point to converse with people upon the cars, at the inns and stations, and wherever I could reach them, and I invariably found them courteous and affable, and with a most friendly feeling towards America and Americans. Of course, there were many jocose remarks about our ambition to buy everything, and our pride in the size of our country and of its purses, and there was more or less anxiety as to their own ability to compete with us in business, coupled with the pertinent suggestion that there was danger ahead for us if the time came when England's inability to purchase deprived us in some measure of our best customer, but the tone of the discussion was never bitter, and there was not wanting a certain pride that a people whom they regarded as of their own stock had displayed such a marvellous capacity, and had grown to be so important an element in controlling the destiny of the world. It seems to me hardly worth while to "hark back" to the time of the Civil War- if then the feeling in England was in the higher circles unfriendly to us it was no more so than the feeling in our country towards them. If their papers were severe and arrogant it would not have been difficult to match it in our own press. But times have changed since then; the America of to-day is broader and less provincial than forty years ago, and the same is true of England. The growth of democracy in Europe and the spread of the democratic spirit has brought to England a better knowledge of democracy, while community of business interests, the telegraph, more frequent communication, and the constant intermarriages between the people of the two countries have drawn them together and taught each better to understand and appreciate the other. However that may be, I am convinced that the feeling of friendship to-day is deep and strong in England, and based upon no sordid notion of advantages to be derived from it, and least of all upon any thought that it would be well to stand in with a great power like the United States. Of course the rulers of England have to consider policy, as do the rulers of every other nation, and we may assume that there is more or less of expediency in their effusive friendship, but that is not what moves the great masses, nor has it brought about the remarkable change of tone so evident.

You have spoken of the impressive services at Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's upon the day of President McKinley's

funeral, and the general manifestation of grief. Possibly there may have been something perfunctory in them as official services, but that does not at all account for the crowds of mourners and the display of real sympathy in every quarter. Trifles sometimes show the drift of a people's thought, and perhaps a little incident a friend witnessed tells more than imposing pageants. A lady on the way that day to Westminster Abbey told me she met in a side street a boys' procession carrying a flag made of one-half of the English flag and one-half of the American sewed together. Upon asking what they were doing, a small boy said: "Have n't you heard that President McKinley is dead; he was next to the Queen."

Somewhat similar was my own experience. I was in the city of York the day that the President became seriously ill, and the first I knew of it was when a woman keeping a small shop, asked, with tears in her eyes, of a lady of my party, if she was an American, and if she had seen the sad news in the papers. Going on to Durham before another paper had been issued my first knowledge of the fatal termination was when a young English girl called to her mother upon the stage on its way to the station, in the saddest of tones, that the flags were at half-mast and the President was dead.

That Saturday night I was at Edinburgh; everywhere were signs of mourning. Attending the very early military service on Sunday for the famous Black Watch regiment, in St. Giles' Cathedral, the clergyman prayed most feelingly for America, and the audience, accompanied by the military band, joined in singing "Onward, Christian Soldiers," and the service was concluded by the "Dead March from Saul.”

This was too sudden and spontaneous to be anything but a genuine expression of real sympathy and sorrow. Upon the following Thursday I attended the special service also in St. Giles' Cathedral, and I question whether any of the imposing services at St. Paul's or elsewhere could have been more sadly impressive. The simple Presbyterian service, the ancient church with its severe Gothic architecture, the presence again of the military, the dignified procession of the Lord Provost, magistrates, judges, and clergy, the crowds awaiting the opening of the doors, comprising many Americans but more Scotch, all contributed to the solemn effect; and when, after the rendering of Chopin's "Funeral March," the

old clergyman, in his prayer for America in her affliction, in tremulous tones alluded to the loneliness of the widow, many eyes were wet with tears besides those of Americans present, and the service was concluded by the pipers of the city playing upon the bagpipes, with weird effect, "The Flowers of the Forest," as the military and officials marched out. One who questions the meaning of this display of feeling, it seems to me, shuts his eyes to one of the most friendly and sympathetic demonstrations I have ever had the fortune to witness. I mention this merely as one of the services held throughout the land, in small towns as well as cities, where the people met together in their churches under no official call, and prompted, I believe, by no feelings except those of national good will and brotherhood.

