Speech, at the dinner given in honor of George Peabody, esq., of London, by the citizens of the old town of Danvers, October 9, 1856

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SPEECH,

DIN NEK GIVEN IN HONOR

GEOKGE PEABODY, ESQ., OF LOSDON,

CITIZENS OP THE OLD TOWN OF DANYEES,

OCTOBKE il, 1856,

BY EDWAllD EVKKEXT.

BOSTON:
PKINT13D liV HENRi' W, UllTTON AND SON.

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SPEECH

Mr. President: —

I suppose you have calied upon me to respond to this uiter-
cstiug toast,* chiefly because I filled a few years ago a place
abroad, which mado me in some degree the associate of your
distinguished guest, in the kindly office of promoting good wilt
between the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-
Norman race, (for I do not think it matters much by which
name you call it,) "the fail mother and the fairer daughter,"
to which the toast alludes. At all events, I had much oppor-
tunity, during my residence in England, to witness the hon-
orable position of Mr. Peabody in the commercial and social
circles of London; his efforts to make the citizens of the two
countries favorably known to each other ; and generally that
course of life and conduct, which has contributed to procure
him tho well-deserved honors of this day, and which shows
that he fully enters into the spirit of the sentiment just pro-
pounded from the chair.

To the prayer of that sentiment, Sir, I fully respond, desir-
ing nothing more ardently in the foreign relations of the coun-
try, than tliat these two great nations may be rivals only in
their efforts to promote the welfare and improvement of man-
kind. They have already done, they are now doing much, at
home and abroad, to promote that end by the arts of peace.
Whenever they cooperate they can sweep everything before
them ; — when they are at variance, when they pull opposite
ways, it is the annihilation of much of the moral power of both.

* The following is tlie toast, to which Mr. Everett was called upon to reply :—
" Englaad and Ameriea, Pidckra matei; ptikhior Jilia, long may tliey liotirisli in tlie
boniis of peace, rivals oiity in tlieir offorls to civilize and cliristiiinize the world."

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Whenever England and America combine their influence in
promoting a worthy object, it moves forward like a vessel pro-
pelled by the united force of wind and steam ; but when they
are in conflict with each other, it is like the atrna;gle of the
toiling engine against the opposing tempest. It is well if the
laboring vessel holds her own ; there is danger if the steam
prevails that she may be crowded under the mountain waves,
or, if the storm gains the mastery, that she may drift upon
the rocks.

It is very obvious to remark, on this occasion, and on this
subject, while you are offering a tribute of respect to a distin-
guished man of business, that these two great nations, which
are doing so much for the advancement of civilization, are the
two leading commercial nations of the world ; that they have
carried navigation and commerce to a height unknown before.
And this consideration. Sir, will serve to justify you and your
fellow-citizens, if they need jtistiiication, for the honors you
are bestowing upon the guest of the day, as it will the other
communities in different parts of the country, which have been
desirous of joining in similar public demonstrations of respect.
Without wishing to disparage the services which command
your respect and gratitude, in the walks of political, military,
or literary life, it is natural that, in a country like the United
States, where commerce is so important an interest, you should
be prompt to recognize distinguished merit in the commercial
career; a career of which, when pursued with diligence, sagac-
ity, enterprise, integrity and honor, I deem it not too much to
say, that it stands behind no other in its titles to respect and
consideration ; as I deem it not too much to say of commerce
in its largest comprehension, that it has done as much in ail
time, and is now doing as much, to promote the general cause
of civilization, as any of the other great pursuits of life.

Trace its history for a moment from the earliest period. In
the infancy of the world its caravans, like gigantic silk worms,
went creeping, with their immmerable legs, through the arid
wastes of Asia and Africa, and bound the human family to-
gether in those vast regions as they bind it together now. Its

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colonial establishments scattered the Grecian culture till round
the shores of the Mediterranean, and carried the adventurers of
Tyre and Carthage to the north of Europe and the south of
Africa, The walled cities of the middle ages prevented the
arts and refi dements of life from heing trampled ojit of exist-
ence under the iron heel of the feudal powers. The Hanse
Towns were the bulwark of liberty and property in the north
and west of Europe for ages. The germ of the representative
system sprang from the municipal franchises of the boroughs.
At the revival of letters, the merchant princes of Florence re-
ceived the fugitive arts of Greece into their stately palaces.
The spirit of commercial advo;itiire produced that movement
in the fifteenth century wliicli led Columbus to America, and
Vasco di Gama around the Cape of Good Hope. The deep
foundations of the modern system of iuternationai law were
laid ill the interests and rights of commerce, and the necessity
of protecting them, Commerce sprinkled the treasures of the
newly-found Indies throughout the westeru natious; it nerved
the arm of civit and religious liberty in the Protestant world ;
it gradually extended the colonial system of Europe to the
ends of the earth, and with it the elements of future inde-
pendent, civilized, republican governments.

