A DISCOURSE COMMEMORATIVE OF THE HON. GEORGE PERKINS MARSH, LL.D., Delivered Before the Faculty and Students of Dartmouth College, JUNE S, 1883, And Repeated Before the Trustees, Faculty and Students of the University of Vermont, JUNE 28, 1883, BY SAMUEL OILMAN BROWN, D. D., LL.D. PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. BURLINGTON : FREE PRESS ASSOCIATION. 1883. ■ • ■ m A D I SCOURSE COMMEMORATIVE OF THE HON. GEORGE PERKINS MARSH, LL.D. BY SAMUEL OILMAN BROWN, D. D., LL.D. PRELIMINARY NOTE. It has been thought proper to print the following discourse as it was originally prepared. In delivering it in Burlington, a few pages were omitted, as not being appropriate to the place. DISCOURSE. It is a grateful service for which we have met to-day, to pay our sincere tribute to the memory of a distinguished cit- izen, to gather up a few of the lessons of a noble life, to commemorate one eminent in the councils of the nation and still more eminent in letters, who left the halls of Dartmouth, a faithful and well-deserving son, sixty-three years ago, and who has given proof everywhere and always, how thoroughly he possessed the spirit of a scholar, how profoundly loyal he was to every claim of patriotism and truth, of honor and hu- manity. To a community of scholars, the name of George Perkins Marsh needs no introduction. He was born in the beautiful village of Woodstock, Vt., on the 15th of March, 1801, of an honorable parentage, of a family distinguished for cultiva- tion, unswerving rectitude and eminent intellectual ability. His father, the Hon. Charles Marsh, a Puritan in morals and theology,— kindred.in blood with that unsurpassed New Eng- j land lawyer, Jeremiah Mason, — was among the earlier resi- dents of the town, and was eminently fitted by character and attainments to shape the early life of a community in the forms of intelligence and virtue, laying the foundations so broad and so deep, that the whole structure of social and civil. life might evermore be built thereon without fear. Dur- ing a long career of eminent professional service, he proved himself one of the commanding minds of the State.* •See Appendix, Note I. A fe The mother of George P. Marsh was a lady of unusual refinement and inbred courtesy, who threw the grace of a beautiful and affectionate spirit over the more rugged and unyielding strength of her husband, while both were the constant and firm supporters of those domestic and social virtues, to which more than to any thing else, a young and growing community will ever owe its good repute and its abiding prosperity. It is easy, then, to conjecture some of the general influ- ences, moral and intellectual, by which that young life was surrounded. The boy must have been constantly subject- ed to the unconscious discipline of severe and exact meth- ods, of sound thinking and sincere acting, of the approving word for everything good and beneficent, and the emphatic censure of the tortuous and crafty and wicked. There were many questions of public interest, political and moral, which must often have been discussed in his hearing. Nowhere in the State would he have been made to feel more habit- ually and constantly the value of accurate thinking and thor- ough knowledge, of the wisdom of strict integrity, of the in- flexible demands of righteousness. Nowhere would he more often have felt the power of the English language to express without circumlocution the thorough convictions of honest minds ; and nowhere could he have seen more constantly the power of an affectionate and gentle nature to refine and ele- vate, to dignify and bless a Christian household. Breathing this atmosphere of truth and honor, of a somewhat rigid regard for the ancient principles of New England life, of self- respect and personal dignity, of refinement and generous culture, he grew to the independence of incipient manhood. There were other potent influences, too, of which we might speak, which could not exist without a modifying effect upon his tastes and habits. It is impossible to say how much may be ascribed to the powers of physical nature steadily working upon a sensitive mind ; but certain it is that the mind uses the materials of the outer world for its own comfort and delight. The bold mountain, the winding road through the forest, the river, tumultuous or placid, the distant slopes, the picturesque outline of the horizon,' become, as it were, actual possessions of the soul, are mater- ials of its thought over which it broods till there come forth new creations of utility and beauty. And I have asked my- self, how much that spot of exquisite loveliness where his eyes first saw the light-as charming almost as the famed \allombrosa where for the last time he looked upon the sun -how much the varied and transcendent beauty of his birth- place, had to do with that quick and intelligent observation of physical phenomena, that inwafd and powerful sympathy with nature in all her moods, which afterward bore fruit so rich for our advantage. After a thorough preparation according to the methods ot those days, the latter part of it in Phillips Academy at Andover,* Mr. Marsh entered the college of which his father was an honored Trustee, in the summer of 1816. From the first he threw himself with eagerness into the new studies which both stimulated and gratified his love of knowledge. He was in full health, though slender in person, and was noted, even then, for remarkable quickness of per- ception, strength of memory, and a sound and discriminating judgment. At the same time, by kind and endearing qual- ities of heart, by inherent modesty and ingenuousness he drew to himself the regard and affection of all who knew him. "As a writer," says his eminent classmate, Mr. Justice '. Nesmith, "he expressed his thoughts in a plain, direct, per- spicuous and forcible style, without much ornament. As a student he was laborious, extending his investigations far beyond the common and daily routine assigned in the col- lege curriculum. He not only faithfully read the Greek and Latin authors of the course, but gained a substantial knowl- edge of the French, German, Spanish and Italian." These he •Appendix, Note II. must have learned without help, for at that time no instruc- tor of either of the modern languages was to be found in the college. His natural aptitude for linguistic pursuits was al- ready showing itself. Since that day the methods and facil- ities for the critical study of language have been so greatly enlarged as almost to constitute a new science, but I am not quite sure that we have in proportion a higher appreciation of the beauty of ancient literature, or leave our studies with a more sincere reverence and love for the intellectual mas- ters of a former age. I need hardly remind you that during nearly the whole of Mr. Marsh's residence at Dartmouth, the college was passing through the most critical period of its history, was struggling, against great odds, to maintain that principle of the law which, affirmed, would ensure to every similar insti- tution in the land an independent position. Of the counsel- lors of the college, his own father was one of the ablest, most trusted