A Discourse on the Life, Character and Writings of Gulian CrommelinVerplanck

Delivered before the New-York Historical Society, May 17th, 1870

By William Cullen Bryant. 

New York:Printed for the SocietyMDCCCLXX

At a special meeting of the New York Historical Society, held at SteinwayHall, on Tuesday evening, May 17, 1870, WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT delivered adiscourse on the _Life, Character and Writings of Gulian C. Verplanck_. 

On its conclusion HUGH MAXWELL submitted the following resolution, whichwas adopted unanimously:

_Resolved_, That the thanks of this Society be presented to Mr. BRYANTfor his eloquent and instructive discourse, delivered this evening, andthat he be requested to furnish a copy for publication. 

Extract from the Minutes, Andrew Warner, _Recording Secretary_. 

Officers of the Society, Elected January, 1870. 

President, Thomas De Witt, D. D. First Vice-President, Gulian C. Verplanck, LL. D. Second Vice-President, John A. Dix, LL. D. Foreign Corresponding Secretary, John Romeyn Brodhead, LL. D. Domestic Corresponding Secretary, William J. Hoppin. Recording Secretary, Andrew Warner. Treasurer, Benjamin H. Field. Librarian, George H. Moore, LL. D. 

The life of him in honor of whose memory we are assembled, was prolongedto so late a period and to the last was so full of usefulness, that italmost seemed a permanent part of the organization and the active movementof society here. His departure has left a sad vacuity in the frameworkwhich he helped to uphold and adorn. It is as if one of the columns whichsupport a massive building had been suddenly taken away; the sight of thespace which it once occupied troubles us, and the mind wearies itself inthe unavailing wish to restore it to its place. 

In what I am about to say, I shall put together some notices of thecharacter, the writings, and the services of this eminent man, but theportraiture which I shall draw will be but a miniature. To do it fulljustice a larger canvas would be required than the one I propose to take. He acted in so many important capacities; he was connected in so many wayswith our literature, our legislation, our jurisprudence, our publiceducation, and public charities, that it would require a volume adequatelyto set forth the obligations we owe to the exertion of his fine facultiesfor the general good. 

Gulian Crommelin Verplanck was born in Wall street, in the city of NewYork, on the 6th of August, 1786. The house in which he was born was alarge yellow mansion, standing on the spot on which the Assay Office hassince been built. A little beyond this street, a few rods only, lay theisland of New York in all its original beauty, so that it was but a stepfrom Wall street to the country. His father, Daniel Crommelin Verplanck, was a respectable citizen of the old stock of colonists from Holland, whofor several terms was a member of Congress, and whom I remember as ashort, stout old gentleman, commonly called Judge Verplanck, from havingbeen in the latter years of his life a Judge of the County Court ofDutchess. Here he resided in the latter years of his life on thepatrimonial estate, where the son, ever since I knew him, was always inthe habit of passing a part of the summer. It had been in the family ofthe Verplancks ever since their ancestor Gulian Verplanck with FrancisRombout, in 1683, purchased it, with other lands, of the Wappinger Indiansfor a certain amount of money and merchandize, specified in a deed signedby the Sachem Sakoraghuck and other chiefs, the spelling of whose namesseems to defy pronunciation. The two purchasers afterwards divided thisdomain, and to the Verplancks was assigned a tract which they have eversince held. 

This fine old estate has a long western border on the Hudson, and extendseasterly for four or five miles to the village of Fishkill. About half amile from the great river stands the family mansion, among its ancientgroves, a large stone building of one story when I saw it; with a sharproof and dormer windows, beside its old fashioned and well stocked garden. A winding path leads down to the river's edge, through an ancient forestwhich has stood there ever since Hendrick Hudson navigated the riverbearing his name, and centuries before. This mansion was the countryretreat of Mr. Verplanck ever since I knew him, and here it was that hisgrandfather on the paternal side, Samuel Verplanck, passed much of histime during our revolutionary war, in which, although he took no share inpolitical measures, his inclinations were on the side of the mothercountry. This Samuel Verplanck, by a custom which seems not to have becomeobsolete in his time, was betrothed when but seven years old to his cousinJudith Crommelin, the daughter of a wealthy banker of the Huguenot stockin Amsterdam. When the young gentleman was of the proper age he was sentto make the tour of Europe, and bring home his bride. He was married inthe banker's great stone house, standing beside a fair Dutch garden, witha wide marble entrance hall, the counting room on one side of it, and thedrawing room, bright with gilding, on the other. When the grandson, inafter years, visited Amsterdam, the mansion which had often been describedto him by his grandmother, had to him quite a familiar aspect. 

The lady from Amsterdam was particularly accomplished, and versed not onlyin several modern languages, but in Greek and Latin, speaking fluently theLatin, of which the Colloquies of her great countryman, Erasmus, furnishso rich a store of phrases for ordinary dialogue. Her conversation is saidto have been uncommonly brilliant and her society much sought. During therevolutionary war her house was open to the British officers, GeneralHowe, and others, accomplished men, of whom she had many anecdotes torelate to her grandson, when he came under her care. For the greater partof this time her husband remained at the country seat in Fishkill, quietlyoccupied with his books and the care of his estate. Meantime, she wroteanxious letters to her father, in Amsterdam, which were answered in neatFrench. The banker consoled his daughter by saying that "Mr. SamuelVerplanck was a man so universally known and honored, both for hisintegrity and scholarly attainments, that in the end all would be well. "This proved true; the extensive estate at Fishkill was never confiscated, and its owner was left unmolested. 

On the mother's side, our friend had an ancestry of quite differentpolitical views. His grandfather, William Samuel Johnson, of Stratford, inConnecticut, was one of the revolutionary fathers. Before the revolution, he was the agent of Connecticut in England; when it broke out he took azealous part in the cause of the revolted colonies; he was a delegate toCongress from his State when Congress sat in New York, and he aided inframing the Constitution of the United States. Afterwards, he wasPresident of Columbia College from the year 1787 to the year 1800, when, resigning the post, he returned to Stratford, where he died in 1819, atthe age of ninety-two. His father, the great-grandfather of the subject ofthis memoir, was Dr. Samuel Johnson, of Stratford, one of the finestAmerican scholars of his day, and the first President of Columbia College, which however, he left after nine years, to return and pass a serene oldage at Stratford. He had been a Congregational minister in Connecticut, but by reading the works of Barrow and other eminent divines of theAnglican Church, became a convert to that church, went to England, andtaking orders returned to introduce its ritual into Connecticut. He wasthe friend of Bishop Berkeley, whose arm-chair was preserved as anheir-loom in his family. When in England, he saw Pope, who gave himcuttings from his Twickenham willow. These he brought from the banks ofthe Thames, and planted on the wilder borders of his own beautiful riverthe Housatonic, which at Stratford enters the Sound. They were, probably, the progenitors of all the weeping willows which are seen in this part ofthe country, where they rapidly grow to a size which I have never seenthem attain in any other part of the world. 

The younger of these Dr. Johnsons--for they both received the degree ofDoctor of Divinity from the University of Oxford--had a daughterElizabeth, who married Daniel Crommelin Verplanck, the son of SamuelVerplanck, and the only fruit of their marriage was the subject of thismemoir. The fair-haired young mother was a frequent visitor with her childto Stratford, where, under the willow trees from Twickenham, as appearsfrom some of her letters, he learned to walk. She died when he was butthree years old, leaving the boy to the care of his grandmother, by whomhe was indulgently yet carefully reared. 

