It was my good fortune to see Professor Christlieb for a few moments before he went on to New York, and I have read his masterly essay with the greatest interest. The Dean of Canterbury passed a day with me.

Let me only hope, in conclusion, that the spirit which has animated the delegates may be kindled in millions of other hearts; and that to this great meeting in New York may be traced, hereafter, the lighting up anew of a flame of Christian faith and hope and charity, which may catch and spread throughout the world, and which neither superstition nor infidelity shall be able to extinguish or withstand.

Believe me, reverend and dear sir, with the highest respect and regard, yours sincerely,

Rev. WILLIAM ADAMS, D.D.

ROBERT C. WINTHROP.

IV.

PEABODY EDUCATION TRUST.

A LETTER TO THE GENERAL AGENT.

BERNE, SWITZERLAND, Sept. 1, 1874. MY DEAR DR. SEARS, It is with sincere reluctance that I have at last relinquished the expectation of being present at the next Annual Meeting of the Peabody Trustees. Having come abroad, however, wholly for the health of others, I am not at liberty to yield to inclinations and impulses of my own, which would have certainly carried me home in October.

Be good enough to make my apologies to our associates, and to assure them of my great regret at finding myself unable to meet with them next month, and to participate in the important deliberations and duties which will again devolve upon the Board.

Be good enough, also, to remind them that I did not overlook the discretionary power which was given to me, as Chairman, in regard to holding our Annual Meeting at the White Sulphur Springs in Virginia. But after corresponding with a large number of the Trustees individually, I found a general concurrence in the opinion that it was inexpedient to change the time and place which had been provisionally fixed at. the last Annual Meeting.

You will further oblige me by bringing formally to the attention of the Board the Volume of our Proceedings, which was prepared by their order, and of which a copy for examination and correction was transmitted to each one of the Trustees some months ago.

In the preface to that volume, I have sufficiently recalled the purposes for which it was ordered, and the views with which it was prepared. I hope that this preface may be read at our Meeting, and may be considered as a part of this letter.

It will now be for the Board to decide on the number of copies to be printed at once, and on the mode of distributing them among the Public Libraries of the country. As the volume is stereotyped, it will be in our power to order additional copies, as they may be wanted, from year to year; and I should think that fifteen hundred, or even a thousand,

would be quite enough to begin with. The Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the present year may well be included in the volume, under . your own supervision, before it is finally made up.

I cannot forget that a vacancy has been created in our Board since we last met, by the death of our esteemed and respected associate, Charles Macalester, Esq. He was, as you know, an old and valued friend of Mr. Peabody, and was included by him in the original nomination of his Trustees. And, certainly, no one of us all has been more diligent and devoted in the discharge of the duties thus devolved upon him.

His long practical experience in business affairs commended him at once to Mr. Peabody, and to ourselves, as a member of our Finance Committee; and, in that capacity, he has rendered invaluable service to the work which has been intrusted to us.

We have all confided in him, as a man of sound judgment, of scrupulous integrity, of exemplary life, and of Christian principle. We have all been warmly attached to him, as an associate and friend, whose companionship and counsel were ever welcome at our Meetings.

Born in Philadelphia, on the 17th of February, 1798, and dying in the same city on the 9th of December last, he had almost completed his seventy-sixth year. But it was only at our very last meeting that the vigor of his frame and the cheerfulness of his spirit seemed in any degree impaired. We parted from him then, and he from us, with little expectation, on either side, of his living to be with us again.

His faithful services, I need hardly suggest, deserve an honorable mention in our records, and I would gladly have paid a more adequate tribute to his memory.

The composition of our Board is gradnally undergoing serious changes. The names of Rives, Farragut, Bradford, McIlvaine, and Macalester have already disappeared from our little original roll. But I rejoice to remember that the policy which we adopted during the lifetime and in the immediate presence of our illustrious Founder, is unchanged; and I heartily hope that under your faithful supervision it will be pursued systematically and successfully to the end.

Once more begging you to remember me cordially and affectionately to our associates, I remain, dear Dr. Sears, with the warmest regard and respect,

Sincerely yours,

The REV. BARNAS SEARS, D.D.,

General Agent of the Peabody Education Fund.

ROBERT C. WINTHROP.

P. S. Before closing this letter, I have learned with sincere sorrow that our friend Mr. Eaton died suddenly in Edinburgh, more than a

4

month ago, and that a second vacancy has thus been created in our Board. We can hardly be surprised that one so feeble and suffering, as he has been for several years past, has at length been released to his rest. He has made heroic efforts to come to our Annual Meetings more than once, while in a condition of physical prostration which gave us warning that the end could not be far off. But we all remember the zeal and energy with which he originally entered on our work, and the valuable assistance which he rendered us during the earlier years of our organization. Meantime, his great amiability and excellence have endeared him personally and warmly to us all. We shall all, I am sure, cherish his memory, as a friend and associate, with respect and affection; and others will pay him the tribute which he has so well deserved, and for which I have no opportunity.

V.

THE LEXINGTON CENTENNIAL.

A LETTER TO THE COMMITTEE OF INVITATION.

ROME, March 17, 1875. GENTLEMEN,I dare not longer delay an acknowledgment of your most obliging communication. It reached me when I was just quitting the quiet retreat on the shores of the Mediterranean to which I had resorted, during the early winter, for the health of one of my family.

It renewed, I need hardly say, the deep regrets which I had already expressed to my valued and venerable friend, your Chairman, that unavoidable absence from home and country would deprive me of the privilege of taking part in your great Centennial Celebration of the 19th of April.

I thank you sincerely, Gentlemen, for counting me worthy to be remembered again, at so great a distance, in a foreign land, among those whom you would be pleased to welcome to your festive board. The occasion is one full of interest and attraction for every American heart; and your programme gives promise of a celebration from which no one would willingly be absent.

Most gladly would I have paid my humble tribute to the memory of the men who perilled their lives, and poured out the first blood, in the cause of American liberty. Even here, where I am surrounded with the monuments of so many grand and heroic acts, and where so large a part of the history of the Old World is written on the magnificent ruins which confront me on every side, I turn to Lexington and Concord for examples of deliberate valor in a just cause, which are not surpassed by any thing of Greek or Roman fame.

Here, too, where so many of the earlier local glories are merely legendary, and where, through the relentless investigations of modern archæologists and antiquaries, so many of the most cherished and charming legends are fast fading into fables, I cannot but appreciate, more highly than ever before, the value of our own authentic records, and