and most honored. To whatever we may ascribe it, whether to the unusual stimulus drawn from the living questions of the day, which, like a subtle, electric atmosphere, seemed to pervade every mind, — whether to some happy combination of conditions which brought together here in sympathy many minds of finer mould, — certain it is that the college has seldom seen gathered within its walls a body of enthusiastic scholars of more earnest purpose, of higher aims, or of more admirable achievement, than during the years that marked the open- ing and progress of that struggle. I shall be pardoned, I am sure, if I recall a few of the names on that honored roll. There comes first to my mind that of Charles B. Haddock, regarded by his immediate contemporaries as almost without fault, of rare grace of person and symmetry of mind, and of the same class, Joseph Torrey, the accomplished scholar in languages, letters and arts, and John Wheeler, the elo- quent preacher and President. Following by a twelvemonth, I find the names of Carlton Chase, for twenty-six years a re- vered Bishop of the Episcopal Church ; and Jonathan P. Cushing, tutor, Professor and President of Hampden Sydney College in Virginia ; and Nathan W. Fiske, who rilled so hon- orably the chairs of the ancient languages and of philosophy at Amherst ; and William Goodell, none the less a scholar because he devoted his life to the missionary service, who gave to the Turkish nation, almost with his dying hand, the entire Bible translated into the Armeno-Turkish tongue ; and James Marsh, illustrious as a scholar, philosopher, and instructor of extraordinary influence, who, as President of the University of Vermont, with the sympathy and help of his able coadjutors, stamped ineffaceably the clear impress of his pure, thoughtful, philosophic spirit upon the institution, — who first adequately introduced to his countrymen the writ- ings of Coleridge, and who, had he lived to complete his plans, would have taken high rank with the philosophers of the age. Passing onward but a single year, I find the name of George Bush, the accomplished Orientalist ; and Prof. Wil- liam Chamberlain, who, beloved by all and respected every- where, infused the full spirit of the ancients into his instruc- tions. In close fellowship with these and others like them, but a year later, was John Aiken, a thorough lover of good learning, and Kufus Choate, who, marching with easy and graceful step along the difficult paths of college studies, was already giving promise of his brilliant career ; and a little later Chief Justice Perley, who, had he not turned to the law, would have been perhaps even more distinguished as a man of vast and various learning. The names of these men and of others kindred with them, handed down from class to class in the generous tra- ditions of college life, kindled the flame of noble aspiration in many a soul, and did, you can never tell how much, to make our beloved Alma Mater what she should always be, the fostering mother of modest but profound scholars, of orators, of jurists, of statesmen, of lovers of their country, of ministers of righteousness and of truth. V I 10 cone^tTifMr^T 6 * ^ ^ ^ at ^ factor in the t'^r 7 /" * tlme ""*** * 8 a * H g h tide of su c ss t:^ s °o n t^' ^ * ^ -g ^on an occupation l h I ^Jt T 77 !" Cnter - mal, was characteristic viz thai "Z i5? "^ C ° nge " ries of the college Z ,i t gU be Ueav the ^ra- Btudies. Even Sl^ f ^ *° « ^ fa ™<* *• mml^S^ T WitH eUthUSiaSm U P° D be ever after pursue TJu r ^ ^^ *' hich jet si mp l y as a st„dv H T* ^^ ° f "*****. nor Lre tho/o^hlvtow £ " g7 ' ^ ** he ^ ht ^ better able ^ £ce t ie T 7^ SP ° ke them ' ^ b * both in the Itri^hTr dViliZatiOD ^ *""* " with fe 7 . Lt™C JST £ of his ; atlier ' and conti - ed 1825 * Soon ,7! WaS admitt ed to the bar in mutual stimnjj ot - !' i Md SCh ° larS ' and tbe began to ££ ° £? ^ ^ ■** Here he of ensravin^s »W,i a „ , ° make a collection with friends I,,, f i , C0untl 7- Here, surrounded ne cuSVL^ '>.»! H> one a-hich He.e he formed thofe Z££?ZL '" *! C °"""> «*0le life, ami here too l! 7 g " e TO to bis chasten ambition 1!,' * ' W B °" OWS ">"'* ^ he ,oa ^0^, "n "l ^ ^ ^ which he had chosen „, i 7 ^acting profession studies, enricW M« i , '" P™* his cheri ^ 11 observation, those stores of knowledge which he afterwards employed for ends so useful and noble. I cannot, perhaps, more fitly portray the life of Mr- Marsh than by referring, as rapidly as any degree of justice and fairness will allow, to some of his principal works in letters, in legislation, and diplomacy. One of the first re- sults of his studies was the printing, in 1838, of an Icelandic grammar, based on that of Prof. Kask. I have understood, however, that he became so dissatisfied with this work that he endeavored, not long afterwards, to suppress it, and it now can rarely be found. A more vigorous and popular indication of the drift of his thought appears in an oration delivered in August, 1843, before the Philomathesian Society of Middlebury College. It bore the somewhat singular and striking title of " The Goths in New England." Its object was to demonstrate and defend the influence of what he calls the Gothic element — akin to if not the same as what we commonly call the Anglo- Saxon,— upon the mind and character of our English and Puritan forefathers. It is written with epigrammatic vigor, and smites what seems to him untrue and evil as with the hammer of Thor. " The intellectual character of our Puritan forefathers," he said, " is that derived by inheritance from our remote Gothic ancestry, restored by its own inherent elasticity to its primitive proportions, upon the removal of the shackles and burdens which the spiritual and intellectual tyranny of Rome had for centuries imposed upon it ; but its moral traits are a superinduction of the temper and spirituality of Christianity upon the soul of the Goth, under conditions best suited to purify the heart, and steel to the utmost the energies of the spirit.'' Let me ask you also to notice his conception of the Gothic character. "The mind of England," he goes onto say, " is, like her language, composed of two hostile elements, 12 • & ■ ■ the Gothic and the Roman ; the former predominating in the foundation, the latter in the superstructure. I shall do my audience the justice to suppose that they are too well in- structed to be the slaves of that antiquated and vulgar pre- judice which makes Gothicism and barbarism synonymous. The Goths, the common ancestors of the inhabitants of Northwestern Europe, are the noblest branch of the Cau- casian race. We are their children. It was the spirit of the Goth that guided the Mayflower across the trackless ocean ; the blood of the Goth that flowed at Bunker's Hill." " Nor were the Goths the savage and destructive devastators that popular error has made them. They indeed overthrew the dominion of Eome, but they renovated her people ; they prostrated her corrupt government, but they respected her monuments ; and Theodoric the Goth not only spared but protected many a precious memorial, which Italian rapacity and monkish superstition have since annihilated. The old lamentation, Quod