PROCEEDINGS AT THE BANQUET
GIVEN BY THE
RAR ASSOCIATION of
WASHTENAW (QUNTY
AT
AN N ARE OR, MICH IGAN
ON THE
Evening of September 28, 1894
AT -
COOPQ’S HOTEL
IN HONOR OF
Hull, Alph Bus FBlºh
UPON THE ANNIVERSARY OF HIS
NINETIETH BIRTHDAY


After the cloth had been removed Hon. E. D. Kinme, the Presiding
Judge of the Circuit Court, arose and addressed the audience
as follows:
GENTLEMEN:
The Bar Association of Washtenaw county has assembled
here to-night, in its unostentatious way, to do honor and
reverence to one of its most cherished members upon this,
the Ninetieth Anniversary of his birth.
We extend a hearty, cordial greeting to all of our friends
and guests, and especially to those who have come from a dis-
tance, and who by their presence are so materially contributing
to the pleasure and enjoyment of this occasion.
We are to-night only repeating history. In all ages, I
think, the nations of the earth have loved to recognize and
commemorate the virtues of their heroes, and their men of
distinguished character. The good and the great men of any
age or of any nation are its first and chief glory. It has been
said that great men constitute the State: certain it is that they
are the proudest monuments of our civilization: more endur-
ing than granite or bronze.
The circumstances which have summoned us together
to-night are auspicious and memorable.
In the history of the human race, few men have sheathed
the sword, and retired from the battlefield of human action
richer in the lustre of good deeds than our brother, whom we
now seek to honor. We look upon the long and brilliant
panorama of his public career, and we behold a picture
that reveals neither flaw or blemish. Whether in private life,
or public or professional duty, he has ever worn upon his lapel
the white rose of a pure and spotless life.
I am sure that the horoscope that impended his nativity
was a happy one; for true it is, that upon this green earth, to
but few men is it given, thus to sow and thus to reap.


- 7—
shade of the evening of his days, that the skies above and
around him are clear and mellow; that the murmuring winds
are soft and balmy and ladened with song, and that the receding
horizon reflects but the matchless beauty and splendor of an
ideal twilight.
We shall be glad now to hear something from our honored
guest of the evening, Ex-Governor Alpheus Felch.
GOVERNOR FELCH SPOKE AS FOLLOWS:
MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN:
No words which I can command can adequately
express my feelings on this occasion. I should be less than
mortal if this testimonial of the partiality of my fellow citizens
and the kind words which have here been spoken did not
touch my heart. They are not the words of strangers but of
friends, and they will pass into my memory as a treasure never
to be forgotten. I can reciprocate only by the poor return of
my warmest thanks.
You have been so kind as to remember, which I of course
could not forget, that ninety years of my life have already
passed, and I enter to-day the last decade of the century. It
is a longer period of life than is allotted to most men—long
enough for the visionary anticipations of youth and the active,
energetic, ambitious and useful years of middle life to have
passed. At that age all that the man was to do is done.
The little remnant of life is very brief, but I cannot look upon
it as devoid of enjoyment or that there is any place for regret
that others must do the work which it was his ambition to do.
Every true man bids God speed to all workers in the good
cause of truth and the prosperity of his fellow man.
Old age is most usually regarded as a gloomy period of
life when decrepitude has taken the place of physical energy
and every source of pleasure is dried up. And this is not a
mere modern speculation. A little more than eighteen hun-
dred years ago, just before the beginning of the Christian era,
Cicero wrote his beautiful treatise on Old Age, in which he
enumerates the supposed evils of that period of human life


