kU" ^ ' tu ?9 ^903 LIBRARY OF THE University of California. M^^y%M^,A>\ 4, ^ 'v./wCrwvx '] Class With the compliments of HENRY J. BROWN. 4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, London. .A- J MEMOIR OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STEVENS < Jdjeynpoyni/fyfiy ^ Jra^aykJ^y^iy Cy/k iJiiiUe^ Jfy CONTENTS Memoir If'i'r'rM' ; 111 PAGES 1-102 ill r llliii III i I Ml • 4 » £ ...... .M\^\ . . ' . .... . ,.. :. MEMOIR OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STEVENS .^ CHAPTER I xj^ii,,;:: ,, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STEVENS, born February 19, 1833, was the tenth of the eleven children of Henry Stevens, of Barnet, Vermont — the Green Mountain of the old settlers — a descendant of one of the sturdy sons of independence who tramped into the forest to make a clearing in the part he seleded, and then build a home, one of those which throughout the length and breadth of America formed centres of the little oases of civilization which rapidly grew into villages and towns and flourished in the Western soil. Full of the self-dependence common to such pioneers, it was only natural that the Stevens family should be stamped by an individuality of charafter that permeated those who followed. For there was a great deal of the quaint old Puritan spirit veined with the traces of the pilgrims who crossed the ocean for religion's sake, ready to go forward with their lives in 2 MEMOIR OF their hands to form the camp in the new country where they meant to stay. It was a grand stock for a shoot to spring from, and the father of the subjed: of this brief memoir was one of those sturdy, hard- working, praftical, self-taught men who, besides being the head of those who gathered round his domestic hearth, became to a certain extent the magisterial leader* of his township. Some- what rugged, perhaps, in his culture, but thorough; a man ready to turn his hand to anything that meant progress and that required thought beyond that devoted by his fellows to their daily task. In short, Henry Stevens, senior, was a man who loved books, colledled and read them, a man of brain, which he cul- tivated and transmitted as far as he had suc- ceeded in perfeding it to his children, and with far beyond ordinary results. This love of literary works, especially those which dealt with the past of his own country, led to the establishment of a learned body which was to do good work in its own par- ticular vein, and become well known as the Vermont Historical Society, of which he was the founder and first president. Born in the last month of 1791, Henry Stevens was married in 1 8 1 5 to Candace Salter, a New Hampshire lady. Eleven children were the result of the union, but only six of these VcvlUr^ &SaokereU 94l S :/'/,rfyj .7C,r^?)arnr^. J^ B. F. STEVENS 3 attained to full maturity, namely, the eldest born, Enos, Henry, George, Simon, Sophia Candace, and Benjamin Franklin, he being the youngest child but one, Elizabeth, who died in early infancy. Henry Stevens was a man to whom it would come natural to have a son christened by the name of the popular hero in whom he believed, one whose example he would like to see his offspring follow, and the family record shows the birth of a Benjamin Franklin in the year 1829, followed by the sad announcement of his death in the same month and year as another son was born, as if to take his place and bear the name of which the other had been so brief a possessor. No better words could be found to set down the charafter of Henry Stevens than those written years ago by his second son and name- sake: ''Leaving the Academy at the age of twelve with only a taste for books, and, as he expressed it, graduating at Nature's Univer- sity, he became a self-taught man. . . . He sought only to provide his children with edu- cation, leaving them to hoe their own rows. He was a farmer, an inn keeper, a mill owner, a landlord and a Squire by courtesy of Stevens' village ... an antiquarian and a book colleftor, his house was the resort of the intelligent," and in another portion of his father's brief 4 MEMOIR OF B. F. STEFENS memoir he literally hallmarks — stamps the pro- gressive man who died at the age of seventy- five, ^' leaving his house full of books and his- torical manuscripts, the delight of his youth, the companions of his manhood, and the solace of his old age." It would have been surprising if a student like this, who had cared for the working edu- cation of his children, had not left sons des- tined to become book collectors whose names take an honourable position in the library re- cords of the past century — names that will live. CHAPTER II A BOY'S education sixty years ago in the rural States of America bears a strong resemblance to that in England earlier still, and old letters vividly paint Benjamin Franklin Stevens as quite the rustic American boy, acquiring his learning in the days when the pedagogue believed thoroughly in the scriptural proverb, " Spare the rod and spoil the child/' for he neither spared nor spoiled. A very old friend, Colonel Alex. G. Hawes, of California, writes pleasantly of his school- fellow, who used to speak playfully of him as his twin brother, their parents having been near neighbours, and the two boys having been born under the auspices of the same physician the selfsame night. It is almost hke going back to a record by Oliver Wendell Holmes, for Colonel Hawes writes of " Dr. Tuttle, whose old ^ one hoss shay ' and sorrel mare are no less impressed on his memory than the doctor's eccentric dress and manner" — "Frank's father was also a most original and eccentric man. He had a store of humour of the old fashioned 6 MEMOIR OF Yankee sort, which brimmed and bubbled on the slightest occasion, and if there seemed no occasion he could make one. It was not alto- gether as subtle and quiet — perhaps not as re- fined as Frank's, but it was always on tap. Frank and I attended for one or two summers a ' seledt school ' presided over by one Hub- bard — the Rev. Austin Osgood Hubbard — a Presbyterian of the old school, whose head was filled with Latin and Greek roots, and sur- mounted by a faded brown wig. He believed in birch, willow, and all sorts of rods, also fer- rules, straps, or any other implement that might be handy, to aid instruction. According to my recoUedtion I used to sample one or another of these devices about once a day. Whether Frank was a greater adept at con- cealing his wickedness or was a ^ sure enough ' good boy I cannot remember, even if I ever knew, but I well recall when both my hands were covered inside with water blisters from an application of the ferrule, Sophy Stevens, Frank's elder sister, gave me great sympathy, and one or two of her girl companions their tears." It is an old English proverb that boys will be boys, and the old settlers must have carried the traditions of the British boy with them to the West. Possibly this had something to do with the verdidt of another schoolmaster, who B. F. STEVENS 7 during the course of his instruction declared that amongst his pupils there was no boy who gave so much trouble as Frank Stevens, but not one they liked so well. An epigrammatic essence this of the charadier of the boy and man. For it seems that Frank must have been somewhat of an enfant terrible^ unfortunately for him, as he fell under the tuition of another master who did not spare the rod, aud there is a story that at this school the boys prepared themselves with defensive armour for the fray, in rather a Sybaritish fashion which could only have come from a young American brain and in a rural district, for it is chronicled that in anticipation of the scholastic instrument of torture the boys wore sheepskin. Stevens him- self, one of the most genial and forgiving of men, carried still in his memory his old recol- leftions of one of his tutors, a Dr. King, and the anecdote which follows contains a ring of resentment, a rising, so to speak, of a crushed down young spirit against treatment that rankled in the boy's breast, when upon some show day, doubtless in the presence of visitors, the pupils of the school were to deliver re- citations. Upon this occasion young Stevens surprised his listeners, and must have stag- gered his teachers, for he delivered some lines from the introduction to Defoe's '* Jure Divino " : - 5. 8 MEMOIR OF " Nature has left this TinSiure in the blood, That all men would be Tyrants if they cou*d. We're all alike, we all ascend the Skies ; All would be KINGS, all Kings would tyrannise y^^ while it was perfe6lly evident that the verbal shot went home, that the cap fitted the peda- gogue's head, for the boy was called upon to apologise, and did. But he had had his kick, and his choice shows the quick-wittedness and dauntlessness of the boy — perfedly within his rights — the selection of pieces for recitation being left entirely to the scholars. It shows, too, something of the dawning power of re- search, for though every boy would be quite at home with ^* Robinson Crusoe," "Jure Divino " by the same author would hardly be within the scope of an ordinary pupil. The schoolday experiences and escapades rapidly glided away, and early in life Frank Stevens — Frank, for this was ever the familiar name — had his first hint that in connection with his education his father was eager for him to begin picking up something in the way of making himself useful. But it was rather early for him to commence at thirteen acquir- ing, the calm, thoughtful, business-like habits which aided him so well in his career as an agent, and to become the emissary whose task B. F. STEVENS 9 it was to carry important despatches from one government to another. It has before been suggested that Mr. Ste- vens, senior, occupied an important position among his fellow-townsmen, and for some political reason he had been brought into con- nection with the Governor of New Hampshire at Charleston. Whatever it was, it entailed the bearing of some very important papers — in fad:, a des- patch — to that fundionary, and at a time when it was of vital importance that they should be placed in his hands at once. Over half a cen- tury ago civilization had not begun to make its vast strides, to which we are so used in the present. No telegraphic messages could be sent to town or village; an American citizen could not step into an office and ring up a friend or fellow politician to speak to him by word of mouth and in tones that could be re^ cognised as coming from the right person. There was only one course open to Mr. Ste- vens, senior, who could not wait for the post; the despatch must be conveyed instanter, and by hand, and that too in a very lonely part of the roadless country. Worse still, he could not perform the obvious duty of mounting and conveying the papers himself, for he could not leave home ; he must send them by a messenger he could trust, and there was no one who an- lo MEMOIR OF swered that description but his son, the school- boy of thirteen, fast asleep in bed. There seems something of the hand of Fate in it when we picture him awakened from sleep after having retired for the night, to start up wonderingly and face his father standing over him candle in hand. After due thought he had determined that this must be the course. Frank must be woke up and sent. So said the stern matter of fa6l father; but it was in the presence of the thoughtful mother, Candace, who was in arms in defence of her child. It was such a long journey, through an exceedingly lonely country, and in her eyes it seemed almost a crime to send a boy like that. The matter was reasoned out on both sides, and the result is illustrative of the calm thoughtful manners of the serious religious people of the period, for the father eventu- ally decided that the position must be laid before the boy, his opinion asked, what he thought and whether he was willing to under- take so important a mission. This was done, with the result that Frank unhesitatingly de- clared that he was willing to go, and that he would deliver the despatch into the proper hands. Early the next morning the steed Black Bess was saddled, and with a boy's eagerness for adventure and romance his farewells were B. F. STEVENS ii made, and he started upon his journey, bearing his despatch, and the following, written upon time-yellowed paper in his father's hand, a relic evidently carefully treasured by the son. " Barnet, May 5th, A. 1 846. Ira Davis, Esq. The bearer, my son, B. Franklin, leaves home this morning for Charleston. I wish you would spend a short time with him if agreeable. Your humble servant, Henry Stevens." And another: — '^The Rev. Thomas Kidder. The bearer, my youngest son, you will please receive kindly. If agreeable I should be gkd to have him visit the State Prison. Your humble servant, Henry Stevens." That the mission was properly carried out we have the record left in Stevens's own writing, made quite late in life. " 1 846. May 5th. Started on horseback for Charleston, and made journey in two days." No light journey for a boy this, for the way was quite new to him, and the only guide he had was the fine old colonist's direAion to fol- youtn, but unfortunately as a boy Ji^rank: was somewhat delicate, as Is often the case where muscle seems to have naturally given way to brain. The latter years of his school life were clouded by rather serious illnesses which ne- cessarily interfered with his studies for months at a time. CHAPTER III WHEN quite young, in 1 847 — a mere schoolboy — Stevens began to work seriously, ading, so to speak, as his father's secretary, and, as he states, under his diredion. He left home to take up his resi- dence in Albany, at first one and then another boarding house, in quite a manly independent fashion, spending his working hours in the offices of the Secretary of State, copying his- torical manuscripts for Mr. Stevens, senior, thus laying the basis for a thorough knowledge of research and the making of transcripts, in which he became distinguished later on. From Albany Stevens wrote home to his father an account of his journey, and mingling his boyish recoUedtions with plenty of matter of fad shrewdness, tells of his search for lodg- ings, and settling down, then of his reception at the Secretary's office and the rooms where he first started upon his onerous task, in the midst of so much noise that after writ- ing there one day he was given permission to move up to the third storey, where it was 14 MEMOIR OF quiet. He finished his letter with the announce- ment, "I have not written much yet, only 16,317 words in six days. The last piece I copied was ' Petition of the Earl of Sterling to the King praying for ^7,000 in satisfadion of Long Island, which had been granted to his ancestors.' " An interesting note, showing as it does how the historical education was going on. The boy's following letters home tell of his busy researches among State Papers in response to diredlions from the future president of the Vermont Historical Society, whom he playfully refers to in the midst of much serious allusion to documents, papers and signatures, saying, '' I have taken a job of writing for one Henry Stevens, Esq., of Barnet, which it will take some time to finish." And these merry refer- ences shine out in other letters from the midst of the serious manly statements in connexion with what must have been a hard task to a boy. In one letter he gives his father a broad hint about the state of his exchequer, living as he now was upon the means supplied from home. And in another: "I fear the person who is doing some writing for you does not do it very well, nor not much of it. However, he does it as well as can be expefted for a boy of 14^. He will try and do better since re- ceiving the $$" (dollars). Evidence this that B. F. STEVENS 15 his appeal had been attended to. This letter finishes with a Hne of very exaft manuscript: '' I can write a little better than this is written. Your undutifuU son, B. Frank Stevens." Before the boy had been a month at his task we find him writing: **I am in good health and spirits. Last week I only copied 25,097. I shall try and do more this week. I began on a piece yesterday 2 o'clock of about 3 1 pages. I shall finish it Tuesday. It is Sir H. Moore to Lord Shel- burne, June 9, 1767. ... I shall write all I can — as well as I can — and be as prudent as I can." In the very next letter, still before he had been a month from home, the boy of fourteen and a half shows a new side to his character — a suggestion of what in after life he became — for mingled with a statement of the tale of literary bricks he has produced that week, and the announcement of his next work, the " Pro- ceedings of a treaty held by Sir W. Johnson with the Six Nations and other Indian Tribes at Fort Stanwix in the months of Odlober and November to settle a boundary line," he gives an account of the illness of a gentleman, a stranger to the city, and he writes: " Mr. Hadley sat up with him last night and Friday night. . . . Mr. Hadley just left here. He came to see if I would sit up to-night. 1 6 MEMOIR OF which I shall do. He asked two gentlemen before he asked me, and they both refused/' The poor fellow died during the night/and the boy writes: " Monday morning. I am well this morn- ing, after sitting up." Stevens's life at Albany month after month seems to have been one of steady hard plod- ding with his pen, copying week by week and sending word to his father how many words he had written since his last letter. Nearly every time he mentions the number of words, and fears it was not so great as it should be, but finds the tale turn out better. He is very modest, too, and regrets that he cannot write more neatly, but is trying his best; and so his reports go on. Now he is copying papers about Lord Dartmouth, now about some other English official or statesman, besides searching at his father's wish for old maps and docu- ments and making facsimiles, generally, as it were, serving faithfully his apprenticeship to his future work. At last three months have passed away, and the boy's steady application has evidently pro- duced its effedts ; for instance, after reporting to his father that he has copied from 20,000 to 25,000 words for his week's work, the sum total on November the first has risen to over 68,000. He has done his best, as he promised, B. F. STEVENS 17 and praftice has made perfedl, in spite of his regrets that he has not done better, having had to deal with manuscripts that were badly- written, and others so illegible that he had to leave blanks. The work went on, and in December the boy writes in rather a homesick style, and as if he begins to feel the stress of his task: '* It is not a very pleasant thought to think that I am obliged to stay here till next July so as to make a year on the whole." But the time glided on, the Albany copy- ing came to an end, and there was a com- plete change, the boy's residence while still carrying on his father's historical work being at Montpelier, where he was superintending the binding of the books as well as the arranging and classifying of old historic documents of the Revolutionary period. CHAPTER IV IT was about this time that Stevens's health began to fail to such an extent that it was considered prudent for him to return home for a change, and these enforced hoHdays were for the most part occupied in outdoor work, and in laying the foundation for a love of gardening which clung to him through life, and formed one of his restful pleasures and solaces right up to the time of his death. He was the thorough American lad in those early days, and his pursuits were the combina- tion of health seeking utility and amusement, for he was successful in breeding sheep and growing corn and vegetables, and in the result strengthened his physique and managed to realise from his sales an amount which went a long way towards paying his college ex- penses. As an illustration of the above, he told one little anecdote of how the keen man of busi- ness, his father, encouraged his son's tendencies towards a country life, and displayed his con- fidence in the lad's ability and management of MEMOIR OF B. F. STEFENS 19 stock, for while engaged upon the farm he made Frank a present of twenty sheep to rear for the market. These were carefully watched and tended, with such good results that the tyro in this profession was able in due time to finally dispose of his little flock at a very good price. With such beginnings as these, it was only natural that friends should ask him why he did not follow his bent and become a farmer, but his nature settled that, for he was bound to reply that he was not strong enough to stand the rough outdoor work in all weathers. But a love of nature and natural life was growing strong within him, the feeling which made him later on revel in the sunshine of his native land, and glory in its pure elastic atmo- sphere which raised within him the desire to cast off the trammels of everyday existence, and with an Indian blanket go up into the mountains, to spend many and many a summer night in the solitude and silence of the whis- pering pine woods, listening to the sighing of the breeze. There were times, then, when the country drew him from the desk, and he could give full rein to his love of nature. He was fond of telling late in life of the glories of the places he had then seen. The Valley of the Connec- ticut, for instance, was a distrid upon which 20 MEMOIR OF he loved to dwell — the Falls, probably the Fifteen Mile Falls, where the Passumpsick River enters the Connefticut. He would tell of the excitement when the ice broke up in the spring and the logs came down with a rush, ending in a jam which made the swift current rise in a wave, of some tall pine gliding down like an arrow till the butt caught against the shore which stopped its progress, and snapped with the report of a cannon. He would tell, too, of being present at such a time, when a bridge was swept away. It was in these days that he became ac- quainted with the well-known Dr. Horace Bushnell, who, probably during a visit home, came to Barnet; the occasion was the wedding of Stevens's only sister, Sophy, and the dodor was there as the bridegroom's friend. On the following day the dodtor, seeming to be as great a lover of the country as the bride's brother, and finding in him a congenial spirit, started off with him in a wagon, in the good old country fashion, for a trip across the mountains, going forward until there were no more roads, when, seizing the first opportunity to disencumber themselves of their vehicle, they went forward on foot, making, evidently at Frank's suggestion, for a house among the hills, where he promised supper and a night's lodging. B. F. STEVENS 21 After a long tramp their goal was reached at nightfall, when, to their intense disappoint- ment, they found the place so poverty-stricken and foul that they could not remain inside. There was nothing for it but to continue their tramp till they came upon something more to their taste, in the shape of an unfinished build- ing which promised at all events shelter for the night, and to their great delight they found in one corner that the workmen had left be- hind a heap of shavings. Travellers at such times are not too particular, and there are far worse beds than a pile of clean, satiny, aromatic, newly cut shavings. They eledted to pass the night there, but their sleep, slow coming even if refreshing, proved to be short. The dodor, who was the more restless, found before daylight that, like himself, Frank Stevens was wide awake,and suggested that they should make their way down to the water not far dis- tant. They soon found, though, that they already had the water close at hand, for the long grass all around was drenched with dew, necessitating their dispensing with shoes and stockings and literally wading. But it was all interesting even if cold, and going on down- ward a dull gray gleam soon taught them that they were in the right diredion, coming out in time upon the water's edge, probably an arm of Lake Memphramagog, and, better still, a 22 MEMOIR OF tethered boat was ready to their hand. In the earl y morn the place appeared lovely in its novelty and the grouping of the rocks upon the farther side. Stevens knew the spot by report, for it possessed a fame given by its curious echo, and upon raising a shout a response was thrown back from the opposite shore. This seems to have been satisfying to the dodor, but his guide knew from report that if a certain posi- tion were reached the echo reverberated, being repeated many times. After a sufficiency of investigation and testing in the silence of the early morn, the right spot was found, and in answer to a shout the voice came back many times, to the wonderment of both. Stevens's principal recoUedion of that morn- ing was that there, in the solemnity and majesty of nature, the dodlor began repeating the Lord's Prayer in a loud clear voice, which the echo caught up and threw back again and again, until it seemed as if a congregation was engaged in its morning devotion, as the echo softly died away. One wonders whether, far up there in the mountains, memory reminded them of one Washington Irving and his delightful story of the Catskill Range ; but probably not, for they had been exerting themselves a good deal, and an inward monitor was at work reminding them that the breakfast hour was near, and B. F. STEVENS 23 that their chances of a meal were nil unless they could find it in the lovely lake that spread around. However, they were equal to the occasion, and by some means captured enough fish for their breakfast, and after a time found a cot- tage where the woman who dwelt there will- ingly cooked their prizes and supplied them with what else was necessary for a good meal, before they hunted up their wagon and re- sumed their well remembered journey. Probably during the weakened health period Frank became initiated in the historic lore to which he devoted himself so strenuously in after life ; for to his father some quaint old pamphlet or book, dealing with the history of his country from the days of the discoverers right up through the English occupation and the War of Independence, was a treasure to be valued, and in these early teens the lad's time, that most would have given to sport and play, was claimed for use, his father calling upon him to devote a certain number of hours to help in historical work, but leaving to him his mode of working so long as he delivered his tale in full. The result was that the lad's mode of distributing the hours was very irregular, un- trammelled as he was, but he fulfilled his task according to his mood; sometimes he would spend the whole day at his desk, at others the 24 MEMOIR OF whole night, or rise at daybreak to recover lost time, especially when there had been a lapse when he had not worked at all, his wearied brain claiming a rest which he would take for choice in some long and preferably solitary tramp or mountain climb where he could be with Nature, but rarely without a book, so that knowledge was piled up and his studies were not negledled. Unconsciously it was an educating on the part of parent, and an ac- quiring of the power on the part of the lad, of the skill, patience and assiduity that en- abled him to leave behind, at the close of a life of earnest toil, that stupendous and unique manuscript index, the final planning of which occupied his thoughts up to a few days before his death. As his health improved it was decided that he should resume his regular educational studies in earnest, and he became a student in a large seminary at Newbury, where as the time went on the letters home show a marked advance. The writer is no longer the schoolboy, for they are the compositions of one who is taking an interest in the status of his country, though certainly more of the past than of the present. Correspondence too is well kept up with his father, and questions are asked regarding the speeches dealing with religious matters and affairs of state. B. F. STEVENS 25 But history was by no means set aside, the son being eager now and thoroughly interested in the elder's favourite pursuit, so that apart from domestic matters, books are the principal topic discussed. Unfortunately sickness followed the student here, and he, like many others in the semin- ary, suffered rather severely from an epidemic, which left him weakened, his eyes being the greatest sufferers, and their failing interfering with the studies of the place. It was about this time — May, 1852 — that he continued his health-seeking in outdoor life, in excursions to the mountain at the back of the seminary, sending home for sundry articles he wanted. There is a ring of the young American settler in this letter: *^ I was sorry you sent me the wrong bullet moulds for my rifle ; the ones you sent are too small. The right ones are marked ' 75,' and the iron round the hole is much thicker than either of those of Enos. I guess they are in the magazine drawer. My fish-hooks are in the dining-table drawer, and my fish lines I think are on the lower shelf at the left of the table. The bowie knife also is there, I think, with the belt for it. I wish I had Enos's spy- glass." The Newbury portion of the young man's student life came to an end, and we find him (iilHiip ibii; ire.'-*' m m nil IT' 1 C[,' i:i,i.J..it,J, l.'i..i I ! »:.'i. 'i? ;iithoris€i:l, ^ , ::al:e ■ ■ .rjl of Sti:i'^:' :• l.aS-app:;iiirriT,::ii;: M'/ '^^J|"rill ariL ,&flr||ili,: J i i:in.k,.ii.i:i Stt, lis offic' ^'M iii|t Hlii 1i;is w:ti: a nlenn.oi.-a I: : dii; :i|''s ca:n;!:e '•,, ''foi oltt :'l ' . 3|liia,t:iiira[ iDif'e -of' in hi\: v ie: :;)llll tlie t'i li;::! iilf ol:)i.'nni ,:i:i „!;; "II: i; nil liiiiii I CHAPTER V ONE of the greatest attraftions of the American novelists is formed by the admirable way in which they go to nature for their fafts and find them. The scenes they depidl, from the days of Fenimore Cooper downwards, rise before the eyes, whether it is a blizzard, a flood of the Missis- sippi, or the blasting, tearing rush of the forest fire, while their charaders seem to live and move. No greater treats come across the Atlantic to their fellow-speakers of the Anglo- Saxon tongue than their quaint delineations of character in the many variations which go together to form that wonderful amalgam of keen insight and rapidity of thought — the American. But of all these varieties perhaps the most quaint and attractive to a provincial English- man are those of the New Englanders, which often seem to him like a refledion of the old- fashioned country people of the North, the Midlands, and Scotland, though there is no- thing surprising in this, for they are often 28 MEMOIR OF pidtures of those from whom the Eastern American had his descent. And here in gather- ing together anecdotes, going over letters, and studying the incidents of Stevens's life, it is remarkable how strong a resemblance is offered by the people amongst whom he passed his early life to those objeds of the imagina- tion who have been limned by the writers of his land. One is ready to think that it is not real, till upon further consideration one grasps the fad of how truthful these writers have been to nature, for here are their people as given by a truthful history with fancy out of court. Allusion has been made to the literary vein existing in his father, which was after all but a continuation of that with which his father's father was endowed. This old relative, Enos Stevens, dates back to the famous American past, the War of Independence ; but he, like Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle, was a Loyalist, and believer in King George the Third, and, as he says in the journal that he left, he gave up all for the sake of his King and country. He it was who stuck faithfully to the losing side, and after the peace was proclaimed in 1783 he joined with the other Loyalists and emigrated to Nova Scotia. Here after a time he found that he was free to re- turn to his native State, and with the attrac- B. K STEVENS 29 tion of home strong upon him, he went back, made his way to Vermont, and settled in Barnet. One of Stevens's favourite wanderings into the past was in company with the old diary of Enos, from which, with eyes brightening, he could read his grandfather's experiences as far back he rode on horseback, seeking for a home, right into what was then the wilder- ness of upper New England ; but one of his favourite references would be respeding the eccentricities of his relatives and those among whom they dwelt. When he spoke of his parents' peculiarities, there was a reverence in his tones to accom- pany the twinkle in his eye, as he alluded to his. mother Candace's idiosyncrasies, above all to her whimsical humour when she felt crossed and that things were going wrong. Then she would, so to speak, hoist a domestic signal for the benefit of all she loved, by tying her apron awry as a fair warning to her husband and the rest that there was danger ahead, so that they might stand clear and avoid a quarrel. There was an Uncle Sol, too, full of eccen- tricities, and who, it seemed, after the fashion set by some of the old Puritans among his ancestors in the pre-emigration days, used to be rather fond of holding forth in extempore ^ ^ 30 MEMOIR OF family prayer. There was a rough familiarity of intercourse in bygone times amongst the old prayer leaders, a bold apparent irreverence in their addresses to the Deity, and the custom — well meant, of course — had been inherited strongly by Uncle Sol, who in the earnestness of an address would sometimes lack fluency and stumble a little and find himself at a loss for a word to carry out his meaning. But the hesitation would be only momentary, and he would boldly continue to appeal direft, and in- terjed, " Understand, O Lord? Understand? Take my idee, d'ye? Take my idee?" But he was a strange character in his way, and a sharp trader, and in his business affairs was, amongst other things, a wholesale dealer in leather. It was told of him that after a deal with one of the deacons of the church, a shoemaker by trade, to whom he had sold a number of skins, the buyer on getting home found that they were full of holes, and returned to expostulate with Uncle Sol and make de- mand for some allowance on the bargain, but only to be told that the skins had been sold by weight and that no deduction could be made, for no charge whatever had been made for the holes. Stevens's recolledions of the old Vermont days were quaint and many, and told with the dryness of his father's humour, and as one's B. F. STEVENS 31 teachers are generally made the subject of re- colleftions, so it was here ; for as he talked of his early life, memories would come back of the eccentric preachers under whom, to use the old country expression, he had sat. There was the old North Country minister, who, bubbling over with righteous indignation against some backslider for whom he asked punishment and mercy too, thus delivered him- self for the benefit of his hearers, in his ex- tempore prayer : " Tak' him. Lord, and shak' him weel ower hell ; but ha'e a care. Lord ! ha'e a care lest ye should drap him in ! " There was the Scotch minister, too, who might have been a descendant — or ancestor, which ? — of the old preacher in North Britain whose faith was pinned to vocal music and fiercely denounced the introduftion of the organ, which he spoke of contemptuously as a ^' kist of whustles." The Vermont minister was as strongly opposed to instrumental music, and had to fight a faftion of the younger members of the church, who were just as anxious to bring about a change, and at last, at all costs determined to have their day, two of the most venturesome brought their fiddles and, in defiance of their teacher, used them in the service. Possibly it was in fear and trembling, and in surprise at their own daring in thus opposing the thunders of the 32 MEMOIR OF Church that the consequence was a very poor performance, which passed without wordy com- ment, though the minister looked terrible things. He was, however, but waiting his time, that time being the giving out of the next Psalm, which he did with stern deliberation as follows : " We will now — attempt — to sing — and fiddle the Psalm,'' whatever the number was. Naturally enough in such an old world place the experimental preacher put in an appear- ance, the man who strives to gain his hearers' attention by some eccentricity of manner and speech. He did not, like the preacher whose ways were recorded by Dean Ramsay, give out David's familiar text respecting untruthful- ness: "I said in my haste all men are liars," and add, "Eh, Davie, laddie, gin ye had lived in this toon ye might have said it at your leesure ;" but he took the big Bible, turning over many leaves until he had found a place to his satis- fadion, and then solemnly gave out his ex- tempore text: "He that greaseth his cart wheels helpeth his oxen." After this he went on to deliver an eloquent sermon on the duties of helpfulness in general. In the Scotch church at Barnet there had grown up a custom for the whole congregation to stand during the minister's prayer, and as such extempore appeals were long and their A F. STEVENS 33 periods well known, a tacit arrangement had been arrived at by the hearers, who from old experience provided for a time of rest. No signal was given, but at one particular point which all present recognised, it was felt that the moment had come to *^ change to the other foot," and the men of the congregation — hearers who had driven in from a distance in the country — raised and brought down the butt ends of their whips upon the floor with a precision and resonance that was eledrifying. But no better idea of the quaintness and old-world style of the Barnet of Stevens's youthful days could be given than is contained in the following anecdote of an incident which occurred when he was about nineteen, and he had grown into the keen witted business like help to his father. It seems that through lack of coin or cur- rency, the neighbours around had become more or less indebted to each other for goods pur- chased or services rendered, and this state of things had run on so long without a complete settlement that each nursed a grievance on the score of the others being in his debt. In this way relations had become strained and business difficult. Frank Stevens and his cousin Xerxes — or Xerx, as he was called familiarly — had divers discussions upon the tangle into which the money matters of the village had grown, D 34 MEMOIR OF and as to the possibility of dealing with the confusion in a business like accountant way, put- ting all straight and getting their neighbours out of this disagreeable position. Naturally the first thing to do was to make a general inquiry around as to how matters stood. This was set about at once, with the result that they found how Smith owed Jones and Jones owed Smith, and so on, while the differences were so trifling that in general there was only a matter of some few cents or so between them. A mere bagatelle this ; but such was the primitive condition of the village as regards monetary payments, enhanced probably by a certain amount of obstinacy on the part of the debtors and creditors, that nothing but a cash settlement of their accounts would satisfy them. Thereupon the arbitrators went round a- mongst the disputants, and by means of plenty of political management induced each party to make out a plain statement of the amount ow- ing to him from his neighbour, compared the accounts, submitted them to debtor and cre- ditor, had them acknowledged and agreed to, and finally the pair turned themselves into a rustic banking or railway clearing-house, and found that if they had about two hundred dollars cash in hand they might be able to pay B, F. STEVENS 35 and receive all round, straighten matters out, and the tangle would be no more. This done, the young men laid the matter before Henry Stevens, senior, who agreed to be their security, and, armed with this and their own reputation, they crossed the border, journeyed on to the nearest bank, where they were able to borrow the two hundred dollars necessary, and returned in triumph to play their parts of adluaries and liquidators in their own village. Time and patience were then all that proved necessary. They paid out and received, ob- tained receipts and gave discharges, making peace all round, and giving the village the opportunity of starting once more with a clean slate, themselves included, the final ad of the little. rustic comedy being the paying back of the two hundred dollars capital to the bank. The account goes on to say that Henry Stevens, senior, was one of the debtors and creditors ; but the difference was in his favour, so that in getting back the bank's dues the lads were able to coUedb the family debts at the same time. There was a large-hearted tolerance in Stevens's nature towards all people and all creeds, the outcome of the simple homely teaching of his village, and likewise of his father's much frequented house, where talkers the most cultivated of the distrid were wont 36 MEMOIR OF to gather, and where the Roman Catholic priest, the Baptist, and Presbyterian ministers, found themselves all equally at home. Quite late in life he wrote to a cousin in Nebraska respecting General Sherman, that Mrs. Sherman '^was a Catholic and brought up her daughters as Catholics, the understand- ing with her husband being that she should have the guidance of the girls and he of the boys ; but somehow, notwithstanding his being a good old Protestant, one of his sons became a Roman Catholic priest. The old General said he was too busy in leading his army through the South, and in his subsequent military duties, to give personal diredlion to his boys beyond their college education and such influence as they might pick up at home. I have had very dear personal friends among people of many seds and denominations — Buddhists, Catholics, Jews, Greeks, Mormons, Huguenots, Sun-worshippers, Protestants of assorted sorts, and Nothingarians. I think there are many more good points than bad, even after we have ticked o£F the usual de- pravities of those from whom we difi^er. The absent one is always in error, says the old adage." It was at such a home as that at Barnet that proverbs would find a fertile soil in which to grow, but one is left in doubt whether the B. F. STEVENS 37 following was one of Henry Stevens, senior's sayings, or a memory of another sermon upon helpfulness to those around, but not at too great a sacrifice of self. In either case it was equally good in its application to a people whose early beginnings had been the defend- ing of their clearing from the trampling of the cattle and the creatures of the wilderness: *^ Love thy neighbour, but break not down thy fence." Personally the subject of this memoir pos- sessed his own natural peculiarities and quaint sayings, but they were such as any man might be proud to own, such as from his early train- ing he was almost bound to acquire. There was one in resped: to which, and it was a favourite with him, we might in the words of Shake- speare grip to us with hooks of steel : *^ Do nothing without consideration, and when thou hast done it, repent not." At the beginning of this chapter reference was made to the way in which the habitat, ways and sayings of those amongst whom Stevens dwelt suggested the mines from which so many of the authors of the United States dug for the gems set so liberally in their pages; and surely those who knew their old friend best might have taken some of his, if not for use, certainly to store in memory's safe. Here is another of his quaint remarks, which he once ' ^ 38 MEMOIR OF B, F. STEVENS made to the writer when the latter consulted him about a purchase : " Be sure your daughter gets one of those typewriters that can spell well. I should not like her machine to be the same as one that I have here. The young lady who uses it complains about its orthography a good deal/' CHAPTER VI AN important period in the young man's career had arrived in 1 8 53, when, father and son evidently being at one as to the value of university education and the ne- cessity for its help in the latter's case, an effort was made to finish his studies by enter- ing the university at Burlington; and of his arrival there, full of doubts and fears as to his prospects of passing the preliminary examina- tion, Stevens writes to his parents : '' Burlington, Vermont, Monday eve, Aug. 29th, '^2' My dear Parents, I arrived here on Thursday eve as ex- peded — it would have proved quite as well if I had not come till to-day or to-morrow. The President and all of the Professors were out of town. Friday morning Pres. Wheeler advised me to find John A. Jameson, former tutor here, have him examine me and tell me if I could enter. I found him Friday afternoon, was examined and received a letter to Prof. " ^ 40 MEMOIR OF Pease recommending my admission. Prof. Pease was expefted home tonight. Mr. Jame- son said he wished to call on Mr. P. with me this eve, but as I do not find Mr. Jameson in his room shall not call on the Professor this eve. Mr. J. has not the authority to admit students; yet I expeft to enter, and probably will not again be examined. ■TIT "Tr TV" I had an hour's conversation with Mr. Has- well this afternoon. Of course nothing definite was done. Probably I shall not try to do any- thing more about it till spring. Write soon. AfFedtionately your Son, B. Frank." On the following day he writes : " My dear Father and Mother, — I wrote you yesterday concerning my entrance at college ; today I presented to Prof. Pease a letter from Mr. Jameson, who examined me on Friday. Prof. Pease told me I need not be examined farther; term com- mences tomorrow morning. How shall I be able to start off at five o'clock ? This will be a hard item in my college experience. TT "TV* T^ Mr. Haswell thinks a room can be pro- cured from the town free of rent — feels quite sure, he says — he has mentioned his plan only B. F. STEVENS 41 to Judge Toilet, who coincides with his views. Mr. H. is very anxious to have your collec- tion here, and would like to place his library with yours. I spent an hour or two in examin- ing his colledion — it, like yours, I think, would be much more valuable if about half of it were destroyed. Mr. H. urges that Enos take care of the Barnet aiFairs and you take care of the ^ Hist. & Ant. Society,' board me, and pay him $125 per annum rent for a pretty little cottage with a large willow tree in front. The north side of the garden joins the south end of the garden conneded with the house in which he resides. I told him I would tell you all about this.