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 150

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 150

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WILLIAM C. DE WITT.

ME. DE WITT occupies & very prominent position 88 & lawyer; eminent for his legal learning, for his endowments ss an advo- cate, and for his accomplishments ss a writer. His taste has been formed by a diligent study of the classics and by perusing the best English writers.

It is now understood that the education of & lawyer demands something more than a mere nominal knowledge of law, unac- companied by any other knowledge; that the cultivation of the sciences and an enlarged and refined literary taste produces the same effect upon the mental structure ss does that architecture which st once strengthens snd embellishes an edifice; that administrative abilities and dialectic skill may meet in one mind.

Mr. De Witt belongs to that large class of lawyers whose lives and practice render the legal really a learned profession, instead of a system of empiricism.

In the midst of his engrossing legal career he has found time to indulge his literary tastes, and by submitting to laborious and persevering study, he has not only enlarged his legal learn- ing, but has enriched his mind with many other useful acquire- ments; so that st the Bar, on the platform, as a political or litersry speaker, he always commands the most respectful atten- tion, leaving in the minds of his hearers something to remember and to reflect upon long after his address is ended.

We have spoken of Mr. De Witt as a writer; perhaps this is unnecessary, for his written productions speak for themselves, and sre the beat evidence of the sbility with which he wields the pen, and because he has no aspirations as a professional writer, and never resorts to the pen except in those interims of legal labor which sometimes permit him to do so.

In 1881 he published a charming little volume, containing some of his speeches snd writings, which he modestly but sp- propriately entitles " Driftwood from out the Current of a Busy Life."

There is much in this work which blends instruction with delight; the style is succinct and animated; there is & glow and force in all he ssys, and s reach of thought and reflection which renders it & valuable snd instructive companion. The hook opens with an orstion delivered by him in the Brooklyn Institute, February 22d, 1874, in which he selected "Madison snd Burr" as his subject. This production was justly and highly com- mended for its litersry besuty and for its philosophic analysis of the character of the two great men whose lives and careers he considered. If we should venture & criticismn it would be, that Mr. De Witt, with all his originality, sdopts the custom of all speakers and writers, that of exalting Hamilton above a fault and lowering Burr below the virtues which were really his due. But his conception of the character and career of Madison has . the undoubted merit of truth to history, and of being a faithful mental portrait of that great statesman.

Spesking of Mr. Madison and his efforts in establishing the Constitution, Mr. De Witt says: "No man equaled him in in- dustry and attention to his duties. He bore his part in every clanse of the Constitution, and so minute and careful were his minutes of the proceedings, that, after his death, Congress pur- chased his records, as essential to history. He was one of the master-builders of the Constitution; and if his speeches snd reports in the Convention where it was adopted stood alone, he would still be entitled to the lasting gratitude of his country- men."

In contrasting Burr with Madison, he says: "The contrast between the leading features of these two characters, that of Burr and that of Madison, is too bold and striking to require express delineation. Burr took his inspirations from the phan- toms of chivalry; Madison drew his from the fountains of truth. Burr followed the instincts of his ambition and yielded to the seductions of his passions; Madison never betrayed the teach- ings of his conscience, or forsook his loyalty to his soul. Burr loved the arts of war; Madison cultivated the arts of pesce. Burr was an sdroit politician; Madison & profound statesman. Burr practiced law by the exercise of his wits; Madison studied it from a love of science."

Perhaps one of the most attractive departments of the volume to which we have alluded, is Mr. De Witt's address on John Howard Payne, delivered st the unveiling of the bust of that illustrious poet, in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, September 27, 1873.

A distinguished jurist of Brooklyn has ssid, that ·· some por- tions of this address rival anything found in the English language." And his remarks sre just; no man is more capable of weighing in the balance the productions of genius than Joseph Neilson; for it was he who made the remark we have quoted.

Speaking of Mr. Payne's " Home, Sweet Home," the speaker said : " It is remarkable neither for elegance of diction nor harmony of numbers. But it has crowded into a few lines every thought and sentiment and scene of its blessed subject."

