The bench and bar of New-York. Containing biographical sketches of eminent judges, and lawyers of the New-York bar, incidents of the important trials in which they were engaged, and anecdotes connected with their professional, political and judicial career, Part 13

Author: Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. cn
Publication date: 1870
Publisher: New York, Diossy & company
Number of Pages: 812


USA > New York > The bench and bar of New-York. Containing biographical sketches of eminent judges, and lawyers of the New-York bar, incidents of the important trials in which they were engaged, and anecdotes connected with their professional, political and judicial career > Part 13


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He was a man of ability, dignified and winning in his manners, a gentleman of the old school. In early life a scholar, whose attainments were polished by intercourse with a highly cultivated and refined society, in his mature years a lover and patron of progressive agriculture, an amiable, high-minded and valuable citizen, a Christian gentleman, an honor and an ornament to the bench of Livingston county. The Common Pleas possessed original jurisdiction,


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and was a tribunal in which important civil actions were commenced and tried ; while it relieved the Cir- cuit from a large amount of business, and led to a speedy termination of litigated suits, it also tended to a more strict and better education of lawyers in the trial of cases, than the loose, careless trials before ref- erees, to which, owing to the crowded state of the Circuit calendars, the profession is now obliged to resort. After his admission to the Common Pleas, Mr. Young amply sustained himself by practicing in that court, and in the courts of justices of the peace. In these tribunals he evinced that legal abil- ity, which subsequently led to the high distinction he attained at the bar.


In October, 1829, he was admitted to the Supreme Court, and at once entered into a practice which was lucrative and flattering to his professional ambition. He had been at the bar of the Supreme Court but a comparatively short time before he was conceded a high rank in the profession.


One of the early cases which greatly distin- guished Mr. Young, was an action brought by a Miss Saterlie against Richard Windsor, for the breach of a marriage contract. Mr. Young conducted the ac- tion for the lady, and the late Judge Mullett ap- peared for the defendent. It was tried at Batavia. The defense admitted the promise and breach, but set up in defense of it, the unchaste and impure con- duct of the lady after the engagement. Both parties belonged to influential families, who occupied high social positions, and as may well be supposed such an issue engendered the most bitter feelings. A large number of witnesses were examined, and the de- fendant succeeded in establishing by the testimony of a young man, the truth of the matters set up against the lady. There were other witnesses whose testimony tended to show corrupt conduct on her part. This brought the trial to a fearful point; for the plaintiff and her friends to be defeated in such a case,


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would be ruin to her, and disgrace to them ; and as . the case stood when Mr. Mullett closed the examin- ation of the young man, there seemed little hope for her. But on the cross examination, Mr. Young suc- ceeded in drawing from the witness the fact that he was a discarded suitor of the lady, and that he had on one or two occasions, made certain threats, which exhibited his desire for revenge. The counsel also succeeded in entangling him in the second relation of his story, to such an extent, that it had the appear- ance of improbability. But after all, when the ev- idence closed, the case had an unpleasant appear- ance for the plaintiff.


Judge Mullett made a strong and powerful effort for the defense. It combined the eloquence of reason, of sympathy and passion. It was such an effort as drew from Mr. Burke his celebrated and beautiful panegyric on the eloquence of Sheridan, when those brilliant orators were opposed to each other on a State trial.


Mr. Young saw the effect which Mr. Mullett's ad- dress had on the jury, and he prepared himself to overcome it. He commenced by extolling the speech of his adversary in the highest terms. "In the lan- guage of another," said he, "my antagonist has used every species of rhetoric, every kind of eloquence. Whatever the acuteness of the bar, the solidity of the judgment seat, and the sacred morality of the pulpit, have hitherto furnished, nothing has equaled what we have heard to-day in this court room. But, gentlemen, my opponent is entitled to still higher credit.


