Ct» 63.-5-5^-

r€,J r'.flt^A

' //

TRIBUTES

TO THE MEMORY

OF

ROBERT C. WINTHROP,

BY

Ws>t jHaftsarimsette ^tstortcal ^flctetp,

December 13, 1894.

BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.
1894.

John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A.

ChG3t 55<^
9-M.F.

CONTENTS.

Remarks by page
George E. Ellis  5
Lucius R. Paige  11
Resolutions of the New York Historical Society .... 12
Remarks by
Charles C. Smith  13
Samuel A. Green  16
Henry Lee . .  20
Hamilton A. Hill   24
William Lawrence  . 28
Charles Francis Adams  31
Letter of George F. Hoar  39

j&a&sac^Hgettg 1$i$mital Society.

DECEMBER MEETING, 1894.
The stated meeting was held on Thursday, the 13th instant,
at three o'clock, p. M. ; the President, Dr. George E. Ellis,
in the chair. There was an unusually large attendance of
members, as it was understood that the time would be
specially devoted to tributes to the memory of the late Hon.
Robert C. Winthrop, who had died since the preceding
meeting, in his eighty-sixth year.1
After the reading of the record of the last meeting, the
President said that, in accordance with a vote of the Coun
cil, the regular order of business would be laid aside, and that
there would be no communications of the usual character. At
the close of the meeting some votes which it would be necessary
to pass at the present time would be offered by the Treasurer.
He then said : —
We have with us here to-day the remembrance only of an
associate so long identified with these rooms, and so valued
and honored by us as one who brought to the Presidency of
this Society distinctions won in the highest ranges of public
service. There are many places, scenes, and fellowships in
which the career and qualities of Mr. Winthrop will be re
viewed and commemorated. His life, lengthened through the
fullest span of years till its springs were exhausted, gave him
1 Mr. Winthrop was born in Milk Street, Boston, May 12, 1809, and died at
90 Marlborough Street, Boston, November 16, 1894.

6 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OF
space for the exercise of his rich endowments, attainments, and
accomplishments in many and varied fields of elevated distinc
tion. His full career was divided, in nearly equal terms of
years, into three widely different forms of service and experi
ence. In very early manhood he came into public life under
the most favoring influences of opportunity and popularity.
With a fine personality, gifted in presence and in speech,
highly cultivated in scholarship, literary and classical, with
pre-eminence in family and social position, he was courted and
honored by rapid advancement, in civil, military, and political
offices, in his native State. He justified the partiality shown
to him by his full ability to meet all expectations, by his eleva
tion of character, his talents, aptitudes, and eloquence, on
many exacting occasions.
The second strongly marked period of his career was that
which found him in honored positions in our national legisla
ture, in the convulsions and distractions of the most perilous
struggle in the life of our country, a storm in which two seas
met. It was a time and an occasion of trial, with glooms and
catastrophes, through which no earnest and prominent respon
sible actor passed unscathed by party heats, acrimony, and
challenging of principle or courage. Mr. Winthrop's tempera
ment and his instructed judgment prompted him to stand for
conciliation and peace to the utmost edge of the alternative
presented to our country. The alternative being decided, a
fervid and steadfast patriotism guided his course, without pas
sion or bitterness, till the issue closed. Privileged are those
among us who have lived only after that conflict. For those of
us who passed through it the best we can now do is no longer
to revive or agitate those strifes, but to reserve them for quiet
hours of reading and thought. It was among the privileges of
his lengthened life that Mr. Winthrop survived not only all
his leading contemporaries, but also the most embittered
memories, misjudgments, and alienations arising from them.
Such of them as concerned himself were kindly reviewed and
conciliated. In the serenity and calm of advancing years, the

ROBERT C. WINTHROP. (
memory of them came to him only with gentle speech and
judgments of charity. Politics exempted him from choosing
place or responsibility in after contentions of parties.
The third period of Mr. Winthrop's life was that in which he
was best known to most of you here. It has been, in the main,
one of retired dignity, — the statesman's, the scholar's, the
honored citizen's years of retrospect and repose. Yet it has
been by no means an idle term, enriched as it was by labors of
the mind and pen. Our last great bereavement as a Society
took from us that loved and gifted man to whom all bright
occasions made their appeal for a Poem. To Mr. Winthrop
like appeals were made for Prose. Besides the multiplied
occasions on which, with learning, grace, and felicitous
speech, he met the constant course of time in events, with
successive actors, it was his privilege to rehearse and glorify
the four most signal incidents in our national history, — the
Plymouth pilgrimage, the Centennial of Independence, the
triumph at Yorktown, and the dedication of the Washington
Monument. More than one hundred and fifty of our own
countrymen, of various distinctions, besides many of eminence
abroad, have received from his pen biographical or memorial
tributes. From the four published volumes of his orations,
addresses, and speeches, might be culled a well-nigh continu
ous history, narration, or relation of the chief incidents, local
and national, in our annals, interspersed with the agency and
influence of leading characters. In the wide and comprehen
sive range of benevolent and philanthropic methods which are
in action so vigorously in our own privileged community, his
years of retirement were most assiduously engaged. His name
and his contributions are mentioned in connection with each
and all of them, either as the official head in their manage
ment or as a generous patron. Our best organized charitable
institution and method, Bible and other religious societies, the
Children's Hospital and other noble objects, engaged his devo
tion and oversight. Chief among them was one most dear to
him.

O TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OP
It is well known, at least to some of us here, that after
that philanthropic banker, George Peabody, had exercised his
own judgment in disposing his munificent benevolence in Eng
land, he visited his native country with the intent of dividing
a yet larger sum for like objects here. He found that he
needed not only suggestions, but discerning and wise coun
sel, intelligent advice. This he sought and received from Mr.
Winthrop, his close friend for many years, of whose charac
ter and qualities he had the highest estimate. The largest gift
our Society had up to that time received, in money, from any
individual donor was that of Mr. Peabody ; and he wished
it understood, not being himself a votary of history, that his
gift was wholly a personal testimony to our President. To
the last month of his life, with its feebleness and its burdens,
Mr. Winthrop gave his absorbed zeal and his patient oversight,
in supervision and in detail, to the administration of the great
Peabody Education Fund for the South. It was more than
a surmise for some of us, that Mr. Winthrop's love and labor
in that service were moved by a sympathetic desire to heal
the wounds of a desolating strife.
The chief matter for recognition by us here in the long
career of our late associate, in the wide range of his accom
plishments and interests, is his connection with and his
great services to this Society. More than once, in pleasant
private converse with him in his later years, he said to
me that the place he has filled here, with its duties and
opportunities, had furnished many of the highest pleasures
and satisfactions of his life. As a member of the Society
for more than half of the century of its existence, and its
President for thirty years, only our older members are fully
informed how much the Society, in its present vigor and
activity and resources, is indebted to his wise promptings
and oversight. His family name, from that noble, honored,
and revered leader and Governor of this wilderness Colony
who first bore it, with its gatherings of repute and esteem
for generations, might indeed have fitly entered into the

ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 9
corporate title of this Society. The most precious relic in
the manifold treasures of our cabinet — answering to the
saintly deposit in an old shrine — is the autograph history
or journal of Governor John Winthrop, who was more than
the Moses of what is now our beloved State ; who to good
ness and purity and wisdom added full ability, fidelity, and
consecrated devotion to his high enterprise. Some three-and-
thirty years ago Mr. Winthrop succeeded in rescuing from
comparative oblivion in Connecticut an exceptionally large
collection of ancestral manuscripts, which among its priceless
contents disclosed papers bearing tenderly pathetic evidence
of the whole-souled consecration of John Winthrop to that
exigent enterprise. They showed that in parting with ma
norial and other property in dear old England and in investing
all his means in this Colony, he burned his bridges behind
him, severing every tie to his native land, and yielding every
purpose of returning there again, as did some of his original
associates, to his sad regret. In the same collection were found,
as his Lares and Penates, his treasured ancestral and family
papers, reaching back in their dates and subjects to a period
before the unveiling of this New World. As one of the three
most opulent of the associates, he gave his all to the enter
prise so exhaustively that when he died the Colony assumed
gratefully the guardianship and support of his fatherless and
portionless young boy. Besides papers of his father and
grandfather, and his own, there were later ones of his
sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons, including a mass of
correspondence of a miscellaneous character, concerning and
revealing interesting personal and historical information of
nearly every individual known and active in our first cen
tury. Besides original papers of great variety and value
scattered through all our published volumes, six of them are
wholly filled with materials fitly bearing the name of Win
throp. We recall with what modest prefaces on his own
part our late President from time to time communicated to
us some illuminations of the past from those time-stained

10 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OF
records. Among them is one which as we take it in hand
seems, as by an electric spark, to revive its message of tender
sorrow and sympathy from the long past. It is a letter
written in Governor Winthrop's house (on the site of the
Old South Meeting House) on the day of his death, March
26, 1649, signed by magistrates and ministers, and addressed
" To our deare and honoured friend John Winthropp. Esq.
at Pequod." It was to be carried by an Indian runner,
" Nahawton, whom they did esteeme a Trustie and swift
messenger." Borne through forest trails, across bogs and
streams, it conveyed to the son the tidings of his father's
death. Every word of that letter seems to carry with it the
tears and tributes of hearts "to the precious account and
desert " of the venerated man whom they solemnly mourned.
They proposed to delay the " funeralls " for seven days, that
the son might be present and have "the ordering" of them.
It is grateful to know that the runner and the letter fulfilled
their purpose.
I had occasion when our late President resigned that office
to make a brief rehearsal here of the zeal and devotion, so
faithful to us, which he has given to this Society, to its
revived activity, to the increase, development, and use of its
resources. My words then are on our records.
Since he fell back into the ranks as an associate, he has
given us many tokens of the strength of the ties which bound
him to us. Many things of value, for shelf, cabinet, and
record, with his own comments and interpretation, enrich our
stores. As long as the burden of increasing years allowed,
borrowing strength from his wishes, he climbed these stairs,
and took his wonted place among us, seldom without gift or
helpful words. Of his courtesy, urbanity, and dignity of
mien you were all observers, and will keep the memory of
them. Some among us have expressed a mistrust lest the
once familiar bearing and style for the conventional term,
" a Gentleman," might yet fall in with the " Antiquities "
collected here. We all of us know one who bore and graced
that title.

ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 11
The Recording Secretary, Rev. Edward J. Young, then
read a letter from Rev. Dr. Lucius R. Paige, now in his ninety-
third year, who was not able to be present, together with some
remarks which he had intended to offer at the meeting. Dr.
Paige's letter and remarks are as follows : —
Cambridgeport, Dec. 12, 1894.
Dear Sie, — Fearing that I may be unable to attend the Society
meeting to-morrow, and acting upon your suggestion, I forward, here
with, a copy of what I intended to say if I had the opportunity.
Truly yours, Lucius R. Paige.
Rev. George E. Ellis, D.D.
Mr. President, — I shall not attempt to delineate the charac
ter of Mr. Winthrop as a scholar, an orator, or a statesman,
but shall only speak briefly of him as a personal friend. Like
yourself, Mr. President, and several of our associates, both Mr.
Winthrop and myself traced a lineal descent from Governor
Thomas Dudley. Whether this remote kinship had any in
fluence on me, I know not ; but I do know that on my first
introduction to him, I was conscious of some peculiar attrac
tion, which became stronger and stronger as our acquaintance
ripened. No cloud ever cast a chilling shadow on us. I never
failed to receive a cordial greeting when we met ; and our birth
day and other written salutations have not been interrupted
for many years. I need not say that such friendly intercourse
was more and more prized by me, as the infirmities of age in
creased, and other sources of happiness diminished. I have
had my full share of the sorrows allotted to those who attain
old age. One by one, a large proportion of my old friends
have left me to deplore their loss. Especially is this true in
regard to this Society. Of all those who were members at the
time of my election, you, Mr. President, are now the only sur
vivor ; and Mr. Saltonstall alone remains with us of those who
were elected during the next fifteen years. Indeed, of all our
associates, more than one hundred in number, who became
members during the first half of my term of membership, only

12 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OP
fifteen remain among the living. With many of the departed
I enjoyed an intimate acquaintance, and I deeply lamented
their loss ; but I may surely be pardoned for saying that the
death of no other of the whole number has affected me so
painfully as that of Mr. Winthrop.
Mr. Young also read the following resolutions, which had
been adopted by the New York Historical Society, and trans
mitted to this Society : — New York Historical Society.
At a stated meeting of the Society, held on Tuesday evening, Dec.
4th, 1894,
The President of the Society, the Hon. John A. King, announced,
with appropriate remarks, the death of the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop,
LL.D/, an Honorary Member of the Society, and submitted the follow
ing minute for record, which was unanimously adopted : —
Since our last meeting the Society has learned with deep regret of
the death, in Boston, Mass., on the 16th day of November, 1894, of the
late Robert C. Winthrop, LL.D., an Honorary Member of this Society
since the 4th of January, 1859, when he was elected upon the motion
of the late John Romeyn Brodhead, LL.D.
Mr. Winthrop was for more than a generation the distinguished
President of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and was honorably
connected with many kindred institutions, national, historical, literary,
and philanthropical.
It is therefore
Resolved, That the New York Historical Society, in thorough appre
ciation of the pure and high character of its late Honorary Member ;
and in recognition of his great eminence as a Statesman, Scholar,
Orator, Philanthropist, and as a Christian Gentleman, desires, in offer
ing this tribute of unusual respect to his memory, to bear testimony to
the serious loss sustained by the community and the whole nation in
the withdrawal from our midst of a citizen who had been so distin
guished, and of such public benefaction, during a long life, which had
been graciously extended far beyond the fourscore.
Resolved, That a record of these proceedings be transmitted to the
family of the deceased, and also to the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Extract from the minutes. Andrew Warner, Recording Secretary.

ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 13
Mr. Charles C. Smith, having been called on, said : —
None of the older members of this Society can have come
here to-day without a deep feeling of the services rendered
to it by our late distinguished associate. Certainly no one
who was privileged to sit with him at this table can look back
on his Presidency with any doubt as to the place he must
always hold in our annals. Of those who served with him on
Committees of Publication I am the sole survivor ; but there
too he left his strong impress as a working member, to which
I gladly bear testimony.
Mr. Winthrop was elected a member of the Historical Soci
ety in October, 1839, in place of that accomplished gentle
man, the Hon. William Sullivan ; and fifteen or sixteen years
later, when he stood twenty-fourth on our roll, he became
President as the successor of the Hon. James Savage, then
perhaps the highest living authority on New England history.
Of the officers elected on that day, one only is now living, our
venerable and valued associate, Rev. Dr. Paige ; but among
them were three men whose names should always be held in
honor for long, faithful, and efficient service performed here,
— Charles Deane, Richard Frothingham, and Chandler Rob-
bins. Sixty-four years had passed since Jeremy Belknap and
his seven associates met at Mr. Tudor's house in Court Street
to organize this Society, and the highest expectations of our
founders had been more than realized. A library of manu
scripts and books, now of priceless value, had been gathered ;
a part of the estate on which this building stands had been
bought, and thirty-two volumes of Collections had been
printed. But with Mr. Winthrop's election to the Presidency
a new era opened. A fresh interest was given to the monthly
meetings, and a larger attendance of members was seen.
With the Annual Meeting held in April, 1855, when he first
became President, began the publication of the Proceedings,
which has been continued without interruption down to the
present time ; and before he left the President's chair two

