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MEMOIR

HONORABLE ABBOTT LAWRENCE,

PEEPAEED FOE THE

Rational IJortrctt dallerg,

WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT, ESQ.

EXTRACTED FROM THE WORK BY PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHERS.

PRINTED FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION.
1856.

MEMOIR.

TN the following pages, we shall endeavor to
present a sketch of the life and character of
Abbott Lawrence, now that the grave has closed
over him, and while his virtues are yet fresh in the
memory of his countrymen.
The name of Lawrence is one of the earliest to be
found among the Puritan settlers of Massachusetts.
John Lawrence, the first emigrant of the name, was
established in "Watertown as early as 1635, and may
have come over at the same time with Governor Win
throp. He afterwards removed, with his wife, to

4: MEMOIR OF
Groton, where he lived to a good old age ; leaving, at
his death, a numerous family of sons and daughters.
From one of the former was descended the subject
of the present memoir. His father, Samuel Lawrence,
was a soldier of the Eevolution. On the breaking out
of the war with the mother-country, he was among
the first to bear arms ; and was one of the little band
of heroes who accompanied Colonel Prescott, and fought
by his side at the battle of Bunker's Hill. His regi
ment was accordingly in the hottest of the action;
being stationed at the redoubt, the principal point of
attack. It had nearly proved a fatal day to the young
soldier, who, besides a wound in the arm, had his hat
pierced by a musket-ball, which grazed his temples,
and carried off part of the hair. He remained in the
army till 1778, filling the post of adjutant under
General Sullivan at Ehode Island. He was a man of
much firmness of character, of unblemished integrity,
and of such frank and open manners as made him
popular with his townsmen. He lived till 1827; long

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. O
enough to receive the best reward of a parent, in
witnessing the complete success of his children.
His widow survived him eighteen years ; and many
may recall her venerable form, as seen by them during
her occasional visits to her sons in Boston. As a
mother, she had probably greater influence than her
husband in forming their characters. She had strict
notions of obedience, with deeply seated religious prin
ciples, which she succeeded in communicating to her
children. "Her form," to quote the language of a
descendant, "bending over the bed of her children in
silent prayer, when she was about leaving them for
the night, is still among the earliest of their recol
lections." Abbott, the fifth son, was born in Groton, on the
16th of December, 1792. His education, begun at
the district school, was completed at the Groton Aca
demy, of which his father had been a trustee for
more than thirty years; and which now, in grateful
commemoration of the endowments it has received

6 MEMOIR OF
from the members of that family, bears the name of
the Lawrence Academy.
We have few accounts of Mr. Lawrence's earlier
days. In a passing notice of them in a letter of his
brother Amos, written many years after, the writer
says, "I well remember him as the guiding-spirit of
the boys of our neighborhood in breaking through the
deep snow-drifts which often blocked up the roads in
winter." The fearlessness and buoyant disposition
thus noticed in the boy were the characteristics of
the man in later life.
In 1808, it was resolved to send him to Boston,
and place him in the store of his elder brother, Mr.
Amos Lawrence, who had been for some years esta
blished there in business as an importer of English
goods. There could have been no better Mentor to
watch over the warm-hearted and inexperienced youth,
thus drawn from his village obscurity to be thrown
upon the trials and temptations of the world. It is
unnecessary to speak of the character of this brother,

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 7
now so widely known from a biography which may
claim to be one of the most graceful tributes ever
paid by filial piety to the memory of a parent.
Abbott was cordially welcomed by his brother, who
from that hour watched over his steps in earlier days
with a father's solicitude, and who followed his career
in later life with feelings of pride and generous sym
pathy. "My brother came to me as my apprentice,"
says Mr. Amos Lawrence, in his Diary, "bringing his
bundle under his arm, with less than three dollars
in his pocket (and this was his fortune). A first-rate
business lad he was ; but, like other bright lads,
needed the careful eye of a senior to guard him from
the pitfalls he was exposed to." The following year,
their brother William came to Boston also, to seek his
fortune in the capital of New England. Their father,
on this occasion, impressed on his three sons the im
portance of unity, quoting the pertinent language of
Scripture, "A threefold cord is not quickly broken;"
a precept which they religiously observed, living al-

8 memoir of
ways together in that beautiful harmony which proved
one great source of their prosperity.
After somewhat more than five years had elapsed,
Mr. Amos Lawrence was so well satisfied with the
sobriety and diligence of Abbott, and with his capa
city for business, that he proposed to take him into
partnership. He furnished the whole capital, amount
ing to fifty thousand dollars, — the fruits of his judi
cious management since his establishment in Boston.
The times were by no means encouraging ; for we were
then in the midst of our war with England. But
every thing seemed to prosper under the prudent
direction of Mr. Lawrence. Scarcely, however, had
the articles of copartnership been signed, than the
Bramble news created a panic that fearfully affected
the prices of goods. The stock of the firm depreciated
to such an extent, that Abbott looked on himself
as already a bankrupt. His brother, touched with his
distress, offered at once to cancel the copartnership
indentures, and to pay him, moreover, five thousand