*' ■Tr TV" *T^ Stevens entered at the commencement of the term, and a letter home in September enters fully into particulars as to his position and the difficulties he had to face, besides the disbursements an earnest young student had to make in comparison with those at the Eng- lish universities. " Burlington, Sunday, Sep. 18, 1853. My dear Parents, I received yours several days since. Hope Mother has a good girl and one that she can keep. Cannot write a long letter, as " !• 42 MEMOIR OF it is nearly time for church. All the students are obliged to attend church twice each Sunday. I exped to remain with Mr. Farrar during the winter. Think I am as pleasantly situated as any student. All seem kind to me. I think ex- penses are greater here than In Midd., but of course do not know. The $ 1 8 I received the morning I left home holds out like the widow's wheat and oil. I spent I7 of it for books. I gave a bond for $200. Ballard and Brothers surety that I would pay my tuition — it was due the first of the term. The law is ^ pay tuition in advance/ $12 per term. I cannot get along here for less than $50 per quarter as I see. I know that is a great deal, but reckon for yourself. Every boardinghouse I applied to was $2 for a seat at the table, or $2.50 for board and room furnished and taken care of, and washing for the bed — your own washing, wood and lights extra. Can you make it much less than $3 per week ? Then add to the sum total for board &c. %2^ per annum for tuition, then there are about $5 other college expenses, incidentals, taxes, or something, I don't know what. I agreed to make my first payment to Mr. Farrar the first of December, and once in three months after that as long as I re- mained. I hope nothing will prevent my ful- filling my engagement." W W TT B. R STEVENS 43 Another letter, a month later, gives the full account of the young student's daily life at college. ^' I am more busy than ever, in fa6t have some Algebra and Greek to get before the regular lesson. This term is said to be as hard as any during the whole course — Sophomore year the hardest year — I mean to do the best I can. Shall maintain a respeAable standing, extraordinaries excepted. I do not visit at all, have no time — don't get up till time to go to prayers in the morning — prayers early enough, so that they get through as soon as it is light enough to see to recite (read) — recite till y^ o'clock, breakfast and study till 11 o'clock, then recite till 1 2^. After dinner study till 4.^ o'clock, recite an hour, then prayers, supper, study till 8|- ; go to the Post C3fiice f of a mile — get back about 9 o'clock, study as long as I can, till my eyes won't work — then go to bed and recruit, so that I may do the same again. I have walking in abundance, |^ of a mile to college, go three times a day, makes i|- miles; then to the Post Office and back the same, 3 miles per day the least calculation. On this principle please ask Enos how far it is through college. I would study it out myself, but the higher mathematics do not come till junior and senior years." "JT TT "f? "TP 44 MEMOIR OF Other letters tell of carefulness and regular exercise ; but the young student worked too hard, with the result that his natural weakness found him out again, and on November ist he writes : " Burlington. Tuesday eve, Nov. i, 1853. My dear Father, My eyes and head are so that I am un- able to attend to college duties. I have studied none since a week ago Thursday. Had I better go home and remain till the commencement of the spring term, about the ist of February? This term will close in about ^i weeks, vaca- tion 8 weeks, I cannot possibly go in for a week, 2-J weeks left, the most of that time would be spent in making up what the class has been over, and that can as well, perhaps better, be done away from college than here. I folded the Parliamentary Report for you, but forgot to bring it to the Post Office, and I feel too weak to go up street for it tonight. I am now writing this in Ballard and Bros, store. If I do not hear to the contrary to- morrow eve I think I shall go to Montpelier Friday morning, and Saturday go home. I will bring the ^ Report ' with me. AfFedlionately your son, B. Frank.'* B. F. STEVENS - ...4^^^^^ Three days later he was at the old home, talking about continuing his studies there. He recovered, persevered, and at the end of January was back at Burlington getting on famously with his studies — *'just noWy but I can't tell how long it will last," while before two-thirds of the first month — February — had gone by, he writes home in rather a de- spondent strain. *^ BurHngton, Vermont. Sunday, Feb. 19, 1854. My very dear Parents, One and twenty has at last come, I am sorry to say. I am sorry because I have no- thing to help myself or any one else with, and my friends are quite as poor as myself, for my friends are friends such as are friends — having, they are always ready and willing to divide. ^' I have not heard from home for several days. How are you doing nowadays ? Have you got a girl yet ? I really hope you have ; it is too hard for Mother to do the work alone. And has Enos taken the farm.'* I would love dearly to work on the farm this summer, and live with the ^ old folks at home,' although I am getting along very well here — find a plenty to do, some days more than I want to do. This term am getting along much better thus 46 MEMOIR OF far than last. I now have just enough to keep busy by working hard ; last term could not do what was required even if I did work — thus the disadvantage of entering college too poorly fitted. It would have been better if I had waited another year, or else have fitted a year younger. I believe there is but one in my class older than I — at least I have been told so. The getting up in the morning does not come as hard as it used to." M, M, ^ M, •Jv" "TV" "Tf- TV* The college life proved a hard one — a fight on the part of the earnest worker for success against weakness, followed by a serious attack of illness, the physician called in, and the professor's recommendation that his student should remain out of college for a time. Stevens writes home for advice as to what he should do, and says this is a " going through college not at all agreeable to me," He fin- ishes his letter, though, claiming to be in ^^ glorious spirits," but hoping his parents will come over to Burlington and see him before long. But in spite of his glorious spirits the body did not keep pace with his brains ; he was weak and ill, so much so that he writes : " I shall not ask for dismissal for the present, though I cannot yet study; but I shall as soon as I can.^^ Later on — that is to say, at the end of B. R STEVENS 47 March — the son writes a letter home of which any parents might well be proud. He tells bravely of his desires to fight the good fight, and lays before them his position and feelings as to his future course. Such a letter can only be given in extenso. *^ Burlington, Vermont. Sunday, March 26, 1854. My dear Parents, In answer to your kind letter of the 22nd inst., received the same day, I may say I want to do just what is for the best, but what t\i2itwhat is I don't know. I look at the mat- ter something in this light. Whichever way I step will be an important step, its influences will be felt in my whole life, and the longer I live the longer the time I will approve or dis- approve my present ads. Even if I cannot study just now^ ought I to take a leave of col- lege duties for ever? As my health /V, if I could go into some a6tive, useful and profit- able business soon^ then I would say * go it,^ but till I can find some such employment, or an opening for such employment, I think it is as well for me to remain where I am, for now I am at that point from which I can go with much more honor to myself rather than after having gone return, since leaving college, no matter for what real cause, is always and for 48 MEMOIR OF ever associated more or less with the idea ^ he had to/ and having left, to return shows a fickle- ness. Therefore I hesitate to take a final leave unless I can sufficiently well see my way ahead, to encourage me to engage in some profitable business ; and at the same time I must acknow- ledge I equally hesitate to say ' I will graduate,' for I do not feel able to study as I ought in order to graduate with honor to my friends or credit to myself. I dare not think of more than to ^ get through,^ and when through with such an education — but that is too far in the future to require present consideration, so I will drop it, as now I have more cares as to the present than I can satisfadorily arrange. I may in ad- dition to this say I do not feel that interest in the Classics a collegiate should in order to have a proper interest in his studies. Standing as I do ^ betwixt two betwixities,' I again ask you. What shall I do ? Having the poorest of re- lations, yet the best of friends, I am compelled to ask this question, especially since I am de- ficient in health as well as in disposition to de- clare my independence and set up shop on — whose hook ? — / have none. I am free to ac- knowledge it is very strange one of my age should feel this dependence on his friends for advice, when he might go ahead and do some- thing, even if it ^ was not quite so cunning;' but I do not wish to be rash — do not wish to do B, F. STEFENS 49 anything of which I myself, neither my friends, may hereafter be ashamed. Do you know of any business in which I can make money? yiny- thing honorable in which I can regain my health and make something; whether to be a lawyer or a blacksmith, a docftor or a grist-mill tender, a minister or a shoemaker, a farmer or member of Congress, a jockey in jack knives or a town pauper — please advise — in each class there is room for others. How is it relative to getting a title to that ^Warner Grant .'^ ' Something might be made lumbering if you could get 1000 acres of land there. I do not wish to jump out of the frying pan into the fire. If I cannot study it makes but little difference, one way con- sidered, whether I remain here or go home and do nothing. This is a very pleasant place to live in, but then there 's the expense. I think my health will not be. good till I have been where I can exercise and live. And yet as I am so perfedly contented here I think I had better remain a few days longer, or till I can know if I can get into any aftive business; or possibly I may in a few days be able to resume my studies. I hope I may hear from you soon, and that I may receive some good advice. I do not mean ' acquiescing advice,' but that which you yourselves do think is best. I do not know that I feel one bit different from what I did three weeks ago. It Is five weeks 50 MEMOIR OF since I studied any. How will it be in five weeks from now? ^ Please write me soon. Your afFedlionate son, B. Frank. My expenses here will be at least $i8o per year, or $60 per term, I think." He was ringing the knell of his college career, and 1 8 54 was spent health seeking at the old home, leading a Virgilian life upon the farm. Unfortunately the physical weakness ac- quired in his youth clung to him more or less through life, though it adted at one period in his favour, and that was during the Civil War, when he was exempted from military service on account of his health. But in those sad days the army had a strong attraction for all young men of Northern birth. It was a stern call to duty, that second struggle for the supremacy of their land, and it echoed strongly in every young man's breast. In consequence, though physically inca- pable of bearing arms, Frank Stevens was more than once within the lines, either to acft as escort or to perform that duty for which he seemed to have been formed — to convey mess- age or bear despatch. But in after life it was B. F. STEVENS 51 a subjedl which he never cared to canvass, and to which he would barely allude, while when he did it was only to refer to the hardships and the sickness he encountered. CHAPTER VII SOME years prior to these incidents Henry Stevens, Frank's elder brother, having finished his education and taken degrees at Yale College, where he had devoted a good deal of his attention to the history of the States and the Mother Country, and made the ac- quaintance of students interested in the same subjefts, determined to make a trip to England. Being furnished with excellent recommend- ations to some of the principal booksellers in London, he one day, to use his own term, ^' drifted " into the British Museum, with an introdudion to Mr. Winter Jones and Mr. Thomas Watts, the library assistants. He was provided too with another introduftion to no less a personage than Mr. (afterwards Sir An- tonio) Panizzi himself, who seems to have at once taken to the enterprising, scholarly young American, giving him encouragement and ad- vice regarding the deficiencies in the great national library, which was at that time " woe- fully deficient in modern American books." Here seemed to be the right man for sup- MEMOIR OF B. F. STEVENS 53 plying those wants, and under the auspices ot the librarians Henry Stevens seized upon the opportunity, and devoted himself to the task of hunting out, collefting, and making up the de- ficiencies upon the shelves. This, of course, was the chance of a lifetime, and formed the beginning of the antiquarian business carried on by Henry Stevens until his death in 1886, and during which period he had gone on as bookseller supplying the Museum authorities with rare books relating to the history of America, until the British Museum could boast of possessing as extensive a library of American books as could be shown by any institution in the United States. The years spent in London rolled on, to find Henry Stevens, the youth from Barnet, Ver- mont, the ^* Green Mountain Boy," as he termed himself — even going so far as to place after his signature the initials G.M.B. — grown into the well-known antiquary, experienced bibliographer, and gatherer of choice works for numerous wealthy colledlors who were forming libraries in the United States. Briefly, Henry Stevens, thoroughly settled now in London, had made for himself a name and was an acknowledged authority in England and America, not only upon historical works dealing with that country, but also upon Bibles. He was a bookseller, but a bookseller of the 54 MEMOIR OF old type, student and scholar, the true literary man. With such a fixed point firmly built up in the great metropolis of the world, it would be only natural that Henry Stevens, sen., the grave old progressive man of the Vermont village, who had in early times made books and history his study and amusement, while dwelling upon his elder son's success, should all the while be having his eye upon his younger son, Benjamin Franklin. He was busy pushing him slowly forward, leading his education, as it were, into one particular groove, till the time had come when the country village had grown too small for the younger man^s prospeds, and the stone was waiting for him to take his first step in view of making himself of service to his brother in England. This seems to have been the goal from the first, and in 1858 we find Frank Stevens re- gularly writing home to his father letter after letter headed Astor Library, New York, and during the next year busily responding to his brother's demands, purchasing American books and shipping them to England for Henry, whose agent he had now become. It is remarkable all through this period how close was the tie existing between the father in Vermont and the son in New York. Week by B. F. STEVENS • 55 week, long closely and carefully written let- ters were despatched from the American city to Barnet, full of trade details, and every one a proof that the youth had now merged into the careful business man, working hard. And as the time passed on and date succeeded date, it is possible to read between the lines and see that this mercantile progress connedled with history and books was all part of a training in which literary work was eventually to pre- dominate over trade. The stay at the Astor Library continued, letter after letter to the father reporting the business Frank transaded in shipping books for London, till in one of the communications we have the first hint that this period of his life was drawing to an end, for he writes, " Harry wants me to buy a lot of books for him, but he says nothing about my going to London at present." Again, in 1859, "Packing off books for Harry and others." Then a letter from Henry, "All well, all business, and all right." In December of the same year he writes home to his father from Washington that he is book buying, but cannot get the works he wants. Presumably it was for his brother Henry, and the letter runs, ^' I can probably find them in Philadelphia and New York. I may have to go to Harrisburg again. Hunting S6 MEMOIR OF up these books is like a jackass following a peck of oats/^ In January, 1 860, he sends word home from Boston that he ^' Shipped five cases to Henry, and am now getting ready to ship a lot more." He now states that he is buying largely and shipping ofF profitably ; but with great mod- esty he regrets his want of the careful busi- ness faculty that is necessary. If ever time proved that a man's own estimate of himself was incorrecft, it is here. His after work alone suffices to show the orderly nature and exadi- tude of the worker^s brain. Nearly all the letters home now have a bookish vein running through them, right up to June nth, i860, when we come to the great step in his life that he is about to make, and the announcement that he is leaving the country of his birth for London on June 27th, — " If I do not hear anything to the contrary from Henry." And a few days later he writes : '^ I think it will be very much to Harry's advantage and also to my own if I go." His next letters are dated from the steam- ship " Niagara," and that on July 7th con- tains these words, " We can now see Ireland," while he arrived in London on the 9 th of July, i860. Fortune was kind to the young American B. F. STEVENS 57 launching his life craft upon the great sea of London, inasmuch as he did not arrive there friendless and unknown to fight hard and fast for his very existence; for he crossed the Atlantic in company with a friend, Dr. Cogs- well of the Astor Library, and went straight to his well established brother carrying on a large business to which he had already served what may be called a home apprenticeship, brain and hand being, so to speak, perfedly familiar with the tools of his craft. And now begins a long series of home letters to his father and mother, describing his life in London, his own and his brother's prospers, letters full of everything that he believed could be of interest to those expedant across the ocean, and to whom he was as dear as they to him. For every one of the long, carefully and well written literary missives of a scholarly, earnest youth breathes its sincerity, and tells how well knit, clannish if you will, the Stevens family was ; for the mother there were hun- dreds of home allusions to the past and the things he missed, mingled with pleasant by- play and description of his young bachelor life ; for the father, chat about books, their nature, the business transaftions of the brothers, and their successful dealings with the British Museum ; then allusions to the purchases of choice works — the so-called incunabula^ the 58 MEMOIR OF cradle-books of the old printers, the beloved of the student and bookworm; in fa6l, all such gossip as would be read with avidity by the father of the family across the Atlantic. These letters, closely written in a fine, clear, delicate hand upon thin paper, bear still, in spite of time, postmark stains made on both sides of the ocean. One peculiar trace of the afFedlion they elicited and the store set by them is the fa6l that they are pundtured closely at the back by a fine needle, evidently the mother's, in binding them together to be stored up and religiously preserved by hundreds, with others that date from the days when the boy Frank left home first for one or other of his boarding schools in the States, and are continued right on till the end of first the father's, and then the mother's, lives, when with other family papers these carefully treasured letters crossed to Eng- land once more to their writer's hand, by him preserved to the last, ready to hand over to his biographer to give a faithful account of his life. So minute and interesting are the observa- tions of the young writer fresh to London, showing so plainly the readiness of the smooth wax of his nature to receive the impressions of the Mother Country of which he had heard so much, and in whose history, in connexion with that of his own land, he had made himself so much at home, that they raise a feeling of TMjL,r-&ei>-jkere^.^^.§o. c \ -4. 51 B. F. STEVENS 59 regret that many of them cannot be printed in their entirety, to stand side by side, domestic allusions and all, with his sterner stuff. Here is one little extrad: following a series of notes comparing London life in 1861 with that of the West. It shows that he is be- ginning to breathe the life that lies before him, to feel that strange impulse which is telling him that he is a man. He chats pleasantly, with allusions to the English cookery and food, makes a playful reference in a highly national spirit to " Mother's pumpkin pies "; and then at once goes on in a way suggestive of a want he was beginning to feel after a hard day's work, now that he is more and more a bachelor, and wishes that he had " some nice little fellow of the feminine persuasion to enjoy the felicity with me, but can't expedt it during the Seces- sion Controversy, while I devote nearly my whole time to the Humboldt Catalogue." {>l ... .'. .^t CHAPTER VIII ^ I ^HE name of Alexander von Humboldt, I the great traveller, naturalist, savant^ , A must have had a pleasant ring to the elder Henry Stevens of Vermont, far away in America, and we can imagine him smiling with satisfaction and rubbing his hands over the progress made by the two boys, whom he had trained. For here was his elder son a busy man in the world of books — the books such as he, the father, loved as a student and col- ledor — and the younger son hard at work, clerkly work, scholarly work, for that elder son, helping on the progress of a venture that he had made, no less a one than the purchase of the great library of the celebrated German baron, and therefore holding in his hands the destiny, the future, of the mass of learning Humboldt had collected during his life. Here was news for the father, and he had ample in letter after letter from Frank, who kept on announcing the work upon which he was engaged. For Henry's first notion upon obtaining possession of his great purchase was MEMOIR OF B. F. STEVENS 6i to behave towards it as a librarian would, re- duce it to order, turn the mass of confusion into manageable compass ; in brief, to have it catalogued. He had the opportunity and the man in the person of his brother, and conse- quently Frank's letters keep on repeating that he is busy on the catalogue. Now he is upon A, later on upon B, and so on. But mingled with these accounts of the long hours of labour daily devoted to what was doubtless congenial work, there are business notes dropped in from which we learn the elder brother's notions as to the before named des- tiny of the library. He has been in correspond- ence with some of the great libraries with a view to its being acquired, and the Museum authorities are naturally eagerto obtain so grand an addition to the mighty store already upon their shelves. But as usual when any Government pur- chase has been mooted, there is the old diffi- culty about the funds, and that projecS hung fire. There was no question about finding pur- chasers. The authorities connected with li- brary after library jumped at the opportunity for obtaining special portions of the colledion suitable to their wants. But Henry Stevens had determined if possible to sell as a whole, to America if he could, and Frank wrote to 62 MEMOIR OF his father : ^' The British Museum are in a per- fect: fever to have many of the books. If the library is broken the first choice is promised there, and then to the Patent Office, Royal Society, Kensington Museum, &c. But the probability is the Patent Office will have every book, scrap, leaf and map as Henry received it and as it is guaranteed to him just as Hum- boldt left it." At last, in 1861, after the matter had hung fire for some time — time that had not been wasted, for the cataloguing had gone steadily on — Frank writes home in plain terse lan- guage : ^^ The Humboldt Library is to be sold by auction by Sotheby and Wilkinson. The Patent Office could not raise the money, and as so many parties are asking for crumbs Henry has decided to sell in this way, and it is hardly an hour since he gave a final answer. S. & W. 1 advance five thousand pounds. They do all the cataloguing, advertising, &c., &c., and receive ten per cent. Of course it is ex- peded the library will bring much more than five thousand pounds. Other auctioneers are fierce to get the sale, but H. S. has just given it to these people. I am very glad indeed Hen. has decided to sell by auction and of course to give up making the expensive and fancy catalogue he intended.'' ^ Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson. B. F. STEVENS 63 Of course the " expensive and fancy cata- logue " was the one upon which the writer had been at work ; that which the auctioneers under- took to print was merely for the purposes of sale, with the numbers of the lots. Mr. Henry Newton Stevens, the son of Henry Stevens, states that the original cata- logue was a huge affair, one that he believes was completed, all save the introduction, but it never finally went to the press. What is more, the Humboldt Library joined some of its predecessors which were the victims of disasters, and this storehouse of erudition, the collection of one of the greatest savants of modern times, that may be looked upon as almost monumental from its character, became a vicftim to the flames. It was deposited with the auctioneers for division into so many days' sales, and estim- ated at so high a value that fully double the amount of the deposit was expedled to be realised; but it proved to be only another of the proverbial slips 'twixt cup and lip, for a disastrous fire took place upon the auftioneers* premises, the Humboldt Library being com- pletely destroyed. Then misfortune was piled upon misfortune, and though it is hard to comprehend how so unbusiness-Iike a slip could have occurred, upon inquiry being made it proved that this 64 MEMOIR OF B. F. STEVENS literary treasure was uninsured. There had been a policy against fire, but unfortunately it had been allowed to lapse, and the question now arose which of three parties was to blame, the original vendor, the purchaser, or the audioneers. Such questions where all would be in oppo- sition are unanswerable by ordinary people, and cannot of necessity be treated otherwise than as unsolvable. Counsel's opinion was taken, but no aftion followed as the result, the matter being allowed to fall to the ground with the heavy loss to the auftioneers of the sum they had advanced, and to Henry Stevens of the sur- plus he had anticipated receiving, while to the literary and scientific world the disaster was ir- reparable, all that remained beyond the ashes being the sheets of the catalogue upon which Frank Stevens had been for months engaged. CHAPTER IX ALL through his career Stevens made friends. Certainly one has felt no de- sire to trace out any chronicle of his having made an enemy, but to do this last does not seem to have been in his nature. He was a man to make friends of those who were worth knowing, and this he did, from his earliest pitching of his tent in London. In those first days his greatest intimate was his old companion, Horatio Gates Somerby, an American gentleman of independent means. It is recorded of him that he was a most chari- table man, but rather eccentric, doubtless one of the reasons for his intimacy with Mr. Pea- body. The little record tells that he was one day walking along the Strand, and came upon a boy looking miserable and in distress. He stopped to ask the lad what was the matter, and the reply was that he had nothing to do. This naturally suggested the further question: *' Why don't you sell newspapers like the other lads about the streets.'^ " "No money to buy any papers," replied the boy. " If I lend you F 66 MEMOIR OF a shilling will you buy some and try ? " The boy eagerly jumped at the opportunity, and the shilling was given with the doubting' re- mark : ^* There, I don't exped: to see you or the shilling again." The boy was full of as- severations regarding his trying and returning the money, and proved to be as good as his word, for some time after, as Mr. Somerby was going along the Strand, the boy, with a bundle of newspapers under his arm, ran up to his friend with an eager " Here 's your shilling, sir," and in reply to questions declared that he was get- ting on, vouchers for which fadt were shown in the bundle of papers he carried. From that time he became one of the regular newspaper sellers near Wellington Street, and was always ready to meet his benefac5lor with an eager look. A trifling anecdote perhaps, but expressive of the charader of the man Stevens selefted for his intimate. They shared rooms in Torrington Place and Tavistock Street for some years. Mr. Somerby was about twenty years older than Stevens, but despite this disparity in their ages they were inseparable friends. Possessing similar tastes, they were so much together that one learns that their neighbours nicknamed them David and Jonathan. It was through Mr. Somerby that Stevens became acquainted with one of the long roll of the men of mark who knew B. F. STEVENS 67 him and grasped his hand. This was George Peabody, the celebrated philanthropist, who loved to visit Somerby and Stevens at their rooms; and Stevens later on, in his love of everything quaint and humorous, used to re- late how the old philanthropist liked their society and dined regularly with them at their chambers once a week, making a point of add- ing his contribution to the dinner in the shape of a duck, which he always brought himself ready for the housekeeper to prepare : the generous adl of an ultra-careful man, of whom it is recorded that upon one occasion, as the trio were sitting talking, Mr. Peabody quietly put out one of the two candles, remarking that one was enough with which to see to talk. But something more solid than social enjoy- ment went on ^t these rooms, for Somerby used to acft as honorary private secretary to Peabody, and it would be strange indeed and contrary to all probability if Stevens was not consulted, for it was here during their com- munion that the rough plan of the famous Peabody Trust was committed to paper. This, in connexion with the choice of companion- ship of the old philanthropist, speaks volumes for the charafter and nature of the others, while later on Somerby had much to do with the management of the great charitable under- taking. 68 MEMOIR OF It was through his connexion with Peabody that Stevens became acquainted with John S. Morgan, father of Pierpont Morgan, whose name has of late become so widely known. Thefriendship between Somerby and Stevens was lasting, the former often visiting at Sur- biton during the remainder of his life, which came to a close some twenty-five years ago. But there was soon to be an end to Frank Stevens's bachelor life in London, and the beginnings of the great change came about in this wise. In 1 85 1 Henry Stevens became acquainted with Charles Whittingham of the Chiswick Press, Henry Stevens being a juror in the printing and stationery class of the Great Ex- hibition of that year, of which Charles Whit- tingham was the reporter, and a friendship and business intimacy sprang up between them. The Chiswick Press was for many years carried on at Chiswick Mall, on the banks of the Thames, where the Whittinghams resided; but in 1 8 54 the business was removed to its pre- sent location in Tooks Court, Chancery Lane, and Charles Whittingham lived for some years at Barnsbury in the Richmond Road, with his family of two sons and three daughters. He was fond of fishing and of a country life, and during the summer often took a small fur- nished cottage on Surbiton Hill, with some of B. F. STEVENS 69 his family, passing a portion of the week at Barnsbury and the rest at Surbiton. In March, 1862, Frank Stevens was invited to spend the Sunday at Surbiton with the Whittinghams, and he gives an account of his visit in the letter below. ^'London. Friday evening, March 7th, 1862. I was invited to spend last Sunday with the Whittinghams at Surbiton, in Kingston. Young Mr. Whittingham breakfasted with me, but as he came late we did not finish breakfast in season for the train at 10^-, and as no train is allowed to leave London during the Sunday morning service — that is, between a quarter before eleven and one o'clock — we thought as it was a fine morning we would try the top of an omnibus. In this way we rode twelve miles to Richmond, and from there walked through a most lovely country five miles to Surbiton, and arrived just in season to save our dinner. They had given up ex- pedling us, as the i^ train had arrived, and we found them busy at their dinner. We needed no urging to join them after our ride and walk. After dinner we walked an hour or more with the young ladies — had tea — a pleasant little visit, and was at home about half-past nine in the evening, and have felt 70 MEMOIR OF better all the week for the exercise. I am to go there again a week from next Sunday^ if fine, and to go early enough to walk to Hamp- ton Court in season for church service, and to look about the old palace, grounds, &c. This is a magnificent old palace of the time of Henry VIII. A charming garden, and the most wonderful grape vine in the world. This vine is in a glass house, and completely covers the top of it. I fancy the house must be nearly or quite lOO feet long and 25 wide. About 1600 bunches of grapes averaging a pound each have ripened on this one vine this last year. I think the vine is the same age as you and father." TV" TV" TV" Here for the first time he met Charles Whittingham's eldest daughter, Charlotte, who a year or two afterwards became his wife; and from that time he was a welcome guest both at Barnsbury and Surbiton, being much liked by Charles Whittingham and the family, who looked forward to the time when he should become one of them. The busy months of constant work glided by, and we come at last to another letter which tells of nostalgia and love of the old home, and ends with a broad hint of his inclinations and a playful allusion to his father, taking it for B. F. STEVENS 71 granted that the recipient will know the place from which it came. ^' My dearest Mother, I intended writing you a long letter by this post in reply to your good long letter received yesterday^ but we have been so ex- ceedingly busy I can only tell you how glad I should be if I could now repeat my kisses and caresses of two years ago. I can hardly realise it is so long since I left you. It is uncertain when I shall go home. If Simon does not come over here soon I think I shall be obliged to go to you. I really can't stand it much longer. I am hungry for a good visit, and mean to have it in the autumn or early winter. I am sorry I haven't a wife to take home and show you. Accept my best love for yourself and the dear old Harry. B. F. S. June 28, 1862." On July 5th he speaks of the absence of summer and the bitter cold and wet, " so like what we had two years ago. . . . Henry was one of about sixty guests at a dinner given by Mr. Peabody last night at the Star and Garter Hotel, Richmond. . . . Mr. P. would not call it a fourth of July dinner, but a dinner on the fourth, and no political speeches were 72 allowed, given at tl sided. Idi(: week's ^ D and gas en" one) to li aid of a cal Four days later he writes: '^Dearest Mother, Yours and father^s letters came yes- terday, and found us all in health, &c., &c., I fully intend being punftual in my engage- ment to eat blackberries with you when they are in season, so please make room for me. Two years today since I arrived in London. Next Wednesday I begin my holidays for a few weeks, and thus you see shall celebrate your birthday and start on an excursion which will give me change of air, &c., &c. Accept much love and kisses. Ever your boy, B. Frank. 9 July, 1862." He did keep his engagement, for on the 29th of the month he writes from 56, Broadway, New York: ^ The introducer of tramcars into England. B. F. STEVENS 73 ^*My dear Mother, Here I am, safe and sound, having ar- rived per ^ Saxonia ' last evening. Shall have a little visit with Simon and Enos, and in a day or two will write to let you know when to exped me in Burlington. I left all of Henry's folks well and jolly. It is roasting hot today. Will write you again in the evening or tomorrow. Your afFeftionate Son, B. Frank." A day or two later we get something more definite from ^6^ Broadway, regarding his en- gagement to Charlotte Whittingham: "My DEAR Mother, We are all well. I shall be most happy to avail myself of your kind offer relating to the bracelet, or something of the kind, for Ch. . . . The war news is not at all encouraging. It is among the possibilities that the South will diftate the terms of a peace. I shall not be surprised if the great battles now being fought decide (virtually) the contest. And I must acknowledge I have fears of the result. A defeat now gives the possession of all our arms, munitions, ammunitions, supplies, &c., &c., and Washington to the rebels. Only a 74 MEMOIR OF B. F, STEVENS dired: interposition of Providence can prevent such a disaster." # # # # He finishes a letter from Boston on Sep- tember 1 2th, to his mother, of course, with a reference to *^ a charming letter to me, and the enclosed photograph with a great deal of love to you from Ch." Troubles came thickly after the landing in America, but they were the national troubles which dislocated business and extended Ste- vens's visit, during which, to use his own words, he " saw something of the War of Secession," quite enough to make him reticent during the rest of his life. Frank made a stay of a fair length with his parents, and his business being resumed, he visited most of the northern States book hunting on behalf of his brother Henry, and it was in April, 1863, that he once more took passage for England. CHAPTER X IN 1864 Stevens started in business in London with his brother Simon, these making an arrangement in which they acquired by purchase a portion of Henry's con- ned:ion and stock. The new firm took premises in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden; but this combination only lasted two years, when Simon dissolved partnership, leaving his brother Frank to carry on the business alone. In 1865, the year after his commencing business for himself, Stevens married Charlotte Whittingham, whose letter to her husband's mother fully records the event: "4 Feb., 1865. Our dear Mother, We are well, and quite contented with our change of state. We have both been very busy, and still continue so. The wedding went ofF admirably. It was a bitter cold day, bright and frosty. The party consisted of my two sisters, my cousin Sarah, 76 MEMOIR OF my youngest brother, Mr. Somerby, Frank and myself. All were in good spirits. Henry and Mary met us at the church, and went home to my father's with us, staying a little while. Mr. Somerby stayed to dinner. After dinner Frank and I went to the Crystal Palace, en- joyed ourselves as well as we could in the cold, and then came to our own home. I have been to Islington twice since I came, to see the folks, particularly my Aunt. She is still very bad. Frank is, he says, as happy as he can be, and so am I. We shall be so very glad to hear from you, dear mother, whenever you can write to us. With love to Enos, Sime, Carrie, Soph, yourself, and the dear father. Believe me ever, Your afFedlionate daughter, Charlotte Stevens." The busy time that now commenced was the following year rendered more stable by a selection made by the American Government of the most suitable and aftive representative it could obtain for their Despatch Agent re- sident in London, enterprising, trusty, and fit to bear what was a very onerous burden. The appointment was made by the Hon. W. H. Seward in 1866, Benjamin Franklin Stevens becoming Despatch Agent of the B. F. STEVENS 77 United States Government at London, which appointment he held up to the time of his death. This office is one of great responsibility, and appertains to both the State and the Navy Departments, while the duties, which are many, consist of receiving and forwarding official correspondence and other official matter to and from the State Department in Government Despatch bags. In addition to this, the Agent receives and forwards the official and private correspondence and other matter for the United States warships on the European and other stations, and to other U. S. warships and train- ing ships when visiting Europe or passing through the Mediterranean to and from the far East. These multifarious duties brought Stevens into official and personal contadt with all the United States Ministers and Ambassadors to the Court of St. James's, from the Hon. Charles Francis Adams up to the present dis- tinguished Ambassador, the Hon. Joseph H. Choate, likewise with the Ministers and Am- bassadors accredited to other countries, con- sular officers. Army and Navy officers, and other officials of the U. S. Government who visited London, many of whom in consequence of this intercourse became Stevens's warm and personal friends. 78 MEMOIR OF Among these were General and Mrs. Sher- man, with whom he corresponded for some time. He knew too, and was known by, Lowell, and, as will be seen, he became Wash- burne's guest in Paris. Farther back, he knew Horace Greeley ; and it was only natural that he should form acquaintance with Stanley, who, when he had arrived at his highest pitch of fame, came upon Stevens at one of the grand dinners given in honour of the inde- fatigable correspondent and explorer, who with all an American's pluck, enterprise and ^^go," carried out the Gordon Bennett Mis- sion, and discovered the long lost Living- stone. It was at this funftion that Stanley came up to Stevens after a long interval since they had met, and saluted him with '^ Hullo, B. F. ! You here still ! " It would occupy much space to enumerate all the prominent and distinguished gentlemen whom Stevens in the carrying out of the Despatch Agent's duties met and knew ; but one might mention at random Admiral Farra- gut. Admiral George Dewey, General Sheri- dan, Admiral Franklin, Admiral J. G. Walker, Admiral C. R. P. Rodgers, General Grant, General Sickles, and the Honourables J. C. B. Davis, W. H. Seward, W. M. Evarts, John Hay, George Bancroft, A. D. White, W. B. F. STEVENS 79 Hunter and A. A. Adee. Add to these the names of various British Statesmen, littera- teurs^ savants^ historians, and what a goodly roll is here ! As a matter of course Stevens's many friendly services to those who were strangers to our shores met with the warmest thanks ; but in addition to these he received many official letters of commendation, and from the officers and men of several warships testimonials in- dicative of their appreciation of his work and that of his deputy, Charles J. Petherick. For the Despatch Office was a place of call for travelling Americans seeking information, and in spite of the constant demand for his services, such callers were always courteously received, Stevens taking much trouble to give them every assistance they desired, without thought of remuneration in any way. His rooms, in fad:, became in some respefts a kind of club for American travellers, whose society he much enjoyed. His genial good nature, combined with a strength of charafter, was never better dis- played than when he was called upon to arbi- trate on any case of difficulty which had arisen in his large circle of friends and acquaintances, whether British or American. Many a seeming -^ impossibility has been overcome by his tadt, ? and the rough and thorny way made smooth. 