</p>
+<p>A few sentences culled from the remarks in Congress elicited
+by his death, will fitly close this hasty daguerreotype of the man
+Henry Clay.</p>
+<p>Mr. Underwood (his colleague) observed in Senate that "his
+physical and mental organization eminently qualified him to become a
+great and impressive orator. His person was tall, slender and
+commanding. His temperament, ardent, fearless, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_387"></a>[387]</span>
+and full of hope. His
+countenance, clear, expressive, and variable&#8212;indicating the emotion
+which predominated at the moment with exact similitude. His voice,
+cultivated and modulated in harmony with the sentiment he desired to
+express, fell upon the ear with the melody of enrapturing music. His
+eye beaming with intelligence and flashing with coruscations of genius.
+His gestures and attitudes graceful and natural. These personal
+advantages won the prepossessions of an audience even before his
+intellectual powers began to move his hearers; and when his strong
+common sense, his profound reasoning, his clear conceptions of his
+subject in all its bearings, and his striking and beautiful
+illustrations, united with such personal qualities, were brought to the
+discussion of any question, his audience was enraptured, convinced and
+led by the orator as if enchanted by the lyre of Orpheus.</p>
+<p>"No man was ever blessed by his Creator with faculties of a
+higher order than Mr. Clay. In the quickness of his perceptions, and
+the rapidity with which his conclusions were formed, he had few equals
+and no superiors. He was eminently endowed with a nice discriminating
+taste for order, symmetry, and beauty. He detected in a moment every
+thing out of place or deficient in his room, upon his farm, in his own
+or the dress of others. He was a skilful judge of the form and
+qualities of his domestic animals, which he delighted to raise on his
+farm. I could give you instances of the quickness and minuteness of his
+keen faculty of observation, which never overlooked any thing. A want
+of neatness and order was offensive to him. He was particular and neat
+in his handwriting and his apparel. A slovenly blot or negligence of
+any <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_388"></a>[388]</span>
+sort met his condemnation; while he was so organized that he
+attended to, and arranged little things to please and gratify his
+natural love for neatness, order, and beauty, his great intellectual
+faculties grasped all the subjects of jurisprudence and politics with a
+facility amounting almost to intuition. As a lawyer, he stood at the
+head of his profession. As a statesman, his stand at the head of the
+Republican Whig party for nearly half a century, establishes his title
+to pre-eminence among his illustrious associates.</p>
+<p>"Mr. Clay was deeply versed in all the springs of human
+action. He had read and studied biography and history. Shortly after I
+left college, I had occasion to call on him in Frankfort, where he was
+attending court, and well I remember to have found him with Plutarch's
+Lives in his hands. No one better than he knew how to avail himself of
+human motives, and all the circumstances which surrounded a subject, or
+could present themselves with more force and skill to accomplish the
+object of an argument.</p>
+<p>"Bold and determined as Mr. Clay was in all his actions, he
+was, nevertheless, conciliating. He did not obstinately adhere to
+things impracticable. If he could not accomplish the best, he contented
+himself with the nighest approach to it. He has been the great
+compromiser of those political agitations and opposing opinions which
+have, in the belief of thousands, at different times, endangered the
+perpetuity of our Federal Government and Union.</p>
+<p>"Mr. Clay was no less remarkable for his admirable social
+qualities, than for his intellectual abilities. As a companion, he was
+the delight of his friends; and no man ever had better <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_389"></a>[389]</span>or
+truer. No
+guest ever thence departed, without feeling happier for his visit."</p>
+<p>Mr. Hunter of Virginia (a political antagonist) following,
+observed: "It may be truly said of Mr. Clay, that he was no
+exaggerator. He looked at events through neither end of the telescope,
+but surveyed them with the natural and the naked eye. He had the
+capacity of seeing things as the people saw them, and of feeling things
+as the people felt them. He had, sir, beyond any other man whom I have
+ever seen, the true mesmeric touch of the orator,&#8212;the rare art of
+transferring his impulses to others. Thoughts, feelings, emotions, came
+from the ready mould of his genius, radiant and glowing, and
+communicated their own warmth to every heart which received them. His,
+too, was the power of wielding the higher and intenser forms of
+passion, with a majesty and an ease, which none but the great masters
+of the human heart can ever employ."</p>
+<p>Mr. Seward of New-York, said: "He was indeed eloquent&#8212;all the
+world knows that. He held the key to the hearts of his countrymen, and
+he turned the wards within them with a skill attained by no other
+master.</p>
+<p>"But eloquence was nevertheless only an instrument, and one of
+many, that he used. His conversation, his gestures, his very look, were
+magisterial, persuasive, seductive, irresistible. And his appliance of
+all these was courteous, patient, and indefatigable. Defeat only
+inspired him with new resolution. He divided opposition by the
+assiduity of address, while he rallied and strengthened his own bands
+of supporters by the confidence of success, which, feeling himself, he
+easily inspired <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_390"></a>[390]</span>
+among his followers. His affections were high, and
+pure, and generous; and the chiefest among them was that one which the
+great Italian poet designated as the charity of native land. In him,
+that charity was an enduring and overpowering enthusiasm, and it
+influenced all his sentiments and conduct, rendering him more impartial
+between conflicting interests and sections, than any other statesman
+who has lived since the Revolution. Thus, with great versatility of
+talent, and the most catholic equality of favor, he identified every
+question, whether of domestic administration or foreign policy, with
+his own great name, and so became a perpetual Tribune of the People. He
+needed only to pronounce in favor of a measure or against it, here, and
+immediately popular enthusiasm, excited as by a magic wand, was felt,
+overcoming and dissolving all opposition in the Senate Chamber."</p>
+<p>In the House, about the same time, Mr. Breckenridge of
+Kentucky (democrat), spoke as follows:</p>
+<p>"The life of Mr. Clay, sir, is a striking example of the
+abiding fame which surely awaits the direct and candid statesman. The
+entire absence of equivocation or disguise in all his acts, was his
+master-key to the popular heart; for while the people will forgive the
+errors of a bold and open nature, he sins past forgiveness who
+deliberately deceives them. Hence Mr. Clay, though often defeated in
+his measures of policy, always secured the respect of his opponents
+without losing the confidence of his friends. He never paltered in a
+double sense. The country never was in doubt as to his opinions or his
+purposes. In all the contests of his time, his position on great public
+questions was as clear as the sun in the cloudless sky. <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_391"></a>[391]</span>Sir,
+standing
+by the grave of this great man, and considering these things, how
+contemptible does appear the mere legerdemain of politics! What a
+reproach is his life on that false policy which would trifle with a
+great and upright people! If I were to write his epitaph, I would
+inscribe as the highest eulogy, on the stone which shall mark his
+resting-place, 'Here lies a man who was in the public service for fifty
+years, and never attempted to deceive his countrymen.'"</p>
+<p>Let me close this too hasty and superficial sketch, with a
+brief citation from Rev. C.M. Butler, Chaplain of the Senate, who, in
+his funeral discourse in the Senate Chamber, said:</p>
+<p>"A great mind, a great heart, a great orator, a great career,
+have been consigned to history. She will record his rare gifts of deep
+insight, keen discrimination, clear statement, rapid combination,
+plain, direct, and convincing logic. She will love to dwell on that
+large, generous, magnanimous, open, forgiving heart. She will linger
+with fond delight on the recorded or traditional stories of an
+eloquence that was so masterful and stirring, because it was but
+himself struggling to come forth on the living words&#8212;because, though
+the words were brave and strong, and beautiful and melodious, it was
+felt that, behind them, there was a soul braver, stronger, more
+beautiful, and more melodious, than language could express."</p>
+<p>Such was the master of Ashland, the man Henry Clay!</p>
+<hr  />
+<p>After this article was in type, we received from a Western
+paper the following notice of the sale of the Ashland estate.</p>
+<p>"We are glad to learn that Ashland, the home of Henry Clay,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_392"></a>[392]</span>
+which was sold September 20th, at public auction, was purchased by
+James B. Clay, eldest son of the deceased statesman. The Ashland
+homestead contained about 337 acres. It lies just without the limits of
+the city of Lexington. The country immediately surrounding it, is
+justly regarded as the garden spot of the West, and Ashland, above all
+others, as the most beautiful place in the world. The associations
+about it are of the most interesting character. When Kentucky was, in
+fact, the 'dark and bloody ground,' the country around Lexington was
+the only oasis&#8212;every where else, the tomahawk and the rifle were more
+potent than laws. How many incidents of these terrible days are
+garnered in the minds of the descendants of the old families of
+Kentucky! In those thrilling days, Ashland belonged to Daniel Boone,
+whose name is connected with many of the daring tragedies enacted in
+the then Far West. It passed from his hands into those of Nathaniel
+Hart, who fell, gloriously fighting, in the battle at the River Raisin,
+where so many Kentuckians offered up their lives in defence of their
+country. Henry Clay married Lucretia Hart, to whom the demesne of
+Ashland descended.</p>
+<p>"There is so much of the Arab in the habits of the
+Americans,&#8212;there is so much migratoriness, and so little love for old
+homesteads,&#8212;we were afraid the children of Henry Clay would allow
+classic Ashland to pass into other and alien hands. But our fears are
+to gladness changed; and Ashland is still the dwelling-place of the
+Clays.</p>
+<p>"Mr. Clay was thoroughly versed in agricultural matters, and
+was never better contented (as the editor of the Ohio Journal truly
+remarks), than when surrounded by his neighbors, many <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_393"></a>[393]</span>of
+whom knew and
+loved him when he was quite young and obscure, and afterwards rejoiced
+at his fame, and followed his fortunes through every phase of a long
+and eventful career. The residence does not present any imposing
+appearance, but is of a plain, neat, and rather antique architectural
+character, and the grounds immediately surrounding it are beautifully
+adorned, and traversed by walks; not in accordance with the foolish and
+fastidious taste of the present day, for this, in every thing connected
+with the place has been neglected, and the only end seems to have been
+to represent Nature in its proudest and most imposing grandeur. Many of
+the walks are retired, and are of a serpentine character, with here and
+there, in some secluded spot along their windings, a rude and
+unpolished bench upon which to recline. The trees are mostly pines of a
+large growth, and stand close together, casting a deep and sombre shade
+on every surrounding object. The reflections of one on visiting Ashland
+are of the most interesting character. Every object seems invested with
+an interest, and although the spirit with whose memory they are
+associated, has fled, one cannot repel the conviction, that while
+reposing under its silent and sequestered shades, he is still
+surrounded by something sublime and great. Old memories of the past
+come back upon him, and a thousand scenes connected with the life and
+history of Henry Clay, will force themselves upon you. The great
+monarchs of the forest that now stretch their limbs aloft in proud and
+peerless majesty, have all, or nearly all been planted by his hand, and
+are now not unfit emblems of the towering greatness of him who planted
+them.</p>
+<p>"The walks, the flowers, the garden and the groves, all, all
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_394"></a>[394]</span>
+are consecrated, and have all been witnesses of his presence and his
+care. In the groves through which you wander, were nursed the mighty
+schemes of Statesmanship, which have astonished the world and terrified
+the tyrant, beat back the evil counsels for his country's ruin, and
+bound and fettered his countrymen in one common and indissoluble bond
+of <span class="smcap">Union</span>."<br />
+</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus412"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 475px; height: 403px;" alt="Clay's Birth-place" src="images/illus412.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Clay's Birth-place</a></span></p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_395"></a>[395]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="calhoun"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Calhoun.</span>
+</h6>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_396"></a>[396]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="letter_396"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 565px; height: 800px;" alt="Calhoun fac-simile of letter" src="images/letters/calhoun.png" /></a></div>
+<hr />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_397"></a>[397]</span></p>
+<h2>CALHOUN.</h2>
+<p>In writing the lives of our American Statesmen, we might say
+of almost any of them, "that he was born in such a year, that he was
+sent to the common school or to college, that he studied law, that he
+was chosen, first a member of the State Legislature, and then of the
+National Congress, that he became successively, a Senator, a foreign
+Ambassador, a Secretary of State, or a President, and that finally he
+retired to his paternal acres, to pass a venerable old age, amid the
+general respect and admiration of the whole country." This would be a
+true outline in the main, of the practical workings and doings of nine
+out of ten of them: but in filling in the details of the sketch, in
+clothing the dry skeleton of facts with the flesh and blood of the
+living reality, it would be found that this apparent similarity of
+development had given rise to the utmost diversity and individuality of
+character, and that scarcely any two of our distinguished men, though
+born and bred under the same influence, bore even a family resemblance.
+It is said by the foreign writers, by De Tocqueville especially, that
+very little originality and independence of mind can be expected in a
+democracy, where the force of the majority crushes all opinions and
+characters into a dead and leaden <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_398"></a>[398]</span>
+uniformity. But the study of our
+actual history rather tends to the opposite conclusion, and leads us to
+believe that the land of Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Patrick
+Henry, the Adamses, Clay, Webster and Calhoun, is favorable to the
+production of distinct, peculiar, and decided natures. At least we may
+be sure, that our annals are no more wanting than those of other
+nations, in original, self-formed, and self-dependent men.</p>
+<p>Among these, there was no one more peculiar or more unlike any
+prototype, than John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina. In the structure of
+his mind, in the singular tenacity of his purposes, in the rare dignity
+and elevation of his character, and in the remarkable political system
+to which he adhered, he was wholly <i>sui generis</i>,
+standing out from the number of his forerunners and contemporaries in
+bold, positive and angular relief. He could only have been what he was,
+in the country, and during the times, in which he flourished: he was a
+natural growth of our American society and institutions: had formed
+himself by no models ancient or modern; and the great leading
+principles of his thought faithfully rendered in all his conduct, were
+as much an individual possession as the figure of his body or the
+features of his face. In seeing him, in hearing him speak, or in
+reading his books, no one was ever likely to confound him with any
+second person.</p>
+<p>Mr. Calhoun was born in the Abbeville District of South
+Carolina, on the 18th of March, 1782. His parents on both sides were of
+Irish extraction, who had first settled in Pennsylvania, and then in
+Virginia, whence they were driven by the Indians, at the time of
+Braddock's defeat, to South Carolina. The father appears to have been a
+man of the most <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_399"></a>[399]</span>
+resolute and energetic character, equally ready to
+defend his home against the incursions of the savages, and his rights
+as a citizen against legislative encroachments. On one occasion, he and
+his neighbors went down to within thirty miles of Charleston, armed, to
+assert a right of suffrage which was then disputed; and he always
+steadily opposed the Federal Constitution, because it allowed other
+people than those of South Carolina to tax the people of South
+Carolina. "We have heard his son say," writes a friend of the latter,
+"that among his earliest recollections was one of a conversation when
+he was nine years of age, in which his father maintained that
+government to be best, which allowed the largest amount of individual
+liberty compatible with social order and tranquillity, and insisted
+that the improvements in political science would be found to consist in
+throwing off many of the restraints then imposed by law, and deemed
+necessary to an organized society. It may well be supposed that his son
+John was an attentive and eager auditor, and such lessons as these must
+doubtless have served to encourage that free spirit of inquiry, and
+that intrepid zeal for truth, for which he has been since so
+distinguished. The mode of thinking which was thus encouraged may,
+perhaps, have compensated in some degree the want of those early
+advantages which are generally deemed indispensable to great
+intellectual progress. Of these he had comparatively few. But this was
+compensated by those natural gifts which give great minds the mastery
+over difficulties which the timid regard as insuperable. Indeed, we
+have here another of those rare instances in which the hardiness of
+natural genius is seen to defy all obstacles, and developes its flower
+and matures its fruit under circumstances apparently the most
+unpropitious.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_400"></a>[400]</span>
+"The region of the country in which his family resided was
+then newly settled, and in a rude frontier State. There was not an
+academy in all the upper part of the State, and none within fifty
+miles, except one at about that distance in Columbia county, Georgia,
+which was kept by his brother-in-law, Mr. Waddell, a Presbyterian
+clergyman. There were but a few scattered schools in the whole of that
+region, and these were such as are usually found on the frontier, in
+which reading, writing and arithmetic were imperfectly taught. At the
+age of thirteen he was placed under the charge of his brother-in-law to
+receive his education. Shortly after, his father died; this was
+followed by the death of his sister, Mrs. Waddell, within a few weeks,
+and the academy was then discontinued, which suspended his education
+before it had fairly commenced. His brother-in-law, with whom he was
+still left, was absent the greater part of the time, attending to his
+clerical duties, and his pupil thus found himself on a secluded
+plantation, without any white companion during the greater portion of
+the time. A situation apparently so unfavorable to improvement turned
+out, in his case, to be the reverse. Fortunately for him, there was a
+small circulating library in the house, of which his brother-in-law was
+librarian, and, in the absence of all company and amusements, that
+attracted his attention. His taste, although undirected, led him to
+history, to the neglect of novels and other lighter reading; and so
+deeply was he interested, that in a short time he read the whole of the
+small stock of historical works, contained in the library, consisting
+of Rollin's Ancient History, Robertson's Charles V., his South America,
+and Voltaire's Charles XII. After dispatching these, he turned with
+like eagerness to Cook's Voyages (the large edition), a small volume of
+essays by Brown, and Locke <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_401"></a>[401]</span>
+on the Understanding, which he read as far
+as the chapter on Infinity. All this was the work of but fourteen
+weeks. So intense was his application that his eyes became seriously
+affected, his countenance pallid, and his frame emaciated. His mother,
+alarmed at the intelligence of his health, sent for him home, where
+exercise and amusement soon restored his strength, and he acquired a
+fondness for hunting, fishing, and other country sports. Four years
+passed away in these pursuits, and in attention to the business of the
+farm while his elder brothers were absent, to the entire neglect of his
+education. But the time was not lost. Exercise and rural sports
+invigorated his frame, while his labors on the farm gave him a taste
+for agriculture, which he always retained, and in the pursuit of which
+he finds delightful occupation for his intervals of leisure from public
+duties."</p>
+<p>It is not our purpose, however, to enter into any detail of
+the life of Mr Calhoun. Suffice it to say that he was educated, under
+Dr. Dwight, at Yale College, that he studied law at Litchfield in
+Connecticut, that he was for two sessions a member of the Legislature,
+that from 1811 to 1817 during the war with Great Britain, and the most
+trying times that followed it, he was a member of the lower House of
+Congress. That he was then appointed Secretary of War, under Madison,
+when he gave a new, thorough, and complete organization to his
+department. That he was chosen Vice-President in 1825, and subsequently
+served his country as Senator of the United States, and Secretary of
+State, until the year 1850, when he died. During the whole of this long
+period his exertions were constant, and he took a leading part in all
+the movements of parties. Acting for the most of the time with the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_402"></a>[402]</span>
+Democratic party, he was still never the slave of party, never guilty
+of the low arts or petty cunning of the mere politician, always
+fearless in the discharge of his duties, and though ambitious, ever
+sacrificing his ambition to his clearly discerned and openly expressed
+principles. Mr. Webster, who, during nearly the whole of his
+legislative career, and on nearly all questions of public concern, had
+been an active opponent, in an obituary address to the Senate, bore
+this testimony to his genius and his greatness.</p>
+<p>"Differing widely on many great questions respecting our
+institutions and the government of the country, those differences never
+interrupted our personal and social intercourse. I have been present at
+most of the distinguished instances of the exhibition of his talents in
+debate. I have always heard him with pleasure, often with much
+instruction, not unfrequently with the highest degree of admiration.</p>
+<p>"Mr. Calhoun was calculated to be a leader in whatsoever
+association of political friends he was thrown. He was a man of
+undoubted genius and of commanding talents. All the country and all the
+world admit that. His mind was both perceptive and vigorous. It was
+clear, quick, and strong.</p>
+<p>"Sir, the eloquence of Mr. Calhoun, or the manner in which he
+exhibited his sentiments in public bodies, was part of his intellectual
+character. It grew out of the qualities of his mind. It was plain,
+strong, terse, condensed, concise: sometimes impassioned, still always
+severe. Rejecting ornament, not often seeking far for illustration, his
+power consisted in the plainness of his propositions, in the closeness
+of his logic, and in the earnestness and energy of his manner. These
+are the qualities, as I think, which have enabled him through such a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_403"></a>[403]</span>
+long course of years to speak often, and yet command attention. His
+demeanor as a Senator is known to us all, is appreciated, venerated, by
+us all. No man was more respectful to others; no man carried himself
+with greater decorum, no man with superior dignity. I think there is
+not one of us, when he last addressed us from his seat in the Senate,
+his form still erect, with a voice by no means indicating such a degree
+of physical weakness as did in fact possess him, with clear tones, and
+an impressive, and, I may say, an imposing manner, who did not feel
+that he might imagine that we saw before us a Senator of Rome, while
+Rome survived.</p>
+<p>"Sir, I have not, in public, nor in private life, known a more
+assiduous person in the discharge of his appropriate duties. I have
+known no man who wasted less of life in what is called recreation, or
+employed less of it in any pursuits not connected with the immediate
+discharge of his duty. He seemed to have no recreation but the pleasure
+of conversation with his friends. Out of the chambers of Congress, he
+was either devoting himself to the acquisition of knowledge pertaining
+to the immediate subject of the duty before him, or else he was
+indulging in those social interviews in which he so much delighted.</p>
+<p>"My honorable friend from Kentucky<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a>
+has spoken in just terms of his colloquial talents. They certainly were
+singular and eminent. There was a charm in his conversation not often
+equalled. He delighted especially in conversation and intercourse with
+young men. I suppose that there has been no man among us who had more
+winning manners, in such an intercourse and such conversation, with men
+comparatively <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_404"></a>[404]</span>
+young, than Mr. Calhoun. I believe one great power of his character, in
+general, was his conversational talent. I believe it is that, as well
+as a consciousness of his high integrity, and the greatest reverence
+for his talents and ability, that has made him so endeared an object to
+the people of the State to which he belonged.</p>
+<p>"Mr. President, he had the basis, the indispensable basis of
+all high character; and that was, unspotted integrity and unimpeached
+honor. If he had aspirations, they were high, and honorable, and noble.
+There was nothing grovelling, or low, or meanly selfish, that came near
+the head or the heart of Mr. Calhoun. Firm in his purpose, perfectly
+patriotic and honest, as I am sure he was, in the principles that he
+espoused, and in the measures which he defended, aside from that large
+regard for the species of distinction that conducted him to eminent
+stations for the benefit of the republic, I do not believe he had a
+selfish motive or selfish feeling. However he may have differed from
+others of us in his political opinions or his political principles,
+those principles and those opinions will now descend to posterity under
+the sanction of a great name. He has lived long enough, he has done
+enough, and he has done it so well, so successfully, so honorably, as
+to connect himself for all time with the records of his country. He is
+now an historical character. Those of us who have known him here, will
+find that he has left upon our minds and our hearts a strong and
+lasting impression of his person, his character, and his public
+performances, which, while we live, will never be obliterated. We shall
+hereafter, I am sure, indulge in it as a grateful recollection, that we
+have lived in his age, that we have been his contemporaries, that we
+have seen him, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_405"></a>[405]</span>
+and heard him, and known him. We shall delight to speak
+of him to those who are rising up to fill our places. And, when the
+time shall come that we ourselves must go, one after another, to our
+graves, we shall carry with us a deep sense of his genius and
+character, his honor and integrity, his amiable deportment in private
+life, and the purity of his exalted patriotism."</p>
+<p>The event in Mr. Calhoun's political life which will give him
+the greatest distinction in our history, was the bold and perilous
+course he took on the subject of nullification. It brought him and his
+native State directly in conflict with the powers of the Federal
+government, and but for the compromise of the Tariff question, out of
+which the controversy grew, would have ended in civil war. We shall not
+undertake to narrate the origin or the purpose of this most fearful
+crisis, referring our readers to the regular memoirs of Mr. Calhoun for
+the details, but we cannot refrain from expressing our high admiration
+of the gallant bearing of the great South Carolinian during the whole
+of the protracted and embarrassing dispute. The energy with which he
+pursued his ends, the originality with which he defended them, the
+boldness of his position, the devotion to his friends, the formidable
+objects that he had to encounter, the calm, earnest self-reliance with
+which he encountered them, and, in the end, the graceful concessions on
+both sides, by which the difficulties of the juncture were avoided, are
+brilliant illustrations both of the lofty energies of his spirit, and
+of the happy, peaceful working of our national institutions. In any
+other country, and under any other government, if it had been possible
+for such a conflict to arise, it could only have terminated in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_406"></a>[406]</span>
+bloodshed or war. Either the reigning authority would have been
+overturned, or the chief agent in the insurrection would have been
+executed as a traitor. Under the benign and conciliatory genius of our
+constitution, by that pacific legislation, which knows how to temper
+the rigid and inflexible exercise of law by the spirit of concession,
+the struggle ended in compromise.</p>
+<p>It was in his domestic life that Mr. Calhoun won the warmest
+homage of the heart. Miss Bates, who was for many years a governess in
+his family, and who enjoyed the finest opportunities for observing him,
+has given us the following record of his private virtues and
+peculiarities.</p>
+<p>"In Mr. Calhoun were united the simple habits of the Spartan
+lawgiver, the inflexible principles of the Roman senator, the courteous
+bearing and indulgent kindness of the American host, husband, and
+father. This was indeed a rare union. Life with him was solemn and
+earnest, and yet all about him was cheerful. I never heard him utter a
+jest; there was an unvarying dignity and gravity in his manner; and yet
+the playful child regarded him fearlessly and lovingly. Few men indulge
+their families in as free, confidential, and familiar intercourse as
+did this great statesman. Indeed, to those who had an opportunity of
+observing him in his own house, it was evident that his cheerful and
+happy home had attractions for him superior to those which any other
+place could offer. Here was a retreat from the cares, the observation,
+and the homage of the world. In few homes could the transient visitor
+feel more at ease than did the guest at Fort Hill. Those who knew Mr.
+Calhoun only by his senatorial speeches, may suppose that his heart and
+mind were all engrossed in the nation's councils; but there were
+moments when his courtesy, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_407"></a>[407]</span>
+his minute kindnesses, made you forget the
+statesman. The choicest fruits were selected for his guest; and I
+remember seeing him at his daughter's wedding take the ornaments from a
+cake and send them to a little child. Many such graceful attentions,
+offered in an unostentatious manner to all about him, illustrated the
+kindness and noble simplicity of his nature. His family could not but
+exult in his intellectual greatness, his rare endowments, and his lofty
+career, yet they seemed to lose sight of all these in their love for
+him. I had once the pleasure of travelling with his eldest son, who
+related to me many interesting facts and traits of his life. He said he
+had never heard him speak impatiently to any member of his family. He
+mentioned, that as he was leaving that morning for his home in Alabama,
+a younger brother said, 'Come soon again, and see us, brother A&#8212;, for
+do you not see that father is growing old? and is not father the
+dearest, best old man in the world!'</p>
+<p>"Like Cincinnatus, he enjoyed rural life and occupation. It
+was his habit, when at home, to go over his grounds every day. I
+remember his returning one morning from a walk about his plantation,
+delighted with the fine specimens of corn and rice which he brought in
+for us to admire. That morning&#8212;the trifling incident shows his
+consideration and kindness of feeling, as well as his tact and power of
+adaptation&#8212;seeing an article of needlework in the hands of sister A&#8212;,
+who was then a stranger there, he examined it, spoke of the beauty of
+the coloring, the variety of the shade, and by thus showing an interest
+in her, at once made her at ease in his presence.</p>
+<p>"His eldest daughter always accompanied him to Washington, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_408"></a>[408]</span>and
+in the absence of his wife, who was often detained by family cares at
+Fort Hill, this daughter was his solace amid arduous duties, and his
+confidant in perplexing cases. Like the gifted De Sta�l, she loved her
+father with enthusiastic devotion. Richly endowed by nature, improved
+by constant companionship with the great man, her mind was in harmony
+with his, and he took pleasure in counselling with her. She said, 'Of
+course, I do not understand as he does, for I am comparatively a
+stranger to the world, yet he likes my unsophisticated opinion, and I
+frankly tell him my views on any subject about which he inquires of me.'</p>
+<p>"Between himself and his younger daughter there was a peculiar
+and most tender union. As by the state of her health she was deprived
+of many enjoyments, her indulgent parents endeavored to compensate for
+every loss by their affection and devotion. As reading was her favorite
+occupation, she was allowed to go to the letter-bag when it came from
+the office, and select the papers she preferred. On one occasion, she
+had taken two papers, containing news of importance which her father
+was anxious to see, but he would allow no one to disturb her until she
+had finished their perusal.</p>
+<p>"In his social as well as in his domestic relations he was
+irreproachable. No shadow rested on his pure fame, no blot on his
+escutcheon. In his business transactions he was punctual and
+scrupulously exact. He was honorable as well as honest. Young men who
+were reared in his vicinity, with their eyes ever on him, say that in
+all respects, in small as well as in great things, his conduct was so
+exemplary that he might well be esteemed a model.</p>
+<p>"His profound love for his own family, his cordial interest <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_409"></a>[409]</span>in
+his friends, his kindness and justice in every transaction, were not
+small virtues in such a personage.</p>
+<p>"He was anti-Byronic. I never heard him ridicule or satirize a
+human being. Indeed he might have been thought deficient in a sense of
+the ludicrous, had he not by the unvarying propriety of his own conduct
+proved his exquisite perception of its opposites. When he differed in
+opinion from those with whom he conversed, he seemed to endeavor by a
+respectful manner, to compensate for the disagreement. He employed
+reason, rather than contradiction; and so earnestly would he urge an
+opinion and so fully present an argument, that his opponent could not
+avoid feeling complimented rather than mortified. He paid a tribute to
+the understandings of others by the force of his own reasoning, and by
+his readiness to admit every argument which he could, although advanced
+in opposition to one he himself had just expressed.</p>
+<p>"On one occasion I declined taking a glass of wine at his
+table. He kindly said, 'I think you carry that a little too far. It is
+well to give up every thing intoxicating, but not these light wines.' I
+replied, that wine was renounced by many for the sake of consistency,
+and for the benefit of those who could not afford wine. He acknowledged
+the correctness of the principle, adding, 'I do not know how temperance
+societies can take any other ground,' and then defined his views of
+temperance, entered on a course of interesting arguments, and stated
+facts and statistics. Of course, were all men like Mr. Calhoun
+temperance societies would be superfluous. Perhaps he could not be
+aware of the temptations that assail many men&#8212;he was so purely
+intellectual, so free from self-indulgence. Materiality with him was
+held subject to his <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_410"></a>[410]</span>
+higher nature. He did not even indulge himself in a
+cigar. Few spent as little time, and exhausted as little energy in mere
+amusements. Domestic and social enjoyments were his pleasures&#8212;kind and
+benevolent acts were his recreations.</p>
+<p>"He always seemed willing to converse on any subject which was
+interesting to those about him. Returning one day from Fort Hill, I
+remarked to a friend, 'I have never been more convinced of Mr.
+Calhoun's genius than to-day, while he talked to us of a flower.' His
+versatile conversation evinced his universal knowledge, his quick
+perception, and his faculty of adaptation. A shower one day compelled
+him to take shelter in the shed of a blacksmith, who was charmed by his
+familiar conversation, and the knowledge he exhibited of the mechanic
+arts. A naval officer was once asked, after a visit to Fort Hill, how
+he liked Mr. Calhoun. 'Not at all,' said he&#8212;'I never like a man who
+knows more about my profession than I do myself.' A clergyman wished to
+converse with him on subjects of a religious nature, and after the
+interview remarked, that he was astonished to find him better informed
+than himself on those very points wherein he had expected to give him
+information. I had understood that Mr. Calhoun avoided an expression of
+opinion with regard to different sects and creeds, or what is called
+religious controversy; and once, when urged to give his views in
+relation to a disputed point, he replied, 'That is a subject to which I
+have never given my attention.'</p>
+<p>"Mr. Calhoun was unostentatious, and ever averse to display.
+He did not appear to talk for the sake of exhibition, but from the
+overflowing of his earnest nature. Whether in the Senate or in
+conversation with a single listener, his <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_411"></a>[411]</span>
+language was choice, his style
+fervid, his manner impressive. Never can I forget his gentle
+earnestness when endeavoring to express his views on some controverted
+subject, and observing that my mind could hardly keep pace with his
+rapid reasoning, he would occasionally pause and say, in his kind
+manner, 'Do you see?'</p>
+<p>"He did not seek to know the opinion of others with regard to
+himself. Anonymous letters he never read, and his daughters and nieces
+often snatched from the flames letters of adulation as well as censure,
+which he had not read. Although he respected the opinions of his
+fellow-men, he did not seek office or worldly honor. A few years since,
+one to whom he ever spoke freely, remarked to him that some believed he
+was making efforts to obtain the presidency. At that moment he had
+taken off his glasses, and was wiping them, and thus he replied: 'M&#8212;&#8212;,
+I think when a man is too old to see clearly through his glasses, he is
+too old to think of the presidency.' And recently he said to her, 'They
+may impute what motives they please to me, but I do not seek office.'
+So much did he respect his country, that he might have been gratified
+by the free gift of the people; so much did he love his country, that
+he might have rejoiced at an opportunity to serve it; but would he have
+swerved one iota from his convictions to secure a kingdom? Who, that
+knew him, believes it?"</p>
+<p>Mr. Calhoun was an author as well as a statesman, and in the
+dissertations on the constitution and on government published since his
+death, has bequeathed us the ripened fruits of his life-long study.
+They are works of the rarest penetration and sagacity, of subtle logic,
+of earnest conviction, of profound observation of men and things, and
+of unquestionable genius. <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_412"></a>[412]</span>
+The particular conclusions at which the
+writer arrives, as to the nature and limits of government, and as to
+the amendments that ought to be made in the constitution of the United
+States, will not be adopted by large classes of readers; but none of
+them will arise from a perusal of his pages, without an additional
+admiration of the keenness and force of his intellect, the ardor of his
+patriotism, and the purity of his character.</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_413"></a>[413]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="clinton"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Clinton.</span>
+</h6>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_414"></a>[414]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="letter_414"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 600px; height: 601px;" alt="Clinton fac-simile of letter" src="images/letters/clinton.png" /></a></div>
+<hr  />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_415"></a>[415]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus433"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 336px; height: 404px;" alt="Clinton's Residence, Maspeth, L.I." src="images/illus433.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Clinton's Residence, Maspeth, L.I.</a></span></p>
+<h2>CLINTON.</h2>
+<p>The Academy of Sciences at Dijon recently asked of their
+municipality, that all houses in the commune which deserved to be
+historical, might be marked by commemorative inscriptions. The Council,
+we are told, readily acceded to the request, and among the birth-places
+and residences thus designated are those of Buffon, Crebillon, Guyton
+De Morveau, and the Marshal Tavennes.</p>
+<p>We in this country, whether fortunately or unfortunately, live
+in too progressive an age to allow us to ask for similar remembrances.
+Unless a statesman happens to be reared in <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_416"></a>[416]</span>a rural district,
+the house
+of his birth seldom survives his youth, possibly his manhood. New
+structures arise, and the succeeding generation know little or nothing
+of what preceded.</p>
+<p>In the instance of <span class="smcap">DeWitt
+Clinton</span>, the difficulty is increased by the diversity of
+statements that are made relative to his birth-place. He was the son of
+James Clinton, a gallant soldier in both of the now classic wars of
+this country. Commissioned as an ensign in the war of 1756, Mr. Clinton
+served during most of its campaigns. The Continental Congress, in 1775,
+appointed him colonel of one of the New-York regiments; and after
+particularly distinguishing himself at Fort Montgomery and Yorktown, he
+retired from the army of the Revolution with the rank of major-general.</p>
+<p>It was after the close of the French War that Mr. Clinton was
+married to Mary DeWitt. She is represented as having been beautiful in
+her youth&#8212;an only sister, with nine brothers. To them four sons were
+born, of whom DeWitt was the second. The date of his birth is well
+settled&#8212;being the year 1769;&#8212;not so the place. Many of his biographers
+unite in stating that this was Little Britain, in Orange County, where
+his father resided. Some assert that he was born at New Windsor, in the
+same county, in a house still standing, and which can be seen from the
+river; while others relate the tradition that his parents were on a
+visit to the fort at Minisink, then under the command of Colonel
+DeWitt, a brother of Mrs. Clinton; that a severe and long-continued
+snow-storm occurred, and that the mother was there confined.</p>
+<p>On his education it is scarcely necessary to dwell, farther
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_417"></a>[417]</span>
+than to trace its influence on his subsequent career. His parents
+bestowed on him that inestimable gift&#8212;the best education that the State
+could afford&#8212;first at Kingston Academy, and subsequently at Columbia
+College. The professors' chairs were filled by eminent men, who appear
+to have appreciated the talents of their pupil. He was the first
+graduate after the Revolution.</p>
+<p>At the age of seventeen he commenced the study of the law with
+the elder Samuel Jones, whose eminence as an advocate, and honesty as a
+high state officer, still linger amongst our earliest reminiscences.</p>
+<p>Thus prepared, as well by preliminary instruction as by
+earnest self-improvement, he was about entering on the profession of
+the law, with elders and contemporaries equal to any bar in the Union,
+when his destiny was at once and permanently changed. He was the nephew
+of George Clinton, the governor of the young State of New-York;
+distinguished by his civil and military talents; admirably qualified to
+guide the rising republic through its forming stages, although possibly
+too tenacious of his peculiar opinions, and, unfortunately, too long
+opposed to the adoption of the Constitution.</p>
+<p>The parties that from time to time controlled the destinies of
+the country were now in active collision. In the State of New-York, Jay
+and Hamilton were the leaders and guides of the Federalists, and
+Governor Clinton needed all the intellectual aid that could be brought
+to bear on the contest. He selected his nephew as his private
+secretary, and the sagacity, at least, of the choice has never been
+disputed. Several papers on subjects of public and permanent interest,
+known to have emanated from the pen of DeWitt Clinton, are still
+preserved.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_418"></a>[418]</span>
+We are told that he remained in this station until 795&#8212;the
+close of the long administration (continued by re-elections) of his
+uncle.</p>
+<p>In 1797, he was elected a member of the Assembly from the city
+of New-York, and the next year, of the Senate. The tenure of the first
+of these was annual, and of the last for four years. From the above
+date to the hour of his death, with short intervals, he continued to be
+chosen in succession to the Senate, and as lieutenant-governor and
+governor. He was for the space of two years a member of the United
+States Senate. From 1803 to 1807, and from 1808 to 1815, he served as
+mayor of the city of New-York. This is a brief outline of the
+situations he held, and it is only necessary to fill up the sketch with
+notices of what he proposed and accomplished, to complete the picture.</p>
+<p>His "homes," with the brief exception of two winters at
+Washington, were, of course, mainly in New-York and Albany.</p>
+<p>In the former, his town residence was at the lower end of
+Broadway&#8212;then the fashionable part of the city, and where wealthy
+bankers, and merchants, and distinguished professional men loved to fix
+their dwellings. At a short distance from the Bowling-green and the
+Battery, the breezes from the ocean occasionally found their way and
+shed their influences. Commerce has commanded the removal of most of
+these private residences, and she has been rigidly obeyed. The
+merchandise of the Old and of the New World needs still increasing
+depositories.</p>
+<p>While remaining in New-York, he owned a country-seat at
+Maspeth, on Long Island, to which he frequently resorted, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_419"></a>[419]</span>and
+where he
+indulged in his favorite pursuits of angling and hunting. He was
+greatly attached to these, until in after life an unfortunate accident
+rendered active exercise too laborious.</p>
+<p>Of Albany, the place in which a large portion of his mature
+life was spent, we feel some constraint in giving, what we consider, a
+just account. By many, even intelligent travellers, it is only known as
+a place of transfer from steamboats and railroads&#8212;as excessively hot in
+summer, and as the capital of the State, where the Legislature holds
+its sessions during the winter.</p>
+<p>But its antiquities&#8212;if antiquities are to be spoken of in this
+country&#8212;are of some interest. Here an American Congress once assembled,
+of which Franklin was a member. Whenever England and France contended
+for mastery on this continent, many of the officers and troops of the
+former halted here for a while, or passed on for the finally
+accomplished object of the conquest of Canada. Here for a time were
+Howe and Abercrombie, Amherst and Sir William Johnson; while, to the
+French, it seems to have been the limit, which, though they burnt
+Schenectady and ravaged the western part of the State, they seemed
+scarcely able to reach.</p>
+<p>Passing over intermediate occurrences, during the war of 1812
+there was here concentrated a large portion of the military force of
+the United States, which went forth in all the pomp and circumstance of
+war to its mingled career of defeat and success.</p>
+<p>Two dwellings still remain in Albany dear to Revolutionary
+memory&#8212;the residences of General Philip Schuyler and General Abraham
+Ten Broeck. The latter was distinguished as <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_420"></a>[420]</span>
+a brave and capable militia
+officer. The services and talents of the former are not as yet
+sufficiently appreciated. The wise man&#8212;the trusted of Washington&#8212;the
+able statesman&#8212;who early pointed out the way to internal improvement in
+the State of New-York, only needs an impartial and well-instructed
+biographer to be duly known.</p>
+<p>It is a matter of satisfaction that both of these
+residences&#8212;crowning heights north and south of the city&#8212;are in
+excellent preservation, owned by wealthy persons, and destined, we may
+hope, to a long existence.</p>
+<p>Governor Clinton occupied during his residence in Albany (part
+of the time he was out of office) two different houses, which possess
+an interest only inferior to those we have just mentioned. One of them,
+formerly almost a country residence,&#8212;built by Peter W. Yates, an
+eminent counsellor at law, and now owned by another of the same
+name,&#8212;was, for a series of years, the dwelling-place of governors of
+the State of New-York. Here Tompkins dispensed his hospitality, while
+he wielded, in a manner but partially understood, the destinies of the
+nation during the war of 1812; and from this beautiful seat he
+departed, in an evil hour to himself, to be Vice-President of the
+United States. Clinton succeeded. In this house he met with a severe
+accident,&#8212;a fracture of the knee-pan from a fall; after a slow recovery
+he was enabled to use the limb with but slight indication of the
+injury. Still it prevented him from taking exercise on horseback, to
+which he had been much accustomed, and it probably led to an increased
+fulness of habit, in the later years of his life.</p>
+<p>Subsequently to this he occupied a house (it was that in which
+he died) in Pearl-street, built by Goldsboro Banyer, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_421"></a>[421]</span>one
+of the last
+deputy Secretaries of State of the Colony of New-York. It was
+bequeathed to his son's widow, a daughter of Governor Jay, and on her
+removal to New-York, was taken as a governor's residence.</p>
+<p>It would scarcely be proper to conclude these sketches,
+without briefly enumerating the services of DeWitt Clinton to his State
+and country. Most of these were thought of, developed and produced
+ready for adoption, within the sacred precincts of his "home."</p>
+<p>As mayor of New-York, he was at that time head of the judicial
+department of the city. Subsequently that officer has been relieved of
+these duties, and several local courts have been found necessary, to
+dispose of the cases which the tangled relations of commerce are
+constantly bringing forth. Some records of his ability both as a civil
+and a criminal judge still remain. A Catholic priest had been called
+upon to disclose what had been communicated to him at the confessional.
+In his opinion, Mr. Clinton sustained the sacred nature of the secret
+thus imparted, and subsequent legislation, doubtless founded on this
+case, extended the exemption not only to the clergyman, but also to the
+physician. He also aided with great energy in putting down and
+punishing riots, caused by excited political feelings. Nor should we
+omit to say, that before him was tried the peculiar case of Whistelo,
+in which the wit of Counsellor Sampson, and the peculiarities of Dr.
+Samuel Latham Mitchill were equally conspicuous.</p>
+<p>As a member of the Senate of New-York, he became <i>ex
+officio</i> also a member of the highest court in the State&#8212;the
+court for the trial of impeachments, and the correction of errors in
+the inferior courts. Several of his decisions are to be <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_422"></a>[422]</span>found
+in the
+volumes of New-York State Reports. He grappled with the subjects of
+insurance law, of libel, the power of committing for contempt, the
+construction of the Habeas Corpus Act, and the effect of foreign
+admiralty decisions. "Some of these," says Chancellor Kent, "are models
+of judicial and parliamentary eloquence, and they all relate to
+important questions, affecting constitutional rights and personal
+liberty. They partake more of the character of a statesman's
+discussions, than that of a dry technical lawyer, and are therefore
+more interesting to the general scholar."</p>
+<p>As a legislator, it is quite sufficient to refer to the long
+list of laws drawn up and supported by him, as it is given in the
+eighth chapter of Professor Renwick's life, to appreciate the high
+class of subjects to which he applied his best efforts. We select only
+a portion. An act respecting a digest of the public laws of the State.
+An act to enlarge the powers of and to endow the Orphan Asylum
+society,&#8212;to amend the insolvent laws, to prevent the inhuman treatment
+of slaves, for the support of the quarantine establishment, to revise
+and amend the militia law, to incorporate the society for the relief of
+poor widows with small children, for promoting medical science, for the
+further encouragement of free schools, for securing
+to mechanics and others, payment for their labor and materials in the
+city of New-York. It has been urged that others by their efforts, or
+their votes, have been as useful as was Mr. Clinton, in procuring the
+passage of these and similar laws. Be it so. It is not even attempted
+to deny this. It would be treason to the great interests of humanity to
+claim exclusive honor for a single man. But he knows little of
+practical legislation, who is not perfectly aware how efficient <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_423"></a>[423]</span>and
+important it is to have one individual, eminent in talents, high in
+power, who is willing to initiate useful measures&#8212;propose their
+adoption, and support them with his best abilities.</p>
+<p>In the matter of the Canals of New-York, this is his high
+honor; this his crowning glory. Even during life, he gave due credit to
+all who suggested or supported the work; but his pre-eminent merit is,
+that he adopted the canal policy as his own party policy. It has been
+said, in words which cannot be bettered, that "in the great work of
+internal improvement, he persevered through good report and through
+evil report, with a steadiness of purpose that no obstacle could
+divert; and when all the elements were in commotion around him, and
+even his chosen associates were appalled, he alone, like Columbus, on
+the wide waste of waters, in his frail bark with a dis-heartened and
+unbelieving crew, remained firm, self-poised and unshaken."</p>
+<p>Heaven in its goodness allowed life till the great work was
+completed.</p>
+<p>Of Governor Clinton's devotion to science and to literature,
+of his patronage and support of societies and institutions, for their
+diffusion, all are knowing; but it is not sufficiently understood, that
+these were amateur pursuits, followed during hours that he could
+scarcely spare from his legitimate duties. Whatever of imperfection or
+of crudeness may therefore be found in them, should be charitably
+considered.</p>
+<p>His domestic habits were simple and unobtrusive. He was
+industrious through life&#8212;the earliest riser in the house&#8212;frequently, if
+not generally, making his office fire in the winter, and dispatching
+most of his voluminous correspondence before the breakfast hour.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_424"></a>[424]</span>
+In his family, he was every thing that became a man&#8212;a kind and
+faithful husband; an affectionate, indeed indulgent father; a warm,
+devoted, and often self-sacrificing friend. What wonder is it, that his
+memory should continue to be cherished with sincere love and ever
+increasing esteem.</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus442"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 251px; height: 403px;" alt="H.K. Brown's Statue of Clinton." src="images/illus442.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">H.K. Brown's Statue of Clinton.</a></span></p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_425"></a>[425]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="story"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Story.</span>
+</h6>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_426"></a>[426]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="letter_426"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 600px; height: 786px;" alt="Story's fac-simile of letter" src="images/letters/story.png" /></a></div>
+<hr  />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_427"></a>[427]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus445"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 341px; height: 402px;" alt="Story's House at Cambridge, Mass." src="images/illus445.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Story's House at Cambridge, Mass.</a></span></p>
+<h2>STORY.</h2>
+<p>It is a common saying among lawyers, that in proportion to the
+labor which their profession exacts, and the degree of distinction
+which success confers upon them during their lifetime, their fate is a
+hard one in the struggle for immortality. They are accustomed to say in
+a tone of half complaint, that the zeal and ability which would earn
+for them a cheap celebrity in some other pursuit, is expended upon the
+establishing of some nice distinction, or the solving of some intricate
+problem which no one but themselves can appreciate, and in which no one
+but themselves (and their clients) take any interest. There is some
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_428"></a>[428]</span>
+truth in all this. The whole community stands ready to read the last
+production of the literary man, so only that he make it worth reading,
+and often without requiring even so much; whereas, the neatest point
+that a lawyer could take is constitutionally repulsive to one-half of
+creation, and dry and unmeaning to the greater part of the remainder.
+Even those whose names are on the lips of men, owe their good fortune
+often to something other than their law. If Blackstone were not among
+the most classical writers of the English language, we should not have
+lived to see twenty-one English editions of his Commentaries. He was
+probably a less profound lawyer than several sergeants who practised
+before him in the Court of Common Pleas, whose names would escape an
+insertion in the most Universal Biographical Dictionary. So the
+successful lawyer must content himself with his worldly prosperity,&#8212;if
+in his lifetime he receives his good things, that must be his comfort,
+and in truth it is no small one.</p>
+<p>But the nature of a lawyer's employment, even if he combine
+with it the kindred one of politics and legislation, is not apt to
+invest his home with that attraction to the stranger which the home of
+the literary man possesses. We are at once interested to know who the
+author is, who has charmed us by the quaintness of his conceits, or the
+freshness and purity of his style. We want to see the house and the
+room, where those intricate plots are matured, or those lifelike
+characters are first conceived. But Coke upon Littleton, seems pretty
+much the same, whether read upon the green slope of a country hill, or
+in the third story of an office down town. Besides, the author is at
+liberty to seek the most secluded spots, and dwell amongst the most
+romantic scenery, and surround himself with all that <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_429"></a>[429]</span>makes
+life
+beautiful to contemplate; and it is for his interest to do this, in
+order that his mind may be kept open to impressions, his spirits
+elevated and serene, and his whole life calm and happy. The lawyer on
+the other hand, must seek communion, not with nature, but with men; he
+must dwell among large communities, and rail even there where merchants
+most do congregate.</p>
+<p>The home of the distinguished lawyer and statesman whose name
+is placed at the head of these lines, is an exception from the homes of
+others of his peers; if it be true that it is the fate of a lawyer's
+home to be an object of interest to its inmates alone. There was
+something in his frank, enthusiastic and generous nature, which made
+him always susceptible to the influences of home, and always fitted to
+awake and to wield those enchantments with which a home is invested.
+The secluded peninsula of Marblehead, with its long firm beach upon one
+side, and its rocky precipitous shore upon the other, begirt on three
+sides by the ever-changing Atlantic, is considered by his biographer to
+have had its effect in moulding the character of the boy; and in the
+quiet, tame inland beauty of Cambridge, with its academical
+proprieties, and its level streets, and its spacious marshes, through
+which the winding Charles "slips seaward silently;" many remain outside
+of the family circle, to testify to the magical attraction which once
+hung about the narrow brick house where he lived, and the cordial
+greeting which the visitor received at the hands of its former occupant.</p>
+<p>Judge Story was born in the antiquated, primeval fishing town
+of Marblehead; a town presenting such a rocky and barren surface, that
+when Whitfield entered it for the first time, he was fain to inquire,
+"Pray, where do they bury their dead?" <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_430"></a>[430]</span>
+Story himself speaks of his
+birth-place as "a secluded fishing town, having no general connection
+with other towns, and, not being a thoroughfare, without that
+intercourse which brings strangers to visit it, or to form an
+acquaintance with its inhabitants." In fact it could not well be a
+thoroughfare, since it leads only from Salem to the sea, and the
+inhabitants of the latter town have a sufficiently ready access of
+their own. But though Marblehead with its scanty soil, and its isolated
+position, is neither an Eden nor a thoroughfare, it is at least a stout
+old place where men are grown; where an entire regiment was furnished
+for the cause of American Independence, completely officered and manned
+by brave men, to whom the dangers of war were but a continuation of
+previous lives of peril, and who supplied besides more privateers than
+history has recorded, to harass the enemy upon an element with which
+they were more familiar.</p>
+<p>The town of Marblehead is supported by the fishery business. A
+large portion of its inhabitants are simple fishermen, whose manhood is
+passed in voyages to the Great Banks, and voyages back; a constant
+succession of those perils which are incident to the sea, with long
+winter evenings of sailors' yarns and ghost stories, in one monotonous
+round, till they finally depart<br />
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+"On that drear voyage from whose night</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+The ominous shadows never lift."</span></span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p>It was among a population of this kind, and at a time when a
+long and disastrous war had crippled their resources, that the youthful
+Story began with his accustomed enthusiasm to acquire that education
+whose root is bitter when grown in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_431"></a>[431]</span>
+most favorable soil. Without
+advantages of good schooling, or a plentiful supply of books, he did
+what thousands of others, great and small, have done and are doing;
+that is, he acquired an education without the modern improvements on
+which our boys rely, and whose value their parents and teachers are so
+apt to over-estimate. In the shop of the Marblehead barber, the village
+great men assembled to hear the news, and to hold forth upon the
+condition and prospects of the young republic, as well as to have their
+ambrosial locks powdered and their beards removed. Here, in place of
+the modern lecture room, our young hero resorted, and listened
+reverently to oracular utterances from wise mouths in the intervals of
+the shaving brush and the razor. The village barber himself, endowed
+with an easy garrulity, more natural and professional than the stately
+reserve of his metropolitan brother, could, at his leisure, retail the
+wisdom of his many councillors, diluted to the point where it admitted
+of the mental digestion of a child.</p>
+<p>This, together with the usual toils and discouragements of the
+classics, and the hopes and fears which a college examination inspires,
+made up a boy's life in Marblehead before this century began. The old
+Judge, late in life recalling these early Marblehead times, speaks of
+other influences, some of whose effect is, we imagine, derived from the
+fact that he is viewing them in his maturity, as they then appear,
+softened as seen down the long vista of nearly forty years. "My
+delight," he says, "was to roam over the narrow and rude territory of
+my native town; to traverse its secluded beaches and its shallow
+inlets; to gaze upon the sleepless ocean; to lay myself down on the
+sunny rocks, and listen to the deep tones of the rising and the falling
+tides; to look abroad when the foaming waves <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_432"></a>[432]</span>were driven with
+terrific
+force and uproar against the barren cliffs or the rocky promontories,
+which every where opposed their immovable fronts to resist them; to
+seek, in the midst of the tremendous majesty of an eastern storm, some
+elevated spot, where, in security, I could mark the mountain billow
+break upon the distant shore, or dash its broken waters over the lofty
+rocks which here and there stood along the coast, naked and
+weather-beaten. But still more was I pleased in a calm, summer day, to
+lay myself down alone on one of the beautiful heights which overlook
+the harbor of Salem, and to listen to the broken sounds of the hammers
+in the distant ship-yards, or to the soft dash of the oar of some
+swift-moving boat, or to the soft ripple of the murmuring wave; or to
+gaze on the swelling sail, or the flying bird, or the scarcely moving
+smoke, in a revery of delicious indolence."</p>
+<p>When Story left Marblehead and entered Harvard College in
+1795, he was brought in contact with somewhat different circumstances
+and different temptations from those which there await the youthful
+student in these days. Coming from a small and tolerably illiterate
+fishing town, into the midst of such literary shades, being in daily
+converse with young men at an age when the mind is lively, and full of
+the easy self-confidence which the mutual flattery of a College begets,
+his enthusiasm was quickened anew, and his generous nature attacked on
+its weakest side. "I seemed," he says, "to breathe a higher atmosphere,
+and to look abroad with a wider vision and more comprehensive powers.
+Instead of the narrow group of a village, I was suddenly brought into a
+large circle of young men engaged in literary pursuits, and warmed and
+cheered by the hopes of future eminence." There is, perhaps, no
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_433"></a>[433]</span>
+impropriety in saying, that at fifteen, we look abroad with a wider
+vision and more comprehensive powers than we do at twelve, and such
+young men as Channing, his friendly rival in College, and Tuckerman,
+his chum, might well be warmed and cheered by the hopes of future
+eminence. The students in those days enjoyed as much seclusion as now,
+with perhaps a little less general culture and a little more
+dissipation. But, as we have intimated, in some respects the changes
+were greater. The anti-republican system of "fagging" had not then
+become quite obsolete and forgotten, but existed at least in oral
+tradition, whereas now, its less rigorous substitute has recently
+fallen into disuse. In those days there was not even an unsuccessful
+attempt, to render the intercourse between the Professors and the
+students in any sense parental, but the formal and unconfiding manners
+of the old school were preached, as well as practised. The line of
+division between the College and the town was sharply drawn and
+unhesitatingly maintained on the part of the former, and the
+opportunities for social intercourse with Boston were comparatively
+limited, when omnibuses were unknown, and the bridge regarded as a
+somewhat hazardous speculation. Now the students are to be seen in
+Washington street on Saturdays, and there is scarce an evening's
+entertainment in Boston, without young representatives from Cambridge.
+And the old town itself has added so many new houses to its former
+number, that a great change is coming over the face of Cambridge
+society. The term "the season" is beginning to have its proper
+significance, the winter months being pretty well filled with the
+customary social observances. It is true that the College is still the
+controlling element. Festivities are mostly suspended during the first
+two months of the year, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_434"></a>[434]</span>
+which is the time of the winter vacation, and
+revive again with the return of the spring and the students. But from
+faint symptoms which may be detected by the anxious observer, there is
+reason to fear that it may not be long before the great body of the
+students will have cause on their part, to complain of that
+exclusiveness which they have exercised as their prerogative for more
+than two centuries.</p>
+<p>The four short years of Story's undergraduate existence were
+passed free, alike from this species of social pleasure and social
+anxiety. He was naturally fond of company, and had a healthy, youthful
+taste for conviviality; but he shrank instinctively from excesses, and
+was, fortunately, also ambitious to win a high rank for scholarship.
+His companions were of his own age, and those divinities who people the
+inner chambers of a young man's fancy at the age of nineteen, were not
+upon the spot to distract overmuch his attention from his studies. He
+left his home within the College walls before he had arrived at
+manhood, and returned again some thirty years after in the maturity of
+his powers, to repay to his foster mother the debt which he owed for
+his education, by imparting to her younger children the results of his
+experience. Cambridge is to be considered as his home; it was there
+that he won his greatest fame, it was there that he fondly turned to
+refresh himself after his labors on the full bench and the circuit;
+this was the home of his affections and his interests, and there his
+earnest and active life was brought to its calm and peaceful close.</p>
+<p>In Brattle-street, a little distance on the road from the
+Colleges to Mount Auburn, there stands a narrow brick house, with its
+gable end to the street, facing the east, and a long <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_435"></a>[435]</span>piazza
+on its
+southern side. It is situated just at the head of Appian Way&#8212;not the
+Queen of Ways, leading from Rome to Brundusium, over which Horace
+journeyed in company with Virgil, and Paul's brethren came to meet him
+as far as Appii Forum and The Three Taverns, but a short lane, boasting
+not many more yards than its namesake miles; leading from Cambridge
+Common to Brattle-street, journeyed over by hurrying students with
+Horace and Virgil under their arms, without a single tavern in it, and
+hardly long enough to accommodate three. The external appearance of the
+house would hardly attract or reward the attention of the passer by. It
+stands by itself, looking as much too high for its width as an ordinary
+city residence in New-York, that has sprung up in advance of the rest
+of its block. The street in which it stands is flat and shady, but
+wonderfully dusty nevertheless, for Cambridge is a town<br />
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+"Where dust and mud the equal year divide."</span></span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p>The old inhabitants may be supposed to be reconciled to that
+dust, of which they are made, and to which they naturally expect in a
+few years to return. Thus Lowell finds it in his heart to sing the
+praises of Cambridge soil,<br />
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+"Dear native town! whose choking elms each year</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+With eddying dust before their time turn gray, </span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+Pining for rain,&#8212;to me thy dust is dear;</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+It glorifies the eve of Summer day." </span></span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p>But, however native Cantabs may feel, the temporary resident
+hails the friendly watering-cart, which appears at intervals in the
+streets, since the old town has changed itself into a city.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_436"></a>[436]</span>
+A flower-garden on the south side, separates Judge Story's
+house from the village blacksmith, who has had the rare happiness of
+being celebrated in the verses of his two fellow-townsmen, the poets
+Longfellow and Lowell;<br />
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+"Under a spreading chestnut tree,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+The village smithy stands;</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+The smith, a mighty man is he,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+With large and sinewy hands,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+And the muscles of his brawny arm</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Are strong as iron bands.</span></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+"His hair is crisp, and black, and long,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+His face is like the tan,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+His brow is wet with honest sweat,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+He earns whatever he can,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+And looks the whole world in the face</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+For he owes not any man.</span></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+"Week in, week out, from morn to night,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+You can hear his bellows blow;</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+With measured beat and slow,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+Like a sexton ringing the village bell</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+When the evening sun is low.</span></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+"And children coming home from school</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Look in at the open door;</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+They love to see the flaming forge,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+And hear the bellows roar,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+And catch the burning sparks that fly</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Like chaff from a threshing floor."</span></span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p>Among the children who thus looked in upon the old smith in
+former days, was Lowell himself, who has embodied this juvenile
+reminiscence in a few lines, which may be appropriately inserted here,
+and the curious reader may contrast the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_437"></a>[437]</span>
+image they contain, with the
+parallel one in the concluding lines from Longfellow, quoted above.<br />
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+"How many times prouder than King on throne,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+Loosed from the village school-dame's A's and B's,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Panting have I the creaky bellows blown,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+And watched the pent volcano's red increase,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+Then paused to see the ponderous sledge brought down</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+By that hard arm voluminous and brown,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="poem">
+From the white iron swarm its golden vanishing bees."</span></span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p>The village blacksmith is dead now; the fires which he lighted
+in the forge have gone out, and an unknown successor wields the sledge,
+which may still be heard as ever, from the piazza of his neighbor's
+house, and down the road on the other side, as far as the row of
+lindens which overshadow a mansion once inhabited by the worthy old
+Tory, Brattle, who has given his name to the street.</p>
+<p>The external appearance of Judge Story's house does not add
+much to the poetry of its surroundings. It runs back in an irregular
+way, a long distance from the street, and at its furthermost end, in
+the second story, is, or used to be, the library, commanding the same
+view which constituted such a recommendation to Dick Swiveller's house,
+namely, the opposite side of the way. There is not, therefore, an
+opportunity for much romance to cluster about it, nor is its
+attractiveness increased, when the reader is reminded that the story
+beneath answered the purposes of a woodshed. But the house which
+witnessed the daily labors of such a man, need not covet or pretend to
+those outside attractions which it unquestionably lacks.</p>
+<p>Judge Story removed to Cambridge, for the purpose of taking
+charge of the Law-school connected with the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_438"></a>[438]</span>
+University. This
+institution had just received an endowment from Nathan Dane, which,
+together with the labors and reputation of the new Professor, were the
+prime causes of its establishment upon such a durable foundation, that
+the number of its students was increased five fold. From this period,
+his time was divided among Washington, during the sitting of the
+Supreme Court, the first circuit in the New-England States, and
+Cambridge, which henceforward was his home. The Law-school he regarded
+as his favorite and most important field of labor, and always recurred
+to his connection with it, with pleasure and pride; and a word
+concerning this Institution may, with propriety, be coupled with a
+description of his personal habits, so that both together will furnish,
+better than any thing else, a correct picture of the daily life of the
+man.</p>
+<p>At the time that Story accepted the Dane Professorship in the
+Law-school in Cambridge he had already achieved the labor of a
+lifetime. A lucrative business at the bar, was quitted for a seat upon
+the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States. He began his
+political life as a democrat and stanch supporter of Jefferson, when
+there were not many such in Massachusetts; but in later life he became
+a whig. The natural effect of a judicial station upon a mind like his,
+was to make him cautious and conservative; and he finally seemed a
+little distrustful of even the party with which he was associated. In
+the convention of 1820, which formed the existing constitution of
+Massachusetts, he took an active part with such men as Webster, Parker,
+Quincy and Prescott, and many of our important mercantile
+statutes and bankrupt laws were drawn by him, nearly, or quite in the
+form in which they were finally passed by Congress. He had been for
+about eighteen <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_439"></a>[439]</span>
+years an associate Justice of the Supreme Court, when,
+without resigning that position, he assumed the almost equally onerous
+duties of a Professor of Law. This new field of activity was entered
+upon with earnestness and zeal, and it is not necessary to state the
+success with which his efforts were attended. Towards the students his
+manner was familiar and affectionate. He was fond of designating them
+as "my boys," and without assuming any superiority, or exacting any
+formal respect, he participated so far as he was able in their success
+and failure; and extended beyond the narrow period of the school, far
+into active life, that interest in their behalf which he had contracted
+as their teacher. His lectures upon what are commonly considered the
+dry topics of the law, were delivered with enthusiasm, and illustrated
+with copious anecdotes from the store-house of his memory and his
+experience, and filled with episodes which were suggested to his active
+mind at almost every step. Indeed, if one were disposed to point out
+his prominent fault as a legal writer, he would probably select that
+diffuseness of style and copiousness of illustration, which, though it
+contributes somewhat to fulness and perspicuity, does it nevertheless
+at the cost of convenient brevity; which can more easily be dispensed
+with in a poem than in a law-book. But that characteristic which might
+perhaps be considered as a blemish in his legal treatises, only
+rendered him better, qualified for a successful oral lecturer. A
+printed volume admits of the last degree of condensation, because
+repeated perusals of one page will effect every thing which could be
+expected from a prolonged discussion over many; and to text-books of
+law, the student or the practitioner resort principally for a statement
+of results, with the addition of only so much general reasoning as may
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_440"></a>[440]</span>
+render the results intelligible. In an oral lecture on the other hand,
+as the attention cannot be arrested; or time taken to overcome
+difficulties, repetition and reiteration, so far from being a blemish,
+is a merit. To these qualifications Story added engaging manners, and a
+personal presence, which gave him extraordinary influence over the
+young men who crowded to receive the benefit of his instructions. His
+zeal was contagious, and awakened similar feelings in his hearers, and
+the enthusiasm of the speaker and the audience acted and reacted upon
+each other. Many anecdotes are related to show the interest in the
+study of the law, which, under his magical influence, was awakened, not
+only among the few who are naturally studious, but among the whole body
+of the students almost without exception.</p>
+<p>Saturday is a day of rest in Cambridge by immemorial usage. To
+force upon the undergraduates a recitation on Saturday afternoon, would
+outrage their feelings to such an extent, as to justify in their
+opinion a resort to the last appeal, namely, a rebellion. Yet under
+Story's ministrations the law-students were eager to violate the
+sacredness of Saturday, to which the Judge assented, animated by a zeal
+superior to their own. So that the whole week was devoted to lectures,
+and the conducting in moot courts of prepared cases. "I have given,"
+says the Judge in a letter to a friend, "nearly the whole of last term,
+when not on judicial duty, two lectures every day, and even broke in
+upon the sanctity of the <i>dies non juridicus</i>,
+Saturday. It was carried by acclamation in the school; so that you see
+we are alive." One of the pupils describes a similar incident; a case
+was to be adjourned, and Saturday seemed the most convenient time, "the
+counsel were <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_441"></a>[441]</span>
+anxious to argue it; but unwilling to resort to that
+extreme measure. Judge Story said&#8212;Gentlemen, the only time we can hear
+this case, is Saturday afternoon. This is <i>dies non</i>,
+and no one is obliged or expected to attend. I am to hold Court in
+Boston until two o'clock. I will ride directly out, take a hasty
+dinner, and be here by half-past three o'clock, and hear the case, if
+you are willing. He looked round the school for a reply. We felt
+ashamed, in our own business in which we were alone interested, to be
+outdone in zeal and labor by this aged and distinguished man, to whom
+the case was but child's play, a tale twice told and who was himself
+pressed down by almost incredible labors. The proposal was unanimously
+accepted." The same interesting communication describes the scene which
+took place when the Judge returned to Cambridge in the winter from
+Washington. "The school was the first place he visited after his own
+fireside. His return, always looked for, and known, filled the library.
+His reception was that of a returned father. He shook all by the hand,
+even the most obscure and indifferent; and an hour or two was spent in
+the most exciting, instructive, and entertaining descriptions and
+anecdotes of the events of the term. Inquiries were put by the students
+from different States, as to leading counsel, or interesting causes
+from their section of the country; and he told us as one would have
+described to a company of squires and pages, a tournament of monarchs
+and nobles on fields of cloth of gold:&#8212;how Webster spoke in this case,
+Legar� or Clay, or Crittenden, General Jones, Choate or Spencer, in
+that; with anecdotes of the cases and points, and all the currents of
+the heady fight."</p>
+<p>Judge Story's gracious and dignified demeanor upon the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_442"></a>[442]</span>bench
+is too well known, and not closely enough connected with an account of
+his home life, to justify a description here. All who have spoken upon
+the subject, have borne witness to the kindness and courtesy with which
+he treated the bar, particularly the younger members, who most need,
+and best appreciate such consideration. No lawyer was provoked by
+captious remarks, or mortified by inattention or indifference, or that
+offensive assumption of superiority which places the counsel at such
+disadvantage with the judge, and lowers his credit with his clients and
+the spectators. With novices at the bar his manner was patient and
+encouraging, with the leaders whose position was nearly level with his
+own, attentive, cordial, at times even familiar, but always dignified.
+Among the prominent lawyers upon the Maine circuit, was his classmate
+in college, and intimate friend, Hon. Stephen Longfellow, the father of
+the poet, of whom the following story is told. When any objection or
+qualification was started by the Court, to a point which he was
+pressing upon its attention, too courteous to question or oppose the
+opinion of the Judge, he would escape under this formula, "But there is
+this <i>distinction</i>, may it please your honor;" which
+distinction, when it came to be stated, was often so exceedingly thin,
+that its existence could be discerned only by the learned gentleman
+himself. This little mannerism was known and observed among his friends
+in the profession, one of whom now living composed and passed round the
+bar this epitaph: "Here lies Stephen Longfellow, LL. D. Born
+&amp;c. Died &amp;c. With this <i>Distinction</i>.
+That such a man can never die." This epitaph reached the bench; and Mr.
+Longfellow himself, who not long afterwards on an argument, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_443"></a>[443]</span>was
+met by
+a question from the Judge. "But, may it please your honor, there is
+this dis&#8212;&#8212;" "Out with it, brother Longfellow," said Judge Story with a
+good-humored smile. But it would not come. The epitaph records the
+death of the distinction.</p>
+<p>The interest which Judge Story felt in the prosperity of his
+University, was not wholly confined to the Law-school, with which he
+was immediately connected. He was one of the overseers of the College,
+and entered warmly and prominently into every question affecting the
+welfare of the Institution; from an elaborate and recondite argument
+upon the meaning of the word "Fellows," in the charter of the
+college,&#8212;the doubt being, whether none but resident instructors were
+eligible as Fellows, or whether the word is merely synonymous with <i>socius</i>
+or associate,&#8212;down to a reform in the social observances of the
+students upon the occasion of what is called Class Day. The old custom
+had been for the students on the last day of their meeting, before
+Commencement, to partake together of an undefined quantity of punch
+from a large reservoir of that beverage previously prepared. In more
+modern times, this habit came to be justly considered as subversive of
+sobriety and good order, and it was proposed to recast entirely the
+order of exercises. Of this reform Judge Story was an advocate; he was
+present at the first celebration under the new order of things, and was
+much gratified and elated at the change. Class Day is now the
+culminating point of the student's life&#8212;the exercises are an oration
+and poem in the morning, and a ball and reception in the afternoon and
+evening. More ladies visit the College on that day, than on any other,
+and the students have <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_444"></a>[444]</span>
+in lieu of their punch the less intoxicating
+recreation of a polka.</p>
+<p>Judge Story was about five feet eight inches tall, not above
+the middle height, with a compact and solid figure; and active and
+rapid in his movements. He seldom, if ever, loitered along; his
+customary gait was hasty and hurried, and he had a habit of casting
+quick eager glances about him as he moved. The expression of his face
+was animated and changing, his eyes were blue, his mouth large, his
+voice clear and flexible, and his laugh hearty and exhilarating. Late
+in life he was bald upon the top of his head, and his white hair below,
+and the benign expression of his countenance, gave him a dignified and
+venerable appearance, particularly when seated upon the bench. His
+personal habits were regular and systematic in the extreme. He never
+rose before seven, and was always in bed by half-past ten. His
+constitution required eight good hours of sleep, and he did not
+hesitate to gratify it in that particular. It was never intended that
+all men should rise at the same hour, and it is no great exercise of
+virtue on the part of those who do not enjoy sleep, to get up early.
+After breakfasting he read a newspaper for a half hour, and then worked
+faithfully, till called off to attend the lecture room or the court.
+After dinner he resumed his labors so long as daylight lasted, and the
+evening was devoted until bedtime to light reading, or social
+recreation in the midst of his family. He could pass easily from one
+species of employment to another without loss of time, and by working
+steadily when he did work, he was enabled to go through a very great
+amount of labor without any excessive fatigue or exhaustion. In this
+way his life was <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_445"></a>[445]</span>
+prolonged, and he retained to the last, undisturbed
+possession of all his faculties. He died in September 1845, at the age
+of sixty-six, having been for thirty-four years a Judge of the Supreme
+Court of the United States, and for sixteen years a Professor of law in
+the school at Cambridge.</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_447"></a>[447]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="wheaton"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Wheaton.</span>
+</h6>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_448"></a>[448]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="letter_448"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 600px; height: 780px;" alt="Wheaton fac-simile of letter" src="images/letters/wheaton.png" /></a></div>
+<hr  />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_449"></a>[449]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus467"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 365px; height: 403px;" alt="Wheaton's Residence Near Copenhagen." src="images/illus467.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Wheaton's Residence Near Copenhagen.</a></span></p>
+<h2>WHEATON.</h2>
+<p>Among the persons whom religious persecution compelled to
+leave England during the reign of Charles I., and seek an asylum in the
+new world, was Robert Wheaton, a Baptist clergyman. He first
+established himself in Salem, but when the intolerance of that
+community led those of his persuasion to remove elsewhere, he joined
+Roger Williams, and assisted him in founding the now flourishing State
+of Rhode Island.</p>
+<p>From him Henry Wheaton was descended. He was born in
+Providence, 1786, and entered Rhode Island College at the age of
+thirteen. He was already remarkable for his love of <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_450"></a>[450]</span>reading,
+particularly in the branches of history and literature, and appears to
+have studied more from the pleasure he had in the acquisition of
+knowledge, than from any love of distinction. He graduated at the age
+of seventeen, and immediately after entered upon the study of the law,
+in compliance with his father's wishes rather than from personal
+inclination; for at that period he is said not to have entertained any
+particular leaning towards the legal profession. In 1806 he went abroad
+to complete his education. He passed some time at Poitiers, where he
+learned to speak and write French fluently, and had an opportunity of
+studying French law, and especially the Code Napoleon, which had then
+but recently been promulgated. He also attended the courts of justice,
+and heard some of the most distinguished lawyers of the time, of whose
+eloquence he often spoke in his letters to his family. He always
+recurred with pleasure in later years to the time he passed at
+Poitiers. The kindness he experienced from the family in which he
+lived, the graceful politeness and cheerfulness of the French
+character, gave him ever after a predilection in favor of France. After
+spending a few weeks in Paris, he went to England, where he applied
+himself to the study of English law. He was often at the house of Mr.
+Monroe, then our Minister in London, who seems to have taken some pains
+to converse with him on the political and social state of Europe.
+Perhaps these conversations contributed to form his taste for
+diplomatic life, in which he was destined to play so distinguished a
+part, and also to lead him in its course to show that willingness to
+impart information of a similar kind, to the young men by whom he was
+himself surrounded, which was so pleasing a trait in his character.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_451"></a>[451]</span>
+Soon after his return from Europe he was admitted to the bar
+in his native State, where he continued to practise till 1813. At that
+period, feeling the want of a wider field in which to exercise his
+talents, he determined, having previously married his cousin, the
+daughter of Dr. Wheaton of Providence, to remove to New-York with his
+wife. We must not omit to mention, that before leaving Providence he
+pronounced a Fourth of July Oration, in which he spoke with generous
+indignation of the bloody wars which then distracted Europe, and the
+disastrous consequences of which his residence in France had given him
+an opportunity to observe. But although thus warmly opposed to wars of
+conquest, there were cases in which he deemed resistance a sacred duty;
+he therefore zealously devoted his pen to encouraging his
+fellow-countrymen in resisting the unjust encroachments of England.
+During two years he edited the National Advocate, and the spirit as
+well as the fairness with which its leading articles were written,
+insured the success of the paper, and established his reputation in
+New-York. At the same time he held the office of Justice of the Marine
+Court, and for a few months that also of Army Judge Advocate. In 1815
+he returned to the practice of his profession, and published in the
+same year a Treatise on the Law of Maritime Captures and Prizes, which
+Mr. Reddie of Edinburgh has since pronounced to have been the best work
+then published on the subject; no small praise, if we consider that Mr.
+Wheaton was only thirty years of age at the time it was written. In
+1816 he was named Reporter of the Supreme Court at Washington, and
+continued to hold this place until 1827. The Reports, of which he
+published a volume yearly, and which were highly esteemed by American
+lawyers, were <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_452"></a>[452]</span>
+abridged without his consent soon after he went abroad.
+The publication of this abridgment occasioned a lawsuit, which ended
+only with his life. The following letter, for which we are indebted to
+the kindness of Professor Parsons, of the Law-school in Cambridge,
+will, we think, be read with interest. We must only remark, that it is
+an error to suppose that Mr. Wheaton shunned general society after he
+went to Europe; he joined in it, on the contrary, more than is usual to
+men of his age in our country.</p>
+<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Cambridge, May 22, 1853.
+</span></div>
+<p>"I am very glad to offer even a slight contribution to this
+memorial, of one so worthy of all respect as the late Mr. Wheaton. And
+you must permit me to express the hope that the sketch you now propose
+to make, will hereafter be expanded into that history of his life and
+exhibition of his character, which should be given to the world, in
+justice to him and to the very many to whom it would be most
+acceptable. I can speak of him from personal acquaintance, only after a
+long interval, when even recollections so pleasant as those of my
+intercourse with him have become somewhat dim.</p>
+<p>"It was at the very close of the year 1821, that I went to
+Washington, to pass some months there. The commissioners to distribute
+the money due to American citizens under the then recent treaty with
+Spain, began their sessions that winter. Mr. Webster was employed by
+most of the large claimants in New England, and I went with him to
+assist him generally, and also charged by some of those claimants with
+the especial care of their interests. In New-York I became acquainted
+with Mr. Wheaton; and he was with us during a <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_453"></a>[453]</span>
+part of the journey to
+Washington. As fellow-travellers, we became intimate, and during the
+whole of my stay in Washington,&#8212;nearly three months,&#8212;this intimacy was
+kept up. From many parts of the country, eminent lawyers were at
+Washington, in attendance upon the Supreme Court, or charged with the
+care of cases before the commissioners under the Spanish treaty, and I
+was meeting them continually in society; and I had the good fortune
+also to, become acquainted with many of the most distinguished members
+of government and of Congress, and visited freely in the whole
+range&#8212;then less broad than now&#8212;of society in Washington.</p>
+<p>"Wherever I went I met Mr. Wheaton. Every where he was upon
+the footing, not of a received, but of a welcomed guest; and he seemed
+to be most intimate in the best houses. It was easy to see the cause of
+this. His important position as Reporter of the decisions of the
+Supreme Court of the United States&#8212;which office he had then held for
+six years&#8212;brought him into immediate contact not only with the judges
+of the court, but with all who practised in it; and it might be
+supposed that with them he would be on terms of intimacy and
+friendship. But there was something in the character of that
+friendship, that no mere position explained; and he inspired an equally
+warm regard in many who never met him in his official duties. Among all
+his friends, if I were to name any persons, I think it would be Mr.
+Webster himself, who treated him as he might a brother; Sir Stratford
+Canning, Minister from England, and M. de Neuville, the French
+Minister, who appeared to give tone and character to Washington society
+so far as any persons can influence elements so diversified and
+refractory, and in whose houses he stood on the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_454"></a>[454]</span>footing
+of a
+confidential friend; Mr Lowndes of South Carolina, a most wise and
+excellent man; and lastly and most of all, Chief Justice Marshall. Let
+me pause a moment to say one word of this great and good man, to whose
+greatness and whose goodness, equally, this country is, and while its
+prosperity endures, will be indebted; for his greatness rested upon his
+goodness as its foundation. Even his wide and accurate learning, his
+clear and close reasoning, his profound insight into the true merits
+and exact character and bearing of every question, and the unerring
+sagacity which enabled him to see the future in the present; all these
+together, and whatever more there might have been of merely
+intellectual power, would not have enabled him to lay the foundations
+of our national and constitutional jurisprudence with the depth,
+breadth, and firmness, which all attacks upon them have, as yet, only
+made more apparent, if it had not been for his moral character. Here
+lay the inmost secret of his power. Men felt, and the nation felt, his
+incorruptibility; meaning by this, not merely the absence of that baser
+and more obvious selfishness, which most men of decent self-respect
+overcome or suppress; but his perfect and manifest freedom from all
+motives and all influences whatever, which could tend to cloud or warp
+his understanding, or qualify the utterance of his wisdom. He did not
+stand before us a man of living ice, perfectly safe because perfectly
+cold; for he was affectionate and gentle as a child; excitable even to
+enthusiasm, when that kind heart was touched; listening, not only with
+an equal strength to the strongest, but with a perfect sympathy to the
+eloquent, and with a charming courtesy to all. There he stood, and no
+one ever saw him and heard him, and did not know that his one <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_455"></a>[455]</span>wish
+was
+to do his great duty; and that his admirable intellect came to its
+daily tasks, and did them, wholly free from all possible distortion or
+disturbance, not because he was strong enough to repel all the
+influences of party, or passion, or prejudice, or interest, or personal
+favor, but because none of these things could come near enough to him
+to be repelled. By the happy constitution of his nature, there was no
+flaw in him to give entrance to any thing which, could draw him one
+hair's breadth aside from the straight course of truth and justice, and
+of the law, which in his mind was but their embodiment and voice. Of
+this good and great man there is as yet no adequate memorial; and it
+would require a strong hand, and if not an equal, at least a
+sympathizing mind and heart, to construct one which shall indeed be
+adequate. But I indulge the hope that it will be given to us before the
+generation which knew him shall pass wholly away. And you, I am sure,
+will pardon me for using this opportunity to render to his cherished
+memory this slight and evanescent tribute. I do but indulge myself in
+saying a part of what I have frequent occasion to say to the many
+students to whom it is my official duty to teach the law of their
+country as well as I can, and therefore to speak often of Marshall.</p>
+<p>"The Chief Justice treated Mr. Wheaton with the fondest
+regard, and this example would have had its influence had it been
+necessary; but in fact the best men then in Washington were on the most
+intimate and confidential terms with him. The simple truth is, that
+universal respect was rendered to him because he deserved it. He was a
+gentleman: and therefore the same gentleman to all and under all
+circumstances; yes, he was indeed and emphatically a gentleman, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_456"></a>[456]</span>
+combined&#8212;with no base admixture&#8212;all the elements which go to compose
+what we mean, or should mean, by that word, as thoroughly as any one
+that I have ever known.</p>
+<p>"I did not meet him after leaving Washington until a short
+time before his death, and then not often. I saw very little change in
+his manner, for he appeared to be as glad as I was to revive the
+pleasant recollections of that distant winter. But I have been told
+that after he went abroad, he was considered somewhat silent, and even
+disposed to avoid rather than seek general society. I cannot say how
+this was during those later years; but when I knew him in Washington,
+no one more enjoyed society, and few sought it more, or were more
+sought by it. He was,&#8212;not perhaps gay,&#8212;but eminently cheerful; and his
+manner was characterized by that forgetfulness of self, which, as in
+great things, it forms the foundation for the highest excellence, so in
+the lesser matters of social intercourse it imparts a perpetual charm,
+and constitutes almost of itself, the essence of all true politeness.</p>
+<p>There was with Mr. Wheaton, no watching of opportunity for
+display; no indifference and want of interest when the topics of
+conversation, or the parties, or other circumstances, made it
+impossible for him to occupy the foreground; no skilful diversion of
+the conversation into paths which led to his strongholds, where he
+might come forth with peculiar advantage. Still less did he&#8212;as in this
+country so many do&#8212;play out in society the game of life, by using it
+only as a means of promoting his personal or professional objects.
+Certainly, one may sometimes help himself importantly in this way. Very
+useful acquaintances may thus be made and cultivated, who might be
+rather shy if directly approached. Facts may be <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_457"></a>[457]</span>learned,
+and
+opportunities for advancement early discovered, or effectually laid
+hold of, by one who circulates widely in a society like that in
+Washington, or indeed any where. Nor perhaps should it be a ground of
+reproach to any one, that in a reasonable way and to a reasonable
+extent, he seeks and cultivates society for this purpose. But, whatever
+may be the moral aspect of this matter, or whatever the degree in which
+conduct of this kind is or is not justifiable, there was in Mr.
+Wheaton's demeanor nothing of this; nothing of it in appearance,
+because nothing of it in fact; for one who is mainly, or in any
+considerable degree governed by a purpose of this kind, must be cunning
+indeed, to hide it effectually; and cunning of any sort, was a quality
+of which he had none whatever. Every body felt and knew this: and
+therefore every body met him with a sense of confidence and repose,
+which of itself would go far in making any person more acceptable as a
+friend or as a mere companion, in a society of which the very surface
+constantly exhibited the many whirling under currents of Washington
+life. In one word, there was in him nothing of <i>trick</i>;
+but that constant and perfect suavity which is the spontaneous
+expression of universal kindness; and an excellent understanding, well
+and widely cultivated, and always ready to bring forth all its
+resources, not to help himself, but to help or gratify others, and all
+others with whom he came into contact, and all this, with no appearance
+of purpose or design of any kind; for it was but the natural outpouring
+of mind and heart, of one who was open to the widest sympathy, and
+whose interest in all persons and things about him was most real and
+honest, because he loved nothing so well as to do all the good he
+could, by word or deed, or little or much, to one, or few, or many. <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_458"></a>[458]</span>He
+was therefore most popular in society. But when we speak of Mr.
+Wheaton's social <i>popularity</i>, we must be careful to
+use this word in a higher than its common sense; and if I have made
+myself at all intelligible, I think you will understand both the cause
+and the character of that popularity.</p>
+<p>"And more than this I cannot say. Time has effaced from my
+memory details and especial circumstances; nor can I therefore, by
+their help, illustrate this slight sketch of Mr. Wheaton's character
+and position, during those pleasant months which he helped so much to
+make pleasant. Of these particulars, my recollection is dim enough. But
+no lapse of time will efface from my mind the clear and distinct
+recollection of the high excellence of his character, or the charms of
+his conversation and manners; nor shall I ever lose any portion of the
+affection and respect with which I regard his memory.</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="poem">
+"I am, very sincerely,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><span class="poem">
+"Your friend and obedient servant,</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 8em;"><span class="poem">
+"<span class="smcap">Theophilus Parsons.</span>"</span></span><br />
+</p>
+<p> &nbsp; &nbsp; <span class="smcap">Cambridge</span>, May
+23, 1853.<br />
+</p>
+<p>In 1821, Mr. Wheaton was elected a member of theConvention
+for revising the Constitution of the State of New-York, which having
+been formed amid the tumults and perils of war, seemed defective and
+insufficient to the wants of a richer, more enlightened, and more
+numerous society. In his sittings he turned his attention more
+particularly to the organization of the tribunals. In 1824, he was
+appointed by the New-York Legislature a member of the commission
+appointed to draw up the civil and criminal code of the State, a work
+in which he continued to be engaged until 1827. It has been remarked
+that this <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_459"></a>[459]</span>
+was the first effort made by any State possessing the common
+law, to reduce its disconnected and diffusive legislation to the unity
+of a code; so that his name is thus connected with one of the most
+important landmarks in the history of American law.</p>
+<p>It may easily be imagined, that a person of so serious and
+thoughtful a disposition could not have failed at some period of his
+life, to turn his attention to the important subject of religion. While
+in college, and during the ensuing years, he had studied deeply the
+works of the great English theologians, and when the Unitarian Church
+was established in New-York, he united himself with it.</p>
+<p>His other occupations did not prevent him from entering into
+literary pursuits. In 1820 he pronounced a discourse before the
+Historical Society of New-York, and in 1824, one at the opening of the
+New-York Athen�um, both of which are considered to have unusual merit;
+he was in the habit of contributing to the North American Review, and
+also translated the Code Napoleon. Unfortunately, this manuscript and
+some other interesting papers were soon after destroyed by fire. In
+1826 he published the life of William Pinkney, whom he had known in
+Washington, and for whom he had the highest regard and admiration. This
+he afterwards abridged for Sparks's American Biography. His familiarity
+with the French language, laws, and customs, led to an intimacy with
+most of the exiles whom the downfall of Napoleon brought to this
+country. Count R�al, the minister of police under the empire, Count
+Regnault, the most brilliant orator of that time, General Bernard and
+Prince Achille Murat, all considered him as a friend, and retained as
+long as they lived a warm recollection of the kind welcome they had
+found at his house.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_460"></a>[460]</span>
+In 1827 he was appointed by President Adams, Charg� d'Affaires
+to Denmark, and charged with negotiations the object of which was to
+obtain an indemnity for the American vessels seized during the last war
+between France and England. He embarked in July for England, where he
+had the satisfaction of again seeing the friends whose kindness had
+made his first visit to that country so pleasant, and also of meeting
+some of the most distinguished literary and legal characters of the
+day. Among the former, was Dr. Bowring, with whom he afterwards became
+intimate, and who was indeed one of the warmest friends he had in
+Europe.</p>
+<p>Although the first few months passed in Copenhagen were not
+without the trials attendant on a removal to a foreign home, and in
+this instance were still more overshadowed by the news of his father's
+death, and by the illness and death of his wife's brother, who had gone
+with them, Mr. Wheaton soon became acclimated, formed pleasant
+acquaintances among his colleagues and among the Danes, who are
+remarkably kind and hospitable to foreigners, and availed himself of
+the resources the country offered to one of his tastes. The letter to
+Judge Story, of which we give a <i>fac-simile</i>, will
+show his first impressions of Copenhagen.</p>
+<p>The climate of Denmark is damp like that of England, and its
+verdure quite as beautiful. Copenhagen is prettily situated, and
+contains as many objects of interest as any city of the size in Europe.