14 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OF
volumes of Early Proceedings were prepared and printed by
a committee of which Mr. Deane was chairman. In the
mean time seventeen volumes of Collections, two volumes of
a Catalogue of the Library, and a volume of Lowell Lectures,
by members of the Society, with an introductory address by
the President, were added to our previous publications.
Mr. Winthrop had been a working member himself, and he
had inspired others to work. The gift of the magnificent
Dowse Library, mainly by the intervention of a lamented
associate, George Livermore, largely increased our literary
treasures. The purchase of this estate was completed, and
the present building was erected. This was not all. Of the
twelve funds now on the Treasurer's books, eight were received
during his Presidency ; and it is within my own knowledge, as
it is within the knowledge of others, that for the largest and
most useful of them we were indebted to our benefactor's
grateful regard for Mr. Winthrop, rather than to an interest
in historical studies. To this I might perhaps add that all the
gifts aggregated under the title of General Fund were also
received during the same period. By his last will Mr. Win
throp gave to this Society a generous bequest, without restric
tions as to its use, which has already been paid over to the
Treasurer. At the proper time the Society will be asked to
set this sum apart as a special fund, the income to be ex
pended as the Council may direct. There can be no impro
priety in adding that Mr. Winthrop was not possessed of a
large property, and that this bequest must therefore be counted
among the most striking proofs of his lifelong interest in our
work. Fortunate in his birth, fortunate in his education, fortunate
in his training on larger fields of endeavor, and in his wide
acquaintance with men and affairs, Mr. Winthrop brought to
the Presidency of this Society qualifications which ripened
and expanded down to the very close of his service. There
never can have been a more dignified or more graceful presid
ing officer. But he did not confine himself to a discharge of

ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 15
the routine duties of the chair. It used to be said of him, in
no unfriendly or critical sense, that he magnified his office.
His sketches of our deceased associates read here, as one by
one their names were erased from the roll of living members,
form a unique and varied portrait-gallery ; and not less inter
esting and valuable were the personal reminiscences with
which from time to time he enriched our Proceedings, and
the original documents drawn from that vast storehouse of
historical materials fortunately acquired by him many years
ago. Many of us will recall with pleasure the special meetings
of the Society held at his houses in Boston and at Brookline,
and the frequent occasions, in summer and in winter, when
the same elegant hospitality was extended to the officers and
active members in smaller numbers.
At no time did Mr. Winthrop take a deeper interest in the
work of the Society than in the last years of his Presidency,
or find a greater satisfaction in the discharge of his official
duties ; but he was especially solicitous that his term of
service, which far exceeded that of any of his predecessors,
should not be too much prolonged. In more than one year
he conferred with me on the question whether the time had
not come for him to withdraw from the chair. There could be
but one answer to that question. It was clearly and unhesi
tatingly given ; and it foreshadowed the unanimous judgment
spread on our records at the Annual Meeting in 1885, when
it was announced that he had declined to be a candidate for
re-election. Since that meeting more than one third of the
names now on our roll of living members have taken the places
of those who could bear personal testimony to the value of
Mr. Winthrop's services. The record and the tradition of
those services, however, will always remain among the pre
cious inheritances of this Society.
In what has now been said I have purposely dealt only with
Mr. Winthrop's relations to this Society. But it must not be
forgotten that his Presidency was coincident with his greatest
intellectual activity in the same field outside of our little com-

16 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OF
pany. With possibly one exception all those great addresses
which gave him a foremost place as a master of commemorative
oratory were delivered while he was the official representative
of this Society. The oration at Plymouth in 1870 came mid
way in his Presidency, and was followed in the next ten or
eleven years by the centennial for the Declaration of Inde
pendence, and the address at Yorktown. To these must be
added a long list of addresses delivered on less memorable
occasions in the same third of a century, which would have
secured reputation for any other orator, and which together
form a collection of permanent interest and value. It was in
the same fruitful period that he published the two volumes of
the Life and Letters of John Winthrop, to which all future
students of our earliest colonial history must turn, as they do to
Winthrop's own journal, to complete the half-told story of a
great life and of the beginnings of the Massachusetts Colony.
Of what Mr. Winthrop did in political life as a member of
our State Legislature or in Congress, of what he did in behalf
of organized charity and to alleviate the sufferings of helpless
childhood, of what he did to raise the standard of theological
education in his own religious body, as President of the Mas
sachusetts Bible Society, as Chairman of the Board of Trustees
of the Peabody Education Fund, and in the various ways in
which a public-spirited citizen makes his influence felt, much
has been said, or will be said, here and elsewhere ; but all
reference to what he did in these ways has been left for
others, in order that emphasis might be laid on his relation
to the purposes for which this Society was founded. If you
seek for his monument here, you need only look around these
rooms, and read the record of his devoted service in the long
line of our Collections and Proceedings, to which he so largely
contributed. Dr. Samuel A. Green spoke as follows : —
When death comes to a man full of years and full of honors,
who has led a spotless life, and whose bod% frame has be-

ROBERT 0. WINTHROP. 17
come enfeebled by the infirmities of age, his departure is not
an event for sorrow, but rather an occasion for devout gratitude
that he was spared during so many years. The noble example
of such a man is as lasting as the countless ages of time, and
is never lost, for the continuity of life keeps up the thread of
connection. Of this type of manhood Mr. Winthrop was an
eminent instance ; and he illustrated in his own character so
many sides of a distinguished career that it is somewhat em
barrassing to select that particular setting in which he shone
the most, as he was so brilliant in them all. The world at
large knew him under the manifold aspect of a ripe scholar, a
wise statesman, a finished orator, and a Christian philanthro
pist ; but at this time I shall speak of his work solely in con
nection with the Peabody Education Fund, that noble trust
founded to promote the cause of popular education in certain
States of the American Union. To the casual or careless ob
server it might seem that labors in this rough and uninviting
field were beneath the attention and dignity of a man who
had filled so many high offices, but this view of the case
would be superficial.
When George Peabody was putting into definite shape the
long-cherished plan to distribute in his native land a large
share of his princely fortune in token of his gratitude for the
many blessings that had been showered upon him, Mr. Win-
, throp was the first person with whom he held long and confi
dential relations on the subject. For months before the letter
of gift was written to the Board of Trustees, he had been in
close correspondence with Mr. Winthrop in regard to the
matter ; and for the successful beginning of his great bene
faction it was fortunate that Mr. Peabody had the advice of
such a counsellor, which on the one side was freely given,
and on the other as readily accepted. At an early day an
Act of Incorporation was obtained from the Legislature of
the State of New York, under which his almoners were cre
ated a body by the name and title of " The Trustees of the
Peabody Education Fund." By this Act Mr. Winthrop was

18 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OF
made permanent Chairman of the Board ; and it is needless to
say that the duties of an office were never better or more con
scientiously performed. His care and forethought were seen
equally in the larger affairs of the Trust, and in the details of
its minutest business. No subject ever came up for consider
ation which did not receive his most thoughtful attention,
and his counsels always carried great weight. Outside of
the domestic circle, his loss will be felt nowhere to a greater
degree than among the members of that corporation, who
looked to him for practical suggestions.
When Mr. Peabody's gift was made, the Southern States
were staggering under many burdens, both financial and politi
cal, resulting from the effects of the Civil War ; and the cause
of popular education was met everywhere by obstacles that
were then considered almost insuperable. Public schools were
unknown in those States ; and, with the sparse population of
the neighborhood, it was very difficult to introduce a plan
which would lead up to such a system. Entangled with the
question was the presence of a large class of unfortunate
beings, thoroughly lacking in all kinds of mental training,
for which they themselves in no way were responsible ; and
this element complicated a free solution of the problem.
At that time, without some aid and encouragement from
the outside world, it is very uncertain what course of action
would have been taken in order to ward off the evils. The
fact was recognized, however, that popular education was the
proper remedy for the troubles ; and Mr. Peabody's benefac
tion, coming in the nick of time, turned the scale in the right
direction. The number of schools and colleges at the South
helped from the income of the Education Fund in former
years was very large ; but at the present time the distribution
is confined to institutions of a high grade, or is used to supply
courses of instruction and lectures among teachers in the sev
eral States. The testimony of the various Superintendents of
Education in those States has always been strong and unani
mous in regard to the practical help thus given.

ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 19
In the autumn of 1886 a Training School for Teachers,
under the charge of Professor David B. Johnson, was estab
lished at Columbia, South Carolina, which was named after
Mr. Winthrop, in recognition of his eminent services in behalf
of the cause of popular education at the South. In December,
1887, the school was incorporated by an Act of the General
Assembly, and from that time till the present it has continued
to grow in the number of its students and in general pros
perity. To-day it stands one of the largest and most success
ful institutions in any part of the country for the training of
young women as teachers. A touching tribute to the memory
of Mr. Winthrop, on the part of the officers and students, is
shown in their custom of keeping the anniversary of his birth as
a holiday, and of celebrating the event in a manner befitting
the occasion. This school, now known as the Winthrop Nor
mal and Industrial College of South Carolina, has far outgrown
its original limits ; and at the present time a large and commo
dious structure is in process of building at Rock Hill, of which
the corner-stone was laid with appropriate ceremonies on the
last birthday of Mr. Winthrop.
In his Annual Report, made at the end of 1893, President
Johnson recalls the fact that this institution, now in the way
of becoming so conspicuous and destined to such high ends, was
originally organized without State recognition through finan
cial help from the Peabody Education Fund.
It may be worthy of note, also, that Mr. Winthrop's last
formal production of a literary character was an address pre
pared for the Annual Meeting of the Trustees of the Educa
tion Fund in New York, on October 4, when he expected to
be present and to deliver it himself, but owing to the infirmities
of age was unable to attend. The paper, written only a few
weeks before his death, was read at the meeting, and showed
on the part of the writer no signs of mental weakness ; and it
was marked by all that felicity of expression and vigor of style
which so peculiarly belonged to him on such occasions.
In many prominent walks of life Mr. Winthrop's efforts have

20 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OF
long been conspicuous, but in the humbler fields of usefulness
his labors have been equally important, and in after-years
they will place his name high up on the roll of those men who
have served mankind in their day and generation, and have
reached distinction through their philanthropic work. The
foresight of a statesman is clearly shown throughout Mr.
Peabody's great scheme, which did more than legislation
could have done to close up the rifts caused by many a
deadly struggle between brothers of the same household,
friends of the same neighborhood, and citizens of a common
country. For these delicate touches the London banker was
indebted to the sagacity of the gentleman who by his presr
ence so often graced the meetings in this room. Statecraft
will save when doubt will destroy.
Mr. Henry Lee said : —
Mr. President, — Eighty-five years ago, the old town of Bos
ton was not a sojourn but a dwelling-place, year in and year
out, from birth to death, from generation to generation.
Its citizens not only lived in, but for their town ; on it were
concentrated their affections ; they observed all anniversaries,
they participated in all solemnities and festivities, they dis
charged divers duties now delegated to paid substitutes.
In my school and college days Mr. Winthrop was coming
forward, and among the figures of the past none is more dis
tinct than his, because of the part he played in all pageants,
and because of his handsome face and figure which made his
part attractive.
I admired him marching at the head of the Harvard Wash
ington Corps ; later as captain of the Boston Light Infantry,
famed for its spirit and for its series of handsome young offi
cers ; later still in perfection as senior aide-de-camp succes
sively to three governors.
These positions he owed to his name and to his external
gra es ; these were but the trappings, he had that within
whi )h passeth show.

ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 21
While captain of the Harvard Washington Corps, he was
chum of Charles Emerson, the most remarkable of the remark
able brothers, and he had the third oration at his graduation.
While aide-de-camp, he was elected a member, and before
his time Speaker, of the House of Representatives ; then Mem
ber of Congress, where he rapidly came to the front.
While on the staff of Governor Everett, he was wont to at
tend the dinners of the Cadets, and to gratify us not only by
his comely presence, but also by his graceful oratory, vying
with that of his eloquent chief. A stately figure, a dignified
manner, a mellifluous voice, gave effect to his words.
After Mr. Everett, we have had no orator who has irradiated
so many occasions, local and national, with historic research
and sage reflections presented in clear and euphonious speech.
I allude to three of these orations, not because of their rela
tive superiority, but because they serve to illustrate, — his
Bunker Hill oration, his power to reinvest with interest a
subject already exhaustively treated ; his oration at York-
town, his skill in weaving as on a Brussels carpet loom the
intricate web so as to assign to the many actors in that siege
— French, British, and American — their places, and to set
forth their characteristics, and yet not to impede the flow of
the narrative ; the address on the Centennial of the Academy
of Arts and Sciences, his fulness and readiness. Called upon
in an exigency, with but twenty-four hours' notice, he gave
an interesting review of the century's record, and discrimi
nating eulogies on its most eminent members. It could not
have been more complete, more finished, if he had taken a
month instead of a day for preparation.
But what repeated proofs of these qualities has he not given
at the monthly meetings of this Society during the thirty years
of his presidency !
A letter received, a document unearthed, a lost member to
lament, an anniversary to commemorate, — some opportunity
offered or created, was improved by him.
His learning, his extensive intercourse and correspondence

22 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OF
with interesting men at home and abroad, stored in a tena
cious memory ready for use, enabled him to invest the subject,
whatever it might be, with interest, and each time to renew
our admiration.
Many of us can claim descent from the magistrates and
clergy of the first generation, but unless we bear their names,
our claim is disputed ; we are virtually disinherited, we are not
identified with them. John Winthrop had many living de
scendants who had thus lost their inheritance. Those who
were heirs of the name as of the blood, had passed away
from this vicinity.
Mr. Winthrop had six brothers, whom some can remember
as handsome, stalwart men, but he outlived them all.
So it came about that he was left the sole representative in
Boston of the family in his generation ; and his identity with
his great ancestor was, as it were, thrust upon him.
When he was born, the contour of the peninsula (for hap
pily it was still a peninsula) had been preserved ; it was the
Boston depicted by Emerson, —
" The rocky nook with hill-tops three
Looked eastward from the farms,
And twice each day the flowing sea
Took Boston in its arms," —
a fascinating semi-rural sea-girt town, retaining many features
of its old colonial days. The houses stood mostly apart in
their gardens, some of them associated with historic names.
Born in one of these old homes, the first objects which met
his eyes as he was held to the window were the Old South
Meeting House and its parsonage standing on the Governor's
Green, the home of his ancestor, the wise and beneficent
founder of the town and State.
The contemplation of this ancestral ground, the sight of
old houses which this ancestor had entered, family traditions,
the reading of Winthrop's Journal, must have tended to as
sociate the past with the present, and to impress upon him
his birthright.

ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 23
If, as aide-de-camp, he rode beside the governor as he re
viewed the troops on Boston Common, he must have recalled
the day when the two regiments in the bay were mustered on
that same Common — led, the one by his ancestor, Governor
Winthrop, the other by the deputy, Governor Dudley, who
was equally his ancestor — to perform their warlike exercises.
He could not, as an officer of the Ancient and Honorable
Artillery, receive or resign his spontoon without remembering
that it was his ancestor who had bestowed the charter and
who had presided over these annual ceremonies.
He could hardly attend a meeting of the Massachusetts
Historical Society without hearing our first governor quoted
or referred to.
What a beautiful manifestation of filial piety was his edit
ing and writing the " Life and Times of John Winthrop," at
once a romance and a history, giving a fascinating picture of
the life of the lawyer of the Temple and the lord of the Manor
of Groton, surrounded by attached friends and kindred ; and
of his forsaking all this to " runne an hazard with them of an
hard and meane condition," by agreeing to " pass the seas, to
inhabit and continue in New England " ; of the tender part
ing and happy reunion of the husband and wife, and of the
multifarious cares and trials and achievements of the gentle,
wise, magnanimous man and magistrate, during his nineteen
years here.
Mr. Winthrop was " given to hospitality " ; he received his
friends, his friendly acquaintances, and his fellow-citizens on
appropriate occasions with that nice gradation of manner of
which he was master ; he entertained strangers of rank and
distinction in the full sense of that word, and he leaves no
successor with the inclination and the ability to take his
place. The proud little sea-girt town has sprawled out into a dis
jected city ; its picturesque profile and outline are gone ; the
waves no more beat against the Neck, — there is no Neck ;
the old James Bowdoin house was long ago wiped away, its acre

24 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OF
of garden covered with buildings ; the English Puritans are
displaced by men of strange speech and customs, and, bowed
down by infirmities, the last of the Boston Winthrops of his
generation has followed the long line of his ancestors from the
first governor, and faded from our sight.
Mr. Hamilton A. Hill said : —
I shall confine my remarks to one of Mr. Winthrop's his
torical addresses.
It was my good fortune to be a member of the executive
and legislative party which accompanied Governor Long to
Yorktown in October, 1881, to take part in the centennial
celebration of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis to the allied
armies of America and France. On this occasion, Mr. Win
throp was the orator, and it was his last appearance, I believe,
before a large audience ; his oration on the completion of the
Washington Monument, in 1885, was delivered by proxy.
The Yorktown celebration was for every reason a memo
rable one. Among those present were the governors and high
officials of the original thirteen States, and of many of the
States subsequently admitted to the Union ; General Sher
man, Admiral Porter, and other officers of the army and navy
who had distinguished themselves in the War of the Rebel
lion ; representatives, as guests of the nation, of the French
and German officers who participated in the siege of Yorktown
and who witnessed the surrender ; and President Arthur, who
only a month before had succeeded to the chief magistracy on
the death of President Garfield. The new president had not
had time to construct his cabinet, and was accompanied
by Mr. Blaine, Mr. Lincoln, and other members of the late
administration who were holding over at his request.
The recent national bereavement, as Mr. Winthrop said,
had " thrown a pall of deepest tragedy upon the falling cur
tain of our first century " ; it cast its shadow over the York-
town celebration, and gave an undertone of sadness to the
oration. " I cannot forget," said the orator, " that as I left

ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 25
President Garfield after a friendly visit at the Executive
Mansion last May, his parting words to me were, ' Yes, I
shall be with you at Yorktown.' We all miss him and mourn
him here to-day."
Among other features of the celebration, which continued
through three days, were the presence in the river of a large
number of vessels of war, conspicuous among which were
Farragut's ship, the " Franklin," and Winslow's, the " Kear-
sarge " ; a review of ten thousand troops, regulars and militia,
by General Hancock ; and the laying of the foundation-stone
of a monument decreed by Congress in 1781, but never be
gun until now. The 19th of October was the great day, when,
after addresses by President Arthur, M. Outrey, French Am
bassador at Washington, the Marquis de Rochambeau, and
Baron von Steuben, Mr. Winthrop pronounced the oration
which he had been invited to deliver by the Committee of
Congress. These exercises took place in a temporary build
ing erected for the occasion, decorated with the flags of the
United States, France, and Germany, but otherwise bare and
rude. The ceremonial, however, was not dependent upon
any accessories for its dignity and impressiveness ; for, as
Mr. Winthrop said, " the theme and the theatre were above
the highest art."
At my request, Governor Long has given his remembrance
of the day in a few words, as follows : " I vividly recall Mr.
Winthrop, as he appeared at Yorktown as orator there at the
centennial celebration in 1881. It was the full corn in the
ear, the noble presence of a man, past threescore and ten
indeed, yet so vigorous and graceful in his manly ripeness, so
courteous, dignified, and gentle in his manners, and of such
impressive intellectual stamp, that he was easily the central
commanding figure of the scene. He seemed to be a striking
type of the orator of forty years ago, — the contemporary ot
Everett, — a Massachusetts scholar and gentleman."
Mr. Archibald Forbes, the well-known English correspond
ent, thus described the scene : " Perhaps the decorum of the

26 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OF
throng was equalled by its evident intelligence. To the very
end of Mr. Winthrop's prolonged oration, all around the fringes
of the audience were to be observed people with their hands
at their ears, jealous lest a word should escape them. No
point made by the speaker was missed, or failed to obtain its
fullest meed of appreciation. During Mr. Winthrop's fervid
and eloquent peroration, the intenseness of attention on the
orator's words was so close that you might have heard a pin
drop. The people had come to listen, and they listened with
all their force."
Mr. Forbes was impressed by the great tact displayed by
Mr. Winthrop in his references to Great Britain, and by " his
hearty and unaffected expressions of loving good-will for ' Old
Mother England,' " as he called her. " To-day," he wrote,
" afforded fresh proof that a warm heart is the truest guide
to good taste."
Mr. Winthrop was in excellent voice, and delivered the
oration in his best style. This was the more gratifying and the
more remarkable, because, owing to the poverty of the arrange
ments, the absence of proper care for the guests, and the gen
eral confusion, he, in common with many others, had been
obliged to suffer discomforts, if not positive hardships, which
in his case particularly must have taxed severely his powers
of endurance, and which might easily have embarrassed him
in the discharge of the responsible and exacting duty to which
he was called. It was said of him and the other speakers,
" Their words will live when the trifling annoyances of the
hour are forgotten " ; but it is only justice to him to recall at
this time the serious disadvantages in the midst of which a
great oratorical success was achieved.
The Yorktown oration is generally recognized, I believe, as
one of Mr. Winthrop's noblest discourses. The story of the
events which led up to the siege and the surrender, is graphi
cally told ; and a competent critic has said that no more note
worthy gallery has ever been painted than the series of
portraits which he has here sketched of the men of the va-

ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 27
rious nationalities who on either side were prominent in the
conflict. It is safe to say that there was no one living except
himself who possessed in combination the personal knowledge
and the acquired information necessary for such truthful and
brilliant portraiture. And, all unconsciously, in this work
of delineation, the speaker has given to us an illustration of
something very characteristic of himself. His heart was so
thoroughly under the influence of that charity that " hopeth
all things," that nil nisi bonum was his rule of speech concern
ing both the living and the dead. He was always ready to say
a kindly, pleasant, and graceful thing, when this did not in
volve the obliteration of moral distinctions. At Yorktown,
while there was no breath of extenuation for the treason of
Benedict Arnold, the wilful and obstinate king, of whom an
English historian has not hesitated to say that "the darkest
hour of English history lies wholly at his door," was thus
gently dealt with : " Who doubts that good old George III.
spoke from his conscience, as well as from his heart, when he
said so touchingly to John Adams, on receiving him as the
first American minister at the Court of St. James, ' I have
done nothing in the late contest but what I thought myself
indispensably bound to do by the duty which I owed my
people ' ? "
The tribute to the character and services of Lafayette was
doubly impressive, as spoken by one who, as he told his
audience, had " personally felt the warm pressure of his own
hand and received a benediction from his own lips," under
the parental roof nearly sixty years before ; who had seen
the private letter written to President Monroe by the
French patriot, from Yorktown, October 20, 1824, describing
his visit to the place on the forty-third anniversary of the
surrender ; and who had learned from the lips of James
Madison, during a visit to him not many years before his
death, to think and speak of Lafayette, not merely as an
ardent lover of liberty, " but as a man of eminent practical
ability, and as great, in all true senses of that term, as he was
chivalrous and generous and good."

