Nov. 17, 1871.] 195 [Carey. 
Obituary Notice of STEPHEN COLWELL. 
(Read before the American Philosophical Soc., Nov. 17, 1871.) 
By Henry C. Carey. 
A life protracted considerably beyond the allotted threescore years and 
ten has brought me, in the course of nature, to the position of survivor 
to a host of personal friends whose lives had made them worthy of the re- 
membrance in which they yet are held by those who had known them 
best. Of one of the worthiest of those whom I have familiarly known, 
and for their words and their works have most esteemed, it is that, in ac- 
cordance with the request with which the Society has honored me, I have 
prepared the brief memoir that will now be read. For its preparation and 
for the proper performance of duty to the departed, to his surviving 
friends, and to the public which has a property in his memory, I claim to 
have little qualification beyond that resulting from long and familiar ac- 
quaintance; from a fellowship in the public labors to which were devoted 
so many of his life’s best days ; and from an earnest desire to aid in per- 
petuating the recollection thereof in the minds of those whose service 
such labors had been performed. 
An ardent pursuit of the same general course of study, in a yet unset- 
tled department of inquiry, tends necessarily to the development of dif- 
ference in modes of thought, even where, as has been the case with Mr. 
Colwell and myself, the end in issue is substantially the same. Between 
us, however, there has never been any essential difference, and while it 
has been among the highest gratifications of my life, it has not been least 
of the assurances that have sustained me in my own course of speciality 
of labor, that his views of social and economic theory have so nearly co- 
incided with those which I have been led to form, 
This general coincidence of doctrine is here offered as a reason for 
avoiding that indulgence in eulogy of his literary labors which so justly 
is their due. A still stronger reason for preferring to allow the simplest 
and plainest history of his works to indicate his worth, is found in that 
modesty which constituted so striking a feature in his character, respect 
for which forbids that I should here say of him anything that would have 
been unacceptable if said in his bodily presence. That I can entirely re- 
strain within these limits the expression of my apprehension of his char- 
acter, and of his life’s work, I do not say; but that I feel the repressive 
influence of this regard correspondent with the habitual deference which 
has throughout many years of intercourse governed my demeanor towards 
him, is very certain. Further than this, however, it will be enough for 
praise if I can succeed in making this memoir an adequate report of his 
active and energetic life. 
Having thus explained the feelings by which I have been influenced, I 
