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 24

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 24


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59


305


JOHN C. SPENCER.


Secretary of State .- A Member of President Tyler's Cabinet. - Advocates the Election of Taylor and Scott .- Is Appointed one of the Codifying Commission- ers .- Declines .- His Characteristics .- His Personal Appearance .- Private and Public Charities .- Founds the Albany Hospital .- The State Idiot Asylum .- His Regard for his Native State .- His Death.


IT has been said by an eminent English writer, that Macaulay was the philosopher and Lamartine the poet of history. With equal propriety may it be said, that Jonn C. Spencer was the philosopher and Og- den Hoffman the poet of the New York bar. Not that the latter, like Talfourd, actually divided his time be- tween law and poetry ; not that he, like Lord Tender- den was more "proud of his iambics and hexameters" than of his triumphs at the bar. Yet Mr. Hoffman did not yield to the opinion, that legal arguments and forensic efforts require no decoration of elocution to render them forcible and effective. He did not, there- fore, endeavor to emancipate himself from all oratori- cal rules ; but he knew how to adapt his elocution to profundity and comprehensiveness ; to the rules of logic ; to the philosophy of "the dull black letter of the law." Often, however, before a jury, his vivacity-his facility of sentiment-his power of pic- turesque illustration-his pathos, aroused emotions something like those created by the inspiration of the poet.


The meditative character of Mr. Spencer's mind led him to philosophic disquisitions-to the contem- plations of the abstract student-to the coinage of logi- cal deductions. His mind did not " work by sudden and strong impulses, leaping with irresistible force to its conclusions, but by calm and laborious processes, tending silently, yet surely, thereto." He was not easily excited by the delicate and exquisite beauties of poesy ; he never indulged in a variety of imagery -in flights of fancy-in touches of pathos. There- fore his speeches at the bar, in the popular assembly, in legislative bodies, were delivered in language severely correct, scrupulously pure, but free from all


20


306


THE BENCH AND BAR.


rhetorical drapery. He possessed the power of giving an ethical interest to his subject-of penetrating deeply into it-of establishing, by the clearest and subtlest train of reasoning, those delicate lines which divide apparently analogous precedents.


Another feature of Mr. Spencer's mind was the singular sagacity with which he seized upon ques- tions of fact, the facility with which he disentangled the point in dispute from sophistry and error, and reduced a perplexed and elaborate question of law to a plain problem of common sense. Thus, without the magic of Mr. Hoffman's eloquence, he was as powerful and as successful before a jury as he was before those courts where nothing but plain questions of law are discussed and settled. This was fully demonstrated by the manner in which he conducted the great case of the People v. How, at Angelica, in 1824. This was a case peculiarly adapted to the facile and kindling eloquence of Hoffman, but which was managed with signal success by the unim- passioned Spencer, who, by the force of reason and argument alone, overthrew the hypotheses on which was built a powerful and brilliant defense.


When Talfourd took his pen, he became the crit- ical essayist-the poet, who, with strong or delicate touches, impressed, as it were, his own vivid mind on the scenes which he described-the dramatist, whose creative imagination caught a hint from Euripides, and gave "Ion, a play of destiny," to the world ; the writer of those sonnets, which are tinged with the style of Wordsworth, who was his ideal of a poet. When Mr. Spencer wrote, as he often did, his pen was an instrument of his great logical powers. The merit of his style as a writer consisted in the facility and perspicuity with which he reasoned, explained, or described.


All his written productions bear the impress of the same powerful and philosophic intellect which char- acterize his legal and legislative speeches. This is


307


JOHN C. SPENCER.


manifested in the revision of the New York Statutes, those lasting monuments of the legal learning and research of himself and his co-revisers ; in reviewing, criticising, and annotating De Tocqueville's great work on American Democracy; in writing those legal arguments which often enlightened judges, and . determined the decisions of courts ; in those elabo- rately written pamphlets, which operated with such effect on the public mind ; and in those legislative reports and documents, which so plainly evince his ability as a statesman.


As there was no man that ever made less parade of his intellectual endowments, there were few less disposed to tolerate learned vanity in others, and he often rebuked ostentatious pedantry and empirical impudence with a caustic pen and a satirical tongue which gained him bitter enemies.


