JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 179 



■who to the highest attainments in one department united in an uncommon degree a 

 large and liberal acquaintance with the circle of knowledge ; a man of fine tastes, of 

 most kindly sympathies, of strict uprightness ; a man who adorned his professorship 

 by the best qualities of a teacher, and the mingled kindness and firmness of a wise 

 disciplinarian, and who brought to the presidential chair of Harvard the firm pur- 

 pose to raise the standard of that ancient University in everything that was good and 

 noble. 



Hon. Mr. Trumbull made some remarks relative to the late 

 Judge Douglas, and offered the following resolutions : 



Resolved, That in the death of the Hon. Stephen A. Douglas the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution has been deprived of a most zealous friend ; the Board of Regents of an active 

 and attentive member ; and the country of a distinguished and influential citizen. 



Resolved, That the Board of Eegents deeply sympathize with the bereaved relatives 

 of the deceased, and that a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to them. 



Resolved, That the Hon. S. S. Cox be requested to prepare a suitable notice of the 

 Hon. S. A. Douglas, to be inserted in the Journal of the Board of Eegents. 



The resolutions were unanimously adopted. 



EULOGY BY HON. S. S. COX. 



In February, 1854, Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, while a Senator from that 

 State, was appointed one of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, and con- 

 tinued a member of the Board until the time of his death, on the morning of the 3d 

 of June, 1861. From the pursuits of his life and the peculiarities of his course, it 

 might be thought that he was not well qualified to discharge properly the duty of a 

 trustee of a fund intended for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men. 

 But this would be a mistake, for, although he had given no special attention to any 

 branch of science, yet his mind was of that comprehensive cast which enabled him 

 duly to appreciate the nature of the bequest and the general principles of the different 

 plans which had been proposed for carrying it into execution. It is true, as I am 

 informed, that before he was elected a Regent he had adopted the popular idea that 

 the bequest was intended merely to diffuse useful knowledge among the people of the 

 United States ; yet when he came to study the precise words of the will of the 

 founder, and caught, as he immediately did, the peculiar idea of the object intended, 

 namely, the extension of the bounds of science, and not merely the teaching of what 

 is already known, he fully adopted the views on which the present organization of 

 the institution is based, and ever afterward continued a warm advocate and an able 

 supporter of the measures now in successful operation for the realization of the lib- 

 eral and enlightened intention of James Smithson. 



In accordance with the usage heretofore observed in similar cases, a resolution hav- 

 ing been adopted directing the preparation, for the proceedings of the Board of Re- 

 gents, of a sketch of the characteristics and incidents of his life, and the duty of 

 furnishing this having been assigned to me, I address myself to the task with an 

 earnestness that is only tempered by my fear that I have neither sufficient time nor 

 sufficient ability to do full justice to the memory of one whom I admired as a public 

 man, and sincerely loved as a friend. 



It is, indeed, pre-eminently fitting that the name of Douglas, so fondly cherished 

 by the nation, and so familiarly spoken wherever American statesmanship is known, 

 should be honored in the journals of this institution, for whose prosperity he evinced 

 so earnest a desire. It was not merely as one of its Regents that he showed himself 

 the true and enlightened friend of objects kindred to those of this establishment. He 

 ever advocated measures which served to advance knowledge and promote the prog- 

 ress of humanity. The encouragement of the fine arts, the rewarding of discoverers 

 and inventors, the organization of exploring expeditions, as well as the general diffu- 

 sion of education, were all objects of his special regard, whether in the councils of his 

 State, or in the hall of the Senate of the Union. 



Stephen A. Douglas was born at Brandon, in Vermont, on the 23d of April, 1813. 

 Like many, perhaps I should say like most, of the rural neighborhoods of New Eng- 

 land, Brandon contained a highly intelligent and energetic population, independent 

 alike in thought, speech, and the conduct of their public affairs ; and doubtless the 

 fact of his early years having been passed under the influence of the daily life and 

 conversation of such neighbors, had some share in imbuing the boy with the sturdy 



