Duchess of Portland

“ Her last days in England foreshadowed the glories of her life in India. At a ball given at Welbeck Abbey by the Duke and Duchess of Portland in honor of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, shortly before her departure, Lady Curzon of Kedleston, whose grace had once given charm to many an American ball-room, was280 among the few honored with a place in the royal quadrille. While the Portlands do not entertain often, they enjoy the reputation of having the most sumptuous social functions that are witnessed anywhere in England. ”

“ About seven o'clock, the Duchess dowager of Portland came. She is not near so old as Mrs. Delany; nor, to me, is her face by any means so pleasing; but yet there is sweetness, and dignity, and intelligence in it. ”

“ During the first six or eight years of the reign of William and Mary, Lord Portland, however, enjoyed all that favour and those distinctions which his prudence, and the courage which he had displayed both in military and civil affairs, so well justified. The avowed favourite of the King, and deriving considerable grants from the crown, he spent the sums for which he was indebted to the Treasury and to British lands, in promoting the welfare of the English peasantry. ”

“ The Duchess interested herself in her husband's vast estates, as well as in her own, and in the domestic welfare of their dependants. For a long period she was a fitting companion for the Duke and pre-deceased him ten years, in May, 1844.
Two of their sons developed some remarkable traits and two of the daughters became rich heiresses. The eldest son died young, which opened the way for Lord John to become Marquis of Titchfield and eventually fifth Duke of Portland of eccentric fame. The third was Lord George Bentinck, born on February 27th, 1802. Of the daughters, Lady Charlotte married Mr. ”

“ Queen Eleanor was ill—she died in the following month at Harby near Lincoln—and thence was made the most notable funeral progress in English history.
The country around is tranquil and pleasing; not far away stands the quaintest of windmills, which must certainly tumble from very weariness before many years have passed. Above the tops of the closely-planted trees to the right are to be seen the chimneys of a deserted-looking building, raised in the early nineteenth century by a Duke of Portland, in imitation of the Priory Gatehouse at Worksop. ”

“ When he heard of this development, Portland added his resignation, and Lord Shelburne, after a gallant attempt to defeat the malcontents, advised the king that the only possible solution was the elevation of the Duke of Portland to the premiership. It is an historical fact that when great men differ mediocrities come into their kingdoms, and Portland as Prime Minister was a figurehead. ”

“ Its foundation and existence stand for a principle; it is the result and fruit of evolutionary forces which could not be turned aside; and it has been, and must continue to be the nerve center towards which and from which tend all the historic ideas and influences which turned the tide of dominion from Russia and Great Britain, and made Portland, Oregon, in fact and truth, unconsciously, the guiding star of that empire which westward took its predestined and irresistible way. ”

“ The women of the land offer neither that hope nor that fear. They are indifferent. Portland ia a city of more than a hundred thousand inhabitants and not once was the church, in which the National Association met, filled. Women of national and world- wide reputation were there; eloquent women were there; but apparently there were not five hundred women in Portland who took any interest in this interesting subject and this interesting convention. ”

“ With such a beginning, with the growth and development already achieved, with an invincible position and natural advantages which cannot be reversed or diminished, Portland is entitled to be called the "City of Destiny"—a destiny assured to be the greatest city of the Pacific coast of North America. ”

“ Portland behaved with great magnanimity in the matter, his one chief desire appeared to be to avoid a quarrel between his royal friend and Parliament. Not many men would have had such self-abnegation as to renounce an estate estimated to be worth 6,000l. per annum, besides the product of royalties, when they had a King and a victorious army to support them in its possession. The Earl had saved the King's life, he had rendered invaluable services as a diplomatist and General in raising forces to fight for the cause of Protestantism ”

“ The mournfullest task of memory lies in realising how large a toll is yielded in a few fleeting years to the unsparing tax-gatherer Death.
Portland, although devoid of the fertile lands which encompass Port Fairy and Warrnambool, had yet beauties of its own. Its situation was romantic. Lofty cliffs rose from the beach, and from many a picturesque eminence the residences of the townspeople looked on the broad ocean and the peaceful waters of the bay. ”

“ George Washington's birthday anniversary, February 22d, is rose planting day at Portland, Oregon, and this patriotic remembrance of "the father of his country" is thus happily united with the festival that brings recreation, pleasure and joy to the hundreds of thousands of people who lay aside all business cares to rejuvenate health and strength.
Portland has in common with all other American cities, ample means of social culture, and society dissipation. Much of this has been noticed, but the great mass of what goes under the name of social culture is foreign to the purpose of this history. ”

“ Immense sums are being expended on the defences of the city by the United States government, as it is realized that in case of war with Great Britain this would be the point of attack, because Portland is the natural seaport of the Canadas, and Maine is thrust, in a provoking way, between the Maritime Provinces and the Province of Quebec. Portland can indulge in no dream of great commercial importance so long as the country which its position especially dominates is under a foreign{80} flag ”

“ The far Northwest bordering on the sea caught flotsam and jetsam, caught problems, as seaboard regions always have and always will. The city of Portland, Oregon, shares in these matters, though it is old, settled, and much disposed to quiet. Portland’s main concern in life is the growing of roses; but early in the war Portland had already thrown away her rose-growers’ club and set her hand to the ax rather than to the garden trowel. As a city, it is a good place for roses, but a poor place for alien enemies. ”

“ If history is to teach us anything it should show who were the teachers, and what it was they taught.
Some men and women are continually in the public eye, and yet their lives are mere bubbles, flotsam and jetsam on the stream of time, to be picked up or dashed down by any wind of circumstance. Of others we get only a glimpse from some noble act or work, and touch them only at one point or trait in their lives. Portland can boast the names of many noble men and women who have shown from unselfish lives and deeds their real character. ”

