USA > Delaware > History of the state of Delaware, Volume III > Part 12
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In those perilous days when the Nation's very life was in question Judge Harrington was a warm supporter of the national government, ever in the front rank of those patriotic spirits that held Delaware true to the Union when its loyalty was trembling in the balance. He was a devout, humble Christian, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. This sketch of Delaware's most illustrious jurist may properly close with the eulogium of an eloquent contemporary who knew him well, the Hon. Nathaniel B. Smithers, " a useful citizen, a true patriot, an upright judge and a sincere Chris- tian ; those among whom he was born, with whom he dwelt, and for whom he wrought, are not insensible to his merits, nor will they be forgetful of his labors."
DANIEL M. BATES.
Daniel Moore Bates was born in Laurel, Delaware, January 28, 1821. His father, the Rev. Jacob Moore, died when the son was eight years old, his mother having previously died in his infancy, and the orphan lad was thereupon adopted as a son into the family of the Hon. Martin W. Bates, of Dover, and matured and trained with all the solicitude and affection
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of a parent. And this generous benefactor lived to see his foster son win high success and distinction as lawyer and judge, and to receive at his hands grateful returns for the kindness he had bestowed. After his graduation from Dick- inson College in 1839, young Bates began the study of law under the direction of his adopted father (who was at that time a leading lawyer in active practice in Kent County), and was duly admitted to the Bar in 1842 at the fall term, at which time he argued successfully as junior counsel, his first de- murrer in the notable case of Pritchett vs. Clark, 3 Harr., 517, an auspicious augury of his coming career. From 1847 to 1851 he was Secretary of State. In 1849 the Legislature evi- denced the high estimation in which his character and talents were held, by constituting him one of the three commissioners appointed to revise the State statutes, with added powers truly legislative in their scope ! The outcome of the labors of this commission was the revised code of 1852, enacted in its entirety by the Legislature. Surely no small honor to be shown a young attorney only twenty-eight years of age !
While engaged in this work he removed with his family to Wilmington, where his services as a lawyer were in even yet greater demand. In 1855 he was appointed United States District Attorney for the district of Delaware, and in June of that year went to Europe for the benefit of his health, which was never robust, and returned in four months much im- proved, to resume for ten years longer an arduous professional life.
The office of Chancellor becoming vacant by the death of the Hon. Samuel M. Harrington, it was tendered to Mr. Bates, and to the satisfaction of his legal brethren and the public by him accepted, December 11, 1865. For eight years he devoted himself with great industry and zeal to the laborious task of hearing and determining in court and at chambers the large volume of legal business brought before him, among which were many interesting and important cases, in some of which the Chancellor's opinions, from their completeness, have been likened to treatises on the law.
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Willard Saulobary
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He was ever wont to hear coansel patiently, courteously, and thoroughly and dispassionately to examine the facts and the law, and then as impartially and justly to give judgment and decree thereon. It is said that but few of his decisions were ever reversed on appeal. This severe judicial toil was too onerous for his delicate constitution, and he was forced to resign and spend two years in European travel. Greatly bene- fited by his long rest, he resumed the practice of the law, and among other literary work collected and published, in two volumes, the Delaware Chancery Reports, comprising the selected opinions of his predecessors from 1814 down to his own time.
Chancellor Bates had a strong, active mind, thoroughly cultivated and trained by assiduous study and enlarged and enriched by experience and observation. Equally in private life and public station almost idyllic, his character was as stainless as it was gentle. Both at the time of Mr. Bates' retirement, in October, 1874, and of his death, March 28, 1879, the bar associations of New Castle, Kent and Sussex Counties met and formally passed appropriate resolutions of regret and sympathy, and upon these occasions the entire judiciary of the State, including the Judge of the United States Court, together with the foremost practitioners throughout the State, vied with each other in pronouncing eloquent yet deserved panegyrics upon the virtues, as man and judge, of the late Chancellor. It is a striking indication of the exalted esteem in which he was held that the record of these various bar meetings fill thirty- one pages of fine type in the Appendix to Volume IV. of the Delaware Chancery Report. Truly he was no common man, no ordinary judge.