"' The lowly thatched cottage,' the ' singing birds,' the ' hal- lowing charms from above,' and the ' peace of mind better than Bll.' It is full of the fruit and essence of its theme. Yetmust this poem have slept the sleep of the forgotten and the lost, had it got no better succor than the printer's ink and the inquiring eye of the scholar. It wanted the tune which was to hum it wherever the English language was or should be spoken,' Music was

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BENCH AND BAR OF BROOKLYN.

needed, and music came. As when some parent bird on lofty piaions circling above his eyrie, seeing his young prepared to fly, yet fearful of the elements, descends, and, bearing the fledg- ling forth to mid heaven, puts him on his experimental voyage through the air ; so music came to this rich germ of poetic senti- ment, and, up-bearing it upon the cloud of melody, in which it has ever since lived and moved and had its being, sent it chant- ing and singing forever and forever through the world."

"Robert Burns " was the subject of an address by Mr. De Witt, delivered at Eckford Hall, Brooklyn, January 27th, 1879. The occasion was s banquet given in celebration of the 120th anni- versary of the birth of Burns, in response to the toast ." The Genius of Burns.' That Mr. De Witt has a lively appreciation of the inner life of this great poet of nature in seen from the whole of the address to which we have alluded. The following extract from it will always find a ready response not only in the hearts of his own countrymen, but in the hearts of the thousands ia all countries, who love Robert Burns for what he has written.

"Scotchmen ! His genius is your living voice in the world. It has transformed your ancient dialect into music; it has given utterance to every sentiment of your heart; it has painted the peculiar scenery of your native land. Robert Burns comes to you not from out castle walls, or through long lines of lordly ancestry. He is your peasant poet; the bright consummate flower of the democracy of Scotland; he belongs only to the aristocracy of individual merits, and slthough the choicest marble wrought by living hands surmounts his last resting place, his only throne is in the hearts of his fellow-men. His songs are sung wherever the English language is spoken. They are sung by sailors on ships' decks, in the starlight, on every ses. They resound with the violin of the pioneer in the distant woods of the Redmau, as they mingle with the nurse's lullaby in the homes of the forests of our own romantic North."

The contents of his book are divided into four departments : Literary, Forensic, Political and Official, in which are found most appropriate and ably written productions.

William C. De Witt was born at Paterson, New Jersey, Janu- ary 25th, 1840. He was educated at Fort Plain and Claverack seminaries ; having completed his classical course, he took up the study of law with James R. Whiting, and finished it in the office of that illustrious jurist, Ambrose L. Jordan. He received his license to practice law at a General Term of the Supreme Court held at Poughkeepsie, June, 1861. Very soon thereafter, he opened an office in Brooklyn, and entered on a professional career which, as we have seen, led him to distinction, while be- fore him lie fresh and new professional honors.

He is especially accomplished in the laws of corporations, though it is not altogether a specialty with him. He has occasion- ally been engaged as counsel in criminal cases. His defense of Gonzalez, tried for the murder of Ortero at Brooklyn, in January, 1866, is remembered as a masterly forensic effort. A long list of civil cases in which he has been engaged as counsel exhibit at once the extent of his professional duties and his ability in dis- charging them.

Mr. De Witt is, and always has been, a Democrat. His abili- ties have been so widely and justly acknowledged by the leaders of his party, that with their assent he occupies a place at the head of his party. His speeches, delivered in various State Con- ventions and other political gatherings, show how capable he is of appealing successfully to the masses, as well as to the more select of the party.

Mr. De Witt was Corporation Counsel for Brooklyn for thirteen years-six successive terms. This is, we believe, all the office he has ever held. The administration of this office by Mr. De Witt covers & long and interesting period in the legal and municipal history of Brooklyn. The number, importance and variety of the cases he was called upon to try, as the law officer of a grest corporation, and the manner in which he conducted these trials, conspicuously exhibit his high qualifications as a lawyer.

Soon after the retirement of Judge Tracy from the Bench of the Court of Appeals, Mr. De Witt formed a copartnership

with that distinguished jurist and one of his sons, under the firm name of Tracy & De Witt. It is needless, perhaps, to add that this firm occupies a commanding position in the legal profession.

Mr. De Witt, to his immediate friends, is courteous and oblig- ing; an entertaining and profitable companion. With strangers and casual acquaintances he is reticent, distant and somewhat cold in his bearing; but on the whole we may say, without fear of contradiction, that he is an ornament to the Brooklyn Bar.

