MEMORIAL MEETING
George Sewall Boutwell
•' One who obeyed throughout his life the
words of old tradition, ' Speak the truth,
though every man be a liar'; who in advanced
years set the example of courage and ardor to
boys; who was hopeful when victorious and
yet more so when defeated. It is easy for a
strong man to resist his opponents, but this
man stood a harder test, for when conscience
bade him he could withstand even friends."
— Thomas Wentworth Higginson.
FANEUIL HALL
BOSTON
APRIL 18, 1905
MEMORIAL MEETING
George Sewall Boutwell
" One who obeyed throughout his life the
words of old tradition, ' Speak the truth,
though every man be a liar'; who in advanced
years set the example of courage and ardor to
boys; who was hopeful when victorious and
yet more so when defeated. It is easy for a
strong man to resist his opponents, but this
man stood a harder test, for when conscience
bade him he could withstand even friends."
— Thomas Wentworth Higginson.
FANEUIL HALL
BOSTON
APRIL 18, 1905
GEORGE SEWHLE BOIITWELL.
Born January 28, 1818. Died February 27, 1905.
MEMORIAL MEETING
George Sewall Boutwell.
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR CURTIS GUILD, Jr., said,
in taking the chair:
Friends—We are met in commemoration of a life nobly
and fully lived by a citizen of Massachusetts. It was a life
so abounding in usefulness, and so rich in length of days
that it has been deemed best that .the conventional oration
should be displaced by a series of appreciations from men
of many opinions and of varying careers. The monument
we seek to raise tonight is not the polished obelisk wrought
by the master builder, but the cairn that rises as each man
tosses upon its summit the chosen pebble picked from his
own field of effort.
It is fitting that the Commonwealth should ex¬
press the gratitude of Massachusetts that such a man lived
among us, for the ideals by which he lived were Massachu¬
setts ideals, firm and deep-rooted as the granite of our
Massachusetts hillsides, and the title by which the publi¬
cist, the lawyer, the Congressman, the Secretary, the Sena¬
tor was ever and will ever be greeted in the mouths of the
people was none of these, but Governor George S. Boutwell.
The REV. CHARLES G. AMES, D. D., made the
invocation.
The presiding officer read the following letters which
had been received, and communications from the Hon.
Patrick A. Collins, Mr. Moorfield Storey, Col. Thomas Went?
worth Higginson and the Hon. George E. McNeill, who were
unable to be present:
Augusta, Ga.
Nobody esteems the character and services of our de¬
parted friend more highly than I do. I had a hearty af¬
fection for him in his life time and I revere his memory
after his death. CARL SCHURZ.
Maitland, Fla.
To me he was in many respects the noblest figure on
the stage of public life in America. How .we shall miss his
wise counsel and heroic leadership! But his example re¬
mains with us an inspiration to uncompromising effort in
the great warfare we are waging in behalf of liberty and
eternal right. ALBION A. PERRY.
5
San Francisco.
Language fails to convey the heart's deepest emotion
when such noble souls are taken from mortality. You and
those who have listened to his words of wisdom so often
must indeed mourn his departure.
MARIA FREEMAN GRAY.
New York.
I deeply regret my inability to be present at the meet¬
ing in memory of the late Governor Boutwell, one of our
public men who upheld the best traditions of the Fathers
and passed away worthy to he ranked with them. To the
long list of Massachusetts men who have contributed to the
founding and growth of the American Republic, his name
may he confidently added. Among these the late Gover¬
nor's service will rank high, because it was his privilege to
serve the Republic in the greatest crisis of its history.
ANDREW CARNEGIE.
Cumberland, Me.
I was deeply affected when I learned the news of the
death of Mr. Boutwell. Knowing the great amount of good
he has done for the Philippines in the last six years I can¬
not but lament his death intensely.
JOS>E P. KATIGBAK.
New York.
I want to express my great grief at the death of Gover¬
nor Boutwell. He was a grand old man and I counted it
one of my greatest privileges that I could see the little of
him I did on my trips to Boston. * * * He seemed to
me the most wonderful old man I ever saw and I can well
realize what a stimulus and help close association with him
must have been. E. W. ORDWAY.
Richmond, Ind.
With me George S. Boutwell was numbered among the
foremost, the mpst distinguished and the most worthy men
of your state. < D. S. BURSON.
Sioux City, Iowa.
I am deeply grieved to learn of the death of the Hon.
George S. Boutwell. This is a great loss to our country.
We had not yet become reconciled to the loss of Senator
Hoar when this last grief came to hs.
A. S. GARRETTSON.
London.
I share your grief in the sense of the great loss we
have sustained in the death of Governor Boutwell.
WILLIAM J. PALMER.
New York.
Governor Boutwell will ever live in my memory as
my ideal of the American citizen. LOUIS R. EHRICH.
6
Philadelphia, Pa.
It is with the deepest regret I find it impossible to ac¬
cept your kind invitation to speak at the meeting to be
held in memory of the late Governor Boutwell in Faneuil
Hall on Tuesday evening. I esteem it a high honor to have
my name connected with any meeting called for such a
purpose. If our great leader could speak today I feel sure
he would say that the best way of honoring his memory is
to prosecute, with renewed vigor, the great work to which
he devoted the latest years of his long life. If I were asked
to suggest a keynote for the Faneuil Hall meeting I should
express it after the manner of Lincoln at Gettysburg:
"That from our honored dead we take increased devotion
to the cause for which he here gave the last full measure
of devotion." There are many who think today that the
cause for which Governor Boutwell made his last fight is a
lost cause. In two presidential campaigns it has apparent¬
ly met defeat. Its present predicament might be likened
to that of the cause of American independence in 1774,
when your Sam Adams could find no one to take an interest
in his anti-British talk, when your John Adams quit poli¬
tics for law, and when Jefferson said: "Our countrymen
seem to have fallen into a state of insensibility to our
situation." In words much like those of Jefferson, Mf.
James Bryce has recently remarked that our people are not
reflecting deeply on the question of imperialism, and that
they do not seem to realize that it is "in essence a trans¬
formation of the fundamental character of the Republic."
And yet, just as surely as the Declaration of Independence
came only a few years after Great Britain had repealed the
most of the duties against which our forefathers protested,
just so surely do I believe that the cause for which Gover-
hor Boutwell labored so earnestly is destined to command,
in the near future, the approval of the American people.
GEORGE G. MERCER.
I have been ill for the last three days, and I do not dare
to risk attending a public meeting tomorrow night.
I sincerely regret the circumstance which prevents me
from saying at least a small word on the occasion, and to
testify my profound respect for the high character, the
great ability and the broad statesmanship of George S.
Boutwell. Nobody now thinks of the offices that he held,
but of what he was and what he did for humanity and
liberty. That will be his monument through the ages, and
it will neither perish nor be defaced.
PATRICK A. COLLINS.
We speak here each from his own standpoint. Let me
speak from mine.
If I were asked to characterize Governor Boutwell in a
single sentence, I should say that he was in the best sense
of the word a Democrat. By that I do not mean that he
was a member of the Democratic party, but that he was a
man who had absolute faith in his fellow men, in their
capacity and their honest purpose, whatever their*country,
their race or their color. He believed with the founders of
7
this government and their great successors, with Washing¬
ton, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, Sumner and Andrew, that
all men are created with equal political rights, and that no
man and no nation is good enough to govern another with¬
out that other's consent. Hence he was always and every¬
where the friend of freedom. Because he believed in the
people, he began his life as a Democrat. When he found
that the Democratic party had become the party of slavery,
he left it and was among the very first to found the Re¬
publican party as the party of freedom. So long as that
party was true to its faith he never forsook it, but when it
embarked in the career of foreign conquest and undertook
to govern an alien people against their will, he labored as
earnestly to overthrow it as in the early days he had lab¬
ored to build it up. No dreams of world power, no visions
of commercial triumph, no thought of glory or dollars, no
political ties blinded his vision. To him human freedom
was the supreme end and everything else was as dust in the
balance. He was the embodiment of that Massachusetts
spirit, that native love of liberty, which inspired our fathers
at Concord and Bunker Hill, which trampled the fugitive
slave law under foot, which we heard in the poems of Whit-
tier and Lowell and in the burning words of Garrison,
Phillips and Sumner, which fired the hearts of our soldiers
on every battlefield of the Civil War, and of which every
true son of Massachusetts is prouder than of all else that
she can boast.
