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Cornell University Library 
 KF 355.P54B61 
 
 Remarks to the Bar of Philadelphia on th 
 
 3 1924 018 821 599 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924018821599 
 
<frl '. ^. ^^ft/' 
 
 KKMARKS 
 
 THE BAR OF PIITLADELPH I A, 
 
 THE OCCASION OF THE DEATHS 
 
 CHARLES CHAUNCEY 
 
 JOHN SERGEANT. 
 
 HORACE. BINNEY 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 C. SHERMAN, PRINTER. 
 18 5 3. 
 
EE MARKS 
 
 THE BAR Of PHILADELPHIA, 
 
 THE OCCASION OF THE DEATHS 
 
 CHARLES CHAUNCEY 
 
 JOHN SERGEANT. 
 
 HORACE BINNEY. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 C. SHERMAN, PRINTER. 
 1853. 
 
It was an incident of tbe late meeting of the profession, 
 upon the death of Mr. Sergeant, that Mr. Binney, who 
 had been permitted by Providence to survive his two eminent 
 cotemporaries, jMr. Chauncey and Mr. Sergeant, and who 
 had been called upon to say something in commemoration of 
 both successively, then took his final leave of the Bar of 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 No proper report of Mr. Binney's remarks on the death of 
 Mr. Chai'NCEY was ever made ; but it was known to some of 
 the friends of Mr. Binney, that he had written out, so far as 
 he could recall it, what he had said on that occasion, and had 
 sent it to the daughters of Mr. Chauncey. Application was 
 made to those ladies for permission to use the manuscript in 
 their possession, for the purpose of putting in a more perma- 
 nent form the last tribute paid to their father by his friend, 
 and the request was most kindly granted. 
 
 The phonographic report of the remarks on the death of 
 Mr. Sergeant was remarkably accurate, but the printed pub- 
 lication of it was disfigured by errors of the press. 
 
 Mr. Binney, having been solicited to allow his remarks on 
 these two most interesting occasions to be printed together, 
 has given his consent, and they are now printed in their pre- 
 sent form, for the satisfaction of the friends of Mr. Binney, 
 and his two eminent departed associates. 
 
 Philadelphia, December, 1852. 
 
DEATH OF CHAELES CHAUNCEY, ESQ. 
 
 MEETING OF THE MEMBERS OP THE BAR. 
 
 A VERY large meeting of the members of the Bar of 
 the City and County of Philadelphia was held, at 12 
 o'clock, on Friday, 31st August, 1849, in the room of 
 the Circuit Court of the United States. 
 
 On motion of Charles Gibbons, Esq., the Hon. Kobert 
 C. Grier was called to the chair, and the Hon. George 
 M. Dallas appointed Secretary. 
 
 Whereupon, on motion of F. W. Hubbell, the fol- 
 lowing resolutions were unanimously adopted, viz. : 
 
 Resolved, That we have heard, with sincere sorrow, 
 of the decease of our professional brother, Charles 
 Chatjncet, Esq., a gentleman who held the highest 
 rank in his profession, and who has left upon our 
 hearts and memories the recollection of an accom- 
 plished lawyer, of an eloquent advocate, and of a pure 
 and upright man. 
 
 Eesolved, That we will, each of us, in testimony of 
 our veneration for the deceased, wear a badge of mourn- 
 ing during thirty days. 
 
 Resolved, That a Committee of five of our number, 
 
to be named by tbe Chairman, shall communicate to 
 the family of the deceased our deep sympathy with 
 them in their bereavement. 
 
 After the Eesolutions were presented, Me. Binnet 
 rose, and addressed the Chair as follows : 
 
 When I entered this Court room, to join with my 
 brethren of the Bar in the testimonial they are about 
 to offer, I felt doubtful whether I could trust myself to 
 say anything upon the subject. The sudden death 
 of a friend and cotemporary of the same profession is 
 not without a disturbing effect upon even young men ; 
 how much more disturbing must it be to the mind 
 and emotions of one who has suddenly lost an intimate 
 personal friend, and professional cotemporary of more 
 than half a century. I doubted, therefore, whether it 
 would not be best for me to let others express the sen- 
 timents which the bereavement excites in the whole 
 Bar, and to let my presence and my known relations 
 to the party be the sufficient expression of my sym- 
 pathy and perfect concurrence in the strongest decla- 
 ration of respect and grief which the Bar should think 
 fit to record. But I find it expected of me, as the in- 
 dividual among those present who has longest known 
 and has the most intimately been connected with Mr. 
 Chauncey, to say something of his professional and 
 personal character; and I yield to the expectation, 
 even at the hazard of saying what others may wish 
 
had remained unsaid. If this shall happen, I must 
 beg of the Bar to attribute it to the cause I have re- 
 ferred to. 
 
