Show I 1 new news VV S of yesterday est esterley erdey by E I 1 J EDWARDS forced himself on lowell how emory storrs brilliant chicago lawyer made the minister to great britain entertain him and his friends when james russell lowell was minister from the united states to the court of st james he entertained at it dinner and in other formal ways many men of distinction and official character and he wag was esteemed a most charming host but there began to be heard complaints from plain american citizens that mr air lowell was not as hospitably inclined to wards them as he was towards the great dignitaries so the report spread abroad through the united states that mr air lowell had at no time invited an american citizen who had no official distinction to dine with him whatever truth there may have been in this criticism it inspired a very brilliant but also very eccentric chicago lawyer the late emory storrs with the ambition to secure an invitation from mr lowell tor for a dinner not only for himself but also tor for several american friends of mr air storrs who he knew were sere in europe it at that time mr storrs was regarded by jhb american bar up to the time of his death in 1884 as one of the most bril hant llant of american advocates he was ilso KISO a very successful stump speak tr r he ile gained as high a reputation ts Is any of the speakers who appeared upon the stump advocating the elec tion of rutherford D B hayes in 1876 and far and wide he was noted as be ing as full of fun and wit as a nut Is of meat and as fond of a joke as the original Dri ginal joe miller it was wag in the summer of 1882 two rears after mr lowell had become our dur minister to great britain that mr ur storrs undertook to have some tun fun with the distinguished new eng ung land man of letters on his way inroad he fell in with chauncey M depew I 1 am on this steamer said mr storrs gravely in an official capa city I 1 am a commissioner appointed by the packing interests of chicago to inspect the ocean cattle carrying methods I 1 am a genteel cowboy well you must have some other purpose in going abroad than an in Vesti gatlon of live cattle upon an ocean steamer said mr depew in credulously you don t need to do that for a living what do you ex peet to get out of it well I 1 will tell you what I 1 expect to get and what I 1 will get out of it mr rr storrs replied even more gravely than before I 1 am going to get a dinner out of james russ russell sell lowell sur dur exquisite literary critic who Is now mow occupying the post of minister to the court of st james and I 1 am not only going to get an invitation from mr lowell tor for a dinner I 1 also tin ILM going to name my fellow guests you are joking storre storrs protest bd mr air depew this la to one of your tests lasts it Is no joke at all was the response I 1 tell you I 1 am going to make malta james russell lowell do what he never did before and probably what be he will never di dt again I 1 am going to make him invite me plain pion humble american citizen to dinner at the american embassy and to invite also the guests whose names I 1 will furnish him some weeks later mr depew met mr storrs upon the continent well did james russell lowell give a dinner in your honor he be asked the chicago lawyer he certainly did and he be tried trie d to appear happy was mr storrs reply did he invite the guests whom you named to him every one excepting two who happened to be away from london at th tha time how did you do if mr depew asked at the same time expressing his surprise at this unwonted achievement well I 1 lust just made him do it I 1 told him I 1 wanted him to do it replied mr storrs I 1 intimated that unless it were done I 1 would be compelled to say in my report as commissioner appointed to see whether the co wv stables upon ocean going vessels were kept as clean as the stables hercules swept out that in my task I 1 had re Is calved no encouragement or tion from the american minister at the court of st james it came hard continued mr storrs the american minister at the court of st jam 3 inviting a plain american citizen who had crossed over as a genteel cowboy to dinner but he did it and I 1 shall go back ot the united states proud of the tact fact inspired ij henry ward beecher starr king kings s efforts for union on pacific slope led to those of more famous orator in england the late john 0 G north of new ha ven yen conn who was one of the most successful of the lyceum platform managers in the days when the lee ture was one of the most popular and instructive forms of public entertain ment eald said to me one day I 1 suppose that wendell phillips lecture entitled the lost arts Is all things considered the most popular lyceum lecture that has been delivered in the united states mr air phillips told me the last time he came to new haven that he had already delivered the lecture about three thousand times the popularity of it you can judge when I 1 tell you yoli that the last time mr phillips delivered this lecture at new haven the night was bit ter cold and stormy yet the great mu sic ate hall was packed with people who were willing to put up with the sever ity of the weather in order to hear wendell phillips I 1 remember that I 1 asked mr phil lips late that evening what he consid ered the most popular lecture outside of those of his own repertoire that had held the boards in his day to my surprise he said I 1 think that thomas starr kings lecture en odd coincidence of war IDI days Plays how gerrit smith one of the orlgia nal abolitionists won first draft of emancipation proclamation in a raffle I 1 suppose that almost everyone who has ever thought of the matter ie is of the opinion that the original draft of the emancipation proclamation Is in the archives of the state department at washington but it is not there and it never was there so said frederick W seward son of will lam H 11 seward and assistant secretary of state under lincoln johnson and hayes some weeks after mr air lincoln read the first draft of the emancipation proclamation to his cabinet a short time after the battle of antietam Antle tam continued mr air seward the christian commission or it may have been the sanitary