The grandmother is spoken of as a lively little lady, often seen walkingup Wall Street, dressed in pink satin and in dainty high heeled shoes, with a quaint jewelled watch swinging from her waist. Wall Street wasthen the fashionable quarter; the city, still in its embryo staterextending but a little way above it; it was full of dwelling houses, withhere and there a church, which has long since disappeared. Over thatregion of the metropolis where Mammon is worshipped in six days out ofseven, there now broods on Sunday a sepulchral silence, but then the walkswere thronged with churchgoers. The boy was his grandmother's constantcompanion. He was trained by her to love books and study, to which, however, he seems to have had a natural and inherited inclination. It issaid that at a very tender age she taught him to declaim passages fromLatin authors, standing on a table, and rewarded him with hot pound-cake. Another story is, that she used to put sugar-plums near his bedside, to beat hand in case he should take a fancy to them in the night. But, as hewas not spoiled by indulgence, it is but fair to conclude that her gentlemethod of educating him was tempered by firmness on proper occasions--aquality somewhat rare in grandmothers. A letter from one of herdescendants playfully says:

"It is a picture to think of her, seated at a marvellous Dutch bureau, nowin possession of her great-grand-daughters, which is filled with acomplexity of small and mysterious drawers, talking to the child, whileher servant built the powdered tower on her head, or hung the diamondrings in her ears. Very likely, at such times, the child was thrusting hislittle fingers into the rouge pot, or making havoc with the powder, andperhaps she knew no better way to bring him to order than to tell him ofmany of a fright of her own in the war, or she may have gone further backin history, and told the boy how her and his Huguenot ancestors fled fromFrance when the bad King Louis forbade every form of worship but his own. "

Dr. Johnson, the grandfather of young Verplanck, on the mother's side, came from Stratford to be President of Columbia College, the year afterhis grandson was born. To him, in an equal degree with his grandmother, wemust give the credit of bringing forward the precocious boy in his earlystudies. I have diligently inquired what school he attended and who werehis teachers, but can hear of no other. His father had married again, andto the lively Huguenot lady was left the almost entire charge of the boy. He was a born scholar; he took to books as other boys take to marbles; andthe lessons which he received in the household sufficed to prepare him forentering college when yet a mere child, at eleven years of age. He tookhis first degree four years afterwards, in 1801, one year after hismaternal grandfather had returned to Stratford. To that place he veryfrequently resorted in his youth, and there, in the well-stored andwell-arranged library he pursued the studies he loved. The tradition isthat he conned his Greek lessons lying flat on the floor with his thumb inhis mouth, and the fingers of the other hand employed in twisting a lockof the brown, hair on his forehead. He took no pleasure in fishing or inhunting; I doubt whether he ever let off a fowling-piece or drew a troutfrom the brook in his life. He was fond of younger children, and wouldrecreate himself in play with his little relatives, but was no visitor toother families. His contemporaries, Washington Irving, James K. Paulding, and Governeur Kemble, had their amusements and frolics, in which he tookno part. According to Mr. Kemble, the elder men of the time held up to theyouths the example of young Verplanck, so studious and accomplished, andso ready with every kind of knowledge, and withal of such faultlesshabits, as a model for their imitation. 

I have said that his relatives on the mother's side were of a differentpolitical school from his high tory grandmother. From them he would hearof the inalienable rights of the people, and the duty, under certaincircumstances, of revolution; from her he would hear of the obligation ofloyalty and obedience. The Johnsons would speak of the patriotism, thewisdom, and the services of Franklin; the grandmother of the virtues andaccomplishments of Cornwallis. The boy, of course, had to choose betweenthese different sides, and he chose the side of his country and of thepeople. 

I think that I perceive in these circumstances how it was that the mind ofVerplanck was educated to that independence of judgment, and thatself-reliance, which in after life so eminently distinguished it. He neveradopted an opinion for the reason that it had been adopted by another. Onsome points--on more, I think, than is usual with most men--he was contentnot to decide, but when he formed an opinion it was his own. He had nohesitation in differing from others if he saw reason; indeed, he sometimesshowed that he rather liked to differ, or chose at least, by questioningtheir opinions, to intimate that they were prematurely formed. Anotherresult of the peculiar political education which I have described, was thefairness with which he judged of the characters and motives of men whowere not of his party. I saw much, very much of him while he was a memberof Congress, when political animosities were at their fiercest, and I mustsay that I never knew a party man who had less party rancor, or who wasmore ready to acknowledge in his political opponents the good qualitieswhich they really possessed. 

After taking his degree he read law in the office of Josiah Ogden Hoffman, an eminent member of the New York bar, much esteemed in social life, whosehouse was the resort of the best company in New York. His first publicaddress, a Fourth of July oration, was delivered when he was eighteenyears of age. It was printed, but no copy of it is now to be found. In dueseason he was admitted to the bar, and opened an office for the practiceof law in New York. A letter from Dr. Moore, formerly President ofColumbia College, relates that Verplanck and himself took an officetogether on the east side of Pearl street, opposite to Hanover square. "Little business as I had then, " proceeds the Doctor, "he seemed to havestill less. Indeed I am not aware that he had, or cared to have, any legalbusiness whatever. He spent much of his time out of the office and was notvery studious when within, but it was evident that he read or had readelsewhere to good purpose, for though I read more Greek than law andthought myself studious, I had occasion to discover more than once that hewas a better Grecian than I, and could enlighten my ignorance. " From othersources I learn that in his legal studies he delighted in the reports oflaw cases in Norman French, that he was fond of old French literature, andread Rabelais in the perplexing French of the original. It is mentioned insome accounts of his life that he was elected in 1811 to the New YorkHouse of Assembly by a party called the malcontents, but I have not hadthe means of verifying this account, nor am I able to discover what werethe objects for which the party called malcontents was formed. In thisyear an incident occurred of more importance to him than his election tothe Assembly. 

On the 8th of August, 1811, the Annual Commencement of Columbia Collegewas held in Trinity Church. Among those who were to receive the degree ofBachelor of Arts was a young man named Stevenson, who had composed anoration to be delivered on the platform. It contained some passages of apolitical nature, insisting on the duty of a representative to obey thewill of his constituents. Political parties were at that time muchexasperated against each other, and Dr. Wilson of the College, to whom theoration was submitted, acting it was thought at the suggestion of Dr. JohnMason, the eloquent divine, who was then Provost of the College, struckout the passages in question and directed that they should be omitted inthe delivery. Stevenson spoke them notwithstanding, and was then privatelyinformed by one of the professors that his degree would be denied him. Yet, when the diplomas were delivered, he mounted the platform with theother graduates and demanded the degree of Dr. Mason. It was refusedbecause of his disobedience. Mr. Hugh Maxwell, afterwards eminent as anadvocate, sprang upon the platform and appealed to the audience againstthis denial of what he claimed to be the right of Stevenson. Greatconfusion followed, shouts, applauses and hisses, in the midst of whichVerplanck appeared on the platform saying: "The reasons are notsatisfactory; Mr. Maxwell must be supported, " and then he moved "that thethanks of the audience be given to Mr. Maxwell for his spirited defence ofan injured man. " It was some time before the tumult could be allayed, theaudience taking part with the disturbers; but the result was that Maxwell, Verplanck, and several others were prosecuted for riot in the Mayor'sCourt. DeWitt Clinton was then Mayor of New York. In his charge to thejury he inveighed with great severity against the accused, particularlyVerplanck, of whose conduct he spoke as a piece of matchless impudence, and declared the disturbance to be one of the grossest and most shamelessoutrages he had ever known. They were found guilty; Maxwell, Verplanck, and Stevenson were fined two hundred dollars each, and several othersless. An appeal was entered by the accused but afterwards withdrawn. Ihave heard one of our judges express a doubt whether this disturbancecould properly be considered as a riot, but they did not choose to availthemselves of the doubt, if there was any, and submitted. 

There is this extenuation of the rashness of these young men, that Dr. Mason, to whom was attributed the attempt to suppress certain passages inStevenson's oration, was himself in the habit of giving free expression tohis political sentiments in the pulpit. He belonged to the federal party, Stevenson to the party then called republican. 

I have said the accused submitted; but the phrase is scarcely accurate. Verplanck took his own way of obtaining redress, and annoyed Clinton withsatirical attacks for several years afterward. Some of these appeared in anewspaper called the _Corrector_, but those which attracted the mostattention, were the pamphlets styled Letters of Abimelech Coody, Ladies'Shoemaker, the first of which was published in 1811, addressed to Dr. Samuel Latham Mitchell. 

