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 29

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 29


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This state of things produced its benefits in the case of Mr. Beardsley. It led to that emulation, to that struggle for success, and to that progressive im- provement, which rendered him equal to the duties of his office, and his patient investigation, his careful preparation, shielded him from motions to quash his indictments, motions in arrest of judgments, and all those attacks from keen and learned lawyers, which the public prosecutor is so often called upon to resist.


On one occasion, in drawing an indictment for arson in the first degree, he omitted an allegation, which the lawyer defending believed to be fatal ; but


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having some doubt, he consulted Joshua A. Spencer on the point. That sagacious lawyer, after examining it some time, replied :


"Well, I think, though Archbold and Chitty both may sustain you, yet if Beardsley insists that he is correct, I should prefer his opinion to theirs."


The lawyer, however, made his motion to quash the indictment. A long and interesting argument fol- lowed ; but Beardsley's knowledge of the criminal law gave him a decided advantage. Foster, Hale, Archbold, Chitty, and the American authorities were as familiar to him as the school-boy's every-day lesson, and he sustained his indictment. Exceptions were taken to the ruling of the court, and the case was re- moved to the General Term, by a certiorari, where Beardsley was again sustained.


Many instances of this nature occurred during his official term, which often brought him before the court in banc, giving him an acquaintance with judges and the bar throughout the State. He continued to dis- charge the duties of district-attorney until October, 1825, when his term of office expired, and Hiram Denio, an eminent member of the Utica bar, suc- ceeded him.


In the autumn of 1822 Mr. Beardsley was elected a senator from the then fifth Senatorial district. As the State Senate was then classed by lot, Mr. Beardsley fell into that class whose term of service was limited to one year.


In the language of Judge Denio, "he had never before belonged to a legislative body, and was the youngest member of the Senate ; but, although he was the youngest, he was by far the most efficient. Though it was not then generally acknowledged, he possessed intellectual powers of the highest order, which, as a member of Congress and at the bar of our superior courts, he has demonstrated to the entire satisfaction of the public. As a member of the Senate he was perfectly honest in his political opinions, but


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he was a partizan of the most decided stamp. At the same time it is proper to say that he was kind, court- eous and friendly to all with whom he associated, of whatever sect or party."'


Among the members of this Senate were Walter Bowne, John Sudam, Heman J. Redfield, Jacob Sutherland and Charles E. Dudley. Mr. Bowne was a lawyer from Cooperstown, for many years eminent at the bar and distinguished in the political history of the State. Mr. Sudam was from Kingston, Ulster county, and an advocate of the highest ability. It would not be easy to point out a legal orator whose triumphs at the bar were more brilliant than were those of this eminent personage. In the fluency of his expression, in the pungency of his sarcasm, in his vivid flashes of thought and the quickness of in- sight with which he seized and developed deeper truths, he resembled the great Irish orator, Grattan. With little taste for politics, he was yet much in the political field. Such were his abilities and usefulness to his party, that he was often compelled by his friends to enter the political arena in opposition to his own inclinations. In the Senate of 1823 he became a friend of Mr. Beardsley, from recognizing in him those traits of character which he admired.


The Senate, at the period when Mr. Beardsley first took his seat in it, was a body of no ordinary intellec- tual power.


Early in the legislative session of 1823 a singular resolution was offered in the Assembly by Mr. Morse, a member from New York, which was adopted, and was as follows :


" Resolved (if the honorable the Senate concur herein), That the practice of addressing the governor . by the title of "his excellency," and in the Senate and Assembly, the members and officers thereof by the title of "honorable," be discontinued and abol- ished, as incompatible with the republican form and principles of the Constitution."


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The discussion of this resolution was deeply inter- esting, and elicited many witty and sarcastic speeches. " Why, sir," said a member from one of the west- ern counties, "the prefix of Hon. to a man's name has become so common, that it is infinitely worse than the gregarious peerage which Lord Bacon complained of. The flock of honorables in this country, is fearfully on the increase. If the title continues to be thus lib- erally used, it will bring with it dim recollections of the whipping-post-legendary ideas of those brands and distinctive marks, which of old, were sometimes affixed in the hollow of the hand, or on the side of the face, as index of the singular ability which the indi- vidual thus distinguished had for appropriating other people's property to his own use.


