philanthropist11 of 14: George Peabody (1795-1869): A-Z Handbook...., by Franklin and Betty J. Parker, bfparker@frontiernet.net
Following Background "Preface" below this 11 of 14 blogs covers alphabetically: U.S. Ministers. 4 to Whittier, John Greenleaf (1807-92). 1.
Background: "Preface" in 1 of 14 tells the why-when-where-how-findings-and-motives of the authors’ research on Franklin Parker’s doctoral dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” completed 1956 at George Peabody College for Teachers, adjoining Vanderbilt University, which on July 1, 1979, became Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville.
George Peabody, so well known in the 1850s-60s but since sadly neglected, was a significant 19th century figure as: 1-a Massachusetts-born merchant in the U.S. South: Riggs & Peabody, later Peabody & Riggs (1814-38), who imported dry goods and other commodities (worldwide) for sale to U.S. wholesalers. George Peabody then became: 2-a London-based merchant-banker, George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), who financed in part the B&O RR, the 2nd Mexican War Loan, the Atlantic Cable, and with J.S. Morgan as partner, was the root of the JP Morgan international banking firm. Finally, this merchant-turned-banker became: 3-the best known philanthropist of his time (1850s-60s), who founded the Peabody Homes of London for the working poor; in the U.S. 7 Peabody Libraries and Lecture Halls; the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore; three Peabody Museums at Harvard (Anthropology), Yale (Paleontology), and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (maritime history); and founder of the Peabody Education Fund for the South (1867-1914), basis for all later larger U.S. funds and foundations. End of Background.
U.S. Ministers. 4-Goodwill in Md. and Abroad. GP's faith that Md. and other states would resume bond interest payments bore fruit in 1847-48. The depression eased. Md. and the other repudiating states resumed bond interest payments. On March 7, 1848, the Md. legislature recognized GP's service and passed unanimous resolutions of praise for his financial help. GP was sent these resolutions with Md. Gov. Philip Francis Thomas's (1810-90) cover letter to GP saying: "To you, sir,...the thanks of the State were eminently due." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 5-GP Praised. The London correspondent of the NYC Courier & Enquirer wrote: "...the energetic influence of the Anti-Repudiators would never have been heard in England had not Mr. George Peabody...made it a part of his duty to give to the holders of the Bonds every information in his power, and to point out...the certainty of Maryland resuming [payment].... He...had the moral courage to tell his countrymen the contempt [because of repudiation] with which all Americans were viewed.... [He is] a merchant of high standing...but also an uncompromising denouncer of chicanery in every shape." Ref.: Ibid. See: Speed, John Joseph.
U.S. Ministers. 6-Successful American Firm in London. Asked three months before his death (Aug. 22, 1869) when and how he made his money, GP said: "I made pretty much of it in 20 years from 1844 to 1864. Everything I touched within that time seemed to turn to gold. I bought largely of United States securities when their value was low and they advanced greatly." During 1837-mid-1840s GP was in transition from merchant to securities broker and international banker. Ref.: Letter from Dr. John Jennings Moorman, M.D., resident physician, Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., quoted in Baltimore Sun, Dec. 2, [1869], copy in news clipping album, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. Moorman-b, pp. 15-17.
U.S. Ministers. 7-Proud of His Firm. The success of his London banking firm, George Peabody & Co. (begun Dec. 1838), allowed GP to emerge socially and philanthropically. On a U.S. visit he told a hometown (South Danvers, Mass.) audience of 1,500 on Oct. 9, 1856: "Heaven has been pleased to reward my efforts with success, and has permitted me to establish...a house in a great metropolis of England.... I have endeavored...to make it an American house; to furnish it with American journals; to make it a center for American news, and an agreeable place for my American friends visiting England." See: South Danvers, Mass., GP Celebration, Oct. 9, 1856.
U.S. Ministers. 8-Serving Visiting Americans. U.S. visitors passing through London increasingly sought letters of introduction to GP. Besides banking services, he got for them theater and opera tickets, gave corsages to their ladies, and helped them contact British leaders. His little noted first U.S.-British friendship dinner began simply in 1850. The next year his social and philanthropic emergence came about from his loan to U.S. exhibitors in financial difficulty at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, and his two U.S.-British friendship dinners that followed, both connected with this first world's fair. See: U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence, below, fourth of the ten GP-connected U.S. Ministers in London.
GP & Andrew Stevenson (1784-1857), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1836-41
U.S. Ministers. 9-U.S. Minister Andrew Stevenson. GP had no known direct contact with Va.-born Andrew Stevenson, a lawyer, Va. House of Delegates member and its Speaker, Va.'s Representative in the U.S. Congress (1821-34) and its Speaker during 1828-34, U.S. Minister to Great Britain (1836-41), and finally rector of the Univ. of Va. (1841-57).
U.S. Ministers. 10-Freedom of the City of London. GP and Andrew Stevenson had only one known indirect connection. Andrew Stevenson was the first U.S. citizen offered the Freedom of the City of London on Feb. 22, 1838. He declined the honor as being inconsistent with his official duties. GP was the second U.S. citizen offered the Freedom of the City of London and its first recipient on July 10, 1862.
U.S. Ministers. 11-Freedom of the City of London, Five U.S. Recipients. Besides 1-GP, the other four U.S. citizens who received the Freedom of London included 2-Ulysses Simpson Grant (1822-85), second recipient, awarded June 15, 1877 (U.S. general and 18th U.S. president during 1869-77). 3-Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), third recipient, awarded May 31, 1910 (26th U.S. president during 1901-09). 4-U.S. Gen. John Joseph Pershing (1860-1948), fourth recipient, awarded July 18, 1919. 5-Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969), fifth recipient, awarded June 12, 1945 (U.S. general and 34th U.S. president during 1953-61). See: London, Freedom of the City of London. Persons named.
GP & Edward Everett (1794-1865), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1841-45
U.S. Ministers. 12-Career. Edward Everett was a U.S. clergyman, educator, statesman, and an acclaimed orator of his time. He was born in Dorchester, Mass.; was a Harvard graduate (B.A., 1811, M.A., 1814); one of the first U.S. scholars to study at Göttingen Univ., Germany; was Harvard professor of Greek literature (1819-26); member, U.S. House of Representatives (1824-34); Mass. governor (1836-39); U.S. Minister to Britain (1841-45); Harvard Univ. president (1846-49); U.S. Secty. of State (1852-53); and U.S. Senator (1853-54). His two hour speech as principal speaker at the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery, Nov. 19, 1863, is largely forgotten while Pres. Abraham Lincoln's short address became famous. Ref.: Boatner, p. 268.
U.S. Ministers. 13-Edward Everett-GP Indirect Contact, 1852. Edward Everett was one of several prominent Mass. statesmen who sent congratulatory letters to Danvers, Mass., citizens, June 16, 1852, on the celebration of its 100th year of separation from Salem, Mass. Invited to Danvers' centennial celebration but unable to attend, GP wrote from London, May 26, 1852, a letter read to those assembled by GP's boyhood classmate John Waters Proctor (1791-1874). GP's letter contained a $20,000 check for his first Peabody Institute of South Danvers, Mass. (renamed Peabody April 13, 1868), first of a total of $217,600 to that institute library. With his letter and check was his sentiment: "Education: a debt due from present to future generations." See: Danvers, Mass., Centennial Celebration, June 16, 1852. Persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 14-Edward Everett's Oct. 9, 1856 Speech. Four years later Edward Everett spoke at the Oct. 9, 1856, celebration honoring GP in his hometown of South Danvers, Mass. The celebration came during GP's May 1, 1856 to May 1, 1857 U.S. visit, his first return in nearly 20 years since he left for London in Feb. 1837. After Mass. Gov. Henry J. Gardner's (1818-92) short speech, Edward Everett said (in part): "While in England I had the opportunity to witness Mr. Peabody's honorable position in commerce and social circles.... When American credit stood low and the individual states defaulted their trust, our friend stood firm and was the cause of firmness in others. When few would be listened to on the subject of American securities in the parlor of the Bank of England, his judgment commanded respect; his integrity won back trust in America. He performed the miracle by which the word of an honest man turns paper into gold." See: Everett, Edward.
U.S. Ministers. 15-Edward Everett's Oct. 9, 1856 Speech Cont'd.: "He promoted the enjoyment of travelling Americans as so many here can attest. The United States Minister in England, with little funds, could not bring together Americans and Englishmen and women in convivial friendship. Our honored guest, with ample means, corrected this defect. At the first world's fair in London, 1851, the exhibitors of other nations went officially supplied with funds to display their nation's wares. The American exhibitors found a large place to fill naked and unadorned. At the critical moment when the English press ridiculed the sorry appearance we presented, our friend stepped forward and did what Congress should have done. Our products were shown at their best. Leading British journalists admitted that England derived more benefit from the contributions of the United States than from any other country." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 16-Edward Everett's Oct. 9, 1856 Speech Cont'd.: "Time and again he brought together men of two nations to drink from loving cups of goodwill. These are some reasons we welcome to old Danvers one of her greatest sons. (Great cheering.) "When on the 16th of June, 1852, Danvers celebrated its one hundredth year of separate existence our friend sent a slip of paper containing a noble sentiment. Now a slip of paper can easily be blown away. So, as a paperweight, to keep the toast safe on the table to repay his debt, Mr. Peabody laid down $20,000 and has since doubled it." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 17-Edward Everett on GP's Harvard Gift. GP consulted Edward Everett among others about a philanthropic gift to Harvard Univ. GP's first gift idea for Harvard in 1861 was an astronomical observatory. He discussed this idea in letters to Francis Peabody (1801-68) of Salem, Mass., William Henry Appleton (1814-84) of Boston, and with Edward Everett (former Harvard president during 1846-49). Everett thought Harvard needed a "School of Design" [i.e., art], more than an astronomical observatory. GP's Harvard gift idea went through a third change, from astronomical observatory to Edward Everett's suggested School of Design or art, to a museum for archaeology and ethnology, largely through the influence of GP's nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99). See: Marsh, Othniel Charles. Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
U.S. Ministers. 18-Harvard Gift Influenced by Nephew O.C. Marsh. GP had paid for nephew O.C. Marsh's education through Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.; Yale College, and Yale's graduate Sheffield Scientific School. During 1862-65 GP paid for Marsh's doctoral study at the universities of Heidelberg, Berlin, and Breslau, Germany; paid for Marsh's library of paleontology books, and for shipment of two and a half tons of fossil bones sent to Yale where Marsh became the first U.S. paleontology professor. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 19-Marsh on GP's Science Gifts to Harvard and Yale. Marsh spoke with uncle GP in London in Oct. 1862 about new scientific findings, about Charles Darwin, evolution, and European scientists Marsh had talked to. Marsh, turning uncle GP's thoughts toward science gifts for Harvard and Yale, described these talks in letters to his mentor, Yale Prof. Benjamin Silliman, Jr. (1816-85): "I had a long talk with Mr. P. in regard to his future plans and donations.... I will tell you confidentially that Harvard will have her usual good fortune. So many of our family have been educated at Harvard that he naturally felt a greater interest in that institution than in Yale, of which I am the only representative. I can assure you, however, that I did [not] allow the claims of my Alma Mater to be forgotten...and I have strong hopes that she may yet be favored although nothing is as yet definitely arranged. The donation to H. [Harvard] is a large one and for a School of Design...." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 20-Peabody Museums of Harvard and Yale Universities. GP visited the U.S. during May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867, consulted further with knowledgeable friends and founded the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard Univ. (Oct. 8, 1866), the Peabody Museum of Natural Science at Yale Univ. (Oct. 22, 1866), $150,000 each, and what is now the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass. (Feb. 26, 1867, $140,000) for maritime history and Essex County historical depository. Ref.: Ibid.
GP & George Bancroft (1800-91), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1846-49
U.S. Ministers. 21-Career. George Bancroft was also a distinguished U.S. historian, author of the History of the United States, 10 volumes published during 1834-74. While GP had no known contact with George Bancroft as U.S. Minister, he had friendly relations with George Bancroft's nephew, John Chandler Bancroft Davis (1822-1907), Secty. of the U.S. legation in London during 1849-54. See: persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 22-Contact with London Legation Secty. J.C.B. Davis. GP sometimes dined with J.C.B. Davis, born in Worcester, Mass., and Davis's Harvard College classmate, Vt.-born Henry Stevens (1819-86), rare book dealer, resident in London, who later acted as GP's agent in book shipments to Peabody Institute libraries. Davis and Stevens lived for some years in the same Morley's Hotel, London. On Nov. 24, 1849, Davis, Stevens, and GP dined at the home in East Sheen, near London, of Joshua Bates (1788-1854), born in Weymouth, Mass., who went to London in the early 1800s. Bates, who became agent, partner (at age 38), and head of Baring Brothers, became a naturalized British subject, was the most prominent U.S.-born financier in London in the 1840s, and GP's friendly business rival. See: persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 23-Dinner with Herman Melville. Joshua Bates's dinner guest of honor was U.S. author Herman Melville (1819-91), who later wrote Moby Dick (1851). Melville was in London, on his only trip abroad, to market his manuscript, White Jacket. They talked in part about Melville's older brother Gansvoort Melville (1815-46), former U.S. legation secretary who died two years before and whom those present had known. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 24-Dinner with Herman Melville Cont'd. Melville's journal mentions meeting GP: "On my right was Mr. Peabody, an American for many years resident in London, a merchant, & a very fine old fellow of fifty or thereabouts." Melville continued: "I had intended to remain over night...but Peabody invited me to accompany him to town in his carriage. I went with him, along with Davis, the Secty. of Legation.... Mr. Peabody was well acquainted with Gansevoort when he was here. He saw him not long before his end. He told me that Gansevoort rather shunned society when here. He spoke of him with such feeling." Ref.: Ibid.
