Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-11-27
Peabody Education Board.

alex. II. IL. OluaFt, III consequence VI -"
vapced age, resigned his membership last
September as a member of the Peabody
Education Board. In the proceedings
which have appeared is the following ref
erence made to him by Hon. Robert Z.
Winthrop, President of that body, after
referring to the resignation Of General
Henry R. jackson, of Georgia, who had
also resigned his membership as trustee :
am sorry to add that we are called on
to part with another of our Board, who has
been still longer associated with us. The
resignation of the Honorable Alexander ID.
Fl. Stuart, of Virginia, owing to ill-health
and the ipfirmities of advanced age, is an
nounced in letter from him very recently
received. Mr.. Stuart was elected trustee
at our meeting in Philadelphia in February,
1871, to fill the vacancy created by me
death of Admiral Farragut. He has thus
been one of our number for nearly plne-
teen years. Residing at Staunton, va,
where our first General Agent, the late
Barnas Sears, established his home soon
after his appointment in 1867, MIR. Stuart
was brought into the most intimate re-
latiops with DR.. Sears, and was greatly
relied on by him for advice and COUNSEL
He has been from first to last one of our
most efficient members, as our Records
will abundantly testify. Nothing could
have been more impressive and aftectlonate
than his tributes to Governor Graham, OF
North Carolina, with whom he was asso-
ciated in the Cabinet of President Fillmore,
to Governor Clifford, of Massachusetts,,
TO DIR. Sears, and, more recently,to General
Grant. But his most important contribu-
ton to our proceedings was his elaborate
and admirable report on "Education for
the Colored Population of the United
States" in $780, which bore the Signatures
also of Chief-Justice Waite and Mr.. Evarts,
and received the sanction of the whole
Board. That report fills nearly thirty
pages of our second volume, and bears
testimony alike to his careful historical re-
search and to his patriotic regard for the
welfare of all classes and races of the peo-
pie. l may not forget his devoted co-opera-
ton with me in carrying on the WORK OF
this Board for seven months. when our
General Agency was left vacant by the
death of DR.. Sears, for which we received a
| Joint resolution of thanks from the Trus-
| tees in 1881. Mr.. Stuart has been MEM
Der of our Executive Committee since
| 1878, and its chairman since the death OF
Governor Aiken, of South Carolina. All
the while, as I need not say, he has en-
deared himself to each one of us by bis
amiable and genial companionship. We
shall accept his resignation, as we must DO,
with strong personal reluctance and regret.
Before proceeding to supply the vacancies
occasioned by the resignation, the following
letter from Mr.. Stuart was read -
STAUNToN, Va, Sept. %, 1889.
Hon. ROBERT G. WINTHROP:
| MY DEAR FRIEND,-I have felt strong
desire to attend the Annual Meeting of the
Trustees of the Peabody Fund to be held
next week, and hoped to be able to do so;
but the condition of my health is such as to
compel me to forego that pleasure. l am
now halfway advanced in the eighty third
year of my age, and my strength has been
so much impaired as to render it at least
doubtful whether l would be able to stand
the excitement and fatigue Of so long a
Journey. / have therefore concluded that
it is most prudent for me not to incur the
hazard of meeting the fate of our late
friend, Judge Manning.
1t would have been q great satisfaction
to me to meet once more yourself and other
friends with whom l have been associated
for the last eighteen years in the execution
of our great trust. But as tina. has become
impossible, must ask the favor of you tc
explain to the Board the causes of my in
voluntary absence. And as these causes
are rot likely to be diminished by the lapse
of years, I must ask the further favor OF
you to present to the Board my resignation
of my position as a member of the Board Of
Trustees of the Peabody Education Fund
and my earnest request that the Board will
proceed to select a younger and more Ell
ficient man as my successor.
In thus terminating my official connection
with the administration Of the Peabody
Trust Fund, l cannot forbear from con
graduating the Board on the great success
which has thus far attended it's labnrs, and
my earnest hope that in the future the
same fidelity, efficiency, and integrity
which baVe been so signally displayed In
the past may continue to guide its admins
tratiOn.
With kind wishes for the health and
happiness of yourself and of each and every
member of the Board and of its honored
and efficient General Agent, l am
Very truly and cordially yours, etc,
ATFYANpEp IT TT STUART