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 30

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 30


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In this emergency Mr. Storrs advised his client to put Mr. Beardsley in possession of all the circum- stances of the case. Accordingly, Storrs himself called on Beardsley, obtained his consent to meet the parents and their son, and hear their story. He lis- tened to the mother as she related the circumstances in all the eloquence of maternal truthfulness. The scene of the terrible night was depicted with faithful earnestness, but with no exaggeration. Her words alone convinced him that there was no intended lar- ceny, no design to steal the horse ; that the whole act was the result of the poor boy's intense anxiety for the safety of his father. This belief, joined to the irreproachable character of the family, rendered him conscious that duty did not require him to enforce the law against him.


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Soon after this the Oneida Oyer and Terminer com- menced its session, Honorable Samuel R. Betts pre- siding. As soon as the court was organized for busi- ness, Mr. Beardsley arose, and in a few but well-timed words stated to the judge the case of young Tener, concluding by saying that he felt confident that there was no crime intended on the part of the accused, and asked the court for leave to enter a nolle prosequi to the indictment. After consulting with the Honorable Norris Miller, then first judge of Oneida county, Judge Betts said :


"Mr. Beardsley, the court regards this as a sin- gular circumstance. Your own character, however, is a sufficient guaranty for the court to grant your request."


Whereupon, young Tener was discharged.


Mr. Beardsley's official term expired on the last day of December, 1838, and he was succeeded by Willis Hall. Thus, after an active public career of nearly thirty-six years, he retired to private life. But he had so long been an ardent actor in the great drama of politics, that he could not remain inactive. Be- sides, he understood the "effect of inactivity upon the physical structure and energies ; that rust is more fatal to metal than wear.


"The temper and intellect of man, secluded. from the scenes of appropriate stimulus and ex ercise, become relaxed and weakened. What would have become of Achilles, if his days had all melt- ed away in the tender, delicate, emasculating in- activity and indulgence of the court of Lycomedes ? The language of the ancient orator concerning his art may be applied to life, that not only its greatness but its enjoyment consists in action, ACTION. The feel- ings, for instance, may become so morbidly sensitive as to give an appearance of weakness to the whole character ; and this is likely to be specially the case of one with feelings of superior liveliness and deli-


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cacy, if he moves only in the hannts of silent, pro- found abstraction and contemplation-in those refined regions which may be termed a sort of paradise, where every conceivable source of enjoyment is cultivated for the fortunate and fastidious occupants, to the very uttermost, and all those things which fret, worry and harass the temper, the head and the heart of the dwellers in the rude regions of ordinary life, most anxiously weeded out, instead of entering into the throng of life, and taking part in its constant cares and conflicts-scenes which require all his energies to be always in exercise to keep his place and escape being trodden under foot. The man who feels a ten- dency to shrink from collision with his fellows, to run away, with distaste or apprehension, from the great practical business of life, does not enjoy com- plete moral or intellectual health-will quickly con- tract a silly conceit and fastidiousness, or sink into imbecility and misanthropy."


Nothing of this kind was allowed to affect the mind, or impair the intellect of Mr. Beardsley. As soon as he was relieved from the cares of office, he resumed the practice of a profession which he loved too well to abandon ; and in a very short time he found himself in the midst of a large and prosperous busi- ness. It was, however, confined to the General Term, and to the Court for the Correction of Errors, although he occasionally appeared at the Circuit.


In his appearance at the bar, he resembled John C. Spencer, though his imagination was not so entirely cold and colorless as that of Mr. Spencer, and there- fore he exhibited considerable enthusiasm in conduct- ing an argument, and in trying a cause before a jury.


Early in February, 1844, the judiciary, the bar, and the State, sustained an almost irreparable loss by the death of the excellent and learned Esek Cowen, then one of the justices of the Supreme Court of the State. His vast legal knowledge, his intimate acquaintance with precedent, his wonderfully retentive memory, his 25


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unceasing industry, his love of research, gave him the reputation of being one of the most erudite judges in the nation. His legal opinions are the trophies-the imperishable monuments of his great judicial powers ; they have been criticised for their length, their prolix- ity, and their discursiveness, but those faults, if indeed they can be considered faults, are the result of his great profundity. It caused him to trace every prin- ciple of law to its fountain head-to describe every variation and restriction in its course, modifying or neutralizing its force and meaning. All precedent, whether English, French or American, was as familiar to him as the simplest elemental principles. So sys- tematically were they arranged, in the vast storehouse of his memory, that he could lay his hand as easily upon the most remote or ancient adjudicated prin- ciple, as he could upon that which had just been pro- nounced, selecting the casual dictum which accom- panied them from the real question decided, with the most remarkable precision.