+It has fine palaces, a military and a naval academy, admirable
+hospitals, an extensive public library, a valuable collection of
+Northern antiquities, a good gallery of pictures, and fine public
+walks. The vicinity of the capital, although level, is highly
+cultivated, and affords a number of charming <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_461"></a>[461]</span>residences. The
+most
+pleasant of these are situated on the Strandvei, a road which runs
+along the shore of the Baltic to the Dyr-Hange, a fine park well
+stocked with deer, which is a favorite place of resort during the
+summer season to the Danes, who enjoy out-of-door life as much as the
+inhabitants of a Southern clime. Many of the houses which stand at
+intervals along the pleasant Strandvei are rented by their proprietors
+to foreigners. Of one of those occupied by Mr. Wheaton and his family,
+we engrave a cut, from a view painted by an artist of the country. It
+stood, and still stands, at some distance from the road, with a green
+lawn before it, and surrounded by lilacs, laburnums and beech-trees,
+whose white bark and light green leaves give a peculiar character to
+the scenery of Denmark. From the windows of the house the blue waves of
+the Baltic, studded with every variety of sail, may be seen, and in
+clear weather the opposite coast of Sweden is discernible. The road is
+enlivened by the brilliant equipages of the Royal family and nobility,
+by the Holstein-wagen, long open carriages which contain ten persons,
+two only being seated abreast, and much used for parties of pleasure,
+and by the women from the neighboring fishing villages, with their
+green petticoats and red boddices, carrying large baskets of fish to
+the city.</p>
+<p>At the time of Mr. Wheaton's arrival in Denmark, Count
+Schimmelmann occupied the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs. This
+nobleman was possessed of great talents and worth, and for nearly
+thirty years was employed in the service of his government. Although a
+great part of his income was derived from his estates in the Danish
+West Indies, it was chiefly by his influence that the emancipation of
+the negroes was effected. He was a generous patron of art and science,
+and one of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_462"></a>[462]</span>
+earliest friends of Niebuhr. By such a man Mr. Wheaton
+could not fail to be appreciated; and although the business transacted
+between them was of a delicate, and to the Danish government, which had
+been greatly impoverished by the war, of a trying nature, these
+meetings were always pleasant to both. The negotiations were terminated
+in 1831, by the signature of a convention, by which the American
+government obtained nearly all it had demanded.</p>
+<p>While thus engaged, Mr. Wheaton had not neglected the literary
+pursuits to which, in moments of leisure, he always turned with
+pleasure. He prepared himself by the study of the languages,
+literature, and history of Northern Europe, for writing a work which
+was published in London, in 1831, under the title of History of the
+Northmen. At that period, Scandinavia was a new, and almost untrodden
+field, but although much has since been added to the information we
+then possessed respecting its history and antiquities, this work is
+still considered very valuable by those who take an interest in the
+subject to which it relates. It was translated into French in 1842, and
+a new edition of it being desired in this country, Mr. Wheaton
+undertook the task of preparing it, but did not live to complete it.</p>
+<p>In the course of these studies he became acquainted with the
+most distinguished literary characters of Denmark, such as Bask, Rafn,
+Finn-Magnusen, the poet Ohlenschl�ger, M�nter, Bishop of Zealand, and
+others. We must not omit to add Madame Frederika Brun, the sister of
+M�nter, and herself a poetess of celebrity, whose splendid mansion in
+Copenhagen and charming country-seat of Fredericksdal, were for many
+years the resort of the most distinguished persons in Denmark.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_463"></a>[463]</span>
+It was in 1835 that he bade adieu to the country where nine
+pleasant years had been passed, and where his amiable disposition, high
+integrity and talents, had won him many friends. For more than a
+quarter of a century, our country had had no representative in Prussia;
+but our increased trade with Germany rendering it important that we
+should renew our relations with that country, he was appointed by
+President Jackson, Minister Resident to the court of Prussia. On his
+arrival in Berlin, his new colleagues took pleasure in pointing out to
+him the house which had been the residence of his predecessor, John
+Quincy Adams, so long before.</p>
+<p>Mr. Ancillon, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was the
+descendant of a Huguenot family, who, after the revocation of the Edict
+of Nantes, sought an asylum in Germany, and is even better known as a
+philosophical writer and historian, than as a statesman. To him Mr.
+Wheaton presented his credentials, and as the King, Frederick William
+III., and his ministers, soon after left Berlin, according to custom,
+for the summer months, he devoted the interval to visiting the Rhenish
+provinces, in order to examine their resources and report to Government
+concerning them. During the ensuing summers he made excursions into
+different parts of Germany with the same object. In his private
+letters, he speaks with delight of the beauty and fertility of the
+country, to which historical associations gave additional charm in his
+eyes. In a dispatch, he says: "Having diligently explored every state
+and every province, comprehended in the Customs-Association, with the
+view of studying their economical resources, I have been forcibly
+struck with the vast variety and rich productions with which Heaven has
+endowed this beautiful and highly favored land. Its fields teem <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_464"></a>[464]</span>with
+luxuriant harvests of grain and fruit, the hillsides are clad with
+vineyards yielding the most exquisite wines, the mountains contain
+inexhaustible treasures of useful minerals, whilst the valleys are
+filled with health-giving fountains of salubrious waters. When we add
+to these productions of nature and of agricultural labor, the vast
+variety of useful and ornamental fabrics, furnished by the persevering
+and patient industry of the German people, and their extensive
+consumption of the peculiar staple productions of the New World, we
+must be convinced of the great and increasing importance of the
+constituent elements of German commerce, of the valuable exchange it
+offers to the trade of other countries, and of the benefits which may
+be derived to our own country, from cultivating and extending the
+commercial relations between the United States and Germany."</p>
+<p>In 1837, Mr. Wheaton was raised by President Van Buren to the
+rank of Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary; and we cannot
+forbear remarking, that after the opposition which&#8212;although never a
+violent party man&#8212;he had in previous years shown Mr. Van Buren, it is
+most honorable to the latter, that no feeling of rancor or pique,
+withheld him from making a nomination which he felt the public services
+of his former opponent to deserve.</p>
+<p>In 1836, he published, in England and in the United States,
+his "Elements of International Law," and in 1846 republished it in this
+country with numerous additions. In 1841 he wrote in French, "Histoire
+du Progr�s du Droit des Gens depuis la paix de Westphalie," which
+obtained a <i>mention honorable</i> from the French
+Institute. This work was published in French at Leipsic, 1844, and
+afterwards in New-York, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_465"></a>[465]</span>
+under the title of "History of the Law of
+Nations." Competent judges have spoken of it as the best work of the
+kind ever written; Mr. Reddie and Mr. Manning in Great Britain, Baron
+Gagern in Germany, and the enlightened and accomplished Minister of the
+King of Sardinia, Marquis d'Azeglio, have all awarded high praise to
+it. By diplomatists, it is considered an invaluable book of reference;
+by British statesmen, it has several times been quoted in Parliament,
+and there can be no exaggeration in saying, that it has entitled the
+author to a lasting reputation in the Old World.</p>
+<p>In 1840, Mr. Wheaton had the misfortune to lose his eldest
+son, a lad of great promise, who died after a few days' illness in
+Paris, where he was at school. From that moment, all the father's hopes
+centred in Robert, his only remaining son. Of the latter, this is not
+the place to speak fully; but we cannot forbear to say, that he lived
+long enough to realize the fondest anticipations of his parents, and
+that his early death, at the age of twenty-five years, will ever be a
+source of regret to all who knew him. He died on the 9th of October,
+1851, only three years after his father.</p>
+<p>In 1843, he was made a corresponding member of the French
+Institute, in the section of Moral and Political Sciences. This
+nomination increased the pleasure he felt in visiting Paris, which he
+did, whenever his official duties would permit. In the literary and
+political circles of that great capital, he found the stimulus which
+every mind like his requires, and of which, he felt the want in Berlin,
+where men of letters and <i>savans</i> do not mix in the
+court-circles, which his official position compelled him frequently to
+attend. He knew most of the eminent statesmen and politicians of
+France; he was particularly well <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_466"></a>[466]</span>
+acquainted with M. Guizot, for whose
+character and talents he entertained the highest respect, and with M.
+Thiers, the charm of whose conversation he admired no less than his
+works, He also enjoyed the opportunity he had in Paris of meeting his
+countrymen, of whom comparatively few visited Berlin. Nor did he
+neglect when there, to transmit to Government such information
+respecting the general state of Europe, as his long residence abroad,
+and his relations with the leading men in several of its countries,
+enabled him to collect. In the ten years during which his mission to
+Berlin lasted, scarcely a week elapsed without his addressing a
+dispatch to Government. These dispatches are extremely interesting,
+both from the variety and extent of information they contain concerning
+the political and commercial state of Prussia, and the picture they
+present of Europe and of European governments, and, if ever published,
+will form a valuable addition to the history of American and European
+diplomacy.</p>
+<p>In many respects, Mr. Wheaton was peculiarly well qualified
+for diplomatic life. His knowledge of international law, the soundness
+of his judgment, the calmness and impartiality with which he could look
+at the different sides of a question, his gentle and forbearing
+disposition, his amiable and conciliating manners, were all in his
+favor. To these advantages, he added the purest integrity, and the
+highest sense of the duties and responsibilities attached to the
+profession he so long followed. In the speech made at the public dinner
+offered him in New-York, on his return to his native country after an
+absence of twenty years, he said, and this was the true expression of
+his feelings on the subject: "You will excuse me for remarking that the
+mission of a diplomatic agent is, or ought to be, a <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_467"></a>[467]</span>mission
+of peace
+and conciliation; and that nothing can be further removed from its true
+nature and dignity, than intrigue, craft, and duplicity; qualities too
+often, but in my opinion, erroneously, attributed to the diplomatic
+character. At least, it may I believe be confidently asserted, that the
+ablest public ministers, and those who have most effectually advanced
+the honor and interest of their country, have been those who were
+distinguished for frankness, directness, and a strict regard to truth."</p>
+<p>The amount of business which devolved on him during his
+mission to Berlin, independent of the negotiations for a commercial
+treaty with the German Customs-Union or Zollverein, can hardly be
+estimated by reading his dispatches only. Not a week elapsed without
+his receiving letters from different parts of Germany and the United
+States, asking for advice with regard to emigration, or to the
+disposition of property left by friends in America or in Germany, and
+all requiring immediate attention. But notwithstanding these demands
+upon his time, he did not neglect the pursuits of literature. In 1838
+he published, jointly with Dr. Crichton, the volumes entitled
+"Scandinavia," which form a portion of the Edinburgh Family Library;
+and in 1842, and the succeeding years, wrote a number of interesting
+letters addressed to the National Institute at Washington, which were
+published in the columns of the National Intelligencer.</p>
+<p>In 1844, he was named Member of the Academy of Sciences at
+Berlin, and we must not omit to mention, that he was the only foreign
+diplomat to whom the honor had then been awarded. With Raumer and
+Ranke, with Ritter, the celebrated geographer, Encke, the astronomer,
+he was of course acquainted; Savigny, Gans, and Eichorn, he knew well;
+and with <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_468"></a>[468]</span>
+Alexander von Humboldt he was on the most friendly and
+familiar terms. Count Raczynski, whose work on "Modern Art," has made
+his name known in this country, and whose fine gallery is to amateurs
+of painting one of the chief objects of interest in Berlin, was also
+his intimate friend. With Bunsen, one of the most agreeable as well as
+intellectual men in Germany, whose diplomatic duties kept him absent
+from Berlin, he passed many delightful hours in Switzerland, and in
+London. All his colleagues in Berlin met him on the most friendly
+terms; but the Russian, French and English ministers were those whose
+company he most enjoyed, and who perhaps entertained for him the most
+cordial friendship. The two latter gave him their entire confidence,
+often showing him their dispatches, and freely discussing with him the
+interests of their respective governments.</p>
+<p>It was in the spring of 1844, that the negotiations with the
+Zollverein, with which Mr. Wheaton had been charged, and which the
+various interests of the nineteen different states which it then
+included, had protracted, drew to a close. On the 25th of March he
+signed a convention with Baron Bulow, the Prussian Minister of Foreign
+Affairs, of whose enlightened and liberal views he always spoke in high
+terms. This treaty, to the accomplishment of which he had devoted all
+his energies during several years, and which he fondly hoped would
+prove satisfactory to Government and the country, was rejected by the
+Senate. It is hardly necessary to say, that he felt this disappointment
+deeply.</p>
+<p>In 1846, he was recalled by President Polk, and on the 22d
+July had his farewell audience of the King of Prussia, by whom he had
+always been treated with marked distinction <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_469"></a>[469]</span>and courtesy. He
+went to
+Paris to pass the ensuing winter, during which he read to the Academy
+of Sciences a paper on the Schleswig-Holstein question, which is still
+unpublished. In May, 1847, he returned to his native land. A public
+dinner, to which we have already alluded, was given him in New-York,
+where so much of his early life had been spent, and where he had first
+distinguished himself; a dinner was also offered him in Philadelphia,
+but this, circumstances compelled him to decline. The city of
+Providence requested him to sit for his portrait, to be placed in the
+hall of the City Council, "as a memorial of one who shed so much honor
+on the place of his nativity." It is interesting to mark the contrast
+between this portrait, which was painted by Healy, and one painted by
+Jarvis nearly thirty years before. Though the countenance has lost
+something of the animation of youth, and the eyes have no longer the
+fire which flashes from the portrait of Jarvis, the head has gained in
+intellectual expression, and the brow wears that air of thoughtful
+repose, the mouth that pleasant smile, familiar to those who knew him
+in his later years.</p>
+<p>In September, 1847, he delivered an address in Providence,
+before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the subject of which was the
+Progress and Prospects of Germany. This was the last public occasion on
+which his voice was heard. The chair of International Law at Harvard
+University, to which he had been called, on his return home, he never
+lived to fill. His health gradually failed, and on the 11th of March,
+1848, he breathed his last.</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_471"></a>[471]</span></p>
+<h1></h1>
+<h6><a name="webster"></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Webster.</span>
+</h6>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_472"></a>[472]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="letter_472"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 504px; height: 800px;" alt="Webster fac-simile of letter" src="images/letters/webster.png" /></a></div>
+<hr  />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_473"></a>[473]</span></p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a class="figcenter" name="illus491"><img style="border: 0px solid ; width: 409px; height: 403px;" alt="Webster's Birth-place." src="images/illus491.jpg" /></a></div>
+<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption"><a class="figcenter">Webster's Birth-place.</a></span></p>
+<h2>WEBSTER.</h2>
+<p>What justice can be done "in an half-hour of words, to fifty
+years of great deeds on high places." The most meagre epitome of Daniel
+Webster's career, can not be compressed into the few pages allotted him
+in this book. Foremost, in the highest spheres of intellectual
+exertion, as a lawyer, orator and statesman&#8212;great in all these, yet
+greater as a man&#8212;how can his character, even in outline, be sketched by
+an unskilled pencil, on so small a canvas? High as were his stations,
+and severe as were his labors, they were not high nor severe enough, to
+exhaust his force, or exhibit his full <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_474"></a>[474]</span>
+proportions, but while meeting
+and mastering all, it was still manifest, that he had powers in
+reserve, superior to greater tasks than were ever imposed. At the bar,
+the puzzles of jurisprudence yielded too readily to his analysis. In
+Congress, but one question only ever wrung his withers or strained his
+strength. He shook off the perplexities of diplomacy, like dew-drops
+from his mane; too great for party, too great for sycophancy, too great
+to be truly appreciated, the exalted position to which he aspired,
+would have added no new lustre to his name, no additional guarantee of
+its immortality. There was no niche in our temple, vast enough for his
+colossal image.</p>
+<p>Consider too, the extent and profundity of his opinions,
+during the half-century of his public life. On all questions of our
+foreign and domestic policy, on all the important epochs of our
+history, on everything respecting the origin, growth, commerce, peace
+and prosperity of this union of states, "everywhere the philosophical
+and patriotic statesman and thinker, will find that he has been before
+him, lighting the way, sounding the abyss. His weighty language, his
+sagacious warnings, his great maxims of empire, will be raised to view
+and live to be deciphered, when the final catastrophe shall lift the
+granite foundation in fragments from its bed." Merely to review the
+record of these opinions, his public speeches, historical discourses,
+and state papers would be to write the civil and constitutional history
+of the country since the war of 1812.</p>
+<p>Assaying none of these ambitious flights, and bearing in mind
+the title of this book, we shall confine ourselves to the <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_475"></a>[475]</span>humble
+task
+of collating from the fragmentary reminiscences of personal friends,
+and from his own autobiographical allusions, a brief account of the
+homes and home life of Webster.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+<p>There is a "vulgar error," which needs no Sir Thomas Browne to
+refute, that the possession of great intellectual endowments, is
+incompatible with the growth and development of the affections. During
+his entire career Mr. Webster suffered from this misconception. When he
+refused to adopt any of the arts of popular adulation; when he
+manifested his real respect for the people, by addressing their
+understandings, rather than by cajoling their weaknesses; when, rapt in
+his own meditations, he forgot to bow, to smile, to flatter, and bandy
+unmeaning compliment; when the mean stood abashed before his nobleness,
+and the weak before his strength, disappointed self-conceit, invariably
+turned from his presence, with the sneering remark, "Webster has no
+soul."</p>
+<p>Death strips off all disguises. Calumny is silent over the
+graves of the great. It was not, until he was removed beyond the reach
+of party warfare and interested depreciation, it was not, until the
+veil that hid his true lineaments, was drawn aside, that Mr. Webster's
+inner life, and social relations, were revealed to his countrymen, and
+they began to discover, that underneath the giant's brain, there was a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_476"></a>[476]</span>
+giant heart. The disclosures of those who enjoyed his familiarity and
+confidence, have now placed it beyond all controversy, that home, home
+affections, home pursuits, home enjoyments, were more congenial to Mr.
+Webster's nature, than the dizzy heights of office, or the stormy forum.</p>
+<p>He saw not merely in <small>HOME</small>,
+the walls that protected him, from Boreas and the dog-star, the spot of
+earth appropriated to himself, the place that ministered to his
+material enjoyments, but while the sense of comfort and the sense of
+property entered into its complex idea, his sentiments and affections
+gave to it a higher and holier meaning. The word <span class="smcap">Home</span>
+carried him back to his infancy, and forward to his age. It connected
+itself with all his affections, filial, fraternal, parental, with those
+grand and solemn epochs of humanity, birth, marriage and death. To his
+lofty imagination, the roof-tree was consecrated with ceremonies, more
+imposing than those of our Saxon ancestors. It symbolized the family
+tie, the domestic virtues, the Lares and Penates of classic mythology.
+Home was his retreat from the world of action, to the world of
+contemplation. Here he was to <i>live</i>. These walls
+would witness those experiences, sweet, bitter, mournful; those
+communings with God, with friends, kindred and himself; those
+aspirations, dreams, disappointments&#8212;that are embraced in that word of
+infinite significance, <i>Life</i>. Here his wife was to
+administer love and consolation; here children were to be born,
+hostages to fortune, heritors of name and fame, idols upon whom can be
+lavished the inexhaustible treasures of love. Here the pilgrimage was
+to end, here he was to die.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_477"></a>[477]</span>
+On the bleak and rugged soil of Salisbury, New Hampshire, in a
+green nook, hardly sheltered from the wintry blasts, he was born. Under
+an aged elm, whose branches reach across the highway, stands this
+ancient habitation. It is in the shadow of lofty mountains, while a
+broad and rapid river winds through the meadows spread out before the
+door. "Looking out at the east window," says he, in one of his letters,
+from this hallowed spot, "my eye sweeps along a level field of one
+hundred acres. At the end of it, a third of a mile off, I see plain
+marble grave-stones, designating the places where repose my father and
+mother, brother and sisters. The fair field is before me. I could see a
+lamb on any part of it. I have ploughed it, and raked it, but never
+mowed it; somehow, I could never learn to hang a scythe."</p>
+<p>As Webster advances, in years and distinction, he seems only
+to have been drawing a lengthened chain from his first home. With what
+constancy does he carry its features in his mind, Kearsarge, the
+Merrimack and Punch Brook! He spares no expense to cultivate the old
+acres and keep, the old house in repair. With what regularity does he
+revisit it and explore all his boyish haunts, the orchard, the mill,
+the meeting-house, the well, the hillside and the trout stream! With
+what a swelling heart, and moistened eye, does he sit beneath the
+ancestral elms that stretch their arms, in benediction, over the old
+homestead, while busy fancy repeoples these familiar scenes with the
+absent and the dead, the mother that bore him, the father on whose
+shoulder he wept, the much beloved brother, whose education he earned,
+"with weary fingers by the midnight lamp?" How from the great <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_478"></a>[478]</span>popular
+gathering, from the "sea of upturned faces," and even from the
+important issues that hung on his eloquence, does his mind impulsively
+wander to this cherished home&#8212;"Raised amid the snow-drifts of New
+Hampshire, at a period so early that, when the smoke first rose from
+its rude chimney, and curled over the frozen hills, there was no
+similar evidence of a white man's habitation between it and the
+settlements on the rivers of Canada. Its remains still exist. I make to
+it an annual visit. I carry my children to it to teach them the
+hardships endured by the generations which have gone before them. I
+love to dwell on the tender recollections, the kindred ties, the early
+affections, and the touching narratives and incidents, which mingle
+with all I know of this primitive family abode. I weep to think that
+none of those who inhabited it are now among the living; and if ever I
+am ashamed of it, or if I ever fail in affectionate veneration for HIM
+who reared and defended it against savage violence and destruction,
+cherished all the domestic virtues beneath its roof, and, through the
+fire and blood of seven years' revolutionary war, shrunk from no
+danger, no toil, no sacrifice to serve his country, and to raise his
+children to a condition better than his own, may my name and the name
+of my posterity be blotted forever from the memory of mankind."</p>
+<p>"Take care," says he, in one of the last letters which he
+wrote to John Taylor, "take care to keep my mother's garden in good
+order, even if it cost you the wages of a man to take care of it." One
+of Mr. Webster's most cherished relics, which he sometimes carried in
+his vest pocket, and exhibited to his friends, was an antique
+tea-spoon, covered with rust, <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_479"></a>[479]</span>
+which John Taylor found in this very
+garden of his mother. In the library at Marshfield, the eye turns from
+Healey's splendid portraits, to a small and unpretending silhouette,
+with the inscription, "my excellent mother," in the handwriting of her
+immortal son.</p>
+<p>When he selected as the home of his manhood, the old mansion
+by the far-resounding sea, how completely was every want of his nature
+represented in the grand and impressive features of the place. <span class="smcap">Marshfield</span> lies within the limits
+of the Pilgrims' earliest colony, and on Mr. Webster's farm stands the
+house to which Edward Winslow carried his household gods, from aboard
+the tempest-tost Mayflower, and the house to which a company of British
+soldiers bade final adieu, when they marched from it to storm the
+redoubts on Bunker Hill. It thus connects two chapters of that colonial
+history, which Mr. Webster loved to study and paint, and two
+imperishable monuments to his own renown. It is surrounded by vast and
+fertile fields, meadows and pastures green, dotted here and there with
+groves and orchards, for one who worshiped, as in a sanctuary, beneath
+the over-hanging branches of trees, and dotted also with great herds of
+red and black oxen, for one who "was glad when his cattle lifted up
+their large-eyed, contemplative faces, and recognized their master by a
+look." Its border, landward, is hedged with nothing less than a vast
+forest of pines, and within a few hours' ride, lies a fresh wilderness,
+unbroken, as when the Pilgrims first saw it from the Mayflower's
+mast-head, where the wild eagle still soars, and the timid deer
+"glances through the glade." His eye, far as its glance <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_480"></a>[480]</span>could
+penetrate, rested on the most sublime of all nature's attractions, on
+thee&#8212;<br />
+</p>
+<p><span style="margin-left: 3em;"><span class="poem">
+"glorious mirror where the Almighty's form</span></span><br />
+<span class="poem">Glasses itself in tempests; in all time,</span><br />
+<span class="poem">Calm or convulsed&#8212;in breeze, or gale,
+or storm,</span><br />
+<span class="poem">Icing the pole, or in the torrid zone</span><br />
+<span class="poem">Dark heaving; boundless, endless, and
+sublime,</span><br />
+<span class="poem">The image of eternity, the throne</span><br />
+<span class="poem">Of the Invisible."</span><br />
+<br />
+</p>
+<p>Scattered over its far-reaching expanse, he could always see
+the white sails of that commerce he loved to defend, and occasionally,
+one of those "oak leviathans," bearing the glorious flag of the
+union&#8212;"not a stripe erased, or polluted, not a single star obscured;"
+memorials at once of the nation's glory, and of his own proudest
+triumph.</p>
+<p>As deep answereth unto deep, none of the majestic harmonies of
+the domain, but found a full and equal response in the bosom of its
+lord. Old ocean never rolled its waves, at the feet of one who could
+better grasp their immeasurable extent, unfathomable depth. When, with
+these surroundings, he stood on that autumn eve, beneath that
+magnificent elm that grows by his door-side, the sea's eternal anthem
+in his ear, and in his eye, the infinite vault of the starry heavens,
+he could find in recorded language but this one utterance: "When I
+consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers; the moon and the stars,
+which thou hast ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him? and
+the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little
+lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor."</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_481"></a>[481]</span>
+While his tastes were thus attuned to the grandest aspects of
+nature, all the rural sights and rural sounds of this chosen spot,
+ministered to the delight of his acute sensibilities. "The smell of
+new-mown hay," says Mr. Hillard, "and of the freshly turned furrows of
+spring, was cordial to his spirit. The whetting of the mower's scythe,
+the beat of the thresher's flail, the heavy groan of loaded wagons,
+were music to his ear!" The rich verdure of clover, the waving of the
+golden grain, the shriek of the sea-mew and the softest song of the
+nightingale; all the varying aspects of sky and field and sea,
+furnished him with a distinct and peculiar enjoyment. The shrinking
+quail whistled in his garden shrubbery, and fed, unscared, in his
+carriage-way.</p>
+<p>The observer can not fail to notice characteristics of Webster
+in all the features of this favorite abode. His door-yard is a broad
+field of twenty acres, unbroken by fence or hedge. Around it, sweep in
+concentric circles, of vast diameter, great belts of forest-trees,
+planted with his own hands, offering secluded recesses and shady walks,
+where "musing solitude might love to roam." Gotham Hill, once a
+sand-bank, piled up by the ocean, and long defeating, by its
+barrenness, the ingenuity of his culture, he at length clothed with a
+green garment of beautiful clover. Cherry Hill was converted from a
+lean and parched mole, into a cool and inviting grove, within a rod of
+his door, almost an alcove to the library. Everything in and about the
+house were as thoroughly systemized and adapted to each other, as the
+points of one of his briefs. The appurtenances of the mansion, the main
+barn, the sheep barn, the piggery, are all <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_482"></a>[482]</span>
+where the necessities of the
+farm and the comeliness of the homestead require them to be placed. In
+the interior, the parlors, the library filled with the lore of all
+ages, the ample hospitality of the dining-room, the breakfast-room,
+opening toward that morning light he loved so dearly, the dairy cooled
+by its proximity to the ice-house, the gun-room furnished with every
+appliance for field sports, the decorations and the furniture;
+everything in his mansion as in his arguments, bespeaks the mind of
+Webster.</p>
+<p>Within a stone's throw of this parlor-window, observe those
+two young English elms; they are called "the Brother and Sister," and
+were thus named and thus planted, by the bereaved father, when Julia
+and Edward were torn from his heart. "I hope the <i>trees</i>
+will live," said he, with touching pathos of tone, as he completed this
+labor of love. There is no more pathetic expression of parental sorrow,
+to be found in our language, than the dedication of the sixth volume of
+his works, to the same departed twain. "With the warmest parental
+affection, mingled with afflicted feelings, I dedicate this, the last
+volume of my works, to the memory of my deceased children, Julia
+Webster Appleton, beloved in all the relations of daughter, wife,
+mother, sister and friend; and Major Edward Webster, who died in
+Mexico, in the military service of the United States, with unblemished
+honor and reputation, and who entered the service solely from a desire
+to be useful to his country, and do honor to the state in which he was
+born.<br />
+</p>
+<p><span class="poem">"Go, gentle spirits, to your
+destined
+rest;</span><br />
+<span class="poem">While I&#8212;reversed our nature's kindlier
+doom&#8212;</span><br />
+<span class="poem">Pour forth a father's sorrow on your
+tomb."<br />
+<br />
+</span></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_483"></a>[483]</span>
+And yet Mr. Webster was "cold as marble; all intellect."</p>
+<p>But let us pass into the library; the <span class="smcap">Library</span>!
+Here Vulcan forged those infrangible chains, that impenetrable
+armor&#8212;the shield of Achilles and the sword of Hector. Here you feel
+nearer to Webster than even when you enter his tomb; much that is in
+this room his immortal spirit carried with it in its upward flight. It
+is not that lifelike portrait, by Healey, that introduces you, as it
+were, into the visible presence of the great statesman. It is the
+inspiration of the place, these scattered tools, just as they were
+dropped by the master-workman, that well-worn manual, thumbed by his
+own hand; that turned leaf, indicating the last page of human lore upon
+which his eye ever gazed; that arm-chair, his favorite seat. He seems
+just to have left it, and you will now find him, in one of those shady
+lanes, that lead to Cherry Hill, walking slowly, as he welds together
+the facts and principles he has gleaned from yonder opened folio. Here
+then, with these surroundings, with that beautiful landscape in his
+eye, <span class="smcap">Daniel Webster</span>
+studied, pondered, and communed with these old tomes as with familiar
+faces. How often has he turned from the living world, to find kindred
+here in Bacon, Chatham, Fox and Burke! How often has his eye run over
+that complete set of parliamentary debates! How often has he conned
+those volumes of Hansard, and these of McCullough! How often has he
+resorted to that full alcove of dictionaries, to learn the precise and
+exact meaning of some important word; and to you, Shakspeare, Milton
+and Gray, how often has he fled for refreshment and consolation! How
+often, harassed by cares, and stung by ingratitude, has he <span class="pagenum"><a name="pg_484"></a>[484]</span>murmured,
+in
+this air, the music of his favorite Cicero, "H�c studia adolescentiam
+alunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas res ornant, adversis perfugium ac
+solatium pr�bent, delectant domi, non impediunt foris, pernoctant
+nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur."</p>
+<p>Let us now ascend this staircase, (adorned with no costly
+paintings, but with some choice engravings, interesting from the
+associations they recall, or as mementos from friends, or tributes from
+artists,) and approach this darkened chamber, looking toward the
+setting sun; tread softly and slowly! Within these walls, on that plain
+bedstead, beneath that window commanding an ocean prospect, Webster
+died. Here occurred that grand and affecting leave-taking, with
+kindred, friends and the world; here, "the curfew tolled the knell of
+parting day;" here occurred a death-scene, which can find no parallel
+in human history, but in the death of Socrates; here, with the assured
+consciousness, that his own contributions to the fund of human wisdom
+were imperishable, and that the "next ages" could not fail to do
+justice to his patriotic labors, he faintly murmured, as his spirit
+took its flight, and his eye closed forever, "I still live."</p>
+<p>On an eminence overlooking the sea, by the side of the
+burial-place of the first Pilgrims, is Webster's last home. A mound of
+earth and marble slab, mark the spot where sleeps all that is mortal of
+the great American.</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<h3>Footnotes</h3>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a>
+On the causes and consequences of the war with France.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a>
+"Three months after this (during the second quarter), the Selectmen
+procured lodgings for me at Dr. Nahum Willard's. This physician had a
+large practice, a good reputation for skill, and a pretty library. Here
+were Dr. Cheyne's works, Sydenham, and others, and Van Swieten's
+Commentaries on Boerhaave. I read a good deal in these books, and
+entertained many thoughts of becoming a physician and surgeon."&#8212;<i>The
+Works
+of <span class="smcap">John Adams</span>, edited by
+<span class="smcap">Charles Francis Adams</span></i>&#8212;Vol.
+II., p. 7.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a>
+The Works of John Adams&#8212;Vol. II., page 9.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a>
+The Works of John Adams&#8212;Vol. II., p. 145.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a>
+This picture is engraved in the "The Life and Works," Vol. II.,
+Frontispiece. We are obliged to guess at the age when it was taken,
+since we find no hint concerning it&#8212;indeed no reference to the picture
+any where in the book.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a>
+"The American nettle-tree. One of these is still to be seen growing out
+of the top of the rock at this place."&#8212;<i>Ed. The Life and Works.</i></p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a>
+"This is the mansion afterwards purchased by the writer, in which he
+lived from the date of his last return from Europe until his death in
+1826.&#8212;<i>Ib.</i></p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a>
+This tree still remains in fine condition on Milton Hill.&#8212;<i>Ed.
+The Life and
+Works.</i></p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a>
+The Life and Works&#8212;Vol. II., p. 136-138.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a>
+The Life and Works&#8212;Vol. II., p. 255.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a>
+The debates in the Virginia Convention on the Federal Constitution, and
+his forensic argument against the recovery of the forfeited British
+debts.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a>
+He is said (<i>Wirt</i>, p. 404) to have been offered
+by Washington the Secretaryship of State and the embassy to Spain. He
+certainly was, by him, also offered the War Department, and by Mr.
+Adams the embassy to France. These are known. When the papers of
+Alexander Hamilton come to be published down to those of 1796, it will
+be seen that he was then offered, by the heads of the Federal party,
+through John Marshall, the nomination for the Presidency, as
+Washington's successor, but declined it.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a>
+Life of Hamilton, by his son, John C. Hamilton, Vol. I. p. 22.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a>
+Life of Hamilton, Vol. I. p. 382.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a>
+Works of Daniel Webster, Vol. I, p. 200.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a>
+Hildreth's History of the United States. New Series, vol. ii. p. 524.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a>
+It is supposed that the State derives its name from a hill in the north
+part of the town, situated near the peninsula called Squantum, likewise
+a part of the town. Squantum was a favorite residence of the Indians;
+and the Sachem, who ruled over the district "extending round the
+harbors of Boston and Charlestown, through Malden, Chelsea, Nantasket,
+Hingham, Weymouth and Dorchester," had his seat on the neighboring
+hill, which was shaped like an arrow-head. Arrow-head in the Indian
+language was <i>mos</i> or mous, and hill <i>wetuset</i>.
+Thus the great Sachem's home was called <i>Moswetuset</i>
+or Arrow-head Hill, his subjects the Moswetusets, and lastly the
+Province Massachusetts, but frequently in the primitive days "the
+Massachusetts."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a>
+Died early in the city of New-York, soon after entering upon the
+practice of law.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a>
+See vignette title-page to this volume.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a>
+Mr. Clay.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="footnote">
+<p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a>
+We have consulted principally the "Memorials of Daniel Webster,"
+published by the Appletons, containing the letters of Gen. Lyman, and
+the eulogies of Everett, Choate and Hildreth, all enjoying the precious
+favor of his personal intimacy. The reminiscences of Mr. Lanman, his
+private secretary, and Everett's life prefixed to the complete edition
+of his works, are our authority for many of the following details.</p>
+</div>
+<hr class="full" />
+<div class="notebox">
+<h3>Transcriber's Notes</h3>
+<p>Spelling has been made consistent throughout but kept to the
+author's original format except where noted.</p>
+<p>Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the
+closest paragraph break. "Washington's" added to caption for Headquarters on
+pages 23, 25, 28, 32, 33, 34, 37, and 45.</p>
+<p>Footnotes have been moved to the end of the text in this HTML version. Also,
+"The" has been added to "Works of John Adams" (footnotes 2-3) and "Life and Works" (footnotes 5-6 and 8-10) for consistency.</p>
+<p><b>Page v-viii:</b> Some of the page entries have been corrected in the tables
+to match the actual page numbers in the text.</p>
+<p><b>Page viii:</b> Page numbers added to "Fac-similes of Letters". Henry Clay is added to the list, whereas Patrick Henry's copy is not
+available.</p>
+<p><b>Page 8:</b> "Hudson's Statue" changed to "Houdon's Statue"</p>
+<p><b>Page 17:</b> "to recruit in mind and body" changed to "to recoup his mind and body"</p>
+<p><b>Page 50:</b> "great Lakes" changed to "Great Lakes"</p>
+<p><b>Page 68:</b> "old style, 1706, on a house" changed to "old style, 1706, in a house"</p>
+<p><b>Page 141:</b> Hyphen removed "much like the-lime tree of Europe"</p>
+<p><b>Page 146:</b> " removed from beginning of "In 1774 Mr. Adams was appointed"</p>
+<p><b>Page 159:</b> ? changed to , in "early companions? so that his"</p>
+<p><b>Page 186:</b> "Apalachian" changed to "Appalachian"</p>
+<p><b>Page 387:</b> , replaces ; in "His countenance, clear, expressive; and"</p>
+<p><b>Page 397:</b> Typo "then" corrected in "Legislature, and thne of"</p>
+<p><b>Page 429:</b> , replaces ; in "the other; begirt"</p>
+<p><b>Page 438:</b> "Webster, Parker, Quincy and Prescott," replaces "Webster and Parker, and Quincy; and Prescott,"</p>
+<p><b>Page 441:</b> ; removed from "a tale twice told and; who was"</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Homes of American Statesmen, by Various
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+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Homes of American Statesmen, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Homes of American Statesmen
+       With Anecdotical, Personal, and Descriptive Sketches
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: November 2, 2011 [EBook #37910]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOMES OF AMERICAN STATESMEN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Steven Brown and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  HOMES
+  OF
+  AMERICAN STATESMEN.
+
+
+  [Illustration: Birth-place of Henry Clay]
+
+
+  HARTFORD.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration: Marshfield, Residence of Daniel Webster]
+
+
+
+
+  HOMES
+  OF
+  AMERICAN STATESMEN:
+
+  WITH
+
+  Anecdotical, Personal, and Descriptive Sketches,
+
+
+  BY VARIOUS WRITERS.
+
+
+  ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD, FROM DRAWINGS BY DOePLER
+  AND DAGUERREOTYPES: AND FAC-SIMILES OF AUTOGRAPH LETTERS.
+
+
+  HARTFORD:
+  PUBLISHED BY O.D. CASE & CO.
+
+  LONDON:
+  SAMPSON LOW, SON & CO.
+
+  M.DCCC.LVI.
+
+
+
+
+  Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by O.D. CASE &
+  CO., in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States,
+  for the District of Connecticut.
+
+
+
+
+PUBLISHERS' NOTICE.
+
+
+We need hardly commend to the American public this attempt to describe
+and familiarize the habitual dwelling-places of some of the more
+eminent of our Statesmen. In bringing together such particulars as we
+could gather, of the homes of the men to whom we owe our own, we
+feel that we have performed an acceptable and not unnecessary service.
+The generation who were too well acquainted with these intimate personal
+circumstances to think of recording them, is fast passing away; and
+their successors, while acknowledging a vast debt of gratitude, might
+still forget to preserve and cherish the individual and private memories
+of the benefactors of our country and race. We therefore present our
+contribution to the national annals with confidence, hoping that in
+all respects the present volume will be found no unworthy or unwelcome
+successor of the "Homes of American Authors."
+
+Dr. R.W. Griswold having been prevented by ill health from
+contributing an original paper on Marshall, we have availed ourselves,
+with his kind permission, of the sketch which he prepared for
+the "Prose Writers of America." All the other papers in the present
+volume have been written expressly for it: and the best acknowledgments
+of the publishers are due to the several contributors for the zealous
+interest and ability to which these sketches bear witness.
+
+For several of the original letters which we have copied in
+_fac-simile_, we are indebted to the kindness of the Rev. Dr. Sprague
+of Albany.
+
+The drawing of the residence of the "Washington Family," and a few of
+the smaller cuts, have been copied, with some variations, from
+Mr. Lossing's very valuable work, "The Field-Book of the Revolution."
+Most of the other illustrations have been engraved from original
+drawings, or daguerreotypes taken for the purpose.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+  WASHINGTON                    MRS. C.M. KIRKLAND                   1
+  FRANKLIN                      C.F. BRIGGS                         64
+  JEFFERSON                     PARKE GODWIN                        77
+  HANCOCK                       RICHARD HILDRETH                    95
+  JOHN ADAMS                    CLARENCE COOK                      123
+  PATRICK HENRY                 EDWARD W. JOHNSTON                 151
+  MADISON                       EDWARD W. JOHNSTON                 179
+  JAY                           WILLIAM S. THAYER                  197
+  HAMILTON                      JAMES C. CARTER                    231
+  MARSHALL                      R.W. GRISWOLD, D.D.                261
+  AMES                          JAMES B. THAYER                    276
+  JOHN QUINCY ADAMS             DAVID LEE CHILD                    299
+  JACKSON                       PARKE GODWIN                       339
+  RUFUS KING                    CHARLES KING, L.L.D.               353
+  CLAY                          HORACE GREELEY                     369
+  CALHOUN                       PARKE GODWIN                       396
+  CLINTON                       T. ROMEYN BECK, M.D.               413
+  STORY                         FRANCIS HOWLAND                    425
+  WHEATON                                                          447
+  WEBSTER                       HENRY C. DEMING                    471
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+  MARSHFIELD, RESIDENCE OF DANIEL WEBSTER                 Frontispiece
+  BIRTH-PLACE OF HENRY CLAY                                 Cover page
+  SITE OF WASHINGTON'S BIRTH-PLACE                                   3
+  GREENOUGH'S STATUE OF WASHINGTON                                   6
+  HOUDON'S STATUE OF WASHINGTON                                      8
+  CHANTREY'S STATUE OF WASHINGTON                                   10
+  RESIDENCE OF THE WASHINGTON FAMILY                                13
+  MOUNT VERNON                                                      16
+  TOMB OF WASHINGTON'S MOTHER                                       19
+  WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, CAMBRIDGE, 1775                        23
+  WASHINGTON'S PEARL-STREET, NEW-YORK, 1776.                        25
+  HOUSE NO. 1 BROADWAY, NEW-YORK                                    26
+  WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, MORRISTOWN, N.J., 1779                 28
+  WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, CHAD'S FORD, 1777                      32
+  WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, WHITE MARSH, 1777                      33
+  WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, VALLEY FORGE, 1777                     34
+  WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, TAPPAN, 1778                           37
+  WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, NEWBURGH, N.Y.                         41
+  WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, ROCKY HILL, N.J., 1783                 45
+  MOUNT VERNON, REAR VIEW                                           49
+  HOUSE OF THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL LEVEE, CHERRY-STREET, NEW-YORK    52
+  WASHINGTON'S TOMB                                                 60
+  OLD SOUTH CHURCH, BOSTON                                          69
+  GRAVE OF FRANKLIN, PHILADELPHIA                                   74
+  FRANKLIN'S MONUMENT, BOSTON                                       76
+  MONTICELLO, JEFFERSON'S RESIDENCE                                 79
+  HANCOCK HOUSE, BOSTON,                                            97
+  RESIDENCE OF THE ADAMS FAMILY, QUINCY, MASS.                     125
+  RESIDENCE OF PATRICK HENRY, VA.                                  153
+  OLD CHURCH AT RICHMOND, VA.                                      164
+  OLD COURT HOUSE, VA.                                             178
+  MONTPELIER, MADISON'S RESIDENCE                                  181
+  JAY'S RESIDENCE, BEDFORD, N.Y.                                   199
+  BALL HUGHES' STATUE OF HAMILTON                                  233
+  HAMILTON'S RESIDENCE, NEAR MANHATTANVILLE, N.Y.                  243
+  MONUMENT TO HAMILTON, TRINITY CHURCH-YARD, N.Y.                  259
+  MARSHALL'S HOUSE AT RICHMOND, VA.                                263
+  BIRTH-PLACE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS                                 301
+  HERMITAGE, RESIDENCE OF JACKSON                                  341
+  RUFUS KING'S HOUSE, NEAR JAMAICA, L.I.                           355
+  ASHLAND, RESIDENCE OF HENRY CLAY                                 371
+  CLAY'S BIRTH-PLACE                                               394
+  CLINTON'S RESIDENCE, MASPETH, L.I.                               415
+  H.K. BROWN'S STATUE OF CLINTON                                   424
+  STORY'S HOUSE AT CAMBRIDGE, MASS.                                427
+  WHEATON'S RESIDENCE NEAR COPENHAGEN                              449
+  WEBSTER'S BIRTHPLACE                                             473
+
+
+=Fac-similes of Letters.=
+
+  WASHINGTON.                                                        2
+  FRANKLIN.                                                         65
+  JEFFERSON.                                                        78
+  HANCOCK.                                                          96
+  JOHN ADAMS.                                                      124
+  PATRICK HENRY.
+  MADISON.                                                         180
+  JOHN JAY.                                                        198
+  MARSHALL.                                                        262
+  AMES.                                                            277
+  JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.                                               300
+  JACKSON.                                                         340
+  RUFUS KING.                                                      354
+  HENRY CLAY                                                       370
+  CALHOUN.                                                         397
+  DEWITT CLINTON.                                                  414
+  STORY.                                                           426
+  WHEATON.                                                         448
+  WEBSTER.                                                         472
+
+
+
+
+=Washington.=
+
+[Illustration: Washington fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Site of Washington's Birth-place]
+
+WASHINGTON.
+
+1732--1799.
+
+
+To see great men at home is often more pleasant to the visitor than
+advantageous to the hero. Men's lives are two-fold, and the life of
+habit and instinct is not often, on superficial view, strictly consistent
+with the other--the more deliberate, intentional and principled one,
+which taxes only the higher powers. Yet, perhaps, if our rules of
+judgment were more humane and more sincere, we should find less
+discrepancy than it has been usual to imagine, and what there is
+would be more indulgently accounted for. The most common-place
+man has an inner and an outer life, which, if displayed separately,
+might never be expected to belong to the same individual; and it would
+be impossible for him to introduce his dearest friend into the sanctum,
+where, as in a spiritual laboratory, his words and actions
+originate and are prepared for use. Yet we could accuse him of no
+hypocrisy on this ground. The thing is so because Nature says it should
+be so, and we must be content with her truth and harmony, even if they
+be not ours. So with regard to public and domestic life. If we
+pursue our hero to his home, it should be in a home-spirit--a spirit
+of affection, not of impertinent intrusion or ungenerous cavil. If we
+lift the purple curtains of the tent in which our weary knight reposes,
+when he has laid aside his heavy armor and put on his gown of ease, it
+is not as malicious servants may pry into the privacy of their superiors,
+but as friends love to penetrate the charmed circle within which disguises
+and defences are not needed, and personal interest may properly take
+the place of distant admiration and respect. In no other temper is it
+lawful, or even decent, to follow the great actors on life's stage to
+their retirement; and if they be benefactors, the greater the shame if
+we coolly criticize what was never meant for any but loving eyes.
+
+The private life of him who is supereminently the hero of every true
+American heart, is happily sacred from disrespectful scrutiny, but less
+happily closed to the devout approach of those who would look upon it
+with more than filial reverence. This is less remarkable than it may at
+first sight appear to us who know his merit. The George Washington of
+early times was a splendid youth, but his modesty was equal to his other
+great qualities, and his foresee the noon of such a morning. And when
+the first stirring time was over, and the young soldier settled himself
+quietly at Mount Vernon, as a country gentleman, a member of the Virginia
+House of Burgesses, a vigorous farmer and tobacco planter, a churchwarden
+in two parishes, and a staid married man with two step-children, to whom
+he was an active and faithful guardian, no one thought of recording his
+life and doings, any more than those of his brother planters on the
+Potomac, all landed men, deer and fox-hunters and zealous fishermen, who
+visited each other in the hospitable Southern fashion, and lived in rustic
+luxury, very much within themselves. Few, indeed, compared with the
+longings of our admiration, are the particulars that have come down to
+us of Washington's Home--the home of his natural affections; but he had
+many homes of duty, and these the annals of his country will ever keep
+in grateful memory. Through these our present design is to trace his
+career, succinctly and imperfectly indeed, and with the diffidence which
+a character so august naturally inspires. Happily, many deficiencies in
+our sketch will be supplied by the intimate knowledge and the inborn
+reverence of a large proportion of our readers.
+
+It seems to be a conceded point that ours is not the age of reverence,
+nor our country its home. While the masses were nothing and individuals
+every thing, gods or demigods were the natural product of every public
+emergency and relief. Mankind in general, ignorant, and of course
+indolent, only too happy to be spared the labor of thought and the
+responsibility of action, looked up to the great and the fortunate till
+their eyes were dazzled, and they saw characters and exploits through
+a glorious golden mist, which precluded criticism. It was easy, then,
+to be a hero, for a single success or a happy chance sufficed. Altars
+sprang up in every bye-road, and incense fumed without stint or question.
+
+To-day the case is widely different. We give nothing for nothing.
+Whatever esteem or praise we accord, must be justified, inch by inch, by
+facts tangible and productive, successes undimmed by any after failure,
+and qualities which owe nothing to imagination or passion in the observer.
+No aureole is allowed about any head unless it emanate from it. Our
+Apollo must actually have sent the shaft, and to the mark, too, or we
+sneer at the attitude of triumph. If we erect a statue, no robe is
+confessed to be proper drapery but the soiled and threadbare one of
+every-day life and toil. No illusion--no poetry! is the American maxim
+of our time. Bald, staring, naked literality for us! He is the true
+philosopher who can
+
+    Peep and botanize
+  Upon his mother's grave
+
+if the flowers required by science happen to grow there.
+
+All this may be very wise and knowing, yet as long as the machine called
+man has something within it which is not exactly a subject for
+mathematical measurement, there will remain some little doubt of the
+expediency of thus stripping life of its poetry, and bringing all that
+is inspiring to the test of line and plummet. Just now, however, there
+is no hearing for any argument on this side.
+
+[Illustration: Greenough's Statue of Washington]
+
+What shall we think, then, of a character which, in a single half
+century, has begun, even among us, to wear something of a mythical
+splendor? What must the man have been, whom an age like this deliberately
+deifies? Who but Washington has, in any age, secured for himself such a
+place in the universal esteem and reverence of his countrymen, that simple
+description of him is all that can be tolerated, the public sense of his
+merits being such as makes praise impertinent, and blame impious?
+
+WASHINGTON! It were almost enough to grace our page and our volume with
+this honored and beloved name. The commentary upon it is written in every
+heart. It is true the most anxious curiosity has been able to find but a
+small part of what it would fain know of the first man of all the earth,
+yet no doubt remains as to what he was, in every relation of life. The
+minutiae may not be full, but the outline, in which resides the expression,
+is perfect. It were too curious to inquire how much of Washington would
+have been lost had the rural life of which he was so fond, bounded his
+field of action. Providence made the stage ready for the performer, as
+the performer for the stage. In his public character, he was not the man
+of the time, but for the time, bearing in his very looks the seal of a
+grand mission, and seeming, from his surprising dignity, to have no
+private domestic side. Greenough's marble statue of him, that sits
+unmoved under all the vicissitudes of storm and calm, gazing with
+unwinking eyes at the Capitol, is not more impassive or immovable than
+the Washington of our imaginations. Yet we know there must have been
+another side to this grand figure, less grand, perhaps, but not less
+symmetrical, and wonderfully free from those lowering discrepancies
+which bring nearer to our own level all other great, conspicuous men.
+
+[Illustration: Houdon's Statue of Washington.]
+
+We ought to know more of him; but, besides the other reasons we have
+alluded to for our dearth of intelligence, his was not a writing age on
+this side the water. Doing, not describing, was the business of the
+day. "Our own correspondent" was not born yet; desperate tourists had
+not yet forced their way into gentlemen's drawing-rooms, to steal
+portraits by pen and pencil, to inquire into dates and antecedents, and
+repay enforced hospitality by holding the most sacred personalities up
+to the comments of the curious. It would, indeed, be delightful to
+possess this kind of knowledge; to ascertain how George Washington of
+Fairfax appeared to the sturdy country gentlemen, his neighbors; what
+the "troublesome man" he speaks of in one of his letters thought of the
+rich planter he was annoying; whether Mr. Payne was proud or ashamed
+when he remembered that he had knocked down the Father of his Country
+in a public court-room; what amount of influence, not to say rule, Mrs.
+Martha Custis, with her large fortune, exercised over the
+Commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States. But rarer than
+all it would have been to see Washington himself deal with one of those
+gentry, who should have called at Mount Vernon with a view of favoring
+the world with such particulars. How he treated poachers of another sort
+we know; he mounted his horse, and dashing into the water, rode directly
+up to the muzzle of a loaded musket, which he wrenched from the astounded
+intruder, and then, drawing the canoe to land, belabored the scamp soundly
+with his riding whip. How he would have faced a loaded pen, and received
+its owner, we can but conjecture. We have heard an old gentleman, who
+had lived in the neighborhood of Mount Vernon in his boyhood, say that
+when the General found any stranger shooting in his grounds, his practice
+was to take the gun without a word, and, passing the barrel through the
+fence, with one effort of his powerful arm, bend it so as to render it
+useless, returning it afterwards very quietly, perhaps observing that
+his rules were very well known. The whole neighborhood, our old friend
+said, feared the General, not because of any caprice or injustice in his
+character, but only for his inflexibility, which must have had its own
+trials on a Southern plantation at that early day.
+
+[Illustration: Chantrey's Statue of Washington]
+
+Painting and sculpture have done what they could to give us an accurate
+and satisfying idea of the outward appearance of the Father of our
+Country, and a surpassing dignity has been the aim if not the result, of
+all these efforts. The statue by Chantrey, which graces the State House
+at Boston, is perhaps as successful as any in this respect, and white
+marble is of all substances the most appropriate for the purpose. From
+all, collectively, we derive the impression, or something more, that in
+Washington we have one of the few examples on record of a complete and
+splendid union and consent of personal and mental qualifications for
+greatness in the same individual; unsurpassed symmetry and amplitude of
+mind and body for once contributing to the efficiency of a single being,
+to whom, also, opportunities for development and action proved no less
+propitious than nature. In the birth, nurture and destiny of this man,
+so blest in all good gifts, Providence seems to have intended the
+realization of Milton's ideal type of glorious manhood:
+
+    A creature who, endued
+  With sanctity of reason, might erect
+  His stature, and, upright, with front serene,
+  Govern the rest, self-knowing; and from thence,
+  Magnanimous, to correspond with Heaven;
+  But, grateful to acknowledge whence his good
+  Descends, thither, with heart and voice and eyes,
+  Directed in devotion, to adore
+  And worship God supreme, who made him chief
+  Of all his works.
+
+We may the more naturally think this because Washington was so little
+indebted to school learning for his mental power. Born in a plain
+farm-house near the Potomac--a hallowed spot now marked only by a
+memorial stone and a clump of decaying fig-trees, probably coeval with
+the dwelling; none but the simplest elements of knowledge were within
+his reach, for although his father was a gentleman of large landed estate,
+the country was thinly settled and means of education were few. To
+these he applied himself with a force and steadiness even then remarkable,
+though with no view more ambitious than to prepare himself for the
+agricultural pursuits to which he was destined, by a widowed mother,
+eminent for common sense and high integrity. His mother,
+characteristically enough, for she was much more practical than
+imaginative, always spoke of him as a docile and diligent boy,
+passionately fond of athletic exercises, rather than as a brilliant or
+ambitious one. In after years, when La Fayette was recounting to her,
+in florid phrase, but with the generous enthusiasm which did him so much
+honor, the glorious services and successes of her son, she replied--"I
+am not surprised; George was always a good boy!" and this simple phrase
+from a mother who never uttered a superfluous word, throws a clear light
+on his early history. Then we have, besides, remnants of his
+school-exercises in arithmetic and geometry, beautiful in neatness,
+accuracy and method. At thirteen his mathematical turn had begun to
+discover itself, and the precision and elegance of his handwriting were
+already remarkable. His precocious wisdom would seem at that early age
+to have cast its horoscope, for we have thirty pages of forms for the
+transaction of important business, all copied out beautifully; and joined
+to this direct preparation for his future career are "Rules of Civility
+and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation," to the number of one
+hundred and ten, all pointing distinctly at self-control and respect for
+the rights of others, rather than at a Chesterfieldian polish or policy,
+and these he learned so well that he practised them unfailingly all his
+life after.
+
+[Illustration: Residence of the Washington Family.]
+
+A farm in Stafford County on the Rappahannoc, where his father had lived
+for several years before his death, was his share of the paternal estate,
+and on this he lived with his mother, till he had completed his sixteenth
+year. He desired to enter the British Navy, as a path to honorable
+distinction, and one of his half brothers, many years older than himself,
+had succeeded in obtaining a warrant for him; but the mother's
+reluctance to part with her eldest boy induced him to relinquish this
+advantage, and to embrace instead the laborious and trying life of a
+surveyor, in those rude, early days of Virginia exposed to extraordinary
+hazards. Upon this he entered immediately, accepting employment offered
+him by Lord Fairfax, who had come from England to ascertain the value of
+an immense tract of land which he had inherited, lying between the Potomac
+and Rappahannoc rivers, and extending beyond the Alleghanies. The
+surveying party was accompanied by William Fairfax, a distant relative
+of his lordship, but the boy of sixteen was evidently the most important
+member of the party. When the hardships of this undertaking became too
+exhausting, he returned to the more settled regions, and employed himself
+in laying out private tracts and farms, but he spent the greater part
+of three years in the wilderness, learning the value of lands, becoming
+acquainted with the habits and character of the wild Indian tribes, then
+so troublesome in the forests, and fitting himself by labor, study, the
+endurance of personal hardships and the exercise of vigilance and
+systematic effort, for the arduous path before him.
+
+At nineteen Washington had made so favorable an impression that he was
+appointed, by the government of Virginia, Adjutant-General with the rank
+of Major, and charged with the duty of assembling and exercising the
+militia, in preparation for expected or present difficulties on the
+frontier. He had always shown a turn for military affairs, beginning
+with his school-days, when his favorite play was drilling troops of
+boys, he himself always taking command; and noticeable again in his
+early manhood, when he studied tactics, and learned the manual exercise
+and the use of the sword. It was not long before the talent thus
+cultivated was called into action. Governor Dinwiddie sent Major
+Washington as commissioner to confer with the officer commanding the
+French forces, making the delicate inquiry by what authority he presumed
+to invade the dominions of his Majesty King George III., and what were
+his designs. A winter journey of seven hundred and fifty miles, at least
+half of which lay through an unbroken wilderness, haunted by wild
+beasts, and more formidable savages, was the first duty of the youthful
+Major under this commission, and it occupied six weeks, marked by many
+hardships and some adventures. The famous one of the raft on a
+half-frozen river, in which Washington narrowly escaped drowning, and
+the other of a malcontent Indian's firing on him, occurred during this
+journey; but he reached the French post in safety, and had an amicable,
+though not very satisfactory conference, with the Sieur St. Pierre, a
+courteous gentleman, but a wily old soldier. Governor Dinwiddie caused
+Major Washington's account of the expedition to be published, and when a
+little army was formed for the protection of the frontier, Washington
+received a command, with the rank of Colonel, at twenty-two years of
+age. Advancing at once into the wilderness, he encountered a French
+detachment, which he took prisoners, with their commander, and so
+proceeded during the remainder of the season, with general success. The
+next year, serving as a volunteer, it was his painful lot, when just
+recovering from a severe illness, to witness Braddock's defeat, a
+misfortune which, it is unanimously conceded, might have been avoided,
+if General Braddock had not been too proud to take his young friend's
+prudent counsel. All that an almost frantic bravery could do to retrieve
+the fortunes of this disastrous day, Washington, whom we are in the
+habit of thinking immovable, and who was at this time weak from the
+effects of fever, is reported to have done; and the fact that he had two
+horses shot under him, and his coat well riddled with rifle balls, shows
+how unsparingly he exposed himself to the enemy's sharp-shooters. A
+spectator says--"I saw him take hold of a brass field-piece as if it had
+been a stick. He looked like a fury; he tore the sheet lead from the
+touch-hole; he pulled with this and pushed with that; and wheeled it
+round as if it had been nothing. The powder-monkey rushed up with the
+fire, and then the cannon began to bark, and the Indians came down."
+Nothing but defeat and disgrace was the result of this unhappy
+encounter, except to Washington, who in that instance, as in so many
+others, stood out, individual and conspicuous, by qualities so much in
+advance of those of all the men with whom he acted, that no misfortune
+or disaster ever caused him to be confounded with them, or included in
+the most hasty general censure. It is most instructive as well as
+interesting to observe that his mind, never considered brilliant, was
+yet recognized from the beginning as almost infallible in its judgments,
+a tower of strength for the weak, a terror to the selfish and dishonest.
+The uneasiness of Governor Dinwiddie under Washington's superiority is
+accounted for only by the fact that that superiority was unquestionable.
+
+[Illustration: Mount Vernon]
+
+After Braddock's defeat, Washington retired to Mount Vernon,--which had
+fallen to him by the will of his half-brother Lawrence--to recoup his
+mind and body, after a wasting fever and the distressing scenes he had
+been forced to witness. The country rang with his praises, and even the
+pulpit could not withhold its tribute. The Reverend Samuel Davies hardly
+deserves the reputation of a prophet for saying, in the course of a
+eulogy on the bravery of the Virginian troops,--"As a remarkable
+instance of this, I may point out that heroic youth, Colonel Washington,
+whom I cannot but hope Providence has hitherto preserved in so signal a
+manner for some important service to his country."
+
+When another army was to be raised for frontier service, the command was
+given to Washington, who stipulated for a voice in choosing his
+officers, a better system of military regulations, more promptness in
+paying the troops, and a thorough reform in the system of procuring
+supplies. All these were granted, with the addition of an aid-de-camp
+and secretary, to the young colonel of twenty-three. But he nevertheless
+had to encounter the evils of insubordination, inactivity, perverseness
+and disunion among the troops, with the further vexation of deficient
+support on the part of the government, while the terrors and real
+dangers and sufferings of the inhabitants of the outer settlements wrung
+his heart with anguish. In one of his many expostulatory letters to the
+timid and time-serving Governor Dinwiddie, his feelings burst their
+usual guarded bounds: "I am too little acquainted, sir, with pathetic
+language, to attempt a description of the people's distresses; but I
+have a generous soul, sensible of wrongs and swelling for redress. But
+what can I do? I see their situation, know their danger and participate
+in their sufferings, without having it in my power to give them further
+relief than uncertain promises. In short, I see inevitable destruction
+in so clear a light, that unless vigorous measures are taken by the
+Assembly, and speedy assistance sent from below, the poor inhabitants
+that are now in forts must unavoidably fall, while the remainder are
+flying before a barbarous foe. In fine, the melancholy situation of the
+people, the little prospect of assistance, the gross and scandalous
+abuse cast upon the officers in general, which reflects upon me in
+particular for suffering misconduct of such extraordinary kinds, and the
+distant prospect, if any, of gaining honor and reputation in the
+service, cause me to lament the hour that gave me a commission, and
+would induce me, at any other time than this of imminent danger, to
+resign, without one hesitating moment, a command from which I never
+expect to reap either honor or benefit; but, on the contrary, have
+almost an absolute certainty of incurring displeasure below, while the
+murder of helpless families may be laid to my account here. The
+supplicating tears of the women and moving petitions of the men melt me
+into such deadly sorrow, that I solemnly declare, if I know my own mind,
+I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy,
+provided that would contribute to the people's ease."
+
+[Illustration: Tomb of Washington's Mother.]
+
+This extract is given as being very characteristic; full of that fire
+whose volcanic intensity was so carefully covered under the snow of
+caution in after life; and also as a specimen of Washington's style of
+writing, clear, earnest, commanding and business-like, but deficient in
+all express graces, and valuable rather for substance than form. We see
+in his general tone of expression something of that resolute mother,
+who, when her son, already the first man in public estimation, urged her
+to make Mount Vernon her home for the rest of her days, tersely
+replied--"I thank you for your affectionate and dutiful offers, but my
+wants are few in this world, and I feel perfectly competent to take care
+of myself." Directness is the leading trait in the style of both mother
+and son; if either used circumlocution, it was rather through
+deliberateness than for diplomacy. Indeed, the alleged indebtedness of
+great sons to strong mothers, can hardly find a more prominent support
+than in this case. What a Roman pair they were! If her heart failed her
+a little, sometimes, as what mother's heart must not, in view of toils,
+sacrifices, and dangers like his; if she argued towards the softer side,
+how he answered her, appealing to her stronger self:
+
+            MOUNT VERNON, 14th Aug., 1755.
+
+  "HONORED MADAM,
+
+"If it is in my power to avoid going to the Ohio again, I shall; but if
+the command is passed upon me by the general voice of the country, and
+offered upon such terms as cannot be objected against, it would reflect
+dishonor upon me to refuse it; and that, I am sure, must, or ought to,
+give you greater uneasiness than my going in an honorable command. Upon
+no other terms will I accept of it. At present I have no proposals made
+to me, nor have I advice of such an intention, except from private
+hands.
+
+      "I am, &c."
+
+When the object for which he had undertaken the campaign--viz.: the
+undisturbed possession of the Ohio River--was accomplished, Washington
+resigned his commission, after five years of active and severe service,
+his health much broken and his private affairs not a little disordered.
+The resignation took effect in December, 1758, and in January, 1759, he
+was married, and, as he supposed, finally settled at Mount Vernon--or,
+as he expresses it in his quiet way--"Fixed at this seat, with an
+agreeable partner for life, I hope to find more happiness in retirement
+than I ever experienced amidst the wide and bustling world." And in
+liberal and elegant improvements, and the exercise of a generous
+hospitality, the young couple spent the following fifteen years; the
+husband attending to his duties as citizen and planter, with ample time
+and inclination for fox-hunting and duck-shooting, and the wife, a kind,
+comely, thrifty dame, looking well to the ways of her household,
+superintending fifteen domestic spinning-wheels, and presiding at a
+bountiful table, to the great satisfaction of her husband and his
+numerous guests. When the spirit of the people began to rise against the
+exactions of the mother country, Washington was among the foremost to
+sympathize with the feeling of indignation, and the desire to resist,
+peaceably, if possible, forcibly if necessary. Of this, his letters
+afford ample proof. When armed resistance was threatened, Washington was
+immediately thought of as the Virginia leader. When Congress began, in
+earnest, preparations for defence, Washington was chairman of all the
+committees on the state of the country. When the very delicate business
+of appointing a commander-in-chief of the American armies was under
+consideration, Washington was the man whose name was on every tongue,
+and who was unanimously chosen, and that by the direct instrumentality
+of a son of Massachusetts, though that noble State, having commenced the
+struggle, might well have claimed the honor of furnishing a leader for
+it. What generosity of patriotism there was, in the men of those days,
+and how a common indignation and a common danger seem to have raised
+them above the petty jealousies and heart-burnings that so disfigure
+public doings in time of peace and prosperity! How the greatness of the
+great man blazed forth on this new field! What an attitude he took
+before the country, when he said, on accepting the position, "I beg
+leave to assure the Congress that as no pecuniary consideration could
+have tempted me to accept this arduous employment, at the expense of my
+domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to make any profit from it. I
+will keep an exact account of my expenses. These, I doubt not they will
+discharge, and that is all I desire." There was a natural, unconscious
+sovereignty in thus assuming to be the judge of what it might be proper
+to expend, in concerns the most momentous, extensive, and novel, as well
+as in taking the entire risk, both of payment and of public
+approbation,--in a direction in which he had already found the
+sensitiveness of the popular mind,--that equals any boldness of
+Napoleon's. We can hardly wonder that, in after times, common men
+instinctively desired and expected to make him a king.
+
+The battle of Bunker Hill had taken place in the time that intervened
+between Washington's consent and the receipt of his commission, so that
+he set out for Cambridge, with no lingering doubt as to the nature,
+meaning, or result of the service in which he had pledged all. He writes
+to his brother, "I am embarked on a wide ocean, boundless in its
+prospect, and in which, perhaps, no safe harbor is to be found." His
+residence at Cambridge, a fine old mansion, still stands, and in worthy
+occupancy. Here it was that he undertook the intolerable duty of
+organizing a young army, without clothes, tents, ammunition, or money,
+with a rich, bitter and disciplined enemy in sight, and boiling blood on
+both sides. Here it was that General Gage, with whom he had fought, side
+by side, twenty years before, on the Monongahela, so exasperated him by
+insolent replies to his remonstrances against the cruel treatment of
+American prisoners, that he gave directions for retaliation upon any of
+the enemy that might fall into American hands. He was, however,
+Washington still, even though burning with a holy anger; and, ere the
+order could reach its destination, it was countermanded, and a charge
+given to all concerned that the prisoners should be allowed parole, and
+that every other proper indulgence and civility should be shown them.
+His letters to General Gage are models of that kind of writing. In
+writing to Lord Dartmouth afterwards, the British commander, who had
+been rebuked with such cutting and deserved severity, observes with
+great significance, "The trials we have had, show the rebels are not the
+despicable rabble we have supposed them to be."
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, Cambridge 1775.]
+
+Washington was not without a stern kind of wit, on certain occasions.
+When the rock was struck hard, it failed not in fire. The jealousy of
+military domination was so great as to cause him terrible solicitudes at
+this time, and a month's enlistments brought only five thousand men,
+while murmurs were heard on all sides against poor pay and bad living.
+Thinking of this, at a later day, when a member of the Convention for
+forming the Constitution, desired to introduce a clause limiting the
+standing army to five thousand men, Washington observed that he should
+have no objection to such a clause, "if it were so amended as to provide
+that no enemy should presume to invade the United States with more than
+_three_ thousand."
+
+Amid all the discouragements of that heavy time, the resolution of the
+commander-in-chief suffered no abatement. "My situation is so irksome to
+me at times," he says after enumerating his difficulties in a few
+forcible words, "that if I did not consult the public good more than my
+own tranquillity, I should long ere this have put every thing on the
+cast of a die." But he goes on to say, in a tone more habitual with
+him--"If every man was of my mind, the ministers of Great Britain should
+know, in a few words, upon what issue the cause should be put. I would
+not be deceived by artful declarations, nor specious pretences, nor
+would I be amused by unmeaning propositions, but, in open, undisguised
+and manly terms, proclaim our wrongs, and our resolution to be
+redressed. I would tell them that we had borne much, that we had long
+and ardently sought for reconciliation upon honorable terms; that it had
+been denied us; that all our attempts after peace had proved abortive,
+and had been grossly misrepresented; that we had done every thing that
+could be expected from the best of subjects; that the spirit of freedom
+rises too high in us to submit to slavery. This I would tell them, not
+under covert, but in words as clear as the sun in its meridian
+brightness."
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, 180 Pearl street, New-York
+1776.]
+
+[Illustration: House No. 1 Broadway
+
+    The house No. 1 Broadway, opposite the Bowling-green, remained
+    unaltered until within a year or two in the shape here presented,
+    in which it had become familiar to all New-Yorkers. It was built
+    by Captain Kennedy of the Royal Navy, in April, 1765. There Lee,
+    Washington, and afterwards Sir Henry Clinton, Robertson, Carleton,
+    and other British officers were quartered, and here Andre wrote
+    his letter to Arnold.--_Lossing._ It was afterwards occupied by
+    Aaron Burr. Very recently, this interesting house, which in
+    New-York may be termed _ancient_, has been metamorphosed by the
+    addition of two or three stories, and it is now _reduced_ to be
+    the Washington Hotel.]
+
+When the British evacuated Boston, Congress voted Washington a gold
+medal, with abundant thanks and praises; and, thus compensated for the
+cruel anxieties of the winter, he proceeded with unwavering courage to
+New-York, where new labors awaited him, and the mortifying defeat at
+Gowanus, turned into almost triumph by the admirable retreat afterwards.
+
+The movement from New-York city to Harlem Heights should have been
+another glory, and nothing on the part of the Commander-in-Chief was
+wanting to make it such, but a panic seized two brigades of militia, who
+ran away, _sans facon_, causing Washington to lose, for a moment, some
+portion of the power over his own emotions for which he is so justly
+celebrated. He dashed in among the flying rout, shouting, shaming them,
+riding exposed within a few yards of the enemy; and, finding this of no
+avail, drew his sword and threatened to "run them through," and cocked
+and snapped his pistol in their faces. But all would not do, and General
+Greene says, in a letter to a friend, "He was so vexed at the infamous
+conduct of the troops, that he sought death rather than life."
+Washington, the "man of marble," would have preferred a thousand deaths
+to dishonor.
+
+A new army was now to be raised, the term of the last enlistment having
+expired; and, to form a just opinion of Washington's character and
+talents, every letter of his, to Congress and others during this period,
+should be studied. Such wisdom, such indignation, such patience, such
+manly firmness, such disappointment! every thing but despair; the
+watchfulness, the forethought, the perseverance displayed in those
+letters, give a truer idea of the man than all his battles.
+
+Take a single passage from one of his letters:--"I am wearied almost to
+death with the retrograde motion of things, and I solemnly protest, that
+a pecuniary reward of twenty thousand pounds a year would not induce me
+to undergo what I do; and after all, perhaps, to lose my character, as
+it is impossible, under such a variety of distressing circumstances, to
+conduct matters agreeably to public expectation, or even to the
+expectation of those who employ me, as they will not make proper
+allowances for the difficulties their own errors have occasioned."
+
+And besides that which came upon him daily, in the regular line of duty,
+the yet more difficult work of bearing up the hearts of others, whose
+threats of abandoning the service were the running bass that made worse
+the din of war. "I am sorry to find," writes the Chief to General
+Schuyler, "that both you and General Montgomery incline to quit the
+service. Let me ask you, sir, what is the time for brave men to exert
+themselves in the cause of liberty and their country, if this is not?
+God knows there is not a difficulty that you both very justly complain
+of, which I have not in an eminent degree experienced, that I am not
+every day experiencing. But we must bear up against them, and make the
+best of mankind as they are, since we cannot have them as we wish." In
+studying the career of Washington, nothing strikes one more frequently
+than that no fame came to him fortuitously, not only did he borrow none,
+usurp none, fall heir to none that belonged to others; he earned every
+tittle that has ever been awarded to him, and evidently contributed very
+much, by his secret advice and caution to officers placed in difficult
+positions, to enhance the measure of praise bestowed on his companions
+in arms.
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, Morristown, New Jersey. 1779.]
+
+Dark as these times were, Washington's peculiar merits were every day
+becoming more and more evident; indeed the darkest hours were his
+opportunities. He might well say, after the loss of Fort Washington,
+which had been held contrary to his judgment,--"No person ever had a
+greater choice of difficulties to contend with than I have;" yet he
+carried the war into New Jersey with all the resolution and courage of a
+victor. Never without a party, too often a very large one, ready to
+disparage his military skill, and throw doubts upon his energy in the
+conduct of the war, he pursued his plans without swerving a hair's
+breadth to court the popular gale, though a natural and honorable love
+of reputation was one of the ruling passions of his soul. It was
+impossible to make the people believe that a series of daring encounters
+would have cost the Commander-in-chief far less than the "Fabian policy,"
+so scorned at the time; but Washington saw then, in the very heat of
+the contest, what the result has now made evident enough to all, that
+England must carry on a war on the other side of the globe under an
+immense disadvantage, and that considering the general spirit of the
+American people, the expense to an invading power must be greater than
+even the richest nation on earth could long sustain. That the necessity
+for delay was intensely mortifying to him, we have a thousand proofs;
+and it was not the least bitter drop in his cup, that in order to
+conceal from the enemy the deficiencies occasioned by the delay of
+Congress to meet his most strenuous requisitions, he was obliged to
+magnify his numbers and resources, in a way which could not but increase
+the public doubts of his promptness. No one can read his letters,
+incessant under these circumstances, without an intense personal
+sympathy, that almost forgets the warrior and the patriot in the man.
+
+His being invested with what was in reality a military dictatorship, did
+not help to render him more popular, although he used his power with his
+accustomed moderation, conscientiousness and judgment. In this, as in
+other cases, he took the whole responsibility and odium, while he
+allowed others to reap the credit of particular efforts; giving to every
+man at least his due, and content if the country was served, even though
+he himself seemed to be doing nothing. This we gather as much from the
+letters of others to him as from his own writings.
+
+The celebrated passage of the Delaware, on Christmas-day, 1776,--so
+life-like represented in Leutze's great picture,--flashed a cheering
+light over the prospects of the contest, and lifted up the hearts of the
+desponding, if it did not silence the cavils of the disaffected. The
+intense cold was as discouraging here as the killing heat had been at
+Gowanus. Two men were found frozen to death, and the whole army suffered
+terribly; but the success was splendid, and the enemy's line along the
+Delaware was broken. The British opened their eyes very wide at this
+daring deed of the rebel chief, and sent the veteran Cornwallis to
+chastise his insolence. But Washington was not waiting for him. He had
+marched to Princeton, harassing the enemy, and throwing their lines
+still more into confusion. New Jersey was almost completely relieved,
+and the spirits of the country raised to martial pitch before the
+campaign closed. Those who had hastily condemned Washington as half a
+traitor to the cause, now began to call him the Saviour of his Country.
+Success has wondrous power in illuminating merit, that may yet have been
+transparent without it. But even now, when he thought proper to
+administer to all the oath of allegiance to the United States, granting
+leave to the disaffected to retire within the enemy's lines, a new
+clamor was raised against him, as assuming undue and dangerous power. It
+was said there were no "United States," and the Legislature of New
+Jersey censured the order as interfering with their prerogative. But
+Washington made no change. The dangers of pretended neutrality had
+become sufficiently apparent to him; and he chose, as he always did, to
+defer his personal popularity to the safety of the great cause. And
+again he took occasion, though the treatment of General Lee was in
+question, to argue against retaliation of the sufferings of prisoners,
+in a manly letter, which would serve as a text in similar cases for all
+time.
+
+What a blessing was Lafayette's arrival! not only to the struggling
+States, but in particular to Washington. The spirit of the generous
+young Frenchman was to the harassed chief as cold water to the thirsty
+soul. No jealousies, no fault-finding, no selfish emulation; but pure,
+high, uncalculating enthusiasm, and a devotion to the character and
+person of Washington that melted the strong man, and opened those
+springs of tenderness which cares and duties had well-nigh choked up. It
+is not difficult to believe that Lafayette had even more to do with the
+success of the war than we are accustomed to think. Whatever kept up the
+chief's heart up-bore the army and the country; for it is plain that,
+without derogation from the ability or faithfulness of any of the heroic
+contributors to the final triumph, Washington was in a peculiar manner
+the life and soul,--the main-spring and the balance-wheel,--the spur and
+the rein, of the whole movement and its result. Blessings, then, on
+Lafayette, the helper and consoler of the chosen father of his heart,
+through so many trials! His name goes down to posterity on the same
+breath that is destined for ever to proclaim the glory of Washington.
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, Chad's Ford, 1777.]
+
+Chad's Ford, in Delaware, was the scene of another of those disasters
+which it was Washington's happy fortune to turn into benefits. The
+American army retreated from a much superior force, and retreated in
+such disorder as could seem, even to its well-wishers, little better
+than a flight. But when, after encamping at Germantown, it was found
+that the General meant to give battle again, with a barefooted army,
+exhausted by forced marches, in a country which Washington himself says,
+was "to a man, disaffected," dismay itself became buoyant, and the
+opinion spread, not only throughout America, but even as far as France,
+that the leader of our armies was indeed invincible. A heavy rain and an
+impenetrable fog defeated our brave troops; the attempt cost a thousand
+men. Washington says, solemnly, "It was a bloody day." Yet the Count de
+Vergennes, on whose impressions of America so much depended at that
+time, told our Commissioners in Paris that nothing in the course of our
+struggle had struck him so much as General Washington's venturing to
+attack the veteran army of Sir William Howe, with troops raised within
+the year. The leader's glory was never obscured for a moment, to the
+view of those who were so placed as to see it in its true light.
+Providence seems to have determined that the effective power of this
+great instrument should be independent of the glitter of victory.
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, White Marsh, 1777.]
+
+Encamped at Whitemarsh, fourteen miles from Philadelphia, Washington,
+with his half-clad and half-fed troops, awaited an attack from General
+Howe who had marched in that direction with twelve thousand effective
+men. But both commanders were wary--the British not choosing to attack
+his adversary on his own ground, and the American not to be decoyed from
+his chosen position to one less favorable. Some severe skirmishing was
+therefore all that ensued, and General Howe retreated, rather
+ingloriously, to Philadelphia.
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, Valley Forge, 1777.]
+
+This brings us to the terrible winter at Valley Forge, the sufferings of
+which can need no recapitulation for our readers. Washington felt them
+with sufficient keenness, yet his invariable respect for the rights of
+property extended to that of the disaffected, and in no extremity was he
+willing to resort to coercive measures, to remedy evils which distressed
+his very soul, and which he shared with the meanest soldier. His
+testimony to the patience and fortitude of the men is emphatic: "Naked
+and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable
+patience and fidelity of the soldiery, that they have not been, ere
+this, excited by their sufferings to a general mutiny and dispersion."
+And while this evil was present, and for the time irremediable, he
+writes to Congress on the subject of a suggestion which had been made of
+a _winter campaign_, "I can assure those gentlemen, that it is a much
+easier and less distressing thing to draw remonstrances, in a
+comfortable room, by a good fireside, than to occupy a cold bleak hill,
+and sleep under frost and snow, without clothes or blankets. However,
+although they seem to have little feeling for the naked and distrest
+soldiers, I feel super-abundantly for them, and from my soul I pity
+those miseries which it is neither in my power to relieve nor prevent."
+
+It was during this period of perplexity and distress on public accounts,
+that the discovery of secret cabals against himself, was added to
+Washington's burthens. But whatever was personal was never more than
+secondary with him. When the treachery of pretended friends was
+disclosed, he showed none of the warmth which attends his statement of
+the soldiers' grievances. "My enemies take an ungenerous advantage of
+me," he said, "they know the delicacy of my situation, and that motives
+of policy deprive me of the defence I might otherwise make against their
+insidious attacks. They know I cannot combat their insinuations, however
+injurious, without disclosing secrets which it is of the utmost moment
+to conceal." * * * "My chief concern arises from an apprehension of the
+dangerous consequences which intestine dissensions may produce to the
+common cause."
+
+General Howe made no attempt on the camp during the winter, but his
+foraging parties were watched and often severely handled by the
+Americans. When Dr. Franklin, who was in Paris, was told that General
+Howe had taken Philadelphia, "Say rather," he replied, "that
+Philadelphia has taken General Howe," and the advantage was certainly a
+problematical one. Philadelphia was evacuated by the British on the 18th
+of June, 1776, General Clinton having superseded General Howe, who
+returned to England in the spring. Washington followed in the footsteps
+of the retreating army, and, contrary to the opinion of General Lee,
+decided to attack them. At Monmouth occurred the scene so often cited as
+proving that Washington _could_ lose his temper--a testimony to his
+habitual self-command which no art of praise could enhance. Finding
+General Lee with his five thousand men in full retreat when they should
+have been rushing on the enemy, the commander-in-chief addressed the
+recreant with words of severe reproof, and a look and manner still more
+cutting. Receiving in return a most insolent reply, Washington
+proceeded, himself, by rapid manoeuvres, to array the troops for battle,
+and when intelligence arrived that the British were within fifteen
+minutes march, he said to General Lee, who had followed him, deeply
+mortified,--"Will you command on this ground, or not?" "It is equal with
+me where I command," was the answer. "Then I expect you to take proper
+measures for checking the enemy," said the General, much incensed at the
+offensive manner of Lee. "Your orders shall be obeyed," said that
+officer, "and I will not be the first to leave the field." And his
+bravery made it evident that an uncontrolled temper was the fault for
+which he afterwards suffered so severely. During the action Washington
+exposed himself to every danger, animating and cheering on the men under
+the burning sun; and when night came, he lay down in his cloak at the
+foot of a tree, hoping for a general action the next day. But in the
+morning Sir Henry Clinton was gone, too far for pursuit under such
+killing heat--the thermometer at 96 deg.. Many on both sides had perished
+without a wound, from fatigue and thirst.
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, Tappan, 1778.]
+
+The headquarters at Tappan will always have a sad interest from the
+fact that Major Andre, whose fine private qualities have almost made the
+world forget that he was a spy, there met his unhappy fate. That General
+Washington suffered severely under the necessity which obliged him, by
+the rules of war, to sanction the decision of the court-martial in this
+case, we have ample testimony; and an eye-witness still living observed,
+that when the windows of the town were thronged with gazers at the stern
+procession as it passed, those of the commander-in-chief were entirely
+closed, and his house without sign of life except the two sentinels at
+the door.
+
+The revolt of a part of the Pennsylvania line, which occurred in
+January, 1781, afforded a new occasion for the exercise of Washington's
+pacific wisdom. He had felt the grievances of the army too warmly to be
+surprised when any portion of it lost patience, and his prudent and
+humane suggestions, with the good management of General Wayne, proved
+effectual in averting the great danger which now threatened. But when
+the troops of New Jersey, emboldened by this mild treatment, attempted
+to imitate their Pennsylvania neighbors, they found Washington prepared,
+and six hundred men in arms ready to crush the revolt by force--a
+catastrophe prevented only by the unconditional submission of the
+mutineers, who were obliged to lay down their arms, make concessions to
+their officers, and promise obedience.
+
+As we are not giving here a sketch of the Revolutionary War, we pass at
+once to the siege and surrender at Yorktown, an event which shook the
+country like that heaviest clap of thunder, herald of the departing
+storm. All felt that brighter skies were preparing, and the universal
+joy did not wait the sanction of a deliberate treaty of peace. The great
+game of chess which had been so warily played, on one side at least, was
+now in check, if not closed by a final check-mate; and people on the
+winning side were fain to unknit their weary brows, and indulge the
+repose they had earned. Congress and the country felt as if the decisive
+blow had been struck, as if the long agony was over. Thanks were
+lavished on the commanders, on the officers, on the troops. Two stands
+of the enemy's colors were presented to the Commander-in-Chief, and to
+Counts Rochambeau and De Grasse each a piece of British field ordnance
+as a trophy. A commemorative column at Yorktown was decreed, to carry
+down to posterity the events of the glorious 17th of October, 1781.
+There was, in short, a kind of wildness in the national joy, showing how
+deep had been the previous despondency. Watchmen woke the citizens of
+Philadelphia at one in the morning, crying "Cornwallis is taken!" Sober,
+Puritan America was almost startled from her habitual coolness; almost
+forgot the still possible danger. The chief alone, on whom had fallen
+the heaviest stress of the long contest, was impelled to new care and
+forecast by the victory. He feared the negligence of triumph, and
+reminded the government and the nation that all might yet be lost,
+without vigilance. "I cannot but flatter myself," he says, "that the
+States, rather than relax in their exertions, will be stimulated to the
+most vigorous preparations, for another active, glorious, and decisive
+campaign." And Congress responded wisely to the appeal, and called on
+the States to keep up the military establishment, and to complete their
+several quotas of troops at an early day. With his characteristic
+modesty and courage, Washington wrote to Congress a letter of advice on
+the occasion, of which one sentence may be taken as a specimen.
+"Although we cannot, by the best concerted plans, absolutely command
+success; although the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to
+the strong; yet, without presumptuously waiting for miracles to be
+wrought in our favor, it is an indispensable duty, with the deepest
+gratitude to Heaven for the past, and humble confidence in its smiles on
+our future operations, to make use of all the means in our power for our
+defence and security."
+
+It was this man, pure, devoted, and indefatigable in the cause of his
+country and her liberties, that some shortsighted malcontents, judging
+his virtue by their own, would now have persuaded to finish the struggle
+for liberty by becoming a king. The discontent of the officers and
+soldiers, with the slowness of their pay, had long been a cause of
+ferment in the army, and gave to the hasty and the selfish an excuse for
+desiring a change in the form of government. The king's troops had been
+well fed, well clothed, and well paid, and were sure of half-pay after
+the war should be finished, while the continentals, suffering real
+personal destitution, were always in arrear, drawing on their private
+resources, and with no provision whatever for any permanent pecuniary
+recompense. As to the half-pay, Washington had long before expressed his
+opinion of the justice as well as policy of such a provision. "I am
+ready to declare," he says, "that I do most religiously believe the
+salvation of the cause depends upon it, and without it your officers
+will moulder to nothing, or be composed of low and illiterate men, void
+of capacity for this or any other business. * * * Personally, as an
+officer, I have no interest in the decision; because I have declared,
+and I now repeat it, that I never will receive the smallest benefit from
+the half-pay establishment." But the deep-seated jealousy of the army,
+which haunted Congress and the country, like a Banshee, throughout the
+whole course of the war, was too powerful for even Washington's
+representations. All that could be effected was an unsatisfactory
+compromise, and some of the officers saw or affected to see, in the
+reluctance of the government to provide properly for its defenders, a
+sign of fatal weakness, which but little recommended the republican
+form. Under these circumstances, a well written letter was sent to the
+Commander-in-Chief, proposing to him the establishment of a "mixed
+government," in which the supreme position was to be given, as of right,
+to the man who had been the instrument of Providence in saving the
+country, in "difficulties apparently insurmountable by human power," the
+dignity to be accompanied with the title of KING. Of this daring
+proposition a colonel of good standing was made the organ. Washington's
+reply may be well known, but it will bear many repetitions.
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, Newburgh, N.Y.]
+
+            NEWBURGH, 22 May, 1782.
+
+  "SIR,
+
+"With a mixture of great surprise and astonishment, I have read with
+attention the sentiments you submitted to my perusal. Be assured, Sir,
+no occurrence in the course of the war has given me more painful
+sensations than your information, of there being such ideas existing in
+the army as you have expressed, and I must view with abhorrence, and
+reprehend with severity. For the present, the communication of them will
+rest in my own bosom, unless some further agitation of the matter shall
+make a disclosure necessary.
+
+"I am much at a loss to conceive what part of my conduct could have
+given encouragement to an address, which, to me, seems big with the
+greatest mischiefs that can befall my country. If I am not deceived in
+the knowledge of myself, you could not have found a person to whom your
+schemes are more disagreeable. At the same time, in justice to my own
+feelings, I must add that no man possesses a more sincere wish to see
+ample justice done to the army than I do; and as far as my powers and
+influence, in a constitutional way, extend, they shall be employed to
+the utmost of my abilities to effect it, should there be any occasion.
+Let me conjure you, then, if you have any regard for your country,
+concern for yourself or posterity, or respect for me, to banish these
+thoughts from your mind, and never communicate, as from yourself or any
+one else, a sentiment of the like nature.
+
+      "I am, Sir, &c.,
+      "GEORGE WASHINGTON."
+
+This letter is extremely characteristic, not only because it declines
+the glittering bait, for that is hardly worth noticing where Washington
+is in question, but for the cool and quiet tone of rebuke, in a case in
+which most other men would have been disposed to be at least
+dramatically indignant. The perfectly respectful way in which he could
+show a man that he despised him, is remarkable. He does not even admit
+that there has been injustice done to the army, though the fact had cost
+him such loads of anxious and ingenious remonstrance; but only promises
+to see to it, "should there be any occasion." It would have been easier
+for him, at that very moment, at the head of a victorious army, and with
+the heart of the nation at his feet, to make himself a king, than to
+induce Congress to do justice to the troops and their brave officers;
+but identifying himself with his army, he considered that his own
+private affair, and would accept no offer of partnership, however
+specious. Happily the name of the "very respectable" colonel has never
+been disclosed; an instance of mercy not the least noticeable among the
+features of this remarkable transaction.