GP & Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1849-52
U.S. Ministers. 25-Career. Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855) was born in Groton, Mass. With his brother Amos Lawrence (1786-1852), he started cotton textile mills in Lowell, Mass., and in Lawrence, Mass. (named after him). As a statesman he was a member of the U.S. Congress (1835-37, 1839-40) and served on the Northeast Boundary Commission (1842). He also gave $50,000 to found the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard Univ. (1840s). GP had extended contact with U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence during the Great Exhibition of 1851, London (world's first fair).
U.S. Ministers. 26-Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. The idea for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London originated with Henry Cole (1808-82), member of the Society of Art (later Royal Society of Art), who had arranged several industrial and art expositions. The idea occurred to him in 1848 for a first world's fair, with each nation showing its best industrial and art products. Knowing that such a large enterprise needed royal sponsorship, Cole turned to Albert of Saxe-Co-burg-Gotha (Prince Albert, 1819-61), Queen Victoria's husband and president of the Society of Art. German-born Prince Albert nurtured the idea to reality. A Royal Commission (Jan. 3, 1850) helped raise funds, issued contracts, and invited the world's nations to participate. Joseph Paxton (1801-65) designed the striking glass-covered Crystal Palace in Hyde Park to house the exhibits and the Exhibition. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (world's first fair).
U.S. Ministers. 27-U.S. Exhibitors Without Funds to Adorn U.S. Pavilion. The U.S. Congress appointed nonpaid commissioners who selected U.S. industrial and art objects to exhibit. Congress also authorized the U.S. Navy's St. Lawrence to transport U.S. products and exhibitors to Southampton, England (Feb. 1851). But Congress did not appropriate funds to adorn the large (40,000 sq. ft.) U.S. pavilion. Crates strewn about the unadorned pavilion provoked the satirical Punch to poke fun at "the glaring contrast between large pretensions and little performance...by America." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 28-Dilemma. The London correspondent of the New York Evening Post called it "a national disgrace that American wares...are so barely displayed; so vulgarly spread out over so large a space." U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855) and his legation staff had no funds to decorate the U.S. exhibit and knew it might take months for Congress to appropriate funds, if at all. Hearing of the lack of funds to decorate the U.S. pavilion, GP, then comparatively little known, quietly offered, through a polite note to Minister Lawrence, a loan of $15,000. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 29-GP's Loan. U.S. exhibitors, U.S. residents in London, the legation staff, and especially Minister Lawrence were relieved of embarrassment and grateful to GP. Partly through GP's loan, which Congress repaid three years later, over six million visitors to the first world's fair saw displayed to best advantage U.S. manufactured products and arts. The U.S. items most talked about were Alfred C. Hobbs's (1812-91) unpickable lock, Samuel Colt's (1814-62) revolvers, Hiram Powers' (1805-73) statue, the Greek Slave, Cyrus Hall McCormick's (1809-84) reapers, Richard Hoe's (1812-86) printing press, and William Cranch Bond's (1789-1859) spring governor. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 30-GP's Proposed July 4, 1851, Dinner. With so many visiting Americans in London and in the international spirit of the Great Exhibition, GP proposed to give a U.S.-British friendship dinner. He chose July 4, 1851, U.S. Independence Day, which would appeal to Americans, but not to some disdainful British. GP's motive for the dinners, as in making the loan to the U.S. exhibitors, was to improve U.S.-British relations. Criticism of the U.S. in London newspapers saddened him, as did anti-British reports in U.S. newspapers. He was painfully aware of past strained relations. It had been 10 years since the U.S.-British dispute over the Maine boundary, 37 years since the War of 1812, 75 years since the American Revolution. Wondering if British society would attend his July 4th dinner, GP sounded out Minister Abbott Lawrence, who discreetly asked the opinion of London social leaders. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 31-"the fashionables...do not wish to attend this Ball." On June 26, 1851, Minister Lawrence, finding a wary reaction to the idea, warned GP: "Lady Palmerston was here. She has seen the leading ladies of the town and quoted one as saying the fashionables are tired of balls. I am quite satisfied that the fashionables and aristocracy of London do not wish to attend this Ball. Lady Palmerston says she will attend. I do not under those circumstances desire to tax my friends to meet Mrs. Lawrence and myself--Your party then I think must be confined to the Americans--and those connected with America, and such of the British people as happen to be so situated as to enjoy uniting with us." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 32-Duke of Wellington. Prospects looked dim. But GP thought his dinner might succeed if a distinguished British hero was guest of honor. Through friends, GP approached the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley Wellington, 1769-1852), then England's greatest living hero. The man who beat Napoleon at Waterloo reportedly huffed, "Good idea." When it was known that the 84-year-old Duke of Wellington would attend, British society followed. GP's Friday night, July 4, 1851, dinner succeeded enormously. See: Lawrence, Abbott. Wellington, Duke of.
U.S. Ministers. 33-Eight Hundred at Dinner. The July 4, 1851, dinner was held at the exclusive Willis's Rooms, sometimes called Almack's. GP hired a professional master of ceremonies, a Mr. Mitchell of Bond St. On either end of the spacious ballroom were portraits of Queen Victoria and George Washington. Flowers were tastefully arranged. English and U.S. flags were skillfully blended. More than a thousand guests came and went that evening. Eight hundred sat down to dinner. See: Dinners, GP's, London.
U.S. Ministers. 34-Distinguished Guests. Present were several MPs, former Tenn. Gov. Neill Smith Brown (1810-86, then U.S. Minister to Russia); London's Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress; Thomson Hankey (1805-93), the Bank of England's junior governor; Baroness Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906), the 19th century's greatest woman philanthropist; Joseph Paxton of Crystal Palace fame; and other English nobility. An orchestra played and a ball followed in a spacious ballroom decorated with medallions and mirrors, lit by 500 candles in cut-glass chandeliers. At 11 p.m. as the Duke of Wellington entered, the band struck up "See the Conquering Hero Comes." GP approached the "iron duke," shook his hand, and escorted him through the hall amid applause, and introduced him to U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 35-Good Press. The London Times reported that His Grace had a good time and left at a late hour. The same article referred to GP as "an eminent American merchant." The Ladies Newspaper had a large woodcut illustration of GP introducing the Duke to Abbott Lawrence. Even the aristocratic London Morning Post took favorable note of the affair. See: Dinners, GP's, London.
U.S. Ministers. 36-"more than regal entertainment." U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, gushing with pride and thanks, wrote to GP: "I should be unjust...if I were not to offer my acknowledgments and heartfelt thanks for myself and our country for the more than regal entertainment you gave to me and mine, and to our countrymen generally here in London." Lawrence went on: "Your idea of bringing together the inhabitants of two of the greatest nations upon earth...was a most felicitous conception...." Lawrence concluded: "I congratulate you upon the distinguished success that has crowned your efforts.... [You have] done that which was never before attempted." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 37-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner to Departing U.S. Exhibitors. On Oct. 6, 1851, U.S. commissioner to the Great Exhibition Charles F. Stansbury and other exhibitors, about to return to the U.S., invited GP to be guest of honor at a farewell dinner. He gratefully declined on Oct. 11, said they had overestimated his services, added that his 15 years in London had erased sectional and political difference and that he did what he could to further the U.S. as a whole. This invitation may have prompted his own Oct. 27, 1851, dinner to the departing exhibitors. It was grander and better received than his July 4, 1851, dinner. He also had the proceedings and speeches recorded, printed, and beautifully bound copies selectively distributed to U.S. and British officials. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 38-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner. The Oct. 27, 1851, dinner was held at the London Coffee House, Ludgate Hill, where Benjamin Franklin as American ambassador had met friends to discuss American colonial affairs over food and drinks. British and U.S. flags draped life-size paintings of Queen Victoria, George Washington, and Prince Albert. Pennants and laurel wreaths decorated the long hall. At 7:00 P.M. GP took the chair, grace was said, and dinner was served to 150 U.S. and British guests, many of them connected with the just-closed Great Exhibition of 1851. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 39-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Cont'd. The toastmaster, a Mr. Harker, began: "Mr. Peabody drinks to you in a loving cup and bids you all a hearty welcome." A U.S.-made loving cup of English oak, inlaid with silver, inscribed "Francis Peabody of Salem to George Peabody, of London, 1851," was passed around until each guest tasted from it. After dessert, GP rose and gave the first toast to, "The Queen, God bless her." All stood as the band played God Save the Queen. His second toast was to "The President of the United States, God bless him." All rose while Hail Columbiawas played. His third toast to "The health of His Royal Highness Prince Albert" brought more flourishes of music. After U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence was toasted, the band played Yankee Doodle. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 40-Minister Lawrence's Speech. U.S. Minister Lawrence spoke of the many ties binding the U.S. and Britain. He praised Sir Joseph Paxton, "The man...who...[planned] a building such as the world never saw before." He praised Earl Granville (Granville George Leveson-Gower, 1815-91), who had "the skill and enterprise to execute the plan." He praised Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton (William Henry Lytton Earle Bulwer, 1801-72), British ambassador to the U.S. Minister Lawrence said to the departing exhibitors: "We came out of the Exhibition better than was first anticipated.... You will take leave of this country...impressed with the high values of the Exhibition...in the full belief that you have received every consideration." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 41-Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton's Response. Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton, grasping the hand of Abbott Lawrence, said: "I clasp your hand as that of a friend and claim it as that of a brother. [Cheers] The idea of this Great Exhibition...was...to collect...the mind of the whole world, so that each nation might learn and appreciate the character and intelligence of the other." "You live under a Republic," he said to the Americans, "and we under a Monarchy, but what of that? The foundations of both societies are law and religion: the purpose of both governments is liberty and order." "Hand in hand," he concluded, "we can stand together...the champions of peace between nations, of conciliation between opinions." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 42-GP's Concluding Speech. Ending the festivities, GP stood and when the cheers subsided, said: "I have lived a great many years in this country without weakening my attachment to my own land.... I have been extremely fortunate in bringing together...a number of our countrymen...and...English gentlemen [of] social and official rank.... May these unions still continue, and gather strength with the gathering years." The proceedings lasted more than four hours. Good reports of its effect reverberated in the press. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 43-Press Reports. The New York Times gave two full columns to the dinner. Another NYC newspaper stated: "George Peabody's dinners were timed just right. For years there have been built up antagonism and recrimination. Suddenly a respected American, long resident in London with a host of American and English friends, brings them together. The thing works and...elicits applause and appreciation from both the American and English press." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 44-Haddock's Report. Great Exhibition participant Charles B. Haddock's (1796-1861) letter in a New Hampshire newspaper read: "Mr. Peabody's dinner to the departing Americans had several good effects. (1) It highlighted American achievement at the Exhibition; (2) brought George Peabody into notice; (3) raised Abbott Lawrence's esteem as United States Minister to England. "It is something to have sent to the Exhibition the best plough, the best reaping machine, the best revolvers--something to have outdone the proudest naval people in the world, in fast sailing and fast steaming, in her own waters.... Moreover, it is a great pride for America to have George Peabody and Abbott Lawrence in England who represent the best of America and uphold its worth and integrity." Haddock referred to the U.S. yacht America, which won the 1851 international yacht race, defeating the English yacht Baltic in British waters. The first prize (a silver tankard) has since been known as America's Cup. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 45-Dinner Proceedings Book. GP commissioned Henry Stevens to compile, print, and distribute a handsome book with the dinner menu, toasts, proceedings, and speeches. Born in Barnet, Vt., a graduate of Yale College (1841) and Harvard Law School, Henry Stevens went to London in July 1845 and remained there for the rest of his life as a rare book dealer and bibliographer. He bought U.S. books for the British Museum and sold British books to U.S. libraries. Stevens had 50 copies printed and bound in cloth by Nov. 25, 1851, and sent copies to departing U.S. exhibitors. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 46-Copy to U.S. Pres. Fillmore. Through U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, GP gave a copy printed on vellum to Pres. Millard Fillmore (1800-74). Pres. Fillmore acknowledged receipt and wrote to Abbott Lawrence: "From all I have heard of Mr. Peabody, he is one of those 'Merchant Princes' who does equal honor to the land of his birth and the country of his adoption. This dinner must have been a most grateful treat to our American citizens and will long be remembered by the...guests...he entertained as one of the happiest days of their lives.... The banquet shows that he still recollects his native land with fond affection, and it may well be proud of him." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 47-Copies Sent to Dignitaries. U.S. Minister Lawrence also sent copies on vellum to Prince Albert, The Duke of Wellington, and Lord Granville. Lawrence wrote to GP: "I have a note from Colonel Grey [Charles Grey, 1804-70], the Secretary of Prince Albert, acknowledging the receipt of your beautiful volume with expressions of thanks to you for it, from his Royal Highness." U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence's son, after sending copies to Boston dignitaries, wrote to GP that the book was "much talked of in Boston and has been greatly praised." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 48-"quite a public character." GP's nephew George Peabody Russell (1835-1909) wrote his uncle from Harvard, where GP was paying for his college education: "Your parting entertainment to the American Exhibitors has caused your name to be known and appreciated on this side of the Atlantic.... In fact, you have become quite a public character." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 49-GP's Gift to the Md. Institute. Praise of GP's London dinners appeared in Baltimore newspapers. This publicity may have prompted the Md. Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts to make him an honorary member. After GP read a newspaper report of the Md. Institute's effort to raise funds for a school of chemistry, he wrote the Md. Institute's Pres. William H. Keighler, Oct. 31, 1851, enclosing a $1,000 gift for the chemistry school "as a small token of gratitude toward a State from which I have been mighty honored, and a City in the prosperity of which I shall ever feel the greatest interest." This (still) little known gift began his educational philanthropy. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 50-First Peabody Institute Library. The next year, June 1852, when his hometown of Danvers, Mass., celebrated its 100th year of separation from Salem, Mass., GP, who could not attend, sent his first check to found his first Peabody Institute Library (now in Peabody, Mass.) accompanied by a motto, "Education--a debt due from present to future generations." To Washington, D.C., friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888), who had written to GP, GP answered: "You will make us proud to call you friend and countryman. However liberal I may be here, I cannot keep pace with your noble acts of charity at home; but one of these days I mean to come out, and then if my feelings regarding money don't change and I have plenty, I shall become a strong competitor of yours in benevolence." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 51-GP's Emergence. GP early told a few intimates of his intent to found an educational institution in towns and cities where he lived, worked or visited relatives. Public praise for his loan to the U.S. exhibitors at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and praise for his two Exhibition-connected dinners furthered that determination. In 1851 GP emerged socially as sponsor of U.S.-British friendship dinners (mainly on July 4, U.S. Independence Day), and as a philanthropist in the U.S. and in Britain. In the 1860s he was the best known philanthropist of his time. Ref.: Ibid.
