jz^a^^-^ 
 
\ 
 
 
. QUTEKUNST PRH 
 

 FRANCIS WHAETON. 
 
 A MEMOIR. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 1891. 
 
7VX/ 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IN" preparing a Memoir of DR. WnARTOisr several 
 difficulties beset the compiler at the very outset. To 
 do justice to his character, to relate with anything like 
 accuracy the achievements of his busy and useful life, 
 must require some knowledge in each of the varied 
 departments where he labored so successfully. As this 
 is not to be. looked for in any one person, it has been 
 thought best to make these pages a joint effort; to rely 
 more for information upon the combined testimony 
 of many than upon the insufficient knowledge and 
 perhaps undue partiality of one ; to give by means of 
 letters, and personal tributes, and printed matter 
 already published, a sketch of a truly remarkable man, 
 whose influence was very great in the circle of his 
 friends, and whose works take a high stand in the legal 
 literature of our country. To arrange the materials 
 thus contributed has not been a difficult task. The 
 materials themselves have been contributed willingly 
 by those who have had it in their power to do so. 
 
 975789 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 Such a power has recalled to them a loved and honored 
 name, and enabled them to transmit to others some 
 beams of the sunshine of a presence whose memory 
 they will ever cherish as one of their dearest posses 
 sions. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PACK 
 
 CHAPTER I. Ancestors ."1 
 
 II. Early Life . ..... 6 
 
 " III. Life in Philadelphia 13 
 
 IV. Life at Gambler, 27 
 
 Y. Visit to Europe in 1859 90 
 
 " VI. Life at Gambier concluded . . . .150 
 
 l( VII. Removal to Brookline, Second Visit to Europe, 
 Life at Narragansett, with Letter from Rev. 
 Wm. W. Newton, D.D. . . . . 165 
 
 " VIII. Life at Cambridge, by Rev. A. V. G. Allen, D.D. 176 
 
 " IX. Third Journey to Europe, and Removal to 
 
 Washington 193 
 
 " X. Life at the Department of State, by Hon. John 
 Bassett Moore, Third Assistant Secretary of 
 State . 211 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Letters, etc., from President Welling, of Columbia College, 
 Hon. T. P. Bayard, Secretary of State, Hon. Robt. C. 
 Winthrop, Ex-President Porter, of Yale College, etc. . 237 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 DR. FRANCIS WHARTON 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANCESTORS. 
 
 THOMAS WHARTON, the earliest ancestor of the iRiii^oJi family 
 in this country, was baptized in the parish church of Qrtonv Eng 
 land, in 1664. As baptism in those days usually took -piace Veiy 
 soon after birth, he must have emigrated to Pennsylvania and have 
 become a Quaker while still quite young, for we find that he was 
 married to Rachel Thomas, a native of Wales, in Friends Meeting, 
 Philadelphia, in 1689. He became a member of the City Council 
 of Philadelphia, and was a well-known and successful merchant, 
 dying in 1718. 
 
 His son, Joseph (1707-1776), by his two marriages had eighteen 
 children, a fact which may partly account for the great size and 
 wide ramifications of the Wharton family. Like his father, he 
 was a prosperous merchant, and a member of the Society of 
 Friends. He built Walnut Grove, the well-known country seat 
 where was held the Meschianza in 1778, and the site of which is 
 now occupied by the school-house on Fifth Street below Washing 
 ton Avenue. The so-called Meschianza need not be described 
 here ; it will be remembered as a sort of fete arranged by the 
 unfortunate Major Andre*, and given to the British officers and 
 loyal ladies of Philadelphia on May 18, 1778, while the Revolu 
 tionists were actually attacking the city. 
 
 Joseph Wharton was commonly called the Duke/ partly on 
 account of his extreme pride and dignity of manner, and partly 
 1 
 
Z MEMOIR OF 
 
 perhaps from his claimed descent from the last Marquis and Duke 
 of W barton, whose coat of arms with the motto " Plesyrs et 
 Faites d Armes" he always used, though an equally proud de 
 scendant of his refused to bear it. Dr. Wharton was fond of 
 relating old family anecdotes, which have been handed down to 
 us as to the Duke s very un-Quakerlike love of pomp. 
 
 The first wife of Joseph Wharton, Hannah Carpenter, was the 
 mother of his son Isaac (17451808), who married Margaret 
 Rawle. He was the first owner of the beautiful country seat 
 Woodford, now inclosed in Fairmount Park, which adjoined 
 Harley, the seat of his wife s family, the Rawles. Woodford 
 was built as a refuge from the yellow fever then devastating 
 Philadelphia, so far was it thought from the city which now has 
 encroached upon its lawns. 
 
 His son, Thomas Isaac (1791-1856), was the father of the sub 
 ject of this memoir. No better account of his life can be given 
 than thai wi iiten by Dr. Wharton for the ( Wharton Book. 
 1 1 " Ife graduated at an early age at the University of Pennsyl- 
 nttm?a, afcd.fcbGrtly after graduating, began the study of law in the 
 office of his uncle, Mj*. William Rawle, then a lawyer of large 
 practice in Philadelphia, and previously district attorney under 
 Washington s administration. In the war of 1812, Mr. Wharton 
 served as a captain of infantry, and was engaged, with his company, 
 in the duties at Camp Dupont. At the close of the war he began 
 the practice of law in Philadelphia, and in the twenty-fifth year of 
 his age married Arabella, second daughter of Mr. John Griffith, a 
 merchant of Philadelphia, son of the attorney-general of New 
 Jersey, of the same name, and brother of Judge William Griffith, 
 a judge of the Circuit Court of the United States, and author of 
 several" law treatises. Mr. Wharton was a diligent and discrimi 
 nating student, and at an early period of his life was distinguished 
 for his literary taste and skill. He was one of the contributors to 
 the Portfolio, under Mr. Dennie s management, and he became 
 afterwards one of the editors of the Analectic Magazine. It was 
 to law, however, that his studies were principally given ; and in 
 this department they bore ripe fruit. To him, in connection with 
 his uncle, Mr. Rawle, and Judge Joel Jones, the codification of the 
 civil statutes of Pennsylvania was committed ; and the code they 
 reported, a document much in advance of the legislation of the 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 3 
 
 day, is marked by the impress of their wisdom, learning, and skill. 
 He was the author of the first edition of Wharton s Digest, and of 
 the six volumes of Wharton s Reports. In addition to these works, 
 several historical and literary addresses are in print bearing his 
 name; addresses marked by strong sense, clear thought, and a 
 nervous and elegant style. Mr. Wharton s chief labors, however, 
 were given to his profession, in which he acquired, chiefly as 
 counsel on matters of title, a large and commanding practice. In 
 politics he was attached to the Whig party during its existence, and 
 was a personal and political friend of Mr. Clay. On the dissolu 
 tion of the Whig party, his attachments and constitutional prin 
 ciples led him to unite with leading members of that party in 
 union with the Democratic. He died on April 7th, 1856, leaving 
 behind him the reputation not only of high legal abilities, but of 
 spotless integrity and of undaunted courage in the performance of 
 duty. Of purity and usefulness in domestic relations no truer ex 
 ample could be found." 
 
 Mr. Thomas I. Wharton left the Society of Friends, of course, 
 when he bore arms in the war of 1812, and he further ratified his 
 return to the church of his forefathers, of which his son was to be 
 so faithful a champion, by " marrying out of meeting." His wife 
 was an Episcopalian, and they were married in old St. Mary s 
 Church, Burlington, New Jersey, that quaint little building which 
 still stands close to the edge of the Delaware, but is now used as a 
 school-house. 
 
 This is a brief account of the direct male ancestors of Dr. 
 Whartou. He was wont to remark of them that not one had 
 lived to be seventy years of age, and to predict of his own future, 
 what has been too sadly verified. 
 
 The family genealogy, however, contains a number of interesting 
 men from whom Dr. Wharton was not directly descended, but of 
 whom he frequently spoke in that charming manner which made 
 all family annals interesting. 
 
 Among these, the best known is Thomas Wharton, the first 
 Governor of Pennsylvania under the Constitution of 76, who was 
 from his early manhood a prominent supporter of the colonies, and 
 whose name is handed down as one of the foremost men in Phila 
 delphia of his day. His career is too well known to require re-cap 
 itulation here an admirable sketch of his life has been reprinted 
 
4 MEMOIR OF 
 
 from the Historical Magazine/ and may be found in the Wharton 
 Book. * But some of Dr. Wharton s Family, who are not so well 
 remembered, were men of remarkable ability and individuality, in 
 whom we may see family traits which reappeared in later days. 
 
 One of these interesting characters was Robert Wharton, a son 
 of Joseph Wharton, but who left no descendants. He was a man 
 of rare gifts, who in early life was, curiously enough, apprenticed 
 to a hatter, partly from a distaste for study, but also following a 
 custom set by William Penn. He did not long practice his trade, 
 of which in later life he was never ashamed (having his share of 
 the Wharton pride 7 ), although he became successively alderman 
 and several times Mayor of Philadelphia. He was also Colonel 
 of the City Troop. For some very striking instances of his courage 
 and sagacity in connection with the yellow fever in Philadelphia, the 
 shipping riots, and the war of 1812, see the Wharton Book/ 
 
 Samuel Wharton, a great-uncle of Dr. Wharton, was another 
 man of prominence in his day, a member of the City Councils, of 
 the Colonial and State Legislatures, and of other important corpo 
 rations. He was a correspondent of Benjamin Franklin as to the 
 Ohio Company/ a project for populating the bank of the Ohio 
 River which came to nothing, owing to the Revolution. He was 
 always foremost in Revolutionary matters, and a distinguished 
 scholar as well as successful merchant. 
 
 Dr. Wharton s uncle and godfather, Francis Rawle Wharton, 
 of whom he always spoke with peculiar affection, was a man of 
 great distinction in his day, and among more or less distant cousins 
 may be mentioned the eminent lawyer, George M. Wharton, Wil 
 liam Wharton, a prominent member of the Hicksite branch of the 
 Society of Friends, and many others celebrated in the annals of 
 Philadelphia.f 
 
 * " Genealogy of the Wharton Family of Philadelphia, 1664 to 1880, by 
 Anne H. Wharton, member of the Historical Society of Philadelphia." 
 Philadelphia, 1880. 
 
 f His brother, Henry Wharton, also must be enrolled among the distin 
 guished lawyers of the family. To quote from a leading journal : " He was 
 a man of profound learning, sound judgment, and acute and subtle power of 
 analysis, detecting the weak points in an adversary s argument, and strength 
 ening his own by citation of authorities." Full of bright and caustic wit, 
 on the rare occasions when he used it to ridicule bad law, his criticisms were 
 very pungent and effective. See Philadelphia Ledger and Transcript of No 
 vember 12, 1880. 
 
DE. FRANCIS WHARTON. 5 
 
 It may be added that nothing of special interest has ever been 
 discovered of the Wharton Family in England before the emigra 
 tion of Thomas, the son of Richard Wharton, of Orton, West 
 moreland. Dr. Wharton had in his possession, however, a very 
 quaint old print given him by a friend, a collector, representing 
 the two daughters of Philip, the Lord Wharton of the days of 
 Charles II., one of whom by a curious coincidence is named 
 < Philadelphia/ 
 
 From Dr. Wharton s ancestors thus catalogued, we may gather 
 many traits reproduced in their descendant. To the industry and 
 thrift that marked the colonist followers of William Penn, and 
 that also characterized him, may be added a certain love of novelty 
 and adventure, which, w r hile it never interfered with or effaced his 
 love of his early home, still gave him peculiar enjoyment in the 
 fresh and changing scenes among which his lot was cast. We also 
 find much in him that partook of his father s nature. Mr. Thomas 
 I. Wharton was possessed of great natural sagacity, a strong sense 
 of humor, and unbounded honesty. He was known, both inside 
 his own circle and without it, as strictly, sometimes severely just. 
 From the keen criticism of his caustic wit, any attempt at sub 
 terfuge, or double-dealing fled away disappointed. This does not 
 sound like the description of a brilliant and successful lawyer, but 
 it was in his case true. His son, also, had an aptitude for detecting 
 fraud, and an enjoyment of the humorous side of things, which 
 was not always to the liking of those with whom he dealt. While 
 his tenderness ever leaned to the fondest indulgence of those he 
 loved, yet he could not always restrain himself from pointing out 
 their peculiarities, and this created offence, or rather distrust among 
 those not discerning enough to understand him. Among his oppo 
 nents, that is in Church and State, nothing was more dreaded than a 
 touch of his gentle, but none the less powerful sarcasm. By an 
 epithet well chosen, and yet good-natured, he would often dissolve 
 an affectation, or an error, more speedily than would have been 
 possible in months of argument. While from his father he in 
 herited this clear insight, there was much in Dr. Wharton s char 
 acter that we can trace to his mother alone. 
 
 This lady, Miss Arabella Griffith, of Burlington, had inherited 
 from her family a powerful imagination, a strong poetic, talent, a 
 love of beauty, and a literary dexterity, which had she possessed 
 
6 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ordinary health would have placed her name among the authoresses 
 of our country. As it was, her life was passed in a sick room. 
 Always an invalid, she has nevertheless left much that her friends 
 value. Letters, musical compositions, and books which, though 
 never printed, show considerable ability with her pen. In addi 
 tion to this her temperament was of a peculiarly attractive and 
 endearing nature. Sensitive and loving as a child, she had great 
 need in her long life of seclusion and sometimes suffering of a 
 strong religious faith. This she possessed, and it brightened and 
 elevated her whole character. Her room was the chosen resort of 
 many tried and valued friends, whose faith she strengthened by 
 her wise counsels, and whose more arduous and active life she 
 sustained by the example of cheerfulness and patience she ever 
 gave them. She had a peculiar gift of conversation, her reading 
 was extensive, and as her mind was ever interested in what was 
 passing around her, she was regarded by all who knew her as a 
 most instructive and delightful companion. A lady relates of the 
 extreme amiability of her disposition that she was unable to recall 
 any time in which she had seen her out of temper. One day, 
 after having herself received extreme provocation, she was giving 
 an account of the affair to her sympathizing invalid friend. Upon 
 concluding she said, "Now, Mrs. Wharton, would you not have 
 felt angry ?" " Oh, my dear child," said the patient listener, " it 
 is a great many years since I have felt angry." With this sweet 
 ness of temper, however, was united a certain timidity, which often 
 led her to a misconception of her son s brilliant and less guarded 
 speech. There are letters found among his papers in the faded ink 
 of fifty years ago, in which she urges him to be more prudent, and 
 to restrain the too great freedom with which he expressed himself. 
 That these letters were taken in good part, is evidenced by the 
 care with which they are preserved, and the memory of a mother s 
 love clings around their pages still. Thus we find, that our friend 
 derived from his parents a blended character. Like his father, 
 keen, penetrating, strong in intellect, with a taste for philosophical 
 research, and unbounded industry like his mother, gentle, loving, 
 with a gift of poetic fancy, and a peculiar felicity of expression, it 
 is not surprising that his career, although moulded greatly by out 
 ward circumstances, and controlled by an irresistible Providence, 
 should be such an one as is well worthy of our best efforts to 
 record. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 EARLY LIFE. 
 
 can find in referring to the early life of Dr. Whar-ton, of 
 course, not many persons who are old enough to remember with 
 accuracy his boyhood, and fewer still who can remember his child 
 hood. There are some, however, who tell us that sixty years ago 
 (he was born March 7, 1820, in that old Philadelphia mansion, 
 fronting on Walnut Street, and directly opposite to Independence 
 Square) played and frolicked a singularly precocious and engaging 
 child, full of life and brightness, and with a talent for mischief, 
 that he often recalled himself in later days. " Once," he said, 
 " while all the family were at church, I took a plaster bust of some 
 dignitary of the law from my father s library, and finding it hollow 
 inside, conceived the idea of supporting it on a broomstick, and 
 exhibiting it at the parlor window. Here, as the good people 
 returned from church (from old St. Peter s and St. James 7 ), they 
 were edified by the sight of Blackstone or Coke dancing violently 
 up and down, and showing a vivacity as a ghost that he certainly 
 never manifested in life." This and other boyish pranks, while 
 perfectly harmless, were not without a cleverness, which his elders 
 had to pretend not to admire. They were the overflow of an 
 extremely active mind, and the recreation from studies of an extra 
 ordinary nature in one so young. An aged lady, a friend of his 
 mother s, relates how upon a visit to the house the door opened 
 and a small light-haired child of nine or ten years came in, carry 
 ing a load of books in his arms. " Well, Frank, what have you 
 been reading?" said his mother. "Well, mother, I have just fin 
 ished all these books, and the one I like best is Watts on the 
 Mind," was the astounding and wellnigh incredible reply. That a 
 child so young should be attracted at all by a treatise such as that 
 of Watts, is only to be accounted for in the same way that we 
 account for the fact that Mozart read difficult music at the same 
 age, and Goethe composed poems and plays. There seems to be in 
 
8 MEMOIR OF 
 
 some cases a wonderful maturity of understanding in a youthful 
 genius, that while even the words of a writer may not be quite 
 understood, the idea is grasped, and the subject affords interest. 
 Just as in a foreign tongue books have often the power to charm 
 us, of which not every word is fully intelligible. The writings of 
 Dr. Wharton in later life have often excited surprise by their won 
 derful scope and variety, by the amount of labor, and the power 
 of memory they involve. This will be the less remarkable when 
 we see him thus in earliest boyhood storing his mind with the 
 best and most thoughtful of writers. At a time when most young 
 people are in the pursuit of enjoyment, or forced to unwilling tasks, 
 study was to him a pleasure. Books were his constant companions. 
 His life was passed either with a book or a pen. His memory 
 never failed to preserve and record what his diligence thus gained. 
 At the age of seventeen he entered Yale College and graduated 
 in 1839. Of his college days, but few records remain. They are 
 principally marked in such memorials as we have, by loving and 
 wise letters from his mother to him, full of counsel and religious 
 appeal. Their fruit was seen in his increasing steadiness and 
 sobriety of character, though he was always a model of what is 
 usually considered praiseworthy in a young man. The following 
 letter will show, however, how high was his mother s standard of 
 excellence : 
 
 DEAREST FRANK : 
 
 I need not tell you what a source of deep and intense interest 
 you are to me now. Formerly, only my own honor and interests 
 were involved in your well-being and doing, but now I feel that 
 the honor of a greater and higher than I is involved in your walk 
 and conduct. Though you have not gone through the mere cere 
 mony of making a profession of religion in confirmation, yet you 
 have, with all the warmth and ingenuousness of youth, openly 
 and honestly expressed yourself, and thereby avowed yourself a 
 Christian. Now the honor of Christ is involved in every Christian s 
 profession, and you honor or dishonor Him by your walk and con 
 versation. Indeed the whole Christian community suffers more or 
 less from the unfaithfulness or carelessness of Christian professors. 
 i What are these wounds in Thy hands? says the prophet by in 
 spiration. Those with which I was wounded in the house of my 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 9 
 
 friends is Christ s touching answer. Oh, then, how carefully 
 should we guard against wounding our blessed Saviour by levity, 
 folly, or any other besetting sin, which can dishonor a Christian 
 in the sight of the world, and through him his Master. For the 
 first time in your life you are placed in a responsible situation. 
 This should lead you, dearest Frank, to great heart-searching and 
 circumspection, and your mother is willing to assist you in the task, 
 by unveiling to you the foibles, which are visible to every eye, in 
 one so unguarded as yourself, and which almost neutralize the effect 
 which the example of your early piety might have upon others. It 
 is not vices I have to caution you about, but foibles not life, but 
 conversation. And inasmuch as it is in the family circle almost 
 exclusively that the life is manifested, the world must mainly judge 
 of a Christian by his conversation. Oh, my darling Acky, here it 
 is you mainly err. It was always your besetting sin. I mean a 
 trifling, vain, desultory bizarre mode of talking. Now a profes 
 sion of religion always implies seriousness, so much so that a person s 
 making such a profession is usually indicated or expressed thus : 
 1 Such an one has become serious/ as if religion and seriousness were 
 synonymous. Sometimes when I hear you rattling on, forgetful of all 
 your dignity and responsibility as a Christian, I doubt and despair; 
 but then I take courage immediately when I look upon your sweet 
 and altered deportment at home. Unfortunately you bestoAv the 
 chief of your headlong vanity or levity upon strangers, who can 
 form no estimate of the real excellence of your home character. 
 Added to this, my darling Acky, you have so much self-love, that 
 when I attempt to tell you truths which none but a mother will tell 
 you, you shrink as from a surgeon s knife you change the 
 conversation as quick as lightning instead of being desirous of 
 probing yourself and knowing the whole truth. Oh ! my son, 
 study seriousness ; keep a perpetual watch over your words ; never 
 fly from a subject until it has been soberly discussed, and, above 
 all, be backward in expressing opinions upon subjects with which 
 you are but partially acquainted, and, as a general rule, be modest 
 and reserved in conversation ; remember, shallow brooks babble, 
 deep waters are still. And of one thing be certain, God, through 
 the agency of his Holy Spirit, which is even now at work in your 
 heart, can alone work this change in you. I don t want you to be 
 forever talking of religion, but I want a solid, thoughtful, serious 
 
10 MEMOIR OF 
 
 demeanor, which a sincere conviction of your own unworthiness 
 must ever produce ; if you were truly humble, you would shrink 
 from display. May God open your eyes, and give you such a 
 deep conviction of sin, and such a realizing sense of eternity, and 
 such an abiding sense of the indwelling of a crucified Redeemer 
 that your conversation may bear the impress of your heart ! And 
 while I admonish you, my dear son, may my own soul take warn 
 ing, and may He grant me a portion of that wisdom from on high 
 I so earnestly bespeak for you, and which my present humble 
 effort is intended to lead you to seek ! God will look for far 
 greater Christian perfection from your generation than from the 
 past, for never were there such Christian privileges since the days 
 of the Apostles, and you must look to the annals of your Saviour 
 for a far higher example than the writer of this letter has been able 
 to set before you, however sincere may have been the desire of 
 walking before her children in the fear of God, and of teaching 
 them so to walk. You must look within you also, for a change 
 must be wrought also within yourself. By your incongruous mixture 
 of levity and religion, of truth and folly, you dishonor Christ and 
 your profession. Religion is a transaction between the soul and 
 God, and having once set your seal upon it, it is your part to act 
 conscientiously, as one who is accountable to the Lord of the Vine 
 yard. Let your conversation be modest and retiring, never shrink 
 ing from confessing Christ when you are called upon, but shrink 
 ing from ostentation and vain display. You will perceive, dearest 
 Frank, that this whole letter is addressed to one who has made a 
 commencement in the religious life. I take it for granted that you 
 have received into your heart the great elementary principles of 
 religion ; that the way of salvation through Jesus Christ has been 
 manifested to you, and that your foundation is right. My own 
 conviction is, and I have formed it with great deliberation, that 
 the Holy Spirit is at work in your heart, that He is striving with 
 you, and the chief object of this letter is to caution you lest by a 
 vain, light, and presumptuous course you alienate Christ s Comforter 
 and great Teacher. For the man who calls himself a Christian is 
 a spectacle to angels and to men, and he cannot .take a step that 
 does not involve Christ and His church. And now, my beloved 
 darling son, now that you have implicated and identified yourself 
 with Christ and his flock, beware how you walk and how you talk. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 11 
 
 You are not your own, but bought with a great price, even the 
 blood of the Son of God. You are the temple of the Holy Ghost ; 
 what manner of conversation then ought yours to be ? 
 
 I cannot part with you without once more testifying to your 
 sweet and amiable character and conduct at home, and it is upon 
 the great change that has taken place in you in this respect, that I 
 build the chief of my hopes. Nothing but the hand of God could 
 have made you what you are. And, dearest Frank, if ever a son 
 had a mother s prayers it is you, and with the hope that you will 
 forgive me, if I have been too plain spoken, and that you will 
 write me a very sweet letter of thanks, for indeed I deserve it, I 
 remain yours ever affectionately and faithfully, as none other ever 
 
 can be to you. 
 
 A. G. AV. 
 
 This letter, as will be readily perceived, was written to him dur 
 ing a college vacation passed away from home. It is also the first 
 intimation Ave have of his dawning interest in religious subjects, 
 soon to become the ruling if not absorbing - interest of his life. 
 There are several other letters from his mother in the same strain 
 and showing the same faithful dealing of parental love. There 
 are also letters solicitous for his health, which did not seem to be 
 strong, but there are no injunctions to study ; that was plainly a 
 duty he performed only too energetically. His mother writes, 
 " Pray do not over study. I do not care for your obtaining mere 
 nominal honors. You say some of the young men sit up till 
 twelve at night, rising at half-past four or five. This would soon 
 wear you out. Do go to bed early promise me this. I did 
 nothing but dream of you all last night. I thought you came 
 home all haggard and worn, and with your eye-sight gone, and 
 I am superstitious enough to regard this dream as a warning." 
 Another caution may have been more necessary. " From what 
 nice young lady do you borrow your seal ? I suppose you have 
 heard of H. s engagement to S. E. What an imprudent young 
 man ! With seven years of college and seminary life before him 
 I really think he had better not have thought of the ministry, or, 
 if that was impossible, of matrimony. He had no right to engage 
 the affections and involve the prospects of a woman under existing 
 circumstances. He should have shut his eyes and his heart and 
 
12 MEMOIR OF 
 
 his thoughts against womankind until those seven years were past, 
 and then at thirty (which will be his age when he finishes his career), 
 he would have been at liberty. When you are three or four and 
 twenty I shall begin to sermonize you. At present I am truly 
 grateful that you are at an unfledged age ; also I am truly grateful 
 and proud to say that you are not a goose. I suppose you cannot 
 get the curl out of your handwriting though the material within 
 proves it does not fit your character. Your father is very much 
 pleased with your letters. He thinks them good business letters, 
 and that from him is great praise." 
 
 These extracts go to show the good understanding between 
 mother and son ; the anxious care for his temporal and also 
 spiritual well-being on her part and the confidence and docility 
 on his, that led her to tell him all her misgivings and all her hopes 
 for him. At the age of nineteen he returned to Philadelphia, and 
 became a law student in his father s office. He was also a constant 
 attendant at St. Philip s Church, and a teacher in the Sunday- 
 school. His mother s influence, greater now than before, was ever 
 at hand to deepen and strengthen the religious impressions already 
 received, and the drf details of law study were followed as con 
 scientiously as had been the college course. His impulse was to 
 enter the ministry, but from that he was dissuaded by his father, 
 who with wiser though more worldly judgment thought his gifts 
 not adapted to a profession requiring the constant use of his voice. 
 His physique was never robust, and there was a decided weakness 
 of the vocal organs, which caused him annoyance all his life, and 
 was finally one among the several causes of his death. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 13 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 LIFE IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 HM 
 
 THE admission of Dr. Wharton to the bar in Philadelphia, in 
 1843, begins a new phase of his career. Though but twenty-three 
 years old, he was amply equipped with legal knowledge, and soon 
 found himself with occupation on his hands. There is no need to 
 explain this rapid success beyond the ever apparent and conspicuous 
 popularity of his manner, and the sagacity and effectiveness of the 
 counsel he gave. Those who have known Dr. Wharton will have 
 no difficulty in recalling the peculiar charm of his bearing. Wise, 
 kindly, and practical in the advice he gave, the interest he took in 
 the cases submitted to him, the subtilty with which he saw through 
 complications, and the encouraging and cheerful view he took of 
 even disastrous possibilities, excited the confidence and hope of his 
 clients, and they were rarely disappointed. Perhaps we are antici 
 pating a little, but at all events the last five years of the ten he 
 spent as a practising lawyer in Philadelphia were crowned by un 
 usual and lucrative remuneration, and that is generally considered 
 a test of success. Still his forte always lay in writing. Even at 
 that early age his articles for magazines and criticisms of books 
 were eagerly received by publishers. There was a clearness and 
 point about his style, a vigor and life about his expressions that 
 made him interesting to those who knew very little about the tech 
 nicalities of the subjects he treated. If this was so to the unini 
 tiated, how much more to those who were capable of understanding 
 and appreciating him ! 
 
 It will be well, however, to state here that this sketch is not 
 intended as a history, still less as a critique of Dr. Wharton s 
 books; They have been too long before the profession, and have 
 been too fully commended in the highest quarters to make any 
 such process necessary. The purpose of the present writer is to 
 give merely their titles and dates of publication, with such facts in 
 cidental to them as are inseparably connected with their Author s 
 
J4 MEMOIR OF 
 
 life in other respects. He lived a double existence, and this not 
 from choice, but because his qualities of heart ever kept pace with 
 those of mind, and the needs of a fallen and suffering humanity 
 made him long to devote all his powers to succor and befriend 
 them. But in this purpose his physical powers fell short voice 
 and strength failed him, and the leisure thus providentially bestowed 
 was given to that other profession for which he was also so emi 
 nently qualified. We quote in this connection from one of the 
 Church papers the following tribute : 
 
 " The case of the late Kev. Francis Wharton shows how possible 
 it may be that a parish sometimes monopolizes a genius that a 
 nation might have a province for. Paralysis of the throat deprived 
 the pulpit of the services of this great and eminent man, and at 
 last proved fatal to him. Dr. Wharton is well known by his 
 writings, and he, for years, has been the adviser of the administra 
 tion on points of international law, in which intricate and delicate 
 department of jurisprudence he was an acute and learned specialist. 
 Yet no doubt had he chosen his own life s work he would have 
 preferred the simple lot of a parish priest, the highest lot on earth, 
 to which he was dedicated by the warm vows of his youth." 
 
 We subjoin also a letter from a life-long friend, Mr. W. Heyward 
 Drayton, of Philadelphia, which has reference to this period : 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, August 19, 1889. 
 MY DEAR MRS. VIELE : 
 
 I first knew your father when I began to study law, in 1842, in 
 the office of your grandfather, Mr. Thomas I. Wharton. He was 
 then about twenty years old and a most pleasing and attractive 
 acquaintance. We soon became fast friends, and our regard for 
 each other continued to the end of his life, though our intimacy 
 was much interfered with by his abandonment of Philadelphia 
 as a residence. 
 
 I have no doubt your father was a student from his boyhood. 
 While we were together in the office he not only studied carefully, 
 but devoted his leisure to writing articles for periodicals of the 
 day. I remember he wrote much for Hunt s Merchants Magazine , 
 and though a very young man his articles were held in the highest 
 esteem, and were, as I remember, usually assigned the first place. 
 Early, too, in his professional life he edited the American and 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 15 
 
 United States Gazette , then one newspaper, and about the same 
 time the Episcopal Recorder. When I first knew him he was very 
 religious ; either while a student or soon after becoming a lawyer, 
 he desired to give up law and study divinity : he told me he sug 
 gested this to his father who implored him to abandon it, saying, 
 " Henry and you are my only sons, he is a boy, I don t know what 
 his tastes may be, and I have set my heart on your continuing in 
 my profession." 
 
 In deference to this wish he continued at the bar until his father s 
 death, when he left practice and became a clergyman. 
 
 While at the bar he not only worked laboriously at his profes 
 sion, but found time to compose works, both legal and literary, 
 indeed continuing to do so all his life. He was in early life an 
 active Democratic politician, and when John K. Kane was appointed 
 Attorney-General of this State, your father and William D. Kelley 
 became his assistants. Your father, knowing that his voice was not 
 strong enough for the strain of continuous speaking, agreed with 
 Judge Kelley that he should attend to the court business generally, 
 while your father prepared the pleadings. As he never did things 
 by halves, this arrangement probably directed his mind to the 
 absence of any good book on Pleading and Practice in the United 
 States, and led to the preparation of the first elaborate treatise 
 which brought him fame as a legal writer. This work has passed 
 through nine editions, and is a text-book. From that time he 
 continued, long after he had given up practice, to compose and 
 publish works on legal subjects, until he became before his death, 
 if not the most, certainly one of the most prolific and distinguished 
 authors of law-books in our country. 
 
 I have referred to his laborious habits. While editing it was 
 his custom, when quite young, to sit up until the early morning 
 hours. Once I remonstrated with him on the risk his health ran 
 from this : he answered, " Do you think I run more risk than some 
 other young men who keep about the same hours, going to balls 
 and suppers ?" I did not interfere in this way again. 
 
 Your father was the most, perhaps the only religious man with 
 whom I was thrown much in early life, and I have no doubt his 
 precept and example were of great service to me, as I know they 
 were to many others, at that time, as he was a devoted Sunday- 
 school teacher and superintendent. 
 
16 MEMOIR OF 
 
 In connection with Mr. Drayton s letter and in explanation of it, 
 it will be well to say that Dr. Wharton s political views were, as he 
 states, Democratic. In his youth he made several visits to the 
 South and there saw the working of their domestic system in the 
 house of a dearly loved younger sister, who was there happily 
 married. Not only did he see the colored people receiving from 
 her the care and instruction their helpless condition required, but 
 among her neighbors and friends whose cordial hospitality he 
 enjoyed, he noticed the same state of things. It became with him 
 as with many others, who were thus domesticated in the South, a 
 serious question how far immediate emancipation would really help 
 the colored race. Recognizing, as he did, the evils of slavery, he 
 yet deprecated the use of violent measures, and trusted to the 
 effect of gradual legislative effort to remove the causes of the bit 
 terness existing between North and South, and to active Christian 
 benevolence, and growth of enlightenment to benefit the condition 
 of the slave. He corresponded with some of the political leaders 
 of the day. His role was ever that of peace. His many friends 
 in the South, the high estimation in which he held them, his con 
 viction that many of them agreed with him, and lamented truly 
 the system which weighed as heavily on the master as on the slave, 
 all conspired to make him shun extremists on either side. When 
 however twenty years later, the flames of war burst forth, and the 
 irrepressible conflict was waged, he gave his allegiance entirely to 
 the cause of Union. A sermon published in the second year of the 
 war called A willing re-Union not impossible/ gives most com 
 pletely his views on this point. As it was, however, his active 
 mind and untiring industry sought scope in all the varied questions 
 of the day. As a friend and correspondent tells us : " He sought 
 recreation in changing his work, instead of stopping it. His books 
 and papers and proof-sheets accompanied him in his journeys for 
 business or pleasure, and many minutes which by most men are 
 wasted were turned by him to good account. He could turn in a 
 moment from social engagements to the work he had before him. 
 Of course it is to be added, he had great natural gifts. To a most 
 unusual facility and rapidity in literary work, he united a memory 
 little short of marvellous. All the stores of his observation, his 
 reflection, and his reading were instantly at his service when 
 occasion required." 
 
DR. FRAXCIS WHARTON. 17 
 
 Among these varied pursuits, however, he began to find social 
 relaxation a necessity. For a time he allowed himself to mingle 
 in Philadelphia society, where he was always a favorite. Perhaps 
 no man ever more fully united what seem to be almost opposing 
 qualities than did he. Incessant labor and dry if not tedious 
 details in the morning ; in the evening he was the sparkling wit 
 of many a dinner-table, always welcome as the most genial and 
 entertaining of guests. In November, 1852, he married Miss 
 Sydney Paul, a daughter of Comegys Paul, Esq., of Philadelphia. 
 In this lady, of whose attractive and endearing qualities there are 
 many still to speak, he found a most congenial companion. His 
 life was full now of work and of happiness. He found one 
 increased and sustained by the other. He entered largely into 
 charitable and other enterprises in his native city, and there are 
 several well-known and well-established institutions where his 
 active and efficient aid is to this day recalled. 
 
 As his life thus enlarged and widened its sympathies, his devo 
 tion to Church matters gradually increased. In Church politics 
 Dr. Wharton was always termed a Low Churchman. While a 
 member from preference, from conviction, and life-long habit of 
 the Episcopal Church, his was a mind too wide in its culture and 
 sympathies to claim for that church any exclusive rights, or to 
 look upon it as even chief in God s agencies for regenerating the 
 world. He was ever a cordial admirer of the great Eeformed 
 Churches, whether in our own country or abroad, as his writings 
 will abundantly testify. He favored great toleration, both in 
 doctrine and mechanism, within our own Church. And this not 
 because his own scheme of doctrine or mechanism was uncertain, 
 but because he held that individual minds must differ, and must 
 work more efficiently while that difference is recognized than when 
 following a forced uniformity. We can give a few extracts here 
 from a pamphlet published by him on Voluntary Missionary 
 Societies, which, although a little premature in date, bears upon 
 the point in question. 
 
 " The responsibility of schism is often as much on those who 
 drive others off, as upon those who go. The verdict of posterity, 
 I cannot but believe, will be that the two most disastrous shocks 
 which the Church of England ever received arose from the appli 
 cation of the Conformity Acts to the Puritans in 1680, and to the 
 2 
 
18 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Methodists in 1780. These measures were in fact a departure from 
 the tolerant and catholic platform which the Anglican Communion, 
 as a National Church, adopted at the Reformation. If they have 
 been peculiarly disastrous to her diminishing her hold on the 
 middle classes and poor, abridging her practical nationality, sever 
 ing from her some of the most devoted of her sons, reducing the 
 standard of piety within her borders such a state of facts goes 
 no small way to prove the importance of allowing, in a National 
 Church, full liberty in all matters within the range of orthodoxy. 
 But I pass this point, for the purpose of noticing that the very 
 fact of the communions of which I speak, severing themselves on 
 matters of temporary controversy, made them, not national and 
 catholic, but eclectic. The very nature of their existence renders 
 it incumbent on them to present in sharp and intolerant precision 
 the dogmas to promote which they seceded. And when new and 
 heterogeneous, though orthodox views spring up in their own body, 
 the remedy is not to enlarge their borders so as to tolerate the new 
 opinions, but to have a new secession. They maintain their mis 
 sionary unity by breaking their organic integrity. 
 
 " Take, as an illustration of this, the Methodist Communion. It 
 differed in England from the Established Church, not as to any 
 question of doctrine, but as to the most efficient way in which the 
 church could be worked. The day is now passed in which the 
 sincerity of John Wesley s attachment to the principles of the 
 Church of England, as well as his noble zeal and indefatigable 
 industry in the cause of Christ, can be questioned. He was a great 
 Missionary, the greatest the Protestant Church ever knew, and it 
 was a sad day for our communion when she lost him. But he 
 went forth partly impelled by a too hasty enthusiasm partly 
 driven ; and he went forth, let it be ever remembered, on a question 
 of missionary mechanism. I will not stop here to say that if con 
 scientious and faithful men can differ on points of mere expediency 
 so widely as to make an ecclesiastical separation the only alternative 
 to ecclesiastical toleration, how important it is for the Church to 
 learn wisdom from the past, and to grant that liberty now which 
 she refused in 1780 ! It is sufficient on this point now to say, that 
 as the Methodists seceded from us on a question of missionary 
 organization, as their distinctive denominational features were 
 thus eclectic, not catholic as they worked into their constitution 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTOtf. 19 
 
 one single and arbitrary method of church extension, instead of 
 yielding to their constituents a Avise liberty it was natural enough 
 for them to impose upon their members the yoke of compulsory 
 uniformity. But how has it worked? First, in 1785, went off 
 the Primitive Methodists who wanted liberty in one matter of me 
 chanism. Then in 1792 went the Republican Methodists for like 
 reasons. Then in 1816 went the African Methodists. In 1819 
 went another under a similar title. In 1820 went the Stillwettites. 
 In 1828, on what was peculiarly an economical question, for it 
 concerned chiefly the admission of the local preachers to an equal 
 share of government with the itinerants, went the Protestant 
 Methodists. Then came the great division of the Church, north 
 and south ; a severe shock to the country as well as to the Methodist 
 Communion, and one which could readily have been averted had 
 the principle of toleration in non-essentials been maintained. The 
 consequence is, that the Methodist Communion has now fallen 
 into ten distinct organizations. By exacting uniformity it has lost 
 unity. 
 
 " The Romish Church gives us a lesson of the contrary policy 
 which we may well study. That wily, though dangerous com 
 munion well knows that to preserve dogmatic unity there must be 
 missionary freedom. She presents no less than three voluntary 
 foreign missionary societies to her members, whom she invites to 
 contribute at their election through either, the Lyons Society for 
 the Propagation of the Faith/ the Leopoldine Society/ or the 
 Society of the Holy Children. In home missions she opens an 
 almost infinite number of agencies. The religious orders sanctioned 
 by her, each of which is a missionary society in itself, approach to 
 nearly one hundred in number. They are so constructed as to 
 strike almost every variety of taste. Persons of ardent and pas 
 sionate temper, who look with favor upon new measures/ (as 
 the fashion among the Congregationalists has lately been to call 
 them,) she points to the Redemptionists and Passionists as forming 
 organizations which unite the most vehement preaching with the 
 most dramatic machinery. To the sedate and contemplative, who 
 look upon the propagandism of a holy and placid life as far more 
 effective than the most exciting eloquence or the most splendid 
 displays, she introduces the recluse Carthusian, who never mixes 
 with the world at all, and the compassionate Carmelite, who mixes 
 
20 MEMOIR OF 
 
 with it only in deeds of mercy. To the philanthropic she exhibits 
 the brethren of St. John s and Camillas, as day after day they 
 pursue their hospital rounds ; to the polite and literary, she presents 
 the courtly and accomplished Benedictines, at the same time the 
 best editors of the classics, and the feeblest defenders of the faith, 
 the Church ever knew. 
 
 " Even in doctrine we allow a wise liberty on points which, 
 though within the range of orthodoxy, have been on the one side 
 or the other, the nuclei around which separate and divergent com 
 munions have hung. Our Articles were meant as the symbols of 
 peace and comprehension. They were broad enough at one time 
 to shelter the supralapsarian Calvinism of Archbishop Whitgift. 
 They were broad enough at another time to shelter the mild 
 Arminianism of Seeker and Tillotson. No one now, it may be well 
 asserted, will maintain that the positive faith and burning zeal of 
 John Newton were out of place in the communion he did so much 
 to revive. No one will assert that the majestic sense of Bishop 
 Butler was out of place in the communion he did so much to 
 adorn. We may now well aiford to place Leighton and Ken alike 
 within the sanctuary both of our affections and of our denomi 
 national sympathies, though the saintly piety which belonged to 
 each was united to doctrines far more widely divergent ihan those 
 which have divided sects. Brother Hooper, said Ridley, we 
 have been two in white, but now we will be one in red. In other 
 words, those who in former times were divided as to Episcopal 
 vestments and surplices, became afterwards fused by the fires of 
 persecution. It is a lesson which the Church has learned late, but 
 we trust is learning thoroughly toleration within the range of 
 orthodoxy, liberty in the choice of agency for carrying out her 
 great mission. 
 
 " But the question we now discuss does not involve even any of 
 the allowable divergences of doctrine. If it did, the liberty asked 
 for is perfectly defensible. But to sustain the principle of com 
 pulsory uniformity in missions, we must take the ground that 
 even on the subject of mechanism there is to be no liberty allowed 
 to the convictions of individual contributors. It will be enough 
 to establish, therefore, the impolicy of such a system if we show 
 that there are even now in our immediate communion two schools 
 of opinion each widely and conscientiously differing as to not 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 21 
 
 merely the best but as to the only way in which the Church is to 
 be successfully pressed. We are reduced, therefore, to the alter 
 native of saying either that the Episcopal Church is not compre 
 hensive enough to retain these two schools, and that the one may 
 therefore justly expel or silence the other, or of conceding that 
 each school, in the exercise of its own convictions, may take the 
 course to which it conceives itself conscientiously bound. 
 
 " Let ua consider, however, this point more closely. A large 
 majority of our bishops, as is well known, have given their official 
 sanction to the opinion that the Rubrics requiring morning and 
 evening service, even on Sunday, are not imperative in unorganized 
 congregations, or mission stations. Of this majority nearly the 
 whole body agree in the position that the most efficient way of 
 pushing pioneer missions is by a series of informal services, in 
 making up which the discretion of the minister is to be largely 
 consulted. Besides these, there is a section of the Church, neither 
 deficient in zeal or strength, which believes that the free and 
 earnest use in social meetings of extemporaneous prayer the 
 introduction and extension of such meetings whenever an open 
 ing is offered for them the bold and faithful preaching of the 
 cross informally as well as formally, wherever the preacher has 
 access are the primary agencies through which alone the mission 
 aries of our Church can solidly lay her foundations. 
 
 " On the other hand, we find opinions directly to the contrary 
 avowed among us, by authorities equally conscientious, and equally 
 entitled to recognition as a constituent part of our communion. 
 
 " Now here we have a difference of opinion going to the very root 
 of the question of missionary machinery. Those conscientiously 
 holding the first view may be pardoned in preferring a missionary 
 who will press the Church in that way in which they think it can 
 be savingly and effectively pressed ; those holding the second 
 view, equally conscientiously, interpose an episcopal prohibition 
 upon the missionary who desires to avail himself of the advantages 
 thought so important by the first. And yet, divergent as these 
 opinions are, I apprehend our Church legitimately comprehends 
 them both, and secures to each the right of missionary action in 
 the way that it thinks best. Nor do I see any particular harm in 
 this. If it be said that there is to be a coerced uniformity, and 
 that the party who happens to be in the ascendant for the time 
 
22 MEMOIR OF 
 
 being, is to be empowered to make those who differ from him work 
 under him, or not to work at all, then I apprehend there will be 
 dissension, if not schism. Each party will struggle for the ascen 
 dency, and the struggle will create party feeling where it does not 
 produce an actual disruption. It was thus the great Methodist 
 schism was caused. John Wesley would never have left the 
 Church of England had the liberty allowed by our American Bishops 
 been allowed to him by their English predecessors. If, on the 
 other hand, it is understood that each element is to be allowed to 
 push the Church in its own way, I can see little but good. Those 
 who prefer a strictly liturgical system will find not only a channel 
 open to their zeal, but will be able to do what those who differ 
 from them could not do so well minister to the religious wants of 
 that class of the community whose intellectual structure is such as 
 to make them crave the aesthetic in public worship, as distinguished 
 from the more practical and homely. Those who prefer a mixed 
 system will also not only be able to work efficiently, and to them 
 selves healthfully, in the missionary field, but to present the gospel, 
 through a combination of stated with social worship, in the way in 
 which it will most effectively strike large and important classes. 
 There are many voices/ says St. Paul, and none of them with 
 out signification/ There are many classes of hearers, and each 
 of them open to a call which strikes it with a distinctive emphasis. 
 Is it not wiser, both for the Church and for the masses to whom 
 she is sent, that to each element she should speak intelligently, so 
 that, in the exercise of her Pentecostal power, ( all men Parthians, 
 Medes, Elamites ? those whose heart responds only to the solemn 
 sweeps of the chant, as well as those in whom the passionate utter 
 ances of the rude hymn in the field-meeting awaken their first con 
 viction of sin should hear her speak in their own tongues the 
 wonderful works of God ? 
 
 " But we may go still further, and say that if the principle hold 
 good, it will exact a compulsory fusion of literary agencies. If it be 
 right that the Church should interfere to consolidate boards in the 
 one department, it is right that she should in the other. A literary 
 fusion, a monopoly in the preparation and issue of books, is at 
 least as important as a missionary fusion, a monopoly in the sup 
 port and sending of missionaries. .Let us see, then, how the prin 
 ciple bears this new test. 
 
DK. FRANCIS WHARTON. 23 
 
 "And here it may be remarked, that if there is anything in which 
 the comprehensiveness of the Church of England is exhibited, it is 
 on this very topic. It is the very breadth and fulness of her litera 
 ture which are its chief glory. To this she owes the logical exact 
 ness of Chillingworth, the majestic strength of Barrow, the brilliant 
 point of South, the lustrous rhetoric of Jeremy Taylor, the exposi 
 tory and doctrinal closeness of Ezekiel Hopkins, the didactic 
 simplicity and elegance of Tillotson, and the shrewd sense and 
 perspicuous reasoning of Paley. So it has been even to our own 
 day. There is room, and never more so than now, when the mul 
 tiplying varieties of mind, which a diffused education produces, 
 require a multiplying variety of agencies ; there is room still on 
 the book-shelves and in the libraries of our communion for the 
 manifestation of each of the interests which our communion unites. 
 See, indeed, how important has this freedom been to us, even in our 
 own generation ! There stands Arnold, marching in all the vigor 
 of his manly but restive mind, from the theological obscurity and 
 doubts into which his impatience of systems led him in his earlier 
 essays, to the, as yet, hardly perfect, but most beautiful evangel- 
 icism of his closing works. There is the pastoral fidelity con 
 nected with the exegetical and doctrinal eclecticism, and the philo 
 sophical breadth of Archer Butler. There is the showy eloquence 
 of Melville, a little too gaudy for the closet, and a little too elab 
 orate for the pulpit, and yet like a botanical garden, if not good 
 for scenery, at least admirable for horticulture ; and there beyond 
 all others in worth, if not in pretension, are the excellent exposi 
 tory sermons of Blunt and Bradley. Behind each utterance there 
 is a specific sense ; through them the free voice of the Church 
 speaks, never so potent as when free, calling through each agency 
 to a particular class of minds whom no other agency could reach, 
 and not only raising the literary character of the Church, but dif 
 fusing the truth with a comprehensiveness, which it requires a com 
 prehensive policy to insure. And observe that whenever we have 
 deviated from this policy our glory and our power have been pro- 
 portionably diminished. It was by the application of this very 
 doctrine of compulsory uniformity that we lost the passionate elo 
 quence of Whitefield, the sagacious sense of Wesley, and the apos 
 tolic zeal and vigor which enabled the first of these great men to 
 arouse a nation, and the second to found a church. Through it 
 
24 MEMOIR OF 
 
 we lost something more the works and examples of those great 
 confessors, the Puritan divines of the Restoration, who in their 
 exodns spoiled us of the jewels and wealth of an orthodoxy, which 
 we Avere too indifferent to appreciate, and of a literature, whose 
 depth and fulness we were too luxurious and inert to fathom. 
 Look back and see who issue from the closed doors of those cathe 
 drals and churches, from the metropolis down to the hamlet 
 those doors which a compulsory and intolerant moderatism (of all 
 tyrannies the most arbitrary and ungenerous) is not only shutting, 
 but bolting on the inside ! There preceded by the common hang 
 man, in whose hands are to be seen the proscribed writings of men 
 of whom their age was not worthy there go John Bunyan, and 
 Baxter, and Owen, and Fuller, and Philip and Matthew Henry. 
 And there, mightier than all, goes a great shade, taking with him 
 as he goes from this his mother church, the glory of the greatest 
 epic poet whom the world ever knew. What, indeed, might the 
 Church not have been had her heart been as comprehensive as her 
 standards ! I agree to them all, every word/ said Philip Henry, 
 as he was driven from Broad Oaks, because his love to what really 
 was the Church, was too real and thorough to enable him to take 
 an oath to support elements new and intolerant. It draws my 
 very heart s blood/ cries another, in the bitterness of his spirit ; 
 ( but, while I can make Bishops overseers, I cannot make them 
 Apostles, nor can I abandon free prayer. I give up that I love/ 
 said a third, i to those that love it not ; but it is they, not I. So 
 spake the expelled divines of the Restoration ; and it is well that 
 we should sit and listen before we proceed to apply the same 
 shackles Avhich drove them from us. Unity in essentials let us 
 have in the great truths in which, as John . Newton told us, all 
 religion centres, that man is a great sinner, arid Christ is a great 
 Saviour ; unity in government, recognizing, as we do, Constitu 
 tional Episcopacy, as to us the only form to be received ; unity in 
 solemn worship, holding to the great features of the liturgy in our 
 public congregations ; but not uniformity in those developments of 
 individual zeal and purity, in which, in order to make substantial 
 truth, there must be circumstantial variety."^ 
 
 We have glanced thus at Dr. Wharton s views both in Church 
 and State, and shown him as he supposed usefully and perma- 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 25 
 
 nently established in the profession which had been pointed out to 
 him. Now, however, the hand of God was to overturn this fair 
 structure, and in one night the gourd of earthly felicity withered 
 away. The death of his wife, which took place in September, 1854, 
 seemed to cut him loose from all the ties by which he had sur 
 rounded himself. For a long time, after his bereavement, he tried 
 to find solace in the occupations and objects of his former life. Too 
 truly a Christian not to submit to God s will, he tried to discover 
 what might be the teaching of this great bereavement. He sought 
 new channels of usefulness. He became a sort of lay preacher in 
 the various missions of the city. The warmth and fervor of his 
 loving heart poured themselves out in many an appeal to the 
 ignorant and sorrowful to come and find, as he had found comfort 
 and rest at the foot of the Cross. After the great loss he had sus 
 tained, he could not longer live among the memorials of his past 
 happiness, and moved to another and more commodious house in 
 the upper part of the town. His principal motive, however, in so 
 doing, was that he might surround himself with congenial com 
 panions, and endeavor to palliate the heart-ache he could not 
 remove. 
 
 These companions were not, as might be supposed, men of his 
 own profession, but of the profession to which in heart he ever 
 belonged. Bishops, priests, and deacons, were they alive, could 
 testify to the liberal hospitality they received at his hands, and 
 students for the ministry, young men needing help, never were 
 without his generous aid. His means were at that time quite 
 ample, and rapidly increasing. Not only were his books remu 
 nerative, but his chamber practice brought him a larger sum than 
 most young lawyers could expect. A less industrious man could 
 never have found time for all the demands made upon him. He 
 was sought for to assist in every benevolent society, and his endorse 
 ment was often regarded as sufficient to procure a call of a clergy 
 man to a parish. In fact he was called at one time, with more 
 truth than reverence, the lay-Bishop. He was an earnest helper 
 of the Episcopal Hospital in Philadelphia, and it was his habit to 
 visit and hold religious services in its wards. At this time also he 
 became editor of a religious paper, (the Episcopal Recorder, ) a 
 leading periodical of the Evangelical School in our Church, and 
 continued his editorial labors for some time after his removal 
 
26 MEMOIR OF 
 
 from Philadelphia. But all these varied occupations failed to give 
 him just what he needed. The change in his domestic life, the 
 desolated fireside, and the lonely toil were always pressing upon 
 him, and he sought relief in another way. The growth of the 
 great West, and the best methods of reaching it with Christian 
 influence had occupied much of his attention. In 1856 he made 
 a tour in company with a friend, through the upper Missouri 
 Valley, in a light wagon distributing Bibles and tracts as he went. 
 At the same time he wrote vivid letters to the Recorder/ giving his 
 impressions of the country, and its needs from a religious point of 
 view. Afterwards he stated some of his conclusions in an article 
 in the Protestant Episcopal Quarterly Review/ which was also re- 
 published in pamphlet form with the title The Missouri Valley 
 and Lay-preaching/ 
 
 During his travels in the West, Dr. Wharton visited the then 
 infant College and Seminary at Gambier, Ohio. Here he met 
 with a warm welcome, and became really enamored of the life 
 and surroundings of the place. He was induced to accept an 
 election to the Professorship of English History and Literature, 
 including Logic and Rhetoric, and Lectures on Constitutional Law, 
 and threw himself zealously into the work. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 27 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 LIFE AT GAMBIER, OHIO. 
 
 College, situated on the Kokosing, a beautiful winding 
 stream, and surrounded by forests of cottonwood, oak, and syca 
 more, was founded by the venerable Bishop Chase in the year 1828. 
 It was at first a missionary enterprise, but through the liberality 
 of patrons, both at home and abroad, it had become in 1856 a 
 vigorous and growing institution. It united with the College a 
 Seminary for the preparation of young men for the Episcopal Min 
 istry, and two large grammar-schools fed and enlivened the older 
 classes. Here was a most congenial and interesting field of labor. 
 What more hopeful and inspiring project than to arouse the atten 
 tion and awaken the ambition of young men of such varied ages 
 and capabilities not only for the distinction this world gives, but 
 for that far greater compensation that comes to those w r ho, to bene 
 fit their fellow-creatures, give them the message of God s good- will 
 to man. 
 
 Here were found also many kind and kindred spirits. The pro 
 fessors of Divinity, the beloved and now sainted Bishop Mcllvaine 
 took the traveller by the hand, and rejoiced in securing such a co- 
 laborer. 
 
 The life at Gambier was one of great activity. Dr. Wharton 
 took up at once his duties as professor in the College. It was also 
 a life of enjoyment, as he gathered around him young and old in 
 the exercise of hospitality, and thus found the companionship he 
 craved. No one, who at that time met or dwelt with him, can 
 forget the fascination of his conversation. In the rebound from 
 the cloud of sorrow that had so long hung over him, his spirits 
 became again the charm of every social circle, and his generous 
 nature poured itself out in loving prodigality on all who came 
 near him. In the Class room, however, was the best development 
 of his new-born energy. Coming in contact, as he did, with young 
 and bright minds, many of them unformed, some of them, and 
 
28 MEMOIR OF 
 
 these the best, with crude and mistaken notions, all of them on 
 the threshold of a period momentous to themselves and others, he 
 delighted to use the knowledge he had gained, and the rich gift of 
 his influence to shape and mould the material committed to his 
 charge. A book published by him at that time with the title 
 Modern Theism will show the kind of instruction he imparted, 
 and the kind of difficulties he came in contact with. The book is 
 in fact a copy of the Lectures he delivered at that time on the 
 theories of Modern Infidelity. 7 The well-worn, but ever-recur 
 ring questions that confront us all in early life are treated in a 
 manner that enchains the attention and satisfies the inquirer, even 
 if it does not solve the mystery. In the chapters on Sin and Death 
 in the beginning of the book, clearly and strongly it is shown that 
 the existence of one necessitates the other ; gently, and yet grandly, 
 does the truth stand out that suffering and death are God s reme 
 dial agents, and that ills, otherwise unbearable, are parts of a 
 scheme of mercy whose. completeness of fulfilment eternity alone 
 will reveal. 
 
 WHARTON ON THEISM. 
 
 We take the following from the London Christian Observer : 
 
 The design of this work is to present the Theistic arguments (or, 
 in other words, to prove the existence of a God) " in such a shape," 
 to use the author s words, " as the best to impress the American 
 mind of the present day." It is a very interesting volume, even to 
 us upon this side of the Atlantic. It may be placed with great 
 advantage in the hands of thoughtful and inquiring young persons; 
 for it conducts the several lines of argument it takes up to sound 
 conclusions, while the path is made pleasant by anecdote and illus 
 tration. For instance, the evidence of the existence and character 
 of God is argued first of all from conscience, God s representative 
 within us. We give an illustration : 
 
 " I may be permitted to close the topic with the following passage 
 from a sketch given by the late Dr. Parrish, of Philadelphia, a 
 very reliable witness, of the last hours of John Randolph : 
 
 " A napkin was called for and placed by John over his breast. 
 For a short time he lay perfectly quiet, with his eyes closed. He 
 suddenly roused up and exclaimed, < Remorse ! Remorse ! It was 
 thrice repeated, the last time at the top of his voice, with great 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 29 
 
 agitation. He cried out, Let me see the word. Get a dictionary; 
 let me see the word ! There is none in the room, sir. 7 Write 
 it down, then let me see the word. The doctor picked up one 
 of his cards. Randolph of Roanoke. Shall I write it on this 
 card ? * Yes, nothing more proper/ The word Remorse was then 
 written in pencil. He took the card in a hurried manner, and 
 fastened his eyes on it with intensity. Write it on the back/ he 
 exclaimed. It was so done, and handed him again. He was 
 extremely agitated. i Remorse ! you have no idea what it is ; you 
 can form no idea of it whatever ; it has contributed to briug me to 
 my present situation. But I have looked to the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and I hope I have obtained pardon. Now, let John take your 
 pencil and draw a line under the word ; which was accordingly 
 done. What am I to do with the card? inquired the doctor. 
 Put it in your pocket take care of it when I am dead look 
 at it. " (p. 62.) 
 
 The existence of God, as "an eternal executive punishing the 
 violators of his law, may be inferred from the physical conse 
 quences of a violation of conscience." This position is illustrated 
 thus : 
 
 " Let us go, for instance, to Augustus the Strong, of Saxony, and 
 observe in him in early life the maximum of physical strength : 
 can break horse-shoes nay, half-crowns with finger and thumb; 7 
 of superb beauty, and possessor of two crowns. Meet him again 
 when in the prime of manhood, and you see him bloated and 
 putrid. A life of eminent dissipation has broken a constitution of 
 eminent strength. So it is everywhere. We are placed, in fact, 
 under recognizances to obey the decrees of conscience, and our 
 bodies become our bail. If the bond is broken, the bail is seized 
 upon and made to pay the forfeit. Nor is it bodily strength alone 
 that is thus taken in execution. Nervous power, intellectual integ 
 rity, simplicity of heart, even lustre of genius all these are in 
 like manner sacrificed as penalties. Byron, Burns, Mirabeau 
 themselves desolating and desolate lead us, in the agonized con 
 fession of their early though self-destroyed manhood, to the same 
 truth of the organic connection between physical and intellectual 
 demoralization. 
 
 " Nor does the penalty stop here. The finer and more generous 
 capacities of the heart become in like manner involved. The sus- 
 
30 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ceptibility for innocent joys of all susceptibilities the finest is 
 lost. Burns speaks with a sad truth on this point 
 
 I wave the quantum of the sin, 
 
 The hazard of concealing ; 
 But I it hardens all within, 
 
 And petrifies the feeling." 
 
 Another chapter, more in the style of Paley, treats of design from 
 Nature. The OCEAN supplies some beautiful proofs of contrivance, 
 which are ranged under three heads : the Sea-breeze, the Ocean 
 Salts, and the Gulf Stream. Under the last head we have the fol 
 lowing illustration : 
 
 " Let us first view its effect on England. The port of Liverpool 
 is never closed with ice ; it is two degrees farther north than that 
 of St. John s, Newfoundland, which, being frozen half the year, is 
 of course incapable of sustaining commerce. Let us look for a 
 moment at the consequences, had the same bands existed round the 
 English coast. Cowper has well described the spectacle that now 
 awaits the visitor to these shores : 
 
 From side to side of her delightful isle, 
 Is she not clothed with a perpetual smile, 
 Her fields a rich expanse of wavy corn, 
 Poured out from Plenty s overflowing horn, 
 Her peaceful shores, where busy commerce waits 
 To pour his golden tide through all her gates ? 
 
 " This scene would be changed to one whose ice-choked ports 
 would be fed only by rivers, themselves frozen half the year, and 
 where a mist, as constant as that of Labrador, would give through 
 its fissures and breaks only sunlight enough to mature the coarsest 
 grain. From such a climate commerce would be excluded, and 
 agriculture would obtain but a scanty subsistence. The England 
 of our fathers, and the England of our own days, would never 
 have existed." 
 
 Other chapters show the existence of a Deity from the progress 
 of Society, from Geology, and from Natural Theology. And the 
 second book, treating of skeptical theories, answers the objections 
 drawn from the impression of the present state of things, from 
 "positivism," from fatalism, and from pantheism; and lastly, 
 from the recent or, rather, extremely ancient but recently re- 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 31 
 
 vived theory of " development/ which makes matter the creator 
 of mind. A more interesting book, or one likely to be more useful 
 to young and ardent minds passing through that anxious state 
 which often intervenes to such between the simple, happy acqui 
 escence of childhood, and that firm faith and undisturbed repose 
 which is the fruit of many a bitter conflict, we have not lately met 
 with, and we shall be happy to contribute anything to its success 
 and wider circulation. 
 
 Some letters written of him at that time will show how the 
 culture and brilliancy of their teacher impressed the young men 
 committed to his charge, and how the giving up of his Eastern 
 home with its many attractions for a comparatively secluded life 
 at Gambier, was regarded : 
 
 (1) MY DEAR FRIEND : 
 
 " Your description of Dr. Wharton at Gambier, when we were 
 all boys in his own house, and surrounded by his kindness, brings 
 back very vividly the old times. I am sure that every one of us, 
 and all young men who came in contact with him, were made better 
 by his influence and example. I know very well he had a pro 
 found influence over me, and he has always been (after my own 
 father and mother) the most conspicuous figure in the background 
 of my youth. He was a generous, affectionate, noble Christian 
 gentleman. His intellectual qualities of course were pre-eminent. 
 I have never known a more comprehensive and brighter intellect, 
 and his memory, as you say, was marvellous. What a wonderful 
 scholar he was, and how industrious at his self-imposed tasks." 
 
 .... "I shall never cease to revere his memory as one of 
 America s best and greatest men. 
 
 "I. K. HAMILTON." 
 
 (2) " I was fortunate enough to have been associated with him 
 in early years. I knew something of his personal qualities and of 
 the beauty of his daily life. I shall never forget what I owe to 
 his kindness, his counsel, his wisdom. He w r as, within the range 
 of his friendships, one of the most gentle and brotherly of men. 
 Exceedingly kind to the younger members of his profession, cour 
 teous and dignified to all. His intimate acquaintance with the 
 
32 MEMOIR OF 
 
 great lawyers of the day, taken in connection with his urbanity 
 and his fund of legal anecdote, made his conversation always 
 interesting, and his society always agreeable. His life was clear 
 and clean in its aims, full of busy and useful labor. 
 
 "T. C. C." 
 