“ What pretty woman ever looked so well with neatly arranged hair, as when it is rumpled and blown about? She was half sitting, half reclining on the sofa, and her fine figure was shewn to the best advantage. Portland’s eyes glistened as he gazed at her. What a handsome hostess she would make—what a presider over the destinies of his bachelor establishment! How proud he would be to introduce her to his sporting and Bohemian friends—the only friends whom he affected, and be able to tell them that this glorious creature was his own! ”

“ At this time there were two other newspapers published in the Territory—the Spectator, at Oregon city and the Western Star, at Milwaukie, a then promising young city on the east bank of the Wallamet and six miles south of Portland.
The Western Star soon after disappeared from the Milwaukie horizon, to reappear in Portland as the 77mes. The town itself proved to be too near Portland, to become a city. It has however been noted for the manufacture of flour, the building of steamboats, and the Meek and Lluelling nursery, from which this coast received its first supply of cultivated apple trees. ”

“ Being the first city of importance north of San Francisco, and the brain of our northwest coast, Portland was full of energy and vigor, and believed thoroughly in her future. The great Oregon Steam Navigation Company had their headquarters here, and poured into her lap all the rich trade of the Columbia and its far-reaching tributaries, that tap Idaho, Montana, and even British America itself. So, also, the coastwise steamers, from San Francisco up, all made Portland their terminus, and added largely to her commerce. Back of her lay the valley of the Willamette, and the rich heart of Oregon ”

“ These observations do not apply any more to Portland than to other cities — not even as much. Look at old Virginia, when a colony of farmers, producing George Washington, Thomas Jefiferson, John Marshall, James Madison, James Monroe, Patrick Henry, John Randolph, "Light Horse Harry" and Richard Henry Lee. The world never before, or since, beheld such a group of intellectual giants. Every man of them reared on a farm. ”

“ Portland is indeed a city of homes, and workingmen own their own houses to an unusual degree. As the visitor traverses Portland's streets, he sees amply demonstrated the propriety of the cognomen, the "Rose City." Almost every yard boasts its roses, and on almost every porch the scarlet rambler or some other climber casts its rich colouring. Soil and climate are said to produce an ideal combination for the finest grades of roses, as well as of many other species of flowers. The Portland Fair of 1905 was the means of beautifying a section of the city near Macley Park. ”

“ Had the Duke been residing, and spending his revenue elsewhere, one half of these poor people would have wanted employment and food; and would probably have been little comforted by any metaphysical arguments upon population, which could have been presented to their investigation.”—Scott’s Prose Works, vol. 4.
Many such things may be daily heard of the present Duke of Portland, in the neighbourhood of Welbeck Abbey, in Nottinghamshire ”

“ The Old Ladies' Home Society — prototype of this home, was organized March 3, 1893, Mrs. Mary H. Holbrook, a pioneer woman of Portland, noted for good works, being its first president. The object of the society was declared to be the establishment of one or more homes for aged women. The need of institutions of the kind had been recognized before this formal organization ”

“ The Electoral Prince sat at the King's right, the Earl of Portland at his left, and, for the first time, Joost van Keppel was at the King's table, an honour that was not grudged by any of the potentates, for the young soldier was exceedingly popular, being amiable, generous, sweet tempered, and deferential, but Portland marked it with a bitter heart. ”

“ Portland stands alone in its founding and development. In less than sixty years it has arisen from an unbroken forest, uninhabited save by wild beasts and native Indians, separated from its native hearthstones by two thousand miles of unpeopled deserts, plains and mountains, to a city and seaport, one hundred and ten miles from the ocean, that ships more lumber than any other city in the world, more wheat than any other city in America, except New York, and handles more money every day than any other city in the nation of its class. ”

“ The mistake of importing alien red bricks of a most aggressive hue has not been made here. Those that flame from the hill slope above Portland station only succeed in emphasizing the general bleakness of their surroundings. At Easton clock tower a street called "Straits" turns left and east and presently a broad road leads downhill to the right to the gates of Pennsylvania Castle, built, it is said, at the suggestion of George III by John Penn, Governor of Portland, and a descendant of the great Penn in whose honour it was named. ”

“ ALTHOUGH the Lewis and Clark Exposition will have many unique features, the one thing that will make it stand out as different from any other exposition that the world has ever seen will be the scenic attractions of the Exposition and of the city in which it is held. Without exaggeration we may say that certainly no other city in the United States is more beautifully located than Portland. ”

“ Nowadays the first thing in the history of a city is a grand map and a grander name. In 1845 Portland was started, and lots sold before it had any name. This proving somewhat awkward and embarrassing, the matter came up for discussion and decision at a family dinner party of the Lovejoys and Pettygroves at Oregon City. Mr. Pettygrove, hailing from Maine, wished to name the town for his favorite old home town of Portland, while General Lovejoy, coming from Massachusetts, desired to honor Boston with the name. ”

“ After retiring from office Judge Marquam refused to take an active interest in politics, concentrating his energies upon his real-estate investments and the management of his property interests. With remarkable prescience he foresaw the growth of Portland, realizing that eventually a large city would spring up here because of the natural advantages caused by its waterways and the fact that it lay in a most rich and productive section of the state. ”

“ It is not hard to understand the fact of so many townsite locations having been made in the vicinity of Portland. Everybody in the country in those pioneer days, could see as well as we can now, that there would be somewhere above the Columbia river bar, a town started which would grow into a great city, and make a fortune or fortunes for the lucky proprietors. Every man had his individual ideas of the proposition. The city would either be at Astoria, where Astor located, or it would be up near the mouth of the Willamette river. It would be wherever the ships cast anchor to discharge cargo. ”