^> J^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) V ^ iP 1.0 l^m 12.5 ■IT 1^ |2.2 IIW 1.4 ||,.6 I.I 1.25 6" — — ► V] <^ /^ ^7 . # «^ ^^> >^ vV^ ? Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 V<£ST MAiN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ;v # iV \\ ^i:: Ijj v^ • •'I' % '^V ^' *■ ■i4 ■i % *%■ ** ^... f^- '» CI .^'^. rr>f. ff: #% 1^'' ;#■-.■. ■'# * Life Sketches OF Eminent Lawyers. AMERI0AN. ENGLISH AND CANADIAN. TO WHICH 18 ADDED Thoughts, Facts and Faceti/c. IN TWO VOLUMES. BT Gilbert J. Clark, Esq.. op TUI KANSAS CITT SAR; AITTHOR OF £^O^AVI^<}B 07 144 "EMOnCNr ▲MKKICAh, BCOLISH AVV CANAOtAN LAWTBK8," IK TWO EDITIONS. /? K«N(*l ClTV. Mo. : LaWy(M' iNTtNNATIONAk Pu'BU(MIN'« Ctf. 1^. n 4 4^' Br THE BEACON LIGHTS OF JUHISPRt'DENCK, THIS BOOK IH KESrECTFULLT INSCRIBED BT THE AUTHOK ; Lawyers' iNTiiRNATioNAL Pub. Co., Kansas City, Mo. elf PREFACE. Neatly three years ajj') the author bejjan a somewhat systematic study of legal biugraphy for the purpose of intelligently gathering copy for an engraving of famous lawyers and judges. A year later two editions of photogravure groups of one hundred and forty-'our "Eminent American, Knghsli and Canadian L:iwyers" was published— "a portrait," in the language of Th'tmas Carlyle, '-being often superior in real instruction to half a dozen written biographies^ as biographies are written ; and as a small lighted caudle by which the biographies can be read, an J some human interpretation be made of them." Short " LifeSIne, William. Eni;huKl, Blake, Sir Edward, Ontario, . . Blatchford, Samuel, New York, . Bleckley. Lo^an E., Geo.ijia, . Bowen, Charles S. C, England, . Bradley, Joseph P., New Jersey, Brady, James T., New York, Brewer, David J., Kansas, Brewster, Benjamin H., Pennsylvania Broadhe.id, James O., Missouri, . Brown, Joseph E., Georgia, Brown, Henry B , Michigan, . . Butler, Benjamin F., Massachusetts, Cadwalader, John, Pennsylvania, Calhoun, John C., South Carolina, Campbell, John A., Louisiana, , Campbell, James V., Michii;an, . Carlisle, John G., Kentucky, . Carpenter, Matthew H., Wisconsin, Carter, James C, New York, Chase, Salmon P., Ohio, . . . Choate, Joseph H., New York, Choate, Rufus, Massachusetts, Clarke, Sir Edward, England, Clay, Henry, Kentucky, Clifford, Nathan, Maine, . •The Portrait of each person sketchcil in Vol. I is civcn in De Luxe Autograph Edition of engravings of m " Kniinent and Canadian Lawyers." Series A' American, English t ? 7 ') IJ 20 2? 30 36 3S 4) 45 4S 56 60 63 71 73 77 8o 94 96 103 lc6 t09 114 130 133 142 145 155 158 171 of our Vlll CONTENTS. Coke, Sir Edward, England, . Coke, Richard, Texas, Cole, Chester C, Iowa, Coleridge, Lord John, England, Conkling, Roscoe, New York, Cooley, Thomas M., Michigan, Cooper, William F., Tennessee, Curran, John Philpot, Ireland, Curtis, Benjamin R., Massachusetts, Curtis, George M., New York, Daniel, John W., Virginia, Davis, Cushman K, Minnesota, D.llon, John F., New York, Dolph, Joseph N., Oregon, Douglas, Stephen A., Illinois, Edmunds, George F., Vermont, Eldon, Lord, England, . Ellenborougii, Lord, England, Ellsworth, Oliver, Connecticut, Erikine, Lord Thomas, England, Evarts, William M., New York, Field David Dudley, New York, Field, Stephen J , California, Frye, William P., Maine, . Fuller, Melville W., Illinois, . Fullerton, William, New York, G-irland, Augustus H , Arkansas, George, James Z., Mississippi, Gibson, John 15 , Pennsylvania, Goudy, William C, Illinois, , Gray, Horace, Massachusetts, tGresham, Walter Q. Indiana, Hale, Sir Matthew, England, . Hall, John S., Qut-'bec, . . Hannen, Sir James, England, . Hardwicke, Lord, England, Page. 173 182 184 186 193 204 207 209 229 237 241 244 248 257 261 268 271 282 289 292 304 314 322 327 331 334 336 339 341 347 349 352 354 360 362 364 |l'ortrait docs not appear in "Popular Edition" of engravings. CONTENTS, t Page. 173 182 184 186 193 204 207 209 229 237 241 244 248 257 26t 268 271 282 289 292 304 314 322 327 331 334 336 339 341 347 349 352 354 360 362 364 VOL. II. Page Harlan, John M, Kentucky, . 1 Harrison, Benjamin, Indiana 3 Hawkins, Sir Henry, England, 6 Herschell, Lord Farrar, England, 10 Hoadly, George, New York, 12 Hoar, Georije F., Massachusetts, l6 Holmes, Oliver W. Jr., Massachusetts, 20 Holt, Lord John, England, 24 Ingersoll, Robert G , New York, 28 Irvine, George, Quebec, 36 Jackson, Howell E., Tennessee, 38 James, Sir Henry, England, 40 Jay, John, New York, 42 Jewett, John N,, lilinois, 49 Johnson, Reverdy, Maryland 51 Kent, James, New York 55 Lacoste, Alexander L., Quebec 61 Laflamme, R.. Quebec, 63 Lamar, L. Q C, Mississippi, 6$ Leonard, Abiel, Missouri, 75 Lincoln, Abraham, Illinois, 79 Littleton, Lord Thomas, England, 99 McCarthy, D'Alton, Ontario 102 McSweeney, John, Ohio, 104 MacVeagh, Wayne, Pennsylvania, 114 Mansfield, Lord, England, Il6 Marshall, John, Virginia, 125 Maiti'i, Luther, Maryland, - . . 133 Mas .., Jeremiah, Massachusetts, 141 Matt'-ews, Stanley, Ohio, ... 149 Meredith, William M., Pennsylvania, l5l t i'lio portrait of each person sketched In Vol. II is given In "Series B" ol our l)e Lux* .\utugraph Edition of engravings of 144 " Eminent .'American, Eng[lish and C'anadian Lawyers" 1 except Mr. Justice Harlan, ex-President Harrison and Sir Henry Hawlcius, which appear in " Series A,," and Daniel W. Voor- hees and Mr. Justice White); and the portraits of all persons sketched in Volumes I and il (except W. O. Cireshaui and Mr. Justice White) are given in the Popular Edlliou. CONTENTS. Page. Miller, Samuel F., Iowa, * . . 15$ Mitchell, John H., OreRon, 162 Morgan, John, T., Alabama, l64 O'Conor, Charles, New York 168 Osier, B. B , Ontario, 175 Parker, Cortlandt, New Jersey, 177 Parker, Joel, New Hampsiiire, . . . . l8l Parsons, Theophilus, Massachusetts, .185 Peck, George R., Kansas 198 Phelps, Edward J., Vermont 201 Pinkney, William, Maryland, 204 Pomeroy, John Norton, California, 219 Porter, John K., New York, 221 Prentiss, S. S., Mississippi, 225 Pryor, Roger A., New York, 237 Rose, U. M., Arkansas, 239 Russell, Lord Charles, England, 241 Rutledge, John, South Carolina, 246 Ryan, Edward G., Wisconsin, 249 Schenck, David, North Carolina, 255 Selborne, Lord, Eng'and 257 Semmes, Thomas J., Louisiana, 259 Sergeant, John, Pennsylvania, 261 Sharswood, George, Pennsylvania, 264 Shaw, Lemuel, Massachusetts, 268 Shellabarger, Samuel, District of Columbia, 274 Shiras, George, Jr., Pennsylvania, 277 Stanton, Edward M., Ohio, 280 Story, Joseph. Massachusetts, 294 Swayne, Noah H., Ohio, 3oi Swayne, Wager, New York, 303 Taney, Roger, B., Maryland, 305 Teller, Henry M., Colorado, . . 3l3 Thompson, Sir John, Canada, 3i5 Thurman, Allen G, Ohio, 3l7 Thurston, John M , Nebraska, 321 Trumbull, Lyman, Illinois, 325 Tucker, John Randolph, Virginia 33 1 CONTENTS. Page. iss 162 164 168 175 177 181 185 198 201 204 219 221 225 237 239 241 246 249 255 257 259 261 264 268 274 277 280 294 301 303 305 313 315 317 321 325 331 I Page. tVoorhees, Daniel W., Indiana, 334 Waite, Morrison R., Ohio, "8 Webster, Daniel, Massachusetts, . J^* Webster, Sir Richard, England, " ia ^White, Edward D., Louisiana, ' %M Wirt, William, Maryland, ^° Wolcott, Edward O., Colorado, ^77 Woolworth, James M.. Nebraska ^^* tPortrait docs not appear in Dt Lure .\utograph Edition of engravings. ^Portrait is not given in either edition of engravings. "It would be well to read some biography — more especially the lives of the great men of our country — Washington, Franklin, e:c. It will raise your ambition, and show you what can be done throuj;h in. dustry and exertion, by those whose advantages have not been as good as your own,"— At/vicf of S, S. Prentiss to his brother. "It is well to read carefully and frequently the biographies of emi- nent lawyers. It is good to rise from the perusal of the studiei and la- bors, the trials and conflicts, the difficulties and triumphs, of such men, in the actual battle of life, with a secret fetling of dissp.iisfaction with ourselves. Such a sadness in the bosom of a young student is like the tears of Thucydides, when he heard Ilcodotus read his history of the Olympic Games, and received the plaudits of assembled Greece. It is the natural prelude to severer self-denail, to more assiduous study, to more Stlf-sustaining confidence." — Getrgt Sharswood: ^'■Professional Ethics." 1 I ILLUSTRATIONS. Vol. I. " Series A " of De Luxe Engravings (greatly reduced) DAVID JOSIAH BREWER, Associate Justice HENRY BILLINGS BR' ''N, Associate Justice., STEPHEN JOHNSON FIELD. Associate Justice MELVILLE WESTON FULLER. Chief Justxe. HORACE GRAY, Associate Justice.. MM. Frontispiece 60 77 322 33t 349 Vol. M. JOHN MARSHALL, Ex-Chief Justice . Frontispiece JOHM MARSHALL HARLAN, Associate Justice. t HOWELL EDMUNDS JACKSON. Associate Justice.. 38 GEORGE SHIR AS, JR., Associate Justice 277 EDWARD DOUGLASS WHITE, Associate Justice J68 "Give the essence of the man's history, condensed to the very utmost, the dates, his birth, death, main transactions, —in short, the bones of his history; then add reference to books and sources, where his history and cuaracter can be learned farther by such as wish to study it." — Thomas Carlyle. •afffiiHHH'Kv*!;?;- ;■ :.i..J.^-r ?i't'I)'iration of a case being oxliaustivo — be frequently destroying three or four biicfs in one case before satisfying himself. His mental (tperatious were rapid; his logic inexora- ble; his perception, clear; his analysis, searching; his style, convincing; his sagacity, unerring. He was well versed in the literature of the profession; nor was his reading confined to the law, but embraced history, biograi»hy, science, and the current novels of the day. "His processes of reasoning bore about the same relation to those of ordinary lawyers that logarithms bear to common arithmetical iirocesses," says (jeorgc- F. Hoar. 'T'ntil the day of his death," adds lienj. F. Bulb'!', ''he was one of the foremost lawyers of Massachusetts, if not the foremost one." Chief Jus- tice Shaw once said to him: "State your line oi r<'a- soning a little more fully. Your mental operations are so very rai»id that others do not sometimes see the connections betw<'en your premises and conclu- sions so readilv as vou do." WILLIAM AUGUSTUS BEACH. :i case throe iinsoll'. iiexoia- rcliing; Ho lossioii ; \ bra cod iovoIh of he same jarithnis s Georj^c- ds Bouj. '301's of hi of J lis- le 01 n'a- )oi'ati()ns imos soo i couclii- WILLIAM ACiiUSTUS I{I:A(5H, NEW YORK. (LS10-18SL) Uoi-n iioar Sai-aloj^a, Now York, Docoiubor 7, I Mid, ho iiiovod to Troy in 1855; to Now Yoik city ill 1870. Died ill Tarrytown, Jimo 28, 188t, ;i;4t'(] .sovoiity-llii'oo. Mo was well roarod and od- iitatod, but not a sclioluvly man; oarod litllo for ]>olilios or liloratnro; a dictionary and hiw hooks Avore his librai-y. Ho was a lawor, pare, siiiii»lo, and unadoi-nod, save as a noblo profession adorns an able and resohilo follower. He was great before a jury; greater in an apj)ellate court; but greatest when all the duties of a trial lawyer were suddenly inii»osod uiion iiini — in the argument of in- terlocutory motions for (»r against non-suits, and on mixed <|uestions of law and fact. In such emeig- oncios ho was without a peer. The severer the test, t lie grander the response. \\(^ was of ordinary height, strong physique and imposing appearance. His voice was wonderfully winning and under perfect control. In his most vehement and passionate appeals he pre- served his dignity and solemnity. Of au austere and 4 LIFE SKETCH OF melancholy caste, much of a recluse, and always dressed in black, he was the ITamlet of the American bar. J lis legal learning was very great; his vocabu- lary surprisingly rich; his courage superb. He was not a greal examiner, being too domineering and methodical. A jtoor stinh'nl <>f human nature, he treated all witnesses alike, and ^^as slow to trim sale for shifting winds. Ofttimes he lost cases, and never was at his best in desperate ones; but his courage, manners and powers were lion-like and overwhelm- ing, beyond all comparison, lii the prosecutio.i of a great and just cause. The nxu'e purely intellectual the forum, the greater his strength. Befoie the New York ( onrt of Appeals, ii; the North court-marlial proceedings, in (h'fending Judge Barnard, before an impeaching Senate, he won gi'eater laurels than in his more conspicuous work in Cole's defense, the I'ar- rish will contest, the Stokes case, or the l>e<>cher trial. His fame grew until it was national, but law- ver-like, it was ephemeral. Evidence of Marriage. "p]videuce of marriage! What is evidence of marriage? Why, living together, may it please your WILLIAM AUGUSTUS BEACH. I I lioiioi'. ('((liiibitii)};' loj^cdicr, may i( plcaao your lioiiur. Iiitrodiicinj^ cjuli otlioi' as husband and wife, Mild laisin;;' ii|» cliildrcn tojfcllxM*, may it jdcasc your iKtnoi! I'or all Hies** relations they ucr*' niarrit^l! Aye! lor that };<>inj;' down into the very valley an«l shadow of death, which a woman assumes in sueh re- lations, tliev were married! Thev were married when lie enjoyed the Idoom of her youth and her lu'art's lov- ing; tenderness —marii<'d, when it flattered his vanity to enjoy her beauty. Hut when we come to that other time, when of all times niarriaj^cis most sacred, when they should be leadinj^- each other down the western slope of life's steep hillside to rest together at the foot in long repose, then it is that this demon of humanity seeks to cast her off! and jeopardize her womanhood! Bastardize her children!" — In Brinkley Case: Tact in Court, Gl). His T\vo Years' Study of Three Books. Tie earned his law library and a splendid vocabu- lary from hiring out to his father, a well-to-do trades- man, to do for a year or two as his father wantcnl him to do. The parent accordingly furnished him a Bi- ble, a copy of Shakespeare and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, wliich were to be read three times thor- oughl3' and notes made on them, lie sent him to live with some farmer uncle some twenty miles away. The young man became charmed by them and mas- tered each of those books. LIFE SKETCH OF ? 1 DoHcription of - As an Advocate. "We have for niaiiy years believed that as a mere derdaimer, Vtw Beach stands not only at the head of the American bar, bnt at the head of all American orators. His oratorical style is -well-nijih ])erfection. A presence of rare manly beanty and dignity, a voice of f>reat power and sweetness, a vocabnlary singnlar- ly afflnent and sonorons, an nnqnenchalde enlhnsi- asm, and a mascnline nobility and vi^gor of thonjuhl, make him a great master of oratory. Tn r(\<>ard lo his elocntion, Mr. Beach has bnt a single defect — his gestnres are constrained, awkward and violent. As a forensic rhetorician, we think he is too level, and that his level is too high. He Avonld gain in effect by having more conversational and familiar passages. Tlie thnnder is grand, bnt we don't want ahvays to hear it. lie commands rather Mian persnades; and men sometimes set their faces against snch advocacy. As an advocate, ^fr. Beach suffers from a lack of two gifts, humor and i>ower of illustration — very impor- tant defects in an a(h(»cate. In liis conduct of a case he is remarkably self-]tossessed, fertile ami coui'- ageous, but lacks tact and knowledge <»f human na- ture. AA'e think, too, from a jyi'etty iutiniale knowl- edge of him, that his culture is by no means so broad as that of Evarts or Porter. II(» is not a man of many books, except law books. Still he is not by any lueans a geniiis; ho is simply a man of the highest or- der of legal talents." From the Albany LaAV Jour- nal, during the Beecher-Tiltou trial, 1875. CORY DON BECK WITH. CORYDON BECKWITII, ILLINOIS. (1823-1890.) Xciirlv (liii'fv rears wiu?i'n.l counsel of I lie Clilcn- ,i,() iiiid AKon ]J;iiI\vay company. lie was boni in Sutton, A'crmont, in 182:5, and died in Cliica^'», Aiiuust 1(), 1800, ajiod slxty-sovon. Tlie son of a l»i'(»!ninont lawyer, he was admitted at twenty-one, afier live vear.s' stndv, and associated liiniself with Jiidiio SmalU'y in St. Albans, A'ermont, but moved to I-'rederick, ^larylaml, in tlie forties. Desii'injjj a hi'oadcn' field, In^ settled in Chicajio in IS.".*^, and iiliiiost ("rom the start Avas a towering' fiiiure. In Ini.kin;;' (.\'er the early volumes of Illinois rep(M'ls, it \\\\\ he s( en that he monopolized a lar.m' share of the iniiiortanl h\u,al causes of the day, his name ajiixNir- ii;^', jicrhnjis. more frequently than that of any other 1 iwycr of his time. He succeeded Judye C'iit(».i ns ^^!i]>reme Jndj^e of Illinois in ISdl. His opinions, \^lli<•h are n)odels of conciscuiess, are contained in (luce volumes of the reports. lie resiyued to 1)(>- come general counsel of the ("hicajio and Alton Kail- y<\\ comi)any. 8 LIF'E SKETCH OF lie Wiis ill some of the grcalost railway litiga- lions of the day. Some of his iiiii)orlaiit casi'S were: Tlie ceh'brated l?urili (livor(<» case, in which lie won for ^Irs. IJiirch, in the face of ^reat disaress editorials, compiled th;>,t scientific classic, "The (\)nlract of Sale," and rose to the head of the Enj^lish l)ai', i.ceivinjj,' annu- ally during the last years of his practice, as high as .'?2()0,000. Some of his great cases were: the "Creole Case"; Debenham v. Mellon; United States v. Hae; the Franconia case; Anson et al. v. the London & X. W. I?y.; and the Tichborne A])peal. ITe was A'erv able b(>fore a iurv, and in ri'0'v Orleans bar, as far back as the Mex- ican war, l?(.'nja)nin seemed to ]»ossess and excelled ii; JUDAH PHILIP BENJAMIN. 11 most of the traits in the art of cross-examina- tioii. ITg especially possessed celerity of thought and ready aptitude in dealing with the demeanor and ex- pressions of a hostile witness. Like Single Speech Hamilton, in the traditions of the House of Commons, he knew when to quit talking; and, like a good stage manager, he always arranged a good exit from the witness chair for his actor, Avho may have there en- dured forgetfulness of liis cues." — "Cross-Examina- lion as an Art," by A. Oakley liall, September, 1803, ared to Those of the Jews — Tilt 1)1 United States Senate. Then? is a fugitive anecdote concerning Mr. I'eiijamin that in some measure illustrates the power (tf r!ie man in the forensi(; /ield. It was Avhile he was in the United States Senate from Louisiana. Some measure was undcn' discussion, in which Mr. Ben- jamin had acquitted himself in his usual able way. An o}q)onent of Anglo-Saxon lineage took occasion in Ills closing remarks to allude with some gree of sneering contempt to ^Ir. Benjamin's race, and to the Senator, himself as "nothing, anyhow, but a Jew." 'I"he boldness and iiersonality, not to say, brutality, <»f the iiisult, considei'ing (he plac(^ and the charac- ters, brought a hush of expectancy, as the speaker took his seat. Everyone turned toward ^Fr. Benjamin to await his reply. Those who knew his power ex- 12 I IFE SKETCH OF pcctcd he would resent the language in a most elTect- ive Avay, They were i)rei)aretl for an outburst of in- dignant eloquence. Mr. Benjamin met the emer- gency, and probably a more bi'illiant i)assage nevt'r es- caped his lips. It was brief, but unanswerable, lie calmly rose and said: "Mr. President, when the an- cestors of the gentleman who has just si)oken, as half naked savages, were chasing the wild boar in the for- ests of i^ilesia, mine were the princes of the earth." ^ '{ ■^ 1' ■A i HORACE BTNNEY 13 \i eiTcct- st of in- to OIIUM'- iievcr os- )lo. He tho aii- , as lialf tlif for- aHh." ;l ■f IIOKAC'E BINNEY, PENNSYLVANIA. (1780-1 S75.) The vanquisher of Daniel Webster, in the great Ciranl ^vill case. Born in Pliiladelpliia, January 4, ITSO; died there August 12, 1875, aged ninety-five. Of Scotch-En.^lish descent. Educated at University of I'cnnsylvania and Harvard; graduating at seA'enteen, w itli. first honors of his class. Bead law with Jared Iiigcvsoll, tlien Attorney (Jeneral of Pennsylvania, and one of its foremost lawyers. Admitted in 1800. His clientage for some years was meager; but of un- flagging industry, he edited, during this time, six Pennsylvania Supreme Court reports, notablj' the de- cisions of Tllghman and (libson, wliicli are models of icporting. In 1807, his professional engagements liiid hf'come extremely large, and before 1815 he was in the enjoyment of all thai the profession could give in rcpiitjjtion and emolument. When seventeen years at the bar he had argued about thirty cases in the State Su[>reme Court; before fifty, had twice refused position upon that bench; r.nd in 1813, was tcndcrcfl l>y Pi'csident Tyler a Sui)reme Justiceship, but do- 14 LIFE SKETCH OF (lined it, havinj^' resolved not to accept public oHice after sixty. Kepresenied, in the United States Su- preme Court, with .T(dni Sergeant, the city of IMiila- delpUia, trustee under the will, in N'idel et al. v. (ii- rard's Exrs. (2 How. 127), bein<>- oi)]>osed by Walter Jones and Daniel Webster. His arjjiunuMit, made after a year's thoroujih jtreparation in ]!]urope, was exhaustive, unanswerable and overwhelminji', show- ing a complete masterj' (»f every chancery precedent, ancient or modern, as to charitable uses, and won for the city the i)rincel3' gift, and fiu- him imi)erislKil)le renown. Tavo years before his death he was pronounced bv Sumner and Evarts as at the head of the Amer- Iran ba?'. lie is enlill('(l lo the higlit st i':ink as eulo- gist, biographer, historical critic and legal disputant. ITe was reserved, cold and unsympathetic; but ac- complished and i)rofound— never disap|ioinling and often suri)assiiig expectation; ehxpienl, earnest and self-possessed; (tf inllexible honor, a nu)del eiti/en, and an earnest Christian. HORACE BINNF.Y. 16 'A Indexes. "F cciifiluly ihink tliat the best book in the world witiild ' to the bent of the student, without much sliajte or c<'rtainty in the knowledjre so acquii'ed until it is ^iven by investij^a- tion in the course of i)ractice. A j^ood deal of law may be put tooctlu-r by a facile or flexible man in tlie second of these modes, and tlie ])ublic is often satis- fied; but the profession itself knows the first, by its fruits, to be the most effectual way of makin(ions" (o (lie venerable IJ>.1)., "(lie iieasition among his associates, and his decisions will rank among the best ever deliverel in anv State. It maybe said without disparagement to others, that in menial (Midowment and legal eipiipment, he has rare- ly had his eipml. i i 22 /,//'•/■; sh'F.TCir OF Testiinouy of Ex-Oovernor Francis. "Never luive I come in contact witli a man more guileless, more sincere, more candid, more courage- ous, more devoted to his duty or more conscientious in tlie discharge thereof? He is a man of erudition, of wonderful breadth of mind, of marvelou? 'joi --e- hension and of incomparable election of the ^ uii^. «.l' law or equity involved." — Ex-Gov. David 1\. Francis of Missouri, Oct. 1894. 1 JEREAflAH SULLIVAN BLACK. 23 an more couraj^o- ;ientious [•uAition, ':oi '"'e- Francis ■ W. 1 JEREMIAH SULLIVAN BLACK, TENXSYL- VANIA. (1810-1883.) "The Tribnue of the People." He was born In the "Ghides," h^()meri^'et county, Pennsylvania, Jan- uary 10, 1810. Died near York, August 19, 1883, aged seventA'-three. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, received a fair academic education and a vear's train- ing in classics, studied law, and was licensed to practice before twenty-one. He was at once made Prosecuting Attorney of his county; from 1841 to 1851 he was President Judge of the Sixteenth Judicial District of Pennsvlvania; Chief Jus^^ice t uf the State, 1851-2, and Associate Justice to 1857, .hen he was appointed by President Buchanan At- ! iney General of the United States, and on Decem- ber 7, 18(10, Secretary of State. He was appointed Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, but was not contirmed. lie was aftenvards appointed Supreme Court re- porter, and published 1 and 2 Black. His oiiinions as a State judge appear in 12 vol- 34 LIFE SKETCH OF limes (5 ITsirris to 4 Casey), in which he has discussed the law in all its branches. Ilis practice in the Uri+ed States Supreme Court, after official retire- mer. s large and lucrative. ITe received out of the New Idria Quicksilver Mine case alone $160,000 in fees. He argued nearly all cases of political sig- nificance during the reconstruction period, except the test-oath cases; was leading counsel against the Government in the cases of Blj'ew, Milligan and Mc- Cardle, and many others involving constitutional rights of the States and of the citizen. The Vandor- bilt will case and the McGarrahan claim were amoug his important cases. He was President Jolinson's counsel in the impeachment trial, aud of counsel for Tihien before the Electoral Commission. Ills every performance bears the impress of liis wonderful miud. "Simjdicity, directness and vigor were his predominating qualities," says eTudge Maish. Of the Rlyew argument A. II. Garland said: "It was the finest combination of law, logic, rhetoric and elo- quence I ever listened to." He had a large nose, high forehead, shaggy eyebrows, and a tall, brawny, commanding presence. lie was familiar Avllh al- JEREMIAH SULLIVAN BLACK. . 25 most the entire Held of English literature and the Latin classics. A Liar. "If he took an oath he was a liar, I might believe liiui." — Said of a witness. Iteply to Wayne MacVeagh. "My friend from Dauphin (Mr. MacVeagh) spoke of legislation under the figure of a stream, w'hich, he said, ought always to flow with crystal water. It is true that the Legislature is the fountain from which tlie current of our social and political life must run, or we must bear no life; but as it now is, we keep it merely as a cistern for foul toads to knot and gen- der in. lie has described the tree of liberty, as his poetic fancy sees it, in the good time coming, when weary men slmll rest under its shade, and singing birds sliall inhabit its branches and make most agree- able music. But what is the condition of that tree now? ^^'eary men do indeed rest under it, but they rest in their unrest, and the longer they remain there the more weary they become. And the birds — it is not the woodlarlc, nor the thriisli, nor the nightingale, nor any of the musical tribe, that inhabit the branches of our trees. The foulest birds tliat wing the air have made it tlieir roosting place, and their obscene drop- pings cover all the plains about them — the kite, with bis ])enk always sharpened for some crude repast; (be vulture, ever ready to swoop upon his prey; the 26 LIFE SKKTCir OF buzzard, digesting his filthy meal and watching for the moment when he can gorge himself again npou rhe iH'ostrate carcass of the commonwealth. And the raven is lioarse that sits there croaking despair to all who approach for any clean or honest purpose." — Kemarks in Constitutional Convention which adopted the Constitution of Pennslyvania of 1873. The Inllucnc*' of Literature. "A language (or any kind of literature), though forgotten, enriches the mind as a crop of clover plowed down fertilizes the soil." — Speaking of Mat- thew IT. Carpenter's early acquisition of French. A Dissenting Opinion. "The judgment now about to be giA'en Is one of death's doings. I^o one can doubt that if Judge Gib- son and Judge Coulter had lived, the plaintiff could not have been thus deprived of his property, and thousands of other men would have been saved from the imminent danger to which they are now exposed of losing the homes they have labored and paid for. But they are dead, and the law which should have protected those sacred rights has died with them. It is a melancholy reflection that the property of a citi- zen should be held by a tenure so frail. But new lords, new laws is the order of the day. Hereafter, if any man be offered a title which the Supreme Court has decided to be good, let him not buy it if the -m ■i 1 "It I JEREMIAH SULLIVAN BLACK. 27 jiidj;<'S who iiiatle the decision are dead; if they are livinj? let liim get an insurance on their lives, for ye Iht in literary ))ro])erty. His arj^n- ments were able and inj^vnions. He ac(inired little celebrity as an advocate, actinj;' as counsel princi- l)ally, not being "happy in a {graceful delivery or a ! S//i IVILL/AM BLACKSTONE. 31 flow of eloquence." As a common Pleas Judge, from 1770 until his deatli — except ii few months on the King's Bench — he was painstiiking and learned, but cautious and formal. His most famous decision, — Perrin r. Blake, is an exhaustive discussion of the rule in Shelley's case. His fame chiefly rests upon his law lectures and "('ommenfarics on the Laws of England," the writing of which "n)ade him a learned lawyer," says Ellenborough. They were an attempt at a scientific classification, but the arrangement is said to be copied from TTale and the ])hilosophy from I'ufl'endorf, Locke and Montesor bookseller thought lie sliould have to send for a physician. He Plagiarized Puffendorf, Etc. "Ilis philosophy of law was but a confused ming- ling of the theories of Puffendorf, Locke and Montes- quieu." — G. P. Macdonald, "Stephen's Die. of Nat. Riog.," p. 137. Tribute to His Commentaries. "Ilis Commentaries are the most correct and beautiful that were ever exhibited of any human sci- ence." — Sir Wm. Jones. Clothed the Skeleton of the Law. "lie it was who first gave to the law the air of a science. He found it a skeleton, and clothed it with life, color, and complexion: he embraced the cold statue, and by his touch it grew into youth, health and beaut}'." — Lord Avonmore. 34 LIFE SKETCH OF How He Became Learned. "lie made himself a learned lawyer by writing tlie Commentaries." — Lord Ellenborongli. Commentari' s — A Smattering of Everything. "Though the most eloqnent and best digested of •our catalogue, has been perverted more than 'all others to the degeneracy of legal scietice. A student finds there a smattering of eve"ytliing, and his in- dolence easily persuades him that if he understands that book he is master of the whole body of the law." — Thomas Jefferson. Copy of Ilale. The arrangement is a slavish and blundering copy of Sir Matthew lliile's; in the whole work there is not a single particle of original discriminating thought; its dattery ot' English institutions is a 'pal- try but effectual artifi :e' which has made it popular." — Austin. Capital Crimes in His Time. AVhen the first edition of Sir Wm. Blackstone's Commentaries appeared in 17G9 there were IGO of- fenses punishable with death. From murder in the first degree to the stealing of a watch. SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE. 86 His Farewell to Literature. "But now the pleasing dream is o'er, — These scenes must charm me now no more: Lost to the fielci and torn from you, Farewell !