28 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OF
The words of counsel, of warning, and of hope with which
the oration closed, could have been prompted only by lofty
patriotism and an unswerving Christian faith. The cause of
education, in which Mr. Winthrop had been heartily enlisted
for many years, and which was especially dear to him to his
latest days, was most earnestly presented in its relations to
the prosperity and perpetuity of the republic. " Universal
education," he said, and let us remember that he said this on
the soil of Virginia, " without distinction of race, must be en
couraged, aided, and enforced. The elective franchise can
never be taken away from any of those to whom it has once
been granted, but we can and must make education co-exten
sive with the elective franchise ; and it must be done without
delay, as a measure of self-defence, and with the general co
operation of the authorities and of the people of the whole
country." And again : " Slavery is but half abolished, eman
cipation is but half completed, while millions of freemen with
votes in their hands are left without education." It seems
proper to record side by side with these impressive words a
sentence written in preparation for the annual meeting of the
Trustees of the Peabody Fund in October last. After refer
ring to public events which had been discouraging and de
pressing during the official year then closing, Mr. Winthrop
added : " Meantime we may well rejoice that the great cause
of popular education, so far as it is in our hands, and which is
the basis of all our best hopes for the future, has met with no
check." " Popular education, — the basis of all our best
hopes for the future " ; this was the latest utterance of a long-
cherished conviction, which found its most memorable and
perhaps its noblest expression at Yorktown thirteen years
before. Rt. Rev. William Lawrence, D.D., spoke in substance
as follows : —
Unfamiliarity with the custom of this Society upon such
occasions is my apology for speaking informally and without
notes.

ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 29
The fact that Mr. Winthrop was more than a generation
older than myself limits my associations with him to the later
years of his life. His remarkable career in the House and
Senate of the United States is pure history to me. At the
same time this very fact suggests one interesting feature of his
character ; for, though of an earlier generation, his sympa
thies were strong with the life and people of the present day,
— though in thought and manner of the old school, he
counted among his many friends those whose chief interests
are in the immediate problems of life.
To the boys of a generation ago, Mr. Winthrop stood as a
stately representative of what was most dignified in American
life. I can remember him driving through Brookline, or a
guest in my father's house, as subduing us with deep reverence
for his character. The fact that he was to be a guest made of
the entertainment an occasion. His entrance into the room
gave dignity to the whole company.
To see Mr. Winthrop reverently worshipping in Trinity
Church, Boston, was to the boys of that generation an object
lesson in the essential unity of statesmanship and Christian
manhood. In his religious associations he was a Churchman,
or, as he would prefer to say, a humble and unworthy follower
of his Lord, Jesus Christ, finding his most helpful religious
associations in the Episcopal Church. For his hold on the
Church was not so much through logical conviction as through
deep sympathy with its principles and traditions. By bonds
which are often stronger than logic, the conditions of inherit
ance, associations, taste, and temperament, the essential ele
ments of the Church were inwrought into the texture of his
character. He never allowed his Churchmanship to limit his
sympathies with Christians of other names, and he counted
among his dearest friends the leading members of many other
Christian bodies. His devotion to the parishes of Trinity
Church, Boston, and St. Paul's Church, Brookline, was strong
and faithful. Phillips Brooks was his frequent guest and con
stant friend. Mr. Winthrop was for sixty years a member of

30 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OF
the vestry of Trinity Church, Boston. At several sessions of
the General Convention of the Episcopal Church he was a dele
gate from the Diocese of Massachusetts, and took an honorable
part in the discussions and legislations of the Church. His
simple faith and evangelical spirit, together with his dignity
of bearing, culture, and chivalric temper, combined in one
personality the best elements of the puritan and the cavalier.
Mr. Winthrop's religious faith was also revealed in a life of
charity. His great work in connection with the Peabody
Education Fund has already been alluded to. He was for
twenty-five years the President of the Boston Provident Asso
ciation, and for a number of years President of the Massachu
setts Bible Society and of the Children's Hospital. He held
positions of responsibility in many other associations. As an
Overseer of the Poor in Boston for several years, he devoted
much thought and time to the problems of pauperism and
poverty, even in their minutest details.
When Mr. Benjamin T. Reed founded the Episcopal Theo
logical School in Cambridge a little over twenty-five years
ago, Mr. Winthrop was one of the few gentlemen whom he
called to his counsel and aid. During his last years he was
the only surviving member of the original Board of Trustees,
and for over ten years he was the President. The School
marked its twenty-fifth anniversary by the erection of Win
throp Hall, given by patrons of the School in recognition of
Mr. Winthrop's services to the institution. Built of stone, of
English academic architecture, dignified and set back from
the street, the Hall is a fitting memorial of one who had so
deep an interest in all that Cambridge with its University and
other institutions represents.
Allow me to close these informal remarks with a few words
which suggest one or two other features of his character. In
exceptional characters we are often asked to pardon certain
weaknesses and breaches of true courtesy, but Mr. Winthrop
pardoned none such in himself. Though the sweep of his
interests was large, he allowed no details to be neglected.

ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 31
As the presiding officer of many associations he was not a
mere figure-head, but he gave freely of his time and thought to
the smaller as well as to the larger responsibilities of his posi
tion. Courtesy to the least detail was an essential element in
his character. Even in his later years, upon the entrance into
the room of a young man, Mr. Winthrop would struggle to
his feet in order that he might meet him with dignity and full
courtesy. Bishop Brooks used to say that one test of Christian
charity was to be found in a legible handwriting. Under
this test Mr. Winthrop stood high, and of the hundreds of let
ters that he wrote one will rarely find an erasure, but always
the free hand and the easy style of a true gentleman.
Mr. Charles Francis Adams then said : —
Although the present is a regular meeting of the Society,
held at the stated time, and notified in no unusual way, it is,
I presume, well understood that we are here to despatch no
business of routine, — to listen to no papers on general topics.
We have come with but one thought, our obligation as a
Society to Mr. Winthrop ; and to bear witness to the personal
and even affectionate regard we feel for the man.
Yet the occasion is not what I would have had it. I am, of
course, aware, as I presume all here are aware, that, in pur
suing this somewhat commonplace course, we are acting in
deference to Mr. Winthrop's understood wishes, as expressed
through members of his immediate family. He, who had for
so long been such an overshadowing personality in these
rooms, had come to look upon himself as more or less a mem
ory, — a shade from the past in them, — indeed, to many of
those who gather here only as a fading tradition, — and accord
ingly he thought best to intimate a desire that his death should
be noticed in no unusual way ; for, in his own estimate, he
had already long passed from the scene.
For one, it does not to me so seem, — far otherwise. In
this matter, therefore, — while careful to pay all due deference
to Mr. Winthrop's slightest wish, — the Society, I thought,