The apparent austerity and haughtiness of his manner detracted something from his popularity, yet he was, for many years, a successful and leading poli- tician in the State. Such was the respect which the people entertained for his ability and his unfaltering honesty, that they forgave his faults, and the many unpopular traits in his character. When before them as a candidate for official position, he never failed to receive the strong support of his party. By a popu- lar vote, he was repeatedly elected member of Assem- bly, State senator, and representative in Congress.


Soon after Mr. Spencer was elected speaker of the Assembly in 1820, Erastus Root met him on the steps of the capitol :


"Spencer," said he, "if you would only see peo- ple whom you meet; if you would get rid of your confounded haughtiness, you would soon become more popular in the State than Tompkins ever was ; but as it is, everybody is afraid of you ; they think you sour, proud, and crusty."


"Why, Mr. Root, I do see people when I meet them, but nature never made a Chesterfield of me; I


308


THE BENCH AND BAR.


like people, and do not mean to be haughty ; at any rate, I do not feel so," said Spencer.


"I beg your pardon, but you do not see people when you meet them," said Root; "for instance, I saw Dr. Miller, from Cortland, this morning, and he told me that you don't pretend to notice him, when you meet him : and only yesterday I met you on State-street, and although I gave you one of my best bows, I never received so much as a nod from you."


" Why really, Mr. Root, I have not the least recol- lection of meeting you yesterday on State-street or anywhere else," was the reply.


"Iknow that, and I know how to excuse your abstracted thoughts. When you met me yesterday, you were studying out the argument which you are to make next week in the Court of Errors against me ; but the people, our sovereigns, Mr. Spencer, don't understand these matters. They are imperious ; they must have a nod, or a bow, on all occasions, or else we are guilty of rebellion to sovereign majesty. So, learn to bow to everybody, for it is the court etiquette of the day, and makes great men out of well dressed nobodies," said Mr. Root.


John C. Spencer was born at Hudson, New York, August 12th, 1786. He was a son of Ambrose Spencer, distinguished in the history of the State of New York as the able and gifted compeer of Schuyler, Hamilton, Burr, Jay, Clinton, Tompkins, and those other great men, whose elevated patriotism, whose vigorous and comprehensive minds, adapted them to that critical period in the history of the nation, which succeeded the adoption of the first Constitution.


From his earliest years, young Spencer was accus- tomed to the society of distinguished, learned, and gifted men. His first knowledge of politics was drawn from witnessing those vindictive partizan contests in- augurated by Burr and Hamilton.


He inherited the great abilities, the inflexible will, and many of the imperfections of his father.


309


JOHN C. SPENCER.


At a very early age, he was sent to the Hudson Academy, where his active mind exhibited itself in the rapid proficiency which he made in his studies. Three years at this school completed his preparatory course, and in the year 1799 he entered Union College. During his first year in that institution he was one of the dis- putants in a debate which took place in the presence of Dr. Nott, afterwards, and for many years, the dis- tinguished president of that college. In the course of the discussion, he indicated that dominant taste for philosophic research, that happy faculty of bringing ancient parallels to bear on contemporary events, which distinguished him in after life. Such was the ability and tact which he exhibited on this occasion, that Dr. Nott conceived for him an admiration which resulted in a life-long friendship.


It is a singular circumstance that the last profes- sional service ever performed by Mr. Spencer was in the defense of this early friend. The work which he did on that occasion was the offspring of the most dis- interested friendship, prompted by those precious re- membrances of the past so sacred to sensitive minds. The powerful legal gladiator had retired from the bar and from public life ; but the appeal of his venerable friend reached him in his retreat, summoning him again to the forum, where his victorious logic exhib- ited the unimpaired powers of his intellect. But his. victory was dearly won. Such was the ardor with which he entered that contest, such the mental labor which it forced upon him, that his health was greatly impaired, and he was soon hurried to the tomb.


No victory won amid the ambitious struggles of his youth or middle age, was more brilliant or more gratifying to him. But it was not the pleasure result- ing from the triumph of professional success that gave such peculiar zest to this victory ; it was the conscious- ness that he had aided in the triumph of a friend : that "it was a votive offering laid on the altar of friendship."


