an address in New York on The Pilgrim Fathers." He had then been a member of the Massachusetts legislature for five years, and had the honor of being elected its speaker at an earlier age than any one before or since. In 1840 the name and fame of Mr. Winthrop became the property of the nation, when he went into the campaign with General Harrison and was elected to congress from Boston. He was re-elected from Boston for ten successive years, and in 1850 was appointed United States senator to fill the position vacated by Daniel Webster, who went into President Fillmore's cabinet. In 1847 he was elected speaker of the house, in which position he was eminently successful. In 1841 he made an elaborate speech on the tariff, in favor of protection to American labor and manufactures, and in 1843 he submitted, in behalf of the committee of commerce, strong resolutions against the imprisonment of free colored seamen from vessels touching at ports in the southern states. It was while Mr. Winthrop was speaker of the house in 1848 that he was selected to pronounce the oration when the corner-stone of the Washington monument was laid. It was a matter of thought, discussion, and anxiety as to who should give expression to a nation's reverence for its greatest and most representative character and hero. The choice fell almost by accident upon a young man less than forty years of age. Most eloquently did the young orator fulfill his task, and when, after thirty-seven years of labor and trial, these United States had, through the convulsions of civil war, become fused into a compact and solidified country, and finished the grandest monument ever erected by a nation in honor of a single man, there was among our forty millions of people no doubt or discussion as to who should pronounce the words, "It is finished." Without distinction of party or locality, of creed or color, both North and South, East and West, moved by a common impulse, pronounced the name of Robert C. Winthrop of Massachusetts. Since 1852 Mr. Winthrop has refused all political candidacies and appointments, and has devoted himself to literature, philosophy, and philanthropy. He has been a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society for fifty years, and was its president from 1855 to 1885. He has also been for forty years an active member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and president of the Boston Provident Association for twenty-five years. For fifty-four years he has been a member of the vestry of Trinity Church, and is president of the Massachusetts Bible Society. But his chief service in this line has been as chairman of the board of trustees of the great Peabody fund, in which work he has been engaged since 1867. Mr. Winthrop has delivered more than one hundred and forty public eulogies of greater or less length, and of hundreds more he has spoken with praise, most of them being his personal friends. His eulogies have been truly historic, and the salient points of his subjects have been skillfully formulated and presented. Of them all, his tributes to Washington, to Franklin, to Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster are pre-eminent. COLONEL WILLIAM S. SMITH OF THE REVOLUTION (Extracted from a sketch by M. D. Raymond) Prominent in the throng that filled up with becoming pomp and circumstance the great occasion of a hundred years ago, occupying a position of command and honor in the cavalcade that gave éclat to the inauguration of Washington as the first President of the Republic, was Colonel William Stephens Smith, who had been a gallant soldier in the Revolutionary struggle, and had but recently returned from a mission abroad, in which he had distinguished himself, and where he had married the only daughter of John Adams, the Vice-President in the new government. He was born in the city of New York, November 8, 1755, and was the eldest of a family of four sons and six daughters, the children of John Smith and Margaret Stephens, who were married July 21, 1754. One of his sisters, Sarah Smith, married Charles Adams, son of Vice-President John Adams, and left two daughters, of whom Abigail Smith Adams became the wife of Alexander Bryan Johnson, late of Utica, and was the mother of the late Judge A. S. Johnson of that city, of Mrs. Sarah Lynch, also of Utica, and of William C. Johnson, of Newburyport, Massachusetts, who married a granddaughter of John Quincy Adams. Colonel Smith was graduated from Princeton college in 1774, at the age of nineteen, and entered upon the study of law with Samuel Jones of New York; but, like many another American youth, he was all aglow with patriotism, and at the outbreak of the Revolution enlisted in the patriot cause. The following testimonial given him by Washington, dated June 24, 1782, contains a résumé of his honorable record as a soldier, and is worth a whole volume of common praise: "Lieutenant-Colonel W. Smith entered the services of the United States at the commencement of the present war. In August, 1776, he was appointed aid-de-camp to Major-General Sullivan, with the rank of major in the army. On the 1st of January, 1777, he was promoted to be a lieutenant-colonel in one of the additional battalions raised by the commonwealth of Massachusetts; after which he had the honor of serving as inspector and adjutant-general to the corps of light infantry under the command of Major-General the Marquis de la Fayette, in the campaign of 1780; and in the month of July, 1781, he was appointed aid-de-camp to the commander-in-chief of the American armies-in all which military stations he behaved with great fidelity, bravery, and good conduct. During the course of service Colonel Smith has had many opportunities of signalizing himself by his gallantry, intelligence, and professional knowledge, in the several battles, enterprises, and sieges at which he has been present, particularly in the actions on Long Island and Harlem Heights; at the siege of