iib'*^?■S^!^,^ ;':>is.L{iiiS»»-'W'2-;'::.!>A;i j;^-K'roposed to leave slavery undisturbed in the states where it already existed, 284 JULIAN M. STVRTEVANT saying to the accursed thing: "Hitherto shalt thou come but no further." I did not then, neither do I now, regard the KeiDublican party as the less worthy of confidence and honor because it guarded against attacking the "peculiar institution" in the slave states. Without that limitation it could not have been organ- ized at all in this region. The leaders of the party wisely proposed to do what they could, not what they could not, accomplish. They assailed the institution just where it could be successfully attacked. If the abolitionists had been as wise and discriminating from the very beginning of the agitation they Would have gathered many more adherents. Society would have been far less violently convulsed, and perhaps slavery would have been more speedily abolished, and with far less sacrifice of blood and treasure. That period brought into striking prominence an- other man who was destined to become even more famous than Governor Yates. That man was Abra- ham Lincoln. Nothing ever seemed tome more won- derful or more obviously providential than the raising uj) of Mr. Lincoln for that great crisis. The times called for one born and reared in the midst of slavery and the i^overty and ignorance which it produced among the poor whites — one who could meet people of Southern birth and move them by a style of elo- quence that should go straight to their hearts, but one who was nevertheless imbued with the highest con- ception of moral obligation and was able to grasp those great principles which underlie the whole fabric of free institutions. He must be a statesman capable of viewing social and political questions from the highest moral standpoint. I have known but one THE PROGRESS OF ANTI SLAVERY 285 man in whom these combinations existed, and that man was Abraham Lincoln. There is one view of the conditions of Mr. Lincoln's early life in relation to which it is very difficnlt for any of ns to do him justice. We have other examples of men who have made their way from penury and obscurity through all the difficulties which their po- sition involved to high intellectual culture and the broadest and most liberal statesmanship. Mr. Gar- field was such a man. But there is one great differ- ence between the career of Mr. Garfield and that of Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Garfield was born and reared in a community in which the advantages of an elementary education were oj)en to all, and in which the whole people were imbued in a greater or less degree with the spirit of liberal learning. In those elementary schools the advantages of which he enjoyed, friend- ly eyes were watching and friendly hands were laid upon him in affectionate encouragement. Edu- cated men sought him out and advised him to seek a liberal education. In 1880,, during the Presidential canvass, the widow of the Rev. John Seward of Au- rora, Ohio, wrote a letter to Mr. Garfield reminding him that her husband had thus encouraged him in his early struggles. . Mr. Garfield replied and very grate- fully acknowledged the fact. It was from that same Rev. John Seward that I received at an earlier date much of the inspiration that induced me to enter col- lege. But Mr. Lincoln was lifted up towards higher at- tainments by no such surrounding atmosphere of in- telligence. No such pervading spirit of culture stim- ulated him. No common school blessed his childhood. 286 JULIAN 31. ST URTEVANT The sphere of his activity and his culture was limited to the hard toil and coarse fare of the log cabin, the forest and the corn field. He had actually reached man's estate before he acquired the first rudiments of an education. That in spite of the extreme disadvan- tages of such a position he should have attained the culture, the knowledge, the wisdom and the stirring eloquence that fitted him for his great destiny and for the eminent services he was to render to liberty, to our country and to civilization itself, was an achieve- ment without a parallel. Long before he was thought of as a candidate for the Presidency, I knew him in- timately. He stood in the foremost rank among the most truthdoving men I have ever known. Whether at his law office, in the drawing-room, at the bar, in the halls of legislation, or on the rostrum, he was in- capable of sensationalism. His constant aim was to express truth in its own simple naked impressiveness. If you could reach the very center of his mental ac- tivity you would always find there some moral truth from which everything radiated. He was a true and righteous man. This was the Moses whom God had raised up to lead his people out of Egyptian bondage, and yet he never had the advantage of the arts of civ- ilization taught in the palace of Pharaoh. To have known Lincoln I esteem one of the greatest blessings of my early settlement on what was then the frontier of our civilization. It was only with the uprising of new political is- sues that we began to realize Mr, Lincoln's power or to appreciate his character, although as a law.yer and as a politician he had already acquired a high reputa- tion, having served one term as a Whig in the nation- THE PROGRESS OF ANTI'SLAVERY 287 al House of Representatives. In the conflicts which followed he seemed to have found his element and entered upon the work for which he was born. I re- member the first speech I heard from him on this great issue as though it were but yesterday. He ad- dressed an audience of not less than two thousand peox^le gathered from Morgan and the surrounding counties. He, like Yates, spoke guardedly, propos- ing only to confine slavery within its existing limits. But that did not hinder him from striking terrible blows at slavery itself. He. sought to move his audi- ence to prevent the further extension of slavery. It was therefore perfectly legitimate to show that slav- ery was a very bad thing. And this he did with tell- ing force. No man ever knew the hearts of his hear- ers more perfectly than Abraham Lincoln. He was perfectly familiar with all their passions, j)rejudices and hatreds, and yet was able so to construct his ar- gument as to avoid offending their prejudices, and to so convince them that they received his utterances with clamorous applause. That day I first learned that Abraham Lincoln was a great man. In a meta- phorical sense he commanded the winds and the waves and they obeyed him. He even drew his argu- ment from the deeps of natural theology. " My friends,'" said he, " we know that slavery is not right. If it were right, some men would have been born with no hands and two mouths, for it never was de- signed that they should work, but only eat. Other men would have been Ijorn with no mouth and four hands, because it was the design of the Creator that they should work that other men might eat. We are all born with a mouth to eat and hands to work, that 288 JULIAN 31. STUETEVANT every man may eat the products of his own labor and be satisfied." It is impossible fully to estimate the beneficent in- fluence on the people of central and southern Illinois from the great political agitation which followed the organization of the Republican party. It was more than a great political movement. It was a great moral" upheaval. Previous to that time, at least since the year 1824, the moral element had been scarcely discernible in our politics. From that time onward to the close of the war the moral element seemed to be almost the leading one in public affairs. In Mr. Lincoln's sjieeches it was always paramont. His ap- peal was to the moral convictiofls of his hearers. In that respect it would be difficult for anyone not fa- miliar with our previous political condition to form any adequate conceiDtion of the change wrought among us by the presidential canvas of 1856. In our j)art of the state the newly organized party was still greatly in the minority, but it was evidently the growing aggressive force. The contrast between the two great party leaders, Mr. Lincoln and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, was very remarkable. The latter was then in the zenith of his popularity. He was a perfect master of all those artifices by which men win their way to the hearts of the multitude. Men whom he had once met he never forgot, and he knew how to greet them with a certain ajjpearance of cordiality which made the imjDression of great and affectionate regard. Each man was made to feel that he was the very one that the great leader particularly desired to meet. Yet Mr. Doug- las' power was by no means limited to these vulgar THE PROGRESS OF AXTI-SLAVERY 289 arts. He was very strong as a i^opular orator, but the source of his power was in great contrast with that of Mr. Lincohi. He knew all the jjassions, tastes and prejudices of the masses he expected to win as well as Mr. Lincoln did, but he employed that knowledge for a very different purpose. While Mr. Lincoln used his familiarity with human nature for the puriDose of finding access for the truth to the un- derstanding and heart, Mr. Douglas employed the same knowledge with consummate adroitness to ac- complish his own ends, whatever they might be. Mr. Lincoln's truthfulness was unquestioned. Mr. Douglas' success as a lawyer lay largely in his utter indifference to the line that separates truth from falsehood. If he could but win he did not hesitate about the means. Mr. Douglas was perfectly confi- dent of his own power of so arraying ^aopular passion and prejudice against the party he oj^posed as to overwhelm it. Mr. Lincoln was equally confident that under the government of the Supreme Ruler of the universe, truth would prevail and righteousness would triumph. The influence of the two men upon their followers corresponds precisely with this con- trast. An instance once occurred in an audience which Mr. Douglas had just been addressing. Immediately after he ceased an enthusiastic admirer in the crowd declared that he believed that Douglas was a greater man than Jesus Christ. We may be sure that Mr. Lincoln never left such an impression. His admir- ers always regarded him as the minister of truth and righteousness. He made them feel that the truth which must ultimately prevail is not a matter of hu. 290 JULIAN M. STUBTEVANT man opinion, but is the expression of immutable principles and accords with the law of God. This contrast explains, at least in part, the moral revolu- tion which Mr. Lincoln and his co-laborers intro- duced into our politics. The success of the Republican party in its first Presidential campaign was very remarkable. The obstacles to be encountered were gigantic; the pre- judices to be vanquished seemed insurmountable. Though through the division of the Whig element between the Republicans and the Know Nothings the Republicans were defeated on the national issue, still we elected our state ticket by a handsome majority. Jacksonville itself, notwithstanding the large pre- ponderance of the Southern element in our popula- tion, was carried for the Rejpublicans by a consider- able plurality. If I had formerly been remiss in the duties of a citizen I did what I could to atone for it in that canvass. I must confess, however, that as in 1848 my enthusiasm was not inspired by the can- didate. I endeavored at the outset to create in my- self some zeal by reading the life of General Fre- mont, Ijut I soon found that my fervor was more likely to be chilled than to be intensified by the process. I therefore said and thought little of the candidate, but rejoiced to do what I could to advance the righteous j)rinciples embodied in the j)latform. The most important conflict in which Mr. Lincoln was ever engaged in this state was a series of debates between him and Mr Douglas, in 1858. Many con- sider his speech delivered near the beginning of that contest in the representatives' hall at Springfield, the greatest effort of his life. With great pleasure I THE PROGRESS OF ANTI-SLAVERY 2'Jl recall its impressive opening. Outside were the noisy demonstrations of a great Democratic parade. The room was filled to its utmost capacity with grave and thoughtful men. I shall never forget my emo- tions as the tall form of our leader rose before us and he gave utterance to the memorable words : " A house divided against itself can not stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect that it will cease to be divided. It will become all the one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward until it shall become alike lawful in all the states old as well as new, North as well as South." This was new doctrine for the latitude of Springfield, yet never did a statesman choose the ground he was to stand upon more wisely or define it more boldly, or defend it more irresistably. I know that some of the old-time abolitionists present were startled and alarmed at the frankness of Mr. Lincoln's position. One of them intimately known to myself, one of Mr. Lincoln's greatest admirers, sought an interview with him the next day and entreated him to modify his language, assuring him that on the issue he had made our de- feat was inevitable. Mr. Lincoln heard him with respectful attention, but replied with kindly firmness, " I will not change one word. I have rewritten that paragraph again and again. It xjrecisely expresses the position on which I will make the fight." It was 292 JULIAN M. STURTEVANT not long before the doubter fully concurred in the wisdom of the decision. There is reason to believe that Mr. Douglas himself ^Yas entirely confident that on that issue Mr. Lincoln could be easily and utterly routed. Mr. Douglas was no judge of the x^ower of truth, while Mr. Lincoln