The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II, Part 141

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II > Part 141

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).

Judge Neilson's services fully entitle him to distinction as a man, as a writer, and as a jurist. He was fortunate in having descended from a notably long-lived stock. His sturdy frame, and the vigor and determination which have formed the lines of his countenance as their fittest expression, betoken stamina and vitality. A certain air of rugged energy, and a manly and reso- lute bearing, show him to be a man apart, and admirably befit his station. His voice is peculiar, and at once attracts attention; capable of great softness of expression, it rises in rapid grada- tions when excited or aroused. His mind is distinguished for clearness and quickness of perception, strength of memory and accuracy of reasoning. He is possessed of great firmness of purpose, and, as a consequence, his self-possession and patience are not easily disturbed. As stated by Mr. Bigelow : "He holds to John Calvin, denying the austerities imputed to the Institutes, but supplements the qualification that fore-ordination followed, as a necessary consequence, fore-knowledge. Judge Neilson is not bigoted, however; he believes that a pure spirit and devout worship are accepted without regard to mere creeds. He has no intellectual fear; feels no need of an index expurgatorius. He reads Emerson, not for his opinions, but because he finds in him greater power and fertility of expression than in other mod- ern authors. He has said that he believed Emerson must have read the Bible until his mind became imbued with its literary spirit; that not only he, but Walter Savage Landor, Daniel Web- ster, Rufus Choate and, in later days, whoso uses the English language most powerfully, must have drank freely at the same source; and that in such instances the benefit can be traced as certainly as the indebtedness of Tennyson for graces of thought and expression can be to the Greek. In a late conversation with critica st the club he repelled an attack upon some old authors, now fallen much out of use, and confessed his regard for Young's 'Night Thoughts' and Hervey's ' Meditations,' the companions of his youth. He also claimed that the human race, in its intuitive wants and strivings, had given a sufficient an- swer to modern skeptics, as in all ages, climes, and conditions of men, there had been a desire to propitiate an overruling power; all down the track of history, crumbling altars from which the smoke of sacrifice had gone up."

It seems desirable, in the first instance, to consider Judge Neilson's relation to Literature, especially as a writer. Judge Neilson, has been a grest reader, this is suggested by his style as a writer. Bacon, Milton, Johnson and Shakespeare, have been his familiar companions. Gifted with an active imagination, Burke, Jeremy Taylor and Rufus Choate are in a special degree his favorites. He thinks Walter Scott and Charles Dickens have done missionsry service in elevating the race; in teaching a spirit of

charity and kindness toward the poor and humble. Indeed, he values highly romantic literature when written in a pure spirit. Some years ago he contributed to the Home Magazine, articles in the form of "Imaginary Conversation," between Dr. Rudd, of the Gradagrind school, and Mr. Jarvis, who sought to persuade him that works of fiction might be useful. We have selected a few passages as illustrations of a free conversational stlye:

- Dr. Rudd. "But I cannot believe that yon men of the law read works of fiction."

Mr. Jarvis. "They have done so, to wit: Chief Justice Mar- shall, Thomas J. Oakley, George Wood and others."

Dr. R. "I had thought that such men read the law, ex- clusively."

Mr. Jarvis. "Did you, when in practice, prescribe the 'tinc- ture of iron' for every patient? Rufus Choate said 'that for a time he read law exclusively, and dried his mind."'

R. " I don't know Mr. Choate; sensible man, no doubt. But what good have works of fiction wrought out?"

J. "In the first place, you must remember that the novel or ro- mance is not in its details and circumstances a mere invention. The most original of such writers could not make up their sub- jects, so the story is generally founded on fact, or an accepted fable-the characters, the delineations of known persons of special or shining qualities."

