USA > Connecticut > Biographical encyclopaedia of Connecticut and Rhode Island of the nineteenth century > Part 4
USA > Rhode Island > Biographical encyclopaedia of Connecticut and Rhode Island of the nineteenth century > Part 4
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After his resignation of the presidency of Brown University, Dr. Caswell lived some years in green and fruitful old age, in which he suffered not from infirmities of body or mind, nor withdrew from active pursuits, but enjoyed his exalted pleasures and occupations, which imparted new dignity to his countenance and additional
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weight to his character. At the meeting of the Corporation, in which he retired from the presidency, he was chosen a member of the Board of Trustees, and in 1875 a member of the Board of Fellows. In both relations his successor in office spoke of Dr. Caswell as his "most cordial supporter, his trusted friend, and his confi- dential adviser." In his last years he was " one of the inspectors of the State Prison, where, besides the labors which he performed for the good of the convicts, he often preached to them and instructed them in the Sunday-school." On rare public occa- sions he was one of the most honored and influential of the speakers, his dignity, voice, and language reminding his hearers of Homer's description of Nestor : "Out of his tongue there flowed a speech sweeter than honey." "As he talked," wrote a hearer, "it seemed impossible that he himself had passed his threescore years and ten, for he carries those years only as a crown, not as a burden ; and the very sunshine of youth still warms and softens his clear, strong voice, and gives vivacity to his manner."
To the last days of life he was deeply interested in subjects of great and even abstruse interest. Only a month before his departure he was engaged in the renewed study of the life and labors of Livingstone, and in the last learned work of the German Helmholtz, on The Sensations of Tone as a Basis for a Theory of Music. On Monday, the 8th of January, 1877, at the close of his last illness, he asked that the closed shutters of his room might be opened, that he might once more greet the sun at his coming. A brighter sun than that of this world beamed on his sanctified spirit, and he joyously passed away to rejoice and expatiate forever in the bright and beautiful land where the sun never goes down, and the days of mourn- ing are ended forever. Of Dr. Caswell it was pre-eminently true, that he did justice, loved mercy, and walked humbly with God.
Cf. Bradley.
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RADLEY, CHARLES SMITH, LL.D., of Providence, ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island. Born in Newburyport, Mass., July 19th, 1819. His father, Charles Bradley, was a merchant of Andover, Mass. The Bradley family is of pure English stock. Men who bore that name have been identified with some of the proudest and most momentous epochs in English history. Representatives of it, in association with potential or actual heroes of other patronymics, helped in colonial times to foster and develop those elements of national character which have made the American Republic the glorious and suc- cessful fact that it confessedly is to-day.
The mother of Judge Bradley, née Sarah Smith, daughter of Jonathan K. Smith, of Haverhill, Mass., was the grand-daughter of Rev. Hezekiah Smith, D.D., one of the chaplains of the Revolutionary army, and a minister of most beneficent influence on the patriot soldiery in the field, as well as upon their families and friends at home. Dr. Smith was one of the Fellows of Brown University for more than forty years, and laid that venerable institution under obligations to perpetual gratitude by his disinterested and useful labors for its sustenance and endowment.
The intimate connection of his maternal great-grandfather with Brown University, determined young Bradley to seek collegiate instruction within its halls rather than in those of Harvard University. The same determination issued in permanent relations to Rhode Island as one of her most prominent citizens and cherished sons. Preparation for matriculation at Brown was obtained in the Boston Latin
School. His entrance upon study in the university was in the year 1834. Four years subsequent to that date he graduated with the diploma of A.B. The degree of A.M. was afterward received in due course.
Several of the first of Mr. Bradley's post-graduate years were spent as tutor in the service of his Alma Mater. The legal profession, however, had stronger attractions than the educational. He entered the Harvard Law School, at Cam- bridge, Mass., and also studied in the law-office of Charles F. Tillinghast, Providence, R. I. Admitted to practice at the bar in 1841, he formed a business copartner- ship with his former preceptor, and maintained it for a number of years. The association was fortunate for both parties. Mr. Tillinghast is held in pleasant and respectful memory by many of the older citizens of the State for the simplicity of his manners, the diligence exhibited in professional pursuits, and the sterling probity of his character.