Joseph Reed Ingersoll (1786-1868), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1852-53
U.S. Ministers. 52-Oct. 12, 1852, Introduced Minister Ingersoll. Joseph Reed Ingersoll was U.S. Minister to Britain one year, 1852-53 (commissioned, Aug. 21, 1852; arrived in London Sept. 30, 1852; presented his credentials, Oct. 16, 1852; and relieved Aug. 23, 1853). GP gave a dinner in London on Oct. 12, 1852, to introduce incoming Minister Ingersoll and his niece, Miss Charlotte Manigault Wilcocks (1821-75). The dinner also honored the departing U.S. Minister to Britain, Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855). Guests included Joshua Bates, head of the Baring Brothers (mentioned in connection with London Legation Secty. J.C.B. Davis above), and Russell Sturgis (1805-87), another U.S-born London resident merchant-banker. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 53-Courtesies to Ingersoll. GP's dinner enabled the Ingersolls to meet U.S. residents in London and prominent Britishers. GP's gifts of apples and tea, use of his opera box, and U.S.-British friendship dinners earned Minister Ingersoll's thanks in a letter on June 16, 1853: "I do but echo the general sentiment, in expressing to you the feelings of regard and esteem which you have inspired." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 54-May 18, 1853, Dinner for Ingersoll. GP's May 18, 1853, dinner provided more contact with London society for U.S. Minister J.R. Ingersoll and his niece, Miss Wilcocks. The dinner was held at the Star and Garter, Richmond, about eight miles from London, overlooking the Thames. The 150 guests (65 English, 85 Americans) included Harvard Univ. professor (and president in 1860) Cornelius Conway Felton (1807-62). He later wrote in his book, Familiar Letters from Europe, of being a guest "at a splendid and costly entertainment" in 1853 by GP with Martin Van Buren (1782-1862, eighth U.S. Pres., 1837-41) and "many very distinguished persons" present. A band and vocalists began and ended the dinner with the British and U.S. national anthems. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 55-May 18, 1853, Dinner for Ingersoll Cont'd. After the sumptuous meal GP expressed his pleasure at bringing together U.S. and British friends. Minister Ingersoll then gave the toasts: "The Queen: the President of the United States: and the people of the United States and the United Kingdom: the two great nations, whose common origin, mutual interests and growing friendships, serve to cement a union created by resemblance in language, liberty, religion and law." Ingersoll's speech that followed his toasts contained complimentary references to former U.S. Pres. Martin Van Buren and to GP. These references evoked cheers. Pres. Van Buren rose and paid respects to the occasion and to GP as host. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 56-May 18, 1853, Dinner for Ingersoll Cont'd. GP's friend, Episcopal Bishop of Ohio Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873) rose to speak. A few years later he would help GP plan the Peabody apartments for London's working poor (from March 12, 1862, $2.5 million total gift). McIlvaine said, referring to GP's British-U.S. dinners: "When history should come to be written, and due weight should be given to all the influences which tend to perpetuate international concord, if history should consent to notice incidents apparently so trifling as social festivities and the interchange of friendly greetings, it would assign...a very high place to their host as one who had done very much in this way to promote mutual knowledge and goodwill between the people of the two great nations who were there represented." The dinner and speeches received favorable transatlantic press coverage. What the dinner cost GP is not known, but one bill, only part of the total, was about $940. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 57-Partner-to-be Junius Spencer Morgan Present. Also present at this GP dinner honoring Minister J.R. Ingersoll were Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90) and Mrs. Morgan. Because GP was often ill, business friends had long urged him to take an American partner to give continuity to George Peabody & Co. Friends recommended J.S. Morgan as a likely partner of great probity, experienced in dry-goods importing and knowledgeable about securities and banking. GP and Morgan had been in correspondence about a possible partnership. The J.S. Morgans and their 16-year-old son, John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), had come to London expressly to look into the possible partnership. The May 18, 1853, dinner allowed GP and Morgan to take each other's measure in a social setting. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 58-Young J.P. Morgan. Young J.P. Morgan, who was not at the dinner, wrote to his cousin that night, "Father and Mother went to a dinner given by George Peabody at Richmond." GP and J.S. Morgan were both favorably impressed. The Morgans returned to Boston. J.S. Morgan visited U.S. firms with which George Peabody & Co. did business. Morgan decided to accept. He made another trip to London to examine the company books. The partnership took effect the next year, Oct. 1, 1854 (through Oct. 1, 1864). Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 59-Miss Wilcocks and Elise Tiffany. Contact with Minister J.R. Ingersoll also brought speculation of a possible romance with Ingersoll's niece, Charlotte Manigault Wilcocks, a Philadelphia belle who lived with her uncle after the early death of her parents. Although sometimes ill in the summer of 1853, GP's social entertainment included Miss Wilcocks and another lady, Elise Tiffany, daughter of Baltimore friend Osmond Capron Tiffany (1794-1851). From Paris in June 1853 Elise Tiffany's brother George Tiffany asked GP by letter to help get an apartment for them in London. He added, "I just asked Elise if she had any message for you. She says, 'No, I have nothing to say to him whilst Miss Wilcocks is there.'" Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 60-Miss Wilcocks and Elise Tiffany Cont'd. The Tiffanys had been invited to the May 18, 1853, dinner for the Ingersolls but Elise would not go. Her brother George Tiffany explained in a letter to GP: "Elise knows the entertainment is to the American Minister and Miss Wilcocks. The thing is impossible. Her trunks will not pack, nor her Bills pay.... As to the Scotch trip of a couple of weeks, Elise counts upon your making that sacrifice as a balm to her wounded feelings, caused by the various reports all through the winter." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 61-Miss Wilcocks and Elise Tiffany Cont'd. GP had gone to the opera with Miss Wilcocks and they appeared together at social functions. A London reporter for a NYC newspaper wrote about a possible romance: "Mr. Ingersoll gave his second soiree recently. Miss Wilcocks does the honors with much grace, and is greatly admired here. The world gives out that she and Mr Peabody are to form an alliance, but time will show...." GP, then age 58, denied any matrimonial intentions in a letter to Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran. GP wrote: "I have now arrived at an age that throws aside all thoughts of marriage [although] I think her [Miss Wilcocks] a very fine woman." Ref.: Ibid.
GP & James Buchanan, (1791-1868), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1853-56
U.S. Ministers. 62-Career. James Buchanan was born in Mercersberg, Pennsylvania, was a lawyer, U.S. Congressman (1821-31); U. S. Minister to Russia (1832-33), U. S. Senator (1834-45); U. S. Secty. of State (1845-49); U. S. Minister to Britain (1853-56); and the 15th U. S. president during 1857-61. New Minister Buchanan appointed as U.S. Legation Secty. the controversial Daniel Edgar Sickles (1825-1914), who provoked an unfortunate incident, the Sickles Affair. A super patriot at a time of U.S. jingoism, Sickles, objecting to GP's toast to the Queen before a toast to the U.S. President, refused to stand, walked out at GP's July 4, 1854, dinner, and accused GP in the press of "toadying" to the British. See: Corcoran, William Wilson. Sickles, Daniel Edgar.
U.S. Ministers. 63-Incoming Legation Secty. Sickles. In 1853 before he arrived in London, Sickles wrote GP to reserve rooms for himself, wife, and baby, a courtesy service George Peabody & Co. did for visiting Americans. GP consulted Sickles and others about his planned July 4, 1854, Independence Day banquet. Sickles suggested that it be a subscription dinner and that he, Sickles, arrange it. GP insisted on paying for the dinner as usual but let Sickles help select guests, send invitations, and help plan the entertainment. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 64-Walk-Out, July 4, 1854, Dinner. As was the custom, GP first toasted Queen Victoria as British head of state and secondly the U.S. President. Sickles, an ultra-patriot, was enraged that the Queen should be toasted before the U.S. President. Considering this a national insult, Sickles sat while the other 149 guests stood for the two toasts. Stiff and red-gorged, wrote his biographer, Sickles stormed out of the banquet. Buchanan, who had employed Sickles as legation secretary, remained. He was the guest speaker. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 65-Attack in the Press. Sickles fanned U.S.-British press reports of the incident by attacking GP's lack of patriotism in the Boston Post, July 21, 1854, p. 2, c. l, and chiding GP for "toadying" to the English. One reader swayed by this charge wrote GP: "If you had a grain of national feeling you wouldn't have done it.... You are no longer fit to be called an American citizen." Such reaction led GP and others to send the facts to the Boston Post. Pro and con letters were published for months, with most faulting Sickles and exonerating GP. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 66-"most contemptible of all Americans." A friend wrote GP: "We are astounded that you lower yourself by a correspondence with the most contemptible of all Americans, Sickles, who was indicted by a New York Grand Jury for fraud, which indictment stands to this day." Another friend wrote GP that proof of Sickles' guilt in committing fraud was contained in letters stolen from the NYC post office by Sickles' direction. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 67-Statement by Dinner Guests. Statements about the July 4, 1854, dinner by participants were published. Horatio Gates Somerby (1805-72), Newburyport, Mass.-born genealogist, London resident, and GP's friend and sometime agent who helped arrange the dinner wrote: "At Mr. Peabody's request I drew up a series of toasts and submitted them to Mr. Buchanan.....[These] were returned to me as approved.... Mr. Sickles did indeed object to Englishmen being present. The Minister approved and Mr. Peabody's course was independent of Mr. Sickles' opinion." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 68-Statement by Dinner Guests Cont'd. A letter from 26 Americans present at the dinner, including Henry Barnard (1811-1900), Conn. Superintendent of Common Schools (later first U.S. Commissioner of Education), read: "The undersigned have read Mr. Peabody's letter to the Boston Post of Aug. 16, 1854, and without hesitation affirm as true the events described by Mr. Peabody." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 69-Lawrence on Sickles. Abbott Lawrence (he had left the diplomatic service in 1852) wrote to GP about the Sickles Affair: "The attack made upon you I deem unworthy of any man who professes to be a gentleman. Your misfortune was in having persons about you who were not worthy to be at your table. I had hard work to get rid of some men in England who hung about me, but cost what it would I would not permit a certain class of adventurer to approach me." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 70-Corcoran on Buchanan. Longtime Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran, with whom GP had helped sell U.S. bonds abroad that financed the Mexican War, wrote GP that [U.S. Minister to Britain James] "Buchanan had not the slightest respect" for Sickles but for political reasons could not reprove him. Buchanan, with a less controversial new legation secretary, wrote to Sickles: "Your refusal to rise when the Queen's health was proposed is still mentioned in society, but I have always explained and defended you." Two years later, while GP was in Washington, D.C., during his 1856-57 U.S. visit, and when James Buchanan was the 15th U.S. president, there was a coldness between the two men, who did not meet again. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 71-Sickles' Later Career. Always controversial, Sickles, on Feb. 27, 1859, while serving in the U.S. Senate (1857-61), shot to death Philip Barton Key (son of Francis Scott Key, 1779-1843) for Key's alleged attentions to Sickles' wife. Sickles was acquitted of the murder charge as of unsound mind. In the Civil War Sickles, a Union general, lost a leg at Gettysburg. As Reconstruction commander of the Carolinas during 1865-67, Sickles' punitive actions against former Confederates were said to have been so severe that Pres. Andrew Johnson (1808-75) transferred him to another command. Sickles was U.S. Minister to Spain (1869-73), served again in the U.S. Congress, helped establish Gettysburg as a national park, and helped secure the land for NYC's Central Park. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 72-Last Tribute to Abbott Lawrence. Abbott Lawrence died in Boston Aug. 18, 1855. GP gave a last tribute to Lawrence a year after Lawrence's death. The occasion was a celebration in Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, to honor GP on his first return to the U.S. after nearly 20 years' absence in London (since Feb. 1837). In his speech, turning to Edward Everett on the platform with him, GP said: "The cornerstone of the Peabody Institute [of South Danvers, renamed Peabody in 1868] was laid by Abbott Lawrence, now gone, who followed worthily in Mr. Everett's footsteps. I admired his talents, respected his virtues, loved him as a friend. He too worked for conciliation and goodwill between the two countries. I pay tribute to his memory." See: Danvers, Mass., GP celebration, Oct. 9, 1856.
George Mifflin Dallas (1792-1864), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1856-61
U.S. Ministers. 73-Career. George Mifflin Dallas was born in Philadelphia, graduated from Princeton College (1810), was a lawyer (from 1813), U.S. Sen. from Penn. (1831-33), Penn. Atty. Gen. (1833-35), U.S. Minister to Russia (1837-39), U.S. Vice President (1845-49) under Pres. James K. Polk (1795-1849, 11th U.S. president during 1845-49), and U.S. Minister to Britain during 1856-61.
