CAMBRIDGE, Feb 27th 1846

MY DEAR SIR, - Your favor of Jan. 1st did not reach me till Feb. 20th As to the MS Memoirs you mention, I can give you no information. I have heard of the ghostly dialogue between Wolfe & Montcalm, but whether in MS or print, I cannot say. You had better write on the subject to Mr. O. Rich, (12 Red Lion Square, London) who is better acquainted with books on America than any other person. My opinion is that the work has not been published.

I trust your difficulties with the Council about money have been overcome. Public bodies have proverbially no souls, & to judge from their acts it might often be doubted whether they have any conscience. Besides, the Old Bay State has a very odd way in these matters. There is no auditor; and the Governor & Council sit gravely & debate & vote upon every little dribbling account. I think if you had forwarded a certificate from Mr. Austin, that a certain quantity of papers was ready, that it would have answered the purpose. The cautious & patriotic Council, in their great concern for the public purse, profess to require something positive to act upon.

I doubt if much can be found in the archives of the Foreign Office touching colonial affairs; perhaps nothing except such parts of the correspondence of the French ambassador in London from time to time as relate to Canada; and with the rules in that office it is extremely doubtful whether they will permit this correspondence to be examined. I cannot think that the "red line map" affair can be an objection; for certainly nothing appeared before the public in that matter, which could be in the least possible degree objectionable. But I know, from a pretty thorough experience, that there is a morbid sensitiveness in that office; yet I am under very great obligations to Mr. Guizot and Mr. Mignet for their politeness & civilities while I was in the office during my last visit to Paris.

I am glad Mr. Margry is engaged in the work you mention. It will be a valuable contribution to American history. Pray assure him that I have no idea of going over the same ground nor of doing anything more than to publish a new edition of the Life of La Salle, with the view of illustrating the history of the first settlement of Louisiana and Texas. Assure him, also, that if I can contribute in any way to forward his enterprise, I shall be happy to do it.

If La Salle saw the Mississippi before Joliet, it is a new & extraordinary fact. If any document confirms it, I [hope] you will get it if you can; and every thing else relating to the subject.

With great regards

BENJ. P. POORE, Esq.

Your most obt st

JARED SPARKS.

P. S. Mr. Francis Parkman, of Boston, will probably write to you. He is a young gentleman whose character & connexions give him the highest claim to respect. He is engaged with much zeal in researches relating to certain portions of American history.

[Addressed]

à Monsieur

Mons. BENJAMIN P. POORE,

No 5 Rue Chananeilles, Faubourg St. Germain, Paris

Steamer

Dr. SAMUEL A. GREEN read the following paper:

President Lincoln's short speech at Gettysburg, at the dedication of the Soldiers' Cemetery, was a production which at once stamped the author as a master of the English language. For simplicity and strength of style it is unsurpassed, and it has already taken high rank among the finest specimens of choice diction. In a few sentences Mr. Lincoln said exactly what was needed for the occasion, and at the same time he gave worthy utterance to the feelings of a nation. His words were so plain that they were understood by all, and his ideas so grand and lofty that they reached the heart of the English-speaking world.

One short clause at the very end of this speech has been quoted on various occasions so often that it is now as familiar as a household word. I refer to the expression: "That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." The sentiment here contained is so simple, and defines a democracy so clearly and tersely, that it seems somewhat singular that the same idea has never been fully expressed before; as the Preacher says: "There is no new thing under the sun."

In these remarks I purpose to give a few sentences from other writers, where there is a close resemblance to the sentiment, but the similarity is not complete, as the idea is not as full. They are as follows:

In a work entitled "Some Information respecting America, collected by Thomas Cooper, late of Manchester" (London, 1794), the author, writing to a correspondent, gives the principal inducement for people to leave England for this country. Besides other reasons, he says:

There is little fault to find with the government of America, either in principle or in practice: . . . The government is the government of the people, and for the people (pp. 52, 53).

In an address presented to President John Adams, and signed by the principal citizens of Westmoreland County, Virginia, occurs the following sentence:

The Declaration that our People are hostile to a Government made by themselves, for themselves and conducted by themselves is an Insult malignant in its Nature, and extensive in its Mischief.

...

While the address is not dated, the answer was written on July 11, 1798. See Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society (new series, IX. 322-327) for October, 1894.

Chief Justice Marshall, in M'Culloch vs. the State of Maryland et al., IV. Wheaton's Reports (New York, 1819),

says:

The government of the Union, then, (whatever may be the influence of this fact on the case,) is, emphatically, and truly, a government of the people. In form and substance it emanates from them. Its powers are granted by them, and are to be exercised directly on them, and for their benefit (pp. 404, 405).

Then, again, in Webster's "Second Speech on Foot's Resolution," delivered on January 26, 1830, as printed in "The Works of Daniel Webster" (Boston, 1851), this sentence

occurs:

It is, Sir, the people's Constitution, the people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people (III. 321).

Lamartine, in his History of the Girondists (London, 1850, Bohn's edition), speaking of Robespierre's theories, says:

This end was the representative sovereignty of all the citizens, concentrated in an election as extensive as the people themselves, and acting by the people, and for the people, in an elective council, which should be all the government. The ambition of Robespierre, so often calumniated then and since, went not beyond this (III. 104).

Sixthly, and lastly, and more nearly the complete thought, Theodore Parker's "Speeches, Addresses, and Occasional Ser

mons" (Boston, 1852) contains the following paragraph in an address made on the "Slave Power in America," before the New England Anti-Slavery Convention in Boston, on May 29, 1850:

There is what I call the American idea. . . . This idea demands, as the proximate organization thereof, a democracy, that is, a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; of course, a government, after the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God; for shortness' sake, I will call it the idea of Freedom (II. 176).

The resemblance between these several citations is only a coincidence. It is a case where a somewhat similar idea existed in the brains of different individuals, when it was left for one man to clothe it in the responsive language of the many, and then it crystallized at once into a wise saying, and found its permanent place in literature. Other instances. might be cited where persons have labored with the same sentiment, but it was left for Mr. Lincoln to mould it into its final shape, and to give utterance to an expression that is now well-nigh classical.

In connection with the quotations here given, it may be proper to cite a sentence from Chief Justice Sewall's Diary (Collections, fifth series, V. 333, 334) which contains the same general thought: "Jn Hoar comes into the Lobby and sais he comes from the Lord, by the Lord, to speak for the Lord."

Mr. WILLIAM S. APPLETON said:

When one has undertaken any study with real interest, especially perhaps if the interest is out of proportion to the importance of the work, it gives one pleasure to see the study or work approach absolute completeness. It is therefore with much satisfaction that I can say that I have lately learned the exact date of death of two of the four Senators reported missing a year ago. William Kelly, Senator from Alabama in the 17th and 18th Congresses, died at New Orleans 24 August, 1834. John Henderson, Senator from Mississippi in the 26th28th Congresses, died at Pass Christian, Mississippi, 15 September, 1857. This leaves but two Senators whose deaths

are hidden in mystery, John Hunter of South Carolina and Joseph Kerr of Ohio.

Remarks were also made during the meeting by Mr. ARCHIBALD CARY COOLIDGE; and by the PRESIDENT and Messrs. JAMES FORD RHODES, A. LAWRENCE LOWELL, WORTHINGTON C. FORD, ALBERT B. HART, and BARRETT WENDELL on the election of Honorary Members.