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 SKETCHES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LIVES OF THE BROTHERS EVERETT. 
 
 BY EDWARD E. HALE. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 LITTLE, BROWN, & CO. 
 
 18 7 8. 
 

 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878. by 
 
 LITTLE, BROWN, & C6., 
 
 in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, 
 at Washington. 
 
LIVES OF THE BROTHERS EVERETT. 
 
 EVERETT, Alexander Hill (1792-1847), an Ameri- 
 can author and diplomatist, born at Boston, March 19, 
 1792, was the son of Rev. Oliver Everett, for some time 
 a Congregational minister in Boston, and afterwards judge 
 of probate for Norfolk County. He graduated at Harvard 
 College, Cambridge, in 1806, taking the highest honours 
 of his year, though the youngest member of his class. He 
 spent one year as a teacher in Philip's Academy, Exeter, 
 and then began the study of law in the office of John 
 Quincy Adams, afterwards president of the United States. 
 In 1809 Adams was appointed minister to Russia, and 
 Everett accompanied him as his private secretary, remain- 
 ing attached to the American legation in Russia until 1811. 
 His assiduity in the diplomatic career resulted in his 
 promotion successively to the position of secretary of 
 legation and afterwards of charge d'affaires at the Hague. 
 He was subsequently minister to Spain, under the presi- 
 dency of John Quincy Adams. At that time Spain 
 recognized none of the Governments established by her 
 revolted colonies, and Everett became the medium of 
 all communications between the Spanish Government and 
 the several nations of Spanish origin which had been 
 established, by successful revolutions, on the other side of 
 the ocean. He died, May 29, 1847, at Hong Kong, 
 whither he had been sent as commissioner of the United 
 States, before the present system of diplomatic intercourse 
 with China was inaugurated. 
 
 Everett was not, however, so distinctly a diplomat as 
 a man of letters. His long residence in Europe, and his 
 intimate acquaintance with the French, German, Italian, 
 
2 SKETCHES OF THE LIVES OF THE 
 
 and Spanish languages, resulted in wide and accurate 
 acquaintance with the literature of the Continental states. 
 He studied their political system at the same time, and 
 in industrious and constant authorship published the results 
 of his observations on social systems and literature. His 
 co-operation was relied upon by the founders of the North 
 American Review, the earliest American quarterly, and he 
 was editor of that journal from the year 1829 to October 
 1835. In 1822 he published in London and in Boston 
 A General Survey of Europe, which discusses the Conti- 
 nental system and the balance of power as they were 
 adjusted after the fall of Napoleon. It attracted, general 
 attention, and was translated into German, French, and 
 Spanish. In 1825 he published in London and Boston 
 America, a somewhat similar description of the nations of 
 North and South America. This book also was translated 
 into the principal European languages. In 1822 he 
 published New Ideas of Population, suggested by Malthus's 
 works, and replying to that author by a wider exposition 
 than Malthus gave to the possibility of general and easy 
 emigration. Some of his literary papers from the North 
 American Review and the Democratic Review, and a volume 
 of poems, have been published in Boston. No American 
 writer of his time was better known on the continent 
 of Europe. 
 
 EVERETT, Edward (1794-1865), brother of the pre- 
 ceding, was born in Dorchester, near Boston, on the 11th 
 November 1794. His father died in his childhood, and 
 his mother removed to Boston with her family after her 
 husband's death. When he was little more' than thirteen 
 he entered Harvard College; ^d as the full under- 
 graduate course is four years, he became " bachelor of arts " 
 at seventeen. He then took the first college honours of 
 his class. While at college he was the chief editor of The 
 Lyceum, the earliest in the series of college journals pub- 
 lished at the American Cambridge. His verses and his 
 prose essays then show some of the facility and grace which 
 
