On receipt of the foregoing letter by the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, the Trustees present in Washington were called upon by him to meet on February 8th, and the letter having been laid before them, the following resolutions, moved by Bishop McIlvaine and seconded by Gov. Aiken, were unanimously adopted:
Whereas: Our countryman and friend George Peabody has, in a letter just communicated to the undersigned, made known his determination, out of a grateful sense of the manifold goodness with which God has prospered his life, and of an earnest desire to promote the best interests of his fellow-citizens, to devote a munificent donation of property for certain most wise and beneficent uses indicated in said letter, and has requested us to take in trust the charge and management of the same, therefore,
Resolved, That the undersigned, being the Trustees assembled in Washington, deeply sensible of the honor conferred on them by a trust of such eminent importance and responsibility, and realizing their dependence upon the guidance and blessing of God to be enabled to discharge its duties with such wisdom and faithfulness as may best secure the benevolent designs of the giver, do hereby accept the office of Trustees of the same, and promise our best exertions in its behalf.
Resolved, That we hereby express to Mr. Peabody our grateful appreciation of the enlarged and unprecedented generosity which, after having bestowed upon the poor of the city of London a bounty that drew forth the admiration of Europe, and after having exceeded the same in his recent return to his native land, in benefactions to institutions of learning and education in the Middle and Eastern States of the Union, has now crowned the whole with this last deed of patriotism and loving kindness, so eminently calculated to bind together the several parts of our beloved country in the bonds of mutual well-doing and regard.
Resolved, That we express to Mr. Peabody our respectful and affectionate prayer that, in the gracious providence of our Heavenly Father, his valuable life may be long spared to witness the success of his benevolent contributions to the happiness of his fellow-citizens in all parts of his native and beloved land, and that many of those whom God has blessed with large possessions may be induced to follow his example of wise and noble employment of wealth for the good of man and the glory of God.
Robert C. Winthrop C. Macalester,
Charles P. McIlvaine George W. Riggs,
U. S. Grant, Gen. U. S. A. Samuel Wetmore,
William Aiken George N. Eaton,
William M. Evarts Geo. Peabody Russell.