E 183.7 B88 GLUNGE P. MARSH A DISCOURSE BY RAMBEL GILMAN BROWN. A M mcm mana p MHIG ARTES LIBRARY byen 1837 VERITAS UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN T-PLURIBUS UNUM SCIENTIA OF THE " WI QUAERIS PENINSULAM AMOENAME CIRCUMSPICE PALPATANJAKINJAT ENGLORIAGA LUZADOROMOKONEEN PURBLIAI BERUTTURE. ¡ : A DISCOURSE COMMEMORATIVE OF THE HON. GEORGE PERKINS MARSH, LL.D. BY SAMUEL GILMAN BROWN, D. D., LL. D. + A DISCOURSE COMMEMORATIVE OF THE HON. GEORGE PERKINS MARSH, LL.D., Delivered Before the Faculty and Students of Dartmouth College, JUNE 5, 1883, And_Repeated Before the Trustees, Faculty and Students of the University of Vermont, JUNE 25, 1883, 2347 BY SAMUEL GILMAN BROWN, D. D., LL.D. PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. ( ball during page syk, m 111 ! π F 1887 388 BURLINGTON: FREE PRESS ASSOCIATION. 1883. PRELIMINARY NOTE. It has been thought proper to print the following discourse as it was originally prepared. In delivering it in Burlington, a few pages were omitted, as not being appropriate to the place. DISCOURSE. It is a grateful service for which we have met to-day, to pay our sincere tribute to the memory of a distinguished cit- izen, to gather up a few of the lessons of a noble life, to commemorate one eminent in the councils of the nation and still more eminent in letters, who left the halls of Dartmouth, a faithful and well-deserving son, sixty-three years ago, and who has given proof everywhere and always, how thoroughly he possessed the spirit of a scholar, how profoundly loyal he was to every claim of patriotism and truth, of honor and hu- manity. · To a community of scholars, the name of George Perkins Marsh needs no introduction. He was born in the beautiful village of Woodstock, Vt., on the 15th of March, 1801, of an honorable parentage, of a family distinguished for cultiva- tion, unswerving rectitude and eminent intellectual ability. His father, the Hon. Charles Marsh, a Puritan in morals and theology,―kindred in blood with that unsurpassed New Eng- land lawyer, Jeremiah Mason,-was among the earlier resi- dents of the town, and was eminently fitted by character and attainments to shape the early life of a community in the forms of intelligence and virtue, laying the foundations so broad and so deep, that the whole structure of social and civil life might evermore be built thereon without fear. Dur- ing a long career of eminent professional service, he proved himself one of the commanding minds of the State.* *See Appendix, Note I. C 6 The mother of George P. Marsh was a lady of unusual refinement and inbred courtesy, who threw the grace of a beautiful and affectionate spirit over the more rugged and unyielding strength of her husband, while both were the constant and firm supporters of those domestic and social virtues, to which more than to any thing else, a young and growing community will ever owe its good repute and its abiding prosperity. It is easy, then, to conjecture some of the general influ- ences, moral and intellectual, by which that young life was surrounded. The boy must have been constantly subject- ed to the unconscious discipline of severe and exact meth- ods, of sound thinking and sincere acting, of the approving word for everything good and beneficent, and the emphatic censure of the tortuous and crafty and wicked. There were many questions of public interest, political and moral, which must often have been discussed in his hearing. Nowhere in the State would he have been made to feel more habit- ually and constantly the value of accurate thinking and thor- ough knowledge, of the wisdom of strict integrity, of the in- flexible demands of righteousness. Nowhere would he more often have felt the power of the English language to express without circumlocution the thorough convictions of honest minds; and nowhere could he have seen more constantly the power of an affectionate and gentle nature to refine and ele- vate, to dignify and bless a Christian household. Breathing this atmosphere of truth and honor, of a somewhat rigid regard for the ancient principles of New England life, of self- respect and personal dignity, of refinement and generous culture, he grew to the independence of incipient manhood. There were other potent influences, too, of which we might speak, which could not exist without a modifying effect upon his tastes and habits. It is impossible to say how much may be ascribed to the powers of physical nature steadily working upon a sensitive mind; but certain it is that the mind. uses the materials of the outer world for its P g T 7 own comfort and delight. The bold mountain, the winding road through the forest, the river, tumultuous or placid, the distant slopes, the picturesque outline of the horizon, become, as it were, actual possessions of the soul, are mater- ials of its thought over which it broods till there come forth new creations of utility and beauty. And I have asked my- self, how much that spot of exquisite loveliness where his eyes first saw the light-as charming almost as the famed Vallombrosa where for the last time he looked upon the sun ---how much the varied and transcendent beauty of his birth- place, had to do with that quick and intelligent observation of physical phenomena, that inward and powerful sympathy with nature in all her moods, which afterward bore fruit so rich for our advantage. After a thorough preparation according to the methods of those days, the latter part of it in Phillips Academy at Andover, Mr. Marsh entered the college of which his father was an honored Trustee, in the summer of 1816. -X From the first he threw himself with eagerness into the new studies which both stimulated and gratified his love of knowledge. He was in full health, though slender in person, and was noted, even then, for remarkable quickness of per- ception, strength of memory, and a sound and discriminating judgment. At the same time, by kind and endearing qual- ities of heart, by inherent modesty and ingenuousness, he drew to himself the regard and affection of all who knew him. "As a writer," says his eminent classmate, Mr. Justice Nesmith, "he expressed his thoughts in a plain, direct, per- spicuous and forcible style, without much ornament. As a student he was laborious, extending his investigations far beyond the common and daily routine assigned in the col- lege curriculum. He not only faithfully read the Greek and Latin authors of the course, but gained a substantial knowl- edge of the French, German, Spanish and Italian." These he S *Appendix, Note II. Tele Co 8 со C must have learned without help, for at that time no instruc- tor of either of the modern languages was to be found in the college. His natural aptitude for linguistic pursuits was al- ready showing itself. Since that day the methods and facil- ities for the critical study of language have been so greatly enlarged as almost to constitute a new science, but I am not quite sure that we have in proportion a higher appreciation of the beauty of ancient literature, or leave our studies with a more sincere reverence and love for the intellectual mas- ters of a former agc. God I need hardly remind you that during nearly the whole of Mr. Marsh's residence at Dartmouth, the college was passing through the most critical period of its history, was struggling, against great odds, to maintain that principle of the law which, affirmed, would ensure to every similar insti- tution in the land an independent position. Of the counsel- lors of the college, his own father was one of the ablest, most trusted and most honored. To whatever we may ascribe it, whether to the unusual stimulus drawn from the living questions of the day, which, like a subtle, electric atmosphere, seemed to pervade every mind,—whether to some happy combination of conditions which brought together here in sympathy many minds of finer mould, certain it is that the college has seldom seen. gathered within its walls a body of enthusiastic scholars of more earnest purpose, of higher aims, or of more admirable achievement, than during the years that marked the open- ing and progress of that struggle. I shall be pardoned, I am sure, if I recall a few of the names on that honored roll. There comes first to my mind that of Charles B. Haddock, regarded by his immediate contemporaries as almost without fault, of rare grace of person and symmetry of mind, and of the same class, Joseph Torrey, the accomplished scholar in languages, letters and arts, and John Wheeler, the elo- quent preacher and President. Following by a twelvemonth, I find the names of Carlton Chase, for twenty-six years a re- C 9 vered Bishop of the Episcopal Church; and Jonathan P. Cushing, tutor, Professor and President of Hampden Sydney College in Virginia; and Nathan W. Fiske, who filled so hon- orably the chairs of the ancient languages and of philosophy at Amherst; and William Goodell, none the less a scholar because he devoted his life to the missionary service, who gave to the Turkish nation, almost with his dying hand, the entire Bible translated into the Armeno-Turkish tongue; and James Marsh, illustrious as a scholar, philosopher, and instructor of extraordinary influence, who, as President of the University of Vermont, with the sympathy and help of his able coadjutors, stamped ineffaceably the clear impress of his pure, thoughtful, philosophic spirit upon the institution,- who first adequately introduced to his countrymen the writ- ings of Coleridge, and who, had he lived to complete his plans, would have taken high rank with the philosophers of the age. Passing onward but a single year, I find the name of George Bush, the accomplished Orientalist; and Prof. Wil- liam Chamberlain, who, beloved by all and respected every- where, infused the full spirit of the ancients into his instruc- tions. In close fellowship with these and others like them, but a year later, was John Aiken, a thorough lover of good learning, and Rufus Choate, who, marching with easy and graceful step along the difficult paths of college studies, was already giving promise of his brilliant career; and a little later Chief Justice Perley, who, had he not turned to the law, would have been perhaps even more distinguished as a man of vast and various learning. - G The names of these men and of others kindred with them, handed down from class to class in the generous tra- ditions of college life, kindled the flame of noble aspiration in many a soul, and did, you can never tell how much, to make our beloved Alma Mater what she should always be, the fostering mother of modest but profound scholars, of orators, of jurists, of statesmen, of lovers of their country, of ministers of righteousness and of truth. 