U.S. Ministers. 74-June 13, 1856, Dinner. GP introduced incoming Minister G.M. Dallas at a U.S.-British friendship dinner and entertainment, June 13, 1856. The 130 guests included the Lord Mayor of London and the Mayoress; Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85) and Mrs. Lampson (C.M. Lampson was a Vt.-born naturalized British subject and GP's longtime business friend); GP's partner; Mrs. J.S. Morgan; Crystal Palace architect Sir Joseph Paxton (1801-65); and Baltimorean John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870). J.P. Kennedy wrote in his journal about the June 13, 1856, dinner: "A great banquet given by Mr. P., with tickets to the Concert there at 3...we got to dinner about 7. We number nearly 130." See: Dinners, GP's, London.
U.S. Ministers. 75-Crimean War Difficulty. This dinner to introduce Minister Dallas was held soon after the Crimean War (1855-56, Russia vs. England, France, others). In the U.S. this European conflict created some anti-British feeling,. British Minister to the U.S. John Crampton indiscreetly tried to recruit U.S. volunteers for the British army. U.S. Secty. of State William Learned Marcy (1786-1857) objected and had Crampton recalled. See: Crimean War. Dallas, George Mifflin.
U.S. Ministers. 76-Crimean War Difficulty Cont'd. Former British Minister to the U.S. Henry Bulwer-Lytton (1801-72) was to have proposed the health of U.S. Minister Dallas at GP's June 13, 1856, dinner. But Bulwer-Lytton, being Crampton's colleague, explained to GP that to appear at this dinner and propose the health of U.S. Minister Dallas would be unfair to his dismissed colleague John Crampton and might evoke British public resentment. It was a tribute to GP that he could still successfully sponsor this U.S.-British friendship dinner at that tense time of misunderstanding and mistrust. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 77-July 4, 1856, Dinner. More than 100 Americans and a few Englishmen attended another of GP's U.S.-British friendship dinners, July 4, 1856, at the Star and Garter Hotel, Richmond, eight miles from London on the Thames. Minister G.M. Dallas gave a short speech. GP then prefaced his toast with some remarks. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 78-GP's Remarks: "I have before me two loving cups, one British the second of American oak, presented to me some years ago by Francis Peabody [1810-68, GP's distant cousin from Salem, Mass.] now present. Let me say a few words before passing these cups. The first dinner I gave in connection with American Independence Day was a dinner in 1850 at which the American Minister, American and English friends were present. In 1851, the Great Exhibition year, I substituted a ball and banquet. Some of my friends were apprehensive that the affair would not be accepted that year of Anglo-American rivalry but the acceptance of the Duke of Wellington made the affair successful. For twenty years I have been in this kingdom of England and in my humble way mean to spread peace and good-will. I know no party North or South but my whole country. With these loving cups let us know only friendship between East and West." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 79-Wm. Brown's Remarks. GP proposed "The Day We Celebrate," followed by "Her Majesty, the Queen," and "the President of the United States." MP from Liverpool William Brown (1784-1864) said: "The day we celebrate will ever be remembered in the history of the world. For we English derive as much satisfaction from it as you do. None of us are answerable for the sins of statesmanship or the errors of our forefathers. George Washington, remembered with respect by England and the world, would rejoice to see the enterprising spirit of the country he brought into existence, a country which seeks to bridge the Atlantic and Pacific via canal and now explores the Arctic seas (cheers)." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 80-Wm. Brown's Remarks Cont'd.: "I deny that England is jealous of the United States. We rejoice in your prosperity and know that when you prosper we share in it. It is not true that the fortunes of one country arise from the misfortune of another. While we have differences they can be amicably adjusted (cheers). I toast the American Minister, Mr. George M. Dallas (cheers)." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 81-Minister Dallas' Reply. Minister G.M. Dallas replied: "I rejoice to find so many patriots present to celebrate American Independence Day. We are, as a country, but eighty years old, yet how proud we are of her (cheers). Small and feeble at birth, she now contains twenty-seven million people. Once on the margin of the Atlantic she is now an immense continent. It is a matter of sincere regret that the free nations are not always the sincerest friends (hear, hear)." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 82-Others Present. A complimentary toast was proposed to GP as host. His few remarks in response concluded by saying that the land of his birth was always uppermost in his mind. When he sat down the band played "Home, Sweet Home." Present at this dinner was Irish-born sculptor John Edward Jones (1806-62), who made a bust of GP in 1856. Also present was U.S. inventor Samuel Finlay Breese Morse (1791-1872). A toast to "The Telegraph" was suddenly proposed. Not anticipating the toast and not having a reply at hand, Morse rose and modestly quoted from Psalm 19: "Their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world." See: Dallas, George Mifflin.
GP & Charles Francis Adams (1807-86), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1861-68
U.S. Ministers. 83-Career. Charles Francis Adams (1807-86) was born in Boston, grandson of the second U.S. Pres. John Adams (1735-1826) and son of the sixth U.S. Pres. John Quincy Adams (1767-1848). He was a Harvard College graduate, a law student under Daniel Webster (1782-1852), and U.S. Minister to Britain (1861-68) during GP's residence in London. See: Adams, Charles Francis.
U.S. Ministers. 84-U.S. Minister During Civil War. C.F. Adams and GP had friendly contact during strained U.S.-British relations over the Civil War, with British aristocrats favoring the South for socio-cultural and economic reasons (Lancashire mills needed southern cotton, purchases of which were cut off by U.S. naval blockade of Confederate ports, resulting in loss of jobs of British cotton mill workers). As U.S. Minister to Britain during 1861-68, C.F. Adams helped prevent British recognition of the Confederacy. He also helped ease British-U.S. tensions over two major Civil War incidents, the Trent Affair and the Alabama Claims. See: topics mentioned.
U.S. Ministers. 85-Trent Affair. The Trent Affair began on the stormy night of Oct. 11, 1861, when four Confederate emissaries evaded the Union blockade at Charleston, S.C., went by ship to Havana, Cuba, and there boarded the British mail ship Trent en route to England. The Confederates sought aid and arms in England and France. On Nov. 8, 1861, the Trent was illegally stopped in the Bahama Channel, West Indies, by Capt. Charles Wilkes (1798-1877) of the USS San Jacinto. Confederates James Murray Mason (from Va.), John Slidell (from La.), and their male secretaries, were forcibly removed, taken to Boston harbor, and jailed. Anticipating war with the U.S., Britain sent 8,000 troops to Canada. But U.S. jingoism subsided after Pres. Lincoln allegedly told his cabinet, "one war at a time," got the cabinet on Dec. 26, 1861, to release the Confederate prisoners on Jan. 1, 1862, and apologized to the British for the illegal seizure. See: persons and ships mentioned. Trent Affair.
U.S. Ministers. 86-Slidell's Secretary Married to Louise Morris Corcoran. GP's minor connection with the Trent Affair was with Confederate emissary John Slidell's secretary, George Eustice (1828-72), husband of Louise Morris Corcoran (1838-67), only child of GP's longtime Washington, D.C., business associate William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888). She was a favorite of GP, who had entertained Corcoran and his daughter, sometimes the daughter alone, on European trips. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 87-GP Mentioned. When Capt. Richard Williams, Trent officer in charge of the mail, was asked at a dinner to give his version of what happened, it was published in the Liverpool Daily Post, Jan. 8, 1862, p. 5, c. 1-2. His reported account was that when the USS San Jacinto's Lt. Donald McNeill Fairfax (1821-94) demanded to take Mason and Slidell into custody, they appeared before him with Slidell's daughter clinging to her father. When Lt. Fairfax tried to separate father and daughter, she slapped his face. The Daily Post article added that there was a contradiction to Capt. Williams' version from an MP who "had the contradiction from George Peabody, the well known banker and merchant." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 88-Allen S. Hanckel. The article added information from a Mr. Allen S. Kanckel (his last name, misspelled, was Hanckel), who claimed to have witnessed the Trent incident. He informed the editor that Slidell's daughter did not slap Lt. Fairfax but "put her hand twice on his face to keep him back." The article ended with: "Mr. Kanckel adds, that Mr. Peabody, uninvited, called on Mrs. Slidell, and behaved ungentlemanly." The editor sent GP the news article along with Allen S. Hanckel's calling card. Hanckel wrote to GP that the Daily Post editor had made a mistake, that it had been GP's partner, Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90), who had burst uninvited into Mrs. Slidell's room. Hanckel added with an implied threat, "I shall certainly call upon you and hope to receive an explanation." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 89-Trent Stirred Passions. Mr. Hanckel's threatened visit to GP never materialized. The Trent affair stirred passions and worried GP, partly because it threatened his long-term U.S.-British friendship concern; partly because the Trent Affair threatened public announcement of his housing gift for London's working poor ($2.5 million total, 1862-69). Press announcement of this gift, delayed until March 12, 1862, was warmly received despite the Trent Affair. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 90-Alabama Claims. Without a navy and with its southern ports blockaded by the North, Confederate agents evaded the blockade, went to England, secretly bought British-built ships, armed them as Confederate raiders, renamed them Alabama, Florida, Shenandoah, and others, which sank northern ships and wrecked northern ports. The U.S. demanded reparations caused by these British-built raiders. This demand was not resolved until 1871-72 when a Geneva international tribunal determined that Britain should pay the U.S. $15.5 million indemnity. See: Alabama Claims.
U.S. Ministers. 91-Alabama Claims Settlement. In 1868, a year before his death, GP had been suggested but not chosen as a U.S. arbiter in the Alabama Claims controversy. In the final settlement, Charles Francis Adams represented the U.S., British jurist Alexander James Edmund Cockburn (1802-80) represented Britain, and three members were from neutral countries. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 92-Trent and Alabama Affected GP's Funeral Honors. As will be shown below, the Nov. 8, 1861, Trent Affair and the lingering Alabama Claims were two of several Civil War related incidents that evoked near-war U.S.-British tensions. GP died Nov. 4, 1869, in London, at the height of these tensions. Letters from the public poured into the press requesting public honors for him. High British officials seized upon his death and the fact that his will asked for burial near his hometown. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
U.S. Ministers. 93-Trent and Alabama Affected GP's Funeral Honors Cont'd. Partly in appreciation for a foreigner who gave London, a city in a country not his own, $2.5 million for housing their working poor, partly because he publicly supported U.S.-British friendship, and politically to soften near-war U.S. angers--British officials heaped unprecedented transatlantic funeral honors on him. What British officials started, U.S. officials felt they had to emulate. But all this lay ahead and is told through U.S. Minister to Britain John Lothrop Motley, who followed U.S. Minister to Britain Reverdy Johnson below. Ref.: Ibid.
Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1868-69
U.S. Ministers. 94-Career. Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876) was born in Annapolis, Md., attended St. John's College in that city, was a Baltimore lawyer (from 1817, when he first knew and legally represented GP), became Md. State Sen. (1821-29), U.S. Sen. (1845-49), U.S. Atty. Gen. (1849), and was again U.S. Sen. (1863-68). Reverdy Johnson-GP relations follow. See: Johnson, Reverdy.
U.S. Ministers. 95-Helped Plan the PIB. In 1854 when Baltimorean Reverdy Johnson was in London, GP, searching for an educational gift idea for Baltimore, asked Johnson's advice, and asked him to consult and plan with other Baltimoreans. Back in Baltimore, Reverdy Johnson told John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870) of GP's wish for the three Baltimore leaders (Reverdy Johnson, John Pendleton Kennedy, and William Edwards Mayhew), to help him plan what came to be the PIB. The PIB was largely Kennedy's plan, based partly on London's British Museum and made possible by GP's total gift of $1.4 million (1857-69). See: persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 96-Kennedy's Plan. Kennedy conceived of the PIB as a five-part institute: 1-specialized reference library; 2-lecture hall, lecture series, and lecture fund; 3-academy (later called conservatory) of music; 4-gallery of art; and 5-annual prizes for best scholars in Baltimore public schools. Kennedy helped draft GP's Feb. 12, 1857, founding letter. The PIB building, delayed by the Civil War, was dedicated on Oct. 23-24, 1866, and was opened on Oct. 26, 1866, with GP present. See: PIB.
U.S. Ministers. 97-U.S. Senate, 1867. GP founded the PEF (Feb. 7, 1867, $1 million, doubled on June 29, 1869) to promote public education in the former Confederate states. A few days later Pres. Andrew Johnson (1808-75) called on GP in Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C., to thank him for the PEF as a national gift. A month later, March 5, 1867, U.S. Sen. Charles Sumner (1811-74, R-Mass.) introduced in the U.S. Senate resolutions of Congressional thanks and a gold medal to GP for the PEF. See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP, 1867-69.
U.S. Ministers. 98-Sen. Reverdy Johnson Defended GP. Radical Republican Senators Thomas Warren Tipton (1817-99, R Neb.) and James Wilson Grimes (1816-72, R-Iowa), believing GP to have been pro-Confederate, wanted to bury the resolutions in an investigating committee. Sen. Reverdy Johnson (Md.) rose to say that he had been GP's lawyer in Baltimore in 1817, had several later contacts with him in London, and defended GP as a staunch Unionist. The Senate voted 36 yeas for the resolutions, 2 nays (Senators Grimes and Tipton voting nay), with 15 Senators absent. See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP, 1867-69.
U.S. Ministers. 99-Congressional Praise Passed in the U.S. House. The resolutions were debated in the U.S. House of Representatives on Mar. 9, 1867. Rep. Abner Clark Harding (1807-74, R-Ill.) moved: "...to strike out the gold medal.... I am informed Mr. Peabody made profit from the rebellion which he aided and
Following Background "Preface" below this 11 of 14 blogs covers alphabetically: U.S. Ministers. 4 to Whittier, John Greenleaf (1807-92). 1.