When the conquest of the Philippines was proposed,
this living faith in the right of every people to freedom,
which he had worked so hard and so long to secure, called
him from the serene retirement which he had richly earned
at an age when men hesitate to undergo labor and hard¬
ship. He sprang to the conflict with all the ardor of youth,
with absolute faith in the justice of his cause and with un¬
wavering confidence in its certain triumph.' With nothing
personal to gain but at no small personal risk, in the heat
of summer and in the cold of winter he made long journeys,
addressed large audiences, encountered odium and ridicule,
and so long as his life was spared never ceased to plead
with voice and pen for the rights of the Filipinos. Such
courage, such public spirit, such devotion to a great cause
may well shame many a younger man who sharing his
faith and perhaps his pride in the high traditions of Massa¬
chusetts has lacked the courage to share his labors and his
sacrifices.
We meet here to honor Governor Boutwell, not because
he held high offices with credit and success—in that respect
many are his equals—but because during a long life he was
ever the consistent, brave and devoted friend of human
liberty and the foe of arbitrary power whether exercised by
a master over his slave, or by a conqueror over the con¬
quered—because he believed in a great principle and proved
his faith by his life.
It is fitting that we should do homage to his memory,
but if our words are not mere empty phrases, let us pay
him that far truer homage, the only homage which he him¬
self would value, and follow where he has led. Let us show
our countrymen that though^ Boqtwell and Hoar are dead
Massachusetts is not dead, that the ancient faith of this old
Commonwealth which they upheld so nobly still lives in
the hearts of her children and that she cannot long remain
untrue to freedom. MOORFIELD STOREY.
EPITAPH.
Here lies one who obeyed throughout his life the words
of old tradition, "Speak the truth, though every man be a
liar"; who in advanced years set the example of courage
and ardor to boys; who was hopeful when victorious and
yet more so when defeated. It is easy for a strong man to
resist his opponents, but this man stood a harder test, for
when conscience bade him he could withstand even friends.
THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON.
George S. Boutwell was endowed with the sterling stay¬
ing qualities of the Puritans, combined with the earnest
self-denying patriotism of the men of 1776. He was
touched with the fire of the times of Garrison, Phillips and
Parker.
He entered public life when the moral atmosphere was
surcharged with pure ideals and pure motives; the forma¬
tive period of the present industrial and social uprising.
He and his co-patriots were guided more by moral princi¬
ples and ethical considerations than by commercial incen:
tives, and financial aspirations.
When he was a member of Congress he aided in the
passage of the eight-hour law, and when that law was vio¬
lated1 by those having its enforcement in charge he joined
with Wilson, Banks and Butler in securing the full benefits
of the law to the Government employees, and when, in his
closing years he had determined to leave the Republican
party, his first declaration was made to a body of working
men.
When the possessors of wealth sought to oppress the
poor, and rob the Commonwealth by seeking exemption
from taxation, he uttered his protest and voiced the de¬
mands of the silent ones for equality in taxation. When
the Tory element of the community demanded less frequent
elections, he joined with the forces of organized labor, and
became che President of the Anti-Biennial League, whose
signal victory at the polls gave hope for the continuance of
a Democratic form of Government.
Through all the years of his life he stood steadfast, an
earnest, devoted American; the highest title that can be ac¬
corded to any citizen. GEORGE E. McNEIILL.
y
ADDRESSES.
THE HON. JOHN D. LONG.
The presiding officer has done well to limit to five min¬
utes the time of each speaker tonight and thus give an op¬
portunity for the friends of Governor Boutwell to show by
the number and variety of tributes which they pay him,
the wide hold he has on the esteem and respect of the
great body of his fellow citizens. Whether or not they
Have agreed with him in this or that point of theology or
politics or economics, they are one in admiration of the
fundamental integrity of his life, character and service.
Talk of the simple life! He lived it for eighty-six years.
Talk of the strenuous life! He exemplified it. To him
life was real, life was earnest. Not a man of fancy or
imagination, he walked the straightforward path of plain
practical living and thinking.
He was a patriot, and Faneuil Hall is a fitting
place and the eve of Patriot's Day a fitting time in
which to commemorate him. He loved his country in the
true way of an unswerving fidelity to the political princi¬
ples which he believed lay at the foundation of a republic
of freemen.
He was a statesman. He came to the chief magistracy
of the Commonwealth, to the national Congress, to the
federal cabinet, to every great office he filled, not as a
seeker after place for place sake with its emoluments and
honors, not to add a title to his name, not as an avocation
from his usual line of life, but because great questions of
state were always the natural occupation of his mind. In,
his youth he believed that the long-time dominant party in
control of Massachusetts did not sufficiently represent the
interests of the great mass of the people, and in that behalf
he won the day and the governorship against great odds.
In his maturity he was a leader in the republican party
because he believed that it stood for freedom and equal
rights and sound economic principles and that his duty was
to give his heart and hand with all his might to its work.
In his old and venerable age, bent with years but with a
mind vigorous as an oak, he arrayed himself against that
party and fought it with the ardor of youth and, not yet
recovered from the precipitation of the old impulse of the
anti-slavery crusade, denounced it as departing from some
of its fundamental principles in that line. I unqualifiedly
believe that he was wrong in his criticism and limited in
his outlook, but he was right in his loyalty to his convic¬
tions and I honor him for his fidelity to them and for his
courage in urging them.
He was a great citizen of Massachusetts. He never
lowered his standard. He never walked in any devious
path. He never descended to intrigue or trick. He never
shammed. He never trifled. His range of reading and
thinking and speaking on topics that related to great prob-
10
lems of character, destiny and social and material welfare
was large and comprehensive. I never heard him speak
that I was not impressed with the soundness of his sense
and the weight and suggestiveness of his observation and
that I did not carry away material for reflection.
I lay my tribute on the altar of the memory of this
grand old man with reverence and thankfulness. What a
long, loyal, ripe and devoted life was his! How full the
corn in the ear! How typical of the best traditions and
ideals of New England culture and duty! Happy such a
man who, when the conflict is over and its blows and bitter¬
ness are past, stands erect, respected alike by comrade
and opponent, without scar on his conscience, without blot
on his fair name! He fought a good fight. He finished
his course. He kept the faith. There is laid up for him
in the mansions of the Lord a crown of righteousness and
in the heart of Massachusetts a place with her historic sons
who have won her benediction, "Well done, good and faith¬
ful servant!"
GEN. NELSON A. MILES.
Fortunate indeed is the community, the state, the na¬
tion, that produces and develops eminent leaders in pro¬
gressive thought, heroic action, dauntless courage, high
moral character and noble purpose. They are the beacon
lights of liberty, they are the pillars of justice, truth, hu¬
manity and enlightened civilization.
Such a character and such a life was that of George S.
Boutwell, and fortunate indeed is the city of Boston, the
state of Massachusetts and the great Republic, who recog¬
nize him as one of their noblest sons, and who will revere
his name so long as the American people appreciate the
services of the defenders of their institutions.
He first saw the light of dawn almost within the shadow
of this "Cradle of Liberty" where we are now assembled.
Reared in humble circumstances, he acquired habits of life
that were beneficial to him as a student and in his various
occupations. Stepping from the lower round in the ladder
of fame he soon ascended, step by step, until even at an
early age he became our honored chief magistrate.