The war went on until Clinton or some friend was provoked to answer in apamphlet entitled An Account of Abimelech Coody and other celebratedWorthies of New York, in a Letter from a Traveller. The writer saterizesnot only Verplanck, but James K. Paulding and Washington Irving, of whoseHistory of New York he speaks disparagingly. In what he says of Verplanckhe allows himself to refer to his figure and features as subjects ofridicule. This war I think was closed by the publication of "The BucktailBards, " as the little volume is called, which contains The StateTriumvirate, a Political Tale, and the Epistles of Brevet Major PindarPuff. These I have heard spoken of as the joint productions of Verplanckand Rudolph Bunner, a scholar and a man of wit. The State Triumvirate isin octo-syllabic verse, and in the manner of Swift, but the allusions areobscure, and it is a task to read it. The notes, in which the hand ofVerplanck is very apparent, are intelligible enough and are clever, caustic and learned. The Epistles, which are in heroic verse, havestriking passages, and the notes are of a like incisive character. De WittClinton, then Governor of the State, valued himself on his devotion toscience and literature, but he was sometimes obliged, in his messages andpublic discourses, to refer to compends which are in every body's hands, and his antagonists made this the subject of unsparing ridicule. 

In the family of Josiah Ogden Hoffman, lived Mary Eliza Fenno, the sisterof his wife, and daughter of John Ward Fenno, originally of Boston, andafterwards proprietor of a newspaper published in Philadelphia, entitledthe _Gazette of the United States_. Between this young lady and Verplanckthere grew up an attachment, and in 1811 they were married. I have seen anexquisite miniature of her by Malbone, taken in her early girlhood whenabout fifteen years old--beautiful as an angel, with light chestnut hairand a soft blue eye, in the look of which is a touch of sadness, as ifcaused by some dim presentiment of her early death. I remember hearingMiss Sedgwick say that she should always think the better of Verplanck forhaving been the husband of Eliza Fenno. Several of her letters written tohim before their marriage are preserved, which, amidst the sprightlinessnatural to her age, show a more than usual thoughtfulness. She rallies himon being adopted by the mob, and making harangues at ward meetings. Sheplayfully chides him for wandering from the Apostolic Church to hearpopular preachers and clerks that sing well; which she regards as crimesagainst the memory of his ancestors--an allusion to that part of thefamily pedigree which traced his descent in some way from the royal lineof the Stuarts. She rallies him on his passion for old books, remarkingthat some interesting works had just appeared which must be kept from himtill he reaches the age of three score, when they will be fit for hisperusal. She writes to him from Boston, that he is accounted there anamazingly plain spoken man--he had called the Boston people heretics. Shewrites to him in Stratford, imagining him in Bishop Berkeley's arm-chair, surrounded by family pictures and huge folios. These letters werecarefully preserved by her husband till his death, along with variousmemorials of her whom he had lost; locks of her sunny brown hair, thediamond ring which he had placed on her finger when they were engaged toeach other, wrapt in tresses of the same bright hair, and miniatures ofher, which the family never heard of till he died; all variously disposedamong the papers in the drawers of his desk; so that whenever he openedit, he might be reminded of her, and her memory might become a part of hisdaily life. With these were preserved some letters of his own, written toher about the same time, and of a sportive character. In one of these helaments the passing away of the good old customs, and simple ways ofliving in the country, supplanted by the usages of town life. Everybodywas then reading Coelebs in Search of a Wife, and Verplanck who had justbeen looking over some of the writings of Wilberforce, sees in itresemblances to his style, which led him to set down Wilberforce as theauthor. 

He lived with his young wife five years, and she bore him two sons, one ofwhom died at the age of thirty unmarried, and the other has become thefather of a numerous family. Her health failing he took her to Europe, inthe hope that it might be restored by a change of air and scene, but afterlanguishing a while she died at Paris, in the year 1817. She sleeps in thecemetery of Pere La Chaise, among monuments inscribed with words strangeto her childhood, while he, after surviving her for sixty-three years, yetnever forgetting her, is laid in the ancestral burying ground at Fishkill, and the Atlantic ocean rolls between their graves. 

He remained in Europe a little while after this event, and having lookedat what the continent had to show him, went over to England. In hisletters to his friends at home he spoke pathetically of the loss of herwho was the blessing of his life, of the delight with which, had shelived, she would have looked at so many things in the old world nowattracting his attention; and of the misfortune of his children to bedeprived of her care and guidance. In one of his letters he speaksenthusiastically of the painter, Allston, with whose genius he was deeplyimpressed as he looked on the grand picture of Daniel interpreting theDream of Belshazzar, then begun but never to be finished. In the sameletter he relates this anecdote:

"You may expect another explosion of mad poetry from Lord Byron. LordHolland, who returned from Geneva, a few days ago, told Mr. Gallatin thathe was the bearer of a considerable cargo of verses from his lordship toMurray the publisher, the subject not known. That you may have a higherrelish for the new poem, I give you a little anecdote which is told inLondon. Some time ago Lord Byron's books were sold at auction, where agentleman purchased a splendid edition of Shakespeare. When it was senthome a volume was missing. After several fruitless inquiries of theauctioneer the purchaser went to Byron. 'What play was in the volume?'asked he. 'I think Othello, ' 'Ah! I remember. I was reading that when LadyByron did something to vex me. I threw the book at her head and shecarried it out of the room. Inquire of some of her people and you will getyour book. '"

While abroad, Verplanck fell in with Dr. Mason, who had refused Stephensonhis degree. The two travellers took kindly to each other, and theunpleasant affair of the college disturbance was forgotten. 

In 1818, after his return from Europe, he delivered before this Societythe noble Anniversary Discourse in which he commemorates the virtues andlabors of some of those illustrious men who, to use his words, "have mostlargely contributed to raise or support our national institutions, and toform or elevate our national character. " Las Casas, Roger Williams, William Penn, General Oglethorpe, Professor Luzac, and Berkeley are amongthe worthies whom he celebrates. It has always seemed to me that this isone of the happiest examples in our language of the class of compositionsto which it belongs, both as regards the general scope and the execution, and it is read with as much interest now as when it was first written. 

Mr. Verplanck was elected in 1820 a member of the New York House ofAssembly, but I do not learn that he particularly distinguished himselfwhile in that body. In the year following he was appointed, in the GeneralTheological Seminary of the Episcopal Church, Professor of the Evidencesof Revealed Religion and Moral Science in its relations to Theology. Forfour years he performed the duties of this Professorship, with whatability is shown by his Treatise on the Evidences of Christianity, thefruit of his studies during this interval. It is principally a clear andimpressive view of that class of proofs of the Christian religion whichhave a direct relation to the intellectual and moral wants of mankind. Forhe was a devout believer in the Christian gospel, and cherished religiousconvictions for the sake of their influence on the character and the life. This work was published in 1824, about the time that he resigned hisProfessorship. 

It was in 1824, that, on a visit to New York, I first became acquaintedwith Verplanck. On the appearance of a small volume of poems of mine, containing one or two which have been the most favorably received, hewrote, in 1822, some account of them for the New York American, a dailypaper which not long before had been established by his cousin, JohnsonVerplanck, in conjunction with the late Dr. Charles King. He spoke of themat considerable length and in the kindest manner. As I was then an unknownliterary adventurer, I could not but be grateful to the hand that was socordially held out to welcome me, and when I came to live in New York, in1825, an intimacy began in which I suspect the advantage was all on myside. 

It was in 1825 that he published his Essay on the Doctrine of Contracts, in which he maintained that the transaction between the buyer and sellerof a commodity should be one of perfect frankness and an entire absence ofconcealment; that the seller should be held to disclose everything withinhis knowledge which would affect the price of what he offered for sale, and that the maxim which is compressed into the two Latin words, _caveatemptor_--the maxim that the buyer takes the risk of a bad bargain--is notonly a selfish but a knavish and immoral rule of conduct, and should notbe recognized by the tribunals. The question is ably argued on the groundsof an elevated morality--but I have heard jurists object to the doctrineof this essay, that if it were to prevail it would greatly multiply thenumber of lawsuits. 