Background: "Preface" in 1 of 14 tells the why-when-where-how-findings-and-motives of the authors’ research on Franklin Parker’s doctoral dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” completed 1956 at George Peabody College for Teachers, adjoining Vanderbilt University, which on July 1, 1979, became Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville.
George Peabody, so well known in the 1850s-60s but since sadly neglected, was a significant 19th century figure as: 1-a Massachusetts-born merchant in the U.S. South: Riggs & Peabody, later Peabody & Riggs (1814-38), who imported dry goods and other commodities (worldwide) for sale to U.S. wholesalers. George Peabody then became: 2-a London-based merchant-banker, George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), who financed in part the B&O RR, the 2nd Mexican War Loan, the Atlantic Cable, and with J.S. Morgan as partner, was the root of the JP Morgan international banking firm. Finally, this merchant-turned-banker became: 3-the best known philanthropist of his time (1850s-60s), who founded the Peabody Homes of London for the working poor; in the U.S. 7 Peabody Libraries and Lecture Halls; the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore; three Peabody Museums at Harvard (Anthropology), Yale (Paleontology), and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (maritime history); and founder of the Peabody Education Fund for the South (1867-1914), basis for all later larger U.S. funds and foundations. End of Background.
U.S. Ministers. 4-Goodwill in Md. and Abroad. GP's faith that Md. and other states would resume bond interest payments bore fruit in 1847-48. The depression eased. Md. and the other repudiating states resumed bond interest payments. On March 7, 1848, the Md. legislature recognized GP's service and passed unanimous resolutions of praise for his financial help. GP was sent these resolutions with Md. Gov. Philip Francis Thomas's (1810-90) cover letter to GP saying: "To you, sir,...the thanks of the State were eminently due." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 5-GP Praised. The London correspondent of the NYC Courier & Enquirer wrote: "...the energetic influence of the Anti-Repudiators would never have been heard in England had not Mr. George Peabody...made it a part of his duty to give to the holders of the Bonds every information in his power, and to point out...the certainty of Maryland resuming [payment].... He...had the moral courage to tell his countrymen the contempt [because of repudiation] with which all Americans were viewed.... [He is] a merchant of high standing...but also an uncompromising denouncer of chicanery in every shape." Ref.: Ibid. See: Speed, John Joseph.
U.S. Ministers. 6-Successful American Firm in London. Asked three months before his death (Aug. 22, 1869) when and how he made his money, GP said: "I made pretty much of it in 20 years from 1844 to 1864. Everything I touched within that time seemed to turn to gold. I bought largely of United States securities when their value was low and they advanced greatly." During 1837-mid-1840s GP was in transition from merchant to securities broker and international banker. Ref.: Letter from Dr. John Jennings Moorman, M.D., resident physician, Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., quoted in Baltimore Sun, Dec. 2, [1869], copy in news clipping album, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. Moorman-b, pp. 15-17.
U.S. Ministers. 7-Proud of His Firm. The success of his London banking firm, George Peabody & Co. (begun Dec. 1838), allowed GP to emerge socially and philanthropically. On a U.S. visit he told a hometown (South Danvers, Mass.) audience of 1,500 on Oct. 9, 1856: "Heaven has been pleased to reward my efforts with success, and has permitted me to establish...a house in a great metropolis of England.... I have endeavored...to make it an American house; to furnish it with American journals; to make it a center for American news, and an agreeable place for my American friends visiting England." See: South Danvers, Mass., GP Celebration, Oct. 9, 1856.
U.S. Ministers. 8-Serving Visiting Americans. U.S. visitors passing through London increasingly sought letters of introduction to GP. Besides banking services, he got for them theater and opera tickets, gave corsages to their ladies, and helped them contact British leaders. His little noted first U.S.-British friendship dinner began simply in 1850. The next year his social and philanthropic emergence came about from his loan to U.S. exhibitors in financial difficulty at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, and his two U.S.-British friendship dinners that followed, both connected with this first world's fair. See: U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence, below, fourth of the ten GP-connected U.S. Ministers in London.
GP & Andrew Stevenson (1784-1857), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1836-41
U.S. Ministers. 9-U.S. Minister Andrew Stevenson. GP had no known direct contact with Va.-born Andrew Stevenson, a lawyer, Va. House of Delegates member and its Speaker, Va.'s Representative in the U.S. Congress (1821-34) and its Speaker during 1828-34, U.S. Minister to Great Britain (1836-41), and finally rector of the Univ. of Va. (1841-57).
U.S. Ministers. 10-Freedom of the City of London. GP and Andrew Stevenson had only one known indirect connection. Andrew Stevenson was the first U.S. citizen offered the Freedom of the City of London on Feb. 22, 1838. He declined the honor as being inconsistent with his official duties. GP was the second U.S. citizen offered the Freedom of the City of London and its first recipient on July 10, 1862.
U.S. Ministers. 11-Freedom of the City of London, Five U.S. Recipients. Besides 1-GP, the other four U.S. citizens who received the Freedom of London included 2-Ulysses Simpson Grant (1822-85), second recipient, awarded June 15, 1877 (U.S. general and 18th U.S. president during 1869-77). 3-Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), third recipient, awarded May 31, 1910 (26th U.S. president during 1901-09). 4-U.S. Gen. John Joseph Pershing (1860-1948), fourth recipient, awarded July 18, 1919. 5-Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969), fifth recipient, awarded June 12, 1945 (U.S. general and 34th U.S. president during 1953-61). See: London, Freedom of the City of London. Persons named.
GP & Edward Everett (1794-1865), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1841-45
U.S. Ministers. 12-Career. Edward Everett was a U.S. clergyman, educator, statesman, and an acclaimed orator of his time. He was born in Dorchester, Mass.; was a Harvard graduate (B.A., 1811, M.A., 1814); one of the first U.S. scholars to study at Göttingen Univ., Germany; was Harvard professor of Greek literature (1819-26); member, U.S. House of Representatives (1824-34); Mass. governor (1836-39); U.S. Minister to Britain (1841-45); Harvard Univ. president (1846-49); U.S. Secty. of State (1852-53); and U.S. Senator (1853-54). His two hour speech as principal speaker at the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery, Nov. 19, 1863, is largely forgotten while Pres. Abraham Lincoln's short address became famous. Ref.: Boatner, p. 268.
U.S. Ministers. 13-Edward Everett-GP Indirect Contact, 1852. Edward Everett was one of several prominent Mass. statesmen who sent congratulatory letters to Danvers, Mass., citizens, June 16, 1852, on the celebration of its 100th year of separation from Salem, Mass. Invited to Danvers' centennial celebration but unable to attend, GP wrote from London, May 26, 1852, a letter read to those assembled by GP's boyhood classmate John Waters Proctor (1791-1874). GP's letter contained a $20,000 check for his first Peabody Institute of South Danvers, Mass. (renamed Peabody April 13, 1868), first of a total of $217,600 to that institute library. With his letter and check was his sentiment: "Education: a debt due from present to future generations." See: Danvers, Mass., Centennial Celebration, June 16, 1852. Persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 14-Edward Everett's Oct. 9, 1856 Speech. Four years later Edward Everett spoke at the Oct. 9, 1856, celebration honoring GP in his hometown of South Danvers, Mass. The celebration came during GP's May 1, 1856 to May 1, 1857 U.S. visit, his first return in nearly 20 years since he left for London in Feb. 1837. After Mass. Gov. Henry J. Gardner's (1818-92) short speech, Edward Everett said (in part): "While in England I had the opportunity to witness Mr. Peabody's honorable position in commerce and social circles.... When American credit stood low and the individual states defaulted their trust, our friend stood firm and was the cause of firmness in others. When few would be listened to on the subject of American securities in the parlor of the Bank of England, his judgment commanded respect; his integrity won back trust in America. He performed the miracle by which the word of an honest man turns paper into gold." See: Everett, Edward.
U.S. Ministers. 15-Edward Everett's Oct. 9, 1856 Speech Cont'd.: "He promoted the enjoyment of travelling Americans as so many here can attest. The United States Minister in England, with little funds, could not bring together Americans and Englishmen and women in convivial friendship. Our honored guest, with ample means, corrected this defect. At the first world's fair in London, 1851, the exhibitors of other nations went officially supplied with funds to display their nation's wares. The American exhibitors found a large place to fill naked and unadorned. At the critical moment when the English press ridiculed the sorry appearance we presented, our friend stepped forward and did what Congress should have done. Our products were shown at their best. Leading British journalists admitted that England derived more benefit from the contributions of the United States than from any other country." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 16-Edward Everett's Oct. 9, 1856 Speech Cont'd.: "Time and again he brought together men of two nations to drink from loving cups of goodwill. These are some reasons we welcome to old Danvers one of her greatest sons. (Great cheering.) "When on the 16th of June, 1852, Danvers celebrated its one hundredth year of separate existence our friend sent a slip of paper containing a noble sentiment. Now a slip of paper can easily be blown away. So, as a paperweight, to keep the toast safe on the table to repay his debt, Mr. Peabody laid down $20,000 and has since doubled it." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 17-Edward Everett on GP's Harvard Gift. GP consulted Edward Everett among others about a philanthropic gift to Harvard Univ. GP's first gift idea for Harvard in 1861 was an astronomical observatory. He discussed this idea in letters to Francis Peabody (1801-68) of Salem, Mass., William Henry Appleton (1814-84) of Boston, and with Edward Everett (former Harvard president during 1846-49). Everett thought Harvard needed a "School of Design" [i.e., art], more than an astronomical observatory. GP's Harvard gift idea went through a third change, from astronomical observatory to Edward Everett's suggested School of Design or art, to a museum for archaeology and ethnology, largely through the influence of GP's nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99). See: Marsh, Othniel Charles. Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
U.S. Ministers. 18-Harvard Gift Influenced by Nephew O.C. Marsh. GP had paid for nephew O.C. Marsh's education through Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.; Yale College, and Yale's graduate Sheffield Scientific School. During 1862-65 GP paid for Marsh's doctoral study at the universities of Heidelberg, Berlin, and Breslau, Germany; paid for Marsh's library of paleontology books, and for shipment of two and a half tons of fossil bones sent to Yale where Marsh became the first U.S. paleontology professor. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 19-Marsh on GP's Science Gifts to Harvard and Yale. Marsh spoke with uncle GP in London in Oct. 1862 about new scientific findings, about Charles Darwin, evolution, and European scientists Marsh had talked to. Marsh, turning uncle GP's thoughts toward science gifts for Harvard and Yale, described these talks in letters to his mentor, Yale Prof. Benjamin Silliman, Jr. (1816-85): "I had a long talk with Mr. P. in regard to his future plans and donations.... I will tell you confidentially that Harvard will have her usual good fortune. So many of our family have been educated at Harvard that he naturally felt a greater interest in that institution than in Yale, of which I am the only representative. I can assure you, however, that I did [not] allow the claims of my Alma Mater to be forgotten...and I have strong hopes that she may yet be favored although nothing is as yet definitely arranged. The donation to H. [Harvard] is a large one and for a School of Design...." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 20-Peabody Museums of Harvard and Yale Universities. GP visited the U.S. during May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867, consulted further with knowledgeable friends and founded the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard Univ. (Oct. 8, 1866), the Peabody Museum of Natural Science at Yale Univ. (Oct. 22, 1866), $150,000 each, and what is now the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass. (Feb. 26, 1867, $140,000) for maritime history and Essex County historical depository. Ref.: Ibid.
GP & George Bancroft (1800-91), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1846-49
U.S. Ministers. 21-Career. George Bancroft was also a distinguished U.S. historian, author of the History of the United States, 10 volumes published during 1834-74. While GP had no known contact with George Bancroft as U.S. Minister, he had friendly relations with George Bancroft's nephew, John Chandler Bancroft Davis (1822-1907), Secty. of the U.S. legation in London during 1849-54. See: persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 22-Contact with London Legation Secty. J.C.B. Davis. GP sometimes dined with J.C.B. Davis, born in Worcester, Mass., and Davis's Harvard College classmate, Vt.-born Henry Stevens (1819-86), rare book dealer, resident in London, who later acted as GP's agent in book shipments to Peabody Institute libraries. Davis and Stevens lived for some years in the same Morley's Hotel, London. On Nov. 24, 1849, Davis, Stevens, and GP dined at the home in East Sheen, near London, of Joshua Bates (1788-1854), born in Weymouth, Mass., who went to London in the early 1800s. Bates, who became agent, partner (at age 38), and head of Baring Brothers, became a naturalized British subject, was the most prominent U.S.-born financier in London in the 1840s, and GP's friendly business rival. See: persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 23-Dinner with Herman Melville. Joshua Bates's dinner guest of honor was U.S. author Herman Melville (1819-91), who later wrote Moby Dick (1851). Melville was in London, on his only trip abroad, to market his manuscript, White Jacket. They talked in part about Melville's older brother Gansvoort Melville (1815-46), former U.S. legation secretary who died two years before and whom those present had known. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 24-Dinner with Herman Melville Cont'd. Melville's journal mentions meeting GP: "On my right was Mr. Peabody, an American for many years resident in London, a merchant, & a very fine old fellow of fifty or thereabouts." Melville continued: "I had intended to remain over night...but Peabody invited me to accompany him to town in his carriage. I went with him, along with Davis, the Secty. of Legation.... Mr. Peabody was well acquainted with Gansevoort when he was here. He saw him not long before his end. He told me that Gansevoort rather shunned society when here. He spoke of him with such feeling." Ref.: Ibid.