fully believed in his heart that no arts of a demagogue could stand before it. During the progress of this campaign I happened to be at our railway station one day when the train arrived and Mr. Lincoln emerged from one of the cars. He was on his way to speak at the town of Winchester, a few miles from Jacksonville. As we walked together to the hotel, a quarter of a mile dis- tant I said: "Mr. Lincoln you must be having a weary time." " I am," said he, " and if it were not for one thing I would retire from the contest. I know that if Mr. Douglas' doctrine x^revails it will not be fifteen years before Illinois itself will be a slave state." So keenly did he feel that slavery must be arrested before it subjugated the whole nation. It was this conviction that impelled him. He, of all men, deserved to be called the Father of EmanciiDa- tion in the United States. In that contest for the Illinois senatorship Mr. Douglas was destined to win one more victory and his oi^ponent to experience one more defeat. But that contest left Mr. Lincoln on the highway to the White House. It made him known to the nation as the statesman whom God had raised up to lead the host that fought under the banner of liberty. As an orator, Mr. Lincoln had one remarkable characteristic. His perfect candor invariably won the confidence of his hearers at the outset. He was THE PROGBESS OF ANTI SLAVERY 293 always careful to disentangle liimself from any fallacy into which the advocates of his own cause might have fallen. His friends would often be astonished at the magnitude and importance of his concessions. He seemed to be surrendering the whole grouml of the debate, leaving not a square foot upoiv which his own argument could rest. Yet in the sequel he made it gloriously apparent that the rock foundation of his cause was left, where no man could overthrow it. He forced even his bitterest opponents to l^elieve that he was at least candid and sincere. I am inclined, how- ever, to think that in his varied practice in the courts his candor may have sometimes stood in the way of his success. One eminent lawyer said of him after his cruel assassination, " Mr. Lincoln was an excel- lent supreme court lawyer, but he was too candid not to sometimes damage a bad cause." I fear that few eminent lawyers lay themselves liable to that criti- cism. Mr. Herndon, Mr. Lincoln's law partner, has been at great pains to assure us that Mr. Lincoln was not a Christian, but an unbeliever. Mr. Herndon was a very incomx:)etent interpreter of the mind and the life of his partner. He had no correct discernment of the real line that separates the Christian from the infidel. How does he interpret the golden words ad- dressed by that great man to the crowd assembled around the railway station to witness his departure from Springfield for Washington? What was the meaning of the seemingly earnest request for the prayers of that great multitude? He recognized the greatness of the task before him and declared that without Divine hell) he should certainly fail. Were 294 JULIAN M. STUETEVANT those the words of a devout believer in God and in prayer, or of an infidel and demagogue, i)rofessing a devotion which in his heart he despised? We can- not accept Mr. Herndon's theory of Mr. Lincoln's character. There is nothing surprising or difficult of exi3lanation in the fact that Mr. Lincoln had not hitherto openly professed his faith in Christ by unit- ing himself with some Christian church. Up to this time, and still later, there must have been in his mind something of the same confusion of ideas under which Mr. Herndon still labored when he pronounced his distinguished partner an unbeliever. Alas! How many there are still among us whose minds are in- volved in the same confusion. Mr. Lincoln had not then, it seems to me, learned to distinguish between Christianity as set forth in the life of Jesus Christ and in the clear concrete form in which He taught it, and the Christianity of the modern creed of technical, metaphysical theology. He regarded the latter as the Christianity of the Church, and believed that in uniting himself with a church he professed implicit faith in all the statements of its creed. He was too candid, too cautious, too conscientious to make such a profession till he found his own mind in assured harmony with it. He took the Church at her word and thought that to be a Christian he must believe all that the Church teaches. He felt that for him to j)rofcss such a faith tin Christianity would be hypoc- risy, and conscientiously forebore to do it. In after years and through deeper and sadder experiences he understood better the real meaning of faith in Christ, and though to the hour of his violent death he never THE PROGRESS OF AXTI-SLAVERV 295 joined the Cliiircli, lie did very openly declare himself a Christian. He confessed Christ before men. I must say that it seems to me the Church might learn wisdom from the experience of such a man as Abraham Lincoln. Do we bring before the minds of the multitude before whom we are witnesses for Christianity a just, i^ractical, concrete conception of the Christian character and life? Not one of us be- lieves that the acceptance of the whole system of the- ology set forth in Calvin's Institutes or in the Thirty^ nine Articles is necessary to a true and living faith in Christ. Why then do we insist on the reception of theological systems in such a way as to make upon the minds of thousands of thoughtful men the im- pression that nothing short of the declaration of a belief in them, whole and entire, can justify any man in professing his faith in Christ? Christianity is not a system of metaphysical philosophy. It is "reiaent- ance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." Surely we should make the practical conception of Christian character and life so prominent in all our constitutions and methods of procedure, and in all our pulpit utterances that men will no longer con- found the acceptance of metaphysical statements with that living faith that forms character and saves the soul. If we preached the theology of Jesus more and that of the schools less, our hearers would under- stand the gospel better and be more readily persuaded to confess Christ before men. It is not necessary to j^rolong the consideration of the great political struggle which placed Mr. Lincoln at the head of the nation, and thus furnished the l'~*-r-f^-emC ■* ■•^•^,,3 »■ ».»iifc.^t><.- ■■Sfjfc- O , T i »• tk m I ' m m, mt m ' 9 - 296 JULIAN M. STURTEVANt South with the utterly groundless pretext for the re- bellion by which he was at last compelled to issue the proclamation of emancipation. It was a military necessity, else with his views of the Constitution he never would have issued it, but to his heart it was also a precious opportunity. The agitation of the ocean by the fiercest gale is no adequate illustration of the Presidential canvass of 1860. The hurricane only stirs the surface of the ocean. That j^olitical excitement moved the community to its very depths. The mighty passions that affected millions of hearts simultaneously, the elevation of men's souls with pat- riotic fervor, the hoj)es of many for the speedy tri- umi^h of righteousness, alternating with inexpressible horror at the thought of its defeat, the x^rofound ad- miration with which the defenders of the right were regarded, and the unspeakable aversion excited against those who were seeking to exalt opj)ression; all these conflicting elements mingling in our own streets and around our own firesides rapidly formed and intensified iudividual and national character. It is in such convulsions as this that princij)les are tested, and by them the course of civilization for long future ages is determined. In the progress of the great struggle that followed I had good reason to know by personal observation that other nations had scarcely the faintest conception of the magnitude of the events transpiring in the United States. The war of the rebellion has passed into history. It is worth while, however, to observe how differ- ently the election of Mr. Lincoln was regarded by the great mass of American citizens who composed the Republican party on the one hand, and the adherents THE PROGRESS OF ANThSLAVERY 21)7 and advocates of slavery, in the 8 )uth, and all over the world, on the other. Tiu» former had no ex- pectation, most of them hardly a fear, that a war would result from Mr. Lincoln's election. With them it was not a declaration of war, but a peaceful yet emphatic assertion of their opinions, in strict accordance with the laws and the Constitution of their country, and they could not believe that their brethren in the South were rash and wicked enough to raise an armed insurrection because they had been defeated, in a lawful way, at the polls. On the other hand Southern statesmen and their sympathizers in the North did expect that the elec- tion of Mr. Lincoln would be the signal for the out- break of a gigantic armed rebellion. When the news of Mr. Lincoln's election arrived in Jacksonville, a great ecclesiastical convention was in session here. On hearing the announcement, a very prominent member of that body, an enthusiastic adherent of Mr. Douglas, wept like a child, " Now," he said, " there will be war." While we of the North scarcely be- lieved the conflict possible, and while Mr. Lincoln's sagacious secretary, Mr. Seward, was saying: "The contest will be over in ninety days," it was perfectly understood throughout the British empire that there would be a great civil war in the United States. The South already i^ossessed sufficient influence in EuroiDe to produce a general conviction that if the EejDublican party carried the election the dissolution of the Union and civil war were inevitable. Nothing can be more certain than that during all the tremen- dous excitement of the canvass, war and bloodshed were far from the thought of the Republican leaders 298 JULIAN M. STUBTEVANT and the great mass of Republican voters. They believed in liberty and were determined to vote for it within the limit of the Constitution. The one party meant peace and liberty for the long future, the other meant slavery and the shedding of as much blood as should be necessary to perpetuate it. [The following extracts from my father's corres- pondence with President Lincoln and the dis- tinguished " war governor " of Illinois will illustrate what has been said in this chapter. — Ed.'\ Springfield, Sept. 27, 1856. My Dear Sir: Owing to absence yours of the 16th, was not re- ceived until the day before yesterday. I thank you for your good opinion of me personally, and still more for the deep interest you take in the cause of our common country. It pains me a little that you have deemed it necessary to point out to me how I may be compensated for throwing myself in the breach now. This assumes that I am merely calculating the chances of personal advancement. Let me assure you that I decline to be a candidate for congress, on my clear conviction . that my running would hurt and not hel}} the cause. I am wili- ng to make any personal sacrifice, but I am not willing to do, what in my own judgment, is a sacrifice of the cause itself. Very Truly Yours, A. Lincoln. Springfield; 18th September, 1862. My Dear Sir: I steal a few moments from the more immediate duties to say a word to you. ... I have only time to say that I leave here for Chicago on Saturday morning, and from thence go to attend the Governor's meeting at Altoona, Pa. I wish, before I arrive at that meeting, to hear from you respect- ing your views of the present state of the country. We are passing through a terrible crisis. No one can look a day ahead, or tell what a moment may reveal. Disasters, political and military, have led to speculations regarding military despot- THE PROGRESS OF ANTI-SLAVERY 299 isms, and looking to the dismemberment of our once free and glorious government, and the general upheaval of the founda- tions of society. As for myself, I have to act day and night and have but little time to think or ponder upon the great historic events of the hour. I therefore request your assistance and cooperation. I know you have the country's welfare at heart. You have time to scan the signs of the times. Your heart beats responsive to all true progress, and your views will have weight with me and assist me in determining my course. . . . Hoping to hear from you at length I remain, with high respect, Yours Truly, Richard Yates, Governor. Illinois College, Sept. 20, 18G2. My" Dear Sir: Yours is just received. . . . My mind is of late most solemnly impressed with the unwavering conviction that the war is an inevitable, a logical necessity of our history. The Constitution was intended to guarantee and perpetuate freedom — freedom of thought, utterance and action — the individual moral freedom of every man. The system of slavery is, in all its spirit and jirinciples, contradictory to this. So it has always shown itself in all our history. The most precious and funda- mental provisions in the Constitution, always have been utterly inoperative in all those states in which slavery is dominant What freedom of speech was there ever in South Carolina? When did a citizen of Massachusetts enjoy all the privileges of citizenship under the constitution in that state? Witness the case of Mr. Hoar at Charleston. When could the mail regula- tions of the United States be executed in the Slave States? How much force has there been for years past in our laws against the slave trade? The most fundamental provisions of the Constitu- tion have always been resisted and rendered inoperative wher- ever slavery reigns. And this resistance has been growing more intense year by year, till it has culminated in the