land than in any one of the Northern States, notwithstanding the disa
bilities and stricter police to which they are subjected. And there is a
still greater number in Virginia. I speak from memory, without having
the census before me. But I think I am not mistaken in the fact.
It is difficult for any one who has not lived in a slaveholding State to
comprehend the relations which practically exist between the slaves and
their masters. They are in general kind on both sides, unless the slave
is tampered with by ill-disposed persons ; and his life is usually cheerful
and contented, and free from any distressing wants or anxieties. He is
well taken care of in infancy, in sickness, and in old age. There are,
indeed, exceptions, painful exceptions. But this will always be the
case, where power combined with bad passions or a mercenary spirit is
on one side, and weakness on the other. It frequently happens when
248 LETTER OF CHIEF-JUSTICE TANEY.
both parties are of the same race, although the weaker and dependent
one may not be legally a slave.
Unquestionably it is the duty of every master to watch over the relig
ious and moral culture of his slaves, and to give them every comfort and
privilege that is not incompatible with the continued existence of the
relations between them. And so far as my knowledge extends, this duty
is faithfully performed by the great body of hereditary slaveholders in
Maryland and Virginia. I speak of these States only, because with re
spect to them I have personal knowledge of the subject. But I have no
reason to suppose it is otherwise in States farther south. And I know it
has been the desire of the statesmen of Maryland to secure to the slave
by law every protection from maltreatment by the master that can with
safety be given, and without impairing that degree of authority which is
essential to the interest and well-being of both. But this question is a
very delicate one, and must at all times be approached with the utmost
caution. The safe and true line must always depend upon existing cir
cumstances, and they must be thoroughly inquired into and understood
before there can be any safe or useful legislation in a State.
The pains which have unhappily been taken for some years past to
produce discontent and ill-feeling in the subject race, has rendered any
movement in that direction still more difficult. For it has naturally
made the master more sensitive and jealous of any new restriction upon
the power he has heretofore exercised, and which he has been accustomed
to think essential to the maintenance of his authority as master. And
he also feels that any step in that direction at the present time might
injuriously affect the minds of the slaves. They are, for the most part,
weak, credulous, and easily misled by stronger minds. And if in the
present state of things additional restrictions were placed on the authority
of the master, or new privileges granted to them, they would probably
be told that they were wrung from the master by their Northern friends ;
and be taught to regard them as the first step to a speedy and universal
emancipation, placing them on a perfect equality with the white race. It
is easy to foresee what would be the sad result of such an impression
upon the minds of this weak and credulous race.
Your review of the decision in the case of Dred Scott is a fair one,
and states truly the opinion of the court. It will, I hope, correct some
of the misrepresentations which have so industriously been made ; and
made, too, I fear, by many who must have known better. But I do not
mean to publish any vindication of the opinion ; or of my own consist
ency, or the consistency of the court. For it would not become the
Supreme Court, or any member of it, to go outside of the appropriate
LETTER OF CHIEF-JUSTICE TANEY. 249
sphere of judicial proceedings, and engage in a controversy with any
one who may choose from any motive to misrepresent its opinion. The
opinion must be left to speak for itself. And it is for that reason that I
hope you will pardon me for requesting that you will not permit this let
ter to be published in the newspapers or otherwise. Not that I am not
perfectly ready on all proper occasions to say publicly every thing I have
said in this letter. But in the judicial position I have the honor to oc
cupy, I ought not to appear as a volunteer in any political discussion ;
and still less would it become me out of court and off the bench to dis
cuss a question which has been there determined. And I have written
to you (although a stranger) thus freely from the personal respect with
which the perusal of your pamphlet has inspired me. I am not a slave
holder. More than thirty years ago I manumitted every slave I ever
owned, except two, who were too old, when they became my property, to
provide for themselves. These two I supported in comfort as long as
they lived. And I am glad to say that none of those whom I manumit
ted disappointed my expectations, but have shown by their conduct that
they were worthy of freedom, and knew how to use it.
