journeyings amongst those sublime exhibitions of Nature, and
the myriad treasures of ancient and modern art which I have
had opened to me on every hand, has been to satisfy me that
my tastes are better suited to the enjoyment of the works of
Him, the great Artist and Architect of the universe, than to
those of the most gifted of His children, wonderful and beauti
ful as they are."
In less than six weeks from this date he had embarked at
Liverpool, and he reached his native shore safely about the
middle of November following. He felt, as he said, like a new
man, and resumed his work without the interval of a day. On
the 17th of November he presided at the Annual Meeting of
the Boston and Providence Railroad Corporation, and made a
felicitous address to the assembled stockholders, who had come
together under the discouragement of a reduced dividend.
Among other things, he spoke of the new Station-house, in
which they were assembled, as having been pronounced by a
German architect, who, after visiting the Centennial Exposi
tion at Philadelphia, had come from Philadelphia to Boston ex
pressly for the purpose of inspecting it, " the model Railway
Station of the world." But his remarks were rendered especially
memorable by his declaration, that he was not only entirely
satisfied that the dividend had been rightly reduced, but that he
desired, if any reduction of the pay-roll of the road was to be
made, that his own salary should be reduced first, and the
wages of the workmen last, or not at all. He struck a true
chord, and kindled a responsive note all along the line. Had
such an example been followed in other parts of the country, it
is not impossible that some of the deplorable outbreaks of later
days might happily have been averted. No wonder that, when
his funeral took place a few weeks afterwards, not a few of the
flowers heaped upon his coffin were the offerings of the em
ployes of the Road, and that one of them was heard exclaim
ing, " I would give every dollar I have in the world for the
Governor."
Before Governor Clifford embarked for Europe, he had de
clined appointments as United States Minister both to Russia
23
354 EX-GOYERNOR CLIFFORD.
and to Turkey, which had been successively offered to him by
the Administration at Washington. He had, however, previ
ously accepted an appointment as United States Commissioner
on the Fisheries under the Arbitration Treaty with Great
Britain, now at last in session at Halifax, and had always
contemplated fulfilling that appointment.
But his work was ended, public and private. Indeed, he had
hardly reached his home in New Bedford, after a brief stay in
Boston where he arrived, and was but just beginning to receive
from his old friends and neighbors the tokens of welcome which
had awaited him, when a disease of the heart, which had given
mysterious indications in former years, was now unmistakably
manifested. A very few weeks sufficed to bring it to a crisis ;
and on the morning of the 2d of January, 1876, his death was
announced.
Happily for him, and for all to whom he was so dear, he was
permitted to die in his native land, under his own roof, sur
rounded by life-long friends and a devoted family. Not with
out hopes of recovery to the last, he was yet ready for the
summons when it came ; and no murmur ever escaped his lips
at the dispensations of the kind Providence in which he had
always lovingly trusted.
Cordial tributes to his career and character were paid by the
Legislature of Massachusetts, then in session ; by the Bar of
the Southern District ; by the various Associations with which
he was connected ; by the Overseers of the University; by the
Railroad corporation over which he had presided ; and by the
public journals throughout the country. His funeral was
attended by a great concourse of his friends and fellow-citizens
at New Bedford, on the following Thursday.
Thus truly did he fulfil the idea contained in a letter written
by him, just as I was embarking to return from Europe, in Sep
tember, 1868 : " But all our journeyings, whether on one side
or both sides of the ocean, are only carrying us all to that home,
which at the farthest is not distant from any one of us."
Governor Clifford s life had not been altogether unclouded.
In his earlier years he had many sorrows. Any one who shall
visit the stately granite Monument which has just been placed
EX-GOVERNOR CLIFFORD. 355
over his remains in the New Bedford cemetery, will observe at
its side the humbler stones which tell of the death of four chil
dren, two daughters and two sons, all cut off at a very
early age. On the stones which mark the graves of the little
boys, are inscribed, " Edward Everett Clifford," and " Robert
Winthrop Clifford."