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 9
dollars at the end of the year. But Abbott had a
spirit equal to his own, and told his brother that he
had taken part with him for better or worse, and that,
come what might, he would not swerve from the con
tract. The generosity and manly spirit shown by the
two brothers on this occasion gave augury of the com
plete success which crowned their operations in after
life. But success was still deferred, as things wore a
gloomy aspect during the war.
Most of the younger men of the city at this time
were enrolled in the militia, which was constantly on
duty, and liable at any moment to be called into active
service. Mr. Abbott Lawrence had joined the inde
pendent company of the New-England Guards ; a
corps remarked for its excellent appointments, and
commanded by men more than one of whom after
wards rose to eminence, — not, however, in the military
profession, but in the law. He was one of the few of
the company he had joined who remained long enough
on duty to entitle them to the bounty of land in the

10 MEMOIR of
West offered by the general government. The soldier's
life had something in it captivating to the imagination
of an ardent, high-spirited youth ; and the profession of
arms, in the present condition of the country, offered
a more splendid career for enterprise than was to be
found in commercial pursuits. With his brother's con
sent, he proposed to enter the service, and applied to
the War Department at Washington to obtain a com
mission. Happily, before receiving an answer, the news
of peace arrived, and all thoughts of a military life
were abandoned. Mr. Lawrence used to regard this
almost in the light of a providential interposition in
his behalf. It was, indeed, the crisis of his fate. The
long peace which followed condemned the soldier to an
inactivity that left him no laurels to win ; except, in
deed, such as might be gathered from a skirmish with
the savages, or from the patient endurance of priva
tions on some distant frontier post. Mr. Lawrence was
reserved for a happier destiny.
On the return of peace, the two brothers saw at

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 11
once the new field that was opened for foreign impor
tations ; and the younger partner, commissioned to pur
chase goods at Manchester, embarked in the "Milo,''
— the first vessel that, after the proclamation of the
peace, left Boston for England. The passage was a short
one, but long enough for Mr. Lawrence to ingratiate
himself not only with the officers, but with the crew,
whose good-will he secured, as one of their number
lately informed the writer of this notice, by his liberal
acts no less than by the kindness of his manners.
With characteristic ardor, he was the first to leap on
shore ; being thus, perhaps, the first American who
touched his fatherland after the war was ended. He
met with a cordial welcome from people who were glad
to see their commercial relations restored with the
United States. Hastening to Manchester, Mr. Law
rence speedily made his purchases, and returned to
Liverpool the evening only before the departure of the
" Milo " on her homeward voyage. He at once engaged a
lighter to take him and his merchandise to the vessel.

12 memoir of
When he came alongside, the mate plainly told him
there was no room for his goods ; the cargo was all on
board, and the hatches were battened down. But Mr.
Lawrence would receive no denial. This, he said, was
his first voyage, and the result was of the greatest
importance to him. He pressed his suit with so much
earnestness, yet good-nature, that the mate, whose
good-will he had won on the passage, consented at last
to receive the goods. Mr. Lawrence lost no time
in profiting by this indulgence, and joined his men in
pulling vigorously at the tackle, to hoist the bales on
board. Having safely lodged them on the deck, he
made at once for the shore, asking no questions how
they were to be stored. The "Milo" had a short pas
sage back. In eighty-four days from the time when she
had left her port in the United States, the goods were
landed in Boston, and, in less than a week, were
disposed of at an enormous profit. His brother was
delighted with the good judgment he had shown and
his extraordinary despatch. "Tou are as famous," he

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 13
pleasantly wrote to him, " among your acquaintances
here, for the rapidity of your movements, as Bona
parte." This little anecdote is eminently characteristic of
the man, showing, as it does, the sanguine temper and
energy of will, which, combined with kindness of heart,
gained him an influence over others, and formed the
elements of his future success.
He remained some time longer in England, extend
ing his acquaintance with men of business, but still
living as an unknown individual in the midst of the
scenes which he was afterwards to revisit clothed with
an authority that placed him on a level with the
proudest nobles of the land.
Several times he repeated his voyage to England,
and always with the same good results. Under
the judicious management and enterprise of the
house, its business became every day more widely
extended ; and the fortunes of the brothers rapidly
increased.

14 memoir of
In June, 1819, an important event took place in
Mr. Abbott Lawrence's life. This was his marriage
with Miss Katharine Bigelow, the eldest daughter of
the Hon. Timothy Bigelow, an eminent lawyer, who
filled for many years the office of Speaker of the House
of Representatives of Massachusetts. He was a man of
high legal attainments, and singularly fitted for his
political station by his ready apprehension, his tena
cious memory, and his familiarity with business. Mr.
Lawrence's acquaintance with his wife had begun in
childhood ; for she was a native of Groton, like himself;
though, long before this period, her father had trans
ferred his residence to Medford, in the neighborhood of
Boston. It was a most happy union, continuing for
more than thirty-five years, until it was dissolved by
death. In the partner of his choice, he found the
qualities of a true and loving "wife, ever ready to share
with him all his joys and sorrows ; for the lot of the
most fortunate has its sorrows, and sharp ones. These
feelings he on his part returned, from first to last, with