Politically, Judge Bradley has always been affiliated with the Democratic party. In 1854 he was elected as representative of the city of Providence to the Senate of Rhode Island, in which he materially aided the passage of an act of amnesty to all who were obnoxiously concerned in the Dorr Rebellion of 1842.
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Although a conscientious and consistent adherent of the Democratic party, Judge Bradley has invariably assumed that American citizenship involves duties and privi- leges that are infinitely higher than those pertaining to mere political party, and his public actions have as invariably been in harmony with the assumption. His speech at a public meeting held in Providence, June 9th, 1856, to express the indignation and grief of the citizens over the attack of Representative Brooks, of South Carolina, upon the person of Senator Sumner, of Massachusetts, is illustrative of this fact.
" Is it not well, sir," he asked, " that the second city in New England-the first which is not connected by any personal ties with Mr. Sumner-should speak of this outrage, not in the first flush of our indignation, but in the tones of deliberate condemnation ? That the capital of a State which, in the darkest hours of the Revolution, gave a Greene to South Carolina ; which annually welcomes to . its borders the children of the South-upon those beautiful shores which the river in the sca, with its balmy breath, bends to kiss ; a State which has ever given the hand of help, and the hand of welcome, should spcak cven of this blow more in sorrow than in anger? It is certainly well that men of all political partics of the past, of all political parties of the present, ay, and of all political parties of the future, should unite in the decision we this morning render upon this great wrong. I shall not follow the gentleman who has opened this meeting in any description of the scene upon the floor of the Senate. It is not for me to retouch what my master has painted. 'Brutal, murderous, and cowardly !' The challenge has stamped these words upon the memory of the American people. Though coarse and strong, they are 'fit description of the act.' We all remember, sir, the story of the Roman senators and the Gauls. The barbarian, to assure himself whether the silent forms before him were human beings or images of the gods, touched the venerable beard. The instincts of humanity resented the insult. You know the sequel. Those white locks were reddened in blood-those silent forms motionless in death.
" When the barbarian entered the American Senate-chamber, was it but an accidental or a providential interposition of time and place which prevented the weapons of death in opposite hands from the work of mutual slaughter? Seem- ingly slight events in the hands of Providence make or mar the destinies of individuals and of nations. One such scene of slaughter on the floor of the Capitol, and Congress might never re-assemble! The threescorc years and ten allot- ted to mortal life would have spanned our existence as a united people.
" But, sir, we are not here to speak of this affray in a personal aspect alone, however near it came to the perilous edge of murder and disunion. We should
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not waste our time on Mr. Brooks. We know that brutality and cowardice go hand in hand; because brutal passions and true moral courage eannot harmonize in the same character. We can pass him, sir, if not with Christian forgiveness, at least with silent and manly contempt. But, sir, behind and beyond him there is something which calls us together. If the first flashes of the telegraph and the first words of the press do not mislead us, there were a thousand-ay, ten times ten thousand arms in that blow. The assassin was the representative of many.
" If the South upholds this aet, the antagonism of their civilization and ours will mount higher and higher, and come closer and closer; and it requires no horoscope to show the future. But, sir, we believe that beneath the foam and the spray upon the surface of Southern society there is a ground-swell. There are the big rollers of a sounder publie opinion-an opinion which has its origin in the thoughtful man 'mid the avocations of life-with the mother in her family, with the Christian in his eloset. To that publie opinion we speak. To it we say-we implore-we command-that these things must not be, shall not be. No matter into what extravagant utterances the goads and insults of many years may have maddened the scholarly reserve of a youthful Senator, he but retorted what he had received; and this is an outrage the commission of which, in a civilized community, no provocation ean justify.