 To some who are present, the early history of Mr. 
 Chauncey may not be as familiarly known as his cha- 
 racter and position during later years, and I will, 
 therefore, briefly refer to it. 
 
 Mr. Chauncey was a native of the State of Con- 
 necticut, and was descended from a line of most re- 
 spectable ancestors, originally from England. His 
 father, Judge Chauncey, of New Haven, whom I had 
 the pleasure to know, was distinguished for his pro- 
 fessional learning and high personal integrity, and 
 was held in great respect to the end of his life. One 
 of his remote ancestors, lineally, I believe, though I 
 am not certain of this, was the Reverend Charles 
 Chauncy,* the second President of Harvard College, 
 Cambridge.-]- It was a great pleasure to me several 
 years since, to refer my friend, Mr. Chauncey, to 
 a treatise upon "The Benevolence of tee Deity," 
 written by a descendant of this ancestor, and of the 
 same name ; a work which ably reconciles all the moral 
 disorders, epparent in the world, with this essential 
 attribute of the Creator, and which manifests the 
 writer's deep reverence for a characteristic so habitu- 
 ally exhibited in the life and manners of my friend. 
 
 * The name was formerly so written. f 1654. 
 
He was a graduate of Yale College at quite an early 
 age, and was educated for the law and admitted to the 
 Bar in New Haven, in 1798, at which time he could 
 not, I think, have been twenty-one. His removal to 
 this city was determined, by the advice of Chief Jus- 
 tice Ellsworth. The selection of the Bar with which 
 Mr. Chauncey should become connected for life was 
 referred, for his opinion, to this eminent man, an old 
 friend of the family, and then Chief Justice of the Su- 
 preme Court of the United States ; and, without hesi- 
 tation, he advised Mr. Chauncey to come to Philadel- 
 phia. Mr. Chauncey's unnecessary modesty suggested 
 the apprehension that the many men of distinction 
 then at this Bar made his success at it improbable ; 
 but Mr. Ellsworth's reply was, that this was the ground 
 of his recommendation. He said it was true that the 
 Bar of Philadelphia was at that time the strongest 
 Bar in the country ; but that from this circumstance 
 it would supply the best models, and demand the 
 more study and effort on his part, and that his educa- 
 tion and intelligence required nothing but these to 
 carry him to the position he would desire to attain 
 at it. 
 
 The advice was highly judicious, and was fortu- 
 nately adopted. The Bar in this city was certainly 
 at that time a very strong one, and it was natural 
 that it should be so, Philadelphia being then the chief 
 city in the Union, and the seat of the Supreme Court 
 
of the United States. The men most distinguished ijt 
 it were Mr. Lewis, the senior of the Bar, Mr. Inger- 
 soll, the two Tilghmans, Mr. Eawle, Mr. Dallas, 
 Mr. Du Ponceau, and Mr. M. Levy, — men of high 
 reputation for learning and great professional talents, 
 and, as a body, exhibiting the finest examples of pro- 
 fessional and private honour. It is, indeed, unworthy 
 of any educated young man of talents to select a field 
 for his professional career, for the mere reason that it 
 is at the time unoccupied by men distinguished in 
 their profession, and who may, for some time, hold 
 their position to his exclusion. Such men are the best 
 masters for those who are able and willing to be taught; 
 and the men I have named were remarkable for en- 
 couraging every young man who aspired to a place by 
 their side. For both their example and their Idnd- 
 ness, I honoured them while they lived, and shall con- 
 tinue to honour their memory while I live myself. 
 