10 } After receiving his degree with the highest honors at the college in 1820, Mr. Marsh was for a time employed as an instructor in the military school at Norwich, then in the high tide of success. The reason which he gave for enter- ing upon an occupation which was not particularly conge- nial, was characteristic, viz., that he might be near the libra- ries of the college, so as the better to pursue his favorite studies. Even then he had entered with enthusiasm upon the investigation of the Northern European languages, which he ever after pursued not from any vanity of acquisition, nor yet simply as a study in philology, but that he might the more thoroughly know the races which spoke them, and be better able to trace the currents of civilization and discovery both in the old world and the new. Having completed his engagement at Norwich, he began the study of the law in the office of his father, and continued it with few interruptions till he was admitted to the bar, in 1825.* Soon after this, led I know not by what special in- fluences, he removed to the beautiful city of Burlington, the chief town of his native state, and commenced the practice of his profession. Here he found an intelligent and highly cultivated society. Here were books and scholars, and the mutual stimulus of active and eager minds. Here he began to gather a library and to make a collection of engravings, which finally became one of the most in- teresting and valuable in the country. Here, surrounded with friends, he found a home, the only one which he claimed so long as he remained in the country. Here he formed those connections which gave joy to his whole life, and here, too, he endured those sorrows which chasten ambition and show the vanity of earthly hopes. Here he won an honorable name in the exacting profession which he had chosen, and here he pursued his cherished studies, enriching his mind continually with broader acqui- sitions, and accumulating by much reading and remarkable *Appendix, Note III. kam 11 observation, those stores of knowledge which he afterwards employed for ends so useful and noble. I cannot, perhaps, more fitly portray the life of Mr. Marsh than by referring, as rapidly as any degree of justice and fairness will allow, to some of his principal works in letters, in legislation, and diplomacy. One of the first re- sults of his studies was the printing, in 1838, of an Icelandic grammar, based on that of Prof. Rask. I have understood, however, that he became so dissatisfied with this work that he endeavored, not long afterwards, to suppress it, and it now can rarely be found. A more vigorous and popular indication of the drift of his thought appears in an oration delivered in August, 1843, before the Philomathesian Society of Middlebury College. It bore the somewhat singular and striking title of "The Goths in New England." Its object was to demonstrate and defend the influence of what he calls the Gothic element,- akin to if not the same as what we commonly call the Anglo- Saxon,-upon the mind and character of our English and Puritan forefathers. It is written with epigrammatic vigor, and smites what seems to him untrue and evil as with the hammer of Thor. "The intellectual character of our Puritan forefathers," he said, "is that derived by inheritance from our remote Gothic ancestry, restored by its own inherent elasticity to its primitive proportions, upon the removal of the shackles and burdens which the spiritual and intellectual tyranny of Rome had for centuries imposed upon it; but its moral traits are a superinduction of the temper and spirituality of Christianity upon the soul of the Goth, under conditions best suited to purify the heart, and steel to the utmost the energies of the spirit." Let me ask you also to notice his conception of the Gothic character. "The mind of England," he goes on to say, “is, like her language, composed of two hostile elements, 1 12 the Gothic and the Roman; the former predominating in the foundation, the latter in the superstructure. I shall do my audience the justice to suppose that they are too well in- structed to be the slaves of that antiquated and vulgar pre- judice which makes Gothicism and barbarism synonymous. The Goths, the common ancestors of the inhabitants of Northwestern Europe, are the noblest branch of the Cau- casian race. We are their children. It was the spirit of the Goth that guided the Mayflower across the trackless ocean; the blood of the Goth that flowed at Bunker's Hill." "Nor were the Goths the savage and destructive devastators that popular error has made them. They indeed overthrew the dominion of Rome, but they renovated her people; they prostrated her corrupt government, but they respected her monuments; and Theodoric the Goth not only spared but protected many a precious memorial, which Italian rapacity and monkish superstition have since annihilated. The old lamentation, Quod non fecerunt Barbari, fecere Barberini, contains a world of truth, and had not Rome's own sons been her spoilers she might have shone at this day in all the splendor of her Augustan age." "The Goth is characterized by the reason, the Roman by the understanding; the one by imagination, the other by fancy; the former aspires to the spiritual, the latter is prone to the sensuous. The Gothic spirit produced a Bacon, a Shakspeare, a Milton; the Ro- man, an Arkwright, a Brindley, and a Locke. It was a Ro- man that gathered up the coals on which St. Lawrence had been broiled; a Goth who, when a fellow disciple of the great Swiss reformer had rescued his master's heart from the enemy, on the field where the martyr fell, snatched that heart from its preserver and hurled it, yet almost palpitating with life, into the waters of a torrent, lest some new super- stition should spring from the relics of Zwingli." These eloquent words of vivid characterization suf- ficiently indicate the spirit and foreshadow the purpose of an address now rarely to be found. Whether, after a larger 13 study of national character, he retained without modification his earlier opinions, or whether he would have always ex- pressed them with the same unmitigated force of the vernac- ular, I am not sure, though I suppose that in his fundamental judgment there was no radical change. Yet it is interesting to remember that the larger part of his public life was after- wards passed among those races to whose influence he here ascribes the less pure, the less exalted and spiritual elements of our varied and complex civilization; races, however, which in these later days have manifested an energy and perseverance, lofty aspirations and wise action, of which our fathers could hardly believe them capable, and which have drawn to the Italians the respect and sympathy of the world. In 1842, Mr. Marsh was chosen to represent his District in the Congress of the United States. Few States have ex- erted a more weighty or a more beneficial influence in the national councils than Vermont. This somewhat extraor- dinary influence, far beyond what her size, or natural posi- tion, or commercial importance would suggest, she owes largely to the fact that she has aimed to place in those coun- cils her best citizens,-men of learning, integrity and emi- nent ability, and having learned their worth has been wise enough not to throw away their dearly bought experience, but has held them to a long term of ser- vice, while the weight of their authority, the authority of character, and knowledge, and political wisdom, has grown with every year. Of all those who have so well represented her in the House or in the Senate, she has had none more learned, and few more able in any respect, than Mr. Marsh. The seven years that he spent in Washington, from 1842 to 1849, were full of political excitements. They were marked by the admission of Texas to the Union, the Mexican war, fierce and acrimonious discussions of slavery, and changes of administrations. In his general convictions as to measures and policy, Mr. Marsh was clear and firm, but he was no Ad 14 partisan. To all matters of interest to his State and to the nation he devoted himself with characteristic fidelity, and to some with a deep personal interest. In becoming a statesman he did not forget to be a scholar, and one of the measures to which he gave unusual attention was that for