~a long, a last adieu! * « * Then welcomt^ business, welcome strife. Welcome the cares, the thorns of life, » » » The drowsy bench, the babbling hall. For thee, fair Justice, welcome all!" —Extracts from "The Lawyer's Farewell to His Muse." % 88 LIFB SKETCH OP EDWARD BLAKE, CANADA. (1833 .) Imperial and Canadian statesman, M. A. LL.D., Q. C, M. P, Born amid scholarly surroundings near London, Ontario, October 13, 1833, eldest son of William Hume Blake, vSolieitor General and Chancel- lor of Upper Canada, educated at Upper Canada Col- lege and University of Toronto, taking gold medal and first class honors in classics with degrees of M. A. and IJv.D., and is now Chancellor of that univer- sity, being appointed in 1870, Called to the bar, 1856, Queen's Counsel, 1804, he lias been Lecturer on Equity, Jurisprudence, Hxaminer, Bencher and Treasurer of the Law Society at Toronto. Was one of the framer« of the Constitution of the Dominion of Canada. Elected to Parliament, 18()7, for South Brucf in the Ontario Legislature, and for West Dur- ham in the Canadian House of C'ommons, Led the Opposition, 18()8-71, and founded a government and became president of the Executive Council. Was member of the Privy ('ouncil at Ottawa, 1873; Min- ister of Justice, 1875, and President of the Council, % EDIVARD BLAKE. ;87 1877, Was a member of the Dominion Parliament from 18(17 to 1891, and leader of the Liberals from 1880 to 1889. His efforts in the Paeitic scandal of 1873 were, perhaps, the jjreatest in ('anadian history. In 1892 he was elected to the liritish House of Com- mons for South Lonjiford, by the Irish Nationals, he was one of the jtreatest «tf debaters and a colleague of Gladstone and Justin McCarthey. He has had an enormous practice, and is eminent as a constitutional lawyer, and famous before the Im- perial Pri^7 Council. Some of his addresses are the longest, most sustained and powerful on record. He is head of the firm of Blake, Lash & >tels, and a standing counsel of the Canadian Pacilio Haihvas . He declined the Chancellorship of Ontario, 18«llt, .md the('hief ^j.^ticeship of the Supreme Court of the Do- minion, 1875. He has a wonderful mind, a fertile in- tellect, and marvelous fluency, being one of the most correct speakers of the English language living. LIFE SKETCH OF SAMUEL BLATCHFORD, NEW YORK. (1820-1893.) Eleven jears an Associate Justice of tlie United States Supreme Court and twentv-six years on a Fed- eral bench. Born in New York city, March 9, 1820. Died at Newport, Rhode Island, July 7, 1893, aged seventy-three. Was the son of Richard Blatehford, for many years counsel for the Bank of the United States, and for a longer time counsel for the Bank of England, and one of the executors of the will of Daniel Webster. Young Blatehford was prepared for college by the celebrated classical scholar, Dr. Charles Anthon; graduated from Columbia at seventeen; two years later was made private secretary by Governor Williair H. Seward; admitted to the bar, 1842; formed a law partnership, 1845, with Wm. II. Seward and Christopher Morgan, at Auburn; removed to New York city, 1854; appointed United States District Judge, 1867, by President Johnson, and to the Su- preme Bench, March, 1882, by President Arthur. He is the author of twenty-four volumes of Circuit Re- ports. Was made LL.D. by Colum' ia Oillege, 1867, SAMUEL BLATCHEORD. 89 and w.as one of its trustees from that time until bis death. He ranks liigh as an admiralty jndj;e. "No stu- dent," says Joseph II. Clioate, "need go outside of his decisions to make himself master of the law, theory and practice of admiralty." In the law of patents he has left a broad and deep mark, and in the law of bankruptcy he was almost a creator. "Ilis chief char- acteristic as a judge," says Attorney General Olney, "may be said to consist in the strictly business qual- ity of his work." lie had great ability to pluck a record quickly of its vital facts. Was conscientiously opposed to dissenting opinions, thought after discus- sion all should unite and declare tlie law with un- broken voice, consequently, out of his 430 decisituis, (105-140 U. S.), there are to be found but five dissents. Ilis judgments are lucid, accurate, sound; but rather harsli and dry, and lack comprehension and vivacity. lie possessed an ample fortune. Was of medium height and weight, dignified, unassuming, conscien- tious, quiet, industrious, safe, methodical. I 40 LIFE SKETCH OF LOGAN E. BLECKLEY, GEORGIA. (1827 .) Chief Justice of Georgia. Born iu Rabuu county, Georgia, July 8, 1827. Is the son of an Irish-English father and German mother. His education was con- fined to the village academy, though he has been a wide and deep reader. He read law alone, and was admitted before nineteen. His professional income for the first two years was between $35 and |50. He kept books three j'ears; was made secretary to the GoA'ernor; settled in Atlanta; was elected Solicitor General for eight counties of Georgia, and served four years. Served as a private in the confederate serv- ice, but was soon discharged on account of ill-health. He was Supreme Court Reporter in 18G4, reporting 34:th and 35th Ga., and resigned in 18G7. He was ap- pointed to the Georgia Supreme Court in 1875, and re- signed in 1880, returning as Chief Justice iu 1887, which office he still holds. He is extremely conscientious, resigning as Su- preme Judge mainly for that reason. He says, "My trouble is, to become fully persuaded that I know. I LOGAN E. BLECKLEY. 41 reconsider, revise, scrutinize, revise the scrutiny and scrutinize the revision, and then I discover the thing is all wrong. My colleagues are called; we recon- sider and decide the other way. Then I am satisfied; for when I know the law is not on one side, it must be on the other.'' His style is epigrammatic, for exam- ple, "According to the bill, the father had no capital and the son no character. The man without char- acter carried on business in tlic u uu's and upon the credit of the man without capital," (Nussbaum v. Fleitron, 63 Ga. 312). "Trusts are children of equity; and in a court of equity they are at home — under the family roof -tree, and around the hearth of their ancestors," (Kupperman v. McGehee, 63 Qa., 250). He is a wit, a philosopher, a poet and possesses a legal imagination and marked individuality, as for instance his fixed habit never to go to sleep in debt. He has no equal in "catching a case," and thinks, acts and speaks in an unconventional way. Honesty in Politics. "There is the same reason for rigid honesty in politics and public life, in elections and with electors and elected, as in ordinary private business or per- 42 LIFE SKETCH OF sonal conduct. The political devil is no more to be fought with fire without terrible consequences to the best interest of the community, than is the devil of avarice or envy or ambition, or any other of the nu- merous devils which infest society." Wisdom a Lost Art. "If we have reached a state of degeneracy where virtue has ceased to be practical, and where vice and fraud are forces of such potency that they can be met and resisted only by forces of like kind, I think wis- dom is already a lost art, and that we are on the con- fines of perdition and that ere long we shall tumble over the wall and be swallowed up in the pit." Preaching is the Hog and Hominy of Religion. "If any debt ought to be paid," said Justice Bleckley, "it is one contracted for the health of souls," and he therefore ordered a Baptist church in Georgia to pay the back salary of the preacher, re- marking, in passing, that simple and exact justice in the relation is "the hog and hominy, the bacon and beans, of morality, public and private." Illuminating Wit. "When it comes to wit, of the sort that illumi- nates the subject. Chief Justice Bleckley is easily chief among all American judges." — Irving Browne in July, 1894, Green Bag. LOGAN E, BLECKLEY. His Appearance Written by Himself. 48 "In person he is taJl, angular and ungraceful; and though he has a passion for beauty, no trace of that enchanting quality is visible upon his own face. He himself admits to his confidential friends that he is ugly."— For the Supreme Court of the North Amer- ican States and Provinces. Fear. "I see, on either hand, a cave That opens downward through the grave — Ten thousand heavens were in vain, For hell may be a hell of pain, Or that which seems a lower deep — The hell of everlasting sleep; And thus the chance for bliss for me, If lots were cast, is one in three. The loss of self, or loss of peace! Twin perils now to me so nigh! Until they cease, or seem to cease, I pass all minor changes by. Between these hells of sleep and flame I do confess myself to blame; Like Adam, I have disobeyed, And I, like Adam, am afraid." -From Poem on "Fear," written March, 1893. 4( LIFE SKETCH OF Faith. "The what and the where and the when Must needs be uncertain to men ; For the future, if distant or near, Lets none of its secrets appear, No definite hope may endure, No favorite bliss be secure, Not even existence be sure; But the something that ought to befall, Will happen at last unto all." —From Poem on "Faith," Sept., lb. 9. 5//? CHARLES S. C. BO WEN. 46 SIR CHARLES S. C. BOWEN, ENGLAND. (1835-1894.) Late Lord Justice of Appeals, which position he held from 1882 to 1803, being succeeded by Sir Hor- ace Davey upon his promotion to the House of Lords. He was a Privy Counsel, Fellow of the Royal Society, Doctor of Civil Laws of Oxford University and Doc- tor of Laws of the University of Edinburgh. Born fit WoUaston, Gloucestershire, in 1835, died April 9, 1894, aged fifty-nine. Was the eldest son of the Rev. Christopher Bowen; educated at Rugby and Balliol colleges, Oxford, where he carried off three of the great university priaes, including the Hertford and Ireland schol- arships and the Arnold prize essay. He was placed, 1858, in the first class of classical honors, and called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1801. Became senior member of the "Truck Commission," in 1870, junior standing counsel to the Treasury, 1872, Re- corder of Penzance the same year, Judge of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice, 1872, on the retirement of Justice Mellor, and a Lord '8> 46 LIFE SKETCH OF Justice of Appeals, 1882, succeeding Sir John Ilolljer. He was junior to llawlcins in tlie Tichborne pros- ecution, but speedily surpassed his leader in the race of promotion. Every educated Englishman is proud of his name; the legal profession gloried in his splen- did culture, courtesy, dignity, and mastery of the history, theory and practice of the law. While Jus- tice, often when the puisne judges were away on cir- cuit, he returned to his old seat in the Queen's Bench Division and heard common law actions. The list speedily melted away, speculative suits were dis- missed, family quarrels were compromised and ques- tions of accounts were quickly sent to the Oflficial Referee. He is best studied in the Law Reports, where his judgments are models in every way. He has written a pamphlet on the "Alabama Question," and an historical essay, entitled "Delphi," a transla- tion of Virgil into English verse, and an admirable chapter on the progress of the law in "The Victorian Era." No Moaning, Etc. "Let there be no moa.aing of the bar when I go out to sea." — Said byLord Bowen at a bar meeting. SIR CHARLES S. C. BO WE A/. 47 Trauslatiou of Aeneid. Ill his traiiHlation of the Aeneid it is said that he* has produced "tlie stateliest measure ever molded by the lips of man." His Loss the Greatest Since Jessel. "His death was the greatest loss that the En- glish law has sustained since Sir George Jessel." — George II. Knott, Common Room, Middle Temple. 46 LIFE SKETCH OF JOSEPH PHTLO BRADLEY, NEW JERSEY. (1813-1892.) Twentj-two years Associat Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Born at Berne, New York, March 14, 1813; died at Washington, January 22, 1892, aged seventy-eight. ITe was the eldest of eleven children of a poor farmer and a shrewd, sweet- tempered mother. Taught from sixteen till twenty- one. Graduated from Rutgers at twenty-three, with Theodore Frelinghuysen, Cortlandt Tarker and Gov- ernor W. A. Newell. Completed a course in theol- ogy, but abandoned it and read law with Archer Gif- ford, of Newark, and was admitted at twenty-six. He was thirty years in practice, appearing in the most im- portant causes. He was noted for his knowledge of law and skill in its application. Was appointed As- sociate Justif^e oy President Grant, February i, 1870, succeeding Justice Grier. He received the degree of LL.D. from Lafayette in 1859. Among his most important trials were the Meek- er will case, the Passaic bridge case, the New Jersey zinc and the Belvidere land cases, and tlic Hardin JOSEPH PHILO BRADLEY. 49 and the Donnelly murder cases. His intellectual distinction was thoroughness. He was always at work. Said: "All I ever did was done by dogged and unyielding perseverance." He had the three elements of greatness — wisdom, integrity of purpose and simplicity. Was learned in common law, equity, admiralty, civil and patent law, and the jurispru- dence of the world, ancient and modern, and pro- ficient in mathematics, the natural sciences and as- tronomy, making abstruse calculations for forty cen- turies ahead, and his general attainments covered a wide range. He was pronounced by one of his asso- ciates "the most learned man he ever knew;" by George Harding, "unsurpassed as a patent lawyer, if ev«^r equaled;" and by Cortlandt Parker, "the most deeply informed man I ever met on subjects for- eign to his profession." His decisions, in nearly six- ty volumes (9 Wall.— 141 U. S.), 475 in number, with 93 dissents, are couched in pure, undefiled English, vigorous but elegant. He was simple, unpresum- ing and kind, and an honorable Christian gentleman. 50 LIFE SKETCH OF Judicial Insight. "Some men seem to be constituted by nature to be masters of judicial analysis and insight. Such were Papinean, Sir Matthew Hale and Lord Mans- field, each in his particular province. Such was Marshall in his. They seemed to handle judicial questions as the great Euclid did mathematical ones, with giant ease." The Accomplished La\\'yer. "In order to be an accomplished lawyer, it is necessary', besides having a knowledge of the law, to be an accomplished man, graced "with at least a general knowledge of history, of science, of philoso- phy, of the useful arts, of the modes of business, and of eA'erything that concerns the well being and inter- course of men in society. Tie ought to be a man of large understanding; he must be a man of large ac- quirements and rich in general information; for he is a priest of the law, which is the bond and support of civil society, and which extends to and regulates every relation of one man to another in that society, and every transaction that takes place in it." — From an address before the Law School of the Fnivorsity of Pennsylvania, 1884. Three Great Lawyers. "Three men in our generation have died in judi- cial harness whose names will be as imperishable as the law itself .Tc^sscl, Miller nnd Brndloy." .lohn O. Johnson, of Philaabulary. the diction, the style and the manner of expression which is mastered and indelibly fixed on the mind."-— Idem. Oreat Reader and Studied Theolojjy. Re read nearly everything; in his uncle's circulat- ing library, and while at college completed a course in theology, but before graduation gave up the idea of becoming a minister and decided to study law. Library and Knowledge of It. His law library numbered nj)wards of .5,000 vol- umes, and his general library was still larger. TTe was a reader of novels and extremely foud of poetry. Re made a special study of Shakespeare in late years. In history, biography and genealogA- he seemed to know something of the personal details of almost everybody that was ever heard of. 62 LIFE SKETCH OF His Loariiiug of the Alphabet. Wheu he learned the alphabet from his mother he asked, "Is that all ?" lie was uot content with the assurance that that was all, but took down a book nearly as large as himself and went through from page to page in search of other letters. Scientific Scholar. He applied himself to scientific investigation, to problems of the higher mathematics, astronomy, physics and mechanics. Was thoroughly familiar with the principles of botany, chemistry, geology ami kindred sciences, and he kept pace with the new dis- coveries being made in each of them. Biblical Scholar. He studied foreign languages, reading many great authors in the originals. Became one of the most accomplislied Biblical scholars in the country. Always kept beside him a copy of the New Testament in the original Ureek, which at church he never failed to consult. He delivered in vai'ious places just before coming to the bench, lec- tures upon the English Bible. Broke in Bookcase. Judge Bradley had a violent temper, and, al- though a consistent member of the church, would swear at inanimate things when enraged. On one oc- JOSEPH PHILO BRADLEY. 53 casion, upon going to his office to get two or three books to take to Trenton, whither he was going to argue a case in the State Supreme Court, he found to his tlisiuay he luid changed liis pants and left his book-case key beliind. Siiys a student then reading in his office: "He was so much put out that he took an old hatchet lying near by and broke in the fine doors, saying, as was his habit: 'There, I'll teach you to be locked, d — n you.' " Cut into Shreds a New Pair of Breeches, Upon another occasion, (by the way, he was very unconcerned about his dress), he was about to go away to appear before some important tribunal, and Mrs. Bradley persuaded him to change his breeches, which were out at tlie knees and in the seat, for a new pair which she had gotten unknown to him. He hurried to the station, only to find he had been left. When he returned to the house he took off the pants, took out his knife and cut them into shreds, saying as he did so: "There, d — n you, Til teach you to make me miss my train." A ^'ery Learned Man. "No man ever sat upon the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States who, in the extent and variety of his knowledge, has surpassed Mr. Justice Bradley. He was a very learned man." — Frank AY. Ilackett. 64 LIFE SKETCH OF Paid $1,400 for Uis Neglect to Prott^t aud Collect a Note. When busy one day writing out a brief, some client came bustling into his office aud said that lie wanted that $1,500 note protested, laying it down; that the maker was insolvent, but the iudorser was good, and he wanted to hold him. "All right," said Bradley, who was a man of few words, "I'll 'tend to it." With this he shoved the note under his desk- pad and went on with his work. In a few days the owner of the note called to see if Bradley had col lected the money on his note. "O, yes," said Bradley, at the same time taking out his check-book aud hand- ing him a check for $1,400, the amount of the note, less his fee. The fact is, the note had been forgotten and was then lying under the pad right where Brad- ley had put it. But he would not admit his careless- ness to his client, and thus paid $1,400 for his forget- fulness. Taken by a Philadelphia Janitor for a Visitor. When Bradley first went to Philadelphia to hold court, he was accosted, upon entering the building, by one of the janitors, who taking him for a casual visitor, assumed to show him over the various floors. Coming to the Judge's Chambers, Bradley inquired what room it was. "Oh, this is for the Judges; but they haven't arrived yet." Laying aside his umbrella aud taking ofif his coat and hat, he quietly remarked: "One of them has."— April, 1892, Green Bag. JOSEPH PHILO BRADLEY. 55 Being Drawn for a Justice's Juryman in Washington. When he went to W^ashington to take his place as Associate Justice upon the United States Supreme Bench, he was walking along Pennsylvania avenue when a constable looking for a jurj^man on the street, summoned him as one of the six. Bradley went al- most to the justice's court before asking the consta- ble if he was in the habit of putting Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States in his jury box. Bradley said he had a good mind to go into court and carry the joke still further. ■^ 66 LIFE SKETCH OF JAMES TOPHAM BRADY, NEW YORK. (1815-1869.) The Curran of the New York bar and the most popular advocate of his time. Born in New York city April 9, 1815; died there February 9, 1869, at the age of fifty-three; was of Celtic origin; educated under his father, Thomas S. Brady, a successful lawyer; had good knowledge of law at sixteen ; admitted at twenty- one; distinguished himself in about his first case in the release of Sarah Coppin, a poor English girl, who, having been robbed upon landing, was thrown into the street and bound out by the authorities ; Corporation Attorney of New York in 1845; refused United States Attorney Generalship; was never married. Some of his greatest cases were: Goodyear v. Day (1 Blatch., 565), a great patent case; the Allaire and Parrish will cases, involving questions of medical jurisprudence; the Huntington forgery case; the Cole homicide at Albany; defense of the "Savannah Privateers" for piracy (for his and Mr Evarts' speeches, see Snyder's "Great Speeches" p. 343) ; the JAMES TOPHAM BRADY. 57 Forrest divorce suit; the defense of Daniel E. Sickles for the assassination of Philip Barton Key. lie was conspicuous in all departments of the law, and in winning before judges and juries alike. Fv»r over twenty-five years he was in most of the im- portant cases in the State of New York. His suc- cess was due to a clear statement of the case, skilful and courteous cross-examination of the witnesses, and tact and eloquence with the jury — scarcely losing a case where engaged before them a week, they then seeing through his eyes. During a thirty-four years' practice he defended fifty-one men for their lives, saving them all from the gallows or a long imprisonioi^nt. lie was fervid in imag- ination and flowery in style. "Many of his no- blest productions were not unlike the Corinthian pil- lar, in which the strength of the column is lost sight of in the symmetry of its proportions and the beauty of its decorations." A Desecrated Hearthstone. "Alas! that hearthstone was desecrated; the spoiler had been there. Where joy and brightness had reigned luxuriantly, were sorrow and gloom. 68 LIFE SKETCH OF That beautiful fabric of domestic love and tranquility was overwhelmed in ruin, and the ravens of despair were croaking and gloating over the dark desolation. Gentlemen, what is home without its jewels, what is earth without its flowers, what is heaven without its stars?" — Extract from the Sickles-Key murder trial, had in Washington, D. C, in allusion to Philip Bar- ton Key's despoiling the home of the prisoner, Dan- iel E. Sickles. Who is on the Other Side Besides the Judge. "May it please your honor, who is engaged on the other side of this case besides the judge," said Brady to a judge who was continually ruling against hi) i. Cared More for Good Opinion of Others Than Greatness. "I do honor greatness, genius, and achievements; but I honor more those qualities in a man's nature which show that while he holds a proper relation to the Deity, he has also a just estimate of his fellow-men and a kindly feeling towards them. I would rather have it said of me after death, by my brethren of the bar, that they were sorry I left their companionship, than to be spoken of in the highest strains of gifted panegyric." — At a meeting of the Bar in New York in memory of Hon. Daniel S. Dickinson. JAMES TOPf/AM BKADV. 6ft Reply to a Barkiug Doy;. Once while in one of his oratorical tlights, lu be- came violent in his tone and gesture, and a juroi-'s dog, which had been lying under his niastei*'s chair, suddenly appeared and barked at the orator Am quick as a flash the speaker turned on the brute with: "I am Sir Oracle, And when I ope my mouth let no dog bark." It was a happy flight of fancy and won the case. As a Nation, We are Distinguished for Three Things. "We are a nation certainly distinguished for three things; for newspapers, politics, and tobacco." — Extract from the defense of the "Savannah Priva- teers." When the Advocate is of Use. "The advocate is of very little use in the days of prosperity and peace, in the periods of repose, in pro- tecting your property, or aiding you to recover your rights of a civil nature. It is only when public opin- ion, or the strong power of government, the formid- able array of influence, the force of a nation, or the fury of a multitude, is directed against you, that the advocate is of any use." — In defense of "Savannah Privateers." 60 LIFE SKETCH OF DAVID JOSIAn BREWER, KANSAS. (1837 .) Succeeded Mr. Justice Matthews as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, January 6, 1890. Born in Smyrna, Asia Minor, June 20, 1837, while his father. Rev. Josiali Brewer, was a mission- ary there. ITis mother was a sister of David Dudley, Stephen J., Cyrus W., and Henry M. Field. He gradu- ated from Yale in 1856 with high honors, spent one year in David Dudley Field's office in New York, and graduated from the Albany Law School in 1858. Went West in the same year, residing a few months in Kansas City, Missouri, then started up the Arkan- sas valley for Pike's Peak and Denver. In 1859 he returned to Leavenworth, Kansas. Was appointed 18G3, United States Commissioner; in 1862, was elected Judge of the Probate and Criminal Courts of Leavenworth county, Kansas; in 1864 he was elected Judge of the District Court of the First Judicial District of Kansas, and served in 1868 as County Attorney; in 1870 was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court of Kansas, being re-elected in ite iry 37, on- iey, du- one aud 858. itlis inn- ) he ited was linal 1864 ' the 1868 stice ?d in 't ifSSf V. OAVID JOSIAH nRhVVl!W, t'li:" ■ . \'- 60 ■■'? r f! . rT> r^ ^ > :: V^ ^ i li t'ws OS A!!!s■ . . ' . - J^M.vn. ' l;Ii L'tliu^s, s')»'i>t .'MX' . '•cnv('r, Tti ' -"'"^ Im^ TC.i.!^i-<. ^\■as {ii:iH);.i'«'d ■ ISW, w;is ' >>i| ft y |i i'l 15^. Ul'HlfllS ArKan ^OU, W5IH .»f -hr It! t^•'■> >■,] in DAMI) .lOSI All Hki;\\i:k, Asiiociaie ctustirp of tie Unie-i Siatps Smt rerr'^ C ';r' li'in u 11 -'I 1 I'll l.\ I'fin.. \\ .■.hiiik.'f..ii. h. r. DA I' ID JOSIAH BRE WER. 61 1876 and 1882; iu 1884 was appoiiitod Judge of the Circuit Court of the United States for the Eij^hth Cir- cuit, where he ruled that the owner of a brewery must be compensated when prohibited from manufactur ing beer (State v. WalrufF, 26 Fed. Rep,, 178 ), subse- quently reversed by the United States Supreme (A)urt, (Mugler V. Kansas, 123 U. S., 023). Sustained the Maxwell Land Grant, the largest private land grant ever sustained in this country, (U. S. v. Maxwell, etc., 26 Fed. Kep.,118). Uis opinions (133-154 U. S.), 220 in number, including 45 dissents, show him to be ot the broadest grasp and the utmost courage. Mr. Brewer has received the degree of LL.D. from Iowa, Washburn and i'ale colleges. lie is a profes- sor of law at the Columbia Law School, Washington. His perception is quick. His various judicial duties have been discharged with untiring industry, ac- knowledged ability and impartiality. In character, temperament, learning and experience, he has proved himself a worthy member of his distinguished family. Arraignment of a Non-Keading Jury System. "No administration of justice can be due that is not prompt. It is with the utmost difficulty that pun- ishment is secured of a criminal who has means to 62 LIFE SKETCH OF rw carry on his defense, and when seenred it i& only at the end of a h)Dg and expensive litigation. Everv lynching is hut a protest of the comninnity against the incai)a(Mty of the coni'ts to pnnish c. iiniiials. No longer let the ]>recious lionrs and days of tlie courts be consumed in hunting through the stnM'ts of the rity for tweho ukmi too ignorant or too little inter- ested in public e\-ents to have read in the pai)ers the story of each romised the Attorney (Jener- ilshv^ of Pennsylvania, but the deatii of rjovernor .Muhlenberg robbed him of that honor, which wai^ confi^rred upon him twenty-three years later by frov- ei-nor deary, in which position he ac(juired a high 64 LIFE SKETCH OF reputation. At thirty, I'resident Polk com- missioned him to examine into the Cherokee claims against the Government. After the Dangerfield slave case, in which he appeared for the slaveholder, he was surrounded by a mob. ^y rapping the Amer- ican flag about him he dared anyone to fire. Presi- dent Garfield retained him as special counsel to pro- secute the Star Route trials, and in 1881 President Arthur appointed him Attorney General of the United States. He had a prodigious memory. Aimir.al Porter relates that he recited to him pagp after page from CJicero. His oratorical powers were wonderful, his speeches on great itccasions l>eing masterijieces — that on the dedication of the statue of Alexander Hamilton in New York city, being in the finest taste. He was a popular stump speaker, and in great de- mand during elections. In arguing a case he pro- pounded unanswerable questions. Had great power over juries, and made malicious prosecutions a spe- cialty. His disfigurement, and dress of the old school gentleman of the early part of the nineteenth cen- tury, attracted attention everywhere. Jnr wil nnil and coil kiiu f(»ro Y^or pcop BENJAMIN ir.lRRIS BREWSTEK. 65 Iluinau Tliouj^lits. "Tho hijilicst works of human skill and human thoujiht outlivo through ajjos tlie rroaturos that pro- duced them."- — From address in 1S53, at Colletuous men — can intox- icate and dejrrade — can enchant and enerA'ate; but it cannot purify and exalt — it cannot {^ive content to life or confidence to death. TTuman nature is prone to ennoble those who are inspired with the danfjerous jjift of genius; few who are endow(Hl Avith 't are fit to use it. It would seem almost as if they were blem- ished with defects and stained with vices lest man- kind should worship them." ITamilton, "Alexander TTamilton is the glory of this nation. Jurists, statesmen, and philosophers of all nations will honor and r(neren('(^ his name. TTe will be ranked with tlie greatest and wisest of law-givers and ]ihilosoph(M's. Solon and Lycurgus and Aristotle could have sat down with him and found in him a kindred spirit. » * * At twenty-three he laid be- fore James Duane, a member of Congress from New Y^ork, his ])lan for organizing the government of this people on a firm and stable fouudniion. He had at 66 LIFE SKETCH OF that early age fatliomeil tho whole subject, and with a force of reason tliat was his j-iviit gift he set forth in clear and well-delincd words tlie public wauls of the confederated colonics. It was the lirst draft of a great Title Deed conveying suiueiue poi)ular power to a government created by tlie people for the public good. 1 do not use an exaggerated expression when 1 say that it was an astonisiiing work of knowledge, wisdom, and genius. It is an unexampled document. There is not another lilce it in the records of this workl's history— and by a youth of twenty-three years! * ♦ » Washington, Frankliu, Hamilton — a conjunction of human greatness, human wisdom, and human genius never before so united." — From an address on Hamilton at Central I'ark, New York, No- vember 22, 1880, upon the erection of Hamilton's statue. Advised With His Mother. "1 have advised where; I shoidd — in the quiet of the night with mv own heart and conscience — and with tlie only and best friend I have, my mother; and from that I have resolved what I now write." — To Simon Cameron, October 30, 1844, concerning the At- torney Generalship of Pennsylvania. -• - Politics. "All the world (»ver, the traions liberty nnd aj;ainsl intolerjince. hi my judjiuient it is the riuhl ''f nil men .is uumi -to think and speak ;is tliey pjeas" upon the sii])ject of their relij^ion, beinji' responsil)le to ( lod a!