His application of the doctrine of recoupment to a class of actions sounding in damages, was but one of the many offsprings of his intuitive legal mind. In many respects, he was to the American bar what Mansfield was to the English. Like Mansfield, in pre- paring his legal opinions, he was accustomed to a liberal expenditure of mental capital, an excess of in- tellectual labor, which rendered them firm and solid in texture-fabrics elaborately finished, exhibiting the triumphs of a great intellect ; while they simplified the nice technicalities and distinctions of the ancient com- mon law, adapting it to the necessities of an enlight- ened age and a commercial people.


The lawyer, the student, the scholar, those who love the learning of the bar, those who admire judi- cious and philosophic arguments, and possess the in- dustry to seek for them, will find in the opinions of Judge Cowen, legal Golcondas glowing with richest gems of erudition.


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On the death of Judge Cowen, Governor Wright appointed Mr. Beardsley in his place. Perhaps no man in the State was better qualified for the position than he. Independent of that ability and cast of character which qualified him for the various high positions which he had occupied, he was remarkably adapted for a judicial position. His habits of patient and impartial investigation, his accurate judgment and quick perception, seemed to have formed him by nature for a judge, and he rose with great rapidity in public opinion, and in the estimation of the bar, and his brethren of the bench. In his inquiry after truth he was patient, diligent and laborious ; often revising his own opinions, communicating to his brethren his conclusions, and reasoning with freedom ; listening candidly to theirs, emancipating himself from all pride of opinion, ready to yield his own to more ap- parent truths.


The decisions pronounced by him from the bench of the Supreme Court, are the best history of his ju- dicial life. They bear the impress of his mind, and his positions are modestly yet firmly taken, and forti- fied by that judicial erudition which raised him to the front rank of his profession.


He occupied his seat upon the bench until the old Supreme Court passed away before the innovations made by the convention of 1846.


On the retirement of Chief Justice Bronson from the bench in June, 1847, Judge Beardsley succeeded him, and as John Jay was the first chief justice of the old Supreme Court, so Samuel Beardsley was the last. The office existed from the 8th day of May, 1777, un- til January 1st, 1848, and a long line of distinguished names embellished its record-names which lose noth- ing when compared with those great judges who have appeared on the page of England's judicial his- tory. Had they faults ? Doubtless, for they were human. But the biographer of men, who through a succession of years occupied a judicial position, and


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who with each passing year constantly increased in the esteem and confidence of the public, can find few if any faults that are worth to be recorded. They may have had the passions, the prejudices, the cupidity and jealousy of others, but they must have held them in control while in the discharge of their high func- tions.


Judge Beardsley, after retiring from the bench as chief justice of the Supreme Court, though not en- gaged in as many cases as some others, was coun- sel in nearly all of the most important cases in the Court of Appeals-causes involving from thousands to millions of dollars. In speaking of his ability, the late Nicholas Hill once said : "I had been retained as counsel in a very important cause, with the liberty of choosing my colleague from the ablest in the country, and without hesitation I selected Judge Beardsley."


In the elegant language of an eminent judicial officer of the State-Judge R. W. Peckham, "Judge Beardsley knew men and the springs of human ac- tion ; he was able to inspire them with a portion of the same spirit that fired his own bosom. He had really more of the General Jackson in him than any of the public men that survived the old hero."


Eminent as he was in ability, he was not less dis- tinguished for the high toned, manly integrity that characterized every act of his life. To say that he was honest, conveys no adequate conception. Fidelity. and truth were in every element of his nature. Many lawyers deem it entirely admissible, in preparing amendments to bills of exceptions, to speculate upon the forgetfulness, the possible partiality or fear of ap- pearing ridiculous, of the judge who tried the cause. Judge Beardsley was not of that number. The late . Joshua A. Spencer, who had practiced law in the same town with him for a quarter of a century, in al- luding to the chivalrous integrity of Judge Beardsley, observed to me that he never felt called upon to ex- amine with much care bills of exceptions or amend-


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ments from him, as he knew they were always pre- pared with a scrupulous regard for the truth of the case, as it occurred on the trial. Nor was he in the habit, on the argument of cases, of expressing his own opinion to the court as to the merits of his cause. He chose to prove the case in the legitimate model of authority and argument.


