USA > New York > Erie County > Buffalo > Memorial of the city and county hall opening ceremonies, Buffalo, N.Y. > Part 9
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You may well ask, gentlemen, what have such incidents as these to do with such a time and place as this, and I will tell you. When I think and when you think what
A BRILLIANT ARRAY OF ELOQUENT NAMES,
of matchless arguments and successful pleadings where vice and crime have been overthrown and convicted, and virtue defended and honored; when you think of what a glorious history of all these incidents and names, the memories of that old court room bring back to you, are we not more impressed than ever with the glory, and yet the vanity of men's forensic victories and triumphs. Where are these great names now? Where the memory. of their great efforts ?
Like smoke which the tempests in fury have riven,
Like foam which the waves in their blindness have driven;
They were, but they are not, their triumphs are o'er,
And the place that once knew them shall know them no more.
The conscientious pleader in the cause of truth and justice bears with him, indeed, through life, the dear memory, more priceless than jewels, of noble efforts well and worthily made, of noble triumphs
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well and worthily won. While he who has lent legal skill and study and eloquence to defend the wrong and prevent and defeat justice, memory consumes for him an apple of Sodom, fair to the seeming but ashes and bitterness at the core. This is a lesson for which, God's altars are none too sacred a spot, to learn.
Gentlemen, I was not educated for the profession to which you belong, and it is with the greatest diffidence that I venture to detain you for a single moment longer, to present one single truth which your studies have prepared you more profoundly to realize than even a theologian can.
In turning over the pages of a late autobiography of a distill- guished preacher whose ministry was largely effective in your pro- fession, I came across a single statement of one of the topics on which in a course of sermons to lawyers this preacher had addressed them. The topic was this, "That admitting that God was infin- itely benevolent, we could not infer from that, on principles of law as administered now in good governments, that sin could be forgiven, but must infer from it on the contrary that incorrigible sinners could not be forgiven." None of the details of the arguments are given-not any of the proofs by which it was made out-yet the statement rested with such power upon my mind, and during this week even my own little legal reading brought up to my mind and memory a course of thought and illustration which seemed to me very conclusive on the point, which I will briefly present to you, only premising if this be the truth that the presumptions under a good and wise human government are
AGAINST PARDON ;
they are increased under an infinitely good and wise government, and if the scheme of forgiveness presented in the Bible is not true, we are shut out of all rational hope of any such thing as the for- giveness of real sin or wrong under and against God's government, i. e., if the Bible is not true. Let us look a moment at this case. The civil governments under which we live are and may be re- garded as generally benevolent, and yet on what principle are the provisions for pardon based in these governments? Why, mani- festly and largely upon the imperfections of human jurisprudence, the native and inevitable imperfections of our procedures for the ascertainment of guilt; that you know is largely and generally the principle. If a man has clearly committed a crime, in a clearly responsible state of mind, has been fairly tried, and his guilt fairly and unmistakably ascertained, why, he goes to his punishment. Suppose you apply to the governor for pardon in such cases. He says to you: Gentlemen, I will hear what you have to say in this case; was this man of sound mind and condition? Did he know clearly what he was doing? Was he fairly tried and- fairly con- demned? Then how can I interfere ? There the case ends-crime and punishment !
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The speaker dwelt at some length upon excessive punishment, and argued that it ought to be fairly adjusted to the nature of the crime, and that the pardoning power in a good government is based largely, if not exclusively, upon the apprehended imperfection of human law. He said the hope of pardon for real sin-sin against God's supreme authority clearly and fully recognized it, was a very feeble one with- out the Bible. And yet, who has not sinned? In conclusion the speaker expressed the sentiment that the gentlemen ought to have no trouble in accepting the grand truth of the Bible-of a great day, of general and final assize and judgment. These things must be in human governments to remove certainly and securely away the evil and dangerous members of society. The public and open admin- istration of justice is needful for its influence on society, the good and the bad. Such a day will come in the history of the universe. It is the judgment of the great day, and man is moving surely and irresistibly toward that day.
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THE BANQUET.
A PLEASANT REUNION OF THE ERIE COUNTY BAR.
