our tribute to the memory of Sumner, we meet in a city which proudly bears the name, and in a hall which nobly embodies the spirit of that enlightened philanthropist whom Sumner himself delighted to honor.

But in Sumner's view, peace was so transcendant a good that the struggle for its attainment should call forth the highest efforts of statesmen throughout the world, in devising and establishing " a high court of nations to adjudge international controversies, and thus supersede the arbitrament of war." Such was his proposal in 1845, when he first caught the world's attention. Four years later, before the American Peace Society, he urged the " abolishment of the institution of war, and of the whole system as an established arbiter of justice in the Commonwealth of Nations." Read at the present day, Sumner's plea for "à Congress of Nations, with a high court of judicature or arbitration established by treaties between nations" sounds strangely prophetic. He was a pathbreaker in the road that, more than half a century later, was to lead to the Peace Conference and to The Hague Tribunal. Richard Cobden declared that Sumner "made the most noble contributions of any modern writer to the cause of peace." Two generations ago he kindled hopes, the fulfillment of which is even yet deferred. No other cause lay closer to his heart. By his will he bequeathed to Harvard College a fund, the income of which was annually to be awarded as a prize for the best dissertation on "Universal Peace, and the methods by which war may be permanently superseded." And so, through the years of this twentieth century, Charles Sumner's soul goes marching on, heartening high-minded young men to the noblest of tasks, the organizing of peace among the nations, until his ideal shall have become the real.

For nearly thirty years, Charles Sumner was one of the most potent leaders in American public life. At the first, his leadership was in moral and educational rather than in political lines. He entered politics not by choice but at the time's imperative call for a leader with his qualities of mind and heart. His constituency was unique: he always felt behind him the moral sentiment of the community,-a sentiment which he himself had largely formed. Lincoln used often to consult him as a sort of "barometer of the country's conscience." In almost his first words in the Senate, "The slave of principles, I call no party master,"

Sumner announced the position from which he never receded. He rendered valiant service in the organizing of the Republican Party, yet his voice and vote could never be relied upon to support a measure which aimed at purely partisan ends. Mistakes he made, but no man ever doubted that he stood firmly where he believed truth and right bade him stand. With poignant grief, but with no wavering, he held his ground at the end of his political life as at its beginning, a man without a party. For the arts of the ordinary party manager he had no aptitude and little regard. Not once, but again and again he boldly forced issues which filled the politicians with dismay and threatened to disrupt the anti-slavery forces. Nevertheless, it has been truly said that "the rank and file of the party, to borrow a military phrase, dressed upon Sumner,'" and in later years, when dissensions had arisen and when he had taken a course which his former comrades could not approve, there were thousands and thousands of men who were "startled and confused to find themselves marching in a political campaign out of step with Charles Sumner." Said Greeley: "In an age of venality and of reckless calumny, no man ever doubted the purity of his motives, the singleness of his aims; and if the august title of statesman has been deserved by any American of his age, he is that American." Of what other leader in American public life could Emerson have said: "I never knew so white a soul?"

In this year which marks the centenary of Sumner's birth, the party which he helped to found, three score years and more ago, has fallen upon evil days. The reverses which it has met, East and West, have not been brought upon it by leadership such as Sumner's. What greater need has America to-day than that for "the Senator with a conscience,' for a man like Sumner in the Senate of the United States, ever " pressing and urging his companions forward, keeping ever before the people the highest ideals, inspired by love of liberty, and ever speaking and working in the fear of God!"

POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE,

WORCESTER, MASS.

GEORGE H. HAYNES.

TH

(Concluded)

HE four commissioners who were in Savannah when this act was passed, viz: Thomas Green, Long, Davenport and Christmas, are the only ones who took any part in the Natchez affair. The others were either relatives of Thomas Green or prominent residents of Natchez whose names had been signed to the petition without their conThomas Marston Green was a son and Cato West a son-in-law of Thomas Green. Abner Green, named in the act as register of probates, was also a son of Thomas Green. Tacitus Gaillard and Sutton Banks promptly repudiated the use of their names on the petition, in a manifesto addressed "to the inhabitants of the country of Natchez," and called for a meeting at the house of one Brocas. For calling this public meeting, not having first obtained the consent of the Spanish commandant at Natchez, they and others who attended the meeting were arrested and imprisoned at New Orleans. None of the commissioners named in the act ever served except Thomas Green, Long, Davenport and Christ

mas.

