Gratified at this decision, so in harmony with his hopes and efforts for more than five years, Governor Pillsbury called a special session of the legislature, and the question of these early railroad bonds in Minnesota was forever settled.

The close relationship and intimacy between John S. Pillsbury and Greenleaf Clark caused their long association as regents of the University of Minnesota to be of great value to that institution. Pillsbury was appointed to the board of regents in 1863, when the hopes and prospects of the University were at their lowest ebb, and his fostering care, his unselfish devotion, and his sagacious management, are well known.

In 1879 Greenleaf Clark became one of the regents, and in 1884 he was one of the special committee of three to whom was given the important duty of selecting a new president for the University. His associates on this committee were John S. Pillsbury and Henry H. Sibley. The man of their selection was Cyrus Northrop. Let the wisdom of their choice be known by the unrivaled progress of this institution for more than twenty years. The increase in the number of its students, and in its buildings and equipment; its influence and standing throughout the Union; the wonderful advance in the realm of thought and investigation, and the high type of manhood and womanhood developed; the awakening and symmetrical unfolding of all the powers of individual students; and the harmonious adjustment of the many diverse relations of students, faculty, and regents; all these elements in the great work of the University proclaim a master mind. Let Greenleaf Clark share in the glory of this consummate result, as one of those who chose the man who has been heart and soul of this advancement. Let the entire educational system of the state testify to the benefits of this choice, for all its other institutions of learning have been inspired and encouraged by the progress of the University.

After Governor Pillsbury's death, Judge Clark was elected president of the Board of Regents, December 10th, 1901.

The city of St. Paul, which was so long his home, has reason to be grateful to Greenleaf Clark for his interest in its Public Library, to which in his will he left a bequest of $25,000.

Philanthropy was deeply rooted in his nature. His charities were prompted by conscience and thoughtfulness, not by impulse. In these, as in other matters, he was absolutely methodical and reliable. For twenty-five years he had been a liberal and regular contributor to the Protestant Orphan Home of this city, and every October his check was sent to the directors.

His good deeds were done so quietly that few of his friends knew how many they were. I learned only a few days ago that he had aided four young men, at different times, to take the entire course at the University, and had further assisted two of them to their law education. He not only gave them pecuniary aid, but encouraged them by his personal interest.

The habit of regular church attendance, formed in his New England boyhood, was never abandoned, and whenever he was in St. Paul he was in his accustomed place in the House of Hope church every Sunday morning.

Last, we come to note in a few words the great interest constantly taken by Judge Clark in the work of this Historical Society. During twenty-four years he had been a life member, and during fourteen years a councilor. Less than three months previous to his death, he was elected president of the society, and in his will he bequeathed a fund of $1,000 for its Library. Thus, although he has left us, each year valuable books can be added to our library treasures in memory of him.

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES IN HONOR OF GOVERNORS

AUSTIN AND MCGILL.*

HORACE AUSTIN was born in Canterbury, Conn., October 15, 1831; and died in Minneapolis, November 7, 1905. He came to Minnesota in 1856, settling at St. Peter; was judge of the Sixth Judicial District, 1865-69; and was governor of this state, 1870-74.

ANDREW RYAN MCGILL was born in Saegerstown, Pa., February 19, 1840; and died in St. Paul, October 31, 1905. He came to Minnesota and settled at St. Peter, in 1861; was private secretary to Governor Austin, 1870-73; and was governor, 1887-89.

Biographies of these and each of the other governors of Minnesota, by General James H. Baker, are published, with their portraits, in Volume XIII of this Society's Historical Collections, issued at the same time with the present volume.

The first of these Memorial Addresses was mainly written before the death of Governor Austin, which occurred a week after that of Governor McGill and less than a week before this Memorial Meeting.

GENERAL HENRY W. CHILDS spoke as follows:

The death of so distinguished a member of this Society as the late Andrew Ryan McGill calls for more than a formal obituary notice. It presents an occasion where a due regard for the memory of one who has taken a prominent part in public affairs prompts a review, however brief, of his life and public services.