" With no reliable evidence to sustain him in the defense of this man, he has invented a theory, which in less powerful hands, would have been but the stuff which dreams are made of, but filtered through his fine brain, it assumes something like reality. It will therefore be my duty to dissect this theory, and to ascertain what evidence there is in the case to sus-


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tain it; and then to see what facts there are to war- rant a verdict for this deeply injured young lady ; for you are the unfettered, unlimited, and final judges of that question, and of the amount of damages you may think proper to give. Gentlemen, you have, thank God, a still higher power and duty-the power to examine and decide upon the credibility of the witnesses who have testified in this case, according to your best knowledge and observation ;- in the light of experience and according to the laws of hu- man actions and frailty. Exercise that power, gen- tlemen, sternly and impartially in this case (for I tell you there is perjury here) with the conviction that the eye of God is upon you, and my client is saved."


Mr. Young then took up the case, and his effort was characterized by such power of mind, that it ren- dered him the peer of Williams, and Ogden Hoffman, as a jury lawyer.


The jury returned a very heavy verdict for the lady. A motion was made by the indefatigable Mul- lett for a new trial, which was denied by the court.


In the spring of 1833, Mr. Young was married to Miss Ellen Harris, an accomplished daughter of the late Campbell Harris, of York, Livingston county.


Early in life he was attracted to the political field. On attaining his majority, his preference directed him to the Democratic party. In the autumn of 1828, the Democrats of Livingston county nominated him for County Clerk. His opponent was the late Chauncey Bond, of Geneseo. During this canvass he ardently supported General Jackson for President, and such was his enthusiasm for "the old Hero" that he lost all interest in his own election. His party being in the minority in the county, he was, of course, de- feated.


Some time previous to this election the abduction of William Morgan took place, and the anti-Masonic party sprang into a powerful existence. Mr. Young condemned the high-handed act of Morgan's taking-


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off, and shared in the general indignation which it created. His attachment to General Jackson pre- vented him from uniting his fortunes with the Anti- Masons. But in the fall of 1829 he identified himself with them, and adhered to their fortunes, through all their changes and vicissitudes, until they united with the old National Republicans and formed the Whig party.


In the fall of 1832, Mr. Young and George W. Patterson were elected members of Assembly from Livingston county. They took their seats in that body January 6th, 1833. The Anti-Masonic party in the Assembly was then led by Francis Granger, of Canandaigua, and in the Senate by William H. May- nard, of Utica.


Mr. Granger was distinguished by many splendid and showy attributes of mind and person, possessing those qualities which constitute a successful parlia- mentary leader. He had already represented the County of Ontario, with marked ability, in four suc- cessive legislative sessions. Subsequently, he was the candidate of his party for governor. For a long time he exerted an extensive influence in the politics of the State.


Mr. Maynard was the great intellectual light of the Senate-the Halifax of his party. As a lawyer, he was distinguished for the profundity of his learning, -the result of his industry. Accustomed to the long patient vigils of the scholar, and the ardent study of political philosophy, he was logical and exact.


In the different branches of the Legislature of 1832, two future governors of the State occupied seats ; one of whom was William H. Seward, and the other John Young. The former was elevated from the gubernatorial chair to the Senate of the United States, and from thence to be prime minister of two presidential administrations. Both of these gentlemen, in 1833, were overshadowed by the talents, position and influence of Maynard and Granger. The


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early death of the former opened a field for the splen- did and powerful abilities of Mr. Seward, while the mental resources of John Young in the political arena, gradually removed all opposition in his way, and he grasped the highest honors in the Empire State.


In the Legislature of 1833, Mr. Young occasionally took part in the debates. Whenever he arose to ad- dress the House, he commanded respect and attention. His speech delivered in opposition to a resolution de- claring that the charter of the United States Bank ought not to be renewed, exhibited a profound knowledge of the fiscal affairs of the nation, and gained him considerable reputation.


His speech in opposition to the bill introduced into the Assembly by Mr. Van Duzer, of Orange, in- creasing the salary of judicial officers, brought upon him the hostility of those interested in its passage, some of whom took measures for retaliation, which led to a singular and sharp contest. His ardent sup- port of the Chenango Canal bill gained him many friends interested in that measure.


After retiring from the Assembly in the spring of 1833, he was not in the political field again for several years, preferring the solid honors of his profession to the precarious position and evanescent success of the politician, who to-day is lifted to the Pisga of his party, and to-morrow lies by the cold streams of Babylon, with none so poor as to do him reverence ; or who, like the giant in the beautiful fable of Sisy- phus, is fated to an eternal renovation of hope and disappointment.