establishing the Smithsonian Institu- tion. It was his carnest desire, as it had been that of Mr. Choate before him, that a portion of the annual income of the generous bequest of Smithson should be devoted to the gradual formation of a public library, "composed of valuable works pertaining to all departments of human knowledge." His speech on the bill which provided for this was a strong argument in favor of such an appropriation, as conducing more surely than any thing else to that intellectual indepen- dence, that "freedom from slavish deference to foreign prece- dents and authorities in all matters of opinion," without which our liberty is but half achieved. We can best gain a knowledge of fundamental principles, he thought, through the study of philosophy and history, in the recorded wisdom of "successive generations of philosophers and statesmen." To such men, made wise by study, every nation is greatly indebt- ed. This he endeavored to show by reference to our own his- tory. Our Constitution itself was chiefly framed by men of high education and elegant attainments. "Jefferson," he said, "had the best private library in America, and was a man of multifarious if not of profound learning. The state papers of that remarkable era are, with few exceptions, obviously productions of men not merely of inspired genius or of pa- tient thought, but of laborious acquisition; and they are full, not of that cheap learning which is proved by pedantic quotation, but of that sound discipline which is the unequi- vocal result of extensive reading and diligent research." -X- X "All men, in fact, who have acted upon opinion, who have contributed to establish principles that have left their impress for ages, have spent some part of their lives in scho- lastic retirement. It is this very point-the maintenance of C 15 principles discovered and defended by men prepared for that service by severe discipline and laborious study-that so strikingly distinguishes the English rebellion of 1649 and our own Revolution, from most other insurrectionary move- ments, and particularly from the French Revolution. The English and American statesmen of those two periods were contending for truths, the French atheists and philosophers for interests; the former sought to learn their duties, the lat- ter concerned themselves about their rights; the Anglo- Saxon was inspired by principle, the Gaul was instigated by passion." This admirable speech, so earnest for its immedi- ate end, was really a noble plea for high statesmanship, an argument for generous culture, for a thorough knowledge of history and political philosophy, in those who would guide the nation along the broad highway of advancing civilization. Let those who have blamed our nation for its backward- ness in letters remember that we have had no British Mu- seum, with its vast resources in literature and art; no Biblio- thèque-du-roi, with its million of volumes; no Bodleian, with its accumulation of generations; no University libra- ries like those of Göttingen, or Leipsic, or Berlin. At that time there was not in the whole country a library which was not miserably deficient in every branch of liberal study, even of those of greatest interest to ourselves. The Congressional Library of about forty thousand volumes,-on the whole well chosen,-did not then have more than a hundred, per- haps not more than fifty, out of the million printed volumes of German research. In all our domain we had not the ma- terial for the history of our own country, or for verifying the references or correcting the mistakes of foreign writers. "Histories indeed we have," said Mr. Marsh, "but little history. True, we have Robertson, and Hume, and Voltaire, and Gibbon, and above all Alison, a popular writer in these days, and Ľ 'Like Sir Agrippa, for profound And solid lying much renowned,' w 16 but of those materials from which true history is to be drawn, we have little, very little." Bancroft could not have written the story of the struggling colonies, nor Ticknor his admirable portrayal of Spanish literature, nor Prescott the splendid and cruel adventures of Spanish arms, nor Motley the fortunes of liberty and religion in the Nether- lands, but from sources obtained by their individual en- terprise and at their personal cost. These efforts of Mr. Choate and Mr. Marsh, and of others like them, to secure at least one library in the country adequate to the needs of scholars, were not immediately suc- cessful; but they stimulated other minds, they directed the thoughts of legislators, and guided the beneficence of the rich, and now, thanks to the wisdom of the national gov- ernment, thanks to the liberality of our Astors and Bateses and Peabodys, this necessary aid to independent investi- gation is, at least in part, supplied. In 1848, Mr. Marsh made an able speech with reference to slavery in the remote territories of New Mexico, Califor- nia and Oregon. I have not time, nor is there special need, to refer to the general scope of his lucid argument; but it is an interesting illustration of the views taken of two of those territories to hear so wise a statesman and so ardent an American declare that they were so far off, with natural af- finities for other social and political relations, that it would be better if they were set off into an independent republic, as, geographically, they were separated from us by the im- passable barrier of stupendous mountains. "What common interests," he said, "has Boston with the Bay of San Fran- cisco, or New York with Monterey, or Charleston and Sa- vannah and New Orleans with Puget's Sound and the mouth of the Columbia? True, their people have the same sun and light and air and common humanity and religion and God, but their social and pecuniary relations are as diverse from each other as are the interests of the camel drivers of the desert from those of the ermine hunters of Siberia. Ga Salg 17 Oregon and California lie so far toward the setting sun that they lose themselves in the East." And these words were uttered in sober earnestness less than thirty-five years ago. Not then had any statesman, with wise forecast, or any adven- turous schemer, so much as dreamed of the practicability of binding to us, in chains of steel, those distant domains ; far less that our paternal government would be tempted, by any possible combination of circumstances, to provide for its children of a future generation by the purchase with millions of gold, of a territory of which we even now know but little, beyond the fact that, in area, it is more than twice as large as California and Oregon together, and is lying as far beyond them as they are beyond the Mississippi. Among the literary productions of this period, I should not forget to mention an instructive address-crowded with information-before the Burlington Mechanics Institute, in 1843; an oration before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Dartmouth College, in 1844; an admirable discourse on "Human Knowledge," delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge, in 1847; and another, in the same year, before the literary societies of Union College on "The American Historical School." Like all his addresses, these were the overflowings of a full mind, and will well repay a careful study. - Mr. Marsh's useful services in Congress were ended in 1849, when, to the honor of the government, he received the appointment of Minister Resident in Turkey. C The diplomacy of the United States has not always been entrusted to the most able or the most experienced. We have not a class of statesmen expressly trained for this deli- cate and sometimes very difficult kind of civil service. For- tunate in our entire separation from the complicated and in- tricate systems of the old world, we have not been called habitually to watch other nations with special jealousy, or to fear the violations of our rights. Owing, it may be, to this comparative isolation, we have, for the most part, been free 3 18 from those perplexing and difficult questions which European nations, the most enlightened and free, have not been able to avoid. We have endeavored to respect the rights of others, and have made our influence felt rather through the moral force of our example and of our remarkable pros- perity, than through any system of propagandism or entang- ling alliances. For this voluntary reserve we have some- times received censure; but the advice of Washington and the fathers of the republic has been generally felt to be sound, and while we have scrupulously avoided interference with the internal affairs of other nations, we have been none the less jealous of any interference with our own. Nor can it be said that our foreign relations, sometimes. very critical, and sometimes difficult of adjustment, have not,. on the whole, been ordered with prudence and wisdom, with skill and energy. The emergency has generally found the man equal to it, whether in the important position of Secre- tary of State at home, or of minister abroad. A minister to a foreign government is charged with various delicate and re- sponsible duties. He is commonly the organ of communica- tion between his own and the foreign state; he speaks the sentiments of the government, not his own ideas merely; he is in some sense the guardian of his countrymen abroad; in times of war or civil commotion his duties may be as difficult as they are important; his eye must be sleepless, his ear never dull, his hand ever ready, his whole intelligence watch- ful and alert. During our civil war the position of our rep- resentatives in London and Paris was perhaps second to none in actual difficulty and responsibility, except to those of the Secretary of State, the General of our armies, and the President of the still united republic. Besides these public duties there are others devolving upon our foreign ministers more indefinable in nature, but of hardly less importance. The wisdom and intelligence, the culture and civility of a country are judged abroad by its representatives. An exhibition of rudeness or ignorance, of frivolity or self- - 19 conceit, may be almost worse than a crime, and on the other hand sound learning, solid and unpretentious, an acquain- tance with affairs, a bearing simple, courteous and dignified, carry with them weight and honor, dispose favorably those who might be hostile, and among the intelligent and cul- tured, sensibly affect the reputation of the country itself. 