 (3) " But any sketch of him would be incomplete which failed to 
 refer to his attractive and lovable character. Benevolence was a 
 striking feature in it, and that not only in the sense of a hearty 
 good-will towards all men, but in the sense of active beneficence 
 toward those with whom he was brought into relations. To say 
 nothing of other acts of charity, there is many a man alive to-day 
 who in the days of his student life, hard and cramped, perhaps, 
 received sympathy and encouragement and substantial help from 
 Dr. Wharton. His learning, his wit, his genial presence, made 
 him charming in social life. His conversation was something to 
 be remembered not merely for the instruction with which it was 
 freighted, but for its gentle humor and its exuberance of illustra 
 tion by anecdote, by metaphor, by picturesque turns of phrase. It 
 was these graces of style which made his writing, even on technical 
 subjects, so interesting. His hospitality was abounding. To all 
 who knew him the world will seem poorer now that he is gone. 
 
 "J. P., JR." 
 
 (4) " The present writer, then a raw lad, remembers sitting at the 
 table of a professor, a classmate of the deceased jurist, where Dr. 
 "Wharton was visiting. After retiring, he took occasion to ask the 
 host what the very interesting gentleman was by profession. A 
 lawyer/ said the professor. But, professor, he talked of having 
 prescribed for a lady suffering from nervous prostration some 
 medicine, and Jane Austen s novels. 7 l Oh, yes, said the pro 
 fessor, Mr. Wharton has given much attention to brain and nerve 
 troubles. He has been himself a sufferer, and that accounts for 
 it. But, professor, he talked about items clipped from the news 
 papers, and I fancied that he might be an editor. So he is, 
 replied the professor, of the Episcopal Recorder. He seems too 
 religious for an every-day lawyer, professor. That may be, 
 replied the professor, but he is one of the most energetic laymen 
 in the Church. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 33 
 
 " As suggested above, Professor "Wharton was possibly too re 
 ligiously recondite for the callow disciples under him from 1856 to 
 1860 ; and it is out of a feeling of regretful remorse that one of 
 the black sheep among them now humbly seeks to show an appre 
 ciation of his genius and labors. 
 
 "T. H. R." 
 
 That he did not regard his light as in any way hidden or ob 
 scured by his Western life is to be accounted for by the fact that 
 it was very difficult to make him think highly of himself. His life- 
 work was to fill the place where he seemed most needed. Others 
 coul.d and did take up the work he left behind him. Several 
 churches in Philadelphia now owe their existence to missions started 
 by him, and the Episcopal Hospital, under wide and generous 
 patronage, no longer required his aid. At the same time, that he 
 was greatly missed among a circle of dear friends, is undoubtedly 
 true, and they could bear testimony with his Gambier classes that 
 a Son of Consolation had gone from them, and had been gained by 
 the more distant and pressing need. His favorite motto at that 
 time, taken from u well-known hymn, was 
 
 " A soul at leisure from itself, 
 To soothe and sympathize." 
 
 The wants of others were his only thought. The lonely, the sad, 
 the destitute, ever found him ready to help. Sick students were 
 brought to his house, and carefully and tenderly nursed the well 
 ones were entertained and encouraged. They felt that his house 
 was a home for them if they required it, and this from a man 
 whose wit and learning commanded their admiration and respect. 
 The future will show many cases where not only gratitude, but 
 lasting and blessed effects, followed from the ties and associations 
 thus formed. 
 
 But it is time to notice more in detail some of the results of 
 the work at Gambier. 
 
 Mr. Joseph Packard, Jr., a son of the esteemed Professor 
 Packard of Alexandria, Virginia, writes: "There were a dozen 
 or more lectures to his classes each week ; there was editorship of 
 periodicals, there was constantly work to be done in meeting the 
 demand for new editions of his law books, each new edition requiring 
 careful examination of late cases, and of English and Continental 
 
34 MEMOIR OF 
 
 text- writers. To all this was added an extensive correspondence. 
 Distinctive Christian work, however, still kept its prominent place 
 with him. In addition to regular attendance and help in prayer- 
 meetings among the college students, it was his custom, from the 
 time of his first residence in Gambler, to ride a couple of miles on 
 Sunday afternoons to hold mission services in some distant hamlet. 
 During a part of his career as Professor he conducted what was 
 called his Bible Class more properly Bible lectures on Sunday 
 evenings. Attendance on those lectures was entirely voluntary ; 
 but although the college student had already been, under stress of 
 law, to the morning and afternoon service in the chapel, there were 
 few that failed to attend. So, also, came the theological students, 
 the villagers, and even many of the grammar-school boys. It was 
 no wonder, for the subject was illustrated in the most attractive 
 way from the stores of his varied knowledge." 
 
 In the year 1857 occurred a decided religious Revival, of which 
 no better account could be given than is to be found in a small 
 pamphlet printed for private circulation, and in Dr. Wharton s 
 own words, called a Reminiscence of Gambier. 
 
 "ABIDE WITH ME." 
 
 Several of my former Gam bier pupils, on visiting Brookline, and 
 on hearing the hymn ( Abide with Me, sung at St. Paul s to the 
 tune with which we were so familiar when together on the Hill, 
 have asked me for the notes. In answering this request, my mind 
 involuntarily turns back to an event with which the hymn and 
 music are both, in my memory and affections, indissolubly con 
 nected the Revival at Gam bier, in 1857-58. And I have felt, in 
 sending the notes to the printer, that it might not be amiss for me 
 to join with them a few recollections of that most eventful period ; 
 recollections which I now print, not for publication, but for private 
 use, in memory of those of our brethren, then with us, who are 
 now in heaven, and in affectionate tribute to those who still survive. 
 
 I was in Philadelphia at the time when the religious interest, 
 which was then so general through the whole country, began to 
 manifest itself at Gambier ; and I well recollect the deep impres 
 sion made on me, on my return, after the usual winter vacation, in 
 finding a daily prayer-meeting instituted in that basement-room of 
 Rosse Chapel, with which, ungainly and dark as it may be, I have 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 35 
 
 so many dear associations. It was Mr. William Bower, then in 
 the sophomore class, now an honored minister in Newark, Ohio, 
 who first, if I understood rightly, urged the importance of these 
 meetings ; and soon, to the few who at first attended, was added the 
 great body of the students, as well as of the other residents of the 
 Hill. The collection of hymns, called Hymns for Church and 
 Home/ had a short time before been published ; and I well recol 
 lect calling the attention of Mr. Bower, Mr. Holden, and the late 
 Mr. J. W. McCarty, to the hymn which I now republish, and 
 asking them if they could not find suitable music to words so. 
 beautiful, and so appropriate to the solemn state of religious -feel 
 ing. It was Mr. Bower who brought us the tune which is now 
 printed, and which by memory was for so long sung at Gambier. 
 Desiring to reproduce it at my own parish, I wrote to Mr. J. W. 
 McCarty, only a few months before his death, and received from 
 him, pencilled down by himself, the notes of the melody. These, 
 as adapted by Mr. C. B. Fay, the organist of St. PauFs, I now give. 
 
 To the Revival with which this hymn is so closely associated, I 
 can never revert without recollections the tenderest and the most 
 strengthening. It showed two very remarkable facts. The first is, 
 that God, even when we least expect it, will make bare His arm, and, 
 in answer to the importunate supplications of His people, descend 
 with mighty power, awakening and converting sinners, and recalling 
 to a higher and holier profession those among His children who have 
 become faint and cold. The second is, that those whom He thus 
 pleases to revive, and use as instruments in such revival, are not, 
 as it has been sometimes said, the creatures of mere excitement, 
 whose fervor passes away with the occasion which humanly caused 
 it. As illustrations of these truths I do not merely particularize 
 the living, so many of them ministers of God s Word. I turn, 
 first, to those whom God has taken to Himself. 
 
 Mr. John W. Griffin is the first of our now glorified brethren 
 whose name meets my eye on the catalogue. He was then a stu 
 dent in the seminary, and was at the same time assisting me in the 
 chair of English Literature in the college. Of all men whom I 
 have ever met, he was most on his knees ; and in no one did I 
 ever witness more sterling integrity, more sanctified holiness, and 
 more devoted zeal. He was ordained at Gambier, shortly before 
 the late war, by Bishop Bedell ; and though called to be minister 
 
36 MEMOIE OF 
 
 of Rosse Chapel, where he would gladly have remained, he was 
 ordered by Bishop Meade, in whose diocese he was a deacon, to 
 the parish at Amherst, Virginia. A few months after his settle 
 ment the war broke out, and he took the post of chaplain to a 
 regiment in the Confederate army. Here he wore himself out by 
 his devotion to the sick and dying, and by his most powerful 
 ministry of the Word. Those who saw him in the last few months 
 of his life say, that while his body was emacfoted and his strength 
 nearly gone, his face shone almost as an angel s, and his preaching 
 and conversation were marked almost by an angel s power. One 
 of his last acts was to write a letter to me, dwelling on what he used 
 to speak of as the blessed memories of Gambier, and of that Revival 
 which I now seek to recall ; and asking to have his dying love 
 given to the Bishops of Ohio, and to those with whom, when at 
 Gambier, he had lived. 
 
 Mr. John W. McCarty is the next name in the list of the then 
 theological students, and to Mr. McCarty s agency in the Revival 
 I have already incidentally referred. I cannot look back on Mr. 
 McCarty without some degree of self-reproach. He was by nature 
 marked by much waywardness, irritability, and impetuosity ; and 
 I was one of those who scarcely did him justice, and who only par 
 tially saw, through the conflict that thus arose, the deep fervor of 
 his devotion, and the passionate conviction of sin which perhaps 
 these very peculiarities of his temperament tended to enhance. I 
 now have to say, that I believe that few men have ever adorned 
 our ministry either with greater genius or more thorough piety. 
 He, too, was summoned to an early grave, passing thither from a 
 pulpit that of Christ Church, Cincinnati than which we have 
 few more important, and in which his remarkable gifts, ripening as 
 they were day after day, were beginning to exercise immense power. 
 
 Mr. John Leithead is the next on the list of those who, in 
 the then Seminary classes, have passed from the ministry of earth 
 to that of heaven. When I first went to Gambier he was in tem 
 per and character a mere boy; often vacillating and inconstant. 
 He became afterwards a minister of extraordinary holiness and 
 zeal, and lustrous with grace ; and his death-bed, at Piqua, Ohio, 
 where he was Rector, was marked by seraphic loveliness and 
 triumph. 
 
 Mr. H. A. Lewis, who was then in the Sophomore Class in the 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 37 
 
 College, and Mr. M. M. Gilbert, who was then in the Freshmen 
 Class, subsequently entered the Seminary as theological students, 
 were ordained, and crowned brief and faithful ministries by deaths 
 of peace and glorious trust. 
 
 Mr. John M. Burke, then in the Senior Class of the College, 
 went to Virginia before the war and was there ordained. His 
 ministerial life, as I have learned from those who knew him at the 
 time, Was one of simple faith and earnest labor ; and his death, 
 which was immediate, occurred during an attack on the town in 
 which he was ministering. 
 
 Among those who were present at Gambier, during the Revival, 
 being at the time laymen, the following, besides myself, are now 
 ministers of the Gospel : 
 
 Rev. Henry D. Lathrop, then Principal of the Hall, and pursu 
 ing a partial course in the Seminary, now Rector of the Church of 
 the Advent, San Francisco, California. 
 
 Rev. Cornelius S. Abbott, then in the Seminary, and now Rector 
 of St. Paul s, Alton, Illinois. 
 
 Rev. Henry H. Messinger, then in the Seminary, and now mis 
 sionary at Los Angelos, California. 
 
 Rev. William J. Alston, then in the Seminary, and now Rector 
 of St. Thomas Church, Philadelphia. 
 
 Rev. Richard L. Ganter, then in the Seminary, and now Rector 
 of Trinity Church, Iowa City, Iowa. 
 
 Rev. William C. Gray, then in the Seminary, and now Rector of 
 St. James Church, Bolivar, Tennessee. 
 
 Rev. Richard Holden, then in the Seminary I cannot but 
 pause with emotion as I write Mr. Holden s name. There is no 
 man from whom I learned more, through example, of true Chris 
 tian life ; none among all whom I have ever met, who united more 
 inflexible Christian courage, with purer doctrine, and with a more 
 wonderful influence over the wild and irreligious. Of all persons, 
 irreligious college students are the most restive at any attempts at 
 personal religious influence, particularly where the effort comes from 
 a fellow-student ; and yet among the most reckless of this class, 
 Mr. Holden, then a student himself, labored freely, faithfully, and 
 earnestly, and was listened to always with respect, and sometimes 
 with love. I have never seen a similar case ; and yet, let it be re 
 membered, that his personal life was one of severe holiness ; that 
 
38 MEMOIR OF 
 
 he never hesitated to rebuke sin ; that he never shrank from pro 
 claiming the doctrines of grace the doctrines of man s extreme 
 depravity, and of salvation only through the merits of Christ, in 
 their most direct and positive form. It was because he lived these doc 
 trines so fully, so firmly, and so meekly, that he made them so lovely, 
 and that he proclaimed them, both at the time of which I speak 
 and subsequently, with such extraordinary effect. Mr. Holden, 
 subsequently to his ordination, declined prominent ministerial posts, 
 and went as a missionary to Brazil, where, before his conversion, he 
 had become acquainted with the language, and where he felt he owed 
 a peculiar debt. To my own great grief, and to the great grief of 
 others, he subsequently left our communion, finding a difficulty in 
 the disputed phrases in the Baptismal Service ; phrases, I cannot 
 but think, which would have appeared to him, had he considered 
 them more fully, as representing most important features in that 
 very covenant of grace on which, in its general aspects, he dwelt 
 with so much comfort and power. If this should meet Mr. Hoi- 
 den s eye, in the field where I believe he still works with the same 
 devotion, though in connection with another communion, I ask him 
 to receive it as a testimony of the unchanged love and reverence of 
 those who labored with him in 1857-58, and who, though they will 
 never meet him again in the forms of the visible Church on earth, 
 look forward to joining him in the glorified Church in Heaven. 
 
 Rev. William O. Feltwell, then in a partial course in the Semi 
 nary, and now officiating at City Island, New York. 
 
 Rev. Frederic M. Gray, then in the Senior Class of the College, 
 now Rector of Calvary Church, Bayonne, New Jersey. 
 
 Rev. Wyllys Hall, then in the Senior Class, now Rector of St. 
 James Church, Piqua, Ohio. 
 
 Rev. John Newton Lee, then in the Senior Class, now Rector of 
 Grace Church, Topeka, Kansas. 
 
 Rev. John Franklin Ohl, then in the Senior Class, now Rector 
 of St. James Church, Zanesville, Ohio. 
 
 Rev. William Thompson, then in the Senior Class, now Rector 
 of St. John s Church, Kewanee, Illinois. 
 
 Rev. William Bower, then in the Junior Class, now Rector of 
 Trinity Church, Newark, Ohio. 
 
 Rev. William Henry Dyer, then in the Junior Class, now mis 
 sionary at Washoe City, Nevada. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 39 
 
 Rev. James Hervey Lee, then in the Junior Class, now Rector 
 of St. Paul s Church, Manhattan, Kansas. 
 
 Rev. Charles E. Mcllvaine, then in the Junior Class, now assist 
 ant minister of Trinity Church, Newark, Ohio. 
 
 Rev. Calvin Clarke Parker, then in the Junior Class, now Rector 
 of Trinity Church, Warren, Pennsylvania. 
 
 Rev. Charles H. Young, then in the Junior Class, now Rector 
 of St. PauKs Church, Fremont, Ohio. 
 
 Rev. Carlos Enrique Butler, then in the Sophomore Class, now 
 a minister in Western Pennsylvania. 
 
 Rev. Joseph Witherspoon Cook, then in the Sophomore Class, 
 now a missionary at Cheyenne, Dacotah. 
 
 Rev. John William Trimble, then in the Sophomore Class, now 
 assisting in the Church of the Ascension, New York. 
 
 Mr. Royal Blake Balcom, then in the Freshman Class, now in 
 the Theological Seminary at Gambier. 
 
 Rev. Otho H. Fryer, then in the Freshman Class, now minister 
 at Cornwall, Pennsylvania. 
 
 Rev. E. O. Simpson, then in the Freshman Class, now Rector of 
 St. Philip s Church, Circleville, Ohio. 
 
 Rev. Daniel C. Roberts, then in the Freshman Class, now Rector 
 of Christ Church, Montpelier, Vermont. 
 
 Rev. Henry L. Badger, then in the Hall, now Rector of Zion 
 Church, Monroeville, Ohio. 
 
 Rev. A. F. Blake, then with his father my much honored and 
 loved friend, the Rev. A. Blake now Rector of Grace Church, 
 Avonville, Ohio. 
 
 Rev. Samuel H. Boyer, then in the Hall, now Rector of Christ 
 Church, Glendale, Ohio. 
 
 Rev. Edward Dolloway, then in the Hall, now Rector of Trinity 
 Church, Gouverneur, New York. 
 
 Rev. John Andrew Dooris, then in the Hall, now Rector of the 
 Church of the Epiphany, Urbana, Ohio. 
 
 Rev. Wm. Dorville Doty, then in the Hall, now Rector of All 
 Saints 7 Church, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Rev. W. H. D. Grannis, then in the Hall, now Rector of St. 
 John s Church, Fort Hamilton, New York. 
 
 Rev. Horace E. Hayden, then in the Hall, now minister at Point 
 Pleasant, Ohio. 
 
40 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Rev. Wm. M. Postlethwaite, then in the Hall, now Rector of the 
 Church of our Saviour, Brooklyn, New York. 
 
 Mr. George B. Pratt, then in the Hall, now about to be ordained 
 at Davenport, Iowa. 
 
 Rev. Wm. W. Rafter, then in the Hall, now Rector of Christ 
 Church, La Crosse, Wisconsin. 
 
 Rev. Wm. E. Wright, then in the Hall, now officiating at Janes- 
 ville, Wisconsin. 
 
 As I write these, the names of those now in the living ministry, 
 whose faces I so vividly recall in connection with the Revival of 
 18678, I cannot but feel once more the old affection then borne 
 to them by one who was with them as a lay College Professor 
 who is now with them in the Common Ministry of the Word 
 and who would desire to unite them in the prayer that each of us 
 may be blessed, unworthy as we are and have been, with many 
 souls, to be laid at our Blessed Lord s feet, as the trophies of His 
 redeeming grace. 
 
 With two additional reflections I now close. The first is, that 
 what seemed sometimes, when we viewed them closely at Gambler, 
 weaknesses and imperfections and jarrings, now, at this distance, 
 are lost in the true greatness of the general work, even if we should 
 take this single small section of time as the sole test. And I can 
 not but think that such a retrospect should be a source of the truest 
 comfort and encouragement to the Bishops of Ohio, and to the 
 Professors at Gambier, amid the numberless trials and anxieties to 
 which they are exposed. Greater uniformity and less individuality 
 might probably be produced under a more rigorous and more highly 
 keyed Church system ; I question whether any other system could 
 have produced truer and more efficient, and at the same time more 
 varied, forms of ministerial life. 
 
 The other remark is, that it is possible for a Revival to be con 
 ducted in perfect harmony with, and strict obedience to, the rubrics 
 and laws of our Church. During the time of the deepest religious 
 interest at Gambier, the regular services of the Church were per 
 formed with the utmost exactness, though with a largely increased 
 attendance. There was no interchange with other ministries; there 
 has been, however, a large and most effective increase of our own, 
 as well as an addition to our own communion of a body of faithful 
 laymen, several of whom I have lately heard of as organizing 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 41 
 
 parishes, and conducting, with great activity, lay missions. Few 
 among those who stood together in the meetings I thus recall, 
 came forth other than earnest, devoted men weak indeed, and 
 feeling their weakness but impressed above all things with a love 
 to souls, and a determination to preach and to live, to perishing 
 sinners, the fullness of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 F. W. 
 
 BROOKLINE, March 7, 1868. 
 
42 
 
 MEMOIE OF 
 
 Abide with Me, 
 
 A - bide with me; fast falls the e - ven - tide; The 
 
 f=t=f=e=ft=E==: 
 
 f r r r=g=r r 
 
 I 
 
 
 dark - ness deep - ens, Lord, with me a - bide. When 
 
 
 
 oth - er help - ers fail and com - forts flee, Help 
 
 
 
 1 1 1 h 
 
 _H ^-i 
 
 . - 
 
 H. 
 
 a^E 
 
 _ . 
 
 of the help - less, Oh, a - bide with me. 
 
 o 
 
 rit. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 43 
 
 This memorial, though printed solely for private use, is reprinted 
 here, because the lapse of twenty years has probably caused its loss 
 among those who first received it, and though names are here made 
 public, it is thought few would object to the loving words with 
 which they are connected, if indeed Teacher and taught have not 
 ere this met in the presence of their common Lord. 
 
 With the admixture of evil with good which is too generally the 
 case in this fallen world, there were some undesirable results fol 
 lowing this period of religious interest, which called for notice on 
 the part of the professors, and finally of a letter from Bishop 
 Mcllvaine himself. This letter we give in part, not only because 
 of the signature thereto, but as showing the confidence and affection 
 existing between Dr. Wharton and the writer. 
 
 . . . . "As to its (the prayer-meeting) usefulness to the Stu 
 dents, I think that would be enhanced were it confined to them. 
 The more they feel themselves to be the objects, and the less they 
 feel as if a miscellaneous audience were aimed at, the more they 
 will profit. I am always jealous of the influence of a meeting, on 
 students, so secluded from society as ours, where there is the element 
 of young ladies to draw their minds ; and they are tempted to be 
 going after girls to bring them to the meeting, or to take them 
 home. Always at Colleges the nuisances are the young women, 
 unless they be very well taken care of at home. But woe is me if 
 you let this idea be known as mine at Gambier ! I have no doubt 
 there is need of a watchful supervisor as to the officiating of students 
 in the country places that they may have such latitude as will 
 be useful to them, without going beyond reasonable bounds, and 
 begetting in them a loose idea of order, a contempt of wholesome 
 restraint and thus injuring not only themselves but the character 
 of our institutions abroad. We must always expect to have among 
 our young men seeking the ministry, a class of minds well disposed, 
 but not well settled, as to modes and ways, as matters of order and 
 expediency ; persons who may be led to be all right but on whom 
 any extravagance, anything not easily defensible in point of order, 
 anything that looks like dangerous tendency to irregularity is cal 
 culated to set them backwards towards stiffness and altitudinous 
 churchmanship. We are not like congregations as usually situated 
 where the Pastor s influence is almost paramount. We have the 
 Bishops and clergy, and divers others connected with the young 
 
44 .MEMOIR OF 
 
 men, whose influence is on them, and we have special need of wis 
 dom, of moderation as to modes, while as distinct and strong, and 
 positive as possible in point of truth. With us, I have no doubt, 
 it is much better to keep within the bounds of order and expedi 
 ency, rather than run a risk of exceeding them, or of being thought 
 by good men to do so. Now, I wish, at this time, to speak my 
 mind more than I have ever done, as to the daily prayer-meetings 
 at Gambler. 
 
 "When I first knew of them, they had been going on a good 
 while, their order was established differences of opinion calculated 
 to do harm had arisen good was being done the feeling was up 
 I saw some things which I wished were not, and I saw what ex 
 plained very easily why Mr. M. and Mr. K., etc., kept aloof, and 
 which prevented me from thinking the less of them for it, and I 
 had a severe question to settle. Shall I now disturb all this, and 
 turn off attention to mere points of order and general expediency, 
 and create divisions or is it better to turn in, and go along as far 
 as I can, and say nothing to discourage any, and hope for the best? 
 I adopted the latter, and said nothing. But now I can express my 
 views without the injury then apprehended, but even now not for 
 the general ear. These daily prayer-meetings were instituted as 
 laymen s meetings after the example of such meetings elsewhere. 
 I think there was an original mistake there. There is a question of 
 difficulty to many earnest clergymen as to such meetings anywhere, 
 so far (as generally is the case) as a clergyman, or the Pastors of 
 the very people that meet are considered as having no more right 
 to officiate than anybody else, however young or inexperienced. I 
 confess I have always felt that, and when I have attended such 
 meetings, I have had to get over it, only by saying I will officiate 
 and take the proper place as an ordained minister, in consistency 
 with the general order of the meeting/ But in the peculiar circum 
 stances of Gambier, the difficulty was much increased. The meet 
 ing was lay, not merely as respects the equal rights and position 
 therein of the lay brethren of the college faculty on one side, and 
 the clerical brethren on the other; but of the lay brethren of the 
 students in any department, with the lay professors on one side, 
 with their Rector and all the resident clergymen on the other ; so 
 that on the theory of the meeting, a boy of eighteen had just as 
 much right to get up and pray and exhort as his Rector. Though 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 45 
 
 this theory was modified in the practice, nevertheless it was the 
 fundamental idea. Now, whatever its applicability to union meet 
 ings elsewhere, where the people attending are not chiefly minors 
 pupils under authority and where there are plenty of experienced 
 laymen to lead the case is quite different when two-thirds of the 
 meeting is of minors, boys inexperienced, and two-thirds of the 
 other laymen, are their Professors, and many of the latter 
 clergymen, related to them in a very peculiar relation. A congre 
 gation of pupils, and those young, is a very different sphere for 
 such a theory, from one of miscellaneous laity, of all ages, and 
 chiefly of persons long professing religion. Now when a clergy 
 man, say Mr. A. or B., entered the meeting and was asked to pray 
 or exhort by a student, it is not to be wondered at that he should 
 feel the position to be very anomalous calculated to injure the 
 young men, and the reputation of the College, etc. I like prayer- 
 meetings among students, and like to see them meet together and 
 pray together, and this as much as possible, but I would have them 
 always recognize the presence of a clergyman or professor as such 
 when he should be with them. 
 
 "Again, I thought it was riot wise to encourage the young men 
 at once to make a public declaration of embracing Christ, as my 
 dear boy, and others did not that I suppose it did them any harm 
 perhaps it did them good, and may in these cases have done good 
 to others but in the long run, with the evil natures of men, and 
 especially of youth, it was not well, I think. I did not particularly 
 speak of it at G., because it was all over when I got there, and I 
 hoped it would not occur again, and I wished not to seem more 
 than was necessary to take exception. 
 
 " Now my idea of such a meeting, in such circumstances, is for 
 the mode of it to be thus. Let the Rector institute it, as a paro 
 chial prayer-meeting, and when he can, preside over it ; when he 
 cannot, have some clergyman, or some layman whose position and 
 character are fit to preside ; and let him select and give out the 
 hymns, and if he can, arrange beforehand who will speak and pray. 
 I have no objection to the freer mode of prayer, but in the College 
 circumstances there is need of some rule or public feeling that shall 
 prevent certain of the College students from offering to take part in 
 prayer or address a miscellaneous meeting. Anywhere, when a 
 minor, or any such young person, has put himself forward to pray 
 
46 MEMOIR OF 
 
 in the presence of an assembly of elders, I have felt it was not a 
 favorable indication concerning himself. In such a meeting, for 
 such of the lay professors and teachers as well as the clericals to 
 take part in prayer and address and the theological students also 
 (with discretion as to the last) it is not only right, but desirable. 
 
 "C. P. McILVAINE." 
 
 The Bishop s own son being one of those first interested in this 
 revival, it is pleasant to think that his father felt that in his case 
 at least it was a genuine Avork. 
 
 " Before I sailed, and after leaving home, I wrote to him much 
 at length, especially as to reading and examining his heart. Now 
 all this I say in confidence to you, that you may know what to do, 
 and where to work for him and with him. Oh do be faithful with 
 him ! Would it do him good to be engaged as a Sunday-school 
 teacher? Or had he better have the Sunday to himself? Here, in 
 my room in Bonn, right under the walls of the University, and in a 
 population of Romish superstition, my heart goes over to that dear 
 boy at Gambier, and all its anxieties concentrate in this one desire 
 and prayer that God in His infinite mercy will make a deep and 
 thorough work of grace in his heart, that he may be indeed a fol 
 lower of Christ, in whom the power of His Spirit will be glorified. 
 The Lord be with you all. 
 
 " Yrs. very affect ly, 
 
 "C. P. McILVAINE." 
 
 Again 
 
 "RAGATZ, SWITZERLAND, Sep. 14th, 1858. 
 " MY DEAR BRO. : 
 
 " I wrote you a few days ago concerning my dear boy. My mind 
 was too anxious about him. I wish now to say, and I do it with 
 great thankfulness and joy, that I received yesterday at Zurich a 
 delightful and most precious letter from him, entering sweetly into 
 his state of mind. It was dated Aug. 13, and had been much 
 delayed in reaching me. But it is just what I wanted, a sweet, 
 natural, humble, tender endeavor to make me understand his mind 
 spiritually. Blessed be God for such a consolation ! I could not 
 have a letter from him more to my mind. I have but a few 
 moments to write, as I wish before I go to bed to write to my son, 
 and have been travelling all day. I have now entire confidence in 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 47 
 
 the work in his heart. The Lord be praised for His grace. He is 
 reading the Scriptures regularly, and wishes to be guided to the 
 best mode. You cannot serve me in any way more nobly than by 
 endeavoring to promote in him the right way of becoming more 
 and more enriched by, and in love with the Scriptures. Be his 
 help in that. He is systematic in secret prayer, and has become 
 fond of spiritual, searching reading. He mentions especially his 
 sense of the value of, and his love for the little book, Advice to 
 a Young Christian/ which I gave him, and which I much value. 
 I am here in the S. E. of Switz d having come here to-day by 
 Lakes Zurich and Wollenstadt, and thence S. E. If you take a 
 S. E. line from the head of the latter till you meet the Rhine in 
 lat. 47 you will find my whereabouts among the sources of the 
 Rhine, and near to the baths of Pfeifers, celebrated for fine Alpine 
 scenery, etc. This is an excursion from my main route. Now 
 good-night. The Lord be with you all. 
 
 "Very affectionately yr s, 
 
 "C. P. McILVAINE." 
 
 "CiNN , O., April 29, 57. 
 
 " MY DEAR BRO. : 
 
 " I have written a letter for the Vestry, and another for the man 
 of the two named, whom they may choose. I hope one or the 
 other may be got. I am now trying what I may be fit for in a 
 visitation, and I find my head more disturbed than I hoped would 
 be the case. I do not see that I can expect to endure, and escape 
 a sudden and entire break down, except I can restrict my preach 
 ing to about once a Sunday, and perhaps once in the week (on 
 visitation), and be exceeding quiet in the intervals. The latter is 
 quite as difficult to effect as the former. Incessant talking the 
 worrying needs and infirmities of small parishes the expectations 
 which I cannot gratify the troubles which I cannot relieve seem 
 to wear on me as much as preaching at least on my spirits much 
 more so that I think my prospect of much more work, except in 
 a very quiet way, is not good. I hope I am to have a son in the 
 ministry, who will take up the message as I am dropping it. I 
 have such a sense of the danger of leading in advance of the Lord, 
 that I have purposely avoided putting the question of the ministry 
 before htm till within two or three weeks. I only want the Lord 
 
48 MEMOIR OF 
 
 to lead and he with a glad mind, to follow. I trust he will feel 
 himself called by God, and ready to say, Here am I, send me. 
 He is now in the question, and I pray for him to Him who only 
 can teach him. I hope he may escape his weakness of eyes this 
 Spring. We were delighted with his spirit at home. He was, as 
 before, disappointed and troubled (as much for my sake as his own) 
 about his grading, and thinking he was placed lower in Butler than 
 he deserved, and I should not wonder if it were the case, because 
 with honest and independent men, situated towards me as the 
 Professors are, the temptation, instead of being unduly to favor my 
 son, will be so to show that they do not that unconsciously and 
 unintentionally they will err on the other side. 
 
 " Yrs. affectionately, 
 
 "CHAS. P. McILVAINE. 
 "F. WHARTON, ESQ." 
 
 "ELYRIA, May 10, 59. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. WHARTON : 
 
 "As you are the only one who has introduced the matter of an 
 Assistant Bishop to me since I went to Europe, I will communicate 
 a little that is now on my mind to you as to that matter not to 
 speak of other reasons, for which I have special facility in writing 
 to you on so delicate a subject. ... If I am to have an Assistant 
 to give me real relief, of course it must be one in whose harmony 
 of views, spirit, and policy, I can justly rely. How many good 
 men might be selected, in whom there would be peculiarities that 
 would give uneasiness instead of the reverse. Again, the welfare 
 of the Diocese, its position as to the whole Church, and the posi 
 tion of the College and Seminary before the Church, require, on the 
 part of the Assistant and my successor, such a character, that there 
 will be no letting down, no moderating away, no indistinctness or 
 indecision as to those features of doctrine, action, influence which 
 have placed Ohio where it now is. We can gain nothing by more 
 moderation, less positiveness, more churchiness, less prayermeeting- 
 
 ness, etc. I have learned in three quarters that some talk of . 
 
 I do not know who thus talk. It may be they imagine that such 
 a middle man might carry with the evangelical men, and thus they 
 would secure eventually what they want one of whom they hope 
 that the mitre and some antagonism would make him go up higher. 
 I hope there will be no looking after any such man, and I hope 
 

 DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 49 
 
 popularity of talents will have but a subordinate and very subordi 
 nate influence in the choice ; last of all the consideration of a man s 
 having means of supporting himself to some extent. Our standard 
 is at the mast-head now, and has always been, and to that we owe 
 all. It must not come down one inch to please anybody, or gain 
 
 anything. Such as , I think a good deal of, and probably he 
 
 would be a good choice in New Jersey as good as could be arrived 
 at there, to avoid much worse but we must have a more house 
 top man, one who is more grown a great deal in the stature of 
 gospel strength, and boldness and decision one to be a Captain 
 when spiritual boldness and decidedness for Christ are the great 
 qualifications. 
 
 " Yrs. very aifect ly, 
 
 "C. P. McILVAINE." 
 
 " PIQUA, May 18. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. WHARTON : 
 
 "Just before I left home, I rec d yours acknowledging my last. 
 
 I had some conversation with Mr. . He thinks Dr. A. would 
 
 secure a larger vote than Dr. B., would be more easily supported, 
 and would accommodate himself more readily to the Gambier plan. 
 I like the idea of the Assistant residing at G if a suitable per 
 son, and I like Dr. A. for that purpose, but either would suit me. 
 Dr. A. is Calvinistic, and in his strong positiveness of view suits me. 
 Dr. B. you know has a prayer-meeting in his Sunday-School room, 
 or at Least it began there, and he intended, if it grew r large enough, 
 to have it in his Church. I was at them both. He is good there. 
 A dash of Calvinism as A. has, gives definiteness, fixedness, strength, 
 confidence in evangelical views, and saves them from dangerous 
 neighborhoods and mixtures of uncertainties. But I love both 
 B. would bring us an increase of N. Y. interests in Gambier. 
 
 Mr. says there is great activity for L , and that he thinks 
 
 they can count on a good many. I cannot imagine who they all 
 are, but care must be taken that none whom we desire stay away 
 for want of knowing that they are called to a special and most 
 important work. Much depends on an un-reut garment. But 
 there must be much calling on God "Shew whom thou hast chosen." 
 He can bow all minds to one. Let us feel our need of His 
 4 
 
50 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ance and grace. Let us not put off prayer till we meet to vote. 
 Let us each privately, constantly ask the Lord to take it all in His 
 own hand. 
 
 " Yrs. very affectionately, 
 
 "C. P. McILVAINE." 
 
 About this time a movement was begun to collect an additional 
 number of hymns to those in the Prayer-book. Dr. Wharton was 
 one of those appointed by the General Convention to form a Com 
 mittee on the Hymnody of our Church, In this work he was 
 very active, and the following letters have been selected for their 
 bearing on this subject and for their intrinsic interest. 
 
 "BALTIMORE, March 17, 1857. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR : 
 
 " I shall be most happy to contribute to your proposed work, and 
 have been long casting about for materials wherewithal to set forth 
 a Hymnal of the kind you have in view. It would be a valuable 
 book at any rate, and if well arranged, would I think be adopted 
 by the Church. Would it not be almost necessary for those who 
 are to co-operate in this business to have one meeting at least eye 
 to eye ? 
 
 " Let us take a Scriptural Basis : 
 
 (1) Psalms versified. 
 
 (2) Hymns and paraphrased Scripture. 
 
 (3) Spiritual Songs. 
 
 " Under this third head would come in such a song as Bishop 
 Meade imagines to be * addressed to a Star. 7 Was ever such a 
 prosaic mind ? As if the Star of Jacob and Star of the 
 East were not recognized titles of our Saviour ! Still, our book 
 must be for all sorts and conditions of men ; men, whom God 
 has made of bone and sinew, as well as those whom he has fash 
 ioned of finer fibre, and for different work. Let me hope that 
 Bishop Burgess and Bishop Williams will be consulted. They 
 have peculiar claims to be so in such a department. But may I 
 suggest caution as to other Episcopal members of your Commis 
 sion or composition rather, whose talents may be great, but who 
 
 * Star of Bethlehem. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 51 
 
 might not work with such a man as Bishop Burgess. Dr. Bow 
 man s wise idea of uniting conflicting 7 elements may seem to 
 require this abatement. But I say this in confidence. 
 
 " Always, with kind regards, 
 
 " Your friend and brother, 
 
 "A. CLEVELAND COXE. 
 
 "FRANCIS WHARTON, ESQ." 
 
 , 
 
 "April 22d, 1857. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. WHARTON : 
 
 " I fear you did not get my letter answering your last, and con 
 taining the newspaper cutting, which is underlined, relative to the 
 authorship of the hymns. In it I stated that my engagements for 
 the twenty-third and twenty-fourth render it impossible for me to 
 leave home, but I shall be with you in heart, and if you can stop 
 over a train, or a night and see me, I can get the results of the 
 conference and work accordingly. Give my love to the brethren, 
 lay and clerical. I wrote you yesterday about the allegations of 
 Dr. T. All my assailants seem to dodge the main issue. None 
 of them prove that the Society had a right to embark in this work. 
 They all try to shew how great an improvement has been effected. 
 This is matter of taste merely ; the noble unity of feeling on this 
 subject, which exists among us, and even among many others, is a 
 good sign. An aged Congregational minister, a professor in one 
 of the New England Colleges, has written to assure me that he 
 entirely agrees with me in the main drift and scope of my argu 
 ment. Bishop Williams writes me that he goes into the Hymnal 
 business with all his heart. I return Dr. M. s letter, and desire to 
 present my kind acknowledgments to your mother for her kind 
 invitation which will be not in my power to accept. Please pre 
 sent my kind regards to good Bishop Potter if you meet him. 
 
 " Faithfully yr s, 
 
 "A. CLEVELAND COXE." 
 
 "MARCH 24th, 1857. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR : 
 
 " Yours of the 23d is certainly a step in advance. It surmounts 
 the first difficulties, but if our work is to be a valuable and per 
 manent one, let us be prepared for greater difficulties as we 
 advance. The price of all real good seems to me fixed by eternal 
 
52 MEMOIR OF 
 
 law to a certain ratio of labor. When we have collected our hymns 
 we must not take them crude, but submit them to castigation. 
 There are excellent hymns abroad, which need but one word altered 
 to be fit for a Church Hymnal, and I take it such words must be 
 cast out. The object is, not to gather the literary treasures of the 
 language ; they may be found in the works of their respective 
 authors, but we want hymns for the use of edifying, and cannot 
 admit any false taste, or false sentiment. Is it not so ? 
 
 " Then I think we should agree to publish our Hymnal on our 
 own hook, and merely aim to get it licensed for use (over and 
 above those we have) where any congregations may desire it ; not 
 removing our present collection from the Prayer-book. If our 
 work be well done, the way will open for the gradual absorption 
 of the existing collection, and the Hymnal will have grown to 
 shape and maturity. I agree with you as to making it a copy 
 right to pay expenses first, and then to go to a fund for super 
 annuated clergy, or something else good. I like the plan here 
 suggested of examining existing hymn-books (what Romish ones 
 are there if we except the Breviary hymns ?) but would suggest 
 not the striking out the bad ones, which will be legion, but that 
 each member should mark those which for any reason he may 
 desire to include. On the 1 st of September your clerk can make 
 out the list, and in October we can meet and compare, and con 
 sider suggestions as to correction, etc. 
 
 " 2nd. I have anticipated this difficulty of personal authorship. 
 Would it not be well to take the ground that no member of the 
 Committee shall include anything of his own, nor allow anything 
 original to be included? This is the high-toned principle which 
 will give our brethren confidence in our work, as entirely above 
 personal and ambitious aims. If, when we are dead and gone, the 
 Church should add hymns of ours to her recognized treasures, why 
 then Laus Deo! but can we decently propose any of our own 
 (whinings or ecstasies) as fit for the public worship of Jehovah ? 
 I think not. As to Keble, I agree with you entirely, and as to 
 the great desirableness of good translations from the Latin and 
 German I also agree ; but I fancy we must be content with existing 
 translations. Your plan of sending to Bishop Potter is excellent, 
 if the contribution of original paraphrases and translations is to be 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 53 
 
 tolerated at all. As to original Carolina I hope they are out of 
 the question, but translations are not altogether the same thing. I 
 am really very glad you move in this business with so much 
 energy. It requires somebody like you to drive together the con 
 genial elements, out of which your proposal is to take shape and 
 substance. I hope you will not only contribute your share, but 
 keep the rest up to the work. 
 
 " Truly yours, 
 
 "A. CLEVELAND COXE." 
 
 " MARCH 19, 1857. 
 a MY DEAR SIR: 
 
 " By all means let us have a partial meeting if we cannot get 
 together the whole body. I wish some Southern laymen (low- 
 Church, if we must use such terms) could be added ; and, by all 
 means, let us ask somebody from South Carolina. It is impossible 
 for me to leave before Easter, for I have classes and lectures, and 
 all sorts of duties every day. But Easter comes April 12th. The 
 10th is Good Friday (when I should be sorry to have you engaged in 
 moving by the way), and on the whole I fear we may not be able 
 to get together much before May. The Board of Missions in the 
 Autumn will afford a good chance for a rally. I do not anticipate 
 much practical difference among ourselves. As you say, in prayer 
 and praise we surely can agree, and all who have the root of the 
 matter in them do agree far more than they imagine. I am a Low- 
 Churchman too, if that means the finest of the wheat for food, but I 
 am a High-Churchman too, because we w r ant the bran besides for 
 seed. My view is that the High-Churchman, who is not high and 
 dry, values the outworks for the sake of the inworks, and the hulk 
 only because when that is destroyed, you cannot preserve the vital 
 principle. Where has the Gospel survived when the Church system 
 has been lost ? I suspect you go as far as that. However, we can 
 sing and pray together to all Eternity. Perhaps (if we cannot meet) 
 the time till next October might be profitably spent, by letting each 
 member select all the hymns, etc. which he would care to include. 
 Then let us compare notes, and half the work will be done. 
 
 " Faithfully yours, 
 
 "A. CLEVELAND COXE." 
 
54 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Dr. Muhlenberg thus writes : 
 
 "NEW YORK, March 12TH, 57. 
 " MY DEAR SIR : 
 
 " I am rejoiced at your proposition for a good Church Hymn- 
 book, and shall feel it a privilege to have a hand in it, but it will 
 be a work of labor, and of more labor I fear than is likely to be 
 given to it. You name excellent men for it, but how much of 
 their time, talents, and pains would they contribute? They cannot 
 work apart, or at least not wholly so. They must meet from time 
 to time. Passing manuscripts around and exchanging their criti 
 cisms in writing would be an endless business. Certainly there 
 must be a preparatory meeting to determine the principles on which 
 the selection shall be made how large it shall be whether for 
 public or private use or both, etc. The first thing is to get 
 together those you name and any others and let them agree 
 together heartily upon the work, and to prosecute it faithfully. I 
 will attend such a meeting. The burden will fall chiefly on your 
 self. You should be the standing executive in the recess of the 
 committee. In the outset, as far as I am concerned, I should like 
 to have a good long talk with you, for which purpose suppose you 
 run over here on Saturday, and spend Sunday with me. I wish 
 you would. We should then have made a beginning. I cannot 
 go to Philadelphia during Lent, and you must not put it oif till 
 after Easter, so it is demonstrable that you should come here. 
 
 " Yr ? s very truly, 
 
 "W. A. MUHLENBERG." 
 
 Mr. R. H. Dana thus writes : 
 
 "MARCH 13TH, 57. 
 
 " DEAR SIR : 
 
 "You must pardon my too long delay in answering your letter. 
 I have never paid particular attention to the subject on which you 
 write, and to take part in what you propose so as at all to satisfy 
 myself woidd require more of me than I can do now in my poor 
 state of health. I wish that I could feel more hopeful of your 
 success, but I fear that the result might be another instance of the 
 truth of the homely adage : Too many cooks, etc. 7 Besides, we 
 have been so used to singing narratives in verse to singing one 
 to another each about himself to singing doctrines put into 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 55 
 
 rhyme, and they often not of the soundest, that the distinctive 
 idea of a hymn being a form of supplication, of thanks and of 
 praise, of its being essentially direct worship of God possesses too 
 few men to allow of a large Commission which would bring forth 
 a selection worthy of the Church. If so, the authority which a 
 large Commission would have over the people, would only serve to 
 prolong the present evil, or at best but to practically soften and 
 modify it. To start with, there must go to such a work, the promi 
 nent idea of direct worship ; then a musical ear, nice discrimina 
 tion, pure taste, depth and delicacy of feeling, and a susceptible 
 imagination, easily borne upward. The thoughts and spirits of 
 those working together must be in general harmony. Talk as we 
 may, high and low can hardly act together with a natural consci 
 entiousness in such a delicate matter, and if they cannot act natu 
 rally, the result must be little worth. For the most part, compro 
 mises only stave off present difficulties to meet us again by and 
 by in greater force. Let compromises in among the finer feelings, 
 and all will be quickly in a tangle. Defective as matters now are, 
 would it not be better to wait for the day of minds better pre 
 pared for such a work, and are they not gradually forming ? Or, 
 if there* must be action, would it not be best for some one person 
 fitted for the work to undertake it, occasionally advising in a quiet 
 way with a few, on whose judgment and taste he had reliance? 
 The task done, and recommendations from those standing high in 
 the Church being procured, the book would go forth with much the 
 same authority as from a Commission, and probably with a char 
 acter of much more self-congruity. Let the work be undertaken 
 how and when it may be, would not two hundred, or even a less 
 number be better than Mr. Beecher s three hundred pieces? How 
 ever great the selection, people become fond of, and commit to 
 memory only a few out of the many, and it is curious to observe 
 how common it is for all sorts of individuals to fasten upon the 
 same hymns. A large number of pieces serve little other purpose 
 than to distract the mind, and remove the distinct impression of the 
 f ew choice and few ! If a selection should be made, what a bless 
 ing it would be if a small selection of tunes appropriated to the 
 several hymns should accompany it. Is not a good deal of what I 
 have said about hymns still more applicable to what is called sacred 
 music ? But who is the man to whom to entrust such a work ? 
 
56 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Pardon my troubling you with all this. I had no thought of doing 
 so when I began. The same things have doubtless been considered 
 by you long ago. 
 
 " Truly yr s, 
 
 "BOSTON, MASS. "RICHARD H. DANA." 
 
 Mr. R. H. Dana, Jr., thus writes : 
 
 "CAMBRIDGE (BOSTON). 
 " SUNDAY EV G, March 22o, 57. 
 " MY DEAR SIR : 
 
 " I feel flattered by being selected as one of the Commission for 
 so laudable a purpose as you have in hand. A few years ago, I 
 should have accepted the offer gladly, and from duty. But my 
 engagements now are so pressing, I am so precisely in that dead 
 waste, and middle of professional life, between thirty-five and 
 forty-five, when the decision for the condition of the rest of life is 
 to be made, that I am sure I could not do justice to the Office, nor 
 to myself. Another reason that influences, is that for many years 
 I have lost all interest in metrical hymns, and their music, so 
 much so that I rarely open the Prayer-book when the hymns or 
 metrical psalms are given out. I would gladly see the whole 
 of our metrical psalms laid aside from the Prayer-book, and the 
 Clergy at liberty to give out passages from the Psalter instead. Of 
 the two hundred and twelve hymns in our Prayer-book I should 
 probably use my veto against the two hundred, and be rather 
 an impracticable member of a Commission. In my own family 
 worship, the circle consisting of the two heads, and children under 
 fourteen, we have never sung anything but one of three or four of 
 the old Gregorian chants in unison, and we are extremely attached 
 to them. I cannot expect all to feel as I do on this point, and I 
 have no doubt that a book of hymns edited by this Commission 
 would be serviceable and popular. But I should be an over-occu 
 pied and impracticable member, and perhaps this is not a perma 
 nent mood with me. On one point, your opinion rather surprises 
 me that is that there are not great doctrinal differences in hymns. 
 It has always seemed to me that, especially with those who have 
 no Liturgy, the hymns and versions of Psalms have been powerful, 
 constant, and unperceived indoctrinations. I have found, on going 
 to the bottom of the matter, that much doctrine can be traced to 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 57 
 
 them. For instance, how much of that melancholy, dubious, and 
 mortuary view of the condition of souls after death, and opposition 
 to prayers for the dead, may be traced to Dr. Watts s hymn : Life 
 is the time, etc. 7 Grand and gloomy it is too ! Let me ask you, 
 by the way, if Grabbers Methodist hymn in Sir Eustace Gray 
 * Pilgrim burdened with thy sin 7 is to be found complete and un- 
 garbled anywhere ? It seems to me one of the best of its kind. I 
 congratulate you, my dear Sir, on having the heart and energy for 
 this work. It will not return to you void, even if the Commission 
 does not succeed. 
 
 " Believe me, very truly yr s, 
 
 "RICH D H. DANA, JR. 
 "FRANCIS WHARTON, ESQ." 
 
 The following is from Bp. Bowman : 
 
 "LANCASTER, Mar. 13, 57. 
 
 " F. WHARTON, ESQ. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR : I thank you for two nice little Hymn Books 
 this morning received. Ryle s selection I am acquainted with. The 
 other is new to me. Ryle s is excellent. His 4th Hymn e Just as 
 I am, etc./ is worth a score of the trashy productions we so often 
 meet with, having neither Gospel nor Poetry to recommend them. 
 I shall have pleasure in examining the other, as soon as I find 
 leisure. 
 
 " I write now to excuse my seeming neglect in finishing an 
 article promised for your columns. I am the less concerned, how 
 ever, because I daresay your readers care very little whether they 
 see it soon or never, but I have been unable to find time, and still 
 more so to fix my mind upon it. To increase my distractions, 
 P. has just received a very advantageous (pecuniarily) offer from 
 Davenport, Iowa, which he has determined to accept. My resig 
 nation was in the hands of the Wardens, but not yet acted upon by 
 the Vestry. Now I must recall it, and embark again in that most 
 perplexing inquiry The search for a clergyman who will work 
 hard on little pay. If you know of such a one, pray let me 
 hear. As soon, however, as I can, I will resume a subject on which 
 my convictions grow stronger the more I investigate it. In the 
 meantime I remain, 
 
 "Very truly yr. friend, 
 
 "SAMUEL BOWMAN." 
 
58 MEMOIR OF 
 
 "LANCASTER, April 7TH, 57. 
 u MY DEAR SlR : 
 
 " Your notes and the parcel have come safely. I thank you for 
 them. I am afraid I shall not be able to do enough on the Com 
 mission to compensate for all the trouble I am putting you to ; but 
 I will be at least a willing laborer, if not a very efficient one. If 
 there is anything to .be done at the proposed meeting on the 24th, 
 I certainly (D. V.) will come down. I should be very glad to meet 
 some of the Committee, and hear the matter talked over. If then, 
 Dr. Muhlenberg and Mr. Cox will certainly be in the City on the 
 day named, I will try to meet them. My reason for not pursuing 
 the subject of Free Churches with more alacrity, was, that I doubted 
 if there was any lively interest felt in the subject. If you think it 
 worth while, however, I will complete my original design, which 
 indeed I had not abandoned, but only postponed. 
 
 " I thank you for your suggestion of the name of Mr. R. The 
 greatest favor to me now would be to find a man of earnest spirit, 
 capable of work, and not afraid of it. But if the politicians have 
 faith to believe that the right man appears at the right time, 
 Christians ought not to doubt, that if the work be really for the 
 glory of God, God will certainly send some one to perform it. 
 I think you take the right view in regard to new translations and 
 original compositions, provided they are good, and of that, the 
 Commission will judge, as they will in all other cases. Did you 
 ever see a selection for public and private occasions published by 
 the late Dr. Mil nor, I think (for it was anonymous) ? I had a 
 copy of it many years ago, but unfortunately have mislaid it. It 
 contained I think about two hundred hymns. I remember several 
 capital ones that were in it, but they can be found elsewhere. If 
 the meeting on the twenty-fourth should be abandoned, have the 
 goodness to let me know. Hoping to see you at that time, 
 
 " Very truly yr s, 
 
 "SAMUEL BOWMAN." 
 
 "LANCASTER, Sep. 28, 57. 
 " DEAR SIR : 
 
 "Yours of the 22nd received. I have been looking forward 
 with great interest to the proposed meeting in New York next 
 month, but after all I must deny myself the pleasure of being 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 59 
 
 present. A wedding that I cannot be dispensed from officiating at, 
 is fixed for the 14th of October. Of course it will be out of 
 the question that I should be at both. I regret my disappointment 
 the less however, because I think I should be of little service on 
 the Committee. My thoughts have been too much distracted this 
 summer by other and indispensable engagements at home to permit 
 me to give that care to the business of the Committee that I find 
 it requires. I am surprised to hear from Dr. Muhlenberg that 
 he had made his selection of 600 Hymns, and has them all 
 arranged under suitable heads. He has had large experience in 
 this sort of work, and has probably acquired a facility that I 
 cannot pretend to. From the progress I have yet made I doubt 
 whether I should find 600 hymns in our w r hole language that 
 would satisfy me. As I proceed,. I am more and more struck with 
 the superior finish and more uniform excellence of our own col 
 lection. Certainly, we have some that have no very high poetical 
 pretensions, but where these are wanting, there is usually some 
 clear enunciation of important Scriptural truth that more than 
 makes up for the absence of poetic merit. In other collections I 
 find a great many very commonplace hymns, and even hymns of 
 acknowledged excellence are frequently disfigured by low, familiar, 
 and irreverent expressions or words. Our hymns, for the most 
 part, are carefully pruned of all this. With me, the process of 
 selection is very slow. I find that after reading three, four, or 
 half a dozen hymns in succession, I begin to lose the power of 
 clear perception and just discrimination. I am puzzled to select, 
 when there is often such an equality of merit, and pass over many 
 hymns of considerable merit in the hope of finding enough that is 
 better to make up the requisite number. I have now, however, 
 no hope of doing that, and shall only indicate those, whether many 
 or few, that approve themselves to my judgment. At the same 
 time it is likely that upon a review I should in many cases throw 
 out those that I had at first selected and admit as many that I had 
 rejected. This preliminary selection will do very well for a 
 beginning, but I am persuaded that the better plan will be for 
 the Committee to be together in their examinations and selections ; 
 let the hymns be read aloud, and let the criticisms be made on the 
 instant and from all sides. The collision will sharpen every one s 
 faculties, and every man will do his part better, if he does it under 
 
60 MEMOIR OF 
 
 such a stimulus. As far as practicable, however, I suppose the 
 Committee will follow this course. I am sorry that I can do little 
 more than wish you a pleasant time, and a prosperous prosecution 
 of the objects of the Committee. 
 
 " Very truly yr. friend, 
 
 "SAMUEL BOWMAN. 
 "FRANCIS WHARTON, ESQ." 
 
 In opposition to the somewhat wet blanket nature of the latter 
 letters, are given below Dr. Muhlenberg s views as published by 
 him at that time in his Memorial pamphlet : 
 
 " Singing in metre is ever the delight of the masses moved by 
 religion. The hymn in the church answers to the ballad in the 
 nation. The chorales of Luther did as much for the Reformation 
 as his preaching. Not to cite from history the many instances in 
 point, what would Methodism, at its rise, have done without its 
 hymnody ? What, would it now do ? It sprang from the bosom 
 of the English Church, but not there did it get this instrument 
 of its success not there did it gather the rhythm of its hallelujahs 
 that rent the air wherever the preacher lifted his voice. So little 
 of sacred melody did its author find in use among the people, that 
 for the stirring compositions with which he roused their devotions, 
 he had recourse, in part, to secular airs. He has been blamed for 
 this, but it was a necessity of the times. The people must sing, 
 and they could sing only what they knew. He and his brother 
 could not make tunes for all the verses they wrote. The tongues 
 and ears of the common people had not been familiarized to the 
 songs of Zion. The Evangelical movement was also marked by 
 a new out-pouring of hymns and melodies which have been the 
 means of cherishing divine affections in the heart of thousands from 
 that day to this. Meanwhile the legitimate parochial psalmody 
 kept on, from generation to generation, in the doggrel of Sternhold 
 and Hopkins, or the somewhat improved rhymes of Tate and 
 Brady, sung to the tunes approved by the parish clerk. Hymns 
 were rare. The two of Bishop Ken for morning and evening 
 (worth indeed an hundred of most others) were almost the only 
 ones in general use. In the old English Prayer-books we find 
 some half a dozen more, differing in different editions. The ex 
 treme poverty of the English Church in this aliment of popular 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 61 
 
 devotion is remarkable and indicative, may we not say, of her 
 g en i us how unlike the treasures of evangelical hymnody in the 
 churches of the continent, particularly the Lutheran and Moravian? 
 It is a healthful sign of late years that the use of hymns has now 
 become much more common in the English congregations. In this 
 respect their freedom is much larger than ours. Every congrega 
 tion may have a book of its own. The church in this country has 
 evinced a remarkable disaffection to hymns. Until the year 1808 
 the whole of the authorized number was 27, it was then enlarged 
 to 56. In 1826 the present 208, not until after considerable oppo 
 sition, were admitted (of which it is relevant to remark in passing, 
 a large number are the compositions of non-Episcopalians), but 
 with the retention of that most extraordinary rubric which forbids 
 their use on any occasion when one of the psalms in metre is 
 not also sung. This operates to the entire exclusion of hymns 
 whenever the order for morning or evening prayer is alone used, 
 although of that order the psalms make so large a part. Hence, 
 in churches in which there is the daily service, not a song of praise 
 is heard except on Sundays and holy days, in which a Jew as well 
 as a Christian might not join. Whence this jealousy of evangelical 
 devotion, and of a form of it, in which, as has been said, the com 
 mon people especially delight ? Is it a sign that ours is a church 
 for the common people ? 
 
 " The Church of England has a sublime song of her own in the 
 choral service and glorious anthem of her cathedrals that constant 
 offering of praise, worthy of the great people of whom it may be 
 considered as the solemn matin and vesper song of the nation. 
 Grand as it is, in that point of view esto perpetua it yet touches 
 not the immediate consciousness of the people. They are not 
 active in it. It is the delegated service of the official choir, uttered 
 six days out of seven, almost in solitude, and amid no crowds on 
 the seventh. The common people pass the cathedral unallured by 
 its time-hallowed strains, for the conventicle in whose hearty melo 
 dies they can take their part. We may say it is bad taste, and that 
 it is the church s office to elevate men s tastes. Very well, but 
 aside from the de gustibus it is not her first object ; it does not 
 come into her pioneer work. There may be rudeness, even coarse 
 ness to our ears, and yet true worship, which, too, may be all the 
 heartier for those very qualities. We boast of the social character 
 
62 MEMOIR OF | 
 
 of our service compared with that of some other Christians, as we 
 may justly do, looking at its idea. But how is it in practice, in 
 practice so nearly universal that there must be something in our 
 system to account for it? where is there actually the most social 
 worship ? In one of our churches with the whispered response of 
 the people and the song of praise confined to the quartette in the 
 organ loft, or in the Wesleyan meeting with its shouted glorias and 
 spontaneous amens ?" 
 
 The result of the Commission is well known. A book of 500 
 Hymns, called t Hymns for Church and Home/ was published, 
 and used for some years ; then superseded by a smaller number 
 of ( Additional Hymns 7 bound up with those in the Prayer-book, 
 and this was finally merged in the Hymnal now in use. 
 
 Dr. Wharton s editorship of the Protestant Episcopal Quarterly 
 Review/ in conjunction with Dr. John Cotton Smith and Dr. 
 May of the Alexandria Seminary, led to some correspondence of 
 which these letters alone remain. 
 
 "THEOL. SEM., Feb. 6th, 57. 
 " MY DEAR FRIEND : 
 
 " Your letter from Pittsburg was very kind, and did me good. 
 I rejoice to hear such a good account of Kenyon. Some defections 
 among so many youths setting out towards the Kingdom of God 
 are not strange, that is they are things which all experience would 
 have led us to expect, but much good seed no doubt will ripen. 
 Your project of a mission to Kansas is good excellent, but we 
 are to see you here first. Give us 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, etc. etc. of 
 March, and bring Mr. Bohlen. Are we not to have more lec 
 tures? I vote yea most loudly. If no editorial Board for the 
 1 Review can- be had in Philadelphia, could there not be a Board 
 of Assistants there, and an Editor here ? The t Review might be 
 printed in Philadelphia and published in the two cities, New York 
 and Philadelphia. Dr. Dyer remains the New York agent. I 
 throw this out for consideration. It can be brought up when you 
 and Mr. Bohlen come on. Dr. Dyer writes me word that since 
 the January number, some new subscribers have been obtained. 
 I received this week delightful letters from Africa. As I read 
 them to Mrs. May and Miss Bowman, they were in tears. Such 
 correspondence refreshes and helps me. It goes to my heart. 
 Oh that all our Church could drink more of the Spirit given to 
 

 DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 63 
 
 them. The missionaries seem now to be in good health, and much 
 encouraged. The great want, which they especially feel, is that 
 of more laborers. 
 
 " Affectionately your friend, 
 
 "JAMES MAY." 
 
 "LANCASTER, May 20, 58. 
 " MY DEAR FRIEND : 
 
 " Your last letter addressed to me here I received a few days ago. 
 Providence favoring, I shall leave this to-morrow, and be at the 
 Seminary next day. I should have been there this week, but that 
 Dr. Sparrow wrote me my classes would be broken up by the large 
 portion going to the Virginia Convention at Winchester. I re 
 ceived to-day a very well written article for the Review from the 
 Rev. W. M. Pendleton of Lexington, Va., on the Ancient races 
 of Men/ I had had no intimation of his wish to write it, till I 
 received it this morning. I shall send it to Dr. Dyer to be ready 
 in case of need to fill up the July number. If not needed, it can 
 lie over. What prospect or plan for contributions, for the next 
 number, after July, can you present ? Can you not engage some 
 proper pens in our service? Could we not have an article on 
 the Modern Theology of England ? I mean Maurice s, Kingsley s, 
 Jowett s, etc. Then you could give us besides that a review of 
 Dickens, Currer Bell, Thackeray, etc. Be pleased to write me 
 at the Seminary. I am in communication with no one who can 
 give me news. My time is spent in Mrs. May s chamber. By 
 the good Hand of God, she has respite from suffering and has 
 been able, after being carried to a vehicle, to ride a mile or two. 
 Though I get no news, I suppose Dr. Vinton or Dr. Bedell will 
 be appointed Bishop. I wish I could slip out to see you at 
 Gambier for a while, but now my duties at the Seminary will be 
 doubled and trebled to the end of our term. My love to Brother 
 Griffin. Mrs. May desires kindest regards to you and to him also. 
 
 " Yr. affectionate friend, 
 
 "JAMES MAY." 
 
 "THEOL. SEM., June 4, 58. 
 " MY DEAR FRIEND : 
 
 "Your letter having in the same envelope a letter to Bishop 
 Bowman reached me this evening. You have done no more than 
 
64 MEMOIR OF 
 
 an honest and candid man should do. I highly approve of your 
 letter to him. The election took me entirely by surprise. I had 
 expected a majority on the first ballot for Dr. Vinton of twenty- 
 five or thirty. The Lord s ways are not our ways. We may have 
 been relying too much on the wisdom of man. Evangelical religion 
 has not often been in power by means of majorities, and perhaps 
 has been generally weakened when it has been. Its power lies in 
 the preaching of the Word of God and prayer. A free pulpit, a 
 free press, and free access to God in prayer cannot be taken away. 
 I think we are called on to be more distinct, more decided, and 
 more earnest in preaching the Gospel. We must rely less on the 
 world, and be more simple in faith. If I could see you for some 
 private conversation I might have some things to say. I shall be 
 glad to be more closely associated with you in holding forth the 
 truth through the Press. Do you move the Recorder, and I 
 would I could efficiently aid in moving the Review. I do long 
 to have the Gospel more distinctly and more earnestly preached. I 
 hear much preaching, even from men reported to be evangelical, 
 which as I look at the matter, is very defective. It is good as far 
 as it goes, but it comes short of a full and faithful exhibition of the 
 Gospel. God will not peculiarly bless anything but his own word, 
 simply and faithfully preached. I have been tried, sorely tried in 
 the suffering which it has pleased the Lord to send on my wife, 
 but I trust good will come of it, in making the Gospel more pre 
 cious. She is better, but still very weak. Hold you to the ( Recor 
 der. You know how to be faithful and honest, and at the same 
 time courteous. You have, in that paper, the means of immeasur 
 able power, but you need no testimony on that point. We need 
 now and then some lesson of humility and dependence on God. 
 The Lord will show us it is not by might nor by power that he 
 builds up His Kingdom. If we become more humble and faithful, 
 honor and exalt more and more his Word and Holy Spirit, we may 
 look for more proofs of His favor. 
 