310


THE BENCH AND BAR.


It may have called forth censure and criticism from cold and callous casuists, raised murmurs of reproach from defeated interests ; but those who, amid the sordid policies, the pitiable selfishness of this wrong world, can appreciate generosity, can un- derstand the emotions inspired by real friendship, will see in this last act of John C. Spencer all that is great in the hero, all that is magnanimous in the martyr.


While at college young Spencer was distinguished for close and thorough application to his studies, for the same thoughtful reserve, the same unpopular reticence, which marked his character as the lawyer, legislator and cabinet minister. In July, 1803, at the age of seventeen, he graduated with honor, and im- mediately commenced the study of law with his father.


Ambrose Spencer was then attorney-general of the State, in the plenitude of that political and profes- sional career, which renders him a marked and strik- ing character in the history of the State. An accurate reader of men, a keen discerner of those motives which prompt them to action, he could penetrate, by a kind of intuition, into their deeper and more hidden interests. Calm, sagacious, designing and ambitious, he possessed abilities which would have rendered him all-powerful at the court of the Eleventh Louis, and elevated him to a high position in any age. Moved by a will of iron, and prompted by a determined na- ture, it is not strange that he attained a commanding influence in the age in which he lived.


He was a brother-in-law of De Witt Clinton, whom he opposed, or with whom he coincided, as ambition or resentment dictated. That he often successfully opposed his illustrious and powerful brother-in-law, sufficiently attests the strength of his character and the power of his influence.


Amid the sharp political controversies of his day, he was often attacked through the press by able and powerful opponents ; but as he wielded a gigantic pen,


311


JOHN C. SPENCER.


from whose point there flowed a subtle logic, a wither- ing, though polished sarcasm, he was understood to be a dangerous foe in that field of warfare.


At the close of the year 1803, he was appointed by Governor George Clinton a justice of the Supreme Court, and some years later he was advanced to the dignity of chief justice of the State, a position which he held until after the Convention of 1821. Thus, through the long period of over twenty years, he pronounced from the bench of the Supreme Court those opinions which have enriched the legal learning, not only of the State, but the Nation, and character- ized him as one of the ablest lawyers and most accom- plished judges of his age.


As a writer, he aimed at no graces of language or ornamented diction, and yet his style was of almost crystalline purity-of inherent dignity, and replete with learning.


His manner while on the bench was grave, digni- fied, austere, stern and decided, but always impartial. He permitted no familiar approach, no importunity from counsel. Lawyers who addressed him used the most respectful language, while he in turn observed a high-toned courtesy toward the bar. In demanding and observing these amenities, Judge Spencer did not stand alone. The judges as well as the lawyers of that period observed and maintained a dignity in the court room which rendered all present conscious that they were in the temple of justice.


Judge Spencer doubted the propriety of innovation in the arrangement of the courts or in the adminis- tration of justice. Every encroachment upon the in- dependence of the judiciary he regarded as a step taken toward the disintegration of our legal system and the destruction of our rights.


His imperious nature, his ambition-the means to which he sometimes resorted to gratify it-his unre- lenting hatred to his enemies, were among his faults as a politician and legislator. None of these, how-


312


THE BENCH AND BAR.


ever, affected him in the discharge of his judicial duties ; and yet as a judge he was not entirely fault- less. Such was Ambrose Spencer. From whatever point of view we may examine the character of this extraordinary man-whether as a scholar, lawyer, statesman or judge-although imperfections and er- rors will be observed-still he must be regarded as one of the great luminaries which have adorned the bench and the bar of the Empire State.


After pursuing his studies for some time with his father, young Spencer was appointed by Governor Tompkins his private secretary. He discharged the duties of this position so acceptably that he became an especial favorite with the governor for life. But, de- siring to complete his legal studies, he returned to the office of his father before the expiration of Mr. Tomp- kins' official term. In 1807, when Mr. Madison was elected president of the United States, he was selected by the electoral college of the State to carry its vote to Washington ; and before his return he made the ac- quaintance of the president elect-an acquaintance which through life was profitable and agreeable to both parties. Thus Mr. Spencer entered public life in his extreme youth, and continued in it until the shades of old age fell upon him.