THE concluding ceremonies in connection with the completion and occupancy of the City and County Hall were observed in a grand banquet or social re-union of the legal profession, at the Tifft House, Messrs. Tuthill Bros., proprietors, on Tuesday evening, March 14, 1876.
The members of the Bar and invited guests, to the number of about one hundred and fifty persons, assembled in the parlors at 8, P. M., and were soon escorted into the banquet hall, where two ele- gant and bountifully spread tables extended the entire length of the hall, with one at right angles and uniting the tables at the upper end of the room, and forming the head, or post of honor.
The windows and doors were hung and festooned with bunting and the stars and stripes; fresh and fragrant flowers in abun- dance lent a charm to the interesting scene; and Wahle's Band supplied its choicest music for the occasion.
The company entered the hall under the direction of the Com- mittee of Arrangements, Hon. E. Carlton Sprague, Chairman of . the evening, and the Rev. Dr. J. C. Lord in advance, who took their positions at the center of the transverse table at the head of the room. Then came, and were seated upon their right, His Honor Mayor Philip Becker, Hon. G. W. Clinton, Hon. James O. Putnam, Gen. L. W. Thayer, Hon. Geo. R. Babcock, Judge Albert Haight, W. H. Greene, O. H. Marshall, Geo. Wadsworth; and upon their left, Hon. Richard P. Marvin, Judge James M. Smith, Judge James Sheldon, Hon. E. G. Spaulding, Hon. L. L. Lewis, Hon. H. S. Cutting, and Thos. J. Sizer, with other distinguished legal gentle- men, still farther down ; while Gen. G. A. Scroggs and Col. J. M. Willett served as Vice-Chairmen at the other ends of the tables. At the right and left extremities of the Chairman's table were sta-
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tioned District Attorney D. N. Lockwood and City Attorney John B. Greene. When all were in their places, Dr. Lord invoked a blessing upon the occasion.
The company then seated themselves, and gave earnest attention to the bill of fare, which was of the usual " comprehensive" char- acter. Each legal gentleman present proved himself a good judge, so far as this one was concerned, and hence it follows that full and complete justice was done to the substantials and delicacies which it included. At intervals during the hour in which all this was going on, fine music was furnished by the band.
Finally, the bill of fare having been thoroughly "discussed," Chairman Sprague arose and rapped for order, having secured which, he addressed the assembly as follows:
REMARKS OF MR. SPRAGUE.
May it please your Honors, the Judges of the Superior Court, and your Honor, the Judge of the County Court, Brethren of the Bar of Erie county, and Gentlemen : I congratulate you upon the auspicious circumstances which have brought us together this eve- ning. I congratulate our Judges and the elder members of our Bar, upon the possession of constitutions which have enabled them to survive the poisonous atmosphere of the old Court House, and particularly of the dens contained in what has been well called the new Court House, since doubtless it is a perfect novelty in the his- tory of architecture, unprecedented in its ugliness, unparallelled in its inconvenience, and unique in its capacity for the gradual extinc- tion of human life. We can leave them both without regret, for, thank God, our natures are so constituted that we can carry with us all their precious memories while we leave their miseries behind. I congratulate the younger members of our fraternity that the pos- sibility is now afforded them of prolonging their lives through the ordinary term of human existence. I congratulate the Commis- sioners who have had in their charge the erection of the new City and County Hall, upon its beauty and the convenience of its inter- nal arrangements. Nothing seems to have been left undone by them which could in any way serve the use or comfort of the Bar, and I assure them that their labors in its behalf are fully appreciated and will be always gratefully remembered. Finally, I congratulate all here present upon the fact, that, after more than sixty years of patient waiting, the
BAR OF ERIE COUNTY
has finally succeeded in getting its legs together under the same-I will not say mahogany, for it is our centennial, and I am reminded of the father of our country and cannot tell a lie-but I will say,
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speaking centennially and patriotically, under the shade of the noble aboriginal, and national tree, the American black walnut.
