the societies which are devoted to its publication and distribution, pure and simple, without note or comment, a paramount claim upon the support, the sympathy, the cordial co-operation, of all who profess and call themselves Christians. It only remains for me to say, my friends, in fulfilment of the agreeable duty which has been assigned to me on this occasion, that we do not forget to-day, that during the whole existence of this Society, it has enjoyed the constant and friendly co-operation of that great British and Foreign Bible Society which was the immediate forerunner and exemplar of our own, and whose labors and accomplishments have been far greater than those we are assembled to commemorate. Whatever other bonds of sympathy between us and our old mother country may have been weakened or sundered, and we trust they will all be restored in their full strength at no distant day, let us rejoice that we still read and circulate the same Bible, in the same noble tongue, in the same majestic version. And most gladly do we hail the presence on this occasion of the delegates from that mother land and that mother society. There are delegates here, too, from the neighboring British colonies. And I am glad to know that there is at least one delegate, also, from that sunny land from which came the precious Huguenot blood, which so many of us are proud to feel mingling at this moment with other currents in our own veins, and which quickened the pulses of the first two illustrious Presidents of this Society, Elias Boudinot and John Jay. I am sure you are all eager to manifest your gratification at the presence of these honored and welcome guests, and that you will adopt by acclamation the resolution which it is now, in conclusion, my privilege to offer: Resolved, That we welcome to our Jubilee, with warm hearts and with cordial greetings, the representatives of sister institutions from England, France, Canada, and elsewhere; and that they be requested to communicate to their respective societies this assurance of our Christian fellowship and international efforts to send abroad the Bible "for the healing of the nations." THE DEATH OF GENERAL SCOTT. REMARKS MADE AT A MEETING OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, JUNE 14, 1866. You can hardly have forgotten, gentlemen, that a few years since the name of Winfield Scott was placed by acclamation on our Honorary Roll. It was the first time, I believe, that this Society had ever dispensed with the formalities of a ballot and the delay of a previous nomination. The veteran soldier had just then voluntarily withdrawn from the active duties of Commanderin-chief of the Army of the United States; and a career of public service, which for more than half a century had been crowded with conspicuous acts of courage and patriotism, was at length brought to a close. That career is familiar to us all. Its brilliant opening scenes at Queenstown, at Fort George, at Chippewa, and at Lundy's Lane, though but few are now left to recall the impression they produced upon the living heart, can never be contemplated on the page of history without a fresh thrill of admiration. Nor can any one withhold at least an equal tribute of admiration from those crowning exploits of his maturer military life, which resulted in the occupation of Mexico. Yet, signal as the services of General Scott have been as a soldier, his civil services and civil triumphs have been no less signal. Again and again he has been intrusted with diplomatic functions of the most important and delicate character; and he has uniformly discharged them in a manner to command the approbation of the Government and the applause of the whole people. Twice, at least, once on the North-eastern boundary in 1839, and once on the North-west in 1859, — he has saved the peace of the country, when it was in the most imminent peril. Nor is it foreign war only which has been averted by his wise and efficient intervention. To him, certainly, as much as to any other one man, it was owing, that the nullification plot of 1832 was prevented from ripening into outright rebellion, and that the great battle of the Union was postponed to a later generation. Meantime his prudence and his humanity had found still another field for their display in the memorable removal of the Indian tribes beyond the Mississippi. No more eloquent or more enviable tribute has ever been won by a military chief, than that which was paid to General Scott, in this connection, by the late William Ellery Channing: "To this distinguished man" (said he, in a lecture on war, in 1839) "belongs the rare honor of uniting with military energy and daring the spirit of a philanthropist. His exploits in the field, which placed him in the first rank of our soldiers, have been obscured by the purer and more lasting glory of a pacificator, and a friend of mankind. In the whole history of the intercourse of civilized with barbarous or half-civilized communities, we doubt whether a brighter page can be found than that which records his agency in the removal of the Cherokees. As far as the wrongs done to this race can be atoned for, General Scott has made the expiation. In his recent mission to the disturbed borders of our country, he has succeeded, not so much by policy, as