In 1825, Mr Verplanck was elected one of the three Representatives inCongress, to which this city was then entitled. He immediatelydistinguished himself as a working member. This appellation is given inCongress to members who labor faithfully in Committees, consider petitionsand report upon them, investigate claims, inquire into matters referred totheir judgment, frame bills and present them through their Chairman. Besides these, there are the talking members who take part in everydebate, often without knowing anything of the question, save what theylearn while the debate is proceeding, and the idle members, who do nothingbut vote--generally I believe, without knowing anything of the questionwhatever; but to neither of these classes did Verplanck belong. He was adiligent, useful, and valued member of the Committee of Ways and Means, and at an important period of our political history was its Chairman. 

Then arose the great controversy concerning the right of a State torefuse obedience at pleasure to any law of Congress, a right contended forunder the name of nullification by some of the most eminent men of theSouth, whose ability, political influence, and power of putting aplausible face on their heresy, gave their cause at first an appearance ofgreat strength, and seemed to threaten the very existence of the Union. 

With their denial of the binding force of any law of Congress which aState might think proper to set aside, these men combined anotherargument. They denied the power of Congress, under the Constitution, tolevy duties on imported merchandize, for the purpose of favoring the homemanufacturer, and maintained that it could only lay duties for the sake ofraising a revenue. Mr. Verplanck favored neither this view nor theirtheory of nullification. He held that the power to lay duties being givento Congress, without reservation by the Constitution, the end or motive oflaying them was left to the discretion of the Legislature. He showed alsothat the power to regulate commerce given to that body in theConstitution, was, from an early period in our history, held to imply aright, by laying duties, to favor particular traffics, products orfabrics. 

This view of the subject was presented with great skill and force in apamphlet entitled "A Letter to Colonel William Drayton, of SouthCarolina, " published in 1831. Mr. Verplanck was through life a friend tothe freedom of exchange, but he would not use in its favor any argumentwhich did not seem to him just. His pamphlet was so ably reasoned thatWilliam Leggett said to him, in my presence, "Mr. Verplanck, you haveconvinced me; I was, till now, of a different opinion from yours, but youhave settled the question against me. I now see that whatever may be theinjustice of protective duties, Congress has the constitutional right toimpose them. "

It was while this controversy was going on that President Jackson issuedhis proclamation warning those who resisted the revenue laws that theirresistance was regarded as rebellion, and would be quelled at thebayonet's point. Mr. Calhoun and his friends were not prepared for this:indeed, I do not think that in any of his plans for the separate action ofthe slave States, he contemplated a resort to arms on either side. Theylooked about them to find some plausible pretext for submission, and thisthe country was not unwilling to give. It was generally admitted that theduties on imported goods ought to be reduced, and Mr. McLane, Secretary ofthe Treasury, and Mr. Verplanck, Chairman of the Committee of Ways andMeans, each drew up a plan for lessening the burdens of the tariff. 

Mr. McLane had just returned from a successful mission to Great Britain, and had the advantage of considerable personal popularity. He was amoderate protectionist, and with great pains drew up a scheme of dutieswhich kept the protection of home manufactures in view. Some branches ofindustry, he thought, were so far advanced that they would bear a smallreduction of the duty; others a still larger; others were yet so weak thatthey could not prosper unless the whole existing duty was retained. Thescheme was laid before Congress, but met with little attention from anyquarter; the southern politicians regarded it with scorn, as made up ofmere cheese-parings. Mr. Verplanck's plan of a tariff was more liberal. Hewas not a protectionist, and his scheme contemplated a large reduction ofduties--as large as it was thought could possibly be adopted byCongress--yet so framed as to cause as little inconvenience as might be tothe manufacturers. It was thought that Mr. Calhoun and his friends wouldreadily accept it as affording them a not ignoble retreat from theirdangerous position. 

While these projects were before Congress, Mr. Littell, a gentleman of thefree-trade school, and now editor of the "Living Age, " drew up a scheme ofrevenue reform more thorough than either of the others. It proposed toreduce the duties annually until, at the end of ten years the principle ofprotection, which was what the southern politicians complained of, shoulddisappear from the tariff, and a system of duties take, its place whichshould in no case exceed the rate of twenty per cent, on the value of thecommodity imported. The draft of this scheme was shown to Mr. Clay: he sawat once that it would satisfy the southern politicians; he adopted it, brought it before Congress, urged its enactment in several earnestspeeches, and by the help of his great influence over his party it wasrapidly carried through both houses, under the name of the CompromiseTariff, to the astonishment of the friends of free-trade, the mill owners, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Committee of Ways and Means, and, Ithink, the country at large. I thought it hard measure for Mr. Verplanckthat the credit of this reform should be taken out of his hands by one whohad always been the great advocate of protective duties; but this was oneof the fortunate strokes of policy which Mr. Clay, when in the vigor ofhis faculties, had the skill to make. He afterwards defended the measureas inflicting no injury upon the manufacturers, and it never appeared tolessen the good will which his party bore him. 

About this time I was witness to a circumstance which showed the sagacityof Mr. Verplanck in estimating the consequences of political measures. Mr. Van Buren had been sent by President Jackson as our Minister to theBritish Court while Congress was not in session, and the nomination yetawaited confirmation by the Senate. It led to a long and spirited debate, in which Mr. Marcy uttered the memorable maxim: "To the victor belong thespoils of the enemy, " which was so often quoted against him. I was inWashington, dining with Mr. Verplanck, when the vote on this nominationwas taken. As we were at the table, two of the Senators, Dickinson, of NewJersey, and Tazewell, of Virginia, entered. Verplanck, turning to them, asked eagerly: "How has it gone?" Dickinson, extending his left arm, withthe fingers closed, swept the other hand over it, striking the fingersopen, to signify that the nomination was rejected. "There, " saidVerplanck, "that makes Van Buren President of the United States. "Verplanck was by no means a partizan of Van Buren, but he saw what theeffect of that vote would be, and his prediction was, in due time, verified. 

While in Congress, Mr. Verplanck procured the enactment of a law for thefurther security of literary property. To use his own words, it "gaveadditional security to the property of authors and artists in their works, and more than doubled the term of legal protection to them, besidessimplifying the law in various respects. " It was passed in 1831, thoughMr. Verplanck had begun to urge the measure three years before, when hebrought in a bill for the purpose, but party strife was then at itsheight, and little else than the approaching elections were thought of bythe members of Congress. When party heat had cooled a little, he gainedtheir attention, and his bill became a law. If we had now in Congress amember so much interested for the rights of authors and artists, and atthe same time so learned, so honored, and so persevering, we might hopethat the inhospitable usage which makes the property of the Americanauthor in Great Britain and of the British author in the United States thelawful prize of whosoever chooses to appropriate it to himself, would beabolished. 

A dinner was given to Verplanck on his return from Washington, in the nameof several literary gentlemen of New York, but the expense was, in fact, defrayed by a generous and liberal-minded bookseller, Elam Bliss, who heldauthors in high veneration and only needed a more discriminatingperception of literary merit to make him, in their eyes at least, aperfect bookseller. On this occasion Mr. Verplanck spoke well and modestlyof the part he had taken in procuring the passage of the new law;mentioned with especial honor the "first and ablest champion" who had then"appeared in this cause, " the Hon. Willard Phillips, who had discussed thequestion in the "North American Review;" referred to the opinions ofvarious eminent publicists, and pointed out that our own Constitution hadrecognized the right of literary property while it left to Congress theduty of securing it. He closed with an animated view of what Americanliterature ought to be and might be under circumstances favorable to itswholesome and vigorous growth. We listened with delight and were proud ofour Representative. 

