She waits in arms; and in her cause is safe.
Not fearing war, yet hoping peace the end.
Nor heeding those her mood who’d check or chafe:
The Right she seeks, the Right God will defend.
THE PEABODY TRUST FORMED (1862).
Source.—Annual Register, vol. 104; Chronicle, p. 41.
This great merchant (Mr. George Peabody), mindful of his reception in this city of his long sojourn, has made to its citizens the splendid gift of £150,000, with the one only condition, the exclusion from its management of all sectarianism in regard to religion, and of all exclusion in regard to politics. The following is the letter which conveyed this noble gift:
London,
March 12, 1862.
Gentlemen,
In reference to the intention which it is the object of this letter to communicate, I am desirous to explain that, from a comparatively early period of my commercial life, I had resolved in my own mind that, should my labours be blessed with success, I would devote a portion of the property thus acquired to promote the intellectual, moral, and physical welfare and comfort of my fellow-men, wherever, from circumstances or location, their claims upon me would be the strongest.
... It is now twenty-five years since I commenced my residence and business in London as a stranger, but I did not long feel myself a “stranger” or in a “strange land,” for in all my commercial and social intercourse with my British friends during that long period, I have constantly received courtesy, kindness, and confidence.... My object being to ameliorate the condition of the poor and needy of this great metropolis, and to promote their comfort and happiness, I take pleasure in apprising you that I have determined to transfer to you the sum of £150,000 which now stands available for this purpose on the books of Messrs. George Peabody and Co.
... I have few instructions to give or conditions to impose, but there are some fundamental principles from which it is my solemn injunction that those entrusted with its application shall never, under any circumstances, depart.