—io—
which challenges and commands the admiration of all. This,
too, had its organization within this sixty years, and it has
been my good fortune, as a looker-on from the first, to know
the work it has done and the record it has made. We are so
fortunate as to have with us to-night some of the members of
that tribunal, and one who was at an early day one of the
Judges of the Supreme Court, and who, for a long term of
years, was one of its most efficient and eminent members.
Although now retired from official position the love and
respect of his fellow citizens follow him and rest upon him in
his retirement. The printed decisions of this Court are
received by other tribunals throughout the country as high
authority, and its members have always been held in good
repute as able expounders of the law and careful adminis-
trators of justice.
But courts are not isolated tribunals. They never listen
with closed doors. They never decide on the rights of a
party litigant without giving ear to what may be said in his
behalf from his own lips or by his attorney; and this brings
before the court that class of professional men whom we know
as lawyers. I am happy to be classed as one of the profession.
I have stood in its ranks (though not always in active service)
since 1830, and three years later became a member of the Bar
of Michigan. I remember well the members of the Michigan
Bar at that early period. Their number was small, but among
them were men of distinguished ability and fair professional
acquirements. I have taxed my memory in vain to find a
single individual now living who was a member of the Bar
here when I came to Michigan in 1833. But the profession
has increased immensely since that time in numbers, acquire-
ments and influence.
My associations with the members of the profession have
always been of the most pleasant and cordial character and from
them I have constantly received tokens of their kind consid-
eration and regard.
This pleasant meeting, called by your kind invitation,
my brothers of the legal profession, and your hearty and
cordial greeting are incidents never to be forgotten by me,
and I beg you to accept my warmest acknowledgment and
most hearty thanks.


—I2—
Michigan; and Hon. Morgan L. Martin, of Green Bay. I was
elected over those distinguished men. All three of them after-
wards became members of congress. W. W. Woodbridge was
afterwards elected United States senator from the state of
Michigan and in 1840 was elected governor. Mr. Doty was
afterwards elected as a member of the house of representatives
from Wisconsin, and Mr. Martin followed him.
I came to this city on your invitation to do honor to my
noble friend with whom I served in the Senate of the United
States from 1848 to 1853, when our mutual friend, President
Pierce, appointed him commissioner to settle the Spanish and
Mexican claims in California. Gov. Felch was chairman of
the committee on public lands in the United States senate,
and the faithful and able manner in which he discharged the
duties of his office, for the grant reached more than half way
from the Missouri to the Mississippi river, nearly 1,500 miles,
has been the cause of raising Iowa from an inferior territory
to now the first agricultural state in the world. Statistics
prove that Iowa has raised more corn than even Illinois which
has from 20,000 to 30,000 more square miles of territory than
she. s
Fellow Citizens—I can call you such because you be-
stowed the first honors upon me as your delegate in congress
—I strove with your two senators to procure the admission of
your state into the Union. I at the same time used my
influence to have the territory of Wisconsin established. I had
the pleasure of seeing my bill to establish the territory of
Wisconsin passed on July 4, 1836. Before Michigan was
declared a state the southern members of congress were
opposed to the admission of Michigan because they disliked
to create another abolition state, as they then called it, but the
bill passed, and with the addition of the large section of
country west of Lake Michigan which was attached to make
amends for the small piece of territory taken from the south-
ern portion and given to the state of Ohio. Gen. Jackson was
then president, while I was delegate in congress from the ter-
ritory of Michigan. I had been sergeant of the body-guard of
Gen. Jackson at Lexington, Ky., as he passed through with
his family from Tennessee through Kentucky to take his seat
in the presidential chair. The next spring I was sergeant of