I should hardly be pardoned, were I to omit from this
cursory record of his life an extract from his touching letter
of 29 August, 1843, informing me of the death of this latter
child :
" MY DEAR FRIEND, Your heart I know will bleed for me when I
announce to you that your sweet little namesake has left us for a better
world. We have added another to the angel throng ; and although that
world is as real to me as the earth upon which I tread, and the blessed
existence of my precious flock is as certain as my own, it has been an in
expressibly bitter trial to part with my only boy. I had indulged in high
hopes for him, and he gave all the promise that infancy could give that
his future career would justify them all. He was the sweetest tempered,
the most equable and placid, of all my children ; and in his beautiful ex
pression of countenance and his finely-formed head we could not but dis
cover the germ of a rich maturity. With his name, too, I need not say,
were associations which increased and strengthened the interest and hopes
with which I looked forward to his future years. It has not infrequently
occurred to me that, if I should be called away from him before his edu
cation for this life s duties had been completed, your interest in him
would have given him the advantage of your counsel and direction ; and
that, for his father s sake and his own, you would have so watched his
progress as that he should bear that name through the trials and tempta
tions of youth with honor. But alas, for my desolate hearthstone, not
alas for him, he has exchanged our guidance for His who will lead
him by the still waters of Paradise, and make him to lie down in its
green pastures by the side of those dear ones who have already wel
comed him to their eternal home."
These early sorrows, however, were abundantly compensated
by the blessings of his later life ; and, at his death, he left three
sons, all of them graduates of Harvard, and two daughters,
to comfort their mother, and to do honor to his own memory.
I can close this brief Memoir with nothing more appropriate
356 EX-GOVERNOR CLIFFORD.
than the following passage from the tribute paid to Governor
Clifford by a distinguished statesman of Virginia (the Hon.
Alexander H. H. Stuart), when his death was announced at
the Annual Meeting of the Peabody Trustees, at the White
Sulphur Springs, in Virginia, last August :
" It requires no effort of memory, on our part, to recall his manly
figure and noble face. They are indelibly imprinted on our minds and
hearts. Nature had so moulded his form and features as to give the
world assurance of his admirable character. There was a quiet dignity
and grace in every movement, and his countenance beamed with intel
ligence and benignity. To a mind of great power he united a heart
which throbbed with generous impulses, and a happy facility of expres
sion which gave a peculiar charm to his conversation. There was a
frankness in his bearing and a genial urbanity about him, which at once
commanded confidence and inspired good-will. Every one who ap
proached him felt attracted by a .species of personal magnetism, which
was irresistible.
" When last autumn, in New York, I was urging that the present
session of our Board should be held here, in the mountains of Virginia,
one of the great pleasures which I anticipated was the opportunity which
it would present of introducing Governor Clifford to my Virginia friends.
I felt sure that they would share my favorable regard for him, and thus
a new link of fraternity would be added to the chain of memories which
unite Massachusetts and Virginia. But it has pleased an All-wise Prov
idence to ordain that it should be otherwise ; and all that I can now
do is, on behalf of the people of Virginia and of the South, to tender
to Massachusetts the assurance of their profound sympathy in the
loss which she has sustained in the untimely death of her distinguished
son !
OCTOBER, 1877.
LORD STANHOPE.
REMARKS AT A MEETING OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
JANUARY 13, 1876.
IN some introductory remarks, on resuming the chair at our
October meeting, I alluded to Earl STANHOPE, as the only sur
vivor of our Honorary and Corresponding Members, elected
from Old England, prior to the amendment of our Charter in
1857 ; and as one, also, from whom I had received many kind
attentions during my late visit to Europe. I have learned,
with sincere sorrow, that he died on the 24th of December
last.
Few men have filled a larger space than he has done, for
thirty years past, in the literary circles of England. As Presi
dent of the old London Society of Antiquaries during that
whole period ; as an active Trustee, for many years, of the
British Museum ; as Chairman of the Trustees of the Historical
Portrait Gallery, of which he was the original proposer ; as
President of the Literary Fund Society, over one of whose
annual festivals, as he told me, he once invited Longfellow to
preside ; as one of the earliest suggesters and supporters of that
Historical-Papers Commission, which is bringing to light, from
year to year, so many precious memorials of the olden time,
and which has lately added some new pages to the records of
the old Council for New England ; in all these, and in still
other relations, he has identified himself with the best interests
of history, literature, and art.