"Sir, this prefix has become the distinctive feature of contemptibility struggling for consideration-the inflating principle of nothingness-the intensified idea of merited contempt. Why, sir, to look over the news- papers of the day, one might be led to the belief, that every four corners, every little village, was inhabited solely by great men, who, like Charles V., had re- signed power and place from deliberate choice, to en- joy the tranquillity of retirement, were it not for their croakings in conventions, public assemblies, and here in the Legislature of our great State. We shall soon hear of the Hon. John Straight Jacket, just from Au- burn Prison ; the Hon. Abner Sinbad, from Botany Bay, and the Hon. Peter Funk, from anywhere and everywhere."


The next day, however, the resolution was recon- sidered and expunged. So jealous were the legisla- tors of that day of their titles and distinction.


While yet a member of the State Senate, Mr. Beardsley was appointed by President John Quincy Adams, United States district-attorney for the north- ern district of New York. This appointment gave great satisfaction to the bar, as well as to the judiciary of the State. His experience as the prosecuting officer


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of Oneida county, had prepared him to discharge the duties now assigned to him with distinguished ability. He continued to hold the office until November, 1830, when he was elected a representative in Congress from the fourteenth Congressional district, by the Demo- crats. He entered Congress on the fifth day of De- cember, 1832.


General Jackson was then president, and Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia, was speaker of the House, but after the expiration of a few months he resigned, and John Bell, of Tennessee, was chosen in his place. Mr. Beardsley was honored by the second position on the Judiciary Committee, an evidence of his high standing with his party. In all the exciting questions of that Congress, he was the uncompromising friend of Presi- dent Jackson, and was regarded by him, as one of his ablest supporters in the House.


His leading principles of political policy were sim- ple, uniform, and firm. He believed that the exist- ence of a moneyed institution like the United States Bank, in a government like ours, was at war with the principles upon which it was founded ; "that the Bank had set itself up as a great irresponsible rival power of the government, assuming to regulate the finances of the country, and to control the whole policy of government, in the regulation of the financial concerns of the nation ; that it assumed in effect, to dictate to the country, how its government should be administered, and that the question was, whether we shall have the Republic without the Bank, or the Bank without the Republic."


The terrifying apprehensions entertained at that time, of dangers on the one hand, from alleged as- sumption of power, on the part of the Bank, and on the other hand, the dangers from the encroachments of the executive, in assuming powers and authority which the Constitution did not warrant, afforded a field for argument and discussion, hardly equaled in any period of the nation. The great statesmen and


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legislators who participated in that discussion, have had no equal in any age of the world. Neither the Phillipic orations of Demosthenes, nor the consular ones of Cicero, nor in whatever class the speeches of the elder and the younger Pitt may be placed, contain higher exertions of great and original genius, than did the speeches made in Congress during the ad- ministration of Andrew Jackson.


And now there are fewer sources of profitable in- tellectual gratification and instruction, than is afforded by the study of the legislative speeches and documents of that period ; they enable us to bring the past under our immediate inspection, and to look calmly back upon the plans, the deliberations, the contests of short-sighted and arrogant mortals, beholding them gravely speculating upon probabilities never to be re- alized, elated with hopes, or depressed with fears, in most cases groundless and empty ; agitated by pas- sions so soon to pass away forever. But as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, these things are all rightly adjusted by Him who holds the nation as in a balance.


Mr. Beardsley was elected to Congress for three successive terms, thus occupying a seat in the coun- cils of the nation six successive years ; during which time he adhered to the administration and supported with great ability the public measures of Andrew Jackson.