As a boy, I remember seeing him review the State
troops as the Governor of the Commonwealth. He im¬
pressed upon that body of men his character of devotion
to duty, his high sense of honor and patriotism, that has
been an inspiration to the militia of this State from that
day to this and has contributed largely towards the success
of that splendid organization and inspired it to heroic deeds
and glorious achievements upon many of the red fields of
war.
Occupying various positions of responsibility, he
brought all the excellent qualifications that he possessed
to the service of the State and Nation. As Governor, as
Legislator, as Congressman, Senator, Secretary of the
Treasury of the United States, and all the various posi¬
tions in which he was placed, he has fulfilled the duties
of the highest offices with wisdom, integrity and profound
statesmanship.
11
His heart was large enough to not only embrace the
welfare of his own people and their interests, but it beat
in sympathy for every oppressed race, whether they came
to our shores to avoid the harsh and severe despotisms of
the Old World and to share the atmosphere and blessings
of liberty and freedom in the New World, or whether they
were the oppressed race that for centuries had been sub¬
jected to unrequited toil. His statesmanship and deep
sense of humanity was strong enough and broad enough to
sympathize with the millions of people in the Orient who
had been struggling for liberty, and he had the indepen¬
dence and courage to espouse their cause and defend their
rights, even if it sacrificed the association and affiliation
of his old associates in the political party, of which he was
one of the founders. His party was patriotism and his
platform the integrity and honor of his country.
With all the honors that were bestowed upon him, with
all the eulogies that may be said concerning his long and
eventful career, not the least creditable feature of that most
remarkable life was the fact that he could live in an at¬
mosphere of political intrigue, in an age of commercial poli¬
tics, even at a time when men acquired wealth solely in the
political profession, and maintain that spotless character
and died, as he was reared and had lived, leaving naugnt be¬
hind him but an enviable career, his immeasurable services
for his people. State and Nation, and a record and name
that will be an inspiration and a glory for future ages.
A character that is better appreciated when the spirit
has departed than when mingling with the living, he illus¬
trated the truth of those lines that
"He who ascends to mountain tops, shall find
The loftiest peaks most wrapped in clouds and snow;
He who surpasses or subdues mankind,
Must look down on the hate of those below,
Though high above the sun of glory glow,
And far beneath the earth and ocean1 spread,
'Round him are icy rocks, and loudly blow
Contending tempests on his naked head,
And thus reward the toils which to those summits led."
MR. WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.
My personal acquaintance with Mr. Boutwell covered
only the last seven years of his life. When, with his offi¬
cial activities seemingly ended, he resumed the practice of
law in Boston, his familiar figure on the street revived old
memories, and inspired feelings of respect. Attached as he
was to public life, for which he was. admirably fitted, re¬
tirement, even at his age, could not have been welcome.
His intellectual powers were unabated and seasoned with
rare experience and matured judgment, but a new era had
arrived, with aims and standards adverse to those which
had inspired and dignified the historic years of his service.
Younger men holding ambitions of a different order crowd¬
ed the veterans, illustrating the transitory nature of popu¬
larity and success.
At best the twilight of a political eclipse is sombre,
but in this case it was brightened by a serene spirit and a
12
philosophic mind. Contemplating a finished public career,
he little dreamed that the capsheaf of his fame—his great¬
est title to the nation's gratitude—was yet to be attained.
He was to realize what Richard Cobden said of Sir Robert
Peel, that if he had lost office he had gained a country.
It is true that George S. Boutwell's name had already se¬
cured its niche in the history of his remarkable times, a
period of trial and incomparable exaltation.
"Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very heaven."
There is not a stage in the progress of the country's
crucial struggle for emancipation in which he was not a
prominent actor. And in the succeeding days of recon¬
struction, hardly less full of storm and stress, his useful¬
ness was constant. His responsible part in securing the
passage of the 15th amendment is in itself a monument to
his honor. In spite of the present tendency to deplore that
act, it will remain, next to the abolition of slavery, the
most valuable fruit of the civil war.
But during that exciting epoch he was only one among
a distinguished group of anti-slavery statesmen who had
been hardened and tempered in the heat of a moral reform.
Strength of character and intellectual force fitted them to
the occasion and its demands. Holding a firm grasp of
fundamental principles, they kept ever in view the goal
fixed by the founders of the republic. When forced by con¬
science to break with his party, Mr. Boutwell stood a pillar
of faith, self-exiled and indomitable, overshadowing and
not overshadowed.
He was a strong believer in government by party, mak¬
ing the wrench severe when manhood compelled such
course, but he deprecated political action ohtside of party
lines, viewing with indifference or disapproval the conscien¬
tious guerillas of politics. Inflexible opponents may still
hold each other in friendly esteem, or in evil times combine
together for questionable ends, but the independent is to
partisans an Ishmael, decreed to wander in the desert,
where offices grow no more than grain.
Mr. Boutwell's mental attitude in this respect is note¬
worthy, as he was fated for conscience sake to find many
of this outcast band among his latest associates, and to
appreciate how invigorating, compared with the stifling
atmosphere of politics, is the clear sunshine and air of the
wilderness. Working with men and women having no per¬
sonal ambitions to further, no places of honor or profit to
seek, chiefly intent on following ethical light, brought sat¬
isfaction and sustainment. Though chary of emotional ex¬
pression, he could invoke it. It is certain that he leaves
no more sincere and affectionate mourners than his latest
coadjutors.
It is a modest prophecy that when a future Bancroft or
Rhodes shall write the story of these times, the Sage of
Groton will occupy no mean place. The revolution, the
civil war and the imperialist movement will then mark the
three great epochs in the annals of the United States; the
13
first, a foundation of civil government upon the ideals of
the Declaration of Independence; the second, the slave¬
holders' baffled attempt to subvert it; the third, the sub¬
stitution of despotism for democracy—a chapter as yet far
from closed.
When the latest issue was forced, our venerable friend,
sadly taking the hand of duty, elected to withdraw from
the party of his love. Conspicuous in his loneliness, like
Bright and Cobden during the Crimean war, keeping the
faith when trusted leaders deolined to. risk careers for con¬
victions and the uncomprehending multitude were hostile,
he gave his remaining years to unceasing and vigorous pro¬
test against what seemed to him a betrayal of freedom.
Confident of the ultimate result, refusing to entertain
the doubt of liberty's triumph, he died without the sight,
bequeathing to his country an example worthy of its best
traditions. This gathering testifies to the profound respect
which, to the credit of the human race, true loyalty to con¬
viction and courage to> defy a frowning world unfailingly
inspires. In minority parties men often are content to re¬
nounce the sweets of success costing the sacrifice of prin¬
ciple. They have the countenance and solace of a compact
body of supporters. But to forego that support, to receive
unshaken the bitter censure of old friends, "to be true to
the truth and faithful, though the world were arrayed for
a lie," what fibre and manliness it bespeaks!
Such character as this receives sooner or later the
reverence due, as exemplified by this memorial tribute.
Nor are the mourners of this patriot confined to the coun¬
try of his birth. In distant islands of the Pacific unknown
friends of a different race recognize the loss.
"Hence eyes that ne'er beheld him now are dim,
And alien men on alien shores lament."
THE HON. A. A. PUTNAM.
I would I were able to cast into expression the thoughts
that possess me as I contemplate the life and character of
the man whose presence we here miss today; whose demise
made vacant the place he held as the head of the organiza¬
tion known as the Anti-Imperialist League.
Mindful of the unwearying earnestness with which he
discharged its duties, it is easy to believe that he regarded
the presidency of the League, an office without emolument
and attractive rather of censure than applause, as even
more important than the highest of all he had before held
and adorned. If this be a just view of his estimate of it,
how true it is that, if ever a man died full of honors and
wearing in his last hours the crowning honor of his life,
Governor Boutwell is that man. I say is, for he is still
with us. Verily, he still lives! Lives in the hearts of all
his countrymen who have placed and still place country
before party, duty before expediency, justice before policy,
right before wrong.