GP & Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1849-52
U.S. Ministers. 25-Career. Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855) was born in Groton, Mass. With his brother Amos Lawrence (1786-1852), he started cotton textile mills in Lowell, Mass., and in Lawrence, Mass. (named after him). As a statesman he was a member of the U.S. Congress (1835-37, 1839-40) and served on the Northeast Boundary Commission (1842). He also gave $50,000 to found the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard Univ. (1840s). GP had extended contact with U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence during the Great Exhibition of 1851, London (world's first fair).
U.S. Ministers. 26-Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. The idea for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London originated with Henry Cole (1808-82), member of the Society of Art (later Royal Society of Art), who had arranged several industrial and art expositions. The idea occurred to him in 1848 for a first world's fair, with each nation showing its best industrial and art products. Knowing that such a large enterprise needed royal sponsorship, Cole turned to Albert of Saxe-Co-burg-Gotha (Prince Albert, 1819-61), Queen Victoria's husband and president of the Society of Art. German-born Prince Albert nurtured the idea to reality. A Royal Commission (Jan. 3, 1850) helped raise funds, issued contracts, and invited the world's nations to participate. Joseph Paxton (1801-65) designed the striking glass-covered Crystal Palace in Hyde Park to house the exhibits and the Exhibition. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (world's first fair).
U.S. Ministers. 27-U.S. Exhibitors Without Funds to Adorn U.S. Pavilion. The U.S. Congress appointed nonpaid commissioners who selected U.S. industrial and art objects to exhibit. Congress also authorized the U.S. Navy's St. Lawrence to transport U.S. products and exhibitors to Southampton, England (Feb. 1851). But Congress did not appropriate funds to adorn the large (40,000 sq. ft.) U.S. pavilion. Crates strewn about the unadorned pavilion provoked the satirical Punch to poke fun at "the glaring contrast between large pretensions and little performance...by America." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 28-Dilemma. The London correspondent of the New York Evening Post called it "a national disgrace that American wares...are so barely displayed; so vulgarly spread out over so large a space." U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855) and his legation staff had no funds to decorate the U.S. exhibit and knew it might take months for Congress to appropriate funds, if at all. Hearing of the lack of funds to decorate the U.S. pavilion, GP, then comparatively little known, quietly offered, through a polite note to Minister Lawrence, a loan of $15,000. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 29-GP's Loan. U.S. exhibitors, U.S. residents in London, the legation staff, and especially Minister Lawrence were relieved of embarrassment and grateful to GP. Partly through GP's loan, which Congress repaid three years later, over six million visitors to the first world's fair saw displayed to best advantage U.S. manufactured products and arts. The U.S. items most talked about were Alfred C. Hobbs's (1812-91) unpickable lock, Samuel Colt's (1814-62) revolvers, Hiram Powers' (1805-73) statue, the Greek Slave, Cyrus Hall McCormick's (1809-84) reapers, Richard Hoe's (1812-86) printing press, and William Cranch Bond's (1789-1859) spring governor. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 30-GP's Proposed July 4, 1851, Dinner. With so many visiting Americans in London and in the international spirit of the Great Exhibition, GP proposed to give a U.S.-British friendship dinner. He chose July 4, 1851, U.S. Independence Day, which would appeal to Americans, but not to some disdainful British. GP's motive for the dinners, as in making the loan to the U.S. exhibitors, was to improve U.S.-British relations. Criticism of the U.S. in London newspapers saddened him, as did anti-British reports in U.S. newspapers. He was painfully aware of past strained relations. It had been 10 years since the U.S.-British dispute over the Maine boundary, 37 years since the War of 1812, 75 years since the American Revolution. Wondering if British society would attend his July 4th dinner, GP sounded out Minister Abbott Lawrence, who discreetly asked the opinion of London social leaders. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 31-"the fashionables...do not wish to attend this Ball." On June 26, 1851, Minister Lawrence, finding a wary reaction to the idea, warned GP: "Lady Palmerston was here. She has seen the leading ladies of the town and quoted one as saying the fashionables are tired of balls. I am quite satisfied that the fashionables and aristocracy of London do not wish to attend this Ball. Lady Palmerston says she will attend. I do not under those circumstances desire to tax my friends to meet Mrs. Lawrence and myself--Your party then I think must be confined to the Americans--and those connected with America, and such of the British people as happen to be so situated as to enjoy uniting with us." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 32-Duke of Wellington. Prospects looked dim. But GP thought his dinner might succeed if a distinguished British hero was guest of honor. Through friends, GP approached the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley Wellington, 1769-1852), then England's greatest living hero. The man who beat Napoleon at Waterloo reportedly huffed, "Good idea." When it was known that the 84-year-old Duke of Wellington would attend, British society followed. GP's Friday night, July 4, 1851, dinner succeeded enormously. See: Lawrence, Abbott. Wellington, Duke of.
U.S. Ministers. 33-Eight Hundred at Dinner. The July 4, 1851, dinner was held at the exclusive Willis's Rooms, sometimes called Almack's. GP hired a professional master of ceremonies, a Mr. Mitchell of Bond St. On either end of the spacious ballroom were portraits of Queen Victoria and George Washington. Flowers were tastefully arranged. English and U.S. flags were skillfully blended. More than a thousand guests came and went that evening. Eight hundred sat down to dinner. See: Dinners, GP's, London.
U.S. Ministers. 34-Distinguished Guests. Present were several MPs, former Tenn. Gov. Neill Smith Brown (1810-86, then U.S. Minister to Russia); London's Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress; Thomson Hankey (1805-93), the Bank of England's junior governor; Baroness Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906), the 19th century's greatest woman philanthropist; Joseph Paxton of Crystal Palace fame; and other English nobility. An orchestra played and a ball followed in a spacious ballroom decorated with medallions and mirrors, lit by 500 candles in cut-glass chandeliers. At 11 p.m. as the Duke of Wellington entered, the band struck up "See the Conquering Hero Comes." GP approached the "iron duke," shook his hand, and escorted him through the hall amid applause, and introduced him to U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 35-Good Press. The London Times reported that His Grace had a good time and left at a late hour. The same article referred to GP as "an eminent American merchant." The Ladies Newspaper had a large woodcut illustration of GP introducing the Duke to Abbott Lawrence. Even the aristocratic London Morning Post took favorable note of the affair. See: Dinners, GP's, London.
U.S. Ministers. 36-"more than regal entertainment." U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, gushing with pride and thanks, wrote to GP: "I should be unjust...if I were not to offer my acknowledgments and heartfelt thanks for myself and our country for the more than regal entertainment you gave to me and mine, and to our countrymen generally here in London." Lawrence went on: "Your idea of bringing together the inhabitants of two of the greatest nations upon earth...was a most felicitous conception...." Lawrence concluded: "I congratulate you upon the distinguished success that has crowned your efforts.... [You have] done that which was never before attempted." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 37-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner to Departing U.S. Exhibitors. On Oct. 6, 1851, U.S. commissioner to the Great Exhibition Charles F. Stansbury and other exhibitors, about to return to the U.S., invited GP to be guest of honor at a farewell dinner. He gratefully declined on Oct. 11, said they had overestimated his services, added that his 15 years in London had erased sectional and political difference and that he did what he could to further the U.S. as a whole. This invitation may have prompted his own Oct. 27, 1851, dinner to the departing exhibitors. It was grander and better received than his July 4, 1851, dinner. He also had the proceedings and speeches recorded, printed, and beautifully bound copies selectively distributed to U.S. and British officials. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 38-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner. The Oct. 27, 1851, dinner was held at the London Coffee House, Ludgate Hill, where Benjamin Franklin as American ambassador had met friends to discuss American colonial affairs over food and drinks. British and U.S. flags draped life-size paintings of Queen Victoria, George Washington, and Prince Albert. Pennants and laurel wreaths decorated the long hall. At 7:00 P.M. GP took the chair, grace was said, and dinner was served to 150 U.S. and British guests, many of them connected with the just-closed Great Exhibition of 1851. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 39-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Cont'd. The toastmaster, a Mr. Harker, began: "Mr. Peabody drinks to you in a loving cup and bids you all a hearty welcome." A U.S.-made loving cup of English oak, inlaid with silver, inscribed "Francis Peabody of Salem to George Peabody, of London, 1851," was passed around until each guest tasted from it. After dessert, GP rose and gave the first toast to, "The Queen, God bless her." All stood as the band played God Save the Queen. His second toast was to "The President of the United States, God bless him." All rose while Hail Columbiawas played. His third toast to "The health of His Royal Highness Prince Albert" brought more flourishes of music. After U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence was toasted, the band played Yankee Doodle. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 40-Minister Lawrence's Speech. U.S. Minister Lawrence spoke of the many ties binding the U.S. and Britain. He praised Sir Joseph Paxton, "The man...who...[planned] a building such as the world never saw before." He praised Earl Granville (Granville George Leveson-Gower, 1815-91), who had "the skill and enterprise to execute the plan." He praised Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton (William Henry Lytton Earle Bulwer, 1801-72), British ambassador to the U.S. Minister Lawrence said to the departing exhibitors: "We came out of the Exhibition better than was first anticipated.... You will take leave of this country...impressed with the high values of the Exhibition...in the full belief that you have received every consideration." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 41-Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton's Response. Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton, grasping the hand of Abbott Lawrence, said: "I clasp your hand as that of a friend and claim it as that of a brother. [Cheers] The idea of this Great Exhibition...was...to collect...the mind of the whole world, so that each nation might learn and appreciate the character and intelligence of the other." "You live under a Republic," he said to the Americans, "and we under a Monarchy, but what of that? The foundations of both societies are law and religion: the purpose of both governments is liberty and order." "Hand in hand," he concluded, "we can stand together...the champions of peace between nations, of conciliation between opinions." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 42-GP's Concluding Speech. Ending the festivities, GP stood and when the cheers subsided, said: "I have lived a great many years in this country without weakening my attachment to my own land.... I have been extremely fortunate in bringing together...a number of our countrymen...and...English gentlemen [of] social and official rank.... May these unions still continue, and gather strength with the gathering years." The proceedings lasted more than four hours. Good reports of its effect reverberated in the press. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 43-Press Reports. The New York Times gave two full columns to the dinner. Another NYC newspaper stated: "George Peabody's dinners were timed just right. For years there have been built up antagonism and recrimination. Suddenly a respected American, long resident in London with a host of American and English friends, brings them together. The thing works and...elicits applause and appreciation from both the American and English press." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 44-Haddock's Report. Great Exhibition participant Charles B. Haddock's (1796-1861) letter in a New Hampshire newspaper read: "Mr. Peabody's dinner to the departing Americans had several good effects. (1) It highlighted American achievement at the Exhibition; (2) brought George Peabody into notice; (3) raised Abbott Lawrence's esteem as United States Minister to England. "It is something to have sent to the Exhibition the best plough, the best reaping machine, the best revolvers--something to have outdone the proudest naval people in the world, in fast sailing and fast steaming, in her own waters.... Moreover, it is a great pride for America to have George Peabody and Abbott Lawrence in England who represent the best of America and uphold its worth and integrity." Haddock referred to the U.S. yacht America, which won the 1851 international yacht race, defeating the English yacht Baltic in British waters. The first prize (a silver tankard) has since been known as America's Cup. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 45-Dinner Proceedings Book. GP commissioned Henry Stevens to compile, print, and distribute a handsome book with the dinner menu, toasts, proceedings, and speeches. Born in Barnet, Vt., a graduate of Yale College (1841) and Harvard Law School, Henry Stevens went to London in July 1845 and remained there for the rest of his life as a rare book dealer and bibliographer. He bought U.S. books for the British Museum and sold British books to U.S. libraries. Stevens had 50 copies printed and bound in cloth by Nov. 25, 1851, and sent copies to departing U.S. exhibitors. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 46-Copy to U.S. Pres. Fillmore. Through U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, GP gave a copy printed on vellum to Pres. Millard Fillmore (1800-74). Pres. Fillmore acknowledged receipt and wrote to Abbott Lawrence: "From all I have heard of Mr. Peabody, he is one of those 'Merchant Princes' who does equal honor to the land of his birth and the country of his adoption. This dinner must have been a most grateful treat to our American citizens and will long be remembered by the...guests...he entertained as one of the happiest days of their lives.... The banquet shows that he still recollects his native land with fond affection, and it may well be proud of him." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 47-Copies Sent to Dignitaries. U.S. Minister Lawrence also sent copies on vellum to Prince Albert, The Duke of Wellington, and Lord Granville. Lawrence wrote to GP: "I have a note from Colonel Grey [Charles Grey, 1804-70], the Secretary of Prince Albert, acknowledging the receipt of your beautiful volume with expressions of thanks to you for it, from his Royal Highness." U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence's son, after sending copies to Boston dignitaries, wrote to GP that the book was "much talked of in Boston and has been greatly praised." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 48-"quite a public character." GP's nephew George Peabody Russell (1835-1909) wrote his uncle from Harvard, where GP was paying for his college education: "Your parting entertainment to the American Exhibitors has caused your name to be known and appreciated on this side of the Atlantic.... In fact, you have become quite a public character." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 49-GP's Gift to the Md. Institute. Praise of GP's London dinners appeared in Baltimore newspapers. This publicity may have prompted the Md. Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts to make him an honorary member. After GP read a newspaper report of the Md. Institute's effort to raise funds for a school of chemistry, he wrote the Md. Institute's Pres. William H. Keighler, Oct. 31, 1851, enclosing a $1,000 gift for the chemistry school "as a small token of gratitude toward a State from which I have been mighty honored, and a City in the prosperity of which I shall ever feel the greatest interest." This (still) little known gift began his educational philanthropy. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 50-First Peabody Institute Library. The next year, June 1852, when his hometown of Danvers, Mass., celebrated its 100th year of separation from Salem, Mass., GP, who could not attend, sent his first check to found his first Peabody Institute Library (now in Peabody, Mass.) accompanied by a motto, "Education--a debt due from present to future generations." To Washington, D.C., friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888), who had written to GP, GP answered: "You will make us proud to call you friend and countryman. However liberal I may be here, I cannot keep pace with your noble acts of charity at home; but one of these days I mean to come out, and then if my feelings regarding money don't change and I have plenty, I shall become a strong competitor of yours in benevolence." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 51-GP's Emergence. GP early told a few intimates of his intent to found an educational institution in towns and cities where he lived, worked or visited relatives. Public praise for his loan to the U.S. exhibitors at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and praise for his two Exhibition-connected dinners furthered that determination. In 1851 GP emerged socially as sponsor of U.S.-British friendship dinners (mainly on July 4, U.S. Independence Day), and as a philanthropist in the U.S. and in Britain. In the 1860s he was the best known philanthropist of his time. Ref.: Ibid.