non fecerunt Barbari, fecere Barheiini, contains a world of truth, and had not Eome's own sons been her spoilers she might have shone at this day in all the splendor of her Augustan age." "The Goth is characterized by the reason, the Eoman by the understanding ; the one by imagination, the other by fancy ; the former aspires to the spiritual, the latter is prone to the sensuous. The Gothic spirit produced a Bacon, a Shakspeare, a Milton ; the Bo- man, an Arkwright, a Brindley, and a Locke. It was a Ro- man that gathered up the coals on which St. Lawrence had been broiled ; a Goth who, when a fellow disciple of the great Swiss reformer had rescued his master's heart from the enemy, on the field where the martyr fell, snatched that heart from its preserver and hurled it, yet almost palpitating with life, into the waters of a torrent, lest some new super- stition should spring from the relics of Zwingli." These eloquent words of vivid characterization suf- ficiently indicate the spirit and foreshadow the purpose of an address now rarely to be found. Whether, after a larger 13 study of national character, he retained without modification his earlier opinions, or whether he would have always ex- pressed them with the same unmitigated force of the vernac- ular, I am not sure, though I suppose that in his fundamental judgment there was no radical change. Yet it is interesting to remember that the larger part of his, public life was after- wards passed among those races to whose influence he here ascribes the less pure, the less exalted and spiritual elements of our varied and complex civilization ; races, however, which in these later days have manifested an energy and perseverance, lofty aspirations and wise action, of which our fathers could hardly believe them capable, and which have drawn to the Italians the respect and sympathy of the world. In 1842, Mr. Marsh was chosen to represent his District in the Congress of the United States. Few States have ex- erted a more weighty or a more beneficial influence in the national councils than Vermont. This somewhat extraor- dinary influence, far beyond what her size, or natural posi- tion, or commercial importance would suggest, she owes largely to the fact that she has aimed to place in those coun- cils her best citizens,— men of learning, integrity and emi- nent ability,— and having learned their worth has been wise enough not to throw away their dearly bought experience, but has held them to a long term of ser- vice, while the weight of their authority, the authority of character, and knowledge, and political wisdom, has grown with every year. Of all those who have so well represented her in the House or; in the Senate, she has had none more learned, and few more able in any respect, than Mr. Marsh. The seven years that he spent in Washington, from 1842 to 1849, were full of political excitements. They were marked by the admission of Texas to the Union, the Mexican war, fierce and acrimonious discussions of slavery, and changes of administrations. In his general convictions as to measures and policy, Mr. Marsh was clear and firm, but he was no I 11 partisan. To all matters of interest to his State and to the nation he devoted himself with characteristic fidelity, and to some with a deep personal interest. In becoming a statesman he did not forget to be a scholar, and one of the measures to which he gave unusual attention was that for establishing the Smithsonian Institu- tion. It was his earnest desire, as it had been that of Mr. Choate before him, that a portion of the annual income of the generous bequest of Smithson should be devoted to the gradual formation of a public library, " composed of valuable works pertaining to all departments of human knowledge." His speech on the bill which provided for this was a strong argument in favor of such an appropriation, as conducing more surely than any thing else to that intellectual indepen- I dence, that " freedom from slavish deference to foreign prece- dents and authorities in all matters of opinion," without which our liberty is but half achieved. We can best gain a knowledge of fundamental principles, he thought, through the study of philosophy and history, in the recorded wisdom of " successive generations of philosophers and statesmen." To such men, made wise by study, every nation is greatly indebt- ed. This he endeavored to show by reference to our own his- tory. Our Constitution itself was chiefly framed by men of high education and elegant attainments. "Jefferson," he said, "had the best private library in America, and was a man of multifarious if not of profound learning. The state papers of that remarkable era are, with few exceptions, obviously productions of men not merely of inspired genius or of pa- tient thought, but of laborious acquisition ; and they are full, not of that cheap learning which is proved by pedantic quotation, but of that sound discipline which is tbe unequi- vocal result of extensive reading and diligent research." "All men, in fact, who have acted upon opinion, who have contributed to establish principles that have left their impress for ages, have spent some part of their lives in scho- lastic retirement. It is this very point— the maintenance of ■ 15 principles discovered and defended by men prepared for that service by severe discipline and laborious study — that so strikingly distinguishes the English rebellion of 1649 and our own Eevolution, from most other insurrectionary move- ments, and particularly from the French Eevolution. The English and American statesmen of those two periods were contending for truths, the French atheists and philosophers for interests; the former sought to learn their duties, the lat- ter concerned themselves about their rig/ds; the Anglo- Saxon was inspired by principle, the Gaul was instigated by passion." This admirable speech, so earnest for its immedi- ate end, was really a noble plea for high statesmanship, an argument for generous culture, for a thorough knowledge of history and political philosophy, in those who would guide the nation along the broad highway of advancing civilization. Let those who have blamed our nation for its backward- ness in letters remember that we have had no British Mu- seum, with^its vast resources in literature and art ; no Biblio- thtque-du-roi, with its million of volumes ; no Bodleian, with its accumulation of generations ; no University libra- ries like those of Gottingen, or Leipsic, or Berlin. At that time there was not in the whole country a library which was not miserably deficient in every branch of liberal study, even of those of greatest interest to ourselves. The Congressional Library of about forty thousand volumes,— on the whole well chosen, — did not then have more than a hundred, per- haps" not more than fifty, out of the million printed volumes of German research. In all our domain we had not the ma- terial for the history of our own country, or for verifying the references or correcting the mistakes of foreign writers. "Histories indeed we have," said Mr. Marsh, "but little history. True, we have Kobertson, and Hume, and Voltaire, and Gibbon, and above all Alison, a