 " Your affectionate friend, 
 
 "JAMES MAY." 
 
 The election referred to in this letter was that of Assistant Bishop 
 of Pennsylvania. The enclosed letter referred to was one written 
 to Bishop Bowman upon his election, and is as follows : 
 

 DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 65 
 
 TO THE RT. REV. BISHOP BOWMAN. 
 
 "GAMBIER, May 29, 1858. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR : 
 
 " I have just seen, in the Cincinnati paper of this morning, the 
 announcement of your election as Assistant Bishop. I cannot but 
 congratulate you personally and express my gratification that since 
 the election has not fallen on one belonging to the school to which 
 I have been peculiarly attached, and to which I owe all my relig 
 ious training, it has fallen on one so just and liberal as yourself. 
 Had I been in the convention, I would have felt bound to cast my 
 vote with those with whom my ecclesiastical associations have been 
 most close ; as it is I will be one of the first and most cheerful in 
 acquiescing. But I cannot forbear in once more laying before you 
 my earnest conviction of the paramount necessity of toleration in 
 the choice of ecclesiastical mechanism, whether missionary or other 
 wise. You are about to assume the leading position, second only 
 to one whom we all pray God may long continue but whose failing 
 health admonishes us of the precarious tenure we all have in his 
 labors, in a diocese in which I will probably never again reside, 
 but in whose concerns I have for some years taken a most interested 
 part. I firmly believe that any attempt to coerce uniformity in 
 Pennsylvania for either school would be attended with the most 
 disastrous consequences both to our prosperity and peace, I believe 
 that the unexampled prosperity of the last ten years is owing to 
 such toleration havin g been allowed. I cannot but say this to you, 
 speaking as one who greatly loves Pennsylvania and the church in 
 Pennsylvania, and speaking to one who in future will have such 
 great power for the common good. 
 
 " It may not be improper for me to add that I continue to be 
 responsible for the general management of the Recorder/ so far 
 as its literary and theological departments are concerned. My 
 distance prevents me from taking any active controversial or 
 local part in its management. I can only say that while I con 
 tinue to have control of the paper, however much you may have 
 occasion to dissent from its course in matters of general polity, you 
 will always find it yielding to you that personal and affectionate 
 respect which has always been felt by me towards you. 
 
 " Yrs. sincerely, 
 
 "FRANCIS WHARTON. 
 
 5 
 
66 MEMOIR OF 
 
 " I hope that you will pay us a visit at Gambier. We have 
 twenty Penna. students, most of them looking forward to the 
 Ministry. I should be delighted to have you as a guest at my 
 house." 
 
 To this letter we give Bishop Bowman s reply : 
 
 "LANCASTER, June 4th, 58. 
 " F. WHARTON, ESQ., 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR : Your letter was very kind and acceptable, 
 hardly the less so coming from a theological opponent. Where 
 such opposition is frankly avowed, as in your case, and where it is 
 not felt that differences should produce dissensions and quarrels, 
 I can see but little evil in those diversities which must ever exist 
 among men, at least as long as they do not transcend the liberty 
 which the Church allows us. It was the fault of the Church of 
 Kome, in going beyond what was written, and attempting to define 
 the mode of Christ s presence in the blessed Sacrament that gave 
 rise to an agitation and a controversy that a thousand years have 
 not been able to settle. I am for the largest liberty which the 
 Church allows. I suppose you ask no more, and that you do not 
 think it a Christian duty to break terms with me, because we 
 cannot on every point, entirely agree. I am at a loss therefore to 
 understand your zealous advocacy of separate missionary and other 
 organizations. The mischief of division and the advantages of union 
 are, to my mind such self-evident truths, that I am perplexed when 
 I hear so conciliatory and sensible a man as yourself, apparently 
 advocating divided action, on the grounds of expediency and prin 
 ciple. I wish to see all hearts in sympathy, and all hands joined 
 in action, and on a ground of perfect equality. Or, if either side 
 or school gain pre-eminence in our voluntary agencies by superior 
 zeal or liberality, let them enjoy and use it. Ferat qui meruit 
 palmam. But for decency s sake, for the sake of our common 
 Mother the Church, for the sake of Him who purchased that Church 
 with His own Blood, let us not present to the world, the aspect of 
 a divided house, the hideous spectacle of brethren wasting on each 
 other s overthrow that zeal which ought only to be expended against 
 the common foe. But I gladly quit the ungrateful theme, with the 
 assurance, my dear Mr. Wharton, that however we may differ in 
 questions of policy and expediency, or even of theological doctrine, 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 67 
 
 we shall never be found arrayed against each other in an un- 
 brotherly strife. Regretting to hear you say, that you are not likely 
 again to be a resident of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, and sincerely 
 hoping, that whatever future intercourse Providence may permit 
 between us may be as pleasant and cordial as the past has been, I 
 remain, my dear Mr. Wharton, with sincere and unabated regard, 
 
 " Your friend, 
 
 " SAMUEL BOWMAN." 
 
 It is to be regretted that so few of Dr. Wharton s own letters 
 can be found to give to this Memorial. He wrote and constantly 
 to many correspondents, but as his letters were generally for a pur 
 pose, they were confined to that purpose, and were brief and to the 
 point. They have probably not been preserved. His letters to 
 his family w r ere, though most loving and affectionate, full of local 
 and humorous allusions, which would only be appreciated by those 
 who received them. Writing, as he did, so much for the press, his 
 letters were his relaxation, and he very rarely touched on topics of 
 general interest. A few have, however, been selected for publica 
 tion, though their dates will carry us back some years. 
 
 TO MRS. CHARLES SINKLER (HIS SISTER). 
 
 PHIL., DEC. 13, 1851. 
 " MY DEAR EMILY : 
 
 a I am now sitting out a long speech of my colleague, Judge 
 Champneys, in the distribution of the funds of the Bank of the 
 United States a matter you may recollect I have had in hand 
 several years. Our first step, you know, was to get a judgment for 
 over a million of dollars. Unfortunately, however, the judgment 
 was against the bank herself. As she is now entirely insolvent, our 
 next step was to attach the property she has assigned to trustees 
 for the payment of certain debts. It is in this work we are now 
 engaged. If we succeed now, we get pretty large fees. So you see 
 we have something more at stake than mere glory. We have now 
 been engaged in arguing the question for three evenings a week for 
 nearly three weeks. I began as the junior counsel for the State, 
 and was followed by George Wharton, Mr. Cadwalader, and Mr. 
 Williams, for the trustees. We are now winding up the discussion 
 with an elaborate speech from Judge Champneys. As I have got 
 
68 MEMOIR OF 
 
 t 
 
 through my part, I am DOW, under the semblance of taking notes, 
 writing you a letter. If you find the letter somewhat disconnected, 
 you must charge it to the speech. If Judge Champneys endeavors 
 to prove my recollection of his speech, I am afraid he will find that 
 recollection very much affected by the notions I am putting in this 
 letter. 
 
 " I did get your letter about Robert, and I believe I furnished you 
 with his right direction. In considering whether it reached him 
 or not, please consider (1) that Robert has been on a long journey, 
 and (2) that I have a faint recollection that he told me when in 
 Philadelphia he had heard from you, and asked- me to reply 
 that he had answered you. He looked very gallant and high- 
 spirited, and as if he would enjoy nothing better than soaring up 
 in a balloon and dropping down at Woodford ! 
 
 "I will send with this one or two Church papers, w r hich will 
 give you some idea how we are getting on in religious matters. 
 Mr. Dalrymple (this is the last piece of news w T hich is particularly 
 for Wharton) is going not only to be a clergyman, but an Epis 
 copal clergyman, and goes to Alexandria in a few weeks. So there 
 is even a chance of his being a Southern minister, and giving 
 Wharton a chance of hearing him preach. 
 
 " I am afraid St. Jude s comes on but poorly. I should not be 
 surprised if Mr. Miller resigned in the course of a couple of months. 
 The pews are no more filled up than they were on the first month, 
 and there seems no chance of their being so under the present 
 administration. I have a plan which in the case of there being a 
 clear field I think may be executed. It is to have our old friend 
 Minnegerode, who is one of the most eloquent preachers in Virginia, 
 to preach both in English and in German the latter in the even 
 ing. You know the Prayer-book has been translated into German, 
 and yet, though we have 50,000 Germans in Philadelphia, we 
 have no Episcopal German service. 
 
 " Kossuth s New York dinner speech is the subject I don t want 
 to use a superlative of intense surprise and admiration. Since 
 Peter the Hermit no political orator has ever spoken so. He says, 
 when asked how he acquired the English language, that he can t 
 tell, that it seems almost inspiration. I believe the feeling here 
 is that history does not give another instance like this where a 
 foreigner made such a speech, both as to language and material. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 69 
 
 Mother has become a vehement Hungarian ; and you can receive 
 as some proof of this the fact that she listens, not only patiently 
 but delightedly, as Henry reads seven columns of his speech con 
 secutively. 
 
 " Ever yours, 
 
 F. W." 
 
 % 
 
 TO CHARLES SINKLER, ESQ. 
 
 "PHILADELPHIA, Mch. 7, 52. 
 " MY DEAR CHARLES : 
 
 " This is ny birthday, but unfortunately it is the first Sunday 
 for several years that I have been detained in the house. I caught 
 a heavy cold a few days ago, and having in vain tried all other 
 remedies, last night, much against the wishes of the family, I took 
 hold of your remedy, viz. hot water and hot tea, helped on by 
 a Dover s powder. Of course I had to be hermetically sealed all 
 day ; but under the united influence of the three applications, I am 
 getting quite well, and to-morrow shall be able to go to work as 
 vigorously as ever. I send you a circular of a new reading-room 
 in which I am very much interested, and which we are about 
 to open only a door or two below our house. I think you will 
 enjoy it when you come on, as you certainly are going to do this 
 spring. Aside from the religious newspapers which are the most 
 questionable of its receipts, it will have on its tables all the prac 
 tical foreign religious papers, and the current new books of the 
 day. But I think the feature which is the most beneficial is that 
 you will observe in the circular, which provides for a series of visit 
 ing committees who will visit such young men as are strange in the 
 city, connected with the Episcopal Church, and will provide for 
 them suitable boarding-houses, church accommodation, etc. I con 
 sider these features likely to produce immense practical good ; and 
 the more so when you observe that the board of managers are 
 almost entirely what may be called evangelical/ If it were not 
 that I would be afraid the term would be unpopular with you, I 
 would say low church/ by which I mean a decided antagonism 
 
 to , or worldly old school Episcopalianism, for which you 
 
 know I have a cordial detestation. 
 
 " I think I wrote to Emily that D., who you took some interest 
 in, left me some weeks ago for the Alexandria Seminary. He 
 
70 MEMOIR OF 
 
 staggered so much at the Westminster Confession that he at the 
 last moment gave up Presbyterian ism, and I think will be an 
 ornament to our church, both from his piety and talents. 
 
 " H. has been in town for some time, and says he has written a 
 full letter to you, explaining how his first miscarried. From the 
 impression on his mind as to your direction, I should not wonder 
 if the second went after the first. 
 
 " Mother remains really about stationary. She is in excellent 
 spirits, however, and looks wonderfully. Henry is well. Give 
 my love to Emily, Wharton (my boy) and Lizzy, and believe me 
 yours ever. * 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 "PniL., Dec. 15, 1855. 
 " MY DEAR EMILY : 
 
 " Your very acceptable letters with the enclosed extracts for the 
 Recorder have duly arrived. As you probably have already seen 
 in the i Recorder/ the ( Scripture Florist (if I have its name right) 
 has already begun to make its appearance. One awkward mistake 
 came near happening to the Lily, which emerged from the printing- 
 office in the shape of Tilly. I believe it was Mary s investigating 
 eye which discovered the discrepancy and led to its correction. 
 
 " It is out of the question for me to go to the South this winter. 
 ... I have gone into one or two extravagances lately in the shape 
 of a chandelier and a grate in the library. The room is now almost 
 the perfection of comfort. I cannot always send you the Banner. 
 It often gets hooked off from my office, and sometimes is cut up. 
 The Churchman and the P. Churchman are I suppose the next 
 most entertaining. The Southern Churchman I think is the 
 best, but I generally make so many incisions into it as to make its 
 remains scarcely worth having. 
 
 " I have written to Bishop Elliott (who is to be here in April) 
 to stay with me, and I propose to ask all the South Carolina dele 
 gation (out of compliment to Charles), to come to my house at the 
 General Convention in October. Why will not Charles get elected 
 a delegate from South Carolina himself? I hope you will make a 
 point of being in the city at that period, as there will be a great 
 deal that will improve as well as amuse. I want you to spend the 
 first half of your visit with me in the fall. I mean August and 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 71 
 
 September down to October 10. Then the S. C. delegation will 
 come. I want you to pick out which would be the pleasantest, and 
 invite them at your convention for me. I expect Mr. Reed and 
 Mr. Shaw, if the latter comes, which I hope he will, as I have had 
 a very pleasant correspondence with him. 
 
 " George desires me to say that he is quite an example, being now 
 engaged in- copying a very heavy extract for the Recorder/ 
 " Give my best love to Charles and the children. 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 "GAMBIER, Nov. 14, 1857. 
 " MY DEAR EMILY : 
 
 " I have just got home from a country school in which, in con 
 nection with one of the theological students, I have been holding 
 services and preaching 7 all day long. -I am now fairly settled 
 here for the fall term ; and indeed I am very glad to have escaped 
 the turmoil and excitement of city life at such a time as this. I do 
 not think things ever looked so badly. The foundations of charac 
 ter seem to be shaken. I was not so much shocked at P. s defalca 
 tion, for I had known but little of him. . . . I had a letter from 
 C. P. on Wednesday, and another from mother yesterday. 
 
 " I have lent the college $3000 on mortgage on a piece of land 
 belonging to them, and they are putting up a house for me to 
 occupy as long as I continue to lecture here. The situation is 
 beautiful, being very much like John Bohlens , only there is a 
 river flowing at the foot. The house is a plain one three stories 
 high in front, and two behind, with attics. On the first floor is 
 the dining-room and kitchen. Over this are a parlor and a study, 
 with a large hall. There are four chambers above, and two over 
 that. The portico runs on three sides of the house. There is a 
 balcony on the second story. The house will be ready by the 
 middle of April, and I hope to move out the great body of my 
 furniture then. I do trust you will be persuaded to spend next 
 summer here. There never was such healthy mountain air, or 
 such a place for children. I keep two horses and a carriage, and 
 will buy a horse for Wharton if you come on. I have just super 
 intended putting up a stable with three stalls for the horses, and 
 stalls for two cows for the children. 1 have also an uncommonly 
 
72 MEMOIR OF 
 
 fine setter-pup (called Mill-Creek/ in compliment to one of Mr. 
 B. s parishes), raising for the boys. I cannot see how you can 
 hesitate about coming. 
 
 " With love, ever yr s, 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 / 
 
 "GAMBIER, 1858. 
 " MY DEAR EMILY : 
 
 " Above you will find a picture of our new building (Ascension 
 Hall), which I hope will meet with your approbation. I am sorry 
 to say, however, that it will not be done in time for your visit, 
 though before you are even to think about leaving, it will present 
 quite a considerable front. I am happy to announce that notwith 
 standing all our fears to the contrary, we have just had a snap of 
 cold weather which will enable my ice-house to be filled. So you 
 may congratulate yourselves on having ice ad libitum. 
 
 " The house is almost finished. It is entirely plastered, with the 
 exception of the final coating on the dining-room and kitchen. 
 The rooms are very much the size of the rooms in my Spruce 
 Street house, with the exception that my dining-room is not quite 
 as large as that in Phi la. I have two parlors with folding doors. 
 The back one is to be a library, and turns out to be exactly the 
 size of my library in Phila. It is to have the same carpet. The 
 bedrooms are to have the same furniture as in Phila. I have a 
 sweet little room for Lizzie. Since I have been certain of your 
 coming, I have made one or two improvements, including a com 
 fortable room for Wharton, and for Henry S , if his mother 
 
 would let him come, at which I should be much gratified. You 
 will be greatly pleased with my library. It has nearly doubled 
 since you saw it. All the Recorder things come regularly out to 
 me, so you will have abundance of light as well as grave reading. 
 
 " So far as teaching is concerned you will have no difficulty, as 
 that is the great staple of the Hill. I have just heard that Mr. 
 Granert, the German and French professor, and a graduate of 
 Heidelberg, he teaches piano besides, will reside here during 
 the summer. There is a capital boys school, in which the vaca 
 tion does not begin until Sept. 20th, and private tutors very cheap. 
 What do you think of two hours a day for $8 a month ? 
 
 " Your coming is looked forward to with great interest. I think 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 73 
 
 it was the settling influence with Elizabeth and probably Eliza. 
 As to my man-servant you will find him quite a character. He is 
 English, severely pious, .writes a capital hand, and ponders 
 over all sorts of theological books, but at the same time is 
 greatly hipped and pensive. Still he gets through a great deal 
 
 more than Mrs. s John, and almost as much as Daddy Henry 
 
 or Ca Robin.* He tends the mares, whose friskiness gives him 
 no little trouble, one of them having a way of waltzing round him 
 as he leads the other to water, making him look very ridiculous ; 
 he makes the beds in my present rooms, trims the lamps, and 
 sweeps the rooms with a little shovel not much bigger than a large 
 spoon; he cleans the dishes, for I always have tea in my rooms; 
 acts as deputy sexton in getting the basement ready for the Bible 
 class; drives the carriage; and is now engaged in hauling ice. 
 You can see what an important person he is to be in our future 
 household. 
 
 " With a great deal of love to Charles and the children, ever 
 
 yours, 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 "GAMBIER, Mch. 24, 1858. 
 
 "MY DEAR EMILY: 
 
 " It may amuse you to glance over a duplicate of an order for 
 flowers, etc., which I have just sent for to help make the place look 
 cheerful by the time you arrive. They form only a portion of 
 what I have ordered, and I think on your arrival you will find 
 things just in that condition which will involve all the taste that 
 you and Lizzy can spare. Your own room has a porch and 
 balustrade in front of it, and looks down directly on the hill 
 side. As for a nursery I have a grand one. It is a large and very 
 airy room in the third story, and is to be fitted up in the most solid 
 of ways heavy oak bedstead, etc. I think you will really be de 
 lighted with the place. What do you think of having ice-cream 
 every other day ? Among other of Thomas (our Sancho Panzas) 
 accomplishments, he is a great ice-cream freezer. He is now at 
 work gardening, cutting away branches that intercept the view. 
 
 " I gave my farewell lecture to the Bible Class Sunday evening 
 
 [* Servants of Mrs. Sinkler s.] 
 
74 MEMOIR OF 
 
 before last. The spacious chapel, much larger than the Phila. 
 lecture rooms, was jammed, and the window-sills and- floors were 
 occupied. I hope to favor you with one or two in the summer. 
 
 " We have a new rector and a very agreeable one Mr. Cracraft. 
 He is a very striking preacher and an extremely pleasant man. I 
 think you will in several respects be agreeably surprised with the 
 condition of things here. 
 
 " With best love ever yr s, 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 "GiLMORE HOUSE, Baltimore, Dec. 17, 185 .. 
 
 " MY DEAR EMILY : 
 
 " I arrived here this morning after a nearly two days and two 
 nights journey across the mountains, prolonged by a detention at 
 Wheeling which broke the connection. I found a note from 
 mother, enclosing one to you, which I forward. G. comes with 
 me to the East, and proceeds to Phila. for a day or two on his 
 way home. I fear his health is seriously impaired. His symp 
 toms are very distressing, at least to my eyes, and he has agreed to 
 take Dr. Pepper s advice before returning to Salem. My fears are 
 quite serious of his having permanently broken down. It struck 
 me that in case of the doctors recommending him to give up study 
 he might visit you at Belvidere. 
 
 " I shall await with much pleasure the arrival of the boys. I 
 have concluded to give them Fort Tip/ to which I have had a 
 chimney and stove added. This they can study in, and can take 
 greater liberties there than in the house proper. 
 
 " One thing alone about the boys gives me any anxiety. I am 
 willing to be responsible for them at their meals and the nights 
 and evenings. As to their games, etc., I know you will relieve me 
 on that point. Were they my own children I would desire to put 
 them just on the line of Dr. B. s boys start them with skates and 
 sleds, and let them take their chances, or rather, trust to Providence, 
 only insisting that they were in at meals and study hours. My 
 fear is unless Charles, A., and yourself take this view, I will keep 
 both the boys and myself in a continual fret. 
 
 " Tell A. I am delighted to have Henry. I can manage two 
 boys better than one. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 75 
 
 " If Mr. C. leaves Gambler, as I suppose he will, I apprehend 
 Dr. Butler will come. 
 
 " With love to Charles and the children. 
 
 " Ever yours, 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 In the Spring of 1859, a failure of health and some slight 
 throat trouble made a change necessary. He took passage in the 
 French Steamer Fulton for a trip to Europe, intending to be absent 
 six months. Of this trip only a few private letters have been 
 preserved, but as he wrote from time to time to the Recorder/ we 
 have a tolerably full account of his life and impressions there. 
 Before we close this chapter, however, a couple of Editorials have 
 been taken quite at random from that paper to show the kind of 
 matter he was in the habit of furnishing from his own pen, in 
 review of matters both in Church and State. If it were desirable, 
 a volume could be collected from these old files, and it would prove 
 doubtless a surprise to those who are familiar with Dr. Wharton, 
 chiefly as a legal writer to know how much he has also contributed 
 to the controversies of the Epis. Church, and the cause of literature. 
 
 ENGLISH OR RUSSIAN? 
 
 " Some weeks since we adverted to the religious bearings of the 
 present Eastern war. We cannot regard its civil bearings as tend 
 ing to an opposite result. To a sound mind, indeed, the civil or 
 the religious interest of either a people or an individual must 
 unite in one point. True Christianity will necessarily generate the 
 highest degree of personal freedom consistent with civil govern 
 ment. It will produce, also, to the very extent to which its influ 
 ence is exhibited, the qualities of industry, honesty, fidelity to the 
 claims of others, respect for their rights, and tenderness for their 
 feelings. Just as far as positive evangelical religion has advanced, 
 just so far have the education, the industrial capabilities, the indi 
 vidual liberties, and the national grandeur of a people been advanced. 
 And the converse, also, is true. A vigorous and enlightened religion 
 cannot survive in a despotism except in the dungeon of the captive, 
 or by the stake of the martyr. Government can persecute it, but 
 cannot fondle it into power. It wants no state endowments. The 
 
76 MEMOIR OF 
 
 moment the minister is endowed, he is crippled. To the degree 
 that he is aided by civil authority he loses in spiritual influence. 
 If we could have now a government which would take up the form 
 of religion which we now hold most dear, which would establish 
 it, for instance in Turkey, and would provide a sufficient ministe 
 rial salary to every clergyman who should be willing to accept it, 
 we would advise its rejection. Not that it is not likely that such 
 a call would be inoperative. It would have a wondrous effect on 
 Church comprehension, and would tend to extend Episcopal orders 
 to a class whose numbers, at least, we fear would overtop very 
 largely the accessions likely to be produced by the most liberal 
 gratuitous system of Church extension that could be devised else 
 where. Each stipend would be readily adopted. Episcopal orders 
 would be accepted, and the required interpretations of our standards 
 professed. We have recently been told of a convert from another 
 denomination, one of that class who leaves because left, who 
 informed the hesitating examiner that he was a Hobart-Griswold 
 churchman. In the economy of Divine providence, as it is at 
 present exhibited to us, there is always a class of unstable men 
 whose capacities are incapable of either definite perceptions or 
 energetic action, who will turn the current of their religious-senti 
 mental affections into any ecclesiastical channc-1, that could lead 
 them through the fat meadows of comfort or the composing scenery 
 of polite and respectable mediocrity. And there is a class far more 
 capable and far more dangerous than this who will seize an endowed 
 ministry with a rapacity as malign as the prize is splendid, and 
 who will take a Hildebrand s part in directing that ship in whose 
 cushioned cabins repose the elegant sentimentalist and the luxuri 
 ous indiiferentist. The consequence is that in a Church-state, if 
 not in a state-Church two most dangerous elements enter, the one 
 of which by controlling the other, too often seizes the helm, and 
 ends in turning overboard whatever elements remain that may be 
 true to the Gospel system. We have seen this in Rome. We see 
 it in Russia. And we will see it wherever a compulsory faith is 
 attempted to be enforced by a governmental clergy. 
 
 " The object being toleration or in other words freedom of con 
 science to be guaranteed by the state to the individual, the ques 
 tion next arises by which party in the present European struggle 
 will this great sanction be most likely to be secured? And we 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 77 
 
 cannot for a moment hesitate here. The whole Russian system is 
 despotic. Education is prohibited Dissent is prohibited. Even 
 the circulation of the Bible is prohibited. On the other hand, all 
 the great safeguards of personal and religious liberty which the 
 world now knows, take their origin in the British constitution. 
 Thence came trial by jury, freedom of the press, courts of Jus 
 tice open to th<e poor, the right of habeas corpus, and the right 
 to worship God according to conscience. Some blemishes, it is 
 true, still remain. The state alliance is an injury to both state and 
 church. The House of Commons is on the one side too imperfect 
 a reflection of the people, more likely as it now stands to be 
 influenced by a suppositions public sentiment, expressed through 
 the press, or by mob meeting, than by real public sentiment, ex 
 pressed through the ballot-box, and on the other, it is every day 
 less and less held in check by the vetoes, now almost disused, 
 of the executive and the senatorial estates. The government of 
 England fails now from that want of continuity and of indepen 
 dence which its exposure to the caprices of a single representative 
 body gives, and from that want of self-confidence which could be 
 strengthened by a more thorough correspondence between the 
 people and their supposed representatives. It fails, also, because it 
 is unwilling to adopt abroad what are its own principles at home, 
 and to make that which is a matter of domestic principle a matter 
 of foreign policy. It fails because it is trying to turn that w r hich 
 must be a war of opinions, into a war of interests, and to postpone 
 that great issue which it provokes and yet shrinks from when it 
 comes near. But the issue must come. The alliance of the libera 
 tor must be with the oppressed and not with the oppressor, the 
 alliance of the grand old spirit of the COMMON LAW, of the PRO 
 TESTANT FAITH, of the ANGLO-SAXON BLOOD, must be with 
 the prisoners of the Vatican and not its jailor with the people of 
 Hungary and not their tyrants, with Poland, and not with those 
 by whom Poland is crushed. Come then that day : and come 
 when it may, it will be found that centuries will recede, and pure 
 Christianity will again be seen entering the straits of the Dar- 
 denelles, and lifting up its hymns on those hills from which it was 
 driven because it ceased to be free, and which only when free again 
 can it again conquer." 
 
78 MEMOIR OF 
 
 "THE CATHOLIC WORK OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN 
 AMERICA. A CONTRIBUTION TO THE CAUSE OF THE MEMORIAL. BY 
 A PRESBYTER. New York : Printed by R. Craighead, 53 Vesey St., 1855 
 
 " Better Known, More Loved is a saying that was very touch- 
 ingly illustrated by a sketch given by us in our paper of last week 
 of the attendance by the bed-side of a dying Scotch Fusileer, a 
 Covenanter, of a Romish sister of charity. Propinquity, it has 
 been said, makes love, and it is equally true that acquaintance 
 kindles charity. There may be some who will read these lines, 
 who will recollect an incident in the life of one of our most 
 venerated Bishops, which develops this very forcibly. He had 
 nourished a prejudice against Calvinism/ a system which he 
 had been unconsciously preaching for a long ministerial life with 
 out knowing it, which had led him to look with some reserve 
 upon a most eminent and eloquent clergyman of another diocese 
 who was suspected of leaning to that phase of doctrine. It so 
 happened that a revival of religion occurred in their common 
 neighborhood, in the midst of which the two the Anti-Calvinistic 
 Bishop, and the Calvinistic Presbyter, were thrown together. It 
 was the lot of the latter to preach, and in so doing he developed 
 as he supposed, his own earnest and positive system of faith with 
 all his peculiar eloquence and fervor. It was the lot of the aged 
 Bishop to close with an address, bringing home, as he w r as accus 
 tomed to do with such wonderful felicity and pathos, the truths 
 which the sermon had developed. He did so in the present case 
 with an unction and beauty which showed how entirely the notes 
 which had been struck awakened a response in his own heart. 
 And then when the services were over, he grasped by the hand the 
 preacher, from whom he had so long been alienated, at least in 
 name, and exclaimed, ( My brother, we believe in the same ! 
 
 " It is just this exclamation we feel ready to address now to many 
 with whose earnest and loving hearts Dr. MUHLENBERG S great 
 movement has brought us in contact. Equally with us they are 
 warmed with a true and earnest love to our own dear Church. 
 Equally with us they feel that by her must be chiefly effected the 
 great work of bringing the Gospel in contact with the Anglo-Saxon 
 people. And yet equally with us, they feel that she is to serve as 
 a Mother, as well as to reign as a Queen that she must be taught 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 79 
 
 how to enter the hovels as well as to preside in the Court and 
 that to be properly loved she should be brought home to the heart 
 of every man, so that the heart of every man can be brought home 
 to her. Our Liturgy, when Cathedralized, is like, if we can 
 borrow an illustration we have used in another connection, the 
 Vicar of Wakefield s family picture that, when the young ladies 
 become somewhat ambitious, it was determined to have encased 
 with a large gilt frame as big again as itself. It was found, how 
 ever, that the picture, which formerly readily found its way to the 
 mantle-piece, now could not get through the door. It was but a 
 cottage door it is true, for had it been the door of the rich or 
 superb, the picture-frame and all could have easily got in. But 
 though a cottage door, it was a door such as that through which 
 alone three-fourths of our population pass. And it is the cottage 
 door of the world that the Church must enter ; and it is to the 
 dimensions of that cottage door she should be reduced. We would 
 keep on her gilt frame for Cathedral service, but we certainly would 
 not cut oif those to whom Cathedrals are inaccessible, or stated 
 services are as yet unfamiliar, from the benefits of our Apostolic 
 ministry and of the ultimate use of that PRAYER BOOK which is 
 the first of all uninspired volumes, and next to the Bible and a 
 preached Gospel, the greatest instrumentality we possess for the 
 conversion of the world. It is to prevent such an alienation, to 
 reconcile the Masses to the Church and the Church to the Masses, 
 that the present writer as well as ourselves are now making 
 common cause. 
 
 " The stand-point from which the author views the subject of dis 
 cussion is that of a vigorous though genial High-Churchmanship 
 of the Hobart grade. In what way the present condition of our 
 communion exhibits itself to such a mind is vividly told in the 
 following passage : 
 
 " That worship which we hold dear is an exotic, transplanted 
 from English soil, but never thoroughly grafted into the wild stock 
 of American character. But if any Christian faith gain a national 
 power, it must have a national growth ; it must so far admit the 
 action of a living principle as to give it a proper adaptation to 
 American needs ; and to this end it must in its early stages, amidst 
 a population wholly indifferent to the forms of England, or Rome, 
 or any other, fall back as far as possible on essentials, and make 
 
80 MEMOIR OF 
 
 its methods flexible. We can as soon build a York Minster, in a 
 western clearing, as make the mass of American society accept a 
 finished Anglican worship. There should be, first, an adaptation 
 of the ministry to the people. A settled parochial clergy must be, 
 of course, the chief reliance ; but there should be, besides these, 
 an order fitted by a proper culture to minister to the multitude, not 
 trained in the church system. It is wanted directly around us for 
 labor in half organized parishes, or among the ignorant and poor 
 who cannot be now reached. It is wanted for missionary work ; 
 and when we say this we do not mean, as too many imagine, some 
 little suburban province of church action. For a century to come 
 our main labor in this continent is emphatically of .the missionary 
 character ; our country is the valley of the West, and the broad 
 fields now opening before us to the Pacific. Such a class may be 
 created without detriment to learning or regular order; and to 
 suppose otherwise is as absurd as to say that an army is spoiled by 
 the organization of a corps of light infantry. We want both a 
 highly educated clergy and a clergy for the people ; and instead of 
 lowering the standard we exalt it by a right division of labor. Its 
 influence will be a living one to carry the church into the heart 
 of society. Thus Wesley preached and began a work which the 
 Mother Church, in her cold narrowness, would not appreciate, but 
 hardened her heart against him, and forced thousands who might 
 have been loving children into separatists. But, next, there should 
 be an adaptation of worship to the same necessity. The very 
 notion of one rigid ritual for every class, drilled in its use from 
 infancy, or utterly unaccustomed to it, is an absurdity. Such 
 modifications should be, and may be, consistent with the keeping 
 always of the essential features of the Liturgy, with soberness and 
 good tase ; the self-same service will remain for the trained Church 
 man ; but the vast class without the church, from whom she must 
 have her recruits, should see and hear her in her Catholicity. She 
 must show her willingness and capacity to meet their wants, to use 
 every mode consistent with essential unity ; she must make manifest 
 her living, active, and generous spirit. 
 
 " A very just tribute is then paid to our germinal powers as com 
 pared with those of the less perfect communions about us. It is 
 said at the same time, with great truth : 
 
 " Instead of a Church Catholic it is not to be mistaken that we 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 81 
 
 are in . position a sect. It is true that we are among the most re 
 spectable of Christian bodies in education, refinement, wealth, and 
 piety. Our growth has been considerable ; our moderate doctrines 
 free from theological heat ; our broad communion ; our attractive 
 ritual, Protestant, yet without the bareness of New England wor 
 ship ; our dignified and sober character ; our conservative tone 
 amidst the whirl of religious and social reforms, have given us great 
 influence. But our growth has been and is of a special character, 
 mainly by accession from radical bodies of men, affrighted by 
 the influx of unchecked opinion or wild piety ; men of conservative 
 feelings and good taste. This is all well, and to a certain degree 
 may be said to show the influence of the truths we possess over 
 one-sided sectarianism. But in another and much more frequent 
 sense we have won those who care not a rush for the church, but 
 who find in her liturgy and sober ways a comfortable refuge. It 
 is for them a pleasant Hotel des Invalided. Our system does not 
 reach the mass of the American middle class. We do not mean, 
 of course, that it excludes them altogether, but that a comparatively 
 small portion of them enter its communion. Methodist and Bap 
 tist take hold of such classes, but we do not. Can the fact be 
 denied ? We challenge the proofs ; we challenge any to go through 
 the parishes of our communion in city and country, and reckon 
 the proportion. Where we have become a church for such classes, 
 it is because certain new features, the first fruits of the harvest 
 which we would more fully reap, e. g. the free-church system, have 
 been introduced. To the vast multitude of the people we are a 
 church of England not of America ; an exotic, not an indigenous 
 and native Christianity ; a church of rigid and foreign ceremonies. 
 But even if it be allowed that our influence is equal to that of the 
 sects about us, which we by no means grant, the very allowance 
 is the most feeble argument. If we be a Catholic church we should 
 not be content with this; we should do more than others; we 
 should meet every class. As it is we stand virtually on the same 
 platform with the Presbyterian, a Church for the upper ranks ; 
 wealthy, decent, with our peculiar, exclusive distinctions, not 
 Catholic attractions ; a little less rigid than they in theology and 
 social habits, a little more so in worship ; in fact, held by the world 
 as in a kind of unstable equilibrium between Calvinist and Unita 
 rian. There are enough who talk of the church/ but to call it 
 
82 MEMOIR OF 
 
 so in any practical sense, as having such a position or influence 
 over American character, is simply absurd. Even in comparison 
 with Rome we have far less practical efficiency ; her system acts 
 with a vigor we cannot have on the poor and half educated, and 
 men begin to fear that she may be the church of America while 
 they have no fear whatever about us. Here indeed in the east and 
 middle states we do not so fully feel the want, since our long estab 
 lishment, our wealth and social resources, satisfy us ; but in the 
 valley of the west and the larger part of our vast continent it is a 
 patent fact. It is very easy for our complacent churchmen to shut 
 their eyes, and say, we are going on very fairly as we are ; we 
 need nothing better/ The signs of the times cannot be mistaken ; 
 the Memorial does not fabricate, but speaks a profound conviction 
 of many of every party ; the movements in Convention for a new 
 order of deacons, the confessed dearth of clergy, the demand for 
 special missionary work, are proofs that the need exists and is felt. 
 It cannot be laughed down, or frowned down, or put out of sight 
 by any who, like the old Aristotelian, will not look into the tele 
 scope for fear he may see." 
 
 The following passages sum up the practical views taken by our 
 author : 
 
 " Two objects embrace the whole, the creation of a clerical order 
 for extra-parochial and missionary work, and the allowance of a 
 greater variety in our worship. This may be accomplished by an 
 increase of forms of service of more stately harmonies for solemn 
 seasons, of simpler modes for simpler uses. Or it may be done by 
 the admission of a power, duly limited, of preaching the word and 
 ministering the sacraments with less rigid enforcement of the rubric. 
 These modifications will not break down the barriers of order. No 
 material changes need be made in the ordinary service of our 
 parishes ; and in every case, while greater freedom is allowed for 
 special occasions, we should preserve the essential features of our 
 liturgy, e.g. the creeds, the absolution, the Lord s prayer, the neces 
 sary formula of the baptismal and eucharistic offices. Psalter, 
 lessons, and collects may be left open for selection. Very far are 
 we from those who would surrender our worship for random ex 
 temporizing; we want a well regulated liberty. There will be 
 those who doubt the practicability of some plans proposed by certain 
 of the Memorialists, as the admission of ministers from the Christian 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 83 
 
 bodies around us to orders with but few liturgical restrictions. Such 
 a scheme may, indeed, have a wrong as well as a right side ; yet 
 we can conceive no difficulty in making such restrictions, though 
 few, sufficient to preserve the faith and principles of the church. 
 Certainly at present our episcopate has more the aspect of a denomi 
 national peculiarity than a Catholic institution ; and we shall do 
 well to consider in what practical way we may restore its Catholic 
 function. But whatever our opinion of this or that particular, we 
 may surely, if we desire heartily some improvement, find some way 
 to accomplish it. It were poor evidence of our wisdom, if, for 
 doubt of any individual scheme, we give up altogether, all aim after 
 better things. There is ground enough to unite on if there be the 
 spirit of unity. It is this we wish to awaken, this common feeling 
 of the want, confident that it will overcome every seeming hind 
 rance ; and to this end we have written. We have therefore sought 
 to place the movement on its right ground ; to prove that it is no 
 radical effort but a sound one to uphold the church. That claim 
 we urge, not on the plea of worldly expediency; God forbid that 
 we prostitute His cause to the base level of modern competition ! 
 but as a wisdom based on truth and justice. We affirm it false to 
 the divine character of the church to stand before the world in any 
 other than this Catholic position ; we deny emphatically our right 
 to enforce on every man, as the essential condition of entering our 
 communion, conformity to our whole prescribed ritual. It matters 
 not if it approve itself to a cultivated taste ; it matters not if men 
 should accept it for essentials although they love not its secondary 
 forms. The church cannot compel assent, but she does so virtually, 
 so far as lies in her power, by imposing on all alike these restric 
 tions. Her duty is to provide largely for all. We do not speak 
 here as reformers, but as churchmen to churchmen. If we be a 
 sect, if we want only a sectarian system for a class of certain tastes 
 and habits, we are justified. The Presbyterian is right in demand 
 ing subscription to his catechism and covenant; the Baptist is right 
 in enforcing immersion and close communion ; for each is and 
 claims to be only a sect. If we be like them we may follow them, 
 but if we be a branch of the church Catholic, we must show our 
 Catholicity." 
 
 We must now close, but not without returning our thanks to the 
 very able writer for the capable style and generous spirit in which 
 
84 MEMOIR OF 
 
 he has dealt with this great question. And we can have at least 
 the consolation that if the memorial does not extend the boundaries 
 of our communion, it will bind in closer union elements in her very 
 heart which are not the least earnest and efficient in her composition. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Dr. Johnson said that the best rule was never to be solitary when 
 idle, or idle w 7 hen solitary. A late writer very happily gives another 
 phase of this same truth, when he says, " Solitary thought corrodes 
 the mind, if it be not blended with social activity ; and social 
 activity produces a restless craving for excitement, if it be not 
 blended with solitary thought." 
 
 X. 
 
 For the minister to say, "You have no right to private judg 
 ment yourself, therefore form the private judgment that the Church 
 is the infallible judge, and surrender to it your conscience," is the 
 same as for the Sexton to say to the corpse, " My dear friend, you 
 are entirely dead, so jump into the grave and kill yourself." If 
 the man is dead, he cannot bury himself if he can bury himself 
 he is alive. If he has no power of forming an opinion, his sub 
 mission to the church is a nullity ; if he has the power of submis 
 sion to the church, he has the right of private judgment. The 
 advocate for "church principles," first states an untruth, then 
 admits it to be so, and then advises a spiritual felo-de-se. 
 
 XI. 
 
 You cannot recollect the differences of old days. Then, intole 
 rance was social rather than theological, now it is theological rather 
 than social. Then the evangelical man was tolerable as a church 
 man, but not as a man ; now he is tolerable as a man but not as a 
 churchman. 
 
 XII. 
 
 You, I mean parents, teachers as well as preachers make a 
 great mistake in presenting reproof by pressure instead of by punc 
 ture. Truth may be shot into the system through a pin hole, but 
 it cannot be forced into it even by the weight of a mill-stone 
 Martial s famous couplet I think bears here : 
 
 " An epigram isjike a bee, a thing 
 Of little size, with honey and a sting." 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 85 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Lady Blessington, herself one of the most demoralizing and 
 demoralized of this world s votaries, gives us the following as one 
 of the golden rules of the religion of which she was a prime 
 minister : 
 
 "Be prosperous and happy, never require our services, and we 
 will remain your friends. This is not what society says, but it is 
 the principle on which it acts." 
 
 Now see the contrast in our Gospel : 
 
 " BLESSED BE GOD, EVEN THE FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS 
 CHRIST, THE FATHER OF MERCIES, AND THE GOD OF ALL 
 
 COMFORT, WHO COMFORTETH US IN ALL OUR TRIBULATIONS, 
 THAT WE MAY BE ABLE TO COMFORT THEM WHICH ARE IN ANY 
 TROUBLE." 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Consider that if we repent each night for each day s sins, when 
 the night of death conies, we will have but one day s sins to 
 repent of. 
 
 RUBRICAL RELAXATION. DR. MUHLENBERG S PAMPHLET. 
 
 We are glad to be able to state that among a number of commu 
 nications received by us on the subject of Dr. Muhlenberg s pam 
 phlet, and the positions assumed by us in respect thereto, there has 
 not as yet been one which dissents from the general views we have 
 expressed on this important issue. And without pretending to 
 speak for that portion of the " High" Church party (and we are 
 glad to say that it forms no inconsiderable fraction, either as to 
 numbers or weight), which agrees with the main features of the 
 memorial, we feel authorized to say that among our clergy and 
 laity south of the Hudson who fall under the name of evangelical 
 there is almost an entire unanimity in the belief that the agitation 
 of the subject in the shape proposed is in itself a great benefit to 
 the Church for which she is peculiarly indebted to the noble and 
 unselfish spirit of Dr. Muhlenberg himself, and of those who have 
 acted with him. So far as concerns the liberty asked for in his 
 exposition, the opinion is equally decided that it should be granted, 
 if not by the repeal of those rubrics which stand in the way, at 
 
86 MEMOIR OF 
 
 least by the general recognition of the principle that they are only 
 obligatory in the performance of public worship in organize/! con 
 gregations on Sunday on occasions of morning and afternoon ser 
 vice. With regard to the legislation suggested by Dr. Muhlenberg, 
 and particularly with regard to his views as to the consolidation of 
 the discretionary power of dispensation in the Bishops instead of its 
 dispersion among the parochial clergy, we are at liberty to speak in 
 less decisive terms, and we would feel more difficulty still in con 
 nection with the views of the much honored author on the subject 
 of the communication of our peculiar orders to other Protestant 
 communions upon the terms he suggests. But these are in truth 
 extraneous to the main point at issue, and as to that point we have 
 no manner of hesitation. Our Church, to penetrate the inland, to 
 reach this village on the mountain side, or that valley whose dis 
 persed population have to be first broken to the preaching of the 
 Gospel by a process analogous to that of the Sunday school, must 
 reduce her service so as to enable her to ascend channels whose very 
 first bar she would be unable to surmount in her full liturgical 
 armament. We have already noticed as an illustration of the 
 absurdity of this course the exploits of the late (English) explor 
 ing African expedition which, after having at great expense 
 equipped a squadron to ascend the great inland rivers of that bar 
 barous country, found themselves obliged to sail back again, when 
 they had scarcely passed the seaboard, because they had neglected to 
 carry with them smaller craft which would be able to surmount 
 shoals which the heavy armed and gallantly equipped ships were 
 unable to pass. We are doing just the same thing. Undoubtedly 
 it is a spectacle of great sublimity to see our Church with all her 
 sails set in the full pomp and grandeur of her liturgical apparel, 
 bearing it away on a free sea, and in the glory of the morning sun. 
 We will join with Dr. Berrian in all his expressions of admira 
 tion at this ; and we will go beyond him in our earnest aspirations 
 that that noble flag, with the cross wrought into it by martyrs 
 and confessors hands, may be carried further and still further, 
 bravely and still more bravely, till the remotest heathen coast has 
 acknowledged its presence and felt its blessing. But we must 
 protest against regarding that gallant gospel ship as a mere piece 
 of pageantry, and in considering that religion consists in keeping 
 her at home in her full holiday trappings, and then taking out the 
 
DE. FRANCIS WHARTON. 87 
 
 rest in voluble though inert admiration of her inglorious splendor. 
 And we must protest also against such an impossibility as attempt 
 ing to ascend our mountain streams or navigate our inland rivers 
 with such an equipment and in such a style as this. OUR CHURCH, 
 and it is worth while to notice it, HAS WITH A VERY FEW EX 
 CEPTIONS, OHIO BEING THE CHIEF ONE, NO SELF-SUPPORTING 
 EXISTENCE BEYOND THE SEABOARD. The Missionary reports 
 show this. And if we examine the exception, with any careful 
 ness, we will find that they fall within two classes, (1.) Where 
 there is a congregation of ready-made Episcopalians emigrated 
 from the East, (2.) where the minister adopting the common law 
 interpretation rather than the statutory text, adapts our service to 
 the people as the only means of adapting the people to our service. 
 It is just for this right we contend. As a matter of taste it is 
 more than likely that we would agree with our eastern co-tempora 
 ries in desiring that the service as performed in our city congrega 
 tions at present, should continue in future to be performed, with 
 the exception, perhaps, of the change incident to a revision of the 
 lessons, and the option to the minister to begin on Communion 
 Sundays with the Litany or the Ante-Communion service. But 
 with regard to missionary Agencies, and to informal services even 
 in our thickly settled parishes, we believe that the present supposed 
 rubrical restrictions should be broken down, and that there should 
 be that full liberty allowed which is refused by no Church in 
 Christendom but our own. And we believe that we do not speak 
 without warrant when we say that these views are concurred in by 
 the entire body of that portion of our communion, at least south 
 and west of the Hudson, with which we have been for so many 
 years identified. 
 
 A PILGRIMAGE TO SEBASTOPOL. HOW TO FIND IT. 
 
 MESSRS. EDITORS : We cannot but express most warmly our 
 pleasure at your noble stand on behalf of our English brethren now 
 fighting for the right before the walls of Sebastopol. But why do 
 you stop here ? Have you not a word to say in behalf of Miss 
 Nightingale, Miss Sellon, and those other true-hearted ladies who 
 are now in the same camp, exposed to equal dangers (of climate, 
 infections, etc.), visiting the sick ? I speak only for many when I 
 
88 MEMOIR OF 
 
 say that so noble an example has fired many a heart among their 
 American countrywomen with a desire to share with those sisters 
 of mercy their cross by the stormy Crimea, and then take part in 
 their heavenly crown. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 [We are glad to hear that A e and those with whom she has 
 
 conferred are " fired" with so good a purpose. There is no reason 
 why the motive power of enthusiasm should be surrendered entirely 
 to the world. There is no reason why a Christian should stand 
 shivering at the brink of a rivulet over which lies a little skimmed 
 ice, when the man of business or the man of pleasure, to get at his 
 object, will construct an ice-boat that will hew through a frozen 
 
 river. We are glad, therefore, that A e has enthusiasm enough 
 
 to desire to go to Sebastopol. But we will tell her a secret. She 
 is mistaken in her geography. Sebastopol, at least our Sebastopol, 
 is not " by the stormy Crimea." The fact is that there are more 
 than one Sebastopol in existence, two or three of which are in our 
 immediate reach ; and in order to give our correspondent and her 
 friends as little trouble as possible in finding them, we will give 
 them the following sketches by which they will not fail to identify 
 the Sebastopols to which we refer : 
 
 A. There is a large house by the side of a river, with a white 
 palace-like front, very much like the President s house at Washing 
 ton, where an army of the sick and wretched are collected. Bands 
 of pious women and men are organized under the Union Benevo 
 lent Society to visit and succor these. If A e would find this 
 
 Sebastopol difficult of access, and we do not recommend it to 
 all, clothing or money or stores will be thankfully received and 
 faithfully appropriated by that excellent institution. 
 
 B. Near the juncture of the Reading Rail Road and Front 
 Street, in Philadelphia, in an old-fashioned country-seat-looking 
 white building, for it was once a country-seat in reality, is a 
 hospital where in the course of a year one thousand of the sick 
 are relieved by out-door attendance, and hundreds are admitted 
 to beds to be faithfully and kindly treated until recovery or death 
 relieves them. This Sebastopol can be particularly recommended 
 to A 8 and her friends, because 1st, donations of books and 
 
DK. FRANCIS WHABTON. 89 
 
 garments are here particularly valuable and most needed ; 2d, 
 visits of mercy and tenderness to the female wards can be organ 
 ized under the Bishop and Chaplain with peculiar ease and deli 
 cacy ; and 3d, the institution has extraordinary claims to such 
 attention from the fact that it is the only hospital in our city 
 where Protestant Religious Services are secured, and is at the 
 same time the only hospital at all which is conveniently accessible 
 to a population of at least one hundred thousand souls. 
 
 C. We come last to a multitude of Sebastopols still more easy 
 
 of access. A e and her associates, in order to find them, have 
 
 only to go home. And here indeed we would particularly recom 
 mend those who would follow Miss Nightingale and Miss Sellon 
 to go. It is true that there are cases where hearths have been so 
 dismantled and made desolate by the storms of affliction that there 
 is no home left. The discolored and decaying leaves that mat the 
 damp earth may be all that remains to tell of the luxuriant foliage 
 that once sheltered from the summer s sun as well as gave beauty 
 and home-feeling to the scene. Death or misfortune or that disen 
 tangling hand which so often unravels the web of relationship, 
 dividing those who once sat around the same hearth by hundreds 
 of miles, may have come to throw the eye outward, and to make 
 it seek occupation and find duty elsewhere. In such cases God 
 himself leads the way to such objects as we have noticed, and 
 though that way is sharp and rugged, blasted out, as it were, 
 from the solid rock by His Divine wrath, yet is easily found. 
 But home is more frequently within reach of us all a spot where 
 we can exert ourselves either to do or suffer for the good of others. 
 
 " The common round, the daily task 
 Should give us all we ought to ask, 
 Room to deny ourselves the road, 
 To lead us daily on to God."] 
 
90 MEMOIR OF 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 VISIT TO EUROPE IN 1859. 
 TO MRS. T. I. WHARTON. 
 
 " STEAMSHIP FULTON, 
 July 1st, 1859. 
 
 " MY DEAR MOTHER : 
 
 " I am taking a moment of calm to write you a few lines which 
 will be mailed from Havre. After leaving you in Philadelphia I 
 had a very pleasant journey to New York. I drove at once to the 
 Anthons, whom I found very kind. They were all at home, and 
 I spent all that evening with them in cheerful talk about old times. 
 I was very sorry that I could not get up to see the Stoutenbergs, 
 and that I had not time to visit Sarah. But I was kept all Friday 
 in arranging business matters, about passports, etc., and on Satur 
 day I had only time to write a few business letters, and get down 
 to the steamship. 
 
 " Twelve o clock was our hour for starting, and sometime before 
 that hour the passengers were collected. I found Mrs. McEuen 
 and Miss Ashhurst with two or three of the Ashhurst boys. The 
 only other Philadelphiaus were Mrs. Dana, a very intelligent 
 woman with a great deal of cultivation, her son, a boy of fifteen 
 or sixteen, and George Biddle, with another Philadelphia lawyer, 
 Mr. Junkin. There are about one hundred and fifty passengers 
 on board, but they are greatly divided among themselves, forming 
 about equal parties of Americans, of Frenchmen, of Germans, and 
 of Spaniards. The French and the Germans are anything but 
 inclined to fraternize, and this coolness spreads itself among the 
 passengers generally. Prominent among the Germans is Karl 
 Formes, a great opera-singer and actor, and at the same time an 
 enthusiastic German patriot. You have no idea of the vehement 
 antagonism of the Germans to the French. Napoleon they look 
 upon with perfect detestation. The French gentlemen have taken 
 possession of the large room at the stern of the boat, into which the 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 91 
 
 Germans, notwithstanding their fondness for cigars, which here are 
 the staple, never intrude. On the other hand, when Karl Formes, 
 the great singer, sang some of his finest songs yesterday evening, 
 very few if any of the French attended. 
 
 " I was very fortunate in my state-room. The lower half of it 
 was kept, in response to a telegram from Baltimore, but when the 
 day came for sailing the applicant did not make his appearance. 
 The consequence is that I have had the whole room to myself. So 
 far the weather is delightful. I must now close, my dear mother. 
 
 With much love believe me ever yours, 
 
 F. W." 
 
 "BERLIN, Sept. 6, 1859. 
 
 " MY DEAR EMILY : 
 
 " I did not arrive here until last night, and did not get your 
 letter and Henry s telling me of Kate s illness until this morning. 
 I need not tell you how deeply I felt all you said. My trust and 
 hope is that by this time Kate and the boy are quite well. To 
 morrow or next day I expect letters giving me her condition after 
 the llth. I suppose by this time you are back in Phila., having 
 been to Gambier. 
 
 " I am now settled here for a month, and hope to master the 
 German language finally. Mr. Griffin has joined me, and we have 
 taken rooms where we have all the comforts of a private house. 
 In this way hotel expenses are reduced one-half. In Dresden you 
 can get a suite of furnished rooms, five or six in number, for about 
 fifty dollars a month. No one there occupies a whole house, and 
 the best families merely rent a suite of rooms. As to education it 
 is very low. I had a sort of tutor-secretary who came every 
 afternoon and spent three hours with me at a fabulously low rate. 
 The table expenses are also much smaller than in Philadelphia. I 
 suppose this is the reason why many American and English fami 
 lies come here to live. I am sure of one thing, that people can live 
 in a refined way, up to the average of refined people at home, 
 cheaper here than in America. Thus I think that $1200 a year 
 would go much farther here in keeping up appearances. But for 
 comfort, I do not think they come up to the way we live. And I 
 think $3000 or $4000 a year purchases really more in America 
 than in Europe. Then again Gambier is much cheaper in the 
 
92 MEMOIR OF 
 
 price of provisions than even Munich. I have no doubt, however, 
 that Dresden is a far more economical place than Paris. 
 
 " I have written so often to Gam bier and Philadelphia that I 
 now feel almost like resting a little while. I have had a letter 
 from Bishop Bedell saying that he accepts my offer to make my 
 house his home between November and January. 
 
 " I write with great haste to save the steamer and remain ever yrs. 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 TO MRS. SINKLER. 
 
 BERLIN, Sept. 18, 1859. 
 
 " MY DEAR EMILY : 
 
 . . . " I shall stay here decidedly the most agreeable place I 
 have yet visited until about October 10th. Then I go to Italy 
 again, then to Paris, and wind up in England. My passage I shall 
 take in the Arago for Dec. 13. 
 
 " I expect to bring Lizzie over some very good music. There is 
 a young man here, an American, one of the most splendid per 
 formers in Berlin, who is going to make the selection for me. I 
 am very glad the boys are going to spend the winter with me. 
 
 "Mr. Griffin is with me, and has entirely recovered. For 
 myself, I have not had a headache worth speaking of since I sailed. 
 
 " My own belief is, that if you mean to visit Europe for the chil 
 dren s sake, there is but one place and .that is Dresden. Switzer 
 land is as dear as Paris, and Paris is one big cheat and falsehood. 
 But here and at Dresden educational facilities are great, and every 
 thing is astonishingly cheap. Let me tell you of my yesterday s 
 dinner, premising that the cooking is delightful. 
 
 Soup 2 cents. 
 
 Roast mutton and potatoes . . 6 " 
 
 Mushrooms . . . . 3 " 
 
 Partridge 8 " 
 
 Pudding (very good) . . 4 " 
 
 Compote 3 " 
 
 Total 24 cents. 
 
 " Your dinner varies in this way from ten to thirty cents, and 
 you can take either of the dishes singly. 
 
 " I can write but little now, for I am immersed in work, getting 
 material for my book, etc. So, with love to Charles and the chil 
 dren, I am ever yr s. 
 
 "F. W." 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTOJS". 93 
 
 
 
 TO MRS. THOMAS I. WHARTON. 
 
 "BELFAST, Oct. 11, 1859. 
 " MY DEAR MOTHER : 
 
 .... a I have been spending a few days in the north and middle 
 of Scotland, where I have met with the warmest and kindest recep 
 tion. I have had numerous invitations from literary and religious 
 quarters. "On Saturday last I lectured at Glasgow (the largest city 
 in Scotland) to a large audience of young men. The revivaT 
 among the Scotch is very remarkable, and whole villages are pros 
 trated with a sense of sin. Half a dozen daily prayer-meetings 
 are held in Glasgow. Mr. Hindt, the Episcopal minister there, 
 told me that while he was preaching twenty or thirty persons would 
 be i struck down/ that is to say, would fall senseless, or almost 
 senseless, on the floor. In many instances these signs would be 
 followed by solid conversions. He discourages these bodily mani 
 festations very much, and has succeeded in almost entirely repress 
 ing the physical excitement. The crowd at his church, however, 
 is immense. I was there last Sunday evening, and had to go an 
 hour before hand, in order to get a seat. There was only one 
 case of prostration, and that not very distressing. But here in 
 Ireland things are in an extraordinary condition. In one little 
 village near here ten tavern-keepers have been obliged to give up 
 from the want of custom. This great city seems really overawed 
 with religious feeling. To be sure there are very extraordinary 
 religious accidents. But notwithstanding these, the Protestant 
 Bishop, and a large body of his clergy, have given in their adhesion 
 to the revival meetings. I hope to remain here a few days and 
 understand the state of things more fully. After that, I go to 
 England, D. V., and then to Italy. I am preparing a little book 
 
 of curiosities for you which I really think you will relish 
 
 " Ever yours, affectionately, 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 TO MRS. SINKLER. 
 
 "HAVRE, Oct. 25, 1859. 
 
 " MY DEAR EMILY : 
 
 " I am writing a few lines in this place, where I am waiting for 
 the train. I left England last night, having spent a most pleasant 
 fortnight there, and you can form little idea of the real kindness I 
 
94 MEMOIR OF 
 
 met with. I have written to mother to say in general how much 
 hospitality I received. Let me describe a day at Oxford, one at 
 Cambridge, and one .at London. Take my first day at Oxford. 
 First, old Dr. McBride, the principal of Magdalen Hall, and one 
 of the most distinguished men in the University, took me to see all 
 the leading sights. Then I lunched with Mr. Litton, the author 
 of the book on the Church, and quite a leading thinker. Then I 
 dined at Mr. Golightly s, where I met a number of distinguished 
 people. The next day Mr. Mansel (I suppose the greatest English 
 metaphysician living) fairly took me to live with him, and I was 
 perched up, in the afternoon, in one of the Chapel stalls, among all 
 the dignitaries, in the exquisitely ecclesiological and antiphonal 
 chapel of St. Magdalen. Then for Cambridge. The afternoon 
 I arrived there I was dined and then wined by the fellows of 
 Caius College. Next morning I was breakfasted by Mr. Clayton, 
 Simeon s successor. That evening I left for London, where I found 
 the same kindness. Thus on Saturday I paid a very agreeable 
 visit to the Archbishop of Canterbury at his country-seat, who 
 gave me a volume just published by him, with his autograph 
 inside. I then dined with a Mr. Walker at a very beautiful park 
 in the same neighborhood, and spent the night with Mr. Silver, 
 who has another place near by. I ought not to forget that I 
 lunched and spent the greater part of Friday with Miss Marsh, the 
 authoress. 
 
 " I have just taken my passage in the ( Arago. I am delighted 
 at the prospect of paying a quiet visit to Mary at St. Germain s, 
 from Nov. 25th to Dec. 12th, and then of returning home. I am 
 excessively weary of travelling, and what makes it worse, my head 
 aches have returned. I wish I did not have to make this Italian 
 journey ; but it seems absurd to be in Europe without going to 
 Rome, and so I hurry on. 
 
 " I have not heard from you since you left Gambier, though 
 Joe, Tip, Hamilton, and Ohl have all written to me. I sympathize 
 deeply with poor Charlie in his being obliged to sit in the baggage- 
 car on his way to Mansfield, and trust that he is now fairly rid of 
 this ostracizing complaint. 
 
 " I am sorry to say Mr. Dallas, who has been very kind to me, 
 thinks that the relations between England and America are very 
 precarious. Lord Palmerston, it seems, has hurried off a fleet of 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 95 
 
 steam-frigates to St. Juan. His colleagues, however, hold him in 
 check, and it is questionable whether he can carry a majority of 
 them into any measures which will necessitate a collision. Mr. 
 Dallas says that Lord Palmerston personally is very irritating 
 towards America very different from his conservative predecessors, 
 who were very pacific and conciliatory. 
 
 " The preaching of the English Church is, I think, above the 
 average of ours. Their sermons appear more effective, chiefly be 
 cause they do not use notes. I must stop now. 
 
 " With love, ever y rs, 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 "SCOTCH EPISCOPALIANS SCHISMATIC A SECT. 
 
 "LONDON, July 24, 1859. 
 
 " A very significant debate took place in the House of Commons 
 on the 13th instant. A Mr. Grieve, a Scotch Episcopal clergy 
 man, petitioned for a private Act of Parliament to authorize him 
 to officiate in the established Church of England. It was admitted 
 that by the law as it stood, Scotch Episcopal orders did not enable 
 parties receiving them to hold Anglican preferments. It was urged, 
 however, that there were many precedents of private enabling acts 
 such as the present. It was pretty soon seen, however, that the 
 question was largely affected by doctrinal sympathies. For the bill 
 were arrayed the Puseyites and the Nothingarians, against it was 
 the entire Protestant interest. I give notes of one or two of the 
 speeches : 
 
 " Sir A. Agnew complained that in the bill Dr. Skinner was 
 designated as Bishop of Aberdeen an innovation he thought 
 highly objectionable. 
 
 " Mr. Steuart said the bill was presented to the house under 
 extraordinary circumstances. They were called upon to deal with 
 this case through the medium of a private bill, and not to take it 
 up as a principle, and seeking to embody it in a general measure. 
 It should be borne in mind that Mr. Grieve had fallen under the 
 censure of the Bishop of the Diocese in which he had been located. 
 He was a Sacramentarian of the most decided views and it was not 
 right that he should be permitted to disseminate in England views 
 condemned in Scotland. He should move that the bill be read a 
 second time that day three months. 
 
96 MEMOIR OF 
 
 " Mr. S. Estcourt said they had passed similar bills, under 
 similar circumstances, and it might seem hard upon an individual 
 that they should suddenly turn round after he had been put to 
 considerable expense in bringing his case to that stage, though he 
 granted that matters of this sort would be dealt with better by 
 general acts of Parliament. If the bill were allowed to pass its 
 present stage it might be sent before a committee. 
 
 " Mr. Newdegate said the case stood so that this gentleman 
 came before them in connection with the Episcopal Church of 
 Scotland, standing condemned in that Church by one of its chief 
 authorities, and through this peculiarity he was induced to come 
 before Parliament. He thought it was doubtful whether any of 
 these applications should be granted ; the Episcopal Church of 
 Scotland was not an established Church, and its formularies and 
 articles were not identical with those of the Church of England. 
 Great difficulties, however, stood in the way of a general measure, 
 and the house ought to be very careful in dealing with the question. 
 
 " ( Mr. Bouverie said it was time for them to stop passing these 
 bills, which were of an entirely exceptional character. 
 
 " Lord J. Manners (Puseyite young England) said that the hon 
 orable member for North Warwickshire (Mr. Newdegate) seemed 
 to think that this gentleman had been censured for some matter of 
 doctrine. Now that was not the case. The whole complaint 
 against him was that he declined to pronounce an opinion in a case 
 in which only one side had been heard. Althougli there was no 
 doubt that the Bishop in question did write the letter of censure, it 
 was also true that the same Bishop had afterwards written a letter 
 in which he spoke of Mr. Grieve in the highest possible terms. 
 The question before the house was whether,, upon the statements 
 made upon the one side, which were rebutted on the other, they 
 were prepared to refuse to an individual who had already incurred 
 a large expense in prosecuting his bill before the House of Lords, 
 that license and that liberty which Parliament had assented to in 
 numerous instances under precisely analogous circumstances. He 
 held that it would be unfair to withhold that relief now which had 
 been given in similar cases. He should therefore assent to the 
 second reading. 
 
