“I take great pleasure in seconding the resolution which has just been read.  The eminent historian of the Dutch Republic, who has made the story of its earlier days as interesting as that of Athens and Sparta, and who has infused into the narrative the generous glow of his own genius, has the highest of titles to be heard with respectful attention by the citizens of a community which, in its origin, was an offshoot of that renowned republic.  And cheerfully has that title been recognized, as the vast audience assembled here to-night, in spite of the storm, fully testifies; and well has our illustrious friend spoken of the growth of civilization and of the improvement in the condition of mankind, both in the Old World—­the institutions of which he has so lately observed—­and in the country which is proud to claim him as one of her children.”

Soon after the election of General Grant, Mr. Motley received the appointment of Minister to England.  That the position was one which was in many respects most agreeable to him cannot be doubted.  Yet it was not with unmingled feelings of satisfaction, not without misgivings which warned him but too truly of the dangers about to encompass him, that he accepted the place.  He writes to me on April 16, 1869:—­

“I feel anything but exultation at present,—­rather the opposite sensation.  I feel that I am placed higher than I deserve, and at the same time that I am taking greater responsibilities than ever were assumed by me before.  You will be indulgent to my mistakes and shortcomings,—­and who can expect to avoid them?  But the world will be cruel, and the times are threatening.  I shall do my best,—­but the best may be poor enough,—­and keep ‘a heart for any fate.’”

XXI.

1869-1870.  AEt. 55-56.

Recall from the English mission.—­Its alleged and its probable reasons.

The misgivings thus expressed to me in confidence, natural enough in one who had already known what it is to fall on evil days and evil tongues, were but too well justified by after events.  I could have wished to leave untold the story of the English mission, an episode in Motley’s life full of heart-burnings, and long to be regretted as a passage of American history.  But his living appeal to my indulgence comes to me from his grave as a call for his defence, however little needed, at least as a part of my tribute to his memory.  It is little needed, because the case is clear enough to all intelligent readers of our diplomatic history, and because his cause has been amply sustained by others in many ways better qualified than myself to do it justice.  The task is painful, for if a wrong was done him it must be laid at the doors of those whom the nation has delighted to honor, and whose services no error of judgment or feeling or conduct can ever induce us to forget.  If he confessed him, self-liable, like the rest of us, to mistakes and shortcomings, we must remember that the great officers of the government who decreed his downfall were not less the subjects of human infirmity.