The Forrest City times., 1901-01-11
DOWNING OF DOWNING STREET
Al EhS Shsh Graduate of Harvard Who Was a Great Man in
 His Day.


 not Tn America, that to a member of the very first class graduated from Harvard England is indebted for it's historic Downing street." which is a row of buildings in that street in which the premier of Great Britain and several of the ministers have their official residences. For this in- teresting bit of information we are indebted to Ambassador Choate. who gave it away at the recent Guildhall banquet to the incoming lord mayor or London, says the Chicago Times Herald.
 T doubt" said Mir. Choate, "wheth- CT many within the sound of my yo.ee Know why it is called Downing stre t. Now at the school which I had ;he good fortune to attend in Massachu- setts-the best colony that was ever planted under the English flag. and planted in the best way, because you croYe them out to shift for them seiFes-at that school, over the arch. way CT entrance. there were inscribed the words 'Schola publica, prima'-th. hrst school organized in Massacbl setts. Underneath was inscribed the name of George Downing, the frs; pupil of that school. Then at Harvard college we find him a graduate of that institution in the first year that it sent any youth ino the world-tbe wear l6ip Ia to Col. oakley's army under Crom- "eii' and soon began to display the most extraordinary faculty in the art or diplomacy of any man in his day It was the old diplomacy. He devel- oped into wonderful master of the art of hoodwinking, in which that kind of diplomacy chiefly consisted. In the first place, he hoodwinked Cromwell himself, which showed that ne was very astute young man. and persuaded him to send him as am. bassador to The Hague.
 Well, after the Protector died bo tred his arts upon the rump, and he hoodwinked the rump, and they an. pointed him ambassador to The Hague. When the restoration came he prac- tleed hls willy arts upon the merry mon. arch soon after his return. and iDduced him to send him again as ambassadoi to The Hague. He made lots of money, and finally he induced the merry mon. arch to grant him great tract of land at Westminster, provided that the house to be built upon the premises so near to the royal palace should be handsome and graceful. So he built nm house opposite Whitehall. and he built lot more mansions between there and Westminster Abbey and old annals of that time describe those houses as pleasant mansions, having back upon St. James park In the natural course of things he would have been hauled to Tyburn and hanged by the neck until he was dead, but he won his way into favor of King Charles by convincing the king that he must for give his subjects backsliding because of the vicious principles received. as he sald, In his early New England educa- tion. Finally he died, and by his will devised his immense estates at West. minister to his children. Now they are all gone, leaving no wrack behind ex. cept that little bit of ground 100 wards long and 20 yards wide, sometimes mar rowing 10 ten, which bears his illustri- ous name. It is the smallest and at the same time the greatest street in the world, because it lies at the hub of the gigantic wheel which encircles the globe under the name of the British empire"