 After a few months' attendance in a lawyer's office 
 in this city, to acquaint himself with the local practice, 
 Mr. Chauncey apphed, as an Attorney of the Courts 
 in Connecticut, for admission, by comity, as an Attor- 
 ney of the Common Pleas in this County. But that 
 principle was not then settled ; and the President of 
 the Court, the Honourable John D. Coxe, a very learned 
 and excellent Judge, but generally inclined to strict 
 construction, doubted the Court's authority, and de- 
 ferred an answer to the motion, in such a way as to 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 discourage the applicant. It was an anxious position 
 for Mr. Chauncey, as it seemed to present the alter- 
 native of renouncing the Bar of Pennsylvania, or of 
 undergoing a second apprenticeship to the law ; but 
 he had the good fortune to have a warm friend as well 
 as an astute one, — and what young man of merit at 
 the Bar had not — in the late Edward Tilghman ; and 
 upon his advice, founded either on a more liberal rule 
 in the Common Pleas of Chester, or on the less precise 
 mind of its President, to apply for admission, upon the 
 ground of comity, to the Court of that County. The 
 application was successful, and his admission as an 
 Attorney of the Common Pleas of Chester County was 
 the title upon which he was admitted to this Bar in 
 January, 1799. 
 
 It was at this time, a moment of much interest on 
 his account to his young friends, that I became ac- 
 quainted with Mr. Chauncey; and from that day, for 
 now more than fifty years, we have stood side by side in 
 the most intimate relations, personal and professional, 
 until death has separated us. I knew him well enough, 
 consequently, to describe him as he was, if I were 
 sufficiently calm and self-possessed to do it. I hope I 
 shall not be thought to exceed or to fall short, in the 
 brief remarks I have to make in regard to such of his 
 qualities as had a particular relation to the Bar. 
 
 One of the resolutions which are submitted for your 
 adoption, very expressively describes Mr. Chauncey 
 
11 
 
 as having left the recollections of his character upon 
 our hearts, as well as upon our memories ; and it is 
 most true. His moral and his intellectual qualities 
 have made their separate as well as united impression 
 upon us, and I will say a brief word in regard to each. 
 His good education in the law, together with his 
 sound judgment, regular industry, true fidelity, and 
 inviting amenity of manners, soon removed from before 
 him the impediments which generally retard the ad- 
 vancement of the young members of a crowded Bar. 
 In a rather unusually short time his connexions with 
 merchants and traders in the city were formed for the 
 collection of debts, and for the first transactions of 
 business; and his facility and accuracy brought him 
 enough to sustain him in his preparation for higher 
 concerns. He was a student at all times, even when 
 in most active practice ; and he continued all his pro- 
 fessional life to be so, and to read up to the latest de- 
 velopments of the science, until he left the Bar. And 
 he did this, not more from his love of the. law, than 
 from his conviction that he was thus performing to his 
 clients the duty of an honest lawyer, which was his 
 aim and also his achievement, if it ever was of any 
 man. He consequently became a lawyer, both well 
 grounded and thoroughly instructed, and competent to 
 the accurate investigation and skilful discussion of the 
 whole variety of subjects and questions which arose 
 at the Bar, whatever was their abstruseness or com- 
 
12 
 
 plexity. The powers of liis mind were distinguished 
 for their strength and massiveness, perhaps more than 
 for their subtlety; but he never failed to discern and 
 to enforce all that was of practical value to his causes, 
 and to meet Avith the utmost directness and effect pos- 
 sible, whatever the subtlest intellect might suggest to 
 the disadvantage of his argument. 
 
 In his addresses to the Court, nothing could be more 
 direct, perspicuous, and logical. He said nothing for 
 the mere pleasure of speaking ; and was generally, 
 therefore, distinguished by a brevity, which left the 
 attention of the Bench as wide awake at the end as it 
 was at the beginning. The cast of his mind was ju- 
 dicial rather than speculative ; and if he had accepted 
 a seat on the Bench, he would undoubtedly have left the 
 reputation of an able and learned judge, and I need 
 not say, an example for universal imitation of patient 
 attention and research, of great conscientiousness, and 
 of most perfect urbanity of manners. He was offered 
 high judicial station in this State, at least once to my 
 knowledge ; but he thought that a sphere of less pubhc 
 duty was the best for him, especially as it would draw 
 him less from the domestic and social duties, for which 
 he had a special election and preference, to the benefit 
 and comfort of almost as man}'- as knew him. 
 