ROGER A. PRYOR.

GENERAL PRYOR has been a resident of Kings County about twenty years, and in that time he has won the highest dis- tinction at the Bar, in literary and political circles. His career has been so eminent, and so highly appreciated, that he has been the subject of a very ably written, just and com- prchensive biographical sketch, from which we are permitted to insert the following extract:

"Roger A. Pryor was born in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, July 19, 1828. He is descended from the ancient family of Bland, famous in the annals of Virginia. Col. Theodorick Bland was an officer in the army of the Revolution, a member of Congress, and of the Convention that framed the Constitution. He was the friend and counselor of Gen. Washington, of the Marquis de Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson, and other distinguished men in the early history of our country. From the Blands spring many of the famous men of Virginia-John Randolph, of Roanoke, Henry St. George Tucker, Gen. Robert E. Lee, and others. Young Pryor graduated from Hampden Sidney College, in 1845, and afterwards from the University of Virginia. He entered upon the practice of law at Charlottesville, Va., but an affection of the throat obliged him to abandon it, and he became a journalist. His management of a small country paper at- tracted the attention of the editor of The Washington Union, then the organ of the Democratic party under Gen. Pierce. Mr. Pryor was offered an editorial position on The Union, which he accepted in 1854. During his association with this journal, he wrote an article on the relations between the United States and Great Britain and Russia, as affected by the then pending English and Russian war. The tone of the article was anti- English. Appearing in the journal supposed to have the sanc- tion of our Government, it made a profound impression, especial- ly as it appeared to indicate a sympathy with Russia on the part of President Pierce's Administration. While editor of The Union, Mr. Pryor sustained friendly and confidential relations with President Pierce, who in 1855 appointed him on a special mis- sion to Greece, to adjust certain difficulties with that country. He was absent for a year in prosecution of this work, which he conducted with very great success, receiving the thanks of the Government for his efforts. Mr. Pryor returned from Europe in 1856. The country was then passing through the famous ' Know-Nothing' anti-Catholic political excitement which pre- ceded our Civil War. Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, was candidate for Governor in opposition to the ' Know-Nothing' movement. Mr. Pryor purchased a share in The Richmond Enquirer, the lesd- ing newspaper of the South, and took an active and prominent part in the campaign, opposing the mad theories of the 'Know- Nothing' Native American party. The triumph of Gen. Wise, as Governor, was the conclusive defeat of the Native American movement, which then passed out of the politics of this country, and was succeeded by the anti-slavery agitation, that im- mediately assumed the alarming proportions which culminated in civil war. Mr. Pryor's connection with this campaign gave him a national reputation, and in 1857 he was elected to Congress from the district formerly represented by John Randolph, of Roanoke.

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"Coming into Congressional life with President Buchanan's Administration, Gen. Pryor took an active part in affairs. Until the secession of the Southern States, he opposed, in the discus- sions of the time, all measures tending to the disruption of the Union, resisting the unwise counsels of extremists, pleading against violence and war. In the last speech he uttered in the House, he used these words, which may be quoted as an illustra- tion of his political opinions at a time when the animosities pre- vailed: 'Imagine the complete subjugation of the South, after every spark of vitality is extinguished, and her inanimate form lies prostrate before you; tell me what recompense do you gain for the sacrifice, what consolation for your fratricidal deed? From the respect due the memory of our common ancestry, for the sake of a land to be rent by the cruel lacerations of the sword, and in reverence of the virtues of a benign religion, we deprecate & conflict of arms ! By the persuasions of these pious and pathetic importunities, we would soothe in every breast the spirit of strife, and invoke the pacific intervention of reason for the adjustment of our disputes.' But the disputes between North and South had gone beyond the 'pacific intervention of reason;' and when war became inevitable, and Mr. Lincoln called on Virginia for her quota of troops, Mr. Pryor urged her to stand in front of her Southern brethren, and drew his own sword gallantly in her defense. He remained in Washington until the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, having been re-elected to his seat in Congress, and to the last enjoyed the friendship of some of the purest men of the hostile section-of Mr. Buchanan, Gen. Lewis Cass, Jno. P. Kennedy, Gen. Winfield Scott, and others. Like every true Southerner, he ardently took sides with his State. He was twice elected member of the Confederate Congress, was made colonel of a regiment, and promoted to briga- dier-general, after the battle of Williamsburg. He served in the memorable battles around Richmond, and in the battle of Sharps- burg. In consequence of a misunderstanding with Jefferson Davis, Gen. Pryor resigned his commission and volunteered as a private soldier. For two years he served in the ranks, and fought in the battles around Petersburg, until he was captured and imprisoned in Fort Lafayette. A few weeks before the end of the war he was released from his imprisonment by order of President Lincoln, and remained in Petersburg on parole, until the surrender of Gen. Lee. The war at an end, the South subju- gated, the old political system destroyed, Gen. Pryor came to New York."