"Not among the hard and dubious compromises of the Constitution by which you hold us bound, but among its elearest and most cherished provisions, are those which secure freedom of speech and immunity to our Senators and Representatives from personal violence for words spoken in debate-ay, from being questioned even. The good old common law-your heritage and ours, your monarch and ours-which draws its best wisdom from the bosom of Christianity itself, has ever held and declared, 'without variableness or shadow of turning,' that words do not justify blows. If our civilization, and Constitution, and the law, are thus trampled down, there is no alternative but that from which every American bosom shrinks with instinctive dread. We are not above the wisdom of Washington. We remember and reverence his farewell counsels upon the infinite value of the Union. We are not above the mind of Webster, when-culminating in the zenith of his powers -- he could not fathom the gulf of disunion ; for therein were States dis- severed, discordant, belligerent; a land rent with eivil feuds, and drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood. 'The old man eloquent,' who passed the tranquil evening of a stormy carcer upon the banks of the Scekonk, from one of those heights of vision-which in his eloquence he sometimes ascended-bcheld the apocalypse of disunion. As he turned from its horrors he found consolation even in the thought that ere its coming he had sheltered his last daughter in the sanctuary of the tomb.
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With the 'Father of his Country,' with its constitutional statesmen, with one of the most fearless champions New England ever placed upon the floor of Congress, we shrink from disunion, and for this reason among others,-gentlemen of the South,-we say these things must not-SHALL NOT BE.
" It is hard enough to abide by the compromises of the Constitution. It is hard enough to persuade our people to leave this dark mystery of Southern slavery, as they leave the yet darker degradation of the raee in Africa, to the inserutable purposes and methods of Him with whom 'a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years;' who holds in the hollow of His hand this globe which we inherit, and the myriad worlds which shine upon us from the starry depths of night, and yet without His eare not a sparrow falls .to the ground. But if the sons of the South will persist in these mad revelries at Washington, even while they are in the midst thereof, there are those whom you call. 'blind giants,' who will heave from their base the columns of this Temple of our Union; and its dome, which has overarched our prosperity like the protecting heaven, will come down in erushing ruin upon you and upon us. This man should by every eon- stitutional method be forever banished from the Capitol he has so foully dishonored. This barbarism must be purged from the houses of Congress; for if it there abide, civilized and Christian communities cannot there send civilized and Christian men to represent them-men venerable in years and wisdom, who have passed the ordeal of human temptation without sear, without spot, without blemish. We must send men like those whom they meet ; and rather than do it, rather than sec the high plaecs of power filled with beings who erawl by paths through which man dis- dains to climb, and hang hissing at the nobler men below, we will turn from you to the dread alternative of disunion, and embark upon its ocean of untried experi- ments, though the heart of the noblest mariner should quake as he puts his foot upon the deck.
" But, sir, it was a maxim of Roman wisdom and patriotism, and not less, I trust, of our own, 'Never despair of the Republie.' When we last assembled in this place it was to hear Edward Everett speak of George Washington. From the sacred desk, from the leeture-room of the professor, from cither of the halls of Congress, from the chair of state, from the embassy to our motherland, from the presidency of our most vencrable literary institution, from the place made vaeant by the death of Webster, from all the experiences of a long and honored life, from all the resourees of an elegant and varied scholarship, he was prepared, like no other living man, to render a fit tribute to the memory of Washington. It would be vain for me to attempt to describe it. You heard it. It was a distinction in the generation which preceded us to have seen Washington. It will be ours in future
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1193951
years to have heard Everett speak of Washington. May the pious labor in which he is engaged-the endeavor to engrave upon the minds of his countrymen the majestic image of that character, to place it before us as guardian and guide- may the kindred labors of the great and good in the North and in the South, in the East and in the West, be prospered ! With that spirit among us, the American who stands before the white columns upon which the State of Maryland, in the Monumental City, hath lifted into the elear blue sky the immortal form of Washington, will yet rejoice that the Monumental is a central city in the Union. As he voyages upon the Potomac, and the tolling bell reminds him that he is approaching the ashes of Mount Vernon, he will turn toward them with no tears but those of reverential emotion. With our great orators of the North we ean point to the plain shaft on Bunker's height as a fit, though inadequate, emblem of the colossal grandeur of his character and life, and elaim him as the best gift of United America to the world. May his serene presence still the acrimony of Senatorial debate, and his august form make the steel drop from the nerveless arm of the Congressional assassin."