During Mr. Verplanck's fourth and last term in Congress he becameseparated from his associates of the Democratic party by a difference inregard to the Bank of the United States. General Jackson had laid roughhands on this institution and removed to the State banks the public moneywhich had till then been entrusted to its keeping. Many of our best menhad then a high opinion of the utility of the bank, and thought muchbetter of its management than, as afterwards appeared, it deserved. TheWhig party declared itself in favor of the bank. Mr. Calhoun and theSouthern politicians of his immediate school joined them on this question, and Mr. Verplanck, who regarded the bank with a friendly eye, foundhimself on the same side, which proved to be the minority. The timearrived for another election of members of Congress from this City. TheDemocratic party desired to re-elect Mr. Verplanck, if some assurancecould be obtained from him that he would not oppose the policy of theAdministration in regard to the bank. That party understood very well hismerits and his usefulness, and made a strong effort to retain him, but hewould give no assurance, even to pursue a neutral course, on the bankquestion, and accordingly his name was reluctantly dropped from theirlist of nominations. A long separation ensued between him and those who upto that time had been his political associates. 

In 1834, the Whig party, looking for a strong candidate for the Mayoraltyof the City, offered the nomination to Verplanck, who accepted it. On theother side, the Democrats brought forward Cornelius W. Lawrence, a man ofpopular manners and unquestioned integrity. Those were happy days when, invoting for a Mayor, the citizen could be certain that he would not voteamiss, and that whoever succeeded in the election, the City was sure of anhonest man for its chief officer. One would have thought that thisconsideration might make the election a quiet one, but it was not so; thestruggle was for party supremacy, and it was violent on both sides. Atthat time the polls were kept open for three days, and each day theexcitement increased; disorders took place; some heads were broken, and atlast it appeared that Lawrence was elected Mayor by a majority of abouttwo hundred votes. 

While in Congress, Verplanck had leisure, during the interval between onesession and another, for literary occupations. He wrote about one-third ofan annual collection of miscellanies entitled, the "Talisman, " which waspublished by Dr. Bliss in the year 1827 and the two following years. Tothese volumes he contributed the "Peregrinations of Petrus Mudd, " ahumorous and lively sketch, founded on the travels of a New Yorker of thegenuine old stock, who when he returned from wandering over all Europe andpart of Asia, set himself down to study geography in order to know wherehe had been. Of the graver articles he wrote "De Gourges, " a chapter fromthe history of the Huguenot colonists of this country, "Gelyna, a Tale ofAlbany and Ticonderoga, " and several others. In conjunction with Robert C. Sands, a writer of a peculiar vein of quaint humor, he contributed twopapers to the collection, entitled "Scenes in Washington, " of a humorousand satirical character. He disliked the manual labor of writing and wasfond of dictating while another held the pen. I was the third contributorto the "Talisman, " and sometimes acted as his amanuensis. In estimatingVerplanck's literary character, these compositions, some of which aremarked by great beauty of style and others by a rich humor, should not beover-looked. The first volume of the "Talisman" was put in type by a youngEnglishman named Cox, who, while working at his desk as a printer, composed a clever review of the work, which appeared in the "New YorkMirror, " and of which Verplanck often spoke with praise. 

In 1833, Verplanck collected his public speeches into a volume. Amongthese is one delivered in August of that year, at Columbia College, inwhich he holds up to imitation the illustrious examples of great meneducated at that institution. In one of those passages of statelyeloquence which he knew so well to frame, he speaks of the worth of hisold adversary, De Witt Clinton, the first graduate of the College afterthe peace of 1783, and pays due "honor to that lofty ambition which taughthim to look to designs of grand utility, and to their successful executionas his arts of gaining or redeeming the confidence of a generous andpublic spirited people. " In the same discourse he pronounced the eulogy ofDr. Mason, who had died a few days before. In the same year, Verplanck, atGeneva College, delivered an address on the "Right Moral Influence and Useof Liberal Studies, " and the next year, at Amherst College, another on theconverse of that subject, namely, the "Influence of Moral Causes uponOpinion, Science and Literature. " In 1836, he gave a discourse on "theAdvantages and Dangers of the American Scholar. " Of these addresses let mesay, that I know of no compositions of their class which I read with morepleasure or more instruction. Enlarged views, elevated sentiments, ahopeful and courageous spirit, a wide knowledge of men and men's recordedexperience, and a manly dignity of style, mark them all as the productionsof no common mind. 

After separating from the Democratic party, Mr. Verplanck was elected bythe Whigs, in 1837, to the Senate of the State of New York, while thatbody was yet a Court for the Correction of Errors, --a tribunal of thelast resort, --and in that capacity decided questions of law of the highestmagnitude and importance. Nothing in his life was more remarkable than thenew character in which he now appeared. The practiced statesman, theelegant scholar and the writer of graceful sketches, the satirist, thecritic, the theologian, started up a profound jurist. During the fouryears in which he sat in this Court, he heard the arguments in nearlyevery case which came before it, and delivered seventy-one opinions--notsimply his written conclusions, but elaborate judgments founded on theclosest investigation of the questions submitted, the most careful andexhaustive examination of authorities, and a practical, comprehensive andfamiliar acquaintance with legal rules and principles, even those of themost technical nature, which astonished those who knew that he had neverappeared for a client in Court, or sat before in a judicial tribunal. Iuse in this the language of an able lawyer, Judge Daly, who has made thispart of Verplanck's labors a subject of special study. 

As examples of his judicial ability, I may instance his examination of thewhole structure of our State and Federal Government in the case ofDelafield against the State of Illinois, where the question came upwhether an individual could sue a State; his survey of the whole law ofmarine insurance and the principles on which it is founded, in the case ofthe American Insurance Company against Bryan; his admirable statement ofthe reasons on which rests the law of prescription, or right establishedby usage, in the case of Post against Pearsall; his exposition of theextent of the right which in this country the owners of land on theborders of rivers and navigable streams have in the bed of the river, inKempshall's case--a masterly opinion, in which the whole Court concurred. I might also mention the great case of Alice Lispenard, in which heconsidered the degree of mental capacity requisite to make a will, a caseinvolving a vast amount of property in this city, decided by his opinion. There is also the case of Smith against Acker, relating to the taint offraud in mortgages of personal property, in which he carried the Courtwith him against the Chancellor and overturned all the previous decisions. Not less important is his elaborate, learned and exhaustive opinion in thecase of Thompson against the People, decided by a single vote and by hisopinion, --in which he examined the true nature of franchises conferred onindividuals in this country by the sovereign power, the right to constructbridges over navigable streams, and the proper operation of the writ of_quo warranto_. These opinions of Verplanck form an important part of thelegal literature of our State. If he had made the law his special pursuit, and been placed on the bench of one of our higher tribunals, there is nodegree of judicial eminence to which he might not have aspired. TheStanding Committee of the Diocese of New York, of which he was a member, in their resolutions expressive of sorrow for his death, spoke of him asone whose judicial wisdom and familiarity with the principles and practiceof the law, made his counsels of the highest value. 

In 1844, after, I doubt not, some years of previous study, appeared thefirst number of Verplanck's edition of Shakespeare, issued by Harper &Brothers. The numbers appeared from time to time till 1847, when the workwas completed. He made some corrections of the text but never rashly; heselected the notes of other commentators with care; he added someexcellent ones of his own, and wrote admirable critical and historicalprefaces to the different plays. This edition has always seemed to me thevery one for which the general reader has occasion. 

Almost ever since the American Revolution a Board of Regents of theUniversity of the State of New York has existed, on which is laid the dutyof visiting and superintending in a general way our institutions ofeducation above the degree of Common Schools. It consists of twenty-threemembers, including the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, the Secretary ofState and the Superintendent of Public Instruction; the other nineteenmembers are appointed by the Legislature. The Board assists at theincorporation of all colleges and academies, looks into their condition, interposes in certain specified cases, receives reports from them andmakes annual reports to the Legislature, and confers by diploma suchdegrees as are granted by any college or university in Europe. Mr. Verplanck was appointed a member of this Board in 1826, in place ofMatthew Clarkson, who had been a Regent ever since 1787. In 1855 he wasappointed Vice-Chancellor of the University, and to the time of his deathpunctually attended the meetings of the Board, shared in its discussionsand bore his part in its various duties. In 1844 the State Library wasplaced under the superintendence of the Regents. Mr. Verplanck wasimmediately put on the Library Committee, where his knowledge of books andeditions of books made his services invaluable. There were then about tenthousand volumes in the collection, and many of these consisted of brokensets. Under the care of the Regents--Mr. Verplanck principally, who gaveit his particular attention--it has grown into a well selected, wellarranged library of more than eighty-two thousand volumes. About the sametime the State Cabinets of Natural History were put under the care of theBoard, and these have equally prospered, every year adding to theirextent, until now the Regents publish annually, catalogues of theadditions made to them from various sources, and, occasionally, paperscommunicated by experts in natural history. 

