YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 04596 6968

A MEM

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

1 t>!b

-f

H r\ 1/ OS Q, rt ,

A * >*- *ir. £^fiLcy ^ u,-h. J***,*
Pa/SHi^ai,/ tfTTAiHib W/AiSti|r ^o
tuASHtHf rot/ i^LLj r.sV, (i/^j' /W
CcMKHSie/J 'Svi ¦S4*«Nrt**iH ¦&/{ .
<r Ran-, >& li ¦ QcorroN ti/toKi" j To/S^i.
/f i ^o t*/. fe^S r S /»a>6»?. <*¦* "f
riimilSlo/v/ /IS-tN-r <~(J»i? * U rT"»"'
JTujEfT;). <P£T. To U.J aw tu^Vy «f"
/^AM/v,* » CrH<r4£-ji .'V /J-»-fe,v /A/
•Tv>\ttr It I b "<S)T$0 HIS fKieNO.
Wm UlLUli 1 H£ tlSTii&MPi or
/'MrMNfl. Aftftille'l CAltatlHIz f-
, fiA-<e-H r e* n »r -?i>xrt>n 4tAtaten,4
f*OH,TlA Hi, Am litHJtfill 0\f- ft-fi."
WMrt&S OF N£~hi OilL£'AM$^
MC uj* S A.-J 6$.'$-iN*ve«i'.+ l»M(-
taeeTeni. CF THt PAHA>rn(\ ft (i .
Co. Cvnsuc at i-'tyA fse-v, ttiS~-
rt\tti&L.y ¦JitH v.-.-.." cf dories or
&£H-) (SC<J<rcl\i. tirrtfts AY/fc
iff.1 PeTlvviA-ti #FP4i*Z ti-3t)
fN Ifrt-o a^cA>~,e 1 pAtfTHtrn tP '
Also** 1 Ce- Atyc. •+ ui tus-I yeA ti
/N li-nt- QCeAmg- sie-enr rati
Cpi/Anje iM~y,S- fo H. f€- i^u * it, r*
v (J»imi*w tff* v&k" /ne fin .
P(/ft SAV-tf<f-f'J' lb *£*(¦/., £~&-
AlfllJCr*'' 'fr^-T. W,TW t<»T<r/t OS
'w 'f V&> /JtcuMs, sole 'tt£/ir
for\ Pg- ^u si/am eiMtit 1 a^i/M/yji/i .
ft A il. S TtTAl* SHI ii c a /<v rf-fp
f rpusffi//), CXS'Tl iZEr> r"rt em
(ttri'f Ou J • /f i"<» . f*vit. r
/'>AAItii>W AT T* ,1!/Sy r«wiv, .n/./.

'''¦"."WP^fc^^

^^c r J. w . /3.

T A /V sr 1*1 « i; '* «F H'S ic'rJ-et'Hi
fltiNTet He «<' ,
i'r<r terrtti pr?*>H t«./n. wut-u
f> lot- l»T (A i'ji rj'ottht /*//
HAOtlHtlrl -i HIS 'ioyHot"'

' \

/?06~-

A MEMORY.

BY

W. S. W. RUSCHENBERGER.
¦ <•

EDWIN BARTLETT

DIED AT ANNANDALE, N. Y.,
SEPTEMBER 10, 1867.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Co ^ U Hi S

' l( ,,'liC'i.

P H 1 L A a el i-ii 1 A . 1 i*6 <-•' J

Grant, O Lord ! that in all our sorrows
HERE UPON EARTH, WE MAY STEADFASTLY LOOK UP
TO HEAVEN, AND BY FAITH BEHOLD THE GLORY
THAT SHALL BE REVEALED.

Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall
rest upon thy holy hill?
He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteous
ness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who
hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn
deceitfully.

A MEMORY.

A traveller's track upon a chart is surveyed with
interest, even where the traveller himself is unknown.
And those to whom he is allied by ties of kindred, love,
or friendship, are seldom weary following the trace of
his course from place to place on the earth's surface.
Still more alluring and instructive to the intelligent, is
even an outline of the career of a man who achieves
distinction, and at last, in maturity of years, changes
his abode to another world, without having enacted
anything in this life which his dearest friends can wish
to be forgotten.

A MEMORY.

Edwin Bartlett was born in the town of Haver
hill, Essex County, Massachusetts, December 22, 1796.
He was one of a family of fifteen children by the same
parents, and the second son and eighth child of the
Hon. Bailey Bartlett and his wife, Peggy, who was a
daughter of John White, jr., a well-known citizen of
the same town, and a direct descendant from William
White, who was born 1610 in Norfolk, England. He
landed at Ipswich 1635, and in 1640 removed to Haver
hill ; he was one of the grantees named in the Indian
deed of the town, dated November 15, 1642.
The Hon. Bailey Bartlett was born in Haver
hill, January 29, 1750. He was a son of Enoch
Bartlett, of Haverhill, whose fathers were of the
earliest settlers of Newburyport, Mass. His maternal
ancestors were among the principal inhabitants of
Haverhill in 1697. Bailey Bartlett was a friend and
associate of John and Samuel Adams, and was with
them at Philadelphia in July, 1776, when the Declara
tion of Independence was first proclaimed. He was a
member of both branches of the legislature of Massa
chusetts, of the State Convention which adopted the
Constitution of the United States, and of the Conven-

A memory.

tion of 1820 to amend the Constitution of Massachu
setts. Governor Hancock appointed him sheriff of
the county of Essex in July, 1789, and he held the
office from that date, with the exception of a few
months, until his decease, a period of about forty
years. He was elected a member of the Congress of
the United States in 1797, and served four years credit
ably to himself and satisfactorily to his constituents.
He was married November 21, 1786, and died Sep
tember 9, 1830, in the eighty-first year of his age.
His reputation for integrity, honor, urbanity, piety,
and generous hospitality, as well as for charity to the
poor, was early established and ever maintained by the
uniform propriety of his conduct. He was always a
critical reader of the best books. His demeanor in
the domestic circle endeared him to all ; no member
of it ever heard angry expression from his lips, nor
was a selfish action ever ascribed to him.
Mrs. Bartlett was born March 2, 1766, and died
October 14, 1831. The memory of her benevolent
character is still affectionately cherished by all who
knew her. She was distinguished for personal beauty
and piety, as well as for those qualities of mind and
heart which constitute the attractiveness of a refined

10 A MEMORY.
and lovely matron. She made her house a happy
home for her husband and their many children,
and a centre of social attraction to their numerous
friends. Edwin Bartlett inherited the excellent characteristics
of both his parents, and under their kindly influence he
was bred. He studied the rudiments of knowledge in
the schools of Haverhill, until he had completed his
fourteenth year. He preferred the study of mathe
matics to any branch taught him. When he was
scarcely thirteen years old, and so small that his feet
did not reach the floor as he sat on his bench, the
teacher assured his father there was no use in instruct
ing him longer in arithmetic because the boy knew all
he could teach him; and the principal of a private
school, in which he was pupil about one year, regarded
his remarkable devotion to study to be indicative of
future distinction in the field of science and letters.
At this early period of his life the principal of the
firm of William Jarvis & Co., then a well-known
American commercial house established by him in
Lisbon, in 1802, when he was Consul of the United
States at that port, invited the school-boy to take a
position in the establishment to learn the way to be a

A MEMORY. I I
merchant. Stimulated no doubt by the thought of
realizing the hope of crossing the seas and visiting
foreign lands, an aspiration common to intelligent
youths, he accepted the proposal after winning the
reluctant consent, or, rather, acquiescence of his
parents, especially of his mother, whose tender affection
for her son made her averse to be separated so widely
from her dear boy, for whom she had designed a
collegiate course, and a career in the church or in some
learned profession.
Strongly imbued with the virtues which character
ized his exemplary home, but with no other mental
equipment than had been obtained in the schools of
Haverhill, then containing about 2500 inhabitants, he
was confided to the guardianship of Dr. Bates, who
was to engage as one of the firm of William Jarvis &
Co. They sailed from Boston April 11, 181 1; but
Mrs. Bates became so ill that, impelled by a dread that
she could not reach Portugal alive, Dr. Bates transferred
her and himself to a vessel spoken at sea on the 13th
or 14th, and returned to Boston, leaving his ward, then
little more than fourteen years old, to determine
whether he would turn back or proceed alone and
make his way in a foreign land among strangers, of

12 A MEMORY.

whose language he was then totally ignorant. He
decided to go on. He reached Lisbon after a passage
of four weeks, about May ioth, and remained there
three years and eight months, devoting all time not
occupied in the affairs of the counting-room to study
and general reading. Mr. Jarvis had withdrawn his
interests from the firm bearing his name, and returned
home in the autumn of 1814.
In January, 1815, Mr. Bartlett left Lisbon, and, after
a passage of forty-four days, arrived at Philadelphia,
whence he speedily reached Haverhill from which he
had been absent about four years.
He was under a promise to return to Portugal after
the close of the war betwixt the United States and
England, to be interested in a new commercial house
established in Lisbon, and to fulfil this engagement he
sailed from Boston, August 26, 181 5, on board of the
brig Julia, Master Tristan Luce, and, after a very
boisterous voyage of twenty-eight days, the vessel
being once in peril, again arrived at Lisbon September
23d. His journal contains a graphic description of the
dangers encountered, as well as of the discomforts of
life at sea a half century ago. He wrote —

A MEMORY. 13
"On the ist of September, at 6 A.M., the gale
having increased to a perfect hurricane, the captain
ordered the vessel to be scud before the wind under
bare poles ; but there being a very heavy cross sea, and
the vessel being in great danger of upsetting by broach-
ing-to, she was again hove-to under bare poles, the
wind blowing tremendously heavy. While lying-to,
that part of the deck load which was on the lee side
was cut away and thrown overboard to lighten the
vessel, the greater part of her deck being under water.
Thinking the vessel in danger of upsetting, she lying
most of the time on her beam-ends, with the water
over the lee rail and up to the foot of the masts, and
the lee yard-arms being frequently under water, the
captain cut away the maintop-gallant back-stay in
hopes that the mast would go overboard, and that the
brig would right; but this not being the case, and as
the deck-load was all off" to leeward and the yawl
washed from the deck, the vessel made better weather
and the mast was saved. Although the vessel leaked
very little she shipped so much water on deck, which
ran down the different hatches, that three men were
constantly employed at the pumps during six hours.
" Notwithstanding all the sails were handed and

14 A MEMORY.
furled as strongly as possible, the gale was so tremendous
that wherever the wind could find the smallest opening
between the yard and sails, the sails were blown to
pieces. The main-topsail had been carefully furled
to the yard, having been previously close-reefed, the
wind forced the sail from the yard and split it to
threads. * * * *
" To form an adequate idea of this gale a person
must have been an eye-witness to the destruction dealt
around. A man may read of a battle where thousands
of his fellow-men were slain, with perfect sang-froid.
He may also read an account of a shipwreck, or of the
distresses of mariners in a storm, with calmness and
composure; but if he can view a vessel in the situation
of the Julia for a few hours on the first instant, without
feelings of horror and alarm, he must be a stoic indeed.
God grant that I may never be a witness to such
another scene."
The ravages of this gale are somewhat humorously
described in his record made September 22. He
says : —
" Indeed, it is high time we had made some port,
as our locker-furniture is very much reduced. The
following is an inventory of its contents for six persons

A MEMORY. 15
who eat in the cabin. Four half-pint mugs; two of
which have been broken and the pieces lashed in with
rope-yarns, which give to whatever is drunk out of
them a fine tarry taste. The bottom of an old salt
cellar filled with dirty wet salt from the beef-barrel;
four large iron spoons which serve for soup, tea, coffee,
and chocolate, or rather for articles that pass on board
under those names ; four plates, and one-half ditto,
which is used to put butter in. It appears, by the
different reports we have had, that there were once on
board two or three tumblers and a few cups and
saucers, as well as teaspoons, none of which, however,
are left at present. I had forgotten to include in the
foregoing list of cupboard articles an old tin pot, once
made for a coffee-pot, but now without handle or top,
which is used for coffee and tea. For a table we have
some barrels laid on the bilge on the cabin, floor, where
an old topsail is spread for a table cloth, around which
we sit or rather lie down and eat. I had brought from
home a small glass tumbler of cranberry-jelly, and the
tumbler was soon put in requisition, it being the only
piece of glassware on board; but, unfortunately, it got
broke about a fortnight since. My friend Willis also
had a small pot or mug of currant-jelly, and after we

I 6 A MEMORY.
had consumed part of the jelly, and lost the remainder
by the pot being upset, said pot was put into the
cupboard, and is one of the four vessels first enumerated
in the foregoing inventory. Having in the gale of the
first instant lost our fowls, the remainder of our fresh
provisions was soon consumed, being only eight ducks,
and we are now without anything fresh on board.
Our water not being of the purest quality I have ever
seen has now a fine flavor which may very well please
a connoisseur, but I must confess that absolute necessity
alone would induce me to drink it. In addition to
this flavor every pint has, at least, a wineglass of
sediment in it. Instead of representing our situation
worse than it really is, I have certainly given but a
faint idea of it. One or two days more will, I trust,
find us in Lisbon, where, at least, we can get a whole
mug to drink out of, and a" cup for coffee, as also a
table to eat from and a chair to sit on. We had two
chairs, but the rolling ofthe barrels about the cabin, on
the first, broke them to pieces. I might have said
something of our mouldy bread, but it being sweet and
free from worm-holes is still passable."
The observant disposition of the boy is manifested in
an experiment he made to ascertain the depth in the

A MEMORY. 17
sea to which light penetrates. In his record of Sep
tember 9, 1815, he says: —
"It being perfectly calm and the water remarkably
clear, I had the curiosity to sink a piece of canvas,
about 15 inches long and 4 wide, to the depth of 20
fathoms [120 feet], which at that great depth could be
so clearly seen that its shape was plainly distinguished.
From its appearance at that depth I should suppose it
could have been seen at least 10 or 15 fathoms deeper;
but not having a longer line than 20 fathoms, was un
able to see at what depth it could be discerned."
On arriving at Lisbon he was much annoyed by the
Portuguese custom-house formalities, which were then
a barrier to the diffusion of knowledge among the peo
ple. In his own account of his trouble there is a por
trait of his young mind — he was not yet nineteen years
old — to which attention is invited. He wrote : —
"I have not till this moment been able to get my
baggage on shore, it having been overhauled in the
custom-house, and all my books, about fifty, stopped to
be examined by officers appointed from seven different
departments. The trouble and anxiety I have had
about these books, have in a great measure taken away
the pleasure of being once more on terra firma, where
3

l8 A MEMORY.
there is at least a greater variety of objects to attract
one's attention than at sea. Did this end the trouble
about my books, I should now feel happy in having got
through it; but far from it. If I should be so fortunate
as to obtain them in a month, I may think myself very
much favored, and then at a heavy expense. Were not
some of them presents from my friends, and conse
quently invaluable to me, I would not hesitate to let
the Portuguese take them ; but, feeling very unwilling
to part with so many pledges of friendship, I shall use
my utmost exertions to obtain them. It appears that
the law relative to the importation of books is, that
they must be examined by persons appointed from
seven different offices; or rather, the books must go
through seven different offices of inspection before they
can be delivered; and it sometimes takes a whole year
for a few books, and oftentimes the books are detained,
they giving as a reason that they are not conformable
to the tenets of their religion."
He paid a moidore to the guard to procure the deli
very of the books without delay, but, he writes —
"What was my surprise when I learned that Mr.
Guard had been dismissed from office the day before,
perhaps on account of trying to get my books through

