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 the 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 husband'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 President
say, " Well, gentlemen, this is 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 for 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 &
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."

The French Emperor is now restored to his usual
health.

PETER'S PENCE.—Cardinal Cullen writes from
Rome directing the vicars-general of his diocese to remind
the faithful that the period has come round for their
annual contribution to the Papal treasury. They are
expected to give " another emphatic expression of their
devotion to the Holy Father by generous contributions,"
the " vast and extensive preparations " that had to be
made for the General Council, " and the unbounded hos-
pitality of the Sovereign Pontiff towards the assembled.
Fathers," having pressed heavily on his already over-
taxed resources.