But why should we dwell on the past ? What is it (hat
gives vigor to the civilization of the present day but the world-
wide extension of commercial iiitercourse, by which all the
products of the earth and of the ocean — of the soil, the mine,
the loom, and the forest — of bounteous nature, creative art,
and untiring industry, are brought by the agencies of com-
merce into the universal market of demand and supply. No
matter in what region, the desirable product is bestowed on
man by a liberal Providence, or fabricated by human skill.
It may clothe the hills of China with its fragrant foliage ; it
may glitter in the golden sands of California; it may wallow
in the depths of Arctic seas; it may ripen and whiten on
the fertile plains of the sunny South ; it may spring forth
from the flying shuttles of Manchester i» England or Man-
chester in America — the great world-magnet of commerce at-

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tracls it n.11 alilro. and gatlitsrs it all up for the service of man.
I do not speak of English commerce or American commerce.
Such detiuctions enfeeble our conceptions. I speak of com-
merce in the aggregate — the great ebbing and flowing tides of
the commercial world — the great gulf-streams of traffic which
flow round from hemisphere to hemispherCj — the mighty trade-
winds of commerce which sweep from the old world to the
new, — that vast aggregate system which embraces the whole
family of man, and brings the overflowing treasures of nature
and art into kindly relation with human want, convenience
and tasle.

In carrying on this system, thirjk for a moment of the stu-
pendous agencies that are put in motion. Think for a mo-
ment of all the ships that navigate the sea. An old Latin
poet, who knew no waters beyond those of the Mediterranean
and Levant, says that the man must have had a triple casing of
oak and brass about his bosom, who first trusted his frail bark
on the ragmgsea. How many thousands of vessels, laden by
commerce, are at this moment navigating, not the narrow seas,
frequented by the ancients, but these world encompassing
oceans ! Think next of the mountains of brick, and stone,
and iron, built up into the great commercial cities of the world ;
and of all the mighty works of ancient and modern contrivance
and structure, — the moles, the lighthouses, the bridges, the ca-
nals, the roads, the railways, the depth of mines, the titanic
force of enginery, the delving ploughs, the scythes, the reap-
ers, the looms, the electric telegraphs, the vehicles of all de-
scriptions, which directly or indirectly are employed or put in
motion by commerce ; and last, and most important, the mil-
lions of human beings that conduct, and regulate, and combine
these inanimate, organic, and mechanical forces.

And now, Sir, is it anything less than a liberal profession,
which carries a quick intelligence, a prophetic forecast, an in-
dustry that never tires, and, more than all, and above all, a
stainless probity beyond reproach and beyond suspicion, into
this vast and complicated system, and by the blessing of Prov-
idence, works out a prosperous result? Such is the vocation

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of the merchant — the man of hnsiiiess— pnrsiied in many de-
partments of foreign and domestic trade— of finance, of ex-
change — but all comprehended nnder the general name of
commerce ; all concerned in weaving the mighty network of
mutually beneficial exchanges which enwraps the world.