Joseph Reed Ingersoll (1786-1868), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1852-53
U.S. Ministers. 52-Oct. 12, 1852, Introduced Minister Ingersoll. Joseph Reed Ingersoll was U.S. Minister to Britain one year, 1852-53 (commissioned, Aug. 21, 1852; arrived in London Sept. 30, 1852; presented his credentials, Oct. 16, 1852; and relieved Aug. 23, 1853). GP gave a dinner in London on Oct. 12, 1852, to introduce incoming Minister Ingersoll and his niece, Miss Charlotte Manigault Wilcocks (1821-75). The dinner also honored the departing U.S. Minister to Britain, Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855). Guests included Joshua Bates, head of the Baring Brothers (mentioned in connection with London Legation Secty. J.C.B. Davis above), and Russell Sturgis (1805-87), another U.S-born London resident merchant-banker. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 53-Courtesies to Ingersoll. GP's dinner enabled the Ingersolls to meet U.S. residents in London and prominent Britishers. GP's gifts of apples and tea, use of his opera box, and U.S.-British friendship dinners earned Minister Ingersoll's thanks in a letter on June 16, 1853: "I do but echo the general sentiment, in expressing to you the feelings of regard and esteem which you have inspired." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 54-May 18, 1853, Dinner for Ingersoll. GP's May 18, 1853, dinner provided more contact with London society for U.S. Minister J.R. Ingersoll and his niece, Miss Wilcocks. The dinner was held at the Star and Garter, Richmond, about eight miles from London, overlooking the Thames. The 150 guests (65 English, 85 Americans) included Harvard Univ. professor (and president in 1860) Cornelius Conway Felton (1807-62). He later wrote in his book, Familiar Letters from Europe, of being a guest "at a splendid and costly entertainment" in 1853 by GP with Martin Van Buren (1782-1862, eighth U.S. Pres., 1837-41) and "many very distinguished persons" present. A band and vocalists began and ended the dinner with the British and U.S. national anthems. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 55-May 18, 1853, Dinner for Ingersoll Cont'd. After the sumptuous meal GP expressed his pleasure at bringing together U.S. and British friends. Minister Ingersoll then gave the toasts: "The Queen: the President of the United States: and the people of the United States and the United Kingdom: the two great nations, whose common origin, mutual interests and growing friendships, serve to cement a union created by resemblance in language, liberty, religion and law." Ingersoll's speech that followed his toasts contained complimentary references to former U.S. Pres. Martin Van Buren and to GP. These references evoked cheers. Pres. Van Buren rose and paid respects to the occasion and to GP as host. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 56-May 18, 1853, Dinner for Ingersoll Cont'd. GP's friend, Episcopal Bishop of Ohio Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873) rose to speak. A few years later he would help GP plan the Peabody apartments for London's working poor (from March 12, 1862, $2.5 million total gift). McIlvaine said, referring to GP's British-U.S. dinners: "When history should come to be written, and due weight should be given to all the influences which tend to perpetuate international concord, if history should consent to notice incidents apparently so trifling as social festivities and the interchange of friendly greetings, it would assign...a very high place to their host as one who had done very much in this way to promote mutual knowledge and goodwill between the people of the two great nations who were there represented." The dinner and speeches received favorable transatlantic press coverage. What the dinner cost GP is not known, but one bill, only part of the total, was about $940. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 57-Partner-to-be Junius Spencer Morgan Present. Also present at this GP dinner honoring Minister J.R. Ingersoll were Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90) and Mrs. Morgan. Because GP was often ill, business friends had long urged him to take an American partner to give continuity to George Peabody & Co. Friends recommended J.S. Morgan as a likely partner of great probity, experienced in dry-goods importing and knowledgeable about securities and banking. GP and Morgan had been in correspondence about a possible partnership. The J.S. Morgans and their 16-year-old son, John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), had come to London expressly to look into the possible partnership. The May 18, 1853, dinner allowed GP and Morgan to take each other's measure in a social setting. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 58-Young J.P. Morgan. Young J.P. Morgan, who was not at the dinner, wrote to his cousin that night, "Father and Mother went to a dinner given by George Peabody at Richmond." GP and J.S. Morgan were both favorably impressed. The Morgans returned to Boston. J.S. Morgan visited U.S. firms with which George Peabody & Co. did business. Morgan decided to accept. He made another trip to London to examine the company books. The partnership took effect the next year, Oct. 1, 1854 (through Oct. 1, 1864). Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 59-Miss Wilcocks and Elise Tiffany. Contact with Minister J.R. Ingersoll also brought speculation of a possible romance with Ingersoll's niece, Charlotte Manigault Wilcocks, a Philadelphia belle who lived with her uncle after the early death of her parents. Although sometimes ill in the summer of 1853, GP's social entertainment included Miss Wilcocks and another lady, Elise Tiffany, daughter of Baltimore friend Osmond Capron Tiffany (1794-1851). From Paris in June 1853 Elise Tiffany's brother George Tiffany asked GP by letter to help get an apartment for them in London. He added, "I just asked Elise if she had any message for you. She says, 'No, I have nothing to say to him whilst Miss Wilcocks is there.'" Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 60-Miss Wilcocks and Elise Tiffany Cont'd. The Tiffanys had been invited to the May 18, 1853, dinner for the Ingersolls but Elise would not go. Her brother George Tiffany explained in a letter to GP: "Elise knows the entertainment is to the American Minister and Miss Wilcocks. The thing is impossible. Her trunks will not pack, nor her Bills pay.... As to the Scotch trip of a couple of weeks, Elise counts upon your making that sacrifice as a balm to her wounded feelings, caused by the various reports all through the winter." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Minister. 61-Miss Wilcocks and Elise Tiffany Cont'd. GP had gone to the opera with Miss Wilcocks and they appeared together at social functions. A London reporter for a NYC newspaper wrote about a possible romance: "Mr. Ingersoll gave his second soiree recently. Miss Wilcocks does the honors with much grace, and is greatly admired here. The world gives out that she and Mr Peabody are to form an alliance, but time will show...." GP, then age 58, denied any matrimonial intentions in a letter to Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran. GP wrote: "I have now arrived at an age that throws aside all thoughts of marriage [although] I think her [Miss Wilcocks] a very fine woman." Ref.: Ibid.
GP & James Buchanan, (1791-1868), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1853-56
U.S. Ministers. 62-Career. James Buchanan was born in Mercersberg, Pennsylvania, was a lawyer, U.S. Congressman (1821-31); U. S. Minister to Russia (1832-33), U. S. Senator (1834-45); U. S. Secty. of State (1845-49); U. S. Minister to Britain (1853-56); and the 15th U. S. president during 1857-61. New Minister Buchanan appointed as U.S. Legation Secty. the controversial Daniel Edgar Sickles (1825-1914), who provoked an unfortunate incident, the Sickles Affair. A super patriot at a time of U.S. jingoism, Sickles, objecting to GP's toast to the Queen before a toast to the U.S. President, refused to stand, walked out at GP's July 4, 1854, dinner, and accused GP in the press of "toadying" to the British. See: Corcoran, William Wilson. Sickles, Daniel Edgar.
U.S. Ministers. 63-Incoming Legation Secty. Sickles. In 1853 before he arrived in London, Sickles wrote GP to reserve rooms for himself, wife, and baby, a courtesy service George Peabody & Co. did for visiting Americans. GP consulted Sickles and others about his planned July 4, 1854, Independence Day banquet. Sickles suggested that it be a subscription dinner and that he, Sickles, arrange it. GP insisted on paying for the dinner as usual but let Sickles help select guests, send invitations, and help plan the entertainment. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 64-Walk-Out, July 4, 1854, Dinner. As was the custom, GP first toasted Queen Victoria as British head of state and secondly the U.S. President. Sickles, an ultra-patriot, was enraged that the Queen should be toasted before the U.S. President. Considering this a national insult, Sickles sat while the other 149 guests stood for the two toasts. Stiff and red-gorged, wrote his biographer, Sickles stormed out of the banquet. Buchanan, who had employed Sickles as legation secretary, remained. He was the guest speaker. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 65-Attack in the Press. Sickles fanned U.S.-British press reports of the incident by attacking GP's lack of patriotism in the Boston Post, July 21, 1854, p. 2, c. l, and chiding GP for "toadying" to the English. One reader swayed by this charge wrote GP: "If you had a grain of national feeling you wouldn't have done it.... You are no longer fit to be called an American citizen." Such reaction led GP and others to send the facts to the Boston Post. Pro and con letters were published for months, with most faulting Sickles and exonerating GP. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 66-"most contemptible of all Americans." A friend wrote GP: "We are astounded that you lower yourself by a correspondence with the most contemptible of all Americans, Sickles, who was indicted by a New York Grand Jury for fraud, which indictment stands to this day." Another friend wrote GP that proof of Sickles' guilt in committing fraud was contained in letters stolen from the NYC post office by Sickles' direction. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 67-Statement by Dinner Guests. Statements about the July 4, 1854, dinner by participants were published. Horatio Gates Somerby (1805-72), Newburyport, Mass.-born genealogist, London resident, and GP's friend and sometime agent who helped arrange the dinner wrote: "At Mr. Peabody's request I drew up a series of toasts and submitted them to Mr. Buchanan.....[These] were returned to me as approved.... Mr. Sickles did indeed object to Englishmen being present. The Minister approved and Mr. Peabody's course was independent of Mr. Sickles' opinion." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 68-Statement by Dinner Guests Cont'd. A letter from 26 Americans present at the dinner, including Henry Barnard (1811-1900), Conn. Superintendent of Common Schools (later first U.S. Commissioner of Education), read: "The undersigned have read Mr. Peabody's letter to the Boston Post of Aug. 16, 1854, and without hesitation affirm as true the events described by Mr. Peabody." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 69-Lawrence on Sickles. Abbott Lawrence (he had left the diplomatic service in 1852) wrote to GP about the Sickles Affair: "The attack made upon you I deem unworthy of any man who professes to be a gentleman. Your misfortune was in having persons about you who were not worthy to be at your table. I had hard work to get rid of some men in England who hung about me, but cost what it would I would not permit a certain class of adventurer to approach me." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 70-Corcoran on Buchanan. Longtime Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran, with whom GP had helped sell U.S. bonds abroad that financed the Mexican War, wrote GP that [U.S. Minister to Britain James] "Buchanan had not the slightest respect" for Sickles but for political reasons could not reprove him. Buchanan, with a less controversial new legation secretary, wrote to Sickles: "Your refusal to rise when the Queen's health was proposed is still mentioned in society, but I have always explained and defended you." Two years later, while GP was in Washington, D.C., during his 1856-57 U.S. visit, and when James Buchanan was the 15th U.S. president, there was a coldness between the two men, who did not meet again. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 71-Sickles' Later Career. Always controversial, Sickles, on Feb. 27, 1859, while serving in the U.S. Senate (1857-61), shot to death Philip Barton Key (son of Francis Scott Key, 1779-1843) for Key's alleged attentions to Sickles' wife. Sickles was acquitted of the murder charge as of unsound mind. In the Civil War Sickles, a Union general, lost a leg at Gettysburg. As Reconstruction commander of the Carolinas during 1865-67, Sickles' punitive actions against former Confederates were said to have been so severe that Pres. Andrew Johnson (1808-75) transferred him to another command. Sickles was U.S. Minister to Spain (1869-73), served again in the U.S. Congress, helped establish Gettysburg as a national park, and helped secure the land for NYC's Central Park. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 72-Last Tribute to Abbott Lawrence. Abbott Lawrence died in Boston Aug. 18, 1855. GP gave a last tribute to Lawrence a year after Lawrence's death. The occasion was a celebration in Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, to honor GP on his first return to the U.S. after nearly 20 years' absence in London (since Feb. 1837). In his speech, turning to Edward Everett on the platform with him, GP said: "The cornerstone of the Peabody Institute [of South Danvers, renamed Peabody in 1868] was laid by Abbott Lawrence, now gone, who followed worthily in Mr. Everett's footsteps. I admired his talents, respected his virtues, loved him as a friend. He too worked for conciliation and goodwill between the two countries. I pay tribute to his memory." See: Danvers, Mass., GP celebration, Oct. 9, 1856.
George Mifflin Dallas (1792-1864), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1856-61
U.S. Ministers. 73-Career. George Mifflin Dallas was born in Philadelphia, graduated from Princeton College (1810), was a lawyer (from 1813), U.S. Sen. from Penn. (1831-33), Penn. Atty. Gen. (1833-35), U.S. Minister to Russia (1837-39), U.S. Vice President (1845-49) under Pres. James K. Polk (1795-1849, 11th U.S. president during 1845-49), and U.S. Minister to Britain during 1856-61.