The following circumstance illustrates the esteem in which he was held by the president. In January, 1834, while Mr. Beardsley was in Congress, Nathan Williams, a judge of the fifth circuit, became disqual- ified by reason of his age, and he therefore resigned. Governor Marcy immediately nominated Mr. Beards- ley as his successor, and the Senate promptly con- firmed the nomination. As soon as this intelligence reached Washington, Mr. Beardsley signified his inten- tion to resign his seat in Congress. General Jackson, who was soon apprized of this, sent for him. On his


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arrival at the White House he found several members of the Cabinet and some of the most eminent gentle- men from both branches of Congress in attendance. Supposing that it was a meeting called for some party consultation, Mr. Beardsley took his seat.


"Mr. Beardsley," said the president, "we have understood that you are intending to resign your seat in the House ; is this so ?"


"It is ; I have received an appointment under the government of my State, which, under all the circum- stances, I do not feel at liberty to disregard," said Mr. Beardsley.


" Well, Mr. Beardsley, we have requested your presence here for the purpose of urging you to do that very thing. To be frank with you, such a step at this period would be a serious injury to the admin- istration."


"I am not aware in what particular," was the reply.


"You occupy a place in the House, Mr. Beards- ley, which no other man can fill, and I am confident that your devotion to the interests of the nation will, in view of this, prompt you to remain at your post in Congress,' said Mr. Barry, then postmaster-general.


Other gentlemen present urged him to remain, and he at length consented. That very day the northern mail which left Washington carried a letter to Mr. Marcy from Beardsley, in which he gave his reasons for declining the high position to which he had been appointed.


No circumstance in the Congressional life of Mr. Beardsley more strongly illustrates his high character and his eminent abilities than this. It will, therefore, not be invidious to remark, that amid the gifted and the great by whom he was surrounded, he was distin- guished for the depth of his knowledge and the solid. ity of his reasoning, but more than all by the inflex- ibility of his principles.


Although, as has been stated, he was firm and in-


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flexible in his political opinions, in maintaining them he dealt little in those caustic attacks which rankle in the breast of opponents.


Once or twice in his Congressional career he in- dulged in language that bordered on extravagance. In April, 1834, his first year in Congress, he delivered a speech of remarkable power on the currency ques- tion, in the course of which he said: "Sooner than extend the existence of the Bank of the United States, let it perish, and in its fall carry down every bank in the Union. I say, for one, perish credit, perish com- merce, perish the State institutions. Give us a broken, decayed, worthless currency, rather than the ignoble and corrupt tyranny of an irresponsible corporation."


Niles' Register, a strong and powerful advocate of the Bank, after speaking in terms of commendation of the ability displayed in this speech, refers to the above remark as follows: "Such sentiments, coming from a man of Mr. Beardsley's poise, ability and mod- eration, must have a dangerous influence."


Though not distinguished for rare conversational powers, he could charm, with his tersely-told anec- dotes, "with his cordial kindness and his genial hu- mor." In the refined social circles of Washington he was always a favorite; and, as a lady distinguished for her brilliant assemblies, for the wit, eloquence, learning and elegance of her guests, once remarked, "Without Mr. Beardsley at my levees, there seems to be something wanting."


In January, 1834, Mr. Hall, from North Carolina, who had taken umbrage at certain statements made by one of the reporters of the House, concerning the proceedings in a debate in which he had taken part, made an effort to restrain the reporters in their com- ments upon the proceedings in the House. He was sustained by several other members, and a lively dis- cussion took place.


Mr. Hall and his friends insisted that "frequently, the grossest injustice was done to the members of


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Congress, to cabinet ministers, and the administra- tion itself, by the unrestrained liberty, which these representatives of the press enjoyed, in publishing their own views, and in putting their own construc- tions upon the proceedings in that body, and else- where, and therefore, it is proper that certain healthy rules be established regulating the public- ation of our proceedings."


