The History of Washington County in the Vermont historical gazetteer : including a county chapter and the local histories of the towns of Montpelier., Part 76

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Montpelier, Vt. : Vermont Watchman and State Journal Press
Number of Pages: 1064

USA > Vermont > Washington County > Montpelier > The History of Washington County in the Vermont historical gazetteer : including a county chapter and the local histories of the towns of Montpelier. > Part 76

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It should be remembered that courts are not now what they were then. There were no railroads then ; local attachments and feelings were stronger than now. The county seat was to the county a center to which all eyes were turned on court day. The hotels were filled, the court-house jammed with an interested and partisan audience, who were keen to sympathize with and applaud any happy hit which came from the lawyer who vindicated the cause in which they happened to believe. Thus emulation was created ; each lawyer knew what was expected of him. He stood not in representation of his client alone, but he stood to vindicate a just cause and hurl back all anathemas that trenched upon the rectitude of the intentions of his client, his witnesses and friends. The opposing counsel stood as gladiators, determined to win or die.

Mr. Upham was the senior of Mr. Peck, but he had for him a profound respect ; after the battle was over they were the best of friends. They were wholly dissimilar. Mr. Upham was fiery, impetuous and headstrong. Mr. Peck was slow, deliber- ate and argumentative, but as he proceeded the hearers felt that a strong mental pow-

er was operating to instruct the under- standing and convince the mind.

Mr. Upham's power lay in his extreme earnestnesss, his biting denunciations, and often his eloquent appeals to the passions or prejudices of his hearers.

Mr. Peck's lay in the candor and fair- ness of his statement, and the matchless elimination of truth from falsehood.

These very dissimilarities in their char- acters contributed to make them friends, and the more that each recognized in the other what was wanting in himself.

There was Dillingham, too, the last of them now living, whose emotional counte- nance and musical voice, notwithstanding the fire of Mr. Upham and the candor of Mr. Peck, were very apt to snatch the verdict from both if he could only get the close of the case.

It was with such men, and amid such surroundings, that Mr. Peck practiced from the time he came to Montpelier down to about 1845. To hold any position of equality with such men, he was obliged to labor incessantly. But this he always did cheerfully, for he loved his profession.

About 1830, he married the daughter of Ira Day, Esq., of Barre, who was then one of the wealthiest and most influential men in the State. For a few years they board- ed, and then he went into the house which he continued to occupy up to the time of his wife's death, in 1854. After his mar- riage, the charms of domestic life added to his happiness, and the years flew swiftly by.

I have it from his own lips that these years from 1830 to 1845 were the pleasant- est of his life. And his old friends re- member with great pleasure the generous hospitalities which were so gracefully dis- pensed by him and his accomplished wife during these years. Happy in his home, and successful in his profession, Mr. Peck was content, though still aspiring.

About this time he was retained as gen- eral counsel for the Vermont Central Rail- road through the influence of Gov. Paine, who had a thorough appreciation of his safe and reliable legal advice, and from that time to the time of his death, he continued their counsel. But though overwhelmed

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with professional business, Mr. Peck, after 1845, mingled to some extent in politics. From 1847 to 1851, he represented this district in Congress. While there he formed many valuable acquaintances, and among those of whom he was most accus- tomed to speak, were Daniel S. Dickinson and Gov. Marcy, for with them in particu- lar, he was on intimate and familiar terms.

His congressional career was satisfactory to his constituents. He was respected and honored by all who knew him, and in all the speeches which he made there is the same precision and accuracy for which he was noted at home. But I think po- litical life was distasteful to him.

He was essentially a man of habit. His profession was the profession of law. He had become habituated to the routine of that kind of labor, and when he stepped into a new arena he felt that he had strayed from home, and I think his mind ever turned from the dissipations of the fashion- able life of Washington with fond regret to his quiet home among his friends and the green hills of Vermont. Indeed, he has told me this in substance, many times, and that the greatest mistake of his life was in going to Washington at all. Prob- ably, however, when he resumed the prac- tice of law on his return from Washington in 1852, his reputation received additional lustre by reason of his congressional life. Since 1852, there have been few large suits in the State in which he has not been re- tained.