Though a candidate at various times for popular favor, in fact a public man, he never sought popu- larity by changing in the slightest degree from that urbane dignity and manly mien, the opposite of that of a demagogue, that always marked his carriage. He never could sink down into the sycophant-there was nothing of servility, nothing of hypocrisy, noth- ing of sham in the man. A delicate modesty always shone with peculiar grace upon the hardier features of his character."


Judge Beardsley died at Utica on the 7th day of May, 1860. He continued at the bar until a short time before his death. Two weeks before that event, he appeared in the Court of Appeals, and in a case involving many intricate questions, made an argu- ment to which the bench and the bar listened with pleasure and profit.


In person he was tall and commanding; there was that in his presence which evinced superiority ; and yet there was no repelling or chilling reserve in his manner. His features indicated thought, intellect and firmness, while his high forehead developed high moral and reflective faculties. On the bench, he was dignified and courteous ; his manner of listening to an argument elicited the confidence of the speaker, and drew from him all that he desired the court to understand.


"In private life, he was social and hospitable, in his family kind and tender ; no man enjoyed the so- ciety of his friends so perfectly as he did. 'Having completed the business of the day, it was peculiarly grateful to him to meet them in the confidence of


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private friendship, and then he was a most pleasing companion.' But he was 'lofty and sour to those who loved him not,' and to his enemies, those few, who in life, crossed his path in hatred, he was im- placable-sometimes aggressive in his resentment- he knew how to be a turbulent and persistent hater."


He was a firm believer in the Christian religion, un- ostentatiously devoted to the observance of its wor- ship. He had little respect for loud and stormy professions of religion, believing that deep and ardent piety, while it is intended to act powerfully on our whole nature-on the heart as well as on the under- standing and the conscience, is generally noiseless and seeks no display.


If there is one among all the great judges who have adorned the bench and bar of New York, to whose memory the language of eulogy and even pan- egyric is due, it is that of SAMUEL BEARDSLEY.


WILLIAM L. MARCY.


Birth and Parentage .- Enters Leicester Academy in the midst of the Excitement be- tween Jefferson and the Federalists .- Mr. Adams, the Principal, a Strong Federal- ist .- Young Marcy an Admirer of Jefferson .- The Debating Club .- Jefferson Attacked in it .- Marcy Defends him .- Reasons for Jefferson's Popularity .- Interview between Dr. Adams and Marcy .- The former Demands that Marcy shall Cease Defending Jefferson in the Debating Society .- Respectful but firm Answer of Marcy .- The Expulsion .- Returns to his Parents .- Is Commended for his Firmness by them .- Enters College .- Graduates .- Removes to Troy, and Commences the Study of Law .- Admitted to the Bar .- His Professional Progress not Flattering .- Continues to Study .- Slow increase of Business .- War with Eng- land .- Marcy Second in Command of the Troy Light Infantry .- Tenders that Company to Governor Tompkins .- Is accepted .-- The Company in active Service at French Mills .- Marcy assigned to lead the Attack on Fort Saint Regis .- The March .- The Sentinels .- The Attack .- The Contest, and the Victory .- The Tro- phies and the Prisoners .- General Dearborn .- Marcy's Company Attached to Colonel Pike's Regiment .- Colonel Pike Attacks the works of the British at Le Colle .- Marcy's Company Attacks the Indians with Slaughter .- Repulse of Pike. -Marcy's Time of Service Expires, and he Returns to his Profession .- Finds his Clients Scattered .- His Want of Professional Industry .- His Personal Appear- ance at this Period .- The Troy Female Seminary .- Mr. Marcy and the Ladies .- Marcy and the Heiress .- His Friendship for her .- No Romance in the case .- Is Reported to Faculty as Paying his Address to her .- The Elopement .- The Excitement .- The Pursuit .- The Parties Found, but no Elopement .- Chagrin of the Pursuers .- Astonishment of Marcy on learning that he has Eloped .- Great Merriment .- The Lady Graduates .- Meets Marcy at Washington with her Hus- band Years Afterward .- The Introduction .- Marcy as a Writer .- Effect of his Writings .- Martin Van Buren and Mr. Marcy .- Is Appointed Recorder of Troy .- Opposes De Witt Clinton .- Threatened Removal from the Office of Re- corder .- The Removal .- Marcy Dependent on his Profession .- Is the Author of the Celebrated Address to Bucktail Members of the Legislature .- Appointed Adjutant-General of the State .- Appointed Comptroller .- The Finances of the State .- Supports Judge Rochester for Governor against Clinton .- Who was the Author of Jackson and Van Buren's Messages ?- John Woodworth Resigns his Seat on the Bench of the Supreme Court .- Marcy Appointed in his Place .- Appointed to Hold the Lockport Oyer and Terminer for the Trial of Morgan's Abductors .- The Trial of Colonel Jewett .- Orsamus Turner, the principal Wit- ness against Jewett .- Refuses to Testify .- Exciting and Thrilling Scene .- The Imprisonment .- Character of Judge Marcy as a Judicial Writer .- Contrast be- tween Burke and Marcy .- Opinion of Judge Marcy in the case of the People v. Mather .- Judge Marcy appointed United States Senator .- His Reply to Mr. Clay in Defense of Van Buren .- He Sustains Jackson in his Policy .- Marcy at Harris- burgh .- Public Honors .- Speech .- Marcy Nominated and Elected Governor .-


