Discourse on the Life and Character of George Peabody, Address to the Law Class of the University of Maryland, Address at the Unveiling of the Statue of Chief Justice Taney, 139 INTRODUCTION. THE PREFATORY. present edition is the first collection of the scattered writings in prose and verse, literary, critical and political, of the late Severn Teackle Wallis, who died in Baltimore, April 11, 1894. Its publication now is due to the earnest desire of a number of his personal friends, in the first place, to possess such a complete collection of his writings, and secondly, to their belief that the people of Maryland, and all who knew him, will be glad to have such a permanent memorial of his useful, active life, and of his many and various gifts and accomplishments. Not long before his death, Mr. Wallis had printed at his own expense, for distribution among some of his intimate friends, a limited edition of the Addresses, Lectures and Reviews, which form part of the contents of the first volume of this edition. Very soon after his death, there was held in Baltimore a meeting which resulted in the formation of a Wallis Memorial Association, one of the specified objects of which was the publication of a Memorial Edition of his writings, to be followed, in time, if the funds of the Association should prove sufficient, by the erection of a Memorial bust or statue in his honor in some appropriate public place in the city of Baltimore, and by the foundation of one or more scholarships or prizes to bear his name and perpetuate his memory. With this view, officers of the Association were elected, Executive and Finance Committees appointed, and subscriptions were received. The response to the circular issued by the Association setting forth its objects, being deemed sufficiently encouraging to justify the Association in undertaking the present publication, Messrs. Thomas W. Hall, Arthur George Brown and John J. Donaldson were requested to act as a Publishing Committee, and authorized to make the necessary arrangements for editing and printing. The Committee were fortunate enough to secure at the outset, the valuable services of Dr. William Hand Browne, Professor of English Literature in the Johns Hopkins University, to see the entire work through the press, and the Committee here desire to express their high appreciation of the value of Dr. Browne's assistance, and of the care and fidelity with which he has performed the labor assigned to him. In addition to the Lectures, Addresses and Reviews, collected and privately circulated in the lifetime of Mr. Wallis, as already mentioned, the first volume of this edition contains a number of short poems and occasional verses written at various times and in varying moods, which have never before been collected, and many of which have never before been printed. These are now published as they appear in a manuscript volume, in which in his later years, and after evident careful correction and revision, they had been transcribed in Mr. Wallis's own neat and characteristic hand-writing. The only liberty taken by the Editor, has been the omission in some instances of proper names and initials; while the notes, which were originally prefixed by Mr. Wallis to some of the poems, have been printed together at the end of the volume. The second volume is devoted to a selection from Mr. Wallis's political writings of a permanent and historical character, prefer ence being given to those prepared by him, while a member of the Maryland Legislature in 1861, not only because of the light which they throw upon the events of that time, but because they constitute a most important chapter in Mr. Wallis's life, in regard to which he has expressed the desire that any judgment of his motives or his actions, should be made to rest upon these very documents. No vindication is necessary, but the part which Mr. Wallis bore in the events of 1860-61, in Maryland, was too conspicuous and too honorable, to permit, in the judgment of his friends, this important chapter of his life to be passed over in silence. For the same reason the Letter to the Hon. John Sherman, is included in the volume, the contents of which must be regarded as partly biographical, if not auto-biographical. Many of the papers contained in the second volume have heretofore only been accessible in their scattered and official form, as part of the Journal and Proceedings of the General Assembly of Maryland in 1861. The third and fourth volumes contain Mr. Wallis's two published books on Spain, for many years almost, if not quite, out of print. The first, entitled Glimpses of Spain; or Notes of an unfinished Tour in 1847, was published by Messrs. Harper & Brothers, New York, in 1849, and has since been reprinted by them. The other on Spain: Her Institutions, Politics and Public Men: A Sketch, was published by Messrs. Ticknor, Reed & Fields, Boston, 1853. The copyright in both books has long since expired, and their republication in the present memorial edition is in response to a very generally expressed desire on the part of Mr. Wallis's friends to possess them in this form. Amid all the exactions of a busy professional life, Mr. Wallis was a frequent contributor to the daily press, and his unsigned articles on the current topics of the day were often recognized as his, from the terseness and pungency of expression, the wit some |