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 15
the warmth and single-hearted devotion which be
longed to his noble nature.
During the last five years, an important change had
gradually taken place in the internal relations of the
country, owing to the system of domestic protection
which now began to be recognized as a leading fea
ture in the policy of the government. The sagacious
minds of the Lawrences were quick to perceive the
influence this must exert on the channels of trade,
and the important bearing it must have, in particular,
on the people of New England, whose industry and
ingenuity so well fitted them for proficiency in the
mechanical arts. They leaned, too, with greater con
fidence than was justified by the event, on the sta
bility of the protective policy. The encouragement
was especially felt in the cotton and woollen manu
factures, then almost exclusively confined to New
England. With characteristic energy, the brothers
accordingly resolved to give up their business as im
porters, and employ their capital henceforth in domes-

16 MEMOIR OF
tic manufactures. Associating their names with those
of the Lowells, the Jacksons, the Appletons, and other
sagacious men of the same way of thinking with
themselves, they devoted all their energies to foster
this great branch of the national industry. Under
these auspices, towns and villages grew up along the
borders of the Merrimac and its numerous tributa
ries ; and the spots which had once been little better
than barren wastes of sand, where the silence was
broken only by the moaning of the wind through
the melancholy pines, became speedily alive with the
cheerful hum of labor.
Mr. Lawrence had too large a mind to embark in
this new enterprise with the feelings of a sordid spe
culator intent only on selfish gains. He took a more
expansive view, founded on just principles of political
economy. He saw the resources which this new field
of domestic industry would open to the country ; the
new markets it would afford to the products of the
farmer ; the independence it would give the nation of

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 17
foreign countries, on which it had hitherto relied for
those fabrics which were the necessaries of life; the
employment it would give to thousands of operatives
in the North, who would find here a field for talents
hitherto unknown to themselves ; and the benefits it
would confer on the planters of the South, in raising,
by means of competition, the prices of the raw ma
terial they had to sell. These views he exhibited in
his private correspondence and his public addresses.
He unfolded them more at large in a well-known
series of printed letters addressed to the Hon. Wil
liam C. Rives, of Virginia, which appeared in 1846.
In these he discusses the subject of a tariff on the
broadest grounds, enforcing his arguments, according
to his wont, by an array of statistical facts, some of
them exceedingly striking. Instead of limiting their
application to his own part of the country, he par
ticularly directs it to Yirginia, the impoverished
condition of whose soil seemed to call for some ex
traordinary action to restore the ancient prosperity of

18 MEMOIR OF
the State. Above all, he insists on the necessity
of the education of the poorer classes, as the only
true basis, whether in a moral or physical point of
view, of the public prosperity. On this last theme he
was always eloquent, urging it in his public addresses,
abroad as well as at home, and with an effect which,
as we shall see hereafter, was acknowledged, by those
who witnessed it, to have been attended with the
happiest results.
In 1827 was held the Harrisburg Convention, —
a meeting, it is hardly necessary to say, of delegates
from different parts of the Union, for the purpose of
taking into consideration the best measures for pro
tecting the manufacturing interests of the country.
Mr. Lawrence, whose attention to the subject and the
soundness of whose views upon it were well known,
was one of the seven delegates sent by Massachusetts.
The large amount of practical information which he
brought with him proved of infinite service in the
deliberations that followed ; and there was probably

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 19
no one of the body who was more instrumental in
procuring its sanction to the memorial which was
laid before Congress, and which had so great an in
fluence in determining the action of the government
in respect to the tariff of 1828.
Notwithstanding the interest he took in public
affairs, and the capacity which he showed for the
management of them, Mr. Lawrence had evinced no
desire to enter on the political arena, or to hold office
of any kind. In 1831, he was elected to the Common
Council of Boston, but, at the end of his term, declined
a re-election. Nor did he from that time ever accept
any place, either under the city government or that of
the State. In 1834, however, he consented to stand
as a candidate for a seat in the House of Representa
tives at Washington.
On taking his place in that body, he was at once
put on the Committee of Ways and Means ; showing
that his reputation for financial talent had already
preceded him. During the two years that he sat on

20 MEMOIR OF
the floor of that house, he rarely attempted any thing
like a set and elaborate speech. When he did speak,
it was on topics with which he was familiar ; and his
wise and practical views, which he enforced by ar
guments not local or sectional in their nature, but
embracing the interests of the whole country, com
manded the deepest attention of his audience. His
frank and cordial address, flowing less from conven
tional courtesy than from the natural kindness of his
heart, conciliated his hearers; and that "inestimable
temper" which Gibbon commends so highly in the
British minister, Lord North, disarmed the severity of
his opponents, and served, like oil upon the waters, to
calm the angry passions of debate. The same qualities
gave Mr. Lawrence, out of the walls of Congress, an
influence which proved of the highest service to the
cause in which he was embarked. When he returned
home, at the expiration of his term, there was probably
no member of the body with which he had acted who
possessed a larger measure of their confidence, or
who was so universally popular.