(Uie for their thouji'lits or wru'ds, and any ;ilti mpt to deprive tliem of their ci\il i-i^Iits becnnse df ihoso opinions would be an act of injustice and ;i ^re;it public crime," SavidjLic's F,ifeof Firewstei-. ]». SI. l"\ime. "If you wish to know wliat pub'ic fame is, remem- ber that the louii line of Kom;in consuls nnd (Jrecinn »nn^istrat<'S is now forgot ten, while Aesop, the shive, Socrates, the mechiinic, ;ind liuUl have been patri- ots and heroes, but having failed we were rebels; con* S"qu('jitly we must accept the term, 'The War of the KebcUiou.' " — Idem. 76 LIFE SKETCH OF The South Were in Union Durin"- War and Out Afterwards. "During the war you said we had no rigiit to g«) out of the Union; that we never were out; tliat our ordinances of secession were nullities; that we were all the time in the Union. Well, we surrendered after we had made as gallant a tight as we could, and we came back, with our representatives, ready to ac- quiesce in your theory, and in good faith resume our place in the Union, and you refused to admit us. You said we were in while we Avere fighting you, but we found we were out when we laid down our arms." — Idem. Tribute to Brown. "In perfect self-poise, in knowledge of men, in comprehension of the people, in inluitive perception of public opinion, in adaptation of means to ends, in many varieties of successful achievemerts, Joseph E. Brown has seldom had an equal." — Walter B. Hill, of the Macon (Ga.) bar. 3nt mil' ere red ind ae- our ^ou we , 111 :ion I, in lE. l,of I HKNRV hll.l.lN^ HkOWN, A-i.-j-i-ijie Ju-;ii-e ; ■ : •■ ■■,■■■; J' ;;•'.•.'. Sui-ft'-rtie ^' .'ir' Krorii II I'lLitoiiiiiplL Ij.v llill, WiisliiMKl"n, 1>. I'. I ?. '/ -"vcc SF.::: 77 (ls:>.; N. rrc,«!i(lfnt IIa»'fisnM - ■•tlioi; ^^ '" ■ , fiuli'T was H innmiCaihuHT Mii'l hi>4 nitinu'r a s\r oxve})Ti./ nnti ''lj\ .hi • i\cv l{r«'\ver;p<>; look H law f oiirsf' in flio Yale Law t^t'hool, but rerpivf'd lili* (lejj:rpla"Hlia!; n»>pnty IHs»i(i.'i Mtr.rmM'. in tSfi 11 8(»8; .ippoinii'd hy riior < 'rapo. Jndgo (»f tlu» Wayne ("^HiiHynienit Oiiri; forniod a law part ner^ ship wiih J. S. iS'owborry and AhIiU'V Pond ; appoinu*d )'\ Pvt.'8)d»'ht tirant, IS7r», Tniffd Htah^ l)isl:rit't (Hr- niit .rud;;!', whii'li position he held nntii i'lovat»»d to tlir SuprenH' Hmich. llis praoilro was almosi <'vf admiralty and criminal law made him emi- 78 LIFE SKETCH OF ueut iu tliose brauohes. lie lias tried more admiralty cases tlian any judge on the bench, and is a recognized authority in this particular field, and compiled a vol- ume of admiralty reports iu 1875. In 1889 he delivered before the twelfth annual meeting of the American Bar association at Chicago an address upon "Judicial Independence," in which he reviewed, in a masterly manner, the history of the judiciary from its early days to the present, taking high ground, and contend- ing for a tenure of office which would remove judges from temptation and from suspicion; and at the six- teenth annual session of the American Bar Associa- tion at Milwaukee, an address upon "The Distribu- tion of Property," which showed great research and decided opinions upon the labor question. His decisions (138-154, U. S.) 170 in number, in- cluding thirty-seven dissents (among which is the Ill- inois Central Kailroad v. Illinois, 140 U. S. 387, Jus- tices Shiras and Gray concurring), are expressed in clear, emphatic, and, at times, picturesque language. He is a fine classical scholar, a close student, and an easy speaker. HENRY BILLINGS BROWN. 79 alty Lzed vol- 3i'ed icaii icial terly ?arly tend- idges 2 six- 50cia- Lribu- 1 and ^r, in- tie m- ', Jus- sed in Municipal Ownersliip of Franchises. **1 have never been able to perceive why, if the government may be safely entrusted to carry our let- ters and papers, it may not with equal propriety carry our telegrams and parcels, as it has done in England and other foreign countries for several years; or why, if our municipalities may supply us with water, they may not also supply us with gas, electricity, tele- phones and street cars. They are all based upon the same principle of a public ownership of the streets and highways, and ft power to grant franchises to third persons, which the municipality, if it chooses, may reserve to itself." — From an address, "Distribu- tion of Property," delivered at Mihvaukee, Aug. 31, 1893, before American Bar Association. Tuage. ind an 80 LIFE SKETCH OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BUTLER, MASSACHU- SETTS. (1818-1893.) Lawyer, soldier, millionaire, politician, orator. Born at Deerfield, New Hampshire, November 5, 1818; died at Washington, D. T,, January 10, 1893, aged serenty-fonr. Graduated from Waterville College, Maine, at twenty; admitted at twenty-two, at Low- ell; member of the Legislature and Congress; Gov- ernor of Massachusetts in 1882; was three years in the war for the Union, becoming 5Iajor General; was re- fused degree of L.L. P. by Harvard. His first important case in the United States Su preme Court was in 1857 (U. S. v. Sutter, 21 How., 170); appeared for the Ignited States in 1800 in ex parte Milligan (4 Wall. 2); received a 175,000 fee in prize act cases in United States Supreme Court at close of war; was leading counsel for the prosecution in the Johnson impeachment; appeared in the Legal Tender cases (12 Wall., 457). I lis practice before tlie war was the most lucrative of any lawyer in New England— at least |!25,000 a year, and the last few BENfAMIfr FRAtftCLIN BUTLER. %\ years amounted to $50,000 annually. Died worth 17,000,000. He never took notes, said if the jury could carry the facts he could; held a point of law was as much the property of his client as a point of fact; be- lieved in hard study and careful thought; that any man who thoroughly applied his common sense ought to know the common law, as it is the perfection of common sense; that a lawyer must study aluost every kind of business and many of the sciences. He there- fore spent a week in a repair shop, coat off, hammer in hand, testing the resisting power of iron to intelligently try a railroad accident case. Studied all books on scurvy to prosecute a sea cap- tain, defended by Choate, and recovered a verdict for $3,000 for negligence in not taking sufficient vegeta- bles, etc., for the voyage. He was pron pt in retort and a master cross-ex- aminer. His chief trait was sharpness. Said Judge Abbott: "He excelled all lawyers in keeping ( ut and getting in evidence." A man of great intellect- ual force, his brain weighed sixty-two ounces. He was vigorous, aggressive, pugnacious, picturesque. 82 LIFE SKE TCH OF The Farming Population. "The wealth, the prosperity, the steadfastness, the hope of religion, of liberty, and of freedom of the world, rests upon the producing and on the country population of this Commonwealth (Mass.) and on that of the United States." — From an Address at Middle- town. Answer to Judge Hoar. Judge Rockwell Hoar, in opposing Butler for Congress, said he had "no personal hostility to Gi?n- eral Butler, but could not but regard him as an ob- jection ible candidate." Butler, in reply, said: 'TTour affection, however, is like yourself, peculiar. Something like that of the lady in Tennyson's poem for the Prince: "I hated him with the hate of hell! But I loved his beauty passing well." He admitted the judge had been a good judge between part}' and partj', but accused him of some- times "mistaking dyspepsia for a conscience." Never Refused Assistance Where He Could Win. '*I have made it a rule of my life never to refuse to assist ir trying cases, however desperate, if I be- lieved ther? was any chance to Avin." — Butler's Book. Refur^d the Yice-Presidency in 1864. He was offered the Vice-Presidency with Lincoln in 1864, but dodiucd, unless tiic T'rosident would BENJAMIN' FRANKLIN BUTLER 88 agree to die within three months after his inangnra- tion. ITe did die in less than a month and a half. Tims Butler missed the opportunity of being Presi- dent of the United States. When he declined, the position was offered to Andrew Johnson, at Lincoln's reqnest. Tarhox and Pill-Box. Butler alluded to the campaign of 1870 between Dr. Aver, the famous pill manufacturer, and John K. Tarbox, Bepublican and D(Mnocratic Congressional nominees, i'os]te<'tively, ns "one brtwren Tarbox and Pill-box." Diligence, Stuo^> and Thought Necessary to Success. "I do not believe in genius carrying a nui. along in the practice of the law, and T want here to record, for the benefit of the young men who come after me in the profession, that diligence, hard shuly and care- ful thought are the only roads to success in any branch of the law, except that, possibly, a turn for ora- tory may helj) tlie advocate. But the ukm'o advocate, however brilliant, will lose the most cases, although he may win t!:e most verdicts." T?utler's Book, p. 900. "Lord, What Wilt Thou Have Me to Do?" Butler, who had borne the decisions in favor of one ^[r. Lord, of Salem, in the Massachusetts Legis- lature, finally said to the Speaker, "I sup])ose you feel as did Saul in his trance on the road to Damascus, 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?'" 84 LIFE SKE TCH OF Analysis of His Character as a Law^'or. "Oppositiou ouly streugthoiied Lim, though often in a wrong direction. Qualities such as his were bound sooner or later to lead their possessor to suc- cess at the bar. Was he, then, a great lawyer? The bar generally would scarcely admit this, lie was not a great lawyer in the sense in which Curtis was a great lawyer; nor a great advocate, like Choate; nor a skilful conductor of a cause, like Durant. And yet, even before the war, he had encountered and overthrown the veteran Choate and the redoubtable Farley, and many more of a race of giants, llis quickness, his marvelous memory, which carried with- out the aid of pen or pencil the details of the most elaborate ,and complicated causes, his audacity, often imprudence, his readiness, and, when angered, his contempt for scruple, made of him a formidable adversary. To achieve a personal triumph over wit- ness or counsel, and sometimes over court, he would sacrifice his chance for a verdict. Thus he said of a Rhode Island United States District Judge, that he was *an inferior judge, of an inferior court, of an in- ferior State.' The fact is that his judgment was, and continued to be, bad. If a case arose which called for, and would stand the fullest investigation, he was the man for it — for concealment and equivocation were scarcely possible to a witness under the opera- tion of his methods. But to touch delicately on cer- tain matters, to maintain a wise silence on others, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BUTLER. 86 were, in general, not contemplated by him, and when contemplated, came to 'laiight if a taunt from his ad- versary provoked him. lie was, however, full of re- sources. His intellect saw the object and the path to it with Tv»arvelous distinctness. His nature was an untiring and unresting one. A trial with him was a battle in which eveiy energy was put forth, every nerve was strained. Politeness, even humanity, were entirely beside the question" — F. W. Griffin, "An- alysis v^f General Butler's Character as a Lawyer." Butler's Bible Knowledge. "I regret to say that my knowledge of the Scrip- tures is largely confined to the fact that under the tutelage of my Christian mother I read the Scriptures through very carefully, and was examined upon my reading by her. I also committed the four gospels to memory; having fortunately a retentive one, and was able to recite them when called upon, even to the first eighteen verses in our version of the Gospel of St. Matthew, which is very trying, as everybody seemed to beget everybody else. I send you, which you do not seem to have seen, a copy of 'Butler's Book' which I have written, which I beg you to accept with my compliments. "Very truly, your friend and servant, "BEN J. F. BUTLER" A letter dated October 1st, 1892, to Father Moore, of Holy Cross, Kan. S6 LIFE SKETCH OF Groan by Opposing Counsel — Butler Wanted Court to Adjourn. An oi)i)osln<; counsel to Butler, when a witness gave some damaging evidence, gave a groan, doubt- less intended for effect on the jury. In an instant up sprang Ben, with "Stop! stop!! stop!!!" "What is the matter, Mr. Butler?"asked the judge, taken by sur- prise at the interruption. "May it please your honor," replied the imperturbable advocate in the blandest of accents, "my brother L is taken sud- denly ill. Did you not hear him groan just now? The court might like to take a short recess,! thought." "Proceed with the examination of the witness. Let there be no more interruption," said the judge. But the effect of the groan was neutralized. Butler's Tact in Anticijiating Clioate. Being opposed to Kufus Choate in an important case, Butler forestalled his eloquent opponent by say- ing to the jury: "Choate is retained in every great case to lend to it the power of his rare abilities to obtain a verdict. Such, gentlemen of the jury, is the charm of his eloquence, that he has only to wave over you his magic wand and you are so completely mes- merized by his will that you will say black is white, and white, black, if he only says it is so. You are wholly under the bewitching influence of his elo- uence, and are led by it whithersoever he chooses to lead you. You start, gentlemen — you brace yourself BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BUTLER. 87 back AV'ith a determined air, as if to say, however it may be with others, you are proof agaiust his blan- dishments. Ah! gentlemen, little do you know the spell that will soon be upon you. I have myself seen it in so many instances tliat I speak with confidence and certainty on tins point." Choate's sj)eech being anticipated, he made a very ordinary speech, claimed he was an ordinary, plain spoken man, and ^^hus made a very tame speech. Butler's tact succeeded in a disagreement — equiva- lent to a verdict for Butler's client. Don't Tell the Court What You Don't Know. He was always audacious. For instani e, a case being called in which publication had to be made to get service, the j'oung lawyer said, "Let notice be given." "In what paper?" was the inquiry of the gray-haired clerk of the court, a staunch Whig. "In the Lowell Advertiser," said young Butler, who Avas a Democrat, naming a Jackson paper. "I don't know such a paper," said the clerk, disdainfully. "Don't interrupt the court proceedings, Mr. Clerk," said the lawyer, "for if you begin to tell us Avhat you don't know there Avill be no time for anything else." 1,000 to Argue Case in U. S. Supreme Court- fused to Draw Contract. -Re- He was employed by Xoav York city clients to ar- gue an important case of infringement, was paid $1,000 to go to Washington and argue the case in the 88 LIFE SKETCH OF Supreme Court. On the way over there the litigants got together, agreed upon a sum to be paid, and when it should be paid, etc. Butler's client requested him to draw the contract of settlement, but Butler refused, saving he was not paid to come to Washing- ton to do the work of a scrivener, and no inducement could persuade him to draw the papers, and his client was obliged to get a local Washington lawyer to do it. ITarvard Professor. ITe was cross-questioning a witness in a some- what sharp manner and the judge interrupted, re- minding the lawyer that the witness was a Harvard professor. "I know it, your honor," he replied, "we hanged one of them the other day." Offsetting Damages of Cow by Legal Advice. "Mr. Butler," said a supposed client, "one of my neighbor's cows jumped my garden gate last night, and completely destroyed my flower beds. The gate was of the height required by law, and was closed. Now I wish to know whether I can obtain damages?" "Most assuredly," replied the widow's friend. "Well, Mr. Butler, how much?" "O, about ten dollars." "But, Mr. Butler," triumphantly, "the cow was yours." "Ah!" said Mr. Butler, thoughtfully; and he looked unutterable things out of his bad eye. Then BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BUTLER. 89 he turned to his desk, scratched off a few lines on a piece of paper and handed it to his visitor. It was in the form of an account, and read as follows: "B. F. Butler to Mrs. Dr.: To damages caused by cow, f 10.00. Cr., by legal advice, $15.00. Balance due me, i|5.00." "Mrs. ," said Mr. Butler, softly, "you needn't hurry about the payment." Lyman Trumbull's Estimate Of. "Butler was a man of versatile talents, great re- sources and executive ability. He was egotistical had a high opinion of himself, and was not always scrupulous in the means employed to accomplish his ends; but he possessed gi-eat ability and rendered his country valuable services, both in a military and civil capacity. He possessed many good qualities, and it is to be regretted that his ambition to succeed in whatever he undertook should ever have led him to resort to questionable actions. This is briefly the opinion I formed of the General during my long ac- quaintance with him." — Lyman Trumbull, upon But- ler's death. Advises President Johnson in Jefferson Davis' Treason. Upon the advice of Senator Benjamin F. Wade, of Ohio, Butler was called in as counsel and advised President Johnson in the treason case of Jefferson Davis.— Butler's Book, pp. 916-918. 90 LIFE SKETCH OF Cleared Peter Moore on Flaw iu Indictment. In State of Massachusetts v. Peter Moore, in- dicted for adultery with one Mary Stuart, Butler made the objection that the indictment did not state that Mary Stuart was not the wife of the defendant. The court overruled the objection and said that the point was a "sharp" one. But Butler took the case up on a writ of error and the Supreme Court decided in his favor. — Idem. Cleared Prisoner for Larceny. In another case a prisoner was indicted for lar- ceny, there being four counts in the indictment, un- der which the full penalty was sixty years. Butler agreed that his client should plead guilty on the one that charged the theft of the greatest amount, and the other three should be quashed. After his client had pleaded guilty the three other counts were noUied and the prosecutor moved for sentence on the fourth. Butler pointed out that the indictment did not allege any place where the crime was committed, and that the court had no jurisdi( tion. Ten minutes from that time the prisoner was walking out of court a free man. — Idem. 998. $75,000 Fee. In the Prize Act cases, involving over $1,000,000, which he won, the court awarded him |75,000 as a fee.— Butler's Book, pp. 1010-12. BENJAMIN FRANLIN BUTLER. 01 II(»w to Hot Uicli. "Nothing' is so safe for an investmont as iiu- [ti'oved real estate. Notliinj^- is likely to grow in value faster. In the last tifty years ninety per cent of all the merchants and traders in Boston have failed. In the last lifty years ninety per cent of all the business corporations have failed or gone out of business, so that their stock has been wiped out. In the last fifty years all the improved real estate, on the average, has paid its interest and taxes and quadrupled in value. If a young man's father can give him anything to start him in the world he bad better invest in that way, and let it accumiilJite, and earn his living, and he will be richer than if he had gone into business." —From letter to Boston Herald, Aug. 26th, 1887: "How to Get Rich." Assisting an Embezzler. An embezzling bank cashier once called upon Butler and said he had been speculating and had used $40,000 of the bank's money; that an expert Avas work- ing upon the books, and it would be but a day or two when be would be found out, and be wanted Butler's counsel in this dilemma. Butler asked how much money was then in the bank under his control. The terrified cashier replied $100,000. "Bring it to my office," said Butler, "follow my advice and keep quiet." The young man did so. Butler then took a carriage, drove around to the residences of some of the chief 92 LIFE SKETCH OF bank officials and told them he had a client that had taken $140,000 from their bank; that the bank was powerless to recover a cent; that he had pre- vailed npon his client to pay back, and he could get |D0,000 turned back into the bank, if at the same time they would solemnly promise not to prosecu+^f:. This they gladly did. The young man was helped out of a very embarrassing situation, and Butler, with a tAvinkle of his game eye, put $10,000 in his pocket. A Key — Real Estate. lie cleared Elijah Record of larceny,charged with stealing a door-key from a lock, on the ground that * key, being part of the house, is real estate. — Butler's Book, p. 987. Giving the Court a Chance to Get Right. Upon one occasion Butler was discussing a point of law to the full bench of the United States Supreme Court, when one of the court remarked: "Mr. Butler, that proposition of law is settled in Brown v. Smith, 100 U. S." "I understand that, your honor, but I want to give the court a chance to got right," said Butler, nothing daunted. Wealthy. He was said to be worth $7,000,000 when he died, I t( r( U la w of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BUTLER. 98 A Case on Second Ueheariug. He got a second rehearing in the American Emi- grant Aid Society, ph., itiff in error, v. the County of Adams, after tlie case had been decided against phiiutiff in error below and i!i the United Sates Su- preme Court, and there had been a rehearing in the Supreme Court, notwillistanding there is a rule of the court that there can be but one rehearing. This and the legal tender cases, in which he was also con- cerned, being the only cases in which a second rehear- ing has been had. Butler said to his client, who came to him with the record and wanted him to examine it: "The patient being dead and buried, and the sex- ton having gone home to supper, you come to me for resurrection." — Butler's Book, p. 993. His Brain Weighed Sixty-two Ounces. Butler's brain was found to weigh sixty-two ounces, four more than the brain of Daniel Webster. Up to this time the brain of Webster was the second largest on record, the largest being that of Cuvier, which weighed sixty-five ounces. The average weight of the brain in man is fortv-niue ounces. 94 LIFE SKE TCH OF JOHN CADWALADER, PENNSYLVANIA. (1805-1879.) United States District Judge for twenty-one rears. Born in Philadelpliia, April 1, 1805; died Jan uary 26, 1870, aged seventy-three. He was of militaiy ancestry, being tlie son of ri(»neral Thomas Cad- walader and grandson of (ieneral John Cad- walader of RcAolutionary fame. The Judge was martial in disposition, many of his opin- ions having the tone of military command. He graduated from the Tniversity of PiMinsylvania at sixteen, studied law with Horace Pinney, and was admitted at tv»enty. He soon appeared in some of th»' most important causes. Was of counsel in the (rir- ard will contest; prominent in the litigation that arose on the failure of the Pank of the Ignited States; private counsel to President Puchanaii, who after- wards ap|)ointeive way on account of public clamor); was in office continuously, after twenty-six, for forty-two years — thirty-nine un- der United States Covernment. 1I<» was e(iualled onlv bv Webster and Clav as a debater. "Wclistfr was inductive, and convinced the reason; Calhoun, deductive, and da///J«^d the under- standinji'; <'lay, seductiv»>, and carried the votes." "Clay, Calhoun, AVebster,'' said Everett. "I name them in alphabetical order. What ])recedence can be assiuiied them? Clav, the i-reat leader; ^Vebster. the ureat oratoi-; Calhoun, the iireat thinker. lie was i)ronounced by John Stuai't Mill, "the p;reatest speculative ]»oliti(al tliinke!* in American ])oliti('s since the days of the I'ederalist." lie stani])ed his mind on the country more definitely, ]»erha|»s, than any statesman since Hamilton. He was audacious, S(>lf- reliant, untirin^j', inllexible. 98 LIFE SKETCH OF (^)liesivo Power of Bsnik Surplus. "A powor lias rison up in llio ( Jovormnont <>Toat«'r tliiiu the pooj)lG tlicnisclvos, coiisistiii};' of many and various i)o\vorful intorosts, coniLiiu d into one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks." — From Si)ee(h, INfay 27, is;j(;. The A'irlue of tlie IMiritans. "I>y what causes has so in- stacle, and which have led lo such mighty residls." Devoiion to Duty. "If I IcnoAv myself, if my head were at stake 1 would do my duly, be the consequences Avhat they might."— Said in the United Slates Senate in 1847. Believed in the Tufs'llibility of His Own ^lind. "Of all known men he had the most completi* confidence \\\ the infallibility of his own mind." — James Parton. I JOHN C. CALHOUN. 99 Tlio North Value Intellect— The South, Character. "At the North you overvalue intellect; at the South, we rely ui)on character; and if ever there should he a collision that shall test the strength of the two sections, you will 'tind that cluiracter is stronger than intellect, and will carry the day." — Said in 1845. Disunion. "The liberty and union of this country are insep- arable. Disunicui— this single word coni])rehends al- most the sum of our jHditical dangers, and against it ue ought to be perpetually guarded." — Said in ISKJ, when favoring the taiiff bill, while in the House, which spee«'h he afterwards tried to av()id. TTis Manner and Appearance When Speaking. One biographer of Calhoun says: "llis counte- nance at rest Avas strikingly marked by decision and tirmness; in conveisalion, or when speaking, it be- came highly animated and expressive. His large, dark, brilliant, penetrating eyes strongly impressed all who encountered their glances. WIk'u a, "What is the legitimate source of power?" He an- swered, **The people." The wiioh' hour was con snnied bv them in the discussion which foUowed. Not Humorous. He never made a joke in his life, and was totally destitute of humor. Calhoun and ('lay Compared. "Able as Mr. Calhoun certainly was, he found an antagonist in Mr. Clay too adroit and ready for him. He recpiiiod time to ]U'epare his matter and arrange his ideas, even to select his words. Mr. Clay did not, at least in a personal controversy. As he said, he was self-poised, ever ready; he couhl fire off-hand without rest. IMr. Calhoun, on the contrary, must have time to load and take deliberate aim. In doing so he Avas sure to hit and penetrate the most vulnerable point of his antagonist, but while he was doing this his antagonist Avould have hit him in a half dozen places." — Nathan Sargent. ')OHM C. CALHOUN. lOl His Self-Keliauce. "When in Yale Collej^e lie was ridiculed by his fellow -students foi' his intense ai)pli('ation to study. 'Wiiy, sir,' he re])lied, 4 am forced to make the most of my time, that I may acijuit myself creditably when in Congress.' A huigh followed, Avhen he exclaimed, 'Do yon doubt it? I assure you if I were not con- vinced of my ability to reach the National Capital as a rei)resentative within the next three years, I would leave college this very day.' " (He left college at twenty-two, and was in Congress in seven years.) — Mathews, "Getting On in the World," p. 04. Constituents Going South to Teach. Calhoun and Webster were standing at the Cap- itol, looking down Pennsylvania avenue, an«l Calhoun observing some mules traveling southward remarked: "Hello, there, Webster! Yonder comes some of your constituents!" "Yes," said Webster, "they are going South to teach." Webster's Opinion Of. Webster being asked whom he considered the greatest man he liad met in the Senate, or with whom he had come in contact in public life, replied with- out hesitation, "John C. Calhoun. He was long- headed, a man of extraordinary power — much the ablest man in the Senate." — Harvey's Reminiscences of Daniel Webster, p. 219. 102 LIFE SKETCH OF Appeaiaiu'o, N'oicc jiud Mauuers. "Like iiiosi of the race, lie was rather slender, but verv erect, Avitli a ^ood deal of dif;iii(y and some '•ra<'e in his character and demeanor. His eyes were al- ways remarkably fine and brilliant. He had a well- devjdojx'd and siron^ly-set nose, <'heek bones hij;h, and cheeks rather sunken. Mis month was larj;c, and could never have been a comely feature. His early i)ortraits sh(»w his haii' erect on his f(»reheaei'iod of his life hi;; n»anners, wIkmi in coni])any wilh his inferiors in a^c or standinji, wei-e extremely aj;reeable, even fascinat- ing.' -James Part on. His Retort to Chiy. In the Ignited States Senate Mr. Calhoun had recently lent his support to the administration of Mr. ^'an Bnren, an), and in llioso of Xew llain[)sliire and New York V. Lonisiana (108 V. S., TH-O), entitle him to he ranked at the head of the piMtfession. His decisions (15-24 How.), 112 in nninher, ^\ith 2«l dissents, nota- bly Florida v. Cleorj;ia (17 How., 021), show him to liaA'o been a i)rofonnd and i)hilosoi>hical Juiist: and ••reatlv learned in the civil and common law. "IIaid>'('w York, Fehruarv 25, 1823; died at Detroit, Michij^an, where lie had continuously lived since 182(1, A[arle V. Hurlburt (24 Mi<'h. 44), involving Constitutional (|uestions, index the richness of his mind in this branch of inquiry. His bearing Avas high and dignified, and he h)oked, as he was, an ideal judge. A courteous Christian gentleman, an able lawyer, an upright judge. "With gravity, ])atience, learning, he vaunted not himself," said Judge Brown, of Detroit, in a me- morial address. "His manner upon the bench was the perfection of judicial courtesy. lie was a pa- tient and attentive lislener, deferential even to the yotmgest meml>ers of the bar, deliberate in his judg- menti^, but intlexible in his opinions, lieneath his placid face and gracious (h'liu'anor lay an iron will, a resolution that knoAv lu) variableness or shadow of turning." His face was a benediction, and a clasp of his hand warmed the heart. At the first session of court after his death, one of th(> ablest practition- ers <'i(ed a case rendered by him, and as his eye fell upon the lovable name, brus' ai»])ealed from. A\'hiU» his political career has been a busy one and eonimanded a large portion of his time, he has still, as far as possible, continued Ills identitication with his profession. As a lawyer, at the early age of thirty, he rose to the tirst rank. I is i)r(»- verbial among those who know him best that his statement of a proposition of law is its argument. His greatest power is his faculty of being able to compre- hend at once the salient p<»inls of the case. His style is not tlorid, nor has he any claims of the rhetorician, yet there is a force in his argnmenls and a persuasive- ness in his manner that make him a most powerful advocate before either a court or a jury. Aside from his career as a statesman, he has no superior in Ken- tucky as a lawyer, pure and simple. 'jfOHN CKJFFIN CARLISLE. Ill Monoy and Business. "Money does not create business, but business creates a deniaiul for money."— Report on finances, December 2(1, ISJKi. liimetallic Standard of Money. "Accord in j>- to my view of tlie subject, tlie con- spiracy wliich seems to have been formed liere and in ICurope (o deslroy by b'<;islation, and otlierwise, from nireesev«'ntlis t<» one-lialf of the metallic money of the world, is the most j'i^antic crime of this or any other a<;e." — From speech in Congress, February 21, 1878. Yoorhees on — Asa Financier. "John ( I, Carlisle is the peer in intellect and spot- less intej^rlty of the illustrious men wlio have directed the finances of the (i(»verument, includin*; Hamilton, and I make no mistake in placiu"- him as a bimetal- list." — Daniel W. Yoorhees, in Senate, August 22, 1893. Tribute to — As Treasurer of the United States. "I am surprised at the thoroughness with which Mr. Carlisle has gras]»e(l all points involved in the numagement of national tiuances. He has gone into details, and is thoroughly posted, and therefore won- derfully qualified to meet any emergency." — Lyman J. Gage, the celebrated Chicago banker, May, 1893. 