Mr. Peck was United States District Attorney under President Pierce, and was once or twice nominated by his party as Governor of this State. From 1859 to his death, he was president of the Vermont & Canada Railroad.

But his fame rests in his professional life. And here it was that he desired to have it rest. It was to this that he bent his energies ; here was his ambition, and it cannot be doubted that at last he stood without his peer, princeps inter principes.

Quintilian tells us that a successful law- yer must be a good man. By this I sup- pose is meant that he must have a char- acter for integrity which will inspire con-

fidence. Mr. Peck had this in a remark- able degree. Everybody believed not only in his ability, but also in his honesty. His word was law. Hence his opinion was sought from far and near. Every client he ever had was sure to return in new emer- gencies, and, when he again departed, it was with renewed and enlarged confidence.

His kindness and patience in listening to the tedious and almost senseless recital of imaginary wrongs by moneyless clients is also worthy of remark. In the very height of his professional reputation, I doubt if he ever refused to counsel a client, how- ever poor he might be, or however small the controversy, and I need hardly say in this presence that such controversies are sometimes as intricate and difficult of solution as they are petty and insignifi- cant in magnitude.

He was seldom if ever angry-never abusive. I can safely say that I never knew him to speak ill of any person. I do not doubt he had his dislikes, but if he had he kept them to himself. He had no petty jealousy of his brethren at the bar. He never believed it necessary to success that it should be built upon the ruins of his fellows. "With malice toward none and charity for all," his ambition was to rise by his own merit, and give others the same opportunity.

His courtesy, too, to the younger mem- bers of the bar has become proverbial. For many years his position has been com- manding ; his opinion was therefore sought by those younger than himself. Who of us does not remember his forbearance and patience?

Mr. Peck was slow in forming his opinions. Every loop-hole in a question was revolved over and over in his mind before any definite conclusion was an- nounced. A leading though homely maxim with him was, " Be sure you are right, and then go ahead !" He believed in the ad- vice of Polonius to his son :

Beware Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in, Bear it, that the opposer may beware of thee.

He was peaceful in his habits, and for many years past has been more inclined to

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advise settlements than to bring suits. His friends were few, but as a general rule very select. These he bound to his heart with hooks of steel. In this connection I cannot refrain from speaking of his reti- cence. By those who did not know him well, this has been taken for coldness. But it was very far from that.

Mr. Peck was one of the most sensitive men I ever knew ; hence he was never ob- trusive. His sensibilities were delicate, and his apparent reserve was the result of a retiring modesty, rather than coldness of heart. He was, on the contrary, I confi- dently affirm, one of the kindest-hearted men I ever knew. If he did a favor, it was quite as apt to be behind your back as to your face. If he bestowed charity it was with no ostentation. If done at all, it was because it was proper and right ; not because it might or might not be talked about.

I have already alluded to the force of habit upon him. When once the wheels were in the groove, it was difficult to get him out of it. I remember well when we moved into our new office, about 1860. Many a time have I known him to pass by to the old office, and never discover his error until he had got to the stairway or the door. It was many months before he felt at home in our new quarters, and I believe his old sign never came down from over the old office until within two years.

Mr. Peck never pressed a debtor; I never knew him to dun one, even. But, while he never troubled others, he was al- ways prompt in his engagements, and they were fulfilled with no quibbling, no mis- understandings. In short, he had a homely, old-fashioned honesty, and he was particularly attracted towards one who had the same. His dealings with other mem- bers of the bar were of the same character ; he was open, frank, straightforward, and he was never found in any different position to-day from what he was yesterday. Hence his word was a bond.

He delighted in the practice of the law, not so much in the contentions of the forum, as in the law as a science. His mind, whether in or out of court, was ever

dwelling upon it ; he thought of nothing else, cared for nothing else. Here was his heart, and here was he also. He had a mind and temperament peculiarly adapted to the scientific investigation of legal prin- ciples. For his mind, being active and strong, gave him great power of analysis, and his temperament being slow and cau- tious, no conclusion was announced until the analysis was complete. His chief ex- cellence consisted in his power to separate and distinguish things essential from things of circumstance, and here he himself could only be his parallel. His clear discrimina- tion easily penetrated the small clap-trap with which some lawyers attempt to con- ceal, rather than elucidate the truth, and having a clear understanding himself, lie could make it clear to others also.