present rebellion. . . . The semblance of union between the free principles of the Constitution and slavery is now no longer possible. The advo- cates of slavery are thoroughly aroused. They see with vivid 300 JULIAN 31. STURTEVANT clearness the contradiction between the glorious personal, moral freedom of the Constitution and their system. They will never consent to reunion on the old terms. The only union which they will not resist to the death is the union of Valandigham, which regards freedom of utterance against slavery as not less treasonable than armed rebellion. How then can the nation be restored to peace and unity again? Not by compromise between the two contending forces; that has been sufficiently tried. One of three things must happen. Either (1) Freedom must bear universal sway, or (2) The whole nation must be subjected to a relentless slaveholding despotism, or (3) We must plunge into the unfathomable deep of dismemberment. Between these three the nation must make its choice. The second is, I trust in God, not only inadmissable but impossible. There are millions who will resist it till all our rivers run blood. I believe the third to be impossible. I have no hope that any attempt to divide our territory and our resources between the forces of freedom and slavery so that each shall, in peace, enjoy and develop its own, can result in anything but generations of conflict and blood. I think we are shut up to the first as our only hope of peace and prosperity. If this conclusion is admitted, then the Union has but one enemy. That is not Jeff. Davis; not even the Southern Confed- eracy. It is slavery. Against that we must earnestly, openly direct all the storm and fury of war. We must hasten to make known in every slave cabin in the South, and in the mansion of every master, that the Federal Government invites the slave to frsedom, and to put forth his own efforts in vindicating it against the unrighteous claims of his oppressor. So far as loyal masters can be reconciled to this policy by compensation, we must compensate them. . . . I pray the God of our Fathers to give to that noble band of executive chief Magistrates of these loyal states, wisdom to dis- cern the path of the nation's safety, and holy energy and cour- age to pursue it, in the face of all difficulties and dangers, till freedom triumphs, and a peace is established on the durable foundations of justice to all men. If my voice could be heard in their presence, I would say: 'In the policy which I have THE PROGRESS OF ANTI SLAVERY 301 pointed out, I see, if not a certainty, at least a hopeful possibil- ity of peace and freedom to our dear country. I cannot discern even a possibility of such an outcome from any other line of policy.' Yours very respectfully and affectionately, J. M. Sturtcvant. CHAPTER XXI. A VISIT TO ENGLAND. The eflPect of the war upon all the institutions of learning in the valley of the Mississippi was very disastrous, and for two reasons: First, it drew the choicest young men of the country from the i)eaceful walks of learning to the camp and the battle-field. For a time many of the colleges were almost without students. In that respect the effects of the war were for the last three years of its duration nearly as dis- astrous as was the French Kevolution to France. Again, the depreciation of the currency which resulted from the Legal Tender Act shattered our finances. The salaries of the teachers had been very moderate before the war, and when reduced in value by a depreciation of the currency to less than fifty cents on the dollar they became entirely inadequate to the support of the teachers and their families. The in- stutitutions had no resources from which to draw for any increase of salaries. For these reasons the period of the war was one of great depression and embarrass- ment to Illinois College. In the winter of 1863 the Senior class broke down entirely, not a single member being left. My duties as instructor were entirely with that class. In this state of things my friend Eliphalet W. Blatchford, of Chicago, a graduate of the class of 1845, proposed to pay my expenses to England on condition that I 302 A VISIT TO ENGLAND 803 would go abroad as a representative and advocate of tlie Northern cause. It was regarded by him and many others as exceedingly imjjortant that no pains should be spared on our part to correct the false im- pressions then prevailing in England and Scotland respecting the principles involved in the war and its relations to the freedom of the negro. I could not hesitate to accept the i^roi^osition, though I feared at the time that my friend had greatly overestimated my ability to render any valuable service on such a mission. Had I known before leaving home the state of British sentiment toward America as I found it during the first fortnight of my stay in England, I should never have consented to undertake the journey. Between the date of Mr. Blatchford's proposition and the sailing of the steamer there was an interval of scarcely ten days, but at the time apj)ointed I was on the deck of the " City of Washington " bound for Liverpool. During those ten days I had a painful recurrance of my inborn aversion to great changes. I had no sooner accepted Mr. Blatchford's generous offer and begun in earnest to prepare for the voyage than I was filled with a most unreasonable dread of placing the Atlantic ocean between me and my native land, and engaging among unfamiliar scenes in a serv- ice which seemed to me so difficult and important. \Yhile on the way to the pier it would have been an unspeakable relief to have turned my face homeward. But T have never yielded to those morbid impulses. On board I found my dear friends Colonel and Mrs C. Gr. Hammond of Chicago, who were to be my fel- low passengers. When the steamer was well under way down the harbor my unreasonable depression 304 JULIAN M. STURTEVAXT vanished, and I felt as light and cheerful as a bird on the wing until I succumbed to a malady that spares neither light hearts or strong wills. When we crossed the bar off Sandy Hook and felt the first swell of the ocean, without the slightest warning I was smitten with a desiderate seasickness that kept me a close prisoner several days. One morning the genial cap- tain sent a delegation, among whom was Col. Ham- mond, to my state=room to bring me on deck. After much hesitation, persistent trials and many failures with the help of a strong man on either side I was taken before the smiling commander, and was finally left by my friends in a comfortaljle spot to breathe the fresh air and sleep. From that time I gradually recovered, and was able to greatly enjoy the latter part of the voyage. Two sights in the last half of our trip particularly impressed me, the first being an iceberg which, though seen from a long distance, plainly revealed the beautiful green color of glacial ice. The second was a burial at sea. The deceased was an English- man who had been among the early immigrants to California, where he had amassed a fortune by many years of toil. He was returning to England, where he exj)ected to enjoy the fruit of his labors. Grreatly prostrated by the voyage, he died in mid=ocean. Nothing could dissuade the captain and sailors from their determination to bury him in the sea. Accord- ingly the body was placed in a rough deal box heavily weighted at the foot, and born to the gunwale, upon which it rested till the captain with uncovered head reverently read the burial service. At the words " dust to dust and ashes to ashes " the sailors standing A VISIT TO ENGLAND 305 with uncovered heads pushed the coffin outward. It assumed a vertical position in the air and instantly disappeared beneath the nii<>hty waters. Meanwhile the enu:ine that was proj)elling us rapidly onward missed not a single revolution. The scene left a most painful impression upon my mind. The length of ocean voyages has been consider- ably abridged since 1863. On the afternoon of the 12th day we sighted the Irish highlands and about sunset off Cape Clear the pilot came aboard. During the same evening we transferred the mails for Queen- stown and continued the voyage. That was a beau- tiful moonlight evening, and I shall never forget the enthusiasm with which my fellow passengers and I listened to American patriotic songs rendered by excellent singers on the deck. We were on British waters, but our hearts were in the beloved land on the other side of the sea. Rising betimes next morn- ning I found the vessel skirting the Irish coast so near, that fields and dwellings could be distinctly seen. The beautiful mountains of Wales were soon in view, and we turned northward into St. George's Channel, In the dusk of the evening we entered the Irish Sea and headed directly for the mouth of the Mersey. When I awoke next morning we were safely docked at Liverpool, and a bright dream of my childhood had been realized. On landing we were amused at our futile efforts to secure a two- horse carriage to convey Colonel and Mrs. Hammond and myself, with our " luggage," to the Washington Hotel. We then learned that there were no such carriages for hire in Liverpool. We had not been long upon the streets before we 306 JULIAN M. STURTEVANT were shocked by the discovery that the whole city was in a state of high excitement and seeming exul- tation over certain reports of serious reverses to the Union army, which had come over on the same steamer with ourselves. Although in the mother country and hearing on every hand the mother tongue, we constantly listened to expressions of sympathy with the enemies of the Union cause. We could hardly believe our ears. This painful experience which continued, though with cheering interruptions, as long as I remained on British soil, filled me at first with discouragement, but a few liberal meals in a good British hotel and a night's lodging in a good English bed restored in some degree my cordial feeling toward my English cousins, and I was j)re- pared to enter with good courage and good temper upon the patriotic undertaking which was before me Few experiences of my life have astonished me more than the representations made by eminent Englishmen with respect to British public sentiment at that time. In adresses that have been quoted in our jDeriodicals, and in speeches I have myself heard, these distinguished men have evidently intended to represent that the great majority of the English common people were during the war decidedly in favor of the Union cause. I am sorry to say that I have never conversed with an observant friend of our cause from this side of the water who was in England in 1863 without finding a witness to the incorrectness of such statements. I x)urpose in this chapter to give from my own observation some illustrations of the symioathy entertained in Great Britain for the South in that crisis in our national history. A VISIT TO EXGLAND 807 Almost immediately upon my arrival I be<2;an to present letters of introduction, with which I had been kindly furnished, to Ensj^lishmen of hii^h standing and known sympathy with the Union. One of these was addressed to David Stuart Esq., a prominent mer- chant of Liverpool, and brother of George H. Stuart of Philadelphia, the well known patriot and philan- thropist. My reception was most cordial. Having been invited to preach on the following Sabbath at the United Presbyterian church of Birkenhead, where Mr. Stuart resided, I accomiDanied the family home to dine. When the couA'ersation at the table turned toward American affairs, I felt warranted by the pronounced and intelligent Union sentiments of my host in expressing myself with joerfect freedom. I was not a little surprised to find among the mem- bers of the family jiresent some who were as intense in their Southern sympathies as was the host in his adherence to the North. I encountered similar div- ision of sentiment in the homes of several other well known English advocates of the Union cause. Such facts magnify America's debt of gratitude to those w^ho were her friends in those dark hours. I arrived in London during the May Anniversaries, and a few days later was invited to a soiree at New College, London, an institution under the control of the Congregationalists. Here as everywhere the general topic of conversation was the " Great Ameri- can Conflict,'' for that was then almost as universal a theme in England as in America. During the evening, in the presence of several leading ministers, the famous Newman Hall, well known and always higly honored in America, uttered these words: "I M» ■!