The gentleman seemed to be well warranted
in what he said. The three colleges, Harvard, Amherst and
Williams, had united in an application for one hundred thousand
dollars shortly before. It was supported by the eloquence
of Edward Everett and the authority of Mark Hopkins and President
Hitchcock. Harvard was then so poor that they had not money
to spare when they wanted to move the pulpit from the end
to the side of the Chapel. But the application was denied.
Banks relied in his somewhat sonorous fashion: "You need not
trouble yourself, Sir. The Commonwealth will give a hundred
thousand dollars." And she did. This was followed by the
grant, under Banks's influence, for the endowment of the Boston
Institute of Technology, large grants to the colleges and
grants to some of the endowed schools.
General Banks's statue should stand by the State House as
one of the foremost benefactors of the great educational
institutions of the Commonwealth, and as an example of what
a generous ambition can accomplish for the humblest child
in the Republic.
Governor Boutwell, who is still living, became a member of
President Grant's Cabinet in March, 1869, and remained in
the House only a day or two of the spring session which lasted
about ten days.
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