Mr. Peck was not a man of great gen- eral learning, or high scholarly culture ; his reading was generally, though not al- ways, confined to the leather-bound vol- umes of our office ; there he revelled in perfect contentment. And as each new volume was issued, he drank from the clear fountains of the law, and renewed again his acquaintance with old and familiar principles as applied to new cases.

He never indulged in satire or sarcasm ; at most, it could only be called a pleasant- ry. His kindness of heart forbid that he should wound the feelings of others.

He never ventured upon flights of im- agination or sketches of fancy. He con- sidered them as but small aids in the elu- cidation of truth, and when these arts were opposed to him, they faded away into the thin air of nothingness as he exposed their worthlessness. For want of these arts it has sometimes been said that he was not a great jury advocate. If by this is meant he was not brilliant in his conceptions, and swift and rapid in that kind of imagery which captivates the fancy and pushes the mind momentarily from its true balance, I agree to it, but if the art of good advocacy consists in convincing the understanding and riveting the mind upon the vital and centralizing points of a case, then, I think, he was a great jury advocate, and his great success in this regard is the best proof of

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the truth of it. It should always be re- membered that after the advocacy is over, comes the rigid, unbending charge of the court. The minds of the jury quickly re- gain their equanimity, and return to the pivotal points in the case.

But however this may be, his pre- eminence in the Supreme Court for more than twenty years has never been ques- tioned. It was remarked by Chief Justice Redfield, many years since, that he was the model lawyer of the State, and one of the most scholarly and appreciative of our present judges has often said that no man helped the court like Mr. Peck. The ex- pression is peculiarly appropriate ; for, to help the court implies ability and willing- ness on his part, and confidence and trust on theirs. When Mr. Peck arose, he stood, not the friend of his client alone, but also the friend of the court. Instantly they would lean forward to catch the meas- ured tones of his voice, as principle after principle was announced, constituting an unbroken chain of logical deduction, never diverging or diffuse, but ever aiming at a given result, and when the conclusion was reached, he always sat down. There was no repetition, no tautology.

His appearance here was always quiet ; his style of address conversational. With great deference on his part, he and the court seemed to be conferring together. He was recognized their equal, and he never abused the high compliment. Hence the weight of his character gave great force to his arguments. He was a man of few words, but they were spoken with great precision and measured accuracy.

In recent years I think he has not been accustomed to rely upon cases to any great extent. When a cause was to be argued, his first question was, what is right? and he never would fail to find some legal prin- ciple which would adapt itself to his view of the case. He never believed law was a code for the advancement of legalized trickery, but that in its proper administra- tion, it was co-extensive with the highest morality, and productive of the purest jus- tice.

With such a head and such a heart, Mr.

Peck practiced for 40 years in the courts of this State. True to his clients, true to the court, loved by the bar and respected by the public, he leaves behind him a reputa- tion whose lustre will illumine these altars of justice so long as the votaries of the law shall study it as a science, or practice it with fidelity. The future law student will find our reports full of the imprints of his masterly mind, and will read with unceas- ing delight those pages in which legal principles have been so moulded under his guiding hand as to adapt themselves justly to the ever-varying and changing circum- stances of life.

The barbarous conception of the poet, that

The evil that men do, lives after them ;

The good is oft interred with their bones, will find no verification in his case.

His gentleness, his courtesy, and the noble qualities of his heart will be remem- bered by all of us who are living, and the monuments of his learning, spread all over our jurisprudence, will be remembered by those who come after us.

But, may it please the court, he is gone from us now ; his labors are over, his des- tiny accomplished. Placidly and calmly he has laid off the armor of life. The armor was battered and worn ; it had been through many a battle, for he had fought a good fight. Truthfully and appropriately may we apostrophize it,

Bruised pieces go Ye have been nobly borne!

Mr. Peck, said the Hon. Timothy P. Redfield on this occasion, was the veteran leader of this bar, and for more than a quarter of a century had stood among the foremost of his profession in the State.