112 LIFE SKETCH OF His Intellectual Qualities. "Given a question involvinj? much patient inves- tigation, prolonged comparison of statistics and fig- ures, necessitating tl>e digging at tlie roots of tilings, and involving a lucid, logical presentation of facts and arguments following these investig;itions, he was eminent among the men of the House of his genera- tion. He had a marvelous capacity of so setting forth complicated, involved facts that they were received by his associates as a mathematical demonstration when made by the teacher to his pupils. Tt was tlie faculty that makes the great lawyer, that would have given Mr. Carlisle the attentive ear of tlie Supreme Court bench, and his triumphs both in the House and the Senate haAC been due solely to these high intel- lectual qualities." — E. Jay Edwards, Nov., 1894, Chautauquan. His Power in Argument in Court. "Mr. Carlisle is a masterly pleader before any bar. Kentucky judges used to look upon his appearance before them as a star attraction instead of wearisome routine of duty, and Kenlucky literaiure has been enriched by liis legal career. On one occasion Mr. Carlisle had an imporlant case that the other side was sure of winning. He labored faithfully on his argument, and i»rcxluced a speech that thrilled all auditors and deeply impressed the bench. The mo- ment he had concluded, the judge ordered court ad- JOHN GRIFFIN CARLISLE. 113 journed till afternoon. The opposing counsel ob- jected strenuously, pleading it was nowhere near din- ner time, and that it was ready and anxious to pro- ceed, but the judge was not to be moved. 'What!' said he, 'spoil the taste of such an argument as that? Never, sir. I mean to enjoy a good thing when I have the chance to. The court will adjourn.' "—From Kate Field's Washington. 114 LIFE SKETCH OF MATTHEW HALE CARPENTER, WISCONSIN. (1824-1881.) Pronounced by J. S. Black "the finest Constitu- tional lawyer in the United States." He was born in Moretown, Vermont, December 22, 1824; died in Washington, D. C, February 24, 1881, aged fifty- seven. He commenced reading law with Governor Dillingham at fourteen, having promised to do so when six; tried and won a case at sixteeu, receiving a gold ring as a fee; was appointed to West Point at nineteen, where he spent two years; was admitted at twenty-three, but spent six montlis in Rufus Choate's office, gaining the place by answering a letter from a country lawyer. Choate read it and signed "Rufus Choate, fee |100," and told the boy to stay. He set- tled at Beloit, Wisconsin, in 1848, airiving with sev- enty-five cents and a 11,000 library, ])ayment for which Avas guaranteed by Choafe, who also su])ported him during sixteen months of blindness. In 1856 h<> renu)ved to Milwaukee; was elected to the United States Senate in 1809, and again in 1879. He killed himself by carrying on his enormous i)ractice during his seuutorship. MATTIJE}V rrALE CARPENTER, 115 He first became prominent in a Beloit land suit involving several millions, being opposed by Doolit- tle, Cadj^ and Lincoln, and many suits for Newcomb ('leveland, of New York, against the Milwaukee & La- Crosse Railway. lie appeared in the Wm. A. Barstow quo warranto proceedings which removed him from the governorshi|>; represented, at invitation of Secre- tary Stanton, with Lynum Trumbull, the Government in the great McCardle case, brouglit to test the valid- ity of the reconstruction act of 1807; successfully de- fended Belkna]), late Secretary of War, before an im- peaching Senate, and received a |10,000 retainer to represent Tilden before the Eh'cti)ral (V)mmission, a remarkable coincidence, as the Republicans expected to retain him for Hayes. He was a deej* Constitutional lawyer, and a bril- liant advocate. He won by tact, clearness, common sense. Had great ability in nwirshaling facts, skill in analyzing, distir.guishing and applying principles. As an orator, was magnetic, witty, fluent ; as a lawyer, coujprehensive, thorough, untiring. 116 LIFE SKETCH OF Wobstor .and Marshall. "Of all the jiulyiL's, English tmd American, whose opinions are valuable to the student, Chief Justic*' Marshall stands pre-eniin(Mit. 1 read the argument of Mr. Webster in Ogden v. Saunders, upon the consti- tutionality of state insolvent laws, as reported by Mr. Everett, and before I knew how the case was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. While reading this argument, I was carried along captive through paragraph after paragraph, from proposition to proposition, and, when I had linished it, I never thought of looking to see how the case was decided, because I would have made my affidavit that Web- ster's argument was wholly unanswerable, and, of course, must have been decided with him. And when I found, a year or two laler, that the court decided the case the other way, I recollect that I lost confidence in human reasoning for the space of ten days. Noth- ing finally consoled my disappointment except the fact that the great Chief Justice dissented from the decision of the court, and canonized the argument of Mr. W^ebster. But for this I think I should have con- cluded that logic was an unsafe guide in the laby- rinths of the law; however, I satisfied the wounded pride of my boyish judgment by resolving that Web- ster and Marshall were greater authority than the rest of mankind combined, and that Webster was right though he did not succeed." — Extract from lec- ture to law students in Washington, 1870. MATTHEW HALE CARPENTER. 117 Ohiof Justice Gibson. "The opinions of Cliief Jiistiee Gibson, thoroughly uudei'stood, would make any man a profound law- yer." — Idem. English Keports. "Jiuy your own State reports, next the New York reports, whieh will furnish you with ingeniously rea- sond cases on every side of every question, and then, lo relieve the bewilderment of the inexperienced mind, tossed to and fro by reading New York decis- ions, you will need the sobering influence and steady sui)port of the Massachusetts reports. Next, and be- fore the reitorts of other States, I would buy all the English Common Law and ( 'hancery reports, and con- linue them Avitli the i>resent series, bringing the de- cisions of the English courts within a few weeks of their actual delivery."- Idem. Ghoate's Friendship. Hufus Choate, with whom ( 'arpenter spent the greater portion of a year, guaranteed a |1,000 library which he selected for tin; young man, upon his re- UKMiil to Wisconsin, and gave him his fare from P.os- ton to Beloit and the following letter: "Boston, May 25, 1848.— I have great pleasure in stating that I). M. II. Garpenter, Esquire [these were Garpenter's baptismal initials], is well known to me; that his character is excellent, his talents of a very high order, his legal attainments very great for his 118 LIFE SKETCn OF time of life, and that lils love of labor and liis fond- ness for his profession insnre his success wheresoever he m.ny establish himself. He studied (he law in my office for the closiuj; portion of his term, and I part with him with j^reat regret. To the profession and the public I recommend him as worthy «>f the utmost confidence, honor and patronajje. Rufus Choate, Counsellor at Law." — Flower's Life of Oarpenter, ]). 55. Choate Supported Him Wln-n Hlind. Soon after Carpenter settled in Beloit, W sin, he was troubled with his eyes, became nearly blind, w<^nt to New York city for treatment, and dur- ing a period of about sixteen montlis Choate sup- ported him, paying his expenses in a New York hos- pital, etc. — Carpenter's Life, p. Gft-(>7. Webster's Argument and Marshall's Opinions. "Read Webster's arguments in the United States Supreme Court, and then Marshall's opinion in decid- ing the case, and see how^ much that you thought un- answerable in the argument found its way into the opinion. Thus you will obtain pure gold, refined by fire." — From lecture to law students in Washington, 1870. Military Life. "I don't believe a man can ever become great by learning to walk a crack with a stiff neck and his fingers on the seams of his pantaloons." — Said after being one year at West Point. MATTHEW HALE CARPENTER. 119 His Defense of Bolknai). Carpenter rose to defend Wni. W. Belknaj), and annonneed Ids jdea for the late Secretary of War, who had resigned the office, npon Carpenter's advice, and wlio was beinj^ tried on his iinpeacliment by th<» Senate, by sayinj;: "Mr. Bellinap, a citizen of Iowa, pleads not guilty." This was Mr. Carpenter's defense in a sentence, — that being a citizen of Iowa, and no longer a pnblic officer, the Senate had no jurisdiction. Justice Miller's Oi)iiiion. When the exhibit of impeachment was made against W. W. Belknap, Secretary of War, that officer consulted privately with Justice Miller as to who should be engaged as counsel. "Matt. Carpenter and Judge Black," was Miller's reply; "the best lawyers in America." — Life of Carpenter, p. 124. The Turning Point in His Life — Newcomb Cleveland. Mr. Carpenter often said that "circumstances make men," and as an illustration frequently related how he got his start. Some three years after he set- tled in Beloit, Wisconsin, to practice law, the public became very much agitated over license or no license of the saloons. There being a college in the town, the faculty took strong ground against the license. At this juncture young Carpenter was called upon to address the people in favor of license at the town hall. The evening the speech was mrde Newcomb Cleveland of New York, the many times millionaire, came into Be- 120 LIFE SKETCH OF loit to look after his railroad interests in that State as to the construction of the Milwaukee & LaCrosse Railroad The company had employed all the leading lawyers of Milwaukee to represent their side. While Mr. Cleveland was strolling around town he asked the clerk of the hotel if there was any- tb'ng going on that evening which would be of inter- est to hear. ITe was told nothing, except that a young lawyer was to speak Jit the town hall on the license question. Mr. Cleveland, for want of something bet- ter, strolled in to hear him. About two years later, Carpenter sat in his office reading a magazine, when Mr. Cleveland stepped into his office and asked if he was Mr. Carpenter. Being t(»ld that he was, Mr. Cleve- land told him he wanted him to look after his rail- road interests in that State; that he would pay him |(),000 a year, and wanted him to move to Milwaukee at once; that the litigation would probably take ten year?,; and that he should retain no one else. Young Carpenter {.ccepted, a contract was drawn, and Mr. Carpenter moved forthwith to Milwaukee with his family and entered upon his work. About eight years were consumed in the various legal con- t'^sis for Mr. Cleveland's interests in the State and Federal courts, and Mr. Carpenter added, "If it had not been for that little speech on the license question I probably would have continued in Ueloit for some years, perhaps during the remainder of my life. If T had remained there I never shouid have been Senator. Cleveland brouglit me into a wider field, and theij T MA TTHE IV HALE CARPENTER. 121 studied as no man ever studied before to carry his litigation througli successfully. The license sjjeech was the turning point of my life and made me all T am." — Flower's Life of Carpenter, p. 79. Chase's Tribute. Chief Justice Chase saidj when Carpenter in a dress-suit argued the McCardle case. "That young man talks bad law in better style than any man I ever heard in this court." For Wm. M. Meredith's tribute to him and his brief in the McCardle case, see "Meredith." Stanton Retained Ilim in the McCardle Case. Secretary Stanton retained him, giving him a $5,000 retainer in the McCardle case, and when he had finished his argument threw his arms around him and exclaimed, "Carpenter, ycui have saved tisl" Received a $10,000 Retainer for Tilden. In 1877 Zach. Chandler, of Michigan, went to re- tain Carpenter on belialf of Hayes. Being asked what he would charge to appear for IJa "s, he rei)lied, $10,- 000. Chandler left saying he wn Ud consult the com- mittee and ]«'t him know. In a day or two Mr. Til- den's friends came to see him to repivsent their side. Mr. Carpenter said he liad been consulted by the other side and did not feel at liberty at that time to accept a retainer, but added that he would let them laa LIFE SKETCH OF know in a couple of days, as he had not yet been re- tained, lie then dropped Chandler a line, and hear- ing nothing, upon the return of the Tilden committee, said he was at liberty to appear for Tilden, as he had no reply from the other side. Ten thousand dol- lars, as a retainer, was paid him at once, and he began to prepare for the great struggle. The day following, Mr. Chandler returned and said that they had decided to retain him. "I am very sorry," said Mr. Carpen- ter, **but I nm retained by the other side." Taking the Unpopular Side of a Case. In connection with the Ilayes-Tilden contest, Carpenter was severely' criticised for appearing for Tilden, but he answered he was in the practice of the law to make a living and not for politics. The news- paper strictures so annoyed his wife that she wrote him she wished he could engage in causes that would please the newspapers. lie replied: "While I live and have my health, I must walk the mountain ranges of the profession, swept by the storm of hu- mr.n hate and passion. Neither solf-respect nor my love for you will permit me to seek the obscurity and consequent shelter of deep valleys and smooth meadows." — Life, p. 126. His Care in Briefing Cases. "In drawing up the most ordinary brief, Carpen- ter was never satisfied with the words he had first written, but kept continually working out, through MATIHEW HALR CARPENTER. 123 the dictionaries or the works of standard authors, the most certain and exact sliades of meaning which he desired to express."— Jonas M. Buntly, editor of New Yorlc Post and Mail, in a letter of Sep. 10, 1883. The Babcock Whisky Cases. In the defense of the whisky cases in the United States Circuit, in 1875, Carpenter tried "to pass by" Judge Drummond, figuratively speaking, to address the jury. The judge stopped him. When asked why he attempted it, he said: "All the law was against me, public opinion was agoinst me, the press was against me, the Court was against me, my clients were as guilty as Cain, so what could I do? My only possible chance was to get by the judge and at the jury." — Carpenter's Life, p. 136. Office Fired Because He Opposed ihe Railroads. Carpenter's office was fired because of the strong ' ^Mid he took against corporate power, especially in upholding the Potter law in 1809 against the opin- ions of Wm. M. Evarts, Charles O'Conor, E. Rock well Hoar and Benjamin R. Curtis. — Carpenter's i Jfe, p. 155. Judge (irii^r's Opinion of Carpenter. After his first argument in the United States Su- preme C*)urt in 1S()2, Judge (^irier told the clerk that he was as good an orator as Clay ever was, and that he had heard all the great lawyers of the country, and 124 LIFE SKETCH OF to Judge Millor in the cloak-room, said: "I have never listened to a better argument; and ha^e heard nothing ecjual to his effort to(hiy since Mr. Webster was before us." — ^Life of Carpenter, p. 172. Briefed Cases in Baggage-Car. "His most remarkable trait," said Justice Mil- ler, "was industry." He used to take the night train for the interior of the J^late, r.fter hard work all day in his office, for a trial the next day, and he generally asked for a chair and table and sat in the baggage- car, Avhere he would work for hours oblivions <»f the rattle of the cars or the surroundings. -Id. p. 178. "Young Lion of the West." Upon his second election to the United States Senate in 1875, (Jeorge W. Peck, of Peck's Milwaukee Sun, gave him the sobriciuet of the "Young Lion of the West," which was his jxtpular nickname till his death.— Id. j). 2!>0. Independeni Party Between Right and Wrong. "If the Republican party is right and the Demo- cratic party is wrong, Mhere must be the Independent l)arty? It is between right and wi'ong." — Said Car- penter in the Hayes campaign, 1S7(). Justice. "In this i'rnel world justue is sometimes kind- UesH."— Id. 377, MATTHEW HALE CARPENTER. 125 Wobst<^r and Clioate His Tdoals. While yet a youth he used frequently to say that he preferred a single feather from the plume Web- ster and Choate wore to all the wealth which human hands could acipiire. — Td. p. 182. Oushing's Description of His Coming Into Court. Caleb Cushing once said to Henry Wilson as he saw Carpenter entering the Senate, his coat and vest unbuttoned on account of the excessive heat, a bun- dle of papers and a volume of reports in one hand, and a large palm-leaf fan in the other: "I do love to watch the entry of that man into court; he conies in with such a sunshiny smile, such a boyish indiffer- ence of step, and such a roguish twinkle of the eyes, as seems to say, 'Now, listen while I have some sport with these old codgers.'" — Id. 1G9. His Son Paul's Telegram. When Carpenter was elected a second time, in 1879, to the Senate, after his protracted struggle, anu)ng other telegrams received was one from his son, Paul, then ten years old: "Dear, splendid, papa: Ma- ma and I send love and congratulations." — Id. 331. Was Poor Till Fourteen. "Before I was fourteen years of age I never saw a carpet, a sofa, or a piano." — From speech in elanes- ville, 1873, in defense of iiis vote in favor of the "Sal- ary Grab Bill." 126 LIFE SKETCH OF Whitelaw Reid. "Whitelaw Reid is a fop and frivolous pretender, of wliom a contemporary review recently said: *Whitelaw Reid was seen on the streets again yester- day with men's clothes on. Whore's the police?' " — Speaking of the power of the press in Senate in 1881 : Id. 377. Reply to Senator Hoar. Senator Windom of the session of the Senate in 1879 moved a resolution looking to the establishment of a department of agriculture and commerce. Car- penter asked if there was a lawyer in tlie Senate wlio could point out what t lause of the Constitution af- forded power to establish any such department. Sen- ator Hoar asked if other things had not been done without the permission of the Constitution. Carpen- ter replied: "It is a very easy thing to justify any action that Ccuigress nmy want to take, if it is a sut!i- cient justification to say that Congress has done sucli a thing. I do not know wh(»re would be the limit of our power, if we conld first do a thing, and then next day justify the action l)ecaiis(> we did it the day be- fore."— Id. 421). Self-(fOvernment. "The last hope of man in the experinu'ut of self- government is with us; we are, (?ven today, with all the difliculties we have to contend against, holding AfA TTHE W HALE CARPENTER. 127 the lamp of liberty a little higher and shedding its light a little clearer on the face of the world than any other nation. Yet we are in our infancy, not only in years, but in oi)portuuities and capacities." — From speech in New Orleans when Carpenter went there to investigate election frauds: Id. 462. nis liibrarv and Cost to Live as Senator. "I have 5,000 volumes of law books and about 6,000 volumes of political and literary works. • * * In just three causes in the Supreme Court last year (1872), which I prepared for argument during the summer at home, I received |1 0,500 in cash. That was the reason that I was able to get through the year, as my offices and liouse rent, insurance pre- miums [.f 1,000 paid on books, and he carried $50,000 (m his life, costing yearly in premiums $1,400], amounted to .|6,550, not including living, clothes, books, doctor bills, charities, etc."— Extract from same s})eech: Id. 471. Tantalizing Willi Reconstruction. The «'owardice of Congress in dealing with John- son and reconstruction was cliaracterized and likeiu'd by him to cntting ofT a dog's tail, in the fcdlowing: "If I were going, even, to cnt a dog's tail off, I would cut it off at once, and have done with it. The con- gressional plan is to cnt ofT two or three inches every two or three days, and thus keep the cur yelping and snapping forever." — Id. 484, i 128 LIFE SKETCH OF His Generosity. Tt was a liabit with Carpenter to talce a ragged urcliin to a store, buy him a new hat, handlierchief, shoes or stockings, and he tlius has sent home hun- dreds rejoicing. He very frequently gave a beggar girl $10, and tried cases for nothing where parties were unable to pay. Eight Thousand Dollars for His Briefs — Congress. He Lad a collection of all the briefs, arguments, etc., presented to the attention of the Supreme Court of the United States since its organization. These were bound, and, as the only other similar collection extant belonged to the Philadelphia Law Library, wore considered so valuable that after his death Con- gress set aside $8,000 for their purchase as an adui tion to the Congressional Library. — Id. 513. Child Half White— Joke on Ryan. Carpenter, to get a joke on Ryan, had it reported that the wife of one of their distinguished clients had had born to her a child that was half white. He ex- pressed a desire that Ryan should keep it out of the newspapers. Ryan broached the subject to the father of the child. Amid great embarrassment he learned that the child was a perfect Caucasian in color. Re- turning in a rage. Carpenter remarked: "I supposed you knew the other half of the child was white, too." *-Id. 557. MATTHEW HALE CARPENTER. 129 Shakespeare and the Bible. His favorite volumes were Shakespeare and the Bible, which, he said, were all the library a man needed. — Id. 514. Loves and Friendships. "The loves and friendships of individuals par- take of the frail character of human life; are brief and uncertain. The experiences of a human life may be shortly summed up: A little loving and a good deal of sorrowing; some bright hopes and many bitter disappointments; some gorgeous Thursdays, when the skies ire bright and the heavens blue, when Prov- idence, bv^nding over us in blessings, glads the heart almost to madness; many dismal Fridays, when the smoke of torment beclouds the mind and undying sorrows gnaw upon the heart; some high ambitions and many Waterloo defeats, until the heart becomes like a charnel house filled with dead affections, em- balmed in holy, but sorrowful memories; and then the 'silver chord is loosed,' the 'golden bowl is broken,' the individual life — a cloud, a vapor — passeth away." — Speech in Reception of the (Irand Duke Alexis, 1871. . ; 180 LIFE SKETCH OF JAMES COOLIDGE CARTER, NEW YORK. (1827 .) James 0. Carter is, b}' the general consent of the New York bar, spoken of as the leader of the profes- sion. This title has not been accorded so generally to any man since the death of Charles O'Conor, with whom Mr. Carter was associated in s, -^ral import- ant litigations, especially in the great Jumel case, which they carried, after years of labor under extra- ordinary difficulties, to a brilliant termination. Mr. Carter was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, Octo- ber 14, 1827, and is a graduate of Harvard college. He is a gentleman of fine appearance, of courtly manners and of impressive speech. His main superiority consists in his broau and philosophical view of the law. In his arguments he prefers to seek the fountain rather than to follow the streamlets. He builds upon the broad- est and strongest foundations, and it may generally be said of him, as was said of Mr. Calhoun, that if you grant his premises you are bound to accept his con- clusions. Although he has had considerable sue- COOI.IDGE CARTER, 131 bis main oxcellenco has hccn ill >r«' the Court of Appeals and the li<» Uiiiird States. Tlion<;h «1<*- JAMES cess as a jury lawyer, }j[reat arf^uinents bef* Supreme <'onit of tl feated by a «losely divided court in the ^reat Tilden will case, his arj^ument in tliat celebrated litigation does him p;reat honor. He was of counsel for the United States in the Hehrin}? sea case, and his eight- day argui it elicited it idati It was •onimenc masterly in its generalization, in its philosophy, iu its breadth and in the high tone whic^h prevailed throughout. The president of the tribunal com- mended it in terms of deserved eulogy. His practice has been for many years very large. He was made I president of the American Bar Association in 1804. Since the death of his former partner, Mr. Henry J. Scudder, in 188f>, with whom he was associated for thirtj'-three years, Mr. Ledyard,a grandson of General Cass, has been associated witli him. Mr. Carter is sixty-seven years of age, a bachelor, and retains, to all appearances, his old-time vigor and earnestness, and is greatly esteemed by his associates. 182 LIFE SKETCH OF Reform in Law. "But we do know that all reform and progress in the law consists in Jifting up the actual system which we administer into a more i)erfect harmony with the ideal of concei)ti()n." — Extract from an Ad- dress on "The Ideal and the Actual Law," delivered before the American Bar Association, 1890, An Advocate. "Mr. Carter, the greatest lawyer in New York, and probably the greatest in all our country, is essen- tially an advocate." — March-April American Law Beview, 1894. Does Ilis Briefing at Home. Mr. Carter is a difficult man to find in his office on Wall street, as he does all his briefing at his elegant home, at 277 Lexington avenue, New York. He Unostentatious But Kindly, is a very nuHlest, unassuming man. Upon one occasion, it is related that a very wealthy lady client, in the vicissitudes of life, lost all of this world's goods. A public sale of her effects took place in New York city, and among other things to go was a fine span of horses and the family carriage, which had been prized by her for years. At the sale Mr. Carter had a friend buy in the turnout at some- thing like $«00 or |'700, and turned it over to the lady, but she never knew who was her benefactor. HAUfON POh'TLAND ClfASR. 133 SALMON PORTLAND CHASE, OHIO. (1808-1873.) Born at rornlsh, New ILiinpHliiro, January 13, 1808; died at New York May 7, 1873, ajjt'd sixty-flvo. Graduated at Dartniouth f*;e with rospcctable rank. Subsequently taught school and studied law simultaneously, the latter in the oflftce of William Wirt, at Washington, where, when twenty-one, he was admitted to the bar, immediately after which he removed to Cincinnati. In his early practice he com- piled "Chase's Statutes of Ohio," a work of tremen- dous labor and patience. Moved apparently by out- rages of which he was an eye-witness, he early be- came identified with the anti-slavery movement in Ohio, appearing as counsel for them until he gained the sobriquet, "Attorney General for Runaway Ne- groes." In 1849 he was elected to the United State<3 Senate; 1855, was made Governor of Ohio, and re- elected in 1857. Again elected to United States Sen- ate, 1860, resigning to become Lincossible to know it, in all its aspects, legal and other. It aa'us his habit to brief his adversary's case as carefully as his own In all important causes. From an early pe- riod in his professional career, his jmictice was con- fined to the Supreme Court of the State iuid of the United States."--Shucker's Life, p. G13. Live "Unspotted." At a social gathering during tlie Avar, a naA'al officer present said he had a little i)ro]»(>rty which the tax gatherers had not \v\ spotted. Turning to Uhase he said: "1 do not know wlielher T ought to let tilings go that way or not. What Avould you do about it?'' The vSecretary's eyes twiid^led as he an- swered: "I think it is the duty of every man to liv(> 'nnspot led' as long as he <'an." Splinters. SALMON PORTLAND CHASE. 139 Democracy Should Protect AW. "In a democracy, which recognizes no classes and no privileges, every man must be protected in his just rights, or no man can be, by law."— Said in 1845, in accepting a testimonial from the colored people of Cincinnati, O., for defending Samuel Watson, a fu- gitive slave. Lincoln's Opinion. "Of all the great men I have ever known Chase is equal to about one and half of the best of them." — A. Lincoln: Shucker's Life, j). 488. Read Law With Wirt. lie read law with William Wirt and held him to be a hero. nis Manner and Appearance. "Chase's character was grave, serious, serene. lie had litth* (u* no sense of humor, and, as his biog- raphers liave said, never tohl a story but to sjxdl it. He took life seriously and witli a certain severity of consciousness which to many seemed excessive Puritanism, lie was metho Cliarles Sninn<'r, probably in 1S44. Netitralily. "Neutrality in any sliarj) civil dissension is cow- ardly, immoral and disrepuiabl<\" Natnrallv. "We do notliinji' naturally. Naturally a man would walk down \Vasliin^ton street with his panta- loons off." — Said lo o])]>osinjf counsel who saiur .Jurists and th<' (irealest Jurist of our Orators," "Hufus Choate was all iiupelm)sily, I'ourin^ out torrents of e\(|uisite Ihouj^ht ('sticulati(ui. One mi^ht say of him as Cicero said «d' Scaevcda, 'Jui-is ]>eritorum ele- ;atioii. I have ad<»i»ted the plan (d' takiiij;' a volume of Massarliiiselts IJepoi'ts and of iitakiuiL;' a full brief of my ar^^ument on eveiy (|neslioii in every ease, e.xaniinin;^' all the an( horities, aud carefully <'(nn])osiii_n an arj;nnient, as well i-easoned, as well expressed, as if I were j;oin<;' tomoi-row to submit it to a bench of the lirst jurists (;ind the plan was car- ried down to the end rief law, lo^ic and elo- (pu'iice must be studied and blended tojicther." I'^i-oni fFoui'ual of IJeadinus and Actions, IS^;*,. The Lawyer's N'acation. He said he was ^oinji' to write a book. \\'hen aske(l upon what subject it was to be, said: "I've ;iassion, sustained by b'^al learning; and adorned by fancy." — Dauiel Web- ster. 150 LIFE SKKTC.n OF Kofuscd I*(»sih'(ui on Sii]»i'('im(' Boiich. f'lioatc WHS (»lTerl, bnt de- clined the honor. — IIaiv<'y's Rem., p. 2.'{.">. Flaslied a Heniai-k rpon Yo\i. "In a niinnte's eonveisati(»n he condensed what conhl have been (d)tained from no other celehiilies ,of lioston in an Innii's disconrse. Ih' ai)i»eared, flaslied on you a remark, and tiien t* y^'*^^ reached as high as 123,000. Tlie most he ever rereived for one ease was 12,500. Proving a Negative. A vessel insured was prohihited to go noi'tli of the Okhotsk sea. Within a year — the length of the policy — she was burned north of the sea i)roper, but south of some of the sea's gulfs. Defendant set up, no loss within the policy. On the way to tlie court- house Clioate said, in answer to his associate's anx- ieties as to how tliey couhl win, as tliey were for })laintifl', ''Wliy sliould we prove we were not north of that sea; why not let them prove that we were?" The mate Avas put on to prove the burning at a certain time within the year. No cross-examination fol- lowed, and the plaintilf rested. The defendant was dumbfounded. Had no witnesses ready. They ex- pected plaintiff would consume two days. The case lasted one hour and Ohoate won. — Keed's "Conduct of Litigation," p. 1.50. Carry the Jury at All Hazards. "Carry the jury at all hazards; move heaven and earth to carry the jury, and tlnni figlit il out with the judges on the law questions as best you can." — ftlathews, "Getting On, oic.,"" p. 74. 