The National tribune., 1899-11-09

At this time of peace along the border
these statesmen could hardly have CON
ceived that the legacy they We're leaving
10 the people Of an adjustment of the North
west boundary lines in this day would be
beset with new conditions and bold claims
of right be set up. although Mr.. Bancroft
lived to see the seed of this new disturbance
springing into life.
The seal fisheries and the Alaskan gold
fields are too rich in results not to whet
the appetite Of our opponents on the border.
=
1t was my good fortune to spend a morn
ing with friend in the workshop of this
great historian and in his presence. His
conversation that morning fell like bene-
diction upon his listeners.
When you were in the presence of this
man Of years and experience you were
transported without effort over the way
he had travelled. He told us of his college
days and his life in Gottengen, Germany,
when a student. He chose history as his
speciality, and thoroughly equipped him
self for its pursuit. He graduated at
lGottengen as Doctor of Philosophy. After
his graduation he spent some time travel
ing in Europe. His vast store of informa-
ton, his brilliant conversational powers,
his kindness of heart, agreeable manners,
his genial spirit, mellowed by age and
enriched by experience, made him charm
ing entertainer.
He told us of his friendship with Lord
Byron; Of their first meeting on the ship
Constitution, when the Mediterranean
Squadron of the United States lay at an
chor at Leghorn. This was May u, 1922.
He was invited by Byron to visit him at
Mount Nero which he did the following
day.
What other man OF worldwide fame
living among us in the year 1881 could
have in the flush of his manhood passed a
day with Byron, who died in 1924, 81
years before? Bancroft at the time of
their meeting was % years old.
Byron died at SO, at an age when Milton
had not written Paradise Lost" and Goethe
had not written Faust. What might he
have added to the literature of the world if
he had lived out the allotted years of man?
Mr.. Bancroft had an intimate acquaintance
with Goethe. He walked and talked with
| Humboldt, and Sevigny, the great jurist,
was his friend. Manzoni was his ac-
quaintance at Milan, and Chevalier Bunsen
at Rome. In Paris, while studying the
archives and libraries of that city, he was
assisted by Larmartine, Guizot and De
Tocqueville. This was many years before
Lamartine had made himself famous
through his oratory in quelling the "red
flag" mobs of Paris. 1t was just at the
period when GuiZot was entering his won-
derful literary career.
There was fascination in listening
| to his conversation. To touch the hand that
had touched Goethe's, Byron's, and La
marines brought flood of memories.
Faust" and Marguerite" were realities
before, and through his voice we again
listelic:i to the songs Byron wove. With
pathos in his voice he said:
| 81 have lived too long. IL is n sad thing
to live to know that every friend of youth
and middle age have passd on. No famil-
lar voices, no touch OF the hand to welcome
you; to be in the world utterly alone as far
as those who started in life's journey with
YOU. Not one of all those men of whom
/ have been talking is on the earth to-day
He had survived them all, but he had
lived 20 make the name of an honored
citizen of this Republic that the. years
| had helped him to mmortalize.
| ITO be continued y