Senator Hoar was a man of considerable scholarship and took great delight in literary and historical studies. He was a member of several historical and scientific societies, and took much interest in their work. He was president of the American Historical Society, president of the American Antiquarian Society, regent of the Smithsonian Institution in 1880, and trustee of the Peabody Museum of Archeology. He received the degree of LL.D. from the College of William and Mary, Amherst, Yale and Har vard. In 1903 be published 'Autobiography of Seventy Years,' which first appeared in Scrib ner's Magazine as a serial. The same year, in a speech in his home city of Worcester, Senator Hoar, as if in anticipation of 'his approaching dissolution, thus summed up the creed of his career: my life has been worth anything, it has been because I have insisted, to the best of my ability, that these three things—love of God, love of country, and manhood— are the essen tial and fundamental things, and that race, color, and creed are unessential and accidental .° Although 78 years of age, he was in good health until the death of his beloved wife in 1903; their devotion had led many to predict that neither would long survive the other. Sen ator Hoar was taken seriously ill in June 1904, but lingered until 30 September, when he died at Worcester, Mass.
His death was the occasion of a remarkable display of panegyric in the press of both Re publican and Democratic parties. It possessed
the peculiar quality of reconciliation, one party regretting what the other considered his noblest quality. The only flaws in his judgment, said the Republican press, were his disagreements with the party leaders on the Philippine and Panama issues; but to the Democratic press his noble loyalty to the right on these occasions was convincing proof of his lofty statesmanship. The Democratic press regretted his inability to see any good in their party, while to Republican journals this virtue redeemed his errors of judg ment on the matters of party policy. • One journal said: °As long as the confi dence and affection of all thepeople are given to such a man, it is foolish and false to assume that the old standards are departing and the old ideals becoming broken. The people still know a man when they see him. Still they respect and honor the statesman who loves the republic better than he does himself, who never falters in his service, to whose fingers gold does not ding, and whose never-forgotten ideal is the people's welfare. While they honor such qual ities above all others, pure and able statesmen will continue to come to their senti ments which were summarized in Ex-President Cleveland's statement that °Senator Hoar's abil ity, his high-mindedness, and his freedom from political trickery, furnish an example of a useful life which may well be imitated by all those entrusted by their countrymen with public du ties .°