+
+During the negotiations for peace which so soon followed the surrender
+at Yorktown, the discontent of the army reached a height which became
+alarming. Meetings of officers were called, for the purpose of preparing
+threatening resolutions, since called "the Newburgh addresses," to be
+offered to Congress. The alternative proposed was a relinquishment of
+the service in a body, if the war continued, or remaining under arms, in
+time of peace, until justice could be obtained from Congress.
+Washington, having timely notice of this danger, came forward with his
+usual decision, wisdom, and kindliness, to the rescue of the public
+interest and peace. While he took occasion, in a general order, to
+censure the disorderly and anonymous form proposed, he himself called a
+meeting of officers, taking care to converse in private beforehand with
+many of them, acknowledging the justice of their complaints, but
+inculcating moderation and an honorable mode of obtaining what they
+desired. It is said that many of the gentlemen were in tears when they
+left the presence of the Commander-in-Chief. When they assembled, he
+addressed them in the most impressive manner, imploring them not to
+tarnish their hard-won laurels, by selfish passion, in a case in which
+the vital interests of the country were concerned. He insisted on the
+good faith of Congress, and the certainty that, before the army should
+be disbanded, all claims would be satisfactorily adjusted.
+
+His remonstrance proved irresistible. The officers, left to
+themselves,--for the General withdrew after he had given utterance to
+the advice made so potent by his character and services,--passed
+resolutions thanking him for his wise interference, and expressing their
+love and respect for him, and their determination to abide by his
+counsel. In this emergency Washington may almost have been said to have
+saved his country a second time, but in his letters written at the time
+he sinks all mention of his own paramount share in restoring
+tranquillity, speaking merely of "measures taken to postpone the
+meeting," and "the good sense of the officers" having terminated the
+affair "in a manner which reflects the greatest glory on themselves."
+His own remonstrances with Congress were immediately renewed, setting
+forth the just claims of those who "had so long, so patiently, and so
+cheerfully, fought under his direction," so forcibly, that in a very
+short time all was conceded, and general harmony and satisfaction
+established.
+
+His military labors thus finished,--for the adjudication of the army
+claims by Congress was almost simultaneous with the news of the signing
+of the treaty at Paris,--Washington might, without impropriety, have
+given himself up to the private occupations and enjoyments so
+religiously renounced for eight years,--the proclamation of peace to the
+army having been made, April 19, 1783, precisely eight years from the
+day of the first bloodshedding at Lexington. But the feelings of a
+father were too strong within him, and his solicitudes brooded over the
+land of his love with that unfailing anxiety for its best good which had
+characterized him from the beginning. Yet he modestly observes, in a
+letter on the subject to Col. Hamilton, "How far any further essay by me
+might be productive of the wished-for end, or appear to arrogate more
+than belongs to me, depends so much upon popular opinion, and the temper
+and dispositions of the people, that it is not easy to decide." He wrote
+a circular letter to the Governors of the several States, full of
+wisdom, dignity, and kindness, dwelling principally on four great
+points--an indissoluble union of the States; a sacred regard to public
+justice; the adoption of a proper military peace establishment; and a
+pacific and friendly disposition among the people of the States, which
+should induce them to forget local prejudices, and incline them to
+mutual concessions. This address is masterly in all respects, and was
+felt to be particularly well-timed, the calm and honoured voice of
+Washington being at that moment the only one which could hope to be
+heard above the din of party, and amid the confusion natural during the
+first excitement of joy and triumph.
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Headquarters, Rocky Hill, N.J., 1783]
+
+Congress was not too proud to ask the counsel of its brave and faithful
+servant, in making arrangements for peace and settling the new affairs
+of the country. Washington was invited to Princeton, where Congress was
+then sitting, and introduced into the Chamber, where he was addressed by
+the President, and congratulated on the success of the war, to which he
+had so much contributed. Washington replied with his usual self-respect
+and modesty, and retired. A house had been prepared for him at Rocky
+Hill, near Princeton, where he resided for some time, holding conference
+with committees and members, and giving counsel on public affairs; and
+where he wrote that admirable farewell to his army, perhaps as full of
+his own peculiar spirit as any of his public papers. His thanks to
+officers and soldiers for their devotion during the war have no
+perfunctory coldness in them, but speak the full heart of a brave and
+noble captain, reviewing a most trying period, and recalling with warm
+gratitude the co-operation of those on whom he relied. Then, for their
+future, his cautions and persuasions, the motives he urges, and the
+virtues he recommends, all form a curious contrast with those of
+Napoleon's addresses to his troops. "Let it be known and remembered," he
+says, "that the reputation of the federal armies is established beyond
+the reach of malevolence; and let a consciousness of their achievements
+and fame still incite the men who composed them to honorable actions;
+under the persuasion that the private virtues of economy, prudence, and
+industry, will not be less amiable in civil life, than the more splendid
+qualities of valor, perseverance and enterprise were in the field." Thus
+consistent to the last he honored all the virtues; showing that while
+those of the field were not misplaced in the farm, those of the farm
+might well be counted among the best friends of the field--his own life
+of planter and soldier forming a glorious commentary on his doctrines.
+
+The evacuation of New-York by the British was a grand affair, General
+Washington and Governor George Clinton riding in at the head of the
+American troops that came from the northward to take possession, while
+Sir Guy Carleton and his legions embarked at the lower end of the city.
+The immense cavalcade of the victors embraced both military and civil
+authorities, and was closed by a great throng of citizens. This absolute
+_finale_ of the war brought on the Commander-in-Chief one of those
+duties at once sweet and painful--taking leave of his companions in
+arms; partners in toil and triumph, in danger and victory. "I cannot
+come to each of you to take my leave," he said, as he stood, trembling
+with emotion, "but I shall be obliged if each of you will come and take
+me by the hand." General Knox, the warm-hearted, stood forward and
+received the first embrace; then the rest in succession, silently and
+with universal tears. Without another word the General walked from the
+room, passed through lines of soldiery to the barge which awaited him,
+then, turning, waved his hat, and bade to friends and comrades a silent,
+heartfelt adieu, which was responded to in the same solemn spirit. All
+felt that it was not the hour nor the man for noisy cheers; the spirit
+of Washington presided there, as ever, where honorable and high-minded
+men were concerned.
+
+The journey southward was a triumphal march. Addresses, processions,
+delegations from religious and civil bodies, awaited him at every pause.
+When he reached Philadelphia he appeared before Congress to resign his
+commission, and no royal abdication was ever so rich in dignity. All the
+human life that the house would hold came together to hear him, and the
+words, few and simple, wise and kind, that fell from the lips of the
+revered chief, proved worthy to be engraved on every heart. In
+conclusion he said:--"Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire
+from the great theatre of action; and, bidding an affectionate farewell
+to this august body, under whose orders I have so long acted, I here
+offer my commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public
+life." He said afterwards to a friend:--"I feel now as I conceive a
+wearied traveller must do, who, after treading many a step with a heavy
+burden on his shoulders, is eased of the latter, having reached the
+haven to which all the former were directed, and from his house-top is
+looking back, and tracing with an eager eye the meanders by which he
+escaped the quicksands and mire which lay in his way, and into which
+none but the all-powerful Guide and Dispenser of human events could have
+prevented his falling." And to Lafayette, he says:--"I am not only
+retired from all public employments, but I am retiring within myself,
+and shall be able to view the solitary walk, and tread the paths of
+private life with a heartfelt satisfaction. Envious of none, I am
+determined to be pleased with all; and this, my dear friend, being the
+order of my march, I will move gently down the stream of life until I
+sleep with my fathers."
+
+That the public did not anticipate for him the repose and retirement he
+so much desired, we may gather from the instructions sent, at the time
+he resigned his commission, by the State of Pennsylvania, to her
+representatives in Congress, saying that "his illustrious actions and
+virtues render his character so splendid and venerable that it is highly
+probable the world may make his life in a considerable degree public;"
+and that "his very services to his country may therefore subject him to
+expenses, unless he permits her gratitude to interpose." "We are
+perfectly acquainted," says the paper, "with the disinterestedness and
+generosity of his soul. He thinks himself amply rewarded for all his
+labors and cares, by the love and prosperity of his fellow-citizens. It
+is true no rewards they can bestow can be equal to his merits, but they
+ought not to suffer those merits to be burdensome to him. * * * We are
+aware of the delicacy with which such a subject must be treated. But,
+relying in the good sense of Congress, we wish it may engage their early
+attention."
+
+The delegates, on receipt of these instructions, very wisely bethought
+themselves of submitting the matter to the person most concerned before
+they brought it before Congress, and he, as might have been expected,
+entirely declined the intended favor, and put an end to the project
+altogether. If he could have been induced to accept pecuniary
+compensation, there is no doubt a grateful nation would gladly have made
+it ample. But Washington, born to be an example in so many respects, had
+provided against all the dangers and temptations of money, by making
+himself independent as to his private fortune; having neglected no
+opportunity of enlarging it by honorable labor or judicious management,
+while he subjected the expenses of his family to the strictest scrutiny
+of economy.
+
+[Illustration: Mount Vernon (rear view).]
+
+His first care, on arriving at Mount Vernon, was to ascertain the
+condition of his private affairs; his next to make a tour of more than
+six hundred miles through the western country, with the double purpose
+of inspecting some lands of his, and of ascertaining the practicability
+of a communication between the head waters of the great rivers flowing
+east and west of the Alleghanies. He travelled entirely on horseback, in
+military style, and kept a minute journal of each day's observations,
+the result of which he communicated, on his return, in a letter to the
+Governor of Virginia, which Mr. Sparks declares to be "one of the
+ablest, most sagacious, and most important productions of his pen," and
+"the first suggestion of the great system of internal improvements which
+has since been pursued in the United States." On a previous tour,
+through the northern part of the State of New-York, he had observed the
+possibility of a water communication between the Hudson and the Great
+Lakes, and appreciated its advantages, thus foreshowing, at that early
+date, the existence of the Erie Canal. In 1784, Washington had a final
+visit from Lafayette, from whom he parted at Annapolis, with
+manifestations of a deeper tenderness than the weak can even know.
+Arrived at home, he sat down at once to say yet another word to the
+beloved: "In the moment of our separation, upon the road as I travelled,
+and every hour since," (mark the specification from this man of exact
+truth,) "I have felt all that love, respect and attachment for you, with
+which length of years, close connection, and your merits have inspired
+me. I often asked myself, as our carriages separated, whether that was
+the last sight I should ever have of you? And though I wished to say No!
+my fears answered Yes!" He was right; they never met again, but they
+loved each other always. Lafayette's letters to Washington are
+lover-like; they are alone sufficient to show how capable of the softest
+feeling was the great heart to which they were addressed.
+
+Space fails us for even the baldest enumeration of the instances of care
+for the public good with which the life of Washington abounded, when he
+fancied himself "in retirement," for we have unconsciously dwelt, with
+the reverence of affection, upon the picture of his character during the
+Revolution, and felt impelled to illustrate it, where we could, by
+quotations from his own weighty words; weighty, because, to him, words
+were things indeed, and we feel that he never used one thoughtlessly or
+untruly. Brevity must now be our chief aim, and we pass, at once, over
+all the labor and anxiety which attended the settlement of the
+Constitution, to mention the election of Washington to the Presidency of
+the States so newly united, by bonds which, however willingly assumed,
+were as yet but ill fitted to the wearers. The unaffected reluctance
+with which he accepted the trust appears in every word and action of the
+time; and it is evident that, as far as selfish feelings went, he was
+much more afraid of losing the honor he had gained than of acquiring
+new. The heart of the nation was with him, however, even more than he
+knew; and the "mind oppressed with more anxious and painful sensations"
+than he had words to express at the outset, was soon calmed, not only by
+the suggestions of duty, but by the marks of unbounded love and
+confidence lavished on him at every step of his way by a grateful
+people. The Inaugural Oath was taken, before an immense concourse of
+people, on the balcony of Federal Hall, New-York, April 30, 1789, and
+the President afterwards delivered his first Address, in the Senate
+Chamber of the same building, now no longer standing, but not very
+satisfactorily replaced by that magnificent Grecian temple wherein the
+United States Government collects the Customs of New-York. The house in
+which the first Presidential levee was held will always be a point of
+interest, and the consultations between Washington and the great
+officers of state about the simple ceremonial of these public
+receptions, are extremely curious, as showing the manners and ideas of
+the times, and the struggle between the old-country associations natural
+to gentlemen of that day, and the recognized necessity of accommodating
+even court regulations to the feelings of a people to whom the least
+shadow of aristocratic form was necessarily hateful. We must not condemn
+the popular scrupulousness of 1789 as puerile and foolish, until we too
+have perilled life and fortune in the cause of liberty and equality.
+
+[Illustration: House of the First Presidential Levee, Cherry street]
+
+A dangerous illness brought Washington near the grave, during his first
+Presidential summer, and he is said never to have regained his full
+strength. In August his mother died, venerable for years and wisdom, and
+always honored by her son in a spirit that would have satisfied a Roman
+matron. She maintained her simple habits to the last, and is said never
+to have exhibited surprise or elation, at her son's greatest glory, or
+the highest honors that could be paid him. Her remains rest under an
+unfinished monument, near Fredericksburgh, Virginia.
+
+Of the wife of the illustrious Chief, it is often said that little is
+known, and there is felt almost a spite against her memory because she
+destroyed before her death every letter of her husband to herself, save
+only one, written when he accepted the post of Commander-in-Chief. But,
+to our thinking, one single letter of hers, written to Mrs. Warren,
+after the President's return from a tour through the eastern States,
+tells the whole story of her character and tastes, a story by no means
+discreditable to the choice of the wisest of mankind. Mr. Sparks gives
+the letter entire, as we would gladly do if it were admissible. We must,
+however, content ourselves with a few short extracts:--
+
+"You know me well enough to believe that I am fond only of what comes
+from the heart. Under a conviction that the demonstrations of respect
+and affection to him originate in that source, I cannot deny that I have
+taken some interest and pleasure in them. The difficulties which
+presented themselves to view in his first entering upon the Presidency,
+seem thus to be in some measure surmounted. * * * I had little thought,
+when the war was finished, that any circumstances could possibly happen
+which would call the General into public life again. I had anticipated
+that from that moment we should be suffered to grow old together, in
+solitude and tranquillity. That was the first and dearest wish of my
+heart. I will not, however, contemplate with too much regret,
+disappointments that were inevitable, though his feelings and my own
+were in perfect unison with respect to our predilection for private
+life. Yet I cannot blame him for having acted according to his ideas of
+duty, in obeying the voice of his country. The consciousness of having
+attempted to do all the good in his power, and the pleasure of finding
+his fellow-citizens so well satisfied with the disinterestedness of his
+conduct, will doubtless be some compensation for the great sacrifice I
+know he has made. * * * With respect to myself, I sometimes think the
+arrangement is not quite as it ought to have been, that I, who had much
+rather be at home, should occupy a place with which a great many younger
+and gayer women would be extremely pleased. * * * I am still determined
+to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have
+learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery
+depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances. We carry the
+seeds of the one or the other about with us, in our minds, wherever we
+go." The whole letter bespeaks the good, kind, dutiful and devoted wife,
+the loving mother,--for she represents her grandchildren as her chief
+joy,--and the sensible, domestic woman. What more can any man ask in the
+partner of his bosom? She was the best wife possible for Washington, and
+he thought her such, and loved her entirely and always. The picture by
+Stuart shows her, even in the decline of life, to have been of a
+delicate and sprightly beauty.
+
+Another eight years of public duty and public life--two presidential
+terms--were bravely borne by the pair always longing for Mount Vernon.
+The reluctance of Washington to the second term of office was even
+stronger than that which he had expressed to the first, but he was
+overborne by stress of voices. "The confidence of the whole Union,"
+writes Jefferson, "is centred in you. * * * There is sometimes an
+eminence of character on which society have such peculiar claims, as to
+control the predilection of the individual for a particular walk of
+happiness, and restrain him to that alone arising from the present and
+future benedictions of mankind. This seems to be your condition, and the
+law imposed on you by Providence in forming your character, and
+fashioning the events on which it was to operate." And Hamilton says--"I
+trust, and I pray God, that you will determine to make a further
+sacrifice of your tranquillity and happiness to the public good." And
+such were, throughout, the sentiments of the first men of the country,
+without distinction of politics. Thus urged, he yielded once more, even
+after he had prepared a farewell address to the people on his
+contemplated resignation.
+
+It was during this second term that Fox spoke of Washington before
+Parliament, concluding thus:--"It must indeed create astonishment, that,
+placed in circumstances so critical, and filling for a series of years a
+station so conspicuous, his character should never once have been called
+in question. * * * For him it has been reserved to run the race of glory
+without experiencing the smallest interruption to the brilliancy of his
+career." And Mr. Erskine, writing to Washington himself, says:--"I have
+taken the liberty to introduce your august and immortal name in a short
+sentence which will be found in the book I send you.[1] I have a large
+acquaintance among the most valuable and exalted classes of men; but you
+are the only human being for whom I ever felt an awful reverence. I
+sincerely pray God to grant a long and serene evening to a life so
+gloriously devoted to the universal happiness of the world."
+
+The evening was indeed serene, but it was not destined to be long. Two
+years were spent in domestic and social duty and pleasure, the old
+Virginia hospitality being carried to an enormous extent at Mount
+Vernon, over which General and Mrs. Washington presided, with all that
+good sense, dignity, and _bonhommie_ united, which seems now to have
+characterized their home life. Mrs. Washington, content with the
+greatness described by the wise king, looked well to her maidens, and so
+managed the affairs of a large establishment that "the heart of her
+husband could safely trust in her, so that he had _no need of spoil_."
+Who knows how much the good management of his household affairs had to
+do with Washington's superiority to the temptations of gain? The ladies
+should see to it that they so regulate their habits of expense that
+their husbands have "no need of spoil." The extravagant tastes of Mrs.
+Arnold, amiable woman though she was, are known to have heightened her
+husband's rapacity, and thus added to the incentives which resulted in
+treason and just ruin. Mrs. Washington, when she was in the highest
+position in the nation, wore gowns spun under her own roof, and always
+took care, in her conversation with the ladies about her, to exalt
+domestic employments, and represent them as belonging to the duty of
+woman in any station. She was supposed to have written a patriotic
+paper, published in 1780, called "The Sentiments of American Women," but
+the authorship has not been ascertained. The energy and consistency of
+her patriotic feeling was, however, perfectly well understood, and she
+is said to have borne her part in the conversation of the distinguished
+company at Mount Vernon, with invariable dignity and sweetness. The
+General had returned with unction to his rural and agricultural
+pursuits, keeping up his life-long habit of rising before the sun, and
+after breakfast making the tour of the plantation on horseback. These
+employments were somewhat interrupted by the speck of war which troubled
+our horizon in 1798, on which occasion all eyes were turned to him, and
+his friends and the President called upon him once more to give his
+services to the country. His reply was consistent with the tenor of his
+life, "In case of actual invasion by a formidable force, I certainly
+should not intrench myself under the cover of age and retirement, if my
+services should be required by my country in repelling it." Without
+waiting for his reply, the Senate had appointed him to the post of
+Commander-in-Chief, and the Secretary at War was despatched immediately
+to Mount Vernon with the commission, which was at once accepted. This
+involved Washington once more in a press of correspondence and many
+anxious duties; and his letters during this time show that his mind had
+lost none of its fertility or his judgment of its soundness. He
+predicted at once that France would not invade the United States, and
+the event justified his foresight. But another Enemy lay in wait for
+him, and to this one the hero succumbed, in the same manly spirit in
+which he had battled with an earthly foe. Great suffering was crowded
+into the twenty-four hours' illness which served to prostrate that
+vigorous form, and to still that active brain; but he could look up, at
+the last, and say--"I am not afraid to die."
+
+December 14, 1799, was the day of his death, and the 18th of the same
+month saw him laid, by a weeping multitude, in the family vault at Mount
+Vernon; not the tomb in which his ashes now repose, but the old one,
+which he had been planning to rebuild, saying "Let that be done first,
+for perhaps I shall want it first."
+
+We have thus traced the Father of our Country through all his earthly
+Homes, to that quiet one by the side of the Potomac, the object of
+devout pilgrimage to millions yet unborn. One more Home there is for
+him, even in this changing world--that which he possesses in the hearts
+of his countrymen, one which we cannot picture or describe, but from
+which he can never be displaced by the superior merit of mortal man.
+Other heroes may arise, will arise, as the world shall need them,
+exponents of their times and incarnations of the highest spirit of the
+race from which they spring; but America can have but one
+Washington--one man in whom the peculiar virtues of the _American_
+character found their embodiment and their triumph. In saying this we
+may well be proud but not vainglorious. If the great truth it implies be
+not yet known and read of all men, we should be humbled by the thought
+that we are so slow to follow our immortal leader. Washington's
+indomitable spirit of freedom, as evident when at nineteen he withstood
+the English governor, as when in 1774 he "went to church and fasted all
+day," in sympathy with the people of Boston, in their resolution against
+the Port Bill; his self-control, the perfection of which made his fierce
+passions the sworn servants of virtue; his humanity, which no personal
+suffering or fatigue could blunt, and no provocation extinguish; his
+manly temper, never daunted by insolence or turned into arrogance by
+triumph; the respect for the civil virtues which he carried with him
+through all the temptations and trials of war; the faith in God and man
+which sustained him, and was indeed the secret of his power and his
+success,--what a legacy are these! All that he accomplished is less to
+us than what he was. To have left an example that will never need
+defence or substitution to the end of time; an ideal that will warm the
+heart and point the aspiration of every true American, when hundreds of
+millions shall be proud of the name; to stand forth, for ever, as what
+we, happy citizens of the country in which that great soul was cradled,
+and to which his heart and life were devoted, think a MAN ought to
+be--what a destiny for him! It is his reward. God has granted his
+prayers. Nothing earthly would have satisfied him, as we know by what he
+rejected. He has received that for which he labored. Who dare imagine
+the complacency--only less than divine, with which the retrospect of
+such a life may be fraught! Let us indulge the thought that when in the
+heat of party, the lust of power, or the still deadlier hunger for
+wealth, we depart from his spirit, he is permitted to see that the
+dereliction is but temporary and limited; that his country is true to
+him if his countrymen sometimes err; that there is for ever imprinted,
+on the heart and life of the nation, the conviction that in adherence to
+his precepts and imitation of his character there is safety, happiness,
+glory; in departure from that standard, deterioration and decay. It must
+be so, for can we conceive him blest without this?
+
+[Illustration: Washington's Tomb.]
+
+As if to stamp the American ideal with all perfection, it is remarkable
+that Washington stood pre-eminent in manly strength and beauty, and that
+a taste for athletic exercises kept him, in spite of illnesses brought
+on by toil, anxiety, and exposure, in firm health during most of his
+life. His picture at sixty-two, that which he himself thought the best
+likeness that had been taken of him, exhibits one of the loveliest
+faces that an old man ever wore. And it is marvellous how any one that
+ever looked into the clear blue depths of the eye in Stuart's unfinished
+picture, could be persuaded to believe Washington stern, cold, and
+unfeeling. Some have even thought it added to his dignity to represent
+him thus. All the historians in the world could not prove such a
+contradiction to the stamp of nature. But the picture by Pine--the old
+man, faded somewhat, and a little fallen in outline, wears the face of
+an angel; mild, firm, modest, sensitive, aspiring, glorious! It meets
+your gaze with a tenderness that dims our eye and seems almost to dim
+its own. Of all the portraits of Washington, this and the half-imaginary
+one made by Mr. Leutze from a miniature taken when Washington was
+seventeen, are the most touchingly beautiful, and, as we verily believe,
+most characteristic of the man.
+
+It is proper, though scarcely necessary, to say that this sketch of
+Washington's life is drawn from Mr. Sparks' history, since no research
+can discover a single fact overlooked by that faithful and just
+chronicler.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] On the causes and consequences of the war with France.
+
+
+
+
+=Franklin.=
+
+[Illustration: Franklin fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+FRANKLIN.
+
+
+An English traveller in the United States once expressed his
+astonishment at nowhere finding a monument of Franklin. He regarded it
+as a new proof of the ingratitude of republics. But if we have erected
+no columns, nor statues, to the memory of our first great man, we have
+manifested our gratitude for the services he rendered us, and the hearty
+appreciation of his character, which is universal among us, in a better,
+more affectionate and enduring manner. We name our towns, counties,
+ships, children, and institutions after him. His name is constantly in
+our mouth, and his benevolent countenance and lofty brow are as familiar
+to us as the features of Washington. We have Franklin banks, Franklin
+insurance companies, Franklin societies, Franklin hotels, Franklin
+markets, and even Franklin theatres. One of our line of battle ships is
+called the Franklin, and there will be found a Ben Franklin, the name
+affectionately abbreviated, on all our western lakes and rivers. The
+popular heart cherishes his memory more tenderly than that of any of our
+great men. Washington's heroism and lofty virtues set him above us, so
+that while we look up to him with veneration and awe, we hardly feel
+that he was one of us. His impossible grandeur forbids the familiar
+sympathy which we feel for our own kind. But Franklin's greatness is of
+that kind which makes the whole world kin. In him we recognize the
+apotheosis of usefulness. He was our Good Genius, who took us by the
+hand in our national infancy, and taught us the great art of making the
+most of the world. He warmed our houses by the stove which still bears
+his name, and protected us from the terrifying thunderbolt by his simple
+rod. He showered upon us lessons of wisdom, all calculated to increase
+our happiness, and his wise and pithy apothegms have become an important
+part of our language. Never before was a young nation blessed with so
+beneficent and generous a counsellor and guide. The influence of
+Franklin upon the national character is beyond estimate. He taught us
+alike by precept and example; and, in his autobiography, he laid the
+corner stone of our literature, bequeathing us a book which will always
+be fresh, instructive, and charming, while our language endures, or we
+look to literature for instruction and entertainment.
+
+Franklin was a pure, unadulterated Englishman; he came of that great
+stock whose mission it is to improve the world. Though we claim him, and
+justly, as an American, he was born, and lived the better part of his
+life, a subject of the English crown. There was never a more thorough
+Englishman, nor one whose whole consistent life more happily illustrated
+the Anglo-Saxon character, nor one who was better entitled to be called
+an American, or who showed a more lively and enduring love for his
+native soil.
+
+Every schoolboy is familiar with the history of Franklin; his
+autobiography is our national epic; it is more read than Robinson
+Crusoe; and our great national museum, the Patent Office, has been
+filled with the results of ambitious attempts to follow in the path of
+the inventor of the lightning-rod. One boy reads Robinson Crusoe and
+runs off to sea, while another reads Franklin's Life and tries for a
+patent, or begins to save a penny a day, that he may have three hundred
+pennies at the end of the year. There are writers who have accused
+Franklin of giving a sordid bias to our national character. But nothing
+could be more unjust. There is nothing sordid in the teachings of our
+great philosopher; while the example of his purely beneficent life has,
+doubtless, been the cause of many of the magnificent acts of private
+benevolence which have distinguished our countrymen.
+
+Franklin says in his autobiography, in reference to his stove, which has
+warmed so many generations of his countrymen, and rendered comfortable
+so many American homes: "Governor Thomas was so pleased with the
+construction of this stove that he offered to give me a sole patent for
+the vending of them for a term of years; but I declined it from a
+principle which has ever weighed with me on such occasions, viz., that
+as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be
+glad of an opportunity to serve others by an invention of ours: and this
+we should do freely and cordially." No, there was no sordidness in the
+teachings of Franklin.
+
+His immortal biography was commenced at the ripe age of sixty-six, while
+he was in England, a time of life when most men have lost the power to
+instruct or amuse with the pen; but it has the ease, the freshness, and
+the vigor of youth. It was continued at Passy, in France, and concluded
+in Philadelphia. He was one of the few instances of a precocious genius
+maintaining his powers to an advanced period of life. There were no
+signs of childishness in his almost infantile compositions, or of
+senility in his latest productions.
+
+Every body knows that the grandfather of Doctor Franklin was the sturdy
+old puritan, Peter Folger, who wrote the homely verses which Mr. Sparks
+doubts the propriety of calling poetry, and who dwelt in "Sherborn
+Town." The house in which he lived, and where the mother of Franklin was
+born, was still in existence but a few years since, though in a very
+dilapidated condition. We remember making a pilgrimage to it in our
+boyish days, after reading the Life of Franklin, and wondering in which
+of its little rooms the grandfather of the philosopher sat, when he
+penned the lines which the grandson thought were "written with manly
+freedom and a pleasing simplicity." The house stood near the water, at
+the head of a little cove, or creek, and near it was a bubbling spring,
+from which the mother of the philosopher must have often drank. At that
+time there were no evidences of the surrounding grounds having been
+cultivated, and a wretched family inhabited the ruin. There are many
+descendants of Peter Folger still living, some of whom have been eminent
+for their learning and talents; but, it is a remarkable circumstance,
+that, though Franklin's father and grandfather each had five sons, who
+grew up to man's estate, there is not one male descendant living of that
+name.
+
+[Illustration: Old South Church, Boston.]
+
+Franklin was born on the 6th of January, old style, 1706, in a house
+that stood on the corner of Milk-street, opposite the old South Church,
+Boston, in which he was christened. The church is still standing, but
+the house has been demolished, and, in its place, there is a large and
+handsome granite warehouse, which is made to serve the double purpose of
+a store and a monument. On the frieze of the cornice is the inscription
+in bold granitic letters, THE BIRTH-PLACE OF FRANKLIN. We cannot help
+thinking that it is just such a monument as he would have recommended,
+if his wishes had been consulted. But the house in which our great
+philosopher spent his earlier years, and to which his father removed
+soon after the birth of his youngest son, is still standing, very nearly
+in the same condition in which it was during his youth. It is on the
+corner of Hanover and Union streets, and the wooden gilt ball of the old
+soap-boiler is still suspended from an iron crane, with the inscription
+JOSIAS FRANKLIN, 1698. The ball is the original one, but it must have
+been many times regilt and relettered. The building is occupied by a
+shoe dealer in the lower part, but the upper rooms are in the occupancy
+of an industrial whose art had no existence until near a century after
+the death of Franklin's father. A daguerrean artist now takes likenesses
+in the rooms where the boy-philosopher slept, and sat up late at night
+to read Defoe's Essay on Projects, and Plutarch's Lives, by the
+glimmering light of one of his father's own dips. It was here too that
+he read the Light House Tragedy, after having cut wicks all day; and it
+was in the cellar of this house, too, that he made that characteristic
+suggestion to his father, of saying grace over the barrel of beef, which
+he saw him packing away for the winter's use, to save the trouble of a
+separate grace over each piece that should be served up for dinner. This
+anecdote may not be strictly true, but it is perfectly characteristic,
+and very much like one he tells of himself, when he was the
+Commander-in-Chief of the military forces of Pennsylvania. The chaplain
+of his regiment complained to him that the men would not attend prayers,
+whereupon, says Franklin, "I said to him, 'it is perhaps below the
+dignity of your profession to act as steward of the rum; but if you were
+only to distribute it out after prayers you would have them all about
+you.' He liked the thought, undertook the task, and, with the help of a
+few hands to measure out the liquor, executed it to satisfaction, and
+never were prayers more generally and more punctually attended."
+
+This kind of humorous good sense, was one of the marked peculiarities of
+his character; there was lurking wit and humor in all his acts, and in
+his gravest essays, of which his epigrammatic letter to his old friend
+Strahan, the king's printer, is a notable example.
+
+The old house in which Franklin spent his boyhood is now a long distance
+from the water, and in the midst of a wilderness of brick and granite
+buildings, but he speaks of it as near the shore, and it was close by
+that he built the little wharf of stolen stones, which induced his
+father to impress upon him the great truth that "that which was not
+honest could not be truly useful."
+
+Where the young apprentice lived when he was boarded out by his brother,
+and first "went in" to vegetarianism, we have not been able to
+ascertain; and, on his flight from Boston, in his seventeenth year, he
+does not appear to have remained long enough in New-York to have had a
+home. The first place he slept in, in Philadelphia, was a quaker
+meeting-house; but his first home in the city which he afterwards
+rendered famous, from having resided in it, was at a public house in
+Water-street, known as the Crooked Billet; not a very significant sign
+to us of the present generation. Wherever Franklin went, or in whatever
+new sphere he applied himself to business, he immediately inspired
+confidence in his ability, and gained friends, as all able men do. The
+runaway boy of seventeen had hardly begun to put Bradford's printing
+office in order when he was called upon by Colonel French, and Sir
+William Keith, governor of the province, who invited him to a tavern,
+offered him a bottle of Madeira, and proposed to set him up in business;
+yet he was not of a glib tongue and a prepossessing appearance.
+
+At the age of eighteen he made his first voyage to London, and lived in
+Little Britain with his friend Ralph at a cost of three shillings and
+sixpence a week. Franklin worked in Palmer's famous printing house in
+Bartholomew Close, near a year, and for the first and only time of his
+life was improvident and extravagant, spending his earnings at plays and
+public amusements, and neglecting to write to Miss Read in Philadelphia,
+with whom he had "exchanged promises." He worked diligently, though, and
+during that time wrote and published "A Dissertation on Liberty and
+Necessity, Pleasure and Pain," This essay gained him the friendship of
+an author who took him to the Horns, a pale ale-house, introduced him to
+Dr. Mandeville and promised him a sight of Newton. He afterwards removed
+to lodgings in Duke-street, and occupied a room up three pairs of
+stairs, which he rented of a widow, who had an only daughter, with whom
+he used to sup on half an anchovy, a very small slice of bread and
+butter, and half a pint of ale between them. He remained eighteen months
+in England, and returned to Philadelphia with the expectation of
+entering into mercantile business with his friend Denman.
+
+It was during his voyage from London to Philadelphia that he wrote out
+the plan for regulating his future conduct, which, he says, he had
+adhered to through life. The plan has not been preserved, but we have
+the life which was conformed to it, and can easily conceive what it was.
+
+Fortunately for mankind his friend Denman died soon after the return of
+Franklin to Philadelphia, whereby his mercantile projects were
+frustrated, and he was compelled to return to his trade of printing; he
+was just turned of twenty-one, and not finding employment as a
+merchant's clerk, he undertook the charge of his former employer's
+printing office. Here his inventive genius was taxed, for he had to make
+both types and ink, as they could not be procured short of London. He
+also engraved the copper plates, from his own designs, for the paper
+money of New Jersey, and constructed the first copper plate press that
+had been seen in the country. He could not long remain in the employment
+of another, and, before the end of the year, had established himself in
+business as a printer, in partnership with his friend Meredith. His life
+now commenced in earnest, he was his own master, and held his fortune in
+his own hands; he had already discerned "that truth, sincerity, and
+integrity, were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life;" and
+day by day his genius ripened and his noble character was developed. In
+the year 1730, he was married to Miss Read, and laid the foundation of
+the Pennsylvania Library; the first public library that had been
+commenced in the country. The two succeeding years of his life were not
+marked by any striking event, but they were, perhaps, the two most
+important in his history, as during that time he schooled himself to
+virtue by a systematic course of conduct, the particulars of which he
+has given in his biography. At the end of this period he commenced his
+"Poor Richard's Almanac," the publication of which was continued by him
+twenty-five years. It was the first successful attempt in authorship on
+this side of the Atlantic. His first "promotion," as he calls it,
+meaning his first public employment, was on being chosen Clerk of the
+General Assembly; and the next year he was appointed Postmaster at
+Philadelphia. His private business all the time increased; he founded
+societies for philosophical purposes; continued to publish his paper;
+wrote innumerable pamphlets; was elected colonel of a regiment; invented
+his stove, and engaged in all manner of beneficial projects; he
+established hospitals and academies, made treaties with the Indians,
+became Postmaster General, and after devising means for cleaning the
+streets of Philadelphia, turned his attention to those of London and
+Westminster.
+
+[Illustration Grave of Franklin, Philadelphia]
+
+But, it is with the "Homes" of Franklin that our limited space must be
+occupied, and not with his life and actions. Although he occupied, at
+various times, almost as many different houses as there are headquarters
+of Washington, yet there are few of them now left; living always in
+cities, the houses he inhabited have been destroyed by the irresistible
+march of improvement. In his fifty-first year, he was sent to London by
+the General Assembly to present a petition to the king, and to act as
+the agent of Pennsylvania in England. He sailed from New-York and
+arrived in London in July, 1757, and at this point of his life his
+autobiography ends. From an original letter of his in our possession,
+written on the eve of his departure from Philadelphia, he directs that
+letters must be sent to him in London at the Pennsylvania Coffee House,
+in Birchin Lane, where he doubtless lived on his first arrival, but his
+permanent home in London, during fifteen years, was at Mrs. Stevenson's
+in Craven-street. He travelled much in Great Britain and on the
+continent, was present at the coronation of George III., and returned to
+America in 1762, having stopped awhile at Madeira on the voyage. He went
+to England again in 1764, and after a brilliant and most serviceable
+career abroad, returned to his native home in season to sign his name to
+the Declaration of Independence, giving a greater weight of personal
+character, and a more potent popular influence to the cause than any
+other of the immortal participators in that glorious act. He died in the
+year 1790, on the 17th of April, at 11 o'clock at night, in his 85th
+year, in his house in Market-street, Philadelphia, which he had built
+for his own residence. His remains lie by the side of his wife's, in the
+burying ground of Christ Church, covered by a simple marble slab, in
+conformity with his directions. There is a small granite pyramid in the
+Granary burying ground in Boston, which the economical citizens make do
+double duty, as a memorial of the greatest name of which their city can
+boast, and a monument to his parents.
+
+[Illustration: Franklin's Monument, Boston]
+
+
+
+
+=Jefferson.=
+
+[Illustration: Jefferson fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Monticello, Jefferson's Residence]
+
+JEFFERSON.
+
+
+Jefferson would have been a notable man in any country and any age,
+because he possessed both genius and character. Without the former he
+could never have succeeded, as he did, in moulding the opinions of his
+contemporaries and successors, and without the latter, he would not have
+been, as he was, bitterly hated by his enemies and cordially loved by
+his friends. His genius, however, was not of that kind which in the
+ardor of its inspiration intoxicates the judgment; nor was his
+character, on the other hand, of the sort which moves an admiration so
+profound, unquestioning and universal, as to disarm the antagonism its
+very excellence provokes. There was enough error and frailty, therefore,
+mingled with his eminent qualities both of mind and heart, to involve
+him in seeming contradictions, and to expose his life to double
+construction and controversy. At the same time, it has happened to him
+as it has often happened in human history, that the hostility awakened
+by his acts during his life, has dwindled with the lapse of time, while
+his fame has grown brighter and broader with every renewal of the
+decisions of posterity. No man, we may now safely say, who has figured
+on the theatre of events in this country, with the single exception of
+Washington, occupies a larger share of the veneration of Americans.
+
+He was born at Shadwell, in Albemarle county, Virginia, in 1743. His
+father, dying when he was twelve years of age, left him a large
+inheritance. He was educated at the College of William and Mary, studied
+law under the celebrated George Wythe, began the practice of it in 1767,
+and in 1769 was chosen a member of the provincial legislature, where his
+first movement--an unsuccessful one--was for the emancipation of the
+slaves. But a greater question soon engrossed his mind. Already a spirit
+of opposition had been excited in the colonies to the arbitrary measures
+of the parliament of Great Britain,--that very legislature was dissolved
+by the Governor, in consequence of the sympathy displayed by its leading
+members with the patriotic proceedings of Massachusetts,--it appealed to
+the constituency, and was triumphantly returned,--and then in 1773, its
+more active spirits organized, in a room of a tavern at Raleigh, a
+system of correspondence, designed to inflame the zeal and unite the
+efforts of the colonists against the encroachments of power. As a result
+of this activity, a convention was called in Virginia for the purpose of
+choosing delegates to a more general Congress. Jefferson was a member of
+it, but not being able, on account of ill-health, to attend, drew up a
+paper on the Rights of British America, which the convention did not
+adopt, but which it published; "the leap he proposed," as he says,
+"being too long for the mass of the citizens,"--and which Edmund Burke
+in England caused to run through several editions. The pamphlet procured
+him reputation, and the more honorable distinction of having his name
+placed in a bill of attainder, moved in one of the houses of Parliament.
+Thus early was he identified with the champions of liberty in the new
+world.
+
+In 1775, Jefferson took his seat for the first time in the Continental
+Congress, whither he carried the same decided and liberal tone which had
+marked his legislative efforts. He was soon appointed on the most
+important committees, and especially on that, which, on the motion of
+the delegates of Virginia, was raised to prepare a Declaration of
+Independence for the colonies. It was a measure carried only after a
+strenuous and hot debate, but it was finally carried by a large
+majority; and to Jefferson was assigned the task, by his associates, of
+preparing the document destined to inaugurate a new era in the history
+of mankind. How he executed the duty the world knows; for this paper
+became the charter of freedom to a whole continent; and annually to this
+day, millions of people read it with gratitude, reverence, joy, and
+praise to God. For a second time, then, we behold our Jefferson, a
+chosen champion of liberty, linking his name, not with a bill of
+attainder this time; but with the most signal event in the destiny of
+his country,--and one, second to none in the political fortunes of
+humanity.
+
+The Declaration proclaimed, Mr. Jefferson retired from his place in the
+Congress to resume his seat in the legislature of his native State;
+where, an imperfect Constitution having been adopted, during his
+absence, he was immediately involved in the most indefatigable labors
+for its reform. In connection with Wythe, Mason, Pendleton, and Lee, he
+prepared no less than 136 different acts, from which were derived all
+the most liberal features of the existing laws of the Commonwealth. They
+laid the foundation, in fact, of the code of Virginia,--as a mere
+monument of industry, they were a most extraordinary work, but when we
+consider the importance of some of the principles of legislation which
+they introduced, sufficient in themselves to have immortalized the name
+of any man. Among these principles, were provisions for the abrogation
+of the laws of entail and primogeniture, for the establishment of
+religious freedom, for a complete amelioration of the criminal code,
+including the abolition of capital punishments in all cases, except of
+treason and murder, for the emancipation, at a certain age, of all
+slaves born after the passage of the act, for the division of the
+counties into wards and towns, and the establishment thereby of free
+municipal institutions, and for the introduction of a system of popular
+education, providing for schools in each town, academies in each county,
+and a University for the State. The three first were carried into
+effect; but the others, in consequence of his personal absence on other
+duties, failed. But what a different destiny would have been that of
+Virginia if they had not failed! How intrepid, too, the mind which could
+conceive and urge such measures at that time! Society in Virginia was
+then divided into three classes, the land and slave-owners, the
+yeomanry, and the laboring people. Jefferson was by birth and position
+of the first class, but his chief associations had been among the second
+class, while his sympathies were with the third class, or rather with
+all classes. Had his suggestions been adopted, these distinctions would
+have been destroyed, and Virginia raised to the first place among the
+free nations of the earth. Thus, for a third time, we find Jefferson
+among the foremost advocates of the liberty and advancement of the
+people.
+
+In 1779 he was chosen the successor of Patrick Henry, as the Governor of
+the State; but war having been declared, and a military invasion being
+at hand, he resigned the position on account of his want of military
+talents, in favor of General Nelson. He had barely time to escape with
+his family before the enemy entered his house. Congress twice solicited
+him to go abroad, first to negotiate a peace, and then a treaty of
+alliance and commerce with France, but as "the laboring oar," in his own
+language, "was at home," it was not until the year 1782, when the
+assurance that a general peace would be concluded, became stronger, that
+he consented to quit his country. The preliminary articles of a peace,
+however, were received before the time of his departure, and the objects
+of his mission being thus accomplished, he was again chosen to Congress
+in 1783.
+
+The great question then, was the formation of a better government for
+the colonies, than the weak and ill-jointed confederation of the time
+had afforded. Jefferson was prepared to enter into its discussion with
+ardor, bringing to the task that keen sagacity and that stern republican
+spirit, which were among his chief characteristics, when he was joined
+to Adams and Franklin in a commission for negotiating treaties of
+commerce with foreign nations. He arrived in Paris in June of 1785. His
+practical insight into affairs, his vast information, and his determined
+will, made him a valuable acquisition even to the distinguished
+abilities of his colleagues. His labors were incessant, and yet he found
+time to participate, as far as his diplomatic functions allowed, in the
+stirring and brilliant scenes then going forward on the theatre of
+Europe. The part that he had performed in the great battles for liberty
+in America, attracted towards him the regards and the confidence of all
+the prominent actors of the revolutionary drama of France. It was at his
+house that the patriots most frequently met; it was in his house that
+the Declaration of Rights which preceded the first French Constitution
+was drafted; it was at his house that the First Constitution was
+proposed; it was from him that Lafayette received many of his best and
+noblest impulses, and to him that the earlier leaders of the struggle
+looked for sympathy, concurrence, and direction. In after years, in the
+bitter political contests of the day, it was a topic of reproach that he
+was under French influence, but the truth was, as some one has
+sagaciously remarked, that the French had been brought under an American
+influence. He simply continued to be abroad what he had always been at
+home, the pioneer and consistent friend of popular rights,--the
+unflinching supporter of popular liberty.
+
+It was during this interval of absence in Europe, that the controversy
+in respect to a better constitution of government for the colonies, to
+which we have just alluded, was brought to a head. There had always been
+a substantial union between them, founded upon contiguous geographical
+position and their common interests, as well as their community of
+origin, languages, laws and religion, which the common danger of the
+Revolution had served to strengthen and cement. But as yet their
+political union was inchoate and fragile. It was a simple improvement
+upon the classical confederacies of history, such as had prevailed in
+ancient Greece, on the plains of Etrusca, before Rome was, among the
+dikes of Holland, or along the declivities of the Swiss Alps,--and such
+as Montesquieu and the accepted writers praised as the perfection of
+political arrangement, clear of all defects, and secure from foreign
+violence and domestic weakness. Yet, in the practice of the New World,
+it had not justified the praises of the theorists, for a fatal vice, an
+alarming and radical weakness had been developed in its want of due
+centripetal force. In other words, it was rather a conglomerate than a
+united whole, and the difficulty of the new problem which it raised
+consisted in the proper adjustment of the federal and central with the
+State and local authority. Parties were, of course, immediately formed
+on the question of the true solution of it, the one favoring a strong
+central power, taking the name of Federalist; and the other, disposed to
+adhere to the separate sovereignty and independence of the States,
+taking the name of Anti-Federalist. In the end, the Constitution
+actually adopted, a work only second in importance to the Revolution
+itself, or more properly the constructive completion of it, was a
+compromise between the two, although the original parties still
+maintained their relative positions, as the friends and foes of a
+preponderating general government.
+
+Jefferson inclined to the anti-federalists, but not being in the midst
+of the debate, was scarcely mingled with its more exciting quarrels. It
+is hard to say, what shape, or whether a different shape at all, would
+have been given to the instrument of union, had he been at home to take
+part in its formation. We think it probable, however, that his immense
+personal influence, combined with his sharp forecast and decentralizing
+tendency, would have succeeded in modifying its more aristocratic and
+conservative features, especially in regard to the absorbing power of
+the Executive and the irresponsible tenure of the Judiciary. Be that as
+it may, the choice of him by Washington, in 1789, for the post of the
+first Secretary of State, gave him an opportunity of exercising his
+talents and manifesting his disposition, in the organization of the new
+experiment.
+
+There were two antagonisms which he found it necessary at the outset to
+meet; first, the tendency to federal absorption, and second, the
+reliance upon law rather than liberty, both embodied in the person of
+Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury, a man of genius, of
+energy, of sincere convictions, and the confidant of Washington. The two
+men were, therefore, speedily self-placed in strong opposition. Hamilton
+had been educated in a military school, he admired the British
+Constitution, and, though he was an earnest patriot, as his efficient
+services in the war, and his masterly vindications of the Constitution
+had proved, he cherished a secret distrust of the people. Jefferson, on
+the other hand, had sympathized all his life with the multitude,
+approved, or rather had anticipated, the French philosophy, which was
+then in vogue, disliked the English models of government, and was
+sanguine of the future. It was inevitable, consequently, that the
+opposition of such men, both able, both decided, both earnest in their
+plans, should widen into an almost irreconcilable hostility. In 1793,
+Jefferson resigned, but not until, by his reports to Congress on the
+currency, the fisheries, weights and measures, and by his correspondence
+with foreign ministers, he had placed his department on a level with the
+Foreign Offices of the older nations. It is to him that we are indebted
+for our decimal coinage, and through him, as Mr. Webster, a competent
+and not too friendly judge, has confessed, our diplomatic intercourse
+was raised to a dignity and strength which will bear comparison with any
+that other governments can produce.
+
+In 1797 Jefferson was called from his retirement to act as
+Vice-President of the United States,--a place of not much practical
+efficiency, but which he illustrated by compiling a manual of
+Parliamentary Practice, which has ever since been the standard by which
+the proceedings of legislative bodies in this country are regulated.
+There was no position, indeed, which he does not appear to have been
+able to turn to some advantage to his country and his fellow-men.
+
+At the close of his term as Vice-President, he was chosen President,--a
+choice in which a final blow was given to the doctrines of Federalism,
+and the democratic republic finally inaugurated. We shall not, however,
+enter into the contests of that period, nor attempt to detail the
+measures of his administration. They are subjects for history, not for
+an outline like this we sketch. Suffice it to say, that the aspirations
+of the people were not disappointed by the results of his action. He
+rescued the functions of government from the improper direction which
+had been given to them, he organized strength through simplicity, he
+almost doubled the territory of the Union, he caused the vast regions of
+the west, now the seat of populous empire, to be explored, he gave us
+character abroad, and maintained tranquillity at home,--and, last of
+all, against the solicitation of his friends, with a popular prestige
+that would have carried him in triumph through a third or fourth term of
+office, even to the close of his days, he consecrated for ever the
+example of Washington, by resigning, as that great man had done, at the
+end of eight years.
+
+These are the simple facts of Jefferson's active career, and they need
+no comment. They present a character obviously too transparent to allow
+of much mistake. All his life points to a few simple but great objects.
+By his sanguine temperament, his keen insight, his quick and cherishing
+sympathies, his strong love of justice, his kindly visions of the
+future, he was made a democrat; and, under no circumstances could he
+have been any thing else. He hated tyranny, he loved truth, and he was
+not afraid of man; how then could he avoid becoming what he was, the
+apostle of freedom, author of the Statutes of Virginia and the
+Declaration of Independence, founder of the republican party, a name of
+power to future generations which have scarcely yet come up to the
+greatness and breadth of his enlightened opinions? Errors of conduct he
+may have committed, for who is perfect? impracticable views he may have
+enunciated, for who is all-wise? but the glory of his achievements is an
+imperishable remembrance of his countrymen, illustrating their history
+to all nations and to all times. "A superior and commanding intellect,"
+it has been eloquently said, "is not a temporary flame burning brightly
+for a while, and then giving place to returning darkness. It is rather a
+spark of fervent heat, as well as radiant light, with power to enkindle
+the common mass of human mind; so that when it glimmers in its own
+decay, and finally goes out in death, no night follows, but it leaves
+the world all light, all on fire, from the potent contact of its own
+spirit."
+
+The retirement of Mr. Jefferson at Monticello was passed in the
+cultivation of his estate, in the pursuit of letters, in cheerful
+intercourse with friends, in the duties of a liberal hospitality, and in
+advancing his favorite project of a University of Virginia. His notes on
+Virginia, and his contributions to scientific periodicals, together with
+his extensive correspondence, had brought him to the acquaintance of the
+most distinguished scientific men of the world, and his eminent
+political services had made him known to statesmen. His house was,
+therefore, always thronged with visitors, who, attracted by his fame,
+were charmed by his conversation, astonished by his learning, and warmed
+into love by the unaffected kindliness of his deportment. A beautiful
+retirement, full of grandeur, of simplicity, of dignity and repose! A
+patriarch of the nation which he had helped to found, and which he lived
+to see in a condition of unparalleled advancement,--illustrious in two
+hemispheres,--his name connected with events that introduced a new era
+in the history of his race,--surrounded by the grateful admiration of
+growing millions of people; his old age was passed in the serenest
+contentment, amid the blandishments of literature and science, the
+interchanges of friendly offices, and in useful labor in the library or
+on the farm.
+
+Monticello, which is the name which Mr. Jefferson had given to his home,
+was built in one of the most enchanting regions of Virginia. "It seemed
+designed by nature," says a writer, "as the very seat from which, lifted
+above the world's turmoil, one who has exhausted what it can bestow of
+eminence, might look down, withdrawn from its personal troubles, but
+contemplating at leisure the distant animation of the scene. It was a
+place scarcely less fit for the visionary abode of the philosophic
+speculatist, than by its far-spread and shifting beauties of landscapes
+to inspire a poet with perpetual delight." On a spire of the romantic
+Blue Ridge, whose varying outlines stretch away from it till they are
+lost to the sight, with a sylvan scene of unsurpassed loveliness in the
+vale below, the quiet Rivanna meandering through rich fields on one
+side, the pleasant village of Charlotteville dotting the other, while
+the porticoes and domes of the University rise in the distance behind,
+it overlooked a combination of natural pictures that are rarely found in
+one spot.
+
+"The country," says the visitor we have just quoted, "is not flat, but a
+gently waving one; yet, from above and afar, its inequalities of surface
+vanish into a map-like smoothness, and are traceable only in the light
+and shade cast by hill and plain. The prospect here has a diameter of
+near a hundred miles: its scope is therefore such that atmospheric
+effects are constantly flickering over it, even in the most cloudless
+days of a climate as bright if not quite so soft as that of Italy; and
+thus each varying aspect of the weather is reflected, all the while,
+from the features of the landscape, as the passions are over the face of
+some capricious beauty, that laughs, and frowns, and weeps almost in the
+same breath. Near you, perhaps, all is smiling in the sunlight; yonder
+broods or bursts a storm; while, in a third quarter, darkness and light
+contend upon the prospect, and chase each other. The sky itself is thus
+not more shifting than the scene you may have before you. It takes a new
+aspect at almost every moment, and bewitches you with a perpetual
+novelty."
+
+The mansion of the philosopher was placed on the top of an eminence
+commanding this beautiful scene. It was somewhat fantastic in its
+architecture, owing to the additions and rebuildings that had been
+constantly going on, to adapt it to the enlarged wants and changing
+tastes of the occupant, but it was spacious, richly furnished and
+commodious. The rarest treasures of literature adorned the library, and
+indeed every part bore witness to the affluence and cultivated pursuits
+of the venerable sage. A farm of some fourteen thousand acres lay about
+among the hills, which was laboriously and carefully husbanded, and
+which gave employment in various ways to a number of artificers and
+mechanics, whose dwellings were distributed about the slopes. His
+estate, in short, was a small and almost independent community in
+itself, capable of supplying the ordinary needs and even the luxuries of
+a highly civilized condition of social existence. As a proof of this, we
+may state by the way, that the carriage of the proprietor, as well as
+many of the tools and implements in daily use, had been manufactured on
+the premises. But the wonder of the place was the library, which was not
+only extensive, but extensively rich in its rare possessions, which the
+master had seduously collected during his long residence abroad from
+every nook and corner of Europe. Unfortunately many of these books,
+afterwards presented to Congress, were burned in the conflagration of
+the Capitol. Of the man himself, a guest, who was any thing but an
+admirer, has left this record.
+
+"Dressed, within doors, as I saw him last, no longer in the red
+breeches, which were once famous as his favorite and rather conspicuous
+attire; but still vindicating by a sanguine waistcoat his attachment to
+that Republican color; in gray shorts, small silver kneebuckles, gray
+woollen stockings, black slippers, a blue body-coat, surmounted by a
+gray spencer; tall, and though lithe of person and decidedly graceful
+and agile of motion and carriage, yet long and ill-limbed, Mr.
+Jefferson's figure was commanding and striking, though bad, and his face
+most animated and agreeable, although remarkably ugly. His legs, by no
+means shunned observation; yet they were scarcely larger at the knee
+than in the ankle, and had never been conscious of a calf. Still, though
+without strength, they had always borne him along with vigor and
+suppleness. These bodily qualities and a health almost unfailing, he
+preserved, in a singular degree, to the very close of his long life. At
+the time I speak of, when he was in his eighty-first year, he not only
+mounted his horse without assistance and rode habitually some ten miles
+a day, but, dismounting at a fence breast-high, would leap over it, by
+only placing his hand on the topmost rail. He walked not only well and
+swiftly, but with a lightness and springiness of tread, such as few
+young men even have. It was a restless activity of mind, which informed
+all this unusual mobility of body; and the two, I think, were, in him,
+greatly alike. For his intellect had, like his person, more size than
+shape, more adroitness than force, more suppleness than solidity, and
+affected its ends by continuity of action not mass of power, by
+manipulation not muscularity. You may batter to pieces with a small
+hammer that which a cannon-ball would not shiver. He was never idle:
+nay, hardly a moment still. He rose early and was up late, through his
+life; and was all day, whenever not on foot or a-horse-back, at study,
+at work, or in conversation. If his legs and fingers were at rest, his
+tongue would sure to be a-going. Indeed, even when seated in his library
+in a low Spanish chair, he held forth to his visitors in an almost
+endless flow of fine discourse, his body seemed as impatient of keeping
+still as his mind, it shifted its position incessantly, and so twisted
+itself about that you might almost have thought he was attitudinizing.
+Meantime, his face, expressive as it was ugly, was not much less busy
+than his limbs, in bearing its part in the conversation, and kept up,
+all the while, the most speaking by-play, an eloquence of the
+countenance as great as ugly features could well have. It stood to his
+conversation like the artful help of well-imagined illustrations to the
+text of a book: a graphic commentary on every word, that was as
+convincing to the eyes as was his discourse to the ears. The impression
+which it conveyed was a strong auxiliary of all he uttered: for it begat
+in you an almost unavoidable persuasion of his sincerity."
+
+Jefferson's conversation is described as the most agreeable and
+brilliant of his day; but was it this which gave him his personal power?
+He was not in other respects a man of any pre-eminent personal
+qualities; he did not possess commanding military skill; he was no
+orator, having seldom spoken in public; and though a good writer, he was
+not particularly distinguished in that line. His conversation,
+therefore, may have helped him in acquiring a mastery of the minds of
+men; but the real secret of his success consisted in two things--in his
+general superiority of intellect, and in his rich, generous, noble
+intuitions. He saw the truths and spoke the words, which the world
+wanted to see and hear, at the right time--a little in advance of his
+generation, but not too much in advance so as to "dwarf himself by the
+distance." His sympathetic genius beat responsive to the genius of his
+age. His instincts were the instincts of the men of his day; more
+decided and pronounced than theirs, but still recognized as a prophecy
+of what they felt the deepest and wanted the most. All the talent, all
+the cunning, all the selfish calculation of the world could not have
+enabled him to reach the heights which he attained by the simple and
+consistent utterance of his nature. He conquered, as Emerson says in
+speaking of the force of character over and above mere force of some
+special faculty, because his arrival any where altered the face of
+affairs. "Oh, Iole, how did you know that Hercules was a God?"
+"Because," answered Iole, "I was content the moment my eyes fell upon
+him. When I beheld Theseus, I desired that I might see him offer battle,
+or at least guide his horses in the chariot race; but Hercules did not
+wait for a contest; he conquered whether he stood or walked, or sat, or
+whatever thing he did."
+
+Happy in his life, Jefferson was no less happy in his death, for he went
+peacefully to rest on the fiftieth anniversary of the great day which he
+had done so much to make great, the Jubilee of our national
+freedom,--when the shouts of the people, as they ascended from the
+innumerable vales, to his receding ears, must have sounded as a prelude
+to the swelling voices of posterity.
+
+
+
+
+=Hancock.=
+
+[Illustration: Hancock fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Hancock House, Boston]
+
+HANCOCK.
+
+
+In the mouths of the people of New England, and indeed throughout the
+United States, the name of John Hancock has become a household word. In
+the State of Massachusetts, where he was born, lived, and died, and in
+the affairs of which he took, for five-and-twenty years, so very active
+and leading a part, he enjoyed a degree and a permanence of popularity
+never yet obtained by any other man. And yet we may observe and the same
+thing may be noted in other and more recent instances--a remarkable fact
+that deserves to be pondered--that his high degree of popularity was not
+at all dependent upon any peculiar embodiment or manifestation on his
+part of the more prevailing and characteristic traits of the community
+about him. Indeed the popular favor which Hancock enjoyed would seem to
+have been determined, as the attachment of individuals so often is, and
+as has happened also in other notable instances, rather by the
+attraction of opposites.
+
+And yet Hancock's line of descent was such as might naturally enough
+have inspired the expectation of finding in him a good many more marks
+of the old puritan temper and manners than he ever exhibited. From the
+days of the first settlement of New England, down to the period of the
+Revolution and afterwards, the "ministers" constituted a sort of
+clerical nobility, enjoying a very high degree of influence and
+consideration; and it is to forefathers of that order, that a large part
+of the most distinguished and influential New England families may trace
+their origin. The elder sons of these ministers, commonly, and the
+younger ones often, were educated to the profession of their fathers,
+long regarded in New England as the most certain road to distinction,
+whether spiritual or temporal. But as the demand for ministers was
+limited, and as their families were generally pretty large, many of
+their sons found it necessary to engage in the avocations of civil life,
+in which they not uncommonly attained to wealth and high social
+positions. Yet, for the most part, however zealous and successful they
+might be in the pursuit of temporal objects, they still continued to
+exhibit pretty evident marks of their clerical descent and breeding in a
+certain stiff, cold, and austere gravity, if not, indeed, in a certain
+sanctimonious air even in the very act of concluding the very tightest
+and sharpest of bargains;--all the attributes, in fact, comprehensively
+and impressively conveyed to an inhabitant of New England by the title
+of _Deacon_, which office, as if still clinging to the horns of the
+altar, they often filled; thus becoming pillars and supports of that
+church of which their fathers had been the candlesticks.
+
+The grandfather of John Hancock, himself called John, was for more than
+fifty years, as if by a sort of vaticination of the future, minister of
+Lexington, near to Concord; thus associating with that of Hancock
+another name, now to all American ears so familiar as the scene of the
+first revolutionary bloodshed. We are told by a biographer of this first
+John Hancock, that he possessed "a facetious temper," but in the grim
+old portrait which still hangs on the walls of his grandson's family
+mansion-house, very small traces of facetiousness appear; and so far as
+physiognomy goes, we should be rather inclined to look to his
+grandmother, to whose accompanying portrait the artist has given a fine
+open countenance, with something of a magnificent and voluptuous style
+of beauty, for the source of those social qualities and captivating
+manners by which their famous grandson was distinguished. The minister
+of Lexington had two sons, both also ministers, one of whom became his
+father's colleague. The other, the father of our John Hancock, was
+settled at Braintree, near Boston, in that part of it which now
+constitutes the town of Quincy; and it was here that in the year 1737
+our John Hancock was born, only a short distance from the birth-place of
+John Adams, who was some two years his senior. The old house in which
+the future patriot first saw the light was destroyed by an accidental
+fire previous to the Revolution; and the land on which it had stood
+coming subsequently into the possession of John Adams, he presented it
+to the town of Quincy as a site for a future academy.
+
+At the age of six or seven years, the young John Hancock was left
+without a father; but in his uncle, Thomas Hancock, he found a guardian
+and protector, who not only loved him, but was able to assist him.
+Thomas Hancock early in life had been placed as an apprentice to a
+Boston stationer, and had afterwards set up in that line of business for
+himself: but subsequently extending the sphere of his operations, he
+became one of the most eminent and successful merchants of New England.
+As he had no children, he adopted, as his own, his young nephew, whose
+affable and joyous temper had not failed to make him dear to his uncle,
+as they did to so many others; and having sent him to Harvard College,
+where he graduated at the early age of seventeen, he took him afterwards
+into his counting-house to be initiated into the mysteries of
+merchandise; and in due season admitted him as a partner. It was,
+perhaps, as well on business as for pleasure, or general improvement,
+that the young Hancock visited England, whither he went in company with
+the returning Governor Pownall, whose taste for social enjoyment was
+similar to his own, and where he saw the funeral of George II. and the
+coronation of George III., little thinking at that moment how active a
+part he was himself soon to take in curtailing the limits of the British
+monarchy, and in snatching from the young king's crown its brightest
+jewel.
+
+Thomas Hancock, the uncle, died in 1764, leaving behind him a fortune
+amassed by his judicious and successful mercantile enterprises, of not
+less than $350,000, one of the largest ever acquired in Boston, up to
+that time, though small in comparison with several of the present day,
+when even ten times as much may be produced by combined good fortune,
+tact, and perseverance. Thomas Hancock bestowed by his will some
+considerable legacies for charitable purposes, among others a thousand
+pounds to Harvard College to endow a professorship of oriental
+languages, being thus, as the historian of the college assures us, the
+first native American to endow a professorship in any literary
+institution;--but the great bulk of his fortune he bequeathed to his
+favorite nephew, $250,000 at once, and a reversionary interest in
+$100,000 more, of which his widow was to enjoy the use during her life.
+
+Thus in 1764, at the early age of twenty-seven, and just upon the eve of
+the commencement of the revolutionary disputes with the mother country,
+John Hancock came into possession of one of the largest fortunes in the
+province.
+
+Yet, though this large estate was an instrument and a stepping-stone,
+without the help of which Hancock would never have attained to that
+social and political distinction which he coveted and enjoyed so much,
+yet without his rare personal gifts and accomplishments it would have
+been wholly unavailing to that end; and so far from qualifying him,
+would have disqualified him, as it did so many other of the rich men of
+that time, for playing the conspicuous part he did in political affairs.
+Though for some time after his uncle's death he continued in business as
+a merchant, there were others who knew much better than he how to
+increase estates, already in the popular estimate--especially
+considering the use made of them--quite too large. Indeed, his business
+operations do not seem to have had mainly or primarily in view the
+making of money; for though he started new enterprises, going largely
+into ship-building, it was rather, at least so Hutchinson insinuates, as
+a politician than as a capitalist, looking more to the number of people
+he employed, and the increase thereby of his influence and popularity,
+than to the enlargement of his already plentiful fortune. There were
+others also who knew much better than he how to keep what they had, at
+least as they thought, men who used no less economy in spending their
+money than they or their fathers had done in acquiring it. But although
+the rich man who keeps his capital entire, and even increasing, is, in
+some sense, certainly a public benefactor, yet the fountain that
+overflows, sending forth a copious stream which the thirsty passers-by
+are all free to drink from, or at least to look at, is always more
+joyfully seen and more pleasingly remembered--even though it does run
+the risk of some time running dry--than the deep well, whose water is
+hardly visible, and which, though quite inexhaustible, yet for want of
+any kind of a bucket that can be made to sink into it, or any rope long
+enough to draw such a bucket up, is very little available to the parched
+throats of the fainting wayfarers, who, in the spirit and with the
+feelings of Tantalus, are thus rather disposed to curse than to bless
+it.
+
+To be able to make money is, at least in New England, a very common
+accomplishment, to be able to keep it not a rare one; but very few have
+understood so well as Hancock did, how to make the most of it in the way
+of spending it, obtaining from it, as he did, the double gratification
+of satisfying his own private inclinations, at the same time that he
+promoted his political views by the hold that he gained on the favor and
+good-will of his fellow-citizens.
+
+He possessed, indeed, in a degree, those tastes which wealth is best
+able to gratify, and to the gratification of which it is most essential.
+In the very face and eyes of the puritanical opinions and the staid and
+ultra-sober habits of New England, he delighted in splendid furniture,
+fine clothes, showy equipages, rich wines, good dinners, gay company,
+cards, dances, music, and all sorts of festivities. Nothing pleased him
+so much as to have his house full of guests to share with him in these
+enjoyments, and few were better qualified, by winning manners, graceful
+and affable address, a ready wit, a full flow of spirits, and a keen
+enjoyment of the whole thing, to act the part of master of the feast.
+But while thus luxuriously inclined, he had no disposition for gross
+debauch: and the presence of ladies at all his entertainments, while it
+seemed to give to them a new zest, banished from his house that riotous
+dissipation into which mere male gatherings are so certain to sink; and
+which in times past, in New England, made the idea of gross dissipation
+almost inseparable from that of social enjoyment, nor even yet is the
+distinction between them fully apprehended by every body.
+
+Among other property which Hancock had inherited from his uncle, was a
+stone mansion-house, still standing, and now in the very centre of the
+city of Boston, but which then was looked upon as quite retired and
+almost in the country. This house, which was built about the year that
+Hancock was born, fronts eastwardly on Boston Common, since so
+elaborately improved and converted into so beautiful a park, with its
+gravel walks, trees, and smooth-shaven lawns, but which was then a
+_common_ in the old English sense of the word, a common pasture for the
+cows of the neighbors, and a training field for the militia, with very
+few improvements except a single gravel walk and two or three rows of
+trees along Tremont-street. This house was situated a little west of the
+central and highest summit of that triple hill, which had early acquired
+for the peninsula of Boston the name of Trimountain,--since shortened
+into Tremont, and preserved in the name of the street above mentioned,
+which central summit was, from an early period, known as Beacon Hill, a
+name preserved in that of Beacon-street. This name was derived from the
+use to which this highest central summit had been put from a very early
+period--materials being always kept in readiness upon the top of it for
+kindling a bonfire, as a means of alarming the country round in case of
+invasion or other danger. After having been a good deal graded down,
+this summit is now occupied as a site for the State House, which, with
+its conspicuous dome, crowns and overlooks the whole city.
+
+It was in this mansion-house of his uncle's, which seems as if by a sort
+of attraction to have drawn the State House to its side, that Hancock
+continued to live except when absent at Philadelphia in attendance on
+the Continental Congress; and not content with its original dimensions,
+to afford more room for his numerous guests, he built at one end of it a
+wooden addition, since removed, containing a dining-room, dancing-hall,
+and other like conveniences. It was here Hancock, assisted by his
+amiable and accomplished wife, who entered into all his tastes and
+feelings, and who contributed her full share to give expression and
+realization to them, presided over so many social dinner parties and gay
+assemblages, dressed out, both host and guests, in that rich costume
+which Copley, who was one of Hancock's near neighbors, loved so well to
+paint, and of which his pencil has transmitted to us so vivid an idea.
+Nor did he show himself abroad with less display than he exhibited at
+home, his custom being to ride on public occasions in a splendid
+carriage drawn by six beautiful bays, and attended by several servants
+in livery.
+
+While the public attention was thus drawn upon him by a display which at
+once attracted and gratified the eyes of the multitude, whose envy at
+that time there was less fear than now of exciting, and by a generous
+and free hospitality, the more captivating for not being either
+indigenous or common, the part which Hancock took in the rising disputes
+with the mother country converted him into that popular idol, which he
+continued to be for the remainder of his life; and which, to one so
+greedy as he was of honor and applause, must have been in the highest
+degree gratifying. It is indeed not uncommon to depreciate the public
+services of such men as Hancock, by ascribing all to vanity and the love
+of distinction; as if without the impulse of these motives any great
+efforts would be made to serve the public! Worthy indeed of all honor
+are those men in whom these impulses take so honorable a direction; and
+happy the nation able to purchase such services at so cheap a rate!
+
+In 1766, two years after his uncle's death, Hancock was chosen, along
+with James Otis, Samuel Adams, and Thomas Cushing, one of the four
+representatives from Boston to the General Court. The seizure, two years
+after, of his sloop Liberty, for alleged violations of the revenue laws,
+in evading the payment of duties on a cargo of wine imported from
+Madeira, closely and personally identified him with the resistance then
+making throughout the colonies to the attempt to collect a revenue in
+America by parliamentary authority alone. This seizure led to a riot
+which figures in all the histories of that period, by which the
+commissioners of the customs were driven from the town, and in
+consequence of which two or three British regiments were ordered to
+Boston--the first step on the part of the mother country towards a
+military enforcement of the authority which she claimed. Hancock felt
+personally the consequences of this riot, in a number of libels or
+criminal informations filed against him in the Court of Admiralty, to
+recover penalties to the amount of three or four hundred thousand
+dollars, for violations of the revenue laws. "It seemed," writes John
+Adams in his Diary, and he had ample opportunity to know, for he was
+retained as Hancock's counsel, "as if the officers of the court were
+determined to examine the whole town as witnesses." In hopes to fish out
+some evidence against him; they interrogated many of his near relations
+and most intimate friends. They even threatened to summon his aged and
+venerable aunt: nor did those annoyances cease till the battle of
+Lexington, the siege of Boston, and the expulsion of the British from
+that town shut up the Admiralty Court, and brought the prosecution, and
+British authority along with it, to an end.
+
+At the commencement of the disputes with the mother country, the
+sentiment against the right of parliament to impose taxes on the
+colonies had seemed to be almost unanimous. The only exceptions were a
+few persons holding office under the crown. The rich especially, this
+being a question that touched the pocket, were very loud in their
+protests against any such exercise of parliamentary authority. But as
+the dispute grew more warm and violent, threatening to end in civil
+commotions, the rich, not doubting that the mother country would triumph
+in the end, and fearing the loss of their entire property in the attempt
+to save a part of it, began to draw back; thus making much more
+conspicuous than ever the position of Hancock as a leader of the popular
+party. Indeed there was hardly a wealthy man in Boston, he and Bowdoin
+excepted, both of whom had not accumulated but inherited their property,
+who did not end with joining the side of the mother country. And the
+same thing may be observed of Massachusetts, and indeed of New England
+generally. Of all the larger and better-looking mansion-houses, of
+eighty years old and upwards, still standing in the vicinity of Boston,
+of which the number is considerable, there are very few that did not
+originally belong to some old tory who forfeited his property out of his
+very anxiety to preserve it. Hancock's acceptance of the command of the
+company of cadets or governor's guard, whence the title of colonel by
+which for some time he was known; his acting with that company as an
+escort, at the funeral of Lieutenant-Governor Oliver, who was very
+obnoxious to the patriots; his refusing to go all lengths with Samuel
+Adams in the controversy with Hutchinson as to the governor's right to
+call the General Court together, elsewhere than in Boston; and the
+circumstance that although he had been several times before negatived as
+a member of the council, Hutchinson had at length allowed his name on
+the list of counsellors proposed by the General Court; these and perhaps
+some other circumstances excited indeed some suspicions that Hancock
+also was growing lukewarm to the popular cause. But these he took care
+to dissipate by declining to sit as counsellor, by acting as orator at
+the Anniversary of the Boston Massacre, and by accepting, not long
+after, an appointment as one of the delegates to the Continental
+Congress. The oration above alluded to, delivered in March, 1774, and
+which Hancock's enemies pretended was written for him by Dr. Cooper, was
+pronounced by John Adams, who heard it, "an eloquent, pathetic, and
+spirited performance."
+
+"The composition," so he wrote in his diary, "the pronunciation, the
+action, all exceeded the expectation of every body. [These last were
+certainly not Cooper's.] They exceeded even mine, which were very
+considerable. Many of the sentiments came with great propriety from him.
+His invective, particularly against a preference of riches to virtue,
+came from him with a singular dignity and grace." A passage in this
+oration, which was afterwards printed, on the subject of standing
+armies, gave great offence to the British officers and soldiers by whom
+the town continued to be occupied, and not long after Governor Gage
+dismissed Hancock from his command of the company of cadets; whereupon
+they disbanded themselves, returning the standard which the governor on
+his initiation into office had presented to them.
+
+The sensibilities of the British officers and soldiers being again
+excited by some parts of an oration delivered the next year by Dr.
+Warren, on the same anniversary, a few weeks before the battle of
+Lexington, a military mob beset Hancock's house and began to destroy the
+fences and waste the grounds. Gage sent a military guard to put a stop
+to their outrages.
+
+But it was no longer safe for Hancock to remain in such close contiguity
+to the British troops. He was president of the Provincial Congress of
+Massachusetts, which, in consequence of the act of parliament to modify
+the charter of that province, had lately assumed to themselves the power
+of the purse and the sword. He was also president of the provincial
+committee of safety, which, under authority of the Provincial Congress,
+had begun in good earnest to prepare for taking arms for the vindication
+of those rights which the men of Massachusetts claimed under the now
+violated and (so far as parliament had the power) abrogated Charter of
+the province. Under these circumstances, Hancock abandoned his house,
+which was subsequently occupied by Lord Percy as his headquarters; and
+at the time of the march of the British troops for Concord, he was
+living at Lexington, in company with Samuel Adams. Indeed it was
+supposed that one of the objects of this march was to seize the persons
+of those two patriots, to whom Gage seemed to point as the authors of
+the collision at Lexington by the issue of a proclamation, in which
+pardon was offered to all who, giving over their late traitorous
+proceedings, would furnish proof of their repentance and of their
+renewed allegiance to their king, by submitting to the authority of his
+duly appointed governor, and of the late act of parliament: but from
+this pardon John Hancock and Samuel Adams were excepted, their offences
+being too flagrant to be passed over without condign punishment.
+
+Before the issue of this proclamation, Hancock had already proceeded to
+Philadelphia, where the famous Continental Congress of 1775 was already
+in session, composed, to a great extent, of the same members with its
+predecessor of the year before, but of which he had been chosen a member
+in place of Bowdoin. He was a fluent and agreeable speaker, one of those
+who, by grace of manner, seem to add a double force and weight to all
+which they say; yet in that illustrious assembly there were quite a
+number, including John Adams, from his own State, compared with whom he
+could hardly have claimed rank as an orator. There were also in that
+assembly several able writers; the state papers emanating from whose
+pens were compared by Chatham to the ablest productions of the
+republican ages of Greece and Rome; but Hancock was not one of those.
+There were men of business there who undertook, without shrinking, all
+the Herculean labors of organizing the army and navy, the treasury and
+the foreign office of the new confederation--but neither in this line
+does Hancock appear to have been greatly distinguished. And yet it was
+not long before, by his appointment as president of that body, he rose
+to a position in Continental affairs, no less conspicuous than that
+which we have seen him exercising in those of his own province.
+Circumstances led indeed to this situation, quite apart from Hancock's
+personal qualifications, and yet had he not possessed those
+qualifications in a high degree, he would never have had the opportunity
+of immortalizing himself as he has done by his famous signature at the
+head of the Declaration of Independence,--a signature well calculated to
+give a strong impression with those who judge of personal character by
+handwriting, of the decided temper and whole-hearted energy of the man.
+Virginia, as the most populous and wealthy of the colonies, had received
+the compliment of furnishing the President of the Congress of 1774; and
+Peyton Randolph--a planter and lawyer, an elderly gentleman of the old
+school, formerly attorney general of that province, and in Governor
+Dinwiddie's time, sent by the Assembly on a special message to England,
+to complain of the governor for the fees he exacted on patents of
+land--had been first selected for that distinguished station. He had
+again been chosen as President of the new Congress; but being also
+speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and that body having been
+called together by Lord Dunmore, in what proved to be its last meeting,
+to consider Lord North's conciliatory propositions, it became necessary
+for Randolph to return home. His place in Congress was filled, in
+compliance with an arrangement previously made by the House of
+Burgesses, by no less distinguished a successor than Thomas Jefferson;
+but in filling up the vacant seat of President of Congress, during what
+was then regarded as but the temporary absence of Randolph, it was
+natural enough to look to Massachusetts, the next province to Virginia
+in population and wealth, no ways behind her in zeal for the cause, and,
+as the result proved, far her superior in military capabilities. Nor
+among the delegates present from Massachusetts, was there any one who
+seemed, on the whole, so well fitted for the station, or likely to be at
+all so satisfactory to the delegates from the other States, as John
+Hancock. Had James Bowdoin been present, he would perhaps have been more
+acceptable to the great body of the members than Hancock, as being less
+identified than he was with violent measures. But though chosen a
+delegate to the first Congress, the sickness of Bowdoin's wife had
+prevented his attendance; and the same cause still operating to keep him
+at home, John Hancock had been appointed, as we have mentioned, in his
+place. Of Hancock's four colleagues, all of whom were older men than
+himself, Samuel Adams certainly, if not John Adams also, might have
+disputed with him the palm of zeal and activity in the revolutionary
+cause; but not one of them risked so much as he did, at least in the
+judgment of his fellow-members from the middle and southern provinces,
+who were generally men of property. He alone, of all the New England
+delegates, had a fortune to lose; and while his wealthy southern
+colleagues looked with some distrust upon the Adamses, regarding them
+perhaps a little in the light, if we may be pardoned so coarse an
+illustration, of the monkey in the fable, who wished to rake his
+chestnuts out of the fire at the risk and expense of other people's
+fingers, no such idea could attach to Hancock, who, in point of fortune,
+had probably as much to lose as any other member, except perhaps John
+Dickinson--for the wealthy Charles Carrol, of Maryland, had not a seat
+in the Congress. At the same time Hancock's genial manners and social
+spirit, seemed to the members from the southern and middle provinces to
+make him quite one of themselves, an associate in pleasure and social
+intercourse, as well as in business; while the austere spirit and
+laborious industry of the Adamses threatened to inflict upon them the
+double hardship of all work and no play. But while the moderate members
+found, as they supposed, in the fortune which Hancock had at stake a
+pledge that he would not hurry matters to any violent extremes; the few
+also most disposed to press matters to a final breach, were well
+satisfied to have as president, one who had shown himself in his own
+province so energetic, prompt, decisive, and thorough.
+
+Yet Hancock's colleagues, and the members generally from New England,
+never entirely forgave the preference which had been thus early shown to
+him; and upon many of the sectional questions and interests which soon
+sprung up, and by which the Continental Congress was at times so
+seriously belittled and so greatly distracted, Hancock was often accused
+of deserting the interests of New England, and of going with the
+southern party. The internal and secret history of the Continental
+Congress or rather of the temporary and personal motives by which the
+conduct of its members, as to a variety of details, was influenced,
+remains so much in obscurity that it is not easy to ascertain the
+precise foundation of those charges, reiterated as they are in letters
+and other memoirs of those times; but on the whole, no reason appears to
+regard them otherwise than as the natural ebullition of disappointed
+partisanship against a man, who, in the struggle of contending factions
+and local interests, strove to hold the balance even, and who did not
+believe, with Samuel Adams and some others, that political wisdom was
+limited to New England alone.
+
+The President of Congress, in those times, was regarded as the personal
+representative of that body and of the sovereignty of the Union; and in
+that respect filled, to a certain degree, in the eye of the nation and
+of the world, the place now occupied by the President of the United
+States, though sharing, in no degree, the vast patronage and substantial
+power attached to the latter office. In his capacity of personal
+representative of the nation the President of Congress kept open house
+and a well-spread table, to which members of Congress, officers of the
+army, attaches of the diplomatic corps foreign and domestic,
+distinguished strangers, every body in fact who thought themselves to be
+any body--a pretty large class, at least in America--expected
+invitations; whereby was imposed upon that officer pretty laborious
+social duties, in addition to his public and political ones, which were
+by no means trifling. All these duties of both classes, Hancock
+continued to discharge with great assiduity and to general satisfaction,
+for upwards of two years and a half, through a period at which the power
+and respectability of the Continental Congress was at its greatest
+height, before the downfall of the paper money and the total exhaustion
+of the credit of the nation at home and abroad had reduced the
+representative of the sovereignty of the nation to a pitiful dependence
+on the bounty of France, and upon requisitions on the States, to which
+very little attention was paid. Feeling all the dignity of his position,
+Hancock took one of the largest houses in Philadelphia, where he lived
+in profuse hospitality, and all upon advances made out of his own
+pocket. After his day, it became necessary for Congress to allow their
+president a certain annual stipend out of the public treasury to support
+the expenses of his household. In Hancock's time, this was not thought
+of; and it was not till near the close of the war, after the precedent
+had been established in the case of his successors, that he put in any
+claim for the reimbursement of his expenses.
+
+There is a story, that Hancock, when chosen President of Congress,
+blushed and modestly hung back, and was drawn into the chair only by the
+exertion of some gentle force on the part of the brawny Harrison, a
+member from Virginia, and afterwards governor of that State. And yet,
+according to John Adams, Hancock was hardly warm in his seat when he
+aspired to a much more distinguished position. He expected to have been
+appointed Commander-in-Chief of the American armies, and displayed in
+his countenance, so Adams says in his Diary, the greatest vexation and
+disappointment when Washington was named for that station. It is certain
+that he had some military aspirations, for he wrote to Washington
+shortly after his assumption of command, requesting that some place in
+the army might be kept for him, to which Washington replied with
+compliments at his zeal, but with apprehension that he had no place at
+his disposal worthy of Colonel Hancock's acceptance. Not long after his
+return to Boston, his military ardor revived. He procured himself to be
+chosen a major-general of the Massachusetts militia, and he marched the
+next summer (1778) at the head of his division to join the expedition
+against Newport, in which the French fleet and troops just arrived under
+D'Estaing, a detachment from Washington's army under Sullivan, Greene,
+and La Fayette, and the militia from the neighboring States were to
+co-operate. But D'Estaing suffered himself to be drawn out to sea by the
+English fleet, which had appeared off Newport for that express purpose,
+and after a slight running engagement, the fleet, while struggling for
+the weather gauge, were separated by a violent storm, in which some of
+D'Estaing's ships were dismasted and others greatly damaged, so that he
+judged it necessary to put into Boston to refit. The American army
+meanwhile had crossed to Rhode Island, and established itself before
+Newport, but as Count D'Estaing could not be persuaded to return, it
+became necessary to abandon the island, not without a battle to cover
+the retreat. With this expedition, Hancock's military career seems to
+have terminated; but on arriving at Boston, he found ample work on hand
+better adapted perhaps to his talents than the business of active
+warfare. Sullivan, of a hot and impetuous temper, and excessively vexed
+at D'Estaing's conduct, was even imprudent enough to give expression to
+his feelings in general orders. It was like touching a spark to tinder,
+and the American army before New-York, which shared the general's
+feelings, encouraged by his example, "broke out," so Greene wrote to
+Washington, "in clamorous strains." The same disappointment was bitterly
+felt also at Boston; for the British occupation of Newport had long been
+an eyesore to New England, occasioning great expense in keeping up
+militia to watch the enemy there, and in projects for their expulsion;
+and the prevailing dissatisfaction at the conduct of the French admiral
+soon found expression in a serious riot between the populace of the town
+and the sailors of the French fleet, threatening to revive all those
+violent prejudices against the French, fostered in the colonies for near
+a hundred years, and which the recent alliance with France had glossed
+over indeed, but had not wholly subdued. Upon this occasion, Hancock
+exerted himself with zeal and success to prevent this ill-temper, which
+had broken out between the classes least accustomed to restrain their
+feelings or the expression of them, from spreading any higher. He opened
+his house to the French officers, who, delighted at the opportunity of
+social enjoyment and female society, kept it full from morning till
+night, and by his "unwearied pains," so La Fayette wrote to Washington,
+did much to heal the breach which Sullivan's imprudence had so
+dangerously aggravated. On this occasion, at least, if on no other,
+Hancock's love of gayety, and of social pleasures, proved very
+serviceable to his country.
+
+During his absence at Philadelphia, his popularity at home had undergone
+no diminution, and he soon resumed, as a member of the council, on which
+since the breach with Gage the executive administration had devolved, a
+leading influence in the State administration; and when at last, after
+two trials, a constitution was sanctioned by the people, he was chosen
+by general consent the first governor under it. This was a station of
+vastly more consideration then than now. Under the old confederation, at
+least after the Continental Congress, by the exhaustion of its credit
+and the repudiation of its bills, had no longer money at command, the
+States were sovereign in fact as well as in words; while all that
+reverence which under the old system had attached to the royal
+governors, had been transferred to their first republican successors.
+Since that period the State governments have sunk into mere
+municipalities for the administration of local affairs, and all eyes
+being constantly turned towards Washington, the executive offices of the
+States, even the station of governor, are no longer regarded except as
+stepping-stones to something higher.
+
+Hancock discharged his office as governor to good acceptance for five
+years, when he voluntarily retired, making way for James Bowdoin, who
+might be regarded in some respects as his rival, the head of a party,
+perhaps more intelligent, and certainly far more select, than that great
+body of the population by whom Hancock was supported; but whom, so at
+least his opponents said, he rather studied to follow than aspired to
+lead. During Bowdoin's administration, occurred Shays' insurrection, one
+of the most interesting and instructive incidents in the history of
+Massachusetts, but into the particulars of which we have not space here
+to enter. This insurrection, of which the great object was the
+cancelling of debts, an object which the States now practically
+accomplish by means of insolvent laws, was thought to involve, either as
+participators more or less active, or at least as favorers and
+sympathizers, not less than a third part of the population of the State.
+The active measures taken at Bowdoin's suggestion for putting down the
+insurgents by an armed force, and the political disabilities and other
+punishments inflicted upon them after their defeat, did not at all tend
+to increase Bowdoin's popularity with this large portion of the people.
+Though Hancock's health had not allowed him to take his seat in the
+Continental Congress, to which he had again been chosen a delegate, and
+by which he had, in his absence, been again selected as their
+president--yet, weary of retirement, he suffered himself to be brought
+forward as a candidate, and to be elected as governor over Bowdoin's
+head--a procedure never forgiven by what may be called the party of
+property, against which the insurrection of Shays had been aimed, whose
+members thenceforth did not cease, in private at least, to stigmatize
+Hancock as a mere demagogue, if not indeed almost a Shaysite himself.
+Nor indeed is it impossible, that the governor, with all his property,
+had some personal sympathies with that party. He, like them, was
+harassed with debts, which, as we have seen in the case of the college,
+he was not much inclined, and probably not very able, to bring to a
+settlement. He still had large possessions in lands and houses in
+Boston, but at this moment his property was unsalable, and to a
+considerable extent unproductive; and a stop law might have suited his
+convenience not less than that of the embarrassed farmers in the
+interior, who had assembled under the leadership of Shays to shut up the
+courts and put a stop to suits. This scheme, however, had been
+effectually put down prior to Hancock's accession to office, and it only
+remained for him to moderate, by executive clemency, the penalties
+inflicted on the suppressed insurgents--a policy which the state of the
+times and the circumstances of the case very loudly demanded, however
+little it might be to the taste of the more imperious leaders of the
+party by which those penalties had been inflicted. But even this same
+party might acknowledge a great obligation to Hancock for the assistance
+which they soon after obtained from him in securing the ratification by
+Massachusetts of that federal constitution under which we now so happily
+live. Still governor of the State, he was chosen a delegate from Boston
+to the State convention, called to consider the proposed constitution:
+and though incapacitated by sickness from taking his seat till near the
+close of the session, he was named its president. The federal
+constitution had been already ratified by five States, Delaware,
+Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut. But Virginia, New
+York, and North Carolina, were known to be strongly against it, and its
+rejection by Massachusetts would, in all probability, prevent its
+acceptance by the number of States required to give it effect. The
+convention was very equally divided, and the result hung long in doubt.