 In his addresses to juries, Mr. Chuuncey disphned, 
 in a remarkable degree, the by no means universal 
 fticulty of speaking at all times to their perfect appre- 
 
13 
 
 hension; and after he had become well known, his 
 remarks had the inappreciable advantage of being re- 
 ceived under all circumstances as the views of a man 
 whose rectitude of mind made it impossible for him to 
 trifle with the understandings, or to tamper with the 
 prejudices of his hearers. No one ever knew him, — I 
 may say this with confidence, for I was with him 
 or against him in his causes as much as any other 
 member of the Bar, — no one ever knew him attempt 
 to snatch an advantage for his client by artifice, or 
 to gain his cause by pressing an accidental error of 
 his adversary in the manner of presenting the opposite 
 side. He was a model of honour, truth, and candour, 
 in his whole professional career. If, in the opinion of 
 anybody, he could have fallen short in any case by 
 the nature of his qualities, — I never knew him to fail 
 from such a cause, — it would have been in a case in 
 which the excitement of the hour might have de- 
 manded a sharp or bitter philippic against an act 
 of oppression or gross injustice. He felt as much as 
 any man, and expressed, in his own way, his indigna- 
 tion at such wrongs. They were the most remote of 
 all from his toleration. But he had never studied the 
 vocabulary of barbed and stinging words ; and his judg- 
 ment as well as his temper induced him to reprove 
 such transgressions with the plainness and moderation 
 that Avere habitual with him in all tliinus, and which, 
 perhaps, after all, was the best way of dealing witli 
 
14 
 
 them, both for his client and for the interests of justice. 
 It is better in such cases to fall short than to exceed. 
 I am not able, from my own experience, to say that 
 an advocate derives any advantage from the faculty of 
 giving pain. Mr. Chauncey never gave it in his life, 
 even by accident, without appearing to feel more than 
 he gave. 
 
 I must, therefore, represent him as a most successful 
 advocate, as well as a sound, well-read, judicious, and 
 most upright lawyer; and his well-balanced and well- 
 applied powers, both intellectual and moral, had the 
 force and effect to establish him in the profession, after 
 such a lapse of time only, as in comparison with his 
 longer life, may be called short. His venerable father 
 had the happiness to see his success accomplished, be- 
 fore he was called away. The example is of the 
 greatest possible benefit to the younger members of 
 the Bar; for it is an example of the perfect professional 
 success of a man of great modesty and gentleness, ad- 
 vanced to the top of his profession by a sound and 
 judicious mind, by regular industry, by unsullied 
 purity of morals, and by unafiectedl}- gracious and 
 obliging manners. It is a cause of poignant regret to 
 me that his son did not survive him, to bear his name, 
 and to enjoy and transmit the advantages of such a 
 _descent. 
 
 What I have thus said of Mr. Chauncey "s intellectual 
 and professional merits, ever)- one who hears me knows 
 
15 
 
 to be true, without the least colour or exaggeration. 
 I have permitted mjself, in the very limited range 
 that is allowed upon these occasions, to express such 
 thoughts only and in such language as are due to a man 
 whose merits were too great to require, and my own 
 sense of them too fixed and sincere to admit of, any- 
 thing but the unadorned truth. He will live long in 
 our memories, for the intellectual and professional quar 
 lities I have imperfectly described. 
 
 The impression he has left upon our hearts I must 
 speak of with even more brevity. He was conspicuous 
 through life in all relations, at the Bar, and every- 
 where else, for his good will to everybody. Many 
 men, it is to be hoped, resemble him in the principle 
 and sentiment, without being so happy in the mani- 
 festation of it. But I think he was distinguished from 
 all the men I have known by an habitual and unaffected 
 expression of benevolence. It seemed to be a neces- 
 sity of his nature that he should not only feel, but 
 also show it, and show it to all and in every way, by 
 his looks, words, and acts. The gentle and gracious 
 smile, the cordial grasp of the hand, the placid at- 
 tention to all applicants for advice or sympathy, a 
 serene and equal tenor upon all occasions, and active 
 service wherever it could minister either relief or 
 comfort ; — these were his characteristics, which all 
 hearts acknowledge ; in which, I think, I have never 
 known him equalled, and certainly have never known 
 
16 
 
 him surpassed. They also' constituted his happiness ; 
 for they proceeded from principles of belief, and mo- 
 tives of action, that were ever reproducing in himself 
 the pleasure and the comfort that he was imparting to 
 others, and which secured to him the universal regard 
 and respect of his fellow-citizens. I need not say how 
 highly I estimate my own good fortune, in having lived 
 for more than half a century in the light of this most 
 genial temper. 
 