■ HH ■» - 308 JULIAN M. STURTEVANT am for tlie North by all means, but I well understand that you are only fighting for a boundary line. The restoration of the Union is impossible." And he strongly emphasized the last word. I answered, "You perceive, gentlemen, that I cannot reply on such an occasion as this. I need time to define and explain." John Graham, one of the party, at once invited all of the group to breakfast at his house on the next day but one, saying: "We will hear this thing out." All were present at the aj^pointed time exept Mr. Hall, who excused himself on account of an unexpected call to the country. My conversation with him was unfortunately never resumed. Breakfast was served at 9 o'clock. After two hours at the table we retired to the parlor, where the con- versation was continued till after 2 P. M. My posi- tion was that we were indeed fighting for a boundary, but that boundary was the original one, and it would be far easier to reestablish that than to draw across the continent a line that should mark the limits of two separate nations. Such a permanent separation, I contended, could be accomplished only by foreign intervention a method that would prove surprisingly difficult and expensive to any nation possessing the temerity to attempt it. I urged that without foreign intervention, the war must go on till one party or the other was exhausted, when the victor would restore and govern the Union. There was one special reason why the English could not, at that time, understand the issues of our war. I was taught from childhood to venerate England. I love her and her scenery and many of her institutions still seem to me as parts of my dear A VISIT TO ENGLAND 309 native land. But to sjieak the plain truth, deep down in the heart of every Briton there is the assumption of a political sagacity to be found nowhere outside of Albion. DeTocqueville says of us Americans that we are not far from having reached the conclusion that we belong to a suj)erior race of beings, because in our hands alone democratic institutions have proved successful. But, wutatis niufdiKlis, the re- mark would apply with still greater pertinency to the English. They have established and so maintained a limited monarchy as to secure under it a high degree of prosperity and social order, while nearly all other experiments in the same direction have proved signal failures. In the time of which I am writing a major- ity of the Queen's subjects enjoyed the comforting assurance that they alone understood the i^rinciples of free government. Englands liberty is unique. It's like never has ex- isted and never can exist outside of that emj)ire. I admire England's institutions. I venerate her states manship. The conflicts of the past have brought about in her a marvelous balance of forces. The monarchy, the aristocracy and the jpeople have each a place in the system, and the strong conservative ten- dencies of an old and wealthy community are har- monized with the j)rogressive impulses of a singularly energetic race. I believe that the attempt to trans- plant the English idea of a limited monarchy to other lands will alwnys ])rove a disastrous failure. At the time of my visit an American was con- fronted on every side by the claim of political superi- ority. He was really deemed incapable of under- standing or discussing politics, having never been 310 JULIAN M. STURTEVANT taught in the English school. Forgetting England's many civil wars, our cousins assumed that the war of the rebellion proved the essential weakness of our whole system. "The bubble has burst" exclaimed a noble Lord in the English Parliament. " The Great Republic is no more," echoed the London Times, and millions of English voices reiterated the sentiment. Americans argued against this prejudgment almost in vain until our cause had been vindicated by the God of Battles. At an early day I presented a letter of introduction from my much esteemed friend, Dr. Joseph P. Thompson, to Sir Richard Cobden. He received me with every mark of kindness, and ajjpointed an early day to welcome me to breakfast at his house. It was perfectly "unceremonious, none being present except himself, his wife and his daughter. This was precise- ly what I desired. Few conversations in my life have equalled that one in interest and instruetiveness. Mr. Cobden in a conversation of two hours in length exhibited no trace of the prevailing national preju- dice. He placed me perfectly at my ease, and an- swered all my inquiries with the utmost i^ossible frankness and fairness. Greatly to my own astonish- ment he confirmed all the impressions I had thus far formed respecting the attitude of the English people toward the American conflict. I begged earnestly that he would explain it. He replied nearly as follows : "There is nothing unaccountable in it. We are governed by an aristocracy and a State Church. These institutions stand at the head of society and are able to make their influence penetrate far down A VISIT TO EXGLASD 311 into the lower strata. You are governed without an aristocracy and a State Church, aud those who are interested in jjreserving these institutions fear that if you continue to prosper as you have done, the com- mon people will be led to conclude that we also may dispense with these expensive luxuries. They there- fore rejoice to see you in trouble, and those larg^ portions of the English people over whom the aris- tocracy and the State Church are able to extend their influence sympathize with their leaders.' I parted with Mr. Cobden with i^rofound feelings of gratitude for my own and for my country's sake, and full of admiration for his character and his ca- reer. England should be held in everlasting honor for having produced such a statesman. His acquain- tance with the whole history of our struggle and all the princix^les which it involved was most comprehen- sive, accurate and thorough. Xo American knew us better than Richard Cobden. As I was taking my leave he followed me to the door, and looking out upon the street he noticed that it vras sloppy from recent rain. Alluding to the fact he added, " But you will not mind English mud. You are from Illinois." He had previously visited Jacksonville, having come to investigate the affairs of the English colony west of the city, and had floundered in Illinois mud. The soul sunshine of that morning seemed to banish all the shadows that had gathered on my pathway in England, and was worth all the trouble of my transatlantic voyage. I was at first greatly astonished at Mr. Cobden's representation of the influence exercised by the Eng- lish aristocracy upon public opinion. But subse- 312 JULIAN M. STURTEVANf quent observation fully confirmed his views. It is nearly as difficult for an American to understand the position of the British aristocracy as it was for an Englishman to comprehend that Congress had no power to abolish slavery in the United States, a fact that not a dozen English subjects with whom I con- versed could grasp. The circumstance in relation to the nobility which caused me the greatest x>ei"ple'xity was the influence it exerted over the lower classes, and especially over that portion of the common people whose wealth and influence placed them near- est to it in rank. It is my impression that I was not very unlike other Americans in supposing that a commoner, independent in fortune, and a Congrega- tional dissenter in his religious connections, would regard the aristocracy with all its numerous peculiar privileges much as we would regard a privileged class among ourselves. If such sentiments exist in Eng- land they are certainly of very recent origin. While conversing with some of the most intelligent and lib- erahminded Congregational ministers I found it nec- essary to be exceedingly cautious not to indicate in any way my anti^aristocratic feelings, lest the conver- sation should be diverted from American affairs. Any disparaging utterance with respect to the aris- tocracy w^ould at once rally all hearers to its defense, and thus for the time at least exclude America from the discussion. At a delightful social gathering in Bristol I was betrayed into the assertion that England is the most aristocratic country in the world. The earnest but good=natured protest of the entire com- pany soon forced me to retreat as gracefully as cir- A VISIT TO ENGLAND 313 cumstances would permit, although none well versed in English history will dispute the proposition. Aristocracy must be seen and studied to be under- stood. Americans often said in tho.se days: "It is not the English people who are against us, it is the aristocracy." Had they understood the problem bet- ter they would have known that if the aristocracy were against us the great body of the English Church would also oppose us, and the Church and the aris- tocracy combined would carry the British Enii^ire with them. Mr. Cobden's remark was strictly true. The influence of the aristocracy and the State Church penetrate to the lowest stratum of society. We often erroneously divide English society into two great clas.ses. There is Ijut one word that can explain the social order of Great Britain. That word is )'(()ik'. But there are not simply two ranks, there is an in- definite number of them, each quite distinctly and permanently marked. Ancient laws and immemorial usages have created and maintained the privileges of the aristocracy. Custom has done the rest. It has separated the social pyramid into an indefinite num- ber of parallel planes, each stratum rejDresenting a distinct class. Hence it came to pass that the Independents with whom I had most frequent association, some of them occupying i^ositions second only to the aristocracy it- self, seemed more anxious to maintain their own su- periority over the ranks below than to encroach upon the single rank above them. They regarded their superiors with peculiar reverence and affection, and some even cherished the hope of gaining admission to 314 JULIAN M. STURTEVANT the highest rank, if not for themselves at least for their children. This is the only key which can unlock the social problem of England. Reverence for rank holds English society with all its extremes together, and seems to unify the whole. In my numerous conversations on the American conflict I often attempted to confirm the opinions which I expressed upon cognate questions by the au- thority of Mr. Cobden. I found it, however, of little use, for I was almost sure to meet the same reply, em- phasized by a sneer: "Cobden isn't English." True, Mr. Cobden was the father of that system of free trade in which every Englishman then gloried as an honor and blessing to his country, but it was well known that he was not an advocate of the j)erpetuity of the aristocracy and the State Church, and had not the least symjDathy with the Southern rebellion, and therefore even Independents of eminent intelligence were willing to charge him with having abjured his nationality. My excellent friend, President Porter of Yale Col- lege, had given me a letter to a bookseller in London, saying that he was an original character whose con- versation would greatly interest me. In one of our interviews he gave me his history. Just after reach- ing his majority he was left with the care of a wid- owed mother and several brothers and sisters. In or- der to meet their necessities, he cut short his education and immediately became a bookseller. He prospered and educated his younger brother at Oxford and fitted him for the Church. " Now," said he, " that brother will not visit me. He says that I ought not to expect it because I keep this bookstore. It would not be A VISIT TO ENGLAND 315 proper, as we are not of the same rank. One day," he continued, " not long since, as I was on the street, I saw him apiDroaching arm in arm with the Bishoi) of Oxford. Just before we met I heard him say to the Bishop, ' will your Lordship excuse me for a mo- ment while I sjDeak to my bookseller?' He stepj)ed aside and held a brief conversation with me and then rejoined the Bishop. The worst of it," he added, "is that his statement was false, for I am not now and never was his bookseller." Subsequently the same man said to me: " I attend church, and after the con- gregation is dismissed while yet in the church ray ac- quaintances will recognize me in a very friendly way, but afterward on the street they meet me as an utter stranger." I asked him if he attended the Estab- lished church. He replied that he did. "That," said I, "seems very strange, for the Established church is the key=stone of the arch under which you are crushed." He saw the inconsistency but ofPered no apology. I fear that by attending the Established church he won and retained customers. In reflecting upon this conversation his statement seemed almost incredible. I therefore embraced an early opportun- ity to ask i^ersons familiar with the usages of Eng- lish society whether such things could really be true, and was invariably answered, " Nothing is more j)rob- able." This story may shed some light on the con- dition of English society. In addition to that particular cause for English sympathy with the rebellion which Mr. Cobden had so clearly pointed out, there was another lying nearer the surface and to which my attention was more fre- quently called, as it greatly influenced the commer- 316 JULIAN M. STUHTEVAXT cial classes. I can best explain it by relating an inci- dent. At Charing Cross. London, there was a geo- graijhical bookstore kept by ]\Ir. Wilde, a parishioner of Kev. Newman Hall. I often called at this store for American papers, and almost invariably found the proprietor ready for a chat about the great rebelliun. He was a good natured but very j^lain siDoken man, who never hesitated to call things by what he thought to be their appropriate names. In one of these con- versations, he said: "I will tell you the root of the whole difficulty. You are too strong over there and carry yourselves with too high a hand. If we get into any difficulty with you. you must have it all your own way to keep the peace. We think you would be more manageable were you divided into two confederacies. We would then make such commercial arrangements with you as would more largely promote English prosperity." "That," said I, ''in western phrase is 'acknowledging the corn." I heard similar sentiments again and again. High- minded and religious men, even abolitionists, seemed willing to aid in dissolving the American Union at the risk of establishiug a slaveholding republic over its territory. At the time of the American Eevolu- tion England valued her colonies chiefly because they consumed her jDroducts and afforded a more extended field for her commerce. I was previously disappoint- ed to find indications of the same spirit in 1863. In- stead of that loving interest in her scattered children as representatives of English liberty and English Protestantism which