 " Mr. Roebuck (Nothingarian) said it struck him that a fair 
 statement of the case had not as yet been made. The member for 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 97 
 
 Kilmarnock (Mr. Bouverie) stated that he objected to any devia 
 tion from a general law which was a good law. He agreed with 
 him in that objection. But what was the fact ? There were two 
 classes of men before the consideration of this house first, the 
 Catholic priest, and secondly the Episcopalian clergyman. Now, 
 what did they do with the Catholic priest ? They acknowledged 
 his ordination the moment one of them called himself a clergyman 
 of the Church of England, and he was allowed to take the benefit 
 of it. But with the Protestant Episcopalian clergy of Scotland 
 they did no such thing. When an Episcopalian clergyman declared 
 himself to be a member of the Church of England he was com 
 pelled to go to the Protestant Bishop to be re-ordained. He 
 believed that the real objection to this particular gentleman was 
 that he was unlike a Catholic priest. This was a law considered 
 to be most unfair towards our Protestant Episcopalian brethren of 
 Scotland. Being a thorough advocate for the principle of free 
 trade in religion, as well as in everything else, he was of opinion 
 , what was a rule for the Catholic priest ought to be also a rule for 
 the Protestant Episcopalian of the Church of Scotland. 
 
 " Lord Palmerston wished to state in a few words the grounds 
 upon which he should give his vote in opposition to this bill. He 
 quite concurred with his right honorable friend near him that the 
 discussion upon the merits of the law as it now stood might be 
 fairly remitted to a committee of inquiry into the whole subject 
 namely, whether the present law should or should not be altered or 
 in some degree modified. But there was on the general principle 
 a great objection to the passing of private bills establishing excep 
 tions to a particular law. Although he regretted that the reverend 
 gentleman in question should have, been put to such great expense 
 in this matter, he nevertheless thought it was time to stop those 
 private bills, which seemed to express a censure of the existing law. 
 He was of opinion that it might be desirable to appoint a committee 
 to inquire whether the law should be altered or not. 
 " The house then divided 
 
 For the second reading . . . .84 
 
 Against it 232 
 
 Majority against the 2d reading 148 
 
 "So it is that even special permission w T ill not be given to a 
 Scotch Tractarian to officiate in the Church of England. As to a 
 7 
 
98 MEMOIR OF 
 
 general law permitting free trade in this respect, the large majority 
 above given shows that there is no prospect of such a measure pass 
 ing unless coupled with a provision for a like interchange with the 
 other reformed churches. 
 
 a How is it, I may ask, with our American Church in this 
 respect ? Did we not act inadvertently in swallowing in a gulp 
 the Scotch Episcopal orders? We were then, it is true, in the 
 turmoil of our own organic construction ; but this affords no objec 
 tion to our reconsidering the question now that a period of leisure 
 has arrived. Independently of this, the validity of the Scotch 
 orders is still an open question on which each individual Bishop 
 must decide. Those orders, as is well known, were always dis 
 puted by the English Church. Consecration was refused to Bishop 
 White, Bishop Provoost, and Bishop Madison, until they engaged 
 to permit Bishop Seabury (who held the Scotch succession only), 
 to join in no consecration of succeeding Bishops with them, unless 
 he became a mere superfluity from the attendance of three Bishops 
 of the Anglican line. This pledge was religiously kept. The con 
 sequence was that Bishop Seabury s orders are no more an integral 
 part of our own, than those of Mar Yohaunan, a supposed Syrian 
 Bishop, who, it may be recollected, flourished in some of our Con 
 ventions and ordinations some years back. If, as is maintained in 
 England, the Scotch orders are insufficient from a break in the 
 succession, the Scotch clergymen stand on the same footing with 
 the Methodists. Their orders are merely Presbyterian. I see no 
 objection to their being admitted to our pulpits, provided they sub 
 scribe to our formularies. But I think that as they cannot be dis 
 tinguished on principle from other ministers of Presbyterian ordi 
 nation, the measure that admits the one should be comprehensive 
 enough to admit the other/ 7 
 
 "PARIS. 
 
 " Even the Louvre does not collect a greater crowd than the 
 pictures of Ary Scheffer, now on exhibition in the Boulevard des 
 Italiens. To Protestants, in particular, they have claims which the 
 Romish altar-pieces, at least, do not possess. The latter may be 
 idols; the former are commentaries. Take as an illustration of 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 99 
 
 the former the famous picture of the Conception by Murillo, a 
 picture for which the French government paid over $100,000 at 
 the sale of Marshal Soult s gallery. I pass the exquisite delicacy 
 of this picture, a delicacy made still more refined by the haziness 
 the Indian-summerishness of atmosphere with which the color 
 ing is invested. But with all this, we cannot rid ourselves of the 
 idea of a sort of gross and common idolatry which underlies this 
 as well as all other pictures of the class. Angels are hovering 
 round the Madonna, paying to her all sorts of obeisances, while 
 the general tone of humility in her lovely countenance is not un 
 mixed with an expression of dramatic condescension. How dif 
 ferent it is with Ary Scheffer s picture of Mary at the moment 
 where Jesus, after the resurrection, said unto her, Mary/ The 
 face is purely human. It is that of one faint and pale with watch 
 ing and grief. But is also that of one seized with sudden and 
 delighted surprise. There is an immediateness about the expression 
 that is very extraordinary. In other paintings the faces look as if 
 they had looked in the same way for an almost indefinite period 
 before. Even Murillo s virgin seems as if she had regularly com 
 posed herself for an audience with the angels. But here we can 
 almost hear the lips, in the ecstasy of sudden recognition, cry, 
 Rabboni, that is to say, master ! It is this naturalness that 
 gives to Scheifer s paintings so much of the exegetical character. 
 And w T ith but one exception, which I may notice hereafter, the 
 tone of this commentary is entirely in accordance with Evangelical 
 teaching. 
 
 " With some of Scheffer s pictures I have no doubt that you are 
 already acquainted. Christus- Consolator/ and Christus Remu- 
 nerator/ have found their way into so many print-shops that they 
 have been accepted by not a few of our countrymen as among the 
 truest expositions of Christian ethics. 
 
 " These do not appear in the present collection, though we 
 scarcely feel their loss when we gaze at the noble body of paintings 
 which remain. Prominent among these is Christ tempted in the 
 wilderness, which arrests the eye as you enter the room. The 
 conception of Satan, to my mind, is not only very forcible, but 
 very new. Two general notions of Satan have run through our 
 schools of art. The first is that of Milton, in which the fallen 
 angel is painted as grand, austere and chivalric, retaining in all his 
 
100 MEMOIR OF 
 
 fierce and implacable resistance to the Most High, all the attributes 
 which we might invoke to grace a human prince who is conquered 
 yet not subdued. On the other hand we have the Mephistopheles 
 of Goethe, who is mean, malignant and petty ; and who, instead 
 of being as his Miltonic predecessor is, a gentlemanly rebel, is 
 guilty of all sorts of small treacheries to men, while innocent of 
 any grand scheme of resistance to God. I think that Scheffer s 
 Satan is .of a distinct and far more scriptural type. His nature is 
 double. It is not merely the human rebel sublimated to the 
 angelic, as with Milton, nor the angelic dwarfed to the lowest 
 grade of the human, as with Goethe, but it is the angelic and 
 human co-existing, as two parallel natures, like two slides of a magic 
 lantern, the two throwing together on the canvas their united and 
 yet at the same time their distinct images. Thus we have it is true 
 the fierce and in one sense unselfish animosity of the fiend for it 
 is an animosity which an infinitely foreseeing nature must know to 
 be bootless coupled with the weakness of the human. Of the 
 latter Scheifer gives us in this picture a remarkable trait in the 
 expression of passionate entreaty which grows .over the face of the 
 fallen angel as he makes his last request." 
 
 " NEGRO BISHOPS FOR AFRICA. 
 
 " You have already noticed Bishop Bowen s death. He fell a 
 victim, undoubtedly, to a malignant tropical fever which desolates 
 the part of Africa in which was his Diocese. His death was not 
 unexpected to himself, and scarcely so to the Church. On this a 
 Correspondent of the Times makes a very strong appeal against 
 sending forth any more white missionaries to this part of Africa. 
 In this the world heartily concurs. And yet the same number of 
 the Times contains abundant notices of commercial movements to 
 the same climates, each movement, no doubt, abundantly provided 
 with white officers. The Christian then, is to withhold those 
 sacrifices for the next life, which the man of the world thinks a 
 matter of course for this. But what proof do we give of our 
 religious convictions if we permit obstacles to hold us back, which 
 the worshippers of mammon treat as of no account ? 
 
 F. W." 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 101 
 
 "MR. SPURGEON AND HIS PREACHING TO US. 
 
 " LONDON, il^y (?>J 859. ^ 
 
 "From Westminster bridge to Surrey Garctens, a distance > *)f 
 about two miles, may be seen streaming every Sunday^ m^rning j a ; 
 procession of thousands who are on their way to the hall where 
 Mr. Spurgeon holds service. When there, the scene, to an Ameri 
 can eye, is very striking. The hall itself is situated in a large 
 public garden. One hour before the time the several entrances 
 are surrounded by a dense crowd. As you come closer, however, 
 you observe that the crowd divides ; one-half of it remains outside 
 until thirty-five minutes before ten, when the hall is open to the 
 public generally. The other half, by the payment of a shilling, 
 obtains admission to certain preferred seats, which in fact occupy 
 about one-half of the entire building. 
 
 " Let us enter, however, with the former class, at about a quarter 
 after ten. The services do not begin until eleven, and yet we find 
 at least five thousand people are in their seats. Each minute adds 
 hundreds, until at last, when the period arrives for the admission 
 of the public generally, the immense edifice, capable of holding 
 from eight to ten thousand, is thoroughly crowded. 
 
 "The first view reminds us of Concert Hall, in the city of 
 Philadelphia, as it was when occupied by the congregation of the 
 Church of the Covenant. So far as concerns the general aspect 
 of the building, as well as that of the congregation, there is at 
 the first sight no difference. But soon one or two distinguishing 
 features unfold themselves. The room on Surrey Gardens is twice 
 the size of that on Chestnut street, and it has three large galleries. 
 And besides this there is one noticeable distinction as to manners. 
 There is no superiority of rank recognized in the female sex in 
 England. In America, we all know that it is enough I think 
 rightly so, supposing a man to be in health sufficient to be able to 
 stand through the service for a woman to stop and look at a pew 
 full of men, in which case the pew instantly disgorges itself. In 
 England the men, in such a case, not only never budge, but appear 
 entirely unconcerned. In fact, if there be a discrimination, it is 
 against the female sex. * Is there room for another on your bench? 7 
 inquired one of the church officers. Not for a lady was the 
 reply, and the only two things that excused it were that it was 
 
102 MEMOIR OF 
 
 given by a lady herself, and that the present feminine costume in 
 England as well, as in America, takes double the ordinary sitting 
 room. V */" v 
 
 <\." UntiL the Cervices open the vast congregation waits in almost 
 feitire^siidnce. * It 4s not, however, a silence of listlessness. At 
 least one person in every three has his Bible, and many are seen 
 in diligent study. At last, however, a slight rustle is heard, and 
 in a moment the preacher stands in his pulpit. 
 
 " There is no mistaking Mr. Spurgeon by any one who has seen 
 his likenesses ; but I mast add that at the distance at which I was 
 placed from him, which was that of about half the length of the 
 hall, I did not perceive in his features that coarseness which you 
 notice in the American prints. If you were to ask to whom in 
 America he is most like, I would say, though with much hesitation, 
 to Bishop Clark, of Rhode Island, as I have occasionally seen the 
 latter when speaking from the platform. There is a general, though 
 it is true, slight resemblance of complexion and figure, and a more 
 striking one in the tone though not in the cadences of the voice. 
 
 " The service opened with a brief though rather mandatory 
 prayer, which was followed by the announcement of a hymn. 
 ( You must sing out/ was the preface, we may even shout our 
 psalms to the Lord. 7 The injunction, though given in colloquial 
 words, coupled with a sketch of the earnest singing of the great 
 meetings now holding in Wales, was uttered simply and impres 
 sively. It was obeyed. Almost every one in that immense con 
 gregation sang. The greater part were provided with books, and 
 besides this the hymn was lined. The singing was very fine, 
 though I could not but think not more earnest, than what I have 
 often heard in the lecture room of dear Gambier. But it had, 
 what of course we could not have there, a volume as of many 
 waters. The airs were very solemn and yet very catchable; unit 
 ing as do so many of our most popular tunes, the Gregorian 
 with what some of us might call the Methodist. I need not say 
 that the effect was very solemnizing. It was a far nearer approach 
 to worship with the voice as well as with the heart, than I sup 
 posed possible on the part of so large a congregation. 
 
 " I regret that I cannot speak equally highly of Mr. Spurgeou s 
 way of reading Scripture. He took the 16th chapter of Ezekiel, 
 and read a few verses, but these were smothered in a heterogeneous 
 
DE. FEANCIS WHAETON. 103 
 
 mass of commentary which was neither very deep nor very shrewd. 
 From this he passed to another hymn, then to another prayer, 
 which I thought almost as deficient as the first in the supplicatory 
 tone, and then came a sermon from the text, Ezekiel xvi. 54. 
 
 " From what I have already said you see that I am by no means 
 inclined to give Mr. Spurgeon unqualified admiration. This much, 
 however, I must now add, that for the purposes of such a vast 
 assembly as he addresses, he is the best sermonizer I have ever 
 heard. And having said this much, you will permit one, in view 
 of ihe many in our own Church whom I think a similar culture 
 might make almost equally as useful, to notice one or two of the 
 qualities by which his speaking is marked. What he says is extem 
 poraneous, so far as extemporaneousness means a disencumberment 
 from the blinders and martingale of a written sermon. But other 
 wise it is not. There is the mark of very careful preparation. 
 Underneath lies an analysis, none the less positive from its not 
 being technically mapped out. On the whole texture rests a halo 
 which leaves the impress of closet prayer as well as of closet study. 
 Nor does the preacher hesitate for either words or illustrations. 
 As it is in reference to both of these that the greatest exception is 
 taken to his preaching, in reference to them I will say one or two 
 words in detail. 
 
 " Mr. Spurgeon s language is certainly very colloquial, but by 
 no means so much so as that of Latimer and Ezekiel Hopkins, 
 whom the religious world has always endorsed, and no more so 
 than that of Kingsley, whom the literary world has promoted to 
 be its special clerical favorite. Take, for instance, the following 
 passage which I give from memory and which I select as the 
 homeliest in the whole sermon I heard. He is speaking of the 
 way in which the world criticises the inconsistent professor of 
 religion. He quotes the world as speaking somewhat as follows : 
 
 " What do you mean by charging us with pride? Have you 
 none ? Your Doctors of Divinity do they not occasionally sport 
 their titles as well as our titled men sport theirs ? You talk of 
 bearing the cross do you bear it except occasionally it be one 
 of gold ? You talk of tribulation, entering into the kingdom, but 
 if you have any it must be in secret. You talk of supercilious 
 nessare there not among yourselves sisters in satin, who consider 
 it a meritorious thing in them to worship on the same bench with 
 
104 MEMOIR OF 
 
 an unwashed laborer ? You talk of avarice are there not some 
 among you who will make thumb and finger meet on the throat 
 of a debtor until they sever his jugular vein ? 
 
 " Now had this been written for the press, it might have been 
 desirable to translate it into phrases more stately. But the preacher 
 meets his fellow men face to face, and it becomes him to use that 
 language to which men are accustomed when thus meeting. We 
 weary of an attitude which is novel to us, even though that atti 
 tude be one of attention. And besides this, in the use of homely 
 language we have the authority of Scripture and the sanction of 
 experience. What preacher of our own tongue ever held together 
 large crowds of people, who was not homely in his choice of words ? 
 
 " The same observation applies, I think, to illustrations and 
 metaphors. Of these Mr. Spurgeon s use is copious and has at 
 command extraordinary metaphors; the most insubordinate of allies 
 are subjugated and tamed by him with a completeness which is one 
 of the most extraordinary of his gifts. He ventured, in the ser 
 mon to which I refer, on a metaphor drawn from the practice of 
 the Court of Chancery, of adding from time to time different de 
 fendants by special bill. As the topic was technical, and as I never 
 heard of the speaker having had a legal education, I expected every 
 moment to see him dismount or be thrown. But it was not so, for 
 he kept his control of the metaphor until it answered his purpose, 
 which it did perfectly, and then dismissed it. 
 
 " Then with regard to illustrations. He told the following with 
 great effect. I give it as one which I think we can all apply to 
 ourselves. The object of the sermon, let it be recollected, was to 
 show the mischief of inconsistency among Christians : 
 
 " A clergyman once preached a very awakening sermon. A 
 young man who was in the congregation, was much impressed, and 
 finding that the clergyman was to walk some distance home, joined 
 him, in the hope of having some conversation as to how to be saved. 
 The clergyman was walking with several others, and instead of th e 
 conversation turning on religious matters, it was light and even 
 indecorous. Some years afterwards the clergyman was called to 
 see a dying man in an inn. As he entered the room, the dying 
 man started. i Sir/ said he, I have heard you preach. Thank 
 God for that/ said the clergyman. But, Sir/ continued the man, 
 I have heard you talk, and your talking has ruined my soul. Yes, 
 
DE. FRANCIS WHARTON. 105 
 
 Sir, do you remember that day when you preached from that text ? 
 That sermon brought conviction to my heart. But I sought a 
 conversation with you, and I walked home with you, hoping to 
 hear something about my soul s peace, but you trifled trifled 
 trifled! Yes, so you did, and I went home believing that you 
 knew all the solemn things you said in the morning were lies. 
 For years I, was an infidel, but now, now I am dying, I am one 
 no longer. But I am not saved I have hated and now hate, and 
 you did it. I will meet and accuse you before the bar of God/ 
 And so the man died. 7 
 
 "Now, you ask how was this, and passages equally solemn, 
 delivered? I answer, in a tone almost entirely conversational, 
 without a single eruption of that rant, by which our extempora 
 neous speakers sometimes break their force. It is true that Mr. 
 Spurgeon s articulation is perfect, that his voice is sweet, clear, 
 and strong, and that his cadences are such that not a single word 
 is dropped. But I am confident that by adopting the same con 
 versational, simple, earnest manner, even weak voices could be so 
 used as to equally enchain the attention. 
 
 " But, after all, I have given but a sketch of the mechanism by 
 which Mr. Spurgeon s great pulpit success is produced. The mov 
 ing power is above this. It is not genius, for to this Mr. Spurgeon 
 cannot lay claim. His gifts are certainly much above the average, 
 but still not so much so as to achieve for him distinction inde 
 pendently of the subject matter on which they act. That subject 
 matter, which he applies with such tremendous power, is the doc 
 trines of grace as taught in the articles of our own Episcopal 
 Church. And I draw from this, that if those doctrines are ex 
 pounded with equal earnestness and simplicity, like results, though 
 of course in a circle varying with the speaker s intellectual and 
 elocutionary pow r ers, will follow. 
 
 " One Avord more as to the blemish I have noticed in Mr. Spur 
 geon s services. I am clear that had a short liturgical exercise 
 taken the place of at least his main prayer, the effect would have 
 been more solemn, more devotional, more permanent. Such is the 
 usage adopted in the working men s meetings, held in Exeter Hall, 
 under the direction of the Bishop of London. Of one of these 
 meetings the most impressive service I think I have ever attended 
 
 I will speak in another letter. 
 
 "F. W." 
 
106 MEMOIR OF 
 
 "ZURICH, July 28, 1859. 
 
 "I am now almost in the centre of the diplomatic vortex by 
 which the politics of Europe are convulsed. The peace congress 
 meets here next week. Already some of its outriders have arrived. 
 On looking over the names registered in the very noble hotel where 
 I am writing the Hotel Baur Sur Lac I see at least one name 
 distinguished in former diplomatic contests. It is that of a Russian 
 princess, who, having had a good deal to do with the pacification 
 of Vienne, now is ready to take a hand at that of Zurich. And 
 let me remark that those who charge feminine strong-mindedness 
 with being an American innovation, should be reminded that it is 
 an European institution. The peace treaty which settled the origi 
 nal boundaries of Holland, after the establishment of her freedom, 
 was negotiated by women, and was called thence the ( Ladies peace. 
 That which restored Erancis I., after the battle of Pavia, was nego 
 tiated in the same way. Charles V. employed his sisters and his 
 daughters in his most important offices. And now, as in 1820, 
 ladies stand behind the nominal leaders, often directing their moves. 
 
 " Then as to the "peace itself. Writing as I now do for your 
 columns, I do not feel at liberty to view it politically, but this 
 much I may say in passing, that I still think that the preliminaries 
 are a move in advance. It is true that Italy is in a ferment of 
 irritation. It is true, also, that in England, those who were the 
 bitterest in charging the Erench Emperor with rapacity in going to 
 war, are now twitting him with his greenness in making so mode 
 rate a peace. It is true that deeper than this there lies a feeling of 
 profound disquiet in the English breast, as to what may be the 
 next move of this mysterious potentate, who has now obtained the 
 control of the camp as well as the councils of Europe. For myself 
 I have another impression, and that is that the vice of the peace is 
 the perfidy that underlies it, not to governments or princes, but to 
 men as individuals. These, subjects as they might be, and without 
 any corporate existence, the emperor did not hesitate to invoke to 
 carry out the war. He could engage with Kossuth to arouse 
 Hungary; he could stimulate the middle provinces of Italy to cast 
 off their governments ; he could negotiate with Garibaldi. But 
 when peace comes, he finds that those whom it was not below his 
 notice to fight with, are now below his notice to keep faith with. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 107 
 
 I and the Austrian Emperor; I and the Sardinian King ; but not 
 I and the vast bodies of men whom I invoked to insurrection. 
 Now what I fear is, that while Napoleon III. piques himself on 
 his gallant fidelity to his promises to princes, he considers peoples 
 as not entitled to such immunities. He broke his oath to the 
 French people to sustain the republican constitution. He has now 
 broken hia pledges to the Italians, who flocked to him in his Aus 
 trian campaigns. 
 
 "And yet with all this, I must think that the peace is a gain to 
 the cause of humanity and religion. It will not and this is the 
 general opinion among those best informed restore the Austrian 
 Arch-dukes in central Italy. It will leave Austria in a small 
 minority in the new confederacy. It secularizes the Pope. Giant 
 despair will have to come down from the cannon-mounted fortress 
 of prerogative, and meet other men as his peers on the open plain. 
 So much as to religion. And then as to liberty. I question whether 
 a republic could possibly stand in Italy over a month ; and whether, 
 after all, the best she can have is not a strong government, acting 
 on a liberal policy as to education and religion. 
 
 "LORD SHAFTESBURY, MR. KINGSLEY, AND ALMAOKS. 
 
 "An advertisement in the Times, last week, announced that on 
 that day (Thursday, July 20), the Society for the Promotion of 
 Sanitary Knowledge/ which, after all, is only a society to tell 
 mothers how best to treat sick children, would hold an anniversary 
 meeting. The names of Lord Shaftesbury, Mr. Kingsley, and Mr. 
 Maurice, who were advertised as speakers, brought me to the hall 
 at the hour appointed. As I entered the room, there was a sort of 
 faded finery about it that told of a world, very different from that 
 whose sympathies Avere nominally invoked that morning. The 
 walls were interspersed with pictures of graces, in light pink and 
 blue gauzes, now made still gauzier by the effacing hand of time, 
 skipping about in dances, or holding in their hands what I suppose 
 were some kinds of instruments of music. The short-waisted and 
 convolvulus-shaped skirts, the postures and styles of dances, all 
 told of about sixty or seventy years back. Could they have told 
 more, they would have narrated a story to which the world would 
 listen with that eager attention, which the fashion of the present 
 
108 MEMOIR OF 
 
 gives to the history of the fashion of the past. For here was the 
 old seat of Almacks. Here struggled, with a bitterness greater 
 than that of the political chiefs whom they followed, the rival 
 duchesses of Rutland and of Devonshire. To the gates of this 
 room hurried thousands with a devotedness equal to that of the 
 worshippers of Juggernaut. All these are now in their graves. 
 Now, however, the scene has changed. Of all meetings of respec 
 table ladies societies that I have ever seen, this was one of the most 
 sedate and subdued. Even one of our own children s homes or 
 Dorcas meetings could not have presented a greater contrast to the 
 old Almacks than did this. There were about one hundred ladies 
 present, most of them of mature years. And the very few men 
 whom I could see sat in the back-ground, as if in cheerful submis 
 sion to feminine supremacy in this, its proper sphere. 
 
 "Lord Shaftesbury, who took the chair, is well known in America 
 as the leader of the evangelical interest in the Anglican Church. 
 For such a post he has peculiar qualifications. His courage and 
 his consistency are as unquestioned as his piety. And he has, what 
 in England is of much importance, not only political weight but 
 patrician dignity. His noble ancestry gives him the second, and 
 his connection w r ith Lord Palmerston the first. He married a 
 daughter of Lady Palmerston, and has been thus brought into 
 close connection with that remarkable man who, having, in the 
 course of fifty years, taken part in nearly every administration by 
 which England has been governed, now occupies, for a second 
 time, the post of Prime Minister. It is to Lord Shaftesbury s in 
 fluence that Lord Palmerston s excellent ecclesiastical appoint 
 ments are generally traced. Lord Shaftesbury did not appear to 
 me to be much over fifty. He is tall, slender and was dressed 
 in that plain and informal manner by which English gentlemen 
 are marked. For this kind of dress, I may observe in passing, 
 there are one or two reasons besides taste. The damp climate pre 
 scribes thick t\veeds, and banishes, except for evenings, the glossy 
 and dapper black broad cloths, which are so uniform among our 
 selves. But I can see another reason for this plainness among the 
 higher classes. What might be called fine dressing among the 
 men, is not only monopolized, but made ridiculous by the footmen. 
 An American cannot look at the more exuberant specimens of this 
 class without a smile : A wig whose circumference is edged by long 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 109 
 
 ridges of crisp white well powdered curls a nappy black broad 
 cloth frock or dress coat and trowsers to match a shining white 
 waistcoat these, by their very absurdity, seem to exclude the 
 dress they caricature from general morning use. 
 
 " The audience whom Lord Shaftesbury addressed was one al 
 most exclusively of ladies, and what he was to speak to them about 
 was what is peculiarly woman s work. He stood up behind a 
 small table, and, hat in hand, began to talk to his audience in that 
 hesitating manner by which English public speaking is so often 
 marked. At first he was not well heard, but a hint was given to 
 him of this, and he raised his voice to a tone which, though con 
 versational, enabled him, without eifort and with increasing ease, 
 to fill the whole room. 
 
 "What he said was eminently feasible and practical. It was 
 the peculiar duty of women, he declared, to teach women. Without 
 the practical instruction which could so easily be given as to the 
 best way of securing cleanliness and health, the gift of money 
 would be comparatively useless. He mentioned the case of a 
 parish, in which, by the introduction of white-washing, the number 
 of dispensary cases had been reduced eight hundred. He advised 
 the extension of what were called Mothers Meetings, in which 
 mothers were instructed as to the best way of nursing children. 
 He touched upon several injurious usages, one of which was the 
 bench without a back, and another the velocipedes, in which 
 very often a robust child was made to play baby, and a delicate 
 sister to act horse. He closed by urging the advantages of a 
 scheme such as this as a means of introducing the gospel, and 
 at the same time its uselessuess unless the gospel be made its 
 accompaniment. 
 
 " Mr. Kingsley was next announced, and, you may easily sup 
 pose, at once arrested my attention. My first idea was that he was 
 about thirty-five, though I have since been told that he is much 
 older. His hair is raven black ; his figure slight and slim ; his 
 eyes of a light blue, in marked contrast with his hair ; his voice 
 hard though clear. I think I have rarely seen a manner which 
 was, at the first sight, worse. He writhed and twisted his naturally 
 good shape into all sorts of outlandish attitudes. He let his voice 
 out in wreathes and snorts like steam. Soon, however, this 
 agonizing consciousness was lost, at least on the part of the hearer. 
 
110 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Thought after thought, as it escaped from the struggling engine 
 below, wreathed itself like the steam-puffs that we sometimes see 
 on a clear day, in symbols of beauty above. That what Mr. 
 Kingsley said had a good deal in it of what we would call strong- 
 mindedness in our own country that it had a good deal of that 
 affected humanitarianism which distinguishes the Boston senti 
 mental philanthropists of Unitarianism, I do not dispute. But 
 there was occasionally a thought of great energy and sense that de 
 manded our respect. It is true that here, as well as in his writings, 
 he gave the text of Scripture an occasional extraordinary material 
 istic wrench. Thus he interpreted : ( My father will not suifer one 
 of these little ones to perish/ to mean that he will not suffer one 
 of them to be dwarfed or destroyed by unkindness or maltreat 
 ment. One thought he pressed with great beauty. It was that 
 the death of an old man might be tolerated, for that was in the 
 course of nature; the death of a soldier on the battle-field might 
 be tolerated, for that was voluntary, and with the previously ac 
 cepted compensation of fame ; the death of a mature man might 
 be tolerated, for he had in some sense measured his course ; but 
 the death of a young child had an awfulness about it from its re 
 pugnance to God s own appointment of probation, and from its 
 almost universal connection with that carelessness which generates 
 disease. War, he said, had its courtesies, but not so the pestilence 
 which man s selfishness generates. The first spares women and 
 children ; not the second. You have given us your peace society 
 against war: now give us your peace society against disease. 
 
 "NO AFRICAN BLACK BISHOPS. 
 
 " The point I mentioned to you in my last, as having been for 
 mally agitated by the Times, has received a decisive solution. The 
 Church Missionary Society has examined it fully, and made a report 
 last week through Mr. Venn. They take ground against the policy of 
 consecrating black Bishops for an Anglican Colonial church. They 
 say that they see no objection to transmitting the Episcopate entire, 
 when the time arrives, to an independent African Church. But 
 they urge that while the Church remains colonial, it is better that 
 its chief minister should be a white of Anglican descent. They 
 add that they have consulted in this the colonial clergymen of 
 Sierra Leone, and that they agree in the report. I cannot but 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. Ill 
 
 think that this takes from our English brethren a good part of the 
 edge of the weapons they have so often used against us. Beyond 
 this position our Church certainly has never gone ; and in the 
 ordination of priests, all her sections have testified their Catholicity 
 of feeling in the ordination by common consent of natives of China 
 
 and West Africa. 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 *i 
 
 " MILAN, Aug. 3, 1859. 
 "SWISS MOUNTAIN WORSHIP. 
 
 " The little village of Thusis derives its name from a colony of 
 Tuscans, who are supposed, at a period early in Roman history, to 
 have fled across the Alps and taken refuge in this spot. The Nolla, 
 one of the first tributaries of the Rhine, gives that river a gray, 
 soap-stone hue, which is drawn from a range of mountains which 
 here arise. Thusis exhibits in a close and yet repellant contiguity, 
 the features of alpine and valley scenery. On one side lies a broad 
 and velvet-like sweep of lawn, which even a park on the Isle of 
 Wight might envy. On the other side, the advance guards of the 
 Alps slant forward their austere heads, as if stooping over to gaze 
 on the calm valley before them. 
 
 "But the alternations of scenery around Thusis are not so re 
 markable as the alternation of faith. The storms of the Reforma 
 tion here rent asunder people with as fierce and final a blow as those 
 by which the mountains are severed. 
 
 A gloomy stream now flows between, 
 
 But neither hail, nor storm, nor thunder, 
 Can do away, I ween, 
 
 The marks of that which once has been ! 
 
 " At Chur, which is a short drive of two hours from Thusis, the 
 German language and the Calvinistic faith prevail. At Ems, 
 separated from Chur only by a slender tributary of the Rhine, we 
 have the Romaic dialect and the Roman Catholic faith. Reichen- 
 hau is German and Calvinistic; Bonadus, Romaic and Roman 
 Catholic; Thusis, German and Calvinistic. It is of the last-named 
 place that I now write. 
 
 " It is ten o clock on Sunday morning. The bell in the church 
 by our side, as well as that in ZiUis, is ringing just in the same 
 
112 MEMOIR OF 
 
 way as our bells in Philadelphia, which is very different from the 
 more tinny and flatter sound of the convent bells of the Romish 
 Churches on the continent. When we enter, the church is quite 
 full. Outside, like most of the Swiss Protestant Churches, it is 
 shaped like a New England meeting-house, with a pepper-box 
 tower in front, and an oblong body, distinguished, however, by a 
 deep chancel. The congregation is a large one, and comprises the 
 whole village. The men and women sit on opposite sides, and the 
 children are collected by themselves in the chancel, facing the con 
 gregation. The spectacle, to an American eye, is very novel. The 
 younger women have their heads bare, and the elder wear merely a 
 knit cap. The men are dressed very plainly, and are most of them 
 of the lowest order of peasants. That many of them come from a 
 distance, I think is evidenced by the number of shepherd s and 
 other dogs that skirmish about under the seats, most of them, I 
 regret to say, engaged in warfare with the fleas, which form so 
 serious a drawback to Swiss travel. 
 
 " Precisely as the bell stops ringing, the minister takes his seat 
 in the pulpit. He is a thick -set young man, perhaps of about 
 thirty. His clerical dress may be better described as a jacket than 
 a gown, for it stops about his waist, while it is adorned with two 
 hunches like shoulder knots on the shoulders. The old Geneva 
 skull-cap he does not wear, nor has he any other badges indicating 
 the clerical profession. 
 
 "The service is begun with a hymn, which we were not slow to 
 recognize as Old Hundred, which is admirably sun g by the whole 
 congregation, sustained by an organ, which plays, however, nothing 
 but the air. Then the minister reads from a book, the people 
 standing, a confession very similar to that which begins our prayer 
 book, with a brief liturgical service. Then comes another hymn, 
 then a small portion of Scriptures, and then a short sermon in the 
 German, though with a dash of provincialism which increased my 
 difficulty in understanding what he said. But in the main, it was 
 a practical and faithful application of St. Paul s doctrine, that 
 those who are freed from the law through faith, ought nevertheless 
 to fulfil all the injunctions of the law in the spirit. And this I 
 may say, that a more earnest congregation I have never seen than 
 that which was here collected in this Alpine Swiss church. Here, 
 the faith has been preserved pure, and it shows its result in the 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 113 
 
 simplicity of the people. Poor, they undoubtedly are, for they 
 inhabit but a miserable ledge of soil. But this poverty, by its 
 separation from its ordinary incidents of vice and pauperism, indi 
 cates how energetic is the faith by which it is here enlightened. 
 
 " Crossing the Alps has been already often described in your 
 columns by pens far abler than mine. It has been my lot to ascend 
 most of th mountain ranges in our own country. Of these, the 
 White Mountains alone give a standard with which the Alps may 
 be estimated. The Alleghanies are a series of well rounded slopes ; 
 the Rocky Mountains a vast, desolate, and uninhabitable chain of 
 rocks. Unlike the Alleghanies, the Alps push their rugged and 
 bare heads far above the region of vegetation. On some of their 
 summits lies perpetual snow. They extend their giant limbs in 
 shapes the wildest and most distorted ; a precipice of five hundred 
 feet protruding over us in one direction, a deep ravine gaping up 
 towards us in a second, and a cataract of Niagara height dashing 
 by us in a third. On the other hand, the Alps differ from the 
 Rocky Mountains in the excessive beauty of their valleys, in the 
 rich cultivation by which their ledges are made productive, and in 
 the number of the villas, villages, and castles by which they are 
 studded. 
 
 " But I pass these more obvious features, to notice one or two 
 which fall more within your particular range. The first is the 
 testimony paid by these mountains, and by the slopes which sur 
 round them, to the existence of a religious sense. Stupendous 
 works have been here done, but the most stupendous of all have 
 been done for religion. Superb post roads, with bridges like those 
 of our most substantial railways, span the Alps, but these roads 
 are less expensive, were wrought with far less self-denial and vol 
 untary grinding labor, than the chapels, the churches, and the 
 cathedrals, which we meet on every side. Nowhere do we find 
 greater proof that man knows himself alienated from his God ; 
 that he feels the agony of this banishment ; that in his own blind 
 way he seeks to find a home, by splendid decorations and by superb 
 architecture, in which this God will condescend to dwell near men. 
 But he does this with a conscience so depraved, and perceptions so 
 debased, that the most splendid temple he erects, and the most im- 
 
114 MEMOIR OF 
 
 posing worship he offers, are suited only to a deity as narrow and 
 weak as himself. 
 
 " I speak not now of the Swiss Protestant churches. They are 
 plain, simple, and reverent, suitable places for the worship of him 
 who is a Spirit and who is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth. 
 I pass, also, the magnificent Cathedral of Milan, under whose 
 shadow I now write, and which, while it cost more than all the 
 four hundred churches in Philadelphia put together, has a Sunday 
 congregation not equal to one of our average Sunday schools. Let 
 us go from these, the grander effects of this sense of banishment 
 from God, and of a blind striving to propitiate him by human 
 gifts, to the wayside oratories by which the roads are marked. To 
 a stranger these are among the most remarkable proofs that we are 
 passing from a Protestant to a Romish country. There they stand, 
 one almost every half a mile. A little stone mausoleum, of about 
 ten feet high and six deep, contains in its recess a tawdrily-painted 
 image of the virgin and child, which is protected by an iron rail 
 ing, in front of which are altar steps. But, alas ! it is the Madonna 
 who predominates over everything, and the Madonna in the least 
 spiritual of shapes, spangled and satinned over as if going to a fete. 
 I do not recollect seeing any worshippers at these shrines. But be 
 this as it may, you will find nowhere else a more idle and degraded 
 looking people. It is not because the soil is bad, as is the case in 
 a great part of Switzerland, nor is it entirely on account of the 
 numerous holidays which the Church requires to be kept undese- 
 crated by labor. But I think the reason of this, and of the political 
 imbecility of the people, is to be found in the way in which the 
 religion of the land, instead of elevating the soul to heaven, lowers 
 it below earth. 
 
 " As soon as you descend into Lombardy, you become painfully 
 struck by the appearance of the priests. In France they have the 
 look of polished though decorous men of the world ; in Germany, of 
 benevolent old fogies ; and in both these countries they appear but 
 rarely, and also with a subdued demeanor, as of men walking among 
 their equals. But in Italy, notwithstanding their recent rebuffs and 
 the hatred borne towards them by the body of the people, they infest 
 the streets, and stalk about with an air of insolent superiority, in 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 115 
 
 which there is neither courtesy nor kindness. Such is their general 
 cast, though there are of course many varieties. Thus yesterday, 
 in steaming through the Lake of Como, besides a number of the 
 class I have described, there were two or three exceptions which 
 particularly attracted my attention. One was a very jolly and fat 
 old priest, who smoked his cigar, chatted pleasantly with the cap 
 tain, and-* looked with a sort of scowl on the crowd of invalid 
 French officers, of Sardinian free-booters and of American heretics, 
 who occupied the rear of the boat. But still more striking were 
 two Capuchin monks. Their heads were bare, though the sun was 
 beating on them with all the force of an Italian August. -Wooden 
 sandals were the only protection of their feet. Their bodies were 
 covered by loose sacks of coarse, reddish, brown- worsted, girdled 
 only by a rope round the waist. The elder of them was about 
 fifty, with a countenance furrowed by exposure and suffering, but 
 marked with a dignity far different from the superciliousness of 
 his neighbors of the regular priesthood. The other was scarcely 
 twenty-five. Lank, emaciated and brown, he had a haggard and 
 agonizing expression, which those alone can appreciate who recollect 
 AVilkie s picture of the young Spanish monk on his knees seeking 
 solace from his superior. In that picture we have exhibited the 
 vehement strivings of a heart which is shaken to its depths, by 
 passions and aspirations to which the cloister opposes a menacing 
 bar. He had tried to extinguish them but in vain. They storm 
 the more violently than ever, for they are in part the natural in 
 stincts of the human breast for society, and their enthralment, 
 while it increases their waywardness, increases their powers. He 
 sinks on his knees, and piteously implores his director for succor 
 and comfort, his countenance showing the intensity of the struggle 
 going on underneath between the religious and the social instincts. 
 Such, I cannot but think, was the expression of the young Capuchin 
 whom I met yesterday on Lake Como. 
 
 " Let me add that the arrogance of the regular priests is met by 
 a bitter hate or contemptuous ridicule on the part of the great body 
 of the people. Thus at Chiavennia, the main hotel, where the 
 great body of travelers going across the Alps from Milan stop, the 
 walls were distinguished by pictures exhibiting priests in the most 
 ridiculous and indecorous lights. There was a priest gormandizing 
 on a fast-day on all sorts of stealthy dainties ; there was a priest 
 
MEMOIR OF ,;- 
 
 amazing even a trooper by the largeness of his potations ; there 
 was a priest eloping under circumstances still more discreditable. 
 Is there a section of our own country where such treatment of the 
 clergy even of the Romish Church to say nothing of the Prot 
 estant would be tolerated ? 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 "BATTLE FIELDS. 
 
 " That flat, prairie like plain, that stretches for miles on each 
 side of us, is Marengo, and there Napoleon I. won his first great 
 victory over Austria. And there, a few miles to the East is the 
 river Ticino, scarcely wider than the Yernon river at Gambier, 
 but from its emerald clearness, and the babbling haste with which 
 it is scampering down its bed, much more like one of our Alle- 
 ghany mountain streams. Well indeed, may it seem burdened 
 with many a message, for it has lately witnessed many strange 
 scenes. A few weeks ago its waters were red with blood. Not 
 far from its banks lies Magenta, where let us for a moment stop. 
 There is the spot where the Austrians were driven into the town, 
 made a final stand, and in that cemetery followed a desperate con 
 flict in which the ground was strewed with corpses. And there, 
 still further on, where you see the houses riddled with cannon and 
 rifle balls, is the place where the Zouaves made their last desper 
 ate but successful charge. Not far off is the point where the 
 French general, Espinasse, breathed his last. One mourner I saw 
 there who told us that fidelity doesnot belong to man alone. A 
 large brown dog, with a medal round his neck, was wandering 
 about as if in search of something. He belonged to the General, 
 and having seen his master last at that spot, has since then kept 
 watch for his return. The remains of the General were a short 
 time since removed to France, and his family sent out orders to 
 have the dog brought after them. But this faithful companion 
 knew not that all that remained of him whom he loved had gone 
 before ; and he broke loose at a railway station where his guard 
 took him out to water. A few days afterwards he was found with 
 his broken chain, at Magenta, at the very place where his master 
 had fallen. 
 
DK. FRANCIS WHARTON. 117 
 
 "THE CATHEDRAL AND THE LIVING HERO. 
 
 " Sunday, August 8th, was the day appointed by Victor Emman 
 uel for his triumphant entrance into Milan, the capital of Lom- 
 bardy, which now for the first time he visits after it was assigned 
 to him by the peace of Villa Franca. I was at Milan at the time, 
 and though the want of any Protestant place of worship kept me 
 very much in my hotel, yet the demonstrativeness of the Milanese 
 left no doubt as to what was going on. I may here remark, in 
 passing, that one of the most difficult sacrifices which an earnest 
 Protestant is compelled to make, is that of abstaining from visits to 
 the Romish churches on Sunday. When we have no other place 
 of worship open to us, oar heart yearns for one so splendid in its 
 decorations, so fascinating in its music, and at the same time nomi 
 nally, at least, devoted to the service of the same Lord. Many 
 Americans differing in this from their sturdier English brethren 
 yield to this temptation, and often think that they can do so with a 
 devotional temper I do not speak at all for such ; but for myself 
 I cannot but feel that these churches, on Sundays, are but spectacles 
 and not places of worship, and however innocent a visit to them 
 may be in the week, yet as you cannot hear a word that is going 
 on, and as the whole service is a mere pageant, the visit, even 
 though innocent, is nothing but sight-seeing. Let me give you, 
 as an illustration of this, a sketch of last Sunday at the Milan 
 Cathedral. 
 
 "I was in the vaults of the Cathedral the day before, on an 
 errand I will presently describe to you, and was present at the 
 exhumation of an extraordinary amount of trappings that had 
 been buried a short time previous, to escape the apprehended sack. 
 St. Charles Borromeo, certainly a most worthy philanthropist, and 
 a devout though mistaken Christian, is the tutelary guardian of 
 Milan, and all sorts of insignia commemorating him were being 
 dragged out. First, tumbling feet foremost, came two silver 
 colossal statues, the cost of which we were told was two millions 
 of francs, or four hundred thousand dollars. Then was turned 
 out with an irreverence in singular contrast with its nominal 
 sanctity, a tooth of the saint, done up in a heavy silver casket. 
 Then came a number of other relics, some pretending to be con 
 nected even with our blessed .Lord, but all mixed up in a mass of 
 
118 MEMOIR OF 
 
 old refuse decorations fire-works stands for colors and stage 
 trappings, which had been used on prior public rejoicings. We 
 have heard of shoes which followed one husband to his grave, and 
 then danced at a wedding with a second. These trappings were 
 something of the same class. Their last office had been to deck an 
 Austrian triumph. The priests, wishing to be economical, thought 
 that by erasing a spread-eagle in one place, and daubing on the 
 tricolors in another, nobody would be the wiser if the same finery 
 was brought out as an apparent impromptu to do honor to the 
 Piedmontese conqueror. 
 
 " But the device did not succeed. The secret crept out, and a 
 Milanese mob delighted itself early on Sunday morning with ex 
 posing the priests and baffling their designs by tearing down the 
 exhumed decorations. Then came a struggle against time. Dis 
 affection to any government, and particularly to a government that 
 has as its allies such rapacious and irresponsible agents as mobs, is 
 the last thing of which Italian ecclesiastics would be openly guilty. 
 So at once all hands set to work, priests, attendants, and the work 
 men they could collect. The king was to appear at six in the 
 afternoon. The hands could hardly be collected before noon. So 
 the service at the Milanese Cathedral on that day was divided into 
 three parts. In the first, officiated the mob ; in the second, a crowd 
 of milliners, upholsterers, carpenters and ecclesiastics ; in the third, 
 the king, the officers of state, the hierarchy, and the people in the 
 full splendor of a Te Deum. 
 
 " I have not heretofore written about church architecture, and 
 I do not mean to do so in future, partly because you can get far 
 better descriptions elsewhere, and partly because it is rather with 
 those active elements which deal with our own thoughts that I 
 want to treat. But I must pause a moment before the Milan 
 Cathedral, the most superb specimen of Gothic architecture, in 
 regard both to the majesty of its dimensions and the luxury of its 
 finish. I have now seen St. PauPs, in London ; the Madeleine and 
 the Notre Dame, in Paris ; and the Cathedral at Cologne. This, 
 however, impresses me as much the finer. It is of white marble, 
 and reminds you in some slight degree of Grace Church, New 
 York, supposing that church to be expanded tenfold, to have its 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 119 
 
 decorations almost indefinitely multiplied and refined, and to be 
 provided with a suitable number of transepts and chapels. Out 
 side of it alone there are four thousand five hundred marble statues 
 of the average size of life. 
 
 " The full grandeur of the pile can be seen from above. Four 
 hundred and fifty stone steps lead you to the top. There you are 
 on the summit of a vast marble roof, of about eight times the area 
 of Girard College, but how different ! There we have a flat plain ; 
 but here we have pinnacles, their bases fringed with the most 
 luxuriant marble foliage, and their bare, alpine summits, divided 
 from each other by deep ravines, whose white depths are almost 
 hidden in their recesses by the shadows falling on them, and by 
 the contrast with the sun-lit heights above. Not many miles off 
 arise in the landscape the snow clad tops of the Monte .Rosa; and as 
 we stand on the Cathedral top, and view the Alps, with their like 
 intermingling of snow glitter and ravine shade, we cannot but 
 feel the beauty of Mr. Ruskin s remark, made, however, in a far 
 different connection, that there is a certain look of mountain- 
 brotherhood between the Cathedral and the Alps. 7 
 
 " There is a sight below, however, more strange, if not more 
 impressive, than the sight above. Deep in a crypt lighted with 
 funeral tapers, in a sepulchre and adorned with every beauty that 
 wealth and art can provide, lies the body of St. Charles Borromeo. 
 A dollar is the admission fee to see him, and I but followed the 
 current in paying the visit. A coffin of plates of rock crystal 
 welded together by gold, is covered by a silver case that by an 
 ingenious piece of mechanism may be screwed down in such a way 
 as to leave the body of the saint exposed. There he lay, the head, 
 notwithstanding its mummy like state, recalling to you the well 
 known portraits and statues. Over the brow hung an exquisite 
 gold coronet, the work of Benvenuto Cellini. The body \vas 
 covered with the cardinal s official robe of damask heavy with 
 gold. One hand was gloved and held a crosier, and on the other, 
 which was bare, sparkled several jewels, claimed to be of immense 
 value. So glared and glittered the saint at us, his shrunk and 
 blackened features in painful contrast with the jewels and gold 
 that blazed on us as they met the light of the torch. 
 
120 MEMOIR OF 
 
 "Now to a taste not adjusted to European standards, such a 
 sight as this, if it does not shock, will at least awe. I am sorry, 
 however, to say that I found these feelings gradually weakening at 
 the sociable, easy way in which the scene was treated by our atten 
 dants. One of them was an ecclesiastic who, before he could go 
 down to the sacred place, felt obliged to put on a cape of lace. It 
 would have been better, however, if he had put on the cape of a 
 reverential temper, for when he got down to the vault he skipped 
 about with such levity, and ran the torch with such vivacity to 
 wards different parts of the saint s body, chattering all the time 
 about it with such familiarity, as to leave on the mind the im 
 pression of a second-rate menagerie exhibitor. In one of his skips 
 he flirted against a tall silver crucifix and knocked it over. Knowing 
 the reverence paid by the priests in public to these awful symbols, 
 I imagined that he would at once stop, and with some decorum, 
 place it again on its pedestal. Not so, however. On he went, 
 chirping away as cheerily as ever, as he put the torch where this 
 jewel or that bone could be best seen, while the eyeless and toothless 
 and jewelled dead, still glared and glittered at us from below. It 
 was for one of us, a Protestant, to replace the prostrate image, and 
 soon after our attendants took us out as gaily and gossippingly as 
 they took us in. 
 
 " Now I have dwelt on this, because I fear it is but a sample of 
 the stage trick by which the Church of Rome, in Italy, itself faith 
 less if not scoffing, turns the most solemn mysteries of our common 
 humanity, as well as of our divine religion, into the subjects of ex 
 hibition and sale. 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 "PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN LOMBARDY. 
 
 "Already Protestant missions have been organized in Lombardy. 
 The British and Foreign Bible Society has made a large appro 
 priation, and many thousand Bibles and Testaments are at Milan. 
 Even more propitious than this is the action of the Evangelical 
 Society at Geneva, which has detailed some of its best agents to 
 act as colporteurs in this fertile and populous, though but lately 
 emancipated region. 
 
 " So far as concerns the Government, these movements have for 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 121 
 
 the present fair play. Victor Emmanuel, who, by the peace of 
 Villa Franca, has absolute sway in Lombardy, has irrevocably 
 committed himself to free principles. He governs in Sardinia 
 through a parliament, and the fundamental sanctions of the Con 
 stitution which is there established are universal education, and 
 what Mr. Bright, in a late speech in the House of Commons, called 
 religious free-trade. The resignation of Count Cavour, does not 
 seem likely to aifect this policy. That very able and very en 
 lightened minister found himself unable to hold office, it is true, 
 under a treaty that guaranteed the continuance of Austrian sove 
 reignty in Northern Italy. But his withdrawal will not be followed 
 by a reaction. His successors are more advanced liberals than 
 himself. I cannot think, in view of these circumstances, and in 
 view of the necessity the Sardinian government is under of retain 
 ing its hold on the liberal interests, that there is any danger of 
 interference with the Protestant missionaries. 
 
 " On the other hand, the ultra-montane party is uttering shrieks 
 of alarm, at the introduction of the Bible into a country, from 
 which it has for so long been excluded by fire and blood. They 
 denounce it as a falsified gospel, and they declare that the intrusion 
 of Protestant missionaries is a conspiracy against Italian peace. 
 L 9 Univers, the high-Romish organ at Paris, calls upon the Em 
 peror and the Sardinian King to stop the treason at the outset. On 
 the other hand, the Siede, with a great deal more good sense, says 
 that even from a Catholic standpoint, these movements will do no 
 harm. Opposition, it argues, only purifies and strengthens the 
 Church. Even supposing the Pope to be stripped of his secular 
 power, will not this help him ? Was the papacy ever so powerful 
 as when thus disencumbered ? 
 
 " But where will these movements end ? Is there any chance of 
 the light breaking on these now darkened plains ? Alas ! I cannot 
 say. No earnest Christian can now enter Italy without the exclama 
 tion bursting from his heart, l When the Lord cometh, will he find 
 faith among men ? The priests are now but a foreign element, 
 hating and hated. They have no hold on the men, and but little on 
 the women. You may traverse the churches you may scrutinize 
 the papers you may bend your ear to catch the popular voice in 
 its whispers as well as its thunders but you hear no expression of 
 reverence for the Romish Church. On the contrary, from every 
 
122 MEMOIR OF 
 
 quarter there strike you utterances of detestation, of ridicule, or of 
 contempt. 
 
 " But is there any countervailing evangelical feeling ? Is this 
 opposition to Rome religious as well as political ? I fear not. At 
 the best, the assault seems to be from Atheism. No one can 
 fail to admire the character of those Italian patriots who, under 
 such heavy indignities and persecutions, have resolutely, though 
 calmly, kept the liberal political faith. But the purest of these in 
 rejecting Rome, have rejected revealed religion altogether They 
 speak, when they speak on religion at all, in the language of a 
 vague pantheism. We might as well expect to make missionaries 
 of them as of Horace Greeley or Theodore Parker. And so it is, 
 though in a coarser way, with the people at large. Humanly 
 speaking, I. do not see how, even in Lombardy, the gospel is to be 
 spread, except by the instrumentality of earnest, faithful preachers, 
 capable of commanding and directing the attention of a people 
 whose sense of individual religious responsibility, seems now almost 
 extinct. 
 
 " Whatever may be our political or social prejudices, 1 do not 
 see how any right-minded American can travel on the Continent of 
 Europe without feeling a pride in his English descent. The Eng 
 lishman may be awkward, and in some cases I have found them 
 very rare supercilious. But wherever he goes he carries with him, 
 in all their integrity and pride, the institutions of his home. In a 
 country where society is but one great lie, he speaks the truth. In a 
 country where everybody cheats, he is not merely honest, but has a 
 credulous simplicity about him which makes him a ready victim of 
 imposition, until almost the last step, when woe to those w T ho en 
 counter his wrath. In a country where infidels as well as believers 
 take off their hats to relics, and cross themselves with holy water, and 
 dip down before altars, he tramps resolutely through cathedrals, and 
 from his clumsiness, much more than from even his scepticism, jostles 
 so rashly among the spectacles as to draw down many a scowl 
 from the priests in charge. But with all this defiant rejection of 
 what he thinks wrong, we have an equal defiant maintenance of 
 what he thinks right. With him and he travels a great deal 
 goes his church. Of all intolerantly Roman Catholic communities 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 123 
 
 that of Luzerne has been the most so. Yet here we had, on Sunday, 
 August 14, a congregation of nearly four hundred, attending our 
 Church service, and listening to two most faithful sermons from 
 the Rev. Mr. Alford. The scene was indeed remarkable, for the 
 Church is one which the municipal authorities, I suppose from 
 political considerations, lent to the English for public worship. It 
 is called St. Maria, Hilf/ and blossoms all over with Mariolatry. 
 The high altar has now a veil over it, but this does not conceal the 
 immense picture above, representing the Virgin being worshipped 
 by all sorts of personages, celestial as well as terrestrial, while on 
 top are in large letters the words from which the church takes its 
 name : 
 
 HILF, MARIA, HILF ! 
 
 Nothing, however, could be in greater contrast with this than the 
 faithful sermons which were that day preached. 
 
 " ROMISH SUNDAY FESTIVALS. 
 
 "In singular juxtaposition with the severe majesty of the gospel 
 call to worship, is the following, which I translate roughly from 
 the Luzerner Tagblatt, of August 14 : 
 
 Come every one to the church-feast, 
 For all will be there, the greatest and least ! 
 Put on your festival jacket and gown, 
 For dressed in its finest you ll see all the town. 
 Come along on this Sunday, for here you will find 
 All kinds of eating and drinking combined 
 With music and singing for those who are inclined, 
 But Ave Maria to those who re behind. 
 
 " And in response to this very extraordinary invitation, the 
 streets of Luzerne were thronged even as early as six, with persons 
 going to this /Church-Feast/ Here was a procession of students, 
 formed in line, singing their gay songs as they tramped along. 
 There came a party of peasants, with their plaited hair and black 
 bodices. What they did when they got to the festival I cannot 
 say, but certainly their conduct on the way was anything but 
 devotional. 
 
124 MEMOIR OF 
 
 " One feature strikes me peculiarly among the English evan 
 gelical clergy whom I met in London during my visit there, and 
 whom I have since seen on the continent. This is the very great 
 positiveness of their theology. You know here this quality was 
 noticed in Mr. Ryle s tracts, and how much they owe to it their 
 success. Now I do not mean to say that this quality pervades all 
 the clergy. But I do say that among those with whom I have 
 been particularly thrown, I find a directness of exposition in respect 
 to the doctrines of grace, and a simple clearness in the technical 
 statement of the necessity of conversion, and of the consequences 
 of an unconverted death, such as are by no means conceived even 
 with the clergy holding the same general views among ourselves. 
 Perhaps this is one of the few evil consequences \vhich flow from 
 our system of elections. The episcopate is a sore temptation, and 
 so often is a seat in a standing committee, or in the General Con 
 vention, and as long as these things are held out as honors, they 
 have a sad tendency to produce a weakness in the knees. Men are 
 afraid to be considered ultra, forgetting that, humanly speaking, in 
 an unconverted world, the truth must be always considered ultra 
 by the great body of those who make up public opinion. And 
 yet, yield to these adopt a compromising, apologetic way of 
 stating the truth and you lose your main chance of converting 
 the world to a real Christianity. 
 
 " Let me, as illustrating this directness in the English clergy, go 
 back to Sunday evening, July 24th, when I was spending a most 
 happy day in London. I have now before me the programme, 
 part of which I extract : 
 
 EXETER HALL. 
 
 Special Sunday Evening Services. 
 
 FOR THE WORKING CLASSES. 
 
 1859. 
 
 THE WORKING CLASSES ONLY ARE INVITED. 
 
 Seats F**ee No Collection Come Early. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 125 
 
 " In the programme is a collection of nine hymns, comprising the 
 following : 
 
 * Guide me, O thou great Jehovah. 
 
 Once more, before we part. 
 
 Come, gracious Spirit, Heavenly Dove. 
 
 4 Hark ! the voice of love and mercy. 
 
 From all that dwell below the skies. 
 
 4 Come, quickly souls, and flee away. 
 
 4 Not all the blood of beasts. 
 
 4 Come, thou fount of every blessing. 
 
 4 Christian brethren, ere we part. 
 
 " Now here was a service, one of a series, conducted under the 
 direct auspices of the Bishop of London, a prelate certainly not a 
 Low Churchman. Let us see how it was conducted ; and in view 
 of the wonderful success of this movement, not merely in spreading 
 the gospel, but in extending the Church among the working classes, 
 let me invite the more nervous among our American Churchmen to 
 witness the scene. First, the minister of the evening, Mr. Cad- 
 man, stood up in his black gown, without chancel, reading desk, or 
 stool, before that immense congregation. The service opened with 
 a hymn, which was followed by the Litany. Then came another 
 hymn, and then the bidding prayer, and then the sermon, which, 
 like those of which I have already spoken, was faithful, direct, and 
 full. Then came an extemporaneous prayer, and then a closing 
 hymn. 
 
 " Now I have only to say to all this, that I have never seen in 
 Episcopal worship so vast, so earnest, so deeply responsive a con 
 gregation. One great, deep voice of entreaty seemed to swell up in 
 the responses, a shout of praise and joy I hope I will be forgiven 
 so inelegant an expression in the hymns. Now, in view of the 
 great brotherhood which, in the next world at least, is to exist, was 
 it an objection that many of these voices were as rough and harsh 
 as they were loud ? There was a drayman next to me, for instance, 
 whose hoarse notes, and coarse though clean linen smock, even the 
 most fastidious might excuse, when they saw the tears trickle 
 down his cheeks as the preacher dwelt upon our Lord s abounding 
 love and the hardness of the heart that rejects it. Such is the 
 movement that is now making the Anglican communion the 
 popular as well as the national Church of England. 
 
 "F. W." 
 

 126 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ACRE. 
 
 " Munich, of German cities the richest in works of art, has one 
 spot which is, of all others, the best calculated to teach us that 
 while life is short and art is long, yet neither is in the balance of 
 any account as compared with eternity. At the southern end of 
 the city lies a vast graveyard, or GOD S ACRE, as the German 
 tongue gives it. MAN S acres lie about it, and richly adorned are 
 they by human genius. There, in buildings, themselves of the 
 most imposing architecture, is on one spot the finest display of 
 ancient statuary in the world. There, on another, is the most com 
 plete collection of Flemish, German, and North Italian paintings. 
 On another is a library of 800,000 volumes, second only to that 
 of Paris. There, on the west, in the midst of a Parthenon-like 
 temple, stands a colossal image of Bavaria, distributing her 
 rewards among the laurel-wreathed busts which are there arrayed. 
 And there, to the north, is the temple of justice, where are dis 
 tributed the rewards and penalties of the living. 
 
 " Let us go, however, to the field where lie the dead on whose 
 ears the distribution of these earthly honors fall so lightly, but 
 over whom a Judge Omnipotent has now pronounced his award. 
 The population of this city of the dead far exceeds that of the 
 neighboring city of the living. Many things strike us as we 
 enter. The graves are far more artistic than with us. Each has 
 its little pot of flowers, to which even strangers, in conformity with 
 the permission which is given on the gates, bring their contribu 
 tions. In front of nearly each grave stands an urn or pan of 
 water, near which lies a stick, with a sponge or brush at its end. 
 It seems to be a mark of pious care on the part of those who pass 
 along the walks to sprinkle a few drops of water on the graves of 
 those whom perhaps they had known or loved in life, so that there 
 the turf may grow more greenly. 
 
 " Two teachers stand here, one small and the other great. The 
 first speaks of the splendor and permanence of fame ; of the value 
 of glory ; of the lasting gratitude of men. But the other, with an 
 austere brow, rebukes this babbler, and points, as he does so, to the 
 broken monuments under which emperors lie buried ; to inscrip 
 tions, now illegible, over frames that once struggled as haughtily 
 and successfully as the most splendid hero of the present. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTOX. 127 
 
 " Then there are tombs which especially tell us how vain is all 
 this talk of glory. In the centre of this graveyard, so overshadowed 
 by more brilliant mausoleums as almost to escape observation, is 
 an obelisk, on which is the following inscription : 
 
 " L Armee du Rhin, commandee par le General Moreau, & la 
 memoire du General Bastoul, blesse a la bataille de Hohenlinden, 
 le 12. Frini. mort a Munich, le 25 Nix, an 9. de la Repub. Franc. 
 
 "Would not even that brilliant young general have thought, 
 had he known what was to come, that glory was but a poor thing, 
 if all that remained of it after fifty years was a cold gray stone 
 upon which only a chance foot stumbles ! Then as to the earthly 
 objects, for which he, and the army of which he was one, struggled ! 
 The tombs around him answer. Numberless Bavarian captains 
 lie there, speaking exultingly of each step that led to France s 
 final humiliation. Some tell us how the republic vanished, and 
 how the great first consul himself laid prostrate that liberty for 
 which so much blood had been shed. Some speak of Russian 
 snows, and of Frenchmen, and as w r ell of Germans left behind in 
 a frozen grave. Others come from Leipzic, with wounds gladly 
 earned in that great people s fight. Others tell us that Waterloo, 
 in witnessing the final defeat of France, witnessed also their own 
 death in battle. But sadder than all, rises that sublime monument 
 which was raised to Eugene Beauharnois by the genius of Thor- 
 waldsen. I do not know but that this struck me as the finest 
 piece of sculpture. I have yet seen, though, perhaps, this may have 
 been from its moral force as well as for its artistic beauty. The 
 monument was erected by his widow, and there are few more 
 touching illustrations of woman s constancy than that which the 
 inscription exhibits. Forgetting the dynastic honors which her 
 husband derived from herself, the daughter of a Bavarian King, 
 she commemorates him in words which must have rung harshly 
 in Bavarian ears simply as Eugene Napoleon, once Vice-Roy of 
 Italy. He did not live long after his marriage, nor long after the 
 final overthrow of the first Napoleon, and now as the singularly 
 beautiful and majestic face of the son of Josephine looks down on 
 us, what lessons does it teach of the shadowiness of human 
 triumphs ! He who lies underneath that stone would not now, if 
 he still lived, have been an old man, and yet his life would have 
 spanned in France alone the erection and the demolition of two 
 
128 MEMOIE OF 
 
 monarchies, of republican constitutions almost numberless, and of 
 that splendid empire of which he was himself one of the noblest 
 supporters. 
 