Early in the year 1836, A. A. Bennett, Esq., then a resident of Lima, N. Y., was appointed District-At- torney of Livingston county. He was a powerful and indefatigable public prosecutor, and stood high at the bar. Soon after entering upon the duties of his office, several persons were indicted for the crime of arson, committed in one of the northern towns of the


11


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county. The circumstances of the case created great public indignation and considerable excitement. Some of the persons who were charged were farmers, and men of good reputation. Mr. Young was retained for the defendants ; the ability with which he con- ducted the defense will not soon be forgotten in the County of Livingston. The defendants were all dis- charged.


He possessed a polished sarcasm, but it was a weapon which he seldom wielded.


Mr. Bennett had the more original fancy,-a deeper pathos ; though Mr. Young was no stranger to the pathetic ; while he could follow an argument with a more sustained acuteness.


In the fall of 1836, Mr. Young was nominated by the Whigs of the thirtieth Congressional district as a candidate for member of Congress, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Philo T. Fuller. He was elected, and took his seat in the twenty-fourth Congress, December 4, 1836. After retiring from that body, he returned to the duties of his profession, de- clining a re-nomination.


Luther C. Peck, then a resident of Pike, Alle- gany county, was nominated and elected a member of the twenty-fifth Congress. Mr. Peck was a mem- ber of the House of Representatives from his district four years, serving with distinguished ability, and leaving upon the record of its proceedings the indu- bitable evidence of his high capacity as a legislator and lawyer, as an orator and debater.


In the memorable contest of 1840, Mr. Young was, at the solicitation of the leaders of the Whig party in his Congressional district, again before the people as an aspirant for Congress. He was triumphantly elected, and on the 31st of May, 1841, took his seat as a member of the twenty-seventh Congress, at the extra session called by Mr. Tyler. This session con- tinued until the 13th day of September, following. It again assembled on the 6th of December, 1841, and


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adjourned on the 30th of August, 1842. It re-as- sembled on the 5th of December, 1842, and continued its session until March 3, 1843. This was Mr. Young's last service in the National Legislature. While in Congress he distinguished himself more by his labors in the committee room, and by his sagacious advice in regard to the movement and policy of the Whig party, than by the number and ability of his speeches. The Bank bills vetoed by Mr. Tyler,-the distribution of the proceeds of the public lands, -the tariff of 1842,-were the great questions of the day, and he participated in the discussion of them with an ability which reflected honor upon his party and his district.


On his return home from this Congress, he was publicly received by his friends, and partook of a public dinner at Geneseo. A large number of leading politicians of Livingston and Allegany counties were present. In a short address he alluded to the policy of Mr. Tyler, which evinced the disquiet he felt for the course pursued by him. "A short time ago," said he, "the country resounded with shouts for Tip and Tyler ; but the scene is changed."


Mr. Young, having formed a copartnership with his brother-in-law, General James Wood, Jr., of Gen- eseo, in company with that gentleman, he again re- turned to the practice of law. Such was their success, that Young & Wood became a leading law firm in western New York. It existed until after the senior partner was elected governor of the State. Since that event, General Wood has continued in practice, at- taining a high and honorable position at the bar. During the recent civil war, as colonel of the renowned One hundred and thirty-sixth New York volunteers, he proved himself a gallant soldier. For his merito- rious services, and bravery on the field, he was pro- moted to the rank of brigadier-general, serving until the war closed.


In the autumn of 1844, the Whigs of Livingston county again summoned Mr. Young from the duties


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. of his profession, and he was induced to accept the nomination for member of Assembly. His election was a matter of course. The powers of John Young as an orator and legislator, were never fully devel- oped, until he entered the Legislature of 1845. Here he raised himself to an eminence, seldom attained in a legislative body, and from which he easily reached the executive chair, though compelled to contend with the ablest intellects of the State. Horatio Sey- mour was a member of that Legislature, and as the Democrats were in the ascendancy, he was elected speaker. Mr. Seymour was then attaining that bril- liant reputation which has placed him among the most distinguished men of the nation.