66 Mr. Marsh was appointed resident minister of the United States in Turkey in 1849, by President Taylor. Hav- ing waited in Italy for the war steamer which was to take him to the Turkish capital, he reached Constantinople in February, 1850. A new life was here before him, new lan- guages to be acquired, a new civilization or semi-civilization to be studied. Here the East and the West met in collision. It was a Mohammedan world, modified by a corrupt Chris- tianity." Here in the wonderful capital, so fitted by position to stretch its imperial hand over both Asia and Europe, cov- eted by every conqueror, emperor, sultan or czar, from Con- stantine to Napoleon, from Napoleon to the latest Alexander, the tumultuous currents of ambition, of public and private method and aim, of knowledge and of faith, have dashed angrily against each other. It is impossible for a thought- ful student of history and civilization to stand at that cen- tral point, without a more vivid sense of the course of empire in the past, and many an anxious question about the future; nor can he fail to see the intricacy and difficulty as well as the gravity of the problems which the coming gen- eration, if not our own, will have to solve. Although the duties of his post were not at once very arduous, yet to one so conscientious, modest and pains- taking they involved a considerable amount of labor. His reputation as a scholar and an upright and honorable man had preceded him, and the American residents were glad to welcome one whom they would instinctively respect. They found a gentleman grave, dignified and thoughtful, of keen observation, somewhat reserved in manner, but of admirable conversational powers on every topic worthy of serious C gay Sa 20 consideration. He was sincere and cordial, and ready to investigate thoroughly every case in which his ad- vice or aid was involved.* As far as possible he en- deavored to form independent judgments, and to follow the opinions of others only when it was impossible to make investigations for himself. In pursuance of this design he began almost immediately on reaching his post the study of the Turkish language, difficult not only in its nature, but from the absence of many of those helps which are so abun- dantly provided for a knowledge of the richer languages of the West. This was followed almost at once by the study of the Arabic and the Persian; and although,—so high was his idea of what constitutes the knowledge of a language,—he would never allow these to be spoken of as among his acqui- sitions, it is yet certain that he gained knowledge enough to be of essential service to him in his public duties. His mas- tery of languages, indeed, gave him a marked preeminence among the foreign ministers at Constantinople. On his arri- val he was able to converse with the representatives of the French, German, Italian, Swedish, Danish and Spanish Courts in their own tongues. Nor was he there without friends. On the shore of the Bosphorus he found a colony, if I may so call it, of men and women speaking his own tongue, of simple and sincere lives, of rare learning, of schol- arly thought, of good judgment and uncommon practical talents, whose intercourse was always acceptable, never ob- trusive; and to whose excellence and valuable services to learning and religion he never failed to bear willing testimo- He had the best opportunities, from long-continued and familiar intercourse, for fairly estimating both the char- acter and the attainments of the resident American mission- aries, and he believed that the importance of their work could hardly be overestimated. Of the character of the Turkish race, too, in its fundamental qualities, I think he formed a ny. *See Appendix, No. IV. Qey 21 higher judgment than we have been accustomed in late years to hear commonly expressed. The great Eastern question was then as now, What shall be the fate of Constantinople? He watched with the greatest interest the policy of the so- called great powers of Europe, and I make no mistake in say- ing that it was at that time his firm conviction, based upon careful observation and anxious study, that the acquisition of Constantinople by Russia, which of course implied the pos- session of all Turkey in Europe, would immeasurably retard the progress of civilization in that region. He was not blind to the enormous evils and abuses of the Turkish rule, but under that rule, bad as it was, there were many elements of progress visibly and invisibly at work, which he thought would speedily become extinct should such a change of mas- ters take place. Early in the year 1851, with the permission of his own gov- ernment, Mr. Marsh made an extended tour of extreme interest to him, through Egypt, (where he had important interviews with the Pasha,) and thence by way of Mount Sinai and Petra through Palestine. Not even at this day a journey without peril, it was at that time much more difficult than at present. Throughout the whole of it he was accompanied by Mrs. Marsh, whose high spirit and unfailing resolution enabled her, for many years an invalid, to bear the fatigues and meet the annoyances of the route with more than cheerfulness, and to receive a full share of the gratifications and advan- tages of those weary and anxious but delightful months. At- tended as he was, their progress was of necessity deliberate,- fifty days after mounting their camels in Cairo before dismis- sing them at Hebron,-and they did not reach Palestine until nearly midsummer, when the sickly and dangerous season was rapidly approaching. It is not surprising that the party suffered from illness, and twice Mr. Marsh himself was brought very near to death. Here again he found himself greatly indebted to the devoted kindness of Christian mis- sionaries, both English and American, as well as to the C 22 3. medical skill and faithful care of a Spanish priest who ren- dered him much service. In the following year, 1852, he was directed by our gov- ernment to proceed to Athens as special minister to Greece, on a mission of great delicacy and importance. The Rev. Dr. King, an American missionary who had long resided in Athens, his wife being a native Greek,-a man of great learning and of pure and beneficent life, thoroughly in sym- pathy with the Greek people, to whom he had come twenty- three years before, entrusted by the liberality of his own countrymen with food for the famishing,-this man was brought to public trial on the trumped-up charge of reviling the Greek religion. The only ground for this accusation was the fact that he had preached in his own house to such as chose to hear him, the generally received truths of evange- lical Protestantism. To J In itself the question at issue was not, perhaps, of ex- treme consequence, yet it involved not only the rights of an American citizen, but the rights of property and freedom of worship, both included among the fundamental principles of the Greek constitution. The trial was urged on by the strong partisan animosities of a few zealots and by a Greek newspaper under Russian control. It was conducted without regard to justice and right. The conviction of Dr. King was foreordained, and the independent scholar, the just and fearless defender of liberty, the beneficent distributor of bounties, was con- demned to imprisonment for a time, and then to banishment. Against this unjust decision of the court a strong protest was drawn up by Mr. King himself, in his character of consular agent of the United States. The sober second thought of the Greeks themselves seemed also to indicate the conviction that neither law nor equity had been considered in the trial. There were other claims, also, of the missionary. He had early purchased land, which in the prosperous growth of the city had become of considerable value. A portion of this, the government had taken for a public square, but for which 23 it did not find it convenient to pay, and the unsatisfactory claim had run on for many years. It was to investigate this complete case that Mr. Marsh was sent to Athens by Mr. Webster. He entered upon the work with the thoroughness and independence which characterized all his studies. He had to examine with the greatest care an immense mass of manuscript in modern Greek, and very blindly written, and he was obliged to master every point of the Greek code bear- ing upon the question of religious toleration. He daily began his work at daybreak, and continued at the task, with little interruption, till evening. He often said afterward, that in no part of his life had the strain been so great upon