We here close our quotation from the very able production touching the character and career of Gen. Pryor to which we have alluded.

Gen. Pryor had always been a close student, and at the Uni- versity of Virginia studied law one year, but, as he gave his attention to other matters, he never practiced but a short time, as we have seen.

He removed to New York with the intention of making the legal profession his future avocation in life; but as he had so long neglected it, he was obliged to commence his studies anew after becoming a resident of New York, although he was at that time 35 years of age, without fortune, with a large family, and in a strange community. He began his studies with deter- mination, supporting himself and family by writing for the press. In due time he was admitted to the Bar of the State of New York, after creditably undergoing an examination. He immediately opened an office in the city of New York, and en- tered at once upon a large and lucrative practice. Heavy and re- sponsible retainers followed each other in quick succession, and in a very short period of time he was regarded as a leading lawyer. Among the important cases in which he appeared as counsel was that of the Beecher trial ; the Elevated Rail. road case ; the case of Kennedy v. Kennedy ; Kelly v. The Common Council of Brooklyn ; Ullman v. Megar ; he was counsel for Gov. Sprague of Rhode Island in his divorce suit, and of counsel with Gen. Butler in all the Sprague estate

litigation; as counsel with Gov. Butler in the United States Circuit Court in the suit to recover the New York and New England Railroad for its original stockholders ; defended Gov. Ames on his impeachment by the Legislature of Mississippi. He was the first to attack the elevated railroads in Patten v. R. R. Company. He got & decision in Ullman v. Megar, that & promise to marry is within the Statute of Frauds as to agree- menta not to be performed within the year. In Kennedy v. Kennedy, which was a suit by the wife for a limited divorce for cruel and inhuman treatment, he obtained an adjudication that the malicious and groundless imputation of adultery to & wife is cruel and inhuman treatment. In Kelly v. Common Council of Brooklyn, the Court of Appeals sustained his point that mem- bers of Congress are officers.

When the controversy between Mr. Tilton and Mr. Beecher assumed & legal aspect, Mr. Pryor was retained by Mr. Tilton. Although prevented by circumstances from attending the whole of the trial, he took a prominent part in the case. He made the argument before the General Term of the City Court, and before the Court of Appeals, resisting the granting to the de- fendant of a bill of particulars, as well as the argument before Judge Neilson in favor of the competency of Mr. Tilton as & witness. Upon these two questions the case of Mr. Tilton de- pended largely. In both these contests Gen. Pryor was opposed by Mr. Evarts, and his arguments gave him great celebrity as a profound and accomplished lawyer. It is understood that his duty in the case was, in a large degree, the preparation of law points, the study of authorities, and general consultation.

Mr. Beach, in his splendid argument to the jury in this case, referred to his associate, Mr. Pryor, as follows : "It has been a regret and & loss that unavoidable circumstances have withdrawn my learned and accomplished friend, Mr. Pryor, so much from our side. If he has not struck so many blows in the field, he has, nevertheless, been the wisdom of our cabinets. Deeply are we all indebted, and especially myself, to his ready and large learning and judicious counsel."

Gen. Pryor at once entered into politics, and became a re- cognized leader of the Democratic party, eloquently sustaining it with his pen and on the platform.

Fewer rank higher as a public speaker than Gen. Pryor. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention to St. Louis, and has often been a delegate to State Conventions.