With great respect, I am, sir,
Your obedient servant,
R. B. TANEY.
The Rev. SAMUEL NOTT,
Wareham, Mass.
EE-OPENING OF THE DOWSE LIBRARY.
ADDRESS AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL
SOCIETY, APRIL 10, 1873.
I AM sure, gentlemen, you will all agree with me that this
is an occasion for brief mutual felicitations rather than for for
mal addresses. You would hardly pardon me, however, if I
were to take the chair this morning in silence.
I congratulate you cordially that we are once more in pos
session of our own Building ; once more assembled in the Dowse
Library ; once more surrounded by the beautiful books and
memorials of our greatest benefactor ; with all the associations
which have endeared these apartments to us during the last
sixteen years.
A full year has elapsed since we relinquished the occupation
of this Building, and gave it up to the purposes of reconstruc
tion. We then undoubtedly looked forward to a somewhat
earlier return, and some impatience may have occasionally been
felt that the work was not more rapidly advanced and sooner
completed. But we have no regrets to-day. We are all satis
fied that the committee of our Society, who have superin
tended the changes, have done their whole duty faithfully and
thoroughly, and that they have no share of the responsibility of
the delay, if delay there has been, in bringing the work to a
successful completion. Our best thanks are due to them all ;
and I can do no injustice to any one else, by naming Mr. Mason,
Mr. E. B. Bigelow, and Mr. Brooks, not forgetting our Treas
urer and Librarian, who were associated with them, as those to
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RE-OPENING OF THE DOWSE LIBRARY. 251
whom our special acknowledgments are due. They will present
their own report in the course of the morning, and I will not
anticipate the statements which that report will abundantly
contain.
It does not become us to speak too boastfully of what has
been accomplished. We may well use the word " fire-proof"
with something more of reserve than we might have done before
the great conflagration of the 9th and 10th of November last.
There may be casualties and catastrophes in a crowded city like
ours, against which no precautions can entirely protect us. But
it is an unspeakable satisfaction to those who are called officially
to watch over these historical treasures, and to myself, certainly,
as one of them, to know that they are at last secure from all
common dangers, and that we have done every thing in our
power, even to the extent of subjecting ourselves to the incon
venience of ascending an additional stairway, in order to place
the precious books and papers which have been intrusted to our
care beyond the reach of ordinary accidents.
It is no small enhancement of our satisfaction that the changes
have been made in co-operation with our City Government,
whose prompt acceptance of the apartments provided for such
important places of deposit as the Probate Office and the Reg-
istery of Deeds, is the best guaranty that no considerations of
safety have been neglected in what has been done here.
It is, certainly, not less a matter of congratulation that, costly
as the reconstruction has been, the Society has incurred no debt
which it may not confidently hope to see liquidated by a per
sistent application of a part of our income to a sinking-fund for
the next fifteen or twenty years. To such a course the good
faith of the Society is pledged.
If the result of the whole operation shall be to leave us, for
some time to come, with more restricted resources than we
could wish, we shall still have a larger income than we have
ever heretofore enjoyed ; while the very fact of our having
made so considerable an outlay for the security of treasures in
which the whole community are interested, as well as ourselves,
may, it is hoped, commend us to the favor of those whose gen
erous benefactions are the pride of our City and State, and who
252 RE-OPENING OF THE DOWSE LIBRARY.
are never long wanting to a really worthy cause. Some other
Thomas Dowse, some other Samuel Appleton, some other George
Peabody, may hereafter appear, to complete the endowments
which we so much need. Some other James Savage may re
member us, living or dying, and secure a grateful memory for
himself, while aiding us to illustrate and perpetuate the history
of our Commonwealth and Country.
Well, then, may we enter on the occupation of our renewed
apartments, to-day, with hopeful as well as grateful hearts, and
look forward confidently to a new term of prosperity and use
fulness and honor for the Society which is so dear to us all.