body and mind as during the labor of these hot months. The re- sult seems to have been a complete vindication of our coun- tryman, Dr. King, and Mr. Marsh expressed his conclusion with an emphasis which reminds one of the stock from which he sprung. "The legal tribunals of Greece," he said, "had been guilty of an abuse of the principles of justice, and a perversion of the rules of law, as flagitious as any that ever disgraced the records of the Star Chamber." There was in this declaration the power of truth ultimately acknowledged by the Greeks themselves, and the matters were finally arranged on a basis more nearly approaching to justice. No one can read the full story of his labors in this case, as given in the correspondence and reports,—a test case in the ques- tions involved,-without a profound impression of the clear- ness of his perception, the skill with which complications purposely twisted about it were disentangled, and the vigor with which his conclusions were impressed upon the minds of his reluctant opponents. As minister resident at Constantinople, Mr. Marsh's diplomatic rank was below that of every ambassador, however small the State which he represented; "but," says one long resident in the Turkish empire, "his reputation for learning and character was such that, in those ways in which diplo- matists, skilled in the profound mysteries of court ceremonies, 24 know how to set aside etiquette without violating it, he was often treated with special honor by the highest representa- tives of the great powers. He was confessedly the most learned man in that great diplomatic circle, which in the very centre and maelstrom of diplomacy, discusses the questions. that often agitate the world. All American residents in this respect were proud of him. He was an honor to their coun- try and to themselves personally. In all his relations to the Sublime Porte he maintained that fidelity to truth and honor which wins at length, even in diplomacy. Having that char- acter himself, he could demand it from others with peculiar force. The Ottoman Porte is quite capable of making promises which it never fulfils, but it was not found wise to make a direct promise to Mr. Marsh and then attempt to evade it." Soon after the change of political administration in 1853, Mr. Marsh was recalled from his post, and after spend- ing a little time in Central and Western Europe returned to the United States. The nearly six years of freedom from public employment which followed were devoted in part to his favorite studies and to various literary works, and in part to the service of his native State. It is to the comparative leisure of these years that we owe the two volumes of lectures on the English language and Earlier Literature, which have held their place as perhaps the most sincere, independent and valuable contribution which we have made to the better understanding and higher honor of our mother tongue. These volumes have all the char- acteristics of every production of their author,-the orig- inal and thorough investigation, the bursting fulness of information, the lucid and orderly development, the earnest statement, the fair and judicial conclusion. One can hardly open these volumes at random without finding some fact that he never knew before, or some relations indicated, or some conclusions fairly drawn, which had hitherto escaped him, and 25 he will find everywhere a fair and thoughtful criticism and sound literary judgment. Even more in another work, published a few years later, did these characteristics show themselves. In 1864, ap- peared the volume entitled "Man and Nature," the title of which was in a future and enlarged edition changed to "The Earth as Modified by Human Action." It probably struck with surprise those who had known Mr. Marsh through his reputation as a philologist and bibliographer alone or chief- ly, that he should have turned his attention to such a class of subjects. But they did not know that the love of nature was an inbred characteristic and, as if he were a mere natu- ralist, almost a passion with him. No landscape was too meagre, no insect or flower too insignificant to give him pleasure. But the mountains were his highest source of en- joyment, and in the days of manly health no degree of fa- tigue or difficulty deterred him from attempting to scale their heights and search out their mysteries. Nor did they know that during all his long life, the delicate state of his eyes often compelled him for months and sometimes even for years together, to give up books entirely, and turn to nature alone for teaching. Ka The bibliographical list of works consulted in the pre- paration of the volumes to which I have referred was large and from many languages, but far more than to books was the author indebted to his own remarkable habit of intelli- gent observation. That this power was unusual and notice- able, was the testimony of all who knew him most familiarly. But he saw so much because he knew so much. He brought to every object more than he received from it; a mind already so full of knowledge that he knew what to look for, and how to interpret what was present to the sense, to assign it its place and give it its value. "Self is the school-master," he wrote, "whose lessons are best worth his wages... To the natural philosopher, the descriptive poet, the painter and the sculptor, as well as the common observer, the power most 4 26 important to cultivate, and at the same time hardest to ac- quire, is that of seeing what is before him. Sight is a faculty, -seeing an art. The eye is a physical but not self-acting apparatus, and in general it sees only what it seeks." "This exercise of the eye I desire to promote, and next to moral and religious doctrine, I know no more important practical lessons in this earthly life of ours-which to a wise man is a school from the cradle to the grave-than those relating to the employment of the sense of vision in the study of nature." On the accession of President Lincoln in 1861, Mr. Marsh received the appointment of minister to the new kingdom of Italy, the first minister to the first King. It is little to say, and yet it implies much, that no more fitting appointment was possible. He accepted the position at first with some reluctance, and it was not, as he himself said, till he got south of the Alps that he felt reconciled to stay at all. It could not then be anticipated that for more than twenty-one years he would retain his position without interruption, to the mu- tual advantage of both the States; a length of foreign service in one important post, unexampled, I believe, in the history of our diplomacy. Italy was still in a transition state. The great minister, Count Cavour, after gigantic efforts to consolidate the various kingdoms under one liberal monarch, had suddenly succumb- ed under the great burden, even in the moment of assured success. The new nation was not yet fairly established. It was passing through those anxious hours which attend a peo- ple rising in the enthusiasm of hope and new aspirations to cast off the chains forged and riveted by injustice and cruel- ty; which attend a people long divided and broken up into small and hostile States, and kept so by jealousy and fear, who at last, with invincible resolution over-leap the barriers which separate them, and, united in spirit and aim, stand at once with the noblest nations of the earth. It was fitting that such a people should be sustained by the cordial sym- pathy of the great Republic of the West, borne to them by - t 27 one whose high public character was in itself a guaranty of justice and honor. And on the other hand, our time of fiery trial was at hand. Our manhood was to be tested in the most sanguinary and terrible of wars, and it was of the highest importance that our aims, our purposes, our resources, our spirit should be represented to foreign nations the most wise- ly and efficiently. Mr. Marsh followed the Italian government, of course, in the change of its capital from Turin to Florence and from Florence to Rome. No foreign minister was more respected for learning, weight of character, and familiarity with affairs, and long before the end of his protracted service, his personal influence with the court had become as efficient as it was wise and beneficent. It was greatly to the honor and the advantage of our government, whatever causes may have led to it, that through all the changes of administrations, and in spite of the clamor for office, he was retained at his post. No foreign diplomatist, however accomplished, could for a moment feel in his society that he was called to associate with one not fully his equal; no man of letters or lover of antiquity, or student of history, or student of nature, or devotee of art, ever interrogated him without an intelligent response; no political philosopher, watchful of national progress, no defender of absolutism, could help honoring a Republic which committed its interests to so learned, so wise, so conciliatory, so faithful an ambas- sador; and no American traveller or resident could for a moment feel that his personal interests or the interests of the country were not safe in his hands.* The only change, if change were necessary, should have been to some one of the few places of greater responsibility. But perhaps in the later decade of his service, no place could * "I know no European who had met him," says a recent writer in The Nation, "who had not a higher esteem of our country from having known him. I have often heard European men of letters speak of him as a splendid result of American institutions-which perhaps in one sense he was.”