Rare it is that a man, already distinguished, achieves
his highest distinction when past, the age of four score.
Such rarity of fame can result only from extraordinary op-
14
portunity embraced by that unabated natural force which
keeps the eye of the octogenarian undimmed, the heart
fresh and the intellect keen and aggressive. To Governor
Boutwell in the situation of a few years ago was afforded
the opportunity and his were the understanding, character,
soul and vitality to embrace it. Just then he was by
every title the most illustrious member of the great party
he helped to found, build and glorify throughout the period
of its greatest glory. Hardly could mortal ken have fore¬
seen that the Nestor of the time-honored organization
would ever renounce his fellowship with it.
What though the party identical with his renown for¬
sake the principles long declared to be fundamental and
sacred; behold its multitudinous membership quite unani¬
mous in plaudits of approval and the press and pulpit of
the land similarly unanimous. Shall not he also assent
and glide along in the beckoning current of prevailing sen¬
timent, and so keep his standing good and regular in the
grand old party during the waning years of his protracted
journey? Yes, if the price be not too dear. At what price
may he still have the countenance of his old time associ¬
ates and the homage of the generation who have come upon
the stage since he grandly figured upon it? At what price
may he escape animadversion, severe to bitterness? At
what price may the veteran still abide in the temple whose
corner stone his hand helped to shape and lay? Simple the
answer. Keep step, keep step, not with the traditions, pro¬
nouncements and customary ideals of the party, but with
its departure from them. So to Nestor's apprehension was
presented the issue—party or country, which?
Did the venerable statesman hesitate? No. His choice
was made without delay and his course taken without
equivocation. Yes, though. weighted with the burden of
age, taking on, so it seemed, all at once the freshness and
fire of youth, and wedded by#all the ties that could bind one
in party fealty, he it was who, beyond all others of the na¬
tion cried out in flaming protest against the abandonment
of the vital principles of republican government, and to the
last continued to cry and spare not.
Incredible it seems, but he alone unswervingly kept
the faith, alone almost, almost of all the surviving founders
of '56 who in the on-coming conflict of freedom with slavery
solemnly "resolved that the maintenance of the principles
promulgated in the Declaration of Independence and em¬
bodied in the federal Constitution is essential to the preser¬
vation of our republican institutions.^' *
Whether the organized resistance he headed to combat
the imperial tendencies of the government shall prevail or
fail, his niche in the temple of fame will be equally eminent
with a considerate posterity. Time rectifies wrongs, my
countrymen.
"Where today the martyr stands
Tomorrow crouches Judas with the silver in his hands;
While the hooting mob of yesterday in silent awe return
To glean up the scattered ashes into history's sacred urn."
So spoke Sumner while the struggling minority dared
15
the insolence of the slave oligarchy. None less certain
shall be the vindication of Boutwell. With capacity
equalled only by his courage, uprightness only by his wis¬
dom and modesty only by his humanity, his name is high on
the roll of statesmen, philanthropists.and patriots, and in the
coming time, if not now, he will be ranked as the great man
in the crisis of the Republic, as was Lincoln in that of the
insurrection and Washington in the arduous struggle of the
revolution.
THE HON. ALBERT E. PILLSBURY.
It is still true, as Wendell Phillips used to say, that
when Boston men have anything in hand which concerns
the cause of human liberty they turn instinctively to Fan-
euil Hall. We have come here, on the eve of Patriots' Day,
to pay honor to the memory of a patriot. It is, one hundred
and thirty years, almost to a moment, since Paul Revere
took the Concord road to warn his countrymen against the
approach of danger. That ride carried him into perpetual
remembrance and a place in the history of his country.
The man in whose memory we are here tonight died in the
same service, and has gone to the same reward.
Governor Boutwell was the last of our historic char¬
acters. He spent his later years in the midst of a genera¬
tion to which he was comparatively unknown. He was un¬
known to the politicians, as he disappeared from public po¬
sition nearly thirty years ago. He was unknown to the bar,
as he never dealt with the business of the state courts. Yet
he was professionally engaged in more great causes, before
the Supreme Court of the United States and other tribunals
of national or international character, than any other Mas¬
sachusetts man of his time, and he had a larger part in the
history of the war and reconstruction period! than any other
citizen of Massachusetts, possibly with two exceptions. He
had much to do with the making of the Fourteenth Amend¬
ment; and the Fifteenth, as it stands in the Constitution
today, came from his hand. He put aside a nomination to
the vice-presidency at a time when the course of subsequent
events would have placed him at the head of the govern¬
ment. He was the colleague of Sumner, and the trusted
friend and adviser of Lincoln and Grant. At the time of
his death he was probably the one American citizen whose
personal acquaintance had embraced all our most eminent
statesmen and jurists from Webster's time down to our own.
Yet'he was so modest a man that he seemed to wear his pub¬
lic honors as a badge, of service, rather than of distinction.
Perhaps it would not have been unbecoming in the
Commonwealth, in accordance with recent custom, to pay
formal recognition, in her own house, to the departure of a
son and citizen who bore with credit and distinction all her
highest honors, and others bestowed by the nation, through
a period of more than half a century. But we do not com¬
memorate Governor Boutwell for the offices he hfeld. There
are men who stand erect and higher without the accessories
of public place. The man who is a power in the state by
weight of character and wisdom of counsel, who does not
follow public opinion but creates it, who makes a private
16
station not only the post of honor but the post of command,
that is the man on whom the state depends. To such a
man official titles and the trappings of office add nothing.
When the governor, the congressman, the' senator, the cab¬
inet minister, is foygotten, the people will remember the old
man, steadfast and resolute, who stood for the faith of the
fathers as the only hope of the sons. The Cradle of Liberty
is the place for his eulogy, and this spontaneous tribute of
his fellow-citizens is more significant than empty honors
perfunctorily paid to official station.
He was eminent without public office, and influential
without public power. Remanded by the vicissitudes of
politics to private life, it remained for him to render in his
latest years the most remarkable and perhaps the most en¬
during of all his public services, a service for which he will
be remembered with Josiah Quincy and John Quincy
Adams, the "old man eloquent," as putting younger men
to shame by the fertility, vigor and enthusiasm of his old
age. At a time when he had earned repose by the labors of
half a century, and at an age when it is the instinct of man
to seek it, he put "away repose and enlisted with all the
ardor of youth in defence of the government against a new
danger, as he beheld it, a danger the more insidious because
it came from within and borrowed the mantle of liberty to
cover the hand of arbitrary power. The courage and reso¬
lution with which he took his stand against it were wholly
characteristic, and the fruit of the qualities which had made
and kept him a public character. The most important
events of his life turned upon his' independence of party.
He was by birth and training a Democrat, but he differed
with the Democratic party upon the temperance question,
and he was first elected to the legislature by the votes of
Whigs, in a Whig town, as a temperance Democrat. He
was never in accord with the Democratic party on the ques¬
tion of slavery, and he often declared with satisfaction that
he never uttered a word in defence of that institution. He
was made Governor, as a Free Soil Democrat, by the votes
of Free Soil Whigs. It was while he held that position,
fifty-three years ago almost to a day, that he stood upon
this platform to greet Louis Kossuth, and words more in¬
stinct with the spirit of liberty, are rarely uttered in this
historic spot than those in which he spoke the welcome of
a free people to the patriot who was trying to make Hun¬
gary a free state. He was an earnest man, a man of serious
purposes, a man of conviction. He believed in his inmost
soul that free institutions must stand upon the equality of
all men before the law. It was this conviction that took
him into the Republican party and made him one of the
foremost leaders in working out its mission of making the
principles of the Declaration of Independence the law of
the land.
But parties to him were nothing, principles everything.
When he saw his party, as he thought, recreant to the
faith in which it was founded, he did not hesitate a mo¬
ment to write his protest across thb very front of the
White House, as Luther nailed his defiance to the door of
the church. He knew the penalty of, that course and paid
17
it without complaint, and posterity will repay. He was not
afraid of detraction, and detraction will not follow him.