Meantime, his own contributions to historical literature have
been numerous and important. Many of them were published
[357]
358 LORD STANHOPE.
before his succession to the Earldom in 1855, and the original
editions are found in our libraries under the title of Lord
Mahon. His whole works can hardly be contained in less than
twenty volumes. His largest and most elaborate production, in
seven or eight volumes, is a History of England, from the Peace
of Utrecht, in 1713, to the Peace of Versailles, in 1783 ; and it
includes, of course, a somewhat detailed account of our own
Revolutionary struggle, and of the stirring controversies which
preceded it. There are, doubtless, many things in that account
which would hardly be accepted on our side as entirely accu
rate or just ; but no one can read it, I think, without being im
pressed with the sincerity and general fairness of the writer, nor
certainly without recognizing the diligence and depth of his
researches. His tribute to Washington may be recalled, as an
illustration of the spirit in which it is written :
" It has been justly remarked," says he, " that of General Washing
ton there are fewer anecdotes to tell than perhaps of any other great man
on record. So equally framed were the features of his mind, so harmonious
all its proportions, that no one quality rose salient above the rest. There
were none of those chequered hues, none of those warring emotions, in
which biography delights. There was no contrast of lights and shades, no
flickering of the flame ; it was a mild light that seldom dazzled, but that
ever cheered and warmed. His contemporaries or his close observers
as Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Gallatin assert that he had naturally strong
passions, but had attained complete mastery over them. In self-control,
indeed, he has never been surpassed. If sometimes, on rare occasions,
and on strong provocation, there was wrung from him a burst of anger,
it was almost instantly quelled by the dominion of his will. He decided
surely, though he deliberated slowly ; nor could any urgency or peril
move him from his serene composure, his calm, clear-headed, good sense.
Integrity and truth were also ever present in his mind. Not a single
instance, as I believe, can be found in his whole career where he was im
pelled by any but an upright motive, or endeavored to attain an object
by any but worthy means. Such are some of the high qualities which
have justly earned for General Washington the admiration even of the
country he opposed, and not merely the admiration, but the gratitude and
affection of his own. Such was the pure and upright spirit, to which,
when its toils were over and its earthly course had been run, was offered
the unanimous homage of the assembled Congress, all clad in deep mourn-
LORD STANHOPE. 359
ing for their common loss, as to the man first in war, first in peace, and
first in the hearts of his fellow-citizens. At this day in the United
States the reverence for his character is, as it should be, deep and uni
versal, and not confined, as with nearly all our English statesmen, to one
party, one province, or one creed."
Before publishing this History of England, in successive vol
umes, between 183T and 1852, Lord Stanhope had written a
Life of Belisarius, a Life of the Great Conde , a History of the
War of the Succession in Spain, an account of the Court of
Spain in the time of Charles II., and a volume of Historical
Essays ; besides editing the Letters of his distant kinsman, the
celebrated Earl of Chesterfield, whose admirable portrait by
Gainsborough was among the treasures of Chevening, his seat
in Kent, where, too, I saw the splendid Sir Joshua of Lord
Chatham.
Since the History of England was published, he has written
a Life of his illustrious relative, the younger William Pitt, in
four volumes, and a History of the Reign of Queen Anne, in
one volume. 1 This last work was undertaken in order to bridge
over the gap between the unfinished History of England, by
his friend Lord Macaulay, and his own History from the Peace
of Utrecht. Amid all this labor, he was, also, a frequent con
tributor to the " Quarterly Review" and other periodicals, and
published at least two little volumes of Miscellanies, in one of
which there is an interesting correspondence between him and
our late associate, Mr. Ticknor.
Lord Stanhope was a statesman as well as an historian. He
was for twenty years or more a member of the House of Com
mons, during the life of his father. He was Under-Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs, while the great Duke of Wellington
was Secretary ; and, during a part of the ministry of Sir Robert
Peel, he was Secretary of the Board of Control.
It was a striking tribute to the confidence which Lord Stan
hope s character had inspired, that both the Duke of Wellington
and Sir Robert Peel made him one of their literary executors.