—The Nation, Oct. 12, 1882. 28 * have been found more to his mind, or the duties of which he could have administered with less fatigue. He was widely known; he was universally respected; he was greatly "be- loved by every one in the official Roman world from the king down." And well he might have been; for his interest and sympathies had become strongly enlisted in the substantial progress of the Italian people, so long had he watched their struggles for liberty, so fully identified with them in spirit had he become in some of their most serious endeavors. So thoroughly had he the confidence of those who knew him, that the governments of both Italy and Switzerland committed to him the decision of a question of boundary, which had been for many years in dispute, and his judgment, unlike that usual in such cases, was acquiesced in without a word of complaint on either side. If now we review, for a moment, his work in Constanti- nople, in Athens and in Italy, remembering how prompt, in- telligent, and efficient were his labors, how carefully he observed, and how thoroughly he understood, the spirit and genius and temperament of the people among whom he was thrown,-how fully, too, he apprehended the duties, both public and private, devolved upon him by his office, and how faithfully yet unobtrusively he performed them for so many years, we cannot hesitate to rank him among the very wisest and best, in the long role of diplomatists to whom the country has committed the conduct of her foreign policy. He was himself a noble example of what in speeches and orations, he had often insisted on, the influence in public life of a mind thoroughly disciplined, with large knowledge of history and philosophy, of books and of men. Happy for our country would it be if men of like purposes and similar attainments were oftener found in places of public trust. Nor let us forget that during all those years he never remitted his scholarly research, never ceased to find his * Appendix, Note V. 29 delight in new acquisitions, nor lost his love for the noblest poetry and the purest art. So long as his health permitted, and until a weakness in his hand prevented, he constantly used his pen, and many are the articles in contemporary publications which may be recognized by his initials or other marks of authorship, and it is understood that during the later years of his life he had in hand a series of essays on subjects of literary and scientific interest, which, it may be hoped, will be found ready for publication. During these years, too, he was constantly gathering that valuable library, rich, as I learn from the highest authority, in its collection of choice editions of the great standard works in the leading literatures of the world, such works as a scholar would desire to have within his reach at all times,—rich in the department of linguistics, well sup- plied with materials for the study of the Romance languages, and especially rich in works relating to the Northern tongues, his special love; that library which the munificence of a son of Vermont has deposited, unbroken, with the University of his own State, of which it must always remain one of the unique and valuable treasures.* It is hardly necessary, and yet it may be proper, to turn for a moment from the more public services, whether in letters or legislation or diplomacy, to gather into a narrower circle about the hearthstone of the man of whose works we have spoken. There will be nothing in that inner life to disappoint us. As he appeared, so he was. "The great end of human life," he once said, "is not to do, but to be." The first characteristic of his life, I should say, was profound love of the truth and unswerving loyalty to it. This permeated his very being, controlled his opinions, governed his act- ions; you see it in his speeches, you hear it in his words, you read it in his books. He was athirst for knowledge, for the reality and not for the appearance. He sought for it * Appendix, Note VI. A 30 as one seeks for hidden treasure, as a pilgrim seeks the holy land. His knowledge was not vague and general, but exact, and we know not which to admire most, the rich abun- dance or the precision. In his address before the Mechanics Institute at Burlington, in 1843, for example, every one of its fifty columns has, on the average, some valuable fact, which, in substance or form would, I presume, be unknown to the majority of intelligent and well-read men; and for his facts he did not depend on his imagination. If he speaks of the learned Hollander, whose excessive patriotism led him to write two huge volumes to prove that Dutch was the lan- guage of Paradise, he announces his very name, Goropius. Becanus, as if familiar with such sportive compositions,- and I dare say could have given chapter and page. When he would illustrate the legendary skill of the medieval work- ers in metals, he gives, I have no doubt from the original sources, the story of the Scandinavian Vulcan, Vaulundr,- transposed in English to plain Wayland Smith-who made a sword so keen of edge and of such ethereal temper, that when in friendly contest he struck his rival on the crest of his double-plated helmet, and asked him whether he felt the blow, he replied, that he felt as if cold water were running through him! and when he told him to shake himself, he fell apart, for the sword had cleft him in twain so deftly, that until he moved he did not know it. + He endeavored to reach the truth by the shortest and most direct methods and no uncertainty would content him, when by additional labor, investigation or thought he could relieve his doubts. With similar directness he imparted knowl- edge. His style was simple, without verbiage, and without rhetorical artifice, clear in its purpose and going straight to its end, but eloquent with the force of sincere conviction. His mind was productive as well as accumulative, and grew not by accretion merely, but by development. His tastes were versatile. He received exquisite pleasure from music. He studied painting and sculpture and architecture. He loved 31 the forest and the mountains and the seashore. He felt what Mr. Alston calls the "sorcery of color," whether in landscape or on the canvas, on the "checkered earth" or in the heavens gorgeous with clouds. He sowed beside all waters and gathered his harvests in every clime. He sometimes lived for weeks almost exclusively in the open air, walking long dis- tances and climbing high mountains, scarcely reading or writing at all, and then for months he would be entirely en- grossed in official and literary work, and would with difficulty be persuaded to take even a moderate amount of exercise. He always insisted that his best literary work was done after considerable periods of outdoor life with entire rest of brain, and that when his mental powers were actively occupied, physical exercise was neither necessary nor useful to him. His habit in study was somewhat unusual. He followed a method, and yet was jealous of anything like routine. He was accustomed to have upon his table many volumes in dif- ferent languages and upon different subjects, and he turned from one of these to another, at his pleasure, never confining himself a great while to any one, but finding rest and invigor- ation in the variety. He was an early riser, and, like Scott and Webster, often accomplished the main work of the day before the day, to an ordinary intellectual laborer, had fairly begun. His mental faculties were in clear activity to the end. His physical frame alone grew old. "His mind seemed endued with an immortal childhood." Imaginations, calm and fair, The memory like a cloudless air, The conscience as a sea at rest, G were always his. He was ever intellectually active, watch- ful and alert, and his memory held as in a vice whatever it received. It could at no time be said of him, in words which he once quoted as finely applied to one of the greatest lawyers, that "his learning had passed out of his memory into his judgment," for to the last he seem- ed never to forget, or to fail in the full command of his resources. But it was true that he did not seek knowledge 1 32 for any inferior end, from vanity or ambition, but with refer- ence to its highest uses; for the elevation of the soul, for the comfort and help of man. The nobler ends of study he well defined in his dis- course on "Human Knowledge." "He that seeks knowl- edge,” he said, "that he may thereby erect himself above his fellow-men, or subdue things, organized or inorganic, to his own private material uses, shall never find it. He may learn much of the springs of depraved human action, much of the arts that enable the weak to control the strong, the few to profit by the slavery of the many,-much of the adaptation of external means to selfish ends; but he shall never attain to the lofty goal of the genuine scholar, -the possession of the power which is alone the true ex- pression of the highest human knowledge, the power, namely, to reign supreme over himself, to resist evil impulses from within and base temptations from without, to subdue his passions to his will, his will to his reason and his con- science." Working as he did with this spirit, you could not but be impressed with the genuineness of the man through every fibre of his being. It was this moral element which imparted force to his diplomacy and weight to his