I had exi^ected to find in the mother country, I often found an alhabsorbing devo- tion to the interests of British trade. When Enuiand A VISIT TO ENGLAND 317 acknowledged the independence of the United States she by no means relinquished the hope of retaining her commercial supremacy on this side of the Atlan- tic, and that hope, still lingering in her heart, explains her attitude in 1863. "A friend of the North," whom I met at a hotel table in Callander, Scotland, said in very soothing tones, "Oh, I am very friendly to your country, but it is vastly better for you to be divided." I assured him that I appreciated such friendliness at its full value, and, though some such friends were afterwards hon- ored as if they had proved our staunch defenders, it ought to be remembered that we do not owe it to them that America is not cursed to=day with a slave- holding confederacy. All honor be given to the Prince Consort, and to every other true British friend who stood by us at the critical moment when English and French intervention seemed imminent. Strange as it may seem, English and Scotch aboli- tionists, who had fought the battle of freedom in the British Colonies, opjjosed the Union cause. To illus- trate: One bright afternoon while tarrying a few days in Edinburgh, as the sun was hanging lazily above the northwestern horizon, seeming to an eye unfamiliar with such a spectacle to be about "to go around," as Tacitus has it, and not set, I took a long walk into that portion of the city lying west of Salis- bury Crag, which I had not previously visited. On my return about nine o'clock, as the shadows of even- ing were just beginning to settle down uijon the city, I found myself in front of Holyrood Palace. Though I had visited that place before, I felt doubtful as to my most direct route to my lodging o^^posite Sir 318 JULIAN 31. STURTEVANT Walter Scott's Monument. I inquired the way of a gentleman of resi^ectable appearance walking near me. As lie M^as going in that direction and was familiar with the region, he offered to accompany me. He said, "You are a stranger?" "Yes," I rej)lied, "an American." As I had hoped, the conversation imme- diately turned to the American conflict. Said my comrade very sharply, "They are a set of rascals on both sides." I instantly stopped and turned my face toward him. He as quickly halted and eyed me sharply. Said I, " Sir, for you to speak thus of my country in the hour of her trial is a sin against God." He was silent. We paused a moment longer and then walked on. He reopened the conversation in a more tender and gentle spirit, and gave me an oppor- tunity to explain the attitude of Mr. Lincoln and the dominant party toward slavery. We conversed in this strain till we reached the bridge which spans the deep chasm dividing Princess Street from the Old Town, just at Scott's Monument. Here our ways parted, but we lingered and continued the conversa- tion for a long time. He proved to be a prosperous paper manufacturer, and a life long abolitionist. Be- fore we parted he asked me if I would present my views to a j)ublic assembly, and upon being assure I that I would gladly do so, promised to do his best to gather an audience and find some one to preside. I heard afterward of his earnest efforts, which however were unsuccessful, perhaps for want of a suitable chairman. The difficulty with this man was that he had be- lieved, with most British abolitionists, that there was no honest hostility to slavery in the Republican par- A VISIT TO ENGLAND 319 ty. Their ideas were logically deduced from the teachings of Mr. Grarrison and his associates. " Slave- holding," Mr. Garrison had said, "is a sin against God, and is therefore an evil removable only by im- mediate repentance." It was not believed that Mr. Lincoln or any of his party had ever really rexjented of the sin of slavery, therefore they could by no means be admitted into the charmed circle of Eng- lish abolitionism. Had these men known Mr. Lin- coln better they would have realized that he was no more unregenerate in regard to the sin of slavery than was Mr. Garrison himself. If he had ever been in sympathy with slaveholding he had certainly ex- perienced a change of heart, and so had millions of his fellow Republicans. Another incident will further illustrate this sub- ject. I had accepted an invitation to breakfast at the house of a prominent Indei^endent minister, who was not su^jposed to favor the Northern cause, and was seated at the right of my hostess. The host, being at the other end of the long table did not for some time address me, but finally ojaened the conversation with the remark: "That Mormonism in your country is a very horrible system." "Yes," I replied, "but not half so horrible as the system of slavery we are strug- gling to destroy." " Ah," continued he in a tone that seemed to lack sincerity, " if you were only opposing it (IS slavery." Said I, " If anyone will only help de- stroy such a system I will not stop to ask him as to wJiat he opposes in it." The conversation termina- ted there. It was delightful, though somewhat rare, to meet those who were in thorough sympathy with the practical opposition to slavery which was the im- 320 JULIAN M. STURTEVANT pelling force in our great struggle. Notable among these were Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel of London, James Douglas of Cavers, Scotland, Rev. John Brown D. D. of Dalkeith, Scotland, with a circle of excellent peojjle who surrounded him, Rev. David S. Russell and Rev. John Batchelder of Glasgow. All these and a few more that might be mentioned un- derstood us ijerfectly. They knew our history, our principles and our aims, and had no less confidence in the result of the struggle than we had ourselves. But they were by no means popular men in Britain at that time. They were like the witnesses of the apocalypse that proi^hesied in sackcloth. The few days passed in the hosiaitable home of James Todd, Esq. of Dalkeith, were a sunny spot in my sojourn in Britain. It was there I learned to love and honor a Scotch religious home. Had I been a brother or a father they could have done no more to make my stay delightful. Two sons just ap- proaching manhood vied with their i^arents in con- tributing to my enjoyment. My visit of a few days with James Douglas of Cav- ers was exceedingly pleasant and instructive. I had made a little speech at the dinner of the Congrega- tional Union of England and Wales, being a delegate to that body from the American Congregational Un- ion. At the close of the banquet Mr. Douglas intro- duced himself to me and extended an invitation to visit him whenever I should be in Scotland. On my way from Edinburgh to his house I found opportu- nity for a brief visit at Melrose and Abbotsford. The memory of those scenes will be precious as long as I live. A VISIT TO EXGLAND 321 At Hawick I was met by Mr. Douglas with his carriage and driven to his residence three miles dis- tant. Most of this journey was through his own es- tate. Only one who had spent his life in the new world, and much of it on the frontier, can appreciate my impressions as we drove foi- half a mile through that ancient jjark, and paused at last at that mediae- val castle, for such, though modenuzed and im- proved, Mr. Douglas's mansion really was. My re- ception was most courtly and yet very cordial. The family consisted of Mr. Douglas and his estimable wife, and a young gentleman, her brother. A so- journ of four days afiPorded me a delightful impres- sion of British country life. One of the days was spent in a drive with Mr. Douglas to Jedburg. My accomplished host invested the beautiful scenery of the Tweed country with new interest, through his fa- miliarity with all its many historic and literary asso- ciations, and enlivened our excursion by snatches from Scott, both in poetry and prose, illustrating the scenes through which we were passing. These he recited with the greatest fluency and appropriateness. We rambled about the ancient abbey, and visited the quaint dwelling where Mary Queen of Scotts was compelled for a time to hold her little court During my stay at the Douglas mansion I preached at Hawick on the Sabbath, and once on a week day delivered a lecture on the American conflict, at which Mr. Douglas himself presided. The address was well received, not however without some dissent, frankly though good-naturedly expressed to me after the audience had retired. I gladly embraced every oj^portunity while in Great 322 JULIAN M. STURTEVANT Britain to speak publicly in behalf of my country. The truth is that during the war of the rebellion few Americans were granted a public hearing on that sub- ject. Henry Ward Beecher, thanks to his great re- nown, was heard by many thousands, and wherever he spoke the matchless power of his eloquence and the force of his indomitable will swept everything be- fore him. The triumph of his genius has no parallel in modern history, and even to this day his fellow citizens cannot fully appreciate the greatness of his achievements at Liverpool and Exeter Hall. The storm of angry questions which assailed him expressed the very heart of the English masses at that time. An American who had met precisely the same questions in drawing^-ooms, hotels, railway carriages, and in crowded streets, can better than most men appreciate Mr. Beecher's victory. That Mr. Beecher should have been able in those times of excitement to hold his position and control those great crowds by the vigor of his thought, the quickness, appropriateness and sharpness of his replies, and at last to overwhelm his hearers by the fervor of his emotions and the re- sistless tide of his eloquence till he stood before his assailants an unquestioned conqueror, proves him the peer of any man who has ever come to the rescue of his country in the hour of her greatest danger. I preached in a few dissenting pulpits, never, how- ever, with any reference to politics in America or slav- ery in the abstract, and delivered a number of lectures in different joarts of the United Kingdom. In these lectures, and in very many personal conversations, I sought to accomplish as much as possible for a better public sentiment on American aflPairs. No other part A VISIT TO EX(;LAXD »23 of my life has svirj)assed those months in mental activity. I saw much that was both interesting and instructive, but through it all I could never f()r<^et the conflict that imperiled the very life of my beloved country. After my return home I prepared and de- livered in several places in this and adjacent states a lecture on the relations of British opinion to the great rebellion. It was x^ublished under the title of ■' Three Months in Great Britain." I sent a copy of it to Mr. Cobden, at whose suggestion it was repub- lished in England by Thomas B. Potter Es(p, who upon thedeathof Mr. Cobden succeeded him in Parlia- ment. Mr. Potter placed upon the title page Burn's couplet, "Oh wad some power the giftie gie us To see ourselves as ithers see us." I bore several letters of introduction to Joseph Warne of Oxford, who was for many years the Eng- lish correspondent of the New Yorli Indei3endent, and had thus become widely known among the read- ers of that Journal. An American consul could hardly have exceeded him in helpful offices to our countrymen. He possessed the highest equalities both of mind and heart. He was a faithful and intelligent Christian, a pillar in the little Bajitist church which had an ob- scure and almost unrecognized existence in Oxfcjrd. He had never been connected with the University, but by his own efPorts had attained a scholarship and an independence of thought that won respect even in university circles. A man of modest demeanor, sim- ple habits and unpretending manners, he had been for thirty years, notwithstanding the changes of ad- ministration, the postmaster of Oxford, a ijosition 324 JULIAN M. STURTEVANT that far exceeds in imj)ortance and dignity that which is conferred by the same office in mnch larger towns in America. He not only had charge of the city office but also of the minor offices in the adjacent dis- trict, with the ijower of appointing and removing his subordinates. In politics he was a quiet and unob- trusive man, but always an advanced liberal. In reference to the American conflict he was as intelli- gently American in his sympathies as Mr. Cobden himself. It confers no small honor on the British goverinnent that so able and liberal a man should be able to hold such a position undisturbed through so many political changes. Very soon after my arrival in Liverpool I forwarded my letters of introduction to Mr. Warne and men- tioned that I intended to visit Oxford before long. I received a prompt reply inviting me to come at my earliest convenience. A letter to F. Eastman Esq., then American consul at Bristol, elicited a similar response. After attending the May Anniversaries in London I made arrangements to visit first Bristol and then Oxford. My circle of acquaintances so widened at the meeting of the Congregational L^nion of England and Wales at London that I received more invitations to visit difPerent parts of Great Britain than the duties connected with my mission permitted me to accept. Allow me to say in passing that the most i)owerful address at that meeting was delivered by the famous Dr. Vaughn, long the editor of the British Quarterly, and one of the rei^resentatives of English Congrega- tionalism at our National Council at Boston in 1865. Dr. Vaughn was a man of unquestioned eloquence A VISIT TO ENGLAND 325 and literary ability, but it was very apparcnit when I met liim in London that lie had no sympathy with the North in our great struggle. Rev. George Smith, pastor of the Independent Chapel