EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Class 
 
EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 A MEMOIR 
 
EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 a jttemofr 
 
 BY 
 
 MOORFIELD STOREY 
 
 AND 
 
 EDWARD W. EMERSON 
 
 " The Jedge, who covers with his hat 
 More wit an gumption an shrewd Yankee sense 
 Than there is mosses on an ole stone fence." 
 
 J. R. LOWELL 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 
 1911 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY MOORFIELD STOREY AND EDWARD W. EMERSON 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 Published October iqn 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 I. BIRTH AND EDUCATION 1 
 
 II. LAW AND POLITICS 33 
 
 III. His FIRST SERVICE ON THE BENCH . . . .79 
 
 IV. THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE . . .107 
 V. THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP .... 162 
 
 VI. THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 220 
 
 VII. PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 274 
 
 INDEX . . 337 
 
EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 BIRTH AND EDUCATION 
 
 IN the ancient graveyard at Quincy in Massachu 
 setts lies buried Joanna Hoar, who, as appears by 
 a tablet over her grave, came to New England in 
 1640. 
 
 The cause of her migration is thus stated in 
 words attributed to her by the subject of this 
 memoir in a letter announcing a gift to Radcliffe 
 College : " I was a contemporary of the pious 
 and bountiful Lady Radcliffe for whom your col 
 lege is named. My honored husband, Charles Hoar, 
 Sheriff of Gloucester in England, by his death in 
 1638 left me a widow with six children. We were 
 of the people called by their revilers Puritans, to 
 whom civil liberty, sound learning and religion 
 were very dear. The times were troublous in Eng 
 land and the hands of princes and prelates were 
 heavy upon God s people. My thoughts were 
 turned to the new England, where precious Mr. 
 John Harvard had just lighted that little candle 
 which has since thrown its beams so far, where 
 there seemed a providential refuge for those who 
 
2 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 desired a church without a bishop, and a state 
 without a king. 
 
 " I did not, therefore, like the worshipful Lady 
 Radcliffe, send a contribution in money, but I 
 came hither myself, bringing the five youngest of 
 my children with me, and arrived at Braintree in 
 the year 1640." 1 
 
 The two daughters of Joanna Hoar, by marriage 
 with Henry Flint and Edmund Quincy, became the 
 sources of the Adams and Quincy families. Her 
 youngest son, Leonard Hoar, was educated at Har 
 vard College, where he graduated in 1650, and of 
 which he became the President in 1672, the first 
 who was a graduate of the college. Thus early 
 was the relation established between Harvard Col 
 lege and the Hoar family. The eldest son who 
 accompanied her to this country, John Hoar, when 
 he grew up settled in Concord, which was then 
 "the extreme western frontier town of English 
 settlement in New England." Thenceforward the 
 family dwelt in Concord, Lincoln, Lexington, 
 Waltham and Watertown, within a circle of six 
 miles radius. John Hoar was a lawyer and a 
 
 1 It is said that in the archives of Gloucester there is a record 
 of the grant to Charles Hoare, the father of Joanna Hoar s hus 
 band, of a house in Longsmith Street for 999 years, and also of 
 five pounds for going with his horse to Cirencester in 1588 to 
 give warning of the Armada. His son, Joanna s husband, was 
 active in resisting King Charles, and was with other aldermen of 
 Gloucester imprisoned by Archbishop Laud for making a grant 
 from the city to John Workman. The name of Hoar still exists 
 in the southwestern part of England. 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 3 
 
 citizen, whose thought, speech, and action were 
 fearlessly independent of others in a day when 
 magistrates and ministers were formidable. His 
 humane and brave conduct in sheltering and pro 
 tecting the poor group of " Praying Indians " of 
 Nashobah, when, in King Philip s War, a cruelty 
 begotten of fear took momentary possession of 
 Concord, is recorded in Walcott s " Concord in the 
 Colonial Period." In 1676, he went into the wil 
 derness and redeemed Mrs. Rowlandson from 
 captivity, a very dangerous expedition. His in 
 dependence in the matter of church-going, and 
 his remarks on the preaching of Rev. Edward 
 Bulkeley, proved " an expensive luxury " to him, 
 as Mr. Walcott says, for he was fined and tempo 
 rarily disbarred ; but his life reflected honor on 
 his name. 
 
 John Hoar s son Daniel was a lieutenant and 
 presumably had some military experience, but 
 Daniel s son John " was a soldier in the old French 
 War and was a prisoner among the Indians for 
 three months," 1 serving also as a selectman of Lex 
 ington. From him came Samuel Hoar of Lincoln, 
 who, as a lieutenant of the Lincoln Company, was 
 at Concord Bridge on April 19, 1775, where also 
 were two great-grandfathers and three great- 
 uncles of Judge Hoar. Lieutenant Hoar served in 
 the Provincial and Continental forces, and fought 
 at Saratoga. Later he was a magistrate and sat in 
 
 1 Autobiography of Seventy Years, George F. Hoar, vol. i, p. 20. 
 
4 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 the Legislature of Massachusetts, first, as a repre 
 sentative from Lincoln, and afterwards as sena 
 tor. He married Susannah Pierce, whose father 
 was Colonel Abijah Pierce of Lincoln, one of the 
 town s Committee of Safety in the days preceding 
 the outbreak of the Revolution, and colonel of a 
 regiment of Minute-men. 
 
 Their first-born son was Samuel, who through a 
 long life sustained and advanced the simple and 
 brave ideals of Massachusetts. He was an eminent 
 lawyer, a public-spirited citizen, a high-minded and 
 honorable man. He was a Federalist, then a Whig, 
 and when the slavery question became pressing he 
 took a prominent part in founding the Republican 
 party. He represented Concord in the Convention 
 which sat in 1820 to revise the Constitution of 
 Massachusetts ; he served one term in Congress ; 
 and at the age of seventy-two was chosen to the 
 Legislature of Massachusetts, where he rendered 
 good service to Harvard College by a speech which 
 defeated an attempt to abolish the Corporation and 
 substitute a board to be chosen by the Legislature. 
 
 At the age of seventy he was employed by the 
 Governor of Massachusetts, authorized thereto 
 by the Legislature, to test the constitutionality 
 of certain laws passed in South Carolina, under 
 which colored sailors on ships entering the har 
 bors of that state were imprisoned while their ships 
 were in port, and sold to pay their jail fees, if they 
 were not paid otherwise when the ship went off. 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 5 
 
 Mr. Hoar went to Charleston for this purpose, but 
 was compelled by force to leave the state without 
 accomplishing his object, the Legislature of South 
 Carolina having passed resolutions directing the 
 Governor to expel him, and the actual expulsion 
 being accomplished by a committee of leading citi 
 zens. This treatment of Mr. Hoar was one of the 
 incidents which helped to create the bitter feeling 
 that brought on the Civil War. 
 
 Let these three sayings about Squire Hoar, as 
 he was familiarly called, find place in the memoir 
 of his son, if only to show heredity. They relate 
 to his domestic, his public, and his professional 
 character. Thomas Starr King said : " Mr. Hoar 
 lived all the beatitudes daily." Alcott, when most 
 disowning responsibility to governments, said : 
 "If they will nominate Samuel Hoar for Governor, 
 I do not know but I will recognize the State so 
 far as to vote for him." Mr. Justice Seth Ames 
 said : " Among my earliest recollections of the ad 
 ministration of justice in the County of Middle 
 sex was the fact that Mr. Hoar appeared to be in 
 every case, so that apparently the only obstacle 
 to his having a complete monopoly of the business 
 lay in the impossibility of being on both sides at 
 
 once." 
 
 His son Rockwood said of him in 1879: "I 
 think the summing up of Father s relations to 
 mankind is that he was to a remarkable degree 
 one of the pillars of the Commonwealth. " Nor 
 
6 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 is this word of Mr. Emerson out of place as con 
 firming this judgment : " I had occasion to say the 
 other day to Elizabeth Hoar that I liked best the 
 strong and worthy persons, like her father, who 
 support the social order without hesitation or mis 
 giving." 
 
 As Rockwood Hoar s grandfather on the spear 
 side fought to establish the States, united and 
 free, so, on the spindle side, his grandfather was 
 one of those who drew up and fearlessly signed 
 the Declaration renouncing allegiance to the 
 mother country and helped to frame the Consti 
 tution of the new republic ; for Samuel Hoar 
 found in the daughter of Roger Sherman his help 
 mate through a long life. She was comely, active 
 in mind and speech, and kind, and many of her 
 son s most striking characteristics were said to 
 have come from her. Roger Sherman s part in his 
 country s history is well known, and he stands a 
 sturdy figure among our leaders in the early days 
 of the Republic, honest, wise, uncompromising, 
 universally respected. 1 
 
 His biography cannot be written here, but a 
 few words of John Randolph may be quoted be- 
 
 1 It is stated that through his mother Judge Hoar was de 
 scended from George Minot, an early settler of Dorchester, from 
 John Prescott, the founder of Lancaster, and from Francis Higgin- 
 son, and through the last from a sister of Archbishop Grindal and 
 a sister of Chaucer. It is also suggested that, on his father s side, 
 he could trace his descent to "Fair Rosamond"; but steps in these 
 genealogical ladders are generally wanting and the gaps are filled 
 with a free hand. 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 7 
 
 cause they throw some light on Judge Hoar s 
 inheritance. Mr. Albert H. Tracy told Mr. Em 
 erson in 1857 that while he was in the House 
 of Representatives John Randolph said to him : 
 " There is one quality which is very rare, common 
 sense. I have been, boy and man, acquainted with 
 this body twenty-four years, and I have known 
 one man who had it. I would not say I have known 
 but one, and I would not say I have known more 
 than one ; but I have seen one man who had it in 
 a remarkable degree ; his name was Roger Sher 
 man and he made this remark : When you are in 
 the majority, vote ; when you are in the minority, 
 talk/ " 
 
 It would have been strange indeed if the de 
 scendants of such ancestors had not, like Joanna 
 Hoar, prized "civil liberty, sound learning and 
 religion." 1 
 
 The children of Samuel Hoar were : Elizabeth, 
 born 1814 ; Ebenezer Rockwood, born February 
 21, 1816, married Caroline Do wnes Brooks ; Sarah 
 Sherman, born 1817, married Robert B. Storer ; 
 Samuel Johnson, born 1820, died in infancy ; Ed 
 ward Sherman, born 1823, married Elizabeth 
 Prichard ; George Frisbie, born 1826, married 
 (1) Louisa Spurr, (2) Ruth Miller. 
 
 To his first son, Squire Hoar gave the name of 
 
 1 A full account of the family genealogy is found in Senator 
 Hoar s Autobiography, from which the facts here stated are in 
 large part taken. 
 
8 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 his close friend and classmate, Ebenezer Rock- 
 wood, " a man of brightest promise and one of the 
 leaders of the Suffolk Bar at the time of his early 
 death." 
 
 To account for the early influences at work in 
 that Concord home, Senator Hoar s words about 
 the family should be quoted. " Our ancestors were 
 Puritans in every line of descent, as far as they 
 are known, from the time when Puritanism was 
 first known. The same is true of nearly all the 
 collateral kindred of the Hoar and Sherman fami 
 lies by blood or marriage in every generation." 
 
 Squire Hoar s home was a God-fearing home, 
 but a less happy picture is given when one must 
 add that it was a Jehovah-fearing home, and the 
 " jealous God s " exactions, especially on the Sab 
 bath, were severe to childhood. He was a Uni 
 tarian, but of the sternest type, while Madam 
 Hoar came from Connecticut and was brought up 
 under "Blue Laws." The gaps before, between 
 and after the long church services were nearly 
 filled with family prayers, Bible-readings, or learn 
 ing of chapters. Not only was play, but even 
 walking out of doors except to the church, dis 
 pleasing to the deity. Senator Hoar, in an article 
 in the "Youth s Companion," tells of the "long, 
 dreary and more than Jewish Sabbaths." Some 
 " Sunday books " were allowed, but these were flat 
 or doleful. " Pilgrim s Progress, however, with 
 its rude prints, was a great resource." In this 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 9 
 
 connection the following anecdote told by Judge 
 Hoar of his brother Edward, and by Senator Hoar 
 of the Judge himself, may well find a place. A 
 " brother of mine, who was very precocious, was 
 extremely fond of it, especially of the picture of 
 the fight between Christian and Apollyon, where 
 the fiend, with his head covered with stiff, sharp 
 bristles, straddled clear across the road/ to stop 
 Christian in his way. Old Dr. Lyman Beecher, 
 who had his stiff, grey hair cropped short, made a 
 call at our house one afternoon. While he was 
 waiting for my mother to come down, the little 
 fellow came in and took a look up at the doctor, 
 and then trotted round to the other side and looked 
 up at him again. He said, I think, sir, you look 
 like Apollyon/ " Mr. Hoar adds that Dr. Beecher 
 thought it a great joke that he should " be com 
 pared to a personage of whom, in his own opinion, 
 and that of a good many other good people, he 
 was then the greatest living antagonist." 
 
 To all persons of classic studies Squire Hoar 
 suggested a fine old Roman, and his classmates in 
 college used to call him Cato. His son George said 
 of him : - 
 
 " He held a few simple beliefs with undoubting 
 faith. He submitted himself to the rule of life 
 which followed from these, and rigorously exacted 
 obedience to it from all for whom he was respon 
 sible." 
 
 Mr. Emerson, seeing the Squire s tall figure 
 
10 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 striding past on his favorite spring walk over the 
 sheltered Lexington Road, wrote in his journal : 
 " The beauty of character takes long time to dis 
 cover. Who that should come to Concord but 
 would laugh if you told him that Samuel Hoar was 
 beautiful, yet I thought, one day when he passed, 
 that the rainbow, geometry itself, is not hand 
 somer than that walking sincerity, straitly bounded 
 as it is." 
 
 A granddaughter recalls the scene at the morn 
 ing prayers in Mr. Hoar s household ; the man 
 and the maids filing soberly into the dining-room 
 after breakfast, taking the chairs placed for them 
 by the kitchen door ; Madam Hoar reading a chap 
 ter in the Bible, then all kneeling for Mr. Hoar s 
 prayer. There was no familiarity in it, or vain 
 repetition. He thought that the being whom he 
 addressed, like himself, preferred condensed state 
 ments : " Thou before whom angels bow and 
 archangels veil their faces," he sometimes began. 
 
 Yet though repression of feeling was the rule 
 lest the love due to the Creator be spent upon 
 the created, and lest they spoil the children en 
 trusted to their care, love and tenderness were 
 none the less in the parents hearts. The Rev. Mr. 
 Frost, Mr. Hoar s pastor in later years, saw through 
 him as a grandfather, and happily left this wit 
 ness : " No one saw or admired more the sweet 
 ness of a child. He would not invade the right of 
 a child to his independent thought and feeling. 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 11 
 
 He was peculiarly tender of the rights of children, 
 as well as all classes of the weak and defenceless." 
 Rockwood, happily, did not suffer by repression. 
 A contemporary record of his early childhood has 
 been preserved, and is quoted here. 
 
 HISTORY OF EBENEZER R. HOAR, 
 Written by his Sister, 
 
 ELIZABETH HOAR. 
 Designed for the use of young persons. 
 
 Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar was born in Concord 
 February 21, 1816, of respectable parents. When 
 he was three years old he could read the Bible as 
 correctly as any grown person. He was very pas 
 sionate at times when he was offended or disap 
 pointed. 
 
 At the age of about two years he was sent to 
 school to a very pious Instructress, who in a few 
 weeks taught him more than any town school 
 master would. 
 
 At four he excelled his older sister in reading 
 and spelling and the pauses. He had a great af 
 fection for his Instructress, and as she was poor, 
 when he had any money given him to spend, it 
 was his delight to carry it to her. 
 
 Sometimes he indulged selfishness, and was un 
 willing to carry anything to her. I will mention an 
 instance of this kind. One day they had a cherry 
 
12 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 pie brought upon the table. He had now nearly 
 finished his dinner, and there was a small piece left 
 upon the plate. His mother asked him which he 
 had rather do, carry it to his Instructress or eat 
 it himself ? He replied, " I had rather eat it my 
 self"; but he was afterward very sorry that he 
 had eaten it, and the next time he had his choice 
 he requested to carry it to his Instructress. She 
 was sensible to all these proofs of affection, and 
 she often kissed and praised him. 
 
 His Instructress was accustomed to have a small 
 party the Saturday after Thanksgiving every year. 
 She invited all her scholars, and among the rest 
 my brother. He had a young companion named 
 Gardiner Davis ; he got into a little quarrel with 
 him and bit him most severely. 
 
 But I hope as he increases in years he will do 
 better, but I have lately experienced that, as he 
 grew older, he grew worse. 
 
 Fortunately he was granted time to justify his 
 sister s hope rather than her fear. 
 
 Senator Hoar candidly records how " Dr. Bart- 
 lett, one of the worthiest and kindest of men, but 
 who always uttered what was in his heart," said, 
 that " Samuel Hoar s boys used to be the three 
 biggest rascals in Concord, but they all seem to 
 have turned out pretty well." 
 
 Perhaps the neighbors looked for a prematurely 
 decorous walk and conversation in the sons of 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 13 
 
 Samuel Hoar. The simple fact was that here were 
 three highly vitalized boys, enterprising and of 
 fertile minds, who when school was out, their fa 
 ther attending court, their mother occupied with 
 her household cares, roamed free and rejoicing in 
 the Paradise of Concord, not unlike Adam tried 
 more than one variety of apple, and probably were 
 driven from more gardens than he. Their sins, 
 however, were venial. 
 
 Through life Rockwood had an astonishing quick 
 ness in witty repartee. His sister Sarah (Mrs. 
 Storer) gave this earliest recorded instance of it. 
 When the Orthodox Meeting House was dedicated, 
 in 1825, the services were protracted. Deacon 
 Parkman s daughter said to a little gathering of 
 young people as they came out, " You have had 
 quite a feast," to which Rockwood Hoar, aged 
 about ten, answered, "Yes, weVe had enough, 
 which is said to be as good as a feast." 
 
 Rockwood recorded among the memories of his 
 childhood a romantic day with Henry Vose, after 
 wards a judge: " When he and I were about eight 
 years old, we had a Fourth of July picnic together, 
 and we made a tent in the woods out of an old 
 door, and what was the most astonishing part of the 
 picnic was that my mother furnished us with a 
 bottle of punch to take with us. That shows the 
 difference with regard to the use of liquor in that 
 age from this. I remember, as a boy, that, when 
 any young child died in the town, the pall-bear- 
 
14 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 ers were selected among the young boys, and a 
 room was set aside for them in which a table was 
 set with bottles of rum, whiskey and gin, and each 
 of the boys freely partook." 
 
 Children nowadays begin to go to school at six 
 years of age ; when they have parents of advanced 
 ideas, at seven. They may begin Latin at ten or 
 eleven and are fortunate if they have any Greek 
 at all. From Rockwood Hoar s sketch of his life 
 in the book of his Class (H. U. 1835), comes the 
 following : 
 
 "Nothing of historical importance occurred 
 until, at the age of six, I commenced the study of 
 the ancient languages at our Village Academy, 
 which school I continued to attend from that time 
 forth until entering College. There was a succes 
 sion of instructors, most of them as bad as could 
 reasonably be desired." 
 
 His father intended that his boys should not 
 miss, because of their bookwork, the wholesome 
 schooling of Mother Earth in the veritable " ele 
 ments," and should learn how to win a living from 
 her. So they were sent in turn for a year before 
 they went to college to a kinsman in Lincoln, in 
 whose household the old New England simplicity, 
 frugality and piety prevailed. 
 
 Rockwood s visit to Lincoln was when the boy 
 was fourteen years old, and had already been fitted 
 for college. Fate, however, decided not to smile on 
 the farming experiment. The Farrar family, with 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 15 
 
 which he was placed, still kept up the healthy and 
 economical habit of early New England in going 
 barefoot six months of the year on the farm. 
 Such was the common custom in all rural districts. 
 The new apprentice in farming, the first day of 
 his work, went out into the hayfield, and, barefoot, 
 trod on a scythe, cutting his foot so badly that he 
 was laid up for some time and never quite recov 
 ered a perfect foot. 
 
 As has been mentioned, he was prepared for 
 college at the old Academy, then supported by 
 persons who wished and could afford to give their 
 sons and daughters better educational advantages 
 than the " Town School " could afford. Among 
 his school-fellows were his sisters, and there was 
 an eager rivalry in scholarship between Elizabeth 
 and Rockwood Hoar and their bright opposite 
 neighbors, the Whitings. But the former were 
 obliged to go to bed early. They devised a way to 
 secure more time for their lessons and yet keep 
 the letter of the household law. They went punc 
 tually to bed, but early rising was held a virtue ; 
 so they rose quietly while still the hours were 
 small, raked out the brands of last evening s wood- 
 fire in the open fireplace, piled on kindlings and 
 fresh wood, and by that cheerful light studied 
 their Virgil and arithmetic, while their parents 
 slept. 
 
 When Rockwood Hoar was one of the upper- 
 class boys in the Academy, the master said to him: 
 
16 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 "That word is incorrectly spelled. It should be 
 thus" giving his version. "Where do you find 
 authority for that spelling?" said the boy, the 
 man of precedents in after years. The master 
 named the authority. "He s of less importance 
 than the others who spell it as I do." "Well, 
 you can spell it as I say on my authority," said 
 the master. " The least of all ! " observed the 
 saucy boy. 
 
 In the summer of 1831, Rockwood Hoar, then 
 fifteen years old, went to Cambridge, as a Fresh 
 man. He wrote in his Class-book, when he was 
 four years older, this account of the changes which 
 the College had wrought in him, and his apprecia 
 tion of the result : 
 
 "I entered college with a high opinion of my 
 own talents and acquirements ; expecting that col 
 lege distinctions and general admiration would 
 follow rather as a necessary consequence of my 
 own transcendent merit, than as the reward of 
 persevering and well-directed exertion. Of the 
 manners, customs, habits of thought and action of 
 the place to which I was going, I knew little or 
 nothing ; but expected to find the views, and feel 
 ings, and tastes of every one exactly similar to my 
 own ; to lead an agreeable life with nothing to 
 trouble or to mortify. 
 
 " The effect which college life would have upon 
 such a character, may readily be conceived. I found 
 that there were some pretty severe lessons yet to 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 17 
 
 be learned ; and the struggle in casting off old 
 notions and feelings, was not to be gone through 
 without difficulty. If everything, during the last 
 four years, has not been so agreeable as it might 
 have been, the time has, at least, not been passed 
 without improvement. I have each year been more 
 and more satisfied, that for the test and establish 
 ment of character, no better place could be se 
 lected than Harvard University. 
 
 " Yet my college life has been by no means an 
 unpleasant one. All causes of discomfort have 
 sprung, I am well aware, from myself, and my 
 own mistakes alone. A more united, generous 
 class, better, kinder classmates, I could not have 
 had." 
 
 Fifty years later he wrote : 
 
 "At the head of the College was the bearer of 
 that great historic name, Josiah Quincy, who, 
 though he heard no recitation and gave no course 
 of lectures, was in himself a text-book. It might 
 be said of him, as Colonel Barre said of Lord 
 Chatham, that nobody ever entered his closet 
 who did not come out a braver man/ He did great 
 service to the College, but none more valuable than 
 the impression which his lofty courage, untiring 
 devotion to duty, and public spirit made upon the 
 sixteen classes which were under his charge. 
 
 " Of those who managed it fifty years ago, all 
 but one, I believe, are gone. Good, unsuspicious, 
 near-sighted, large-hearted man ! How we used 
 
18 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 to cheat him at recitation, and how the great 
 service and honoured name of Dr. Peabody puts to 
 shame the memory of such boyish misbehaviour ! " 
 
 Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar had for his chum 
 Eben Smith Brooks, from the neighboring town 
 of Stow. 
 
 The class of 1835 on entrance numbered about 
 eighty, many of them men afterwards well known 
 for their virtues and abilities. Among these were 
 Amos A. Lawrence, founder of many important 
 factories, and a useful and public-spirited citizen; 
 Charles Henry Parker, long the President of the 
 Suffolk Savings Bank; Dr. Charles V. Bemis, valued 
 practitioner of medicine ; George Bemis, the well- 
 known lawyer; Frederick A. Eustis of Milton, be 
 loved and interesting Southerner; Charles C. 
 Shackf ord, minister, scholar and teacher ; Charles 
 W. Palfrayof Salem; Edward Lander, Chief Jus 
 tice of the Supreme Court of Washington Terri 
 tory ; Francis A. Fabens, later a judge in San 
 Francisco. Another classmate, Charles W. Storey, 
 was an especial crony of the Judge and of James 
 Russell Lowell and John Holmes, though Lowell 
 was of a younger class. Richard Henry Dana was 
 obliged to leave the class early because of bad eyes, 
 and to this temporary misfortune America owes 
 her classic " Two Years before the Mast." 
 
 But very early in its career the class sustained 
 heavy losses, some of them permanent, from 
 another cause, namely, the Rebellion of 1831, 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 19 
 
 which is thus described by Charles Francis Adams 
 in his life of R. H. Dana : 
 
 "Before the end of his Freshman year, one of 
 those college difficulties, much more common then 
 than now, and absurdly called rebellion/ took 
 place. It soon involved the whole class. It was the 
 familiar story. Some offence had been committed 
 and a charity student was called upon to di 
 vulge the name of the culprit. He refused, and, the 
 matter having got into the courts of law, was sum 
 moned as a witness. A class-meeting was there 
 upon held and resolutions to sustain our class 
 mates were passed. The Rebellion naturally 
 followed, breaking out, of course, at evening 
 prayers, when a continued tumult of hissing, groan 
 ing and scraping completely drowned the voice of 
 the officiating clergyman. This brought Mr. Quincy 
 from his seat, and two or three tutors from the 
 galleries. They watched us closely, but the noise 
 continued throughout the reading and until the 
 prayer commenced, when it stopped. . . . There 
 was open rebellion/ Some of the class were sent 
 away and others were taken away temporarily by 
 their parents. For such as remained the alternative 
 of suspension or expulsion was presented." 
 
 As the circles around the vortex resulting from 
 the collision of a class with the Faculty inevitably 
 widened, Rockwood Hoar seems to have been 
 drawn in. His sisters beheld him with alarm step 
 out from the stage-coach, as it stopped at the gate, 
 
20 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 and it was an anxious moment when he met his 
 father. The boy however was soon readmitted to 
 good standing. 
 
 The Judge gave this account of the Rebellion 
 seen through the perspective of fifty-four years, 
 when he, an officer of the University, touched on it 
 in his speech at the Commencement Dinner : 
 
 " The class of 1835 had a hand in a first-rate 
 rebellion. It was made in defence of our inalien 
 able rights and was conducted with the utmost 
 vigor and activity ; and yet from this point of 
 view it looks like something of a failure. The 
 fact is that Mr. Quincy was on the other side, and 
 did not take to it at all kindly. I think we felt 
 about it, when it was over, and had taken from us 
 some of our best fellows, pretty much what a 
 handsome, bright-eyed young fellow expressed to 
 me, whom I met on the Kanawha River at the 
 close of the late war, making his way home from 
 a military prison in Ohio. I said to him, Now you 
 are going home to stay, I suppose ? Yes/ said 
 he, I have had my rights and don t ever want to 
 have any more of them/ " 
 
 In the same speech the Judge thus sketched for 
 the younger Alumni the difference between the 
 old times and the new : 
 
 " How we should have compared with the boys 
 of later times, if we had had their advantages, no 
 body can tell. We never acquired enough of that 
 disastrous Greek, which has blighted the prospects 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 21 
 
 of the Adams family through so many genera 
 tions, to do us much harm. I have noticed, by the 
 way, that they seem to have an inveterate habit 
 of turning up in places of trust and honor, in 
 spite of it. We never undertook to beat all our 
 contemporaries at baseball and the like, and then 
 sighed for new worlds to conquer, but I may 
 modestly suggest that in our Senior year, though 
 there was no Hemenway Gymnasium, no athletics, 
 no coaching, two of our class, one of whom, a 
 sturdy Virginian, is with us at these tables, and 
 looks as if he could repeat the feat without incon 
 venience, on a summer s day walked the sixty 
 miles from Cambridge to New Bedford." 
 
 Of course the games of those days were played 
 impromptu and for fun on the Delta, alike by 
 skilled and unskilled, general public opinion 
 and honor acting as referee and umpire ; and not 
 for the credit of the University, afar, in some 
 great arena under the eyes of thousands, by a 
 trained and coached team sifted from the strong 
 est and swiftest. 
 
 The rudimentary " Massachusetts game " of base 
 ball existed, permitting "back passers" ("fouls") 
 to the batsman, and allowing the catcher to "out" 
 the base-runner by throwing the ball at him, - 
 but Rockwood Hoar was disqualified by near-sight. 
 Foot-ball in sides of indefinite numbers, strictly 
 confined to kicking and running, was everywhere 
 played, but more commonly the ball (leather with 
 
22 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 a pig s bladder for nucleus) was punted about at 
 will. The Judge s classmate, Charles H. Parker, 
 writing to him in 1885, says, "I am grieved to 
 hear of your troublesome leg, and am afraid it is 
 the one of ancient memory that used, in 1831, to 
 throw the foot-ball to such a height." 
 
 Rowing an old keel-boat on the Charles, very 
 likely fishing at the same time, was also occasion 
 ally practised, but there were no races. 
 
 In Concord, no one kept horses for pleasure, 
 and chaises hired at livery stables for such pur 
 pose were a culpable extravagance. Hence all 
 boys in those days were good walkers, and if 
 Rockwood Hoar wanted to spend a Saturday or 
 Sunday at home, he walked the thirteen miles up 
 the hilly but pleasant Turnpike, or Trapelo Road, 
 as did the Concord boys of the next generation. 
 
 It does not appear that he belonged to the Col 
 lege military company, that gallant band with 
 banner inscribed Tarn Marti quam Mercurio, indi 
 cating as close a devotion to martial as to classical 
 studies, to which motto Lowell said should have 
 been added Atque magis Lyseo. That this organiza 
 tion was suppressed at this period, and also that 
 society more dangerous to the peace, the " Med. 
 Fac.," might appear from the lament over them 
 in the Class poem of 1835. The Judge confessed 
 once to his eldest son, after the latter was safely 
 through College, that he had belonged to the 
 " Med. Fac.," adding that, fortunately, that focus 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 23 
 
 of daring mischief was long since dead, which 
 statement his son received with a face of inno 
 cent interest covering an inward smile. Mrs. 
 Storer said that her brother Rockwood used to tell 
 of the wretched midnight hours during which he 
 lay on his back in the belfry of Harvard Hall 
 laboring to saw off the tongue of the College bell 
 which called students alike the pious and the 
 impious to morning prayers. 
 
 But in spite of diversions and probable convivi 
 alities, both on a humbler scale than now, the 
 Judge s whole walk and conversation showed that 
 in the first twenty years of his life at home, dame- 
 school, academy, farm and college, he received an 
 education which would grace any citizen of this 
 Republic. The fact was that life, even for chil 
 dren and youth, was far more serious and less 
 distracting than now. The subjects of study were 
 few, sanctioned as valuable by the centuries. 
 Children learned to read from the Bible with its 
 noble English, its wide vocabulary, its stimulation 
 not only of moral sense but of imagination, and 
 its poetic symbolism, instead of from graded 
 readers. They began to study sooner by several 
 years, and worked longer and harder in each year. 
 Children s books were few, too few, but those 
 were good, so their minds were able earlier to en 
 joy Bunyan, Milton, Shakespeare, Scott and Byron 
 and Burns (all three then new), Young and Thom 
 son, Wordsworth, Johnson and the Essayists, and 
 
24 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 from all these their fresh memories were stored, 
 for it was the excellent custom to have children 
 and youths learn passages to recite. So with the 
 languages, they read with maturer, if younger, 
 minds the stories of Roman virtue, 1 Virgil, Horace, 
 and Cicero s Orations, and could enjoy them, for 
 they were not hurried or crowded by a multipli 
 city of studies in preparation for over-exacting 
 examinations. 
 
 Rockwood Hoar s mind had a strong affinity for 
 all that was noble in sentiment, fine in expression, 
 and keen in wit, and what he read he remem 
 bered. Among his college papers is a " Disser 
 tation," delivered in his Senior year, "On Making 
 a Study of the Fine Arts a Part of a Liberal Edu 
 cation," an excellent and very well written state 
 ment in favor of so doing. Coming from a son of 
 the Puritans, at a time so barren of art in New 
 England, one passage is remarkable. Speaking of 
 the stern iconoclasm, and repression of painting 
 and fine music by the leaders of the Reformation, 
 he says : " They swept away wheat and tares to 
 gether, and, with the sinfully worshipped images, 
 banished from religion all that support which it is 
 one of the highest objects of the Arts to afford." 
 In the same way this country boy urged a point 
 of first importance, ignored to-day by many mas 
 ters of brush or chisel, the need of filling the 
 
 i The admirable Viri Roma, now discarded, for alleged defect in 
 Ciceronian style, in favor of some useless " Gate to Caesar;-, 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 25 
 
 mind with high ideas and sublime images, rightly 
 to practise or appreciate Art. His own wide ac 
 quaintance with the best thought of mankind as 
 guarded for us in classic literature, ancient or 
 modern, prepared him to appreciate the masters, 
 had time and opportunity permitted. Lacking 
 these, he remained something of a Philistine in 
 art to the end, and cherished an iron dog as an 
 ornament on his doorsteps. 1 
 
 Of his college life little remains to say. In his 
 Junior and Senior years he attracted the attention 
 of Edward Tyrrel Channing, then the valued Pro 
 fessor of Rhetoric and Oratory, and received the 
 highest marks for English Composition. He also 
 won the second Bowdoin prize for an essay, and at 
 the Exhibition in his Senior year had, as his part, 
 the English oration, taking as his subject " Rever 
 ence." His part at Commencement when he grad 
 uated was an English oration on " The Christian 
 Philosophy ; its Political Application." 
 
 Only fifty-two of his class received degrees at 
 Commencement, largely a result of the " Rebel 
 lion," but five more were allowed their Bachelor s 
 degree years later. Rockwood Hoar was third 
 scholar. The refined and attractive Harrison Gray 
 Otis Blake of Worcester, later Thoreau s near 
 friend, was chosen Orator by a large majority, 
 
 1 The Judge used to justify this unhappy combination of paint 
 ing and sculpture by saying that it was "Nature s own truth," 
 since once he found a flea upon it. 
 
26 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 but his modesty made him decline, and Charles C. 
 Shackford, later a minister, and a professor at 
 Cornell University, was then chosen. Blake, how 
 ever, gave the Latin Salutatory. Benjamin Davis 
 Winslow was the Poet. Hoar was chosen a mem 
 ber of the Class Committee. Sixty years later, his 
 classmate Palf ray of Salem wrote, " Judge Hoar 
 was, from the first, the pride and ornament of his 
 class facile princeps. His affection for his class 
 mates too was as remarkable as it was undimin- 
 ished." Throughout his life on many occasions 
 and in many ways he showed his never-failing 
 loyalty to the College with which his family had 
 so long been associated. 
 
 On leaving College, Hoar wrote in the Class 
 Book, " With regard to the future, I have for some 
 time determined upon the profession of the Law ; 
 and hope to contribute my humble efforts to sus 
 tain the reputation of the Class of 1835. In the 
 true professional style, if my friends and the 
 public have at any time occasion to make use of 
 my services, I shall be happy to wait on them 
 for a consideration/" 
 
 But first he had the valuable experience of 
 leaving Massachusetts and all boyish social ties, 
 and looking life in the face by earning his living. 
 
 The graduate of nineteen went to take charge 
 of a school for girls in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 
 then practically as far away as Oregon is now. It 
 is clear that the year was valuable to the young 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 27 
 
 teacher, and left pleasant memories. He probably 
 helped many pupils ; certainly was worth much to 
 one. There was in the school a child, Lois Wade, 
 who afterwards became Mrs. Campbell of Pitts- 
 burg, and the step-aunt of Mrs. Margaret Deland, 
 the novelist. This lady writes that Lois was then 
 only nine years old, and considered a dull little 
 girl, but to the surprise of her parents, Mr. Hoar 
 urged her to study Latin. " Her later remarkable 
 linguistic ability proved him to have been quite 
 right. Indeed, her intelligence and power dated 
 from that time, and I know she felt the deepest 
 sense of obligation to a teacher whose insight into 
 character was an inspiration and an awakening - 
 a sense of obligation as well as admiration and 
 love which lasted until her death, sixty years from 
 that day when he put her Latin Grammar into 
 her hands." 
 
 Fifty-four years passed away, and Judge Hoar, 
 on his Golden Wedding day, received a letter 
 from the elderly Mrs. Campbell, in which she 
 said, "While congratulating you and Mrs. Hoar 
 on this long life together, may I express to you 
 my most sincere thanks for all that you did for 
 me during the year that you spent in Pittsburg ? 
 It was a turning point in my life, and I have ever 
 since had reason to be grateful to you, not only 
 for what you taught me, but for the stimulus and 
 encouragement you gave me for study after you 
 ceased to be my teacher." 
 
28 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 There is a letter from the Judge written to a 
 clergyman in Pittsburg, speaking pleasantly of his 
 teaching days there, and accompanied by a gift of 
 one hundred dollars towards a lot for a Unitarian 
 Church in that great city, dark and noisy with its 
 enormous work-shops, grown out of the little 
 settlement at old Fort Duquesne. 
 
 To see a little more of the newer world beyond 
 the Appalachians, the youth on leaving Pitts- 
 burg travelled to Kentucky. He used to tell that, 
 having tarried overnight at a wayside tavern, he 
 rose early, and, when he came down, a Kentuckian 
 who was staying there ordered a gin cocktail and 
 invited the young fellow-lodger to drink with 
 him. The New Englander answered that he did not 
 want a cocktail before breakfast, thus offending 
 his benevolent friend, who remarked that seven 
 teen was about the right number to take before 
 that meal. He had the interesting experience of 
 hearing Henry Clay speak to a vast audience in 
 the open air ; also of being robbed on a river- 
 boat; but got safely back to Concord. 
 
 Once more in the old home, he began the study 
 of law in his father s office, a little one-storey 
 building, painted white, on the Sudbury road where 
 it branches from the Main Street. The restful sim 
 plicity of our village life then could hardly now 
 be matched in Eastern Massachusetts. A glimpse 
 of it is given in a letter from the acolyte lawyer to 
 the little ten-year-old Lois Wade at Pittsburg : 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 29 
 
 " I am settled quietly at home for the winter, 
 how quietly you, who live in the bustle and noise 
 and business of such a city as Pittsburg, can 
 hardly imagine. Our little village is situated on a 
 plain surrounded by woods and low hills ; a small 
 river, with a current scarcely perceptible, and with 
 meadows on both sides, flows gently through it, 
 and, as I walk through the street to my office, 
 I hardly see a moving thing, unless now and then 
 some one coming out of a shop and shutting the 
 door carefully behind them. And here I live and 
 study all day, for from a teacher I have become a 
 scholar, and in the evenings read or visit or go 
 to lectures, for there are now few villages in 
 New England so small that they do not have a 
 course of literary, historical, or scientific lectures 
 each winter, in which the educated men, and 
 among them some of the first names in our land, 
 communicate of their knowledge to all classes of 
 the people. 
 
 " I am now reading, with a young lady, a book, 
 one of the pleasantest and most interesting that 
 I have read for some time, and which I hope you 
 will sometime read also. It is called the Phasdo/ 
 and contains an eloquent account of the conversa 
 tion, instructions and death of Socrates, you 
 must not be surprised when I tell you that it is 
 written in Greek." He speaks pleasantly of the 
 school and scholars, and says, " You must tell me 
 about these things, . . . for, though so many hun- 
 
30 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 dred miles off beyond the blue Alleghanies, I feel 
 as much interested in all that you are doing, and 
 think of you, as a part of my flock, as much as 
 
 ever." 
 
 A certain guarded propriety strikes one in the 
 end of this sentence addressed by a gentleman in 
 his twentieth year to a lady of ten, fortified withal 
 by the account of the Plato readings with another, 
 presumably Deacon Whiting s accomplished elder 
 daughter, then in her teens. Plato, even in such 
 charming company, did not win him from the law, 
 for Justice Gray tells us that when he read Kent s 
 Commentaries he verified every citation and read 
 every case cited, using the library in Concord so 
 far as it contained the reports, and getting them 
 elsewhere when it did not. Such a careful study of 
 Kent was in itself a legal education. 
 
 His studies were continued at the Law School 
 at Cambridge for eighteen months, and then for 
 six months in the office of Emory Washburn at 
 Worcester, where he was admitted to the bar on 
 September 30, 1839, after receiving the degree of 
 LL.B. from the Harvard Law School at the pre 
 ceding Commencement. 
 
 While Rockwood Hoar was studying law in Cam 
 bridge, the following record was made in the 
 Faculty s Book there : "Voted, that Lowell, Senior, 
 on account of continued neglect of his college 
 duties, be suspended till the Saturday before 
 Commencement to pursue his studies with Mr. 
 
BIRTH AND EDUCATION 31 
 
 Frost in Concord . . . and not to visit Cambridge 
 during the period of his suspension." l This was for 
 the period of three months, yet he made lasting 
 friendships there, one of which threatened to go 
 further. In August, in a letter to George B. Loring, 
 he thus speaks of it : " I do not know what to do 
 
 with Miss . She runs in my head and heart 
 
 more than she has any right to, but then 
 
 A pair of black eyes 
 
 Of a charming size, 
 And a lip so prettily curled, 0! 
 
 Are enough to capsize 
 
 The intentions wise 
 Of any man of the world, ! 
 
 Oh a gentle heart 
 
 Is the better part 
 Of a lovely woman s looks, 0! 
 
 And I totter on the brink 
 
 Of love when I think, 
 When I think, when I think of Miss B , 0! 
 
 "By Jove! I like that better than anything I ve 
 written for two years. I wrote it con amore and 
 currente calamo. " 
 
 The fair one thus celebrated was Caroline, the 
 daughter of Squire Nathan Brooks. Two years 
 earlier, when Rockwood Hoar had spent his days 
 in study at his father s office, she was, no doubt, 
 playing about her father s yard exactly opposite ; 
 
 1 See James Russell Lowell, by Horace E. Scudder, from which 
 also are quoted the verses following. 
 
32 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 and in the evenings, when he was reading Plato 
 with another, she was in bed. Lowell s time of 
 rustication was so short that he escaped complete 
 enthralment, but Rockwood at Cambridge heard 
 his mates in the Law School talking of a visit to 
 Concord and of a young girl there who had sung 
 to them and fascinated them. " About whom are 
 you talking?" "Caroline Brooks." "I think 
 I had better go up and take a look at her." He did 
 so ; to her lover s good opportunity, strong and 
 clear mind and faithful industry she added an 
 incentive, and on November 20, 1840, he married 
 Caroline Downes Brooks. 
 
 The young people began their domestic life in 
 the eastern half of the double house on the Main 
 Street, close to Squire Hoar s, which furnished 
 shelter in turn to many new-married couples. The 
 marriage proved a very happy one, and the rising 
 lawyer greatly enjoyed domestic life, although Mrs. 
 Hoar s health was not good for many years. In due 
 time seven children were born to them, namely, 
 Caroline, Sarah Sherman (died in infancy), Samuel, 
 Charles Emerson, Clara Downes, Elizabeth and 
 Sherman. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 LAW AND POLITICS 
 
 To one who knows only the Concord of the last 
 half-century it might seem strange that an able 
 and aspiring young lawyer should choose this little 
 country town for the centre of his work. It is in 
 deed recorded that an eminent lawyer of an elder 
 day whose associations were all with Boston, se 
 lected Billerica as the place in which to open his 
 first office. When asked why he chose Billerica, 
 he said, " Well, I had to break into the world some 
 where and Billerica was the weakest spot I knew." 
 This was not young Hoar s reason for choosing 
 Concord. Boston, with but a small fraction of its 
 present population, was as far off then as Spring 
 field or Hartford is now, according as one took the 
 express or accommodation stage-coach, the former 
 running but three times a week. Concord, a shire- 
 town, was an important centre, especially for the 
 through traffic by team; and the farmers passing 
 on their wagons, or the keepers of the large 
 country stores, needed or desired legal advice. 
 
 Twice in the year the session of the court for 
 from two to four weeks gave dignity and import 
 ance to the town. Wesson s, Bigelow s and Shep- 
 ard s taverns were filled with guests, and their 
 
34 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 stables with horses, while the chaises and buggies 
 solidly packed on the Common occupied perhaps 
 an eighth of an acre. When the Court House bell 
 clanged its loud summons, the sheriff and his 
 deputies in uniform, with sword and long staves 
 respectively, waited upon the Judge at the tavern 
 door, and escorted him to the court, followed by 
 the members of the bar in due order, and the 
 constable brought the manacled prisoners from 
 the jail opposite. All the leaders of the bar ap 
 peared at Concord in those days, and the citizens 
 flocked to hear them argue and to admire their 
 skill in fence. Indeed court, Muster and Cattle- 
 show weeks broke the monotony of village life, 
 which, in the absence of such distractions, moved 
 no faster than the oxen then in general use. 
 
 It is not surprising that Rockwood Hoar met with 
 immediate success at the bar. He was well intro 
 duced by the established reputation of his father 
 and his family connection. He possessed more 
 over in unusual measure the qualities which the 
 old-fashioned citizens of Massachusetts prized, 
 common sense, directness, honesty and a keen wit. 
 He understood the tastes and feelings of the juries 
 whom he addressed, and they understood him. 
 They believed what he said, approved his way of 
 saying it, and enjoyed his quick thrusts at his 
 opponents. He was a sound adviser and a good 
 fighter. He won the confidence of clients, and their 
 confidence was justified by results. He won a high 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 35 
 
 position at the Middlesex bar when it was recog 
 nized generally as an able and hard-fighting bar, 
 and numbered among its members were Albert H. 
 Nelson, Chief Justice of the Superior Court of 
 Suffolk; Josiah G. Abbott of the same court; Judge 
 Thomas Hopkinson ; Judge Seth Ames ; George F. 
 Farley ; Tappan Wentworth ; Ephraim Buttrick ; 
 Charles R. Train and Benjamin F. Butler. 
 
 In 1842 the young lawyer was associated with 
 Daniel Webster, Franklin Dexter and Rufus 
 Choate in the defence of William Wyman, who was 
 indicted for embezzling the funds of a bank in 
 Charlestown. This case was tried three times, 
 first in Concord, then in Lowell, finally in Concord. 
 The first trial resulted in a disagreement, the 
 second in a conviction which was set aside by the 
 Supreme Court. Senator Hoar says that as they 
 were going into the Court House on the morn 
 ing of the third trial "Mr. Choate said to Mr. 
 Hoar, whose chief part in the trial so far had 
 been . . . hunting up authorities and taking notes 
 of the evidence, You made a suggestion to me at 
 the last trial which I did not attend to much at the 
 time, but I remember thinking afterwards that 
 there was something in it/ Mr. Hoar replied, It 
 seems to me that Wyman cannot be convicted 
 of embezzlement unless the funds of the bank 
 were entrusted to him. They must either have 
 been in his immediate possession, or under his 
 control. There is nothing in the office of Pre- 
 
36 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 sident which involves such an authority/ The 
 facts alleged against Wyman were that he had 
 authorized the discount of the notes of some 
 friends of his who were irresponsible, and that he 
 had in some way shared the proceeds. Mr. Choate 
 seized upon the suggestion. . . . When the Govern 
 ment case closed, the counsel asked the Court to 
 rule that, as the funds were never entrusted to 
 the possession of Wyman, he could not be con 
 victed of embezzlement. The Court so held and 
 directed an acquittal." 
 
 This case, so vigorously contested by such emi 
 nent counsel, was a cause celebre ; but, as Senator 
 Hoar adds : " This is another instance, not unusual 
 in trials in court, of the truth of the old rhyme 
 with which the readers of Quentin Durward are 
 familiar 
 
 The page slew the boar, 
 The peer had the gloire/ " 
 
 It was in the course of this trial that Squire 
 Hoar said to his son when he came home at night : 
 "Well, Rockwood, how is Mr. Webster to-day?" 
 to which the son replied : " Mr. Webster, father, 
 has a bad cold, and it seems to have settled on his 
 temper." Tantsene animis ccelestibus irse ? 
 
 As all Americans should, Hoar felt his responsi 
 bility as a citizen and bore a man s part in the 
 politics of the time. The great Harrison campaign 
 of 1840 offered him his first opportunity, and in 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 37 
 
 the spring of that year he was a delegate to the 
 Whig Young Men s Convention for Middlesex 
 County and was chosen secretary of the conven 
 tion. In the autumn he spoke frequently for the 
 Whig candidate and at some meetings in his 
 district was the principal speaker. He also deliv 
 ered an address, "The Dignity of Labor," at the 
 Middlesex Agricultural Exhibition on October 7, 
 1840, of which a contemporary journal said it 
 " was a production of much merit, in which the 
 orator ably vindicated the usefulness, respectabil 
 ity and dignity of labor." Thus he began to lead 
 his fellow-citizens almost as soon as he was ad 
 mitted to the bar. 
 
 Judge Keyes bears witness to his executive 
 ability at this time, which he says was shown in 
 connection with the great political gathering of 
 Whigs at Concord during the Harrison campaign, 
 when not only were the roads filled, but great 
 numbers came on canal-boats poled up from the 
 Merrimac and even from the Mystic by the Mid 
 dlesex Canal. A bridge of these boats was made 
 at the Battle-ground, and the " Hard Cider Clubs " 
 literally " kept the ball a-rolling through Concord 
 streets with cries of Tippecanoe and Tyler too. 
 The young lawyer Hoar was chairman of the ex 
 ecutive committee and did himself credit. Again, 
 in 1844, in the campaign between Polk and Clay, 
 his abilities were tested. 
 
 In the same decade was a celebration, more quiet 
 
38 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 and of far-reaching purpose, a sober festival of the 
 workers in the temperance movement, then surely 
 justified in New England and which did great 
 good. Temperance seems then to have been used 
 in its right sense, and not as equivalent to total 
 abstinence. This gathering was held in Deacon 
 Brown s pretty pasture, circled with a ridge of oaks 
 and pines, " Sleepy Hollow," then reached only by 
 a lane. The chief marshal of the occasion, glorious 
 on horseback, presumably with beaver hat, broad 
 blue ribbon, and white trousers, was young Mr. 
 Hoar, the nearest approach to military display 
 ever known of him. 
 
 The stream of events was bearing the country 
 rapidly toward the inevitable rupture between the 
 advocates of slavery and its opponents. The rapid 
 growth of the free North and West threatened to 
 give the friends of freedom the control of the 
 Senate, and hence the slave owners wished to re 
 store the balance by adding slave states on the 
 south. To carry out this purpose they were de 
 termined to annex Texas, and this movement was 
 resisted vigorously in the North. The election of 
 Harrison quieted the agitation, but when Tyler 
 succeeded to the Presidency, the situation was 
 changed and in 1844 Calhoun as his Secretary of 
 State concluded an annexation treaty with Texas. 
 This was defeated after an exciting discussion in 
 June, 1844, and in the autumn of that year Polk 
 was elected on a platform favoring immediate an- 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 39 
 
 nexation. This was accomplished by joint resolu 
 tion in March, 1845, and Texas being now terri 
 tory of the United States, the question arose 
 whether it should be admitted as one or more slave 
 states. As the Whigs had a majority in the House 
 of Representatives, this could be prevented if 
 they stood together, and hence an agitation imme 
 diately began against the admission of Texas. 
 
 Until the annexation was accomplished, the 
 Whig party of Massachusetts under the lead of 
 Webster and Winthrop had been united against 
 it. When however Texas had been annexed, these 
 leaders seemed disposed to abandon the contest 
 and to take up other issues, and hence the autumn 
 of 1845 was a very critical moment in the coun 
 try s history as well as in the politics of Massa 
 chusetts. It was then that Charles Sumner first 
 took part in a political meeting, and expressed in 
 public his opposition to slavery. 
 
 In any event Rockwood Hoar could not have 
 helped being interested in the contest against the 
 annexation of Texas, to which the Whig party 
 was so strongly opposed, and doubtless his feel 
 ings were more strongly stirred by the expulsion 
 of his father from South Carolina, which occurred 
 in November, 1844. This brought directly home 
 to him the lawless intolerance of the slaveholder, 
 and cannot have failed to move deeply a man 
 with his ingrained regard for freedom and for 
 law. In January, 1845, his father and he both 
 
40 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 signed the call fora great anti-annexation meeting, 
 which was held in Faneuil Hall on January 29th. 
 
 Early in September, a call was issued for a 
 meeting in Concord to "take into consideration 
 the encroachments of the Slave Power and to 
 recommend such action as justice and patriotism 
 shall dictate to resist those encroachments, and 
 assist the progress of events so rapidly tending 
 to that fearful consummation when slavery shall 
 have complete control over the policy of the gov 
 ernment and the destinies of the country." 
 
 At this meeting E. R. Hoar was one of the 
 " business committee " and was made chairman 
 of a committee to confer with the general com 
 mittee appointed by the anti-Texas convention 
 held the preceding January in Faneuil Hall, and, 
 with other opponents of annexation, to arrange for 
 meetings and in other ways to organize an effi 
 cient resistance to the final consummation of that 
 movement. 
 
 The resolutions adopted declared : 
 
 "We solemnly announce our purpose to the 
 South, and to the execution of that purpose we 
 pledge ourselves to the country and before Heaven, 
 that rejecting all compromise, without restraint or 
 hesitation, in our private relations and in our po 
 litical organizations, by our voices and our votes, 
 in Congress or out, we will use all practicable 
 means for the extinction of slavery on the Amer 
 ican Continent." 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 41 
 
 The Boston " Post " spoke of the meeting con 
 temptuously, and from its article the following 
 extract is taken. 
 
 " Wilson and Hoar, Jr., did indeed defend their 
 milk-and-water resolution, which looked one way 
 and rowed the other, but no defence of Mr. Win- 
 throp did they dare to utter in that assemblage of 
 spirits, black, white and gray." 
 
 This meeting was followed by two others in 
 Concord, on October 1 and October 21, at both of 
 which Hoar spoke, but of these speeches no record 
 seems to have been preserved, doubtless because, 
 as E. L. Pierce tells us : 
 
 "The Whig journals of Boston, notably the 
 Advertiser/ while assiduous in reporting Whig 
 meetings, ignored these popular protests against 
 this creation of a slave state out of foreign terri 
 tory acquired for the purpose." 
 
 The tone of the meetings is, however, indicated 
 by the following resolution, which was offered by 
 Mr. Garrison, and adopted unanimously on Octo 
 ber 21:- 
 
 "Resolved, that, should the perfidious and il 
 legal act of Texas annexation be consummated at 
 the next session of Congress, it will be the con 
 stitutional duty of the legislature of Massachu 
 setts promptly to declare in the name of the peo 
 ple that such act is null and void, and can never 
 receive their sanction, be the consequences what 
 they may " ; 
 
42 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 and by the resolution reported by the " business 
 committee " and also adopted : 
 
 " Resolved, that we will not, by our votes or our 
 influence, help to sustain any party or any candi 
 dates for office who will not, on all occasions, op 
 pose a manful resistance to the encroachments of 
 slavery." 
 
 This movement culminated in a great meeting 
 held at Faneuil Hall on November 4, 1845, over 
 which Charles Francis Adams presided, and which 
 was addressed by Palfrey, Sumner, Dr. Channing, 
 Phillips, Emerson and others. This meeting ap 
 pointed a committee to further its objects, and on 
 this Hoar was associated with Adams, Sumner, 
 Phillips, Garrison, Channing, Whittier and others. 
 The protest was unsuccessful, for Texas was ad 
 mitted in December, 1845, with a slave consti 
 tution; but it was a victory which was worse 
 for slavery than a defeat, since it laid the foun 
 dation for the active opposition to slave-holding 
 aggression which ended in civil war and emanci 
 pation. 
 
 The Anti-Texas Committee emphasized this re 
 sult in an address written by Charles Francis 
 Adams and issued when the contest was over, 
 which closed with the words, "The contest about 
 Texas has been fought and lost, the Constitution 
 trampled under foot, and the Spirit of Liberty is 
 driven from her natural home ; but unnumbered 
 fields yet remain, each of which should be the sub- 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 43 
 
 ject of a greater contest than the last, until either 
 the institution of slavery shall be overthrown, or 
 else the Samson of the North, intoxicated by the 
 cup of worldly prosperity, and enfeebled by his 
 dalliance with the harlot . . . shall ultimately 
 perish." In issuing this address the members of 
 the committee took the vow of eternal hatred to 
 slavery, which, like Hannibal s oath against Rome, 
 was to bear fruit in blood. 
 
 Hoar was a candidate for the State Senate at 
 the autumn election of 1845, but failing to receive 
 a majority of the votes cast, which was then neces 
 sary to elect, he was chosen by the Legislature 
 in joint convention. He was an active and influen 
 tial member of the Senate, and in one speech 
 made an enduring contribution to the history of 
 the time. Towards the close of the session Henry 
 Wilson introduced resolutions against the annex 
 ation of Texas, and urging opposition to slave- 
 holding aggression. These were vigorously opposed 
 in the interest of the cotton manufacturers, one 
 of whom said that Massachusetts must submit. 
 Hoar replied with vigor and said among other 
 things : " It is as much the duty of Massachusetts 
 to pass resolutions in favor of the rights of men 
 as in the interests of cotton." It is said that dur 
 ing the debate he was taunted with being a " Con 
 science Whig," to which he replied that he would 
 rather be a Conscience Whig than a Cotton Whig. 
 However this may be, it is certain that from what 
 
44 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 he said at this time came the names "Cotton 
 Whigs " and " Conscience Whigs " thereafter used 
 to designate the two factors into which the Whig 
 party was divided by the annexation and admis 
 sion of Texas. 
 
 The unjustifiable course of President Folk s ad 
 ministration in forcing war upon Mexico imme 
 diately after the admission of Texas gave rise to 
 the next struggle between the two wings of the 
 party, and served to widen the breach. A bill 
 providing men and money to prosecute the war, 
 with a preamble reciting that the " war existed 
 by the act of Mexico," was passed in the House 
 of Representatives in May, 1846, but under the 
 lead of John Quincy Adams all the Massachusetts 
 members except Mr. Winthrop and one other voted 
 against it. Mr. Winthrop was attacked sharply for 
 this vote by Mr. Adams and afterward by Mr. 
 Sumner, and the sentiment of Massachusetts dis 
 approved the war. The difference was felt in the 
 state convention of the Whig party, held on Sep 
 tember 23, 1846, where the question was whether 
 the party should or should not take a distinctly 
 aggressive position against slavery. Rockwood 
 Hoar, who was a member of the Whig State Com 
 mittee, had the resolutions drawn by that commit 
 tee amended, so as to make them more positive on 
 the slavery question, but took no prominent part 
 in the convention. Indeed, the resolution of the 
 committee was in itself so positive that he could 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 45 
 
 hardly have deserted his associates on account 
 of it. 
 
 In the autumn of this year he was instrumental 
 in securing the nomination of Dr. Palfrey by the 
 Whigs as representative in Congress from the 
 Middlesex District, and in overcoming the latter s 
 reluctance to serve. Dr. Palfrey wrote to him 
 declining the nomination at first, and Mr. Hoar 
 replied, urging that it was his duty to accept it, 
 closing his letter thus : - 
 
 " We want for representative at this time a man 
 of principle, a man of energy, a man of courage. 
 We want a man who entertains sound views upon 
 the great question of the age, and who has the 
 power to express and enforce them with ability 
 and effect. In short, my dear sir, we want you." 
 
 Dr. Palfrey yielded to his argument, and failing 
 to receive a majority at the general election, was 
 chosen by a small majority at a special election 
 held shortly afterward. With the election of 1846 
 the immediate opportunities for political action 
 ceased for a while, and in the summer of 1847 
 Mr. Hoar took a vacation, crossing the ocean for 
 the only time in his busy life. 
 
 In Thomas Carlyle s letter to his friend, Mr. 
 Emerson (May 18, 1847), he says :- 
 
 " About a week ago came your neighbour Hoar, 
 a solid, sensible, effectual-looking man, of whom 
 I hope to see much more. So soon as possible I 
 got him under way for Oxford, where I suppose 
 
46 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 he was last week ; both Universities was too much 
 for the limits of his time, so he preferred Oxford ; 
 and now, this very day, I think, he was to set out 
 for the Continent, not to return till the beginning 
 of July, when he promises to call here again. There 
 was something really pleasant to me in this Mr. 
 Hoar ; and I had innumerable things to ask him 
 about Concord, concerning which topic we had 
 hardly got a word said when our first interview 
 had to end. I sincerely hope he will not fail to 
 keep his time in returning." 
 
 In Mr. Emerson s answer, dated Concord, June 
 4, 1847, he says : "It seems you are not tired of 
 pale Americans. You have sent one country-sen 
 ator where he wanted to go, and to the best hos 
 pitalities, as we learn directly from him." 
 
 Judge Hoar told a friend that, when he was in 
 Rome in 1847, and his party were going to leave 
 next morning, one of them at dinner said, " Well, 
 you haven t swum across the Tiber yet, after all " ; 
 for the Judge had wished to know just what the 
 feat of Horatius Codes was, and had said he meant 
 to do it if he could. Next morning he arose at four, 
 and after much difficulty in getting the porter 
 to unbar and unlock the doors, went out along 
 the Corso, through the Porto del Popolo, and down 
 to the river-bank above the city where houses 
 were few, stripped and swam the Tiber (possibly 
 ten rods wide), but found the current strong, and 
 was swept down so as to make a long diagonal, 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 47 
 
 much more than he had calculated on. He then 
 walked far up the bank, and swam back to as near 
 his clothes as possible without exhaustion, and at 
 breakfast was able to say to the company, " If I 
 had n t swum the Tiber, as you said, last night, 
 I have now swum it twice." 
 
 To his son Samuel his father said that an 
 Englishman stood on the bank, and wrote home 
 that the American did this to show that what 
 tired Caesar was not so much of a feat after all. 
 At which remark Judge Hoar was indignant. 
 
 His holiday in Europe was pleasant, but short. 
 His active mind stored many impressions of the 
 past, but he returned to America and threw his 
 manhood into the present, the struggle for right 
 against temporary gain. Richard H. Dana, his 
 valiant companion in this cause, said of that pe 
 riod, " The spindles and day-books are against us 
 just now, for Free-Soilism goes to the wrong side 
 of the ledger." Soon after his return, on the 
 meeting of Congress, Dr. Palfrey justified Mr. 
 Hoar s opinion of his courage by voting against 
 Mr. Winthrop, the Whig candidate for Speaker of 
 the House, an act which exposed him to the 
 fiercest criticism, satirized by Lowell in the " Re 
 marks of Increase D. OThace, Esquire," one of 
 the Biglow Papers. The Conscience Whigs, as a 
 rule, approved Palfrey s course. 
 
 The following letter from his stanch supporter, 
 Mr. Hoar, written on December 17, 1847, shows 
 
48 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 how he regarded the matter, and something of 
 public opinion as seen by a keen observer. 
 
 " You must feel some desire to know how your 
 votes have impressed the people of No. 4, and if 
 you have not already heard in full from other 
 friends, perhaps I can add something. Some of 
 our loudest talking politicians are furious in their 
 denunciation, follow the pattern of the Atlas - 
 and talk about treachery, meetings to request you 
 to resign and all that. None of these men did 
 anything to promote your nomination or secure 
 your election, unless the giving a reluctant and 
 complaining vote might come under the latter, 
 and half of them have not even that sin to repent 
 of. I don t care for them a whit, for we have had 
 to encounter an undercurrent of their adverse in 
 fluence for some time, and I prefer it above board. 
 