BROTHERS EVERETT. 3 
 
 appear in his later writings, and much of the humour 
 which in later times he was always trying to repress. His 
 earlier predilections were for the study of law, but the 
 advice of Joseph Stevens Buckminster, a distinguished 
 preacher in Boston, led him to prepare for the pulpit, and 
 in this calling he at once distinguished himself. He was 
 called to the ministry of one of the largest Boston churches 
 before he was twenty years old. His sermons and his 
 theological writings attracted wide attention in that com- 
 munity. But his tastes were then, as always, those of a 
 scholar; and in 1814, after a service of little more than a 
 year in the pulpit, he resigned his charge to accept a pro- 
 fessorship of Greek literature in Harvard College. After 
 nearly five years spent in Europe in preparation, he entered 
 with alacrity on his duties, and, for five years more, gave 
 a vigorous impulse, not simply to the study of Greek, but 
 to all the work of the college. About the same time he 
 assumed the charge of the North American Review, which 
 now became a quarterly; and he was indefatigable in con- 
 tributing on a great variety of subjects, with a spirit like 
 Sydney Smith's in the earlier days of the Edinburgh 
 Review. He vigorously defended American institutions 
 against the sneers of English travellers, and had reason 
 to congratulate himself on the success of a series of articles 
 written to bring about a better mutual understanding 
 between Englishmen and Americans. The success of his 
 lectures in Cambridge, and the enthusiasm aroused by the 
 rebellion in Greece, led him to deliver a series of popular 
 lectures on Greek antiquities in Boston. They were the 
 first lectures on purely literary or historical subjects ever 
 delivered in America, and were the first steps toward a 
 system of popular entertainment and education which now 
 has very wide sweep in the United States. He was eagerly 
 engaged in the measures taken in the United States for 
 the relief of Greece in her struggle. 
 
 In 1824 he was chosen a member of Congress, and held a 
 seat for ten years, supporting generally the administration 
 of Adams, and in opposition to that of Jackson, which 
 succeeded it. As a member of the house of representatives 
 he appears to have devoted himself mainly to the discharge 
 
4 SKETCHES OF THE LIVES OF THE 
 
 of that part of the public business which devolved upon 
 him. He took the floor less frequently than might perhaps 
 have been expected from a person accustomed to public 
 speaking, and able to command the ear of the house. It 
 will be found, however, on looking back to the transac- 
 tions of the ten years' sessions during which he was a 
 member, that he bore a part in almost every important 
 debate. He was on the committee of foreign affairs during 
 the whole time of his service in Congress. Of all the most 
 important select committees, such as those on the Indian 
 relations of the State of Georgia, the Apportionment Bill, 
 and the Bank of the United States, Everett was a member, 
 and drew the report either of the majority or the minority. 
 The report on the congress of Panama, the leading measure 
 of the first session of the nineteenth Congress, was drawn 
 by Everett, although the youngest member of the com- 
 mittee, and just entered Congress. He led the opposition 
 to the Indian policy of General Jackson (the removal of 
 the Indians, without their consent, from lands guaranteed 
 to them by treaty). In the winter of 1835 he was nomi- 
 nated as governor of Massachusetts, and was chosen in the 
 autumn of the same year. He brought to the duties of the 
 office the untiring diligence which is the characteristic of 
 his public life. We can only allude to a few of the mea- 
 sures which received his efficient support,— e.g., the estab- 
 lishment of the board of education, the first of such boards 
 in the United States ; the scientific surveys of the State, 
 the first of such public surveys ; the criminal law commis- 
 sion, and the preservation of a sound currency under the 
 panic of 1837. 
 
 Everett filled the office of governor for four years. 
 The political parties in Massachusetts were at this time 
 very nearly balanced, and divisions of opinion on local 
 questions (the militia and temperance laws) caused his 
 defeat at the election in November 1839. Judge Morton, 
 the opposing candidate, succeeded by a single vote, out 
 of more than a hundred thousand. Everett availed him- 
 self of this opportunity, the following spring, to make a 
 visit with his family to Europe. In 1841, while residing 
 in Florence, he was named United States minister to 
 
BROTHERS EVERETT. 5 
 
 England, and arrived in London to enter upon the duties 
 of his mission at the close of that year. Great questions 
 were at that time open between the two countries, — the 
 north-eastern boundary, the affair of M'Leod, the seizure 
 of American vessels on the coast of Africa, in the course of 
 a few months the affair of the " Creole," to which were 
 soon added Oregon and Texas. His position was more 
 difficult by the frequent changes that took place in the 
 department at home, which, in the course of two years, 
 was occupied successively by Messrs Webster, Legare, 
 Upshur, Calhoun, and Buchanan. From all these gentle- 
 men Everett received marks of approbation and confi- 
 dence. 
 
 By the institution of the special mission of Lord Ashbur- 
 ton, the direct negotiations between the two Governments 
 were, about the time of Everett's arrival in London, trans- 
 ferred to Washington. It appears, however, from docu- 
 ments that have from time to time been communicated to 
 Congress, that various topics connected with all the sub- 
 jects in dispute were incidentally treated in the correspon- 
 dence of the American minister at London both with his 
 own and the British Government. Many elaborate notes 
 to Lord Aberdeen and despatches to the American secretary 
 of state have in this way come before the public, forming, 
 however, it is believed, but a small part of the documents 
 of both classes prepared by Everett during his mission. 
 It appears, indeed, that, from the concurrence of a variety 
 of causes, the amount of business transacted at the 
 American legation from 1841 to 1845 was more than 
 double that of any former period of equal duration. 
 
