EVERETT, EDWARD. 



331 



recently started, and Mr. Everett entered into 

 it with great enthusiasm. He delivered his ad- 

 dress on "Washington in the different cities and 

 towns of the United States, nearly one hundred 

 and fifty times, consecrating to this object the 

 entire proceeds of his efforts, giving his time 

 and expenses freely for the purpose. He also 

 turned to the same channel the proceeds of a 

 series of articles written by him for the " New 

 York Ledger," amounting to $10,000. The en- 

 tire amount thus raised by his exertions for this 

 object exceeded $100,000. 



In 1857 and 1858 he donated to the Boston 

 Provident Association and other charitable as- 

 sociations of Boston the proceeds of some other 

 lectures, amounting to $13,500; in 1858 his 

 eulogy on Thomas Dowse, yielded to the Dowse 

 Institute, and the Massachusetts Historical So- 

 ciety, about $1,500, and his address on the 

 "Early Days of Franklin," several times repeat- 

 ed, produced about $4,000 for the Association 

 of Franklin Medallists. He took an active in- 

 terest in the establishment of the Boston City 

 Public Library, and made to it at different 

 times large donations of judiciously selected 

 books, as well as money contributions. 



In 1860 Mr. Everett was nominated for the 

 Vice-Presidency on the ticket with John Bell, 

 of Tennessee, for President, but was defeated. 

 While peace seemed possible, and negotiation 

 and compromise had some hope of winning the 

 day and averting the threatened war, Mr. 

 Everett, by constitutional as well as by personal 

 inclination intensely conservative, sought the 

 things that belonged to peace. But when war 

 came, his course was such as at once to excite 

 the grateful admiration of the friends of the 

 Union. Forgetting his old timorousness, un- 

 seduced by the example of cherished personal 

 friends and political associates, he did not hesi- 

 tate for a moment to throw the weight of his 

 resplendent talents, his public influence, his 

 political learning, his captivating eloquence, on 

 the side of our national integrity and eman- 

 cipation. In spite of the deepest personal sym- 

 pathies with the South, with a warm appre- 

 ciation of the charm in character and manners 

 of so many of the inhabitants of that sunny, 

 impulsive region, and with lively recollections 

 of their enticing hospitalities and flattering 

 tributes to a pardonable self-love, his allegiance 

 to the North never wavered for an instant. 



Throwing his whole soul into the cause with 

 a warmth and fervor unknown even to his 

 younger days, he advocated it in tones of soul- 

 stirring eloquence. In all the principal cities 

 of the North, as well as on the heights of Get- 

 tysburg after their baptism of fire and blood, 

 he thrilled his audiences with the flame of his 

 own patriotism. It was as a slight token of 

 appreciation of his manifold labors in behalf of 

 his country, that the majority in Massachusetts 

 placed his name in the Presidential election of 

 18C4 at the head of their electoral ticket as an 

 elector at large ; and the depositing of his vote 

 in the Massachusetts Electoral College for Abra- 



ham Lincoln, was the closing act of his political 

 life. It is said that he had devoted the leisure 

 of many years to the preparation of an elaborate 

 work on the principles of international law, but 

 that the work was left incomplete at his death. 



His death was very sudden, and preceded by 

 no severe illness. He addressed his fellow- 

 citizens at Faneuil Hall on Monday, January 

 9th, in aid of sending provisions to Savannah 

 for the relief of the suffering inhabitants, and 

 during the afternoon of that day was present 

 in court, in reference to a claim for damages 

 against the city of Charlestown, for overflow- 

 ing a portion of his estate in Medford, by con- 

 structing a dam in Mystic River. On Tuesday 

 he became affected with a very severe cold, but 

 neither his friends nor himself deemed it se- 

 rious. Saturday evening he appeared about as 

 well as usual, and retired to bed, declining to 

 trouble any one to remain with him. About 

 three o'clock Sunday morning, January 15th, 

 his housekeeper entered his room and found 

 him sleeping naturally. An hour later she was 

 alarmed by hearing a heavy fall in his room, 

 and found him lying on the floor, breathing 

 heavily. A physician was promptly summoned, 

 but before his arrival Mr. Everett died. 



On the receipt of the telegraphic despatch 

 announcing his death, President Lincoln caused 

 the following announcement to be published : 



DEPARTMENT or STATE, WASHINGTON, Jan. 15, 1865. 

 The President directs the undersigned to perform 

 the painful duty of announcing to the peonle of the 

 United States, that Edward Everett, distinguished 

 not more by learning and eloquence than by unsur- 

 passed and disinterested labors of patriotism, at a 

 period of political disorder, departed this life at four 

 o'clock this morning. The several Executive De- 

 partments of the Government will cause appropriate 

 honors to be rendered to the memory of the deceased 

 at home and abroad, wherever the national name 

 and authority are acknowledged. 



WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 



Few of our public men have filled a larger 

 space in the world of politics, or the brother- 

 hood of letters. Of a reserved and fastidious 

 turn of mind, of a singularly sensitive temper- 

 ament, shy, almost to coldness, in the expression 

 of personal feeling, with the timidity which pro- 

 ceeds from delicacy of organization, and a spirit 

 of excessive caution and forecast, and a consti- 

 tutional aversion to extremes both in the sphere 

 of thought and of action, he was little fitted by 

 nature or habit for the stormier scenes of poli- 

 tics, the rude strife of parliamentary debate, or 

 the adroit and ready tactics of an unscrupulous 

 party leader. His native tastes and endow- 

 ments inclined him to a life of purely intellec- 

 tual and aesthetic pursuits; he was more at 

 home in the "quiet and still air of delightful 

 studies " than amid the throng and pressure of 

 practical affairs ; with the exception of strictly 

 abstract and metaphysical discussions, there 

 was no branch of literature in which his ca- 

 pacity would not have enabled him to become 

 a master ; and there were few, in which both 

 his aptitudes and his attainments did not enti- 

 tle him to a highly honorable distinction. Ii 



