GODKIN MEMORIAL LECTURES

The University has received a gift of over $10,000 for the establishment of an annual lectureship in memory of Edwin L. Godkin h.'17, who died in May, 1902. Mr. Godkin became editor of the "Nation" and the "New York Evening Post" in 1881, until the time of his death, was editor of both papers. The objects of the lectureship are set forth in the following letter of gift: NEW YORK, March 18, 1903.

To the President and Fellows of Harvard college:

Some of the friends of the late Edwin L. Godkin have desired to express their admiration and gratitude for his long and disinterested service to the country of his adoption by some suitable memorial, which should perpetuate his name and stimulate that spirit of independent thought and unselfish devotion to the public good which characterized his life and distinguished his career.

In view of his scholarly tastes and acquirements, the establishment in some learned university of an annual lecture or lectures upon subjects to which he had devoted a large portion of his life seemed peculiarly appropriate.

An appeal for contributions--very limited in extent--brought an immediate and gratifying response from persons of the highest character, indicative of the estimation in which Mr. Godkin and his work were held; and while the list of contributors included many of Mr. Godkin's friends, it included also many others not in general sympathy with his opinions, greatly enhancing the value of their tribute.

In the selection of a university to administer the gift, it was natural that the one should be chosen--itself an advocate of free speech and liberal thought--in which he was so well known and so highly regarded.

The undersigned, on behalf of the contributors, now have the honor of tendering to the President and Fellows of Harvard College, the fund collected for this object--now in excess of $10,000. They leave its administration entirely to the discretion of the University, imposing no conditions other than that the income be used in providing for the delivery and publication of lectures upon "The Essentials of Free Government and the Duties of the Citizen," or upon some part of that subject, such lectures to be called "The Godkin Lectures" and of which there shall be at least one in every year.

It is our understanding, however, that no permanent appointment of a lecturer be made and that the duty be not assigned to persons connected with the University--although such connection shall not be deemed a disqualification--but that the opportunity be employed from time to time to procure from varied and perhaps distant quarters lecturers of the highest distinction.

Enclosed will be found the check, of Charles H. Marshall, Esq., the Treasurer of the Committee for the sum of $10,500, and some subscriptions now unpaid will be hereafter forwarded.

We also forward a list of the contributors to the fund.

We have the honor to be   Very respectfully yours,   JAMES C. CARTER.   HENRY C. POTTER.   HORACE WHITE.   JOHN L. CADWALADER.   CHARLES H. MARSHALL. Committee.

Charles Francis Adams, a member of the Committee, is now in Europe; for that reason his name is not attached.

The following were the subscribers to the fund: James C. Carter, Mrs. Alfred Pell, Charles H. Marshall, Charles Francis Adams, Frederick Sheldon, Wayne MacVeagh, R. J. Cross, John Howard Latham, Henry Holt, Andrew Carnegie, Moorefield Storey, William R. Huntington Oswald Garrison Villard, Francis Lynde Stetson, Harold G. Villard, William C. Whitney, Leonard E. Opdycke, Mrs. and Miss Tuckerman, Joseph Larocque, Mr. and Mrs. Charles MacVeagh, William E. Dodge, Austen G. Fox, W. Bayard Cutting, J. G. Rosengarten, Miss Gertrude L. Hoyte, James F. Rhodes, Dr. George M. Gould, J. Pierpont Morgan, J. M. Crafts, Misses Lyon, Henry C. Lea, Henry La Barre Jayne, Richard Watson Gilder, Georgina Schuyler, A. D. Noyes, Alexander Agassiz, Henry M. Sands, Wm. M. Polk, Charles F. McKim, Sarah C. Woolsey, Frederic B. Elliott, William J. Palmer, John L. Cadwalader, Henry C. Potter, Sidney Webster, Mrs. John Markoe Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, Arthur G. Sedgwick, Mrs. Wm. B. Rice, Wm P. Garrison, Horace White, Augustus Hemenway, Mrs. Villard, Mr. and Mrs. Merritt Trimble, Samuel G. ward, John C. Gray, Theo. W. Ely, Professor William James, George Foster Peabody, Mr. and Mrs. J. Kennedy Tod, James J. Higginson, Charles S. Fairchild, Samuel B. Dana, Charles E. Norton, George Burnham, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Philip Schuyler, F. K. Sturgis, James Lowndes, Dr. Charles McBurney, Eugene Delano, Clemence H. Crafts, Stuart Wood, F. W. Whitredge, Mrs. Henry Whitman, Frederick W. Rhinelander, Louise Lee Schuyler, Mrs. Hartman Kuhn, Mrs. Abraham B. Sands. Frederick deP. Foster, J. Rodman Paul. Joseph H. Choate, Anson Phelps Stockes, Professor A. V. Dicey.