popular writer in these days, and • Like Sir Aiii in I, j I ■ 23 it did not find it convenient to pay, and the unsatisfactory claim had run on for many years. It was to investigate this complete case that Mr. Marsh was sent to Athens by Mr. "Webster. He entered upon the work with the thoroughness and independence which characterized all his studies. He had to examine with the greatest care an immense mass of manuscript in modern Greek, and very blindly written, and he was obliged to master every point of the, Greek code bear- ing upon the question of religious toleration. He daily began his work at daybreak, and continued at the task, with little interruption, till evening. He often said afterward, that in no part of his life had the strain been so great upon body and mind as during the labor of these hot months. The re- sult seems to have been a complete vindication of our coun- tryman, Dr. King, and Mr. Marsh expressed his conclusion with an emphasis which reminds one of the stock from which he sprung. "The legal tribunals of Greece," he said, " had been guilty of an abuse of the principles of justice, and a perversion of the. rules of law, as flagitious as any that ever disgraced the records of the Star Chamber." There was in this declaration the power of truth ultimately acknowledged by the Greeks themselves, and the matters were finally arranged on a basis more nearly approaching to justice. No one can read the full story of his labors in this case, as given in the correspondence and reports —a test case in the ques- tions involved,— without a profound impression of the clear- ness of his perception, the skill with which complications purposely twisted about it were disentangled, and the vigor with which his conclusions were impressed upon the minds of Ins reluctant opponents. As minister resident at Constantinople, Mr. Marsh's diplomatic rank was below that of every ambassador, however small the State which he represented ; "but," says .me long resident in the Turkish empire, "his reputation for learning and character was such that, in those ways in which diplo- matists, skilled in the profound mysteries of court ceremonies, X. ('■ 24 know how to set aside etiquette without violating it, he was often treated with special honor by the highest representa- tives of the great powers. He was confessedly the most learned man in that great diplomatic circle, which in the very centre and maelstrom of diplomacy, discusses the questions that often agitate the world. All American residents in this respect were proud of him. He was an honor to their coun- try and to themselves personally. In all his relations to the Sublime Porte he maintained that fidelity to truth and honor which wins at length, even in diplomacy. Having that char- acter himself, he could demand it from others with peculiar force. The Ottoman Porte is quite capable of making promises which it never fulfils, but it was not found wise to make a direct promise to Mr. Marsh and then attempt to evade it." Soon after the change of political administration in 1853, Mr. Marsh was recalled from his post, and after spend- ing a little time in Central and Western Europe returned to the United States. The nearly six years of freedom from public employment which followed were devoted in part to his favorite studies and to various literary works, and in part to the service of his native State. It is to the comparative leisure of these years that we owe the two volumes of lectures on the English language and Earlier Literature, which have held their place as perhaps the most sincere, independent and valuable contribution which we have made to the better understanding and higher honor of our mother tongue. These volumes have all the char- acteristics of every production of their author,— the orig- inal and thorough investigation, the bursting fulness of information, the lucid and orderly development, the earnest statement, the fair and judicial conclusion. One can hardly open these volumes at random without finding some fact that he never knew before, or some relations indicated, or some conclusions fairly drawn, which had hitherto escaped liim, and H 25 ho will find everywhere a fair and thoughtful criticism and sound literary judgment. Even more in another work, published a few years later, did these characteristics show themselves. In 1864, ap- peared the volume entitled " Man and Nature," the title of which was in a future and enlarged edition changed to " The Earth as Modified by Human Action." It probably struck with surprise those who had known Mr. Marsh through his reputation as a philologist and bibliographer alone or chief- ly, that he should have turned his attention to such a class of subjects. But they did not know that the love of nature was an inbred characteristic and, as if he were a mere natu- ralist, almost a passion with him. No landscape was too meagre, no insect or flower too insignificant to give him pleasure. But the mountains were his highest source of en- joyment, and in the days of manly health no degree of fa- tigue or difficulty deterred him from attempting to scale their heights and search out their mysteries. Nor did they know- that during all his long life, the delicate state of his eyes often compelled him for months and sometimes even for years together, to give up books entirely, and turn to nature alone for teaching. The bibliographical list of works consulted in the pre- paration of the volumes to which I have referred was large and from many languages, but far more than to books was the author indebted to his own remarkable habit of intelli- gent observation. That this power was unusual and notice- able, was the testimony of all who knew him most familiarly. But he saw so much because he knew so much. He brought to every object more than he received from it ; a mind already so full of knowledge that lie knew what to look for, and how to interpret what was present to the sense, to assign it its place and give it its value. "Self is the school-master," he wrote, ''whose lessons are best worth his wages. ... To the natural philosopher, the descriptive poet, the painter and the sculptor, as well as the common observer, the power most mm 26 important to cultivate, ami at the same time hardest to ac- quire, is that of seeing what is before him. Sight is a faculty, —seeing an art. The eye is a physical but not self-acting apparatus, and in general it sees only what it seeks." "This exercise of the eye I desire to promote, and next to moral and religious doctrine, I know no more important practical lessons in this earthly life of ours— which to a wise man is a school from the cradle to the grave— than those relating to the employment of the sense of vision in the study of nature." On the accession of President Lincoln in 1861, Mr. Marsh received the appointment of minister to the new kingdom of Italy,— the first minister to the first King. It is little to say, and yet it implies much, that no more fitting appointment was possible. He accepted the position at first with some reluctance, and it was not, as he himself said, till he got south of the Alps that he felt reconciled to stay at all. It