Why we have waited so long to do so pleasant a thing is one of the topics that I hope to hear discussed this evening. It is not cer- tainly from want of intelligence. The Bar that has produced a President of the United States, a member of its Cabinet, a Lieu- tenant Governor, cannot admit any intellectual inability either to. get up a dinner or get it down. And as to the morality of this Bar, we all know how inadequate the English language is to depict its virtues. But it is a mortifying fact that in the matter of eating and drinking, this Bar as a body, whatever may be said of its indi- vidual members, has been sadly degenerate, and that its conduct in this respect calls loudly for reform. This is the more lamentable when we reflect that Bar dinners are one of the time-honored insti- tutions of the profession. Shakespeare tells one of his characters in the "Taming of the Shrew " to do as "adversaries do in law, strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends." Now Shakespeare may not live as long in the memory of mankind as the compiler of " Bar- bour's Supreme Court Reports," who has lately demonstrated his immortality by the issue of his sixty-sixtli volume. But even we lawyers must coincide that Shakespeare was something of an ob- server, and that when he took pains he handled the English language in a way that will bear comparison with some of the addresses to which the jury of Erie county have been accustomed to listen with such unqualified delight. Now we have his authority for saying that eating and drinking as friends constituted one of the important and well known functions of the legal profession of his time. So all of us who are at all familiar with the biographies of the ancient law- yers and judges of England, of those old leviathans who were accustomed to swim and spout amidst the deepest waters of the common law, will remember how faithful they were to this practice of their tribe. Who does not know that the judges and the Bar of England have always been accustomed to dine together at the assizes ; and so in staid New England ? My father tells me that when he was a boy he was a page in the courts of New Hampshire, in which Daniel and Ezekiel Webster were wont to strive mightily with Ichabod Bartlett and Jeremiah Mason, but never suffered a term to pass without
BURYING ALL THEIR CONTESTS
and giving to each other the hand of fellowship at the festive board. How it has been generally in New York I do not know; but with a blush I acknowledge the revolting truth that no such flagrant memories make sweet the annals of the Erie County Bar. In view of such a disgraceful record it is not surprising that the moment the message came to our ears, "Awake! Arise! or be for- ever fallen!" our consciences were stirred to their profoundest depths, that the pangs of remorse became unendurable, and that this festival was inaugurated as a token of our penitence for past un-
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faithfulness, and our resolution to lead, in this respect, at least, lives more worthy of our vocation and its traditions.
Gentlemen, since I have been a member of the bar, now nearly thirty years, it has been honorably free from petty jealousies and personal hostilities, and its controversies have been conducted with a fair degree of courtesy and mutual respect. But apart from our professional intercourse we have seen little of each other. We do not fully appreciate each other's gifts and virtues. We do not sympathize as we ought with each other's joys and sorrows. We do not aid as we ought those of our brethren who are in trouble, either from unavoidable misfortune, or in consequence of their own weak- ness or faults. It will be indeed a happy result of our meeting here to-night, if it shall inspire in us a deeper sense of the nearness of our relationship, and of our mutual obligations, and a resolution that in the future our social and other christian duties to each other shall be more faithfully performed. And now, gentlemen, having delivered what I presume will be much the longest and dullest address of the evening, let me say that we will assume that the usual toasts to the
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,
the judiciary, the press, and the other dignitaries of the land have been duly offered and drank with all the honors, and in pursuance of the plan of the Committee of Arrangement, let us indulge in personal reminiscences of the history of our Bar, and the other genial table-talk, which shall spring naturally from the occa- sion, and the enjoyment of which is the principal object of this assemblage.
The chairman then proposed the health of Rev. Dr. Lord, which . was drank standing, and with three cheers. As the venerable clergyman rose he was greeted with loud applause.
REMARKS OF DR. LORD.
The reverend and venerable divine commenced by expressing thanks for the kind reception which had been accorded him. His acquaintance with the city was of fifty years' standing, and he had mixed in its affairs, public and private, legal and ministerial. He had ever loved the legal profession, and never had joined with those who had slandered it. Human law was but the offshoot of the divine. The speaker hardly knew where to begin, his recollec- tions were so varied. He might tell stories of John Root by the hour. George P. Barker was a most extraordinary and popular man. The speaker well remembered how affecting it was, at Mr. Barker's funeral services in the North Church, then just erected, to see the poor people, who loved him, crowding into the church to pay their last tribute of respect. The speaker also recollected many
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things about Thomas T. Sherwood, an irrepressible man, who never stopped talking. Another singular man was Mr. Andrews, the second mayor of the city. On one occasion Mr. Andrews was being cross- examined by Mr. White, and the whole village was aroused on the subject, and the Court House was filled to hear the remarkable duet between the two men.