A MEMORY. 19
without the necessary inspection. This gave me a
great deal of pain, to think I was the cause of his dis
missal and probable punishment in a severe manner, if
anything was proved against him ; but, fortunately, he
had cleared himself soon after, and was again on duty.
From this check I found him unwilling to go on as he
had agreed, and my moidore was spent for nothing.
Had my object been to save any duties, and had I been
thus perplexed, I could only have blamed myself for
my folly in endeavoring to wrong the Portuguese go
vernment; but this was not the case; I only wished to
get my books on shore with as little trouble as possible,
they being subject to no duties whatever. Therefore I
can easily acquit myself of any sinister motives, and
feel in my own conscience that my motive for doing as
I have [done], ought not to give me uneasiness or reflect
anything to my dishonor. I did not like losing the
gifts of many friends, and felt willing to sacrifice that
respect due to the laws of any country where we may
reside, for the sake of obtaining my books without their
being overhauled by a parcel of ignoramuses who, per
haps, will take every figure in these books, which treat
of geometry and philosophy, for a symbolic censure or
burlesque of the Roman Catholic religion. O tempora,

20 A MEMORY.

O mores! What superstition ! Is it possible any nation
will enforce ignorance on its subjects by prohibiting
the free circulation of useful books? After this I
should not be surprised if they found in the Odyssey
(which is among my books) something against their
religion, although it was written long before Christ.
Never did I feel as much vexed against the Portuguese
as at present."
There is reason to suppose that the books in question
were never delivered to him.
Several weeks were passed in considering the then
present condition and future prospects of American
commerce at Lisbon, with a view to determine whether
it was proper to establish himself permanently at that
port. He visited Cintra and other points of interest in-
the neighborhood, carefully observing, and recording
his opinions of what he saw. He seems to have given
much attention to the characteristics of those with
whom he came in contact, as if endeavoring to learn
how to estimate men justly. Speaking of the "Galle-
gos" — the Gallician porters of Lisbon — and their honest
thrift, he wrote, October 25, 18 15 —
"Oh Honesty! thou art not peculiar to the rich, nor
are the rich peculiarly honest ! I had rather see an

A MEMORY. 21

honest pauper than a rich rogue; and I sincerely believe
that the honest Gallego takes more pleasure in the
enjoyment of the few hard-earned dollars he is enabled
to carry to his own country, which he has obtained by
the sweat of his brow after an almost slavery of twenty
years, than the richest man in Christendom can possibly
do amidst bags of gold, unjustly taken from those whom
he calls friends, even at the very moment he is picking
their pockets."
Having anxiously compared the reasons in favor of
and against his remaining in Portugal, he deliberately
determined that he would best promote his interests by
returning home. "I shall therefore," he wrote in his
journal, "take up my march and endeavor, by some
other honest means, to insure myself while young, some
thing that will make me comfortable when old age
shall overtake me. My greatest ambition would be to
enjoy in my own country a decent competency, and to
be placed in such a situation that poverty and hunger
may not daily stare me in the face. This I trust I shall
be able to do, notwithstanding my prospects in this
place appear to be cut off, by an almost total suspension
of commerce between this country and the United
States, without a possibility of its being renewed in

22 A MEMORY.

such manner as to hold out sufficient encouragement
for me to stay."
His friends having released him with some reluc
tance from his written engagement to remain, he em
barked on board of the ship Thorn, Captain Holmes,
and sailed from Lisbon November n, 1815, "without
one pang of regret." Thanksgiving day, November
23, was celebrated in sight of the island of Madeira.
After a tedious passage of j$ days, he arrived at Nor
folk, Va., January 25, 18 16, but, owing to the slow
rate of travelling at that time, it was not until the
evening of February 16th that he had the "indescriba
ble pleasure" to find himself once more in his happy
home. His holiday was of short duration. Almost imme
diately after his return he was appointed a clerk in the
counting-house of Mr. Samuel Parkman of Boston.
There he passed his leisure in a circle of ladies and
gentlemen who pursued literature as an amusement.
This set included Miss Burley and Washington Alston,
to whom he was strongly attached. In subsequent
years the happiness of that period of his life was often
mentioned with satisfaction. During that time, about
twenty months, his journal seems to have been sus-

A MEMORY. 23
pended; but some of his contributions to the evening
entertainments of a literary club, of which he was a
member, have been preserved. The following is a spe
cimen, probably not the best, of his verses written on
the theme —
" The world, they say 's a world of woe ;
But that I do deny." — Moore.
Let philosophers prate and stoics deride
At pleasures they never have known ;
Whose ossified hearts have ne'er been allied
To aught they could claim as their own;
Whose bosoms are strangers to care-killing mirth,
Whose morbid affections declare
That the Goddess of Pleasure is exiled from earth
And her place is usurp'd by Despair:
Who would dash every moment of bliss we enjoy
With the poison of stoical whim,
But allow every bubble of woe to annoy
And fill up life's cup to the brim :
Who never have sail'd on the ocean of Love,
On the pillow of Friendship reclin'd;
Whom not e'en the wine-cup of glory can move
To enjoyment their obstinate mind.
But one who of life wreaks not the alloy,
Nor broods o'er-his sorrows and woes,
Supported by- Hope, in a triumph of joy,
Will laugh at such stoics as those.

24 A MEMORY.
If pleasures substantial are vanity's dream,
We at least can look forward to bliss ;
And whenever Hope's rays through our sorrows shall beam
We '11 revel in blessings like this.
Referring to this period of his life and to his taste
for literary pursuits, he says in a letter, dated New
York, Nov. 4, 1826: "Several years ago I corresponded
frequently and freely with a valued friend, now plea
santly settled in Ohio, and one rule of our correspond
ence was to fill a page with original poetry. It was a
foolish bargain which he soon violated, but I have
never doubted that I derived from it a considerable
advantage in acquiring a more correct knowledge of
my own language. To preserve the rhyme and metre
of verse we were often compelled to search for words
that we were not familiar with, but whose places could
in prose be readily supplied by others of different mea
sure. He who writes smoothly in verse cannot but
compose well in prose, as he who has been taught to
dance to music walks with ease and gracefulness. I am
not vain enough to suppose that I have done this in
my foolish attempts in verse, but I have learned enough
to know that I might have been profitably taught by
pursuing the course I began. I went only far enough

A MEMORY. 25
to discover my errors, but I stopped before they were
corrected. Had I consulted my inclinations alone in
early life I should have made books my study as well
as amusement, and embraced one of the learned pro
fessions; but at the age of fourteen I was placed at a
counting-house desk, where all fond visions of a youth
ful imagination were lost in the dull realities of com
mercial records. For five years I was almost without
books. Homer and Shakspeare were almost my only
companions in my hours of retirement. I was begin
ning to lose my relish for literature when circumstances
again brought me to a country of books. This revived
my taste, and for two years I enjoyed an intellectual
feast. The waywardness of commercial enterprise
again called me abroad, and I have since led too
vagrant a life to pursue to any advantage my taste for
books. Study can only become useful and agreeable in
the quiet and leisure of a settled life. The mind be
comes too much distracted by the rapidly changing
scenes that crowd upon a traveller to engage itself
intently upon any subject. Before a habit becomes
fixed a change of circumstances renders its pursuit im
practicable ; but I have always looked forward with
the fondest hope to the time when I could resume in
4

26 A MEMORY.
the quiet of domestic life my favorite employment,
and I cannot express to you, Caroline, the heartfelt
delight I have experienced in finding how much that
pleasure will be enhanced by meeting in you a corre
sponding relish for such pursuits."
He embarked on board the ship Cumberland, John
Orum, Master, and sailed from Boston for Charleston,
S. C, November 5, 18 17, and arrived there on the
30th. His journal was resumed. He writes: "I resign
present pleasures and immediate enjoyments. If I
know my own views, they are not extravagant, nor is
my ambition great. Should I by honest industry be
enabled in the prime vigor of life to acquire a sufficient
competency of this world's goods to secure me from
want, to assist the needy and unfortunate, and protect
and aid those who may in the course of Providence
rely on me for support, my utmost ambition will be
gratified and my most sanguine hopes be fulfilled."
The month of December was passed in Charleston.
While there he attended at churches of different de
nominations twice every Sunday, but heard no preacher
whose efforts, in his opinion, merited admiration.
The anniversary of his birth seems to have been
through life a day for retrospection.

A MEMORY. 27
He wrote, December 22, 18 17: "This day com
pletes my twenty-first year and emancipates me from
legal infancy. Custom has made it a season in which
men generally enter into new scenes and more respon
sible situations ; but to me, who have so long been
indulged by the kindest of parents in the employments
my own inclinations suggested, and who have so far
enjoyed the confidence of my friends that they have
acted with all reliance upon my word that I could
not bind myself to fulfil, it is only a season for review
ing my past life that I may endeavor to correct its
errors, and for seriously reflecting on the uncertainty of
futurity, that my mind may be fortified against the se
ductive illusions of hope."
After some reflections on the happiness of school
days compared with those of mature life he says :
"Still I have been comparatively happy. My first
fourteen years were spent under the roof of the best of
parents, and with brothers and sisters whose affection
was only equalled by the indulgence with which we
were treated. In such a situation I could not but be
content; but the happiness of youth is at best but neg
ative. We are only so because we are not unhappy.
Before the mind has expanded, it is incapable of appre-

28 A MEMORY.
dating true happiness or of feeling acute pain. It is
true a child may be pleased with a rattle and grieved at
its loss; but intellectual bliss and sympathetic sorrow
can be known only to the matured and cultivated mind.
At the age of fourteen I left this pleasant home for the
purpose of obtaining a mercantile education at Lisbon,
in the counting-house of Wm. Jarvis & Co. The
friend under whose protection I sailed was obliged, two
days after we left Boston, to leave the vessel with his
wife in consequence of 'her sickness, and they were put
on board of another vessel bound to Boston. I was
thus at an early age, without one friend who felt any
interest for me, in a new and unpleasant situation; but
I persisted in my intention of going on alone. At Lis
bon I was received with kindness, but I soon found
that I was from a parental home.
" In looking forward to future years I see many evils
to encounter, and hope that much happiness is in store
for me. To expect unalloyed happiness is folly, and
disappointed hopes aggravate calamities. In navigating
the tempestuous ocean of life, some of its foaming bil
lows must break over my bark; and I may sink beneath
their weight: but many may be avoided by a careful
watch and skilful management. Reason should guide

A MEMORY. 29
its helm ; justice direct its course, and virtue fan its
sails. It should be ballasted with piety and freighted
with benevolence, and when misery hoists her signal of
distress, humanity will command that it bears up to her
relief and give protection and comfort to the ship
wrecked mariner on the sea of life."
Ten years subsequent to the above date he says in
one of his letters: "I know not what others may
indulge in on the return of a birthday, but to me it
is always a solemn day of reflection, and one that I
could never spend in obstreperous mirth, as is a com
mon custom in this as well as other countries. It is
too audible a monitor of the rapid flight of time to
leave the mind free for careless joy."
January 1, 18 18, he wrote: "If I know my own
heart, my intentions are honest; but still I can see
many faults that need correction. * * * *
"In the short period of one year I have followed to
the silent repository of the ashes of the dead, friends
that my heart most ardently and affectionately loved,
and on whom it depended for some of its dearest com
forts and richest felicity. But I trust they are removed
to a brighter and more perfect state, where we shall
again meet to part no more. May their virtues animate

30 A MEMORY.
me to follow their footsteps, and their examples guide
me to walk in the way of piety and peace."
The voyage from Boston to Charleston in a mercan
tile sense was a failure ; but his spirit of enterprise
seems not to have been checked. January 2, 1818,
found him on board of the brig Factor, Capt. Turner,
waiting for a wind to proceed to sea. The vessel ar
rived off Bilbao February 6th, and after being towed
over the bar and about to anchor, was peremptorily
ordered off, because some very wary and imaginative
official surmised that, coming from Charleston where
yellow-fever sometimes prevails, the cause of pestilence,
if pent up in her hold, might be liberated with fatal
effect on the inhabitants of the town, should she be
allowed to remain in the port. But at the last mo
ment the authorities were induced to believe that all
danger from contagion might be avoided, and to per
mit the brig to ride out a quarantine of forty days.
Mr. Bartlett relates that while in quarantine, a health
officer, who brought to the brig some necessary supplies,
first presented his bill for them in a frying-pan, "in
which he was to receive his money; but fearful that
the dollars were tainted with some disease, he soaked
them in vinegar and took them in that manner on

A MEMORY.

3

shore. Thus a few dollars effected what humanity had
pleaded for in vain ; for there can be no doubt, from
the manner in which the negotiation was transacted,
that he came to fatten his purse, and not for our relief."
While at Bilbao he improved his knowledge of the
Spanish language, and added to his information about
the people and commerce of the country.
On the 4th of May he sailed on board of the brig
Rolla, Capt. Hooper, and in forty hours arrived at St.
Martins, Isle of Re. While the vessel was there he
paid a visit of two days to La Rochelle. On the 17th
May he sailed from St. Martins, and after a passage of
forty-two days anchored at Marblehead June 29, 18 18,
and very soon afterwards was welcomed in his home.
With the close of this voyage he ceased to keep a
private journal. The extracts from it presented in the
preceding pages are enough to indicate clearly the gen
eral character of the boy and youth. His affectionate
disposition, his moral and religious tone and mental
ability are everywhere manifest in those pages, upon
which are recorded unreservedly his thoughts and ac
tions. They inform us that he was always a delighted
and critical reader of the English classics, and besides
being fluent in the Portuguese, he had also acquired a

32 A MEMORY.
useful knowledge of the Spanish and French languages.
His love of books continued through life. He was
always fond of astronomical studies. This taste seems
to have been early formed. "It is pleasant on board
ship," he wrote June 9, 1819, "in a clear evening and
with a smooth sea, to behold the wonders of the firma
ment, to contemplate the immensity of power and the
depth of wisdom of the Supreme Governor of the uni
verse, so loudly proclaimed in the starry world. Who,
when abstracted from the world, as every man must
sometimes be at sea, while he
'Sits on the stern, heaven's wonders perusing,
While the swan of the ocean is gliding along,'
can but admire the sublime and awful workmanship of
the firmament, and adore the Great Author of all
things!" The last page of his very interesting private journal
forms an appropriate close to this part of our narrative.
It may be regarded as a supplement written eight years
after the diary was closed. It is as follows: —
"November, 1826. It is now eight years since I pe
rused this journal until, a few days ago, it accidentally
fell in my way, and I find only a melancholy pleasure
in recalling to my mind feelings and events that time

A MEMORY. 33
had buried forever in his dark ruins but for this frail
record. When I reflect upon the buoyant and san
guine hopes and expectations .of youth, and the sad
disappointments that succeed vain anticipations, I am
almost tempted to believe that it is better to forget the
flattering promises that have allured us to the pursuit
of pleasures and happiness that fly from us, and like
the horizon, as we approach still recede from us, than
to have so forcibly -the conviction of our own delusions
presented to the mind. I find that the same reasons
were suggested to me in my reflections on leaving
home many years ago, that now present themselves
when again about to exile myself from all that is dear
to me. How often have I regretted that my life ap
peared doomed to be spent in wandering when my
affections have ever been at home I It is weakness to
repine at what one has voluntarily imposed upon him
self, but I cannot but think that I have sacrificed more
comfort by so often leaving my friends, than has been
found by me abroad. My fondest hopes have ever
been to spend my life in the country of my birth : and
still, more than one half of my time since my school
days has been spent in foreign lands. The present
contemplated absence I intend shall be my last; what-
s

34 A MEMORY.
ever may be my fortune, it shall then be enjoyed or
suffered in my own country. Life has no charms to
repay us for the loss Qf friends. I have never formed
abroad such friendships as bind me to my native land.
Here and here only are my hopes and best affections: —
'Where'er I roam, whatever realms I see,
My heart untravell' d fondly turns to thee.' "
After his return home from Bilbao in the summer of
1818, a few months had been passed among his friends,
when he accepted the position of clerk, in a commis
sion house which Mr. H. Kimball had established in
Savannah, Ga. On the death of Mr. Kimball, which
occurred in 1819, Mr. Bartlett succeeded him, and
formed a partnership with his friend Mr. B. F. B. Mit
chell, who had been a fellow clerk in Lisbon. While
Mr. Bartlett remained in charge of the establishment at
Savannah, Mr. Mitchell resided in Boston to transact
the affairs of Mitchell 6c Bartlett. For a time the
prospects of the firm were good. During the years
1 821 and 1822 their business was active, but a sudden
fall in the price of cotton, of which they had shipped
large quantities on their own account, compelled them
to close their affairs with unsatisfied claims against the
firm, all of which were subsequently cancelled.