- While the foregoing address may be regarded as a model of genuine American oratory, in which impassioned address is united with most lucid thought and profoundest emotion, it is not the less valuable as a mournful prophecy of the terrible calamities which overwhelmed the country before another decade had passed away -- calamities that were like the hurricane in destructive fury, and that like it levelled . with the dust institutions that were rotten at the eore, and thus gave sunlight and air to the younger and healthier growths that were struggling to establish their supremacy. Judge Bradley's sympathies were with the right; his sueeors always extended to its relief and assistance.
Judge Bradley has represented his district in the National Democratic Conven- tions on several occasions, and notably in the memorable one which was held at Charleston in the year 1860, in which the Democratic party was divided-the extreme portion nominating Breekinridge for the Presideney, and Lane for the Vice-Presideney. The moderate and Unionist wing of the party afterward convened in the city of Baltimore-Judge Bradley being among them-and there nominated Stephen A. Douglas for the Presidential chair, and Herschel V. Johnson for the Vice-Presidential. Of these candidates for the highest offices at the disposal of the American people he was a firm but unsuccessful supporter.
In 1863 he accepted the Democratic nomination for Congress, but was defeated at the polls by his distinguished competitor, Thomas Allen Jenckes. That the choice between the two was made on grounds of public policy, and in no way for personal reasons, was strikingly apparent in his election to the eminently honorable post of
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Chief Justice of the State of Rhode Island by the State Legislature of 1866 The appointment was a flattering recognition of superior merit, and was all the more complimentary in that it was bestowed by political opponents of the Democratic party. Unanimously re-elected by the General Assembly of 1868, he felt obliged by personal considerations to resign his position in order that he might resume professional practice, and give that due degree of attention to business affairs that the exacting character of his judicial duties imperatively forbade.
The Providence Journal, of January 23d, 1868, thus spoke in reference to his retirement from the public service: "The resignation of the Hon. Charles S. Brad- ley of the office of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was yesterday communi- cated to the General Assembly, to take effect on the first Monday in March next. Though not wholly unexpected, strong hopes were entertained that it would at least be delayed. Its announcement is now received with great and universal regret. Selected from the ranks of the profession which he had long adorned, he was placed at the head of the Supreme Court as the successor of the late Chief Justice Ames, in February, 1866, and his resignation, after so brief an interval, is prompted, as would appear from the letter in which he communicates it, purely by personal con- siderations which did not exist when he accepted the office. In these two years, however, he has discharged the duties belonging to that high position with a success, and, we may add, a judicial distinction, in which the people of the State feel both satisfaction and pride, and which they had hoped he would long continue to illustrate in a sphere so honorable and important.
" At the time of his appointment his political associations were with the party opposed to that which was then, and is now, in power; but his career upon the bench has fully justified the selection which was made, and he has secured the respect and confidence of all classes of citizens, not less by the uprightness and high-toned independence than by the ability and dignity with which he has discharged his duties as a judge. We only utter what we know is the general sentiment when we say that his retirement from the bench at the present time will prove a serious public loss to the State."
In 1866 Judge Bradley received the honorary distinction of LL.D. from Brown University, and was also elected a Fellow of that excellent institution. In 1872 he was a delegate to the National Convention by which Horace Grecley was nominated for the chief magistracy of the American people. For three years he officiated as lecturer in the Law School of Harvard University, and was subsequently one of the professors in the same institution. The committee appointed to visit the Law School in 1879, when making their report, said: "We have suffered a great loss in the resignation of Hon. Charles S. Bradley, whose lucid and practical teaching was
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highly appreciated by the students, and whose national reputation added to the re- nown of the school. We had hoped that some incidental advantage of quiet and freedom from care might be found to outweigh other considerations, and that the professorship was permanently filled. We deeply regret that we were mistaken in this. It is still our hope that Judge Bradley's place may be permanently filled by one who, like him, combines large experience and high reputation with technical skill in teaching."