Mr. George R. Babcock and the speaker began the study of the law at the same time. He afterwards became a partner of Judge Love. The name of Clinton was familiar in Buffalo at that early day, and it was the effort of the people of this village to keep De Witt Clinton in the governor's chair. When Judge Clinton came here, the people received him with great favor. Long may he live to wear the judicial ermine. Dr. Lord then closed by telling some very laughable stories of John Root, and, in taking his leave, said he desired most heartily the welfare of each and all whom he saw before him, and fervently hoped that beyond the storms of this life they would reach that eternal rest which remaineth to the people of God.
The Chairman said :
Gentlemen of the Erie County Bar: There is one man present who, above all others, probably, we desire to hear from on this occa- sion, and with your permission I will call upon our venerable and distinguished friend, who is justly entitled to be called " The Old Man Eloquent." May his life be kept as fresh and as fragrant as the bright flowers that he loves so well to gather in the spring-time. Gentlemen, I propose the health of Hon. George W. Clinton, and let us all rise.
Judge Clinton responded as follows :
ADDRESS OF JUDGE CLINTON.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Bar of Erie County: I cannot, my friends, begin as did my friend Dr. Lord, following the chairman and addressing the judge of this court and of that court, but as to the honor, merit and distinction of the Bar of Erie County-our own Bar-I desire to say that I respect them all ; and above all I love the jolly, good-hearted fellows who are gathered around this festive board and are now about to hear the little I have to say. But I confess, gentlemen, that I am a little, a great deal surprised. I have made a false estimate, I fear, of your wisdom and your sense. Why, it seems to me, that you are only distinguished for commercial good sense. Why, we have all read, and we all know, that while speech is silver, silence is golden, and you prefer the sil- ver to the gold ; but, gentlemen, paper is said to be better than silver. In our financial statements they tell us that it is no matter at all-that the nation is able to resume specie payment in silver,
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and that it is not so desirable as paper. Now, I have not got paper -I have nothing but this poor silver. Why, gentlemen, if I could make a speech-but, really, I have talked out all the little talk that I had in me. If I flattered myself that I could on any occasion make a speech, you have taken that wind out of my sails by that meeting of the Bar when they dedicated the City Hall. I, very unfortunately, was prevented from going; and when I came to read the newspapers, I thought that I had sustained a great and almost irreparable loss. I have read those speeches with great interest ; they seem to be warm, and come right from the heart. And I was particularly struck with the speech made by
OUR ILLUSTRIOUS SENATOR.
It was a capital speech; it was so fortunate in its allusions. If I had been there I should have been perfectly overwhelmed, and I should have rushed up to him and said, Brother Rogers, I am con- . quered ; Brother Rogers, here, take my hat. [Applause.] Thank Heaven, I have not had time to call on the senator, and as he has gone, too, my good old hat is safe yet. [Applause.]
I cannot tell you, my friends, how happy this makes me. I am thankful to our Committee for a great many things. I am thankful to our host for the bountiful repast which has been spread before us. Everything seems to have been provided, as it ought to have been provided. I am thankful to the Committee of Arrangements for the manner in which they have conducted this banquet. I am duly grateful and sorry that they should have called on me for an address. I am thankful to be permitted to meet them and to meet all those here; it gives me a gratification that I am thankful for. Why, I thought that I should never see such a scene, as I now witness, this side of the grave; to see the Bar of Erie County all together here; men whom I love with all the strong emotions of my heart, and to whom I cannot express the affection with which I hold them.