 Such as I have described him he continued to be to 
 the last day of his life. My last interview with him, 
 at Burlington, when I was prejDaring for a short ab- 
 sence from the city, has left an unfading impression 
 uj)on me, not only by its conformity in kind expres- 
 sions to all that had gone before, but by the words 
 of his " farewell," never to be forgotten by me, and 
 which now seem to have been prophetic. But I can- 
 not trust myself to expand the theme. His memory 
 deserves more than I have been able to utter with 
 composure ; others will say more, and say it better, 
 but it is impossible for any one to have felt for this 
 excellent man a more sincere respect, or a truer 
 warmth of affection. 
 
DEATH OP HON. JOHN SERGEANT. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PHILADELPHIA BAR. 
 
 Agreeably to a call for the purpose, the Bar of 
 Philadelphia met on Friday, the 26th of November, 
 1852, at 12 o'clock, in the United States Circuit Court 
 room, to express their sense of the severe bereavement 
 sustained by them in the death of the Hon. John Ser- 
 geant. The Hon. George M. Dallas called the assem- 
 bly to order; and, on his motion, the Hon. John Ban- 
 nister Gibson was called to the chair, and George M. 
 Wharton and Peter M'Call, Esqrs., were appointed 
 Secretaries. 
 
 The Hon. Wm. M. Meredith then rose, and intro- 
 duced, by an address, the following resolutions : 
 
 Resolved, That we lament the bereavement which 
 this profession sustains in the death of John Sergeant, 
 who for so many years had made part of its distinction 
 and pride, and who, throughout his long and active 
 career, has been eminent, not more for his abilities 
 
18 
 
 than his virtues, and is worthy of admiration, not more 
 for his great devotion to his client than for his fidelity 
 to justice and the law. 
 
 Eesolved, That we honour the sense of moral re- 
 sponsibility and the spirit of diffusive benevolence, by 
 which our late fellow-citizen was so usefully connected 
 with this community at large, which led him con- 
 stantly to look beyond the possession of talents, to a 
 comprehensive and beneficent use of them ; and while 
 serving individual interests and justice in the unre- 
 mitted labours of a long and active and most useful 
 professional career, animated his efforts in every cause 
 of social and public improvement. 
 
 Eesolved, That the members of this Bar will as- 
 semble in this place half an hour before the time which 
 shall be appointed for his funeral, that they may pay 
 to his memory the respect of attending it in a body. 
 
 Resolved, That a Committee of nine persons, to 
 whom the Chairman and Secretaries are requested to 
 associate themselves, be appointed by the Chairman, 
 to convey to the family of Mr. Sergeant a copy of 
 these resolutions, as an expression of symjDathy in 
 their great and irreparable bereavement. And that, as 
 a further token of respect to his character, the proceed- 
 ings of this meeting be published in the papers of this 
 city, in the National Intelligencer at "Washington, 
 and, with leave of the Supreme Court of this State 
 and the Circuit Court of the United States, be inserted 
 
19 
 
 as an obituary in the next volume of their printed de- 
 cisions. 
 
 The resolutions were seconded by Mr. Binnet, who 
 spoke as follows : 
 
 Mr. Chairhan and Gentlemen of the Bar : I con- 
 cur in these resolutions. I approve and second them 
 with my whole heart, warmly and sincerely. They 
 are beyond the common scope, as Mr. Meredith has 
 remarked, and, therefore, I approve of them. I do not 
 do this as a ceremony, or in mere conformity with the 
 custom which has grown up at this Bar within the 
 last thirty years, the custom of making some offering 
 or tribute to every member of the Bar that departs 
 this life. The usage proceeds unquestionably from an 
 amiable source, but I have never been able entirely to 
 approve of it. It impairs the expression of spontane- 
 ousness, cordiality, and sincerity, which every such 
 commemoration ought to have, and must have, to be of 
 any value. The death of Mr. Sergeant, if there had 
 been no such custom, would have brought this Bar 
 together hy an instantaneous and irrepressible emotion. 
 They would have offered him these resolutions with 
 one mind and one heart, and would have adojDted 
 them with one unanimous voice. I exclude from my 
 mind all influence of the custom, which, in ordinary 
 cases, is taken by the world as a formality, and pro- 
 duces a bad rather than a good effect. I yield to the 
 
20 
 
 influence and impulse of the occasion, and second these 
 resolutions with my whole heart. I am sure they will 
 be adopted by the Bar with the same feeling, and with 
 entire unanimity. 
 