8o MEMOIR OF B. F. STEVENS while his kindness and influence for good in endless ways will long be remembered by those who have reason to be thankful for his advice and friendly intervention. CHAPTER XI THE young husband's and wife's letters written to the old home tell their own tale of the busy life that now ensued, of the enormous amount of correspondence, the receipt of the mails and their despatch at all hours, with the additional labour entailed by the Sunday arrival now and then of one of the boats. Then, too, the writer records the state of confusion in which he found the Despatch Office when he first took up the duties, and the difficulty of getting matters straight so that the tide of correspondence should ebb and flow with something like regularity, all of which he hoped to get right in time. ^^ I am getting it systematised," he says, " and some credit for pundtuality in the office. If my health continues good I shall like the business, but I have to work very hard." Unfortunately his health did not continue so good as he could wish, for his letters begin to tell of the great strain and suffering from the work ; in fadt he was so much out of 82 MEMOIR OF order that a change from the ordinary London life was deemed desirable, and a cottage was taken in Hampton Grove, Maple Road/Sur- biton, to which he moved, and which is thus alluded to in a letter to his mother in May, 1866. *^ We have taken a very nice cosy little six- roomed cottage at Surbiton. Good garden. Small, and I think it will be very comfortable. . . . The out-door exercise will be good for both of us. The house is twelve miles from the London station, and it is one mile from my office to the terminus, so I shall have thir- teen miles to go to get home, but strange as it may seem I shall be at business earlier in the morning than now, when I have only one flight of stairs to come down." Here he had many visits from his father- in-law, who had left Barnsbury and taken a house in the Maple Road, the family inter- course proving of great advantage to both. Henceforth Stevens's letters to America are mostly addressed to his father, many of those intended for the mother being written on be- half of both by the wife, and there is a new sorrow in the old home. Mr. Henry Stevens, sen., had been stricken down with paralysis, and if anything the letters become doubly afFedlionate. Later on Stevens records, in consequence of B. F. STEFENS 83 the change to the country that It has *' im- proved my health so much I feel I am equal to almost any amount of hard work. I have not missed a morning in coming to the office before nine o'clock, and here I stick usually, though I sometimes get ofF by the six o'clock train. . . . To-night I must remain at the office till near twelve o'clock to receive and forward three large bags of letters, &c. Last week they came on Sunday, which made me as cross as cross. I like to be at home on Sun- days. We are always talking about you and wishing we could be with you. It was a great disappointment not being able to go home this summer, but the business is increasing so much and the appointment of the Despatch Agency coming to me, and the money panic coming on, made it necessary for me to stay here and watch the woodchuck hole ; and I am very well satisfied with the results, except that I have not been able to see the dearest honies and to take Charlotte." After residing a few months in the Maple Road both Frank and his father-in-law liked Surbiton so much that they determined to make it their permanent home, and conse- quently began to look out for residences to suit their tastes. Charles Whittingham having found Gordon Lodge, in the Maple Road, a pretty detached house with good garden con- 84 MEMOIR OF taining wall and other fruit trees, he moved there in 1869, making that his home until his death in 1876. Frank found a house he' liked in Ewell Road, Surbiton Hill, a pretty place called Laurel Cottage, with a small garden, which Charles Whittingham bought and left to his daughter Charlotte at his death. Frank went to live there in 1868, and continued to reside there during the remainder of his life. He changed the name of this house to " The Sheaves," after his father's homestead at Barnet. Charles Whittingham was a great lover of a garden, and possessed a good general know- ledge of the gardener's craft. He took much interest in his son in law's experiments in cul- tivating American plants which were obtained from his old home, and which were afterwards tried at Gordon Lodge as well as at The Sheaves. The subjoined letter to his brother is illus- trative of this subjedl : *^ I am afraid it is laziness — though I usually call it resting on Sundays. I have been going for weeks to write to you about the plants I would like you to send to me, care of Mr. D. Van Nostrand, 23, Murray Street, New York. If you can mark the roots so that we may know something of the how to arrange il B. F. STEVENS 85 them, please do so. Perhaps you will find it to be the easiest way to pack them is to put them in a barrel with lots of auger holes to give a circulation of air to prevent moulding — but you will know best — the more closely packed the smaller the space. Two little rock maples — four butternuts — and a quart of but- ternuts to eat and for seed — two to four of a sort, three or four of the largest, smallest, and medium ferns or brakes — Charlotte is very fond of ferns, and so is Jenny — garden room can be found for a couple of dozen more roots. Four sweet ferns — I think it is a little shrub I mean, found in the pastures and in the burying yard — the leaves are pounded and applied sometimes to cure poison from poison ivy. A dozen mayflower roots, a dozen col- umbine roots, or wild honeysuckle, a dozen chequerberry roots, a dozen partridge berry roots. A variety of mosses may be used to pack with, and we will try to make them grow. I should like very much to have a couple of white water-lily roots, but am afraid the water will be too high to get them easily. I can get the thick stem lilies here, but they are not so delicate and beautiful as the thin stemmed ones in the rivers. I intend stick- ing a barrel in the garden to put a pair of roots to grow. The water will work from the 86 MEMOIR OF house cistern, and change when we turn the tap. I don't want any of the yellow water- lilies. If you can readily lay your hands on two or three roots of the nodding meadow lily — they are in bloom at haying time — the flowers are from yellow to deep orange scarlet, pro- fusely spotted with brown on the inside, and are but little reflexed as I remember them — I should be very glad. I tell you what I should like, but I don't want you to take too much trouble over them. I should be happy to send whatever money is wanted to pay for all trouble and expenses in digging, packing and shipping the things you can readily find. If there is anything you want from here let me know, and I shall be happy to send it. In asking for so many things from the old farm generally, I feel desirous of hav- ing something from the home garden, and should be glad of a good little Canada plum tree; and I should like a little rose, or any- thing else from Uncle Willard's garden that he can best spare. I am very glad to hear that you have bought the little farm (And so am I. C. S.) — and hope you had sufficient funds to pay plump up for it, and to build a barn and do whatever else is needed. If you are short and want to borrow $500 or $1000 at 5^/0 I think I can B. F. STEVENS 87 get it for you, and the neighbours need be none the wiser. We have not heard from mother for a fortnight, but hope to have a letter in the morning." CHAPTER XII IT was in 1867, after two years of married life, that the tyranny of business was suf- ficiently relaxed to allow of Charlotte Stevens being taken to pay the long antici- pated visit to America — that is, to have her first introduction to her husband's people far across the sea. Letters tell much of the journey, but fortunately a little notebook is in existence in which the wife recorded her impressions in the form of a diary, giving many pleasant re- coUedlions of her reception among the rela- tives in the quaint New World old-world home. In this book, often sketchy in the extreme, Mrs. Stevens shows that the troubles of a very rough passage seem to have interfered a great deal with the keeping of the diary and the sketches she made — we have the head of the American gentleman who had beaten in turn everyone in the saloon at backgammon, but who had to succumb in his turn to the skill of Mrs. Stevens. There is a great deal of charafter in the head, with its sparse hair and prominent MEMOIR OF B. F. STEVENS 89 chin, which may account for the want of polish in its owner's behaviour and the con- demnatory verdid: cast upon his condudb. It was evidently a very tempestuous passage, for the little croquis show ladies' bonnets tightly tied under their chins, comforters rolled round their necks, and the bulk of cloak and shawl; hats with streaming ribbons are being held on, while one Rembrandtish head of a greatcoated man shows his soft felt hat with the brim drawn down over his eyes, and the long hair and beard flying. It was not many days' journey across the Atlantic from Queenstown in 1867, but this one could not have been very pleasant, for there is a dreary monotony evidenced in the record, several notes telling of days during which the travellers suffered, and there is a very serious tale to reckon up of such as are dismissed with the brief announcement " Both ill — did not get up." But the troubles of the Atlantic come to an end, and Mrs. Stevens narrates her experiences of New York, her striking impressions of the busy American city, and goes on to tell of the start for Barnet. Here there is the natural interest evinced in the quaint old country home of which she had heard so much. She tells of the warm welcome of the venerable old people to their new 90 MEMOIR OF daughter, and lightly paints with pleasant pencil the simple country home and its, sur- roundings, where all of the many relatives are eager to greet the young wife from across the sea. And all through the keen observation and aptitude of the artist in catching at the salient points is displayed, while one thing is plain — that in the brief days of that visit she fully established her place in the old people's hearts, a fa6t plainly shown in the affedlionate letters that afterwards passed to and fro across the ocean between the elder Mrs. Stevens and Frank's wife. Mr. Henry Stevens, senior's health on the occasion of the long looked for meeting was unfortunately such that little hope could be entertained, he having been helpless the two previous years from paralysis; and soon after the return to England, the stay in America being of the briefest — the absence from London only forty-two days — the sad news followed that the old Vermonter's life had closed. The hardest workers bear grief best, and Stevens was not long after catching up the arrears of the labour left undone, and we have him writing in September, 1867: *^ I am always glad when Saturday night comes, so that I get a good chance for a rest. I have not been obliged to come to town on a B. F. STEVENS 91 Sunday since I returned from America, but I shall have to do so occasionally when winter comes on again. ... I have been busier than busy ever since I got back, and can hardly realise that the time is passing so rapidly. It is nearly two months since I got back here. . . . We wish you could be with us. We live as quietly as possible, and very like your old way, but we fear you would not be contented to come over the sea. If you do feel like coming, nothing would give us so much plea- sure as to have you with us, and I will send the necessary funds for expenses by return of post if you . . . thought it for the best." The next letter, in the same month, bears the Paris postmark, and is found in company with an imposing passport made out by the Legation of the United States of America at London, signed on behalf of Benjamin F. Stevens, Esq., for there is a break in the Despatch Agent's life; he has to cross the Channel on an important mission to the Ame- rican Legation in Paris, and the letters that cross the Atlantic are full of descriptions of the impressions of the French capital during a brief stay. As time glided on it was made more than ever a religious duty to keep the solitary mother across the Atlantic well-informed of 92 MEMOIR OF her children's welfare and state. An English- man in homely life selefts Christmas for re- membrances of this nature; an American, Thanksgiving Day. The following is one of these letters home. " Dear Mother, \ We have had our first frosts — fruits are ripe — leaves are falling rapidly — gardens are looking sere and yellow — we are sud- denly brought into late autumn weather — these changes with the crowing chickens and President Grant's Proclamation point towards Thanksgiving. We are very sorry we cannot be home with you to eat our Thanksgiving dinner, but this sorrow does not prevent our being very thankful for our home here — that our relations and friends are spared another year — that we are in good health — that we have no desire to be rich — that I have plenty of hard work to do and have been able to save a little corn from the year's harvests, which with Charltie's personal income makes us very comfortable and contented. There is such a host of causes for thankfulness crowding into one's mind that to give a list of them would be like writing texts for half of the parsons to preach about and the other half to pray for. If the catalogue were all written out it would only B. F, STEFENS 93 come to this — we are very thankful that we are so happy, and are very happy in being so contented and thankful. I have made a lot of conditional promises to you and Enos — please let me know which are binding, so that I can redeem them and begin the New Year square. Charltie and I have it in our hearts to enjoy Thanksgiving with you. We have pleasure in sending, and trust you will as gladly receive, a little parcel containing three articles. First, there is a petticoat for you, dear mother, to wear every day when it is very cold — second, there is some alpaca for a dress, which I beg you will give to Mrs. Skinner with our best wishes. I feel very grateful to the Dodlor for his kindness and numerous favours to you, and I want to make some small acknowledgment of his long continued goodness and — third, there is for Enos the Farmer a steelyards for weighing his turkeys up to 20 pounds with the light side, and his pigs up to 200 with the heavy side. If like a good farmer he gets his pigs over the 200 he can guess at the excess in weight, and eat the spareribs with stewed pumpkin and apple sauce. I feel a great desire to help Uncle Willard get up his wood — I can't go to Barnet this winter — I can't chop his wood here — nor drive his oxen or horses, but I trust I can draw the wood, 94 MEMOIR OF B. F. STEVENS so will you please to hitch the enclosed team on to the dear old boy \vith our united love, and ask him to let it bring in a pile of best body hard wood all split to keep him warm and com- fortable. B. F. Stevens." CHAPTER XIII IN May, 187 1, the regular business of the office was once more broken by the Ame- rican Government duty calling the Agent suddenly away with despatches for Mr. Wash- burne, the United States Minister at the Le- gation in Paris, then in the hands of the Commune and being once more besieged, this time by the troops under MacMahon. Of this journey Stevens gives an interesting account in the following letter to his mother: ''19 May, '71. My dear Mother, I have been so busy all the week I negleded to tell you about my recent visit to Paris. Tuesday evening, the 9th inst., I left London by the 8.45 train for Paris, going 'y/^ Dover, Calais, Amiens and St. Denis. Harry Stone, the senior partner in the firm of Munroe and Co., Bankers in Paris, met me at the London Railway Station and desired me to take charge of a Mrs. Harris who was wish- ctiiu. aiix\.v.^. In crossing the Channel to C mained on deck. The sea was rot spray came over the deck a goc gave me a good sprinkling. I w sick. At Calais the basin of soup bread was left uneaten. At about in the morning we left Calais, an sleeping in the train. At Amiens at it was light enough to look about, wide awake enough to see the Prus in uniform in charge of the station soldiers loitering about on the pla We were in Paris a little after c — less than twelve hours from Lc Forbes went to the Hotel Chatb breakfast, and I went straight to t to deliver the Despatches. I founu xjli^ x:.js.- cellency Mr. Washburne, Col. Frank Moore, and the clerks in the Legation very cordial. I hurried off, feeling an urgent call to feed the hungry; having fed the fishes all the way from Dover to Calais, and waited till lo^ for B. F. STEVENS 97 breakfast, there was a large vacuum in which to insert eggs with truffles, mutton cutlets, bread, butter and cofFee. After breakfast we called on Mr. Gratiot Washburne, son of the Minister, and clerk in a bank. Gratiot having little to do in these times, rode to the Lega- tion, a mile and a half, with us. After another visit with the Officers of the Legation and a warm, or I may say urgent, invitation from Mr. Washburne to stay with him during my visit in Paris, Col. Forbes and I went to the Colonel's house, and then to see the Arc de Triomphe, at which so many shells have been fired during the last two months. This Arch is situated on the top of a hill in the very best part of Paris, and is about 1 50 yards from the Legation. The houses in this neighbourhood are of stone or brick, and all are built in very expensive style. Many of these houses have had one or more shells or shots through them. When we were very near the Arch a shell came whistling towards us, and exploded in the air almost over our heads. We took the hint and immediate steps to avoid leaving widows in England. We wandered about up one street and down another, keeping close under the walls of the houses so as to have proteftion from the shells, and so had good opportunities to see the wicked destrudion of property that was being carried on. Upon our return to the H 98 MEMOIR OF Legation Mr. Washburne placed a magnificent covered carriage, horse and man at my dis- posal for the remainder of the day. Gratiot went with me to make several calls. Gratiot and I accepted an invitation to dine at 6|- o'clock with General and Mrs. Read, and in due time kept our engagement. For dinner we had soup, fish, veal cutlets, potatoes, French string beans, roast beef, pudding, salad, claret, champagne, coffee, fruit, &c. — a good dinner, and a very jolly visit. General Read is the Con- sul General to France and Algeria. Having been up all Tuesday night, Gratiot and I got away from General Read's at g^ and went to Mr. Washburne's, and so to bed. I slept most comfortably, and when I woke about seven o'clock the guns were making a great noise, and the shells exploding would occasionally give the windows a shake. Mr. Washburne's house is nearer to the Arc de Triomphe than the Legation, and shells have struck all round it, but have not hit the house. At breakfast this morning (Thursday) I met Mr. Washburne senior, and then walked round to the Legation with him and Gratiot. Mr. Washburne gave me one of the finest open carriages, horse, &c. I ever saw, for the day. I made several calls, going to Bossanges among other places. After dismissing the carriage I joined Gratiot and Col. Forbes, saw some more B. R STEVENS 99 of the sights, went again to the house of Col. Forbes, went all through it. It is one of the prettiest decorated, gilded, painted and fur- nished houses I ever saw. It is not large, and the rent for it unfurnished is 4,000 francs a year. In the door yard were three pieces of shell that had fallen there; they had cut into the walls of the house an inch or so respedlively, but had done no great injury. One of these pieces I brought away with me, as also two or three pansies. The Colonel's house, I think, is less than 100 yards from the Arch. We then went to the funeral of Mr. Richards, a partner in the Banking house of Munroe and Co., and an American resident in Paris for about 35 years. The widow of this Mr. Richards is sister of the Mrs. Harris who went to Paris with me. After the funeral Col. Forbes and I took a long walk with John Austin Stevens of New York. This Mr. Stevens was for some years Secretary of the New York Board of Trade. We saw many very interesting points that are now made famous by the operations during the siege and by the operations of the Commune. I omitted to state that my first expedition on leaving the Legation this Thursday morn- ing was to visit a poor old man at Passy, a district that has been awfully under fire. This man has remained in Paris during the whole 100 MEMOIR OF of the war, and won't even now leave. He has lost his wife and all his property. I was glad to have it in my power to render him substantial assistance on behalf of a London friend, and to make provision for his future maintenance. After the walk with Stevens I joined Gra- tiot, went to the Legation, and home to dinner at 6 o'clock, where Mr. Washburne had invited Col. Frank Moore to meet me. We had soup, mutton cutlets, lots of asparagus, roast beef and salad, with etceteras afterwards, and a very jolly visit. Mr. Washburne had invited Gratiot and me to go with him to concerts at the Tuileries, but just before time to go he was obliged to give his attention to some ur- gent business that came in, and so Gratiot and I went by ourselves to this magnificent palace, the recent residence of the Emperor Napo- leon. There were three separate concerts — one in the Chapel, one in the Galerie de Diane, a room about 250 to 300 feet long, and the third concert in another immense hall, the name of which has not remained in my memory. I guessed there were about 8000 people present, all as quiet and decorous as any crowd could be expefted to be. There was not the slightest possible injury intentionally done to the decorations or rooms. We met several ac- quaintances, among whom was Col. Forbes, B. F. STEFENS loi who invited us all to join in a soda water drink, in the Tuileries, to the Republic. Our party by eleven o'clock had increased to six Americans. We walked in the grounds, which were splendidly illuminated, the same as on the occasion of the last great fete given by the Emperor. There were gas pipes laid around the flower beds and along the walks just at the edges of the grass. The gas lights, about as large as ordinary candle lights, were about three feet apart, and were shielded from the wind by coloured glasses not two inches above the tops of the short grass. The effeft was extremely beautiful. With my long day's go, go, go, I was tired enough to sleep well and willingly, though I really did not like the con- stant bang of the guns in the distance, and the occasional whack and explosion of shells in our neighbourhood. At breakfast Friday morning, about eight o'clock, we had eggs and fried hominy. I had my regular breakfast this morning at noon with Col. and Mrs. Moore at their house. Gratiot was also invited. From Mrs. Moore's window we could distindlly see the constant firing from Fort Vanves and the explosions of the shells on the opposite ramparts, as also the firing from the ramparts and the striking of the shells at the Fort. Among other good 102 MEMOIR OF things Mrs. Moore gave us some brown bread — good. About half after one Mr. Washburne took me for a ride and pointed out some of the places I had not visited. I went several times to the Place Vendome to see the Column fall; for it was promised in the most positive man- ner possible that it should fall this Friday afternoon. It did not keep the promises. The windows in the neighbourhood for a quarter of a mile, and many for half a mile, were pasted over with strips of paper about three inches wide, laid on at intervals of about six inches, to prevent breakage from the sup- posed or expefted concussion of the falling monument. In some windows the papers were coloured, and were pasted on in shapes to give an ornamental appearance — some squares, diamonds, Grecian key and various patterns. But up to the time of my coming away the Column was standing, though It has since come down, without smashing the windows or shak- ing the soot out of the chimneys. We had dinner at five this Friday, so as to give time to drive the four miles to the Station, pass examination before the Commune soldiers, and get ofF comfortably by the 7.15 train for London. At the Station I met several acquaintances, and among them my most excellent friend Col. Forbes. By a little B. F. STEVENS 103 management we got a coupe to ourselves — a coupe is a very small part of a car cut oiF by a partition, intended if packed full to hold four persons. Some ladies that had been placed in our charge were carefully stowed away in the adjoining compartment. We slept most of the way to Calais, being examined several times on the way by different officers to see that our passports were quite regular. We joined the ladies at the car door in Calais, had some soup, and started for Dover about two o'clock. I remained on deck with one of the ladies. She was awfully sick, but I was not. We left Dover about four o'clock, and ran up to London, 79 miles, in an hour and three quarters, without stopping on the way. Worked hard all day Saturday, went home Saturday night tired, came to town Sunday afternoon with Charltie, and had a most agree- able visit with Henry and Mary, who had arrived in London that Sunday morning. Your loving Frank." The opportunity came in due time for re- turning the hospitality, when Mr. Gratiot Washburne, who had had the misfortune to pass through some of the most painful ex- periences connected with the evil days of the Commune, visited Mr. Stevens in his home 104 MEMOIR OF B, F. STEVENS at Surbiton, and it was made the opportunity for a little badinage, his host expressing much concern lest he should injure himself after his starvation experiences in Paris by too strift an attention to the pleasures of the table. In 1873 one of Stevens's busy visits to the Continent was undertaken, partly for change, but more in connexion with the antiquarian historical work in which he was growing im- mersed, and several of his letters are dated from Amsterdam, Antwerp, and other parts of the Low Countries. But no matter what the special objedl of his mission, his interest in everything, nature or art, was intense. He used to express his wonder how people could read during the whole of a railway journey. His eyes were ever open to notice some curious eredion, place of interest, or busy scene. The time glided by faster to the busy man, and on May 5th, 1 874, came the long expedted news that his mother had gone to her rest at the age of eighty-two. Here is the son's own brief record: ** 1874. April 2 1 St. My good old Mother died." CHAPTER XIV THEY were grand printers in the early- days. He who followed the craft was a scholar and a gentleman, and there was a certain nobility in the Plan tins' printers' emblem with which they stamped their title- page — a hand in the midst of light rays that pierced a cloud, tracing with a pair of com- passes a circle, emblem of the corredness and enlightening of their craft — their motto, '^ La- bore et constantia." Masters of typography, all these men found in Stevens an ardent ad- mirer, one to whom their work was food to be mentally devoured, understood, and imitated. What wonder then that,like his brother Henry, he should have been drawn towards the family of the Whittinghams, at first as visitor to the house of the man who long before had joined forces with his friend William Pickering, the publisher and dealer in fine old books, to pro- duce a class of publications that could compete worthily with the much-admired chefs-d'ceuvre of the old printers ? William Pickering and Charles Whitting- ■i;,M, IE iiji:: Jrii :ii ijC) I",!; :i ':i:n 111;]': :ii:i::i ""liii;; "■■ )"V i til"! ' 'I: ill ][::: 'i [ I I liii;;. '!i:;ii;:ii i: 'laioi • 1 ii: ■ ill '(: "]i: "||:;iii]i ;!' „ i ■"'" 'I;,;: KHj i::iLiir:i :•;!:: iiaiir'] 'lit , ||in;"(:ii;:) |j'':ii ,!ii:ii:ii:ii L ■■iir, ilh II: .III' ::l"ii I Mli " '■ V ,111=11: 1,!:!: :inn"„[,"ii " "i i :h. 11' III. ■' :iil;ii; I : ', h:„le CI i: I till Ill Ill J! \.o :t 'Viii'l'ii and classic figures, A«#e lini pencils, notably that erf ( l:i i ham, who became Friiiliii's V:=' It had been the wiislj 1:1! ham for years that a book: il c giving a full account: it© if hIm:; iiC^I:lii!>'i /'iicls: (Dn.(jLri(yLt& Qy/^ c x- V' H M B. F. STEVENS 107 and this Stevens promised his father-in-law that he would do. The subjedl was discussed again and again with the family for years after Charles Whittingham's death, and for long the difficulty of finding a suitable person to do the work seemed to be insurmountable. At last Mr. Arthur Warren, a well-known journalist and member of the Whitefriars' Club, under- took to write the volume, which was compiled from the account books, memorials and library in the possession of the Whittingham family, and embellished by the use of the Chiswick Press illustrations supplied by the proprietors. It was originally intended that the work should be brought out in England, but the Grolier Club of New York offered to make it one of their publications. The offer was ac- cepted, and a limited edition of 385 copies was produced and published in America in 1896. It is easy now to understand how Frank Stevens, the young American, with his parti- cular leanings towards old typography, and his desire to produce his own historical works in the best guise, should from community of taste have become a Whittingham in all but name. Plenty of good work must have been thought out and debated under the trees and among the flowers, English and those transplanted by Stevens from his Vermont home ; and it is only io8 MEMOIR OF B. F. STEVENS fair to the son-in-law, whose wife embellished the volumes of the Chiswick Press, to. think that his ripened judgment must have helped to make some of the tasteful volumes what they are. What seems the perfedly natural result followed — a partnership began to loom in the air, and it is thus alluded to by Stevens in a letter written to an American cousin : " I married an English girl in 1865, and her father becoming too old to give the necessary time to his business, admitted me as a partner. He died in 1876, the year in which your father died, and the cares of his large business and the settling of his affairs, in addition to my own private engagements, gave me much more hard work than was really helpful; and per- haps I may fairly say that this preoccupation was my only excuse for my great negligence in not keeping up correspondence/^ The partnership was determined not long after the death of Charles Whittingham, when the business was carried on by the executors until it passed into the hands of the present proprietors, by whom it is still continued as the Chiswick Press. CHAPTER XV IT was in 1875 ^^^^ ^^e now well known offices were removed from Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, to the more central and important premises at 4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, an address that is probably known and remembered by every United States ambassador, consul and naval officer, as well as by the great book collectors and the librarians of the LJnited States. As the years went by and progress was made, from working almost single-handed, Stevens surrounded himself with a staffs of male and female assistants of his own special training, till the office became a busy bureau where work went steadily on under the guidance of its clear headed chief. To the vast majority of educated people a book is a book. They have a sort of shadowy idea that some old works are valuable, and now and then in conversation a colledlor of ancient lore will be called a bibliomaniac, and paragraphs will appear in the newspapers re- garding the sums of money, running at times into thousands, that have been paid for some no MEMOIR OF specially choice tome — a Caxton from the old printing office in the Broad Sandluary, a Ma- zarin Bible, a tiny Shakespeare quarto, or some work perhaps of little intrinsic value it- self, but on which some great binder of the past has left a lasting memorial of his art. Of this nature are the treasures of the world famous coUedlions of the United States, both private and public, and no small portion of these have reached their present and abiding destination through the agency in Trafalgar Square. Prior to 1887 the only records of the public sales of such works were the auctioneers' catalogues, which even themselves are curio- sities in their way, when they are of such sales as the Strawberry Hill, Beckford, or Hamilton Colledions, especially when some careful clerk, or may be collector, has added the prices paid and the names of the purchasers. In 1887, however, was commenced that well known and useful work of reference, '^ Book Prices Cur- rent," and a careful examination of the volumes will reveal how large a proportion of the really important lots sold by auftion during recent years have been purchased by Benjamin Franklin Stevens. At this point it may not be out of place to mention the name of one of his assistants in this portion of his business, viz., the late Mr. Edward C. Bigmore, who was a man of great culture and knowledge, as B. F. STEVENS m shown by his share in the " Bibliography of Printing/' 3 vols., published in 1880-86, and other bibliographical work. Mr. Bigmore, as the representative of his chief, was a well known figure in the audlion rooms of Messrs. Sotheby and elsewhere, until his death in 1899, in which year the present representative of the business, Mr. Henry J. Brown, became a partner. Many were the battles royal of the audlion room between B. F. Stevens as representing America, and Bernard Quaritch as representing England, for the two were the principal agents of the great book colle6lors, the noblemen and millionaires who never let money stand in the way of making their libraries complete, and it is pleasant to see their names perpetuated by their respective successors. From the days of the early sixties, when Stevens separated from his brother and began business for himself, he was the trusted agent of many of the great Public Libraries and Institutions of the United States, as well as for the great colledtors, as already mentioned, and few men had gone through such a training as he for this work. From a mere boy he had been the assistant of his book loving, studious and coUedting father ; as a young man he was hard at work in the Congressional Library at Washington and the Astor Library at New 112 MEMOIR OF York ; afterwards he was the trusted assistant of his brother Henry ; and finally he became the careful historical student himself. All this enabled him not only to supply intelligently the needs of the great public libraries and historical societies for books, manuscripts, and other literary wares, but also to be of material help in transcribing historical papers and an- swering generally such historical queries as were referred to him from time to time. In this connection, and as an instance of the varying nature of the work he was called upon to undertake, may be mentioned the interesting inquiry and search which he made at the re- quest of his friend, the late Mr. Norman Williams (the first president of the John Crerar Library in accordance with Mr. Crerar's will), as to the history of the family of Mr. John Crerar of Chicago, who on his death in 1889 left the bulk of his fortune to form a library in the city where he had accumulated his great wealth. Mr. Crerar left Scotland in his early years, and certain portions of the will were contested by some of his Scotch relatives in the hope of preventing a considerable portion of the money being used for the purposes of the library. In order to test their claims Stevens was instrudled to make the most minute inquiries on the spot as to the early history of the B. F. STEVENS 113 family. This involved a prolonged visit to the Highlands of Scotland, which was under- taken and carried out with his usual thorough- ness, for not only did he carefully examine all the local documents and the national records in Edinburgh, but he personally visited the various descendants in their crofter homes. The result of these minute inquiries was em- bodied in a voluminous report which was duly prepared and presented, with the result that the bulk of the money left went to found the John Crerar Library, which is now one of that great chain of libraries for which Chicago is famed the world over. Next to the will of John Crerar bequeathing the money, Stevens's report on the history of the Crerar family is looked upon as the most important possession of the library. For over thirty years these transactions formed one of the most interesting features of Stevens's life, sending as he did a stream of the grandest literature of the world setting steadily across the Atlantic due west, and often to the disgust and annoyance of the pessimists, who never seemed to realise that the United States were only an expansion of Anglo Saxon Britain, their children the descendants of John Bull, speaking his own tongue, reading and loving his literature as eagerly and as acquisitively as our best. 114 MEMOIR OF The prices given by Stevens, the result of competition but also of judgment, were often startling, and there were those across the ocean who would at times wake up in words of pro- test, in one case recorded to the writer by the agent himself. His defence, if defence it could be called, was very simple, and based upon a perfed knowledge of the fads. Here were so many thousand pounds that had been invested during the past ten years. What would the works purchased fetch if brought to the ham- mer now ? On an average nearly double, and in many cases the rise had been far higher still. By simple arithmetic it was proved that the in- vested money would have yielded a very high percentage; while when, as the outcome of the little controversy, the magnate placed a limit to the price that he would go to for some im- portant work just coming to the hammer, and which was bought above his head, he wrote blaming his agent for letting the great bargain slip. He did not find fault again. With the progress of education and the spread of knowledge, the value of old choice works has gone on steadily and solidly ad- vancing at a startling rate, and time has proved that it is no ephemeral whim. Let a book, like any other work of art, be genuine and good, and it is of sterling, ever increasing value; B. F. STEVENS 115 ample proof of which can be seen in the auc- tioneers' catalogues of the past century, the first half of which might be called the dark ages of the library, books brought under the hammer of the well known Mr. Evans of Pall Mall in the twenties and thirties, and knocked down for sixpences and shillings, now selling for pounds, while the tide value still rises, and in all human probability will never ebb. It was an arduous, anxious life, with great responsibilities, but full of interest and charm. He who pursued it was bound to be a great student, an antiquary, and a man of deep re- search. There was something ennobling in the knowledge that it gave, a sense of power aiForded by its depths and a freedom from the ordinary sordid money-making to which so many of us are tied ; a subdued envy well alloyed with admiration is the only feeling with which the man who has made this his life pur- suit can be viewed — the follower of this most exceptional career. CHAPTER XVI A FTER the death of Frank's father in /\ law, Charles Whittingham, in 1876, -/ jL Miss Jane Whittingham felt lonely at Gordon Lodge ; and so as to be near her sister, Mrs. Stevens, determined to build a house for herself, and Chiswick Cottage was ereded next to The Sheaves, and occupied by her and her brother William in 1877; and they have resided there ever since; while about this time an addition was made to The Sheaves, so as to increase the accommodation in case of any friends coming down to stay. The gardens of both The Sheaves and Chiswick Cottage were only small, and as an opportunity offered for obtaining a long lease of the ground at the back of the houses, this was taken, to form a fairly extensive garden to be used in common by the two families. The laying out of this ground was carefully considered, the fruit trees to be planted, dwarf and pyramid being chosen and arranged round the borders, so that with roses and other flowers they served as screens for the interior of the beds, which were re- 'R OF B. F. STEVENS iiy .[tables. An attraftive looking cottage of red brick and tile as time went on glasshouses a variety of grapes and plants wn. I in which every foot of space for ther#» tt«io «/-k4-V»5*%#» c*-^— --- J I pij i: linil::,,, |:!" ' I ij&j..;ipi. : ; anil •:, ■111 it'i a S" "1 1 en '"ivir y. txmn their* sec Ihjiwsii; gi'i.pes, ; Itidcl thalj' t:liis> 1 1' ■ la rid i.)roij,gr"t i H"bi:i:icii:lit, ;:[■''£,] .nil. £|ii;f"'i:;. : '!::ini,:;i:i- Ijtlie " ■•A i p V 1 1" 1 I'l" 1 1 i, '. 1 ■' 'Ill ii' ' 1 ii 1 ■ ■ „.ili .1 , iJl ;li.i J. 'i/'.a-' a 1;: . •;::i' 1:1 J i: :ii:ii:ii::: :pll;: If -I i«i i; ".'i r,iE '■'i Svltliiii :d I'ltii.i iWjii;ii;i : th-ir;::: ■.■ 'i.„:iil: : \CMi r:ii jllliilnJliiiiliiliiii' i;i 1. 1 1„ 1 'I " ■■::; ciif j.j it « v ill! I t ; s 3ot :ress rail -I !:iiijnc';:ii„i.:5Jol' ■ i::pirie(lj q|inJ.;y it kirH|l::jiiii ■ I'h. of tlhiij: C\ If f: ■:;:rii it',:: ier a.t v"v ill SI Hi ii8 MEMOIR OF ish here In Surrey ; while, in the garden, lush with flowers, waved and tiasselled the long sword-like leaves and beautiful cobs of several varieties of maize — the Indian corn full of memories of home. It was no extensive place, but to its owner in spirit it was what old Parkinson dubbed his ^^ Paradisi in sole," and nothing pleased him better than a quiet talk with one of kindred spirit who saw with his eyes, and possessed what many would look upon as his weak- nesses. Just a simple cottage home, whose grounds he went on modelling to the last, when, in spite of illness, he added another piece ot ground to his domain, forming a small orchard, where two fine walnut-trees were in full bear- ing, and completed the unique garden. In 1887, after a trip to America, Stevens had a severe illness, and, finding the want of a place to carry on his literary work at home, he built a warehouse for the storing of the sheets of his great works that had passed and were passing through the press, these stacking the comfortable workroom at one end from floor to ceiling. This room overlooked the garden, and here he could attend to his cor- respondence and the work relating to his fac- similes without being so much at his oflices in town, besides utilising his evenings in answer- ^^ L % 'h B. F. STEVENS 119 ing his numerous letters and historical in- quiries. This outdoor study he called the Barnette, a name partly suggested by his native town, partly from the English word barn with the French diminutive ette^ it having been built in the days when his work of re- producing French and other manuscripts was occupying his time and thought. In this outdoor study he was never without a supply of corn and seed for the feathered inhabitants who were enticed to come close to the window where he would be writing or didating. For birds of all kinds he loved, and would not allow his gardener to destroy them or interfere with their nests. Pans of water were put for their use, while the seed and corn gave him ample opportunities for obser- vation of their movements. As a memento of Vermont he imported a pair of grey squirrels which he kept for a time in the Barnette, where they roamed in com- parative freedom in an ingenious contrivance of wire network running from the window to their sleeping shelter. These lithe and agile creatures, doubtless old companions of the woods, and familiarly known in America as the ** chipmunk," were considerably larger than our native squirrel, with more gray in their color- ation, and with broad-striped sides and longer waving tails. 120 MEMOIR OF For these friends a supply of walnuts was kept, but they would not grow tame, and he gave them to his friend the late W. J. Still- man, who lived near the New Forest, and who was a lover of, and an authority on, the squirrel family. Stevens was a great lover of animals, and his dog "Cuffie," a Maltese, was a great favourite, which he had for years, and which was succeeded by others. For cats, too, he had a great partiality, and he was often followed about by a feline companion. His love for seeing the country was always strong, and to master the difficulty of getting about he tried tricycling for a time; but it proved to be too arduous for a man of his physique, and he was compelled to relinquish it and try other means. So he added a stable and coach-house to his premises, and bought an American buggy and cob, with which he used to drive about, the vehicle being utilised as well to take him to and from the station as his infirmities increased and the fatigue of walking became too great. The Sheaves must have been well known by reputation across the Atlantic, for descrip- tions of the place occur in his home letters again and again. Fresh out of London, when he first moved there he speaks of it as the country, a term which seems odd to those well B. F. STEVENS 121 acquainted with the many well filled roads of villas and pretentious houses of the near neigh- bourhood of Kingston, Surrey's busy market town. But he qualified it by the remark that the walks around were very beautiful, and he was within easy reach of some of Surrey's prettiest, most rustic and unspoiled parts ; and, besides, it was not so many years ago, when, on Kingston market days, white smockfrocked farmers were still to be seen, and their wives as rustic, in some dusty old chaise as they would be a hundred miles farther afield. It was his country home at the beginning of his matri- monial life, and remained so unspoiled to the end, the home of his restful pleasures, where he found his relief from much weary mental toil in placid thought, in homely domestic hours. 