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Show woii mm 'Old1 Masters "'' " d' . j s,! Jtit r - ,i m . v 4 ,erl George Bancroft v ut -x fcffl.'TOTMr'&ftl, 'is'ol W a"& Jllnk oerween the stalwarts Of revolutionary days and ttiose of the nineteenth century. He had the advantages of all the schools' and drew to him-'self him-'self all the insignia of the universities, T)Ut he would have been great had he ndver seen a school house. In his younger days he had political po-litical ambition, and was President Polk's secretary secre-tary of tho navy. While filling that office ho founded the naval academy at Annapolis and greatly improved the observatory at Washington. Later he was minister to England and to Germany. Ger-many. But what may be termed his life work was his History of the United States. He was born in the same month and year that Macaulay was, there being but twelve days' difference in their birthdays. Macaulay wrote the history of England, Eng-land, Bancroft the history of the United States The former gave its author great and just fame, for much of it, while but cold history, is illuminated illumi-nated by a wealth of learning and a splendor of diction which is as filled with charm as with information Bancroft's history of the United States loses nothing by comparison with it. Indeed, the scholarship schol-arship displayed, the clothing of facts in faultless English; the analysis of the different characters engaged is often superior to that of the gifted foreigner. Bancroft was longer engaged upon his work, for Macaulay died at 59; moreover, he was prone to rest from his heavier work by writing writ-ing essays, poems and exploring all the fields of literature, luring home sometimes rare fruit or brilliant flowers, or when in the mood the songs of birds. But the work of Bancroft is most brilliant bril-liant and conscientiously correct, and there is a rhythm to his style quite as enchanting as that of Macaulay's. In his life time he did not win as much fame as some of his contemporaries, but when most of them shall seldom more be mentioned, in the hall of fame the statue of Bancroft will take on the dignity of immortality and around his brow tho halo will deepen with the on-sweeping years. One masterpiece of his is the funeral eulogy he pronounced upon Abraham Lincoln on the day which congress set aside for his memorial services, ser-vices, February 12, 18 G6. It was in the hall of representatives, wtih both houses of congress, the president, foreign embassadors and many of tho distinguished men and celebrated women of tho country were present. The sorrows of the great war were still acute, the grief over the death of Mr. Lincoln had not in the least abated. That accounts for some flashes of passion in the eulogy, but in the main it is stately, calm, clear, brilliant and touching. It contains about 10,000 words. It gives the history of Mr Lincoln and a luminous analysis of his character, whi"h of course made necessary the statement of the trials that were thrust upon him at homo and abroad, To read it is like listening to a funeral anthem with stately organ accompainar nt Somo of the similes are wonderful, as instance in-stance this: "As a child on a dark night on a rugged way, catches hold of the hand of its father for guidance and support, he clung fast to the hand of the people and moved calmly through the gloom." c His arraignment of the acts- of the- British and t Frenoh governments, if severe, is tonly seyere because of Its truth. 2 5 r?eRj lsfoona sentence ropj. hs description! .M dftflWttFJ 4. ..I U'"l ini..'t.Tf r '-"T-He vile' thduglit thrttHifo is the greatest' of 1 -.'blessings did not rlso'-up.ln six1 hundre'd 'arid H twenty-five battles and severe skirmishes" blobd H oflowed like water.' It streamed over the grassy H -plains, it stained tho rocks; tho undergrowth of ,H tho forests was red with it; and tho .armies ! marched on with majestic courage from one con- '1 flict to another knowing that they were fighting rH for God and liberty." .1 f Bancroft did not like Palmerston. He, as prime minister, had treated with scorn the re- H queBt of our government to maintain tho rules the English government had laid down to govern H neutral nations treated our Union as already de- H stroyed and jeered at our government's efforts 'to H put down the rebellion. Like Russell, Gladstone H and the others, ho wanted to seo our republic split into fragments. It may be intoresting to H close this by giving Bancroft's comparison of tho H characters of Lincoln and Palmerston: H ' Hardly had the late president been consigned H to the grave when tho prime minister of England H died, full of years and honors. Palmerston traced his lineage to tho time of tho Conqueror; Lincoln H went back only to his grandfather. ' " D "Palmerston received his education from the best scholars of Harrow, Edinburg and Cam- H bridge; Lincoln's early teachers were the silent H forest, the prairie, tho river and tho stars H Palmerston was in public life for sixty years; IH Lincoln for not a tenth of that time. Palmerston H was a skillful guide of an established aristocracy; v Lincoln a leader, or rather a companion of the H people. Palmerston was exclusively an English- 'H man and made hj,s boast in the house of commons .H that the interest of England was his shibboleth; ' Lincoln thought always of mankind as well as H his own country, and served human nature it- self. Palmerston, from his narrowness as an H Englishman, did not endear his country to any H one court or to any one nation, but rather H caused general uneasiness and dislike; Lincoln H left America more beloved by all tho peoples of Europe. Palmerston was self-possessed and 3J adroit in reconciling the conflicting factions of Bfl tho aristocracy; Lincoln, frank and ingenious, H knew how to poise himself on the over moving H opinions of the masses Palmerston was capable H of insolence toward the weak, quick to the sense M of honor, not heedful of right; Lincoln rejected M counsel given only as a matter of policy, and was M not capable of being willfully unjust. Palmeiston, M essentially superficial, delighted in banter and M knew how to divert grave opposition by playful M levity; Lincoln was a man of infinite jest on his M lips, with saddest earnestness at his heart. Pal- M merston was a fair representative of the aristo- M cratic liberality of his day, choosing for his tri- bunal, not the conscience of humanity, but tho M house of commons; Lincoln took to heart the M eternal truths of liberty, obeyed them as the M commands of providence, and accepted the hu- M man race as the judge of his fidelity. H Palmerston did nothing that will endure; Lin- H coin finished a work which all time cannot over- H throw. Palmeiston is a shining example of the H ablest of a cultivated aristocracy; ; Lincoln is the H genuine fruit of institutions where tho laboring H man shares and assists to form the great ideas H of his country. Palmerston was burled in West- jH minster Abbey by the order of his queen, and (H was attended by the British aristociacy to his H grave, which, after a few years, will hardly be jH noticed by the side of the graves of Fl and H Chatham; Lincoln was followed by the sorrow of H his country across the continent to its resting H place in tho heart of tho Mississippi valley to be M remembered through all time by his countrymen H and all the peoples of the world." PJ! |