Newport; in the expedition under the order of Major-General Sullivan against the savages; in the battle of Springfield, where he commanded a regiment; the successful siege of York in Virginia, where the army of Lord Cornwallis surrendered prisoners-of-war, and on many other important occasions. In consequence of which he hath merited my approbation and this testimony of his being a brave and valuable officer. Given under my hand and seal, at the headquarters of the American Army, 24th of June, 1782. G. WASHINGTON." Soon after the close of the war Smith was appointed secretary of legation to England, by the votes of thirty-six out of thirty-seven senators present in congress, and in 1784 went abroad; and while there, besides attending to his duties at the court of St. James, he officially visited the Spanish court at Lisbon, arranging the business committed to his care in a manner highly satisfactory to the government. He also made quite a tour of Europe, being everywhere received with honor. While at London he met Abigail Adams, the only and accomplished daughter of John Adams, then minister plenipotentiary to Great Britain, and that followed which has often happened before, in song and story, to the brave and fair. After a courtship of some two years, his marriage with Miss Adams was duly celebrated at London, June 12, 1786, the Bishop of St. Asaph officiating. He returned in 1788, though he afterwards revisited Europe on business and pleasure. Mrs. John Adams, writing to her sister, Mrs. Cranch, in 1786, just prior to the wedding of her daughter, says of Colonel Smith: "Your niece is engaged to a gentleman worthy of her; one whom you will be proud to take by the hand and own as a nephew. With regard to his person, he is tall, slender, and a good figure, a complexion naturally dark, but made still more so by seven years' service in the field. He appears a gentleman in every thought, word, and action." He was one of the originators of the Society of the Cincinnati, was secretary of the New York division in 1790, vice-president in 1794, and president of the society 1795-7. On the 26th of September, 1789, Washington, then President, appointed him United States marshal of the district of New York, and afterwards supervisor of the revenue. On June 24, 1800, President John Adams appointed him surveyor of the port of New York. Colonel Smith lived for many years in the town of Eastchester, Westchester County, where he owned considerable landed estate, it being the Vincent place of the Revolution, and now called the Halsey place. A map of Eastchester in 1797 shows the location of Colonel Smith's residence. The records show that he and his wife Abigail disposed of their property there to Robert Ross of New York, by deed dated January 6, 1811, the consideration being $8,500, although they had, in 1807 or 1808, removed to Lebanon, New York, where he owned a large tract of land. Prior to this time, and while Colonel Smith was abroad, he had interested some foreign capitalists, including Lord Pinckney of England, and the King of Hanover, in a trust or syndicate, of which he was the American representative, for the purchase of large tracts of land in this State. This resulted in his buying six of the twenty townships "surveyed by the surveyor-general, pursuant to an act passed February 25, 1789," being 150,000 acres ; and also another plot of 120,000 acres, at three shillings and three pence per acre, the land all being in the present counties of Madison and Chenango, including the town of Lebanon. The children of Colonel Smith were, William Steuben, John Adams, and Caroline Amelia who married John Peter De Windt of Fishkill-on-the-Hudson, son of John De Windt of New York, an old and honorable family who inherited a large estate. The eldest son, William Steuben, married Catharine Johnson, and died childless at Newburgh in 1850. John Adams Smith was a lawyer, and unmarried. Caroline Amelia (Mrs. De Windt) lived at Fishkill, and had eight children, of whom five are living,—Mrs. Monell, widow of Judge Monell, and formerly Mrs. A. J. Downing; Mrs. Clarence Cook, and Mr. Arthur De Windt, all of Fishkill; Mrs. C. P. Cranch, of Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Mrs. Gabriel Furman, of East Orange, New Jersey. Mr. Arthur De Windt served with distinction in the late war for the Union, holding a commission as captain in the 128th N. Y. V. The De Windts are patriotic, cultured people, and it is enough to say that they are worthy of their distinguished ancestry. Mrs. De Windt (only daughter of Colonel Smith) was lost in that terrible tragedy, the burning of the steamboat Henry Clay, which occurred on the Hudson, near Yonkers, July 28, 1852. Her son-in-law, Andrew Jackson Downing, the noted landscape artist, also lost his life in that catastrophe. Mrs. Downing, who was on board, was among the saved. The portrait of Mrs. De Windt shows her a beautiful woman, with a striking resemblance to her mother. She was a lady of literary taste, and a choice little volume by her, published in 1841, entitled, Journal and Correspondence of Miss Adams, contains a memoir of Colonel Smith which has much aided in the preparation of this sketch. A RELIC OF WASHINGTON'S SADDLE O Time, what value thou dost give a thing A lock of hair, or tiny wedding-ring, Each day and year lends something to the charm, A saddle bore our hero Washington Through all his many martial cavalcades, MARIETTA, OHIO. My precious wife received a valued bit- With many proofs of manly wit within. Upon that saddle firm he led his men, As on to Indian wars he made his way, It held him safe through every bloody train; At constant risk he rode to lead the van, Through many years, against his country's foes; O saddle, who commissioned thee to save Till he had crowned his nation free and brave, For this great service all will honor thee, And with his name will keep thy worth in store; Till earthly fame and greatness be no more. J. R. BARNES |