1t1 Mas CHAPTER XVII P. MERRIAM,one of Stevens's old friends, was born at Princeton, Massachusetts, in 1 8 29. In his youth and manhood he had followed several avoca- tions, and in 1864 became American Vice- Consul at Genoa. He afterwards came to London, and made Stevens's acquaintance, and a close friendship sprang up between them, which continued during the life of Mr. Merriam. Stevens and Merriam often spent their holi- days together, at one time in the Isle of Wight, and another time at Engelberg in Switzerland with a party, a holiday which was much en- joyed by all, and where Stevens was greatly amused by observing Swiss life and customs, about which he often related anecdotes in after years. But not only in domestic life were they friends ; they consulted much on business matters, and were of assistance to each other in many ways. Mr. Merriam was a man of varied talents, MEMOIR OF B. F. STEVENS 123 of much resource, and an energetic worker. In 1879 he joined the British Xylonite Com- pany at Homerton, of which he afterwards became the managing diredlor, and in which he cast his fortunes. The company made xylonite, or celluloid, then a comparatively new material, as an imita- tion of ivory, tortoiseshell, coral, and many other substances, and then manufadured it into knife handles, combs, and a great variety of fancy articles. In its earlier years the venture was not commercially successful, and much of the capital was lost. At this jundlure Mr. Merriam consulted his friend Stevens, who carefully considered the company's affairs, and thought that with ad- ditional capital there might still be a future for Xylonite. The final result of his consideration was that he gave financial help when no one else would come forward, thus showing his faith in his friend and his venture, and saving the company from certain disaster. Showing how corred were Stevens's forecasts, in 1887 the company had increased its business and become successful, this being due to Mr. Mer- riam's energy and perseverance, and a new fadory was eredled at Brantham, Suffolk, under his diredions. The strain, however, of this proved too much for him, and he lost health, and died in January, 1889. The com- 124 MEMOIR OF pany was then superintended by his son, Mr. C. P. Merriam, the present managing diredtor, also a great friend of Stevens, who, in 1889 became a dire6tor, and so continued until his death. During his long diredlorship, in which time the business was much developed, and a new fadtory eredled at Hale End, near Chingford, there was no change in the composition of the Board, and Stevens rendered efficient service to the company, taking great interest in its affairs. His calm, clear way of looking at things, and his good judgment, were much valued by his colleagues. He greatly enjoyed attending the Board meetings and having a chat with his friends over the lunch which pre- ceded business. He often used to remark that the direftors were a most united body of men, there having been no case of dissension among them during all the years he had adled on the Board, and that it had been the desire of all to aft together for the interests of the com- pany. How great the success of Xylonite was may be gathered from the fad that while in 1877, in the company's very early days, the men em- ployed to carry on the venture were thirty- eight in number, in 1 902, when the Company's Souvenir was issued, with its photographs of the Diredors and the various officials, the B. F. STEVENS 125 number of employes at the different works had increased to eleven hundred and sixty, and Xylonite as an article of commerce was known throughout the world. ri 'T' 111 CHAPTER XVIII THE days of one's life are short, and seem to be more brief to the busy man whose every waking hour is taken up with the calls made upon his time. Here was one who from his very schooldays seems to have had one huge flywheel in his mechanism which, once set going, never stopped until the great hand was laid thereon and it slowly slackened in its giddy round and then rested in the bearings, still. Work was his great motive power, not slavish work for sordid reasons such as the amassing of wealth, but always the labour which conquers in the fight for that which is good. But fight and struggle are not the words to use. His was not the face of the fevered, excited toiler, but of the calm, placid, steady progressor looking forward to the accomplish- ment of some great end. It was a life always full to overflowing, but yet just as in a chemical experiment the brimming cup always has room for the addi- tion of crystal after crystal until saturation MEMOIR OF B. F. STEVENS 127 point is reached, in Stevens's life that point was never attained. There was always room for more. However busy he might be, if the want were pointed out and his assistance asked, he was always there, ready and willing to give or receive into the brimming surface crystal after crystal of the salt of life. It was as if he hungered always for more to do, and no- thing seemed to please him more than helping to raise some memorial to the memory of the dead. For instance, when in 1 894 the opportunity occurred of securing the house in Cheyne Row, Chelsea, in which Thomas Carlyle had lived and moved and had his being, Stevens amongst others was approached by those who were in- terested in and had formulated a scheme for purchasing the house and making a permanent memorial to one of England's greatest literary characters. He took up the matter with his accustomed zeal and alacrity and joined the Committee under whose auspices a great Mansion House Meeting was held in February, 1895, which was instrumental in gaining the popular ear. Stevens was appointed Treasurer of the fund, and an independent American Committee was formed in New York in order to enlist American sympathy and support under the presidency of Mr. Samuel EUiott. The facS: that an American citizen so well 128 MEMOIR OF known as Stevens was treasurer of the fund doubtless helped to make the appeal to his countrymen successful, for they contributed no small amount to the projeft which culmin- ated in the Carlyle House and Museum being presented to the public, an institution of which England or in fad the thinking world may be proud. Another instance of his love of matters his- torical and the preservation of olden memo- rials of the great is afforded by the follow- ing. In Stevens's visits abroad he always liked the excuse of having some objed in view other than a holiday trip, some business to transad ; and his great work of cataloguing in the European archives was a good deal mixed up with his almost annual visits to Paris and oc- casional trips to the Hague. A little incident relating to our great poet Shakespeare had its connexion with a visit to Germany. Some forty years ago the startling announcement was made in the newspapers of the discovery of a mask said to have been taken from the face of Shakespeare after his death; and this facsimile became famous in its way from the statement that appeared of its possessor having offered it to the Trustees of the British Museum at the modest price often thousand pounds. This was followed by a warm correspondence be- B. F. STEPHENS 129 tween Professor Owen and other authorities as to its being genuine. The existence of this mask caught the atten- tion of Stevens's brother-in-law, Mr. WilHam Page, the artist, who came from America to England and went to Darmstadt in 1874 with Stevens, for the purpose of inspeding the new discovery. The result was that Page produced a bust of the great poet, taken from the mask, and also a full-sized portrait in oil, of Shake- speare reading. From the plaster bust a single bronze cast was made, while the artist died in New York in 1885. The time passed on, but his visit to Darm- stadt, and the fate of his brother-in-law's work, must have remained waiting in Stevens's brain, until the idea came that the proper resting place of the bust would be here in England, enshrined in the Memorial Theatre at Strat- ford-on-Avon ; after much thought and dis- cussion with his nephews, the three sons of the deceased artist, it was decided that the bronze cast should be presented to the trustees of the far famed memorial. Of a good deal of this transaftion Stevens's papers give no record, but it is patent that he was the leading spirit of the bequest, and that the main cost of the gift was defrayed by him. The inauguration ceremony of the Page 130 MEMOIR OF Bust of Shakespeare took place upon the oc- casion of the annual visit of the Whitefriars' Club to some place of note. The Shakespeare Country was the goal in the year 1 900, and the presentation of the Bust the principal feature of the day. A large party of the members of the club and their friends, many of them being intimates of the originator of the presentation, assembled, to the number of over a hundred, leaving town for Warwick by the Great Western Railway, and driving from thence through Charlecote, visiting Shake- speare's birthplace, the New Place, and the Me- morial Theatre, where the interesting ceremony was to take place. Here, upon the assembling of the company, a saddening element presented itself in the knowledge that Stevens, who should have been present to represent the sons of the sculptor and finally assign the gift, was stretched upon a bed of sickness. These duties devolved upon Sir William P. Treloar, Alderman and Sheriff of London, who as president for the day called attention to the letters of regret at being absent sent by the Under Secretary for War, Sir Henry Irving, and others. Then in an able speech he related the history of the bust, and as a last thought suggested that a new interest would be added to the presentation of that day by a B. F. STEVENS 131 comparison upon the part of those present of the Bust with the head of Shakespeare in the magnificent monument in the Memorial Grounds, the work of Lord Ronald Gower, who was present. The Bust was then unveiled, and Mr. Edgar Flower on behalf of the Governors of the Memorial accepted the gift in an appropriate speech, alluding to the most authentic like- nesses of Shakespeare, which were founded upon three originals: the bust in the neigh- bouring church, ereded by the poet's execu- tors, the Droeshout engraving in the First Folio, and the Darmstadt death-mask. Refer- ence was then made to other portraits in the Memorial Gallery, and, looking upon the Bust unveiled that day as a most valuable addition to their colledion, the speaker concluded by warmly thanking the donors for this gift, which may be regarded as the offering of America at the shrine of the great poet of the English speaking race. CHAPTER XIX IT was only natural, seeing that his father was the first president, that Stevens should continue to take note of the proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society at Burlington, and there is a quaint interest in his communica- tions to Mr. Benedidl, the president ; for though in England, as a member of that institution Stevens seems to have been always on the alert to find old documents likely to be of interest to the members. Here is a letter which tells its own tale, being an acknowledgment and the undertaking to place that which is sent in the proper channel. "Burlington, V*, June 14, 1901. My dear Stevens, Yours of the 3rd inst, with accompany- ing documents, including copies of Subscription Papers bearing the signatures of Senator Foot, Judge Williams and other prominent citizens, presented by you to the Historical Society, is at hand. I accept these, for the Society, and tender our thanks therefor. I note your in- MEMOIR OF B. F. STEVENS 133 strudions to have the papers framed, and find enclosed with them a ten dollar U. S. note, to pay for the framing of the Crown Point Map, and of these papers. The money will be used for the purpose indicated, and account of the expense duly rendered to you. The beautiful Map of Crown Point has excited much interest, and as several historical Societies and individuals have asked for copies, I have had it photographed on a plate 14x11 inches, and shall send a few copies to parties who are willing to pay a dollar apiece for them, which is what they cost. The original has gone to Montpelier with directions to have it suitably framed and hung in our rooms in the State House. I note your notes concerning the " Song of the Vermonters." This was printed, with the Vermont Declaration of Independence, and Proceedings of the Windsor Convention of June 4, 1777, following Rev. J. D. Butler's Address, in a pamphlet of 36 pp, bearing the imprint of Eastman and Danforth, Mont- pelier, 1846. You say that this pamphlet is not before you; but I trust you have a copy somewhere. In it Mr. Butler (in his Address) says of your father: * He has gathered fragments from lake to river, from Massachusetts to Canada. He has and the men in St. Johnsbury, and see what more I can learn about the song and the music it was sung to, and will get up another article on the subjed:, if I learn anything worth adding to what has been printed. Mr. Butler, by the way, in his address, says B. F. STEVENS 135 that ' Vermont's Declaration of State Inde- pendence was never published in Vermont until last summer ' — that is the summer of 1 845 ; and Charles G. Eastman in a paragraph introducing the Declaration in the pamphlet, says, it was ^ found by Mr. Stevens at Wash- ington among a mass of rubbish, and was first published in the Burlington Free Press/ It is a terrible pity that the Ethan Allen and other papers, coUedled by your father, were allowed to become the property of New York. It was stupendous stupidity on the part of our legislature, not to purchase them when it had the opportunity. We shall never get them back. Massachusetts has recently restored to the State of New York the ' Dougan Ads ' of 1686-8 which have been in the Massachusetts Archives for over 200 years, though properly belonging to the New York Archives; but New York relinquishes nothing that she obtains possession of. # # # # Yrs ever sincerely, G. G. Benedict. P.S. I return herewith the copy of the Song of the Vermonters printed by Bishop and Tracy. It was printed in similar shape by other Ver- mont printers. G. B." The other letters explain themselves. 136 MEMOIR OF "Burlington, Vt., July. 1 6th, 1901. My dear Stevens, The package of twelve papers. Com- missions of Ethan Allen of Milton, found by you among your father's papers, and thought- fully forwarded to me for the University and State Historical Society, came duly to hand. ... I will deposit in the Colledtion of the Vermont State Historical Society. I will also file in the Archives of the Historical Society your typewritten notes concerning the ^ Song of the Vermonters, 1779.' Ever faithfully yours, G. G. Benedict." " Burlington, July 17th, 1901. My dear Mr. Stevens, I wrote a while ago to Arthur Stone of St. Johnsbury, saying that you had made inquiry about the music to which the ^ Song of the Vermonters, 1779,' ^^^^ ^^ ^^ sung; that Hon. Daniel Roberts and others, who used to sing the song in this quarter fifty years ago, always sang it to the air of the Grand March in Norma; and that I wished he would see John Paddock, if he was alive, and find out what music he sang it to. Stone has not yet replied, and I do not know if he is at home. , ', • .-1 /t y ^>,.^ ■ '. . : .:3iTY £. F. STEFENS * 137'^ I also wrote later to John Vance Cheney of Chicago, and enclose to you his reply re- ceived this morning. Please remember me kindly to Mrs. Stevens. Ever faithfully yours, G. G. Benedict/' " The Newberry Library, Chicago, July 15, 1 901. President G. G. Benedict. Dear Sir, The Cheney family sang the ' Song of the Vermonters ' to the air of the March in * Norma.' You will find the arrangement of it in ^ The American Singing Book,' published by White, Smith and Company, of Boston. My father, Simeon P. Cheney, prepared this book with great care, and probably Mr. Stevens would be glad to consult it. Yours very sincerely, John Vance Cheney." One could almost wish that the inquirer's questions had not gone so far as this, that he had been satisfied to let the fine old ballad of the past rest, for it contains a certain rough majestic music of its own, the verses ringing with suggestions of the echoing Green Hill, the shouts of the sturdy volunteers, and the old Furitan days, ii^or the knowledge that the war-song of the Vermonters of 1779 was sung to the March in '^ Norma," the popular Italian opera ground on every organ in London dur- ing the forties, seems jarring and bizarre. Here is the old song, taken from the time-stained paper of the Vermont printers, a much worn copy, carefully treasured up by the descendant of one of the Green Mountain Boys. .THE SONG OF THE VERMONTERS,^ 1779. Ho — all to the borders ! Vermonters, come down, With your breeches of deer-skin, and jackets of brown ; With your red woolen caps, and your moccasins, come To the gathering summons of trumpet and drum. ^ The political history of Vermont is full of interest. In 1762 New York, by reason of an extraordinary grant of Charles II. to the Duke of York, claimed a jurisdic- tion over about sixty townships, of which grants had been given by the Governor of New Hampshire, de- claring those grants illegal. An attempt was made to dispossess the settlers, but it was promptly resisted. In 5. F. STEVENS 139 Come down with your rifles! — let grey wolf and fox Howl on in the shade of their primitive rocks ; Let the bear feed securely from pig-pen and stall ; Here 's a two-legged game for your powder and ball. On our South come the Dutchmen, enveloped in grease ; And, arming for battle, while canting of peace ; On our East, crafty Meshech ^ has gathered his band. To hang up our leaders, and eat out our land. 1774 New York passed a most despotic law against the resisting Vermonters, and the Governor offered a large reward for the apprehension of the celebrated Ethan Allen and seven of his associates. The proscribed per- sons in turn threatened to " kill and destroy any person or persons whomsoever that should be accessary, aiding or assisting in taking any of them" (see "Allen's Vin- dication," p. 45). Blood was shed at Westminster Court House in 1775 \vide " R. Jones's Narrative "). In 1777, Vermont declared its independence. New York still urged her claims and attempted to enforce them with her militia. In 1779, New Hampshire also laid claim to the whole State of Vermont. Massachusetts speedily followed by putting in her claim to about two-thirds of it. Congress, powerless under the old Confederation, endeavoured to keep on good terms with all the parties, but ardently favoured New York. Vermont remon- strated warmly. Congress threatened. Vermont pub- lished " an appeal to the candid and impartial world," denounced Congress, and asserted its own absolute in- dependence. Notwithstanding the threats offered on all sides, the contest terminated without much bloodshed, and Vermont was admitted into the Union in 1791, after existing as an independent sovereignty for nearly fifteen years. (Williams's " History of Vermont," etc.) ^ Hon. Meshech Weare, Governor of New Hamp- shire. 140 MEMOIR OF Ho — all to the rescue! For Satan shall work No gain for his legions of Hampshire and York ! They claim our possessions — the pitiful knaves — '• The tribute we pay, shall be prisons and graves ! Let Clinton and Ten Broek/ with bribes in their hands, Still seek to divide us, and parcel our lands ; — We've coats for our traitors, whoever they are ; The warp is o^ feathers — the filling of tar! ^ Does the "old bay State" threaten? Does Congress complain ? Swarms Hampshire in arms on our borders again ? Bark the war-dogs of Britain aloud on the lake ? Let 'em come; — what they can^ they are welcome to take. What seek they among us? The pride of our wealth Is comfort, contentment, and labour and health. And lands which, as Freemen, we only have trod, Independent of all, save the mercies of God. ^ Gov. Clinton of New York, and Hon. A. Ten Broek, President of the New York Convention. ^ The New York sheriffs and those who submitted to the authority of New York were often roughly handled by the Green Mountain Boys. The following is from the journal of the proceedings of the Vermont Council of Public Safety: '*• Council of Safety^ 'i^rd Sept.^ I yyy, is permitted to return home, and remain on his father's farm (and if found off to expeft thirty- nine lashes of the beech seal) until further orders from this Council." The instrument of punishment was termed the " beech seal,*^ in allusion to the great seal of New Hampshire affixed to the grants, of which the beech rod well laid upon the naked backs of the " Yorkers " and their adherents was considered a con- firmation. B. F. STEVENS 141 Yet we owe no allegiance ; we bow to no throne ; Our ruler is law, and the law is our own ; Our leaders themselves are our own fellow-men, Who can handle the sword, or the scythe, or the pen. Our wives are all true, and our daughters are fair, With their blue eyes of smiles, and their light flowing hair; All brisk at their wheels till the dark even-fall, Then blithe at the sleigh-ride, the husking, and ball ! We've sheep on the hill sides ; we've cows on the plain ; And gay-tasseled corn-fields, and rank-growing grain ; There are deer on the mountains ; and wood-pigeons fly From the crack of our muskets, like clouds on the sky. And there 's fish in our streamlets and rivers, which take Their course from the hills to our broad-bosomed lake; Through rock-arched Winooski the salmon leaps free. And the portly shad follows all fresh from the sea. Like a sun-beam the pickerel glides through his pool ; And the spotted trout sleeps where the water is cool. Or darts from his shelter of rock and of root At the beaver's quick plunge, or the angler's pursuit. And ours are the mountains, which awfully rise Till they rest their green heads on the blue of the skies ; And ours are the forests unwasted, unshorn. Save where the wild path of the tempest is torn. And though savage and wild be this climate of ours, And brief be our season of fruits and of flowers. Far dearer the blast round our mountains which raves. Than the sweet summer zephyr, which breathes over slaves. 142 MEMOIR OF Hurra for Vermont ! for the land which we till Must have sons to defend her from valley and hill ; Leave the harvest to rot on the field where it grows, And the reaping of wheat for the reaping of foes. From far Michiscoui^s wild valley, to where Poosoomsuck steals down from his wood-circled lair. From Shodlicook river to Lutterlock town — Ho — all to the rescue ! Vermonters, come down ! Come York or come Hampshire — come traitors and knaves ; If ye rule o'er our land, ye shall rule o'er our graves; Our vow is recorded — our banner unfurled; In the name of Vermont we defy all the world! '^ Here is another record from the Society's published proceedings : " Important Gift from Mr. Stevens of an elaborate Manuscript Map of Crown Point, of 133 years ago. Since the annual meeting of the Histori- cal Society, it has received from Mr. B. F. Stevens, of London, Eng., what is doubtless one of the most accurate and comprehensive maps of the Old Fortress of Crown Point and its environs and outlying fortifications, as they ^ "Rather than fail, I will retire with my hardy Green Mountain boys to the desolate caverns of the mountains, and wage war with human nature at large^ — Ethan Allen's Letter to Congress^ March 9, 178 1. B. F. STEVENS 143 existed within ten years after their eredion, ever prepared. The map was discovered by Mr. Stevens at a recent sale of American maps in London, and with charaderistic thoughtfulness and generosity was secured by him for the Histori- cal Society of his native State. It measures three feet five inches by two feet five and a half inches. The environs of the fortress are drawn upon a scale often chains (220 yards) to the inch; and in one corner of the sheet is a chart of the fortress on a scale of 1 00 feet to an inch. It bears the following inscription: ^ An adtual Survey of the Fortress of Crown Point and its environs, presented to Sir Henry Moore, Baronet, Governor of New York, etc., by. Sir, Yr. Excellency's most humble and obedient servant, Adolphus Benzel, Lieut. Royals.' " CHAPTER XX IT is easy to understand how Stevens, In the midst of his busy life in London, should have his mind stored with memories of his old home, and note as time went on that these grew stronger and stronger, with the re- sult that we find him often sending letters of inquiry across the Atlantic as to the fate of this old school friend, that old member of his family, accumulating such a mass of informa- tion that his brain grew a perfedt storehouse of the careers of the Stevens family. Some letters teem with pedigree and verbal tracings of the careers of the bygone Stevenses. In fad:, upon the occasion of one pleasant chat in the Barnette, he showed the writer a bundle of papers, letters, notes, and other documents, as preparations for a history of the Stevens family, and talked of the interest he found in tracing back the old settlers who had chosen the Green Mountain State for their home. This was probably the easier from the fad that it seemed innate with his branch of the family, this collecting and saving of papers MEMOIR OF B. F. STEVENS 145 for reference, and chronicling the careers of different members, though by no means to such an extent as in his own case, for he was unquestionably the born historian. Endless examples might be given, did space allow, but the history contained in those notes opened out on the Barnette table was never written. I have no record of the date when I paid my visit. All I can say is that it must have been, I think, a little prior to January, 1900, when this history was so strongly in his mind that he was planning out a way of obtain- ing assistance, for he writes as follows to a lady correspondent in Vermont : *'Some time after my father's death my brother Henry visited my dear old mother, and a considerable quantity of my father's old manuscripts were packed up and brought to London. This was about thirty years ago. Henry intended going through the papers to see what they were, but in his busy life and ill health during his last few years the boxes remained unopened for the most part, and it is only within a few months that his son has opened more of them, and has sent to me such papers as he has found thus far relating to the Stevens family history, and some papers per- taining to Barnet history. I have been able to give only a superficial examination of these papers. L ' ¥ 146 MEMOIR OF Uncle Willard Stevens had the same pro- pensity for hoarding papers, writing a diary, and recording Barnet affairs. Simon lent me a very few of these papers about fifteen years ago, and I made a copy of perhaps lOO pages, very fragmentary, and returned the papers to Simon. Since looking at my father's papers I got the notion that many of his fragmentary and incomplete correspondence, deeds, diaries, bonds and memoranda generally, were of the same general nature, and would fit in and fill many gaps with the Uncle Willard papers, and so I applied to Simon^s children to let me see Uncle Willard's papers again. Instead of re- ceiving the hat full that I had before, I have recently received about four or five bushels, and the papers are in the wildest possible con- fusion. A young whirlwind would be jealous in seeing that the careless handling of the papers has created a system of confusion that can hardly be rivalled. Among the odd pieces in one colleftion or the other I find a great many items that I intended asking you to obtain from the Town Clerk's Office, and those odd pieces suggest a lot of questions that I want to put to you, but I cannot definitely formulate them before having the documents in hand system- atically arranged, a work which I cannot with my other duties personally undertake, and hence I must find someone here to put the B. F. STEFENS 147 papers in order, so that I can see what they really contain. I find an account book of Captain Phineas Stevens, and some fragments of his Diary. He died about 1755 or 1756. I find Account Books, Diaries, and a great number of papers of my grandfather, Enos Stevens. He with his brothers, Samuel, Simon, Willard, and Dodor Phineas Stevens, were among the first Proprietors of Barnet, but as to who of them besides Enos and Docflor Phineas adlually settled in Barnet I have not yet sorted the papers enough to quite understand ; but I have found enough to see that we can make an ex- ceedingly interesting history of Barnet, with a great many biographical notes not only of the Stevenses, but of the Brocks, Harveys, Johnsons, and others. In order to make the best use of the papers in hand I want you to try and get definite information in reply to these queries: — 1. Is there in the Town Clerk's Office the original New Hampshire Grant or Charter of Barnet, 1763 ? I have a copy with the names of the Grantees. 2. When was Barnet surveyed and appor- tioned among the Grantees } 3. Samuel Stevens on behalf of himself, and perhaps of others, gave a Bond in 1774 to convey 20,000 acres in a strip five miles long 148 ^ MEMOIR OF and bounded on one side by Peacham, to Alexander Harvey. Is the Deed of this 20^000 acres to Harvey recorded in Barnet ? 4. Barnet is sometimes mentioned in Legal Documents as being a New Hampshire Grant. It is sometimes mentioned as being in Cumber- land County, New York, and sometimes as being in Orange County, and later Orange County was divided, and since then the descriptions are of Barnet in Caledonia County. Hence I want to know if the Town Clerk's Records in Barnet are complete in themselves, or if it would be necessary to consult the New York Records at Albany, or the Orange County Records, in order to get at fuller information about the Barnet Records. 5. The good people of Barnet made indi- vidual subscriptions of material, labour, wheat, money, &c., to build the first Meeting House, and they then sold the pews by auftion so as to get individual owners for each pew. I see that this separate ownership was to be recorded in the Town Clerk's Office, and that in the sale of pews from one holder to another refer- ence is made to the Record in the Town Clerk's Office. Does this Record exist ? 6. I believe there was a Law requiring the publication of intentions to marry. Were these Publications recorded, and were the marriages also recorded ? This question should B. F. STEVENS 149 be extended to ascertain if Births and Deaths and Marriages were recorded. 7. Whitelaw of Reigate, a Surveyor, be- came the Surveyor General of the State of Vermont. His papers are now at Montpelier, probably in the Secretary of State's Office. We may want to look at them by-and-by, but at the moment I want to know if there is in the Town Clerk's Office a map of Barnet earlier than Whitelaw's Map of 1779, which shows the division of the Town into Pro- prietors' Rights with the name of the Pro- prietor marked on each Lot. 8. Are there other Maps of Barnet show- ing either or both the original Proprietors and the subsequent Owners of the respedtive Lots? 9. It is presumed the original division of the Town into Lots was not satisfadlory, as I find many references to lands in * after divi- sion,' and in some Deeds the land is described by giving both the number of the ' original ' Right and the number of the Lot in the * after division.' What is the date of this after di- vision ? Is there a Map of Barnet showing the after division and is there a Map showing the roads ? I am inclined to think that the simplest way to answer these questions, or most of them, will be for you to make a short Cata- 150 MEMOIR OF logue Index of the Records that are now pre- served, taking great care to give the dates accurately. Perhaps you will find a Petition for a Charter, the Charter itself in 1763. Re- quisitions for Proprietors' Meetings. Pro- ceedings of the Proprietors' Meetings and particularly where these Meetings were held. The apportioning of the Township among the individual Proprietors' Maps. Assessments of Taxes. Vendue Sales of Land for non pay- ment of Taxes. Recorded Deeds of Sales, &c. In the first place I should like a very short title description of every document you can find down to the end of 1784. Then as a second step I should like such a list continued to the end of 1790, and finally as a last step I should like this list continued down to the end of 1800. I have no doubt the Town Clerk will in the first instance lend you all the Documents down to 1784. When you shall have made a List of them we can see if it is desirable to amend the List by making it a little fuller or a little less full, and so get a better basis for making the second List, and so on for making the third List down to 1 800. In one sense some of the documents in my possession will be more interesting than the Records themselves, because these docu- B. F. STEVENS 151 ments have the autograph signatures of the parties, while the Records will be copies. r'r -' # # # # In the first place I shall of course pay you for making all these searches, but I think it should be borne in mind that if we have the opportunity to greatly improve the Records of Barnet, the Town should eventually pay for the searching, but in the event of my being able to supply any missing links it must be distindtly understood that it will be by pre- sentation of the Documents and not by selling them. Hence this remark about expenses ap- plies only to the expense incident to making the Catalogue Index of the Documents in the Town Clerk's Office, or otherwise enabling us to ascertain what Barnet possesses and what we can add. I think that you and I can prepare an ex- ceedingly interesting History of Barnet down to 1 800, with a List of the Proprietors, the Inhabitants, and perhaps with the Maps give the occupants of the principal Farms during that period. Such a history when printed would not have a very large sale, but probably enough copies would be sold to approximately pay their cost, and possibly it would give a small profit. I shall be much gratified to see such a History, and its preparation would be most beneficial to you from a literary point, and it "• '* 152 MEMOIR OF B. F. STEVENS is a work that would interest you greatly. Perhaps you might want to trace some of the families, and bring the pedigrees with or with- out biographical notices down to a later date than 1 800, but as a first step I repeat my re- quest that you will tell me what you can find down to 1784. Here endeth history talk for to-day." But this history was never written. !fj CHAPTER XXI ONE of Stevens's charadleristics was a love of his country, which he often alluded to as " that better land," and also the aifedion he evinced for the place of his birth and the relations and friends who to the end of his life experienced many kindnesses from him, and with whom he always kept up a correspondence, sending them frequently little presents and remembrances. He had a great veneration for his ancestors in death, and this veneration is shown by his enlarging and laying out the Old Cemetery in Stevens village at Barnet. The ground for this was consigned to the inhabitants of Barnet by his grandfather, Enos Stevens, in 1798, and consisted of thirty-six square rods, in which, in the Stevens plot, were buried many of the Stevens family. This old cemetery had fallen into decay, and was much negledled, and he desired to restore and endow it, and for this sought the aid of Mrs. J. S. Kenerson (who was the widow of his brother Fnos), living at Barnet. She 154 MEMOIR OF willingly took up the subjed: and gave all the help in her power. The site of the cemetery was much enlarged by the purchase of land from Mr. Burbank, the neighbouring landowner, and the ground thus acquired was laid out and planted with trees, paths made, and the whole fenced in, under Mrs. Kenerson's diredlions, from plans carefully made out by the donor, in which the position of the trees to be planted, and the kinds, were indicated. The tombstones and monuments in the Stevens plot were also put in order, and the lettering renovated at his ex- pense. He also gave one thousand dollars, as shown in the annexed copy of the Condition of Articles. " Copy of Articles in the warning and the aftion of the Town, at a Meeting held on the 17th day of January, a.d. 1901. Art. I St. To see if said Town will vote to accept a Deed of the Land bought by B. F. Stevens, of London, England, from W. H. Burbank, adjoining the Old Bury- ing Ground and a part thereof, on condi- tion that the Town keep the same fenced. Art. 2nd. Also to see if said Town will vote to accept from said B. F. Stevens one thousand dollars in trust to apply the in- B. F. STEVENS 155 come thereof in keeping in repair said Burying-Ground in Stevens Village, so called, vended to said Town by Enos Stevens, April 30th, 1798, and to so ex- pend said income as to keep the Stevens Lot in said Burying-Ground in good con- dition, and maintain the grave-stones on said Lot and their letterings in a respedt- able manner/' Voted to accept the first article in the warning, just as it reads. Voted to accept the second article in the warning, just as it reads. I hereby certify the above to be cor- reft. Attest, W. H. Burbank, Town Clerk. * Barnet, V* 29th January, a.d. 1901." A deed of trust was executed, and the Stevens Village Old Cemetery will ever remain as a memorial of the love and afFedion of one of its sons for his native town and homestead. But Stevens's life was full of recoUeftions of the old home, and scattered through it there were many tokens of the pleasure he felt in adding to the prosperity and advance of the village. This was shown by a letter which dis- plays the great interest he had also inspired in those nearest to him in England towards the place which had given him birth. iS6 MEMOIR OF He writes quaintly, in his dry humorous way: ^' To the Seledmen of the inhabitants of Barnet. Gentlemen, On behalf of myself, my wife, her sis- ter, and her two brothers — the Whittinghams — I desire to give the Barnet Public Library two cases of books, which were recently sent from London, all expenses paid to Barnet. Notice of the shipment, with a very rough list of the Books, was sent to the Librarian, and it is hoped this contribution to your Li- brary will be acceptable to the inhabitants of Barnet. I have the honour to be. Gentlemen, Your obedient servant, B. F. Stevens. (A native of Barnet.)" No small present this, for the little library consisted of about three hundred and fifty volumes of standard works, while another city, doubtless endeared to him by the education there received, became the recipient of a gift of books which was made to the Burlington University under the following circumstances. The Charles Whittinghams,uncle and nephew, were both to some extent coUedors of books. B. F. STEVENS 157 besides possessing copies of the various works they had printed. The library of the uncle was inherited by the nephew upon his succes- sion to the business, and remained at College House, Chiswick. It was fairly large, and was augmented by the coUedtion of the nephew. These were a dded to in the cours e of years by F irterest (:;;o'd:;ir;:5e of 5l::i'::in | and i;::ii uf Were ' i:,i:ii orliiiary ;:r:;i::::]r' 'd, ' away lii:.0ic. ,i::i:t:n:ii for kl,;:::i::,i:: ';i!i ::: ifi the c:ii"ii:::i: 'riii3il:aEces m:\\ii ..luti the fci^i; doitu;: "^rith ssiiissecl. They i5l:ii.>ni., h'ULt pre- llbr'arv^ior in- aii;.];;i/' ::-|:>t:i:inij the eir' thi.tsi :olli:(:: •: ;S: l:l:.:::ili : oric'iiJiS iS8 MEMOIR OF B. F. STEVENS Stevens had long had it in his mind to do something for the Library of the University of Vermont, at Burhngton, in his native State, and suggested to the Whittinghams that the books they desired to part with should be offered to that library for acceptance. The proposal was agreed to, and in consequence Stevens wrote to the University, offering the presentation of the Whittingham books and some of his own, while in due course a reply came, notifying the acceptance of the gift, and the books, amounting to many hundreds, were shipped to America and deposited at Burling- ton as the Whittingham-Stevens contribution to the University Library. CHAPTER XXII AS Stevens became more widely known, he received a keen appreciation of his work as a student, becoming a member of the State Historical Societies of Vermont, New Hampshire, Maryland, Minne- sota and Connedicut ; of the American Anti- quarian Society, and also of the French Societe d'Histoire Diplomatique. In addition, the de- gree of Docftor of Letters (L.H.D.) was con- ferred upon him by the University of Vermont, his native State, in 1899, ^^^> ^" 1901, the degree of M.A., by Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. Among other societies, Stevens was elefted a member of the Library Association of the United Kingdom, in which he took deep in- terest. In facft it was greatly upon his initia- tive that the arrangement was made for the printing of their early reports. The honours showered upon him by the societies of culture seemed more than could have fallen to the lot of his contemporaries, for he was elefted a Fellow of the Society of i6o MEMOIR OF Antiquaries, an honour very rarely accorded to an American, less than a score having been eledted during the last hundred years. He was also a Fellow of the Society of Arts, of the Royal Historical Society, and of the Zoological Society of London; while, wherever the best Americans gathered in the metropolis, his was one of the names that stood in the highest tier, for he was chosen first President of the Ameri- can Society in London, and was its honorary treasurer till his death. In Freemasonry he was the honorary treasurer of the Columbia Lodge; and he was a member of the Sigma Phi Fraternity, and of the Grolier Club of New York. He was also a member of Noviomagus, one of the most ancient and exclusive social clubs in London, consisting solely of Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries. The quaint theory on which the club is based is that the Members are in search of the long lost Noviomagian City, mentioned by Caesar as having been founded by him " be- tween Londinum and the Sea." The Novio- magians are citizens of Noviomagus, and each one bears a special office. Thus Sir Wyke Bayliss is the "Lord High President," Dr. Phene the " Phoenix," Mr. Hovenden the '' Alchemist," Mr. Brabrook the " Pepysian Professor,'' Mr. Dillon Croker the '^Re- B. F. STEVENS i6i corder," and Mr. Browning the ^' Huguenot." It was at meetings of this Society that such wise and friendly faces were seen as those of Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, George God- win, George R. Wright, Spencer Ashbee, Dr. Diamond, Henry Stevens, and others long since passed away. It was not long after Stevens's death that at a dinner given by the Club several of his brother Noviomagians were talking regret- fully of their loss of so good a citizen, and recalling instances of his calm judgment and the natural power he possessed of swaying his fellows by a diredl appeal to their hearts. In the course of the conversation the ques- tion arose how could Stevens be best described in an epigram? what simple words would give the genuine nature and charader of the man ? On the spur of the moment pencils were brought to bear on the subjed by some of his oldest friends, with the following result: The ^^ Lord High President " wrote : " If I had to describe B. F. Stevens in one sentence I should say, ^ He was the reconciler of friends.' Wyke Bayliss.'' Dr. Phene wrote : " A great-hearted man of British blood and American birth, but so great that he was Briton and American indis- tinguishable. Phoenix." M i62 MEMOIR OF The third epigram read : '' E Columbia Columba." Unsigned this, but it was written upon the back of an envelope bearing the name of a distinguished fellow-citizen, Richard Howlett. This terse and happy poetical inspiration faith- fully refledled the opinion of those who knew Stevens best — that out of America their friend came as a dove of peace. This little incident brings up, perhaps lightly, our old friend's love of peace, and the satisfaction he seemed to feel in idealizing it one evening at another club, when he took the chair, evidently meaning to mark the night of his chairmanship with the Whitefriars. With home always in his mind he introduced the pipe of peace among the members after the cloth was drawn, making it as home-like as he could by distributing among his friends a sheaf of homely Western pipes, each formed of an Indian corn-cob with a light reed stem. In ad- dition, he had provided a supply of the choicest American tobacco. It was an English gathering, but Stevens's whole life shows how thoroughly the memory of his country was always to the fore. From the hour he joined the quiet little society of writers of the day, journalists, thinkers, and the like, his was always a welcome face ; an excellent chairman at dinner, committee meet- B. F. STEVENS 163 ing,or at some debate connedled with business management, he was always the man of the calm, sedate face, and measured, friendly, thoughtful speech, to whose opinion others seemed readiest to bend ; and here, too, his loss has left a blank. The wonder is, not that Stevens joined club after club of thinkers ; the wonder is that he was tied down to so few. To most of such gatherings men seek to be introduced. Stevens was sought ; and one re- calls the calm, grave, spedacled face on his first entrance, as he looked round, examining each one whom he welcomed as though in- tending to make him a friend for life. Introduced to the Whitefriars by the son of one of his oldest friends across the ocean, a name familiar there, John Bigelow, he was not long before bringing other friends, men of mark, as guests from the Western shore, for all those to whom Stevens made himself host bore distinguished names. The fad: of his being an American would naturally drop out of sight in connedion with such a club as the Urban, the modern repre- sentative of the old St. John's Gate Club, with its memories of Garrick, Johnson, Boswell, Cave, Britton, and a score of other shadowy worthies, for here he seems to have come of right to the stronghold of those who make it " > i64 MEMOIR OF their pleasure to discuss Shakespeare in every shape and form. Amongst the most pleasant memories that dwell in one's mind regarding Stevens were those in connexion with books, which he always seemed to handle as old Izaak Walton did the frog — as if he loved them ; and it is easy to recall him as he appeared one evening years ago, playing a part, no longer the library agent and great compiler, but a dual part made up of book auftioneer and Good Samaritan. This was only another of the occasions on which he was helping others, those left behind by a very good old friend, a genuine simple- , hearted man, just of his own stamp, but one upon whom the world had smiled as she pleased, though not perhaps as others would have arranged could they have held the reins and guided our social universe as they thought right. For the old friend had passed away poor in worldly goods, and owning no long array of investments in stocks and shares. But paradoxically he had died rich in the sterling that which is most worth having, and Stevens liked him so well that he was one of those who joined a meeting and presided over it, to dispose of his friend's books and some of his efFefts to an