 " There is one more scene in this graveyard to which I must 
 turn. As you reach the end of an arcade, under which are ranged 
 the higher order of mausoleums, you come suddenly to a series of 
 large glass doors separating you from a recess-chamber. How 
 life-like/ you exclaim, for the first impression is that here in their 
 glass cases lie waxen images of the dead. But no ! they are the 
 dead themselves. Here they are from day to day, laid, as it were, 
 in state for a few hours before their interment. They are dressed 
 in their usual clothes, though decorated with peculiar care, and 
 flowers lie abundantly around them. I could not but linger for a 
 moment before one of those chambers. Two biers, around the 
 head of each of which were flickering wax candles, stretched there. 
 On one was a very aged man, his almost gauzy gray hair dropping 
 lightly over a face whose wrinkles death had smoothed, his left 
 hand grasping a cross, while his right enclosed a bell-rope, which 
 is thus extended to give notice in case of resuscitation. 
 
 " In the next lay a woman whose face, on which the carefully 
 braided brown hair scarcely showed a glimmer of gray, wore an 
 expression very sad as it lay turned towards the window where I 
 was standing. I looked at the register which was hung up by the 
 window-sill, and saw her age was thirty-seven. ( Poor thing/ I 
 heard a voice near me say, she had much sorrow, but she is now 
 at rest/ It was one woman speaking to another ; but I felt that it 
 was a lesson to which all men might listen. Sorrow and rest ! 
 To those who know their own hearts, how precious is the thought 
 that the one is God s discipline to the other. 
 
 " I am sorry to give so unfavorable an account of Continental 
 Sundays, but I am confident that there is no American but must 
 on first view do the same. Here, indeed, there is far more of the 
 heart engaged in religion than in France, and far more of the head 
 than in Italy, but still even here, Sunday is a day which merely 
 intensifies the pleasure if not the labors of other days. Most of 
 the shops are open. The public amusements are magnified and 
 multiplied. The Tages Anzeiger/ which lies before me, gives 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 129 
 
 notice of three theatres, of a circus, of a carousal/ of twelve pub 
 lic balls, and of a juggler s exhibition. Now all this is for this 
 evening, and a population of 130,000, in which, in the same even 
 ing, there is not a single religious service. 
 
 " On the other hand, so far as the churches are concerned, there 
 is much more seriousness here, and a much nearer approach to 
 Orthodoxy, than in countries of Romanic population. The Virgin 
 sinks from a primacy to a subordinate station. We no longer see 
 in pictures of the last day, men such as Napoleon footing his way 
 upwards to heaven, through saints and martyrs as superciliously 
 and successfully as in earth he jostled his way through princes and 
 kings. Frivolous relics are not by any means as numerous, nor 
 frivolous holidays as frequent. The Church, also, shows a far 
 greater zeal for public edification. I have now before me a list of 
 Romish services for Sunday, Aug. 21st. They are over sixty in 
 number, and distributed among twenty-eight churches. Now, 
 though, this is but one-third of what there would be in American 
 cities of the same size, yet it is twice as many as there are in Paris. 
 
 " CHURCH REFORM. 
 
 " Two importants steps have lately been taken towards German 
 toleration. The Prussian Government, as you are aware, estab 
 lished some years back a system of compulsory uniformity, by 
 which Calvinists and Lutherans were fused into a new national 
 communion. The common-schools were placed in connection with 
 this Church, and it was required that all Protestant children should 
 attend these schools. This was peculiarly hard upon the old High- 
 Church Lutherans, who had conscientious scruples against what 
 they considered a pernicious latitudinarianism I am glad to say 
 that the present administration has removed this restriction. A 
 decree has been issued authorizing dissenters from the state-church 
 to establish schools for the religious instruction of their children, 
 provided that nothing is taught in such school contravening the 
 laws of the land. Other restrictions on the religious worship of 
 the dissenters have been removed by a decree which took effect on 
 July 20. 
 
 " On the other hand the Emperor of Austria has expressly de 
 nied a statement that the new foundations for the benefit of the 
 orphan children of soldiers killed in the late war, were to be con- 
 
130 MEMOIR OF 
 
 fined to Catholics. It is true that in many cases the funds which 
 makeup these foundations are dedicated to Catholic use alone; 
 and with these the government does not interfere. With its own 
 funds, however, it makes no discrimination. The Emperor has 
 made another move in the same direction, in giving a piece of 
 ground for a Protestant Church at Vienna. I regret, however, to 
 say, that in the promised decree for the relief of Protestants, no 
 change is made in the provision, that the children of mixed mar 
 riages should in all cases be educated Catholics. 
 
 "THE HOLY PLACES. 
 
 " The disgraceful scenes which have been enacted at Jerusalem 
 it is now hoped will be closed. A Convention has just been exe 
 cuted between the French and the Russian Emperor providing for 
 the restoration of the sepulchre at their joint cost, and for future 
 alternate worship between the two confessions. 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 BOHEMIAN VOICES. 
 
 " From no German city are there to be heard voices of greater 
 religious significance than from Prague. Let me ask you to visit 
 with me a few of the scenes from which these voices arise, and 
 there to enquire whether we cannot draw from them one or two 
 important lessons. 
 
 " First let us go to the old Bohemian Metropolitan Church of 
 St. Viet. Five hundred years ago it \vas begun, four hundred and 
 fifty years ago completed. Like the Cathedral at Cologne, it 
 exhibits in the Alpine severity of its many pinnacled heights, as 
 well as in the grand gothic simplicity of its naves and aisles, the 
 peculiar characteristics of that, almost the purest, era of Christian 
 architecture. In its vaults lie buried the bodies of some of the 
 earliest German warriors and confessors. St. Wenzel, is commem 
 orated by a chapel whose walls are studded with Bohemian precious 
 stones, over which is hung a tapestry marking the first period of 
 German art. Here, also, are the earlier and more orthodox phases 
 of mediaeval theology, to be marked. In that recess is a copy, as 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 131 
 
 old as 1368, of the famous Byzantine picture of our blessed 
 Lord ; the only picture that comes down to us with any historical 
 attestation. And it is worthy of notice how free, is this ancient 
 and beautiful painting, from the symbols of subsequent corruptions. 
 
 " FROM THE HUSSITES. 
 
 " Let us come, however, a step further in the course of time. 
 Here, in the Alt-Stadt, is the Teyn-kirche, built in 1407 by 
 German merchants, who were beginning to be restive with the 
 high ecclesiasticism which even then was creeping into the Cathe 
 dral. Here were the Hussite doctrines first preached. Look at 
 that statute of the Virgin standing at the peak of the roof between 
 the two towers. That statute did not always stand there. Once on 
 that spot was seen a large golden cup, then a Hussite symbol ; and 
 underneath that cup stood a statute of George Podiebrad, who was 
 crowned in 1458 in that church King of Bohemia. There it is 
 that we are told of the fate of Bohemian Protestantism. On Nov. 
 8th, 1620, the Protestants, under the elector Palatine, Frederick 
 V., then claiming the Bohemian crown, made a final stand against 
 the Romish league. The elector had married a daughter of James 
 I., of England, and was encouraged in his assumption of the Pro 
 testant leadership by promises from his vain and gasconading but 
 cowardly father-in-law. The combination against him was at once 
 powerful and prompt. But of this the English people, in those 
 days of slow intelligence, knew but little, and when they heard of 
 the defeat of the elector, and the annihilation of Bohemian Protes 
 tantism by the allied army under the command of Maximilian of 
 Bavaria, there arose on the British shores a shriek of surprise and 
 rage, which continued to resound until the Stuarts were dethroned, 
 and until, under the grand menaces of Cromwell, the more demon 
 strative persecutions, at least, of the Romish princes, ceased. But 
 of the intermediate period there is still something here to speak. 
 That old town bell, which you see before the church door, has its 
 particular tale. For there, on June 21st, 1621, were publicly 
 executed twenty-seven of the Protestant chiefs, most of them 
 Bohemian noblemen and there, twelve years afterwards, Wallen- 
 stein beheaded eleven officers of the highest rank in the imperial 
 army. 
 
132 MEMOIR OF 
 
 "Let us descend, however, a little further. Here is a small 
 palace, whose outside would remind you not a little, though its 
 walls are thicker and more substantial, and its surface far more 
 weatherbeaten, of that of Joseph Buonaparte, near Bordentown. 
 But inside a very different scene presents itself. For here was the 
 ducal residence of Wallenstein, that great and mysterious captain, 
 whose reckless ambition, military genius, and love of splendor 
 gave him so striking a resemblance to the first Napoleon, and his 
 stealthy reticence to the third. In the Wallenstein family has this 
 palace been preserved almost unchanged down to the present day. 
 As you enter you see the artificial grottoes used by the duke as 
 baths, and the large gardens, planned in the French fashions of 
 those days, where he used to take exercise. A little further and 
 you come to a small chamber, in which he himself caused the 
 horse, which was killed under him in the battle of Lutzen, to be 
 stuffed and preserved. There that horse still stands, in the bridle 
 and saddle used by Wallenstein on that eventful day. And there, 
 in strange proximity, are the turret in which he used, in company 
 with necromancers, to consult the stars, and the chapel, in which, 
 under the guidance of the priests, to address the Christian s God. 
 Here are the very steps on which he ascended to the one, and the 
 very carpet (of an old Persian pattern, but now greatly worn by 
 the feet and hands of the curious if not by the knees of the devo 
 tional) on which he knelt in the other. If we could look a little 
 further into the past, what a scene would be unfolded to us ! 
 There lies the great captain, with the blood from an assassin s 
 knife streaming from his bosom. On his table are scattered maps, 
 books of astrology and books of devotion, and it is said papers 
 from which his intended treachery to the Romish and Imperial 
 causes could be proved. Certain it is that in that dark and power 
 ful intellect the plans were matured which would have once more 
 broken at least the yoke of the Catholic league. But there he lies 
 dead, and with him lies the last present hope of the restoration of 
 independence in middle and southern Germany. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 133 
 
 " FROM THE SEVEN- YEARS WAR. 
 
 " But not so, for, here, once again in the old metropolitan church, 
 we come to a shattered pillar from which hangs a cannon ball which 
 struck the church during the bombardment of Prague, in 1744, by 
 the Prussians under Frederick the Great. Here, on the church 
 walls, and on the bridge, are still seen the marks of the storming 
 and capture of the city in that year, and near here the field of that 
 final battle by which, in 1757, the cause of independence, if not 
 of Protestantism was for the last time prostrated in Bohemia. And 
 now, as if to seal the final submission of this once noble people to 
 Austrian tyranny, we have monuments erected to those who in 1848 
 put down the liberal movements in Prague, and then trampled out 
 the fire of liberty in Italy. 
 
 " From all this turmoil and confusion, from viewing a battle 
 field in which we see the cause which we love and hold true, thrice 
 triumphant and thrice defeated, in which at last, we see its last 
 defenders trodden down under heels so hard and remorseless, and 
 with an arrogance so bitter and cruel that our very blood boils 
 what lesson do we draw ? Is our God careless of his purposes, 
 or uncertain in the execution of his design ? Let us go a little 
 further still, into another quarter of this ancient city of Prague, 
 and see whether we cannot here find an answer. 
 
 " FROM THE JEWISH LIVING. 
 
 " View then, the oldest and most enduring monument of them 
 all, a monument always changing in substance, never in feature or 
 expression, on whose surface of flesh the eternal constancy of 
 God s purposes is inserted in letters that never vary. See what 
 meets us here, a population of 7000 Jews is forced together in 280 
 houses. These houses are like the worst we see in Water street, in 
 Philadelphia, but are so close, that their upper stories and they 
 are very high seem, as they totteringly bend to each other, almost 
 to touch. The windows present a singular sight. Owing, I sup 
 pose, to the crowded state of the rooms, the feather beds, in which 
 the inmates appear to have burrowed the night before, are hung 
 out to air, giving, as they gush outwards from every house, a 
 decamping and unsettled expression strongly harmonizing with 
 that of the people below. For there they are, flitting and writhing 
 
134 MEMOIR OF 
 
 to and fro, sometimes selling goods in some temporary shanty, or 
 peddling and chattering hastily together, but always huddling near 
 to each other, with motions as you look down on them at a dis 
 tance more like those of a swarm of suddenly aroused ants, than 
 those of men. There they are, with that restless, packed up man 
 ner, as if always just about to start on some great journey, and yet 
 never starting, with everything ready to move, and that feverish- 
 ness which seems to speak of having been so long ready for the 
 great steam-whistle to sound and the cars to start, they, standing 
 as it were at the station, with their baggage all collected in sudden 
 packages in their hands, and waiting and wondering and waiting, 
 and yet the summons never coming though they and the great 
 SUMMONS stand as it were there face to face, there they are, with 
 that unmistakable physiognomy and manner and habits, there 
 they have been for a thousand years, there they will be until He 
 that cometh will come. TARRY THEN TILL i COME. So they 
 have tarried, tarried the same, tarried waiting, but alas ! tarried so 
 blindly. 
 
 
 
 " FROM THE JEWISH DEAD. 
 
 " But still, a little further. A crowd of Jewish boys shoving 
 up to us. Shall we take you here, or there ? ? But they slink 
 back as a very bent old man totters up. I have the keys of the 
 old graveyard ; will you go in ? You enter, paying to your guide 
 the fee that he jealously clutches. There are the quarters of the 
 Jewish dead, even still more tangled and twisted together than the 
 living. Strangely must those bones lie crossed and jostled, for, by 
 that compressive and self-involuting nationality we see among the 
 houses of the living, the grave-stones lie : here one creeping over 
 another, others leaning as it were in a stack, and all together cover 
 ing the ground as with a continuous heap of aged, long, weather 
 beaten granite fragments. But look more closely and you will see 
 what a mysterious history is here written. Stones are here whose 
 dates go back to periods just following the destruction of the Jewish 
 temple under Titus. The -several tribes are here. The urn tells of 
 Levi ; the vine of Israel ; the double hand of Aaron. So here they 
 lie, the quick and the dead waiting together, to join in their own 
 particular ranks in the procession of the great day. Unchanged 
 have they thus waited, proclaiming how, over all the intermediate 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHAKTOX. 135 
 
 and subordinate circlings of Providence, the divine purpose in its 
 great lines of redemption and retribution marches on constant and 
 unvaried. Here, as it were at this witness box, are the living and 
 the dead, summoned to attest by evidence in itself a miracle, the 
 truth of the divine word. 
 
 "F. W." 
 % 
 
 BERLIN AND AMERICAN STUDENTS. 
 
 " Supposing Philadelphia to have its streets widened by one-half, 
 and its houses covered with a whitish-brown plaster, you have a 
 fair idea of Berlin. No continental city except, perhaps, Munich 
 is half so American looking, because no continental city of any 
 thing like the same size is by any means so new, and so adapted 
 to business purposes. We no longer meet those vast but gloomy 
 palaces, whose internal splendor but illy atones for their darkened 
 exterior and iron-latticed windows. We no longer see the houses 
 of the poor crowded so closely on their crooked lanes, that their 
 upper stories almost touch. The picturesque old roof that beetles 
 over the street, the quaint bow-windows, the short and crooked 
 alleys, here give way to square houses, built in the most practical 
 modern style, upon long and wide streets, crossing each other 
 mostly at right angles. I do not wonder that these, that the very 
 outside of Berlin, make Americans feel themselves at home. 
 . " But there are other reasons why Berlin, especially for theologi 
 cal students, has peculiar advantages. That wild student-spirit, 
 which is so dominant in the rural universities, and which makes 
 the beer-cellar, the senate chamber by which an inexorable public 
 opinion is pronounced, loses here its intolerance. It is, of course, 
 just as easy to be rowdy here as it is elsewhere, but it is also easy 
 to be quiet and orderly, to dress like a citizen, and neither to drink 
 beer nor smoke pipes. And, besides this, the theological faculty 
 is eminent for its ability, its orthodoxy, and its catholicity. To 
 spend one year here, I am convinced, would to many minds bring 
 peculiar theological and literary advantages, and to very few would 
 present those dangers which arise from the latitudinarianism of 
 most of the other German theological schools. So far, indeed, as 
 concerns latitudinarianism of interpretation, the danger is very 
 little. On this question Hengstenberg is here supreme; and I 
 
136 MEMOIR OF 
 
 presume there is no living theologian whose views, as to inspira 
 tion and authenticity, are more rigid and uncompromising. 
 
 " You ask as to the expense. It is much lower than you would 
 suppose. Furnished rooms, equal to the best of those of our 
 American seminaries, can be had for from $6 to $7 a month. 
 Meals ought not to cost more than $2.50 a week, for living in this 
 respect is very low and very comfortable. The expense for lec 
 tures is about $20 for the winter. I am clear, however, that no 
 one should come over without having first learned enough of the 
 language to enable him at least to read fluently. 
 
 " The American element among the students is large and grow 
 ing. Last year there were forty Americans attending the lectures. 
 The indications are that this year there will be sixty. Nor is 
 the American religious element idle. A prayer meeting of Ameri 
 can residents is held weekly. A little chapel, which will hold over 
 an hundred seats, is open for American religious services every 
 Sunday. When clergymen are in attendance and there is in this 
 respect no denominational limitation there is service every after 
 noon. When such is not the case, the American Ambassador, 
 Gov. Wright, conducts a Bible class, which during this summer 
 averaged t\venty. I cannot, indeed, let this opportunity pass with 
 out paying tribute to the Christian fidelity, as well as to the personal 
 liberality and hospitality by which the American legation at Berlin 
 is distinguished. 
 
 " One other movement in the missionary way will perhaps strike 
 you with surprise. Both here and at Bremen there is a regularly 
 established mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church. At 
 Bremen there is a publishing office which sells books to the amount 
 of $30,000 annually, and a church which is very largely attended. 
 Here there is a Sunday school every Sunday morning, German 
 service every Sunday evening, and two German lectures during the 
 week. 
 
 " BREAKING UP OF PRUSSIAN COMPULSORY UNITY. 
 
 " How, you may ask, does this introduction of a new Protestant 
 communion accord with the alleged intolerance of the Prussian 
 established church? As the answer to this involves points of 
 much practical as well as theoretical interest, permit me to say one 
 or two words beforehand by way of explanation. The Protestant 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 137 
 
 Church at the Reformation, as is well known, was divided into two 
 great bodies. The first of these, the Lutheran, or, as it styled 
 itself, the Evangelical, held to a view of the sacraments and of 
 church authority, which was more or less tinged with what we now 
 would call sacramentarianism. The second, the Calvinistic, or 
 Reformed, ascribed to the sacraments no inherent power, rejected 
 the idea of bodily presence altogether, and denied to the visible 
 church the possession of supernatural virtue. Both held with 
 equal vigor what we call the doctrines of grace ; both used lan 
 guage in reference to predestination which we now would call 
 highly Calvinistic, both held to the validity of Presbyterian ordi 
 nation. 
 
 " I need not refer to the distressing controversies between these 
 bodies. It is enough now to say that, for at least two centuries, 
 statesmen as well as divines have been active in the effort to heal 
 a breach whieh seemed so disastrous to the common cause. Fore 
 most in this work stood the electors of Brandenburg, afterwards 
 kings of Prussia, who attached themselves to the Reformed body. 
 At kist Frederick William III. took the occasion of the freeing of 
 the country from the French yoke, to issue the celebrated proclama 
 tion of September 27, 1817, invoking a union of the two confessions 
 on the approaching centennial celebration of the Reformation. The 
 proposition was accepted by the Reformed in Prussia almost unani 
 mously, and by the Lutheran Synod of Berlin by a large majority. 
 In several of the minor German States (Baden included) the ex 
 ample was followed. 
 
 " So far as this union was voluntary, and so far as it tolerated 
 the continued existence of other forms of belief, it was a great step 
 in advance. But, unfortunately, the new church undertook not 
 merely to invite, but compulsorily to annex, the adherents of other 
 creeds. The old High-Church Lutherans were the first who re 
 volted at what they considered a very latitudinarian amalgamation. 
 Had they been let alone, all would have been right. But of all 
 immoderate things, the most immoderate is compulsory moderation. 
 So, first one old High-Church Lutheran minister was fined because 
 he would not use the liturgy, and another was imprisoned because 
 he was fractious in Synod. The consequence was, that instead of 
 there being two communions, as before, there were three the 
 Union, the Old Reformed, and the Old Lutheran. 
 
138 MEMOIR OF 
 
 "In 1840, however, Frederick William IV., under much wiser 
 counsels, recognized and licensed the Old Lutherans as an indepen 
 dent church. This was preceded by a decree declaring that the 
 union did not absorb the two confessions, but that each continued 
 to retain its distinct authority and integrity. And now, by a very 
 recent decree, all the obligatory laws, requiring the education of 
 children in the State Church, are cancelled. How this, at present, 
 works, I will take another period to state. 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 PROTESTANT SISTERHOOD. 
 
 " Berlin is the site of the central Deaconess Institute, whose 
 branches are now actively and beneficently at work not merely in 
 Prussia, bat in the foreign missionary field. Under the special 
 charge of the mother institute is the Bethany Hospital, to which I 
 yesterday paid a visit. The institution was originally under royal 
 control, but its management has now passed into the hands of a 
 board of an unequivocally religious character. The domestic order 
 of the house rests entirely with the deaconesses. As the practica 
 bility of such an arrangement as this has been largely discussed 
 among ourselves, I may be pardoned for stopping to notice its 
 working in the present instance. 
 
 "One thing struck me at the outset as very remarkable. At 
 Milan, a city, where of all others ecclesiastics abound, and where, 
 after the battles of Magenta and Solferino, the hospitals were 
 thronged with sick and wounded Roman Catholics, I went through 
 wards containing several thousand patients, without seeing more 
 then half a dozen Sisters of Charity. The main hospital was on a 
 distinctly religious foundation, and yet, when the inquiry as to where 
 the sisters were, the answer was that they did not attend very 
 largely, and that the greater part of the work was done by hired 
 servants. It is otherwise, however, with the Bethany Hospital, at 
 Berlin. There are here about three hundred beds, with an 
 average of about two hundred and fifty patients. On these 
 sixty of the sisters are in attendance. I^or is their work purely 
 sentimental. Here is the kitchen, where there is a most admirable 
 application of steam to cooking. There comes a sister, and one 
 whose manner and appearance show no want of refined culture. 
 
DK. FRANCIS WHARTON. 139 
 
 It is no errand of mere elegance, however, that she is on. She has 
 in her hand a heavy kettle, filled with the materials for soup. No 
 servants are around to help her, though some of the heavier work 
 of the outer kitchen is thus divided. She goes, however, alone to 
 the large cauldron in which the soup for the evening is to be pre 
 pared, and there, after an amount of fetching, carrying, ladling 
 and turning, which would astonish the more delicate, the little lake 
 of soup finally seethes and boils. I could not see that the work 
 was done less effectively from the fact that it was a gentlewoman 
 that did it. But of one thing I am sure. There was an air not 
 only of neatness but of elegance about the work, which merely 
 hired help could not have secured. 
 
 " So it was with the wards for the little children. One of the 
 most trying things about our common hospitals, is the hardness 
 with which little sick children are treated. Coleridge said that 
 great reverence was due a child, as in itself, so lately from the 
 Divine presence, as embodying so profound a mystery, as so open 
 in its momentous mission, to be affected by the mere negligences of 
 those who surround it. I could not help thinking of this when 
 observing the gentle dignity of the attentions which were paid to 
 this sick-nursery. The self-respect of the little patients was scrupu 
 lously preserved by the neatest surroundings. Kemarkable little 
 .caps, so white and snug snowy sheets, so soberly folded down 
 above and tucked in underneath tidy little pillows, s\velling out 
 with that attentive and deferential look, so comforting to the 
 stranger when he arrives at a strange inn the little tables, on 
 which stood little tumblers and mugs not big ones so that the 
 little patients might feel that things were really meant for them, and 
 that, friendless as they may have been before, there were those 
 here to care for them and love them, particularly, for all that 
 they were so little a little square play-ground, in the middle of 
 the room, with a careful railing round it, so that the children 
 might not get hurt or lost ; all these things showed a tender heart 
 as well as a comprehensive and judicious mind. It is hard to see 
 this, and to learn that this kind of aid is given without clashing 
 with the medical authorities is unpaid, and as such, is far more 
 economical than the ordinary system of a paid help is disconnected 
 with religious or other sentimentalism without feeling that such 
 institutions as these may be safely extended even in our own land. 
 
140 MEMOIR OF 
 
 " In One respect the buildings of the Bethany Hospital, noble 
 as they are, are inferior to those of St. Luke s, New York. There 
 the Avards radiate from the chapel in such a way, that divine ser 
 vice can be heard by every patient. Here the chapel is distinct, 
 and such patients only as are convalescent can attend public wor 
 ship. This difficulty, however, is obviated by the admirable 
 arrangements of the deaconesses. They hold prayer meetings, 
 consisting of short family worship, every morning and evening 
 in each of the several wards. Biblical instruction is given by them 
 to such as are able to attend. And besides this, the whole building 
 is under the general charge of a pastor, who preaches regularly and 
 administers the sacraments. 
 
 " Few points in German theology are so misunderstood as those 
 which relate to the position of the High Lutherans. We are apt 
 to confound them with the English and American High Church 
 men and Sacramentariaus, and to suppose that the two schools hold 
 the same general vjews. This, however, is far from being the case. 
 The High Anglican could not stand two sermons from the High 
 Lutheran. I have never heard such rigid, uncompromising Cal 
 vinism as from the leading High Lutheran divines. Personal elec 
 tion the absolute freedom of grace the imputation of Christ s 
 righteousness justification by faith alone the necessity of a 
 miraculous change of heart are here set forth with a boldness 
 and precision, at which there are few of our American congrega 
 tions who would not be startled. On the other hand, the sacra 
 ments are invested with a mysterious power which it is hard to 
 distinguish from the opus operatum of the Roman Catholics. 
 Language in this respect is used, not in preaching, but in dog 
 matic teaching, which is the same as that of the English Sacra- 
 mentarians, and which is, therefore, in singular contrast with the 
 highly evangelical character of the sermons generally. 
 
 " But besides this, the High Lutheran holds the most extrava 
 gant notions of ministerial authority. This is not because of any 
 apostolical succession, for that he rejects. The extreme call of the 
 Church, however, and the inward call of the Spirit, unite in giving 
 the priest almost indefinite prerogatives. The last number of Dr. 
 Hengstenberg s paper gives a discussion on the point which shows 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 141 
 
 how high these claims are. A young clergyman, it is said, found 
 his congregation becoming very slack in attendance on church. He 
 went to the mayor of the village in order to enter a complaint. 
 The mayor had on his cap, which he did not take off. Which 
 office is the higher/ said the clergyman, that of the mayor or the 
 priest ? The priest/ said the mayor. Then take off your cap, 
 and direct all the village to attend church next Sunday/ The 
 mayor quelled, according to the narrator, by the minister s spirit, 
 did as he was told, and the next Sunday the church was filled. And 
 equally authoritative was the conduct of another young minister, 
 who, when he found his congregation getting up to avoid an 
 obnoxious service, planted himself at the door, and told them that 
 to get out they would have to go over his body. These examples, 
 the editor prudently tells us, are not given for specific imitation, 
 but to show what is the proper degree of ministerial pluck. 
 
 " I am sorry to say, also, that the High Lutherans err very 
 much in their treatment of other Protestant communions. The 
 more uncompromising of them the old Lutherans hold that it 
 is better to commune with a Romanist than with a Calvinist. 
 Even many of those who have entered into the union of the two 
 confessions, treat their Reformed brethren with supercilious dis 
 trust. 
 
 " In another point not only the High Lutherans, but the ortho 
 dox divines generally, have made a great error. They persist in 
 treating liberalism in religion and liberalism in politics, as one and 
 the same thing. Only the other day, at a clerical meeting in Sile 
 sia, it was declared that obedience was a Christian, independence a 
 Cossack virtue. This does not hinder these nominally so submis 
 sive subjects from being excessively fractious whenever the govern 
 ment attempts in any way to liberalize the Church. The error, 
 however, shows itself in a constant denunciation of republicanism 
 and political freedom of thought. Even some of the mildest and 
 best of the orthodox divines have made this mistake. Tholuck s 
 unction, and Krummacher s fire, are thus occasionally misapplied. 
 The consequence has been greatly to weaken the Church by driving 
 from it men of independent political opinion. 
 
142 MEMOIR OF 
 
 "PARTIES IN THE NATIONAL CHURCH. 
 
 "As the National or Union Church now stands, it is divided 
 into three distinct parties. The first of these, or centre, embraces 
 those who hold to an ex animo acceptance of such points in the 
 Lutheran and Reformed confessions as are common to both, and 
 to a liberty of opinion in all other points. To this class belong, I 
 cannot but think, the great body of the most earnest and faithful 
 of the German divines. Among them may be mentioned Tholuck, 
 Krummacher, Nitzsch, Twesten, Hoffmann, Stier, Baumgarten, 
 Ullmann, Dorner, Herzog and Jacobi. 
 
 " The right wing, to adopt Dr. Schaff s classification, includes 
 the High Lutherans, who, though agreeing to the union, retain 
 their distinctive sacramentarian and sacerdotal views, and their 
 distinctive Lutheran loyalty. The theological leader of this party 
 is Hengstenberg, so well known in America for his admirable com 
 mentaries on the Old Testament, and his vigorous and unflinching 
 vindication of the integrity and inspiration of the Holy Text. 
 With him are Stahl, eminent as the most retrogressively conserva 
 tive of Prussian jurists and statesmen ; Goschel, a layman of 
 marked talent, and Biichsel, a most genial man and faithful 
 preacher, who now holds the important post of General Superin 
 tendent (Bishop) at Berlin. The King, during the last years of his 
 administration, was much induced to favor this party, with whose 
 political views he agreed. The present Prime Regent, however, 
 has taken decided ground against them, and it is not likely that 
 High Lutheranism will retain the ascendancy it had reached before 
 the King s abdication. On the other hand, the young men in the 
 Church drift very much in this direction. There is an enthusiasm 
 and singleness about Hengstenberg which is very attractive to an 
 earnest- minded student. His ascendancy here is shown by the fact 
 that while four hundred often attend his lectures, not more than a 
 dozen are present at those of his semi-rationalistic associate, who 
 lectures on the same topics at the same hour. 
 
 "The left wing includes the latitudinarians, who may be likened 
 to the extreme Broad Churchmen of the Maurice school in England. 
 At the head of this party Bunsen, I am sorry to say, has now 
 placed himself. With him, though representing different degrees of 
 religious and political liberalism, are Krause and Count Schwerin. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 143 
 
 Dr. Jonas, whose death occurred last week, was a -leader of this 
 school. 
 
 " It is from the last school alone that I should apprehend any 
 deleterious influence on American students. However illiberal the 
 political views of the two former may be, they cannot affect the 
 practical experience of any right-minded American, or impress him 
 with the truth of government Jure divino. And they unite in teach 
 ing the doctrines of grace with an emphasis and positiveness which 
 American divines would do well to study. No American student 
 can be hurt in his politics by attending the Conservative lectures ; 
 many Americans would be injured in their religion by attending 
 those of the Liberals. 
 
 "THE BROTHERS OF THE ROUGH-HOUSE. 
 
 " In my last letter I gave you a sketch of half a day in the life of 
 the boys in the Rough-House of Hamburg. How, is the question 
 you would naturally put, are these boys managed ? These twelve 
 or fifteen families, each containing twelve or fifteen boys boys, 
 many of them with no previous training but what was bad who 
 cares for them, guides them with sure hand and eye, and leads 
 them, not merely in the way of order and improvement, but in the 
 way of life? And then these groups of boy-laborers of little 
 carpenters, cobblers, bakers, weavers, tailors who leads them ? In 
 all these studies you prescribe who are the teachers ? Who are, the 
 rare men who are capable of keeping together in harmonious work 
 ing, parts so numerous and distinct, so that all the advantages of 
 the most complete individualism are secured, with all the order and 
 energy of an efficient centralism ? 
 
 " Now ask the boys of the Rough-House who cares for them 
 who, in each family is father, teacher, nurse and friend, and you 
 will hear one shout the Brother/ And ask these brothers them 
 selves who they are, and you hear the following reply, which I 
 translate from their own words : 
 
 " We, the here assembled brothers, come from all corners of 
 our dear Fatherland. Our home is in Prussia, in Baden, in 
 Bavaria, in Hesse, in Wiirtemberg, in Thuringen, in Hanover, in 
 Mecklenberg, in Holstein, and in Schleswig. There is not one of 
 us who before we came here was not in condition to earn his daily 
 bread, whether as teacher or mechanic, as farmer or merchant, or 
 
144 MEMOIR OF 
 
 in whatever other station he was placed. Want did not lead us to 
 the Rough -House. But when in our distant homes, we read and 
 heard of the work the Lord has here begun and continued, we 
 prayed that we ourselves might be allowed to take part in the 
 blessing and in the work. So one house-father has called us here 
 as his helps in this labor. And no one of us has obeyed this call 
 without his parent s blessing. 
 
 " Gold or land has none of us brought to the Rough-House ; 
 and when some of us could and would have done so, wiser counsels 
 than those of our own declined to receive the gift. What we all 
 have, however, that we do give, our whole selves as thank-offer ings 
 to God. Whatever we may have learned, whatever inner or outer 
 skill or handiness any of us has acquired, or may acquire here, 
 that is here dedicated to the service of the boys of the Rough- 
 House, to whom we would be as brothers, and this until he who 
 called us here will send us forth in the name of the Lord, who will 
 open the way in which we are to walk. So do we here stand with 
 our house-father and the whole Rough-House in one faith in Jesus 
 Christ, our Saviour and Lord. We are but unprofitable servants ; 
 Christ is our righteousness, his word alone is the light of our feet. 
 We are not our own but his, and serve him, although in all meek 
 ness, yet in that truth and hope which he never refuses to those 
 who ask. In this faith and spirit we are one, and hold ourselves as 
 dear brothers in the faith, and in the labors that are presented to us. 
 
 " Here it is that we find the impulse that brings and keeps these 
 brothers together. The nerve of the whole lies in the positive and 
 resolute Christian character, both of the body and of the individual 
 members. The unity of the movement springs from a living faith 
 in Christ, and in a practical application of the doctrine of the com 
 munion of saints, not merely with the present, but the absent. 
 
 " The brotherhood of the Rough-House now consists of about 
 two hundred, of whom from thirty to forty are on an average re 
 tained in the institution to labor among the children, and. to prepare 
 for similar missions outside. Let us ; in order to understand the 
 movement more fully, view first 
 
 "THE BRETHREN AT HOME. 
 
 " Go first to the garden, and there you will find, in separate cot 
 tages, groups of from five to seven brothers domiciled together. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 145 
 
 Each of these distinct homes are governed by fixed rules, its in 
 mates doing all household work with their own hands. One 
 brother takes the lead in the household management, and is respon 
 sible therefor ; another, who is called the Family Brother/ is the 
 leader of the groups of from twelve to fifteen boys, who are col 
 lected in the same house. The Family Brother is brought into 
 clos3 relatipnship with the boys, being with them by day and night, 
 at their meals, at their work, at their play. Besides this, they lead 
 the boys both in their work and in their studies. Be it spinning, 
 shoemaking, printing; be it cyphering, writing, or the sciences, 
 there a brother presides in each group, learning by teaching, and 
 not only keeping the school in Christian harmony and development, 
 but fitting himself for his own future mission. 
 
 "THE BROTHERS ABROAD. 
 
 " From the report of 1856 I gather the following details of the 
 fields in which the brothers who have left the institution are now 
 laboring : 
 
 173 in the management of houses of refuge. 
 50 in work, and poor-houses. 
 38 as city missionaries, of whom there are representatives in New York and 
 
 New Orleans. 
 23 in orphan houses. 
 
 83 as moral instructors or wardens in prisons. 
 14 as nurses in hospitals. 
 65 as teachers. 
 
 67 in other capacities, among which are colporteurs, and emigrant missions in 
 America, where nine of the whole number are now laboring. 
 
 " The objectionable features of the Romish fraternities are re 
 moved from that of the Rough-House. There is here no vow of 
 obedience or of celibacy. There is a perfect liberty to give up the 
 mission, whenever a brother thinks it best. It speaks very strongly 
 however, for the faith and spirit of self-denial and mutual love of 
 the brothers of the Rough-House, that very few have given up the 
 work. One or two reasons may explain this. One is the ardent 
 piety and faith with which the whole institution is charged. Under 
 this we may notice, the admirable mechanism Dr. Wichern has here 
 put in action. He is the centre of an active correspondence which 
 binds to the common home the brothers engaged in works of out 
 side mercy. He receives the numerous applications for aid which 
 10 
 
146 MEMOIR OF 
 
 are made to him from all quarters of Christendom, and he details 
 to each specific duty the brother whom he thinks best fitted for it. 
 Without his assent the post cannot be resigned, and then the brother 
 thus at large returns to the Common Home to be again recommis- 
 sioned. Even in a purely worldly point of view, the system is very 
 advantageous to the capable and industrious. The recommendation 
 from the Rough-House authorities secures the confidence of the 
 whole religious and charitable community. Such is the trust in 
 them, and particularly in the exactness and the conscientiousness 
 of Dr. Wichern s supervision, that the most important posts con 
 nected with the charities of Europe now seek their acceptance. 
 
 " Let me give an illustration of the beneficent working of the 
 Rough-House brotherhood. In 1848 Upper Silesia was devastated 
 by an epidemic typhus fever. Death and misery entered nearly 
 every household. The heart of all Germany was touched. Money 
 came in liberally, but this was not enough. There were the sick to 
 be nursed, and the widows and fatherless to be cared for. Dr. 
 Wichern called the brothers then at the Central home together, 
 and asked which of them would go with him to this work. All 
 craved to go, but only ten were necessary, and ten were selected. 
 A great work of mercy at once was opened. The villages were 
 crowded with the sick and dying. Thousands of orphans were 
 wandering helpless through the land. So great was the pestilence 
 that hundreds were at one time buried in a common grave. There 
 the brothers of the Rough-House found their place. There for 
 months they labored, and they brought health to the sick and solace 
 to the desolate. They organized hospitals where the first were cared 
 for, and asylums where the latter found a home. And they have 
 received one of the rarest recompenses which religious history 
 records. Within the very jurisdiction of the Church of Rome, 
 evangelical orphan-houses were established, two of which remain 
 to this day under the control of the brothers of the Rough-House. 
 Christian loveliness and zeal so far conquered sectarian prejudice, 
 that a Romish community placed its chief charities in Protestant 
 hands. 
 
 " I must now close with noticing one feature about the Rough- 
 House brotherhood which affected me very deeply. It is the inter 
 cessory prayer which they keep up among themselves. Through 
 God s grace/ says Dr. Wichern, ( this has never failed. I have 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 147 
 
 already noticed the intercessory prayers in the school at large. But 
 besides this, there is a solemn communion in prayer of all the 
 brothers, present or absent, on the first of eah month. Those in 
 the Brother-House assemble in the Hall, those elsewhere in 
 solitude before the throne of grace. There they intercede, one 
 for another, and all for all. There special prayers arise for each 
 brother by name. And once a year, on Good Friday, and on the 
 first Sunday in Advent, the same solemnities are observed at the 
 Holy Communion. 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 " ROME, November 14th, 1859. 
 " MY DEAR : 
 
 " I am afraid that you will find the accompanying copy of Hil- 
 lard s Italy a good deal the worse for wear. I made it a guide 
 book, for which purpose I think it is next to Murray. 
 
 " I think you will find in Rome a great deal of real practical in 
 terest and value. I hope you will not entirely reject Murray. If 
 you will stand on the tower on the Capitol Hill with Murray s 
 plan of the Forum in your hand, you will be able to trace out the 
 whole profile of the ancient buildings. It is a sight which hours 
 can be well spent on, in successive days. "With this I think it will 
 be well to take the last chapters of Gibbon s Decline and Fall, 
 which treat of the various changes in the Forum. The streets here 
 are even worse than those of Florence. I do not think that a lady 
 can walk in them without an escort. And then the dirt ! Bad as 
 Florence is, I think that Rome in this respect carries off the palm, 
 from the very audacity and intrusiveness of its filth. 
 
 " I think also you will find it useful to visit the Reading Room 
 and Circulating Library at Piale s, in the Piazza di Spagna. The 
 books are not very numerous, but are well-chosen, and are, I 
 think, particularly adapted to the study of Roman history and 
 art 
 
 " With all the charms of Europe, and all the peculiar artistic 
 and historic interest of Rome, I long to get back to our own 
 America, where at least we find religious earnestness. What there 
 is here, is merely ascetic, and is in the Church of Rome. It is a 
 sad thing to see how careless the great body of the Protestants are. 
 Last Sunday the whole hotel, with fifty or sixty English and 
 
148 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Americans, was out sight-seeing, with a few very few excep 
 tions. It is a place, I think, that requires peculiar watching of 
 the heart. 
 
 " Very truly yours, 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 "Ox BOARD THE * ARAGO. 
 
 "Dec. 13th, 1859. 
 " MY DEAR : 
 
 " I suppose you are by this time enjoying yourselves in Rome. 
 I send you by this mail a few of the late ( Recorders/ and I cannot 
 help wishing, notwithstanding my unabated Americanism, that I 
 could somehow be mailed with the papers, and turn up with them 
 for a few days at Rome. Of all European cities it is the richest, 
 and the one which I am sure you will most enjoy. The Vatican is 
 worth a week s study by itself I hope you will particularly visit 
 the Christian gallery at the Lateran. The contrast between the 
 simplicity and Gospel purity of the inscriptions, and the tawdry 
 superstition of those in the churches, is well worth study. I hope 
 also that you will visit the cemeteries lately opened in the Appian 
 Way. I have seen few things which so vividly reproduced the 
 old Roman customs. 
 
 " I was very much surprised to learn a short time since, in a 
 way which did not admit of much dispute, of a positive evangelical 
 movement in Florence. Prayer meetings are held periodically, 
 and religious services on Sunday. Even the Times/ which has 
 heretofore so much queried the truth of such statements, and has 
 taken so skeptical a view of religion generally, admits that the 
 movement is a real one. I found, also, on paying a visit to Basle 
 a few days since, that a similar movement, only far more widely 
 spread, is extending in Wiirtemberg. The persons interested do 
 not dissent from the established church, which there is Lutheran, 
 but is very dry, but worship inside of it, holding social meetings 
 at such times as do not interfere with the regular services, as was 
 the way with the early Wesleyaus. So earnest is the foreign mis 
 sionary spirit with them, that they have as many as twenty young 
 men, springing from their midst, who are preparing for the work 
 of foreign missionaries. I must say that the Basle seminary, where 
 these young men are studying, was one of the most delightful spots 
 

 DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 149 
 
 I visited in Europe To-morrow we reach Southampton. 
 
 At present we are about half way across the channel, and are medi 
 tating (or at least the captain is, with the aid of some thirty or forty 
 of the passengers), chartering a small steamer, and visiting the Great 
 Eastern. But it looks now as if we might have quite a breeze, and 
 if so, I suspect some at least of the party will give out. At all 
 events, I will have the opportunity of mailing this note and a copy 
 of the latest Recorder. 7 There is a growing swell on the channel, 
 though the Arago certainly moves less under her machinery than 
 any boat I ever was in. Still I realize that even in the Arago it 
 is possible to feel a little dizzy, and that even were writing easy, 
 reading afterwards might be very difficult. 
 
 " Very sincerely yours, 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 Shortly after his return from Europe he became engaged to a 
 daughter of Lewis R. Ashhurst, Esq., of Philadelphia, and was 
 married on December 27th of the same year (1860). 
 
 Some letters he wrote in anticipation of this event will show the 
 cheerful and playful tone he imparted to daily life, and also give 
 an idea of his occupations and surroundings at Gambler. 
 
150 MEMOIR OF 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 LIFE AT GAMBIER. (Concluded.) 
 
 "MONDAY, Sep. 3d, 60. 
 
 DEAR 
 
 " I am writing a feV lines in the cars to say that I am quite 
 well almost the better for my indisposition of yesterday. The 
 day is very lovely. The sunlight forms a golden flood on the 
 Susquehanuah, by whose banks we are travelling. It is now 
 about 4, and in a few minutes we shall reach Harrisburgj and 
 then comes the mountain scenery, We shall reach Pittsburg about 
 one o clock in the morning ..... 
 
 "FRIDAY. 
 
 " I arrived at Mt. Vernon very pleasantly and safely at 4 o clock 
 yesterday aft. The towers and spires of the little town were glit 
 tering gaily as we steamed up ; but a brighter sight to my mundane 
 eyes, was my carriage and horses. I would like to introduce to 
 you the latter characters. They are very stylish and gay, of a 
 dark brown, and only colts. Red Jacket, the younger, being but 
 four and Dick, the elder, but five. Jacket, I am sorry to say, 
 is by no means a grave horse. Perhaps it may be his youth or 
 perhaps it may be his levity of spirits, but however this is, he has 
 a remarkable number of fancy steps which without making him 
 dangerous to drive, attracts to him very greatly public attention. 
 This summer, he and his brother took country boarding, and have 
 returned in great beauty and fine spirits Red Jacket having 
 learned at his watering place an entirely new figure a figure I 
 am sorry to say approaching to a waltz. But I can assure you, you 
 will be able to drive them with perfect ease. I found Gambier 
 looking very lovely. There had been heavy rain, and the grass 
 had started up green and fresh. I feel bound to say also, that 
 Franz, my German gardener, has done his vacation much credit. 
 The house is almost covered with vines and flowers, and a bed of 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTOX. 151 
 
 Cannas have grown up into most showy and imposing plants. The 
 house stands on the side of a hill about one-sixth of the way 
 down. In front of it is a river. The view from the front porch 
 is really beautiful. It looks directly west, and has a sunset view 
 of several miles of hills. Directly back are the College buildings, 
 pictures of which I propose to send you in a few days. How do 
 you all do at C. H ? I suppose this will reach you Monday 
 or Tuesday. I can picture you all collected in the parlor on Sunday 
 afternoon, your father reading one of those admirable sermons. 
 Tell him I rarely felt more impressed than with those exercises. 
 Perhaps it is from my Low Church proclivities, but I have a great 
 liking for lay-services. For myself, though I have a great prefer 
 ence for the Ministry, yet my work is here. I can act more 
 impressively perhaps on young men than on any other class. But 
 I need your prayers and my own for greater fidelity and zeal. 
 " How can we live at this poor dying rate ?" 
 
 "GAMBIER, Sep. 9, 60. 
 
 " When I last wrote I was just about going to dinner on Friday. 
 It was a very warm afternoon, and I felt very mundane/ I was 
 quite cheered up however, by the intelligence brought me by one 
 of the servants that Bp. and Mrs. Bedell had come, and wanted 
 me to come over and take some ice cream with them of course I 
 went, though it did not need this to tempt me. I found them 
 very cheerful and kind. Mrs. Bedell I think you will particularly 
 like. Both she and her husband are full of hopeful plans for the 
 College. I have rarely seen more noble Christians. Though she 
 has a large estate, they spare themselves in no way, travelling more 
 than half the time, and undergoing all kinds of fatigue. They are 
 not without, however, the elegancies of life a fine piano with 
 melodeon attachment having arrived for them yesterday. Did I 
 tell you of our mishap in the vegetable line? Franz, the gardener, 
 has been exerting himself to the utmost in the production of vege 
 tables beans, cauliflowers, tomatoes. All his German arts were 
 concentrated on this, his first American garden. Unfortunately, 
 however, several fine apple trees were in the garden. Some of the 
 school boys of the neighborhood, finding this out, proceeded to the 
 scene on nights, and left the gate open. A coterie of cows was visit 
 ing in the neighborhood, and finding the gate open, they sauntered in. 
 
152 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Nothing was more natural than for them to turn to the vegetables. 
 First came a snip at the tomatoes/ then the Lima beans, and then 
 a touch of cauliflower. I do not know what was the effect on the 
 milk of the neighborhood, but one thing is clear, my vegetables 
 are finished. One comfort however, is, Elizabeth had previously 
 put up an extraordinary amount of canned fruit and vegetables. 
 If a siege were expected, greater industry could scarcely have been 
 shown. Now peaches are the great standby. The country is bear 
 ing them in great profusion. Monday we got six bushels all 
 of which are in glass jars. Now, I hope you will not think that I 
 am dwelling too much on terrestrial things, but I am determined to 
 have everything very bright in the future, if my efforts can make 
 them so. 
 
 " I beg leave to add a suggestion of a prudential character. If 
 you put off coming till mid-winter, the house will be so full there 
 will be no getting into it. Though I have said nothing to the 
 servants about coming events, they have been seized with a most 
 extraordinary passion for storing and preserving, till the house is 
 beginning to look like a provision store. You ought to see the 
 closets like little organ lofts, fluted with bottles of brown toma 
 toes, green peas, and yellow peaches ranged in rows for the sake of 
 symmetry. Last week I obtained a number of new flowers, which 
 Franz assures me will bloom in Jan. or Feb. But how little the 
 conservatory looks ! and how badly arranged for ladies dresses ! 
 The only passage it has is so constructed that nothing like a skirt 
 can pass through it without flirting against a number of infant 
 fuchsias and verbenas, most of whom are anything but big enough 
 to be improved by a knock." 
 
 "GAMBIER, Sep. llth. 
 
 " What do you think of a fire so early ? I have an open fire in 
 the Library, and am sitting by it not at all impressed by the un- 
 congeniality of the bright sun without and the blazing hearth 
 within. The mountain air, of which we have a touch, is fresh and 
 crisp, tho not cold, and the wood fire is a sort of companion. The 
 other companions around the house are entirely of the silent order. 
 Over the mantel-piece is an engraving of Milton sitting at a table, 
 writing as Secretary for Oliver Cromwell. Milton is festooned 
 around with a series of minor characters, among whom may be 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 153 
 
 mentioned Napoleon, the Eev. Mr. Cooper, St. Jerome, Brother 
 Holden, and Bishop Mcllvaine. The walls are covered with book 
 cases, containing some thousands of volumes. As I glance my 
 eye around them, I find on my left hand, an alcove of light read 
 ing/ a taste for which you know is my weakness. Then come 
 biographies and histories then theological treatises then sermons 
 then ecclesiastical histories then Biblical commentaries then 
 periodicals then encyclopaedias and dictionaries then text-books. 
 But do not think from this very dull enumeration that the col 
 lection is dull. It is not ; on the contrary it is much diversified 
 and has a good many elements of vivacity and to increase this a 
 series of very gay water-color paintings are hung over the alcoves 
 lightening extremely the usual sombreness of a library." 
 
 "NEWARK, Sep. loth. 
 
 " This morning I laid out to give Franz an experience in practical 
 gardening. His German ideas do not quite enable him to work in 
 American style. It so happens there is a gentleman in Newark 
 (about 20 miles from G.), who is an accomplished agriculturist. So 
 I made arrangements to meet him, and ordered the horses at half- 
 past six. The drive that was to begin at half-past six saw eight 
 before we started, but it was very beautiful over a country yellow 
 with corn husks, and that Indian summery haze. A lady having 
 directed us to go the right when she meant left caused us much 
 delay, but at last we reached N. While Franz is scourging him 
 self over the very superior verbenas he sees, I sit down to write 
 to you .... you say there is nothing to say about your co-Id, I 
 hope it says nothing for itself in the way of coughing and bron 
 chitis. .... On Monday we hope to return laden with cuttings, 
 etc. Do not expect too much from the greenhouse. Its main 
 advantage is that it opens directly from the dining-room, making 
 a sort of continuation of that less sentimental apartment. Mrs. 
 Bedell gave me a book yesterday that I found very attractive.* 
 The preciousness of God s Word. Do get it and read it. May 
 we follow 7 its leadings and do or suffer His will as He appoints. 
 
 " I found everything in G. in good order, but it was well that 
 
 [* Dr. Octavius Winslow.] 
 
154 MEMOIR OF 
 
 I arrived. Both of my substitutes had surrendered their posts. 
 Their books, etc., were lying on my table, and also the key of my 
 room, indicating that if I did not go that afternoon, nobody would. 
 Now as this would produce a disarrangement of the whole college, 
 a thing which would have been afterwards remembered, I felt that- 
 it was a happy thing that I arrived, trying as it was for me to 
 start. The servants had taken advantage of my absence to make 
 a thorough house*cleaning. In the hall, parlor, and library, carpets 
 were down and a winter transformation in the bed-rooms. Stoves 
 stick out their ugly faces where before there was nothing but the 
 serene marble of the mantel-pieces. I am sorry to say the grounds 
 are also changed. They are looking very forlorn, with a jaded, 
 dilapidated expression, like a set of oldish young ladies after a ball. 
 Only the prim imortels, as Franz calls them (chrysanthemums), 
 hold up their spry, crisp little yellow heads as if in righteous dis 
 dain of their fragile sisters. The greenhouse has however afforded 
 a place of refuge for some of the sisterhood, and they look un 
 commonly well in this shelter. The arrivals from Mt. H were 
 received at first with mute politeness afterwards with respectful 
 admiration ; the Begonia is pronounced very interesting and peculiar, 
 and the cactus with a flower hitched to it like a label on a piece of 
 goods, entirely new in our collection. Coming events, I suspect, 
 cast their shadow or rather their sunlight before ; the servants 
 I suspect have an inkling from their extraordinary activity. 
 
 " Where do you think I have been to-day? What will you say 
 when Bp. Bedell, Mrs. B. and myself have been at what it seems 
 was a Horse race ! The truth is, this week is the County Agri 
 cultural Fair, in which all the farmers of the neighborhood are 
 expected to be present with their stock. Now the stock contains 
 some marvellous items. Cows, horses, and pigs you might expect, 
 but what do you say to pictures by native artists of Niagara, and 
 extraordinary specimens of needle work from Samplers by children 
 of six years in the oddest perspective ! Now it is a sort of county 
 esprit de corps that everybody should encourage this Fair, so we 
 all concluded to drive there too. Yesterday, the servants at my 
 house had holiday to go. Elizabeth and Eliza being dressed up in 
 grand style, and Franz in a suit of black broadcloth, with musta- 
 chios au Victor Emmanuel, driving them in the open wagon. In 
 consequence of this evacuation, I dined with Mrs. Bedell, and 
 
DR. FKANCIS WHAKTON. 155 
 
 to-day, her servants making a similar detour, Mrs. Bedell and the 
 Bishop dined with me. But before dinner we determined to drive 
 into the Fair ourselves. And I regret to say that we happened 
 just at the hour not of wholesome exhibition of cows and pigs, 
 sheep and pumpkins but of regular races. For it seems that 
 even the neighborhood of Gambler is not considered too severe for 
 the entrance of a party of sporting characters from the East who 
 brought their horses with them, on pretext of trial of speed, but 
 really for a race ! What would you have thought of our watching 
 the proceeding, and wondering how a horse exhibition could assume 
 such exciting dimensions, and finally wondering if the e exhibition 
 were not a race ? But I am afraid I am writing wha.t is scarcely 
 worth reading. ... I hope to be with you on Wed y. 
 
 " Ever y rs, 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 " October 21st. 
 
 " This is a gloomy wet day, but it is Sunday for all, and it has 
 therefore its own comforts. With me they are very precious. 
 First come the early morning prayers at which it is my turn to 
 officiate. Then I have a Bible Class of Freshmen from 15 to 20 
 students, and which I feel is one of my most valued privileges. 
 This morning I took up the parables treating them analytically. 
 The topic I began with was the power of the kingdom of sin, both 
 within and without, illustrating this by, 1st, the parable in refer 
 ence to the unwashed hands ; 2d, that about the light of the body 
 being the eye, and 3d, that of the strong man bound. I endea 
 voured to use these so as to shew the subjective power of sin and 
 the objective power of Satan. I trust the effect was not without 
 use. As to preaching we are well off .... Mr. C. preaches only 
 once a day. He is just beginning, however, for Thursday evenings, 
 a course of lectures on Genesis, which I trust you will hear before 
 they are through. May they be blessed to the conversion of souls ! 
 I am just reading a book which I will send with this, Phelps 
 Still Hour. 7 It strikes me not only as exquisitely beautiful but 
 as hitting some of the weak points in our religious character. 
 Oh for grace to live more holily and prayerfully !" 
 
156 MEMOIR OF 
 
 "October 24th. 
 
 " We have had such glorious weather in the last day or two, as 
 to make a rural contrast not at all to the disadvantage of Gambier. 
 This day and yesterday have been so warm as to make fires un 
 necessary and to give the open air almost irresistible charms. I 
 have been improving it by having a new walk built. Quite a 
 little piece of woods has been added to my grounds. I have been 
 having these thinned away, and Franz s skill has been exercised in 
 drawing a walk to be gravelled over and shaded for winter dry- 
 iiess and summer coolness. I have in my own dumb way been 
 giving suggestions on the subject, which, however, Franz, in his 
 superiority, .does not always respect. Still the work progresses, 
 and by November will be finished enough for practical use. I 
 have been doing a little reading and reviewing in the last few 
 days. Milman s History of Latin Xtianity which (with Mr. P. s 
 help), I have been writing a notice of, is very attractive in the His 
 tory line well worthy of study, and fully capable of provoking it, 
 although he is rather hard upon our friends, the Calvinists. I 
 regret to say also, that I degraded myself last night by reading 
 through a novel ; though I saw at the outset that it was weak and 
 silly. It is by Dr. Holland, and is called Miss Gilbert s Career. 
 The beginning had a sort of agreeable levity about it, which 
 rather led me on, getting more disgusted, however, from page to 
 page and yet with that perversity we sometimes have holding on 
 to the end. Then think of my going back to Goldsmith ! My 
 college lectures, in the last few days, have led me in this direction, 
 and yesterday evening, I took a really comforting read of the De 
 serted Village. How touch ingly homelike and true it is ! and 
 how Goldsmith with retrospective touches of home life has been 
 without a rival. And what a contrast he is to the hard sardonic 
 tone of Swift, whom I have taken up concurrently. The bell is 
 just ringing for evening prayers. Bro. C. has taken up Genesis, but 
 not in such a profoundly learned a way as to disturb the popular 
 
 mind And now I am just come from there somewhat tired 
 
 with a rather statistical summary of the details of the Pentateuch. 
 We landed a great musical genius at the Hill during the last few 
 days a Mr. Alfred Pease, an old student of the College who has 
 been spending some two years at Berlin, where I met him last fall. 
 He is an extremely brilliant pianist, and I invited the College 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 157 
 
 band, and the several musicians on the Hill to meet him last night, 
 my piano being about the best on the Hill. They all came, about 
 40 in number. As this is Sunday, I will put off telling you about 
 
 it until to-morrow 
 
 " Ever yours, 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 " The bundle arrived safely, and greatly did I wonder what it 
 was. First I looked at the post-mark, which was greatly like 
 Mont Motlin (the Queen of Spain s brother-in-law) ; and I wondered 
 for a moment what so new a post-mark could have to do with 
 so imposing a bundle. But I soon opened it, cautiously and re 
 spectfully, and the moment the green worsted appeared I knew 
 what it was. Now, first as to the bag. It certainly is better than 
 it would have been if it had preserved its original dimensions. 
 Now it is abundantly large enough. This morning at eleven it is 
 to make its first trip to college, having deposited in it two or three 
 volumes of Addison, and as many of Johnson. The two latter 
 authors form the topics of my morning lectures. 
 
 " Dreary, wet weather ! I do wonder whether you are having 
 the same ! My cows are quite vindictive with disgust at the rain, 
 and stand with their noses in the corners. Prince also has deserted 
 his usual place for relaxation, which was in the centre of the grass 
 plot, and has taken his bone (he is not allowed to eat meat, and his 
 bone is merely symbolical), under the eaves of the wood-house. Paul 
 Morphy (the cat), I regret to say, got into the greenhouse last night 
 and must have danced a polka up and down one of the shelves, for 
 six plants were knocked over, and an air plant had half its ringlets 
 torn out, probably by Morphy s claws. I told you I would give 
 you an account of my musical party of Saturday evening. I in 
 vited Mr. Pease to spend the evening, promising to invite the 
 
 musical genius of G to meet him. To keep the number from 
 
 being too large, I confined it to the young people, undertaking my 
 self to act as matron to the young ladies. The result was three 
 fold. 
 
 " 1st. The College band, which is entirely instrumental, and con 
 sists of about eight. 
 
 " 2nd. The College choir, which is vocal, and has about the same 
 number. 
 
158 MEMOIR OF 
 
 " 3d. The village young ladies distinguished for amiability. 
 
 " Then, as to the performance. First, a series of dashing pieces 
 from Mr. Pease, as the Lion of the evening. Then followed Mr. 
 Houghout, another piano player, a student here, and with great 
 musical talent. Then the College band retired to the porch for 
 the purpose of giving softness to their instruments, and serenaded 
 .the young ladies through the windows. Then came supper, in 
 which Elizabeth, who was suffering at the time with rheumatism, 
 lashed herself into peculiar activity, for the purpose, she said, of 
 showing how a sick old woman could cook. Then, after supper, 
 Mr. Pease played again, and then came some sacred music (vocal) 
 from the College choir. Family prayers was the finale, at which I 
 was heartily glad to close the day quietly." 
 
 " Friday morning . 
 
 " This is, I suspect, going to be a short letter (with me a rarity). 
 Nothing could be more placid than the current of the last week 
 socially. After the musical effort of last Saturday nothing can be 
 expected for some time, but the usual routine of lectures, church 
 and driving. I took Dr. C. a long and pleasant drive of from ten 
 to fifteen miles yesterday, finding him quite confidential and very 
 intelligent. So you are almost alone at C. H. This, in the Spring, 
 is comparatively pleasant, but I think that a solitary house in the 
 Fall is doubly solitary. Everything here looks so dreary that I 
 am glad you will not see it for the first time, as it is. Winter, 
 with all its grimness, is better than this sad, dishevelled state of 
 things, just as a real fine head of gray hair is preferable to a wig. 
 I am afraid however it will look rather stern. The walks in par 
 ticular have a ragged look inside, however, all is cheerful and 
 bright. The bituminous coal aids in this and the carpets and fur 
 niture have a very home-like look. But still to some extent the 
 life is a missionary life ! May God give us grace to faithfully dis 
 charge its duties, and to do everything for His dear Name. I am 
 glad you are practising on the piano. Such playing as yours will 
 be a great comfort to us on the winter evenings. So you are read 
 ing Bulwer s Last of the Barons I don t know that I have ever 
 seen it. What shall he do with it ? is I think one of his best. 
 Nothing can be finer than the character of Arabella Crane. I do 
 little reading myself beyond the subjects of my lectures which this 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTOX. 159 
 
 morning were Hawthorne and Poe. I am about to begin a critical 
 notice of the Theology of Tennyson for the Recorder/ which I hope 
 you will have leisure to read. The first on the Theology of the May 
 Queen, and the second on that of St. Simon Stylites. I don t know 
 that they will be worth much, though I am trying by them to show 
 the contrast between a religion to satisfy the heart and one merely 
 responsive, to philosophy. This letter I fear will not amount to 
 much more than a sheet of blank paper. It is written at the close 
 of a very tiring day, when I suspect my pen is almost as dull as 
 my mind. 
 
 " Ever y rs, 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 "Nov. 9th. 
 
 " Your very agreeable and kind letter of Sunday last made quite 
 a quick trip of it I had a presentiment it was to be here. I really 
 think you do me injustice as to the way your letters are read. They 
 are first gone through rapidly, to get a perspective view; then they 
 are read carefully a second time ; then they are put away for a few 
 days, or perhaps a day only, and then brought out and read again. 
 When there is a long delay in the arrival of their successor, their 
 reading is repeated perhaps a third or fourth time as a sort of sec 
 ondary comfort. Could there be a more respectful attention paid to 
 letters than this? 
 
 " Here the constant arrival of new books and periodicals, as well 
 as the large library distributed through the house keep up my lite 
 rary activity. I rec d two large packages of books yesterday. One 
 of these contained another instalment of the Rev. C. B. Taylor s 
 writings, for which I confess I have little sympathy. He seems to 
 me as dim as Mrs. Sherwood, and much more foolish. Two very 
 admirable articles have just been published by Bishop Mcllvaine. 
 One on the Holy Catholic Church in a distinct shape, and the 
 other on Baptismal Regeneration which appears in the Episco 
 pal Recorder. Littell s Living Age I find the most entertaining 
 of all the periodicals. I confess his selections are a little in the 
 political line, but this is made up for by their vivacity, and by the 
 fact that he draws almost all the literary talent from that portion 
 of the English press which is inaccessible here. I am trying to 
 keep up my German at least an hour every day Franz not speak- 
 
160 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ing English, is an aid in the same direction. At the Faculty Meet 
 ing last night there was a disagreeable question of College discipline. 
 We had an uncommonly long and troublesome session. One of the 
 students, rather a favourite of mine, was guilty of downright in 
 subordination. He had to be dismissed from the College, but this 
 is always a painful thing to do, particularly when it is associated 
 with a prior examination of the culprit. This we had last ev g 
 being kept at work three hours. But this is only incidental or 
 rather accidental to the great work in which we are engaged. I do 
 believe that this College is united to the Church, and I feel that it 
 is a comfort, in some plain way to be doing the Lord s work. Still 
 the clouds sometimes will gather. 
 