R. "Yet Î should prefer a veritable piece of biography."

J. "You might. But if the author has some good or great purpose in view, that purpose is worked out and illustrated by the characters, acting each in his place, according to his own nature, and the mere biography becomes subordinate. You may state truth and virtue, or meanness and hypocrisy, in the concrete, and with logical and philosophical reflections, to little purpose; but give the facts a personality, visible to the eye, and the argument becomes vivid. Thus, to realize how the suitors have been held in suspense, in a given case, generation after generation, in an English Court of Chancery, follow the counsel and the suitors into court; to know the cruelty and starvation of the Yorkshire schools, attend with the new teacher, whose soul revolts on his first day's service; to realize what the condition of a healthy sane man is when consigned to a lunatic asylum, stand by him, as with beads of perspiration on his brow he listens to what chills your own blood. Then conviction, else so passive, becomes active and irrepressible. There are instances where despite petitions, parliamentary reports, speeches and statutes, all so decorous, proper and correct, a grievous wrong or abuse has lived on and throve until the so-called romance came to the rescue. Under the novelist's treatment, the fact in its full proportions became so real, so illustrated and intensi- fied, that men called his work fiction. It may not have been fiction, but the whole truth came in new and unwonted aspects; as if upon the hateful thing, hid away in dark streets, or behind stone walls, the full light of day had been poured out for the first time. Then the indignation of honest men and women became aroused; the popular heart beating loud enough to dis- turb drowsy officials in their easy chairs. Then the desired re- form became easy and certain."

As illustrations of Judge Neilson's more finished works, we quote from one which impresses us with its vigor, ability, ele- gance, and vivacity, and with the penetration and discernment of its author as a reviewer. It is his review of " Parker's Reminis- cences of Rufus Choate," which appeared in the Albany Law Journal, and which was introduced by the editor of that journal as follows:

"It is full of terse suggestions to be pondered by students, and even by authors. It is, moreover, so happy in illustration, so genial and sprightly, that the criticism becomes as exquisite and pleasing as it is pungent and severe. It is gratifying to know that a lawyer of Judge Neilson's conceded learning and ability has had the time and the good taste to cultivate a style at once so forcible and so pure and musical."

It was said of Lord Jefferies, an illustrious Judge, an unsparing but elegant reviewer, that it was not the discovery of merit, but the detection and exposure of defects; which guided his pen; that everything was forgotten except the agonies of his victims, enhanced by the ridicule under which he suffered. Not so with Judge Neilson. He reviews and criticises with humor so broad, with wit so genial, as to calm the resentful, and to dis- arm the malicious. As he passes on with the review, to which we have referred, he reaches the point where Parker, describing Choate's grest powers as a lawyer, says, " After all, the jury ad-

1218

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

vocate must, to some extent, he a mountebank, if not a juggler or a trickster." A more pungent criticism than Judge Neil- Bon applies to this remark is not found in the language of satire, and nowhere is there a more enlarged and truthful considera- tion of the duties and responsibilities of an advocate, in so brief a space. Says Judge Neilson:

"Uncharitable things have been said of many great advocates; but, as an illustration, the worst thing ever said of Choate was, that he could play the artful dodge in reading an affidavit. That was but a rude description of fine, forcible, effective reading; reading which gives significance and character to vital passages, discloses the latent sense and spirit, aids the apprehension, and receives a certain, and it may be a favorable, interpretation. Such a reader, natural, yet artistic, 'tells the great, greatly; the small, subordinately;' and thus we have heard Macready play the artful dodge; thus Fanny Kemble Butler; thus the gentle Melancthon may have read; thus every pulpit orator, from Whit- field down.

With all his gifts and acquisitions, the advocate must be a high- toned, moral man, not a harlequin; a vital utterance, not a mere sham. Jurors are representative men, coming from the entire circle of the social zodiac, and are practical, sensible, and often Bagacious men, as fond of fair dealing in counsel as in suitors."

Speaking of the office of the author of those reminiscences, Neilson says: "In personal delineations of this nature the true author is sympathetic; his purpose fills his heart and brain, takes possession of all his faculties; he feels as one of old did, when he said: 'Woe is me if I preach not this gospel!' "

There is much in this review that exhibits the most perfect critical skill. It closes with delicate and finely shaded touches of sadness, suggested by some phases of Choate's life, revealing deep fountains of generous sympathy in the heart of the learned reviewer, He says:

" We have always had a fondness for Mr. Choate, the unique man of his day, so brilliant, yet so logical. Thanks to the author, we now see him in new phases of life, and learn many things about him unknown before. But we close the book, and muse in sadness. Poor Choate ! What severance and alienation from the sources of life, health, and elasticity ! He had no Ash- land, no Marshfield, no Sunnyside; no flocks or herds; no fields of golden grain; but the school, the closed study, the dusty street, the crowded forum; so half bis nature was stifled in its growth, if not killed. How, through life, he turned blindly from the smiling mother earth, when, as only a true mother can, she would have comforted and soothed him! How he looked on coldly while his school-fellows enjoyed sports ordained for him ! How, in later years, he read, and read when a gorgeous sunset or a waving forest would have fed his famished spirit ! How he brooded about books, as he passed inspiring landscapes, and felt no thrill as they spoke to him ! How he treasured up and tried to love a piece of cold statuary, but had no interest in the perfection of form and motion-man's friend in service- though he trots the air, and the earth sings as he touches it; though his neigh is like the bidding of a monarch, and his countenance en- forces homage."

An address delivered by Judge Neilson at the opening of "The Annual Exhibition of the Brooklyn Industrial Institute," in 1873 (published in pamphlet form), was described in the newpapers of the day as a remarkable production as to style, comprehensiveness and thought. We cite a few passages, feel- ing quite confident that they will find a responsive acceptance in the minds of our readers, although the subject he discusses is a dry one, in which no man but Judge Neilson could touch a chord of sympathy. Thus, in speaking of labor-saving machines, he says:

"The labor-saving machine characterizes the nineteenth cen- tury, and in its inception and growth is indigenous to this country. It has made good a thousand-fold the poetic concep- tions of the good fairies bringing gifts; of the Scandivian troll lifting the cart out of the mire, and in the dark threshing out the corn; and of Briareus with a hundred hands. It works on what might he too trifling to confer credit, as steadily as on what the armies of the Republic wait for; is neither proud, nor exclusive, nor capricious."

He then describes the rapid improvement in American labor- saving machines, particularly agricultural machinery; after which he refers, in the following touching manner, to the fate and fortunes of the inventors of these wonderful improvements:

"But almost every earthly thing, the work or device of man, however grand and beautiful, has some qualification casting a shade of Borrow over our joy. Thus, as we testify our gratitude to the inventors who have nursed in their souls, and with long travail, as in pain, breathed forth the marvelous conceptions embodied in these artificial workers for our fields, and mines, and factories, we cannot forget that many of them fainted by the way, died without seeing the fruits of their labors. Even in the cases of some of those who are known and remembered, what delay, what discouragement, what despair, as they sat by the wayside, waiting long for the tardy recognition !"

Having dwelt upon our material wealth, coal mines and minerals, in relation to our national greatness, such as might satisfy the pride of any people, he continues:

" But our highest claim to respect, as a nation, rests not in the gold, nor in the iron and the coal, nor inventions and dis- coveries, nor in agricultural productions, nor in our wealth, grown so great that a war debt of billions fades out under min- istrations of the revenue collector, without fretting the people ; nor, indeed, all these combined. That claim finds its true ele- ments in our systems of education and of unconstrained reli gious worship; in our wise and just laws, and the purity of their administration; in the conservative spirit with which the minority submit to defeat in a hotly-contested election; in a free press; in that broad humanity which builds hospitals and asylums for the poor, sick and insane on the confines of every city; in the robust, manly, buoyant spirit of a people competent to admonish others and rule themselves; and in the achieve- ments of that people in every department of thought and learning."

On the proceedings at the Acadamy of Music, Brooklyn, Decoration Day, 1877, a day made memorable by the splendid oration of Gen. Roger A. Prior, Judge Neilson presided. In his introductory remarks he referred to the Soldiers' Home, then a new institution, and then, as if three years had passed, thus pleasingly assumes the work completed, he says:

"The land has been secured, the funds largely obtained, and the work has been commenced. As the vision rises before me, I choose, in anticipation, to regard the work as finished, the last stone laid, the last nail driven, this 30th day of May, 1880. In the morning light it looks as beautiful as the chosen City of the King. It is the more fit for its sacred use, as no debt rests npon it to mar or corrode its bloom. This is the day of its consecration. You throw open the gates widely and take the soldier by the hand. You say, 'Sir, this is your land; enter as the heir of a generous people. These shady walks are yours, this house is yours, this your room. Take the easy chair by the open window and look out upon the landscape.' You stand by him and note how his poor tremulous hands move, how his face flushes, how his grim visage grows almost handsome, the tears coursing down his cheeks. You hear his voice and bend to listen; he is utter- ing thanks to God and thanks to men. He repeats the word 'Home! Home" perhaps contrasting this with the home of his childhood, and forgetting the troubled time, a dreary waste, that lies between. But he puts a question in a voice so surcharged with emotion that you do not catch the sense. He repeats it, and you answer, 'Yes, you will have part in that also. When yon leave this for your final resting-place upon the hill, you will be remembered on Decoration Day.' He seems content, and you leave him to his meditations.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are told, and I think truly, that the trees upon the range of hills, and on the mountain summits, entice to the earth the else forgetful rain. But more surely shall such service and charity of a people, exemplifying so nearly the teachinge of the Master, draw down from Heaven a blessing 80 large that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

On the first day of August, 1875, Judge Neilson delivered an address before the Young Men's State Christian Association, which was highly commended by the press for its opulence of thought and felicity of diction. In impressing upon his audience the cause they have for gratitude to those who had worked for their intellectual benefit, and the slow growth of principle, he uses the following happy illustration:

" At the seashore you pick up a pebble fashioned, after a law of nature, in the form that best resists pressure, and worn as smooth as glass. It is so perfect that you take it as a keepsake. But could you know its history from the time when, a rough fragment of rock, it fell from the overhanging cliff into the sea, to be taken possession of hy under currents, and dragged from one ocean to another, perhaps around the world, for a hundred

1219

BENCH AND BAR OF BROOKLYN.

years, until, in reduced and perfect form, it was cast upon the beach, as you find it, you would have a fit illustration of what many principles now in familiar use have endured-thus tried, tortured and fashioned during the ages. We stand by the river aad admire the great body of water flowing so sweetly on: could you trace it back to its source you might find a mere rivulet, but meandering on, joined by other streams, and by secret springs, aad fed by the rains and dews of Heaven, it gathers volume and force, makes its way through the gorges of the mountains, plows, widens and deepens its channel through the provinces, and attains it present majesty. Thus it is that our truest systems of science had small beginnings, gradual and countless contri- butions, and finally took their place in use; as each of you, from helpless childhood, have grown to your present strength and maturity. No such system could be born in a day. It was not as when nature, in fitful pulsations of her strength, suddenly lifted the land into mountain ranges; but rather as, with small secretions, gathered in during countless years, she builds her islands in the seas. It took a long time to learn the true nature sud office of governments; to discover and secure the principles commonly indicated by such terms as ' magna charta,' the ‘bill of rights,' 'habeas corpus,' and the 'right of trial by jury;' to found the family home, with its laws of social order, regulating the rights and duties of each member of it, so that the music at the domestic hearth might flow on without discord-the house- hold gods so securely planted that 'though the wind and the rain might enter, the king might not;' to educate noise into music, and music into melody; to infuse into the social code and into the law a spirit of Christian charity, something of the benign temper of the New Testament, so that no man could be perse- cuted for conscience' sake, so that there should all of human sacrifice fer mere faith or opinion; the smouldering fire at the foot of the stake put out now, thank God, as effectually as if all the waters that this night flood the rivers had been poured in upon them. It took a long time to learn that war was a foolish and cruel method of settling international differences, as com- pared with arbitration; to learn that piracy was less profitable than a liberal commerce; that unpaid labor was not as good as well regulated toil ; that a splenetic old woman, falling into trances and shrieking prophecies, was a fit subject for the asylum rather than to be hurned as a witch. It took a long, long time after the art of printing had been perfected, before we learned the priceless value, the sovereign dignity and usefulnes+ of a free press,"

Chief Justice Neilson has a profound regard for Sydney Smith, and wishes to rescue his fame from the trivial estimate of him which obtains among us. His pen has done very much to effect this object; and in a lecture delivered before the Lay College, Judge Neilson succeeded, by ingenious and unanswer- able arguments, founded on facts, in placing the name of Sydney Smith where it belongs-among great intellectual lights. This lecture was published in the Brooklyn Eagle, and made its way from the columns of that paper into the leading magazines and journala, eliciting liberal and highly favorable reviews.

Judge Neilson occupies a conspicuous place as a legal writer, and has largely enriched the legal literature of the nation. The leading legal magazines of the country bear ample evidence of this, while the pages of our law reports contain many of his well-reasoned opinione.