We may agree with him, or we may differ, but he has added
one to the shining examples in our history, of moral hero¬
ism in the unflinching advocacy of an unpopular cause. He
needs no statue to commemorate him, nor any epitaph not
already written in his spotless integrity of purpose, and
unselfish devotion to the principle which he believed to be
the hope and promise of mankind.
THE HON. S. W. McCALL.
We are here tonight to honor the memory of a states¬
man, a patriot and a hero. For more than sixty years
George S. Boutwell was a leader of the people. A legislator
while yet a mere boy, the youngest Governor the Common¬
wealth ever had, her representative in Congress in both the
Senate and the House, and the secretary of the national
treasury, he filled those important offices with high honor,
and then, long after his office-holding days had ended, as a
private citizen in his old age, he won his fairest title to the
gratitude of his countrymen. His career displayed an
almost unexampled fidelity to great principles. He was
born with a passion for freedom and the light that guided
the footsteps of his youth did not shine dimly upon him
in his last days, and his soul was filled with as worshipful
a love of liberty at four score as it was at forty. He spent
his young manhood in battling for the cause of freedom,
and he was destined to witness a glorious triumph. And
in the thick-gathering darkness of the day's ending he was
found fighting valiantly in the same cause, with the odds
vastly against him, but inspired by that unconquerable hope
that springs from the midst of battles. He never descended
to the plane of living "as though to breathe were life," but
he lived to the last like the old Ulysses of Tennyson:
"Some work of noble note may yet be done,
* * * for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the- sunset and the baths
Of all the western stars until I die."
He had scorn enough for the cant about "inferior
races," which in practice means that to be weak is to be
inferior. He lived sufficiently long to see one of the dark-
skinned races awaken and by its thunderbolts of war teach
the Caucasian peoples that their own future safety would
be more secure upon the broad principles of justice and of
national equality than upon the lesson of their own bar¬
barous and brutal precedents. Boutwell was an idealist,
but he cannot be dismissed as merely that; there was a
practical and commonsense side to it all. To the enthusi¬
asm of the idealist he joined the clear vision of the states¬
man. The application of the American principles of govern¬
ment which he championed to the last' would have saved
the Republic its least glorious, if not its most deadly, war.
It would have established our empire in the East upon
love and not fear. It would have prodigally extended the
glorious hopes of nationality to that "land of the southern
sun's choosing," that "pearl of the Orient seas," and would
have prevented the cruel wrongs which centuries may not
18
erase from the minds of the Filipino people. At the same
time that he battled to preserve our ideal America he bat¬
tled against the imposition of an enormous military bur¬
den. Providence gave us the billows of the two great
oceans to stand about us like a million ramparts that we
might show to the world how peace might contribute to
the happiness and elevation of mankind. He protested
against spurning this priceless gift, against turning these
ramparts against ourselves, whilst we sought a national
boundary on the other side of the. Pacific. Where will you
find in our history, whether in peace or war, a more heroic
figure than George S. Boutwell, regarding him from his
eightieth birthday to the ending of his grand life? He was
great in the many public offices which he held, but it is
his supreme distinction that he was a great citizen.
THE REV. W. H. SCOTT.
Honored Sir, I feel happy and proud of the opportunity
to be permitted to stand before this gathering in this his¬
toric place, where so much has been said and done for me
and mine, and in a humble way express our love and appre¬
ciation of so great a man. Of his sixty years in public life,
forty-four of them he spent laboring for the progress and
freedom of the black race.
May it please you, honored sir, it is thus befitting that
in this public memorial to the late lamented George S.
Boutwell a member of my race should he present to
express as far as words would permit the appreciation
which is held by negroes all over this country.
He has been more than a friend to us. He has been a
constant guide and counsellor. We truly lament the death
of the Hon. George S. Boutwell, who, whether as governor,
representative, treasurer, or senator, has always been a
staunch friend of the oppressed in every land.
Honored sir, in these days of commercialism, militarism
and the desire of empire, there are hut few who have stood
for equality and liberty. But the Hon. George S. Boutwell
never bowed the knee to the Baal of unrighteousness. He
stood at the gate of the Temple of Liberty with a flaming
sword, as it were, to guard the sacred edifice from pollu¬
tion. To him the stars and stripes were the emblems of
liberty and freedom.
He had really imbibed the language of Philpot Curran'
that the moment a man touched the soil -of America and
could look up to the stars and stripes, his soul walked
abroad in her own majesty; his body swelled beyond meas¬
ure of the chains that burst from around hipi, and he stands
redeemed, regenerated and disenthralled by the irresistible
genius of universal emancipation.
Mr. Boutwell was a very remarkable man. At the time
of his birth, in 1818, most of the fathers of the Constitution
were alive. He must have heard his father and mother
speak of those stormy times, which set his soul aflame.
His public career began as early as 1843 and ended only
with his death. His last great effort was a protest to this
government not to assume the protectorate of San Domin¬
go. Thus his last act was to save the Constitution. As
19
early as June, 1861. when the North and the South were
both fighting for slavery, Mr. Boutwell shocked Harvard
and the country by announcing in an address delivered be¬
fore a literary society of Harvard College that the only
way to save the union was to emancipate the slave.
O, prophetic statesman! A bright sun has sunk never
to rise again, and we are groping our way through* this
dark firmament of statesmanship until another shall ap¬
pear. Upon whom shall the mantle of Elijah fall?
Mr. Boutwell believed that a man who lived under a
republican form of government should vote. He was the
first to offer a resolution which looked toward manhood
suffrage. As early as Jan. 18th, 1866, in Congress, on the
District of Columbia Bill, referring to Hale's resolution of
qualified suffrage for the negro, he said: "This demon¬
strates, I think, that the negro has everywhere the same
right to vote as the white man. And I maintain still fur¬
ther that when you proceed one step from this line you ad¬
mit that your government is a failure. What is the essen¬
tial quality of monarchical and aristocratic governments?
Simply that by conventionalities, by arrangement of con¬
ventions, some people have been deprived of the right to
vote. We have attempted to set up and maintain a govern¬
ment upon the doctrine of-the equality of man and the uni¬
versal right of all men to participate in the government."
On Feb. 19, 1866, when the State of Tennessee was
knocking for admission at the door of Congress, he submit¬
ted: "That said State shall make no distinction of the exer¬
cise of franchise on account of race or color."
Mr. Boutwell's belief was diametrically opposed to the
doctrine of some negroes and certain white men, whose
belief is that the negro should give up all his rights under
the Constitution in order that there might be peace with
his Southern neighbors. Even men who have been in high
places uttered this pernicious doctrine, to give up voting,
saying: "I fancy it can be eliminated by, on the one hand,
the black man's waiting—for a generation and a half, if
nteed be." Another says: "Get a bank account! Get a
house! Get a mortgage on a white man's property, then
all will be well."
Let it be known here tonight that tyrants never give
liberty when once they have a man by the throat. Liberty
comes when tyrants are overthrown. Did King John give
liberty to the barons until they forced him? Did the South
voluntarily emancipate the slaves? No. They were wrung
from most unwilling hands at the cost of a billion of dol¬
lars and the loss of five hundred thousand precious lives,
the youth and flower of the country.
Let me say in this old renowned hall, we can do no
better than to emulate the virtues of George S. Boutwell,
his indomitable will, his love of liberty, his stand for the
Constitution, especially for the three amendments for which
he gave his best days; "that trinity of liberty." Let us
rededicate ourselves here to the unfinished work remaining
before us.
