Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/214

168 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS presidential mansion. In the following year their only daughter, who had grown to womanhood, also passed away, leaving a memory precious to all who had the privilege of her acquaintance. His home, now lonely from the loss of those who spread around it sunshine and happiness, induced Mr. Fillmore to carry out a long-cherished project of visiting the Old World, and in May, 1855, he sailed in the steamer "Atlantic." During his visit to England he received numerous and gratifying attentions from the queen and her cabinet minis ters, and was proffered the degree of D.C.L. by the University of Oxford, through its chancellor, the Earl of Derby, the gifted orator who was known as the "Rupert of debate." This honor he however declined, as did Charles Francis Adams a few years later while American minister to the court of St. James. They were alike indisposed to submit to the scenes usual on such occasions. We can not dwell as we could wish on Mr. Fill- more s patriotic attitude during the early years of the late war; of his warm interest in all the chari table Christian work of the city in which he passed nearly half a century; of his establishing the Buf falo historical society; how, as the first citizen of Buffalo, he was called upon to welcome distin guished visitors, including Mr. Lincoln, when on his way to Washington in 1861, and frequently to preside over conventions and other public gather-