152 LIFE SKETCH OF Personal Appearance. "About six feet in height with a powerful chest and shoulders, a i;iant frame, Inige hands and feet; a rolling, lumbering sort of gait; a bilious, coffee- colored comi)iexion; his face deepl}' corrugated with profound wrinkles and hollows, and seamed with powerful lines; his head deep rather than wide, and completely covered Avith luxuriant black curly hair, scarcely tinged with gray at the day of Ids death; moutli large, and lips thin and trcnndous; his eyes large, deep set and black, with a weird, far-away ex- pression in quiet, but a terrible burning intensity in excitement; a face noticeable in a throng of a thous- and, Avith intellect looking out at every iK)int; a most haggard, woe-begone, fortune-telling counte- nance; his pers(»n arrayed in slouching, ill-fitting gar- ments, including always several coats of various and indescribable hues, which he doffed or donned in the pro^-fvss of a cause according to the ann>unt of per- spiration which he was secreting, and a cravat which has been said to meet in an indescribable tie, which seems like a fortuitous concurrence of original atoms."— Irving Browne's "Short Studies of (Sreat Lawyers," pp. 301-2. Decliiiieh a larji,(' lndejn the ice. One bi'ojher — J(»nes, I thiidv — disa|»|><'ared after immersion and dir(d»ably drifted ti'U oi' tifte<'n feet fronj ir.4 ///•■/•; SKETCn OF the liolc, and was vainly <;aspinj;' nn(]<'i- lee as many inches tliiclv. Aft<'i' pausinj*- a few minutes, the min- ister said: 'lU'other Jones lias evidently gone to king- dom come; Itring on the next.' Now, 1 am not unfeel- ing, hut after all has been done for a client that I can do — and I never spare myself in advancing his legal rights — the only thing left foi' me is to dis- miss the case from my mind, and to say with my Bap- tist brother, 'Hring on the next.' " — Whipple's "Kecol- lections of Eminent Men," p. 57. A Suggestive Diction. "You d(ui't want a dicti..n gathered from the newsi>a])ers, caught from th j air, common and un- suggestive; luit you want one whose every wor0,()(M), besides as much inon' appioximalely In fees. Coui-lcoiis. The late SolicHor (Icnri-al is a v<'i'y courlcoiiH j;<'iitl('iiian. A <;«'iillt'niaii of ( 'iiiciimati, Ohio, related to the author a litth' eli'ai'liaiiieulary orator. Born April 12, 1777, in the"Slas]ies," Hanover county, Mrgiuia; died in Wasl»in;.;t(»n, June 21>, 1852, a^^ed seventv-tive. Was one of seven rjiildrcn of an iin- pecunions Baptist minister, who died wlien tlie son Avas fonr. Tliree years in a floorless, windowless, h){^ school house, a year in a grocery at four- teen, fonr years copyin}; and law-reading with Chancellor \Vythe (with whom had read Jef- ferson and Marshall), a year in Kobert Brooke's office, the Attorney (leneral, make np his yonthfnl education. Settled in Lexington, Kentucky, at twenty. Became famous as a criminal lawyer, cleai'- ing, among others, Aaron Burr. Was first to make use of "temiH)rary delirium" as ground of defense. It is said: "No murderer (h'fcndcd l»y him was ever sentenced to death, and every criminal's life en- trusted to his care was insui-ed, whatever the degree v>f his guilt." Upon entering the Tnited States HENRY CLAY. 159 St'iuitc, nearly four months before thirty, his clients gave him |.'{,()00 to attend their cases in the United States Supreme Court. John Quiucy Adams ottered him a position upon the Supreme Bench, l)ut he declined it. Stands in the traditions of the House as its ;;reatest Speaker, where durin<^ fourteen years no decision of his was ever reversed. "Sh<>d unfadin;;, honors upon the DepartnuMit of State," said Adams. "His leav- ing Congress in 1S42," wi-ote Crittenden, "was some- thing like the soul's quitting the body." Fought two duels. Five times aspii-ed to the Presidency. "Was a strong leader, but n*»t a s:ife guide. His imagina- tion f refluent ly ran away with his understanding. Surpassed all contemporaries, except Jackson, as a party leader," says Schui'z. Was six feet one in stature, erect and comnmnd- ing, with high forehead, i)romineiit nose, blue eyes, large nn)uth and a |)owerful melodicuis voice. As a si>eak"c, was magnetic and enchautiug. His periods glitterc I "like [»nlished lances in a sunny forest." IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) -^ I I.I 11.25 U^ U2S 12.5 !S !r IIIIIM 1^ — 6" 2.0 1.8 1^ il.6 V] <^ /2 v: p ."'> .V # .♦->.>?' '\^ o / /A Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST ^.AIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^<. (v V A. m o Q> Q"..^ ^1'^ \ \ iV 160 LIFE SKETCH OF Paper Money. '. "If there be in rej^ard to currency one trutl», which the united experience of the whoh^ commercial worUl has established, I had supposed it to be that emis- sions of paper money constituted the very worst of all conceivable species of currency." Tilt With (Calhoun. "The honorable Senator if rerwards met him in New York -nine years later— and, tinding that he had been deceived, Clay refused to shake hands with him."— Schurz's Life of Clay, p. 36. Remembered a Juror Twenty-One Years After the Trial. While on a political to i in Mississippi he stopped at Clinton, when an eccentric old man stepped forward and said, "Don't introduce me; I want to see if Mr. Clay will know me." "Where did 164 LIFE SKETCH OF I know you?" said Cla}'. "In Kentucky.*' "HaTC you lost that eye since I saw you, or had you lost it before?" "Since." "Then turn the sound side ^of 3-our face to nie, that I may get a protile. I have it. Did you give me a verdict us juror at Frankfort, Ken- tucky, in the great case of the United States against Innes, twenty-one years ago?" "I did! I did!" said the overjoyed man. "And is not your name llard- wicke?" said Mr. Clay. "It is, it is," rei»lied Dr. Hard- wicke, bursting into tears. "Did I not tell you great men never forget faces," exclaimed the gratified doctor. Dailv Practiced Kearevious to taking the floor. He would exhaust the subject suggested by one of those brief memoranda, and then pass on to another. His enunciation was clear and distinct, but marvelously rapid. It was impossible for the reporters io take his speeches in those days, when stenograi)hy had not been so per- fected as now, and that is the reason that his speeches do not read as well as those of Webster. Rut of the two men Mr. ('lay was incomparably the better speaker. In his last years of public service he stood between the two fires of the extreme North and the extreme South, and there were little men in the Sen- ate always snapping and snarling at his heels. Sometimes they drove him to bay, and then it was a fine spectacle to see him turn on them and demolish 166 LIFE SKETCH OF them. He scattered them as easily as a splendid stag scatters a pack of coyotes." — Gfiieral W. T. Sher- man in New York Times. Was of a Party. "A free people in times of peace and quiet, when pressed by no common danger, naturally divide into parties. At such times the man who is of neither party is not, can not be, of any consequence. Henry Clay was therefore of a party." — A. Lincoln. "Speaking for Posterity" — Retort. Being confronted by General Smyth of Virginia in the House of Keprese ^atives in a long debate, Smyth, who was noted for his prosy and long-drawn speeches, said to Clay: "You speak for the present generation; I speak for posterity." "Yes," replied Clay, "and you seem resolved to continue speaking until your audience arrives." His Poverty. "Clay's example teaches us," said Lincoln in a eulogy on Clay in Springfield in 1852, "that one can scarcely be so poor but that, if he will, he can acquire sufficient education to get through the world respect- ably." Esteemed Jefferson. From his twenty-first to his thirty-fourth year he esteemed Jefferson the first and best of living men. HENRY CLAY. 167 Betrayed a Feeling of Superiority. Lincoln said though Clay was polisheA^ York hotel, the gift of a few friends. His 600 Acre Farm Mortgages of $30,000 Discharged by Friends. In his old ago his fine estate of GOO acres at Ash- land, Kentucky, through the miafortunes of his sons, was burdened with mortgages to the amount of $30,- 000, and other large debts weighed hira down, when a few old friends secretly raised the needful sum, paid the mortgages and discharged his debts, and then caused Clay to be informed what had been done, but not of the name of the donors. Raised Fine Animals. He raised on his estate superior animals. Ilad fifty merino sheep driven over the mountains from Pf nnsylvania, and imported from England Durham and Hereford cattle. 168 LIFE SKETCH Oh Exact Msui of Rusiiiosa. Ilfr was an exact man of business, who docketed his h'ttei'S, and couhl send from Washiii;;ton to Ash- hmd for a document, telling in what pij^eon-liole it could be found. His Reply as to How He \\ ould Preside as a Speaker After a Night's Debauch. "How can you preside over that House today?" asked a fri' '' is he set Mr. Clay down at his own door, after s e, from a party. "Come up and you shall see how i will throw the reins over their necks," replied the Speaker, as he stepped from the carriage. Probed Nothing to the Bottom — Not a Student. "Clay probetl nothing to the bottom, except, per- haps, the game of whist; and, though his instincts and tendencies were high and noble, he had no great grasp of general truths. He was not a student, not a thinker, not a philosopher. Webster said of him, when reported to be dying: *I think he never was a man of books, a hard student; but he has displaced remarkable genius. He has been too fond of ex- citement — he has lived upon it; he has been too fond of company, not enough alone; and has few resources within himself. Now a man who can not, to some ex- tent, depend upon himself for happiness, is to my mind one of the unfortunate."- — Parton on Clay. HENKY CLAY 168 {'jii'i-l('(l tlie War (»f 1812 on His SlioiiMers. "Clay lil«'rall.v carried the war of 1812 on his shonhlcrs. lie and his friends were alluded to by (iulncy of Massachusetts as 'younj,' ])olltlclans, with their ]»ln-feathers yet unslied, the shell still sticking upon them — perfectly unfledged, though they flut- tered and cackled on the floor.* " — Parton's Article on nay. Light Hair, lie had abundant light hair. Unequalled in Kentucky for His Power Over Juries. "He had a power over a Kentucky jury such as no man has cA'er had. We are far from thinking that he was not a very able lawyer, for he was a brilliant, successful practitioner, and had amassed a compe- tence after ten years at the bar. Judge Story, before whom, in his later life, he argued a case, was of the opinion that he would have won a high position at the bar of the Supreme Court, if he had not been early drawn away into public life." — James Partou. His Last Clreat Speech on the Compromise Bill. His last great speech, on the great Compromise Bill of 1850 lasted two days, and was probably the cause of his death. He was so feeble that he had to be helped up the Capitol steps, and when asked to desist said if be did he was afraid he would not live m LIFE SKETCH OF to resume. He was strongly Union la what he said, and exehiimed, among other things: "There are those who think that the Union must be preserved by an exclusive reliance upon love and reason. Tliat is not my opinion. I have some confidence in t'lis instru- mentality; but depend upon it, that no human gov- ernment can exist without the power of applying force, and the actual application of it in extreme cases. n Horace Greelev's Tribute. "If a man only saw Henry Clay's back, he would know that it was the back of a distinguished man." — Horace Greeley. Inscription on the Monument at the Grave of the Mother of Henry Clay in the Cemetery at Lexington, Kentucky. "Elizabeth Watkins, formerly Elizabeth Clay, Born 1750, Died 1829. This monument, a tribute to her many domestic virtues, has been prompted by the filial affection and veneration of one of her grateful sons, H. Clay." NATHAN CLIFFORD. 171 NATHAN CLIFFORD, MAINE. (1803-1881.) Twenty-three years an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Born in Rumney, New Hampshire, August 18, 1803; died in Cornish, Maine, January 25, 1 ^81, aged seventh-seven. Born in an honorabh> poverty, he received his early education at the Haverhill, New Hampshire, academy, and later at the Hampton Literary Institute, paying his way by teaching. Read law with Josiah Quincy, a leading New Hampshire lawyer; was admitted to the bar and settled at twenty-four in York county, Maine; 1830- 1834, was a member of the Maine Legislature, and part of that time Speaker; 1834-1838, Attorney Gen- eral of Maine; 1839-1843, member of Congress; 1846, Attorney General in President Polk's Cabinet, and while holding this position, as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, arranged the terms of peace with Mexico by which C;^lifornia became a part of the Union. In 1849 he resumed his practice in Maine, and in 1858 became, on the nomina- tion of President Buchanan, an Associate Justice of 172 LIFE SKETCH OF tLe Uuited States Supinnc (Nuiit, remaining sneli to his death. As the oldest associate jnstice he pre- sided over tlie Electoral Commission in 1877, and, though firmly believing that Mr. Tilden was elected, conducted the proceedings with great dignity and impartiality. After Mr. Hayes' inauguration he re- fused to visit the White House. Clifford's life was long and of varied activity. He served the government in executive, adminis- trative and judicial capacities. In early life he met celebrated men in debate with credit and success. And forty-two volumes of Reports contain the result of his patient judicial labors, in which are recorded his 486 opinions, including 100 dissents. "He was bitterly opposed to anytliing like judicial legislation." As the first Cabinet officer, and as the first Supreme Court Judge that Maine had had, her people took the greatest pride and satisfaction in him. And his kindly nature and conservative temper, joined to habits of unwearied industry, made of him one of the best of modern magistrates. SIR ELWARD COKE. 178 SIR EDWARD COKE— ENGLAND. (1549-1634.) As a lawyer perhaps he has never been equaled in the copious extent and variety of his information. Born at Milehani, Norfolk, England, February 1, 1549; died September 3, 1634, aged eighty-five. Hav- ing finished a three and a half years' course at Cam- bridge, without graduation; at twenty, he prosecuted with intense application the study of law, retiring at nine and rising at three, being called to the bar at twenty-six. Was noted from the first for his ex- tensive and exact knowledge, soon having the larg- est practice known up to that time, rising to the highest rank by his argument in Shelley's case, and being regarded the greatest lawyer of his day. Made Recorder of London and Solicitor General, 3592; member of Parliament, where he be- came Speaker of the House of Commons, 1593; At- torney General ov(r his rival, Francis Bacon, 1594, his zeal for conviction often carrying him so far that his conduct was brutal; Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, ir.Od; Chief Justice of the King's B 'uch, 1013, m LIFE SKETCH OF which position he held but three years; re-elected to Parliament, 1617, being for several years among the foremost members of the constitutional party. The six years preceding his death he spent in revising the law works upon which he might well have rested his fame. He did not hesitate, though devotion to duty cost him his office and gained him the personal enmity of his sovereign. He was the first great English law commentator and court re- porter. Said, "The law is a well, out of which every man can draw according to the strength of his under- standing." To him more than to any other man is due the proud distinction of carrying through Par- liament the Petition of Right, despite the blandish- ments and craft of the King. While arrogant and overbearing, his conduct as judge was able, bold and fearless. We willingly overlook the selfishness of his private life while viewing with admiration his matchless services in behalf of the liberties of his countrymen. Clean Clothes. "The cleanliness of a man's clothes ought to put him in mind of keeping all clean within." SIR EDWARD COKE. 175 Reason and Law. "Reason is tlie life of the law; nay, the common law itself is nothing else but reason. » ♦ ♦ The law, which is perfection of reason." — From First In- stitute. The Law a Well. "The student will observe that the knowledge of the law is like a deep well, out of which each man draweth according to the strength of his understand- ing." Freedom of Trade. "Freedom of trade is the life of trade, and all monopolies and restrictions of trade do overthrow trade." — Roscoe's Life of Coke, p. 29. Jurisprudence. "The gladsome light of jurisprudence."- -First Institute. Corporations Have N( Souls. "They (corporations) cannot commit treason, nor be outlawed nor excommunicated, for they have no soulti."— Case of Sutton's Hospital, 10 Rep. 32. Magna Charta. "Magna Charta is such a fellow that he will have no sovereign."— Debate in the Commons, May 17, 1628. 176 LIFE SKETCH OF The Study of Law. "Six hours in sleep, in law's grave study six. Four spend in prayer, the rest on nature fix." — Translation of Lines (Quoted by Coke. Heir of Father. "It is no tresi)ass for a man to b;' the heir of his father." Posterl in ("oiuiuon Law, but Not in Statutes. "If I am askeil a question of common law I should be ashamed if I could net immediately answer it, but if I am asked a question of statute law I should be ashamed to answer it without referring to the statute book." First Commentator and Reporter. "He was learned, honest and independent; knew all the law of his day, and was the first gr^at com- mentator on the laws of England, and the first great reporter of court decisions." — Irving Browne. Why His Keinitation as a Writer. "Coke's merits and the causes of his reputation are not far to seek. For the first time he made ac- cessible in English the old learning, which till then had to be painrully gjithered from th;* year-books ajid from forbidding abridgments." — Stephen's Die. of Nat. Biog. art. Coke, p. 'J4I. SIR EDWARD COKE. 177 Wealthy. He was extremely avaricious, and left an enor- mous fortune; so great that it excited the alarm of the crown. Handsome, He was very handsome, and dignified in bearing; neat in his dress, and studious of the cleanliness of his person. A Hard Worker. "He was the most methodical and hard working man that ever lived; slept only six hours, and from three in the morning till nine a . ight he read or took notes of the cases tried in Westminster Hall, with as little interruption as possible." (This was during his student days.) — Biog. Brit. art. Coke, p. 120. Deep, but Narrow-Minded. Says one: "He was a deep but narrow-minded lawyer, knowing hardly anything beyond the weari- some and crabbed learning of his own craft; famous only in his own country, and repelling all friendship by his ha^^'^ manners." Coke Upon Littleton. Of his comment upon Littleton, the most com- petent of judges, Butler, in his "Reminiscences" says: "Neither England nor the Continent can produce any contemporaneous work of eqvial or even approximat- ing merit." 178 LIFE SKETCH OF His Ability and Appearance. "His parts were admirable; he had a deep judg- ment, faithful memoiy, active fancy, and the jewel of his mind was put into a fair case, a beautiful body, with comely countenance; a case which he did wipe and keep clean, delighting in good clothes, well Avorn, and being wont to say that the outward neatness of our bodies might be a monitor of purity to our souls." —Fuller in Stephen's Die. of Nat. Biog., p. 239. Great Trials. At the bar he conducted the prosecution in the trials of the Earls of Essex and Southampton in IGOO. Of Sir ATalter Ealeigh in 1603, and of the Gunpow- der Plotters in 1605. Abuse of Raleigh. ''Sir Edward Coke, a man of prodigious ability and acquirement, but still essentially commonplace in his int(?llect and prejudices, was once goaded by rage and hatred into an imagination in which his whole massive nature seemed to emit itself in a Ti- tanic stutter of passion. We refer, of course, to his calling Sir Walter Raleigh a *sp!der of hell' — an image in which loathing became executive, and pal- palpably smit its object on the cheek. The image be- comes tremendous when we see the whole roused might of Coke glare terribly through it." — Whipple*3 "Tiiterature and Life," p. 'J41. SIR EDWARD COKE. 179 Expounder of Common Law. "He was the great expounder of the common law of England." — Anon. Acrimonious Testimony of a Contemporary. "He would die if he could not help to ruin a groat man once in seven years," wrote Sir E. Conway in 1624. A Gentleman in Bacon's Impeachment. "Even Sir Edward Coke, for the first time in his life, behaved like a gentleman." — Macaulay, speaking of Coke's conduct in the impeachment of Bacon. Man's House. "A man's house is his castle."— Third Institute. Unequaled in Information. "As a lawyer Coke has, i)erhaps, never been equaled in the copious extent and variety of his in- formation. As an antiquarian lawyer, he was not deeply learned, and was surpassed by Selden, and, l)erhaps by Hale. Yet even with these defects he stood the acknowledged and unrivalled head of his profession, at a period fruitful in eminent men, and when the ambition of Bacon led him to devote his high genius to the same pursuits." — Roscoe's Eminent Lawyers, art. Coke, p. 40. ISO LIFE SKETCH OF Hallam's Tiibute. "Coke was tlie strenuous assorter of liberty on the principles of tliose ancient laws which no one was admitted to know so well as himself, redeeming, in an intrepid and patriotic old age, the faults which we cannot avoid perceiving in his earlier life." Johnson and Shakespeare "Vagrants," He looked upon Jonsou and Shakespeare as "vagrants," s<» much did he despise general literature. Contempt for Bacon's Works. Lord Bacon presented him witli a copy of his im- mortal work, the Novum Organum. On the fly-leaf he wrote some satirical Latin verses, advising him to restore justice and the laws rather tiian the writings of sophists. On the title page was written Instauratio Magna, and also was given the device of a ship sail- ing through the Pillars of Hercules. Coke wrote over this: "It deserves not to be read in schools, But to be freighted in the Ship of Fools." The words "Ship of Fools," being supposed to al- lude to Sebastian Brandt's satirical work of that title. SIR EDWARD COKE. 181 Curran's Opinion of Coke. "Lord Coke was one of tlie ablest lawyers, inde- pendent of some particulars, that ever existed in Eng- land."— In Defense of Henry Sheares. A Tyrant, Etc. "Coke was by nature a tyrant, a bully, and a cow- ard." — Allan B. Maegruder in 4 South. Law Review, p. 844. 182 LIFE SKETCH OF RICHARD COKE, TEXAS. (1829 .) One of the present Senators from Texas. Born at Williamsburg:, Virginia, March 13, 1829. Com- pleted his studies when nineteen at William and Mary college, Virginia. Was admitted at twenty- one, and removed the same year to Waco, Texas, where he has since practiced his profession con- stantly when not in the public service. He served in the confederate army during all the war, becoming captain; was appointed District Judge in 1865, and elected to the Supreme Bench of his State in 18G6. A year later he was removed by General Sheridan, on the ground that he was a hin- drance to reconstruction. Returned to the practice of law the latter part of 1867. He was Governor of the State, 1873, and re-elected, 1876, by a majority of 102,- 000; took his seat in the United States Senate, 1877, to which position he has been thrice re-elected, and in which he will have served eighteen years when his term expires, 1895. As Supreme Court Judge, Mr. Coke was a hard RICHARD COKE. 183 student and an indefatigablo Avorkcr, his decisiouH being regarded as models of close reasoning, research, and vigorous English. As Governor he put tlie State on a sour! financial basis, leading it out of bank- ruptcy to affluence, made life and property secure in the commonwealth, secured a new constitution for Texas in 1875, which changed the incongruous and repugnant instrument of 18G9 to one with better edu- cational, legal and taxation provisions. As Senator, he has taken a very decided stand upon finance, bank- ing, tariff reform, and education, delivering usually three or four elaborate speeches on great national questions during each session. lie has long served on the judiciary committee of the Senate, where he is considered one of the best Constitutional lawyers of that body. He is domestic in his habits, very popular, never having been defeated for any position to which he as- pired; is of high, broad brow, massive head, stands six feet three inches, and is a commanding figure wherever he goes. 184 LIFE SKETCH OF CHESTER CICERO COLE, IOWA. (1824 .) Late Chief Justice of Iowa and a distinguished legal practitioner for forty-two years. Born at Ox- ford, New York, June 4, 1824, the youngest of eleven children. Ilis father, Samuel Cole, was a fanner, and died when the son was eight. The son was educated at Oxford Acad- emy, Union College and Harvard Law School. He graduated in law at twenty-four, located in Frankfort, Kentucky, and for a short time had charge of the daily "Frankfort Commonwealth.'' He was admitted to the bar at Marion, Kentucky, and practiced there nine years, making an enviable record as a criminal lawyer. He was on one side of nearly every case, and is said to have cleared every client defended, and convicted the only two prosecuted. He moved to Des Moines, Iowa, in 1857, where he has since resided. He at once took the leading position at the bar of Iowa, 1^ which his rare ability and high reputation justly entitled him. He was appointed in February, 1864, a Judge of the Su- CHESTER CICERO COLE. 185 preme Court of Iowa, and elected to the same position in 18(15 by a majority of 40,000, and re-elected in 1870. With ex-Supreme Judge George C. Wright, he organ- ized, in 1805, the Law School of Des Moines, which subsequently became the law department of the State University. In 1869 he became Chief Justice, and was re-elected for the succeeding term, but resigned in 1876. Says Andreas: "Judge Cole has been the peer of the ablest of his associates. A large part of the legal quostiouij he has considered are without precedent in the State, particularly those relating to taxing power and the relation of corporations to the whole body corporate. Of remarkable quickness and correctness of apprehension, he deals directly with the point at issue. As a writer he is eloquent, clear and forcible. Some of his opinions are scholarly essays upon legal topics, and are grounded in the law, but that could not be law which did violence to equity." He is a jurist of quick apprehension, discriminate selection and courageous conclusions. ISA LIFE SKETCH OF JOHN DUKE COLERIDGE, ENGLAND. (1821-1894.) Late Lord Chief Justice of England, having suc- ceeded Lord Cockburu in 188C. Born in December, 1821, and died June 14, 1894, aged seventy-two. He was a grand-nephew of the poet and philosopher, and son of a distinguished judge, b}' whom he was sup- ported and educated in affluence. He graduated at Eaton and Oxford at twenty-one, where he gained more than the usual honors. Was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1846; became Queen's Counsel in 1861; rose rapidly into a lucrative practice; member of Parliament for Exeter in 1865; was made Liberal Solicitor General in 1868, and Attorney General in 1871; Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 1873, and Chief Justice in 1880; made an extended visit to the United States in 1883, and is the only man wlio ever sat with the judges on the Supreme Bench of the United States. "Nature," said an adverse critic, "intended him for a bishop, but accident made him a Judge." Says an American : "As a cross-examiner he never bullied, ■yOHN DUKE COLERIDGE. 18? never hurried or frustrated any one, but got out the exact things he wanted, and by dint o" iheer suavity, inveigled tliose whom he interrogated into making suicidal admissions." Yet, in the greatest i)rofes- sional effort of his life, the Tichborne trial, in which he displayed remarkable pertinacity and ability, he failed to break down Orton, the claimant, in his more than twenty days' cross-examination of that gener- ally conceded perjurer, and the episode was fatal to his claim to be the first cross-examiner at the English bar. He was the most elegant and painstaking advo- cate of his day. As a jvidge he had metaphysical in sight, a sound knowledge of law, and the power of taking a broad, philosophical view of the varied sub- jects which came before him. No English judge has attained such distinction at once in letters, politics and law. His judgments abound in terse, accurate and elegant statements of the law which almost equal the Latin maxims. Tie was the personification of cul- ture, polish, suavity, resoluteness and dignity. 188 LIFE SKETCH OF Extinguishing a Life. "Tlie life of the prisoner is in jour hands, gentle- men." (Just then the lights went out.) "You can extinguish it as easily as that caudle was extin- guished but a moment since; but it is not in your pow- er to restore that life, once taken, as that light has been restored." — Extract from defense of murderer: Tact in Court, p. 59. In Favor of Code Pleading. "You have lately procured, may I say most wise- ly, a great national park, into which the bounties and glories of nature, and strange and eccentric forms which natural objects sometimes assume, may be pre- served forever for the instruction and delight of the citizens of this great republic. Could it not be ar- ranged that, with the sanction of the State, some cor- ner in that one park should be preserved as a kind of pleading park, into which the glories of the uegatiA'e pregnant, abseque hoc, replication de injuria, re- butter and sir-rebutter, and all the other Aveird and fanciful creations of the pleader's brain, might be pre- served for future ages, to gratify the respectful curi- osity of your descendants, and that our good old En- glish judges, if ever they revisit the glimpses of the moon, might have some place wiiere their weary s^ ^s might have rest; some place where they might still find the form preferred to tlie substance, the state- ment to the thing stated?"' — Extract from u speech de- livered before the New York Bar Association, 1884. JOHN DUKE COLERIDGE. 