—13–
the body-guard of Lafayette, the French general, who fought
for the independence of the United States of America. Gen.
Jackson was president of the United States when I was intro-
duced to him the last Sunday before the first Monday in
December, 1835, by Senator Lane, of Missouri, the colleague
of Col. Benton. When I was introduced to him he scruti-
nized me and said, “My young friend, if you are from Mis-
souri, I would think I had seen you before; I was honored at
Lexington, Ky., by a young man that looks very much like
you, except that he had no mustache on.” I then wore a
black mustache. Says I, “Mr. President, I am the same young
man.” “Are you Stockley's college mate?” “Yes, I am.”
“Give me your hand,” he said, “God Almighty bless you for
what you have done. If I can ever help you here I will do so
with a great deal of pleasure.” My bill for the establishment
of Wisconsin territory and the division of Michigan was passed.
I asked my two colleagues, the delegates in congress, one of
whom was one of the most distinguished lawyers who ever
appeared before the Supreme Court, what I could do to get
the officers created by my bill appointed by the president.
Both said, “You cannot get one, no delegate is known to
secure the appointment of any man to fill an office in his ter-
ritory.” Well, says I, “But Gen. Jackson is a friend of mine,
he has said he would help me and I am sure he will do it
now.” Said they, “You cannot do it.” Sevier White said,
“It is no use to try it, you will not get those offices.” I sat
down and wrote to Gen. Jackson a strong letter arguing against
the propriety and justice of giving officers from the states to
the young territories. I said to him that we have as pure
patriots and eminent, able men as are to be found in Ken-
tucky or anywhere. I claim those offices. The next day his
private secretary came to my seat and said, “The General
wants to see you.” “What general?” said I. “Gen. Jack-
son,” said he, “the President of the United States.” That
astonished me. I said, “What does he want to see me for?”
He answered, “Didn't you write him a rather saucy and
threatening letter last night?” “No,” I said, “I hope not.”
Well, he said, “By the gods, young sir, you have got Old
Hickory now foming at the mouth, he says, “Donaldson, tell
that Col. Jones to come and see me, I want to see if he can


—15–
Buchanan, then senator from Pennsylvania, stopped me and
said, “Colonel, I want to speak a word to you.” I stopped, he
called to one or two others and said, “I want to tell you some-
thing. This morning I went over to see Gen. Jackson to ask
him to appoint a friend of mine, Mr. Fraser, a judge in this
young gentleman's territory, I don't know its name, and what
do you think Gen. Jackson told me? He says, “Mr. Buchanan,
if you want your friend appointed judge of the Supreme Court
of the territory of Wisconsin you must go to the delegate from
the territory.’” Slayton says, “No, Colonel, you and I have
played together, you and I are particular friends, I have noth-
ing to do with these damned loco focos, but Fraser whom my
friend wishes to have me recommend to you is one of the dis-
tinguished members of the Bar, I have practiced law with him
twenty years, he would do honor to the Supreme Court of the
United States, if you recommend him he will do you honor.”
I said, “Write to your friend to come down here and see me so
I can tell my constituents I know the man who is appointed
and I can recommend him.” He says, “I will go and write to
him.” In a few days Mr. Buchanan wrote to Mr. Fraser to call
upon me at my lodgings and he was introduced to me. He
was a splendid looking gentleman with a white cravat, a little
gray in his hair. I was delighted with him. I said, “Mr.
Buchanan, cannot you and your friend Fraserdine with me?” Mr.
Buchanan could not, but Mr. Fraser said, “Colonel, I will dine
with you with pleasure.” I said, “We will dine at 6 o'clock.”
At 6 o'clock he came. There were 30 or 40 at the table includ-
ing Gov. Felch and myself. After taking soup champagne was
handed around and Mr. Fraser who sat next to me would not
take any, or claret; he said, “I have not tasted anything like
this for 20 years.” That delighted me. After dinner says I,
“Mr. Fraser, to-night I will recommend you to Gen. Jackson
for Judge in my territory.” That night I recommended him
and the next day he was confirmed. I said, “You will stop at
the house of the sister of Gov. Dodge when you reach Wiscon-
sin,” and a senator to whom you have been introduced to-night
wrote a letter of introduction. He took my letter and departed.
When he reached his destination the lady to whose house he
had been sent welcomed him cordially, saying that a friend had
written to her all about him. “How have you enjoyed your