After his return from Washington he continued his legal studies, without interruption, until July, 1809, when he was called to the bar. Very soon after this event he was united by marriage to a daughter of James Scott Smith, a highly respectable citizen of New York city. Miss Smith was a young lady of rare accomplishments, possessing that high cast of character which eminently qualified her for the wife of John C. Spencer.


At this period western New York began to attract the attention of the adventurous spirit of the East. It was then a comparatively uninhabited country ; still the home and the hunting grounds of the aborigines. Among those who decided upon emigrating to that


313


JOHN C. SPENCER.


country, which promised so much to industry and enterprise, was Mr. Spencer. Accordingly, early in September, 1809, accompanied by his bride, he set out for the land of lakes and rivers. After a long and weary journey they reached Canandaigua. The charming country, enlivened by the beauties of early autumn, the prospect of its rapid advancement in cultivation and improvement, and the beautiful loca- tion of the village, determined him to make it his future home.


He was then in the twenty-fourth year of his age- in that period of life which intervenes between the effervescence of youth and the practicable energy of manhood. He possessed, however, those qualities of sagacity and learning which were beyond his years. With a few law books and fifteen dollars in money, he commenced that professional career which ren- dered his name memorable in the history of his na- tive State.


The only boarding place which he could obtain in the village for himself and wife, was in the family of a Mr. Bates, then the keeper of the county jail; and within a few days after their arrival at Canandaigua, they were comfortably domesticated in pleasant rooms in the Ontario county prison.


"I have brought you a long way from your home only to lodge you in jail at last," said Mr. Spencer playfully to his wife, on taking possession of their room.


"Yes ; but it will be a delightful captivity, since you are to share my prison with me ; for you know, Spencer, that I am, for the remainder of my life, to play Ruth to your Boaz," was the pleasing reply.


Mr. Spencer soon rented an office, took possession, and arranged it. With some pride he affixed on its door his sign, with the words "J. C. Spencer, Attor- ney at Law," on its surface. The next spring, through the undeviating kindness of the man who never forgot


314


THE BENCH AND BAR.


a friend, Daniel D. Tompkins, he was enabled to have the words "and Master in Chancery," placed upon it.


Among the early friends of Mr. Spencer, at Canan- daigua, was General Peter B. Porter, long and favor- ably known in the history of the State, as a man of high character and unsullied honor, who quietly, and without parade or ostentation, rendered himself of much importance in public affairs-whose influence, like the powers in the natural world, was mild and noiseless, but penetrating and enduring-an accurate observer of men, yet simple and natural in his man- ners, uniting habits of economy with the most disin- terested and liberal charities. A pioneer of western New York, his energetic and enterprising character materially aided in the development of the resources of that beautiful country.


During the autumn of 1809, General Porter com- pleted a very commodious residence in the village, which he leased to Mr. Spencer, and in which he first commenced the duties and responsibilities of house- keeping. In after years he frequently described, in lively language, the first dinner of which he partook in this his " own hired house."


"It was eaten off from a common kitchen table. I was seated on a cheap old-fashioned chair, and Mrs. Spencer occupied a common wooden stool. But every thing on the table, though simple, was nicely cooked, and we enjoyed our meal with a relish rarely equaled at the more sumptuous repasts of our prosperous days."


Thus, with frugality, economy, and self-reliance, the young couple entered life's great contest, and thus they became successful in the struggle.


Within six months after taking possession of this house, as a tenant, Mr. Spencer became the purchaser of it, and for twenty-six years and upwards, it was his home.


In 1809, Ontario county contained within its limits all that territory now included in the counties of Yates


315


JOHN C. SPENCER.


and Wayne, together with all that part of Monroe and Livingston lying east of the Genesee river. From a very early period its bar has been distinguished for the eloquence and learning of its members. A long line of brilliant names adorn its history, many of whom were rendered, by nature and art, almost per- fect legal orators, whose eloquence "led criticism itself captive," and who could touch, "with a strong and certain hand, any chord, from uproarious merri- ment to the deepest pathos, or the most terrible in- vective."