 * Workman of God, oh lose not heart, 
 
 But learn what God is like, 
 And in the darkest battlefield 
 Thou shalt know where to strike. 
 
 Oh ! learn to scorn the praise of men, 
 
 Oh ! learn to lose with God, 
 For Jesus won the world through scorn 
 And beckons us his road. 
 
 " You don t mind my quoting hymns. I send you in full the 
 hymn I gave you from memory at Berlin. The omitted verses 
 are : 
 
 Wherever in the world I am, 
 
 In whatsoe r estate, 
 I have a fellowship with hearts 
 
 To keep and cultivate, 
 And a work of lowly love to do 
 For the Lord on whom I wait. 
 
 So I ask thee for the daily strength 
 
 To none that ask denied, 
 And a mind to blend with outer life 
 
 While keeping at thy side, 
 Content to fill a little space 
 If thou be glorified. 
 
 4 There are briars besetting every path 
 
 Which call for patient care ; 
 There is a cross in every lot 
 
 And an earnest need for prayer ; 
 But a lowly heart that leans on thee 
 
 Is happy any where. " 
 
DE. FRANCIS WHARTON. 161 
 
 "SUNDAY, Nov. 18th. 
 
 " I have a moment or two, before going to Bible Class, to begin 
 a letter, trusting to the rest of the day to finish it. This is what 
 we have not had for a long time a rainy Sunday. Yesterday 
 was very remarkable; so mild was it that the fires had to be 
 put out, and the windows and doors opened. To-day, however, 
 things look more like autumn. Everything moves on here with 
 the usual quiet step. The days are very much like each other, 
 varied only, perhaps, -in the kind of study. Sometimes a faint 
 dash of dissipation comes to break the monotony. On Friday, for 
 instance, a committee of the students came to inform the President 
 that a concert was to be given at Mt. Vernon by the Continentals. 
 Now, Mt. Vernon is the Paris of Knox County, the grand metro 
 polis of fashion, and the l Continentals are the Musards or Juliens 
 who form the musical taste. At first the faculty determined it 
 would not be best for the students to go. It was a piece of gayety 
 which might lead to difficulty, and difficulty is a thing college 
 officers are very shy about. But after a while the President re 
 laxed ; and as the boys were to go, and it was a fine moonlight 
 night, I determined to go too. So I had Dick and Jack harnessed 
 up and put in the carriage, to their great astonishment, they being 
 accustomed to retire at six, and here, instead of going to bed, they 
 were having their hair brushed, their clothes put on, and their best 
 wagon fastened behind them. Dick expressed his surprise by two 
 jumps in the air, and Jack by standing on his hind feet. They 
 took us safely there, however, Dick merely escaping from the 
 hostler and taking a tour of the town before recovered. 
 
 " Four gentlemen in yellow waistcoats, white trousers, cutaAvay 
 blue coats with brass buttons, and long shaggy hair constituted the 
 Continentals. One had a melodeon, one a bass viol, one a violin, 
 and one a flute. They sing as a quartette also. As I have rather 
 a taste for music that is popular and not operatic even having a 
 latent inclination for negro minstrels, I was prepared to relish it. 
 One thing they did sing well that was Poe s Raven. I have 
 always had a sort of awe for that extraordinary poem, and this was 
 increased by the mysterious rhythm to which the words were set. 
 I am afraid I have not written a very Sundayish letter, and this 
 11 
 
102 MEMOIR OF 
 
 aft. I fell asleep after dinner. My only excuse is that I was kept 
 
 up till after midnight the evg. before 
 
 " Ever yrs. 
 
 k F. W." 
 
 "Great is my joy to find that the sharp frost of Friday night 
 has done none of the injury to the greenhouse that was expected. 
 The roses, it is true, are in deep mourning, but that is what Franz 
 intends them to be, as early in the winter he shut them up in a 
 dark room. But the geraniums are in high blossom, the heliotropes 
 have not shrunk, either in leaf or bud, and the only plants that 
 look touched are some of the more tropical Begonias, the ends of 
 whose fingers were a little frost-bitten. Still I am sorry to say, they 
 are by no means prepared to welcome you in the style they should. 
 Franz had prepared his roses and hyacinths for Feb. and when I 
 told him you would be here in three w r eeks he said very politely 
 1 Ich congratulire Sie/ but the flowers will not be ready. I might 
 have told him that the brighest flower of all would be here. 
 Elizabeth and Eliza expressed great satisfaction at your message. 
 They have become familiarized with the place, and do not want to 
 leave. You will find yourself welcomed with delight by all your 
 new subjects. Prince has outgrown his 22-inch collar, and must 
 have another. Outside all is dreary, but inside the greenhouse is 
 bright and the canaries are singing sweetly. It is calculated to 
 make us feel very strongly God s goodness and our own unworthi- 
 ness. Oh for strength to live more completely to Him ! 
 
 " I feel very sadly about the Southern news. I can only pray 
 there will be no bloodshed. 
 
 " Mother is very anxious about Emily, and I think not unnatu 
 rally. She (Emily) lives on a plantation, her husband frequently 
 away, with very few white persons about her and a vast crowd of 
 negroes. Most of these are faithful and well disciplined, but they 
 are as ignorant and as excitable as the blacks in Philadelphia. 
 Anything like a spark might kindle them, and then the flame 
 would be most disastrous. There is always danger that a political 
 excitement, such as that now pending, may touch this unfortunate 
 population. I know no greater misfortune than to be born with 
 such a heritage ; and yet, when it comes, I do not see how it can 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 163 
 
 be cast away. To manumit slaves, as experience shows, is to inflict 
 on them the worst of injuries. Emily herself writes very sadly." 
 
 After Dr. "Wharton s -marriage, in 1860, the rumors of approach 
 ing war were beginning to be heard and to those who had relatives 
 and friends in the South there w T as cause for grave anxiety. The 
 College and Seminary too were largely affected by the coming cloud. 
 Not only was there the difference of opinion among the students 
 that then existed throughout the country and all its institutions, 
 but there was an atmosphere of excitement and restlessness very 
 unfavorable for calm and quiet study. Later on, by Feb. 1860, 
 the Southern students mostly left the Hill, to join their States and 
 in many cases the cause to which those States belonged, and Col., 
 that is to say, President Lorin Andrews, drilled and headed a com 
 pany of volunteers to be ready for use on the side of the Union. 
 This state of things was very distressing to our peace-loving and 
 beloved friend. He could not bear coercion on any point and 
 though he was brought finally to see the necessity for it, it was a 
 painful and unwelcome recognition. He had, however, the great 
 comfort of a happy home now and sympathizing friends around 
 him. His warm attachment to many persons at the Hill, and its 
 distance from the actual field of combat were great mercies to him 
 at that period. As it was, however, the state of blockade that 
 existed for some years, and the uncertainty as to the fate of 
 those he loved in the South were often causes of depression and 
 misgiving. 
 
 Fortunately new and absorbing interests soon came with his new 
 domestic relations. On the 13th of Oct. 61, a little daughter was 
 born to him and gave him a fresh and delightful duty as well as a 
 solemn responsibility. This gift of a kind and Heavenly Father 
 seemed to awaken in him a desire to do something further for the 
 cause and the glory of the Giver. He had long been in the habit 
 of lecturing or rather lay-preaching in the neighborhood. At the 
 hamlets and farm-houses there were often cases where a regularly 
 
164 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ordained clergyman could administer the sacraments, and exert an 
 influence that a layman could not. His old desire to enter the 
 ministry asserted itself again, and this time there was no one to 
 interpose practical considerations. After a year of special prepa 
 ration, he was ordained Deacon at Cleveland in 1862, and a 
 month later received Priest s orders of that Church to which he 
 now devoted himself with a new and heartfelt consecration. 
 
 To those who have heard Dr. Wharton preach, the memory will 
 not be an unmixed pleasure. His voice .was never good and it 
 gave one a feeling almost of regret to find how often his beautiful 
 thoughts and earnest appeals seemed to lose force by his inability 
 to express them. Still to the few, who would give him their close 
 attention there was always a rich reward. There were few decora 
 tions, no repetitions, no ignorant speculations, but a simple exposi 
 tion of the Word of God, that carried conviction to many a heart 
 and disarmed both doubt and hostility. Cultivated men, who 
 would not sit under an ordinary preacher, no matter how earnest, 
 always were willing to listen to him, the doubtful had their heart 
 questionings answered, while old believers, whose faith and hope 
 were long since assured, felt a renewed joy in his clear and pow 
 erful enunciations of Divine truth. Several of his sermons have 
 been published ; one, notably beautiful, is called " A Root out of a 
 dry ground/ also a small volume of lectures called " The Silence 
 of Scripture." 
 
 The loss of so many students from the Institutions at Gambier, 
 and a desire for greater opportunity of preaching now led to a 
 change, which will require another chapter to narrate. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 165 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 REMOVAL TO BROOKLINE SECOND JOURNEY TO EUROPE LIFE 
 
 AT NARRAGANSETT PIER, WITH LETTER FROM REV. W. WIL- 
 BERFORCE NEWTON, D.D. 
 
 IN the year 1863 he was called to the parish of St. Paul s, 
 Brookline, Mass. This Church had been built, and its members 
 for some years edified by the valuable ministrations of the Rev. Dr. 
 Stone, and it was with some diffidence that the comparative neo 
 phyte began his labors there. He was, however, greatly encour 
 aged by the result. The Church, a beautiful building, though 
 small, became, under his administrations, crowded. His Sunday 
 schools and Mission schools also. It was thought best to divide 
 the Parish, and an active layman in his Church, Amos Lawrence, 
 Esq., built for the overflow from St. Paul s the new Church of Our 
 Saviour, Longwood, which is to-day a flourishing and well-estab- 
 blished Church. After six years of successful and delightful 
 labor, chequered, indeed, with some sad passages in the deaths of 
 friends and parishioners who were dear to him, Dr. Wharton s 
 throat began again to trouble him, and he projected a second trip 
 to Europe, in the company of his wife and two little girls of 6 and 
 7 years. At this point we may perhaps date the revival of his 
 interest in legal matters. He had, indeed, from time to time con 
 tinued to revise and print new editions of his Criminal Law, as 
 they were called for, and the research connected with this work, 
 called his attention to the absence of good books on several other 
 points. While he was abroad in 1870, he spent six months in 
 Dresden. Here in enforced leisure, and with the command of good 
 authorities on the subject, he completed his work on " Conflict of 
 Laws," which was published on his return to this country. His 
 knowledge of the German language and literature had ever been a 
 source of great pleasure to him, and was now turned to solid 
 account. About this time, also, began a correspondence with various 
 learned men in Germany, Italy, and France, which resulted in his 
 
16G MEMOIR OF 
 
 election as a member of the " Droit International," a Society, 
 and a correspondence which continued to claim him for the rest of 
 his life. After his winter in Germany, he spent the spring in 
 Italy, and the summer in Switzerland, being in the last named 
 period, sometimes in the direct path of the French and German 
 armies, who were contending for Alsace. 
 
 Of this time, his wife writes : 
 
 " His stay in Dresden was a time of peculiar activity and enjoy 
 ment. He was never tired of observing the peculiarities of Ger 
 man character. Our home was in the Neue Stadt/ with the bare 
 floors and rugs, and porcelain stoves, then such a novelty. Our 
 children were almost old enough to take care of themselves, but 
 relied for protection in their walks on Frederic, our German courier. 
 There, with the Elbe flowing peacefully under our windows, and 
 the German Sprache ever sounding in our ears, he composed and 
 wrote much that was useful in later years. In the afternoon there 
 were walks by the river, or to the Alt Stadt, where the picture 
 galleries enchained and fascinated him. Sometimes, in the evening, 
 we found a rare treat, in the concerts at the Hotel de Saxe, or the 
 sacred music at the Frauen Kirche, but more frequently, returning 
 home, we sought, with our little ones, the humbler but more home 
 like strains in the Halle of the Schiller Strasse. There, as if we 
 were Germans ourselves, we chose our table and watched our Deutche 
 friends, with their wives and children, smoking their pipes, drinking 
 beer, and consuming wurst, and schinken at their ease, while enjoy 
 ing the music. He had ever great admiration for the domestic 
 virtues of the German nation. It was difficult to break up our 
 pleasant winter there, but on the 1st of March our time was up, 
 and we prepared to descend to Italy. Crossing the Alps at Inn- 
 spriick, after a short stay at Munich, we saw the mountains in all 
 their winter beauty. There was no tunnel then to deprive us of 
 one of the sublimest sights this earth can show the white pin 
 nacles of an Alpine range glistening in the sun, like the towers of 
 the New Jerusalem. After a couple of weeks at Meran, rendered 
 somewhat sad to us by the sight of so many sick and consumptive 
 patients, who here seek, as a last resource, for health and strength, 
 we reached Venice by April 1st. 
 
 " Much has been written and sung of the City by the Sea, but 
 it will never lose in the eyes of a new-comer, a shock almost of 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 167 
 
 surprise at its wonderful beauty. We came in just at sunset. The 
 palaces had turned in the evening light into jewelled battlements. 
 Sea and sky were one vast burnished mirror, on which the many- 
 tinted sails hung double. Then our way lay through Italy, in all 
 its spring-tide luxuriance. The flowering season comes early there, 
 and the sights of June are seen in May. The roses and jessamine 
 of Bellagk), the blue waters of Como, the distant peaks of moun 
 tain fastnesses, and last, not least, the centipedes and tarantulas 
 even, that come out with the summer sunshine all contributed to 
 the entertainment and variety that the memory looks back upon. 
 
 " On our way home we passed through Switzerland, and were 
 inconvenienced by the presence in Southern France of bands of 
 recruits on their way to the fields of action. It was then 1870, 
 and the fate of the Emperor of the French was fast approaching. 
 He Avas then encamped at Metz, and troops from all parts of his 
 domain were hastening thither. We found the trains filled with 
 these poor fellows, in their bine coats, who were all to fight on 
 Alsatian battlefields, and many of them to sleep in death before 
 Chalons and Sedan. 
 
 " At Berne we were detained three weeks by the difficulty of 
 getting through to Paris. When we finally succeeded in reaching 
 there, we found the smallpox there before us, and hastening on, were 
 glad to place the Channel between us and the two contending parties. 
 
 "War to us was not heroic, except in the retrospect, and the only 
 act of heroism we connect with this, our closest contact with it, was 
 the kindness of the old French gentleman who gave up a portion 
 of his reserved coupe to facilitate our getting through and admin 
 istered Eau de Menthe from time to time to our various ailments 
 and fatigues. 
 
 " Our voyage home had an event to mark it, which caused us 
 some alarm, and detained us for several of those hours that seem 
 so long on board ship. We ran down a small schooner called the 
 1 Torpedo/ somewhere near the Banks of Newfoundland/ It was 
 at night, and the Captain promptly stopped the steamer to ascer 
 tain the amount of injury done. There were only seven men on 
 board and these declared their vessel useless. This also required 
 investigation, so we remained all night alongside. In the morning 
 it was found that the rigging alone had been touched, and that the 
 hurt could be easily repaired. For some reason, however, best 
 
108 MEMOIR OF 
 
 known to themselves, the sailors refused to return to their vessel, 
 and our Captain was obliged to send on board the mate of our 
 steamer, with seven of our sailors to bring the vessel into port. 
 This action of the Captain may have been dictated by policy, but 
 it seemed to us singularly humane at the time, and the sailors from 
 the injured boat no doubt enjoyed the good cheer they received on 
 board of our ship. I am also happy to say, that, a few days after 
 our landing,, we saw the safe arrival of the ( Torpedo announced in 
 the newspapers." 
 
 Upon Dr. Wharton s return to Brookline, finding his throat 
 still troubling him, he resolved to resign his parish, and accept a 
 Professorship in the then Infant Seminary of the Episcopal Church 
 in Cambridge. 
 
 Of the parting with his people, I can only say, in the words of 
 one of his parishioners, who said it to me, " every man, woman, and 
 child in Brookline will miss him." 
 
 His new field of labor, however, was not far off, and the friendly 
 relations already such a trusted and sustaining tie, continued to 
 exist long after the move had been made. The Trustees indeed of 
 the new Institution were the Vestrymen of the Church he was 
 forced to leave, and the change of relations was one that rather 
 cemented than weakened the tie. Were there space and time, much 
 cordial and kindly correspondence could here be given to show 
 how close and affectionate these relations were. It is better per 
 haps, however, to hasten on, as the object of these pages is not to 
 show merely the loving and lovable nature of the man they record, 
 but to explain how that God, who " disposes of our ends" shaped 
 out this man s life to ends that were far from being his own choice, 
 and yet perhaps in their versatility and rich results reflect all the 
 more credit on the name and cause to which he ever belonged. 
 
 Of his life in Cambridge, if we can say, with Luther, " to labor 
 is to pray," it was a most devout one. His lectures at the Semi 
 nary were on Ecclesiastical Polity and Canon Law, but he made 
 them include much beside. He accepted also a Chair in the Boston 
 University to lecture on " Conflict of Laws." His year abroad had 
 given such an impetus to his legal studies, and the libraries of Cam 
 bridge so facilitated this impulse, that he continued to write and 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 169 
 
 publish from time to time the various treatises that have made his 
 name famous. 
 
 The " Negligence" soon followed the " Conflict of Laws." Then 
 followed the "Agency" and the " Law of Evidence." The twelve 
 years spent in Cambridge were indeed fruitful, and the amount 
 accomplished would seem almost impossible in any other man. It 
 must, however, be remembered that incessant work was the rule of 
 Dr. Wharton s life. His very recreation was only a new form of 
 work, and he was so thoroughly master of the themes upon which 
 he lectured and wrote, that they gave him little trouble. It was 
 his delight to load his carriage with a mass of miscellaneous litera 
 ture each day, into which he pored till late at night. His brain 
 could not rest except by changing its subject, and his faculties 
 seemed to brighten and expand with the burdens laid upon them. 
 What to many men seemed tasks, to him were play, and his vast 
 reading was made to bear upon the work he had in hand. Per 
 haps, to this persistent mental activity, the atmosphere of Cam 
 bridge lent its sanction. It is a town of savants, and the cold 
 winds of New England drive its inmates within doors for much of 
 the year. The effect of much study and the east wind together 
 may be seen in the galaxy of names of those who adorn the annals 
 of American history and literature. The fancy is turned by force 
 to poem and to picture, to quiet thought and scientific research, 
 when there is little in the outside world to gratify and exhaust it. 
 For the same reason the social life of Cambridge is a forced and 
 wintry growth. Men of genius are apt to be absorbed in their 
 specialties, and while there is much kindliness and neighborliness, 
 there is little gayety and no dissipation. The long evenings, that 
 in a city can be diversified in various ways, are here devoted to 
 reading and study. How often does the writer recollect the sleigh 
 or wagon filled with books, and brought home each evening, to 
 fill the hours till morning dawned. Nothing was too heavy, and 
 nothing too light, to satisfy an appetite, that was insatiable. For 
 tunately, eyesight never failed, and he continued to regard this 
 employment as the great pleasure of his life until its close. 
 
 The social tastes, somewhat held in check in Cambridge, ex 
 panded and overflowed in his summer holiday. He owned a cot 
 tage at Narragansett Pier, and here it was his delight, during some 
 months of the year, to turn himself into a boy again and find 
 
170 MEMOIR OF 
 
 absolute relaxation. By this I mean not rest, but renewed liveliness 
 and hospitality, and a partial defiance of the conventionality that 
 was always irksome to him. His life having been passed in many 
 places, he had often the pleasure of welcoming old acquaintances 
 from other parts of the country, and they found themselves wel 
 comed with a warmth and cordiality which made them feel at 
 home, and in many cases drew them to the Pier, as their chosen 
 summer resort, for years. The following letter will confirm and 
 illustrate still further the extreme personal popularity he at that 
 time enjoyed : 
 
 REMEMBRANCES OF REV. DR. WHARTON DAYS AT 
 NARRAGANSETT PIER. 
 
 BY WILLIAM WILBERFOKCE NEWTON. 
 
 My earliest recollection of Dr. Francis Wharton was as a boy at 
 my father s house in Philadelphia, when the Doctor was Professor 
 at Kenyon College. 
 
 He was then in the habit of coming back to Philadelphia every 
 year, and used to return to Ohio laden down with enthusiastic 
 young men whom he had influenced to study at Kenyon College. 
 He seemed, in those days, to play the part of the famous bird- 
 catcher of Mozart s wonderful composition, and he hacT but to play 
 upon his magic flute, and the students were quickly around him. 
 My old friend, Rev. William Barr, was one of these, and I myself, 
 as a boy just getting ready for college, was envious of the lot of 
 those who could go to Ohio to study with this genial and sympa 
 thetic teacher. 
 
 The next remembrance of the Doctor comes in the recollection 
 of his life as a parish minister at St. Paul s, Brookline. I remem 
 ber distinctly going out to his residence one Saturday evening, 
 when he lived in Longwood, and I was on a visit to Boston. It 
 was a very snowy night, in the early spring or winter of the year 
 1869, and the Doctor asked me to spend the night and go to church 
 with him the next day. He was busy in the evening in writing a 
 funeral sermon about Mrs. Kent Stone, who had just died, and at 
 the same time he was correcting a large batch of proof in one of 
 his law articles. Added to this, he was reading at intervals from 
 some law book, in the conventional leather binding of the lawyer s 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 171 
 
 office, and he asked me to hunt up for him Tennyson s dirge, 
 beginning 
 
 " Now is done thy long day s work," 
 
 which he wanted for the funeral discourse the next day. 
 
 This was the first time I ever witnessed his remarkable habit of 
 doing two^ or three things at the same time, and it surprised me 
 greatly as I looked on in youthful wonder. 
 
 The next day I read service for him at St. Paul s Church little 
 dreaming that in a year s time I was to be his successor there. 
 On this Sunday the Doctor preached the funeral sermon about 
 Mrs. Kent Stone, which he had written the night before. 
 
 Some years later I went down to Narragansett Pier, R. I., 
 to look for a cottage for my family, after a long and distressing 
 siege of scarlet fever during the first winter I spent in Boston as 
 rector of St. Paul s Church. The Doctor was then Professor in 
 the Theological Divinity School at Cambridge, and very fre 
 quently, in the goodness of his heart, walked in from Cambridge 
 to help me with the service on Sunday. 
 
 Frequently he would dine with us, and on one occasion recom 
 mended Narragansett Pier as a desirable summer resort. The end 
 of the visit was that I became the Doctor s tenant for three years 
 in his little " Bonnet Box Cottage," as we termed it, until our own 
 cottage on the point of rocks known as " Lion s Head" was built. 
 
 It was during these years at Narragansett Pier that the many- 
 sided personality of Dr. Wharton manifested itself. He was a 
 lawyer Avriting books, a clergyman preaching sermons, a trustee 
 of St. Peter s Church at Narragansett Pier, a wonderful shopper 
 and provider for his family and friends, a kind and indulgent 
 landlord, a charming and courteous host, and in many ways the 
 most striking personality of all that region. 
 
 The tea parties and lawn parties where boarders and cottagers 
 mingled ; the garden parties for the benefit of the Church and the 
 Rectory, and the many miscellaneous gatherings of friends in his 
 study, which was always fragrant with his graciousness and kind 
 ness of heart, are events which never can be forgotten by those 
 who were made happy by his thought and care. Together we 
 welcomed to Narragansett on one or two occasions the Clericus 
 Club of Boston ministers, dividing the guests between us; while 
 
172 MEMOIR OF 
 
 all the time he entered into the picnic pleasures of the place with 
 all the holiday spirit of a boy in vacation time. 
 
 The freedom and repose of this life at Narragansett Pier were 
 most welcome to him. Whether it was his cheery cry for the 
 omnipresent " Pat" or the faithful " Billy," the horse ; or his bare 
 headed call on his tenants, at the impulse of the moment, to know 
 whether they wanted to play " Nations ;" or his frequent use of 
 the provincial terminology of the place when he addressed his 
 clerical friends as " Elder ;" or his delightful and piquant descrip 
 tion of the various lapses and escapades of the two Skye terriers, 
 who were known as " Gyppie and Timmie Wharton ;" or his fre 
 quent and unconventional call, as he used to lean upon the fence 
 with his hand to his head and talked with his lady friends, bring 
 ing them some flower or fern or sharing some delicacy of which he 
 had become the possessor. 
 
 The memory of the soul of the man clings to the place like the 
 abiding of some happy dream which cannot be forgotten. He was 
 in very truth the father of our social life at Narragansett Pier. 
 Many a time I have known him to ask me to entertain some guests 
 until he was through with a difficult passage of proof reading, so 
 that it might be in time for a certain mail, and then he would 
 appear and pour forth a flood of the most brilliant conversation, 
 which beggars description and can best be remembered by the 
 happy phrase coined by a friend and known as " Whartoniana." 
 His vocabulary was simply boundless, and his droll manner of 
 using obsolete, piquant, and unexpected adjectives whereby to de 
 scribe a noun-like conception of persons, places, and things, was at 
 times strangely original and irresistible. I remember him speak 
 ing of a certain ecclesiastical dignitary, upon one occasion, as 
 "frisking his feathers like a fan tail pigeon in a box at a county 
 fair, where there wasn t room enough to turn around," and de 
 scribing a change made in a certain city church as follows : 
 
 " The dear old Quaker lady has had her cap and ruffs taken 
 away from her, and is now like a stuffed lady in the shop win 
 dows." 
 
 Sydney Smith never said brighter things than Dr. Wharton was 
 capable of saying. But he did not seem to say them ; he simply 
 emitted them, as the fire-fly emits its glow in the meadow land in 
 the night time. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 173 
 
 Never shall I forget a certain Metaphysical dinner at -Narra- 
 gansett at which the elder R. G. Hazard, President Porter, Dr. 
 Grier and others were present. " Doctor/ 7 I said, as we were riding 
 to the dinner, " if you are not brilliant to-day, at this dinner, I shall 
 surely tell the story of the English showman, so I give you fair 
 warning. If I lead the conversation up to the subject of West 
 minster Abbey, that is the sign that the English showman is at 
 the door." 
 
 Two or three times at the dinner I managed to say something 
 about Westminster Abbey only to see the Doctor s face flush, as 
 he bounded off to some dazzling topic. 
 
 Whatever was of interest to the social or religious life of Narra- 
 gansett Pier found a warm place in Dr. W barton s heart. He 
 founded and managed " The Pier Table" or Magazine Club for the 
 cottages upon the Cliffs, and for many summers entertained the 
 different clergymen who came to preach at the Little St. Peter s 
 Church by the Sea. 
 
 Busy as he was in his multiform duties as correspondent, author, 
 preacher, and editor, he was ever ready for the social requirements 
 of this busy place and welcomed the coming, as well as sped the 
 parting guest at the many hotels and cottages which have made a 
 City by the Sea out of what was formerly only a provincial seaside 
 resort. 
 
 He had always about him the methods of the progressive busi 
 ness man and was ever ready to lay out plans for the enlargement 
 of the Church, or the building of the Rectory, or the developing 
 life and growth of the Pier. 
 
 Many a time he would send for his resident friends to enjoy the 
 companionship of his guests and great pleasure has been given by 
 the friendships thus formed whose memory lingers as a delight 
 in the mind which time and change are powerless to efface. 
 
 I think these Narragansett days produced a marked change in 
 Dr. Wharton s outlook upon life. The former days of ecclesiastical 
 and political contention seem to have become tempered to a gentle 
 ness of manner and breadth of view which admitted that there 
 might be after all much to be said upon the other side. 
 
 Nature is always calming and quieting to the child of nature 
 and teaches him many lessons not to be learned elsewhere. Dr. 
 
174 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Whartou learned at Narragansett Pier I think that lesson which 
 all God s workers must learn somewhere, that his methods are 
 after all very wide and far reaching, and are not necessarily joined 
 to our human haste and zeal. 
 
 There was very much of the Friend in Dr. Wharton s character, 
 and his Quaker ancestry showed itself most markedly in the quiet 
 days at the Pier. Some of his most valuable theological treatises 
 were the outcome of his legal studies. Such as his paper upon 
 "Causation" and " Petition in the light of Prayer 7 and other 
 marked productions were wrought out in the quiet working hours 
 of the familiar study at Flat Rock Cottage. 
 
 His papers at the clerical clubs in Boston were always listened 
 to with the deepest attention, and his friendship was a prize coveted 
 alike by the elder and younger clergy and by that distinguished 
 group of laymen who were the founders of the Cambridge Divinity 
 School, Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, the late Jas. S. Amory, Amos 
 Lawrence and others. 
 
 His modesty, simplicity, and uniform courtesy always made him 
 appear in the light of the chivalric gentleman whose guiding prin 
 ciple in life was the commanding motto, " Noblesse Oblige." 
 
 Dr. Wharton s little book, " The Silence of Scripture," made at 
 the time of its publication a marked effect and was I believe the 
 result of his legal investigations in the matter of Evidence and the 
 withholding of testimony. His legal books while they were 
 valuable in themselves and gave to their author a most envious 
 and marked foreign reputation were none the less valuable in 
 their secondary use, the way in which they oifered to his fresh 
 and versatile mind new fields of illustration for the exercise of 
 his theological investigations. 
 
 Weary and tired as he often was after a winter s work at author s 
 desk and professor s chair, and that tiredness which comes by use 
 of pen and use of voice, Narragansett Pier was always welcomed 
 by him as the great freshener of his wearied brain, and he loved 
 to sing the praises of the place which restored him to health and 
 vigor of life and thought. 
 
 Ah ! dear loving kind-hearted friend Host and Helper of 
 other days thou hast left us and the place seems desolate without 
 thee ! The wind speaks to us of thee as it comes over the Point 
 

 
 DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 175 
 
 Judith Meadows : The Surf speaks to us of thee as its solemn 
 monotone is heard by Flat Rock and Indian Rock and Lion s 
 Head, and somehow in wind and surf and in every voice of nature 
 we feel that thou art still here in the spot which thou loved st so 
 well. 
 
176 MEMOIR OF 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 LIFE OF DR. WHARTON, AT CAMBRIDGE, BY REV. A. V. G. 
 ALLEN, D.D. 
 
 IN 1871 Dr. Wharton took up his residence in Cambridge. At 
 the time of his removal, this ancient collegiate town still retained 
 much of its earlier simplicity ; it was still known as the village of 
 Old Cambridge, its society was marked by a homogeneousness of 
 refinement and aristocracy and literary distinction. To such a 
 community his coming was an event of social importance. To 
 one like himself carrying a wholly different line of antecedents, it 
 was also an event of peculiar interest when he found himself trans 
 planted to the centre of Puritan learning and tradition, the battle 
 ground of Puritan theological conflicts, the later home of its highest 
 literary achievements. When it had been proposed to plant the 
 Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, he had warmly 
 espoused the suggestion, in spite of the distrust which the sugges 
 tion encountered in the minds of others. To the Theological 
 School still struggling in the weakness of its infancy, his presence 
 as a resident professor was an element of strength and confidence. 
 
 Dr. Wharton had been connected with the School from its origin. 
 Mr. Benjamin T. Reed, its founder, had intrusted to him the task 
 of drawing up its constitution as well as the nomination of its first 
 professors. A confidence so generous and unlimited was reAvarded 
 by the devotion with which Dr. Wharton threw himself into the 
 plans of the founder. His legal attainments, his knowledge of the 
 working of similar institutions, his insight into the ecclesiastical con 
 ditions of the hour enabled him to furnish a constitution, answering 
 to the idea which Mr. Reed had conceived. The peculiarity of 
 this constitution consists in giving to a board of lay trustees the 
 supreme control. To them is intrusted not only the management 
 of finances but the appointment of teachers. It is to the Trustees 
 that the School makes its report and to whom its faculty as such 
 are amenable. It was Dr. Wharton s conviction that the School, 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTOX. 177 
 
 separated from any organic relation to the diocese in which it was 
 located, would thus escape the gusts and flurries of partisan feeling 
 to which ecclesiastical conventions are liable and be enabled to 
 maintain a uniform career consistent with the purpose of its 
 founder. 
 
 In connecting himself with the School as a resident professor, 
 Dr. Wharton was again rendering his services almost gratuitously 
 to the cause which lay close to his heart. His disinterested gener 
 osity was the only limit to his devotion. From the time when he 
 became solely identified with it, the School began to be known more 
 widely, as he gave to it his reputation, his literary activity, and his 
 wide hospitality. While he appreciated and valued the attractions 
 of the parish life of a clergyman, yet the work of a teacher had 
 always been to him congenial. And of all the departments of teach 
 ing, it was the peculiar work of the theological school for which he 
 felt the strongest yearning. Even while at Gambler, connected with 
 the college, the religious aspects of truth were always prominent in 
 his mind. His book on Theism and Skepticism shows how he 
 delighted in tracing the affinities between theology and the adjacent 
 departments of literature and law, or of more recondite psychological 
 speculation. Could he have chosen, he would have preferred to 
 teach theology as the study in which .he felt the deepest interest. 
 But with his characteristic spirit of self-sacrifice, he preferred that 
 o.thers should choose their special fields, content for himself to take 
 the work which fell to him when other chairs had been filled, or 
 for which provision could in no other way be made. 
 
 His duties in Cambridge consisted in preaching in his turn in 
 the chapel of the School and in lecturing on Liturgies, Church 
 Polity, and Canon Law. For a few years also he gave instruction 
 in Homiletics, Pastoral Care, and Apologetics. While the range 
 was a wide one which these several branches of study represented, 
 it was not too wide for a mind like his, characterized by its capa 
 ciousness and many-sidedness together with a vast capacity for 
 work. Nor was there any one of these departments for which he 
 had not been preparing himself by some special study or experi 
 ence. He took the same delight in teaching students the relations 
 between a pastor and his people, which he had also felt when as a 
 parish minister in Brookline he had faithfully gone from house to 
 house, advising, suggesting, consoling with his gracious and delicate 
 12 
 
178 MEMOIR OF 
 
 sympathy. As a sermonizer he had been indefatigable, while at 
 Brookline, finding his highest pleasure in what to many is a burden. 
 He was always revolving plans of sermons in his mind, quick to 
 see the suggestiveuess of texts, writing his sermons so long in 
 advance that he had at one time accumulated more than fifty 
 which he had not preached. If the range of his preaching was 
 somewhat beyond the popular mind, there was always something 
 to arrest the more thoughtful, which might become a fruitful sub 
 ject for meditation. As he excelled in the reading of men and the 
 knowledge of character, so as a critic of sermons or the art of 
 their composition, he never failed to detect excellence, even in 
 crude and undeveloped forms. He loved to recognize hidden 
 merits, to find something to commend, where others were inclined 
 to censure. 
 
 As a lawyer, interested in the literature of law, it might have 
 been supposed that he would find a special interest in the study 
 of Canon Law. With Roman law he was familiar, noting with 
 deep interest the influence exerted upon it by Christian ideas and 
 institutions. But though he lectured upon Canon Law, he was 
 not attracted by it nor did he care to make it the subject of origi 
 nal research. His conception of Christianity did not emphasize 
 its legal aspects. While he did not underrate the sacredness and 
 importance of law as connected with the well being of the State 
 or Society, he may have felt that in the Church lay the sphere of 
 that higher freedom, where law passes out into the glad perform 
 ance of duty under the influence of religious motive. Canon Law 
 may even have been obnoxious to him, as for the greater part in 
 its history a restriction of Christian liberty, concerning itself mainly 
 with the interests of the hierarchy and not of the people, building 
 upon foundations alien to the spirit and the teachings of Christ. In 
 Church Polity he followed Hooker whose conception of law was 
 akin to his own. He held firmly to the principle that order in the 
 church was divine, while unembarrassed by notions of the divine 
 right of Episcopacy or of any form of church government. 
 
 The department of his work, in which he most delighted, was 
 what is known in theological circles by the unfortunate name 01 
 Apologetics. But he gave it a larger scope than it is sometimes 
 construed as including. It stood to him for more than a mere 
 negative reply to objections or to assaults upon the faith. It 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHAKTON. 179 
 
 meant rather the positive affirmation of the Christian idea beneath 
 conflicting attitudes of opinion, or its confirmation by those aspects 
 of Christian history or church life whose variance or discordance 
 have seemed to so many to indicate weakness or disintegration. 
 An article in the l Bibliotheca Sacra for July, 1880, entitled Church 
 Parties as Apologists, may be taken as an illustration of his method. 
 A fuller allusion to this article will be made hereafter. 
 
 It fell to Dr. Wharton in teaching liturgies, to comment upon 
 the rubrics of the Prayer Book at a time when the mind of the 
 Church was distracted by internal differences and dissensions. 
 This part of his duty was not the most congenial to him. Strong 
 as were his convictions regarding the general purport and spirit 
 of the Book of Common Prayer, yet no one knew better than he 
 how powerless were rubrics to enforce its purpose. He realized as 
 a lawyer the limited capacity of human language to express truth 
 in such a way that it should receive but one interpretation. Words 
 were changing their meaning with successive generations. He was 
 accustomed to allude in illustration of this fact to the statute of 
 frauds, " which was adopted in England for the purpose of pre 
 venting frauds and perjuries consequent upon purely oral proofs 
 of contracts and wills, and which provided that contracts and wills 
 should with certain exceptions be in writing and be proved in a 
 particular way ; but there is no word in the statute of frauds which 
 has not been the subject of innumerable suits and of the most in 
 tricate distinctions and subdistinctions." For these reasons he was 
 not what is called a strict rubrician nor did he believe that it was 
 possible for any one to adhere to the letter of every rubric. He 
 was inclined to fall back upon the larger rubric of common sense 
 in interpreting the Prayer Book, which would keep the Church 
 true in the main to its standards, while preventing the scrupulosity 
 which insisted on fulfilling obsolete or inconvenient injunctions, 
 no longer necessary to the Church s welfare. 
 
 The charm which he threw about the topics he discussed, in the 
 class-room or elsewhere, is more easily remembered than described. 
 A certain versatility of mind, joined to his apt and capacious mem 
 ory ; the freshness and refinement of his illustrations ; the wide re 
 lations in which he viewed commonplace subjects these things are 
 not forgotten when it is no longer possible to illustrate them in de 
 tail. The supreme quality which showed itself in all his work was 
 
178 MEMOIR OF 
 
 sympathy. As a serrnouizer he had been indefatigable, while at 
 Brookline, finding his highest pleasure in what to many is a burden. 
 He was always revolving plans of sermons in his mind, quick to 
 see the suggestiveness of texts, writing his sermons so long in 
 advance that he had at one time accumulated more than fifty 
 which he had not preached. If the range of his preaching was 
 somewhat beyond the popular mind, there was always something 
 to arrest the more thoughtful, which might become a fruitful sub 
 ject for meditation. As he excelled in the reading of men and the 
 knowledge of character, so as a critic of sermons or the art of 
 their composition, he never failed to detect excellence, even in 
 crude and undeveloped forms. He loved to recognize hidden 
 merits, to find something to commend, where others were inclined 
 to censure. 
 
 As a lawyer, interested in the literature of law, it might have 
 been supposed that he would find a special interest in the study 
 of Canon Law. With Roman law he was familiar, noting with 
 deep interest the influence exerted upon it by Christian ideas and 
 institutions. But though he lectured upon Canon Law, he was 
 not attracted by it nor did he care to make it the subject of origi 
 nal research. His conception of Christianity did not emphasize 
 its legal aspects. While he did not underrate the sacredness and 
 importance of law as connected with the well being of the State 
 or Society, he may have felt that in the Church lay the sphere of 
 that higher freedom, where law passes out into the glad perform 
 ance of duty under the influence of religious motive. Canon Law 
 may even have been obnoxious to him, as for the greater part in 
 its history a restriction of Christian liberty, concerning itself mainly 
 with the interests of the hierarchy and not of the people, building 
 upon foundations alien to the spirit and the teachings of Christ. In 
 Church Polity he followed Hooker whose conception of law was 
 akin to his own. He held firmly to the principle that order in the 
 church was divine, while unembarrassed by notions of the divine 
 right of Episcopacy or of any form of church government. 
 
 The department of his work, in which he most delighted, was 
 what is known in theological circles by the unfortunate name 01 
 Apologetics. But he gave it a larger scope than it is sometimes 
 construed as including. It stood to him for more than a mere 
 negative reply to objections or to assaults upon the faith. It 
 
DR. FKANCIS WHARTON. 179 
 
 meant rather the positive affirmation of the Christian idea beneath 
 conflicting attitudes of opinion, or its confirmation by those aspects 
 of Christian history or church life whose variance or discordance 
 have seemed to so many to indicate weakness or disintegration. 
 An article in the Bibliotheca Sacra for July, 1880, entitled Church 
 Parties as Apologists, may be taken as an illustration of his method. 
 A fuller allusion to this article will be made hereafter. 
 
 It fell to Dr. Wharton in teaching liturgies, to comment upon 
 the rubrics of the Prayer Book at a time when the mind of the 
 Church was distracted by internal differences and dissensions. 
 This part of his duty was not the most congenial to him. Strong 
 as were his convictions regarding the general purport and spirit 
 of the Book of Common Prayer, yet no one knew better than he 
 how powerless were rubrics to enforce its purpose. He realized as 
 a lawyer the limited capacity of human language to express truth 
 in such a way that it should receive but one interpretation. Words 
 were changing their meaning with successive generations. He was 
 accustomed to allude in illustration of this fact to the statute of 
 frauds, " which was adopted in England for the purpose of pre 
 venting frauds and perjuries consequent upon purely oral proofs 
 of contracts and wills, and which provided that contracts and wills 
 should with certain exceptions be in writing and be proved in a 
 particular way ; but there is no word in the statute of frauds which 
 has not been the subject of innumerable suits and of the most in 
 tricate distinctions and subdistinctions." For these reasons he was 
 not what is called a strict rubrician nor did he believe that it was 
 possible for any one to adhere to the letter of every rubric. He 
 was inclined to fall back upon the larger rubric of common sense 
 in interpreting the Prayer Book, which would keep the Church 
 true in the main to its standards, while preventing the scrupulosity 
 which insisted on fulfilling obsolete or inconvenient injunctions, 
 no longer necessary to the Church s welfare. 
 
 The charm which he threw about the topics he discussed, in the 
 class-room or elsewhere, is more easily remembered than described. 
 A certain versatility of mind, joined to his apt and capacious mem 
 ory ; the freshness and refinement of his illustrations ; the wide re 
 lations in which he viewed commonplace subjects these things are 
 not forgotten when it is no longer possible to illustrate them in de 
 tail. The supreme quality which showed itself in all his work was 
 
180 MEMOIR OF 
 
 a large humanity a sense of the human element which lay be 
 neath theological issues or practical differences of opinion. In this 
 respect he differed from many who are identified with ecclesiastical 
 affairs. His large knowledge of the world never allowed him to 
 be entirely merged with his clerical brethren in any question where 
 passing fashion or prejudice or party feeling were concerned. He 
 had somewhat of the manner of one who is looking at things from 
 without, or, rather, who while he is within never forgets that there 
 is a point of view from without. He was sometimes driven to 
 accommodate himself to clerical or ecclesiastical standards when 
 the free and independent course of his mind would have led him 
 to a different view. 
 
 The element of humanism in his composition which impelled 
 him to form literary judgments of theological issues kept him 
 alive also to the essential humor which underlies the situations 
 of life. While his attitude was always a serious one, his sympa 
 thetic vision, detecting at a glance the pathos in every phase of 
 human experience, yet he had also, to more than an ordinary 
 degree, that counter-balancing quality which prevented him from 
 being overcome with the sadness which marks the course of his 
 tory or is involved in every human career. The gift of humor, 
 thus manifested, may be regarded as part of the divine endowment 
 of the human constitution a most important factor in human de 
 velopment, It may be abused, as may all other gifts and graces ; 
 but as a safeguard against absurdities ; as a corrective of the " idols 
 of the tribe ;" as a means of putting men in true relations with 
 life, it serves a valuable purpose in the religious world, even 
 though it be misunderstood by those engaged in secular occupa 
 tions. Humor may be illustrated when it is a difficult thing to 
 define, for its source is lost amidst the mysteries of our being. 
 With Dr. Wharton it was intimately allied with a deep tenderness 
 of nature, serving somewhat as a shield to his quick susceptibility 
 to every form of human failure and sorrow. It was a kindly 
 quality, lending a charm to social intercourse while injuring no 
 one, and not always appreciated except by those who knew him 
 well. He allowed it free play upon his own experience, as when 
 he showed himself conscious of the incongruity involved in his own 
 career the transition from the legal profession, in whose service 
 he had spent so many years, to the ranks of the clerical order. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHABTON. 181 
 
 Deep and searching as was the spiritual revolution which drove 
 him to abandon the law with its honors and emoluments, and the 
 successes and attractions of social life for the work of the ministry, 
 yet something of the outlook of the man of the world and fashion 
 he still retained in his new calling as he strove to adapt himself to 
 the peculiar external ways, the shibboleths, the conventionalities 
 of clerical life. These things amused him, while also he strove to 
 take them seriously. Occasional flashes of humor revealed a kindly 
 recognition of weaknesses which he could not help observing. Like 
 Sydney Smith, he always carried the consciousness of another world 
 of interests and pursuits to which the clerical mind is, for the most 
 part, a stranger. 
 
 The gift of conversation, sometimes referred to as one of the 
 lost arts, was possessed by Dr. Wharton in a remarkable degree, 
 making him a most attractive and delightful feature of the various 
 clerical associations to which he belonged. It was more particu 
 larly in the Ministers Club of which he became a member soon 
 after coming to Cambridge that he shone with a lustre which was 
 all his own. This unique association was composed of members 
 of all denominations, including in its ranks the most distinguished 
 clergy in Boston and its vicinity, Unitarian, Episcopal, Congre 
 gational, Baptist, Universalist, and Methodist. Dr. Wharton s 
 regular attendance showed his high appreciation of its value, each 
 monthly meeting being to him a source of profit and delight. But, 
 in turn, he was himself a large part of the life of the Club, and 
 his contributions of learning and of literary criticism, illuminated 
 w r ith wit and humor, always formed a memorable part of every 
 session. In this social communion with men whom he respected 
 for their high position, their intellectual power and large attain 
 ments, he was inclined to give himself the rein, to indulge freely 
 his gift of humorous satire or humanistic criticism with no danger 
 of misinterpretation. His nature rejoiced in this varied and 
 generous interchange of thought on the highest and grandest 
 themes. It stimulated him to bring out all that was best in him, 
 opening up vistas of possibility which had hitherto been undreamed 
 of or unknown. It was one of the greatest charms of the Club in 
 those earlier years that the meetings were held at the houses of the 
 different members in turn, thus gaining a certain domestic and 
 personal flavor which enhanced their interest ,and attractiveness. 
 
182 MEMOIR OF 
 
 How many, alas ! of its members one now recalls, who are no 
 longer among the living Dr. Chandler Robbins, Dr. Rufus Ellis, 
 Dr. John S. Stone, Dr. Blagden, and Dr. Manning of the Old 
 South, Dr. Means of Roxbury, Dr. Latimer of the Boston School 
 of Theology, Mr. Foote of Kings Chapel, Mr. Noyes of Wilming 
 ton, Dr. Gray of Cambridge. It was inevitable that discussion 
 often turned upon points where opinion differed vitally ; but 
 though there was no concealment of opinion, yet unvarying Chris 
 tian courtesy kept the members in harmonious feeling. But here as 
 elsewhere, Dr. Wharton saw elements in the situation which enabled 
 him to sit with a certain ease and freedom, where others might have 
 been hampered by the limitations of sect. Again he was always 
 inwardly amused at the fact that they should meet as members of 
 varying sects, unable to throw off denominational ties which seemed 
 to have so little significance, and yet to w r hich they were expected to 
 be loyal. The very fact that they could meet at all, seemed to put 
 their differences in a confused light, and begat the incongruousness 
 which is the soul of wit. Dr. Wharton loved to play with the 
 contradictions and confusions, which the Club by its very nature 
 originated. He could not forget that the Baptists were standing 
 for immersion, and were bound to regard him as having no valid 
 baptism ; or that Methodist Bishops had been created as if by 
 accident by an Anglican Presbyter ; or that Congregatioualists were 
 abandoning those minor points of their attitude which had led 
 them to revolt against the Church of England. He was quick to 
 perceive high ecclesiastical claims on the part of those who had in 
 validated them in others, or utterances of a radical or unorthodox 
 kind on the parts of champions of orthodoxy. There was one 
 incident which he was fond of relating, as an illustration of the 
 confusion which this Club produced upon the mind of a stranger 
 unaccustomed to its method. On an occasion when it met at his 
 own house, he had as a guest a venerable Episcopal clergyman, of 
 the old fashioned Evangelical School, who for the first time listened 
 to the discussion of a vital religious question, in which every possible 
 attitude of criticism was represented, and who failed to find himself 
 in the utterances of those whom he knew, or with whom he had 
 naturally supposed he should be in agreement. But there was one 
 utterance of the evening, to which his soul responded fervently, and 
 when he inquired of his host after the Club had departed, who the 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHAKTON. 183 
 
 dear orthodox brother was who had so delighted him, he was told 
 
 to his astonishment that it was Rev. Dr. P , a distinguished 
 
 Unitarian divine, from whom he had hitherto regarded himself as 
 separated by an impassable gulf. 
 
 The same generous and graceful hospitality which had marked 
 Dr. Wharton s life in Gambier and in Brookline was a character 
 istic also^of his residence in Cambridge. He delighted in having 
 the theological students at evening parties, and spent time and 
 thought in devising sources of amusement or entertainment, as on 
 festivals like Christmas or Thanksgiving Day. 
 
 Perhaps in later years he participated less in the enjoyment 
 which he prepared for others, preferring to retire to his study while 
 still happy in the consciousness of the pleasure he was giving. Dis 
 tinguished foreigners visiting the country were frequently invited 
 to make his house their home. Among these was Dean Howson, 
 whose reputation was then great as the joint author with Cony- 
 beare, of the Life and Writings of St. Paul. But the visitor from 
 abroad who created the deepest interest was Canon Kingsley. He 
 had reached this country with his daughter in a condition of physi 
 cal weakness the indications, though we did not know it then, of 
 that premature decline, which carried him off in the fulness of his 
 years and mental vigor. Dr. Wharton rescued him from a posi 
 tion where he was wearing himself with evening speeches; and 
 from the unhealthy excitement brought him away to the repose 
 of his home in Cambridge. Here for some time he rested, 
 enjoying quietly the society of those whom it must have been a 
 pleasure to meet. Among others came the poet Longfellow, who 
 dined with him and afterwards spent the evening. Kingsley at 
 this time was nervous and irritable, expressing himself vigorously 
 in denunciation of all things obnoxious, but under the influence 
 of Longfellow s gentle ways and the genial unobtrusive manners 
 of his host, he gradually softened and mellowed, till the man 
 stood forth who had charmed the world with his books. Mr. Long 
 fellow was trying to interest him in the subject of Roman ruins, 
 and in a plan then recently suggested for draining the Campagna; 
 but Kingsley refused to be interested, declaring that he had never 
 been to Rome, because he could not bring himself to visit a city 
 which gloried in its ruins; all that he cared to know about Rome 
 he could gather from Longfellow s poetry. Mr. Longfellow spoke 
 
184 MEMOIR OF 
 
 of Hypatia as the finest historical novel which had ever been 
 written. On Dr. Wharton s remarking that if Mr. Kingsley had 
 not been in Rome, he had made a thorough study of Alexandria, 
 Kingsley confessed to having gathered from books all that he knew 
 of that famous city, where Hypatia lectured and St. Cyril so sadly 
 misrepresented the spirit of the new religion. 
 
 This incident may not be out of place as a picture and a type 
 of Dr. Wharton s domestic life. It recalls another occasion when 
 Kingsley was brought into connection with the beautiful St. John s 
 Chapel of the Theological School. Although Dr. Wharton had 
 promised him that he should be exempt from speech-making while 
 his guest, yet he was anxious that the students should have the 
 opportunity to hear the voice of one of England s greatest preachers, 
 that one who was chiefly associated with English literature in the 
 popular mind should appear before them as a dignitary of the 
 English Church. On being asked by Dr. Wharton to accompany 
 him to evening prayers, Kingsley readily consented, and after 
 being introduced to the congregation from the chancel, he broke 
 his intention to be silent, making an address, which those who 
 had the privilege of hearing will never forget an address which 
 was significant of his character as a man, and containing also an 
 epitome of the theology for which he stood as the most prominent 
 English representative. Referring to the Book of Common Prayer 
 as a bond of unity amongst English-speaking peoples, and to the 
 peculiar pleasure which it gave him to hear its familiar language 
 so far from home, he dwelt upon the thought that there was one 
 thing which it was always becoming to say, under any circum 
 stances to any audience, no matter whether educated or uneducated, 
 whether composed of students for the ministry or for any other pro 
 fession, which should be taken for the lodestar of their theology 
 and of their lives " He hath showed thee, man, what is good, and 
 what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justice, and to love 
 mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God." 
 
 During the first few years of his residence in Cambridge, Dr. 
 Wharton continued to exhibit the same interest and activity in what 
 may be called ecclesiastical politics that he had shown when a lay 
 man in Philadelphia or in Gambier or during his residence in 
 Brookline. Politics whether secular or ecclesiastical was to him 
 a natural sphere. He was at home on the floor of conventions, 
 
DE. FRANCIS WHARTON. 185 
 
 enjoying the sense of leadership, recognizing the way out of the 
 snarls and tangles of legislation, carrying in his mind easily the 
 bearing and application of by-laws and constitutions, divining also 
 the moods of popular bodies, and aware of the necessity of chang 
 ing a course in time, in order to avoid defeat. Any one who has 
 heard him or watched him on these occasions must have seen in him 
 the ecclesiastical lawyer, who felt the superiority which he pos 
 sessed in a knowledge of law and of men, together with the native 
 delight which the exercise of his faculties was affording him ; on 
 such occasions he was supreme, and without a rival. Had he 
 lived in the days when Kings chose their ministers of slate from 
 among the ecclesiastics of the realm, he might have performed 
 services which in these times of separation of Church and State, 
 are no longer possible. 
 
 The days in which he was active in conventions and concerned 
 with ecclesiastical legislation were unfortunately dark days for the 
 cause which he had at heart. In the decade of the sixties repres 
 sive measures were enacted or in contemplation by the General Con 
 vention which seemed to him to limit the rightful privileges and 
 liberty of one of the great historical parties in the Church. It 
 had been a marked feature of the Evangelical School that it culti 
 vated the acquaintance and friendship of the various religious 
 bodies, believed in exchange of services and generally sought to 
 maintain that open attitude which has characterized the American 
 church from the early days of this republic. But this amicable 
 interchange was fast becoming obnoxious to the opposite party in 
 the church, who building upon the tenet of apostolical succession, 
 refused to recognize directly or indirectly the validity of other than 
 Episcopal orders, and who felt outraged by the acts of their brethren 
 which seemed to commit them to an attitude which they disowned. 
 It may be admitted now that there was a hardship on both sides 
 that the conflict was an inevitable one, which the majority had the 
 unquestioned power of determining, a dark day for the minority 
 who saw what seemed a Christian privilege curtailed in the interest 
 of a tenet which they abhorred. In these controversies Dr. Wharton 
 had borne a prominent part and it fell to his lot to see a favorite 
 cause defeated. He did not see then, though he did at a later time, 
 that the defeat was but temporary, that the relief for which he 
 worked would come, but in other ways than he advocated ; that the 
 
186 MEMOIR OF 
 
 rising sentiment of Christian unity, if it became a sentiment of 
 Protestant Christendom, would be sure to sweep away every barrier 
 which thwarted its progress. 
 
 Any account of Dr. Wharton s efforts to prevent the adoption 
 of restrictive legislation would be imperfect, without alluding to 
 the motive which inspired him. It was not a narrow policy that 
 actuated him, but a chivalrous attempt to defend a minority that 
 seemed to him in danger of being ruthlessly sacrificed to the tyranny 
 of a majority. This sympathy with those who were unjustly treated, 
 whether parties or individuals, especially if those exercising the in 
 justice were in positions of power or influence constitutes the expla 
 nation of much in his career, which would otherwise be inexplicable. 
 A case of injustice awoke an instinctive sense of indignation, and 
 it made little difference to him, what might be a man s religious 
 or theological opinions, he was his champion and sympathizer. 
 There are those who are keenly alive to the truth of this statement, 
 who are conscious of owing to him their redemption from the 
 disaster with which they were threatened by the narrow, bitter 
 prejudices which so .often, alas! prevail in ecclesiastical circles. 
 And these, too, are men with whose opinions he had no sympathy, 
 but in whom with his accuracy in reading character, or discerning 
 talent, he saw something which was worth saving, and which he 
 determined to save without regard to party affiliations. 
 
 Those miserable embittered days in which party strife was the 
 characteristic feature of conventions have now passed away. The 
 church has entered upon a new era. Those who lay the stress upon 
 institutionalism in religion will always, of course, attach importance 
 to legislation and find in the enactment or modification of canons 
 and by-laws a certain satisfaction. Those who are contending for 
 other things as individual liberty of conscience or action, or who 
 believe in larger principles than constitutions recognize, must be 
 content with the appeal to reason and to conscience, as the best 
 available means for preventing unwise or hasty legislation. It was 
 a remark of the late Dr. Stone, that the Evangelical School made 
 its great mistake when it went into conventions as a party, and 
 sought to attain spiritual ends by unspiritual means. Dr. Wharton 
 came also to the same conclusion, and regretted that he had ever 
 engaged in the strife. His object had been not an unworthy one ; 
 he had aimed to rescue a party from defeat, which was the bearer 
 
DR. FEANCIS WHAETON. 187 
 
 of spiritual traditions and aspirations, which had a legitimate home 
 in the church, and this at a moment when the rising tide of eccles- 
 iasticism seemed to threaten it with extinction. He had fought for 
 the cause with weapons in whose use as a lawyer no one was more 
 skilful; some temporary successes also he had gained. When 
 defeat came, he yielded, accepting it with stoical fortitude, and 
 retiring frpm the arena, in which the contest had gone against him. 
 Once again however he came up to the exciting field of ecclesiasti 
 cal warfare, at the time when the election of the present Bishop of 
 Massachusetts brought all theological issues in the diocese to a 
 crisis. He could not be silent or inactive much as he might have 
 preferred to remain so. To his wide vision the scene of conflict 
 lay open and exposed ; he quietly watched for the decisive moment 
 in the struggle, by his subtle adroitness he outwitted his antagonists 
 in a manner sudden and unexpected, and gained the victory. From 
 that time he retired finally from all participation in conventions, 
 and interested himself in other things. 
 
 It was while he was residing in Cambridge, that the sense of 
 failure to achieve their cherished plans was fast driving some of 
 the leaders of the Evangelical School into a mood which w r as ripe 
 for separation. With such a scheme Dr. "Wharton had no sym 
 pathy. It was his attachment to the Church which had led him 
 to identify himself with the Evangelical men in their heroic strug 
 gle; but he declined to be identified with any efforts to establish a 
 separatist organization whose motive should be the mere negation 
 of High-Church principles. His view of the function of parties 
 within the Church, forced him to regard their mutual influence 
 upon each other, as a desirable and necessary means of cultivating 
 a comprehensive Christian life. But in these attitudes taken by 
 themselves, or incorporated into sects, he discerned a mischievous 
 narrowness which defeated its own end. He never abandoned the 
 principles which had wrought so powerfully in him, as to drive him 
 from the world, into the sphere of distinctly religious things. He 
 continued to regard Christianity as having its ground as a religion 
 in its redemptive aspects he emphasized the grace which coming 
 to the soul from without wrought in it a moral transformation^ 
 binding it also in personal relations of affection and devotion to a 
 sovereign Lord. But for the rest, he was open-minded enough to 
 see good in things with which he had no special sympathy. The 
 
188 MEMOIR OF 
 
 ways of High-Churchmen or of Ritualists he found no difficulty in 
 tolerating ; in their manifestations in history they seemed to him 
 to have subserved a valuable purpose. As he witnessed the modi 
 fications which parties in the church had undergone, since he first 
 knew them, he sometimes playfully remarked that he considered 
 himself an old-fashioned High-Churchman. Though never in 
 doctrinal sympathy with Broad-Churchmen, he found himself in 
 deep sympathy with their practical aim, and with their concep 
 tion of a comprehensive church, capable of including the various 
 types of Christian belief. He was among those invited to attend 
 the memorable meeting in New Haven which resulted in the 
 organization of the American Church Congress. That Church 
 men should meet as men for the free discussion of issues on which 
 opinions differed, promoting by this means mutual understanding 
 and good will, with this principle he was in cordial agreement. 
 
 An article published by Dr. Wharton in the Bibliotheca Sacra 
 for the year 1880, entitled Church Parties as Apologists, is interest 
 ing in this connection as not only illustrating the workings of his 
 mind or his methods- of teaching, but as setting forth his convic 
 tions with an explicitness which leaves nothing to be desired. He 
 there reviews the attitude and history of the successive parties that 
 have risen in the English Church since the Reformation, finding 
 in each much that is admirable but at the same time much to be 
 condemned, while they are so organically related to each other, 
 that all must be included in any picture of Christianity aiming 
 to represent it in well rounded completeness. Dogmatism has 
 its place and function as representing the intellectual life of the 
 Church ; it is a necessary phase in the history of every new move 
 ment in the Church, by which it defines and discriminates its tenets, 
 distinguishing them sharply from that which has been rejected as 
 untrue, and thus makes the truth it holds its own conscious pos 
 session. But dogmatism encounters great risks, when it passes over 
 into a dead habit, after its true work is done ; it violates intellectual 
 liberty, it provokes reactions even against the essentials of its faith ; 
 it depreciates the importance of the ethical and spiritual elements 
 in Christianity. But equally deficient is the ethical party rising 
 in response to the needs generated by dogmatism as in the English 
 and Scotch Churches, in the 18th century when it came near losing 
 the distinctive quality of Christianity altogether. Nor can it be 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 189 
 
 said to have produced the moral regeneration, at which it professed 
 exclusively to aim. There is no more striking contrast than between 
 the ethical proclamations of the Latitudinarian pulpit and the dis 
 content, the lawlessness, and depravity of the last century. What 
 was chiefly needed was the touching of the emotions and the rousing 
 of the will brought about by the Evangelical awakening under 
 Wesley and Whitefield, which not only led to social reform but 
 quickened the moribund institutionalism of the Church till it 
 became a new power in the nation. But the Evangelical party 
 showed indifference towards culture and scholarship, and its lack 
 of appreciation for the aesthetic, particularly in music and archi 
 tecture, fostered a prejudice against it among literary men. It 
 exaggerated also the individual aspects of salvation, overlooking 
 the relation of the individual to the organic whole, to the mem 
 bership in a race which Christ had redeemed. It needed to be 
 supplemented by a larger institutionalism which should bind indi 
 viduals together in the realization of a common life, enabling them 
 to feel their oneness with the corporate church in all the ages. 
 Institutionalism on the other hand without the saving grace of 
 individual freedom and aspiration degenerates into a mere govern 
 ment which compresses and crushes, without fructifying, till it is 
 ready to instruct a Paul to tremble before the Roman governor. 
 Sacramentalism and sacerdotalism are attempts to fill the vacuum 
 of institutionalism as an organism abandoned by life, by endowing 
 the institution with the power of emitting grace. They have a 
 certain affinity with current materialistic theories and from this 
 point of view are not wholly without some justification. But 
 sacerdotalism misunderstands and misrepresents the links and 
 attachments in the outward order of the church ; and sacrament- 
 alism while it has its valuable side as against too subjective a con 
 ception of God s relations to the soul, narrows the range of the 
 sacramental aspects of life, and becomes pernicious and destructive 
 when it seeks this substance of grace in the sign. 
 
 Ritualism, considered in its aesthetic aspect, is the outcome of an 
 age which is both artistic and humane. The love of ornament in 
 the home, which nourishes valuable industries and refined tastes, 
 may also have its place in the house of God. God himself appears 
 as loving the beautiful with which he clothes his operations in na 
 ture. It is well for the poor that there should be a home for them 
 
190 MEMOIR OF 
 
 glowing with rich colors, cast in impressive architectural forms, 
 through whose aisles floats rich and solemn music. One need not 
 cavil at the interest in his ecclesiastical vestments shown by the 
 Anglican minister, nor at music and ornaments too florid which 
 interest and attract the poor, provided ritualism stops at this line 
 and does not regard ornamentation as a necessary means for the 
 conveyance of grace. 
 
 The name Broad Church carries no special sense, and breadth is 
 a relative thing. Those to whom the name is now applied may be 
 regarded as advance guards standing on the frontiers of the Church, 
 occupied in the vindication for Christianity of a place in the world s 
 latest thought or acquisition. There is work to be done in the 
 field of biblical criticism ; in the study of theological dogmas by 
 the light of psychology and sociology ; in adjusting the principle 
 of evolution to the authority of a divine revelation which teaches 
 the dignity of man and the sacredness of conscience. A party en 
 gaged in this task acts under that instinctive energy of extension 
 which inheres in Christianity ; it aims to establish new defences of 
 the faith on what was f before alien ground. Nor is there any cause 
 for fear, even though its conclusions should reject opinions or inter 
 pretations of Scriptures which to many are identified with the Chris 
 tian faith. The attitude of free inquiry which some deprecate, dates 
 back to an early age of the Church, and then, as now, those who 
 were assailing an enemy to the Church were regarded by the more 
 timid as assailing the Church itself. Christian history is a succes 
 sion of victories achieved, of new eminences occupied by those whose 
 fortune is often to be denounced at first, and afterwards accepted as 
 defenders of the faith. 
 