 " Next is a class who are led in their opinions by 
 the Atlas/ and by these same talking politicians, 
 and who scold in concert, merely because scolding 
 is the great staple of all the noise that comes to 
 their ears at present, and who would go with us, 
 if we turn out the strongest, with equal hearti 
 ness, by-and-by. Then there is a large class com 
 prising some of our most reliable and generally 
 well-disposed Whigs, who feel great grief and can 
 hardly be comforted. They had hoped things would 
 have gone along smoothly. They disliked Slavery 
 and the War, but they loved the Whig party ; 
 and they fondly trusted that opposition to those 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 49 
 
 and devotion to this might somehow rub along 
 together. They say you ought to have yielded a 
 little, and not be quite so impracticable ; say that 
 it will make difficulty, that we shall not be able to 
 elect you again, nor any Whig, because of the 
 division this will make in the party. These to 
 gether make up most of the talking public, but on 
 the other hand there are not a few, and among 
 them some that the Whig party in the 4th would 
 sorely miss, who say they have no idea of having 
 you sacrificed to State Street fury that if there 
 is a meeting to be called, they should like to at 
 tend it, and that it might turn out differently 
 from the callers purpose ; who think that you 
 were sent to Congress for many purposes quite as 
 important as supporting Mr. Winthrop, and intend 
 to wait for other questions to decide upon your 
 character as a public man. There are some, too, 
 who like your independence, and I suspect among 
 the bulk of the people, this feeling prevails as 
 much as any. 
 
 " I will add my own opinion briefly. I think I 
 should have voted for Mr. Winthrop, with my 
 view of the risk attending a different vote, though 
 I should not have supported him in caucus ; but 
 I respect the principle which induced you to do 
 otherwise, and fully sympathize with the effort 
 which it must have cost you to do what appeared 
 to you right on the occasion, and about which you 
 are very likely more correct in your judgment 
 
50 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 than I am. You will perhaps consider it little 
 praise when I add, what I have said many times 
 since your vote, that I would much rather be re 
 presented by Mr. Palfrey than by Mr. Winthrop, 
 and that if the latter had as few political sins or 
 errors to answer for as you have, he would stand 
 much higher in my esteem than he does at pre 
 sent." 
 
 The year 1848 was an exciting time, especially 
 for the Whigs of Massachusetts, and from the 
 beginning Hoar was a leader. He was the man to 
 present the cause of right with aggressive courage, 
 logically, and with what Sumner always lacked, 
 a saving sense of humor. Governor Claflin, recall 
 ing him " in the stirring times of 48," said : 
 
 " He was the idol of the young men, who early 
 realized his surprising ability. No one did more to 
 give tone to Free-Soilers. His unselfishness made 
 his counsel much sought in the formation of a 
 new party. Legal questions often came up, and all 
 eyes turned to him as the man to be trusted." 
 
 Daniel Webster, of whom the state was very 
 proud, was a candidate for the Presidency, and 
 the Whigs of the Commonwealth were enlisted in 
 his support. Till that time he had opposed slavery, 
 and in this very year he said in the Senate : - 
 
 " My opposition to the increase of slavery in 
 this country, or to the increase of slave represen 
 tation in Congress, is general and universal. It 
 has no reference to lines of latitude or points of 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 51 
 
 the compass. I shall oppose all such extension and 
 all such increase at all times, under all circum 
 stances, even against all inducements, against all 
 combinations, against all compromises." l 
 
 Hoar admired and believed in Webster, as did 
 all but the most radical of the Conscience Whigs. 
 
 Charles Sumner s letter to Dr. Palfrey, April 
 23, 1848, throws some light on the situation. 
 
 " There is a movement at the State House to 
 nominate Webster. E. Rockwood Hoar and Charles 
 R. Train promote it. The former invited me to 
 favor it. I told him that I could not regard Web 
 ster as the representative of our sentiments ; that 
 he had been totally remiss on slavery and the 
 war. It was proposed to issue an address setting 
 forth the Wilmot Proviso as the platform, and 
 showing significantly that Taylor would be op 
 posed in Massachusetts. All these I welcomed ; at 
 the same time I said that, if Webster were pre 
 sented as a candidate on these grounds, our pre 
 sent policy would be silence ; we could not oppose 
 him, nor join in introducing him as a candidate. 
 Hoar says that the address and resolutions are 
 well drawn and satisfactory. He has evidently 
 felt the fascination of Webster s presence. Web 
 ster told him that he would not oppose the nominee 
 of the Whig convention, but that he would never 
 call on the people to support Taylor, though he 
 might be nominated. " 2 
 
 1 G. F. Hoar s Autobiography, p. 145. 
 
 3 E. L. Pierce s Memoir of Charles Sumner, vol. iii, p. 164. 
 
52 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 Hoar threw himself into the campaign with 
 courage and energy. On March 29, at the Whig 
 convention in his district called to choose dele 
 gates to the National Convention, he offered a 
 resolution introduced by Dr. Palfrey at the State 
 convention of the previous year, declaring that 
 " in the opinion of this convention the Whigs of 
 Massachusetts will not vote for any person for 
 President or Vice-President who is not known by 
 his acts or declared opinions to be opposed to the 
 extension of slavery." At this convention he was 
 a candidate for delegate, but was defeated, very 
 likely because of his position as expressed in this 
 resolution, which was voted down by the conven 
 tion. Before the Whig convention met at Phila 
 delphia he had, with a party of young Whigs, 
 called on Webster, and, in reply to a speech from 
 him, Webster had said in substance that he would 
 not support Taylor if he were nominated, speak 
 ing of him as "a swearing, fighting frontier 
 colonel." As the day fixed for the convention ap 
 proached it became more and more apparent that 
 Taylor would be nominated, and Hoar prepared 
 an address to be issued at once if this happened, 
 which was approved at a meeting held on June 5, 
 1848, by C. F. Adams, Sumner, Henry Wilson, 
 S. C. Phillips, F. W. Bird, and others. It was a 
 call for a convention to be held at Worcester in 
 Massachusetts of all persons opposed to both Cass 
 and Taylor. Taylor was nominated on June 9, and 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 53 
 
 on the 10th the address was issued, signed by 
 Samuel Hoar, Adams, Sumner, E. R. Hoar, and 
 many others. It is quoted here as the first piece 
 of Hoar s political writing which has been pre 
 served, and as a vigorous statement of the posi 
 tion then held by the anti-slavery Whigs. 
 
 TO THE PEOPLE OF MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 The Whig National Convention have nominated 
 General Taylor for President of the United States. 
 In so doing they have exceeded their just author 
 ity, and have proposed a candidate whom no 
 Northern Whig is bound to support. 
 
 HE is NOT A WHIG, when tried by the standard 
 of our party organization. He has never voted for 
 a Whig candidate, has declared that the party 
 must not look to him as an exponent of its princi 
 ples, that he would accept the nomination of the 
 Democratic party, and that he would not submit 
 his claims to the decision of the Whigs, acting 
 through their regularly constituted convention. 
 
 HE is NOT A WHIG, if judged by the opinions he 
 entertains upon questions of public policy. Upon 
 the great questions of currency and finance, of 
 internal improvements, of protection to American 
 industry, so far from agreeing with the Whigs, he 
 has distinctly avowed that he has formed no opin 
 ion at all. 
 
 HE is NOT A WHIG, if measured by the higher 
 
54 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 standard of principle, to which the Whigs of 
 Massachusetts and of the North have pledged 
 themselves solemnly, deliberately, and often. He 
 is not opposed to the extension of slavery over 
 new territories, acquired, and to be acquired by 
 the United States. He is a slave-holder, and has 
 been selected because he could command votes 
 which no Whig from the Free States could re 
 ceive. 
 
 To make room for him, the trusted and faithful 
 champions of our cause have all been set aside. 
 
 The Whigs of Massachusetts, by their legisla 
 ture, and in their popular assemblies, have re 
 solved that opposition to the extension of slavery 
 is a fundamental article of their political faith. 
 They have spoken with scorn and upbraiding of 
 those Northern Democrats who would sacrifice 
 the rights and the interests of the Free States 
 upon the altar of party subserviency. 
 
 The Whigs of the legislature have recently 
 declared to the country " that if success can at 
 tend the party only by the sacrifice of Whig prin 
 ciples, or some of them," they do not mean to be 
 thus successful; that they are determined "to 
 support a candidate who will not suffer us to be 
 overbalanced by annexations of foreign territory, 
 nor by the further extension of the institution of 
 slavery, which is equally repugnant to the feel 
 ings, and incompatible with the political rights of 
 the Free States " ; and that they " believe it to 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 55 
 
 be the resolute purpose of the Whig people of 
 Massachusetts to support these sentiments, and 
 carry into effect the designs which they mani 
 fest." 
 
 Believing that the support of General Taylor s 
 nomination is required by no obligation of party 
 fidelity, and that to acquiesce in it would be the 
 abandonment of principles which we hold most 
 dear, treachery to the cause of freedom, and the 
 utter prostration of the interests of free labor 
 and the rights of free men : - 
 
 The undersigned, Whigs of Massachusetts, call 
 upon their fellow-citizens throughout the Com 
 monwealth, who are opposed to the nomination 
 of CASS and TAYLOR, to meet in convention at 
 Worcester, on Wednesday, the twenty-eighth day 
 of June current, to take such steps as the occasion 
 shall demand, in support of the PRINCIPLES to 
 which they are pledged, and to cooperate with the 
 other Free States in a convention for this pur 
 pose. 
 
 On June 28, 1848, pursuant to the call, the Free- 
 Soil convention assembled at Worcester, and 
 among its members were Samuel Hoar, who pre 
 sided over it, Sumner, Wilson, Allen, Dana, Gar 
 rison, E. R. Hoar, and many other leading Massa 
 chusetts men. These names stand to us now for 
 all that was best in that stirring time, but some 
 of their contemporaries were not equally im- 
 
56 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 pressed, regarding these "Mugwumps" with modi 
 fied enthusiasm. The Boston "Courier" found 
 "their speculations too transcendental for this 
 dusty and drab-colored world." The Boston 
 "Herald," less politely and with not entirely con 
 sistent vituperation, characterized them as the 
 "fag end of a miserable fanatical faction," as 
 " political pharisees," " knaves as rotten and hol 
 low at heart as they are noisy and impudent in 
 profession," "canting charlatans," "vagabondiz 
 ing imbeciles," "drivelling and impertinent 
 knaves," and later said of their meeting in August 
 at Faneuil Hall : " Satan never congregated such 
 a host in Pandemonium " ; while the conservative 
 " Advertiser " called the convention " Nothing but 
 an Abolition meeting, drawing to itself malcon 
 tents of all classes." 
 
 "For so persecuted they the prophets which 
 were before you." 
 
 Rockwood Hoar took a leading part in this con 
 vention ; he was one of a committee to prepare an 
 address and resolutions, one of the committee to 
 nominate a state central committee, and one of 
 the prominent speakers. No full publication of his 
 speech was made, but it was variously described 
 as "impressively eloquent" by the Worcester 
 "Palladium," as "a speech of great force and 
 power " by the " Whig," and in " Warrington s " 
 first letter to the Springfield "Republican " as "a 
 first-rate speech." 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 57 
 
 The Committee on Resolutions had difficulty in 
 framing a statement in regard to Mr. Webster, 
 whom the advanced Free-Soilers distrusted, and it 
 finally took this form : - 
 
 " That Massachusetts is now looking to Daniel 
 Webster to declare to the Senate and to uphold be 
 fore the country the policy of the free states ; that 
 she is relieved to know that he has not advised 
 the support of General Taylor, and that she in 
 vokes him at this crisis to turn a deaf ear to op 
 portunists and quietists/ and to speak and act 
 as his heart and great mind shall lead him." 
 
 On July 7, a ratification meeting was held in 
 Faneuil Hall, at which Rockwood Hoar made a 
 speech which is thus described in the " Liberator " 
 of July 14 : - 
 
 "E. R. Hoar (son of the venerable man who was 
 so summarily ejected from South Carolina, though 
 the accredited agent of this Commonwealth in a 
 matter vitally affecting its sovereignty and the lib 
 erty of its citizens) made a speech at some length, 
 chiefly to prove that he and those who were act 
 ing with him were true to the Whig platform on 
 the subject of slavery ; that they presented to the 
 country no new issue, but were endeavoring to 
 redeem old Whig pledges by a consistent course 
 of action; that consequently they were neither 
 factious nor sectional in their spirit or object; 
 and declared that the Whig party had falsified its 
 professions and promises and selected a man for 
 
58 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 the presidency who had repeatedly declared that he 
 would not run as the candidate of any party. 
 
 " So far as the Whigs of the North were con 
 cerned, it was very easy to prove that they have 
 violated the most solemn pledges respecting the 
 extension of slavery ; but not so as regards the 
 Whigs of the South who had given no such 
 pledges. Mr. Hoar spoke in measured terms and 
 in a professional style, as though he were simply 
 making an ordinary plea at the bar, but occasion 
 ally he gave utterance to sentiments that were 
 warmly responded to, especially if they related to 
 the non-extension of slavery." 
 
 On the same day he issued an address, signed by 
 himself and six others, advocating the reelection 
 of Dr. Palfrey to Congress, in which, after a few 
 remarks faintly praising his opponent and eulogiz 
 ing Dr. Palfrey in comparison, the signers pro 
 ceeded, in part, as follows : 
 
 When the Whig National convention nominated 
 General Taylor, Mr. Palfrey could not, consist 
 ently with his principles and former professions, 
 consent to acquiesce in the support of that 
 nomination. No reasonable man could have ex 
 pected that he would do so ; and he expressed him 
 self favorably to the political action of those who 
 were determined to make opposition to the ex 
 tension of Slavery not only the paramount princi 
 ple in their party creed, but an indispensable re- 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 59 
 
 quisite in their candidates for office. He was 
 assured on all sides that his known discontent with 
 the nomination of General Taylor would not pre 
 vent his receiving again the support of the party 
 by whom he had been elected ; that if he would 
 only be silent, refrain from taking any part in 
 the presidential contest, and keep his opinions to 
 himself, he might be assured of the nomina 
 tion of the Whigs as well as that of the Free- 
 Soil Party and thus secure a triumphant reelection. 
 Such inducements, however, could not determine 
 his conduct. He would not consent to stifle his 
 honest convictions, or to conceal or suppress opin 
 ions which he sincerely entertained for the sake 
 of any object of political ambition. There had been 
 no change in his political views ; but he differed 
 with many of his respected friends in regard to 
 the course which honor, principle and conscience 
 required ; and he fearlessly followed the path 
 which to his own best judgment seemed to be 
 straightforward and true. 
 
 And now, Freemen of the Fourth District, 
 why should he not be reflected to the situation 
 which he so honorably fills? Is there any end to 
 be gained, except the gratification of an excited 
 and vindictive party spirit, by setting him aside? 
 What right, what interest of yourselves will not be 
 safe in his hands ? . . . You have sent him to Wash 
 ington as the standard-bearer of the principles of 
 Liberty and the rights of the North. And firmly, 
 
60 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 steadily, heroically he has executed that sacred 
 trust. He has never hesitated to stand up for the 
 interest and honor of Massachusetts, or to make 
 his voice heard on the side of freedom and of man. 
 And now shall he be struck down at home? Did 
 the South ever desert one who was thus faithful to 
 her cause ? And has the North less honor for her 
 champions ? What feelings do you think it would 
 excite in the minds of John C. Calhoun and Sena 
 tor Foote to learn that the man who has done what 
 Palfrey has done could fail of a reelection in 
 Massachusetts? Would they not laugh to scorn 
 your professions of devotion to freedom? 
 
 Massachusetts has lately lost a man whom she 
 sent to the national councils, not as a partisan, 
 but as a statesman and patriot. By a fortune 
 which seems too appropriate to be called accident, 
 the seat on the floor of Congress so long held by 
 the venerated Adams has fallen to the lot of Pal 
 frey. Is it not well that Massachusetts should still 
 have a representative who shall place questions 
 involving human liberty high above all others in 
 his regard? And from what district should he 
 rather be sent than from that which contains 
 within its borders the earliest and most conse 
 crated battlefields of Freedom? You can easily 
 find representatives who will draw their salary 
 and attend punctually in their places; who will 
 do whatever work their party imposes, and vote 
 regularly for such men and such measures as the 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 61 
 
 caucus shall have designated. But when her peo 
 ple shall have shown that they estimate party 
 fidelity above devotion to principle, to truth and 
 to duty, the race of fearless, true and independent 
 men, of such men as John G. Palfrey, will disap 
 pear from her public councils. 
 
 E. ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 JOHN C. PARK 
 JOHN H. SHAW 
 CHARLES MASON 
 GEORGE FARRAR 
 SULLIVAN FAY 
 ESTES HOWE 
 
 Hoar spoke at Lowell on July 3, and at Groton on 
 July 17, writing the next day to Charles R. Train : 
 " I made a pretty little speech to the Groton folks 
 last night. Stuck a pin there." 
 
 On July 11, he thus described the situation in 
 a letter to Dr. Palfrey : - 
 
 " I should have long since taken an opportunity 
 to express my thanks for documents received 
 from you, and for various obligations, which I feel 
 in common with many of your constituents, for 
 doings of yours of a more public nature, but for a 
 constant pressure upon my time, which has left 
 hardly space for breathing, much less for writing. 
 Allow me to do it now. You see and hear that we 
 are doing something to second your efforts with 
 how much success the future will show. I do be 
 lieve the heart of the people is sound and true 
 
62 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 but we have against us wealth, influence, the array 
 of great political names, and the whole power of 
 the press. Against these we have a cause that 
 will almost make its own way, and here and there 
 a newspaper and a determined man. The harvest 
 is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Still, I think 
 it is already settled, that Taylor cannot receive 
 the popular vote of Massachusetts Where we 
 do make an impression, it goes deep. It is not a 
 mere question of success for the time, though of 
 that I am more and more hopeful but an adhe 
 sion to principle that must ultimately triumph. . . . 
 
 " We are to have a convention, to choose dele 
 gates to Buffalo, at Concord on the first day of 
 August. We wish to have you meet and address 
 your constituents at some time soon after your re 
 turn. That would be a very favorable time and 
 place, if you can get away from Congress so soon, 
 and the announcement of your intended presence 
 would be an additional attraction of great power. 
 Do you think it would be possible for you to 
 come?" 
 
 On August 1, he called to order the convention 
 at Concord to which this letter referred, was made 
 chairman of the district committee and chairman 
 of the committee on resolutions. He threw him 
 self into the campaign in support of the Free-Soil 
 movement with great vigor, speaking at North 
 ampton on July 26, at Charlestown on September 5, 
 and in other places. 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 63 
 
 He was especially active in behalf of Dr. Pal 
 frey as a candidate for Congress, and the follow 
 ing letter to Charles R. Train on November 10, 
 1848, shows his strong feeling on the subject. 
 
 MY DEAR FELLOW, I meant to have seen you 
 again before you left Cambridge, to say one 
 serious word about politics. 
 
 I do not think the Whig convention was under 
 any obligation to nominate Palfrey ; but I think 
 the question whether that convention should nom 
 inate him, and whether the Whig voters of the 
 District should support him, depend upon very 
 different considerations, and should receive a very 
 different decision. But in particular, I think that 
 principle, and honor, and manliness, require of 
 you personally that you should not only vote for 
 him, which I know you intend to do, but that you 
 should give him your support. You can carry the 
 town of Framingham by your influence, if you 
 choose to exert it. I told Palfrey last August what 
 you and Nelson and I had said about it. I know you 
 can have no doubt who our representative ought 
 to be, and do for Heaven s sake say so. For your 
 own sake, don t put yourself in Nelson s position. 
 I think the disgrace to Massachusetts in the eyes 
 of the country, should Palfrey be defeated, would 
 be dreadful. 
 
 I told Palfrey there were three men in the dis 
 trict whom he might rely on through thick and 
 
64 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 thin. I had their own word for it and I hope 
 that two of them, at least, may redeem the pledge. 
 One will, by Heaven ! 
 
 Yours, 
 
 E. ROCKWOOD HOAR. 
 
 On November 6, he spoke at Woburn, and some 
 idea of his speech and of the interest which the 
 voters then took in public speaking may be gath 
 ered from the entry made in his diary by one of 
 the audience : 
 
 " Mr. E. R. Hoar has just concluded one of the 
 most sound and convincing addresses to the citi 
 zens of this town to which they ever listened. It was 
 full of dignity, candor and truth. The withering 
 rebuke he administered to the maligners of J. G. 
 Palfrey was enough to bring the blush of shame 
 to the cheek of the most degraded political harlot. 
 The appeal to the electors of the 4th district was 
 most patriotic and stirring. For three hours the 
 audience listened, uttering at frequent intervals 
 their decided approbation of the sentiments and 
 views of the speaker. It was a glorious close of 
 the speaking for the campaign. Let it be done in 
 sincerity, honor and conscience, and may the Lord 
 prosper the right ! " 
 
 Just before the election there was a rally at 
 Concord which the Judge thus described in a let 
 ter: 
 
 " The Court House was filled to its utmost ca- 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 65 
 
 pacity, some hundred and fifty ladies being among 
 the audience. I presided, and introduced Mr. Shaw. 
 He spoke for about an hour ; then we had a song, 
 and then I spoke for about twenty minutes by way 
 of introducing Palfrey. You know it is a favourite 
 subject, and whether I made a good speech or not 
 I cannot tell, but I gave them my full mind about 
 it, and I thought the people would have taken the 
 roof off the Court House. Mr. Palfrey spoke very 
 well for near two hours, and we broke up near 11 
 o clock with cheers innumerable." 
 
 It is interesting to know that in Concord old 
 men joined in the revolt for principle ; for Squire 
 Hoar and Squire Brooks were both speaking in 
 other towns on the night of this meeting. 
 
 The Free-Soil party cast only about 38,000 votes 
 in Massachusetts at the election in November, and 
 Dr. Palfrey failed of election. To him on the night 
 of the election Hoar wrote as follows: 
 
 CONCORD, Nov. 13, 1848. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I wrote to you some time ago, 
 and told you that you had some political friends 
 who would stand by you to the end. Some of them 
 have proved faithless, but my part of the pledge 
 has been redeemed so far to the extent of 
 my power. I made five speeches on the question 
 of your election during the last week, and we gave 
 you to-day in Concord a larger vote than has been 
 given this year by any party for any candidate for 
 any office. 
 
66 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 The vote stood, Palfrey, 157; Robinson, 143; 
 Thompson, 48; Van Buren had 140, and Phillips, 
 135. 
 
 We have heard from no other town, but if our 
 vote is any criterion, we must have reversed the 
 plurality in the district between Taylor and Van 
 Buren. 
 
 Our Taylor friends talked of electing Mr. 
 Thompson on first trial, but I believe no man can 
 be elected in the district while you live and will 
 consent to run. Some who voted for Thompson to 
 day say that they will vote for you next time. We 
 had one man to vote for you who has not voted 
 for ten years, and came twenty miles on purpose 
 to do it. No expresses are run for this election, 
 and I thought you might like to hear from your 
 friends here. If there is another trial, we will do 
 our utmost to give you a majority in Concord and 
 will carry the district at any rate. 
 
 We are hoping for good news to-morrow. 
 Very truly your friend, 
 
 E. ROCKWOOD HOAR. 
 
 A new election was ordered, and in anticipation 
 Mr. Hoar issued the following letter, which, though 
 printed, was marked " Private " : 
 
 November 22, 1848. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The result of the recent trial to 
 elect a Representative to Congress from the 4th 
 district has not been officially ascertained; but 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 67 
 
 enough is known to make it certain that there has 
 been no choice by the people, and to render it prob 
 able that Mr. Thompson has received a small plu 
 rality of votes. A new election will doubtless be 
 ordered by the Governor in the course of a few 
 weeks. 
 
 The Free-Soil District Committee wish to im 
 press upon your attention the importance of a 
 resolute, concerted, and vigorous effort to elect 
 John G. Palfrey on the next trial. There is every 
 reason to believe that such an effort would be at 
 tended with complete success. 
 
 I. The whole vote cast will probably be much 
 smaller than before. This is usually the case at a 
 special, compared with a general election. Many 
 of the Whigs, who voted the whole of the regular 
 ticket, will not turn out when the only object is to 
 defeat Mr. Palfrey. The only purpose which could 
 be intended in substituting Mr. Thompson for Mr. 
 Palfrey is the gratification of an excited and vin 
 dictive party spirit, and the great mass of the 
 party would not be governed by such a motive. 
 They know that Mr. Palfrey has been a faithful 
 and able representative, and that he is an honest 
 and highminded man ; and they will be satisfied 
 with the demonstration already made, and not at 
 tempt to prolong a useless contest. The Demo 
 cratic party, so far as it supported General Cass 
 and Mr. Robinson, will not probably rally again in 
 any considerable force. Without hope of success 
 
68 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 for their own candidate, they will make little ex 
 ertion. 
 
 II. At the late trial Mr. Palfrey gained about 
 twelve hundred votes compared with the presiden 
 tial election, and almost everywhere ran ahead of 
 his ticket. This, it must be remembered, was when 
 he was voted for at the same time, and in many 
 towns on the same ticket, with the State officers. 
 It shows the hold he has upon the respect and af 
 fections of the people ; and it may be reasonably 
 inferred, that, running alone, he will make a much 
 greater comparative gain. 
 
 III. There may reasonably be expected a large 
 accession to our strength from the Democratic 
 party. They are indignant at the defection of their 
 Southern allies in the late contest they know 
 that Mr. Palfrey has been an independent, fear 
 less, uncompromising asserter of the rights of the 
 North, and of the principles of freedom and hu 
 manity. They cannot expect to choose a candidate 
 of their own, and numbers will join us from a re 
 gard to the personal qualities of the candidate, 
 and to the character and honor of the district. 
 
 With these views and hopes, we ask you to see 
 that the organization of the Free-Soil party be 
 continued, and kept in an as efficient state as pos 
 sible. Try to have every voter brought to the polls 
 who voted for Mr. Palfrey at the last trial. The 
 same number of votes cast for him again, would 
 very likely ensure his election. But with the same 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 69 
 
 votes again, we shall doubtless have hundreds 
 which were thrown against us before, and which 
 will now go with us. Endeavor to have the Town 
 Committees active and vigilant. Bring out every 
 voter who will support Palfrey, of whatever politi 
 cal views. Do nothing to excite or arouse the feel 
 ings of the other parties, many of whom would 
 see Mr. Palfrey elected with satisfaction, or at 
 least without objection, if they are not made 
 angry. 
 
 We respectfully ask your personal cooperation 
 in promoting this object. 
 
 In behalf of the Committee, 
 
 ESTES HOWE, Secretary. 
 
 E. ROCKWOOD HOAR, Chairman. 
 
 Of this and the circumstances under which it 
 was prepared, he wrote to Dr. Palfrey as follows 
 on December 19, 1848 : - 
 
 I should have been glad to acknowledge sooner 
 the receipt of your letters, for which I felt greatly 
 obliged, but I have been sick ever since I saw you 
 at Cambridge, and for the last two weeks confined 
 to my bed with a bilious fever. In the midst of 
 it, however, I managed to dictate " an address to 
 the voters of the 4th District " which I have sent 
 to Dr. Howe, and suppose will be published. If it 
 is not so good as it ought to be, allowance must 
 be made for the peculiar circumstances of its pro 
 duction. I used your " brief" to some extent, tak- 
 
70 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 ing considerable liberties with it, as you will see 
 when you get the address. ... I do not expect 
 to be able to go out much, or attend to business 
 during this month (yesterday being the first day 
 that I have left my bed), but will try to see that 
 all proper efforts are made to bring out a full 
 vote. 
 
 It must have been gratifying to you, and did 
 me as much good as any medicine, to find that you 
 had the plurality by the official return of the 
 votes. 
 
 Your suggestion about Mr. Winthrop s persist 
 ence in his course relative to the appointment of 
 committees, came too late for me to use. I had 
 sent off the address, and I do not know that it 
 adds much to the argument. 
 
 In the hope that we may have some good news 
 to send you for the new year, and not having 
 strength to write more now, I am 
 
 Very truly your friend, 
 
 E. ROCKWOOD HOAR. 
 
 The new election resulted in another failure, 
 but the young Free-Soiler was no whit discouraged, 
 as the following letter shows : 
 
 BOSTON, January 5, 1849. 
 
 I feel mortified that, while your gain at the late 
 election is greater than in any other district, you 
 should still fall a few votes short of an election. 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 71 
 
 It makes me regret extremely that my illness 
 should have prevented my doing all that ought to 
 have been done in my capacity as Chairman of 
 the District Committee. I am not conscious that 
 I omitted anything within my power, but a little 
 more effort would have accomplished the object. 
 
 As it is, if the Governor orders another election 
 in February, we will give you 500 or 1000 major 
 ity if it is put off till March, the contest may 
 be prolonged but we shall make as strong an 
 effort as we can in either event. Mr. Thompson 
 may as well decline sooner as later. It is impossible 
 for him to be chosen while you live and will run. 
 
 I gave some personal attention to Concord, Lin 
 coln, and Acton ; for the other towns I had to rely 
 upon others wholly ; but there is hardly a town 
 but has done pretty well. . . . 
 
 Our friends mean to spur up the Legislature to 
 as good resolutions as they can, taking New York 
 for a pattern. The talk of a plurality law, which 
 was quite common for about a fortnight after the 
 November election, has all passed by. 
 
 The result of repeated trials was final defeat, 
 and Mr. Hoar s part in the contest may be gath 
 ered from the two following letters : 
 
 BOSTON, June 29, 1849. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I write in great haste, being much 
 pressed for time, but unwilling to defer longer an 
 
72 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 answer to your letter, to say in brief, that I do 
 not see how you can retire from the contest in the 
 4th District, consistently with the safety of the 
 Free-Soil Party there, or without injury to your 
 own reputation. It would be a great shock to your 
 friends, and would occasion a gratification to our 
 common opponents which you ought not to fur 
 nish. Your withdrawal would be considered a proof 
 of cowardice, and a yielding and sinking under 
 the attacks made upon you. 
 
 To your statement that you must engage in 
 some business which will afford an income, I can 
 only say that we have no claims superior to those 
 of your family, of course, but that if you never 
 went to Washington again, and engaged in pur 
 suits, which would make going there out of the 
 question, you ought still, in my judgment, to 
 allow yourself to stand as a candidate until you 
 are chosen. Then you can act with freedom. I 
 have seen nothing to shake my conviction that 
 you must be ultimately chosen, and probaUy at 
 the next trial. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 E. ROCKWOOD HOAR. 
 
 CONCORD, May 27, 1851. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I cannot forbear expressing 
 to you my grief and disappointment at the dis 
 astrous result of our election yesterday. No polit 
 ical event has ever given me such unmingled pain 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 73 
 
 and sorrow. Out of Cambridge and Charlestown 
 everything went well, and you have received more 
 votes than were ever before given to any candi 
 date in the district. There has been no faltering 
 or wavering, or omission of any practicable and 
 honorable exertions on the part of your support 
 ers and I cannot see that we have anything to 
 reproach ourselves with. The simple truth is, that 
 the number of the Boston gentlemen who sleep in 
 the district, and the malignity of the ancient 
 Democracy, have been too much for us. 
 
 There would have been no gratification of a 
 public nature so dear to my heart, as to have been 
 able to-day to congratulate your friends and the 
 Commonwealth upon your election. It is a private 
 consolation to feel that in defeat you retain the 
 affectionate sympathy, the thorough confidence, 
 and the admiration of your political associates, 
 and that you have commanded the respect, if you 
 could not win the support of your opponents. 
 
 I arn, Sir, with grateful and constant regard, 
 your friend, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 
 During the year 1848 Mrs. Hoar was obliged to 
 leave Concord on account of her health and to 
 reside for some time in a sanitarium at Flatbush 
 near New York. Her husband s letters to her dur 
 ing this period throw some light upon the life of 
 the active young lawyer and politician. His first 
 
74 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 letter after leaving her was written on October 8, 
 and from it come the following extracts : - 
 
 "On Monday I went to Lowell in a driving 
 storm, but encased in Mrs. Cornell s Rockaway 
 wagon, which has a glass to close it wholly in 
 front, and leather at the sides, making it very 
 comfortable. ... I returned home the same even 
 ing, and on Tuesday went to Boston and stayed 
 till the last train in the evening. Wednesday was 
 cattle-show. Dr. Palfrey did not come, and Mr. 
 Gray brought no one with him. We had a nice 
 day, however, and a good dinner, with the usual 
 amount of wit and good toasts. On Thursday the 
 Free-Soil Convention a fine dinner, four gentle 
 men as guests Dr. Palfrey nominated as our 
 candidate for Congress. The Taylor men on Tues 
 day nominated Benjamin Thompson in the place 
 of Palfrey. . . . Thursday night General Wilson 
 spent with us, and it was made hideous by the 
 yells of rowdies preparing for the next day, when 
 we had a muster and the usual quantity of rum 
 and noise. I spent it at Boston, and in the evening 
 went to Harvard to deliver a Free-soil speech, - 
 and had a grand houseful. Yesterday morning I 
 went down to Boston from Harvard, and up to 
 Lowell, and home by the evening train, and stayed 
 at the office till about midnight. To-day (my first 
 Sunday for three weeks), I went to Church. . . . 
 Sammy, having no Mama to impose upon, has 
 tried his hand on me, with more success, I am 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 75 
 
 ashamed to own, than I should have expected. . . . 
 We are to break up to-morrow. ... I go in the 
 special train to Boston, to stay most of the week 
 at the Miller trial." 
 
 On October 29, 1848, he wrote : - 
 
 " In the words of Dr. Watts, * Another six days 
 work is done/ and my good day comes after it ; 
 with some novelty this time. I did not get through 
 my work at Newton, where I have been the last 
 two days, until too late to get home even by the 
 special train, and had to hire a man to bring me 
 home at half past nine in the evening. I found our 
 house locked up, the key at Father s. ... I found 
 our hearth cold, and all sign of habitation gone, ex 
 cept the entry lamp on the post, which was lighted 
 and left for me, and the cat in the cellar, and the 
 kitten in the shed. I slept there, however, and 
 intend doing so again to-night, but have break 
 fasted and dined to-day at Father s. I locked the 
 front door on going to bed, and the first sound I 
 heard afterward was a knocking at my chamber 
 door and Hannah s voice saying, Your father sent 
 me up to tell you that breakfast was ready/ 
 How did you get in ? responded I. At the back 
 window, replied Hannah. Then you did not fasten 
 up the house when you left it, as I told you to/ 
 was the answer. . . . John Garrison is coming to 
 morrow if it does not rain, to set out some trees 
 and work in the garden for me, but the Supreme 
 Court begins, and my perpetual absence with it. 
 
76 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 The special train will end this week and then 
 my Boston life commences." 
 
 Again on November 5 : 
 
 " My own health (which you say I have not 
 spoken of) has been a pretty fair average for me, 
 considering that I have worked very hard. I gave 
 up politics for a while, not making a single speech 
 after the 6th of October (when I went to Harvard) 
 during that month. Last Wednesday evening we 
 had the finest Free-soil meeting of the season*at 
 the Court House, to hear and welcome Mr. Pal 
 frey. ... I went last night to Acton to make a 
 speech, and had a big house full, from all round 
 the neighborhood. A dozen or more went up from 
 Concord. I am going to-morrow night to Woburn 
 and on Thursday night to Cambridge, to make 
 speeches, which will end it, I hope. ... I am 
 working like a beaver." 
 
 On November 12, he wrote : 
 
 "At Woburn I gave some three or four hundred 
 Free-Soilers a speech three mortal hours long, 
 ending at near eleven o clock, which they stood 
 like heroes, ladies and all; and the next morning 
 I had to set off by daylight, in order to take the 
 morning train to Concord, so as to be in season to 
 vote, and put my letter into the Concord post- 
 office, which would enable you to get it on Thurs 
 day. This week has been full of politics, save that 
 the Supreme Court has been in session, since 
 Wednesday, and I have been busy there day-times. 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 77 
 
 I have made five speeches, chiefly on Mr. Palfrey 
 namely, at Woburn on Monday, at Cambridge 
 on Thursday, at Charlestown on Friday, and at 
 Lincoln last evening, ending off with one in Con 
 cord between 9 and 10 o clock in the evening. I 
 am entirely worn out and glad the contest is over. 
 To-morrow we vote, and I hope good things for 
 Palfrey, though we cannot hope to elect him on 
 the first trial, as Taylor had near 1300 more votes 
 than Van Buren in this Congressional District, 
 besides the Democratic throwing some 4500 for 
 Cass. Concord gave Cass 147, Van Buren 140, 
 Taylor 62, scattering 1. We mean to improve that 
 to-morrow." 
 
 From this last letter another extract shows the 
 real tenderness of the Judge : - 
 
 " My dear wife, you do not need any assurance 
 of my love, but I think of you every time I lie 
 down, and every time I rise up, and whenever I see 
 our children ; and our home is dreary without you. 
 I shall count all the time you are gone as so much 
 taken from the happiness of my life. I do not miss 
 you so much in all the whirl we have been in on 
 week days, but my Sundays have lost almost all 
 their comfort and happiness." 
 
 A slight flavor of domestic relations may be 
 gathered from this passage taken from a letter of 
 February 25, 1849 : - 
 
 " Sammy had a prodigious frolic with his Grand 
 father, Mr. Papa/ at dark, and was very much 
 
78 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 excited and elated ; but when bed-time came had 
 become so much tired that he felt contrary, and 
 on being asked by Grandpapa Brooks to kiss him 
 and say good-night, said, No, Ba shall kiss Aunty/ 
 and on my telling him, Sammy, say good-night, 
 Grandpapa/ turned his back upon me, and re 
 marked with some emphasis, Ba 9 will tink of it, 
 which caused an acceleration of his thoughts on 
 my part, which brought out the good-night, 
 Grandpapa with a jerk. But he went to bed at 
 last reconciled and amiable." 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 HIS FIRST SERVICE ON THE BENCH 
 
 IN July, 1849, Governor Briggs appointed Mr. 
 Hoar a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and 
 he took his seat on the bench at Boston on Sep 
 tember 11. If it be asked why a man so successful 
 at the bar and so deeply interested in the politics 
 of an exciting period was willing to accept thus 
 early in life a judicial position which necessarily 
 withdrew him from activities that seemed so con 
 genial, the answer probably is that his health 
 made a quieter life attractive. Judge Hoar was 
 never robust, his digestion was never strong, nor 
 was he ever fond of regular exercise. The con 
 finement and excitement of continual trials wore 
 upon his nerves, and he found it difficult to ban 
 ish his cases from his mind, so that his sleep was 
 disturbed and his general health affected. These 
 considerations doubtless influenced his decision. 
 
 He sat upon the bench for the next six years, 
 and brought to the discharge of his judicial duties 
 the sound common sense, the clear intelligence, 
 the incisive wit, and the power of statement for 
 which he was always distinguished. 
 
 His mind worked so much more quickly than 
 the minds of most men that he saw weak places 
 
80 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 in their armor of which they were unconscious, 
 and at times he could not resist the temptation 
 to point them out with unerring accuracy, not 
 always to the satisfaction of the victim. Many a 
 member of the bar winced under his shafts, and 
 showed his resentment outside the court-room, 
 but all recognized in him a strong, upright and 
 fearless judge, at whose hands justice would not 
 suffer. 
 
 As the judge of a trial court writes no opinions 
 which are reported, his acts and sayings are pre 
 served only by oral tradition which is apt to die 
 with his contemporaries, and but few reminiscences 
 of Judge Hoar s years on the Common Pleas Bench 
 have been preserved. Some anecdotes are still re 
 membered, but whether they narrate incidents of 
 his service in this court, or of his longer service 
 on the Supreme Bench, is not always clear. 
 
 Two years after his appointment the Fugitive- 
 Slave law was passed by Congress. He shared 
 the shame and indignation felt by men of honor 
 and humanity in the North. It was a touchstone, 
 and his own wisdom and virtue were soon put to 
 proof. 
 
 " It was a time," said Mr. Albert E. Pillsbury, 
 in his tribute to Judge Hoar after his death, "when 
 the slave-power was dictating action to the ex 
 ecutive, law to the legislator, and judgment to the 
 bench. But the ermine could not smother the fire 
 in him ; and it very soon became evident that 
 
HIS FIRST SERVICE ON THE BENCH 81 
 
 while he observed all the obligations of judicial 
 decorum, there was no power adequate to impose 
 any shackles on his hands or seal upon his lips. 
 One of the most striking and most creditable in 
 cidents of his career occurred at the time when 
 Burns was taken from Massachusetts back to slav 
 ery, when Judge Hoar charged the Grand Jury 
 of Suffolk to strictly inquire whether the militia of 
 Massachusetts had been unwarrantably used in 
 aiding in the capture and the return of the fugi 
 tive slave, and, if so, to indict and bring to the bar 
 of justice every man concerned, from the highest 
 official, civil or military, down to the last private." 
 
 So remote is that statute, that it is well to recall 
 its iniquitous provisions. It authorized the delivery 
 of a slave to his master by a commissioner of the 
 United States on the issuing of a warrant in the 
 state from which the slave was alleged to have 
 fled. The alleged fugitive was not allowed a jury 
 trial ; the claimant was not bound to prove that he 
 was a runaway a simple affidavit was enough. 
 Any harboring or aid given a fugitive, or refusal 
 to help in his seizure, was made a crime with 
 heavy penalties; while, as if to insult the magis 
 trates before whom the alleged fugitives were 
 brought, they were allowed a larger fee if they 
 delivered them to the claimants than if they dis 
 charged them. 
 
 In an ineffectual attempt to rescue Anthony 
 Burns, one of these fugitives, from the United 
 
82 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 States Court House in Boston, one of the Mar 
 shal s posse, Batchelder by name, was killed. 
 Judge Hoar held the next term of criminal court 
 in Suffolk. His charge to the Grand Jury was said 
 to have been " one of the best statements of the 
 law of riot, and of the duty both of citizens and 
 of judicial tribunals, in regard to the laws which 
 they believed to be unjust or wicked, to be found 
 in all jurisprudence." 
 
 This charge, made on July 3, 1854, and later 
 printed, deserves preservation. After defining a 
 riot and the responsibility of those taking part in 
 it, he proceeded : 
 
 "But it may be made to appear to you, that 
 within a few weeks the door of this Court House 
 was forcibly broken open, in the night-time, by a 
 large number of persons, and that in the course of 
 the transaction in which they were engaged, a 
 man lost his life ; and that the purpose of those 
 engaged in that assembly was to rescue from the 
 custody of the Marshal of the United States, a 
 person placed in his custody under a precept is 
 sued by an officer of the United States. If the 
 person whom he held were lawfully in his custody, 
 an attempt by force and violence to rescue him, 
 by three or more persons, carried wholly or par 
 tially into execution, would undoubtedly make 
 them rioters ; and if, in the course of their riotous 
 acts, any person was by one of them, acting in 
 pursuance of their unlawful design, killed, each 
 
HIS FIRST SERVICE ON THE BENCH 83 
 
 of the persons who were thus engaged would be 
 legally responsible for the death of that man, al 
 though it might not have been in their individual 
 contemplation to take his life." 
 
 He then laid down the law as follows : 
 " It is my duty to say to you that the law under 
 which that prisoner was detained, is a law binding 
 upon the citizens of this Commonwealth. It has 
 been enacted by the National Legislature, ap 
 proved by the President of the United States, and 
 held to be a constitutional enactment by that tri 
 bunal whose duty it is to determine the validity 
 of all laws under which the inhabitants of this 
 Commonwealth are placed ; and whatever opinions 
 we may individually entertain as to the correct 
 ness of that decision, no citizen of the Common 
 wealth has a legal right to disregard the decision 
 of the Supreme Court. It is binding upon all. It 
 is the duty of every inferior tribunal to regard 
 what they have decided henceforth as law, and 
 it is the duty of all those concerned in the ad 
 ministration of justice, in any and every depart 
 ment, so to regard it. Gentlemen, any other rule, 
 any other conclusion, could lead to nothing but 
 anarchy. 
 
 "It may be that at some time hereafter, the 
 act of Congress known as the Fugitive - Slave 
 law, will be held not to be constitutional. In the 
 meantime, however, what is the duty of those of 
 us who have to do with it in the administration 
 
84 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 of public justice ? I might here, gentlemen, if it 
 were proper for me to do so, and I were deliver 
 ing an opinion in which that question arose, give 
 you my private view upon this matter. I might 
 say to you that the reasoning on which the law 
 has been held to be constitutional, so far as our 
 Supreme Court is concerned, as I understand the 
 decision, is placed on the ground of authority, and 
 not of right. I might say that, in my view, re 
 garding it in the best light I have upon the mat 
 ter, that statute seems to me to evince a more 
 deliberate and settled disregard of all the prin 
 ciples of constitutional liberty than any other 
 enactment which has ever come under my notice. 
 You, gentlemen, might each of you entertain sim 
 ilar private opinions upon this subject. But of 
 what avail is it, and what right have you or I to 
 act upon these opinions ? 
 
 " It could never have been the intention of the 
 f ramers of our Government, it is not consistent 
 with the rules and principles of our Government, 
 that a rule of law should be held one way in New 
 York, another in Philadelphia, and another in Bos 
 ton ; that it should be dependent upon the individ 
 ual opinion of a judge or juror called upon to 
 administer it. 
 
 " The only safe rule of our duty is, that when 
 the tribunal provided by the Constitution and 
 laws has decided upon the constitutionality of an 
 enactment, all citizens are in practice bound to 
 
HIS FIRST SERVICE ON THE BENCH 85 
 
 regard it as a question settled. With their politi 
 cal duties, with their feelings, we have nothing, 
 here, to do. Within these walls nothing of party 
 passion, of private interest or feeling should come. 
 
 "It has been said sometimes, and in some 
 places, that there are laws which it is the duty 
 of citizens to disobey or resist. I have no doubt, 
 gentlemen, and I suppose none of you have any 
 doubt, that a law may be enacted by a republican 
 government, as well as an order passed by a 
 despot, which may be in itself wicked ; and if a 
 statute is passed which any citizen, examining 
 his duty by the best light which God has given 
 him, and acting conscientiously and uprightly, be 
 lieves to be wicked, and which, acting under the 
 law of God, he thinks he ought to disobey, un 
 questionably he ought to disobey that statute, 
 because he ought to obey God rather than man/ 
 I suppose that any man who would seriously deny 
 that there is anything higher than human law 
 must ultimately deny even the existence of the 
 Most High. 
 
 " But, gentlemen, it is not a question of private 
 conscience, which determines our duties in the 
 premises. A man whose private conscience leads 
 him to disobey a law recognized by the commu 
 nity must take the consequences of that diso 
 bedience. It is a matter solely between him and 
 his Maker. He should take good care that he is not 
 mistaken, that his private opinion does not result 
 
86 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 from passion or prejudice, but, if he believes it to 
 be his duty to disobey, he must be prepared to 
 abide by the result; and the laws as they are 
 enacted and settled by the constituted authorities 
 to be constitutional and valid, must be enforced, 
 although it may be to his grievous harm. It will 
 not do for the public authorities to recognize his 
 private opinion as a justification of his acts." 
 
 He then dealt with "the relation of the military 
 power to the civil authority of the Commonwealth," 
 and from this part of the charge a few paragraphs 
 may be quoted. 
 
 " But a few weeks have gone by since the citi 
 zens of Boston saw in their midst a large body of 
 soldiers assembled, the volunteer militia of Mas 
 sachusetts, engaged, as it has been asserted, in 
 preserving the peace of the city and maintaining 
 the supremacy of the laws, an honorable and 
 responsible duty, whenever it is lawfully assumed, 
 and faithfully discharged. 
 
 " From what necessity or cause these soldiers 
 were assembled ; under what authority they acted ; 
 whether their employment and their conduct were 
 in conformity with the Constitution and laws of 
 the Commonwealth, and to whom the responsi 
 bility of their acts attaches, are questions which 
 have been publicly discussed, and which it is not 
 improbable that you may be obliged to investi 
 gate. . . . 
 
 " With the holiday soldier, the bright array, the 
 
HIS FIRST SERVICE ON THE BENCH 87 
 
 martial music, and waving plumes, which most of 
 us regard with complacency, and which afford such 
 delight to the juvenile spectators, we are all fa 
 miliar ; with the soldier as the terrible instrument 
 of the law, the last resort of the civil government 
 for the absolute enforcement of its authority, we 
 are happily unfamiliar. 
 
 "It is sometimes said that our Government 
 rests, at last, upon military force. It rests upon no 
 such thing. It finds its chief strength in the re 
 spect of an intelligent and virtuous people for the 
 laws which they themselves have made ; and its 
 ultimate reliance is upon the power of the people 
 to execute their own will. The military force 
 which a free people allow to exist among them, it 
 regards but as a convenient instrument. 
 
 " To understand clearly the points involved in 
 this inquiry, it will be well to recur a little to first 
 principles. 
 
 "The object of a constitution of government 
 is, in the preamble to the Constitution of Massa 
 chusetts, declared to be 
 
 " That every man may, at all times, find his 
 security in the laws/ 
 
 "To this end two things were of the first neces 
 sity : 1, The maintenance and enforcement of such 
 wholesome laws as should be enacted ; and 2, The 
 protection of the liberty of the citizen from the 
 encroachments and abuse of authority of those to 
 whom power should be entrusted." 
 
88 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 After stating the law fully he concluded as 
 follows : 
 
 " If our citizen soldiers, lawfully mustered in 
 the public service, have been assaulted or injured, 
 see to it that the aggressor, if he can be discov 
 ered, shall not go unpunished. 
 
 " If it shall be made to appear to you that any 
 assault has been committed, or violence done, or 
 forcible obstruction of lawful business occasioned, 
 by any part of the military force, diligently en 
 quire and true presentment make concerning it. 
 Ascertain under what order or by what authority it 
 was done. Trace it to its source. Consider what is 
 its justification. Extend the full protection of the 
 law to everything which a liberal construction of 
 the law can justify or excuse. But if you find the 
 law has been violated, and that there has been an 
 invasion of private rights, or an infringement of 
 public liberty, do your duty as you have sworn to 
 do it; and leave no man unpresented, for love, 
 fear, favor, affection, or hope of reward/ 
 
 "It may be said that there was a great public 
 exigency, an imminent danger; that riot and 
 bloodshed were prevented ; that there has been 
 no considerable destruction of property, no serious 
 personal injury inflicted, no sacrifice of life, and 
 that it would be harsh and unwise to subject 
 to criminal responsibility those who have acted 
 with general good intention. Gentlemen, this is a 
 very superficial view of the matter. All right- 
 
HIS FIRST SERVICE ON THE BENCH 89 
 
 minded men are opposed to lawless violence. The 
 whole community cry out against it. But when 
 law is disregarded by its own guardians and sup 
 porters, it is wounded in the house of its friends/ 
 and all sentiments of reverence for law in the 
 public mind are weakened. 
 
 "The old Latin maxim tells us to oppose begin 
 nings Obsta principiis. Occasions where the 
 gravest consequences have not followed, and the 
 strongest passions are not excited, are the best to 
 establish principles and define duties. 
 
 "And if the facts which shall be laid before 
 you require it, I have no doubt, gentlemen, that 
 you will be ready to show to the people of the 
 State that laws are not made for those only who 
 crowd the gallery or fill the dock ; that whenever 
 the strong arm of power has been raised without 
 justification, and any citizen has suffered in his 
 person and property, the whole community feels 
 the wound ; and that the justice which is no re 
 specter of persons will allow no military or civil 
 title to give immunity to the transgressor." 
 
 It was Judge Hoar, during his service on this 
 bench, who established the law of Massachusetts 
 on the difficult questions how far a juror should 
 yield to the opinion of his associates in case of a 
 disagreement, and what a judge may properly say 
 in order to induce agreement. His statement to 
 the jury in Commonwealth vs. Tuey 1 was sustained 
 
 1 8 Gushing, 2-3. 
 
90 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 by the Supreme Court and has been ever since a 
 useful weapon in the hands of the bench, not only 
 in Massachusetts but elsewhere. It was as fol 
 lows : 
 
 " The only mode provided by our Constitution 
 and laws for deciding questions of fact in crim 
 inal cases, is by a verdict of the jury. In a large 
 proportion of cases, and perhaps, strictly speak 
 ing, in all cases, absolute certainty cannot be at 
 tained or expected. Although the verdict to which 
 a juror agrees must of course be his own verdict, 
 the result of his own convictions, and not a mere 
 acquiescence in the conclusion of his fellows, yet, 
 in order to bring twelve minds to a unanimous 
 result, you must examine the questions submitted 
 to you with candor, and with a proper regard and 
 deference to the opinions of each other. You 
 should consider that the case must at some time 
 be decided; that you are selected in the same 
 manner, and from the same source, from which 
 any future jury must be ; and there is no reason 
 to suppose that the case will ever be submitted 
 to twelve men more intelligent, more impartial, 
 or more competent to decide it, or that more or 
 clearer evidence will be produced on the one side 
 or the other. And with this view, it is your duty 
 to decide the case, if you can conscientiously do 
 so. In order to make a decision more practicable, 
 the law imposes the burden of proof on one party 
 or the other, in all cases. In the present case, the 
 
HIS FIRST SERVICE ON THE BENCH 91 
 
 burden of proof is upon the Commonwealth to es 
 tablish every part of it, beyond a reasonable doubt ; 
 and if, in any part of it, you are left in doubt, the 
 defendant is entitled to the benefit of the doubt, 
 and must be acquitted. But, in conferring to 
 gether, you ought to pay proper respect to each 
 others opinions and listen, with a disposition to 
 be convinced, to each others arguments. And on 
 the one hand, if much the larger number of your 
 panel are for a conviction, a dissenting juror 
 should consider whether a doubt in his own mind 
 is a reasonable one, which makes no impression 
 upon the minds of so many men, equally honest, 
 equally intelligent with himself, and who have 
 heard the same evidence, with the same attention, 
 with an equal desire to arrive at the truth, and 
 under the sanction of the same oath. And, on the 
 other hand, if a majority are for acquittal, the 
 minority ought seriously to ask themselves, whether 
 they may not reasonably, and ought not to doubt 
 the correctness of a judgment, which is not con 
 curred in by most of those with whom they are 
 associated ; and distrust the weight and sufficiency 
 of that evidence which fails to carry conviction 
 to the minds of their fellows." 
 
 One of his professional brothers said of him : 
 
 " Judge Hoar took to the bench the qualities which 
 
 marked him as an advocate, and, in addition, a keen 
 
 judicial instinct. He was not an impatient judge, 
 
 as some judges are impatient, but if a man had a 
 
92 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 poor case he was fairly sure to find out Judge 
 Hoar s opinion of it early in the trial. In charg 
 ing a jury, he had the faculty of making the jury 
 understand the matter in hand, and he never de 
 livered a charge over the heads of the men in the 
 box. The same hard common sense that he dis 
 played at the bar he displayed in his decisions 
 from the bench." 
 
 His methods on the bench may be illustrated 
 by a few instances. Judge E. H. Bennett tells us 
 that during one of his first terms, a rich merchant 
 of New Bedford asked to be excused from serv 
 ice on a jury. 
 
 " For what reason ? " asked the Judge. " Oh," re 
 plied the merchant, " I have a whaling vessel fit 
 ting out at New Bedford, another just arrived in 
 Boston, and I have some pressing business in Phil 
 adelphia, all of which demand my personal atten 
 tion."- -"Very well," answered the Judge, "if 
 you have so much property as that, you can well 
 afford to give a few days service to the Common 
 wealth. I cannot excuse you." 
 
 Of another drawn to serve on the Grand Jury, 
 who sought to be excused because he was deaf, 
 Judge Hoar inquired, "Are you wholly deaf? Can 
 you hear nothing?" To which the juror replied, 
 "I am deaf in one ear." Whereupon Judge Hoar 
 said, " I must require you to serve ; the Grand 
 Jury is only expected to hear one side." 
 
 Judge Bennett tells us also that he was once 
 
HIS FIRST SERVICE ON THE BENCH 93 
 
 trying before him " an action for an attorney s 
 bill, the only defence to which was that the argu 
 ment of the plaintiff, though successful, had not oc 
 cupied a long time in court, and that the charge 
 was excessive. When giving the case to the jury 
 Judge Hoar said : - 
 
 "Gentlemen, it is for you to consider whether 
 the length of time during which a person is 
 actually engaged in some skilled labor is a satis 
 factory test of the value of his services. Suppose 
 a man should injure his leg and some eminent 
 surgeon should successfully amputate it in two 
 minutes. What would you think of a refusal to pay 
 simply because of the time the operation required, 
 the man saying, Why, I could have got another 
 fellow in our town to have hacked away at my leg 
 for two hours for half the money/" 
 
 Such a charge was illuminating. 
 
 Some passages from his letters to his wife show 
 how he regarded his life on the bench. Thus on 
 January 1, 1852, from Lawrence he writes: 
 
 " I am leading almost an idle life up here 
 not unreasonably laborious at any rate. Some 
 of the lawyers are sick, some have pressing en 
 gagements elsewhere, and from various causes it 
 has been almost impossible to get anything ready 
 for trial. On Monday I did not try a case, and 
 adjourned for the day before 3 o clock. On Tues 
 day I had an hour from 12 to 1, and this forenoon 
 
94 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 we were out of employment by half past 11 ; so 
 that, with quiet evenings and long nights sleep, 
 I am having quite a rest after the fatigues of the 
 autumn and early winter, and shall start upon 
 1852 in unusually robust condition. There is no 
 thing, however, to indicate getting through before 
 the 15th to the 18th of January, and so, not expect 
 ing to see you until Saturday, I thought I would 
 send a letter to wish you all a happy new year/ " 
 
 On March 15, 1852, writing from Springfield, 
 he speaks of certain alleviations : 
 
 " I went last Thursday night to a party at Mr. 
 Benjamin Day s quite a pretty party, but at 
 which I met with this startling and melancholy 
 experience. A lady with whom I was conversing, 
 a widow, fair, fat, and forty/ whom I had met a 
 year ago in Worcester, where she had been in the 
 habit of visiting, had relatives, and knew people 
 very well, and where she had seen and known 
 Frisbie, asked me with perfect gravity, looking in 
 my face steadily and composedly all the while, 
 * whether I had not a son who was a lawyer in 
 Worcester ! Talk of birthdays after that ! I in 
 tend when I come home to get a bat and ball and 
 a hoop, to live on milk and lettuce exclusively, go 
 to bed at early candle-light/ and keep a New 
 foundland puppy. If Carry grows much taller, I 
 shall tell people that she is a daughter of my wife 
 by her first husband. ... I heard some good Ortho 
 dox preaching all day on Sunday, with some can- 
 
HIS FIRST SERVICE ON THE BENCH 95 
 
 vas-back ducks interposed. In the morning the 
 preacher gave us the points of resemblance be 
 tween a righteous man and a palm tree, with great 
 minuteness. Among other items he observed that 
 a palm tree bore from 300 to 400 pounds of dates 
 every year, from which we concluded that by 
 analogy every righteous man would be entitled to 
 an income corresponding say at least 300. In 
 the afternoon the preacher indulged in some re 
 marks about sinners, not at all complimentary to 
 that large and influential class in the community. 
 This morning we rode back to Springfield with a 
 horse, the cars not running in season for the 
 court, and though the distance was but nine 
 miles, we were just two hours and a half in getting 
 over it through the deep mud. ... At the lecture 
 the other night, the lecturer spoke of a certain 
 lady in Europe, and among other descriptive epi 
 thets spoke of her as a stumpy woman. What 
 is a stumpy woman ? said a lady who sat next to 
 me. One that is fond of oratory, I presume/ was 
 my reply." 
 
 On Friday, August 13, 1852, he writes to Mrs. 
 Hoar : 
 
 " I have fallen upon a long-winded, cool, and 
 easy generation of lawyers, who in military phrase 
 sit down before each witness, and seem to intend 
 to reduce him to terms by starvation, if other 
 means fail. A witness in a case to-day was asked 
 how a certain examination was conducted at a 
 
96 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 previous trial ; well/ said he, pretty much as it 
 has been here this time : they asked a great many 
 very foolish questions. 9 " 
 
 On May 2, 1854, at Dedham, he presents an 
 other phase, thus : 
 
 " We are at work on the criminal business, all 
 civil cases being postponed till next week, and 
 there is some prospect that the criminal cases may 
 be finished by Thursday, so that I shall have a 
 day or two at the end of the week. It is not yet 
 certain, but it is probable." 
 
 On March 4, 1855, he writes from Lenox a 
 characteristic letter : 
 
 " You perhaps are aware that I am not in our 
 parlor that there are no Hunt russets on the 
 table before me, that no grandfathers have come 
 to enjoy the company of the children, and no chil 
 dren have run to meet them, that no wife sits 
 composed and gracious in this rocking-chair (in 
 fact I am sitting in it myself) ; no coming foot 
 step in the least resembles Uncle George s or Dr. 
 Bartlett s ; no Clara seduces me from the strait 
 and narrow ways of emptiness into the broad road 
 to dyspepsia and bile, with cups of tea and ginger 
 snaps ; and this morning another Bible had to be 
 substituted for the one so tenderly associated in 
 Charley s mind with fish-balls and milk-toast. For 
 the first time since the 1st of August last I have 
 spent a Sunday away from you and the little ones. 
 And I have been most thoroughly and completely 
 
HIS FIRST SERVICE ON THE BENCH 97 
 
 alone. All the lawyers went off yesterday after 
 noon and left me in this great boarding-house, 
 the only boarder. My solitary table was set for 
 breakfast at 8 o clock, and for dinner and tea to 
 gether at 4. ... I have had a comfortable time, 
 and have been pretty well since Thursday. Yester 
 day morning, Mr. Charles Sedgwick called with a 
 horse and sleigh just after breakfast, and asked 
 me to take a little turn before court/ I went 
 with him, and we rode off some miles, going over 
 drifts from four to six feet high, now and then 
 having to throw ourselves as far as we could on to 
 one side of the sleigh to avoid upsetting, and going 
 a considerable distance on one runner. This went 
 on till we found it near the time for court, and as 
 we came to the road which would take us most 
 directly back, and which he had intended to take, 
 we found that it was not broken out not even 
 a single track visible, and that the travel went 
 round by a circuit of nearly two miles farther. 
 We must either be late or try to go through. So, 
 as the snow did not look very bad at first, we 
 tried it. We got along tolerably well for about a 
 quarter of a mile, and then we came to some 
 drifts, or rather a drifted place for fifty or sixty 
 rods, about as steep as the bank in front of our 
 house, and as Mr. Sedgwick said, about twenty 
 feet deep/ I should not want to swear to over 
 fifteen, however. Along the side of this we had 
 to skirt the crust on it sometimes hard enough 
 
98 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 to bear the horse, sometimes as icy as a glacier 
 and sometimes wallowing. Of course riding was 
 out of the question. We should have gone heels 
 over head, horse, sleigh, and all, down to the bot 
 tom a dozen times. Mr. Sedgwick carried the horse 
 and I carried the sleigh and we luckily got 
 through having exercise, and experience, and 
 fun enough to last a good while. Poor Mr. Sedg- 
 wick s distress at such entertainment in the place 
 of the nice little ride he had intended was really 
 comical ; but it was all the better. I took tea and 
 spent the evening at Mr. Sedgwick s last evening, 
 with Miss Catherine and Judge Bishop and his 
 wife. This morning I went to the Orthodox church, 
 the only one in operation here, and had a very 
 respectable sermon, and a genuine old-fashioned 
 country choir 14 men, from twenty-five to sixty 
 years old, six feet high on an average, the 
 front of the gallery being a low open railing, and 
 they standing on a step raised behind it, so as to 
 bring their whole height into view from their 
 boots upward singing to the utmost of their 
 ability; ten young women, with what sounded 
 exactly like a hand-organ, filling up the measure 
 of their glory." 
 
 These letters give some idea of a judge s life in 
 Massachusetts during the early fifties. 
 
