The life of George H. Stuart

Chapter I

Early Years and School-Days in Ulster — Comes to Philadelphia in 1 83 1 — Stuart and Brothers — Takes the Temperance Pledge in Pittsburg — Welcomes Gough to Philadelphia — Marriage in 1837 — First and Second Visits to Ireland — First Knowledge of John Hall 27

Chapter II

Church Relations in Philadelphia — Division of the Covenanters in 1833 — Anecdote of Edwin M. Stanton — Church Membership— The two Drs. Wylie — A Sabbath- School Teacher — Promoted to Superintendency — Interest in Foreign Missions — The Story of James R. Campbell — " The Banner of the Covenant" — Interest in the Anti-Slavery Movement — The Armistad Negroes in Philadelphia 44

Chapter III

First Irish Presbyterian Delegation to America — The Work of the American Sunday-School Union — Chidlaw, Paxson, and McCullaugh — Meets Dr. Duff in Edinburgh in 1851 — The great Missionary brought to America — Incidents of his Visit — New Church dedicated on Broad Street 66

Chapter IV

The Berg-Barker Debate — The Young Men's Christian Association established in Philadelphia — Meetings of the Evangelical Alliance and the Young Men's Christian Association in Paris — Communes with the Alliance — Nominated to Congress — Bethany Sunday-

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School — St. Mary's Street Sunday-School for Colored Children- Purchase of Springbrook — The Revival of 1857 — Conversion of George J. Mingins — Mr. Henry Grattan Guinness's Labors in Philadelphia 92

Chapter V

Third Irish Presbyterian Delegation — Dr. Edgar — Visit to Great Britain and Ireland with Dr. Murray — Describes Moody's Work at an Edinburgh Meeting — The Revival in Wales — Visit to Athlone Presbytery and the Scene of the Irish Revival — Dr. Murray's Last Days . . . 114

Chapter VI

The Demands made by the War on the Young Men's Christian Associations — Their Convention founds the Christian Commission — Previous Workers in the Army — Members and Officers — Letter of Abraham Lincoln — Work of the Delegates — Generous Response to Demands for Funds — Getting Ice at Saratoga — Praying with John Minor Botts — Bishop Mcllvaine Presides at Epiphany and Visits the Front — Pittsburg Meeting — Address to the General Assembly at Newark — In Danger of being Shot at Camp Convalescent — News at Troy Meeting from Appomattox — " Housewives" for the Soldiers — Chapel Tents — Coffee-Wagon — " Identifiers" — Incidents and Results — Final Meeting 128

Chapter VII

Death of Dr. James R. Campbell in India — Death of William David Stuart — His Sabbath-School — His Biography — Presenting the Bible to President Lincoln — His Letter to the Christian Commission — Call on General Grant — House bought for him in Philadelphia — The Presentation — General Grant's Log Cabin — Letter to Freedmen's Aid Society 173

Chapter VIII

Ninth Visit to Europe — Bible Society Address and Lord Shaftesbury — Address before the Free Church Assembly and the Irish Assembly — Dr. Hall secured as Delegate to America — The Albany Convention of the Young Men's Christian Association —

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The Irish Delegation in the American Assemblies — Dr. Hall called to the Fifth Avenue Church, and accepts — His Arrival . . 188

Chapter IX

The Presbyterian Union Movement begun in the Reformed Presbyterian General Synod — The Reunion Convention of 1867 in Philadelphia — Dr. Robert Breckenridge Inharmonious — Dr. Charles Hodge Satisfied — The Episcopalians Visit the Convention — Its Happy Results— The Final Reunion of the two Assemblies in Pittsburg — My Suspension for Hymn-singing, and its Effects on the Reformed Presbyterian Church — Meeting to Endorse Nomination of Grant and Colfax — Sad Death of Rev. Robert J. Parvin and William Garvin . 209

Chapter X

Offered a place in President Grant's Cabinet — Secure the Selection of Mr. Borie and Mr. A. T. Stewart — Try to get Mr. Stewart to