A MEMORY. 35
Mr. Bartlett remained at Savannah for a time in the
capacity of a cotton broker. During his residence of
more than four years at that place he made many
friends. His leisure was given to society and books,
and he often took the field with dog and gun. On
one of his excursions he had the misfortune to receive a
severe gunshot wound of his left hand, which, for a
time, excited solicitude for his life. Nevertheless, he
always remembered his experience in Georgia with
pleasure. In a letter written in New York, October i,
1826, we find his testimony on this point: "Since I
have been in this city I have met many of my Savannah
friends, who have been here to spend the summer, and
their hearty greetings and the thousand pleasing associ
ations such meetings produce, have cheered my spirits.
* * * Many, many for whom I have inquired are no
more — that fatal climate has swept off a great number
who only a few years ago were in all my rambles, and
whose friendships I always considered adding to my
stock of future happiness. In such places one soon
outlives his generation, and sees the current of human
life passing rapidly by him, leaving but a few like
himself to hang a little longer on its banks."
In the year 1823, he accepted from the late Mr. John

36 A MEMORY.
R. Neff of Philadelphia, the post of supercargo on
board of a ship laden with flour, bound to the West
coast of South America, on condition that, after selling
the cargo, his return to the United States in the ship
should be discretionary with himself, for the reason
that he purposed to remain at any port where he might
reasonably expect to obtain a lucrative business.
He sailed on board of the ship Neptune, Capt. John
Land, from Philadelphia, about the first of December,
1823. A succession of tempestuous days and contrary winds
had opposed the course of the vessel in the vicinity of
Cape Horn. The crew, worn down by incessant labor,
watching, and exposure to the inclemencies of the
weather, succumbed, and resolved that rather than toil
any longer, the vessel and all on board might perish
upon the rock-bound coast to which they had closely
approached. The men hopelessly retired to their bunks
to await their fate. They refused to come on deck.
The effort to induce them to resume duty was re
sisted, and one mutineer, while in the act of assaulting
the captain, was felled senseless by a blow dealt with a
handspike in the hands of Mr. Bartlett. The man
was stunned, but not dead, as at first supposed. In this

A MEMORY.

37

emergency of tempest and mutiny Mr. Bartlett, who
was an excellent amateur seaman, took the helm while
Captain Land ascended the rigging, and from a lofty
perch piloted the vessel through a rocky bound strait,
so narrow in appearance to anxious eyes, that there was
scarcely room for the ship to enter without touching
one side or the other. In a very few minutes she passed
from a storm-tossed ocean into a smooth bay, and was
safely anchored. The self-possession, courage, and ac
tivity opportunely displayed on this occasion most pro
bably saved the life of the Captain, and rescued the
vessel and all on board from destruction.
In due time, all hands refreshed by repose, the an
chor was weighed and the vessel continued her voyage.
The ship arrived at Callao during the war waged by
her colonies against Spain for independence. The port
was blockaded by the frigate Protector, under the com
mand of Admiral Guise, and a patriot army besieged
the castles held by the Spanish general Rodil, who is
as famous for his tyrannical government of troops and
cruel treatment of prisoners, as for his persistent and
stout defence of the fortress.
The admiral would not permit the ship to enter the
port, and she was therefore anchored, with many other

38 A MEMORY.
vessels, inside of the island of San Lorenzo, which
forms a harbor. There the Neptune remained many
weeks, and then moved to an open roadstead a few
miles to the northward, for the purpose of obtaining
beef cattle and fresh provisions. While there, a mes
senger came one evening from the Admiral to say
to Mr. Bartlett, whose frank and conciliatory address
had won the kindly respect of the patriot chief, that
necessity would compel the frigate Protector to go the
next day to Huacho, a roadstead about thirty miles
north, to procure water for the ship's company.
Promptly availing himself of this friendly suggestion,
Mr. Bartlett left on the beach the animals he had pur
chased, and, getting the ship under sail without delay,
entered the port before any of the vessels waiting such
opportunity, and sold his flour on most favorable terms.
Having despatched the ship on her homeward voy
age with the proceeds of the sale of her cargo in silver,
Mr. Bartlett became a guest in the ward-room of the
U. S. frigate United States, then the flag-ship of Com
modore Hull. His sojourn on board is still pleasantly
remembered by Rear-Admiral Paulding and Commo
dore Wm. C. Nicholson, who were officers of the ship
at the time.

A MEMORY. 39
In December, 1824, or in the following month, he
went to Guayaquil, and there, in February, 1825, in
partnership with Mr. Charles G. Swett of Boston,
established a commission house under the firm of Bart
lett & Swett. Fortune smiled on this enterprise. The
activity of business at once inspired hope of future
success, and the commercial relations of the new house
were widely extended. In this connection, and also
for the purpose of seeing his parents and friends, Mr.
Bartlett returned to the United States in the early part
of the year 1826, by the way of Panama and Chagres.
In June, 1826, while on a visit to his early and much
loved friend Mr. Wm. Willis, author of a history of
Portland, Maine, in which place he resides, Mr. Bart
lett became attached, and not long afterwards affianced
to Caroline Eliza, the only child of Mr. Joseph Har-
rod, then a merchant of that city, but soon afterwards
of New Orleans, La. Subsequent experience proved
that this event secured the domestic happiness of his
after life. The relationship thus begun was character
ized by a tender and mutually affectionate devotion,
which was never interrupted for a moment by expres
sion or act, during more than forty-one years.
The circumstances of this very interesting period

40 A MEMORY.
may be passed silently; but it does not seem improper
to present here some of his verses, written in a lady's
album, on the following lines: —
"And not a hand should dare to write
One page upon thy book save mine."
They are part of a poem, inscribed on the first page of
the book by the hand of a gentleman, distinguished
among the first in our country for wisdom and erudition.
"What daring muse shall follow thine
Where thy immortal spirit soars:
Where genius beams in every line,
Radiant from thy exhaustless stores !
To thee these pages I resign,
Submissive to thy magic art;
But ah ! the dearer page be mine,
The virgin tablet of her heart. Edwin. Sept., 1826."
The last interview he ever had with his father was
on the 22d of September, 1826. In a letter written a
few days afterwards he says : " I took leave of my father
with a heavy heart. He took me aside and said, in
tenderness and grief: ' It is probable that we shall never
meet again. God bless you.' I am not superstitious,
but his words have made a deep impression on my
mind."

A MEMORY. 41
Having given needful attention to his affairs in seve
ral of the Atlantic cities, and taken leave of his friends
for at least three years, Mr. Bartlett embarked Novem
ber 26, at New York, for Carthagena, where he arrived
December 16, 1826, after a passage of nineteen days.
Mr. Bartlett's personal experience of the difficulties
of the Panama route to and from the Pacific, described
in the following extracts from one of his letters, explains
in a degree the deep interest he felt in the construction
of the railroad across the isthmus. He was one of the
originators of this great enterprise, and a director of the
Panama Railroad Company from the date of its incor
poration till the close of his life.
"Panama, 20th January, 1827.
"The letters I wrote to you from Carthagena will
already have informed you of my progress thus far.
Owing to a variety of unfortunate accidents I did not
reach this place until five days since. Our passage to
Porto Bello was three days, and thence to Chagres, a
distance of only ten leagues, we were no less than six
days, and at last the vessel in entering the port got
ashore, and I suppose will be entirely lost. This delay
is exceedingly vexatious, as I have thereby lost an
opportunity of going to Guayaquil direct in a fast sail-

42 A MEMORY.
ing vessel; and, as no other opportunity offers, I have
been obliged to hire a vessel that is bound to Peru, to
stop and land me at the mouth of the River Guayaquil,
where I shall take a canoe to the city. In the United
States, where the facilities of travelling are so great, one
can hardly form an idea of the difficulties and delays
attending it here. There are no roads, and the com
merce of the coast is so limited that no regular packets
are established. The traveller requires all his patience,
and must sometimes strive hard to preserve his good
nature ; for, taking advantage of his necessities, the
people of the country are ever ready to impose upon
him. I know not when I have been more awkwardly
situated than on the evening of my arrival here. I left
Cruces at 6 o'clock in the morning with no other com
pany than my guide; and although the distance is only
twenty-five miles, the roads are so bad, that night over
took us about eight miles from the city, where my
baggage mule became too much fatigued to proceed,
and my guide very quietly took off his load, and said he
should remain until morning. Not liking the idea of
remaining all night in such a place, (a small hovel where
the muleteers occasionally stop,) I with difficulty ob
tained another mule and a new guide and proceeded

A MEMORY. 43
on ; but had not gone a mile when it began to rain, and
I found my pistols were too wet to be of service, if
required. However, we reached the city about nine
o'clock, and I went to the house of my friend, and to
my surprise, found he had left the city for Guayaquil,
and his house was occupied by his wife and servants.
In the absence of her husband the jealous custom of
the country would not permit her to offer, or me to ask
for accommodations, and as there are no hotels in this
country I was at a loss what to do; but having become
partially acquainted with several when here before, I
went to the houses of three different individuals and
could not find one at home. By this time, the people
in the streets seeing me so often passing, had become
curious" to know my object, and in their inquiries found
I was from Carthagena. At length a gentleman ad
dressed me in French, to know if I had letters for him.
I answered him in Spanish, that if he would favor me
with his name I could tell him, for I had only two
letters for Panama from Carthagena. 'Then,' said he,
'one must be for me, Le Maitre.' 'That is the name,'
said I; 'the letter is in my portfolio.' 'Where do you
stop?' said he. 'I have been looking for lodgings this
hour,' said I, 'but can find none.' 'You have,' said he

44 A MEMORY.
in English, 'one 'ammock, and spose you come to my
'oom.' I gladly accepted his proposals, and in an hour
had devoured a very acceptable and well relished supper.
On opening his letter he found it was from his brother
in Carthagena, in which he had recommended me par
ticularly to his attentions, and I have since remained
with him, much indebted for his kindness."
A postscript to the above, dated January 22, says: —
"I have received letters from New York, written
twenty days after I sailed, by a vessel sent purposely to
bring them with a messenger to Guayaquil. I fell in
with him at sea, and he has returned home from Cha
gres. This meeting was a singular circumstance."
On the 26th of January, 1827, he embarked at Pana
ma, and two days after sailing was attacked with a
fever, caused by exposure to malarial influences during
his journey across the isthmus.
In a letter dated at Guayaquil, Feb. 18, 1827, he
gives an account of his illness. "I had a passage of
twenty days from Panama. On the second day out I
was attacked with a very severe fever, and as no medi
cine of any kind was on board, I feared for three days
its result. A good constitution, however, sustained me,
and after five days I began rapidly to recover, and am

A MEMORY. 45
now, with the exception of debility consequent upon so
severe a sickness, quite recovered. * * * * I often at
Panama played at chess with a Polish officer with
whom I had become acquainted, and I remember that
on the third day of my fever, my distempered mind
had induced me to imagine that I was playing a game
with him for my life, and I was all day endeavoring to
make the only move which could save my game, and
at length won it. The circumstance relieved me from
great anxiety. We had two more on board attacked
with the same disorder, one of whom was so deranged
that he made several attempts to jump overboard, and
we were obliged to put into port and land him."
Notwithstanding he believed himself "quite reco
vered," he suffered a mild relapse only a few days after
writing this letter.
During his sojourn in it, the country was very fre
quently excited by revolutionary struggles, which always
disturbed, and sometimes suspended commercial trans
actions. In April, 1827, Bolivar was reinstated in the
office of President of Colombia, and General Lamar,
"than whom Colombia does not boast a better man,"
was placed' in command at-Guayaquil, then a department
of that republic, but since of the State of Equador.

46 A MEMORY.
The nature of the inconveniences which attended
those political conflicts is described in a letter written
by Mr. Bartlett June 22, 1827: —
"The disturbed state of the country is certainly a se
rious evil to me in common with all who are here, but
my character as a foreigner and citizen of the United
States is sacred, and I am left undisturbed. The city
has been under martial law for three months. The
English and Americans are the only foreigners that
have been exempted from military duty. A body of
troops under the command of General Flores is within
two days' march of the city, and he is expected to take
it by force as soon as he approaches. Great prepara
tions are made for defence, but the people are panic
struck ; many are running away, and most of them are
embarking their property for safety, fearing a general
sack. I feel not the least alarm for myself. I know
personally the commanding officer of the troops, and
have no doubt he would be the first to punish any
irregularities in his soldiers. Our house is crowded
with furniture sent here for protection, and I suppose
when the troops enter our friends will follow, so that
we shall have a large family. My present opinion is
that the change this will produce will be a favorable

A MEMORY. 47
one to the people of this city, and again open to us a
free intercourse to the interior."
But amidst all distracting influences he found time
for reading, and was instrumental in establishing a
book-club, for the purpose of importing periodical and
other recent publications. In those days few persons in
Guayaquil possessed books, which to him were not
simply a resource to occupy time not filled by the du
ties of the hour, but necessary to satisfy a mind always
hungering for knowledge. Without book or pen, to
use his own language, he was "a sorry dog."
In his familiar letters dated at Guayaquil, he speaks
more than once of the scarcity of books. In one he
says: "I know not if knowledge be essential to happi
ness, but surely he who has only sipped at its intoxi
cating fountain cannot slake his thirst at any other.
You well know that my own pursuits in life have been
anything but literary; still my mind has always been
eager after knowledge, and had I the fortune to be at
leisure and choose my mode of life, I believe I should
become a perfect book-worm. When I was a boy.
mathematics was my hobby. Poetry was afterwards
for some years my solace and delight. Novels, except
Don Quixote, Gil Bias, and Scott's romances, never

48 A MEMORY.
pleased me much. Burke has been at one time, and
Johnson at another, my model of excellence in writing,
not for style, for both are faulty, but for matter. Shake
speare I have always considered as too far before all
other writers to bear a comparison. I was once in
raptures with Pope's Homer, and was vulgar enough to
read Hudibras until I could nearly repeat the whole of
it. How differently we view, at different periods of
life, the same things. I remember, when about twelve
years of age, crying for an hour over Paul and Virginia;
and I once found myself at twenty in tears reading
Anacharsis' account of the death of Socrates. The lat
ter I have not read since, but three or four years ago I
read Paul and Virginia again, and I was surprised to
find how little it engaged my feelings. These are the
only books that I remember to have ever 'opened the
floodgates of mine eyes.' "
"Have you ever read Anacharsis' travels in Greece?
It is one of the most interesting historical fictions that
has ever been written. The incidents related are on
good authority, and the only fictions of the author are
of his assumed character and personal acquaintance of
the great men of antiquity. It is rather biographical
than historical, and makes the reader better acquainted

A MEMORY. 49
with the sages and heroes of Greece than all other
histories together. You see the expression of their
countenances, and converse with them face to face. I
think the account of the death of Socrates the sublimest
passage I have ever met with, except some parts of the
Bible. It is one of the very few passages the perusal
of which, many years ago, caused me to shed tears."
We see his admiration of literature, and the religious
tone of his mind, in the following, from another letter:
"Your own thirst for knowledge can never be quenched,
for you drink at a fountain that increases the appetite
the more it is indulged. The prospect is enlarged as we
ascend the hill of science, and our - curiosity becomes
more and more excited to explore the fields opened be
fore us. I have always admired the remark of the great
Newton, who with a modesty peculiar to genius, said,
he 'had only gathered pebbles on the shore of truth.'
What daring mind, then, can ever hope to embark on
its -boundless ocean ! I have sometimes indulged the
idea that in a future state our ideas may be so enlarged
as to comprehend what is now so far beyond the reach
of human ken; that we may gaze with understanding,
but still with wonder, on the immense and admirable
works of God. It is a subject of deep and awful inter-
7

5.0 A. MEMORY.
est, and our feeble minds are wrapt in amazement when
they attempt to penetrate beyond the present."
In connection with this reference to his literary taste
and love of knowledge, the following extract from a
familiar letter of Sept. 1828, is properly added here: —
"The review of the little volume [Conder's Poems]
which contains this poem is well written. I am, how
ever, of the opinion of Dr. Johnson, there quoted to
be combatted, and think that sacred poetry seldom
pleases. The subject is too sublime for the ornaments
of* language. Simplicity is the grandest attribute of
the Deity,- and although poetry may be adorned and
elevated by allusions to God and his works, our con
ception of his goodness, power, and sublimity, cannot
be enhanced by poetry. Poetry may elevate the soul
to sublime contemplations, but can add nothing to the
dignity of nature. Poetry never approached the splen
did passage which we meet on opening the first page
of the sacred writers: 'God said, Let there be light,
and there was light.' Any poetic paraphrase of this
passage could not be equal to its beautiful simplicity.
The tawdry colorings of mosaic never can equal the
blended beauties of the rainbow."
During his four years' residence in Guayaquil busi-

A MEMORY.