could not then be anticipated that for more than twenty-one years he would retain his position without interruption, to the mu- tual advantage of both the States ; a length of foreign service in one important post, unexampled, I believe, in the history of our diplomacy. Italy was still in a transition state. The great minister, Count C'avour, alter gigantic efforts to consolidate the various kingdoms under one liberal monarch, had suddenly succumb- ed under the great burden, even in the moment of assured success. TLe new nation was not yet fairly established. It was passing through those anxious hours which attend a peo- ple rising in the enthusiasm of hope and new aspirations to cast off the chains forged and riveted by injustice and cruel- ty ; which attend a people long divided and broken up into small and hostile States, and kept so by jealousy and fear, who at last, with invincib'e lesolution over-leap the barriers which separate them, and, united in spirit and aim, stand at once with the noblest nations of the earth. It was fitting that such a people should be sustained by the cordial sym- pathy of the great Republic of the West, borne to them by 27 one whose high public character was in itself a guaranty of justice and honor. And on the other hand, our time of fiery trial was at hand. Our manhood was to be tested in the most sanguinary and terrible of wars, and it was of the highest importance that our aims, our purposes, our resources, our spirit should be represented to foreign nations the most wise- ly and efficiently. Mr. Marsh followed the Italian government, of course, in the change of its capital from Turin to Florence and from Florence to Eome. No foreign minister was more respected for learning, weight of character, and familiarity with affairs and long before the end of his protracted service, his personal influence with the court had become as efficient as it was wise and beneficent. It was greatly to the honor and the advantage of our government, whatever causes may have led to it, that through all the changes of administrations, and in spite of the clamor for office, he was retained at his post. No foreign diplomatist, however accomplished, could for a moment feel in his society that he was called to associate with one not fully his equal ; no man of letters or lover of antiquity, or student of history' or student of nature, or devotee of art, ever interrogated him without an intelligent response ; no political philosopher, watchful of national progress, no defender of absolutism,' could help honoring a Republic which committed its interests' to so learned, so wise, so conciliatory, so faithful an ambas- sador ; and no American traveller or resident could for a moment feel that his personal interests or the interests of the country were not safe in his hands.' The only change, if change were necessarv, should have been to some one of the few places of greater responsibility. But perhaps in the later decade of his service, no place could * "I know no European who had met him," says a recent writer in SwThta 1 Thavi 1 ^ "°! 8 'TIT eSteem ° f °" r country fro n r Lav ,: , 'ri r,„ I fV ;Ul1 ? ur ?P ean '>"•" <>f letters speak of him al was!"- 77, .%£ ^-an^tuunons-which perhaps in one sense he ■ 28 have been found more to his mind, or the duties of which he could have administered with less fatigue. He was widely known ; he was universally respected ; he was greatly "be- loved by every one in the official Koman world from the king down."* And well he might have been ; for his interest and sympathies had become strongly enlisted in the substantial progress of the Italian people, so long had he watched their struggles for liberty, so fully identified with them in spirit had he become in some of their most serious endeavors. So thoroughly had he the confidence of those who knew him, that the governments of both Italy and Switzerland committed to him the decision of a question of boundary, which had been for many years in dispute, and his judgment, unlike that usual in such cases, was acquiesced in without a word of complaint on either side. If now we review, for a moment, his work in Constanti- nople, in Athens and in Italy, remembering how prompt, in- telligent, and efficient were his labors, how carefully he observed, and how thoroughly he understood, the spirit and genius and temperament of the people among whom he was thrown, — how fully, too, he apprehended the duties, both public and private, devolved upon him by his office, and how faithfully yet unobtrusively he performed them for so many years, we cannot hesitate to rank him among the very wisest and best, in the long role of diplomatists to whom the country has committed the conduct of her foreign policy. He was himself a noble example of what in speeches and orations, he had often insisted on, the influence in public life of a mind thoroughly disciplined, with large knowledge of history and philosophy, of books and of men. Happy for our country woidd it be if men of like purposes and similar attainments were oftener found in places of public trast. Nor let us forget that during all those years he never remitted his scholarly research, never ceased to find his * Appendix, Note V. 2:1 delight in new acquisitions, nor lost his love for the noblest poetry and the purest art. So long as his health permitted, and until a weakness in his hand prevented, he constantly used his pen, and many are the articles in contemporary publications which may be recognized by his initials or other marks of authorship, and it is understood that during the later years of his life he had in hand a series of essays on subjects of literary and scientific- interest, which, it may be hoped, will be found ready for publication. During these years, too, he was constantly gathering that valuable library, rich, as I learn from the highest authority, in its collection of choice editions of the great standard works in the leading literatures of the world, such works as a scholar would desire to have within his reach at all times, — rich in the department of linguistics, well sup- plied with materials for the study of the Eomance languages, and especially rich in works relating to the Northern tongues, his special love ; that library which the munificence of a son of Vermont has deposited, unbroken, with the University of his own State, of which it must always remain one of the unique and valuable treasures." It is hardly necessary, and yet it may be proper, to turn for a moment from the more public services, whether in letters or legislation or diplomacy, to gather into a narrower circle about the hearthstone of the man of whose works we have spoken. There will be nothing in that inner life to disappoint us. As he appeared, so he was. "The great end of human life," he once said, '-is not to do, but to be." The first characteristic of his life. I should say, was profound love of the truth and unswerving loyalty to it. This permeated his very being, controlled his opinions, governed his act- ions ; you see it in his speeches, you hear it in his words, you read it in his books. He was athirst for knowledge, for the reality and not for the