words and opinions; and which gives substantial excellence to his judgments in letters and art. His mind was many-sided, and as he sympathized with all learning, so he was the friend and helper of all lovers of learning and all genuine scholars. There was in Constan- tinople when Mr. Marsh was there, a student from Germany, drawn thither by the passion for original research. An article of his in one of the newspapers, attracted the friendly notice of our minister, who sent for him, offered him the use of his library and his good influences with the Turkish government. When the confusions of the Crimean war made it impossible to continue his scientific pursuits, Mr. Marsh advised him to go to America. This new thought ripened into a plan, and through this kind suggestion and the friendly aid which K A 33 followed, is due in large part, the result that an admirable scholar found here a permanent home, and the United States can now claim as her own, one of the most accomplished astronomers of the age, who, through his almost unaided labors has just presented to the observatories of America and Europe a series of astronomical charts, which surpass, in accuracy and extent, any thing of the kind ever before at- tempted. In manner Mr. Marsh was grave, yet with a flow of quiet humor; with something like shyness in company; among strangers reserved, but not secretive; simple in his tastes as in his character, a lover of intelligent society and of truthful, unaffected men; undisturbed by the prattle of chil- dren and ready to listen to their questions and add to their knowledge. His love for children was indeed remarkable, and quite as remarkable was their love for him. He was familiar with the best literatures of the world, of course, but he had his favorites-the great poets (as goes without the saying), but besides, the more racy and pictur- esque writers, the authors of the old Scandinavian legendary lore, Sir John Froissart in his rambling and most charming chronicles, Thomas Fuller and Sir Thomas Browne. He could hardly be called popular, for he neither flattered nor would receive flattery, nor had he the light and airy arts of famili- arity, which are sometimes mistaken for sincere good will. Yet he drew others to himself in strong personal attachment. Those whom some men would inevitably alienate and drive into hostility or open quarrel, he, not of direct purpose, but by natural superiority, by gentleness and sympathy and justice, would make his personal friends. There was perhaps nothing in his character more striking than its grand simplicity and directness. Affectation would have been as impossible to him as a positive falsehood. He was the same in every circle and in every position, always quietly dignified and modest, never supercilious, never sub- servient. Indeed, while he impressed every one most strong- 5 3 Alga K 34 ly by his own personality, he himself seemed almost uncon- scious of that personality, so engrossed was he with the great subjects that filled his thoughts. In his condemnation of wrong he was unsparing, and the strength of his feelings often led him to apply severe epithets to the offense, even while the offender was treated with for- bearance. Sincere and truthful himself, he was quick to detect the opposite spirit in others and not easily deceived by fair words. Whatever was insincere, evasive and prevarica- ting, where he had a right to expect honest dealing, roused an indignation which he did not always take care to express in euphemisms, though the offender were prime minister of a kingdom. Offences against himself he hardly recognized, or quickly forgave. Private enemies he had none. His friends, and few had more, were grappled to him with hooks of steel. He was humane and generous, one who loved his fellow-men, a helper of the poor, a friend to the friendless; and many are they who received his unobtrusive kindness, and were surprised with aid that came, they could only guess from whence. His sweetness of character no abuse of confidence ever embittered. He was literally a man who thought no evil, and his kindliness and unselfish interest in all who need- ed help was a matter of constant astonishment to those who knew how often they were taxed. His generosity was only limited by his means, and often, indeed, was exercised at considerable personal inconvenience. mad A A man so thoughtful, so observant, so introspective, with such native power of seeing the relations of things, could not fail to meditate much upon those high and mighty truths which concern the nature and destiny of the soul, on which revelation alone casts a clear light. Of his own personal convictions it does not become us to say much, when, in his native humility and self-distrust, he chose to keep silence; but I know that all sacred things he regarded with profound. reverence, and that every word of his writings is in complete harmony with them. He believed in the life everlasting, and 35 I I do not doubt that the substantial truths of Christianity, which in childhood he heard from the lips of father and mother, he always cherished; and that his hopes, like theirs, rested in the simple faith of Him who eighteen hundred years ago was nail'd For our advantage, on the bitter cross. Mr. Marsh's remarkably fine and robust physical consti- tution never fully rallied from a severe illness, which he suf- fered in Rome in 1872. But the effect showed itself not in the loss of mental power, nor in any specific physical infirm- ity, so much as in a general failure of strength, an inability to walk and climb as he once could, and other marks of the natural weakness of age. It was his custom to leave the hot city in the Summer for some cooler retreat in the moun- tains, and the last year he chose that beautiful Vallom- brosa, not far from Florence, S C - H Lik -where the Etrurian shades High over-arched embower. Here, nearly three thousand feet above the sea, with still loftier heights around, with a beautiful outlook over the fer- tile valley of the Arno, he found quiet and rest. Here were sunshine and shadow; hither he brought his books; here in an old monastery, disused as such, was a School of Forestry, established by the Italian government, in the studies and researches of which he always took a lively interest. Here, bathed in the delicious atmosphere, he spent the days in rest or reading, in revision of some of his books, in serene enjoyment of a country life. And so the last hour stole upon him unannounced, unanticipated. It was in the heart of the beautiful Summer-the 23rd of July of the last year. He had been sitting throughout the day under the shade of the trees, conversing freely with those about him, giving to his nieces an interesting lesson on the clouds, and discussing with a friend the latest reports of the English in Egypt, with all the force and clearness of middle life. As the shadows lengthened, complaining a little of weariness, he retired to the house and 36 soon after, to his bed, where he quietly rested. Shortly before nine there came on a difficulty of breathing. The best and most watchful of friends was by his side. A physician of eminence, fortunately near at hand, was immediately sum- moned, but all remedies proved unavailing. To her, whose welfare he had tenderly guarded for so many years, and who now administered some simple draught, assuring him that it would bring relief, though he received it, he replied very calmly, and with a gentle motion of his hand as if in full recognition of his real condition, "No, my dear, no." No other word was spoken in that sorrowful chamber, and in a few minutes more, without struggle or pain, the wheels of life stood still. "He had gone over to the majority." It was. indeed a euthanasia. When the physician saw the venerable head sink back so peacefully upon the pillow, he exclaimed with deep emotion, "Ecco VERAMENTE LA MORTE DEL GIUSTO !”’ There seemed a peculiar, an almost ideal fitness and harmony between Mr. Marsh's tastes and character and all the circumstances of these last days. Had his own wishes been consulted as to the time, place and manner of his departure, he could hardly have desired anything different. Like ripe fruit he dropped Into his mother's lap." (C The mortal remains, under the direction of an officer of the King's household, were removed from the hotel where he had been staying to the great monastic hall of the School of Forestry, which, by the loving hands of Professors and students, was decorated with boughs and garlands from the woods and the hill-sides; and there, wrapped in the stars and stripes, covered with sweet immortelles from the hills, the venerated form of the beloved dead was reverently watched over by day and by night, till the necessary arrange- ments were completed. In the early morning of the fifth day, a sad procession of government officials and local authorities, of professors and students, with a few nearer friends and members of the American Embassy, bore the 37 mortal remains, with every mark of honor, to the distant railway at Pontassieve, on the way to Rome. Near the Southwestern limits of the Imperial city, beyond the Aventine, overlooked by the lofty pyramidal monument of Caius Cestius, lies the small cemetery of the Protestants. of A peaceful and beautiful enclosure, with stately groups cypresses, the green sod starred with daisies and violets, within sound of the murmuring river, within sight of the Sabine hills and the Alban mountains, it holds the ashes of many Englishmen, of Germans and