Governor McGill represented the best ideals of civic life. He fulfilled, in a marked degree, the obligations of a citizen. In all his relations with his fellow men, whether in public or private station, he was always the courteous gentleman, useful citizen,

*Presented at the monthly meeting of the Executive Council, November 13. 1905.

thoughtful and helpful friend. Calm in temperament, sound in judgment, of quick intelligence, well informed, courageous in defense of the right, moved always by a spirit of the utmost candor, he lived among men a wholesome force.

For

Although not great in the sense of being endowed with those. extraordinary natural gifts possessed only by the few, he yet rose far above mediocrity and was in truth an able man. That bodily infirmity which terminated his career with appalling suddenness, began its destructive work in the very bloom of his manhood. more than twenty years he had performed his part upon life's stage admonished by a silent monitor that he must wisely conserve his energies. He was, therefore, seriously handicapped in any field which exacts prolonged and wearying labor, either of brain or muscle. He was thus compelled to halt on the hither side of that intense application without which none may gather the richest rewards of intellectual effort. And yet he surpassed in the race many a stalwart competitor. They who enjoyed his intimacy and listened to his discourse upon men and measures, know best of all with what clearness and fullness he had formed his opinions. Nor is there dearth of competent witnesses. A long public career had brought him in contact with men of note, aroused his interest in public questions, stimulated him to study and reflection, and furnished frequent occasion for an interchange of views. Fond of his friends, delighting in social converse, and sought out because of the quiet enjoyment of his companionship, he created a crowd of witnesses who can testify to the playfulness of his mirth and the breadth and solidity of his knowledge.

A brief glimpse at the chief events in his life is requisite to a fair estimate of his character.

It is no doubt a laudable desire and much witnessed of late at American firesides, to trace one's ancestry, if haply it may be done, to some great character who left a deep impress upon the times in which he moved. It betrays a deep seated belief that the qualities of greatness are inheritable. Edwin Reed, in a passage of striking originality, has voiced this truth. "Intellectual energy," he says, "is the product of antecedents. A great genius never comes by chance. It always bursts upon the world, as the new star in

Auriga burst upon us, unexpectedly, but only because we have not explored the depths out of which it has come. Every man at birth is an epitome of his progenitors. He starts out with the elements of his character drawn from the widest sources, but so mixed in him that he differs necessarily from every other individual of his raoe. Here is the problem of life. Not the dome of St. Peter's, but how the hand that rounded it acquired its skill; not the play of Hamlet, but how the mind that gave it its wondrous birth was developed, these are our chief concerns."

It may not be without profit to trace out to some extent, slight though it must be, the antecedents of our subject, and to ascertain a glimpse of the progenitors of which he was the epitome. What were the strains of blood that coursed in his veins ?

That bigoted and oppressive English policy which denied Ireland religious liberty under Charles I. and ruined her industries under William of Orange, was nowhere more severely felt than in the province of Ulster. Antrim, an Ulster county and the most northeasterly territory of Ireland, was more Scotch than Irish, and more Protestant than Catholic. It had become under James I. a Presbyterian stronghold and a bee-hive of industrial activity. Oppression might exterminate, but it could not subdue the stern followers of John Knox. William Penn had, by friendly intervention, greatly endeared himself to Irish hearts, to many of whom Pennsylvania became an attractive name. There, during the eighteenth century, large numbers sought relief from the oppression of English misrule. What the Old World lost and the New World gained is witnessed in the splendid manhood displayed on many a battlefield and in many a forum. Among those who forsook old Antrim for the new colony was Patrick McGill, who arrived in 1774 and located at first in Northumberland county. When the Revolution rallied the sons of liberty in military ranks, he was among them and did his share of fighting against the mother country. In 1800 he removed to the western part of Pennsylvania, where he settled upon a tract of land in what afterward became Crawford county. The family residence seems to have been the first house erected on the site of the village of Saegerstown.