51

ness was almost constantly embarrassed, and sometimes
entirely suspended by political turmoils. The vexation
of mind likely to be experienced by a young man,
anxious to return to his native land with the fruits of
his labors abroad, within a stipulated period, that he
might join his betrothed and be no more separated
from her, may be conceived.
A few extracts from his letters will serve as a crayon
sketch of the circumstances amidst which he was placed,
as well as of some of his opinions and sentiments.
Seemingly in answer to an application for a descrip
tion of the place and its inhabitants, he wrote, August
17, 1827: —
"The truth is, I am a very careless observer of cus
toms, and a wretched narrator of incidents. From
having travelled early and almost constantly, I have
become familiarized to the ways of all nations, and
what would be discovered at once by one who had
never left his home as peculiar to a people, passes me
unnoticed. I have always delighted more in studying
individual character than national peculiarities, and a
worthy man, of whatever nation, is to me a friend and
countryman. Still I have all those home attachments
and partialities which constitute patriotism. This is a

52 A MEMORY.
deep root in every man's mind. In infancy we love
our nursery and the limited sphere of our rambles. We
become gradually and firmly attached to our parents,
brothers, sisters, and friends. Our native village next
claims our regard; our State becomes the idol of our
love, and the heart soon expands to love of country.
This is the natural growth of patriotism, a feeling
never eradicated from the breast. Goldsmith in his
'Traveller' has drawn a beautiful and true picture of
this powerful passion. None have so much occasion as
ourselves to indulge it, as in no country on earth are to
be found half the enjoyments, or half the moral virtue,
which is the foundation of public happiness, as in our
own." At a time when business had become almost entirely
suspended he wrote, August 27, 1827: "The object of
the people here is to destroy the central government,
and form the departments into separate states, under a
federal government. If it succeeds, the change will
be a favorable one to us all ; but, as in all political
changes, much present evil is produced : I think at least
the people are heartily tired of experiments, and into
whatever form of government they may settle, they
will for a season be quiet. The happiness enjoyed

A MEMORY. 53
under our mild and free institutions is not sufficiently
appreciated at home. It is when comparing our situa
tion with that of others, we learn the value of our
freedom and security."
Again, September 12, 1827: "Now an exile from
my friends and country, annoyed by the troubles and
alarms of a disturbed community in a state of almost
daily revolutions — for in the last three days we have
had no less than two changes of government — if any
thing can be called government in a state of perfect
anarchy. However, affairs are assuming a more healthy
appearance, and in a few days all will be quiet. What
ever reports may reach you through the public prints
to the contrary, rely upon it, we are in no danger of
violence being offered to our persons or our property.
All the disputes are among the local authorities, and
end with themselves. Their revolutions are bloodless.
The confusion they produce in their remote conse
quences affects all who reside here by destroying confi
dence, and in interrupting agriculture and trade. The
more I see of the people of this country and its political
institutions, the better I am satisfied that the people are
not yet prepared for a free government. Whether the
present form can be sustained until sufficient knowledge

54 A MEMORY.
is diffused to form a firm and stable foundation for its
support, is a question time only can determine. I
think the want of pure morality in Colombia one great
bar to the adoption of a popular government.
"One great error which the Colombians, in common
with all South Americans, have committed is, engrafting
on their laws those of the United States, without any
regard to the local difficulties opposed to their adoption.
In the United States the materials of a free government
were at hand, and the people had only to mould them
into form. The temple of liberty was framed, and
they had only to erect it. Here the materials are first
to be procured before the fabric can be reared. When
the separate pieces of a clock are prepared they are
easily put together and set in motion ; but here they
throw together a heterogeneous mass of machinery and
wonder that it does not keep time."
Again, November 2, 1827: "You will be pleased to
learn that the political disturbances in this quarter, to
which I have recently alluded in my late letters, are
now happily at an end, and we are again under the
government of Bogota. Bolivar has, fortunately for
this country, fully re-established his power, and his
friends are now more zealous than ever in his cause.

A MEMORY. 55
Whatever may be the faults of this distinguished chief
tain, no one doubts that he is the only man who can
save the country from anarchy and ruin. There is
something so chivalric in the character of Bolivar,
something so noble and dignifying to human nature in
the sacrifices he has made to his country, that I have
always been unwilling to believe the calumnies heaped
upon him by his enemies, who have been only aiming
to raise themselves upon his ruins. That he is ambi
tious cannot be denied, but it is a noble ambition that
connects one's fate with the good of his country and
the promotion of liberty. Let envy and calumny do
their worst, the name of Bolivar will be handed down
to posterity with those of the greatest benefactors of
mankind. The sun has spots on his brilliant disk, and
if we look through the list of heroes and sages which
history has recorded, the names of Washington and
William Tell were alone pure and spotless. Caesar was
a tyrant, and Brutus an assassin. But I am wandering.
I have seen, here and abroad, so much abuse heaped
upon Bolivar, that were it only to oppose the torrent,
I should look to the virtuous side of his character, full
of glorious and noble actions."
Guayaquil, August 2, 1829: "I hope you have heard

56 A MEMORY.
of the re-occupation of Guayaquil by the Colombians.
General Bolivar is now here. Before he entered the
city I visited his head-quarters twice, and was treated
by him with much kindness. It had been in my
power in several instances to do him and his cause
some little service, for which he expressed his grateful
acknowledgements. He honored me with a seat at his
right hand at his own table, and has assured me of his
desire to serve me in any way in his power. I know
not if I have ever written you freely upon the charac
ter of this extraordinary man. But I think much may
in justice be said in defence of what it has been com
mon of late years to vilify. I trust the world will do
him more justice than it has of late years accorded
him. * * * One must see a country and know its
people, to be able to judge of its rulers. The Consti
tution of the United States would ill suit the genius of
the Chinese. The despotism of Asia could not destroy
the free spirit of our enlightened country. We chain
or encage a tiger, but the more powerful elephant may
be easily reduced to submission and still enjoy apparent
freedom." October 2, 1829: "We have been all led astray by
our enthusiasm for freedom, and have supposed because

A MEMORY. ^J
we live happily under a popular government, others
may do so too. Liberty is, and must be for ages, un
known in South America. I heard General Bolivar
make a remark a few days ago that struck me very
forcibly. By the way, he has read Montesquieu. He
said that 'when a nation of slaves was freed, it was
necessary to conquer, before one could govern them.
Few can enjoy freedom ;' and, he added with great
emphasis, 'the English and Americans are alone capa
ble of enjoying it. No man should use the word
liberty, who cannot say, God-damn' — [pronouncing the
last word very curtly]. These few remarks are a treatise
on South American freedom."
We find the following paragraph in a letter written
in February, 1846: "Bolivar is too well known to
require from me any remarks. He has talents of a
high order, and was at first an honest, conscientious
patriot. Success led him to forget what was due to
others in promoting his own plans of personal aggran
dizement, and he fell, a victim to disappointed ambition.
He accused his country of ingratitude because he vainly
imagined himself to be his country. Posterity will do
him justice, and in viewing his brilliant career, will
cast a veil over his faults."

58 A MEMORY.
But to return from the digression into which this
sketch of Bolivar has led us:
Until within about twenty years, the peoples who
dwell on the western coast of the American continent
held intercourse with Europe, and all parts of the
world, through the agency of sailing vessels only.
Correspondents, residing at the ports along the Pacific
shore, rarely received letters from the United States
until after they had been written from four to six
months. Such long periods, between the writing and
reception of letters passing between dear friends re
motely separated, must have been wearisome and hope-
deferring in their influence. The fond impatience of
the lover earnestly asking the spirit of worldly provi
dence when he might seek to realize his happy antici
pations is seen in the following extract : —
December 25, 1827: "My feelings sometimes urge
me now to leave this country and fly to Carey. Passions
are bad counsellors: love says, Go; judgment coolly
says, Tarry until you can enjoy comfort and security at
home. Love replies, / am happiness, / am wealth, /
am contentment, follow me. I am becoming a prose
lyte to the flattering friend, and listen very unwillingly
to the more sober counsellor."

A MEMORY. 59
At Guayaquil earthquakes are frequent; one or more
occurs every year. December 29, 1827, he wrote: "It
is a singular but undoubted fact that, unlike other dan
gers, this [the earthquake] is one that excites more fear
the oftener it is felt. Strangers look on as uninterested
spectators: the other day when one occurred, a native
spoke to me immediately afterwards, with apparent
horror for having seen me at the time holding my
watch in my hand to mark its duration. It lasted
nearly eighty seconds, and was called a very severe
shock. It stopped all the clocks in the city."
The house of Bartlett & Swett had an established
reputation for hospitality. A touching instance is re
corded by Mr. Bartlett in a familiar letter written just
as he was returning from his visit to the United States
in 1826. He says: "Not long before I left Guayaquil,
a gentleman visited me with whom I was much pleased,
and whom I entertained in my family some weeks.
He was in a very infirm state of health, and it was in
my power to alleviate the pangs of a wasting sickness.
When he left me, he took from his trunk a trifle, but
which he valued highly as the gift of a dear friend,
and gave it to me with this remark: 'I had promised
to keep this as a memento of friendship, but can retain

60 A MEMORY.
it but a short time longer. Death is approaching —
accept it as a small token of my gratitude for your
kindness.' He died a few days afterwards. It was a
miniature of Napoleon neatly set in glass, and is now at
my sister Sprague's. I can never part with it, and beg
that you will keep it for me until my return."
Mr. Bartlett's love of country peeps forth in the fol
lowing extract, written 'March 18, 1827: "Upon the
whole, when I look back upon the happiness of my
own countrymen, the state of their manners and morals,
and compare them with those of any other country I
have visited, I feel an honest pride in being of the same
land as Washington, Franklin, and a host of worthies
to whom we are so much indebted. Those who have
never left home cannot appreciate the blessings they
enjoy. Nekayah, the sister of Rasselas, was astonished,
when she escaped from the happy valley, to find misery
in the world. I never saw a North American abroad
who had given up the hope of again returning to his
beloved country."
The anniversary of our national Independence was
always patriotically observed in his house. In 1827
Commodore Jacob Jones and the officers of his squad
ron, and on the 4th of July, 1828, Generals Flores,

A MEMORY. 6 I
Sandez, and Illingrot, of the Colombian Army, and
some others, were entertained. At the suggestion of
General Sandez, who supplied a band and stationed a
piece of ordnance at the front of the house to salute
the toasts given at dinner, the party visited a family of
ladies in the evening, and ended the day with a ball.
"A more pleasant, orderly, and at the same time, con
vivial party," says Mr. Bartlett, " I have never seen here.
All were happy."
Though placidly cheerful in temperament, and habit
ually hopeful, he was sometimes notably sedate, but never
despondent, and on such occasions he indulged in retro
spect. In September, 1827, he wrote: "I was a boy
fond of novelty, and without reflection embraced ea
gerly an opportunity of seeing the world. I remember
distinctly the first time I left home. It was a beautiful
morning in a season when, in New England, nature
smiles in vestal purity and loveliness. The sun was just
peeping over the bosom of the ocean I was going to
embark upon, shining like the star of hope upon the
unruffled mirror of the youthful mind. I had caught
the enthusiasm of the moment, and my imagination
was as glittering as the scene, promising as spring. It
was only when the lessening shores were gradually

62 A MEMORY.
fading in the horizon that hope began to grow dim,
and affection conjured up the images of lost joys, of
absent friends, and the thousand sweets that cluster
round the path of childhood and youth, now deserted
and abandoned forever. The gentleman with whom I
had embarked, and who had taken charge of me, was
obliged to return on account of the sickness of his wife,
and he proposed my returning with him. My fainting
heart said, yes, but my boyish pride said, no! and in that
answer my life of wandering was fixed, for, had I re
turned, no doubt the project of going to Europe would
have been abandoned, and I might never have left my
country again. How trifling a circumstance sometimes
fixes our destiny for life. Our passage was pleasant, and
the first few days after my arrival were attended with so
much novelty, always interesting to youth, that I again
forgot home. This was soon succeeded by regret, and
I have seldom since, when abroad, in moments of sober
reflection ceased to repine at my fate. Happiness and
contentment, its twin sister, flee the pursuer, and, like
the horizon, lure the eye but elude the grasp : they
nestle only in the quiet of domestic life. How often
on the banks of the beautiful Tagus, whose shores, the
poets tell us, were once trod by the sage and hero of

A MEMORY. 63
Ithaca, have I sat and watched the moon descending
towards the land of my birth, and envied it the happi
ness of looking upon the habitations of my parents and
friends. These are not the idle sportings of retrospect
ive fancy, but the faithful records of an oft returning
feeling. If the poetic ardor of youth suggested the
idea, the affection of a son and brother hallowed the
imagination and mingled truth with fancy."
From a record of January 1, 1828, is taken the fol
lowing retrospective view: "In looking back on my
own conduct for the past year I see much to condemn,
and my mind is well disposed to form rigid resolutions
for its government in future; but I suppose the same
occasions may produce the same faults. I cannot tax
my conscience with any great sin committed or duty
neglected, but I can recollect many instances of pride
checking the stream of benevolence; of prejudice closing
the hand of charity; of passion influencing the judg
ment, and my heart is humbled in the sense of its own
weakness." Considerations connected with business as well as
health, which was somewhat impaired under the influ
ence of an equatorial climate, induced Mr. Bartlett to
embark on board the English brig Robert, bound to

64 A MEMORY.
Valparaiso. He sailed from Guayaquil February 5th,
1828, and arrived in the afternoon of April 8th, after a
passage of sixty-one days, which was tedious and in all
respects uncomfortable.
"The evening after we left the land," he writes, "we
witnessed one of the most glorious sunsets I have ever
seen. The day had been cloudy, and as the sun ap
proached his couch of waters, his beams broke the
vapors that had enshrouded him for some hours, and
the whole western horizon was dressed in the most wild
and gaudy drapery. Even while the eye gazed upon
this rich tapestry of heaven, its appearance was rapidly
changed, and before our admiration of one splendid
exhibition had ceased, another more beautiful was pre
sented. It was a sight to raise in the mind high and
holy feelings, and my imagination long dwelt on the
mysteries of creation, and as the fading sunbeams began
to develop the beauties of night and the lamps of hea
ven to 'peep through the curtain of the dark,' I was
naturally led 'to look through nature up to nature's
God.' This is perhaps the nearest approach man can
make to a conception of infinite wisdom and power in
the great first cause. I mean a contemplation of the
heavens and a knowledge of the harmony of creation.