—I7—
refers to-night to the American Lawyer of whom we, in Michi-
gan, have so long been proud. -
The American Lawyer is expected to be a man of learn-
ing and of good sense, and withal, modest, and who will leave
boastfulness to those who perhaps in other realms might
incline to separate the office itself from the beneficial results
which are reasonably to be expected from it, and to make the
title itself the subject of boast. You will hear nothing from
me that expresses a pride in a mere name of office; but I shall
take pleasure in speaking to the worth of the American Law-
yer, and to the large part he bears in the administration of
free institutions in the western world. Nowhere among the
nations is the office of Attorney and Counsellor at Law so
important as an assistant in the building up of free institu-
tions, and in their steady and safe administration, as in the
United States. But to-night I am to speak of the American
Lawyer, with a particular representative, whom we all delight
to honor before us, and to express, in my feeble way, my ap-
preciation of his work and his services.
Alpheus Felch was the first judge I ever saw upon the
bench, and he fairly captified my imagination. I remember
to-day as vividly as the night of my first seeing him how
charmed I was with his presence, with his ease of deportment,
with his mastery of the English language, never excessively
ornate, but always clear, always to the point, always expressing
exactly what the occasion called for, and doing it in such a
way as to the young practitioner could not fail to be charm-
ing. Those charges of his to juries seemed to me perfect.
There was not a word too many or too few, or that was be-
gotten of mere display; not a word that the simplest man on
the jury could not perfectly comprehend, and not a statement
of a legal principle that did not bear on its face full justifica-
tion for its utterance and a complete presentation of the view
intended to be imparted. This completeness was always mani-
fest whether what was said concerned the law or the facts.
There was to me something of an education in this. Its
effect never passed from my mind, and when I contrasted it
with what I soon had occasion to hear from others occupying
a position equally high, and who seemed to delight in the use
of great words, strong phrases, dogmatic utterences that were
2


—20—
you will believe it. There is no living witness to the fact that
I know of. I did not distinguish myself here and do not
think there is any local tradition of my residence or professional
achievements. But what I say is true and I wish to be recog-
nized, not perhaps as being, but as having been one of you.
JUDGE KINNE.
The State of Michigan has been specially fortunate in the
selection of its chief executives, although I think the first
governor of Michigan was an infant in years, but a man in
heart and mind. I regret to say that we have not with us
to-night the present executive of the state, but we have with us
one of the ex-governors, who left behind him as pure, clean
and strong an administration as his own personal character,
and I call upon Ex-governor David H. Jerome to respond to
“The Governors of Michigan.”
GOVERNOR JEROME.
MR. CHAIRMAN, Gentlemen of the Bar of Washtenaw County
and Fellow Citizens.
I find myself somewhat embarrassed in speaking for
another man when I prefer to speak for myself, and lest I
should forget what I would be glad to say for myself I will say
it now.
When I received the invitation to come down here I saw
that it was to be a guest of the Bar of Washtenaw County, and
to partake of the banquet to be furnished by the Bar of Wash-
tenaw County, and this was so unique a performance for the
members of that profession that I said I should come at once.
My experience in life so far has been that wherever there was
something to be furnished and the Bar had anything to do
with it they were very apt to have it at the expense of some-
body else.
That was not all that I came here for either, to satisfy my
curiosity in that line; but I did come here because I have lived
in Michigan more years than the venerable guest of this occa-
sion, and from my infancy up I have been taught by those
whose advice I have usually followed that among the great
men of Michigan was Alpheus Felch; and I congratulate
Governor Felch upon the kindly spirit that pervades the whole