+At last Hancock came upon the floor and proposed some amendments,
+principally in the nature of a bill of rights, agreed to probably by
+concert out of doors, to be suggested for the approval of Congress and
+adoption by the States under the provision for amendments contained in
+the constitution, and most of which were afterwards adopted. Thus
+sweetened, the constitution was fairly forced down the reluctant throat
+of the convention; and unlike the typical book of St. John, though so
+bitter in the mouth, it has fortunately proved sweet enough and very
+nourishing in the digestion.
+
+On the occasion of Washington's visit to Boston, subsequently to his
+inauguration as President, a curious struggle took place between him and
+Hancock, or perhaps we ought rather to say, between the Governor of
+Massachusetts and the President of the United States, on a question of
+etiquette. Hancock, as Governor of Massachusetts, insisted upon the
+first call, a precedence which Washington, as President of the United
+States, refused to yield. Finding himself obliged to succumb, Hancock's
+gout and other complicated diseases served him for once in good stead;
+for in the note which he finally sent, announcing his intention to wait
+upon Washington, they answered as a convenient excuse for not having
+fulfilled that duty before.
+
+Some two or three years after, we find Governor Hancock, out of
+deference to the puritanical opinions and laws of the State, involved in
+another noticeable controversy, but one into which he could not have
+entered with any great heart. Shortly after the adoption of the federal
+constitution, a company of stage-players had made their appearance in
+Boston, and though the laws still prohibited theatrical exhibitions,
+encouraged by the countenance of the gayer part of the population, they
+commenced the performance of plays, which they advertised in the
+newspapers as "Moral Lectures." Some of their friends among the
+townsfolks had even built a temporary theatre for their accommodation, a
+trampling under foot of the laws, which seemed the more reprehensible as
+the legislature, though applied to for that purpose, had twice refused
+to repeal that prohibitory statute. "To the legislature which met
+shortly after," we quote from the fourth volume of Hildreth's History of
+the United States, "Governor Hancock gave information that 'a number of
+aliens and foreigners had entered the State, and in the metropolis of
+the government, under advertisements insulting to the habits and
+education of the citizens, had been pleased to invite them to, and to
+exhibit before such as attended, stage-plays, interludes, and theatrical
+entertainments, under the style and appellation of Moral Lectures.' All
+which, as he complained, had been suffered to go on without any steps
+taken to punish a most open breach of the laws, and a most contemptuous
+insult to the powers of government. Shortly after this denunciation by
+the governor, suddenly one night, in the midst of the performance of
+'The School for Scandal,' the sheriff of the county appeared on the
+stage, arrested the actors, and broke up the performances. When the
+examination came on, having procured able counsel (one of whom, if we
+mistake not, was the then young Harrison Gray Otis), the actors were
+discharged on the ground that the arrest was illegal, the warrant not
+having been sworn to. This error was soon corrected, and a second arrest
+brought the performances to a close. But the legislature, finding that
+the sentiment of the town of Boston was strong against the law, and that
+a new and permanent theatre was in the course of erection, repealed the
+prohibitory act a few months after."
+
+This temporary triumph over the poor players was one of the last of
+Hancock's long series of successes; unless indeed we ought to assign
+that station to the agency which he had in procuring the erasure from
+the federal constitution of a very equitable and necessary provision,
+authorizing suits in the federal courts against the States by
+individuals having claims upon them. At such a suit, brought against the
+State of Massachusetts, Hancock exhibited a vast deal of indignation,
+calling the legislature together at a very inconvenient season of the
+year, and refusing to pay the least attention to the process served upon
+him. Yet the Supreme Court of the United States, not long after, decided
+that such suits would lie, as indeed was sufficiently plain from the
+letter of the constitution. But the sovereign States, with all the
+insolence customary to sovereigns, whether one-headed or many-headed,
+scorned to be compelled to do justice; and the general clamor raised
+against this reasonable and even necessary provision, caused it to be
+ultimately struck from the constitution.
+
+Before this was accomplished, Hancock's career of life was over. Worn
+down by the gout and other aristocratic diseases, which the progress of
+democracy seems, since his time, to have almost banished from America,
+he expired at the early age of fifty-six, in the same house in which he
+had presided over so many social and political festivities, lamented by
+almost the entire population of the State in whose service he had spent
+the best part of his life, and whose faithful attachment to him, spite
+of some obvious weaknesses on his part, had yet never flagged.
+
+Had we space and inclination, many lessons might be drawn from the
+history of his life. We shall confine ourselves to this one, which every
+body's daily experience may confirm: that success in active life,
+whether political or private, even the attainment of the very highest
+positions, depends far less on any extraordinary endowments, either of
+nature or fortune, than upon an active, vigorous, and indefatigable
+putting to use of such gifts as a man happens to have. What a
+difference, so far as name and fame are concerned, and we may add, too,
+enjoyment and a good conscience, between the man who puts his talent to
+use and him who hoards it up, so that even its very existence remains
+unknown to every body but himself and his intimate friends.
+
+
+
+
+=John Adams.=
+
+[Illustration: John Adams fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Residence of the Adams Family, Quincy, Mass.]
+
+JOHN ADAMS
+
+
+"Oh that I could have a home! But this felicity has never been permitted
+me. Rolling, rolling, rolling, till I am very near rolling into the
+bosom of mother earth."
+
+Thus wrote the venerable John Adams to his wife, in the sixty-fifth year
+of his age, and the last of his Presidency. A few years previous he had
+uttered the same sigh, nor is it infrequent in his letters. "I am weary,
+worn, and disgusted to death. I had rather chop wood, dig ditches, and
+make fence upon my poor little farm. Alas, poor farm! and poorer family!
+what have you lost that your country might be free! and that others
+might catch fish and hunt deer and bears at their ease!"
+
+This was written in the days when there was such a thing as genuine
+patriotism; when, as in the noble Greek and Roman years, there lived
+among us also noble men, who freely surrendered all that life offered
+them of sweet and splendid, to work for their fellows, and to exalt
+their country's state, content that old age should find them poor in
+fortune and broken in health, so only that integrity remained, and a
+serene conscience led them undisturbed to the end of life.
+
+Among these former glories of our Republic, the name of John Adams
+stands in the clearest sunlight of fame. No purer patriot ever lived.
+The names which dazzle us in history become no fables when read by his
+light; Plutarch tells no nobler story, records no greater claims; Athens
+and Sparta smile upon him from their starry places, and Rome holds out
+her great hand of fellowship to him--for there is no virtue which has
+lived that may not live again, and our own day shows that there has
+never been a political corruption so base as to despair of being
+emulated.
+
+Concerning the civil life of such a man, much might with ease be
+written. The head and front of every great political movement of his
+country, from his thirtieth year to the day of his death he lived no
+obscure life, and was missed from no contest. "The great pillar of
+support to the Declaration of Independence," as Jefferson called him,
+its fearless and eloquent defender, the right hand of his country's
+diplomacy, and the strength of her treaties, he is a portion of her
+history and his acts are her annals. But this devotion to the great
+political struggles of his time was not consistent with home delights.
+These he was to scorn and to live laborious days. Early immersed in the
+stirring events of his day, he surrendered to the duty of serving, all
+private claims; he gave up his profession, he separated himself from his
+wife and children to go wherever he could be useful; he abandoned a mode
+of life most dear to him; and leaving his little Sabine farm and his
+friendly books, with no hopes of personal aggrandizement, and small,
+unjoyous prospect of success in the venture he was aiding, went out to
+fight. His first act of importance, a worthy beginning to such career,
+was his defence of Preston, in the famous trial for the murder of
+certain citizens of Boston by British soldiers, in 1770. Preston was the
+captain of the British troops stationed in Boston, and under government
+orders. As may easily be imagined, in the uneasy state of public
+feeling, exasperated by real injuries and petty tyrannies, suspicious,
+discontented and spurred on by men who circulated a thousand injurious
+reports, the people and the foreign soldiery were ready at any moment to
+break out into open quarrel. Finally, this did indeed happen. The
+soldiery, provoked beyond endurance, resisted the assaults of the
+people, and fired upon them. Captain Preston was arrested and
+imprisoned; five citizens had been killed and many wounded, and it was
+with difficulty that the people were restrained from rising into furious
+rebellion. Preston was taken to prison to await his trial, but it was
+for a time impossible to obtain counsel, so great was the hatred of the
+people to the soldiery, and so strong the feeling that no man would be
+safe from violence who would attempt to defend these foreigners for the
+murder of his own fellow-citizens. John Adams--then a rising lawyer in
+Boston, and a man who had already given hints of coming greatness--was
+sent for by the unfortunate captain, who begged him to undertake his
+cause. "I had no hesitation in answering," says Adams in his
+autobiography, "that counsel ought to be the very last thing that an
+accused person should want in a free country; that the bar ought, in my
+opinion, to be independent and impartial at all times, and in every
+circumstance, and that persons whose lives were at stake ought to have
+the counsel they preferred. But he must be sensible this would be as
+important a cause as was ever tried in any court or country in the
+world; and that every lawyer must hold himself responsible, not only to
+his country, but to the highest and most infallible of all tribunals,
+for the part he should act. He must therefore expect from me no art or
+address, no sophistry or prevarication in such a cause, nor anything
+more than fact, evidence, and law would justify." And a little after he
+tells us what it cost him to act up to his own standard of duty. "At
+this time I had more business at the bar than any man in the province.
+My health was feeble. I was throwing away as bright prospects as any man
+ever had before him, and I had devoted myself to endless labor and
+anxiety, if not to infamy and to death, and that for nothing, except
+what was and ought to be all in all, a sense of duty. In the evening, I
+expressed to Mrs. Adams all my apprehensions. That excellent lady, who
+has always encouraged me, burst into a flood of tears, but said she was
+very sensible of all the danger to her and to our children, as well as
+to me, but she thought I had done as I ought; she was very willing to
+share in all that was to come, and to place her trust in Providence."
+
+Such were the politicians of that day; and though we do not doubt that
+private virtue as much abounds with us as with them, and that as great
+private sacrifices as this was public can be instanced in these later
+times, yet no one will be so hardy as to say that any politician of this
+day would brave such hazards or so daringly face peril. Politics are
+become a trade with us. The curse of popular governments is this, that
+they make office desirable in proportion to the ease with which it is
+attained, and that seeking place becomes in time as legitimate a
+profession as seeking oysters. No one will so mock at common sense, or
+hold the judgments of his fellow spectators in such light esteem, as to
+aver that any one of our public men serves his country for his country's
+sake, or for any better reason than because it is conducive to bread and
+butter. Hence it is with us a jeer and a by-word to talk about
+patriotism. The fact seems to be, that our material prosperity is so
+great, our resources so boundless, our outlook so glorious, our liberty
+so well assured--or at least the liberty of those among us who are
+white--that there is no call for sacrifice and patriotic service. The
+country is rich and can well afford, if she will be served, to pay the
+servant; but we speak of devotion to principle, which we believe is
+clean gone out from us, and can be predicated of no public man.
+
+John Adams, son of John Adams and Susannah Boylston Adams, was born at
+Quincy, Massachusetts, on the 19th day of October, 1735. He received the
+best education that the times afforded, graduated at Harvard College,
+and afterward commenced the study of divinity with a view to the
+ministry; at the same time he was occupied in teaching school, that
+universal stepping-stone in New England to professional life. Indeed,
+there was then hardly more than there is now any such thing as a
+schoolmaster by profession; and without doubt a sufficing reason for the
+fact that our young men are so inefficiently educated, is, that the
+teachers are in nine cases out of ten only one lesson in advance of
+their scholars. In those days, however, the schoolmaster was apt to be a
+person of some consequence. He held a position very often next in
+importance to that of the parson, and ruled an autocrat over his little
+flock of beardless citizens. Nowhere has he been better described than
+in "Margaret," in the character of Master Elliman, whose mingled
+pompousness, verbiage, and pedantry, admirably represent the class to
+which he belonged. But the character gradually lost its individuality as
+society advanced, until at length the great bulk of teachers, except in
+the colleges, were merely young men preparing for the learned
+professions.
+
+The injurious effect of this state of things, which has made a very
+decided mark upon our national character, we will not discuss here, but
+it is well to note the differences between the manners of the colonial
+times, and those of our present day--and of these differences none is so
+striking as the great decrease of respect in which professional men are
+held with us compared with that which was yielded to them by our
+forefathers. With them the schoolmaster, the parson, the physician, the
+lawyer, were considered and treated as a sort of sacred nobility, apart
+from the vulgar, and wholly refusing admixture with them; they were
+placed in the seats of honor, and counted among counsellors; their
+company was sought by the wealthy and the educated, their acts were
+chronicled, and their words were echoed from mouth to mouth. In the
+streets, when the schoolmaster or minister appeared, the children at
+play drew up into a hurried line, took off their caps, made deferential
+bows and listened with humility to the greeting or word of advice.
+Nowadays, the Pope himself would be hustled in an omnibus, and if Master
+Elliman were to appear in the streets and offer advice to the children,
+ten to one but that they would throw dirt at him. It was in the twilight
+which followed the departing day of these venerable times and preceded
+the coming on of these degenerate darker hours, that John Adams became a
+pedagogue. He was hardly at that age fit to be a teacher. He was
+thoughtful, ambitious and lofty in his aims, but he was also somewhat
+indolent and wanted persistency. It is true that his mind was hardly
+made up as to what he should do for a living. We have said that he began
+with studying for the ministry, but he tells us that he at one time read
+much in medical books, and inclined to the study of physic.[2]
+
+Yet I imagine that his inclination to either of these professions was
+never very strong. His education at Cambridge, then the high seat of
+orthodoxy, and perhaps the advice of his parents, his father holding an
+office in the church government of his town of some importance at that
+day, may have led his mind in the direction of the ministry, and his
+studies in that line were very regular and persistent for some time.
+Surgery and medicine had probably merely the fleeting fascination for
+him which they have for multitudes of eager young men, striving to pry
+into all the subtile secrets of nature, and to find out all the
+mysteries which environ us. But as he says of himself, "the law drew me
+more and more," and in his Diary under the date of Sunday, 22d of
+August, 1756, we have the following entry:--
+
+"Yesterday I completed a contract with Mr. Putnam to study the law,
+under his inspection, for two years. I ought to begin with a resolution
+to oblige and please him and his lady in a particular manner; I ought to
+endeavor to please every body, but them in particular. Necessity drove
+me to this determination, but my inclination, I think, was to preach;
+however, that would not do. But I set out with firm resolutions, I
+think, never to commit any meanness or injustice in the practice of law.
+The study and practice of law, I am sure, does not dissolve the
+obligations of morality or of religion; and, although the reason of my
+quitting divinity was my opinion concerning some disputed points, I hope
+I shall not give reason of offence, to any in that profession, by
+imprudent warmth."
+
+He now gave up his school, and somewhat changed his manner of life.
+Before we leave him let us hear his quaint description of the schoolboys
+of his day--not very different from the youngsters of 1853.
+
+"15. Monday (1756).--I sometimes in my sprightly moments consider myself
+in my great chair at school, as some dictator at the head of a
+commonwealth. In this little state I can discover all the great
+geniuses, all the surprising actions and revolutions of the great world,
+in miniature. I have several renowned generals not three feet high, and
+several deep projecting politicians in petticoats. I have others
+catching and dissecting flies, accumulating remarkable pebbles,
+cockle-shells, &c., with as ardent curiosity as any virtuoso in the
+Royal Society. Some rattle and thunder out A, B, C, with as much fire
+and impetuosity as Alexander fought, and very often sit down and cry as
+heartily upon being outspelt as Caesar did, when at Alexander's sepulchre
+he recollected that the Macedonian hero had conquered the world before
+his age. At one table sits Mr. Insipid, foppling and fluttering,
+spinning his whirligig, or playing with his fingers, as gayly and
+wittily as any Frenchified coxcomb brandishes his cane or rattles his
+snuff-box. At another, sits the polemical divine, plodding and wrangling
+in his mind about "Adam's fall, in which we sinned all," as his Primer
+has it. In short, my little school, like the great world, is made up of
+kings, politicians, divines, L.L.D.'s, fops, buffoons, fiddlers,
+sycophants, fools, coxcombs, chimney-sweepers, and every other character
+drawn in history, or seen in the world. Is it not, then, the highest
+pleasure, my friend, to preside in this little world, to bestow the
+proper applause upon virtuous and generous actions, to blame and punish
+every vicious and contracted trick, to wear out of the tender mind every
+thing that is mean and little, and fire the new-born soul with a noble
+ardor and emulation? The world affords us no greater pleasure. Let
+others waste their bloom of life at the card or billiard-table among
+rakes or fools, and when their minds are sufficiently fretted with
+losses, and inflamed by wine, ramble through the streets, assaulting
+innocent people, breaking windows, or debauching young girls. I envy not
+their exalted happiness. I had rather sit in school and consider which
+of my pupils will turn out in his future life a hero, and which a rake,
+which a philosopher, and which a parasite, than change breasts with
+them; though possessed of twenty laced waistcoats and a thousand pounds
+a year.[3]"
+
+One of the most interesting features of the early part of the "Diary"
+from which these extracts have been taken, is the perfect simplicity and
+truthfulness with which the writer details his efforts to attain
+steadfastness of purpose and diligence in study. He feels in moments of
+reflection the value of his time and the sacredness of duty; he makes
+the best resolutions, and concocts the wisest plans for improvement and
+the most liberal schemes of study; but his animal spirits, which flowed
+on in cheerfulness, even to his latest day of life, his social nature,
+and his admiration for women, all played sad pranks with his resolves,
+and drew out from him many a repentant sigh over lost and wasted time.
+Yet this trouble ceases almost as soon as he begins to study law and
+gives up his uncertain dallyings with schoolkeeping, divinity, and
+medicine. Having once put his shoulder to the wheel, he worked with
+vigor, and began to show what greatness of character there was in him.
+Let it not be understood from what we have said, that John Adams was
+ever a seeker after low or vulgar pleasures. More than once in his
+"Diary" he ridicules the foolish, extravagant, licentious amusements of
+the young men of his time. Card-playing, drinking, backgammon, smoking,
+and swearing, he says are the fashionable means of getting rid of time,
+which excited in his mind only contempt. "I know not," he says, "how any
+young fellow can study in this town. What pleasure can a young gentleman
+who is capable of thinking, take in playing cards? It gratifies none of
+the senses, neither sight, hearing, taste, smelling, nor feeling; it can
+entertain the mind only by hushing its clamors. Cards, backgammon, &c.,
+are the great antidotes to reflection, to thinking, that cruel tyrant
+within us! What learning or sense are we to expect from young gentlemen
+in whom a fondness for cards, &c., outgrows and chokes the desire of
+knowledge?"
+
+Up to the time of his commencing the study of law with Mr. Putnam, John
+Adams had resided in Braintree, sharing in the social intercourses of
+the place, its tea-parties, clubs of young men, visiting and receiving
+visitors, and all the common civilities of country life. On one
+occasion, we find him taking tea and spending the evening at Mr.
+Putnam's, in conversation about Christianity. This was at the time when
+Adams was studying divinity, and it is evident that he discussed
+religion and theological subjects with a good deal of interest, since we
+find that the talk at almost all these meetings turns in that direction.
+There seems to have been a decided leaning towards speculation and doubt
+in the minds of many men, on the subject of Christianity, at that day,
+and we frequently find their opinion very frankly expressed in the
+"Diary," and left almost without comment by the recorder. He was very
+fond of chatting with his neighbors over a social cup of tea, sometimes
+after a day spent in hard study, at other times resting from the
+fatigues of attending to little affairs about the farm, loading and
+unloading carts, splitting wood, and doing other chores. He is apt to be
+a little impatient with himself. He finds it easier to say before going
+to bed that he will rise at six than to get up when the hour arrives.
+Several days in the "Diary" bear for sole record--"Dreamed away this
+day," and once when several had slipped by without any seeming good
+result, he writes--"Thursday, Friday. I know not what became of these
+days;" and again--"Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. All spent in
+absolute idleness, or which is worse, gallanting the girls." The next
+day--"Tuesday. _Sat down and recollected my self_, and read a little in
+Van Muyden, a little in Naval Trade and Commerce."
+
+And so the good seems always leading him on, always eluding him, and
+playing sad momentary havoc with his peace of mind. But he consents to
+no doubtful terms with the enemy. He determined to conquer the foes of
+sloth, inattention, social indulgence, and do his whole duty. With the
+responsibilities of time came the cure for youthful follies, and his
+marriage in the thirtieth year of his age, dealt the last fatal blow to
+all his enemies. In 1764 he thus writes:--
+
+"Here it may be proper to recollect something which makes an article of
+great importance in the life of every man. I was of an amorous
+disposition, and, very early, from ten or eleven years of age, was very
+fond of the society of females. I had my favorites among the young
+women, and spent many of my evenings in their company; and this
+disposition, although controlled for seven years after my entrance into
+college, returned, and engaged me too much till I was married.
+
+"I shall draw no characters, nor give any enumeration of my youthful
+flames. It would be considered as no compliment to the dead or the
+living. This I will say:--they were all modest and virtuous girls, and
+always maintained their character through life. No virgin or matron ever
+had cause to blush at the sight of me, or to regret her acquaintance
+with me. No father, brother, son, or friend, ever had cause of grief or
+resentment for any intercourse between me and any daughter, sister,
+mother, or any relation of the female sex. These reflections, to me
+consolatory beyond all expression, I am able to make with truth and
+sincerity; and I presume I am indebted for this blessing to my
+education.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I passed the summer of 1764 in attending courts and pursuing my
+studies, with some amusement on my little farm, to which I was
+frequently making additions, until the fall, when, on the 25th of
+October, I was married to Miss Smith, second daughter of the Rev.
+William Smith, minister of Weymouth, granddaughter of the Hon. John
+Quincy, of Braintree, a connection which has been the source of all my
+felicity, although a sense of duty, which forced me away from her and my
+children for so many years, produced all the griefs of my heart and all
+that I esteem real afflictions in life."[4]
+
+In 1758, his term of study with Mr. Putnam being expired, John Adams
+left Worcester, having determined for several reasons not to settle
+there, but to establish himself, if possible, in Braintree, where his
+father and mother resided. They had invited him to live with them, and
+he says that as there had never been a lawyer in any country part of the
+county of Suffolk, he was determined to try his fortune there. His
+acquaintances told him that "the town of Boston was full of lawyers,
+many of them of established characters for long experience, great
+abilities, and extensive fame, who might be jealous of _such a novelty
+as a lawyer_ in the country part of their county, and might be induced
+to obstruct me. I returned, that I was not wholly unknown to some of the
+most celebrated of those gentlemen; that I believed they had too much
+candor and generosity to injure a young man; and, at all events, I could
+try the experiment, and if I should find no hope of success, I should
+then think of some other place or some other course." The result was
+that he established himself in Braintree, living at his father's house,
+and continuing his studies patiently and perseveringly until clients
+began to appear. He gives an amusing account of his first "_writ_," and
+chronicles its failure with a nonchalant stoicism which can hardly
+conceal his vexation at being laughed at by his acquaintances among the
+young lawyers of the town. His residence in Braintree seems to have been
+a pleasant one. He had much leisure for study and reading, and made good
+use of his time. He was acquainted with all the people of consequence in
+the town, and was, as we have said, fond of visiting, calling in to take
+a social pipe or glass, as was the fashion of the day, to chat with the
+wife or daughter of the house, to discuss with the head of the family
+the last political bubble of the hour, the prospect of the crops, the
+expediency of this or that proceeding in the village, or any of the
+local topics of the day. Sometimes we find him with a knot of young
+fellows met together of an evening, discussing with one or two some
+question in morals or rhetoric, or sitting abstracted with a book or his
+pipe on one side the chimney, the room filled with smoke, the rest of
+the party engaged in card-playing, backgammon, or other sedative game.
+At another time, though somewhat later, he speaks of hearing "the ladies
+talk about ribbon, catgut, and Paris net, riding-hoods, cloth, silk, and
+lace;" and again he has a pleasant picture of taking tea at his
+grandfather Quincy's--"the old gentleman inquisitive about the hearing
+before the governor and council, about the governor's and secretary's
+looks and behavior, and about the final determination of the board. The
+old lady as merry and chatty as ever, _with her stories out of the
+newspapers_." He had through life a serene equable mind, he took the
+kindness and unkindness of fortune with even looks, and preserved his
+relish for a joke undiminished, in all his circumstances. We have before
+us two portraits of John Adams painted, the one when about forty years
+of age, the other when he was ninety. The younger likeness is a face of
+remarkable beauty, the forehead broad, serene, and intelligent, the
+eyebrows dark and elegantly arched over a pair of eyes which we make no
+doubt did fierce execution among the young women of the period who came
+under their sparkling influence. The lips full, finely curved, and
+giving an expression of great sweetness to the face, are yet firmly set,
+and combine with the attitude of the head to convey an impression of
+haughtiness and dignity. The chin is full, rounded, and inclined to be
+double; the powdered hair and the stiff coat take away from the youthful
+appearance of the picture.[5] The other portrait is from an original by
+Gilbert Stuart, and was painted when John Adams was in his ninetieth
+year. At this time he was obliged to be fed from a spoon; yet no one,
+looking at this noble, vigorous head, with its fine color and
+magnificent forehead, would suppose his age so great. The beauty of the
+young man has grown into the fuller nobility of a face in which there
+appears no trace of any evil passion, no mark of any uneasy thought, but
+an undisturbed serenity that looks back on life and awaits death with
+the happiest memories and the gladdest anticipations.
+
+In 1768, Mr. Adams, by the advice of his friends, who were urgent with
+him, removed to Boston, and took the house in Brattle Square called the
+White House. His son, John Quincy Adams, was born the year before--his
+life commenced with the most stirring period of his country's history,
+and it was his good fortune to bring down to our times so clear a memory
+of those events as to make a conversation with him on the subject an era
+in the life of an American. Shortly after the removal of John Adams to
+Boston, he was requested to accept an office under government; but
+although it was offered to him without respect to his opinions, which
+were well known to be hostile to the British rule in Massachusetts, and
+although the office was very lucrative, yet he insisted on refusing it,
+because he feared that he should sacrifice his independence in some
+manner to the influences of the position. He therefore declined any
+connection with the government, and continued the practice of the law,
+which had now become the source of a very handsome income, and was
+leading him by rapid steps into a very wide and honorable repute.
+
+Before leaving Braintree, John Adams had become accustomed to a great
+deal of exercise, riding horseback to Boston, Germantown, Weymouth, and
+other adjoining towns; cutting down trees, superintending planting and
+harvesting, and every way taking a good share of the work on his farm.
+Some of the pleasantest portions of the "Diary" are those in which he
+describes this part of his life. The following extract gives a moral
+picture of his habits:--
+
+"October, 22. Friday. Spent last Monday in taking pleasure with Mr.
+Wibird. * * * * * * * *
+
+Upon this part of the peninsula is a number of trees, which appear very
+much like the lime tree[6] of Europe, which gentlemen are so fond of
+planting in their gardens for their beauty. Returned to Mr.
+Borland's,[7] dined, and afternoon rode to Germantown, where we spent
+our evening. Deacon Palmer showed us his lucerne growing in his garden,
+of which he has cut, as he tells us, four crops this year. The Deacon
+had his lucerne seeds of Mr. Greenleaf, of Abington, who had his of
+Judge Oliver. The Deacon watered his but twice this summer, and intends
+to expose it uncovered to all the weather of the winter for a fair
+trial, whether it will endure our winters or not. Each of his four crops
+had attained a good length. It has a rich fragrance for a grass. He
+showed us a cut of it in 'Nature Displayed,' and another of St. Foin,
+and another of trefoil. The cut of the lucerne was exact enough; the pod
+in which the seeds are is an odd thing, a kind of ram's-horn or straw.
+
+"We had a good deal of conversation upon husbandry. The Deacon has about
+seventy bushels of potatoes this year on about one quarter of an acre of
+ground. Trees of several sorts considered. The wild cherry-tree bears a
+fruit of some value; the wood is very good for the cabinet-maker, and is
+not bad to burn. It is a tree of much beauty; its leaves and bark are
+handsome, and its shape. The locust; good timber, fattening to soil by
+its leaves, blossoms, &c.; good wood, quick growth, &c. The larch-tree;
+there is but one[8] in the country, that in the lieutenant-governor's
+yard at Milton; it looks somewhat like an evergreen, but is not; sheds
+its leaves.
+
+"I read in Thompson's Travels in Turkey in Asia, mention of a turpentine
+called by the name of turpentine of Venice, which is not the product of
+Venice, but of Dauphine, and flows from the larch tree. It is thick and
+balsamic, and used in several arts, particularly that of enamelling.
+
+"24. Sunday. Before sunrise.--My thoughts have taken a sudden turn to
+husbandry. Have contracted with Jo. Field to clear my swamp, and to
+build me a long string of stone wall, and with Isaac to build me sixteen
+rods more, and with Jo. Field to build me six rods more. And my thoughts
+are running continually from the orchard to the pasture, and from thence
+to the swamp, and thence to the house and barn, and land adjoining.
+Sometimes I am at the orchard ploughing up acre after acre, planting,
+pruning apple-trees, mending fences, carting dung; sometimes in the
+pasture, digging stones, clearing bushes, pruning trees, building to
+redeem posts and rails; and sometimes removing button-trees down to my
+house; sometimes I am at the old swamp burning bushes, digging stumps
+and roots, cutting ditches across the meadows and against my uncle; and
+am sometimes at the other end of the town buying posts and rails to
+fence against my uncle, and against the brook; and am sometimes
+ploughing the upland with six yoke of oxen, and planting corn, potatoes,
+&c., and digging up the meadows and sowing onions, planting cabbages,
+&c., &c. Sometimes I am at the homestead, running cross-fences, and
+planting potatoes by the acre, and corn by the two acres, and running a
+ditch along the line between me and Field, and a fence along the brook
+against my brother, and another ditch in the middle from Field's line to
+the meadows. Sometimes am carting gravel from the neighboring hills, and
+sometimes dust from the streets upon the fresh meadows, and am sometimes
+ploughing, sometimes digging those meadows to introduce clover and other
+English grasses."[9]
+
+Thus passed the days of his early married life in Braintree, between the
+earnest study of the law, the participation in social intercourse with
+friends and neighbors, and occasional Bucolical episodes. In 1768, as we
+have said, he removed to Boston, and but seldom went into the country.
+In 1771, however, we find him writing as follows:
+
+"The complicated cares of my legal and political engagements, the
+slender diet to which I was obliged to confine myself, the air of the
+town of Boston, which was not favorable to me, who had been born and
+passed almost all my life in the country, but especially the constant
+obligation to speak in public, almost every day, for many hours, had
+exhausted my health, brought on a pain in my breast, and a complaint in
+my lungs, which seriously threatened my life, and compelled me to throw
+off a great part of the load of business, both public and private, and
+return to my farm in the country. Early in the Spring of 1771, I removed
+my family to Braintree, still holding, however, an office in Boston. The
+air of my native spot, and the fine breezes from the sea on one side,
+and the rocky mountains of pine and savin on the other, together with
+daily rides on horseback and the amusements of agriculture, _always
+delightful to me_, soon restored my health in a considerable degree.
+
+"April 16. Tuesday evening. Last Wednesday, my furniture was all
+removed to Braintree. Saturday I carried up my wife and youngest child,
+and spent the Sabbath there very agreeably. On the 20th or 25th of
+April, 1768, I removed into Boston. In the three years I have spent in
+that town, have received innumerable civilities from many of the
+inhabitants; many expressions of their good will, both of a public and
+private nature. Of these I have the most pleasing and grateful
+remembrance. * * * * *
+
+"Monday morning I returned to town, and was at my office before nine. I
+find I shall spend more time in my office than ever I did. Now my family
+is away, I feel no inclination at all, no temptation, to be any where
+but at my office. I am in it by six in the morning, I am in it at nine
+at night, and I spend but a small space of time in running down to my
+brother's to breakfast, dinner, and tea. Yesterday, I rode to town from
+Braintree before nine, attended my office till near two, then dined and
+went over the ferry to Cambridge. Attended the House the whole
+afternoon, returned and spent the whole evening in my office alone, and
+I spent the time much more profitably, as well as pleasantly, than I
+should have done at club. This evening is spending the same way. In the
+evening, I can be alone at my office, and nowhere else; I never could in
+my family.
+
+"18. Thursday--Fast day. Tuesday I staid at my office in town; yesterday
+went up to Cambridge, returned at night to Boston, and to
+Braintree,--still, calm, happy Braintree,--at nine o'clock at night.
+This morning, cast my eyes out to see what my workmen had done in my
+absence, and rode with my wife over to Weymouth; there we are to hear
+young Blake--a pretty fellow.
+
+"20. Saturday. Friday morning by nine o'clock, arrived at my office in
+Boston, and this afternoon returned to Braintree; arrived just at
+tea-time; drank tea with my wife. Since this hour, a week ago, I have
+led a life active enough; have been to Boston twice, to Cambridge twice,
+to Weymouth once, and attended my office and the court too.
+
+"But I shall be no more perplexed in this manner. I shall have no
+journeys to make to Cambridge, no General Court to attend; but shall
+divide my time between Boston and Braintree, between law and
+husbandry;--_farewell politics_."[10]
+
+During Mr. Adams's residence in Boston he did not always occupy the same
+house. In April, 1768, he removed, as we have said, to the White House
+in Brattle Square. In the spring, 1769, he removed to Cole Lane, to Mr.
+Fayerweather's house. In 1770, he removed to another house in Brattle
+Square.
+
+In 1772 he again removed to Boston with his family, and finding, as he
+says, that "it was very troublesome to hire houses, and to be often
+obliged to remove, I determined to purchase a house, and Mr. Hunt
+offering me one in Queen-street, near the scene of my business, opposite
+the Court House, I bought it, and inconvenient and contracted as it was,
+I made it answer, both for a dwelling and an office, till a few weeks
+before the 19th of April, 1775, when the war commenced."
+
+In 1774 Mr. Adams was appointed delegate to the first American Congress
+at Philadelphia, and was obliged to leave his family in Braintree, while
+he himself remained with the Congress. He continued to reside in
+Philadelphia, visiting his family but seldom, and then in a very hurried
+manner, till the year 1776, when he was appointed commissioner to France
+in the place of Silas Deane, who was recalled. The treaty with France
+having been concluded by Dr. Franklin before Mr. Adams reached Paris, he
+returned home after an absence of a year and a half.
+
+Hardly had he returned before he was again dispatched as Minister to the
+Court of St. James. While abroad at this time he made some stay in
+Paris, was afterwards at Amsterdam for the purpose of negotiating a loan
+and forming a treaty of amity and commerce with Holland, and still
+later, in 1785, was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain.
+During all this time he had been separated from his wife--a space of
+nearly six years--but in 1784, finding that there was no prospect of a
+return, he sent for Mrs. Adams to join him in London. On reaching
+London, Mrs. Adams found that her husband was in Paris; her son, John
+Quincy Adams, was sent by his father to escort his mother and sister to
+France. The letters of Mrs. Adams, describing their mode of life in
+Paris, or rather at the little town of Auteuil, and also those which
+give an account of her residence in London, are most charmingly written,
+and we wish there was room for long extracts from them, but we already
+trespass upon the reader's kindness. We have space for only one pretty
+domestic picture.
+
+The family are expecting a packet of letters from America, which their
+friend Mr. Charles Storer has sent from London to Paris. They had some
+difficulty in procuring them from the post-office.
+
+"About eight in the evening, however, they were brought in and safely
+delivered, to our great joy. We were all together. Mr. Adams in his easy
+chair upon one side of the table, reading Plato's Laws; Mrs. A. upon the
+other, reading Mr. St. John's "Letters;" Abby, sitting upon the left
+hand, in a low chair, in a pensive posture;--enter J.Q.A. from his own
+room, with the letters in his hand, tied and sealed up, as if they were
+never to be read; for Charles had put half a dozen new covers upon them.
+Mr. A. must cut and undo them leisurely, each one watching with
+eagerness. Finally, the originals were discovered; 'Here is one for you,
+my dear, and here is another; and here, Miss Abby, are four, five, upon
+my word, six, for you, and more yet for your mamma. Well, I fancy I
+shall come off but slenderly. Only one for me.' 'Are there none for me,
+sir?' says Mr. J.Q.A., erecting his head, and walking away a little
+mortified."
+
+On his return from Europe, Mr. Adams resided--whenever political duties
+permitted his absence from the seat of government--at the mansion in
+Quincy, the name by which the more ancient portion of Braintree was
+called.
+
+The estate was purchased after the revolution. The house had been built
+long before by one of the Vassall family, a well-known republican name
+in England in the time of the commonwealth, some members of which had
+transferred themselves to Jamaica under Cromwell's projects of
+colonizing that island, and from thence had come to Massachusetts. But
+time had changed them from republicans to royalists, and when the
+revolution broke out they were on the side of the mother country. In
+Quincy, however, the race had run into females, and the house belonged
+to a descendant by the name of Borland, who sold it to the agent of Mr.
+Adams. It was then, however, very different from what it is now. Mr.
+Adams nearly doubled the size of it, and altered the front. It has since
+been altered once or twice, and lately by the present occupant, Mr.
+Charles Francis Adams, a grandson of the President.
+
+In this house Mr. Adams continued to reside till his death in 1826.
+During the time that he was in Philadelphia and Washington as President
+and Vice-President, Mrs. Adams remained at Quincy, partly on account of
+her health, partly to take charge of her husband's private property,
+which had never been large, and which had suffered much diminution from
+the expenses incident to public life.
+
+Mrs. Adams's account of her residence in Washington--the troubles which
+she had in procuring almost the necessaries of life in that out of the
+way settlement--her description of Washington and the White House at
+that early date, have been printed too often in newspapers all over the
+country, to need insertion here. Not less interesting than these letters
+are those which describe her life in Philadelphia; her little sketches
+of society in that city, then the seat of government, have all the
+charms which the unaffected letters of an elegant woman cannot fail to
+display.
+
+The following letter will conclude our article, showing, as it does, the
+peaceful occupations of this happy aged couple, retired to their beloved
+home to await the inevitable summons, to which they looked forward with
+the beautiful resignation of minds in love with virtue, and conscious of
+no offence against the laws of God or man.
+
+            TO THOMAS B. ADAMS.
+
+            QUINCY, _12 July, 1801_.
+
+  "MY DEAR SON:
+
+"I am much delighted to learn that you intend making a visit to the old
+mansion. I wish you could have accomplished it so as to have been here
+by this time, which would have given you an opportunity of being at
+Commencement, meeting many of your old acquaintances, and visiting the
+seat of science, where you received your first rudiments.
+
+"I shall look daily for you. You will find your father in the fields,
+attending to his haymakers, and your mother busily occupied in the
+domestic concerns of her family. I regret that a fortnight of sharp
+drought has shorn many of the beauties we had in rich luxuriance. The
+verdure of the grass has become a brown, the flowers hang their heads,
+droop, and fade, whilst the vegetable world languishes; yet still we
+have a pure air. The crops of hay have been abundant; upon this spot,
+where eight years ago we cut scarcely six tons, we now have thirty. 'We
+are here, among the vast and noble scenes of nature, where we walk in
+the light and open ways of the divine bounty, and where our senses are
+feasted with the clear and genuine taste of their objects.' * * * * *
+
+"I am, my dear Thomas, affectionately, your mother,
+
+           "ABIGAIL ADAMS."
+
+Mrs. Adams died at Quincy on the 28th of October, 1818, aged seventy-four
+years.
+
+John Adams died at the good age of ninety-one years, on the 4th of July,
+1826. We thank God, as he did, that a life spent in the service of his
+country should close without pain and in perfect tranquillity of soul,
+on the anniversary of the best day in her history, and a day with which
+his name is for ever associated in our gratefullest memories.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] "Three months after this (during the second quarter), the Selectmen
+procured lodgings for me at Dr. Nahum Willard's. This physician had
+a large practice, a good reputation for skill, and a pretty library.
+Here were Dr. Cheyne's works, Sydenham, and others, and Van Swieten's
+Commentaries on Boerhaave. I read a good deal in these books, and
+entertained many thoughts of becoming a physician and surgeon."--_The
+Works of JOHN ADAMS, edited by CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS_--Vol. II., p. 7.
+
+[3] The Works of John Adams--Vol. II., page 9.
+
+[4] The Works of John Adams--Vol. II., p. 145.
+
+[5] This picture is engraved in the "The Life and Works," Vol. II.,
+Frontispiece. We are obliged to guess at the age when it was taken,
+since we find no hint concerning it--indeed no reference to the picture
+any where in the book.
+
+[6] "The American nettle-tree. One of these is still to be seen growing
+out of the top of the rock at this place."--_Ed. The Life and Works._
+
+[7] "This is the mansion afterwards purchased by the writer, in which he
+lived from the date of his last return from Europe until his death in
+1826.--_Ib._
+
+[8] This tree still remains in fine condition on Milton Hill.--_Ed.
+The Life and Works._
+
+[9] The Life and Works--Vol. II., p. 136-138.
+
+[10] The Life and Works--Vol. II., p. 255.
+
+
+
+
+=Patrick Henry.=
+
+[Illustration: Patrick Henry fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Residence of Patrick Henry, Va.]
+
+PATRICK HENRY.
+
+
+There is no "Home of an American Statesman" that may more fitly claim
+the leading place in this our repository than the dwelling of Patrick
+Henry--the earliest, the most eloquent, and the wisest of those whose
+high counsels first swayed us as one people and drew us to a common
+cause; as resolutely as ably directed that cause to its noble event;
+and, in a word, performing in the civil struggle all that Washington
+executed in the military, achieved for us existence as a nation.
+
+In the Heroic Age, however, such as was to us the Revolution, men build
+not monuments nor engrave commemorative inscriptions: those of nature,
+identified by rude but reverential tradition, alone attest where the
+founders of a race, the great-fathers of an empire, have sprung.
+
+If there be, among the many men of that brave day, one prompter and more
+unfaltering than all the rest; if, among all who moved by stirring words
+and decisive acts the general mind of the country, there was one who
+more directly than any, or than all, set it in a flame not to be
+extinguished; if amidst those lights there was one, the day star, till
+whose coming there was no dawn, it was certainly Henry. It is true that,
+before him, Massachusetts had her quarrel with England, but not with the
+common sympathy of the colonies. For, averse, from her very foundation,
+to not merely the dominion, but the very institutions of the mother
+country, she had kept up with it a continual bickering, religious as
+well as civil; a strife at best local, often ill-tempered and factious;
+so that her too frequent broils, commanding little regard, would have
+continued to come to nothing had not an opposition to English measures
+sprung up in a more loyal quarter. The southern colonies, meanwhile, had
+always loved the parent land, both church and state, and naturally had
+been indulgently dealt with by its legislation. Thus, until that
+ill-advised measure, the Stamp Act, came, to affect all the American
+plantations alike, there had been nothing to draw us together in a
+common cause, a common resistance. The Stamp Act gave that cause, and
+Henry led that resistance. Young, obscure, unconnected, unaided,
+uncounselled, and even uncountenanced, he yet, by the sudden splendor of
+his eloquence, his abilities, and his dauntless resolution, carried
+every thing before him; animated the whole land to a determined
+assertion of their rights; established for himself a boundless influence
+over the popular mind; used it, whenever the occasion came, to sound the
+signal of an unshrinking opposition to every encroachment; led the way,
+independently of all movements elsewhere; devised and brought about
+every main measure of preparation; rejected all compromise; clearly the
+first to see the certain issue of the contest in European interposition
+and the establishment of our Independence, pursued steadily that aim
+before even he could openly avow it: and finally, when things were ripe;
+assumed it for his State, instructed her deputation to propose it to all
+the rest, and indeed, involved them in it beyond avoidance, by setting
+up a regular and permanent Republican Constitution in Virginia; a step
+that allowed no retreat, and was not less decisive than the heroical act
+of Cortez, when, marching upon Mexico from his landing-place, he burnt
+his vessels behind him. Henry was, in a word, the Moses who led us forth
+from the house of bondage. If there had been an opposition before his,
+it was not the appointed, and would have been an ineffectual one. There
+had, no doubt, been Jews enough that murmured, even before he who was to
+deliver them appeared. We may, therefore, fitly apply to Henry, in
+regard to the bringing about of our Independence, all that Dryden so
+finely said of Bacon in science:
+
+    "Bacon, like Moses, led us forth, at last:
+    The barren wilderness he passed;
+    Did on the very border stand
+    Of the blest promised land;
+    And from the mountain-top of his exalted wit,
+    Saw it himself and showed us it."
+
+And yet Henry, like nearly all his illustrious fellow-laborers of
+freedom, sleeps in an undistinguished grave. At his death, party spirit
+denied to his memory the tokens of public admiration and regret, offered
+in that very legislature of which he had been the great light, and
+which, indeed, he had called into being. Since that sorry failure--for
+all faction should have been hushed over the body of a citizen and a man
+so admirable--no further notice has been taken of him; and he who
+merited a national monument, only less proud than that due to Washington
+himself, slumbers beneath an humble private one at Red Hill, the
+secluded residence where he died.
+
+But we turn to those personal particulars of this extraordinary man
+which are appropriate to the design of the present volume. Not a few of
+them will be found to involve important corrections of the received
+account of his early years, and a new view, therefore, of his genius and
+character.
+
+In that received account, his sole original biographer, Mr.
+Wirt--writing without any personal knowledge of him, and neglecting to
+consult the most obvious and authentic source of information, his four
+surviving sisters, ladies of condition and of remarkable
+intelligence--has fallen into the vulgar error, to which the peculiar
+position and fortunes of Mr. Henry at first gave rise, and which he
+afterwards, for warrantable political purposes, encouraged. When he
+suddenly burst out from complete obscurity, an unrivalled orator, a
+consummate politician, and snatched the control of legislation and of
+the public mind from the veteran, the college-bred, the wealthy and
+high-born leaders who had till then held it, the homeliness of dress
+which befitted his narrow circumstances, the humility of aspect and the
+simplicity of manners, which were unaffected traits of his disposition,
+naturally assigned him in the eyes of both those who were of it and of
+those who looked down upon it, to the plebeian class. It suited the envy
+of these, it delighted the admiration of those, to regard him--that
+unintelligible marvel of abilities, which had thus all at once effaced
+every thing else--as a mere child of the people. The really skilful, who
+understand intellectual prodigies and never refer them to ignorance or
+chance, must have seen at once, through the cloud in which he stood, a
+great and an enlightened understanding, too competent to a high and a
+complex public question, not to be strong in knowledge as well as
+faculties. The few cannot have mistaken him for that fabulous thing, an
+ignorant genius; for they must have seen in his commanding and complete
+eloquence the art, in his masterly measures the information, of one
+thoroughly trained, though in secret, to the business of swaying men's
+minds, and of conducting their counsels, though hitherto apart from
+them. All but this highest class, however, of the rivals whom he at once
+threw into eclipse naturally sought to depreciate him as a mere
+declaimer, a tribunitian orator, voluble and vehement as he was rude,
+rash, and illiterate. Could the tapers that, at Belshazzar's feast, went
+out before the blaze of that marvellous handwriting on the wall, have
+been afterwards permitted to give their opinion of it, they would, of
+course, have talked disdainfully of its beam, as mere phosphorus or some
+other low pyrotechnic trick. Such was the reputation which the
+vanquished magnates in general, and their followers, endeavored to fix
+upon the young subverter of their ascendency. He was not of one of the
+old aristocratic families; he was a low person, therefore he had never
+been within the walls of a college, still less had he, like many of
+them, finished, with the graces of foreign travel, a public discipline
+of learning; he was, therefore, by their report, illiterate, although,
+certainly, in his performances, all the best effects of education were
+manifest, without its parade. While they called him ignorant, he always
+proved himself to know whatever the occasion demanded, and able
+victoriously to instruct foe and friend. Shunning, from his sense, all
+assumption, and from his modesty, all display, he never pulled out the
+purse of his acquirements to chink it merely, but only to pay; so that
+no man could tell what he had left in the bottom of his pocket; and
+thus, a ragged-looking Fortunatus, he always surprised men with his
+unguessed resources. Strange powers, undoubtedly, he had, that must have
+not a little confounded the judgment of the best observers; unexercised
+in the forum, he had risen up a consummate master of the whole art of
+moving in discourse the understanding or the passions; unpractised in
+public affairs, he had only to appear in them, in order to stand the
+first politician of his day; unversed in the business and the strategy
+of deliberative assemblies, he had only to become a member of one, in
+order to be its adroitest parliamentary tactician. As he was dexterous
+without practice, so was he prudent without experience; for, from the
+first he shone out as the wisest man in all the public councils. He
+seems to have escaped all that tribute of error which youth must almost
+invariably pay, as the price of eminence in public affairs; he fell into
+no theory, he indulged no vision, he never once committed a blunder; in
+short, ripe from the beginning, he appeared to be by instinct and the
+mere gift of nature, whatever others slowly become only by the aid of
+art and experience. Bred up in seclusion, though (as the high
+cultivation of his sisters testified to all who knew them) in a
+household whose very atmosphere was knowledge, he had, beyond a good
+acquaintance with Latin, the rudiments of Greek, French, mathematics,
+and an early familiarity with the best English authors--those of the
+Elizabethan age, of the Commonwealth, and of Queen Anne's day-received
+little direct instruction; none, but from his father and books, his
+early companions, so that his scholastic instruction was really slender.
+But he had been taught, betimes, to love knowledge and how to work it
+out for himself; how, in a word, to accomplish what best unfolds a great
+genius, self-education. For schools and colleges--admirable contrivances
+as they are for keeping up among mankind a common method and a common
+stock of information--are but suited, as they were but designed, for the
+common run of men. Applying to all the same mechanical process; bringing
+to the same level the genius and the dunce, they act excellently to
+repair the original inequality, sometimes so vast, with which nature
+deals out understanding among the human race. In a word, they are
+capital machines for bringing about an average of talent; but it is at
+the expense of those bright parts which occasionally come, that they do
+it. Their methods clap in the same couples him who can but creep and him
+who would soar; harness in the same cart the plough-horse and the
+courser. The highest genius must be its own sole method-maker, its own
+entire rule. From what it has done, rules are deduced; but for its
+inferiors, not for it: its whole existence is exceptional, original; and
+whatever, in its disciplining, would tend to make it otherwise, serves
+but to check and to diminish its development.
+
+No greater error, therefore, than to suppose that a man as extraordinary
+as Patrick Henry, who, mature from the first, rose up a consummate
+speaker and reasoner, and, amongst men of large abilities, knowledge,
+and experience, constantly showed himself, in matters the weightiest and
+the most difficult, superior to them all, could have been uneducated. In
+reality he had learned of the best possible master, for such a
+man--himself. That he knew, that he even knew more solidly, because more
+effectually and to the purpose, than all those around him, the great
+subjects with which he dealt so wonderfully, is beyond all question.
+Now, though the genius of Mr. Henry was prodigious, and though there be
+things which genius does, as it were, intuitively and spontaneously,
+there are other things which are not knowable, even by genius itself,
+without study; which the utmost genius cannot extemporize, cannot
+produce from nothing, cannot make without their materials previously
+amassed in its mind, cannot understand without their necessary
+particulars accumulated in advance; and it was in just such things--the
+highest civil ability, which comes of wisdom, not genius; the greatest
+eloquence which cannot be formed but by infinite art and labor--that he
+stood up at all times supreme. The sagacity of statesmanship with which
+he looked through the untried affairs of this country, saw through
+systems and foretold consequences, has never been surpassed; and his
+eloquence, judged (as we have alone the means of judging it) by its
+effects, has never been equalled.
+
+Such then, even upon the traditionary facts out of which his biographer
+has shaped into a mere fable his sudden rise and his anomalous
+abilities, is, of necessity, the rational theory of Mr. Henry's
+greatness. But, without any resort to induction, the simple truth, if
+Mr. Wirt had sought it in the natural quarter, would have conducted him
+to the same conclusions as we have just set forth.
+
+At the time when Mr. Wirt collected his materials, he was yet, though of
+fine natural abilities, by no means the solid man that he by and by
+became. His fancy was exuberant, his taste florid, his judgment
+unformed. Himself in high repute for a youthful and gaudy eloquence,
+which, however, he afterwards exchanged for a style of great severity
+and vigor--he had been urged to his immature and ambitious undertaking,
+by admirers who conceived him to be little less than a second Henry. His
+besetting idea seems to be much akin to Dr. Johnson's "who drives fat
+oxen should himself be fat:" namely that the life of a great orator
+should be written by a great orator; and that he was to show not only
+Mr. Henry but himself eloquent. In general his book does him credit, as
+merely a literary performance, although sadly deformed, in what were
+intended for its best passages, by an inflation of which he must have
+been afterwards greatly ashamed, as a sin against all style, but
+especially that proper to his subject--the historic. Let us add--in
+simple justice to a man of great virtues and elevation, as well as
+gentleness of mind and feelings, whose memory has upon us, besides, the
+claim of public respect and of hereditary friendship--that his
+biography, wherever his own, is, in spite of party spirit, written with
+the most honorable candor, and vindicates Mr. Henry with equal fairness
+and ability from the aspersions cast upon his conduct in the "Alien and
+Sedition" business by the Jeffersonian faction. Wherever he (Mr. Wirt)
+has depended upon his own researches alone, he displays both diligence
+and discrimination; but unhappily, he accepted the loose popular
+traditions, which are never any thing but a tissue of old women's tales;
+he relied upon a mass of casual contributions, chiefly derived from the
+same legendary sources or from uncertain, confused, and (as himself lets
+us see) often contradictory memories; and above all, he adopted
+implicitly the information supplied by a certain Thomas Jefferson; who,
+besides being a person of whom the sagacious and upright Henry cherished
+a very ill opinion--so that _he_ could not well be supposed a very
+special repository of the orator's personal confidences--was a gentleman
+who had all his life driven rather the largest and most lucrative trade
+in the calumny of nearly all the best and greatest of his
+contemporaries, that has ever been carried on in these United States,
+much as that sort of commerce has long flourished and yet flourishes
+amongst us. Upon such things he had come to a splendid political fortune
+while he lived, and when he died, with a pious solicitude to provide for
+his posterity, he bequeathed to his grandson all the unspent capital
+stock of his slanders (his Memoirs and Ana) to carry on the old business
+with and keep up the greatness of the family.
+
+The effect of all this was to turn what before was strange or obscure,
+in Henry's history, into little better than a fable, a sort of popular
+and poetic myth of eloquence, in which the great speaker and statesman
+fades away into a fiction, a mere creation of the fancy, scarcely more
+real or probable than the account in old Master Tooke's "Pantheon," of
+Orpheus's drawing the rocks and trees and the very wild beasts along
+with him by his powers of song. Nay, in one main point, Master Tooke's
+legend more consults verisimilitude: for _he_, instead of shocking all
+probability by representing his hero to have been without education,
+sends him as private pupil to the Muses themselves, who are reputed to
+have kept, then as now, the best Greek and Latin colleges a-going.
+
+It is certainly true, in excuse for all this, that the mighty men who,
+for their exploits and services, became the demigods of fable, "the fair
+humanities of old religion," had scarcely more struck the excited
+imagination of their times than had Henry. Like theirs was the obscurity
+of his birth, the mystery of his education, the marvel of his
+achievements. Of his many great speeches, scarcely one uncorrupted
+passage can be said to survive; so that even of that which all felt and
+know we have but the faintest shadow. A fragmentary thought is all of
+genuine that is left us out of a whole immortal harangue; some powerful
+ejaculation stands for an entire oration, and dimly suggests, not
+explains its astonishing effects. To all purpose historic of his
+eloquence, he might just as well have lived before alphabetic writing
+was invented. At best, the oratory that entrances, agitates, enraptures,
+transports every man in a whole assembly, and hurries him totally away,
+thrilling and frenzied with sensations as vehement as novel, sets all
+reporting, all stenography at defiance. Before it, shorthand--at most,
+the dim reflection of such things; a cold copy, a poor parody where it
+is not a burlesque of speech in its great bursts--drops its pen, and
+forgets even to translate; which, after all (_haud inexpertus loquor_),
+is the utmost it can do. But of not even such translation did Mr. Henry,
+upon any occasion but two,[11] receive the advantage such as it is.
+Every where in these the single but skilful reporter confesses, by many
+a summary in parenthesis, that at certain passages he lost himself in
+the speaker, and could not even attempt to render him. Thus it comes
+that, of his transcendent harangues--those which made or directed the
+Revolution--we have only a few scattered sentences, and the seemingly
+amazed descriptions which attest their extraordinary effects. There is
+but one exception: a version, to appearance tolerably entire, though
+still evidently but a sketch, of his "Liberty or Death" speech, when, on
+the 20th March, 1775, he told the Convention of Virginia, assembled in
+the "Old Church" at Richmond (St. Johns), that "they must fight," and
+moved to arm and organize the militia. This, even in its existing form,
+is a prodigiously noble speech, full of vigor in the argument, full of
+passion in the appeals, breathing every where the utmost fire of the
+warrior, orator, patriot, and sage. Fitly uttered, it is still--though of
+course it must have lost greatly in the transmission--a discourse to
+rouse a whole nation invincibly to arms, if their cause and their
+courage were worthy of it. That speech evidently, and that speech alone,
+is, in the main, the true thunder of Henry: all the others are but the
+mustard-bowl.
+
+[Illustration: Old Church Richmond, Va.]
+
+But though from all these causes, he already, in Mr. Wirt's day, stood,
+as seen through the fast-gathered haze of tradition, a huge but shadowy
+figure, it was the business of the biographer, instead of merely showing
+him to us in that popular light, to set him in a true one. The critical
+historian clears up such mists, defines such shadows, and calls them
+back not only to substance but proportion, color, life, the very
+pressure and body of the times. What if the historic truth had passed
+into a poetic fable? Mr. Wirt should have dealt with it, not as a bard,
+a rhapsodist, but a philosophical mythologist, who from fable itself
+sifts out the unwritten facts of a day, when fable was the only form of
+history.
+
+Besides, however, adopting for the fundamental facts of Mr. Henry's
+character all these false sources, his biographer utterly neglected (as
+we have already intimated) the most obvious and the most natural ones.
+He had then four surviving sisters, women not merely of condition but
+intellectually remarkable.
+
+To none of these did Mr. Wirt resort for any domestic particulars of his
+early life, which of course none knew so well as they. Well acquainted
+with them all--sprung from one of them--we have cause to know the
+astonishment with which they met this written account of his early years
+and his breeding up. Had Mr. Wirt personally known these highly
+cultivated and very superior ladies, distinguished as they were for the
+completeness and solidity of their old-fashioned education, he must have
+seen at once that his own story of Henry's youthful institution and ways
+is about as true as it is that Achilles was born of a sea-goddess, had a
+centaur for his private tutor, and was fed upon lion's marrow to make
+him valiant.
+
+His very lineage was literary. His father, John Henry, a Scottish
+gentleman of Aberdeen, was a man of good birth, of learned education,
+and, when he migrated to Virginia, of easy fortune. He was the nephew of
+Robertson, the great historian of his own country and of ours. The name
+of his mother, Jane Robertson, an admirable and accomplished person, is
+still preserved and transmitted among her female descendants. His
+cousin, David Henry, was the associate editor of the "Gentleman's
+Magazine," then a leading publication, with Edward Cave, the last of the
+learned printers; whose brother-in-law and successor he became. The
+family bred many of its members for the church, which in Britain implies
+such influence as secures preferment. John's younger brother, Patrick,
+thus taking orders, received a rectorship near him, and followed him to
+this country. In those days of Episcopacy, benefices drew after them not
+merely comfortable reverence, but goodly emolument and even authority in
+civil life; so that the parsons were a power in the State. All this
+Patrick, a man worthy of it, employed. His brother already possessed it;
+and thus both took their station among the gentry, though not the
+aristocracy, of the land--its untitled nobility: for, in effect, such an
+order, sustained by primogeniture and entails, then existed throughout
+lower or tide-water Virginia.
+
+John attained to the command of the regiment of his county, to its
+surveyorship, and to the presiding chair of its magistracy; stations
+then never conferred but upon leading men in the community. More
+careless, however, of his private interests than of the public, without
+exactly wasting his fortune, he gradually frittered it away; and though
+he repaired it for a time, by an advantageous marriage with the young
+and wealthy widow (a Winston by birth) of his most intimate friend, Col.
+John Syme, of the Rocky Mills, yet before the tenth year of Patrick, his
+second son (born 29th May, 1736), he found himself so straitened as to
+have need to make himself an income by setting up in his house a private
+classical school. Assisted to this by the reputation of being one of the
+best scholars in the country, he taught for a number of years with great
+approval the children of his friends and his own; abandoning the pursuit
+only when one of its inducements--the education of his own sons and
+daughters (two of the former and five of the latter)--had ceased.
+
+Under such circumstances, and especially when we repeat that those four
+of his daughters whom we knew were persons greatly admired for the
+masculine goodness and extent of their education, it may be judged how
+likely, how possible it is that Patrick, with his boundless
+aptitude--always, in after life, applied most rapidly and successfully
+to whatever he had need to understand--can have grown up to manhood
+almost uninstructed, ignorant, and idle. Genius, of which it is the very
+essence that it has an uncontrollable affinity for the knowledge proper
+to its caste, has often been seen to surmount obstacles seemingly
+invincible to its information; never yet wilfully, incorrigibly, and in
+spite of every influence around, to shut out the open and easy daylight
+of intelligence, and darken itself into voluntary duncedom. The thing,
+we repeat is a flat, a bald and a flagrant impossibility. You might as
+well tell us that a young eagle, instead of taking to the sky as soon as
+its pinions were grown, has, though neither caged nor clipped, remained
+contented on foot and preferred to run about the barn-yard with the
+dunghill fowls. No! your "mute Miltons" and your harmless Cromwells
+sound very prettily to the fancy, but in plain fact, were no Miltons
+unless they sang, no Cromwells unless they conquered. Genius and
+Heroism--the most strenuous of human things--were never dull, slothful,
+idle; never slighted opportunity, but always make, if they do not find
+it.
+
+Accordingly, the sisters of Mr. Henry always asserted that, whatever
+their brother might appear abroad, he was a close voluntary student at
+home; exploring not only his father's library, which was large and good,
+but whatever other books he could lay his hands upon; dwelling, with an
+especial delight, upon certain great authors, of whom he seemed to make
+his masters; but cultivating assiduously what was then called "polite
+learning," and merited the name, along with history at large, and that
+of the free states of antiquity, and of England in particular. His great
+favorites were Livy and Virgil; not (as Mr. Wirt supposes of the former)
+in a translation, but the original. That the sisters were right on this
+point is sufficiently proved by the fact that, a few years ago, his
+Latin Virgil was in existence, its margins all filled with his
+manuscript notes. We need hardly say that he who was not content with
+Dryden as a translator was clearly not a-going to take up with poor old
+Philemon Holland, then the current English disfigurer of the most
+animated and picturesque of historians. Henry's sisters indeed, and the
+only one of his schoolfellows that we have ever met, were persuaded that
+he read Latin almost as readily as English. Mr. Wirt himself had learned
+that the great Paduan was ever in his boyish hands; now, that single
+point established, he might without hesitation have proceeded to five
+clear and important inferences: first, that no boy has a favorite book
+but because he is fond of books generally; secondly, that when his
+favorite is, though of the highest merit, a very unusual one, he must
+not only have read much, but with great discrimination: thirdly, that if
+his favorite was in a special class (not a mere miscellanist) he was
+well read in that class, addicted to it: fourthly, that he was enamored
+of such a favorite for his matchless merits, both of matter and of
+style; his sensibility to the former of which particulars implied
+information, to the latter a well-formed taste: fifthly, that no mere
+translation of Livy--especially not flat, tame old Holland--nothing short
+of the golden original, could have inspired such a Livian affection. But
+this is not all; when--coming to be put into the possession of the
+scanty remaining body of Mr. Henry's papers (ill-preserved by his not
+very wise progeny) and invited to write his life more authentically--we
+ourselves began first to study his speeches and his mind critically, it
+did not take us long to perceive, what is indeed easily seen, that Mr.
+Henry's early passion for Livy--born of course of Livy's conformity to
+his genius--had deeply tinged the peculiar style of his eloquence, the
+peculiar character of his politics, was, in sooth, the immediate source
+of both; that the harangues in Livy had been his models of discourse;
+that the sentiments of public magnanimity, which Livy every where, and
+we may say Livy alone breathes, were transfused into Henry's spirit, and
+gave to his ideas of a state that singular grandeur, that loftiness,
+that heroism, which fills and informs them. His love of freedom
+even--his republicanism--was such as Livy's; popular, yet patrician: not
+your levelled liberty, too low to last, which, to keep down the
+naturally great, sets up the base on high; but a freedom consistent with
+the eminence and the subordination of natural orders mutually dependent;
+equal under the law, but distinct in their power to serve the state, as
+bringing to its aid, this rank higher counsels and obligations, that,
+force and numbers; in short, not merely a tumultuary, a mob liberty, but
+a social and a regulated concert of all classes, the absolute
+predominance of none; a republican, not a democratic aim. Less learned
+than Milton, certainly, but of a highly kindred spirit, he was very like
+him in his general political system; but was more practical, better
+acquainted with men. The one had more of the poetical element in him,
+the other more of the political. Both were deeply religious; without
+which no man can be a safe politician. Each towered above all the men of
+his day, except one, a warrior; and nearly such relation as Milton held
+to Cromwell did Henry hold to Washington. Alike in the antique cast of
+their minds, they were yet alike in being, withal, thoroughly English in
+their notion of actual freedom: for Henry's mind was just as little
+touched with any of the Jeffersonian fancies of Frenchified liberty as
+Milton's own. Both were of the historic, not the so-called philosophic
+school of politics: for history was evidently the only treatise on
+government that either thought worthy of any attention. If they had ever
+stooped to the systematic writers, from the great sources (wise
+histories) out of which those writers can at most draw, it can only have
+been to despise nearly every mother's son of them. Finally, alike in so
+many things, they were not unlike in their fate: both "fell upon evil
+times," and lost their public credit in the land of which they had
+matchlessly vindicated the public cause: Milton died sightless, and
+Henry too blind for the light of the Virginia abstractions.
+
+Every thing confutes the vulgar theory of his greatness. Had he been
+ignorant at his first rise, the growth of his talent, as well as of his
+knowledge, would have been traceable in his performances; but on the
+contrary, he burst out, from the first, mature and finished. By the
+universal consent, his very earliest speeches were quite equal to any
+thing he ever after pronounced. Had these been at sixteen, it would go
+far to prove that his eloquence, his ability, and even his information
+came (as such things never came in any other instance) without
+cultivation: but his first speech, that in "the parson's cause," at
+Hanover Court House, in 1763, when he was twenty-nine years old; the
+same period of life at which Demosthenes and Cicero shone out; a period
+after which there may be large additions to artificial knowledge, but
+can seldom be any to the natural splendor of the faculties.
+
+We have known many who knew Mr. Henry, in the entire unreserve of that
+domestic life, in which he so much loved to unbend himself. All such
+agreed that he was a man of very great and very various information. He
+read every thing. At home, his interval between an early dinner and
+supper-time (after which he gave himself up to conversation with his
+friends, or to sport with his children, or to music on the violin and
+flute, which he played) was always consecrated to study: he withdrew
+from company to his office and books. His very manner of reading was
+such as few attain, and marks the great and skilful dealer with other
+men's thoughts: he seldom read a book regularly on; but seemed only to
+glance his eye down the pages, and, as it were, to gallop athwart the
+volume; and yet, when he had thus strid through it, knew better than any
+body else all that was worth knowing in it contents. A learned physician
+who dwelt near him, told us, in speaking of this wide range of his
+knowledge, that he had, for instance, to his surprise, found him to be a
+good chemist, at a time when an acquaintance with that science was
+almost confined to medical men. Except in private, however, he kept the
+secret of his own attainments, content to let them appear only in their
+effects. This was, originally, out of his singular modesty; but by and
+by when his vanquished rivals of college-breeding sought to depreciate
+him as low-born and uneducated, he from policy conformed to imputations
+which heightened the wonder of his performances and therefore added to
+his success.
+
+Let us add one more fact, substantive and significant. The range of a
+man's mind, the very particulars of his studies may usually, when he is
+not a mere book-collector or other affector of letters, be pretty
+definitely ascertained from the contents of his library. In that view,
+finding that a list of Mr. Henry's was embraced in the records of the
+Court of Probate of his county, we examined and copied it. For that day,
+his library, besides its merely professional contents, is quite a large
+one--some five hundred volumes, mostly good and solid. We found it to
+contain the usual series of Greek school-books, probably all he had ever
+read; for the language was then slightly learnt in Virginia: a good many
+of the Latin authors, and various French ones. The last language we
+know, from other sources, that he understood. Now, he was the man in the
+world the least likely to have got or to keep books that he did not
+comprehend.
+
+Such was the enigma of Patrick Henry's mind; and such is its clear
+solution: a solution which, at least, must be confessed to substitute
+the rational for the irrational, the possible for the impossible, the
+positive of domestic evidence for the negative of popular tradition.
+
+Apart, however, from such testimony, there were other proofs that should
+have suggested themselves to the anatomist of life character, the
+physiologist of his genius. When we ourselves first began minutely to
+consider his speeches, their effects, all that is told of the manner in
+which those effects were brought about, the reach and the diversity of
+his powers, their admirable adaptation to all occasions and to all
+audiences--for he swayed all men alike by his eloquence, the low and the
+high, the ignorant and the learned; the unapproached dramatic perfection
+of his voice, gesture, manner, and whole delivery; his mastery, not only
+in speech, but off the tribune and man to man, of all that can affect
+either men's reason or their imagination, we could not, for our lives,
+help coming to the conclusion that all this must be skill, not chance;
+and that instead of being the mere child of nature, he was the most
+consummate artist that ever lived. Nature bestows marvellous things, but
+these are not within even her gift. She gives the gold, but she does not
+work it into every beautiful form; she gives the diamond, but she does
+not cut it; she bestows the marble, but did not carve the Olympian Jove
+nor the Belvidere Apollo. In fine, we had, in much acquaintance with men
+the ornaments of the public life of our times, been accustomed to
+understand all the minute mechanism of civil abilities; and when we came
+to examine closely this matchless piece of machinery, we could not avoid
+believing, in spite of all assertions to the contrary, that each
+particular part, however nice and small, must have been made by hand and
+most painfully put together. And thus, perceiving every thing else in
+this prodigious speaker to have been so masterly, we became convinced
+that his style, his diction must have been, in the main, as excellent as
+every thing else about him. It could not have been otherwise. He whose
+thought was so high and pure, whose fancy was so rich, and the mere
+outward auxiliaries of whose discourse (voice, and action) had been so
+laboriously perfected, can, by no possibility, have failed to make
+himself equally the master of expression. What we have as his, is mere
+reporter's English; and no man is to be judged by that slop of sentences
+into which he is put and melted away by their process. In that menstruum
+of words, all substances are alike. It is the true universal solvent, so
+long sought, that acts upon every thing and turns it into liquid babble.
+Mr Henry knew and often practised, not only upon the multitude but the
+refined; the power of a homely dialect, and saw how wise or brave or
+moving things may be made to come with a strangely redoubled effect, in
+the extremest plainness of rustic speech. His occasional resort to this,
+however, of course struck much upon the common attention and got him the
+reputation, among other foolish reputations, of habitually using such
+locutions; when, in reality, he was master of all modes of discourse
+alike, and only employed always that which best suited his purpose.
+
+There is yet one more false notion, in regard to him, which Mr. Wirt has
+done much to propagate: the notion, we mean, that Henry never
+condescended to be less than the great orator; that, instead of
+sometimes going about his business on foot, like other lawyers and
+legislators, he rode for ever in a sort of triumphal car of eloquence,
+dragging along a captive crowd at his conquering wheels; and, in short,
+that
+
+    "He could not ope
+  His mouth, but out there flew a trope."
+
+On the contrary, no man was ever less the oration-maker. He never used
+his eloquence but as he used every thing else--just when it was wanted.
+In the mass of public business, eloquence is out of place, and could not
+be attended to. A man who was always eloquent would soon lose all
+authority in a public body. Mr. Henry kept up always the very greatest,
+and merited it, by taking a leading part in all important matters and
+making more and better business speeches than any body else.
+
+A long preliminary this; but we trust not uninteresting. It was, at any
+event, necessary that we should first, in the Bentonian phrase,
+"vindicate the truth of history," and set a great character in its
+proper public light, before passing to those humble particulars of
+private life to which we now proceed.
+
+In person, he was tall and rather spare, but of limbs round enough for
+either vigor or grace. He had, however, a slight stoop, such as very
+thoughtful people are apt to contract. In public, his aspect was
+remarkable for quiet gravity. It seems to have been a rule with him
+never to laugh and hardly to smile, before the vulgar. In their presence
+he wore an air always fit to excite at once their sympathy and their
+reverence; modest, even to humility; and yet most imposing. In all this
+he played no assumed, though he could not have played a more skilful
+part: for the occasion and the presence appear always to have so duly
+and so strongly affected him, as at once to transform him into what was,
+at each instant, fittest. Thus his art, of which we have already spoken,
+might well be consummate; for he was all that, for mere purposes of
+effect, he should have seemed to be, the very impersonation of the cause
+and the feelings proper to the hour. Great wisdom, indeed, an
+unshrinking courage, and yet an equal prudence, a patriotism the most
+fervent, a profound sensibility, a rare love of justice, yet a spirit of
+the greatest gentleness and humanity, and in a word, the highest
+virtues, public and private, crowned with a disinterestedness, an
+absence of all ambition most singular in a democracy (which above all
+things breeds the contrary) made him--if Cicero be right--the greatest
+of orators, because the most virtuous of men that ever possessed that
+natural gift. No man ever knew men better, singly or in the mass; none
+ever better knew how to sway them; but none ever less abused that power,
+for he seems ever to have felt, in a religious force, the solemnity of
+all those public functions, which so few now regard. It was probably the
+weight of this feeling, along with his singular modesty, that made him
+shun official honors as earnestly as others seek them. It is evident
+that no power, nor dignity, nor even fame could dazzle him. It was only
+at the public command that he accepted trusts from his State; and he
+always laid them down as soon as duty permitted. All offers of Federal
+dignities,[12] up to the highest, he rejected. He had served his State
+only in perilous times, when (as the Devil says in Milton) to be highest
+was only to be exposed foremost to the bolts of the dreaded enemy; or at
+some conjuncture of civil danger; but when peace and ease had come and
+ambition was the only lure to office, he would not have it.
+
+If, however, he was thus grave, on what he considered the solemn stage
+of public life, he made himself ample amends in all that can give
+cheerfulness to the calm of retirement in the country. When at last
+permitted to attend to his private fortune, he speedily secured an ample
+one. It was enjoyed, whenever business allowed him to be at home, in a
+profuse and general, but solid and old-fashioned hospitality, of which
+the stout and semi-baronial supplies were abundantly drawn from his own
+large and well-managed domain. His house was usually filled with
+friends, its dependencies with their retinue and horses. But crowds,
+besides, came and went; all were received and entertained with
+cordiality. The country all about thronged to see the beloved and
+venerated man, as soon as it went abroad that he was come back. Some
+came merely to see him; the rest to get his advice on law and all other
+matters. To the poor, it was gratuitous; to even the rich without a fee,
+except where he thought the case made it necessary to go to law. All
+took his counsel as if it had been an oracle's, for nobody thought there
+was any measure to "Old Patrick's" sense, integrity, or good nature.
+This concourse began rather betimes, for those who lived near often came
+to breakfast, where all were welcomed and made full. The larder seemed
+never to get lean. Breakfast over, creature-comforts, such as might
+console the belated for its loss, were presently set forth on
+side-tables in the wide entrance hall. Of these--the solid, not the
+liquid parts of a rural morning's meal--breakfast without its slops, and
+such as, if need were, might well stand for a dinner, all further comers
+helped themselves as the day or their appetites advanced. Meanwhile, the
+master saw and welcomed all with the kindliest attention, asked of their
+household, listened to their affairs, gave them his view, contented all.
+These audiences seldom ceased before noon or the early dinner. To this a
+remaining party of from twenty to thirty often sat down. It was always,
+according to the wont of such houses in that well-fed land, a meal
+beneath which the tables groaned, and whose massive old Saxon dishes
+would have made a Frenchman sweat. Every thing is excellent at these
+lavish feasts; but they have no luxuries save such as are home-grown.
+They are, however, for all that is substantial and plain, the very
+summit of good cheer. At Governor Henry's, they never failed to be,
+besides, seasoned with his conversation, which at table always grew gay
+and even gamesome. The dinner ended, he betook himself, as already told,
+to his studies until supper, after which he again gave himself up to
+enjoyment. In this manner came, with the kindliest and most cheerful
+approach, the close of his days; upon which there rested not a stain nor
+(such had been through life his personal benignity) a hostility. Except
+tyrants and other public enemies, he had lived at peace with man and
+God, achieving most surprising and illustrious things, and content, save
+the sight of his liberated country, with little reward beyond that which
+he bore in his own approving bosom.
+
+[Illustration: Old Court House, Va.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[11] The debates in the Virginia Convention on the Federal Constitution,
+and his forensic argument against the recovery of the forfeited British
+debts.
+
+[12] He is said (_Wirt_, p. 404) to have been offered by Washington the
+Secretaryship of State and the embassy to Spain. He certainly was, by
+him, also offered the War Department, and by Mr. Adams the embassy to
+France. These are known. When the papers of Alexander Hamilton come to
+be published down to those of 1796, it will be seen that he was then
+offered, by the heads of the Federal party, through John Marshall, the
+nomination for the Presidency, as Washington's successor, but declined
+it.
+
+
+
+
+=Madison.=
+
+[Illustration: Madison fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Montpelier, Madison's Residence]
+
+MADISON.
+
+
+Science has had, and perhaps will ever have, its fancies; and fancy has
+often aspired to become science; for between the two--wide apart as they
+are said to lie--stretches an uncertain domain, which they seem
+alternately to occupy by incursion, and of which, when thus seized upon,
+each appears, oddly enough, often to take possession in the rival name
+of the other. Thus Astronomy, growing visionary, has pretended to trace
+from the aspects of the heavenly bodies, not merely their laws and
+motions, but the vicissitudes of human fate; and chemistry has had its
+poetic visions of an elixir of life and of the philosopher's stone;
+while, on the other hand, mere imagination has quite as often attempted
+to erect, out of the airiest things, a philosophic realm of her own, and
+to deduce into positive sciences the bumps upon the human skull, the
+freaks of Nature in the conformation of the features, and even the
+whimsical diversities of people's handwriting. From all these have been
+set up grave methods of arriving at a knowledge of men's faculties and
+characters.
+
+It is surprising that, among these fantastic systems of physiognomy,
+that easy and natural one should never have been set on foot, which
+might connect the structural efforts of individuals with the cast of
+their minds and feelings. To do this would be especially easy in new
+countries, where nearly every one is compelled to build his own abode,
+and where, for the most part, there is so little of architectural
+solidity that habitations seldom last for above a generation, and even
+he who inherits a house inherits but a ruin. Thus the simplicity of
+Patrick Henry's habits and tastes might be inferred from the
+primitiveness of his dwelling. You might have guessed his
+unambitiousness from the absence about his home of any thing that
+betrayed a longing for grandeur. All was plain, substantial, good;
+nothing ostentatious or effeminate. The master's personal desires
+coveted nothing beyond rural abundance and comforts--such blessings as
+are quite enough to make private life happy and preserve it uncorrupt.
+In all this you might discern the public man who cherished, as a
+politician, no visions, no novelties; sought, of course, to build up for
+his fellow-citizens no other nor better happiness than such as crowned
+all his own wishes; believed little in pomp and greatness; loved our old
+hereditary laws, manners, liberties, victuals; and dreaded French
+principles and dishes as alike contaminating and destructive.
+
+Man, as we have already intimated, is a constructive animal. He alone is
+properly such. For the inferior creatures that build do so upon a
+single, instinctive, invariable method, always using the same material;
+he, rationally and inventively, as outward circumstances may require, or
+as, when these constrain him little, his individual fancy, desires, or
+judgment may prompt. In the nomadic state a tent of skins, a lodge of
+bark, are the sole structures for shelter that fit his wandering life;
+and the rudeness of these invites to no decoration, while convenience
+itself forbids all diversity of contrivance for him, who, paying no
+ground-rent, may decamp to-morrow; and, bound by no leasehold, may carry
+his tenement with him, like that travelling landlord, Master Snail, or
+abandon it like that lodger by the season, Dame Bird. In short, he comes
+not under the terms of zoological or botanical description, as having a
+_habitat_; under the line he lives, as did father Adam and mother Eve
+(whose housekeeping in Eden, Milton so well relates), in a bower of rose
+and myrtle; at the pole, he burrows beneath the snow or makes his
+masonry of ice; in Idumea, he dwells, like its lions, in a cavern; on
+the Maranon, he perches his house in a tree-top, and his young
+ones--plumeless bipeds though they be--nestle among the feathered
+denizens of the mid-air; in certain mining regions, he is born and dies
+hundreds of fathoms under ground, and perhaps never sees the light of
+day; in Naples, he lives, as do the dogs and cats of Constantinople, in
+the streets. Thus, whatever idea, whatever purpose, whatever need,
+whatever fancy, predominates in him when he builds, it takes shape, it
+finds expression, it embodies itself, forthwith, in fitting material,
+fittingly contrived, and is, according to his habitative wish, his taste
+in a tabernacle, possibly a pig-sty, possibly a palace; for his range of
+invention stretches over every thing that lies between the two.
+
+The founders of the great commonwealths of antiquity--the Grecian
+statesmen and warriors, the Roman consuls--lived at home, during the
+most glorious period of their several states, in an extreme simplicity;
+content with a truly noble penury, while they built up the grandeur of
+their country. The constructive propensity of the Athenian instead of a
+private direction towards his personal gratification, took the generous
+form of a passion for public monuments; that of the Roman turned itself,
+until the decline of the Republic began, upon the rearing of trophies
+and triumphal arches, rather than of lordly mansions; and dictators
+sometimes, consuls often, were called from the cot and the plough to the
+supreme trusts of war and peace. But this was all in the spirit of ages
+and institutions, when the citizen lived in the state and sought his
+private, in the public greatness and happiness. Modern times present few
+individual instances of the like. In those ancient politics, the state
+leaned on the citizen; in our modern, the citizen leans on the state.
+Then, public life was much, private life was little; now, it is
+reversed, the citizen wants not to help the state, but wants the state
+to help him. Now, over-civilization has so multiplied the conveniences
+of life, and habit has rendered its indulgences so necessary, that he
+who, being great, can live without and above them, has need to be of a
+rare elevation, an inherent grandeur of soul.
+
+The statesman whose mansion and whose habits in retreat we are about to
+describe, without being altogether of that heroical cast of mind which
+graced the character of a Washington, a Henry, or a Clay, had yet much
+of that elevated simplicity which marks the highest strain of greatness.
+Mr. Madison, when he laid down what he had so worthily and wisely worn
+as to have disarmed all previous reproach and hostility--the supreme
+dignity of the Union--returned quietly to his hereditary abode, resumed
+the unaffected citizen, and seemed to be as glad to forget his past
+greatness as to escape from the anxieties and envy that attend power as
+shadows do the sun. He went back, after his stormy but successful
+presidency of eight years, to his father's seat, Montpelier, where, but
+for the accident--the same which befell a hero of Irish song, Denis
+Brulgruddery--of his mother's being on a visit to her mamma at the time,
+he would certainly have been born. There, like a sensible man, and a
+good fellow to boot (as he was), he sat down on a fine plantation, in a
+good old-fashioned house, with a fine old cellar of old-fashioned wines
+under it, and the best old Virginian servants in it, to spend the rest
+of his days upon that wise plan which King Pyrrhus proposed to himself,
+but, postponing too long, did not live to execute. He (that is, Mr.
+Madison, not Pyrrhus) sat down like an actor who has played out his part
+with applause, calmly to look at the rest of the piece, no further
+concerned in its business, but not affecting (as others have done) the
+uninterested spectator of the performance. He did not assume the
+philosophic sage; he did not bury himself in a monastic gloom like
+Charles V.; nor, like the same discrowned prince and Mr. Jefferson,
+betake himself to mending watches; nor, like Dioclesian, to cultivating
+cabbages; but in the bosom of that pleasant retreat, which had witnessed
+his youthful preparation for public toils, sought the repose from them
+which he had fairly earned; and sweetening it with all that could give
+it zest, in the companionship of the amiable wife who had shared with
+him and adorned public honors, and in the society of the many personal
+friends that his virtues and talents drew about him, passed the evening
+of his days in gentlemanly and genial ease and hospitality.
+
+Montpelier, the residence to which, as an only child, he had succeeded
+at his father's death, is a plain but ample, and rather handsome
+habitation of brick, around which spreads out, in such undulations of
+gently-waving swells and irregular plains as pleasantly diversify the
+view, a fertile domain of some two thousand six hundred acres; a part of
+it well cultivated, but a still larger part yet in all the wildness of
+nature. The region is one where she has shed, in great beauty, the
+softest picturesque of hill and dale, forest and glade. At hand, in the
+rear, rises, as if to adorn the prospect with bolder contrasts, the
+gracefully wavering chain of the southwest mountain, to fence on one
+side the vale of Orange and Albemarle, on whose southeastern edge of
+nodding woods and green fields Montpelier lies embosomed and embowered;
+while on the other side, in the airy distance beyond that vale, tower in
+fantastic line the blue peaks of the long Appalachian ridge, breaking the
+horizon, as if to form another and a more fanciful one. The wide scene,
+caught in glimpses through the mantling trees, or opening out in the
+larger vista of farm beyond farm, or shining in loftier prospect above
+the tree-tops and the low hills, offers to the ranging eye, many a
+charming view,--sweet spots of pastoral beauty; jutting capes and
+copses, or nodding old groves of woodlands; the rich and regular
+cultivation of spreading plantations, amidst which glisten now a stately
+mansion, and now a snug farm-house, each decorated with its peculiar
+growth of trees for shade or fruit; and far away, mountain regions,
+whose heights, and whose rude and massy but undefined forms, suggest to
+the fancy the savage grandeur of that remoter landscape which the eye
+knows to be there, though it mocks the sight with what is so different.
+All these are, at frequent points, the aspects of that fine country from
+Orange court-house up to Charlottesville; they are nowhere seen in
+greater perfection or abundance than just around Montpelier. At almost
+every turn, one discovers a new pleasure of the landscape; at nearly
+every step, there is a surprise. It looks like a realm of pictures; you
+would almost think that not nature had placed it there, but that the
+happiest skill of the painter had collected and disposed the scenes.
+
+The house, we have said, is plain and large. Its size and finish bespeak
+gentlemanly but unpretending ease and fortune. It has no air of assumed
+lordliness or upstart pretension. No foreign models seem to have been
+consulted in its design, no proportions of art studied; yet it wants not
+symmetry as well-planned convenience, comfort, and fitness lend, as if
+without intention. A tall, and rather handsome columned portico, in
+front, is the only thing decorative about it; but is not enough so to be
+at all out of keeping. It is of the whole height of the central
+building, of two stories, and covers about half its length of some
+forty-five feet. Broad steps, five in number, support and give access
+along its entire front. Its depth is about one-third its width. The main
+building itself is a parallelogram, near half as deep as it is long. At
+each flank, a little receding, is a single-storied wing of about twenty
+feet, its flat roof surmounted by a balustrade. The house stands on a
+gently-rising eminence. A wide lawn, broken only here and there by
+clumps of trees, stretches before it. On either side are irregular
+masses of these, of different shapes and foliage, evergreen and
+deciduous, which thicken at places into a grove, and half screen those
+dependencies of a handsome establishment--stables, dairies and the
+like--which, left openly in sight, look very ill, and can be made to
+look no otherwise, even by the trying to make them look genteel: for
+they are disagreeable objects, that call up (attire them as you will)
+ideas not dainty. As, therefore, the eye should not miss them
+altogether--for their absence would imply great discomfort and
+inconvenience--the best way is to half-veil them, as is done at
+Montpelier.
+
+In the rear of the house lies a large and well-tended garden. This was,
+of course, mainly the mistress's care; while the master's was, as far as
+his bodily feebleness permitted, directed towards his agricultural
+operations. In the Virginia economy of the household, where so much must
+be ordered with a view to entertaining guests all the while, the garden
+plays an important part. Without ample supplies from it, there would be
+no possibility of maintaining that exuberant good cheer with which the
+tables continually groan, in all those wealthier habitations where the
+old custom of a boundless hospitality is still reverently observed. In
+such--and there are yet many, although the Jeffersonian "Law of
+Descents," and the diffusion of the trading spirit are thinning them out
+every day, as rum and smallpox are dispeopling our Indian tribes--there
+is little pause of repletion. Every guest must be feasted: if a
+stranger, because strangers ought to be made to pass their time as
+agreeably as possible; if a friend, because nothing can be too good for
+one's friends. Where such social maxims and such a domestic policy
+prevail, there will seldom, according to Adam Smith's principle of
+"Demand and Supply," be any very serious lack of guests. Indeed, the
+condition is one hard to avoid, and so pleasant, withal, that we have
+known persons of wit and breeding to adopt it as their sole profession,
+and benevolently pass their lives in guarding their friends, one after
+another, from the distresses of a guestless mansion. But, to return to
+the garden of Montpelier; there were few houses in Virginia that gave a
+larger welcome, or made it more agreeable, than that over which Queen
+Dolly--the most gracious and beloved of all our female
+sovereigns--reigned; and, wielding as skilfully the domestic, as she had
+done worthily and popularly the public, sceptre, every thing that came
+beneath her immediate personal sway--the care and the entertainment of
+visitors, the government of the menials, the whole policy of the
+interior--was admirably managed, with an equal grace and efficiency.
+Wherefore, as we have said, the important department of the garden was
+excellently well administered, both for profit and pleasure, and made to
+pour forth in profusion, from its wide and variously-tended extent, the
+esculents and the blooms, herb, fruit, flower, or root, of every season.
+Nor was the merely beautiful neglected for the useful only; her truly
+feminine tastes delighted in all the many tinted children of the
+parterre, native and exotic; and flowers sprang up beneath her hand, as
+well as their more substantial sisters, the vegetables. In a word, her
+garden was rich in all that makes one delightful; and so of all the
+other less sightly but needful departments of her large and well-ordered
+establishment.
