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EULOGY FOR HIS SECRETARY OFTHE NAVY
107
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CLEVELAND, GROVER. Autograph Manuscript Signed, in the third person
within the text (“Mr. Cleveland”), draft of his eulogy for his one-time Secretary of the
Navy William Collins Whitney. 1
1
/
4
pages, 4to, written on rectos of separate sheets; faint
staining to upper right of each page, horizontal folds. (TFC)
Np, [circa February 1904]
[800/1,200]
“
Mr. Cleveland was evidently deeply affected when to a representative of the Associated Press, he paid
the following tribute to Mr.Whitney:
“
The news of Mr.Whitney’s death has greatly shocked me. . . . [M]y mind . . . dwells upon the days
of my association with him in high official duty, and recalls the time when I had the opportunity to
enjoy his unreserved intimacy and friendly companionship. . . .
“
Mr.Whitney had more calm forceful efficiency than any man I ever knew. . . . His conquest over the
obstacles he encountered in undertaking to build up our navy, afforded him greater delights than the
contemplation of the great results he achieved in his Department of the Government.
“
His judgment was quick, clear and astonishingly accurate; and when it was called into action, his
mental poise was so complete, that neither passion nor irritation could lead it astray. . . .
“
I mourn the death of a friend of whom it can be truthfully said that in his character was combined mental
traits of a high order and loving qualities of heart that grappled him to his friends with hooks of steel.”