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His Administration .- His Messages .- His Repeated Election .- John Tracy .- George Thompson .- Abolitionism .- Martin Van Buren, President of the United States .- Troubles of his Administration .- Marcy Retires to Private Life .- Ap- pointed Commissioner to Settle the Mexican Claims .- Great Defeat of the Democ- racy, 1840 .- Marcy presides at State Democratic Convention in 1843 .- Isappointed Secretary of War under Polk .- Mexican War .- Trouble with Generals Scott and Taylor .- Secretary of State under Pierce .- The Affair of Martin Kosta .- Captain Ingraham .- Correspondence with the Austrian Minister .- Marcy Retires to pri- vate Life .- His Manner of Life .- His Singular Death .- Reflections on his Char- acter.


WILLIAM L. MARCY was born at Sturbridge, now Southbridge, Worcester county, in the State of Massa- chusetts, December 12, 1786. He was descended from one of the oldest families in his native State. His father was Jedediah Marcy, a respectable farmer in comfortable circumstances. When William was in his fifteenth year, he was sent to an institution at Leicester, Massachusetts, known as the Adams' Acad- emy, for the purpose of preparing for college.


At this time, the struggle between the Federalists and the Democrats or Jeffersonians was beginning to attain that point of uncompromising bitterness, which eventually rendered it memorable in the history of the nation.


Mr. Adams, the principal of the academy, notwith- standing his many virtues and his rare qualifications, was a strong and even bigoted Federalist, though honest and well-meaning; while young Marcy had inherited from his father, those strong Democratic ten- dencies which grew with his growth and strengthened with his years.


Thomas Jefferson was then the coming man ; his simple manners, his opposition to the aristocratic ten- dencies of the Federal leaders, then exhibited itself " in combing his hair out of pigtails, discarding hair powder, wearing pantaloons instead of breeches, fast- ening his shoes with strings instead of elaborate buckles, and putting fine gentlemanism quite out of his heart." All this was pleasing, nay, captivat- ing to those who preferred plain republicanism to


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imitations of the court and customs of European sovereigns. To young Democracy, therefore, Jeffer- son, "the scholar, the philosopher, and the jurist," became a favorite and a leader; while, on the con- trary, his very name was a horror to the Federalist, who represented him as an infidel to whom the Bible was repugnant and religion hateful. So terrible did his name at length become to his opponents, that many pious old ladies talked of secreting their Bibles in strong boxes, in case he was elected president, for fear he would seize them and commit them to the flames.


Dr. Adams shared liberally in this hatred to Jef- ferson, and he frequently prayed "in earnest wrest- ling," that the country might be protected from his influence.