MITH, HEZEKIAH, D.D. Born on Long Island, New York, April 21st, 1737; died January 22d, 1805. Early in life he became a member of the Baptist church, under the pastorate of the Rev. John Gano, in the city of New York. His classical education was begun at Hopewell, N. J., in one of the ear- liest academies established by the Baptists for the education of pious young men for the ministry. From thence he entered Princeton College, then under the presi- dency of the Rev. Samuel Davies, graduated therefrom in 1762, with the degree of A.B., and received that of A.M. in 1765.
Leaving college with impaired health, he endeavored to recuperate by a tour in the Southern colonies, travelled upward of four thousand miles in a single year, and formed many delightful friendships with congenial residents. Ordained at Charles- ton, S. C., by ministers of the Charleston Association, he began his regular ministry by supplying the pulpit of the Cashaway church, near the Pedee River, preaching at the same time, as he was able, in other places with acceptability and usefulness. In 1764 he went to New England, and preached in several Congregational pulpits with marked effect. At Haverhill the committee of the West Parish invited him to preach in their vacant pulpit for a while. This he did with satisfaction to himself and profit to the people. But they were not Baptists, and naturally desired the ser- vices of one of their own faith and order, whom, after a few months, they instructed the committee to procure.
Released from pastoral obligations, Mr. Smith now decided to return to New Jersey, where several of his relatives resided. The day for his departure was fixed, and on the morning of its arrival several young persons, who had been led to Christ by his instrumentality, called upon him, and, with warm expressions of Christian love,
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besought him to baptize them. Notwithstanding his fixed resolve to leave, they ven- tured to express the conviction that he would return and again become their minister. He replied, "If I return, your prayers will bring me back." The same day he re- paired to Boston, and on the day following continued his journey to Providence, R. I. After he had ridden about eighteen or twenty miles, the words contained in Isaiah 35 : 3, 4 werc powerfully brought to his recollection. They read as follows : " Strengthen then the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of fearful heart, Be strong, fear not. Bchold, your God will come with vengeance, cven God with a recompense. He will come and save you." Pausing for a while to muse on the passage, he resumed his journey, but was again impressed by the same words. Turning his horse about, he returned to Boston, and there found two of his Haverhill friends, who had been sent after him to urge his return. Accepting the in- vitation, he was received at Haverhill with warm expressions of affectionate gratitude.
The first text from which he preached in the place of his latest labors and suc- ccsses was: " Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for ; I ask, therefore, for what intent ye have sent for me?" The popular intent soon be- came manifest in the erection of a meeting-house, and the organization of the First Baptist Church in Haverhill, of which he was the honored, beloved, and successful pas- tor for the space of forty years. The date of the organization was May 9th, 1765, and of Mr. Smith's public recognition as pastor, November 12th, 1766. The ministers who officiated on the latter occasion were the Rev. John Gano, of New York, Dr. Manning, President of Brown University, and Dr. Stillman, of Boston. Correspondence with his brethren in South Carolina was steadily maintained, and in connection with Oliver Hart and Francis Pelot, of that State, he originated a society in Charleston, whose object was to aid poor and pious young men in studying. for the Christian ministry.
Mr. Smith was a man of onc book and of one work. His devotion to the spiritual welfare of his church and congregation was exclusive. Great success crowned his labors, and his church attained the commanding position and leading influence in the community that it has retained to the present day. In 1776, at the outset of the Revolutionary struggle, he accepted appointment to a chaplaincy in the American army, and nobly fulfilled its duties for the spacc of four years. He won the confidence and became the intimate friend of General Washington, and also possessed the esteem and confidence of the entire army. His life was repeatedly risked on the field of battle, where he was among the foremost in stimulating the courage of the soldiers, and soothing the sorrows of the wounded and dying. Humble, holy, heroic, he refused to compromise with evil in any shape or station, but boldly reproved vice and ap- plauded virtue with a vigor and wisdom that conciliated the respect of the most hard- encd, while it awakened a sentiment of reverence akin to the feeling of fear. Con-
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