 Though withdrawn from active participation in 
 politics, Judge Hoar could not lose his interest in 
 the questions of the day. To the coalition between 
 
HIS FIRST SERVICE ON THE BENCH 99 
 
 the Free-Soilers and the Democrats which carried 
 Massachusetts in 1850, resulting in the election of 
 George S. Boutwell as governor and Charles Sum- 
 ner as senator, Judge Hoar was opposed. He had 
 an invincible repugnance to Democrats. 
 
 In 1852, when Dr. Palfrey was considering the 
 question of becoming a candidate for the govern 
 orship, Judge Hoar wrote him as follows : - 
 
 WORCESTER, September 7, 1852. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I received your letter of the 
 4th upon my return home late on Saturday even 
 ing, and did not reply yesterday, only because I 
 wished to consult some other gentlemen, to whom 
 I could speak in perfect confidence, and who would 
 know more about the state of political opinion than 
 I can do. 
 
 I can say in reply, that I know no reason to 
 think, and do not believe, that any person whom 
 the Free-Soil party should put in nomination for 
 governor would receive more votes than you would. 
 You have many warm personal friends, and many 
 more warmly attached admirers of your political 
 course. You would receive votes that another can 
 didate would not. On the other hand, I presume 
 there are some Democrats who would prefer a 
 thoroughgoing man of their own persuasion, and 
 some others who admired the " coalition " so much 
 more than you originally, or I ever did, that they 
 have felt indignant at your letter discouraging 
 
100 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 that very efficient and now renowned measure. 
 But I think these would more than be balanced on 
 the popular vote. My father and other friends 
 whom I have asked, are of the same opinion. 
 
 The only question I have is, whether, supposing 
 that the allied armies succeed in carrying the legis 
 lature, and preventing a choice of governor by the 
 people, and between themselves the office of gov 
 ernor should be distributed to the Free-Soilers, 
 there might not be more difficulty in executing 
 the plan if you were the candidate, from a suspi 
 cion on the Democratic side that you had no great 
 admiration for the principles or characters of some 
 of their leading men, and would not be likely in 
 your administration of the office to bestow the ex 
 pected share of " the spoils " upon profligate, mer 
 cenary, dishonest and incompetent party hacks. 
 This difficulty I incline to think exists. What 
 weight it should have, and which way it may ef 
 fect your decision, it is not for me to say. 
 
 It is partly from entertaining such a suspicion, 
 and for reasons resting on the same foundation, 
 that, if the Free-Soilers are to have the governor 
 next year, I should be most highly gratified that 
 you should be the man. I ought not to, and do not 
 in my present position take any part in political 
 movements, so that whatever I say is in the ex 
 pression of private friendship. 
 
 I am, my dear sir, as ever, your friend and firm 
 adherent. E. R. HOAR. 
 
HIS FIRST SERVICE ON THE BENCH 101 
 
 When the Constitutional convention of 1853 
 framed a new constitution, which was adopted in 
 the convention by the votes of Free-Soilers and 
 Democrats against the opposition of the Whigs, 
 Judge Hoar took part in a movement to secure its 
 rejection by the people. His position is stated in 
 the following letter to Dr. Palfrey : 
 
 BOSTON, Oct. 7, 1853. 
 
 MY DEAR MR. PALFREY, I should be very 
 sorry to incur even the suspicion of inattention 
 to a request of yours, and am sure I shall never 
 intentionally deserve such an imputation. I have 
 not forgotten my promise made when I last saw 
 you, and your note reached me last Saturday, 
 but the truth is that my time has been so inces 
 santly occupied that I have not had time even to 
 write to excuse myself, and have not been able 
 yet to find or get a sight of that new constitu 
 tion, which was the condition precedent to my 
 agreement to note down some suggestions upon 
 its provisions. 
 
 Under these circumstances I remain in the same 
 situation as when we parted at the head of Somer 
 set Street, and my objections to the constitution 
 are based upon the knowledge of its provisions 
 which I have gained from the newspapers, and 
 from the address of the convention. 
 
 The chief objections which have impressed my 
 mind are : 
 
102 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 I. That making clerks of courts elective by 
 the people is an inconvenience and an absurdity ; 
 that the clerks at the State House might as well 
 be chosen by the people, or any other officer 
 whose duty merely requires him to make records 
 of the doings of others under the direction of 
 a superintending authority; that it is neither 
 desired nor desirable ; and will be practically a 
 nuisance. 
 
 II. That making officers, in whose conduct the 
 people of the whole Commonwealth have so deep 
 an interest as judges of police courts and trial 
 justices (especially the former), elective by a local 
 constituency, is dangerous, and only not to be 
 called a dangerous experiment, because, where it 
 has been tried, it has proved uniformly mischiev 
 ous and is no longer an experiment this is aside 
 from the objection that such a tenure and such a 
 mode of appointment is not the best for any judi 
 cial officers. 
 
 III. The plan of representation, on which I can 
 say nothing new. 
 
 IV. The vital and decisive objection in my mind 
 to any constitution which strikes such a blow at 
 the independence and the ability of the judiciary 
 as the new tenure proposes. 
 
 Upon this, I can hardly add anything to what 
 you will find in the speeches of Choate and Dana. 
 
 Perhaps I should not say as much as Dana does 
 of the independence of the judiciary of the people. 
 
HIS FIRST SERVICE ON THE BENCH 103 
 
 The real question is, in what mode can the people 
 exercise their acknowledged and undisputed power 
 of appointing and removing judges at their pleas 
 ure, so as to secure for themselves the most faith 
 ful, able and successful discharge of the duties 
 of the judicial office. The new mode seems to 
 me to be the worst in principle that has been sug 
 gested. 
 
 It makes the judiciary dependent upon the ex 
 ecutive, it tends to mingle our judges with political 
 schemes and contests, and, in my judgment, will 
 terminate the possibility of securing the services 
 upon the bench of the first character and capacity 
 of the bar. 
 
 I am still very much engaged, am writing in 
 court, and cannot say more. I will only add that 
 I understand that a meeting is soon to be called 
 of all persons opposed to the new constitution, 
 ivithout distinction of party, and that I took the 
 liberty to suggest to a gentleman who spoke of it 
 your name, and that of Mr. C. F. Adams, and my 
 father s, from the Free-Soilers, as persons that 
 might be applied to, and to say that I hoped our 
 friend Dana, and Mr. S. C. Phillips might be of 
 the same persuasion. 
 
 Very truly and respectfully yours, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 
 Senator Hoar states that he joined with Dr. 
 Palfrey in preparing an argument against the 
 
104 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 constitution, which was published as a pamphlet 
 under Dr. Palfrey s name, and to this Judge Hoar 
 contributed the legal argument and Dr. Palfrey 
 the rest. The result of this opposition helped to 
 defeat the constitution, though some of its ob 
 noxious provisions were subsequently submitted 
 separately and adopted by the people. 
 
 Richard H. Dana tells that at the anniversary of 
 the " Story Association," in 1851, Choate delivered 
 the oration, a defence of the Fugitive-Slave law 
 and an attack on the Free-Soilers. Leading mem 
 bers of the party, to whom Choate had told his sub 
 ject, stayed away. But the venerable Free-Soilers, 
 President Quincy and Samuel Hoar, were there to 
 hear the " youthful enthusiasm and inexperience 
 of the party " spoken of with contempt ; and so 
 were Rockwood Hoar and Dana. These younger 
 men stoutly stayed to the dinner, where General 
 Carpenter of Rhode Island attacked that " miser 
 able, conceited, fanatical faction." 
 
 "William Story (the sculptor), in returning 
 thanks for his father s memory, spoke of intro 
 ducing a regard for liberty in law and conscience 
 into legislation. Judge Hoar s toast was also to 
 the point, about love of liberty, reverence for law, 
 and fear of God." Dana, too, alludes good- 
 naturedly to the vituperation, and says, "On the 
 whole, they had the disgrace of making an ill- 
 mannered attack, and we rather had the last 
 word." 
 
HIS FIRST SERVICE ON THE BENCH 105 
 
 In April, 1854, as one of a Massachusetts dele 
 gation, the Judge visited Washington for the first 
 time, and from his letter to Mrs. Hoar written 
 there on April 16th the following extracts are 
 taken : - 
 
 " I found at Willard s, of our Massachusetts 
 delegation, Mr. Crocker of Taunton, Mr. Walley 
 of Roxbury, and Mr. Dickinson of Amherst with 
 his wife, son and daughter ; Mr. Banks came in on 
 Thursday evening, and I also found Mr. John C. B. 
 Davis (formerly of Worcester, now of New York). 
 I called at Sumner s and left a card on Thursday 
 evening, and on Friday he called to see me, and 
 has been very kind and serviceable since. On Fri 
 day morning I called on the President, and sent 
 in my card ; but finding that several gentlemen 
 were waiting to see him on business, and receiving 
 an answer that he would see me in about half an 
 hour, I did not think the sight worth waiting for, 
 and after looking round the house, took my leave. 
 
 "I have called on Mr. Chase of Ohio, and had a 
 good long talk with him a fine, noble-looking 
 man of very graceful and impressive manners 
 and to be one of the great men of the country. I 
 spent most of Friday evening with Governor 
 Seward of New York, one of the men whose ac 
 quaintance I most wished to make ; and yesterday 
 forenoon, Sumner took me to see Mr. Benton, and 
 I had an hour s good talk with him. The particu 
 lars of all these things I must reserve till I get 
 
106 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 home. I walked about a mile with Gerrit Smith 
 yesterday." 
 
 At the Republican State convention held at 
 Worcester on September 7, 1854, Judge Hoar 
 received forty-eight votes on the first ballot for 
 governor. He was still a leader of the men who 
 were soon to form the Republican party. 
 
 It was during his service on the bench that, at 
 the Union celebration by Concord and the six neigh 
 boring towns of the seventy-fifth anniversary of 
 Concord Fight, he was chosen president of the day. 
 However often in private talk the Judge allowed his 
 prejudices the luxury of a witty delivery, when he 
 was in the chair on a public occasion, honor bound 
 him to fairness and courtesy. On this occasion he 
 gave due credit to Lexington and Acton with all 
 generosity, and, as the last toast, gave " England, 
 our Mother-Country ; we have cause to speak well 
 of our stock. The reason why the Essex and Mid 
 dlesex farmers could front the power of England 
 was that they had good West-of -England blood in 
 their veins. We had half of England to sympathize 
 with us through that war, and our fathers could 
 afford to part with old England, for they had es 
 tablished a new England in the West." Then he 
 bade the band play "God save the Queen." 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 
 
 JUDGE HOAR resigned his seat on the bench in 
 the summer of 1855, and returned to the practice 
 of his profession. Between the summer of 1855 
 and 1859 he was a lawyer in active practice, and 
 from 1857 in partnership with Horace Gray, who 
 was afterward Chief Justice of Massachusetts 
 and later a justice of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States a partnership which was entirely 
 congenial and resulted in a friendship which en 
 dured to the end. Of Judge Hoar s professional 
 work during this period little trace has been pre 
 served. A lawyer s daily work interests his clients 
 and his contemporaries at the bar, but its records 
 are "writ in water," and the most brilliant argu 
 ments, the most searching cross-examinations, the 
 most skilful fence in trials are remembered for a 
 few days, but, like the sagest advice in chambers, 
 make no lasting impression on the memories of 
 men. The dispute between two individuals is 
 settled, a slight ripple in the daily life of the com 
 munity sinks into the stream, and leaves no trace 
 upon its surface. Luther Martin in his day was 
 perhaps the most eminent lawyer in the United 
 States. To-day few members of the bar have even 
 
108 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 heard his name. It is not surprising, therefore, 
 that no considerable record remains of Judge Hoar s 
 professional activity during this interval in his ju 
 dicial career. 
 
 These were the palmy days of the Middlesex 
 bar, which, to quote from Governor Greenhalge, 
 " seems to have been regarded, and perhaps justly, 
 as marked to an uncommon degree by a spirit of 
 belligerency, of contention ; it seemed to live al 
 ways in an atmosphere of disputation. From be 
 ginning to end, from the purchase of the writ to 
 the levy of the execution, there was no quarter 
 asked or given on either side. The struggle was 
 rigorous and severe, uncompromising and unre 
 lenting." 
 
 It was of this time doubtless that a contempo 
 rary spoke when he said that Judge Hoar and 
 General Butler " divided the leading practice of 
 Middlesex largely between them. They were prob 
 ably opposed to each other in hundreds of cases, 
 but Judge Hoar was victorious in every single 
 case with the exception of a criminal case in the 
 United States Court of Suffolk, in which Butler was 
 associated with the United States Attorney in a 
 prosecution for violation of the revenue laws, 
 which was ended by a compromise judgment for 
 the Government not unfavorable to the Judge s 
 client." In later years it came to pass that these 
 men met in many conflicts of greater importance. 
 
 To this period belongs doubtless this story. 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 109 
 
 During a closing argument for the defence, But 
 ler stated with great emphasis to the jury, " We 
 have the highest authority for saying, Everything 
 which a man hath will he give for his life. 
 Judge Hoar, in replying for the plaintiff, said, "It 
 has for a long time been suspected by those who 
 have watched Mr. Butler s career that he has re 
 cognized as the highest authority the individual 
 upon whom he now relies. For, gentlemen, as you 
 well know, the statement which he quotes from 
 the Book of Job was made by Satan." 
 
 Of his political activity there is more to be said. 
 Between 1852 and 1855 the rise of the American, 
 or Know-Nothing party, with its anti-Catholic and 
 anti-alien propaganda, for a while diverted public 
 attention from the anti-slavery contest, and those 
 who, like Adams and Hoar, did not sympathize 
 with the Know-Nothings, were left without a 
 party. This condition was necessarily transitory. 
 The repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 1854, 
 followed by the attempt to establish slavery in 
 the territories of Kansas and Nebraska which had 
 been consecrated to freedom, united the free states 
 against the aggression of slavery, and the contest 
 began again only to end at Appomattox. 
 
 Judge Hoar s resignation from the bench came 
 just as the Republican party was organized in 
 Massachusetts. A meeting held at Chapman Hall 
 in Boston on August 16, 1855, over which Samuel 
 Hoar presided, resulted in the call for a state con- 
 
110 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 vention to be held at Worcester on September 20, 
 and this call bears the signature of E. R. Hoar. 
 The convention, composed of 1007 delegates repre 
 senting 232 towns, was very successful. On the 
 first ballot for governor Judge Hoar received 45 
 votes, but Julius Rockwell was nominated, and 
 Judge Hoar was nominated by a unanimous vote 
 for Attorney-General on motion of Richard H. 
 Dana, only to be defeated at the polls. From his 
 letter accepting the nomination the following ex 
 tract is taken, since it states his position on the 
 question of the day : 
 
 " Whatever may be my personal wishes, I do not 
 feel at liberty to decline the nomination which 
 you communicate, nor by word or act to leave 
 room for the slightest suggestion of a doubt of 
 my cordial approval of the principles contained in 
 the address and resolutions of the convention at 
 Worcester, or of my entire sympathy with the 
 Republican party of the Union. 
 
 " Since the day when a combination of Southern 
 rapacity and Northern treachery took from us our 
 share of the Missouri Compromise, the conviction 
 has forced itself upon the minds of the people 
 of Massachusetts that the institution of negro 
 slavery is advancing with rapid strides to estab 
 lish itself as the leading interest and dominant 
 power of the country ; and that its advocates and 
 supporters are striving, already with too much 
 success, to enable it not only to control the policy, 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 111 
 
 to fill the offices, to occupy the territories, and 
 wield the authority of the federal union, but to 
 disturb the peace, corrupt the morals, and invade 
 the personal rights and liberties of the citizens 
 of the free states. The necessity of immediate, 
 united, and efficient resistance to these aggressions, 
 unless we intend to submit to them, is too plain for 
 argument. 
 
 "With the exception of the supporters of the 
 present national administration, and perhaps the 
 further exception of that small number of timid 
 and feeble-minded persons who really believe there 
 is danger of a dissolution of the Union whenever 
 there is an exhibition of courage or manliness on 
 the part of Northern men, the purpose to make 
 this resistance, in some form, is avowed by every 
 one. The strength and sincerity of the purpose 
 must soon be brought to a practical test. The 
 presidential election is at hand, and we have soon 
 to consider in what way the power of the adminis 
 tration, which is responsible alike for the repeal 
 of the Missouri Compromise and for the outrages 
 in Kansas, can be successfully encountered. In my 
 judgment, regarding the question of the extension 
 of slavery as the paramount issue in our public 
 affairs, and the aggressions of the slave interest the 
 overshadowing danger of the Republic, our only 
 hope is in a party having opposition to that ex 
 tension and resistance to these aggressions, by all 
 constitutional means and within legal limits, as its 
 
112 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 leading object. Such a party is the Republican 
 party of the United States, already formed and 
 victorious in several of the states of the Union, 
 and which the action of the convention at Worces 
 ter inaugurated so hopefully in Massachusetts. 
 
 " Two objections are chiefly urged against it : 
 that it is based upon a single issue, and that it is 
 sectional. 
 
 "Of the former it is perhaps enough to say, 
 that political objects are usually to be attained 
 only by political organizations. Parties can only 
 be formed by the union of a sufficient number of 
 men, who consent to waive for the time, or to pur 
 sue by other methods, the objects upon which they 
 differ, in order to secure those upon which they 
 agree. To form an efficient and strong party, there 
 must be some great leading principle or idea, 
 around which all others arrange themselves. If 
 there are other subordinate questions which you 
 think important, consider that you lose nothing 
 after all ; that if you are strong enough to carry 
 them alone, you would, of course, have the same 
 or a greater proportionate strength in your new 
 relation ; and if your views are sound, there would 
 be a much greater likelihood of impressing them 
 upon your associates and allies, with whom you are 
 connected by ties of confidence and good-will in a 
 common cause, than upon the members of hostile 
 organizations. 
 
 " That the Republican party is sectional, in any 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 113 
 
 obnoxious sense of that term, we may safely deny. 
 In the first place, there is no danger that any 
 party which can show itself strong enough to carry 
 the North, will not be able to secure a reasonable 
 and sufficient quantity of Southern support. The 
 fact that men in the free states can be found who 
 support the present administration, is enough to 
 demonstrate that no party need fear about being 
 national, while it has any prospect of success. But, 
 more seriously, our objects are such as affect the 
 whole national policy of the government, and our 
 action is upon strictly national issues. 
 
 "There are many wise and just men in the 
 Southern states who have denounced the repeal 
 of the Missouri Compromise as impolitic and dis 
 honorable, and who would unite with any manly 
 and vigorous effort to redress the wrong. And, 
 further than this, it is difficult to see why the 
 reasoning which would oppose the organization of 
 a party to resist the encroachments of slavery, be 
 cause it would be sectional or geographical, must 
 not, to be consistent, oppose all party action on the 
 subject. It is obviously only a difference in mode 
 and degree, and not in kind. If opposition to the 
 extension of slavery may be one of the principles 
 of your party, it may certainly be made the promi 
 nent and chief one, if its importance requires it. 
 So far as you oppose slavery at all, so far you 
 separate yourself from the cooperation of slave 
 holders ! " 
 
114 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 He was not elected, but he took an active part 
 in the campaign and made several speeches of 
 which no record seems to have been preserved. 
 During the campaign the Boston "Advertiser" 
 alluded to the fact that, while he was on the bench 
 of the Common Pleas, Governor Gardner had made 
 him a commissioner under the Personal Liberty 
 law of Massachusetts, one of the statutes then 
 enacted in the Northern states to protect their 
 citizens against the Fugitive-Slave law, and upon 
 this founded some disparaging observations. The 
 editorial drew from Judge Hoar the following 
 letter to the editor : 
 
 39 Court St., BOSTON, Nov. 1, 1855. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have received, and thank you 
 for the courtesy of your letter, but its reasoning 
 fails to satisfy me that you had any justification 
 for the statements in the article which you en 
 close. 
 
 The facts are briefly these Governor Gardner 
 sent me a commission under the Personal Liberty 
 Bill without consulting me, or any previous inti 
 mation from any quarter that it was coming by 
 mail ; I found it on my table at evening, and as 
 soon as I had opened it, I turned to the constitu 
 tion of Massachusetts, to be able to quote it with 
 accuracy, and immediately enclosed the commis 
 sion to the Secretary of State, stating that, under 
 the constitution, I could not accept it without 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 115 
 
 resigning my office of judge. The Personal Liberty 
 Bill I had not, at that time, even read, and if I 
 had, I suppose you will agree with me that it 
 would not have been decent or proper in a judicial 
 officer to volunteer the publication of an opinion 
 on the constitutionality of a statute which it might 
 be his duty at some time officially to consider. 
 
 My appointment was unconstitutional, and that 
 was enough for me. I held the document in my 
 possession about ten minutes, and Mr. Chapman 
 is at this moment just as much an " appointed 
 minister" of the act, as I am, and rather more so. 
 I have never, to my recollection, expressed to any 
 person my opinion of the constitutionality of the 
 act, in any particular, certainly, I have never 
 said any more in favor of it than I think every 
 lawyer in the state would agree with. 
 
 Under these circumstances, if you think you are 
 justified in stating to your readers that I "was 
 doubtless nominated solely with reference to " my 
 "support of the personal liberty Act" I " too being 
 one of the commissioners appointed under its pro 
 visions " ; and that I am an " appointed minister" 
 of the act, your notions of the force of language, 
 and of the right to make statements about other 
 men, are too different from mine to make any dis 
 cussion between us useful. 
 
 The alternative which, so civilly in language, 
 but so remarkably as it seems to me in substance, 
 you suggest of allowing you to attribute to me 
 
116 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 such opinions as you choose without any grounds 
 of authority, or of furnishing the public with a 
 full statement of what opinions I do hold, through 
 the columns of the " Daily Advertiser," I must re 
 spectfully decline. 
 
 Allow me to add, in closing, that my object in 
 addressing you was by no means political I do 
 not like to have my opinions on professional ques 
 tions stated by others without authority, but if it 
 were in your power truthfully to say anything 
 which would prevent my election to the office of 
 Attorney-General, you would do me a great serv 
 ice. 
 
 With all due respect 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 
 At a meeting of the Republican State Committee 
 on February 14, 1856, he was made one of forty 
 delegates to attend an informal convention of 
 Republicans held at Pittsburg on February 22, and 
 was the Massachusetts member of the committee 
 on resolutions appointed by that convention. 
 
 This convention called a national convention of 
 the party, which assembled at Philadelphia on June 
 17, 1856, and was a remarkable body of men, 
 eminent for high moral character and political 
 service. Judge Hoar again represented Massa 
 chusetts on the committee appointed to prepare 
 the platform, to which he contributed among 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 117 
 
 other things the epigrammatic phrase so often 
 quoted, "those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy 
 and slavery." He was also one of a committee 
 of ten to notify the nominees of the convention, 
 and he called up the resolution fixing the place 
 for the next national convention, saying, as re 
 ported : 
 
 " If we are successful in this election we may 
 hold our next convention in Kentucky or Virginia. 
 Massachusetts desires to advance her column to 
 the South, for ours is a national party. The Demo 
 crats have called their next convention to meet in 
 South Carolina, and if they persevere in their pre 
 sent policy they will never dare to show them 
 selves north of that State." 
 
 On June 23, he was among the principal speak 
 ers at a great meeting in Faneuil Hall, called to 
 ratify the Republican nominations, and in his 
 speech predicted that Fremont would get 100,000 
 votes in Massachusetts, a prophecy which was 
 more than realized. He took an active part in the 
 campaign of 1856. It was during the spring of 
 that year that, in writing to his cousin William 
 M. Evarts, to congratulate him on his so-called 
 " Tabernacle Speech," he said : - 
 
 " What a state of things for Massachusetts that 
 such a meeting as yours cannot be held in Boston ! 
 And in place of it all manner of little personal jeal 
 ousies and small malignities, and reorganizations 
 of what they choose to call the Whig Party con- 
 
118 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 found them for bringing such disgrace on that 
 noble old name ! " 
 
 In 1857, he was elected an Overseer of Harvard 
 College by the Legislature of Massachusetts and 
 held the office till the following year, when he was 
 elected a member of the Corporation. He held this 
 office till 1868, when he resigned, and was at once 
 elected an Overseer by the alumni. He was made 
 President of the Board, an office which he con 
 tinued to fill until 1880, when his term expired 
 and under the law he was ineligible for a year. He 
 was reflected in 1881, and again chosen President, 
 serving until 1887, when his twenty-nine years of 
 service in the two governing boards of Harvard 
 College ended. It was very soon after he became 
 an Overseer that he made a very important con 
 tribution to the settlement of the mooted question 
 as to the relative powers of the Corporation and 
 the Board of Overseers. In a speech made March 
 12, 1857, and reported in the Boston "Advertiser" 
 of the next day, he upheld the powers of the latter 
 Board, amplifying at some length the propositions 
 which he stated thus : 
 
 " There are two classes of functions which the 
 Corporation discharges. One is the possession and 
 control of the property of the college as property, 
 providing for its security, its investment, its care. 
 The other is the application of this property to the 
 work of the college, applying it to the purpose for 
 which the college was founded, the education of 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 119 
 
 the youth of the state. With the first function, in 
 my judgment, the Board of Overseers have very 
 little to do by the charter of the college, unless in 
 the exercise of the visitational power to guard 
 against its abuse, which does not appear likely to 
 occur, but with which, for the satisfaction of this 
 community, the less this Board interferes the bet 
 ter ; the other is the application of all the means 
 and powers at the disposal of the Corporation to 
 the practical work of educating youth. With that 
 it seems to me to be the intention of the charter 
 to entrust powers to the Board of Overseers of 
 supervision, of concurrence, and of action coex 
 tensive with the duties of the Corporation." 
 
 Whenever this question becomes pressing this 
 argument will be found most instructive and illu 
 minating. 
 
 On April 12, 1859, Judge Hoar was appointed 
 an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court 
 of Massachusetts by Governor Banks, and on 
 April 16, he took his seat on that bench. He con 
 tinued to hold this position until March, 1869, 
 and for the next ten years his life was compara 
 tively uneventful. 
 
 In this position he displayed a clear and inci 
 sive mind, a competent knowledge of law, a thor 
 ough understanding of the people whose disputes 
 he was called upon to decide, and above all a rare 
 fund of "saving common sense." The combination 
 made him an excellent judge. His mind moved 
 
120 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 rapidly, and his quickness in grasping the point of 
 a case, or the essence of a witness s testimony, 
 made him sometimes impatient of the slower pro 
 cesses by which counsel reached their results, of 
 prolix discussion and tedious cross-examination. 
 The expression of this impatience sometimes irri 
 tated counsel, and it was said by one of them that 
 the Judge was often " unhappy because he could 
 not decide against both parties to the case." A 
 tradition of bad manners had been for some time 
 associated with the Supreme Court of Massa 
 chusetts when he was appointed to that bench, 
 and suffering as he often was from dyspepsia, it is 
 not perhaps strange that he did not redeem its 
 reputation in this respect, but his manner was 
 of the surface. His essential kindness of heart, 
 his genuine love of justice, his high sense of judi 
 cial responsibility, prevented his doing any wrong 
 to the parties, and he was by nature ready to 
 relieve any injury which a thoughtless remark 
 might do to another s feelings. 
 
 His judgments are found in twenty-three vol 
 umes of the Massachusetts Reports (from the 
 13th of Gray to the 101st of Massachusetts, both 
 inclusive) and in only one case did he write a dis 
 senting opinion. He wrote many opinions which 
 did not bear his name, but are printed as, "By 
 the Court," and he told Mr. Justice Hammond 
 that when he had written " Hoar, J." at the top 
 of a sheet of paper he considered the opinion at 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 121 
 
 least half written. His judgments are clear and 
 brief. They are not overloaded with authorities, 
 nor are they elaborate discussions of principle. 
 He was content to take the case presented and 
 decide it, citing only a few authorities for his 
 conclusions. The distinguishing characteristics of 
 his decisions are a firm grasp of essential princi 
 ples and strong good sense, than which no quali 
 ties are more important in a judge. 
 
 His successor, Chief Justice Field, thus charac 
 terized him : 
 
 " His published opinions while a judge on our 
 Supreme Court, where he continued for nearly 
 ten years, are the best evidence of the kind of 
 judge he was. Those opinions, as a rule, are not 
 long ; they begin directly with the discussion of 
 the questions of law involved ; they are exceed 
 ingly clear ; the analysis of the case is perfect ; 
 authorities are cited when necessary, but there is 
 no great display of authorities ; and the opinion 
 ends when the argument ends, and there is robust 
 good sense manifest throughout. There is no at 
 tempt at display, and very little discussion of sub 
 jects that might be interesting, but are not strictly 
 necessary to the decision. ... I am informed 
 that he rarely made more than one draft ; that 
 he formulated what he had to say in his mind be 
 fore he wrote anything, and that he made very 
 few changes in the revision. ... I tried a few 
 cases before him, as well when he was sitting at 
 
122 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 nisi prius as on the bench ; and it was impossi 
 ble not to notice the quickness of his perceptions, 
 the keenness of his logic, and his dislike of any 
 conduct in a cause which was not directly perti 
 nent to the issues and did not throw light upon 
 the trial. He had the impatience natural to very 
 quick minds at the slow processes of duller men, 
 and he especially disliked any indirection, any ar 
 guments that missed the point of the case, and 
 any pretensions and affectations of thought or 
 feeling that were intended or were likely to mis 
 lead." 
 
 One of his eminent professional brethren spoke 
 thus of his decisions : " The judicial records of 
 Massachusetts are full of the important cases 
 which he has either conducted or decided, and no 
 small part of that reputation which will live for 
 many years will be found recorded in the judicial 
 records of our state." 
 
 Said another : " His mind had a wonderful clari 
 fying power, like some chemical dropped into 
 muddy and opaque waters, precipitating every 
 thing that did not belong in the arguments pre 
 sented to the court." 
 
 The Hon. Charles Allen, himself for many years 
 a distinguished member of the same court, has 
 furnished the following reminiscences : 
 
 " Judge Hoar was in the Supreme Judicial Court 
 all the time that I was reporter. His opinions 
 came to me written in his own clear handwriting 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 123 
 
 with very few erasures or corrections, paragraphed, 
 punctuated, capitalized, so as to need no editing 
 in these particulars. The doctrines intended to be 
 decided were so stated as to make the prepara 
 tion of the headnotes comparatively easy ; he very 
 seldom asked to have an opinion returned for fur 
 ther revision by him, and almost never cared to 
 see the proof-sheets. He was also prompt in the 
 disposal of cases. After the doctrine was settled, 
 the expression of it in proper terms seemed easy 
 to him. I remember once he wrote an opinion in 
 the railway station at Pittsfield while we were 
 waiting for a train, and gave it to me. I would 
 not mention this, if his opinions showed any lack 
 of due care, any signs of haste in the preparation. 
 But they did not. His intellect was like a machine 
 in good order, and he was able to give full atten 
 tion to a subject at once." 
 
 He adds that, while listening to the arguments 
 before the full court, he had the habit of putting 
 questions to the counsel questions sometimes 
 hard to answer. " In his last two or three years 
 on the bench he seldom did this." 
 
 Chief Justice Field said: "No jury ever left 
 their seats where he presided without having 
 plainly and forcibly presented to them the exact 
 issues to be determined." 
 
 Mr. Goulding of the Worcester bar spoke of 
 him thus : 
 
 " He illustrated in a very remarkable manner, 
 
124 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 as it seems to me, how immensely the individual 
 ity and personal genius of the judge can add to 
 the weight of his official utterances. The great 
 judgments which abide and which become the 
 landmarks of the law derive their chief impor 
 tance, not from their relation to positive constitu 
 tions, but from their relation to universal reason, 
 and to the underlying verities and forces of mo 
 rality ; and that relation it is the business of a 
 man to discover and to state. In a great cause, 
 presented for final adjudication, the question and 
 the man meet ; but the man is much the larger 
 term in the equation." 
 
 A striking testimony was that of Governor 
 Greenhalge : 
 
 " His judgments were independent ; they had 
 about them virility, freshness and power. There 
 was not a drop of sluggish blood in his veins. The 
 shot fired at Concord emancipated his mind as 
 well as his country. I say this because even to 
 day, in some judicial decisions, can be heard the 
 rattle of chains. Intellectual freedom and inde 
 pendence are of as much value as political inde 
 pendence. He respected precedent, but he did not 
 permit precedent to play the part of tyrant." 
 
 It was a hard-working court, as we may gather 
 from his letters, for on January 23, 1861, he 
 writes, "We are worked day and night in the 
 court, and likely to be for some time yet"; and 
 on April 16, 1863, "I have a court to hold every 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 125 
 
 week from next Monday to the first week in 
 June." Again, November 11, 1868, "I held the 
 term for trials eleven weeks last spring." 
 
 Now that the railroads had come, the Judge 
 could have an office in Boston and keep his home 
 in Concord, though he had to be much in the 
 cars. In writing to his brother, he speaks of the 
 "uncertainties of life and of Groton Junction/ 
 and says that he is having " an interval of learned 
 leisure at home, i. e., thirteen opinions to write 
 before the first of March." 
 
 His residence in Concord proved fortunate for 
 his neighbor, Frank B. Sanborn. In those years 
 the elements of the strife between the irreconcil 
 able opinions and systems of life North and South 
 were hotly smouldering, and the issues were grow 
 ing clearer, when the thunderclap of the John 
 Brown raid startled North and South alike and 
 precipitated public opinion. Concord was involved, 
 because one of her citizens was a friend of John 
 Brown, and might have been cognizant of this at 
 tempt. Judge Hoar was aroused late one evening 
 by the ringing of the great bell of the church, 
 heard from an excited messenger that the United 
 States Marshal s deputies were trying to carry off 
 Mr. Sanborn by force, and that his neighbors were, 
 thus far, successfully resisting his abduction. He 
 hastily issued a writ of habeas corpus, which the 
 bailiffs, surrounded by angry men and women and 
 the pupils of Mr. Sanborn s school, had no choice 
 
126 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 but to respect, and, after some rough handling, 
 they withdrew. Mr. Sanborn appeared next day in 
 the Massachusetts Supreme Court, Chief Justice 
 Shaw and Justices Metcalf, Merrick and Hoar 
 sitting, was represented by John A. Andrew, and 
 was discharged. He had very narrowly escaped 
 being hurried secretly to Washington, to abide 
 the result of having disobeyed the summons of a 
 Senatorial committee hunting for treason. 
 
 Though on the bench, Judge Hoar did not, in 
 the great crisis of his country s history, lose his 
 interest in politics. In the autumn of 1860 he 
 went to the State convention as a delegate from 
 Concord, and helped to nominate John A. Andrew 
 for governor. 
 
 Lincoln s election as President blew the coals 
 of wrath into flames which were bursting out in 
 every direction. Still the fatal necessity of war 
 was hardly accepted in the North, and in the first 
 months of 1861 there was much talk of compro 
 mise and concession to appease the imperious 
 cotton states. Mr. Evarts had been spoken of as 
 the successor in the Senate of Seward, Lincoln s 
 new Secretary of State. In January, his Concord 
 kinsman wrote to him urging his acceptance, and 
 said : 
 
 " My own judgment is made up upon this state 
 of things. The constitution is to be upheld and 
 maintained, not reconstructed. The laws are to be 
 faithfully and fearlessly administered, not modi- 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 127 
 
 fied and tinkered to suit the projects of conspira 
 tors and traitors. Nothing is so certain of success, 
 or sure to be popular in the long run, as resolute 
 purpose. Abraham Lincoln s silence, thus far, has 
 given me great faith in him, and when the time 
 comes for him to speak, I trust we shall have the 
 voice of the Republican Party on the Republican 
 platform. ... I keep my faith in Seward, though 
 I cannot make much of his speech, except as the 
 old lady said of her minister whose sermons she 
 did not understand, that he has a heavenly tone/ 
 ... If we ever come to a righteous settlement 
 with South Carolina, I should be very sorry not 
 to be present at it in some capacity." 
 
 April came, and with its first days the fall of 
 Fort Sumter. All doubt was cleared away, the 
 flags went up. No state was readier than Massa 
 chusetts, no towns than Concord and her daugh 
 ter towns. The Judge had passed the military age 
 by two months, and was not physically fit for cam 
 paigning. But all through the war he served the 
 country, the state and the town, with his influence, 
 his labor and his purse. A notable instance oc 
 curred on the anniversary of Concord s great day, 
 when her company was to leave for the front. 
 
 On the morning of the Nineteenth of April, 
 1861, when the old "Concord Artillery," which 
 had been changed to an infantry company, had 
 received orders to join its regiment (the 5th Mas 
 sachusetts) in Boston and go to Washington, then 
 
128 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 in imminent danger of capture by the rebels, and 
 it became known that their good captain could 
 not then go, for family reasons of commanding 
 importance, great disappointment and depression 
 were felt by the soldiers. An eye-witness thus 
 describes the events of that morning : 
 
 " I was then a schoolboy, and when I came down 
 town the rumor ran that very likely the com 
 pany would be broken up and not go, but that 
 Judge Hoar was going to speak to them. I went 
 up into the Town Hall where they had mustered, 
 and saw them formed and marched around the 
 hall by Lieut. George L. Prescott. 1 He halted 
 them on the south side of the hall, faced and 
 addressed them, and gave the command Order 
 Arms ! The men stood there, silent and troubled. 
 
 "Judge Hoar came forward, uncovered, and 
 stood for a moment looking steadfastly at them 
 in the middle of the hall. Then he spoke to them 
 of their country, its danger, its call to them, their 
 duty to Concord, the example of their fathers, 
 his voice very solemn, but with increasing power 
 and spirit as he went on. 
 
 " This picture, which I saw from the gallery, is 
 fresh in my memory, but of his words I only re 
 member the last. He reminded the men how New 
 England had always been a focus from which 
 
 1 A brave and faithful soldier, who, as Colonel of the 32d 
 Infantry M. V. M., was killed in battle before Petersburg, Va., in 
 1864. 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 129 
 
 knowledge and virtue had spread abroad over the 
 land ; how she had always furnished teachers to 
 the West and especially to the South ; how they 
 were that day summoned to the South to save the 
 country, and to teach there, and to your children 
 in later years, what we all learned when we were so 
 high (putting his hand at the height of a five-year- 
 old child), the boundaries of the United States, 
 North by the British Provinces, East by the Atlan 
 tic Ocean, South by the Gulf of Mexico! and the 
 West was drowned in the thunder of the musket- 
 butts. Doubt and depression were gone. At noon 
 the company, in their old-time Napoleonic uniform, 
 were arrayed under the flag-staff cut that morning 
 in Walden Woods, the flag was run up, saluted by 
 the cannon, while the young women sang the Star- 
 Spangled Banner. Mr. Reynolds made a solemn 
 prayer, and mid cheers and tears, accompanied 
 by all Concord, her soldiers marched to the train." 
 Just ten days later Governor Andrew writes a 
 letter introducing Judge Hoar to Hon. Simon 
 Cameron, Secretary of War, as " one of our most 
 eminent men," and says, " I trust he may have an 
 opportunity for conference with the Government 
 at Washington, especially with regard to our Mas 
 sachusetts movement, opinions and troops." Mr. 
 John M. Forbes with prompt energy had secured 
 the vessels Cambridge and Pembroke for the state, 
 to transport her troops, and later her bountiful 
 supplies, and those poured in by private hands. 
 
130 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 Fit agents to distribute these were needed. Also 
 complaints of discomfort and privation came from 
 some regiments. The Governor wished these 
 looked into by men of tact and force. He sent 
 such, in the persons of Judge Hoar and Dr. S. G. 
 Howe. The former was also, if possible, to induce 
 the Secretary of the Navy to take the two trans 
 ports off the hands of the state and reimburse it 
 for its expenses. 
 
 As the temporary agent of Massachusetts, Judge 
 Hoar did admirably. Young Charles Russell 
 Lowell, later the distinguished cavalry commander, 
 succeeded Judge Hoar in this work, until he re 
 ceived his captaincy ; and, writing of the need of 
 a good permanent agent, said, " Where so much is 
 to be done it ought to be done by the best man 
 and with the best tact ; otherwise it will be un 
 done, or done wrong. Judge Hoar was admirable. 
 He always persisted till he got his answer." 
 
 The following extracts from his letters show 
 what he was doing, and throw some light on the 
 situation. 
 
 To J. M. FORBES 
 
 WASHINGTON, May 1, 1861. 
 ... I have seen besides Cameron, Chase and 
 the President ; Cameron professes to be up to the 
 full idea of Massachusetts as to vigorous measures ; 
 Chase has the same notions, and the President 
 hopes the people will be patient remember that 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 131 
 
 but two weeks have gone by since the first requi 
 sition for troops, since the Government knew what 
 they had to rely on from the people; that the 
 states have not yet done what the Government has 
 asked them to do, although they have done vastly 
 more than any people ever did in the same time ; 
 and that a grave test of the real purpose to do all 
 in their power to carry on the contest effectively 
 will be found in the response made to the call for 
 money under the new loan. 
 
 The most efficient service that could be rendered 
 in Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and 
 Pennsylvania at the present moment, would, in 
 his and Mr. Chase s opinion, be an agreement by 
 the banks of Massachusetts, Providence, New York, 
 and Philadelphia, to take the $14,000,000 called 
 for at par. Cannot the banks of Massachusetts set 
 the example by agreeing to take their share ? It 
 would put the credit of the country on a stronger 
 footing at once, be a great help in obtaining a 
 large loan in Europe when Congress meets, and 
 exert an influence upon our own people and upon 
 the rebels of incalculable value. I have no doubt 
 that the country banks would take their full pro 
 portion. Can you and Mr. Hooper do anything to 
 bring it about? The example of Boston would 
 make it very hard for New York and Philadelphia 
 to hold back. You may probably have seen Mr. 
 Chase s letter to Mr. Hooper, which tells the whole 
 story. . . . 
 
132 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 To THE SAME 
 
 WASHINGTON, May 4, 1861. 
 
 ... I have seen Charles Lowell, and you will 
 hear that he has had the promise of a lieutenant s 
 commission in the Army. I have strongly recom 
 mended him to Gen. Butler for immediate employ 
 ment, and he has gone to Annapolis in pursuit of 
 it and I think he will get it. 
 
 You may rest assured that we " have a govern 
 ment," and I am satisfied that it will come up to 
 the demands and purposes of the people. Only be 
 patient and have confidence. We have got beyond 
 " the defence of the Capitol," and plans of active 
 and energetic operations in several directions are 
 maturing, and will be executed as fast as is con 
 sistent with making the result certain. . . . 
 
 Boston can do nothing so important or service 
 able as to carry through Chase s proposition about 
 the loan. I hope you will move heaven and earth 
 to accomplish it. 
 
 We wrote more fully to the Governor and Wil 
 liam Gray about it, and I presume you saw the 
 letters. . . . 
 
 May 7, he writes of Charles Lowell that " he is 
 sensible, efficient and a trump into the bargain. I 
 have recommended the Governor to make him 
 general agent here." 
 
 The two friends, Forbes and Hoar, felt that al- 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 133 
 
 most the best service they could do to their state 
 and her soldiers, and thus to their country, was 
 to watch over and help our "War-Governor," and 
 save his life by reasonable attention to his body s 
 needs. One Saturday afternoon, the Judge went 
 to the State House, and sent up the following note 
 to the Executive Chamber : - 
 
 MY DEAR FELLOW, I came to seize you and 
 take you down to dine at our Saturday Club - 
 where we expect Motley for your soul s salva 
 tion, or body s, at least. Send that foolish Council 
 away till Monday. A man who has no respect for 
 Saturday afternoon has but one step to take to 
 join in abolishing the Fourth of July. "The Court, 
 having considered your case, do adjudge "that you 
 come down if you can t come now, come down 
 half an hour hence to Parker s. 
 Yours, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 
 When, in the first days of the war, the flag 
 suddenly blossomed everywhere, his son Samuel 
 wished that his father would buy one and have a 
 ceremonious " raising." He was eagerly pressing 
 the matter one day, when his father ended the 
 matter by saying, " My boy, I believe in a patriot 
 ism that never flags." 
 
 But the shadow of war was soon to darken for 
 a time his threshold. His eldest son was the kind 
 
134 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 of boy for whom the conditions of his home were 
 unfavorable. He was of quick and eager disposi 
 tion, intelligent and restlessly active. At certain 
 stages of growth this makes a boy mischievous and 
 troublesome. His father was necessarily much away 
 from home ; his mother much an invalid, and not 
 blessed with the power of showing the tenderness 
 she felt. Both loved the boy, but felt keenly their 
 duty as parents and inheritors of a stern tradition. 
 
 It is often the case that parents approach the 
 problem of rearing their family with a strong 
 sense of responsibility and a watchfulness for short 
 comings which makes the lot of the earlier children 
 hard, but that when the full force of the parental 
 conscience has wreaked itself on these its rigor is 
 abated. Whether its edge is blunted by exercise, 
 or experience teaches the wisdom of gentler meth 
 ods, it is certain that the first-born often laments 
 loudly the foolish weakness of his parents in 
 dealing with his successors, and contrasts it with 
 the stricter rules imposed on him, resolving at 
 the same time to pursue with his own progeny the 
 harder but better way. 
 
 This doubtless happened in the family of Judge 
 Hoar. To a very tender heart he united a stern 
 sense of duty, and during the period of stress and 
 strain, when he was working hard and travelling 
 much, inevitable fatigue doubtless added a certain 
 pungency to his words. As he grew older his ten 
 derness got the better of conscience and tradition, 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 135 
 
 and none of his children thereafter could complain 
 that he was not all that a father could be. It is 
 pleasant to read in this connection the words of 
 his son Charles, who, writing to his sister about 
 his father, said : " May the crocuses soon come to 
 break up your winter those flowers through 
 the snow reminding us all of the love and ten 
 derness that no austerity ever concealed from his 
 children." Samuel, as the eldest son, had an affec 
 tionate nature that would have responded quickly 
 to a show of love and confidence ; but he was a 
 little hardened by his experience both at home 
 and at school, where he was rather hardly dealt 
 with for his petty disorders. The war, besides its 
 call to every boy of spirit, seemed to open a 
 way of relief at this restless epoch of his life. 
 Though a year under military age, he was allowed 
 to join Concord s second company, which was 
 expected to be rather a "home-guard." In an 
 emergency it was called out, but the need passed 
 away and it got no farther than Boston ; but 
 young Hoar ran away and enlisted in a Maine 
 regiment. 
 
 Before he was found, his father, in a newspaper 
 " personal," had notified the boy that, if he would 
 return, he should be allowed to go to the war. 
 He was transferred to the 48th Massachusetts 
 Regiment, and served with great credit in the 
 Port Hudson Campaign, whence he returned, just 
 alive, after a fever contracted in camp. There is 
 
136 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 a Spartan tone in this letter to his brother George, 
 written by the Judge on June 16, 1863. 
 
 "We had a grand letter from Sam last night. 
 He was in both the Port Hudson fights; was not 
 in the part of the regiment that ran on the 21st; 
 marched over the field of a quarter of a mile of 
 felled trees up to the line of the entrenchments, 
 Balaklava fashion, the next man to him had 
 his head carried off by a cannon-ball. He had no 
 expectation of coming out alive, and had a pretty 
 narrow chance. He is acting as orderly sergeant 
 of his company, thinks he has everything to do, 
 gets little to eat or drink, and not much sleep 
 but is perfectly well and unhurt. Laus Deo ! " 
 
 The Judge wrote to Mr. Evarts, whose son had 
 followed Sam s example : " If the boy comes off 
 with life and limbs, I do not feel sure but it may 
 turn out the best thing that could have happened 
 to him. It certainly did in Sam s case." 
 
 Thence dated a happy relation between father 
 and son. The war had sobered the boy, made a 
 manly youth of him, and he had found how he 
 loved his home. He said he hoped now to be as 
 much of a comfort there, as before he had been a 
 trial ; and so it proved. 
 
 The war dragged along. The times were hard 
 indeed. The best men had gone as volunteers, and 
 many of them had lost their lives, or had come 
 home broken in strength. Concord, like every 
 village throughout the land, had had her bitter 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 137 
 
 griefs. Recruiting was difficult, bounties enor 
 mous; yet the people would not abandon the 
 contest, least of all would the men in the field. 
 But it was a heavy task for the elders at home to 
 meet the steady demand for men and money. Mr. 
 Emerson left in his journal this picture : - 
 
 "November 15, 1863. At the Town Meeting one 
 is impressed with the accumulated virility of the 
 four or five men who speak so well to the point 
 and so easily handle the affairs of the town ; only 
 four last night (Heywood, Fay, Brooks, Hoar), and 
 all so good that they would have satisfied me had 
 it been in Boston or in Washington. The speech 
 of Judge Hoar was perfect, and to that handful 
 of people, who heartily applauded it. When a good 
 man rises in the cold and malicious assembly, you 
 think, Well, it would be more prudent to be silent. 
 Why not rest on a good past ? Nobody doubts your 
 talent and power ; and, for the present business, 
 we know all about it and are tired of being pushed 
 into patriotism by people who stay at home/ But 
 he, taking no counsel of past things, but only of 
 the inspiration of his to-day s feelings, surprises 
 them with his tidings, his better knowledge, his 
 larger view, his steady gaze at the new and future 
 event whereof they had not thought ; and they 
 are interested like so many children, and carried 
 off out of all recollection of their malignant non 
 sense, and he gains his victory by prophecy where 
 
138 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 they expected repetition. He knew beforehand 
 that they were looking behind, and that he was 
 looking ahead, and therefore it was wise to speak. 
 What a god-send are these people to a town ! 
 
 "And the Judge, what a faculty ! He is put 
 together like a Waltham watch, or like a locomo 
 tive just finished from the Tredegar Works." 
 
 Later in 1863 Mr. Evarts was sent to England 
 to help in dealing with the questions raised by the 
 fitting out of Confederate privateers and war ves 
 sels in English ports. To him in February, 1864, 
 Judge Hoar wrote a letter from which the follow 
 ing extracts are taken : 
 
 " I had hardly read your parting words about 
 the Chief Justiceship, when the telegraph brought 
 the disgusting intelligence, Chief Justice Taney 
 is better/ and the tenor of all subsequent advices 
 has been of the same disagreeable character. My 
 own feelings on the subject are very precisely ex 
 pressed in the item cut from a Boston paper which 
 I enclose. 
 
 " You have probably seen that Black has resigned 
 his office of reporter to the Supreme Court a 
 proceeding which gives general satisfaction. His 
 second volume gives 375 pages to the report of a 
 case of his own, of no very extraordinary public 
 interest, filling more than half the book, while he 
 omits all notice of your argument in the Prize 
 Cases an outrage unparalleled, and which re- 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 139 
 
 ceives universal reprobation. It is a pity that a 
 decent and competent man cannot be found for 
 reporter, yet we have had none since Wheaton. 
 Peters was too bad, Howard worse, and Black has 
 certainly shown great capacity in going beyond 
 both in the descending scale. 
 
 " We notice that Chief Baron Pollock has been 
 distinguishing himself again in the Alexandra 
 case. I do not think he would be flattered by the 
 comments which his exhibition has elicited on this 
 side of the water. But I suppose the case will go 
 further and that Laird will be bought off by the 
 British Government. There is not much public or 
 private news stirring just now. Burnside has been 
 visiting Boston, and had a cordial reception. We 
 gave him a dinner at the Union Club, at which I 
 sat next him and heard his account of Antietam 
 and some of his other doings, and was much com 
 forted by his assurance that we could hold Knox- 
 ville which has been strongly threatened 
 against any force the rebels can bring against it. 
 He seems a very modest, well-meaning, faithful 
 man who means to do his best, and I like him. I 
 fear that even the war cannot keep our people out 
 of the usual scramble of a Presidential election, 
 and the signs thicken which indicate that even 
 the nomination of Lincoln may not be effected 
 without a considerable struggle, and perhaps not 
 without serious dissensions." 
 
 That the Judge was not altogether satisfied 
 
140 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 with President Lincoln appears in a letter written 
 on May 4, 1864, to Mr. Forbes, who also was often 
 impatient with his " waiting for the people." 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I have been holding court at 
 Lowell and did not get your letter till my return 
 home this afternoon. 
 
 I have read all the papers you send, and my 
 best judgment on the whole matter is : 
 
 I. That the call for the Baltimore convention is 
 unexceptionable, and includes every loyal man in 
 the country. That an attempt to make it more 
 particular, by addressing persons of any particular 
 class, would be likely to alienate more than it 
 would conciliate. Every man that means honestly 
 by the country can attend the convention or act 
 in selecting delegates, as fully as he chooses, if he 
 is willing to take an equal place, and stand on 
 equal ground with the rest so far as the adoption 
 of specific measures is concerned. 
 
 II. I think it would have been originally wiser 
 to call the convention for a later day, but I doubt 
 whether it is now practicable to postpone it, and, 
 unless it is done, I think the attempt to do it 
 likely to prove mischievous. 
 
 III. I have come at last, though slowly and re 
 luctantly, to the decided conviction, not only that 
 Mr. Lincoln will be certain to be nominated in 
 June, but that he would be equally certain to be 
 nominated in September ; and further, that if he 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 141 
 
 were not nominated at either time, it would be 
 from reasons and the operation of causes which 
 would leave it of no sort of consequence who 
 should be nominated. I think, if we get into a 
 condition through Grant s failure, or by "drift 
 ing " such that the people will not tolerate Lin 
 coln, it will be by abandoning the whole concern, 
 and that there is more danger that objection to 
 the nomination of some one else would be made 
 the pretext for deserting to the enemy, than any 
 other ; but particularly, 
 
 IV. I am sorry to say I see no man with whom, 
 if we could have him, I should be satisfied that 
 we would be better off than with Lincoln, all 
 things considered. I am afraid, in short, that he 
 represents about the average result (and perhaps 
 even a little better than that) of all that we have 
 to trust to for suppressing the rebellion. 
 
 In the latter part of 1864 he interested himself 
 actively in promoting the candidacy of Mr. Evarts 
 for the Chief Justiceship of the United States, and 
 the following extracts are taken from his letters 
 on the subject to Mr. Evarts. 
 
 October 30, 1864, he wrote : - 
 
 "First, I know that I can procure the unani 
 mous opinion of our court in your favor. The Chief 
 Justice has said to me that he thinks your appoint 
 ment would be the best that could be made ; Gray 
 and Chapman think the same actively, and the 
 
142 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 other two would concur. I saw the Governor yes 
 terday, and he thinks likewise . . . Sumner I 
 have seen twice, the last time yesterday at our 
 club at dinner, and have had a full and free con 
 versation with him. He is entirely in the interest 
 of Chase, and if his appointment is possible, will 
 spare no efforts to secure it. This is not strange 
 when you remember those years when he and 
 Chase and Hale stood alone in the Senate, subject 
 to everything which the malice of the lords of the 
 lash could devise, and outside of any healthy po 
 litical organization. The most I could do with him, 
 and all that I attempted, was to satisfy him that 
 if, by any accident, Chase should fail to be ap 
 pointed, or did not wish to be appointed, you were 
 the next person by all odds. And I think, though 
 I am not wholly sure, that I have put him in that 
 condition of mind. He has a very high estimation 
 of you, and is especially impressed by the im 
 pression you made in English society. . . . 
 
 " But, on the other hand, I am afraid that the 
 appointment of Chase is a fixed fact. One thing I 
 know, and may say to you confidentially, that he 
 will take it, and give up politics forever, if he can 
 get it. And further than that, I learn from sources 
 which I believe that the President has promised 
 to appoint him. I do not mean the old promise, 
 but a new one within a fortnight. Of course, 
 every future intended presidential candidate on 
 our side will want Chase put out of his way. 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 143 
 
 "I talked with Eliot the other day, and was 
 charmed to find how warmly he received the idea 
 of your appointment, but had my gratification 
 suddenly brought to a stand by finding that he 
 thought Curtis Noyes would do just about as 
 well." 
 
 On November 16, 1864, he wrote: - 
 
 " I got Andrew to dine with me to-day, and in 
 stead of writing, he will go to Washington him 
 self next Monday, and, I think, will be the best 
 attorney you will have from New England. . . . 
 He is going on purpose to labor with the Presi 
 dent, to make sure, if he can, that the office is 
 rightly filled, and thinks you the best man for it, 
 if your opinions are sound on two points : 1, that 
 the rights of everybody under the Emancipation 
 Proclamation are to be held sacred ; 2, that, as to 
 states that have made war on us, the war is not 
 to be considered as ended until we are ready so 
 to regard it, and that military power is to be ap 
 plied until our safety in their return to duty can 
 be secured. I vouched for your sanity on both 
 points, and he is satisfied. . . . 
 
 " The President knows all about Chase that any 
 body can tell him. If he intends to appoint him, 
 nobody can help it. If he does not, the man most 
 likely to receive the appointment is not the man 
 to whom Chase will look as his active enemy. He 
 may not be able to get the appointment himself, 
 and yet may have influence enough to upset his 
 
144 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 chief rivals. What I want is to have Chase and 
 Stanton the Kilkenny cats, and have you come in 
 as the innocent third person on grounds aside 
 from politics." 
 
 At last the cloud of war swept away and sun 
 shine returned. When Concord s soldiers of the 
 three years regiments some too who had re- 
 enlisted returned, the people gathered in the 
 Town Hall to greet them. The Judge stood before 
 them and called up one and another by name, with 
 a word or two of praise and affection: "Sergeant 
 Charles Bartlett, come up. We want to shake 
 hands with you: we love you for your mother." 
 "Captain Humphrey Buttrick, we are proud of 
 you, son of that honored name ! " and so on. 
 
 And it was he who wrote for the monument 
 which Concord erected in memory of her soldiers, 
 the simple and beautiful inscription : 
 
 THE TOWN OF CONCORD 
 
 BUILDS THIS MONUMENT 
 
 IN MEMORY OF THE BRAVE MEN 
 
 WHOSE NAMES IT BEARS 
 AND RECORDS WITH GRATEFUL PRIDE 
 
 THAT THEY FOUND HERE 
 A BIRTHPLACE HOME OR GRAVE 
 
 To go back a little chronologically, a few months 
 before Judge Hoar assumed the heavy work of 
 the Supreme Court, he had a pleasant and no 
 table vacation experience as one of a camping 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 145 
 
 party in the Adirondack Wilderness. The company 
 were Agassiz, Lowell, Emerson, John Holmes, Jef 
 fries Wyman, Estes Howe, Woodman, Binney, and 
 William J. Stillman. The last, an artist and an all- 
 accomplished woodsman, was captain of the party. 
 His painting of them in their camp on Follansbee 
 Pond was bought by Judge Hoar and now hangs 
 in the Concord Library. Mr. Emerson celebrated 
 the happy fortnight s experiences in his poem " The 
 Adirondacs." The Judge, not being in good health, 
 perhaps did not find the life beneficial, though he 
 keenly enjoyed the company. Leaving camp earlier 
 than the others, he went to Saratoga Springs, and 
 writes to Mrs. Hoar : 
 
 " I came in from the lakes and mountains yes 
 terday considerably browner and wiser than I 
 went. Neither Mr. Emerson nor I have shot the 
 other, and Mr. Emerson has passed for a very 
 creditable woodsman. I think all our party have 
 had a good time." 
 
 To MRS. E. R. HOAR 
 
 SARATOGA, Aug. 15, 1858. 
 
 . . . Our party reached Lake George on Monday 
 evening, a fortnight ago, getting no dinner on the 
 way, and riding the sixteen miles over the plank 
 road from Moreau. We went down the Lake on 
 Tuesday, took the boat from Burlington, crossed 
 Lake Champlain by another steamer fourteen 
 miles to Fort Kent, and went by stage four miles 
 
146 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 to Keeseville the same night. There I bought two 
 pairs of drawers and a gauze veil. There were 
 eight in the party, Emerson, Woodman, Agassiz, 
 Wyman, Howe, Lowell, John Holmes and myself. 
 . . . Mr. Stillman, who met us there, started after 
 dinner on our expedition. We went up the Saranac 
 Lake, six miles then by the Saranac River to Round 
 Lake, across that three miles, then by Saranac 
 River again, then across a " carry " where we leave 
 the boats, walk a quarter of a mile, and the guides 
 carry the boats and baggage, round some falls, to 
 the Upper Saranac Lake, then three miles across 
 the lower end of that to the " Indian Carry," a 
 mile long, to the log-house of Stephen Martin, 
 where we took supper and lodging, the latter con 
 sisting of the floor of the attic. It rained hard all 
 night, the mosquitoes and midges were thick, we 
 did not undress, and this with the boards under 
 us, was a specimen to begin with. ... On Friday 
 at 10 o clock we started again, having Mr. Binney, 
 the other member of our party, with us. . . , 
 The camp-fire kept off the mosquitoes and midges 
 pretty well, but, before we left, the dogs had in 
 troduced some fleas, which were worse, as they 
 got in under our clothing. ... A swim in the 
 lake commenced the exercises of the day ; break 
 fast was at 8, and dinner at 6. We hunted and 
 fished. 
 
 The deer-hunting was of two kinds : in the 
 day-time, we went out in our boats, and scattered 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 147 
 
 to different points on the lake, to look out for the 
 deer when he should take to the water. Then one 
 of the guides took a hound into the woods and 
 looked out for a fresh deer-track, and put him on 
 it, and the dog followed it up till he found the 
 deer, which he then chased perhaps for an hour 
 or two, till the deer would take to the water to 
 escape the dog, and attempt to swim across the 
 lake. Then the boats would pursue him and shoot 
 him while swimming. In the night a single boat 
 would go, with a bright light in the bow, shaded 
 from behind, so as to cast a strong light forward, 
 but leave the boat, and the persons in it, in perfect 
 darkness. In this way we would paddle up as 
 softly as possible to the feeding-ground of the 
 deer, where they come down in the night to feed 
 on the lily-pads. One man paddles in the stern, 
 and another with a gun sits just behind the light 
 in the bow ; and as the light noiselessly ap 
 proaches the shore, the deer stand and gaze on it, 
 seeming to be fascinated, until you can sometimes 
 get within two rods of them. The slightest motion 
 or noise makes them alarmed, and they are off in 
 an instant. I went out three nights, staying till 
 after midnight. From our camp such of the party 
 as chose made excursions to other lakes and rivers. 
 I went one afternoon to Big Tupper Lake, the 
 head of which is twenty-seven miles from our 
 camp, stayed over night, went night-hunting, and 
 returned the next day, rowing sixteen miles on 
 
148 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 our return in a drenching rain. The boats are 
 made very light and very strong about the size 
 of Uncle Edward s. We saw eagles, herons, loons, 
 kingfishers, and other birds, but no bears, pan 
 thers or wolves. Agassiz and Professor Wyman 
 dissected and collected all manner of animals and 
 plants. When I left, the number of deer killed 
 and eaten was seven. My own exploits in that 
 line were limited to a charge of buckshot put into 
 the head of one. Our party when assembled in 
 costume were a remarkable looking set, consider 
 ing who they were, and I think any one of them 
 would have been convicted of piracy on very 
 slight evidence, especially Mr. Emerson. . . . 
 
 In 1868 Chief Justice Bigelow resigned his seat 
 on the Supreme Bench of Massachusetts. His natu 
 ral successor, as the ablest and most eminent law 
 yer on the bench, would have been Judge Hoar. 
 Governor Bullock, however, nominated Judge 
 Thomas. Judge Hoar felt strongly in the matter, 
 and correspondence shows that, had Judge Thomas 
 been confirmed, Judge Hoar would have retired 
 from the bench. The nomination was rejected by 
 the Council. But the Governor would not yield, 
 and Judge Chapman was made Chief Justice. Ex- 
 Governor Claflin, then of Governor Bullock s 
 Council, said of Judge Hoar s non-appointment : 
 " It was a sad day for the state, though I believe, 
 in the end, his fame was made national by his re 
 jection." 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 149 
 
 It was in November of that year that Judge 
 Hoar celebrated Thanksgiving in Concord for the 
 fiftieth time, having been out of his native town 
 but twice on that day. 
 