In the year 1845, the most popular measure with the people of the State of New York, was the proposed convention for the amendment of the Constitution. It was claimed with much propriety, that there were many corruptions and abuses existing in the State, which would be eradicated by a convention, and the people, therefore, eagerly demanded the passage of a bill providing for this measure.


In the Legislature of that year the Democrats were divided into Radical and Conservative Democrat fac- tions, which subsequently resulted in the great schism of Hunker and Barnburner. Between these factions, the Whigs held the balance of power. Mr. Young, who early understood the great popularity of the pro- posed convention, adopted that measure as a party policy, which he saw would lead to success. With one or two exceptions, the Whig members coincided with him. Under his lead and direction, no means were left untried which promised to widen the breach in the Democratic party in the House. His manage- ment was admirable and successful.


The Radicals had long been in favor of the pro- posed amendment to the Constitution, but did not desire a convention, while the Conservatives were in fact opposed to either convention or amendment.


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When the question came before the Assembly, the Whigs voted against the proposed amendment, thus compelling the Radicals to insist upon a convention rather than encounter the unpopularity of opposing it. The bill for the convention could not pass with- out the assent of the Whigs, who, of course, would not consent to the passage of any measure which did not tend to strengthen them in the State. And thus the question of a convention was, for a long time, one of absorbing interest in this Legislature, leading to frequent and exciting debates, which brought Mr. Seymour and Mr. Young in collision ; the discussion which took place between them has rarely been equaled for eloquence or ability, at least in the Legislature of New York.


It drew to the Capitol crowds of deeply inter- ested people, creating as much interest at Albany, as did the great Senatorial debate between Webster and Hayne at Washington. Each was a chieftain of his party, and each contended for a prize, well worthy the ambition of such contestants. Both won distin- tinguished honors, and it is not invidious to say, that Mr. Young in this debate placed himself among the great parliamentary orators of the State. In one of his speeches, he alluded to Mr. Seymour in the fol- lowing language :


"I have a single word to say of him. There is much of him to cultivate for good. He has shown himself the possessor of high, commanding, brilliant talents, and if he would forget party, and turn aside his passion for power, and the narrow paths of party discipline, and tactics,-tear away the drapery he has thrown around himself, and stand out his own living self, breathing out the purposes of his own great and generous heart; I hope, I trust, I shall live to see him occupying the highest station which his ambition desires." Mr. Seymour's reply was equally happy, and his retort to the charge made against him by Mr.


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Young, of love of party and party tactics, was keen and pointed.


In his speeches at the bar, in the Legislature, or in the popular assembly, Mr. Young usually avoided anything like an exordium, and endeavored to lead his audience by the shortest and most direct course to the real point under discussion. In no instance did he permit himself to make a lengthy effort. Hence his arguments were like a short polished and keen weapon, used with intensified force and power.


The convention bill finally passed the Assembly, on the twenty-second of April, 1845. The Senate con- curred ; it received the signature of Governor Wright and became a law. The passage of this bill was an auspicious day for John Young. It was the success- ful consummation of a policy which would have added lustre to the laurels of Pitt, Fox, Clay, or Webster. It did not aggrandize himself alone, but in the next gubernatorial election it tended largely to the suc- cess of the Whig party in the State.


In the fall of 1845, Mr. Young was returned to the Assembly. The Legislature of 1846, like its predeces- sor, contained some of the most eminent men in the State. Mr. Young was the Whig candidate for speaker, but as his party was in the minority, he was defeated, and W. C. Crain, of Herkimer, elected.


This session was not an important one, excepting as it served to keep alive those divisions in the Dem- ocratic party, which at a later period developed them- selves into an open and fatal rupture.


Just as the Legislature was on the point of ad- journing sine die, the intelligence reached Albany, that a collision had taken place between the forces of the United States and the Mexicans on the Rio Grande. On the introduction of a bill into the Assembly author- izing the governor to sustain the nation with men and arms, Mr. Young, in an eloquent speech, declared his intention to sustain the resolution, concluding in the following memorable language :


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"The country is invaded, the rights of our citizens have been trampled upon, and I will sustain the country, right or wrong."