 I might, indeed, Mr. Chairman, spare myself the 
 pain of saying any more, and you the trouble of hear- 
 ing it, after having listened to these resolutions, which 
 comprehensively, as well as specifically, draw the cha- 
 racter of Mr. Sergeant, in its breadth, in its depth, 
 and in its highest import. But I know what is ex- 
 pected of me, however painful it is for me to meet the 
 demand. I know what is expected of me as his friend 
 and cotemporary. I know that it is expected of me 
 to dwell, not in general terms of eulogy upon his cha- 
 racter, but upon some of his personal characteristics, 
 which have been exhibited to me in the course of a 
 very long and intimate association with him. You 
 expect, from my long acquaintance with him, from 
 our constant association for so many years, that some 
 points of his character, some characteristics of his 
 mind, which have struck me, and were not alwajs so 
 discernible in the public demonstrations that he gave, 
 should be made known to you. It is only for the 
 purpose of adverting to these particulars that I ask 
 your attention for a few moments. 
 
 Mr. Sergeant began, continued, and ended his adult 
 Ufe in the presence of some of the persons who are 
 now in this audience. Its outset, you either know or 
 
21 
 
 have heard, was without censure, or reproach, or the 
 shadow of either. His was an honourable and virtuous 
 youth. And he continued from year to year, during 
 his whole life, increasing his titles to respect and 
 honour every day, until he achieved the highest de- 
 grees of both — as wise men estimate degrees of honour 
 and respect — by merit, and not by accident, or fortune, 
 or the breath of popular applause. He has rounded 
 the whole circle of his life, fully, completely, perfectly. 
 He has descended to his rest with the mild serenity 
 and beauty of the setting sun, after a course as unin- 
 terrupted and regular as the annual movement of the 
 earth itself round that orb. He has more than lived 
 out what the Psalmist calls " the days of our age." 
 He has escaped the " labour and sorrow" that are fore- 
 boded to the strength that attains "fourscore;" and 
 now from henceforth, by the necessity which makes 
 the past unchangeable, there is to be no decline nor 
 decay in his bright example. I regard Mr. Sergeant 
 as a fortunate man. 
 
 I have said, Mr. Chairman, that his adult life was 
 begun, continued, and ended in the presence of living 
 witnesses that are before me. Most of you have seen 
 a part of it. Some of you have seen a considerable 
 part of it. There is one, and perhaps only one, who 
 has seen the whole of it, and he is not the calmest to 
 speak of it, nor the fittest to judge of it; and, it may 
 be, is the least competent to represent it as it ought 
 
22 
 
 to be represented. But, as I have known tim long, 
 and known him well, with an intimacy that was never 
 surpassed between two men, it is my duty to exhibit 
 my impression of it as it remains and ever will remain 
 with me, as clearly as I can. 
 
 I knew him well ; I respected him truly ; I honoured 
 him faithfully. I honoured and respected him to the 
 end of his life. I shall honour and respect his memory 
 to the end of my own. No trivial incongruities of feel- 
 ing or opinion, — no misinterpretations however arising, 
 — no petty gust, — no cloud of a hand's breadth, which 
 may and will chill or overcast the common sky of the 
 truest friends in a life of fifty-five years, ever for a 
 single instant disturbed the foundations of my regard 
 for him, or even reached the depths in which they Avere 
 laid. These foundations were laid upon his princi- 
 ples, as I well knew them fifty years ago. They were 
 laid deep upon that sure basis ; and they were beyond 
 the reach of change or chance, as 4iis principles were. 
 
 Mr. Sergeant and myself were fellow-students in 
 the office of the late Jared Ingersoll — a name that 
 I can never mention without the profoundest venera- 
 tion, as my master and guide in the law, — and it was 
 the good fortune of both ^Ir. Sergeant and myself to 
 be raised under the eye of such a man, at such a time. 
 It may not be known to the present age, but it is an 
 indisputable fact, that in that venerable man's person 
 there were almost two distinct natures, of diflei-ent 
 