 It was during the same year that Andrew John 
 son was tried on articles of impeachment. At the 
 close of the trial Mr. Evarts, who was one of his coun 
 sel during the trial, was appointed Attorney-Gen 
 eral. The appointment called from Judge Hoar a 
 letter from which the following passages are 
 quoted. 
 
 CONCORD, July 18, 1868. 
 
 MY DEAR WILLIAM, I am at home, with no 
 special obstacle to doing anything that presents 
 itself between now and September, as my sum 
 mer work is ended ; but I see by the papers that 
 you have been confirmed as Attorney-General, and 
 presume that it puts an end to your freedom for 
 the present. . . . 
 
 But as to your being the Attorney-General under 
 existing circumstances (though now that it is a 
 fixed fact I hope you may find it pleasant and for 
 your honor and profit), I do not feel sure enough 
 about it to offer many congratulations, or indeed 
 to know what to say. 
 
 Your defence of the President could not be 
 avoided, when he applied to you to undertake it ; 
 and with a little regret that you should be mixed 
 up with it, it was very gratifying to see you fill so 
 conspicuous a place with such masterly ability. 
 
150 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 Your position could be vindicated before angels 
 and men. Every criminal has a right to the aid 
 of counsel on his trial, and, if defended at all, to 
 be ably defended. It is the right even of the thief 
 and the counterfeiter. But when, after the ac 
 quittal, the grateful client invites his counsel to 
 go into partnership with him, some other consid 
 erations seem to apply. 
 
 Well, prevent all the mischief you can, depend 
 on the judgment and the sense of honor of your 
 self more than of your associates in the Cabinet, 
 and God send you a good deliverance ! 
 
 It may give Helen and Hetty the opportunity 
 of seeing Washington under agreeable conditions 
 next winter, at all events, on which I congratu 
 late them, and am, 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 
 THE HON. WILLIAM M. EVARTS. 
 
 His friendship with James Russell Lowell, which 
 began years before, became increasingly more in 
 timate, and it is interesting to trace its growth in 
 the letters which passed between them. 
 
 Thus, on February 5, 1855, he writes : 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, Whenever a guest is expected 
 in our village, those of us who have a certain com 
 munity of interest are apt to regard him as a sort 
 of negotiable instrument, payable to (R. W. Emer 
 son, for example) or order, and endorsed not only 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 151 
 
 without recourse (on his part) but without com 
 punction (on ours). Consider yourself the victim of 
 a relentless fate, and be assured, that, Mr. Emerson 
 being absent, I have the authority of his wife for 
 hoping that you will save yourself a half-mile 
 walk or ride by stopping at my house, and for say 
 ing that you will not thereby be offending any 
 hospitable expectations at the other end of the 
 town. 
 
 I am at East Cambridge every day, and go home 
 in the four o clock train from Boston, in which I 
 hope to meet you on Wednesday. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 
 On July 31, 1861, he wrote the letter from 
 which this passage is quoted : - 
 
 MY DEAR LOWELL, . . . It would have given 
 me great pleasure to join in any attention to Mot 
 ley, especially, whose recent service to the country 
 I think of a very high character. It seems of a 
 kind very much like that which Gouverneur Mor 
 ris rendered in the Revolution, giving the na 
 tion the benefit of his private credit at a time of 
 extreme need, and should be marked with great 
 honor. . . . 
 
 On September 2, 1864, was written the follow 
 ing : 
 
152 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 MY DEAR JAMES, I do not wish you to forget 
 to send me the extra verses of the new book of 
 "Zek el," -and therefore remind you that they 
 are yet to arrive. By the way, I have not seen 
 Mr. Biglow s poetic version of the Chicago plat 
 form, with the omitted resolutions necessary to 
 its completeness. Perhaps the principal one which 
 the telegraph failed to furnish may be gathered 
 in substance from the others, namely, that if their 
 candidate should be elected, after first releasing 
 all imprisoned traitors, he should next repair to 
 Richmond without an instant s delay, and present 
 ing his back to Jeff Davis, humbly and respect 
 fully request him to kick it. Perhaps it would 
 gratify the party to have that done, even if he 
 should not be elected, and I think it might be ar 
 ranged. Apparently a great many would like to 
 go with him, for the chance of making the expia 
 tion in their own persons, without trusting to 
 mere vicarious humiliation through their repre 
 sentative and federal head. Fancy the sensations 
 of a fellow that has not been kicked by a slave 
 holder for four years, when the toe of the boot 
 first touches him, and he is sure that it is no de 
 lusion ! What wonder that they are illuminating, 
 and firing cannon, at the mere anticipation. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 PROFESSOR LOWELL. 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 153 
 The following bears date June 2, 1865 : - 
 
 MY DEAR JAMES, ... I had heard with grief 
 unspeakable of your gout, and am glad you are so 
 well out of it. In my opinion no man has a right 
 to leave gout to his descendants without leaving 
 a well-stocked cellar, particularly rich in old Ma 
 deira, to mitigate the infliction. 
 
 Qui sentit onus, sentire debet et commodum, 
 to reverse the law maxim ... 
 
 July 17, 1865, he writes : - 
 
 MY DEAR JAMES, Do not think of such a 
 thing. The o. B. K. have heard me till they are 
 sick of it, and I will not try their patience further. 
 I had intended to go into the dinner a few min 
 utes, just to help fill up and hear your opening re 
 marks, but that blessing will be denied me, unless 
 I may be permitted to do it in silence. 
 
 Yet he went to the dinner and not " in silence." 
 The marshal of the day tells this story of the oc 
 casion : - 
 
 " The orator of the day was a gentleman from 
 another university, and after dinner Mr. Lowell, 
 who presided, called upon him for a speech. In 
 accordance with the time-honored custom of visit 
 ing scholars on such occasions, he began his re 
 sponse somewhat in this way : - 
 
 " Alumni of Harvard College, it has been the 
 object of my dearest ambition to find myself with 
 you on this, your day of annual rejoicing. For who 
 
154 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 is there so dull and unlettered that he has not 
 heard of Harvard College a college which boasts 
 its Agassiz, and its Felton, and its Lowell, and its 
 Longfellow, and its Gray/ Here the speaker be 
 gan to hesitate, and the audience began to take a 
 hand at prompting him, and from various quarters 
 came the suggestion, Peirce/ Peirce/ He did 
 not immediately catch the suggestion, but went 
 on hesitatingly, and its Lovering, and its 
 Goodwin and then with a sudden jump and 
 its Peirce. When, after a peroration, he sat down, 
 Judge Hoar promptly rose to his feet and said, 
 Mr. President, I hope the speaker will pardon me 
 if I say that he reminds me somewhat of the man 
 who was going into the woods to chop all day, and 
 carried his dinner but forgot his axe/ 
 
 " It was a brilliant dinner, but this joke, almost 
 alone of all that was said, has made a permanent 
 lodgment in my memory." 
 
 From the same letter to Lowell comes this ex 
 tract, which indicates how the friends spent their 
 time in Concord : - 
 
 ". . . So bring on your Acres. 1 (Is his Christian 
 name Bob ?) Mine are a little broader than they 
 were when you last saw them ; and we can smoke 
 the calumet at the river without resting our backs 
 against one fence, and our feet against the other 
 as the way used to be." 
 
 1 Refers to Charles Akers, a very charming man and an artist, 
 who made a crayon portrait of Lowell. 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 155 
 
 The next letter acknowledges the receipt of a 
 copy of the Commemoration Ode, one of a few 
 especially printed for presentation to Mr. Lowell s 
 friends : - 
 
 CONCORD, Sept. 10, 1865. 
 
 Many thanks for your beautiful book, which 
 the mail brought punctually to hand, and which 
 " No. 7 " of your friends received with pride and 
 pleasure. 
 
 I cannot compare the poem with all that has 
 made you famous, because it has no relation to 
 such things as " Biglow Papers, " " Fable for 
 Critics," and so on. But it has affected me more, 
 in hearing and reading, than anything of yours of 
 the serious kind ; and I think its tone lofty and 
 noble, and the execution worthy of the theme. 
 
 What an occasion that Commemoration was ! 
 Why ! It was the whole war concentrated, and 
 you have embalmed its essence and its flavor 
 forever. 
 
 I don t believe there ever was such a time to 
 live in as our lifetime, since the world was made ; 
 and I consider falling in with you as one of the 
 chief felicities of existence, which, if I should n t 
 go to Heaven (as is much to be doubted), will give 
 great help in striking a comfortable balance of 
 the total result of my creation. 
 
 I still think the best line in the poem is 
 That is best blood which hath most iron in t, 
 but there are whole strophes that I have read 
 
156 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 over many times with delight, and should be glad 
 to hear you read again. . . . 
 
 Lowell wrote thus of his friend in his rustic 
 verse apropos of Concord : - 
 
 I know the village, though; was sent there once 
 A-schoolin , cause to home I played the dunce; 
 An I ve ben sence a-visitin the Jedge, 
 Whose garding whispers with the river s edge, 
 Where I Ve sot mornin s lazy as the bream, 
 Whose on y business is to head up-stream, 
 (We call em punkin-seeds,) or else in chat 
 Along th the Jedge, who covers with his hat 
 More wit an gumption an shrewd Yankee sense 
 Than there is mosses on an ole stone fence. 
 
 Lowell dedicated his second series of " Biglow 
 Papers," in which these lines occur, " To E. R. 
 Hoar " : "A very fit thing it seems to me," he 
 said, " for of all my friends he is the most genuine 
 Yankee." 
 
 This compliment the Judge thus acknow 
 ledged : - 
 
 CONCORD, November 3, 1866. 
 
 MY DEAR JAMES, I desire reverently to ex 
 press my profound sense of obligation. I am 
 handed down to posterity. Immortality is secure. 
 An attache to some splendid embassy, a poor plod 
 ding pedestrian suddenly and unexpectedly re 
 ceiving a " lift " that takes him to his journey s 
 end, a donation visit to a country minister com 
 parisons fail me ! 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 157 
 
 I procured one of the earliest copies of the sec 
 ond series of the " Biglow Papers " from Fields, 
 and sat down to read it. At the touching dedica 
 tion I paused ; not, however, till I had read it 
 through. Then I read it again it impressed me. 
 Then again it impressed me still more. Then I 
 thought I would shew it to my wife she smiled, 
 but added nothing by way of comment or inter 
 pretation. 
 
 I have read the book since ; first the new parts, 
 with new admiration, though I confess to not 
 making out " Dupleveorum " without assistance ; 
 and then the parts which I had seen before, and 
 whose command of smiles and tears remains un 
 impaired by familiarity. 
 
 But altogether, and including the model index, 
 nothing, after all, impressing me like the dedica 
 tion. How much it leaves to the imagination ! 
 
 But, in whatever sense it may be taken, the fact 
 is there I am on board luggage marked 
 and future generations will hear of me without 
 the expense of a tombstone. The measure of my 
 earthly ambition is satisfied, and why should I 
 live longer? 
 
 Do not trouble yourself to send me a copy, ex 
 cept the long paper, in due season. It has reached 
 me, as you perceive from what I have said above. 
 It came as directed. 
 
 And now, my beloved, I take it you have no 
 longer any doubt of the wisdom of your conclu- 
 
158 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 sion to work the vein a second time. It is a rich 
 and abundant success, beside your knowing that 
 it is, like Audrey, " mine own." . . . 
 
 With the most affectionate regards, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 
 The next is characteristic : 
 
 BOSTON, Nov. 19, 1866. 
 
 MY DEAR JAMES, I take it for granted that 
 you recognize the great etymological truth that 
 " dog-goned " is a mere Virginian euphemism for 
 G d d d, in the vernacular. But what I wish to 
 call your attention to is the derivation of " chores" 
 or preferably and before modern corruption 
 " chars " from the Latin " quid facere" i. e., 
 things to do. It came into English at about the 
 time of many Spanish words, and by the same 
 route with punctilio, bravado, and the like. The 
 Spanish is "que hacer" ; and the Spaniard habitu 
 ally makes a noun of the phrase, and says that he 
 must go and do, or attend to, his " que-haceres" 
 which he rapidly pronounces very much like 
 " char-es." 
 
 My brother Edward (who, like a cat, knows 
 more than he usually tells) says the Spanish Cali- 
 f ornians constantly and habitually use the phrase, 
 and that it was scarcely distinguishable by the 
 ear from "char-es" that he recognized the 
 word chores as soon as he heard it. 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 159 
 
 The following letter refers to the dedication of 
 the Soldiers Monument at Concord, June 24, 
 1867:- 
 
 " I have sent you the Monument pamphlet ; and 
 if you take the trouble to read my report, I must 
 beg, as I said the other day, that you will remem 
 ber that the style in which one may talk to the 
 mourners at a funeral is not to be very closely 
 criticised. 
 
 " It took all my courage to venture to appear on 
 the same occasion with Mr. Emerson, but there 
 was no help for it. Trusting that the sound would 
 help the sense, I went ahead ; and it did. 
 
 "His address is a very pretty little contribution 
 to the story of the war." 
 
 The following doubtless refers to something 
 said in connection with the nomination of Judge 
 Thomas, and a suggestion that it might lead to 
 Judge Hoar s election as governor of Massachu 
 setts : - 
 
 "... To the letter of January 12, I can only 
 add my fervent Amen to all its anathemas, and 
 confess my deep pride and delight at its affec- 
 tionateness. But when I think of the real subject 
 of its discussion, it almost gars me greet to 
 think what a dear, royal, deluded old boy you are, 
 and what an ornamental, embellishing, mistaken 
 imagination you have the capacity to indulge in. 
 
 " I have put a stop to all that nonsense about 
 governor, which really began to assume a certain 
 
160 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 resemblance to reality, and will tell you about it 
 the next time we foregather, when, with Dryden 
 off your hands, and your notions thereupon trans 
 ferred to my receptive and gratified head, I hope 
 to find you lazily and deliberately taking your 
 share of the rest which remains for the people of 
 God. . . ." 
 
 At Commencement this year (1868) he received 
 from Harvard the degree of LL.D., which Will 
 iams College had given him seven years before. 
 
 This is his reply to an invitation to celebrate 
 Lowell s fiftieth birthday : 
 
 CONCORD, Feb. 20, 1869. 
 
 ... I am improving a little to-day, but visiting 
 Cambridge on Monday will be out of the question. 
 So fill my place with somebody better. I am very 
 sorry, but you may rely on my joining in the cele 
 bration of your 100th, by which time we may 
 hope to have got over these infantile diseases, and 
 to have settled down into a good steady pace 
 for life. 
 
 Sherman responds cordially to your salutation. 
 
 I believe I have told you this story of him, but 
 it is so much to the purpose of what is in my mind 
 at this moment that I must repeat it. He was 
 listening, with flushed face and sparkling eyes, to 
 a story of a young man in Vermont who went 
 across a long railroad bridge over the Connecti 
 cut, just before it was swept away by the freshet, 
 
THE ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE LIFE 161 
 
 and with all the chances that it would not hold 
 together till he could get over, for the purpose of 
 giving warning to an express train that was com 
 ing on in the darkness ; and at the end of the 
 story S. asked, "Was that since I was born?" On 
 being told that it was, and only a year or two be 
 fore, he drew a long breath, and exclaimed, " Oh ! 
 I m glad / was alive when he did that /" 
 
 Which is what I am thinking of the fruits of 
 those fifty years and so, God bless you. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 
 
 GENERAL GRANT was inaugurated as President 
 of the United States on March 4, 1869. His ex 
 perience of their interference during the Civil 
 War had inspired him with a lively dislike of poli 
 ticians, and he determined to be independent of 
 them. He chose his Cabinet, therefore, without 
 consulting the leaders of the Republican party, 
 selecting them not on account of their political 
 prominence, but because he liked them personally, 
 or because he had found them friendly or useful. 
 He named as Secretary of State Elihu B. Wash- 
 burne, of Illinois ; as Secretary of the Treasury, 
 Alexander T. Stewart, of New York ; as Secretary 
 of War, John A. Rawlins ; as Secretary of the 
 Navy, Adolph E. Borie, of Philadelphia ; as Secre 
 tary of the Interior, Jacob D. Cox, of Ohio ; as 
 Postmaster-General, John A. J. Creswell, of Mary 
 land, and as Attorney-General, E. R. Hoar, of 
 Massachusetts. Washburne had been his stanch 
 supporter from a very early day in his career. 
 Rawlins had been his chief of staff, and was his in 
 timate friend. Cox had been a distinguished offi 
 cer in the western campaigns of the Civil War. It 
 was suggested at the time that Stewart and Borie 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 163 
 
 had been liberal contributors to the funds raised 
 in New York and Philadelphia to purchase houses 
 for him ; but however that may be, both were pro 
 minent merchants, and had been friendly to him. 
 
 The circumstances which led to Judge Hoar s 
 selection are stated thus. In forming his Cabinet, 
 the new President had offered the portfolio of the 
 Interior to George S. Boutwell, who declined it ; 
 but when he did so the President suggested that 
 he might appoint an Attorney-General from Mas 
 sachusetts. In reply to this suggestion Boutwell 
 named Judge Hoar, and advised his appointment. 
 Senator Hoar says that the same suggestion from 
 another eminent Massachusetts man who was not 
 in Congress had more weight. This gentleman 
 suggested Judge Clifford, which did not interest 
 General Grant, and then Judge Hoar. " The Presi 
 dent replied with great earnestness and emphasis, 
 I know all about Judge Hoar ! He had met him, 
 I think, on two occasions, and had sat next him at 
 dinner, and had a very hearty and cordial, though 
 brief, acquaintance with him. The result was that 
 Judge Hoar s name was sent in." 
 
 It was at once discovered that Mr. Stewart was 
 ineligible to the office for which he had been 
 named, under the statute of 1789, which provided 
 that the Secretary of the Treasury should not 
 " directly or indirectly be concerned in carrying 
 on the business of trade or commerce. " Mr. Sher 
 man of Ohio, on Saturday, March 6, offered in the 
 
164 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 Senate a bill to repeal this statute and asked unan 
 imous consent to its passage. Senator Sumner 
 objected, and on his objection the bill went over 
 and was never moved again, it being at once ap 
 parent that public sentiment both in and out of 
 Congress was opposed to it. The appointment of 
 Mr. Boutwell in place of Mr. Stewart was then con 
 sidered, but it was objected that, if this were done, 
 there would be two Cabinet officers from the same 
 state, which for various reasons seemed undesir 
 able. On Sunday, the 7th, Mr. Washburne called 
 on Senator Sumner, pointed out the difficulty, and 
 urged Senator Sumner to ask Judge Hoar to de 
 cline the office of Attorney-General. The Senator 
 replied that, as he had not been consulted in re 
 gard to making the appointment, he must decline 
 to interfere. Senator Hoar, who had entered the 
 House of Representatives on March 4, tells his 
 experience in these words : 
 
 "In the evening after the Cabinet had been 
 announced, Mr. William B. Washburn, afterward 
 governor, called upon me at my room. Mr. Wash- 
 burn and I were not then intimate, although we 
 afterward became close friends. He said he had 
 been requested by the [Massachusetts] delegation 
 to tell me that they had earnestly hoped that Mr. 
 Boutwell might have a place in the Cabinet, and 
 that, although they had great regard for Judge 
 Hoar, they hoped that some arrangement might 
 still be made which would bring about the selection 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 165 
 
 of Mr. Boutwell. I told Mr. Washburn that I was 
 quite sure that the appointment of Judge Hoar 
 would be a surprise to him, as it was to me, and 
 that I thought it quite doubtful whether he would 
 wish to leave his place on the bench for a seat in 
 the Cabinet, but I could not speak for him or judge 
 for him. I telegraphed at once to Judge Hoar not 
 to commit himself in any way until he reached 
 Washington and could see me." 
 
 A telegram was sent to the Judge on Monday, 
 requesting him to refuse the office of Attorney- 
 General, to which he replied asking that nothing 
 be done until he could reach Washington and see 
 the President. The nomination had been a com 
 plete surprise to him, and he had no intimation of 
 it until it was announced on the bulletin boards 
 of the Boston newspapers. 
 
 Senator Hoar continues his narrative thus: 
 " I met him at the depot, told him of the com 
 munication of the Massachusetts delegation and 
 that, especially considering President Johnson s 
 quarrel with Congress, it seemed quite important 
 that General Grant, who had no experience what 
 ever in political life, should have some person 
 among his counsellors who had the full confidence 
 of the leaders in Congress. The Judge strongly 
 appreciated that view. When he called upon Pre 
 sident Grant his first conversation consisted in 
 urging upon him very strongly the selection of 
 Governor Boutwell. He supposed then that it 
 
166 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 would be quite unlikely that the President would 
 take two men from the same state, and supposed 
 that selection would require his own refusal of 
 the offer of the office of Attorney-General. Presi 
 dent Grant said that he would think it over and 
 not decide the question that day. The next morn 
 ing he sent for the Judge and said : Judge, I 
 think I would like to have you take the oath of 
 office/ He handed the Judge his commission. 
 The Judge looked at it and saw it was not signed. 
 He said, I think perhaps it would be better if 
 you were to sign it. Grant laughed and complied 
 with the suggestion. 
 
 "Judge Hoar s first official duty was to give an 
 opinion upon the question whether Mr. Stewart, 
 who had been nominated for Secretary of the 
 Treasury, could under the law undertake the of 
 fice. Mr. Stewart proposed to make some convey 
 ance of his business interest, by which he should 
 part with his legal title to it while he held the 
 office of Secretary of the Treasury, and come back 
 to it again after his term ended. But the Attorney- 
 General advised the President that that was im 
 practicable, and the result was the withdrawal of 
 Mr. Stewart s name and the appointment of Mr. 
 Bout well a day or two afterward." 
 
 The Judge s feelings in regard to his own 
 appointment may be gathered from his letters. 
 On hearing of the nomination he wrote to his 
 brother in Washington: 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 167 
 
 " I am astonished ! Unutterably ! I do not know 
 what to do, and hardly what to think. The poor 
 man in the Arabian Nights who was taken away 
 in his sleep and found himself in the Caliph s 
 palace in the morning with a complete change of 
 identity, and deprived of his wife and children, is 
 the only parallel case that occurs to me. 
 
 " We are in the midst of our March Term, with 
 some heavy cases reserved by me just reached, 
 and I could not in justice to suitors or my associates 
 leave to-day. It seems to me that respect to General 
 Grant, and to the high compliment involved in 
 such an unexpected appointment from him, un 
 doubtedly requiresthat I should go to Washington 
 immediately, and, as your telegram suggests, there 
 decide what duty requires to be done. . . . 
 
 "I shall reach Washington by six or seven 
 o clock on Tuesday, when I will see you and Mr. 
 Evarts, and try to learn what it all means, but, it 
 being the middle of the March Term, must wait a 
 day in justice to suitors and my associates." 
 
 He adds : " Caroline will suspend any proceed 
 ings for divorce till I have been to Washington and 
 concluded what to do and the selectmen of Con 
 cord will not apply to the judge of probate for a 
 guardianship as a spendthrift for a week or two, 
 if I will agree to accept notice at Washington, in 
 case I do not return within that time. My creditors 
 have not recovered sufficiently from their aston 
 ishment to get together." 
 
168 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 Apropos of these remarks on the economic side 
 of the question, the salary of the Attorney-General 
 was then perhaps one third larger than the salary 
 Judge Hoar was receiving as a justice of the 
 Supreme Court of Massachusetts; but living in 
 Washington as a member of the Cabinet was ex 
 pensive, and the Concord home for the family 
 must also be maintained. In earlier days the At 
 torney-Generalship brought with it a large prac 
 tice in the Supreme Court at Washington, but 
 during the war and since, the Attorney-General 
 had been too much burdened with public work to 
 do anything for himself. 
 
 It was a time when the public was giving 
 houses to men who had served their country well, 
 like Grant and Sherman, and it was suggested that 
 some of Judge Hoar s friends in Massachusetts 
 might help him by giving him a house in Wash 
 ington. The following letter of Senator Hoar to 
 Hon. P. W. Chandler, written on March 13, 1869, 
 is interesting in this connection. 
 
 "I have received within a few minutes your 
 letter concerning the proposed offer to provide a 
 house for Judge Hoar. I have not the slightest 
 doubt what his reply to such an offer would be, if 
 made to him. But as I think his answer to such a 
 proposal should be the result of his own determina 
 tion and not mine, I shall say nothing about it to 
 him, and must decline being the medium of any 
 communication with him upon the subject." 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 169 
 
 It would appear that the proposal was, not un 
 naturally, abandoned. 
 
 A letter which he wrote to Richard H. Dana 
 after the interview with General Grant tells what 
 happened on his arrival in Washington. 
 
 " I appeared in Washington as independent of 
 all political schemes and persons, as I was in the 
 Court House in Boston. ... I went to see the 
 President, had an interview of an hour, most of 
 it spent, on my part, in urging reasons why I 
 should not accept his offer, and when I left him I 
 went to bed as clear of all earthly responsibility 
 as a man well could be. The telegram of Monday 
 was sent to me, by his consent indeed, but with 
 out his approbation. Everything since has been 
 fabrication, hope or conjecture, which the news 
 papers have circulated concerning me. 
 
 " I cannot tell you what was said to me by 
 Grant, but I have been told by others what he has 
 since said to them, and you would not be distressed 
 on my account to hear it. I seemed to impress him 
 as a discovery. " 
 
 On March 10, Judge Hoar resigned his seat on 
 the Supreme Bench of Massachusetts. 
 
 Meantime, in the quiet village, five hundred 
 miles away, where, in those days, everybody knew 
 everybody, the news had spread from the telegraph 
 office to the Main Street and on the Mill Dam, that 
 her foremost citizen had been called to be one of 
 
170 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 the guides and guardians of the Republic. One who 
 happened to be " down town " just then reported 
 that every face wore a smile of proud satisfaction 
 at the Judge s national honor, which, as they re 
 called Governor Bullock s recent refusal to ap 
 point him Chief Justice, changed to a " girn." 
 
 One of the Judge s family, writing to him in 
 1869, mentions that she had been to call on two 
 interesting remains of eighteenth-century maiden 
 hood, on the road to Carlisle. One of these ancient 
 crones had asked, " What made Mr. Hoar go ? We 
 don t want our best man to go off there ! I hope 
 he don t like." 
 
 But at the National Capitol " Judge Hoar s ap 
 pointment was received . . . with great approba 
 tion, and the Massachusetts delegation both in 
 Senate and House, with but one or two exceptions 
 in the latter, were earnest and hearty in their eu 
 logies," l so Senator Hoar wrote to his sister-in- 
 law in Concord on March 14 ; and he adds, after al 
 luding to Governor Boutwell s share in influencing 
 the appointment : 
 
 " Rockwood, in his turn, was largely instrumen 
 tal in removing from the President s mind the ob 
 jections which existed to Bout well. No sugges 
 tion that either should withdraw has ever been 
 made by our delegation or approved by it. Presi 
 dent Grant expressed his satisfaction with his 
 selection of Rockwood in a way quite unusual 
 
 1 General Butler was then in the House. 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 171 
 
 with him, saying to Mr. Conkling of New York, 
 Judge Hoar is magnificent/ Unless some un 
 foreseen change should take place, Rockwood will 
 remain in the Cabinet as long as he pleases." 
 
 Yet later in his " Autobiography," Mr. Hoar ad 
 mits that there were grave considerations against 
 having two members of the Cabinet from Massa 
 chusetts, especially then, when there was great 
 jealousy of that state in the Republican party. 
 In the Senate, Sumner was at the head of the 
 Committee on Foreign Relations, Wilson was chair 
 man of the Committee on Military Affairs ; and, 
 in the House, Banks, Butler, Washburn, Dawes, 
 Hooper, and Buffington were respectively at the 
 head of important committees. "So it was well 
 understood on both sides that Judge Hoar s con 
 tinuance in office was very likely not to be per 
 manent, and that he considered the President at 
 liberty to fill his place, whenever it could con 
 veniently be done. There was no Cabinet officer at 
 all from the South." Creswell, the Postmaster- 
 General, came from a Border state. 
 
 The Judge, writing from Washington to Lowell, 
 thanking him for his "hurrah " of congratulation, 
 fears that his appointment may do more harm 
 than good by blocking the way for good men of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 " I have already expressed," he says, " the opin 
 ion that you ought to go as minister to Spain or 
 Austria (the latter, of course, only in case Motley 
 
172 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 goes to London) and that either Boutwell or I, or 
 both of us, if necessary, ought to quit the Cabinet, 
 if it stood in the way of such a public benefac 
 tion. But I feel very much like an intruder, and 
 can only say that, while I am about, the President 
 shall have as much honest counsel, given with 
 such directness and earnestness as the opportunity 
 may allow, as I am able to furnish, and that, 
 whenever my duty in that behalf ceases, no one 
 can be more glad of it than myself." 
 
 Lowell s reply should be preserved for the light 
 which it throws upon Judge Hoar as well as on 
 his own character. 
 
 ELMWOOD, 29th March, 1869. 
 
 MY DEAR JUDGE, I did not look for any answer 
 to my letter, knowing how overwhelmed you must 
 be with business. But I can t help answering your 
 letter, knowing that a whiff of Massachusetts 
 must be a cordial to you where you are. 
 
 If you could have heard the talk at Club on 
 Saturday, you would have been pleased. Did n t 
 you notice any burning of the ears between three 
 and four o clock on that day? Everybody was 
 warm about you, and not merely that, but (what 
 I liked better) everybody was glad of the gain 
 the country has made in you. It was all very 
 sweet to me you may be sure, but it would have 
 pleased you most (as it did me) to hear Emerson, 
 whose good word about a man s character is like 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 173 
 
 being knighted on the field of battle. It is so, at 
 least, to you and me, who know him. Generally, 
 you know, we are apt to congratulate a man on 
 getting an office, but in this case we all wished 
 the office joy of getting the man. In short, it was 
 just what you deserved and what an honest man 
 may fairly like to hear of. 
 
 Never dream of quitting your place. A man 
 with a head and heart that you have, who knows 
 the good and evil of politics, is just what the Presi 
 dent wants. He has an eye for men, and will not 
 part with you. You, who might have had any place 
 that Massachusetts had to give, either state or na 
 tional, and who chose rather the line of duty than 
 that of ambition, are in your right place, whoever 
 else is. We are apt to say that honor seeks out 
 such men, and so she does, but promotion is not so 
 quick-eyed and finds them less seldom. I am say 
 ing nothing new for you know the opinion I 
 have always held of your aptitude for public serv 
 ice nor am I speaking out of gratitude, though 
 the tears came into my eyes when I read your 
 generous words. 
 
 I know that some of my friends had talked of 
 me for some place abroad, but I thought it had 
 blown over long ago. I need not say I should like 
 some small place, like Switzerland, which I could 
 afford. Spain, of course, would be delicious but 
 I have no "claims" and would not stand in any 
 body s way, least of all in Motley s. Your letter 
 
174 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 startled me. I had no notion I had been spoken 
 of anywhere but here, and a mission could hardly 
 please me more than your speaking of me so 
 warmly, nor indeed would be worth so much. I 
 shall communicate your letter to none but Fanny, 
 and a secret confided to her is dropped into a well. 
 I thank you as old friendship only can. 
 
 Don t laugh but the office I am most interested 
 about is our Post Office in Old Cambridge. The 
 present incumbent ought to be kept in and if you 
 can properly say a word to Mr. Creswell, I hope 
 you will. ... He is not an active politician (though 
 a very active postmaster) and a man with a family 
 dependent on him has an excuse for wishing to 
 keep his place, if he can do so without loss of honor. 
 You see what a log-roller I am become. 
 
 Again I say, do not answer this. I understand 
 perfectly what you have on your hands. I shall 
 write to you now and then with a little Club news. 
 In what I said about Club opinion at the beginning 
 of my letter, I did not mean to imply that such 
 feelings were confined to your personal friends. 
 I gather but one sentiment from all quarters, as 
 honorable to you as it is deserved. It is but fair 
 that you should know it. You need backing less 
 than most men but you ought to be pleased. 
 Always lovingly yours, J. R. L. 
 
 His brother tells this anecdote of the Judge at 
 his first Cabinet meeting. 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 175 
 
 " The President brought up the case of a man, 
 whom he said he proposed to appoint Chief Justice 
 of one of the territories. He said he was a man 
 for whom he had great sympathy, who had lost 
 both legs in battle. There was an entire silence 
 about the board, which was at last broken by the 
 Attorney-General as follows: Mr. President, it 
 seems to me that mere absence of legs is not a 
 sufficient qualification for a judicial office/ The 
 other gentlemen at the table thought the observa 
 tion rather audacious. But the President laughed 
 and said he would consider the matter further. 
 But the man was not appointed." 
 
 Chief Justice Field thus speaks of the tasks that 
 came upon the Judge, and their performance : - 
 
 "In the administration of the office of Attorney- 
 General of the United States, he took exclusive 
 charge of the political business of the office, and 
 he had to deal with many matters of grave im 
 portance. Our relations with Great Britain, espe 
 cially, were in an unsatisfactory condition, and 
 although the burden of the negotiations belonged, 
 under the President, to the Secretary of State, yet 
 Judge Hoar strongly supported the Secretary. It 
 was in consequence of this, as well as of the con 
 fidence which the President had in his character, 
 ability and good judgment, that (later) caused his 
 appointment as one of the commissioners to ne 
 gotiate the treaty of Washington." 
 
 Mrs. Hoar could be little at Washington, but 
 
176 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 had to take charge of the Concord home. The 
 Judge however had a new pleasure, in finding 
 his eldest boy, now at his side, a helper and com 
 panion. He had studied law, on leaving college, in 
 his uncle s office ; then served his kinsman, Hon. 
 William M. Evarts, the Attorney-General under 
 President Johnson, as pardon clerk ; and, as such, 
 remained when his father was called into the 
 Cabinet. 
 
 The latter in writing to his wife in July, 1869, 
 from the heated capitol said : 
 
 " I am happy to think that that vivacious boy 
 Sam has been enjoying the sea-breezes for the 
 past two days, and will have cheered you all up 
 by the time this letter reaches you. He has been 
 a great comfort to me, and it seems already lone 
 some without him." 
 
 The Administration was at first busied with 
 questions of appointment, and the letters already 
 quoted show something of Judge Hoar s feeling 
 in regard to them. President Johnson, as a result 
 of his long contest with Congress, had left his 
 successor a troublesome legacy of unsettled ques 
 tions, and foremost among these was the dispute 
 with England growing out of the claim made by 
 the United States, that England should pay for 
 the injury done us by the Alabama and the other 
 Confederate privateers. Mr. Reverdy Johnson, still 
 our minister to England, had negotiated a treaty 
 with Lord Clarendon for the settlement of the 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 177 
 
 controversy ; but on April 13, 1869, Senator Sum- 
 ner made a speech against it, and it was rejected 
 by a unanimous vote of the Senate. Mr. Sumner 
 took the ground that the treaty was entirely in 
 adequate since it provided only for the adjust 
 ment of individual claims and left untouched the 
 great wrong done to the United States as a nation. 
 He claimed that our real grievance lay in the con 
 cession of ocean belligerency to the Confederacy 
 and the consequent prolongation of the war. He 
 outlined a national claim of enormous magnitude, 
 and, as England was very unlikely to recognize 
 such a claim, the situation became delicate. Wise 
 men on both sides of the water interested them 
 selves in trying to find a solution of the difficulty, 
 and the circumstances gave Judge Hoar a great 
 opportunity. His position is suggested by the fol 
 lowing extract from a letter to John M. Forbes, 
 written June 25, 1869 : 
 
 " I did not agree with Sumner on the Tenure-of- 
 Office bill, and fear he does not regard me as 
 absolutely reflecting the full light of his Alabama 
 Claims as much as I ought to, but our personal 
 relations are and always have been most cordial, 
 and my respect and regard for him are very 
 strong." 
 
 He had long held Mr. Sumner in high honor 
 and personal esteem, and they were in close politi 
 cal sympathy, though they did not always agree 
 as to details or methods. He therefore, as the per- 
 
178 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 son who possessed at once the confidence of the 
 Administration and of Sumner, who in this matter 
 at least represented the Senate, was in a position 
 to exercise great influence, and he acted in cordial 
 cooperation with Secretary Fish, who had suc 
 ceeded Mr. Washburne in the State Department. 
 On this subject he wrote to R. H. Dana on May 
 10: 
 
 "Be assured that this Administration . . . knows 
 some things. Do not be in the least disturbed. 
 Strictly between ourselves, if Sumner keeps his 
 temper, you will have no occasion to lose yours." 
 
 John Lothrop Motley was appointed by the new 
 Administration to succeed Reverdy Johnson, and 
 after the rejection of the Johnson-Clarendon 
 Treaty the discussion of the question between the 
 two governments was for a while abandoned ; but 
 Secretary Fish s instructions to Mr. Motley bear 
 ing date May 15, 1869, and the later instructions 
 to the same minister of September 25, 1869, stated 
 the position of this country in accordance with 
 Mr. Sumner s speech. Judge Hoar was doubtless 
 consulted in regard to them, but the responsibility 
 was on Mr. Fish, who conferred with Mr. Sumner 
 and Caleb Gushing, and it does not appear that 
 Judge Hoar took any prominent part in the mat 
 ter. 
 
 Another question of international interest, how 
 ever, engaged his attention, and in the determi 
 nation of this he exercised an important influence. 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 179 
 
 An insurrection in Cuba was in active progress 
 when General Grant was inaugurated, and General 
 Rawlins, the Secretary of War and the President s 
 intimate friend and trusted adviser, was anxious 
 to intervene in behalf of the insurgents. He urged 
 as a first step that the United States should re 
 cognize them as belligerents, taking the course 
 in regard to them which England had taken in 
 recognizing the belligerency of the Confederate 
 States. As this was one of the principal grounds 
 upon which our government rested its claims 
 against England, it was very important that the 
 United States should not do exactly what it blamed 
 England for doing. General Grant was disposed to 
 take the advice of General Rawlins, and doubt 
 less on general grounds favored the policy of an 
 nexing West Indian territory. Mr. Sumner strongly 
 opposed the recognition of Cuban belligerency on 
 the ground that it was not justified by interna 
 tional law, and believed, as he wrote to Caleb 
 Gushing on July 19, 1869, that "The best chance 
 for Cuba is through a kindly policy with Spain. 
 With a thoroughly upright system we can obtain 
 all we desire." 1 
 
 Judge Hoar strongly supported Mr. Sumner and 
 aided Secretary Fish in preventing the proposed 
 recognition. Sumner, in a letter to Motley of June 
 29, 1869, said : " Hoar, who is now here, tells me 
 that at the last Cabinet meeting he went into the 
 
 1 Pierce s Life of Sumner, vol. iv, p. 403. 
 
180 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 belligerency question, and against the concession to 
 the Cubans"; l and the Judge himself, on June 28, 
 wrote to Sumner : 
 
 " You would make no apology for your Cuban 
 sermon if you knew how zealous a member of the 
 same church you were addressing. My wish and 
 first impulse was to inclose your note to the Presi 
 dent, but I forbore for two reasons : (1) I had not 
 your permission to do so ; and (2) I was afraid he 
 would suspect you of plagiarism, as he must be 
 reasonably familiar with that train of remark, if 
 he keeps up any recollection of my discourses. I 
 shall not be back in Washington till next Monday, 
 and I do not think that anything can happen be 
 fore then ; but there is need of all the steadiness 
 that anybody can contribute." 2 
 
 The opposition prevailed and Cuba was not 
 recognized, remaining to be as any oppressed 
 people, be it a nation, a race, or a class, must al 
 ways be a prolific source of future trouble. 
 
 Judge Hoar, however, had difficulties more pecu 
 liarly his own. Congress had distrusted President 
 Johnson so entirely that an act had been passed, 
 in 1866, taking from the President the power of 
 appointing any new judge of the Supreme Court 
 until the number of judges, then ten, should be 
 reduced to seven, and providing that thereafter 
 the court should consist of seven members. When 
 General Grant became President there were eight 
 
 1 Pierce s Life of Sumner, vol. iv, p. 403. 8 Ibid. 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 181 
 
 judges on the bench, and an act passed during the 
 spring session of 1869 fixed the number of the 
 judges at nine, and also created a new judgeship 
 in each Federal circuit. The duty therefore de 
 volved upon the Attorney-General of advising the 
 President as to the choice of one justice of the 
 Supreme Court, and all the new circuit judges, 
 a duty in which the Senate was zealous to 
 render its assistance. It was essential that the 
 judges in the Southern circuit should be both good 
 lawyers and men who had been loyal during the 
 Civil War, for it seemed unsafe, while the feelings 
 created by that struggle were still fresh, to trust 
 the decision of important questions growing out 
 of the war to men who were not in cordial sym 
 pathy with the government. Judge Hoar after 
 ward, in speaking of his difficulties, said, " My 
 situation was somewhat like that of the parish 
 committee who went to a divinity school in search 
 of a minister, and were told by the president that 
 the students fell readily into three classes, those 
 who had talents without piety, those who had piety 
 without talents, and those who had neither." 
 
 His colleague in the Cabinet, Secretary Jacob 
 D. Cox of Ohio, thus describes his attitude in this 
 matter : 
 
 " The passage of the new judiciary act called 
 for the nomination of the whole class of circuit 
 judges, and the Attorney-General s heart was set 
 on having the new places filled by men who would 
 
182 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 honor the bench in the performance of those 
 judicial duties, subordinate only to those of the 
 Supreme Court. He could not always make his 
 judgment of men potent, but the President stood 
 by him so well, on the whole, that the judicial 
 nominations sent to the Senate that winter are 
 proof enough of his character and his courage." 
 
 These final tests of men, character and fitness, 
 did not please the senators, who felt that their 
 recommendations of candidates were entitled to 
 the first consideration. Nearly every senator had a 
 candidate of his own for the Circuit Court, but in 
 almost every instance the President took the At- 
 torney-GeneraPs advice. "In one of the two cases 
 where he did not," says Senator Hoar, " he was 
 compelled by the sentiment of the profession and 
 the public to withdraw the senator s candidate 
 after he had been nominated." 
 > Thus friction began and rapidly increased. Such 
 a man in such a place was intolerable to politi 
 cians with friends to reward and influence to main 
 tain, but his position was impregnable to direct 
 assault ; he was the President s authorized adviser 
 on these points, and evidently strong in honesty. 
 Unhappily the Judge s manner in discharging his 
 duty was not engaging. He had the plain speech and 
 trying sincerity of latitude 42 N. in an extreme 
 degree, and it proved hard to bear at Washington. 
 Yet he was but half conscious of it. One of his 
 fellow members of the Cabinet said, "When deal- 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 183 
 
 ing with injustice or dishonesty, the edge of his 
 humorous sarcasm cut like a knife, and the doer 
 of the wrong had no refuge from self-contempt 
 but in wrath and in hatred. ..." Nearly every 
 complaint of acerbity in his temper arose directly 
 from discomfited attempts to make judges or dis 
 trict attorneys of disreputable or unfit men. With 
 spoilsmen of this class he was apt to use plain 
 English. No doubt he had thus made a consider 
 able number of influential enemies by the close of 
 1869. 
 
 " These were individuals, but soon the attitude 
 adopted by the Attorney-General as President s 
 adviser was taken as a wholesale affront to the 
 upper house of Congress by most of its members. 
 The Senate has been, and at this period was be 
 coming more than ever jealous of its rights and 
 its prerogatives." Senator Zachariah Chandler of 
 Michigan introduced a resolution in the Senate 
 requiring the Attorney-General to report the condi 
 tion of certain cases between the United States and 
 various defendants. The resolution was adopted 
 and sent to the Attorney-General. He declined to 
 comply with it ; reminded the Senate that he was 
 not a clerk for them, but responsible only to the 
 President, and suggested that the Senate apply to 
 the Executive. Thereupon Senator Chandler and 
 those who voted with him were angry, and refused 
 to have communication with the President through 
 the Attorney-General s office. The Judge, in speak- 
 
184 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 ing of this action to a friend, showed some amused 
 satisfaction at having caught the senators in this 
 mistake about their right to demand information 
 of him. Technically and morally the Attorney- 
 General was proof against attack, but his course 
 naturally produced irritation and impaired his just 
 influence. The obvious tactical move was to stir 
 the feeling increasingly prevalent in the delega 
 tions from other states, too much Massachusetts 
 in the Cabinet. The Judge s generous readiness 
 not to embarrass the Administration was known. 
 Grant felt the pressure, but liked the Judge, saw 
 his strength and wisdom and felt, too, the moral 
 tonic which he had always needed, and which un 
 til now, his near friend and " his conscience " in 
 camp and at the White House, General John A. 
 Rawlins, had supplied. This brave man had died, 
 and now at the President s elbow as private secre 
 tary and old crony, was General Orville E. Babcock, 
 an astute man of little principle, but who had 
 Grant s confidence and regard. 
 
 The vacancy on the Supreme Bench, created by 
 the act to which reference has just been made, 
 offered the President a way out of his difficulties, 
 and in September 23, 1869, he asked Judge Hoar 
 to accept the vacant seat. In this way he could 
 pay the Judge a high compliment, make an emi 
 nently proper appointment to the Supreme Bench, 
 and relieve himself from embarrassment. Judge 
 Hoar did not at once accept this offer, and a letter 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 185 
 
 to his wife of October 19 states the reasons for 
 his hesitation. 
 
 " This question must be soon decided, and gives 
 me a great deal of thought. In the first place the 
 opportunity is not one that may occur oftener 
 than once in a lifetime. The salary is now $6,000, 
 about what it was in Massachusetts, considering 
 the difference in expense. I think I could get 
 along with our expenses through this year, which 
 seems likely to be the most expensive, with the 
 start I have now, and then I am very confident 
 that the salaries will soon be raised. Then I have 
 not yet had any private business, and unless I do 
 I can lay up nothing. I did have one private 
 client s offer to-night in a large and profitable 
 case, but I was obliged to decline it, because it 
 involved going to New York to argue a question 
 before the Circuit Judge, and I cannot leave Wash 
 ington while the court is in session. I like being 
 Attorney-General very well, but whenever I leave 
 the office I have only the prospect of returning to 
 practise at the bar, which does not look attractive 
 or pleasant at my time of life ; and if I hold on 
 through Grant s administration, I should have lost 
 the chance of money-making for a long time, and 
 should be rather too old to begin life so much 
 anew in the rough work of the bar. Then I should 
 have no prospect before me if I did not succeed 
 in laying up money enough for our wants in later 
 life, if I should live to be old. On the other hand, 
 
186 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 the salary of a judge, whatever it may be, will 
 last for life, and with the right to give up work at 
 seventy, if I should reach the age. To Sam, and I 
 dare say to Amelia, who see me mainly when 
 at leisure or at rest, I may seem younger and more 
 full of resources than I feel myself to be, but my 
 life and health have been such that I know I am 
 older than most men at my age. You will see from 
 all this that my present inclination of mind is 
 rather to accept the President s offer. Yet I al 
 most feel that it is ignominious to retire from ac 
 tive duty in the public service, and I should not 
 want to make a determination which involves such 
 a permanent change in our mode of life without 
 your full approbation. . . . 
 
 " I want you to think of it and let me know." 
 The following passage from a letter of Novem 
 ber 20, 1869, written by his friend and former 
 partner Horace Gray, then on the Supreme Bench 
 of Massachusetts, is interesting : 
 
 "Doubt prevails here whether you are to go 
 upon the Supreme Bench, and most among those 
 who should know best. If you ever mean to do so, 
 the temptation must be strong to do it now, when 
 good work is so much needed, not only on the 
 great constitutional questions, but on bankruptcy, 
 commercial and maritime law, and many other 
 branches on which some of their eminences are 
 hardly experts. It would be unpleasant in dispell 
 ing the vision of our court s ever regaining its 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 187 
 
 natural head. Yet I do not see how any one judi 
 cially inclined can hesitate upon such a question. 
 The Supreme Court has always seemed to me the 
 greatest judgment seat in the world, and the im 
 mediate reconstruction of the Southwest must be 
 a most attractive mission. 
 
 " The whole law upon this point, however, as on 
 many others, is well summed up in that favorite 
 authority of mine, the Body of Liberties : The 
 general court hath libertie and authoritie to send 
 out any member of the Commonwealth, of what 
 qualitie, condition or office whatsoever, into f oreine 
 parts about any publiqe menage or negotiation: 
 Provided the party sent be acquainted with the 
 affaire he goeth about and be willing to undertake 
 the service/ And you know, as I do not, the sense 
 of power and public usefulness of a driver of the 
 car of state, as compared with that of a passenger 
 on ever so high a bench inside. What a pity it 
 is that pro hac vice the Attorney-General cannot 
 lay down the law to the court like a judge advo 
 cate." 
 
 An opposing view is found in a letter from his 
 classmate and friend, Charles W. Storey, written 
 on December 21: 
 
 " I am only sorry you were nominated. It seems 
 to me much better for the country, for you, and 
 for the President, that you should remain where 
 you are, than that you should accept even the 
 great place of Justice of the Supreme Court. To 
 
188 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 furnish the ideas on which the Executive must 
 act at this juncture in the matter of reconstruc 
 tion is more important, in my view, than to decide 
 deliberately on the wisdom of it all afterwards, 
 and of course requires more brains. ... I am 
 surprised the President should have thought of 
 letting you go. To have a man about him who 
 understands politics and politicians, without being 
 himself a politician and, as such, obliged to wor 
 ship his own tail of smaller politicians, must be a 
 luxury to him, especially as the man smokes." 
 
 He finally decided to accept the appointment, 
 and, on December 14, his nomination was sent to 
 the Senate. The nomination at once encountered 
 opposition in the Senate, and a personal hostility 
 developed for which the Administration was not 
 prepared. The following letter was written by the 
 Judge to his wife a few days later : 
 
 WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 1869. 
 I hope to see you this week that s the great 
 fact in human existence. But aside from that 
 cheerful and delightful outlook, I am not having 
 a very agreeable time just at present ; the Senate 
 does not act on my nomination, and there is said 
 to be some prospect that they will not confirm it. 
 This I do not think probable, but, as they adjourn 
 for a fortnight on Wednesday next, they may 
 leave it undecided, which leaves me in a condition 
 rather afloat, and reminding me considerably of 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 189 
 
 my sensations at the time of the Chief Justice 
 business two years ago, or perhaps still more of 
 Judge Thomas s, because then the newspapers 
 were pitching in on my side, and now my friends 
 the newspaper correspondents are taking their 
 little revenges for my persistent omission to recog 
 nize their existence heretofore. There is, besides, 
 a slight controversy which the committee are 
 trying to get up with the President, mainly, I 
 think, with reference to me, which I have to take 
 my share of. So that things are not altogether 
 lovely. On the other hand, I am pretty well (intend 
 to leave off smoking!), 1 and have many active and 
 excellent friends. So life is not exactly a burden, 
 but if things work so that I cannot spend the 
 next month at home, I shall be disgusted. 
 
 On December 22, the nomination came up for 
 action in the Senate and the following letters 
 show what happened, and how the Senate s act 
 was regarded by the Administration. 
 
 WASHINGTON, Dec. 25, 1869. 
 HON. E. R. HOAR, 
 
 DEAR SIR, I write simply to say that your 
 friends for more than four hours battled for you, 
 that all was said and done that could be. When it 
 was clearly seen that a majority had determined 
 
 1 The Judge was very much given to leaving off smoking and 
 then resuming it, until his doctor said to him: "Judge, if you will 
 either smoke or not smoke, I can prescribe for you, but not other 
 wise." 
 
190 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 on a vote of rejection, we struggled for more than 
 two hours against coming to a vote, before we 
 secured an adjournment. Never have I seen such 
 action in the Senate. Certain senators seemed de 
 termined on a vote of rejection. They claimed to 
 have a majority of fifteen, and I think they 
 thought they would not only defeat your nomina 
 tion, but by so doing could drive you from the 
 Cabinet. That was the purpose of some engaged 
 in the proceedings against you. 
 
 They have a majority in the Senate that can 
 not be overcome. But you have not only the con 
 fidence of the President, but his personal regard, 
 and I hope you will not let these senators drive 
 you from the position you hold in the govern 
 ment. The President is for you, our good old state 
 is for you, and you had a true minority in the 
 Senate who will stand by you. 
 Yours truly 
 
 HENRY WILSON. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 
 WASHINGTON, 23 Dec., 1869. 
 
 MY DEAR JUDGE, I have just come from the 
 President, with whom I have been discussing the 
 action of the Senate last night upon your nomina 
 tion, and the course proper for both him and you 
 to pursue. Robeson and Belknap met me there, 
 and I want first of all to assure you that a com 
 mon indignation fired us all. Field came in on a 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 191 
 
 matter of business, and I asked him to telegraph 
 you to maintain a " masterly inactivity " until you 
 should hear from us. We feared that in your first 
 flush of feeling you might commit yourself to 
 some cause or course of action which you would 
 not follow, if fully advised of the facts, and of the 
 feelings of the President and your associates in 
 the Cabinet. 
 
 First, as to the facts : The very men who 
 wanted the President to " lump " you and Stan- 
 ton s nomination, were the leaders in a most per 
 sistent determination to force a rejection. They 
 counted on the Democrats of course, and with 
 reason. To these they added all the Southern sen 
 ators except Warner, on the plea that the South 
 should claim the appointment. A few of the 
 Northern Republicans then sufficed to make a 
 majority. Trumbull. seems to have supported you 
 and to have dissented from the remainder of his 
 committee. This was a gratifying surprise to me. 
 The opposition, it is said, was evidently organized 
 and acting in concert. They were determined to 
 be content with nothing but a prompt rejection, 
 and did not even consent to a motion to table the 
 business, after four hours exciting struggle, until 
 Cattell told them he would make dilatory motions 
 all night before he would permit such an outrage. 
 The result was the tabling of the question, with 
 (as the opposition claim) an understanding that it 
 shall not be again taken up. 
 
192 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 I have advised the President that he shall leave 
 the total responsibility with the Senate, and ut 
 terly refuse to withdraw the nomination. He can 
 not do the latter without losing by it. He feels 
 that he cannot make a better nomination, and we 
 are sure that to stand squarely by what he has 
 done is best for him, his administration and you. 
 By so doing he will show his unswerving faith in 
 you and give the weight of his personal character 
 to sustain you under the insult put upon you. 
 Robeson and Belknap fully and heartily agreed 
 with this, and the President said it precisely indi 
 cated his own feelings. I told him I was going to 
 write you, and he bade me say to you that his sen 
 timent was what I have expressed and that, even 
 if the Senate shall finally reject, he is assured 
 that they and the country will soon learn that 
 a great wrong and a great error has been com 
 mitted. In no event must you think of abandon 
 ing the Cabinet, for the Attorney-General s office is 
 the TTOV a-TO) from which to bring an ultimate suc 
 cess and victory out of this temporary rebuff. 
 
 The Cabinet officers I have named joined in 
 sending you messages of good cheer. Judge Po 
 land and General Garfield, who have been in since 
 I began writing, have done the same, expressing 
 their shame and dissatisfaction with what the 
 Senate has done. I shall expect to hear the voice 
 of New England in some emphatic form before 
 the holidays are over, and I shall believe that the 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 193 
 
 Senate will come back on the 10th of January 
 with a consciousness of their own blunder. Sooner 
 or later time will set this even, and you must not 
 allow one moment of depression over it. It is 
 rather a challenge to prove your mettle, and I re 
 member with satisfaction what you said to me 
 about keeping your colors flying. I often wish my 
 friends might be spared from some of the bitter 
 nesses which every man has to taste who will not 
 sneak through the world without a principle or a 
 will of his own, but next to that exemption from 
 pain, and hardly second to it, is my wish that they 
 may make a good fight of it. 
 
 God bless you, my dear Judge, and give to you 
 and yours both the Merry Christmas and the 
 Happy New Year before your return ; for you 
 have the right to look down from a calm and 
 happy upper world of your own upon the petti 
 nesses of those who have vainly thought to do you 
 a mischief. 
 
 Give my best wishes and regards to Mrs. Hoar 
 and to Sam, and believe me 
 
 Always truly yours, 
 
 J. D. Cox. 
 HON. E. R. HOAR. 
 
 It was after this action of the Senate, and after 
 the Judge had come home for Christmas, that he 
 received the response of his friends. Lowell wrote, 
 the day before Christmas : " Don t let your nom- 
 
194 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 ination be withdrawn. Let the responsibility lie 
 with the knaves who hate you for your impregna 
 bility, and have n t the courage to say so. Give 
 em the additional pang of being obliged to vote. 
 It is all an honor to you. ... I am honestly glad 
 of anything that will keep you in the Cabinet, 
 though in thinking it over I persuaded myself 
 that you might have helped forward the cause of 
 loyalty and common sense in Georgia. However I 
 am proud of your rejection on such grounds. . . . 
 May your Christmas turkey have as many good 
 qualities as yourself, though of less firm quality. 
 . . . You have deserved well of the Republic, 
 which is better than being paid well by it." 
 
 On the same day Charles Francis Adams, Jr., 
 wrote : 
 
 DEAR JUDGE, I cannot finish up work for 
 Christmas without congratulating you and the 
 country on the action of the Senate on Wednes 
 day. Of all comforting things the most comfort 
 ing must be to feel that one has a mission to per 
 form, that all responsibility and doubt are gone, 
 and that to retreat is impossible. Such, I presume, 
 is your position now. A great mission has been 
 forced upon you : nothing less than to return the 
 Senate of the United States to its proper func 
 tions in the system of government. I am very 
 glad the job has fallen into such good hands, and 
 I wish you a merry Christmas at Concord as you 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 195 
 
 debate on the best way of beginning your work. 
 What was the Greek name for the thirty tyrants 
 who undertook to rule Athens ? Who was it who 
 overthrew them ? Much good fortune has of late 
 been thrust upon you, and now I nourish a fond 
 hope that justice will be done to all. 
 Very sincerely, etc., 
 
 CHARLES F. ADAMS, JR. 
 HON. E. R. HOAR, Concord. 
 
 On Christmas Day Judge Hoar wrote his bro 
 ther : - 
 
 " There is nothing . . . which on my account 
 need give you pain or concern I have heard 
 from the President and the Cabinet, and my course 
 is plain enough. 
 
 " My nomination will not be withdrawn, and I 
 shall endeavor to have its rejection upon a yea 
 and nay vote. I hope that the men of our party 
 who vote against it will live to regret doing so, 
 not for any harm it will do them, but from an 
 altered opinion. 
 
 " The ugliness of which you speak looks worse 
 from the inside at Washington than from the out 
 side, and I mean at some time or other to have the 
 whole thing not to be sorry for." 
 
 Three days later, the Judge wrote again to his 
 brother : - 
 
 " My public relations of course now depend upon 
 the firmness and clear-sightedness of the President. 
 
196 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 I have no doubt of his thorough friendship ; I only 
 hope that he will not allow himself to be entrapped 
 into any pledges or promises to those fellows, of 
 any kind, especially as to nominating a judge 
 from the Rebel States on any terms. I think I see 
 his way clear out of the difficulty, if he keeps his 
 own counsels, and that they must break if he does 
 not. When I am rejected, he can nominate fit 
 Northern men in succession as long as the stock 
 holds out, and every one that is rejected makes a 
 new set of enemies to the men who do it, and 
 they can t stand it. The line will break some 
 where. As to saying die/ don t you have the 
 least anxiety about me. As soon as I get my per 
 sonal relation to the question eliminated, I will 
 try to furnish a specimen of cheerful activity that 
 will refresh you to witness. I may even go so far 
 as to leave off smoking and bad manners." 
 
 Nor shall a passage from a letter of his sister 
 Elizabeth be omitted, not only because it breathes 
 the spirit of the family, but for its own beauty. 
 Writing on January 2, she said : 
 
 " Tell my dear brother Frisbie to keep a good 
 heart, and hold up the hands of his brother and 
 encourage his heart, and fret not himself because 
 of evil-doers, but remember that wherever his 
 brother Rockwood is, there is an honest, able and 
 faithful worker, whose work will praise him and 
 of whom his whole kith and kin have right to be 
 proud and glad 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 197 
 
 Whatever record leap to light, 
 He never shall be shamed/ " 
 
 In spite of great pressure, President Grant would 
 not withdraw the nomination, and forced the re 
 sponsibility on the Senate, which on February 3, 
 1870, rejected the nomination. Senator Hoar wrote 
 afterward : 
 
 "The person who was chiefly responsible for 
 Judge Hoar s defeat was Mr. George F. Edmunds 
 of Vermont. He pretended that his chief objection 
 was that Judge Hoar did not live in the circuit to 
 which the judge was to be assigned for duty. I 
 do not think he deceived himself or anybody else 
 by that statement. He told Rockwood that all ob 
 jection to his confirmation would be waived, if he 
 would agree to take up his residence in the South 
 ern Circuit ; to which the Judge replied that he 
 would not move his boarding-house across the 
 street for any such reason." 
 
 Charles Francis Adams relates that some time 
 afterward the Judge s friends were chaffing him a 
 little over the table of the Saturday Club upon his 
 alleged rough dealings and sharp tongue. The 
 Judge took their wit good-humoredly, and re 
 peated what Senator Cameron said about the Sen 
 ate s rejection : " What could you expect for a 
 man who had snubbed seventy senators?" Mr. 
 Adams says : 
 
 " That way of putting it undoubtedly had no little 
 basis of truth," and explains the judge s severity to 
 
198 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 office-seekers and their patrons by saying : " His 
 sense of humor did not always have time to 
 come to his rescue, and it was commonly alleged 
 of him that, in political parlance, he could not 
 see things ; the real fact being that, with his 
 rugged honesty and keen eye for pretence and 
 jobbery, he saw things only too clearly. And so, 
 first and last, he snubbed seventy senators all 
 there were and they, after their kind, got even 
 with him/ " Mr. Adams adds : " He bore defeat 
 as if it had been a laurel crown." 
 
 But by no means all the seventy were hostile. 
 As appears above, many of the best made a hard 
 fight for him. Senator Hoar says that Chandler of 
 Michigan, one of the most bitter opponents, after 
 wards came to appreciate the Judge, and expressed 
 his regret. 
 
 Mr. Justice Grier had sent in his resignation 
 from the Supreme Bench early in December, to 
 take effect on February 1, 1870, and Edwin M. 
 Stanton was nominated to succeed him on Decem 
 ber 20. The nomination was confirmed, but Stan- 
 ton died on December 24, and his death, with the 
 rejection of Judge Hoar s nomination, left two 
 vacancies on the bench. On February 7, Mr. Jus 
 tice Strong and Mr. Justice Bradley were nomi 
 nated to these positions, and on the same day the 
 Supreme Court decided the case of Hepburn vs. 
 Griswold, in which it held that the Legal-Tender 
 Act was unconstitutional. 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 199 
 
 This judgment was rendered by a divided court ; 
 and after the appointment of Justices Strong and 
 Bradley the same question was reargued, and 
 Hepburn vs. Griswold was overruled. This result 
 was reached by the votes of the new justices, and 
 upon these facts the charge was made, and from 
 time to time is repeated, that Judge Hoar " packed " 
 the Supreme Court in order to obtain a reversal of 
 the Legal-Tender decision. This charge was denied 
 and is absolutely refuted by the facts in the case, 
 as was shown by Senator Hoar in a letter to the 
 Boston "Herald," subsequently printed in pam 
 phlet form. 1 As a matter of fact, the appoint 
 ments were decided upon and actually sent to the 
 Senate before the judgment in Hepburn vs. Gris 
 wold was announced. The Supreme Court and the 
 Senate both met at 12 M. on February 7, and the 
 opinions of the justices in this and other cases 
 were read shortly after that hour. The nomina 
 tions of Justices Strong and Bradley had been 
 signed by President Grant, and reached the Senate 
 a few minutes after twelve o clock. Both decision 
 and nominations were announced to the public in 
 the evening papers of that day. 
 