189 Had a (,J<)()(1 Oijiiiiou of Himself. lie always had great admiration for his own abil- ities. It is said that after a college examination, Dr. Jenkyns, the famous master of Balliol, addressed him as follows: "Mr. Coleridge, I have a high opinion of you. Everybody in the c(dlege has a high opinion of you. But nobody has such a high opinion of you as you have of yourself." Browning's Retort to Coleridge. Lord Coleridge told this story of Browning: Browning lent him one of his works to read, and af- terward, meeting the poet, the Lord Chief Justice said to him: "What I could understand I heartily ad- mired, and parts ought to be immortal; I admired it or not, because for the life of me I could not under- stand it." Browning replied: "If a reader of your caliber understands ten per cent, of what I write, I think I ought to be content." Apparently Asleep When Hearing Cases. "Did the Lord Chief Justice sleep while engaged in the discharge of his exalted functions? Such was the impious question which most English lawyers w'.io had occasion to practice before him would an- swer iri the aflirmative, relying on the accumulated experience of maidvlnd as to the physical appearance of persons in that restful state, for in the course of a trial he would close his eyes and allow his head to fall 190 LIFE SKETCH OF on the desk, and subsequently appear unconscious of much that had taken place in the meantime. It is only just, however, to state that the Lord Chief Jus- tice denied the imputation, alleging that he Avas never more acutely perceptive of the argument presented to him, or more alive to the forensic situation than when he adopted this demeanor, which ordinary mortals thoughtlessly regarded as incompatible with due ju- dicial vigilance." — May, 1894, Green Bag. Estimate of — As Advocate, Judge and Man. "His qualities were those of the brilliant advo- cate, and that, by common consent, he is admitted to have been. Yet even in this sphere he was lacking at the precise point Avhere the strong qualities are most in evidence. His addresses were models of rhetorical 'arts and crafts,' by which the dispensers of verdicts are hj'puotized by the verdict-getter. A comparison between him and Lord Kussell or Sir Hen- ry Hawkins, two strong, virile, tenacious men, leaves him their inferior. He never did what the former did in the Parnell Commission, or the latter in the Tichborne case. The comparison is obvious when applied to this case, as Lord Coleridge administered the cross-examination in the civil trial and Sir Henry that in the ciiminal trial which followed. ♦ ♦ * As an advocate he made his most brilliant efforts in cases where questions of theolo^ - and church history and antiquities were involved. * * * He was JOHN DUKE COLERIDGE. 191 versatile, brilliant, with the instincts of a literateur, },'raceful in speech and act, eloquent; a man who shone socially, and who felt deep interest in many de- partments of life. • * * There is no figure of the same dignified type on the English bench or at the bar.— Geo. H. Knott, of Middle Temple, Sept.-Oct, Am. Law Review, 1894. His Second Marriage. Lord Coleridge was married a second time in 1885 to Amy Augusta, daughter of Henry Baring I.awford. She was thirty-five years his junior. She was not received socially; and consequently when she sat beside her husband during the trial of the Tranby Croft baccarat case, Lord Coleridge was se- verely criticised. Sued by His Daughter for Support. Further attention was attracted to his domestic affairs several years ago Avhen his daughter, Mildred, sued him for non-supi)ort. After the scandal had been publicly ventilated, the case was settled out of court. A Crank on the Picture (Question. The late Chief Justice was unalterably opposed to having his photograph taken. Consequently when a picture was asked for a special purpose, he refused to give it, and a kodak shot Avas taken. For this he prosecuted the photographer; but we believe 192 LIFE SKETCH OF the court held that, being a public character, as long as no degradation or slander was made out, he was remediless, as he was an official of England, hence a public character, and the public had a right to look at his face, or read his life, if it wished to do so. It ,is well known that he excluded from his court a eketcher of his face, in the baccarat case. ROSCOE CONKLING. 193 ROSCOE CONKLING, NEW YORK. (1829-1888) Born at Albany, New York, October 30, 1829. Died in N^nv York city, April 18, 1888, aged fifty- eight. His father was United States District Judge and author of several law treatises, as well as a statesman of influence. With but an academic education, he studied law, was ad- mitted, and appointed District Attorney, before be- coming of age. Ilis public service began in 1858, when he was elected Mayor of Utica, and the same year to the House of Representatives. In 1804, having been defeated in 1800, he was returnd to the House, where he continuously sat until 1867, when he was elected to the Senate, of which he was a conspicuous figure till i.is resignation in 1881. While a Senator, President Crant offered him the Chief Justiceship, and after his resignation President Arthur, an Asso- ciate Justiceship, both of which he declined. From 1881 till his death he practiced law in New York city, with such success that in abo jt eight years he retrieved a fortune, broken by his arduous public 194 LIFE SKETCH OF service. ITis practice was restricted, not interrupt- ed, b}' liis public service, and extended into everj- field of the law. ITis early victories were confined to nisi prius courts, but later they invaded the hij^hest tri- bunals of his country. In all the relations of private life, an example for others, he laid down his public trust, unsullied. Thorough preparation of cases, skill as a cross-examiner, abilit3' to cope with the un- expected, unbounded confidence in his cause, fluent and eloquent sjjoech, which he attributed to the care- ful study of Macaulay's essays, these were his chief characteristics as a lawyer. lie was a commanding figure, scrupulously neat in person and attire, reserved in manner, physically and morally courageous, staunch in his friendships, and an uncompromising enemy. "Intolerance of shams," says John N. Edwards, "made him appear at times, lordly, supercilious and dictatorial; but be- hind the semblance was the substance, and in ex- tremity everything else was unreckoued of except the iron." ROSCOE CONKLING. 195 Secession. "Secession was a painted lizard — a reptile which .1 million men went out to bruise and crush under tljcir heels.'' Lincoln. "Lincoln was one of those who darken nations when they die." ]*oliaid or redeemed is a falsehood and a fraud. It can never be true, and, therefore, it can never be right or safe." — Remarks on Inflation, United States Senate, February 10, 1874. Tiibeler and Robber Compareil. "A thief breaks into your house, steals your watch, and goes to Sing Sing. The newspaper man breaks into the casket which contains your most precious treasure — your reputation— and goes un- scathed before the law." — Extract from a speech in a libel suit. Death. Death is nature's siipreme abhorrence. The dark valley, with its weird and solemn shadows. Illumined b^' the rays of Christianity, is still the ground which man shudders to approach. The grim portals and the narrow house seem in the lapse of centuries to have gained rather than lost in impressive and foreboding horror." — Extract from eulogy on Oliver P. Morton, United States Senate, January 17, 1878. t I i ROSCOE CONKLI^G. 197 Description of New York, Wlien Emancipation Was Proclaimed. "Truth and common sense were liooted and buf- fet ted, and unkenneled cowardice and ignorance barked in hideous chorus. Wantonness and infatua- tion ruled the hour. Drugged with error, dizzy with fear and madden<»d Avith i)assion, men and women Avere led from meetings to mobs; from a dance of fac- tion to a dance of death. In the city of New York, duped and imbruted thousands rioted in blood; the blade^ the bullet and the cup did each its work, and the torch sent up from the Christian soil of that im- perial city the smoke of a burning orphan asylum, to tell in heaven of the inhuman bigotry, the horrible barbarity of man. Emancipation prevailed, the up- lifted banners of opposition and revolt went down, and the nation's flag waved safe conduct to black and white alike from Mexico to British America." — Ex- tract from a speech in Senate on a proposition to re- peal a resolution of the Legislature of New York rat- if}ing the Fifteenth amendment, February 22, 1870. Black Wench Interruption. While making a speech, when a young man, in Utica, an interrupter bawled out : "Do you want me to marry a black wench ?" "Do I want yon to marry a black woman?" said Conkling in reply. "No, I can't say that I do — I have too much compassion for the black woman." i 198 LIFE SKETCH OF His Oratorical Models, [lis oratorical tcxt-hook.s wore the Bible, Shakes- peare and the prose writin};8 of Macaiilay, BurUe, IMtt, Fox and ]<]rskiiie. — Coiikli life's Ufo aixl Letters Decliued I'ositioii on Tnited States Supreme Heucli Twice. Ue refused an Associate tTusticeship ou the Tluited States Supreme Bench from President Arthur in 1882, and was tendered the Chief Justiceship in 1873 by President Grant, but declined them both. He also decliued a Ministershij) to England and the posi- tion of Secretary of State. Stopping Train for Conkling. Conkliug, one time wishing to stop the limited Washington express, at a crossing near Baltimore, to see a New York gentleman, the t«'legraph operator said he could if he got permission from IMiiladelphia. The Senator said: "If it would do any good, you might use my name." "And your name is—?" said the operator. "Conkliug — Koscoe Conkliug," replied the gentleman. He flashed oA'er the wire that Senator Conkliug wanted the train stopped. Iteidy came back: "ITow do jou know it is Senator Conkliug?" Turning to him, the operator said: "Philadelphia wants identification." Conkliug displayed his g
ii the altar of slavery — the inonieiit lie touehes the .sacred soil of liritain, the altar and the j;«)d sink toj'ether in the dust ; his soul walks abroad in her own majesty; his body swells beyond the meas- ure of his chains, that burst from around him; and he stands redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled by the irresistible {genius of universal emancipation." —From speech in def«'nse of A. II. Kowan for sedi- tious libel. Irishman's Heart. "The heart of an Irishman is by nature bold, and he confides; it is tender, and he loves; it is generous, and he gives; it is social, and he is hospitable." — From Massev v. Ileadfort. Scotland. "To what other cause, gentlemen, can you ascribe that, in the wise, the retlecting, and the philosophic nation of (Jreat Britain, a printer has been gravely found guilty of a libel, for ])ublishing those resolu- tions to which the present Minister of that kingdom had actually subscribed his name? To Avhat other cause can you ascribe, what in my mina is still more astonishing, in such a country as Scotland — a nation cast in the happy medium between the spiritless ac- quiescence of submissive poverty, and the sturdy ere- m LIPE SKETCH Off dulity of pampered wealth — cool and ardent — adven- turous and persevering — winging her eagle flight against the blaze of every s..ience, with an eye that never winks, and a wing that never tires — crowned, as she is, with the spoils of every art, and decked with the wreath of every muse, from the deep and scru- tinizing researches of her Hume, to the sweet and sim- ple, but not less sublime and pathetic, morality of her Burns — how, from the bosom of a country like that genius and character and talents, should be banished to a distant, barbarous soil, condemned to pine under the horrid communiou of vulgar vice and base-born profligacy, for twice the period that oiui nary calculation gives to the continuance of human life?" — From defense of A. H. Rowan for seditious libel. Denunciation of a Witness. "And shall such a pitiful miscreant, after he has been worked upon by the fear of opposing coun- sel, Curran remarked that he had studiei»ed off his coat to ti<>]it, intrusted it to a by- slander. When the battle was over and he was well beaten, he turned to resume it, but the man had car- ried it off. Curran thus ajjpHed the tale: "So, my hu'd, Avhen the ])ei'son intrusted with the dignity of the judgment seat, lays it aside for a moment to en- ter into a. disgra<'eful contest, it is in vain, when he lias been worsted in tlie encounter, that he seeks to slu'lter himself behind an authority which he has abandoned." "If you say another word, I'll commit you," replied the angry judge; to Avhich Curran re- torted: "If your lordship shall do so, we shall both of us have the consolatioji of reflecting that I am not the worst thing your lordship has committed." — Whip- ide's Success and Its Conditions, page 134; also Law and Lawyers, page lid. The Light of Society, Etc. "('urran — the light of societ}'— the glory of the forum — tbe Fabricius of the Sbnate — the idol of his country." — Charles Phillips. 222 LIFE SKETCH OF More Law in Pocket than Head. At one time he was oi)i)osecl in a case by a big bully of a lawyer, who, angered at some of his intellectual thrusts, said he would pick Curran up (who was Aery small), and put him in his pocket. "Do I" Avas Currau's quick retort, "and you'll have more law in your i)Ocket than you ever had in your head!" At Burns' Uirthplace. Curran, a man whose genius was akin to that of Burns, and whose failing was, alas, the same, vis- ited the cottage in which the poet was born, and said this of it: "Poor Burns! his <-abin could not be passed unvisited or unwept; to its two little thatclied rooms — kitchen and sleeping ])lace— a slated sort of parlor is added, and it is now an ale-house. We ft. He nrrordin^ly ma'le tlio attonipt on a mill- er's animal in the noij^liboi'liood, wlin woiilrl nevor lot tlio 1k»,vs I'ctb llio oi'chanl; but found to his sorrow (liat ho had a pointed to tin' Su- ]>reme Bench by President Fillmore, September 22, iSol, to succeed Justice Woodbury, at the urj^eut 8<»- liciiation of Daniel Webster and upon the advii-e of liufus Choate. He resij^'iied in 1857, it is said, ou w.: count of embittered relaties n)ade by the Chief Justice after lilin'^ the opinion. He first won distinction in the defense of the slave child, Med. With William M. Evarts, was 230 LIFE SKETCH OF leading counsel for Andrew Johnson in the impeach- ment trial in 18G8. "After Judge Curtis had presented the case of his client," said General IJutler, "nothing more was said in his belialf, although in the five or six closing speeches of his other coun- sel much else was said." He published two volumes of his decisions on circuit and a condensed edition of the United States Suj»reme Court decisions from its origin to 1854 (22 volumes). Charles Francis Adams pronounced him "the most consummate master of forensic style among Ameri- can lawj'ers of recent times;" and Mr. Justice Miller, "the first lawyer of America of either the past or present age." Daniel Webster thought he had laid the people of the nation under lasting obligations when he induced liis a])pointment, and said he pos- sessed the requisites of great pcnver at the bar — "clearness, fullness and ficion." — From introductory remarks of Judge Cur- tis in receiving Daniel Webster in I'oston, April 29, 1850. Will Is Power. Me believed with Dr. '\^'alker that knowledge is not ]iower, but that will is poAver. Essay on the Origin of Evil Written Before Sixteen. When less than sixteen years old, while at school, he wrote a remarkable essay on the "Origin of Evil," in which he took the i)osition that there are not two powers acting in creation — one evil, the other good — for it was an insult to (iod to believe that He per- mitted an evil spirit to o\eri>owerand counteract His designs; nor tliat man is a de])raved creature — that God would implant in man a passion the first impulse 233 LIFE SKETCH OF of which woiikl be to teach liim to brenk his hiws; nor tlmt the >?in of Adam was any more the origin of evil than the sin of a father of tlie present day is the ori- gin of the Aviclvedness of liis diildrcii. But he be- lieved that (he Irne cause of moral evil is that men conceive tliat there is some pleasure in sin in(h*pend- ent of the crime itself — in other Avords tiie tenijitatioii is greater than the sinner can bear. — 1 Life anressing' jirivate affairs. — I.ife and Writinj^s of Curtis, p. 443. Whtit lie Said of the Lady to Wiioni Engajicd. Writing to a clasKn)ate in 1,S31 about his mar- riage engagement, he said among other tilings: "I lunc trusted Miss E. IM. ^Vo()dAvard Avith my happi- ness for this world, and 1 know of no greater compli- ment I could itay her." — Idem, p. 53. A l-awvei's Business. "A lawyer can no more regulate the amount of business he will do than nn engineer can blow a bar- rel of gunjiowder half-way down." — Letter to his un- cle, George Tick nor, l!<37: Idem, 78. F^mbiitered Correspondence Between Curtis and Taney. After his dissent in the great ciise of Scott v. Sanford (juite a bitter correspondence nrose between Judge Curtis and Chief Justice Taney, caused by Taney's intei'p(diiting some eighteen ])ages into the majority opinion of the court, written by the Chief Justice, as Judge Curtis says (see 234 LIFE SKETCH OF Life and Writings of B. R. Curtis, p. 229- 30), after the delivery of the opinion and be- fore filing it, -whieli, by the rules of the court, he was required to do at once. And also because of an order given the clerk of the Supreme Court by Taney not to let any one have a coi)y of the Cliief Justice's decision until it Avas officially printed in the reports, thus excludng Judge Curtis, who wished to look it over. — Life and Writings of B. R. Curtis, p. 192-242, inclusive. Trial by Jury. "There is no field for a hnvyer which, for breadth and compass and the requisitions made on all the fac- ulties, can compare with a trial by jury; and I believe It is as true of a judge as of a lawyer, that in the actual application of the Iuav to the business of men, mingled as it is with all the passions and motions and diver- sities of mind, tem])ei' and condition in the course of a trial by jury, what is most excellenl in him comes out, and finds its fitting work, and whatever faults or weaknesses he has are sensibly felt," — Letter to Dan- iel Webster, November 10, 1851 : Idem, p. 157. "Opinion Books." Judge Curtis, during the seventeen years of his practice after resigning tlie Sui»reme Court -Tustice- ship, kei)t and made what he called his "Opinion Books" — two f(dio volumes, filling nearly one thou- sand closely written pages. — Idem, p. 2G(J. BENJAMIN ROBBINS CURTIS. 285 The Bible. When practicing law iu Xorthfielrt some one had left an open Bible on the table. The sheriff playfullj I'emai'ked that that was a strange book for a lawyer to be seen reading. Mr. (Airtis replied: "Then I pity the lawyers; for those Y\ho are ignorant of the princi- ples inculcated in that book cannot be thoroughly fur- nished for the duties of their profession." — Idem, p. 32G. Reverdy Johnson's Opinion. "II is analytical and logical powers were never surpassed. I have never kuoAvn a mind more pecu- liarly fitted for judicial duties." — Keverdy Johnson. Webster's Opinion Of. "lie is very clever, with very competent learn- ing; his great mental characteristic is clearness; and the power of clear statement is the great power at tlie bar. Cliief Justice Marshall possessed it in a most remarkable degree; so does Lord Lyudhurst. If to this character of clearness von add fullness and force, you make a man, whether as a lawyer, an his- torian, or, indeed, a poet, Avhose discourse or writing merits the a]iplicatlon of those liiu^s of unsurpassed beauty in Denham's 'Cooper's Hill': 'Tliough dee]), yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull. Sti'ong without rage; without o'ertloAving, full.' I think the judgment of Lord Mansfield came 230 LIFE SKETCH OE the nearest to his hij»h standard." — Daniel Wi^bster: Harvey's Keniiniscenees, p. 118. ^fade $(550,000 in Seventeen Years. Justice McLean's prediction that Curtis mi<^h( "feel a little awkward at the bar" (his being the first case where a member of the Supreme Bench had gone back to practice), proved incorrect, for within a week after his resignation took effect, he receivee softened and graced by tlie divine jtresence of the fair. To wliat si)ot does mercy, as typified in tlie form of woman, so readil}' I'epair as to tlie scene of miscM'v and angiiisli. I'nlwer lias most truly and beautifully said: 'There is no government that can ])erish; there are no institutions that can be de- stroyed, if the patriotism of man be as true and sin- cere as the silent loyalty of woman.'"- — From speech, 1870, in defense of Colonel I'uford for the shooting of .ludge Elliott, of the Kentucky Court of Appeals. Tribute to the Irish — "Jeannette Inquiry." "True, Jerome J. Collins bi'loiiged to an impulsive race, 'wlio have won every battle but their own,' and he warmly resented any slight or insult offered to Ills dear, native land. Kobert Emmet's epitaph may never be written, but so long as valor ami trutli are worshi])p('d in the human heart, the name (»f Ireland and the Irish will not perish among the nations of the earth. Our martyr sleeps not in the soil of the stranger, but in the laiul of his birtli and of his fathers. Side by side Avitli that beloved mother Avhom he so venerated and honori^l, he is returning to dust; permit his friends to write over the epitaph 240 LIFE SKETCH OF that records his life, his siiffeiings and his virtues, the word that Avlli typify all the venj;«'aiice we seek for his iinirder and betrayal — Vindicatt'd." — From speech in the "Jeaiinette Intiuiry," before a commit- tee of the United States O.uj^ress. t^nccessful A'erdlct Getter. "He is a celebrated criminal lawyer, and a very successful verdict getter."— Irvlni; lU'owne. JOHN WARWICK DANIEL. 211 JOHN WARWICK DANIEL, VIRGINIA. (1842 ) lie lias gained a hl, 183S. Moved witli his parents wlien a cliild to Waukesha, Wisconsin; attendcMl Carroll ('olle<;(', and {graduated from Michigan University in the class of 1857; studied law and began practice in 185'.) at Waukesha. He enlisted in the service of the war in 1802, and became First Lieutenant in the Twenty-eighth Wisconsin, and Acting Adjutant (Jeneral for General ilorman; left the army on account of lyphoid fever. lie set- tled in the practice of his profession at St. Paul, where he has ac(iuired the rei)utation of being one of the lirst lawyers of the Northwest. In ISOT, lir was a member of the Legislature, and from istis to 1875, United States District Attorn(\v f«U' Minnes(»ta. In the fall of 187.'i he was elected Governor of Minne- sota, the youngest man ever elected chief executive of that State. He declined re-nomination. Elected United States Senator in 1887, and re-elected by the H CUSHMAN KELLOGG DA VIS. 245 Lej'islaturo in 1893; Diade LL. D. hv Michigan Uni- Acrsity in 188G. He is the head of the popuhir law firm ofwDavis, Ivelh)gg and Reverence, I lis prar-ticc in tlie Stat*' and Fe(hn'al conrts lias been large, not abating be- canse of his dnties as Senator. He appearc*! as coun- sel six times within a rear in as manv different cases in the United States Supreme Court in 1890. As a hiwyer, he is (juickly interested when there is an in- timation of Avrong in the complainant's story. He makes the grievances of others his own and sifts mat- ters to the bottom. He has found time during his official and profes- sional life to devote much thought to littrature, and lias been a close and ardent student of Shakesi)eare, "'l"he Law in Sliakespeare," coming fnun his pen in 1884. lie has also delivered many lectures, iipon historical subjects, which rank him among the lirst in literary circles of the country, the best known «»f which is "Modei'u I'«Midalism" (1870). He is a man of UK'dinm build, with a courteous demeanor, a kind- ly ey<>, and 's an attentive listener. 246 LIFE SKETCH OF The Groat Railroad Strike of 1804. "To talk about withliol(lin<; the assertion of Federal authority till other means could bi' used for the settlement of the labnr conlesl poaeefully, is like jtreposinj;' to have th(» pro- ceedings at the battle of (Jettysburg suspend- ed until (Jeneral Lee and the other con- federate chieftains could arrange sonu' program for tl le peaceful periK'tuation of slavery and the definite recognition of the right of secessi<»n. ^Vhat folly it is to adopt one moral stamlard for the sea and an- other for the land; and yet, if the olTences against life, liberty and property committed by the Chicago rioters had been citmmitted on the high seas, their perpetrators would have been condemned for i)iracy and dealt Avith accordingly. Look at the logic of the case from another side, five millions of the jieople of the United States, forty-five per cent, of the i)ro- ducing poi>ulation of the United States, are farmers. If an;- one class of the community have a right to call themselves distinctively 'the pi>ople of the United States,' it is the farmers. Have the farmers asked for this strike? Do they sympathize with it? Were they consulted as to its b(>ginning or as to whether it should be kept up? No! It is the farmer Avho suf- fers every «lay by it. He cannot send his produce to market. It perishes on his hands, while consumers are seeking a chance to })urchase it. The farmer may always be looked for on the side of law and order and CUSHMAN KELLOGG DAVIS. 217 the pci'p?tuity of popular institi/tions, as against every form of anarchy and oppression." — Extract from speech by Mr. Davis in the United States Senate. Cross-Examination. "1. Discount by at least twenty-flve per cent, what your client says he himself will swear to. 2. Do as little cross-examination as possible. Never, on cross-examination, ask a question when A'ou do not know what the answer must be if the witness is honest; and, if he is a liar, don't ask the question unless you are ready to ruin him with contradiction by facts in evidence, or by other witnesses. I have seen more good cases ruined by cross-examination, by the lawyer who ought to have suppressed his curi- osity or vault}', than by any other cause." — Tact in Court, p. 8G. 248 LIFE SKE TCII OF JOn^' FORREST DILLON, KEW YORK. (1831 ) Eniiueut as lawyer, author and jurist. Born amid humble surrouudiugs iu Moutgomery county, New York, December 25, 1831. He removed to Iowa with his parents wlien eight. Graduated a doctor of medicine from loAva ITniversitj'- and practiced six moutlis. lie then began the study of law, being ad- mitted at twenty-one; elected Prosecuting Attorney the same year; Judge of I lie Seventh Judicial District of Iowa in 1858; re-elected in 1802, but before the ex- piration of liis term lie was elected to the Supreme Bencli of the State for six years, during the last two of whiih lie was ( -liief Justice. Mr. Dillon was re-elected in 1809, but in December of that year was commissioned by President (Jrant Ignited States Circuit Judgf of the Eiglith Judicial Circuit. He resigned in 1879 to become pro- fessor of real estate and equity jurisprudence at Columbia College, Ncnv York, to which place he moved that yeai". At the same time, the Union Pa- 1 JOHN FORREST DILLON. 249 cific Railway tendered bim the position of General Counsel. He has a national reputation as a conscientious, careful, uprigiit judj^^e, as a learned Avriter on the law, and as a practitioner in the front rank of the profes- sion. His principal literary work is his treatise on "Municipal Corporations," styled by Justice Bradley, *'A legal classic," and by Irving Browne as "A work that will live alongside of Kent, Story, Washburn, Tarsons and CJreenleaf." He is tlie author of fivo volumes of United States Circuit Court Reports (1871- 80), ana several other treatises. His last work, "The Laws and Jurisi)rudence of England and America," being a series of lectures delivered before Yale Uni- versity, is a most delightful book with a serious pur- p<»se. Mr. Dillon is a member of the Institut de Droit International, and of tlie association for the reform and codification of the law of nations. During the last ten years he has appeared in some of the most important causes in the Supreme Court of the Ihiited Stales, and it is thought lie argues uu>re cases there than anv oIlH'r lawver in the count rv not resident in Washington. 350 LIFE SKETCH OF The Common Ljiw. "The common law, as well as the institutions which it developed, or alongside of which it grew u]», is pervaded by a spirit of freedom, which distin- guishes it from all other systems and peculiarly adapts it to the institutions of a self- governed peo- ple." — 1 Munic. Corp., p. 1. Liberty and Prosperity. "Liberty and prosperity ever go hand in hand." — 1 Munic. Corp., j). 11. Two Forces in Society. "Two forces in society are in constant operation, and are necessary to its welfare, if not to its very existence; the conservative force, to preserve what is worth preserving; the progressive, without which, we would have stagnation and death." — Ex- tract from address before National Bar Association, August 22, 1894, at Saratoga Springs, on "The True Professional Ideal." The Ideal of the True Lawyer. "The true conception — ideal, if you please, of the lawyer, is that of one wlio worthily magnifies the nature and duties of liis office; who scorns every form of meanness or disreputable practice; who, by un- wearied industry, masters the vast and complex technical learning and details of his profession; but who, not satisfied with this, studies the eternal prin- JOHM FORREST DILLON. •251 ciples of justice uk dovolopod and illustrated in the liistoiy of the law, and in the jurisprudence of other times aunary. International arbitration Avill never wholly snpjdant the arbitrament of the sword. lOxacI, speedy justice will never be secured under any system of jurisprudence that can be devisetl which must be administt^red by fallible men and a]>|died to practical JilTairs. Tlie law must continue to be a iDiman in- itution, alTccted by all the imperfections of man. K.form must be hoped for, and secured in the future, if at all, throuf;h the same agencies and in tlie same directions as in the past." — From an address on "Law Hefonn," before X. Y. liar Ass'n, Jan. 10, 1894. INditics -Destiny (tf (Jovernnient. Politics cannot be safely left to pr()fessional poli- ticians and the corru}»t and purchasable elements of society. Tiie destiny of this }»'ov(»,:i52. Said he owed more to his enemies than to his 'iends. As a law\er and judge, he was bold, viashing and conrageons, vet level-headed anitie rejifiilations they may make, they have a i'lj;lit to come into the Union, i)rovidee to his sous. ■2(14 LIFE SKETCn OF ilis Stature. When Mr. Doiijjlas wont to tho Unllod Stales Senate in 3847, Afr. Lincoln was in tlio House — tlio one was tlie slioilest man in tlie Senate, the (ttlier tlie tallest man in the House.-- Holland's Life of Lineoln, p. 101. Executive Contn?! (►f Senate. "1 hold that an atteini)t (o contnd the Senate on the part of the Executive is subversive of the prin- ci[)les of onr Constitution." — In Alton, speech with Lincoln, 1S55. The Nef^roes' Ki<;hts. "This {^ovei'innent of ours is founded on the white basis. It was made for the white man, for the benetit of the white man, to be administered by white men, in such manner as the.v should determine. It is also true that a Negro, an Indian, or any other man of in- ferior race to a white man, should b;* permitted to en- jo3', and hunumily requires that he sliould have all the rights, privileges and immunities which ho is ca- pable of exercising, consistent with the safety of so- ciety.'' —Debate with Lincoln. Tribute to Lincoln. "During my sixteen years in Congress, I have found no man in the Senate whom 1 would not rather encounter in debate than Lincoln." — Moi'se's Life of Lincoln, p. 150. STEPINuV AKXOf.D DOUGLAS. .•(J5 NVIillc r)()U<4l;is Was Tracirni},', LiiMiWii Was Kccpiii}; a (Jroccry Sioro. Donjilas, in a joint )ke ever had the English law so totally a part (»f him. His delays hare been censured, but wisdom is not to the swift. LORD ELDON. 273 art of (un is Christianity. "Christianity is part of the law of England."