A MEMORY. 65
From the beautiful harmony and order of the material
world we naturally infer the character of an allwise
and beneficent Being who governs it, and consider them
as emblematic of the purity and harmony of his moral
character." Whoever has beheld the sun rise as he approached
Valparaiso from the sea, will recognize the truthfulness
of his description of the scene.
"The morning of the 8th of April presented to us
one of the most cheering and at the same time one of
the most sublime sights I have ever witnessed. As the
day first dawned in the East, a dark and broken line,
high above the horizon, marked the Cordilleras of the
Andes, and as the sun rose they became gradually more
distinct, until the whole edge of their lofty summits,
covered with the snows of a thousand winters, were
fringed with his golden beams, and presented a picture
to which imagination can add nothing of grandeur or
sublimity, nor description convey any adequate idea.
The clouds, that had slumbered in the night in the deep
valleys and ravines of these giant hills, warmed by the
sun's rays, now began to rise and expand themselves
over their breasts of eternal ice, which constantly
changed their appearance, and at length hid the loftiest
9

66 A MEMORY.
peaks from our view. In a few hours all was a moving
mass of white clouds, climbing from the valleys to the
peaks, where they rest till the sun has 'gone down to
the sea,' when they again settle into their beds of granite,
in the gaps and fissures of the mountains."
On the 14th of April Mr. Bartlett sailed for Callao
on board of the ship Galen, and after a sojourn of
several weeks in Lima, returned on board of the brig
Terrier to Guayaquil, where he arrived early in June.
On the 22d November, 1828, a Peruvian squadron,
consisting of the "Presidente," 54, the "Libertad," 24,
and several smaller vessels, all under command of Admi
ral Guise, surprised the city of Guayaquil : and, when
within pistol shot of the houses, without summons to
surrender, they fired upon the town with round and
grape shot. But, after a good deal of stout fighting by
the Colombians with very small force, a 32-pounder
was mounted on a breastwork thrown up in the night,
which was so well served that 84 out of 103 shots
struck the flag-ship, and one of them killed the Ad
miral. Then the Peruvians withdrew.
"Our house," says Mr. Bartlett in a letter to a bro
ther, "was about musket shot from the frigate, and at
the first broadside we were at dinner. Several of the

A MEMORY. 67
grape shot entered the room adjoining our dining-room,
and many more passed through several parts of the
house. Only one round shot passed through it. We
were fortunately screened during part of the time by
a large house in front of ours, and few balls passed
through it, although the front rooms were literally bat
tered to pieces. Five or six walls generally stopped the
balls. I was in the house, or in the street in front of
it, all the time, for I found my curiosity somewhat
greater than my discretion. There is a noble excite
ment even in the din of war."
More than a year was passed at his post. But, owing
to the war between Peru and Colombia, the commerce
of Guayaquil was almost entirely interrupted. While
he was considering whether he would close his affairs
and return home, he was offered a share of a profitable
business, which promised to secure him competency at
the close of a few years. But the acceptance would
necessarily postpone his marriage, already so long de
layed, unless his betrothed could come to him, or be
married by proxy, propositions most decidedly unac
ceptable to the lady's parents. The business offer was
declined, and he determined to fulfil his matrimonial
engagement as soon as his affairs could be closed, but

68 A MEMORY.
the condition of the political relations of those coun
tries retarded very much the realization of his wishes.
In the summer of 1829 the business offer just men
tioned was renewed, and an arrangement made to grant
him a leave of absence, long enough to visit the United
States for the purpose of being married.
He closed his business in Guayaquil, and sailed Nov.
27, 1829, on board of the brig Terrier, and, touching
at Payta on the way, arrived at Valparaiso January 3d,
1830. He remained in Chile three months, when he
proceeded to Lima, where he arrived April ioth, after
a passage of eight days.
About the middle of June, 1830, he assumed the
direction of the affairs of the house of Alsop & Co. at
Lima, as a partner in the firm. In this position he no
longer enjoyed leisure for literary pursuits. His official
work was constant.
In May, 183 1, he was seriously ill of a fever, which
kept him from his desk many weeks. At last, the hour
of temporary release arrived, and he sailed from Callao
September 6th, 1831, on board of the U. S. ship St.
Louis, commander J. D. Sloat, and arrived at New
York December 8th, after a passage of 92 days, the last
fifteen or twenty of which were passed in contention

A MEMORY. 69
with northwesterly storms and intensely cold weather
on our own coast. After coming in sight of the port,
the ship was twice forced again to sea by adverse
gales. Sad intelligence met him at New York. His mother
had died in October, and his betrothed was ill. He
himself suffered severely from influenza, then epidemic,
so that the ceremony of marriage was necessarily
delayed till March 6, 1832.
He marked this epoch of his life by spontaneously
paying in full, principal and interest, all the claims
which his business failure at Savannah compelled him
to leave unsatisfied at that time.
Mr. Bartlett embarked with his bride at Baltimore
May ist, on board of the brig Lady Adams, and arrived
at Valparaiso in 89 days, July 29th, at ten o'clock at
night. Cape Horn, the terror of voyagers, was passed
under clear skies and prosperous breezes, although it
was then the winter season.
Ten weeks were pleasantly spent in Chile, and then
they embarked on board the ship Pearl, master Isaac
Engle, and arrived at Lima October 20th, 1832.
Here Mr. Bartlett labored continuously in his capa
city of merchant, and from September, 1835, as Consul,

JO A MEMORY.
and from January, 1838, until February, 1840, as acting
Charge d'Affaires.
During those eight years Lima was constantly dis- ¦
turbed by the bitter feuds of military chiefs. They
provoked civil war and revolutions, which looked rather
to the personal aggrandizement of these men than to
the prosperity of Peru. Generals Gamarra, Bermudez,
Santa Cruz, Orbegoso, Riva-Agiiero, and Salavery, were
in turn at the head of affairs, either through the agency
of intrigue or violence, but no one of them possessed
sagacity enough to retain his position longer than a few
months at a time. These contests for place of course
obstructed progress, hindered and sometimes entirely
suspended commerce, and created among foreign resi
dents anxiety for the safety of persons and property.
In December, 1835, they were so solicitous that, at
their instance, the marines of the foreign ships of war
lying in the harbor of Callao were marched to the city.
Forty from the American squadron were quartered in
the house of Mr. Bartlett, and, during nearly two
months, the sentinels' cry of "All's well" was heard
every half hour through the night, from different points
of the premises. The tranquillity of Lima for the
time was ascribed alone to the presence of these troops.

A MEMORY. 71
Having been seriously ill and confined to his bed for
six weeks, Mr. Bartlett in June, 1836, sought health
and relaxation from his vocation in a visit to Guayaquil,
on board of the U. S. ship Brandywine, as guest of his
friend, Commodore Wadsworth. He returned to his
post very much improved in his physical condition, and
resumed his work as Consul, and principal of the house
of Alsop & Co.
He had by his excellent address won the personal
esteem and respect of the Peruvian leaders, and was on
terms of familiar intercourse with Gamarra, Riva-Agii-
ero, and Santa Cruz, while they occupied the presi
dency. We find the following letter addressed to the
latter, which is suggestive of Mr. Bartlett's conciliatory
manner of conducting the business of the American
Consulate : — "Lima, 16th August, 1837.
"Sir: I have the honor to send to your Excellency a
copy of the federal Constitution of the United States,
as well as a copy of the previous articles of confedera
tion, and also copies of the Constitutions of most of
the different States composing the present confederacy.
"The federal Constitution was adopted at a time of
great political excitement between the two parties into

72 A MEMORY.
which the people of the United States were then
divided, called Federalists and Democrats. The former
were desirous of strengthening the power of the gene
ral Government, and the latter of restricting and cur
tailing it. The leaders of each were equally animated
by an honest zeal for the welfare of their country; and
the Constitution as it is, was the result of mutual con
cessions, without being quite satisfactory to either party.
The power given to the judiciary, to determine all
questions arising under this Constitution between the
Federal and the respective State Governments, has been
since invariably used to strengthen the former, in which
the people have cheerfully acquiesced, experience hav
ing taught them that in all cases of emergency the
national Executive had too limited powers.
"With these Constitutions I take the liberty of send
ing to your Excellency the book of which I spoke
yesterday ; a fac-simile of the autograph accounts of
General Washington, as presented by him to Congress,
curious in themselves, and particularly interesting com
ing from such a source.
"In presenting this Constitution of the United States
permit me to express a hope that, after a long life of
usefulness to the countries over which your Excellency

A MEMORY. 73
presides, you may leave to them one as well adapted to
their situation, and for yourself, a fame as pure and
unsullied as that of the illustrious Washington.
"With the most respectful consideration, I have the
honor to be your Excellency's most ob't serv't.
E. bartlett.
To his Excellency, General Santa Cruz, &c. &c. &c."
The Hon. James B. Thornton, Charge d'Affaires of
the United States accredited to Peru, died January 25,
1838, and Mr. Bartlett, as Consul, took charge of the
business of the legation, until the pleasure of the go
vernment at home could be made known to him.
The Peruvian republic had been divided into two
independent States, called North and South Peru, which
united with Bolivia to form the Peru-Bolivian Confed
eration, over which General Santa Cruz, with the title
of Supreme Protector, exercised absolute power.
The policy pursued by the Peru-Bolivian Confedera
tion towards Chile provoked a declaration of war by
the latter; but so long a time afterwards was spent in
threats and preparation, that a notion was entertained
by many that the war would end without any actual
hostilities. General Orbegoso in the latter days of July

74

A MEMORY.

proclaimed himself President of North Peru, against
the Confederation, just when a Chilian army of 5000
men, under the command of General Manuel Bulnes,
had been landed on the coast. They were led towards
Lima. An unequal battle began under its walls about
three o'clock in the afternoon of August 21, 1838.
Many persons viewed the conflict from the house tops.
Late in the afternoon, it was said, the Peruvians were
running, and many were rushing through the street
past the house. Just at dark, and just when it was not
generally known how the day was going, a mob of
about a hundred men halted in front of the great street
door of Mr. Bartlett's residence and demanded arms.
The entrance from the street to the houses of Lima is
through a carriage way, which is closed by wide and
lofty doors, in one of which there is a small door or
wicket, for the admission of persons when the others
are shut. Mr. Bartlett addressed them from a balcony
above, where he stood alone. He told them there
were arms in the house for the personal use of its
inmates, but none for sale. They seemed to doubt the
statement. A cry went up, "We'll see — we will see
for ourselves," and at the same time a movement was
made towards the great door, which in troublesome

A MEMORY. J^
times was always kept closed. Mr. Bartlett calmly but
resolutely replied that he would shoot the man who
first should touch that door; whereupon the mob re
tired. It was subsequently reported that these were
Limanians seeking arms wherewith to aid their coun
trymen, hard pressed in the field. Soon afterwards a
brisk firing was heard from the direction of the bridge
across the Rimac. It gradually ceased. Then came a
deep silence, which in the blackness of the night seemed
frightfully long to all who, shut up in their purposely
dark homes, watched in suspense to interpret the first
sound which should salute their ears. At length the
stillness was broken by a blast of trumpets from the
plaza or great square. They were not Peruvian, but
Chilian trumpets; they rang forth triumphantly a na
tional air, which proclaimed to all within ear-shot that
the invading army was in possession of the city.
General Orbegoso retired, and established his head
quarters in the castle of Callao, August 31, 1838.
Three months later the Chilians were driven from
Lima by the forces ofthe Peru-Bolivian Confederation,
led by the Protector, General Santa Cruz; but it is not
within our scope to dwell upon the turmoils which
afflicted the country in those days, when the rights of

76 A MEMORY.
private foreign residents and sojourners were frequently
outraged by those in power, and grievances met with
slow redress. Consuls and diplomatic representatives
of foreign governments here had full occupation in
watching over the interests confided to them.
The events of the two years during which Mr. Bart
lett was in charge of the legation created an extensive
correspondence, and the complex nature of some of the
affairs required no little address for their successful
management. Mr. Thornton had formed a treaty with
the republic of Peru ; but its ratification had to be ne
gotiated with the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, which
Mr. Bartlett effected. His labors in the legation are
on record in the Department of State at Washington,
in seventy voluminous despatches. An idea of his
work may be gathered from the following extracts
from his familiar letters.
He wrote from Lima July ioth, 1838, to a most
intimate friend: "It was only a few days ago that I
received your letter of 15th October, informing me of
the sad inroads death has made upon our families.
Separated as I have been almost from infancy from
home, my fraternal affections dwell ordinarily in the
calm and placid twilight of memory, adorning and

A MEMORY. JJ
beautifying the ever-receding but still visible horizon
of early years; and it is only when one of the objects
upon which I have so long gazed with delight disap
pears from my view, that I feel how tenderly I have
loved to look and linger upon its beauties. This is not
the language of poetry, but of truth. The busy scenes
of a bustling life may sometimes so engage my atten
tion as to make me forget for a moment the objects of
earlier interest; but when any event recalls me to the
happy days of childhood, the only period I love to
associate with my recollections of home, I feel that the
heart can never grow cold. No family, I believe, has
ever lived in more perfect union than ours. No bro
ther had ever sisters more worthy of his love, and few
brothers can have been more loved of his sisters than
myself. My early absence from home tended even to
increase their affection for me, by increasing their inte
rests in what to children appeared the romantic ram-
blings of a brother. The time, I trust, is not distant
when I shall again revive all these kindly feelings, and
I still hope to spend many happy years surrounded by
those I love. ******
"I have not written to you as often of late as for
merly, not from any forgetfulness on my part, but

78 A MEMORY.
because my various duties have kept me so busy that I
have hardly had a moment to devote to myself or my
friends. I am an only partner in this branch of the
house. My consulate gives me some employment and
much annoyance, for sailors are not the best men to
deal with, and since January I have had charge of the
legation, which gives me a good deal of writing. For
instance, by the vessel that takes this I send a package
to the Secretary of State containing nearly two quires
of correspondence of the legation, all of which has
grown out of about two months' business. I cannot
leave anything I undertake half done, and in this busi
ness I do many things that the Charges here have
before neglected. By the way, I have just exchanged
the ratifications of a treaty with this government, and
it will be sent home with this letter."
"Lima, 7 Sept., 1838: On the 30th July Orbegoso,
then President of North Peru by appointment of Santa
Cruz, Protector of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation*
declared himself and his government independent of
the Protectorate. A few days after, the Chilians landed
near Lima and overthrew him and his newly-formed
government, occupying the city, which they took by
assault August 21. Orbegoso fled to Callao, and still

A MEMORY. 79
holds the castles, as President of Peru. Gamarra has
been proclaimed President of Peru, and occupies the
palace in Lima. His authority extends to the Chilian
outposts. Riva Agiiero has been appointed President
of North Peru by Santa Cruz in lieu of Orbegoso, and
we have thus three distinct governments in this State
alone, each claiming and exercising, as far as their
forces can control, sovereign authority.
"The Chilian forces in Lima are about 5000 men.
Santa Cruz is collecting his troops in Jauja [forty
leagues distant] to march on the city, and we expect
him here in a few days, strong enough to drive all
these factions, Chilians and all, into the Sea. God
grant it, for I see no other way to peace.
"I had a fine view of the battle of the 21st of Au
gust, fought under the walls of the city. About 600
were killed and wounded. We may witness another
and more sanguinary one in a few days.
"These revolutions and changes of government put
a stop to business; but, being in charge of our legation
here, I have had the hardest two months' work I have
ever had to attend to. You can form some idea of my
labor when I tell you I am sending with this upwards
of a hundred sheets of correspondence to the Secretary

80 A MEMORY.
of State. I have to correspond with three governments
here, and with the Chilian General, and as they all in
turn attempt to invade our rights, they keep me busy.
I have so far gained all my battles — (paper war)."
"Lima, 25th May, 1839: I have already informed
you of the destruction of the army and overthrow of
the Peru-Bolivian Confederation. The government
that has succeeded it in Peru is particularly hostile to
foreigners, and our situation here is by no means so
pleasant as under the administration of Santa Cruz.
Mr. Pickett, who was appointed Charge d' Affaires to
the Confederation, arrived at Quito in November last,
where he has been endeavoring to negotiate a treaty
with Equador. He informs me that he shall not come
to Peru without new credentials and instructions; so
that I am likely to be some time longer acting Charge.
This gives me, in addition to my mercantile business,
so much writing, that I have not much time to devote
to my personal correspondents and friends. You would
be surprised at the writing I sometimes get through
with in a week, and, being without a partner, I have
other engagements enough to keep me very busy.
The time, however, is not far distant when I shall be
more at leisure, for in less than two years I hope to be