at Poplar, London, was Secretary of the Congregational Union. Though always civil in our interviews, he never failed to give unmistakable indications of his aversion to our cau.se. He also was a delegate to the Council at Boston. He came to America, but hastened at once to Canada and never reported at Boston. I did not w^onder, for in the interval between our meeting in London and the asseml)ling of the Council at Boston the Southern Confederacy had collapsed, and the Union had been reestablished, so that his position in Boston might have proved uncomfortable. I have not seen him since he declared his belief that the restoration of the Union was impossible, and when reminded of North- ern victories, recently reported, replied that the truth of those rex3orts was very doubtful and that should they subsequently prove true it would be all the worse for Unionists in the end. I greatly enjoyed the generous hospitality of Mr. Eastman, our consul at Bristol, and was charmed by the natural scenery of the quaint old town, and esiDCcially by the ancient cathedral whose half ruined walls yet show the marks of the attentions it received from Cromwell's Ironsides. I preached in the Inde- XDcndent Chapel where Mr. Eastman and his family attended worship, and subsequently attended a small social gathering of the congregation. I was happy to find among them some lay preachers who honored the Lord as tradesmen during the week, and rendered good service in pulpits on the Sabbath. The results 326 JULIAN M. STURTEVANT accomplished in England by these lay=preacliers suggest useful lessons to American Congregation- alists. Not a few of the lights of English Independ- ency have found their way to the pulpit and to high influence in the Christian ministry by this very route. Such men often render invaluable services to feeble and pastorless churches. I accej^ted an invitation to preach at Abington Berks, where I was to enjoy the hospitality of a j)rom- inent manufacturer. At dinner soon after my arrival I met a brilliant company of ladies and gentlemen, all strangers to me except the pastor of the church at which I was to preach. I found that my fellow guests, though very good-natured and courteous people, were mostly Southern sympathizers. Eager to make on such a circle a favorable impression for my country, I was watching with keen interest the lively conversation that turned almost wholly on American affairs, when a gentleman, as though he had something of more than ordinary importance to say, remarked: " I have long wondered that the South does not abolish slavery for the sake of procuring from England and France the acknowledgement of their independence. I then laid down my knife and fork and said: " I too have long wondered that Satan does not make up his mind to serve God," A laugh followed, and my neighbor after a minute's pause said: " I am answered." I then explained that the primary object of the South was the perj)etuation of slavery, not the independence of the Southern Confed- eracy, which they valued only as a necessary condi- tion for the enslavement of the negro. I am quite sure my hearers comprehended at that moment what A VISIT TO ENGLAND 327 they had not understood before. A very good audience gave excellent attention to my sermon in the evening. I have never since met any of the acquain- tances formed on that da v. CHAPTER X'Xri. THE CLOSING YEARS. [BY THE EDITOR.] The last chapter stoj^s just where the writer and his amanuensis rested at the close of a certain day, with no premonition that their work was ended. Serious illness jorevented its resumption, and in about three weeks all the hands that had been busy with the book had ceased forever from labor. I take it for granted that the reader will wish to know something of the unfinished story. My father made a short trip to the Continent after his tour in England, and returned home early in September much refreshed and greatly delighted with his journey. He at once resumed his college duties and his Sab- bath afternoon discourses in the chapel. During the following months many congregations listened to a lecture in which he gave his imjDressions of England. In the winter of 1864-5 he was occupied in securing an endowment for the Latin i^rofessorship in Illinois College, of which his cousin, Edward A. Tanner, afterward his successor in the presidency, was the first incumbent. His delight when the war of the rebellion at last came to an end could be appreciated only by one who witnessed the " sacred joy " of all patriotic hearts in those days. His emotions in view of the assassination of his friend. President Lincoln, are expressed in the 328 J> ^ >> \ .i" ■* THE CLOSING YEAtiS 329 following extract from a letter written at Illinois College, Ai^ril 14, to his daughter Miss E. F. Stur- tevant: " What a day! But yesterday we were rejoicing as no other people ever rejoiced. To day we are mourn- ing as no other peojjle ever mourned. This is no assassination of a usurping despot that waded to jjow- er through the Ijlood of his countrymen, but of the truest friend of liberty that ever sat in the seat of au- thority. What these villains intend I know not, and care little, for they will be defeated. But what God intends concerns us more, and that I do not by any means understand. May God strengthen us all to stand at our post in this awful hour! All business is suspended, all places of business are deeply draped in mourning. Thousands are vowing vengeance on what remains of the rebellion; thousands more are utterly paralyzed, overwhelmed with horror and sorrow. Ar- rangements are made for a public meeting of citizens on Monday afternoon in view of this awful tragedy. It sems to me, if anything was wanting to fill up the measure of our hatred of the rebellion and of the cause of the rebellion, this is it. May the Lord tranquilize our spirits and give us faith in Him in this dark hour." In June 1865 he delivered the opening sermon at the National Council of Congregational Churches in Boston. The ojiportunity atforded him great delight and the reception accorded to the discourse, in which he expressed with great earnestness his view of the church, filled his heart with gratitude to God. The controversy with Bishop Huntington which grew out of that discourse was on both sides a fine illustration 330 JULIAN M. STURTEVANT of the candor and courtesy which ought always to characterize theological discussions. The early months of the year 1866 were devoted to efPorts in behalf of the "Sturtevant Fcundation," an endowment for the presidency of Illinois College. He regarded this as one of the most important undertak- ings of his life. He did not wish to make Illinois College a Congregational institution. Neither did he wish to have it managed by a compromise between denominations. In a communication offering this fund to the trustees (after stating that a ijroposition had been made that "action should be taken by the trustees assuring the iDublic that in all future appoint- ments the board of trustees and the faculty shall be equally divided between New School Presbyterians and Congregationalists and the position of president shall be held alternately by these two denominations '' ) he says among other things: "Our conception of the college, which in the early fervor of our youth we united with others in endeavoring to found, was that it should be controlled by sound evangelical men, who could be trusted to administer it for Christ and His Church, and that in administering it they were bound to appoint to the various parts of instruction trustworthy evangelical men of the highest qualifica- tions for their respective departments, and that beyond this they were not to be held resjsonsible for the de- nominational relations of the candidate. We acknowl- edge and keenly feel that the trustees are bound to deal imj)artially with the two denominations. But by impartiality we understand that the prospects of no man for election to any place in the institution siiall be damaged or benefitted by the fact that he belongs THE CLOSING YEAHS 331 to one of these denominations rather than the other." When therefore this fund was accepted upon those terms and his loved and trusted friend, E. W. Bhitch- ford of Chicaj^o, became one of the trustees, lie greatly rejoiced. Nor did the denominational position of the college afterwards cause him serious anxiety. In May, 1869, he received through his friend, Mr. S. M. Edgell of St. Louis, an invitation to participate in an excursion on the new Kansas Pacific railroad. Gen. Custer i^lanned a buffalo-hunt for the benefit of the party. My father with others was driven to the chase in an army ambulance. Among the excursion- ists were Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Fairbanks, at whose delightful home in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, father and mother spent a part of the following summer. In the spring of 1870 he was called to attend the funeral of his most beloved friend, Theron Baldwin D. D. In the summer of 1872 my parents were suddenly summoned from New England to the bedside of their son, James Warren, who had for several years held an honorable i^osition in the general office of the Hanni- bal & St. Joseph R. R. at Hannibal, Mo. His illness proved lingering and painful. He was removed to Jacksonville, where he died May first. 1873. Although very quiet and retiring my brother had mental gifts which in some respects greatly resembled those of his father by whom his death was severely felt. During the latter part of my father's life most of his summers were sj)ent in some cooler climate than that of central Illinois, and during these vacations much of his two books, "Economics" and the "Keys of Sect," were written. In all such work UKjther was his amanuensis and invaluable assistant. 332 JULIAN M. STURTEVANT The following note from the great English states- man, Hon. W. E, Gladstone, is i3reserved for the com- pliment it pays to America, and it mentions some of the work he was doing at that time. 11 C arlton=House=Terrace, S. W March 6, '75 Rev. Sir:— I have to acknowledge your letter of February 10 and the Re- view you so kindly sent me. I shall examine with great interest your article on Church and State. It has been given to America to solve many problems; but there are others in respect to which she will probably have to re- main content with half=solutions. It may be that one of these is that deep subject of the relations between Church and State which it is so difficult entirely to sever from the relations between the State and Education. I remain Rev. Sir, Your faithful servant, W. E. GLADSTONE. Rev. Dr. Sturtevant. During the summer of 1875 my parents, with one of my sisters, visited me in Denver, Colorado. To my surjjrise they insisted upon a camping tour in the mountains, sleeping upon the ground and living entirely in the open air for more than a week. This romantic life they greatly enjoyed, although mother sometimes acknowledged on rising in the morning that " the Rocky mountains were hard." Father's outburst of delight when he saw from Denver the mountains which had been covered with snow during the night was like that of a boy, and his enthusiasm was yet more unbounded when we came suddenly upon the panorama of snowy peaks as seen from Belle- vue. In spite of the recent breaking of his ankle he walked many miles up the mountain sides. One THE CLOSING YEARS 333 Saturday night we camped in a beautiful l)ut very lonely spot in the heart of the mountains. There we slept well, though I had been frightened from my trout fishing that evening within a (quarter of a mile of our tent by the growling of mountain lions among the rocks behind me. Father often afterwards spoke of that Sabbath as among the brightest in his life. In the afternoon we sat in the door of our tent and sang, " Oft in the Stilly Night," recited from the one hundred and twenty fifth Psalm, " They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. As the mountains are round al)out Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even forever," and then sang again, one old hymn after another. In 1876 father resigned the presidency, though he continued to occupy the chair of mental and moral philosophy. It was very hard for anyone so intense and active as he, and so devoted to what he had undertaken, to relinquish any part of his life work; yet he felt the necessity of relief from executive re- sponsibility. He spent the summers of 1877 and '78 in New Haven, going there in April and working diligently upon the " Keys of Sect." He never lost his early affection for Yale, and highly esteemed every opportunity of friendly intercourse with its president and professors. His eastern relatives and friends always gave him a cordial welcome, and his love for them was unabated to the end. In 1879 he remained west and delivered the semi=centennial address at Illinois College. In December 1883 he delivered a historical discourse at the semi centennial of the Congregational church in Jacksonville. 