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 21
His constituents testified their sense of his services
by inviting him, on his return, to a public dinner.
This he declined in a letter, in which he touches,
briefly but comprehensively, on the great questions
that agitated the public mind at that day, showing
himself throughout a stanch but liberal-minded Whig.
Notwithstanding the importunities of his friends, he
declined a re-election to Congress; nor could he be
induced to alter his purpose by the remarkable assur
ance given to him by the members of the opposite
party, that, if he would consent to stand, no candidate
should be brought out against him.
Four years later, however, he consented to accept a
second nomination, and again took his seat in the
House of Representatives at Washington. It was a
disastrous session to him ; for, shortly after his arrival,
he was attacked by typhus fever, of so malignant a
type, that, for some time, small hopes were entertained
of his recovery. But he had good advice ; and his fine
constitution, and the care of his devoted wife, enabled

22 MEMOIR OF
him, by the blessing of Providence, to get the better of
his disorder. It left behind, however, the seeds of an
other malady, in an enlargement of the liver, which
caused him much suffering in after-life, and finally
brought him to the grave.
Finding a southern climate unfavorable to his health,
he resigned his seat in Congress, and returned to Bos
ton, where he at once resumed his usual avocations.
He was not long permitted to indulge in a state of
political inaction. In 1842, the convention was held
for the settlement of the North-eastern boundary, —
that vexed question, which, after baffling all attempts
at an adjustment, including those by means of royal
arbitration, had at length assumed a form which me
naced an open rupture between the United States and
England. Mr. Lawrence was one of the commissioners
who, at the wise suggestion of Mr. Webster, were sent
by the States of Maine and Massachusetts, to Washing
ton, with full powers to arrange the matter definitively
with Lord Ashburton, who had come out invested with

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 23
similar powers on behalf of his own country. No man
in our community could have been better fitted for the
place than Mr. Lawrence ; for he had a good knowledge
of the subject, was well acquainted with the characters
of the parties who were to discuss it, and possessed, in
a remarkable degree, the qualities for success as a ne
gotiator. "Mr. Lawrence," said a distinguished foreign
minister, who had personal knowledge of his abilities
in this way, "had so much frankness and cordiality in
his address, and impressed one so entirely with his
own uprightness, that he could do much in the way of
negotiation that others could not." There was an am
ple field for the exercise of these powers on the present
occasion, when prejudices of long standing were to be
encountered, when pretensions of the most opposite
kind were to be reconciled, when the pertinacity with
which these pretensions had been maintained had
infused something like a spirit of acrimony into the
breasts of the disputants. Yet no acrimony could
stand long against the genial temper of Mr. Lawrence,

24 MEMOIR OF
or against that spirit of candor and reasonable conces
sion which called forth a reciprocity of sentiment in
those he had to deal with. The influence which he
thus exerted over his colleagues contributed in no
slight degree to a concert of action between them.
Indeed, without derogating from the merits of the
other delegates, it is not too much to say, that, but
for the influence exerted by Mr. Lawrence on this
occasion, the treaty, if it had been arranged at all,
would never have been brought into the shape which
it now wears.
In the summer of the following year, Mr. Lawrence,
whose health still felt the effects of his illness at
Washington, proposed to recruit it by a voyage to
England. He embarked with his family on board the
"Columbia," — the ill-fated steamer which was wrecked
on Black Ledge, near Seal Island, in Nova Scotia.
All on board were fortunate enough to escape to land.
Five days they remained on that dreary spot, ex
posed to wet, hunger, and miseries of every description.

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 25
None of that forlorn company will ever forget the
disinterested kindness shown by Mr. Lawrence, and
his courageous and cheerful spirit, which infused life
into the most desponding. They were at length trans
ported to Halifax, whence he proceeded on his voyage.
In England, he met with a hearty welcome from some
who had shared his hospitality in the United States,
and many more who knew him only by reputation,
but who became his fast friends in after-life.
On his return home, he resumed his business, which ,
pressed on him the more heavily as it became more
widely extended. During his leisure, he was not so
much engrossed by politics as not to give attention
to a subject which he always had much at heart, — the
cause of education. Among his many charities, which
seemed to be as necessary to satisfy the wants of his
own nature as those of the subjects of them, we find
him constantly giving away money to assist in educa
ting poor young men of merit. He gave two thousand
dollars for prizes to the pupils of the Boston Latin and

26 MEMOIR OF
High Schools. He now contemplated a donation, on a
much larger scale, to Harvard University. He was
satisfied, that, however liberal the endowments of that
institution for objects of literary culture, no adequate
provision had been made for instruction in science,
more particularly in its application to the useful arts,
— a deficiency which naturally came more readily
within the reach of his own observation. In a re
markable letter addressed by him to Mr. Eliot, the
treasurer of the college, in June, 1847, he explains,
with great beauty and propriety of language, his views
on the subject, and, with no less precision, points out
the best mode of carrying them into effect. He con
cludes by offering the sum of fifty thousand dollars for
the endowment of such a scientific school as he had
proposed. This sum he afterwards doubled by a pro
vision to that effect in his will ; thus making the whole
donation a hundred thousand dollars. Large as was
this sum, its value was greatly enhanced by the wise
arrangements made for its application. His sugges-