Mr. Beardsley opposed the adoption of any such rules, or of placing any restraint whatever upon the press, or its representatives in the House. He deliv- ered a speech on the subject which clearly evinced his enlightened liberality, and the justness of his views on the subject. In the course of his remarks he said :


"I am one of those, sir, who favor the entire and pefect liberty of the press on all subjects connected with the government, and in all public matters, and in all places ; we have passed the period when that great dispenser of intellectual light and truth shall be circumscribed or hampered, except in its obedience and subjection to healthy laws provided for the pro- tection of character against its wanton and malicious attacks.


"I am free to confess, there should be some amelio- ration of those laws, at least in some of the States. Sir, jurors are now too frequently called upon to pronounce whether a person innocently or ma- liciously published that a man's father was hanged. Can any one doubt that a person has a right to pub- lish this fact, provided the man really was hanged ? Can it be possible that a minister of state, a member of this, or the upper House, a public officer of any kind, who, in the face of day, commits the grossest injustice, or whose incapacity has been testified by the most notorious blunders, may unblushingly avow his wrongs, or his incapacity, and punish whoever conscientiously and calmly states it to the country ? Some persons affect to see great danger to the peace


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of community, in an unlimited publication of the dis- cussion of public measures. 'My government and my policy,' said Cromwell, 'are not worth pre- serving if they cannot stand against paper shot.' That sagacious man never objected to the liberty of the press in any form, and yet history calls him a usurper.


"To hamper the press may serve the purpose of weak, vacillating, erroneous rulers, may favor weak, timid, and time-serving politicians, but the enlight- ened high-minded statesman will rejoice in its unlim- ited liberty. Sir, what is there so very captivating in error-what so fascinating in excessive violence-what so attractive in gross and palpable injustice, as to make those tremble who stand firm in the conscious- ness of being right? Surely truth and sense have at least an equal chance in the contest.


"Then let the press, let every one in this country speak out, comment upon, discuss, describe, and explain all public measures ; let the representatives of the press have free access to all public assemblies, and particularly to all parliamentary bodies ; let them criticise, scan, condemn, or approve as they please ; for in this way light and truth are disseminated ; in this way, bold, bad men are rebuked, error exposed, and virtue vindicated ; those alone have cause to tremble, who are guilty of wrong, or who are manifestly weak and incapacitated for the place they occupy. In the language of another, a people from whom public mea- sures are concealed, are sure to be easily disquieted ; every breath makes them start ; all objects appear in false shapes ; anxiety and alarm spread rapidly with- out a cause ; and a parliamentary body, the law-making institution of the nation, weakened by delusions which have sprung from unnecessary concealment."


Such was the language, such the fearless utter- ances of Samuel Beardsley, thirty-six years ago, on the restrictions of the press.


Whoever has examined the opinions delivered by


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him as a justice of the Supreme Court, in the various cases of libel which, before the Code, came before that tribunal for adjudication, has observed the learning, research, and liberality with which he discussed the intricate question of the right to give the truth in evi- dence in cases of libel and slander ; especially in those instances where he refers to the conflicting dicta in the cases of the King v. Draper, and Finerty, which in- volved the consideration of this question.


Early in January, 1836, a vacancy occurred on the bench of the Supreme Court by the resignation of Mr. Justice Sutherland. Greene C. Bronson, then attor- ney-general, was appointed in his place, and Samuel Beardsley was immediately appointed attorney-gen- eral. That office was, at this time, one of great labor and responsibility. There was an unusual amount of criminal business, while the civil business of the State, at this period, required the exercise of the ablest legal talents. It was fortunate for the State that the gov- ernor selected a man so well qualified for the office, as was Mr. Beardsley.


This was the third time he had occupied the posi- tion of a prosecuting officer for the people, and the experience he thus gained, was of great advantage to him, rendering him capable of disposing of a large amount of business with facility and dispatch.


A distinguished crown lawyer of England was once asked by one of his fellow students, then just beginning to emerge from obscurity, how he managed to dispose of such an accumulation of business ?


"Some I do, some does itself, and the rest is un- done," was the reply.