A MEMORY. 8 I
in my own country, when I shall not have to work so
steadily. I want a change to recruit myself, for my
health is by no means good. It is only by great care
that I keep in tolerable condition."
Mr. Bartlett's residence included the office of the
American legation and the consulate, and in times of
danger was resorted to as an asylum by American resi
dents. They always met a hospitable reception ; indeed,
his house was distinguished for hospitality at all times.
On the 30th of January, 1840, Hon. J. C. Pickett
assumed the duties of the legation. Mr. Bartlett's ad
ministration of its affairs, it is a pleasure to record, had
been entirely satisfactory to the government at Wash
ington, and highly creditable to himself. In a letter
addressed to him from Philadelphia February 14, 1839,
Wm. B. Hodgson, esq., who was the bearer home of
the ratified treaty, says: "Immediately on my arrival I
waited on Mr. Forsyth [then Secretary of State], and
the President [Van Buren]. Mr. F. said, 'Did you
bring the ratification?' I did. 'I am glad, for I have
feared that the object could not be achieved. Mr.
Bartlett has acted well, and has our decided approba
tion.' The President said, 'I am convinced that Mr.
Bartlett is a man of very correct judgment and great

82 A MEMORY.
intelligence — indeed, he is no ordinary man, to judge
from his correspondence.' "
The period of his toilsome, and, at times anxious so
journ in Lima, came to an end. Troops of friends
accompanied Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett to Callao, and they
embarked February 22, 1840, on board of the U. S.
ship Falmouth, Commander Isaac McKeever, under a
salute from the flag-ship ofthe squadron, and sailed for
home. The ship stopped a week at Valparaiso, ten
days at Rio de Janeiro, and arrived at New York June
16, 1840.
More than twenty-nine years had elapsed since he
left his father's house, and from that day his visits,
which had occurred at long intervals, were reckoned in
weeks. About twenty-two years had been spent on
foreign soil, and he had made many voyages.
In October, 1840, he opened an office in New York,
to be the head-quarters of Alsop & Co. in the United
States, being an agent and partner of the firm.
In November of the same year he crossed the Atlan
tic on board of the steamer President, the last time she
went to Europe, and travelled through England, Scot
land, France, and Switzerland. Mrs. Bartlett was his
companion in this as well as in all his subsequent voy-

A MEMORY. 83
ages and travels abroad, whether undertaken on the call
of pleasure or affairs.
He wrote in London, January 3, 1841 : "I have had
my feet at the same moment upon the ashes of Johnson,
Sheridan, and Garrick, in the Abbey of Westminster;
and, for a short time among the illustrious dead of that
sacred spot, I felt the holy influence it should inspire;
but the gabble of our guide soon dispelled this feeling,
and I finished my walk through the venerable pile
more in disgust than awe."
"My health generally since my arrival in England
has been good, but latterly I have not felt well, and I
have called in Dr. Chambers, of some celebrity here,
and he has decided that my liver is enlarged and its
functions deranged. It may be. He is giving me
medicine for it, and has already succeeded in making
me really unwell. He says I am better, and, although
I feel worse, I am bound to take his opinion in prefer
ence to my own."
He wrote in Paris, April 21, 1841: "Women and
men work together in the field, as in Spain and Portu
gal, and as if to reverse the rules of all other countries,
we generally had men for chambermaids. I shall not
spoil the sale of Caroline's journal by giving you a

84 A MEMORY.
description of what we have seen, for if she publish, I
want it to have the recommendation of novelty. We
have slept in the palace of the Caesars, and eaten trout
from the fountain of Vaucluse in the hotel of Petrarch
and Laura. By the way, the trout made us sick, and
the palace of the Caesars is one of the dirtiest holes in
France. Wait until you see our collection of reliques,
and then say if we have not seen wonders. I have
chartered two ships to carry home our cabinet.
"I left Paris on the 24th February, passed through
Chartres, Poictiers, and Anjou, came to Bordeaux,
where I remained twenty days, and dispatched a vessel
for which I purchased a cargo, and then went up the
banks of the Garonne to Toulouse, and thence to Mont-
pellier, Nismes, Aix, Marseilles, and Toulon. Return
ing, came to Aix again, Avignon (here spent two days
and went to Vaucluse), Lyons, Fontainebleau, crossed
over to Versailles, where I spent two days, and thence
to Paris." This journey of a thousand miles was per
formed in the same carriage, and seems to have been in
every respect delightful.
The travellers returned to England. He wrote at
Liverpool, June 29, 1841 : "I spent one day at Abbots-
ford, Melrose, and Dryburgh, and two at the lakes of

A MEMORY. 85
Cumberland and Westmoreland on my return from
Scotland. The journey altogether was the pleasantest I
have passed in Europe. I do not, however, think that,
divested of poetical and historical associations, the
boasted scenery of the Highlands and English lakes is
superior, if equal to much that I have seen in the
United States; and by no means comparable to that of
Brazil for beauty, or South American mountain scenery
for grandeur. To an Englishman accustomed to his
own flat surface, which by the way is at this season a
perfect garden, the hills of Cumberland and Westmore
land are mountains of comparative magnificence. They
are only mole-hills to the Andes ; and the lakes are
mill-ponds to our own inland seas."
He reached New York in August, 1841, and very
soon established for himself a home in the city. He
worked industriously, as usual, in his office. He joined
the Union Club ; and in December, 1 844, became a
member of the New York Historical Society.
The governments of Peru and Bolivia granted, in
the years 1840 and 1841, exclusive privileges to a com
pany, in which they were interested, incorporated for
the purpose of exporting guano, considered to be the
most efficacious of all the various composts used in

86 A MEMORY.
agriculture. Some time in the year 1844, Mr. Bartlett
became the agent of this company in New York, and
the first cargo arrived. Although hundreds of ships
were employed carrying guano to Europe, its value was
then almost unknown in this country. To make our
agriculturists acquainted with the uses of this substance
he wrote a pamphlet on the subject, which was pub
lished in January, 1845; a second and enlarged edition
appeared in March of the same year, and subsequently
other editions. The introduction of guano, and bring
ing it into general use in the United States are, in a
great degree, ascribable to Mr. Bartlett's enterprise, for,
prior to the circulation of his pamphlets, our farmers
regarded it with distrust.
The consumption of Peruvian bark and quinine,
which is obtained from it alone, became so extensive as
to suggest a fear that the supply might be exhausted.
Under the influence of this belief the Bolivian govern
ment had, from time to time, imposed restrictions on
the cutting of, and traffic in this invaluable natural pro
duct. An exclusive right to export it had been then
recently granted to a company of gentlemen in South
America, represented by Messrs. J. T. Pinto & Co., for
which they agreed to pay a royalty to the Bolivian

A MEMORY. 87
government. Early in 1846 Mr. Bartlett became the
sole agent of this company for the sale of the bark, and
in March he made arrangements with Messrs. Farr,
Powers, & Weightman, and Messrs. Rosengarten &
Denis, manufacturing chemists of Philadelphia, the
effect of which was to bring to New York for some
time the entire crop of Peruvian bark and to greatly
enhance its price, and consequently the profits of the
monopolists. His enterprising spirit and foresight led him to en
gage in a project in 1847 which has acquired vast
proportions. The determination of the boundary line
between Oregon and the British possessions in North
western America had incited American emigration to
the former region. To foster and facilitate it a law
was enacted, March 3, 1847, which authorized the
secretary of the navy to contract for a mail steamship
service between New York and the mouth of the
Columbia River, by way of the Isthmus of Panama.
A contract in conformity to the law was awarded to
Mr. Arnold Harris, who assigned it to a company of
only six gentlemen, namely, Messrs. William H. Aspin-
wall, Joseph W. Alsop, Henry Chauncey, G. G. How-
land, S. S. Howland, and Edwin Bartlett, who together

88 A MEMORY.
originated, founded, and organized the Pacific Mail
Steamship Company. A plan of organization was first
submitted for consideration December 4, 1 847. The
legislature of the State of New York granted a charter
to this little company for twenty years, with a capital
of $400,000, from April 13, 1848; and the pioneer
ship, the California, sailed from New York October 5,
1848. The company ^began with a paid capital of
$350,000, which has grown to twenty-three millions,
and the route of its ships is extended to China and
Japan. About the same time the construction of a railroad
across the Isthmus of Panama was projected and dis
cussed by the same gentlemen. Towards the close of
the year 1848, the government of the State of New
York enacted a law which constituted certain gentle
men, including Mr. Bartlett, the "Panama Railroad
Company." The first meeting of the corporators was
held in New York June 7, 1849. The needful surveys
were made, but the work of construction was not begun
till May, 1850.
To these two enterprises, which in conception and
execution are unsurpassed, whether considered in respect
to their grandeur or their beneficial influence on the

A MEMORY. 89
commercial progress of our country, Mr. Bartlett de
voted much of his time and thought.
In 1849 ne purchased a farm, on the banks of the
Hudson, about thirty miles north of the city of New
York, to which he designed to retire from business, in
the hope of enjoying the pleasures of literary pursuits,
to which he had long looked forward in imagination.
Here, in the latter part of the year 1852, he had com
pleted a spacious mansion which, for the architectural
taste displayed in its whole plan and decoration, was
much admired.
In the volume of the "Horticulturist" for 1856 is
the following notice : —
"Rockwood, the seat of Edwin Bartlett, esq., near Tar-
rytown, about thirty miles above the city of New York.
We found Mr. Bartlett in possession of a princely man
sion, having a facade of one hundred and fifty feet,
1
several hundred acres of land finely situated on the
banks of the Hudson, with a beautiful reach of river
view, and with sufficient native trees on the front to
screen it from obtrusive observation. The planting
round the house is new; there are, however, a few of
the original shade trees left to break the glare of the
southern front. Mr. Bartlett has just arranged for ex-

90 A MEMORY.
tensive conservatories and green-houses, under the man
agement of Mr. Luchars, a builder of these structures
of great eminence. His other improvements employed
at the time of our visit about eighty men. There can
be little doubt that, with Mr. B.'s means and liberal
expenditure, and the great interest and taste shown by
both Mrs. Bartlett and himself, Rockwood will become
one of the most ornate and beautiful country-seats in
America." — p. 497.
No less favorable testimony about this place is given
in the seventh edition (1865) of " Downing's Landscape
Gardening and Rural Architecture," with a supplement
by Henry Winthrop Sargent : —
"Upon the Hudson, the most marked place which
has been created since the first edition of this book, is
Rockwood, the residence of Edwin Bartlett, esq., near
Tarrytown. The house (fig. 97) is truly a princely
mansion, with a facade of nearly or quite one hundred
and fifty feet, and with its internal arrangements and
decorations, we should say, quite the most complete
establishment in the United States. The estate itself
consists of several hundred acres, very cleverly planted
with park-like effect; and the approach, which is quite
a long one, so judiciously managed, that it conveys the

A MEMORY.

91

idea of a very large place, and gives a stranger a most
agreeable impression of the house, at the first appear
ance, when emerging from a ravine or passage between
two rocky eminences.
"The views from the house and the plateau or ter
race around it, are very superb, and unrivalled, we
think, upon the Hudson River.
"Very extensive greenhouses and conservatories have
been erected under the supervision of Mr. Luchars, a
builder of great experience; and we do not see why,
in a few years, with the taste and liberality of expendi
ture on the part of the proprietor, Rockwood will not
be the, or certainly one of the most distinguished coun
try-seats in America." — page 552.
Mr. Bartlett ceased to be an active partner in the
house of Alsop & Co. December 31, 1850; still, how
ever, retaining a large interest in it.
In July, 1854, he visited England, and returned in
November of the same year. In connection with the
affairs of the Panama Railroad he went again to Eng
land in December, and came home in September, 1855,
having negotiated in London a loan to the Company of
a million and a quarter of dollars, at a time of its
greatest need.

92 A MEMORY.
He retired from the Board of Directors of the Pacific
Mail Steamship Company February 27, 1856.
Towards the close of 1858 he became one of the
trustees of the creditors and stockholders of the Ohio
and Mississippi Railroad Company, Eastern Division, a
post which brought to him much care and anxiety.
He was elected chairman of this Board in 1859. His
connection with this trust required him to pass much
time in the city, and inasmuch as the health of Mrs.
Bartlett at that period confined her to the house, the
separation became irksome to both. This and other
considerations induced him in the spring of i860 to
part with Rockwood; and in May they took up their
abode in the city again, after eleven years' experience
of happy rural life.
For the benefit of the trust of the creditors and
stockholders of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Com
pany, he visited England in the summer of 1862, re
turning in October.
He determined to seek retirement in the country
again, and with this view he resigned the position of
chairman of the board of trustees of the creditors
and stockholders of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad
Company, February 6, 1864, having held it nearly five

A MEMORY. 93
years. On account of the health of Mrs. Bartlett, the
month of March was passed at Nassau ; and soon after
their return they went to reside on a farm beautifully
situated on the Hudson, about a hundred miles north
of the city of New York, which Mr. Bartlett had pur
chased, hoping, no doubt, that in time he would make
this spot, appropriately named by him Miramonte, sur
pass Rockwood in everything which rendered that
place charming. To study the landscape while saun
tering over his grounds, and watch the realization of
architectural plans which his mind had approved, was
to him a perennial source of pleasure. But he had not
yet withdrawn from affairs. He still gave all necessary
attention to his duties as a director of the Panama
Railroad, and trustee of the creditors and stockhold
ers of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Company, and
was interested in many enterprises of importance.
For relaxation and health on the 20th of January,
1866, he sailed for Central America, and after a pleasant
tour returned, March 27th.
From its inception, Mr. Bartlett had been active in
promoting the construction of the Panama Railroad,
which he now saw for the first time. He stood with
Col. G. M. Totten, engineer of the road, on the rear

94 A MEMORY.
platform of the car which conveyed him and his party
from Aspinwall to Panama, inspecting every part of the
road with manifest pleasure as the train moved onward.
How strong must have been the contrast in his mind
between what he saw now and what he remembered
of his transit of the isthmus nearly forty years before,
which he described in a letter written at Panama Janu
ary, 1827. On the present journey his enthusiasm was
as ingenuous as that of a child. To one of the com
pany he related that in the darkest hours of the progress
of construction of the road, one of his intimate friends
earnestly entreated him to sell his interest in the road
at any price, and rescue from total loss what he could,
stating in his letter, his belief that the natural obstacles
to be overcome were so stupendous that the work never
could be completed. "But," said Mr. Bartlett, "I had
faith in the enterprise, and here we have the result."
The summer of 1866 and the following winter were
passed at Miramonte in the quiet enjoyment of home,
which he loved so much. His ever active mind looked
forward to the improvement and embellishment of his
country-seat. He had in contemplation the building
of a new mansion. Being himself childless, he possibly
hoped it might be, at some future day, the home of his

A MEMORY. 95
nephew, William Francis Bartlett, whose patriotic ser
vices and gallant conduct in war for the national life
had won for him the grade of Brevet Major-General in
the army, and a son's place in his uncle's noble heart.
General Bartlett is the only male descendant of the name
from the many children of the Hon. Bailey Bartlett.
The cares and anxieties inseparable from the positions
which he filled in connection with the management of
the Panama Railroad, and the trust of the creditors
and stockholders of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad
Company, during the past six or seven years, began now
to manifest their depressing influence on his physical
condition. His hearing had become dull, and the elas
ticity of his gait had departed in a great degree. His
bodily vigor was much abated, and he experienced
unaccustomed fatigue from his visits to the city during
the past year, although his ever remarkably youthful
appearance and freshness of heart remained unchanged,
and his mental energy was intact. His friends never
thought him old.
In July, 1867, while arranging" to be released from
the many trusts confided to him, his health failed. He
resorted in vain to medical skill, and to the healing
waters of Saratoga, which heretofore had ever proved

96 A MEMORY.
salutary. He returned thence to his home at Mira
monte, August 2 1 st. His attending physician, Dr. J.
E. Losee, called to his aid, Sept. 3, Dr. John H. Hin-
ton, of New York, who was sojourning at Annandale;
but he continued to fail in strength till September 4th,
when debility compelled him to keep his bed. On the
5th, Dr. Theodore G. Thomas, of New York, saw him
in consultation with the gentlemen just named. On
the afternoon of September 7th he was visited by Dr.
Ruschenberger, a friend of nearly forty years' standing,
who came from Philadelphia in obedience to a telegram
transmitted to him the previous day. The patient put
forth his enfeebled hand in welcome, saying, "How
did you get here so soon? I did not expect you till
to-morrow. You must have come on the wings of
love. I am having a very hard time, but the doctors
will give you a better account of my case than I can."
These few sentences were pleasantly uttered, yet with
manifest effort.
The three physicians were zealously active, and it is
believed left undone nothing which their joint experi
ence could suggest; nor did they resort to any measures
which they subsequently thought should have been
omitted.