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 27
tions met with the approval of the corporation. He
had the satisfaction of seeing a building erected and
an institution organized on the principles he had re
commended. Fortunately, the services were obtained,
at the outset, of an illustrious scholar, who, by the
consent of Europe, stood at the head of his department
of science, and whose salary of fifteen hundred dollars
per annum was wholly defrayed by Mr. Lawrence, in
addition to his other donations, so long as he lived. A
letter addressed to him by a distinguished professor of
the school gave him the sweet assurance, in his last
illness, of the extraordinary proficiency of the pupils,
— in other words, of the complete success of his bene
volent enterprise ; and he might well be cheered by the
reflection that the Lawrence Scientific School would
perpetuate his name to future generations, who would
cherish with gratitude the memory of their bene
factor. Mr. Lawrence was a member of the convention
which nominated Mr. Clay for the Presidency. The

28 MEMOIR OF
interest he felt in public affairs led him to take an
active part in promoting the success of the Whig can
didate, as he had before shown equal zeal in the
canvass for Gen. Harrison, though — as the country
has good reason to remember — with very different
results. In 1847, Gen. Taylor was nominated as the
Whig candidate for President, and Mr. Fillmore for
Yice-President. The history of the convention which
made these nominations is too familiar to be recapitu
lated here. It is enough to say that Mr. Lawrence had
received assurances, down to the very eve of the elec
tion, which gave him every reason to suppose that he
was to be named for the latter office. Whatever may
have been his disappointment, he did not betray it
by a word. "Well, I am perfectly satisfied," was the
answer he made to the friend who was appointed to
inform him of the result; and, instead of looking for
pretexts, as many, not to say most, men would have
done, for withdrawing from the canvass, or at least for
looking coldly upon it, he was among the first to join

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 29
in a call for a meeting of the Whigs in Faneuil Hall,
and to address them, in the warmest manner, in sup
port of the regular ticket. In the same magnanimous
and patriotic spirit, he visited the principal towns in
the State, delivering addresses and using all his efforts
to secure the triumph of the good cause.
On the election of Gen. Taylor to the chief ma
gistracy of the country, the confidence he reposed in
Mr. Lawrence, and the prominent position occupied by
the latter in the party, recommended him at once to a
seat in the cabinet. The place of Secretary of the
Navy was accordingly offered to him, and afterwards
that of Secretary of the Interior. Both offices were
declined by him ; and when, soon after, he was nomi
nated by the President to take the highest diplomatic
post in the gift of the government, — the mission to
England, — he declined that also. The large and im
portant interests of which he had the charge made him
see only the difficulties of such a step. The place,
moreover, had been filled by distinguished statesmen,

30 MEMOIR OF
two of the most recent of whom stood pre-eminent in
the literature of the country ; and Mr. Lawrence seems
to have exaggerated the qualifications required for the
post, or, at any rate, to have distrusted his own. From
these various considerations, he had made up his mind
to decline the offer when pressed upon him a second
time by Gen. Taylor, and announced his decision to
his friends. But some of them, taking a very different,
and, as it proved, a more correct, view of the affair,
persuaded him to review, and subsequently to reverse,
his decision. In the month of September, 1849, he
accordingly embarked, with his wife and a part of his
family, for England.
Mr. Lawrence's mission to the court of St. James
was the most brilliant part of his political career, and
fully justified the sagacity of those who advised him to
undertake it. Taking all circumstances into considera
tion, few men could have been so well fitted for the
place. If he had not the profound scholarship of his
immediate predecessors, he had, what was of great

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 31
moment, a large practical acquaintance with affairs ; a
thorough knowledge of the resources of his own country,
and of the country to which he was accredited; a
talent quite remarkable, as we have seen, for negotia
tion ; a genial temper, well suited to thaw out the
chilling reserve of manner too apt to gather round
the really warm heart of the Englishman ; a generous
spirit of hospitality, with a fortune to support it, en
abling him to collect round him persons of most emi
nence in the society of the capital, and to bring them
in contact with similar classes of his own countrymen ;
thus happily affording opportunity for allaying ancient
prejudices, and fostering mutual sentiments of respect
and good-will.
A similar influence was exerted by the public ad
dresses which, from time to time, he was called on to
make in different parts of the kingdom, at meetings
held to promote the great interests of agriculture, of
manufactures, or of educational reform. Coming from
a land where the people had made such progress in the

32 MEMOIR OF
various departments of labor and mechanical skill, and
from a part of the country where popular education
had made most progress, he was naturally listened to
with much attention. The paramount importance of
education for the masses was the theme he constantly
pressed home upon his hearers. Thus, at Manchester,
we find him drawing a comparison between the labor
ing classes in England and the United States in respect
to education, and plainly telling his audience, that, " if
England hoped to keep her place in the van of civili
zation, it must be by educating the humblest of her
classes up to the highest point of other nations."
"The able as well as delicate manner," says an emi
nent British journal, "in which Mr. Lawrence handled
this subject, made a deep impression on his auditory;
and it had probably no inconsiderable influence in
stimulating that highly creditable educational move
ment of which Manchester has since been the scene,
and in which it has stood out in strong contrast to the
other great towns of the empire."