appearance. He sought for it * Appendix, Note VI. .'ill as one seeks for hidden treasure, as a pilgrim seeks the holy land. His knowledge was not vague and general, but exact and we know not which to admire most, the rich abun- dance or the precision. In his address before the Mechanics Institute at Burlington, in 1843, for example, every one of its fifty columns has, on the average, some valuable fact, which, in substance or form would, I presume, be unknown to the majority of intelligent and well-read men ; and for his facts he did not depend on his imagination. If he speaks of the learned Hollander, whose excessive patriotism led him to write two huge volumes to prove that Dutch was the lan- guage of Paradise, he announces his very name, Goropius Becanus,— as if familiar with such sportive compositions,— and I dare say could have given chapter and page. When he would illustrate the legendary skill of the mediaeval work- ers m metals, he gives, I have no doubt from the original sources, the story of the Scandinavian Vulcan. Vaulundr- transposed in English to plain Wayland Smith— who made a sword so keen of edge and of such ethereal temper, that when in friendly contest he struck his rival on the crest of his- double-plated helmet, and asked him whether he felt the blow, he replied, that he felt as if cold water were running through him! and when he told him to shake himself, he fell apart, for the sword had cleft him in twain so deftly, that until he moved he did not know it. He endeavored to reach the truth by the shortest and most direct methods and no uncertainty would content him, when by additional labor, investigation or thought he could relieve his doubts. With similar directness lie imparted knowl- edge. ^ His style was simple, without verbiage, and without rhetorical artifice, clear in its purpose and going straight to its end, but eloquent with the force of sincere conviction. His mind was productive as well as accumulative, and grew not by accretion merely, but by development. His tastes were versatile. He received exquisite pleasure from music. He studied painting and sculpture and architecture. He loved 32 for any inferior end, from vanity or ambition, but with refer- ence to its highest uses ; for the elevation of the soul, for the comfort and help of man. The nobler ends of study he well defined in his dis- course on " Human Knowledge." " He that seeks knowl- edge," he said, " that he may thereby erect himself above his fellow-men, or subdue things, organized or inorganic, to his own private material uses, shall never tind it. He may learn much of the springs of depraved human action, much of the arts that enable the weak to control the strong, the few to profit by the slavery of the many,— much of the adaptation of external means to selfish ends ; but he shall never attain to the lofty goal of the genuine scholar, — the possession of the power which is alone the true ex- pression of the highest human knowledge, — the power, namely, to reign supreme over himself, to resist evil impulses from within and base temptations from without, to subdue his passions to his will, his will to his reason and his con- science." "Working as he did with this spirit, you could not but be impressed with the genuineness of the man through every fibre of his being. It was this moral element which imparted force to his diplomacy and weight to his words and opinions ; and which gives substantial excellence to his judgments in letters and art. His mind was many-sided, and as he sympathized with all learning, so he was the friend and helper of all lovers of learning and all genuine scholars. There was in Constan- tinople when Mr. Marsh was there, a student from Germany, drawn thither by the passion for original research. An article of his in one of the newspapers, attracted the friendly notice of our minister, who sent for him, offered him the use of his library and his good influences with the Turkish government. When the confusions of the Crimean war made it impossible to continue his scientific pursuits, Mr. Marsh advised him to go to America. This new thought ripened into a plan, and through this kind suggestion and the friendly aid which 33 followed, is cine in large part, the result that an admirable scholar found here a permanent home, and the United States can now clam, as her own, one of the most accomplished astronomers of the age, who, through his almost unaided labors has just presented to the observatories of America and Europe a series of astronomical charts, which surpass in accuracy and extent, any thing of the kind ever before 'at- tempted. In manner Mr. Marsh was grave, yet with a now of quiet humor; with something like shyness in company ; among strangers reserved, but not secretive; simple in his tastes as in his character, a lover of intelligent society and of truthful, unaffected men ; undisturbed by the prattle of chil- dren and ready to listen to their questions and add to their knowledge. His love for children was indeed remarkable and quite as remarkable was their love for him. He was familiar with the best literatures of the world of course, but he had his favorites-the great poets (as goes without the saying), but besides, the more racy and pictur- esque writers, the authors of the old Scandinavian legendary lore, Sir John Froissart in his rambling and most charming chronicles, Thomas Fuller and Sir Thomas Browne. He could Hardly be called popular, for he neither flattered nor would receive flattery, nor had he the light and airy arts of famili- arity winch are sometimes mistaken for sincere good will let he drew others to himself in strong personal attachment. ihose whom some men would inevitably alienate and drive into hostility or open quarrel, he, not of direct purpose bnt by natural superiority, by gentleness and sympathy and justice, would make his personal friends. There was perhaps nothing in his character more striking than its grand simplicity and directness. Affectation would have been as impossible to him as a positive falsehood. He was the same in every circle and in every position, always quietly dignified and modest, never supercilious, never sub- servient. Indeed, while he impressed every one most strong- U ly by his own personality, he himself seemed almost uncon- scious of that personality, so engrossed was he with the great subjects that filled his thoughts. In his condemnation of wrong he was unsparing, and the strength of his feelings often led him to apply severe epithets to the offense, even while the offender was treated with for- bearance. Sincere and truthful himself, he was quick to detect the opposite spirit in others and not easily deceived by fair words. Whatever was insincere, evasive and prevarica- ting, where he had a right to expect honest dealing, roused an indignation which he did not always take care to express in euphemisms, though the offender were prime minister of a kingdom. Offences against himself he hardly recognized, or quickly forgave. Private enemies he had none. His friends, and few had more, were grappled to him with hooks of steel. He was humane and generous, one who loved his fellow-men, a helper of the poor, a