Now, my friends, I will say that, in respect to this Bar, we are divided into three classes. There are the really old men of the Bar, that are going, and probably their greatest triumphs have been achieved, I will say no more of them; and there are the men of middle age; the men who are in the meridian of their mental vigor, and in their bodily strength also, and who have been winning and who are winning trinmphs from day to day, and as to that body of men, I assert it, unblushingly, as
MY STEADFAST AND HONEST OPINION,
that there is no Bar in this State or body of men superior to them, and I doubt if there is anywhere one that is equal to them. And the third class is a class of promise; it is the younger men that are now entering and are about to enter upon the profession, and from the indications which they give here, they are men who have a just
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appreciation of the obligations of their profession, and will at any rate carry the banner as high as it now stands, and I hope that it may be still higher when their time comes.
Now these classes are all together, for God's sake keep them to- gether, let not this be the last occasion upon which the whole Bar of Erie County shall be brought together, to enjoy themselves at the festive board. This is a Bar to be proud of, but see to it, that its reputation is maintained; form your Bar Association, if you please, or let it go, but do see to the young men, encourage them, that they may maintain the character of the Bar fully up to its present standard. The old Bar is strong, and, as the old men are passing away, see to it that they will have worthy successors.
Now, as to the young men, let me say, there was a man, but I am ashamed to say it, and I believe he was a lawyer too, who said that "A lawyer is one whose trade is to admit nothing, question every- thing, and talk by the hour." Surely, my young friends, you will follow in the footsteps of those who have preceded you, and you will give the lie to that definition of a lawyer.
Now, gentlemen, I am sensible that I have detained you too long, and I will conclude only by saying this, in regard to the remark made by our reverend friend who has just left us. (Dr. Lord.) He stated of me that I came here in 1836, and was received with warmth by the city of Buffalo. Gentlemen, that is not entirely true; I came here, indeed, that year; I was received by a few, and by a few only. I was unknown; I had done nothing that had made me known; I was known to a very few, and I had to work my way. I have to say this, that although my father's name has been, in some respects, a benefit and an advantage to me, as I have always felt it to be an honor, yet I will say that it has often been to me, in my humble judgment, the greatest impediment that I have had to contend with in my life. Why it should be so I cannot say. I can only say that the bearing of that name, instead of its being a help to the gratifi- cation of any ambitious wishes, it has rather been an obstacle, but still I am proud to bear it. And this I will say, and I hold that what sustained me is that from the outset here I met a few friends in the business portion of the community, and a few friends among the Bar of Erie County, and if there has been anything that has kept me on the course of honor, which has kept my heart pure and my affections pure, it has been the
AFFECTION OF MY BROTHER LAWYERS;
and I say to them, God bless them ; and I do hope that you will treasure among yourselves a love for every member of the profes- sion. It is the most honorable, except, of course, the clerical pro- fession, and it is in fact the most influential calling in our nation. The lawyers wield more influence than any other body of men in the country.
I say to you frankly, I love this city-I love Buffalo; I shall be proud of it as long as I live. I trust that I shall see you showing a
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social and friendly spirit towards each other, and moving together in all the interests affecting the honor of our city; moving together as one man for its future glory and advancement.
Mr. Sprague, the Chairman, then said : Gentlemen, we have heard two men that have risen to the summit of their respective profes- sions. We would now like to hear from some of the young men- those who have begun to climb the hill of fame and distinction. I give you, gentlemen, " The rising Bar of Erie County," and I ask my friend, Mr. Philip D. K. Saunders to reply.
MR. SAUNDERS' ADDRESS.
Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen of the Bar of Erie County: This is indeed a felicitous occasion to the younger members of our pro- fession, and I think it an honor and a privilege to respond to the toast that has just been given by our esteemed brother. We con- gratulate ourselves that for the first time in the history of the Erie County Bar, the old members of the profession and the young, meet beneath the same roof, and sit around the same festive table, not only for the discussion of the bountiful repast that has been pro- vided here for us, but for a generous interchange of pleasant thought and sentiment. It is but a few years, yet it seems a long while, since the younger members of the profession in this city were gath- ered beneath the hospitable roof of one who is no longer among us. He has passed from our midst. That noble form of manhood we shall never see again. We shall never again be entertained beneath his hospitable roof. I mention the honored and revered name of the late John Ganson. We were gathered there on the occasion of the admission of one of the members of the. Erie County Bar who is now present among us-Mr. Edward R. Bacon. We appreciated the honor that was conferred upon us by the invitation. We were very young then in matters of law, and younger still in the
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