Russians, and of some of our own countrymen, who seeking health or knowledge or pleasure, have there found a grave. Thither was he borne with every tribute of heartfelt re- spect from King and ministers and foreign ambassadors, to await the final ceremonies; and there on the 17th of October, in the presence of a few friends, with simple religious rites, all that was mortal of our noble-minded and well-beloved scholar, of this stateman large of heart and sound of head,- of this friend, tender and strong, was committed to the friend- ly earth. And here, with this imperfect sketch of a life, which stretches an unbroken arch of beauty and honor, of sincerity and truth, from the sweet vale of the Queechy to the banks of the Tiber,-we, too, must say farewell. If the glory of a State is made up of the well-earned fame of its citizens, if the best treasure of a college is in the noble lives of its sons, rich indeed is that Institution which can hold up the names of scholars such as he to the admiration and generous rivalry of all who can be inspired by high examples ; happy the State which can call such men to her councils, or give them not herself impoverished by the gift-to the larger service of the Republic. · Ana APPENDIX. NOTE I. The life and character of the Hon. Charles Marsh has been admirably portrayed in a Memorial Address, read before the Vermont IIistorical Society in 1870, by Hon. James Barrett. The mother of Mr. Charles Marsh. was Dorothy Mason, of Lebanon, Ct., a sister of Jeremiah Mason, who was the father of the eminent lawyer who bore the same name. Charles Marsh was born in Lebanon, Ct., July 10, 1765; removed with his father to Vermont in 1773; was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1786; was appointed by Washington United States District Attorney in 1797; was a Trustee of Dartmouth College for forty years, from 1809 to 1849; a member of Congress 1815-1817, and died in Woodstock, Vt., Jan. 11, 1849, at the age of 83. NOTE II. John Adams, LL.D., was the Principal of the Academy. Among the schoolmates of Mr. Marsh were William Adams, D.D., LL.D., Francis Cabot Lowell, for whom the city of Lowell was named, Josiah Quincy, Jr., President Leonard Woods, D.D., LL.D., E. M. P. Wells, D.D., Joseph Muenscher, D.D., Levi Lincoln, and the two famous merchants, Robert Hooper and Benjamin T. Reed. NOTE III. Mr. Marsh continued his preliminary study of the law in "the office of his father, till the September term of the County Court in 1825, when he was admitted to the bar, after passing an examination before a special committee appointed for the purpose, consisting of Jacob Collamer, George E. Wales and Norman Williams, Esquires. Soon after, he re- moved to Burlington and there entered upon the practice of his profession in company with Mr. Bailey, under the firm of Bailey and Marsh.". Vermont Standard, July 27, 1882. NOTE IV. For information concerning Mr. Marsh's life in Constantinople, I am much indebted to President Cyrus Hamlin, of Middlebury, Vt., for many } Uor M II years a missionary in Turkey, and to Hon. Henry A. Homes, American chargé d'affaires during Mr. Marsh's absence from his post on his visit to Egypt and Palestine. Mr. Homes writes: "The duties of the Amer- ican Minister in Turkey are peculiar. He has authority accorded to him under the treaties to protect the interests of all Americans in all judicial affairs, by an officer of the Legation. American merchants or citizens are continually appealing to the Minister for his interference, in cases such as in most civilized countries would be referred at once to the` courts. It requires extensive information in the Minister, and a judgment ripened by large experience, to direct his course wisely in many of these In matters of religious liberty pertaining to the native Christians the appeal was generally to the British Ambassador, yet the rights and privileges of American Missionaries were so frequently mixed up with those of the native Christians, that the missionaries frequently addressed their memorials to Mr. Marsh, and they never found him backward to do all in his power with the functionaries of the Sublime Porte." cases. NOTE V. "There was no American living who had anything approaching the personal prestige with the Italian government that Mr. Marsh en- joyed, and that, not for the sake of his government, but for his own." -The Nation, Dec. 21, 1882. S NOTE IV. The correspondence which accompanied the purchase and gift of this admirable collection deserves to be widely known. As a part of the history of the complete transaction, I am glad to be permitted to reprint it here: WOODSTOCK, VERMONT, March 15th, 1883. PRESIDENT M. II. BUCKHAM, University of Vermont, Burlington, Ver- mont: MY DEAR SIR: You are aware that in September last I bought the library of the late George P. Marsh for the University of Vermont. I have delayed making a formal communication on the subject until the books arrived from Italy. They were kept there a while for reference in the revi- sion of Mr. Marsh's works, and have only just come to hand. I now for- ward them, with a catalogue made under Mr. Marsh's own supervision. With the books already in Burlington, the whole number will be about and twelve thousand, constituting a library rich in rare and choice works, III considered by those familiar with it of more value than any other known library of its size. I ask you to accept it as a gift to the University. When it is remembered that Mr. Marsh was a son of Vermont and her most renowned scholar; that from early manhood until he went abroad in diplomatic life his home was in Burlington, near the University; that for awhile he was one of its Trustees, and often expressed the wish that the Library he had built up with so much care and pride should go to the University, and would have himself placed it there if his long public life had not kept him comparatively poor, every one will see that this dis- position of this unique and precious collection is the fittest thing possible. I congratulate myself on being permitted to make the gift. What other man had so good a right to the privilege as one who is not only a Ver- monter and a graduate of the University, but who has had his home here in Woodstock for many years on the old Marsh homestead, fragrant with many memories, where George P. Marsh was born and lived until man- hood? And now the need of the University for a fire-proof library building, which has been pressing for so many years, can no longer be put aside. It would be almost criminal to allow the very valuable library thus enriched by the Marsh collection to run any further risk of destruction or damage. A substantial and graceful building, a fit home for such a library, should be built without delay. As the University has no funds to devote to the purpose, and as no time should be lost, I give seventy-five thousand dol- lars to secure such a building. I do this in grateful appreciation of my Alma Mater, the Alma Mater of two of my brothers, and in the hope that others of her children will remember her with gifts and help her to add to her old renown, and ever be worthy of her name. Sincerely yours, FREDERICK BILLINGS. C University of Vermont, BurlINGTON, March 18, 1883. HON. FREDERICK BILLINGS, MY DEAR SIR: Your letter of the 15th is at hand, conveying to the University the Marsh library and indicating your intention to give seventy- five thousand dollars for the erection of a library building. It is my pur- pose to call a special meeting of the Trustees of the University to take such action as this gift seems to call for, and I shall therefore defer an official reply to your communication until they shall have taken action upon it. It would, I am sure, be the wish of every member of the corpor- ation that they should have the opportunity of giving expression to their sense of the importance of an act which both in its immediate and remote 6 And IV effects, will have such a powerful influence upon the future prosperity of the institution. But I hasten to express-I can do it very inadequately— my own admiration and gratitude. I thought you gave me reason for hop- ing that you would provide in some way for a library building, but while I knew that you would do handsomely what you set out to do at all, you have far exceeded my most sanguine hopes in the liberality of your pro- vision. I look upon this entire gift, both in the substance and the manner of it, as so generous, so wise, sɔ worthy every way of yourself, that I can hardly conceive of anything finer in the way of a benefaction. To be only the channel through which it passes to the University repays me for many years of waiting and hoping and praying. To have the best philological library, in some departments, in the world, and, I venture to hope, one of the best library buildings in the United States, will draw the attention of scholars to us, and give us a prestige which will help us in many ways. Every graduate of the University when he hears of this magnificent en- dowment which his Alma Mater thus receives, will value himself more than ever upon his membership in the institution. I join you also in the hope that others will be stimulated by this example to give according to their means, to build up an institution which deserves the best gifts and services that any of us are able to bestow. I am, dear Sir, Very cordially yours, M. H. BUCKHAM. 3 را : } : ,', UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SANGAN D B 3 9015 02780 4676 ANN SE PROTON MAIL. SAN.