Mr. Boutwell voted for the 13th amendment, which was
to put in the organic law the proclamation of the immortal
20
Lincoln. The 14th amendment was made up of fragment¬
ary resolutions offered by members of both houses. It was
finally given to a sub-committee consisting of George
S. Boutwell, Roscoe Conkling and George H. Williams. Mr.
Boutwell did most of the work. The 14th amendment grew
out of the necessity of the times. The ex-rebel States
would have in Congress and the electoral college forty
members, thus if tlie copper-heads of the North could
carry^ a few Northern States and with Andrew Johnson as
President, they would be in full possession of the govern¬
ment, which had been just wrenched from enemies.
At this time there were few men who thought the
negro ought to have the right to vote as a white man.
Thus we have the punitive clause. If any State deny the
right to vote that State should be cut down in its repre¬
sentation as above stated. The friends of universal suf¬
frage and the statesmen of that period especially foresaw
the South would do what it has done to deprive the negro
of the right to vote and yet retain its representation in
Congress. The result of this is the 15th amendment. This
was referred to a sub-committee: George S. Boutwell, Mr.
Churchill and Mr. Eldridge. This amendment was the work
entirely of Mr. Boutwell.
Using his own words, "first of all he was devoted to lib¬
erty; not to English liberty, but to liberty." He accepted
it in the fullest meaning, in the words of Kossuth: "Lib¬
erty is Liberty as God. is God."
The name of the Hon. George S. Boutwell will ever be
remembered and venerated by the negroes of this country.
But, honored sir, Mr. Boutwell cannot be claimed by any one
race or country. Cavour was an Italian. Gambetta was a
Frenchman. Bismark was a German. Castelar was a Snan-
iard. O'Connell was an Irishman. Gladstone was an Eng¬
lishman. These men belong to mankind and as long as
man is struggling for man, liberty and better conditions,
these great statesmen will be regarded as belonging to' the
world at large. So, honored sir, does Mr. Boutwell. He
cannot be claimed by the Americans, but all men, all
creeds and all classes will claim him as a benefactor of
mankind.
That vdice is now hushed and by its silence is warning
us to defend the Constitution from violators at home and
enemies abroad, and representing ten millions of American
citizens, we are determined not to give'up one right under
the Constitution. We will struggle even unto death to de¬
fend and maintain it.
MR. MARTIN P. DE VEYRA, JR.
It is a great pleasure for me, a Filipino, to be here to¬
night to pay a tribute of gratitude and affection to a friend
of Filipinos. We indeed lose by his death a devoted friend
and able advocate. He was ever ready with his voice and
pen to help on what he considered to bp our best interests,
and I wish here publicly to make acknowledgment of the
debt my countrymen owe him; and I can assure you that as
a people we shall ever cherish the memory of the late Gov.
21
Boutwell and look upon him as a dear friend and a gen¬
erous benefactor. \
We are a people of 8,000,000 of souls. We are a Chris¬
tian people. For the inestimable benefit of the faith we
are indebted to Spain. For this we must be grateful. We
are far more thankful that by a turn of Providence the
stewardship has been taken from Spain and placed in the
care of the United States. Yet we still need patrons and
advocates though we have passed from a cruel, despotic
and paternal government into the hands of one that is free
and progressive.
Six score and nine years ago, when you were only three
millions of people, you threw off the yoke of England be¬
cause you would not tolerate "taxation without representa¬
tion"; you proclaimed it as a God-given heritage that you
were entitled to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,"
and thaf every man should serve God according to tne dic¬
tates of his conscience; now that you have grown to be
80,000,000 of people, it would seem that Providence consid¬
ers you fitted by the experience of these blessings and by
being true to your trust, to give freedom to another people
to whom you will secure "life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness," and as you "are, and of right ought to be, free
and independent," so I hope that one day we shall be al¬
lowed to realize that we as a people "are, and of right
ought to be, free and independent." This is our hope, this
our aspiration. This sentiment we had before America set
foot in the Philippines, and God willing and fostering, this
sentiment will last till America shall set us free!
Whfen we fought against you Americans, we did not
dream of being victorious and some day holding possession
of the United States; for 8,000,000 of unarmed people are too
weak to win against 80,000,000 of men armed with the latest
improved weapons. We fought against you because we do
not want foreign rule.
I have unlimited confidence in the goodwill and the
ability of the United States toi give us liberty and to lead
us up to good government, but we are looking forward to
the happy day—and the sooner the better—when your gov¬
ernment will leave us to ourselves to work out our destiny
to suit ourselves.
There are many at home and even in this country who
think that the United States intends to hold the Philippines
for ever. This is the real cause of the discontent and disorder
that exist now in my native land. Now it seems to me
that it is unworthy of a free country like the United States
to hold in subjection any country whatever; for I believe
with Lincoln that no country is good enough or great
enough to rule another. What we want is freedom and in¬
dependence. If your country with one-third the population
of the Philippines was able to work out your destiny to such
noble heights, what, in the name of liberty, is to prevent us
who have no mean Christian civilization from working out
our destiny as befits freemen, in a manner to suit ourselves?
One word more and I have done. Besides our undying
gratitude, we shall make whatever return the United States
shall reasonably desire, if only she will make us free and
22
independent, so that in some way she may be recompensed
for the sacrifices she has made in bringing to us such un¬
told blessings.
Before concluding, I wish to offer the tribute of a grate¬
ful heart to Massachusetts and her sons for fostering more
than any other State the spirit of liberty and independence
for the Filipinos, and to say that in the deaths of the late
Senator Hoar and Gov. Boutwell we have lost two of our
most devoted friends. Peace to their ashes! May eternal
happiness be theirs! May it soon be their delight to look
down from the realms of bliss on the consummation of the
desire which they had upon earth—that of seeing the Fili¬
pinos free!
MR. DAVID GREENE HASKINS, JR.
' Of all the friends and admirers of our departed states¬
man, none will miss him so much, or mourn him so deeply
as the members of the Anti-Imperialist League. They have
been associated with him in the last years and in the last
public endeavor of his life; they have served under him in
a great cause; they have lost in him a counsellor, a leader,
and a friend who but yesterday was at their side guiding
and assisting in the work; they know that to them his
place can never be filled. The history of these past six
years forms the last, and, I believe, the noblest chapter in
the story of a great life. I know well that many of Gov.
Boutwell's friends—some even who are here this evening—
did not sympathize with his Anti-Imperialist views. This
is certainly not a time for controversial speech; and I
would not say one word which could justly offend any of
those who, at this moment, are mourning with us in a com¬
mon grief over the grave of the noble dead. But we axe all
patriotic Americans, however diverse our opinions—an
seeking the highest good of our own people and of the dis¬
tant Filipinos. We must all respect and appreciate patient,
strong, unselfish devotion to the common weal and to- the
highest ideals, even in our opponents—and so I appeal to
you all, whatever your political views, to join with me—
an earnest Anti-Imperialist—in paying homage to these his
last years, as the grandest and noblest portion of Gov.
Boutwell's long and honored life.
In the fall of 1898 his career seemed at an end. Nearly
eighty-one years of age, full of honors and achievement, he
had long withdrawn from public life, though always keenly
interested in public affairs; and, in well-earned retirement,
was quietly practicing his profession, when a startling
change in American policy—the demand for the cession of
the Philippine Islands—brought into being the great Anti-
Imperialist movement. The League was organized in No¬
vember, 1898, and Gov. Boutwell was immediately chosen
its president, a position which he held till his death. Re¬
gardless of his age—an age at which most men are content
to watch the course of events from the calm seclusion of
retirement—he threw himself into the contest with the
ardor of youth, and with the mature wisdom and serene
philosophy of age. He carried on the work untiringly with
tongue and pen, making many speeches, presiding at many
23
meetings, writing letters, attending conferences in New
York, presiding over the Liberty Congress at Indianapolis
in 1900. And the last act of his life was the preparation
and revision—for the League—of an address to the United
States Senate, which, on the evening when the fatal pneu¬
monia attacked him, his fingers were too weak to sign.