+
+We should, however, slight one of its most pleasing features, were we to
+omit mentioning the peculiar purpose to which was consecrated one of
+those low wings of the building which we have briefly described. There
+dwelt, under the most sacred guard of filial affection, yet served in
+her own little separate household by servants set apart to her use, the
+very aged and infirm mother of Mr. Madison; a most venerable lady, who,
+after the death of her husband, thus lived under the tender guardianship
+of her son and of her daughter-in-law, down to near her hundredth year,
+enjoying whatever of the sweets of life the most affectionate and
+ingenious solicitude can bestow upon extreme decrepitude. Here she
+possessed without the trouble of providing them, all the comforts and
+freedom of an independent establishment; and tended by her own
+gray-haired domestics, and surrounded at her will by such younger
+relatives as it gratified her to have about her, she passed her quiet
+but never lonely days, a reverent and a gentle image of the good and
+indeed elevated simplicity of elder times, manners, and tastes. All the
+appointments of her dwelling bespoke the olden day; dark and cumbrous
+old carved furniture, carpets of which the modern loom has forgotten the
+patterns; implements that looked as if Tubal Cain had designed them;
+upholstery quaintly, if not queerly venerable. In short, all the objects
+about her were in keeping with her person and attire. You would have
+said that they and she had sat to Sir Godfrey Kneller for a family
+picture; or that you yourself had been suddenly transported back to
+Addison's time, and were peeping by privilege into the most secluded
+part of Sir Roger de Coverley's mansion. Indeed, to confirm the
+illusion, you would probably find her reading the Spectator in the large
+imprint and rich binding of its own period, or thumbing--as our
+degenerate misses do a novel of the Dickens or Sue school--the leaves of
+Pope, Swift, Steele, or some other of those whom criticism alone (for
+the common people and the crowd, of what is now styled literature, know
+them not) still recalls as "the wits of Queen Anne's day." These were
+the learning of our great-grandmothers; need we wonder if they were
+nobler dames than the frivolous things of the fancy boarding-school,
+half-taught in every thing they should not study, made at much pains and
+expense to know really nothing, and just proficient enough of foreign
+tongues to be ignorant of their own? The authors we have mentioned,
+their good contemporaries, and their yet greater predecessors, who gave
+to our language a literature, and are still all that holds it from
+sinking into fustian and slipslop, a tag-rag learning and a
+tatterdemalion English, were those that lay around this ancient lady,
+and beguiled her old age as they had formed and delighted the youth of
+her mind and heart. If you made her refer to them, as the favourite
+employment of her infirmity-compelled leisure, it was pleasant to hear
+her (as in that other instance which we have given of Patrick Henry's
+sisters) talk of them as if they had been dear and familiar personal
+friends. Perhaps, however, authors were then better loved and more
+respected by their readers than they are nowadays; and possibly this was
+because they deserved to be so; or indeed there may be a double decline,
+and readers as much worse than the writers. Not that either of these is
+the fact, or even a conjecture which we ourselves entertain. We merely
+mention it _en passant_, as a bare possibility. The opinion would be
+unpopular, and should not be admitted in a democracy; of which it is the
+very genius to have no opinions but such as are popular; and therefore
+to think no thoughts that might betray one into an opinion not that of
+the majority.
+
+Such books then, and, when her old eyes grew weary, the almost equally
+antiquated occupation of knitting, habitually filled up the hours of
+this old-time lady; the hours, we mean, which pain or feebleness
+remitted her for occupation. As to those sadder moments of suffering, or
+of that sinking of the bodily powers which presses at times upon
+far-advanced age, she bore them with the cheerfullest patience, and even
+treated them as almost compensated by the constant delight of the
+affections which the pious care of her children gave her all the while.
+Nothing could exceed their watchfulness to serve her, soothe her,
+minister to her such enjoyments as may be made by lovingness to linger
+around even the last decline of a kindly and well-spent life. In all
+such offices, her son bore as much part as his own frail health and the
+lesser aptitude of men for tending the sick permitted; but no daughter
+ever exceeded in the tender and assiduous arts of alleviation, the
+attentions which Mrs. Madison gave to her husband's infirm parent.
+Reversing the order of nature, she became to her (as the venerable
+sufferer herself was accustomed fondly to say) the mother of her second
+childhood. Mistress as she was of all that makes greatness pleasing and
+sheds a shining grace upon power, Mrs. Madison never appeared in any
+light so worthy or so winning, as in this secret one of filial affection
+towards her adopted mother.
+
+It was a part, however, of her system of happiness for the ancient lady,
+at once to shut out from her (what she could ill sustain) the bustle of
+that large establishment, and the gayeties of the more miscellaneous
+guests that often thronged it, and yet to bring to her, in special favor
+towards them, such visitors as could give her pleasure and break the
+monotony of her general seclusion. These were sometimes old and valued
+friends; sometimes their hopeful offspring; and occasionally personages
+of such note as made her curious to see them. All such she received,
+according to what they were, with that antique cordiality or amenity
+which belonged to the fine old days of good-breeding, of which she was a
+genuine specimen. To the old, her person, dress, manners, conversation,
+recalled, in their most pleasing forms, the usages, the spirit, the
+social tone of an order of things that had vanished; an elevated
+simplicity that had now given way to more affected courtesies, more
+artificial elegancies. To the young, she and her miniature household
+were a still more singular spectacle. They had looked upon their host
+and hostess as fine old samples of the past, and the outer, the exoteric
+Montpelier, with its cumbrous furniture and rich but little modish
+appointments, as a sort of museum of domestic antiquities; but here,
+hidden within its secret recesses, were a personage, ways, objects,
+fashions, that carried them back to the yet more superannuated elegance
+of days when what now struck them as obsolete must have been regarded as
+the frivolous innovations of an impertinent young generation.
+
+We have already described the house, and glanced at its appointments,
+but may add that the former seemed designed for an opulent and an easy
+hospitality, and that the latter, while rich, was plainly and solidly
+so. No expedients, no tricks of show met the eye; but all was well set
+forth with a sort of nobleness, yet nothing of pomp. The apartments were
+of ample size; the furniture neither scanty nor (as now seems the mode)
+huddled together, as if the master were a salesman. Nothing seemed
+wanting, nothing too much. A finished urbanity and yet a thorough
+cordiality reigned in every thing: all the ways, all the persons, all
+the objects of the place were agreeable and even interesting. You soon
+grew at your ease, if at arriving you had been otherwise: for here was,
+in its perfection, that happiest part and surest test of
+good-breeding--the power of at once putting every one at ease. The
+attentions were not over-assiduous, not slack; but kept, to great
+degree, out of sight, by making a body of thoroughly-trained and most
+mannerly servants their ministrants, so that the hosts performed in
+person little but the higher rites of hospitality, and thus seemed to
+have no trouble and much pleasure in entertaining you. Accordingly,
+there has seldom, even in the hilarious land of old Virginia, been a
+house kept--especially by elderly people--at which it was pleasanter to
+be a sojourner. They always made you glad to have come, and sorry that
+you must go.
+
+Such was the main interior life of Montpelier. Its business seemed but
+the giving pleasure to its guests, of whom a perpetual succession came
+and went. Little was seen of the working machinery of the fine, and on
+the whole, well-managed estate, that poured forth its copious supplies
+to render possible all this lavish entertainment, this perennial flow of
+feasting. For here, be it observed, as elsewhere in the rural
+hospitalities of Virginia, it was not single visitors that were to be
+accommodated, but families and parties. Nor did these arrive unattended,
+for each brought with it a retinue of servants, a stud of horses, and
+all were to be provided for. Meantime, the master was seen little to
+direct in person the husbandry of his domain; and indeed, he was known
+to be too feeble to do so. Nevertheless, the tillage of Montpelier was
+productive and its soil held in a state of progressive improvement.
+Indeed, capable of every thing he had engaged in, except arms (in which
+the Jeffersonian dynasty, except Monroe, must be confessed not to have
+excelled)--wise, attentive, and systematic, he had established his
+farming operations upon a method so good and regular, that they went on
+well, with only his occasional inspection, and the nightly reports of
+his head men of the blacks. The mildest and humanest of masters, he had
+brought about among his slaves, by a gentle exactness, and the care to
+keep them happy while well-governed, great devotion to him and their
+duties, and a far more than usual intelligence. Every night he received
+an account of the day's results, and consulted freely with his managers,
+on the morrow's business. All was examined and discussed as with persons
+who had and who deserved his confidence. Thus encouraged to think, the
+inert and unreflecting African learnt forecast, skill, self-respect, and
+zeal to do his duty towards the master and mistress who were so good to
+him. We do not say that the like could be done to the same extent every
+where. Montpelier was cultivated merely to support itself, and not for
+profit; which is necessarily the ruling end on the plantations
+generally, and perhaps compels more enforced methods; which, indeed, can
+scarcely be expected to cease, as long as fanatical interference from
+without, between the master and the slave, shall only serve to breed
+discontent on the one part and distrust on the other, and driving the
+threatened master to attend to the present security of his property,
+instead of occupying himself with its future amelioration. Men of any
+sense abroad should surely have perceived, by this time, that the method
+of driving the Southern States into Emancipation does not answer; but,
+on the contrary, is, so far as the temper of that region is concerned,
+only postponing it, and meanwhile aggravating the condition of both
+classes.
+
+Thus gentle, genial, kindly, liberal, good and happy, passed the life of
+Montpelier. Public veneration shed all its honors; private friendship
+and communion all their delights upon it. Even those dignities which, in
+this country of party spirit, beget for the successful more of reproach
+than fame, had left the name of Madison without a serious stain. His
+Presidency past, the wise and blameless spirit of his official
+administration came speedily to be acknowledged on all sides, and envy
+and detraction, left without an aim, turned to eulogy. An ample fortune,
+the greatest domestic happiness, and a life prolonged, in spite of the
+original feebleness of his body, to the unusual age of eighty-five, gave
+him in their full measure, those singular blessings which the goodness
+of God deservedly dealt to him and the admirable partner of his
+existence. A philosophic, and yet not a visionary ruler, he should stand
+among ours as next to Washington, though separated from him by a great
+interval. The Jeffersons and the Jacksons come far after him, for
+
+    "He was more
+  Than a mere Alexander; and, unstained
+  With household blood and wine, serenely wore
+  His sovereign virtues: still we Trajan's name adore."
+
+
+
+
+=Jay.=
+
+[Illustration: Jay fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Jay's Residence, Bedford, N.Y.]
+
+JAY.
+
+
+Although the City of New-York claims the honor of being the birth-place
+of John Jay, it cannot properly be regarded as the home of his early
+years. Not far from the time of his birth, on the 12th of December,
+1745, his father, Peter Jay, who, by honorable assiduity in the
+mercantile vocation, had accumulated a handsome fortune, purchased an
+estate in Rye, about twenty-five miles from the city, with the intention
+of making it his future residence. This town, situated on the
+southeastern corner of Westchester County, ranks among the most
+delightful summer resorts that adorn the northern shores of Long Island
+Sound. The village proper stands about a mile and a half from the Sound,
+on the turn-pike road between New-York and Boston. From the hills
+extending along its northern limits, the Mockquams (Blind Brook) a
+perennial stream, flows southwardly through it, adding much to the
+beauty of its scenery. On the outskirts are many elegant villas, the
+favorite haunts of those who rejoice to exchange the cares of business
+and the dust and heat of the neighboring metropolis for its grateful
+seclusion and the refreshing breezes that visit it from the ocean.
+
+For the description of the Jay estate at Rye, in the absence of personal
+knowledge, we shall, in the main, rely upon the account furnished by
+Bolton, in his excellent History of Westchester County, adhering
+principally to his own language.
+
+The situation of the estate is very fine, embracing some of the most
+graceful undulations of a hilly district, highly diversified with rocks,
+woods, and river scenery. Contiguous to the southern portion of it and
+bordering the Sound is Marle's Neck and the neighboring islands of Pine
+and Hen-hawk. The curious phenomenon of the Mirage is frequently
+witnessed from these shores, when the land on the opposite coast of Long
+Island appears to rise above the waters of the Sound, the intermediate
+spaces seeming to be sunk beneath the waves.
+
+The family residence is situated near the post-road leading to Rye, at a
+short distance from the river. The building is a handsome structure of
+wood, having a lofty portico on the north. The south point commands a
+beautiful and charming view of the Sound and Long Island. Some highly
+interesting family portraits adorn the walls of the hall and
+dining-room, among which are the following: Augustus Jay, who emigrated
+to this country in 1686, a copy from the original by Waldo; Anna Maria
+Bayard, wife of Augustus Jay, by Waldo; Peter Augustus Jay, as a boy,
+artist unknown; an old painting upon oak panel, supposed to represent
+Catherine, wife of the Hon. Stephen Van Cortlandt, of Cortlandt, South
+Holland. This lady appears habited in a plain black dress, wearing a
+high neck-ruffle, and, in her hand, holds a clasped Bible. In one corner
+of the picture is inscribed "aetat. 64, 1630." In the library is the
+valuable cabinet of shells, amounting to several thousands, of which the
+collector, John C. Jay, M.D., has published a descriptive catalogue.
+Noticeable among the family relics is the gold snuff-box, presented by
+the Corporation of New-York with the freedom of the city to "his
+Excellency, John Jay," on the 4th of October, 1784, not long after his
+return from diplomatic service in Spain and at Paris. An old French
+Bible contains the following memoranda: "Auguste Jay, est ne a la
+Rochelle dans la Royaume de France le 23/13 Mars, 1665. Laus Deo. N.
+York, July ye 10th, 1773, this day at 4 o'clock in ye morning dyed Eva
+Van Cortlandt, was buried ye next day ye 12 en ye voute at Mr.
+Stuyvesant's about six and seven o'clock."
+
+In the opening of a wood on the southeast of the mansion is the family
+cemetery, where are interred the remains of the ancestors of the Jays.
+Over the grave of the Chief Justice is the following inscription,
+written by his son, Peter Augustus Jay:
+
+  IN MEMORY OF
+
+    JOHN JAY,
+
+  EMINENT AMONG THOSE WHO ASSERTED THE LIBERTY
+  AND ESTABLISHED THE INDEPENDENCE
+  OF HIS COUNTRY,
+  WHICH HE LONG SERVED IN THE MOST
+  IMPORTANT OFFICES,
+  LEGISLATIVE, EXECUTIVE, JUDICIAL, AND DIPLOMATIC,
+  AND DISTINGUISHED IN THEM ALL BY HIS
+  ABILITY, FIRMNESS, PATRIOTISM, AND INTEGRITY,
+  HE WAS IN HIS LIFE, AND IN HIS DEATH,
+  AN EXAMPLE OF THE VIRTUES,
+  THE FAITH AND THE HOPES
+  OF A CHRISTIAN.
+
+  BORN, _Dec._ 12, 1745,
+
+  DIED, _May_ 17, 1829.
+
+According to his expressed desire, the body of Mr. Jay was not deposited
+in the family vault, but committed to the bosom of the earth. He always
+strenuously protested against what he considered the heathenish attempt
+to rescue the worthless relics of mortality from that dissolution, which
+seems to be their natural and appropriate destination. Within the same
+cemetery are also memorials to Sir James Jay, Peter Jay Munroe, Peter
+Jay, Goldsborough Banyar, Harriet Van Cortlandt, and other members of
+the family.
+
+Pierre Jay, to whom the Jays of this country trace their origin, was one
+of those noble and inflexible Huguenots who were driven from France by
+the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, a measure which deprived that
+kingdom of more than one-fourth of the most industrious and desirable
+class of its population. His descendants, settling in this country,
+retained the characteristics which had distinguished their forefathers,
+and became among its most respectable and prosperous inhabitants. Peter
+Jay, the grandson of Pierre Jay, and, like him, engaged in mercantile
+pursuits, was married in the year 1728 to Mary, the daughter of Jacobus
+Van Cortlandt, and was the father of ten children, of whom John was the
+eighth. Seldom has a son been more fortunate in his parents. "Both
+father and mother," we are told by the biographer, "were actuated by
+sincere and fervent piety; both had warm hearts and cheerful tempers,
+and both possessed, under varied and severe trials, a remarkable degree
+of equanimity. But in other respects they differed widely. He possessed
+strong and masculine sense, was a shrewd observer and accurate judge of
+men, resolute, persevering and prudent, an affectionate father, a kind
+master, but governing all under his control with mild but absolute sway.
+She had a cultivated mind and a fine imagination. Mild and affectionate
+in her temper and manners, she took delight in the duties as well as in
+the pleasures of domestic life; while a cheerful resignation to the will
+of Providence during many years of sickness and suffering bore witness
+to the strength of her religious faith."
+
+Under the tutelage of such a mother was John Jay educated till his
+eighth year, and from her he learned the rudiments of English and Latin
+grammar. Even at this tender age, the gravity of his disposition, his
+discretion and his fondness for books were subjects of common remark.
+When eight years old, he was committed to the care of Mr. Stoope, a
+French clergyman and keeper of a grammar-school at New Rochelle, with
+whom he remained for about three years. This gentleman being unfitted by
+reason of his oddities and improvidence for the efficient supervision of
+the establishment, left the young pupils, for the most part, to the
+tender mercies of his wife, a woman of extremely penurious habits; by
+whom, we are told, they were "treated with little food and much
+scolding." Every thing about the house under the management of this
+ill-assorted pair went to ruin, and the young student was often obliged,
+in order to protect his bed from the drifting snow, to close up the
+broken panes with bits of wood. Various other inconveniences fell to the
+lot of young Jay, but it is probable that the rigid discipline of Mrs.
+Stoope was not without its advantages. It had the effect of throwing its
+subject on his own resources, and taught him to disregard those thousand
+petty annoyances which, after all, are the chief causes of human misery,
+and which often disturb the tranquillity of the strongest minds.
+
+From Mr. Stoope he was transferred to a private tutor, and in his
+fifteenth year entered King's, now Columbia College, at that time in its
+infancy. Here, as might have been supposed, his conduct, exemplary
+character and scholarship won him the esteem and respect of all. Beside
+the improvement and expansion of his intellect, and the opportunity of
+measuring himself with companions of the same age and the same studies,
+he received other advantages from these four years of college training.
+His attention being called to certain deficiencies which might impede
+his future success, he at once set himself at work to remedy them. An
+indistinct articulation and a faulty pronunciation of the letter L, he
+was able by the constant study and practice of the rules of elocution
+entirely to remove. Special attention was also paid to English
+composition, by which he attained that admirable style, which in purity
+and classical finish was afterwards not surpassed by that of any other
+contemporary statesman, a style polished but not emasculate, and of such
+flexibility as to adapt itself equally well to the vehemence of
+patriotic appeal, the guarded precision of diplomatic correspondence, or
+to the grave and authoritative judgments of the bench. He also adopted
+Pope's plan of keeping by his bedside a table supplied with writing
+materials, in order to record at the moment of its suggestion any idea
+which might occur to him in waking.
+
+During his senior year, the young student had occasion to display that
+decision and firmness which at a later period shone so conspicuously in
+affairs of greater moment. Certain mischief-making classmates, perhaps
+to avenge themselves on the steward, undertook to break the table in the
+college hall. The noise produced by this operation reaching the ears of
+Dr. Cooper, the President, that arbitrary personage suddenly pounced
+upon them without leaving them a chance of escape. The young men were at
+once formed in a line and two questions--"Did you break the table? Do
+you know who did?"--were each answered by an emphatic "No," until they
+were put to Jay, the last but one in the line, who had indeed been
+present at the disturbance but took no part in it; to the first question
+he replied in the negative, to the second his answer was "Yes, sir," and
+to the further inquiry--"Who was it?"--he promptly said, "I do not
+choose to tell you, sir." The remaining student followed Jay's example.
+The two young men, after resisting the expostulations of the President,
+were summoned before the Faculty for trial, where Jay appeared for the
+defence. To the allegation that they had been guilty of violating their
+written promise, on their admission, of obedience to the college
+statutes, Jay responded that they were not required by those statutes to
+inform against their companions, and that therefore his refusal to do so
+was not an act of disobedience. Reasonable as this defence might appear,
+it, of course, failed to satisfy judges, clothed with executive powers,
+and anxious to punish the least disregard of their own authority, and
+the two delinquents were at once rusticated. At the termination of his
+sentence Jay returned to college, where his reception by the instructors
+proved that he had suffered no loss of their esteem. On the 15th of May,
+1764, he was graduated with the highest collegiate honors.
+
+On leaving college, Jay entered the office of Benjamin Kissam, in the
+city of New-York, as a student at law. Between this gentleman and
+himself a degree of familiarity and mutual respect existed, quite
+remarkable considering their relative positions and their disparity of
+years. For two years in the office of Mr. Kissam, he was the fellow
+student of the celebrated grammarian, Lindley Murray, with whom he
+formed an enduring friendship, and who, in a posthumous memoir of
+himself, thus alludes to his companion: "His talents and virtues gave,
+at that period, pleasing indications of future eminence; he was
+remarkable for strong reasoning powers, comprehensive views,
+indefatigable application, and uncommon firmness of mind. With these
+qualifications added to a just taste in literature, and ample stores of
+learning and knowledge, he was happily prepared to enter on that career
+of public virtue by which he was afterward so honorably distinguished,
+and made instrumental in promoting the good of his country." Murray was
+a tall, handsome man, the son of Robert Murray, a venerable quaker of
+New-York, the location of whose farm at the lower part of the city is
+still pointed out by the antiquarian. Mr. Jay was admitted to the bar in
+1768, and in the pursuit of his profession so extended his reputation
+that he was soon after appointed secretary of the commission named by
+the king to determine the disputed boundary between the States of
+New-York and New Jersey. In 1774 he was married to Sarah, the youngest
+daughter of William Livingston, an eminent supporter of the American
+cause during the Revolution, and afterwards for many years governor of
+New Jersey.
+
+The limits to which we are confined allow us to take but a brief notice
+of Mr. Jay's numerous and most valuable public services, extending over
+a period of twenty-eight years, and terminating with his retirement in
+1801 from the office of governor of his native State. In no one of the
+colonies had the cause of resistance to the mother country less
+encouragement than in New-York, and in no other could Great Britain
+number so many influential allies, yet, on the receipt of the news of
+the enforcement of the Boston Port Bill, Mr. Jay took a decided stand on
+the side of the patriots. At a meeting of the citizens of New-York, May
+16, 1774, we find him on a committee of fifty appointed "to correspond
+with the sister colonies on all matters of moment." Young as he was, he
+was required to draft the response to the proposal of the Boston
+committee for a Congress of deputies from "the colonies in general." In
+the first Congress in the same year, he was a member of some of the most
+important committees. The "Address to the People of Great Britain," the
+distinguishing act of that Congress, was drafted by Mr. Jay. This
+eloquent document was pronounced by Jefferson, then ignorant of its
+author, to be "the production certainly of the finest pen in America,"
+and Mr. Webster considered it as standing "at the head of the
+incomparable productions of that body [the first Congress], productions
+which called forth the decisive commendation of Lord Chatham, in which
+he pronounced them not inferior to the finest productions of the master
+minds of the world."
+
+In the interim between the close of the first, and the opening in May
+1775 of the second Congress, Jay was incessantly engaged in the service
+of his country; and when the delegates had reassembled, his pen was
+again employed in the preparation of the two addresses to the
+inhabitants of Jamaica and of Ireland. Some reluctance being shown on
+the part of wealthy and influential citizens to serve in a military
+capacity, he, without hesitation, sought and accepted a commission as
+colonel of a regiment of the new militia; but his legislative ability
+and eloquence were too highly valued to allow of his absence from
+Congress, and he never actually joined his company. A second address of
+Congress to the king having been treated with insult, and all hope of
+accommodation being abandoned, he became one of the foremost advocates
+of warlike measures; and, while on a committee for that purpose, devised
+a series of plans for crippling the resources of England, which were
+adopted by Congress in March 1776, nearly three months previous to the
+formal act of severance in the Declaration of Independence. At the
+adoption of this measure, in consequence of his election to the
+Provincial Congress of New-York in April of that year, Jay was unable to
+affix his signature to that instrument, but, as chairman of the
+committee to whom the subject had been referred, he reported a
+resolution, pledging that State to its support. Shortly after came the
+most gloomy period of the revolutionary cause in New-York; a hostile
+army was invading the State from the north, inspired by the defeat of
+the American forces on Long Island, the city was in possession of the
+enemy, and what was worse, treachery and despair existed among the
+people themselves. A committee of public safety was appointed by the
+Provincial Congress, clothed with dictatorial powers, of which Jay acted
+as chairman. At this juncture also, Mr. Jay, by appointment, put forth
+the thrilling address of the convention to their constituents, an appeal
+written in the most exalted strain of patriotic eloquence, in which he
+rebukes the defection and stimulates the flagging hopes of the people
+with the zeal and indignant energy of an ancient prophet.
+
+In 1777, Jay, from a committee appointed the year before, drafted a
+State Constitution, which received the sanction of the legislature.
+There were certain provisions which he desired to introduce in that
+instrument, and which he thought more likely to be adopted when proposed
+in the form of amendments than if they should be incorporated into the
+first draft; but a summons to the side of his dying mother prevented the
+realization of his wishes. One of the amendments which he intended to
+urge, was a provision for the gradual abolition of slavery within the
+limits of the State. Under the new constitution, having been appointed
+to the office of Chief Justice, he was ineligible by that instrument to
+any other post, except on a "special occasion," but, in consequence of a
+difficulty arising between his own, and the neighboring State of
+Vermont, the legislature took advantage of the exception, and elected
+him delegate to Congress. Without vacating, therefore, his judicial
+seat, he complied with their appointment, and soon after his entrance in
+Congress became its presiding officer. The impossibility, however, of
+doing full justice to both his judicial and legislative duties, induced
+him to resign his seat on the bench. Congress now employed his pen in
+writing the circular letter to the States, urging them to furnish
+additional funds for the war. This statesmanlike exposition of the
+government's financial condition closes with a noble appeal to the
+national honor.
+
+"Rouse, therefore, strive who shall do most for his country; rekindle
+that flame of patriotism, which, at the mention of disgrace and slavery,
+blazed throughout America and animated all her citizens. Determine to
+finish the contest as you began it, honestly and gloriously. Let it
+never be said that America had no sooner become independent than she
+became insolvent, or that her infant glories and growing fame were
+obscured and tarnished by broken contracts and violated faith, in the
+very hour when all the nations of the earth were admiring and almost
+adoring the splendor of her rising."
+
+In 1779, accompanied by his wife, he sailed for Spain, as minister
+plenipotentiary, in order to secure the concurrence of that kingdom in
+the treaty with France, recognizing the independence of the United
+States; and though his diplomatic negotiations were conducted in the
+most honorable spirit, and with consummate prudence and ability, the
+object of his mission was finally frustrated by the selfish policy of
+the Spanish government, in requiring America to surrender the right of
+navigating on the Mississippi. It was during his residence at the
+Spanish court, that the desperate financial embarrassments of Congress
+prompted a measure equally unjust to their representative abroad and
+hazardous to the national credit. Presuming upon the success of his
+mission, they had empowered their treasurer to draw on Mr. Jay bills
+payable at six months, for half a million of dollars. As these bills
+came in, the minister was placed in a situation of extreme perplexity,
+but his regard for his country's reputation overcame all private
+considerations; he adopted the patriotic but desperate expedient of
+making himself personally responsible for their payment, and his
+acceptances had exceeded one hundred thousand dollars before any relief
+came to hand. Mr. Jay's residence in Spain also subjected him to other
+trials, only less severe than the one just mentioned; the vexatious
+obstacles placed in way of his negotiations by the Spanish government;
+the insufficiency of his salary at the most expensive court in Europe;
+the frequent removal of the court from place to place, at the royal
+pleasure, involving the absence of his wife, whom, for pecuniary
+reasons, he was unable to take with him; the death of his young child,
+and his anxiety for the family whom he had left at home, exposed to the
+dangers of war, and from whom, for more than a year, not a line had been
+received, might well have harassed a less sensitive nature than his. The
+fortitude with which he sustained these annoyances may be seen in a
+letter written by him about this time to his friend, Egbert Benson, of
+New-York. It commences thus:
+
+  "DEAR BENSON:
+
+"When shall we again, by a cheerful fire, or under a shady tree,
+recapitulate our juvenile pursuits or pleasures, or look back on the
+extensive field of politics we once have trodden? Our plans of life
+have, within these few years past, been strangely changed. Our country,
+I hope, will be the better for the alterations. How far we individually
+may be benefited is more questionable. Personal considerations, however,
+must give way to public ones, and the consciousness of having done our
+duty to our country and posterity, must recompense us for all the evils
+we experience in their cause."
+
+From Spain, by order of Congress, Jay proceeded to Paris to arrange, in
+conjunction with Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, and Laurens, the Definitive
+Treaty of Peace with England,--the most important diplomatic act of the
+eighteenth century; and we have the testimony of Mr. Fitzherbert, then
+the English minister resident in Paris, that "it was not only chiefly
+but SOLELY through his means that the negotiations of that period
+between England and the United States were brought to a successful
+conclusion." Mr. Oswald had arrived in Paris with a commission, in which
+the United States were mentioned under the designation of "colonies,"
+but Jay, although his associates did not participate in his scruples,
+refused to begin negotiations without a preliminary recognition on the
+part of England of the Independence of the United States; and owing to
+his firmness a new commission was obtained from the king, in which that
+most essential point (as the sequel proved) was gained. Declining the
+appointment now tendered him by Congress of commissioner to negotiate a
+commercial treaty with England, Jay returned to his country. On arriving
+at New-York he was welcomed by a most enthusiastic public reception, and
+was presented by the corporation of New-York with the freedom of the
+city in a gold box. The office of Secretary for foreign affairs, which,
+for the want of a suitable incumbent, had been vacant for two years, was
+at this time urged by Congress upon his acceptance, and he did not feel
+at liberty to refuse his services. He was now virtually at the head of
+public affairs. The whole foreign correspondence of the government, the
+proposal of plans of treaties, instructions to ministers abroad, and the
+submission of reports on all matters to which Congress might call his
+attention, came within the scope of his new duties.
+
+Mr. Jay was among the first of our statesmen to perceive the defects of
+the confederation, and to urge the necessity of a new and more efficient
+system of government. Besides his contributions to the Federalist, he
+wrote an address to the people of New-York, then the very citadel of the
+opposition to the proposed Constitution, which had no unimportant effect
+in securing its adoption. In the State Convention, which had assembled
+with only eleven out of fifty-seven members in its favor, Jay took a
+most influential part, and mainly owing to his exertions was it finally
+ratified. At the commencement of the administration of Washington, he
+was invited by that great man to select his own post in the newly-formed
+government. He was accordingly appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme
+Court, and well did he justify, in his new capacity, the glowing
+eulogium of Webster, that "when the spotless ermine of the judicial robe
+fell on John Jay it touched nothing less spotless than itself." In the
+performance of his duties as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme
+Court, much was accomplished by him in organizing the business of the
+court, expounding the principles of its decisions, and in commending
+them to a confederacy of sovereign States, already sufficiently jealous
+of its extensive but beneficent jurisdiction. His decision in the novel
+case of a suit instituted against the State of Georgia by a citizen of
+another State, is a memorable instance of his firmness and judicial
+ability.
+
+The year 1794 opened with every prospect of a disastrous war between
+Great Britain and the United States. The Revolution did not terminate
+without leaving in the minds of Americans a strong and perhaps an
+unreasonable antipathy to the mother country, which was stimulated by
+the unwise interference of Genet, the French minister, in our politics,
+and by the exertions of a large class of British refugees, who had
+escaped to our country still smarting under the oppressions which they
+had experienced at home, and who were extremely desirous of plunging the
+American government into the contest which was then raging between
+France and England. There were also certain substantial grievances
+universally admitted by our citizens, which would give some countenance
+to such a measure on the part of America. Among these were enumerated
+the detention in violation of the treaty of the posts on our western
+frontier by British garrisons, thereby excluding the navigation by
+Americans of the great lakes, the refusal to make compensation for the
+negroes carried away during the war by the British fleet, the exclusion
+and capture of American vessels carrying supplies to French ports, and
+the seizure of our ships in the exercise of the pretended right of
+search. These, and other outrages, were justified by Great Britain, on
+the ground of certain equivalent infractions of the treaty by the
+American nation. Washington however could not be induced to consent to
+hazard the national interests, by transgressing that neutrality so
+necessary to a young republic only just recovering from the severe
+experience of a seven years' war, and he saw no other honorable means of
+averting the impending danger than the appointment of a special envoy,
+empowered to adjust the matters in dispute. For this purpose, on his
+nomination, Mr. Jay was confirmed on the 20th of April, 1794, by the
+Senate, as Minister to England, at which country he arrived in June of
+that year. The treaty was signed in November following, and the
+negotiations of the two ministers, Lord Grenville and Mr. Jay, were
+greatly facilitated by their mutual esteem and the good understanding
+existing between them; and their correspondence, which was characterized
+by signal ability on both sides, affords an instance of diplomatic
+straightforwardness and candor almost without a parallel in history. It
+as not consistent with the plan of our sketch to speak of the provisions
+of the treaty thus secured: it was not, in all respects, what Jay, or
+the country desired; but in view of the immense advantages to our
+commerce obtained by it, the complicated and delicate questions
+adjusted, and the disasters which would have befallen the nation had it
+been defeated, it will challenge comparison with any subsequent
+international arrangement to which the United States have been a party.
+Yet, incredible as would seem, the abuse and scurrility with which both
+it and its author were loaded, discloses one of the most disgraceful
+chapters in the records of political fanaticism. By an eminent member of
+the opposing party, he was declared to have perpetrated "an infamous
+act," an act "stamped with avarice and corruption." He himself was
+termed "a damned arch-traitor," "sold to Great Britain," and the treaty
+burned before his door. Enjoying the confidence of the illustrious
+Washington, and of the wisest and best men of his country, in his
+course, and above all, the inward assurance of his unswerving rectitude,
+Jay might well forgive these ebullitions of party spleen and await the
+sanction which has been conferred on his actions by the impartial voice
+of posterity.
+
+But no statesman of that time had, on the whole, less reason to complain
+of popular ingratitude than Jay; before he reached his native shore, a
+large majority of the people of New-York had expressed their approbation
+of his conduct by electing him to the office of Governor. While in this
+office, the appropriate close of his public career, besides suggesting
+many useful measures in regard to education and internal improvements,
+the benefits of which are experienced to this day, he had the happiness
+of promoting and witnessing the passage by the Legislature of the act
+for the gradual abolition of slavery in his native State. Of this
+measure he was one of the earliest advocates, having served as the first
+President of the Society of Manumission, which had been organized in
+1786 by a number of the most respectable gentlemen in New-York, and to
+whose disinterested exertions the success of the anti-slavery cause was
+mainly due. On accepting the seat tendered to him in the Supreme Court,
+Jay, fearing that the presidency of the society might prove an
+embarrassment in the decision of some questions which might come before
+him, resigned the office and was succeeded by Hamilton, who continued to
+discharge its duties till the year 1793.
+
+At the expiration of his second gubernatorial term in 1801, Jay,
+contrary to the importunities of his friends, retired from public life,
+having, for twenty-seven years, faithfully served his country in every
+department of legislative, diplomatic, and judicial trust. Declining the
+office of Chief Justice, which was again pressed by the President upon
+his acceptance, he prepared to enjoy that congenial seclusion under the
+shade of his patrimonial trees, which, through all the varied and
+agitating scenes of political life, had been the object of his most
+ardent desires. In accordance with this design, he had built a
+substantial house at Bedford, about forty-four miles from New-York, on
+an estate embracing some eight hundred acres, which had come to him by
+inheritance. Here, in one of the most delightful localities in the
+fertile county of Westchester, in the care of his family and estates, in
+the society of his friends and his books, in the discharge of the duties
+of neighborly benevolence, and in the preparation for those immortal
+scenes which he had reason to suppose would soon open upon him, he
+passed the tranquil remainder of his days. But his enjoyments were not
+destined to exempt him from those bitter but universal visitations,
+which, at times, overthrow the happiness and frustrate the most pleasing
+anticipations of our race. In less than twelve months after his
+retirement, the partner of his joys and sorrows, who, by her
+accomplishments, her unobtrusive virtues and solicitous affection, had
+been at once his delight and support, was taken from him. At the final
+hour, Jay, as the biographer tells us, stood by the bedside "calm and
+collected," and when the spirit had taken its departure, led his
+children to an adjoining room, and with "a firm voice but glistening
+eye" read that inspiring and wonderful chapter in which Paul has
+discussed the mystery of our future resurrection.
+
+Considering its natural advantages and its connection by railway with
+the great metropolis, Bedford, the ancient half shire town of
+Westchester County, can hardly be praised on the score of its
+"progressive" tendencies. At the time of Jay's residence there, the
+mail-coach from New-York, employing two long days in the journey,
+visited the town once a week, and even now the locomotive which thunders
+through it perhaps a dozen times a day, hardly disturbs its rural
+quietude. It may, however, claim considerable distinction in the annals
+of Indian warfare, for, within its limits, on the southern side of
+Aspetong Mountain, is still pointed out the scene of a bloody conflict
+between the savages and the redoubtable band of Captain Underhill, in
+which the latter coming suddenly at night on a village of their foes,
+slaughtered them without mercy to the number of five hundred; "the
+Lord," as the record goes, "having collected the most of our enemies
+there, to celebrate some festival." Bedford was formerly under the
+jurisdiction of Connecticut, and the apparent thrift and independent
+bearing of its farming population are decided indications of their New
+England descent. Its situation is uncommonly pleasant and healthful, and
+although the surface of the country is somewhat rocky and uneven, the
+soil is excellently adapted for agricultural purposes. The higher
+grounds display an abundant growth of all varieties of oak, elm, ash,
+linden, chestnut, walnut, locust, and tulip trees, while its fertile
+valleys and its sunny hillside exposures furnish ample spaces for
+pasturage or cultivation. A number of beautiful streams water the
+meadows, of which the two largest, the Cisco or Beaver Dam, and Cross
+River, after flowing for a long distance separately, just before leaving
+the town, wisely conclude to unite their forces and bear a generous
+tribute to the waters of the Croton. The Beaver Dam derives its name
+from having once been the favorite haunt of the beavers, who in former
+times found a plentiful sustenance in the bark of the willows, maples
+and birches which still linger on its banks.
+
+The traveller who wishes to survey the mansion of "the good old
+governor," as Mr. Jay is still called by those villagers who remember
+his liberality and benevolent interest in their welfare, leaves the
+Harlem railroad at Katona, the northwest portion of the town, so called
+from the name of the Indian chief, who formerly claimed dominion of this
+part of the country, and proceeds in a southeasterly direction along a
+road somewhat winding and hilly, tiresome enough certainly to the
+pedestrian, but occasionally relieving him with exhilarating prospects
+on either side of farmhouses with well-stored and ample barns, wooded
+hills with green intervales, waving fields of grain, and pastures of
+well-fed, contemplative cattle, who shake their heads as if their
+meditations were a little disturbed by his presence. Every thing about
+the farms has the aspect of good order and thrift, and nothing mars the
+general impression except the occasional sight of some happy family of
+swine, who appear to exercise a sort of right of eminent domain among
+the weeds and roots on the roadside. A snow-white sow with thirty
+snow-white young, according to an ancient poet, was the immediate
+inducement to AEneas in selecting the site of his future city; whether
+such an attraction would prove equally potent in our own times, is more
+questionable. As one approaches the estate of Jay, the marks of superior
+taste and cultivation are apparent; the stone walls are more neatly and
+compactly built, and the traveller is refreshed by the grateful shade of
+the long rows of maples and elms which were planted along the road by
+Jay and his descendants, some of whom still make their summer residence
+in Bedford. After proceeding for two or three miles from the railroad
+station, we turn up a shaded avenue on the left, which winds round the
+southern slope of the hill, at the top of which stands the modest
+mansion of John Jay. This is a dark brown wooden two-storied building,
+facing the southwest, with an addition of one story at each end, the
+main building having a front of forty-five feet, along which is extended
+a porch of ample dimensions. Passing through the hall we find in the
+rear a background of magnificent woods, principally oak and chestnut,
+though nearer the house are a number of gigantic willows still
+flourishing in the strength and verdure of youth. Concealed in the
+foliage of these woods, a little to the west, is the small school-house
+of stone erected by Jay for his children, and on the other side of the
+mansion, towards the northeast, are the barns, carriage-house, and the
+farm-house, occupied by a tenant, who has supervision of the estate.
+These tenements are almost screened from view by a grove of locust
+trees, for which Jay showed a special partiality, and whose snow-white
+robe of blossoms in the latter part of spring affords a pleasing
+contrast with the light green of the tasselled chestnuts, and the dark
+and glossy shade of the oak and walnut foliage behind. In front of the
+barn, on the eastern side of the house, is the garden, which, though not
+making any pretension to superiority in its extent or its cultivation,
+displays an excellent variety of fruits and flowers, for the most part,
+such as thrive easily in that soil, and are most useful and appropriate
+to the wants of an American household. Jay, though for his period
+uncommonly versed in horticultural matters, did not, in his
+old-fashioned simplicity, choose to waste much time in transplanting
+those contumacious productions of foreign countries which "never will in
+other climates grow." Ascending the hill a short distance, we come again
+to the house, immediately in front of which, without obstructing the
+view, stands a row of four handsome lindens. Before the dwelling, which
+is nearly half a mile from the main road, stretches the green lawn
+irregularly diversified with groups of trees, and beyond is seen the
+sightly ridge of "Deer's Delight," once the resort of the beautiful
+animal from which it takes its designation; and certainly the choice of
+such a delectable locality would have done credit to creatures far more
+reasonable. This spot is crowned with the elegant country-seat of Mr.
+John Jay, a grandson of the Chief Justice, who, in taking advantage of
+its natural beauties, and adapting it to the purposes of his residence,
+has shown a degree of taste which has rarely been surpassed. On the
+western slope, which is somewhat more abrupt than the others, is the
+orchard, and from a thatched arbor on the brink of the descent, the eye
+surveys a large part of that circle of hills in which Bedford appears to
+be almost inclosed. A most enchanting rural landscape is here spread
+out, embracing a wide extent of country dotted with thriving farms and
+villages, graceful declivities wandered over by numerous herds of
+cattle, valleys and pellucid streams, glimmering at intervals from thick
+and overshadowing foliage. Further towards the west is the long line of
+hills just shutting off the view of the Hudson, and overlooked by the
+still loftier range of the highlands on the other side of the river,
+conspicuous among which towers the Dunderberg or bread-tray mountain.
+From this spot the magnificent variations of sunset are seen to great
+advantage. No man endowed with the least susceptibility to the charm of
+outward nature, can contemplate without enthusiasm the broad suffusion
+of crimson blazing along those western hills, gradually passing into
+orange and purple; and finally closing with a deep glowing brown, while
+the clear brilliant sky above pales and darkens at the almost
+imperceptible coming on of night.
+
+The interior arrangements of the house have not been essentially varied
+since the lifetime of its first illustrious occupant. They all bear
+marks of that republican simplicity and unerring good taste which were
+among his distinguishing characteristics. The furniture, though of the
+best materials, was obviously chosen more for use than ornament, and is
+noticeable chiefly for an air of antique respectability and comfort,
+which, in spite of the perpetually changing fancies in such matters, can
+never go out of fashion. On the right of the hall, as one enters, is the
+dining-room, an apartment of perhaps some twenty feet square; in this
+and in the parlor opposite, which has about the same dimensions, are
+several interesting family portraits, the works mostly of Stewart and
+Trumbull, among which are those of Egbert Benson, Judge Hobart, Peter
+Jay, John Jay, and Augustus Jay, the first American ancestor of the
+family, the artist of which is unknown. Passing through the parlor, we
+enter the small room at the west end of the house, occupied as a
+library, and containing a well-assorted but not extensive supply of
+books. Here were the weighty folios of Grotius, Puffendorf, Vattel, and
+other masters of the science of international law, besides a number of
+standard theological and miscellaneous works, with the classic authors
+of antiquity, among whom Cicero appears to have been his special
+favorite. In the library hangs a portrait of Governor Livingston, the
+father-in-law of Jay; a vigorous manly boy, the characteristics of whose
+youthful features have been retained with singular distinctness in those
+of his descendants. He is represented as dressed in the full-sleeved
+coat and elaborate costume of his time, and with a sword hanging at his
+side, an outfit hardly in accordance with so tender an age. The oaken
+press and strong-bound chest of cherry wood are also in this room, the
+latter the receptacle perhaps of Jay's important papers;--these ancient
+heirlooms are presumed to have crossed the ocean more than a century and
+a half ago.
+
+Notwithstanding the infirmities of the last twenty years of his life,
+Jay enjoyed an old age of remarkable tranquillity and happiness. He set
+an example of undeviating punctuality; the hour and the man always came
+together, and in his habits he was extremely regular. In order to assist
+him in rising early, an aperture, shaped like the crescent moon, was
+made in the solid oaken shutter of his apartment, by which a glimpse
+might be caught of the first rays of the uprising dawn. The reading of
+prayers was succeeded by breakfast, after which the greater part of the
+day was commonly spent in attending to the affairs of his extensive
+farm. Most of the time when thus engaged, he rode on the back of a
+favorite sorrel mare, of the famous Narraganset breed, now extinct. This
+faithful creature died in 1819, after a service of twenty-three years.
+Two of the same stock belonging to Mr. Jay had died in succession
+previously, the grandam having been given by his father in 1765. It was
+probably of the latter animal that he wrote from Europe in 1783, under
+the apprehension that she might have fallen into the hands of the enemy.
+
+"If my old mare is alive, I must beg of you and my brother to take good
+care of her. I mean that she should be well fed and live idle, unless my
+brother Peter should choose to use her. If it should be necessary to
+advance money to recover her, I am content you should do it even to the
+amount of double her value."
+
+At half-past one came the dinner hour, after which he was wont to
+indulge moderately in smoking. A few of his long clay pipes are still
+preserved. They were imported for him from abroad, and were considered
+in their time an unusually select and valuable article. His evenings
+were devoted to reading and the company of his family and neighbors.
+Once or twice a year, Judge Benson, Peter Jay, Monroe, or some other old
+friend, would take a journey to his hospitable home to pass a week in
+living over, in conversation, their long and varied experience, and
+occasionally some stranger from foreign lands, attracted by his
+wide-spread reputation, would receive at his hands a cordial yet
+unostentatious welcome. Though possessed of a large landed property from
+which he enjoyed a respectable income, his family expenses and the
+management of his estate were regulated by a judicious and liberal
+economy. Remarkably affectionate in his disposition and solicitous for
+the welfare of his children, his demeanor towards them was marked with
+unvarying equability and decision. An extract from a letter to Mrs. Jay,
+dated London, 5th Dec., 1794, illustrates his views on this head:
+
+"I hope N---- will amuse herself sometimes with her spinning-wheel. God
+only knows what may one day be her situation. Polite accomplishments
+merit attention, useful knowledge should not be neglected. Let us do the
+best we can with, and for our children, and commit them to the
+protection and guidance of Providence."
+
+By his servants, his poorer neighbors, and all who were in any way
+dependent on him, he was reverenced and loved. He promptly and liberally
+responded to all movements calculated to promote the general good. In
+one instance of this kind, he showed an adroitness in his beneficence
+which is somewhat amusing. The townspeople were about to erect a
+school-house, and it was apprehended that from mistaken considerations
+of economy, the building would be less substantial in its construction
+than was desirable. When, therefore, the subscription list was presented
+to Jay, he put down a liberal sum against his name "if of wood, if of
+stone, _double_." Another example occurs in his dealings with his less
+fortunate neighbors, evincing the union of austere and inflexible regard
+for public justice with the most sensitive sympathy with individual
+suffering, which is cited in Professor McVicar's appreciative and
+eloquent sketch of Jay's life. The case referred to is that of "a poor
+blacksmith in his neighborhood, who had encroached with his building on
+the public highway, and refused to recede; Jay prosecuted him to the
+extreme rigor of the law, and having duly punished the _offender_,
+proceeded to make it up tenfold to the _poor man_ by deeding to him an
+acre or two of ground from his own farm, in order that his necessities
+might be no plea for any further breach of the law."
+
+A pleasing reminiscence of Jay has been told by the son of the recipient
+of his bounty, a poor widow, whose utmost exertions were barely
+sufficient for the support of her family. Some time after the Governor's
+death, she received a note from Mr. William Jay, the occupant of the old
+mansion, requesting her to visit him as he had some pleasant news for
+her. In great perplexity as to the nature of the promised communication,
+the good woman complied, and on arriving at the house, was thus
+addressed by that gentleman: "My father, before he died, requested to be
+buried in the plainest manner; 'by so doing,' said he, 'there will be a
+saving of about two hundred dollars which I wish you to give to some
+poor widow whom you and your sister may consider most worthy, and I wish
+you to get the silver money and count it out now,' and," continued Mr.
+Jay, "my sister and I have selected you and here is the money." The
+gratitude of the widow found no answer but in tears as she bore away the
+treasure to her dwelling. The recollection of deeds like these is the
+imperishable inheritance which Jay has left to his descendants, and it
+is a distinction besides which mere heraldic honors fade into
+insignificance, that, from the beginning to this day, the great name of
+Jay has been inseparably linked with the cause of the neglected and
+oppressed against the encroachments of unscrupulous power.
+
+The personal appearance of Jay, at the age of forty-four, is thus
+described by Mr. Sullivan: "He was a little less than five feet in
+height, his person rather thin but well formed. His complexion was
+without color, his eyes black and penetrating, his nose aquiline, and
+his chin pointed. His hair came over his forehead, was tied behind and
+lightly powdered. His dress black. When standing, he was a little
+inclined forward, as is not uncommon with students long accustomed to
+bend over a table." With the exception of the mistake as to the color of
+his eyes, which were blue and not black, this is probably an accurate
+picture. But it gives no idea of the blended dignity and courtesy which
+were apparent in his features and his habitual bearing, to a degree,
+says a venerable informant, never witnessed in any other man of that
+time. His general appearance of reserve was sometimes misconstrued by
+those who were little acquainted with him into haughtiness. This was
+undoubtedly native, in some measure, to his character, but much, we have
+reason to suppose, existed more in appearance than in reality, and was
+the unavoidable expression of one long and intensely engaged in affairs
+of great moment,
+
+    "Deep on whose front engraved
+  Deliberation sat, and public cares."
+
+Not without a keen sense of the ludicrous, he rarely indulged in jocose
+remarks; yet he is said, at times, when much importuned for certain
+information or opinions which he did not care to reveal, to have shown a
+peculiarly shrewd humor in his replies, which baffled without irritating
+the inquirer. Perhaps a delicate piece of advice was never given in more
+skilfully worded and unexceptionable phraseology than in his answer to a
+confidential letter from Lord Grenville, inquiring as to the expediency
+of removing Mr. Hammond, the British Minister at Washington, who, for
+some reason or other, had become extremely distasteful to the government
+there. As Mr. Hammond was a personal friend to Jay, the inquiry was
+naturally embarrassing, but he still deemed it his duty to advise the
+minister's recall. Accordingly, in his reply, after first declaring his
+friendship for Mr. Hammond and his entire confidence in that gentleman's
+ability and integrity, he refers to the unhappy diplomatic difficulties
+of that gentleman, and concludes by saying, "Hence I cannot forbear
+wishing that Mr. Hammond _had a better place_, and that a person well
+adapted to the existing state of things was sent to succeed him."
+
+As William Penn said of George Fox, Mr. Jay was "civil beyond all forms
+of breeding;" the natural refinement and purity of his disposition were
+expressed in his appearance and manners, and perhaps we might apply with
+propriety the remainder of Penn's description:--"He was a man whom God
+endowed with a clear and wonderful depth,--a discoverer of other men's
+spirits and very much the master of his own. The reverence and solemnity
+of his demeanor and the fewness and fulness of his words often struck
+strangers with admiration." In his character, the qualities of wisdom,
+decision, truthfulness, and justice held a supreme and unquestioned
+sway. Under their direction, he was often led into measures which seemed
+at first to hazard his own interests, as when at Paris he violated his
+congressional instructions for the benefit of his country; but these
+measures were adopted with such deliberation, and pursued with so
+unhesitating perseverance that their results invariably justified the
+course he had taken. The three most important concessions ever gained by
+America from foreign countries, the concessions which now our country
+most values and would be least willing to surrender, namely, the
+Navigation of the Mississippi, the Participation in the British
+Fisheries and the Trade with the West Indies, are due almost solely to
+the foresight, the diplomatic ability and the firmness of John Jay. When
+we consider the comparative insensibility of Congress at that time, and
+the country at large, to the incalculable value of these rights, we may
+feel assured that had America sent abroad an agent of different
+character, the wily diplomatists of Europe would have found little
+difficulty in wresting them from us. Jay was moreover a man of deep and
+fervent piety--not that merely occasional ecstasy of devotional feeling,
+which, although perfectly sincere, is compatible with an habitual
+violation of all laws human and divine, but a constant sense of
+responsibility to a Supreme Being for every action of his life, under
+which he labored
+
+  "As ever in the Great Taskmaster's eye."
+
+It was this combination of attributes, "inviting confidence, yet
+inspiring respect," setting him apart from other men, yet drawing the
+multitude after him, that accounts for the constantly recurring demands
+upon his public services. The people felt that they could trust a man
+whose patriotism was not a temporary passion, but a well-defined and
+immovable principle, and they were never disappointed. In the complete
+harmony of his moral and intellectual qualities, so wholly free from the
+disturbing influence of painful and dangerous eccentricities and the
+considerations of self, he approached nearer than any other statesman of
+his age to the majestic character of Washington, and on no one of his
+illustrious coadjutors did that great man place so uniform and so
+unhesitating a reliance.
+
+Jay had already exceeded the longest period allotted by the psalmist to
+the life of man, in the enjoyment of all those satisfactions which
+comfortable outward circumstances, the affection of friends and kindred,
+and the honor and reverence of a country whose vast and still enlarging
+prosperity were so much due to his exertions, can supply, when he
+received the unmistakable premonitions of his end. On the 17th of May,
+1828, having previously summoned the numerous members of the family to
+his bedside, and having bestowed on each his parting advice and
+benediction, he resigned his soul to the care of its Maker; and now, in
+the quiet grave-yard at Rye, near the spot where he passed the early
+years of his life, repose the august remains of John Jay.
+
+
+
+
+=Hamilton.=
+
+[Illustration: Ball Hughes' Statue of Hamilton]
+
+
+
+
+HAMILTON.
+
+
+We have not the means of presenting a sketch of Hamilton's birth-place,
+or of the incidents of his early life before he became a resident in
+this country; and so much of his subsequent life was spent in the camp
+and in the service of his country, wherever that service required him to
+be, that he can hardly be said to have had a "Home" until a few years
+before his splendid career was so suddenly and mournfully closed.
+
+He was born in the year 1756, in the Island of St. Nevis, one of the
+British West Indian possessions, whither his father, a native of
+Scotland, had gone with the purpose of engaging in mercantile pursuits;
+and he was himself at the early age of twelve, placed in the
+counting-house of an opulent merchant, in one of the neighboring
+islands. But such a situation was ill suited to his disposition; and his
+ambition, even at that early period of his life, strongly developed,
+could not find in those narrow colonies a sufficient field for its
+exercise. The wishes of his friends favored his own inclinations, and he
+was sent to New-York, that he might avail himself of the more ample
+facilities for acquiring an education which that place and its vicinity
+afforded.
+
+He went through with the studies preparatory to entering college at a
+school in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, which was under the patronage of
+Governor Livingston and Mr. Boudinot, in the former of whose families he
+resided. He soon qualified himself for admission to King's (now
+Columbia) College, and was then permitted to pursue a course of study
+which he had marked out for himself, without becoming a member of any
+particular class. At this early period he evinced those traits of
+character which afterwards conducted him to such high distinction, and
+which marked his career throughout. He brought to his tasks not only
+that diligence which is often exhibited by more ordinary minds, but that
+enthusiastic devotion of the soul, which was perhaps the most marked
+trait of his character.
+
+It was while he was yet in college, that the disputes between the
+colonies and the mother country, just preliminary to the breaking out of
+hostilities, arose; but they even then engaged his earnest attention. It
+is probable that the tendency of his mind at that time, as in the later
+period of his life, was towards conservative views; and indeed he has
+himself said "that he had, at first, entertained strong prejudices on
+the ministerial side." But a mind so investigating and a spirit so
+generous as his would not be likely to entertain such prejudices long;
+and having made a visit to Boston and become excited by the tone of
+public feeling in that city, he directed his attention to the real
+merits of the controversy, and this, aided perhaps by the natural order
+of his temperament, produced in him a thorough conviction of the justice
+of the American cause. With his characteristic earnestness, he threw
+himself at once into the contest, and while but eighteen years of age he
+addressed a public meeting upon the subject of the wrongs inflicted by
+the mother country, and acquitted himself in a manner which amazed and
+delighted his hearers, and drew to him the public attention.
+
+A meeting of the citizens of New-York had been called to consider upon
+the choice of delegates to the first Congress. A large concourse of
+people assembled, and the occasion was long remembered as "the great
+meeting in the fields." Hamilton was then, of course, comparatively
+unknown, but some of his neighbors having occasion to remark his
+contemplative habits and the vigor and maturity of his thoughts, urged
+him to address the multitude, and after some hesitation he consented.
+
+"The novelty of the attempt, his slender and diminutive form, awakened
+curiosity and arrested attention. Overawed by the scene before him, he
+at first hesitated and faltered, but as he proceeded almost
+unconsciously to utter his accustomed reflections, his mind warmed with
+the theme, his energies were recovered; and after a discussion, clear,
+cogent, and novel, of the great principles involved in the controversy,
+he depicted in glowing colors the long continued and long endured
+oppressions of the mother country. He insisted on the duty of
+resistance, pointed out the means and certainty of success, and
+described the waves of rebellion sparkling with fire and washing back
+upon the shores of England the wrecks of her power, her wealth, and her
+glory. The breathless silence ceased as he closed, and the whispered
+murmur--'it is a collegian, it is a collegian,' was lost in expressions
+of wonder and applause at the extraordinary eloquence of the young
+stranger."[13]
+
+About the same time he published anonymously two pamphlets in reply to
+publications emanating from the ministerial party, and in vindication of
+the measures of the American Congress. The powerful and eloquent manner
+in which the topics in controversy were discussed, excited great
+attention. The authorship of the pamphlets was attributed by some to
+Governor Livingston and by others to John Jay, and these contributed to
+give to those gentlemen, already distinguished, an increased celebrity;
+and when it was ascertained that the youthful Hamilton was the author of
+them, the public could scarcely credit the fact.
+
+Upon the actual breaking out of hostilities, Hamilton immediately
+applied himself to the study of military science, and obtained from the
+State of New-York a commission as captain of a company of artillery. His
+conduct at once attracted the observing eye of Washington, who soon
+invited him to become one of his staff with the commission of Lieutenant
+Colonel.
+
+Hamilton accepted the offer, and for the space of four years remained in
+the family of Washington, enjoying his unlimited confidence, carrying on
+a large portion of his correspondence, and aiding him in the conduct of
+the most important affairs. A hasty word from the latter led to a
+rupture of this connection, and Hamilton left the staff and resumed his
+place as an officer in the line; but Washington's confidence in him was
+not in the least impaired, and their friendship continued warm and
+sincere until the death of the latter.
+
+In thus separating himself from the family of the Commander-in-Chief,
+Hamilton was influenced by other motives than displeasure at the conduct
+of Washington. He knew that great man too well, and loved him too well,
+to allow a hasty word of rebuke to break up an attachment which had
+begun at the breaking out of the war, and which a familiar intercourse
+of four years, an ardent love of the cause, and a devotion to it common
+to them both had deepened and confirmed. But the duties of a secretary
+and adviser, important as they then were, were not adequate to call
+forth all his various powers, and the performance of them, however
+skilful, was not sufficient to satisfy that love of glory which he so
+fondly cherished. He was born to act in whatever situation he might be
+placed a first rate part. He longed to distinguish himself in the
+battles as well as in the councils of the war. He felt that his country
+had need of his arm as well as of his pen; and thus the dictates of
+patriotism, which he never in the course of his life allowed to stand
+separate from the promptings of his high ambition, pointed out to him
+the course he took. He would not, of his own motion, leave the immediate
+services of Washington; but when the opportunity was presented by the
+latter, he at once embraced it, and would not be persuaded by any
+considerations to return to his former place.
+
+A short time previous to his leaving the family of Washington he had
+formed an engagement with the second daughter of Gen. Philip Schuyler,
+of New-York, to whom he was married on the 14th of December, 1780, at
+the residence of her father at Albany, and thus became permanently
+established in New-York. His union with this lady was one of unbroken
+happiness, and at a venerable age she still survives him.
+
+His rank in the army was soon after advanced, and an opportunity for
+exhibiting his military skill and prowess, which he had so ardently
+wished for, was shortly presented. The falling fortunes of the British
+army in the south, under Lord Cornwallis, invited an attack in that
+quarter. The combined French and American forces were fast closing up
+every avenue of retreat, and the British commander finding that to avoid
+a general engagement was impossible, at last intrenched himself at
+Yorktown with the determination of making a final stand against the
+victorious progress of the American arms. In the decisive battle which
+succeeded, Hamilton signalized himself by a most brilliant achievement.
+Two redoubts in the fortifications of the enemy were to be carried in
+face of a most destructive fire. The attack upon one of them was
+assigned to a detachment of the French troops, and that upon the other
+to a division of the American forces. The command of the latter, at his
+earnest request, was given to Hamilton. At the appointed signal he "gave
+the order to advance at the point of the bayonet, pushed forward, and
+before the rest of the corps had ascended the abatis, mounted over it,
+stood for a moment on the parapet with three of his soldiers,
+encouraging the others to follow, and sprung into the ditch. The
+American infantry, animated by the address and example of their leader,
+pressed on with muskets unloaded and fixed bayonets. They soon reached
+the counterscarp under a heavy and constant fire from the redoubt, and,
+surmounting the abatis, ditch, and palisades, mounted the parapet and
+leaped into the work. Hamilton, who had pressed forward, followed by the
+rear-guard under Mansfield, was for a time lost sight of, and it was
+feared he had fallen; but he soon reappeared, formed the troops in the
+redoubt, and as soon as it surrendered gave the command to Major Fish.
+
+"The impetuosity of the attack carried all before it, and within nine
+minutes from the time the abatis was passed the work was gained."[14]
+This brilliant exploit received the decisive commendation of Washington.
+"Few cases," said he, "have exhibited greater proofs of intrepidity,
+coolness, and firmness than were shown on this occasion."
+
+The battle of Yorktown decided the event of the war of the Revolution.
+The profession of a soldier could no longer give sufficient scope to the
+restless activity of Hamilton; although then occupying a distinguished
+place among the most illustrious of his countrymen, and yielding, though
+not without regret, his arms for the _toga_, he selected for his future
+employment the profession of the law--a pursuit for which his general
+studies and the character of his mind, as well as his inclination,
+eminently fitted him.
+
+From the period of his admission to the bar until the assembling of the
+convention which framed the constitution under which we now live, his
+time and labors were divided between the practice of his profession and
+the service of the public in various capacities. Of the convention he
+was chosen a member, and he brought to the performance of his duties in
+that body the purest patriotism, and abilities unsurpassed, if indeed
+equalled, in that assembly of illustrious men. He took from the outset a
+most conspicuous part in its deliberations, throwing upon every
+important subject which was discussed, the blended lights of his genius,
+experience, and learning. As the sessions of the convention were held in
+secret, we have but an imperfect knowledge of its proceedings; and the
+meagre and fragmentary reports which we possess of the speeches which
+were delivered in it give us a very inadequate notion of the masterly
+efforts of Hamilton. But the testimony of his associates in the
+convention, and the imperfect records we have of its deliberations, join
+in ascribing to him a foremost place; and an impartial student of our
+constitution and history, himself a profound statesman and philosopher,
+M. Guizot, has said that there is in our political system scarcely an
+element of order and durability for which we are not in a great measure
+indebted to the genius of Hamilton. Indeed he was the very first to
+point out the radical defects in the old confederation, and the absolute
+necessity of a government based upon a different foundation, and
+invested with more ample powers. The restoration of the public credit,
+the creation of a currency, the promotion of commerce, the preservation
+of the public faith with foreign countries, the general
+tranquillity--these were topics which he had discussed in all their
+relations long before the meeting of the convention, and he had early
+arrived at the conclusion that these great ends were to be reached in no
+other way than by the establishment of a NATIONAL GOVERNMENT, emanating
+directly from the people at large, sovereign in its own sphere, and
+responsible to the people alone for the manner in which its powers were
+executed. In the Constitution, when it was presented for adoption,
+Hamilton saw some objectionable features. These he had opposed in the
+convention; but finding that such opposition was likely to throw
+obstacles in the way of any final agreement, and reorganizing in the
+instrument proposed to be adopted the essential features of his own
+plan, and wisely regarding it as the best scheme that could unite the
+varying opinions of men, he patriotically withdrew his opposition and
+gave it his hearty assent.
+
+Hamilton was chosen a member of the convention which met at Poughkeepsie
+to consider the question of ratifying it, and he urged the adoption of
+it in a series of masterly speeches, which powerfully contributed to its
+final ratification. At the same time, in conjunction with Madison and
+Jay, he was engaged in the composition of those immortal papers, which,
+under the name of the "Federalist," exercised at the time such a potent
+influence, and which have even since been received as authoritative
+commentaries upon the instrument, the wisdom and expediency of which
+they so eloquently and successfully vindicated. In view of the
+extraordinary exertions of Hamilton in behalf of the Constitution, both
+with his tongue and pen, and of the fact that if New-York had rejected
+it, it would probably have failed to receive the sanction of a
+sufficient number of States, we think that it may without injustice to
+others be said, that for the ratification of our Constitution we are
+more indebted to the labors of Hamilton than to those of any other
+single man.
+
+When the new government went into operation with Washington at its head,
+Hamilton was called to fill what was then the most important place in
+the cabinet, that of Secretary of the Treasury. He then addressed
+himself to the task of carrying out the great purpose for which the
+Constitution was adopted--a task, the successful accomplishment of which
+rested more in the skilful administration of the Treasury department
+than that of any office under government; for upon this hung the great
+issues of the currency and the public credit. With what ability he
+executed his great trust in the face of a powerful and most virulent
+opposition, the event has fully shown. The system of finance which he
+concocted and applied has been adhered to without substantial change
+throughout the subsequent history of the government, and well justifies
+the magnificent eulogy which Webster has bestowed upon its author. "He
+smote the rock of the national resources, and abundant streams of
+revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead corpse of the Public Credit,
+and it sprung upon its feet. The fabled birth of Minerva from the brain
+of Jove was hardly more sudden or more perfect than the financial system
+of the United States, as it burst forth from the conceptions of
+ALEXANDER HAMILTON."[15]
+
+From the Treasury department he returned to the practice of his
+profession, and the calmer walks of private life; but his love for his
+country and the anxiety he felt for her welfare would not permit him to
+relinquish the prominent place he held as the leader of the Federal
+party. He regarded with great distrust and apprehension the principles
+and the practices of the rapidly increasing Democratic party. Many of
+its leaders he believed to be destitute of principle, and he spared no
+exertions in opposing them, and in endeavoring to stay the progress of
+radical opinions, and to infuse a spirit of moderation and wisdom into
+the politics of the nation.
+
+He was now in the prime of life. A practice in his profession at that
+time without parallel in extent and importance, afforded him an abundant
+income, and held out a prospect of a competent fortune. He therefore
+retired from the city, purchased a beautiful spot in the upper part of
+the island of New-York, and there built the tasteful residence of which
+an engraving is prefixed to this sketch, and which of the many places
+where he resided may most appropriately be called his "Home." It is, we
+believe, the only house in New-York, in which he lived, that is now
+standing. Of the one in the island of St. Nevis, in which he was born,
+we have never seen any representation or description. During a small
+portion of his college life, he resided with Mr. Hercules Mulligan in
+Water-street; but the house was long since torn down.
+
+After the close of the war, and during the first years of his practice
+at the bar, Hamilton occupied a house in Wall-street, nearly opposite
+the "Federal Hall," the site of the present Custom House. It was on the
+outer balcony of Federal Hall that Washington took the oath of
+inauguration upon his first election, and Hamilton, with a party of his
+friends, witnessed that imposing ceremony from the balcony of his own
+house. This building has, with most others of its time, been taken down,
+and a new one erected in its place to accommodate that mighty march of
+commercial enterprise which is fast sweeping away the last vestiges
+which mark the dwelling-places of the last generation.
+
+The spot which Hamilton selected for his "Home," and to which he gave
+the name of "Grange," from that of the residence of his grandfather in
+Ayrshire, Scotland, was chosen with taste and judgment, both on account
+of its natural beauty, and the interesting and inspiring recollections
+which its vicinity suggested. It was, at that time, completely in the
+country, without an object to remind one of the neighborhood of the
+town; and even now the population of the city, so prodigiously expanded,
+has not much encroached upon its original limits. It is situated upon
+the old King's Bridge road, about eight miles from the heart of the
+city, and something less than a mile above the ancient village of
+Manhattan, and is about midway between the Hudson River on the one side
+and the Harlem on the other. The west side, which lies on the King's
+Bridge road, is adorned by a fine growth of large shade trees. From
+these it extends with gentle undulations to a declivity, at the base of
+which lie the Harlem commons. The grounds are simply but tastefully laid
+out, chiefly with a view to take advantage of and display the natural
+features of the place. The house is situated nearly in the centre of the
+grounds, and is reached by a gently-winding carriage-way. The stable is
+placed in the rear of the house and at a distance from it, and is
+concealed by a thick growth of trees. A gravelled walk winds among the
+shade trees along the road, and thence across the grounds and along the
+other side. The space in front and on the left of the house is laid out
+in a fine lawn, in which the uneven surface of the ground is preserved,
+dotted here and there with fine trees, the natural growth of the spot.
+Near the house and on the left are thirteen flourishing gum trees, said
+to have been left by Hamilton himself when clearing the spot, as an
+emblem of the thirteen original States.
+
+[Illustration: Residence of Alexander Hamilton, near
+Manhattanville, N.Y.]
+
+The house itself is in form nearly square, of moderate size and well
+proportioned. The front is on the southern side; it is two stories in
+height, exclusive of the basement, and would have been at the time it
+was built a handsome and expensive one. The basement is used for
+culinary purposes, and the first story, which contains the parlors, is
+reached by a short flight of steps. You enter a commodious hall of a
+pentagonal form. On either side is a small apartment, of which the one
+on the right was the study, and contained the library of Hamilton. At
+the end of the hall are the doors, one on the right and the other on the
+left, which open into the parlors. These are of moderate size and
+connected by doors, by opening which they are thrown into one large
+room. The one on the right as you enter the house, is now, and probably
+was when Hamilton occupied it, used as a dining-room. The other parlor
+is furnished for the drawing-room. It is an octagon in form, of which
+three sides are occupied by doors, leading to the hall in front, the
+dining-room, and to a hall in the rear. In two of the opposite sides are
+windows reaching to the floor, and opening upon the lawn on the easterly
+side of the house. The three doors before mentioned are faced with
+mirrors, and being directly opposite the windows, they throw back the
+delightful landscape which appears through the latter with a pleasing
+effect. The story above is commodious, and divided into the usual
+apartments. On the north the prospect is interrupted by higher ground,
+and on the south by trees. On the west a view is caught of the beautiful
+shore of New Jersey, on the opposite side of the Hudson. From the
+eastern side, and especially from the balcony which extends in front of
+the windows of the drawing-room, a magnificent prospect is presented.
+The elevation being some two hundred feet above the surrounding waters,
+a complete view of the lower lands and of the country in the distance is
+commanded. Harlem with its river, the East River and Long Island Sound
+now dotted with a thousand sails, the fertile county of Westchester, and
+Long Island stretching away to the horizon, with its lovely and
+diversified scenery, are all in full view.
+
+This spot has, and probably had for Hamilton, its attractions in another
+respect. In its immediate neighbourhood were the scenes of some of the
+memorable and interesting events of the Revolution. He had passed
+directly over it with the American army in its retreat from New-York,
+after the disastrous battle of Long Island. Within a short distance from
+it are the Harlem Heights, where by his bravery and address, while yet
+but a boy, he had attracted the eye of Washington, and enjoyed his first
+interview with him. A little further towards the north is Fort
+Washington, in which the continental army made its last stand upon the
+island, and the loss of which sealed the fate of New-York for the war.
+It was this fort which, in the ardor of his youthful enthusiasm and
+burning with chagrin at its capture, he promised Washington he would
+retake, if he would place a small and select detachment under his
+command--an enterprise which the Commander-in-Chief thought too
+hazardous. Just across the river on the Jersey side is Fort Lee, which
+fell into the hands of the enemy soon after the capture of Fort
+Washington; and a short distance above, in the King's Bridge road, is
+the house which after the death of Hamilton became the residence of his
+bitter and fatal antagonist, Aaron Burr.
+
+When he had fixed his residence in this beautiful and attractive spot he
+was in the prime of life, in excellent health, and in prosperous
+circumstances. He had been most fortunate in his domestic relations, and
+had around him a happy family to which he was fondly devoted. His
+unrivalled natural powers had been exercised and improved by a training
+of thirty years in the camp, the forum, the senate and the cabinet. He
+was almost worshipped by his friends and his party, and regarded by all
+as one of the very pillars of the State. Every thing in his situation
+and circumstances seemed auspicious of a still long career of happiness
+and honor to himself, of usefulness and honor to his country. But in the
+midst of all this, he was suddenly cut off by the melancholy and fatal
+duel with Col. Burr.
+
+The public and private character of Burr, Hamilton had long known and
+despised. He regarded him as a dangerous man, and one wholly unfit to
+fill any office of trust or emolument. And this opinion, although
+avoiding open controversy with Burr himself, he had not scrupled to
+express privately to his own political friends, for the purpose of
+dissuading them from giving any support to one so little to be depended
+on. He recognized himself no other claim to political distinction than
+honesty of purpose, the ability and the will to serve the country,
+united with what he deemed to be sound political principles, neither of
+which recommendations could he discover in Aaron Burr.
+
+Burr had, on the other hand, few ends in life save his own advancement,
+and he scrupled at no means by which this object might be compassed; but
+in his most deeply laid schemes, he saw that the vigilant eye of
+Hamilton was upon him, and after his defeat in 1804 as a candidate for
+governor of the State of New-York, stung with mortification at his
+overthrow, and justly deeming the influence of Hamilton as one of the
+most potent causes of it, he resolved to fix a quarrel upon him. Seizing
+upon an expression which was contained in a letter, published during the
+recent political contest, but which had been forgotten by every one save
+himself, he dragged it before Hamilton's attention, tortured it into an
+imputation upon his personal honor, demanded of Hamilton an explanation
+which it was impossible for him to give, and made his refusal the
+pretext for a peremptory challenge.
+
+In accepting the challenge of Burr, Hamilton was but little under the
+influence of those motives which are commonly uppermost in such
+contests. To the practice of duelling he was sincerely and upon
+principle opposed, and had frequently borne his testimony against it.
+His reputation for personal courage had been too often tried, and too
+signally proved to be again put at risk. His passions, though strong,
+were under his control, and that sensitiveness on the score of personal
+honor, which a man of spirit naturally cherishes, and which the habits
+of a military life rendered prompt and delicate, was in him satisfied by
+a conscious integrity of purpose. His disposition was forgiving and
+gentle to a fault, and made it impossible for him to feel any personal
+ill will even towards such a man as Burr. The manifold obligations which
+as an honest and conscientious man he was bound to regard--his duties to
+a loved and dependent family, and his country, which held almost an
+equal place in his affections, united to dissuade him from meeting his
+adversary. And yet these latter, viewed in connection with his peculiar
+position, with popular prejudices, and the circumstances of the times,
+were what impelled him to his fatal resolution. His theoretic doubts
+respecting a republican form of government, while they did not in the
+least diminish his preference for our political system, yet made him
+painfully anxious in regard to its success. He thought that every thing
+depended upon keeping the popular mind free from the corruption of false
+principles, and the offices of trust and honor out of the hands of bad
+men. To these ends he had been, and still was, employing all his energy
+and influence. He could not bear the thought of losing or weakening by
+any step, however justifiable in itself, that influence which he had
+reason to think was not exerted in vain. These were the large and
+unselfish considerations which governed him; and though a cool observer
+removed from the excitement and perplexities of the time may pronounce
+them mistaken, still if impartial he must regard them as sincere. They
+were what Hamilton himself, in full view of the solemnity of the step he
+was about to take, and of the possible event of it, declared to be his
+motive. "The ability," said he in the last paper he ever wrote, "to be
+in future useful, whether in resisting mischief or effecting good in
+those crises of our public affairs which seem likely to happen, would
+probably be inseparable from a conformity with prejudice in this
+particular."
+
+After some fruitless endeavors on the part of Hamilton to convince Burr
+of the unreasonableness of the request which the latter had made, all
+explanations were closed, and the preliminaries for the meeting were
+arranged. Hamilton having no wish to take the life of Burr, had come to
+the determination to throw away his first shot,--a course too which
+approved itself to his feelings for other reasons.
+
+The grounds of Weehawk, on the Jersey shore opposite New-York, were at
+that time the usual field of these single combats, then chiefly by the
+inflamed state of political feeling of frequent occurrence, and very
+seldom ending without bloodshed. The day having been fixed, and the hour
+appointed at seven o'clock in the morning, the parties met, accompanied
+only by their servants. The bargemen, as well as Dr. Hosack, the surgeon
+mutually agreed upon, remained as usual at a distance, in order, if any
+fatal result should occur, not to be witnesses. The parties having
+exchanged salutations, the seconds measured the distance of ten paces,
+loaded the pistols, made the other preliminary arrangements, and placed
+the combatants. At the appointed signal, Burr took deliberate aim and
+fired. The ball entered Hamilton's side, and as he fell, his pistol too
+was unconsciously discharged. Burr approached him, apparently somewhat
+moved, but on the suggestion of his second, the surgeon and bargemen
+already approaching, he turned and hastened away, Van Ness coolly
+covering him from their sight by opening an umbrella. The surgeon found
+Hamilton half lying, half sitting on the ground, supported in the arms
+of his second. The pallor of death was on his face. "Doctor," he said,
+"this is a mortal wound;" and, as if overcome by the effort of speaking,
+he swooned quite away. As he was carried across the river the fresh
+breeze revived him. His own house being in the country, he was conveyed
+at once to the house of a friend, where he lingered for twenty-four
+hours in great agony, but preserving his composure and self-command to
+the last.[16]
+
+The melancholy event of the duel affected the whole country, and
+New-York in particular, with the deepest indignation and grief. The
+avenues to the house where Hamilton was carried before he expired, were
+thronged with anxious citizens. His funeral was celebrated by a mournful
+pageant, and an oration in Trinity Church by Governeur Morris, which
+stirred up the people like the speech of Antony over the corpse of
+Caesar, to a "sudden flood of mutiny." Burr, with an indictment for
+murder hanging over him, fled secretly from the city to the South, where
+he remained until the excitement had in a measure subsided. His wretched
+end, and the place which history has assigned to him, leave room at
+present for no other emotions save those of regret and pity. In the deep
+gloom which the death of Hamilton occasioned, his political opponents
+almost equally shared. In contemplating his character they seemed to
+catch some portion of his own magnanimity, and the animosities of which
+he had been so conspicuous an object, were swallowed up in the
+conviction that a great and irreparable loss had fallen equally upon
+all.
+
+There was not, we think, at that time, a life which might not have been
+better spared than that of Hamilton. Certainly no man represented so
+well as he, the character and the principles of Washington; and no man
+was gifted with an array of qualities which better fitted him either as
+a magistrate or a man to control aright the opinions and the actions of
+a people like that of the United States. He was a man "built up on every
+side." He had received from nature a most capacious and admirable
+intellect, which had been exercised and developed by deep study and
+large experience in the practical conduct of affairs. His education was
+like that which Milton describes as "fitting to a man to perform justly,
+skilfully and magnanimously, all the offices, both public and private,
+of peace and war." His opinions were definite and fixed; were held with
+the confidence which is the result of complete conviction; and came from
+him recommended by a powerful eloquence, and a persuasive fairness and
+magnanimity. The strength of his passions gave him an almost unbounded
+influence over the minds of others, which he never perverted to selfish
+purposes or unworthy ends.
+
+A lofty integrity was one of the most prominent traits of his character.
+It was not, as in his great contemporary Jay, clothed with the
+appearance of austerity, nor did it, perhaps, so much as in the latter
+spring from a constant and habitual sense of responsibility to a Supreme
+Being; but it was rather a rare and noble elevation of soul, the
+spontaneous development of a nature which could not harbor a base or
+unworthy motive, cherished indeed and fortified by a firm faith and a
+strong religious temperament. It was this which enabled him to spend so
+long a period of his life in the public service in the exercise of the
+most important public trusts--among them that of the Treasury
+department, with the whole financial arrangements of the country under
+his control, and come from it all without a stain or a suspicion. His
+character for uprightness might be presented as an example in
+illustration of the fine precept of Horace:
+
+   ---- Hic murus aheneus esto
+    Nil conscire sibi, nulla pallescere culpa.
+
+Political hostility and private malice explored every corner of his life
+with the hope of fixing a stain upon his official integrity; but these
+miserable attempts had no other effect than to bring defeat and disgrace
+on the authors of them. His honesty was as conspicuous in his private as
+in his public career, and was indeed sometimes carried to an extent
+which we fear might seem in our times like an absurd refinement. When
+about to enter upon his duties as Secretary of the Treasury, he was
+applied to by some friends engaged in monetary transactions for
+information with respect to the policy which he proposed to pursue, the
+disclosure of which would perhaps promote their interests, and not
+injure those of the public. But this he utterly refused to give, holding
+it as inconsistent with his duty as a public servant, to make his office
+even the indirect means of contributing to the emolument of friends by
+imparting to them information which was not open to all alike. While at
+the bar, and practising only as counsellor, he was associated with the
+Messrs. Ogden, who were then leading members of the profession in
+New-York city, and he received only the retaining and trial fees, though
+his reputation brought to the office a large proportion of all the
+important suits which arose. It was proposed to him to form a connection
+with other attorneys, by which engagement he might receive a portion of
+the attorney's fees in addition; but this offer he at once rejected,
+saying that he could not consent to receive any compensation for
+services not his own, or for the character of which he was not
+responsible.
+
+In his disposition he was one of the most amiable and attractive of men;
+and though capable of strong indignation, which made him always
+respected and sometimes feared by his adversaries, he was yet of such a
+mild and placable temper that no man could be long and sincerely his
+enemy. In person he was rather below the average height, his form was
+well proportioned, and his manner dignified and conciliating. The lower
+features of his countenance were regular and handsome, and beaming with
+the warm affections and generous sentiments of his heart. His brow and
+forehead were of a massive cast, expressive of the commanding intellect
+which lay behind. He was fond of society, full of the most lively and
+various conversation, which made him the delight and ornament of every
+circle he entered. During his time the Supreme Court used to hold its
+terms at New-York and Albany alternately, and the bar was then obliged
+to follow it back and forth between those cities, the journey occupying
+at that time three or four days. Of course this was a season of
+hilarity, and upon such occasions Hamilton was the life of the party,
+sometimes charming the whole company by his ingenious and eloquent
+discussions of the various subjects of conversation, and at others
+calling forth shouts of laughter by his pointed and genial wit. An
+anecdote has been related to us by one who was present on the occasion,
+which well illustrates the power which lay in his fascinating manner and
+conversation. During the hostilities between France and England, which
+succeeded the revolution in the former country, a French man of war
+having on board Jerome Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon, and
+afterwards king of Westphalia, was chased into the harbor of New-York by
+two English frigates. It was during the visit which Jerome was thus
+compelled to make to this country, that he became acquainted with and
+married the beautiful Miss Patterson, of Baltimore. The genius and the
+fortunes of Napoleon were then for the first time astonishing the world,
+and caused Jerome to be received with the most extraordinary marks of
+attention in the different cities of the United States. While he was in
+New-York Hamilton made a dinner party for him, to which a number of the
+chief personages of the time were invited. He was then living at
+"Grange," and, as it happened, upon the very day of the party was
+engaged in the argument of an important cause in the city, which
+detained him there until after the hour for which his guests were
+invited. A long delay ensued after the company had assembled, and the
+embarrassment of Mrs. Hamilton may be imagined. There was evidently a
+feeling of uneasiness and discontent springing up in the minds of the
+guests, and especially was this the case with the distinguished brother
+of the First Consul. He was affected with the usual sensitiveness of a
+_novus homo_ upon the point of etiquette, and it seemed to pass his
+comprehension how a man of Hamilton's private and official eminence
+should be engaged in any of the ordinary pursuits of life, and
+especially that such concerns, or any concerns whatever, should be
+allowed to detain him a single moment from the society of his guests,
+one of whom had the honor to be no less a person than Jerome Bonaparte.
+At a late hour, after the quality of the dinner and the temper of the
+guests had become about equally impaired, Hamilton arrived. He was met
+by his desponding wife, and informed of the distressing predicament
+which his delay had occasioned. After making a hasty toilet, he entered
+the drawing-room, and found that the affair indeed wore a most perilous
+aspect. The appearance of the distinguished Frenchman was especially
+unpromising. But Hamilton was quite equal to the emergency. Gracefully
+apologizing for his tardiness, he at once entered into a most animated
+and eloquent conversation, drew out his different guests with admirable
+dexterity, and enlisted them with one another, and especially
+recommended himself to the late Miss Patterson by a lively chat in
+French, of which language he was a master. The discontented features of
+the Bonaparte began to relax, and it soon became evident that he was in
+the most amiable mood, and one of the most gratified of the party. The
+dinner passed off admirably, and it seemed to be generally conceded that
+the delay in the beginning was amply atoned for by the delightful
+entertainment which followed.
+
+We should do injustice to one of the most amiable traits of Hamilton's
+character if we omitted particularly to notice the strength and
+tenderness of his friendships. Incapable of treachery, free from all
+disguise, and imbued with the largest sympathies, he drew to himself the
+esteem and affection of all who knew him; and such was his admiration
+for noble and generous qualities, that he could not see them displayed
+without clasping their possessors to his heart. He was a general
+favorite in the army, and between some of the choicest spirits in it and
+himself, there was an almost romantic affection. Those that knew him
+best loved him most. The family of Washington were as dear to him as if
+they were kindred by blood. Meade, McHenry, Tilghman, the "Old
+Secretary," Harrison, and the generous and high-souled Laurens, were in
+every change of fortune his cherished and bosom friends. The following
+extract from a letter to Laurens, shows the nature of Hamilton's
+attachment. "Cold in my professions, warm in my friendships, I wish my
+dear Laurens it were in my power, by actions rather than by words, to
+convince you that I love you. I shall only tell you that till you bid us
+adieu, I hardly knew the value you had taught my heart to set upon you.
+Indeed, my friend, it were not well done. You know the opinion I
+entertain of mankind; and how much it is my desire to preserve myself
+free from particular attachments, and to keep my happiness free from the
+caprices of others. You should not have taken advantage of my
+sensibility to steal into my affections, without my consent." The
+openness of his heart and the flexibility of his manners made him a
+great favorite with the French officers. Lafayette loved him as a
+brother, and in one of his letters to him thus writes: "I know the
+General's (Washington's) friendship and gratitude for you, my dear
+Hamilton; both are greater than you perhaps imagine. I am sure he needs
+only to be told that something will suit you, and when he thinks he can
+do it, he certainly will. Before this campaign I was your friend, and
+very intimate friend, agreeably to the ideas of the world; since my
+second voyage, my sentiment has increased to such a point the world
+knows nothing about. To show _both_, from want and from scorn of
+expression, I shall only tell you, adieu." Talleyrand, the celebrated
+minister of Napoleon, whatever may be said of the character of his
+diplomacy, had a heart that was capable of friendship, and while in this
+country conceived a particular fondness for Hamilton, and on his
+departure for France he took from the house of the latter, without
+permission, a miniature belonging to Mrs. Hamilton of her husband. When
+fairly out of reach he addressed a note to Mrs. Hamilton confessing the
+larceny, and excusing it on the ground that he wanted a copy of it, but
+knew that she would not let him take the original away to be copied if
+he had made the request. He had an excellent copy of the miniature taken
+upon Sevres china, which he always kept in a conspicuous place in his
+apartment until late in life, when he presented it with a lock of his
+hair to a son of Hamilton, James A. Hamilton Esq., of Dobb's Ferry, N.
+Y., who still retains it. The indignation of Talleyrand at the conduct
+of Burr in bringing about the melancholy duel was unbounded; and when
+Burr, subsequently to that event, was on a visit to France, he wrote a
+note to Talleyrand, requesting the privilege of paying him a visit. Of
+course the French minister could not refuse this favor to a man who had
+been Vice-President of the United States, and in other respects so
+eminent a person; but his answer was something like this: "The Minister
+of Foreign Affairs would be happy to see Col. Burr at--(naming the
+hour); but M. Talleyrand thinks it due to Col. Burr to state, that he
+always has the miniature of General Hamilton hanging over his
+mantel-piece."
+
+In contemplating the life of Hamilton, it is of course impossible not to
+feel the deepest regret that so much genius, so much usefulness, and so
+much promise, should have been so prematurely cut off. Great as was his
+actual performance, it is natural and reasonable to suppose that the
+results of his youth and early manhood would have been far eclipsed by
+those of his splendid maturity. But as it is, "he lived long enough for
+glory." The influence of his presence and manners, the excitements in
+which he mingled when alive--every thing which tends to give a
+fictitious importance to present greatness, have passed away. But his
+reputation, which some have thought to rest upon these very
+circumstances, stands unaffected by their decay,--a fact which
+sufficiently attests the enduring nature of his fame.
+
+[Illustration: Monument To Hamilton, Trinity Church-yard, N.Y.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[13] Life of Hamilton, by his son, John C. Hamilton, Vol. I. p. 22.
+
+[14] Life of Hamilton, Vol. I. p. 382.
+
+[15] Works of Daniel Webster, Vol. I, p. 200.
+
+[16] Hildreth's History of the United States. New Series, vol. ii.
+p. 524.
+
+
+
+
+=Marshall.=
+
+[Illustration: Marshall fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Marshall's House at Richmond, Va.]
+
+MARSHALL.
+
+
+John Marshall, son of Colonel Thomas Marshall, a planter of moderate
+fortune, was born in Germantown, Fauquier County, Virginia, on the
+twenty-fourth of September, 1755. When twenty-one years of age, he was
+commissioned as a lieutenant in the continental service, and marching
+with his regiment to the north, was appointed captain in the spring of
+1777, and in that capacity served in the battles of Brandywine,
+Germantown, and Monmouth; was at Valley Forge during the winter of 1778,
+and was one of the covering party at the assault of Stoney Point, in
+June, 1779. Having returned to his native State at the expiration of the
+enlistment of the Virginia troops, in 1780 he received a license for the
+practice of the law, and rapidly rose to distinction in that profession.