eager party of very willing bidders, to whom he discoursed of the history and value of each *^ lot." B. F. STEVENS 165 One need not dwell upon the result. Let it be enough to say that no better man could have occupied the rostrum and swayed the meeting so as to make all leave the house open hearted and content with the feeling that in the midst of one's hurried, often too sordid life, one day could be looked back to with something like satisfaction — something on the credit side against the long dreary columns of the opposite entries. There was a peculiar twinkle — it may be fancy — about Stevens's spedacles when he was handling a book, and one remembers it well in Sir John Barrett Lennard's library at Keston, where the owner seemed to be drawn at once to the quiet, grave, retiring man of the Antiquarian party who loved books. There was a noble col- leftion there, and the Baronet was ready to exhibit his old world treasures to one who responded in few words, laden with interest and understanding regarding the new catalogue which had just been made. For a book was something more than so many pages and so much binding and paper to his visitor, who more than any man present knew what cata- logue and book should be. But most vivid of all comes out of the past the ramble with him through the libraries of the grand old university town. It was only a day's visit to Oxford, too brief a time to stay ; i66 MEMOIR OF but every minute that could be given was spent amongst the books, notably in the .Bod- leian. And here Stevens lingered with hands caressing lovingly the ancient tomes, his eyes brightening as he dwelt upon the softened tints of the good old linen fibred handmade papers, the richness and velvet blackness of the ancient ink, whether it was from the Italian printing office of an Aldine with its exquisitely cut characters, the work of a goldsmith's hand, and designed by the man who invented the type that should look the most like manu- script — that which is still in use, and which from its birthplace we still call Italic; or an Elzevir with its clear but more solid Teutonic bearing, still for all its centuries perfed: of workmanship, regular in its classic lines of wisdom lightly but firmly impressed upon paper ancient of aspedl, but better far than the clear white clay-laden weighty leaf that glistens painfully beneath the eye in a twentieth cen- tury book, and makes one say, " What will you be like when old as this ? '* Or it might have been a volume from the old Antwerp Press which stands museum-like to this day in the old Flemish town, showing how Plantin's workman at last laid down his composing- stick at the dinner hour, centuries ago, after setting up one of the books the librarian treasures, and worthily, so beautifully perfedl B. F. STEVENS 167 is the work in every point, not alone pundua- tion, but in setting up, printing, paper, and in binding. For here One has them sewn with thread that has lasted excellently, shaped with the carefully curved back and hollowed front, not a leaf out of place, not one loose, after three hundred and fifty years of existence, while one takes the last new French novel, holds it by the title and paper cover, gives it a twitch and a sharp shake with the hand, when the glue cracks and the whole book falls apart, for the leaves to hang suspended like a child's toy ladder, attached by one single thread. A ready sharer in a social dinner, a man who believed in the brotherhood of men, it was only natural that he should meet with a hearty welcome at the old established gather- ings of the Savage Club. For here the natural instincfls of lovers of charity towards their brother working men of literature and art would draw them closely towards one whose life was a proof of his belief in charity towards all who needed help, men being prone to listen to one who was the personification of the un- biassed, many growing to know his magnetic power as a friendly^ so to speak, judge of ap- peal, one whose decision was final and always arrived at apparently without an eflFort on his part. 1 68 MEMOIR OF With regard to that social guild, the Ameri- can Society, for long enough past B. F. Stevens was looked upon as the patriarch and friend of the strong and powerful body of American citizens, who, like their leader, settled down and prospered in the metropolis. There must be many living who look back with a saddened feeling to the pleasant dinners where they were Stevens's guests at his social clubs. He always shone forth as an excellent and genial host — one who led his friends on to talking while he listened — but if there was a best it was on the annual occasion when London-America gathered at one of the great hotels to celebrate some Thanksgiving or In- dependence Day. It was on the occasion of the Thanksgiving Dinner of the American Society of London, on November 26, 1 896, that Stevens occupied the vice-chair, and it was pleasant to see his genial face as he welcomed the friends he had invited as his guests. On this occasion behind the Chairman's seat were draped two enormous ensigns — the stars of that which represented America being formed with eledlric lights. A representation of Bartholdi's statue of Liberty held aloft a torch of eledric flame high between the inter- national flags, while glittering like so much glass moulded in the form of an American B. F. STEVENS 169 eagle, a huge block of ice stood high behind the Vice-Chairman's seat. Stevens was to have been faced by the United States Ambassador, a rather Irish way of expressing it, perhaps — a putting of the cart before the horse — for the chairman should stand first. But there is some excuse, for the intended chairman was not there. It was a case of place aux dames ^ a giving way to the great lady of ladies who had happened to send her invitation for the same day. Mr. Bayard had been commanded, summoned, whatever it was, to be Her Majesty's guest at Windsor Castle, and we did not hear his speech, but that of another American gentleman, well- known, thanks or otherwise, to our many bodily infirmities, for Mr. Wellcome occupied his place, as if to give a wag an opportunity to be facetious and allude to the miniature and compressed nature of the festive dinner, which, he said, was of a tabloid cast. But it was a magnificent banquet, one of the most brilliant gatherings that have been assembled in the great hall of the Hotel Cecil, '^everybody," as a reporter would say, being there. It was far away from the natural origin of the popular Transatlantic dishes, but the hotel chefs had done their best, and to ordinary people the whole festivity, with its suggestions of America, its turkey with cranberry sauce, 170 MEMOIR OF hominy, and pumpkin pies, was happy in the extreme, while to quote the words of a Western reporter, '^ that genial bibliophihst, Benjamin Franklin Stevens, known to all Americans in London, as well as to English scholars, makes us all feel like brethren." A visit to The Sheaves was a visit for one or two who enjoyed the hospitality of Stevens and his wife, and appreciated the garden and a quiet chat. But he had other ways for enter- taining. For instance, there was the occasion when an opportunity presented itself for glad- dening the hearts of his friends and proving at the same time that forty years in England had made him as national as the best subjecfl of the Empress-Queen. We are a money making people, and if it comes to that our American cousins can give us points — and do. Now, the American Des- patch Agent's Offices are situated in one of the best parts of the great metropolis, an admir- able position for viewing a grand procession going east, and the occupant had only to an- nounce that he was willing to let the whole front for the eredlion of stands or galleries, to name his own price. One is afraid to say how high a sum he might have commanded had he chosen, but he did not choose. He pre- ferred to make this an occasion to entertain his friends at a morning " at home " ; decorated B. F. STEVENS 171 stands were set up, and the bearers of the tickets of invitation were welcomed and re- ceived by Mr. and Mrs. Stevens to some of the best seats in London upon the Diamond Jubilee Day in 1897. The invitation card is a pleasant memento of a very remarkable date, for a good deal of thought had been given to making it emblem- atic, with its portraits of the host and hostess, and mingling of the American and English National flags. For America was well repre- sented there, and as Her Majesty came by she could have received no warmer welcome any- where along the route than she did from be- neath the Stars and Stripes. CHAPTER XXIII STEVENS'S principal recreation and his hobby were antiquarian research — and, amongst manuscripts, those above all others relating to his own country, so much of whose history as American colonies lies in the State papers or private coUedlions of Eng- land. One of his earliest duties after his settle- ment in London appears to have been the assisting of his brother, Mr. Henry Stevens, to search, catalogue, and transcribe papers, in the Public Record Office, concerning the State of New Jersey, or one of the other States of the Union, and as he came to realise the masses of papers, not of one only, but of all the original thirteen American colonies, his wish grew to be able to put into the hands of American students a key by which some at least of the material might be available. A comparatively small beginning was made, and his attention having been direded to the diplomatic papers and correspondence of the Negotiations for Peace in the years 1782-83 by which the United States took their place MEMOIR OF B. F. STEFENS 173 amongst the nations, his first index of Ameri- can Manuscripts was limited to all he could find within these years. But as this included opening up the French Archives it was by no means a small undertaking. Not to write a history — this seems never to have been his ambition — but to provide material for future historians was his goal, and to this end every paper noted in his index bore its own appro- priate reference to series, volume, and num- ber or page. The limited period of the peace negotiations, however, was soon widened to include the military events of the previous years, and his scheme was reconstru6ted to commence with the year 1773, date of the '^ Boston Tea Party," and to calendar or index every paper he could find in the national or in private colle6tions relating to the War of Independence. His staff was increased, and in addition to those in London, workers were sent to, or engaged in, the archives in Paris, in Spain, and the Hague, and an elaborate system built up, with the minutest attention to detail, for calendaring, checking, registering in double entry, classifying, and revising, which should ensure as much precision, uni- formity and accuracy as seemed humanly pos- sible. Slovenly work was his abhorrence. His pleasure in organising and following out the work was great in the extreme, while his con- 174 MEMOIR OF stant thoughtfulness for the comfort of his staff was never failing. This may not be .an unfitting place to record that every morning for many years a ^' posy," or basket of beauti- ful flowers, from the garden of The Sheaves, was placed ready to hand by the gardener to be carried to town and distributed to brighten his own and the working-rooms of the office. The history of the great Catalogue Index of American Manuscripts in European Archives relating to America is told best in its '^Intro- duftion," prepared just before Stevens's death, and reprinted at the end of this memoir. It will be there seen that after a visit to America in order to enlist support, or arrange for the purchase of his great work, he gave way to the desire expressed by the men of letters, representatives of libraries, of historical and other learned societies, and again widened the limits of dates to include the papers relating to the Stamp A6t, the starting point this time being the year 1763, so that as it now stands it covers a period of twenty years — from 1763 to 1783. Out of this great catalogue and the facilities of access to the various colledlions which by his personal qualities, enterprise, discretion, and antiquarian status he was specially fitted to obtain, and to retain, even strengthened, to the last, grew many of the printed volumes B. F. STEVENS 175 which from time to time have been published at 4, Trafalgar Square. The first of these, published in 1888, was the Clinton-Cornwallis Controversy, or the "Campaign in Virginia, 1781," two volumes — an exadl reprint in the outset of six rare pamphlets containing MS. notes by Sir Henry Clinton. To these pamphlets Stevens added careful copies of the original correspondence between these commanders and others, with extraordinary labour and patience collating them with all the manuscript and other copies he could find, making a mine of information on that campaign, for all students for all time. This was followed, in 1890, by a transcript from a manuscript, preserved in the Royal Institution, London — "General Sir William Howe's Orderly Book, at Charlestown, Boston and Halifax, 17 June, 1775, to 26 May, 1776 . . . with an Historical Introdudlion by Edward Everett Hale, the whole colleded and edited by Benjamin Franklin Stevens." The publication of the facsimile — in the handsomest and stateliest folio that had been manufadlured for many a year — of the famous Codex of Christopher Columbus from the Paris Foreign Office, was a work worthy of a lover of books. The photograph itself was made by the almost unexampled courtesy of the French authorities, in a temporary studio ' * 176 MEMOIR OF erefted by Mr. Stevens in the grounds of the Foreign Office in Paris. The interleaving of the facsimile so that on the facing pages, what- ever their length, appear an EngHsh translation and the extended readable text of the Spanish abbreviated manuscript, the choice of types, paper, ornaments, margins, title-pages, and grouping generally, was a result of, or perhaps was only made possible by, his connection with the great historic printing firm of the Whit- tinghams — the Chiswick Press. The binding with its plank wood sides, pigskin back and metal clasps, was in imitation of a sixteenth century work. To make it still more com- plete, a few copies were printed on vellum, the maker of the vellum being decided on only after considerable search, and even then the sheets being carefully sele6led by Stevens leaf by leaf so that they should match exadtly in quality and colour. His series of ** Facsimiles of Manuscripts in European Archives relating to America," in twenty-five folio volumes, was begun in 1888, the manuscripts seledled for reproduction hav- ing been all noted in his great Catalogue Index already described. Here is his own summary: " These facsimiles of Civil, Confidential, Diplomatic and PoHtical Papers during the B. F. STEVENS 177 period of the American Revolution comprise many hitherto unpubHshed letters of Dr. Franklin, Silas Deane, William Carmichael, Arthur Lee, and other Americans in Paris with the French Government; a mass of correspond- ence addressed to William Eden (afterwards Lord Auckland), as Under Secretary of State, with curious letters of informants and spies of various ranks in society; letters of De Beau- marchais, Le Ray de Chaumont, Baron de Kalb, and other Frenchmen; the original al- most unknown correspondence of the British Commissioners who, in 1778, went to America to negotiate peace with Congress, while the American Commissioners were at the same time carrying on negotiations in Paris; that of the Marquis de Lafayette with Count de Vergennes and others ; the letters of Lord Stor- mont, the English Ambassador in Paris, never before published ; papers relating to the capture of Henry Laurens and his sojourn in the Tower of London ; many of General Sir Henry Clinton's letters, &c., &c. The advantages of reproducing valuable MSS. in Facsimile have long been admitted, and in this case such Facsimile reproduftions are especially important because no facilities exist in America for consulting the original MSS. The well-known spirit of modern re- search will not be dependent upon desultory N 178 MEMOIR OF texts and casual references, which is all we have today, while (it is a safe prophecy) to-morrow this spirit of great exadlness will refuse any- thing that is not a certified transcript, giving the preference always to a veritable Facsimile of the Original. This work, with references, collations, and translations could only be carried out with the aid of my Great Indexes, which bring the descriptions of the American Papers from 1763 to 1783, now scattered through many Archives in England, France, Holland and Spain, into one homogeneous coUedlion. That Index is not only a list of manuscripts and documents, in the order in which they exist, with their approximate dimensions, and with descriptions of each paper, as far as convenient, by number, date, place of origin, writer, addressee, language, whether signed, original, duplicate, &c., with memoranda of endorsements, official minutes, uses, enclosures, &c., but it gives also a brief resume (in Eng- lish) of each paper, with cross-references to duplicates, if any, and when printed in full or in extradts it states where and to what extent printed, and it also comprises the information in chronological and alphabetical arrange- ments." One other facsimile reproduction was made B. F. STEVENS 179 in recent years — that of the British Head Quarters Coloured Manuscript Map of New York and Environs, 1782, from the original drawing preserved in the War Office, London. This was a large map ten feet by four fttt^ well reproduced in twenty-four sheets, one hundred copies being printed. By the courtesy of the Earl of Dartmouth Stevens was permitted access to a mass of papers relating to the War of American Inde- pendence, and the subjedl being one always associated with his name, he was asked to undertake the preparation of a calendar of these papers for the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. This calendar of Lord Dartmouth's American papers appeared in 1895 as one of their series — 14th Report, Appendix X. For this same Commission a calendar of the American Manuscripts in the Royal Institution, London, being the Head Quarters papers of the successive commanders in chief at New York, was also prepared by him, and will eventually appear in two or more of their volumes. To return to his great Catalogue Index of American Manuscripts by which he hoped best to be remembered by his countrymen in future days. What his disappointment was, that Con- gress while so fully and flatteringly endorsing his work, did not find the ways and means to i8o MEMOIR OF make it in his life-time available to American students and historical writers, he never said. It was not his way to murmur — nor to give up what he had undertaken. On all sides praise and encouragement were freely given, but no helping hand was stretched out to lighten the burden; and he went on year after year him- self providing the finances for a work which by its nature could never prove remunerative. What was the pecuniary cost to him it is impossible to say. Probably, in spite of his methodical ways, he never kept account him- self, for he laughingly said, when the matter was touched upon, " The money is mine own earning. You spend yours upon your children — those that you have brought into the world. These volumes are my children." And he never grudged them what he felt was their needs. During the last few months of his life he was engaged in planning all the final details, and in giving instrudions as to arrangement, title-pages, binding, &c., of these beautiful manuscript volumes, mostly on handmade paper bearing his own watermark. As to arrangement, it is in three divisions : (i.) A Catalogue of the papers in the order in which they exist in the various archives or colledions. This forms fifty volumes. (2.) A Chronological arrangement of the B. F. STEVENS i8i same, which by giving to each document a precis of contents and other details, is extended into one hundred volumes. (3.) An Alphabetical index to the same by- writers and receivers, or where no author is known, then by subjedl matter, in thirty vol- umes. The binding, according to his express wish, is in full morocco, a different colour marking the three sets. It is the hope of his relatives and friends at the time this memoir is written, that this great and unique work will eventually find its place in one of the National Institutions of the United States. This historical work, or the answering of questions, has extended to almost every State of the Union. Amongst Mr. Stevens's larger undertakings, were transcribing and calendaring for the New Hampshire Series of Printed Records; the copying of the Board of Trade Journals and other series of original papers for the Penn- sylvania Historical Society; the Loyalist Papers for the New York Public Library, and the unique roll of the Connedlicut Regiment raised in 1 746-7 for an expedition to Canada, which latter transcript he presented to the Connedlicut Historical Society shortly before his death. CHAPTER XXIV BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STEVENS passed away peacefully on the night of the 5th of March, 1902, after his long illness, borne with great fortitude and resignation. In 1854, Charles Whittingham, his father- in-law, purchased ground at Kensal Green Cemetery for a family grave; and here his wife, his daughter Elizabeth Eleanor, and after- wards himself, were buried. On the loth of March, 1902, Benjamin Franklin Stevens was also laid to his rest, in the same grave as Charles Whittingham, thus being associated with the Whittinghams in death as he had been in hfe, and in the pre- sence of relatives, friends, and members of his various clubs. Among the many present were the American Ambassador, the whole of the Staff of the Embassy, with many repre- sentatives of the American Society in London and the Public Record Office. One of the warmest tributes afterwards writ- ten was from the pen of the Hon. J. H. Choate, the American Ambassador, who wrote : MEMOIR OF B. F. STEVENS 183 ^'In the death of Benjamin Franklin Stevens, the American Colony in London has suffered a serious loss. He had held the responsible office of United States Despatch Agent for thirty-six years, and for a still longer period — from 1 860, when he joined his brother Henry, a noted bibliographer, in the bookselling busi- ness, till the time of his death — he was the purchasing agent of many American libraries and colle6bors. His knowledge of books in both countries was very extensive and valu- able, and he was often consulted by experts in bibliography. But his more unique distindlion was as an antiquarian and historical searcher and investigator. For a great many years he had been engaged with a large corps of assist- ants, searchers, and copyists in examining, in the archives of Great Britain and other countries, documents throwing light on English and American history during the critical period beginning at a date anterior to the first signs of breach between the thirteen colonies and the Mother Country, and extending till after the close of the War of Separation. He had long ago become the highest living authority on the documentary history of those times. He had made a chronological and alphabetical cata- logue index of American papers deposited in the public offices of England, France, Holland and Spain from 1763 to 1783, and had ex- 1 84 MEMOIR OF tended his work of that nature into many private collections. To illustrate his reputation as to all such knowledge — on the very day of his death, in answer to an application from the New York Historical Society for record evi- dence as to an important event in New York City while the British troops were there in 1776, 1 was referred by the War OifKce to him as ' the most likely person to assist in the question raised/ which had baffled inquiry elsewhere. He had become a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal His- torical Society, and a member of the Societe d'Histoire Diplomatique, and of the principal Antiquarian and Historical Societies in the United States. As material for the future his- torian, and as a guide to all students of anti- quities and genealogy, his work is of immense importance, and it is gratifying to know that its results are likely to be preserved and trans- mitted. On social and personal grounds his loss is deeply lamented. He was the oldest American man of business of any prominence resident in London, and was one of the founders and first Chairman of the American Society, in whose useful work he took a deep interest. His happy temperament and genial and sympathetic disposition made all with whom he came in contad his friends. Literary men were fond of B. F. STEVENS 185 his society, and he of theirs. Mr. Lowell in particular was much attached to him, often consulted him, and relied upon his valuable suggestions and information. He was a noble man of generous impulses, high character, and pure nature, and devoted a long and busy life to useful pursuits. . I desire to place on record my high ap- preciation of his fine charadter and of the great importance of his life's work. His charming personal qualities, which made him dear to his associates, will long survive in their memory. Joseph H. Choate." Among the many words of regret and con- dolence that were placed upon record when the sad news became known that one so uni- versally respeded had passed away, was the following : " Resolution of Sympathy passed by the American Society in London, March 7th, 1902. Whereas we have learned with deep regret of the death of Benjamin Franklin Stevens, Chairman of this Society during the first year of its existence, and subsequently its Honorary Treasurer. Be it resolved, that we desire to place on record our feeling of personal bereavement in -, ^ 1 86 I MEMOIR OF the loss of our first Chairman, to whom the Society is deeply indebted for the wise fore- thought and skill with which at the outset of its career he managed its affairs. We deplore the death of a colleague who, while always loyal to his native land, was a devoted friend to the country in which the greater part of his life was passed, and whose constant care was the promotion of friendship between the people of the two communities. We mourn the ab- sence of a cherished friend and a companion of scholarly learning, of genuine sympathies, of gentle kindness and of never failing help- fulness. Resolved, that these Resolutions be placed upon the Minutes of the Society, and that a copy be transmitted to the widow with an ex- pression of sympathy in our mutual sorrow. John Morgan Richards, Chairman. F. C. Van Duzer, Hon. Secretary. Signed on behalf of the American Society in London." As a mbmber of the Council of the Royal Historical Society he did a great deal of work on its behalf from time to time, and his ad- vice and assistance were greatly appreciated, as evidenced by the copy of the Resolution printed after his death, which was as follows, and sent to his partner, Mr. Henry J. Brown : B. F. STEVENS 187 " Royal Historical Society. 24th March, 1902. Dear Mr. Brown, At the meeting of the Council of the Royal Historical Society on the 20th inst. I had the painful duty of reporting the death of Mr. B. F. Stevens, a Fellow of the Society, and for many years a member of its Council. The very valuable work performed by Mr, Stevens in connexion with the Committees of the Council is well known to most of the pre- sent members, and the personal regard in which he was held by all who were acquainted with him has made his loss sincerely felt. I have been instrufted to ask that you will be so kind as to convey to Mr. Stevens's family the assur- ance' of the deep regret and sympathy of the Council, which has been recorded also in the form of a Resolution upon the Minutes. I am, yours very truly, Hubert Hall, Director and Hon. Sec." Arthur Warren writes: '^ Everybody who knew this man, and he was known by many men in many countries, knew him as the em- bodiment of kindliness ; his place in life was many-sided. . . . Everybody knew him as a sturdy New Englander, one of the most lovable men that ever gripped the hand and said * God " ^ i88 MEMOIR OF speed.' He was always doing something for somebody, and doing it wisely. . . . Historical research was his chief delight. But he had an- other delight which matched it, although it is not set down in official records, nor capable of cataloguing — the cultivation of friendly un- derstanding between American and English folk. His energy as an historian was inde- fatigable. Appreciation of his work will in- crease with time as the results are utilised. . . . His name and word were honoured, his know- ledge and advice sought by governments and bibliographers and students on both sides of the Atlantic. No man of our time had more friends. The traveller who went to any capital or any seat of learning in the Old World or in the New with letters from Mr. Stevens, had all doors opened for him. And yet this was a man of modest nature and simple living ; not a courtier, a speechmaker, or a seeker of fame. He thought ^ straight ' as Lowell said, and he thought truth and lived it. During the past two years he suffered much. In the past year he suffisred greatly ; there was hardly a moment without sharp physical pain. But his mind was as clear as ever, and he worked on. It is difficult to write about B. F. Stevens; the loss is too new and great. One hears the cheery voice and sees the genial face, and B. F. STEVENS 189 remembers a thousand deeds of friendship — and the pen stops. Here was a man who loved his fellow men; and they loved him." Journal after journal followed the example of the clubs and the public institutions in their reports. Amongst the newspapers, British and American, the keynote of the general feeling seems to have been struck by the " Burlington Daily Free Press " in his native Vermont, with the following words : '^ We chronicle with pain the death of B. F. Stevens, Esq., the eminent bibliographer," and the saddened tones were echoed everywhere throughout the Press. One of the most notable appreciations ap- peared in the "Athenaeum," and speaks of the way in which Mr. Stevens's work was *' distinguished by minute accuracy and much curious learning. His wide knowledge of Eu- ropean archives and libraries, and his pleasant relations with many of their custodians, were of the greatest assistance to American students, and were also readily placed at the disposal of English and continental correspondents. During the last few years Mr. Stevens had been in declining health, which, however, did not afFeft his interest in his professional and private researches, which were conducted by a staff of workers admirably trained and organ- ized under his immediate supervision." CHAPTER XXV SOMEONE of old asked a philosopher his opinion as to what a man^s charafter should be. The reply was. Manly ; and when pressed for a wider definition, he who was questioned declared that a man should be honest, kind, and true in his dealings with his fellows. In addition the old thinker said he should be charitable in its broadest scriptural meaning, and used many other qualifying ad- jeftives all relating to our dealings with the world at large, to the utter exclusion of self. It is not for me to make comparisons, to analyse, so to speak, the charadler of Benjamin Franklin Stevens, to apply touchstone or test to prove how near he came to the ideal laid down by the old writer, and for this reason : it has been my pleasurable duty to give in the foregoing pages the materials which will enable the readers to judge for themselves what manner of man he was in his inner life from boyhood to a good mature age. For myself I read in them the indomitable perseverance of one who, early instrudled in the life he was to lead, set MEMOIR OF B. F, STEVENS 191 himself sternly to the task, following one straight line from the beginning to the end, and not for ambition's sake, but solely in the cause of duty towards those with whom his journey brought him in contadt. Though passing the main portion of his life in the Mother Country, and in many incidents of his career proving his English descent, yet he was always an American of the Americans, a true son of those who went forth to colonise the new land where they sought freedom of adion and the independence which came in its own good time. The task in writing this memorial has been principally to chronicle and place in sequence as to time the words of others, and these have told the life story. It would have been easy to play the part of eulogist and set forth a long list of proofs of what this man was, but the simple fads contained in these letters have spoken for themselves. I can but add that in going through the manuscripts placed at my disposal — mostly treasured letters that had passed between the boy and man and his friends during a period of over half a century — 1845 to 1 90 1 — the principal portion of them being his own, my regret has been that they could not be given to the world in greater fullness in their simplicity and truth. But Benjamin Franklin Stevens was no 192 MEMOIR OF B. F. STEVENS seeker after notoriety. He had a calm intelli- gent life of his own to lead as a student, and his countrymen when they fully realise all that he has done cannot fail to honour his name with the long roll of those who have gone before ; not that he needs graven or sculptured stone — his literary work is in itself monumental, and embraces the most important epoch in the history of the United States: the period dealing with the War of Independence. Truly it may be said that in this man's life Finis coronat opus — the end crowns the work. IN MEMORIAM CHARLOTTE WHITTINGHAM STEVENS IT is the writer's painful duty to announce that during the passage through the press of this Memoir, Mrs. B. F. Stevens, while watching its progress, gradually failed in health, and peacefully passed away on Wednesday the 22nd of July, 1903, in the seventy-fifth year of her age. She was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, in the same grave as her husband and father. Introduction to the CATALOGUE INDEX OF MANUSCRIPTS in the Archives of England, France Holland and Spain relating to America, 1763 to 1783 Compiled in Three Divisions, in each of which all of the 161 ,000 Documents enumerated are cited Compiled by Benjamin Franklin Stevens (of Vermont) L.H.D., M.A., Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, of the Royal Historical Society, Member of the American Antiquarian Society and of the Historical Societies of Vermont, Maryland, Connecticut and Minnesota. 4, Trafalgar Square, W.C. London, England. 1 870 to 1 902 HO y.'/ THE THREE DIVISIONS. 1 . The Catalogue in 50 volumes of the docu- ments by short titles in the order in which they exist in the Public Record Office of England, British Museum, Royal Institution; the French Foreign, Marine and War Offices; the Dutch Rijks and Huis Archives; the Spanish Archives in Alcald, Seville, and Simancas ; and in the Collec- tions of Lord Abergavenny, Auckland, Carlisle, " Dartmouth, Germain, Lansdowne, etc. etc. etc. 2. The Chronological Index in 100 volumes, with a description of each document. 3. The Alphabetical Index in 30 volumes by Authors and Receivers, and where no writer is named then by the subjedt matter. INTRODUCriON BEFORE coming to London in July i860, I had had some ex- perience with historical manu- scripts relating to the period of the American Revolution, especially those relating to Vermont. I had copied under the direftion of my father, the late Henry Stevens, Pre- sident of the Vermont Historical and Antiquarian Society, some manuscripts in the offices of the Secretary of State at Albany and some in the Secretary of State's office at Boston, and as Deputy Secretary of the State of Vermont I had, with an assistant, catalogued or indexed the manuscripts in the office of the Secretary of State at Montpelier down to the date of October, 1800. I had been in London perhaps three or four years when I became engaged in the work of transcribing documents in the Public Record Office of England relating to New Jersey. 200 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF In the absence of any index to the manuscripts relating to America I be- gan noting such papers as I came across from time to time, in the Public Record Office and elsewhere, as had reference to America, and particularly to the period of the Revolution, or, as one of the officials preferred to say, to the American phase of the history of England during the American rebellion. This work was privately continued in a desultory way till 1882. In March, 1881, Mr. Evarts, then Secretary of State, wrote to Mr. Lowell, the American Minister in London : Department of State, Sir: Washington, March i, 1881. In view of the preparations making in this country for celebrating the one hundredth anniver- sary of peace and the recognition of American Independence, the President deems the present a suitable time to begin the work of obtaining, so far as may be pra£ticable, complete copies of all the correspondence in the archives of foreign govern- ments, in any way bearing on the peace negotiations of 1783, in order that the same may be made avail- able for use for historical purposes. I have, therefore, to request you to bring the subje6fc to the attention of Her Majesty's Govern- ment, and to ask for permission to cause copies to be made of such unpublished papers and documents AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 201 as may exist in the British archives relating to the peace negotiations in question, as Her Majesty's Government may deem it proper to submit to the inspeftion of your legation for that purpose. In addition to making this formal request of the British Government, I will thank you to take measures to obtain such information as may be attainable, as to documents relating to this subjedl, which may exist in the manuscript colleftions of families, similar to the Lansdowne House manu- scripts and the Shelburne manuscripts, with a view of ultimately obtaining copies of such papers therein as may be of value. I am, sir, etc., William M. Evarts. James Russell Lowell, Esq., etc. Mr. Evarts addressed a similar letter to our Minister in Paris respecting the French archives. Mr. Low^ell, on March 16, transmitted Mr. Evart*s request to Earl Granville, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs : Legation of the United States, My Lord: London, March 16, 1881. I have the honor to acquaint you that I have this day received a dispatch from Mr. Evarts, dated on the 1st instant, in which he states that the President, in view of the preparations making in America for celebrating the one hundredth anniver- sary of peace and the recognition of American Independence, deems the present a suitable time to begin the work of obtaining, so far as may be pradlicable, complete copies of all the correspondence in the archives of foreign Governments in any way 202 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF bearing on the peace negotiations of 1783, in order that the same may be made available for use for historical purposes. I have therefore been instructed to bring the subjeft to the attention of Her Majesty's Govern- ment, and I have the honor to ask for permission to cause copies to be made of such unpublished papers and documents as may exist in the British archives relating to the peace negotiations in question as Her Majesty's Government may deem it proper to submit to the inspeftion of this legation for that purpose. I have the honor to be, etc., J. R. Lowell. to which Earl Granville replied : Sir : Foreign Office, March 26, i88i. I have the honor to acknow^ledge the re- ceipt of your letter of the i6th instant, requesting to be supplied, for historical purposes, with copies of any unpublished documents which may exist in the British archives bearing upon the peace negotiations of 1783 ; and I have much pleasure in informing you that the Master of the Rolls has been requested to give every facility to any gentleman whom you may be pleased to depute to attend at the Public Record Of&ce for the purpose of examining and making copies of any papers which he may seleft from the foreign correspondence of that period, subjedl to the usual res trillions . I have the honor to be, etc., Granville. James Russell Lowell, Esq., etc., etc., etc. This permission was communicated to Mr. Blaine, who had in the meantime become Secretary of State : AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 203 Legation of the United States, Sir: London, April i, 1881. Referring to Mr. Evart's No. 119, of the ist ultimo, I have the honor to inclose a copy of my note to Lord Granville requesting to be suppHed with copies of unpublished documents bearing upon the peace negotiations of 1783, and of his lordship's reply, which arrived this morning. As it will be necessary, in order to avail ourselves of the permission accorded, that some gentleman deputed by me should attend at the PuWic Record Office to examine the papers in question, it is im- portant that an expert should be appointed who has competent knowledge of the subjeft, and who could make a proper seleftion from the unpublished papers. I respectfully suggest that a duly qualified person should be sent from America by the Department of State for this purpose. I have the honor to be, etc., J. R. Lowell. In consequence of this suggestion, Mr. Dwight, chief of the Bureau of Rolls and Library, was sent to London by the Department of State to make the required examination. He found the work much larger than he anticipated and decided to abandon it. I was pointed out to him as having already per- formed much of the necessary prelimin- ary labour of searching ; my methods of work were submitted to him and specimens of transcripts and indexes ex- amined, on all of which his opinion is 204 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF given in his letter to the Department in April, 1884, quoted on page 229. - The following correspondence and proceedings, in chronological order, will give the history and development of the scheme : Mr. Stevens to Mr. Frelinghuysen. United States Government Despatch Agency, 4, Trafalgar Square, W.C, London, Sir : November 4, 1882. I have for a long time been collefting in- formation concerning material for an authentic documentary history of the American war of inde- pendence, and of the several military and diplomatic peace negotiations between Great Britain and America down to and including the Paris treaty of 1783, and the exchange of its ratifications. I now desire to continue my researches under the diredtion and at the cost of the Department. The historical manuscripts formerly in the British State Paper Office, Board of Trade, War Office, and other Government offices have been gathered together, and are now deposited in Her Majesty's Public Record Office. The public are allowed to search the manuscripts previous to 1 760 with con- siderable freedom, but all documents after 1760 are considered as being quite private, and one gets access to them only by permission from the Foreign Office. Researches have at various times been made from the earliest dates for the colonial history of New York, now published in twelve volumes quarto. A considerable portion of the New Jersey docu- AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 205 ments are calendared in the New Jersey Historical Society's series, and others have been copied for the society, though they may not have yet been pub- lished. Some of the Maryland and Virginia docu- ments have been calendared, and the manuscript calendars are now believed to be in Baltimore and Richmond. Of the early Massachusetts records, I think six volumes quarto have been published. Many other documents, especially of the earlier dates, have been copied, calendared, or extrafted for special or local objefts, but, so far as I know, no one has ever carefully examined and noted all documents touching America and American affairs from i772-'73 to 1783. I am endeavoring to get such information as will enable one to instantly gather up the various American threads from about the opening of Lord Dartmouth's administration, and, bringing the whole subjeft well together by the date of our peti- tion to the King in 1774, to thoroughly seek out and note all information concerning documentary materials as fully as possible down to the Paris treaty of 1783, and its ratifications. I have permission to pursue my studies in Her Majesty's Public Record Office, and to make copies or extradls of any documents and correspondence I may find upon America and American affairs down to and including the Paris treaty of 1783 and the exchange of ratifications of the same. There is no chronological or alphabetical or other index of any sort of the American papers in the Public Record Office, and there is no ready means of finding and comparing the documents other than by searching. The privately printed official one line hand list of the books only refers to the general grouping of the contents of the volumes. 