No part of the public business intrusted to Mr. Beardsley was left undone, or left to do itself; his great industry and untiring adherence to all the de- tails of his office, once elicited from Daniel Cady, the following compliment :


"Beardsley," said that eminent man one day, at the conclusion of a long and tedious suit, in which


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the attorney-general had labored with incessant en- ergy, "your manner of conducting the public busi- ness, reminds me of the remark made by Peter de Blois to Edward II. : 'Your majesty's justicia,' said Blois, 'tries causes so that neither gifts nor partiality are admitted ; all things proceed sure and certain, with great rapidity, and yet according to law.'"'


"But the remark of Blois referred to the court, and not to the crown lawyer; and in this case it is far more applicable to the court than to the attorney-gen- eral," said Beardsley.


"I applied it to both, in this instance," was the reply.


In the discharge of his duties as a public prose- cutor, while he was inflexible in his determination to convict those whom he really believed to be guilty, he did not forget that the iron hand of the law was often laid upon the really innocent-those who had no means of rendering their innocence apparent, being involved in the meshes of circumstances which they could not control or explain. When Samuel Beardsley was once convinced that such a case as this really existed, he believed it was as much his duty to shield the per- son from an unjust conviction, as it was to urge the conviction of a really guilty party.


While district-attorney of Oneida county, a cir- cumstance of this nature occurred, which exhibited the generous impulses of his mind, and his love of the right.


In the winter of 1824 there lived, some six miles from Boonville, in the county of Oneida, a man by the name of Tener, whose family consisted of himself, wife and an only son, a young man about eighteen years of age. They were respectable, though very poor, and had once been in more fortunate circum- stances. Therefore, the hand of poverty fell heavier upon them.


One bitter cold and stormy day the father started on foot for Boonville to procure some necessaries for


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the family. As the day wore away the cold and wind increased, piling the snow into great drifts, and in places obstructing the road. Night came on gloomy, dark and boisterous, but still he did not return, though he had long been expected by his anxious wife and son, who listened to the howling storm, ex- pecting every moment to hear the footsteps of the returning father ; but he did not come. Hour after hour passed away, and still they watched in vain for him. At length anxiety gave way to the most dread- ful apprehensions, and in imagination they beheld him as he wandered on


" From hill to dale still more and more astray, Impatient flouncing through the drifted heaps, Stung with the thoughts of home."


.


Often, as some terrible sweep of the wind went shrieking by their humble dwelling, they fancied cries for help. No pen can describe the terrible anxiety of that hour. The son could endure it no longer, and he was determined to rescue his father, who he now believed was perishing in the snow.


Near his house there was a barn belonging to a thrifty farmer-a harsh, selfish and grasping man- who, for some reason, was a bitter enemy of Tener. The young man knew that in the stable to the barn there were several horses, and that it was never locked. Thinking of nothing but the safety of his father, he hastened to the stable, led out one of the horses, and with nothing but a halter to guide him, mounted him and took the road to Boonville, anx- iously watching for his father, whom he expected to find struggling in the snow ; but, as he did not dis- cover him, he rode on until he reached the village. Here he learned that his father was at the house of an acquaintance near the village, having started home and been driven back by the storm.


Soon after the young man left the stable the farmer discovered that his horse was missing ; and mounting


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another, he followed young Tener to the village, reaching it just as he had started to return. Taking the animal from the young man, he immediately pro- cured a warrant, charging him with burglary and grand larceny.


In the morning he was conducted before a magis- trate, examined, and held to answer for those dreadful crimes. A kind friend consented to bail him, and the young man, in company with his father, returned home. In due time he was indicted by the grand jury, and a gloomy fate seemed to await him.


The late Henry R. Storrs, then one of the ablest advocates at the bar-a man of strong sympathy and generous emotions-believing the story of the young man, consented to undertake his defense, though he had little hope of success. He studied the case in all its aspects, but saw no ray of hope. The proof was positive that he entered the barn in the night time, took the horse, rode it away, was found with it in his possession, six miles from home. Neither the en- treaties of the father nor the agonized pleadings of the mother touched the heart of the relentless farmer. "Such crimes must be punished for the good of the people," was all the answer he would make.




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