MEMORIAL Hall was filled to overflowing on the afternoon of Commencement Day, and not a few had to stand while partaking of the annual feast. General Devens presided, and after the dinner had been disposed of commenced as follows : -

"BRETHREN. - We are accustomed at our festival to renew to each other our expressions of mutual regard, and to renew also our recollection of the time when in these halls we were trained for the duties of active life. We welcome cordially the body of young men who this day have been added to our numbers, in the hopes that they, in their turn, will uphold the ancient name and fame of the University, will show that it has a right to exist in the men whom it produces from year to year. As arms are for those who can use them, so education is for those who can make it valuable; and we trust that it will prove that the influences here have developed high culture, have inspired manly thought, have incited to pure and noble lives.

"There is a word, too, of farewell as of hail, that I would willingly leave unspoken, - a farewell for those whose records are written, whose annals are rolled up, and whose faces we are to see no more. During the past year there are numbered among them the good, the learned, and the brave, - Quincy and Motley and others, who, in their time and place, have led noble and truthful lives. I leave to each class, and to each circle of friends, the recollections that come, and must come of necessity, on a day like this. Yet, though I do not undertake to recall them by name, perhaps I may be permitted to make one exception in this hall dedicated to the memory of those who gave their lives for the Union, and recall him who was our marshal the first time that we came here, who was as truly a martyr of the war as if he had fallen on the field; though permitted a few years of painful life, yet was very vigorous, courageous, and faithful in spirit. You remember well the slender figure, the expressive countenance, and manly spirit of Bartlett. [Great applause and three hearty cheers for Bartlett.] You recall, I doubt not all of you who were here on that day, the words that he uttered on that occasion expressive of anxiety, now that the conflict was over, that there should be a reconciliation full and complete. You remember how his slender frame thrilled with emotion as he urged that without this there could not be that more perfect union which the Constitution was ordained by the lathers to form. It was on a wintry day that we laid him to his final rest among the snowy hills of Berkshire, towering above the sea; and as we left him there we knew that no truer or braver or kinder heart was beating among living men." [Great applause.]

After referring to the recent electoral difficulties, General Devens introduced President Eliot, who responded in the following words : -

"MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN, - You will bear me witness that I am not in the habit of reading a speech at the Commencement dinner; but on this exceptional occasion I propose to read part of an appropriate address which I have found written for me by another hand : -

"'To the President of the United States: Sir, - It is with singular pleasure that we, the President and Fellows of Harvard University in Cambridge, embrace the opportunity which your most acceptable visit to this part of the country gives us. of paying our respects to the first magistrate of the United States. .... Permit us, sir, to congratulate you on the happy establishment of the government of the Union, on the patriotism and wisdom which have marked its public transactions, and the very general approbation which the people have given to its measures At the same time, sir, being fully sensible that you are strongly impressed with the necessity of religion, virtue, and solid learning for supporting freedom and good government, and fixing the happiness of the people upon a firm and permanent basis, we beg leave to recommend to your favorable notice the University intrusted to our care, which was early founded for promoting these important ends. .... While we exert ourselves in our corporate capacity to promote the great objects of this institution, we rest assured of your protection and patronage.

"'We wish you, sir, the aid and support of Heaven while you are discharging the duties of your most important station. May your success in promoting the best interests of the nation be equal to your highest wishes! And after you shall have long rejoiced in the prosperity and glory of your country, may you receive the approbation of Him who ruleth among the nations.' Thus Joseph Willard, President of the University in 1789. to George Washington, first President of the United States. ....

"We greet the Chief Magistrate of our country, not as a stranger, but as a former student of the University, who returns to the fair scene of his youthful studies bringing sheaves of honor with him. We salute in him our beloved country, the beautiful, sweet mistress of us all. In her service Harvard has never counted any sacrifice too costly. Founded when Charles I. was King of England, this institution shared to the full the poverty and hardships in which the nation was cradled. When President Washington visited the College the whole value of the land, buildings, collections, and securities belonging to the President and Fellows was less than the sum of the bequests and gifts which have been paid to our treasurer in the single year since we last sat at these tables ($225,000), There were fewer students then than teachers now. It is delightful to think of the future which awaits our University if the rapid progress of the last twenty years shall be maintained. We would always associate our University with our country. They were poor, straitened, and humble together; together they shall grow rich, free, and powerful." ....

As President Hayes arose to respond he was loudly cheered, and when the applause had finally subsided he spoke as follows : -

"GRADUATES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY, - This is your day. I will not, as I ought not, take up any part of this valuable time. You will therefore excuse me, I am sure, if I take my seat after saying, in the briefest way, the formal words, I assure you that I have a very grateful appreciation of this hearty greeting. I know, I know, how little it is deserved. God grant that during the remainder of my term I may be able to do something to deserve it!"

After a short speech by Governor Rice, Mr. George Bancroft was introduced, and after a few laudatory remarks upon his class ('17) he went on to say: -

"No class can furnish so many lives at so late a day as ours. Our class graduated sixty years ago, and more than one third are still living. What changes we have seen! Our country has extended from shore to shore. Spain and Portugal have national forms of government, Italy regenerated, Germany, after an eclipse of two centuries, coming out of the cloud, and now, as I hope, the Christian armies are moving to the Bosphorus to restore, as I trust, the cross to the citadel of Sophia. I see a magnificent highway on which humanity is marching to her high and noblest destiny; and you, young men, are the persons that I call upon, to let us live with you. act with you, and encourage you, cheer you on, in order that you may accomplish for your country a name."

Postmaster-General Key was the next speaker, and again the hall was made to ring with the applause. He spoke very briefly as follow: -

"MR. PRESIDENT: The cordial greeting I have met here, as well as at all other points in New England where I have been, convinces me of the truth of what you have said. My friends, we have but one country now. It has no North, no South. It is undivided and inseparable."

The next speaker was Carl Schurz, who, after alluding to the fact that he received last year the degree of Doctor of Laws from Harvard, and therefore he was in this point, if not in public station, ahead of President Hayes, and after communicating the interesting news that the present administration intended to smooth the path of the scholar in politics somewhat, paid the following tribute to Professor Lowell: -