 Views like these, so comprehensive and discriminating, whose 
 tolerance was based on devotion, not independence to the truth, 
 were not so familiar ten years ago as they have since become. They 
 may be taken as Dr. W barton s last message to a Church in whose 
 affairs he had been long and deeply interested, from active partici 
 pation in which he was soon to be shut out by a call to a wholly 
 different work it might seem to some an alien department of 
 human labor. 
 
 The years of Dr. Wharton s residence in Cambridge, uneventful 
 as they were in any striking circumstances, furnish but little ma 
 terial for the biographer; and yet these quiet years contain the 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 191 
 
 record of inward process and development. His nature, which 
 fitted him for activity in the world of affairs/ was demanding some 
 larger outlet for its satisfaction. From the time that he came to 
 Cambridge, he must have begun to realize that he was shut out 
 from any adequate field of ministerial influence, and this, too, at a 
 moment when his mental force was at its height and his capacity 
 for work 4indiminished. From the ecclesiastical point of view, his 
 position was proving a diminution and restriction rather than an 
 advance and expansion. The gradual failure of his voice was ex 
 cluding him from the privilege of preaching that resource which 
 had made the clerical office attractive. There was no longer an 
 opportunity for the indefatigable sermonizer that he had shown 
 himself in Brookline ; he stood in no pastoral relation which would 
 occupy his time and sympathies. Under these circumstances he 
 found the necessary outlet for his energies in his legal studies. He 
 never lost the consciousness of his ecclesiastical position, but the 
 years of his sojourn in the Christian ministry had so widened his 
 conception of religion, that it did not seem incongruous that he 
 should continue in a religious spirit the work which he had for a 
 time abandoned as a profession. 
 
 This is not the place to speak of the voluminous legal treatises 
 which belong to this period of his life. The apparent ease, the 
 rapidity with which he sent them forth to the world, was aston 
 ishing. His industry seemed almost appalling to those younger 
 than himself who fancied that they, too, were hard at work. For 
 some years before leaving Cambridge, in addition also to his work 
 in the Theological School, he was holding a professorship in the 
 new Law School connected with the Boston University. He was 
 also pushing his inquiries as a lawyer into new and unoccupied re 
 gions. As he surveyed the opportunities which opened up their 
 attractions to his vision, he often remarked that young lawyers 
 would do well to cultivate what he called the literature of the law. 
 
 It was while he was thus engaged that his own health, combined 
 with various domestic reasons, induced him reluctantly to sever his 
 connection with the Episcopal Theological School. The education 
 of life was still something other and larger than his own personal 
 volition would have made it. His history has in it elements of 
 breadth and comprehension which are profoundly suggestive. As 
 the story of a life, one cannot think of it without being deeply 
 
192 MEMOIR OF 
 
 moved. The forces which acted upon him from without, and those 
 which stirred him from within, reveal in their resultant a man cast 
 in no ordinary mould, touching life at so many points that it is 
 difficult to characterize or describe him. History, literature, psy 
 chology, philosophy, interested him as well as law and theology. 
 We may think of him as the young and successful lawyer, win 
 ning a reputation in his early years with which many would have 
 been content ; or as the devoted layman and popular lay-preacher, 
 giving his time and fortune to Christian work ; as the clergyman 
 and pastor and theological professor ; the versatile and voluminous 
 writer of legal treatises with a widely extended circulation and 
 recognized as of high authority, covering so many departments of 
 legal inquiry as to make it cause for wonder that one mind could 
 have compassed them all ; and finally ending his days at Washing 
 ton as the legal adviser of the Department of State a position 
 where his vast legal acquirements and diplomatic skill found their 
 fullest opportunity. But an impression of him remains to those 
 who knew him best which abides in the various phases of his 
 career. He was a man, faithful, generous, devoted, who delighted 
 in the recognition of merit in others ; whose heart responded in 
 sympathy with the injured or oppressed. His deep and abiding 
 interest in those with whom he came closely in contact ; the deli 
 cate kindness, and the watchful care which he found time to de 
 vote to them in the midst of exacting avocations these memories 
 remain with those who, incapable of appreciating him in the wide 
 range of his activities, can yet divine the most expressive quality 
 of the man. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 193 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THIRD JOURNEY TO EUROPE, AND REMOVAL TO WASHINGTON. 
 
 AFTER twelve years of constant and increasing labor in Cam 
 bridge and Boston, Dr. Wharton s health began to show signs of 
 breaking down. His throat had indeed long given him uneasiness, 
 but now new and alarming symptoms appeared lower down. Dif 
 ficulty of breathing while walking, or after meals were the form in 
 which the complaint manifested itself. He consulted the best 
 physicians in Boston and Cambridge, and they decided that an 
 increase of size and weight, and an accumulation of fat about the 
 heart were the cause of the trouble. He was placed upon a strict 
 regimen as to diet and exercise, and after a time experienced great 
 relief. Still the results of many years of comparatively sedentary 
 life were not to be easily warded off. His numerous engagements 
 had to be fulfilled. His Lectures at the Divinity School, Cambridge, 
 and the Boston University were the chief claims upon him, but, 
 besides this, new editions of his Law Books called for study and 
 preparation. In the year 1881 he resolved to give up his pro 
 fessorships and confine himself entirely to his books and the 
 research they demanded. This was a painful conclusion to come 
 to, but that it was essential to the preservation of his life was 
 rendered patent to all beholders, by an event which shortly fol 
 lowed. While taking leave of his long tried, and much beloved 
 duties and associates, he was seized with an attack of faintness in 
 the street, falling down and continuing insensible for over an hour. 
 After reviving, he retained no recollection of any special cause for 
 the attack beyond the usual strain of the day s duties, nor after his 
 recovery did there appear any bad results, but it was evident that 
 a change must be made. He must relinquish some of his work, 
 and take time for recreation and exercise. He decided to return to 
 his native city of Philadelphia. He had passed twenty or more 
 years of absence, with only occasional visits ; many of his early 
 friends were gone, but there were still enough left to make the 
 13 
 
194 MEMOIR OF 
 
 prospect of being once more amongst them a heart-cheering one. 
 He felt the warning he had received to be a solemn one, and 
 thought his work was well-nigh done, and was far from anticipating 
 that after a short repose there were still some years of active life 
 before him. After resigning his position in Cambridge, he resolved 
 to pass a year in Europe, trusting to the entire change to aid him as 
 much as the freedom from care and study. Of this journey, how 
 ever, no very cheering records remain. The effect was not quite as 
 satisfactory as was hoped. A few letters written at the time, will 
 best give the mingled pains and pleasures of the experiment. 
 
 "LIVERPOOL, October 22nd, 1881. 
 
 " As you will have heard, I hope, by cablegram, before now, we 
 are all safe on dry land again, after a most trying voyage of nearly 
 eleven days. We had a furious blow 7 which lasted three days, but 
 the ship was a good and safe one, and weathered the storm well, 
 though extremely dirty and uncomfortable. Dr. Wharton was quite 
 well all the time, and made lots of acquaintances. Among these 
 were some Cambridge people whom we knew all about, an English 
 clergyman and his wife, a family from Cleveland, and some New 
 Yorkers, and last, but not least, some British young men. When 
 we parted this morning at the Custom-house, it was like the break 
 ing up of a tea-party. Dr. Wharton has such accessible manners, he 
 seems to have been the life of the ship, and I heard nothing but 
 expressions of regard, and hopes to meet again, and protestations of 
 friendship, all of which, I suppose, will be forgotten before long. 
 Here it is the same old, wet, black, smoky Liverpool a big, dismal 
 hotel, the Adelphi, but a warm fire in our rooms, and an excellent 
 dinner. Dr. Wharton went to Church this morning, and now has 
 gone to the evening service. We start to-morrow for a leisurely 
 trip to London by the Midland R. R. We shall stop at the 
 Peacock Inn, Rowsley, to see Chats worth and Haddon Hall, which 
 are in that neighborhood, and be in London before another Sunday. 
 I am so relieved to be safely here and all well, that I can assure 
 you I joined very heartily in the doxology which was sung on 
 board the steamer this morning just before leaving, when all the 
 passengers were taking their breakfast, and which had a most im 
 pressive effect/ 7 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 195 
 
 "LONDON, October 27th. 
 
 " We arrived here on Wednesday, having stopped on the way 
 from Liverpool at Rowsley, where there is a country inn in a very 
 pretty country. We meant to stay there some days, but when we 
 got up in the morning we found a furious rain falling, which, by 
 twelve o clock, turned to snow. It was also extremely cold. We 
 had stopped on purpose to see Chatsworth and Haddon Hall, so, 
 determined not to be beaten at once by adverse circumstances, we 
 ordered a carriage, and drove off. The country was invisible, and 
 the steam on the windows of the carriage prevented our seeing even 
 the driver. However, when we reached Chatsworth, we made a 
 very satisfactory tour of the house, seeing all the curiosities and all 
 the pictures with great names attached to them Murillo, Holbein, 
 Leonardo, etc. We were much interested in the historical por 
 traits, of which there are many, and in the canopy worked by 
 Mary Queen of Scots. Finally, after we had been all through the 
 magnificent rooms, we were brought to a stand before a portrait of 
 the present Duke, and right beside it one of his second son, Lord 
 Frederick Cavendish, who, you know, was recently murdered in 
 Ireland. It seemed to me placed there to show the vanity of the 
 whole exhibition. As these pictures are the last thing shown, 1 
 spoke to the attendants about them, but they were very obtuse, 
 and showed no sympathy, though both dressed in deep mourning. 
 They told us some of the family were expected next day, and 
 showed us the family dining-room, all prepared for use. It was 
 carpeted with a magnificent velvet rug, which in places near the 
 sideboard was pieced with carpet of a different pattern ; so you see 
 even dukes have to economize. Of course, we could not go through 
 the gardens on such a day, and therefore returned to the inn, where, 
 after lunch, the girls and Dr. Wharton walked to Haddon Hall, the 
 rain having held up a little. This they enjoyed extremely. We de 
 cided, however, that the season is too late for England, and came 
 on to London next day. We are now settled in a comfortable 
 lodging on Half Moon Street, near Hyde Park, and only a few 
 doors from Piccadilly. We went out to Sydenham to-day to see 
 Mrs. B. There are plenty of people in London, as Parliament 
 assembled on Tuesday, and I see some very stately, well-dressed 
 people in the streets. But this is a bad season of the year for 
 
J96 MEMOIR OF 
 
 London, and I think we shall leave here in two weeks for Brus 
 sels. Dr. Wharton is easily tired, and I think feels the effect of the 
 steamer now, though he seemed so well at the time. We want to 
 be settled in winter quarters in Rome by December 1st. There is 
 really very little comfort in travelling here in winter, as there are 
 no fires in the cars, and not much fire anywhere. Oh, for a grate full 
 of good Narragansett coal ! Our little smoky fire has to be watched 
 all the time as if it were wood. How far behind is England in 
 every comfort !" 
 
 " LONDON, November 5th. 
 
 " Our visit to London is almost over. We leave here on Wed 
 nesday and go to Brussels, where our Continental journey will 
 begin. I think we have made the most of our time. Dr. Wharton 
 and the girls have been out every day and all day. When I read 
 Hare s Walks in London and find how every street and almost 
 every house has a story, I feel that a year would not be too long to 
 exhaust the interest of the city. Whitehall and the Strand are 
 more to me than the grand new part of the town, and I read about 
 them, and go out and imagine how it once was. Dr. Wharton 
 lunched yesterday with Mr. Allen, Editor of the Quarterly Re 
 view/ and in the evening dined with Lord Coleridge, the Chief 
 Justice. To-day, Mr. Westlake invites us to a reception, which 
 being Sunday, w T e have declined. To-morrow, Sir Robert Philli- 
 more has invited us to tea, and we also lunch to-morrow with 
 Mr. Freemantle, a clergyman. Dr. Wharton s friends are all in 
 the legal line ; he has corresponded with them for years, and now 
 enjoys seeing them. If it were only a different season, I should 
 enjoy staying longer, but we must hurry on before winter catches 
 us. I spent a long morning at Westminster Abbey, where one of 
 the latest tombs, of course, is that of Dean Stanley. There is also 
 a bust of Kingsley, and one of Keble just. placed there, and there 
 is soon to be one of Longfellow. Poets and Kings are the great, it 
 seems, and above all, warriors." 
 
 " WIESBADEN, Xov. 12th. 
 
 " You see by this that we are further on our way, having arrived 
 here last evening. We crossed from Dover to Calais in a fine stiff 
 breeze and high sea, but it was soon over and we took the train for 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 197 
 
 Brussels, where we spent a day in going over the sights. A very 
 fine gallery was the chief attraction. Although the Rubens, Van 
 Dycks, etc., are the things to admire, I confess the lovely modern 
 pictures held me longest. There are beautiful shops in Brussels, 
 and Dr. Wharton has already bought a present for each child in 
 the family. We left Brussels on Friday and continued to Cologne. 
 There is not much to see on the journey, but of course the Cathedral 
 was an object of interest at the end. Our hotel looked out on the 
 Rhine, which was a sea of liquid mud. At nine next day we again 
 took the train, and, I am happy to say, with a bright sun shining. 
 Here the true glory of the Rhine begins. The road lies beside the 
 river all the way, and every tower and castle is not only beautiful, 
 but connected with some romantic legend. At two o clock we 
 arrived at AViesbaden. Now we are delightfully established at the 
 Hotel des Quatre Saisons, right opposite the Kursaal, and with the 
 pleasant prospect of a stay of at least two weeks. This is said to 
 be a particularly fine climate. Dr. Wharton and the girls have 
 gone to church this morning. He is pretty well, but he feels any 
 change in his usual habits, and I am very uneasy about him all the 
 time. God grant we may be able to take care of him, and if we 
 find he cannot be as well and comfortable here, we shall have to 
 return home. But, so far, we have done very well. He enjoys 
 things very much, and is extremely cheerful. Everything is bright 
 and dry here, a blessed relief after the London fog and smoke. 
 There are plenty of people but none that we know. A fine band 
 plays three times a day opposite, and a good library of English, 
 French, and German is close at hand." 
 
 " WIESBADEN, November 17th. 
 
 " We have now been more than a week here, and are nearly tired 
 of it, but we are so comfortable that we hate to move. We have 
 delightful rooms and good fires and food, and that in such in 
 clement weather is a great deal. A storm of rain set in last 
 Monday, and continued four days. Fortunately there is not much 
 to be seen. We go every afternoon to hear the band play at the 
 Kursaal. Scientific and popular music are performed in equal pro 
 portions, and in first-rate style. The large room is generally two- 
 thirds full, but we never see a familiar face. In fact, this place is 
 out of season for Americans. We shall leave here by Saturday, 
 
198 MEMOIR OF 
 
 and go to Heidelberg, on Monday to Basle, thence to Luzerne, and 
 over the St. Gothard. By Thursday, I hope, to Milan, Friday 
 to Florence, and thence to Rome. We intend to leave early in the 
 spring, and come back slowly over the same ground. The spring, 
 as you know, opens early in Italy, and we can see things to much 
 greater advantage when the days are longer. Now it is dark by 
 four o clock in the afternoon, and w-e have really no time, as the 
 one o clock table d hote takes up the morning. We get up at 
 seven and have our breakfast, and then read or if it is fine go out. 
 At one comes dinner, according to the German custom. Of course 
 it is too early in the day, but it suits Dr. Wharton remarkably well, 
 and he has had no headache since he has been here. He goes with 
 the girls to the theatre sometimes, but it is so very dull, so very 
 decorous, so highly refined and classical, that they find reading at 
 home more amusing. I went once and heard one of Schiller s 
 tragedies, but though I am at home in the colloquial German, 
 I found the long speeches and exalted sentiments of Schiller s 
 heroes quite beyond me." 
 
 "FLORENCE, December 3rd. 
 
 " It has been a longer interval than usual since I wrote, but we 
 have been travelling constantly. We left Wiesbaden a week from 
 last Wednesday, and came down to Basle, where we spent a Sunday, 
 having passed through Heidelberg, and spent a day there. It w 7 as 
 cold and rainy, of course, but looked more cheerful at Basle, where 
 our rooms overhung the river and where we had a bright open fire, 
 a sign that we had left German stoves behind us. 
 
 " We crossed the St. Gothard in a furious snow storm, and the 
 hills around here are covered with snow. We have no thermometer 
 but I should say that it was colder than at any time last winter in 
 Philadelphia, and Dr. Wharton has not been at all well. We left 
 Basle on Monday and came down to Luzerne, our party having 
 been augmented by Rita, our Italian maid. It was for once a 
 lovely afternoon when we reached Luzerne, and we walked about, 
 and saw the queer old towers and Thorwaldsen s Lion, and next 
 morning crossed the St. Gothard and reached Milan in the evening. 
 The journey we used to make in three days was made in one. 
 There are several tunnels in crossing, and when we came to the 
 long one at Goeschenen it did not seem to me much longer than 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 199 
 
 the others. We came through in twenty-two minutes, and felt 
 none the worse though both Dr. Wharton and I were a little 
 nervous. We met a Cambridge acquaintance on the train, who 
 told us he was on his way to Venice to meet Mr. Brooks, and they 
 two were going to sail thence for Bombay to spend the winter in 
 India. Mr. Brooks will, I suppose, go round the world before he 
 returns. 1 rejoice to think, we are now only one day from our most 
 distant point, Rome, and after that only five days from the steamer 
 to come home. You will be surprised at this sudden collapse of 
 my enthusiasm for travelling, but I a-m extremely uneasy about 
 Dr. Wharton. He is not well, and travelling does not agree with 
 him. The changes of^meals and hours are the worst thing for 
 him. We shall not think of remaining abroad this summer, and 
 I shall be thankful if we get through the winter. Although he 
 tries to be cheerful it is very much against the grain, for in travel 
 ling it is impossible to make him really comfortable. Rita, our 
 maid, is extremely useful, and perhaps in Rome, we can take an 
 apartment and make things more homelike. We only stayed one 
 day in Milan, but that was long enough to see the Cathedral, and 
 the Last Supper/ and we reached here Thursday. We have a 
 very pretty yellow salon, and the sun shines on us all day long 
 across the Arno. We have already visited the Uffizi and the Pitti 
 galleries, and hope to do the principal churches before leaving, 
 though Dr. Wharton and I are pretty much hors de combat. For 
 tunately Rita is able -to go everywhere with the girls, as she is a 
 woman of fifty, and thoroughly acquainted with all the sights and 
 places we wish to visit." 
 
 "ROME, Dec. 14th, 82. 
 
 We came here from Florence last week, and found a comfort 
 able suite of rooms waiting for us at the Hotel de FEurope, Piazza 
 di Spagna. It is the highest part of Rome, and we have the 
 highest apartment in it. There are ten flights of stairs, but as 
 there is an elevator, that does not matter. In Rome the value of 
 rooms increases as you go up. The higher, the purer air. I think 
 we shall avoid all chance of malaria. Their great charm, however, 
 is that they look out on a terrace 50 ft. long by 20 ft. broad, where 
 the sun basks all day, and where the stone balustrade and pots of 
 aloes make it look very Italian indeed. It is laid out directly on 
 
200 MEMOIR OF 
 
 the roof of the Hotel, and commands a beautiful view of all the 
 spires and roofs and cupolas of Rome and of every sunrise and 
 sunset. It is peculiarly appropriate to us, as neither of us are 
 able to go about much, and this terrace is a good place for exer 
 cise. We shall do very well, if we are only allowed moderate 
 health, but sometimes my heart fails when I see how impossible 
 it is to minister to a heart and mind ill at ease. The life here is 
 too great a contrast to Dr. Wharton s habits for years, to be pleasant 
 to him. Perhaps later he may endure it better, but now I some 
 times think it might be better for us to come home at once, and 
 not keep him in discomfort all winter. He is not well, and has 
 few books about him, and after the girls^ have seen Rome, they 
 will have seen a great deal, and we would cheerfully bear the dis 
 comfort of a winter voyage, if there was peace and contentment 
 at the other end. Not that we have at present any positive idea 
 of the kind, but I like to think it is possible. It is comforting 
 to think we are only two days and a night direct route to Paris, 
 and that the Cunarders are equally safe winter and summer. He 
 goes out every day with the girls, and they are much interested in 
 the ruins, etc., but twenty-four hours have to be got through each 
 day, and we have not yet had time to hunt up any Americans. 
 It is a great contrast to the going in and out of the Seminary and 
 Lecture Room, and the meeting bright, clever people at home. 
 The alleviations of climate and scenery, and interesting associa 
 tions are nothing to him compared to society^ and I am dreadfully 
 afraid his recovery will be retarded by his present life, instead of 
 assisted. I sent for a Doctor immediately upon our arrival here 
 (he is the best in Rome and had been strongly recommended to 
 us). He is not of opinion that we should return to America, but 
 he is very uneasy about Dr. Wharton. He comes to see him every 
 day, and is a great comfort to me. He gives him nothing but 
 Bromide and Hunyadi water. This is indeed a gloomy letter, but 
 I cannot write cheerfully when my heart is heavy. I must leave 
 the sights to the girls, and write what is in my thoughts. I only 
 beg you to help me with your prayers at this most trying time." 
 
 "DEC. 15th. 
 
 " To day things seem to improve. Dr. Wharton has had no bad 
 symptoms, and is sitting writing comfortably beside me. If we 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 201 
 
 can only get into regular habits here, with sufficient occupation, 
 1 we may be happy yet/ in God s mercy. I hope it will be so, as 
 the account you give of the rigorous winter around you does not 
 seem suitable for invalids. The details you give of home and 
 Thanksgiving Day do seem very sweet and attractive however, and 
 I hope ere another Thanksgiving Day we shall be settled in some 
 modest Fhila. mansion, and never again attempt a search for i a 
 mild climate and change of scene/ And yet, if we had not come, 
 we should feel that we had not done all we could for his health, and 
 now it is a comfort to me to think we have passed through the most 
 fatiguing part, and can come home easily at any time. I wish you 
 could look in upon us ; Rita, our maid, is making the arrival of 
 the week s lavage/ an excuse for much shrill French and Italian 
 talk. You would suppose clothes had never been washed, mended, 
 
 and paid for before. E is in her room, working at Xmas 
 
 presents; neither her Father nor I are allowed to pass through 
 this room, so we are perforce in the salon, listening to the tang 
 ing of M. s guitar, and occasionally walking out on the terrace. 
 If I had the spirits, I could make a romance out of this terrace. 
 It overlooks the whole city, with its renowned temples, ruins, domes, 
 and spires. It also overlooks all the neighboring windows and bal 
 conies, and thus makes a contrast between the mighty Past and 
 modern Italian life. Right opposite is a complete pigeon house, 
 under the care of a boy, about L. s age. This boy must I think, 
 be also an invalid, as he is out on his balcony, as much as I am 
 on my terrace. He has built a range of very amateur buildings, 
 and is feeding and petting his pigeons all day long. They come 
 at his call from all surrounding roofs, and yet they are not over 
 fed I am sure, as they pick up the .crumbs I scatter for them the 
 moment my back is turned. On another balcony is a complete 
 kitchen, with ice-chest, pantry, and everything but a stove, where 
 a family of children are coming and going all the time. If I had 
 better eyesight, I could give you receipts for polenta and other 
 Italian delicacies. More romatic are the many plants and flowers 
 that cover all the neighboring terraces, our own included. Every 
 house has its sky-parlor, with roses in bloom, orange trees in tubs, 
 and oleanders and palms towering above. If we were certain of 
 remaining here I should buy some sweet-scented plants to have 
 the pleasure of tending them. As yet, we have only the aloes, 
 
202 MEMOIR OF 
 
 which are very stern. The flowers in the street are very cheap and 
 for a few cents the girls can decorate themselves for the table 
 d hote. About fifty people sit down every day, of all nations 
 and tongues. Swedes are opposite to us, whose language I do not 
 attempt. Several unattractive English families have evidently the 
 same opinion of us ; an Italian Duke with several children and 
 some sociable Americans." 
 
 "JAN. 8th, 83. 
 
 " I believe I wrote you of the cold Dr. Wharton had taken at 
 St. John Lateran. This developed into a dysentery, and it is now 
 two weeks since he has left his room. He is not very sick, but 
 afraid to go out, and with the disease sometimes worse, sometimes 
 better. The Doctor comes every day and gives him medicine, and 
 his diet has to be very careful, but it is very depressing to us, and 
 not at all what we expected in coming abroad. He has been sick 
 more or less, ever since we left Germany, and I attribute it to the 
 dreadful weather we had there, when he could get but little exer 
 cise, and to the unwholesome food everywhere. Now he is on strict 
 regimen, with only arrow-root and beef tea, and I am nursing him, 
 with Rita s help, and a great deal of consideration from the Hotel, 
 where I fear they are only too accustomed to sickness. He has got 
 the idea that Italy does not agree with him, and as soon as he is 
 better, we must make a move somewhere, though where to go, I 
 scarcely know. The weather has been lovely, and everything 
 favorable except his health. I go out but little ; once for a walk 
 on Monte Pincio, and once to St. Peter s, where E. and I enjoyed 
 much the splendid church, with its monuments to the past glories 
 of the Popedom. It is in much better condition than Avhen I was 
 last here. The mosaics are kept clean and polished, and everything 
 has an orderly appearance. The King (Humbert) is to be thanked 
 for all the added neatness of Rome, and its buildings. Even the 
 streets are spruced up, and have not the evil odour they once had. 
 His Court is regularly established at the Quirinal, and we often see 
 him driving on the Pincian. On the other hand, the Pope says he 
 is a prisoner, and never comes out of the Vatican. The girls go 
 somewhere every day. The palace of the Caesars interests them 
 greatly. Much has been excavated lately and they see rooms and 
 frescoes that were not exposed until very recently. The ground 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 203 
 
 which was a cabbage garden covers buried palaces, and new treas 
 ures are dug up daily. E. gets photographs of these interiors and 
 that is, so far, all I know of them. 
 
 " I shall be sorry to leave Rome. Our terrace has been de 
 lightful, and also our walks on the Pincian, since Dr. Wharton has 
 been better. The smell of the violets on its slopes, the beautiful 
 old City below us, with its entourage of hills and pines, and the 
 green Campagna beyond have been within our reach. Once we 
 have driven to the Borghese and once to the Colosseum, where it 
 was too damp to linger. We have seen, in the distance, most of 
 the poor old venerable temples and arches, who look as if imploring 
 oblivion after an existence prolonged well-nigh beyond endurance. 
 The temple of Minerva, especially, seems to have gone down on its 
 Jcnees to beg to be covered up from the light of day. The temple 
 of Janus, the arches of Constantine and Titus, and the Theatre of 
 Marcellus have all been seen in passing, but the weather has not 
 been such as to admit of our remaining long, and we have been 
 satisfied with a passing glance. We shall go away before the 
 Carnival, as it is all-important to get our invalid strong again. 
 Naples, we have given up, as too debilitating. We shall go to 
 San Remo, on the Riviera, which we hear is especially bracing, and 
 I don t doubt we shall enjoy its gardens and sea-breezes, and I hope 
 cheerful society. There have been plenty of people here, but not 
 interesting to Dr. Whartou. Even Dr. K, the Am. Clergyman, 
 has been to see him but once, as Dr. Wharton was too sick to 
 return his visit." 
 
 " SAX REMO, Feb. 1st, 83. 
 
 " Here you behold a new heading to my letters. E wrote 
 
 so fully a day or two since that I postponed my letter for fear of 
 repeating her verbatim. Our leaving Rome, and our journey 
 through Pisa to Genoa, has already been described. The railroad 
 to Genoa is beside the sea, and Dr. Wharton seemed to improve the 
 moment we sniffed the sea-breeze. He was so well when we 
 reached Genoa that he wanted to stay several days, and go sight 
 seeing, but I begged him not to risk another attack in such a place 
 as Genoa, especially as the weather was very cold. We spent only 
 one day there, and left for this place the next. The road is beside 
 the sea all the way, and would be beautiful but for the constant 
 
204 MEMOIR OF 
 
 tunnelling. Wherever, on the old Corniche road, there used to be 
 a slight ascent, there is now a tunnel, so that many persons still take 
 the old carriage road. With us, however, it was too important 
 to get to the end of our journey, and although we did not leave 
 Genoa till 12 M. we were very glad to reach San Remo by 7 P.M. 
 This is a most lovely spot, and I can scarcely realize that w r e so 
 lately left snow at Genoa. Here all is green, and tropical plants 
 are all around us. The town lies on the slope of hills that shut 
 out everything but the south, where is the sea, and these hills 
 retain the sun s heat from day to day, so that it is much warmer 
 than in the same latitude on the other side of the hills. Of course 
 you know this, but it strikes one here with fresh surprise. Even 
 at Rome we had cold winds, here only a gentle breeze from the sea, 
 without which exercise would not be agreeable. Dr. Wharton 
 seems delighted with it, and I hope we shall stay some time. Our 
 hotel is a little out of the town, high, and with a view all round 
 of the sea ; exquisite gardens, roses, violets, and orange-blossoms 
 all about us, and an atmosphere like summer. When there is a 
 chill wind or cloudy day the habitues of the house apologize for 
 the unusually bad weather. 7 It seems to me like Paradise. It 
 may be just the place for Dr. Wharton to get well and strong 
 again. He is so fond of the sea, and there are people and shops 
 enough to make it entertaining. We hear nothing but the English 
 tongue on all sides, and English hotels line the way for over three 
 miles. The quaint old streets of the town proper are fall of curio 
 sities, a peculiar mixture of queer and ancient articles for sale, with 
 a most common and modern trickery in selling them. Dr. Wharton 
 is very full of shopping, and it requires all my persuasion to keep 
 him off the Sorrento wood and Italian jewelry. I wish to reserve 
 our resources for Paris. But it is delightful to see him again taking 
 an interest in everything and enjoying himself. He is able to 
 walk freely everywhere, and it is a happy contrast to the dark, 
 damp, streets of Rome, where every step was fraught with danger, 
 to him at least. There are some people in the house who promise 
 to be companionable, and with books and sketches, and the inex 
 haustible w r alks, we shall find it very endurable. We went on 
 Sunday to the English Church, and heard the usual English ser 
 mon very good in matter, but delivered with a dismal drawl ! I 
 suppose the chaplains at these places are generally men in delicate 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 205 
 
 health, kept alive by the delicious climate. The walks and gar 
 dens are full of cripples and invalids, and even the well people get 
 
 a sort of hobbling gait from sympathy After a while we 
 
 shall make some excursions to the neighboring towns, where, I 
 believe, half the English aristocracy are assembled, but now w r e are 
 glad to be quiet." 
 
 "SAN REMO, Feb. 15th. 
 
 " . . . . Dr. Wharton continues to show wonderful improvement, 
 he seems as well as ever, enjoys everything, and has recovered his 
 spirits. He is much amused with the people in the house, he has 
 a book on hand, of course, but he says it is only translating. He 
 is a great favorite, and is having, I am happy to say, quite a flirta 
 tion with a clever English lady, who lends him books and talks 
 history to him. There is a dear old lady up stairs, who sends for 
 him to play whist in the evening so that he gets on very well. He 
 walks every morning to the town, where we have examined 
 every shop ten times over. Dr. Wharton buys figs and chestnuts 
 and the inevitable flowers. We often rest on the way to look 
 at the lovely blue sea, with its points of sloping coast, covered 
 with towns of white and yellow houses and basking in a summer 
 sun. Near at hand are olive yards and vineyards, and a perfect 
 redolence of violets and hyacinths from the gardens below. I 
 sometimes feel like shaking myself, and saying, Do you know that 
 you are having June in February, and that never again will you be at 
 such a season in such a spot ? We get so used to our blessings, 
 that after two or three weeks of loitering and basking, we begin to 
 read and write again and even talk of the sights we shall see in 
 Paris, and the shopping we shall do there " 
 
 " FEB. 25th. 
 
 " There is a young Scotch gentleman here, who told me his left 
 lung was consolidated, and that he never expected to be well again. 
 He was as cheerful as if he had spoken of some approaching hap 
 piness, so I suppose that he is fully prepared. That is the comfort 
 of these English people ; they are religious by heritage and educa 
 tion ; they never dream of staying away from church on Sunday, 
 and they all come in the evening to sing hymns. One man whom 
 I thought singularly worldly/ came in to ask for his favorite 
 hymn, and another, with the countenance of a pirate, we discovered 
 
206 MEMOIK OF 
 
 to be a leading elder in the Scotch church here. So you see we are 
 gradually merging into intimacy and approbation. I think our 
 standing has greatly increased since they have seen Lord Coleridge s 
 seal on one or two of Dr. Wharton s letters ; and are convinced 
 now that we are first-class people. They are singularly ignorant 
 about America, and will ask such queer questions as Where is the 
 city of California ? Don t you know Mr. Woods, of Missouri ? as 
 if we lived next door. One lady asked me if Washington were not 
 on the Mississippi ? Still they are very friendly and pleasant, and 
 our rooms are filled with visitors every day. Sometimes they do 
 not quite appreciate the sobriety of our characters. An old lady 
 warned me against gambling. She said, Americans are so inexpe 
 rienced they are carried away with excitement P Another, a gen 
 tleman, said, I never play at Monte Carlo but my wife does. If 
 she loses 1000 francs, she stops, but I feel bound to make it up. 
 Here was a real live gambler !" 
 
 Perhaps the writer has lingered too long on this European jour 
 ney, and the delightful episode of San Remo. It is, however, 
 almost the last period of Dr. Wharton s history that she can look 
 back upon with entire satisfaction. Restored to health, and with 
 a mind free from care, he was for the remainder of the trip the life 
 and soul of the party. After a devious, though pleasant, route 
 through Northern Italy to Turin, and a short stay at Aix les 
 Bains, they came to Paris in May. From thence to London, and 
 set sail from Liverpool on May 19th. As he himself said, "he 
 must be at Narragansett in time to dig his asparagus bed." The 
 truth is he was tired of an idle life. The mere travelling did not 
 occupy his mind sufficiently. " Get work to do ; it is better than 
 what you work for," was ever his motto, or, in his own humorous 
 and highly poetical paraphrase, Constant employment is constant 
 enjoyment. 
 
 The return of the Democratic party to power in 1884 will mark 
 the next era in his changing career ; a career I hope, it will be 
 observed, whose changes were involuntary, and caused by events 
 entirely beyond his control. He had spent nearly two years quietly 
 in Philadelphia, fully occupied with revising his now numerous 
 books, and had certainly no idea that anything further awaited 
 him, when some intimations reached him that he would be a useful 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 207 
 
 and welcome aid to the new Administration. After some prelimi 
 nary correspondence, the following letter was received from the 
 Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, Secretary of State : 
 
 "DEP T OF STATE, WASHINGTON, D. C., March 16, 1885. 
 " MY DEAR DR. WHARTON : 
 
 " I have your letter written yesterday, and write to ask you to 
 come on, as soon as possible. You will go into service as soon as 
 you come here, and your commission will follow upon the expira 
 tion of a short leave of absence/ granted to your predecessor. 
 
 " I believe you will find the position akin to your powers and 
 your tastes, and one in which you can render valuable service to 
 your country. 
 
 " Yrs. truly, 
 
 "T. F. BAYARD. 
 " Prof. FRANCIS WHARTON, Phila." 
 
 The office to which he was called was that of Examiner of 
 Claims, or, in other words, Legal Adviser to the State Department. 
 It was not without misgivings that he accepted this position. Not 
 that he felt any hesitation about his ability to fulfil its duties. He 
 had been familiar with the topics he would have to handle for 
 years ; his decisions would be governed by the result of many years 
 study of the very topics in question, and his studies would be 
 stimulated by this practical application of them. But he had a 
 reluctance to take up an occupation so exclusively secular. Though 
 debarred by the state of his voice from officiating in any public 
 service in the Church, he had never lost sight of his sacred calling, 
 nor were the vows of his earlier dedication felt to be less binding. 
 The following letter from a beloved friend, although written after 
 his acceptance of the office, will show what were his scruples and 
 in what way his advisers tried to remove them. 
 
 "CLEVELAND, OHIO. 
 " REV. AND DEAR BROTHER I 
 
 Your gratifying and exceedingly interesting note has just 
 reached me, on my return from visitation. It is an additional 
 evidence of the reality of your friendship that you have taken the 
 trouble to mention reasons for your acceptance of the present re 
 sponsible position you hold under government; but believe me, 
 my dear old friend, that no question has ever arisen in my mind 
 as to the propriety^of the act. I have rejoiced that the opportu- 
 
208 MEMOIR OF 
 
 nity was thus offered you to serve God so acceptably in an office 
 so responsible, and I have rejoiced with our mutual friends that 
 our country was so ably represented by a member of our Church. 
 It seems, to me, at least, that Divine Providence has been prepar 
 ing you for this high office, and by your peculiar education and 
 experience I refer especially to the ecclesiastical side of English 
 polity enabling you to interpret fully the mind of our English 
 
 cousins 
 
 " President Cleveland s choice of Mr. Bayard is to be highly 
 commended. We have felt that our foreign relations were in safe 
 
 hands 
 
 " Believe me most affectionately your friend and brother, 
 
 "G. T. BEDELL, 
 
 "(Bp. of Ohio). 
 "REV. DR. WHARTON." 
 
 After some further deliberation he resolved to accept the office 
 temporarily. The letter in which he signified this decision to Mr. 
 Bayard has been preserved. 
 
 "No. 1820 PINK STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 " March 24, 85. 
 
 " MY DEAR MR. SECRETARY : 
 
 " As I telegraphed to you this morning, I accept the proposition 
 to take for three months the post of counsel to the state depart 
 ment, postponing for the present the question of an acceptance of 
 the office as a permanency. After leaving you I met, at the Su 
 preme Court, my old friends Mr. George W. Biddle and Mr. 
 Rawle, who both advised me strongly to take the office, as one 
 for which I was more or less fitted by my old training as district 
 attorney, and subsequent experience as writer on and professor of 
 international law. This morning I have seen my publisher, and 
 looked over business matters, and find that there is nothing to 
 prevent my entering on the work at Washington as soon as re 
 quired. My present intention is to take lodgings until the ques 
 tion of permanent acceptance is decided, and then if this be deter 
 mined on, to take a house. I would add that I would feel bound 
 in any view to discharge the duties of the office until you found 
 a successor satisfactory to yourself. 
 
 " Truly y rs, 
 
 "FRANCIS WHARTON. 
 "Hox. T. F. BAYARD." 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 209 
 
 Upon removing to Washington, Dr. Wharton found his hands 
 full. Not only did he find the work at the Department of State 
 exceedingly interesting and congenial, but he was received with 
 much flattering attention by the various social circles of that bril 
 liant city. Well known to the larger part of the employe s of the 
 government by his books, they were now glad to make his acquaint 
 ance personally. His nomination by President Cleveland was con 
 firmed unanimously by the Senate with, in one instance, the signifi 
 cant remark : " I should as soon think of objecting to Chief Justice 
 Marshall." 
 
 This was the bright side of the picture. On the other hand, the 
 constant pressure and responsibility ; the not too healthy climate of 
 Washington ; and, above all, the giving up of his summers at Nar- 
 ragansett Pier, presented a prospect that might have discouraging 
 possibilities. 
 
 The impression that he made during the four years of his politi 
 cal life must be left to another to describe. The men and the 
 measures of that administration are almost too recent to be written 
 about freely. The same thing applies to his correspondence, which, 
 though large and including some very distinguished names, is yet 
 too full of the local and personal to be within the scope of the 
 present volume. It is sufficient to say that the labor of these last 
 years of his life seems to have exceeded that of all previous years, 
 and that the loving and devout spirit that he had manifested in 
 earlier and less trying positions never deserted him. He attended 
 with regularity the Church of the Ascension, and much enjoyed 
 the ministrations of the faithful rector, the Rev. Dr. Elliott. Often 
 upon returning from these services, in which he never took part 
 except as a worshipper, he would say : " How I have enjoyed the 
 sermon ! There is nothing like the good old gospel, after all." 
 
 There must always be, in the government of a great nation, 
 times when a just and proper exercise of control will excite the 
 opposition of those controlled; and the four years term of our 
 executive will always pr^oke agitation and party strife. But in 
 political parties and angry contests Dr. Wharton took no interest. 
 Though he considered himself identified with certain great prin 
 ciples held by his party, he never was betrayed by discussion of 
 them into want of consideration for others. Many of his warmest 
 14 
 
210 MEMOIR OF 
 
 friends were his political opponents, and he was ever the recipient 
 personally of affection and confidence, both from those who agreed 
 with him and those from whom he differed. 
 
 Among the letters and memoranda he left behind him much may 
 yet be found that would interest the reader, but it must be at a later 
 date, and transcribed by another hand. 
 
DE. FRANCIS WHARTON. 211 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 "LlFE AT THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 
 
 BY 
 
 HON. JOHN BASSETT MOORE, 
 Third Assistant Secretary of State. 
 
 EARLY in the year 1885 Dr. Wharton was invited to take the 
 post of Examiner of Claims or Solicitor for the Department of 
 State, at Washington. After due reflection he accepted the posi 
 tion, and late in March entered upon the performance of its duties. 
 
 It would be difficult to conceive of greater fitness of person for 
 place than that of Dr. Wharton for the office to which he was 
 called. Although he left the bar for the church early in life, the 
 impress of his legal training remained, and his predilection for the 
 law never forsook him. Whatever might be the subject that occu 
 pied his attention, it was to its legal aspects that he was especially 
 attracted. His mind was singularly versatile, and his sympathies 
 were broad and easily touched. He possessed, besides, a strong 
 vein of sentiment, which not infrequently had a controlling effect 
 upon his conduct. He was fond of poetry, and sought diversion 
 and recreation in works of fiction. Endowed with such generous 
 tastes and faculties, technical disputations were little to his liking. 
 The narrow view of a question never appealed to him. It was in 
 the discussion and application of broad and general principles that 
 he found his greatest delight ; and it was in the natural develop 
 ment of this liberal disposition that the lawyer became the eminent 
 and accomplished student of jurisprudence. 
 
 In addition to his knowledge of law, Dr. Wharton possessed a 
 thorough acquaintance with history. He was accustomed to say 
 that Englishmen knew less than Americans of English history, 
 and if he was to be taken as an example of his countrymen his 
 observation was certainly correct. His knowledge of Ihe history 
 of England was singularly thorough and minute. It was not con 
 fined to the general and leading incidents which are stated in the 
 
212 MEMOIR OF 
 
 formal histories, but extended to the lives, the letters, and the 
 minor accounts of men and women. With the exception of the 
 history of the United States, he knew more thoroughly that of 
 England than of any other country ; but he was also a diligent 
 student of history, both ancient and modern, in the most general 
 sense. What he read he was enabled to retain by the possession of 
 an unusual memory. He made few notes and kept no common 
 place books, and did not burden his mind with useless dates and 
 facts. His memory was philosophical rather than circumstantial. 
 If questioned in respect to a particular circumstance, he often ex 
 pressed an inability to answer. But, if called upon to consider a 
 particular subject, he was able, with a rapidity and completeness 
 seldom witnessed, to draw from the stores of his memory a copious 
 supply of historical illustrations and analogies. 
 
 The labors of Dr. Wharton in history and jurisprudence, and 
 his fondness for the discussion of general principles, led him to the 
 study of international law, and prepared the way for his eminence 
 as a publicist. His first important achievement in this field is 
 found in his treatise on the Conflict of Laws/ or Private Inter 
 national Law/ which includes a comparative view of Anglo- 
 American, Roman, German, and French jurisprudence. Con 
 cerning this work, an intelligent and discriminating critic in the 
 i Southern Law Review expressed the opinion that upon it would 
 rest its author s most lasting and solid fame. There is reason to 
 believe that Dr. Wharton shared this opinion, for he took an 
 evident pride in the book and often referred to the criticism in 
 the t Southern Law Review as one of the most appreciative and 
 satisfactory ever written upon any of his works. In 1885 appeared 
 his Commentaries on Law/ which embrace chapters on Inter 
 national Law, both public and private. 
 
 Such was the preparation of Dr. Wharton for the discharge of 
 his new duties. Learned both in history and in jurisprudence, 
 and with a wide and established reputation as a publicist, he was 
 able to speak as one having authority. He was not compelled to 
 search for principles and precedents ; he had already reduced them 
 to possession, and it was only necessary for him to apply them. 
 The value of such a preparation can be estimated only when we 
 consider the distinctive character of international law as a branch 
 of jurisprudence. The average practitioner, trained in the strict 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 213 
 
 school of the common law and accustomed to the technical dispu 
 tations of the ordinary judicial courts, finds himself, when called 
 upon to deal with matters involving international law, confronted 
 with a new type of questions in the solution of which his previous 
 education affords him little assistance. In reality one of his first 
 tasks will be to rid his mind, so far as he may be able, of its pre 
 possession fqr technical reasoning. The books which he has been 
 accustomed to consult, with a view to obtain a " case in point/ 
 can no longer be accepted as guides. Even if he should find in 
 the courts of his own country a decision upon the question which 
 he has under consideration, he would then be required to ascertain 
 whether that decision had been accepted as being in accordance 
 with the principles of international law ; for in such matters one 
 nation is not bound to accept as conclusive the decisions of the 
 courts of another. He would then find it necessary to embark 
 upon the study of history and the works of publicists, and to 
 apply with such guides the principles of reason and justice. 
 Although in this department of investigation and study the 
 United States can claim such distinguished names as those of 
 Wheaton, Story, Kent, Lawrence, Field, and Wharton, the study 
 of international law has for the most part been much neglected 
 in this country. When the subject is taught in the schools, the 
 course of instruction is usually confined to a few lectures of a more 
 or less perfunctory character, and perhaps to a few lessons from 
 text-books which deal with the most elementary doctrines. No 
 attempt is made to trace the history of the subject, and the 
 remarkable contribution of the Government of the United States 
 to its progressive development is almost wholly overlooked. A 
 gentleman lately in the diplomatic service of the United States 
 recently told the writer that one of the most distinguished publicists 
 of Europe declared to him that he found more to interest and in 
 struct him in the annual volume of the Foreign Relations of the 
 United States than in any other current publication on interna 
 tional subjects. This, he said, was due to the freedom and origi 
 nality with which questions were treated ; a circumstance in large 
 measure attributable to the unique position of the United States 
 in the family of nations. 
 
 Dr. Wharton entered upon the discharge of his duties in the 
 Department of State with all his accustomed energy and enthu- 
 
214 MEMOIR OF 
 
 siasm, and for a time found ample occupation in the daily work of his 
 office. Coming into the place soon after a change of administration, 
 he was required to give opinions upon a large number of complaints 
 which had in the interval been submitted to the Department with 
 a view r to their diplomatic presentation to foreign governments. 
 This influx of claims attends every change of administration with 
 out reference to its political character. The principle of resjudi- 
 cata, though not infrequently invoked, is not applied with the same 
 strictness in the executive departments as in the courts ; and each 
 suitor whose claim may have been the subject of an adverse de 
 cision finds room to hope that in the change of the head of the 
 department his complaint may receive favorable consideration. In 
 the first year of his official life, Dr. "Wharton gave formal written 
 opinions upon 221 claims, involving various questions of law. 
 But his labors were not in the meantime restricted to the exami 
 nation of claims. Questions of international policy were also the 
 subject of his consideration. In the spring of 1885 the Colom 
 bian Government, with a view to suppress an insurrection which 
 had arisen in that country, issued two decrees of great importance 
 to foreign nations. By the first of these decrees, certain ports then 
 in the possession of the insurgents were declared to be closed to 
 foreign commerce; and the penalties and forfeitures affixed by 
 Colombian law to smuggling were denounced against the goods 
 which might be imported into or exported from those ports, and 
 against the vessels which might engage in trade with them. By 
 the second decree it was declared that the vessels which, under the 
 flag of Colombia, were then employed by the insurgents in hostile 
 operations against the port of Cartagena, to the detriment of 
 foreign commerce with that port, did not belong to the Colombian 
 Government and had no right to fly the Colombian flag ; and for 
 these reasons they were declared to be beyond the pale of interna 
 tional law and their repression by the armed forces of friendly 
 powers was invited. These decrees raised two questions on which 
 Dr. Wharton always held and expressed very decided views, the 
 rights of neutrals and the international status of insurgents. The 
 United States refused to treat the decrees as sustainable on principles 
 of international law. The right of a government to close, by a 
 decree, ports not in its possession and not actually blockaded, was 
 denied. At the same time the Colombian Minister was informed 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 215 
 
 that the United States would not treat the vessels of the insurgents 
 as pirates. It is not improper to say that Dr. Wharton materially 
 contributed, by his learning and skill, to the argument made by 
 the United States on that occasion. 
 
 Before the close of his first year in the Department of State, 
 Dr. Wharton began the compilation of a digest of the opinions 
 and decisions of executive and judicial officers of the United States 
 on questions of International Law, with legal and historical notes. 
 The work being too large and scarcely popular enough in character 
 to be undertaken by a private publisher, its printing was provided 
 for by a resolution of Congress. An intelligent critic has recently 
 observed, that if Dr. Wharton had done nothing else during his 
 industrious life for the science of jurisprudence, the International 
 Law Digest would, quite apart from his labors in the field of 
 criminal law and of the conflict of laws, be his enduring monu 
 ment. Such defects as the work possesses are inherent in its 
 character. It was drawn not only from published documents, but 
 also from the unpublished records of the Department of State, begin 
 ning at the origin of the Government. In dealing with the latter 
 it was necessary, owing to the number of subjects treated and the 
 voluminous character of the discussions, to omit a great deal, and 
 to select such parts as were deemed illustrative of the doctrines 
 most consistently maintained. Such a process of selection neces 
 sarily reflects in some degree an editor s personal bias. But the 
 International Law Digest remains a monument to its compiler s 
 learning and industry, and is full of interest and instruction. The 
 first edition was soon distributed, and in 1887, by direction of 
 Congress, a second edition was printed. 
 
 After the publication of this work, Dr. Wharton undertook the 
 labor of editing the Diplomatic Correspondence of the American 
 Revolution. Provision for printing was again made by Congress, 
 and he worked at his new task incessantly up to the date of his 
 death. Only a few days before that event, he received and cor 
 rected the last proofs of the first volume, .which contains historical 
 and legal notes in the form of an introduction to the correspond 
 ence. The latter he left in manuscript in the hands of the writer, 
 as his literary executor, to whom Congress has given authority to 
 continue the printing. 
 
 This brief outline of the life of Dr. Wharton during the period 
 
216 MEMOIR OF 
 
 of less than four years which he spent in the Department of State, 
 presents a record of unusual character. The activity of his mind 
 was incessant, and he wrote with rapidity ; but, with all his learn 
 ing and all his facility, it would have been impossible to accom 
 plish, in the short space of four years the immense and varied 
 tasks he undertook, if, in addition to his other qualities, he had not 
 possessed that of untiring industry. " Dogged industry" was the 
 term which he liked to apply to his habit of labor. His capacity 
 for work seemed to be almost unlimited, and he was never idle. 
 He rose early in the morning, usually before six o clock, and im 
 mediately resumed his tasks. His labors the days could not be 
 said to divide ; for he gave few hours to sleep, seldom more than 
 five, and often less, and the first hours of the morning generally 
 found him still at work. Sometimes he went out early to walk, in 
 order to refresh himself for the day s labor ; and this was about 
 the only physical exercise he took. He usually reached his office 
 before nine o clock, and he then worked through the day without 
 intermission. He not only worked constantly, but also eagerly, in 
 order to accomplish as soon as possible the task he had set. He 
 possessed in the highest degree vivacity of intellect. This quality 
 imparted to the severest labor keen and apparent pleasure, and con 
 tributed to sustain his exertions. He was also able to perceive at 
 a glance any pertinency in what he read to the subject under con- 
 sideration. In this way he was able to read with great rapidity. 
 He possessed little fondness for books, for their own sake. They 
 were merely his instruments. He valued them solely for what he 
 could obtain from them, and, after extracting what suited his pur 
 pose, put them aside. He was not what we style a book-lover. 
 Hence, as he lived fur the most part in close proximity to large 
 public libraries, he collected few books, and his private library, 
 which was comparatively small, was not selected with reference to 
 his work. His quickness of perception and his ability to appreciate 
 at its relative value whatever came under his notice, enabled him to 
 employ with unusual ease the labors of others. Moreover, he 
 understood so thoroughly and so comprehensively the subjects on 
 which he wrote, that, in directing and utilizing the labors of others, 
 he was able to give to each thing its proper place and its appropri 
 ate effect. Thus he was not compelled to complete one branch of 
 an argument before he proceeded to another. Keeping the whole 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 217 
 
 in his mind, he was able to pass from one part to another, and, 
 where vacant places were left, to fill them up as his collection of 
 materials was completed. 
 
 Dr. Wharton s capacity for productive labor cannot be more 
 forcibly shown than by an enumeration of his principal works. 
 His first reputation as a legal author was made by his writings on 
 criminal l$w. His works on this subject are four in number, and 
 comprise treatises on Criminal Law, Criminal Pleading and 
 Practice/ and Criminal Evidence/ and two volumes of Pre 
 cedents of Indictments and Pleas. The treatise on Criminal 
 Law embraces two volumes, and is now in its ninth edition; that 
 on Criminal Pleading and Practice/ in one volume, has passed 
 through an equal number of editions; that on Criminal Evi 
 dence/ is in two volumes, and is also in its ninth edition. The 
 Precedents of Indictments and Pleas is in two volumes, and has 
 reached a fourth edition. In conjunction with Dr. Stille he wrote 
 a work on Medical Jurisprudence/ which is also in its fourth 
 edition. He next wrote a commentary on Agency and Agents/ 
 in one volume ; then a treatise on the Law of Negligence/ which 
 is also in one volume, and has reached a second edition. Follow 
 ing these came his work on the Conflict of Laws/ also in its 
 second edition ; a commentary on the Law of Evidence/ in two 
 volumes, now in its third edition; a work on Contracts/ in two 
 volumes ; and Commentaries on American Law/ in one volume. 
 Besides these practical treatises, he published a volume of State 
 Trials/ a work full of historical interest, with notes written in a 
 peculiarly charming style, which appeared in 1849, when the author 
 was twenty-nine years of age. The International Law Digest/ to 
 which reference has already been made, comprises three volumes, 
 and the Diplomatic Correspondence of the Revolution/ is yet to 
 appear. In order to appreciate the extraordinary facility with 
 which this large number of voluminous works was written, it must 
 be recollected that for some years his labors as a writer of treatises 
 on law were suspended, and that all through his life he was a con 
 stant contributor to periodicals. 
 
 An attempt having been made to describe and explain, in a 
 general way, the extent of Dr. Wharton s achievements as a pub 
 licist, it will be interesting to consider more in detail the qualities 
 of his mind, his habits of thought, and the distinguishing traits 
 
218 MEMOIR OF 
 
 of his character. Such a combination of faculties as he possessed 
 is seldom witnessed; and it was only after seeing him at his 
 daily tasks that one could appreciate the richness and variety of 
 his mental endowments. Reference has already been made to the 
 quickness and breadth of his comprehension, to his capacity for 
 labor, and to the exceptional character of his memory. It is only 
 by this combination of faculties that we can account for the extent 
 of his acquisitions. No industry, however constant, could have 
 enabled him to accomplish so much, if he had not possessed extra 
 ordinary mental powers. His works show the extent of his erudi 
 tion. It was in his treatise on the i Conflict of Laws, or Private 
 International Law, that he attempted to cover the widest field of 
 legal investigation. If his acquirements had been wanting either 
 in thoroughness or in amplitude, the defect would then have been 
 revealed. But none of his works was ever received with more 
 instant recognition or with higher approval, not only by the public 
 but also by scholars and jurists. It did more than any other of 
 his publications to extend his reputation abroad, and no doubt 
 materially contributed to form that high estimate of his learning 
 and abilities which induced the University of Edinburgh to confer 
 upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws, and the Institute of Inter- 
 * national Law to enroll him as one of its members. For, when 
 those honors were conferred upon him, the ( International Law 
 Digest 7 had not been written. 
 
 Dr. Wharton also possessed powers of imagination of a high 
 order. It is this that distinguishes the narrow logician from the 
 creative thinker. Voltaire said of Dr. Clark, that he was a mere 
 reasoning machine. This could never have been said of Dr. AVhar- 
 ton. He did not, indeed, possess that highest type of imagination, 
 which has enabled a few men in different ages to create distinctive 
 systems of thought, and to connect their names with new social, 
 political, or legal theories. He made no profession of originality 
 in this rare sense. He was always ready to avow his obligations 
 to others, and was wont to disclaim any originality of thought. He 
 declared himself to be especially indebted to German writers, whose 
 language he understood and whose works he carefully studied. But 
 he was never the victim of logic. He sought to discover and apply 
 principles, and not merely to find reasons to justify other men s 
 conclusions. He studied and comprehended questions in their 
 

 DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 219 
 
 wider relations, and not singly and apart. He was especially quick 
 to perceive analogies, and reasoned much in that way. This im 
 parted to his discussion of various topics unusual breadth and sug- 
 gestiveuess, and exceptional harmoniousness of view. 
 
 With his great fondness for history, and his extensive learning, 
 it is not strange that Dr. Wharton should have dealt much in pre 
 cedents ; but he was never the slave of authority. Stare decisis 
 was not a rule whose limitative force he felt himself bound to ac 
 knowledge. " So it hath been decided 7 was not enough to silence 
 his objections. That he diligently searched the books for opinions 
 and precedents, in order to ascertain what had been determined, the 
 wealth of his citations amply shows. He always knew the latest 
 cases. But he never held himself to be precluded from criticising 
 and disapproving what he cited, no matter how high the tribunal 
 from which the expression came. 
 
 Though Dr. Wharton often dissented from the authorities he cited, 
 his opposition was never factious, nor the result of a fondness for 
 disputation. Controversies of a personal character he sedulously 
 avoided, esteeming it a sign of weakness rather than of strength to 
 seek to win a cause by abuse of an adversary. Where he found 
 himself in opposition to the courts, it was because their action did 
 not square with what he believed to be the reason, the justice, and 
 the philosophy of the matter. When of this conviction, he did not 
 hesitate to dissent and protest. The amplitude of his comprehen 
 sion enabled him to work out a system of principles in law, politics, 
 and theology, with singular clearness and consistency. To those 
 principles he was devotedly attached ; and he was always ready to 
 maintain them. The basal principle of his system was that of 
 liberty, and it gave color and direction to all his thoughts. There 
 was nothing that appealed to him so strongly as the efforts of men 
 and of nations to work out the problem of self-government. He 
 never could forget that it was by the exercise of the right of revo 
 lution that the people of the United States attained their independ 
 ence, and assumed a place among the nations of the earth. The 
 annals of our early history, the struggles, the vicissitudes, and the 
 triumphs of the makers of the Republic were always the subjects 
 of his especial study and admiration ; and to the exposition of the 
 events of that period, and of the causes and course of the conflict, 
 he devoted the last hours of his life. It is often mentioned as the 
 
220 MEMOIR OF 
 
 reproach of scholars and men of letters that in the contemplation 
 of abstract themes they lose sight of and cease to appreciate the 
 generous motives which operate upon the conduct of peoples in 
 their struggles for freedom. In the critical study of the acts and 
 character of individuals, they become oblivious of their sacrifices 
 and patriotic exertions. It was not so with Dr. Wharton. He 
 had no sympathy with that spirit of detraction which seeks to be 
 little the beginnings of American history. He was intensely 
 patriotic and intensely American. It was his especial delight to 
 dwell upon the simple life and the simple manners of our Revolu 
 tionary period. He was beyond that narrow conception which 
 confounds simplicity with barbarism. It is the tendency of society 
 in every age to consider itself as the best exponent of civilization, 
 and to regard its forms and ceremonies as the embodiment and 
 the test of progress and refinement. This delusion Dr. Wharton 
 did not share. He was sensitive to the conventionalities of life, but 
 he was able to look beneath its shows and ostentation, and estimate 
 its purpose and value. He felt contempt for ignorance, and de 
 tested bad manners, and neither pretence nor display could conceal 
 them from him, or shield them from the shafts of his ridicule. On 
 the other hand, he thought that simplicity of life imparted dignity 
 to character, and enhanced the effect of greatness. 
 
 It has already been observed that the fundamental principle of 
 Dr. Wharton s system of thought was liberty. He advocated this 
 principle as the beneficent source of all true progress. He believed 
 in free thought, free government, and free seas. His views on all. 
 these subjects are fully expounded in his Commentaries on Law. 
 In law, as governing individual action, he belonged to what he 
 termed the progressive division of the historical school, " holding 
 that the law of a nation is the product of its conscience and need at 
 each particular era/ He was equally opposed to the analytical 
 school, of which Bentham and Austin are the chief exponents, 
 which looks to the final settlement of law by a code founded upon 
 the doctrines of utility ; and to the theocratic school, which claims 
 for its rules jure divino sanction. In opposition to these theories 
 he accepted the arguments of Hooker in his great work on ( Eccles 
 iastical Polity. This work, as Dr. Wharton observed, is unfortu 
 nately chiefly known by a single passage containing a sonorous 
 eulogium on law. Almost the only point on which he agreed with 
 

 DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 221 
 
 Austin was in thinking that this passage is somewhat rhetorical. 
 Dr. Wharton was accustomed to say that it was the least valuable 
 sentence in the wonderful production, in which it is found. Ac 
 cording to Hooker, divine law, when applied to men in their 
 mutable relations, and not definitive of dogmatic theology, is also 
 mutable. Much more so, then, must this be true of human law, 
 which is necessarily formulated for the government of men under 
 particular conditions. Referring in his Commentaries on Law to 
 Hooker s argument against the theocratic views of the extreme 
 Puritans, Dr. Wharton says : " Two paints were taken in the reply 
 of this illustrious thinker, points equally fatal to any system of 
 absolute law. (a) Reason and revelation, he maintained, including 
 in revelation whatever law claims jure divino sanction, have co 
 ordinate authority ; reason has to verify the credentials of revelation, 
 then to define its meaning, then to determine its applicability, 
 (b) Whatever concerns man in his mutable relations must of itself 
 l)e mutable ; the boat tosses with the wave on which it reposes, the 
 plaster takes the mould of the face on which it is impressed." 
 These views, which are practicable only when reason is left free, 
 Dr. Wharton fully adopted. 
 
 But in order that men may be able to work out their destiny in 
 accordance with the dictates of reason, there must be free govern 
 ment. On this ground Dr. Wharton advocated the widest liberty 
 of individual action compatible with social order. Law must, he 
 held, in order to be effective, be the emanation of the conscience 
 and needs of the people ; but he also maintained that it should 
 impose as little restraint as possible upon the freedom of action of 
 the individual. He was a disciple of Jefferson, and fully accepted 
 the doctrine of laisser faire. He rejected the notion that a majority 
 of the people, because they possess the power to rule, have also the 
 right to mould the opinions and form and regulate the lives of the 
 rest of the community. 
 
 In international law Dr. Wharton w r as a strenuous advocate of 
 liberal principles, and in his exposition of the policy of the United 
 States he laid especial stress upon the importance of preserving the 
 rights of neutrals. Whenever he found a decision, either of the 
 executive or of the judiciary, which seemed to him to be unduly 
 restrictive of those rights, he never failed to combat it. There was 
 one case in particular, arising out of the civil war in the United 
 
222 MEMOIR OF 
 
 States, whose authority he never neglected an opportunity to con 
 trovert. This was the case of the " Springbok," in which the 
 Supreme Court of the United States condemned a cargo bound for 
 a neutral (British) port on the ground that it was intended to be 
 transhipped at that port and forwarded on another vessel to a port 
 then under blockade. His most thorough and exhaustive discus 
 sion of this case is found in the l International Law Digest/ The 
 decision of the Supreme Court not having been accepted by the 
 British government as being in conformity with the principles of 
 international law, it was brought for examination before the British- 
 American Claims Commission, organized under the treaty of Wash 
 ington. That tribunal affirmed the correctness of the Supreme 
 Court s decision, notwithstanding the able and convincing argu 
 ments urged against it. Among these Dr. Wharton w y as wont to 
 refer with especial admiration to that submitted to the Commission 
 by his lifelong friend Mr. Evarts, an argument full of learning 
 and logic, and well worth the study of any one who desires to 
 comprehend the principles involved. 
 
 It is not a little remarkable that the last published expression of 
 Dr. Wharton s views on law and government should have contained 
 a protest against the doctrine laid down by the Supreme Court 
 and accepted by the Commission in the case of the " Springbok." 
 In December, 1888, the editor of The Independent addressed a 
 letter to a number of eminent men requesting suggestions as to 
 what changes were needed in the Constitution of the United States 
 in order to bring it " into closer sympathy with the present status 
 of political thought." Dr. Wharton was one of the persons thus 
 addressed, and his reply was published, under the title of " Patches 7 
 on the Constitution," only a little more than a month before his 
 death. It contains the most comprehensive expression to be found 
 in so small a compass of his opinions on law, politics, and govern 
 ment, and is in every respect so characteristic, both in substance 
 and in style, that with the consent of the editor of The Inde 
 pendent it is republished as an appendix to this sketch. 
 