He was one of the editors of Peel s Papers, and it seems to be
1 Two volumes, 12mo.
360 LORD STANHOPE.
understood that a posthumous publication of his will furnish
new illustration of the Duke s career.
From the time of his succession to the Earldom, Lord Stan
hope has been a diligent attendant on the House of Peers, and
from time to time has participated in important debates. He
made no pretensions, however, to the fame of an orator ; nor
had his style, either as a speaker or writer, any thing of the
brilliant flow and glow of Macaulay, or of the rugged strength
and raciness of Carlyle. But his language is precise and clear ;
his narrative lively and entertaining ; and his works will always
be consulted and read for their substantial merits, and as valua
ble authorities on the subjects to which they relate. He was a
laborious student, a classical scholar, a devoted historian and
antiquary, careful to sift as well as to search, indulging in few
speculations, and never perverting the materials he had gathered
to the support of any previously conceived theories. He ear
nestly sought truth, and independently maintained the views to
which his researches and convictions led. him.
In 1872, Earl Stanhope was elected one of the six foreign
associates of the French Academy of Moral and Political
Sciences, in the place of the late Mr. Grote, a distinction
which no American, except Edward Livingston, has ever yet
enjoyed. 1
It is interesting to-day, as we make mention of his labors and
announce their close, to recall the circumstances under which
Lord Stanhope s name was placed on our own roll. There had
been a painful controversy between him and the late excellent
Jared Sparks. Explanations had abundantly intervened ; and
if all misunderstandings were not cleared up, and all differences
reconciled, there was at least that respectful recognition of each
other s claims and character, which left no room for personal
asperity or animosity. President Sparks soon afterwards came
to one of our meetings, and, with many kind and complimentary
remarks, presented the name of Lord Stanhope for the highest
honor we could pay him. It was a charming exhibition of the
1 This distinction was subsequently enjoyed by our lamented associate, Mr.
Motley; and, since his death, has been awarded to Mr. li. W. Emerson, another of
the resident members of our Society.
LORD STANHOPE. 361
spirit in which " the quarrels of authors " should end. The
name of Dr. Sparks, not long before, had been added to the
honorary roll of the Society of Antiquaries, under the auspices
of Lord Stanhope.
The last two years of Earl Stanhope s life had been darkened
by the death of his wife, a lady of great attractions, endeared
to him and to all around her by the most amiable and brilliant
qualities, the ornament of the circle in which she moved. It
was my privilege to be present, last summer, on the first occa
sion when he received any formal company after his afflicting
bereavement. It was a dinner for the Council and Directors of
the Antiquaries, over whom he still presided ; and it was not
difficult to perceive how great an effort it cost him to seem
resigned and cheerful. But from this time he systematically
resumed the discharge of his duties both to Parliament and to
the literary associations with which he was connected; and was
even beginning, as he told me, to contemplate some new publi
cations. But his work was ended. An attack of pneumonia
proved fatal after a few days. Born at Walmer Castle on the
30th of January, 1805, he died on the 24th of December,
1875.
WILLIAM LAMBARDE.
REMARKS AT A MEETING OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
JANUARY 13, 1876.
ONE of my last visits in England was to Seven Oaks, one of
the most beautiful little towns in the lovely County of Kent.
Being there on a Sunday, I attended service at the old church,
and there as almost everywhere else, indeed, in England I
found something of historical, and even of American, interest.
In the chancel was a large tablet to the memory of Jeffrey,
Lord Amherst, with a reference to the conquest of Canada
under his lead in 1760. His country-seat, still occupied by his
descendants, is quite near to the town, and is named Montreal.
But in the same church I found the original monument to
William Lambarde, the old perambulator of Kent, and " the
father of County Historians." This monument was the more
interesting to me from the fact that we have in our library a
copy of the second edition of the " Perambulation of Kent,"
which belonged to Adam Winthrop, the fathep of the first Gov
ernor, and which has many notes and comments in Adam s
handwriting ; some of them in prose, and some of them in
verse, and all proving abundantly that Adam was thoroughly
acquainted with the contents of the book, and was a personal
friend of its author.