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 33
We find him speaking to the same purpose, in a
striking passage often quoted from the speech made by
him at Mr. Peabody' s dinner, at the close of the Great
Exhibition in London. A broader field for these popu
lar addresses was offered by a visit which he made to
Ireland in the autumn of 1852. The welcome he re
ceived from the generous-hearted people was altogether
extraordinary. His reputation had prepared the way
for it ; and all were eager to see the representative of
a land to which their own countrymen were flocking as
to a place of refuge from the troubles of the Old World.
Well might the "Times" say that "the American
Minister found himself received with almost the honors
of royalty; that railway directors gave him special
trains, banquets, and addresses; and every city pre
pared an ovation."
In the midst of this festal progress, Mr. Lawrence
was closely observing the condition of the country and
its inhabitants, and drawing materials for an elaborate
report of it to the Department of State. The despatch

34 MEMOIR OF
is of much length, embodying his views on the great
questions of interest touching the state of that un
happy country, the policy of the English government
towards it, and its probable future ; the whole accom
panied by a mass of statistical information, which his
position gave him obvious advantages for collecting.
This valuable report forms one of numerous despatches
of a similar nature which occupied what was regarded
as the American minister's leisure time during his
diplomatic residence. Many of the papers are of great
length, and must have been prepared with much care.
Some few have been printed by order of Congress. The
rest are to be found on the files of the Department of
State at Washington. One has only to specify the
titles of some of these to show the variety of the topics
to which they relate. Thus, we find one containing
curious estimates on the comparative cost of building
and manning merchant ships in England and the
United States ; another on the guard-ships for the sup
pression of the slave-trade ; another on the commerce

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 35
carried on with Africa; two or three on the postal
relations of the country, with reference to a reduction
of the rate of ocean-postage ; another, the result of
much consideration, on the currency of both England
and our own country. Besides these communications
on particular topics, we find others, of a more general
nature, containing a survey of the actual condition of
England, supported by abundant statistical detail ;
with ample discussion on its course of trade, on the
character of parties, and the policy of the government.
The opportunities of personal observation enjoyed by
Mr. Lawrence abroad served, it may be remarked, to
strengthen the opinions he had expressed at home of
the necessity of a protective policy by our own govern
ment, if we would contend successfully against the
cheaper labor of Europe. In this survey of the national
character and resources, the despatches of Mr. Law
rence remind one of the reports — relazioni, as they are
called — which were made, by order of their govern
ment, by the Yenetian ambassadors, and which, after

36 MEMOIR OF
being read, on their return, before the Senate, were
deposited in the public archives, where they furnish
some of the most authentic materials for the historian.
Among the despatches are two particularly worthy
of consideration, as relating to negotiations that opened
the way to important treaties. The first of these re
lates to the fisheries. No sooner had Mr. Lawrence
become acquainted with the course pursued by the
English government in sending out a fleet of armed
vessels to assert its maritime rights on the coast of
Nova Scotia, than, without waiting for instructions, he
at once opened the matter to Lord Malmesbury, then
Minister for Foreign Affairs, and urged the mischievous
consequences likely to result from an action so precipi
tate and so menacing in its nature. His remonstrances
were of sufficient weight to influence the instructions
afterwards issued by the government; and Mr. Law
rence's negotiations, which received the approval of
the President, placed affairs on the quiet basis on
which they continued till a treaty was definitively

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 37
settled. When we reflect on the irritation that would
have been produced in this country if the ill-considered
measure of the English government had been fully
carried out, we cannot doubt that the timely and
temperate remonstrance of the American minister did
much to save his country from a rupture with Great
Britain. The other affair concerned Central America, — that
uneasy question, which, after having been formally
disposed of by treaty, has again risen, like a troubled
spirit, to disturb the quiet of the world. The American
envoy, in obedience to instructions from Washington,
brought the subject before Lord Palmerston as early as
November, 1849. He obtained from that minister an
assurance that Great Britain had no design to occupy
or colonize any part of Central America, and that she
would willingly enter into a guarantee with the United
States for the neutrality of the proposed canal across
the Isthmus. But Mr. Lawrence was quick to per
ceive that these assurances would fail to answer the

38 MEMOIR OF
purpose, unless Great Britain would consent to aban
don her shadowy protectorate over the Mosquito In
dians. He accordingly made this the subject of a
particular representation in more than one interview
with the English minister; and he further urged the
abandonment of the protectorate on the strongest
grounds of policy, in a long and able communication
to Lord Palmerston, dated December 14, 1849. To this
letter he received no reply ; and early in the follow
ing year, it being thought there were greater facilities
for conducting the negotiation in this country than in
England, it was removed, for a final adjustment of the
affair, to Washington.
Meanwhile Mr. Lawrence had been diligently pre
paring a communication for his own government, —
since printed by order of the Senate, — the object of
which was to trace to its origin the British claim to
the exercise of a protectorate over the Mosquito terri
tory. In doing this, he travelled over a vast field of
historical research, showing the first occupation of the