 The decision against the constitutionality of the 
 Legal-Tender Act was most unexpected, for it was 
 
 1 The charge against President Grant and Attorney-General Hoar 
 of packing the Supreme Court of the United States, to secure the re 
 versal of the Legal-Tender Decision by the appointment of Judges 
 Bradley and Strong, refuted. Worcester, Mass., Press of Charles 
 Hamilton, 1896. 
 
200 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 generally supposed that Chief Justice Chase would 
 support it, since, while Secretary of the Treasury, 
 he was the author of the law and largely responsi 
 ble for its passage ; but no information as to the 
 decision had reached the Cabinet or Judge Hoar 
 before it was given. Mr. Justice Bradley was re 
 commended by the whole bench and bar of New 
 Jersey, without distinction of party, and, it is said, 
 also by his predecessor, Mr. Justice Grier. Mr. 
 Justice Strong had recently left the Supreme 
 Bench of Pennsylvania with a great judicial repu 
 tation, and was the leader of his profession in 
 that state. Both were admirable appointments, 
 and it is wholly unnecessary to seek any reason for 
 their selection other than their eminent fitness, 
 which was demonstrated by their whole subsequent 
 conduct on the bench. President Grant and Judge 
 Hoar s associates in the Cabinet, Mr. Fish, Gov 
 ernor Cox and Governor Boutwell, all denied that, 
 when the appointments were considered at Cabinet 
 meetings, there was any reference to the Legal- 
 Tender question or to the opinion of the candi 
 dates upon it. President Grant said that he had no 
 knowledge of the decision, or any purpose in re 
 gard to it, when the appointments were made. 
 , Governor Cox s statement may well be quoted : 
 "I can recall some discussion of the character 
 and qualities of Judges Strong and Bradley among 
 members of the Cabinet, but not a single word of 
 reference to their opinions on the Legal-Tender 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 201 
 
 question, or to any case pending or likely to be 
 pending in the Supreme Court. Nothing could be 
 plainer than that the Attorney-General was ear 
 nestly determined to recommend only such men as 
 combined the qualities of able lawyers with those 
 of perfectly pure, single-minded and upright citi 
 zens. When the nominations were made, we felt 
 that just such men had been selected." 
 
 Governor Cox adds that he would have been 
 " quick to notice anything inconsistent with this 
 good purpose/ " because his personal opinion was 
 in accord with the decision in Hepburn vs. Gris- 
 wold. 
 
 Governor Boutwell says " The legal-tender con 
 troversy was not spoken of, nor in any manner 
 referred to by the President or by any member 
 of the Cabinet." 
 
 When, finally, it is said, that to this charge, 
 originating in the suspicion of some unknown 
 newspaper writer, and repeated by General But 
 ler, a known witness whose character and motives 
 were never in doubt, Judge Hoar himself re 
 plied that it was "utterly untrue," in a letter 
 fully stating all the facts, we may safely assume 
 that the charge was as baseless as it was scan 
 dalous. It was a successor of Judge Hoar in 
 the office of Attorney-General, Wayne MacVeagh 
 of Pennsylvania, who concluded a reply to Gen 
 eral Butler some years later with the scathing 
 words : " I will not even take the trouble to deny 
 
202 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 any new falsehoods you may think it to your ad 
 vantage to invent about me, for those who know 
 me well will not believe anything you say against 
 me, and those who know you of course will not 
 believe anything you say against anybody " ; and 
 the statement needs no qualification as between 
 Judge Hoar and the same accuser. 
 
 Judge Hoar endeavored to have the Legal-Ten 
 der question reargued in the case of Latham vs. 
 The United States (9 Wallace, 145), but the ap 
 pellants withdrew their appeal, and he therefore 
 did not succeed. The question was however ar 
 gued by his successor, Mr. Akerman, the next 
 winter, and the decision in Hepburn vs. Griswold 
 was reversed. 1 
 
 Judge Hoar did not allow himself to be dis 
 turbed by the defeat of his nomination, but se 
 renely continued his work as Attorney-General, as 
 his correspondence shows. 
 
 On the very day when Justices Strong and 
 Bradley were nominated, we find him writing to 
 Lowell : 
 
 MY DEAR JAMES, I hear you are expected to 
 make a visit in Washington. . . . When may I ex 
 pect you, and how long will you stay ? I want you 
 to see some people and want some people to see 
 you, so let me know as soon as you can. 
 
 The visit was a success as the next letter 
 shows : 
 
 1 Knox PS. Lee, Parker vs. Davis, 12 Wall. 457. 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 203 
 
 WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 1870. 
 MY DEAR JAMES, I trust you survived your 
 dissipation, and got home with Mrs. Lowell un 
 scathed. Your coming did me a great deal of 
 good; and our friend Ulysses (or "Ulyss," as 
 Mrs. G. calls him sometimes) had a revelation 
 the day after you left. He went to an evening 
 party, where, among the entertainments provided, 
 was reading by an adept in that art. The reader 
 had, as one of his selections, one of the later 
 " Biglow Papers," and, as I understand, read it 
 very well. The President spoke to me about it the 
 next day ; said that he had never read or heard 
 one of them before, but that it was the most per 
 fect statement of the whole doctrine of recon 
 struction that he had ever met with. He seemed 
 much impressed ; and the next night gave the 
 evidence which you as an author will recognize as 
 the final test of sincerity, wanting to hear it 
 again, for he procured the reader to attend at the 
 state dinner at the White House, and read it there 
 after dinner. 
 
 In writing on March 8, to thank Mr. Emerson 
 for a copy of his " new book " 1 Judge Hoar said : 
 " I feel a certain guilt in thinking of it, as at least 
 an hour was given this morning to looking it over 
 which ought to have been devoted to something 
 worse. But I have found in life that virtue is not 
 the only thing which is its own reward." 
 
 i Society and Solitude. 
 
204 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 Mr. Forbes, a private citizen, engaged first in 
 the China trade, and later in the development of 
 our Western states by pushing railroads to the 
 great corn-land on both sides of the Mississippi, 
 though never holding office or appearing in the 
 newspapers, had been, with counsel, activity, quick 
 resource and generous expenditure, a pillar of 
 state during the war, and now that sound finance, 
 the safety of American shipping, and sane recon 
 struction policies were the issues, his counsels 
 were still valued. Judge Hoar, acknowledging a 
 letter from him on the Alabama Claims, written in 
 March, 1870, says : 
 
 " I think the extract from your correspondent 
 capital in its way, well worth Mr. Fish s attention, 
 as well as your letter in reply. I shall show both 
 to him and to the President at the first oppor 
 tunity ; but, what with Tennessee, Georgia, cur 
 rency funding, and tariff, there has been little 
 said or thought about Alabama Claims for the last 
 few days among us here. 
 
 "Strictly in confidence between ourselves, I wish 
 Sumner had the faculty of working on a level 
 with other human beings a little more, and did 
 not find it necessary to his self-respect and self- 
 estimation to be quite so near President, Secretary 
 of State, Congress, and public instructor and guide, 
 all rolled into one. It hurts his power for good, 
 and I see trouble from it brewing. But there is 
 no touching him in a rational way, and we must 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 205 
 
 take him for what he is, and let him gang his 
 ain magnificent gait/ after the nature of the ani 
 mal. He is invaluable for many things. 
 
 " I have at last won the fight on the judges, and 
 except our friend P. . . (who I think will come 
 yet), have secured the man I wanted in every 
 case, and feel that a good service to the country 
 has been done. My own personal affair is trifling 
 in comparison, and I guess it is just as well it is. 
 
 "Your currency squib contains sense and 
 morals, but Chase s decision on legal tenders is 
 not constitution, nor right reason, nor safe doc 
 trine for the country in its times of peril, in my 
 opinion, and I shall not stand it if I can help it." 
 
 The following letter belongs to this period and 
 is so characteristic that it is inserted here. 
 
 WASHINGTON, Fast Day, 1870, 6 P. M. 
 MY DEAR WIFE, I have argued a case two 
 hours to-day that s instead of preaching have 
 received a small fee for it it being for a private 
 client and so send you $100 that s for char 
 ity which "begins at home "--and have gone 
 without my dinner so far which will do for 
 the fasting. The humiliation is in not having 
 time to write you a longer letter and the prayer 
 is for the welfare and happiness of all the distant 
 dear ones, from 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 
206 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 His position in the Cabinet had never been per 
 fectly assured for the reasons which have been 
 pointed out, and events were now happening 
 which were soon to terminate his connection with 
 the Administration. 
 
 Very soon after his inauguration President Grant 
 was found to entertain the idea of adding territory 
 in the West Indies to the possessions of the United 
 States. Certain naval, military, and commercial 
 influences, chronically working and at last suc 
 ceeding some thirty years later, were urging this 
 policy, and after the plan of recognizing the in 
 surgents in Cuba had failed, the President s at 
 tention was directed to San Domingo. During the 
 summer and autumn of 1869 he sent his secre 
 tary, Orville E. Babcock, to investigate conditions 
 on this island, who on September 4 executed a 
 procotol, and in December a treaty for the annex 
 ation of San Domingo, and another for the lease 
 of Samana Bay. 
 
 The President set his heart upon the ratification 
 of these treaties, but Senator Sumner opposed it, 
 and the Committee on Foreign Relations reported 
 against them on March 15, 1870. Debate on them 
 began on the 24th and continued for some weeks, 
 when the Senate laid them aside and did not take 
 them up again until June 29. During this period 
 the President became much inflamed against Mr. 
 Sumner, and very anxious to secure votes enough 
 in the Senate to ratify the treaties. To accomplish 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 207 
 
 his end he was willing to exert all the powers at 
 his command, and the senators from the Southern 
 states, who were more pliable than some of their 
 Northern colleagues or more in sympathy with the 
 annexation, were hungry for patronage. On June 
 23, Judge Hoar resigned the office of Attorney- 
 General, and his colleague Governor Cox, the 
 Secretary of the Interior, tells the story of his 
 resignation. 
 
 The Judge, writing of Cox, when they were 
 fellow members of the Cabinet, said, " He is one 
 of the truest and best of friends, as well as one 
 of the noblest men in the country, which Grant 
 knows as well as I," and he is so unimpeachable 
 a witness that the leading incident is given here 
 in his words: 1 - 
 
 "When Judge Hoar s nomination to the bench 
 had been defeated in the winter, he again sent 
 word by closest friends that his resignation would 
 be at the President s disposal ; but General Grant 
 saw nothing to make a change in their relations 
 desirable, and the subject was dropped, definitely 
 as I supposed. Delicacy had prompted the Judge 
 thus to speak through others, so that no feeling of 
 personal regard might make the President hesi 
 tate to express his wish. More than four months 
 had elapsed, and the Attorney-General, like the 
 other members of the Administration, had devoted 
 
 1 "How Judge Hoar ceased to be Attorney-General," The 
 Atlantic Monthly, August, 1895. 
 
208 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 himself to the work of his own office, forgetting, as 
 far as possible, including San Domingo, what did 
 not directly affect his own responsibilities." 
 
 Governor Cox then tells how, on an evening in 
 June, he read in the New York " Times " that the 
 Attorney-General had given in his resignation, 
 and the President had accepted it. He could hardly 
 trust his eyes, knowing that nothing had been 
 further from Judge Hoar s thoughts but a day or 
 two before, and no suggestion of such a thing had 
 come from others. "That such changes in the 
 Administration could be made without announce 
 ment to its members, leaving them to learn it from 
 the public press, was incredible." He started for 
 the Judge s lodgings, and on the way was stopped 
 by Senator Henry Wilson, equally amazed. 
 
 "Reaching the Attorney-General s lodgings, I 
 opened the conversation almost in the words Sen 
 ator Wilson had used to me : Well, Judge, what 
 does this mean ? Sit down/ he said, and I will 
 tell you/ The recollection of what he said is so 
 vivid that I may safely say that I give it in his 
 own words : - 
 
 " I was sitting in my office yesterday morning, 
 attending to routine business, with no more 
 thoughts of what was to come than you had at 
 that moment, when a messenger entered with a 
 letter from the President. Opening it, I was 
 amazed to read a naked statement that he found 
 himself under the necessity of asking for my re- 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 209 
 
 signation. No explanation of any kind was given, 
 or reason assigned. The request was as curt and 
 as direct as possible. My first thought was that 
 the President had been imposed upon by some 
 grave charge against me. A thunder-clap could 
 not have been more startling to me. I sat for a 
 while wondering what it could mean ; why there 
 had been no warning, no reference to the subject 
 in our almost daily conversations. The impulse was 
 to go and ask the reasons for the demand, but 
 self-respect would not permit this and I said to 
 myself that I must let the matter take its own 
 course and not even seem disturbed about it. I 
 took up my pen to write the resignation and found 
 myself naturally framing some of the conven 
 tional reasons for it, but I stopped and destroyed 
 the sheet, saying to myself, " Since no reasons are 
 given or suggested for the demand, it is hardly 
 honest to invent them in the reply," so I made 
 the resignation as simple and unvarnished as the 
 request for it had been/ . . . 
 
 " In the afternoon, he had occasion to submit 
 papers in some pardon cases to the President and 
 went to the Executive Office for that purpose. 
 Meanwhile the acceptance of the resignation had 
 been sent to him, and this was framed so as to 
 convey the sentiments of personal good-will and 
 high respect which no one in near relations to 
 them doubted that General Grant actually felt. 
 This letter was published with the brief resigna- 
 
210 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 tion. The equally brief request for the resignation 
 has never been given to the public. The omis 
 sion, as every one must see, wholly changes the 
 effect of the correspondence. On meeting Judge 
 Hoar, the President enlarged to some extent upon 
 his personal confidence in him, and the real regret 
 with which he severed their relations, and now 
 frankly connected his own action with the exi 
 gency in which he found himself, and the neces 
 sity, to carry out his purpose, of securing support 
 in the Senate from Southern Republicans, who de 
 manded that the Cabinet place should be filled 
 from the South. He reminded the Attorney-Gen 
 eral of what had passed in the winter relative to 
 his resigning, and said he had assumed that this 
 connection of things would be understood, without 
 further words. Judge Hoar assured him that the 
 explanation removed any painful impression that 
 might have been made at first ; that his only wish 
 was that the Administration might be a success 
 in every respect, and that no personal interest of 
 his should for a moment stand in the way of it. 
 He then, however, took the liberty of saying that 
 he thought he knew the class of men who had de 
 sired his removal, and he hoped, for the President s 
 own sake, that he had chosen his successor, since 
 otherwise he would be subjected to a pressure in 
 favor of unfit men which might prove most embar 
 rassing to him. General Grant naively admitted 
 that he had not yet given any thought to that part 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 211 
 
 of the matter, but appeared to be struck by the wis 
 dom of the Judge s suggestion and himself asked 
 that the whole matter remain strictly confidential 
 till he could reflect upon it, when he would call it 
 up again." 
 
 A day or two later, the President asked Judge 
 Hoar his opinion of Mr. Akerman of Georgia, 
 whose appointment he was considering. The Judge 
 replied, " I believe Mr. Akerman to be an honest 
 man, sir, and a good lawyer," and then added, " It 
 would hardly be proper for me, Mr. President, to 
 say what should be the standard of fitness for the 
 Attorney-Generalship of the United States." He 
 then took his leave, and Mr. Akerman s nomina 
 tion was immediately made. 
 
 It appeared that some " carpet bag " senators 
 told the President that, while they would gladly 
 please him, Mr. Sumner had such controlling in 
 fluence over their colored constituents that it 
 was dangerous for them to oppose him on the San 
 Domingo question. These were disappointed in 
 the help they expected from the Administration 
 by way of patronage to smooth over opposition. 
 Grant asked where they found lack of consid 
 eration. They said from the Attorney-General, 
 and asked that he be displaced by a Southern 
 man. 
 
 Mr. Cox tells that, at the next meeting of the 
 Cabinet, by the common consent of the members, 
 no other business was brought forward, as it was 
 
212 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 assumed that the President would give some ac 
 count of so unusual a procedure with no informa 
 tion on the subject furnished them, so that they 
 first learned of the change from the newspapers. 
 The President seemed surprised that no one 
 brought up any business, waited a moment, and 
 said that in the absence of business the meeting 
 might as well adjourn. "No reference to the sub 
 ject of any sort was ever made by General Grant 
 in the presence of his assembled advisers." 
 
 The evidence is very strong that some one about 
 the President, perhaps his secretary, Babcock, fur 
 nished a copy of the Judge s resignation and the 
 President s acceptance of it to the New York 
 " Times," that the step might be irrevocable, and 
 purposely withheld the letter requesting the re 
 signation, to lay the unpopularity on the wrong 
 shoulders. 
 
 Judge Hoar remained in office until his suc 
 cessor could be ready to assume his duties. Then 
 he brought Mr. Akerman to the Cabinet-room and 
 introduced him to his colleagues. He then turned 
 to the President and said, " Having presented my 
 successor, I will take my leave, wishing the most 
 abundant success to your administration." Gen 
 eral Grant answered that, although he should not 
 see the Judge in that place again, he hoped to 
 meet him elsewhere frequently. 
 
 On leaving Washington, the Judge wrote to the 
 President the following letter : 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 213 
 
 WASHINGTON, July 7, 1870. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, In terminating our official re 
 lation, I cannot forbear to express to you the feel 
 ings of personal regard and affection to which it 
 has given birth. Since I have been a member of 
 your Cabinet, I have never heard at any meeting 
 a suggestion in regard to any public measure ex 
 cept a desire to promote the public welfare. Meet 
 ing as comparative strangers, we have been in our 
 intercourse and relations almost a band of brothers. 
 That your chief motive of action was the desire 
 to deserve well of your countrymen by faithful 
 public service, I believed when you first invited 
 me to act as one of your advisers, and the belief 
 has been strengthened and confirmed by all that 
 I have since seen and known. 
 
 For the honor which you gave in the selec 
 tion to a place in the government, I desire to thank 
 you. I have endeavored to repay it by faithful 
 and honest counsel, and am sure that in parting, 
 I leave no one behind me who has a more sincere 
 wish for your success, honor and happiness than 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 U. S. GRANT, 
 
 President. 
 
 Sincerely anxious that Grant s administration 
 should be a success, Judge Hoar never made pub 
 lic the full story of his resignation, and urged his 
 
214 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 friends to ignore everything that was personal to 
 himself. Only after his death did his colleague 
 tell the story of his magnanimity. His friend Mr. 
 Emerson wrote in his journal of those days : " I 
 notice that they who drink for some time the Po 
 tomac water, lose their relish for the water of the 
 Charles River, the Merrimac and the Connecticut. 
 But I think the public health requires that the 
 Potomac water should be corrected by copious in 
 fusions of these provincial streams. Rockwood 
 Hoar retains his relish for the Musketaquid." 
 
 To join his family, and see his home and beau 
 tiful garden by that stream must have been a 
 blessed change. Commencement too was at hand, 
 a sacred festival to that loyal son of the Uni 
 versity, and his son Charles was to graduate. 
 Secretary Cox, whom he had invited to be his 
 guest, wrote : " It seemed to me that the return 
 to the associations of his home was peculiarly 
 grateful to him, in the stress of spirit to which 
 he had been subjected. He dwelt with evident 
 pleasure upon everything which recalled the self- 
 devotion of the old patriots, and upon the incen 
 tive it was to act upon nobler motives than per 
 sonal ambition, or even the confidence of success." 
 
 July 10, the day after reaching home, he wrote 
 his brother Frisbie : 
 
 " I got home safe and tired last night, and found 
 myself much used up this morning. The excite 
 ment and labor of the last few days in Washing- 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 215 
 
 ton had been pretty severe, as I found when the 
 reaction came, but to-night I am feeling fresh and 
 hearty again and I expect to begin work on my 
 first case to-morrow morning with a good relish. 
 ... I only hope my parting exhortations to the 
 President will last him through the session. I 
 heard of something he said to a senator next 
 morning that showed part of it was working right. 
 
 " Washington and my life there looks very far 
 away already, but, on looking the past year and a 
 half over, I doubt whether I shall ever be likely 
 to do more good again in the same time." 
 
 He tells of a letter from Attorney-General Aker- 
 man expressing gratitude for his kindness. 
 
 To the serious chronicle of his life as Attorney- 
 General may be added, in conclusion, part of a letter 
 to Mrs. Hoar, and one to Mr. Lowell, since they 
 bring a little light into the picture, and show how 
 he bore extreme conditions of life. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM LETTER TO MRS. HOAR 
 
 WASHINGTON, July 17, 1869. 
 It is hot! hotter! ! hottest ! ! ! hottentot ! hot- 
 tentotter ! hottentottest ! more hottentotter ! most 
 hottentottest! !!!!!!!! The daily bill of fare 
 is as follows 
 
 For breakfast, Attorney-General broiled 
 " dinner, " " roasted 
 
 " supper, " " boiled 
 
216 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 and the same dish kept hot in an oven, and served 
 at any hour of the night. Flies and mosquitoes 
 taken to board by the day, week or month, on rea 
 sonable terms. 
 
 The thermometer was reported at 106 yester 
 day, but I don t believe it. At the National 
 Hotel it was said to be at 110 in the shade 
 but that house is largely resorted to by Democrats, 
 who may bring some little premonitions of their 
 future prospects with them J. C. B. Davis came 
 with his carriage last evening and Secretary Fish 
 and Robeson with him to invite me to take a drive 
 starting at 7| and not returning till near ten 
 We went through Mr. Corcoran s grounds and 
 by the Soldiers Home, and it was very refreshing. 
 
 CONCORD, Sept. 1, 1869. 
 
 MY DEAR PROFESSOR, Your letter came this 
 morning. I had previously written to J. H. that I 
 should expect you and him on Thursday, by the 
 train which leaves Boston at 4 p. M. (not 4.30, " as 
 certain Anabaptists falsely pretend"). I expect to be 
 in the train, and to pick you up at Porter s at 4.10 
 - If this weather holds, bring your flannel shirts 
 and great coats. We have blankets, and a wood 
 pile, and coal in the cellar. Don t be tempted to 
 stop, if you see Walden Pond frozen over. The 
 river will be safer. Perhaps your own skates will 
 fit you better than any I have but we have 
 plenty of sleds, and a tremendous thermometer. 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 217 
 
 I came from the direction of the North Pole last 
 evening and left nothing to be desired behind me. 
 Do you remember the summer? I believe there 
 was one but this seems to me the earliest fall 
 known except Adam s. 
 
 Yours stiffly, yea, rigorously, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 PROF. JAS. R. LOWELL. 
 
 It was during this period that, in a letter to Mr. 
 Forbes acknowledging payment for some legal 
 service, he laid down the rule on a subject of 
 perennial interest to his profession; and, as the 
 dictum of a very high authority, his statement is 
 preserved : 
 
 "The etiquette of the bar to which you allude, 
 so far as I ever understood it, is for lawyers to re 
 ceive thankfully whatever their clients offer or 
 choose to pay them, and to send bills to such as 
 are indebted whenever in want of money which 
 is apt to lead to great punctuality in settlements." 
 
 To this time also belongs his speech at the din 
 ner of the Harvard Alumni on June 29, 1869, 
 which was as follows: - 
 
 "Mr. President, Brethren and Sons of Harvard : 
 I wish I could furnish anything so delightful to 
 your ears as is the sight of your faces to my eyes. 
 I have very little to offer you except the expres 
 sion of my pleasure in being with you to-day. But 
 a single thought, derived from the opening re- 
 
218 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 marks of our president, I wish to suggest. I read 
 last week in one of those publications, the writers 
 of which seem to think that they have a call to 
 regulate not only the politics but the morals and 
 the culture of the country I mean the New 
 York newspapers something like this sentence: 
 A sad occurrence ; two rich men in Boston died 
 last month, neither of whom left anything to Har 
 vard College, and neither did either of them leave 
 anything to the Massachusetts General Hospital, 
 another sponge that has soaked up its hundreds 
 of thousands from the community. Well now, 
 brethren, it is a graceful custom to express on 
 such occasions as these our gratitude to our bene 
 factors, to those men who have endowed the 
 College from its infancy to its present maturity 
 and strength. But the idea that I for one wish to 
 express on this occasion is, the debt which the 
 benefactors owe to the College. They owe to it 
 that they are not to have that dreariest and sad 
 dest of all epitaphs recorded in history : The rich 
 man died and was buried/ It has been one of the 
 first functions of Harvard College, from its foun 
 dation, to educate the community to have a sense 
 of public duty. It is to the influence of Harvard 
 College that we owe the character of the men 
 who are its benefactors. From that day of poverty 
 and weakness, when the colony contributed from 
 its small stores to the end that learning should 
 not die in the graves of the fathers/ until the 
 
THE ATTORNEY-GENERALSHIP 219 
 
 present time, the influence of the College, spread 
 ing as it goes through the country, has been felt 
 in this relation. I would say nothing in disparage 
 ment of the other colleges which are its descend 
 ants, nor of their fair and just share in this influ 
 ence ; for much as I love and admire, and much 
 as I hope from our institution, I am willing to see 
 that there shall be more beautiful daughters of 
 the beautiful mother elsewhere ; but wherever 
 throughout this broad land you find the spirit of 
 public duty, there you will recognize the spirit of 
 Harvard/ 
 
 It was of his appearance on this occasion that 
 Mr. Emerson wrote in his diary : - 
 
 "Judge Hoar in his speech at the Alumni din 
 ner at Cambridge yesterday was a perfect exam 
 ple of Coleridge s definition of genius : The car 
 rying the feelings of youth into the powers of 
 manhood/ and the audience were impressed and 
 delighted with the rare combination of the inno 
 cence of a boy with the faculty of a hero." 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 
 
 MR. EMERSON S note "that they who drink for 
 some time the Potomac water lose their relish " 
 for the streams of their native state, expresses 
 poetically an almost universal truth. Washington 
 exercises a strong fascination over those who have 
 ever become at home there, and men who have 
 once tasted the sweets of power are very loath to 
 lay it down. The corridors of the capitol and the 
 avenues of Washington are haunted by the ghosts 
 of public men who have lost their offices and are 
 seeking in some way to enter again the public 
 service. The loss of one office constitutes in their 
 eyes a valid claim to another, and their importu 
 nities grow with their necessities. 
 
 A striking exception to this rule, Judge Hoar 
 turned from a place where he was exercising a 
 direct and powerful influence over the affairs of 
 a great nation to the quiet life of a private citi 
 zen in a New England town, with absolute serenity. 
 He made no claims on the Administration, made no 
 suggestion even to his most intimate friends that 
 he was disturbed by the change, but quietly re 
 sumed the even tenor of his way. 
 
 On July 18, 1870, he wrote to Mr. Lowell : 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 221 
 
 " Like the man who retired on a single anecdote, 
 I have left the public employment on a single 
 professional engagement, and its necessities will, 
 as I now expect, take me up to Vermont on Mon 
 day next to be gone for two weeks." After that " I 
 shall want and depend upon you and John [Holmes] 
 for a few days at that time to aid me in some ex 
 plorations by land or water." 
 
 On August 12 he returns to the subject thus : - 
 
 MY DEAR JAMES, I have been at home for 
 a week ; but it has been so fiery hot, dusty, and 
 generally uncomfortable, that I have not had the 
 assurance to invite anybody to partake of my 
 misery. But we have had rain ! and now are as 
 good as new and want you and John to come 
 and make our felicity complete. When will you 
 come ? I shall be glad to see you any time within 
 the next ten days, and probably ever after. 
 Chaucer has got his deserts at last, I am glad to 
 see, and now I want mine. 
 
 Rouse John, and come. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 
 But he was not permitted to remain long at 
 home. His country had need of his wisdom and 
 his character in an international matter of high 
 importance, difficult, and dangerous to adjust. 
 
 When the war ended, it became the duty of our 
 
222 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 minister, Mr. Adams, to call the attention of Eng 
 land to the claims of the United States for the 
 depredations committed by the Alabama and 
 other privateers, wholly or partially equipped in 
 England or sheltered in her ports. His communi 
 cation was coldly received. It has already been 
 told how, in 1869, the Johnson-Clarendon Treaty, 
 when submitted to the Senate, was killed by 
 Charles Sumner s powerful attack, in which he 
 showed that it was wholly inadequate, since it 
 provided only for the adjustment of individual 
 claims and left untouched the far greater claims 
 of the nation, while it settled no rule of interna 
 tional duty, which should not only be recognized 
 as governing the past, but should be established 
 as a guarantee for the future. 
 
 Mr. Schurz stated Mr. Sumner s purpose very 
 clearly when he said : " What he desired to ac 
 complish was, not to extort from England a large 
 sum of money, but to put our grievance in the 
 strongest light, to convince England of the great 
 wrong she had inflicted upon us, and thus prepare 
 a composition which, consisting more in the settle 
 ment of great principles and rules of international 
 law to govern the future intercourse of nations 
 than in the payment of large damages, would re 
 move all questions of difference, and serve to re 
 store and confirm a friendship which ought never 
 to have been interrupted." 
 
 The Senate s rejection of this treaty for the 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 223 
 
 reasons stated in Mr. Sumner s speech " startled 
 the British Ministry and aroused deep resentment 
 through the country. The mere suggestion that 
 England ought to apologize rendered further dis 
 cussion impossible, in the opinion of most English 
 men. The matter was dropped until 1871, when it 
 was suddenly brought forward by a skilful diplo 
 matic move. President Grant, in his message, re 
 ported that England would not admit that America 
 had a grievance, and therefore he recommended 
 that a Commission be appointed to take proof of 
 private claims for damages suffered from the Ala 
 bama, or other vessels, with authority to settle the 
 same by purchase, so that the United States might 
 own and control all such demands against Great 
 Britain." * 
 
 This quiet and significant suggestion, coupled 
 with the fear that the Franco-Prussian quarrel 
 might draw England into war, and render her 
 own views of a neutral s obligations highly incon 
 venient to herself, almost immediately resulted in 
 unofficial advances from the English Government. 
 England had every reason to be anxious. Some ad 
 justment was imperative, for her turn to suffer 
 by her arrogant theory and practice might come 
 at any moment. Both countries realized that an 
 other failure might entail disastrous consequences. 
 Tactful preliminaries resulted in the appointment 
 
 1 "Decisive Battles of the Law," by Frederick Trevor Hill; 
 Harper s Monthly, January, 1907. 
 
224 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 of a Joint High Commission empowered to meet 
 at Washington and negotiate a treaty for the 
 settlement of all differences. On February 7 we 
 find the Judge writing : " Washington seems far 
 ther off to me than it ever did, but I take a slight 
 posthumous satisfaction in hearing of what goes 
 on there " ; and on February 20 he was appointed 
 a member of the Joint High Commission. 
 
 The five Commissioners for the United States 
 were Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State ; Robert 
 C. Schenck, newly appointed Minister to Great 
 Britain ; Samuel Nelson, Justice of the Supreme 
 Court ; George H. Williams, Senator from Oregon ; 
 and Judge Hoar " fitting representatives of the 
 diplomacy, the bench, the bar and the legislature 
 of their own land." 
 
 The five Commissioners for Great Britain were 
 Earl de Grey and Ripon, President of the Queen s 
 Council ; Sir Stafford Northcote, ex-Minister, and 
 actual member of the House of Commons ; Sir 
 Edward Thornton, the accomplished and respected 
 British Minister at Washington; Sir John A. Mac- 
 donald, the Premier of Canada, and Professor 
 Montague Bernard, representative of the English 
 Universities. 
 
 The following extract from a letter written on 
 April 27, 1871, by Sir Stafford Northcote to Mr. 
 Sumner, shows that the " irritation" caused by Mr. 
 Sumner s speech on the Johnson-Clarendon Treaty 
 had subsided, and that the real purpose of that 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 225 
 
 speech was now recognized. He said : " I have to 
 thank you for sending me your speech on the 
 Johnson-Clarendon Treaty. ... I cannot tell you 
 how cordially I sympathize with what seems to 
 me the governing idea of the speech. Great inter 
 national differences are not to be disposed of by 
 huddling them up and pretending not to look at 
 them, nor to be treated as a man treats a bad 
 shilling by trying to pass it among a handful of 
 half -pence . . . and though I must own your 
 speech was somewhat sharp, I verily believe that 
 it taught us a valuable lesson in that respect, 
 and that we may say of it, Fidelia vulnera 
 amantis. 
 
 The Commission completed its difficult work on 
 May 8, 1871, when "The Treaty of Washington" 
 was signed, and on the same day the Judge wrote 
 to his brother Frisbie : "At 11.12 this forenoon 
 the treaty was signed, and we are waiting for the 
 verdict. ... I shall probably stay a week or two 
 longer to explain things to senators, if explana 
 tions are wanted, and then retire from public 
 life." Of it Mr. F. T. Hill, in the paper above 
 quoted, said : " Certainly the document . . . seemed 
 to meet all the objections which had been so forci 
 bly urged against the Johnson-Clarendon Treaty. 
 In the first place, it provided for the amicable 
 adjustment of all the differences between the two 
 countries/ a distinct recognition of the national 
 character of the dispute. In the second place, it 
 
226 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 specifically referred to the claims of the United 
 States, generally known as the Alabama Claims/ 
 and expressed the regret felt by her Majesty s 
 Government for the escape, under whatever cir 
 cumstances, of the Alabama and other vessels from 
 British ports, and for the depredations committed 
 by those vessels/ a most acceptable substitute for 
 the impossible apology. Next, it laid down certain 
 rules or principles of international law upon which 
 it should be assumed that England had undertaken 
 to act in the past, and which both nations agreed 
 to observe in the future. And, finally, it provided 
 for an impartial Board of Arbitration, with ample 
 powers to adjust all outstanding grievances. In 
 a word, it was a complete diplomatic triumph for 
 the United States, and a virtual acknowledgment 
 of the justice of the issues for which it had so long 
 contended." 
 
 Judge Hoar s work and influence were import 
 ant in the Commission, which drew up a treaty 
 so excellent that it received the prompt approval 
 of both governments ; which, in the words of Caleb 
 Gushing, a high authority on international law, 
 " passed unscathed through the severest ordeal of 
 a temporary misunderstanding between the two 
 governments (at Geneva), respecting the construc 
 tion of some of its provisions ; which has already 
 attained the dignity of a monumental act in the 
 estimation of mankind, and which is destined to 
 occupy hereafter a lofty place in the history of 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 227 
 
 the diplomacy and the international jurisprudence 
 of Europe and America." 
 
 But high praise is due Hon. Charles Francis 
 Adams for the dignity, tact, and temper with which, 
 later, he overcame the opposing tactics of Sir 
 Alexander Cockburn, when it looked as if the 
 arbitration would be wrecked in port. 
 
 This anecdote of Judge Hoar should not be lost. 
 When it came time for the members of the High 
 Commission to sign and affix seals to the Treaty 
 of Washington, Lord Tenterden, having signed and 
 affixed his seal, asked the Judge if he had any 
 family seal of his own or any family crest. " None, 
 excepting a sleeve button that may answer the 
 purpose, my family being without any other in 
 signia," answered the Judge. 
 
 At the Commencement dinner in July, the 
 Judge was called upon to tell the Alumni of his 
 success. When the tremendous applause subsided, 
 he said : " Brother Alumni, my speech to you to 
 day will consist of two quotations. One is from a 
 letter which John Jay wrote to his wife when he 
 had negotiated the Treaty of London : What I 
 think of the Treaty you will know when you hear 
 that I signed it. The other is Sydney Smith s re 
 mark about his countrymen : Mr. Bull is silent, 
 not because Mr. Bull doesn t want to talk, but be 
 cause Mr. Bull has nothing to say/" 
 
 There is little doubt that the distinguished 
 Britons of the Commission discovered that they 
 
228 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 were dealing with a man of wisdom and wit. One 
 would have given much to see their faces when 
 he astounded these University men with a classic 
 quotation, supporting a statement as to the an 
 tiquity of a legal custom common in America. 
 They inquired with interest about the American 
 practice of registering deeds, as the need of some 
 such system was felt in England. The Judge ex 
 plained it, but told them they were mistaken in 
 thinking the scheme new ; that it was employed 
 by the Greeks centuries before the Christian era. 
 The Englishmen showed surprise and incredulity. 
 He went on : " Not only did they register their 
 deeds, but they were familiar with the doctrine 
 of constructive notice/ for we read in the An 
 thology, 
 
 " Athenian ^Ischylus, Euphorion s son, 
 Buried in Gela s earth, these lines declare; 
 His deeds are registered at Marathon, 
 Known to the deep-haired Mede who met him there." 
 
 Having accomplished, with his associates, a work 
 of beneficence for the two countries and for man 
 kind, the Judge returned to his native village and 
 resumed the practice of law in Boston. 
 
 In the autumn of 1871, General Benjamin F. 
 Butler made his first attempt to become governor 
 of * Massachusetts, this time by seeking the nomi 
 nation of the Republican party. Judge Hoar took 
 an active part in organizing the opposition to him, 
 not only during the campaign for the election of 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 229 
 
 delegates, but also in the convention, and he un 
 doubtedly exercised a powerful influence in secur 
 ing Butler s defeat. 
 
 Though Grant s first administration was now 
 closing amid scandals of various sorts, and though 
 the Judge cannot have approved the President s 
 political advisers, or his course in various matters, 
 he apparently felt no sympathy with the " Liberal 
 Republican" movement in the spring of 1872, 
 which resulted in the unfortunate nomination of 
 Horace Greeley for President. He seems to have 
 occupied himself wholly with the practice of law 
 until the autumn, and, as might have been ex 
 pected, there was no lack of clients. 
 
 In August, 1872, he replied to a letter asking 
 him to speak in another state: "It is hard to re 
 fuse such an invitation, for I feel strongly the 
 obligation of every true Republican to do all in his 
 power, however little it may be, to help the good 
 cause. But first, I am not in political life at all, 
 and it hardly seems natural to go on a political 
 tour into another state ; second, I don t think I 
 have any particular gifts in the way of popular 
 oratory and should not be of much use." In the 
 autumn, however, he was nominated by the Re 
 publicans for representative in the Forty-third 
 Congress from the Middlesex District, and was 
 elected by 11,742 votes against 5,989 cast for his 
 opponent. He was also chosen a presidential 
 elector on the Republican ticket. 
 
230 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 In a letter of October 27 there is a contempo 
 rary record of the singular epidemic which visited 
 the horses in Boston and its neighborhood, and by 
 crippling the fire-service, materially contributed 
 to the rapid spread of the great fire which burned 
 over some eighty acres in the heart of Boston a 
 few days later. He says : "Boston yesterday pre 
 sented a very singular appearance. No omnibuses, 
 no horse-cars, no express wagons, no loaded teams, 
 the sidewalks crowded, but no noise of any kind, 
 and all business very much interrupted. The Con 
 cord expressmen would take nothing that they 
 could not carry in their hands. Trunks were taken 
 from one railroad to another in wheelbarrows and 
 handcarts." 
 
 Some one rightly said of Judge Hoar : " His 
 love of the College was like a son s love for his 
 mother." President Walker said that this devoted 
 son had been able to serve her in a thousand ways 
 by the wisdom of his counsels and the weight of 
 his character. 
 
 A characteristic act, most important in its effect 
 as suggestion and example, occurred just after the 
 Boston fire, and is thus reported by Mr. Charles 
 Francis Adams : - 
 
 " President Eliot told me that, a day or two after 
 the fire, he, the treasurer of the College, and I 
 think one other member of the Corporation, were 
 seated in the treasurer s office, computing as well 
 as they then could the extent of the calamity, and 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 231 
 
 looking each other in the face in blank dismay. 
 The disaster seemed fairly irretrievable. Foot 
 steps, he said, were then heard on the stairs out 
 side, and, opening the door, Judge Hoar came in. 
 
 " He had in his hand a bond, railroad or other 
 wise, just taken apparently from his box, and with 
 as deep a feeling as he ever allowed himself to 
 show, he proceeded to say that he considered he 
 owed everything to Harvard College, a debt 
 nothing he could do or give would ever repay ; 
 that he saw she had been one of the heaviest 
 losers by the fire, and now stood in need of help ; 
 and so, as one of her children, he had brought in 
 his contribution now ; and, so saying, he handed 
 the bond to the treasurer. Some one else, I do 
 not remember who, presently appeared that day 
 on the same errand ; and, added the President, it 
 then occurred to me that if these two felt thus, 
 others probably felt the same way, and an imme 
 diate public appeal for aid was decided upon. The 
 blow thus struck was timed exactly. Within sixty 
 days, more than $180,000 poured in upon the as 
 tonished treasurer." 
 
 This action of President Eliot s, Mr. Adams 
 well calls "The Napoleonic stroke of mendi 
 cancy," 
 
 Immediately after the election, Judge Hoar 
 wrote to Mr. Evarts : 
 
 " The election seems to be satisfactory, except 
 that I am personally in a bad scrape by being 
 
232 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 elected to Congress. I wish that the result in your 
 state could lead to your going to the Senate." 
 
 A few days later he wrote to President Grant 
 the following letter : - 
 
 CONCORD, Nov. 18, 1872. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, You have received the con 
 gratulations of so many people on the result of 
 the election, that it hardly seems worth while to 
 send you mine, and I should have been willing to 
 leave you to take them for granted, and even the 
 fact that our little village gave you one more ma 
 jority than in 1868. But I do wish to say one thing: 
 in the few speeches which I made in the canvass 
 I always reminded the people how steadily you 
 had pressed upon the attention of Congress, in each 
 of your annual messages, the duty of taking active 
 measures for a return to specie payments, and 
 nothing seemed to elicit a more hearty response. 
 Will you permit me to express the hope that your 
 next message and every succeeding one till the 
 object is accomplished, will show that you mean 
 to fight it out on that line. The solid sense of the 
 community, among rich and poor, favors it ; and 
 we hope the Boston fire will not be made a pre 
 text for the additional calamity of an expansion 
 of the currency. . . . 
 
 The great satisfaction which I have felt in the 
 result of the election, in the result at Geneva, and 
 the St. Juan decision, is only impaired by the dis- 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 233 
 
 agreeable conduct of my neighbors in electing me 
 to Congress against my wishes, interests and re 
 monstrances. 
 
 Very respectfully and truly yours, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 His practice had been growing, and the follow 
 ing extract from a letter of December 18, 1872, 
 to his brother Frisbie is interesting in this con 
 nection. 
 
 "It looks very certain that the Jumel case will 
 not be finished till some time in January, after 
 the Congressional holidays, but the court does not 
 sit on Saturdays and I can go to Boston by the 
 night train of Friday, January 3, and be in Boston 
 to argue the Gas case on Saturday morning, if 
 that will suit you, Judge Nelson and the court. 
 It will be the best I can do. 
 
 "I have a hard case here, but preserve my 
 sweetness and serenity amidst all the wranglings 
 and asperities between my associates and oppo 
 nents. The Judge has intimated that my presence 
 has introduced a better atmosphere than was felt 
 at the last trial, so you may hope that my bad 
 manners are not incorrigible." 
 
 The Jumel case was a cause celebre of the day, 
 and it involved the title to very valuable estates. 
 It was long and sharply contested, and asperities 
 between counsel were not unnatural, so that the 
 
234 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 Judge s associates might almost have suspected 
 that his serenity was due to the fact that he had 
 not become thoroughly enlisted in the contest. It 
 is true, however, that from this time on, he re 
 garded the suits in which he was engaged with a 
 more judicial temper than is often possible when 
 a lawyer is young and has his reputation to make. 
 
 The deaths of Chief Justice Chase and Chief 
 Justice Chapman left their seats vacant during 
 the summer of 1873. On August 29, Judge Hoar 
 was offered and declined the Chief Justiceship of 
 Massachusetts. Very likely he did not wish to 
 stand in the way of his friend Judge Gray. On 
 September 25, he wrote to his brother : " I saw 
 Sumner to-day, and he said he met you yesterday. 
 He goes for me for Chief Justice, and you for 
 Senator, but his opinion, though worth having, is 
 not so potent as it was. Next to me for Chief Jus 
 tice he would be willing to take Evarts." 
 
 The President s political environment was not 
 then favorable to such a suggestion, nor to Mr. 
 Sumner who made it, and, as will be remembered, 
 after the nominations of Attorney-General Wil 
 liams and Caleb Gushing had been made and re 
 jected, the choice fell, as Judge Hoar said, "on 
 the favorite of the law, an innocent third party," 
 and Chief Justice Waite received the appointment. 
 Indeed Judge Hoar made no effort to obtain the 
 position, and favored Mr. Evarts, to whom he 
 wrote as follows : 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 235 
 
 CONCORD, July 2, 1873. 
 
 DEAR WILLIAM, As to the Chief Justiceship, 
 it would pain me very much to suppose that the 
 President would omit the most fit man for it, if 
 he does not resort to the present members of the 
 Court, and I have not the least belief in any such 
 selection as you intimate. I think he will appoint 
 you, as he ought to do, or Judge Miller, who is 
 able and respectable, and the next best thing. Fail 
 ing these, there are enough poor sticks to scramble 
 for it, and it would be as likely to go to the poor 
 est of the lot as any way. At any rate there is 
 nothing to put me in the list. If fitness governs, 
 you will be the foremost, and if it does not, I 
 should be sorry to think I was in a competition on 
 other principles. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 HON. W. M. EVARTS. 
 
 In the autumn of this year General Butler made 
 another attempt to obtain the Republican nomi 
 nation for governor of Massachusetts and was 
 again defeated. At a meeting of his opponents, 
 Judge Hoar made a speech in which he said: 
 " The people of Massachusetts will not yield the 
 office of governor to a Tichborne claimant, either 
 with or without a bond " ; and from this, Butler 
 got the nickname of "The Claimant," which stuck 
 to him permanently thereafter. 
 
236 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 In December, 1873, Judge Hoar took his seat in 
 the Forty-third Congress. The previous Congress 
 had investigated the Credit Mobilier scandal, 
 and the Republican leaders were fast losing their 
 hold upon public confidence. Judge Hoar found 
 Mr. Elaine, who was the Speaker of the House, 
 very attractive, and conceived a strong regard for 
 him, which proved not to be easily shaken when 
 it was tried at a later day. He was, however, in 
 opposition to the Republican party on some meas 
 ures which the Administration had much at heart. 
 The panic of 1873 had begun in September, the 
 country was suffering from severe financial de 
 pression, and the question of the currency was 
 immediately pressing. The remedy proposed by 
 the Republican majority was an increase in the 
 volume of the currency, and the so-called " infla 
 tion bill " passed both Houses in April. The Presi 
 dent unexpectedly vetoed it, and by so doing saved 
 the country from what must have been the ruin 
 ous consequences of the measure. In this course 
 he was supported and perhaps advised by Judge 
 Hoar. 
 
 When, at the next session, Senator Sherman s 
 resumption act, passed by the Senate in December, 
 came up for action in the House, Judge Hoar with 
 his brother, Henry L. Dawes, and others, voted 
 against it on the ground that it permitted an in 
 flation of the currency, and was ineffectual to ac 
 complish its avowed purpose ; but it was passed in 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 237 
 
 spite of their opposition. The day after its pas 
 sage Judge Hoar wrote to Mr. J. M. Forbes as 
 
 follows : - 
 
 WASHINGTON, Jan. 8, 1875. 
 
 DEAR MR. FORBES, You saw by the telegram 
 and newspapers that the finance bill passed the 
 House, without opportunity for discussion, amend 
 ment, or even remonstrance. 
 
 It will be promptly signed by the President, and 
 he will then try to stimulate Congress at this ses 
 sion to make some preparation for resuming specie 
 payment (entre nous, he is thinking of sending a 
 special message for that purpose). He favors the 
 plan of beginning to redeem now, at a fixed rate, 
 to decline gradually to the end of the four years. 
 Bristow interprets the act as not authorizing a re 
 issue of greenbacks withdrawn on the issue of addi 
 tional bank-notes. 
 
 I did what I could against the bill in private, 
 and have the promise of some men who voted for 
 it, to try to supplement it by something to make 
 it effectual. Such men voted for it as a bar to 
 something worse, and a pledge of good intentions 
 - as " the grave of inflation," as they call it. 
 
 Is not the devil and all broke loose in Louisi 
 ana ? We are trying to keep still till we get the 
 report of our Committee. 
 
 I find myself well again and reasonably pug 
 nacious. Very truly yourgj 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 JOHN M. FORBES, ESQ. 
 
238 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 The last paragraph of the letter referred to a 
 crisis in Louisiana politics. The returning board 
 of that state, a body whose reputation was not 
 high and was soon to become most unsavory, had 
 apparently undertaken to unseat certain Demo 
 crats elected to the legislature, and had referred 
 the election of others to the House itself. That 
 body met, seated the five members and chose a 
 Democratic speaker, whereupon Governor Kellogg, 
 whose own title was clouded, sent General de 
 Trobriand with a body of Federal troops who 
 forcibly ejected the five members, and the House 
 was then reorganized by the Republicans. This 
 action roused very general and warm indignation 
 at the North, and meetings were held in New York 
 and Boston, as well as elsewhere, to denounce it, 
 which were addressed and officered by strong Re 
 publicans. The President in a special message 
 submitted the facts to Congress, and a committee 
 of investigation was appointed by the House of 
 Representatives, which reported against the action 
 of the returning board. While this question was 
 pending, the President early in February sent in 
 a message proposing to set aside the state gov 
 ernment of Arkansas as illegal, and shortly after 
 ward the measure known as the "Force Bill," 
 which gave the President great power over elec 
 tions in the Southern states, was brought for 
 ward. To this whole policy Judge Hoar was 
 opposed, and with some forty of the better Re- 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 239 
 
 publicans he voted against the " Force Bill," but 
 it was passed, only to fail in the Senate. The bill 
 to annul the election of a Democratic governor 
 and legislature in Arkansas was defeated in the 
 House, and no one who knew Judge Hoar can 
 doubt that his influence was potent in rallying the 
 opposition to these measures. 
 
 Among the other services which his knowledge 
 and ability enabled him to render was the re 
 vision of the United States statutes to which he 
 contributed much as a member of a committee to 
 which the work of the revisers was referred. 
 
 While Judge Hoar was in Congress, on March 
 11, 1874, Charles Sumner, the great senator from 
 Massachusetts, died, and Judge Hoar was with 
 him during several hours before his death. The 
 letter in which the Judge described Mr. Sumner s 
 last moments should be preserved. 
 
 MY DEAR MR. EMERSON, Sumner is dead, as 
 the telegram will have told you before you receive 
 this. He died at thirteen minutes before three this 
 afternoon. I held his hand when he died ; and ex 
 cept his secretary and the attending physician, 
 was the only one of his near friends who was in 
 the room. 
 
 His last words (except to say " Sit down " to 
 Mr. Hooper, who came to his bedside, but had 
 gone out before his death) were these, " Judge, 
 tell Emerson how much I love and revere him." 
 
240 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 I replied, " He said of you, once, that he never 
 knew so white a soul." 
 
 During the morning he had repeated to several 
 persons, to me among the rest, " You must take 
 care of the Civil Rights Bill." That was his last 
 public thought. 
 
 Very sorrowfully and affectionately yours, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 
 WASHINGTON, March 11, 1874. 
 
 When Sumner spoke for the last time in the 
 Senate, appealing to Senator Edmunds for sup 
 port of this measure, he said, " My desire, the 
 darling desire, if I may say so, of my soul at this 
 moment is to close forever this great question, so 
 that it shall never again intrude into these cham 
 bers, so that hereafter in all our legislation there 
 shall be no such words as black or white/ but 
 that we shall speak only of citizens and men." 
 The bill in a modified form became a law, but 
 was pronounced unconstitutional by the Supreme 
 Court. 
 
 In spite of the temperamental peculiarities 
 which made Sumner often a subject of criticism, 
 his breadth, his nobility, and his courage well 
 merited the words of Judge Hoar in the House 
 of Representatives : " Wherever the news of this 
 event spreads through this broad land, not only 
 in this city among his associates in the public 
 councils, not only in the old Commonwealth of 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 241 
 
 which he was the pride and the ornament, but in 
 many quiet homes, in many a cabin of the poor 
 and lowly, there is to-day inexpressible tender 
 ness and profound sorrow. There are many of us 
 who have known and loved the great senator, 
 whom this event unfits for public duties or for 
 any thoughts other than those of that pure life, 
 that faithful public service, that assured immor 
 tality." 
 
 Judge Hoar was obviously in character and 
 ability the best son of Massachusetts to take the 
 chair that Sumner had left empty. He was urged 
 to be a candidate and consented. He wrote to his 
 friend Richard H. Dana, Jr., after the proposal 
 had been made, on March 30, 1874 : 
 
 " I have no desire to be senator, though, as I 
 am in for it to the end of this session of Con 
 gress, I could probably get a better hearing in the 
 Senate than in the House, and so have no objec 
 tion to the change. But I am most deeply inter 
 ested in the fight, and in our side." He added, 
 after speaking of another candidate s wish for 
 the place, "I wish he could have the personal 
 gratification, and I always disliked to get for my 
 self anything that somebody else wanted." An ex 
 amination of his whole record makes it clear that 
 this statement is literally true. 
 
 His interest in the matter was purely patriotic. 
 He was nominated, but all the influence that Gen 
 eral Butler and his friends could exert was used 
 
242 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 against him. Hon. Henry L. Dawes was elected, 
 and, in the following January, the Judge wrote to 
 the same friend : 
 
 "The personal relief to me of being taken out 
 of the class of supposed candidates for office is 
 very great, and I look upon the speedily approach 
 ing close of my public life with unmingled satis 
 faction." 
 
 The Judge served only one term in Congress, 
 but made himself felt and respected. He gladly 
 returned to his home and his practice, declining 
 a renomination. While in Washington, he was ap 
 pointed a regent of the Smithsonian Institution. 
 
 He found many friends in Washington, and 
 carried into society some of his New England 
 traditions. A little glimpse of his social side is 
 found in this extract from a letter of April 2, 
 1874:- 
 
 "We have invited Mrs. Ricketts to furnish us 
 some pancakes to-night in honor of the Massachu 
 setts Fast. I told her that I had eaten pancakes 
 on that anniversary between fifty and a hundred 
 years and did not like to stop." 
 
 During the summer of 1874, in a letter to his 
 cousin Mr. Evarts about the latter s eulogy of 
 Chief Justice Chase, he says: "It is certainly 
 able and ingenious, and I admired the skill with 
 which you bring up in it things which you wished 
 to say on your own account. But ... I do not 
 believe the sound judgment of this generation or 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 243 
 
 the judgment of history will agree with your 
 estimate of Chase, who was insincere, selfish and 
 intriguing, and did more than any one else to de 
 grade and ruin the office of Chief Justice." 
 
 It was while he was in Washington that he 
 was asked his opinion about another judge, Judge 
 R - of Massachusetts, who had been appointed 
 to the Treasury by President Grant. Some one 
 at dinner turned to him and said, "The new 
 Secretary comes from Massachusetts, and you, 
 Judge, can tell us all about him." "No," said the 
 Judge, " I assure you his reputation is wholly na 
 tional." 
 
 The Republicans of his district nominated Dr. 
 J. C. Ayer (whose name was well known all over 
 the country as the maker of certain proprietary 
 medicines) to succeed Judge Hoar, but he obtained 
 the nomination by methods which were not ap 
 proved by many of his constituents. The candidate 
 did not command the undivided support of the 
 party ; and among others who opposed him was the 
 Judge s son, Samuel. The Republican party suf 
 fered a crushing defeat at the election in 1874, and 
 the new House was strongly Democratic. Dr. Ayer 
 shared the fortunes of his party, and while there 
 was no organized opposition among Republicans, 
 there was very considerable disaffection with 
 which Judge Hoar sympathized. 
 
 Upon the adjournment of the Forty-third Con 
 gress he returned to his home and the practice 
 
244 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 of the law, and some two months later he writes 
 to Lowell : 
 
 "Though I have determined never to speak 
 again in public (outside of what I do for a living 
 in my profession) I shall be at Cambridge on Com 
 mencement day and shall submit to any require 
 ment you make. ... I will talk about it with you 
 at the Club on Saturday, if you are there." 
 
 This letter, written when he was just fifty-nine 
 years old, and in the prime of his powers, contains 
 a suggestion of what seemed to become almost a de 
 termination on his part to grow old and die early. 
 Yet, only a month before that, he had presided at 
 the centennial celebration of the Concord Fight, 
 at which time President Grant was his guest. As 
 the fourth of March, 1875, was the last day on 
 which Judge Hoar held public office, and as 
 General Grant and he met for the last time on any 
 public occasion at the Concord celebration, it is 
 proper that a word or two should be said about 
 the final relations between the two. The firm, reti 
 cent, faithful general who accomplished his great 
 task for the nation and ended the Civil War, the 
 Judge held in high honor ; he also liked and re 
 spected the quiet man of patriotic purpose who, 
 called to the Presidency later, said of his accept 
 ance, " I did not want it, and have never quite for 
 given myself for resigning the command of the 
 army to accept it. I owed my honors and opportu 
 nities to the Republican party, and, if my name 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 245 
 
 could aid it, I was bound to accept." The Judge was 
 too high-minded to cherish any grudge against the 
 President for asking for his resignation. Of his 
 attitude Secretary Cox, his fellow member of the 
 Cabinet and esteemed friend, wrote : - 
 
 " I know well how he made it a point of honor 
 later to interpret all Grant s acts with charity, 
 and with strongest purpose to make them consist 
 ent with good motives ; but I know also that the 
 events of the second term proved too hard even 
 for his charity, and that he wrote me, I give it 
 up ; there s no use trying to drive a nail into wood 
 that won t hold/ " 
 
 The disappointment which Grant, the brave and 
 true soldier, occasioned when he was put by the na 
 tion in the statesman s place, recalls what Lowell 
 wrote, after meeting him in Washington in 1870: 
 " I liked Grant and was struck with the pathos of 
 his face, a puzzled pathos, as of a man with a 
 problem before him of which he does not under 
 stand the terms." 
 
 The Judge saw that Grant was not a statesman, 
 and that he remained blind to the mischiefs that 
 were going on around him because of personal 
 liking for unworthy men like Babcock, and thus 
 made " a pretty poor President," as, in later life, 
 he summed the matter up in a conversation with 
 Mr. J. F. Rhodes. This was apropos of the "Whis 
 key Ring " scandal. But when, in the same con 
 versation, the Judge was asked whether he felt 
 
246 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 sure that, in these suspicious transactions, no 
 money had stuck to Grant s fingers, he said, " I 
 would as soon think Saint Paul had got some of 
 the thirty pieces of silver." 
 
 Grant is reported to have said to Thomas J. 
 Gargan twelve years after the Judge left the cap 
 ital, " He was, I think, the ablest man I ever met 
 from Massachusetts. I am told he is not popular 
 with his own party in your state, but he is the 
 kind of man to grapple to with hooks of steel. 
 He is able, honest, and stands by his friends, and 
 that is the kind of man I like." 
 
 Senator Hoar tells that once, while remonstrat 
 ing with President Grant about some proposed 
 action of his, he had said, " I hope, sir, you do not 
 think that I would give you any advice that was 
 not honest and sincere." Grant answered, oracu 
 larly, " I am very sure your brother, the Judge, 
 would not." There is no question that cordial rela 
 tions continued during General Grant s life. 
 
 The mention of the centennial celebration leads 
 us to recall with what proud security Concord 
 leaned upon her son in all times of public rejoic 
 ing and public sorrow, and the many cheerful, 
 serious, or anxious gatherings that came between 
 these extremes. His fellow citizen, Judge Keyes, 
 not so many years his junior but that he could 
 remember all the occasions, at home and abroad, 
 in which Judge Hoar s gifts and powers were put 
 to the test, said after his death : " I have read all 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 247 
 
 that is said and quoted in the papers about him. 
 There is one thing which none of them have said 
 -to me the most remarkable. He combined in 
 tellectual and executive ability in a greater de 
 gree than any man I ever knew. These powers 
 are not apt to coexist in great measure in one 
 
 man." 
 
 But the civic occasion when Judge Hoar shone 
 forth preeminent, was on that bitter, freezing, 
 sunless day when Concord, with fifty thousand 
 people gathered on the damp meadows about the 
 New North Bridge, celebrated the great oppor 
 tunity, so well improved, which came to her and 
 her daughter towns one hundred years before ; 
 when, in LowelPs words, 
 
 O er those red planks, to snatch her diadem, 
 Man s Hope, star-girdled, sprang with them, 
 And over ways untried the feet of Doom strode on. 
 
 On that day, as the Judge said, when Daniel 
 French s statue of the Minute-man had been un 
 veiled, "In the presence of the President and 
 Vice-President of the United States, in the pre 
 sence of the Governor, the Executive Council, and 
 the Legislature of Massachusetts, in the presence 
 of the Governor of each of the New England 
 States, we have . . . dedicated a statue to the 
 memory of the first soldiers of the Revolution, 
 upon the spot where the first order was given to 
 the soldiers of the People to fire upon the soldiers 
 of the King." 
 
248 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 In the thronged tent, while Lowell was read 
 ing his fine ode, some ill-fastened seats fell down 
 even President Grant s chair toppled, but the 
 ready wit of the President of the Day quieted the 
 startled guests: "Have no fear, Mr. President, 
 gentlemen and ladies/ said he, "Middlesex County 
 is underneath you." 
 
 But soon after the ill-built platform began to 
 give way, people started to rise and talk excitedly 
 and a panic threatened. Then the Judge brought 
 up his reserves, and his clear strong voice rose 
 above the confusion and noise : " The sovereign 
 people of America are gentlemen, and will allow 
 the exercises to proceed undisturbed Tumult sub 
 sided and danger passed away. 
 
 Ten minutes before George William Curtis, Con 
 cord s admirable adoptive son, had reached the 
 end of his oration, the Judge, rising, asked him 
 to pause, and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, Con 
 cord always keeps faith with Lexington. We pro 
 mised to deliver the President to her at 1 o clock, 
 and he is therefore obliged to leave. Give him 
 three parting cheers." 
 
 Again, at the dinner the just claims of the 
 neighbor town were honored in the toast : " First 
 of those who fell, in our memory of the day we 
 celebrate, ... I give you the martyrs on Lex 
 ington Common " ; and he mentioned them by 
 name ; then as of course no Lexington man could 
 be present, he said, " The legacy of glory will go 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 249 
 
 round and is enough for us all," and read the cor 
 dial greeting he had sent from Concord to Lex 
 ington. Yet, in private, he had indulged his wit 
 at the neighbor s expense on the old point at issue. 
 In Lexington s card of invitation was a slip in or 
 thography, which the Judge pounced on with a cer 
 tain pleasure, remarking, "I have always scouted 
 Lexington s claims of having fired on the British 
 troops. Now I am ready to admit that her citizens 
 have murdered the King s English." 
 
 When the Judge, at that cold dinner, which he 
 succeeded in keeping warm by his own fire of 
 patriotism, read the deposition of the aged Han 
 nah Leighton about her parting at early morning 
 with her husband, Captain Davis, when, leaving 
 his sick children, he marched to his death at Con 
 cord Bridge, the tear in his voice brought many 
 from the eyes of his hearers. He might well enter 
 into the spirit of the day, when we remember how 
 many of his forbears came to Concord Fight in 
 the Lincoln company, of which Samuel Hoar was 
 captain. He wrote to Lowell, " The Nineteenth 
 of April pervades me through and through." 
 
 It is not surprising that the people of Massa 
 chusetts were not ready to admit that such a man 
 could be spared from the public service. If he 
 never again held office, it was not for lack of op 
 portunity, and few years passed when he did not 
 sacrifice his own private interests at the call of 
 public duty. The very next year, 1876, made exact- 
 
250 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 ing demands upon his patriotism. A passage in a 
 letter written by the Judge to his brother at Wash 
 ington, March 8, would imply that his name had 
 again been considered for a place in the Cabinet : 
 
 " I should as quick think of taking a place in a 
 lunatic hospital as that of Secretary of War, and 
 have not had the least misgiving that Grant 
 had n t too much sense to do so absurd a thing as 
 to offer it to me. My sixty years of life have, 
 I hope, given me some knowledge of what I am 
 unfit for." 
 
 The same letter contains other interesting pas 
 sages. 
 