- Retain his Office by Retiring from Business — Presenting a Bible to President Grant — Instances of his Friendliness — His Indian Policy — Appointment of the Indian Commission — Its Services — National Convention of Sunday-School Workers at Newark — Made a Member of the Board of City Trusts — The Management of Girard College — Indian Chiefs at the Y. M. C. A. Convention — The Chicago Fire — Mr. Moody's Losses 233

Chapter XI

Tenth Visit to Europe for the Evangelical Alliance — The Jubilee Singers in London — Secure Sheshadri for the Alliance — Its Meeting in New York — Bishop Cummins and the Reformed Episcopal Church — Excursion to Washington — Mr. Hamilton Murray drowned in the Ville du Havre — New Building for the Young Men's Christian Association of Philadelphia — Mr. Moody's Labors in the Central Presbyterian Church — In Great Britain — Dr. Somerville becomes an Evangelist — The Profits of the " Gospel Songs" — Mr. Moody invited to Philadelphia — Fitting up the Old Depot — His Meetings and their Management — Some of the Results — Collection for the Young Men's Christian Association — Labors of Mr. and Mrs. George C. Needham — Investigating the Story of " the Converted Priest" 261

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Chapter XII

Liquidation of Stuart & Brother — Elected President of the Merchants' National Bank — Associations with 13 13 Spruce Street — Meeting Garfield at Chautauqua — His Death — Welcome Dennis Osborne to America — The Profound Impression he Makes — Gifts from Presbyterians — His Speech at the Cumberland Valley Reunion — Newman Hall — Major Malan — Mr. Baldwin's Mission in Morocco — Death of Bishop Simpson — Hudson Taylor's Chinese Mission — The Story of John C. Stewart — Death of General Grant — His Last Public Appearance — Death of Mr. Gough — Evangelistic Labors of Alexander Patterson — The Conductor 292

Chapter XIII

Religious Canvass of Philadelphia — Convention at Harrisburg — Death of John Patterson — His Management of the Swearing Quartermaster — Closing Years of Life — Residence at Clifton Springs Sanitarium — Relief of Mr. William A. Washington — Preaching in the Universalist Church at Clifton — Closing Words by Prof. Gilmore 320

APPENDICES.

L— The Six Stuarts 335

II. — History of General Grant's Log Cabin 339

III. — Letters from Generals Grant, Sherman, and others, on the

Christian Commission 341

IV. — Address before the British and Foreign Bible Society, London,

V. — Address on Lay Preaching before the Evangelical Alliance,

New York, October 10, 1873 361

VI. — The Clifton Springs Sanitarium — An Account of its Origin

and Progress 369

CLOSING HOURS.

Death of George II. Stuart , 381

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

George H. Stuart (steel plate) Frontispiece.

PAGE

John Hall 43

Wylie Memorial Church 48

John Wanamaker 103

Head-Quarters of the United States Christian Commission .... 171

General Grant's Log Cabin 185

George H. Stuart (from a photograph taken in 1866) 188

George W. Childs 239

Benjamin B. Comegys 256

Rev. Narayan Sheshadri 265

The Old Freight Depot in 1875-76 277

Anthony J. Drexel 293

Rev. Dennis Osborne ' 298

General Ulysses S. Grant 312

The Sanitarium at Clifton Springs 323

AUTOGRAPH LETTERS.

From Abraham Lincoln, December 12, 1861 133

From U. S. Grant, January 12, 1866 168

From General A. E. Burnside, March 20, 1866 . 170

From U. S. Grant, January 4, 1865 182

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.

n

RECEIVED

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.

" Read biographies," says Carlyle, " but especially autobiographies." Except the great works of imaginative genius, there are no books that bring us into more real and immediate relations with our fellow-men. And, indeed, it is a large part of the prerogative of a Shakespeare that he is able to make his characters unfold their own lives to us, if not in chronological sequence, yet in the substance of what they had experienced and had learned from experience.