commission which you remember did such magnificent work tor for the amell amelioration oration of the sufferings of the soldiers at the time of the civil war held a fair at albany for the purpose of raising funds my father and I 1 were appealed to to send some articles associated with the war which could be offered for sale at this fair it occurred to me that it if I 1 could get from president lincoln the original draft of his proc la Is matlon mation of emancipation and could thereby send it to the management of the fair at albany they would be able it if they put it up at auction to get pt quite a bit of money for it 1 I sup pose that it if it were for sale a at t this time it would fetch hundreds of do dol lare lars I 1 therefore asked president lin coin if it he would let me have the first draft and find told him the purpose to which I 1 purposed to put it lincoln never had any sentimental assoria eions with any of his writings and vas very careless about keeping man script his first draft of the emandi atlon proclamation held no sent send mental value for him and he gladly promised to give it to me in the course of a day or two lin coin sent me the first draft it was all in bis his own handwriting and con talked as I 1 remember the inter linea tion which was suggested by one of the members of the cabinet after he read the proclamation to the cabinet the managers of the fair were de lighted to receive this document and it was advertised as one of the tea fea tures of the fair the managers decided to dispose of it through a rat raf and a large number of chances were issued my recollection Is that a dollar a chance was charged there was great interest when the drawing took place but when the lucky num her ber was read tead no one at first appeared with the voucher or ticket so that it was not known who the holder was at last the holder of the winning ticket appeared and who do you sup pose it was wasa it was none other than gerrit smith one of the original abolitionists one of the most eirnest of the tle antislavery anti slavery men who might him self have been nominated tor for prest ent lent upon the prohibition ticket who x as the candidate of the prohibition i ts for governor of new york a mem I 1 r of congress in the early fifties of the last century and at that time one of the largest land holders in the united states it was regarded as a most extraordinary coincidence that this famous abolitionist this man who had been the warm friend of john brown loyally supporting him in his kansas raids and subsequent adaven tures should have been the lucky hold bold er of the winning ticket in the raffle tor for the first draft of lincoln a emandi pation proclamation mr smith subsequently cave gave the document to the state of new york and it ie to now preserved I 1 think in the state library copyright 1911 by E i edward edwards all reserved ReBer ved that I 1 was the first and will probably be the only plain american citizen whom this distinguished and dilettante man of letter letters the american minister to the court of bt st james ever invited to dimer dinner and not until then did mr depew realize that mr astorri had doubtless got himself temporarily appointed an inspector of cattle in order to make the joke all the better on james rus sell lowell copyright 19 1911 by F J howards all right rights reserved titled substance and shadow ha has been heard by as many persona persons as have heard of my lost arts it Is a wonderful lecture and nobody but a man who had lived as king did win ter and summer amid the white mountains could have written it I 1 asked mr phillips if my imbres gion sion was correct that thomas starr king had been a unitarian preacher in or near boston and was later a unitarian clergyman at san francisco francl 5 co mr phillips answered my question abruptly and sententiously by simply saying yes I 1 saw however that my question had stirred up a new train ot of thought in mr phillips mind and hoped that he would give me the benefit of it although I 1 did not dare ask him what he was thinking about at lat he eaid said henry ward beecher ana and starr king fling these two are the men who have spoken to the hearts of men and have persuaded them it Is a little singular that two clergymen one an orthodox as we call it in massachi Mass achu the other a unitarian should in the days of the civil war have so spoken as to change public sentiment and shape the destiny of the nation starr king was living at san francisco at the time of the secession of the southern states from the union he heard that the pacific states would take advantage of this breaking up of bf the union to e cablish a pacific coast republic not while bile I 1 have tongue to speak or while there are ears to hear what I 1 say will that be done king said to those who brought this news to him and he so spoke so pleaded and per as to hold in check that pur pose I 1 never shall forget said mr air north how impressively mr air phillips told me this he said he had received information at first hand of the manner in alch starr king chal ledged and defied those who hinted to him that the time had come when the pacific states should establish their own republic and mr air phillips went 0 01 to say that it was starr king a bat tie tle from the platform against those who were trying to take california out of the union which inspired his friend henry avard ard beecher to undertake that superb campaign in great britain in 1863 in which from the public plat lorm form beecher beat down the influence of the aristocracy of great creat britain in behalf of the confederacy and concen grated and consolidated the public opinion of the great middle class and the yeomen of great britain in such a manner as to make it apparent that this class would give unflinching sup port to the cause of the union suddenly mr phillips paused he looked me square in the eye mr north he said let us never forget anat in the days of the extremity of tb union two clergymen spoke words which aided in saving it and in ut bering that sentence he was never more eloquent or compelling or im presslie press preg lve sive on the lecture platform copyright 1911 by E J edwards AU right rights reserved |