WILLARD SAULSBURY.
Willard Saulsbury was born in Kent County, Delaware, June 27, 1820, coming of a Welsh family that settled in Dor- chester County, Maryland, near the Delaware line, in the seventeenth century. He was in fact well derived ancestrally,
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and as is commonly the case with distinguished statesmen and orators, was fortunate in having a mother possessed of unusual mental powers, which gifts were clearly transmitted to her three sons, Dr. Gove Saulsbury, Governor of Delaware, and Eli and Willard Saulsbury, the last two attaining national distinction in the United States Senate. Willard Saulsbury completed his collegiate studies at Delaware and Dickinson Colleges, and began the study of law in the office of Hon. James L. Bartol, Chief Justice of Maryland, but finished those studies under the guidance of Hon. Martin W. Bates, after- wards United States Senator, whereupon he was admitted to the bar at Dover in 1845. Like George Washington, fore- going his sailor life to please his mother, so young Saulsbury, in deference to the wishes of his mother, abandoned his pur- pose of going west, to find, like the Father of his Country, a distinguished career at home. While a hard student of books he was also a close observer of men, and his habit of mingling with the people proved a useful school, in which he got that knowledge of character which in after years served him so well as orator, advocate and politician.
At once, after admission, Mr. Saulsbury began the practice of his profession in Georgetown, where his genial manners, his conceded knowledge of the law, together with his unsurpassed eloquence, brought him many clients and quickly placed him at the head of the bar, so that until after his entry upon public life as United States Senator hardly a case of importance was tried in Sussex County in which he was not of counsel. In 1850, in his twenty-ninth year, he was appointed Attorney- General by Governor Tharp, and in his able conduct of that office-and during his incumbency some very weighty issues were tried-he fulfilled the high expectations raised by his previous career, winning by his ability, integrity and attention to his official duties the respect of opponents not less than of his friends. Before juries his success was phenomenal. Cap- ital felonies always excited a lively interest in Kent and Sus- sex Counties, and of these cases none in Sussex and but few in
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Kent were tried when he was in active practice, or not filling the office of Attorney-General, wherein he did not represent the accused, and it is said that in but one case did he fail to secure an acquittal, and even in that the Chief Justice held with him for acquittal.
Hon. Nathaniel B. Smithers draws a beautiful and eloquent portraiture of him. " His was a splendid personality ; a man six feet in height, perfectly proportioned ; hair of raven black- ness ; eyes tender and impassioned, or stern and flashing ; laughing with infecting pleasure, or veiled in tears as the theme of his eloquence demanded ; and within him, as kind and true a heart as ever beat, forbidding him to wrong the humblest of God's creatures."
He represented his native State in the National Senate from 1859 to 1871, and there maintained the great reputation for learning, eloquence and statesmanship that he had acquired at home. And during the stormy period of the Civil War, and that of the Reconstruction Acts, although his party was a hopeless minority, he fearlessly opposed many of the popular measures of the time, never failing, even under threats of per- sonal violence, to combat with equal resolution and ability the radical legislation he deemed subversive of the Constitution, some of which legislation, now that the heat of the fierce struggle is past, even his most bitter opponents and critics concede to have been wofully mistaken. Though a staunch supporter of the Union, his views as to the wisdom and legality of the methods employed were in opposition to those of the party then in power.
An advocate more courageous, more eloquent and more conscientious, never plead the cause of individual or State than Willard Saulsbury. He was very popular the State over, but in old Sussex, the spot that gave him birth and the scene of his earliest triumphs at the Bar or in the more popular hust- ings, he was fairly idolized. Delaware was always proud of her distinguished son, but his own Sussex loved as well as ad- mired the man who in every field of private and public life
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earned respect and renown for his State. In 1871 after a brief resumption of his private practice, wherein he won one of the most important cases in his whole career as a lawyer, he was called to the Chancellorship, where for eighteen years he brought all the ripened learning, skill and experience of his eventful life, together with an intellect vigorous beyond the common measure, to bear upon the large volume of public business demanding his judicial attention, and ever with im- partial hand struck the balance of the cause. His death oc- curred at Dover on April 6, 1892, in his seventy-first year and the expressions of regret at his death plainly evidenced the high regard in which he was held as advocate, statesman and jurist.