 Immediately after the accession of Polk to the presidency 
 Everett was recalled. Shortly before his return the presi- 
 dency of Harvard College was vacated by the resignation of 
 Hon. Josiah Quincy, and Everett was strongly urged by the 
 friends and governors of the institution to accept this office, 
 which he did in the month of January 1846. He filled 
 this place of equal distinction and usefulness for about 
 three years. It was a position congenial with his tastes, 
 in harmony with the early associations of his life, and one 
 which seemed to promise large opportunity of applying for 
 
6 SKETCHES OF THE LIVES OF THE 
 
 the benefit of the rising generation the fruit of his maturer 
 studies and varied experience in life. His health unfortu- 
 nately soon begau to sutler, and before long became seriously 
 impaired under the burdens and cares of the office, and he 
 was compelled at the close of the year 1848 to tender his 
 resignation. Relieved of this charge, he supposed that at 
 last he was to enjoy literary or scholarly leisure, and was 
 already preparing for a treatise on the law of nations. 
 But, on the death of his friend Webster, to whom he had 
 always been closely attached, and of whom he was always a 
 confidential adviser, he was named by President Fillmore 
 secretary of state, and he held that post for the remaining 
 months of Fillmore's administration, leaving it to go into 
 senate as the representative of Massachusetts. Under the 
 work of the long session of 1853-54, in which that 
 " Kansas-Nebraska " question first appeared in form which 
 ripened into the American civil war, his health gave way. 
 He resigned his seat, on the orders of his physician, and 
 retired to what was called private life. 
 
 But, as it proved, the remaining ten years of his life most 
 widely established his reputation and influence throughout 
 America. As early as 1820 he had established a reputa- 
 tion, such as few men in later days have enjoyed, as an 
 orator. He was frequently invited, as other public men are 
 invited in America, to deliver an "oration" on one or 
 another public topic of historical or other interest. With 
 him these " orations," instead of being the ephemeral 
 entertainments of an hour, became careful studies of some 
 important theme, so that the collected edition of them is 
 now one of the standard books of reference in an American's 
 library. Eager to avert, if possible, the impending conflict 
 of arms, Everett prepared an "oration" on Washington, 
 which he delivered in every part of America. In a printed 
 note accompanying the published edition of it, he names 
 nearly one hundred and twenty-five occasions, in almost 
 every State in the Union, in every section but the extreme 
 south-west, where it was repeated. This exception was 
 caused only by illness in his family, after he had received 
 invitations to go to that quarter also. He travelled really 
 as an ambassador of peace amoug irritated States. The 
 
BROTHERS EVERETT. 7 
 
 eagerness to hear him was so great that, from the first, his 
 hosts arranged, almost always, that tickets should be sold 
 to all auditors; and as he travelled wholly at his own 
 charges, the audiences thus contributed more than one 
 hundred thousand dollars for the purchase of the old home 
 of Washington at Mount Vernon, and the securing it as a 
 shrine for American patriotism. 
 
 Everett's name, in direct violation to his wishes, was 
 presented, with Mr Bell's, as a candidate of North and 
 South jointly for vice-president in the election of 18G0, 
 when Abraham Lincoln was elected. The civil war followed. 
 Reconciliation was impossible, and he gave all his learning, 
 zeal, and eloquence, to the support of "the national govern- 
 ment. For four years he was the trusted adviser of every 
 department ; he was called upon in every quarter to speak 
 at public meetings. He delivered the last of his great ora- 
 tions at Gettysburg, after the battle, on the consecration of 
 the national cemetery there. In February of 1865 the suc- 
 cess -'of the national arms was certain. He had the pleasure 
 of speaking at a public meetingnn Boston to raise funds for 
 the 'Southern poor in Savannah, just taken by General 
 Sherman. At that meeting ..he caught^, cold, which was 
 followed by sudden illness, and by his death January 15, 
 1865. 
 
 In Everett's life and career was<-a combination of the 
 results of diligent training, unflinching industry, delicate 
 literary tastes, and unequalled acquaintance-* with modern 
 politics. This combination made him in America an en- 
 tirely exceptional person. He was never loved by the politi- 
 cal managers ; he was always enthusiastically received by 
 assemblies of the people. He would have said himself that 
 the most eager wish of his life had been for the higher edu- 
 cation of his countrymen. His orations have been collected 
 in four volumes. A work on public law, on which he was 
 engaged at his death, was never finished. 
 

 
 
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