In 1877, he delivered an address at Hampden Sidney College, Virginia, on the "Relation of Science to Religion," and on Deco- ration Day, in May, 1877, he delivered an address before the Grand Army of the Republic in Brooklyn. Both of these pro- ductions were published, and were justly commended for their scholarly finish, logical force, and the eloquent and impressive manner in which they were delivered. The latter address, deliv- ered on Decoration Day, at Brooklyn, has especial claims for public commendation. The speaker had been a Confederate soldier, an officer of high grade, distinguished for his intrepidity and zeal for the Confederate cause, and he was now speaking over the dead soldiers of the Federal army. Such were his large and statesmanlike views of what the status of the North and South really should be, that his speech has gone very far towards healing the dissensions between the two sections of the country.

"Be assured," he said, " Southern statesmanship is not so blinded in its proverbial sagacity as not to see that henceforth the strength and security of the South are to be found only under the shield of the Union. Against the perils of foreign invasions it gains in the Union the bulwark of a mighty prestige and an invincible army; as a guarantee of peace between its discordant peoples, the ever imminent intervention of the Federal arm will operate to deter the unruly and to tranquilize the timid."

Speaking of the Confederate soldier's emotions in regard to the "Lost Cause," Gen. Pryor says : ' I do not pretend-it is not essential to my argument to pretend-that the Southern soldier

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BENCH AND BAR OF BROOKLYN.

contemplated the fall of the Confederacy with indifference. Born of an enthusiasm for liberty, erratic, if you please, but not the less genuine and exalted ; endeared by the memory of so many sacrifices and so many sorrows heroically borne in its he- half; gilded by so much glory and hallowed by the blood of the brave and the tears of the fair, its disastrous overthrow smote upon the heart of the Southern soldier with an anguish he inay aot utter, but which he disdains to dissemble. Nor will you, its exultant but not ungenerous foe, grudge him who followed its flag through the few years of its battle-crowned career, this mournful recollection of its tragic story."

It is hardly possible to conceive of sentiments more true- more beautifully, more conscientiously expressed-than these.

Speaking of the fall of slavery, he says : " Impartial history will record that slavery fell not by any effort of man's will, but hy the immediate intervention and act of the Almighty Him- self; and, in the anthem of praise ascending to Heaven for the emancipation of four million human beings, the voice of the Confederate soldier mingles its note of devout gratulation."

This address is among the many happy productions of Gen. Pryor prepared for the rostrum; his addresses to juries are equally attractive and effective. When called upon to address the court in banc, and to deal with the cold logic of the law, he is always listened to with profound respect by the judges. As a distinguished jurist remarks: "Mr. Pryor's arguments, if they do not always convince, always enlighten the mind and con- science of the court." His contributions to the literature of the day have largely enriched it, and we may well say of him that now, in the midst of a large and increasing practice, with an iron energy, with all the instincts and ambition of the stadent and the scholar, he has still a brilliant future before him.

JOHN A. TAYLOR.

JOHN A. TAYLOR, a prominent lawyer of Brooklyn, was born at Providence, R. I., in the year 1844. His father was a highly respected clergyman of the Christian denomination.

When very young, Mr. Taylor removed with his father's family to Westerly, R. I. He early exhibited acute and ready intel- lectual powers, and when old enough he entered the high school st Westerly, where his advancement in his studies was rapid, practical and thorough. At this institution he was prepared to eater college, but as his father's means were inadequate to meet the expenses of a collegiate course, he abandoned his intention of entering college, although he did not relinquish his studies, and his books continued to be his companions. It was his early and ardent desire to become a lawyer. This desire settled into s determination which, though thwarted by circumstances for a time, terminated in the realization of his wishes. At the age of sixteen he received an offer so advantageous to enter the office of the Christian Messenger, with a view of learning the art and mystery of a practical printer, that he accepted it, relinquishing, as he then thought, his intention of entering the legal profession. He continued his education in that school of practical knowl- edge and vigorous intellectual development-the printing office -where so many great men of the nation prepare to enter places of high responsibility and honor. His good sense, his industry and attainments were very soon recognized by the editor of the Messenger, who committed to him the literary department of the paper. But for the partial failure of his health, Mr. Taylor would, in all probability, have been as successful and useful a member of the journalistic profession as he now is of the legal.

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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 150

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