 " As to Senator Edmunds, do not revive any old 
 quarrels on my account. I have had occasion to be 
 reasonably satisfied with the way in which a large 
 part of my old enemies in the Senate have come to 
 look at their behavior, and am willing to let them 
 be as civil as they choose. . . . Dana s nomination 
 gives great and I think almost universal satis 
 faction here. Even General Butler told Sam yes 
 terday that he thought it a good nomination/ l 
 
 " I do not think there is anything in the Treaty 
 of Washington to prevent the Government from 
 retaining the British indemnity in the Treasury. 
 I certainly for one meant there should not be. The 
 Geneva proceedings give more color to the other 
 view. But I have always thought it would be 
 
 1 This refers to the nomination of Richard H. Dana to be 
 minister at the Court of St. James, which General Butler actively 
 opposed and defeated. 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 251 
 
 mean to keep the money, and that the best course 
 is to pay it out to the most meritorious claimants 
 in succession till it is all gone. This has been the 
 general expectation and it is better not to raise 
 such a question unnecessarily." 
 
 In the summer of 1876, the Judge and the 
 Senator were sent as delegates to the National 
 Republican convention, where was fought one of 
 the hardest battles in the history of the Republi 
 can party. James G. Elaine, whose reputation had 
 been much impaired by the charge that he had 
 sold his influence as Speaker to a private corpora 
 tion, a charge then only partly investigated, was 
 the leading candidate for the nomination, and was 
 fiercely opposed by a great many strong Republi 
 cans who believed him dishonest and who sought 
 to nominate ex-Secretary Bristow. Senator Hoar 
 says in his " Autobiography " that neither he nor 
 the Judge supported Blaine as candidate for the 
 Presidency, but both voted for Bristow until the 
 final vote, when, with the majority of the Massa 
 chusetts delegation, they voted for Rutherford 
 B. Hayes. The Senator adds, " They differed from 
 their colleagues in thinking that, while there were 
 many things in Mr. Elaine s record which they 
 disapproved, there was no evidence that he was 
 corrupt or had done anything which rendered him 
 unworthy of support, if he should receive the 
 nomination of his party." In spite of certain ob 
 jections which Judge Hoar had to Mr. Blaine, his 
 
252 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 estimate of him, based upon personal acquaint 
 ance, made him disbelieve the charges against his 
 integrity. 
 
 The Judge s feeling about Elaine is further ex 
 plained by the Senator in a letter where he says, 
 " Judge Hoar had an intimate personal friendship 
 with Elaine and knew him through and through." 
 It was naturally hard for him to disbelieve a man 
 in whom he had such confidence ; but Senator 
 Hoar in later years said that he could understand 
 how men could see in Elaine s letters evidence of 
 dishonesty, and how they should therefore find it 
 impossible to vote for him. It shows the public 
 spirit of the brothers, that, in the convention, they 
 steadily voted against the nomination of the 
 friend in whom they believed, because they thought 
 it unwise for the party to make him its candidate. 
 
 The autumn of 1876 called Judge Hoar again 
 into the field. So strong a champion of honest gov 
 ernment could not be spared when danger threat 
 ened the state. This was now chronic in the per 
 son of General Butler, whose creed and practice 
 were absolutely opposed to every instinct of the 
 Judge and to all the ideals of Massachusetts. He 
 had been defeated in 1874 in Essex County, which 
 he had formerly represented, and he now took the 
 field in Middlesex and won the Republican nomi 
 nation. Judge Hoar therefore consented to run 
 as the candidate of the Republicans who opposed 
 Butler. 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 253 
 
 Edward L. Pierce said of the Judge : " For forty 
 years politicians who were plotting to suppress 
 moral questions or to advance their own selfish 
 scheme had to take him into account. They knew 
 that there was in Concord a man with whom they 
 would have to reckon, one whose intelligence 
 they could not blind, whose moral sense they could 
 not tamper with. Once, when others slunk away in 
 fear and trembling from an encounter with the 
 most audacious demagogue of the age, he faced 
 undaunted a storm of calumny and abuse, with a 
 self -consecration of which there is hardly a sublimer 
 instance in ancient or modern story." 
 
 Though the last clause is superlative in rhetoric, 
 the sacrifice was great. The Judge had voluntarily 
 retired from Congress and by no means wished to 
 go again. It was against his professional interest 
 to do so, and if elected he would have had to 
 give up more years of his life with family and 
 friends in his loved Concord, but the call of pub 
 lic duty was clear. 
 
 It had become all too evident that Grant, in his 
 second term, was increasingly surrounded by bad 
 influences. Among these was Butler. The Judge 
 still had a warm personal regard for General Grant 
 and believed in his integrity of purpose, but felt 
 that he was often duped or led astray from sound 
 statesmanship. " The chief duel between Butler 
 and Judge Hoar," says Senator Hoar, " for influ 
 ence over Grant related to the matter of finance. 
 
254 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 The Judge never lost an opportunity, from his first 
 entry to his leaving the House of Representatives, 
 to drop seed into Grant s mind in favor of sound 
 finance. But Butler tried to move heaven and 
 earth and did move hell to get Grant to sign 
 the inflation bill." 
 
 The appointment of Simmons, a creature of 
 Butler s and a low politician, to be collector of 
 the port of Boston in 1873, against vigorous oppo 
 sition from a large majority of the Massachusetts 
 delegation, the Governor and many of the most 
 eminent men in the state, had increased the alarm 
 concerning Butler s malign influence. Warned by 
 his recent defeat in Essex, he had promised the 
 Republican party to abandon his "fiat money " 
 doctrines (a pledge which he broke), and won in 
 the convention. It is not strange that many of 
 the outraged Republicans bolted and appealed 
 to Judge Hoar to be their champion. He felt 
 with them that the nomination of Butler was 
 intolerable and accepted the disagreeable duty. 
 In doing this he taught many young men of 
 Massachusetts that their allegiance was due to 
 their country rather than to their party, and that 
 if the party nominated a corrupt man for office, 
 they ought to oppose him. He would not ask an 
 other to do what he would not do himself. When 
 they applied his teaching and followed his example 
 a few years later, he did not see with their eyes, 
 and was perhaps a little inclined to think that 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 255 
 
 they should follow his judgment as to the exist 
 ence of any emergency which justified such ac 
 tion. 
 
 Charles Francis Adams, Jr., wrote: "The result 
 only demonstrated once more the force of party 
 discipline in popular elections." Judge Hoar had 
 1955 votes and was defeated by a vote of nearly 
 six to one, Butler having 12,000 votes. It should 
 however be said that the people, not yet appreci 
 ating the failure of corrupt rule by cheap adven 
 turers who misled and used the ignorant f reedmen 
 of many Southern states, and alarmed by the 
 admission of many reconstructed Confederates to 
 Congress, were honestly deceived by Butler s pro 
 clamation that he went to fight the Southern Briga 
 diers in Washington. 
 
 An especial reason for the Judge s anxiety 
 he told in his later years to Mr. Rhodes, the 
 historian. He said that during the outcry over 
 the nomination of Simmons, when the Judge and 
 Butler were in Washington, the latter said to him, 
 " I have a hold over Grant and he dare not with 
 draw Simmons s name." The Judge, who still con 
 tinued friendly relations with the President, went 
 to him in private and urged him to withdraw so 
 unfit a name, but to no effect. Then, hoping, no 
 doubt, for an indignant denial, he squarely said 
 to him " Butler says he has a hold over you." 
 Grant set his teeth, then drew down his jaw, and 
 without changing countenance looked him in the 
 
256 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 eyes, but said no word. A long and painful silence 
 ensued, and the Judge went away. 
 
 Judge Hoar threw himself into the campaign 
 and spoke frequently, assisted among others by 
 several young men who were novices in politics, 
 but who felt the importance of defeating General 
 Butler if possible. It was at Leicester during this 
 contest that the Judge, in the course of a speech, 
 said that it was a source of consolation to him that 
 in his native county of Middlesex it had been 
 found impossible to assemble a convention which 
 would make the nomination of Butler unanimous. 
 " Yes, and how many opposed it ? " said a sneer 
 ing opponent in the audience. " I don t remember," 
 said the Judge. "Would you like to know?" 
 came the next question. " I should," said the 
 Judge. "Well, there were just ten," was the reply. 
 "Precisely the number of righteous men that 
 would have availed to save Sodom," was the in 
 stant and complete rejoinder. 
 
 It is interesting and amusing to find how, half in 
 fun and half in earnest, the Judge was constantly 
 expressing his antipathy to Democrats, and even to 
 Independents. As late as May 10, a few months 
 before he was going to lead an independent move 
 ment, we find him writing to his brother about his 
 argument on the impeachment of Secretary Bel- 
 knap. "Your name and praise is in all the churches, 
 and even in the synagogues of Satan/ to wit: the 
 Democratic and Independent newspapers." 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 257 
 
 The following September, when his old friend 
 Charles Francis Adams, who had helped with him 
 to found the Republican party, was nominated 
 for governor by the Democrats, he wrote his 
 brother : 
 
 "I was asked to-day what I thought of the 
 Democratic nomination for governor. I replied 
 that it reminded me of a little story : - 
 
 " The late Judge Warren said that when he be 
 gan the practice of law in New Bedford, he was 
 employed to try a case in the Court of Common 
 Pleas by a man of not very good reputation. His 
 client gave him a list of witnesses by whom he 
 expected to prove his case, but he had not seen 
 them until he sat down in court to try it. When 
 he called them to be sworn, to his consternation 
 there came forward eight or ten of the sorriest- 
 looking ragamuffins and topers that were ever col 
 lected. He turned to his client, and whispered, For 
 God s sake, haven t you anybody else than these 
 fellows? Just then the door of the court-room 
 opened, and Mr. William Rotch, one of the wealth 
 iest merchants and most respected citizens of the 
 town, walked in. Call Mr. Rotch/ whispered the 
 client in reply. Why, what does he know about 
 your case ? ^ Oh ! he does n t know anything, but 
 he will give a kind of air to the rest of em. " 
 
 For the rest of his life Judge Hoar was to have 
 the happiest of family life among his friends and 
 
258 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 neighbors, for the town, in those pleasant sim 
 pler days, seemed but a larger family, enjoying 
 the practice of his profession, free from office and 
 from public duties except to his town, his loved 
 college, and those which might be involved in 
 the Boston Bar Association, of which he was a 
 founder and soon after president. Conscious that 
 he had passed his physical prime, and never in 
 quite comfortable health, he seems to have felt 
 some anxiety in returning to the practice of law. 
 This appears in a letter which he wrote to a friend 
 when some malevolent politician had published a 
 charge that he had made a gift to the President : 
 "I never made Grant any present whatever in my 
 life. . . . The fact is that a large family, and the 
 giving up most of my active life to public service 
 more honorable than lucrative, have left me little 
 ability to make presents to anybody, and the bur 
 dens and charities of the war took all and more 
 than all I could spare, so that, however inexplica 
 ble my appointment as Attorney-General may have 
 been, it was not bought." 
 
 His friend Mr. Francis E. Parker had engaged 
 an office for him in Pemberton Square, and it is 
 said that when the Judge learned that the rent was 
 one thousand dollars a year he stood aghast ; but 
 Mr. Parker told him he need have no fear, that 
 he would have all the lucrative practice he desired, 
 and so it proved, but for one abatement, mentioned 
 in this clipping from a newspaper of that time:- 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 259 
 
 " I suppose he must have an income from his legal 
 practice that amounts to at least $25,000 a year, 
 easy. He is somewhat of an old fogy in the matter 
 of charging. He is a very light charger . . . too 
 old-fashioned for his own good. He is probably as 
 able a jurist as ever lived ... in New England, 
 and is, by all odds, the ablest man at the bar now. 
 * . . Why, if Butler or Evarts, or some of those 
 New York fellows were making charges for the 
 opinions that Judge Hoar gives from day to day, 
 they would charge $1000 at least, where he charges 
 ... a few hundred dollars. I tell you that his 
 charges are so moderate that many corporations 
 go to him for opinions, when they don t really 
 need them. Judge Hoar s opinions are not cheap 
 in any other way, though, and you can pin your 
 faith on them every time." 
 
 Chief Justice Field said : " He had all the law 
 practice he wanted ; it was of the best kind, and 
 took as much of his time as he wished to give to 
 his profession. He would not, I think, have en 
 joyed an overwhelmingly large practice, for he 
 wished time for conference with his friends, for 
 meditating upon many things, for enjoying many 
 things, and for reading what he chose. 
 
 "His arguments were like his opinions, not 
 long, very clear, remarkably strong in analysis, and 
 persuasive in their sound sense. He used great di 
 rectness and simplicity of statement, and he relied 
 on his wit to point or enliven the argument." 
 
260 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 The Presidential campaign of 1876, with its 
 doubtful result, left the country face to face with 
 one of the greatest crises in its history, and the 
 Judge was, of necessity, deeply interested in the 
 outcome, but his interest was expressed in private 
 letters and conversations of which no record re 
 mains. In a letter of January 29, 1877, congratu 
 lating his brother on his election to the Senate of 
 the United States, he says: " I think you may take 
 this as the indorsement by the state of your Presi 
 dential settlement, which, though without consti 
 tutional authority, is a practical American device 
 to get over a difficulty otherwise insuperable, and, 
 like Jefferson s purchase of Louisiana, is to be up 
 held by the agreement beforehand and the acqui 
 escence afterwards of the whole people who may 
 thus modify their Constitution if they choose." 
 
 Of his brother s election he says : " It is the 
 most important declaration of the state on the 
 right side since Sumner and Andrew. 
 
 " I am the more happy that it proves that my 
 campaign last fall has done no harm, though Sim 
 mons and Butler have strained every nerve to de 
 feat you." 
 
 A few days later, under date of February 1, he 
 writes to his brother again : " I have learned that 
 Butler devoted himself with all his power to de 
 feat your election, sending for men to his office, 
 and employing every agency he could think of, 
 and then with his chronic propensity to impudent 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 261 
 
 lying, told reporters that he took no part in the 
 fight, that it was no quarrel of his, and that if it 
 had been, the result might have been different." 
 
 Judge Hoar maintained in private life a watch 
 ful interest in public affairs, and as soon as Presi 
 dent Hayes was inaugurated began to strive for 
 the emancipation of Massachusetts from But- 
 lerism. March 9, 1877, he writes to his brother : 
 "Now can we purify the public service by a change 
 in the Boston Custom House ? " 
 
 March 12, 1877, he writes again : "Everybody 
 (whom we care for) is delighted with the inau 
 gural, the Cabinet and the way things are work 
 ing with Wheeler, Evarts, McCrary, Devens, and 
 Schurz ; thorough-going Massachusetts Republi 
 cans ought to be contented with the executive 
 end of the government, and it seems as if Hayes 
 would be able to accomplish what Grant had so 
 fine a chance to try eight years ago, and which I 
 tried so hard to have him attempt. 
 
 " I receive quantities of letters asking for help 
 with you and Evarts in getting offices, but re 
 spectfully decline to avail myself of (or rather to 
 transfer to other people) my personal relations. 
 
 " The cleaning out of Simmons however seems 
 to me an obligation to public morality and to come 
 exactly within the President s line of policy, as a 
 man who has used his official power exclusively 
 to further one man s personal ambitions and hates, 
 and as owing his own appointment to the assump- 
 
262 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 tion of executive power by a member of Congress. 
 He has got rid of almost every respectable man in 
 the Custom House, who would not wear his mas 
 ter s collar. . . . The papers say that Butler has 
 told the President that he had no axes to grind, 
 no papers to present, and that he should support 
 the Administration, which being interpreted is 
 that he has filled every Federal office accessible 
 to him with his creatures, and wants to stipulate 
 that they shall not be disturbed." 
 
 The public service still sought him, and a few 
 days later, on March 21, Mr. Evarts wrote to him 
 a letter from which the following is taken : 
 
 " At the moment I have the particular object of 
 stating to you that the President has decided to 
 send a commission of prominent public men to 
 Louisiana to ascertain the prospects of, and the 
 obstacles to, securing a single state government 
 in Louisiana. Everybody desires that you should 
 be one of this commission, and your proposed as 
 sociates would be Vice-President Wheeler or (if 
 he should be unable to go) President Woolsey, 
 Judge Charles B. Lawrence of Illinois (who was 
 supported for the Senate against Judge Davis), 
 Governor Brown of Tennessee (a Democrat), and 
 Harlan of Kentucky, Bristow s friend. 
 
 " This commission will go under public instruc 
 tions and its examinations and conciliations will be 
 of a public character. 
 
 "The commission will be desired to go as soon 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 263 
 
 as can be arranged and to return as promptly as 
 its objects can be secured. The service is pri 
 marily a patriotic one, but it is expected that pro 
 vision will hereafter be made for the expense of 
 the service. 
 
 " I hope you will approve this measure, and will 
 join in it, for without you we shall miss its best 
 value and efficiency in the public esteem." 
 
 This offer he was unable to accept. On June 26 
 he was offered the position of counsel for the 
 United States before the Fishery Commission. Mr. 
 Evarts wrote : - 
 
 " Both Mr. Foster and Mr. Kellogg write me 
 urgently that you ought to undertake the service. 
 They both understand your aversion to the propo 
 sition, but as usual with you, they think you should 
 sacrifice yourself for the public good. ... I 
 hardly suppose you will entertain the proposition, 
 but could not refuse to take your solid sense on the 
 subject." 
 
 The Judge did not feel that it was his duty to 
 undertake this service, which involved six months 
 work and a considerable absence from home, so 
 this offer was declined. 
 
 In January, 1878, Mr. Blaine made a speech to 
 the Senate on the occasion of presenting a statue 
 given by the state of Maine to be placed in the col 
 lection at the capitol, and in the course of this 
 speech attacked Massachusetts very sharply on 
 account of her attitude during the War of 1812. 
 
264 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 Senator Hoar made an extended reply, saying 
 among other things (in allusion to the fact that 
 Massachusetts had opposed the nomination of Mr. 
 Elaine for the Presidency in the last Republican 
 National convention) : " I regret that certain 
 recent historic judgments of the people of Mas 
 sachusetts have so far disturbed the Senator from 
 Maine that he feels called upon to make them 
 bear not only their own sins, but the sins of 
 their ancestors." The speeches were printed in 
 the morning papers of the next day, and shortly 
 afterward a young lawyer asked Judge Hoar 
 how he liked his brother s speech. He replied 
 that he liked it, but added: "If I had been 
 there, I should not have made exactly that reply. 
 When Mr. Elaine ended, I should have risen and 
 said, In reply to what the Senator from Maine 
 has said about Massachusetts, I am not aware that 
 I have anything to say now, but I desire, with the 
 unanimous consent of the Senate, to introduce a 
 bill giving to the Senator from Maine a life pen 
 sion as the last survivor of the War of 1812. 
 
 The letter to his brother from which the follow 
 ing extracts are taken was written after this inci 
 dent and is dated January 29, 1878. The displace 
 ment of Simmons is still uppermost in his thoughts, 
 for he says : - 
 
 " If Simmons is reappointed I think my inter 
 est in this administration will be at an end, and 
 so will enough of others in Massachusetts to leave 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 265 
 
 a pretty poor show ; but I cannot believe such a 
 mean result is to happen. 
 
 " As for being satisfied with you, the two things 
 that have helped to keep me alive for the last 
 week have been the nomination of Sargent as 
 postmaster at Methuen, and your reply to Elaine, 
 who, it seems to me, must be getting insane. I won 
 der if he thinks that road leads anywhere." 
 
 Sargent s nomination interested him because it 
 was the reappointment of a good officer whom 
 General Butler was trying to displace. His efforts 
 against Simmons were successful and the Boston 
 Custom House was redeemed. 
 
 He continued to devote himself to his profes 
 sion, but his health was not good, as is shown by a 
 letter written June 5, 1878, from which the follow 
 ing passage is quoted : - 
 
 " Your inference that I am well, because I tried a 
 long and tough case, is, I am sorry to say, not justi 
 fied by the facts, though I am better than when I 
 last saw you but I have struck work till Sep 
 tember, and intend to devote myself to getting 
 well. . . . 
 
 :< The Democratic landslide does not disturb or 
 alarm me. It is going to do us no harm, unless 
 something more comes than is yet visible." 
 
 In 1879 he was chosen president of the Boston 
 Bar Association, which he had helped to found in 
 1876, and he presided at its dinner. His little 
 speeches on that occasion made it especially bril- 
 
266 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 liant, and of all that was said by the various 
 speakers only what fell from his lips has dwelt in 
 the memory of at least one among his listeners. 
 He began by alluding to the difficulties of his 
 position and freely translated for the occasion, 
 "Nullum tempus occurrit Regi" as meaning, "The 
 King does n t have any kind of a time." 
 
 It was thus that he introduced Sidney Bartlett, 
 the oldest member of the bar in active practice : 
 
 "And now, gentlemen, I have the great pleasure 
 of introducing to you a man who has enjoyed the 
 singular felicity of being the leader of this Bar 
 for fifty years. Of him may be said what was said 
 to the old French lady, who in extreme age still 
 preserved much of the charm and vivacity of her 
 youth, and who said to an old admirer, Pray, how 
 old do you think I am? Ah ! said he, Madame, 
 you are twenty, for the fourth time/ " He made 
 the dinner memorable among occasions of this 
 kind. 
 
 The election of 1880 brought Mr. Blaine into the 
 Cabinet as Secretary of State under President 
 Garfield, and the early months of the administra 
 tion were marked by the contest over the New 
 York offices, which led to the resignation of the 
 New York senators, Conkling and Platt. Apropos 
 of this incident, the Judge wrote to Mr. Blaine, 
 alluding to a passage between Blaine and Conkling 
 when both were members of the House, during 
 which Blaine spoke of Conkling as "a turkey cock": 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 267 
 
 MY DEAR MR. ELAINE, In accordance with 
 the time-honored custom of our Puritan ancestors, 
 the demise of the cock turkey has been followed 
 by a New England Thanksgiving. 
 
 When the nomination of Mr. Elaine to the 
 Presidency led a great many prominent Republi 
 cans, like George William Curtis, President Eliot, 
 Carl Schurz and others, including the Judge s sons 
 Samuel, Charles, and Sherman, to leave the Re 
 publican candidate and support Grover Cleveland, 
 the Judge adhered to the Republican nominees, and 
 in a speech at Worcester on July 22 of that year 
 asserted his firm belief in Elaine s honesty and 
 praised his sense, versatility and resourcefulness. 
 He was much troubled that neither of his sons 
 could stomach the nomination, but, as he had done 
 in the Free-Soil and again in the Butler time, 
 they "bolted," and voted for the Democratic candi 
 date. After the war, in spite of the valiant and 
 patriotic service in the field and at home of the 
 "War" Democrats, the Judge s feeling was al 
 ways that expressed by Horace Greeley of that 
 party before by a strange accident he became their 
 candidate : " I do not say that all Democrats are 
 rascals, but it is indisputably true that all rascals 
 are Democrats." 
 
 Sherman Hoar told a friend that, on the day 
 after the election, when the papers showed Elaine s 
 defeat, his father admitted that there had been 
 
268 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 some reasons why he was an undesirable candidate, 
 or words to that effect. But whatever faults might 
 be found in the dominant party, and in spite of the 
 sad scandals that began to appear, especially dur 
 ing Grant s second term, its glorious record of sav 
 ing the country in the long years of utter peril, and 
 of wiping from it the stain of slavery, commanded 
 thereafter the Judge s affectionate allegiance, and 
 while he wished to keep it pure, he deplored any 
 departure from it, and had no patience with the 
 supposition that any real good could come from 
 the other side. His attitude at the time was thus 
 described by his brother, Senator Hoar : 
 
 "He never took our Mugwumps as seriously as 
 I do. I always treated them as persons who were 
 giving their support to great public crimes and 
 politically were to be treated accordingly. Rock- 
 wood had for them a sort of amused tolerance, 
 and, where they behaved well and had some per 
 sonally agreeable qualities, liked to see them and 
 associate with them. I have no doubt that if he 
 had not withdrawn from public responsibilities, 
 and had, these last few years, felt any obligation 
 on his part to take a personal share in saving the 
 country from disaster and in promoting good re 
 sults, he would have felt about them a good deal 
 as I do. While I always agreed with my brother 
 in thinking that they never did or were likely to 
 do much political mischief, I think they have been 
 quite mischievous, especially those of them who 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 269 
 
 had what is called high social position, or had 
 some literary capacity, in perverting and mislead 
 ing young men who might otherwise be useful to 
 the country." 
 
 So might Daniel Webster have spoken of Sam 
 uel Hoar and his sons in 1848. 
 
 In this connection should be quoted the Judge s 
 remark in 1884 : "I have no objection to the Mug 
 wumps going out, but they need not slam the 
 door after them," and his reply to one of them 
 who was inveighing against the corrupt men who 
 had attached themselves to the Republican party : 
 " Remember that a ship is not steered by its bar 
 nacles." 
 
 The campaign of 1884 found him nearly three 
 score and ten, and from that to the end he led a 
 peaceful life, never travelling far from Concord, 
 practising law in Boston, serenely enjoying his 
 family and his friends, taking a keen interest as 
 wise critic and counsellor in the political affairs 
 of the state and nation, always ready to do his 
 duty in his town and church, until 1887 president 
 of the Overseers of Harvard College and always 
 a welcome figure at its festivals, and until the 
 last a constant attendant at the meetings of the 
 Saturday Club. It was the serene evening of a 
 well-spent life, and he had in abundant measure 
 " all that should accompany old age." 
 
 Among the more prominent cases in which he 
 was concerned during that time was the case of 
 
270 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 Egbert C. Smyth against the Visitors of the An- 
 dover Theological Seminary, which he argued on 
 October 14, 1890. 
 
 Professor Smyth had maintained and inculcated 
 doctrines which were more liberal than the Visitors 
 approved, and they removed him from his pro 
 fessorship. He appealed to the Supreme Court of 
 Massachusetts, and Judge Hoar was retained as 
 senior counsel for the Visitors. It was in some re 
 spects a peculiar position, since it compelled him, 
 a prominent Unitarian, to take ground against the 
 professor of liberal views and in favor of those 
 who adhered to the strictest tenets of Orthodoxy, 
 with which he had no intellectual sympathy. He 
 felt the humor of the situation, and could not re 
 frain from at least hinting at it. 
 
 Thus at the outset of his argument he said : 
 " There is, as I understand it, no question of theo 
 logy to be determined by the Court. I should feel 
 very much embarrassed if I thought there were. 
 If I were to undertake to discuss and point out 
 the differences between the doctrines of the An- 
 dover Creed and the publications of Dr. Smyth, I 
 should feel like the Scotch old woman who, when 
 asked if she understood the sermon, replied, Wad 
 I ha e the presumption ? " 
 
 He rested his argument upon the proposition 
 that the founders of the Seminary attached to 
 their foundation the condition, that the professors 
 who taught should declare their faith in a certain 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 271 
 
 creed, and should teach according to it, saying : 
 "When the morning stars sang together, the An- 
 dover Creed, in these people s estimation, was 
 the song." This proposition he illustrated as fol 
 lows: 
 
 "Suppose somebody had founded an asylum for 
 the blind, and the founder had come to the conclu 
 sion not perhaps sufficiently considering the 
 scriptural caution about the blind leading the 
 blind that it was best to have the instructors 
 and teachers and managers all themselves blind 
 people ; he had appointed what they had to do, 
 and thought that their sympathies and their in 
 fluence on their blind pupils would be better, and 
 therefore he provided an institution, to which his 
 money was to be given, to educate the blind, and 
 with a provision that nobody but the blind should 
 be professors or teachers in it. And suppose that 
 were carried out, and having been for sixty or 
 seventy years in full operation, the asylum having 
 a board of Visitors to see that that provision 
 was carried out, and one of the teachers should 
 come to one of the Visitors and say, I have been 
 experimenting on my own case, I have got some 
 thing which has made plain this difficulty ; an 
 Arabian doctor has prepared and brought with 
 him a drug, and I have been rubbing it on my own 
 eyes and I already begin to see a little. I see 
 men like trees walking. I think I may recover 
 my sight. I want to try it on the pupils. Their 
 
272 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 deprivation, like my own, appeals of course to my 
 tenderest sympathies, and I want to do it. Says 
 the Visitor, My friend, if you can restore the 
 sight of a single pupil, you ought to do it. Do it, 
 in God s name. If you can get your own, I am de 
 lighted to have you. It is very much better than 
 your present condition ; but I must say to you 
 that the minute you begin to see, you have got to 
 leave this establishment/ 
 
 "It would not follow because another creed 
 was much better, that it can be allowed here. 
 Touchstone said of Audrey, a poor thing but 
 mine own/ This creed is what these founders be 
 lieved in." 
 
 He quoted "a wise and witty clergyman" as 
 saying : " This whole Andover question seems to 
 me to be merely an instance of the right man in 
 the wrong place," and said, " The expression puts 
 in a nutshell what I think may strike your Honors 
 and strike a large number of the community as 
 true." 
 
 The argument was strong and convincing, but 
 his clients did not think his illustrations felicitous, 
 and doubtless thought, if they did not say, "Call 
 you this backing of your friends ? " The whole 
 argument is preserved, but these passages are il 
 lustrations of the Judge s method, which pleased 
 a great many at the time. He did his duty to his 
 clients, but one may be pardoned for suspecting 
 that his tongue at intervals trembled on the edge 
 
THE PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN 273 
 
 of his cheek. It should be added that he gave the 
 very considerable fee which he received in this 
 case to the Unitarian Association, an apology per 
 haps for appearing on the wrong side. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 
 
 JUDGE SULLIVAN, who studied law in Judge Hoar s 
 office during the last years of his practice, tells a 
 story which will commend itself to lawyers. He 
 says: "I helped him prepare a brief for the full 
 bench, and as he was going to court, I said, I 
 suppose I can be of no use to you during the argu 
 ment ; to which the Judge replied, Well, you 
 can at least sit by me, and hate the other side ! 
 
 Judge Allen says that once some lawyer with 
 a shady reputation had taken a high moral tone 
 in commenting on the conduct of some party 
 on the other side, and Judge Hoar remarked 
 afterwards that he was reminded of King James, 
 in " The Fortunes of Nigel," who said, " It was 
 grand to hear Baby Charles laying down the guilt 
 of dissimulation, and Steenie lecturing on the 
 turpitude of incontinence." The circle of which 
 the Judge was a member was " letter-perfect " 
 in the Waverley Novels. 
 
 Judge Allen also tells the following : " In earlier 
 days, I suppose he was not in the habit of suppress 
 ing a keen retort, if occasion called for it. But in 
 later years there was a change in this respect. I 
 well remember one instance while I was sitting 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 275 
 
 with the full court as judge, and he was counsel, 
 and his opponent went out of his way to make 
 some statement which would naturally invite a 
 caustic reply. I observed the expression of his 
 face, and expected when his turn came to hear 
 something pungent. But in his own argument he 
 made no allusion whatever to what had been said. 
 He argued the law points and sat down. I have an 
 idea that the humor of the situation (as his oppo 
 nent was by no means his equal) overcame all 
 wish to make a stinging reply. But, from what 
 ever reason, it is quite certain that in later years 
 he indulged less in that kind of fencing than 
 formerly. I presume the above is but one of many 
 similar instances." 
 
 A lawyer associated with him as his junior 
 gives, as his distinguishing trait in advocacy, 
 " his power of reducing his own case and his op 
 ponent s case to one or two positions, and present 
 ing these with a sharp vividness which burned 
 them into the minds of the court or jury. This 
 was, in fact, but one exhibition of the power 
 which lay behind his wit. ... In the court in 
 Washington, where we carried with us a long and 
 tedious record of dull facts, a few flashes from 
 him illumined the whole case, like lightning in a 
 black landscape." 
 
 To this estimate should be added the influence 
 of his known character and the force, range, and 
 often the affectionate pathos of his speech. And 
 
276 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 in it the literary quality, sure to be there, was 
 in exactly right proportion to the expression of 
 human feeling, adorned it, but left it the 
 leading place. The Judge s memory, stored with 
 the best of literature, classic and sacred, stood 
 ever behind him, furnishing him lustres for his 
 public speech. It is said that, years ago, in the 
 palmy days of the old Middlesex Hotel at Concord, 
 after some public occasion, a frequenter of the bar 
 room coming in was much amused to see the well- 
 beloved Samuel Staples, then manager of the hotel 
 and keeper of the jail close by, sitting by the 
 window and reading the Bible. " Well ! that s new 
 business for you, ain t it, Sam?" said he. " I was 
 looking to see if I could find some of those splen 
 did quotations the Judge is always bringing in in 
 his speeches," was the answer. 
 
 Another who knew him well, said : "He could 
 see farther into a case in five minutes than any 
 man I ever knew." 
 
 William G. Russell, the eminent Boston lawyer 
 who had known him through all his life, said : 
 "Though he was well read in the law, and in 
 the best that has been written of old or modern 
 times, and was never at a loss for an authority in 
 point, or an apt illustration from history or ro 
 mance, or from proverb, psalm or parable from 
 the Book of books, yet for his law and his con 
 duct, he relied, and safely relied, chiefly on that 
 strong, native, sound common sense with which 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 277 
 
 he was born and which he applied to cases, to men 
 and to affairs of life. He had more than New 
 England wit and wisdom. He had the stern, un 
 compromising New England conscience." 
 
 Mr. Russell held the Judge to be a notable type, 
 not only of New England s wisdom, but of its wit. 
 He said: "It is difficult to define it, but there is a 
 New England wit, a Yankee wit, if it please you, as 
 different in its type from English or Gallic wit, as 
 is the flavor or aroma of our Baldwin apple from 
 that of the southern olive." 
 
 Some examples from his childhood up have been 
 given, but others, too good to be lost, must find 
 place here. 
 
 Says another friend : " I know none of the 
 many anecdotes of the Judge s ready wit that 
 shows better than the following how instantly and 
 surely it worked. The morning train from Con 
 cord was sliding into the Boston station, perhaps 
 because of frost on the rails rather faster than 
 usual, and we, in true American fashion, were 
 already filling the aisle of the car and pressing 
 towards the door. I happened to be just in front 
 of the Judge, who was talking to me, and had 
 just reached the door, when the train brought up 
 on the buffer with a shock that threw each pas 
 senger against the one in front of him, the Judge 
 against me. One last bumper at parting. Good 
 morning/ said he, as, disengaging himself from 
 me, he stepped out on to the platform." 
 
278 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 A niece of the Judge tells that one winter day, 
 when the sleighing was fast going, he drove down 
 with her to Mr. Emerson s and asked to speak with 
 him at the door. When their talk was ended and 
 the Judge was going, Mr. Emerson remarked on 
 the gayly painted sleigh. "As you said in your 
 poem Brahma/ " remarked the Judge, " this is 
 a case where 
 
 " The red slayer thinks he slays." 
 
 At a bar dinner at which he presided, the Judge 
 called attention to the idle ceremony through 
 which the people of Massachusetts go every year, 
 which they call electing a governor, " who how 
 ever has no real power, as is shown by the lan 
 guage of the proclamation announcing his elec 
 tion, which runs somewhat as follows : And, from 
 the return of votes, it appears that Oliver Ames 
 is elected Governor, and all good people of this 
 Commonwealth are required to take notice thereof, 
 and govern themselves accordingly/ " 
 
 At Harvard s two hundred and fiftieth anniver 
 sary, Mr. James C. Carter introduced Judge Hoar 
 as the last speaker at the Law School dinner. 
 When the applause of his greeting allowed him, 
 he began thus : 
 
 "I expected, Mr. President, that you were call 
 ing on me as a reminiscence a capacity, which, 
 on reflection, after all that I have heard to-day, I 
 am tolerably well qualified to fill. I feel a good 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 279 
 
 deal like the old friend of mine who went to a 
 public dinner on one occasion and they said he 
 was a most remarkable old gentleman, that before 
 dinner he remembered General Washington, and 
 that after dinner he remembered Christopher 
 Columbus." 
 
 Cities contended for the honor of having been 
 Homer s birthplace. So Boston, New York, Con 
 cord, and Windsor, Vermont, have striven concern 
 ing the author of a remarkable and multiple joke, 
 and at last London entered the lists. In May, 
 1857, Mr. Evarts wrote to his cousin, enclosing two 
 newspaper clippings, respectively from the New 
 York "Evening Post" and the Boston "Tran 
 script," l concerning the story which had been 
 ascribed to both of them and to an earlier wit, 
 as follows : 
 
 " I suppose there is no help for the matter be 
 tween us, but it would make a funny jeu $ esprit 
 to give the true story of its double parentage and 
 
 From the New York Evening Post : " Render unto Caesar, etc. 
 The excellent bon mot, which the Detroit Advertiser, in a para 
 graph quoted yesterday, attributes to Judge Hoar of Massachu 
 setts, is the property of Mr. William Evarts of this city, a cousin 
 of Judge Hoar s. In a toast at a New England Society dinner, Mr. 
 Evarts described the three stages of the enterprising Yankees, as 
 these: * First, to get on; second, to get honor; third, to get honest. " 
 
 From the Boston Evening Transcript : " Lately, at a dinner 
 table in Massachusetts, a gentleman remarked that X, who used 
 to be given to sharp practice, was getting more circumspect. Yes, 
 replied Judge Hoar, he has reached the superlative of life. He 
 began by seeking to get on; then he sought to get honor; and now 
 he is trying to get honest. " 
 
280 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 of the humility with which I asked, and the gen 
 erosity with which you granted, the entire honor 
 of its production upon its first public presenta 
 tion. You remember the occasion, the Linonian 
 celebration at New Haven ; I have no recollection 
 of ever having used it since in public or private, 
 and it is, therefore, a mistake to refer it to a 
 New England dinner." 
 
 Soon after, Mr. Charles Eliot Norton told the 
 joke as Judge Hoar s to Mr. Justice Willes, who 
 was visiting this country, but this gentleman in 
 stantly said that he knew it to have originated 
 with Lord Chelmsford, and scouted all other 
 claims. A few months later, however, he wrote to 
 Mr. Norton as follows: 
 
 "I am bound to admit that the onner of the 
 excellent bon mot of Mr. Hoar does not belong to 
 old England. Lord Chelmsford, whilst thoroughly 
 appreciating the positive, comparative and super 
 lative merit of the witticism, does not claim its 
 authorship." 
 
 Still later, some one said that the joke was old, 
 having been made some years before by an Eng 
 lish lawyer whom he named. It is to this latter 
 claim that Mr. Evarts refers in a letter to the 
 Judge, in May, 1873. After speaking of public 
 matters, he says : 
 
 "But what are all earthly distinctions when 
 two such men as you and I, having joined in the 
 labor and divided the honor of a joke of national 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 281 
 
 reputation, find ourselves exposed as robbers of 
 the fame of a dead Englishman ? " 
 
 Miss Ellen Emerson probably stated the real 
 facts as follows : " Judge Hoar told me that he 
 and Mr. Evarts were talking together one day 
 about a lawyer, bright, but of doubtful practices, 
 who had lately come to some distinction. Mr. 
 Evarts said, Yet he seems to have been getting 
 on lately/ The Judge responded, Yes, more than 
 that, he s been getting honor ; and Mr. Evarts 
 instantly added, And perhaps now he 11 begin to 
 get honest/ " 
 
 The following letter is characteristic : 
 
 MY DEAR RUSSELL, I have your note, saying 
 that you wish to present the judges a photograph 
 of me for their apartments in the new court 
 house, and inquiring which is the best likeness. 
 Sam and Sherman think my best picture is the 
 one which hangs in the Essex law library. My own 
 opinion, however, is that a better picture is the 
 one that was taken about the time I resigned 
 from the Supreme Court, and before my counte 
 nance had become characterized by the melancholy 
 which has settled upon it in contemplation of the 
 fellows who succeeded me there. 
 
 George Herbert well said, 
 
 Wit s an unruly engine, wildly striking 
 Sometimes a friend, sometimes the engineer; 
 
282 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 and it was so with Judge Hoar s ; it recoiled on 
 him often and gave offence; yet there was no 
 malice in it, for he, not being thin-skinned, usu 
 ally was unaware that it was so. When the papers 
 had published many criticisms on him for incon 
 siderate and cutting speech, one of his kin 
 wrote : 
 
 " Rockwood is very much surprised and hurt at 
 all this. He has always felt himself to be, in the 
 world, a most affectionate father of a family. He 
 had no idea that he had created such a feeling. 
 And yet I own that what he said of his brother 
 Frisbie is true of him, When he sees a fool, 
 he knows him, and cannot resist the pleasure of 
 telling him so/ 
 
 The Judge once spoke of sinners as " that large 
 and influential class in the community." He fre 
 quently happened on them and they were apt to 
 hear his views intelligibly expressed. Ex-Gov 
 ernor Claflin, after the Judge s death, said: "I 
 think too much was said in the Tributes about 
 the offence taken by senators and other politi 
 cians who came in contact with him. It was not 
 the manners, but the matters. He studied the 
 best interests of the country." 
 
 But concerning the occasional woundings on 
 social occasions, Mrs. Fields said truly: "An open 
 ing for his wit he could not bring himself to let 
 slip. It would seem to him a crime. Opportunity 
 is fleeting ; he shot his shaft ; the dazzle of the 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 283 
 
 wit would hide from him the mortification which 
 the other party tried not to show." 
 
 The Judge might be likened to "Isrel" in 
 Lowell s poem, " The Two Gunners." 
 
 "Don t fire," sez Joe, " it ain t no use, 
 Thet s Deacon Peleg s tame wiF -goose"; 
 Sez Isrel, "I don t care a cent. 
 I ve sighted an I ll let her went": 
 Bang ! went queen s-arm, ole gander flopped 
 His wings a spell, an quorked, an dropped. 
 
 The sudden, not unkindly laugh that came 
 after an utterance of edged wit showed that he 
 was not inhuman, but, being differently organized, 
 did not appreciate how thinner-skinned people 
 might suffer and resent. 
 
 Judge Chapman testifies to a marked change in 
 the matter of severe retorts in court after the 
 Judge returned from Washington, instancing a 
 case where he forbore utterly to pierce his oppo 
 nent s defenceless side after great provocation, and 
 quotes Burns s lines :- 
 
 What s done we partly may compute, 
 But know not what s resisted. 
 
 On one occasion, however, he had the fun of 
 availing himself effectively in court of his primo 
 geniture at the expense of his brother, in his own 
 city. At a hearing in Worcester, where Senator 
 Hoar lived, the Judge appeared as counsel for the 
 Boston and Albany Railroad, and the Senator for 
 the city. The appearance of the two distinguished 
 
284 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 brothers on opposite sides of the case drew out 
 large numbers to the hearing. During the hear 
 ings, Senator Hoar having made certain state 
 ments, his brother, the Judge, in beginning his 
 answer, instead of using the usual formula, "My 
 brother says," started in with, "As my little 
 brother has said." 
 
 Let it be said, in passing, that the relation be 
 tween the brothers was one of affection, trust and 
 respect throughout. Senator Hoar spoke of the 
 Judge as the kindest and most generous of brothers. 
 Hon. Joseph H. Walker tells of journeying in the 
 cars with the Senator, and, on reaching Boston, 
 finding that he was to visit his brother, he asked 
 permission to go with him and pay his respects. 
 "The meeting of these venerable men," he says, 
 "was like that of guileless children, and my love 
 and regard for both of them was intensified by the 
 pleasure of the occasion." 
 
 Yet this was but the manifestation in the fam 
 ily of the really affectionate and kind impulses that 
 were in Judge Hoar. Although he had a face that 
 inspired awe, he had within the milk of human 
 kindness. Stern as he looked, eyes, ears and hand 
 were open to an unusual degree where there was 
 need. Help was quietly and wisely given. Many 
 of the younger generation recall his visits of 
 tender sympathy when death had entered their 
 doors, especially the death of children moved 
 him ; and also that he took the pains to come with 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 285 
 
 a friendly God-speed or a gift on notable occasions 
 of their lives, journeys, engagements, weddings. 
 He treated his servants with consideration and re 
 spect. 
 
 On the morning when Mr. R. W. Emerson s house 
 was burned, the Judge did not hear of it until he 
 reached the railroad station on his way to Boston. 
 He immediately went to the insurance office, to 
 learn the amount of the policies ; to the bank, to 
 know the state of his friend s account, and added 
 a generous deposit to help in immediate needs ; 
 then he sought Mr. and Mrs. Emerson at the 
 house of Judge Keyes, where after their alarm, 
 fatigue and exposure they were being cared for, 
 to offer his sympathy and help. Later, he went 
 down and swept the barn-floor, seeing that the 
 furniture was to be stored there. Soon after, when 
 the Judge was made by Mr. Emerson s many and 
 generous friends their ambassador with the deli 
 cate mission of presenting their affectionate trib 
 ute to aid in rebuilding his house, he sought his 
 friend, then harbored in his ancestral home, the 
 Manse, and did it as stated in his own words, 
 quoted from his letter to Dr. Le Baron Russell : 
 
 "I told Mr. Emerson, by way of prelude, that 
 some of his friends had made him treasurer of an 
 association who wished him to go to England and 
 examine Warwick Castle and other noted houses 
 that had been recently injured by fire in order to 
 get the best ideas possible for restoration, and 
 
286 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 then apply them to a house which the association 
 was formed to restore in this neighborhood. 
 
 " When he understood the thing, and had read 
 your letter, he seemed very deeply moved. He said 
 that he had been allowed, so far in life, to stand 
 on his own feet, and that he hardly knew what to 
 say. ... I told him that this was the spontane 
 ous act of friends who wished the privilege of ex 
 pressing in this way their respect and affection, 
 and was done only by those who thought it a privi 
 lege to do so. ... I am glad that Mr. Emerson, 
 who is feeble and ill, can learn what a debt of ob 
 ligation his friends feel to him, and thank you 
 heartily for what you have done about it." 
 
 Seeing how strongly his friend s scruples were 
 working on him, the Judge determined to carry 
 the matter through and said : " Well, what are you 
 going to do about it? The money is in the Con 
 cord Bank to your credit." Mr. Emerson took the 
 matter under consideration, but in the end could 
 only surrender to his friends, who claimed that 
 they were trying to pay a debt. 
 
 He asked the Judge to show him the list of his 
 benefactors. When it came, he was astonished. 
 He wrote to the Judge : 
 
 It cannot be read with dry eyes or pronounced 
 with articulate voice. Names of dear and noble 
 friends ; names also of high respect to me, but on 
 which I had no known claims; names too that 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 287 
 
 carried me back many years, as they were friends 
 of friends of mine more than of me, and thus I 
 seemed to be drawing on the virtues of the de 
 parted. Indeed, I ought to be in high health to 
 meet such a call on heart and mind, and not the 
 thoughtless invalid I happen to be at present. So 
 you must try to believe that I am not insensible 
 to this extraordinary deed of you and the other 
 angels on behalf of 
 
 Yours affectionately 
 
 R. W. EMERSON. 
 
 One of the Judge s classmates, dying in 1853, left 
 a daughter. She said that every Christmas after 
 her father s death she received from Judge Hoar 
 a present with a charming note, until the Judge 
 himself died, but she never saw him in her life. 
 
 When, in 1885, at the Commencement dinner, 
 the Judge was called upon to speak for and to his 
 class on the fiftieth anniversary of their gradua 
 tion, he spoke with affectionate eloquence. This 
 passage should be preserved :- 
 
 " We should rather like to hear what the old 
 lady whom to-day we have come back to look up 
 to, and to admire, thinks of us. Her smile is sweet 
 as she sits in stately beauty and lets the children 
 talk. Is it not possible for eager ears to catch a 
 few words from her lips? I think I hear the ma 
 ternal voice : 
 
 " Well, my sons, I am glad to see you once more. 
 
288 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 How the years roll by, to be sure ! Who would 
 think it was fifty years since I put you down from 
 my arms and set you on your own feet. The time 
 seems short to me, though it has told pretty seri 
 ously upon you. As I look you over, I am sorry to 
 see how little of what civil gentlemen are some 
 times pleased to call my " immortal beauty" I have 
 been able to transmit. 
 
 " You have not been specially eminent as a class. 
 If any of you have rendered conspicuous public 
 service or helped to make the world better, I am 
 glad of it ; but no less dear to me are those of you 
 whose lot has been hardship, disappointment or 
 poverty, and who have still kept themselves to 
 the end what I most wish my sons to be, worthy 
 and honorable gentlemen. 
 
 " I am glad to remember to-day that, as a 
 class, you have come to see me when you could ; 
 have stood by me and helped me when I needed 
 help ; have loved one another and have loved Har 
 vard. 
 
 " And now you see that I have all these 
 youngsters to attend to, and it s about your bed 
 time. Good-night/ 
 
 "Ah! Alma Mater carissima, may the bless 
 ings and gratitude of the class be with you to 
 the end of time!" 
 
 Those who knew him can recall the vibrating 
 pathos of his voice on occasions like this, the 
 pauses for safety showing his tenderness and his 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 289 
 
 strength; for he would not choke or break down, 
 though .moved to the core. 
 
 A year or two later, the Judge wrote to Pro 
 fessor James B. Thayer of Cambridge, who urged 
 him to attend the Phi Beta Kappa meeting and 
 speak: 
 
 SHARON SPRINGS, N. Y., June 17, 1887. 
 
 Your kind and persuasive note has been for 
 warded to me at this place. 
 
 I acknowledge the jurisdiction of the <E>. B. K. 
 to be co-extensive with space and time, and if I 
 were to take the wings of the morning and dwell 
 in the uttermost parts of the sea, it would not 
 surprise me, at about this time of the year, to find 
 a note from the President reminding me of the 
 annual dinner. The motto of the society is, as it 
 is the privilege of the initiated who wear its 
 medal to remember, " Sic itur ad astra" Having 
 attained the grace indicated by its first word to 
 some extent, I am sent here by physicians to pre 
 vent if possible a premature and too speedy ap 
 plication of the three words which follow. In fact 
 the doctors recommended me to try sulphur 
 baths, for which this resort is famous ; but I have 
 had a painful suspicion, remembering my connec 
 tion with the Andover controversy of last winter, 
 that there may be a covert design to give me a 
 slight foretaste of immortality. . . . 
 
 As to helping you to secure the attendance at 
 
290 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 the dinner of my valued friend, Mr. J. M. Forbes, 
 I have been some weeks away from Massachu 
 setts and so have not seen him, do not know where 
 he is or what he is about. Indeed, all I have 
 heard of him for some time was an astonishing 
 and alarming statement concerning him which I 
 read in a Boston newspaper yesterday. That 
 paper informed me that a celebrated ship-builder 
 at East Boston had just built for him a steam 
 yacht, and added, "its dimensions are those of its 
 owner." Looking farther along in the article I 
 found those dimensions to be 116 feet in length 
 28 feet beam and 10 feet in depth. Now when 
 Mr. Forbes was a Republican, I always thought 
 him a man of great breadth and as deep as most 
 men, but I never supposed him capable of going 
 to such extreme lengths. It looks to me like a 
 remarkable Mugwump development. At any rate, 
 if the newspaper account is to be believed (and 
 what can you believe if not newspapers), I advise 
 you to secure his attendance at the 3>. B. K. 
 dinner, at all hazards, by all available means, and 
 the success of the dinner is assured. In short, I 
 cannot come, but you have my best wishes for 
 Mr. Forbes. 
 
 In 1890 his son Sherman was nominated for 
 Congress on the Democratic ticket, and was 
 elected a few weeks before the Judge s golden 
 wedding. In a basket of flowers, affectionately 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 291 
 
 sent by Colonel Henry Lee to the Judge and Mrs. 
 Hoar on this occasion, lay this asp, though, 
 unlike Cleopatra s, no venom remained from its 
 momentary bite, an extract from a campaign 
 speech which the Colonel had just made in Sher 
 man s favor : " I want to pay a passing tribute 
 to his [Sherman s] father. There has not been a 
 more patriotic, public-spirited citizen or a better 
 man adorn this generation than Judge Hoar. 
 When, at about the present age of his son Sher 
 man, he broke away from the Whig party, then 
 panoplied in wealth and respectability he broke 
 away from them because of their sordid pusilla 
 nimity. They were in just the condition that the 
 Republican party, I believe, is in now. He broke 
 from many friends in order to satisfy the dictates 
 of his conscience. And that monitor has guided 
 him ever since." 
 
 The Judge took very hard the bad example, as 
 he held it, of his old friends Forbes and Lee in 
 the Elaine campaign, who had done noble work 
 with him for the country in the war. Lowell also 
 had said, " I am proud that it was New England 
 that defeated the New England candidate " ; but 
 the Judge seems to have let him alone, and he 
 went to Spain as minister soon after. But the 
 Judge had come to feel that all hope for the 
 country continued to lie in the Republican party, 
 and this feeling seemed to close his eyes to the 
 corruption that gradually creeps into a party long 
 
292 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 possessing power and patronage. This extract 
 from a letter to Mr. Forbes urging him to come 
 to Naushon and recruit his strength, shows his 
 feeling, yet good-naturedly, knowing Mr. Forbes s 
 virtue and strength. 
 
 " Don t imagine that I am any such broken- 
 down, gloomy, despairing old codger as that one 
 for whom you tried good advice and a change of 
 air so successfully. On the contrary, I am serene 
 as a summer morning, cheerful as a huntsman s 
 chorus, and looking back upon a well-spent life 
 mainly devoted (aside from getting a living) to 
 the support of the Republican party, look for 
 ward with pious trust to whatever blessings may 
 yet be in store. 
 
 " As to your pretending to be nearly old enough 
 to be my father, unless upon the maxim of the 
 law that malitia supplet setatem, and that the 
 length of life is to be reckoned by its amount of 
 pure cussedness it s all nonsense, and one of 
 those delusions which attend otherwise excellent 
 men who have poor health and vote the Demo 
 cratic ticket. You may be a mere trifle my elder, 
 but how much satisfaction it would give me to 
 know that, in many particulars, you were as wise 
 for example, that you played whist as regularly 
 and well smoked cigars with as much comfort, 
 and avoided the Democratic party with the stead 
 iness and constancy that I try to exhibit. ... I 
 am delighted to hear that you have the new lease 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 293 
 
 of life you speak of, and hope you will go back to 
 all your good old ways and stay there indefi 
 nitely." 
 
 Shortly before this, the Judge had written to 
 the Senator, stern at the time as a party man, 
 such palliation as could be offered for his 
 nephew s apostasy, as he deemed it : - 
 
 " Sherman seems to be in for it. He told me 
 that he would not be a candidate against Banks, 
 nor against any other reputable Republican. But 
 Fox seems to be thought by some people a dis 
 reputable choice, whose success is to be assured, if 
 at all, by money and corrupt trading with the 
 enemy. 
 
 " So the contest in the 5th District will be be 
 tween a man of Republican opinions and Demo 
 cratic methods on one side, and one of Demo 
 cratic opinions and Republican methods on the 
 other." 
 
 Mr. Evarts wrote to his cousin at the time of 
 the Golden Wedding : " Your good state of Mas 
 sachusetts seems to have been well swept, but ap 
 parently only garnished in the person of Mr. 
 Sherman Hoar. The result of the election places 
 you in a central and probably solitary relation to 
 lineal representation in our government. You are 
 the grandson, and the son, and the father, of a 
 Congressman, and are yourself a Congressman ; 
 and, as Roger Sherman was in the first Congress, 
 and your son Sherman (will be) in the next, the 
 
294 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 whole period of a hundred years seems to have 
 been subtended by your family ; the only reason 
 there has been no more of them is that there 
 have been no more generations in a hundred 
 years." 
 
 The Judge s chronic astonishment at Independ 
 ents who had received inspiration from his 
 conduct at a similar crisis in his youth finds 
 expression in this letter to Mr. Forbes who had 
 urged him to come to the Saturday Club and bring 
 Sherman, then in Congress, as guest : " I shall 
 try to attend. . . . My compunctions about exe 
 cuting your commission respecting the Hon. Sher 
 man Hoar, M. C. (whom I do not consider a reput 
 able person to be seen with about these days), will 
 fortunately cause me no embarrassment ; for, as I 
 was spelling out your abominable handwriting at 
 the tea-table, he overheard the part of your letter 
 which concerned him, and said it was out of the 
 question, as he had a previous engagement (and 
 no doubt a worse one) for next Saturday. 
 
 " It is more and more an astonishment to me 
 how anybody that was the friend of Whittier, and 
 knew and valued Grant and Sherman and Sheri 
 dan, and believes in honest money and keeping 
 the public faith, can encourage young men to 
 hitch themselves on to the Democratic party ! As 
 for improving it, you might as well turn in a few 
 lambs to improve a pack of hungry wolves. Well, 
 God bless you ! and improve your sight, for you 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 295 
 
 are one of the very few cronies I have left, and 
 there are glimmerins o sense in that Dougal 
 creature/ " 1 
 
 The tenderness for his youngest boy, and for 
 the friends whom he could not but trust and 
 honor, always shows through his reproofs. 
 
 Yet it is remarkable that the Judge was so 
 kindly tolerant as he was, considering the trying 
 nature of the infirmities that were increasing on 
 him. He was driven to Sharon Springs for relief, 
 such as it was, and thence wrote: "Gout is 
 horrid and only persons of angelic disposition, 
 like me, appear to advantage under it." 
 
 Colonel Henry Lee so well appreciated and un 
 derstood Judge Hoar that his words may be 
 quoted here. 
 
 " His faith in his town, his state, his church, 
 his college, his class, his political party, was ab 
 solute ; so profound were his convictions, so 
 strong his attachments, that he seemed to mis 
 trust the sanity or sincerity of those who ques 
 tioned their superiority. 
 
 "The assumption was naturally offensive to 
 those of other nativities, or to those who had 
 conscientiously arrived at other conclusions on 
 matters religious, social, or political, and was 
 taken too literally by those who were devoid of a 
 sense of humor, or not well acquainted with his 
 
 1 Baillie Nicol Jarvie s remark about the Highland turnkey of 
 Glasgow jail, in 3cott s Rob Roy. 
 
296 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 complexities. For while it was difficult to trace 
 the boundary line between his settled convictions 
 and his cherished illusions, to distinguish between 
 the sallies of his wit and the utterances of his 
 righteous indignation, those who had known him 
 best allowed for the mixture. 
 
 " Writing to one whose political debasement he 
 had often deplored, he says: I never expect to find 
 anybody in this world who is always right ; (with 
 the possible exception of one whom modesty for 
 bids me to mention), I have never yet found one. 
 And as I grow old, I am more and more disposed 
 to content myself with the admirable qualities of 
 my numerous and excellent friends, and am car 
 ing less for their short-comings. 
 
 "This was his creed ; nobody had ever been so 
 blessed in his home, his friends, his surroundings; 
 they were incomparable, and his heart beat with 
 gratitude and love." 
 
 In this memoir the Judge should be pictured, as 
 he is remembered with pleasure and with pride, 
 in his own loved town. He was a tall, well-made 
 man, yet a little heavy in gait and motion, at least 
 in the latter half of his life. A columnar erect- 
 ness, with broad front, like a male caryatid, sym 
 bolized his strong uprightness. This likeness was 
 increased by the fact that, though sedentary, he 
 never allowed his head to stoop. It was placed, 
 and remained, erect upon his shoulders, seldom 
 turning. He was more likely to turn entirely 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 297 
 
 towards the person with whom he spoke and 
 bring his searching blue eyes upon him. His 
 brows were level, his face absolutely under com 
 mand, and his mouth firm shut. Through his 
 gold-rimmed spectacles he seemed to look into the 
 person before him. He had a dignified presence, 
 which could be formidable, and yet surprise by 
 genial and affectionate expression. His features 
 were good, except the conformation of the jaws 
 which injured the lower part of the face, yet this, 
 except the upper lip, was in later years concealed 
 by an unusually becoming beard. " His hair was a 
 handsome light brown, which must have been 
 yellow in early youth. AIL together he was a fine- 
 looking man, as Custer s portrait and French s 
 bust show, and resembled singularly Raphael s 
 portrait of Pope Julius II. 
 
 The white beard and silvery hair, abundant 
 until the end, gave yet more dignity to his later 
 years. 
 
 He was always a loyal citizen of his native 
 town. He died, and his life was spent, within a 
 few rods of the house where he was born. His 
 father s house, his own house, the home where 
 his wife was born and lived, the school where he 
 fitted for college, were all within a circle of less 
 than twenty-six rods radius. Small wonder that 
 his local attachment was strong. In those early 
 days, when Concord life was mainly within its 
 borders, agricultural, with the needful local 
 
298 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 trades and some small factories, the heads of the 
 learned professions made a potent triumvirate. 
 Minister, squire, and doctor stood for the laws of 
 God, of man, and of health. They were drawn 
 much together, and their fields of work seemed 
 to overlap. In old New England the man of God 
 had highest honor, and Judge Hoar, brought up 
 under Dr. Ripley s pastorate, always regarded 
 him who held the office of minister of the First 
 Church in Concord entitled to high respect, even 
 apart from his personal qualities. To Mr. Frost, 
 Mr. Reynolds, and Mr. Bulkeley in turn, he was 
 an attentive listener, a strong supporter, and a 
 kind friend. With Mr. Reynolds he had longest 
 and closest relation. 
 
 Old Dr. Kurd no doubt ushered Rockwood Hoar 
 into the world, and duly administered castor oil, 
 paregoric and squills to his infant ailments, and, 
 in adolescence, harried acute diseases with blue 
 mass and tartar-emetic, or soothed with Dover s 
 powder ; but from the time Mr. Hoar was mar 
 ried, the young Dr. Bartlett became his family 
 physician. He was a comfort and strength in 
 ordinary domestic emergencies or the days of 
 more alarming illness, until the time of his death 
 thirty-seven years later. 
 
 The Judge, Dr. Bartlett and Rev. Mr. Rey 
 nolds were warm and constant friends. For many 
 years, on pleasant evenings, if the Doctor were 
 at leisure, he would walk or hobble up the Main 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 299 
 
 Street to drop in for a chat with the Judge and 
 his wife, and then go on to Mr. Reynolds s. This 
 was especially true during the Civil War, with its 
 anxious interest for all. In his memoir, Mr. Rey 
 nolds has told how the Doctor never failed, on 
 the last evening of the year, to have paid every 
 cent of debt from such collections of old and new 
 debts as he had been able to make, and thus 
 knew exactly how he stood in the world. His son 
 tells me that Judge Hoar, knowing this, never 
 forgot to pay his bill that evening, when in town, 
 coming in person to the Doctor s office. On the 
 last day of the year, at the age of eighty-one, the 
 good Doctor, broken and feeble, after visiting 
 very sick patients, got out of his chaise for the last 
 time, went into his little office and settled his ac 
 counts with the world painfully, then went into 
 his house and lay down on his bed, to die five 
 days later. His sons, scattered at their business in 
 various cities, came home, and in the evening 
 after the funeral were invited by the Judge to 
 come to his house, where he expressed to them 
 his love and honor for their father, and his grati 
 tude for his long and faithful service to him and 
 his. 
 
 In the small and still mainly homogeneous Con 
 cord before the Civil War, what might well be 
 called the old Town-Family yet flourished, in spite 
 of some political and religious differences and 
 neighborhood bickerings. New blood, native and 
 
300 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 from over sea, was beginning to quicken and en 
 large it, but happily the standards, set high by 
 Bulkeley and Willard, were there, and Samuel 
 Hoar and Rockwood his son after him upheld 
 them before the people. 
 
 Among the elevating institutions of the village 
 was the Lyceum, founded in 1829. Its serious 
 character, and the remarkable men of its epoch 
 who spoke there, were described by the Judge 
 when he presided at its fiftieth anniversary; also 
 that Rockwood Hoar, aged twelve, was the fifty- 
 seventh and last of the original signers of its con 
 stitution. When in town, he was a regular attend 
 ant. From his speech introducing the orator of 
 the occasion, comes this characteristic fragment 
 of his eloquence : 
 
 "I had nothing special to say to you but 
 there is a great deal that comes into my thoughts, 
 as I look back over these fifty years. The air is 
 full of ghosts, and the heart of memories, many 
 of them very tender and pathetic." 
 