—21–
people of Michigan, for him. I also congratulate him that he
has passed through all these years of public life, and the earlier
part of it when he needed encouragement was at a time when
the public took careful thought of how their public servants
were discharging their duties, for I believe that an official is
encouraged or discouraged largely by the assurance that he
receives that his acts are known by his constituents and are
weighed for what they are worth, and he will be discouraged if
they go for naught and they receive no criticism and no com-
mendation. It is a good deal like a person coming before the
foot lights in the theater when all he may do or say does not
elicit any response. If I had any advice to give the people of
the State it is that the responsibility as to the character of their
officials rests upon them. It is their duty to scrutinize their
officials, be familiar with their doings, commend them for doing
well when they do well and chastise them if they do wrong.
I want to add my voice and everything that is within me
that I may express in proper words and add to the good feel-
ing that has been extended to Governor Felch. I honor him
as a man, as an official, and it has been one of the green spots
of my life to come down here and say it for myself.
I see before me a good many young men and I can define,
I believe, some things that are running through their minds.
Governor Felch has been described here very truly as a man
who has held all the distinguished offices that the people of
Michigan can bestow, and he received all of them without
solicitation and continued right on without a break. Governor
Felch, I think there is a great deal of curiosity to know just
how that thing is brought about. I think there are over Ioo
men in this room who can tell how they have not accomplished
that. I speak somewhat feelingly on the subject.
What I have to say for Governor Rich is that he is about
his State's business, and he is trying his utmost that he knows
how to continue in office, and I think I may safely say that
heretofore he has had considerable success, and it would be the
highest wish of his life to follow in the footsteps of our guest
and continue on until he is 90 years old.
I hope that our distinguished guest will live to be Ioo
years old, and if he should and you should extend another
banquet to him I hope I shall be one of the invited.


—32—
tracted trial, in which I find by the records, almost the entire
Bar of Washtenaw County was either for or against the pros-
ecution, the jury came back into court, and upon their oaths
did say that the defendant was guilty in manner and form as
charged in the indictment, and that the sum of money actually
lost was twenty-five cents. The usual motions for a new trial,
and for arrest of judgment were made, and overruled, and then
Judge Witherall pronounced sentence upon the poor Ypsilan-
tian, and fined him $1.25. The most remarkable part of this
record is yet to be stated, that is, that at the bottom of the
record the clerk who made the entry charges up the fees of the
county clerk for making this record at ninety cents. From that
day to this, Mr. President, the Bar of Washtenaw County has
gone on in this good work, and I want to say to you that the
records, and the early history of that case discloses that this
lawyer, who had disclosed this talent for gambling, by reason
of the outraged moral sentiment of the Bar of Washtenaw
County, was driven out of this county to one of the neighbor-
ing counties, where he could ply his vocation with greater
profit and less danger. And from that day to this the moral
sentiment of Washtenaw County Bar has been such, that as
soon as any member of the Bar developed any propensity for
gambling, his losses became so great that he found it to his
advantage to join a Bar where competition was not quite so
sharp as in Washtenaw.
One of the earliest recollections of my professional life was
of entering the court room just at the close of a hotly
contested trial, while Judge Cooley was, in a few beautiful
sentences, closing the argument for the plaintiff in the case. I
had never met his Honor before, but from that instant I have
recognized him as a profound lawyer and skilled in his pro-
fession. But it was my good pleasure, and greatly to my
profit, for a number of years of my early professional life, to
have before me (if I could but distantly follow it) the example
of Alpheus Felch; and I want to say, in a tone of voice that I
wish might reach him, and yet possibly it ought not, that no
man ever crossed the vista of my life who had so great an
influence upon me as the example of Alpheus Felch in the trial
of a lawsuit. Impetuous as I am, I found in him a counter
part, and what I believe to be the greatest example I have ever


your homes and business and journey to us and join with us in
these festivities.
The following are letters and extracts therefrom which
were read at the banquet:
AUGUSTA, Maine, September, 1894.
Hon. B. M. Thompson, Secretary.
DEAR SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter in behalf of the members of your Bar
inviting me to be present at the Banquet tendered to the
Honorable Alpheus Felch on the interesting occasion of his
attaining his ninetieth birthday, as an expression of their
appreciation of his public services and his public and private
virtues.
It would give me so much pleasure to be present and
unite with you in the expression of such appreciation that even
at my age, although more than two years his senior, I would
undertake the journey if the distance were less.
He is my dear and oldest living friend. We commenced
the study of Virgil together at Limerick Academy seventy-five
years ago. We were at Bowdoin College together, though not
in the same class; we commenced the practice of law about
the same time: We entered the U. S. Senate together in
1847; and we are now the sole survivors of the Senators of
that session of Congress. Only two more can be added to the
list of survivors of the hundred members of that body during
the six years of our service—they are Hon. Robert C. Winthrop,
of Massachusetts, and General George W. Jones, of Iowa.
After a brief period of practice of the law in Maine, Mr.
Felch resolved to cast his lot with the opening West, and take
the opportunity to grow up with it. He then moved to the
Territory of Michigan, and he has been part and parcel of its
development and growth until it now occupies the position of
one of the leading States of the Union.
I knew him best during his senatorial life; and it is no
small commendation to be able to say of him that as a safe,
wise and patriotic statesman, always true to his convictions,
and true to the interest and honor of his State and the Union,