23 
 
 qualities, though both of them excellent; his nature 
 in reflection and his nature in action. In reflection, 
 he was, or appeared to be, rather slow, uncertain, 
 deliberate — poising and balancing thought against 
 thought, and authority against authority, as if he did 
 not wish to approach the conclusion ; and the conse- 
 quence of it, I believe, was, that while he was gene- 
 rally, and for the most part right, if he ever was other- 
 wise it was because the truth of the conclusion was 
 hurt by the slowness of the process. This was one 
 nature. But when he came into action, he was the 
 most clear, decided, bold, acute, far-sighted man, that 
 I have ever seen in my life, as it regarded all the pur- 
 poses of his cause ; and he sprang to his conclusion 
 instantly and fearlessly, as if he came to it by inspira- 
 tion. In both of these natures, however diiferent in 
 their character, he was a fine example to the students 
 in his office, whom he permitted to know him, and to 
 trace, as it were, the steps of his mind even in its 
 coldest operations ; and often did we hear him, through 
 the glass door of his office on the other side of the 
 way, treading his regular steps across the floor, and 
 soliloquizing the points of an opinion or a cause, for 
 the purpose of giving himself the stimulus which he 
 felt that he required. When he got before a jury, he 
 was the most dangerous adversary that any gentleman 
 could meet. In my perhaps partial opinion, he was 
 the ablest advocate of the Bar before a jury, when he 
 
24 
 
 was in his prime and vigour, whether his cause was 
 good or bad ; and before the court also, if his cause was 
 good, or probably so. 
 
 Mr. Sergeant was admitted into Mr. IngersoU's office 
 some few, perhaps half a dozen, months before me. 
 We were of the same age within a short month. He 
 was admitted to the Bar a term in advance of me ; he 
 in December, 1799, and myself in the following March. 
 
 In Mr. IngersoU's office Mr. Sergeant was a faithful 
 student — addicted to little joleasure — social, cheerful, 
 and gay, with the friends whom he preferred ; and 
 giving to myself, without stint, all the leisure time he 
 had, by night and by day, for the purpose of refresh- 
 ment, or of mutual benefit, in the course of our studies. 
 He had at that time, what all have since observed, an 
 extraordinary quickness of thought, and an equally 
 extraordinary grasp or comprehension of the thought 
 or argument that was opposed to him. Whatever he 
 studied, he knew well ; and, when he left the office, 
 was as accomplished a student as ever was admitted 
 to the Bar. Mr. IngersoU's opinion of him was such, 
 that I recollect, upon one occasion, when I went to the 
 master to solve a point which my ignorance had not 
 comprehended, that he said to me, " Go to Mr. Ser- 
 geant : he has been over that, and he can tell you, if 
 anybody can." I accordingly went to him, and he 
 told me. This remarkable power of Mr. Sergeant, his 
 quickness of thought, and grasp of comprehension of 
 
25 
 
 whatever was submitted to him, either on the same 
 side or against him, you must have been famiUar with. 
 I saw it in its bud ; you have seen it in its develop- 
 ment. It was the same flower more fully developed, 
 but having, from the strength of my first impression, 
 no more freshness or beauty to me at any hour than 
 when I saw it in its ojjening. He had, with this most 
 striking and available faculty, another that was pecu- 
 liar to him. He manifested more of it when he was 
 young and in middle life, than he afterwards thought 
 fit to use ; because, perhaps, there .were at times some 
 inconveniences arising from it. But I state it, as it 
 will serve to show the character of his mind. He had 
 the faculty of condensing in an adage, orin a colloquial 
 expression, drawn from the mother-wit and humour of 
 the people, an answer to a proposition that he rejected, 
 which at least took out of the argument all the affec- 
 tation it may have had, if it did not effectually over- 
 throw it. At times this faculty was peculiarly effective 
 with the jury ; and it often cut as deeply into the ad- 
 versary as it did into his argument. But with the 
 increasing elevation of his walk, and the full ascer- 
 tainment of his strength, he made a more sparing use 
 of it. 
 
 In addition to his quickness, grasp of thought, and 
 power of comprehension, he derived, through an ex- 
 cellent education, the art of arranging his argument 
 with perfect skill, according to the rules of the most 
 
26 
 
 effective logic ; and he was able to penetrate the want 
 of it in anybody that was opposed to him. He never 
 split hairs. He never confused his premises and con- 
 clusion, by blending them together or involving them 
 in any way ; and he never permitted any one to do it 
 against him ; and he marched to his conclusion by a 
 path or paths that he was willing to let every body 
 trace and examine after he had completed the passage ; 
 and it was not safe for any man to do otherwise with 
 him. 
 