Thus far, we have allowed Judge Neilson to speak for himself, in his own styls and manner, on a variety of topics. We cannot, however, take leave of this branch of our subject without refer- riag to another fragment, taken from a series of articles written by him, and published in the New York Independent. Treating of men and methods of the olden times, he refers to Coke and Bacon, and contrasts somewhat their peculiarities. Referring to the conferences which the king had with the judges, often seeking to secure their support of his legal plans, he says that " In one of these conferences Coke thought to teach James I. that he was not above the law, could not add to or alter it, er create new offenses. At another interview, Bacon, the attorney-general, present, and supporting the king in his arro- gant pretensions, the question was put whether the judges would obey the royal mandates. All the other judges, infirm of purpose, answered yes ; but, with the moderation and dignity which be- came his office, Coke said : 'When the case happens, I shall do thst which shall be fit for a judge to do.'

"By hisindependence Coke paved the way for his dismissal from office, a disgrace for which Bacon, neither the greatest nor mean- est of mankind, had toiled, and in which he enjoyed a tempor-

ary triumph. But though, in that deprivation, Coke revealed what Sheridan might have called ' the flabby part of his charac- ter,' he was thus left free to act as a statesman.

" We call up in review before us the life of Coke with alter- nate emotions of regret, shame, sorrow, pride and consolation. Was that life as a journey of a day? If so, it was by pathways through dreary and desolate wastes, over Serbonian bogs, each footstep sinking in the elime, but occasionally leading up to Al- pine hights, glowing with celestial light and beauty. It was a life often marred by want of moral tone; often redeemed by elevated sentiments ; full of distortions and contradictions. As the Speaker when in Parliament, under Elizabeth, he was shame- fully subservient ; as a crown officer, extorting confessions from prisoners put to the torture, he was pitiless ; as uttering re- proaches and accusations against Sir Walter Raleigh, on trial for his life, he was fierce and brutal His devotion to study and his mastery of the law were unprecedented; his assertion of his rights as ajudge, against royal intrusion, was admirable; his intrigue to regain the royal favor by the marriage of his daughter to the brother of Buckingham was intolerable ; his independence, virtue, courage, devotion in Parliament, under James I. and Charles I. gave special grace and value to the history of the times. But our sensibilities are touched when we find him a prisoner in the Tower of London. The room in which he is confined, long devoted to ignoble uses, becomes sacred. We enter with rever- ence, as upon holy ground. He is absorbed in his work on the Commentaries. As he writes the hand is tremulous ; but that hand had never been polluted by accepting bribes.

"In some aspects of life and character Coke appears to greater advantage than Bacon. Both were insatiate in their ambition, implacable in their resentments. The one was rough in man- ners, arrogant in speech, ready to strike terrible blows openly; but poor in feigning and clumsy in changing his ground. The other was courtly, plausible, serene, had a gentle touch, even when that touch boded ruin, was an athlete in fencing with cunning words, had the facial adroitness of a trimmer, was covetous, to his own disgrace and ruin. Those who dislike the one may well despise the other. For neither of them can we feel the love and sympathy we have for Sir John Fortescue and Sir Thomas More. In scientific speculation, no jurist has commanded as much respect as Bacon. In exact and profound knowledge of the old common and statute law, none could rival Coke. But, in view of the times in which they lived, the work allotted, and the materials in which they wrought, it would be unjust to weigh and estimate their labors with refer- ence to the more enduring and fruitful services of the great English jurists and statesmen of later days. In the freedom of judicial inquiry and direction, in the temper of the people, the condition of trade and commerce, and in the character of legis- lation, there had been a great advance between their time and that of Hardwick. Coke and Bacon could not for any practical purpose have adapted their work to the coming and higher civilization. As in the natural world we have progress and rota- tion, each season performing its appropriate office, so in the in- tellectual, social, and political life of a people events are mar- shalled in due order and relation-a gradual development. What was easy of achievement when the times were ripe for it would have been impossible if attempted prematurely or out of season. When Mansfield moulded and illustrated our commercial law the materials were at hand, plastic and ready for use."

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.

The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II, Part 141

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co Number of Pages: 1345

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345