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 39
territory by the Spaniards, its subsequent invasion by
the English, and establishing, to the conviction of
every unprejudiced mind, that Great Britain never did
possess any legal right to the qualified dominion which
she claimed as protector of the Indians ; and that, if she
had possessed it, this would signify nothing, since,
by an express treaty with Spain, she had formally
renounced such right. By a singular coincidence, this
remarkable state-paper is dated on the 19th of April,
1850, being precisely the same date with that of the
Clayton-Bulwer treaty.
This latter instrument, confining itself to the simple
object of a guarantee for a canal across the Isthmus,
makes no provision for the Mosquito question, though
by an incidental allusion it appears to recognize the
existence of a protectorate. Indeed, it seems to have
done nothing more than carry out the details of the
arrangement to which Lord Palmerston professed his
readiness to accede in his first communication to Mr.
Lawrence, But, as the latter wisely foresaw, so impor-

40 MEMOIR OF
tant an element in the discussion as the Mosquito
protectorate could not be winked out of sight ; and, as
it now appears, the absence of so material a link in
the chain of negotiations has made the other provisions
of the treaty of little worth.
The pressing nature of Mr. Lawrence's private af
fairs made him at length, after an absence of three
years, desirous of returning home. Indeed, he could
not have postponed his return so long, but for the
faithful and able manner in which his eldest son, to
whom he had committed the charge of his property,
had executed that trust; thus relieving his father, as
the latter often remarked, of all anxiety in regard to
his own affairs, and enabling him to give undivided
attention to those of the public. Having obtained the
President's consent, Mr. Lawrence resigned his place
as envoy from the United States on the first of October,
1852, and bade adieu to those shores where he had
landed almost a stranger, but where he now left a host
of friends ; where the kindness of his heart, the charm

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 41
of his manners, and his elegant hospitality, had made
his mission as acceptable to the English as the able
and conscientious manner in which it was conducted
rendered it honorable to himself and his country.
The citizens of Boston had made preparations for giv
ing him such a brilliant reception on landing as might
show their sense of his services. Unhappily, the time
of his return was also that of the death of Mr. Webster.
Mr. Lawrence proceeded to Marshfield the day after his
arrival ; and his first meeting with many of his friends
and townsmen was at the celebration of the funeral
obsequies of the great statesman. When a decent
time had elapsed, his friends resumed their purpose
of a complimentary dinner. But Mr. Lawrence, with
much delicacy, declined their invitation,, saying that
" he should seem wanting in respect for the dead, as
well as consideration for the living, were he to accept
a festive entertainment at such a season of mourning."
He now resumed his former way of life, and was to
be found at the regular hours at his accustomed place

42 memoir of
of business. The complexion of the times was most
unfavorable to both the cotton and woollen manufac
tures. Great advances were required to be made for
the completion of works in which Mr. Lawrence was
largely interested. It was difficult to obtain such ad
vances in the depressed state of the stocks. With his
usual spirit, Mr. Lawrence came forward to the rescue,
and not only bore his own share of the subscription,
but took stock to the amount of three hundred and
fifty thousand dollars more ; though, in doing so, he
sacrificed half that amount, the stock having fallen
fifty per cent in the market.
But Mr. Lawrence, though he gave a general super
vision to his affairs, left the conduct of them to his
younger partners, whose experience well qualified them
for the task. He did not possess, indeed, the same
strength of constitution and physical energy that he
once had. Perhaps for that reason, though he still
maintained a warm interest in public affairs, with the
exception of his efforts in the canvass for General

ABBOTT LAWRENCE.

43

Scott as President, he took no active part in politics.
He still showed the same zeal as ever in the cause of
education, and watched with the deepest interest over
the rising fortunes of the Scientific School which he
had founded at Cambridge. His labors in behalf of
learning were fully appreciated by his countrymen ;
one proof of which is afforded by the literary honors
bestowed on him by the principal academies and col
leges throughout the State.
Thus loved and respected by the community in
which he lived, with a fortune that enabled him to
gratify his munificent disposition, and a heart fitted by
nature for the pleasures of friendship, and, above all,
for the sweet intercourse of home, Mr. Lawrence might
reasonably promise himself that serene enjoyment for
the evening of his days which should wait upon the
close of a well-spent life. Alas! no such happiness
was in store for him.
In September, 1854, he was visited by a return of
the malady the seeds of which had lingered in his

44 memoir of
constitution ever since his illness at Washington. A
second attack, a few weeks later, while passing some
days on his family estate amidst the beautiful scenery
of Groton, left him in a precarious state of health,
from which he did not entirely rally till the winter was
far advanced. Even then, although he recovered the
natural buoyancy of his spirits and again mingled
in society, the indications of suffering in his counte
nance, and the loss of his accustomed vigor, were just
causes of apprehension to his friends. His physician
advised change of climate, and recommended to him
a voyage to England, associated as it was in his mind
with so many pleasant recollections. Early in June,
1855, he accordingly secured a passage for himself and
Mrs. Lawrence in one of the British steamers; but,
two days after, his malady returned, accompanied with
such intense pain that he took to his bed, — from which
he was never more to rise.
It would be painful to follow him through the long
and wearisome summer, during which he was sensibly