334 JULIAN M. STURTEVANT In February 1884 lie was brought very near to death. To show how he retained his mental vigor I may mention that watching beside him when his ex- treme weakness and emaciation caused me to fear that he would pass away before the dawn of the morning, I found it impossible to restrain him from discussing the most profound and exciting public questions. Only a few days later he dictated from his pillow an article on " The Private Ownership of Land," which was isublished in the Princeton Review of March 1884. During the succeeding summer he visited at seve- ral i^laces in the East, especially with Mrs. Baldwin at Charlotte, Vermont. On the thirteenth of August he had the misfortune to fall upon a rock at Greenwich, Connecticut, and fractured his hip so severely that his friends, and among them some exjoerienced surgeons, believed that he would never walk again. Through a kind providence he was placed in charge of Dr. L. P. Jones, whose skilful and very tender care enabled him to return home with comparative com- fort before the end of October. A few weeks later he was able to walk with the assistance of a cane. In 1885 he was released from all duty in connec- tion with Illinois College. The 26th of July in that year was the eightieth anniversary of his birth. It was arranged by the members of the family that the event should be celebrated by inviting a great num- ber of his old friends to surprise him with letters of congratulation. Nearly all to whom the suggestion was communicated promptly responded with the most gratifying expressions of esteem- and affection. Among them were communications from his former THE CLOSING YEARS 335 colleagues in the work of instruction, his brothers in the ministry, his fellow pioneers, his early and his later pupils and his best4)eloved relatives, and even a telegram from Mr. E. W. Blatchford on the other side of the sea. His neighbors would not allow the day to pass without coming to express in person their esteem for one who had lived in Jacksonville nearly fifty six years. Prof. Rufus C. Crampton was their sj)okesman, and since among all those men of marked intellectual and spiritual gifts with whom father had the honor to be associated no one was more worthy to sj)eak of him here, I embody his remarks, as follows: "To be spokesman for a company like this, on this occasion, would be a pleasing duty to one conscious of ability to give fit expression to the thoughts and memories of the hour. We come to offer you, our dearly beloved friend, what we have little right to expect our friends will offer us, earnest and heartfelt congrat- ulations upon this anniversary which marks the attainment of fourscore years. Although, as we measure time, your life has spanned two gen- erations, yet this generation most properly claims you as its own. For physically your later years have been well=nigh as vigorous as the earlier. Your falls have not been falls from grace, but only instances in which you were subject to the laws of gravitation and inertia. Is it not in these late years that you have seen the unfolding of the plans and hopes of early manhood? You realize now more fully than when it was made,the meaning of that consecra- tion to a grand life work of nearly sixty years ago. Looking back but little more than half that interval of time, I well re- member your visit to my native village on the mountain side in New England, your enthusiasm for the work of Christian educa- tion at the West. The contagion of this enthusiasm led me to become one of the humblest of your co laborers. It is no small •work in which you have borne the chiefest part, to lay so broad- 336 JULIAN M. STURTEVANT ly and well the foundations of Illinois College. Even at present we feebly appreciate its importance. Fifty graduating classes have felt your influence, quickening thought, elevating character, widening mental and moral vision, giving new views of duty and privilege in a life of consecration to Christ, as they have gone out to be leaders of society, Church and State in this great valley of the "West. Future generations will rise up and call you blessed, as tlie man to whom the cause of Christian culture is more indebted than to any other in con- nection with Illinois College, as its name shall be greater and its impress stronger in the midst of a mighty people. In my own experience and contact with men I have had occa- sion to know that, with very many, the college was favorably known through its president, rather than the president through the college. Your well known preeminence and success in the presidency was one of the reasons which made it difficult for several years to find a successor. For twenty=two years I was a member of the faculty while you were our presiding officer. Though during those early years of my professorship there must have been many shortcomings and mistakes more evident to your experienced eye than even to my own, I never received from you any word that left a sting, only words and acts of com- fort and encouragement. "While in the faculty always facile 2)rincej)s, your only desire was to be what your position required that you should he jJrimiis inter 2JO res. For all the stimulus of a noble example, the strengthening of words of wisdom and cheer that I have received in the experience of our personal relation- ship, I most sincerely thank you, and I am sure that in this I shall be heartily joined by all who have sustained similar rela- tions. Yours has also been a leading part in the discussion of the political, economic, social and moral questions of the last forty years. It is great praise to say of a man that he always, even to his latest years, lives in advance of the age; that his ideas and principles are the germs of thought and progress for others, and that only those who come after him will fully realize his ideals. For example, the utterance of twenty years ago before a na- tional council, was it not the crisis of a new departure, a quiet THE CLOSING YEARS 337 but grand movement for completer religious liberty, for inde- pendence from sectarian dictation and control? Have we not already seen great changes, so that there is no denomination of the Protestant churches that does not at least profess Christian union and unsectariau motive? There was demanded on that memorable occasion the voice of one known to be in advance of the thought of the time, even in the most liberal body of churches. The leaven of truth is working and it will leaven the whole lump. Slowly jierhaps, but surely, the churches of Chris- tendom will come to the ideal of a universal, complete brother- hood in Christ. If it could only be in your day! I am aware that it often requires no little courage to tell a man, to his face, before his friends, the plain truth about him- self. But there are times when a part of the truth must be told at whatever sacrifice, at least enough to suggest what the whole would be if it were told. And so your life flows on in this community where you are best known as one whose heart beats in ready sympathy with every true interest of humanity, whose intellect is clear and strong to advocate and defend all truth, whose influence is pow- erful to lead our social, civil and religious activities in the di- rection of a freer life and a larger liberty. And we, a few of your many friends and neighbors, with love sincere, with respect not unmixed with reverence, assemble to offer our greeting in this place hallowed and endeared by all the blessed memories and associations of a Christian home; by the clustering lives and affections of the devoted wife who appreci- ates the true sphere of woman and nobly fills it, and of children and grand children whose younger lives have become a part of your own, and who in return receive into their hearts and minds a pure and holy influence hallowed and endeared even by be- reavement, and the tender recollections of those who have gone before; we meet here to thank you for what we as individuals have received, for what society and Christianity have gained, to rejoice together in a life 'which reminds us, we can make our lives sublime.' Our prayer is that you may long live to enjoy the fruits of your labors, and the pleasure of a Christian home, the best fore- 338 JULIAN M. STURTEVANT taste of the bright home beyond in the mansions prepared for all the children of our Heavenly Father. ' Et serus in coeluni re deas!' " The following is from a letter written soon after these events to Mrs. Theron Baldwin: — My dear Mrs. Baldwin: — The contract into which I entered with my brethren of the "Illinois Association" in February, 1829 was finally terminated on the 1st. of June, 1885, having controlled the greater part of the activity of my life through more than fifty=six years. I cannot help feeling that the results of my life must now be regarded as chiefly in the past. How small they now seem to me I cannot express to you or to anyone; but whether they be really great or small they have greatly depend- ed on the cooperation of your dear, departed husband. How greatly I have missed him and how much I have moui'ned his loss in the fifteen years since he left us I cannot express. How much I have lacked his wisdom in counsel, his cooperation in times of difficulty and conflict, and his sympathy in trials, joys and sorrows! It is a great comfort to me to know that our friendship was a perfectly unselfish one, and that for that reason it was never interrupted by any jealousies, suspicions or aliena- tions. I believe we never for a moment distrusted each other; that we did truly rejoice in each other's joy and bear each oth- er's trials and sufferings. Considering that I have passed the eightieth annual milestone I am vigorous both in mind and body. Since the fracture of my thigh I have not attempted any long feats of walking, yet for short distances my lameness is but trifling. I still intend to try to do some work for the Master. The themes to which I have devoted my attention for so many years, religious, ecclesiastical and social, were never more interesting to me than to=day. I am compelled to think about them as ever, whether I speak or publish upon them or not. Most profoundly do I feel in respect to them all, that "there remaineth much land to be possessed." Especially I mourn that our Congregationalism is still to a very great extent unconscious of its strength and knows not the function which God hath raised it up to perform. It tries me THE CLOSING YEARS 88i) that many consider it only almost as good as other sects, es- pecially as Presbyterianism, instead of recognizing it as God's own instrumentality for breaking all the bands of sect and fus- ing the whole Christian brotherhood into that spiritual kingdom which the Son of Man came to establih-h. In vifcw of this state of facts my soul is sometimes exceedingly sorrowful and ready to cry out, "How long, Lord, how long!" I am not discour- aged. Sect is too mean and hateful a thing to last forever under the government of God. The kingdom of God has the promise of universal dominion. Accept, my dear sister, the assurance of my affectionate sym- pathy with you in all your trials and sorrows, and in all your hopes and joys. I am sure God will be with you to the end. Yours very affectionately, J. M. Stuktevant. As soon as my parents were a little rested after so many exciting experiences, they came to my home in Cleveland, Ohio. The visit which followed seems like a dream; too full of unalloyed felicity for this earth. By common consent we avoided all disagreeable top- ics, all painful memories. I shall never forget those long conversations, especially my father's stories of the past, beautiful in the golden haze of sunset. We talked of our beloved country and of that " mother of us all," yet dearer to his heart, the Church of God. His undiminished interest in all living questions, and his invincible hopefulness as to the issue of all prob- lems, were to me a promise of immortality. One Mon- day I was able to gather in my study and around my table more than twenty Congregational ministers that they might hear him tell how God led him out of the gloom and discouragement of sectarian strife into the clear preception of that simple unsectarian church which he afterwards recognized in the Congregation- 340 JULIAN M. STURTEVANT alism of our fathers. It was partly due to the interest exiDressed on that occasion that he finally promised to undertake this biography. We went to Tallmadge, where he had such a wel- come from old friends as warmed his heart. We vis- ited the now deserted site of the first cabin and saw the chestnut rails "his feeble strokes" had helped to split in 1816. We followed the course of an old road where his parents were once lost. We worshipped in the ancient church, and were even shown the wooden vessel which had held the gallon of whiskey given as a prize for the first stick of timber brought to the spot for its construction. We stood by the graves of his parents while he gave orders for a simple headstone to mark the spot. Every memory seemed beautiful and precious. He was living his life over again, and every scene was touched with the glory of gratitude and the brightness of hope. During his visit in Cleveland he preached several times with freshness and force. The following out- line of his last discourse, transcribed just as he pre- pared it for use, will give some idea of his method of preparation for the pulpit: Luke 18:22 and 19:8, 9. Seeming conflict between the words of Christ in these two cases. Show that this conflict is seeming, not real. Like a true phy- sician our Lord treats each individual case according to its indi- cations. One principle is recognized and insisted on in both cases. That principle is the necessity of entire consecration and it is equally insisted on in both cases. I. The case of the ruler. The principle of the necessity of total abstinence is enforced in the young ruler. THE CLOSING YEARS 841 This principle is not only applicable to the case in the text but to a multitude of others. There is but one way to overcome an inordinate love of money, and that is to give freely of our pos- sessions to promote the welfare of our fellowmen. I once heard Henry Ward Beecher say to his congregation, etc. My brethren, giving to the Lord of our substance is a neces- sary part of worship. II. The rule of entire consecration to the Lord is not in the least relaxed in the case of Zacchaeus. He had