JAMES L. WOLCOTT.
James L. Wolcott, was born near Harrington, Delaware, February 4, 1842. After teaching awhile in the public schools in which he himself had been educated, he read law for three years in the office of Hon. Eli Saulsbury, and was admitted to the bar of the State, April 23, 1866. His interest in politics was such that he soon acquired a prominence in that sphere, not less than as a lawyer. The State Senate chose him clerk in 1871, and in the same year he was made counsel for the Levy Court of Kent County, which last posi- tion he held until 1879, when Governor John W. Hall ap- pointed him Secretary of State.
On May 3, 1893, Governor Robert J. Reynolds appointed him successor to Chancellor Willard Saulsbury, deceased, but in November, 1895, he resigned that office to resume his private practice, in particular his duties as counsel for the Delaware Railroad. Chancellor Wolcott ranked high as a lawyer and won an enviable place at the Kent County bar in competition with older men whose abilities were of the highest order. A man of most pleasing manners and personality he attracted a large circle of admiring friends. As Chancellor he maintained the high standard made by his illustrious prede-
JAMES L. WOLCOTT. 1840-1898.
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cessors, and his brief administration of the office was highly satisfactory to the members of the bar. There was a general expression of regret at his retirement from the bench, but the duties of the judicial station proved irksome and distasteful to him, and it was with a feeling of relief that he relinquished the Chancellorship and resumed the practice of the law.
As the head of what is known as the Wolcott faction of the Democratic party, the rival of the Saulsbury faction, he became a conspicuous figure in Delaware politics, and in 1888 was put forward as an avowed candidate for senatorial honors in opposition to Hon. Eli Saulsbury, whose term in the United States Senate was about expiring. Mr. Wolcott won at the primaries after an exciting contest, and went to the Kent County Democratic Convention with a majority of the delegates, where, by invoking the customary Democratic usage, known as the " unit rule," an entire Wolcott legislative ticket was nominated, whereupon an open revolt occurred in the party, consequent upon which the Republicans elected their legislative tickets in Kent and Sussex Counties, which gave them a majority upon joint ballot in the Legislature, and they elected the Hon. Anthony Higgins the first Republican United States Senator from Delaware.
Mr. Wolcott's last appearance in public was as counsel for the Democratic members of the Kent County Board of Canvass in certain legal proceedings growing out of the general election of 1897. He had been ailing for over a year, but his death came as a great surprise, causing a wide-spread regret. The Legislature was in session at the time of Mr. Wolcott's death, March 31, 1898, and resolutions of regret and condolence were passed by both Houses, and eulogies upon the character and services of the departed Chancellor spoken by various Senators and members. As a further token of respect the Legislature adjourned until Monday morning. The funeral held Satur- day, April 2nd, was an exceedingly large one, and was at- tended by all persons of prominence in the State. The Chancellor married a daughter of Alexander Godwin, who,
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with three sons, James L., Josiah O. and Alexis G., yet sur- vive him. The two oldest sons are now practising attorneys in the State.
JOHN P. NICHOLSON.
John R. Nicholson, the son of the Hon. John A. and An- gelica Killen Reed Nicholson, was born in Dover, May 19, 1849. After a course of study in the schools of Dover and Washington, he entered Yale College in 1866 and graduated four years thereafter. In 1867 he made a trip across the plains and over the Rocky Mountains through to the Pacific slope, as a member of a geological expedition under the charge of Prof. O. C. Marsh of Yale College, the eminent paleontologist.
After having been four years a law student under Chan- cellor Daniel M. Bates, he left Dover in 1871, and entered the Columbia College Law School, and graduating with diploma therefrom in 1873, was duly admitted to the Bar of New York City, where he was engaged in practice until the autumn of 1876 when he returned to Dover and opened a law office. He was soon made attorney for the town, and began to give much attention to constitutional and corporation law.