There was a debating society connected with the academy, to which young Marcy belonged. Young as he was, he was one of the chief disputants, but the partizan sentiments of the principal prevailed in the society ; Jefferson and his principles were often assailed with great bitterness. Young Marcy admired Jeffer- son, and he repelled these attacks single-handed and alone. The ability which he displayed in his defense began to exert an influence in the institution, and at length several of the students united with him, and the young student found himself the centre of a small, but increasing party. Dr. Adams now deemed it his duty to interfere ; accordingly, he summoned young Marcy to his room, for the purpose of expostulating with him upon the course he was pursuing, in advancing and sustaining his dangerous political sentiments. To his surprise, he found the young Democrat as firm and unflinching in his presence, as he was in the debate. It was in vain that the good doctor reasoned, threat- ened, and cajoled. He was met with arguments which he was puzzled to answer, and which were firmly, but modestly maintained.


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At length Mr. Adams saw that matters must be brought to a decided point.


"Am I to understand, then," said he, "that you are determined to openly advocate the course and the principles of that infidel, Jefferson, here in this institution ?"


"If I hear him or his principles openly attacked and abused, I certainly shall defend him. If, how- ever, you will forbid all allusion to politics, I will most cheerfully subscribe to the rule," said Marcy.


"It is my duty, sir, to expose error and wicked- ness in all ways and in every manner, and to teach my pupils to do the same; and therefore, I cannot es- establish such a rule," said the doctor.


"Then, sir, if you allow one class of students to discuss politics, you should give others the same priv- ilege," said the young man.


"No, sir ; not when one side proposes to advocate infidelity and all manner of evil," said the doctor.


" Who is to be the judge as to what political prin- ciples are erroneous ?" asked Marcy.


"I am, sir ; and to be plain, you must abandon all further public utterance of your sentiments here," was the reply.


"And if I do not obey this order, what is to be the consequence ?" asked the student.


"You will be expelled from the institution, sir."


"This is bigotry and injustice, Dr. Adams, and I shall leave your institution. My father will sustain me in refusing to remain where free discussion is not tolerated-where narrow and bigoted sentiments can be advanced in the hearing of those who differ from them, and where the privilege of replying is forbid- den," said Marcy.


The next day he left the academy, and returned home. He faithfully related to his father all that had occurred between himself and Dr. Adams; and both of his parents warmly commended him for the manly and independent course he had pursued. He was sent


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to another institution, where more liberal principles prevailed.


At length he completed his preparatory course, and entered Brown University, at Providence, Rhode Island, where, in July, 1808, he graduated.


Having decided to enter the legal profession, he removed to Troy, New York. Here he commenced and completed his legal studies.


While a student at law he was an active politician, still adhering to the principles and policy of Jefferson. He frequently participated in political discussions, ex- hibiting an extensive knowledge of the political ques- tions of the day, which rendered him a formidable antagonist and prominent as a politician.


After his call to the bar he opened an office at Troy ; but as he was surrounded by old and expe- rienced lawyers, and was wanting in those brilliant talents and those active energies which naturally at- tract the attention of the public, his professional suc- cess was not flattering. But he continued to pursue his legal studies with the same diligence that he did before his admission to the bar, perfecting himself in those solid acquirements which subsequently gave him his high position as a lawyer, judge and statesman.


The business with which he was entrusted was conducted promptly and with ability. The business men by whom he was surrounded began to discover in the modest and retiring young lawyer, legal abilities of a high order. He was one of those individuals, who, to be appreciated, must be thoroughly known, and, as his acquaintance extended, his business increased.


At length war with England was declared. Young Marcy was now at an age when there is a charm in a military life which is frequently irresistible. Yield- ing to the warlike spirit which pervaded the country, he determined to become a soldier.


At this time he held the rank of lieutenant in a light infantry company belonging to Troy, whose per-


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fect drill and soldierly discipline rendered it the pride of the city. Soon after the declaration of war, young Marcy, acting for the company, tendered its service to Governor Tompkins. It was promptly accepted, and was soon at French Mills, now Fort Covington, the seat of war, on the northern frontier.


The company reached camp about the middle of September, 1812. For some time the young officer was compelled to remain in listless inactivity. At length the American commander learned that a detachment of British soldiers was stationed at St. Regis, seven miles distant. After due consultation among the officers, it was decided to make a night attack upon the enemy, and Lieutenant Marcy was assigned to take command of the attacking forces.




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