These remarks were the subject of much comment and considerable censure. But as has been well said, "Mr. Young never regretted the utterance of them, and construed in the spirit in which they were uttered, as indicating the duty of the good citizen, to waive his individual opinion, when called upon by the action of government to support it against a foreign power-it is so near akin to patriotism, that it must find a re- sponse in the heart of every one who loves his coun- try." The great patriot who uttered the words, "Our country first, our country last, our country always," was inspired by the same sentiment which prompted those celebrated words of Mr. Young.


In the Legislature of 1846, Mr. Young voted for the law abolishing distress for rent, and he unreservedly declared his willingness to afford the anti-renters such aid and protection as the Constitution vouchsafed to them. He even asserted his willingness to amend the Constitution to protect them still further, and indorsed the changes made in their favor in the convention of 1846.


Such was now the popularity of Mr. Young in the State, that in 1846, he became a prominent candidate of the Whigs for governor. Mr. Fillmore had been urged as a candidate, but it was well known that he did not desire the position.


On the twenty-third of September, 1846, the Whig State convention assembled in Utica. It was the scene of a singular, and what might be termed a three-cor- nered contest. The defections which subsequently dissolved that great party, here distinctly exhibited themselves, under the names of Conservative and Radical Whigs, or Silver Gray and Wooly Heads. The former were lead in the State by Mr. Fillmore, Luther Bradish, and John A. Collier ; the latter by Mr. Seward, Mr. Weed, and others. There was also a


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strong anti-rent element in the convention, the leader of which was Ira Harris.


Although the name of Mr. Fillmore was presented to the convention against his wishes, yet such was his great popularity that he was a powerful competitor. Mr. Young was the Radical candidate, and although there was no personal friendship between him and Mr. Seward, yet on this anti-rent question they agreed, and as the Radical leaders preferred Mr. Young to Mr. Harris, they strongly sustained the former. After balloting for a long time, the anti- renters yielded their preference for Mr. Harris. Mr. Young received the nomination for governor, and Hamilton Fish was nominated for lieutenant-governor. The Democrats renominated Silas Wright and Addi- son Gardiner. With such powerful candidates they were confident of success. The election resulted in the success of Mr. Young by eleven thousand major- ity, and in the defeat of Mr. Fish; the Democrats elected Mr. Gardiner, lieutenant-governor.


Mr. Young entered on the duties of his adminis- tration. His first message was distinguished for con- ciseness and brevity, yet it was regarded as a dignified and able State paper. On the question of the Mexican war, he reiterated the sentiments of his speech on that subject in the Legislature of 1846. It is said that be- fore this message was sent to the Legislature, he sub- mitted it to certain eminent Whigs, who strongly urged him to expunge that part of it which referred to the war; but he was inflexible, and it was read to the Legislature without amendment in that respect. The measures which it recommended met the appro- bation of the Whigs; while they were condemned only by the most violent and bitter Democrats. In his second annual message, he alluded to the Mexican war in much the same language as the former mes- sage.


During his administration the Legislature was principally engaged in preparing such laws as were


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demanded by the new Constitution ; and as that in- strument had deprived the executive of nearly all the official patronage formerly attached to that office, he was relieved from the vast responsibility of his prede- cessors. In the appointment of the few officials which the new Constitution left to the governor, he declined the advice and counsel of leading Whigs who had hitherto had a controlling voice in these matters.


Soon after assuming the duties of his office, two leading Whigs called upon him for the purpose of in- fluencing him on the question of executive appoint- ment.


" Gentlemen," said he, after listening to their statements, "allow me to inform you that I am the governor of the State of New York."


"Are we to understand that you decline to listen to our suggestions in this matter ?"


"Certainly," was the reply.


They withdrew.


"High-reaching Buckingham is growing circum- spect," said one of them, as they descended the steps which led from the executive mansion.


"Yes," replied the other, "and his circumspection will send him to private life."


Among the first acts of his administration was the pardoning several anti-renters, who had been con- victed and imprisoned during the administration of Governor Wright. In this act he incurred the dis- pleasure of the Conservative wing of the Whig party, and the usual criticism and newspaper condemnations followed, which had the effect of strengthening his friends as well as his enemies, and thereby leaving the matter about equally balanced. The governor in- sisted that the offense of the convicts was merely po- litical, and therefore called for the interposition of the pardoning power.




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