+In 1782 he was chosen a representative to the legislature, and afterward
+a member of the executive council In January, 1783, he married Mary
+Willis Ambler, of York, in Virginia, with whom he lived for fifty years
+in the tenderest affection. He was a delegate to the convention of
+Virginia which met on the second of June, 1788, to take into
+consideration the new constitution, and in conjunction with his friend,
+Mr. Madison, mainly contributed to its adoption, in opposition to the
+ardent efforts of Henry, Grayson, and Mason. His name first became
+generally known throughout the nation by his vindication, in the
+legislature of the State, of the ratification of Jay's treaty by
+President Washington. No report of that speech remains, but the evidence
+of its ability survives in the effects which it produced on the
+legislature and the country. He continued in the practice of the law,
+having declined successively the offices of Attorney General of the
+United States and Minister to France, until 1797, when with General
+Pinkney and Mr. Gerry, he was sent on a special mission to the French
+republic. The manner in which the dignity of the American character was
+maintained against the corruption of the Directory and its ministers is
+well known. The letters of the seventeenth of January and third of
+April, 1798, to Talleyrand, the Minister of Foreign Relations, have
+always been attributed to Marshall, and they rank among the ablest and
+most effective of diplomatic communications. Mr. Marshall arrived in
+New-York on the seventeenth of June, 1798, and on the nineteenth entered
+Philadelphia. At the intelligence of his approach the whole city poured
+out toward Frankford to receive him, and escorted him to his lodgings
+with all the honors of a triumph. In after years, when he visited
+Philadelphia, he often spoke of the feelings with which, as he came near
+the city on that occasion, with some doubts as to the reception which he
+might meet with in the existing state of parties, he beheld the
+multitude rushing forth to crowd about him with every demonstration of
+respect and approbation, as having been the most interesting and
+gratifying of his life.
+
+On his return to Virginia, at the special request of General Washington,
+he became a candidate for the House of Representatives, and was elected
+in the spring of 1799. His greatest effort in Congress was his speech in
+opposition to the resolutions of Edward Livingston relative to Thomas
+Nash, alias Jonathan Robbins. Fortunately we possess an accurate report
+of it, revised by himself. The case was, that Thomas Nash, having
+committed a murder on board the British frigate Hermione, navigating the
+high seas under a commission from the British king, had sought an asylum
+within the United States, and his delivery had been demanded by the
+British minister under the twenty-seventh article of the treaty of amity
+between the two nations. Mr. Marshall's argument first established that
+the crime was within the jurisdiction of Great Britain, on the general
+principles of public law, and then demonstrated, that under the
+constitution the case was subject to the disposal of the executive, and
+not the judiciary. He distinguished these departments from one another
+with an acuteness of discrimination and a force of logic which
+frustrated the attempt to carry the judiciary out of its orbit, and
+settled the political question, then and for ever. It is said that Mr.
+Gallatin, whose part it was to reply to Mr. Marshall, at the close of
+the speech turned to some of his friends and said, "_You_ may answer
+that if you choose; _I_ cannot." The argument deserves to rank among the
+most dignified displays of human intellect. At the close of the session,
+Mr. Marshall was appointed Secretary of War, and soon after Secretary of
+State. During his continuance in that department our relations with
+England were in a very interesting condition, and his correspondence
+with Mr. King exhibits his abilities and spirit in the most dignified
+point of view. "His despatch of the twentieth of September, 1800," says
+Mr. Binney, "is a noble specimen of the first order of state papers, and
+shows the most finished adaptation of parts for the station of an
+American Secretary of State." On the thirty-first of January, 1801, he
+was appointed Chief Justice of the United States, in which office he
+continued until his death. In 1804 he published the Biography of
+Washington, which for candor, accuracy, and comprehension, will for ever
+be the most authentic history of the Revolution. He died in Philadelphia
+on the sixth of July, 1835.
+
+Mr. Marshall's career as Chief Justice extended through a period of more
+than thirty-four years, which is the longest judicial tenure recorded in
+history. To one who cannot follow his great judgments, in which, at the
+same time, the depths of legal wisdom are disclosed and the limits of
+human reason measured, the language of just eulogy must wear an
+appearance of extravagance. In his own profession he stands for the
+reverence of the wise rather than for the enthusiasm of the many. The
+proportion of the figure was so perfect, that the sense of its vastness
+was lost. Above the difficulties of common minds, he was in some degree
+above their sympathy. Saved from popularity by the very rarity of his
+qualities, he astonished the most where he was best understood. The
+questions upon which his judgment was detained, and the considerations
+by which his decision was at last determined, were such as ordinary
+understandings, not merely could not resolve, but were often inadequate
+even to appreciate or apprehend. It was his manner to deal directly with
+the results of thought and learning, and the length and labor of the
+processes by which these results were suggested and verified might elude
+the consciousness of those who had not themselves attempted to perform
+them. From the position in which he stood of evident superiority to his
+subject, it was obviously so easy for him to describe its character and
+define its relations, that we sometimes forgot to wonder by what
+faculties or what efforts he had attained to that eminence. We were so
+much accustomed to see his mind move only in the light, that there was a
+danger of our not observing that the illumination by which it was
+surrounded was the beam of its own presence, and not the natural
+atmosphere of the scene.
+
+The true character and measure of Marshall's greatness are missed by
+those who conceive of him as limited within the sphere of the justices
+of England, and who describe him merely as the first of lawyers. To have
+been "the most consummate judge that ever sat in judgment," was the
+highest possibility of Eldon's merit, but was only a segment of
+Marshall's fame. It was in a distinct department, of more dignified
+functions, almost of an opposite kind, that he displayed those abilities
+that advance his name to the highest renown, and shed around it the
+glories of a statesman and legislator. The powers of the Supreme Court
+of the United States are such as were never before confided to a
+judicial tribunal by any people. As determining, without appeal, its own
+jurisdiction, and that of the legislature and executive, that court is
+not merely the highest estate in the country, but it settles and
+continually moulds the constitution of the government. Of the great work
+of constructing a nation, but a small part, practically, had been
+performed when the written document had been signed by the convention: a
+vicious theory of interpretation might defeat the grandeur and unity of
+the organization, and a want of comprehension and foresight might
+fatally perplex the harmony of the combination. The administration of a
+system of polity is the larger part of its establishment. What the
+constitution was to be, depended on the principles on which the federal
+instrument was to be construed, and they were not to be found in the
+maxims and modes of reasoning by which the law determines upon social
+contracts between man and man, but were to be sought anew in the
+elements of political philosophy and the general suggestions of
+legislative wisdom. To these august duties Judge Marshall brought a
+greatness of conception that was commensurate with their difficulty; he
+came to them in the spirit and with the strength of one who would
+minister to the development of a nation; and it was the essential
+sagacity of his guiding mind that saved us from illustrating the
+sarcasms of Mr. Burke about paper constitutions. He saw the futility of
+attempting to control society by a metaphysical theory; he apprehended
+the just relation between opinion and life, between the forms of
+speculation and the force of things. Knowing that we are wise in respect
+to nature, only as we give back to it faithfully what we have learned
+from it obediently, he sought to fix the wisdom of the real and to
+resolve it into principles. He made the nation explain its constitution,
+and compelled the actual to define the possible. Experience was the
+dialectic by which he deduced from substantial premises a practical
+conclusion. The might of reason by which convenience and right were thus
+moulded into union, was amazing. But while he knew the folly of
+endeavoring to be wiser than time, his matchless resources of good sense
+contributed to the orderly development of the inherent elements of the
+constitution, by a vigor and dexterity as eminent in their kind as they
+were rare in their combination. The vessel of state was launched by the
+patriotism of many: the chart of her course was designed chiefly by
+Hamilton: but when the voyage was begun, the eye that observed, and the
+head that reckoned, and the hand that compelled the ship to keep her
+course amid tempests without, and threats of mutiny within, were those
+of the great Chief Justice. Posterity will give him reverence as one of
+the founders of the nation; and of that group of statesmen who may one
+day perhaps be regarded as above the nature, as they certainly were
+beyond the dimensions of men, no figure, save ONE alone, will rise upon
+the eye in grandeur more towering than that of John Marshall.
+
+The authority of the Supreme Court, however, is not confined to cases of
+constitutional law; it embraces the whole range of judicial action, as
+it is distributed in England, into legal, equitable, and maritime
+jurisdictions. The equity system of this court was too little developed
+to enable us to say what Marshall would have been as a chancellor. It is
+difficult to admit that he would have been inferior to Lord Eldon: it is
+impossible to conceive that he could at all have resembled Lord Eldon.
+But undoubtedly the native region and proper interest of a mind so
+analytical and so sound, so piercing and so practical, was the common
+law; that vigorous system of manly reason and essential right, that
+splendid scheme of morality expanded by logic and informed by prudence.
+Perhaps the highest range of English intelligence is illustrated in the
+law; yet where, in the whole line of that august succession, will be
+found a character which fills the measure of judicial greatness so
+completely as Chief Justice Marshall? Where, in English history, is the
+judge, whose mind was at once so enlarged and so systematic, who so
+thoroughly had reduced professional science to general reason, in whose
+disciplined intellect technical learning had so completely passed into
+native sense? Vast as the reach of the law is, it is not an exaggeration
+to say that Marshall's understanding was greater, and embraced the forms
+of legal sagacity within it, as a part of its own spontaneous wisdom. He
+discriminated with instinctive accuracy between those technicalities
+which have sprung from the narrowness of inferior minds, and those which
+are set by the law for the defence of some vital element of justice or
+reason. The former he brushed away like cobwebs, while he yielded to the
+latter with a respect which sometimes seemed to those "whose eyes were"
+not "opened," a species of superstition. In his judicial office the
+method of Marshall appeared to be, first to bow his understanding
+reverently to the law, and calmly and patiently to receive its
+instructions as those of an oracle of which he was the minister; then to
+prove these dictates by the most searching processes of reason, and to
+deliver them to others, not as decrees to be obeyed, but as logical
+manifestations of moral truth. Undoubtedly he made much use of adjudged
+cases; but he used them to give light and certainty to his own judgment,
+and not for the vindication or support of the law. He would have deemed
+it a reproach alike to his abilities and his station, if he should have
+determined upon precedent what could have been demonstrated by reason,
+or had referred to authority what belonged to principle. With singular
+capacity, he united systematic reason with a perception of particular
+equity: too scrupulous a regard for the latter led Lord Eldon, in most
+instances, to adjudicate nothing but the case before him; but Marshall
+remembered that while he owed to the suitors the decision of the case,
+he owed to society the establishment of the principle. His mind
+naturally tended, not to suggestion and speculation, but to the
+determination of opinion and the closing of doubts. On the bench, he
+always recollected that he was not merely a lawyer, and much less a
+legal essayist; he was conscious of an official duty and an official
+authority; and considered that questions might be discussed elsewhere,
+but came to be settled by him. The dignity with which these duties were
+discharged was not the least admirable part of the display. It was
+wisdom on the seat of power, pronouncing the decrees of justice.
+
+Political and legal sense are so distinct from one another as almost to
+be irreconcilable in the same mind. The latter is a mere course of
+deduction from premises; the other calls into exercise the highest order
+of perceptive faculties, and that quick felicity of intuition which
+flashes to its conclusions by a species of mental sympathy rather than
+by any conscious process of argumentation. The one requires that the
+susceptibility of the judgment should be kept exquisitely alive to every
+suggestion of the practical, so as to catch and follow the insensible
+reasonings of life, rather than to reason itself: the other demands the
+exclusion of every thing not rigorously exact, and the concentration of
+the whole consciousness of the mind in kindling implicit truth into
+formal principles. The wonder, in Judge Marshall's case, was to see
+these two almost inconsistent faculties, in quality so matchless, and in
+development so magnificent, harmonized and united in his marvellous
+intelligence. We beheld him pass from one to the other department
+without confusing their nature, and without perplexing his own
+understanding. When he approached a question of constitutional
+jurisprudence, we saw the lawyer expand into the legislator; and in
+returning to a narrower sphere, pause from the creative glow of
+statesmanship, and descend from intercourse with the great conceptions
+and great feelings by which nations are guided and society is advanced,
+to submit his faculties with docility to the yoke of legal forms, and
+with impassible calmness to thread the tangled intricacies of forensic
+technicalities.
+
+There was in this extraordinary man an unusual combination of the
+capacity of apprehending truth, with the ability to demonstrate and make
+it palpable to others. They often exist together in unequal degrees.
+Lord Mansfield's power of luminous explication was so surpassing that
+one might almost say that he made others perceive what he did not
+understand himself; but the numerous instances in which his decisions
+have been directly overthrown by his successors, and the still greater
+number of cases in which his opinions have been silently departed from,
+compel a belief that his judgment was not of the truest kind. Lord
+Eldon's judicial sagacity was a species of inspiration; but he seemed to
+be unable not only to convince others; but even to certify himself of
+the correctness of his own greatest and wisest determinations. But Judge
+Marshall's sense appeared to be at once both instinctive and analytical:
+his logic extended as far as his perception: he had no propositions in
+his thoughts which he could not resolve into their axioms. Truth came to
+him as a revelation, and from him as a demonstration. His mind was more
+than the faculty of vision; it was a body of light, which irradiated the
+subject to which it was directed, and rendered it as distinct to every
+other eye as it was to its own.
+
+The mental integrity of this illustrious man was not the least important
+element of his greatness. Those qualities of vanity, fondness for
+display, the love of effect, the solicitation of applause, sensibility
+to opinions, which are the immoralities of intellect, never attached to
+that stainless essence of pure reason. He seemed to men to be a
+passionless intelligence; susceptible to no feeling but the constant
+love of right; subject to no affection but a polarity toward truth.
+
+As has already been stated, the great chief justice was married when
+twenty-eight years of age, to Miss Ambler, of York, in Virginia; there
+have been few such unions in every respect more fortunate and
+delightful; the wife died but a short time before the husband, who, not
+more than two days previous to his own decease, directed that his body
+should be laid with hers, and that the plain stone to indicate the place
+of their rest should have only this simple inscription:
+
+    "John Marshall, son of Thomas and Mary Marshall, was born on the
+    24th of September, 1755, intermarried with Mary Willis Ambler on
+    the 3d of January, 1783, and departed this life the ---- day
+    of ---- 18--."
+
+With no other alteration than the filling of the blanks, this is
+engraved on the modest white marble which is over their remains in the
+beautiful cemetery on Shoccoe Hill, of Richmond.
+
+The chief justice always lived in a style of singular simplicity; when
+Secretary of State at Washington, he resided in a brick building hardly
+larger than most of the kitchens now in use, and his house in Richmond,
+to which he soon after removed, was characteristically unostentatious.
+From Richmond he frequently walked out three or four miles to his farm
+in the county of Henrico; and once a year he made a protracted visit to
+his other farm, near his birth-place, in Fauquier.
+
+No man had a keener relish for social and convivial enjoyments, and
+numerous anecdotes are told in illustration of this trait in his
+character. Nearly all the period of his residence in Richmond, he was a
+member of a club which met near the city once a fortnight to pitch
+quoits, and mingle in relaxing conversation; there was no one more
+punctual in his attendance at its meetings, or who contributed more to
+their pleasantness; and such was his skill in the manly game he
+practised, that he would hurl his iron ring, weighing two pounds, with
+rarely erring aim, fifty-five or sixty feet, and when he or his partner
+made any specially successful exhibition of skill, he would leap up and
+clap his hands with the light-hearted enthusiasm of boyhood.
+
+
+
+
+=Ames.=
+
+[Illustration: Ames fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+AMES.
+
+
+The house in which FISHER AMES was born was pulled down somewhere about
+1818. It used to stand on the main street of Dedham, a little to the
+northeast, and over the way from where the court-house now stands. It
+was a roomy, two-story, peaked-roofed old building, with its end to the
+street; the oldest part having an addition of more modern construction
+on the front, or what, with reference to the street, was the end. The
+rooms were low, the windows small, and the lower floor was sunken a
+little below the ground. A large buttonwood overshadowed it in front,
+and from behind an elm, the latter still standing. There was no fence
+between the house and the street, and the intervening space was covered
+with grass of that thick and stubbed growth peculiar to such localities.
+Behind was a large barn, while on both sides, and back for fifty or
+sixty rods, to the Charles River, stretched a broad field of irregular
+surface. Just across the street was the "Front Lot," a piece of
+unoccupied land, including that on which the court-house now stands, and
+extending east nearly as far as the post-office. On the corner of this
+lot, directly in front of the house stood, subsequently,--that is, to
+the year 1776, when it was erected,--a stone pillar supporting a column,
+surmounted by a wooden head of Pitt, the same having been set up by the
+"Sons of Liberty," a brother of Fisher Ames among the number, on the
+repeal of the Stamp Act. This structure, after testifying to America's
+gratitude for a number of years, and furnishing to the corner on which
+it stood, the name of "Pitt's Head," was eventually overthrown. The
+stone pillar with its glowing inscription, after lying awhile by the
+roadside, and offering a seat to chatting children, and a place, in the
+spaces of the letters, for cracking nuts, was at length set up in its
+old place, on the erection of the court-house some twenty-five years
+since, where it still stands. But of the fate of the column and the head
+we have no account. This wooden head, intended by its enthusiastic
+raisers, without a doubt, to be "aere perennius," lay kicking about the
+street; and perhaps found refuge at last from the vicissitudes of the
+weather and the wasting jack-knife of the schoolboy, in the wood-box or
+the garret of some hospitable patriot.
+
+The old house was long kept as an inn, both by Dr. Nathaniel Ames, the
+father of Fisher, and, after his death, by his wife. Innkeeping in those
+days was not so engrossing an occupation as at present, and Dr. Ames, by
+no means mainly a Boniface, found time for the care of his farm, for the
+practice of his profession, for the study of mathematics, astronomy, and
+kindred subjects; and for the application of the knowledge thus
+acquired, in the making of almanacs; a business which he carried on for
+forty years. In their veracious pages, besides indicating the doings and
+intentions of the heavenly bodies, and predicting storms with all the
+accuracy of which the case was susceptible, Dr. Ames used to portray the
+exciting events of the time in verse, more patriotic and vivid, perhaps,
+than poetic. He was, in truth, a man of no small consideration in
+Dedham, of much natural ability, of wit and spirit.
+
+He showed these last qualities once on a time, when the colonial judges
+decided some law case against him. He thought they had disregarded the
+law, and their Reverences were soon seen, sketched on a sign-board in
+front of the tavern, in full bottomed wigs, tippling, with their _backs_
+to the volume labelled "The Province Law." The authorities at Boston
+taking umbrage at this, dispatched some officers to Dedham to remove the
+sign. But Dr. Ames was too quick for them; and the baffled tipstaves on
+reaching the house found nothing hanging but a board, on which was
+inscribed, "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh for a sign, but
+no sign shall be given them."
+
+Dr. Ames died in 1764, when his son Fisher, the youngest child, was six
+years old; having besides him, a son of his own name and profession, who
+was afterwards a violent democrat and opponent of Fisher Ames, two other
+sons and a daughter. Of these, Fisher was the only one who left
+descendants. Mrs. Ames continued to keep the inn, and married again. She
+was a very shrewd and sensible woman, of a strong and singular cast of
+mind. She took a hearty interest in politics, and hated the Jacobins
+devoutly. Innkeeping was a favorite occupation with her, and she carried
+matters with a high hand. We have heard her compared to Meg Dods, the
+landlady in St. Ronan's Well. She outlived her son Fisher some ten years
+or more.
+
+Fisher Ames was a delicate child, and the pet of his mother, whose
+maiden name he bore. He had such an extravagant fondness for books,
+devouring all that fell within his reach, and showed, in other ways, to
+the fond perception of his parent, such unmistakable signs of genius,
+that she early determined to make a lawyer of him, and put him to the
+study of Latin at six. The little fellow worked bravely at his lessons
+for six years, reciting sometimes to the school-teacher, when that
+functionary happened to be more than usually learned, sometimes to old
+Mr. Haven the minister, with whom he early made friends, and to various
+other persons. In 1770, twelve years old, he was admitted to Harvard
+College. Here he spent four years with credit and success, acquiring
+greater distinction in the study of the languages and in oratory, than
+in the abstract sciences. He was conspicuous, even at this early age, as
+a speaker, being one of the leading members of a society for improvement
+in eloquence, then newly established. This society, under the style of
+"The Institute of 1770," is still flourishing at Cambridge, and turns
+out annually as many orators, perhaps, as any similar body in our
+country. The writer of this remembers to have heard there, in his own
+college days, a great deal of sublime elocution. Fisher Ames's name
+occurs on the records a number of times, as a speaker, and a critic, and
+once as follows: "June, 1, 1773.--Voted, that Ames, Clarke, and Eliot,
+be fined 4 pence for tardiness." Young Ames passed through college with
+unblemished morals. "Happily," in the elegant phrase of his biographer,
+"he did not need the smart of guilt to make him virtuous, nor the regret
+of folly to make him wise."
+
+In the summer of 1774, he returned to his mother's house.
+Notwithstanding her predilection for law, he had some idea of studying
+medicine or divinity. But, the year of the Boston Port Bill was no good
+time for deciding upon a course of life, or beginning it when determined
+on. Besides, Fisher Ames was but sixteen, and his mother was poor. For a
+short time, therefore, he engaged in teaching school; and, after a few
+years spent in desultory but unceasing study and reading, he began law
+in the office of Wm. Tudor, of Boston.
+
+During this time the contest was going on in which his country's
+liberties were involved, and young Ames was a watchful and anxious
+observer of its progress. It was at his mother's house that the good men
+of Dedham used to meet, to see what they and the country were to do.
+Only a month or two after his return from college, a convention from all
+the towns of Suffolk county, of which Dedham was then a part, met here
+to deliberate. We can imagine the heart of our boy of sixteen burning
+within him, and his eye flashing as he heard the outraged citizens of
+Boston tell their grievances, and as he longed to be a man, that he
+might take a part with those determined patriots in their resolution to
+try the issue with Great Britain, if need be, at the point of the sword.
+Dedham sent some brave soldiers to the service, and Fisher Ames, young
+as he was, went out in one or two short expeditions.
+
+In 1781 we find him entered upon the practice of law at Dedham, where he
+soon became distinguished as an advocate. In those days the manners of
+the bench were very rough. The road to eminence in law seemed often to
+lie between rows of semi-barbarous judges, who hurled at aspiring
+barristers every missile of abuse. There is always much, it is true, in
+the deportment of young lawyers to vex the temper of a judge, and perhaps
+in those days of callow independence there may have been more than common.
+There appears to be something about that great science to which, in the
+language of Hooker, "all things in heaven and earth do homage, the least
+as feeling her care, and the greatest as not exempted from her bounty,"
+that breathes unusual dignity into its servants, especially its young
+ones. In its various duties, the giving of counsel, the questioning of
+witnesses, and the frequent display of capacity before courts and
+juries, the seeds of vanity find propitious soil and start into rank
+growth. From this or whatever cause, the judges of old times were crusty
+and abusive; and old Judge Paine, besides being all this, was moreover
+deaf, and used to berate counsel roundly at times for what was no fault
+of theirs. "I tell you what," said Fisher Ames, as he came out of court
+one day, "a man, when he enters that court-room, ought to go armed with
+a speaking trumpet in one hand and a club in the other." At another
+time, Ames expressed a rather derogatory opinion of the intelligence of
+the court. He was arguing a case before a number of county justices, and
+having finished, turned to leave the room. "Ain't you going to say any
+thing more, Mr. Ames?" anxiously whispered his client. "No," rejoined
+Ames; "you might as well argue a case to a row of skim-milk cheeses!"
+Perhaps his dislike to these dignitaries may have been an inheritance.
+May not the old Doctor, in his indignation about the Province Law
+matter, like another Hamilcar, have made his son, a youthful Hannibal,
+swear eternal hatred to his foes?
+
+Mr. Ames was now a rapidly rising man. Various essays on political
+subjects from his pen appeared in the newspapers, and contributed to
+draw public attention to him. When quite young, he was sent to a
+convention held at Concord, to consider the depreciated state of the
+currency, where he made an eloquent speech. In 1788, he was a member of
+the convention for ratifying the federal constitution. Here he added
+much to his fame by a number of excellent speeches. One on the biennial
+election of representatives was considered the best, and is the only one
+given in his works. It is lucid, statesmanlike, and eloquent. The
+occasion of it was an inquiry by Samuel Adams, why representatives were
+not made elective annually. To this Ames alludes in the closing
+paragraph: "As it has been demanded why annual elections were not
+preferred to biennial, permit me to retort the question, and to inquire,
+in my turn, what reason can be given why, if annual elections are good,
+biennial elections are not better?" Adams professed himself entirely
+satisfied. This same year Ames represented Dedham in the legislature.
+
+In 1789, Suffolk county sent him as her first representative to
+Congress, in opposition to Samuel Adams. He was in Congress eight years,
+during the whole of Washington's administration, and was one of the most
+prominent leaders of the federal party, giving to the President uniform
+and important support. In this period, he acquired a reputation for
+candor, integrity, ability, and eloquence, second to that of no man in
+Congress. At times, particularly towards the end of his term, ill-health
+compelled his absence; yet he examined with care every important
+question that presented itself, and spoke upon almost every one. But of
+his numerous efforts in Congress, only two are printed among his works,
+one on certain resolutions of Madison's for imposing additional duties
+on foreign goods, delivered in 1794, and the speech on Jay's treaty, two
+years later, his most brilliant effort, "an era," says his biographer,
+"in his political life." This speech was written out from memory by
+Judge Smith and Samuel Dexter, receiving a revision from Ames. It is
+thus alluded to by Hildreth: "He (Ames) had been detained from the House
+during the early part of the session, by an access of that disorder
+which made all the latter part of his life one long disease. Rising from
+his seat, pale, feeble, hardly able to stand or to speak, but warming
+with the subject, he delivered a speech which, for comprehensive
+knowledge of human nature and of the springs of political action, for
+caustic ridicule, keen argument, and pathetic eloquence, even in the
+imperfect shape in which we possess it, has very seldom been equalled on
+that or any other floor." The question was to have been taken that same
+day, but one of the opposition moved that it be postponed till the next,
+that they should not act under the influence of an excitement of which
+their calm judgment might not approve.
+
+After reducing the question to one of breaking the public faith, the
+speaker adds: "This, sir, is a cause that would be dishonored and
+betrayed, if I contented myself with appealing only to the
+understanding. It is too cold, and its processes are too slow for the
+occasion. I desire to thank God that, since he has given me an intellect
+so fallible, he has impressed upon me an instinct that is sure. On a
+question of shame and dishonor, reasoning is sometimes useless, and
+worse. I feel the decision in my pulse; if it throws no light upon the
+brain, it kindles a fire at the heart." It is the spirit that breathes
+in this splendid burst that stirred the minds of the hearers, wearied
+and disgusted with a discussion of nearly two months, so that, in the
+blunt language of John Adams--"there wasn't a dry eye in the House,
+except some of the jackasses that occasioned the necessity of the
+oratory."
+
+Ames's speeches show great clearness of mind and power of reasoning, and
+have about them an air of candor that induces conviction. He brought to
+every subject on which he was to speak, that thorough understanding of
+it, in which, if we may believe Socrates, lies the secret of all
+eloquence. It appears to have been customary with him to wait till a
+question had undergone some discussion, that he might the better
+appreciate the arguments on both sides. He would then rise, and
+disperse, as with the wand of Prospero, the mists of prejudice and
+sophistry that had gathered over the question in the course of debate,
+while he placed the subject before the House with convincing eloquence
+and precision. His well-stored mind poured forth illustrations at every
+step, and his imagination illuminated each point on which he touched.
+Now and then it would light up into a pure and steady blaze as he dwelt
+on some topic that stirred his deepest emotions, and transfigured it in
+apt and nervous language. In this union of imagination and feeling,
+making every period glow with life, with logical power, Ames resembled
+Chatham.
+
+He was not in the habit of trusting to notes, but used to think out a
+sketch of what he was to say, and trust for the rest to the inspiration
+of the occasion. At first his manner was slow and hesitating, like one
+in reflection; but as he went on, his thoughts and his language flowed
+fast, and his face beamed with expression. We have heard his manner
+characterized by one who had frequent opportunities of hearing him, in
+the words of Antenor's description of Ulysses:
+
+    "But when Ulyssus rose, in thought profound,
+    His modest eyes he fixed upon the ground,
+    As one unskilled, or drunk, he seemed to stand,
+    Nor raised his head nor stretched his sceptred hand;
+    But when he speaks, what elocution flows!
+    Soft as the fleeces of descending snows,
+    The copious accents fall, with easy art;
+    Melting they fall and sink into the heart!"
+
+His voice is described as rich and melodious. His personal appearance is
+thus given by Wm. Sullivan: "He was above middle stature, and
+well-formed. His features were not strongly marked. His forehead was
+neither high nor expansive. His eyes blue, and of middling size; his
+mouth handsome; his hair was black, and short on the forehead, and in
+his latter years unpowdered. He was very erect, and when speaking he
+raised his head; or rather his chin was the most projected part of his
+face." Before a jury he was very effective. There was nothing bitter or
+sarcastic in his manner; but mild, cool, and candid, it made a jury, as
+we heard it expressed, "want to give him the case, if they could." He is
+contrasted with his friend Samuel Dexter, as preferring to illustrate by
+a picture, while Dexter would explain by a diagram.
+
+Mr. Ames was the author of the "Address of the House of Representatives
+to Washington," on his signifying his intention to withdraw from office.
+His own health had been, and was still so feeble, that he could not
+stand for re-election. Accordingly, he retired to Dedham in March, 1797,
+intending to devote himself, as far as possible, to the practice of his
+profession and the enjoyment of domestic happiness.
+
+In July 1792, Mr. Ames had married Miss Worthington, of Springfield.
+This marriage was an exceedingly happy one. Mrs. Ames was much beloved
+and respected by her neighbors, and, in her sphere, was considered as
+remarkable as her husband. She was a woman of gentle and retiring
+disposition, devoted to her family, kind, motherly and sensible. Mr.
+Ames seems to have found in her a companion who called forth and
+appreciated all those amiable qualities which were a part of his
+character. She took a good deal of interest in public affairs, and was a
+woman of cultivated mind. She survived her husband, and died some
+sixteen years since, at the age of seventy-four. They had seven
+children, six sons and a daughter. The daughter died young and
+unmarried, of consumption. Three of the sons are now living, one in
+Dedham, one in Cambridge, and another somewhere at the West. All the
+children however survived their father.
+
+Previous to his marriage Mr. Ames had lived with his mother. After that
+event he moved to Boston and took a house on Beacon Street, next to
+Governor Bowdoin's. He appears to have lived here about two years, when
+he returned to Dedham, and began the building of a new house. This house
+was finished and occupied by the winter of 1795; during the interval Mr.
+Ames lived in a house opposite the old mansion now occupied by the
+Dedham Gazette. This new house of Ames's is still standing in Dedham,
+externally much the same as of old; a large square-built, two-story
+house, flat-roofed, simple and substantial. Internally, however,
+together with the ground about it, it has undergone many alterations.
+Formerly it had not the piazza now in front of it, and the various
+chimneys were then represented by one fat, old-fashioned, solid
+structure in the middle. It passed out of the hands of the family about
+1835, and is at present owned by Mr. John Gardiner.
+
+Mr. Ames seems to have inherited most of the old homestead, to the
+extent of twenty-five acres, on which he built his house, facing the
+south, a little to the east, and back of his mother's. He employed
+himself a good deal henceforth in the cultivation of his farm. The
+"Front Lot" was surrounded with a rail fence and a row of Lombardy
+poplars, and was used at different times as a mowing lot, a cornfield,
+and a pasture for the cows. On the east side of the house, extending in
+length from the street to the river, and in width from directly under
+the windows, far enough to include a street and a row of small houses,
+since constructed, was a pasture and orchard including seven or eight
+acres, and stocked with the best fruit. Directly back of the house was
+the garden, a long and rather barren strip of land, of peculiar surface.
+Two straight walks went from the house the whole length of it. At the
+farther end of it was a low oval space, with a walk running around it,
+and a pond in the middle. All this part of the garden was low, and
+surrounded at the sides and end with a bank, in the form of an
+amphitheatre. Three or four terraces lay between it and the higher
+ground. These and the oval space with its walk, still remain, but the
+fence between the garden and the orchard has been removed, and the two
+straight walks somewhat changed, to suit the modern appetite for grace.
+The place is still full of the fruit-trees that Fisher Ames planted,
+some crossgrained pear-trees, and venerable cherries being the chief.
+The boys used to look over in this orchard and garden, at the big pears,
+weighing down the trees and covering the ground, as if it were the very
+garden of the Hesperides, and the dragon were asleep. Once in a while
+the gates would be thrown open to these hungry longers, and they helped
+themselves; when winter came too the pond afforded them a capital
+skating place. A large shed ran out from the back of the house, on the
+west end, used, among other purposes, as a granary. To the west and back
+of this, was the barn of the old house, and a large new one built by Mr.
+Ames, and behind the latter, the ice-house, in those days quite a
+novelty. Back of this was an open field. On the west side of the house,
+a flight of steps led from one of the lower windows down the bank, with
+an old pear-tree growing through it.
+
+The house stood about two rods from the street; a semi-elliptical walk
+led up to the door, and two horse-chestnuts grew in the yard. There were
+but few trees near the house, for Mr. Ames liked the light and the fresh
+air. He planted a great many shade trees however on the street, and some
+of the fine old elms about the common were set out with his own hands.
+The front door opened into a large room, which took up the whole
+southwestern end, used as a hall, and on occasion of those large dinner
+parties so common among men of Mr. Ames's class, in those days, as a
+dining-room. At such times this was thrown into one with the adjoining
+front room, a large apartment, with a big fireplace, commonly used as a
+parlor. Back of this was the library overlooking the garden. The
+southeastern end was Mr. Ames's favorite one. His chamber, that in which
+he died, was here, on the second story. Below stairs, was a cellar
+kitchen, and a dairy; this last quite a magnificent matter, with marble
+flagging, and ice bestowed around in summer, for coolness.
+
+From the bank at the end of the garden, Mr. Ames's land covered with
+fruit-trees, sloped gracefully to the water. Charles River is here only
+twenty or thirty feet wide, and winds with a tranquil current through a
+narrow meadow; not as broad, but brighter and clearer than where at
+Cambridge it calls forth the admiring apostrophe of the poet. It is only
+a short way below this where Mother Brook issues from the Charles,
+flowing towards the east, and joining it with the Neponset, and making
+an island of all the intervening region, which embraces Boston, Roxbury,
+and Dorchester. This singular stream, though its banks are wooded with
+venerable trees, and it is in all respects like one of nature's own, is
+nevertheless an artificial course of water. And what is very remarkable,
+it was constructed by the Puritan settlers, only three years after their
+arrival in 1639, when there could not have been a hundred men in the
+place. They were in want of a flow of water for mill purposes, and
+accordingly dug a canal a mile in length, from the Charles eastwardly.
+Here the land descended, and the water, left to its own course, wound in
+graceful curves to the Neponset. There are still a number of mills on
+this stream. This achievement of Young America, considering his extreme
+youth at the time, amounting in fact to infancy, was not unworthy of his
+subsequent exploits.
+
+After returning from Congress, Mr. Ames passed a life of almost unbroken
+retirement. In 1798 he was appointed commissioner to the Cherokees, an
+office he was obliged to refuse. In 1800 he was a member of the
+Governor's Council, and in the same year delivered a eulogy on
+Washington, before the Legislature. He was chosen in 1805, President of
+Harvard College, but ill health, and a disinclination to change his
+habits of life, led him to decline the honor.
+
+He had also resumed the practice of his profession with ardor, but the
+state of his health compelled him gradually to drop it; and towards the
+close of his life, he was glad to throw it aside altogether. Mr. Ames
+was not much of a traveller, though getting back and forth between
+Dedham and Philadelphia, which he used to do in his own conveyance, was
+no small matter in those days. He visited among his acquaintances in the
+neighborhood, at Christopher Gore's in Waltham, at George Cabot's in
+Brookline, and at Salem, where Timothy Pickering and others of his
+friends resided. He was also in the habit of driving to Boston in his
+gig two or three times a week, when his health permitted, and passing
+the day. But he took few long journeys. We hear of him at Newport in
+1795, in Virginia visiting the mineral springs for his health, in the
+following year, and in Connecticut in 1800; and he speaks in one of his
+letters of "jingling his bells as far as Springfield" as a matter of
+common occurrence. His wife's relations lived there, among others the
+husband of her sister, Mr. Thomas Dwight, at whose house Mr. Ames was a
+frequent guest.
+
+Ames, like so many of the best statesmen of that time, and of all time,
+appears to have always had a relish for farming. In a letter written at
+Philadelphia in 1796, while groaning over his ill health, which makes
+him "the survivor of himself, or rather the troubled ghost of a
+politician compelled to haunt the field of battle where he fell," he
+says, "I almost wish Adams was here, and I at home sorting squash and
+pumpkin seeds for planting." The latter part of the wish was soon to be
+realized, but not till this survivor of himself had outdone all the
+efforts of his former life, and risen like a Phoenix in his splendid
+speech on the Treaty. He frequently wrote essays on agricultural
+subjects, and into many of his political articles similes and
+illustrations found their way, smelling of the farm. He had an especial
+fondness for raising fruit trees, and for breeding calves and pigs. All
+the best kinds of fruit were found in his orchard, experiments were
+tried on new kinds of grass, and improvements undertaken in the
+cultivation of crops. A piggery was attached to the barn, conducted on
+scientific principles, and furnished with the best stock. New breeds of
+cattle were introduced, and cows were kept with a view both to the sale
+of milk, and to the sale of their young. The produce of the farm used to
+be sent to Boston in a market wagon. For the carrying on of this
+establishment, Mr. Ames kept some half a dozen men. He himself was able
+to do but little active service. His disease was called by the
+physicians marasmus, a wasting away of the vital powers, a sort of
+consumption, not merely of the lungs, but of the stomach and every thing
+else. This, while it produced fits of languor and depression, and had
+something to do probably with his excessive anxiety on political
+subjects, never seemed to take from the cheerfulness of his manners. He
+was obliged to practise a rigid system of temperance, and to take a good
+deal of exercise, in horseback riding and other ways. Besides the
+society of his family, a constant source of happiness, he used to solace
+himself with the company of his friends, with writing letters, and with
+reading his favorite authors. History and poetry he was especially fond
+of. Shakspeare, Milton, and Pope's Homer he read throughout his life,
+and during his last year, re-read Virgil, Tacitus and Livy, in the
+original, with much delight.
+
+His friends were frequently invited out to partake of his "farmer's
+fare," and rare occasions those must have been, when such men as
+Theophilus Parsons, and Pickering, and Gore, and Samuel Dexter, and
+George Cabot were met together, with now and then one from a greater
+distance. Hamilton or Gouverneur Morris, or Sedgwick, or Judge Smith;
+while at the head of the table sat Fisher Ames himself, delighting every
+one by his humor, and his unrivalled powers of conversation. In
+conversation, he surpassed all the men of his time; even Morris, who was
+celebrated as a talker, used to be struck quite dumb at his side. His
+quick fancy and exuberant humor, his brilliant power of expression, his
+acquaintance with literature and affairs, and his genial and sunny
+disposition, used to show themselves on such occasions to perfection.
+His conversation, like his letters, was mainly upon political topics,
+though now and then, agriculture or literature, or the common news of
+the day was introduced. When dining once with some Southern gentlemen in
+Boston, General Pinckney among the number, after an animated
+conversation at the table, just as Ames was leaving the room, somebody
+asked him a question. Ames walked on until he reached the door, when,
+turning round and resting his elbow on the sideboard, he replied in a
+strain of such eloquence and beauty that the company confessed they had
+no idea of his powers before. Judge Smith, his room-mate in
+Philadelphia, stated, that when he was so sick as to be confined to his
+bed, he would sometimes get up and converse with friends who came to see
+him, by the hour, and then go back to his bed completely exhausted. His
+friends in Boston used to seize upon him when he drove in town, and
+"tire him down," as he expressed it, so that when he got back to Dedham,
+he wanted to roll like a tired horse.
+
+Ames wrote a good many newspaper essays. This was a habit which he
+always kept up, particularly after his retirement. About 1800, on the
+election of Jefferson, he was very active in starting a Federal paper in
+Boston, the Palladium, and wrote for it constantly. He had great fears
+for his country from the predominance of French influence, and deemed it
+the duty of a patriot to enlighten his countrymen on the character and
+tendency of political measures. His biographer informs us that these
+essays were the first drafts, and they appear as such. The language is
+appropriate and often very felicitous, but they are diffuse and not
+always systematic. There is considerable argument in them, but more of
+explanation, appeal and ornament. He wrote to set facts before the
+people, and to urge them to vigilance and activity; and his essays are
+in fact so many written addresses. They cost him no labor in their
+composition, being on subjects that he was constantly revolving in his
+mind. They used to be written whenever he found a spare moment and a
+scrap of paper, while stopping at a tavern, at the printing office in
+Boston, or while waiting for his horse; and are apparently expressed
+just as they would have been if he were speaking impromptu. We have
+heard him characterized by one of his old friends as essentially a poet;
+but it would be more correct to say, that he was altogether an orator.
+He had indeed the characteristics of an orator in a rare degree, and
+these show themselves in every thing he does. While his mind was clear
+and his powers of reasoning were exceedingly good, imagination, the
+instinctive perception of analogies, and feeling predominated. His
+writings do not justify his fame; yet viewed as what they really are,
+the unlabored transcripts of his thoughts, they are remarkable. The flow
+of language, the wit, the wealth and aptness of illustration, the
+clearness of thought, show an informed and superior mind. They have here
+and there profound observations, that show an acquaintance with the
+principles of government and with the human heart, and are full of
+testimonials to the purity of the author's patriotism, and the goodness
+of his heart.
+
+Besides the essays that are published among his works, he wrote many
+others perhaps equally good, as well as numerous short, keen paragraphs,
+adapted to the time, but not suitable for republication. He also wrote
+verses occasionally, among others "an Ode by Jefferson" to the ship that
+was to bring Tom Paine from France, in imitation of Horace's to the
+vessel that was to bear Virgil from Athens.
+
+He wrote a great many letters, and it is in these that we are presented
+with the finest view of his character. They are full of sensible remarks
+on contemporary news and events, and sparkle with wit of that slipshod
+and easy sort, most delightful in letters, while in grace of style they
+surpass most of the correspondence of that period. The public has
+already been informed that the correspondence of Fisher Ames, together
+with other writings, and some notice of his life, is in course of
+publication by one of his sons, Mr. Seth Ames of Cambridge. But few of
+his letters were published in his works, as issued in 1809; a few more
+appeared in Judge Smith's life, and some twenty in Gibbs's
+"Administration of Washington and Adams," but these bear but a very
+small proportion to his whole correspondence. Within a short time as
+many as one hundred and fifty letters have been found in Springfield,
+written to Mr. Dwight, of various dates from 1790 to 1807. A large
+number are said to have disappeared, that were in the hands of George
+Cabot, and some were burned among the papers of President Kirkland. For
+a delightful specimen of Mr. Ames' familiar letters, the reader is
+referred to page 89 of that capital biography, the "Life of Judge
+Smith."
+
+Mr. Ames was a man of great urbanity among his neighbors. It was his
+custom to converse a good deal with ignorant persons and those remote
+from civil affairs. He was desirous to see how such persons looked at
+political questions, and often found means in this way of correcting his
+own views. He was a great favorite among the servants, and used to sit
+down in the kitchen sometimes and talk with them.
+
+He attended the Congregational church at Dedham, and took a good deal of
+interest in its affairs. On one occasion he invited out a number of
+friends to attend an installation. But about 1797, on the minister's
+insisting upon certain high Calvinistic doctrines, Mr. Ames left, and
+always went, after that, to the Episcopal church. A certain good old
+orthodox lady remarked to him one day, after he left their church, that
+she supposed, if they had a nice new meeting-house, he would come back.
+"No, madam," rejoined Ames, "if you had a church of silver, and were to
+line it with gold, and give me the best seat in it, I should go to the
+Episcopal." Though a man of strong religious feelings, he was nothing of
+a sectarian, and did not fully agree with the Episcopal views. He was a
+friend of Dr. Channing, who visited him in his last illness, and he
+ought probably to be reckoned in the same class of Christians with that
+eminent clergyman. He was very fond of the Psalms, and used to repeat
+the beautiful hymn of Watts, "Up to the hills I lift mine eyes." The
+Christmas of 1807, the year before his death, he had his house decked
+with green, a favourite custom with him.
+
+He died at the age of fifty, on the fourth of July 1808, at five o'clock
+in the morning, leaving to his family a comfortable property. The news
+of his death was carried at once to Boston, and Andrew Ritchie, the city
+orator for that day, alluded to it in this extempore burst: "But, alas!
+the immortal Ames, who, like Ithuriel, was commissioned to discover the
+insidious foe, has, like Ithuriel, accomplished his embassy, and on this
+morning of our independence has ascended to Heaven. Spirit of
+Demosthenes, couldst thou have been a silent and invisible auditor, how
+wouldst thou have been delighted to hear from his lips, those strains of
+eloquence which once from thine, enchanted the assemblies of Greece!"
+Ames' friends in Boston requested his body for the celebration of
+funeral rites. It was attended by a large procession from the house of
+Christopher Gore to King's Chapel, where an oration was pronounced by
+Samuel Dexter. It was afterwards deposited in the family tomb at Dedham,
+whence it was removed a few years since, and buried by the side of his
+wife and children. A plain white monument marks the spot, in the old
+Dedham grave-yard, behind the Episcopal church, with the simple
+inscription "FISHER AMES."
+
+
+
+
+=John Quincy Adams.=
+
+[Illustration: Quincy Adams fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Birth-place of John Quincy Adams]
+
+JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
+
+
+John Quincy Adams was fortunate in the home of his birth and childhood.
+It was a New England farm, descended from ancestors who were never so
+poor as to be dependent upon others, nor so rich as to be exempted from
+dependence upon themselves. It was situated in the town of Quincy, then
+the first parish of the town of Braintree, and the oldest permanent
+settlement of Massachusetts proper.[17] The first parish became a town
+by its present name, twenty-five years after the birth of Mr. Adams,
+viz. in 1792. It was named in honor of John Quincy, Mr. Adams's maternal
+great-grandfather, an eminent man. His death, and the transmission of
+his name to his great-grandson, are thus commemorated by the latter:
+
+"He was dying when I was baptized, and his daughter, my grandmother,
+present at my birth, requested that I should receive his name. The fact,
+recorded by my father at the time, has connected with that portion of my
+name a charm of mingled sensibility and devotion. It was filial
+tenderness that gave the name. It was the name of one passing from earth
+to immortality. It has been to me a perpetual admonition to do nothing
+unworthy of it."
+
+The farm-house stands at the foot of an eminence called Penn's Hill,
+about a mile south of Quincy village. It is an old-fashioned dwelling,
+having a two-story front, and sloping far away to a single one in the
+rear. This style is peculiar to the early descendants of the Puritan
+fathers of America. Specimens are becoming rarer every year; and being
+invariably built of wood, must soon pass away, but not without "the
+tribute of a sigh" from those, who associate with them memories of the
+wide old fireplaces, huge glowing backlogs, and hospitable cheer.
+
+With this modest material environment of the child, was coupled an
+intellectual and moral, which was golden. His father, the illustrious
+John Adams, was bred, and in his youth labored, on the farm. At the
+birth of his son, he was still a young man, being just turned of thirty,
+but ripe both in general and professional knowledge, and already
+recognized as one of the ablest counsellors and most powerful pleaders
+at the bar of the province.
+
+The mother of John Quincy Adams was worthy to be the companion and
+counsellor of the statesman just described. By reason of slender health
+she never attended a school. As to the general education allowed to
+girls at that day, she tells us that it was limited "in the best
+families to writing, arithmetic, and, in rare instances, music and
+dancing;" and that "it was fashionable to ridicule female learning."
+From her father, a clergyman, from her mother, a daughter of John
+Quincy, and above all from her grandmother, his wife, she derived
+liberal lessons and salutary examples. Thus her education was entirely
+domestic and social. Perhaps it was the better for the absence of that
+absorbing passion of the schools, which for the most part rests as well
+satisfied with negative elevation by the failure of another, as with
+positive elevation by the improvement of one's self. The excellent and
+pleasant volume of her letters, which has gone through several editions,
+indicates much historical, scriptural, and especially poetical and
+ethical culture. In propriety, ease, vivacity and grace, they compare
+not unfavorably with the best epistolary collections; and in constant
+good sense, and occasional depth and eloquence, no letter-writer can be
+named as her superior. To her only daughter, mother of the late Mrs. De
+Wint, she wrote concerning the influence of her grandmother as follows:
+
+"I have not forgotten the excellent lessons which I received from my
+grandmother, at a very early period of life. I frequently think they
+made a more durable impression upon my mind than those which I received
+from my own parents. Whether it was owing to a happy method of mixing
+instruction and amusement together, or from an inflexible adherence to
+certain principles, which I could not but see and approve when a child,
+I know not; but maturer years have made them oracles of wisdom to me.
+Her lively, cheerful disposition animated all around her, whilst she
+edified all by her unaffected piety. I cherish her memory with a holy
+veneration, whose maxims I have treasured, whose virtues live in my
+remembrance--happy if I could say they have been transplanted into my
+life."
+
+The concluding aspiration was more than realized, because Mrs. Adams
+lived more than the fortunate subject of her eulogy, and more than any
+American woman of her time. She was cheerful, pious, compassionate,
+discriminating, just and courageous up to the demand of the times. She
+was a calm adviser, a zealous assistant, and a never failing consolation
+of her partner, in all his labors and anxieties, public and private.
+That the laborers might be spared for the army, she was willing to work
+in the field. Diligent, frugal, industrious and indefatigable in the
+arrangement and details of the household and the farm, the entire
+management of which devolved upon her for a series of years, she
+preserved for him amidst general depreciation and loss of property, an
+independence, upon which he could always count and at last retire. At
+the same time she responded to the numerous calls of humanity,
+irrespective of opinions and parties. If there was a patriot of the
+Revolution who merited the title of _Washington of women_, she was the
+one.
+
+It is gratifying to know that this rare combination of virtue and
+endowments met with a just appreciation from her great husband. In his
+autobiography, written at a late period of life, he records this
+touching testimony, that "his connection with her had been the source of
+all his felicity," and his unavoidable separations from her, "of all the
+griefs of his heart, and all that he esteemed real afflictions in his
+life." Throughout the two volumes of letters to her, embracing a period
+of twenty-seven years, the lover is more conspicuous than the statesman;
+and she on her part regarded him with an affection unchangeable and ever
+fresh during more than half a century of married life. On one of the
+anniversaries of her wedding she wrote from Braintree to him in Europe:
+
+"Look at this date and tell me what are the thoughts which arise in your
+mind. Do you not recollect that eighteen years have run their circuit,
+since we pledged our mutual faith, and the hymeneal torch was lighted at
+the altar of love? Yet, yet it burns with unabating fervor. Old ocean
+cannot quench it; old Time cannot smother it in this bosom. It cheers me
+in the lonely hour."
+
+The homely place at Penn's Hill was thrice ennobled, twice as the
+birth-place of two noble men--noble before they were Presidents; and
+thirdly as the successful rival of the palaces inhabited by its
+proprietors at the most splendid courts of Europe, which never for a
+moment supplanted it in their affections. Mrs. Adams wrote often from
+Paris and London in this strain: "My humble cottage at the foot of the
+hill has more charms for me than the drawing-room of St. James;" and
+John Adams still oftener thus: "I had rather build wall on Penn's Hill
+than be the first prince of Europe, or the first general or first
+senator of America."
+
+Such were the hearts that unfolded the childhood of John Quincy Adams.
+
+Of all the things which grace or deform the early home, the principles,
+aims and efforts of the parents in conducting the education of the child
+are the most important to both. The mutual letters of the parents, in
+the present case, contain such wise and patriotic precepts, such
+sagacious methods, such earnest and tender persuasions to the
+acquisition of all virtue, knowledge, arts and accomplishments, that can
+purify and exalt the human character, that they would form a valuable
+manual for the training of true men and purer patriots.
+
+Although the spot which has been mentioned was John Quincy Adams's
+principal home until he was nearly eleven, yet he resided at two
+different intervals, within that time, four or five years in Boston; his
+father's professional business at one time, and his failing health at
+another, rendering the alternation necessary. The first Boston residence
+was the White House, so called, in Brattle-street. In front of this a
+British regiment was exercised every morning by Major Small, during the
+fall and winter of 1768, to the no little annoyance of the tenant. But
+says he, "in the evening, I was soothed by the sweet songs, violins and
+flutes of the serenading Sons of Liberty." The family returned to
+Braintree in the spring of 1771. In November, 1772, they again removed
+to Boston, and occupied a house which John Adams had purchased in Queen
+(now Court) street, in which he also kept his office. From this issued
+state papers and appeals, which did not a little to fix the destiny of
+the country. The ground of that house has descended to Charles Francis
+Adams, his grandson. In 1774 Penn's Hill became the permanent home of
+the family, although John Adams continued his office in Boston, attended
+by students at law, until it was broken up by the event of April 19th,
+1775.
+
+Soon after the final return to Quincy, we begin to have a personal
+acquaintance with the boy, now seven years old. Mrs. Adams writes to her
+husband, then attending the Congress in Philadelphia:
+
+"I have taken a very great fondness for reading Rollin's Ancient History
+since you left me. I am determined to go through with it, if possible,
+in these my days of solitude. I find great pleasure and entertainment
+from it, and I have persuaded Johnny to read me a page or two every day,
+and hope he will, from a desire to oblige me, entertain a fondness for
+it."
+
+In the same year the first mention is made of his regular attendance
+upon a teacher. The person selected in that capacity was a young man
+named Thaxter, a student at law, transferred from the office in Boston,
+to the family in Quincy. The boy seems to have been very much attached
+to him. Mrs. Adams assigned the following reasons for preferring this
+arrangement to the public town school.
+
+"I am certain that if he does not get so much good, he gets less harm;
+and I have always thought it of very great importance that children
+should be unaccustomed to such examples as would tend to corrupt the
+purity of their words and actions, that they may chill with horror at
+the sound of an oath, and blush with indignation at an obscene
+expression."
+
+This furnishes a pleasing coincidence with a precept of ancient
+prudence:--
+
+    Let nothing foul in speech or act intrude,
+    Where reverend childhood is.
+
+There is no disapprobation of public schools to be inferred from this.
+These are indispensable for the general good; but if from this narrative
+a hint should be taken for making them more and more pure, and worthy of
+their saving mission, such an incident will be welcome.
+
+Of the next memorable year we have a reminiscence from himself. It was
+related in a speech at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1843.
+
+"In 1775 the minute men, from a hundred towns in the Provinces, were
+marching to the scenes of the opening war. Many of them called at our
+house, and received the hospitality of John Adams. All were lodged in
+the house whom the house would contain, others in the barns, and
+wherever they could find a place. There were then in my father's house
+some dozen or two of pewter spoons; and I well recollect seeing some of
+the men engaged in running those spoons into bullets. Do you wonder that
+a boy of seven years of age, who witnessed these scenes, should be a
+patriot?"
+
+He saw from Penn's Hill the flames of Charlestown, and heard the guns of
+Bunker Hill and Dorchester Heights.
+
+In one of her letters from France, Mrs. Adams remarks that he was
+generally taken to be older than his sister (about two years older than
+he), because he usually conversed with persons older than himself--a
+remarkable proof of a constant aim at improvement, of a wise discernment
+of the means, and of the maturity of acquisitions already made. Edward
+Everett remarks in his eulogy, that such a stage as boyhood seems not to
+have been in the life of John Quincy Adams. While he was under ten, he
+wrote to his father the earliest production of his pen which has been
+given to the public. It is found in Governor Seward's Memoir of his life,
+and was addressed to his father.
+
+           BRAINTREE, June 2d, 1777.
+
+Dear Sir:--I love to receive letters very well, much better than I love
+to write them. I make but a poor figure at composition. My head is much
+too fickle. My mind is running after bird's eggs, play and trifles, till
+I get vexed with myself. Mamma has a troublesome task to keep me a
+studying. I own I am ashamed of myself. I have but just entered the
+third volume of Rollin's History, but I designed to have got half thro'
+it by this time. I am determined this week to be more diligent. Mr.
+Thaxter is absent at Court. I have set myself a stent this week to read
+the third volume half out. If I can keep my resolution, I may again, at
+the end of a week, give a better account of myself. I wish, sir, you
+would give me in writing some instructions in regard to the use of my
+time, and advise me how to proportion my studies and play, and I will
+keep them by me, and endeavor to follow them.
+
+With the present determination of growing better, I am, dear sir, your
+son, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
+
+P.S. Sir, if you will be so good as to favor me with a blank-book, I
+will transcribe the most remarkable passages I meet with in my reading,
+which will serve to fix them on my mind.
+
+Soon after the evacuation of Boston by Lord Howe, Mrs. Adams announces
+that "Johnny has become post-rider from Boston to Braintree." The
+distance was nine miles, and he was nine years old. In this hardy
+enterprise, and in the foregoing letter, we may mark the strong hold
+which the favourite maxims of the parents had taken of their child's
+mind. Among those maxims were these:
+
+To begin composition very early by writing descriptions of natural
+objects, as a storm, a country residence; or narrative of events, as a
+walk, ride, or the transactions of a day.
+
+To transcribe the best passages from the best writers in the course of
+reading, as a means of forming the style as well as storing the memory.
+
+To cultivate spirit and hardihood, activity and power of endurance.
+
+Soon after this, the lad ceased to have a home except in the bosom of
+affection, and that was a divided one. On the 13th of February, 1778, he
+embarked for France with his father, who had been appointed a
+commissioner, jointly with Dr. Franklin and Arthur Lee, to negotiate
+treaties of alliance and commerce with that country. From the place of
+embarcation his father wrote: "Johnny sends his duty to his mamma, and
+love to his sister and brothers. _He behaves like a man._"
+
+When they arrived in France, after escaping extraordinary perils at sea,
+they found the treaty of alliance already concluded. The son was put to
+school in Paris, and gave his father "great satisfaction, both by his
+assiduity to his books and his discreet behavior," all which the father
+lovingly attributes to the lessons of the mother. He calls the boy "the
+joy of his heart."
+
+He was permitted to tarry but three months, when he was commissioned to
+negotiate treaties of independence, peace, and commerce with Great
+Britain. He embarked for France in the month of November, accompanied by
+Francis Dana as secretary of legation, and by his two oldest sons, John
+and Charles.[18] The vessel sprung a leak and was compelled to put into
+the nearest port, which proved to be Ferrol, where they landed safe
+December seventh. One of the first things was to buy a dictionary and
+grammar for the boys, who "went to learning Spanish as fast as
+possible." Over high mountains, by rough and miry roads, a-muleback, and
+in the depth of winter, they wound their toilsome way, much of the time
+on foot, from Ferrol to Paris, a journey of a thousand miles, arriving
+about the middle of February, 1780. On this occasion, it is to be
+presumed, Master Johnny must have derived no small benefit from the
+service he had seen as "post-rider."
+
+At Paris he immediately entered an academy, but in the autumn
+accompanied his father to Holland, who had received superadded
+commissions to negotiate private loans, and public treaties there. For a
+few months the son was sent to a common school in Amsterdam, but in
+December he was removed to Leyden, to learn Latin and Greek under the
+distinguished teachers there, and to attend the lectures of celebrated
+professors in the University. The reasons of this transfer are worth
+repeating, as they mark the strong and habitual aversion which John
+Adams felt and inculcated, to every species of littleness and meanness.
+
+"I should not wish to have children educated in the common schools of
+this country, where a littleness of soul is notorious. The masters are
+mean-spirited wretches, pinching, kicking and boxing the children upon
+every turn. There is a general littleness, arising from the incessant
+contemplation of stivers and doits. Frugality and industry, are virtues
+every where, but avarice and stinginess are not frugality."
+
+In July, 1781, the son accompanied to St. Petersburgh Mr. Francis Dana,
+who had been appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the court of Russia.
+The original purpose was study, observation, and general improvement,
+under the guidance of a trusty and accomplished friend. The youth was
+not, as has been stated, appointed secretary of the Minister at the time
+they started; but by his readiness and capability he came to be employed
+by Mr. Dana as interpreter and secretary, difficult and delicate trusts,
+probably never before confided to a boy of thirteen.
+
+In October, 1782, the youth left St. Petersburgh, and paying passing
+visits to Sweden, Denmark, Hamburg, and Bremen, reached the Hague in
+April, 1783, and there resumed his studies. Meantime his father, having
+received assurances that Great Britain was prepared to treat for peace
+on the basis of independence, had repaired to Paris to open the
+negotiation. He found that Dr. Franklin and Mr. Jay, two of his
+colleagues on the same commission, had commenced the business first with
+informal agents, and afterwards with a commissioner of his majesty,
+George the Third. The Definitive Treaty was signed September the third,
+1783, at which act John Quincy Adams was summoned by his father to be
+present, and to assume the duties of secretary. In that capacity he made
+one of the copies of the treaty. The father on this occasion wrote:
+"Congress are at such grievous expense that I shall have no other
+secretary but my son. He, however, is a very good one. He writes a good
+hand very fast, and is steady at his pen and books."
+
+In this autumn the two made a trip to London, partly for the health of
+the elder, which had been seriously impaired by incessant labor, and
+partly for the benefit of the younger, as it was expected then that both
+would bid adieu to Europe and embark for America in the ensuing spring.
+John Adams had the satisfaction of hearing the King announce to the
+Parliament and people from the throne, that he had concluded a Treaty of
+Peace with the United States of America.
+
+In January, 1784, the father and son proceeded to Holland to negotiate a
+new loan for the purpose of meeting the interest on the former one.
+There they remained until the latter part of July, when a letter came
+communicating the arrival of Mrs. Adams and her daughter in London. John
+Adams despatched his son to meet them, and wrote to his wife:
+
+"Your letter of the twenty-third has made me the happiest man upon
+earth. I am twenty years younger than I was yesterday. It is a cruel
+mortification to me that I cannot go to meet you in London; but there
+are a variety of reasons decisively against it, which I will communicate
+to you here. Meantime I send you a son, who is one of the greatest
+travellers of his age, and without partiality, I think as promising and
+manly a youth, as is in the whole world. He will purchase a coach, in
+which we four must travel to Paris; let it be large and strong. After
+spending a week or two here you will have to set out with me for France,
+but there are no seas between; a good road, a fine season, and we will
+make moderate journeys, and see the curiosities of several cities in our
+way,--Utrecht, Breda, Antwerp, Brussels, &c. &c. It is the first time in
+Europe that I looked forward to a journey with pleasure. Now I expect a
+great deal. I think myself made for this world."
+
+John Quincy Adams reached London the thirtieth of July. "When he
+entered," says Mrs. Adams, "we had so many strangers that I drew back,
+not really believing my eyes, till he cried out, 'O my mamma, and my
+dear sister!' Nothing but the eyes appeared what he once was. His
+appearance is that of a man, and in his countenance the most perfect
+good-humor. His conversation by no means denies his station. I think
+you do not approve the word _feelings_. I know not what to substitute in
+lieu, nor how to describe mine." The son was then seventeen, and the
+separation had continued nearly five years.
+
+Notwithstanding that the husband's letter had forbidden hope of his
+participating in this re-union, he did so after all, practising a
+surprise charmingly delicate and gallant. It was a blissful meeting not
+only of happy friends, but of merit and reward, a beautiful and
+honorable consummation of mutual sacrifices and toils. Seldom does the
+cup of joy so effervesce.
+
+Independence predicted in youth, moved and sustained with unrivalled
+eloquence in manhood, at home--confirmed and consolidated by loans,
+alliances, ships, and troops--obtained, in part or all, by him,
+abroad--Washington nominated Chief of the army--the American Navy
+created--peace negotiated--this, this (if civic virtues and achievments
+were honored only equally with martial) would have been the circle of
+Golden Medals, which John Adams might have laid at the feet of his
+admirable wife!
+
+Five months after this, as if too full for earlier utterance, she wrote
+to her sister: "You will chide me, perhaps, for not relating to you an
+event which took place in London, that of unexpectedly meeting my long
+absent friend; for from his letters by my son, I had no idea that he
+would come. But you know, my dear sister, that poets and painters wisely
+draw a veil over scenes which surpass the pen of the one and the pencil
+of the other."
+
+The family reached Paris in the latter part of August, and established
+their residence at Auteuil, four miles from the city. The son pursued
+his studies, his mother, by his particular desire, writing her charming
+letters to American friends by his fireside. Sometimes he copied them in
+his plain and beautiful hand, always equal to print, and made her think,
+as she gayly remarks, that they were really worth something. The circle
+of familiar visitors included Franklin, Jefferson and his daughter, La
+Fayette and his wife; of formal, all the ministers domestic and foreign,
+and as many of the elite of fashion and of fame as they chose. But Mrs.
+Adams was always a modest and retiring woman. Of Franklin she wrote:
+"His character, from my infancy, I had been taught to venerate. I found
+him social, not talkative; and when he spoke, something useful dropped
+from, his tongue."
+
+Of Jefferson, "I shall really regret to leave Mr. Jefferson. He is one
+of the choice ones of the earth. On Thursday I dine with him at his
+house. On Sunday he is to dine with us. On Monday we all dine with the
+Marquis."
+
+In the spring of 1785 John Adams received the appointment of Minister
+Plenipotentiary to Great Britain, the first from the United States of
+America. A new separation ensued. He, his wife and daughter departed for
+London, but not the son, as has been stated. He departed for Harvard
+University, where, in the following March, he entered the Junior Class,
+and graduated with distinguished honor in 1787. He studied law at
+Newburyport in the office of Theophilus Parsons, afterwards the eminent
+Chief Justice. He entered upon the practice of the law in Boston in
+1790, and boarded in the family of Dr. Thomas Welsh. He continued thus
+four years, gradually enlarging the circle of his business and the
+amount of his income. Meantime, great and exciting public questions
+arose, and in discussing them he obtained a sudden and wide distinction.
+A tract from his pen in answer to a portion of Paine's Rights of Man,
+and expressing doubts of the ultimate success of the French Revolution,
+appeared in 1791, was republished in England and attributed to John
+Adams. This was at a time when the enthusiasm for the great French
+movement was at its height in this country. Events too soon showed that
+the writer had inherited his father's sagacity.
+
+Another publication of his, which appeared in 1793, maintained the
+right, duty and policy of our assuming a neutral attitude towards the
+respective combatants in the wars arising from the French Revolution.
+This publication preceded Washington's Proclamation of Neutrality. In
+the same year Mr. Adams reviewed the course of Genet, applying to it and
+the condition of the country the principles of public law.
+
+These writings attracted the attention of Washington, and he is supposed
+to have derived essential aid from them in some of the most difficult
+conjunctures of his administration. Upon the recommendation of
+Jefferson, made as he was about to retire from the office of Secretary
+of State, Washington determined to appoint John Quincy Adams Minister
+Resident in Holland. An intimation from Washington to the
+Vice-President, in order that he might give his wife timely notice to
+prepare for the departure of her son, was the first knowledge that any
+member of the family had, that such an appointment was thought of. Mr.
+Adams repaired to his post, and remained there till near the close of
+Washington's administration, with the exception of an additional mission
+to London in 1795, to exchange ratifications of Jay's treaty, and agree
+upon certain arrangements for its execution.
+
+On this occasion he met, at the house of her father, the American consul
+in London, Miss LOUISA CATHERINE JOHNSON, who afterwards became his
+wife. In consequence of a rumor of his intending to resign, Washington
+wrote to the Vice-President:
+
+"Your son must not think of retiring from the path he is in. His
+prospects, if he pursues it, are fair; and I shall be much surprised,
+if, in as short a time as can well be expected, he is not at the head of
+the Diplomatic Corps, be the government administered by whomsoever it
+may."
+
+Subsequently Washington expressed himself still more strongly, aiming to
+overcome the scruples of President Adams about continuing his son in
+office under his own administration. Just before his retirement,
+Washington appointed him Minister Plenipotentiary to Portugal. This
+destination was changed by his father to Berlin. Before assuming the
+station, he was married in London to Miss Johnson.
+
+While in Prussia he negotiated an important commercial treaty, and wrote
+letters from Silesia, which were published in the portfolio, and passed
+through some editions and translations in Europe. In 1801 he was
+recalled by his father, to save, as it is said, Mr. Jefferson from the
+awkwardness of turning out the son of his old friend, whose appointment
+he had recommended. If such was the motive of the recall, it was a
+miscalculation, for Jefferson did not hesitate to remove him from the
+small office of commissioner of bankruptcy, to which he had been
+appointed by the district judge of Massachusetts upon his return from
+abroad. Mr. Jefferson defended himself from censure for this little act,
+by alleging that he did not know when he made the removal, nor who the
+incumbent of the office was; an excuse more inexcusable than the act
+itself.
+
+Mr. Adams re-established himself with his family in Boston. He occupied
+a house in Hanover-street, not now standing, and another which he
+purchased at the corner of Tremont and Boylston streets, now used for
+stores, and owned by his only surviving son.
+
+In 1802 he was elected to the Senate of Massachusetts from Suffolk
+county.
+
+In 1803, to the Senate of the United States.
+
+In 1806, Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory in Harvard University, but in
+subordination to his duties in Congress.
+
+In 1808 he resigned his seat in the Senate, the Legislature of his State
+having instructed him to oppose the restrictive measures of Jefferson,
+and he having given a zealous support to the embargo.
+
+In 1809 he was appointed by Madison Minister Plenipotentiary to Russia;
+and resigned his professorship in the University.
+
+In 1811 he was nominated by Madison and unanimously confirmed by the
+Senate, as judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Adams
+having declined this office, Judge Story was appointed.
+
+In 1814 he was appointed first commissioner at Ghent to treat with Great
+Britain for peace.
+
+In 1815, Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain.
+
+In 1817, Secretary of State.
+
+In 1825, elected President of the United States.
+
+Mr. Adams, released from the toils of thirty-five years of unintermitted
+public service, now sought a home which remains to be described.
+
+John Adams, while yet minister in England, purchased a seat in Quincy of
+Mr. Borland, an old friend and neighbor, descended from the Vassals, a
+considerable family in the town and province: this was in 1786. On his
+return from Europe in 1788, the purchaser took possession with his
+family; and with the exception of two terms as Vice-President, and one
+as President of the United States, he never left it until his death on
+the fourth of July, 1826. This estate descended to his son, as did also
+that at Penn's Hill.
+
+It is situated about half a mile north of Quincy village, on the old
+Boston road, where massive mile-stones, erected before the birth of John
+Adams, may still be seen. The farm consists of one hundred acres, now
+productive, though in a rude state when acquired. Mrs. John Adams
+described her husband in 1801 as "busy among his haymakers, and getting
+thirty tons on the spot, which eight years before yielded only six."
+
+The house is supposed to be a hundred and fifty years old. It is built
+of wood, quite unpretending, yet from association or other cause, it has
+a distinguished and venerable aspect. Approached from the north or city
+side, it presents a sharp gable in the old English style of
+architecture. The opposite end is very different, and has a hipped or
+gambrel gable. The length may be some seventy feet, the height thirty,
+consisting of two stories, and a suit of attic chambers, with large
+luthern windows. A piazza runs along the centre of the basement in
+front. The south or gambrel-roofed section of the edifice, was built by
+John Adams. The principal entrance is at the junction of this section
+with the main building. It opens into a spacious entry with a staircase
+on the right, and busts of Washington and John Quincy Adams on the left.
+At the foot of the stairs is the door of the principal apartment, called
+the Long Room. It is plainly finished, and about seven feet in height.
+It contains portraits of John Adams and his wife by Stewart, John Quincy
+Adams and his wife by the same; Thomas Jefferson in French costume,
+taken in France by Browne. He appears much handsomer than in most of his
+portraits. Over the fireplace is a very old and curious picture of a
+child, supposed by John Quincy Adams to be his great-grandfather, John
+Quincy. There are several other portraits of less note. The chairs are
+of plain mahogany, with stuffed seats and backs, and hair-cloth
+coverings. They belonged to Mrs. Adams. Opposite to the door of this
+room, on the left side of the entry, is the door of the dining-room,
+called the Middle Room. This is within the original building. It
+contains a number of portraits; the most conspicuous is that of
+Washington in his uniform. It was painted by Savage, and was purchased by
+the elder Adams. It has a more solemn and concentrated look than
+Stewart's Washington--more expressive, but not so symmetrical. It
+resembles Peale's Pater Patriae. John Quincy Adams considered it a better
+likeness than the popular portraits. It is said to have been taken when
+Washington had lost his teeth, and had not substituted artificial ones.
+The lips appear much compressed, the visage elongated and thinner than
+in Stewart's picture. By its side is Mrs. Washington, painted by the
+same artist. There is a fine engraving of Copley's picture of the Death
+of Chatham. It is a proof copy, presented by the painter to John Adams.
+Passing from the Middle Room through another but small front entry, we
+reach the north basement room, called the Keeping Room. This is finished
+with considerable luxury for a provincial parlor of its time. It is
+panelled from floor to ceiling with mahogany. The effect is somewhat
+heavy, to obviate which the elder Mrs. Adams, a votary of all
+cheerfulness, had it painted white. It has now been restored, and
+presents an antique and rich appearance. Nearly all the furniture of
+this as well as the Middle Room, including the Turkey carpet of the
+latter, still bright and substantial, was John Adams's. All these
+apartments are connected by a longitudinal passage in the rear, which
+communicates with the kitchen.
+
+The Library is in the second story over the Long Room. This chamber was
+constantly occupied by the Elder President, both for a sitting and
+sleeping room during his latter years. Here the writer saw him at the
+age of nearly ninety, delighted with hearing Scott's novels, or Dupuis'
+Origine de tous les Cultes, or the simplest story-book, which he could
+get his grandchildren to read to him. He seemed very cheerful, and ready
+to depart, remarking that "he had eat his cake." When his son came home
+from Washington, he converted this room into a library. Of course his
+books are very miscellaneous both as to subjects and languages; but they
+are not all here. Some are arranged on the sides of passage-ways and in
+other parts. A portion of them compose in part a library at his son's
+town residence. John Adams in his lifetime gave his library--a very
+valuable one--to the town of Quincy, together with several tracts of
+land for the erection of an academy or classical school, to which his
+library is ultimately to attach. The entire library of John Quincy Adams
+comprises twelve thousand volumes. To this must be added a chest full of
+manuscripts, original and translated, in prose and poetry. They show
+unbounded industry. From his boyhood to the age of fifty, when he took
+the Department of State, he was an intense student. In this chest are
+many of the earlier fruits, such as complete versions of a large number
+of the classics, of German and other foreign works.
+
+The garden lies on the north, contiguous to the house, and connects with
+a lawn, narrow in front of the house, but widening considerably south of
+it. The whole is inclosed on the roadside by a solid wall of Quincy
+granite, some six feet high, except the section immediately before the
+house, which is a low stone wall, surmounted by a light wooden fence of
+an obsolete fashion, with two gates in the same style, leading to the
+two front doors. The whole extent does not much exceed an acre. It
+embraces an ornamental and kitchen garden, the former occupying the side
+near the road, and the latter extending by the side and beyond the
+kitchen and offices to an open meadow and orchard. The principal walk is
+through the ornamental portion of the garden, parallel with the road,
+and terminates at a border of thrifty forest trees, disposed, as they
+should be, without any regard to order. From the walk above-mentioned
+another strikes out at a right angle, and skirts the border of trees,
+till it disappears in the expanse of meadow. Most of the trees were
+raised by John Quincy Adams from the seeds, which he was in the habit of
+picking up in his wanderings. The most particular interest attaches to a
+shagbark, which he planted more than fifty years ago. It stands near the
+angle of the two alleys. In this tree he took a particular satisfaction,
+but he was an enthusiast in regard to all the trees of the forest,
+differing in this respect from his father, who, as an agriculturist of
+the Cato stamp, was more inclined to lay the axe to them than to
+propagate them. From this plantation Charles Francis Adams was supplied
+with a great number and variety of trees to embellish a residence, which
+he built in his father's lifetime on the summit of a high hill, west of
+the old mansion. This is called President's Hill. It affords one of the
+finest sea landscapes which can be found. John Adams used to say that he
+had never seen, in any part of the world, so fine a view. It comprises a
+wide range of bays, islands and channels seaward, with seats and
+villages on the intervening land. This prospect lies eastward, and
+includes Mount Wollaston, situated near the seashore, and remarkable as
+the first spot settled in the town and State, and as giving its name for
+many of the first years to the entire settlement. This belonged to the
+great-grandfather, John Quincy, and is now a part of the Adams estate.
+
+The meeting-house is half a mile south of the old mansion. The material
+is granite, a donation of John Adams. It has a handsome portico,
+supported by beautiful and massive Doric pillars, not an unfit emblem of
+the donor. Beneath the porch, his son constructed, in the most durable
+manner, a crypt, in which he piously deposited the remains of his
+parents; and in the body of the church, on the right of the pulpit, he
+erected to their sacred memories a marble monument surmounted by a bust
+of John Adams, and inscribed with an affecting and noble epitaph.
+
+After leading "a wandering life about the world," as he himself calls
+it--a life of many changes and many labors, John Quincy Adams, at
+sixty-two, sought the quiet and seclusion of his father's house. He was
+yet, for his years, a model of physical vigor and activity; for, though
+by nature convivial as his father was, and capable, on an occasion, of
+some extra glasses, he was by habit moderate in meat and drink, never
+eating more than was first served on his plate, and consequently never
+mixing a variety of dishes. He used himself to attribute much of the
+high health he enjoyed to his walks and his baths. Early every morning,
+when the season admitted, he sought a place where he could take a plunge
+and swim at large. A creek, with a wharf or pier projecting into it,
+called Black's Wharf, about a quarter of a mile from his house, served
+these purposes in Quincy. At Washington he resorted to the broad
+Potomac. There, leaving his apparel in charge of an attendant, (for it
+is said that it was once purloined!) he used to buffet the waves before
+sunrise. He was an easy and expert swimmer, and delighted so much in the
+element, that he would swim and float from one to two or three hours at
+a time. An absurd story obtained currency, that he used this exercise in
+winter, breaking the ice, if necessary, to get the indispensable plunge!
+This was fiction. He did not bathe at all in winter, nor at other times
+from theory, but for pleasure.
+
+He bore abstinence and irregularity in his meals with singular
+indifference. Whether he breakfasted at seven or ten, whether he dined
+at two, or not at all, appeared to be questions with which he did not
+concern himself. It is related that having sat in the House of
+Representatives from eight o'clock in the morning till after midnight, a
+friend accosted him, and expressed the hope that he had taken
+refreshment in all that time; he replied that he had not left his seat,
+and held up a _bit of hard bread_. His entertainments of his friends
+were distinguished for abundance, order, elegance, and the utmost
+perfection in every particular, but not for extravagance and luxury of
+table furniture. His accomplished lady, of course, had much to do with
+this. He rose very early, lighting the fire and his lamp in his library,
+while the surrounding world was yet buried in slumber. This was his time
+for writing. Washington and Hamilton had the same habit.
+
+He was unostentatious and almost always walked, whether for visiting,
+business or exercise. At Quincy he used to go up President's Hill to
+meet the sun from the sea, and sometimes walked to the residence of his
+son in Boston before breakfast. Regularly, before the hour of the daily
+sessions of Congress, he was seen wending his quiet way towards the
+Capitol, seldom or never using, in the worst of weather, a carriage. He
+stayed one night to a late hour, listening to a debate in the Senate on
+the expunging resolution. As he was starting for home in the face of a
+fierce snow-storm, and in snow a foot deep, a gentleman proposed to
+conduct him to his house. "I thank you, sir, for your kindness," said
+he, "but I do not need the service of any one. I am somewhat advanced in
+life, but not yet, by the blessing of God, infirm, or what Dr. Johnson
+would call 'superfluous;' and you may recollect what old Adam says in
+'As you Like it'--
+
+    "'For in my youth I never did apply
+    Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood.'"
+
+While he was President, the writer was once sitting in the drawing-room
+of a highbred lady in Boston. A hat not very new glanced under the
+window sill. The owner rung at the door; and not finding the gentleman
+at home, continued his walk. A servant entered and presented the card of
+JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. "I do wonder," exclaimed the lady, "that the
+President of the United States will go about in such a manner!"
+
+His apparel was always plain, scrupulously neat, and reasonably well
+worn. It was made for the comfort of the wearer, who asked not of the
+fashions.
+
+When he retired from the Presidency, he resolved to pass the remainder
+of his days under the paternal roof and the beloved shades. He
+anticipated and desired nothing but quiet, animated by the excitements
+of intellectual and rural occupations. He had before him the congenial
+task, to which he had long aspired, of dispensing the treasures of
+wisdom contained in the unwritten life and unpublished writings of his
+father. He was ready to impart of his own inexhaustible wealth of
+experience, observation and erudition, to any one capable of receiving.
+It takes much to reconcile a thoughtful mind to the loss of what would
+have been gained by the proposed employment of his leisure. And we had
+much.
+
+Had the record of his public life, ample and honorable as it was, been
+now closed, those pages on which patriots, philanthropists and poets
+will for ever dwell with gratitude and delight, would have been wanting.
+Hitherto he had done remarkably well what many others, with a knowledge
+of precedents and of routine and with habits of industry, might have
+done, if not as well, yet acceptably. He was now called to do what no
+other man in the Republic had strength and heart to attempt.
+
+He was endowed with a memory uncommonly retentive. He could remember and
+quote with precision, works which he had not looked at for forty years.
+Add to this his untiring diligence and perseverance, and the advantages
+of his position and employment at various capitals in the old world, and
+the story of his vast acquisitions is told. His love lay in history,
+literature, moral philosophy and public law. With the Greek, Latin,
+French, German, and Italian languages and principal writers he was
+familiar. His favorite English poet was Shakspeare, whom he commented
+upon and recited with discrimination and force, surpassing, it is said,
+in justness of conception, the great personators of his principal
+characters. Among the classics, he especially loved Ovid, unquestionably
+the Shakspeare of the Romans. Cicero was greatly beloved, and most
+diligently studied, translated, and commented upon. For many of his
+latter years he never read continuously. He would fall asleep over his
+book. But to elucidate any subject he had in hand, he wielded his
+library with wakefulness and execution lively enough.
+
+He was fond of art in all its departments, but most in the pictorial. In
+his "Residence at the Court of London," Mr. Rush has drawn an attractive
+sketch of him at home.
+
+"His tastes were all refined. Literature and art were familiar and dear
+to him. At his hospitable board I have listened to disquisitions from
+his lips, on poetry, especially the dramas of Shakspeare, music,
+painting and sculpture, of rare excellence and untiring interest. A
+critical scholar in the dead languages, in French, German and Italian,
+he could draw at will from the wealth of these tongues to illustrate any
+particular topic. There was no fine painting or statue, of which he did
+not know the details and the history. There was not even an opera, or a
+celebrated composer, of which or of whom he could not point out the
+distinguishing merits and the chief compositions. Yet he was a
+hard-working and assiduous man of business; and a more regular,
+punctual, and comprehensive diplomatic correspondence than his, no
+country can probably boast."
+
+Mr. Adams was generally regarded as cold and austere. The testimony of
+persons who enjoyed an intimacy with him is the reverse of this. Mr.
+Rush says that "under an exterior of at times repulsive coldness, dwelt
+a heart as warm, sympathies as quick, and affections as overflowing as
+ever animated any bosom." And Mr. Everett, that "in real kindness and
+tenderness of feeling, no man surpassed him." There is an abundance of
+like evidence on this head.
+
+He was taciturn rather than talkative, preferring to think and to muse.
+At times his nature craved converse, and delighted in the play of
+familiar chat. Occasionally he threw out a lure to debate. If great
+principles were seriously called in question, he would pour out a rapid
+and uninterrupted torrent.
+
+The poets had been the delight of his youth. He read them in the
+intervals of retirement at Quincy with a youthful enthusiasm, and tears
+and laughter came by turns, as their sad and bright visions passed
+before him. Pope was a favorite, "and the intonations of his voice in
+repeating the 'Messiah,'" says an inmate of the family, "will never
+cease to vibrate on the ear of memory." He was a deeply religious man,
+and though not taking the most unprejudiced views of divinity, what he
+received as spiritual truths were to him most evident and momentous
+realities, and he derived from them a purifying and invigorating power.
+"The dying Christian's Address to his Soul" was replete with pathos and
+beauty for him. He is remembered to have repeated it one evening with an
+intense expression of religious faith and joy; adding the Latin lines of
+Adrian, which Pope imitated. He was thought by some to have a tendency
+to Calvinistic theology, and to regard Unitarianism as too abstract and
+frigid. Thus he used sometimes to talk, but it was supposed to be for
+the purpose of putting Unitarians upon a defence of their faith, rather
+than with a serious design to impair it.
+
+On one occasion he conversed on the subject of popular applause and
+admiration. Its caprice, said he, is equalled only by its worthlessness,
+and the misery of that being who lives on its breath. There is one
+stanza of Thomson's Castle of Indolence, that is worth whole volumes of
+modern poetry; though it is the fashion to speak contemptuously of
+Thomson. He then repeated with startling force of manner and energy of
+enunciation, the third stanza, second canto, of that poem.
+
+     "I care not, fortune, what you me deny;
+      You cannot rob me of free nature's grace,
+      You cannot shut the windows of the sky,
+      Through which Aurora shows her brightening face;
+      You cannot bar my constant feet to trace
+      The woods and lawns by living streams at eve:
+      Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace,
+      And I their toys to the great children leave;
+    Of Fancy, Reason, Virtue, nought can me bereave."
+
+He did not much admire the poetry of Byron. One objection which he is
+recollected to have made to the poet was the use of the word "rot."
+There is some peculiarity in Byron in this respect; thus in Childe
+Harold:--
+
+    "The Bucentaur lies _rotting_ unrestored,
+    Where meaner relics must not dare to _rot_."
+
+This, if a sound objection, which it is not, was narrow for so great a
+man. The cause of this distaste lay deeper. Mr. Adams, though a dear
+lover of Shakspeare, was of the Johnsonian school of writers. His
+diction is elaborate, stately, and in his earlier writings verbose, but
+always polished, harmonious, and sustained. He liked unconsciously Latin
+English better than Anglo-Saxon. Byron, in common with a large and
+increasing class of moderns, loved to borrow the force of familiar and
+every-day language, and to lend to it the dignity and beauty of deep
+thought and high poetic fancy. Not improbably, the moral obliquities of
+the poet had their influence in qualifying the opinion formed of his
+writings, by a man of such strict rectitude as Mr. Adams.
+
+He was fond of Watts's Psalms and Hymns, and repeated them often,
+sometimes rising from his seat in the exaltation of his feelings. Among
+favorite stanzas was this one:
+
+    Sweet fields, beyond the swelling flood,
+      Stand dressed in living green;
+    So to the Jews old Canaan stood,
+      While Jordan rolled between.
+
+Until his private letters shall be published, no adequate conception can
+be formed of the devotion he paid to his mother. This may give an
+inkling of it. A young friend inquired of him, when he was once at
+Hingham on their annual fishing party in his honor, in which of his
+poems a certain line was to be found, viz.--
+
+    "Hull--but that name's redeemed upon the wave,"
+
+referring to the surrender of General Hull, so soon followed (only three
+days after, August 16-19, 1812) by the capture of the Guerriere by
+Captain Hull. "I do not," he replied, "but I have been often struck by
+the coincidence. I think, however, the line occurs in a poem _addressed
+to my mother_."
+
+The best saying of Mr. Adams was in reply to the inquiry, What are the
+recognized principles of politics?
+
+MR. ADAMS. There are none. There are recognized precepts, but they are
+bad, and so not PRINCIPLES.
+
+But is not this a sound one, "The greatest good of the greatest number?"
+
+MR. ADAMS. No, that is the worst of all, for it looks specious, while it
+is ruinous; for what is to become of the minority? This is the only
+principle--THE GREATEST GOOD OF ALL.
+
+It must be admitted that much tyranny lurks in this favorite democratic
+tenet, not half as democratic, however, as Mr. Adams's amendment. Wrongs
+and outrages the most unmerciful, have been committed by majorities. It
+may even happen where the forms of law are maintained; but what shall be
+said when the majority resolves itself into a mob? When rivers of
+innocent blood may (as they have) run from city gates. The tyranny of
+majorities is irresponsible, without redress, and without punishment,
+except in the ultimate iron grasp of "the higher law."
+
+Mr. Adams's view, so much larger than the common one, may, with a strong
+probability, be traced to the mother. In her letters to him, she insists
+again and again upon the duty of universal kindness and benevolence.
+Patriot as she was, she pitied the Refugees. She said to him,
+
+"Man is bound to the performance of certain duties, all which tend to
+the happiness and welfare of society, and are comprised in one short
+sentence expressive of universal benevolence: 'Thou shalt love thy
+neighbor as thyself.'
+
+    "Remember more, the Universal Cause
+    Acts not by partial, but by general laws;
+    And makes what happiness we justly call,
+    Subsist, not in the good of one, but ALL.'"
+
+In other letters she illustrated observations in the same spirit by
+these quotations:
+
+    "Shall I determine where his frowns shall fall,
+    And fence my grotto from the lot of ALL?"
+
+      "Prompt at every call,
+    Can watch and weep and pray and feel for ALL."
+
+One evening, at his house in F street in Washington, he spoke of Judge
+Parsons, of his depth and subtlety, and the conciseness of his language.
+"Soon after I entered his office he said to us students--'Lord Bacon
+observes that "reading makes a full man, conversation a ready man,
+writing a correct man." Young gentlemen, my advice to you is, that you
+study to be full, ready and correct.' I thought," said Mr. Adams, "that
+I never heard good advice so well conveyed."
+
+He was asked by the writer whether he had ever received any
+acknowledgment of his services, any mark of gratitude from the colored
+people of the District? "None," said he--"except that I now and then
+hear, _in a low tone_, a hearty GOD BLESS YOU! That is enough."
+
+It was enough; enough for recompense and for justification, since we are
+in the sad pass that justification is needed--since
+
+    "Virtue itself of Vice must pardon beg,
+    And pray for leave to do him good."
+
+So then, in this Republic there are millions of human hearts, which are
+not permitted to love a benefactor, and dare not utter for him an
+invocation, kindred to their devotion to God, except "in a low tone!"