— 2 Swanston, 527. Law and Politics. "I never was what a statesman — an accomplished statesman — ought to be. Indeed, a lawyer hardly can be both learned in his profession and accomplished in political science." — To his daughter, Lad^ Frances Bankes. Female Correspondence. "Our thoughts, as expressed in our respective letters are much alike, but comparison will prove, what has been so often remarked, that female corre- spondence has a charm in it of which that of my sex is always devoid." — To his daughter-in-law: 2 Twiss's Life of Eldon, 442. Reading Coke Upon Littleton — Like Going Up Hill — A Commanding View. "Whilst you are with Abbott (afterwards Lord Tenterden), find time to read Coke on Littleton again and again. If it be toil and labor to you, and it will be so, think as I do when I am climbing up to Swyer or to Westhill, that the world will be before you when the toil is over; for so the law world will be, if you make yourself complete master of that book." — Ad- vice to J. W. Farrer, on the Study of law, 1807. — 1 Twiss' Life, 301. 274 LIFE SKETCH OF Law of Equity. "Law and equity should be considered as distinct systems; and that they are so considered, and kept apart in Enjjjhuid is, perhaps, one of tlie best provis- ions of our Constitution." — 1 Twiss' Life of Eldon, p. 188. Live Lilce a Hermit, Etc. His advice to a young lawyer was: "Live like a hermit and work like a horse." — 1 Twiss' Life, 204. Kenyon's Opinion of Eldon. "Kenyon hearing that Eldon was to be appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, said he would be, "the most consummate judge that ever sat in judg- ment."—! Twiss, 181. Motto on Watch. "His Dirigie Te^' (direct thyself by these), — motto on watch presented Eldon by George III. — 1 Twiss, 229-30. To Half Starve a Young Lawyer Has a Fine Effect. "There is nothing does a j'oung lawyer so much good as to be half starved; it has a fine effect." — Saii'inin<'(l rivate life I am upheld by the Iio|>e that F shall carry with me the continued esteem of a pi'ofession for which 1 feel an attachment that will descend with me to the j»rave." — In taking leave of the bar, Felu'uary ;{, ISOC*, when «piittin<; the Chan- celioi'ship. 1 Twiss, p. 27.*{. The Mible Doctrine of a Trinity. "That a Divine beinj;" does exist, the author and preservei' «»f all created beinj;s, himself uncreated and exist in*"' from eternity, is a truth itf which I have no doubt, and I never could bring niys.df to think that any I'easonable being had a doubt of it. The whole Hible scheme of man's redemption, the wli(de Bible 27G LIFE SKETCH OF sc'lienio of tliis worhl and that which is to come, ap- pear to me very mainly to depend npon the doctrine of tlie Trinity; and wlien tlie man of n>ason tells me he nnderstandw the fJodhead better, if he believes as an Unitarian, than 1 do who believe I ho ,000 (£(;r>,00(>), by advisinjr liiiii to not dcposK i( in a l>ank in December, 1811, iOldon knowinj;- its conditictn, and il failed on January 2, 1S12.— 1 Twiss, :u;8. (Jood Natured People, Weak. "(lood naiui'ed ])eoi»le are always weak."— 1 'J'wiss, 372. Ilis House Mobbed, 1815. Eldou's house iu Bedford Square was mobbed, 1815, for his supposed opposition to the "Corn Laws," and he came near losing his life.- 1 Twiss, 408. To Do Right a Matter of Concern. ''Party, I dou't mind much; posterity, uot a great deal; for, of this transaction, iu all its particulars, it will bo as little informed in matter of fact as it is iu uu)st others; — but to do the thing that is right, is really a matter of most anxious concern with me." - Concerning Napoleon's deportation to St. IJelena, 1M5: 1 Twiss, 414. Keep What You Have. "Get what you can and keep what you have." — To Mr. Courtenay, whom he advised not to resign his retainer to Queen Anne upon his appointment to be Master in Chancery: 2 Twiss, 22, '.>?8 1.1 Fh SKETCH Oh Solid Uatlici' Tliiiii Showy. He habitually ]>rt'f('iird the s<>li(l to the showy, aiul moral excollence to nuM'e iiitcllt'clnal (liHtliictioii. - 1 TwisH, 421. Paid thelh-l.t of aDcbloi'. Ehlou ]>ai(l £1(K) to a client ratiier than compel a lilij;ant, whom he thou<;:lit morally ou};ht not to pay it, bill legally must (!<» so. 2 Twiss, 20. The Lawvci' ami the frmi;;)'. "It was id as a Legislator. "No man, I believe, who lias sat in the court where Lord Eldon presides, ever brought the public service a more consummate knowledge of all its principles and practice. I'.y nature a man of talents, from education a scholar, and bred from his very youth in the study aiul experience; of all its ])ossibl«! transactions, nobody could be better qualified to de- cide ill that forum W'tli the same rapidity as lie did the other day here (House of Lords) on the subject now before us; yet how often does he there (on the bench) pause and repause, — consider and reconsid- er."--Lord Erskine: 2 Twiss, 30. LORD ELDON. 370 Bigoted and Courteous. "Eldon combined Thurlow's bigotry witli Ifard- .wicke's courtesy." — Wliipple's "Cliaracter, etc." p. 180. His Own Reason (Hven f»»r Douiiting. "I always tliouglit it belter to allow myself to doubt before I decided, than to expose myself to mis- «'ry after I had decided, of doubting whether I had decided rightly and justly." — 2 Twiss, 358. Roseat Foui' A. M. "lie rose in the morning at four, took little exer- cise, made short and al>stemlous ujcals, and sat up studying late at night, with a wet towel around his head to drive away drowsiness." Humorous Answer to Dr. Fisher. On one side of a sheet of paper Eldon wrote to Dr. Fisher, who was an applicant for preferment, "Dear Fisher, I cannot to-day give you the prefer- ment for which you ask. I remain your sincere friend, Eldon. Turn over;" and on the other side, "I gave it to you yesterday." What a Lovely Woman! "What a lovely woman!" Eldon exclaimed while pacing Westminster Hall, as a beauty passed. "What an excellent judge," replied the pleased lady. 280 LIFE SKETCH OF A Poor Shot, but "Killed Time." Eldon was a very poor shot, but an eager sports- mau, which led his brother. Lord Stowell, to observe: "My brother luis done much execution this shooting season; with his gun he has killed a great deal of time." Eldon Will Drink any Given Quantity. Eldon was a great hand to take a treat, but un- willing to reciprocate, as he was very parsimonious, which led Lord Stowell, his brother, when told Eldon was quite a wine-drinker, to remark: "Yes, my brother, John, will drink any 'given' quantity." Sir George Rose's Verses, and How Eldon Turned Them on Him. Sir George Rose said of Eldon: "Mr. Leach Made a speech. Angry, neat, but wrong: Mr. Hart On the other part, Was heavy, dull and long: Mr. Parker made the case darker, Which was dark enough without: Mr. Cooke Cited his book. And the Chancellor said, — 'I doubt' " LORD ELDON. 281 Soon after Mr. Rose had to argue an untenable case before Eldon. After ' ^ had finished, Eldon con- cluded his statement of the law by saying: "For these reasons, the judgment must be against your cli'nit, and here the Chancellor does not doubt." 282 LIFE SKETCH OF LORD ELLENBOROUGH (EDWARD LAW), ENG- LAND. (1750-1818.) Lord Chief Justice King's Bench for sixteen years. Born November 10, 1750, at Salkeld. Dieu." The Court Is With Vou. "Tlie unfortunate client for whom it is my priv- ilege to ai)pear," said a young barrister, nuiking his tirst attempt in ^^'es(miust('r hall — "the unfortunate client for whom 1 appear — hem, hem — I say, my lord, my unfortunate (''ent — — " Leaning forward and speaking in a soft voice, lOllenborough said: "You may go on sir,— so far the court is with you." } J.OUD ELLENBOKOUGH. J85 Keiiyoii's I'ai'simoiiy. Having jested about Kenyon's parsimony as tlie old ni.'in was at the point of death, Ellenborouf>Ii hearing tliat tlirongli tlie blnnder of an illiterate un- dertaker the motto on Kenyon's hatchment in Lin- coln's Inn Fields had been painted "Mors janua vita," instead of "Mors janua vitae," exclaimed: "Bless you, there's no mistake; Kenjon's will directed that it should be Sita,' so that his estate might be saved the extra expense of a diphthong." Determined to Be Affable as a Judge — But Was Not. "The day when he took his seat as Chief Justice, he said privately to an old friend that his feelings as a barrister had been so often outraged by the insults of Lord Kenyon he should now take care that no gen- tlemau at the bar should have occasion to complain i)f an}' indignity in his court, and he hoped that any one who thought himself ill-used would resent it. Yet before the first term was over, he unjustifiably put down a hesitating junior, and ever after he was deejily iilfended by any show of resistance to his authority." — (\imi>beirs Lives of the Chief Justices, p. IGL Literary Criticism — Not Libel. Ife n(d)l3' maintained a freedom of literary crit- icism. Sir John Carr, Knight, a silly author, brought an action against respectable booksellers for a bur- lesque upon a certain foolish Travels which he had 286 LIFE SKETCH OF given to the Avorld, relying upon a recent decision of Lord Ellenborough in Tabbert v. Tipper. Lord EI lenborough in bis bedding said: "In that case the defendant had falsely accused the plaintiff of pub- lishing what he had never published. Here the sup- posed libel only attacks those of which Sir John (/an* is the avoAved author; and (uie writer, in exposing the absurdities juid errors of auolher, niav make use of ridicule, however poignant. IJidicule is often the littest instrument which can be employed for such a purpose. If the repulation or pecuniary interests of the parly ridiculed suiter, it Is damnum absecpie in- juria. Perhaps the plaintiff's 'Tour in Scotland' is noAV usalable; but is he to be indemnitied by receiving Ji compensation in u , mages from the person who may have opened the eyes of the public lo Ihe bad taste and inanity of his comi>osi(ion? ^Vho prized tln> works of Sir K(d)ert Filmer after he had been refuted by Mr. Locke? But shall it be said tliat he migh! have maintained an action f(U' defanuition against the great philosopher, Avho was laboring to enlighten and to ameliorate maid- ert.v. Honi January 10, 175t>, in a small, ill-fnrnishef corruption. Tlie same ])r()tectiou ouj^Ut also to ai>ply to us, tlie lii<>liest of the judges,— Fr(Mii speecli in the House of Lords, trial of (^ueon Ciiroline, 1S20. Burke as an Autluir. "I shall take care tliat they, M'hose prin- ciples are left to my formation, lun'e the advantage of doing in the regular progression of youthful study Avliat I ha^e done even in the short intervals of labo- rious life; — that they shall transcribe Avith their own hands from all the works of this most extraordinary ]»erson (Burke) the soundest truths of religion, the jiistest principles of morals, inculcated and ren- dered deliglitfnl l)y the most sublime eloquence — the highest reach of philosophy brought down to the level of common minds, by the most captivating taste, \\\i^. most enlightened observations on history, and the most copious collection of useful maxims from the cxix'rieMce of common life." — From speech in defense of John Jlorne Tooke, 17<^4. Christian Keligiou and the Jews. "The universal dispersion «f the Jews through- out the wcrld, their unexam])led stifferings, and their invariably distinguished characteristics, Avhen com- pared with the histories of all other nations and with the most ancient ])rediclioi)s of their own law-givers and ]»rophets concerning them, would be amply suf- licieut to suj)port the truths of the Christian relig- 2M LIFE SKETCH OF iou if every other record aDd testimony on which they stand had irrecoverably perished." — From speech in prosecution of Williams for libel in publishing Paine's "Age of Reason." Early Failure as a Speaker. Was at first ijainfully unready of speech, - ,: embarrassed in his maiden efforts that he would iiavc desisted in his attempt at oratory had he not felt, as he testifies, that his children were tugging at his gown and urging hiiu on in spil:e of his boggling and stammering. ^laniKT rJofore Jury. "Ills form was ptculiarly graceful, slender and supple, yet, when warmed by an address, quivered with the jKMit up excitement of the occasion. Ilis features were regularly beautiful and susceptible of infinite A'ariety of expression, and at times lighted up with a smile of suqiassing swwtnt^s. eTuries, accord- ing to Lord Riougham, liave declared that they felt it impossible to remove their looks from him when he had riveted and, as it were, fascinated them by his first glance; and it used to Ik^ a c(unmon remark of men who observed his motions that they resembled those of a blood horse; — as light, as limber, as much betokening strength and speed, as free from all gross superfluity or incumbrance." — Mathew's "Ora- tory and Oratoi*s," p. 358. LORD THOMAS ERSKWE 297 m Principles of Evidence. "The principles of evidence in law are founded in the charities of religion, in the philosophy of nat- ure, in the truths of history, and in the experience of common life." Some Characteristics and Great Efforts. He studied law after twenty-five years of age. Lacked the advantage of a college education, and be- fore five years at the bar rose to its highest rank. In his first case. Crown v. Baillie, he made "the most wonderful forensic effort of ancient or modern times," saj's James L. High. His business rapidly increased until he was in receipt of |60,000 per year. His de- fense of Lord George Gordon, his first great jury ef- fort, was won and sounded the death knell of the doctrine of constructive treason. He defended Thomas Paine, from a sense of duty and againsi. his ^\ ill. Successfull}'^ defended Hardy for treason, in .hich he spoke seven hours, and was so exhausted t'jit he spoke for some minutes in a whisper. He cleared John Home Tooke and Thelwell. As Chan- cellor he was unfamiliar with equity and real estate law. \Vas not a profound sch(dar. On Office H(dding. When turned out of the office of Chancellor, Er- skine said: "I am much obliged to them, for they have given me, in exchange for a dog's life, that of a gentleman." — 2 Keuuf i^ 's Wirt, p. 262. 208 LIFE SKE TCH OF His Style. Ei'skiue leaniod but tlie elomeiits of Latin, and in Greek went scarcely bojond the alphabet; but he dt ' 'limself in Aontli to the study of Milton and Shak^ are, committing Avhole pages of the former to memory, and so saturating himself with tlie great dramatist tliat he could hold conversation for days not only in the words, but the phrases of the "myriad- minded poet." It Avas thus that he acquired his beau- tiful style, and was able to charm his hearers. Heart, the Foundation of Ek^quence. "Intellect alone, however exaltcnl, without strong feelings, without, even, irritable sensibility, would be only like an immense magazine of powder, if there were no such element as lire in tlie natural world. It is the heart wiiich is the spring and fountain of elo- quence." — In a letter introductory to the published speeches of Fox. "Tu Doces." "Tu doces" (thou teaches!), wrote Erskine on an old tea chest. Ills First Case. "His repiitation was made in his first cas<'. King V. Baillie. The im]tressiou made upon tlie audi- ence by his iirst address is said to have been unprece- dented, and I must own that, all the circumstances considered, it is the most wonderful forensic cfCort of LORD THOMAS ERSKINE. 299 which we have any account in our annals. It was the debut of a barrister, just called and wholly unprac- Uced in public speaking, before a court crowded with men of the highest distinction. lie came after four eminent counsel, who might be sui)poscd to have ex- hausted the subject. lie was called to order by a venerable judge, Lord Manslield, whose w^ord had been law in that hall above a quarter of a century." — Lord Campbell. Foremost Advocate for Twenty-five Years. "For more than a quarter of a century before his appointment as Lord Chancellor, he had been the foremost advocate in those courts which heM supreme jurisdiction of liberty and life."— Twiss' Life of El- don, vol. 1, p. 292. Action Will Not Lie, Etc. "I am of the opinion that this action will not lie, unless the witnesses do," wrote Ei'skine to the Duke of Queensbery about a doubtful case. You'll Be Hanged If You Do. To his client Thelwell, who Avas dissatisfied with Erskine's efforts in his behalf, and who had written his counsellor on a slip of paper, "I'll be hanged if I don't plead my own cause." Erskine quietly replied, "You'll be hanged if you do," 300 LIPE SKETCH OP Description of the Indian Chieftain. "I have heard them in my youth from a naked savage, in the indignant character of a prince sur- rounded, by his subjects, addressing the governor of a British colony, holding a bundle of sticks in his hands as the notes of his unlettered eloquence: 'Who is it?' said the jealous ruler over the desert, en- croached by the restless foot of English adventure, *Who is it that causes this river to rise in the high mountains and to empty itself into the ocean? Who is it that causes to blow the loud winds of winter, and that calms them again in the summer? Who is it that rears up the shade of these lofty forests, and blasts them with the quick lightuing at his pleasure? The same Being who gave to you a country on the other side of the waters, and gave ours to us; and by this title we will defend it,' said the warrior, throw- ing down his tomahawk on the ground and raising the war-sound of his nation. These are the fillings of subjugated man all round the globe; and depend upon it, nothing but fear will contreriors — altogether without a particle of envy, or jealousy, or gall, in his Avhole composition — no won- der that he was the darling of the age and the country in which he lived. He was the most happily, the most justly described, by one who knew him well, as 'the 302 LIFE SKETCH OF best beloved man in all Scotland.' This was said by tlie late Lord Kinnaird, in llie Ilonse of Commons, himself amon<;st the most quiet and deli[arsliall, and to the great forensic, popular, ]»arlianientary defender and expounder of the ( ■onstitiition, Daniel \Vel)ster, we most owe what we now enjoy." Address of Wm. M, Evarts at the unveiling of the statue of Daniel Webs'cr in Central Park, Nov. 25th, ISTd. Ainhition. "1 do not know that one should question ambi- ti(»n, for it is the i)ublie i)assion by which great pub- lic talents are made useful to people." — Idem. Webster as a Lawyer. "1 am (luite sure that there is not in the general judgment of the professi(m, nor in the conforming ojiinion of his ((umtrymen, any lawyer that in the magnitude of his causes, in the greatness of his pub- lic character, in the immensity of his influence upon the fortunes of the country, (tr in the authority which his manner of forensii; elo(iuence produced in courts and over courts, can be placed in the same rank with Mr. Webster."— Idem. The StulTed Sage. "IJefore sui)[»er you beheld a goose stuffed with sage; now you see a sage stuffed with goose," said Evarts in a toast, refen-iiig to a distinguisheil guest, after eating a stulTed goose. 808 LIFE SKETCH OF luconsisteiicy. "Hancock's declaring in favor of a full, froo bal- lot, and a fair count, is about as consistent as the hus- band's killing his wife with the motto, *Gccl bless our hirae,' " said Ev.arts in a speech in the campaign of 1880. Student Who Couldn't Pass Examination. "In speaking of the Democratic party in tlio same campaign, Mr. Evarts said: "It is like the teacher who could not pass examination down in Texas, and after his erasures, vras allowed to try it over again, and failed a second time. He was asl-ed why he did not pass, and replied, 'How could I? They asked me the same questions.' lie had better have answered like the student at college, who had been badly plucked in examin^ition, and was asked how he fared. 'Fared,' said he, *I didn't pass at all, and yet I an- sweretl every question correctly; and they askisl me a great many questions.' 'How could that be,' asked his friends, 'Why,' he replied, 'to every question they asl.ed me, I replied that I didn't know.' " We Are the Clay — You Are the Poller, "Mr. W. M. Evart.s, who has just been ceh^brating his golden wedding, is a man of wit not loo often usimI for telling effect. He Hashes Lis steel to good pur- pose now and then. The story is said, that once at a dinner of the New York Potters, a sort of family re- union, he as their counsel had been asked to dine with V. WILLIAM MAXWELL EVARTS. 309 them all. There was a bishop, and there was a doc- tor of divinity, and there were other distinguished scions of the family tree present, and the after-dinner speeches had all been — very natural for such an oc- easion— on the fame and success of one another. The history of the Potters since they first came to this count I'y, was told in all its glorious details. Then Mr. Evarts was asked to make a speech, and they say he said that he felt he really must be ex- cused. In this reverend jjresence, however, he might l)e pardoned for uttering a paraphrase of Scripture which had come into his mind dui'ing the speeches of the rest — M^ord, Lord, thou art the clay, and we are the rotters!"— lioston Trauscrij)t, September, 1803. Affidavits not Facts. "l^etters of acceptance of a candidate for the Presid<'ncy are not exactly transactions or acts of Congress. When Admiral Coftin, who lived at Cape Cod, as a chihl, had by his adherence to the British ci'own riseji to th<' great rank of Admiral in the navy, he came over to visit this c yru the opport.inity to lead in the iliree most im- portr.nt cases ever pleaded b}' a member of the Amer- ican bar. First, in resisting your own party in what you regarded the impolicy, if not the madness, of im- peaching a President; secoud, in maintaining before the greatest international tribunal that has assem- bled in modern times the rights of your countiy. and obtaining redress for wrongs to her that grew out of the Civil War; and third, averting anotlier civil war by pleading before an Electoral Commission for a WILLI AM MAXWELL E FARTS. 811 peaceful settlement of the angriest political contro- versy that ever arose between parties in the UniteAVID DUDLEY FIELD. 315 iliiin on any conteniponiry. When u young' man he tliorouglily niaslored Uie common law and equity luacliee, and became impressed with their extreme technicalily. As a consequence, for more than fifty years he worked untiring;ly to reform the hiws of his State and the Ennli^li Avorhl, and lived to see his code system adopted in twenty-four States and Territories, made the basis of tlie legal act of England and of the practice in several English colonies, including India. His proposed "International Code" has attracted the attention of all jurists, and has been translated into I'^rench, Italian and Chinese. Among liis most celebrated causes was the Op- dyke, the Tweed, the Milligan, the McCardle, the Cruikshank, the Cummings and the Garland cases, the "Erie Litigations," and his efforts in behalf of the • levated railways of New York. He stood six feet two; was broad-chested and powerfully built, but stooped from excessive study and age. He will rank in history as one of the greatest minds of the century. 316 LIFE SKE TCH 01' Opdyke-Weed Libel Suit. "O! cruel is that Tliurlow ^V'ee(l, who iiuuh' this j^rent display, Who's kept you here about a. uiouth with«jut a cent (»f pay, And cruel are the witnesses, and cruel are the laws, And cruel are the jurymen — unless you win our cause." — Summing? up to the jury in libel suit of Opdyke v, Thui*slow Weed, N. Y. Supreme Court, Dec. and Jan., 1864-5. Hard Work and Exercise — Secrets of His Health. "I attribute my remarkably good health, flrs^ to a good constitution, and second to hard work. Hard work never killed any one. Idleness has slain its thousands. Then, again, exercise has helped me. I have never allowed a day of my life to pass — hot, cold, wet or dry — Avithout Avalking several miles in the open air. (.'abs and street cars I cannot abide. As for eating and drinking, I follow no special rule. I take what I like, and let the rest alone. I tind that policy to agree with me." — From Hari)er's Weekly. Lincoln. "Lincoln was the most-sided man, I think, I ever met. Webster, Clay, Calhoun and others were great men in their Avay, but Lincoln was great in a multitude of ways. There seemed hidden si)riugs of greatness in this man that would spring forth in the DA VID DUDLE V FIELD. 317 most nnoxpectod way, and even the men about bim woro at a loss to accovint for the order of the niiiii's i;(Milns." Mr. Field almost idolized Lincoln for the jironiotion of his beloved brother, Stephen, to the Supreme Bench. — Idem. Tilden. "Personally, T held close and friendly relations with Samuel J. Tilden. His was one of the keenest, analytical minds I have ever known, and his capacity for politics, as well as real statesmanship, was re- markable.*' — Idem. (ireeley. "(Jreeley was a very great man in some ways, and a very weak one in others, lie was almost as many-sided as Lincoln himself, and was a wonderful combination of goodness and weakness. He was my liiend for many years, and my co-worker in helping lo nominate Lincoln, but his own nomination in 1872 struck me as the grotesque ending of a movement that promised much. As President he would have been used by selfish men for their own ends." — Idem. Was Rich and Parsimonious. He accumulated a large fortune in the active practice of bis im)fession, and by judicious ventures and investments. He had the reputation of being par- simonious, but in large affairs be did not scruple to spend money liberally. 318 LIFE SKETCH OF Insisted on Pay for Lost SIioch iit ITot<^l. "He lost a pair of old slioos at tlie Delavan House, in Albany, when a guest there— tliey wen* stolen from his door by a drunken nsseniblyinan for a lark. He made the landlord send out and buy him a new pair of four-dollar shoes. Tlie landlord subse- quently found the missing shoes and sent them to liiiii Avith a sarcastic note, and Mr. Fieh^ veturned the new shoes, (d)serving that he liked the old ones ta greal deal better. His stalwart and noble figure, clad in that old gray suit, with tliat time-honored blue or red necktie — the only gaiety he indulged in di'ess —and in those (dd shoes, was one that commanded respect, and there were few indeed fit to stand in those shoes," Irving IJrowne, "Easy Cliair," May, '1)4, (Jreen Bag. Mind, etc., Belonged to Client.— Heart, etc., Did Not. When asked if he did not fret over an advnsi' result in a legal case, he said he did not if lu* liad done his duty. Laying his hands across I he median line of his body he said: "All above this — bronchials, throat, voice and brain, belong to the client, but noth- ing below — heart, stomach, bowels or liver —does." His Gallery of Patriots at a Banquet. "At a banquet toast he erected a gallery of i)at ri- ots — for France, Lafayette; for (dd Rome, Brutus; for Greece, Pericles; foi* Great Britain, the elder Pitt; DAVJD DUDLEY FIELD. 319 for Irc'lanfl, Robort Enimett; for the United States, ^^'asllillJ^ton aiul Lincoln; for Italy, Garibaldi, and for Ilnngary, Kossntli."— A. Oakley Hall, May, '94, (ire«'n Bag. Saturate Your Uraiu as a Sponge With Facts and Law. "In preparing your case for trial or summing up, treat your brain as a sponge and saturate it with your facts and legal principles. Then you have but to sfjueeze, and the gray fluid will How copiously to irri- gate judge and jury— but first get the sand out of tiie sponge!" — Mr. Field's advice to A. Oakley Hall, May, '94, Green Bag. Not a Cheap Lawyer — 15,000 for an Opinion. "On one occasion he was employed by a great corporation to write an opinion on a matter of vital moment to its interests. He bestowed several day;< on it and charged §5,000 for it. The corporate officers were astounded. Mr. Field said: 'Whv did vou come to me? You know that I am not a cheap lawyer. You knew that; j-ou could get an opinion to the same effect for a lifth of the money from any one of half a do/Am lawyers' — naming them — -'which would have com- manded respect, but for some reason you came to me. Xow I think you came to me because you believed that my oi)inion would be more influential in effect- ing the result Avhich you desired, and I believe that end has been accomplished, and that my opinion con- 820 LIFE SKETCH OF tribut(Kl largely toward it. Am I not right?' Tlie otlicers could not gainsay those allegations. 'Very well, then, gentlemen, you have been benefitted to a vast amount through my opinion, and you must pay me my charge, whidi, all tilings considered, is a very small one.' They pai«l, and they kept on i)aying his charges." — Irving Browne in "The Lawyers' Easy Chair," May, '94, Green Bag. Gave |1),000 to Support R. B. Taney's Daughter. "When ('hief Justice Taney died, in penury, he left a daughter Avithout means of snpport. There was a proposal among the national bar to make some pro- vision for her, but it moved ?io sluggishly and seemei'adnat. .UMINSON HELir LII-E SKETCH OF ^TEPUcIN .!(^iI^;^oN FIELn, < •..LlFORXf A. (1810—.) H'^nior A.^vocjaff .rustJcr- of ii , . .iited Stu1»N Supremo Coiiiv, boiuj; appoijuod by Liivoln, March J'f, iJ^Oii. H( i;^ Uic .S(ru of ii ntiuistt,''' and biotlicr n! nivitl Undlcy, (;\Ti3s W., HtMirv M., nnd Mi's. J(»s{a)! Ilrcuer, huijImt of David .1. lir.-wcr. lie wuk taken In his >is;.-r \{i(>h nirtr-eji (o Sinrfna, u liere Ik- ar tjiiii'cd modern MiT't i,, the l-'rcisih and titf lUiiidii Ian i;!ia»(th, He iLzradnated from \VtlHa?aK al hrenty, \\v\\\ lii,yli"Ht hou<»rs, studit'd law aud <')vi\'' e(NHU(' on.- of tla\ fofemast 1r yei's in iliat Siutr, jnul wa?^ tdt-rfed to its (;< ii pre • , Vieinii la i^.~)7, and laid tin- mmJ*;,,,, n«-arly k'x y<^a three and ' " ^ "" ■■- < t.'. » ij^ was iua> fdij>. i>y W.ii. I •■ ;; •'"u uiau .;: i >S0 received • (oii\fa ti"n si\tysi\ vuicK for fUo f'le.-^Ideiuy A i,i Federal jnd;:*' 3e* has kept in view pi'iiH iplen: pre^i^rViUion of (he X dional govcnn)?" and that of ihe s^talij^ iv''')\\ < very inUHforence w each other, and the prt>teetioii of pi hate rtgUtw fr«' :l\. Muvcli lici : Josiah f;ikrii 111' .ii hi Inu r, u'tlii n-i, . liM ' st»;i>mi-:n johnson i umd, Ass: 'late' d'.. ■; •- ; ■;• V: ,••:.; J^ ;:c.. oupr^rre Court. 1' riiin ;i rii<-tM|.ri;i|>li )i\ Kalit-r. S;mi I'ltdii'lscn, Citl. Mu C)a aW an< clo( as sio aiK lull va.' kn ere a 1] les opi wli wri as i Ol'V « gra STEPHEN JOHNSON FIELD. 