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 45
losing ground day after day, yet with occasional inter
vals of ease that seemed to give promise that the
disease was arrested. No one will forget the extraor
dinary interest shown on that occasion by all classes,
and the eagerness with which they endeavored to draw
from the physicians some encouragement for their
hopes. A more remarkable proof of the hold he had
upon the community was the daily announcement of
the state of his health in the public journals, — a
tribute the more touching that he held no official
position to call it forth. It was the homage of the
heart. During the long period of his confinement, his
sufferings served only to show the sweetness of his
disposition. The circumstances which filled those
around him with wretchedness and with apprehen
sions they could ill disguise had no power to disturb
his serenity. He loved life. No man had greater
reason to love it; for he had all that makes life
valuable. But, as his hold loosened upon it, no mur-

46 memoir of
mur, no sigh of regret, escaped his lips ; while he
bowed in perfect submission to the will of that Al
mighty Father who had ever dealt with him so kindly.
As his strength of body diminished, that of his affec
tions seemed to increase. He appeared to be con
stantly occupied with thoughts of others rather than of
himself; and many a touching instance did he give
of this thoughtfulness, and of his tender recollection
of those who were dear to him. The desire of doing
good, on the broadest scale, clung to him to the last.
Not two weeks before his death, he was occupied with
arranging the plan of the model-houses for the poor,
for which he made so noble a provision in his will.
His last hours were cheered by the assurance, as we
have elsewhere noticed, that his wise and generous
provisions for promoting a more scientific culture at
Cambridge were crowned with entire success. He was
dying with every thing around him to soften the bit
terness of death ; above all, with the sweet con
sciousness that he had not lived in vain. On the

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 47
18th of August, 1855, a few months before he had
completed his sixty-third year, he expired, and that
so gently, that those around could not be sure of the
precise moment when his spirit took its flight.
The tidings of Mr. Lawrence's death, though not
unexpected, fell like some startling calamity on the
ears of the community. A meeting of the citizens
was at once called to express their sense of this great
public bereavement. It assembled in Faneuil Hall, —
that hall where the manly tones of his own voice had
been so often raised in maintenance of the right, but
which now echoed only to the sounds of lamentation,
as more than one gifted orator poured forth an eloquent
and touching tribute to the virtues of the deceased.
The sympathies of the community were called forth
still more strongly on the day of the funeral, when the
sad countenances and moistened eyes of the vast mul
titude that attended the services showed how truly
they felt the death of Mr. Lawrence, not merely as a
great public calamity, but as something personal to

48 VFW1TR OF
themselves. Every honor that eoold be paid to Lis
memoir was eagerly rendered by tbe authorities of
the city on this occasion. The day was celebrated as
a day of public mourning. The beUs tolled in the
principal churches. The flags of the shipping were
at half-mast. Minute-guns were fired. The places of
business were closed in many parts' of the town, and
all along the road which conducted to ihe cemetery of
Mount Auburn. As the spectator gazed on the long
company of mourners taking their way through files
of the soldiery, who unfed the streets as iar as the
bridge which unites Boston to Cambridge, he might:
well have called to mind the time when the object of
all this homage first came to town, over tins same
avenue, a poor country-lad, with only a few dollars in
his pocket, and but one-friend in that strange gapifal
to welcome Mm. That friend was his brother, Amos
Lawrence, who, only three years since, had been borne
to Mount Auburn, amidst the tears and regrets of the
whole community. Still another brother — VUbam.

ABBOTT TAWKEXCE. 49
of whom mention has been made in an early part of
this memoir — had preceded them both on the same
dark journey. like them, he had come to Boston to
seek his fortune, which, when gained, he employed,
Eke them, in acts of beneficence and mercy. The
"threefold cord" to wliich their father had so wisely
alluded was indeed broken ; but it was by the hand
of Death. And in that beautiful cemetery, where are
gathered the ashes of so many of the good and the
great, the three brothers, who loved one another
through life so well, now sleep side by side, and rest
in peace from their labors.
A notice of Mr. Lawsexce would not be complete
without some mention of the legacies left by him
for charitable purposes, so much in harmony with
the general course of his life. Besides doubling the
amount given in his lifetime to the Scientific School
he bequeathed the sum of fifty thousand dobars for
the erection of model lodging-houses for the poor, pro
viding with great minuteness and discretion such

50 memoir of
regulations as would accomplish the object he had in
view. In addition to these munificent bequests, he
left ten thousand dollars to the Public Library of the
city of Boston, and smaller legacies to different insti
tutions ; making the whole amount of one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars devised for public objects. These
were the last acts of a life of benevolence.
Such are the outlines of the history of a Boston
merchant, — of one who, by the energy of his character
and the winning frankness of his manners, acquired a
remarkable ascendency over all with whom he came in
contact ; who supplied the deficiencies of early educa
tion by an assiduous diligence, that made him eminent
in after-life both as a public speaker and a political
writer ; whose conduct was controlled by settled reli
gious principles, that made him proof alike against the
intrigues of party and the blandishments of a court ;
who regarded every subject with those large and en
lightened views which gave dignity to his profession,
and raised him to high consideration as a diploma-

ABBOTT LAWRENCE. 51
tist and a statesman ; who, blessed by nature with a
sunny temper and a truly loving heart, was the delight
of his friends, and an object of little less than idolatry
to his own family ; and who, holding the large property
he had acquired by his own efforts as a trust for the
good of his fellow-men, dispensed it in those noble
charities which have gained him a high place among
the benefactors of mankind.