Green and Davenport left Georgia together for Natchez, going by way of the Ohio and Mississippi. They became separated at some point on the route, and Green reached Natchez about two weeks ahead of Davenport. Long and Christmas went through the Indian country and did not reach Natchez until two months later. In a letter to Governor Samuel Elbert, dated "near Fort Panmure, 17th July, 1785," Davenport says: "I am at a loss to account for the imprudent conduct or measures taken by Mr. Green, who arrived some days before me. Upon his arrival, without waiting on the Commandant who had full possession of this country, he endeavored to assemble the inhabitants, in order to appoint inferior officers under him, showing a commission as Colonel of the county. General Miro wrote him a letter, upon receipt of which he set out for the Indian nations." The whole truth is that Thomas Green, a resident of the Natchez district, was the real instigator of the whole affair. This more fully appears when we remember that he had been at Savannah, the Georgia capital, nearly a year when the act

creating Bourbon County was passed. He carried with him to Natchez a copy of the constitution and laws of Georgia and hoped to make himself the leading man of the new county.

Having endeavored to assemble the people of Natchez, without authority for so doing from Lieutenant-Colonel Trevino, in command at Fort Panmure, Green was ordered to leave the country by Governor Miro, at New Orleans. Standing not upon the order of his going, he hurriedly departed for the Choctaw country and later to the Chickasaws.

Upon his arrival at Natchez, by way of the Ohio and Mississippi, William Davenport was allowed to land and establish himself at the house of one Richard Harrison, called Belhaven, in the Bayou Santa Catalina district; but he was kept under military surveillance until the arrival of Lieutenant-Colonel Francisco Bouligny, who thereupon became civil and military commandant at Natchez. Those who accompanied Davenport from the falls of the Ohio (now Louisville) were, however, not so fortunate. From the twenty-fourth of June until the fourth of July they were kept confined to the boats and not allowed to land, but on the latter date they were arrested by Spanish soldiers and imprisoned in Fort Panmure but released shortly by orders from Bouligny.

After Bouligny had reached Natchez, he sent to Davenport a rather pointed note, reading in part as follows: "The troubles that have spread themselves in this district since your arrival here have induced some of the inhabitants into a sort of cabal, which may probably be of great detriment to them. I find it absolutely necessary that you should pursue your voyage to New Orleans and wait on the principal chief of this province, in which you will certainly find such reception as is due to the character you pretend to be invested of and which, for my part, I can not acknowledge. I must tell you, also, our laws do not permit to admit any foreigners without one express order from the chief that commands in and over this command, and which command extends not only here but a great deal further."

"Don William Gardoquy, sent by His Catholic Majesty to the United States of America as Agent, started from Havana in the latter end of April to go to Philadelphia, where very likely he has determined

the limits that bound the possessions of His Catholic Majesty and those of the United States of America and, until then, it is more proper that you be in (New) Orleans than here, where you will enjoy greater satisfaction and this district more quietness."

"Sir:

Replying to this, under date July 30, 1785, Davenport said: Yours of yesterday informs me that troubles have spread themselves in this district since my arrival, which has induced some of the inhabitants into a sort of cabal. Upon my arrival here, I found the people in great confusion by the imprudence of Mr. Green's not addressing himself properly to the commandant; and Mr. Gaillard's collecting the inhabitants to oppose the measures taken by the legislature of Georgia, so that this might become a separate State. Your letter says, you find it absolutely necessary I should proceed to (New) Orleans. My instructions positively order me to remain in these premises until I receive further orders. .. I wish to have a personal conference

with you to-morrow on that subject."

To this Bouligny replied that he could grant no interview, and suggested: "It is absolutely necessary that we continue a method which is convenient and proper to both, to give an account to our chief respectives."

Nicholas Long and Nathaniel Christmas, the commissioners who had come from Georgia through the Chickasaw and Choctaw country, reached Natchez the next day. The three commissioners, Davenport, Long and Christmas, thereupon sent a joint note to Bouligny, enclosing copies of the authority under which they were acting; also copies of the various treaties and papers respecting the boundary. Bouligny referred them to Lieutenant-Governor Miro, at New Orleans, together with the correspondence setting forth the object of their mission to Natchez. Miro, in turn, transmitted all the papers to the Conde de Galvez, Viceroy of Mexico. Early in November following, the Viceroy despatched a most vigorous letter to Lieutenant-Governor Miro, at New Orleans, taking both him and Bouligny, severely to task. Immediately upon receipt of this torrid letter from the Viceroy, Miro forwarded a curt note to the Georgia commissioners and peremptorily ordered them to quit the Natchez district, allowing them fifteen days in which to get