823 their oncroachiuont. Tlis decisions (1 Wall — 154 U. S.l 0S4 ill iiiiiiilxM', iiu'ludiiijj^ 174 dissents, the Test Oatli, tlie Legal Tender, and the Slaughter House cases being most noliible, show him to be one of the ablest judges of any bench. His characterization of judicial 1. He is the sou of a nianufaeturer. (Jradnated at Bowdoin C<)llej4e at nineteen. Read law with William Pitt Fessenden, at Portland, being ad- mitted at twenty-two. After ])ra(tieinj;- a few years in Rockland, he removed to Lewiston, where he now lives. He early attained eminence as an advocate. At thirty-six was elected Attorney General of the State, and was thrice re-elected, and while holding the position some of the most noted causes in the legal history of Maine were tried, lie seiwed several terms in the Legislature, and was one of its most ])r()mineut members in 18(52. In 18()() lie held three important offices at the same time — Representative in the Legislature, Mayor of Lewiston, and Attornej-^ General of the State. Elected to Congress, 1872, to which position he was six times re-elected ; to the Sen- ate, 1881, and has been elected to succeed himself twice, his term ex])iring 1805. Mr. Frye has acquired high reputation as a jury m LIFE SKETCH OF lawyer, and when in active practice was devoted to his profession. Of fine physique, nia<;nificent voice, h)gical mind and quick perception, he is not only strong before a jury, but is a master cross-examiner as well, and is famous for his quick grasp of the facts, and the pronip; ess with wliich lie meets unex- pected emergencies. He is a man of indomitable in- dustry', intensely practical, an orator of no mean sort, of strong intellectuality, and a close student of Eng- lish and classic literature. Is of portly mien, massive brow and prominent nose. He has interested himself during his legislative career especially in the distri- bution of the Geneva Award, in commercial matters, and in the fishery question, ;ind largely aided in ad- justing the Samoan complications between the United States and Germany. For a quarter of a cen- tury he has taken a foremost part in the discussion of the most important National and international ques- tions, lie received the degree of LL.D. from Bates in 1881, and from Bowdoin in 1880. WILL/ AM PIERCE FRYE 329 Frye Nomiiuiting Bliiino Tn the Chicay;o Conven- tion, 1880. "1 once saw a storm at sea in the night-time; an ohl ship battling for its life with the fnry of the tem- I)esl; (laikness everywhere; the winds raging and howling; the hnge waves beating on the sides of the ship and making her shiver from stcMn to stern. Tiie lightning was Hashing, the thnnders rolling; there was danger everywhere. I saw at tlie helm a bold, e(Mirageons, immovable, commanding man. In the temjx'st, calm; in the commotion, qniet; in tiie dan- ger, hopeful. T saw him take that old shi]) and bring her into her harbor, into still waters, into safety. That man was a hero. [Applause]. I saAV the good old 'ship of state,' the State of Maine, within the last year, tighting her way through the same waves, against the same dangers. She was freighted with all that is precious in the principh's of our Kepnblic; with the rights of American citizenship, with all that is gnaranteed to the American citizen by onr Consti- tntion. The eyes of the whole nation were on her, and intense anxiety filled every American heart lest the grand (dd ship, the State of Maine, might go down beneath the waves forever, carrying her i)recion8 freight with her. But there was a man at the helm, calm, deliberate, commanding, sagacions; he made even the foolish man, wise; courageous, he inspired the timid with courage; hopeful, he gave heart to the dismayed, and he brought that good old ship safely into harbor, into safety; and she floats to-day greater, 330 LIFE SKE TCfl OF l)urer, stroii<^or for her baplism of ilanftor. That man, too, was heroic, and his uuiuo was James (>. Blaine. [Loud cheers]. "Maine sent us to tliis ma}]fnificent convention witli a memory of lier OAvn salvation from impending? peril fresh upon her. To you rei)resentatives of fifty millions of tiie American people, Avho have met here to counsel how the IJepuhlic can be saved, she says; 'Representatives of the people, take tlie man, the true, man, the staunch man, for your leader, Avho has just saved me, and he will bring you to safety and certain victory.' " it mjiii, Bill i lie. volition K'udiii";' of fifty ct llt'l'C? le says; ho ti'iio uis just certain I > ni-.i.vii.i.i; \vi:5T<)\ 1 1 1 i.i;w, Zi\iQ\ Ju.itice J] ;t|e Uriiel S"i'e.i S'.i'f,ren;.-3 Court, Kliiln :t rili.lot'l.il h l>\ Sii|..|iy, N.-M ^..|k ' ! *: • I T fVOfS I 1 -• 1.^ iiet'.jMKlU ( (if tic ..'.hi 11 \f ■MM'. !■'* tsr;- '■ > ( * I'ij^hi .>anii'l W I'hsici' at I i'.'i'iok Auiz I'uJicr 'li«'»l wi'ii l;i.s nni:\ n^or, and .■"•^- - ■.,,!■■ ,. ;,i j . .. ::tistii, ■Ami a,si-is • MMMi Hi i-dMncil of ■\U>i, d 1,1 CI, : ' ^ roe. He was tlifV' ':•/) (.^ i t(('«^ for tJiirlv i' ' 'H'.si nnik, ii ri(i iur. i i;, .'U '(M» anniiailv, 1 Jls i'V.\ tnbdnal, ■ kI N.iIi'M li(->«i ' u ..nl^ tlic Mail ^Ves (.f M of r Free l;nv3 stud Han part Aug ing com licir thr." ])rac liigli 000 tribi MELVILLE WESTON FULLER. 331 MELVILT>E WESTON FULLER, ILLIXOIS. (LS33 .) Chief Justice of the Unit»'«l States since 1888, and the ei^Jith (t» hohl that oltiee. Horn at Augusta, Maine, February 11, 1833. His ;;ran(lfatlu'r, Natlian AVeston, Avas twenty-one years on the Sui)renie Bench of Maine. His paternal <>Tan(lfather was a i lassmate of Daniel Webster at Hart mouth; and his father, Frederick Auj>iistus I'^iller, was a distinguished lawyer. Mr. Fuller j;Taduated at Bowdoin in 1853; studied with his uncle, (Jeoi'j^e Melville Weston, at Bangor, and took a course at Harvard. He formed a partnership Avith his uncle, Benjamin G. Fuller, at Augusta, and assisted in editing "The Age," a lead- ing Democratic paper. He acted as president of the common council of Augusta, and served as its so- licitor. Moved to Chicago in 18r)(;, Avhen twenty- three. He Avas thei-e cMigaged uninterruptedly in ])ractic(' for lliirty-threeyears, gradually rising to the highest rank, and having for years a business of 130,- 000 annually. His juactice Avas A'aried, and in every tribunal, State and National. He received the degree 332 LIFE SKETCH OE of LL.D. from Xoi'tlnvostorn Univci'sity in 1884, from Bowdoin in 1888, .and from lltii'vard in 181)1. lie was appointed Chief Justice of tlie United States by Tresi- dent Cleveland, April 80, 1888, 1o succeed (Miief Jus- tice Waite. The Chief Justiceship was the fourth oHice tendered him bv Mr. Cleveland. His first case before the United States Supreme Court was in 1871, Dows V. Chicago (11 Wall., 108). His first case argued there, in person, was Traders' Bank v. Campbell (14 AN'all., 87), Some of his great cases while in practice were: Tappan v. ^Merchants' National Bank, of Chicago (10 Wall., 400); Itailway Companies v. Keokuk Bridge Company (181 U. S., 871); the Cheney heresy case, in which Mr. Fuller spoke for three days; and the great "Lake Front" case. His decisions (128- 154 U. S.), iiumber 827, Avith seventeen dissents. He is a ripe scholar in the classics, familiar with three modern languages, diligent in research, fluent in speech, and ready with the pen. Though physic.;^ a small man he has a striking appearance. MELVILLE WESrON FULLER, 333 A Great Judge. "A great jiulge bends to tlie oar, seeking to ex- plore new lines of coast along the well-nigh illimit- able ocean of tlie law."- Kcniarks on death of Asso- ciate Justice Miller. Ills Answer When a Boy to the Ai-gunient Favoring Capital Punishment. "Ills b)gical faculty and aptness at disputation were early displayed. At Oldtown, Maine, when he was II boy, he thus replied to Deacon I\igi»y's argu- ment in favor of capital [»nnishment : ^Supposing we take the law which the gentleman has quoted, and which in a ])hiloso])hie sense has been abrogated as null and void since the birth of our Savior, and see wiiat the logical deduction Avould come to. He quotes I he Mosaic Law, *\\'hoso sheddeth man's blood, by Mian his blood shall b(» shed.' For exam])le, one man kills anothei-; another ntan kiHs liim? He dare not suicide, for that same law forbids it. Now, deacon, what are you going to do with that last man?' " — T^p- l{iv<'r News. Cheney Case. "Mr. Fuller made a three days' speech in .he famous CluMiey luM-esy ciise." — ^fatlhew "White, Jr., ill .Mnnsey's Maga/.im? for A[»ril, ISUl. 334 LIFE SKETCH OF WILTJ/ M FULLERTON, NEW YORK. (1818 .) A cross-t^Xiiniinoi' equalled by few and exeelled by noue. Bom in Orange county, New York, in 181 S, His boyhood was jiassed upon his father's farm. ITe graduated at twenty from Union College in the same class Avitli John K. Porter, who afterwards sat on the New York Court of Appeals Bench with him. Sup- ported himself while at college by teaching. Was admitted to practice at twenty-three. Soon becanu^ District Attorney of his native count}', and was shortly recognized as one of the foremost men at the bar. Removed to New York city in 1852, where he formed a pai'tnership with Charles O'Conor, who de cided upon this course after listening to Mr, Fuller ton's able argument in an important and intricate case before the State Supreme Court. \\\ 1808, while on a fishing excursion, Governor Fenton appointed him a Justice of the Supreme Court, he thus becoiii ing ex olticio a member of the Court of Appeals, lb' was elected to the same position, served out his term, but declined a renomination. During his over forty years' practice in the city WILLIAM FULLERTOM. 335 ;eell»'tl I 1818. n. n<' B same on the , Sui)- , Was becanu' iss, to prac- ig beeu destroyed exeopt his law books. He applied to the bar of the Supreme Court to practice, havinj^; obtained a pardon from President Johnson. A license was re- fused, lie brou<^ht suit against the Constitutionality of the "Test Oath," retaininj^ as counsel Reverdy Johnson and Matt. H. Carpenter. His own argument in this case (ex parte Garland, 4 Wall., 333) made him famous. He was elected to the United States Senate in 18G7, but was not allowed to take his seat. Subse- quently he represented the State in the United States Senate for two terms. Was elected Governor of Ar- kansas in 1874. Made Attorney General of the United States by President Cleveland in IScST, and held the otlice for fou ' "ears. Is also said to have been oll'ered a jjosition upon the Supreme Bench of the United States by Mr. Cleveland, and to have de- clined. Refused a third election to the Senate. He enjoys an extensive practice in tiie United States Supreme Court, api)earing in eighty-nine cases in the last sixteen reports (138-154 U. S.). Rules of Legal Success to Young Lawyers. "A young lawyer should continue his profes- sional studies with as much care and unremitting at- 338 LIFE SKE TCH OF tontion as wlien lie was a studont proper; making ancame a private un- der eTefl'erson Davis in tbe M<'xican War, serving at Monterey. Ivetnriu'd, read law and was admitted to the Carroll county bar. At twenty-seven he was elected Reporter of the High Court of Ibrors aiul Appeals, preparing and publishing ten volumes of rei)orts, and afterwards a complete and accurate ^ '<«V^ 7 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WFBSTER.N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ■X 840 LIFE SKETCH OF Chief Justit'o; rosij^ncd two years later, having been elected to the United States Senate, to Avhich body lie has since been tAvi<-e re-eleeled; member of the »'on- stitntional convention, ISOO, which formed the pres ent eonstitntion of Mississippi, bcinji^ known as its "father." As a lawy»'r an intri cacies of (he jus gentinm, his great arguments in the Senate have excited the favorable comment of law writers bfdh in this country and in England. He is «)ne of the best types of the self-made men who have create«l an S' v N. « V..rk. 1 I!' 'l'A( ! '■'IITI -ilirc ISKI 15, 1 .\f:iss;n}ii ; ■-.-vM I, u--< ' ' 1 cuit; ' h>'l\'>'t[ Sf'Vi'llK ^'11 Mi< ' ' (lint; ■ lit' h::. ■' Mi-IiVi ' I'l} i;l.: ii \ . " • .'I'O^: ii. ■ :ii.\ l-rirTi. ■' iM,;; (bo fiinn.t'js jiir it> *tf aecession tw ilu- t>tii i>l' the EiiiilLsli \n\\ . liie hi|j:t. 1 •< ' iin i 1 1 " 1 ' HORACE ORAV l'!; i)iot>i?>'>i'ii i'> "^''''''y. ^•" V'»iK, HORACE GRAY. 849 HORACE GRAY, MASSACHUSETTS. (1828 ) Associate; Jnstico of the United States Supreme Court since 1881. Born in Boston, March 24, 1828; graduated at Harvard in classics at seventeen, and in huv at the Harvard hiw school, after traveling in Europe; read with Judge Lowell, and was admitted in 1851. He was appointed Supreme Court Reporter of Massachusetts in 1854, and held that position for seven years, publishing sixteen volumes. Was ap- pointed by Governor Andrew in 1804, a member of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, in which capacity he served seventeen years, eight a,s Chief Justice. He was made Associate Justice of the United States Su- preme Court, December 20, 1881, by President Arthur, succeeding Mr. Justice ClitTord. As a State judge he has delivered nuiny interesting and learned opin- ions on a great variety of subjects, becoming one of the famous jurists of that e^er able tribunal. His accession to the Supreme Court of the Nation was ap- plauded and commended, resembling the promotion of the English lawyer to the highest judicial posi- 850 LIFE SKETCH OF tion. As a Federal jiulj^e his views* have been mainly in support of extraordinary national power: for ex- ample, the famous case of Juillard v. Greenman (110 U. S. 421), establishing that the United States Treas- ury notes are a legal tender in time of peace. His de- cisions (104-154 U. S.) 342 in number, including but twenty-seven dissents, are expressed in dignified, firm and expressive language, and are well sustained by authority. Among his vigorous ojiinions are the dissents in tlie Arlington case (U. S. v. Lee, 106 U. S,, 196), the Original Package case (Leisy v. Ilardiu, 1.35 U. S., 100), and the United States v. Kodgers (150 U. S., 249) — that the Great Lakes are not *'high seas," and his majority opinion in the "Chinese Exclusion Cases" (150 U. S. 698), in the latter of which Judges Brewer, Field and Fuller dissent. As a judge, he 's strict, punctilious and dignified. Is an omniverous reader, has great ability, various knowledge, and large experience. Is six feet five in height, straight, of commanding figure and looks every inch an Eng- lish jurist. Not the Law of Massachusetts. A venerable lawyer, the Nestor of \ he Roslon bar, addressing the court, announced a legal proposition, HORACE GRAY. 851 and received from Judge Gray, then on the Supreme Bench of Massachusetts, the curt reply: "That is not the law of Massachusetts, sir." Tlie rejoinder, as promptly made, was, "It was the law of Massachu- setts until your Ilonor spoke." Treasury Notes Made a Legal Tender by His Decision. Mr. Justice Gray delivered the opinion of the United States Supreme Court in Juillard v. Green- man, 110 U. S., 421, that "Congress has the Constitu- tional power to make the treasury notes of the United States a legal tender in payment of private. debts in time of peace as well as time of war; and that the impressing upon the treasury notes of the United States the quality of being a legal tender in payment of private debts is an appropriate means, and con- ducive, and plainly adapted to the execution of the undoubted powers of Congress, consistent with tlie letter and spirit of the Constitution ; and, therefore, within the Ls appeared a demagogue. But English life under the Stuarts and tho Common- wealth, ranging from the gayety and frivolity of the cavalier to the s«demnity of the Puritan, leaves him not without some excuse. 8B6 LIFE SKETCH OF General Knowledge Necessary. "No man can be absolutely a master in any pro- fession, without having some skill in other sciences.'' — Life, by Bishop Burnett, p. 21. On Oratory. "If the jiulge or jury has a right understanding, oratory signifies nothing but a waste of time, and lots of words; and if tliey are weak and easily wrouglit on, it is a more decent way of corrupting them, by bribing tlieir fancies, and biasing their affections," — Idem, p. 88. Doubts, It was a nuixim with Sir ^latthew Hale that doubts should always be placed in the scale of mer(y. The Bible. "There is no book like the Bible for excelletit learning, Avisdom and use." Be Slow in Choosing Company. "There is a certain magic or charm in company, for it will assimilate and make you like to them, by much conversation witli them. If they be good com- pany, it is a great means to make you good, or coii- firm you in goodness;^ but if they be bad, it is twenty to one that they will infect and corrupt you. Tliere- fore be wary and shy in choosing and entertaining, or frequenting any company or companions; be not SIR MATTHEW HALE. 357 too hasty in committing yourself to tliem; stand off awhile till you have inquired of some (that you know by experience to he faithful) what they are; observe what company they keep; be not too easy to gain acquaintance, but stand off, and keep a distance yet awhile, till yon have observed aud learnt touching them. Men or women that are greedy of acquaint- ance, or hasty in it, are often-time snared in ill com- l)a.ny before they are aware, and entangled so that they cannot easily loose from it after, when they would." Conversation. • "Let your words be few, especially when your sujteriors, or strangers are present, lest you betray your own weakness and rob yourself of the oppor- tunity, which you might othenvise have had, to gain knowledge, wisdom and experieiice hearing those whom you silence by your impertinent talking. "* * * Be careful not to interrupt another Avhen he is speaking; hear him out, and you will understand him the better, and be able to give him the better answer." Opinion. "Opinion is, when the assent of the understand- ing is so far gained by evidence of probability that it rather inclines to one persuasion than to another, yet not altogether without a mixture of uncertainty or doubting." 858 LIFE SKE TCIJ OF Diinitioii. "All the notion we have of (liirntion is pju'tly by the successiveness of its own operations, and partly by those external measures tha( it finils in motion." Knowlee. "Anion^ the objects of knowle«l<;<' (wo especially commend themselves to our contemplation; the knowledge of fJod, and the knowledge of ourselves." — Origin of Mankind, Providence, "There is the same necessity for the Divine in- fluence to keep together the universe in that consist- ence it hath received as it was first to give it." Studies. "The intellectual husbandry is a goodly field, and it is the worst husbandry in the world to sow with trifles." Law. "Laws were not made for their own sakes, but for the sake of those who were to be guided by them ; and though it is true that they are and ought to be sacred, j'et if they be or are become unuseful for their end, they must either be amended, if it may be, or new laws be substituted, and the old repealed, so it be done regularly, deliberately, and so far forth only as the exigence or convenience justly demands it; S/A' MATTHEW HALE. 880 and in this respect the saying is true salus popiili sn- proma lex esto. He that tliinks a State can be ex- actly steered by the same laws in every kind as it was two or three hnndred years ago, may as well imagine that the clothes that fitted him when a child should serve him when lie was grown a man. Tlie matter changeth, tlie custom, the contracts, the commerce, the dispositions, educations, and tempers of man and societies, change in a long tract of time, and so must their laws in some measure be changed, or they will not be useful for tlieir state and condition; and, be- sides all this, time is the wisest thing under ITeaven. These very laws which at first seemed the wisest con- stitution under Heaven, have some flaws and defects discovered in them by time. Manufactures, mercan- tile arts, arcliitecture, and building, and philosophy itself, secure new advantages and discoveries by time and experience, so much more do laws which concern the manners and customs of men." — Hargrave's Law Tracts. 3G0 LIF£ SKETCH Ofi JOHN SMYTHE HALL, QUEBEC. (1853 ) The Honorable John Smythe ITall is an Honor- able Queen's Counsel, a member of the Provincial Parliament, and senior member of the leading Mon- treal law firm of Hall, Cross, Brown and Sharp. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, August 7, 1853, and is therefore but forty-one years of age, and it might be mentioned, is also the youngest man in the group of engravings of one hundred and forty-four "Eminent American, English and Canadian Lawj'ers." He is the son of John S. Hall, a member of the late firm of Grant, Hall and Company, at one time ex- tensively engaged in the lumber and sawmill busi- ness. John Smythe Hall, Jr., was educated at Bish- op's College School in Lennoxville, and at McGill Uni- versity, where he graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1874, and Baclielor of Civil Law in 1875. He was married January 3, in the year 1883, to Miss Brigham, of Ot- tawa, Ontari J. He was called to the bar in the Prov- ince of Quebec in January, 1876, and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1887. He was President of the ^OHN SMYTHE HALL. 361 University Literary Society in 1880, and of tlie McOill (Jra«luate Society in 1884. ITo was elected a mem- ber of tlie cor])<)ration of McOill University in 188" and re-elected to the same position in 188fi. He has been president of the Junior Conservative Clnb of Montreal. lie was first returned to the Legislative Assembly for Montreal, AVest, at the general elec- tions in 188G; was re-elected by acdammntion in 1891, and again re-elected in 1892. lie was appointed Provincial Treasurer under the De Boucherville gov- ernment in December, 1892, which position he still occupies under the Taillon government. lie is a Con- servative in politics, and resides in Montreal. lie ranks as one of the most distinguished lawyers of the Province of Quebec, and is a ready impromptu speaker and in great demand on after-dinner occasions. 362 LIFE SKETCH OF SIR JAMES HANNEN, ENGLAND. (1821-1894.) One of the most learned and able of England's judges. lie was born at Kiugswood, England, in 1821, died in London, Xlarcli 28, 1891, aged seventy- three. He was the eldest son of James ITannen, a merchant. Was educated at St. Paul's School and the University of Ueidelberg, and became a student at the Middle Temple, and was called to the bar in 1848. lie was appointed in 1853 agent for Great Britain in the Mixed Commission constituted to set- tle the Canadian fisheries disputes between England and America. ITe was made a Puisne Judge of the Queen's Bench in 18G8, succeeding Mr. Justice Shee, and a Judge Ordinary of the Court of Probate, in suc- cession to Lord Penzance, in 1872, and in 1875 Presi- dent of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of the ITigh Court of Justice, and in 1891 Lord of Ap^ peal in Ordinary, which position he resigned in 1893. While in practice his main business was heavy arbitration, solid mercantile questions and very com- plicated and important cases. Was successful in the T SIR JASfES H ANN EN. 868 j^i'oat Slirewnbiirv case in the rioiise of Lords; was (Migagcd in the Matlock will case, and was for some time engaged for the Treasury. His leading judgments are Nihoyet v. Niboyet; the Frederick legitimacy trial; Durham v. Durham; Sngden v. St. Leonards (sustaining the will of the great ex-Chan- cellor by secondary evidence); Gladstoue v. Glad- stone, and Crawford v. Dilke. lie settled the law of lunacy — that "capacity" like responsibilit}-, is once more a question of fact. He was president of the I'arnell Commission, and kept tlie work of the com- n>'*ssion within the statutes, and made Webster, Rus- sell and James alike feel the pressure of his guiding hand. lie will be chiefly remembered as one of the arbitrators on behalf of England in the recent Behr- ing Sea case at Paris. He possessed a clean char- acter — never even indulging in an amusing or doubt- ful anecdote; and had in a remarkable degree union and harmony in the three indispensable judicial qual- ities — patience, dignity and knowledge. 364 LIFE SKETCH OF THE EAKL OF IIARDWICKE (PHILIP YOKKE), ENGLAND. (1G90-17G4.) The main fnimer and fouiulor of tho present sys- tem of Enjjlish equity jurisprudence. Lord High Chancellor. Horn at Dover, December 1, KIDO; died March G, 17G4, aged seven ty-three. Son of a solicitor and clerk of Dover, whom Mansfield terms "a peas- ant." At'sixteen was articled to a Loudon solicitor, through favor of Loitl Macclesfield, and at eighteen entered the Middle Temple; called to bar at twenty- five. The friendship and partiality of Macclesfield, as Chief Justice and Chancellor, accounts for Yoi-ke's rapid progress. At twenty-nine, member of House of Commons; at thirty. Solicitor General, and knighted, during which office he prosecuted in the Layer's Conspiracy; Attorney General at thirty-four. In 1725, Macclesfield was impeached and convicted for liot(><;ravinv <^roni)S of the Heacnu l.i^ilits of .Iiii*is|H'ii(l('ii((' of tlu' Eiij;lisli-sin'akiii|i; i>ho- l»lc, from liitllctoii jiud Coke t(» oiiv own time, from tlic liU'cst oi'ijiinals and jici-soiial auto.uraplis by the most life-like of processes. lOacli eiij;'raviii<;' 2halK'tically arranged, with anto- jii'apli and date ((f birth and death (if deceased) there- nnder. Sent prepaid at ^12.50. Onr "I'opnlar Edition," 2Sx8S indies— all faces in one enj.'ravinjj,' — bnsts same size, more closely j^fonped, and withont autographs, but a beautiful l)iece of work, at |5.00. Hook of "Life-Sket<-hes, TMion^hts, Facts and Facetiae of Eminent Lawyers.'' — A key to tlie art work, in two large volumes, each 5 1-2x8 inches, both ('(mtaiiiinj; ncjirlv SOO paj^os. - Tlic w(»rk is a veritable cyclupedia of lej^al wit and wisdom; lias been Hire*' vears in ]H'eparali«>n, under llie ediloi'ship of (Jilbeil J. (Mark, Esq., of (lie Kansas City bar, assisted by a corps of t»ver lifty eontributors, resident tliroii;^liout the territory comprised. Sent prejiaid, clotli, at |(!.(M); one-half Eii;;lisli calf, marbled edy;es, at -19.00. Or the antojira]»li enj;ravinji's and the bixdis in cloth at 115.00, or half-calf at .flT.rjt); books in cloth with "Popular Edition" at |S.50. These c(nnbined prices will be tilled only when cash accompanies the order. Or send fl for 14x18 j;ron]) i)icture of the l»resent United States Supreme Court, also a minia- ture of "Secios A" autoj>rapli enj;ravin^s, together with data as to the bo(dvS of "Sketches, Etc.," and commendations. If books or en}iravinj>s are subse- quently purchased the S^iM will be credited. LAWYERS INTEIINATIOXAL PUBLTSHING CO.. Kansas City, Mo, A FHW OF THt MANY TESTIMONIALS AS TO OUR DE LUXE AUTOGRAPH ENGRAVINGS. "XcjHJy ill! Om' orcat ]('a(l«'rH of (he English- siM'jilviiio hai'."— T^oston (Jm-n Raj>, "OiK" is sure to find tlic very jnctnivs lio is look- ing lor."- -OmaJia Mcirm-y. "We are prepared to give them our best reeom- iiMMidatioii."— Di'troit (Vdlector. "Xotliino wliicli w(' could iniaoine would be a more al tractive ornament for a lawyer's office, or a jndge's cliambers."- American Law Review, St. Lonis, Mo. "ICvery face is that of a lawyer who may justly be claimed as deservedly «'minenf." Amerlcaii i-awyer, New York. "Xothino so elalxuate lias ever before been at- f<'mi.ted."- Lawyer and Oedit Man, Kansas (Mty and St. Louis, Mo. "So fa I- as we can jud'j»'e the likenesses are "ood." --Detroit Law Shidents' Heli»er. "In most instan<'es they are surprisingly j-ood likeju'sses." Irvino' lin»wne, ''Rasv Ohair," <}'I'een Bag-. "The nuvliniiiral Avork has been adiiiirablv done, and the resnlr is a colU'clion of porlraits which will be an ornanicnt to any oUicc, nedilable to the pnli- lishers, and satisfactory to the snbs< ribers." — Law Ito(dv News, St. Paul, Minn. "They are trnly works of art." — Mr. Justice Field. ''The idea of <'roui)in<; so nniny faces is certainly a liai>|»y one." — Mr. Jnstice lirewer. "i am gratified to fhnl myself in snch distin- finished coiii])any." — Sir Kres('nt an extremely interesting' c(dlee- tion." — F. R. Oondert, N<'W York. ''lOxtremolv satisfactory, I will take it with nie to England, whlllicr 1 ex])ect shortly to ;>o, anlionso Hart, \Vashlnrpss'et up so lar^e a number (»f such excellent poi-t raits, I can s|>eak form personal a<-«|uaintance with many of (he disdnj^uished individimls whos(> faces apjM'ar on these enf»ravinjis, and I can testify to the reinarkabl(» accuraou a remarkable su<-cess."— Cortlandt Talker, Newark, New Jersey. "So fjirj'.s I ixTsoiiiilly know tlio snbjocis, or liavo known llicni, tln'V arc nccnralcly |ioiMi'iiy«'(l. 'riici-c is, I lliink, no t'Xccplion lo litis sliit<>nu>nl."- lion. Tlionnis .M. Coolcy, Ann Aihoi-, Michigan. ''.My lliiiiiks, pi-oscnf nnd cvcrlnslin^', Jii-c dnc yon for ii ro|»y of (lie dc jnxc cdilion of ||n' »'n^i'iivin;;s 'Imminent .Vniniciin, lOn^lisli ami Canadian LawuM-s.' The woi-k is a r<'al trcasnic, and I shall ,niz(' it ac- cttrdin^ly. It is a pi in a conijxisition of so hi^h an order. My sclflovo is ilatlcrcd, Init my sober sense dennirs. I feel I he awkward embarrass- ment of a riisti<- in elenanl and relined rompany." K. I'). IMeckley, e\-( "liief .Instiee of ( Jeorjiia. "An admii-able work of art, and the };ronpin^ is well devised. Snrcess has crowned yonr elToi'ts." - lion, 'riuniias J. Senimes, New Orleans, Lonisiana. "The pici :ir<'s ai'c uniformly j^ood, and the execu- tion refle<-t:; credit on your enterpi-ise." lion. I'. M. IJose, Kittle h'ock, .\rkansas. "I am verv much ideascd with the eni-ravinjis. They aje very handsomely j^otten up." Hon. .lames (). Ilroadhead, IJerne, Swit/.erland. "The set of jxtrtraits came safely ami I aui much jdeased witli them. The likenesses appear to be very .ii,(Mid."- lion. James T. Mitclndl, Supreme (*onrt of IN'nnsvlvania. IS K'S icll '1 y of "Tlic pliiii is cxct'lliMil iiiid llic piu'lrjiits lifclikf. Il ^ivi'S iiic I'f'Jil s;ilisriicli(»il In be jildc 1(» sec <;ion|M'il so iiiiiiiy of ilic iii'ciil liiwycrs iiml JikIucs ol" l-iii^ljiinl iiiiil Aiiicririi; iiiiiny of wlioiii I know, jiikI jiII of w lio II iii'c know II lo our profession. 'I'lic pa^cs of llio books iTcciNrd ji'nt' piomisc of piciisiinl iind intrrt'sl- nijn rciidin;;." lion, .lolni l\ Dillon, New Voik. "All li.ulii cvciy wiiy." If. (i. Imj;(M-soII, New York. "It oiiulil (o linnji in cvcfy kiwyci's ollicc. TIn' price for lliese speiikiii;^ likenesses is jibsnrdly low, iind pliiees il wiiliin llie rencli (d' ('\er\ Inwyer." O. i;. IJennell, Corpus Cliristi, Texjis. "N'cry bejuilifnl ;uid nicrilorions."- Ibm. Sey- inonr I), 'rinnnpson, Si. Louis, Missouri, "TiM'y ceiliiinly niiike (bdijulilfiil nnd ins|>irin;; coinpiiny for ;in e;irnes| kiwyer. I nni plensed witli your iitlioii ill enlnriuinii' llie 'Skelclies' lo tlie in- lended pi opoil ion*<. l''ro:ii IJie s;lliiple pjiyes st'lll I Jinlieip.ite iiMleli plejisiire fl'tnil llie pel'lisjil of these books." -lion. •!. II. Iionj;i'iU'eki'r, Jledford, I'enii- slyviiniii. "I ant vt'vy iiincli pleased witli the idea and (lie nianner in wliie!i ilie work lias been done." John D. Lawson, Professor of (Nniinioii Law, rniversily (»f Missoiii'l. "Excellciif in oxccntioii, and iiiost interesting'." — J. W. Bryan, Ex-Lient. Guv. Ky. "T know of no finer ornament for a lawyer's office or library." -(Je(>. K. Teck, (len'i. Solieitor A. T. & S. F. liy. Co. "I apiH'cclale (lie aniooraplis as (»ne of the eliief merits of (lie work." — Jos. T. Harrison, ( inclnnaii, O. "The collect inj;- and i>reservin.u- in sneh perferl and artistic form these portraits of 144 of the fjjreat le<;al luminaries ninst have been a work of ^reat care ami labor. Tlies<' jxn'tralts ami antoj^raphs afford j-reat insjdration to all the fhonjihtfiil members of the honorable iirofession of the la\v."-~IIon. ilenry (May White, Cleveland, O. *'In my estimation, no lawyer's ollice Is cmnplete- ly furnished withont these en^raviniis to decorate iis walls. They are the most api)ropriate i»iece of fnr- nitnre (hat a law office can contain." — Jas. ( '. Thomas, l']rle, Pa. ''They are very interesting and admirably exe- ^.,i(,.,l."__ll,,,,. .lames M. NVoolworth, Omaha, Neb. "The faces of the men whom 1 have personally known are represented with remarkable si)irit and fidelity."— Hon. (Jeorj^e F. lUnw, Worcester, Mass. "The en<;ravin^s are tine, indeed, and I believe will be most welcome to the bench and bar all over the land."— A. 11. CJarland, Ex-Atty. (Jen'I. U. S. KRRATA. VOL. I. Page 43, line 21. for ••changes" read "clangers". I'age lie, line 11, lor "I" read "It". Page 150, line 13, for ••K. C, Whipple" read '•1",. P, Whipple" Page 172, line 5, siib.stitute comma for jieriod at e)ul of line. I'age 180. line 7, for ••Johnson" read -'Jonson' . Page 236, line 2, for "his" read "this". Page 343, lines iS and 1'), for '• J'.nch.irist" read "l-nch.irist". Page 345, line it. begin 'train' with c.ipital letter.