In Christian literature, from the time of Paul, or at least of Justin Martyr and Augustine of Hippo, autobiography has held a place of honor and usefulness not surpassed by any other kind of writing. This is because the worth of the individual ljian is so fully disclosed by the Gospel, and the substantial identity of spiritual experience has created a lively interest in the experience of our fellow-Christians. We love to find the truth, as Paul loved to express it, in the concrete form of a life. Nor are we deterred by any appearance of egotism in such writing, for all genuine Christianity has the mark of referring all good to divine grace, and of giving God the glory in all things. Christian autobiography, like

2 13 that of Augustine, is a constant " confession" of obligation to God, the giver of all good. Its note is his wonderful prayer: u Da quod jubes y et jube quod vis /"

Autobiographies of this class divide themselves from each other as to their centre of interest. In some it is the inward experience of the heart which occupies us. The record is that of introspective natures whose mind is their kingdom. In others it is the leading of God in paths of usefulness and active service. It is to the latter class that the present book belongs. Its author has passed lightly over things of even the highest concern, where that was a personal concern only. He occupies himself with the narrative of the movements and the events in which he has taken part.

It was not of his own motion that he undertook to write the story of his life. A number of his friends, knowing how abundant his life had been in experiences which were worthy of record, urged him to employ in this way the leisure of these later years, since he retired from business. He very naturally objected, on the ground of his lack of experience in book-making ; but it was suggested that he make as full a record as possible, and then put the manuscript into my hands for editing. I felt very much honored by the suggestion, and undertook the work with no reluctance. Mr. Stuart has been to me for more than thirty years a very dear and valued friend, to whom I have learned to look with much of the regard a son owes to a father. Nor was the task so laborious as I expected. Thanks to the kind co-operation of Prof. Gilmore, of Rochester, in the preparation of the manuscript, I found it much more complete and satisfactory than I should have expected. It has been my task to rearrange it with reference to the order of time, to supply dates, to verify its statements by contemporary records of all kinds, so far as this was possible, and to suggest some additions which seemed necessary to round off the story. I have added notes in several places, for which I alone am responsible. Their character has been indicated by the signature " Ed." Important additions have been furnished by Mr. Thomas K. Cree, the International Secretary of the Y. M. C. A., and by others.

Mr. Stuart's life extends through a memorable halfcentury of our country's history, and touches more or less closely upon all the great religious and philanthropic movements of that time. While he has not taken any part in political life or sought any eminence in that field, he has been brought into contact with many of our public men, from the Anti-Slavery group of half a century ago, to Lincoln, Grant, and the national leaders of our own time. On this account alone it is a life worth telling as a part of the history of the country, especially during what Mr. Lecky has well called "the heroic age of America/' — the years 1861- 1865. On the other hand, he has occupied almost a unique position in our ecclesiastical life, as representing that spirit of unity which has been awakened in the American churches during and since the war. Warm as has been his attachment to the church of his early training, there are few men for whom lines of sectarian division have so little practical significance, and still fewer who have obtained such recognition from men of all names as being above all things a brother in Christ, to all who love and serve the common Master.

In another respect this biography possesses a significance much wider than personal. Mr. Stuart represents those ties which have so closely connected the Irish province of Ulster to the American nation. Himself a native of that province, and one of the large immigration which even in our century continues to strip it of its Scotch-Irish settlers, he also has continued to feel much more than an ordinary interest in its welfare, and to labor to the utmost of his ability and influence for the advancement of its people and its churches. In Ulster he is everywhere recognized as one who has lost nothing of his attachment to the home of his childhood and the people of his kindred. And in America no man of our generation has been more prominent as a representative of this stock.

Ulster was the last province of Ireland to pass under the rule of England. Her earls were dispossessed of their lands at the close of Queen Elizabeth's reign; and, in accordance with English precedents, this was held to accomplish forfeiture of the rights of their tenants also.

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION. I?