 ; When young Middle Street rudely brushed the 
 old academy from its path in 1850, Judge Hoar 
 built a small school-house, comfortable for its 
 day, to meet the constant demand for a private 
 school of better standards than the public schools 
 of that day. At present it humbly serves the 
 cause of letters, but thirty paces from its original 
 site on the Sudbury Road, a handmaid to the Li 
 brary. The little schools of Miss Helen Maynard 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 301 
 
 (afterwards Mrs. Joseph Keyes), Rev. James 
 Thurston, and finally the very successful and at 
 tractive school of Mr. Sanborn, found their home 
 there, and the Judge s four elder children and 
 eight of his kin were among the scholars. 
 
 Of the little Town Library, established by the 
 fathers of the town for the preservation of the 
 Book of Martyrs and other edifying works, Judge 
 Hoar was one of the guardians for twenty-one 
 years, and chairman for the ten years preceding 
 its transfer to the new building given by Mr. 
 Munroe. When the new Library was incorporated, 
 he was on the board of trustees, and the follow 
 ing year presented his report to the town, as 
 president of that body, which office he held for 
 the rest of his life. 
 
 In the earlier days of his practice he served 
 for several years on the school committee, of 
 which he was for a time chairman. He was, how 
 ever, too busy a man and too much away from 
 Concord during most of his life to serve the town 
 in any of the regular offices, but on great occa 
 sions she always looked to him as her most able 
 and efficient son. 
 
 But of the Church of the fathers he was the 
 chief pillar, and his wisdom helped to guide the 
 councils of, and his liberality to support the wor 
 ship maintained by the First Parish of Concord. 
 That worship had passed from tempered Calvin 
 ism, slowly and almost imperceptibly modified 
 
302 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 by Arian and Arminian influences, to Channing 
 Unitarianism, soon to undergo further evolution. 
 Conservative by temperament, he naturally ac 
 cepted the forms of worship that he found. Be 
 lief in the one God, faith in a future life, homage 
 to the beautiful life and teachings of Jesus, jus 
 tice, mercy and love to his fellow men, these 
 were in his religion. We do not know how far his 
 critical mind allowed him to go on minor points 
 of belief. These were enough, and were active 
 forces in his life. 
 
 His niece, who in her school days lived much in 
 the family, speaks of " the power in Uncle Rock- 
 wood of a strong inherited religious faith, for, 
 though he made that faith his own, it was his 
 fathers God, interpreted by him, that he wor 
 shipped, and the faith soothed his irritable nerves 
 and gave him in disappointment and sorrow a 
 dignified quiet. He said to his sister, Do you 
 remember in father s prayer, "Let nothing tem 
 poral greatly move us " ? I am trying to keep it 
 in mind/ Those prayers, I know, gave a quiet 
 feeling of personal responsibility for wrong which 
 certainly Uncle Rockwood felt. Judge Lowell 
 says, in his account of Uncle Frisbie (the Senator): 
 The Puritan felt himself personally responsible 
 for everything done on the earth. If there was a 
 wrong, he was called to right it, without fear of 
 meddling. " This was surely true of the Judge ; he 
 was by nature a justice of the peace, and of pro- 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 303 
 
 priety, in the village and wherever he happened 
 to be. Amusing instances might be given, but his 
 presence was such that he was pretty sure to pre 
 vail. The knife of his surgery was often sarcasm, 
 but the humor might assuage the cut. It was well 
 said of him that " There were few cases of mis 
 fortune or wrong-doing that Judge Hoar felt 
 were outside his province, that he could not do 
 something to help by his advice, his work, or his 
 purse, which always held out marvellously in 
 giving substantial aid when his friends and 
 neighbors were in need." He helped young people 
 to start in life or get an education, and poor men 
 to buy small farms, and like kindnesses, but with 
 all secrecy. His sister Elizabeth said : " Rockwood 
 scatters with both hands and never looks behind." 
 
 One of his kindred said : " Few people carry an 
 enlightened conscience into receiving their divi 
 dends. When wages were reduced and the same 
 large dividends given to the stockholders in the 
 Waltham Watch Company, and he heard how the 
 hard times bore on some of the workmen, he re 
 turned the cheque for his dividend with the 
 request that it be given to some of the suffering 
 employees." 
 
 Faith and works were there, daily proofs of a 
 living religion, and observances were punctually 
 regarded. It has been said that the Judge was a 
 pillar of the Unitarian Church in Concord, but so 
 he was in the Unitarian Association. After his 
 
304 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 death, Rev. Edward Everett Hale wrote : " He was 
 president of the Conference when I was chair 
 man of the Council first, so that again and again 
 I ran into his office on one or another matter, al 
 ways to find him sympathetic, and, of course, wise. 
 But sympathy is worth so much more than wisdom. 
 He was, as you know, vitally and eternally in 
 terested in our affair." Of his letters he says: 
 " Not one but is encouraging and helpful men 
 are so different in such things ! " 
 
 When the Judge put the robes of office so to 
 speak on to his mind, he felt the duty of fair 
 ness, but in the dressing-gown he allowed it the 
 luxury of prejudiced wit. He knew that the doc 
 trines emphasized in the church across the Mill 
 brook had been held by the Puritans, and that 
 the worshippers were alike Congregationalists, 
 and so was mildly tolerant of the " Orthodox " 
 society. When the countrymen of Saint Patrick 
 came in, it was but proper that they should bring 
 their ancient worship with them moreover, 
 they were socially apart. But the spread of Epis 
 copacy among New England towns was a sore 
 trial to him, and he inclined to treat it as an un 
 warrantable intrusion. His classmate, Mr. Charles 
 Henry Parker, says that Judge Hoar remarked to 
 him, that he, for one, was not content to go 
 through this world as a " miserable sinner." His 
 attitude was rather the stronger one of the 
 Norseman to his Gods, not willing to be 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 305 
 
 But their thrall and their bondsman 
 Who wert born for their very friend. 
 
 Rev. Prescott Evarts says that when he came 
 to Cambridge as a freshman, his kinsman, the 
 Judge, kindly urged him to spend his Sundays in 
 his family. Young Evarts answered that he al 
 ways liked to attend his own church on Sundays, 
 and, as there was then no Episcopal church in 
 Concord, he would come occasionally, but not reg 
 ularly. The Judge overcame his dislike of the 
 English Church so far as to bid his young cousin 
 come, nevertheless, and he should have the use of 
 his horse to drive to Saint Ann s church at South 
 Lincoln " Sat-an s," as young Sam irreverently 
 called it. When, later, an Episcopalian society 
 was formed in Concord and proposed to build the 
 present church, the Judge used to tell of his re 
 monstrance to Bishop Brooks : " Bishop, how is 
 it that, in your liturgy, you every Sunday pray 
 that we be delivered from all heresy and schism, 
 and yet are proceeding thus to break in upon our 
 good record in Concord, where there has been no 
 schism in the Church for two hundred and fifty 
 years?" 
 
 But he held the good Bishop in high esteem. 
 In a letter to Senator Hoar, the Judge sent this 
 message to his niece : " Tell Mary to beware of 
 Episcopal wiles. They are a dreadfully conceited 
 set already, and, if they should capture her, I 
 fear their arrogance would know no bounds. . . . 
 
306 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 It is such a pity that Phillips Brooks was taken 
 away before he had half converted them to the 
 Christian religion." 
 
 Yet the Judge would quote with high approval 
 from the Book of Common Prayer. On the Nine 
 teenth of April, 1875, a member of the Decora 
 tion Committee was looking up mottoes to adorn 
 the festal tents, especially those in which the word 
 " Concord " was found. He told the Judge that he 
 had found one in "Paradise Lost," which would be 
 more acceptable in Lexington than here, to wit: 
 
 Oh shame to men! devil with devil damned 
 Firm concord hold. 
 
 "Away with Milton!" said he. "Hear the 
 Prayer Book : God, who art the author of peace 
 and lover of Concord. " 
 
 In a letter written from Sharon Springs to 
 Mrs. Hoar, in the summer of 1890, her husband 
 thus accounts for his Sunday : 
 
 "As to religious privileges ; I have had, 1st, a 
 fish-ball at breakfast ; 2d, The Christian Regis 
 ter ; 3d, taking up a collection ; 4th, an Episco 
 pal sermon by way of dilution of the last-named 
 means of grace. . . . 
 
 "I hope Carrie will forward the Christian 
 Register again this week in season for Sunday, 
 for which it is my chief dependence." 
 
 It was an era in New England when the air was 
 full of reforms, in religion, in politics, in social 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 307 
 
 and domestic life, in diet and personal habits, and 
 the roads were thronged by their eager apostles. 
 Judge Hoar, though open to great and commanding 
 reforms, had a great respect for law and order, 
 tested new notions by strong common sense, and 
 his native love for old usage made him throw 
 the burden of proof upon the newcomer. He kept 
 a simple but generous table, befitting his station, 
 retaining but adding to the old New England 
 dishes. Grahamites never made a vegetarian of 
 him, nor did extreme Abolitionists induce him to 
 exclude rice, sugar, coffee and spice, as slave-labor 
 products, nor temperance lecturers persuade him 
 to confound temperance with abstinence. He 
 "came eating and drinking," but was neither 
 "glutton nor wine-bibber." At a feast he liked 
 good wine, and set it before his guests. His friend 
 Sidney Bartlett, the eminent lawyer, had sent 
 Judge Hoar a basket of champagne, Veuve Cliquot. 
 In his acknowledgment he said : 
 
 We are not to be hood-winked by talk about 
 "widows." " I spy a pig peard under the muffler." 
 of this widow Cliquot. To visit a widow may be 
 a Christian duty, but I know of no obligation to 
 allow a widow to visit you. To be sure, you sent 
 them with their mouths all tied up, and while 
 that lasts no harm may be done ; but I belong to 
 the party of freedom and progress, shall " re 
 member them in bonds " ; and, the first one I set 
 
308 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 eyes on, shall undo all that, to begin with. You 
 knew I should, and for what follows you ought to 
 be held responsible. But I leave you to your own 
 reflections. . . . 
 
 Soberly yours, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 
 In spite of careful living, the Judge had an un 
 happy constitutional tendency to eczema and the 
 digestive disturbances that commonly accompany 
 this. His sedentary habit, life indoors, often in 
 the bad air of court-rooms, and the overwork 
 which his responsibilities demanded, made him 
 often a sufferer. His solace was smoking, which 
 he probably overdid. Ordinary medical treatment 
 did little for him, but he put great faith in the 
 inward and outward drenchings of Hopkinton, 
 Sharon and Saratoga Springs, and was, at any 
 rate, helped by the rest, change and amusement. 
 Mr. William Sullivan relates that Judge Hoar told 
 him that, when he entered one of those hydro 
 pathic establishments, the first thing that struck 
 his eye was a printed rule of the house forbidding 
 " inmates " to smoke. He hunted up the pro 
 prietor and told him that, while he agreed to live 
 there for some time, he wanted it understood that 
 he was not an "inmate." "All right," said the 
 unwary proprietor. Afterwards, when they tried 
 to stop the Judge s smoking, he referred them to 
 his explicit agreement with the proprietor. 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 309 
 
 "Woman s Rights" was among the new re 
 forms agitated on the lecture platforms and in 
 the papers, not always in an attractive way, and 
 quasi male attire of brown, figured gingham worn 
 on Concord streets did not help matters. The 
 Judge s conservative mind with regard to suffrage, 
 he thus expressed in a letter to his brother : - 
 
 " I expect much pleasure in reading your Cen 
 tury articles, as you are interesting even when 
 on the wrong side. I do not propose to aid in 
 abolishing women." 
 
 When Concord was invaded by alleged mani 
 festations of spirits through hitherto sober tables, 
 
 "spirits," as Thoreau said, "which no respect 
 able junk bottle would consent to hold for an in 
 stant,"- -the apostles of the new "rat and mouse 
 revelation," as Emerson called it, were Mr. X, 
 a pocketbook-maker of no other distinction, his 
 virtuous but tartly prosaic sister, an anaemic dress 
 maker and a rude Irish servant-girl who turned 
 her table-moving to account in "spring clean 
 ing." A lady, greatly interested in the question of 
 future life, suggested to Judge Hoar, that after 
 all there might be something in these manifes 
 tations. He remarked : " But you will admit, 
 madam, that this treasure if it be such is 
 vouchsafed to us in earthen vessels." Some one 
 retorted smartly on the Judge by saying that he 
 " had to reserve all his credulity for the Christian 
 miracles." 
 
310 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 On one other occasion the Judge was walking 
 by the local grocery, and on the sidewalk an over- 
 conscientious dog was sitting, who had been left 
 in charge of a wagon while its owner did his 
 errand within. For some reason the dog took 
 offence and sprang at the Judge, tearing his trou 
 sers and biting him in the leg. He shook him off 
 and walked on, but as his indignation grew strong 
 he marched back to the store and confronted 
 the owner coming out, to whom he showed his 
 wounds and his feelings in a sharp protest. The 
 owner looked him over slowly and seriously and 
 then said, with deliberation and the air of one 
 who was making full reparation, " The dog was 
 to blame." 
 
 The Judge liked dogs, and preserved the 
 fashion, found in old books, of addressing an un 
 known dog by the generic name " Bose." 
 
 In the town meeting Judge Hoar s good sense, 
 knowledge of law and usage, respect for the in 
 stitution and for his townsfolk, and determination 
 that Concord should act worthy of her name and 
 fame, were of inestimable value. What was said 
 of his grandfather Roger Sherman s wisdom 
 might almost have been said of him in Concord : 
 " His influence was such that no measure or part 
 of a measure which he advocated ever failed to 
 pass." The discussion was not long after the 
 Judge had spoken. A meeting where he was mod 
 erator would be creditable to the town. To one 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 311 
 
 who persistently repeated a motion, which the 
 Judge uniformly ruled out of order, and who 
 finally said, " When will this motion be in order ? " 
 he replied, with grave urbanity, " After the meet 
 ing adjourns." 
 
 In the Social Circle, a neighborhood club meet 
 ing at the houses of members, the Judge took 
 much pleasure at ease among friends and neigh 
 bors, and his wit burnished while his wisdom 
 strengthened that society. Mr. Emerson, soon 
 after he became a member, had written to a Bos 
 ton friend : " Much the best society I have ever 
 known is a club in Concord called the Social 
 Circle, consisting always of twenty-five of our 
 citizens, doctor, lawyer, farmer, trader, miller, 
 mechanic, etc., solidest of men who yield the sol- 
 idest of gossip. ... I do not like to be absent 
 from home on Tuesday evenings in winter." 
 
 When, in 1882, on the evening of the vernal 
 equinox, the Social Circle met at the house of 
 Mr. Reuben Rice to celebrate its hundredth birth 
 day, and, strangely enough, all the members were 
 present, the only time in the memory of the 
 oldest member, Judge Hoar presided. It is need 
 less to say that he did so with dignity, wit, and 
 tact. That occasion was further notable because, 
 by the vote of the Club, the president was able 
 that night to "welcome the wives and daughters 
 to whose household cares and labors the Social 
 Circle has been so often and so much indebted." 
 
312 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 He ended his introductory speech thus pleasantly : 
 "With cordial good wishes to each other, and 
 tender and respectful memory of our honored 
 predecessors, at this dividing point in two cen 
 turies, we meet to report progress and to ask 
 leave to sit again." 3 
 
 The Library had the benefit of his wisdom and 
 active interest up to the last year of his life. 
 
 When the endeavor was made to found an An 
 tiquarian Society, in order to secure the valuable 
 collection made by the late Cummings Davis, in 
 crease it, and preserve perishable objects and 
 passing memories of earlier times, Judge Hoar 
 was one of the five original life-members, whose 
 subscriptions made the organization of the so 
 ciety possible. 
 
 He built houses on the field northwest of the 
 Fitchburg station ; and as these afforded homes 
 for the newly arrived Scandinavian settlers, gave 
 the pleasant name of Elsinore to the street, which 
 the town adopted. 
 
 He saw in the later years of his life with a 
 natural homesick regret the inevitable change 
 which converted the Concord of his youth, the 
 village of plain living and high thinking, into a 
 suburban town of twice the size, and of mixed 
 nationalities and diverse social standards. At the 
 celebration of Concord s two hundred and fiftieth 
 birthday, on a September day of wonderful beauty 
 in 1885, this feeling came to the surface a little 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 313 
 
 in his expressed doubts whether the town were 
 helped by importing a state prison at its western 
 part and a school of philosophy at its eastern. 
 But it must be remembered that then he was de 
 pressed by feebleness and actual suffering. He 
 was courteous and neighborly to the newcomers 
 when he met them, and saw the excellent service 
 rendered by many of them to their adopted home. 
 
 During the Butler campaign a Mr. Shortle made 
 a speech which aroused Colonel Henry Lee to make 
 this answer : " At the Republican conference, Mr. 
 Shortle of Provincetown said that * no man who 
 could only be approached by those within certain 
 walks of life, who represented not the Republican 
 party, but only a peculiar shade of blood, a few 
 families on Beacon Street, would get his vote/ 
 
 "As to Beacon Street, living there is a pre 
 sumption of wealth, nothing more. Whatever 
 the merits or demerits of the dwellers in Beacon 
 Street, who are only distinguished by that success 
 in money-getting which Mr. Shortle and the ma 
 jority of men strive for, Judge Hoar will be 
 amused to learn that he is their representative. I 
 have known him for forty-two years, and I have 
 often qualified my praise of him by charging him 
 with an undue severity on city men and city 
 ways, an almost aggressive simplicity and disre 
 gard of the little graces. 
 
 "If one wants to see Puritan principles carried 
 into practice, let him visit Concord and witness 
 
314 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 the noble frugality and quiet dignity of that small 
 circle of highly endowed and highly educated men 
 and women to which Judge Hoar belongs, and 
 which is characterized by those virtues easy to 
 admire, hard to practise, even by Mr. Shortle." 
 
 There was one institution which for thirty-seven 
 years was a chief refreshment to the Judge from 
 hard work in the profession, and a solace in days 
 darkened by political danger or civil war. More 
 than that, it was a focus of good sense, wisdom, 
 and high patriotism whence sprung many meas 
 ures important to the country. This was the Sat 
 urday Club. The original company of four or five 
 came together naturally and each suggested a 
 friend or two ; sympathy rather than eminence 
 was the bond. Before 1857, the Club had no offi 
 cers, and no formal elections for several years. 
 These early members were Lowell, Longfellow, 
 Holmes, Agassiz, Richard H. Dana, Jr., Motley, 
 Professor Peirce the mathematician, Dwight the 
 musical critic, and Whipple the literary critic, 
 President Felton of Harvard, Samuel G. Ward, a 
 banker and man of culture, Horatio Woodman, a 
 trust lawyer with literary aspirations, but conven 
 iently conversant with the contents of Parker s 
 larder, and, from Concord, Judge Hoar and Mr. 
 Emerson. The next two decades brought in Haw 
 thorne, Prescott the historian, Whittier, Tom Ap- 
 pleton the wit, Charles Eliot Norton, John M. 
 Forbes, Dr. Howe the philanthropist, Charles Sum- 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 315 
 
 ner, Governor Andrew, Martin Brimmer, Eliot 
 Cabot, Fields the publisher, Hunt and Rowse the 
 artists, Charles Francis Adams, Sr., Francis Park- 
 man, Dr. Gray the botanist, President Eliot, Presi 
 dent Rogers of the Institute of Technology, Judge 
 Horace Gray, Howells, Godkin, Senator Hoar, and 
 others. 
 
 It was a brilliant company that the last Satur 
 day afternoons of the month brought together at 
 " Parker s " in the front room on the second floor, 
 -scholars, statesmen, men of law and science, 
 poets, naturalists, doctors, college presidents and 
 professors, artists and men of affairs. 
 
 Sometimes military music echoed down from 
 Beacon Hill, and the company left the table to 
 see a Massachusetts regiment march under the 
 windows bound for the seat of war. It was a sort 
 of town-and-country club, the most refreshing to 
 the members from each. Judge Hoar always shone 
 there by his wisdom and especially his wit. It was 
 his delight to enter the lists in conversation, es 
 pecially with Lowell and Holmes and with these 
 champions he easily held his own. In Lowell s 
 poem on Agassiz after the death of that great and 
 genial man, he devotes some stanzas to the Club and 
 pictures it with Agassiz presiding, and, describ 
 ing Emerson, he uses this happy Yankee simile: - 
 
 Listening with eyes averse I see him sit 
 Pricked with the cider of the Judge s wit 
 (Ripe-hearted homebrew, fresh and fresh again). 
 
316 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 Those dinners were so pleasant that the Club, as 
 sembling perhaps at half-past two, often sat more 
 than four hours at table, and there was then no 
 late train to Concord. The Judge solved the diffi 
 culty pleasantly by having his man, or, quite often, 
 his son, bring his carryall and big black horse 
 down to Waltham, to which a later train ran. Thus 
 the three townsmen, so different, yet so interest 
 ing one to another, had a pleasant drive on the 
 cool country road, moon-lit or star-lit, after the 
 hours at the gay banquet in Parker s hot room. 
 But for this Hawthorne and the Judge would never 
 have met, unless they sat together at Club, and 
 there Hawthorne was merely a handsome picture 
 with living eyes. Emerson too, though his chance 
 for acquaintance was better, probably met his re 
 cluse neighbor hardly half a dozen times in Con 
 cord after the formation of the Club. Hawthorne s 
 shyness and failing health made his attendance 
 far from regular. Once Dr. Holmes, meeting him 
 soon after he was elected, said he hoped he would 
 join. Hawthorne protested that he was unfitted 
 by nature, being neither a good eater nor talker. 
 "But you can listen" said the doctor, naively, 
 for he delighted in that prospect ; " I hope you 
 will come ! " 
 
 Judge Hoar s brother Edward, after several 
 years life in California in her early days as a 
 state, had returned home, and not long after had 
 gone abroad with his sister Elizabeth and their 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 317 
 
 friend and neighbor, Miss Elizabeth Prichard. He 
 married this lady in Florence, and, on their re 
 turn, he bought a farm in Lincoln near Deacon 
 Farrar s and worked hard there, until our harsh 
 climate began to pinch and stiffen him with rheu 
 matism. He then went with his wife and daugh 
 ter to Sicily and delighted in their pleasant acres 
 near Palermo until they found the climatic perfec 
 tion outweighed by the imminence of assassina 
 tion. So they returned and shared with Miss Eliz 
 abeth their father s house, where they were born. 
 Mr. Hoar was only well enough to carry on the 
 small place, but he loved to be in the woods and 
 on the river, especially with his friend, Henry 
 Thoreau. His knowledge of flowers and birds, his 
 adventures of travel and California life, his know 
 ledge of books and his refined nature, kindly though 
 sensitive and shy, made him a charming companion 
 to the few who had the privilege of knowing him. 
 It was a great pleasure to his brother Rockwood 
 to drop in and spend an hour. One day, at the Sat 
 urday Club, Dr. Holmes was maintaining that all 
 people that were worth anything came to the sur 
 face, and were known as such. Judge Hoar said, 
 " I don t agree with you. I ve a dear brother at 
 home, who is worth a dozen of me, whom nobody 
 knows and, if it were polite, I might add, so 
 have you." He was speaking of Mr. John Holmes, 
 the Doctor s younger brother, always a bachelor 
 and living quietly with his aged mother in the old 
 
318 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 house on Cambridge Common as long as mother 
 and house remained. He was a gentle, shy man 
 with several physical disabilities, yet with an af 
 fectionate nature, a modesty, a sweetness, and a 
 quaint humor that made him more beloved by 
 the few who knew him than his brilliant brother. 
 John Holmes seems to have been much like Charles 
 Lamb, except for the main failing of the latter. 
 John and Oliver Wendell were good examples of 
 humor and of wit respectively. Strangely enough, 
 when John was praised, the Doctor always looked 
 a little puzzled, as if he didn t quite recognize the 
 man his friends described. They took great de 
 light in him. John Holmes, Lowell, the Judge, 
 and Charles W. Storey were great cronies all their 
 lives long. Whether or no Judge Hoar often in 
 dulged in writing verse, he certainly wrote a 
 charming one in his later years to his friend. 
 
 JUDGE HOAR S POEM TO JOHN HOLMES 
 
 There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. 
 
 4th Gospel, i, 6. 
 There is but one John. 
 
 JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. 
 
 And surely I think we know him, 
 
 And could guess from whom he came, 
 For he bears his credentials with him 
 
 Not in earthquake, wind and flame, 
 But the still small voice which ever 
 
 Befits the message divine. 
 The servant, who stands and waits 
 
 By the swiftly hurrying line 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 319 
 
 Of the winged host, serves as well 
 
 As speeding Angel or Man, 
 And the quiet may bring a message 
 
 Which the noisy never can! 
 He was sent to Us! to the life-time 
 
 Of each he has added cheer, 
 And has helped us join in saying, 
 
 "Methinks it is good to be here!" 
 So modest and shy and patient, 
 
 So willing and wise and true, - 
 We are glad that, when God sent him, 
 
 He was willing to send us too. 
 Now whenever you take the journey 
 
 That leads through the shadows dim, 
 Please say to the One who sent you here 
 
 That we re much obliged to him. 
 
 Lowell could not come to the Judge s golden 
 wedding, being himself far from well, but sent his 
 greeting : 
 
 " No need to say how glad I should be were it 
 permitted to be with you to-day. But after draw 
 ing for seventy years on what seemed an unlim 
 ited income of life, I find myself put under guar 
 dianship and on an allowance, to make the two 
 sides of which meet demands a watchful frugality. 
 You, if ever any, may look back on a life full of 
 honor because it has been full of indomitable pub 
 lic spirit and of public and private service. . . . 
 
 " It is fifty-two years since I first knew you in 
 Concord and saw the foundation laid of the home 
 whose continued felicity is commemorated to-mor 
 row. 
 
320 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 "The Musketaquid has of ten made a silent but 
 not ineffective third in our talks at the foot of 
 your garden. Whenever it has been my good for 
 tune to see it, it has reflected serene and happy 
 skies. I cannot think of you without thinking of 
 it also, and heartily praying that the current of 
 your life may flow on to the end under heavens 
 as prosperous as those that gladden my memory." 
 
 Soon after, at the Saturday Club dinner, No 
 vember 29, 1890, Dr. Holmes as usual sat at the 
 head of the table ; Judge Hoar at the opposite end. 
 As the company broke up, the Judge came down 
 to speak with the Doctor, who called him to ac 
 count for not having properly acknowledged a glass 
 of champagne that he had sent down to him. 
 
 The Judge maintained that he had duly gone 
 through all the forms, and Dr. Holmes was obliged 
 to admit failing sight. He then spoke pleasantly 
 to the Judge about the golden wedding which he 
 had just celebrated, and seemed much moved as 
 he said, " I had hoped that that pleasure was to 
 come to me to live with my wife until then 
 that sets the seal " ; and his voice trembled. The 
 Judge said that he considered it his best achieve 
 ment, to have secured Mrs. Hoar and to have kept 
 her for that length of time. 
 
 Changing the scene rapidly backward in time, 
 and with it the tone, this anecdote of friendship 
 and of wit should be preserved. When the silver 
 wedding of the Judge and Mrs. Hoar was ap- 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 321 
 
 preaching, his friend Mr. Emerson sent a silver 
 cup as a gift. The Judge was much pleased, but 
 said it must have a motto inscribed ; he meditated, 
 and after a time produced this : - 
 
 Poetse est poculum prsebere ; cujusvis haurire, - 
 which he thus rendered into the vernacular, " It 
 is the part of the Poet to give the cup ; any fool 
 can drink from it." Mr. Emerson was honored - 
 and amused. 
 
 With all the Judge s external steadiness and his 
 moral courage, he seems to have had a dread of 
 physical pain and surgery. Judge William L. Put 
 nam, of Portland, writing to Senator Hoar in 1892, 
 said : - 
 
 " I have an extremely interesting photograph 
 of your brother. It illustrates that there is in 
 the character of every man of worth a deep un 
 dercurrent, which sometimes comes to the surface 
 only rarely. He called on me one day, telling me 
 he was on the way to the hospital for an opera 
 tion, which, he said, would be slight. Nevertheless 
 he seemed to be in a peculiarly emotional condi 
 tion. He remained a long time talking with me. 
 As he was leaving, he said he wished to pass me 
 his photograph, for which I thanked him very 
 heartily. After he had gone, I examined it and 
 found it an extremely characteristic and truthful 
 likeness. In the lower left-hand corner I dis 
 covered, in a trembling hand, P. P. C. I have 
 always preserved it with great care." 
 
322 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 Monitions that his time on earth was drawing 
 to a close were on him. Yet the operation at the 
 hospital afforded him great temporary relief, im 
 proved his health, and largely restored for a time 
 such activity as might have been expected at his age. 
 
 There was much correspondence between the 
 Judge and his loyal friend, Mr. Forbes, in their 
 days of advancing infirmities. Mr. Forbes, with 
 his mighty main-spring, believed in activity to 
 the last, and also had reliance on Sir Henry 
 Thompson s good sense as to diet and regime. In 
 reply to a letter on this subject the Judge wrote : 
 
 Pain and decrepitude are repulsive, but there is 
 nothing for us to grieve at in knowing that "our 
 little life is rounded with a sleep." I take the de 
 privation of activity very easily, but I dare say 
 you, who have done so much, find it hard to be 
 lieve that the time for taking in sail is close at 
 hand. It is a good thing to see the lights in the 
 harbor. 
 
 Affectionately. 
 
 And again : 
 
 CONCORD, May 10, 1892. 
 
 MY DEAR MR. FORBES, I was much interested 
 in the plan for keeping old fellows alive, by keep 
 ing them at work, which you were so kind as to 
 send me. But the old codger I have to tote about 
 is so infernally lazy, that I have often thought the 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 323 
 
 best thing for me to do would be to discharge 
 him from my service entirely. 
 
 Still, though I have a great contempt for him, 
 he has been with me so long and knows my ways 
 so well, that when with difficulty I have got him 
 up and dressed every morning, I conclude that I 
 will let him loaf round one day more, and have 
 his smoke and read the papers ; though I know he 
 is not worth his keep, and is a great deal more 
 bother than use to me or anybody. The plan you 
 suggest has its merits, no doubt, and I believe has 
 been tried on cab-horses with varying success. 
 But on the other hand, taking it easy may suit 
 some cases as well as the whip-and-spur treat 
 ment, though I always felt my conscience relieved 
 by applying the latter. Blessed is he who has 
 done his day s work well, and can enjoy the even 
 ing shade and coolness without scheming or worry. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 
 Not being able to persuade the Judge to come 
 down to the autumnal hunt upon his island, 
 Naushon, Mr. Forbes sent his friend a haunch of 
 venison. It was thus acknowledged : 
 
 To HON. J. M. FORBES 
 
 Dweller in the forest and the wilderness ! 
 Eking out your scanty subsistence by hunting and 
 fishing ! No doubt at this moment exulting in 
 
324 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 the thought of that stag, and saying to all 
 comers, " Veni ! (or, if not Veni himself, at least 
 Veni s son) Vidi ! Vici I " What splendid bounty 
 you show in forwarding such a share of the fruits 
 of the chase to the humble dwellers in Concord, 
 unused to such luxuries. But are you sure that 
 your own stock of provisions will last through the 
 winter ? How can I sit down before that haunch, 
 when roasted, if I think that the munificent giver 
 may himself be at the brink of starvation before 
 Spring? Be sure, if any such catastrophe should 
 be impending, to let me know it seasonably. I 
 might spare a few turnips and potatoes to help 
 you through. Meantime, I rest your anxious but 
 obliged friend, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 
 Again, in the last year of the Judge s life, when 
 his infirmities were troublesome, Mr. Forbes sent 
 him another haunch. He said in his letter of thanks, 
 "Perhaps you are to such an extent a disciple of 
 our old Concord philosopher, ... A. Bronson Al- 
 cott, as to think that some of the qualities of an 
 animal are imparted to him who feeds upon its 
 flesh ; and so, noticing how poor and halting was 
 my present supply of legs, have intended, if pos 
 sible, to contribute to their improvement. Oh! 
 had I the wings of a dove ! said the Psalmist ; and 
 how blessed it would be if my cry, Oh ! had I the 
 legs of a deer ! could be in any degree realized." 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 325 
 
 His courage, wit, and affection shine out so 
 bright in these later letters that it is better to 
 read his words than words about him. He wrote 
 to Mr. Emerson s daughter, Mrs. William H. Forbes 
 of Milton, answering her invitation to be present 
 at some private theatricals given in honor of the 
 sixtieth anniversary of the wedding of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Forbes by their children and young kindred. 
 The play was a dramatization of Scott s " Legend 
 of Montrose." 
 
 CONCORD, January 25, 1894. 
 
 MY DEAR EDITH, Don t I wish I could ! It is 
 very good of you to think of me but I doubt 
 whether you know how old and feeble I am. 
 
 My social relations are limited to going to meet 
 ing, attending the Saturday Club (for a couple of 
 hours, and at a tavern) and the Social Circle in 
 Concord, close within reach of home. Otherwise 
 I am " closed for repairs " which I fear are not 
 likely to be made. 
 
 This is, I know, a doleful Jeremiad to send in 
 return for your bright and cheerful note of invi 
 tation, which cheered me to receive, and cheers 
 me again every time I look at or think of it. 
 
 My spirits are pretty uniformly good. You may 
 have seen in old museum collections fragments 
 of old rubbish preserved in spirits. Well, I guess 
 that fits my case pretty closely. I have not lost 
 my taste for good society, though I left off visit- 
 
326 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 ing my sister (in Cambridge) two years ago, and 
 see that delightful Milton is also a sealed book. 
 " The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." 
 
 So with the assurance of my highest honor 
 and warm personal regard for that eminent por 
 tion of Christendom which we called Forbesdom, 
 and the deepest regret that I cannot see " Vich 
 Ian Vohr with his tail on," 1 
 
 I am, my dear, 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 
 One solace that remained to the Judge as long 
 as he could come downstairs must on no account 
 be forgotten. He delighted in whist the whist 
 of old times. It must be played with all due 
 respect ; it was serious business, and when, in his 
 own or a neighbor s house, a partie carree had 
 been formed, idle callers seemed an impertinence. 
 Every evening in the week, if the Judge were at 
 home, the game was played. It was a sore cross to 
 him if debates at Parish meeting, or the lecture 
 at Lyceum took too much time, and ten o clock 
 came all too soon on the interesting game. At dif 
 ferent times the sets varied, but the principal play 
 ers were Mr. Rice, Mr. Fay Barrett, Rev. Mr. Rey 
 nolds, Mr. Edward Hoar, Mr. Wheildon, Mr. Alfred 
 
 1 The expression used in Waverley by Fergus Mclvor s hench 
 man, to signify the Chief at the head of his clan. The Forbes 
 family came from Strathdon on the edge of the eastern Highlands 
 of Aberdeenshire. 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 327 
 
 Munroe, and Mr. Quincy Browne. One of the Prich- 
 ardesses, as the Judge called his neighbors, the 
 Misses Prichard, to whom he was as a brother, might 
 be called into the smoky and exacting atmosphere 
 over the tables, or the press-gang be sent out to 
 seize and drag in some neighbor of the younger 
 generation to fill a vacant place, and, when there, 
 he had to mind his p s and also his g s. From 
 these games came much refreshment to the Judge s 
 weary mind and body. 
 
 But age and infirmity by no means made Judge 
 Hoar indifferent to town affairs. In the summer 
 of 1894 it was proposed by the ruling magistrates 
 that the State Highway Commission assume the 
 care of the Main Street in Concord on the ground 
 of "public necessity and convenience." If the 
 Judge s feeble feet were not stirred to attend the 
 meeting, his wrath was. He sent to a young fel 
 low townsman a written opinion to quote there, 
 and it had its effect: 
 
 Public necessity and convenience require ! Is 
 the condition of the people of Concord so necessi 
 tous (even according to the private meditations of 
 the Selectmen) that we cannot afford to keep our 
 chief thoroughfare in good working order ! Con 
 venience ? Is there a better or handsomer street 
 than our Main Street easily to be found in the 
 Commonwealth ; or any probability that it would 
 be more convenient to anybody by giving it away 
 
328 EBENEZER EOCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 from the care of those that love it and take pride 
 in it to the control of a board, however competent 
 and respectable, who have no special interest in it ? 
 / think not. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 
 Less than a year before his death, on Concord s 
 sacred day, that year christened " Patriots Day," 
 Judge Hoar s pride and patriotism flashed out 
 from among the whitening ashes of his life. He 
 told in detail how through a long life he had 
 shared in all Concord s public celebrations of the 
 anniversary. Then, after speaking of the many 
 days that Americans might fitly call Patriots Day, 
 he said : - 
 
 "But this day, the Nineteenth of April, 1775, 
 has a relation to Massachusetts more intimate and 
 sacred than any other day can have ; a day on 
 whose anniversary it has been well to provide by 
 law that her children should keep holiday our 
 Mother s birthday ; for on this day, one hundred 
 and nineteen years ago, the Commonwealth of 
 Massachusetts was born." 
 
 And in this his last address to the people of Con 
 cord he said that the time had come " to end for 
 ever all local bickerings and jealousies about the 
 share that one or another town or village or ham 
 let had in the events which have given to that 
 day its imperishable glory." 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 329 
 
 His peroration should be recorded. "Washing 
 ton left no posterity, but every true American 
 calls him father. And so I would urge that on this 
 memorable day concerned with memories and 
 events which should be dear to us all, every citi 
 zen of the Commonwealth who prefers honor and 
 public service to selfishness and ease, who loves 
 liberty and will resist tyranny without counting 
 the personal cost, wherever he was born and of 
 whatever lineage after the flesh, that every true 
 son of Massachusetts should have a right to call 
 himself, and is, a son of the American Revolu 
 tion/ 
 
 He wrote, from time to time, letters to old 
 friends or classmates recalling pleasant memories, 
 but they were really saying good-by. To one he 
 wrote : 
 
 " Thinking of you reminds me of what a pecul 
 iar and curious relation is that of classmates. We 
 came together in our early youth, more than sixty 
 years ago, from various places and surroundings ; 
 filled ourselves up with what modicum of sense 
 and learning each might get hold of, and then 
 put to sea on our respective voyages, seeing little 
 of each other nothing more than an occasional 
 hail or signal, or a short touching at some port on 
 the way and at last, one by one, anchored at 
 our destined harbor, there to take account of our 
 voyage, and settle with the OWNER. But we of 
 1835 have always felt we were a part of the same 
 
330 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 fleet and were always ready to stand by and lend 
 a hand/ 
 
 "Now I am a pretty feeble old codger, and 
 bringing a battered old craft to the end of its 
 voyage. But I love to think of the successful lives 
 of my classmates by which I don t mean mak 
 ing a noise in the world, much less getting into 
 possession of lots of money. . . . 
 
 " To have been a gentleman and a scholar, a 
 man of refined tastes and absolute uprightness, 
 whose influence and character have been a power 
 for what is best both in public and private affairs 
 that, to my thinking, is a successful life to look 
 back upon after eighty years ; and, as Dr. Palfrey 
 put it in his Bacclaureate sermon, that is to be 
 a worthy son of Harvard College/" 
 
 To another, the Hon. Charles W. Palf ray of Sa 
 lem, he wrote but four weeks before his death 
 thus pleasantly : 
 
 CONCORD, Jan. 1, 1895. 
 
 DEAR CHARLIE, It looks as though I should 
 never be out of my house again, hardly, according 
 to the doctor s ideas, out of my bed-room, and per 
 haps not many days out of my grave. 
 
 My little stock of cigars, like the faithless 
 wretches they are, seeing this cheerful prospect, 
 retired in good order, and pretended they never 
 had anything to do with it. 
 
 But I think they had better go to you, and trust 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 331 
 
 to your kindness to give them their deserts. The 
 box inside, containing 30-odd, are supposed to be 
 very decent, but use your own judgment about all 
 of them. Because I am going to kick the bucket 
 is no reason that you should kick the box. 
 
 I had hoped to see the fellows at one more Com 
 mencement, to wit, our sixtieth, sed Diis aliter 
 visum. 
 
 Faithfully yours, old fellow, as to the goal in 
 foot-ball, and over, 
 
 E. R. HOAR. 
 
 Now, in the words attributed to Orpheus, "that 
 white flower which marks extreme old age " had 
 crowned our first citizen, but, though his body 
 was growing useless, his mind burned clear, and 
 his spirit was unsubdued. 
 
 He had borne a great grief, Mrs. Hoar had 
 gone before him. Now he lay down on his bed, 
 brave, but a little impatient at the slow advance 
 of death. He was skilfully and lovingly tended by 
 his daughter Clara, who had chosen to take the 
 training of a nurse in the Boston City Hospital a 
 few years before. His two other living daughters 
 were not far away, one at home and one with her 
 family in Springfield, and his oldest and youngest 
 sons, both men of character and ability and of 
 good standing in the law, and both married, were 
 at hand to take up, as far as might be, the load 
 their father had laid down. His son Charles was 
 
332 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 far away, a man of consideration and influence in 
 Southern California. For some years, the Judge 
 had had the pleasures which come with grand 
 children. 
 
 In the tedious waiting for death he was brave 
 and considerate. Arousing from sleep, he said to 
 his daughter nurse: 
 
 " When I wake up I see you standing over me 
 with an expression, half of firm faith in Divine 
 Providence and half as if you were afraid you 
 could n t go it alone." 
 
 His sense of humor remained throughout. He 
 said one day: 
 
 " I am engaged in the not disreputable, but far 
 from attractive, business of dying, and I have one 
 quality especially suitable for it I have plenty 
 of leisure to attend to it" 
 
 His daughter wrote : " Father said he had no 
 fear of the mere stopping of life, but he had a 
 dread of pain all that ends with death. Then he 
 quoted these lines he did not remember the 
 author : 
 
 " Fear ends with death. Beyond 
 I nothing know but God. " 
 
 Another time he said : " They can do what they 
 please, but they can never make dying either 
 popular or fashionable. I have had the use of this 
 body a long time ; I have had a happy life, though 
 some of it might have been better, I suppose." 
 
 His daughter said : "You have made many 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 333 
 
 others happy." "That was part of the happiness," 
 he answered. 
 
 On the last day of January, 1895, the strong 
 spirit was released from the worn-out body. 
 
 Of the funeral, in which Town, Commonwealth, 
 and Country had a part, a lady, a cousin and con 
 temporary of Judge Hoar, wrote thus to his sister 
 on the following day : 
 
 "And surely no king could have had a more 
 royal burial the seal of a noble life. The closed 
 shops, the silent streets, the simple church with 
 its wealth of flowers, the few fitting words and 
 lovely music above all, that great, almost end 
 less, procession of men and women, young and 
 old, who wished to see the loved face again. 
 
 " It made me think of a sermon of Bishop Law 
 rence s ... in which he said he thought the 
 best obituary notice he ever read was that upon 
 David : 
 
 "And David served his generation according 
 to God, and fell on sleep. " 
 
 As a citizen, Judge Hoar held high the old and 
 honored standards, and kept others to them. 
 He did his duty, following his conscience in all 
 and always postponing self. He was mindful of 
 others. 
 
 As a man of law, he will be remembered as hav 
 ing administered the law of the land faithfully, 
 while he construed it broadly, and always recog 
 nized and bowed to the Higher Law. 
 
334 EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR 
 
 As a statesman, he was one 
 
 Who never sold the truth to serve the hour, 
 Nor paltered with eternal God for power. 
 
 He seemed most to resemble Cincinnatus, a 
 man to whom in any emergency his fellow citi 
 zens turned and who never failed them; who at 
 the call of his country, his state, or his town left 
 his plough in the furrow, and when the emergency 
 had passed returned to it again ; who never sought 
 office or emolument, and who never, in the evil 
 fashion of to-day, advertised himself, or strove 
 for personal reward ; who was always true to the 
 high ideals of Massachusetts, and never shrank 
 from any encounter with evil or evil men for fear 
 of the consequences to himself. He was uncom 
 promising in support of the right, inexorable in 
 opposing the wrong, and yet gentle and kind to 
 any one who needed help. Under a stern exterior 
 lay a very tender heart, and his spoken and written 
 words, now pungent and cutting, now singularly 
 touching, reveal his many-sided nature. Unlike 
 Sumner, who with untiring industry ransacked 
 ancient and modern literature for quotations which 
 should support, illustrate or ornament his argu 
 ment, the Judge, perhaps more indolent, was con 
 tent to rely upon what he found in himself, like 
 Lowell s ideal of the "stalwart man . . . fed from 
 within with all the strength he needs." He was a 
 master of English, and no one better than he 
 could use the exact word which his meaning 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES 335 
 
 called for. No one was more felicitous on occa 
 sion, whether his speech was humorous, earnest 
 or sad. 
 
 His friend William Endicott wrote of his speech 
 on April 19 : "I have read it with interest and ap 
 proval, a remark that I think I can truthfully 
 make of everything of yours spoken or written 
 that has come to my notice during the last fifty 
 years "; and many Massachusetts men and women 
 could echo this statement. 
 
 The words of the prophet shall end this story of 
 a life: 
 
 Let us now praise famous men . . . 
 
 The Lord hath wrought great glory by them . . . 
 
 Men renowned for their power, giving counsel by 
 their understanding . . . Leaders of the people by 
 their counsels, and by their knowledge of learning 
 meet for the people, wise, and eloquent in their instruc 
 tions . . . There be of them that have left a name behind 
 them. 
 
 Ecclesiasticus, xliv. 
 
INDEX 
 
 ABBOTT, Josiah G., 35. 
 
 Adams, Charles Francis, I, presides 
 at Anti-Texas meeting in Faneuil 
 Hall (Nov. 1845), 42; address of 
 Anti-Texas Com. written by, 42, 
 43 ; 44, 52, 53, 103, 109, 222, 227, 
 259, 315. 
 
 Adams, Charles Francis, II, his Life 
 of R. H. Dana, quoted, 19 ; letter 
 to H. on contest over his confir 
 mation as member of the Su 
 preme Court, 194, 195 ; quoted on 
 the same subject, 197, 198 ; 230, 
 231, 255. 
 
 Adams, John Quincy, Pres. of U. S., 
 leads opposition to Mexican War, 
 44 ; 60. 
 
 Adirondacks, camping-party in, 
 144-148. 
 
 Agassiz, Louis, 145, 146, 148, 154, 
 314, 315. 
 
 Akerman, Amos T., succeeds H. as 
 Attorney-Gen., 202, 211, 212, 
 215. 
 
 Akers, Charles, 154 n. 
 
 Alabama, cruiser, 222. 
 
 Alabama Claims, Johnson-Claren 
 don Treaty concerning, 176 ; re 
 jected by Senate, 177 ; Sumner s 
 attitude on, 178 ; renewed nego 
 tiations concerning, by Fish and 
 Motley, 178, and by C. F. 
 Adams, 222 seqq. ; Joint High 
 Commission appointed, 224 ; arbi 
 tration of, provided for by Treaty 
 of Washington, 225, 226 ; 204. 
 
 Alcott, A. Bronson, on Samuel 
 Hoar, 5 ; 324. 
 
 Alexandra, privateer, case of the, 
 139. 
 
 Allen, Charles, Chief Justice of Su 
 perior Court of Mass., 55. 
 
 Allen, Charles, Justice of Supreme 
 Judicial Court of Mass., quoted 
 concerning H., 122, 123, 274, 
 275. 
 
 American party. See Know -No 
 thing party. 
 
 Ames, Judge Seth, on Samuel Hoar, 
 5; 35. 
 
 Andover Creed, the, 270, 271. 
 
 Andover Theological Seminary, 
 Visitors of. See Visitors, etc. 
 
 Andrew, John A., Governor of Mass., 
 counsel for F. B. Sanborn, 126 ; 
 nominated for governor, 126 ; 
 letter of, to Cameron, introduc 
 ing H., 129 ; letter of H. to, 133 ; 
 132, 200, 315. 
 
 Antiquarian Society of Concord, 
 212. 
 
 Anti-Slavery Whigs in Mass., ad 
 dress of, against Z. Taylor, 53- 
 65. 
 
 Anti-Texas Committee, appointed 
 by Faneuil Hall meeting, 42, 43. 
 
 Appleton, Thomas Gold, 314. 
 
 Arkansas, alleged illegality of 
 state government of, 238, 239. 
 
 Ayer, Dr. J. C., nominated for Con 
 gress over H., and defeated, 243. 
 
 Babcock, Orville E., secretary to 
 Pres. Grant, 184; and the at 
 tempt to annex San Domingo, 
 206 seqq. ; 212, 245. 
 
 Banks, Gen. Nathaniel P., Governor 
 of Mass., appoints H. to Supreme 
 Court of Mass., 119; 105, 171,293. 
 
 " Bar, etiquette of the," 217. 
 
 Barre", Col. Isaac, 17. 
 
 Barrett, Fay, 326. 
 
 Bartlett, Charles, 144. 
 
 Bartlett, Josiah, 12, 298, 299. 
 
 Bartlett, Sidney, the " Nestor of the 
 bar," 26(5 ; letter of H. to, 307. 
 
 Base-ball at Harvard in the thirties, 
 21. 
 
 Batchelder, Mr., U. S. Marshal, 
 killed by mob in attempt to res 
 cue Anthony Burns, 82. 
 
 Beecher, Lyman, 9. 
 
338 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Belknap, William W., Secretary of 
 War, 190, 192, 256. 
 
 Bemis, Charles W., H. C. 1835, 18. 
 
 Bemis, George, H. C. 1835, 18. 
 
 Bennett, Edmund II., anecdotes of 
 H. told by, 92, 93. 
 
 Benton, Thomas H., 105. 
 
 Bernard, Montague, 224. 
 
 Bigelow, Chief Justice George T., 
 141 ; resigns the Chief Justice 
 ship, 148. 
 
 Binney, Amos, 145, 146. 
 
 Bird, Frank W., 52. 
 
 Bishop, Judge, 98. 
 
 Black, Mr., reporter of decisions, 
 138, 139. 
 
 Blaine, James G., and the Repub 
 lican nomination in 1876, 251, 
 252 ; why H. opposed his nomi 
 nation, 251, 252; his attack on 
 Mass., 263, 264, and G. F. Hoar s 
 reply, 264 ; H. s suggested retort 
 to, 264 ; Secretary of State under 
 Garfield, 266 ; and R. Conkling, 
 266 ; letter of H. to, 267 ; Repub 
 lican revolt on nomination of, in 
 1884, 267-269; H. s reasons for 
 supporting him, 268 ; 236, 265. 
 
 Blake, Harrison G. O., H. C. 1835, 
 25, 26. 
 
 Borie, Adolph E., Secretary of the 
 Navy, 162. 
 
 Boston, great fire of 1872 in, 230, 
 231, 232. 
 
 Boston Advertiser, and the Free- 
 Soil convention, 56 ; and H. s ap 
 pointment as commissioner un 
 der the Personal Liberty law, 
 114 seqq. ; letter of H. to editor 
 of, 114-116; 41, 118, 119. 
 
 Boston Courier, and the Free-Soil 
 convention, 66. 
 
 Boston Herald, abuses members of 
 Free-Soil convention, 56 ; 199. 
 
 Boston Post, and the Anti-Texas 
 meeting in Concord, 41. 
 
 Boston Transcript, 279 and n. 
 
 Boutwell, George S., elected gov 
 ernor of Mass, by Coalition of 1850, 
 09 ; declines portfolio of the Inte 
 rior, 163 ; and H. s appointment 
 as Attorney-Gen., 163 seqq. ; ap 
 pointed Secretary of State, 166; 
 170, 172, 200, 201. 
 
 Bowles, Elizabeth, H. s daughter, 
 331. 
 
 Bradley, Joseph P., appointed to 
 U. S. Supreme Court, 198 ; his ap 
 pointment alleged to be part of a 
 scheme to obtain reversal of Le 
 gal-Tender decision, 199 seqq. 
 
 Briggs, George N., Governor of 
 Mass., appoints H. to Court of 
 Common Pleas, 79. 
 
 Brimmer, Martin, 315. 
 
 Bristow, Benjamin H., 251, 262. 
 
 Brooks, Caroline Downes, J. R. 
 Lowell s poem on, 31 ; marries 
 H. (1840), 32. And see Hoar, 
 Caroline Downes. 
 
 Brooks, Eben S., H. C. 1835, 18. 
 
 Brooks, Nathan, father of Mrs. H., 
 31, 65, 137. 
 
 Brooks, Bishop Phillips, 305, 306. 
 
 Brown, Governor, of Tennessee, 
 262. 
 
 Brown, John, of Osawatomie, F. B. 
 Sanborn arrested for complicity 
 in his raid, 125. 
 
 Browne, Quincy, 327. 
 
 Buffington, James, 171. 
 
 Bulkeley, Rev. Benjamin R., 298. 
 
 Bulkeley, Rev. Edward, 3. 
 
 Bulkeley, Peter, one of the found 
 ers of Concord, 300. 
 
 Bullock, Alex. H., Governor of 
 Mass., declines to appoint H. 
 Chief Justice, 148. 
 
 Bunyan, John, his Pilgrim s Pro 
 gress, 8, 9. 
 
 Burns, Anthony, fugitive slave, at 
 tempt to rescue, 81 seqq. 
 
 Burnside, Gen. Ambrose E., in Bos 
 ton, 139. 
 
 Butler, Gen. Benjamin F., Governor 
 of Mass., in leading practice in 
 Middlesex County, 108 ; anecdote 
 of, and H., 109; repeats the 
 charge that H. "packed" the 
 Supreme Court, 201 ; seeks Re 
 publican nomination for governor 
 in 1871, 228, and again in 1873, 
 235; a " Tichborne Claimant," 
 235 ; opposes H. s candidacy for 
 U. S. Senate, 241 ; obtains Re 
 publican nomination for Congress 
 in Middlesex in 1876, 252 ; is op 
 posed by H. as an independent 
 
INDEX 
 
 339 
 
 candidate, 252 ; his influence over 
 Pres. Grant, 253, 254, 255; his 
 broken pledges to the electors, 
 254 ; is elected, 255 ; opposes elec 
 tion of G- F. Hoar to U. S. Sen 
 ate, 200, 261 ; 35, 132, 170 n., 171, 
 250 and n., 256, 259, 260, 265, 313. 
 
 Butlerism in Mass., 261, 262. 
 
 Buttrick, Ephraira, 35. 
 
 Buttrick, Humphrey, 144. 
 
 Cabot, J. Eliot, 315. 
 
 Calhoun, John C., Secretary of 
 State, concludes treaty for annex 
 ation of Texas, 38 ; 60. 
 
 Cameron, Simon, Secretary of War, 
 129, 130. 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas, his impressions of 
 H., 45, 46. 
 
 Carpenter, Gen., of Rhode Island, 
 104. 
 
 " Carpet-bag " senators, and H. s 
 resignation as Attorney-Gen., 
 210, 211. 
 
 Carter, James C., 278. 
 
 Cass, Lewis, Democratic candidate 
 for president in 1848, 55, 67, 77. 
 
 Cattell, Alexander G., U. S. Sena 
 tor, 191. 
 
 Chandler, Peleg W., 168. 
 
 Chandler, Zachariah, U. S. Senator, 
 offers resolution calling on the 
 Attorney-Gen, to report on cer 
 tain cases, 183 ; angered by H. s 
 refusal to reply, 183 ; 198. 
 
 Channing, Prof. Edward T., 25. 
 
 Charming, William Ellery, 42. 
 
 Chapman, Chief Justice Reuben A., 
 favors Evarts for Chief Justice 
 of U. S., 141 ; appointed Chief 
 Justice of Mass, to succeed Bige- 
 low, 148 ; death of, 234 ; quoted 
 concerning change in H. s court 
 manners after his return from 
 Washington, 283. 
 
 Chase, Salmon P., Chief Justice of 
 U. S., 105, 130, 131, 142, 143, 144 ; 
 as Secretary of the Treasury 
 drew the Legal-Tender Act, and 
 as Chief Justice pronounced it 
 unconstitutional, 200 ; his death, 
 234 ; Evarts s eulogy of, criticized 
 by H., 242, 243 ; 205. 
 
 Chatham, William Pitt, Earl of, 17. 
 
 Chelmsford, Frederic A. Thesiger, 
 
 Lord, 280. 
 Choate, Rufus, and the defence of 
 
 William Wyman, 35, 36 ; defends 
 
 Fugitive -Slave law and attacks 
 
 Free-Soilers, 104 ; 102. 
 Christian Register, The, 306. 
 Circuit Courts of U. S., additional 
 
 judgeships in, 181. 
 Civil Rights bill, the, 240. 
 Civil War, the, opening of, 127; 
 
 slow progress of, 136, 137 ; close 
 
 of, 144. 
 Claflin, William, Governor of Mass., 
 
 quoted, 50, 148, 282. 
 Clarendon, George W. F. Villiers, 
 
 Earl of, and the Alabama Claims, 
 
 176, 177. 
 Class of 1835, Harvard College, 18 
 
 seqq. ; the " Rebellion " of 1831, 
 
 18, 19, 20 ; graduation of, 25, 26 ; 
 H. s speech at fiftieth anniversary 
 of graduation of, 287, 288. 
 
 Clay, Henry, 28, 37. 
 
 Clerks of Courts, proposal to make 
 office of, elective, 102. 
 
 Cleveland, Grover, and the revolt 
 against Blaine, 267. 
 
 Clifford, Judge Nathan, 163. 
 
 Coalition of 1850, 98-101 ; H. op 
 posed to, 99. 
 
 Cockburn, Sir Alexander, 227. 
 
 Common Pleas, Court of, H. ap 
 pointed to, 79. 
 
 Common Prayer, Book of, and its 
 application to Concord, 306. 
 
 Commonwealth vs. Tuey, H. s 
 charge to jury in, settled the law 
 in Mass, concerning duties of ju 
 rors in case of inability to agree, 
 89-91. 
 
 Concord, Mass., John Hoar settles 
 at, 2 ; in King Philip s War, 3 ; 
 in the forties, 33, 34 ; H. begins 
 practice at, 33 ; a shire town, 33 ; 
 sessions of court at, 33, 34; Anti- 
 Texas meetings at, in 1845, unani 
 mously adopt W. L. Garrison s 
 nullification resolution, 40, 41 J 
 Free-Soil convention at (1848), 
 62 ; rally at, 64, 65 ; excitement 
 at, caused by arrest of F. B. San- 
 born, 125; H. s speech at, Apr. 
 
 19, 1861, 128, 129 ; reception to 
 
340 
 
 INDEX 
 
 returning troops at, 144 ; inscrip 
 tion for soldiers monument writ 
 ten by H., 144 ; dedication of sol 
 diers monument at, 159 ; public 
 approval of H. s appointment as 
 Attorney-Gen, at, 169, 170, -and 
 H., 246 seqq.; H. s loyalty to, 297, 
 298 ; H. s influence in town meet 
 ing, 310; the Social Circle, 311, 
 312; the Antiquarian Society, 
 312 ; change in character of, 312 ; 
 Main St., and the State Highway 
 Commission, 327 ; celebration of 
 Patriots Day, 1894, 327, 328. 
 
 Concord Artillery, departure of, for 
 the war, 127-129. 
 
 Concord Fight, celebration of 75th 
 anniversary of, 106 ; celebration 
 of centennial of, 244, 246 seqq. 
 
 Concord School of Philosophy, 313. 
 
 Conkling, Roscoe, 171, 266. 
 
 " Conscience Whigs," origin of term, 
 43, 44 ; approve Palfrey s course 
 in Congress, 47 ; support Webster 
 for president, 51. 
 
 Constitution of Mass., new, proposed 
 by Convention of 1853, opposed 
 by H. and others, and defeated 
 by the people, 101 seqq. 
 
 Corcoran, William W., 216. 
 
 Cotton manufacturers in Mass., at 
 titude of, in reference to slavery, 
 43. 
 
 " Cotton Whigs," 43, 44. 
 
 Cox, Jacob D , Secretary of the In 
 terior, quoted concerning H. s 
 recommendations for judicial ap 
 pointments, 181, 182; letter of, 
 to H., on the contest over confir 
 mation of his nomination to the 
 U. S. Supreme Court, 190-193 ; on 
 the charge that the court was 
 packed, 200, 201 ; tells the story 
 of H. s resignation as Attorney- 
 Gen., largely in H. s own words, 
 207-211 ; on Pres. Grant s silence 
 on that subject, 212 ; 162, 245. 
 
 Credit Mobilier scandal, 236. 
 
 Creswell, John A. J., Poatmaster- 
 Gen., 162, 171, 174. 
 
 Crocker, Mr., 105. 
 
 Cuba, insurrection in, 179, 180 ; 
 question of recognition of insur 
 gents in, 179, 180. 
 
 Currency, inflation of the, 236, 237. 
 Curtis, George William, 248, 267. 
 Gushing, Caleb, quoted concerning 
 
 the Treaty of Washington, 226, 
 
 227; 178, 179,234. 
 
 Dana, Richard H., H. C. 1835, his 
 Two Years before the Mast, 18 ; 
 47, 65, 102, 103, 104, 110, 250 and 
 n., 314. 
 
 Davis, Capt., 249. 
 
 Davis, Cummings, 312. 
 
 Davis, Judge David, 262. 
 
 Davis, Jefferson, 152. 
 
 Davis, J. C. Bancroft, 105, 216. 
 
 Dawes, Henry L., obtains nomina 
 tion for U. S. Senator over H., 
 242 ; 171, 236. 
 
 Day, Benjamin, 94. 
 
 De Grey and Ripon, George F. S. 
 Robinson, Earl, 224. 
 
 Deland, Mrs. Margaret, quoted, 27. 
 
 Democrats, coalition of Free-Soilers 
 and, 98, 99, 101 ; H. s invincible 
 repugnance to, 99, 267. 
 
 Detroit Advertiser, 279 n. 
 
 Devens, Charles, 261. 
 
 Dexter, Franklin, 35. 
 
 Dickinson, Mr., 105. 
 
 Dogs, H. s liking for, 310. 
 
 Dwight, John S., 314. 
 
 Edmunds, George F., U. S. Senator, 
 said by G. F. Hoar to have been 
 responsible for rejection of H. s 
 nomination to Supreme Court. 
 197 ; 240, 250. 
 
 Education in the early 19th century, 
 23 seqq. 
 
 Electoral Commission of 1876-77, 
 260. 
 
 Eliot, Charles W., 230, 231, 267, 315. 
 
 Eliot, Samuel A., 143. 
 
 " Elsinore," street in Concord, 312. 
 
 Emancipation Proclamation, the, 
 143. 
 
 Emerson, Ellen, quoted concerning 
 the authorship of a famous jeu 
 a" esprit, 281. 
 
 Emerson, Mrs. Lidian (Jackson), 
 285. 
 
 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, on Samuel 
 Hoar, 9, 10 ; letter of Carlyle to, 
 concerning II., 45, 46, and his re- 
 
INDEX 
 
 341 
 
 ply, 46 ; his Society and Solitude, 
 203 ; letter of H. to, on Sumner s 
 death, 239, 240; H. s felicitous 
 quotation from his Brahma, 278 ; 
 gift of his friends after the burn 
 ing of his house, 285-287 ; letter 
 to II. thereon, 286-287 ; and the 
 Social Circle, 311 ; his Journal 
 quoted, 137, 138, 214, 219 ; 6, 7, 
 42, 145, 146, 148, 150, 151, 159, 
 172, 220, 309, 314, 315, 316, 321. 
 
 Endicott, William, quoted, 335. 
 
 England. See Great Britain. 
 
 Epidemic among horsea in 1872, 
 230. 
 
 " Etiquette of the bar," the, 217. 
 
 Eustis, Frederick A., H. C. 1835, 18. 
 
 Evarts, Rev. Prescott, 305. 
 