In 1885, when absent and without his knowledge he was elected attorney for the Levy Court of Kent County, he quickly made for himself a reputation in this capacity, in a noteworthy case, which settled for the first time in the State the question whether a county or its representatives, the Levy Court, could be sued for damages.
He continued to act as County Attorney with marked suc- cess until 1892, when Governor Robert J. Reynolds appointed him Attorney-General, in which larger and more responsible field of duty he won new laurels by his skill and fidelity in the discharge of the functions of that important office. He resigned this position in November, 1895, to accept the highest judicial office in the State, the Chancellorship, by appoint- ment thereto of Governor William T. Watson, the tenure being for " life or good behavior," but on June 10, 1897, the new
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Constitution going into effect, the terms of all judicial officers ended. On the same day, however, Mr. Nicholson received anew from Governor Ebe W. Tunnell, his commission as Chan- cellor for the legal term of twelve years. During his service in this distinguished station he has fully sustained and aug- mented the fine reputation hitherto won in his professional career and has in every respect maintained the lofty standards of judicial wisdom and impartiality, which have ever char- acterized that office. His opinions are models of clear and simple expressions of sound principles of the law.
In June, 1884, Mr. Nicholson married Miss Isabella Hayes Hager, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a granddaughter of the late Judge Hayes, of that city, and a great-grandniece of George Ross and George Read, of Delaware Revolutionary fame, and further, a great-great-granddaughter of General William Thompson, a Pennsylvania Revolutionary veteran descended from the Duke of Hamilton.
Chancellor Nicholson has always been a Democrat, like his forbears, including his great-great-grandfather, Chancellor Killen, who was a political associate and warm personal friend of Thomas Jefferson at a time when Delaware was over- whelmingly Federalist.
Chancellor Nicholson has been a lifelong devotee of the muses, a lover of knowledge for its own sake. Aside from his professional studies he has been greatly interested in ques- tions of political economy, finance and statesmanship. Nor has he failed to mingle with his severer studies a taste for belles-lettres proper, having familiarized himself with the world's best thought, not only in his native tongue but also in the French, German and Italian, which languages he ac- quired in his younger days, together with a knowledge of the classic literatures of the Greek and Latin.
A recent writer says truly that " living for so many years in a community where life has been open to inspection on every side, he has earned a reputation for courage, integrity and purity of motive which has never been assailed in the most rancorous partisan contests."
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SKETCHES OF CHIEF JUSTICES.
RICHARD BASSETT.
Richard Bassett, the first Chief Justice of the Court of Com- mon Pleas under the Constitution of 1792, was born on Bohe- mia Manor in 1745, and read law in the office of Judge Goldsborough, of Maryland. He became one of the foremost citizens of the State in his day, and ably filled many public positions of great honor and trust. He was a member of the Council of Safety in 1776, served under Washington as captain of the Dover Light Horse, was a member of the Delaware Constitutional Convention of 1776, and also a delegate from Delaware to the convention that framed the Constitution of the United States. He was chosen United States Senator in 1789, but resigned September 6, 1793, upon his appointment to the Chief Justiceship of the Court of Common Pleas, hold- ing that office until 1799, when he was elected Governor of Delaware. He resigned his position in 1801, and President Adams appointed him United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit, which then comprised the States of Pennsyl- vania, New Jersey and Delaware.
Late in life he became a convert to Methodism, and there- after devoted a great part of his energies to the promotion of that cause. The eloquent Abel Stevens, LL.D., in his history of American Methodism, referring to his residence on Bohemia Manor as one of his three homes, where the great Asbury found a refuge and a warm hospitality in the early days of Methodism when the sharp persecution of the great bishop threatened his liberty, if not his life, says: "We may also mention the late Richard Bassett, Esq., well known as a dis- tinguished character not only in this State but in the United States. At different times he filled high and honorable sta- tions. He was a lawyer of note, a legislator, judge, and a Governor of Delaware."
Judge Bassett died in 1815 at his home on Bohemia Manor. and was buried by the side of his son-in-law, the Hon. James A. Bayard, who had died but a few days before.
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GEORGE READ. L.