King James I. availed himself of the acquisition to provide places and possessions for many of his Scottish countrymen in those northern counties of Ireland. Families like the Knoxes of Dungannon, the Brownlows of Lurgan, and the Hills of Downshire, who had some claim on the favor of the crown, were given large estates in a province less fertile than the rest of the island, but much more so than are most parts of Scotland. These held out especial inducements to Scottish farmers to settle on their lands, their promises of this kind being the foundation of what is known as the "Ulster Tenant Right." These settlers generally were Presbyterians ; yet, as the Episcopal Church was by law established, it was not without a prolonged struggle that Presbyterianism managed to secure a foothold in Ireland. It was placed under grave disabilities of many kinds, some of which may be said to have even survived the disestablishment of 1868. It was this Protestant intolerance of Protestants which drove the Presbyterians of Ulster from Ireland to America in such numbers that the descendants of the old settlers on our side of the ocean are probably three times as numerous as those left at home. But with this co-operated the failure of many landlords to stand by the pledges given their tenants as an inducement to make their homes in Ulster.

The first movement towards America was made in 1636, but was a failure, the vessel in w T hich Robert Blair

and his friends embarked being driven back by adverse b 2* winds. About 1670, or even earlier, an Ulster immigration to Virginia and Maryland began, and seems to have lasted some ten years. To this was due the establishment of the first Presbyterian church in America, at Snow Hill in the latter State ; and also the appearance of a few Presbyterians in Pennsylvania after its settlement by the Friends. It was in the years 17 13-17 18 that the great exodus from Ulster began, which did not spend its force before the middle of the century. The northern half of it sought Maine and New Hampshire, and made sporadic settlements in Boston, Worcester, and other towns of Massachusetts. The southern half poured into Pennsylvania, and then, following the trend of the Alleghanies, flowed southward, until the whole region from the Oil District in Pennsylvania to Huntsville in Alabama was occupied by Ulstermen. West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, most of North Carolina and a part of Southeastern Tennessee, and the adjacent parts of Georgia and Alabama were thus taken up.

The immigration from Ulster was interrupted by the Revolution, but was renewed during the troubles in Ireland in the last years of the eighteenth century, when many of the Presbyterians embraced the principles of the United Irishmen. It still continues, although Irish Presbyterians as a body are now friendly to the continuance of English rule in Ireland. And as so much of the blame of Irish misery has been charged to the landlords, it is but fair to say that the freeholders, who formed no inconsiderable part of the people of County Down, have furnished many immigrants to America, Mr. Stuart's family being one instance. In the present economic condition of Ireland, prosperity would not be secured to its people by making over the land to them for nothing.

In American history the Scotch-Irish have played a part second to no other element. They have not given the nation its intellectual and literary leaders, or its most eminent philanthropists. They have been behind the Puritan and the Quaker in these respects. Their contribution has been men of action and of personal force. They have given the country more presidents than any other stock, — Monroe, Jackson, Polk (Pollock), Taylor, Buchanan, Johnson, and Arthur ; in public life they have been represented by the Bayards, the Breckenridges, Brownlee, Calhoun (Colquhoun), Carlisle, Crawford, Greeley, Sam. Houston, President Reed, McDuffie, Charles Thomson, the Websters, and many others ; in the army by Generals Crawford, McClellan, Montgomery, McPherson, Patterson, Scott, Shields, Stuart, and Taylor ; in science and invention by Robert Fulton, Joseph Henry, McCormick, and Rush ; in literature by Poe, James, McHenry, and Mrs. Junkin Preston. But it is especially as pillars of the orthodox churches of America, and most of all of the Presbyterian Church, that they have made a permanent mark : Alison, the Alexanders, the Finlays, the Blairs, the Beatties, the

Breckenridges, the Junkins, Craighead, the Macmillans, the Nevins, Macwhirter, Mason, Waddell, and others without number might be named ; while the two Campbells (Thomas and Alexander) founded the Church of the Disciples in America. Nor have the stock been less active and successful in business life, such names as John Brown, A. T. Stewart, Thomas Scott, with that of Mr. Stuart himself, being among the first that occur to me.