It was just sixteen years yesterday, since we first entered on
the possession of the noble library of Thomas Dowse, which is
arranged around us again precisely as it was on that day. None
of those who were then present as members of the Society can
fail to recall the scenes and circumstances of that Annual Meet
ing. The late venerable Josiah Quincy and James Savage, you
all remember, marshalled us into our beautiful room ; and they
were followed by Edward Everett and Jared Sparks and George
Ticknor, by Chief-Justice Shaw and Judge White, by the Rev.
Drs. Jenks and Frothingham and Francis, by Nathan Appleton
and David Sears, and William Appleton and William Sturgis,
by Dr. Joseph E. Worcester and President Felton and Nath
aniel Ingersoll Bowditch, and by not a few other eminent and
excellent men, whom we may look to see no more in the old
accustomed seats. We recall them all at this hour with re
spectful and affectionate remembrance, and feel deeply how
hard it has been, how hard it will ever be, to fill the places
which they left vacant.
But there is one form which rises before me at this moment,
out of the associations of that occasion, which cannot be grouped
with any of those whom we have since lost. It stands alone.
Eager, ardent, impulsive, full of hope, never tired of labor in
any good service, and least of all in our service, good, kind
George Livermore presents himself before the eyes of many of
us at this hour as he did then, with the key of our new room in
his hand, from which it was my privilege to receive it, beckon
ing us forward, and bidding us enter and take formal possession
RE-OPENING OF THE DOWSE LIBRARY. 253
of the Library which we had owed in so great a degree to his
effective intervention ; and adding, in behalf of the late la
mented Eben Dale and himself, the executors of Mr. Dowse, a
gift of 110,000 as a fund for its preservation.
To no one of its members has our Society been more indebted
than to George Livermore. No one was more valuable to us in
every way while he lived. No one has been more missed by us
since his death. I should feel that I had omitted one of the
first obligations of this occasion, if I had not given some expres
sion to the grateful and tender regard with which we all cherish
his memory. His portrait upon these walls must never be dis
placed.
I must not conclude, gentlemen, without a special word of
congratulation, that we return to the same old site which has
been so long associated with the labors and the laborers of
our Society, and that our windows still look out on so many
memorials of the earliest Ministers and Magistrates of our
State and City. The first meeting of our Society, in 1791,
when there were but ten members, was held at Judge Tudor s
house. Before the year of the organization was completed, a
room had been obtained in what was known as " The Manu
factory House," in Hamilton Place ; and subsequent meetings
were held in one of the attics of Faneuil Hall. But since the
incorporation of the Society, in 1794, it has had, I believe, but
two places of meeting. Simultaneously with the Act of Incor
poration, " a spacious and convenient apartment for the Library
and Cabinet, in Franklin Place," was given to the Society " by
the gentlemen who first improved that spot in the town for use
ful and elegant building." So says the printed circular letter
which I hold in my hand. It forms a part of my own original
certificate of membership, dated October 31, 1839. It is the
only certificate, let me add, which I ever received. I trust my
membership will not be disputed, because I cannot produce one
of the parchment diplomas, which were introduced at a later
day. This certificate, and the circular letter subjoined to it,
signed by Thaddeus Mason Harris, were prepared and printed
while the Society was still occupying the apartment given to it,
in 1794, by Charles Bulfinch, William Scollay, and Charles
254 RE-OPENING OF THE DOWSE LIBRARY.
Vaughan, the projectors of the improvements of which it
formed a part, and which is described in the circular as " over
the arched way, in the Crescent, Franklin Place, Boston."
These words, however, in my own certificate, were, of course,
erased, and the words " over the Savings Bank, Tremont
Street," written with a pen ; the Society having relinquished
that room just six years before my election, and having estab
lished itself here.
That old " arched way in the Crescent " has long since disap
peared, and the magnificent warehouses which replaced it have
recently perished in the flames of the great Boston fire. We may
well be grateful that we were no longer within the range or reach
of that disastrous conflagration. The Society had occupied that
site, if site it could be called, being a suspended arch in whose
foundations we had no fee, for thirty-nine years. We have
had possession of this site for just forty years.
