The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-18 00:00:00

THE STANTON MEMORIAL FUND.

It appears that the movement set on foot in. New York
some time since for the collection of a memorial fund to
the late Edwin M. Stanton, to be applied in aid of his
family, has culminated in the amount raised for tho pur-
pose being invested by' the respective treasurers, Mr.
Alexander, T. Stewart and Hon. Moses H. Grinnell, in
Government bonds, and deposited in trust with the New
York Life Insurance and Trust Company. The following
is the final correspondence on the subject with the, widow
of the late Secretary Stanton :

-NEW YORK, May 27.
" My Dear Madam—By direction of the Union League
Club, I have the pleasure to inclose one of the triplicates
of the trust deed executed by the New York Life Insur-
and Trust Company with Hon. Moses H. Grinnell and
myself. The fund collected has been invested in the five-
twenty bonds of 1862, amounting to s4B,2oo—interest at
six per cent., payable in November and May. Hoping
that this disposition of the fund and the conditions
attached thereto, will meet with your approval, and ex-
pressing my deep gratitude for the invaluable services of
your late husband.—" I have the honour to be, with
sincere regard, yours truly,
" ALEXANDER T. STEWART.

" Mrs. Edwin M. Stanton."
" Washington, May 28, 1870.
" Mr. A. T. Stewart,—My dear Sir : This morning I
received the trust deed enclosed by you to me. Ido not
know how to express my obligation for the generous action
of my husbarid's friends ; but I have great gratification
and pride in the assurance given me by the kindness
shewn Mr. Stanton's family, and of the high regard felt
for him, and accept the testimonial as a grateful tribute
to his memory. To yourself and Mr. Grinnell I shall
always feel a personal indebtedness for the interest you
have taken in the matter. Whatever arrangement you
think best could not but be perfectly satisfactory to me.
" With much respect yours truly,
"ELLEN H. STANTON."

MR. CHARLES DICKENS.

The editor of the Graphic relates some particulars of his
personal acquaintance with the late author as follows :

" The first time I saw the idolised Boz in the flesh was
at a fancy fair in the Painted Hall of Greenwich Hos-
pital, held, I think, for the benefit of the Shipwrecked
Mariners' Society: He was then a handsome young man,
with piercing bright eyes and carefully arranged hair,
much in fact, as he is represented in Maclise's picture.
The last time I saw him was a few weeks since, when I
had the pleasure of meeting him at dinner. To all
outward appearance, he then looked like a man who
would live and work until he was four score. I was espe-
cially struck by the brilliancy and vivacity of his eyes.
There seemed as much life and animation in them as in
twenty ordinary pairs of eyes. I was also struck by his
sailor-like aspect a peculiarity observed by many other
persons. Yet, except his two voyages to America, he had
not been much on the sea, and was not, I believe, a par-
ticularly good sailor. But we all know his sympathy for
seamen, and I think, without being fanciful, that his
nautical air may in part be attributed to early Portsmouth
associations. On this occasion Mr. Dickens conversed
with me chiefly about Mr. Carlyle's writings, for whose
" French Revolution " he expressed the strongest admira-
tion, as he has practically shewn in his "Tale of Two
Cities ;" and he also related some interesting anecdotes,
one of which I may venture to transfer to print. It was
related to Mr. Dickens by the late Mr. Edwin Stanton,
the famous Secretary of War in the United States
Cabinet. On Good Friday, 1865, there was a Cabinet
Council at Washington, and Mr. Stanton chanced to
enter the council chamber some time after the other mem-
bers had assembled. As he entered he heard the Presid'ent
say, " Well, gentlemen, thisis only amusement. I think we
had better now turn to 'business." During the meeting he
noticed that Mr. Lincoln was remarkably grave and
sedate ; and that, instead of strolling about the room, as
was his usual wont, dealing out droll remarks, he sat bolt
upright in his chair. On leaving the Council Mr. Stanton
asked one of the other Ministers why the President's
manner was so peculiar, and received the following expla-
nation :—" When we assembled to-day Mr. Lincoln said,
Gentlemen, I dreamt a strange dream last night fora the
third time, and on each occasion something remarkable
has followed upon it. After the first dream came the
battle of Bull Run [Mr. Dickens could not remember the
second event], and now the dream has come again. 'I
dreamt that I was in a boat on a lake, drifting along
without either oars or sails, when—' At this moment
you," said the Minister, addressing Mr. Stanton, "opened
the door, whereupon the President checked himself, and
said, ' I think we had better turn to business." So we have
lost the conclusion of the dream." And it was lost for
ever. The Council met at half-past two, and on the same
evening President Lincoln lay dead, slain by the pistol-
shot of Wilkes Booth. I cannot avoid drawing a parallel
here. We shall never know the end of Mr. Lincoln's
dream, and the " Mystery of Edwin Drood " remains
also an inscrutable mystery, parted from us by the im-
penetrable curtain of death. Posthumous fame is but a
poor thing, when it is based simply on intellectual
achievements. Charles Dickens' fame rests on a
surer basis. His chief merit, to my thinking,
lies in the fact that in all his creations, humorous
or pathetic, he irresistibly drew the sympathies of his
readers towards the cause of the humble, the suffering,
and the oppressed,. and I firmly believe that much of the
beneficent legislation of late years is due to his teaching.
If he had entered Parliament, he would probably have
made but an indifferent figure, for he cared little for mere
party-politics; but at his desk, pen in hand, he wielded a
power superior to that of a whole House of Commons,
and it is to his eternal glory that this power was uniformly
exercised for worthy ends. It is no small matter in an
age when the contrast between wealth and poverty,
between inordinate luxury and utter destitution, grows
daily more startling, that a man of genius should, for a
whole generation, have used his mental gifts for the pur-
pose of bridging over those terrible gulfs in modern civili-
sation."