1 know there is a shade to this bright picture : where among
the works or the fortunes of men shall we find one that is all
siinlighl ? Napoleon the First thought he had said enough to
disparage England when he had pronounced her a nation of
shopkeepers ; and we Americans are said by some of our own
writers to be slaves of the almighty dollar. But these are sal-
lies of national hostility, or the rebukes which a stern moral
sense rightly administers to the besetting sins of individuals or
communities. Every pursuit in life, however, has its bright
and its dai'k phase ; every pursuit may be followed in a gener-
ous spirit for honorable ends, or in a mean, selfish, corrupt
spirit, beginning and ending in personal gratification. But
this is no more the case with the commercial than any other
career. What more different than the profession of the law,
as pursued by the upright counsellor, who spreads the shield
of eternal . justice over your life and fortune, and the wicked
pettifogger who drags you through the thorns and brambles of
vexatious litigation ? What more different than the beloved
physician, the sound of whose soft footstep, as he ascends
your staircase, carries hope and comfort to the couch of wea-
riness and suffering, and the solemn, palavering, impudent
quack, who fattens on the fears and frailties of his victims ?
What more different than the pulpit which reproves, rebukes,
and exhorts in the spirit and with the authority of the gospel,
and the pulpit which inflames and maddens, perplexes or puts to
sleep ? What more different than the press, which, like the
morning sun, sheds liglit and truth through the land, and the
press which daily distils the concentrated venom of personal
malice and party detraction from its dripping wings? I be-
lieve that the commercial profession is as capable of being pur-
sued with intelligence, honor, and public spirit, as any other;
and, when so pursued, is as compatible with purity, and eleva-

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tion of character as any other; as well entitled to the honors
which a community bestows on those who adorn and serve it ;
the honors which yon this day delight to pay to our friend
and guest.

I was not the witness of the commencemenl of his career
abroad; but we all know that it soon fell upon that disas-
trous period when all American credit stood !ow — when the
default of some of the States, the temporary inability of
others to meet their obligations, and the failure of several of
ouv moneyed institutions, threw doubt and distrust on alt Amer-
ican securities. That great sympathetic nerve (as the anato-
mists call it) of the commercial world — credit — as far as Ihe
United States were concerned, was for a time paralyzed. At
that moment, and it was a trying one, our friend not only
stood firm himself, but he was the cause of firmness in others.
There were not at the time, probably, a half a dozen other
men in Europe, who, upon the subject of American securities,
would have been listened to for a moment, in the parlor of the
Bank of England. But his judgment commanded respect —
his integrity won back the reliance which men had been ac-
customed to place on American securities. The reproach in
which they were all indiscriminately involved was gradually
wiped away, from those of a snbstantial character ; and if on
this solid basis of unsuspected good faith he reared his own
prosperity, let it be remembered that, at the same time, he re-
trieved the credit of the State of which he was the agent ;
performing the miracle, if I may so venture to express myself,
by which the word of an honest man turns paper into gold.

A course like this, however commendable, might proceed
from calculation. If it led to prosperity and opulence it might
be pursued from motives exclusively selfish. But Mr. Peabody
took a different view of the matter, and immediately began to
act upon an old fashioned New England maxim, which I dare
say he learned in childhood and carried with him from Dan-
vers, — that influence and property have their duties as well as
their privileges, He set himself to work to promote the con-
venience and enhance the enjoyments of his travelling fellow

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comitryi'neii — a numerous aad important class. The traveller
— often the friendless traveller — stands greatly in need of good
offices in a foreign land. Several of you, my friends, know
this, I am sure, by experience ; some of you can say how per-
sevenngly, how liberally, these good offices were extended by
our friend, through a long course of years, to his travelling-
countrymen. How many days, otherwise weary, have been
winged with cheerful enjoyments through his agency ; how
many otherwise dull hours in health and in sickness enlivened
by his attentions !

It occurred to our friend especially to do that on a large
scale, which had hitherto been done to a very limited extent
by our diplomatic representatives abroad. The small salaries
and still smaller private fortunes (with a single exception) of our
ministers at St. James, had prevented them from extending the
rites of hospitality as liberally as they could have wished to
their fellow-citizens abroad. Our friend happily, with ample
means, determined to supply the defect ; and brought together
at the social board, from year to year, at a succession of enter-
tainments equally magnificent and tasteful, hundreds of his
own countrymen and of his English friends. How much was
done in this way to promote kind feeling and mutual good
will, to soften prejudice, to establish a good understanding, in
a word, to nurture that generous rivalry inculcated in the sen-
timent to which you have bid me respond, I need not say. I
have been particularly requested by my friend. Sir Henry Hol-
land, a gentleman of the highest social and professional stand-
ing, to state, while expressing his deep regret that he cannot,,
in conformity with your kind invitation, participate in this
day's festivities, that he has attended several of Mr. Peabody's
international entertainments in London, and felt them to be of
the happiest tendency in promoting kind feeling between the
two countries.

We are bound as Americans, on this occasion particularly,
to remember the very important services rendered by your
guest to his countrymen who went to England in 1851, with
snecimens of the nroducts and arls of this country, to be exhib-

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