2o6 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF In the absence of any index, I have found it to be desirable to make a very concise but carefully prepared chronological catalogue of all documents in the Public Record Office bearing upon American affairs and the peace negotiations, including of course the correspondence between England and France on the subjeft as well as the correspondence between the American and British authorities and between the British ministers and their own com- missioners. The documents in the Public Record Office, so far as they relate to America, are for the most part broadly classified under the geographical heading of " America and West Indies," and, from the earliest dates down to the Paris treaty, this series comprises about 700 volumes. These 700 volumes are sub- divided into groups under such headings as, Orders in council, Military correspondence. Promiscuous, Burgoyne, Naval, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, East Florida, West Florida, Plantations, Memorials, Correspondence, Commissioners, Military entry books, and other entry books for North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Proprieties, Virginia, East and West Florida, Quebec, Plantations, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Saint John's, Massachusetts, and other separate colonies. Entries of privy council, Pardons, Military dispatches. Detached papers. In- tercepted papers. Secret dispatches, Afts, etc. There are also several hundred volumes under the general heading of Board of Trade, and these are to a considerable extent subdivided under head- ings somewhat similar to those used in the '^ America and West Indies." There is also much relating to America in the AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 207 British correspondence under the headings of France, Holland, and, beginning with 1783, there are some papers under " America." Much of the correspondence from America was originally sent to both the Foreign Office and the Board of Trade j and, for greater safety in trans- mission, letters were frequently sent to both offices in duplicate or triplicate, and in some cases in quad- ruplicate. Where two or more copies of a paper reached the respeftive destinations, this document is now found to exist several times over, and by concen- trating the public papers from all the old Govern- ment offices in the new Public Record Office, these documents are now brought approximately together. In the absence of any systematic classification in fihng and binding up the papers, the several copies of any individual document are now found to be scattered through the subdivisions or headings al- ready enumerated, and no one copy bears any evi- dence of there being duplicates in existence, and of course there is no cross reference to the volume and page where such dupHcates, if any, are to be found. The calendaring of the documents in the Public Record Office relating to America is progressing. Two volumes are published, and Volume III of this series, bringing the dates down to about 1687, is expefted to be issued in about two years. The date of the American Independence can not at this rate be reached in the calendaring during this generation nor the next. I venture to suggest that a historical student will be less well satisfied with the calendaring of docu- ments than with the opportunity to peruse full and accurate copies of the documents themselves. I am making a similar chronological catalogue of 2o8 B. F, STEVENS' INDEX OF the American manuscripts which are to be found in the several government offices in Paris. I am also including in my chronological catalogue the Ameri- can manuscripts in the Royal Institution in Lon- don, the Lansdowne colleftion, and I am turning into chronological order and incorporating the cata- logue of the Haldimand papers and other American manuscripts in the British Museum into my general chronological catalogue. The diplomatic and political correspondence as brought together by the several divisions of my catalogue appears to be very nearly if not quite com- plete, and I may add that this correspondence con- tains a very great deal of matter that has never been published. The military correspondence is most copious, and is also believed to be very nearly if not quite com- plete. The British portion includes the corre- spondence betw^een Sir William Howe and Lord Barrington, Sir Henry Clinton, Lord George Ger- main, Charles Jenkinson, Lord North, Treasury Office, War Office, Sir George Osborn, Captain Mackenzie, Washington, Walcott, sundry officers, etc. y between Sir Henry Clinton and Lord George Germain, Sir Guy Carleton, Earl Cornwallis, General Campbell, Governor Franklin, General Haldimand, General Heath, Sir William Howe, General Maclean, Captain Mackenzie, General Prevost, General Phillips, Washington, Treasury, Sir James Wright, John Robinson, sundry officers, warrants and accounts, etc. ; between Sir Guy Carleton and Lord Shelburne, the Treasury, Thomas Townshend, Lord North, Sir Henry Clin- ton, Colonel Anstruther, General Haldimand, General Delancey, Governor Parr, General Patti- son, Maurice Morgann, General Macarthur, Wash- AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 209 ington, sundry officers, various occurrences, orders and abstra6ls, letters from Halifax, affidavits and memorials of royalists, petitions from loyalists, peti- tions and complimentary letters, accounts with memorials, etc. ; and also the correspondence be- tween the several officers themselves, and with others, American and British. The correspondence with reference to the Hes- sians, the treaties respedling the Hessian troops and regiment occurrences, prisoners, etc., is interesting, and will be of importance to the genealogist as well as to the historical student. The miscellaneous papers include, among many other subjefts, the muster-rolls of different regi- ments. Abstradls and cash accounts, returns of prisoners and loyalists, with returns of clothing, provisions, etc., warrants for paying sundry regi- ments, reports of officers from different regiments, with petitions and memorials not only of the officers but also of many loyalists, the commissary general's accounts with the crown, commissions, writs, etc., coroners' inquests, with reports from the military and civil departments, particulars of vessels entered and cleared from New York, lists of general and staff officers of the British army, book of three thousand negroes registered and certified on leaving New York in compliance with the seventh article of the provisional treaty, etc. The Paris documents, although considerably scat- tered among several government offices, appear to be very full and perhaps approximately complete. The correspondence between the French Govern- ment and Gerard, Luzerne, and Barb6 de Marbois while in America appears to be quite complete, and that between the French Government and our com- missioners, Franklin, Jay, Adams, Lee, etc., is very 210 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF copious. Also the journals, papers, and corre- spondence of D'Estaing and other French officers with the French Government and with American officers and public individuals. The correspondence of De Grasse, Barras, Lafayette, Paul Jones, Frank- lin, Arnold, Fleury, Green, Hancock, Laurens, Washington (many), etc., is voluminous. I believe a great portion of these Paris documents have never before been catalogued or used for his- torical purposes, and I find many of them are of great importance. The apparent openness of Franklin in submitting abstra£ts and extracts as copies of the American commissioners' correspondence with Congress to the French Government and the candor with which the French Government dealt with these com- munications is now noticeable upon finding full copies of the intercepted correspondence with the so-called copies transmitted by our commissioners to the French Government. I mention this single incident to illustrate the carefulness with which one should look at every paper, note its origin, its objeft, and its uses. The dates and short descriptions, without sub- jefts, in my chronological index, are often precisely the same when really calling for different papers. This may arise from the writers having written two or more letters on different subjedls on the same day, to the same addresses. My plan contemplates comparing and verifying all papers, whether apparently or really alike, and when there is more than one copy to identify the original as the assumed standard copy for historical reference, carefully noting the volume and page, as also the colleftion, where the duplicates, etc., exist, and if the document is printed, note where the AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 21 1 printed copy is to be found, and to proof-read the original manuscript with such printed copy, whether in the various publications already indicated, or in such others as the Diplomatic Correspondence, the Correspondence of the Revolution, Sparks' Frank- lin, Sparks' Washington, Fitzmaurice's Shelburne, Life of Jay, Adams, etc., and to carefully note the discrepancies, if any, and where the manuscripts are found not to have been printed, or if very in- accurately printed, I recommend carefully copying such documents, following spelling, abbreviations, capitals, pun6hiation, etc., so that with the printed copies already in existence and with the manuscript copy, which I now desire to make under your in- struftions, the Department will have a complete copy of every paper relating to America during the period indicated that can be found in the several colleftions in London and Paris. I also recommend comparing the manuscript duplicates or copies of any documents to note any important verbal variations, but not such differences as spelling, capitals, etc. If the Department desire me to do so, I shall have pleasure in comparing the list of the Franklin manuscripts, recently purchased by the Govern- ment, with my chronological catalogue, to note the documents that exist in the public offices in London and Paris, which are also in the Franklin colleftion, and hence abstain from copying any papers that may have lately been acquired by the Government. I suggest the use of original Turkey mill paper, blue foolscap, nineteen lines to the page, in the general style of this letter, for the copies of the original manuscript, but this suggestion will, of course, be withdrawn to meet the preferences of the Department. 212 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF I have had several clerks engaged upon this work for more than a year, and up to this time I have accumulated above thirty thousand entries, includ- ing, of course, the drafts, originals, duplicates, ciphers, copies, etc., of the papers, which are found to exist in more than one State, and in more than one coUedlion. I am pushing my work forward in London and Paris as rapidly as possible, and I believe I shall add at least ten thousand more entries by Christmas ; that is to say, by the end of this year I expect my chronological catalogue will include at least forty thousand entries. I am making an alphabetical index to my great chronological catalogue. The magnitude and cost of my labor is getting to be beyond my limited means, and instead of seeking pecuniary assistance from a publisher or other commercial channel, I pray the Department will authorize me to proceed with the work under its dire£lion upon such an economical basis as may be required. I take great pleasure in doing my work. I be- Heve I can do it thoroughly well without interfering with my duties as Despatch Agent ; and I believe I can do it very much cheaper than the Govern- ment could send any one to London and Paris to do it. It is desirable that some investigations should be made in Germany for the Hessian and military correspondence, and in Holland and Spain for the diplomatic and political correspondence. I am un- willing to apply for an appointment which shall not look to delivering my work before receiving pay for it; and to this end I suggest that the work be divided into as many seftions or divisions as may be convenient for quickly finishing off each separate AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 213 seftion, that it may be delivered complete in itself, and that I may be paid for the work as delivered ; and I also suggest that my compensation should be based upon the quantity of matter delivered, say, upon counting the number of words, or the pages. I am very willing to modify this letter to suit the preferences of the Department. If there is no available appropriation under which the Department can give me the desired instruction I am very will- ing to continue to vigorously prosecute the work, if the Department will apply to this approaching Con- gress for the authority and funds for making the required historical researches and copies. I venture to suggest that the application for the appropriation should be for $10,000, or as much thereof as may be needed. The ordinary official fee for copying and certify- ing manuscripts in Her Majesty's Public Record Office I am told is ix. per folio of 72 words, but facilities for copying are aifbrded to the public, without any responsibility on the part of the Public Record Office for the accuracy of the copies, and the usual fee for these simple copies is four pence a folio of 72 words, which is approximately 11 cents a hundred words. The fee for searching for docu- ments in the Public Record Office varies from 2s, bd, to 55. an hour. For making all my searches in London and Paris, for preparing my chronological and alphabetical indexes for readily finding the originals, noting the duplicates, examining and copying the indorsements, which are often of the greatest importance, and for gathering the useful particulars for determining which papers are to be copied, and for copying the documents that are not printed, I shall be glad to be paid 21 cents a hundred words, or such other 214 ^- P' STEVENS' INDEX OF moderate fee as the Department may determine, counting only the manuscript which I should deliver under this arrangement, and a fee of 7 cents a hundred words, or such other rate as the Depart- ment may fix, after a little experience in the quality of the work and my cost for producing it, for proof- reading and noting the differences in the documents when existing in more than one state, and also for noting any errors in the printed copy that may be shown by the proof-reading. In doing this copying and literary work at a moderate price, without a separate salary or charge for stationery and for expenses while making the researches, I should consider myself a servant of the Department, and should consider its work as being striftly confidential. I have thus far kept the facSt of my being engaged on this chronological catalogue as quiet as possible. I venture to send copies of this letter to his ex- cellency Hon. J. R. Lowell, Hon. Judge Bancroft Davis, Rev. Edward Everett Hale, and William F. Poole, esq., in the hope that they will favor me by seconding my present application to the Depart- ment, and that they will, by their extensive know- ledge . of the subject, generally, favor the Depart- ment and me, confidentially, with any hints for the better prosecution of the great work. I desire to acknowledge my great obligations to Mr. Lowell for seconding my application to the Royal Institution for permission to use its manu- scripts ; to Mr. Vignaud, for obtaining the necessary permission for my working in Paris ; to Mr. Kings- ton, of the Public Record Office; to Mr. Vincent, of the Royal Institution ; to Mr. Thompson, of the British Museum ; to Mr. Ribier, the archivist of the French foreign office ; to Mr. Brauges, the chief AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 215 of the bureau of archives in the French marine office, and especially to Mr. Margry, formerly ar- chivist of the ministry of the marine, for the facilities, courtesies, and information imparted to me and to my clerks in thus far carrying out the work I have set myself about. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, B. F. Stevens, United States Despatch Agent. Hon. Fred'k T. Frelinghuysen, Secretary of State^ Washington, Mr. Lowell to Mr. Frelinghuysen. Legation of the United States, Sir: London, November 29, 1882. Mr. B. F. Stevens has sent me confidentially a copy of his memorial to you on the subjeft of the work he is engaged upon of making a catalogue of all documents relating to our revolutionary history which are to be found in public archives or private cabinets, whether in this country or on the con- tinent. Without classification or index, as they now are, they can hardly be said to exist at all for the historian. The work Mr. Stevens proposes to do would make them all both accessible and useful to the student of that period of our history. It should be borne in mind, also, that his plan, from its compre- hensive nature, would produce a result more homo- geneous and convenient for research than piecemeal classification and abstrafting of the documents could possibly do. In accordance with the expressed wish of Mr, Stevens, it gives me pleasure to say that I think him particularly fitted by his industry, experience, and intelligence, as well as by a special enthusiasm in - * 2i6 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF this particular case, to do excellently well what he has undertaken. As to the terms of compensation proposed by- Mr. Stevens, I have no experience that would enable me to say whether they are moderate or not, but could easily ascertain, if it were thought neces- sary, by inquiry among experts here. I have the honor to be, with great respeil, your obedient servant, J. R. Lowell. Hon. F. T. Frelinghuysen, Secretary of St ate ^ Washington^ D, C, Mr. Davis to Mr. Sherman. Department of State, Sir: Washington, January 27, 1883. I have the honor to transmit herewith for your consideration a copy of a letter from Mr. B. F. Stevens, dated November 4, 1882, and a copy of a dispatch from Mr. Lowell, minister in London, No. 455, dated November 29, 1882. It will be observed ftom Mr. Stevens's letter that the historical manuscripts formerly scattered through various offices of the British Government are now collefted in the Public Record Office, where the public is allowed to search the manuscripts prior to 1760, those since that date being considered private and are only to be seen by permission from the Foreign Office. So far as is known, no one has examined and noted all documents touching America from 1772- '73 to 1783, while special studies having relation to the history of one or two States have been made. There is no chronological or alphabetical index of these papers, and they are for the most part broadly classified under general headings. From AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 217 the earliest dates down to the Paris treaty the series comprises about 700 volumes, headed " America and the West Indies," and there are several hundred volumes headed " Board of Trade," besides much relating to the same subjeft under the headings " France " and " Holland," and some beginning in 1783 under "America." The concentration of the public papers in one office has shown the existence in some instances of several copies of the same paper which had been on file in different departments of the government, and are now scattered through the volumes without cross reference or evidence that there are duplicates in existence. At the present rate of calendaring in the Record Office it is said that the date of American Independ- ence can not be reached " during this generation, nor the next." Mr. Stevens is making a chronological catalogue of all these papers, including also the American manuscripts in the Royal Institution in London, the Lansdowne Colleftion, and is incorporating the catalogue of the Haldimand papers and other American manuscripts in the British Museum. He proposes to compare and verify all papers, whether apparently or really alike, and when there is more than one copy, to identify the original as the assumed standard copy for historical reference, noting the volume, page, and colleftion, where the dupli- cate, etc., exists, and if the document is printed to note where the printed copy is to be found ; to collate the original manuscript with the printed copy, if there be one ; to note the discrepancies, if any, between the printed copy and the original ; and to copy other documents, carefully following the spelling, abbrevia- tions, etc., so that with the printed copies in exist- 21 8 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF ence and the manuscript copies to be made by him, a complete copy of all papers relating to America during the period indicated that can be found in the collecftions in London or Paris, will be in the pos- session of this Government. Mr. Stevens is already well advanced in his work, but states that the magnitude and cost of it is getting beyond his means, and, instead of turning to a pub- lisher for assistance, he asks this Department to proceed with the work under its dire6lion. He proposes that he be paid as the work progresses, the compensation to be based upon the amount of matter delivered, and, after referring to the fees charged in the Record Office for copies and certificates, he suggests that for making his searches in London and Paris, preparing chronological and alphabetical in- dexes, noting the duplicates, examining and copying the indorsements, for gathering the useful particulars to determine which papers are to be copied, and for copying the documents not printed he receive twenty- one cents per hundred words, or such other reasonable fee as may be fixed, counting only the manuscript delivered, and that he receive an additional fee, say, seven cents per hundred words, for proof-reading, noting the differences in documents and any errors in the printed copy. Mr. Lowell states that the documents, as they now are, " can hardly be said to exist at all for the historian," while Mr. Stevens's plan, if carried out, would make them all both accessible and useful, and he commends Mr. Stevens as particularly fitted to do the work excellently well. The proposition of Mr. Stevens is evidently an important one, deserving careful consideration. Such a catalogue would be an invaluable aid to all students of colonial and revolutionary history, for it would AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 219 bring together in this country documents which now exist only in Europe, and are there for the most part pradlically inaccessible. This Depart- ment, however, has no authority to incur the ex- pense, and I therefore have the honor to bring the matter to your attention, with the suggestion that a resolution similar to the one inclosed be presented to the Senate, or that a clause similar in efFeft be added to the proper appropriation bill. The papers, when received, could be filed either with the revolu- tionary archives in this Department or in the Library of Congress, as may be deemed most appropriate and convenient. Should this Department be authorized to employ Mr. Stevens, preliminary examination would be made as to the proper compensation and the value of the work already completed by him. I Imve the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, John Davis, Ailing Secretary. Hon. John Sherman, Chairman of Joint Committee on the Library ^Senate, The above letter from the AcSing Secretary of State, with the accompany- ing papers and the following resolutions, were printed as Senate Mis. Doc. No. 29, Forty-seventh Congress, second session. February 2, 1883. — Reported. from the Committee on the Library, ordered to be printed, and re- committed to the committee. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled^ That the Secretary of State be, and he is hereby, 220 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF authorized and empowered to obtain, through the agency of Benjamin F. Stevens, of London, indexes and transcripts of the original papers relative to the history of the colonization of the United States and of the war of the Revolution, preserved in the Public Record Office of England, the same to be deposited with the archives now in the custody of the Department of State. And be it further resolved^ That ten thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary for that purpose, be, and are hereby, appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appro- priated, to be expended under the direftion of the Secretary of State, and to be subjedl to his requisi- tion until the objeft and purpose of this resolution are efFedled. Mr. Stevens to Mr. Frelinghuysen. United States Government Despatch Agency, 4 Trafalgar Square, London, Sir: March 17, 1884. In compliance with your request for further information, I take pleasure in formulating my views concerning the project: of obtaining copies of all documents in the European archives illustrative of the early history of the United States, and especially those bearing upon the American Revolution and the war of independence substantially as communi- cated by the Assistant Secretary of State to Congress, and published in Senate Mis. Doc. 29, Forty-seventh Congress, second session. The three great governments, England, America, and France were parties to the Revolution in America, and to the peace negotiations. Our own national archives by themselves go little AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 221 further than to illustrate the American phase of the history of this period, while the combined archives, American and European, clearly show the Revolu- tion to have been of European origin — England at war with all nations, and American independence the price of an universal peace. The history of this period in America, and from the American stand-point only, has been treated by eminent writers, but no one has yet published the authentic documents showing the Revolution was begotten, direfted and managed largely in Europe, and by the British officers in America in conflidl with the Americans who accepted the challenge and completed the Revolution. I submit that the whole subjedl cannot be satis- factorily dealt with until our own national colleftion of documents shall embrace the English and the French sides as well as the American, together with all documentary details of the moving causes and influences which resulted in the Paris peace treaty in 1783. I desire, under your direAion, to make a careful compilation of all unpublished documents that can be found in the European archives illustrative of the British side of the American Revolution, and also illustrative of the side of France and our allies. The British documents should include the afts and instrudlions of the King, the ministry, and the Parliament, together with the diplomatic, political, military and naval correspondence of the British Government with the several governors of the then colonies ; with the commanders-in-chief of the King's forces in America; between the British officers themselves, including the Hessians, the loyalists, the refugees, and with the prisoners ; those supplying secret intelligence, etc.; and also the 222 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF correspondence between the American and British officers direct. This latter, I repeat, has already- been partly treated from the American side. The warrants, accounts, etc., of the extraordinary and other expenses of Generals Clinton and Carleton include much information of a biographical and genealogical interest, as well as of military and financial importance. The political and miscellaneous correspondence of the British Government with the colonial governors, magistrates, agents, and others, and the colonial memorials, petitions, etc., exhibit a distinctive phase of the Revolution, which phase is as much American as English, and which still remains a part of the un- written history of the American Revolution. The a6ts of the several American colonies, each under the certificate of the governor with the colonial seal, being subjeft to the King's approval, were separately referred to the privy council and by it to the law advisers. The reports, approvals, obje£tions, proclamations of allowance or of disallowance, and generally the entries in the minutes of council would be exceedingly interesting if all the steps and in- formation upon each a6t should be gathered together and printed with it, thereby illustrating the great influence of the English Government upon the colonial legislation and its executive privileges. The unprinted military and naval correspondence of Generals Gage, Howe, Clinton, and Carleton, while commanders-in-chief of the British forces in America, direftly with their own Government ; and the correspondence of the British officers in America with the civil and political officers, the loyalists and refugees in America, I repeat, bears quite as much upon the history of the American Revolution as does that between the British and American officers. AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 223 This phase of the history of the war of independence has not, I believe, yet been dwelt upon. This remark applies equally to the military peace negotiations carried on in America between the British commissioners there and General Washington and other American officers quite independently of the diplomatic negotiations going on at the same time in Paris, a point to a great extent lost sight of. This military peace negotiation would form an im- portant subdivision of the proposed compilation. The more important diplomatic peace negotiations in Paris would of course include all of the unpub- Hshed correspondence touching America between the British ministers themselves in London and with their commissioners in France, Holland and Spain during the Paris negotiations, and also between the British commissioners in Paris and the French Government, and between them and our own com- missioners. This proposed compilation, on precisely the same general lines, should extend to the French phase of the whole subjedl, and include the correspondence of the French ministers themselves prior and subsequent to the treaty of alliance ; the inducements to France to enter into the alliance ; the sending of ministers to America ; the open and the secret instruftions and correspondence between the French Government and its diplomatic, military and naval officers in America, and should also include the privately supplied intelligence concerning both the American and British officers individually, civil and military ; and to the current measures and plans of the opera- tions in America, as communicated to the French court from day to day. The journals or log-books of the French ships of war while serving in the Revolution, with the names ' ^ 224 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF of officers and crews, the casualties, etc., and parti- culars of various expeditions ; the court-martial of De Grasse, the proceedings at his trial, the rewards to his fleet, etc., and also the correspondence between the French military and naval officers and General Washington and other American officers would all come into the proposed compilation. The French phase would also include the corre- spondence between the French Government and its representatives in London until they were with- drawn, and between the French Government and the British peace commissioners in Paris, as also with the American commissioners, and with the representatives of Holland, Spain, etc. The diplomatic correspondence in the Paris peace negotiations may, I think, be most conveniently dealt with in two or more divisions — beginning the latter series with the introdudlion of Oswald as the British negotiator in the spring of 1782, and ending with the 1783 treaty and the exchange of its ratifica- tions. I have estimated that the unpublished manuscripts representing the American, the British, and the French phases of the Paris diplomatic negotiations from the spring of 1782 to the 1783 treaty will make three or possibly four volumes of about six hundred pages royal odlavo, similar to the thirty- two specimen pages which I have the honor to submit herewith in a dummy volume of five hundred and seventy-six pages. These thirty-two pages are re- peated in order to show the general appearance of a proposed volume. I am so far prepared with the material for this one series of papers that I can immediately proceed with the printing, indexing and delivering these three or four volumes upon receiving your instruftions to this end. AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 225 The earlier Paris negotiations (American, British, and French) down to March, 1782, will perhaps make two uniform volumes, which could be rapidly proceeded with after the above series is in type. The military peace negotiations already mentioned could, I think, be all printed in one volume uniform with the others. In November, 1882, I had the honor to inform you that I had then for a long time been colledting this authentic documentary material and information. My letter was the occasion of the Senate document herein referred to and which has not yet been adled upon. I have continued and am continuing my work as set out in that letter. I am told that my permissions from the respeftive authorities to peruse, calendar, index, and copy the documents, or any of them, bearing upon America and American affairs are wider than have before been granted. My searches in London, Paris, The Hague, and Amsterdam have resulted in my indexing above sixty thousand papers in the European archives from 1772 to 1783, upon the great subject. Very many of these papers exist in two or more states, as drafts, originals, duplicates, ciphers, copies, etc., and these copies are often found in more than one of the col- lecSlions of archives. I have made no estimate of the number of separate or distinft papers in the several series of European archives counting all copies of each paper as if only one, but I venture to guess that the unpublished documents during the period of the Revolution will make about twenty volumes of about six hundred pages each, similar to my present specimen. My chronological and alphabetical indexes re- Q 226 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF ferring to the sixty thousand papers are the only in- dexes of them in existence, and they make these valuable colledtions of wholly unclassified manu- scripts available to me for a systematic compilation of the documents upon various desired subjects under a homogeneous and convenient arrangement v^^ith ready reference to the several copies of each paper for careful comparison, and for noting the differences in the text, indorsements, etc. In order to make these compilations accurate with references to the published and unpublished papers, it will be absolutely necessary from many points of view to put the work into type, and to compare the proof-sheets in Europe with the original manuscripts, so that all variations touching each and every paper may be duly registered, and to this end it will be especially desirable to have at least an entire volume of matter in type at the same time. In view of this necessity to put the work into type I am led to hereby withdraw my original pro- position for supplying one manuscript transcript, as submitted to you in my letter of November, 1882, and instead I now submit this modified plan for pro- viding printed copies of all the American papers in the European archives within the period of the American Revolution. Some of the papers in the European archives are already printed in the Diplomatic Correspondence of the Revolution ; Sparks's Life and Writings of Franklin ; Sparks's Life and Writings of Washing- ton ; the Correspondence of the Revolution, and elsewhere, but by far the larger part has never been published. My modified plan is to provide an authentic printed documentary history without narrative form beyond that given by the classification of subjefts, AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 227 the arrangement of the matter in chronological order, and copious references. In short, my proffered services would embrace — 1. The original researches, extending over several years, by myself and a corps of intelligent assistants, resulting in the practical discovery of these docu- ments. 2. The preparation of my chronological and alphabetical indexes, vi^hich, I repeat, are the sole key to the American papers in the European archives as a combined colleftion. These indexes will be the basis of my compilation. 3. The transcription of all documents which have not been printed, the comparison of them with the originals, copies, and drafts, whether in London, Paris, The Hague, or Amsterdam. 4. The comparing of those papers which have been printed already, and making references to the printed volumes, noting the discrepancies, the in- dorsements, the purposes, and giving such lucid information as will enable the student to use the proposed compilation with as much confidence as he could use the European archives themselves, even if it were possible for him to gain access to all the col- lections, and to have the documents systematically grouped for his ready reference and examination. 5. The translation into EngHsh of those original papers which are in a foreign language, and to print this translation with the original documents. 6. The supervision of the press, /.^., the classifica- tion into subjedts, the arrangement of matter in volumes, the proposed references, the corredlion of proof-sheets, the making of indexes to the printed volumes, and all the details which are usually in- trusted to an editor, 7. And finally to deliver in printed form these 228 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF authentic documents, which will become immediately available for the Department and the scholar, to be used in conjunftion with the publications containing the documentary history, from the American stand- point, which have been issued by the Department under the authority of the Government. Immediately upon receiving your instructions I can proceed with the three or four volumes of the herein proposed Paris diplomatic peace negotiations, 1782 to 1783, substantially like the specimen pages, and which volumes I repeat are now nearly ready for the press. I will also proceed as you may direft with the earlier Paris diplomatic peace negotiations, also with the military peace and with the military, political, civil, and miscellaneous correspondence, and in short with any or all of the documents within the scope of my searches, roughly estimated to make about twenty of these printed volumes. I am willing to undertake to do all the work con- templated in my proposition upon such equitable terms as the Department may arrange with me, or — I. I will supply the Department with one an- notated, edited, printed copy of the American archives in Europe, uniform in style of type and literary labor with the dummy volume of specimen pages herewith, at $10 a printed page. II. Or I will supply 1,000 copies of each volume, printed on good royal oftavo paper, well bound in cloth, uniform in style and material with the dummy volume, at i cent a page for each copy ; or 2,000 copies at three-quarters of a cent a page for each copy ; or 3,000 copies for one-half of a cent a page for each copy ; or 4,000 copies for forty-five one- hundredths of a cent a page for each copy 5 or 5,000 AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 229 copies at four-tenths of a cent a page for each copy ; or 6,000 copies at thirty-five one-hundredthsof a cent a page for each copy; or 7,000 copies at thirty-two one-hundredths of a cent a page for each copy ; or 8,000 copies at thirty one-hundredths of a cent a page for each copy ; or 9,000 copies at twenty-eight one- hundredths of a cent a page for each copy ; or 10,000 copies and upwards at one-quarter of a cent a page for each copy. III. Or, upon being paid $10 a page for the one copy, as in proposition I, I will supply any required number of copies of each volume to average about 600 pages each, on good royal oftavo paper, and well bound in cloth, similar to the dummy volume, by the thousand copies, at the further charge of $1 a volume. IV. Or, I will cast stereotype plates from the standing type and print no copies whatever beyond those, required for the immediate use of the Depart- ment and myself and sell these plates with all authors' or editors' rights I may possess to the De- partment absolutely at $12 a page. I have, &c., B. F. Stevens, United States Despatch Agents Mr. Dwight to Mr. Frelinghuysen. Department of State, Bureau of Rolls and Library, Sir: April 14, 1884. Concerning a letter from Mr. B. F. Stevens, of March 17, 1884, relative to his proposition to supply the Department of State with copies of documents from the archives of Europe, I respe£t- fiilly report : In a letter dated November 4, 1882, Mr. Stevens ' ♦ 230 B. F. STEFENS' INDEX OF proposed to supply the Department with transcripts of such unprinted documents from the record oiHces of London and Paris as relate to the colonial and revolutionary history of the United States. His statement was accompanied by a letter from Mr. Lowell recommending the scheme and expressing his opinion that Mr. Stevens was peculiarly fitted to perform the projefted work. These letters were transmitted to the Joint Li- brary Committee of Congress by the Assistant Secretary, with a suggestion that there should be inserted in the proper appropriation bill a clause to provide the funds required for this objeft to be placed at the disposition of the Department. This communication was reported to the Senate and thereupon recommitted to the same committee, and printed as Senate Mis. Doc. No. 29 (Forty-seventh Congress, second session). The committee has as yet made no report on this subjeft. The letter under present consideration is upon the same subject. Mr. Stevens repeats in it in part his former statements as to the character of the papers he proposes to supply. During his searches since 1882, which have extended to Hol- land, the material has amplified somewhat, and he now finds that his indexes comprise above sixty thousand entries of correspondence and documents essentially important to a complete history of the period of the Revolution. Owing to the extraordinary facilities which have been everywhere granted him, he has had access to papers never before opened to historical students, by which the still secret details of England's political, military, and diplomatic relations aff^efting America prior to, during, and subsequent to the Revolution are revealed ; and the full and most interesting story AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 23 1 of the causes which led France to assist in the pro- secution of the war is told from the French point of view. All showing the important part which our eftorts to establish an independent government played in the political affairs of Europe, and that the pacification of the difficulties in which the prin- cipal European states were concerned at the time of the Revolution depended on the success of our cause. This phase of our history, as well as much that re- lates to England's attitude towards her colonies in America, remain unknown. There appears to be no dissent from the general idea that the Government should possess the fullest colleftion of documents obtainable concerning our history. I will therefore confine myself to the sub- je<3 of chief importance in Mr. Stevens's letter; that is to say, the new plan he submits as to the form in which the European archives he has dis- covered should be communicated. His new plan involves the withdrawal of the proposition to furnish one transcript of the docu- ments in question, and instead he proposes to pre- pare carefully edited and printed copies of the same. He has so far developed his scheme as to be able to suggest a series form into which the matter may be put, and as a specimen of the printed volume of a contemplated first series, to embrace the documents on the diplomatic negotiations for peace between the United States, England, and France, he submits a dummy-book, made up of several signatures of printed text, being repetitions of thirty-two pages of these documents, and references to other illus- trative data, taken from the colleftion of transcripts, and from the indexes thereto, which he has made. As the motives which have led Mr. Stevens to offer printed rather than written copies of the docu- 232 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF ments seemed to me to be insufficiently explained in his letter, I have obtained from him in the course of conversation a fuller exposition of them, which it appears to me proper to report. I. In order to arrive at a knowledge of all his- torical material relative to America in the several record offices to which he has been freely admitted to search, he has found it necessary, in addition to the indexes, referred to by him, to prepare a variety of historical, biographical, and genealogical notes and other memoranda not likely again to be com- piled y and to make references to other State papers and correspondence of contingent interest of which the scope of the projected work does not require taking copies. To preserve these memoranda and to utilize them for the advantage of those who will use the documents they annotate and explain, and that they may be properly arranged and classified ; that the whole — papers and notes — may be indexed ; that the copies may be indisputably verified by com- parison with their originals and the exaft version be permanently fixed by the surest means; that refer- ences may be made to copies already in print and to show their variations, if any, from the originals, and that he may have the great assistance and ad- vice of European archivists in proof-reading and the improvement of the historical references, Mr. Stevens has found that the only means is to put the whole into type. II. A State paper often exists in more than one form, and frequently in several colleftions. The original may be found, say, at London, while copies of it, perhaps in cipher, may be discovered at Paris and The Hague, having been sent thither by an embassador or a secret agent. Each copy was pre- pared for a special purpose, to accomplish a certain AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 233 end ; whether that end was or was not attained, the means by which its objecS was efFefted or the causes which prevented the expefted results are often shown by memoranda and indorsements made upon it by the public ministers through whose hands it passed. Those memoranda and indorsements are of the same historical value as the paper itself and enlarge the value of it. The manuscripts in Her Majesty's Public Record Office, in the British Museum, and in the Royal Institution ; in the French Government offices, and at The Hague, cannot, under any circumstances, be removed from their respective depositories ; hence the impossibility to bring all these documents to- gether for examination and comparison. The labor and expense of transcribing every copy has been found to be much greater than the cost of putting into type the standard original, on the proofs of which, the variations and annotations, which make all other copies distinftive, may be readily recorded. The foregoing are the chief among many cogent reasons adduced by Mr. Stevens as having persuaded him to abandon the plan of supplying transcripts, and to put the compilation into type. It is clearly to be observed that Mr. Stevens does not propose merely to furnish copies of papers, nor copies of such as could be found by an ordinarily diligent seeker in the European archives, but an edited compilation of those which have revealed themselves to him in an exhaustive search, extended over many years. Animated to this search by a peculiar interest in the development of the unwritten history of his country, he has pursued it with all the aids which have sprung from friendly relations with the direftors and custodians of the public offices, by whose con- 234 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF fidence and co-operation he has been enabled to make original investigations ; with the advantage, also, of long residence in the neighborhood of the institutions where the archives are preserved, and of a staff of intelligent clerks trained by him for the work of indexing and of copying the documents and information discovered. He appears to have pro- ceeded on the plan of first acquainting himself with the persons concerned in the transa6tion of public affairs of that time, of tracing the history of their official papers and of gaining access to them with the privilege of copying all which bear upon the United States. After a careful examination of the methods of work employed by Mr. Stevens, which he has very willingly and frankly exposed to me ; having had an opportunity to inspect specimens of his indexes and of his transcripts, and having studied the printed pages submitted by him, I have become convinced that, not only are his methods calculated to exhaust the resources of the foreign archives and to bring to light all the documents which are in existence, but that the compilation when completed will be the most valuable contribution to the history of the United States for the period it embraces which has ever been made. With respeft to the special interests of this De- partment, concerned in this measure, it must be said that the acquisition of a large number of unindexed and undigested documents in manuscript would tend to greatly increase correspondence and the number of personal applications for information therefrom, to occupy the time and attention of those attached to the Bureau where the archives are preserved ; the work of classifying and indexing the present collec- tion is seriously embarrassed by the present demands. AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 235 The possession of the documents in printed form, duly indexed, would enable us to gratify inquiries without delay and would promote the definite arrangement and classification of the governmental colleftion. In view of the necessity he has experienced, in the natural development of his undertaking, to put the matter acquired into type Mr. Stevens is enabled to submit several estimates as to expense, which afFedl the uses it will be possible to make of the compilation, from which I draw the following pro- positions : 1 . He can supply the Department with one copy of the edited and printed document. 