 It is proper that something should be said in regard to Dr. 
 Wharton s style. In a review of his Commentary on the Law 
 of Contracts a writer in the English Law Times said : " In 
 certain respects this is a peculiar law book. It is written with 
 more attention to reasonable elegance of style than legal writers 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 223 
 
 usually practice Full of learning and research, it is not 
 
 wearisome to read. Matter is never made the slave of form ; but, 
 at the same time, the author avoids those awkward and by no 
 means perspicuous attempts at expression, such as and which or 
 that that/ which disfigure our text-books and judgments. Lastly, 
 in incidental sentences it will be found that, in estimating the value 
 of principles, the author employs a native originality guided rather 
 than expelled by the process of legal training." It is a distinctive 
 feature of Dr. Wharton s books that, in addition to their conveni 
 ence and authority as works of reference, they possess a peculiar 
 literary charm. This is due in large measure to the freshness of 
 his thought and the force and vivacity of his forms of expression. 
 His tendency was to be diffuse rather than concise. He wrote 
 with such facility, and could so easily command words in which 
 to convey his thoughts, that he was little given to condensa 
 tion ; but with all the learning which his works display he never 
 gives the reader the impression that his erudition was a burden to 
 him. He read understandingly, and wrote with a view to eluci 
 date the propositions which he wished to establish. He never 
 consciously or unconsciously sought to impress his views by the 
 employment of that vague and nebulous style of argument by 
 which the reader is sometimes led to mistake mysterious and in 
 tangible generalizations for profundity of thought. If he ever 
 indulged in speculations which could not be reduced to a definite 
 statement, he never attempted to utter them. He often referred in 
 a humorous strain to the mystical productions of writers whose 
 ideas, he said, seemed to have been absorbed by an " inverted per 
 spiration." Dr. Wharton always endeavored to be perspicuous. 
 Occasionally his sentences are somewhat involved and complex in 
 construction, but they are never obscure. They give the impres 
 sion of having been thrown out fresh from the writer s mind, in 
 the vividness and energy of rapid composition. He w r as much 
 given to the employment of a colloquial or dramatic form of ex 
 pression, in which the argument is put into the mouth of a person 
 who is supposed to be speaking in an inartificial and familiar way 
 upon the proposition under discussion. Another and constant 
 quality of Dr. Wharton s style is the subdivision of his argument 
 into separate parts, each one of which is pursued and exhausted by 
 itself. The reasons advanced in each part are generally stated in 
 
224 MEMOIR OF 
 
 the same distinctive and orderly way. This method he always 
 employed in his books, and the habit clung to him even in his 
 briefer discussions and in his purely historical writings. This 
 analytical method of statement imparted clearness as well as a cer 
 tain didactic quality to his style. It was by the employment of 
 a multitude of reasons, rather than by the selection and repetition 
 of a single and overwhelming argument, that he sought to estab 
 lish his proposition. It was the quick succession of blows, rather 
 than the single ponderous shock, that overcame the antagonist. 
 
 It is often the fate of writers who contribute in no small degree 
 to mould opinion to be little known except in their books. The 
 life of an industrious writer of treatises on law is necessarily spent 
 more or less in seclusion. He must have time not only for thought, 
 but also for research. Unlike the author of descriptions of life 
 and manners, who acquires his knowledge by contact with men, 
 the writer on law must glean the books for his materials. His 
 writings have little circulation among the mass of the people, and 
 his labors do not reach the popular imagination ; hence his person 
 ality is generally little inquired about and little known. Dr. Whar- 
 ton, in large measure, escaped this fate. He was fond of social 
 intercourse. He especially delighted in the society of young men, 
 whose hopeful views and unchilled enthusiasm found a ready re 
 sponse in his own ardent and progressive temper. In mind and 
 in thought he never grew old. In his studies and in his writings 
 he possessed all the energy and vivacity of youth. These traits he 
 carried with him into social life. Wherever a few persons were 
 gathered together for social diversion, and Dr. Wharton made one 
 of them, he was the life of the company. He led in the conver 
 sation, and was always sparkling, suggestive, and full of humor. 
 He was a master of playful irony. It required a quick and sym 
 pathetic perception to follow and appreciate him, but even those 
 who could thoroughly do neither could not fail to catch the con 
 tagion of his lively and spirited manner. At such times his coun 
 tenance was peculiarly bright and expressive, and his eyes gave 
 anticipatory flashes of the thoughts he was about to utter. His 
 humor was of a rare quality, and was turbulent and irrepres 
 sible. There were few subjects so serious that he could not per 
 ceive in them a humorous aspect. One would scarcely look for 
 such things in a work on criminal law ; but in his treatise on that 
 
DR. FRANCIS W1IARTON. 225 
 
 subject we find, under the title of " Diversity of Knowledge among 
 Judges/ 7 a disquisition on the intoxicant quality of liquors, in which 
 the cases and decisions are discussed both upon principle and upon 
 authority, but with a liveliness and humorousness of manner quite 
 unexpected and entertaining. In the " International Law Digest" 
 we find entertainment and instruction peculiarly combined in the 
 chapter oi> official and social intercourse of diplomatic agents. 
 The humorous passages found in his serious writings very well 
 illustrate Dr. Wharton s manner in general conversation, and show 
 the ease with which he could apprehend and state arguments. 
 
 Early in 1889 Dr. Wharton s physical powers began percepti 
 bly to fail. An affection of the throat with which he had for a 
 long time been troubled to the serious impairment of his voice, 
 assumed an aggravated form, rendering his breathing labored 
 and difficult and the effort to speak injurious. He was fully 
 conscious of the critical features of his condition ; but of all those 
 who were concerned in his welfare, he himself exhibited the least 
 anxiety. He was always reticent as to his feelings, and rarely 
 referred to the personal incidents of his life ; but he was, besides, 
 not afraid to look to the end. By the first of February his malady 
 had made such rapid progress that it was thought advisable that he 
 should go to Philadelphia in order that he might undergo examin 
 ation at the hands of consulting specialists. On the morning of 
 the day on which he undertook the journey, he came to his office 
 as usual, in order to look over his correspondence and dispose of 
 any business that might require attention. Although fully aware 
 of his danger, he exhibited no sign of despondency, but rather a 
 quiet determination to face the worst that might come without 
 faltering. The result of the consultation held in Philadelphia 
 was communicated to the writer in a letter so illustrative of the 
 temper and disposition of the sufferer that it is reproduced in this 
 place. 
 
 "PHILADEJPHIA, Feb. 4, 1889. 
 
 " DEAR MR. MOORE : 
 
 " I have been undergoing a thorough examination by a consult 
 ing committee of specialists to-day, and they coincide in saying 
 t hat there are critical features in my case which can only be met by 
 my being confined to my house and chamber for two weeks under 
 a specific treatment. Now as the disease is purely local, it will 
 15 
 
226 MEMOIR OF 
 
 greatly amuse me if you will send as usual any papers which I 
 can report upon. I will consider this a particular favor. I will 
 also be very glad to see you, but I am positively ordered not to say 
 a word, so do not come unless there is something you can explain 
 to me better by talking than writing. Now be sure to send to me 
 any questions that come up, just as you did before. Please show 
 this note to Mr. Bayard, with my love. 
 
 " I write this in Philadelphia, expecting to return to-night. 
 
 " Ever yours, 
 
 "F. W." 
 
 Following this letter was a postscript requesting that a gentleman 
 who was assisting him in the correction of some proof-sheets 
 would call upon him at his house immediately after his arrival 
 from Philadelphia. 
 
 After his return from Philadelphia, Dr. Wharton never left his 
 chamber. The treatment under which he was placed required close 
 confinement and absolute abstention from attempts to speak. For 
 a time it seemed to afford relief, and he was encouraged to hope 
 that he might be out again. It had been suggested that it might 
 be necessary to perform a surgical operation and the prospect that 
 this might be avoided tended to dissipate his apprehensions. On 
 the 9th of February Dr. "Wharton wrote as follows : 
 
 " DEAR MR. MOORE : 
 
 "Please send down to my carriage a Congressional Register, 
 giving a list of congressmen and our foreign consuls ; also twenty 
 or thirty sheets of foolscap Department paper ; also my mail and 
 anything else you may have for me. I am getting decidedly better. 
 The Salisbury-Sackville paper is excellent. The assumption that 
 it is for England to determine how far she will interfere in our 
 politics and that by international law she is to be the exclusive 
 arbiter of this, is intolerable. 
 
 " My lips are sealed, but I can listen, read, and write all the 
 better." 
 
 The document referred to as the "Salisbury-Sackville Paper" 
 was the communication which Mr. Bayard, on January 30, 1889, 
 addressed to Mr. Phelps, United States Minister at London, in 
 reply to the note of Lord Salisbury in the Sackville case, in which 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 227 
 
 his Lordship assumed the position that the Government of the 
 United States, instead of dismissing Lord Sackville from the post 
 of British Minister at Washington, was bound to submit the com 
 plaints against him to the judgment of his Government, in order 
 that it might decide whether they were of such a character as to 
 require his removal. Dr. Wharton s brief note discloses the ac 
 tivity witfr which he continued to work ; and his observations on 
 the Sackville case, show that his interest in current public ques 
 tions had not abated, and that he was still capable of expressing 
 his views with vigor and clearness. 
 
 About the middle of February, the symptoms of Dr. Wharton s 
 disease became more unfavorable. He began to experience greater 
 difficulty in respiration and the necessity of a surgical operation 
 again became imminent. The tone of his communications lost its 
 hopefulness, but he continued steadily at work, chiefly upon the 
 Diplomatic Correspondence of the Revolution/ In a little book 
 entitled the Silence of Scripture/ published in 1867, when he was 
 rector of St. Paul s Church, in Brookline, Massachusetts, he 
 uttered the following thought : " The oars of Providence are 
 muffled. We know not our hour ; and hence, we are to labor as 
 if we were to live forever, and trust as if we were to die to-night." 
 As we look upon his last days, and observe the unostentatious 
 heroism of his conduct, those words spoken twenty years before 
 seem prophetic of his end. A few days prior to his decease the 
 dreaded operation was performed in order to save him from stran 
 gulation ; but, while the shock weakened his vital forces, he uttered 
 no complaint, and gave no sign of mental distress. Not long before 
 his death he revised the last proofs of the first volume of the 
 Diplomatic Correspondence of the Revolution/ and his cor 
 rections betray no evidence of disturbance of thought. He was 
 laboring as if he were " to live forever," and trusting as if he were 
 " to die to-night." From the calmness of his demeanor, one might 
 suppose that he had long lived in the presence of death and had 
 ceased to dread its near approach. His courage never wavered 
 and his faith did not falter. The lofty purpose, the dauntless reso 
 lution, and the abiding faith which had borne him up through the 
 vicissitudes of a life of unremitting effort, were never shown with 
 greater clearness than in these last moments. In the presence of 
 death the secret of his life was revealed. 
 
228 MEMOIR OF 
 
 Late at night on the twentieth of February, 1889, Dr. Wharton 
 made the first confession of physical weakness which he uttered 
 during his illness. He asked for nourishment and expressed a 
 desire for repose. Then in brief sentences written on slips of 
 paper for he could not speak he bade good-night to those who 
 were watching by his bedside and begged them to retire to rest. 
 Soon after midnight on the following morning, as he lay apparently 
 asleep, he was observed to turn his head. He gave no sign of 
 anguish but at that moment he ceased to breathe. 
 
 On the reception of the news of his death the Secretary of State 
 issued the following order : 
 
 "DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 
 
 "WASHINGTON, February 21, 1889. 
 
 " Dr. Francis "Wharton, the Solicitor of this Department, died 
 early this morning in this city, and his funeral ceremonies will take 
 place on Saturday next the 23rd instant at two o clock P.M. at his 
 late residence No. 2013 Hillyer Place. 
 
 " Such officers of this Department as may desire to attend the 
 funeral, will not be required to be present at the Department after 
 the hour of one P.M. on that day. 
 
 " In making this announcement the Secretary of State desires 
 also to place upon the files of the Department a mark of recogni 
 tion of the public loss sustained by the death of Dr. Wharton, 
 whose eminence as a Jurist, and remarkable attainments as a 
 scholar, are attested by his writings and have enrolled his name 
 among the most renowned publicists of our time. 
 
 " His books upon the law remain a monument to his sound 
 learning, wide research, and untiring industry. 
 
 "Within the circle of those permitted to enjoy his personal 
 companionship, his memory will be cherished as a beloved associate, 
 an honorable gentleman, and a sincere Christian. 
 
 "T. F. BAYARD." 
 
 The funeral of Dr. Wharton took place on the twenty-third of 
 February, and was attended by a large number of his friends. He 
 was buried in Rock Creek Cemetery, near the city of Washington. 
 He left to survive him a widow and two daughters. To attempt to 
 describe the life of a man in the nearest and tenderest of social 
 
DE. FRANCIS WHARTON. 229 
 
 relations always savors of desecration. From these no hand should 
 seek to remove the veil with which all sensitive natures wish to 
 shield their domestic life from the eye of prurient curiosity. The 
 remembrance of kindness, sympathy, and devotion, is the appropriate 
 treasure of those upon whom they are bestowed. 
 
 It is in keeping with Dr. Wharton s life that no studied tribute 
 to his character, should follow the account of his death and burial. 
 As with him the end of existence was the end of labor, so we may 
 permit this brief sketch of his life and works to stand as his most 
 fitting eulogy. 
 
230 MEMOIR OF 
 
 [THE INDEPENDENT, January 10, 1889.] 
 "PATCHES" ON THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 BY FRANCIS WHARTON, LL.D. 
 
 SWIFT, in the "Tale of a Tub," likened the Christian record to 
 three coats which a father left to his three sons with these injunc 
 tions : "Now you are to understand that these coats have two vir 
 tues contained in them ; one is, with good wearing they will last you 
 fresh and sound as long as you live ; the other is, that they will grow 
 in the same proportion as your bodies, lengthening and widening of 
 themselves, so as to always fit." It so happened, however, that the 
 oldest of the sons, conceiving- that the control of the coats belonged 
 to him, proceeded to cover them with patches of whatever finery the 
 fashion of each succeeding season might make popular, destroying, 
 thereby, not merely the excellence of their appearance, but their dura 
 bility and elasticity. They could not be durable if they should have 
 their substance subjected to the fastening on and then the tearing off 
 of successive layers of stuff. They could not be elastic, so as to grow 
 with the body of the wearer, if they were stiffened and clogged by 
 these heavy superincumbent brocades. 
 
 Swift s coat, as he thus describes it, is a symbol not merely of the 
 Scriptural Records, but of all systems which are the products of per 
 manent natural and social conditions. If they are such products, they 
 represent in simplicity these conditions, lasting as long as they last, 
 growing as they grow, and so enduring and adapting themselves be 
 cause of their very simplicity. Chief among systems of this character 
 is the Constitution of the United States, which is the emanation of 
 such conditions of the people of the United States as are permanent. 
 It provides for the co-existence of Federal and State sovereignties. 
 It provides for the co-ordination of executive, judiciary and legislature. 
 It gives the National Government, it gives each department of that 
 government, certain clearly defined powers, reserving to States and 
 people all powers which are not so assigned. In this way it provides, 
 in case it should not be overlaid with a superstructure of artificial 
 construction, impairing at once its durability and its elasticity, a 
 system of government which, instead of being swept away by new 
 social or economical developments, receives such developments under 
 its own shelter as part of a harmonious and yet progressive whole. 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 231 
 
 But the Constitution of the United States, durable and flexible as 
 it is itself, has had its durability threatened and its elasticity dimin 
 ished by factors not unlike those which Swift allegorized in the "Tale 
 of the Tub." The most potent and mischievous of these factors was 
 the terroristic hyper-conservatism called forth by the French Revo 
 lution. Among men of conservative tendencies, among men who 
 distrusted democracy on principle, there was a strong feeling that a 
 general assault on vested rights was at hand, and that they must pro 
 tect these rights by all available means. 
 
 In England, the school that was thus generated was led by Castle- 
 reagh, by Perceval, by Eldon, followed by the mass of the aristocracy 
 trembling for their privileges, and by the great body of squires and 
 country gentlemen who were incensed at whatever might disturb 
 their bovine mastery of their own particular fields. By these classes 
 both Houses of Parliament were dominated. 
 
 The accession to power, in 1801, of the Democratic Party pre 
 vented the parallel reaction which had begun in America from affect 
 ing the executive and legislative departments. But extreme Con 
 servatives despaired of the capacity of the Constitution as a barrier 
 to resist the torrent of Jacobinism by which they thought civilization, 
 religion, morality, threatened. By Hamilton the fabric was spoken 
 of as "frail and worthless;" by Gouverneur Morris its failure was 
 lamented, but, he thought, could scarcely be averted. All that could 
 be done would be to prop it up by buttresses arid strengthen it by 
 exterior walls which might make it a fortress in which privileges 
 could be protected, instead of a temple in which liberty was to reign 
 by maintaining the full and harmonious play of State and Federal 
 Rights, and by securing to the people the undisturbed enjoyment of 
 business facilities and of political privileges within the respective 
 orbits of state and of nation. 
 
 There was one great and courageous statesman and judge, however, 
 who shared the convictions of Hamilton and Morris without sharing 
 their despair, and who, in his position as Chief Justice of the United 
 States from 1801 to 1835, aided by an unbroken ascendancy over his 
 associates, was able to impose on the Constitution constructions 
 which were designed to protect existing institutions, and to repel 
 Jacobinical assaults, but which tend to deprive it of much of that 
 elasticity and comprehensiveness on which its durability as well as 
 its utility depend. 
 
 Marshall s great moral and intellectual gifts, as well as his capacity 
 as a chief of conservatism in its then supreme conflict with liberalism 
 can be best measured by comparing him with Eldon, who led the 
 
232 MEMOIR OF 
 
 same forces in England. Eldon had nothing to do with politics in 
 his court which as an equity tribunal, excluded such considerations; 
 but he had a great deal to do with them in the cabinet, in which, as 
 Lord Chancellor, he held a leading position. Marshall had nothing 
 to do with politics off the bench, but on the bench he dealt with them 
 in the broadest and most effective way, as a large part of the business 
 of his court consisted in settling questions of high constitutional law. 
 Both were men of great political courage, yet Eldon, while prompt 
 and bold in the cabinet, was singularly hesitating and procrastinating 
 on the bench, while Marshall when in court never doubted his con 
 clusions, announcing them promptly and emphatically and with a 
 clearness and simplicity in singular contrast with the turgidity and 
 involution of Eldon s style. Both were consummate managers of 
 men, but Eldon s management was that of the supple courtier, Mar 
 shall s that of the majestic chief. Eldon was a tactician, maneuver 
 ing for present vantage ground; Marshall a strategist, planning 
 campaigns whose field should be an empire and whose duration an 
 era. Eldon s powers were weakened by his jobbery, his greed, his 
 avarice ; Marshall s grandeur was enhanced by his homely simplicity 
 of life, his scorn of jobbery, his indifference to wealth, showing in his 
 own person how little accumulated hoards of money have to do with 
 greatness of the highest type. Both were great lawyers, but while 
 Eldon was far more proficient in the delicate and intricate departments 
 of equity, Marshall surpassed him in the application of common sense 
 to the molding of common law. Eldon s Court of Chancery, as such, 
 is now swept away, tho many of the cardinal doctrines laid down by 
 him in equity are accepted as part of the dominant law of England 5 
 and one of the reasons why his court, as such, fell under the ban was 
 the discredit cast on it by his procrastination, his irresolution and the 
 enormous expense his system of patronage imposed on suitors. 
 Marshall s court is now the strongest and most influential tribunal in 
 the world ; and this is, in a large measure, due to the matchless 
 dignity he imparted to it, and the strong, plain, ready sense which 
 his example set for its judgments. And in their political achieve 
 ments the contrast is still more marked. The result of Eldon s 
 political labors the black acts, the repressive and bloody legislation 
 as a whole, which his resolute voice had so large a part in forcing 
 through are now utterly vanished. But the constructions Marshall 
 imposed on the Constitution still remain in greater or less vigor. It 
 has been a great misfortune for the country that some of these con 
 structions have served, like the tags and patches put on Swift s coat, 
 to impair seriously the comprehensive simplicity and the paucity of 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 233 
 
 limitation which adapt that great document, as it stands in the origi 
 nal text, to each stage of business or economical development as it 
 arrives. Some of the more damaging of the restrictive "patches" 
 thus imposed, I now proceed to consider. 
 
 1. Purchase and sale of negotiable paper, loaning money on such 
 paper or on other assets, purchase of goods to meet advances at home 
 or abroad, ^are matters which can be best arranged and adjusted by 
 the competition of private interests, and which are, therefore, not 
 within the scope of the Constitution of the United States, and can 
 not be brought within its operation without destroying that very 
 capacity of adaptation to successive ep6chs which gives it perma 
 nency and comprehensiveness. In May, 1781, as a war measure 
 the war being then at its height, and the Treasury insolvent Congress 
 chartered the first national bank, under the title of the Bank of North 
 America. In February, 1791, when the country had scarcely emerged 
 from the turmoil of the war, when collisions with France and with 
 Spain were threatened, and when Britain still refused to fulfil the 
 stipulations of the treaty of peace, a charter was granted to the first 
 Bank of the United States, with pow r er to discount commercial paper 
 and to issue exchange on deposits of assets. In February, 1816, a 
 charter to the same effect was again granted, as a measure of Gov 
 ernment relief, in the suspension of banking operations which the 
 War of 1812 precipitated. This charter, if sustainable at all, was 
 sustainable, as were those of 1781 and 1791, on the ground that a 
 government bank was necessary to restore to its normal state the 
 currency which the prior war had deranged. But in February, 1819, 
 when credit was restored, trade returned to its natural channel, and 
 the country entering upon a full course of enterprise calling for un 
 fettered business activity, the Supreme Court of the United States, 
 Chief Justice Marshall delivering the opinion, held that, not as a 
 war measure, but as a permanent system of government, Congress 
 could constitutionally put in operation a bank whose functions would 
 include the buying and selling of commercial paper, and the issuing 
 of exchange on deposits of all kinds, speculative as well as actual. 
 Of this construction that by which, many years afterward, it was 
 held within the constitutional power of Congress to force purchasers 
 of goods to take irredeemable paper money in payment, and even to 
 turn gold contracts into paper contracts, was a natural outcome. 
 
 2. The determination to protect existing institutions from the sup 
 posed enmity of democracy, culminated in the Dartmouth College 
 case, decided in the same term as that which affirmed the constitu 
 tionality of the Bank of the United States. Dartmouth College 
 
234 MEMOIR OP 
 
 was then existing under a royal charter which the Legislature of 
 New Hampshire undertook to amend. The Supreme Court held 
 that such amendment was inoperative, because a college corporation 
 is a "private" and not a "public" corporation, and because charters 
 of private corporations are contracts which, under the Constitution 
 of the United States, a state cannot lawfully impair. The reasoning 
 of the court brought not merely colleges, but banks, insurance com 
 panies, and common carriers, when incorporated, under the head 
 of "private" corporations, so that privileges and immunities and 
 monopolies once granted to them could not be withdrawn. If that 
 decision had remained operative, a charter giving a stage corporation 
 the exclusive perpetual right to convey passengers from point to point 
 would have shut out any other carriers or any other method of carriage 
 forever from the route ; a charter empowering them to fix their own 
 rates would make those rates unassailable ; a charter giving the owners 
 of a particular reservoir the exclusive right to supply a city with 
 water, would prevent any other water supply, no matter how inade 
 quate such a reservoir should prove. Had this " patch" been unalter 
 ably worked into the texture of the Constitution, its life would have 
 been short. " If you persist in your supposed conscientious con 
 viction that you must veto all bills removing religious tests, your 
 Majesty s crown," so the Duke of Wellington substantially told 
 George IV., "must fall." The majesty of the Constitution would 
 have been subjected to a like fate if it was held to contain provisions 
 which made perpetual every monopoly, no matter how odious, that 
 had been created in the past. 
 
 3. By the law of nations, as construed by the Continental Con 
 gress, and in the sense in which the term was used in the Constitu 
 tion of the United States, freedom of the seas is secured to neutral 
 merchant ships with certain well-defined restrictions. They cannot, 
 without peril, after notice, enter a blockaded, belligerent port, and 
 they are liable to confiscation if they attempt such entrance. They 
 are subject to be searched at sea for contraband, and such contraband 
 can be confiscated if found on board ; but the term contraband is 
 limited to munitions of war destined for belligerent use. Outside of 
 these bounds they are entitled to traverse the high seas without 
 molestation, and they can become carriers for belligerents and for 
 belligerent property, the rule being that free ships make free goods. 
 Over and over again Congress, during the Revolution, affirmed these 
 positions, and a solemn adhesion was given by it to the armed neu 
 trality which adopted them as the basis of its existence. It was with 
 no slight exultation at the prospect of prosperity that such a system 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 235 
 
 would bring to American shipping that Franklin expatiated on the 
 benignity and wisdom of a policy which discouraged belligerency 
 and encouraged peace, and which would give the hardy seafaring 
 population of America the control of the carrying trade of the world. 
 
 But other views were promulgated by England when engaged in 
 her struggle with Napoleon. Her great enemy had from time to 
 time the mastery of the Continent of Europe ; she must sink unless 
 she obtained the undisputed mastery of the seas. Then there ema 
 nated from her courts a series of judgments greatly extending belli 
 gerent privileges and greatly diminishing neutral rights. Merely 
 constructive blockades were sanctioned, and, under what was called 
 the doctrine of continuous voyages, it was held that if goods were 
 designed (a question as to which prize courts leaned naturally against 
 neutrals) for blockade-running, they could be seized at any point on 
 the road, though they were to be transshipped at an intermediate port. 
 Contraband was swollen so as to include whatever was of value to the 
 belligerent, for whose use it was supposed to be intended. So far 
 from free ships making free goods, enemy s goods were held open to 
 seizure under neutral flags, and neutral ships could be searched for 
 them ; and the question of belligerent ownership was, like all other 
 disputed questions, to be left, when the seizure was by a British 
 cruiser, to a British prize court, the fees of whose officers depended 
 in a large measure on making good the capture, and whose prepos 
 sessions were all in favor of strengthening belligerent power in favor 
 of Britain, then in a struggle almost for national existence. 
 
 We must not look too harshly on the tendency of the Supreme 
 Court of the United States to sustain, though sometimes in faltering 
 tones, those modifications of the law of nations which came across 
 the Atlantic under the great name of Lord Stowell, clothed in the 
 fascinating diction of which that judge was a master, and appealing 
 to the community of feeling which made Americans as well as Eng 
 lishmen look with aversion at the unscrupulous ambition of Napoleon 
 which aimed at the subjugations of all civilization to his own rapa 
 cious will. England, to many minds, seemed the only bulwark 
 against this lawless Caesarism on the one side, and an equally lawless 
 Jacobinism on the other side ; and much as we may be amazed, 
 considering what went before, and what came after, at the devotion 
 shown by leading Federalists to England in those dark days, we 
 must be content to acknowledge that this devotion was at that junc 
 ture felt by some of the purest and noblest men our country has ever 
 produced. It was not strange, then, that our Supreme Court should 
 then have receded from the revolutionary doctrine of free seas, and 
 
236 MEMOIR OP 
 
 should have in a measure sustained the destructive views introduced 
 by English courts for the purpose of preserving from destruction 
 British maritime supremacy, and with it the cause of revolution 
 itself. Nor was it strange that when we ourselves became belliger 
 ents, we should accept these doctrines, perilous as they are to neutral 
 maritime rights, as settled law. But it is ground for profound grief 
 as well as amazement that as late as December, 1866, the Supreme 
 Court of the United States, in the famous case of the Springbok, should 
 have held that it was good ground to confiscate the cargo of a neutral 
 merchant ship, that the ship, at the time of search and seizure, was 
 on the way to an intermediate neutral port for transshipment to a 
 blockaded port of the enemy, though the seizure was made a thousand 
 miles off from the port of final destination. When this ruling was 
 made, the Civil War, by the judgment of the Supreme Court, had 
 been closed for nearly a year. We were at peace with all the world. 
 Our merchant shipping, it is true, was driven from the seas, but there 
 was every prospect, on the basis of international law, as the Constitu 
 tion meant it, of our old maritime strength being renewed. Our future 
 had neutrality almost indelibly stamped on it, while the future of the 
 Old World was marked by war which made each great sovereignty 
 an armed camp and filled each great port with swift cruisers ready, 
 in case of conflict, to pounce, not merely on an enemy, but on neutrals 
 who might presume to do any carrying trade on the high seas. With 
 such a prospect before us we deliberately gave away the opportunity 
 of covering the seas with our merchant service. No wonder the 
 English law officers chuckled with delight at such a surrender on our 
 part, and declined, before the mixed commission afterward consti 
 tuted, to impeach the Springbok ruling. It made England, already 
 dominant on the seas, master not only of her shipping, but of ours. 
 It would enable her next time she goes to war with a European foe, 
 to cut matters short, and, in addition to blockading her enemy s ports 
 of entrance, to blockade our ports of exit, and to say : " You are the 
 feeders of my enemy from you come the grain and other staples 
 which nourish him in addition to enlarging the list of contraband 
 so as to comprehend most stores. I now, in conformity with your 
 own law, as propounded in the Springbok case, blockade your ports 
 so as to keep your ships from carrying out anything the enemy might 
 use. You blockaded my neutral port of Nassau ; / blockade your. 
 neutral port of New York." It is not strange that American ship 
 ping should languish when under such a ban as this. 
 
 Such are among the "patches" which have been woven into our 
 constitutional coat by its guardians, and which so far as they are per- 
 
DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 237 
 
 manent, take from it the property which originally belonged to it of 
 growing with our growth. One of these patches, that imposed by 
 the Dartmouth College decision, has been substantially got rid of, 
 partly by overruling by the court itself, partly by constitutional 
 amendments in most States which preclude granting charters without 
 reservation of power of amendment. The "patch" which assumed 
 to the Federal Government the power to sell exchange to create illu 
 sory currency and to absorb banking privileges, has been removed, so 
 far as it sanctioned a national government bank, by popular action ; 
 but it remains in its worst feature in the legal-tender ruling by which 
 it is held that Congress can, as a permanent peace system, force the 
 reception of irredeemable paper in payment of debts old as well as 
 new. And the Springbok ruling, while repudiated by the executive 
 branch of the Government, still remains unassailed in the records of 
 the judiciary. 
 
 The Constitution itself requires no amendment ; but what is re 
 quired is the removal from it of the "patches," impairing its sym 
 metry, its comprehensiveness, its elasticity and its durability, which 
 have been imposed on it by the judiciary. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, D. 0. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 AMONG the public testimonials that came in large number to 
 express sympathy and appreciation after his death, the following 
 are selected for publication : 
 
 THE COLUMBIAN UNIVERSITY, 
 
 "WASHINGTON, March 1, 1889. 
 " MY DEAR MRS. WHARTON : 
 
 " At a meeting of the Faculty and students of the Law School 
 of the Columbian University, held in the Lecture Hall of the 
 University on the 25th ultimo, the following preamble and reso 
 lutions were unanimously adopted in honor of the memory of our 
 late beloved colleague, Dr. Francis Wharton. The paper was pre 
 pared by Professor Maury, and was prefaced with some brief re 
 marks in which I bore my humble tribute to the vast learning, 
 the gracious virtues, and the exalted worth of your lamented hus 
 band. 
 
 " You and your family are called to sit at the point where the 
 shadow of this great bereavement is deepest, but the shadow falls 
 with an oppressive weight on the hearts of thousands besides. 
 
 " With sincere sympathy, I am 
 
 " Yours most truly, 
 
 "JAMES C. WELLING." 
 
 "in glnwrtam. 
 
 " Preamble and resolutions adopted at a meeting of the Faculty and 
 students of the Columbian University, on the occasion of the 
 death of FRANCIS WHARTON, LL.D. 
 
 " The unlooked-for death of our learned friend, Dr. Francis 
 Wharton, will be felt in this country and Europe as a serious loss 
 to jurisprudence, and has deprived the Faculty of the Columbian 
 
240 MEMOIR OF DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 
 
 University of a member who was devoted to her welfare and ever 
 ready to take part in her work, even when it seemed hardly pos 
 sible that he could find time to do so, and at the risk of aggra 
 vating a malady which never left him, and which may have con 
 tributed to his death. His sacrifice of convenience for the purpose 
 of lending his cooperation to the cause of legal education in this 
 University will be remembered with aifectionate gratitude. Of his 
 lectures it is but the truth to say that they were as interesting as 
 learning and felicity of style and manner could make them, and 
 were listened to with an intense and ever-growing interest. 
 
 " Dr. Wharton s labors as an author have made his name familiar 
 to every lawyer in the country for many years. 
 
 " The profession owe him much for the frequency with which he 
 directs, in his discussions, the minds of his readers to the sources 
 of jurisprudence to be found in the majestic remains of the Roman 
 law and the works of the jurists of Germany and France ; and 
 there can be little doubt that the general aptness of these refer 
 ences, and the absence of display in making them, have had and 
 will continue to have a tendency to excite a desire for studies 
 which give a philosophical habit of thought and at the same time 
 embellish the professional mind. 
 
 " He belonged to the historical school of jurisprudence. In his 
 1 Commentaries on American Law 7 he introduces us to the opinions 
 of Savigny and other jurists of Europe of that school, and what he 
 says there about the Constitution of the United States being but 
 the appropriate expression of a deep-laid and long pre-existent sen 
 timent of the popular mind of the thirteen colonies was confidently 
 appealed to recently, by a distinguished jurist, to show the fallacy 
 of the remark of the great commoner of England that our plan of 
 federal government was struck off at one heat, like the Constitu 
 tion or the rescript of a Roman emperor. 
 
 " It is a satisfactory mark of the estimate that was placed abroad 
 on Dr. Wharton s juridical labors that he was made a member of 
 that august fellowship, the Institute of International Law. The 
 honor thus conferred may be said to have been fairly reciprocated 
 by the important contribution of his Digest of International Law/ 
 which, in addition to being a service to the world, must tend to 
 promote consistency and continuity in the foreign policies of the 
 United States. So favorably impressed was Congress by this work 
 
APPENDIX. 241 
 
 that, at its last session, it directed that the series of state papers 
 known as the Diplomatic Correspondence of the Revolution 
 should be edited by him with legal and historical notes. It will 
 be a cause for regret if it should turn out that he died before com 
 pleting this work. 
 
 " When we contemplate his intellectual excellence and the graces 
 and purity* of his character, and that beautiful simplicity which 
 belonged to him and which always goes hand in hand with a 
 nature that is truly superior, we have before us a man of whom 
 his country may justly be proud : therefore, be it resolved: 
 
 " 1. That in the death of Dr. Francis Wharton we deplore the 
 loss of a jurist whose labors have added lustre to the fame of his 
 country in the field of jurisprudence. 
 
 " 2. That in his elevated and stainless character we see reflected 
 the influence of the teachings of the great science to which he dedi 
 cated so large a part of his life. 
 
 "3. That we tender the family of the deceased our sincere 
 sympathy. 
 
 " 4. That the chairman be and he is, hereby, requested to send a 
 copy of the proceedings of this meeting to the family of the de 
 ceased, and to take the proper steps to have the same entered in 
 the minutes of the Board of Trustees of the University. " 
 
 " The burial of the Rev. Francis Wharton, L.L.D., who, for the 
 last three years, has resided in Washington, took place on February 
 23, the services being conducted by the Rev. Dr. John H. Elliott, 
 and the Rev. A. Harding. This distinguished jurist was long con 
 nected with the Cambridge Divinity School, and for several years 
 past with the State Department. His works are standard ; and are 
 a text-book in one of our best law-schools." 
 
 "FRANCIS WHARTON, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 "At a meeting of the Faculty of the Episcopal Theological 
 School, held February 25, 1889, the following action was taken in 
 regard to the death of Francis Wharton, D.D., LL.D., late Solici 
 tor of the Department of State, Washington, D. C. 
 
 "I. The Faculty of this school desire to express their great ad- 
 
 16 
 
242 MEMOIR OF DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 
 
 miration of Dr. Wharton s abilities, both as a jurist, the field in 
 which he served his country well and long, and as theologian, 
 in which he served not his Church only but American Chris 
 tendom. 
 
 " II. Their sense of the great service rendered by him to this 
 school at its inception, as organizer, administrator, and general 
 adviser. 
 
 " III. Their grateful recollection of many years of personal inter 
 course with him as a member of this Faculty and in the hospitable 
 freedom of his home. 
 
 " IV. They resolve that the above action be entered on their 
 records, and that the Secretary be requested to send a copy of the 
 same to Mrs. Wharton, conveying to her at the same time the 
 assurance of their participation in the irreparable personal loss 
 sustained by herself and her family. Also that a copy be sent for 
 publication in The Churchman/ 
 
 ".ALEXANDER V. G. ALLEN, 
 
 " Secretary of the Faculty. 
 " CAMBRIDGE, February 25, 1889." 
 
 " At a meeting of the Board of Trustees of * St. Peter s by the 
 Sea/ held at Narragansett Pier, K. Island, on Monday, June 24, 
 1889, the death of Francis Wharton, D.D., LL.D., having been 
 announced, the following Resolutions were unanimously adopted : 
 
 " Resolved. That the Trustees of < St. Peter s by the Sea have 
 heard, with pain, of the death of their long honored friend and 
 associate, as having occurred, since their last annual meeting. 
 
 u Resolved. That, as individuals, we cherish the memory of our 
 agreeable intercourse with him, here and elsewhere, during many 
 years past. 
 
 " Resolved. That, as members of this Board, we gratefully recall 
 the steadfast interest, which he has displayed, and the valuable 
 services which he has rendered since the first organization of the 
 Board his judicious counsels his ready contributions of time, 
 efforts, and money, in aid of the important measures, which, from 
 time to time, have come before us. 
 
 " Resolved. That we tender to his family our sincere sympathy 
 with them in their bereavement, and the assurance of our warmest- 
 wishes for their happiness and welfare. 
 
APPENDIX. 243 
 
 "Resolved. That the Secretary be requested to place these 
 Resolutions on the Minutes of the Board, and to transmit a copy 
 of them to Mrs. Wharton. 
 
 "CHAS. E. BOON, 
 
 " Secretary." 
 
 " WALTHAM, MASS., July 16, 1889. 
 
 :t MY DEAR MRS. WHARTON : 
 
 " At the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Church Missionary 
 Society holden in Boston, the Secretary announced the lamented 
 death of Dr. Wharton, and the following minute was adopted and 
 ordered to be placed upon the records : 
 
 " Whereas, since the last meeting of this Society the Rev. Francis 
 Wharton, D.D., LL.D., has been removed from the scene of his 
 earthly labors, Resolved, That we put upon record our high appre 
 ciation of his many distinguished qualities, and his efficient service 
 both to the church and the country. Dr. Wharton was for several 
 years an active member of this Society, and we cherish an affecting 
 memory of his wise counsels and genial presence. As a zealous 
 and valued member of our executive committee he contributed very 
 much to the usefulness and prosperity of this Society. 
 
 " Resolved. That the Secretary be instructed to communicate this 
 action to his family, with an assurance of our very deep sympathy. 
 
 " Very sincerely y rs, 
 
 "TIIOS. F. FALES. 
 
 From the < Churchman is taken the following tribute from the 
 able pen of Bishop Leonard, of Ohio. 
 
 "THE REV. FRANCIS WHARTON, D.D., LL.D., BORN 1820, 
 
 DIED 1889. 
 
 "BY KEY. W. A. LEONARD, D.D. 
 
 " The secular and religious newspapers have made mention in 
 the past few days of the life and death of a remarkable man the 
 Rev. Dr. Francis Wharton. I do not propose to sketch an outline 
 of his varied career, nor can I hope to do justice to his great gifts. 
 Suffice it only to indicate some of his characteristics. The places 
 he once occupied, and the distinguished positions he has filled with 
 marked ability and conscientious fidelity, bear full testimony to his 
 skill and his worth, while they measure the advances he made in 
 
244 MEMOIR OF DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 
 
 the several departments of learning which his presence adorned 
 and his full scholarship enriched. We are apt to turn to Germany 
 and England for our profound types of thought and erudition. 
 From time to time we hear that this new land of enterprise and 
 material advance has failed as yet to produce the philosopher, the 
 laborious student, or the profounder intellectual cultivation that 
 belongs to the cloisters and universities of the older centres of 
 learning across the seas. Let us not be too oblivious of our own 
 development, or blind to the character and quality of brain and 
 soul that is produced now in our own fresher environment. 
 Because in all departments of life and letters, it is splendidly true 
 that men of devoted effort, and keenest scientific force and pro 
 found intellectual grasp and phenomenal industry and persevering 
 patience, are being born here among us, and are serving their gen 
 eration, of whom the world of two continents may well be proud. 
 Dr. "Wharton takes his place among this galaxy of scholais. His 
 fellow countrymen have reason to be justly appreciative of his 
 talents and his distinctions, and his Church has good reason to be 
 thankful for the powers which he consecrated to her service. The 
 work done by Dr. Wharton in Philadelphia, in Kenyon College, at 
 Cambridge, and finally here at Washington, was characterized by 
 sedulous attention, deepest investigating effort, large grasp, accurate 
 accumulation, direct utilization and dominating strength. His work 
 was not evanescent, but lasting ; it lives, and he lives in it ! He 
 projected his investigations into remotest, loneliest and most diffi 
 cult fields whether in theology, philosophy, history, or law. He 
 read and wrote continuously and constantly ; in these later years, 
 when holding the conspicuous and honorable office of law adviser 
 to the State Department, his toil through winter and summer was 
 subject of remark and of admiration. He was always busy with 
 his books and papers, yet always kindly attractive and willing to 
 impart to others what he had so diligently and carefully hived and 
 stored. His mind was encyclopedic ; he was an authority, and a 
 very agreeable authority on such topics and subjects as were sub 
 mitted to him for an opinion. His works on theology, on inter 
 national law, on medical jurisprudence, on the criminal code ; his 
 knowledge of history, arts, inventions ; his great learning in all 
 these branches made him, though one of the simplest and most 
 modest of men, one of the great scholars of his day. In speaking 
 
APPENDIX. 245 
 
 of him to Dr. Welling, the president of our Columbian University, 
 here at the capital, the following graceful expression was drawn 
 forth, and I transcribe it most gladly as the added ornament to 
 this simple chaplet of remembrance I would lay upon his grave : 
 Having been honored with Dr. Wharton s friendship during the 
 last fifteen or twenty years, I had come to be acquainted with the 
 extent ad accuracy of his learning not only in theology and juris 
 prudence, but also in civil and political history especially in all 
 matters pertaining to British and American affairs. His knowledge 
 here was surprisingly minute. 
 
 " Only a fe\v days before his death I had occasion to consult him 
 on an obscure point in our revolutionary annals (the part which 
 Richard Henry Lee is alleged to have had in the cabal against Gen. 
 Washington), and I had no sooner stated my question than fact 
 after fact came pouring from his full mind in answer to my inquiry. 
 This is only one of the many instances in which I have profited by 
 the wide range, and at the same time, the thoroughness of his 
 knowledge in our political history. He seemed as much at home 
 in the " untrodden way 7 as in the beaten paths/ 
 
 " Indeed, this good man, who bore the mark of the priest and 
 prophet on his heart, while he carried the lamp of truth in his 
 hand, fulfilled the outline of the Roman Cicero when he said, I 
 speak of that learning which makes us acquainted with the bound 
 less extent of nature and the universe and which, even while we 
 remain in this world, discovers to us both heaven, and earth, and 
 
 [FROM THE EPISCOPAL KECORDER.] 
 "FRANCIS WHARTON, D.D, LL.D. 
 
 " The public press a short time since recorded the death in Wash 
 ington of one whose name was familiar to most of those who were 
 acquainted with the long continued struggles in the Protestant 
 Episcopal Church which led to the establishment of our own 
 beloved refuge therefrom. 
 
 "While speaking of the achievements of Francis Wharton, 
 LL.D., the Associated Press also mentioned the fact that he was 
 at one, time editor of the Episcopal Recorder/ Nor is the time 
 so far removed that many of our older readers cannot recall the 
 force and ability with which the work of the paper was carried on 
 under his management. 
 
246 MEMOIR OF DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 
 
 " Possessing rare mental qualities, and a memory stored with an 
 abundance of material always at hand, Dr. Wharton had a felicity 
 of style rarely surpassed, while his discrimination and critical 
 acumen, added to- his clear conceptions of the truth, made him a 
 writer not easily equalled in the realm of evangelical journalism. 
 These characteristics were manifested by Dr. Wharton equally in 
 the authoritative legal treatises which have given him an enduring 
 reputation, and from their pages could easily be culled extracts 
 which would prove the compatibility of the profoundest legal lore 
 with the distinctive principles always upheld by the Recorder. 
 Those principles have continued to be maintained by the Recorder* 
 through every vicissitude and many changes, and to-day, with what 
 ever difference of ability in its conduct, the very same fundamental 
 principles underlie its columns that led to its establishment more 
 than sixty years ago, thus attaching to its name and history a sig 
 nificance which hardly belongs to any other of our contemporaries. 
 
 " While editing the l Recorder Dr. Wharton was a layman ; 
 later in life he entered the ministry, continuing in active service in 
 Massachusetts for several years. Precluded from preaching how 
 ever by an affection of the throat, which grew more serious until 
 the time of his death, he resumed in some measure his legal labors, 
 producing in this period of his life some of his most elaborate and 
 highly esteemed treatises. Indeed, unceasing activity was a con 
 dition of his being, and we question whether there was a day in 
 which he did not produce something that was to pass through the 
 printer s hands. The last four years of his life were spent in the 
 service of the State Department, where he shed lustre upon a posi 
 tion in itself subordinate, which was tendered him by the party 
 recently in control of the government. 
 
 " Possessed of a most genial nature, and of wide and generous 
 sympathies, few men made more warm and enduring friendships, 
 or enjoyed a larger circle of more than passing acquaintances. 
 
 " The writer of these lines gazed upon the pallid features of our 
 predecessor after the all-conquering hand of death had been laid 
 upon them. The placidity and sweetness there fixed gave indica 
 tions of the permanent influence exerted by the moulding hand of 
 character, and the lineaments of the earthly tabernacle so soon 
 to pass away, gave the sweet impression of rest attained, and of 
 work accomplished. 
 
APPENDIX. 247 
 
 " In one of the last conversations it was our pleasure to hold 
 with Dr. Wharton, we found him maintaining the same religious 
 opinions he so ably advocated in these columns many years before, 
 though he was not one of those who felt impelled to sever his con 
 nection with the Church of his youth when Bishop Cummins took 
 the step for which so many had long waited, and of which so few 
 comparatively availed themselves. 
 
 "Bound to him by many personal ties, the writer can testify to 
 the kindliness which flowed from his heart, and which conveyed so 
 much pleasure to those around him, and which often turned the 
 edge of an otherwise keen criticism. When his end was approach 
 ing he calmly met the event with entire submission to God s will, 
 and without a pang he passed from earth to the presence of Christ. 
 
 " Others may well speak of the active labors in which he was 
 engaged at Gambier, at Cambridge, and through the active years 
 of his early life, labors unceasing, earnest and valuable, by which 
 he sought to advance the cause of Christ and to preserve the truth 
 in its purity within the Church of his love. Our duty is ended 
 when we make this slight allusion to his connection with the 
 Episcopal Recorder/ and add one flower to the chaplet which 
 will be deservedly woven to his memory." 
 
 Of the letters from friends and neighbors, from early associates, 
 from clergymen and laymen who had known and loved Dr. Whar 
 ton and mourned his death there is scarcely room in this memo 
 rial. It has rarely fallen to the lot of any man who has won a 
 place in public esteem to have so endeared himself in private life 
 that his death should evoke such universal sympathy. Nothing 
 but the fear of violating private correspondence has restrained us 
 from printing some of these. Two, however, to which the consent 
 of the writers has been obtained, are given below : 
 
 "WILMINGTON, Del., May 13, 1890. 
 
 " MY DEAR MRS. WHARTON : 
 
 " The two notes written to your dear husband by me were read 
 with much feeling, recalling as they did a relation always full of 
 respect, confidence, and personal affection. 
 
 " Certainly, print them if you desire to do so. We were so much 
 together that nearly all our most intimate correspondence was in 
 
248 MEMOIR OF DR., FRANCIS WHARTOST. 
 
 scraps of notes, by messengers, and conversations in the State De 
 partment. 
 
 " ]S~o one could have enjoyed, or left, as the legacy of his life, a 
 higher or more enviable reputation than Dr. Wharton, and I shall 
 have a sincere, even if melancholy, pleasure in the memorial pro 
 posed. 
 
 " The order issued by the Secretary of State on the occasion of 
 Dr. Wharton s funeral was written wholly by me, and is a very 
 restrained expression of the sense of public and private loss then 
 sustained. 
 
 " It was always a deep satisfaction to me to have been instru 
 mental in bringing the virtues, ability, and character of your hus 
 band into the service of the country, and making his real worth 
 and accomplishments better known to his countrymen. Believe me 
 to be, dear Madam, " Faithfully yrs., 
 
 "T. F. BAYARD. 
 
 "MRS. FRANCIS WHARTON." 
 
 The second of the notes referred to is as follows : 
 
 "DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 
 "WASHINGTON, April 30, 1887. 
 
 " MY DEAR DOCTOR : 
 
 " I heard with great concern of your indisposition, and urge 
 upon you great care in this most treacherous weather. 
 
 " I suppose that to work is now your second nature, and that 
 like the retired butcher, who refreshed himself by killing a lamb 
 now and then, you will tear up the claim of some poor innocent 
 slave trader, and expose reasons why he should not be paid for 
 want of success in the line of his pursuits. Mr. Moore and I are 
 hammering into shape a third column of deadly parallel to the 
 observations of the British Foreign Office in our proposal for an 
 arrangement of the fisheries. 
 
 " I begin to have some small hopes that the Canadians may not 
 press us to the wall, and compel non-intercourse, and sincerely I 
 hope that good sense may rescue our important trade from the 
 senseless folly of the lex talionis. 
 
 " Take care of yourself, my good friend you are wanted in 
 this world, and among the rest 
 
 " By your attached friend, 
 
 "T. F. BAYARD. 
 "DR. FRANCIS WHARTON." 
 
APPENDIX. 249 
 
 The other tribute is from the distinguished pen of the 
 
 HON. ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 
 
 "UPLANDS, BKOOKLINE, Mass., 21 Sept., 1889. 
 " MY DEAR MRS. WHARTON : 
 
 "I ana most glad to learn that you are preparing a memoir of 
 your lamented husband. Few things would afford me greater 
 satisfaction than to contribute in ever so small a degree to its com 
 pletion. I counted Dr. Wharton for many years among my most 
 intimate and valued friends, and the longer I knew him the more 
 I regarded him as one of the most accomplished men of our time. 
 
 " I recall the interest with which I listened to his sermons while 
 he was rector of our Brookline St. Paul s/ and the even greater 
 interest with which I read the lectures which he delivered and 
 published on The Silence of Scripture. 7 
 
 " Meanwhile his valuable and efficient services in building up 
 our Episcopal Divinity School at Cambridge, of which he was 
 long a Professor and sometime the Dean, were familiar to me as 
 one of the original trustees. He will be remembered at Cam 
 bridge, as well as at Brookline, by many warm friends, and the 
 school will always include him among its earliest benefactors. 
 
 "But he will be longest remembered in his relations to juris 
 prudence and international law. His labors in this field were of 
 the highest character, and I trust that they will be dealt with, in 
 the proposed memoir, by some competent hand. I have spent 
 many an hour with him, quite recently, in the State Department at 
 Washington, while he was at work on his admirable Digest and 
 after he had entered on new researches, and I was always impressed 
 with his singular adaptation to that position. Alas, that he should 
 have been taken away so suddenly from a sphere which hardly any 
 one else could fill so well ! We may look long in vain for such 
 rich accomplishments and so large a capacity for public usefulness, 
 combined with so genial and affectionate a nature in private life. 
 
 " I need not say how sorry we all were to hear of his death, and 
 deeply we sympathize with you and his daughters in this afflicting 
 bereavement. 
 
 " Believe me, dear Mrs. Wharton, with great regard, 
 
 " Yours sincerely, 
 
 "ROBERT C. WINTHROP. 
 "MRS. FRANCIS WHARTOX." 
 
250 MEMOIR OF DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 
 
 The revered ex-President of Yale College, Dr. Noah Porter, has 
 sent us the following, and it is peculiarly gratifying to be able 
 to give in the words of one who knew something of the earlier life 
 of Dr. Wharton, the closing tribute of this volume : 
 
 " It is some fifteen years since the beginning of my acquaintance 
 with the late Dr. Francis Wharton, an intimacy which matured 
 into a warm friendship which I would fain hope may be ripened 
 in another life. I was at Peacedale in Rhode Island, on a brief 
 visit at the charming home of the kindly and hospitable philosopher, 
 the late Rowland Hazard, when he proposed that we should call on 
 Dr. Wharton at his cottage some three miles distant, near Narra- 
 gansett Pier, and looking out upon the open ocean. This call led 
 in the next season to an unexpected but most cordial invitation from 
 the Doctor that I would spend a week most unceremoniously at the 
 
 cottage. 
 
 " I could not easily withstand the attraction of the place, and the 
 simple cordiality of the family of my host, and as a consequence 
 for some twelve years or more I enjoyed a midsummer day dream, 
 "the spells of w r hich were controlled by Dr. Wharton as the master 
 spirit. 
 
 " It is not easy to interpret or describe the secret of his power 
 or the charm of his genius. That he was no common man is evi 
 dent from the variety of work which he attempted ; and from the 
 fact that he performed it so well, also from the fact that he com 
 manded the attention and received the respect of so great a number 
 and so great a variety of men each eminent in his specialty. 
 
 " As we review his life, we should not forget that he was Editor, 
 Essayist, Advocate, Preacher, Ecclesiastical Lawyer, College, Sem 
 inary, and Law School Professor, and voluminous Author in a Legal 
 and Political sense. Last of all, not least, he became Legal Ad 
 visor to the State Department at Washington, on points connected 
 with International Law. 
 
 " We learn from those who knew him intimately when in College 
 that he was by no means a hard or painful student, but performed 
 his tasks with singular ease and rapidity, outstripping his older 
 competitors with little effort, indeed, and with so little as to turn 
 his tasks into pastimes. We know that before he had attained his 
 majority he had taken sides as an editor and political partisan 
 against the traditions of his family, and this not alone, if so some- 
 
APPENDIX. 251 
 
 what, with the riant sportiveness of jubilant youth as with the 
 graver earnestness of incipient manhood. The after development 
 that came with bereavement and seemed to change the current of 
 his inner life will tell its own story as it alone can explain how his 
 manhood emerged into a new and unexpected form at once so 
 serious, so thoughtful, so strong, and again so gay, so sportive, and 
 so dependent upon others. 
 
 " The Christian Catholicity of his temper and position were 
 most interesting when viewed as the ripened product of his 
 knowledge of the world. 
 
 " We have reason to believe that his opinions in respect to the 
 relation of ecclesiasticism to the progress of the kingdom of God 
 in this country may have changed under the varied experiences 
 of his ministry in Ohio and Rhode Island, while his personal rela 
 tions as preacher and rector were always most satisfactory, as they 
 were eminently unselfish, while to his associates in the ministry his 
 wisdom and technical knowledge could be no other than a boon. 
 The preparation and proof-reading of so many bulky Law Treatises 
 involved a discipline to the most accurate and painstaking habits, 
 while the higher ethical and religious aspects of Jurisprudence 
 imparted a dignity and sacred ness to jural and legal philosophy 
 which seemed to turn the driest of his morning studies into acts 
 of cheerful worship. 
 
 " To those who knew Dr. Wharton I need not recall the gentle 
 humanity which lent such a charm to his manner and invested the 
 occasional plainness of his speech with an indescribable sweetness. 
 
 " His unselfish interest in the summer residents and the transient 
 guests, who came and went to and from the Pier with the summer 
 weeks and months, will be gratefully remembered by scores of the 
 recipients of his unexpected attentions. His painstaking services 
 and his unwearied efforts for their personal comfort and social 
 enjoyment exemplified to not a few some new conception of the 
 injunction to be given to hospitality/ 
 
 " It need not be said that such a life as his was a very busy life 
 and that there was reason to fear that it might suddenly be cut 
 short. Dr. Wharton had himself begun to heed the voice of 
 warning and to contract his sphere of public and professional duty 
 when he was invited to the post of all others which his previous 
 studies had qualified him to occupy with satisfaction to himself 
 
252 MEMOIR OF DR. FRANCIS WHARTOKT. 
 
 and to his friends. To occupy this post involved no partisan 
 allegiance nor even political sympathy, but simply a mastery of 
 the public Law in its history and its principles as a guide for the 
 public action of its officials. No post could be more honorable or 
 more independent, and it was accepted with a just appreciation of 
 its value, but it was taken to be relinquished, and thus to add one 
 more to the many lessons which point us to another life as the 
 explanation and completion of the life we live on this earth/ 
 
APPENDIX. 253 
 
 AMONG the numberless reviews and criticisms of his legal writ- 
 
 o 
 
 ings we select the following as doing partial justice to his merits : 
 
 V "FRANCIS WHARTON. 
 
 " The death is announced of Francis Wharton at Washington on 
 the 21st of February, 1889, of a complication of throat troubles. 
 
 " Prof.-Wharton was born in 1820, at Philadelphia, of distin 
 guished ancestry, many members of the race having won eminence 
 in Pennsylvania, and having affiliations with prominent South 
 Carolina families. He was graduated at Yale College in 1839, at 
 the age of nineteen, and after completion of the requisite legal cur 
 riculum, he was appointed, in spite of his youth, to an assistant 
 attorney-generalship in his native State and city. This gave the 
 ambitious young lawyer s attention a bent towards criminal law. 
 Those who are familiar with the libraries of lawyers fifty years ago 
 will appreciate the value to the then practitioner of any good work 
 upon any subject. The young prosecuting attorney, as an induc 
 tion from his court labors, published his well-known work on 
 criminal law, which has ever since held its ground in the helluo 
 librorum that have been issued since from the American press. 
 The work gave the young man both reputation and financial re 
 ward, and probably induced him to regard law authorship as there 
 after his special branch of the profession. There was nothing in 
 Prof. Wharton s temperament which restricted him to the study of 
 merely criminal law. His work (in connection with Stille) on 
 medical jurisprudence, his singularly able treatise upon private 
 international law, his elaborate work on contracts, and his labors 
 on the law of evidence, indicate how broad was his grasp of the 
 field of jurisprudence. His studies have led to his selection as a 
 professor for different chairs in law schools and elsewhere. We 
 believe that from 1869 till his death he was an instructor in the 
 Boston University. From 1856 to 1862 he occupied a chair of 
 ethics and constitutional law in Kenyon College, Ohio, whither he 
 was led by his strong affection for the Low Church side of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, of which that 
 school was an educational nursery. 
 
254 MEMOIR OF DR. FKAXCIS WHARTON. 
 
 "As the writer of this tribute to his memory remembers him at 
 that date, his lectures on Theism were strong expositions of the 
 attitude and reasoning of the Evangelical Christian upon the then 
 growing agnosticism or skepticism rife inside and outside the Epis 
 copal communion, and which now find their index in the pages of 
 works such as Robert Elsmere. These lectures were, perhaps, in 
 many respects a shooting over the heads of his audience j but there 
 was one noticeable charm about the instruction he strove to impart, 
 it was the wealth of illustration which he drew from his youthful 
 experience at the Philadelphia bar, and from a period when the 
 earlier greatness of the republic still held dominion over the practice 
 of the law either by tradition or in the personal presence of men, 
 the compeers of Webster, Choate, and Binney. 
 
 " The last formal employment of Dr. Wharton was, we believe, 
 that of law adviser to the State Department at Washington. While 
 a Democrat in politics, of the old State-rights school, Prof. Whar- 
 ton never abandoned the impartial attitude of a lawyer weighing 
 with deliberation every political or legal proposition ; and it is no 
 over-statement to characterize his employment under the outgoing 
 administration as one of the fittest and most illustrious for the 
 capacity wherein he acted that could have been made. 
 
 "As above suggested, Prof. Wharton was a devoted churchman 
 in his church. He took orders, and at one time narrowly escaped 
 election as bishop or assistant bishop of Kentucky." 
 
 "WHARTON S CRIMINAL PLEADINGS AND PRACTICE.* 
 
 " The ninth edition of this work has just been issued. The text 
 has been condensed in some places, but new matter has been in 
 serted, so that it is now a volume of nearly nine hundred pages. 
 It contains the law as it is to-day, and to those engaged ig criminal 
 practice it is of great assistance. The revision of this volume was 
 about the last labor of Prof. Wharton, and it will rank among the 
 best of his writings. He wrote the first edition when he was quite 
 young -just entering on his career as a law-writer and this edi 
 tion is issued just as he had reached the end. A comparison of the 
 
 * A Treatise on Criminal Pleading and Practice, by Francis Wharton, 
 LL.D., author of Treatises on Criminal Law, Evidence, Conflict of Laws, and 
 Negligence; 9th ed. Philadelphia: Kay & Brother, 1889. 887pp.; $6. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 two editioDS shows, not only the growth of this branch of legal 
 learning during the last thirty odd years, but the effect of the 
 author s experience. 
 
 " Now that Prof. Wharton is dead, it may not be out of place 
 for me to add here a few words of tribute to him. He had a legal 
 mind in the best sense of that term. He appreciated the nicest 
 distinction^, and discriminated closely and clearly. His mind was 
 philosophical ; he treated his subjects in that manner; he examined 
 questions fully upon authority, and often went beyond authority 
 into exhaustive discussions upon pure principle. He is best known 
 as a law-writer, not as a practitioner, although he was for some 
 years engaged in active practice at Philadelphia. 
 
 " His writings show, not merely a thorough knowledge of legal 
 principles based upon the common law, but an extensive knowledge 
 and familiarity with the civil law. His early writings evidenced 
 an inclination to treat of subjects relating to the criminal branch of 
 our profession, as witness his works on Criminal Law, Precedents 
 of Indictments and Pleas; but in his later years he wrote his 
 admirable works on Negligence, Evidence in Civil Issue s, Com 
 mentaries on American Law, and Conflict of Laws. 
 
 " The last named is, perhaps, his greatest work. The style of 
 his writings is remarkably succinct and forcible, wasting no words, 
 yet leaving no thought imperfectly expressed. He wrote rapidly 
 exceedingly so but he corrected his manuscript with great care. 
 If a word did not suit him, or if he believed it capable of a mean 
 ing different from the one intended, or did not express the finished 
 thought of his mind, it was discarded and another sought. His 
 industry was wonderful. His endurance seemed to know no limit. 
 If not, perhaps, our country s greatest law-writer, he certainly was 
 one of the best, and no one can gainsay that he was the severest 
 student and sturdiest laborer of them all." 
 
 "DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 
 
 " The life work of Dr. Francis Wharton was so far and so much 
 of a purely technical character that his reputation in his profession 
 far overtopped his fame outside of the bar. Yet the death of such 
 a man is as much of a. loss to the public as to publicists, and it 
 leaves relatively as wide a gap in letters as in law, for Dr. Wharton 
 
256 MEMOIR OF DR. FRANCIS WHARTON. 
 
 maintained and preserved to our own day the earlier tradition of 
 our juridical science which made a text-book in law an addition to 
 literature. 
 
 "The value of his works to the bar of his own day has been 
 sufficiently shown by their sale ; but this compliment is but too often 
 paid to treatises to which it is possible to attach importance only 
 until some new compilation supersedes them. The volumes with 
 which Dr. Wharton enriched the literature in which American 
 letters has some of its noblest monuments, owed to style and philo 
 sophic arrangement no small part of the value they possessed, and 
 it is these qualities which render permanent the work of a jurist. 
 For in law as in all else, the form of a great work decides its 
 survival, although it is powerless alone to give it value. It is one 
 of the many proofs of the business character our law is taking that 
 form is ceasing to be of much consequence in decision, brief or 
 discussion. Codes, valuable as they may be, have done incalculable 
 injury in the last forty years to the practice of law as an art in 
 stead of as a mere pursuit. 
 
 "Beginning his work as a legal writer just when the foundation 
 of American jurisprudence had been laid by Kent and Story, Dr. 
 Francis Wharton turned his early attention to criminal law and 
 did much by his treatment and discussion to unite and co-ordinate 
 the legislation and practice of our various States in a branch of law 
 which only in the rarest instances comes for review before the 
 Federal Supreme Court and in which the tendency towards 
 differing systems is strong. His great work on American statute 
 law is certain to have a like influence in another field and con 
 tributes one of the powerful agencies which unconsciously keep 
 our jurisprudence marching abreast in its development under many 
 jurisdictions." 
 
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