+
+When in 1846 Mr. Adams was struck the first time with palsy, he was
+visited by Charles Sumner, who sat much by his bedside. As he became
+better, he said one day to his visitor: "You will enter public life; you
+do not want it, but you will be drawn into the current, in spite of
+yourself. Now I have a word of advice to give you. _Never accept a
+present._ While I was in Russia, the Minister of the Interior, an old
+man, whose conscience became more active as his bodily powers failed,
+grew uneasy on account of the presents he had received. He calculated
+the value of them, and paid it all over to the Imperial treasury. This
+put me to thinking upon the subject, and I then made a resolution never
+to accept a present while I remained in the public service; and I never
+have, unless it was some trifling token, as a hat or cane."
+
+A neighboring clergyman, to whom this conversation was related,
+exclaimed--"A hat! That cannot be, for he never had any but an old one."
+It was a tradition in Cambridge that Mr. Adams, while Professor in the
+University, was noted for indifference to personal appearance, and his
+well-worn hat was particularly remembered.
+
+In the relation of husband Mr. Adams showed the same fidelity and
+devotedness which characterized him in every other. He was united to a
+woman whose virtues and accomplishments blessed and adorned his home. In
+a letter written shortly after his noble vindication of the character of
+woman, and the propriety and utility of their intervention in public
+affairs, he said:
+
+"Had I not, by the dispensation of Providence, been blessed beyond the
+ordinary lot of humanity in all the domestic relations of life, as a
+son, a brother, and a husband, I should still have thought myself bound
+to vindicate the social rights and the personal honor of the
+petitioners, who had confided to me the honorable trust of presenting
+the expression of their wishes to the legislative councils of the
+nation. But that this sense of imperious duty was quickened within my
+bosom by the affectionate estimate of the female character impressed
+upon my heart and mind by the virtues of the individual woman, with whom
+it has been my lot to pass in these intimate relations my days upon
+earth, I have no doubt."
+
+In 1840 he had a severe fall, striking his head against the corner of an
+iron rail, which inflicted a heavy contusion on his forehead, and
+rendered him for some time insensible. His left shoulder was likewise
+dislocated. This occurred at the House of Representatives after
+adjournment. Fortunately several members were within call, and gave him
+the most tender and assiduous assistance. He was carried to the lodgings
+of one of them, and a physician called. With the united strength of four
+men, it took more than an hour to reduce the dislocation. "Still," says
+a witness of the scene, "Mr. Adams uttered not a murmur, though the
+great drops of sweat which rolled down his furrowed cheeks, or stood
+upon his brow, told but too well the agony he suffered." At his request
+he was immediately conveyed to his house; and the next morning, to the
+astonishment of every one, he was found in his seat as usual. He was
+accustomed to be the first to enter the House and the last to leave it.
+Mr. Everett tells us that he had his seat by the side of the veteran,
+and that he should not have been more surprised to miss one of the
+marble pillars from the hall than Mr. Adams.
+
+That this painful accident did not impair the vigor of his mind is
+evident from the fact that he subsequently argued the Amistad case, and
+sustained the fierce contest of three days on the expulsion resolution
+in the House. It was three years later also that he made the journey for
+the benefit of his health, which turned out an improvised and continuous
+ovation. He had designed merely to visit Lebanon Springs. He was so much
+pleased with his journey thus far into the State of New-York, that he
+concluded to prolong it to Quebec, Montreal, and Niagara Falls, and
+return to Massachusetts through the length of the empire State. This
+return was signalized by attentions and homage on the part of the people
+so spontaneous and unanimous, that nothing which has occurred since the
+progress of La Fayette, has equalled it. "Public greetings, processions,
+celebrations, met and accompanied every step of his journey." Addresses
+by eminent men, and acclamations of men, women, and children, who
+thronged the way, bore witness of the deep hold which the man, without
+accessories of office and pageantry of state, had of their hearts. Of
+this excursion he said himself towards the close of it, "I have not come
+alone, the whole people of the State of New-York have been my
+companions." In the autumn of the same year he went to Cincinnati to
+assist in laying the foundation of an observatory. This journey was
+attended by similar demonstrations. At a cordial greeting given him at
+Maysville, Kentucky, after an emphatic testimony to the integrity of Mr.
+Clay, he made that renewed and solemn denial of the charges of "bargain
+and corruption."
+
+He suffered a stroke of paralysis in November, 1846, but recovered, and
+took his seat at the ensuing session of Congress. He regarded this as
+equivalent to a final summons, and made no subsequent entry in his
+faithful diary except under the title of "posthumous." After this he
+spoke little in the House.
+
+In November, 1847, he left his home in Quincy for the last time. On the
+twentieth of February he passed his last evening at his house in
+Washington. He retired to his library at nine o'clock, where his wife
+read to him a sermon by Bishop Wilberforce on Time. The next morning he
+rose early and occupied himself with his pen as he was wont. With more
+than usual spryness and alacrity he ascended the stairs of the Capitol.
+In the House a resolution for awarding thanks and gold medals to several
+officers concerned in the Mexican war was taken up. Mr. Adams uttered
+his emphatic _No!_ on two or three preliminary questions. When the final
+question was about to be put, and while he was in the act of rising, as
+it was supposed, to address the House, he sunk down. He was borne to the
+speaker's room. He revived so far as to inquire for his wife, who was
+present. He seemed desirous of uttering thanks. The only distinct words
+he articulated were, "This is the end of earth. I am content." He
+lingered until the evening of the twenty-third, and then expired.
+
+Thus he fell at his post in the eighty-first year of his age, the age of
+Plato. With the exception of Phocion there is no active public life
+continued on the great arena, with equal vigor and usefulness, to so
+advanced an age. Lord Mansfield retired at eighty-three; but the quiet
+routine of a judicial station is not as trying as the varied and
+boisterous contentions of a political and legislative assembly. Ripe as
+he was for heaven; he was still greatly needed upon earth. His services
+would have been of inestimable importance in disposing of the perilous
+questions, not yet definitively settled, which arose out of unhallowed
+war and conquest.
+
+There is not much satisfaction in dwelling upon the general effusions of
+eloquence, or the pageantry which ensued. A single glance of guileless
+love from the men, women and children, who came forth from their smiling
+villages to greet the virtuous old statesman in his unpretending
+journeys, was worth the whole of it. The hearty tribute of Mr. Benton,
+so long a denouncer, has an exceptional value, the greater because he
+had made honorable amends to the departed during his life. That he was
+sincerely and deeply mourned by the nation, it would be a libel on the
+nation to doubt. His remains rested appropriately in Independence and
+Faneuil Halls on the way to their final resting place, the tomb he had
+made for those of his venerated parents. There he was laid by his
+neighbors and townsmen, sorrowing for the friend and the MAN. His
+monument is to stand on the other side of the pulpit.
+
+Happy place which hallows such memories, and holds up such EXAMPLES.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[17] It is supposed that the State derives its name from a hill in the
+north part of the town, situated near the peninsula called Squantum,
+likewise a part of the town. Squantum was a favorite residence of the
+Indians; and the Sachem, who ruled over the district "extending round
+the harbors of Boston and Charlestown, through Malden, Chelsea,
+Nantasket, Hingham, Weymouth and Dorchester," had his seat on the
+neighboring hill, which was shaped like an arrow-head. Arrow-head in the
+Indian language was _mos_ or mous, and hill _wetuset_. Thus the great
+Sachem's home was called _Moswetuset_ or Arrow-head Hill, his subjects
+the Moswetusets, and lastly the Province Massachusetts, but frequently
+in the primitive days "the Massachusetts."
+
+[18] Died early in the city of New-York, soon after entering upon the
+practice of law.
+
+
+
+
+=Jackson.=
+
+[Illustration: Jackson fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Hermitage, Residence of Jackson]
+
+JACKSON.
+
+
+The events of Jackson's life, even in their chronological order, dispose
+themselves into a number of combinations, which a skilful pen, guided by
+the hand of a poet, might easily work up into a series of impressive and
+contrasted pictures. We have not the ability, had we the space here, to
+undertake this labor, but we see no reason why we should not present
+some outlines of it, for the benefit of future more competent artists.
+
+In such a series, we should first see the flaxen-haired, blue-eyed son
+of Irish emigrants, driven from their home by a sense of British
+oppression, opening his young eyes in South Carolina, amid the stormy
+scenes of our Revolution. Around him, his friends and neighbors are
+training for the battle, and preparing to defend their homes from an
+invading foe; his eldest brother Hugh, is brought back dead from the
+fatigues of active service; the old Waxhaw meeting-house, a temporary
+hospital, through which he wanders, is crowded with the wounded and
+dying, whose condition moves him to tears, and fills him with melancholy
+impressions of the horrors of war, coupled with a deepening sense of
+English cruelty and oppression, of which he had before heard in the
+tales of his mother and her kindred about the old country from which
+they had fled; while, finally, he himself, but little more than thirteen
+years of age, in company with a brother Robert, takes up arms, is made a
+prisoner, suffers severely from wounds and the smallpox of the jail,
+loses first his brother by that disease, and then his mother by a fever
+caught on board a prison-ship, whither she had gone to nurse some
+captive friends, and is thus left alone in the world, the only one of
+all his family spared by the enemy.
+
+We should next see the friendless, portionless orphan wending his
+solitary way through the immense forests of the Far West, (now the State
+of Tennessee), where the settlements were hundreds of miles from each
+other, while every tree and rock sheltered an enemy in the shape of some
+grisly animal, or the person of a more savage Indian. But he succeeds in
+crossing the mountains, he reaches the infant villages on the Cumberland
+River, he studies and practises the rude law of those distant regions,
+takes part in all the wild vicissitudes of frontier life, repels the red
+man, fights duels with the white, encounters in deadly feuds the
+turbulent spirits of a half-barbarous society, administers justice in
+almost extemporized courts, helps to frame a regular State constitution,
+marries a wife as chivalric, noble, and fearless as himself, and at
+last, when society is reduced to some order, is chosen a representative
+of the backwoods in the Congress at Washington.
+
+Arrived at the seat of government, a tall, thin, uncouth figure, with no
+words to express himself in, and apparently without ambition,--he yet
+shows himself, with all his wild western coarseness, a man of insight
+and decision. He made no speeches, he drew up no reports, he created no
+sensation in the committee-room, or the lobbies,--he was not at all
+known, as a leader or a prominent individual, but he was one of the
+twelve democrats of the House, who dared to oppose returning an answer
+to Washington's last address, when the fame and the personal influence
+of that exalted man were almost omnipotent. He doubtless estimated the
+services and the character of Washington as highly as any member, but
+the measures of the administration his judgment did not approve, and he
+voted as he thought--a silent uncultivated representative,--odd in his
+dress and look, but with grit in him, not appalled even by the
+stupendous greatness of Washington! On the other hand, he saw in
+Jefferson a man for the times; became his friend, voted for him, and
+helped his State to vote for him as the second President.
+
+In the next phases of his life we discover Jackson, as the dignified and
+impartial judge, asserting the law in the face of a powerful combination
+of interested opponents; as the retired and prosperous planter,
+gathering together a large estate, which he surrounds with the comforts
+and luxuries of a refined existence, but sells at once when a friend's
+misfortunes involves him in debt, and retires to a primitive log cabin
+to commence his fortunes once more; as an Indian fighter achieving amid
+hardships of all kinds--the want of funds, the inclemency of the season,
+the ravages of disease, the unskilfulness of superiors, the
+insubordination of troops--a series of brilliant victories that made his
+name a terror to the Creeks and all their confederates. His campaign in
+the Floridas broke the power of the Indians, secretly in league with the
+British, forced them into a treaty, and wrested Pensacola from the
+possession of the Spanish governor, who had basely violated his
+neutrality, and who, when he wished to negotiate, was answered by
+Jackson, "My diplomacy is in the mouths of my cannon."
+
+But a different foe and a wider theatre awaited the display of his
+military genius at New Orleans. Worn down with sickness and exhaustion,
+with raw and undisciplined troops--many of them the mere rabble of the
+wharves, and some of them buccaneers from neighboring islands--scantily
+supplied with arms and ammunition, in the midst of a mixed population of
+different tongues, where attachment to his cause was doubtful,
+continually agitated by gloomy forebodings of the result, though
+outwardly serene, he was surrounded by the flower of the British army,
+led by its most brave and accomplished generals. The attack commenced:
+from his breastwork of cotton bales his unerring rifles poured a
+continuous flame of fire. The enemy quailed: its leaders were killed or
+wounded; and the greatest victory of the war crowned the exertions of
+Jackson as the greatest military genius of his time. A universal glow of
+joy and gratitude spread from the liberated city over the whole land;
+_Te deums_ were sung in the churches; children robed in white strewed
+his way with flowers; the nation jubilantly uttered its admiration and
+gratitude. It was thus the desolated orphan of the Carolinas avenged the
+wrongs of his family, and asserted the rights of his country, to the
+lasting dishonor of Great Britain.
+
+Years pass on, and we see the successful General the President of the
+People, engaged once more in a fearful struggle; this time not against a
+foreign foe, but with an internal enemy of vast power and tremendous
+means of mischief. He is fighting the monster bank--another St. George
+gallantly charging another dragon--and, as usual, comes out of the
+contest victorious. The innumerable army of money-changers, wielding a
+power as formidable, though unseen, as that of an absolute monarch, is
+routed amid a horrible clangor of metal and rancorous hisses. The great
+true man, sustained by an honest people, was greater than the power of
+money. He wrought the salvation of his country from a hideous
+corruption--from bankruptcy, disgrace, and long years of political
+subjection. His near posterity has recognized the service, and placed
+him among the most illustrious of statesmen.
+
+Finally, we see the patriot soldier and civilian, a bowed and
+white-haired old man, in his secluded Hermitage, which is situated near
+the scenes of his earliest labors and triumphs. The companion of his
+love, who had shared in his struggles, but was not permitted to share in
+his latest glory, is with him no more; children they had none; and he
+moves tranquilly towards his grave alone. No! not alone: for travellers
+from all lands visit his retreat, to gaze upon his venerable form; his
+countrymen throng his doors, to gather wisdom from his sayings,--his
+friends and neighbors almost worship him, and an adopted family bask in
+the benignant goodness of his noble heart--his great mind, too, "beaming
+in mildest mellow splendor, beaming if also trembling, like a great sun
+on the verge of the horizon, near now to its long farewell." Thus, the
+orphan, the emigrant, the Indian fighter, the conquering General, the
+popular President, the venerated Patriarch, goes to the repose of the
+humble Christian.
+
+What were the sources of Jackson's pre-eminent greatness, of his
+invariable success, of his resistless personal influence, of his deep
+hold upon the minds of his fellows? He was no orator, he was no writer,
+he had in fact no faculty of expression, he was unsustained by wealth,
+he never courted the multitude, he relied upon no external assistances.
+What he did, he achieved for himself, without aid, directly, and by the
+mere force of his own nature. Neither education, nor family, nor the
+accidents of fortune, nor the friendship of the powerful, helped to
+raise him aloft, and push him forward in his career. The secret of his
+elevation, then, was this,--that he saw the Right and loved it, and was
+never afraid to pursue it, against all the allurements of personal
+ambition, and all the hostility of the banded sons of error. There have
+been many men of a larger reach and compass of mind, and some of a
+keener insight and sagacity, but none, of a more stern, inflexible,
+self-sacrificing devotion to what they esteemed to be true. He carried
+his life in his hand, ready to be thrown away at the call of honor or
+patriotism, and it was this unswerving integrity, which commended him so
+strongly to the affections of the masses. Whatever men may be in
+themselves, their hearts are always prone to do homage to honesty. They
+love those whom they can trust, or only hate them, because their justice
+and truth stands in the way of some cherished, selfish object.
+
+Jackson's will was imperious; the report does not follow the flash more
+rapidly than his execution of a deed followed the conception of it; or
+rather his thought and his act were an instinctive, instantaneous,
+inseparable unity. Like a good marksman, as soon as he saw his object he
+fired, and generally with effect. This impulsive decision gave rise to
+some over-hasty and precipitate movements, but, in the main, was
+correct. What politicians, therefore, could only accomplish if at all by
+a slow and cunning process of intrigue, what diplomatists reached by
+long-winded negotiations, he marched to, without indirection, with his
+eye always on the point, and his whole body following the lead of the
+eye. We do not mean that he was utterly without subtlety,--for some
+subtlety is necessary to the most ordinary prudence, and is particularly
+necessary to the forecast of generalship,--but simply that he never
+dissimulated, never assumed disguise, never carried water on both
+shoulders, as the homely phrase has it, and never went around an
+obstacle, when he could level it, or push it out of the way. The foxy or
+feline element was small in a nature, into which so much magnanimity,
+supposed to be lionlike, entered.
+
+The popular opinion of Jackson was, that he was an exceedingly irascible
+person, his mislikers even painting him as liable to fits of roaring and
+raving anger, when he flung about him like a maniac; but his intimate
+friends, who occupied the same house with him for years, inform us that
+they never experienced any of these strong gusts; that, though sensitive
+to opposition, impatient of restraint, quick to resent injuries, and
+impetuous in his advance towards his ends, he was yet gentle, kindly,
+placable, faithful to friends and forgiving to foes, a lover of children
+and women, only unrelenting when his quarry happened to be meanness,
+fraud or tyranny. His affections were particularly tender and strong; he
+could scarcely be made to believe any thing to the disadvantage of those
+he had once liked, while his reconciliations with those he had disliked,
+once effected, were frank, cordial and sincere. Colonel Benton, who was
+once an enemy, but afterwards a friend of many years, gives us this
+sketch of some of his leading characteristics:
+
+"He was a careful farmer, overlooking every thing himself, seeing that
+the fields and fences were in good order, the stock well attended, and
+the slaves comfortably provided for. His house was the seat of
+hospitality, the resort of friends and acquaintances, and of all
+strangers visiting the State--and the more agreeable to all from the
+perfect conformity of Mrs. Jackson's disposition to his own. But he
+needed some excitement beyond that which a farming life could afford,
+and found it for some years in the animating sports of the turf. He
+loved fine horses--racers of speed and bottom--owned several--and
+contested the four mile heats with the best that could be bred, or
+bought, or brought to the State, and for large sums. That is the nearest
+to gaming that I ever knew him to come. Cards and the cock-pit have been
+imputed to him, but most erroneously. I never saw him engaged in either.
+Duels were usual in that time, and he had his share of them, with their
+unpleasant concomitants; but they passed away with all their
+animosities, and he has often been seen zealously pressing the
+advancement of those, against whom he had but lately been arrayed in
+deadly hostility. His temper was placable, as well as irascible, and his
+reconciliations were cordial and sincere. Of that, my own case was a
+signal instance. There was a deep-seated vein of piety in him,
+unaffectedly showing itself in his reverence for divine worship, respect
+for the ministers of the Gospel, their hospitable reception in his
+house, and constant encouragement of all the pious tendencies of Mrs.
+Jackson. And when they both afterwards became members of a church, it was
+the natural and regular result of their early and cherished feelings. He
+was gentle in his house, and alive to the tenderest emotions; and of
+this I can give an instance, greatly in contrast with his supposed
+character, and worth more than a long discourse in showing what that
+character really was. I arrived at his house one wet, chilly evening in
+February, and came upon him in the twilight, sitting alone before the
+fire, a lamb and a child between his knees. He started a little, called
+a servant to remove the two innocents to another room, and explained to
+me how it was. The child had cried because the lamb was out in the cold,
+and begged him to bring it in--which he had done to please the child,
+his adopted son, then not two years old. The ferocious man does not do
+that! and though Jackson had his passions and his violences, they were
+for men and enemies--those who stood up against him--and not for women
+and children, or the weak and helpless, for all of whom his feelings
+were those of protection and support. His hospitality was active as well
+as cordial, embracing the worthy in every walk of life, and seeking out
+deserving objects to receive it, no matter how obscure. Of this I
+learned a characteristic instance, in relation to the son of the famous
+Daniel Boone. The young man had come to Nashville on his father's
+business, to be detained some weeks, and had his lodgings at a small
+tavern, towards the lower part of the town. General Jackson heard of
+it--sought him out--found him, took him home to remain as long as his
+business detained him in the country, saying, 'Your father's dog should
+not stay in a tavern while I have a house.' This was heart! and I had it
+from the young man himself, long after, when he was a State Senator of
+the General Assembly of Missouri, and as such nominated me for the
+United States Senate at my first election in 1820--his name was Benton
+Boone, and so named after my father. Abhorrence of debt, public and
+private, dislike of banks and love of hard money--love of justice, and
+love of country, were ruling passions with Jackson; and of these he gave
+constant evidences in all the situations of his life."
+
+The same distinguished authority has drawn a picture of Jackson's
+retirement from the Presidency, with which we close our remarks:
+
+"The second and last term of General Jackson's presidency expired on the
+3d of March, 1837. The next day at twelve he appeared with his
+successor, Mr. Van Buren, on the elevated and spacious eastern portico
+of the capitol, as one of the citizens who came to witness the
+inauguration of the new President, and no way distinguished from them,
+except by his place on the left hand of the President-elect. The day was
+beautiful: clear sky, balmy vernal sun, tranquil atmosphere; and the
+assemblage immense. On foot, in the large area in front of the steps,
+orderly without troops, and closely wedged together, their faces turned
+to the portico--presenting to the beholders from all the eastern windows
+the appearance of a field paved with human faces--this vast crowd
+remained riveted to their places, and profoundly silent, until the
+ceremony of inauguration was over. It was the stillness and silence of
+reverence and affection, and there was no room for mistake as to whom
+this mute and impressive homage was rendered. For once the rising was
+eclipsed by the setting sun. Though disrobed of power, and retiring to
+the shades of private life, it was evident that the great ex-President
+was the absorbing object of this intense regard. At the moment that he
+began to descend the broad steps of the portico to take his seat in the
+open carriage that was to bear him away, the deep, repressed feeling of
+the dense mass broke forth, acclamations and cheers bursting from the
+heart and filling the air, such as power never commanded, nor man in
+power ever received. It was the affection, gratitude, and admiration of
+the living age, saluting for the last time a great man. It was the
+acclaim of posterity breaking from the bosoms of contemporaries. It was
+the anticipation of futurity--unpurchasable homage to the hero-patriot
+who, all his life, and in all the circumstances of his life--in peace
+and in war, and glorious in each--had been the friend of his country,
+devoted to her, regardless of self. Uncovered and bowing, with a look of
+unaffected humility and thankfulness, he acknowledged in mute signs his
+deep sensibility to this affecting overflow of popular feeling. I was
+looking down from a side window, and felt an emotion which had never
+passed through me before. I had seen the inauguration of many
+presidents, and their going away, and their days of state, vested with
+power, and surrounded by the splendors of the first magistracy of a
+great republic; but they all appeared to me as pageants, brief to the
+view, unreal to the touch, and soon to vanish. But here there seemed to
+be a reality--a real scene--a man and the people: he, laying down power
+and withdrawing through the portals of everlasting fame; they, sounding
+in his ears the everlasting plaudits of unborn generations. Two days
+after I saw the patriot ex-President in the car which bore him off to
+his desired seclusion: I saw him depart with that look of quiet
+enjoyment which bespoke the inward satisfaction of the soul at
+exchanging the cares of office for the repose of home.
+
+
+
+
+=King.=
+
+[Illustration: King fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Rufus King's House, Near Jamaica, L.I.]
+
+RUFUS KING.
+
+
+When in the year 1803, after having served his native country with
+distinguished ability for more than seven years as Minister
+Plenipotentiary of the United States at the Court of St. James, Rufus
+King returned to New-York, the city of his adoption, he found his
+political friends in a hopeless minority, and the rule of party
+absolute, exclusive, and even vindictive. Mr. King had trained himself
+from early life to the duties of a Statesman, and to that end neglected
+no study, and above all, no self-discipline that might qualify him for
+the career he desired to pursue. After serving several years as a
+Delegate from Massachusetts in the Continental Congress (from 1785 to
+1789), and having, as a member of the Convention called for the purpose,
+been actively instrumental in forming the Constitution of the United
+States, Mr. King became in 1788 a resident of the city of New-York,
+where he had married two years before, MARY, the only child of JOHN
+ALSOP, a retired merchant of that city. Mr. King was much known in
+New-York, for the Continental Congress during his term of service held
+its sessions there; and the character he had established for himself on
+the score of talent and capacity, may be estimated by the fact, that he,
+with General Schuyler for a colleague, was selected as one of the first
+Senators of the United States from the State of New-York, under the new
+constitution.
+
+His services proved so acceptable, that on the expiration of his first
+term, in 1795, he was re-elected, and it was in the second year of his
+second term--in 1796, that he was appointed by Washington Minister to
+England.
+
+In that post Mr. King continued throughout the residue of General
+Washington's administration, through the whole of that of John Adams,
+and, at the request of President Jefferson, through two years of his
+administration, when, having accomplished the negotiations he had in
+hand, Mr. King asked to be, and was, recalled.
+
+During this long residence abroad, remote from the scene of the angry
+partisan politics which disturbed the close of Washington's term, and
+the whole of that of Mr. Adams, and which resulted, in 1800, in the
+entire overthrow of the old Federal party, and the success of Mr.
+Jefferson and the Republican party--Mr. King had devoted his labors, his
+time and his talents, to the service of his whole country, and was
+little prepared, therefore, either by taste or temper, for participation
+in the angry broils which, on his return home, he found prevailing
+throughout the Union. Adhering, as he did to the end, to the political
+principles of his early life, he never doubted, nor saw occasion to
+change the faith which had made him a Federalist, when the name included
+the Telfairs and Habershams of Georgia, the Pinkneys and Rutledges of
+South Carolina, the Davieses and the Sitgreaves of North Carolina, the
+Washingtons and the Marshalls of Virginia, the Carrolls and the Hindmans
+of Maryland, the Bayards and the Kearnys of Delaware, the Tilghmans and
+the Binghams of Pennsylvania, the Patersons and the Stocktons of New
+Jersey, the Jays and Hamiltons of New-York, the Woolcots and the
+Johnsons of Connecticut, the Ellerys and Howells of Rhode Island, the
+Adamses and Otises of Massachusetts, the Smiths and Gilmans of New
+Hampshire, the Tichenors and Chittendens of Vermont. But that faith was
+now in "dim eclipse." The popular air was in another direction, and Mr.
+King was of too lofty a character to trim his bark to the veering
+breeze. Having acquired, or rather confirmed by his residence in England
+(where country life is better understood and more thoroughly enjoyed,
+probably, than any where else) a decided taste for the country Mr. King
+soon determined to abandon the city, where--having no professional
+pursuits nor stated occupation--he found few attractions, and make his
+permanent abode in the country. After looking at many points on the
+Hudson River and on the Sound, he finally established himself at the
+village of Jamaica, in Queens county, Long Island, distant about twelve
+miles from the city of New-York. In comparison with some of the places
+which he had examined on the waters of the Sound and the North River,
+Jamaica offered few inducements of scenery or landscape. But it did
+offer what to him, and especially to his wife, were all-important
+considerations--proverbial healthiness, and ready access to church,
+schools and physicians. Mrs. King's health was already drooping, and
+from the quiet, regular life of the country, its pure air, and the
+outdoor exercise to which it leads, and of which she was so fond, the
+hope was indulged that she might be completely restored. The property
+purchased by Mr. King, consisting of a well-built, comfortable and roomy
+house, with about ninety acres of land, is situated a little to the west
+of the village, on the great high road of the Island from west to east.
+It is a dead level, of a warm and quick soil, readily fertilized, the
+ridge or back-bone of Long Island bounding it on the north. He removed
+his family thither in the spring of 1806, and at once commenced those
+alterations and improvements which have made it what it now is--a very
+pretty and attractive residence for any one who finds delight in fine
+trees, varied shrubbery, a well cultivated soil, and the comforts of a
+large house, every part of which is meant for use, and none of it for
+show.
+
+When Mr. King took possession of his purchase, the house, grounds and
+fences were after the uniform pattern, then almost universal in the
+region. He soon changed and greatly improved all. The house, fronting
+south, was in a bare field, about one hundred yards back from the road,
+and separated from it by a white picket fence. A narrow gravel path led
+in a straight line from a little gate, down to the door of the house,
+while further to the east was the gate, through which, on another
+straight line, running down by the side of the house, was the entrance
+for carriages and horses. Two horse-chestnut trees, one east and the
+other west of the house, and about thirty feet from it, were, with the
+exception of some old apple trees, the only trees on the place; and the
+blazing sun of summer, and the abundant dust of the high road at all
+seasons, had unobstructed sweep over the house and lawn, or what was to
+become a lawn. Not a shrub or bush was interposed between the house and
+the fence, to secure any thing like privacy to the abode. On the
+contrary, it seemed to be the taste of the day to leave every thing open
+to the gaze of the wayfarers, and in turn to expose those wayfarers,
+their equipages, and their doings, to the inspection of the inmates of
+all roadside houses. Mr. King, who had cultivated the study of Botany,
+and was a genuine admirer of trees, soon went to work in embellishing
+the place which was to be his future home, and in this he was warmly
+seconded by the taste of Mrs. King. The first step was, to change the
+approach to the house, from a straight to a circular walk, broad and
+well rolled; then to plant out the high road. Accordingly, a belt of
+from twenty to thirty feet in width along the whole front of the ground,
+was prepared by proper digging and manuring, for the reception of shrubs
+and trees; and time and money were liberally applied, but with wise
+discrimination as to the adaptedness to the soil and climate, of the
+plants to be introduced. From the State of New Hampshire, through the
+careful agency of his friend, Mr. Sheaffe of Portsmouth, who was
+vigilant to have them properly procured, packed, and expedited to
+Jamaica, Mr. King received the pines and firs which, now very large
+trees, adorn the grounds. They were, it is believed, among the first, if
+not the first trees of this kind introduced into this part of Long
+Island, and none of the sort were then to be found in the nurseries at
+Flushing. Some acorns planted near the house in 1810, are now large
+trees. Mr. King indeed planted, as the Romans builded--"for posterity
+and the immortal gods," for to his eldest son, now occupying the
+residence of his father, he said, in putting into the ground an acorn of
+the red oak--"If you live to be as old as I am, you will see here a
+large tree;" and, in fact, a noble, lofty, well-proportioned red oak now
+flourishes there, to delight with its wide-branching beauty, its
+grateful shade, and more grateful associations, not the children only,
+but the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of him who planted the
+acorn. Mr. King possessed, in a remarkable degree, all the tastes that
+fit one for the enjoyment of country life. He had a large and well
+selected library, particularly rich in its books relating to the
+Americas, and this library remains unbroken. With these true, tried,
+unwavering and unwearying friends--and such good books are--Mr. King
+spent much time; varying, however, his studious labors with outdoor
+exercise on horseback, to which he was much addicted; and in judgment of
+the qualities, as well as in the graceful management of a horse, he was
+rarely excelled. He loved, too, his gun and dog; was rather a keen
+sportsman, and good shot; though often, when the pointer was hot upon
+the game, his master's attention would be diverted by some rare or
+beautiful shrub or flower upon which his eye happened to light, and of
+which--if not the proper season for transplanting it into his border--he
+would carefully mark the place and make a memorandum thereof, so as to
+be enabled to return at the fitting time, and secure his prize. In this
+way he had collected in his shrubberies all the pretty flowering shrubs
+and plants indigenous to the neighborhood, adding thereto such strangers
+as he could naturalize; so that during a visit made to him many years
+after he began his plantation, by the _Abbe Correa_, then Minister from
+Portugal to this Government, but even more distinguished as a man of
+letters, and particularly as a botanist--the learned Abbe said he could
+almost study the _Flowers_ and the _Trees_ of the central and eastern
+portion of the United States in these grounds. Mr. King loved, too, the
+song of birds--and his taste was rewarded by the number of them which
+took shelter in this secure and shady plantation, where no guns were
+ever allowed to be fired, nor trap nor snare to be set. The garden and
+the farm also came in for their share of interest and attention; and
+nowhere did care judiciously bestowed, and expenditure wisely ordered,
+produce more sure or gratifying results.
+
+About the year 1817 Mr. King turned his attention to the importation of
+some cattle of the North Devon breed. In the preceding year he received
+as a token of a friendship contracted during his residence in England,
+from Mr. Coke of Holkham (the great English Commoner, and warm friend of
+America in the revolutionary contest, and always interested in whatever
+might promote the welfare of the people in whose early struggle for
+their rights he had sympathized), two beautiful cows of the North Devon
+breed, as being particularly adapted, as Mr. Coke supposed, to the
+light, level soil of the southern slope of Long Island,--similar in
+these qualities to that of his own magnificent domain at Holkham, in
+Norfolk. Mr. King was so much pleased with these animals, so beautiful
+in themselves, of a uniform mahogany color, with no white marks, finely
+limbed almost as deer, with regularly curved and tapering horns, of
+extreme docility, and easily kept, that in 1817 he imported several
+more, and was thus enabled to preserve the race in purity, and
+measurably to supply the demand for the pure stock, which is now widely
+scattered throughout the country.
+
+While thus enjoying with the real zest of a cultivated mind, and of a
+disposition keenly alive to the aspect, the voices and the beauties of
+nature, the pleasures of a country life; Mr. King was not unmindful of,
+nor indifferent to the great and interesting contemporaneous drama of
+politics, which, although mainly played out in Europe, swept our
+republic too at last into its vortex. His early training, early
+instruction, and early and eminent successes in public life, made it
+alike unsuitable and impossible for him to withdraw himself wholly from
+the scene. And accordingly, although never in the whole course of his
+life seeking office, or putting himself forward, Mr. King was frequently
+appealed to, in his retirement, by political friends, sometimes
+consulted by political opponents,--while he was in the habit of
+receiving with elegant and cordial hospitality at Jamaica, distinguished
+visitors, both of his own country, and from abroad. Among such visitors
+was the Abbe Correa, as already stated, about the period when, as
+Secretary of State to President Monroe, John Quincy Adams was asserting
+in his correspondence with the English Minister the right of the United
+States to the free navigation of the St. Lawrence. After discussing with
+Mr King in the library, the points of international law brought up by
+this claim,--in the course of which, somewhat to the surprise of the
+Abbe, Mr. King evinced entire familiarity with the analogous points
+brought up and settled, as regards European rivers, in the then recently
+held Congress of Vienna; and maintained the position, that what was law
+between states in Europe conterminous to great navigable streams, must
+be law here; and that what Great Britain had assented to, and had joined
+in requiring others to assent to, in respect to the Rhine, she must
+assent to in respect to the St. Lawrence,--the Abbe proposed a walk in
+the grounds, and once there, laying aside politics, diplomacy, and
+international law, the two statesmen were soon very deep in botany and
+the system of Linnaeus, and agriculture, and in all the cognate questions
+of climate, soils, manures, &c., and seemed quite as eager in these
+pursuits, as in those grave and more solemn questions of state policy,
+which occupy, but do not, in the same degree, innocently and surely
+reward the attention and interest of public men. It was on occasion of
+this visit, that the Abbe Correa expressed his gratification at finding
+in the plantation of Mr. King so large a collection of the plants and
+shrubs indigenous to that part of our country,--a gratification
+enhanced, as he added, by the previous discussions in the library, in
+the course of which he had such demonstration of Mr. King's varied and
+comprehensive, yet minute knowledge of the great public questions which
+had agitated Europe, and of the more recent, as well as more ancient
+expositions of international law applicable thereto.
+
+Previously to this period, however, Mr. King had been recalled to public
+life. At the commencement of the war of 1812 with Great Britain, Mr.
+King, though disapproving both of the time of declaring, and of the
+inefficiency in conducting, the war, and reposing little confidence
+either in the motives or the abilities of the administration, did
+nevertheless feel it his duty, the sword being drawn, to sustain, as
+best he might, the cause of his country. Among the first, and for a time
+most discouraging results of the war, was the stoppage of specie
+payments by all the banks south of New England. The panic in New-York
+unavoidably was very great; and very much depended upon the course to be
+taken by its banks and its citizens, as to the effect to be produced
+upon the national cause and the national arm, by the suspension of
+payments. In this emergency, appealed to by his former fellow-citizens,
+Mr. King went to the city, and at the Tontine Coffee House, at a general
+meeting called to deliberate on the course to be taken by the community
+in regard to the banks, and in general in regard to the rights and
+duties alike, of creditors and debtors under the circumstances, he made
+a speech to the assembled multitude, in which, after deploring the
+circumstances which had forced upon the banks the necessity of
+suspension, he went on to show that it was a common cause, in which all
+had a part, and where all had duties. That the extreme right of the
+bill-holder, if enforced to the uttermost against the banks, would
+aggravate the evil to the public, although possibly it might benefit a
+few individuals; while, on the other hand, good to all, and strength and
+confidence to the general cause, would result from a generous
+forbearance, and mutual understanding that, if the banks on their part
+would restrict themselves within the limits as to issues and credits
+recognized as safe previous to the suspension, the community at large on
+their part, might, and possibly would continue to receive and pass the
+bills of the banks as before, and as though redeemable in coin. He urged
+with great power and earnestness the duty of fellow-citizens to stand
+shoulder to shoulder in such an emergency,--when a foreign enemy was
+pressing upon them, and when, without entering into the motives or
+causes which led to the war, about which men differ,--all Americans
+should feel it as their first and foremost obligation to stand by their
+country. The particular province of those he addressed was not so much
+to enlist in the armed service of the country, as to uphold its credit,
+and thus cherish the resources which would raise and reward armies; and
+if New-York should on this occasion be true to her duty--which also he
+plainly showed to be her highest interest--the clouds of the present
+would pass away, and her honor and her prosperity, with those of the
+nation of which she formed part and parcel, would be maintained and
+advanced. The effect of this address was decisive, and to an extent
+quite unprecedented in any commercial community under such
+circumstances; confidence was restored, and the course of business went
+on almost unruffled and undisturbed.
+
+In 1813, Mr. King, after a lapse of seventeen years from his former
+service as a Senator of the United States, was again chosen by the
+Legislature of the State of New-York, as one of its Senators in
+Congress; and from the moment he resumed his seat in the Senate, he took
+leave, for the remainder of his life, of the undisturbed enjoyments of
+his rural abode; for a large portion of his time was necessarily spent
+at Washington, it being part of his notion of duty, never to be remiss
+in attendance upon, or in the discharge of, any trust committed to him.
+Still, his heart was among his plantations and his gardens, and even
+when absent, he kept up a constant correspondence with his son and his
+gardener, and always returned with fond zest to this quiet home.
+
+In 1819, Mrs. King, whose health had been long declining, died, and was
+buried with all simplicity in the yard of the village church; where
+together they long had worshipped, and which stood on ground originally
+forming part of Mr. King's property. At the time of her death, all the
+children had left the paternal roof, and settled in life with their own
+families around them; and solitude, therefore, embittered the loss to
+Mr. King of such a companion. And she was eminently fitted by similarity
+of tastes and acquirements, to share with her husband the cares and the
+pleasures of life, as well as its weightier duties. She was in an
+especial manner a lover of the country, and had cultivated the knowledge
+which lends additional charms to the beauties and the wonders of the
+vegetable creation. Over all these beauties, her death cast a pall; and
+although he repined not, it was easy to see how deep a sorrow
+overshadowed his remaining years. Yet he nerved himself to the discharge
+of his public duties with unabated zeal and fidelity; and when
+re-elected in 1820 to the Senate, was punctual as always at his post,
+and earnest as ever in fulfilling all its requirements. His own health,
+however, before so unshaken, began to fail; and at the closing session
+of 1825, Mr. King, in taking leave of the Senate, announced his purpose
+of retiring from public life; having then reached the age of seventy
+years, of which more than one half had been spent in the service of his
+country, from the period when he entered the Continental Congress in
+1784, to that in which he left the Senate of the United States in 1825.
+But John Q. Adams, who had become President, pressed upon Mr. King the
+embassy to England. His enfeebled health and advanced age induced him at
+once to decline, but Mr. Adams urged him to refrain from any immediate
+decision, and to take the subject into consideration after he should
+return home, and then determine. Recalling with lively and pleasant
+recollection the years of his former embassy to England, and hoping
+assuredly to be able--if finding there the same fair and friendly
+reception before extended to him--to benefit his country by the
+adjustment of some outstanding and long-standing points of controversy
+between the two nations; influenced too, in a great degree, by the
+opinion, of eminent physicians, that for maladies partaking of weakness,
+such as he was laboring under, a sea-voyage could hardly fail to be
+beneficial, Mr. King, rather in opposition to the wishes of his family,
+determined to accept the mission,--first stipulating, however, that his
+eldest son, John A. King, should accompany him as Secretary of Legation.
+It is proof of the strong desire of the then administration to avail of
+Mr. King's talents and character, and of the hope of good from his
+employment in this mission, that an immediate compliance with this
+request was made; and the gentleman who had been previously nominated
+to, and confirmed by, the Senate, as Secretary of Legation, having been
+commissioned elsewhere, Mr. John A. King was appointed Secretary of
+Legation to his father.
+
+The voyage, unhappily, aggravated rather than relieved the malady of Mr.
+King; his health, after he reached England, continued to decline, and he
+therefore, after a few months' residence in London, asked leave to
+resign his post and come home. He returned accordingly, but only to die.
+He languished for some weeks, and finally, having been removed from
+Jamaica to the city for greater convenience of attendance and care, he
+died in New-York, on the 29th of April, 1827.
+
+As with Mrs. King, so with him--in conformity with the unaffected
+simplicity of their whole lives--were the funeral rites at his death.
+Borne to Jamaica, which for more than twenty years had been his home,
+the body was carried to the grave by the neighbors among whom he had so
+long lived,--laid in the earth by the side of her who had gone before
+him, to be no more separated for ever; and a simple stone at the head of
+his grave, records--and the loftiest monument of art could do no
+more--that a great and a good man, having finished his course in faith,
+there awaits the great Judgment. Children, and grandchildren, have since
+been gathered in death around these graves, which lie almost beneath the
+shadow of trees planted by Mr. King, and within sight of the house in
+which he lived.
+
+It was desired, if possible, to introduce a glimpse of the pretty
+village church into the engraving, but the space was wanting.
+
+Mr. John A. King, the eldest son of Rufus King, now occupies the
+residence of his father, and keeps up, with filial reverence and
+inherited taste, its fine library, and its fine plantations. The
+engraving presents very accurately the appearance of the house; the
+closely shaven lawn in its front, and the noble trees which surround it,
+could find no adequate representation in any picture.
+
+
+
+
+=Clay.=
+
+[Illustration: Clay fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Ashland, Residence of Henry Clay]
+
+CLAY.
+
+
+The Dryads are plainly no American divinities. A reverence for trees and
+groves, for woods and forests, is not an American passion. As our
+fathers and many of ourselves have spent the best of our strength in
+wrestling with, prostrating, using up the leaf-crowned monarchs, gray
+with the moss of age ere Columbus set foot on Cat Island, to expect us
+to love and honor their quiet majesty, their stately grace, were like
+asking Natty Bumpo or Leather-stocking to bow down to and worship
+Pontiac or Brandt, as the highest ideal of Manhood. An uncouth
+backwoodsman lately stated our difficulty with immediate reference to
+another case, but the principle is identical: "When I was a boy," said
+he, plaintively, "it was the rule to love rum, and hate niggers; now
+they want us to hate rum, and love niggers: For my part, I stick to the
+old discipline." And so it were unreasonable to expect the mass of
+Americans now living, to go into heroics over the prospect of a comely
+and comfortable mansion, surrounded by a spacious lawn or "opening" of
+luxuriant grass, embracing the roots and lightly shaded by the foliage
+of thrifty and shapely trees.
+
+Why is it, then, that the American's pulse beats quicker, and his heart
+throbs more proudly as, walking slowly and thoughtfully up a noble
+avenue that leads easterly from Lexington,--once the capital and still
+the most important inland town in Kentucky,--he finds the road
+terminating abruptly in front of a modest, spacious, agreeable mansion,
+only two stories in height, and of no great architectural pretensions,
+and remembers who caused its erection, and was for many years its owner
+and master?
+
+That house, that lawn, with the ample and fertile farm stretching a mile
+or more in the distance behind them, are hallowed to the hearts of his
+countrymen by the fact, that here lived and loved, enjoyed and suffered,
+aspired and endured, the Orator, the Patriot, the Statesman, the
+illustrious, the gifted, the fiercely slandered, the fondly idolized
+Henry Clay.
+
+A friend who visited Ashland as a stranger in May, 1845, thus writes of
+the place and its master:
+
+"I have at last realized one of my dearest wishes, that of seeing Mr.
+Clay at Ashland. I called on him with a friend this morning, but he was
+absent on his farm, and Charles, his freed slave, told us he would not
+be at home till afternoon; so we returned to Lexington, and, at five
+P.M., we retraced our steps to Ashland. Mr. Clay had returned; and
+meeting us at the door, took hold of our hands before I could even
+present a letter of introduction, and made us welcome to his home. His
+manners completely overcame all the ceremonies of speech I had prepared.
+We were soon perfectly at home, as every one must be with Henry Clay, and
+in half an hour's time we had talked about the various sections of the
+country I had visited the past year, Mr. Clay occasionally giving us
+incidents and recollections of his own life; and I felt as though I had
+known him personally for years.
+
+"Mr. Clay has lived at Ashland forty years. The place bore the name when
+he came to it, as he says, probably on account of the ash timber, with
+which it abounds; and he has made it the most delightful retreat in all
+the West. The estate is about six hundred acres large, all under the
+highest cultivation, except some two hundred acres of park, which is
+entirely cleared of underbrush and small trees, and is, to use the words
+of Lord Morpeth, who staid at Ashland nearly a week, the nearest
+approach to an English park of any in this country. It serves for a
+noble pasture, and here I saw some of Mr. Clay's fine horses and Durham
+cattle. He is said to have some of the finest in America; and if I am
+able to judge I confirm that report. The larger part of his farm is
+devoted to wheat, rye, hemp, &c., and his crops look most splendidly. He
+has also paid great attention to ornamenting his land with beautiful
+shade trees, shrubs, flowers, and fruit orchards. From the road which
+passes his place on the northwest side, a carriage-road leads up to the
+house, lined with locust, cypress, cedar, and other rare trees, and the
+rose, jasmine, and ivy, were clambering about them, and peeping through
+the grass and the boughs, like so many twinkling fairies, as we drove
+up. Mr Clay's mansion is nearly hidden from the road by the trees
+surrounding it, and is as quiet and secluded, save to the throng of
+pilgrims continually pouring up there to greet its more than royal
+possessor, as though it were in the wilderness."
+
+Here let the house, the lawn, the wood, the farm, pass, if they will,
+from the mind. They are all well in their way, and were doubtless well
+adapted in his time to smooth the care-worn brow, and soothe the
+care-fraught breast of the lofty, gallant, frank, winning statesman, who
+gave and still gives them all their interest. Be our thoughts
+concentrated on him who still lives, and speaks, and sways, though the
+clay which enrobed him has been hid from our sight for ever, rather than
+on the physical accessories which, but for him, though living to the
+corporal sense, are dead to the informing soul.
+
+For it was not here, in this comfortable mansion, beneath those
+graceful, hospitable, swaying trees, that THE GREAT COMMONER was born
+and reared; but in a rude, homely farm-house,[19] which had any man
+given five hundred dollars for, he would have been enormously swindled,
+unless he paid in Continental money,--in a primitive, rural, thinly
+peopled section of Hanover County (near Richmond), Virginia; where his
+father, Rev. John Clay, a poor Baptist preacher, lived, and struggled,
+and finally died, leaving a widow and seven young children, with no
+reliance but the mother's energies and the benignant care of the widow's
+and orphan's God. This was in 1782, near the close of the Revolutionary
+War, when so much of the country as had not been ravaged by the enemy's
+forces, had been nearly exhausted by our own, and by the incessant
+exactions of a protracted, harassing, desolating, industry-paralyzing
+civil war. The fifth of these seven children was Henry, born on the 12th
+of April, 1777, who remained in that humble home until fourteen years of
+age, when his mother, who had married a second time, being about to
+remove to Kentucky, placed him in a store at Richmond, under the eye of
+his oldest brother, then nearly or quite of age, but who died very soon
+afterwards, leaving Henry an orphan indeed. He was thus thrown
+completely on his own exertions, when still but a child, and without
+having enjoyed any other educational advantages than such as were
+fitfully afforded by occasional private schools, in operation perhaps
+two or three months in a year, and kept by teachers somewhat ruder than
+the log tenement which circumscribed their labors. Such was all the
+"schooling" ever enjoyed by the ragged urchin, whose bright summer days
+were necessarily given to ploughing and hoeing in the corn-fields,
+barefoot, bareheaded, and clad in coarse trowsers and shirt, and whose
+daily tasks were diversified by frequent rides of two or three miles to
+the nearest grist-mill, on a sorry cob, bestrode with no other saddle
+than the grain-bag; whence many of his childhood's neighbors,
+contrasting, long afterward, the figure he cut in Congress, at Ghent, in
+Paris or London, with that which they had seen so often pass in scanty
+garb, but jocund spirits, on these family errands, recalled him to mind
+in his primitive occupation as _The Mill-Boy of the Slashes_, by which
+_sobriquet_ he was fondly hailed by thousands in the pride of his
+ripened renown.
+
+Forty-five years after his childish farewell to it, Henry Clay stood
+once more (in 1840), and for the last time, in the humble home of his
+fathers, and was rejoiced to find the house where he was born and
+reared, still essentially unchanged. Venerable grandames, who were
+blooming matrons in his infancy, had long since indicated to their sons
+and daughters the room wherein he was born; and the spring whence the
+family had drawn their supplies of water wore a familiar aspect, though
+the hickory which formerly shaded it, and was noted for the excellence
+of its nuts, had passed away. Over the graves of his father and
+grandparents the plough had passed and repassed for years, and he only
+fixed their position by the decaying stump of a pear-tree, which had
+flourished in his childhood, and often ministered to his gratification.
+Beyond these, nothing answered to the picture in his memory, and he
+would not have recognized the spot, had he awoke there unconscious of
+the preceding journey. Familiar groves and orchards had passed away,
+while pines which he left shrubs, just dotting with perennial green the
+surface of the exhausted "old fields," unhappily too common throughout
+the Southern States, had grown up into dense and towering forests, which
+waved him a stately adieu, as he turned back refreshed and calmed, to
+the heated and dusty highway of public life.
+
+The boy Henry, spent five years in Richmond,--only the first in the
+store where his mother had placed him; three of the others in the office
+of Mr. Clerk-in-Chancery Peter Tinsley; the last in that of
+Attorney-General Brooke. From Mr. Tinsley, he learned to write a
+remarkably plain, neat, and elegant hand,--more like a schoolmistress's
+best, than a great lawyer and politician, and this characteristic it
+retained to the last. From Mr. Tinsley, Mr. Brooke, and perhaps still
+more from the illustrious Chancellor Wythe, who employed him as his
+amanuensis, and repaid him with his friendship and counsel, young Clay
+derived his knowledge of the principles of Common Law, whereof he was,
+all his life, a devoted champion. At length, in November, 1797, when
+still lacking some months of his legal majority, he left Richmond and
+Virginia, for the location he had chosen--namely, the thriving village
+of Lexington, in the then rapidly growing Territory of Kentucky--the
+home of his eventful adult life of more than half a century. How he here
+was early recognized and honored as a Man of the People, and rapidly
+chosen (1803) member of the Legislature, once (1806) appointed to fill a
+vacancy in the United States Senate, and soon after (1809) elected out
+of, and by the legislature, to fill another and longer vacancy in that
+same dignified body; chosen in 1811 a Member of the more popular branch
+of Congress, and, immediately on his appearance on its floor, elected
+its Speaker--probably the highest compliment ever paid to a public man
+in this country--appointed thence (1814) a Plenipotentiary to Goettingen
+(afterwards changed to Ghent), to negotiate a Treaty of Peace with Great
+Britain, which was signed near the close of that year; re-elected,
+immediately on his return, to a seat in the House, and to the
+Speakership, which he retained thenceforth (except during a temporary
+retirement from public life, rendered necessary by heavy pecuniary
+losses as an indorser), down to March 3d, 1825, when he finally retired
+from the House on being appointed Secretary of State by President John
+Q. Adams; quitting this station for private life on the Inauguration of
+President Jackson in 1829, returning to the Senate in 1831, and
+continuing one of its most eminent and influential members till 1842,
+when he retired, as he supposed for ever; but was returned, by an
+unanimous vote of the Legislature, in 1849, and dying a Senator in
+Washington on the 29th of June, 1852, aged more than seventy-five years,
+of which more than half had been spent in the public service, and nearly
+all, since his majority, in active, ardent, anxious familiarity with
+public men and public measures,--this is no place to set forth in
+detail. The merest glance is all we can give to the public, official
+career of Henry Clay.
+
+For our business is not here with Tariffs, Banks, Vetoes, and
+Presidential contests or aspirations. Our theme is the _man_ Henry
+Clay,--what he was intrinsically, and in his daily dealings with, and
+deportment toward, his fellow-beings. If there be a better mode of
+developing his character than Plutarch's, we have not now time to
+ascertain and employ it, so we must e'en be content with that.
+
+A tall, plain, poor, friendless youth, was young Henry, when he set up
+his Ebenezer in Lexington, and, after a few months' preliminary study,
+announced himself a candidate for practice as an attorney. He had not
+even the means of paying his weekly board. "I remember," he observed in
+his Lexington speech of 1842, "how comfortable I thought I should be, if
+I could make L100 Virginia money, per year; and with what delight I
+received my first fifteen shilling fee. My hopes were more than
+realized. I immediately rushed into a lucrative practice."
+
+Local tradition affirms that the Bar of Lexington, being unusually
+strong when Mr. Clay first appeared thereat, an understanding had grown
+up among the seniors, that they would systematically discountenance the
+advent of any new aspirants, so as to keep the business remunerating,
+and preserve each other from the peril of being starved out. It was some
+time, therefore, before young Clay obtained a case to manage in Court;
+and when he did appear there, the old heads greeted the outset of his
+argument with winks, and nods, and meaning smiles, and titters, intended
+to disconcert and embarrass him. So they did for a few minutes; but they
+soon exasperated and roused him. His eyes flashed, and sentence after
+sentence came pouring rapidly out, replete with the fire of eloquence
+and genius. At length, one of the old heads leaned across the table and
+whispered to another, "_I think we must let this young man pass._" Of
+course they must!--the case was as plain as the portliest of noses on
+the most rubicund of faces. Henry Clay passed, _nem. con._, and his
+position and success at that Bar were never more disputed nor doubted.
+
+General Cass, in his remarks in the Senate on the occasion of Mr. Clay's
+death, has the following interesting reminiscence:
+
+"It is almost half a century since he passed through Chilicothe, then
+the seat of government of Ohio, where I was a member of the Legislature,
+on his way to take his place in this very body, which is now listening
+to this reminiscence, and to a feeble tribute of regard from one who
+then saw him for the first time, but who can never forget the impression
+he produced by the charms of his conversation, the frankness of his
+manner, and the high qualities with which he was endowed."
+
+That an untaught, portionless rustic, reared not only in one of the
+rudest localities, but in the most troublous and critical era of our
+country, when the general poverty and insecurity rendered any attention
+to personal culture difficult, almost impossible, and graduating from a
+log school-house, should have been celebrated for the union in his
+manners, of grace with frankness, ease with fascination, is not unworthy
+of remark. Of the fact, those who never knew Mr. Clay personally, may
+have abundant attestations, which none others will need.
+
+While in Europe as a negotiator for Peace with Great Britain, Mr. Clay
+was brought into immediate and familiar contact, not only with his
+associates, the urbane and cultivated John Quincy Adams, whose life had
+been divided between seminaries and courts; the philosophic Gallatin and
+the chivalric Bayard, but also with the noble and aristocratic
+Commissioners of Great Britain, and with many others of like breeding
+and position, to whom the importance of their mission, its protracted
+labors and its successful result, commended our Plenipotentiaries. A
+single anecdote will illustrate the impression he every where produced.
+An octogenarian British Earl, who had retired from public life because
+of his years, but who still cherished a natural interest in public men
+and measures, being struck by the impression made in the aristocratic
+circles of London by the American Commissioners, then on their way home
+from Ghent, requested a friend to bring them to see him at his house, to
+which his growing infirmities confined him. The visit was promptly and
+cheerfully paid, and the obliging friend afterwards inquired of the old
+Lord as to the impression the Americans had made upon him. "Ah!" said
+the veteran, with the "light of other days" gleaming from his eyes, "I
+liked them all, but _I liked the Kentucky man best_." It was so every
+where.
+
+One specimen has been preserved of Mr. Clay's felicity of repartee and
+charm of conversation, as exhibited while in Paris, immediately after
+the conclusion of Peace at Ghent. He was there introduced to the famous
+Madame de Stael, who cordially addressed him with--"Ah, Mr. Clay! I have
+been in England, and have been battling your cause for you there." "I
+know it, madame; we heard of your powerful interposition, and are
+grateful and thankful for it." "They were much enraged against you,"
+said she: "so much so, that they at one time thought seriously of
+sending the Duke of Wellington to command their armies against you!" "I
+am very sorry, madame," replied Mr. Clay, "that they did not send his
+Grace." "Why?" asked she, surprised. "Because, madame, if he had beaten
+us, we should have been in the condition of Europe, without disgrace.
+But, if we had been so fortunate as to defeat him, we should have
+greatly added to the renown of our arms."
+
+At his next meeting with "Corinne," at her own house, Mr. Clay was
+introduced by her to the conqueror at Waterloo, when she related the
+above conversation. The Duke promptly responded that, had it been his
+fortune to serve against the Americans, and to triumph over them, he
+should indeed have regarded that triumph as the proudest of his
+achievements.
+
+Mr. Clay was in London when the tidings of Waterloo arrived, and set the
+British frantic with exultation. He was dining one day at Lord
+Castlereagh's, while Bonaparte's position was still uncertain, as he had
+disappeared from Paris, and fled none knew whither. The most probable
+conjecture was that he had embarked at some little port for the United
+States, and would probably make his way thither, as he was always lucky
+on water. "If he reaches your shores, Mr. Clay," gravely inquired Lord
+Liverpool (one of the Ministers), "will he not give you a great deal of
+trouble?" "Not the least," was the prompt reply of the Kentuckian; "we
+shall be very glad to receive him; to treat him with all hospitality,
+and very soon make him a good democrat." A general laugh here restored
+the hilarity of the party.
+
+The magnetism of Mr. Clay's manner and conversation have perhaps
+received no stronger testimony than that of Gen. Glascock, a political
+antagonist, who came into Congress from Georgia, during the fierce
+struggle which followed the removal of the Deposits. "Gen. Glascock,"
+said a mutual friend, at a party one evening, "shall I make you
+acquainted with Mr. Clay?" "No, Sir!" was the prompt and stern response;
+"I choose not to be fascinated and moulded by him, as friend and foe
+appear to be, and I shall therefore decline his acquaintance."
+
+Mr. Clay had a natural repugnance to caucuses, conventions, and the
+kindred contrivances whereby great men are elaborated out of very small
+materials, and was uniformly a candidate for Congress "on his own hook,"
+with no fence between him and his constituents. Only once in the course
+of his long Representative career was he obliged to canvass for his
+election, and he was never defeated, nor ever could be, before a public
+that he could personally meet and address. The one searching ordeal to
+which he was subjected, followed the passage of the "Compensation Act"
+of 1816, whereby Congress substituted for its own per diem a fixed
+salary of $1,500 to each Member. This act raised a storm throughout the
+country, which prostrated most of its supporters. The hostility excited
+was especially strong in the West, then very poor, especially in money:
+$1,500 then, being equal to $4000 at present. John Pope (afterward Gen.
+Jackson's Governor of Arkansas), one of the ablest men in Kentucky, a
+federalist of the old school, and a personal antagonist of Mr. Clay,
+took the stump as his competitor for the seat, and gave him enough to do
+through the canvass. They met in discussion at several local
+assemblages, and finally in a pitched battle at Higbie; a place central
+to the three counties composing the district, where the whole people
+collected to hear them. Pope had the district with him in his
+denunciation of the Compensation Bill, while Clay retorted with effect,
+by pressing home on his antagonist the embittered and not very
+consistent hostility of the latter to the war with Great Britain,
+recently concluded, which uniformly had been very popular in Kentucky.
+The result was decisive: Mr. Clay was re-elected by about six hundred
+majority.
+
+That excited canvass was fruitful of characteristic incidents like the
+following:
+
+While traversing the district, Mr. Clay encountered an old hunter, who
+had always before been his warm friend, but was now opposed to his
+re-election on account of the Compensation Bill. "Have you a good rifle,
+my friend?" asked Mr. Clay. "Yes." "Did it ever flash?" "Once only," he
+replied. "What did you do with it--throw it away?" "No, I picked the
+flint, tried it again, and brought down the game." "Have _I_ ever
+flashed but upon the Compensation Bill?" "No!" "Will you throw me away?"
+"No, no!" exclaimed the hunter with enthusiasm, nearly overpowered by
+his feelings; "I will pick the flint, and try you again!" He was
+afterward a warm supporter of Mr. Clay.
+
+An Irish barber in Lexington, Jerry Murphy by name, who had always
+before been a zealous admirer and active supporter of Mr. Clay, was
+observed during this canvass to maintain a studied silence. That silence
+was ominous, especially as he was known to be under personal obligation
+to Mr. Clay for legal assistance to rescue him from various difficulties
+in which his hasty temper had involved him. At length, an active and
+prominent partisan of the speaker called on the barber, with whom he had
+great influence, and pressed him to dispel the doubt that hung over his
+intentions by a frank declaration in favor of his old favorite. Looking
+his canvasser in the eye, with equal earnestness and shrewdness, Murphy
+responded; "I tell you what, docthur; I mane to vote for the man _that
+can put but one hand into the Treasury_." (Mr. Pope had lost one of his
+arms in early life, and the humor of Pat's allusion to this
+circumstance, in connection with Mr. Clay's support of the Compensation
+Bill, was inimitable.)
+
+Mr. Clay was confessedly the best presiding officer that any
+deliberative body in America has ever known, and none was ever more
+severely tried. The intensity and bitterness of party feeling during the
+earlier portion of his Speakership cannot now be realized except by the
+few who remember those days. It was common at that time in New England
+town-meetings, for the rival parties to take opposite sides of the broad
+aisle in the meeting-house, and thus remain, hardly speaking across the
+line separation, from morning till night. Hon. Josiah Quincy, the
+Representative of Boston, was distinguished in Congress for the ferocity
+of his assaults on the policy of Jefferson and Madison; and between him
+and Mr. Clay there were frequent and sharp encounters, barely kept
+within the limits prescribed by parliamentary decorum. At a later
+period, the eccentric and distinguished John Randolph, the master of
+satire and invective; and who, though not avowedly a Federalist, opposed
+nearly every act of the Democrat Administrations of 1801-16, and was the
+unfailing antagonist of every measure proposed or supported by Mr. Clay,
+was a thorn in the side of the Speaker for years. Many were the passages
+between them in which blows were given and taken, whereof the gloves of
+parliamentary etiquette could not break the force: the War, the Tariff,
+the early recognition of Greek and South American Independence, the
+Missouri Compromise, &c. &c., being strenuously advocated by Mr. Clay
+and opposed by Mr. Randolph. But of these this is no place to speak.
+Innumerable appeals from Mr. Clay's decisions, as Speaker, were made by
+the orator of Roanoke, but no one of them was ever sustained by the
+House. At length, after Mr. Clay had left Congress, and Mr. Randolph
+been transferred to the Senate, a bloodless duel between them grew out
+of the Virginian's unmeasured abuse of the Kentuckian's agency in
+electing J.Q. Adams to the Presidency; a duel which seems to have had
+the effect of softening, if not dissipating Randolph's rancor against
+Mr. Clay. Though evermore a political antagonist, his personal antipathy
+was no longer manifested; and one of the last visits of Randolph to the
+Capitol, when dying of consumption, was made for the avowed purpose of
+hearing in the Senate the well-known voice of the eloquent Sage of
+Ashland.
+
+On the floor of the House, Mr. Clay was often impetuous in discussion,
+and delighted to relieve the tedium of debate, and modify the sternness
+of antagonism by a sportive jest or lively repartee. On one occasion,
+Gen. Alexander Smythe of Virginia, who often afflicted the House by the
+verbosity of his harangues and the multiplicity of his dry citations,
+had paused in the middle of a speech which seemed likely to endure for
+ever, to send to the library for a book from which he wished to note a
+passage. Fixing his eye on Mr. Clay, who sat near him, he observed the
+Kentuckian writhing in his seat as if his patience had already been
+exhausted. "You, sir," remarked Smythe addressing the Speaker, "speak
+for the present generation; but I speak for posterity." "Yes," said Mr.
+Clay, "and you seem resolved to speak until the arrival of _your_
+auditory."
+
+Revolutionary pensions were a source of frequent passages between
+eastern and western members; the greater portion of those pensions being
+payable to eastern survivors of the struggle. On one occasion when a
+Pension Bill was under discussion, Hon. Enoch Lincoln (afterwards
+Governor of Maine) was dilating on the services and sufferings of these
+veterans, and closed with the patriotic adjuration, "Soldiers of the
+Revolution! live for ever!" Mr. Clay followed, counselling moderation in
+the grant of pensions, that the country might not be overloaded and
+rendered restive by their burden, and turning to Mr. Lincoln with a
+smile, observed--"I hope my worthy friend will not insist on the very
+great duration of these pensions which he has suggested. Will he not
+consent, by way of a compromise, to a term of nine hundred and
+ninety-nine years instead of eternity?"
+
+A few sentences culled from the remarks in Congress elicited by his
+death, will fitly close this hasty daguerreotype of the man Henry Clay.
+
+Mr. Underwood (his colleague) observed in Senate that "his physical and
+mental organization eminently qualified him to become a great and
+impressive orator. His person was tall, slender and commanding. His
+temperament, ardent, fearless, and full of hope. His countenance, clear,
+expressive, and variable--indicating the emotion which predominated at
+the moment with exact similitude. His voice, cultivated and modulated in
+harmony with the sentiment he desired to express, fell upon the ear with
+the melody of enrapturing music. His eye beaming with intelligence and
+flashing with coruscations of genius. His gestures and attitudes
+graceful and natural. These personal advantages won the prepossessions
+of an audience even before his intellectual powers began to move his
+hearers; and when his strong common sense, his profound reasoning, his
+clear conceptions of his subject in all its bearings, and his striking
+and beautiful illustrations, united with such personal qualities, were
+brought to the discussion of any question, his audience was enraptured,
+convinced and led by the orator as if enchanted by the lyre of Orpheus.
+
+"No man was ever blessed by his Creator with faculties of a higher order
+than Mr. Clay. In the quickness of his perceptions, and the rapidity
+with which his conclusions were formed, he had few equals and no
+superiors. He was eminently endowed with a nice discriminating taste for
+order, symmetry, and beauty. He detected in a moment every thing out of
+place or deficient in his room, upon his farm, in his own or the dress
+of others. He was a skilful judge of the form and qualities of his
+domestic animals, which he delighted to raise on his farm. I could give
+you instances of the quickness and minuteness of his keen faculty of
+observation, which never overlooked any thing. A want of neatness and
+order was offensive to him. He was particular and neat in his
+handwriting and his apparel. A slovenly blot or negligence of any sort
+met his condemnation; while he was so organized that he attended to, and
+arranged little things to please and gratify his natural love for
+neatness, order, and beauty, his great intellectual faculties grasped
+all the subjects of jurisprudence and politics with a facility amounting
+almost to intuition. As a lawyer, he stood at the head of his
+profession. As a statesman, his stand at the head of the Republican Whig
+party for nearly half a century, establishes his title to pre-eminence
+among his illustrious associates.
+
+"Mr. Clay was deeply versed in all the springs of human action. He had
+read and studied biography and history. Shortly after I left college, I
+had occasion to call on him in Frankfort, where he was attending court,
+and well I remember to have found him with Plutarch's Lives in his
+hands. No one better than he knew how to avail himself of human motives,
+and all the circumstances which surrounded a subject, or could present
+themselves with more force and skill to accomplish the object of an
+argument.
+
+"Bold and determined as Mr. Clay was in all his actions, he was,
+nevertheless, conciliating. He did not obstinately adhere to things
+impracticable. If he could not accomplish the best, he contented himself
+with the nighest approach to it. He has been the great compromiser of
+those political agitations and opposing opinions which have, in the
+belief of thousands, at different times, endangered the perpetuity of
+our Federal Government and Union.
+
+"Mr. Clay was no less remarkable for his admirable social qualities,
+than for his intellectual abilities. As a companion, he was the delight
+of his friends; and no man ever had better or truer. No guest ever
+thence departed, without feeling happier for his visit."
+
+Mr. Hunter of Virginia (a political antagonist) following, observed: "It
+may be truly said of Mr. Clay, that he was no exaggerator. He looked at
+events through neither end of the telescope, but surveyed them with the
+natural and the naked eye. He had the capacity of seeing things as the
+people saw them, and of feeling things as the people felt them. He had,
+sir, beyond any other man whom I have ever seen, the true mesmeric touch
+of the orator,--the rare art of transferring his impulses to others.
+Thoughts, feelings, emotions, came from the ready mould of his genius,
+radiant and glowing, and communicated their own warmth to every heart
+which received them. His, too, was the power of wielding the higher and
+intenser forms of passion, with a majesty and an ease, which none but
+the great masters of the human heart can ever employ."
+
+Mr. Seward of New-York, said: "He was indeed eloquent--all the world
+knows that. He held the key to the hearts of his countrymen, and he
+turned the wards within them with a skill attained by no other master.
+
+"But eloquence was nevertheless only an instrument, and one of many,
+that he used. His conversation, his gestures, his very look, were
+magisterial, persuasive, seductive, irresistible. And his appliance of
+all these was courteous, patient, and indefatigable. Defeat only
+inspired him with new resolution. He divided opposition by the assiduity
+of address, while he rallied and strengthened his own bands of
+supporters by the confidence of success, which, feeling himself, he
+easily inspired among his followers. His affections were high, and pure,
+and generous; and the chiefest among them was that one which the great
+Italian poet designated as the charity of native land. In him, that
+charity was an enduring and overpowering enthusiasm, and it influenced
+all his sentiments and conduct, rendering him more impartial between
+conflicting interests and sections, than any other statesman who has
+lived since the Revolution. Thus, with great versatility of talent, and
+the most catholic equality of favor, he identified every question,
+whether of domestic administration or foreign policy, with his own great
+name, and so became a perpetual Tribune of the People. He needed only to
+pronounce in favor of a measure or against it, here, and immediately
+popular enthusiasm, excited as by a magic wand, was felt, overcoming and
+dissolving all opposition in the Senate Chamber."
+
+In the House, about the same time, Mr. Breckenridge of Kentucky
+(democrat), spoke as follows:
+
+"The life of Mr. Clay, sir, is a striking example of the abiding fame
+which surely awaits the direct and candid statesman. The entire absence
+of equivocation or disguise in all his acts, was his master-key to the
+popular heart; for while the people will forgive the errors of a bold
+and open nature, he sins past forgiveness who deliberately deceives
+them. Hence Mr. Clay, though often defeated in his measures of policy,
+always secured the respect of his opponents without losing the
+confidence of his friends. He never paltered in a double sense. The
+country never was in doubt as to his opinions or his purposes. In all
+the contests of his time, his position on great public questions was as
+clear as the sun in the cloudless sky. Sir, standing by the grave of
+this great man, and considering these things, how contemptible does
+appear the mere legerdemain of politics! What a reproach is his life on
+that false policy which would trifle with a great and upright people! If
+I were to write his epitaph, I would inscribe as the highest eulogy, on
+the stone which shall mark his resting-place, 'Here lies a man who was
+in the public service for fifty years, and never attempted to deceive
+his countrymen.'"
+
+Let me close this too hasty and superficial sketch, with a brief
+citation from Rev. C.M. Butler, Chaplain of the Senate, who, in his
+funeral discourse in the Senate Chamber, said:
+
+"A great mind, a great heart, a great orator, a great career, have been
+consigned to history. She will record his rare gifts of deep insight,
+keen discrimination, clear statement, rapid combination, plain, direct,
+and convincing logic. She will love to dwell on that large, generous,
+magnanimous, open, forgiving heart. She will linger with fond delight on
+the recorded or traditional stories of an eloquence that was so
+masterful and stirring, because it was but himself struggling to come
+forth on the living words--because, though the words were brave and
+strong, and beautiful and melodious, it was felt that, behind them,
+there was a soul braver, stronger, more beautiful, and more melodious,
+than language could express."
+
+Such was the master of Ashland, the man Henry Clay!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+After this article was in type, we received from a Western paper the
+following notice of the sale of the Ashland estate.
+
+"We are glad to learn that Ashland, the home of Henry Clay, which was
+sold September 20th, at public auction, was purchased by James B. Clay,
+eldest son of the deceased statesman. The Ashland homestead contained
+about 337 acres. It lies just without the limits of the city of
+Lexington. The country immediately surrounding it, is justly regarded as
+the garden spot of the West, and Ashland, above all others, as the most
+beautiful place in the world. The associations about it are of the most
+interesting character. When Kentucky was, in fact, the 'dark and bloody
+ground,' the country around Lexington was the only oasis--every where
+else, the tomahawk and the rifle were more potent than laws. How many
+incidents of these terrible days are garnered in the minds of the
+descendants of the old families of Kentucky! In those thrilling days,
+Ashland belonged to Daniel Boone, whose name is connected with many of
+the daring tragedies enacted in the then Far West. It passed from his
+hands into those of Nathaniel Hart, who fell, gloriously fighting, in
+the battle at the River Raisin, where so many Kentuckians offered up
+their lives in defence of their country. Henry Clay married Lucretia
+Hart, to whom the demesne of Ashland descended.
+
+"There is so much of the Arab in the habits of the Americans,--there is
+so much migratoriness, and so little love for old homesteads,--we were
+afraid the children of Henry Clay would allow classic Ashland to pass
+into other and alien hands. But our fears are to gladness changed; and
+Ashland is still the dwelling-place of the Clays.
+
+"Mr. Clay was thoroughly versed in agricultural matters, and was never
+better contented (as the editor of the Ohio Journal truly remarks), than
+when surrounded by his neighbors, many of whom knew and loved him when
+he was quite young and obscure, and afterwards rejoiced at his fame, and
+followed his fortunes through every phase of a long and eventful career.
+The residence does not present any imposing appearance, but is of a
+plain, neat, and rather antique architectural character, and the grounds
+immediately surrounding it are beautifully adorned, and traversed by
+walks; not in accordance with the foolish and fastidious taste of the
+present day, for this, in every thing connected with the place has been
+neglected, and the only end seems to have been to represent Nature in
+its proudest and most imposing grandeur. Many of the walks are retired,
+and are of a serpentine character, with here and there, in some secluded
+spot along their windings, a rude and unpolished bench upon which to
+recline. The trees are mostly pines of a large growth, and stand close
+together, casting a deep and sombre shade on every surrounding object.
+The reflections of one on visiting Ashland are of the most interesting
+character. Every object seems invested with an interest, and although
+the spirit with whose memory they are associated, has fled, one cannot
+repel the conviction, that while reposing under its silent and
+sequestered shades, he is still surrounded by something sublime and
+great. Old memories of the past come back upon him, and a thousand
+scenes connected with the life and history of Henry Clay, will force
+themselves upon you. The great monarchs of the forest that now stretch
+their limbs aloft in proud and peerless majesty, have all, or nearly all
+been planted by his hand, and are now not unfit emblems of the towering
+greatness of him who planted them.
+
+"The walks, the flowers, the garden and the groves, all, all are
+consecrated, and have all been witnesses of his presence and his care.
+In the groves through which you wander, were nursed the mighty schemes
+of Statesmanship, which have astonished the world and terrified the
+tyrant, beat back the evil counsels for his country's ruin, and bound
+and fettered his countrymen in one common and indissoluble bond of
+UNION."
+
+[Illustration: Clay's Birth-place]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[19] See vignette title-page to this volume.
+
+
+
+
+=Calhoun.=
+
+[Illustration: Calhoun fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+CALHOUN.
+
+
+In writing the lives of our American Statesmen, we might say of almost
+any of them, "that he was born in such a year, that he was sent to the
+common school or to college, that he studied law, that he was chosen,
+first a member of the State Legislature, and then of the National
+Congress, that he became successively, a Senator, a foreign Ambassador,
+a Secretary of State, or a President, and that finally he retired to his
+paternal acres, to pass a venerable old age, amid the general respect
+and admiration of the whole country." This would be a true outline in
+the main, of the practical workings and doings of nine out of ten of
+them: but in filling in the details of the sketch, in clothing the dry
+skeleton of facts with the flesh and blood of the living reality, it
+would be found that this apparent similarity of development had given
+rise to the utmost diversity and individuality of character, and that
+scarcely any two of our distinguished men, though born and bred under
+the same influence, bore even a family resemblance. It is said by the
+foreign writers, by De Tocqueville especially, that very little
+originality and independence of mind can be expected in a democracy,
+where the force of the majority crushes all opinions and characters into
+a dead and leaden uniformity. But the study of our actual history rather
+tends to the opposite conclusion, and leads us to believe that the land
+of Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, the Adamses, Clay,
+Webster and Calhoun, is favorable to the production of distinct,
+peculiar, and decided natures. At least we may be sure, that our annals
+are no more wanting than those of other nations, in original,
+self-formed, and self-dependent men.
+
+Among these, there was no one more peculiar or more unlike any
+prototype, than John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina. In the structure of
+his mind, in the singular tenacity of his purposes, in the rare dignity
+and elevation of his character, and in the remarkable political system
+to which he adhered, he was wholly _sui generis_, standing out from the
+number of his forerunners and contemporaries in bold, positive and
+angular relief. He could only have been what he was, in the country, and
+during the times, in which he flourished: he was a natural growth of our
+American society and institutions: had formed himself by no models
+ancient or modern; and the great leading principles of his thought
+faithfully rendered in all his conduct, were as much an individual
+possession as the figure of his body or the features of his face. In
+seeing him, in hearing him speak, or in reading his books, no one was
+ever likely to confound him with any second person.
+
+Mr. Calhoun was born in the Abbeville District of South Carolina, on
+the 18th of March, 1782. His parents on both sides were of Irish
+extraction, who had first settled in Pennsylvania, and then in Virginia,
+whence they were driven by the Indians, at the time of Braddock's defeat,
+to South Carolina. The father appears to have been a man of the most
+resolute and energetic character, equally ready to defend his home
+against the incursions of the savages, and his rights as a citizen
+against legislative encroachments. On one occasion, he and his neighbors
+went down to within thirty miles of Charleston, armed, to assert a right
+of suffrage which was then disputed; and he always steadily opposed the
+Federal Constitution, because it allowed other people than those of South
+Carolina to tax the people of South Carolina. "We have heard his son
+say," writes a friend of the latter, "that among his earliest
+recollections was one of a conversation when he was nine years of age,
+in which his father maintained that government to be best, which allowed
+the largest amount of individual liberty compatible with social order
+and tranquillity, and insisted that the improvements in political
+science would be found to consist in throwing off many of the restraints
+then imposed by law, and deemed necessary to an organized society. It
+may well be supposed that his son John was an attentive and eager
+auditor, and such lessons as these must doubtless have served to
+encourage that free spirit of inquiry, and that intrepid zeal for truth,
+for which he has been since so distinguished. The mode of thinking which
+was thus encouraged may, perhaps, have compensated in some degree the
+want of those early advantages which are generally deemed indispensable
+to great intellectual progress. Of these he had comparatively few. But
+this was compensated by those natural gifts which give great minds the
+mastery over difficulties which the timid regard as insuperable. Indeed,
+we have here another of those rare instances in which the hardiness of
+natural genius is seen to defy all obstacles, and developes its flower
+and matures its fruit under circumstances apparently the most
+unpropitious.
+
+"The region of the country in which his family resided was then newly
+settled, and in a rude frontier State. There was not an academy in all
+the upper part of the State, and none within fifty miles, except one at
+about that distance in Columbia county, Georgia, which was kept by his
+brother-in-law, Mr. Waddell, a Presbyterian clergyman. There were but a
+few scattered schools in the whole of that region, and these were such
+as are usually found on the frontier, in which reading, writing and
+arithmetic were imperfectly taught. At the age of thirteen he was placed
+under the charge of his brother-in-law to receive his education. Shortly
+after, his father died; this was followed by the death of his sister,
+Mrs. Waddell, within a few weeks, and the academy was then discontinued,
+which suspended his education before it had fairly commenced. His
+brother-in-law, with whom he was still left, was absent the greater part
+of the time, attending to his clerical duties, and his pupil thus found
+himself on a secluded plantation, without any white companion during the
+greater portion of the time. A situation apparently so unfavorable to
+improvement turned out, in his case, to be the reverse. Fortunately for
+him, there was a small circulating library in the house, of which his
+brother-in-law was librarian, and, in the absence of all company and
+amusements, that attracted his attention. His taste, although
+undirected, led him to history, to the neglect of novels and other
+lighter reading; and so deeply was he interested, that in a short time
+he read the whole of the small stock of historical works, contained in
+the library, consisting of Rollin's Ancient History, Robertson's Charles
+V., his South America, and Voltaire's Charles XII. After dispatching
+these, he turned with like eagerness to Cook's Voyages (the large
+edition), a small volume of essays by Brown, and Locke on the
+Understanding, which he read as far as the chapter on Infinity. All this
+was the work of but fourteen weeks. So intense was his application that
+his eyes became seriously affected, his countenance pallid, and his
+frame emaciated. His mother, alarmed at the intelligence of his health,
+sent for him home, where exercise and amusement soon restored his
+strength, and he acquired a fondness for hunting, fishing, and other
+country sports. Four years passed away in these pursuits, and in
+attention to the business of the farm while his elder brothers were
+absent, to the entire neglect of his education. But the time was not
+lost. Exercise and rural sports invigorated his frame, while his labors
+on the farm gave him a taste for agriculture, which he always retained,
+and in the pursuit of which he finds delightful occupation for his
+intervals of leisure from public duties."
+
+It is not our purpose, however, to enter into any detail of the life of
+Mr Calhoun. Suffice it to say that he was educated, under Dr. Dwight, at
+Yale College, that he studied law at Litchfield in Connecticut, that he
+was for two sessions a member of the Legislature, that from 1811 to 1817
+during the war with Great Britain, and the most trying times that
+followed it, he was a member of the lower House of Congress. That he was
+then appointed Secretary of War, under Madison, when he gave a new,
+thorough, and complete organization to his department. That he was
+chosen Vice-President in 1825, and subsequently served his country as
+Senator of the United States, and Secretary of State, until the year
+1850, when he died. During the whole of this long period his exertions
+were constant, and he took a leading part in all the movements of
+parties. Acting for the most of the time with the Democratic party, he
+was still never the slave of party, never guilty of the low arts or
+petty cunning of the mere politician, always fearless in the discharge
+of his duties, and though ambitious, ever sacrificing his ambition to
+his clearly discerned and openly expressed principles. Mr. Webster, who,
+during nearly the whole of his legislative career, and on nearly all
+questions of public concern, had been an active opponent, in an obituary
+address to the Senate, bore this testimony to his genius and his
+greatness.
+
+"Differing widely on many great questions respecting our institutions
+and the government of the country, those differences never interrupted
+our personal and social intercourse. I have been present at most of the
+distinguished instances of the exhibition of his talents in debate. I
+have always heard him with pleasure, often with much instruction, not
+unfrequently with the highest degree of admiration.
+
+"Mr. Calhoun was calculated to be a leader in whatsoever association of
+political friends he was thrown. He was a man of undoubted genius and of
+commanding talents. All the country and all the world admit that. His
+mind was both perceptive and vigorous. It was clear, quick, and strong.
+
+"Sir, the eloquence of Mr. Calhoun, or the manner in which he exhibited
+his sentiments in public bodies, was part of his intellectual character.
+It grew out of the qualities of his mind. It was plain, strong, terse,
+condensed, concise: sometimes impassioned, still always severe.
+Rejecting ornament, not often seeking far for illustration, his power
+consisted in the plainness of his propositions, in the closeness of his
+logic, and in the earnestness and energy of his manner. These are the
+qualities, as I think, which have enabled him through such a long course
+of years to speak often, and yet command attention. His demeanor as a
+Senator is known to us all, is appreciated, venerated, by us all. No man
+was more respectful to others; no man carried himself with greater
+decorum, no man with superior dignity. I think there is not one of us,
+when he last addressed us from his seat in the Senate, his form still
+erect, with a voice by no means indicating such a degree of physical
+weakness as did in fact possess him, with clear tones, and an
+impressive, and, I may say, an imposing manner, who did not feel that he
+might imagine that we saw before us a Senator of Rome, while Rome
+survived.
+
+"Sir, I have not, in public, nor in private life, known a more assiduous
+person in the discharge of his appropriate duties. I have known no man
+who wasted less of life in what is called recreation, or employed less
+of it in any pursuits not connected with the immediate discharge of his
+duty. He seemed to have no recreation but the pleasure of conversation
+with his friends. Out of the chambers of Congress, he was either
+devoting himself to the acquisition of knowledge pertaining to the
+immediate subject of the duty before him, or else he was indulging in
+those social interviews in which he so much delighted.
+
+"My honorable friend from Kentucky[20] has spoken in just terms of his
+colloquial talents. They certainly were singular and eminent. There was
+a charm in his conversation not often equalled. He delighted especially
+in conversation and intercourse with young men. I suppose that there has
+been no man among us who had more winning manners, in such an
+intercourse and such conversation, with men comparatively young, than
+Mr. Calhoun. I believe one great power of his character, in general, was
+his conversational talent. I believe it is that, as well as a
+consciousness of his high integrity, and the greatest reverence for his
+talents and ability, that has made him so endeared an object to the
+people of the State to which he belonged.
+
+"Mr. President, he had the basis, the indispensable basis of all high
+character; and that was, unspotted integrity and unimpeached honor.
+If he had aspirations, they were high, and honorable, and noble. There
+was nothing grovelling, or low, or meanly selfish, that came near the
+head or the heart of Mr. Calhoun. Firm in his purpose, perfectly
+patriotic and honest, as I am sure he was, in the principles that he
+espoused, and in the measures which he defended, aside from that large
+regard for the species of distinction that conducted him to eminent
+stations for the benefit of the republic, I do not believe he had a
+selfish motive or selfish feeling. However he may have differed from
+others of us in his political opinions or his political principles,
+those principles and those opinions will now descend to posterity under
+the sanction of a great name. He has lived long enough, he has done
+enough, and he has done it so well, so successfully, so honorably, as to
+connect himself for all time with the records of his country. He is now
+an historical character. Those of us who have known him here, will find
+that he has left upon our minds and our hearts a strong and lasting
+impression of his person, his character, and his public performances,
+which, while we live, will never be obliterated. We shall hereafter, I
+am sure, indulge in it as a grateful recollection, that we have lived in
+his age, that we have been his contemporaries, that we have seen him,
+and heard him, and known him. We shall delight to speak of him to those
+who are rising up to fill our places. And, when the time shall come that
+we ourselves must go, one after another, to our graves, we shall carry
+with us a deep sense of his genius and character, his honor and
+integrity, his amiable deportment in private life, and the purity of his
+exalted patriotism."
+
+The event in Mr. Calhoun's political life which will give him the
+greatest distinction in our history, was the bold and perilous course he
+took on the subject of nullification. It brought him and his native
+State directly in conflict with the powers of the Federal government,
+and but for the compromise of the Tariff question, out of which the
+controversy grew, would have ended in civil war. We shall not undertake
+to narrate the origin or the purpose of this most fearful crisis,
+referring our readers to the regular memoirs of Mr. Calhoun for the
+details, but we cannot refrain from expressing our high admiration of
+the gallant bearing of the great South Carolinian during the whole of
+the protracted and embarrassing dispute. The energy with which he
+pursued his ends, the originality with which he defended them, the
+boldness of his position, the devotion to his friends, the formidable
+objects that he had to encounter, the calm, earnest self-reliance with
+which he encountered them, and, in the end, the graceful concessions on
+both sides, by which the difficulties of the juncture were avoided, are
+brilliant illustrations both of the lofty energies of his spirit, and of
+the happy, peaceful working of our national institutions. In any other
+country, and under any other government, if it had been possible for
+such a conflict to arise, it could only have terminated in bloodshed or
+war. Either the reigning authority would have been overturned, or the
+chief agent in the insurrection would have been executed as a traitor.
+Under the benign and conciliatory genius of our constitution, by that
+pacific legislation, which knows how to temper the rigid and inflexible
+exercise of law by the spirit of concession, the struggle ended in
+compromise.
+
+It was in his domestic life that Mr. Calhoun won the warmest homage of
+the heart. Miss Bates, who was for many years a governess in his family,
+and who enjoyed the finest opportunities for observing him, has given us
+the following record of his private virtues and peculiarities.
+
+"In Mr. Calhoun were united the simple habits of the Spartan lawgiver,
+the inflexible principles of the Roman senator, the courteous bearing
+and indulgent kindness of the American host, husband, and father. This
+was indeed a rare union. Life with him was solemn and earnest, and yet
+all about him was cheerful. I never heard him utter a jest; there was an
+unvarying dignity and gravity in his manner; and yet the playful child
+regarded him fearlessly and lovingly. Few men indulge their families in
+as free, confidential, and familiar intercourse as did this great
+statesman. Indeed, to those who had an opportunity of observing him in
+his own house, it was evident that his cheerful and happy home had
+attractions for him superior to those which any other place could offer.
+Here was a retreat from the cares, the observation, and the homage of
+the world. In few homes could the transient visitor feel more at ease
+than did the guest at Fort Hill. Those who knew Mr. Calhoun only by his
+senatorial speeches, may suppose that his heart and mind were all
+engrossed in the nation's councils; but there were moments when his
+courtesy, his minute kindnesses, made you forget the statesman. The
+choicest fruits were selected for his guest; and I remember seeing him
+at his daughter's wedding take the ornaments from a cake and send them
+to a little child. Many such graceful attentions, offered in an
+unostentatious manner to all about him, illustrated the kindness and
+noble simplicity of his nature. His family could not but exult in his
+intellectual greatness, his rare endowments, and his lofty career, yet
+they seemed to lose sight of all these in their love for him. I had once
+the pleasure of travelling with his eldest son, who related to me many
+interesting facts and traits of his life. He said he had never heard him
+speak impatiently to any member of his family. He mentioned, that as he
+was leaving that morning for his home in Alabama, a younger brother
+said, 'Come soon again, and see us, brother A--, for do you not see that
+father is growing old? and is not father the dearest, best old man in
+the world!'