2. He can supply any number of copies of the same, 3. He is willing to cast the type in plates, and having been paid for all the labor involved up to that point to supply therefrom whatever number of copies may be required. 4. He is willing to sell to the Government the stereotype plates, including all his rights to the work as compiler and editor, from which copies may be printed wherever the Department may direft. On the value of the printed copy to the Depart- ment, I have already remarked ; any one of the other propositions may become the basis of a plan for the publication of the work if authorized by Congress. As an instance of the efforts which have been made by the Department to obtain the material Mr. Stevens proposes to provide, I subjoin copies of the correspondence between the Department and our minister at London in 1 881, as to the British archives. I understand that an application of similar purport was made by Mr. Evarts to the minister at Paris, respedling the French archives. 236 B. F. STEFENS' INDEX OF In this connexion I should say that in consequence of Mr. Lowell's suggestion in the dispatch of April i, 1 88 1, being diredled to execute certain commissions in Europe by the Department, I was instructed to make an examination in the Record Office at London and to indicate the papers on the peace negotiations of 1783, preserved therein, necessary to complete our archives. Five months were allowed me for all the duties with which I was charged, and after surveying the resources of that office it became evident to me that a year or more would be required to accomplish the task, and I very relu6lantly abandoned it. Very respedlfully submitted. Theodore F. Dw^ight. Chief of Bureau of Rolls and Library. Hon. Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Secretary of State. Mr. Frelinghuysen to Mr. Sherman. Department of State, Sir: Washington, April 16, 1884. On the 27th January, 1883, there was referred to you a letter addressed to me by Mr. B. F. Stevens, despatch agent of the United States at London, re- lative to a plan formed by him to supply transcripts of certain unpublished papers appertaining to the history of the United States in the state paper offices of England and France, to be added to the archives preserved in this Department. His pro- position was recommended to me by Mr. Lowell, our minister at London, whose letter was sent to you at the same time. These communications were printed under designation of " Senate Mis. Doc. No. 29." In consequence of further correspondence, and at my request, Mr. Stevens, on the 1 7th ultimo, re- AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 237 ported to me the present condition of his work, and he also informed me that he finds it necessary to withdraw his proposal to furnish a manuscript copy of the documents he has discovered, and asks authority to provide, instead, a printed copy of them. His statement appears to be of such importance that I have the honor to submit it to you for con- sideration in connexion with the former letter, which is still before the Library Committee. I also transmit the specimen printed volume alluded to in his letter, and a report on the subject made to me by the officer in charge of the archives in this De- partment. As I have no authority to incur the expense which the acceptance of this proposition would in- volve, I renew the suggestion made with respeft to the former letter, that provision be made either by a special aft, or by a clause in the proper appropriation acS, to enable me to acquire the compilation or to carry out any plan that may be determined on for its publication. The inadequacy of the archives in my custody to represent the entire history of the establishment of this Government has been remarked by every dis- tinguished writer or student who has had access to them. Several inefFeftual efforts have been made to ob- tain the documents necessary to supplement and complete our colle6tion from the records of those countries with which the United States had relations during the last century. Under permission accorded by the English Government in 1881, the Librarian of this Department was instrufted to seleft the papers in the Public Record Office at London con- cerning the negotiations for the treaty of 1783 ; but the task was found to require more time than he 238 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF could command, and it was abandoned. The De- partment has found no other opportunity to pro- secute the work. Mr. Stevens seems to have performed all the labor required to bring to light the papers which are of interest to us in the English, French, and Dutch archives, and has prepared a large part of them to be immediately placed at the disposition of the Govern- ment. Being convinced that these documents are neces- sary for our colleftion and of the inutility of causing another and separate search to be made, I commend Mr. Stevens's proposition to your serious considera- tion. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Fred'k T. Frelinghuysen. Hon, John Sherman, Chairman of the Library Committee^ Senate of the United States, [Enclosures.] 1. Copy of letter from Mr. B. F. Stevens, March 17, 1884. 2. Specimen volume, " Peace Negotiations, Paris, i782-'83." 3. Senate Mis. Doc. No. 29 (Forty-seventh Congress, second session). 4. Report of T. F. D wight, April 14, 1884. April 24, 1884. — Referred to the Committee on the Library and ordered to be printed. Printed, with the accompanying papers, as Senate Mis. Doc. No. 84 (Forty-eighth Congress, first session). 1884, June 27. — In the House of Representatives, Forty-eighth Congress, first session. [Item from AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 239 the Bill of Appropriations referred to the Committee on Appropriations.] (39) To enable the Secretary of State to contraft for and purchase of Mr. B. F. Stevens two hundred copies of each volume of the compilation to be pre- pared by him of certain documents relating to the peace of seventeen hundred and eighty-two and seventeen hundred and eip-htv-thre'^ one huvAv^A !i 'll'i ! . ■Till tlTlr^' " Illlliillillll Iilll|l|ilil|l|ll|llllll||lll IIWi ■ ||l|ll|li lillllllll illi" - Il|i iil||il«iii(itl iiiiililiiiiiii i ill |il|l||iiiliii|l|lll'ill|il||ll||iilllii - rii i§iil|l|liiiiiiii||il|i!l|il||»i 1 liiiiiil|i|ii|iii|||l|i!lll '1^- I Illlliillillll i|iiiiiil|i|iii!ii |iii|iipii|iiiii ii(|w lli|liii liiiliil " -' i iiiiiii ■ "1 liiml ■ ii llllH! ' ••Jllllllllllll I iiiiiiiilll 240 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF any portion of the documents in the archives in the various capitals of Europe. Up to the present time, the American student seeking documentary information as to this period, goes to England, France, Holland, and Spain, where, in the absence of any sufficient general indexes — alphabetical, chronological or topical — he must search in pradtically unknown places for largely unknown papers, with very uncertain results. I have attempted to make a complete chrono- logical index or register of every American docu- ment in these archives, indicating the respective places where it and its duplicates, triplicates, etc., are preserved ; and I have necessarily included many collateral papers on the Armed Neutrality j Russian Mediation ; Alliances and attempted Alliances ; Auxiliary forces ; Captures of Dutch and other Merchant ships ; Disposition of Prizes ; and, in short, the general conduct of the several govern- ments at war with England as afFefting the War of Independence. It has only been by the detailed examination and careful indexing of nearly 3,000 volumes that I have, up to the present time, been able to make my lists, which comprise about 80,000 papers, including the duplicates and enclosures. I have noted where each document, original and duplicate, is to be found, and also indicated the precise charafter of each paper, whether original or otherwise, with all signatures, endorsements, uses, memoranda, etc. Great pains are taken in identifying the en- closures, which to a great extent have been sepa- rated from their covering letters in the various archives, and in registering the purposes for which the enclosures were used. Sometimes important letters, extracts and papers, undated and unsigned. AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 241 are identified and brought into their order by cross references from or to the enclosures. The difficulty in getting admission to, and per- mission to make copies in the various European offices, the limited number of hours during which the offices are open, the absence of indexes, and the great cost in time and money of making searches, are obstacles well known to every searcher, whether he has or has not patiently overcome them. The accumulation of memoranda and information obtained fi-om the various searches in the different capitals raises an almost innumerable series of queries, making it necessary to compare names, dates, and many other particulars with the original papers, and, where the documents have been printed, to com- pare the manuscripts with the printed copies in order to note the variations, if any. My researches have now extended over many years, and I have trained a staff of able assistants, who can aid me in rapidly carrying the work for- ward. I have in progress, and far towards completion, work which would demand several generations of single-handed investigation ; work which I venture to say will never be performed again under similar advantages to those which I possess, from my long residence abroad, and from my large personal ac- quaintance with the institutions and with officials whose cordial goodwill has been most generously accorded to me from the outset — advantages which in this kind of research are a sine qua non, I gratefully acknowledge the assistance and special fecilities that have been freely granted to me at all of the archives where searches have thus fer been made. My plan contemplates that our Government shall obtain accurate transcripts of all unpublished manu- 242 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF scripts in the public and private archives of Europe illustrating our history during the Revolution, and that these transcripts shall be in a form immediately accessible for ready reference. In short, I want to account for every single one of these 80,000 papers in the years 1 772-1784 thus carefully examined and indexed, either by indicating where it is printed, or by transcribing those stridlly on America, and briefly describing or abstrafting those on collateral subjects. For instance, the instructions from the French Government to its ambassadors in America, and the private and confidential letters and information sent from America by Gerard, Luzerne and Mar- bois to the French Government, are indispensable to a clear understanding of the correspondence between France and the other Allies, Spain and Holland, and generally of the French side of the Paris peace negotiations with both the American and the English Commissioners, and also of the correspondence between the Allies and Denmark, Germany, Russia, etc., touching America or the harassing of England. I recapitulate the principal points in my under- taking to indicate its magnitude and importance : 1. The services of myself and experienced as- sistants, with the cost of the preliminary and travel- ling expenses in the several capitals. 2. The careful examination of the documents, leaf by leaf, in nearly 3,000 volumes or bundles within the period to which I have thus far confined myself, 1772-84, and making a list of about 80,000 documents in the order of the classification of the papers in their respective archives, 3. Making a chronological index of these 80,000 papers. AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 243 4. Making an alphabetical index of them. 5. Identifying the original documents, the dupli- cates, copies, etc., and noting which are printed and where. 6. Making transcripts of the unpublished originals in the language of their origin, and comparing them with the several copies where more than one exists and noting their differences, so that these collations may be printed in conjunction with the original documents and thereby praftically secure a copy of every desired paper in all the archives. This com- pilation will shew where each paper is preserved, and enable the student to readily verify every docu- ment in the colledlion with its original, and will also shew, as far as there is documentary evidence to shew, the use that was made of every individual manuscript or of any portion of it. 7. Making abs trails of the various documents, which are useful in the preliminary stages for identi- fying duplicates and enclosures, and bringing together missing links, and also in saving time in reading the full documents. 8. Translating into English those documents which originated in other languages. 9. Making cross references, etc. 10. Putting the matter into type and taking off sufficient proofs for comparing and correfting them with the original documents themselves in the various archives. 11. Printing off from the finally corrected type pages a sufficient number of copies of each separate document for use by the State Department in dif- ferent series, as editorial, biographical, geographical, chronological, topical, and perhaps subdivisions, and for presentation of a copy to each of the archivists who have rendered assistance and co- 244 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF operation in producing it. The immense import- ance to the student in being able to seleft and arrange his material to suit his own plan of work cannot be over-estimated. 12. Remaking up these correfted type pages into volumes, and taking off a sufficient number of copies for use in preparing copious indexes to the printed volumes, and for supplying the Department with the number of copies of whole volumes re- quired for current use and for reference as the work progresses. 13. Casting and supplying stereotype plates for volumes of about 600 pages each, so that the Government can at home produce an edition or editions of the work as rapidly as it is completed, without further expense than the paper and print. I have made a provisional arrangement with the printers by which I can have 600 to 1,000 pages of matter standing in type at once, to facilitate proof reading, references, indexing, etc. I do not propose taking off one single copy of the separate documents or volumes for sale, or for any use other than is aftually required in carrying the work forward to the best advantage. Considering the difficulties involved in the com- parison of the transcripts from so many documents deposited in so many different places in the various countries, and the necessity of comparing the tran- scripts with the originals wherever they may be, and considering the supreme importance of the most complete exactitude in transcription, and the in- estimable advantage of the aid of experienced archivists in proof reading, it seems to me to be an absolute necessity to put the matter into type, not only for the current use of myself and assistants, but also to enable me to invite the co-operation of AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 245 the custodians of the several archives, the officers of the Department of State and such historical societies, if any, as it may nominate, to examine the proofs, suggest cross references, point out missing links, identify enclosures, and verify papers w^ithout dates or signatures which have no sufficient chronological or alphabetical points to lead them back into their proper places after their separation from their cover- ing letters or accompanying documents. With these facilities I should hope to receive and record the combined information of the learned gentlemen v^ho as archivists and historical students are specialists upon the general subje6t, and who may be disposed to lend their invaluable assistance in compiling a work which would praftically become the desired register of the respective archives of Europe within my period and subjeft. My objeCt is to make a permanent book of refer- ence, and to account for every single manuscript found in the mentioned archives. Having collated the various copies of the same documents, I propose printing that which appears to be the original, and to give a complete list of the duplicates with their variations, with such cross references and explanatory and biographical footnotes as may facilitate the general student in his researches. I propose computing and combining all expenses incident to the great work and taking my remunera- tion upon the basis of a fixed price per stereotype page of the work as completed in style similar to the proof specimen submitted to the Government, and shall be glad to have your views on the sub- jea. I respeftfully send herewith a copy of my tenta- tive proof specimen pages in order to better present my scheme as a definite basis of discussion. 246 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF I also venture to ask for any suggestions you may be pleased to favour me with on the work generally, and among other points upon such as the following which come up in the proof specimen : A. The Title by which the great work shall be designated. B. The Abbreviations are bad. Nearly fifty must be added, and all must be re-written. c. Type, All manuscripts with their endorse- ments are printed verb, et lit. in pica, Abstradts, with explanatory and editorial notes, cross references, variations, etc., are printed in bourgeois, D. Collation and Annotation, E. AbstraSfs, F. Enclosures, G. Mode of Indicating ExtraSfs, Whether by rule down side of page, as on pp. 216-218 of the proof specimen, or by description as on other pages, or otherwise. H. Printed Correspondence, In the case of letters which have been printed — see proof specimen, p. 222 — is it best to give an abstradl only, and follow by carefully indicating the variations from the manu- scripts, or to reprint these letters in full ? I. Translations, Should English translations be printed where the papers originated in other lan- guages, and which, being originals, I propose print- ing verb, et lit. in the language of origin ? K. Proofs of each document separately, so that they can be arranged at will, either chronologically or in subjefts. L. Remuneration, I res peft fully repeat that I desire the advice, criticism and co-operation of all who will interest themselves in furthering this great work, and I shall AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 247 be glad to have permission to repeat your reply to the Department of State. B. F. Stevens. November, 1885. Mr. Stevens to Mr. Bayard. Sir : London, April 22, 1886. In modification of my proposition of March, 1884, I have the honor to submit for your con- sideration an index of a series of transcripts of un- published documents in European archives, relating to America, which I have caused to be made during the last five years. The transcripts themselves 1 propose to forward by instalments for your inspec- tion, and my representative will be pleased to show them to such individuals as you may designate, with a view to their purchase, if found satisfactory by the Government, to be added to the archives in the Department of State. The colleftion of transcripts to which I refer, embraces, so far as known, a complete series of the letters and instructions from the French Govern- ment to its own ministers in America from the time of the alliance until the ratification of the treaty of peace, together with the letters from the French ministers in America to their own Government during the same period. There is also a complete series of the manuscripts in the archives of England, Holland, and Spain, relating to the American peace negotiations at Paris, from March, 1782, until the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty in 1784. This index begins with the resumed negotiations of Lords Shelburne, Grantham, and Townshend, after the dissolution of Lord Rockingham's ministry. In this series is nothing that has been heretofore published, and each paper coming from the Record Office in England or from the archives in France 248 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF has been carefully compared with its original, and is absolutely correct: as to phraseology, and each one is complete, not being an extrail or a portion of a letter. The series which I offer will cover 10,000 manuscript pages, with a possible variation of 100 or 200 pages, dependent upon my copyist's hand- writing. Fifteen hundred pages are now in Wash- ington for inspection and comparison with the index, and the remainder will be forwarded by June 30 next. I need not call your attention to the labor which has been involved in this work, for it must be apparent that, with the limited time given to transcribers in any foreign office, I have been at a considerable expense in obtaining my original copies and in making comparisons. This very full series of the records of England, France, and Holland, bearing upon the peace negotiations, does not duplicate anything contained in the Franklin papers now in the possession of the Department of State, or which has ever been published in the United States diplomatic correspondence, or in the works of Benjamin Franklin. The index shows just what has been published, and in which one of the archives the original paper occurs. I offer this series of transcripts at the uniform rate of $1,50 per page, which will require for the entire series, subjeft to any slight variation in the number of pages, say, $15,000. To any diligent student of American history, or indeed to any one who has any interest in that direction, I offer the first complete history of the events of the period named from a foreign stand- point which has ever come to America, and which can only be obtained by a considerable expenditure of time and money. 1 do not consider that I am ' wrong in stating that the records of the peace V - V v.; --^/y^ AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 249 negotiations, or indeed of all the events of that time, are singularly incomplete in America, and having in view the possible contingency of the destruftion by fire or otherwise of any of the European archives, I trust that you may think it not undesirable to recommend to Congress the purchase of the papers I now offer. I have the honour to be, sir, your obedient servant, B. F. Stevens. Hon. Thos. F. Bayard, Secretary of St ate ^ Washington^ D, C. 26 July, 1886. In the House of Representa- tives, 49th Congress, ist session. [Item from the Bill of Appropriations :] (134) To enable the Secretary of State to pay Benjamin F. Stevens for a series of transcripts of original unpublished documents in the archives of Great Britain, France, and Holland, relating to the peace negotiations of seventeen hundred and eighty- three, seven thousand five hundred dollars or so much thereof as is necessary. Mr. Parkman to Mr. Bayard. 50, Chestnut Street, Dear Sir: Boston, January 13, 1887. I hear that your attention has been called to several memorials addressed to Congress concerning the plan of procuring a descriptive index of the documents in the various archives of Europe relating to the American Revolution. I therefore take the liberty of expressing to you my sense of the great value of such an index. Without it the task of thorough investigation of a most important period of our history would be ^ |i 250 B, F. STEFENS' INDEX OF almost hopeless. It will serve as a key to a vast amount of treasures otherwise almost inaccessible. The plan of the index did not originate with Mr. B. F. Stevens ; it was first suggested by members of a well-known historical society, whose personal experience had taught them the value and in some sense the necessity of such an aid to research, and it was on their suggestion that Mr. Stevens adopted the plan, provided that Congress would see fit to approve it. I believe Mr. Stevens to be peculiarly fitted to carry it into execution, and I know of no other man so well able to accomplish this extremely laborious undertaking. I have the honor to be, respeftfully yours, Francis Parkman. Hon. Thomas F. Bayard. Mr. Goodell to Mr. Bayard. [Office of the Commissioners on the Publication of the Province Laws, Abner C. Goodell, jr., editor.] Boston, Mass., Sir: January 13, 1887. I have the honor to call your attention to the subjeft of the memorials now being forwarded to Washington from historical societies and persons interested in the study of American history through- out the Union, praying Congress to authorize the preparation and printing of an index to the papers in public and private archives in Europe relating to the history of the American Colonies between the years 1763 and 1783. I trust you will pardon a suggestion which, from my knowledge of your intelligent interest in all such matters, I feel it is hardly necessary for me to AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 251 make, but which may furnish an additional pretext for your interference, and that is that you give the movement the weight of your official sanation and assume the responsibility of presenting it to Con- gress in such manner as may seem to you most likely to prove effeftual. My knowledge of the inception and progress of this movement enables me to assure you that Mr. Stevens's laborious researches in the line of the work contemplated by the memorialists were so important as to demand recognition by those who have signed the memorials, and to induce several of them to propose the plan of an index and to en- courage him to come to America to confer with them as to the possibility of his undertaking such a work. He is now here, and has given the most satisfac- tory assurances as to the manner in which the work can be accomplished by the force of assistants under his dir.eftion. I beg leave to add that there is nothing in this scheme to procure an index that can conflift with the measure proposed in the late Congress to have the foreign papers relating to the peace of 1783 printed for the use of the Department of State. For one, I sincerely trust that that measure will not fail, but that the application to Congress in that behalf will be renewed, and both schemes pushed pari passu and promptly adopted by Congress. In anticipation of the call for credentials, which it is your privilege to ask of a stranger, I take the liberty to refer you to my much honored friend the Secretary of War, who, I have no doubt (although he has not authorized me to mention his name in this business), will approve of all I have written to you, and will heartily concur with his brethren of the Massachusetts Historical Society in their recom- 252 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF mendation of the important work which they hope Mr. Stevens will be invited to undertake under the auspices of Congress. I have the honor to be, with sentiments of regard, respeftfully yours, A. C. Goodell, Jr. Mr, Secretary Bayard, Washington, D. C. Rev. E. E. Hale to Mr. Bayard. I have the honor to transmit to you herewith a memorial signed by several gentlemen of this vicinity interested in historical pursuits, and who have organ- ized as a committee to forward the purpose of the memorial, with the request that you will lay the same before Congress in such manner as you deem best, and give the subjefl thereof your official sandlion and support. Respe6lfully, Edward E. Hale, Secretary of Committee, Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, Secretary of State, Memorial To the honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled : The memorial of the subscribers respeftfully repre- sents that there is a vast amount of manuscript material relating to American history in the public archives of Great Britain, Holland, France, and Spain, and other European states, and in libraries and private colleftions in Europe, which has never been printed, and of which no index or calendar has ever been published ; that this material is of great value to American statesmen and scholars, and of no less importance to the Federal and State AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 253 governments, inasmuch as it is the only source of correft information respecting many most important fadls in the history of the legislation of the original thirteen Colonies, and of the development of our relations with foreign countries from before the formation of our National Government, which form the basis of our existing diplomacy. Your memoriahsts further represent that so much of said material as was accumulated between the date of the treaty of Paris in 1 763, by which Great Britain acquired from France an undisputed title to our vast northwestern territories, and the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States in 1783, gives the most exaft account that it is possible to obtain of the progress of the American Colonies in wealth, population, commerce, agri- culture, manufactures, and the means of self govern- ment, and enables the student to trace most minutely the steps leading to the independence of the American Colonies, including the conduft of public men, the raising of armies, the growth of public sentiment on the question of abjuring British dominion, and the persistent ingenuity with which an acknowledg- ment of our independence was finally obtained^ and the intrigues of European diplomatists circumvented, by our agents and ambassadors. Besides these in- teresting matters of history, the public archives of Great Britain contain contemporaneous comments by the greatest legal minds of the realm upon the scope and meaning of the statutes of the several Colonies (large colleftions of which are preserved there), which before the Revolution were required to be transmitted to the Privy Council for approval 5 and said archives also contain the best evidence of the influence which the privy council and the board of trade exercised in forcing upon us an obnoxious ' ^ 254 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF domestic institution, and in interfering with the progress of arts and commerce in the several States. Your memorialists further represent that under the stringent regulations by which alone this material is accessible to the most privileged strangers, only few and fragmentary portions have hitherto been copied, and these at very great cost, by such of our historians and scholars as have had sufficient courage to undertake the great labor of exploring the public archives, and sufficient means to defray the expense. Your memorialists also represent that for more than twenty years Mr. Benjamin Franklin Stevens, a native of this country but a resident of London, has had exceptional advantages in his efforts to make a list of all matters relating to this country in the repositories above named. This list, although not yet complete, already includes about 95,000 separate papers, duly entered, with proper references, as the result of his researches in England and on the Con- tinent ; and he has a sufficient clerical force at his command to complete the same as promptly as it is possible for such a work to proceed. Your memorialists further represent that from their personal acquaintance with Mr. Stevens, and from their knowledge of his work and his peculiar fitness, they are satisfied that he is entirely competent to prepare such a list in the most critical and satis- factory manner, and that the progress he has already made therein insures its completion within a reason- ably short period and at an expense not exceeding $100,000 y that Mr. Stevens is wilHng to undertake the preparation of an index of all the material above referred to, between 1763 and 1783, under an engagement that the cost thereof shall not exceed that amount, and under such proper and equitable conditions with reference to its completion according AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 255 to contraftj or to guaranteeing to the Government an equivalent amount of labor for such sums as may be paid to him before the work is finished, as Congress may impose direftly or through such officer or committee as it may appoint to execute a contradl for this purpose. Wherefore your memorialists respeftfully pray that Congress will authorize the preparation of such an index as is above described, and appropriate therefor a sum not exceeding $100,000 ; and your memorial- ists recommend the employment of Mr. Stevens to undertake the work, he being the only person within their knowledge qualified to perform it in the shortest time, in the best manner, and at the least expense. And as in duty bound will ever pray, etc. Francis Parkman. ROBT. C. WiNTHROP. Justin Winsor. Chajiles Deane. Edward E. Hale. Charles H. Bell. James P. Baxter. John Ward Dean. William W. Greenough. Albert H. Hoyt. John T. Hassam. William B. Trask. Edmund F. Slafter. Charles L. Flint. Massachusetts Historical Society, George E. Ellis, President, New England Historic - Genealogical Society, Abner C. Goodell, Jr., President, Maine Historical Society, James W. Brad- bury, President. New Hampshire Historical Society, . ^ 256 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF Charles H. Bell, President, J. Everett Sargent and John M. Shirley, Vice- Presidents^ Amos Hadley, Recording Secre- taryy John J. Bell, Corresponding Secretary^ Samuel C. Eastman, Librarian, Rhode Island Historical Society, William Gammell, President. Georgia Historical Society, Henry R. Jackson, President. The Bostonian Society, Per Curtis Guild, President ; Wm. Clarence Burrage,*?^^ r^/^ry. The State Historical Society of Wis- consin, Reuben G. Thwaites, Corresponding Secretary, Vermont Historical Society, E. P. Walton, President. yohn Bigelow and Henry G. Marquand to Mr. Bayard. Sir: New York^ January i8, 1887. In compliance with the instrudlions of our associates, the undersigned have the honour to transmit to you a memorial designed to secure new and most important facilities for the study of the origins of our Republic and of its peculiar institu- tions. It is signed by some two hundred gentlemen more or less prominently associated with our let- tered professions, and seems to be entitled to be regarded as praftically a unanimous expression of the sentiment of the literary class of our country. Presuming upon your adlive sympathy in every effort to supply new facilities for historic investiga- tion, we are instrufted to place this memorial in your hands, and to ask you to invite the early and AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 257 earnest attention of the Government to its con- sideration. We have the honor to be, Sir, your obedient servants, John Bigelov^^, Henry G. Marquand, On Behalf of the New York Committee. Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, Secretary of State » Memorial At a meeting of gentlemen of letters held at No. 1 5 Gramercy Park, in the city of New York, on Saturday, December 11, 1886, at 2 p.m., to listen to a statement from Mr. B. F. Stevens, of London, in relation to manuscripts and other documents concerning America to be found in the public and private archives of Europe, Ben- jamin H. Field, president of the New York Historical Society, was called to the chair, and the Hon. Nicholas Fish was appointed secretary. After a statement made by Mr. Stevens, and a discussion, in which the Hon. John Jay, Chief Justice Daly, Dr. Howard Crosby, Judge Van Vorst, and others participated, the following memorial was adopted unanimously and sub- scribed, and a committee consisting of John Bigelow, Henry G. Marquand, Oswald Otten- dorfer, Albert G. Browne, and Howard Crosby, with power to add to their numbers, was ap-. pointed to take charge of it and submit it to Congress. To the honourable the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives of the United States in Congress assembled : The undersigned respeftfully represent that the public and private archives of Europe, and especially 2s8 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF of Great Britain, Holland, France, and Spain, abound in manuscripts and other documents of the greatest interest to Americans, of which no index, calendar, or catalogue has ever been published. That such portions of these manuscripts and other documentary material as accumulated between the date of the treaty of Paris in 1763, by which Great Britain acquired title from France to the northwestern territories of America, and the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States in 1783, are indispensable to a correft know- ledge of the circumstances which led to the separa- tion of the American Colonies from Great Britain, and to the establishment of the peculiar and un- precedented form of government which suc- ceeded it. That the restriftions imposed upon the access to and use of most of this material are so rigorous and the expense so great that hitherto only few and fragmentary portions of it have been copied or otherwise made available for historical or even diplomatic uses. That an index of this material which should give a general notion of the contents of each document, setting forth its approximate dimensions, where to be found, and whether printed or not, and, if printed, where, would be a convenience to those who have occasion to investigate the origins and early history of our Government, and of the institu- tions which have grown up under its proteftion, which it would be difficult to exaggerate. That for the preparation of such an index Mr. B. F. Stevens, a native of this country but for some years a resident of London, has qualifications and facilities which are so entirely exceptional that it would be difficult to name another person to AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 259 whose hands such a task could be confided with any corresponding prospedl of success. Wherefore the undersigned do respeftfully pray that Congress will authorize the preparation of an index of all the documents of American concern in private or public archives of Great Britain, Holland, France, and Spain that accumulated between the years 1763 and 1783, and appropriate a suitable compensation for such work. The undersigned do also earnestly recommend that Mr. B. F. Stevens be employed by Congress, direftly or through such officer or committee as it may select, to prepare the said index, upon such conditions and subjedl to such limitations and dis- criminations as shall to them seem fitting.^ Benj. H. Field, Chairman^ President^ New York Historical Society, Nicholas Fish, Secretary. C. K. Adams, LL.D., President^ Cornell Uni- versity, Herbert B. Adams, Ph.D., Secretary^ American Historical Association and Professor of History fohns Hopkins University. W. H. H. Adams, D.D., President^ Illinois Wesleyan University, S. Austin Allibone, Lenox Library. A. J. Anderson, A.M., Ph.D., P resident y Whitman College., Walla Walla., Wash Ter. M. B. Anderson, LL.D., President^ Rochester University. Israel W. Andrews, Marietta^ Ohio. James B. Angell, LL.D., President^ University of Michigan. J. J. ASTOR. W. W. AsTOR. Geo. H. Baker, Columbia College Library. 26o B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF Hubert H. Bancroft, San Francisco. FoRDYCE Barker, M.D., New York, Samuel L. M. Barlow, New York, F. A. P. Barnard, LL.D., P resident y Columbia College, S. C. Bartlett, President^ Dartmouth College^ New Hampshire, Edgar W. Bass, Professor^ West Point, Arch'd J. Battle, D.D., President^ Mercer University^ Georgia, Kemp P. Battle, LL.D., President^ University of North Carolina. Ormond Beatty, LL.D., President^ Centre College^ Danville^ Ky, J. D. Bedle, Jersey City, Henry Ward Beecher. Henry R. Beekman, New York, Robert D. Benedict, New York, John Bigelow. John Bigelow, Jr. Frederick Billings, Vice-President^ Northern Pacific Railway, PouLTNEY Bigelow, Editor of Outing, Heber R. Bishop, New York, J. W. BissELL, D.D., President^ Upper Iowa University^ Fayette^ Iowa, James G. Blaine. E. W. Blatchford and Wm. H. Bradley, Trustees of the W, L, Newberry Library^ Chicago^ under the Will, Ezra Brainerd, President^ Middlebury College^ Vermont, Francis Brown, Professor^ Union Theological Seminary, Albert G. Browne, New York Herald, H. M. BucKHAM, D.D., President^ University of Vermont^ Burlington^ Vt, AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 261 Wm. Allen Butler, New Tork, Douglas Campbell, New York, G. T. Carpenter, A.M., Chancellor^ Drake University^ Des Moines^ Iowa. James C. Carter, New York, L. P. Di Cesnola, DireSfor^ Metropolitan Museum of Art, T. C. Chamberlin, President^ Wisconsin Univ. George W. Childs, Philadelphia. Joseph H. C ho ate, New York. Edw'd Cooper, New York. John Crerar, Chicago. Howard Crosby, D.D., LL.D. Joseph Cummings, D.D., LL.D., President^ Northwestern Univ.^ Evanston^ Illinois. George Wm. Curtis, New York. Chas. p. Daly, President^ American Geographical Society^ New York. Wm. Henry Davis, Cincinnati. F. W. Dawson. Melvil Dewey, Chief Librarian^ Columbia College. Frankin B. Dexter, Professor, Yale College. Henry Drisler, Professor^ Columbia College. Thomas Drummond, Judge^ United States Circuit Court ^ Chicago. Theodore W. Dwight, Warden^ Columbia College Law School. Timothy Dwight, President^ Tale College. John Eaton, President^ Marietta College^ Ohio. Geo. M. Edgar, President^ Arkansas Industrial University, Fayetteville^ Ark. Edward Eggleston, D.D., Century Magazine. John J. Elaendorf, Professor^ Philosophy ^ Racine College^ Wisconsin. H. C. Elmer, Cincinnati. John W, Ellis, Cincinnati. 