On the reverse of the title-page Adam has inscribed a Latin
ode, Carmen Sapphicum, as he calls it, in honor of Lam
barde. This I will not read, or vouch for the Latinity or the
metrical accuracy of it. But on the fly-leaf I find a brief biog-
[302]
WILLIAM LAMBARDE. 363
raphy of Lambarde, which is not uninteresting ; and it is due to
the memory of this old " father of County Historians " that it
should not be lost. It is as follows :
Mr. W Lambarde was y e soonne and heire of John Lambarde an
Alderman, and Shryve of London, ano. D. 1551. & (E. 6. 3 d ,) who was
free of the company of the Drapers. He was first brought up in Ox-
forde, and afterwards a student of the common Lawes in Linconnes
Inne, and there was made a utterbarrester, & a Bencher of y e same
house, and by S* Tho. Bromley then L. Chancelor he was put into the
Comission of y e peace in Kent, and by the Lorde Cobham, lately L.
Chamberlayne, he was much used bothe in publike, and also in his pri
vate affaires, for he was wise, learned, and religious, as appereth by this
booke, and divers others w ch he compiled : He builded certaine almes
houses in Greenewyche, (where he died) and gave landes of a good
yerely value for ever, to maintaine them. He departed out of this lyfe
in the threescore and third yere of his age, the 21 th day of August, ano.
1601, and in the three and fortith yere of the blessed reigne of Queene
Elizabeth, and lyeth buryed in Sainte Alphegs Churche, in Greenwyche.
In memoria erit Justus. Mr. Lambarde s firste wife was the daughter of
Mr. Moulton ; by whom he had issue three sonnes & one daughter.
Their youngest sonnes were twynnes, and died after their father, in the
17 yere of their ages, whose names were Gore and Vane. Their elder
brother s name is Moulton, who was knighted by Kinge James.
It seems from this account that Lambarde died and was
buried in Greenwich. But I learned at Seven Oaks, and I
believe it is so stated on the monument itself, that this was the
very monument which had been originally placed over his re
mains in the church at Greenwich, but which had been removed
to the church at Seven Oaks, where the family now reside, when
the Greenwich church was rebuilt.
THE EVACUATION OF BOSTON.
REMARKS AT A MEETING OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
MARCH 16, 1876.
I NEED not assure you, Gentlemen, how glad I am to wel
come you all once more under my own roof. Our old Society,
as every one knows, has not been unobservant of any of those
great historical events which succeeded each other so closely
and so marvellously a century ago. As the dates of those
events have come round, we have felt bound to put into shape,
upon our records, such materials as our archives might contain,
or as the researches of our members might supply, for a just and
worthy illustration of the great deeds of our fathers.
We meet for this purpose to-night, on the eve of a most
interesting and most memorable anniversary. It is not too
much to say, that, from the day when our City had " a local hab
itation and a name " to the present hour, there has been no
event in its history of greater magnitude and moment than that
which is to be publicly celebrated for the very first time, I
believe to-morrow.
The 17th of March, 1776, might well stand second only to
the 17th of September, 1630, in the illuminated calendar of
Boston. Indeed, in the annals of our whole country, there is
hardly a date more significant and signal. We can never do
too much honor to the men of Lexington and Concord and
Bunker Hill. The events, however, which made those men
immortal, were, after all, but glorious defeats, on a larger or
smaller scale. But here, a hundred years ago to-morrow, was
[364]
THE EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 365
a glorious success ; all the more glorious that it was effected, as
Washington said in his letter to the selectmen of our town,
" with so little effusion of human blood." It was the first vic
tory of the Revolution. It was the first triumph of Washington.
It gave assurance to all the world, not only that Independence
must soon be declared, but that the declaration, whenever
made, would be maintained and vindicated. It gave, too, the
desired prestige of a grand success to him, who, in the good
providence of God, was destined to lead our armies so nobly in
the long and trying struggle which awaited them.
In all its relations, local, national, and personal, to Boston,
to our Country, and to the Father of our Country, the influ
ence and importance of the event, of which to-morrow is the
hundredth anniversary, cannot be over-estimated.
To Boston itself it was a day of unspeakable deliverance,
never to be forgotten, nor ever to be remembered without the