The Portland daily press., 1870-02-11
The Final Peabody Obseq ufes.
wINTHRoP's oRATIoN-THE PROCESSION
THE INTERMENT.

wINTHRoP's oRATIoN-THE PROCESSION
THE INTERNIENT.
The exordium of Robert C. Winthrops ei-
oquent discourse at the funerai VI o.oise
Peabody, at Peabody, Mass, Oh tne OH vi
Februarv is largely devoted to conjectures as
n whether the great philanthropist would, if
conscious of the posthumous honors paid to
his memory, have approved of them. The
decision is emphatically that he would be ex-
tremely gratified. Mr.. Winthrop saws:
Our lamented friend was not, indeed. with
out ambition. He not only liked to do grand
things, but he liked to do them in grand
way. We all remember those sumptuous and
pilnceiy banquets, with which he sometimes
diversified the habitual simplicity and frusali-
" OF MS daily life. He was not without a de-
cided taste for occasional display,-call it even
ostentation, if you will. We certainly NAV
not ascribe to him pre-eminent measure of
that sort OF charity which shuns publicity,
winch snrlnks from observation, and which,
according to one OF our Saviour's well-remem-
pefed mlunctions, "dOeth its aims in secret. %
lie may, or he may not, have exercised as
much OF this kind of benefcence, as any of
those in similar condition around HIM, / full.
~ believe that he did. We all. understand,
however, that
Of the best portion OF a good mans life,
Z. HIS little nameless, aforementioned acts
or kindness and OF love-
there can be no record except on high,-or in
the grateful hearts of those who have been
aided and relieved. That record shall be re-
vealed hereafter. The world can know little
or nothing of it now.
But any one must perceive, at glance
that the sort of charity which our lamented
Trend illustrated and exercised, was wholly
Incompatible with concealment or reserve
The great Trusts which he established, the
great Institutions which he founded, the ca
pacious and costly edfces which he erected,
were things that could not be hid, which could
not be done in a corner. They were, il their
own intrinsic and essential nature, patent to
the worlds eye. He could not have perform
ed these noble acts in his lifetime, as it was
his peculiar choice to do, and as it will be his
peculiar distinction and glory to have done.
without suffering himself "to be seen of
men;' without being known, and recognized,
and celebrated as their aCthor. He must
have postponed them all, as others have done,
Tor posthumous execution; he must have re-
trained from parting with his millions until
death should have wrested them from a reluc-
tant grasp-had be shrunk from the notoriety
and celebrity which inevitably attend upon
such a career.
He did not fail to remember, howeyer.-for
he was DO stranger TO the Bible-that there
were at least two modes of doing good COM
mended in holy Writ He did not forget,
that the same glorious gospel, nay, that the
same incompatible Sermon ON the Mount, |
which said, LET not thy left hand know what
thy right hand doeth," said, also, "Let your
light 50 shine before men, that they may see
your good works, and 'glorify your Father
which is in heaven" This, this might almost
De regarded as the chosen motto of his later
Life, and might, not appropriately, be in
scribed as such on his tombstone.
Certainly, my friends, his light has shone
before men. Certainly, they have seen his
good WORKS. And who shall doubt that thew
have eloriied his Father which is in heaven
fes. glory TO God, glory to God in the high
est, has, am persuaded, swollen up from The |
hearts OF millions. in both hemispheres, with
new fervor, as they have followed him lie his |
grand decentralization of benevolence. and |
as they have witnessed, one after another. his |
multifold and magnificent endowments. And /
MS own heart, repeat, would have throbbed
and thrilled, as it never thrilled or throbbed |
peiore, with gratitude to God and man. could |
he have foreseen that the matchless example
OF munlheence, which it had been the cher
lshed aim OF his later years to exhibit, would |
De rendered, as 1t has now been rendered, so /
signal, so inspiring, so enduring, so immortal. |
by the homage which has been paid to his
memory by the princes and potentates. as |
w1fi az W the pvvf, tlIO cru " Ur1u and bV /
the government and the whole people of bis |
own beloved country.
have spoken of the exhibition of this ex-
ample, as having been the cherished aim of /
his later years but am not without authori- |
~ for saying, that it was among the fondest |
wishes OF his whole mature life. cannot /
forget, that, in one of those confidential con-
SITUATIONS with which he honored me some
years since, after unfolding his plans, and tell
Ing me substantially all that be designed to
do,-for, almost everything he did was of his
own original designing,-and when was fill
ed with admiration and amazement at tbe |
magnitude and sublimity OF his purposes. he
SAID to me, with that guileless simplicity
winch characterized SO much of his social in
tercourse and conversation, "Why, Mr.. Win
throp, this is no new idea to me. From tie |
earliest years OF my manhood, have con.
tempiated some such disposition of nv prop
erty and have prayed my Heavenly Father,
gay by day, that might be enabled, before |
lied, 10 show my gratitude for the blessings
which He has bestowed upon me, by doing
some great good to my felow-men.'
1 do not altogether forget those Macenases
Of old, whom philosophers and poets have so
delighted to extol. 1 do not forget the pass
ing tribute Of the great Roman orator to one
OF the publicans OF his own period, as having
displayed an incredible benisnity in amassing
a vast fortune, not "as the prey of avarice. j
but as the instrument of doing good" / do
not forget the founders of the Royal Exchange
In London, and of the noble hospital in Edi1-
burgh; the princey merchant of Queen EIiz-
abeth's day, or the "Jingling Geordie" of Eng
land's first King James. do not forget how
strikfngly Edmund Burke foreshadowed our
amented friend, when he said of his own crn-
emporaries, "His fortune is among the larg-
,st,-a fortune which, wholly unencumbered
Is it is, without one single charge from luxu,
y, vanity, or excess, sinks under the beneyo-
ence, expanding itself into patriotism, rem
1ers his whole being the estate of the public.
n which he has not reserved a peculiuna for
,3imseif, OF profit, diversion, or relaxation" I
10 not forget the Baron de Montbyon. of