–36–
Long as have been his years we rejoice that they give
promise of more. May they outrun the century, and still
present to rising generations an inspiring model of the true
Citizen, Statesman and Patriot. Very truly, etc.,
Geo. V. N. LATHRop.
LANSING, Sept. 14, 1894.
Hon. B. M. Thompson, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
DEAR SIR: The career of Governor Felch has indeed
been a notable one; a member of our first State Legislature
almost sixty years ago, a governor when our state's population
was less then that of Detroit at the present time, a United
States Senator with men who now exist only in their country's
history. In every position he served the people honestly and
ably, and of him it can be said that the people honored them-
selves in honoring him. Every citizen will join with you in
extending good wishes to your distinguished guest and
rejoicing that he has been spared a score of years beyond the
allotted three score and ten. The love and veneration of those
who knew him, the confidence and respect of his fellow
citizens is the reward he has received for a well spent life, and
none can say that it is not richly deserved.
Sincerely yours,
John T. Rich.
DETRoit, Mich., September 26, 1894.
DEAR SIR: Please to convey to Governor Felch my
congratulations, not only for the honor done him by the mem-
bers of the Washtenaw Bar on the occasion of this anniversary,
but on account of his honorable as well as long life. Few
men in the state have better served its interests or been more
honored by its people. As a member of the Bar he was dis-
tinguished; as a public man, Judge of the Supreme Court,
Governor, Senator in Congress, alike, all along his life,
honored by the people, and by his integrity and ability doing
honor to the state.
I regret that I may not, perhaps, be able to attend the
banquet with which the Bar honors both him and itself on his
coming ninetieth birthday. Yours truly,
JAMEs F. Joy.


DETROIT, Mich., Sept. 17, 1894.
Prof. B. M. Thompson,
- University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor, Mich.
MY DEAR SIR:—There is no good citizen of Michigan
who will not be with you in spirit on that occasion. The
learning and the ability of your distinguished guest, the purity
of his long life, his patriotism, and his pride in and services to
the state and nation, have endeared him to his fellow citizens,
and have made a living lesson to young men of a life well
lived. Very truly yours,
DON M. DICKINSON.
GRAND RAPIDS, Sept., 26, 1894.
B. M. Thompson, Esq., Secretary. -
MY DEAR SIR:—It would afford me extreme pleasure
to respond in person, to contribute my mite, to an object so
worthy of homage as that of the distinguished guest whose long
and faithful service to his country in the various distinguished
positions he has been called upon to fill with such consummate
ability, fidelity and integrity, as legislator, judge, governor,
and United States senator; as well as the important position of
chairman of the commission appointed by the President and
Senate of the United States to adjust and determine the validity
of the various extensive and complicated grants of land made
by the government of Mexico to its citizens in California,
prior to its cession to the United States, as the result of the
war with that republic; and retired from the discharge of the
various duties thus imposed upon him, without the semblance
of a blemish upon his integrity or his honor; nor do I speak as
a partisan when I say that fidelity to his political principles
and convictions alone, in conflict with those of the party that
guided and directed the public affairs of Michigan for more
than thirty years of his active life, naturally interposed, as
against still further distinguished political honors. While in
civil life his transcendant and unsullied virtues have not been
overlooked—as a professor of law, in our superb University he
added grace and dignity, without austentation, to the import-
ant position in that exalted seat of learning; as well as presi-