32 TRIBUTES to the MEMORY of
owed something to itself. It is under a debt of obligation to
him which made Mr. Winthrop — no matter how long he
might live or how completely the advance of age might sepa
rate him from us — ever and always our first and most prom
inent member, — in spirit and by general acceptance, as well
as in fact, the head of our roll. Any exceptional respect we
could pay his memory became therefore our privilege, from
which deference could not debar us. We owed on this occa
sion something to ourselves and to our own feelings. My
wish, therefore, was that now, as in the cases of Mr. Deane
and Mr. Parkman, the tribute of the Society should be em
phasized, and should go upon its records with all possible form
and solemnity. It was decided otherwise ; and I regretfully
concurred in the decision. Individually, I claim my privilege
now. Of Mr. Winthrop, I propose to speak as one of Us, — as for
more than fifty years a member of this Society and for thirty
years its President; but first I want to say a few words of
another aspect of his character, and to me a most attractive
aspect. As we go on in life, — as little by little we rid our
selves of the ambitions, the hungry craving and the eager self-
assertions of youth, and, accepting the position the world
assigns to us, one by one instinctively in our turn label our
ootemporaries, as we put them away in the pigeon-holes of
memory, — as we do this, I say, we come more and more to
realize that with men the essential thing, after all, is not what
they do, but what they are. In the course of a long life the
inner nature is surely revealed, whether in success or in adver
sity ; and better is he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh
a city. Much reference has been made since Mr. Winthrop's
death to his connection with public life, — so brilliant in its
beginning, and so soon, so long since, brought to an abrupt and
early close. It was to public life that Mr. Winthrop first
devoted himself; it was to that he felt a call; and, to the call,
he answered. His course was at the outset, and long, a suc
cession of triumphs ; — Speaker of the Massachusetts House

ROBERT C WINTHROP. 33
of Representatives at 29 ; member of Congress at 31 ; Speaker
of the National House of Representatives at 38 ; United States
Senator at 41 ; there seemed no prize of public life to which
he might not with reason as well as confidence aspire. All
this was so long ago that the generation which knew of it has
quite passed away ; but, a legend now, it was none the less a
reality then. Those even of fifty years do not realize, and
when told will hardly credit, the possibilities of both office
and influence which then seemed open to Mr. Winthrop, —
waiting for him to grasp them. To appreciate these possi
bilities one must go back out of the present, — back through
the forty-year deluge of events, — to the half-forgotten mem
ories or the unfamiliar records of what has become already an
historic — almost a remote — past. There was, for instance.
little in common between Robert Charles Winthrop and John
Greenleaf Whittier ; yet in July, 1854, Whittier, a man of 47,
wrote to Emerson thus of Winthrop,1 a man of 45, " I may
be mistaken, but I fully believe that Robert C. Winthrop holds
in his hands the destiny of the North," — and he then goes on
to point out how, by pursuing a certain political course, Mr.
Winthrop might fix the attitude of New England on the great
issue of the day. And even now, looking back beyond the
far different event, it seems to me the Quaker poet, who was
not lacking in political shrewdness, had reason for his faith.
He clearly saw in the impending upheaval the possibility for
Mr. Winthrop to take that course in New England politics
which at the very time Mr. Seward actually did take in the
politics of New York. As is evident now also, the opportunity
did exist.
This is no time to consider why Mr. Winthrop did not see
his way to grasp the great occasion. I will merely say that I
do not think his were the temper and the cast of mind to grapple
with the conditions of the time in which his lot was then cast.
He was by nature adapted for more orderly surroundings, more
formal and regular events ; and, just as two centuries earlier
1 Pickard, Life and Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier, p. 374.

34 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OF
and on another but not dissimilar stage, Hyde and Falkland
gave way to Pym and Vane, so in 1854 the trained and more
moderate public characters of the earlier period were forced
into the background by the fiercer energy of those by Nature
selected to do the rough, stern work then in hand to be done.
This Mr. Winthrop could at the time hardly see ; nor did
others, I remember, see it more clearly than he. Checked in
the full swim of success and thrown out of public life in 1851,
when only forty-two years of age, Mr. Winthrop had a right to
suppose that in his chosen career he had sustained a mere tem
porary reverse. And I remember well a remark of my father's
to me, — for, boy though I then was, I took an intense interest
in the politics of the day, — I well remember, I say, a remark
of my father's, who, at the time, was strenuous on the opposite
side to Mr. Winthrop, to the effect that, so far as Mr. Webster
was concerned, at his advanced age Mr. Sumner's election to
the Senate was a final and fatal political blow ; but as for Mr.
Winthrop, he added, " he has only, like every one else in poli
tics, had a stroke of ill-luck, — the wheel will turn again."
But, for Mr. Winthrop, the political wheel never did turn
again ; it stopped midway in his life, and it stopped when
its movement was fast, and seemed sure.
Then it was that the man's nature, coming to the surface,
slowly asserted itself for what it was worth. His chosen career
was thenceforth closed to him; and hope deferred maketh sick
the heart. To others belonged the prizes which had seemed
within his sure grasp ; and, at the age when to most life only
just begins to move on assured lines, the path closed for him.
He was destined thenceforth, a mere looker-on, to watch the
chosen arena in which it was no longer his to strive. The
acid of disappointment is to man's nature a test not less severe
than the intoxication of success ; and, under such circum
stances, the poorer nature is apt to evince bitterness, to indulge
in covert criticism, if not open attack, — to repine over lost
opportunities, and give way to discouragement and sloth.
With Mr. Winthrop there was none of this. Accepting the

ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 35
situation, dignified in defeat, he set to work in the narrower
field to which the chances of political life had consigned him,
and in that field made himself supremely useful ; nor this alone,
as the years passed on he became ever more dignified, more
gracious and more kindly in bearing and in speech, more chary
of criticism and more aidful in action. Like good wine, he
ever, even to the late end, improved with age. What more
or better could be said ? — It is not what we do, but what we
are ; and better is he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh
a city. But it is of Mr. Winthrop as member and President of this
Society, and not of Mr. Winthrop as a political character, that
I have said I more especially proposed to speak. As its Pres
ident through thirty years, — a third part nearly of its entire
existence at the time he resigned the position, — the Massa
chusetts Historical Society owes to Mr. Winthrop a debt of
obligation hard to overstate and impossible for it to pay. He
gave it form, consistence, character, dignity, momentum. For
such a Society as this, he was, too, an ideal head ; for not
only did he possess every essential attribute, but he pos
sessed each attribute in a high degree. The descendant of
him correctly known as "the Father of New England," a
patrician, a distinguished orator, an author as well as a care
ful historical investigator, a courteous and dignified presiding
officer having the interests of the Society always at heart,
Mr. Winthrop had not only means and a universally recog
nized social position, but in a marked degree also he had what
is known as the social faculty. So he loved to dispense a gen
erous hospitality ; and as one passed through his doors, there
came the feeling that he who entertained us was to the man
ner born, and that the Society participated in, was in itself
a part of, all that he had or was. As our President he thus
constantly magnified the position ; and in so doing he magni
fied our Society. Unless I greatly err, also, Mr. Winthrop, so
far as this organization was concerned, had an ideal which he
more than any man I have ever met was qualified to realize,

36 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OF
had fate been propitious to him, — a lofty ideal ; but he was
for himself and the work he thought to do not fortunate, —
he was a day too late in public life, a day too early in the evo
lution of learned societies. He should have been the Presi
dent of the American Academy ; and the time for the Ameri
can Academy has not yet come.
And when I speak of the American Academy, I have in
mind something which has not yet assumed form, — some
thing which our material and political conditions have in fact
hitherto not favored, and may render for a long time, perhaps
forever, impracticable. I am of those who think that neither
democracy, as it is called, nor democratic methods, have to do
with literature, science, or art. These, in their highest form,
are the ultimate results of a great concentration of life, wealth,
and thought, — of evolution, and the survival of the intellect
ual fittest. Just as there is no royal road, so there is no popu
lar path to true learning, or correct observation, or refined taste.
Instead of developing on our political lines, therefore, and
seeking expansion in the largest possible membership, as has
been too often the case with the so-called learned societies of
this country, the Academy should, it seems to me, run directly
counter to those lines, and seek to concentrate in itself only
the last and best results of educational effort. It is member
ship in the Academy that should be sought; and not members
for it. It was such a society as this, I think, that Mr. Win
throp had ever in mind ; a Society the seal of which should
be recognized as a mint mark ; a Society an election to which
should be to an American what an election to the Academy is
to a Frenchman, — the blue ribbon of letters. And surely, no
American of his day was so well qualified as Mr. Winthrop to
guide the policy and preside at the sittings of such a Society.
Industrious, methodical and learned, — grave, eloquent, digni
fied and courteous — coming of a distinguished ancestry to
which he himself gave new distinction, a leader in social life, —
he naturally assumed leadership there, and that leadership was
tacitly conceded to him. Thus endowed, he did much for us ;

ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 37
unfortunately, we could not in return give him a theatre suffi
cient for the full display. The stage at best was narrow, and
his audience small.
I have said that Mr. Winthrop was essentially a patrician ;
and in his case that word implies a great deal, — far more than
at once appears. More than any man I ever met, with the
exception possibly of the late President Quincy, Mr. Winthrop
filled the conception of what an hereditary peer in the best
English sense should be ; but, far more than Mr. Quincy, with
his robust, fiery energy, Mr. Winthrop gave one the idea of
being in this country somewhat out of place, — he was a little
declasse. He had to make his own position ; in England he
would have found it made for him, and he would have filled
it to perfection. He would have been in his native element
in the House of Lords, and, there, a potent factor for good.
It would have been the same in social life ; on the platform of
the learned or scientific association ; at the council board. He
would have worn his robes and upheld his coronet with grace
and native ease, as one born to them. He would have been
an ideal Speaker of the Commons ; and, as a Lord Lieutenant,
he would have carried himself as should the representative
of a Crown. Conscious of the responsibilities as well as of
the dignity of rank, he would never have forgotten its pres
tige or abused its privilege. Thus he would have vindicated
and justified an aristocracy ; while in a democracy, even though
born and brought up to it, he was never in all respects fully
at home. To him the atmosphere was thin and chill. Though
he probably never realized it, and might even have warmly,
though always courteously, have denied the imputation, he
would have thriven better in another clime, — amid an atmos
phere of tradition, recognition, and caste. Craving form and
state and ritual, he would, as I have said, have conferred
lustre on an Earldom.
Thus the going of Mr. Winthrop marks a veritable epoch in
the history of our Society. Through more than twenty years,
ever since the death of Mr. Savage in March, 1873, his name

38 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OF
has headed the roll of our membership, his presence has filled
this room. There is in the possession of the Society a photo
graph of its members grouped together in front of Mr. Win
throp's home at Brookline on an occasion when, as was his
wont, he entertained them there on a pleasant day in June
some thirty years ago. In that group the figure of Mr.
Winthrop is the central figure, — that about which the others
seem naturally to arrange themselves ; and one instantly ac
cepts the fact, feeling that it was right and proper it should
be so, — altogether appropriate and in accordance with the
fitness of things. That photograph was in its arrangement
typical of the Society, before and then and since. The first
name is stricken from our list ; the central figure gone from
our gatherings.
It lacks now less* than six months of a full score of years
since I first entered these rooms as a member. Mr. Winthrop
then occupied the chair which you, Sir, now fill ; for yet ten
years longer he continued to occupy that chair. For the rest,
the names since one by one dropped from our roll speak for
themselves ; and they speak too for our Society. Next to
Mr. Winthrop came my father ; and not far below was Hil-
lard. Further on were Richard Frothingham, Charles Deane
and Francis Parkman, a notable trio. The name of John
Lothrop Motley presently arrested the eye ; and then, in close
juxtaposition, those of Oliver Wendell Holmes and Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow, — par nobile fratrum. Jacob Bigelow
also was there, with Richard Henry Dana, Russell Lowell and
Edmund Quincy ; while Rockwood Hoar and Ralph Waldo
Emerson, the two survivors of the great Concord trium
virate, — the first still of us, but, alas ! never again to fill
here his accustomed chair ; the last an ever-mightier shade, —
these two fitly close the great procession. I have said that
Mr. Winthrop's stage here was narrow and his audience small ;
but those I have named constitute a goodly company. Then
they were all living men, — our associates here ; associates
than which no Society whether in the New World or in the Old

ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 39
could boast a choicer array. Orators, statesmen, and diplomats ;
historians, poets and conversationalists; wits, jurists, philan
thropists, philosophers, — they were, and they remain, a galaxy
the brilliancy of which time will only enhance. They are now
all names and memories ; but, great and radiant as many of
them are, they will ever in the memory of us, their survivors
in this room, group themselves naturally and as of course,
even as in the photograph I have referred to, about that one
dignified figure and gracious courtly presence, — the figure
and the presence of Robert Charles Winthrop.
The President then asked the members, without adopting a
formal vote, to express their regard and gratitude to their late
associate by rising, and all rose.
The Treasurer, Mr. Charles C. Smith, said that there were
some matters of business on which it was necessary or desirable
for the Society to take action at this meeting. As he had
stated, Mr. Winthrop's bequest of five thousand dollars had
already been paid into the treasury ; and he accordingly pre
sented the following vote, which was unanimously adopted : —
Voted, That a Fund be created to be called the Robert. C.
Winthrop Fund, the income whereof shall be expended for
such purposes as the Council may from time to time direct.

Our distinguished associate, Senator Hoar, was prevented
from being present at this meeting, owing to the session of
Congress ; but the esteem in which he held Mr. Winthrop is
evidenced by the following letter from him to the latter's son,
at whose request it is here inserted.
United States Senate, December 4, 1894.
My dear Mr. Winthrop, — In spite of your father's four
score and five years, and of the fact that few men living can
remember the time when he was not held to be one of the
great men of the country, it almost seems as if his death were
premature.

40 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY OF R. C WINTHROP.
His intellect seemed during these last years as vigorous and
fresh as when he made his first appearance in public on a
great occasion at the Harvard Centennial in 1836. He was
our finest example of the grand old name of gentleman, and
his departure is not merely the end of a great individual
career, but the severing of the last living tie with a great
generation. While my first political activity was in very earnest oppo
sition to the party of which he was one of the most conspicu
ous leaders, and while I believe he has never voted for the
candidates whom I supported, yet I have been in accord with
him in political opinion in many important particulars, and I
am gratified and surprised to see how constantly I find author
ity and support for the things I believe in some of his public
utterances. No one who has to speak on any important occa
sion on any subject connected with American politics or with
history or literature should fail to consult your father's four
volumes of Addresses and Speeches. They are storehouses,
not only of original thought, but of apt quotation and illus
tration ; and in his estimates of the character of his contem
poraries or of men of former generations, I hardly recall an
opinion which does not seem to me wise and sound, as well
as expressed with unequalled grace and eloquence.
He always treated me with the greatest consideration and
courtesy, and I was especially drawn to him from the fact of
his great esteem for my father, — an esteem which was fully
reciprocated, — and because of his great affection for Charles
Emerson, who was the idol of my childhood. There is no
man left who possesses such a store of rich and abundant
learning, or such rare oratorical powers, or such dignity and
grace of personal bearing, as were your father's.
" The knights are dust."
I am, with high personal regard, faithfully yours,
George F. Hoar.
Robert C. Winthrop, Jr., Esq.

After the foregoing addresses were in type, and just
one week from the date of this meeting, the President
of the Society, Rev. George E. Ellis, D.D., LL.D.,
died suddenly of apoplexy, at his house, 110 Marl
borough Street, Boston, in his eighty-first year.

YALE UNIVERSITY

a39002 00it3369tt8b