That Mr. Spencer was able, while yet in his youth, to attain the highest professional distinction, opposed by such competitors, sufficiently attests his ability.


Nothing, however, is so favorable to the develop- ment of real ability, nothing so essentially elicits the intellectual strength of young lawyers, as constant intercourse and collision with advocates of superior legal attainments and skill. The contest may at first be unequal, may often result in discomfiture and mor- tification, but with every failure, strength and con- fidence will be gained, close study and research re- sorted to, and at length the nicely graduated scale of professional success easily ascended.


When the great Scottish lawyer, Cockburn, was called to the bar-young, obscure, and diffident-he was compelled to struggle with those giants of the Scottish bar, Clerk, Cranstoun, Moncreiff and Fuller- ton. Though their inferior in age, in legal knowledge and juridical power, yet, bracing himself for the con- test, he boldly entered the lists against them. Re- garding it no disgrace to be conquered by such antag- onists, he continued the struggle until he was able to maintain his ground, and at length to successfully contend with them. His success shed such lustre upon his name that he soon reached the bench, where, as has been well said of him, "his reputation and effi- ciency were unequaled."


When Mr. Spencer first appeared at the Ontario


316


THE BENCH AND BAR.


bar, he was the only Democratic or anti-federal lawyer who appeared there. 'Unappalled by the influence, numbers, and strength of the opposition, and scorning the weak advantage of belonging to "the popular side," he boldly declared his principles, then ably and manfully maintained them, and thus he soon be- came the standard-bearer of his party in western New York. "Much of the litigation of that day was occa- sioned by party collisions, and he therefore encoun- tered, from the beginning, a combined opposition, which taxed to the uttermost his 'iron will,' rendering it necessary for him to enter court perfectly prepared at all points ; and he found it necessary to be con- stantly on his guard against the attacks of his politi- cal, as well as his professional opponents, to whom he was especially distant and repulsive in his manners." This state of things, however, polished and sharpened the weapons he was compelled to wield ; it taught him to parry as well as to thrust, and he rapidly advanced in his profession.


Mr. Spencer always loved solitary study ; he never delighted in what is called fashionable life. A mind given to research will see in that society-where per- sons have no other occupation than fashionable amuse- ment-acuteness of intellect, refinement of manners, elegance and good taste in a certain kind of conversa- tion ; but he will also see all profundity of thought, all serious reflections discarded, and hence the glossy volubility of a fop in such circles is preferred to the recondite conversation of the really intelligent and learned.


Accustomed from his youth to the detail of poli- tics, the lawyer was soon blended with the politician. Political dissensions ran high, and were characterized by great bitterness ; party feuds were not then as soon forgotten as they are at the present. The easy, gliding scale of political conscience, the temporizing, trim- ming, bartering policy of modern partisans were then unknown ; a rigid fealty to party ; an honest, though


317


JOHN C. SPENCER.


bitter opposition ; an implacable, unswerving warfare, guided the politician of that day, often engendering feelings of hostility which tinged the amenities of social life for many years.


When the questions and events which led to the war of 1812 began to agitate the public mind, Mr. Spencer, stimulated by an inherent patriotism, joined his fortunes to the party which favored resistance to British aggression, and when war was finally declared, he became the firm supporter of Madison and Tomp- kins. There were few men at that time who exerted a wider or more direct influence than John C. Spencer. His vigorous mind, his ready and powerful pen, were devoted to the discussion of the great questions which divided the public mind.


One of the pamphlets published by him, entitled "The probable Results of a War with England," at- tracted much interest throughout the nation; and in Great Britain it was republished in the papers op- posed to the ministry, as an unanswerable argument against the policy of the American war.


"Who does not see," said one of the leading oppo sition journals of the day, "the fatal truths contained in Mr. Spencer's article on the results of this war ? If there are those so perverse that they cannot see, its truths will, in time, be brought home to the govern- ment, when it is, perhaps, too late. There is not an individual, who has attended at all to the dispute with the United States, who does not see that it has been embittered from the first, and wantonly urged on by those who, for the sake of their own aggrandize- ment, are willing to plunge their own country in all the evils portrayed by the American writer."




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.