by the nobleness and generosity of his character, by moral influences, by the earnest conviction with which he has enforced, on all with whom he has had to do, the obligations of patriotism, justice, humanity, and religion. It would not be easy to find among us a man who has won a purer fame; and I am happy to offer this tribute, because I would do something, no matter how little, to hasten the time when the spirit of Christian humanity shall be accounted an essential attribute and the brightest ornament of a public man. "He returns to Washington," continued Dr. Channing, "and is immediately ordered to the Cherokee nation, to take charge of the very difficult and hazardous task to his own fame, of removing those savages from their native land. Some of his best friends regretted most sincerely that he had been ordered on this service; and, knowing the disposition of the world to cavil and complain without cause, had great apprehensions that he would lose a portion of the popularity he had acquired by his distinguished success on the Canadian frontier. But behold the manner in which this last work has been performed! There is so much of noble generosity of character about Scott, independent of his skill and bravery as a soldier, that his life has really been one of romantic beauty and interest." One can hardly read this exquisite eulogy,- coming, as it does, from the lips of one who would be everywhere accepted as an umpire without appeal upon any question of humanity or philanthropy, without recalling the lines which Addison, a century and a half before, had composed, in honor of the great Duke of Marlborough, and which we all could wish had been as well deserved by him as by our own departed hero: "Unbounded courage and compassion joined, The opening of the great Civil War through which we have just passed, found General Scott broken in health and strength, and weighed down by the infirmities of age. He was still, however, at the head of the American Army, and, though a Virginian by birth, and warmly attached to his Southern relatives and friends, he never faltered for an instant in his devoted loyalty to the Union. Nor can it ever be doubted or forgotten that through his prudence and patriotism, and his untiring vigilance and energy, the safety of the Capital was assured, and the inauguration of President Lincoln secured from interruption. Retiring from the active duties of Commander-in-chief in October, 1861, General Scott has been by no means idle during the four years and a half which have since elapsed. Two volumes of Autobiography which, though they exhibit not a few of the least attractive elements of his character, and could hardly be cited to prove that, as Dryden says of another in his "Annus Mirabilis," he was "born, Cæsar-like, to write and act great deeds"—are yet replete with interesting and instructive passages of national and of personal history, have been composed and pub lished by him during this period; while his counsel and experience have been constantly at the service of the Government, and have more than once been called for under most impressive circumstances. The personal visit of President Lincoln to West Point, to consult the retired Commander-in-chief, at the most critical moment of the war, is still fresh in all our memories, and no higher testimony could have been given of the exalted estimation in which he was held by those who were officially responsible for the preservation of the Union. General Scott was by no means free from the foibles which proverbially belong to the heroic temperament. His words were not always as wise and well considered as his acts, nor his reasons as sound and sagacious as his conclusions. But in a long life of varied and unintermitted service, he never failed to do the right thing at the right time, and to do it with a will and to a purpose. His noble form and commanding presence will be remembered by all who have ever seen him, and I cannot doubt that the verdict of posterity will confirm the judgment of the present hour, that, morally as well as physically, few grander figures have adorned the history of our country. Had he lived until yesterday, he would have completed his eightieth year, having been born near Petersburgh, Virginia, on the 13th of June, 1786. It was my good fortune to see him and converse with him at New York as lately as the 9th of May,― the day before he embarked for West Point to die amid the scenes which had been most dear to him in life, and which he most desired should be the last on which his eyes should look. And though the infirmities of age had bowed and bent that lion-like frame, and quenched something of the fire of that eagle eye, his heart was still full of patriotic wishes for his beloved country, and his only impatience seemed to be that he could render her no further service. I cannot forget, in this presence, the kind and eager inquiries he made then, and on many previous occasions, for the health of an esteemed fellow-soldier of his youth, whom we are proud to recognize as the first Vice-President of our own Society. Nor can I conclude this imperfect tribute to his memory without reading, as I am sure you will all pardon me for doing, the letter in which, some years previously, he had acknowledged the receipt |