Every year in the month of August a University Convocation is held atAlbany, to which are invited all the leading teachers and professors ofour colleges and academies, and carefully prepared papers relating toeducation are read. At the first of these conventions, in 1863, Mr. D. J. Pratt, now the Assistant Secretary of the Board, had read a paper on"Language as the Chief Educator and the noblest Liberal Art, " in which hedwelt upon the importance of studying the ancient classic authors in theiroriginal tongues. Mr. Verplanck remarked that in what he had to say hewould content himself with relating an anecdote respecting the firstNapoleon, which he had from a private source, and which had never been inprint. The Emperor wishing to keep himself advised of what was passing inthe University of France, yet without attracting public attention, waswont on certain occasions to send to the University a trustworthy andintelligent person from his household, who was to bring back a report. This man at one time reported that the question of paying more attentionto the mathematical sciences had been agitated. On this Napoleon exclaimedwith emphasis: "Go to the Polytechnic for mathematics, but classics, classics, classics for the University. " At another time Verplanck, stilloccupied with his favorite studies, gave the convention an address on thepronunciation of the Latin language, in which he came to the conclusionthat of all the branches of the Latin race, the Portuguese in theirpronunciation of Latin make the nearest approach to that of the ancientRomans. He was desired by the members of the Board to write out theaddress for publication, but this was never done. Verplanck, as I havealready remarked, was an unwilling scribe, and did not like to handle thepen. 

The Annual Reports of the Regents, which are voluminous documents, givemuch the same view of the arrangements for public education in the Stateas is obtained of a country by looking down upon it from an observatory. Every college, every academy, every school, not merely a privateenterprise, and above the degree of common schools, makes its yearlyreport to the Regents, and these are embodied in the general report whichthey make to the Legislature, so that the whole great system, with all itsappendages, its libraries, its revenues, its expenditures, the number ofits teachers and its pupils, and the opportunities of instruction which itgives, lies before the eye of the reader. It now comprehends twentyColleges of Literature and Science, three Law Departments, two MedicalColleges, two hundred or more Academies, or Schools of that class, besidesthe Normal School at Albany. 

In his discourse delivered before this Society in 1818, Mr. Verplanck hadapostrophized his native country as the Land of Refuge. He could not thenhave foreseen how well in after times it would deserve this name, norwhat labors and responsibilities the care of that mighty throng who resortto our shores for work and bread would cast upon him. Shortly before theyear 1847 the number of emigrants from Europe arriving in our country hadrapidly and surprisingly increased. The famine in Ireland had caused thepeople of that island to migrate to ours in swarms like those which thepopulous North poured from her frozen loins to overwhelm the Roman Empire. In the ten years from 1845 to 1854 inclusive, more than a million and ahalf of Irish emigrants left the United Kingdom. The emigration fromGermany had also prodigiously increased and promised to become stilllarger. All these were exposed, and the Germans in a particular manner, onaccount of their ignorance of our language, to the extortions of a knavishclass, called runners, and of the keepers of boarding-houses, who oftendefrauded them of all that they possessed, and left them to charity. Mostof those who, after these extortions, had the means, made their way intothe interior and settled upon farms, but a large number remained to becomeinmates of the almshouse, or to starve and sicken in crowded andunwholesome rooms. Mr. Kapp, for some time a Commissioner of Emigration, relates, in his interesting work on Emigration, an example of the mannerin which these poor creatures were cheated. An emigrant came to aboarding-house keeper to pay his bill: "It is eighteen dollars, " said thelandlord. "Why, " said the emigrant, "did you not agree to board me forsixpence a meal and threepence for a bed?" "Yes, " was the answer, "andthat is just seventy-five cents a day; you have been here eight days, andthat makes just eighteen dollars. "

These things had become a grievous scandal, and it was clear thatsomething must be done to protect the emigrant from pillage, and thecountry from the burden of his support. The Act of May, 1847, wastherefore passed by the New York Legislature. It named six gentlemen ofthe very highest character, Gulian C. Verplanck, James Boorman, JacobHarvey, Robert B. Minturn, William F. Havemeyer, and David C. Colden, whowere to form a Board of Commissioners of Emigration, charged with theoversight and care of this vast influx of strangers from the Old World. Tothese were added the Mayors of New York and Brooklyn, and the Presidentsof the German Society and the Irish Emigrant Society. Every master of avessel was, within twenty-four hours of his arrival, to give this Board alist of his passengers, with a report of their origin, age, occupation, condition, health and other particulars, and either give bonds to save thecommunity from the cost of maintaining them in case they became paupers, or pay for each of them the sum of two dollars and a half. The payment ofmoney has been preferred, and this has put into the hands of theCommissioners a liberal revenue, faithfully applied to the advantage ofthe emigrants. 

Mr. Havemeyer was chosen President of the Board, but resigned the officeafter a few months, and was succeeded in it by Mr. Verplanck, who held ittill the day of his death. Under the management of the Commissioners, theBureau of Emigration, becoming with almost every year more perfectlyadapted to its purpose, has grown to vast dimensions, till it is now likeone of the departments of government in a great empire. Whoever passes byWard's Island, where the tides of the East River and the Sound meet andrush swiftly to and fro through their narrow channels, will have some ideaof what the Board has done as he sees the domes and spires of that greatcluster of buildings, forming a vast caravanserai in which the poorerclass of emigrants are temporarily lodged, before they can be sent intothe interior or find employment here. Here are barracks for the men, aspacious building for the women and children, a nursery for children of atender age, Catholic and Protestant chapels, a dispensary, workshops, alunatic asylum, fever wards, surgical wards, storehouses, residences ofthe physicians and other persons employed in the care of the place, andout-houses and offices of various kinds. Here, too, rise the statelyturrets of the spacious new hospital styled the Verplanck EmigrantHospital, in honor of the great philanthropist, for such his constant andnoiseless labors in this department of charity entitle him to be called. 

The Commissioners found that they could not protect the emigrants fromimposition without a special landing place from which they could whollyexclude the rascal crew who cheated them. It took eight years to obtainthis from the New York Legislature, but at last, in 1855, it was granted, and the old fort at the foot of Manhattan Island, called Castle Garden, was leased for this purpose. This is now the Emigrants' Landing, the gateof the New World for those who, pressing westward, throng into it from theOld. Night and day it is open, and through this passage the vast tide ofstranger population, which is to mingle with and swell our own, rusheslike the current of the Bosphorus from the Black Sea towards the Propontisand the Hellespont, to help fill the great basin of the Mediterranean. What will be the condition of mankind when the populations of the twohemispheres, the East and the West, shall have found, as they must, acommon level, and when the human race, now struggling for room in itsancient abodes, shall look in vain for some unoccupied region where avirgin soil is waiting to reward the laborer with bread?

As he enters Castle Garden the emigrant undergoes inspection by acompetent physician, and if he be aged, sick, or in any way disabled, themaster of the vessel must give a special bond for his maintenance. He isintroduced into the building--here he finds one department in which he isduly registered, another from which he receives such information as astranger requires, another from which his luggage is dispatched to itsdestination, another at which attend clerks, skilled in the languages ofcontinental Europe, to write his letters, another at which railway ticketsare procured without danger of extortion, another at which fairarrangements are made with boarding houses, another from which, if sick ordestitute, he is sent to Ward's Island, and half a dozen others, importantas helps to one who has no knowledge of the usages of the country to whichhe has come. I refer to these arrangements, among a multitude of others, in order to show what administrative talent and what constant attentionwere necessary to ensure the regular and punctual working of so vast asystem. To this duty Mr. Verplanck, aided by able and disinterestedassociates like himself, gave the labors of a third of a century, uncompensated save by the consciousness of doing good. The composition ofthis Board has just been changed by the Legislature of the State, in sucha manner as unfortunately to introduce party influences, from which, during all the time of Mr. Verplanck's connection with it, it had beenkept wholly free. 