And this, I think, constitutes an especial source of interest in the story he has to tell. It is the life of a Christian merchant who is at once zealously Christian and diligently a man of business. The Kingdom of Heaven, our Lord tells us, has its especial use and honor for the directness and straightforwardness of the business temperament. Among other comparisons, He says that " it is like unto a merchant seeking goodly pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it." The successful business-man is one who has taken the trouble to ascertain the relative value of things, and who proceeds to act on that knowledge without question or hesitation. And the Christian of this temper is a man who has satisfied himself that his Master's estimate of the value of things is the right one, and who proceeds to act on that assumption with as little reserve or hesitation as if it were a question of the market price of hardwares or dry-goods. It is observed by Dr. Paley that the mind of the Apostle to the Gentiles had this business-like quality. The weights and measures of things that he had learned on the way to Damascus continued to be his standards of action as well as of opinion to the end of his wonderful career. "All things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ" sums up his lesson in spiritual arithmetic. It was this that made him as " instant in season and out of season" as he exhorted Timothy to be. Being about the Master's business, he could waste no time on the conventionalities of time and place. So he found himself nowhere more thoroughly at home than in Corinth, the great trading city of that day, where he gathered the largest (and also the most troublesome) of all the churches which were the fruit of his labors, — a church whose people were in the main in sympathy with his own temper of mind.

Those of us whose natural disposition or special pursuits make this kind of directness almost impossible to us, will none the less honor and value it in those who have this complete unreserve, that breaks through all conventional crusts, and deals with divine things on the principle that their relative worth has been ascertained, and that it is the part of simple common sense to act upon that knowledge in every kind of social intercourse. All who know Mr. Stuart are aware that the story of his life, while it brings out this trait of his character, does less than justice to it. It has been his joy to testify everywhere and to all men of his love for the Saviour, and that with a frankness and unreserve which mark the man who " means business" in his religion as elsewhere. Having " found the pearl of great price," he advertises the fact to others for their benefit, that they may share in his enrichment.

One point more. To those who have not known Mr. Stuart personally there may be some difficulty in understanding the kind and degree of influence he has exerted at various times over popular assemblies. The narrative, indeed, contains sketches of some of his speeches, and several of the most important are reprinted in the closing pages of the book. These will help the reader to some extent, but only partially. Those who have not heard him on the platform, listened to the tones of his voice, watched his face and his bearing, and felt the magnetic touch of his intense earnestness will still be puzzled by the record of the actual effect of his speeches, just as the readers of Whitefield's sermons are puzzled to account for the far more profound impression his preaching made on his generation. It was said of John P. Durbin, the eloquent Methodist preacher, that the largest element in his oratory was Dr. Durbin himself. So in this case: the largest element in every speech or address was George H. Stuart himself. For this very reason, none but those who have heard him in the years of his best powers can form any adequate idea of his influence on an audience.

His oratory was spontaneous and natural, owing little or nothing to early training of any kind. He was as much a self-made speaker as was his friend John B. Gough. But like him, he did not at once make an impression on the public, when he first appeared on the platform. I have been told by those who heard him in the years before the great Revival of 1857, that he spoke with a hesitation and diffidence which at times brought the impression made by his speech below the merits of what he had to say. It w r as in the vast public meetings of that year that he discovered the capacity he had of reaching and holding the most varied audiences. The war, with its demands on his time and his powers, developed this capacity to a still higher degree, and gave an influence which was hardly second to that of the best-known public speakers of the land.

As I myself have learned from him nearly all I know about the art of public speaking, I may say that I have watched him with attention and to my own profit. The first secret of his power is his earnestness, — a fervor not unconnected with the Celtic strain in his Scottish blood. And this finds expression in a certain vehemence of manner, which attests the reality of the feeling. Next to this is the perfect simplicity and intelligibilty of the terms in which his feeling and thought find expression. Every word goes home without the hearer being distracted by the friction involved in bringing the speaker's thought into line with that of the hearer. And last but not least is the fine instinct for the lines on which a subject must be approached. It is here that the practical temper of the business man avails, just as it enabled the Apostle to speak to the minds and hearts of men of his time with a force of directness not learned in the school of Gamaliel but in that of life.

I have nothing to add but the expression of my feeling that it is a great honor to have my name associated with that of one whom I regard with a veneration never impaired by the thirty years and more of our familiar intercourse.

R. E. T.

THE LIKE

OF

GEORGE H. STUART.

THE

GEORGE H. STUART.