An intense and devoted Republican, repeatedly honored
by the organization with high office, he did not hesitate, in
his old age, to break the political affiliations and friend¬
ships of nearly half a century, when, as he believed, the
party, fascinated by the glamour of colonialism, had proved
recreant to its earlier ideals; just as, in his young man¬
hood, he had abandoned the Democratic party when he
deemed it false to the cause of human liberty.
He was lured by no hope of public office. It was too
late for any such ambition or possibility. He sought no
personal gain. He did not shrink from unpopularity nor
falter in his course, when the cause, which to him was
sacred, was mistakenly denounced as unpatriotic. And the
motive which prompted him was a pure love of liberty, a
patriotic devotion to democratic principles, as he under¬
stood them; a supreme desire for the maintenance of Amer¬
ican ideals, as embodied in the Declaration of Independence.
The same passion for human freedom which made him in
youth the bitter foe of the slave power, in age compelled
him to defend the rights of the struggling Filipinos. But
it was not primarily the rights of those remote people that
moved him; it was his profound conviction that the colonial
policy was a deadly menace to democratic institutions and
principles here at home.
You may not all agree with his views, but I am sure
you must all admire his unselfish patriotism, his singleness
of purpose, and his old-fashioned American love of liberty.
It has been my great privilege to be a member of the ex¬
ecutive committee of the League from its formation, and
the intimate association with Gov. Boutwell will always be
one of the cherished memories of my life.
1 For more than' three years we have held our fortnight¬
ly meetings at his office in the Exchange building. In this
familiar intercourse we have learned not merely to respect
and admire, but to love him. We have learned to recog¬
nize the perfect sincerity of his character; the absence of
any attempt at rhetorical display, the extraordinary demo¬
cratic simplicity of the man who had filled almost every .
high office in the country but that of President, and yet
was as unpretending in manner as any young country law¬
yer; the calm judgment undisturbed by emotton or excite¬
ment, the serene confidence in the final triumph of our
cause, the thorough devotion to the best interests—as he
conceived them—of the Republic.
A true American has passed from this earthly scene;
one who recalled the virtues, the strength, the simplicity of
the Puritan and the Revolutionary patriot. He has left us,
full of years and honors, respected by all, untouched by the
bitter hostility encountered by some other workers in the
cause. He has left us a Splendid example of unselfish
patriotism. His memory is an inspiration.
24
Another link with the historic past 'is broken. Another
great figure of the "brave days of old" has gone. But it is
not so much that fact that has brought this audience here
tonight. The memory of the public is short. The great
events and actors of forty years ago seem vague and indis¬
tinct today. We are here, I think, the most of us, to honor
and to mourn the great champion of freedom, whose voice
still sounds in our ears, whose pen is but just laid aside.
My own humble tribute, which I proffer with heartfelt
appreciation, I would lay tonight on the grave—not of the
young coalition governor, not of the member of Congress,
the senator or the secretary of the treasury-i-but on that
of George Sewall Boutwell, the lifelong lover of liberty,
the honored president of the Anti-Imperialist League.
MR. JULIUS ROTTENBERG.
« It is with a feeling of deep and reverent admiration
that I rise to add the richly deserved meed of praise to the
memory of that great departed leader George Sewall Bout-
well, late Governor of this Commonwealth, whose name is
irrevocably linked with that other great leader and his
personal friend, Kossuth Lajos, the mention of whose
names evoke the most beautiful memories, and conjure up
thoughts so sacred that words are inadequate to do it jus¬
tice.
It seems most natural to join these heroic names, for
both stand for universal freedom. Till the day of his la¬
mented death, the voice of the distinguished governor was
ever heard in defence of the rights, privileges and preroga¬
tives of the people. His great and potential personality
was ever exerted for the upbuilding and uplifting of hu¬
manity.
At an age which should bring the repose and serenity
of life's eventide, Governor Boutwell, with his character¬
istic energy and enthusiasm, born of the highest ideals of
Justice, Truth and Right, was a most conspicuous figure at
all important public meetings, where questions affecting
the liberties and rights of the citizen were under discussion,
and his voice was ever raised, here and elsewhere, to throt¬
tle slavery and serfdom and to set his seal of condemnation
on any act which made for bondmen.
Our historic Faneuil Hall, the Cooper Institute in our
sister city of New Yprk, often resounded with the sledge¬
hammer blows struck by him upon the anvil of Liberty, and
the applause of multitudes of an approving people encour¬
aged him to champion their cause and to protect their
rights.
George Sewall Boutwell was a great man. Great in the
sense that Abraham Lincoln was great. He, like Lincoln,
loved the common people, listened to the common people,
sympathized with the common people.
The high oflices he held never lessened his love for his
downtrodden brother. The secret of his popularity was his
broadness of view, social, political, religious.
He was tolerant, he was not looking about to discover
the mote in his brother's eye, he believed in the brother¬
hood of man and the fatherhood of God. I therefore justly
25
accord to Mm a niche in the halls of the great. As time
goes on, he will become greater and greater.
Never in vain did that venerable figure arise to de¬
nounce a wrong, particularly when it was in the line of hu¬
man oppression. We are the better, the freer and the
stronger because of his having been with us, and we must
be grateful to the Allwise and All Merciful Father who per¬
mitted this great and useful character to have abided' with
us the time allotted.
Always ready to sacrifice any and everything save
honor on the altar of liberty, his name will live not only
in the annals of our glorious Commonwealth and upon the
Mstoric and never dying tablets of our Republic, but also
throughout foreign lands where people dwell who are now
giving up life and fortunes in their struggle for freedom
and independence.
The name of George Sewall Boutwell will never die, but
live throughout all posterity as a shining example of fine
citizenship in a great republic, and as a brilliant example
of the rise of a man on his merits amid the approval and
appreciation of the people to a character devoted to Truth,
Liberty and the Right, and be forever entwined with the
name of that great leader and his friend, Kossuth Lajos.
These men will never die, their names will be enshrined on
the memory of man until time shall be no more.
THE REV. PEMBERTON H. CRESSEY.
My tribute to the memory of Governor Boutwell is the
tribute of a fellow-townsman. Mr. Boutwell came to Gro-
ton in 1835 as a clerk in a store, and from that time until
Ms death he was a resident of the town. Throughout that
long period of 70 years his interest in local matters never
flagged,, and at one time or another he held every office
of importance connected with town affairs. The result is
that all our institutions, political, agricultural, educational,
religious, are permanently indebted to his services.
But he was interested not only in organizing; he was
interested also in people. He knew his neighbors and knew
them well. Their personal history, their traits of charac¬
ter, their possibilities of usefulness, were all subjects of
concern to him, while his keen and friendly scrutiny made
many a modest discovery in human nature which escaped
the notice of ordinary men.
Honors greater than we could give awaited him beyond
the limits of our town. People more distinguished than
ourselves were glad to admit him to their friendship. Yet
no honors were given him more freely than were ours, no
friendships were bestowed upon him more heartily. And
high as he might climb in affairs of distinction, he was not
one to despise the steps of Ms ascent. New honors could
not elate him, new friends could not usurp his affection.
So with all his customary plainness of manner he still
walked among his fellow-townsmen, devoid both of the
ostentation which arouses envy and of the heedlessness
which cools regard.
There are many who are able to engage in extensive
•enterprises, and to find for themselves a place in matters
26
of large dimensions. And doubtless a man whose activities
can be bounded only by a wide circle which touches a vast
number of important affairs may gain some measure of
fame; but true greatness is reserved for him whose career
is best illustrated by a series of concentric circles in which
those of shorter radius retain their clearness while the
larger curves are being described. It is Something to en¬
gage in great affairs, but every such accomplishment is en¬
hanced by the power still to keep in touch with the humbler
concerns of life. It is no slight achievement to retain the
warm regard of one's neighbors while gaining the attention
of a nation. Yet this achievement was Governor Bout-
well's. His high qualities began at home, and though they
spread their influence far abroad they never deserted the
quiet scenes of their beginning. Thus, when we attempt to
estimate the reality and the permanence of his work in
larger spheres, we can do so with entire confidence that his
life will bear the rigid tests of personal and neighborhood
relationships.