U.S. Ministers. 74-June 13, 1856, Dinner. GP introduced incoming Minister G.M. Dallas at a U.S.-British friendship dinner and entertainment, June 13, 1856. The 130 guests included the Lord Mayor of London and the Mayoress; Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85) and Mrs. Lampson (C.M. Lampson was a Vt.-born naturalized British subject and GP's longtime business friend); GP's partner; Mrs. J.S. Morgan; Crystal Palace architect Sir Joseph Paxton (1801-65); and Baltimorean John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870). J.P. Kennedy wrote in his journal about the June 13, 1856, dinner: "A great banquet given by Mr. P., with tickets to the Concert there at 3...we got to dinner about 7. We number nearly 130." See: Dinners, GP's, London.
U.S. Ministers. 75-Crimean War Difficulty. This dinner to introduce Minister Dallas was held soon after the Crimean War (1855-56, Russia vs. England, France, others). In the U.S. this European conflict created some anti-British feeling,. British Minister to the U.S. John Crampton indiscreetly tried to recruit U.S. volunteers for the British army. U.S. Secty. of State William Learned Marcy (1786-1857) objected and had Crampton recalled. See: Crimean War. Dallas, George Mifflin.
U.S. Ministers. 76-Crimean War Difficulty Cont'd. Former British Minister to the U.S. Henry Bulwer-Lytton (1801-72) was to have proposed the health of U.S. Minister Dallas at GP's June 13, 1856, dinner. But Bulwer-Lytton, being Crampton's colleague, explained to GP that to appear at this dinner and propose the health of U.S. Minister Dallas would be unfair to his dismissed colleague John Crampton and might evoke British public resentment. It was a tribute to GP that he could still successfully sponsor this U.S.-British friendship dinner at that tense time of misunderstanding and mistrust. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 77-July 4, 1856, Dinner. More than 100 Americans and a few Englishmen attended another of GP's U.S.-British friendship dinners, July 4, 1856, at the Star and Garter Hotel, Richmond, eight miles from London on the Thames. Minister G.M. Dallas gave a short speech. GP then prefaced his toast with some remarks. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 78-GP's Remarks: "I have before me two loving cups, one British the second of American oak, presented to me some years ago by Francis Peabody [1810-68, GP's distant cousin from Salem, Mass.] now present. Let me say a few words before passing these cups. The first dinner I gave in connection with American Independence Day was a dinner in 1850 at which the American Minister, American and English friends were present. In 1851, the Great Exhibition year, I substituted a ball and banquet. Some of my friends were apprehensive that the affair would not be accepted that year of Anglo-American rivalry but the acceptance of the Duke of Wellington made the affair successful. For twenty years I have been in this kingdom of England and in my humble way mean to spread peace and good-will. I know no party North or South but my whole country. With these loving cups let us know only friendship between East and West." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 79-Wm. Brown's Remarks. GP proposed "The Day We Celebrate," followed by "Her Majesty, the Queen," and "the President of the United States." MP from Liverpool William Brown (1784-1864) said: "The day we celebrate will ever be remembered in the history of the world. For we English derive as much satisfaction from it as you do. None of us are answerable for the sins of statesmanship or the errors of our forefathers. George Washington, remembered with respect by England and the world, would rejoice to see the enterprising spirit of the country he brought into existence, a country which seeks to bridge the Atlantic and Pacific via canal and now explores the Arctic seas (cheers)." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 80-Wm. Brown's Remarks Cont'd.: "I deny that England is jealous of the United States. We rejoice in your prosperity and know that when you prosper we share in it. It is not true that the fortunes of one country arise from the misfortune of another. While we have differences they can be amicably adjusted (cheers). I toast the American Minister, Mr. George M. Dallas (cheers)." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 81-Minister Dallas' Reply. Minister G.M. Dallas replied: "I rejoice to find so many patriots present to celebrate American Independence Day. We are, as a country, but eighty years old, yet how proud we are of her (cheers). Small and feeble at birth, she now contains twenty-seven million people. Once on the margin of the Atlantic she is now an immense continent. It is a matter of sincere regret that the free nations are not always the sincerest friends (hear, hear)." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 82-Others Present. A complimentary toast was proposed to GP as host. His few remarks in response concluded by saying that the land of his birth was always uppermost in his mind. When he sat down the band played "Home, Sweet Home." Present at this dinner was Irish-born sculptor John Edward Jones (1806-62), who made a bust of GP in 1856. Also present was U.S. inventor Samuel Finlay Breese Morse (1791-1872). A toast to "The Telegraph" was suddenly proposed. Not anticipating the toast and not having a reply at hand, Morse rose and modestly quoted from Psalm 19: "Their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world." See: Dallas, George Mifflin.
GP & Charles Francis Adams (1807-86), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1861-68
U.S. Ministers. 83-Career. Charles Francis Adams (1807-86) was born in Boston, grandson of the second U.S. Pres. John Adams (1735-1826) and son of the sixth U.S. Pres. John Quincy Adams (1767-1848). He was a Harvard College graduate, a law student under Daniel Webster (1782-1852), and U.S. Minister to Britain (1861-68) during GP's residence in London. See: Adams, Charles Francis.
U.S. Ministers. 84-U.S. Minister During Civil War. C.F. Adams and GP had friendly contact during strained U.S.-British relations over the Civil War, with British aristocrats favoring the South for socio-cultural and economic reasons (Lancashire mills needed southern cotton, purchases of which were cut off by U.S. naval blockade of Confederate ports, resulting in loss of jobs of British cotton mill workers). As U.S. Minister to Britain during 1861-68, C.F. Adams helped prevent British recognition of the Confederacy. He also helped ease British-U.S. tensions over two major Civil War incidents, the Trent Affair and the Alabama Claims. See: topics mentioned.
U.S. Ministers. 85-Trent Affair. The Trent Affair began on the stormy night of Oct. 11, 1861, when four Confederate emissaries evaded the Union blockade at Charleston, S.C., went by ship to Havana, Cuba, and there boarded the British mail ship Trent en route to England. The Confederates sought aid and arms in England and France. On Nov. 8, 1861, the Trent was illegally stopped in the Bahama Channel, West Indies, by Capt. Charles Wilkes (1798-1877) of the USS San Jacinto. Confederates James Murray Mason (from Va.), John Slidell (from La.), and their male secretaries, were forcibly removed, taken to Boston harbor, and jailed. Anticipating war with the U.S., Britain sent 8,000 troops to Canada. But U.S. jingoism subsided after Pres. Lincoln allegedly told his cabinet, "one war at a time," got the cabinet on Dec. 26, 1861, to release the Confederate prisoners on Jan. 1, 1862, and apologized to the British for the illegal seizure. See: persons and ships mentioned. Trent Affair.
U.S. Ministers. 86-Slidell's Secretary Married to Louise Morris Corcoran. GP's minor connection with the Trent Affair was with Confederate emissary John Slidell's secretary, George Eustice (1828-72), husband of Louise Morris Corcoran (1838-67), only child of GP's longtime Washington, D.C., business associate William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888). She was a favorite of GP, who had entertained Corcoran and his daughter, sometimes the daughter alone, on European trips. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 87-GP Mentioned. When Capt. Richard Williams, Trent officer in charge of the mail, was asked at a dinner to give his version of what happened, it was published in the Liverpool Daily Post, Jan. 8, 1862, p. 5, c. 1-2. His reported account was that when the USS San Jacinto's Lt. Donald McNeill Fairfax (1821-94) demanded to take Mason and Slidell into custody, they appeared before him with Slidell's daughter clinging to her father. When Lt. Fairfax tried to separate father and daughter, she slapped his face. The Daily Post article added that there was a contradiction to Capt. Williams' version from an MP who "had the contradiction from George Peabody, the well known banker and merchant." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 88-Allen S. Hanckel. The article added information from a Mr. Allen S. Kanckel (his last name, misspelled, was Hanckel), who claimed to have witnessed the Trent incident. He informed the editor that Slidell's daughter did not slap Lt. Fairfax but "put her hand twice on his face to keep him back." The article ended with: "Mr. Kanckel adds, that Mr. Peabody, uninvited, called on Mrs. Slidell, and behaved ungentlemanly." The editor sent GP the news article along with Allen S. Hanckel's calling card. Hanckel wrote to GP that the Daily Post editor had made a mistake, that it had been GP's partner, Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90), who had burst uninvited into Mrs. Slidell's room. Hanckel added with an implied threat, "I shall certainly call upon you and hope to receive an explanation." Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 89-Trent Stirred Passions. Mr. Hanckel's threatened visit to GP never materialized. The Trent affair stirred passions and worried GP, partly because it threatened his long-term U.S.-British friendship concern; partly because the Trent Affair threatened public announcement of his housing gift for London's working poor ($2.5 million total, 1862-69). Press announcement of this gift, delayed until March 12, 1862, was warmly received despite the Trent Affair. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 90-Alabama Claims. Without a navy and with its southern ports blockaded by the North, Confederate agents evaded the blockade, went to England, secretly bought British-built ships, armed them as Confederate raiders, renamed them Alabama, Florida, Shenandoah, and others, which sank northern ships and wrecked northern ports. The U.S. demanded reparations caused by these British-built raiders. This demand was not resolved until 1871-72 when a Geneva international tribunal determined that Britain should pay the U.S. $15.5 million indemnity. See: Alabama Claims.
U.S. Ministers. 91-Alabama Claims Settlement. In 1868, a year before his death, GP had been suggested but not chosen as a U.S. arbiter in the Alabama Claims controversy. In the final settlement, Charles Francis Adams represented the U.S., British jurist Alexander James Edmund Cockburn (1802-80) represented Britain, and three members were from neutral countries. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Ministers. 92-Trent and Alabama Affected GP's Funeral Honors. As will be shown below, the Nov. 8, 1861, Trent Affair and the lingering Alabama Claims were two of several Civil War related incidents that evoked near-war U.S.-British tensions. GP died Nov. 4, 1869, in London, at the height of these tensions. Letters from the public poured into the press requesting public honors for him. High British officials seized upon his death and the fact that his will asked for burial near his hometown. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
U.S. Ministers. 93-Trent and Alabama Affected GP's Funeral Honors Cont'd. Partly in appreciation for a foreigner who gave London, a city in a country not his own, $2.5 million for housing their working poor, partly because he publicly supported U.S.-British friendship, and politically to soften near-war U.S. angers--British officials heaped unprecedented transatlantic funeral honors on him. What British officials started, U.S. officials felt they had to emulate. But all this lay ahead and is told through U.S. Minister to Britain John Lothrop Motley, who followed U.S. Minister to Britain Reverdy Johnson below. Ref.: Ibid.
Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876), U. S. Minister to Britain, 1868-69
U.S. Ministers. 94-Career. Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876) was born in Annapolis, Md., attended St. John's College in that city, was a Baltimore lawyer (from 1817, when he first knew and legally represented GP), became Md. State Sen. (1821-29), U.S. Sen. (1845-49), U.S. Atty. Gen. (1849), and was again U.S. Sen. (1863-68). Reverdy Johnson-GP relations follow. See: Johnson, Reverdy.
U.S. Ministers. 95-Helped Plan the PIB. In 1854 when Baltimorean Reverdy Johnson was in London, GP, searching for an educational gift idea for Baltimore, asked Johnson's advice, and asked him to consult and plan with other Baltimoreans. Back in Baltimore, Reverdy Johnson told John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870) of GP's wish for the three Baltimore leaders (Reverdy Johnson, John Pendleton Kennedy, and William Edwards Mayhew), to help him plan what came to be the PIB. The PIB was largely Kennedy's plan, based partly on London's British Museum and made possible by GP's total gift of $1.4 million (1857-69). See: persons named.
U.S. Ministers. 96-Kennedy's Plan. Kennedy conceived of the PIB as a five-part institute: 1-specialized reference library; 2-lecture hall, lecture series, and lecture fund; 3-academy (later called conservatory) of music; 4-gallery of art; and 5-annual prizes for best scholars in Baltimore public schools. Kennedy helped draft GP's Feb. 12, 1857, founding letter. The PIB building, delayed by the Civil War, was dedicated on Oct. 23-24, 1866, and was opened on Oct. 26, 1866, with GP present. See: PIB.
U.S. Ministers. 97-U.S. Senate, 1867. GP founded the PEF (Feb. 7, 1867, $1 million, doubled on June 29, 1869) to promote public education in the former Confederate states. A few days later Pres. Andrew Johnson (1808-75) called on GP in Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C., to thank him for the PEF as a national gift. A month later, March 5, 1867, U.S. Sen. Charles Sumner (1811-74, R-Mass.) introduced in the U.S. Senate resolutions of Congressional thanks and a gold medal to GP for the PEF. See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP, 1867-69.
U.S. Ministers. 98-Sen. Reverdy Johnson Defended GP. Radical Republican Senators Thomas Warren Tipton (1817-99, R Neb.) and James Wilson Grimes (1816-72, R-Iowa), believing GP to have been pro-Confederate, wanted to bury the resolutions in an investigating committee. Sen. Reverdy Johnson (Md.) rose to say that he had been GP's lawyer in Baltimore in 1817, had several later contacts with him in London, and defended GP as a staunch Unionist. The Senate voted 36 yeas for the resolutions, 2 nays (Senators Grimes and Tipton voting nay), with 15 Senators absent. See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP, 1867-69.
U.S. Ministers. 99-Congressional Praise Passed in the U.S. House. The resolutions were debated in the U.S. House of Representatives on Mar. 9, 1867. Rep. Abner Clark Harding (1807-74, R-Ill.) moved: "...to strike out the gold medal.... I am informed Mr. Peabody made profit from the rebellion which he aided and
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