A very large number of honorary degrees will be
conferred at the ensuing Commemoration at Oxford. The
list includes among others the present Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Mr. Lowe, and the leader of the Conservative
Peers, the Duke of Richmond. Among smaller details
of the grand ceremony of installation, it may interest the
pageant-loving public to learn that Lord Salisbury's two
little sons will probably form an early connexion with
the University by supporting the train of their father—
the new Chancellor's—magnificent robe of office.
The Duke of Richmond has given notice of some
amendments to the Medical Act (1858) Amendment Bill
with a view to insure that a diploma shall be granted
only after a complete course of study. Lord Cairns
desires that the names of the successful candidates shall
be published, together with the number of marks assigned
to each. He also wishes to provide " that no person to
whom any qualification is granted by any university shall
be entitled to practice medicine or surgery for gain without
having been registered under this Act."
THE ITALIAN PRESS ON CHARLES DICKENS.—
The Italian journals give interesting notices of Charles
Dickens. The Turin Gazette says that the publication of
" The Pickwick Club " was the foundation of his reputa-
tion, and he thence acquired the name of a first-rate
romancist. From that time his fame increased, it ex-
tended to foreign lands, and his works multiplied a thou-
sandfold. The Diritto believes that Sam Weller and the
Modern Tartuffe in " Martin Chuzzlewit " will be im-
mortal, like the characters in the " Promessi Sposi." The
Nazione thinks Dickens was the greatest of all modern
English novelists, and has no doubt England will regret
his death as a national loss. Though he had
worked long and well, there still remained much for him
to do. It admits that his style was occasionally faulty,
but this was only to be regarded as the specks on the sun,
which do not detract from the warmth or light. For
thirty-five years he remained the most popular man of his
day, and the greatest social reformer of the age. Monu-
ments to his honour may be erected, in marble
or bronze, but his most lasting memorial will
be the recollection of the services he rendered to the dif-
ferent classes of the community by calling forth an
exchange of sympathies. The good which might be done
to the poor and the conversion of material progress to
moral ends chiefly engaged the thoughts of Charles
Dickens, and reflected themselves in his works.

COMPULSORY VACCINATION.

Our jealous preservation •of individual freedom has
hitherto prevented our submitting to a general ordinance
of compulsory vaccination for small-pox. The efficacy of
Jenner's method has survived all popular clamour against
its enforcement in Europe, and by cable telegram we find
that it has proved a thorough prophylactic during the late
visitation of the disease in Paris. It is somewhat startling
to learn that the Health Board of Brooklyn report fifty-
six cases during the month of May, and since that several
deaths have resulted from small-pox alone in that city.
The deaths have occuared chiefly among the German
families of a section of the Eastern District, and the
utmost difficulty has been experienced by the officers in
inducing the friends of the patients to allow their removal
from the crowded accommodation of their homes to the
public hospitals. The course of a malady so dreadful
ought to be carefully watched and no exaggerated senti-
ment of " independence " allowed to interfere with
measures fer its prevention. —New York Times.