As time goes on and our nation outgrows its boast of
youthful power, the demand for the brilliant qualities which
dazzle wide areas will be supplanted by a demand for the
thoroughgoing qualities which compel the respect of near
associates. The latter qualities Governor Boutwell pos¬
sessed to an extraordinary degree. And when we strive to
emulate his example we shall do well to begin, as he began,
by winning the regard of those who are nearest us; then,
although our accomplishment may not be as large as his,
it cannot fail to be as genuine.
DR. P. J. TIMMINS.
All native Americans do not appreciate the galling
weight of the exile's chain. Born citizens of this republic,
lately well styled "The capital fruit of Christian civiliza¬
tion," they may reasonably think the immigrant to these
shores is more to be envied than pitied. But it is a part of
human nature the world over to be affected by that mys¬
terious charm which hallows the place called home, ahd it
is natural for the Irish heart to cling with fondness to its
parent isle of green, all the dearer for its sufferings, and to
be drawn in a special manner to those native Americans
who are great enough to recognize the justice of this feel¬
ing and to give it the approval of their enlightened sym¬
pathy. It is for this reason that the name of Governor
Boutwell will stir the love of Irish hearts for generations,
hardly less than the name of "Wendell Phillips.
When the convention which met in this hall two years
ago last October brought together the best of our race in
eloquence and patriotism, what feature of it most deeply
moved the assembled delegates? It was not the magnifi¬
cent oratory of Bourke Cockran, nor the graceful eloquence
of John Redmond, the able leader of the Irish nation.
Neither was it the attendance of the self-sacrificing patriot
John Dillon, nor of the one-armed champion of universal
freedom, Michael Davitt. It was not the sight of the great
Canadian, Edward Blake, who* denied himself the enjoy¬
ment of the ripe fruit of political preferment at home that
27
he might give the help of his mature statesmanship to the
cause of the home of his fathers. None of those honorable
gentlemen, who have done so much for their race, made as
great an impression on the convention of the United Irish
League as did Mr: Boutwell, when he stood on this platform
and modestly claimed, not that he was a greater, hut an
older Home ftuler than any of those assembled within these
walls; because fifty-one years befpre, as Governor of Massa¬
chusetts, he had presided at a similar demonstration in
Faneuil Hall.
And how pleased were the gentlemen whom I have
named when'they were told that we called Mr. Boutwell our
"Grand Old Man." For truly grand was he whose "splen¬
did humanity" was as "large as mankind." He is but a
poor specimen of manhood whose human sympathy extends
not beyond the boundary of his own race or creed. He
alone is worthy of honor and imitation who, like your
Garrisons, Phillipses and Capens, is a practiced believer in
the brotherhood of man and fatherhood of God. Governor
Boutwell was such a man, and we are assembled, the repre¬
sentatives of different races and associations,' to show our
respect for his memory.
Because he believed in the justice of Home Rule for the
Irish, he believed in Home Rule for the Filipinos. He felt
keenly the truth so well expressed by Abraham Lincoln,
that no man is good enough to own his fellow man, and he
knew and preached it to the discomfiture of robbers and
hypocrites, that no nation is magnanimous enough to gov¬
ern another nation without robbing it.
It is proper, therefore, that we of the Irish race join
with you in exalting the name of this noble son of Massa¬
chusetts, our brother by the bond of gratitude, no less dear
than yours by the ties of birth and blood. Men of his lofty
character have a powerful influence in making loyal and
devoted citizens of the strangers who flock to these shores;
for who that is touched by the magnetic kindliness of such
a man ean fail to love the motherland that bore him?
Governor Boutwell's belief in human right and liberty
was not theoretical. He spoke, wrote and worked for these
with a marvellous industry for one of his years. In the
honest "strength of youth" some men worship ideals which
they repudiate in after years. Herbert Spencer wrote in¬
vincible logic to prove that all men are, born with equal
claims to the use of the earth. He was weak enough to
suppress this teaching in a subsequent edition of "Social
Statics." Tennyson beautifully expressed some thoughts in
"Locksley Hall" which he tried to nullify sixty years later.
George S. Boutwell feared not the frown of the selfish
potentates of earth, his motto to the end of his honorable
life being "Let justice be done though the heavens fall."
This is why we honor his memory, and I am grateful, on
behalf of the race I represent, for the privilege that is mine
tonight of laying by the side of your immortelles a wreath
of shamrocks on his grave, and of uttering the prayer of
the Irish hearts "Eternal rest and peace to his great Im¬
mortal soul."
28
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR CURTIS GUILD, JR., in
closing the meeting said:
It will be remembered that the gossiping chronicle of
the days of the Merry Monarch left us by Samuel Pepys
constantly ends the tale of a notable evening with the tag:
"And so to bed."
The time has come when this notable evening must
close, and we, too, must reluctantly disperse, after surely
as stirring an evening as any in the old diarist's records.
This hall has seen and heard many notable events, but
I doubt if ever before men have gathered as they have to¬
night, from Europe, Asia, Africa and America, literally
from the four quarters of the world, to testify to the value
of the services of one who loved his own country first, but
strove beyond that as few others have for the realization of
"The parliament of man, the federation of the world."
Town Offices in Groton.
Selectman: 1846-1850.
Town Clerk: 1846-1850.
School Committee: 1839, 1854, 1858-1863, 1868-1870.
Trustee of Public Library: 1855-1860, 1892-1905.
State Offices and Functions.
Member of Board of Education: 1851-1852 (ex-officio),
1853-1855, 1861-1863.
Secretary of Board of Education: October, 1855-Jan. 1,
1861.
Board of Overseers of Harvard College: 1851-1860.
Member of Legislature: 1841-3843, 1846-1849.
Governor: 1851, 1852.
Delegate to Constitutional Convention: 1853.
Commissioner of Savings Banks: 1849-1851.
Commissioner to determine an award in Back Bay
Lands matter between the Commonwealth and the
City of Boston: 1859.
Delegate to Peace Congress, Washington, D. C.: 1861.
Delegate to Republican Convention: 1860, 1880.
One of twenty-seven persons to organize Republican
Party in Massachusetts: 1855.
National Offices.
Postmaster at Groton, Mass.: Jan. 22, 1841-April 15,
1841.
Member of Military Commission under War Depart¬
ment: Appointed June, 1862, resigned July, 1862.
Commissioner of Internal Revenue: Appointed July
16, 1862, resigned March 4, 1863.
Member House of Representatives: 38th, 39th, 40th,
41st Congresses. Resigned March, 1873.
Secretary of Treasury: Appointed March 11, 1869, re¬
signed March 17, 1873.
U. S. Senator: March 17, 1873-March 4, 1877.
29
Law Practice.
Admitted to Suffolk Bar, Mass., Jan. 1862.
Admitted to Bar of U. S. Supreme Court, Dec. 9,1864.
Admitted to Bar of U. S. Court of Claims, November
24, 1884.
Appointed by President Hayes, March 15, 1877,
Commissioner to Revise the Statutes of the United
States, 1877-1878.
Appointed by President Hayes, Agent and Counsel
for the United States, before the Board of Inter¬
national Arbitrators for Settlement of Claims be¬
tween France and the United States, 1880-1883.
Counsel for Hayti, 1885.
Counsel for Hawaii, 1886.
Counsel for Chili, before International Arbitrators
for Settlement of Claims between Chili and the
United States, 1893-1894.
Academic Degrees and Honors.
LL. D. from Harvard College, 1851.
LL. D. from Tufts College, 1902.
Elected a Member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society,
July 18, 1861.
Elected a Member of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences, January 28, 1857.
President of the Anti-Imperialist League, November 19,
1898—February 27, 1905.
30