A MEMORY. 97
On the morning of the 8th there was a slight abate
ment of the alarming symptoms, but the patient said,
addressing his wife, who was ever present at his bed
side, his manner implying more, perhaps, than his
words, "Dear little Carey, if we only knew what is best
to be done, for your sake." And towards evening he
said to Dr. Ruschenberger, "Your skill is hopeless."
And the next morning he whispered to him, "It is all
over — it is useless." Then he lay quietly for a time.
Though no sectarian, submission to the Divine Will
characterized him, every day of his life, and did not
forsake him now on his dying bed. His placid counte
nance implied an entire tranquillity of mind. About
noon he said, with composure, "I am going very fast;"
and yet, when requested a few minutes afterwards to
take some medicine, he replied in a very low but cheer
ful tone, " I will take anything you wish."
His prostration steadily increased, but he remained
still conscious. About seven o'clock in the evening
General Bartlett arrived, and was recognized in a faint
smile, although the patient had passed beyond the
power of audible speech. Immediately afterwards the
appropriate prayers of the Episcopal Church were read
at his bedside by the Rev. Dr. Fairbairn, in presence
•3

98 A MEMORY.
of the assembled family and friends, and it is believed
that, although dull of hearing, he was cognizant of the
ceremony and its import.
After this solemn moment there was no manifesta
tion of consciousness. Except only that respiration was
somewhat laborious, he lay as one in a deep sleep till
three o'clock of the morning of the ioth, when his soul
passed to another world, but so peacefully that no one
could tell the exact instant when he ceased to live in
this. Three score and ten years were given here on
earth; then, time was taken away and for him all its
reckoning ceased.

The remains were placed in the cemetery of the
church of the Holy Innocents, at Annandale, N. Y.,
on Friday, September 13th, 1867, until the mortuary
chapel, to be erected on his own grounds, shall be ready
to receive them. In token of affectionate respect for
the memory of the deceased, neighbors heaped fresh
flowers on his bier, and old friends shed tears upon
his grave. A large number of persons came from dis-

A MEMORY. 99
tant points to assist in the solemn ceremony of burial,
and a still larger number of every class from the
neighborhood assembled to participate in doing the
last honors to him whom all recognized in life to be a
Christian gentleman. The whole community of An
nandale was touched sadly by his death, although he
had been in it only about three years. Through his
courtesy, his charity, and alms-giving, he was known
and sincerely respected by all, even by those who were
ignorant of his many noble qualities.
The tenth day of September the board of trustees of
the creditors and stockholders of the Ohio and Missis
sippi Railroad Company, by an appointment previously
made by Mr. Bartlett, assembled to consider a final re
port on the state of the trust, but received instead the
sad intelligence of his death. And at the same time that
this sad event was reported at a meeting of the board of
directors of the Panama Railroad, came the important
news that the government at Bogota had extended the
privileges of the company on the Isthmus of Panama
for ninety-nine years, the negotiation of which had
been entrusted, in part, to the sagacity and address of
Mr. Bartlett.
Both boards expressed their sense of loss and respect

IOO A MEMORY.

for the memory of the deceased, in resolutions adopted
at special meetings held Sept. 17th, as follows: —
"At a special meeting of the trustees of the creditors
and stockholders of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad
Company (E. D.), held on the 17th inst., the following
resolutions were unanimously adopted : —
"Resolved, That we sincerely lament the death of our
friend and late associate, Edwin Bartlett, who has been
identified with the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad almost
from its commencement, who was also one of the ori
ginal members of the board, and for several years its
presiding officer.
"Resolved, That his faithful and devoted services in
this trust entitle him to the grateful remembrance of
all who have been interested in its success; and that in
his death we mourn not only the loss of an esteemed
and valued colleague, but of one who in all the rela
tions of life has earned the highest reputation for in
tegrity and honor.
"Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to
the family of the deceased, and published in the papers
of this city. Allan Campbell, Chairman.
E. D. Hammond, Secretary."

A MEMORY. IOI
OBITUARY.
"The late Edwin Bartlett. — At a meeting of
the board of directors of the Panama Railroad Com
pany, held Sept. 17, 1867, the President announced the
death, since the last meeting, of Edwin Bartlett, one of
the oldest members of the board.
"Whereupon the following preamble and resolu
tions, offered by Wm. H. Aspinwall, were unanimously
adopted : —
"In the providence of God we miss to-day a long-
tried and valued friend. By a sad coincidence, we are
informed at the same moment that the Panama Rail
road has had a century added to its existence, and that
one of its founders is removed by death.
"Mr. Bartlett was one of the projectors of this en
terprise. In its days of doubt he never wavered, and it
was mainly owing to his personal influence with Lon
don capitalists that its first loan was negotiated, and he
has been from the origin of the board of directors one
of its most able, active, and unselfish members. With
the view of recording our high appreciation of his
worth and services, it is moved that this preamble and
the following resolutions be adopted and entered on
our minutes: —

102 A MEMORY.
"Resolved, That by the death of Edwin Bartlett this
company experiences the loss of a friend and counsel
lor, to whose sagacity and unvarying support it is greatly
indebted, both in its early struggles and its subsequent
prosperity. "Resolved, That the directors deeply feel the loss of
an associate, distinguished alike by the urbanity of his
manners, the high order of his intellect, and the sound
ness of his judgment.
"Resolved, That the President be requested to trans
mit to the family of the deceased this expression of our
regret and sympathy. David Hoadley, President.
Joseph F. Joy, Secretary."
Mr. John Curtis contributed the following to the
"Red Hook Journal:" —
" Death of Mr. Bartlett, of Annandale, in the town of
Red Hook. — Edwin Bartlett died on the morning of the
ioth of September, 1867, aged 71 years.
"The death of the good man is a subject for sorrow
in any community. If an active charity, sympathy
with the unfortunate, and a noble generosity, constitute
goodness, then Mr. Bartlett was truly a good man. He
was not one of those whose only claim to gentility is

A MEMORY. IO3
based upon their wealth, but a true Christian gentle
man. Himself the soul of honor, he suspected the
integrity of none. In his intercourse with men, he
apparently made no distinction between those of his
own position and those below him. Neither was he
fitful in his virtues, but uniformly consistent. Although
but a short time a resident of this town, he was loved
and respected by all who knew him, and has left a
memory that will not perish. Such men are too few,
and it is a matter of deep regret when they are called
away. Sympathy with those nearly related to him is a
natural feeling, realizing, as we do, that we have lost a
friend who cannot be replaced. Although not without
faults, they seemed to be overshadowed by his sterling
virtues. Thus much a brief acquaintance has enabled
us to learn of him, and the correctness of this tribute
to his memory is attested by the universal sorrow man
ifested at his death. Few men have in so brief a time
gained such a strong hold on the affections of their
neighbors. A blessing to all around him ; what a happy
change would be accomplished if those of Mr. Bart
lett's position in life would understand the wisdom of,
and practise the virtues of his example." — Justice.
The following sentence, from a letter written by

I04 A MEMORY.
Judge Johnson, of Albany, immediately after reading
the announcement of his death, was published with
other obituary notices: —
"I never knew a truer-hearted or purer man, no
warmer friend, no wiser adviser, none more unstained
by long experience of the world, none whose character
among his fellow men was more to be emulated, than
Edwin Bartlett." — A. S. J.
The following, from the pen of Rev. Doctor Dewey,
was communicated to the "New York Evening Post:" —
THE LATE EDWIN BARTLETT.
"To the Editors of the Evening Post:
"I saw, some days since in your columns, a few
words on the character of the late Edwin Bartlett,
which were strong and true; but I think that those
who knew him well must desire that something should
be added to them. For there was much in him that
was not likely to be seen by a casual observer. Cer
tainly he was a man of high integrity and honor, of
sense and sound judgment, of decision and well-con
sidered opinions — a person one would say cool and clear
headed, who knew where he stood and why he stood
there; but so sedate and quiet was his manner, that it
might not have appeared at first that he was a person

A MEMORY. IO5
of equally strong and keen sensibility. His was one of
those sensitive natures that veils itself in reserve. He
was not demonstrative in his general intercourse; but
there was an undertone both of sense and sincerity in
his whole character and conversation. His voice was
low; his demeanor was quiet; but it was the quietness
of strength. He was far from being an easy natured
man with regard to what was going on around him ;
he questioned many things ; he dissented often from
the popular judgment — was, in short, a conservative
man; and the voice of such men is needed, I think, to
interpose some check to our headlong American rush
after novelty that wears the appearance of progress.
But with all this, there was an unfailing kindness of
heart — at least, I never knew it to fail — a gentleness in
his treatment of inferiors; a tenderness like a woman's,
at least in one relation ; a sweetness in his face at times,
and modesty also — and modesty, too, in his mind.
"I know nothing more admirable in any man than
this union of strength and gentleness, of calmness and
deep emotion. Such were the characteristics of this
noble man, who has passed away at the age of seventy,
leaving a blank silence and loneliness in his house that
nothing can ever fill.

Io6 A MEMORY.
"Early in life Mr. Bartlett was engaged in the South
American trade; with what intelligence and honor as
a merchant I need not say; and some years after his
return he built a house on the North River — now in
the possession of Mr. Aspinwall — exceedingly beautiful
both in the structure and situation. His fine taste was
displayed in its arrangements and furniture — simple,
and though not inexpensive, not showy — a method of
displaying wealth for which he had great distaste. He
had a large domain around it of one or two hundred
acres; and this he set himself, aided by the taste of his
wife, equal to his own, in every way to improve. New
engagements in the city induced him to relinquish it.
But some years later he determined to build for his
declining years another residence at Annandale, where
he died. * * *— O. D."
The following is an extract from a communication
written by his old friend, Mr. William Willis, of Port
land, Me., who is familiarly mentioned in his descrip
tion of a gale, encountered Sept. i st, 1 8 1 5, while crossing
the Atlantic from Boston to Lisbon : —
"Mr. Bartlett added to his general intelligence a
knowledge of business, strict integrity, and firm moral
principle. He was the soul of honor, and would scorn

A MEMORY.

IO7

to do, or be suspected of doing, a mean or unworthy
action. No temptation could
'Swerve from truth, or change his steadfast heart!'
"Born in the same village, within three years of each
other; passing our youth together in childish plays, to
some of which he sportively alluded in a recent letter
to me; having had the pleasure and great privilege of
making with him a round voyage to Portugal and back
as we were just entering on manhood; and in after life,
although separated by distance and profession, though
often meeting in friendly intercourse, I could not receive
tidings of a final parting of our earthly ties without a
pang of severe sorrow. In his letter to which I have
referred is the following remark, particularly impressive
in the present circumstances. After speaking of our
sports on the banks of the Merrimac, he says: 'We
have since crossed a more magnificent collection of
water in each other's company, and are now about
reaching the furthest shore of the ocean of life. Who
ever may first reach the haven of rest, I am sure will
welcome the other on his landing. God grant that we
may there renew and perpetuate the friendship of other
days.' "Yes, my friend, you are over, no more to be vexed

108 A MEMORY.
by the storms of this anxious and varied life, while I
stand, still lingering on the margin, gazing dreamily at
the mists which hang over the river of death. How
many of the associates of our early happy days have
fallen all along the pathway of our protracted lives, and
I am left to mark their receding forms and dwell upon
the scenes of our fresh and buoyant days. I feel that I
would give for those happy, youthful hours, 'all the
days I'm destined still to live.' But I shall soon join
the silent procession, and the dark portal will close
upon me as it has upon you, my dear departed friend."
A graceful expression of condolence by Mr. Wm. B.
Hodgson, of Savannah, is, though but lately received,
appropriately recorded at this place in our memory: —
"Newport, R. I., July 10, 1868.
My dear Mrs. Bartlett :
"It has so happened from my absence abroad, and
my irregular residence at home, that I have but just
heard of the decease of my respected and endeared
friend. I may still be permitted to mingle my sympa
thies with your own sacred grief for the loss of him
who was the partner of your joys and sorrows in life.
I would not intrude on the sanctity of your grief with
words which reach not the depth of my condolence, or

A MEMORY. IO9
the sacredness of your own memories. Yet, I must ask
you to accept some recollections of my friend, Mr.
Bartlett, as a faint memorial of his worth, and my
esteem. The incidents which I may recall are familiar
to you, as they passed under your eye, at a graceful
home in a distant land. They are peculiarly interesting
to me, as having brought me into close relations with
one whose character I learned to appreciate for rare
intellectual endowments and great moral excellence.
"My first acquaintance with Mr. Bartlett was made
at Lima, in Peru. He then held the office of United
States Consul. Before that period I could only speak
of him as a foreign representative, who gave dignity
and influence to his office. I had been familiar with
the high estimation, personal and official, in which he
was held by the Department of State at Washington ;
but I was yet to learn, by relations of personal intimacy,
that distance, which often throws illusions over the cha
racters of men, had shed none over the full import and
truth of his.
"I had been sent by the Secretary of State to the
Charge d'Affaires at Lima, who was entrusted with ne
gotiations with the government of Peru. My arrival
found him no longer alive. The instructions which I

I IO A MEMORY.

bore did not anticipate this contingency. To act on
my own judgment and responsibility was the alternative
presented. I consulted with Mr. Bartlett, and repre
sented the objects of the government, and my own
instructions. Such was his familiarity with those ob
jects, so comprehensive and judicious were his views of
men and diplomatic conditions, that I promptly deter
mined to transfer to him the whole subject. He ac
cordingly arranged with the Peruvian government to
pursue the negotiations. The report of my proceedings
was approved by the Secretary of State, and the success
ful issue of a prolonged negotiation subsequently brought
to Mr. Bartlett the commendation and approval of his
government. A treaty was confirmed which secured
the great interests of the United States. Those interests
were familiar to him, from his long residence in Peru
as the head of a leading house of 'merchant princes.'
"I must record, with pleasing and grateful recollec
tions, my prolonged residence under your hospitable
roof. It was there I learned to appreciate the noble
qualities of my friend's character. Conspicuous among
these was an unobtrusive tenderness and chivalrous de
ference in his domestic relations. It was to me pecu
liarly attractive and impressive. It is my faith that this

A MEMORY. I I I
marks the true Christian and cultivated gentleman.
The sentiment is better expressed by the poet Spenser —
'The gentle mind, by gentle deed is known.'
"Were I to speak of his chief characteristics, I
should say that they were sincerity and manly frank
ness. No one, I think, could leave his society without
the conviction that these emotions were part of his
nature. They were innate feelings, which spontane
ously gilded his conversations with men and the daily
transactions of life. He was habitually quiet and un
obtrusive. The Roman historian might have applied
to him what he said of an eminent senator — bonus esse,
quam videri, maluit — he preferred to be good, rather
than seem to be. His sentiment of honor in private
and public relations was delicate and susceptible. No
thing unworthy or ignoble found access to his head or
heart. His early education, which was liberal, had
been improved by extensive reading of our best litera
ture. In the intervals of monopolizing interests and
varied enterprises, which 'roamed from Indus to the
pole,' he cultivated books and letters with success. His
benevolent deeds and kindly courtesies were unostenta
tious, but expansive. His absent friends were defended
and. protected by a generous impulse which springs