friend to the friendless ; and many are they who received his unobtrusive kindness, and were surprised with aid that came, they could only guess from whence. His sweetness of character no abuse of confidence ever embittered. He was literally a man who thought no evil, and his kindliness and unselfish interest in all who need- ed help was a matter of constant astonishment to those who knew how often they were taxed. His generosity was only limited by his means, and often, indeed, was exercised at considerable personal inconvenience. A man so thoughtful, so observant, so introspective, w-ith such native power of seeing the relations of things, could not fail to meditate much upon those high and mighty truths which concern the nature and destiny of the soul, on which revelation alone casts a clear light. Of his own personal convictions it does not become us to say much, when, in his native humility and self-distrust, he chose to keep silence ; but I know that all sacred things he regarded with profound reverence, and that every word of his writings is in complete harmony with them. He believed in the life everlasting, and 35 I do not doubt that the substantial truths of Christianity, which in childhood he heard from the lips of father and mother, he always cherished ; and that his hopes, like theirs, rested in the simple faith of Him who eighteen hundred years ago was nail'd For our advantage, on the bitter cross. Mr. Marsh's remarkably tine and robust physical consti- tution never fully rallied from a severe illness, which he suf- fered in Eome in 1872. But the effect showed itself not in the loss of mental power, nor in any specific physical infirm- ity, so much as in a general failure of strength, an inability to walk and climb as he once could, and other marks of the natural weakness of age. It was his custom to leave the hot city in the Summer for some cooler retreat in the moun- tains, and the last year he chose that beautiful Yallom- brosa, not far from Florence, —where the Etrurian shades High over-arched embower. Here, nearly three thousand feet above the sea, with still loftier heights around, with a beautiful outlook over the fer- tile valley of the Arno, he found quiet and rest. Here were sunshine and shadow ; hither he brought his books ; here in an old monastery, disused as such, was a School of Forestry, established by the Italian government, in the studies and researches of which he always took a lively interest. Here, bathed in the delicious atmosphere, he spent the days in rest or reading, in revision of some of his books, in serene enjoyment of a country life. And so the last hour stole upon him unannounced, unanticipated. It was in the heart of the beautiful Summer— the 23rd of July of the last year. He had been sitting throughout the day under the shade of the trees, conversing freely with those about him. giving to his nieces an interesting lesson on the clouds, and discussing with a friend the latest reports of the English in Egypt, with all the force and clearness of middle life. As the shadows lengthened, complaining a little of weariness, he retired to the house and 36 soon after, to his bed, where he quietly rested. Shortly before nine there came on a difficulty of breathing. The best and most watchful of friends was by his side. A physician of eminence, fortunately near at hand, was immediately sum- moned, but all remedies proved unavailing. To her, whose welfare he had tenderly guarded for so many years, and who now administered some simple draught, assuring him that it would bring relief, though he received it. he replied very calmly, and with a gentle motion of his hand as if in full recognition of his real condition, "No, my dear, no." No other word was spoken in that sorrowful chamber, and in a few minutes more, without struggle or pain, the wheels of life stood still. "He had gone over to the majority." It was indeed a euthanasia. "When the physician saw the venerable head sink back so peacefully upon the pillow, he exclaimed with deep emotion, "Ecco veramente la morte del giusto !" There seemed a peculiar, an almost ideal fitness and harmony between Mr. Marsh's tastes and character and all the circumstances of these last days. Had his own wishes been consulted as to the time, place and manner of his departure, he could hardly have desired anything different. Like ripe fruit he dropped Into his mother's lap." The mortal remains, under the direction of an officer of the King's household, were removed from the hotel where he had been staving to the great monastic hall of the School of Forestry, which, by the loving hands of Pro lessors and students, was decorated with boughs and garlands from the woods and the hill-sides ; and there, wrapped in the stars and stripes, covered with sweet immortelles from the hills, the venerated form of the beloved dead was reverently watched over by day and by night, till the necessary arrange- ments were completed. In the early morning of the fifth day, a sad procession of government officials and local- authorities, of professors and students, with a few nearer friends and members of the American Embassy, bore the / 37 mortal remains, with every mark of honor, to the distant railway at Pontassieve, on the way to Rome. Nearthe Southwestern limits of the Imperial city, beyond the Aventine, overlooked by the lofty pyramidal monument of Caius Cestius, lies the small cemetery of the Protestants. A peaceful and beautiful enclosure, with stately groups of cypresses, the green sod starred with daisies and violets, within sound of the murmuring river, within sight of the Sabine hills and the Alban mountains, it holds the ashes of mam Englishmen, of Germans and Russians, and of some of our own countrymen, who seeking health or knowledge or pleasure, have there found a grave. Thither was he borne with every tribute of heartfelt re- spect from King and ministers and foreign ambassadors, to await the final ceremonies ; and there on the 17th of October, in the presence of a few friends, with simple religious rites, all that was mortal of our noble-minded and well-beloved scholar, of this stateman large of heart and sound of head — of this friend, tender and strong, was committed to the friend- ly earth. And here, with this imperfect sketch of a life, which stretches an unbroken arch of beauty and honor, of sincerity and truth, from the sweet vale of the Queechy to the banks of the Tiber,— we, too, must say farewell. If the glory of a State is made up of the well-earned fame of its citizens, if the best treasure of a college is in the noble lives of its sons, rich indeed is that Institution which can hold up the names of scholars such as he to the admiration and generous rivalry of all who can be inspired by high examples ; happy the State which can call such men to her councils, or give them— not herself impoverished by the gift— to the larger service of the Piepublic. APPENDIX- NOTE I. The life and character of the Hon. Charles Marsh has been admirably ,„,rtraved in a Memorial Address, read before the Vermont Historical Society in 1870, by Hon. James Barrett. The mother of Mr. Charles Marsh was Dorothy Mason, of Lebanon. Ct., a sister of Jeremiah Mason, who was the father of the eminent lawyer who bore the same name. Charles Marsh was born in Lebanon, Ct.. July 10. 