I may be wrong in my estimate of the change of sentiment in England, but I cannot see in it the lower motives suggested in the paper just read. I do not believe that England fears America in the least, or has the smallest anxiety about allies in case of trouble; on the contrary, her confident self-reliance was to me her most striking trait. The Englishman believes in England's might — he has but little fear as to the future so far as relates to the integrity and safety of his country he believes he can and will settle the Transvaal, the Irish, and other questions in his own way. If he seeks our friendship and has assumed a different attitude from formerly, I am satisfied it is a real change of heart, because he feels that we have shown ourselves worthy of the friendship of a great nation, and if the people of America do not welcome this attitude and respond in a cordial way, accepting it as sincere and genuine, I cannot help feeling that they show themselves in an unworthy and unfortunate light.

The author of the paper read just now speaks of what might have been the course of history if some single important transactions had gone otherwise than they did.

When he was speaking, it occurred to me that the Society might be interested in some facts which I stated a few days ago to a club in Worcester of which I am a member, known as the Worcester Fire Society, of the relation of persons,

members of that Society or closely connected with it, to some very important figures in our political history, who were all of them members of this Society.

The Club of which I spoke was founded more than one hundred years ago, for the purpose of assisting each other at fires. It was before the day of fire-engines operated by steam or by human power. But it has long since become a mere social club.

There was a vacancy in the office of Judge of the Supreme. Court of the United States, caused by the death of Mr. Justice William Cushing, of Massachusetts, September 13, 1810. He had been, as is well known, nominated by Washington in 1796 to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, but declined the office. When Judge Cushing died, Mr. Madison was President.

It

The office was offered to Levi Lincoln, of Worcester. was not merely that he was "talked of" for the office, as people sometimes say, but he was actually appointed and commissioned. A letter from Mr. Smith, the Secretary of State, enclosing his commission, is among the Lincoln papers in possession of this Society.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, January 10, 1811. SIR, The President of the United States being desirous of availing the public of your services as an associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the U. States, I have the pleasure to enclose your Commission, and am, Sir, With great respect,

LEVI LINCOLN, Esqr.

Your most ob. set.

R. SMITH.

In the same collection will be found a letter from Cæsar A. Rodney, of Delaware, a very eminent Southern Senator, which says Mr. Jefferson earnestly desired this appointment.

WILMINGTON, Jan. 7th, 1811.

MY DEAR SIR, -I sincerely rejoice that you have been appointed to succeed judge Cushing. As soon as I heard of his decease, I wrote to the President in your favor. In a few days after, I received a letter from that truly great and good man, M: Jefferson, strongly recommending you for the vacant seat on the bench; & soliciting my interference on the subject. My reply was that I had anticipated his wishes. I trust you will not decline the situation, but promptly accept of it. In these times an honest & enlightened man, and an able & upright lawyer, will be a great acquisition. The law, like the providence of God,

should watch with an equal & impartial eye over all. This I am sure would be the rule of your conduct.

Yours very sincerely & truly,

C. A. RODNEY.

There is also a letter from Mr. Madison, urging Mr. Lincoln to take the office.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20, 1810.

DEAR SIR, I have recd. your favor on the subject of a successor to Judge Cushing. I feel all the importance of filling the vacancy, with a character particularly acceptable to the Northern portion of our Country, and as generally so as possible to the whole of it. With these views, I had turned my thoughts & hopes to the addition of your learning, principles, and weight, to a Department which has so much influence on the course and success of our political system. I cannot allow myself to despond of this solid advantage to the public. I am not unaware of the infirmity which is said to afflict your eyes; but these are not the organs most employed in the functions of a Judge ; & I would willingly trust that the malady which did not unfit you for your late high & important station, may not be such as to induce a refusal of services which your patriotism will, I am sure, be disposed to yield. If your mind should have taken an adverse turn on this subject, I pray that you will give it a serious reconsideration; under an assurance that besides the general sentiment which would be gratified by a favorable decision, there is nothing which many of your particular friends have more at heart, as important to the public welfare. As there are obvious reasons for postponing the appointment till the meeting of the Senate, you will have time to allow due weight to the considerations on which this appeal is founded; and it will afford me peculiar pleasure to learn that it has found you not inflexible to its object. Accept, Dear Sir, assurances of my high esteem & friendly respects

L. LINCOLN, Esqr.

JAMES MADISON.

Mr. Lincoln had suffered for many years, and did till his death in 1820, from a serious infirmity of the eyes. It will be seen that Mr. Madison urges him to undertake the duties of Judge, notwithstanding this infirmity, and thinks he will be able to get along as well as he had got along in the office of Attorney-General.

Mr. Lincoln was, probably, Mr. Jefferson's most intimate friend, and possessed his confidence more perfectly than any other man. There was at one time among the Lincoln papers a letter, which I suppose has been very properly destroyed,