Let us hope that, in the good providence of God, another term,
of at least forty years, may be enjoyed here, by us and our suc
cessors, in security. At this hour, certainly, we will contem
plate no other removals or changes. Sufficient unto this day
is the good thereof. As I look back on the perplexities and
discouragements which surrounded us during the whole year
which preceded our final decision to do what we have now
done, and as I remember the impatience and almost despair of
which I was myself at some hours conscious, I cannot but feel
that light has indeed sprung up out of darkness, and joyful
gladness for such as have the true interests of our Society at
heart. It only remains for us to resolve that our future work
shall not be unworthy of the opportunities and advantages
which have now been so auspiciously opened to us.
BISHOP McILVAINE.
ADDRESS AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE PEABODY
EDUCATION FUND, JULY 16, 1873.
GENTLEMEN OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE PEABODY
EDUCATION FUND :
You will not have forgotten that, at our last meeting, it was
voted, after much deliberation and discussion, that the Annual
Meeting of the Board should hereafter be held in the city of
New York, in the month of July, the precise day to be fixed
by the Chairman and General Agent, after due consultation with
the members individually.
We are here, accordingly, on the day agreed upon by Dr.
Sears and myself, after such correspondence with others as gave
us the best hope that we might rely on the attendance of at
least a majority of the Board. In that hope I am glad to per
ceive that we are not disappointed, a quorum of the Trustees
being now present, and ready for business.
But before proceeding to the formal duties for which we are
assembled, it is fit that I should call your attention to the sad
vacancy which has been created in our little circle since we last
met.
Our venerable and beloved associate, Bishop Mcllvaine, died
at Florence, Italy, on the thirteenth day of March last. He
had been one of the Trustees from our first organization at
Washington, on the 8th of February, 1867, and was named by
Mr. Peabody, in his original letter of endowment, as the second
Vice-Chairman of the Board. He was at the head of our Ex-
[255]
256 BISHOP McILVAINE.
ecutive Committee from that time until his death, and our
records bear constant testimony to the diligence and efficiency
with which he discharged the duties of that position. He had,
from the outset, a deep sense of the importance of the work
committed to us, and of his own share of the responsibility for
its faithful execution. No personal inconvenience or discomfort,
in long journeys from Cincinnati to Washington, or Richmond,
or Philadelphia, or New York, ever prevented his punctual
attendance at our Annual or Special Meetings ; and, even in the
depth of the Avinter of 1870, while already suffering from symp
toms which foreshadowed the end, he could not be deterred from
coming on to unite with us, at Danvers, in paying the last trib
ute to our illustrious Founder.
We missed his wonted presence, for the first time, at our
Annual Meeting in Boston last year ; but he had then already
been ordered by his physicians to seek rest and recreation once
more in foreign lands, and had sailed for Europe, on the previous
18th of May, never to return.
This is not the occasion for speaking of our venerated and
lamented friend in his relations to the Church of which he was
so eminent a minister. As pastor of more than one conspicuous
parish ; as Chaplain, and Professor of Ethics, at the United
States Military Academy at West Point ; as the author of a
little work on the Evidences of Christianity, of which hardly
less than fifty thousand copies have been printed, in our own
and other languages, and which is still among the class-books of
our theological schools ; and, more than all, as the devoted
Bishop of the Diocese of Ohio for more than forty years, he
has left a record which might well be envied by any prelate of
his country or his age, and which will not fail to secure an en
during reverence for his name and memory.
Nor will his services in connection with the Christian Com
mission during the late civil war, and his quasi diplomatic
employment abroad, by our department of State, during the
most critical period of that war, be suffered to pass into ob
livion, by those whose province it may be to make up the recent
history of our country.