1765; removed with his father to Vermont in 1773 ; was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1786 ; was appointed by Washington United States District Attorney in 1797 ; was a Trustee of "Dartmouth College for forty years, from 1809 to 1849 ; a member of Congress 1815-1617, and died in Woodstock. Vt., Jan. 11, 1649, at the age of 83. NOTE II. John Adams. LL.D., was the Principal of the Academy. Among the schoolmates of Mr. Marsh were William Adams, D.D., LL.D., Francis Cabot Lowell, for whom the eitv of Lowell was named, Josiah Quincy, Jr. , President I mrd Woods, D.D.. LL.D., E. M. P. Wells, D.D., Joseph Muenscher, D.D.. Levi Lincoln, and the two famous merchants. Hubert Hooper and Benjamin T. Reed. NOTE III. Mr. Marsh continued his preliminary study of the law hi "the office of his father, till the September term of the County Court in 1825. when lie was admitted to the liar, after passing an examination before a special committee appointed for the purpose, consisting of Jacob Collamer, George E. Wales and Norman Williams, Esquires. Soon after, he re- moved to Burlington and there entered upon the practice of his profession in company with Mr. Bailey, under the firm of Bailey and Marsh."— I'ermont Standard, July .'.\ 1SS2. NOTE IV. For information concerning Mr. Marsh s life in Constantinople. I am much indebted to President Cyrus Hamlin, of Middlebury. Vt., for many /f II years a missionary in Turkey, and to Hon. Henry A. Homes, American charge d'affaires during Mr. Marsh's absence from his post on his visit to Egypt and Palestine. Mr. Homes writes : "The duties of the Amer- ican Minister in Turkey are peculiar. He has authority accorded to him under the treaties to protect the interests of all Americans in all judicial affairs, by an officer of the Legation. American merchants or citizens are continually appealing to the Minister for his interference, in cases such as in most civilized countries would be referred at once to the courts. It requires extensive information in the Minister, and a judgment ripened by large experience, to direct his course wisely in many of these cases. In matters of religious liberty pertaining to the native Christians ' the appeal was generally to the British Ambassador, yet the rights and privileges of American Missionaries were so frequently mixed up with those of the native Christians, that the missionaries frequently addressed their memorials to Mr. Marsh, and they never found him backward to do all in his power with the functionaries of the Sublime Porte." NOTE V. "There was no American living who had anything approaching the personal prestige with the Italian government that Mr. Marsh en- joyed, and that, not for the sake of his government, but for his own." — The Nation, Dee. SI, 1S82. NOTE IV. The correspondence which accompanied the purchase and gift of this admirable collection deserves to be widely known. As a part of the history of the complete transaction, I am glad to be permitted to reprint it here : Woodstock, Vermont, March 15th. 1883. President M. II. Buckham, University of Vermont, Burlington. Ver- mont : My Dear Sir: You are aware that in September last I bought the library of the late George P. Marsh for the University of Vermont. I have delayed making a formal communication on the subject until the books arrived from Italy. They were kept there a while for reference in the revi- sion of Mr. Marsh's works, and have only just come to hand. I now for- ward them, with a catalogue, made under Mr. Marsh's own supervision. With the books already in Burlington, the whole number will be about twelve thousand, constituting a library rich in rare and choice works, and in I ask you to accept it as a gift to the University ■men it is remembered that Mr. Marsh was a son of Vermont and " "7 "I ™* SCh0lar ■• *« from early manhood until he went abroad n d plomatxc hfe his home was in Burlington, near the Univers ty h ;;:.n ; t h rr:r? its Trustees ' and ° ften -«- ^ hat ; a Library he had bul]t up whh sq mu<;h care ^^ iversny, and would have himse.f p.aced it there if his Ion, pub, c n kept tarn comparatively poor, every one will see that this dis- position of this un.que and precious collection is the fittest thing possible STK a lT eI£ °; being permitted to make the ■»■ ~ ot; man had so good a nght to the privilege as one who is not only a Ver- r^o d"'^^ ° f thB UnlVer8ity ' bUt Wh ° haS had " is *™ ^e m Woodstock for many years on the old Marsh homestead, fragrant with = v memo,,,,, where George P. Harsh was born and lived until man- And now the need of the University for a fire-proof library building, which has been pressing for so many years, can no longer be put aside I -Hid be almost crimina, to allow the very valuable library tL enHched bj he Marsh collection to run any further risk of destruction or damage A substan ,al and graceful building, a fit home for such a library, shoufd purpose, and as tlme 8hou]d be Iogt) x g . ve seyen Ama Mater, the Alma Mater of two of my brothers, and in the hope that o hers of her children wi,, remember her with g ifts a ' nd hclp J r ^ h« ' old renown, and ever be worthy of her name. Sincerely vours. FREDERICK BILLIXGS. University of Vermont. Burlington, March IS. 1883. Hon. Frederick Billings, Mt Dear Sik: Your letter of the loth is at hand, conveying to the t mversity the Marsh library and indicating your intention to give seventy Ave thousand dollars for the erection of a library building. It is my pur- pose to call a special meeting of the Trustees of the University to take such actio,, as this gift seems to call for, and I shall therefore defer an official reply to your communication until they shall have taken action "Pon il I, would, I am sure, be the wish of every member of the corpor- ate that they should have the opportunity of giving expression to their sensetf the importance of an act which both in its immediate and remote IV my own admiral and latitude h '" " ^ inad «^tely- in ff that you would provide I ^ *"" ^ reaS ° n f ° r ho P- I knew that you would"! Lnc 7' 7" i" ° "'"** taWh «' but ^ have far exceeded CmttaZ. «*" "* "* '° d ° " aU ' y ° U vision. I look upon ^rent re "f Lh PM " ^ Ube »»* ° f ^ P-- oHt, as so generous, so wi fwor St ™ SUb8tanCe 8nd «"■ -anner hardly eonceive of anything, er Tn ^ ° f ^^ that * ca * the channel through wMch « Z ,'T * benefaction - To be only years of waiting LV^^Z^ ^-ity repays me for many" library, in some departs, in t, wofld and 7' 7 ^ ^^S^ the best library building in the I 7« ' VPntUre ,0 h °P e - one of scholars to us and e iveC M ' **" draW the attent ion of ^^u.^r'u^r^'r r help us in man - v **•• dowment which his Alma M 2 H * ° f ^ ma S nifi <*nt en- than ever upon his ^ J" ""^ Wffl VaIue hi ^lf more hope that others wil, be ^at V SSL.^ ^ ^ *" ^ the.r means, to build up an institution which deXtST T'f* '° semces that any of us are able to bestow """ g ' ftS and I am, dear Sir, Very cordially yours. M. H. I3LCKHAM. m LIBRARY OF CONGRESS III III If I II II ill Hill ill II 011 695 472 2