 Evarts, William Maxwell, his "Tab 
 ernacle Speech," 117; letter of 
 H. thereon, 117; letter of, to H. 
 on E. s candidacy for the U. S. 
 Senate, 126, 127, and on Samuel 
 Hoar s war experience, 136 ; mis 
 sion of, to England, on question 
 of privateers fitting out in English 
 ports, 138 ; letter of H. to, thereon, 
 138, 139; candidate for Chief 
 Justice (1864), 141 seqq. ; letters 
 of H. to, on his candidacy, 141- 
 144 ; of counsel for Andrew John 
 son, and appointed Attorney-Gen, 
 by him, 149, 150 ; letter of H. to, 
 thereon, 149 ; again a candidate 
 for Chief Justice (1873), 234, 235 ; 
 letters of H. to, thereon, 235 ; his 
 eulogy of Chief Justice Chase, 
 242 j urges H. to accept appoint 
 ment on commission to visit 
 Louisiana, 262, and to act as coun 
 sel for the U. S. before the Fish 
 ery Commission, 263 ; writes H. 
 concerning the authorship of a 
 famous jeu d esprit, 279 ; on the 
 Congressional honors of the Hoar 
 family, 293, 294; 167, 176, 259. 
 
 Fabens, Francis A., H. C. 1835, 18. 
 
 Faneuil Hall, Anti-Texas meetings 
 in, 40, 42 ; ratification meeting of 
 Free-Soilers in, 57, 58 ; Republi 
 can ratification meeting in (1856), 
 117. 
 
 Farley, George F., 35. 
 
 Farrar, George, 61. 
 
 Farrar, John, 317. 
 
 Farrars, the, of Lincoln, 14, 15. 
 
 Fay, Sullivan, 61, 137. 
 
 Felton, Cornelius C., 154, 314. 
 
 Field, Walbridge A., Chief Justice 
 of Mass. Supreme Court, on H. 
 as a judge, 121, 122, 123 ; on H. s 
 work as Attorney-Gen,, 175, and 
 as a practising lawyer, 259. 
 
 Fields, Mrs. Annie, quoted, 282, 
 283. 
 
 Fields, James T., 157, 315. 
 
 First Parish of Concord, 298, 301 
 seqq. 
 
 Fish, Hamilton, Secretary of State, 
 175 ; negotiations with England 
 on Alabama Claims, 178 ; opposes 
 recognition of belligerency of Cu 
 ban insurgents, 179 ; 200, 216,224. 
 
 Flint, Henry, 2. 
 
 Flint, Mrs. Henry, 2. 
 
 Foot-ball at Harvard in the thirties, 
 21, 22. 
 
 Foote, Henry S., U. S. Senator, 60. 
 
 Forbes, Edith Emerson (Mrs. Wil 
 liam H. F.), letter of H. to, 325. 
 
 Forbes, John M., letters of H. to, 
 as agent of Mass, in Washington, 
 130-132 ; his opinion of Lincoln, 
 140 ; letter of H. to, on prospect 
 of Lincoln s renomination, 140, 
 141, and on Sumner, 177; a val 
 ued adviser, 204 ; letters of H. to, 
 on Alabama Claims, 204, 205, on 
 the " etiquette of the bar," 217, 
 and on Sherman s " resumption " 
 bill, 237 ; H. on his independence 
 in politics, 292, 294 ; letters of H. 
 to, thereon, 292, 293, 294 ; letters 
 of H. to, in his last years, 322-324, 
 314. 
 
 " Force Bill, the," Republican op 
 position to, 238, 239; fails of 
 passage in Senate, 239. 
 
 Foster, John W., 263. 
 
 Fox, James A., 293. 
 
 Free-Soilers, convention of, at Wor 
 cester, 55-57; participants in, 
 55 ; criticized and sneered at, 56 ; 
 H. included among, 56; and D. 
 Webster, 57 ; ratification meeting 
 at Faneuil Hall, 57-58; small 
 vote cast by, in 1848, 65 ; coali- 
 
342 
 
 INDEX 
 
 tion of Democrats and, 98, 99, 
 101. 
 
 Fremont, John C., Republican nomi 
 nee for president in 1856, 117. 
 
 French, Daniel C., 247. 
 
 Frost, Rev. Barzillai, on Samuel 
 Hoar, 10, 11; 31, 298. 
 
 Fugitive-Slave law, and the case 
 of Anthony Burns, 80 seqq. ; 114. 
 
 Gardner, Henry J., Governor of 
 Mass., appoints H. commissioner 
 under Personal Liberty law, 114. 
 
 Garfield, James A., Pres. of U. S., 
 his contest with Conkling and 
 Platt, 266 ; 192. 
 
 Gargan, Thomas J., 246. 
 
 Garrison, John, 75. 
 
 Garrison, William Lloyd, nullifica 
 tion resolutions offered by, at 
 Concord (1845), 41, 42; on H. s 
 speech at Free-Soil ratification 
 meeting, 57, 58 ; 55. 
 
 Geneva Arbitration, 250. 
 
 Godkin, E. L., 315. 
 
 Goodwin, William W., 154. 
 
 Goulding, F. P., quoted concerning 
 H., 123, 124. 
 
 Grant, Mrs. Julia Dent, 203. 
 
 Grant, Ulysses S., Pres. of U. S., 
 and his choice of a cabinet, 162 
 seqq. ; his dislike of politicians, 
 162; his first cabinet list, 162; 
 appoints H. Attorney-Gen., 162 ; 
 and Stewart s appointment as 
 Secretary of the Treasury, 162, 
 163, 164, 166 ; the story of H. s 
 appointment, 163-166 ; Stewart s 
 nomination withdrawn, 166 ; fa 
 vors recognition of belligerency 
 of Cuban insurgents, 179 ; accepts 
 H. s advice in matter of judicial 
 appointments, 182, 183 ; pressure 
 upon, to dismiss H., 184; offers 
 to appoint him to Supreme Court, 
 184 ; and the contest in the Sen 
 ate over H. s nomination, 188 
 seqq. ; refuses to withdraw the 
 nomination, 192, 195, 197; and 
 the charge of packing the Su 
 preme Court, 199 seqq. ; and the 
 Biglow Papers, 203; and San 
 Domingo, 206 seqq. ; angered by 
 Sumner s opposition, 206, 207; 
 
 demands H. s resignation without 
 giving reasons, 208, 209 ; his in 
 terview with H., 209-211; H. s 
 resignation never mentioned to 
 his cabinet, 212 ; H. s parting 
 letter to, 213; his message to 
 Congress on Alabama Claims 
 (1871), 223 ; letter of H. to, on 
 his reelection, 232, 233 ; and the 
 Chief Justiceship, 234, 235; 
 vetoes the "inflation bill," 236; 
 H. s relations with, 244-246 ; not 
 a statesman, 245 ; " a pretty poor 
 President," 245; his opinion of 
 H., 246 ; Butler s influence over, 
 253, 254, 255 ; 141, 167, 168, 169, 
 170, 171, 172, 173, 175, 180, 181, 
 186, 187, 204, 215, 229, 237, 238, 
 247, 248, 250, 261, 268, 294. 
 
 Gray, Asa, 154, 315. 
 
 Gray, Horace, Chief Justice Mass. 
 Supreme Court, H. s law partner, 
 1857-1859, 107; favors Evarts s 
 appointment as Chief Justice of 
 U. S., 141; writes H. on his 
 nomination to the Supreme Court, 
 186, 187 ; 30, 234, 315. 
 
 Gray, William, 132. 
 
 Great Britain, relations with, 175 
 seqq. ; the Alabama Claims ne 
 gotiations with, 176-178, 223 
 seqq. ; members of Joint High 
 Commission named by, 224 ; and 
 the Treaty of Washington, 225, 
 226. 
 
 Greeley, Horace, 229, 267. 
 
 Greenhalge, Frederic T., Governor 
 of Mass., quoted concerning H., 
 108, 124. 
 
 Grier, Robert C., Justice of U. S. 
 Supreme Court, 198, 200. 
 
 Hale, Rev. E. E., quoted concern 
 ing H., 304. 
 
 Hale, John P., U. S. Senator, 142. 
 
 Hammond, John W., Judge of 
 Mass. Supreme Court, 120. 
 
 Harlan, John M., 262. 
 
 Harrison, William H., Pres. of U. S., 
 35, 36, 38. 
 
 Harrison campaign of 1840, 35, 36. 
 
 Harvard, John, 1. 
 
 Harvard College, Leonard Hoar 
 president of, 2; Samuel Hoar s 
 
INDEX 
 
 343 
 
 service to, 4 ; H. on life at, in the 
 thirties, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21 ; ath 
 letic sports of that period, 21, 
 22 ; military company at, 22 ; 
 the "Med. Fac.," 22, 23; H. s 
 service on the Board of Overseers 
 and Corporation, 118; his views 
 on the respective functions of the 
 two governing boards, 118, 119; 
 Phi Beta Kappa dinner of 1865, 
 153, 154 ; Commemoration Day 
 at, 155; confers honorary LL.D. 
 on H., 160 ; H. s speech at Alum 
 ni dinner, 1869, 217-219; H. s 
 love for, 230, 231. 
 
 Harvard Lav School, H. takes de 
 gree at, 30. 
 
 Hawthorne, Nathaniel, at the Satur 
 day Club, 314, 316. 
 
 Hayes, Rutherford B., Pres. of 
 U. S., his cabinet, 261 ; H. on the 
 hopeful outlook for his adminis 
 tration, 261; 251. 
 
 Hepburn vs. Griswold. See Legal- 
 Tender Act. 
 
 Herbert, George, quoted, 281. 
 
 Heywood, George, 137. 
 
 Hill, Frederic T., his Decisive Bat 
 tles of the Law, quoted, 223, 
 225. 
 
 Hoar, Caroline, H. s daughter, 32, 
 306, 331. 
 
 Hoar, Caroline Downes (Brooks), 
 wife of H., their married life, and 
 their children, 32 ; illness of, 73 
 seqq. ; letter of G. F. Hoar to, on 
 H. s appointment as Attorney- 
 Gen., 170, 171 ; her death, 331 ; 
 extracts from letters of H. to, on 
 many subjects, 74-78, 93-98, 105, 
 145-148, 215, 216, 306; 167, 175, 
 176, 320. And see Brooks, Caro 
 line Downes. 
 
 Hoar, Charles, Sheriff of Glouces 
 tershire, and husband of Joanna 
 Hoar, 1, 2 n. 
 
 Hoar, Charles Emerson, H. s son, 
 quoted concerning H. s affection 
 for his children, 135 ; supports 
 Cleveland against Blaine, 267 ; 32, 
 214, 331, 332. 
 
 Hoar, Clara D., H. s daughter, 32, 
 331, 332. 
 
 Hoar, Daniel, son of John, I, 3. 
 
 HOAR, EBENEZER ROCKWOOD : 
 
 Ancestry, birth, and education. 
 Supposititious letter of Joanna 
 Hoar, 1, 2; his ancestors at Con 
 cord Bridge, 3 ; on his father s 
 character, 5, 6; some suggested 
 progenitors of, 6 ; his birth, 7 ; 
 named for Ebenezer Rockwood, 
 7 ; home influences of his child 
 hood, 8, 9 ; anecdote of, and Pil 
 grim s Progress, 9 ; his sister Eliz 
 abeth s History of, 11, 12; his 
 quickness in repartee illustrated, 
 13 ; his picnic with H. Vose, 13 ; his 
 sketch of his life in his Class- 
 book, quoted, 14, 10, 17 , 26 ; at 
 the Village Academy, 14, 15, 
 16; in Lincoln, 14, 15; injury 
 to his foot, 15 ; enters Harvard 
 (1831), 16; his views on his col 
 lege life as given in the Class- 
 book, 16, 17, and after the 
 lapse of fifty years, 17, 18 ; on 
 Pres. Josiah Quincy, 17, 18 ; and 
 the " Rebellion " of 1831, 19, 20 ; 
 his speech at Commencement, 
 quoted, 20, 21; and college sports, 
 21 ; and the " Med. Fac.," 22, 23 ; 
 general view of his education, 23 
 seqq.; the quality of his mind, 24 ; 
 his dissertation on the Study of 
 the Fine Arts, quoted, 24, 25 ; his 
 last two years in college, 25, 26 ; 
 and Prof. Channing, 25 ; gradu 
 ates third in his class, 25 ; his 
 Commencement part, 25 ; on Class 
 Committee, 26 ; C. W. Palf ray on, 
 26. 
 
 Personal. Teacher in school 
 at Pittsburg, 26-28; and Lois 
 Wade (Mrs. Campbell), 27; travels 
 in Kentucky, 28 ; begins the study 
 of law in Concord, 28 ; describes his 
 life there in letter to Lois Wade, 
 29, 30; reads Plato with Miss 
 Whiting, 29, 30 ; at Harvard Law 
 School, 30, 31 ; in Judge Wash- 
 burn s office in Worcester, 30 ; 
 Judge Gray on his assiduity as a 
 student, 30 ; admitted to the bar 
 (1839), 30 ; marries Caroline D. 
 Brooks, 32 ; their married life 
 and their children, 32 ; his only 
 European journey, 45-47 ; Car- 
 
344 
 
 INDEX 
 
 lyle s impressions of, 45, 46; swims 
 the Tiber, 46, 47; returns to 
 America, 47 ; his first visit to 
 Washington described in letter to 
 Mrs. H., 105 ; presides at celebra 
 tion of 75th anniversary of Con 
 cord Fight, 106; his service on 
 governing boards of Harvard, 
 1857-1887, 118 ; his view of their 
 respective functions, 118, 119 ; in 
 Washington as agent of Mass., 
 early in the war, 129, 130-132 ; 
 his characteristics as a parent, 
 134, 135 ; quoted concerning his 
 son Sam s war experience, 136 ; 
 Emerson s Journal on, 137, 138; 
 on Chief Justice Taney, 138 ; at 
 reception to Concord s returning 
 troops, 144 ; writes inscription for 
 soldiers monument at Concord, 
 144 ; trip to the Adirondacks with 
 Stillman s party, described in let 
 ter to Mrs. H., 145-148 ; friendship 
 with Lowell, as revealed in his 
 letters, 150-161 ; at the Phi Beta 
 Kappa dinner, 155 ; on Lowell s 
 Commemoration Ode t 155, 156 ; 
 Biglow Papers, 2d series, dedi 
 cated to, 156-158 ; honorary de 
 grees at Harvard and Williams, 
 160 ; on Lowell s 50th birthday, 
 161 ; suggestion of gift of house 
 in Washington to, 168, 169 ; re 
 lations with his son Samuel, 176 ; 
 once more in Concord, 214, 215 ; 
 his speech at Commencement, 
 1869, 217-219 ; his service on the 
 Joint High Commission on Al 
 abama Claims, 224-226; his 
 " crest," 227 ; his speech at Com 
 mencement, 1871, 227 ; anecdote 
 of, 228; his love for Harvard 
 College, 230, 231; describes Sum- 
 ner s last moments in letter to 
 Emerson, 239-240 ; his eulogy of 
 Sumner in the "House of Rep 
 resentatives, 240, 241 ; his opinion 
 of Chief Justice Chase, 243 ; his 
 opinion of and relations with 
 President Grant, 243-246; as a 
 citizen of Concord, 246; at the 
 centennial celebration of Concord 
 Fight, 246 seqq. ; his home life 
 after 1876, 257 seqq. ; declines to 
 
 act as counsel for the U. S. before 
 the Fishery Commission, 263 ; ill 
 health of, 265 ; president of Bos 
 ton Bar Association, 265 ; at the 
 bar dinner in 1879, 265, 266; 
 pursuits of his later years, 269 ; 
 his well-stored memory and sound 
 common sense, 276 ; his stern, un 
 compromising New England con 
 science, 277 ; examples of his wit, 
 277 seqq. ; was he the author of 
 a famous jeu d esprit ? 278-281, 
 279 n.; letters from Evarts there 
 on, 279, 2SO ; writes W. G. Rus 
 sell concerning his portrait, 281 ; 
 his wit often gave offence, but 
 not with intention, 282 ; Gov. 
 Claflin and Mrs. Fields quoted 
 thereon, 282, 283; likened to 
 "Isrel" in Lowell s The Two 
 Gunners, 283 ; his " little brother" 
 G. F. H., 283, 284 ; his affection 
 ate relations with G. F. H., 284 ; 
 his real kindness of heart, 284- 
 287, 303, 304 ; and the gift to R.W. 
 Emerson, 285-287 ; letter to Le 
 Baron Russell, and from R.W. 
 E., thereon, 285-287 ; speech at 
 the 50th anniversary of gradua 
 tion, 287, 288; letter to J. B. 
 Thayer on the Phi Beta Kappa, 
 289; his golden wedding, 290, 
 293, 319, 320 ; Henry Lee s trib 
 utes to, 291, 295, 296 ; increasing 
 ill health, 295 ; his personal ap 
 pearance, 296, 297 ; his loyalty to 
 Concord, 297, 298; his friends 
 and cronies there, 298, 299 ; and 
 the Concord Lyceum, 300; and 
 the Town Library, 301, 312; the 
 chief pillar of the First Parish, 
 301 seqq. ; his religious belief, 
 302, 304-306; his niece s testi 
 mony on that subject, 302 ; in the 
 Unitarian Association, 303, 304; 
 E. E. Hale quoted concerning, 
 304; his attitude toward other 
 denominations, 304-306 ; anec 
 dotes relating thereto, 305, 306 ; 
 and Bishop Brooks, 305, 306; 
 Concord and the prayer book, 306 ; 
 letter of, to Mrs. H., describing 
 his Sunday at Sharon Springs, 
 306 ; not prone to adopt "reforms" 
 
INDEX 
 
 345 
 
 in diet, 307 ; letter to S. Bartlett 
 on a gift of champagne, 307308 ; 
 his use of tobacco and his im 
 paired digestion, 308 ; opposed to 
 woman suffrage, 309; contemp 
 tuous of Spiritualism, 309 ; his in 
 fluence in town meeting, 3 10, 311 ; 
 and the Social Circle, 311; and the 
 Antiquarian Society, 313 ; regrets 
 the transformation in the charac 
 ter of Concord, 312, 313 ; his atti 
 tude toward city men and city 
 ways, described by Col. Lee, 313, 
 314 ; and the Saturday Club, 314- 
 31(5 ; and his brother Edward, 
 317 ; his poem to John Holmes, 
 318, 319 ; anecdotes of, 320, 321 ; 
 his dread of physical pain, 321 ; 
 correspondence with J. M. Forbes, 
 322-324 ; the infirmities of age, 
 322, 323 ; on a gift of venison, 323 ; 
 his unchanged courage, wit, and 
 affection, 325 ; his devotion to 
 whist, 326, 327 ; unabated inter 
 est in town affairs, 327-329 ; his 
 speech on Patriots Day, 1894, 
 328, 329 ; extracts from late let 
 ters to classmates and friends, 
 329-331 ; his ideal of a successful 
 life, 330 ; his last days, 331-333 ; 
 his sense of humor undying, 332 ; 
 his death (Jan. 31, 1895), 333 ; his 
 funeral described, 333 ; review 
 of his life and character, 333- 
 335 ; compared to Lowell s ideal 
 "stalwart man," 334. 
 
 Professional.^ Begins practice 
 at Concord, 33 ; immediate suc 
 cess, 34 seqq. ; wins a high posi 
 tion at the Middlesex bar, 35 ; his 
 contemporaries, 35 ; successful 
 defence of W. Wyman, 35, 36 ; 
 appointed judge of the Court of 
 Common Pleas by Gov. Briggs, 
 79 ; his reasons for quitting prac 
 tice so early, 79 ; his services in 
 that court, 79, 80 ; on the Fugitive- 
 Slave law, SO seqq. ; his charge 
 to the Grand Jury of Suffolk 
 concerning the attempted rescue 
 
 1 It seemed more convenient and more 
 appropriate to index Judge Hoar s Attor 
 ney-Generalship as an episode in the po 
 litical part of his career. 
 
 of Anthony Burns, 81, 82-89; 
 upholds authority of U. S. Su 
 preme Court, 83 seqq. ; his charge 
 in Commonwealth vs. Tuey on 
 the duties of jurors, 89-91 ; an 
 estimate of his qualities as a 
 judge, 91, 92 ; anecdotes of, 92, 
 93 ; his life on the bench de 
 scribed in letters to Mrs. H., 93- 
 98 ; resigns from the bench 
 (1855), 107 ; resumes practice, 
 with Horace Gray, 107; little 
 trace remains of his professional 
 work, 107, 108; B. F. Butler a 
 frequent opponent, 108; anec 
 dote of Butler and, 109; ap 
 pointed justice of Supreme Judi 
 cial Court by Gov. Banks (1859), 
 119; his ten years service on 
 that court, 119 seqq. ; his court 
 manners, 120 ; his characteristics 
 as a judge, 120, 121 ; his re 
 ported judgments, 120 seqq. ; 
 opinions of various contempora 
 ries quoted, 121 seqq. ; the Su 
 preme Court a hard-working 
 court, 124, 125; issues writ of 
 habeas corpus for F. B. Sanborn, 
 arrested for complicity in John 
 Brown s raid, 125, 120 ; on the 
 shortcomings of divers reporters 
 of decisions of U. S. Supreme 
 Court, 138, 139 ; favors Evarta a 
 appointment as Chief Justice of 
 U. S., 141, 144 ; and the succes 
 sion to Chief Justice Bigelow, 
 148 ; resigns his seat on Supreme 
 Court to become Attorney-Gen. 
 of U. S., 169; his official task 
 and its performance described by 
 Chief Justice Field, 175; re 
 turns to practice once more, 220, 
 228, 244; his practice rapidly 
 growing, 233 ; the Jumel Case, 
 233, 234 ; declines Chief Justice 
 ship of Mass., 234 ; favors 
 Evarts s appointment as Chief 
 Justice of U. S., 234, 235 ; serves 
 on commission to revise statutes 
 of U. S., 239; his professional 
 life after 1876, 257 seqq. ; his 
 small fees, 259; Chief Justice 
 Field quoted concerning his 
 practice, 259 ; counsel for defend- 
 
346 
 
 INDEX 
 
 ants in Smyth vs. Visitors of 
 Andover Theological Seminary, 
 270-273 ; peculiarity of his posi 
 tion in that case, as a stanch 
 Unitarian, 270 ; his argument, 
 270-272 ; anecdotes of his prac 
 tice. 274 seqq. ; his distinguishing 
 traits as a lawyer, 275, 276 ; 
 Chief Justice Chapman quoted 
 concerning the change in his 
 court manners after his return 
 from Washington, 283. 
 
 Political. Active in politics on 
 Whig side in campaigns of 1840 
 and 1844, 36 seqq. ; in the tem 
 perance movement, 38 ; opposed 
 to annexation of Texas, 39 ; at 
 anti-annexation meetings in Con 
 cord (1845), 40, 41 ; on Anti- 
 Texas Committee, 42 ; in Mass. 
 Senate (1846), 43 ; on Whig State 
 Committee, 44; and J. G. Pal 
 frey s election to Congress, 45; 
 approves Palfrey s course there, 
 48-50 ; a leader in the struggle in 
 Mass, in 1848, 50 ; and Webster s 
 candidacy for president, 51, 52 ; 
 active in early campaign of 1848, 
 52 seqq. ; his address " To the 
 People of Massachusetts," in op 
 position to Taylor, 53-55; in 
 Free-Soil convention at Worces 
 ter, 1848, 55, 56 ; his speech at 
 ratification meeting described by 
 W. L. Garrison, 57, 58 ; prepares 
 address in support of Palfrey s 
 reelection, 58-61 ; takes an ac 
 tive part in Free-Soil campaign 
 and in support of Palfrey, 62 
 seqq., 74-77 ; speech at Concord, 
 64, 65 ; letter of, to Palfrey, on 
 news of his defeat, 65, 66 ; pre 
 pares circular letter in anticipa 
 tion of new election, 66-69; 
 further letters of, to Palfrey, on 
 his continued ill success, 69-72 ; 
 opposes coalition of Free-Soilers 
 and Democrats in 1850, 98, 99 ; 
 his invincible repugnance to 
 Democrats, 99, 256, 257, 267 ; on 
 Palfrey s candidacy for governor, 
 99, 100 ; seeks to defeat adoption 
 by the people of new Mass Con 
 stitution drafted by the Conven 
 
 tion of 1853, 101-104; receives 
 votes for nomination for governor 
 at first Republican State conven 
 tions of 1854 and 1855, 106, 110 ; 
 active in formation of Republi 
 can party, 109, 110; nominated 
 for Attorney-General of Mass. 
 (1855), and defeated, 110, 114; 
 his letter accepting the nomina 
 tion, 110-113 ; appointed by Gov. 
 Gardner commissioner under 
 Personal Liberty law, 114; his 
 letter to the Advertiser thereon, 
 114-116; delegate to Pittsburg 
 convention (Feb. 1856), and on 
 Resolutions Committee there, 
 
 116 ; delegate to Republican Na 
 tional Convention at Philadel 
 phia (June, 1856), and on Reso 
 lutions Committee there, 116, 
 
 117 ; at Faneuil Hall ratification 
 meeting, 117 ; active in campaign 
 of 1856, 117; delegate to State 
 convention of 1860, 126; his 
 opinion of Lincoln and Seward 
 early in 1861, 126, 127 ; speech at 
 Concord, Apr. 19, 1861, 128, 129 ; 
 his opinion of Pres. Lincoln in 
 1864, 140, 141 ; writes Evarts on 
 his appointment as Attorney- 
 Gen, by Pres. Johnson, 149, 150 ; 
 his views of Democratic platform 
 of 1864,152, 153; suggested as 
 candidate for governor of Mass., 
 159, 160; appointed Attorney- 
 Gen, of U. S. by Pres. Grant 
 (1869), 162 ; story of the appoint 
 ment, 163-166 ; how it was af 
 fected by Boutwell s candidacy 
 for Secretary of the Treasury, 
 163 seqq. ; is urged to decline, 
 164, 165 ; and A. T. Stewart s in- 
 eligibility, 166 ; letter of, to G. F. 
 Hoar, on the subject, 167 ; pe 
 cuniary aspect of the change in 
 his position, 168 ; his first inter 
 view with Grant, 169; public ap 
 proval of his appointment, 169- 
 171 ; letters to and from Lowell 
 on the subject, 171-174 ; his first 
 cabinet meeting, 175 ; his opinion 
 of Sumner s attitude on the 
 Tenure-of-Office bill and the Al 
 abama Claims, 177, 178 ; supports 
 
INDEX 
 
 347 
 
 Secretary Fish, 178 ; opposes rec 
 ognition of belligerency of Cuban 
 insurgents, 179, 180 ; and the ap 
 pointment of Federal judges, 
 180-182; Secretary Cox quoted 
 on that subject, 181, 182 ; his se 
 lections offend senators and cause 
 friction, 182 ; his plain speaking 
 and sincerity antipathetic to pol 
 iticians, 182, 183; his attitude 
 taken as an affront by many sen 
 ators, 183 ; his reply to Senator 
 Chandler s resolution calling for 
 report on certain cases causes re 
 newed irritation, 183, 184; at 
 tempts to force him from the 
 cabinet, 184; Grant s attitude 
 toward him, 184 ; is offered a j 
 seat on the Supreme Court, 18^ ; j 
 hesitates concerning acceptance, j 
 184-188; letters from Judge 
 Gray and C. W. Storey thereon, j 
 186-188 ; accepts the appoint 
 ment, 188 ; his confirmation op- j 
 g>sed, 188 seqq. ; letters to Mrs. 
 . thereon, 188, 189 ; letters from 
 Henry Wilson, Secretary Cox, 
 Lowell, and C. F. Adams, 189- 
 193 ; letters of, to G. F. Hoar, 195, 
 19G ; his sister Elizabeth s words 
 of confidence and encourage 
 ment, 196 ; his nomination finally 
 rejected, 197 ; " a man who had 
 snubbed seventy senators," 197 ; 
 C. F. Adams on his plain speak 
 ing, 197, 198 ; charged with 
 " packing " Supreme Court by 
 appointments of Strong and 
 Bradley, to obtain reversal of de 
 cision on Legal-Tender Act, 199 ; 
 refutation of the charge, 199 
 seqq. ; continues in office of At 
 torney-Gen., 202 seqq. ; letters to 
 Lowell and Emerson, 203, to J. 
 M. Forbes, 204, 205, and to Mrs. 
 H., 205 ; his position in the cab 
 inet ill-assured, 206 ; resigns the 
 office (June, 1870), 207, 209, 210 ; 
 the story of the resignation told 
 by J. D. Cox, largely in H. s own 
 words, 207-211 ; his resignation 
 requested by Grant, without giv 
 ing reasons, 208, 209 ; his inter 
 view with Grant, 209-211 ; leaves 
 
 the cabinet, 212; his farewell 
 letter to the President, 2 13 ; hi 
 magnanimity, 213, 214 ; various 
 incidents of his attorney-general 
 ship described in letters to Mrs. 
 H. and Lowell, 2 15-2 17; opposes 
 Butler s nomination for governor 
 of Mass., 228; elected to 43d 
 Congress, 229 ; on the election of 
 1872, 231, 232 ; favors resumption 
 of specie payments, 232 ; again 
 opposes Butler s ambition, 235 ; 
 in Congress, 236 seqq, ; opposes 
 inflation of the currency, 236, 
 and Sherman s plan for resump 
 tion, 236, 237; letter to Forbes 
 concerning the latter, 237; op 
 poses "Force Bill," 238, 239; 
 consents to be candidate for U. S. 
 Senator, 241 ; opposed by But 
 ler and defeated by Dawes, 242 ; 
 suggested for a place in the cab 
 inet in 1876, 250; delegate to 
 Republican National Convention 
 of 1876, 251 ; opposed to Elaine s 
 nomination, but not for personal 
 reasons, 251, 252 ; runs independ 
 ently for Congress against But 
 ler (1876) and is defeated, 252- 
 255 ; anecdote of the campaign, 
 256 ; his antipathy for Democrats 
 and Independents, 256, 257 ; on 
 the presidential crisis of 1876 
 and his brother s election to the 
 Senate, 260, 261 ; and Butlerism 
 in Mass., 261, 262 ; on President 
 Hayes s cabinet, and the politi 
 cal outlook, 261 ; declines to 
 serve on commission to visit Lou 
 isiana, 262, 263 ; and Elaine s at 
 tack on Mass., 264 ; writes G. F. 
 Hoar on political affairs in 
 Mass., 264, 265 ; supports Elaine 
 for president (1884), 267-269; 
 once a bolter himself, 267 ; re 
 iterates his opinion of Democrats, 
 267 ; his reason for adhering to 
 Republican nominees, as reported 
 by Sherman Hoar, 268; his 
 opinion of " Mugwumps," as re 
 ported by G. F. Hoar, 268, 
 269; on J. M. Forbes and his 
 " Mugwumpery," 290, 292, 294; 
 and his son Sherman s election 
 
348 
 
 INDEX 
 
 to Congress as a Democrat, 290, 
 
 291, 293, 294; his continued alle 
 giance to the Republican party, 
 292, 294 ; letter to Forbes thereon, 
 
 292, 293, and on the desertion of 
 the party by young men, 294. 
 
 Letters to J. A. Andrew, 133, 
 Sidney Bartlett, 307, James G. 
 Blaine, 267, Boston Advertiser, 
 114-116, R. H. Dana, 169, 178, 
 241, 242, Ralph Waldo Emerson, 
 203, 239, William M. Evarts, 117, 
 126, 136, 138, 141-144, 149, 231, 
 235, 242, 279, 280, Mrs. Edith 
 Forbes, 325, John M. Forbes, 
 130-132, 140, 177, 204, 217, 237, 
 292, 294, 322, 323, 324, Ulysses 
 S. Grant, 213, 232, Mrs. Caroline 
 Brooks Hoar, 73-78, 93-98, 105, 
 145-148, 176, 185, 188, 205, 215, 
 306, George F. Hoar, 136, 167, 
 195, 214, 233, 234, 250, 251, 257, 
 260, 261, 293, James Russell 
 Lowell, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 
 155, 156, 158, 159, 160, 202, 203, 
 216, 221, 244, Charles W. Pal- 
 fray, 330, John G. Palfrey, 48-50, 
 61, 65, 69, 70, 71, 99, 101-103, 
 Le Baron Russell, 285, Wil 
 liam G. Russell, 281, Charles 
 Sumner, 180, James B. Thayer, 
 289, Charles R. Train, 63, Lois 
 Wade, 29 ; from C. F. Adams, 194, 
 Jacob D. Cox, 190-193, Ralph 
 Waldo Emerson, 286, William 
 M. Evarts, 262, 293, Horace 
 Gray, 186, J. R. Lowell, 172- 
 174, 193, 319, Charles W. Storey, 
 187, Lois Wade, 27, Henry Wil 
 son, 189. 
 
 Hoar, Edward Sherman, H. s 
 brother, his birth and marriage, 
 7 ; anecdote of, 9 ; 158, 316, 317, 
 326. 
 
 Hoar, Elizabeth, H. s sister, her 
 " History " of H., 11, 12 ; on H. s 
 character, 196 ; 6, 7, 15, 303, 316, 
 317, 333. 
 
 Hoar, Elizabeth, H. s daughter, 32. 
 And see Bowles, Elizabeth. 
 
 Hoar, Elizabeth Prichard, wife of 
 Edward S. Hoar, 7, 317. 
 
 Hoar, George Frisbie, H. s brother, 
 his birth and marriages, 7 ; letter 
 
 of H. to, on Sam s war experi 
 ence , 136 ; on H. s appointment 
 as Attorney-Gen., 163, 164, 165, 
 166, 170; letter of, to P. W. 
 Chandler, on proposed gift of 
 house to H., 168; on appoint 
 ments to cabinet from Mass., 
 171 ; on H. s first cabinet meet 
 ing, 175 ; letters of H. to, on the 
 contest over nomination to Su 
 preme Court, 195, 196 ; on respon 
 sibility for rejection of the nomi 
 nation, 197 ; his refutation of the 
 charge that H. packed the Su 
 preme Court, 199 and n. ; on re 
 lations of Grant and H., 246 ; on 
 Butler and H., 253, 254, 256, 257 ; 
 letter of H. to, on his election as 
 Senator, 260 ; replies to Elaine s 
 attack on Mass., 264 ; reports H. s 
 opinion of " Mugwumps," and in 
 cidentally delivers his own severe 
 judgment of them, 268, 269 ; H. s 
 jest concerning his "little bro 
 ther, "283, 284; affectionate re 
 lations between H. and, 284; 
 letter of H. to, on Sherman 
 Hoar s election to Congress, 293 ; 
 quoted, 8, 9, 12, 35, 36, 51 ; 103, 
 214, 233, 236, 251, 252, 302, 305, 
 315, 321. 
 
 Hoar, Joanna, American ancestress 
 of the family, her burial-place, 
 1; supposititious letter of, 1, 2; 
 ancestress of Adams and Quincy 
 families, 2 ; 7. 
 
 Hoar, John, I, son of Joanna, set 
 tles in Concord, 2 ; his character 
 and career, 2, 3 ; and Rev. Ed 
 ward Bulkeley s preaching, 3. 
 
 Hoar, John, II, son of Daniel, 3. 
 
 Hoar, Leonard, son of Joanna, 
 President of Harvard College, 2. 
 
 Hoar, Mrs. Louisa (Spurr), first 
 wife of G. F. Hoar, 7. 
 
 Hoar, Mary, H. s niece, 306. 
 
 Hoar, Mrs. Ruth (Miller), second 
 wife of G. F. Hoar, 7. 
 
 Hoar, Samuel, I, son of John, II, at 
 Concord Bridge, 3 ; 6, 249. 
 
 Hoar, Samuel, II, H. s father, 4 ; 
 his character, and his career as 
 lawver and statesman, 4, 5 ; his 
 mission to South Carolina and ex- 
 
INDEX 
 
 349 
 
 pulsion from the state, 4, 5, 39 ; 
 Starr King, Alcott, and Seth 
 Ames on, 5 ; H. s eulogy of, 5 ; 
 R. W. Emerson on, 6, 9, 10 ; his 
 children, 7 ; in his home, 8 seqq. ; 
 and Sunday observance, 8; 
 " Cato," 9 ; G. F. Hoar on, 9 ; 
 morning prayers, 10 ; Rev. B. 
 Frost on, 10, 11 ; his reputation 
 as a lawyer, 34 ; presides at Free- 
 Soil convention, 55; 28, 57, 65, 
 75, 77, 78, 104, 109, 269, 293, 
 300. 
 
 Hoar, Samuel, III, H. s oldest son, 
 and the " war fever," 133 ; char 
 acter of, 134, 135 ; enlists in Con 
 cord "home guard," 135; runs 
 away and enlists in Maine regi 
 ment, 135 ; transferred to 48th 
 Mass., 135 ; his service in the 
 field, 135 ; invalided home, 135 ; 
 H. on his war experience, 136 ; 
 after the war, 136 ; pardon clerk 
 under Evarts and H., 176 ; rela 
 tions of, with H., 176; supports 
 Cleveland against Elaine, 267; 
 22, 32, 47, 74, 77, 78, 186, 243, 
 250, 281. 
 
 Hoar, Samuel Johnson, H. s bro 
 ther, 7. 
 
 Hoar, Mrs. Sarah Sherman, H. s 
 mother, 6, 7, 8, 10. 
 
 Hoar, Sarah Sherman, H. s Bister, 
 married R. B. Storer, 7. 
 
 Hoar, Sarah Sherman, H. s daugh 
 ter, 32. 
 
 Hoar, Sherman, H. s son, anecdote 
 of, 160, 161 ; supports Cleveland 
 against Blaine, 267 ; reports H. s 
 opinion of Blaine, 268 ; nomi 
 nated and elected to Congress as 
 a Democrat, 290 ; Col. H. Lee on 
 his election, 291 ; letters of H. on 
 same subject, 293, 294, and of 
 W. M. Evarts, 293 ; 32, 281. 
 
 Hoar, Mrs. Susannah (Pierce), 4. 
 
 Hoar family, G. F. Hoar on, 8. . 
 
 Hoare, Charles, father of Charles 
 Hoar, 2 n. 
 
 Holmes, John, character of, 317, 
 318 ; H. s poem to, 318, 319 ; 18, 
 145, 146, 216, 221. 
 
 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 314, 315, 
 316, 317, 318, 320. 
 
 Hooper, Samuel, 131, 171, 239. 
 
 Hopkiuson, Judge Thomas, 35. 
 
 Horatius Codes, his feat emulated 
 by H., 46, 47. 
 
 Horses, epidemic among, in 1872, 
 230. 
 
 House of Representatives senda 
 committee to investigate condi 
 tions in Louisiana, 238. 
 
 Howard, Benjamin C., reporter of 
 decisions, 139. 
 
 Howe, Estes, 61, 67, 145, 146. 
 
 Howe, Samuel G., 130, 314. 
 
 Howells, William D., 315. 
 
 Kurd, Dr., 298. 
 
 "Inflation bill," passed by Repub 
 lican Congress and vetoed by 
 Grant, 235. 
 
 Jay, John, 227. 
 
 Johnson, Andrew, Pres. of U. S., 
 impeachment of, 149, 165, 176, 
 180. 
 
 Johnson, Reverdy, minister to Eng 
 land, negotiates treaty with Lord 
 Clarendon concerning Alabama 
 Claims, 176. 
 
 Johnson-Clarendon Treaty, opposed 
 by Sumner and rejected by Sen 
 ate, 176, 177, 178; 222, 224, 225. 
 
 Joint High Commission. See Ala 
 bama Claims. 
 
 Judiciary, Federal, H. s difficulties 
 concerning appointments to, 180- 
 182 
 
 Judiciary of Mass., change in tenure 
 of, provided in proposed new con 
 stitution (1853), 102. 
 
 Julius II (dellaRovere),Pope, H. a 
 resemblance to, 297. 
 
 Jumel Case, the, 233, 234. 
 
 Jurors, duties of, in case of inability 
 to agree, H. s charge to jury in 
 Commonwealth vs. Tuey concern 
 ing, 89-91. 
 
 Kansas, attempt to establish slavery 
 
 in, 109, 111. 
 
 Kellogg, William Pitt, 238. 
 Kent, William, his Commentaries, 
 
 30. 
 Keyes, Mrs. Joseph. See Maynard, 
 
 Helen. 
 
350 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Keyes, Judge John S., 37, 246, 247, 
 
 285. 
 King, Thomas Starr, on Samuel 
 
 Hoar, 5. 
 
 King Philip s War, 3. 
 Know-Nothing party, 109. 
 
 Lairds, huilders of the Alexandra, 
 139. 
 
 Lamb, Charles, John Holmes 
 likened to, 318. 
 
 Lander, Edward, H. C. 1835, 18. 
 
 Latham vs. U. S., 202. 
 
 Lawrence, Amos A., H. C. 1835, 18. 
 
 Lawrence, Charles B., 262. 
 
 Lawrence, Bishop William, 333. 
 
 Lee, Col. Henry, tributes of, to H., 
 291, 295, 296; his reply to Mr. 
 Shortle of Provincetown, 313, 314. 
 
 Legal-Tender Act, held unconstitu 
 tional by Supreme Court in Hep 
 burn vs. Griswold, 198; reversal 
 of decision on, after appointment 
 of Bradley and Strong, 199; 
 Chief Justice Chase s relation to, 
 200. 
 
 Leighton, Hannah, 249. 
 
 Lexington, Mass., 248, 249. 
 
 Liberal Republican movement of 
 1872, 229. 
 
 Liberator, The, on H. s speech at 
 Free-Soil ratification meeting, 57, 
 58. 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, Pres. of U. S., 
 result of his election, 126 ; pros 
 pects of renomination of, 139; 
 H. s opinion of, in 1864, 140, 141 ; 
 and the Chief Justiceship, 142, 
 143; 127,130. 
 
 Longfellow, Henry W-, 154, 314. 
 
 Loring, George B., 31. 
 
 Louisiana, political confusion in, 
 237, 238 ; committee of investi 
 gation appointed by House of 
 Representatives, 238 ; H. declines 
 to serve on commission to inves 
 tigate political condition in, 262, 
 263. 
 
 Levering, Joseph, 154. 
 
 Lowell, Charles Russell, on H. s 
 service as agent of Mass, in Wash 
 ington, 130 ; H. s praise of, 132. 
 
 Lowell, Mrs. Frances (wife of 
 J.R.L.), 174,203. 
 
 Lowell, Judge Francis C., quoted, 
 302. 
 
 Lowell, James Russell, rusticated 
 to Concord, 30, 31 ; his poem on 
 Miss Brooks, 3 ; his Biglow Pa 
 pers, 47, 152, 155, 156, 157, 203 ; 
 H. s friendship with, as revealed 
 by his letters, 150-161 ; his gout, 
 153; his Commemoration Ode, 155; 
 dedicated 2d series of Biglow 
 Papers to H., 156, 157 ; his 50th 
 birthday, 160; writes H. on his 
 appointment as Attorney -Gen., 
 172-174, and on the contest over 
 his nomination to the Supreme 
 Court, 193, 194 ; his Two Gunners, 
 283; writes H. on his golden 
 wedding, 319; H. compared to 
 L. s ideal "stalwart man," 334; 
 quoted, 245, 247, 248 ; 18, 145, 146, 
 154, 202, 203, 216, 314, 315, 318. 
 Lyceum, the, in Concord, 300. 
 
 McCrary, George W., 261. 
 
 Macdonald, Sir John A., 224. 
 
 MacVeagh, Wayne, on Butler, 201, 
 202. 
 
 Martin, Luther, 107. 
 
 Mason, Charles, 61. 
 
 Massachusetts, sends Samuel Hoar 
 to South Carolina, 4, 5 ; attitude 
 of Whigs in, in 1845, 39; anti- 
 annexation meetings in, 40 seqq. ; 
 attitude of, toward Mexican War, 
 44; division of Whigs in, 44; 
 Constitutional convention of 1853 
 in, adopts new constitution by 
 combination of Free-Soilers and 
 Democrats, 101 ; discussion as to 
 appointment of two members of 
 cabinet from, 164, 165, 171 ; " too 
 much, in the cabinet," 184. 
 
 Massachusetts Reformatory at Con 
 cord, 313. 
 
 Maynard, Helen (Mrs. Joseph 
 Keyes), 300. 
 
 " Med. Fac., the," 22, 23. 
 
 Merrick, Pliny, Justice of Mass. Su 
 preme Court, 126. 
 
 Metcalf, Theron, Justice of Mass. 
 Supreme Court, 126. 
 
 Mexican War, 44 seqq. 
 
 Middlesex County bar, the palmy 
 days of, 108. 
 
INDEX 
 
 351 
 
 Miller, Ruth. See Hoar, Mrs. Ruth 
 
 Miller. 
 Miller, Samuel, Justice of U. S. 
 
 Supreme Court, 235. 
 Milton, John, his Paradise Lost, 
 
 306, 326. 
 Missouri Compromise, repeal of, 
 
 united the free states, 109 ; H. s 
 
 views concerning, 111. 
 Morris, Gouverneur, 151. 
 Motley, J. Lothrop, 131, 151, 171, 
 
 173, 178, 179, 314. 
 "Mugwumps," H. s opinion of, as 
 
 reported by G. F. Hoar, 268, 269. 
 Munroe, Alfred, 301, 327. 
 
 Naushon, island of, 292, 323. 
 
 Nebraska, attempt to establish 
 slavery in, 109. 
 
 Nelson, Albert H., Chief Justice of 
 Superior Court of Suffolk, 35. 
 
 Nelson, Samuel, Justice of U. S. 
 Supreme Court, 224. 
 
 Nelson, Thomas L., Justice of U. S. 
 District Court, 233. 
 
 New York Evening Pott, 279 and n. 
 
 New York Times, 208, 212. 
 
 North, the, reluctant to admit ne 
 cessity of war, 126. 
 
 Northcote, Sir Stafford, letter of, to 
 Sumner, 225 ; 224. 
 
 Norton, Charles Eliot, 280, 314. 
 
 Noyes, Curtis, 143. 
 
 Palfray, Charles W., H. C. 1835, 18, 
 26, 330. 
 
 Palfrey, John G., elected to Con 
 gress (1846), 45; votes against 
 R. C. Winthrop for Speaker, 47 ; 
 his course approved by H., 48- 
 50 ; letter of Sumner to, 51 ; 
 his reelection advocated in ad 
 dress drawn by H., 58-61 ; letter 
 of H. to, on Free-Soil movement, 
 61 ; H. active in his support, 63 
 seqq. ; fails to obtain reelection, 
 65 ; letters of H. to, 65, 66, 69, 
 70 ; circular letter in support of, 
 66-69; has no better success in 
 successive new elections, 70 seqq. , 
 letters of H. to, 70-72 ; finally 
 defeated, 70 ; letters of H. to, on 
 his candidacy for governor of 
 Mass., 99, 100, and in opposition 
 
 to the new constitution, 101-103 ; 
 42, 52, 74, 76, 77, 104, 330. 
 
 Panic of 1873, 236. 
 
 Park, John C., 61. 
 
 Parker, Charles H., H. C. 1835, 18, 
 304. 
 
 Parker, Francis E., 258. 
 
 Parker House, meeting-place of the 
 Saturday Club, 314, 315, 316. 
 
 Parkman, Francis, 315. 
 
 Peabody, Dr. Andrew P., 18. 
 
 Peirce, Benjamin, 154, 314. 
 
 Personal Liberty law of Mass., H. 
 appointed a commissioner under, 
 114 seqq. 
 
 Peters, Richard, Jr., reporter of de 
 cisions, 139. 
 
 Phi Beta Kappa, E. R. H. at annual 
 dinner of, 153, 154 ; 289. 
 
 Phillips, Stephen C., 52, 104. 
 
 Phillips, Wendell, 42. 
 
 Pierce, Col. Abijah, 4. 
 
 Pierce, Edward L., his Life of Sum 
 ner quoted, 41, 51 ; 253. 
 
 Pierce, Franklin, Pres. of U. S., 
 105. 
 
 Pierce, Susannah. See Hoar, Mrs. 
 Susannah Pierce, 4. 
 
 Pillsbury, Albert E., quoted, on 
 H. s connection with case of An 
 thony Burns, 80, 81. 
 
 Pittsburg, Pa., H. teaches in girls 
 school at, 26, 27. 
 
 Platt, Thomas C., 266. 
 
 Poland, Luke P., 192. 
 
 Police Courts in Mass., tenure of 
 judges of, 102. 
 
 Polk, James K., Pres. of U. S., 
 elected on annexation platform, 
 38, 39. 
 
 Pollock, Sir Frederick, Chief Baron, 
 and the Alexandra case, 139. 
 
 Port Hudson campaign, the, 135, 
 136. 
 
 " Praying Indians," the, and John 
 Hoar, 3. 
 
 Prescott, Lieut. George L., 128 and n. 
 
 Prescott, William H, 314. 
 
 Presidential campaign of 1876, re 
 sult of, 260 seqq. 
 
 Prichard, Amelia M., 186. 
 
 Prichard, Elizabeth. See Hoar, Mrs. 
 Elizabeth Prichard. 
 
 " Prichardesses, the," 327. 
 
352 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Prize Cases, the, Evarts s argument 
 
 in, 138. 
 Putnam, William L., Justice of U. S. 
 
 Circuit Court, letter of, to G. F. 
 
 Hoar, 321. 
 
 Quincy, Edmund, 2. 
 Quincy, Mrs. Edmund, 2. 
 Quincy, Josiah, President of Har 
 vard College, 17, 18, 19, 104. 
 
 Radcliffe, Anne, Lady Mowlson, 1, 
 2. 
 
 Radcliffe College, 1. 
 
 Randolph, John, of Roanoke, on 
 Roger Sherman, 6, 7. 
 
 Rawlins, John A., Secretary of War, 
 162 ; favors recognition of bellig 
 erency of Cuban insurgents, 179 ; 
 death of, 184. 
 
 " Rebellion " in the Class of 1835 
 (1831), 19, 20. 
 
 Republican party, State convention 
 of, in Mass., in 1854, 106; or 
 ganization of, in Mass., 109 ; State 
 convention of 1855, 110; H. on 
 its purpose and principles, 110- 
 113; informal convention of, at 
 Pittsburg (Feb. 1856), 116; first 
 national convention of, at Phila., 
 June, 1856, 116 ; H. s glorification 
 of, and allegiance to, 268. 
 
 Reynolds, Rev. Grindall, 129, 298, 
 299, 326. 
 
 Rhodes, James Ford, 245, 255. 
 
 Rice, Reuben, 3 11, 326. 
 
 R[ichardson], William A., 243. 
 
 Ricketts, Mrs., 242. 
 
 Ripley, Dr. Ezra, 298. 
 
 Robeson, George M., Secretary of 
 the Navy, 190, 192, 216. 
 
 Robinson, William S. ("Warring- 
 ton"), on H. s speech at Free- 
 Soil convention, 56. 
 
 Rockwell, Julius, first Republican 
 nominee for governor of Mass. 
 (1855), 110. 
 
 Rockwood, Ebenezer, H. named for, 
 8. 
 
 Rogers, William B., 315. 
 
 Rome, H. at, 46, 47. 
 
 Rotch, William, anecdote of, 257. 
 
 Rowlandson, Mrs., 3. 
 
 Rowge, Samuel W., 315. 
 
 Russell, Le Baron, letter of H. to, 
 concerning gift to Emerson, 286. 
 
 Russell, William G., quoted con 
 cerning H., 276, 277 ; letter of 
 H. to, 281. 
 
 Samana Bay, 206. 
 
 San Domingo, Pres. Grant s plan 
 for annexation of, opposed and 
 defeated by Sumner, 206, 207. 
 
 Sanborn, Franklin B., arrested for 
 complicity in John Brown s raid, 
 125 ; discharged on habeas corpus 
 issued by H., 125, 126. 
 
 Sargent, Mr., Postmaster of Haver- 
 hill, 265. 
 
 Saturday Club, and H. s appoint 
 ment as Attorney-Gen., 172, 173, 
 174 ; origin and growth of , 314- 
 316 ; members of, 314, 315 ; din 
 ners of, 315, 316; 133, 197, 269, 
 294, 317, 320, 325. 
 
 Schenck, Robert C., 224. 
 
 Schurz, Carl, on Sumner and the 
 Alabama Claims, 222 ; 261, 267. 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, his Fortunes of 
 Nigel, 274, Legend of Montrose, 
 325, Rob Roy, 295 and n., Waver- 
 ley, 326 n. 
 
 Sedgwick, Catherine, 98. 
 
 Sedgwick, Charles, 97, 98. 
 
 Senate of U. S., members of, irri 
 tated by H. s attitude toward ju 
 dicial appointments, 181-183, and 
 by his denial of accountability to 
 the Senate, 183 ; opposes and 
 finally rejects his nomination to 
 the Supreme Court, 188 seqq., 
 197. 
 
 Seward, William H., 105, 126, 127. 
 
 Shackford, Charles C., H. C. 1835, 
 18, 26. 
 
 Shaw, John H., 61, 65. 
 
 Shaw, Lemuel, Chief Justice of Su 
 preme Court of Mass., 126. 
 
 Sheridan, Gen. P. H., 294. 
 
 Sherman, Sarah, married Samuel 
 Hoar, II. See Hoar, Mrs. Sarah 
 Sherman. 
 
 Sherman, John, U. S. Senator, 163, 
 164, 236, 237. 
 
 Sherman, Roger, H. s maternal 
 grandfather, 6 ; John Randolph 
 on, 7 ; 293, 310. 
 
INDEX 
 
 353 
 
 Sherman, Gen. William T., 168, 294. 
 
 Shortle, Mr., of Provincetown, and 
 Col. Henry Lee, 313, 314. 
 
 Simmons, William A., appointed 
 collector of port of Boston by 
 Butler s influence, 254, 255 ; 260, 
 261,262, 264,265. 
 
 Slavery, steady growth of sectional 
 antagonism concerning 1 , 38, 39 ; 
 question of, involved in struggle 
 over annexation of Texas, 39 
 seqq. ; and the Mexican War, 44 ; 
 Webster s speech on, in 1848, 50, 
 51 ; opposition to, the basis of ad 
 dress of Mass. Whigs against 
 Taylor, 53-55 ; result of attempts 
 to establish in Kansas and Ne 
 braska, 109 ; H. on opposition to 
 extension of, 113. 
 
 Sleepy Hollow, 38. 
 
 Smith, Gerrit, 106. 
 
 Smith, Sydney, 227. 
 
 Smithsonian Institution, 242. 
 
 Smyth, Egbert C., his suit against 
 the Andover Theological Semi 
 nary, 270-273. 
 
 Social Circle, at Concord, 311, 312, 
 325. 
 
 South Carolina, Samuel Hoar s mis 
 sion to, and expulsion from, 4, 5, 
 39. 
 
 Specie payments, resumption of, 
 232; Sen. Sherman s bill passed 
 by Congress, 236 ; H. s reason for 
 opposing that bill, 237- 
 
 Spiritualism, H. s attitude to, 309. 
 
 Springfield Republican, 56. 
 
 Spurr, Louisa. See Hoar, Mrs. Lou 
 isa Spurr. 
 
 Stanton, Edwin M., nominated for 
 justice of Supreme Court, 198 ; 
 dies before taking hia seat, 198 ; 
 144, 191. 
 
 Staples, Samuel, 276. 
 
 State Highway Commission, and 
 Main St., Concord, 327. 
 
 Stewart, Alexander T., appointed 
 Secretary of the Treasury by 
 Grant, 162; his ineligibility, 163, 
 164 ; his name withdrawn, 166. 
 
 Stillman, William J., 145, 146. 
 
 Storer, Eliz. H., H. s niece, 302. 
 
 Storer, Robert B., marries Sarah S. 
 Hoar, T 
 
 Storer, Mrs. Sarah S. (Hoar), H. s 
 sister, 7, 13, 23. 
 
 Storey, Charles W., H. C. 1835, 18 ; 
 letter of, to H., on his appoint 
 ment to Supreme Court of U. S., 
 187 ; 318. 
 
 Story, Joseph, Justice of Supreme 
 Court of U. S., 104. 
 
 Story, William W., 104. 
 
 Story Association, 104. 
 
 Strong, William, appointed justice 
 of Supreme Court of U. S., 198 ; 
 his appointment alleged to be 
 part of a scheme to obtain a re 
 versal of the Legal-Tender de 
 cision, 199 seqq. 
 
 Sullivan, Judge William, quoted 
 concerning H., 274, 308. 
 
 Sumner, Charles, letter of, to Dr. 
 Palfrey, on Webster s candidacy 
 for president, 51 ; elected U. S. 
 Senator by Coalition of 1850, 99 ; 
 opposes and defeats Johnson- 
 Clarendon Treaty, 177; his atti 
 tude on the Alabama Claims, 177, 
 178, 222 seqq. ; opposes recogni 
 tion of belligerency of Cuban in 
 surgents, 179, 180 ; his ambition to 
 be " president, secretary of state, 
 Congress, and public instructor 
 and guide, all rolled into one," 
 204, 205 ; opposes treaty for an 
 nexation of San Domingo, 206, 
 207 ; arouses Grant s anger, 206 ; 
 C. Schurz on, 222 ; his speech on 
 the Johnson-Clarendon Treaty, 
 224; letter of Sir S. Northcote 
 thereon, 225 ; his death, 239, 240 ; 
 and the Civil Rights bill, 240; 
 his last speech in the Senate, 240 ; 
 character, 240 ; H. s eulogy, 240 ; 
 42, 44, 50, 52, 53, 55, 105, 142, 
 164, 171, 211,234, 260, 314, 334. 
 
 Sumter, Fort, fall of, 127. 
 
 Supreme Court of the U. S., num 
 ber of members of, reduced, then 
 increased, 180, 181 ; charge of 
 "packing," 199 seqq. 
 
 Supreme Judicial Court of Mass., 
 H. s ten years service on, 119 
 seqq. ; a hard-working court, 124. 
 
 Taney, Roger B., Chief Justice of 
 the U. S., 138. 
 
354 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Taylor, Zachary, Pres. of U. S.,and 
 the Whig nomination in 1848, 51 
 seqq. ; Webster s attitude toward, 
 51, 52 ; address of Mass. Anti- 
 Slavery Whigs in opposition to, 
 53-55 ; 77. 
 
 Teuterden, Charles S. A. Abbott, 
 Lord, 227. 
 
 Tenure-of-Office bill, 177. 
 
 Texas, annexation of, 38 ; struggle 
 over admission of, to the Union, 
 39 seqq. ; attitude of Mass. Whigs, 
 39, 41 ; meetings in Boston and 
 Concord in opposition, 40-42 ; ad 
 mission of, 42 ; H. advocates anti- 
 Texas resolutions in Mass. Sen 
 ate, 43. And see Anti-Texas 
 Committee. 
 
 Thayer, James B., letter of H. to, 
 on Phi Beta Kappa and J. M. 
 Forbes, 289. 
 
 Thomas, Benjamin F., Justice of 
 Mass. Supreme Court, 148, 159, 
 189. 
 
 Thompson, Benjamin, Palfrey s op 
 ponent for reelection to Congress, 
 66, 67, 71, 74. 
 
 Thompson, Sir Henry, 322. 
 
 Thoreau, Henry D., 25, 309, 317. 
 
 Thornton, Sir Edward, 224. 
 
 Thurston, Rev. James, 301. 
 
 Tiber, the, H. swims across, 46, 47. 
 
 Tobacco, H. s addiction to use of, 
 308. 
 
 Town meetings in Concord, H. s 
 paramount influence in, 310, 311. 
 
 Tracy, Albert H., 7. 
 
 Train, Charles R., 35, 51, 61, 63. 
 
 Treaty of Washington, 225, 226, 
 227, 250, 251. 
 
 Trial justices in Mass., proposed 
 changes in tenure of, 102. 
 
 Trobriand, Gen. Philippe R. de, 
 238. 
 
 Tyler, John, Pres. of TJ. S., and the 
 annexation of Texas, 38, 39. 
 
 Unitarian Association, the, 303, 
 304. 
 
 Van Buren, Martin, Pres. of U. S., 
 Free-Soil candidate against Tay 
 lor, 66, 74. 
 
 Visitors of Andover Theological 
 
 Seminary, suit of Prof. Smyth 
 against, 270-273. 
 Vose, Henry, 13, 14. 
 
 Wade, Lois (Mrs. Campbell), pupil 
 of H. at Pittsburg, 27 ; letter of 
 H. to, 27. 
 
 Waite, Morrison R., appointed Chief 
 Justice of U. S., 234. 
 
 Walker, James, President of Har 
 vard College, 230. 
 
 Walker, Joseph H., 284. 
 
 Walley, Mr., 35. 
 
 Waltham Watch Co., 303. 
 
 War of 1812, attitude of Mass, in, 
 criticized by J. G. Blaine, 263, 264. 
 
 Ward, Samuel G., 314. 
 
 Warren, Judge, 257. 
 
 " Warrington." See Robinson, Wil 
 liam S. 
 
 Washburn, Emory, H. studies law 
 in office of, 30. 
 
 Washburn, William B., 164, 165, 
 171. 
 
 Washburne, Elihu B., Secretary of 
 State, 162, 164, 178. 
 
 Washington, D. C., fascination of, 
 220. 
 
 Washington, Treaty of. See Treaty 
 of Washington. 
 
 Waverley Novels, H. s familiarity 
 with, 274. And see Scott, Sir 
 Walter. 
 
 Webster, Daniel, candidate for 
 president, 50, 51 ; speech of, in 
 U. S. Senate, quoted, 50, 51 ; hia 
 attitude toward Taylor s nomina 
 tion, 51 seqq. ; and the Free-Soil 
 convention of 1848, 57 ; 35, 36, 
 39, 269. 
 
 Wentworth, Tappan, 35. 
 
 Wheaton, Henry, reporter of deci 
 sions, 139. 
 
 Wheildon, William W., 326. 
 
 Whig party, H. active in, 37 ; atti 
 tude of, toward admission of 
 Texas, 39, 41 ; division of, on that 
 question, 43, 44, and on the ques 
 tion of war with Mexico, 44 seqq. ; 
 national convention of, in 1848, 
 nominates Z. Taylor, 52 ; anti- 
 slavery branch of, in Mass., is 
 sues address in opposition to Tay 
 lor, 53-55. 
 
INDEX 
 
 355 
 
 Whipple, Edwin P., 314. 
 
 " Whiskey Ring, the," 245. 
 
 Whist, H. s devotion to, 326, 327. 
 
 Whiting, John, 30. 
 
 Whiting, Miss, 29, 30. 
 
 Whitings, the, 15. 
 
 Whittier, John G., 42, 294. 
 
 Willard, Mr., one of the early set 
 tlers in Concord, 300. 
 
 Willes, Justice Sir James S., 280. 
 
 Williams, George H., Attorney- 
 Gen, of U. S., 224, 234. 
 
 Williams College confers honorary 
 LL. D. on H., 160. 
 
 Wilmot Proviso, 5. 
 
 Wilson, Henry, U. S. Senator, let 
 ter of, to H., on contest over his 
 nomination to Supreme Court, 
 189 ; 41, 43, 52, 55, 171. 
 
 Winslow, Benjamin D., H. C. 1835, 
 26. 
 
 Winthrop, Robert C., and the Mexi 
 can War, 44; candidate for 
 Speaker of U. S. House of Rep 
 resentatives, 47, 49, 50; 39, 41, 
 70. 
 
 Woman suffrage, H. s attitude to, 
 309. 
 
 Woodman, Horatio, 145, 146, 314. 
 
 Woolsey, Theodore D., 202. 
 
 Worcester Palladium, on H. s 
 speech at Free-Soil convention, 
 
 Worcester Whig, on H. s speech at 
 Free-Soil convention, 56. 
 
 Wyman, Jeffries, 145, 146, 148. 
 
 Wyman, William, trial of, for em 
 bezzlement, 35, 36. 
 
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