262 B. Augustus Univers Henry I| N. K. F F. W. A La tin J B. Fernc Marsha! Hamilton Fish. Louis Fitzgerald, New York, Wm. Watts Folwell, LL.D., Professor^ Political Science^ University of Minnesota^ President^ i869-'84. Fred'k FraleYj Philadelphia, Thos. F. Gatch, Principal^ Frederick College^ Md. Merrill E. Gates, Ph.D., LL.D., President^ Rutgers College, Joseph B. Gilder, Editor^ The Critic. Richard W. Gilder, LL.D., Century Maga- zine, Daniel C. Gilman, LL.D., President^ Johns Hopkins University, E. L. GoDKiN, Evening Post^ New York, Parke Godwin, New York, Albert Zabriski Gray, D.D., Warden^ Racine College^ Wisconsin, George Z. Gray, Dean of the Episcopal Theo- logical Seminary^ Cambridge, Jno. Hall, D.D., Chancellor^ University of New York, George Hannah, Librarian^ Long Island His- torical Society, Wm. T. Harris, LL.D., St. Louis, D. B. Harrison, Cincinnati, Geo. T. Harrison, Cincinnati, AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 263 James F. Harrison, M.D., late Chairman of the Faculty, University of Virginia, John Hay, Washington, I. R. Herrick, President University Dakota^ Vermillion^ Dakota Territory, R. M. Hewitt, New York, RoswELL D. Hitchcock, D.D. LL.D., Presi- dent^ Union Theological Seminary^ New York, W. W. HoPPiN, Jr., New York, Geo. R. Howell, Acting Librarian^ New York State Library, Charles G. Hubermann, Professor of Latin Language and Literature^ College City of New York, Thomas W. Humes, Ex-President^ University Tennessee, T. W. Hunt, Princeton, D. Huntington, President^ National Academy of Design^ New York, H. C. O. Huss, Princeton, Edward S. Isham, Chicago, Francis A. Jackson, Professor^ University of Pennsylvania. Edmund J. James, Ph.D., Professor^ University of Pennsylvania, John Jay. Alexander Johnston, Princeton. John Taylor Johnston, President^ Metro- politan Museum of Arty New York. Wm. Preston Johnston, President^ Tulane University. x Frank J. Jones, Cincinnati. Geo. Junkin, 532 Walnut Street ^ Philadelphia. John S. Kennedy, New York, Henry W. King, Chicago, RuFUS King, Cincinnati, cih: 'ii' ,r, ii''/ W] l\lf,,l|||i| Manton Marble, Nrt'j |i Wm. D. Marks, PK'8t| versify of Pennsy ham a, Allan Marquan >, F n^ Henry G. MarqjljaM ^^I politan Museum >.f /Ir'y N James Weir M/hon, J|| mattes^ College City of N,^\ Peter S. Michie AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 265 Minnesota Historical Society {Members). A. R. McGiLL, Governor, W. W. Bradin, State Auditor. H. M. Knox, Public Examiner. F. W. See LEY, Adjutant-General. Jos. BoBLETER, State Treasurer, D. L. KiEHLE, Superintendent Public Instru£fion. H. Mallson, Secretary of State. N. H. WiNCHELL, State Geologist. Alex. Ramsey, Late Secretary of IVar. John Fletcher Williams, Secretary^ Minnesota Historical Society. A. H. Mixer, Rochester. Geo. H. Moore, LL.D., Lenox Library. Jere Moore, A.M., President.^ Greeneville and Tusculum College^ Tusculum^ Tenn. Wm. C. Morey, Rochester. N. H. MoRisoN, Provost^ Peabody Institute^ Balti- more. Levi P. Morton, New York. James O. Murray, Cincinnati. Thomas M. North, New York. Cadwalader E. Ogden, New York. David B. Ogden, New York. George H. Olds, Rochester. Oswald Ottendorfer, Staats Zeitung^ New York. John R. Park, M.D., President^ University Deseret^ Salt Lake City., Utah. Chris'r Stuart Patterson, Chestnut Hill. Jos. Patterson. Fred. W. Peck, Chicago. Wm. Pepper, M.D., LL.D., Provost^ University of Pennsylvania. W. F. Poole, LL.D., Librarian^ Chicago Public Library. 266 B. F, STEVENS' INDEX OF N. Q. Pope, Brooklyn, Geo. L. Prentiss, Professor^ Union Thevlogical Seminary, George M, Pullman, Chicago. W. T. Reid, A.m., Ex-President of the University of California, Whitelaw Reid, New Tork Tribune, Allen Thorndike Rice, North American Review, F. W. Ricord, Librarian^ New Jersey Historical Society, W. J. Rivers, Washington Coll.y Chestertown^ Md, J. RoEMER, Vice-P resident .^ Coll, City of New Tork, Jos. Sasia, S.J., President^ Saint Ignatius College^ San Francisco. Philip Schaff, D.D., Professor^ Union Theo- logical Seminary, J. S. ScHENCK, Princeton, Wm. H. Scott, President^ Ohio State University, Oswald Seidensticker, Ph.D., Professor^ University Pennsylvania, W. G. T. Shedd, D.D., LL.D., Professor,, Union Theological Seminary, Frederick Sheldon, New Tork, Charles W. Sheilds, Princeton, D. E. Sickles, Major-General U.S.A. {retired). John E. Simmons, New York, Augustine Smith, New Tork. Edmund C. Stedman, New Tork. Albert Stickney, New Tork, R. S. Storrs, D.D., LL.D., Brooklyn. W. G. Sumner, Professor^ Tale College. Chas. W. Super, A.M., Ph.D., President^ Ohio University^ Athens^ Ohio. Chas. P. Taft, Cincinnati. AMER ICAN MANUSCR IPTS 267 Horace D. Taft, Cincinnati. C. N. Talbot, New York. E. A. Tanner, President^ Illinois College, Wm. H. Tillinghast, New Tork, Joseph F. Tuttle, D.D., President^ Wabash College^ Crawfordsville^ Ind, Addison Van Name, Professor^ Yale College, Hooper C. Van Vorst, Justice^ Superior Court^ City of New York, C. C. Waite, Cincinnati, R. H, Ward, President^Troy Scientific Association. Alexander Stewart Webb, LL.D., President,^ College City of New York. James C. Welling, President,, Columbian College^ Washington ,^ D, C, Alexander F. West, Princeton. A. M. Wheeler, Professor^ Yale College, D. H. Wheeler, D.D., President^ Allegheny College^ Meadville,^ Pa, Andrew D. White, LL.D., Syracuse^ N. Y, Horace White, Evening Post^ New York, Norman Williams, Chicago, Jas. Grant Wilson, New York. S. R. WiNANS, Princeton. A. P. WiNSLOW, Cincinnati. C. A. Young, Princeton, ESMn^By^^m^it iiilil llillil lii'iri " j\ Ill ■!'■■" jlilli ,f:,l||ii[j.gLrie,i> \^|,C ...4> tl •i^ncy, I am fialbime icl to i:;;i;iiiii|:i:.;ii|3j i froiitii. liiiiiiKiric:; e>;, C0l:l;;:|[€l,, Isittl/ ind "I"ii;!ii::.i;t 278 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF many restriftions and is so difficult and expensive that but few and fragmentary portions of them have ever been copied, while the great mass of them is as if it did not exist to the American student. It is now proposed that a descriptive catalogue in the nature of an index should be compiled of such of these documents as illustrate the early history of that portion of America now embraced within the territory of the United States, for the period between the treaty of Paris of 1763, by which the French title to our northwestern territory was extinguished, and the treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain of 1783, which extinguished the English title within the territory of the present United States. It is also proposed that the duty of compiling such a descriptive index catalogue should be confided to Mr. Benjamin Franklin Stevens, a native of Ver- mont, but for the last twenty years an officer of the State Department residing in London. Both these proposals are warmly pressed upon the attention of Congress by more than three hun- dred gentlemen more or less prominent in the world of letters, and who upon any subjeft upon which they unite may be supposed to express the best literary judgment of the country. The proposal is also specially commended to the careful attention of your honorable body in a letter from the honorable Secretary of State and by two of his distinguished predecessors in that Department of the Government. The descriptive index for the preparation of which the aid of Congress is invoked is designed to give a general notion of the contents of every document relating to America within the period above referred to J its dimensions, or the number of words of which AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 279 it consists ; where it is to be found ; whether printed or not in print, and, if printed, where ; whether an original or a copy ; the special uses, if any, which it served in foreign cabinets; and any official minutes which from time to time may have been made upon it. With such an index the historical student might see at a glance what documents are extant in the archives of England, France, Holland, and Spain that lie in the path of his investigations, where he must address himself for copies and their approximate cost. Historical societies. State and other public libraries, could with equal facility recognize the documents of particular interest to their constituents respeftively and the cost of copies, so that they might regulate their orders according to their re- sources. Your committee have been favorably impressed by the proposal of the memorialists, and are per- suaded that a descriptive catalogue of the charadler commended to your consideration in the letter of the honorable Secretary of State, if placed within the reach of American scholars, would prove the beginning of a new era in historical literature in the United States, and within no long period of time would throw floods of light from unexpefted quarters upon the circumstances which led to the early disintegration of the British empire in America, and to the establishment of the peculiar and unpre- cedented form of government which has in part replaced it. Mr. Stevens appears to have been many years employed in investigations which should have fitted him exceptionally for the task you are advised to confide to him. Upon this point the testimony before your committee is conclusive. 28o B. F. STEFENS' INDEX OF Mr. Stevens assures your committee that the work under consideration is already well advanced ; that about ninety-five thousand separate papers are already catalogued, and that he has a clerical force of experts at his command sufficient to complete it within a period of less than three years. He esti- mates the work complete will embrace about one hundred and fifty thousand different titles, and will occupy the equivalent of not less than twenty printed volumes of one thousand royal o6lavo pages each. For this he asks compensation at $5 for the equivalent of a printed royal 0(S):avo page, each page to contain not less than five hundred words, or for the whole of the sum of $100,000. In view of the facts that the archives to be ex- plored are scattered over four different European states ; that a familiarity with more than as many languages will be required in cataloguing their contents ; that the number of seats in the European archives allotted to students is usually but two ; that the hours for working rarely exceed two in each secular day, except as a special favor, not readily accorded ; that the records to be catalogued are rarely if ever indexed, rendering it necessary for searchers to turn over every document leaf by leaf; that in addition to a general description of the tenor of each document any official minutes indorsed upon it have to be transcribed, and when the document is a translation, the accuracy of that translation must be verified j that those documents which have been printed must be noted and where the printed copies may be found ; that the dates of undated documents must be fixed approximately^ duplicates collated, difficult passages deciphered, and all this information finally arranged, digested, and AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 28 1 presented in a clean, fair copy, it has seemed to your committee that the price which Mr. Stevens places upon his undertaking is not excessive ; that it could probably be done by no one else, if at all, at such a rate, nor, for the reasons already suggested, without expending upon it many years more of time ; and, finally, that the country will have in such an index, if secured, a property worth to it many times its cost. Your committee do therefore respe6lfully re- commend the adoption of the accompanying joint resolution, February 4, 1887. — Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed. Printed as Report No. 3962, forty-ninth Con- gress, second session. Mr. Stevens to Mr. Bayard. United States Government Despatch Agency, 4 Trafalgar Square, London, Sir: January 14, 1888. On the 19th of January, 1887, the Depart- ment communicated to Congress the memorials of several historical societies and of many eminent men of letters with reference to my index catalogue of the American manuscripts in European archives. The Library Committee reported favorably on the joint resolution which it presented for carrying out the desired obje£l, but Congress adjourned with- out further aftion. I have continued to prosecute the work with as much zeal and energy as my limited means would permit, and I am now ready to begin to make a fair •^ # 282 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF copy and to deliver this index catalogue work funds are available. I have found and indexed many more docui i I within the year. Some of these are of suj ; importance, and the existence of a large porti them is not known to any living writer of Am( i p history. I pray the matter may be again present Congress. I have, etc., B. F. Stevens. Hon. Thos. F. Bayard, Secretary of State, Washington, Mr. Stevens to Mr. Bayard. Sir: London, February ii, 1888. On the 13th of January I requested the Department to purchase the 10928 pages of peace transcripts from European archives which are now deposited in the library on approbation. On the 14th of January I wrote with reference to the catalogue index of historical manuscripts upon which I have been engaged, and requested that the matter may be again presented to Con- gress. I hope the joint resolution introduced into both the Senate and House last year may be again intro- duced this year. ^ 4^ 4(i % 4(f In the possible contingency that the catalogue index subjedl has not again been put before Con- gress this session, I come to you now with this urgent request that the purchase of the peace tran- scripts may be considered favorably, and that all needful steps may be taken for carrying out this objeft, for these reasons, viz. : AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 283 (i) These unpublished transcripts are of the greatest historical interest, and they all bear on our origin as a nation, and they go far to fill up the gaps in the diplomatic correspondence published by the Government. (2) The acquisition of the peace papers has been desired by the Department for several years. (3) Whatever amount of money I get for these transcripts I intend applying towards pushing my catalogue index forward to completion. If the two projefts can not go before Congress together, it is presumed the purchase of the tran- scripts had better be put forward first. The tran- scripts are a visible, valuable, and immediately useful property. The cash proceeds of the transcripts will most materially aid me in completing the index catalogue, and so enable me to put it forward next year as a finished work, and to lay it before the Department as a visible property. ***** I have, etc., B. F. Stevens. Hon. Thos. F. Bayard, Secretary of State, Mr. Bayard to the President of the Senate. Department of State, Sir: Washington, March 29, 1888. I have the honor to recall to the attention of the Senate, the proposal heretofore made by Mr. Benjamin F. Stevens, a citizen of the United States, residing in London, to supply to the Government of the United States accurate transcripts of a large number of documents in the archives of different Governments illustrative of the early history of the United States, and especially those bearing upon 284 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF the American Revolution and the War of Inde- pendence, thus forming a colleftion of hitherto unpublished State papers of appreciable value, the acquisition of which w^ould enrich the archives of this Government and put within reach of the Ame- rican student of this important historical field in- formation now praftically inaccessible. The first proposal of Mr. Stevens in this regard was referred to the chairman of the Library Com- mittee of the Senate by a letter of my predecessor, Mr. Frelinghuysen, dated January 27, 1883, ac- companied by a strongly recommendatory letter of Mr. Lowell, the United States Minister at London, and these communications were printed as Senate Mis. Doc. No. 29, of that session. Subsequently, Mr. Stevens essentially modified his proposal and submitted a plan for furnishing the collecSlion of transcripts in question in printed form. His letter, dated March 17, 1884, which very fully set forth the nature of the comprehensive work undertaken by him, was in turn referred by Secre- tary Frelinghuysen to the Senate Committee on the Library, and was printed, with accompanying papers, as Senate Mis. Doc. No. 84, Forty-eighth Congress, first session. The proposition then submitted was not, however, adled upon by Congress. In 1886, under the suggestion of officers of this Department to whom specimen volumes of the historical transcripts in question had been exhibited, Mr. Stevens reverted to his original proposition, and placed on deposit in the Department library a number of neat and accurate copies of papers of value in connexion with our early history, with a view to their being added to the archives of the Department of State if Congress should make pro- vision for their purchase. These papers are con- AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 285 tained in 37 bound volumes, and comprise about 1O5OOO closely written pages. In a letter addressed to me on the 22d of April, 1886, in relation to his last proposal, Mr. Stevens says : The colleftion of transcripts to which I refer embraces, so far as known, a complete series of the letters and instru6lions from the French Government to its own ministers in America from the time of the alliance until the ratification of the treaty of peace, together with the letters from the French ministers in America to their own Government during the same period. There is also a complete series of the manuscripts in the archives of England, Holland, and Spain, relating to the American peace negotiations at Paris, from March, 1782, until the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty in 1784.. * * * In this series is nothing that has been heretofore pub- lished, and each paper coming from the record office in England or from the archives in France has been carefully compared with its original, and is absolutely correft as to phraseology, and each one is complete, not being an extraft or a portion of a letter. I am informed that much interest was expressed in this opportunity for acquiring the materials for the history of the negotiations for the definitive treaty of peace with Great Britain, offering, as the coUedlion of transcripts in question does, the first complete record of the events of the period named, from a foreign point of view, which has ever come to America; and, if I am not misinformed, the members of the committee shared this interest and favored an amendment to the sundry civil appro- priation bill then pending to provide the amount requisite for the purchase. A6lion, however, was not taken, and the proposition was lost sight of, when Mr. Stevens presented a more comprehensive scheme for supplying a full and accurate digest and catalogue of all documents found in the public and private archives of Europe relating to the early - i, 286 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF history of the United States, and covering the eventful period from 1763 to 1783. The latter proje6l w^as warmly seconded by many historical societies and eminent men of letters in this country, as was attested by numerously signed memorials to Congress during the last session. In this rela- tion I have the honor to refer to the letter which I addressed to the President pro tempore of the Senate on the 19th of January, 1887, printed in Senate Ex. Doc. No. 43, Forty-ninth Congress, second session. Neither of these projefts can be considered as actually pending before the present Congress, and I am urgently solicited by Mr. Stevens to take such aftion as may be proper for the revival of one or both of them in order that they may receive due and final consideration. Without modifying the views I had the honor to express last year touching the advantage of possess- ing so comprehensive a descriptive historical index of foreign state papers relating to the Revolutionary period of our country, and deeming it worthy of attentive consideration on its merits, I regard it wholly independent of the earlier proposal, and not in any way m conflift therewith. From a practical point of view, I should deem it unfortunate if the valuable collection of transcripts of historical records now temporarily deposited in this Department should be suffered to leave its custody and cease to be avail- able for our own use or for the benefit of historical scholars. This colle6tion is in itself complete and unique, and if Congress should be indisposed to con- sider the two distinft propositions of Mr. Stevens, I should be inclined to give preference to the one now immediately acceptable, and advocate enriching our coUeftion of historical material by acquiring this ex- AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 28 7 tensive series of transcripts covering an epoch of our national life as to which our present records are ad- mittedly deficient. In order to present the whole subjeft conneftedly, I transmit herewith copies of the several printed documents referred to, and also copies of Mr. Stevens's letters to me urging the renewed considera- tion of his projects. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, T. F. Bayard. The President pro tempore of the United States Senate. March 31, 1888. — Ordered to be printed and re- ferred to the Committee on the Library. Printed, with accompanying papers, as Senate Ex. Doc. No. 133, Fiftieth Congress, first session. Leaving with Congress the question of the deposited volumes of Transcripts, in the hope that future adtion might be taken both as regarded these and the Catalogue-Index, I continued for some years longer the work of that Index, until at last I was compelled, by the enormous quantity of material I had in hand, to stop, in order to revise, classify, and make a fair copy of the whole in some form available for less private use. The British, French, Spanish and Dutch entries were brought into one homo- geneous whole, the dates stri6tly limited to the twenty years from 1763 to 1783, ^ # 288 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF and the Alphabetical Index made in double entry, so as to give, in the case of correspondence, the names not only of writers but of receivers. I estimate the total as being about 161,000 items. The form in which this Index of Documents in European Archives RELATING TO AMERICA is now presented is threefold, as described on the title- page, since besides the chronological and alphabetical indexes of my earliest scheme, I give, as stated in my circular of November, 1885, page 239, what was the basis of both, namely, the calendars or lists of the papers in the order in which they exist in their respeftive archives. These calendars or lists form the ist Division, in 50 volumes, of the work. They are clearly written in a tabulated form, showing the date, place of address, name of writer and addressee or other brief heading, description of document — whether original or copy — , its approxi- mate length, and the reference folio, page or number. They are put forward in three ways : first, by a full list where AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 289 every paper in a volume relates to Ameri- can affairs ; second, by a more partial list, noting specially the American papers and dealing briefly with others on other subjefts or outside the limit of the dates specified, dismissing them with a formula which answered my purpose in the words " not indexed " ; and thirdly, by selecting and noting only the one, twenty or thirty papers which might relate to the subjed: in hand. The intention was originally in these lists to show on the facing pages when an entry existed else- where, but it was found better to deal with this in the Chronological Arrange- ment, Part II. of the work. I need say nothing of the value of these calendars or lists except that thus a student in another continent may have in his hands and see at a glance the con- tents of, for example, volume 142 of the "America and West Indies" series in the English Record Office or volume 20 of the " Etats-unis " in the French Foreign Oflice. Taking first the Public Record Office of England, I have opened with the " America & West Indies " series as by u 290 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF far the largest and most important in American material. Of these are in- dexed either in whole or in part 339 volumes, comprising the local, civil, social, political and judicial history of each of the colonies or provinces, the military dispatches of the successive com- manders-in-chief — Generals Gage, Sir William Howe, Sir Henry Clinton and Sir Guy Carleton, and the operations of the various campaigns. The " Board of Trade " series (my volumes 11 to 1 5) relates more closely to the civil adminis- tration of each colony until the outbreak of hostilities, when one after another of the royal governors and civil officers had precipitately to vacate their govern- ments. The volumes of A6ls and Minutes or Journals of the legislative bodies form a valuable portion of this set. In this entire series 357 volumes are dealt with. The ''Colonial Cor- respondence'' (my volume 16), referring as it does more to the West Indies, Canada, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, is dealt with mainly by seleftion, noting only such papers as in some way relate to the war. The subdivision Canada, AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 29 1 however, indexed more fully, contains the dispatches of Sir Guy Carleton and General Haldimand commanding in Canada, and also the correspondence relating to General Burgoyne and the expedition which ended in the capitula- tion of Saratoga. The Admiralty Records are valuable from a naval point of view. The con- tents of the volumes of "Admirals* Dispatches'' on the American station are noted in full, while from those on the Jamaica and other stations all en- tries not American are omitted. Of the " Captains' Letters " are selefted only those captains who commanded ships of war on the American station, a compilation having previously been made from the Navy List Books describing the ships on that station from 1775 to 1783. This compilation, arranged alphabetic- ally according to the names of the ships, forms my volumes 22 and 23. Though I have not been able to go into the question of ships' logs I believe many are still preserved. The Foreign Office Records in the Public Record Office open up the Eu- 292 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF ropean phase of the subjedt with the correspondence of the British ambas- sadors or ministers at the various courts, and include all that relates to the Armed Neutrality and the Russian Mediation. That of France, so closely concerned in the struggle, contains the open, secret, or most confidential dispatches of Lord Stormont, so many of which I have been able to give in my Facsimiles, with all the information as to French diplomacy and American negotiation down to the declaration of war with Great Britain in 1778. Here also are the records of the general peace negotiations in 1782 and 1783. The series '* German States" (my volume 26) contains the papers with regard to the obtaining the supplies of Brunswick, Hessian, Waldeck and other auxiliary troops. Papers relating to the services of these troops are found in the " America and West Indies," in the Royal Institution and in the British Museum, but appalled by the enormous proportions my catalogue had already reached, I was not able, as I should have liked to do, to add the contemporary records from the Hessian side which exist in Germany. AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 293 In the Home Office Records are in- dexed a number of bundles entitled " Miscellaneous/' consisting of addresses to the King from towns and counties in England and Scotland testifying their abhorrence of the American rebellion and their own loyalty. I am informed that these addresses may shortly be de- stroyed as cumbrous and of little his- torical value. If so, it will be interest- ing to know from my catalogue that at one time they did exist. Amongst the Miscellaneous Collec- tions are placed first the manuscripts preserved in the Royal Institution. These are the Head Quarters papers of the British commanders-in-chief at New York which remained in the possession of the last of these commanders — Sir Guy Carleton, afterwards Lord Dor- chester — or of his secretary Maurice Morgann. Such papers as the dispatches to and from the home government are duplicates of what are found in the Public Record Office, but many others are not found elsewhere, such as letters to and from officers at various posts, subsistence accounts, pay warrants, re- 294 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF ports of his Majesty's Provincial troops, and the memorials and organization for the support of loyalists and distressed refugees. Since I had the privilege of indexing the manuscripts of Lord Auckland they have been acquired by the British Museum and are now Additional MSS. 34,412 et seq. This explains why my references are simply to " Auckland MSS." They divide themselves natur- ally for this period into two parts : (i) the private or secret service papers con- cerning the doings in Paris of the American agents sent over to obtain the open or secret assistance of France and Europe, during which time Mr. Eden was Under Secretary of State ; and (2) those relating to the unsuccessful com- mission for restoring peace which was sent out to America by the British ministry in the spring of 1778, and of which he was a member. I have been able to give many of them in my Fac- similes. Most of these private colle6lions have been or are being calendared by the Royal Commission on Historical Manu- AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 295 scripts, but it was thought advisable to repeat here a short title index to the Ame- rican papers both for the sake of com- pleteness and of convenient reference. In my letter to Mr. Secretary Fre- linghuysen on the 4th of November, 1882, I mentioned as one of my earliest undertakings the incorporation of the Haldimand Papers in the British Mu- seum into my Chronological Index. While the various items, within the limits of my dates, appear there and in my Alphabet, I should state here that having regard to the full calendars ot these volumes (Additional MSS. 21,661 to 21,885), issued at stated periods by the Canadian Government, under the direftion of Dr. Douglas Brymner, I have thought it unnecessary to repeat them in volume 36 of my ist Division where the other British Museum papers has these stra6t n the lllaving I have, clalps or i:,i,i:ipe;!: ■; „ ''F ]„l:::i.i 11 ]/::::! ':':] j|C) l!':Igld;;::ii:iaiiAhi \T\.t |;a!::l/ys;ii'iit|4&;:'". li I 296 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF names occurred between the Canadian calendars and my own, spared no pains to verify my own entry with the original. In the five Paris Archives to which I have had access the bulk of the ma- terial lay in the Bureau des Archives des Affaires Etrangeres, in which alone I have indexed fully or by selection 254 volumes. The series " Etats-Unis " con- tains not only the correspondence and doings of the American agents in Paris — Franklin, Deane, Lee, Adams, and Jay — with the French Government, but the dispatches between that Government and its accredited ministers in Phila- delphia — M. Gerard, the Chevalier de La Luzerne, and Barbe de Marbois. Very few of these seem to have been lost in the transit, and they are in themselves a wholly interesting American study.^ The series " Angleterre " contains the correspondence of the French Ambas- sador in London, until his withdrawal in 1778. To this series also belong the ^ These form a large part of the transcripts de- posited in the Department of State, Washington. See Mr. Bayard's letter of March 29th, 1888, p. 283. AMERICAN MAmJSCRIPTS 297 negotiations on the French side for the treaty of peace in 1782 and 1783. The Archives de la Marine^ B\ Campagnes^ contain the record of the assistance given by the French naval army successively under Count D'Es- taing, the Chevalier de Ternay, Count de Barras, and Count de Grasse, many log books of the French ships, and corre- spondence of commanding officers. The Archives Coloniales naturally contain little within these dates of con- sequence to the American continent, but there are some papers relating to Louisiana in the interval between its cession to Spain in 1762, and its a6lual possession by the Spaniards in 1769, the French occupation being further ex- tended by the residence at New Orleans of " ordonnateurs " and " commissaires " down to 1782 or 1783. These archives were, when I indexed them, housed in the same building as the Archives de la Marine ; they have since been removed to one of the pavilions of the Louvre, and there was recently some talk of another removal, let us hope, to safer and more commodious quarters. lEi ■ifr 'i/:iiJ oil: '!;:-■■■;•'' M"-:" i[:„;,n::r , \'; ■lili WM m^^mr :ii:::if:,.,: 'fr"it I i ! Ill itll I 1 liLf ^', ,|[ JlMJIISIBIiJIJiBi-., ,Li „ .„,., ill... .: housed in the old archiepiscopai palace, and these papers had apparently never been unfolded from the day they were read and docketed, as, on opening them, the sand used in drying the ink fell on the table in showers. The few volumes indexed at Seville relate to the Spanish AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 299 colony of Louisiana, and the attempt to recover West Florida. Maps have been noted and indexed only when found mixed with the corre- spondence. For maps generally the reader is referred to the map catalogues of the various colleftions. It would hardly be possible to give any definite total of the volumes or bundles which have thus passed under review, so many, especially in the foreign archives, though covering the dates de- sired, having been turned over only to be rejefted. Further, in the case of private manuscripts which, until sorted, are frequently mere chests full of loose papers, no idea of the number of volumes can be given. In the Royal Archives at the Hague, where the correspondence for each country is methodically put into chronological order, the year 1780, for instance, which would be the sole reference, may consist of several parts. I adtually include, however, calendars full, or partial, of 2,385 volumes. To these I may add perhaps sixty-seven, brief notes of which are entered in their proper sequence, as, for example, in the = I \ ^ m mm Ill nil.;: I J rr;i!];;;; :::'"■ 'l'!:!!! i^ AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 301 have only dealt with well-known or official American works — with recent histories or with periodical literature I have not attempted to cope. Where reproduced in my Facsimiles I have always given the reference number. Great care has been taken in the case of undated papers, to give them as ap- proximately corred: a date as possible. There are some, however, to which no relative date could be attributed, and they are placed at the end of the chronology. Where a name or date is supplied, it is always shown by being inclosed within brackets thus [ ]. The insertion of a hand or pointer 1^" in this division indicates that an entry should be inserted at that point, the entry itself having been discovered and added later at the end of that par- ticular day. In the list of contents placed at the beginning of each volume the same pointer |^" is used merely to indicate the volume then in the reader's hands. It should be added that the years which have passed since I first began to note my references have seen changes 302 B. F. STEVENS' INDEX OF in the various archives and in the classi- fication, numbering, or pagination^ of volumes. The Admiralty Records in the Public Record Office, for example, are now reclassified and renumbered ; also some of the Foreign Office, the Domestic George III. in the Home Office Records, and the War Office Original Correspondence, while in the Marine Office in Paris the numbers of a few books are changed. Mere bundles of papers are at all times liable to be dis- tributed. Any antiquated numbering, however, could probably be identified, and the date is always a further means of recognition. The official pagination or numbering of documents in the volumes at the date of indexing was carefully followed. In some cases there was no pagination, and I then endeavoured to supply an approximate number to assist in identification. But in the case of bundles or unbound papers such numbering, while necessary for my working purposes, must not be taken too literally. Finally, I do not claim to have ex- hausted all the sources in Europe of the AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS 303 American history of the period. Some series in the Public Record Office may- have been made accessible to the public since my indexes took their present form, and some others of minor import- ance of which I was aware, I was re- ludlantly obliged to leave ; but with all limitations, this Catalogue Index is yet, I believe, and repeat, the sole key to the American revolutionary documents in European Archives as a combined colle6tion. It remains for me to record here my great indebtedness to and appreciation of the confidence, cordial good-will, and co-operation of the custodians, direftors, and officials of all the archives I have mentioned— in England, of His Ma- jesty^s Public Record Office, of the British Museum and the Royal Institu- tion, and of the noble owners of private collections ; in France, of the direftor and officials of the Foreign Office, of the Marine, of the Colonies, and the Archives Nationales^ as well as to Mr. Henry Vignaud, Secretary of the Ameri- can Embassy, and a trusted friend and adviser. Both in Spain and Holland 304 AMERICAN MANUSCRIPTS courtesy and interest were unexampled. I should not fail to acknowledge, also the ready services whenever applied for of the successive American ambassadors and ministers at this and other European Courts. February^ 1 902. INDEX ADAMS, CHARLES Francis, 77. Adee, A. A., 79. Albany, 13-17, 199. Alien, Ethan, papers of, 135, 136. American Antiquarian So- ciety, 159. American Society in London, 160, 168-169, 182, 184, 185-186. Amsterdam, 104. Antwerp, 104. Ashbee, Spencer, 161. Astor Library, New York, 54, 55,57, m- Ballard and Brothers, 42, 44. Bancroft, George, 78. Barnet, Vermont, 1-10^ pas- Jizw,ii9,i45-i5i, 153-155, 156. Bayard, T. F., 169, 247, 249, 252, 256, 267, 273, 281, 282, 283. Bayliss, Sir Wyke, 160, 161. Benedift, G. G., 132-137. Bigelow, John, 163, 256. Bigmore, Edward C, iio- III. Blaine, J. G., 202. Boston, 56, 74, 199. Brabrook, Mr., 160. Brauges, Monsieur, 214. British Museum, 52, 57, 61, 62, 128, 217, 233, 294, ^95, 303- British Xylonite Company, 123-125. Brown, Henry J., iii. Browning, A. Giraud, 161. Burbank, Mr., 154, 155. Burlington, 73,132,135,136, 1895 University, see Ver- mont. Burnside, Gen., 96. Bushnell, Dr. Horace, 20-23. Carlyle, Thomas, purchase of house of, 127-128. Charleston, N.H., 9, 11. Cheney, John Vance, 134, 137. Chiswick Press, 68, 106, 107, 108, 176, Choate, Hon. Joseph H., 77, 182. Civil War, the, 50, 73-74. Cogswell, Dr., 57. Columbia Lodge, 160. Connecticut River, 19-20. Connecticut Historical So- ciety, 159, 181. Crerar, John, and his library, 112-113. Croker, T. F. Dillon, 160. ^ J 3o6 INDEX Crown Point, map of, 133, 142-14.3. Darmstadt, 129, 131. Dartmouth, Earl of, his MSS., 179- Dartmouth College, N.H., confers degree, 159. Davis, Ira, 11. Davis, J. C. Bancroft, 78, 214. Davis, John, 216. Dewey, Admiral, 78. Diamond, Dr., 161. Dwight, Theodore F., 203, 229. Elliot, Samuel, 127. Evarts, William M., 78, 200, 201, 203, 235. Farragut, Admiral, 78. Farrar, Mr., 42. Flower, Edgar, 131. Forbes, Col. Paul S., 96, 97, 98, 99, loo, 102. Franklin, Admiral, 78. Frelinghuysen, Frederick T., 204, 215, 220, 229, 236, 284, 295. French Archives. See Paris, Godwin, George, 161. Goodell, A. C, 250. Gower, Lord Ronald, 131. Grant, General, 78. Granville, Earl, 201, 202, 203. Greeley, Horace, 78. Grolier Club of New York, 107, 160. Hadley, Mr., 15. Hague, the, 1 28 J archives at, 173, 225,233, 298, 299,etc. Hale, kev. E. E., 17^, 214, 252. Hall, Hubert, 187. Harris, Mrs., 95, 99. Harrisburg, 55. Haswell, Mr., 40, 41. Hawes, Col. Alex. G., 5. Hay, Hon. John, 78. Holland, visits to, 104. Hovenden, Mr., 160. Hewlett, Richard, 162. Hubbard, Rev. Austin Os- good, 6. Humboldt, Baron von,library of, 59, 60-64. Hunter, W., 79. Jameson, John A., 39, 40. Jones, Mr. Winter, 52. Kenerson, Mrs. J. S., 153, 154. Keston, Sir J. B. Lennard's library at, 165. Kidder, Rev. Thomas, 11. King, Dr., 7-8. Kingston, Mr., of the Public Record Office, 214. Lennard, Sir John Barrett, his library, 165. Library Association, the, 1 59. Lowell, James Russell, 78, 185, 188, 200, 201, 202, 203, 214, 215, 216, 218, 236, 284. Margry, Monsieur, 215. Marquand, Henry G., 256. Maryland Historical Society, 159. INDEX 307 Memphramagog, Lake, 21. ■ Merriam, C. P., 124. Merriam, L. P., 122-123. Merrill, Timothy R., 26. Minnesota Historical Society, 159. Montpelier, 17, 26, 44, 133, 149, 199. Moore, Col. Frank, 96, 100, lOI. Morgan, John S., 68. Morse, Mr., 72. Munroe and Co., 95, 99. Newbury Seminary, 24-25. New Hampshire, governor of, 9 ^ records, 1 8 1 j Historical Society, 159. New Jersey, 172, 199. New York, 55, 72, 73, 89, 257; map of, 1 79 J Public Library, 181. Noviomagus Club, 1 60-1 61. Owen, Professor, 129. Oxford, 165. Page, William, artist, brother- in-law of B. F. Stevens, 129. Panizzi, Sir Antonio, 52. Paris, 91, 128, 173, 175-176; French Archives in, 173, 201, 208-212, 214, 218, 223-224, 225, 233, 235, 238, 239, 247, 248, 296- ^97, 303, etc. Parkman, Mr., 249. Passumpsick River, 20. Peabody, Mr., 65, 67, 71. Pease, Professor, 40. Pennsylvania Historical So- ciety, 181. Petherick, Charles J., 79, Phene, Dr., 160, 161. Philadelphia, 55. Pickering, William, 105. Piantins, printers, 105. Poole, Wm. F., 214. Public Record Office, 172, 182, 199, 200, 203, 204- 207, 213, 216, 217, 218, 220, 233, 236, 237, 247, 289-292, 300, 302, 303. Quaritch, Bernard, iii. Queen's Diamond Jubilee, 170-171. Read, General, and Mrs., 98. Ribier, Monsieur, 214. Richards, Mr., 99. Richardson, Sir Benj. Ward, 161. Rodgers, Admiral C. R. P., 78. Royal Commission on His- torical MSS., 179, 294. Royal Historical Society, 160, 184, 186-187. Royal Institution, 179, 214, 217,233, 293, 303. St. Johnsbury, 134, 136. Salter, Candace, 2. See Mrs. Stevens, senior. Savage Club, 167. Scotland, 112, 113. Seward, Hon. W. H., 76, 78. Shakespeare bust, 129-131. Sheridan, General, 78. Sherman, General and Mrs., 36, 78. Sherman, John, 216, 236, 273. Sickles, General, 78. 3o8 INDEX Sigma Phi Fraternity, i6o. Skinner, Mrs., 93. Society of Antiquaries, 159, 184. Society of Arts, 160. Societe d'histoire diplo- matique, 159, 184. Somerby, Horatio Gates, 65- 67, 68, 76. Sotheby, Messrs., 62, iii. Spain, or Spanish archives, 173, 212,239, 298, 300, etc. Stanley, H. M., 78. Stevens, Benjamin Franklin, birth and early years, chaps, i. and ii. j conveys important papers to the Governor of New Hamp- shire, 95 copies historical documents at Albany, chap. iii. pp. 13-175 carries on historical work at Mont- pelier, 17; on the farm at Barnet, 18-24; excursion with Dr. Bushnell, 20-23; at Newbury Seminary, 24- 25 ; appointed Deputy Secretary of State, Ver- mont, 26; straightens out money matters of the vil- lage, 33; at the University in Burlington, chap. vi. pp. 39-51 ; works in the Astor Library, 54-55; agent of his brother Henry, 54-56; joins his brother in London, 56-57; on the Humboldt Catalogue, 59, 61-64; in- timacy with Mr. Somerby and Mr. Peabody, 65-68; first visit to the Whitting- hams at Surbiton, 69; goes to America, 72-74; re- turns to London. 74; in partnership with his brother Simon, 75; his marriage with Charlotte Whitting- ham, 74; appointed Ameri- can Despatch Agent, 76; removes to Surbiton, 82 ; and to the Sheaves, 84; visits America with Mrs. Stevens, 88-90; mission to Paris, 91, 95-104; his con- nection with the Chiswick Press, chap. xiv. pp. 105- 108 ; his library agency, chap. XV. pp. 1 09- 1 1 5 ; visit to Scotland for the John Crerar Library, 1 1 2-1 1 3 ; connection with the British Xylonite Company, chap, xvii. pp. 122-125; the Carlyle House Purchase Scheme, 126-128; the ShakespeareBust, 128-13 1; presentation of papers and map to the Vermont His- torical Society, 132-135, 142-143 ; interest in Barnet records, 144-152; endow- ment of its cemetery, 153- 155; gift of books to its Public Library, 156; to the University at Burling- ton, 1 56-1 58 ; honours con- ferred on him, 159-160; societies and clubs of which he was a member, 159, 160, 162, 163, 167, 168; visit to Oxford, 165; his Catalogue Index of Ameri- can MSS. in European Archives, 172-173, 179, 180, 181; Introduction to that Index, showing his INDEX 309 original projefts to supply transcripts as well as calen- dars, 1 9 5-304 J visit to America in connection therewith, 257 j works edited and published by him, 175-176, 178-179; his Facsimiles, 176-179; obituary^ notices, chap. xxiv. pp. 182-189. Stevens, Candace, mother of B. F. Stevens, 10, 29, 39- 50, 57-59> 71, 72, 73, 75, 82, 90, 91, 95, 104, 145. Stevens, Charlotte, wife of B. F. Stevens, 83, 84, 85, 88-90, 92, 103, 106, 116, 193. Stevens, Enos, grandfather, 28-29, 147, 153, 155. Stevens, Enos, brother of B. F. Stevens, 3, 25, 41, 43,45, 73,76, 93- Stevens, George, 3. Stevens, Henry, father of B.F. Stevens, 1-4, 5, 9-1 1, 13- 17, 18, 23-26, 35, 37, 39. 50, 54, 55-60, 70, 71, 82, 90,132,133,145, 146,199. Stevens, Henry, brother of B. F. Stevens, 3, 52-64, 68, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 103, 105, 112, 145, 161, 172, 183. Stevens, Henry Newton, 63. Stevens, John Austin, 99, 100. Stevens, Dr. Phineas, 147. Stevens, Capt. Phineas, 147. Stevens, Samuel, 147. Stevens, Simon, 147. Stevens, Simon, brother of B. F. Stevens, 3, 71, 73, 75, 7(>, 146. Stevens, Sophia Candace, 3, 6, 20, 76. Stevens, Willard, 146, 147. Stillman, W. J.. 120. Stone, Arthur, 136. Stone, Henry, 95. Stratford-on- Avon, 1 29- 1 3 1 . Surbiton, 68, 69, 70, 82, 83, 84, etc. Thompson, Mr., now Sir E. Maunde, 214. Toilet, Judge, 41. Train, Mr., 72. Treloar, Sir Wm., 130. Tuttle, Dr., 5. Urban Club, 163. Vermont Historical Society, 14,41, 132, 134, 136,142, 143, 159, 199-. Vermont University, 39-50; gift of books to, 156-158; confers degree, 159. Vermonters,Songofthe, 133- 142. Vignaud, Mr., of Paris, 214, 303. Vincent, Mr., of the Royal Institution, 214. Walker, Admiral J. G., 78. Warren, Arthur, 107, 187. Washbume, E. B., Ameri- can Minister in Paris, 78, 95j 96, 97, 98, 100, 102. Washburne, Gratiot, 97, 98, 100, loi, 103. Washington, 55, 73, 11 1. 310 INDEX Watts, Mr. Thomas, 52. Wheeler, President, 39. White, A. D., 78. Whitefriars Club, 107, 130, 162, 163. Whittier, J. G., poet, 1 34. Whittingham, Charles, 68- 70, 82, 83, 84, 105, 106, 107, 108, 116, 156-157, 182. Whittingham, Charlotte, 70, 73> 75- ^^^ Stevens, Char- lotte. Whittingham, Jane, 85, 116. Whittingham, William, 116. Williams, Norman, 112. Wright, George R., 161. Yale College, 52. Zoological Society, 160. CHISWICK TRESS : CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. ,11 L HI 1" 11../ ' i f Mil! I'l III 1' ii 1 II