+
+"Like Cincinnatus, he enjoyed rural life and occupation. It was his
+habit, when at home, to go over his grounds every day. I remember his
+returning one morning from a walk about his plantation, delighted with
+the fine specimens of corn and rice which he brought in for us to
+admire. That morning--the trifling incident shows his consideration and
+kindness of feeling, as well as his tact and power of adaptation--seeing
+an article of needlework in the hands of sister A--, who was then a
+stranger there, he examined it, spoke of the beauty of the coloring, the
+variety of the shade, and by thus showing an interest in her, at once
+made her at ease in his presence.
+
+"His eldest daughter always accompanied him to Washington, and in the
+absence of his wife, who was often detained by family cares at Fort
+Hill, this daughter was his solace amid arduous duties, and his
+confidant in perplexing cases. Like the gifted De Stael, she loved her
+father with enthusiastic devotion. Richly endowed by nature, improved by
+constant companionship with the great man, her mind was in harmony with
+his, and he took pleasure in counselling with her. She said, 'Of course,
+I do not understand as he does, for I am comparatively a stranger to the
+world, yet he likes my unsophisticated opinion, and I frankly tell him
+my views on any subject about which he inquires of me.'
+
+"Between himself and his younger daughter there was a peculiar and most
+tender union. As by the state of her health she was deprived of many
+enjoyments, her indulgent parents endeavored to compensate for every
+loss by their affection and devotion. As reading was her favorite
+occupation, she was allowed to go to the letter-bag when it came from
+the office, and select the papers she preferred. On one occasion, she
+had taken two papers, containing news of importance which her father was
+anxious to see, but he would allow no one to disturb her until she had
+finished their perusal.
+
+"In his social as well as in his domestic relations he was
+irreproachable. No shadow rested on his pure fame, no blot on his
+escutcheon. In his business transactions he was punctual and
+scrupulously exact. He was honorable as well as honest. Young men who
+were reared in his vicinity, with their eyes ever on him, say that in
+all respects, in small as well as in great things, his conduct was so
+exemplary that he might well be esteemed a model.
+
+"His profound love for his own family, his cordial interest in his
+friends, his kindness and justice in every transaction, were not small
+virtues in such a personage.
+
+"He was anti-Byronic. I never heard him ridicule or satirize a human
+being. Indeed he might have been thought deficient in a sense of the
+ludicrous, had he not by the unvarying propriety of his own conduct
+proved his exquisite perception of its opposites. When he differed in
+opinion from those with whom he conversed, he seemed to endeavor by a
+respectful manner, to compensate for the disagreement. He employed
+reason, rather than contradiction; and so earnestly would he urge an
+opinion and so fully present an argument, that his opponent could not
+avoid feeling complimented rather than mortified. He paid a tribute to
+the understandings of others by the force of his own reasoning, and by
+his readiness to admit every argument which he could, although advanced
+in opposition to one he himself had just expressed.
+
+"On one occasion I declined taking a glass of wine at his table. He
+kindly said, 'I think you carry that a little too far. It is well to
+give up every thing intoxicating, but not these light wines.' I replied,
+that wine was renounced by many for the sake of consistency, and for the
+benefit of those who could not afford wine. He acknowledged the
+correctness of the principle, adding, 'I do not know how temperance
+societies can take any other ground,' and then defined his views of
+temperance, entered on a course of interesting arguments, and stated
+facts and statistics. Of course, were all men like Mr. Calhoun
+temperance societies would be superfluous. Perhaps he could not be aware
+of the temptations that assail many men--he was so purely intellectual,
+so free from self-indulgence. Materiality with him was held subject to
+his higher nature. He did not even indulge himself in a cigar. Few spent
+as little time, and exhausted as little energy in mere amusements.
+Domestic and social enjoyments were his pleasures--kind and benevolent
+acts were his recreations.
+
+"He always seemed willing to converse on any subject which was
+interesting to those about him. Returning one day from Fort Hill, I
+remarked to a friend, 'I have never been more convinced of Mr. Calhoun's
+genius than to-day, while he talked to us of a flower.' His versatile
+conversation evinced his universal knowledge, his quick perception, and
+his faculty of adaptation. A shower one day compelled him to take
+shelter in the shed of a blacksmith, who was charmed by his familiar
+conversation, and the knowledge he exhibited of the mechanic arts. A
+naval officer was once asked, after a visit to Fort Hill, how he liked
+Mr. Calhoun. 'Not at all,' said he--'I never like a man who knows more
+about my profession than I do myself.' A clergyman wished to converse
+with him on subjects of a religious nature, and after the interview
+remarked, that he was astonished to find him better informed than
+himself on those very points wherein he had expected to give him
+information. I had understood that Mr. Calhoun avoided an expression of
+opinion with regard to different sects and creeds, or what is called
+religious controversy; and once, when urged to give his views in
+relation to a disputed point, he replied, 'That is a subject to which I
+have never given my attention.'
+
+"Mr. Calhoun was unostentatious, and ever averse to display. He did not
+appear to talk for the sake of exhibition, but from the overflowing of
+his earnest nature. Whether in the Senate or in conversation with a
+single listener, his language was choice, his style fervid, his manner
+impressive. Never can I forget his gentle earnestness when endeavoring
+to express his views on some controverted subject, and observing that my
+mind could hardly keep pace with his rapid reasoning, he would
+occasionally pause and say, in his kind manner, 'Do you see?'
+
+"He did not seek to know the opinion of others with regard to himself.
+Anonymous letters he never read, and his daughters and nieces often
+snatched from the flames letters of adulation as well as censure, which
+he had not read. Although he respected the opinions of his fellow-men,
+he did not seek office or worldly honor. A few years since, one to whom
+he ever spoke freely, remarked to him that some believed he was making
+efforts to obtain the presidency. At that moment he had taken off his
+glasses, and was wiping them, and thus he replied: 'M----, I think when
+a man is too old to see clearly through his glasses, he is too old to
+think of the presidency.' And recently he said to her, 'They may impute
+what motives they please to me, but I do not seek office.' So much did
+he respect his country, that he might have been gratified by the free
+gift of the people; so much did he love his country, that he might have
+rejoiced at an opportunity to serve it; but would he have swerved one
+iota from his convictions to secure a kingdom? Who, that knew him,
+believes it?"
+
+Mr. Calhoun was an author as well as a statesman, and in the
+dissertations on the constitution and on government published since his
+death, has bequeathed us the ripened fruits of his life-long study.
+They are works of the rarest penetration and sagacity, of subtle logic,
+of earnest conviction, of profound observation of men and things, and of
+unquestionable genius. The particular conclusions at which the writer
+arrives, as to the nature and limits of government, and as to the
+amendments that ought to be made in the constitution of the United
+States, will not be adopted by large classes of readers; but none of
+them will arise from a perusal of his pages, without an additional
+admiration of the keenness and force of his intellect, the ardor of his
+patriotism, and the purity of his character.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[20] Mr. Clay.
+
+
+
+
+=Clinton.=
+
+[Illustration: Clinton fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Clinton's Residence, Maspeth, L.I.]
+
+CLINTON.
+
+
+The Academy of Sciences at Dijon recently asked of their municipality,
+that all houses in the commune which deserved to be historical, might be
+marked by commemorative inscriptions. The Council, we are told, readily
+acceded to the request, and among the birth-places and residences thus
+designated are those of Buffon, Crebillon, Guyton De Morveau, and the
+Marshal Tavennes.
+
+We in this country, whether fortunately or unfortunately, live in too
+progressive an age to allow us to ask for similar remembrances. Unless a
+statesman happens to be reared in a rural district, the house of his
+birth seldom survives his youth, possibly his manhood. New structures
+arise, and the succeeding generation know little or nothing of what
+preceded.
+
+In the instance of DEWITT CLINTON, the difficulty is increased by the
+diversity of statements that are made relative to his birth-place. He
+was the son of James Clinton, a gallant soldier in both of the now
+classic wars of this country. Commissioned as an ensign in the war of
+1756, Mr. Clinton served during most of its campaigns. The Continental
+Congress, in 1775, appointed him colonel of one of the New-York
+regiments; and after particularly distinguishing himself at Fort
+Montgomery and Yorktown, he retired from the army of the Revolution with
+the rank of major-general.
+
+It was after the close of the French War that Mr. Clinton was married to
+Mary DeWitt. She is represented as having been beautiful in her
+youth--an only sister, with nine brothers. To them four sons were born,
+of whom DeWitt was the second. The date of his birth is well
+settled--being the year 1769;--not so the place. Many of his biographers
+unite in stating that this was Little Britain, in Orange County, where
+his father resided. Some assert that he was born at New Windsor, in the
+same county, in a house still standing, and which can be seen from the
+river; while others relate the tradition that his parents were on a
+visit to the fort at Minisink, then under the command of Colonel DeWitt,
+a brother of Mrs. Clinton; that a severe and long-continued snow-storm
+occurred, and that the mother was there confined.
+
+On his education it is scarcely necessary to dwell, farther than to
+trace its influence on his subsequent career. His parents bestowed on
+him that inestimable gift--the best education that the State could
+afford--first at Kingston Academy, and subsequently at Columbia College.
+The professors' chairs were filled by eminent men, who appear to have
+appreciated the talents of their pupil. He was the first graduate after
+the Revolution.
+
+At the age of seventeen he commenced the study of the law with the elder
+Samuel Jones, whose eminence as an advocate, and honesty as a high state
+officer, still linger amongst our earliest reminiscences.
+
+Thus prepared, as well by preliminary instruction as by earnest
+self-improvement, he was about entering on the profession of the law,
+with elders and contemporaries equal to any bar in the Union, when his
+destiny was at once and permanently changed. He was the nephew of George
+Clinton, the governor of the young State of New-York; distinguished by
+his civil and military talents; admirably qualified to guide the rising
+republic through its forming stages, although possibly too tenacious of
+his peculiar opinions, and, unfortunately, too long opposed to the
+adoption of the Constitution.
+
+The parties that from time to time controlled the destinies of the
+country were now in active collision. In the State of New-York, Jay and
+Hamilton were the leaders and guides of the Federalists, and Governor
+Clinton needed all the intellectual aid that could be brought to bear on
+the contest. He selected his nephew as his private secretary, and the
+sagacity, at least, of the choice has never been disputed. Several
+papers on subjects of public and permanent interest, known to have
+emanated from the pen of DeWitt Clinton, are still preserved.
+
+We are told that he remained in this station until 1795--the close of the
+long administration (continued by re-elections) of his uncle.
+
+In 1797, he was elected a member of the Assembly from the city of
+New-York, and the next year, of the Senate. The tenure of the first of
+these was annual, and of the last for four years. From the above date to
+the hour of his death, with short intervals, he continued to be chosen
+in succession to the Senate, and as lieutenant-governor and governor. He
+was for the space of two years a member of the United States Senate.
+From 1803 to 1807, and from 1808 to 1815, he served as mayor of the city
+of New-York. This is a brief outline of the situations he held, and it
+is only necessary to fill up the sketch with notices of what he proposed
+and accomplished, to complete the picture.
+
+His "homes," with the brief exception of two winters at Washington,
+were, of course, mainly in New-York and Albany.
+
+In the former, his town residence was at the lower end of Broadway--then
+the fashionable part of the city, and where wealthy bankers, and
+merchants, and distinguished professional men loved to fix their
+dwellings. At a short distance from the Bowling-green and the Battery,
+the breezes from the ocean occasionally found their way and shed their
+influences. Commerce has commanded the removal of most of these private
+residences, and she has been rigidly obeyed. The merchandise of the Old
+and of the New World needs still increasing depositories.
+
+While remaining in New-York, he owned a country-seat at Maspeth, on Long
+Island, to which he frequently resorted, and where he indulged in his
+favorite pursuits of angling and hunting. He was greatly attached to
+these, until in after life an unfortunate accident rendered active
+exercise too laborious.
+
+Of Albany, the place in which a large portion of his mature life was
+spent, we feel some constraint in giving, what we consider, a just
+account. By many, even intelligent travellers, it is only known as a
+place of transfer from steamboats and railroads--as excessively hot in
+summer, and as the capital of the State, where the Legislature holds its
+sessions during the winter.
+
+But its antiquities--if antiquities are to be spoken of in this
+country--are of some interest. Here an American Congress once assembled,
+of which Franklin was a member. Whenever England and France contended
+for mastery on this continent, many of the officers and troops of the
+former halted here for a while, or passed on for the finally
+accomplished object of the conquest of Canada. Here for a time were Howe
+and Abercrombie, Amherst and Sir William Johnson; while, to the French,
+it seems to have been the limit, which, though they burnt Schenectady
+and ravaged the western part of the State, they seemed scarcely able to
+reach.
+
+Passing over intermediate occurrences, during the war of 1812 there was
+here concentrated a large portion of the military force of the United
+States, which went forth in all the pomp and circumstance of war to its
+mingled career of defeat and success.
+
+Two dwellings still remain in Albany dear to Revolutionary memory--the
+residences of General Philip Schuyler and General Abraham Ten Broeck.
+The latter was distinguished as a brave and capable militia officer. The
+services and talents of the former are not as yet sufficiently
+appreciated. The wise man--the trusted of Washington--the able
+statesman--who early pointed out the way to internal improvement in the
+State of New-York, only needs an impartial and well-instructed
+biographer to be duly known.
+
+It is a matter of satisfaction that both of these residences--crowning
+heights north and south of the city--are in excellent preservation,
+owned by wealthy persons, and destined, we may hope, to a long
+existence.
+
+Governor Clinton occupied during his residence in Albany (part of the
+time he was out of office) two different houses, which possess an
+interest only inferior to those we have just mentioned. One of them,
+formerly almost a country residence,--built by Peter W. Yates, an
+eminent counsellor at law, and now owned by another of the same
+name,--was, for a series of years, the dwelling-place of governors of
+the State of New-York. Here Tompkins dispensed his hospitality, while he
+wielded, in a manner but partially understood, the destinies of the
+nation during the war of 1812; and from this beautiful seat he departed,
+in an evil hour to himself, to be Vice-President of the United States.
+Clinton succeeded. In this house he met with a severe accident,--a
+fracture of the knee-pan from a fall; after a slow recovery he was
+enabled to use the limb with but slight indication of the injury. Still
+it prevented him from taking exercise on horseback, to which he had been
+much accustomed, and it probably led to an increased fulness of habit,
+in the later years of his life.
+
+Subsequently to this he occupied a house (it was that in which he died)
+in Pearl-street, built by Goldsboro Banyer, one of the last deputy
+Secretaries of State of the Colony of New-York. It was bequeathed to his
+son's widow, a daughter of Governor Jay, and on her removal to New-York,
+was taken as a governor's residence.
+
+It would scarcely be proper to conclude these sketches, without briefly
+enumerating the services of DeWitt Clinton to his State and country.
+Most of these were thought of, developed and produced ready for
+adoption, within the sacred precincts of his "home."
+
+As mayor of New-York, he was at that time head of the judicial
+department of the city. Subsequently that officer has been relieved of
+these duties, and several local courts have been found necessary, to
+dispose of the cases which the tangled relations of commerce are
+constantly bringing forth. Some records of his ability both as a civil
+and a criminal judge still remain. A Catholic priest had been called
+upon to disclose what had been communicated to him at the confessional.
+In his opinion, Mr. Clinton sustained the sacred nature of the secret
+thus imparted, and subsequent legislation, doubtless founded on this
+case, extended the exemption not only to the clergyman, but also to the
+physician. He also aided with great energy in putting down and punishing
+riots, caused by excited political feelings. Nor should we omit to say,
+that before him was tried the peculiar case of Whistelo, in which the
+wit of Counsellor Sampson, and the peculiarities of Dr. Samuel Latham
+Mitchill were equally conspicuous.
+
+As a member of the Senate of New-York, he became _ex officio_ also a
+member of the highest court in the State--the court for the trial of
+impeachments, and the correction of errors in the inferior courts.
+Several of his decisions are to be found in the volumes of New-York
+State Reports. He grappled with the subjects of insurance law, of libel,
+the power of committing for contempt, the construction of the Habeas
+Corpus Act, and the effect of foreign admiralty decisions. "Some of
+these," says Chancellor Kent, "are models of judicial and parliamentary
+eloquence, and they all relate to important questions, affecting
+constitutional rights and personal liberty. They partake more of the
+character of a statesman's discussions, than that of a dry technical
+lawyer, and are therefore more interesting to the general scholar."
+
+As a legislator, it is quite sufficient to refer to the long list of
+laws drawn up and supported by him, as it is given in the eighth chapter
+of Professor Renwick's life, to appreciate the high class of subjects to
+which he applied his best efforts. We select only a portion. An act
+respecting a digest of the public laws of the State. An act to enlarge
+the powers of and to endow the Orphan Asylum society,--to amend the
+insolvent laws, to prevent the inhuman treatment of slaves, for the
+support of the quarantine establishment, to revise and amend the militia
+law, to incorporate the society for the relief of poor widows with small
+children, for promoting medical science, for the further encouragement
+of free schools, for securing to mechanics and others, payment for their
+labor and materials in the city of New-York. It has been urged that
+others by their efforts, or their votes, have been as useful as was Mr.
+Clinton, in procuring the passage of these and similar laws. Be it so.
+It is not even attempted to deny this. It would be treason to the great
+interests of humanity to claim exclusive honor for a single man. But he
+knows little of practical legislation, who is not perfectly aware how
+efficient and important it is to have one individual, eminent in
+talents, high in power, who is willing to initiate useful
+measures--propose their adoption, and support them with his best
+abilities.
+
+In the matter of the Canals of New-York, this is his high honor; this
+his crowning glory. Even during life, he gave due credit to all who
+suggested or supported the work; but his pre-eminent merit is, that he
+adopted the canal policy as his own party policy. It has been said, in
+words which cannot be bettered, that "in the great work of internal
+improvement, he persevered through good report and through evil report,
+with a steadiness of purpose that no obstacle could divert; and when all
+the elements were in commotion around him, and even his chosen
+associates were appalled, he alone, like Columbus, on the wide waste of
+waters, in his frail bark with a dis-heartened and unbelieving crew,
+remained firm, self-poised and unshaken."
+
+Heaven in its goodness allowed life till the great work was completed.
+
+Of Governor Clinton's devotion to science and to literature, of his
+patronage and support of societies and institutions, for their
+diffusion, all are knowing; but it is not sufficiently understood, that
+these were amateur pursuits, followed during hours that he could
+scarcely spare from his legitimate duties. Whatever of imperfection or
+of crudeness may therefore be found in them, should be charitably
+considered.
+
+His domestic habits were simple and unobtrusive. He was industrious
+through life--the earliest riser in the house--frequently, if not
+generally, making his office fire in the winter, and dispatching most of
+his voluminous correspondence before the breakfast hour.
+
+In his family, he was every thing that became a man--a kind and faithful
+husband; an affectionate, indeed indulgent father; a warm, devoted, and
+often self-sacrificing friend. What wonder is it, that his memory should
+continue to be cherished with sincere love and ever increasing esteem.
+
+[Illustration: H.K. Brown's Statue of Clinton]
+
+
+
+
+=Story.=
+
+[Illustration: Story fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Story's House at Cambridge, Mass.]
+
+STORY.
+
+
+It is a common saying among lawyers, that in proportion to the labor
+which their profession exacts, and the degree of distinction which
+success confers upon them during their lifetime, their fate is a hard
+one in the struggle for immortality. They are accustomed to say in a
+tone of half complaint, that the zeal and ability which would earn for
+them a cheap celebrity in some other pursuit, is expended upon the
+establishing of some nice distinction, or the solving of some intricate
+problem which no one but themselves can appreciate, and in which no one
+but themselves (and their clients) take any interest. There is some
+truth in all this. The whole community stands ready to read the last
+production of the literary man, so only that he make it worth reading,
+and often without requiring even so much; whereas, the neatest point
+that a lawyer could take is constitutionally repulsive to one-half of
+creation, and dry and unmeaning to the greater part of the remainder.
+Even those whose names are on the lips of men, owe their good fortune
+often to something other than their law. If Blackstone were not among
+the most classical writers of the English language, we should not have
+lived to see twenty-one English editions of his Commentaries. He was
+probably a less profound lawyer than several sergeants who practised
+before him in the Court of Common Pleas, whose names would escape an
+insertion in the most Universal Biographical Dictionary. So the
+successful lawyer must content himself with his worldly prosperity,--if
+in his lifetime he receives his good things, that must be his comfort,
+and in truth it is no small one.
+
+But the nature of a lawyer's employment, even if he combine with it the
+kindred one of politics and legislation, is not apt to invest his home
+with that attraction to the stranger which the home of the literary man
+possesses. We are at once interested to know who the author is, who has
+charmed us by the quaintness of his conceits, or the freshness and
+purity of his style. We want to see the house and the room, where those
+intricate plots are matured, or those life-like characters are first
+conceived. But Coke upon Littleton, seems pretty much the same, whether
+read upon the green slope of a country hill, or in the third story of an
+office down town. Besides, the author is at liberty to seek the most
+secluded spots, and dwell amongst the most romantic scenery, and
+surround himself with all that makes life beautiful to contemplate; and
+it is for his interest to do this, in order that his mind may be kept
+open to impressions, his spirits elevated and serene, and his whole life
+calm and happy. The lawyer on the other hand, must seek communion, not
+with nature, but with men; he must dwell among large communities, and
+rail even there where merchants most do congregate.
+
+The home of the distinguished lawyer and statesman whose name is placed
+at the head of these lines, is an exception from the homes of others of
+his peers; if it be true that it is the fate of a lawyer's home to be an
+object of interest to its inmates alone. There was something in his
+frank, enthusiastic and generous nature, which made him always
+susceptible to the influences of home, and always fitted to awake and to
+wield those enchantments with which a home is invested. The secluded
+peninsula of Marblehead, with its long firm beach upon one side, and its
+rocky precipitous shore upon the other, begirt on three sides by the
+ever-changing Atlantic, is considered by his biographer to have had its
+effect in moulding the character of the boy; and in the quiet, tame
+inland beauty of Cambridge, with its academical proprieties, and its
+level streets, and its spacious marshes, through which the winding
+Charles "slips seaward silently;" many remain outside of the family
+circle, to testify to the magical attraction which once hung about the
+narrow brick house where he lived, and the cordial greeting which the
+visitor received at the hands of its former occupant.
+
+Judge Story was born in the antiquated, primeval fishing town of
+Marblehead; a town presenting such a rocky and barren surface, that when
+Whitfield entered it for the first time, he was fain to inquire, "Pray,
+where do they bury their dead?" Story himself speaks of his birth-place
+as "a secluded fishing town, having no general connection with other
+towns, and, not being a thoroughfare, without that intercourse which
+brings strangers to visit it, or to form an acquaintance with its
+inhabitants." In fact it could not well be a thoroughfare, since it
+leads only from Salem to the sea, and the inhabitants of the latter town
+have a sufficiently ready access of their own. But though Marblehead
+with its scanty soil, and its isolated position, is neither an Eden nor
+a thoroughfare, it is at least a stout old place where men are grown;
+where an entire regiment was furnished for the cause of American
+Independence, completely officered and manned by brave men, to whom the
+dangers of war were but a continuation of previous lives of peril, and
+who supplied besides more privateers than history has recorded, to
+harass the enemy upon an element with which they were more familiar.
+
+The town of Marblehead is supported by the fishery business. A large
+portion of its inhabitants are simple fishermen, whose manhood is passed
+in voyages to the Great Banks, and voyages back; a constant succession
+of those perils which are incident to the sea, with long winter evenings
+of sailors' yarns and ghost stories, in one monotonous round, till they
+finally depart
+
+    "On that drear voyage from whose night
+    The ominous shadows never lift."
+
+It was among a population of this kind, and at a time when a long and
+disastrous war had crippled their resources, that the youthful Story
+began with his accustomed enthusiasm to acquire that education whose
+root is bitter when grown in the most favorable soil. Without advantages
+of good schooling, or a plentiful supply of books, he did what thousands
+of others, great and small, have done and are doing; that is, he
+acquired an education without the modern improvements on which our boys
+rely, and whose value their parents and teachers are so apt to
+over-estimate. In the shop of the Marblehead barber, the village great
+men assembled to hear the news, and to hold forth upon the condition and
+prospects of the young republic, as well as to have their ambrosial
+locks powdered and their beards removed. Here, in place of the modern
+lecture room, our young hero resorted, and listened reverently to
+oracular utterances from wise mouths in the intervals of the shaving
+brush and the razor. The village barber himself, endowed with an easy
+garrulity, more natural and professional than the stately reserve of his
+metropolitan brother, could, at his leisure, retail the wisdom of his
+many councillors, diluted to the point where it admitted of the mental
+digestion of a child.
+
+This, together with the usual toils and discouragements of the classics,
+and the hopes and fears which a college examination inspires, made up a
+boy's life in Marblehead before this century began. The old Judge, late
+in life recalling these early Marblehead times, speaks of other
+influences, some of whose effect is, we imagine, derived from the fact
+that he is viewing them in his maturity, as they then appear, softened
+as seen down the long vista of nearly forty years. "My delight," he
+says, "was to roam over the narrow and rude territory of my native town;
+to traverse its secluded beaches and its shallow inlets; to gaze upon
+the sleepless ocean; to lay myself down on the sunny rocks, and listen
+to the deep tones of the rising and the falling tides; to look abroad
+when the foaming waves were driven with terrific force and uproar
+against the barren cliffs or the rocky promontories, which every where
+opposed their immovable fronts to resist them; to seek, in the midst of
+the tremendous majesty of an eastern storm, some elevated spot, where,
+in security, I could mark the mountain billow break upon the distant
+shore, or dash its broken waters over the lofty rocks which here and
+there stood along the coast, naked and weather-beaten. But still more
+was I pleased in a calm, summer day, to lay myself down alone on one of
+the beautiful heights which overlook the harbor of Salem, and to listen
+to the broken sounds of the hammers in the distant ship-yards, or to the
+soft dash of the oar of some swift-moving boat, or to the soft ripple of
+the murmuring wave; or to gaze on the swelling sail, or the flying bird,
+or the scarcely moving smoke, in a revery of delicious indolence."
+
+When Story left Marblehead and entered Harvard College in 1795, he was
+brought in contact with somewhat different circumstances and different
+temptations from those which there await the youthful student in these
+days. Coming from a small and tolerably illiterate fishing town, into
+the midst of such literary shades, being in daily converse with young
+men at an age when the mind is lively, and full of the easy
+self-confidence which the mutual flattery of a College begets, his
+enthusiasm was quickened anew, and his generous nature attacked on its
+weakest side. "I seemed," he says, "to breathe a higher atmosphere, and
+to look abroad with a wider vision and more comprehensive powers.
+Instead of the narrow group of a village, I was suddenly brought into a
+large circle of young men engaged in literary pursuits, and warmed and
+cheered by the hopes of future eminence." There is, perhaps, no
+impropriety in saying, that at fifteen, we look abroad with a wider
+vision and more comprehensive powers than we do at twelve, and such
+young men as Channing, his friendly rival in College, and Tuckerman, his
+chum, might well be warmed and cheered by the hopes of future eminence.
+The students in those days enjoyed as much seclusion as now, with
+perhaps a little less general culture and a little more dissipation.
+But, as we have intimated, in some respects the changes were greater.
+The anti-republican system of "fagging" had not then become quite
+obsolete and forgotten, but existed at least in oral tradition, whereas
+now, its less rigorous substitute has recently fallen into disuse. In
+those days there was not even an unsuccessful attempt, to render the
+intercourse between the Professors and the students in any sense
+parental, but the formal and unconfiding manners of the old school were
+preached, as well as practised. The line of division between the College
+and the town was sharply drawn and unhesitatingly maintained on the part
+of the former, and the opportunities for social intercourse with Boston
+were comparatively limited, when omnibuses were unknown, and the bridge
+regarded as a somewhat hazardous speculation. Now the students are to be
+seen in Washington street on Saturdays, and there is scarce an evening's
+entertainment in Boston, without young representatives from Cambridge.
+And the old town itself has added so many new houses to its former
+number, that a great change is coming over the face of Cambridge
+society. The term "the season" is beginning to have its proper
+significance, the winter months being pretty well filled with the
+customary social observances. It is true that the College is still the
+controlling element. Festivities are mostly suspended during the first
+two months of the year, which is the time of the winter vacation, and
+revive again with the return of the spring and the students. But from
+faint symptoms which may be detected by the anxious observer, there is
+reason to fear that it may not be long before the great body of the
+students will have cause on their part, to complain of that
+exclusiveness which they have exercised as their prerogative for more
+than two centuries.
+
+The four short years of Story's undergraduate existence were passed
+free, alike from this species of social pleasure and social anxiety. He
+was naturally fond of company, and had a healthy, youthful taste for
+conviviality; but he shrank instinctively from excesses, and was,
+fortunately, also ambitious to win a high rank for scholarship. His
+companions were of his own age, and those divinities who people the
+inner chambers of a young man's fancy at the age of nineteen, were not
+upon the spot to distract overmuch his attention from his studies. He
+left his home within the College walls before he had arrived at manhood,
+and returned again some thirty years after in the maturity of his
+powers, to repay to his foster mother the debt which he owed for his
+education, by imparting to her younger children the results of his
+experience. Cambridge is to be considered as his home; it was there that
+he won his greatest fame, it was there that he fondly turned to refresh
+himself after his labors on the full bench and the circuit; this was the
+home of his affections and his interests, and there his earnest and
+active life was brought to its calm and peaceful close.
+
+In Brattle-street, a little distance on the road from the Colleges to
+Mount Auburn, there stands a narrow brick house, with its gable end to
+the street, facing the east, and a long piazza on its southern side. It
+is situated just at the head of Appian Way--not the Queen of Ways,
+leading from Rome to Brundusium, over which Horace journeyed in company
+with Virgil, and Paul's brethren came to meet him as far as Appii Forum
+and The Three Taverns, but a short lane, boasting not many more yards
+than its namesake miles; leading from Cambridge Common to
+Brattle-street, journeyed over by hurrying students with Horace and
+Virgil under their arms, without a single tavern in it, and hardly long
+enough to accommodate three. The external appearance of the house would
+hardly attract or reward the attention of the passer by. It stands by
+itself, looking as much too high for its width as an ordinary city
+residence in New-York, that has sprung up in advance of the rest of its
+block. The street in which it stands is flat and shady, but wonderfully
+dusty nevertheless, for Cambridge is a town
+
+    "Where dust and mud the equal year divide."
+
+The old inhabitants may be supposed to be reconciled to that dust, of
+which they are made, and to which they naturally expect in a few years
+to return. Thus Lowell finds it in his heart to sing the praises of
+Cambridge soil,
+
+    "Dear native town! whose choking elms each year
+      With eddying dust before their time turn gray,
+    Pining for rain,--to me thy dust is dear;
+      It glorifies the eve of Summer day."
+
+But, however native Cantabs may feel, the temporary resident hails the
+friendly watering-cart, which appears at intervals in the streets, since
+the old town has changed itself into a city.
+
+A flower-garden on the south side, separates Judge Story's house from
+the village blacksmith, who has had the rare happiness of being
+celebrated in the verses of his two fellow-townsmen, the poets
+Longfellow and Lowell;
+
+    "Under a spreading chestnut tree,
+      The village smithy stands;
+    The smith, a mighty man is he,
+      With large and sinewy hands,
+    And the muscles of his brawny arm
+      Are strong as iron bands.
+
+    "His hair is crisp, and black, and long,
+      His face is like the tan,
+    His brow is wet with honest sweat,
+      He earns whatever he can,
+    And looks the whole world in the face
+      For he owes not any man.
+
+    "Week in, week out, from morn to night,
+      You can hear his bellows blow;
+    You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,
+      With measured beat and slow,
+    Like a sexton ringing the village bell,
+      When the evening sun is low.
+
+    "And children coming home from school
+      Look in at the open door;
+    They love to see the flaming forge,
+      And hear the bellows roar,
+    And catch the burning sparks that fly
+      Like chaff from a threshing floor."
+
+Among the children who thus looked in upon the old smith in former days,
+was Lowell himself, who has embodied this juvenile reminiscence in a few
+lines, which may be appropriately inserted here, and the curious reader
+may contrast the image they contain, with the parallel one in the
+concluding lines from Longfellow, quoted above.
+
+      "How many times prouder than King on throne,
+    Loosed from the village school-dame's A's and B's,
+      Panting have I the creaky bellows blown,
+    And watched the pent volcano's red increase,
+      Then paused to see the ponderous sledge brought down
+      By that hard arm voluminous and brown,
+    From the white iron swarm its golden vanishing bees."
+
+The village blacksmith is dead now; the fires which he lighted in the
+forge have gone out, and an unknown successor wields the sledge, which
+may still be heard as ever, from the piazza of his neighbor's house, and
+down the road on the other side, as far as the row of lindens which
+overshadow a mansion once inhabited by the worthy old Tory, Brattle, who
+has given his name to the street.
+
+The external appearance of Judge Story's house does not add much to the
+poetry of its surroundings. It runs back in an irregular way, a long
+distance from the street, and at its furthermost end, in the second
+story, is, or used to be, the library, commanding the same view which
+constituted such a recommendation to Dick Swiveller's house, namely, the
+opposite side of the way. There is not, therefore, an opportunity for
+much romance to cluster about it, nor is its attractiveness increased,
+when the reader is reminded that the story beneath answered the purposes
+of a woodshed. But the house which witnessed the daily labors of such a
+man, need not covet or pretend to those outside attractions which it
+unquestionably lacks.
+
+Judge Story removed to Cambridge, for the purpose of taking charge of
+the Law-school connected with the University. This institution had just
+received an endowment from Nathan Dane, which, together with the labors
+and reputation of the new Professor, were the prime causes of its
+establishment upon such a durable foundation, that the number of its
+students was increased five fold. From this period, his time was divided
+among Washington, during the sitting of the Supreme Court, the first
+circuit in the New-England States, and Cambridge, which henceforward was
+his home. The Law-school he regarded as his favorite and most important
+field of labor, and always recurred to his connection with it, with
+pleasure and pride; and a word concerning this Institution may, with
+propriety, be coupled with a description of his personal habits, so that
+both together will furnish, better than any thing else, a correct
+picture of the daily life of the man.
+
+At the time that Story accepted the Dane Professorship in the Law-school
+in Cambridge he had already achieved the labor of a lifetime. A
+lucrative business at the bar, was quitted for a seat upon the bench of
+the Supreme Court of the United States. He began his political life as a
+democrat and stanch supporter of Jefferson, when there were not many
+such in Massachusetts; but in later life he became a whig. The natural
+effect of a judicial station upon a mind like his, was to make him
+cautious and conservative; and he finally seemed a little distrustful of
+even the party with which he was associated. In the convention of 1820,
+which formed the existing constitution of Massachusetts, he took an
+active part with such men as Webster, Parker, Quincy and Prescott, and
+many of our important mercantile statutes and bankrupt laws were drawn
+by him, nearly, or quite in the form in which they were finally passed
+by Congress. He had been for about eighteen years an associate Justice
+of the Supreme Court, when, without resigning that position, he assumed
+the almost equally onerous duties of a Professor of Law. This new field
+of activity was entered upon with earnestness and zeal, and it is not
+necessary to state the success with which his efforts were attended.
+Towards the students his manner was familiar and affectionate. He was
+fond of designating them as "my boys," and without assuming any
+superiority, or exacting any formal respect, he participated so far as
+he was able in their success and failure; and extended beyond the narrow
+period of the school, far into active life, that interest in their
+behalf which he had contracted as their teacher. His lectures upon what
+are commonly considered the dry topics of the law, were delivered with
+enthusiasm, and illustrated with copious anecdotes from the store-house
+of his memory and his experience, and filled with episodes which were
+suggested to his active mind at almost every step. Indeed, if one were
+disposed to point out his prominent fault as a legal writer, he would
+probably select that diffuseness of style and copiousness of
+illustration, which, though it contributes somewhat to fulness and
+perspicuity, does it nevertheless at the cost of convenient brevity;
+which can more easily be dispensed with in a poem than in a law-book.
+But that characteristic which might perhaps be considered as a blemish
+in his legal treatises, only rendered him better, qualified for a
+successful oral lecturer. A printed volume admits of the last degree of
+condensation, because repeated perusals of one page will effect every
+thing which could be expected from a prolonged discussion over many; and
+to text-books of law, the student or the practitioner resort principally
+for a statement of results, with the addition of only so much general
+reasoning as may render the results intelligible. In an oral lecture on
+the other hand, as the attention cannot be arrested; or time taken to
+overcome difficulties, repetition and reiteration, so far from being a
+blemish, is a merit. To these qualifications Story added engaging
+manners, and a personal presence, which gave him extraordinary influence
+over the young men who crowded to receive the benefit of his
+instructions. His zeal was contagious, and awakened similar feelings in
+his hearers, and the enthusiasm of the speaker and the audience acted
+and reacted upon each other. Many anecdotes are related to show the
+interest in the study of the law, which, under his magical influence,
+was awakened, not only among the few who are naturally studious, but
+among the whole body of the students almost without exception.
+
+Saturday is a day of rest in Cambridge by immemorial usage. To force
+upon the undergraduates a recitation on Saturday afternoon, would
+outrage their feelings to such an extent, as to justify in their opinion
+a resort to the last appeal, namely, a rebellion. Yet under Story's
+ministrations the law-students were eager to violate the sacredness of
+Saturday, to which the Judge assented, animated by a zeal superior to
+their own. So that the whole week was devoted to lectures, and the
+conducting in moot courts of prepared cases. "I have given," says the
+Judge in a letter to a friend, "nearly the whole of last term, when not
+on judicial duty, two lectures every day, and even broke in upon the
+sanctity of the _dies non juridicus_, Saturday. It was carried by
+acclamation in the school; so that you see we are alive." One of the
+pupils describes a similar incident; a case was to be adjourned, and
+Saturday seemed the most convenient time, "the counsel were anxious to
+argue it; but unwilling to resort to that extreme measure. Judge Story
+said--Gentlemen, the only time we can hear this case, is Saturday
+afternoon. This is _dies non_, and no one is obliged or expected to
+attend. I am to hold Court in Boston until two o'clock. I will ride
+directly out, take a hasty dinner, and be here by half-past three
+o'clock, and hear the case, if you are willing. He looked round the
+school for a reply. We felt ashamed, in our own business in which we
+were alone interested, to be outdone in zeal and labor by this aged and
+distinguished man, to whom the case was but child's play, a tale twice
+told and who was himself pressed down by almost incredible labors. The
+proposal was unanimously accepted." The same interesting communication
+describes the scene which took place when the Judge returned to
+Cambridge in the winter from Washington. "The school was the first place
+he visited after his own fireside. His return, always looked for, and
+known, filled the library. His reception was that of a returned father.
+He shook all by the hand, even the most obscure and indifferent; and an
+hour or two was spent in the most exciting, instructive, and
+entertaining descriptions and anecdotes of the events of the term.
+Inquiries were put by the students from different States, as to leading
+counsel, or interesting causes from their section of the country; and he
+told us as one would have described to a company of squires and pages, a
+tournament of monarchs and nobles on fields of cloth of gold:--how
+Webster spoke in this case, Legare or Clay, or Crittenden, General
+Jones, Choate or Spencer, in that; with anecdotes of the cases and
+points, and all the currents of the heady fight."
+
+Judge Story's gracious and dignified demeanor upon the bench is too well
+known, and not closely enough connected with an account of his home
+life, to justify a description here. All who have spoken upon the
+subject, have borne witness to the kindness and courtesy with which he
+treated the bar, particularly the younger members, who most need, and
+best appreciate such consideration. No lawyer was provoked by captious
+remarks, or mortified by inattention or indifference, or that offensive
+assumption of superiority which places the counsel at such disadvantage
+with the judge, and lowers his credit with his clients and the
+spectators. With novices at the bar his manner was patient and
+encouraging, with the leaders whose position was nearly level with his
+own, attentive, cordial, at times even familiar, but always dignified.
+Among the prominent lawyers upon the Maine circuit, was his classmate in
+college, and intimate friend, Hon. Stephen Longfellow, the father of the
+poet, of whom the following story is told. When any objection or
+qualification was started by the Court, to a point which he was pressing
+upon its attention, too courteous to question or oppose the opinion of
+the Judge, he would escape under this formula, "But there is this
+_distinction_, may it please your honor;" which distinction, when it
+came to be stated, was often so exceedingly thin, that its existence
+could be discerned only by the learned gentleman himself. This little
+mannerism was known and observed among his friends in the profession,
+one of whom now living composed and passed round the bar this epitaph:
+"Here lies Stephen Longfellow, LL. D. Born &c. Died &c. With this
+_Distinction_. That such a man can never die." This epitaph reached the
+bench; and Mr. Longfellow himself, who not long afterwards on an
+argument, was met by a question from the Judge. "But, may it please your
+honor, there is this dis----" "Out with it, brother Longfellow," said
+Judge Story with a good-humored smile. But it would not come. The
+epitaph records the death of the distinction.
+
+The interest which Judge Story felt in the prosperity of his University,
+was not wholly confined to the Law-school, with which he was immediately
+connected. He was one of the overseers of the College, and entered
+warmly and prominently into every question affecting the welfare of the
+Institution; from an elaborate and recondite argument upon the meaning
+of the word "Fellows," in the charter of the college,--the doubt being,
+whether none but resident instructors were eligible as Fellows, or
+whether the word is merely synonymous with _socius_ or associate,--down
+to a reform in the social observances of the students upon the occasion
+of what is called Class Day. The old custom had been for the students on
+the last day of their meeting, before Commencement, to partake together
+of an undefined quantity of punch from a large reservoir of that
+beverage previously prepared. In more modern times, this habit came to
+be justly considered as subversive of sobriety and good order, and it
+was proposed to recast entirely the order of exercises. Of this reform
+Judge Story was an advocate; he was present at the first celebration
+under the new order of things, and was much gratified and elated at the
+change. Class Day is now the culminating point of the student's
+life--the exercises are an oration and poem in the morning, and a ball
+and reception in the afternoon and evening. More ladies visit the
+College on that day, than on any other, and the students have in lieu of
+their punch the less intoxicating recreation of a polka.
+
+Judge Story was about five feet eight inches tall, not above the middle
+height, with a compact and solid figure; and active and rapid in his
+movements. He seldom, if ever, loitered along; his customary gait was
+hasty and hurried, and he had a habit of casting quick eager glances
+about him as he moved. The expression of his face was animated and
+changing, his eyes were blue, his mouth large, his voice clear and
+flexible, and his laugh hearty and exhilarating. Late in life he was
+bald upon the top of his head, and his white hair below, and the benign
+expression of his countenance, gave him a dignified and venerable
+appearance, particularly when seated upon the bench. His personal habits
+were regular and systematic in the extreme. He never rose before seven,
+and was always in bed by half-past ten. His constitution required eight
+good hours of sleep, and he did not hesitate to gratify it in that
+particular. It was never intended that all men should rise at the same
+hour, and it is no great exercise of virtue on the part of those who do
+not enjoy sleep, to get up early. After breakfasting he read a newspaper
+for a half hour, and then worked faithfully, till called off to attend
+the lecture room or the court. After dinner he resumed his labors so
+long as daylight lasted, and the evening was devoted until bedtime to
+light reading, or social recreation in the midst of his family. He could
+pass easily from one species of employment to another without loss of
+time, and by working steadily when he did work, he was enabled to go
+through a very great amount of labor without any excessive fatigue or
+exhaustion. In this way his life was prolonged, and he retained to the
+last, undisturbed possession of all his faculties. He died in September
+1845, at the age of sixty-six, having been for thirty-four years a Judge
+of the Supreme Court of the United States, and for sixteen years a
+Professor of law in the school at Cambridge.
+
+
+
+
+=Wheaton.=
+
+[Illustration: Wheaton fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Wheaton's Residence Near Copenhagen]
+
+WHEATON.
+
+
+Among the persons whom religious persecution compelled to leave England
+during the reign of Charles I., and seek an asylum in the new world, was
+Robert Wheaton, a Baptist clergyman. He first established himself in
+Salem, but when the intolerance of that community led those of his
+persuasion to remove elsewhere, he joined Roger Williams, and assisted
+him in founding the now flourishing State of Rhode Island.
+
+From him Henry Wheaton was descended. He was born in Providence, 1786,
+and entered Rhode Island College at the age of thirteen. He was already
+remarkable for his love of reading, particularly in the branches of
+history and literature, and appears to have studied more from the
+pleasure he had in the acquisition of knowledge, than from any love of
+distinction. He graduated at the age of seventeen, and immediately after
+entered upon the study of the law, in compliance with his father's
+wishes rather than from personal inclination; for at that period he is
+said not to have entertained any particular leaning towards the legal
+profession. In 1806 he went abroad to complete his education. He passed
+some time at Poitiers, where he learned to speak and write French
+fluently, and had an opportunity of studying French law, and especially
+the Code Napoleon, which had then but recently been promulgated. He also
+attended the courts of justice, and heard some of the most distinguished
+lawyers of the time, of whose eloquence he often spoke in his letters to
+his family. He always recurred with pleasure in later years to the time
+he passed at Poitiers. The kindness he experienced from the family in
+which he lived, the graceful politeness and cheerfulness of the French
+character, gave him ever after a predilection in favor of France. After
+spending a few weeks in Paris, he went to England, where he applied
+himself to the study of English law. He was often at the house of Mr.
+Monroe, then our Minister in London, who seems to have taken some pains
+to converse with him on the political and social state of Europe.
+Perhaps these conversations contributed to form his taste for diplomatic
+life, in which he was destined to play so distinguished a part, and also
+to lead him in its course to show that willingness to impart information
+of a similar kind, to the young men by whom he was himself surrounded,
+which was so pleasing a trait in his character.
+
+Soon after his return from Europe he was admitted to the bar in his
+native State, where he continued to practise till 1813. At that period,
+feeling the want of a wider field in which to exercise his talents, he
+determined, having previously married his cousin, the daughter of Dr.
+Wheaton of Providence, to remove to New-York with his wife. We must not
+omit to mention, that before leaving Providence he pronounced a Fourth
+of July Oration, in which he spoke with generous indignation of the
+bloody wars which then distracted Europe, and the disastrous
+consequences of which his residence in France had given him an
+opportunity to observe. But although thus warmly opposed to wars of
+conquest, there were cases in which he deemed resistance a sacred duty;
+he therefore zealously devoted his pen to encouraging his
+fellow-countrymen in resisting the unjust encroachments of England.
+During two years he edited the National Advocate, and the spirit as well
+as the fairness with which its leading articles were written, insured
+the success of the paper, and established his reputation in New-York. At
+the same time he held the office of Justice of the Marine Court, and for
+a few months that also of Army Judge Advocate. In 1815 he returned to
+the practice of his profession, and published in the same year a
+Treatise on the Law of Maritime Captures and Prizes, which Mr. Reddie of
+Edinburgh has since pronounced to have been the best work then published
+on the subject; no small praise, if we consider that Mr. Wheaton was
+only thirty years of age at the time it was written. In 1816 he was
+named Reporter of the Supreme Court at Washington, and continued to hold
+this place until 1827. The Reports, of which he published a volume
+yearly, and which were highly esteemed by American lawyers, were
+abridged without his consent soon after he went abroad. The publication
+of this abridgment occasioned a lawsuit, which ended only with his life.
+The following letter, for which we are indebted to the kindness of
+Professor Parsons, of the Law-school in Cambridge, will, we think, be
+read with interest. We must only remark, that it is an error to suppose
+that Mr. Wheaton shunned general society after he went to Europe; he
+joined in it, on the contrary, more than is usual to men of his age in
+our country.
+
+                Cambridge, May 22, 1853.
+
+"I am very glad to offer even a slight contribution to this memorial, of
+one so worthy of all respect as the late Mr. Wheaton. And you must
+permit me to express the hope that the sketch you now propose to make,
+will hereafter be expanded into that history of his life and exhibition
+of his character, which should be given to the world, in justice to him
+and to the very many to whom it would be most acceptable. I can speak of
+him from personal acquaintance, only after a long interval, when even
+recollections so pleasant as those of my intercourse with him have
+become somewhat dim.
+
+"It was at the very close of the year 1821, that I went to Washington,
+to pass some months there. The commissioners to distribute the money due
+to American citizens under the then recent treaty with Spain, began
+their sessions that winter. Mr. Webster was employed by most of the
+large claimants in New England, and I went with him to assist him
+generally, and also charged by some of those claimants with the especial
+care of their interests. In New-York I became acquainted with Mr.
+Wheaton; and he was with us during a part of the journey to Washington.
+As fellow-travellers, we became intimate, and during the whole of my
+stay in Washington,--nearly three months,--this intimacy was kept up.
+From many parts of the country, eminent lawyers were at Washington, in
+attendance upon the Supreme Court, or charged with the care of cases
+before the commissioners under the Spanish treaty, and I was meeting
+them continually in society; and I had the good fortune also to, become
+acquainted with many of the most distinguished members of government and
+of Congress, and visited freely in the whole range--then less broad than
+now--of society in Washington.
+
+"Wherever I went I met Mr. Wheaton. Every where he was upon the footing,
+not of a received, but of a welcomed guest; and he seemed to be most
+intimate in the best houses. It was easy to see the cause of this. His
+important position as Reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court of
+the United States--which office he had then held for six years--brought
+him into immediate contact not only with the judges of the court, but
+with all who practised in it; and it might be supposed that with them he
+would be on terms of intimacy and friendship. But there was something in
+the character of that friendship, that no mere position explained; and
+he inspired an equally warm regard in many who never met him in his
+official duties. Among all his friends, if I were to name any persons, I
+think it would be Mr. Webster himself, who treated him as he might a
+brother; Sir Stratford Canning, Minister from England, and M. de
+Neuville, the French Minister, who appeared to give tone and character
+to Washington society so far as any persons can influence elements so
+diversified and refractory, and in whose houses he stood on the footing
+of a confidential friend; Mr Lowndes of South Carolina, a most wise and
+excellent man; and lastly and most of all, Chief Justice Marshall. Let
+me pause a moment to say one word of this great and good man, to whose
+greatness and whose goodness, equally, this country is, and while its
+prosperity endures, will be indebted; for his greatness rested upon his
+goodness as its foundation. Even his wide and accurate learning, his
+clear and close reasoning, his profound insight into the true merits and
+exact character and bearing of every question, and the unerring sagacity
+which enabled him to see the future in the present; all these together,
+and whatever more there might have been of merely intellectual power,
+would not have enabled him to lay the foundations of our national and
+constitutional jurisprudence with the depth, breadth, and firmness,
+which all attacks upon them have, as yet, only made more apparent, if it
+had not been for his moral character. Here lay the inmost secret of his
+power. Men felt, and the nation felt, his incorruptibility; meaning by
+this, not merely the absence of that baser and more obvious selfishness,
+which most men of decent self-respect overcome or suppress; but his
+perfect and manifest freedom from all motives and all influences
+whatever, which could tend to cloud or warp his understanding, or
+qualify the utterance of his wisdom. He did not stand before us a man of
+living ice, perfectly safe because perfectly cold; for he was
+affectionate and gentle as a child; excitable even to enthusiasm, when
+that kind heart was touched; listening, not only with an equal strength
+to the strongest, but with a perfect sympathy to the eloquent, and with
+a charming courtesy to all. There he stood, and no one ever saw him and
+heard him, and did not know that his one wish was to do his great duty;
+and that his admirable intellect came to its daily tasks, and did them,
+wholly free from all possible distortion or disturbance, not because he
+was strong enough to repel all the influences of party, or passion, or
+prejudice, or interest, or personal favor, but because none of these
+things could come near enough to him to be repelled. By the happy
+constitution of his nature, there was no flaw in him to give entrance to
+any thing which, could draw him one hair's breadth aside from the
+straight course of truth and justice, and of the law, which in his mind
+was but their embodiment and voice. Of this good and great man there is
+as yet no adequate memorial; and it would require a strong hand, and if
+not an equal, at least a sympathizing mind and heart, to construct one
+which shall indeed be adequate. But I indulge the hope that it will be
+given to us before the generation which knew him shall pass wholly away.
+And you, I am sure, will pardon me for using this opportunity to render
+to his cherished memory this slight and evanescent tribute. I do but
+indulge myself in saying a part of what I have frequent occasion to say
+to the many students to whom it is my official duty to teach the law of
+their country as well as I can, and therefore to speak often of
+Marshall.
+
+"The Chief Justice treated Mr. Wheaton with the fondest regard, and this
+example would have had its influence had it been necessary; but in fact
+the best men then in Washington were on the most intimate and
+confidential terms with him. The simple truth is, that universal respect
+was rendered to him because he deserved it. He was a gentleman: and
+therefore the same gentleman to all and under all circumstances; yes, he
+was indeed and emphatically a gentleman, and combined--with no base
+admixture--all the elements which go to compose what we mean, or should
+mean, by that word, as thoroughly as any one that I have ever known.
+
+"I did not meet him after leaving Washington until a short time before
+his death, and then not often. I saw very little change in his manner,
+for he appeared to be as glad as I was to revive the pleasant
+recollections of that distant winter. But I have been told that after he
+went abroad, he was considered somewhat silent, and even disposed to
+avoid rather than seek general society. I cannot say how this was during
+those later years; but when I knew him in Washington, no one more
+enjoyed society, and few sought it more, or were more sought by it. He
+was,--not perhaps gay,--but eminently cheerful; and his manner was
+characterized by that forgetfulness of self, which, as in great things,
+it forms the foundation for the highest excellence, so in the lesser
+matters of social intercourse it imparts a perpetual charm, and
+constitutes almost of itself, the essence of all true politeness.
+
+There was with Mr. Wheaton, no watching of opportunity for display; no
+indifference and want of interest when the topics of conversation, or
+the parties, or other circumstances, made it impossible for him to
+occupy the foreground; no skilful diversion of the conversation into
+paths which led to his strongholds, where he might come forth with
+peculiar, advantage. Still less did he--as in this country so many
+do--play out in society the game of life, by using it only as a means of
+promoting his personal or professional objects. Certainly, one may
+sometimes help himself importantly in this way. Very useful
+acquaintances may thus be made and cultivated, who might be rather shy
+if directly approached. Facts may be learned, and opportunities for
+advancement early discovered, or effectually laid hold of, by one who
+circulates widely in a society like that in Washington, or indeed any
+where. Nor perhaps should it be a ground of reproach to any one, that in
+a reasonable way and to a reasonable extent, he seeks and cultivates
+society for this purpose. But, whatever may be the moral aspect of this
+matter, or whatever the degree in which conduct of this kind is or is
+not justifiable, there was in Mr. Wheaton's demeanor nothing of this;
+nothing of it in appearance, because nothing of it in fact; for one who
+is mainly, or in any considerable degree governed by a purpose of this
+kind, must be cunning indeed, to hide it effectually; and cunning of any
+sort, was a quality of which he had none whatever. Every body felt and
+knew this: and therefore every body met him with a sense of confidence
+and repose, which of itself would go far in making any person more
+acceptable as a friend or as a mere companion, in a society of which the
+very surface constantly exhibited the many whirling under currents of
+Washington life. In one word, there was in him nothing of _trick_; but
+that constant and perfect suavity which is the spontaneous expression of
+universal kindness; and an excellent understanding, well and widely
+cultivated, and always ready to bring forth all its resources, not to
+help himself, but to help or gratify others, and all others with whom he
+came into contact, and all this, with no appearance of purpose or design
+of any kind; for it was but the natural outpouring of mind and heart, of
+one who was open to the widest sympathy, and whose interest in all
+persons and things about him was most real and honest, because he loved
+nothing so well as to do all the good he could, by word or deed, or
+little or much, to one, or few, or many. He was therefore most popular
+in society. But when we speak of Mr. Wheaton's social _popularity_, we
+must be careful to use this word in a higher than its common sense; and
+if I have made myself at all intelligible, I think you will understand
+both the cause and the character of that popularity.
+
+"And more than this I cannot say. Time has effaced from my memory
+details and especial circumstances; nor can I therefore, by their help,
+illustrate this slight sketch of Mr. Wheaton's character and position,
+during those pleasant months which he helped so much to make pleasant.
+Of these particulars, my recollection is dim enough. But no lapse of
+time will efface from my mind the clear and distinct recollection of the
+high excellence of his character, or the charms of his conversation and
+manners; nor shall I ever lose any portion of the affection and respect
+with which I regard his memory.
+
+    "I am, very sincerely,
+    "Your friend and obedient servant,
+    "THEOPHILUS PARSONS."
+
+  CAMBRIDGE, May 23, 1853.
+
+In 1821, Mr. Wheaton was elected a member of the Convention for revising
+the Constitution of the State of New-York, which having been formed amid
+the tumults and perils of war, seemed defective and insufficient to the
+wants of a richer, more enlightened, and more numerous society. In his
+sittings he turned his attention more particularly to the organization
+of the tribunals. In 1824, he was appointed by the New-York Legislature
+a member of the commission appointed to draw up the civil and criminal
+code of the State, a work in which he continued to be engaged until
+1827. It has been remarked that this was the first effort made by any
+State possessing the common law, to reduce its disconnected and
+diffusive legislation to the unity of a code; so that his name is thus
+connected with one of the most important landmarks in the history of
+American law.
+
+It may easily be imagined, that a person of so serious and thoughtful a
+disposition could not have failed at some period of his life, to turn
+his attention to the important subject of religion. While in college,
+and during the ensuing years, he had studied deeply the works of the
+great English theologians, and when the Unitarian Church was established
+in New-York, he united himself with it.
+
+His other occupations did not prevent him from entering into literary
+pursuits. In 1820 he pronounced a discourse before the Historical
+Society of New-York, and in 1824, one at the opening of the New-York
+Athenaeum, both of which are considered to have unusual merit; he was in
+the habit of contributing to the North American Review, and also
+translated the Code Napoleon. Unfortunately, this manuscript and some
+other interesting papers were soon after destroyed by fire. In 1826 he
+published the life of William Pinkney, whom he had known in Washington,
+and for whom he had the highest regard and admiration. This he
+afterwards abridged for Sparks's American Biography. His familiarity
+with the French language, laws, and customs, led to an intimacy with
+most of the exiles whom the downfall of Napoleon brought to this
+country. Count Real, the minister of police under the empire, Count
+Regnault, the most brilliant orator of that time, General Bernard and
+Prince Achille Murat, all considered him as a friend, and retained as
+long as they lived a warm recollection of the kind welcome they had
+found at his house.
+
+In 1827 he was appointed by President Adams, Charge d'Affaires to
+Denmark, and charged with negotiations the object of which was to obtain
+an indemnity for the American vessels seized during the last war between
+France and England. He embarked in July for England, where he had the
+satisfaction of again seeing the friends whose kindness had made his
+first visit to that country so pleasant, and also of meeting some of the
+most distinguished literary and legal characters of the day. Among the
+former, was Dr. Bowring, with whom he afterwards became intimate, and
+who was indeed one of the warmest friends he had in Europe.
+
+Although the first few months passed in Copenhagen were not without the
+trials attendant on a removal to a foreign home, and in this instance
+were still more overshadowed by the news of his father's death, and by
+the illness and death of his wife's brother, who had gone with them, Mr.
+Wheaton soon became acclimated, formed pleasant acquaintances among his
+colleagues and among the Danes, who are remarkably kind and hospitable
+to foreigners, and availed himself of the resources the country offered
+to one of his tastes. The letter to Judge Story, of which we give a
+_fac-simile_, will show his first impressions of Copenhagen.
+
+The climate of Denmark is damp like that of England, and its verdure
+quite as beautiful. Copenhagen is prettily situated, and contains as
+many objects of interest as any city of the size in Europe. It has fine
+palaces, a military and a naval academy, admirable hospitals, an
+extensive public library, a valuable collection of Northern antiquities,
+a good gallery of pictures, and fine public walks. The vicinity of the
+capital, although level, is highly cultivated, and affords a number of
+charming residences. The most pleasant of these are situated on the
+Strandvei, a road which runs along the shore of the Baltic to the
+Dyr-Hange, a fine park well stocked with deer, which is a favorite place
+of resort during the summer season to the Danes, who enjoy out-of-door
+life as much as the inhabitants of a Southern clime. Many of the houses
+which stand at intervals along the pleasant Strandvei are rented by
+their proprietors to foreigners. Of one of those occupied by Mr. Wheaton
+and his family, we engrave a cut, from a view painted by an artist of
+the country. It stood, and still stands, at some distance from the road,
+with a green lawn before it, and surrounded by lilacs, laburnums and
+beech-trees, whose white bark and light green leaves give a peculiar
+character to the scenery of Denmark. From the windows of the house the
+blue waves of the Baltic, studded with every variety of sail, may be
+seen, and in clear weather the opposite coast of Sweden is discernible.
+The road is enlivened by the brilliant equipages of the Royal family and
+nobility, by the Holstein-wagen, long open carriages which contain ten
+persons, two only being seated abreast, and much used for parties of
+pleasure, and by the women from the neighboring fishing villages, with
+their green petticoats and red boddices, carrying large baskets of fish
+to the city.
+
+At the time of Mr. Wheaton's arrival in Denmark, Count Schimmelmann
+occupied the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs. This nobleman was
+possessed of great talents and worth, and for nearly thirty years was
+employed in the service of his government. Although a great part of his
+income was derived from his estates in the Danish West Indies, it was
+chiefly by his influence that the emancipation of the negroes was
+effected. He was a generous patron of art and science, and one of the
+earliest friends of Niebuhr. By such a man Mr. Wheaton could not fail to
+be appreciated; and although the business transacted between them was of
+a delicate, and to the Danish government, which had been greatly
+impoverished by the war, of a trying nature, these meetings were always
+pleasant to both. The negotiations were terminated in 1831, by the
+signature of a convention, by which the American government obtained
+nearly all it had demanded.
+
+While thus engaged, Mr. Wheaton had not neglected the literary pursuits
+to which, in moments of leisure, he always turned with pleasure. He
+prepared himself by the study of the languages, literature, and history
+of Northern Europe, for writing a work which was published in London, in
+1831, under the title of History of the Northmen. At that period,
+Scandinavia was a new, and almost untrodden field, but although much has
+since been added to the information we then possessed respecting its
+history and antiquities, this work is still considered very valuable by
+those who take an interest in the subject to which it relates. It was
+translated into French in 1842, and a new edition of it being desired in
+this country, Mr. Wheaton undertook the task of preparing it, but did
+not live to complete it.
+
+In the course of these studies he became acquainted with the most
+distinguished literary characters of Denmark, such as Bask, Rafn,
+Finn-Magnusen, the poet Ohlenschlaeger, Muenter, Bishop of Zealand, and
+others. We must not omit to add Madame Frederika Brun, the sister of
+Muenter, and herself a poetess of celebrity, whose splendid mansion in
+Copenhagen and charming country-seat of Fredericksdal, were for many
+years the resort of the most distinguished persons in Denmark.
+
+It was in 1835 that he bade adieu to the country where nine pleasant
+years had been passed, and where his amiable disposition, high integrity
+and talents, had won him many friends. For more than a quarter of a
+century, our country had no representative in Prussia; but our increased
+trade with Germany rendering it important that we should renew our
+relations with that country, he was appointed by President Jackson,
+Minister Resident to the court of Prussia. On his arrival in Berlin, his
+new colleagues took pleasure in pointing out to him the house which had
+been the residence of his predecessor, John Quincy Adams, so long
+before.
+
+Mr. Ancillon, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was the descendant of a
+Huguenot family, who, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
+sought an asylum in Germany, and is even better known as a philosophical
+writer and historian, than as a statesman. To him Mr. Wheaton presented
+his credentials, and as the King, Frederick William III., and his
+ministers, soon after left Berlin, according to custom, for the summer
+months, he devoted the interval to visiting the Rhenish provinces, in
+order to examine their resources and report to Government concerning
+them. During the ensuing summers he made excursions into different parts
+of Germany with the same object. In his private letters, he speaks with
+delight of the beauty and fertility of the country, to which historical
+associations gave additional charm in his eyes. In a dispatch, he says:
+"Having diligently explored every state and every province, comprehended
+in the Customs-Association, with the view of studying their economical
+resources, I have been forcibly struck with the vast variety and rich
+productions with which Heaven has endowed this beautiful and highly
+favored land. Its fields teem with luxuriant harvests of grain and
+fruit, the hillsides are clad with vineyards yielding the most exquisite
+wines, the mountains contain inexhaustible treasures of useful minerals,
+whilst the valleys are filled with health-giving fountains of salubrious
+waters. When we add to these productions of nature and of agricultural
+labor, the vast variety of useful and ornamental fabrics, furnished by
+the persevering and patient industry of the German people, and their
+extensive consumption of the peculiar staple productions of the New
+World, we must be convinced of the great and increasing importance of
+the constituent elements of German commerce, of the valuable exchange it
+offers to the trade of other countries, and of the benefits which may be
+derived to our own country, from cultivating and extending the
+commercial relations between the United States and Germany."
+
+In 1837, Mr. Wheaton was raised by President Van Buren to the rank of
+Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary; and we cannot forbear
+remarking, that after the opposition which--although never a violent
+party man--he had in previous years shown Mr. Van Buren, it is most
+honorable to the latter, that no feeling of rancor or pique, withheld
+him from making a nomination which he felt the public services of his
+former opponent to deserve.
+
+In 1836, he published, in England and in the United States, his
+"Elements of International Law," and in 1846 republished it in this
+country with numerous additions. In 1841 he wrote in French, "Histoire
+du Progres du Droit des Gens depuis la paix de Westphalie," which
+obtained a _mention honorable_ from the French Institute. This work was
+published in French at Leipsic, 1844, and afterwards in New-York, under
+the title of "History of the Law of Nations." Competent judges have
+spoken of it as the best work of the kind ever written; Mr. Reddie and
+Mr. Manning in Great Britain, Baron Gagern in Germany, and the
+enlightened and accomplished Minister of the King of Sardinia, Marquis
+d'Azeglio, have all awarded high praise to it. By diplomatists, it is
+considered an invaluable book of reference; by British statesmen, it has
+several times been quoted in Parliament, and there can be no
+exaggeration in saying, that it has entitled the author to a lasting
+reputation in the Old World.
+
+In 1840, Mr. Wheaton had the misfortune to lose his eldest son, a lad of
+great promise, who died after a few days' illness in Paris, where he was
+at school. From that moment, all the father's hopes centred in Robert,
+his only remaining son. Of the latter, this is not the place to speak
+fully; but we cannot forbear to say, that he lived long enough to
+realize the fondest anticipations of his parents, and that his early
+death, at the age of twenty-five years, will ever be a source of regret
+to all who knew him. He died on the 9th of October, 1851, only three
+years after his father.
+
+In 1843, he was made a corresponding member of the French Institute, in
+the section of Moral and Political Sciences. This nomination increased
+the pleasure he felt in visiting Paris, which he did, whenever his
+official duties would permit. In the literary and political circles of
+that great capital, he found the stimulus which every mind like his
+requires, and of which, he felt the want in Berlin, where men of letters
+and _savans_ do not mix in the court-circles, which his official
+position compelled him frequently to attend. He knew most of the eminent
+statesmen and politicians of France; he was particularly well acquainted
+with M. Guizot, for whose character and talents he entertained the
+highest respect, and with M. Thiers, the charm of whose conversation he
+admired no less than his works, He also enjoyed the opportunity he had
+in Paris of meeting his countrymen, of whom comparatively few visited
+Berlin. Nor did he neglect when there, to transmit to Government such
+information respecting the general state of Europe, as his long
+residence abroad, and his relations with the leading men in several of
+its countries, enabled him to collect. In the ten years during which his
+mission to Berlin lasted, scarcely a week elapsed without his addressing
+a dispatch to Government. These dispatches are extremely interesting,
+both from the variety and extent of information they contain concerning
+the political and commercial state of Prussia, and the picture they
+present of Europe and of European governments, and, if ever published,
+will form a valuable addition to the history of American and European
+diplomacy.
+
+In many respects, Mr. Wheaton was peculiarly well qualified for
+diplomatic life. His knowledge of international law, the soundness of
+his judgment, the calmness and impartiality with which he could look at
+the different sides of a question, his gentle and forbearing
+disposition, his amiable and conciliating manners, were all in his
+favor. To these advantages, he added the purest integrity, and the
+highest sense of the duties and responsibilities attached to the
+profession he so long followed. In the speech made at the public dinner
+offered him in New-York, on his return to his native country after an
+absence of twenty years, he said, and this was the true expression of
+his feelings on the subject: "You will excuse me for remarking that the
+mission of a diplomatic agent is, or ought to be, a mission of peace and
+conciliation; and that nothing can be further removed from its true
+nature and dignity, than intrigue, craft, and duplicity; qualities too
+often, but in my opinion, erroneously, attributed to the diplomatic
+character. At least, it may I believe be confidently asserted, that the
+ablest public ministers, and those who have most effectually advanced
+the honor and interest of their country, have been those who were
+distinguished for frankness, directness, and a strict regard to truth."
+
+The amount of business which devolved on him during his mission to
+Berlin, independent of the negotiations for a commercial treaty with the
+German Customs-Union or Zollverein, can hardly be estimated by reading
+his dispatches only. Not a week elapsed without his receiving letters
+from different parts of Germany and the United States, asking for advice
+with regard to emigration, or to the disposition of property left by
+friends in America or in Germany, and all requiring immediate attention.
+But notwithstanding these demands upon his time, he did not neglect the
+pursuits of literature. In 1838 he published, jointly with Dr. Crichton,
+the volumes entitled "Scandinavia," which form a portion of the
+Edinburgh Family Library; and in 1842, and the succeeding years, wrote a
+number of interesting letters addressed to the National Institute at
+Washington, which were published in the columns of the National
+Intelligencer.
+
+In 1844, he was named Member of the Academy of Sciences at Berlin, and
+we must not omit to mention, that he was the only foreign diplomat to
+whom the honor had then been awarded. With Raumer and Ranke, with
+Ritter, the celebrated geographer, Encke, the astronomer, he was of
+course acquainted; Savigny, Gans, and Eichorn, he knew well; and with
+Alexander von Humboldt he was on the most friendly and familiar terms.
+Count Raczynski, whose work on "Modern Art," has made his name known in
+this country, and whose fine gallery is to amateurs of painting one of
+the chief objects of interest in Berlin, was also his intimate friend.
+With Bunsen, one of the most agreeable as well as intellectual men in
+Germany, whose diplomatic duties kept him absent from Berlin, he passed
+many delightful hours in Switzerland, and in London. All his colleagues
+in Berlin met him on the most friendly terms; but the Russian, French
+and English ministers were those whose company he most enjoyed, and who
+perhaps entertained for him the most cordial friendship. The two latter
+gave him their entire confidence, often showing him their dispatches,
+and freely discussing with him the interests of their respective
+governments.
+
+It was in the spring of 1844, that the negotiations with the Zollverein,
+with which Mr. Wheaton had been charged, and which the various interests
+of the nineteen different states which it then included, had protracted,
+drew to a close. On the 25th of March he signed a convention with Baron
+Bulow, the Prussian Minister of Foreign Affairs, of whose enlightened
+and liberal views he always spoke in high terms. This treaty, to the
+accomplishment of which he had devoted all his energies during several
+years, and which he fondly hoped would prove satisfactory to Government
+and the country, was rejected by the Senate. It is hardly necessary to
+say, that he felt this disappointment deeply.
+
+In 1846, he was recalled by President Polk, and on the 22d July had his
+farewell audience of the King of Prussia, by whom he had always been
+treated with marked distinction and courtesy. He went to Paris to pass
+the ensuing winter, during which he read to the Academy of Sciences a
+paper on the Schleswig-Holstein question, which is still unpublished. In
+May, 1847, he returned to his native land. A public dinner, to which we
+have already alluded, was given him in New-York, where so much of his
+early life had been spent, and where he had first distinguished himself;
+a dinner was also offered him in Philadelphia, but this, circumstances
+compelled him to decline. The city of Providence requested him to sit
+for his portrait, to be placed in the hall of the City Council, "as a
+memorial of one who shed so much honor on the place of his nativity." It
+is interesting to mark the contrast between this portrait, which was
+painted by Healy, and one painted by Jarvis nearly thirty years before.
+Though the countenance has lost something of the animation of youth, and
+the eyes have no longer the fire which flashes from the portrait of
+Jarvis, the head has gained in intellectual expression, and the brow
+wears that air of thoughtful repose, the mouth that pleasant smile,
+familiar to those who knew him in his later years.
+
+In September, 1847, he delivered an address in Providence, before the
+Phi Beta Kappa Society, the subject of which was the Progress and
+Prospects of Germany. This was the last public occasion on which his
+voice was heard. The chair of International Law at Harvard University,
+to which he had been called, on his return home, he never lived to fill.
+His health gradually failed, and on the 11th of March, 1848, he breathed
+his last.
+
+
+
+
+=Webster.=
+
+[Illustration: Webster fac-simile of letter]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Webster's Birth-place]
+
+WEBSTER.
+
+
+What justice can be done "in an half-hour of words, to fifty years of
+great deeds on high places." The most meagre epitome of Daniel Webster's
+career, can not be compressed into the few pages allotted him in this
+book. Foremost, in the highest spheres of intellectual exertion, as a
+lawyer, orator and statesman--great in all these, yet greater as a
+man--how can his character, even in outline, be sketched by an unskilled
+pencil, on so small a canvas? High as were his stations, and severe as
+were his labors, they were not high nor severe enough, to exhaust his
+force, or exhibit his full proportions, but while meeting and mastering
+all, it was still manifest, that he had powers in reserve, superior to
+greater tasks than were ever imposed. At the bar, the puzzles of
+jurisprudence yielded too readily to his analysis. In Congress, but one
+question only ever wrung his withers or strained his strength. He shook
+off the perplexities of diplomacy, like dew-drops from his mane; too
+great for party, too great for sycophancy, too great to be truly
+appreciated, the exalted position to which he aspired, would have added
+no new lustre to his name, no additional guarantee of its immortality.
+There was no niche in our temple, vast enough for his colossal image.
+
+Consider too, the extent and profundity of his opinions, during the
+half-century of his public life. On all questions of our foreign and
+domestic policy, on all the important epochs of our history, on
+everything respecting the origin, growth, commerce, peace and prosperity
+of this union of states, "everywhere the philosophical and patriotic
+statesman and thinker, will find that he has been before him, lighting
+the way, sounding the abyss. His weighty language, his sagacious
+warnings, his great maxims of empire, will be raised to view and live to
+be deciphered, when the final catastrophe shall lift the granite
+foundation in fragments from its bed." Merely to review the record of
+these opinions, his public speeches, historical discourses, and state
+papers would be to write the civil and constitutional history of the
+country since the war of 1812.
+
+Assaying none of these ambitious flights, and bearing in mind the title
+of this book, we shall confine ourselves to the humble task of collating
+from the fragmentary reminiscences of personal friends, and from his own
+autobiographical allusions, a brief account of the homes and home life
+of Webster.[21]
+
+There is a "vulgar error," which needs no Sir Thomas Browne to refute,
+that the possession of great intellectual endowments, is incompatible
+with the growth and development of the affections. During his entire
+career Mr. Webster suffered from this misconception. When he refused to
+adopt any of the arts of popular adulation; when he manifested his real
+respect for the people, by addressing their understandings, rather than
+by cajoling their weaknesses; when, rapt in his own meditations, he
+forgot to bow, to smile, to flatter, and bandy unmeaning compliment;
+when the mean stood abashed before his nobleness, and the weak before
+his strength, disappointed self-conceit, invariably turned from his
+presence, with the sneering remark, "Webster has no soul."
+
+Death strips off all disguises. Calumny is silent over the graves of the
+great. It was not, until he was removed beyond the reach of party
+warfare and interested depreciation, it was not, until the veil that hid
+his true lineaments, was drawn aside, that Mr. Webster's inner life, and
+social relations, were revealed to his countrymen, and they began to
+discover, that underneath the giant's brain, there was a giant heart.
+The disclosures of those who enjoyed his familiarity and confidence,
+have now placed it beyond all controversy, that home, home affections,
+home pursuits, home enjoyments, were more congenial to Mr. Webster's
+nature, than the dizzy heights of office, or the stormy forum.
+
+He saw not merely in HOME, the walls that protected him, from Boreas and
+the dog-star, the spot of earth appropriated to himself, the place that
+ministered to his material enjoyments, but while the sense of comfort
+and the sense of property entered into its complex idea, his sentiments
+and affections gave to it a higher and holier meaning. The word HOME
+carried him back to his infancy, and forward to his age. It connected
+itself with all his affections, filial, fraternal, parental, with those
+grand and solemn epochs of humanity, birth, marriage and death. To his
+lofty imagination, the roof-tree was consecrated with ceremonies, more
+imposing than those of our Saxon ancestors. It symbolized the family
+tie, the domestic virtues, the Lares and Penates of classic mythology.
+Home was his retreat from the world of action, to the world of
+contemplation. Here he was to _live_. These walls would witness those
+experiences, sweet, bitter, mournful; those communings with God, with
+friends, kindred and himself; those aspirations, dreams,
+disappointments--that are embraced in that word of infinite
+significance, _Life_. Here his wife was to administer love and
+consolation; here children were to be born, hostages to fortune,
+heritors of name and fame, idols upon whom can be lavished the
+inexhaustible treasures of love. Here the pilgrimage was to end, here he
+was to die.
+
+On the bleak and rugged soil of Salisbury, New Hampshire, in a green
+nook, hardly sheltered from the wintry blasts, he was born. Under an
+aged elm, whose branches reach across the highway, stands this ancient
+habitation. It is in the shadow of lofty mountains, while a broad and
+rapid river winds through the meadows spread out before the door.
+"Looking out at the east window," says he, in one of his letters, from
+this hallowed spot, "my eye sweeps along a level field of one hundred
+acres. At the end of it, a third of a mile off, I see plain marble
+grave-stones, designating the places where repose my father and mother,
+brother and sisters. The fair field is before me. I could see a lamb on
+any part of it. I have ploughed it, and raked it, but never mowed it;
+somehow, I could never learn to hang a scythe."
+
+As Webster advances, in years and distinction, he seems only to have
+been drawing a lengthened chain from his first home. With what constancy
+does he carry its features in his mind, Kearsarge, the Merrimack and
+Punch Brook! He spares no expense to cultivate the old acres and keep,
+the old house in repair. With what regularity does he revisit it and
+explore all his boyish haunts, the orchard, the mill, the meeting-house,
+the well, the hillside and the trout stream! With what a swelling
+heart, and moistened eye, does he sit beneath the ancestral elms that
+stretch their arms, in benediction, over the old homestead, while busy
+fancy repeoples these familiar scenes with the absent and the dead, the
+mother that bore him, the father on whose shoulder he wept, the much
+beloved brother, whose education he earned, "with weary fingers by the
+midnight lamp?" How from the great popular gathering, from the "sea of
+upturned faces," and even from the important issues that hung on his
+eloquence, does his mind impulsively wander to this cherished
+home--"Raised amid the snow-drifts of New Hampshire, at a period so
+early that, when the smoke first rose from its rude chimney, and curled
+over the frozen hills, there was no similar evidence of a white man's
+habitation between it and the settlements on the rivers of Canada. Its
+remains still exist. I make to it an annual visit. I carry my children
+to it to teach them the hardships endured by the generations which have
+gone before them. I love to dwell on the tender recollections, the
+kindred ties, the early affections, and the touching narratives and
+incidents, which mingle with all I know of this primitive family abode.
+I weep to think that none of those who inhabited it are now among the
+living; and if ever I am ashamed of it, or if I ever fail in
+affectionate veneration for HIM who reared and defended it against
+savage violence and destruction, cherished all the domestic virtues
+beneath its roof, and, through the fire and blood of seven years'
+revolutionary war, shrunk from no danger, no toil, no sacrifice to serve
+his country, and to raise his children to a condition better than his
+own, may my name and the name of my posterity be blotted forever from
+the memory of mankind."
+
+"Take care," says he, in one of the last letters which he wrote to John
+Taylor, "take care to keep my mother's garden in good order, even if it
+cost you the wages of a man to take care of it." One of Mr. Webster's
+most cherished relics, which he sometimes carried in his vest pocket,
+and exhibited to his friends, was an antique tea-spoon, covered with
+rust, which John Taylor found in this very garden of his mother. In the
+library at Marshfield, the eye turns from Healey's splendid portraits,
+to a small and unpretending silhouette, with the inscription, "my
+excellent mother," in the handwriting of her immortal son.
+
+When he selected as the home of his manhood, the old mansion by the
+far-resounding sea, how completely was every want of his nature
+represented in the grand and impressive features of the place.
+MARSHFIELD lies within the limits of the Pilgrims' earliest colony, and
+on Mr. Webster's farm stands the house to which Edward Winslow carried
+his household gods, from aboard the tempest-tost Mayflower, and the
+house to which a company of British soldiers bade final adieu, when they
+marched from it to storm the redoubts on Bunker Hill. It thus connects
+two chapters of that colonial history, which Mr. Webster loved to study
+and paint, and two imperishable monuments to his own renown. It is
+surrounded by vast and fertile fields, meadows and pastures green,
+dotted here and there with groves and orchards, for one who worshiped,
+as in a sanctuary, beneath the over-hanging branches of trees, and
+dotted also with great herds of red and black oxen, for one who "was
+glad when his cattle lifted up their large-eyed, contemplative faces,
+and recognized their master by a look." Its border, landward, is hedged
+with nothing less than a vast forest of pines, and within a few hours'
+ride, lies a fresh wilderness, unbroken, as when the Pilgrims first saw
+it from the Mayflower's mast-head, where the wild eagle still soars, and
+the timid deer "glances through the glade." His eye, far as its glance
+could penetrate, rested on the most sublime of all nature's attractions,
+on thee--
+
+            "glorious mirror where the Almighty's form
+    Glasses itself in tempests; in all time,
+    Calm or convulsed--in breeze, or gale, or storm,
+    Icing the pole, or in the torrid zone
+    Dark heaving; boundless, endless, and sublime,
+    The image of eternity, the throne
+    Of the Invisible."
+
+Scattered over its far-reaching expanse, he could always see the white
+sails of that commerce he loved to defend, and occasionally, one of
+those "oak leviathans," bearing the glorious flag of the union--"not a
+stripe erased, or polluted, not a single star obscured;" memorials at
+once of the nation's glory, and of his own proudest triumph.
+
+As deep answereth unto deep, none of the majestic harmonies of the
+domain, but found a full and equal response in the bosom of its lord.
+Old ocean never rolled its waves, at the feet of one who could better
+grasp their immeasurable extent, unfathomable depth. When, with these
+surroundings, he stood on that autumn eve, beneath that magnificent elm
+that grows by his door-side, the sea's eternal anthem in his ear, and in
+his eye, the infinite vault of the starry heavens, he could find in
+recorded language but this one utterance: "When I consider thy heavens,
+the work of thy fingers; the moon and the stars, which thou hast
+ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man,
+that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the
+angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor."
+
+While his tastes were thus attuned to the grandest aspects of nature,
+all the rural sights and rural sounds of this chosen spot, ministered to
+the delight of his acute sensibilities. "The smell of new-mown hay,"
+says Mr. Hillard, "and of the freshly turned furrows of spring, was
+cordial to his spirit. The whetting of the mower's scythe, the beat of
+the thresher's flail, the heavy groan of loaded wagons, were music to
+his ear!" The rich verdure of clover, the waving of the golden grain,
+the shriek of the sea-mew and the softest song of the nightingale;
+all the varying aspects of sky and field and sea, furnished him with a
+distinct and peculiar enjoyment. The shrinking quail whistled in his
+garden shrubbery, and fed, unscared, in his carriage-way.
+
+The observer can not fail to notice characteristics of Webster in all
+the features of this favorite abode. His door-yard is a broad field of
+twenty acres, unbroken by fence or hedge. Around it, sweep in concentric
+circles, of vast diameter, great belts of forest-trees, planted with his
+own hands, offering secluded recesses and shady walks, where "musing
+solitude might love to roam." Gotham Hill, once a sand-bank, piled up by
+the ocean, and long defeating, by its barrenness, the ingenuity of his
+culture, he at length clothed with a green garment of beautiful clover.
+Cherry Hill was converted from a lean and parched mole, into a cool and
+inviting grove, within a rod of his door, almost an alcove to the
+library. Everything in and about the house were as thoroughly systemized
+and adapted to each other, as the points of one of his briefs. The
+appurtenances of the mansion, the main barn, the sheep barn, the
+piggery, are all where the necessities of the farm and the comeliness of
+the homestead require them to be placed. In the interior, the parlors,
+the library filled with the lore of all ages, the ample hospitality of
+the dining-room, the breakfast-room, opening toward that morning light
+he loved so dearly, the dairy cooled by its proximity to the ice-house,
+the gun-room furnished with every appliance for field sports, the
+decorations and the furniture; everything in his mansion as in his
+arguments, bespeaks the mind of Webster.
+
+Within a stone's throw of this parlor-window, observe those two young
+English elms; they are called "the Brother and Sister," and were thus
+named and thus planted, by the bereaved father, when Julia and Edward
+were torn from his heart. "I hope the _trees_ will live," said he, with
+touching pathos of tone, as he completed this labor of love. There is no
+more pathetic expression of parental sorrow, to be found in our
+language, than the dedication of the sixth volume of his works, to the
+same departed twain. "With the warmest parental affection, mingled with
+afflicted feelings, I dedicate this, the last volume of my works, to the
+memory of my deceased children, Julia Webster Appleton, beloved in all
+the relations of daughter, wife, mother, sister and friend; and Major
+Edward Webster, who died in Mexico, in the military service of the
+United States, with unblemished honor and reputation, and who entered
+the service solely from a desire to be useful to his country, and do
+honor to the state in which he was born.
+
+    "Go, gentle spirits, to your destined rest;
+    While I--reversed our nature's kindlier doom--
+    Pour forth a father's sorrow on your tomb."
+
+And yet Mr. Webster was "cold as marble; all intellect."
+
+But let us pass into the library; the LIBRARY! Here Vulcan forged those
+infrangible chains, that impenetrable armor--the shield of Achilles and
+the sword of Hector. Here you feel nearer to Webster than even when you
+enter his tomb; much that is in this room his immortal spirit carried
+with it in its upward flight. It is not that life-like portrait, by
+Healey, that introduces you, as it were, into the visible presence of
+the great statesman. It is the inspiration of the place, these scattered
+tools, just as they were dropped by the master-workman, that well-worn
+manual, thumbed by his own hand; that turned leaf, indicating the last
+page of human lore upon which his eye ever gazed; that arm-chair, his
+favorite seat. He seems just to have left it, and you will now find him,
+in one of those shady lanes, that lead to Cherry Hill, walking slowly,
+as he welds together the facts and principles he has gleaned from yonder
+opened folio. Here then, with these surroundings, with that beautiful
+landscape in his eye, DANIEL WEBSTER studied, pondered, and communed
+with these old tomes as with familiar faces. How often has he turned
+from the living world, to find kindred here in Bacon, Chatham, Fox and
+Burke! How often has his eye run over that complete set of parliamentary
+debates! How often has he conned those volumes of Hansard, and these of
+McCullough! How often has he resorted to that full alcove of
+dictionaries, to learn the precise and exact meaning of some important
+word; and to you, Shakspeare, Milton and Gray, how often has he fled for
+refreshment and consolation! How often, harassed by cares, and stung by
+ingratitude, has he murmured, in this air, the music of his favorite
+Cicero, "Haec studia adolescentiam alunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas
+res ornant, adversis perfugium ac solatium praebent, delectant domi, non
+impediunt foris, pernoctant nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur."
+
+Let us now ascend this staircase, (adorned with no costly paintings,
+but with some choice engravings, interesting from the associations they
+recall, or as mementos from friends, or tributes from artists,) and
+approach this darkened chamber, looking toward the setting sun; tread
+softly and slowly! Within these walls, on that plain bedstead, beneath
+that window commanding an ocean prospect, Webster died. Here occurred
+that grand and affecting leave-taking, with kindred, friends and the
+world; here, "the curfew tolled the knell of parting day;" here occurred
+a death-scene, which can find no parallel in human history, but in the
+death of Socrates; here, with the assured consciousness, that his own
+contributions to the fund of human wisdom were imperishable, and that
+the "next ages" could not fail to do justice to his patriotic labors, he
+faintly murmured, as his spirit took its flight, and his eye closed
+forever, "I still live."
+
+On an eminence overlooking the sea, by the side of the burial-place of
+the first Pilgrims, is Webster's last home. A mound of earth and marble
+slab, mark the spot where sleeps all that is mortal of the great
+American.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[21] We have consulted principally the "Memorials of Daniel Webster,"
+published by the Appletons, containing the letters of Gen. Lyman, and
+the eulogies of Everett, Choate and Hildreth, all enjoying the precious
+favor of his personal intimacy. The reminiscences of Mr. Lanman, his
+private secretary, and Everett's life prefixed to the complete edition
+of his works, are our authority for many of the following details.
+
+
+
+
+  +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                                                              |
+  | TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES                                          |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Spelling has been made consistent throughout but kept to     |
+  | authors' original format except where noted.                 |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Small Caps has been capitalized in this text version.        |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the |
+  | closest paragraph break. "Washington's" has been added to    |
+  | captions for Headquarters on pages 23, 25, 28, 32, 33, 34,   |
+  | 37, and 45.                                                  |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Footnotes have been moved to the end of the chapters. Also,  |
+  | "The" has been added to "Works of John Adams" (for footnotes |
+  | 2-3) and "Life and Works" (for footnotes 5-6 and 8-10) for   |
+  | consistency.                                                 |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page viii: Page numbers added to "Fac-similes of Letters".   |
+  | Henry Clay is added to the list, whereas Patrick Henry's     |
+  | copy is not available.                                       |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 8: (Hudson's Statue) changed to (Houdon's Statue)       |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 17: (to recruit in mind and body) changed to (to        |
+  | recoup his mind and body)                                    |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 50: (great Lakes) changed to (Great Lakes)              |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 68: (old style, 1706, on a house) changed to            |
+  | (old style, 1706, in a house)                                |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 141: Hyphen removed (much like the-lime tree of Europe) |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 146: " removed from ("In 1774 Mr. Adams was appointed)  |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 159: ? changed to , (early companions? so that his)     |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 186: (Apalachian) changed to (Appalachian)              |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 387: , replaces ; in (His countenance, clear,           |
+  | expressive; and)                                             |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 397: Typo "then" corrected in (Legislature, and thne)   |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 429: , replaces ; in (the other; begirt)                |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 438: (Webster, Parker, Quincy and Prescott,) replaces   |
+  | (Webster and Parker, and Quincy; and Prescott,)              |
+  |                                                              |
+  | Page 441: ; removed from (a tale twice told and; who was)    |
+  |                                                              |
+  +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Homes of American Statesmen, by Various
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