Among that brilliant galaxy of Delaware patriots who achieved distinction, "in the times that tried men's souls," George Read, by supreme epithet of honor styled "the Signer," is, equally by voice of his contemporaries and of posterity- facile princeps. He came of a very ancient and honorable family in England, where the renown shed upon the family name in ancient and modern times by the character and talents of those who wore it, is only second to that conferred by their kinsmen in the new world. The famous novelist, Charles Reade, belongs to the present English branch of this family, the added "e" to his name being due to a clerical error in one of the patents of knighthood granted an ancestor in the time of Charles the Second for his adherence to the cause of royalty.
The Read family in America, is first represented in the person of Colonel John Read, a wealthy Southern planter, born in 1688 in Dublin, Ireland, where his father, a younger son, was then living, an English gentleman, the fifth in descent from Sir Thomas Read, lord of the manors of Barton Court and Beedon in Berkshire, and high sheriff of Berks in 1581, and tenth in descent from Edward Read, lord of the Manor of Beedon and high sheriff of Berks in 1439 and again in 1451. John Read was affianced to his cousin, a lovely English girl, and her sudden death before their marriage drove him to seek in America a relief from the sad associations of his native land. He acquired large landed estates in Mary- land and Delaware, and built a spacious home in Cecil County, Maryland, elegantly appointed within and without, where for years he lived single, surrounded by his kindly treated slaves and servants, and occupied with the conduct of his estate and the pleasures of the chase, together with the entertainment of the guests which his generous hospitality drew in great numbers around his ample board.
He finally married Mary Howell, a spirited and lovely Welsh gentlewoman many years his junior, who had emi-
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grated to Delaware with her parents from Glamorganshire, Wales. Four children were born to them. Mary, their only daughter, married Gunning Bedford, afterwards well known for the part he played in the civil and military history of the country in and after Revolutionary times. Their three sons all had distinguished careers in civil life, and in the army and navy ; of that of George Read, the eldest, it is the purpose of this sketch to speak. Colonel James Read was pro- moted Lieutenant Colonel for gallant and distinguished ser- vices at Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine and Germantown, while Commodore Thomas Read was the first to attain that rank in the American navy.
Scharf aptly and truly calls George Read the "Father of the State of Delaware," so many and varied were the services he rendered in shaping and promoting the early policy of the State. Thus, he was the author of the first edition of her laws; was for twelve years a member of the Assembly, Vice-Presi- dent of the State, and for a while acting Chief Magistrate. It will be remembered that President John McKinly was seized in his bed in Wilmington the night in September, 1777, fol- lowing the battle of Brandywine, and held a prisoner for about a year thereafter. Read for years was Attorney-General, a mem- ber of the first Continental Congress which met in Philadel- phia in 1774, a judge in Admiralty, a signer of the Declara- tion of Independence in 1776, a member of the Constitu- tional Convention in 1787, etc., etc. His is by far the most prominent name in the records of the State, and so identified with the early history of Delaware that to tell the story of his deeds is to recite that history. Read, Mckean and Rodney were appointed by the Delaware Assembly in 1766, after the repeal of the odious Stamp Act, to draft a petition to the King, which, like many other appeals of the Colonies to the foolish George III, which preceded the Declaration of Independence, was couched in language at once so fulsomely congratulatory and humbly supplicatory, and so much pleased his majesty that, as Lord Selburne said, he actually read over two times,
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an act of unheard-of condescension upon the part of the haughty monarch !
Later, after the imposition in 1767 by Great Britain of the equally hateful tax on glass, paper, tea, etc., the same com- mittee was appointed to draw up a second address to the King, which while duly loyal smacked far too much of the subse- quent declaration to suit the royal palate, for it, in addition to the customary protestations of loyalty, also contained a bold and dignified assertion of those fundamental rights of life, liberty and property, and the right of self-government, for the maintenance of which the patriot fathers at length laid down the pen to take up the sword. In 1769 Mr. Read drew a spirited recommendation to the people of Delaware, urging them to co-operate with their fellow colonists, especi- ally the merchants of Philadelphia, in their policy of non- importation of goods from England so long as her tyrannical policy of taxation was continued.
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