He wasalso a model in courtesy and ur- banity in court. He loved and honored, but never, by a professional act, degraded the profession ; and his kindness and cour- tesy were extended alike to his brethren and the court. As a mere lawyer, it is not probable this bar will soon find again so perfect a model.

He was in attendance upon the last ses- sion of this court, in his usual health. At

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the General Term of the Supreme Court, in November, he had the responsible care of a large number of important cases, and it was observed that he exhibited more than his accustomed elasticity and vigor. A few days afterwards, while upon profes- sional business in the city of Lowell, Mass., he was suddenly stricken, and lingered, with the windows of his intellect darkened, until the 28th of December, when the light went out.

[Of the resolutions on his death, passed by the bar, we most admire : ]

Resolved, That we respected him for a modesty that never assumed, and a cour- tesy that never gave offense ; we loved him for his honesty; we admired him for his learning ; and that in all these character- istics, so happily united, he has left us a rare example.

STODDARD BENHAM COLBY.

BY HON. T. P. REDFIELD.

Stoddard Colby was the second son of Capt. Nehemiah Colby, born at Derby, Orleans County, Jan. 1816.

In 1829, he began fitting for college in the office of the late Judge Redfield, who had then commenced the practice of the law, in the little village of Derby Center, in which Capt. Colby was the chief citizen and actor.

Stoddard was an easy and ready scholar, and acquired language, especially, and its use, with great facility. Judge Redfield, fresh from college attainment, undulled by professional labors, was to young Colby a thorough teacher in the Greek and Latin languages. Colby entered the freshman class of Dartmouth College in the fall of 1832, and, in due course, graduated in the summer of 1836. He was among the few best scholars in the class; was, without question, elected one of the Phi Beta Kappa members from his class, which comprise the best recitation scholars, not exceeding one-third of the whole number in the class. He was a good recitation scholar in all de- partments ; but his special gifts were in the languages ; and as a ready writer and debater, he was among the best. After his graduation, he studied law in the office of the late Senator Upham, at Montpelier, and was admitted to the bar in Orleans

County, at the December term, 1838, and entered upon the practice of his profession at his old home in Derby Center. He was elected representative from the town of Derby in the year 1841, on the democratic ticket, although a large majority of the voters of Derby were, at that time, Whigs ; which shows that personally, Mr. Colby was highly esteemed by the citizens of his native town.

He practiced his profession at Derby with all the success in business that could be expected in the limited sphere in which he necessarily moved in that place. The first case he argued in the County Court was in behalf of his uncle, Dr. Moses F. Colby, in the famous suit, Nelson. v. Colby, for malpractice as a surgeon in treating the fracture of the neck of the thigh bone of the plaintiff's wife. The theory of the plaintiff's case was that Dr. Colby had needlessly confined his patient in splints, till her health gave way, and she became insane, in consequence of the treatment, when, in fact, there had been no fracture. The surgeons of the plaintiff claimed that such a fracture could seldom be united, by a bony union, in persons of the patient's age ; and if so, with shortened limb, and imperfect motion, and that in Mrs. Nelson's case, there was no shortening of the limb ; " and perfect symmetry of motion."

Mattocks, Cushman, Bell, and the late Judge Smalley, giants in those days, were all engaged, and took part in the trial, and young Colby opened the argument to the jury, in the defence. By the argument he established a reputation as a good advocate, which followed and adhered to him for more than 20 years of his professional prac- tice in this State. He always used choice and beautiful language ; was facile in illus- tration, and in figures of speech, and ever ready in wit and sarcasm. His client after three jury trials was cast in that first suit ; and while the suit was pending on excep- tions, and petition for new trial in the Su- preme court, Mrs. Nelson died, and it was then ascertained that the limb had been fractured, and the fragments had united in a perfect bony union ; and the plaintiff dis- continued his case from the docket.

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Mr. Colby removed to Montpelier in 1846, and soon after formed a law partner- ship with the late Lucius B. Peck. The law firm of Peck & Colby was then a lead- ing firm in the important legal business of the State, and continued so till 1863, when it was dissolved, and Mr. Colby was made Register of the Treasury, and removed to Washington. He continued to hold this position in the Treasury until his death, in the fall of 1867. He died at Haverhill, N. H., and was buried in the beautiful cemetery on the highlands, near Haverhill Corner.