Yet Mr. Verplanck had his party attachments, though he never suffered themto lead him out of the way he had marked for himself. He would accompany aparty, but never follow it. His party record is singular enough. He waseducated a federalist, but early in life found himself acting against thefederal party. He was with the whigs in supporting General Harrison forthe Presidency, and claimed the credit of suggesting his nomination. Mr. Clay he would never support on account of his protectionist principles, and when that gentleman was nominated by the whigs he left them and votedfor Mr. Polk, though he was disgusted by the trick which obtained the voteof Pennsylvania for Mr. Polk under the pretence of his being aprotectionist. Subsequently he supported General Taylor, the whigcandidate for the Presidency, but the nomination of Mr. Buchanan, in 1857, saw him once more with the democrats, from whom he did not again separate. When the proposal to make government paper a legal tender for debts wasbefore Congress, he opposed it with great zeal, writing against it in thedemocratic journals. I agreed with him that the measure was an act offolly, for which I could find no excuse, but he almost regarded it as apublic crime. He vehemently disapproved, also, of the arbitrary arrestsmade by our government during the war, some of which, without question, were exceedingly ill advised. His zeal on these points, I think, made himblind to the great issues involved in our late civil war, and led hisusually clear and liberal judgment astray. 

I have not yet mentioned various capacities in which he served the publicwithout any motive but to minister to the public welfare. He was from avery early period a Trustee of the Society Library, in which he took greatinterest, delighting to make additions to its stock of books, and passingmuch time in its alcoves and its reading rooms. He was one of the wardensof Trinity Church, that mistress of mighty revenues. He was for some yearsone of the governors of the New York Hospital, and I remember when he madeperiodical visits to the Insane Asylum at Bloomingdale, as one investedwith authority there. During the existence of the Public School Society hewas one of its Trustees from 1834 to 1841, and rendered essential serviceto the cause of public education. 

His useful life closed on the 18th of March last. For some months beforethis date his strength had declined, and when I met him from time to timeit seemed to me that his features had become sharper and his frame moreattenuated, yet I perceived no diminution of mental vigor. He took thesame interest in the events and questions of the day as he had done yearsbefore, his apprehension seemed as quick, and all the powers of his mindas active. 

On the Wednesday before his death he attended one of those weekly meetingswhich he took care never to miss, that of the Commissioners of Emigration, But in one of his walks on a rainy day he had taken a cold which resultedin a congestion of the lungs. On Thursday evening he lay upon a sofa, conversing from time to time, after his usual manner, until near midnight. On Friday morning, when his body servant entered the room and looked athim he perceived a change and called his grandson, who, with agrand-daughter, had constantly attended him during the past winter. Thegrandson immediately went for his physician, Dr. Carnochan, who, however, was not to be found, and whose assistant, a young man, came in his stead. Mr. Verplanck, in a way which was characteristic of him, studied the youngman's face for a moment and then asked: "From what college were yougraduated?" The reply was--"Paris;" on which Mr. Verplanck turned away asif it did not much please him, and in a moment afterward expired. He wasspared the previous suffering which so many are called to endure. His sonhad visited him from time to time, and was with him the day before hisdeath, yet this event was unexpected to all the family. His father, in hisold age, had as suddenly passed away, having fallen dead by the wayside. 

The private life of our friend was as beautiful as his public life wasuseful and beneficent. He took great interest in the education of hisgrandchildren; inquired into their studies, talked with them of the booksthey read, and sought with great success to make them fond of all goodlearning, directing their attention to all that was noble in literatureand in art. His mind was a storehouse of facts in history and biography onwhich he drew for their entertainment, and upon occasion diversified thegraver narratives with fairy tales and stories of wonder from the ArabianNights. He made learning pleasant to them by taking them on Saturdays toplaces of amusement from which he contrived that they should return notonly amused but instructed. In short, it seemed as if, in his solicitudefor the education of his descendants, he sought to repay the caresbestowed upon his early youth by his grandfather of Stratford, of whom hesaid in his discourse delivered at Amherst College, that his besteducation was bestowed by the more than paternal care of one of the wisestand most excellent sons of New England. Long after he was an old man hewould make pleasant summer journeys with these young people and look totheir comfort and safety with the tenderest solicitude. 

Christmas was merry Christmas at the old family mansion in Fishkill. Hecaused the day to be kept with many of the ancient usages, to the greatsatisfaction of the younger members of the household. He was fond ofobserving particular days and seasons, and marking them by some pleasantcustom of historical significance--for with all the ancient customs andrites and pastimes pertaining to them he was as familiar as if they werematters of to-day. It distressed him even to tears when, last Christmas, he found that his health did not allow him to make the journey to Fishkillas usual. He made much of the birthdays of his grandchildren, and taughtthem to observe that of Shakespeare by adorning the dwelling with theflowers mentioned in those aerial verses of the Winters Tale--

 "daffodils, That come before the swallow dares and take The winds of March with beauty; violets dim, But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes Or Cytherea's breath; pale primroses That die unmarried, " &c. , &c. 

For many years past he had divided his time pretty equally betweenFishkill and New York, visiting the homestead in the latter part of theweek and returning in time to attend the weekly meetings of theCommissioners of Emigration. While in the country he was a great deal inthe open air, superintending the patrimonial estate, which he managed withability as a man of business, giving a careful attention, even to theminutest details. But he was most agreeably employed in his large and wellstored library. Here were different editions of the Greek and Latinclassics, some of them rare and enriched with sumptuousillustrations--thirty different ones of Horace and nearly as many ofVirgil. With the Greek tragedians he was as familiar as with our ownShakespeare. In this library he wrote for the Crayon his entertainingpaper on Garrick and his portrait, and his charming little volumeentitled "Twelfth Night at the Century Club. " Here also he wrote severalpapers respecting the true interpretation of certain passages in Virgil, which were published in the 'Evening Post. ' It is to be regretted that hedid not collect and publish his literary papers, which would form a veryagreeable miscellany. He seemed, however, almost indifferent to literaryfame, and when he had once sent forth into the world an essay or atreatise, left it to its fate as an affair which was now off his hands. OnSunday morning he was alway at the old church in the village of Fishkill, one of the most attentive and devout worshippers there. It is an ancientbuilding of homely architecture, looking now just as it did a century ago, with a big old pulpit and sounding board in the midst of the church, whichthe people would have been glad to remove, but refrained, because Mr. Verplanck, whom they so venerated, preferred that it should remain. 

The patrimonial mansion at Fishkill had historical associations which musthave added to the interest with which our friend regarded it. Mr. Tuckerman relates, in the "North American Review, " though without namingthe place or the persons, a story in which they were brought out in asingular manner. He was there fifteen or twenty years since, a guest atVerplanck's table. He describes the June sunshine which played through theshifting branches of tall elms on the smooth oaken floor of the olddining room, the plate of antique pattern on the sideboard and theportraits of revolutionary heroes on the walls. As they sat down todinner, an old lady, bowed with years and with a restless, yet serenelook, entered and took a seat beside Mr. Verplanck. A servant adjusted anapkin under her chin and the dinner proceeded. A steamer was passing upthe river and a band on board struck up a martial air. The old ladytrembled, clasped her hands, and, raising her eyes, exclaimed, "Ah! allintercession is vain. Andre must die. " Mr. Verplanck made a sign to thecompany to listen, and calling the lady Aunt, addressed her with some kindinquiry, on which she went on to speak of the events and personages of theRevolution as matters of the present day. She repeated rapidly the namesof the English officers whom she had known, "described her loftyhead-dress of ostrich feathers, which caught fire at the theatre, andrepeated the verses of her admirer who was so fortunate as to extinguishit. " She dwelt upon the majestic bearing of Washington, the elegance ofthe French, the dogmatism of the British officers; the by-words, the namesof gallants, belles and heroes; the incidents, the questions, theetiquette of those times seemed to live again in her tremulous accents, which gradually became feeble, until she fell asleep! "It was, " continuedthe narrator, "like a voice from the grave. " This old lady was a MissWalton, a sister of Judge Verplanck's second wife. 