shown by his voluntary profession that he could be trusted with the adminis- tration and use of wealth. There is need of accumulated wealth, and the Lord has need of a style of Christian character that can be entrusted with it. Our Lord meant all that he said in the parable of merchantman seek- ing goodly pearls. What is meant by entire consecration. III. The Lord requires this entire consecration not merely from professing Christians but from every man that lives. "The earth is the Lord's " etc. IV. The Lord will punish the withholding of this rightful claim in the present life. In our own hearts. The family. In our posterity. Finally. The blessedness which will follow now and forever from this consecration. Late in September my parents returned to Jack- sonville and father began at once the first draft of this book. Both he and mother seemed stronger than usual. January 4, 1886, he dictated the last para- graj^h as it is printed. The book was not finished. But his training in God's earthly school was almost completed. It remained only to watch beside two dying beds, and stand, strong in faith but fast fail- ing in body, by the graves of two of his loved ones. On Thursday, the 7th, Mr. Palmer returned very ill from Chicago. The two homes were in the same yard, and in times of trouble were one household. The weather was intensly cold. On returning from 342 JULIAN M. STURTEVANT a visit to Mr. Palmer on the afternoon of January 13tli mother was seized with a congestive chill. On Friday she was much worse, and from that time she sank rapidly until the end. Father struggled against despair, sometimes exclaiming, "O my dear wife, you are better! I know you are better!" Though in great distress and often delirious, mother did not forget others. More than once she made an effort to plan what would be for the comfort of the family after she was gone. She charged her daughters to take care of their father, little thinking how brief their opportu- nity would be. When told that she had probably only a little while to live and asked if she was afraid to die, she answered: "No, though I should like to live ten years longer if it were the will of God." Then she began to repeat that inspired liturgy of the dying, the twenty^hird Psalm, and evidently joined in father's prayer which followed, even mingling her own sw^eet voice with theirs when her daughters sang, " How gentle God's commands." All through Saturday night she was painfully " Crossing over, Waters all dark and wide." When the sun dawned on Sabbath morning she had found " Peace on the other side." No one should attempt my father's biography w^ith- out saying something of her who walked by his side for so many years. Even at the risk of seeming too partial to her who was to me all that a mother could be, I shall venture to speak of her character. Her sincerity, good judgment and self-control explained her strong influence in the home. Every child whom THE CLOSISG YEARS 348 she reared remembered single, quiet acts, or brief sayings of hers, which left a life long impression. Once a boy came into her presence wiping the milk and dirt from his clothing and the hot angry tears from his cheeks, as he exclaimed: "I can't milk that kicking cow, and I won't."' None of us knew that mother could milk. We would have been ashamed to see her attempt it. Most women would have had a conflict with that boy. Mother flushed for a mo- ment, and then without the least appearance of haste or emotion took the pail and went to the barn, from which she presently returned with the milk, and without one word oi comment. The boy has never forgotten the mortification of that hour, or the lesson it taught him. Once a wild college lad appealed to her for help in dressing a slight wound, the origin of which he dared not confess. He muttered some- thing, I blush to say, about falling into a brush heap in the forest. Many women would have asked ques- tions, or told father. Mother tenderly dressed the wound, muttering only three words. I can hear them yet: " Singular brush heap!" Her devotion to her household left no room for thoughts of self. Strange as it may seem, I fear that her seeming indifference to her own comfort some- times tempted us to forget it too. Father was so de- pendent upon her cheerful i^resence and tender care that when they were withdrawn he ceased to live. She had five children of her own beside three of us, left by her older sister, and entertained a great deal of company. Much of the time without hired help, she managed to have us all fed and clothed upon a very limited income and without debt. Yet she was Ui Julian m. stuetevant able to teach the children Latin and Mathematics and act frequently as father's amanuensis, and with it all she brightened our young lives with many of those inexpensive pleasures, which add so much to the memories of childhood. During all those years of ceaseless cares and worries not one of her children remembers a moment when her speech or action over- leajjed the self-control which conscience and faith enjoined. Her selfcontrol came not so much from natural placidity as from Christian princixDie which had been strengthened by her habit of choosing each morning a text from the Bible which should be her guide and insi^iration for the day. Once a thoughtless boy sat down with unbrushed clothing upon a delicate white wrap which had been laid for a moment across a chair. An expression of distress and vexation passed over her face, and then she said in very gentle tones: " My son, how could you do that? " An older son, at home on a visit, began to laugh, and when she asked the reason of his merriment replied: "I thought you were going to spoil my boast that mother never said an angry word." The tears, which for a mo- ment she could not restrain, showed that her compo- sure was not the result of natural indifPerence. I cannot say less of one to whom M^e owe so much. The most terrible wounds do not always bleed ex- ternally and so my poor father showed the severity of the shock he had experienced, at first only by his ef- forts to resist its effects. When I reached home a few hours after mother was gone I was astonished at his apj)arent cheerfulness, and I could not under- stand it until I noticed that he gently changed the THE CLOSING YEARS 845 subject whenever we were iiii-linecl to dwell upon his loss. Previous to the funeral, which took pluc-e in the home and was conducted ])y mother's beloved pastor, Rev. Henry E. Butler, the family ijjathered in the south room to look once more upon the face so dear to our hearts. Father stood erect and calm be- side the coffin, and asked the oldest son to offer a brief prayer. Then he said, "This dear hand has written almost all that I have published about the Church," and in a few words commended the same cause to his children. This most characteristic ut- terance, though it veiled feelings he could not trust himself to express, was an illustration of the i^lace which the dear Church of God ever held in his thoughts. The promise, " They shall prosper that love thee," was surely for him. It was soon ai^i^ar- ent that he was making a brave fight to live, though he felt that " without her it was impossible," and ac- knowledged that " to live was to suffer." He began to work somewhat regularly, doing a little on the revision of his book, but generally try- ing to divert his mind with other writing. In the evenings he greeted very cheerfully the friends who called, and listened with pleasure and sometimes with amusement to readings from the "Life of Sam- uel Johnson." He conducted family prayers as usual, and on January 28th, the day of prayer for colleges, iDresided at a public meeting. Of course he was often in the sick chamber next door, and on the first of February did what he could to comfort and uphold his beloved eldest daughter when her hus- band passed to his rest. Tliis second shock affected him greatly. Sunday, February 7th, was a cold, 346 JULIAN M. STURTEVANT clear day. He attended church, and assisted Mr. Butler at the communion table. Many have men- tioned his impressive appearance on that occasion. He seemed so very frail and yet so bright and full of courage that a stranger said, " It seemed like listen- ing to a disembodied spirit." The drift of his re- marks was that the aim of Jesus Christ and of Chris- tianity was to lift men up and this we must do by holding up Christ. Nothing else is worth living for. The next day he looked a little more feeble. He had taken a slight cold, which he felt was the begin- ning of the end. His physician saw nothing alarm- ing in the case, at least nothing but his depression of spirit. The next day he had evidently failed, but the doctor could find no evidence of disease. On Wed- nesday it was plain that he could not last long. That evening those of the family who were in the house gathered around his bed; the twenty=third Psalm was read, and his youngest son offered prayer to Him who alone can uphold us in such an hour. Most of the night he was wakeful. Over and over again he said as if leaning on the words, " Thy rod and thy staff," and once he said, " O my son, you have no idea of the j)rostration of dying." As the day began to dawn a sudden change passed over his face, and in a few moments he was gone. It seems wonderful that a form so slight and a constitution seemingly so delicate could have en- dured eighty years of almost constant activity. Among the multitude who gathered at his funeral there were few, if any, who were in Jacksonville as early as 1829. Very few were left who could tell the changes of that region in those fifty-six years. The THE CLOSING YEARS 347 great trees ou the college campus, many of Iheiu jjlanted by his hands or inuler his direction, and ah-eady rivaling iu size the mouarchs of the original forest which occupied a part of the site, were fit types of the institutions which he had seen jjlanted and reared in the state of his adoption. From the old home his body was reverently borne to the Congregational church where the principal address was delivered by the eloquent and beloved Dr. Tru- man M. Post, himself so soon to pass away. Dr. Post was one of the early professors of Illinois College, an honored pastor of the church, and father's lifedong friend. Representatives of the churches, the college and the community also made tender and appropri- ate remarks, and then father's remains were laid to rest in the beautiful Diamond Grove Cemetery with those of his kindred and his many friends of earlier years. Of my father's f)ublic life and influence it is not for me to write. To his own household he seemed remarkable for his earnestness. To me, in my child- hood, that trait of his character seemed positively awful. I never knew anyone to whom duty seemed so sacred or the service of God so glorious and joyful a reality. He realized what so many of us try to feel that he and all that he had belonged to God. If he ever refused to give to a good cause it was with evi- dent pain and oidy because some other duty seemed to forbid. In the midst of his great struggle to maintain the college, when his household had known for many months the real meaning of jjoverty, he received what seemed to us a large sum for some extra service as a preacher, and came to tell us, his face radiant 848 JULIA N M. STVRTEVANT with delight, while visions of needed supplies rose before us until he added, as if giving the best news of all, " and that will ijay for those repairs on the College Chapel." The lesson was severe but salutary for us. His honesty included not only uprightness in business, but absolute fairness alike to friend and foe. A debt temporarily incurred weighed on him almost like a disgrace. Once, many years ago, I noticed that he was greatly troubled about a horse he had recently purchased, and I tried to comfort him by the assurance that the animal seemed to me an excellent one and quite worth the price he had paid " My son," said he, " that is not what troubles me; I fear I have not paid enough for her." Once a fellow citizen who had done that which so outraged his strong sense of justice that, as was his way in such cases, he seldom mentioned the man's name (perhaps because the subject was painful to him), was accused of serious wrong doing and made the subject of public investigation. Father, while reading his morning paper one day, suddenly ex- claimed, " They are doing injustice. I can not stand that." He promptly addressed a note to the gentleman, suggesting that, if his testimony would serve the cause of justice nothing which had taken place need hinder his being summoned as a witness. His offer was of course promtly accej^ted. Father's religious life was emotional; but neither he nor those who knew him best ever thought of it in that way, because it was far more than anything else practical. His prayers were by no means formal or stereotyped, but certain expressions did often THE CLOSING YEARS 3-19 recur and were uttered in tones which expressed very strong emotion. He would say in the chajjel, "Grant Lord, if it be thy will, that this institution may be a copious fountain of blessing to many generations. But whether it is copious or not, may it at least be pure." He would pray in his family, " Lord, grant that, whether we are rich or poor, honored or forgot- ten, no child of this family may be found fighting against God or become an enemy of His kingdom on earth." May those prayers be fulfilled in all the future of Illinois College, and to the very last generation of his descendants. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA B S936S1 C0D1 JULIAN M STURTEVANT NEW YORK I I I I I III I III 3 0112 025408953 "'. A'/r 1 A''"r jMfAl 4< , 'i^i*'? ; ' i ■ ■^■r'' 4:a 'i;' ^ifi'iiililiiiii^S