112 A MEMORY.
from nobility of soul, so finely portrayed by Sydney,
the chivalrous soldier and poet: —
' High thoughts, seated in a heart of courtesy.'
"Pray accept, my dear Mrs. Bartlett, this slight me
morial, with assurances of my great esteem.
WM. B. HODGSON."
The following are extracts from another communi
cation by the same hand : —
"Your own sorrows, my dear Mrs. Bartlett, are almost
too sacred fpr condolence. The inexpressible love and
devotion to yourself of my lamented friend was a deep
impression which I brought away with me as a guest
from your hospitable mansion in Lima. It is a pleasant
memory now; but I must not question the mysterious
Providence which, for this world, has separated you
from the object of such affection. It will be renewed
in a brighter existence. Even without the assurance
of Christianity, the Roman orator, in his Dream of
Scipio, brings together in a better world those whom
we have loved in this.
" One of the greatest satisfactions of my varied life,
at home and abroad, is to have known and appreciated
my departed friend. I shall continue to hope that I
had a place in the circle of his approved friends. I

A MEMORY. I 13
cannot forget with what manly disinterestedness he
defended me from aspersions which brought to their
author shame. His was a delicate sense of honor; nor
could he even be approached by unworthy, ignoble
motives. I believe that no one ever left his presence
without feeling that truth was his high attribute.
"His judgment and intelligence in public affairs
were not surpassed by his ability and success in com
merce. On my return to Washington I recollect to
have said to Mr. Forsyth, the Secretary of State, that
Mr. Consul Bartlett was the best diplomatic agent
whom he could place in charge of our relations with
Peru. Such a position, however, could have had no
attractions for the chief of American commerce.
Ever faithfully, &c, WM. B. HODGSON."
The Hon. Alexander S. Johnson, of Utica, N. Y.,
has recently, at the request of the writer, stated his
appreciation of Mr. Bartlett's worth. This brief sketch
is drawn by a discriminating hand, habitually guided
by justice.
'"I never knew a truer hearted or purer man; no
warmer friend; no wiser adviser; none more unstained
by long experience of the world; none whose charac-
¦5

I 14 A MEMORY.
ter among his fellow men was more to be emulated,
than Edwin Bartlett.' Thus he seemed to me when I
first. heard of his death; thus he seems to me still, now
that a year has passed, blunting the first sharpness of
grief. I, can add nothing; I find nothing to alter: he
was worthy of that which is said in its fullest sense,
without any abatement on account of personal regard,
any deduction for the hallowing shadow of death.
"For twenty-five years I had the happiness to enjoy
his friendship; to partake of his delightful hospitality;
to be admitted to his confidence; to know his trials
and labors — burthens sometimes heavy to be borne; to
share the pleasure of his successes. Of the daily beauty
of his life at home I may not speak. He made that
home happy to the full measure of human happiness :
there his entire unselfishness, his consideration for the
feelings and wishes of all around him, his amiable tem
per, his large stores of knowledge, his ever flowing
humor, made him its soul and centre.
"In the practical affairs of the world in his time he
took an active and effective part. The steam navigation
of the Pacific between Panama and California, and the
railroad between the two oceans at Panama were due
in great part to his foresight, energy, and enterprise.

A MEMORY. I 15
The magnitude of these undertakings they only can
rightly estimate who remember how hopelessly imprac
ticable they seemed until they were accomplished.
Upon these and upon kindred objects he concentrated
the efforts of his later years. Labor, anxiety, pecuniary
peril, and loss, were all encountered without stint; no
discouragements ever made him lose heart; no obstacles
seemed insurmountable; and in the end complete suc
cess crowned his labors.
"With these labors just finished, at the full limit of
man's life, with mind and body in vigor, he passed
away suddenly in death, happy at least in this, that he
was spared from lingering disease, from wasting pain,
from waning mind, and from all the unnumbered hu
miliations of too protracted years."
A very large number of letters of condolence, all
bearing testimony to the high qualities of the deceased
in tones of affectionate sorrow, have been gratefully
received. Mrs. Bartlett regards them, like the fresh
flowers heaped upon his bier, as tokens of an ear
nest desire to assuage her unspeakable grief. Though
the flowers soon wither and die, the sympathy they
convey lives always in remembrance. Sweetly soothing
are these tributes of friends. They all point her to the

I I 6 A MEMORY.
path which leads to Him who alone gives comfort to the
afflicted, and on his mercy only she feels she must rely.
Edwin Bartlett was an eminently successful merchant.
His title to respect and admiration does not rest alone
on his far-sighted and just appreciation of circum
stances; his accurate knowledge of trade and financial
operations in various countries ; his energy and dispatch,
combined with absolute probity and indomitable cou
rage in the execution of every enterprise, which con
stitute the chief qualities and acquirements essential to
success in a commercial career. He wrote with facility.
His commercial letters are regarded as models of mer
cantile style; they are clear, yet concise, and so nicely
constructed that not a word more or less seems necessary
to the full expression of his thoughts, every word being
uttered at its exact value, and so nicely collocated that
his sentences are always flowing, and animated by the
mental tone predominating during the moments of
composition. He was endowed also with rare personal gifts and
virtues which gave him distinction in private life.
Unsensual and unselfish in constitution, gentle and mo
dest in his demeanor, placidly cheerful in disposition,
and always self-possessed and respectful to all, he quickly

A MEMORY. I 17
made friends, and rarely was deserted by any whom he
had once attracted to himself. His prosperity was for
given by all. He provoked no envy. Blessed with an
accurate and retentive memory, and habits of careful
observation, he had accumulated by extensive reading
and intercourse with intelligent men at home and
abroad, large stores of precise and miscellaneous infor
mation, from which he drew freely on appropriate
occasions. He had a discriminating literary taste. He
was conversant with the best English authors, familiar
with Shakespeare and other classic poets, and repeated
from them appropriately and most gracefully. All who
have heard him in the home circle can testify that the
fascinating elegance of his manner of reading is seldom
surpassed in public by professed elocutionists or lec
turers. He was not a talker, but his conversation,
graced as it was with delicate humor and varied acquire
ments, and never soiled by impure expression, censorious
criticism, or gossip, was always agreeable and instructive.
He was considerate of working men, charitable to
the indigent, generous to the unfortunate, and ever
ready to contribute from his stores of knowledge to
assist others in their pursuits. He loved his country
more than party. Decided in his opinions concerning

n8

A MEMORY.

the policy of the nation, he was nevertheless liberal
towards those who maintained views opposite to his
own. He despised bigotry of every kind.
Home was the scene of his delight, and there he
was most conspicuous. While exercising a princely
hospitality, and at his own board dispensing its luxuries
to his guests with most skilful hand, he was the most
abstemious of them all. The genial sunshine of his
quiet manner warmed all within its reach. A host so
accomplished in all respects is rarely met. His pleasure
was to make others happy, and to this end he promptly
engaged, whether to assist at work or participate in
amusement. Whatever he attempted to do he did well,
at work or play. As a sportsman his aim was accurate ;
in the saddle he was master ; and at the game of whist,
in which none took greater delight, few were more
expert, as his fellow members of a private whist club
in New York will bear witness.
Lifting for a moment the veil which shrines the
sanctities of home, we behold him through a period of
forty-one years from the hour of betrothal, ministering
in unreserved confidence, continuous and tender devo
tion to her whose happiness was his only joy. The
flame lighted in early manhood ever burned, like the

N(

A MEMORY. II9
vestal fire, chastely and brightly in his bosom, and was
extinguished only with his life. Yet so loyal was he to
truth, and his sense of duty to those who confided any
trust to his execution, that he never failed in perform
ance, by yielding to the strongest allurements recognized
by his affectionate heart. Her devotion was not less
than his. That charm of life which is found in first
love remained so fresh that, although mature in years,
widowhood came to her with a heart-shock as crushing
as to a young bride full of bright hopes, and without a
suspicion that the good are ever disappointed in this
world, or taken away from it. This charm, which was
a life-long source of happiness, has been broken. She
knows now how wonderfully happy she has been, and
her desolate heart is filled with thankfulness.
Mr. Bartlett was bred under the influence of the
precepts of the Protestant Episcopal faith. Although
there was no house of public worship belonging to this
denomination in Haverhill at the time, and all attended
the services of the Congregational church, Bishop Bass
made them periodical visits and christened the children
born in their intervals in the three or four Protestant
Episcopal families of the town.
Passing very many years of his life in countries

120 A MEMORY.
wherein the Roman Catholic was the established faith,
he was perfectly free from sectarian bias. A religious
tone of mind is everywhere manifest in his familiar
letters, which the following extracts from them clearly
indicate. On an occasion when all of his family at
Guayaquil had gone to witness the Romish ceremonies
at one of the churches, he wrote, December 25, 1827:
"Political changes and incidents are too rapid and tri
fling here to make it worth your while to attend to
their relation. Religious subjects I never introduce,
for although my mind disdains the dogmas of Roman
faith, I would not willingly turn to ridicule the solemn
ceremonies of devout believers in any creed."
Referring to one who had died abroad, he wrote in
November, 1826: "The death of our friends, when
our kind offices have smoothed their dying pillows and
watched the slow but constant ebb of the tide of life,
leaves the heart in a state of solitary desolation. What
then must be our feelings, when those whose affections
have long warmed our bosoms are taken away from us,
without one friendly arm to couch their weary heads,
one friendly voice to speak comfort to the parting spirit?
There is a pensive pleasure in recollecting the last mo
ments of a departed friend. The memory lingers, with

A MEMORY. 121
a feeling approaching to happiness, round the dying bed
of a dear friend whose descent to the grave has been
smoothed by our kindness, and whose last look on earth
was gratitude to us. But, Caroline, the good man has
always a friend in death that can cheer him in the last
hours of expiring nature, and although the attachment
of earth may not be sundered without a pang, the freed
spirit gladly wings its flight to its promised mansions
of rest. The feelings to which this event have given
rise in your bosom are natural, but do not pursue them
too far and too long."
In November, 1826, speaking of a birthday anniver
sary, he says: "I have often thought that such seasons
are like eminences in the journey of life, from which
we as naturally view the past and explore the future, as
a traveller stops on the summit of a mountain to survey
the country he has left and that to which he is pro
gressing. The eye is delighted to dwell again upon
scenes with which it was lately so familiar, and a more
clear and distinct view is obtained of the general, land
scape which we had before only seen in detached parts.
Distance mellows and softens its asperities as the wizard
hand of time smooths the troubled sea of life. In the
bold and general outline of both we discover only their
16

122 A MEMORY.
beauties. But it is not only as a source of pleasure that
we are to consider these natural resting-places in our
voyage. To a contemplative mind they are seasons of
profitable examination and useful resolution. It is at
such times that the grateful heart repeats its praises and
thanksgivings for its happiness, and humbly solicits of
the Author of all mercies a continuance of his blessings.
Is is then that we recall to our minds the blighted hopes
and unexpected happiness of the past year. The friends
whom we have loved and who are no more, are pre
sented to us again in tender recollection, and the new
ties that bind us to life are more sensibly felt in the
anxious beatings of the full heart. In our earlier years
hope soon leads from contemplation of the past and
points to the flowery fields before us. We see the
expanding beauties of our path, but heed not its dan
gers and obstructions. As we travel on in life we
gather instruction from disappointments, and, widening
the field of memory, dwell every year longer upon its
scenes. But, my dearest friend, beyond the natural
horizon a mortal hope beams upon a far richer country
than any that memory can boast. Let us not forget
that this happy region is accessible to all who persevere
to the end."

A MEMORY. I23
July 14, 1827. "I know nothing that so carries the
mind, if I may so express it, beyond itself, as a contem
plation of the works of God in the heavens — the regu
larity and harmony of the worlds floating in space and
the irresistible conviction that they carry with them of
a superintending power. The revelations of the Most
High are written in golden characters in the firma
ment, and in beholding his works the mind makes its
first approaches to a conception of infinity. * * *
"I am often induced to consider all the treatises on
the subject of astronomy as ingenious theories, and only
believed because more ingenious ones have not confuted
them. Much has certainly been discovered of the
motions of the planets, and many plausible deductions
made from what has been demonstrated true. The
relative positions of all the moving heavenly bodies are
calculated to a great degree of nicety for centuries in
advance; but the laws of those motions, and much less
their causes, are to us still all conjecture. When one
difficulty is cleared away another is discovered, and so
on ad infinitum until we are lost in the mazes of our
own imaginations. Infinity of space and eternity of
duration are words to which the mind can fix but very
vague ideas. I have sometimes fondly hoped that in a

124 A MEMORY.
future state we may be enabled to acquire a knowledge
of these things — that the mind may be so enlarged as
to embrace what is now incomprehensible — that the
mysteries of God may be unfolded to us, and the beau
ties of his works fully understood. What a sublime
prospect to ignorant man! But in the noble aspirations
of the soul do we not pant for such an immortality ?"
September 28, 1828. "It is probable in our belief
there may be points on which we differ. * * * *
On one essential point, however, we cannot differ, that
an honest and firm belief in any creed must add purity to
the life, and consolation in death. It is better the
mind fix itself on broad fundamental truths, where it
may repose in safety, and leave the unimportant and
disputed points to those who have more zeal than cha
rity. It is a subject that at every period of my life has
engaged much of my thoughts, but I fear my conclu
sions have not been satisfactory, even to my own mind.
Had the Christian religion no other recommendation
than the sublimity of its doctrines and purity of its
precepts, it should and must make a deep impression of
its importance on every mind. When to this is added
a belief in the divine origin of the rewards it promises
and the punishments it threatens, it cannot fail to ren-

A MEMORY. 125
der the professor happier here and more fitted to enjoy
its promised happiness hereafter. It is an awful sub
ject, my dear friend, to dwell upon the coldness of some
and the hypocrisy of others, who profess a belief in
this beautiful religion. Some who are sincere have
more zeal than judgment, and who having no taste to
admire its simplicity, distort its beauties and defile its
purity. They injure the cause they espouse."
October 11, 1828. "When we are enjoying the au
tumn of our days in that little cottage you have so
often spoken of, we shall talk over these things on some
winter's evening, and as we watch the blazing fire and
decaying embers, moralize on the rise and fall and
decay of nations and of nature, and, I trust, find conso
lation in all our contemplations in that blessed hope
that never dies, the hope of a happy immortality. This
it is that shines above and around the funeral pyre of
the material world.
' The sun is but a spark of fire,
A transient meteor in the sky;
The soul, immortal as its sire,
 can never die.' "
Gazing through his telescope, as he frequently did
while residing on the banks of the Hudson, to observe
the motion of the countless worlds revolving through

126 A MEMORY.
space, he recognized, almost palpably, the omnipotence
of God, and at the same time the insignificance of
man's sectarian refinements in religion. His own views
were a result of careful investigation; and his thought
fully reached convictions included no proselyting spirit.
Hence his discussion of religious subjects was confined
to his most confidential friends. His intellect was clear
to the last, and though aware that he was about to close
his life, his mind was perfectly serene, and he tran
quilly met the last summons, apparently satisfied with
his eternal prospects. No human being consciously
confronting death could manifest more perfect mental
composure than he did. There is no reason to believe
that his confidence was misplaced, for the whole con
duct of his life in detail was consistent with Christian
precept: The following stanzas from among his early verses
appropriately close this memory of a life which the
writer feels is imperfectly portrayed : —
Then not on earth I'll seek for perfect bliss,
i No longer hope wreck'd happiness to save,
Till, from the sphere of Heaven, the star of Peace
Shall beam in mercy o'er a Christian's grave.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffer
ing, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance ;
against such there is no law.

COLLINS, PRINTER
PHILADELPHIA. 1868.

MFMORY
I V B . i ¦ J IV. iv- 'V- 3 ¦ il: \ ¦ 11... '