Mr. Colby was twice married. His first wife was Miss Harriet E. Proctor, the eldest sister of Gov. Proctor. She per- ished on the ill-fated steamer, Henry Clay, which was burned on the Hudson River. He afterwards married Miss Ellen Hunt, who survives him. By the first marriage he had four children, two of whom sur- vive ; and by the second marriage, two children.

He will be remembered by his intimate friends and acquaintances for his genial wit and fertile resource in conversation, and the rich-garnered treasury of story and anecdote.

But his reputation as a public man must rest, mainly, upon the character won in the varied and various tilts in the legal tournament, during the practice of a quar- ter of a century at the bar of Vermont. In that tournament, he was conceded to be one of the most brilliant advocates at the bar of his native State. He had no evil habit-no tarnish upon his good name ; was for many years a consistent member of the Protestant Episcopal church ; and died, seemingly, before his work was finished, at the age of 52.

SAMUEL GOSS,

our most venerable citizen, said the Watch- man, in a notice of his death, one who for his age, character, and fidelity as the ruler of his house, well-deserved the title of pa- triarch, died at Montpelier, Sabbath morn- ing,-Aug. 19, 1866-in his 90th year. He was born in Hollis, N. H., Nov. 1776; served an apprenticeship as printer with

Amos Farley and Rev. Leonard Worces- ter in the office of "Isiah Thomas, the father of printers," at Worcester, Mass., entering the office at the age of 15, and at 21, (says Col. Hopkins in a notice of Mr. Goss in the Boston Journal,) he went to Boston and purchased a second-hand press and other printing materials, to set up business for himself. Setting his face toward Vermont, he arrived with his scanty outfit at Peacham, on the 24th of Jan. 1798, and for want of better accom- modations, established his office in a small school-house, a building scarcely large enough, as he used to say, to seat 20 chil- dren, and 8 days afterwards, issued the first number of the Green Mountain Pat -· riot, a paper which he edited and published 9 years, in company with Mr. Farley-firm Farley & Goss-when he removed his print- office to Montpelier," [see Walton, page 291,] and commenced the Vermont Watch- man. Selling the Watchman in 1810, to the late Gen. E. P. Walton and Mark Goss, (a younger brother,) both of whom were apprentices to Farley & Goss, he engaged in paper-making, which he continued for many years at Montpelier. Ardent in temperament, clear and strong in con- victions of duty, everything entered into he prosecuted with energy and zeal. In the church and Sabbath-school no one was more earnest and faithful. We think he has served more years in the Sabbath- school than anybody within our knowledge, unless it was his friend and brother in the church, the late Col. Asahel Washburn. Next best he loved his country, and from youth till he had reached almost a century of years, George Washington was his model of a statesman, with his announce- ment of whose death in his paper, appear- ed from his pen :

AN ODE, OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF GEN. GEORGE WASHINGTON,

DEC. II, 1799.

Why do these mournful accents flow, Why drops the unavailing tear, What dire event, what fatal blow, Which thus excites a pang severe ? In sad responses echoes through the skies, Columbia's Parent, Friend and Savior dies!

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'Tis true, alas! too true, we mourn The exit of our Hero Chief; While on celestial pinions borne He soars aloft o'er pain and grief; Yet grateful millions will their loss deplore, Till time's extinct, and virtue is no more.

In him those charms that bind the heart, And tranquilize the human mind, Beam'd sweet effulgence thro' that part, Which now is to the tomb consign'd. In scenes of joy, in days of gloomy strife, Benign and calm the Hero pass'd through life.

No monarchi on his shining throne Can, justly, equal honors claim; His modest worth resplendent shone, Unrivall'd on the lists of fame. Nor lives the man, with grief Columbia cries, So good, so kind, so temp'rate and so wise.

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The History of Washington County in the Vermont historical gazetteer : including a county chapter and the local histories of the towns of Montpelier., Part 76

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Montpelier, Vt. : Vermont Watchman and State Journal Press Number of Pages: 1064

Author: Hemenway, Abby Maria, 1828-1890
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Montpelier, Vt. : Vermont Watchman and State Journal Press
Number of Pages: 1064