Chapter I

Early Years and School-Days in Ulster — Comes to Philadelphia in 1 83 1 — Stuart and Brothers — Takes the Temperance Pledge in Pittsburg — Welcomes Gough to Philadelphia — Marriage in 1837 — First and Second Visits to Ireland — First Knowledge of John Hall.

At the earnest request of friends to whose judgment I am bound to defer, I give a brief statement of my life and of the way in which God has led me, hoping that it may be useful especially to the young men of this and other lands.

I was born on Tuesday, April 2, 18 16, in my father's new farm-house, called Rose Hall, in County Down, Ireland, situated about half-way between the flourishing towns of Banbridge and Guilford, and about twenty miles from Belfast. My parents were members of the Associate Presbyterian (or Seceder) Church, made familiar to many readers by Carlyle's reminiscences of his father. They had been brought up in County Armagh, but shortly before my birth removed to County Down. My father's name was David, and my mother's Margaret. My father owned and managed a large farm, and, like most of the larger farmers of that county, he was extensively engaged in the linen and flax business, having a mill for " scutching" the flax on his farm. He was a remarkable man, one who stood very high in the community and who was often consulted upon difficult questions by his neighbors. He had a fair education, and by virtue of his native talent held a conspicuous place in the community. He died January I, 1825, aged fifty-nine.

My mother was a very earnest, devoted Christian woman, who took great pains to train up her children in the fear of the Lord. I greatly enjoyed visiting her several times after I came to this country, and you can have little idea how much it gladdened her heart to see, from time to time, her youngest child. After all my brothers moved to America, the family home was disposed of, and my mother spent the remainder of her days with one of my elder sisters, Mrs. Margaret Aughiltree, who lived at Markethill, in County Armagh. In her house my mother died, December 1, 1848, at the advanced age of seventy-eight ; her remains were taken to the family burying-place adjoining the church I attended as a boy, and which was known as Donacloney meeting-house. A monument was erected there to my father, mother, and those of the children who died in the old farm-house. Since the death of my brothers in England, the burial-lot and its railings have been particularly looked after by Mr. Beatty, a friend of the family living near by. He writes me about every year with reference to the condition of the lot. My brothers and sisters are now all gone : three of them are buried in America, two in England, and the remainder in Ireland.

Of the thirteen children, I was the youngest. While I was still an infant in the nurse's arms, and was going out to the farm in a cart, along with a. sister two or three years older than myself, the horse ran away and Magdalen, my sister, was so badly hurt that she soon after died. So, at this early age, I narrowly escaped death. I was called after my parents' pastor, the venerable and eminent Rev. George Hay, in whose church my father was an elder. Two other elders about the same time had sons called after the same pastor. All three were so named with the view, on the part of their parents, to their becoming ministers of the Gospel. One of them died in his preparatory course, and the other — the Rev. George Hay Shanks — has been for many years a faithful pastor at Bush Mills, in Ireland. My father died before I had reached ten years of age, and the fact of his desire that I should preach the Gospel made an impression upon my mind which I have felt all through life, and which has led me to feel an especial interest in those who devote themselves to the ministry. Had he lived longer, his wish might have been realized.

When I was very young Mr. Hay died ; and when his successor, the Rev. James Morehead, was ordained and installed by the presbytery, all the members thereof dined at my mother's house, my father being dead and my brother James being then an elder. The services took place out of doors to accommodate the large crowd in attendance, and Mr. Morehead had, seated by his side, a twin brother who was also a minister, — Rev. Robert Morehead of Garvaghy, — and the resemblance was so great that it was remarked at the dinner-table that no one was able to tell the difference, when I, a mere lad, interrupted the conversation by stating that I knew the difference. " Why, George, how do you know that ?"

3* was the inquiry. " Why, our Mr. Morehead wore shoes and his brother boots," I answered. Our new pastor was a most earnest and successful man, a worthy successor of Mr. Hay, and was, in after years, one of my dearest friends. He called his youngest son (now of New Zealand) after me. He intended this son for the ministry ; but he gave no evidence of a fitness for this calling until, at the grave of his father, he dedicated himself to the work of preaching the Gospel, and was for many years a successful pastor in Ireland. He now is laboring in New Zealand.