It is only for us, however, to remember, to-day, his unwearied
BISHOP McILVATNE. 257
devotion to the work in which we are engaged, and the wise,
kind, genial spirit in which he entered into all our deliber
ations and doings. No presence at our Board was ever more
welcome than that of " the good Bishop," as we involuntarily
found ourselves calling him. No counsel was more judicious,
no speech more conciliatory, no social intercourse more winning
and inspiring than his. Of a form and countenance which often
suggested the image of Washington ; of a life and conversation
ever in keeping with the dignity and sacredness of his calling,
there was yet a cheeriness intermingled with his gravity, a viva
city and gayety " within the limits of becoming mirth," which
made him one of the most charming of companions. Meantime,
the grand spirit of Christian courtesy and charity and love, which
so conspicuously distinguished his whole career, in every sacred
as well as in every secular relation, made us all feel, as I am sure
we all do feel at this moment, that it was a privilege to be asso
ciated with him in our work, and that his loss is one which, for
ourselves, we cannot too deeply deplore. For him, at so ad
vanced an age, with such a life to look back upon, and such a life
to look forward to by faith in the future, there can be no regret.
Writing to me in 1869, he said in reference to Mr. Peabody:
"There is a difference of four years between his age and mine.
There may be much less between the times of our going hence.
I have no desire to remain here. To be with our blessed Lord
is far better."
Bishop Mcllvaine had the good fortune many years ago to win
the confidence and affection of our ever-honored Founder. Nor
is it only with this one of Mr. Peabody s great benefactions that
his memory is entitled to be associated. It was to him, then in
England, that Mr. Peabody, in 1859, communicated, among the
very first, his purpose of making a great gift for the benefit of
the poor of London. At Mr. Peabody s request, the Bishop
entered at once into confidential correspondence with the eminent
philanthropist, Lord Shaftesbury, in regard to the particular
form which this gift should assume, and the special purpose to
which it should be applied. I have been privileged to see that
correspondence, and have thus been enabled to appreciate the
important part taken by our lamented friend in the original
17
258 BISHOP McILVAINE.
arrangement of that munificent London endowment. And
when, two years afterwards, the scheme was finally consummated
and divulged, Bishop Mcllvaine, being again in England, was
one of the few friends of whom Mr. Peabody took counsel in
preparing his memorable letter to the Lord Mayor of London,
announcing the donation of one hundred and fifty thousand
pounds sterling for improving the dwellings of the poor. At
the close of the last year, that noble Trust represented a total
sum of 228,000, and another sum of 150,000 is to be added
to the principal during the present year, if it lias not already
been done, in accordance with the will of Mr. Peabody ; while
no less than eight hundred and forty -seven families, consisting
of 3,407 persons, as appears from special inquiry in May, 1872,
were then occupying apartments which had been provided from
this Fund.
There was thus a peculiar appropriateness, greater than
was perhaps understood at the time, and quite apart from his
eminence as a churchman and a Bishop, that the remains of
one who had been so leading an adviser of this great English
benefaction, should have found, as they did find, a temporary
repose, on their way to their final resting-place, near his own
American home, in the same renowned and consecrated
Abbey, within whose walls, under similar circumstances, the
remains of George Peabody himself, a few years before, had been
the subject of funeral honors.
Our good Bishop rejoiced, as indeed we all do, in the signal
success of that endowment for the London Poor, hardly less
thaii in the prosperous progress of our own work. Differing
in their design and character as widely as they do in their local
ity, but prompted by the same benevolent heart and established
by the same munificent hand, these two great Trusts have had a
common blessing upon them thus far; and no one has been
more constant or more fervent, than our lamented associate, in
invoking that blessing from Him, from whom alone it could
come.
I will not anticipate the Report of our excellent General
Agent by entering into any account of what has been accom
plished in our own peculiar field of labor during the past year.
BISHOP McILVAINE. 259
That Report will tell its own story, and will show, if I mistake
not, that more than a hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars
from our own Fund have been expended, in co-operation with
six or seven times that sum contributed by the people of the
Southern States, in the cause of education since our last meet
ing ; thus making hardly less than a full million of dollars, ex
pended in a single year, under the direction of our General
Agent, and as the result of the Peabody Trust, for free common
schools in the South.
But I will not detain you longer from the satisfaction of
listening to the details of that Report. I have only desired to
bring before you, for your formal notice, the great loss we have
sustained in the death of Bishop Mcllvaine, and to open the
way for entering on our records some expression of the deep
sense, entertained by us all, of his noble character and faithful