When he found time for the studies by which his mind was kept so full ofuseful and curious knowledge, I cannot well conceive. He loved to protractan interesting conversation into the small hours of the night, and he wasby no means, as it is said most long-lived men are, an early riser. Ananecdote related by a gentleman of the New York bar will serve toillustrate, in some degree, his desultory habits during that part of histime which was passed in New York. This gentleman gave a dinner atDelmonico's, then in William Street, to a professional brother fromanother city, who was in town only for the day. Mr. Verplanck, JudgeWilliam Kent, and one or two other clever lawyers, were of the party. Iwill allow him to tell the story in his own words. 

"We of course, " he says, "had a delightful evening, for our stranger guestwas a diamond; Kent was never more charming and witty; Mr. ---- never morestately and brilliant, and Verplanck was in his most genial mood, full ofhis peculiarly interesting, graceful and instructive conversations. Thespirit of the hour was unrestrained and cordial. We had a good time, andit was not early when the dispersion began. Verplanck and Kent remainedwith us after the others withdrew, and as midnight approached Kent alsodeparted. After a while Verplanck and I went forth and sauntered along inthe darkness through the deserted streets, among the tenantless and gloomyhouses, till we reached the point where his path would diverge forBroadway and up-town, and mine for Fulton Ferry and Brooklyn Heights. Instead of leaving me the good philosopher volunteered to keep on with meto the river, and when we reached the river, proposed to remain with meuntil the boat arrived, and then proposed to cross the river with me. Wewere, I think, the only passengers, and his conversation continued to flowas fresh and interesting as at the dinner table until we reached theBrooklyn shore. He declined to pass the rest of the night at my house, andwhile I waited with him till the boat should leave the wharf to take himback, the night editor of the Courier and Enquirer, a clever andaccomplished gentleman, came on board on the way to his nocturnal labors. I introduced them to each other; they were at once in good accord; I sawthem off and went homeward. A day or two after I learned that when theyreached the New York shore, Verplanck volunteered to stroll down to theCourier office with the editor, accepted his invitation to walk in, ascending with him to his room in the attic, and, to the editor's greatdelight and edification, remained with him, conversing, reading andruminating until broad daylight. There was a charm in Mr. Verplanck'sconversation that was distinctive and peculiar. It was 'green pastures andstill waters. '"

Our friend had, it is true, a memory which faithfully retained theacquisitions made in early life, but, in some way or other, wascontinually enlarging them. I think I have never known one whose thoughtswere so much with the past, whose memory was so familiar with the wordsand actions of those who inhabited the earth before us, and who so lovedand reverenced the worthy examples they have given us, yet who so muchinterested himself in the present and was so hopeful of the future. Therewas no tendency of this shifting and changeful age which he did notobserve, no new discovery made, no new theory started, no untrodden pathof speculation opened to human thought, which did not immediately engagehis attention, and of which he had not something instructive to say. Hewas as familiar with the literature of the day as are the crowd of commonreaders who know no other, yet he suffered not the brilliant novelties ofthe hour to wean his admiration from the authors whose reputation hasstood the test of time. He was generous, however, to rising merit, andtook pleasure in commending it to the attention of others. 

His learning was not secular merely; his library was well stocked withworks on theology; he was familiar with the questions discussed in them;the New Testament, in the original, was a part of his daily reading; hehad examined the dark or doubtful passages of Scripture, and they who weremuch in his society needed no more satisfactory commentator. Not longsince he sent to the Society Library for a theological work rather out ofdate. "It is the first time that work was ever called for, " said thelibrarian, smiling as he took it from the shelf, and aired the leaves alittle. 

His kindness to his fellow men was shown more in deeds than in words--forof words of compliment he was particularly sparing; and he loved to dogood by stealth. A letter from his pastor, the Rev. Dr. Shelton, says: "Hewas very kind and affectionate when he thought he discovered merit in anybody however humble, and though he dropped never so much as a hint to theindividual himself, he was pretty sure to speak a good word for him inquarters where it would have an influence. A great many never knew whomthey had to thank for this. Here he recommended some one for a place, there he picked up a book or a set of books for some distant library. Inthis way he went about doing good, and, not given to impulse, wassystematically benevolent. " A letter from another hand speaks of theclergymen whom he had put in the way of getting a parish, the youths forwhom he had procured employment--favors quietly conferred, when perhapsthe person benefited had forgotten the application or given up thepursuit. He preserved carefully all that related to those persons in whomhe took a kindly interest. "Never, " says Dr. Shelton, "did a juvenileletter come to him that he did not carefully put away. Whole packages ofthem are found among his papers; if they had been State documents theycould not have been more important in his eyes. "

I have spoken of the hopefulness of his temper. This was doubtless in agreat degree constitutional, for he is said to have been an utter strangerto physical fear, preserving his calmness on occasions when others wouldbe in a fever of alarm. He loved our free institutions, he had a sereneand steady confidence in their duration and his published writings are forthe most part eloquent pleas for freedom, political equality andtoleration. Even the shameless corruption which has seized on the localgovernment of this city, did not dismay or discourage him. He maintained, in a manner which it was not easy to controvert, that the great cities ofEurope are quite as grossly misgoverned, and that every overgrowncommunity like ours must find it a difficult task to rid itself of theofficial leeches that seek to fatten on its blood. 

In looking back upon the public services of our friend it occurs to methat his life is the more to be held up as an example, inasmuch as, thoughpossessed of an ample fortune, he occupied himself as diligently ingratuitous labors for the general good as other men do in the labors oftheir profession. In the dispensation of his income he leaned, perhaps, tothe side of frugality, but his daily thought and employment were to makehis fellow men happier and better; yet I never knew a man who made lessparade of his philanthropy. He rarely, and never, save when the occasionrequired it, spoke of what he had done for others. I never heard, I thinkno man ever heard, anything like a boast proceed from his lips, nor did hepractice any, even the most innocent expedients, to attract attention tohis public services. Not that I suppose him insensible to the good willand good word of his fellow men. He valued them, doubtless, as every wiseman must, but sought them not, except as they might be earned by theunostentatious performance of his duty. If they came they were welcome, ifnot, he was content with the testimony of his own conscience and theapproval of Him who seeth in secret. 

It may be said that in almost every instance the place of those who passfrom the stage of life is readily supplied from among the multitude ofthose who are entering upon it; the well-graced actor who makes his exitis succeeded by another, who soon shows that he is as fully competent toperform the part as his predecessor. But when I look for one to supply theplace of our friend who has departed, I confess I look in vain. I ask, butvainly, where we shall find one with such capacities for earning a greatname, such large endowments of mind and acquisitions of study united withsuch modesty, disinterestedness and sincerity, and such steady and variouslabors for the good of our race conjoined with so little desire for therewards which the world has to bestow on those who render it the highestservices. But though we sorrow for his departure and see not how hishonored place is to be filled, let us congratulate ourselves, and thecommunity in which we live, that he was spared to us so many years. Hisday was like one of the finest days in the season of the summer solstice, bright, unclouded, and long. 

Farewell--thou who hast already entered upon thy reward! happy in this, that thou wert not called from thy beneficent labors before the night. Thou hadst already garnered an ample harvest; the sickle was yet in thyhand; the newly reaped sheaves lay on the field at thy side, when, as thebeams of the setting sun trembled on the horizon, the voice of the Mastersummoned thee to thine appointed rest. May all those who are as noblyendowed as thou, and who as willingly devote themselves to the service ofGod and mankind be spared to the world as long as thou hast been. 

EVENING POST, 41 Nassau St. , corner Liberty.