 His first striking success at the Bar you all remem- 
 ber, or will remember it when I state that it was in 
 the case of Bender v. Framberger, in 1806. I need 
 not say what that case was. As often as I have 
 thought of it, and of its effect upon him, I have thought 
 as any person acquainted with the case and counsel 
 will think when he refers to Achroycl and SmiiJison, in 
 Lord Campbell's Life of Lord Eldon. It settled his 
 position at the Bar — it settled it with the Court ; for 
 though, after gaining the cause upon matter of plead- 
 ing, and gaining also one of the points, and an impor- 
 tant one, upon the merits — that of the return of the 
 purchase-money, with interest, upon a covenant of 
 general warranty — he lost it upon the other, that is 
 to say, the claim to indemnity to the value of the 
 improvements, yet he gained more than he had lost 
 in the compliment that was paid him from the Bench, 
 and is introduced into the report, that, if any argument 
 
27 
 
 would have shaken the opinion of the Judge, it would 
 have been Mr. Sergeant's. This was fully equivalent 
 to what Dunning said to Mr. Scott, when he rose to 
 support a case at the assizes in opposition to Achroyd 
 and SmlfJison. '' Sit down, Mr. Scott, I will not hear 
 you. Are you not the Mr. Scott that argued the case 
 of Ach-oi/d and Smlthson ?" Mr. Scott said that he did 
 argue it. " Then, sir, I will not hear you. I have 
 read your argument in that case, and I defy you, or 
 any man in England to answer it." 
 
 Mr. Sergeant, I need not say, advanced from that 
 time, steadily and uninterruptedly, until he came to 
 the position that he finally held. His progress was 
 more rapid than that of some of his cotemporaries ; but 
 at length they approached nearly to his position ; and 
 it was from being concerned myself frequently on the 
 same side with him, that I came at length to know 
 the peculiar habits of his mind, to which, perhaps, 
 some of the Bar may be strangers. Any man, in any 
 position, at that time could know what his powers 
 were. No man could so well know as myself the 
 manner in which he brought his powers into action. 
 
 I have said that he was quick, comprehensive, logi- 
 cal. His mind was, moreover, altogether of a sug- 
 gestive character. He did not like to read, for the 
 purpose of thinking; he thought, for the purpose of 
 reading, to corroborate or to rectify his thoughts. 
 Whether that would be the better way with minds 
 
28 
 
 less suggestive than his own, is more than I can say. 
 It was his striking way ; and while sometimes it ex- 
 posed him to inconvenience, at other times it gave 
 him a sort of electric power, that was altogether mar- 
 vellous. He was not, according to my impression, 
 the best in consultation with his colleague. He 
 Avould think (and that was his delight), — he would 
 suggest, and he would reason ; but it was in a manner 
 comparatively cold, and without approaching the true 
 bearing either of the authorities or of the case. He 
 always had this preference to the last day of his j)ro- 
 fessional life ; for I have witnessed it not many years 
 before its conclusion. Whenever I was concerned with 
 him, I certainly relieved him from all the practical in- 
 conveniences of it. I relieved him, except upon one 
 occasion, when, unfortunately and unexpectedly, the 
 whole burden of an important cause was thrown upon 
 himself. But, then, as I understood, he raised himself 
 up from under the whole weight, and cast it upon the 
 opposite side with extraordinary effect, by the defen- 
 sive exercise of his speculative power, to gain the time 
 that was necessary for the more precise consideration 
 of the case, and the authorities bearing upon it. I 
 refer to the case of the Lessee of Liciugsfon v. Mnorc. 
 Upon that occasion, Mr. Sergeant and myself being 
 together, this sort of adaptation of one to the other 
 was perfectly well known and understood between us. 
 The preparation of the case and general bearings of it 
 
29 
 
 were left to me, and he gave himself no further con- 
 cern. He thought of it generally; he had the general 
 principles of the law in his mind ; he had suggested 
 various matters, and in fine, all the work that his 
 mind had to do was done ; but everybody knows that 
 it is not the mind alone that must work at the bar, to 
 work effectually. The cause was called on when 
 Judge Hopkinson sat in that chair where Mr. Justice 
 Gibson now sits. It was a cause of vast magnitude. 
 It was a cause of great public interest. It was the 
 Nicholson case ; and the day before it came on, I was 
 stretched upon my bed with an acute inflammatory 
 attack, which entirely disabled me. He sent for my 
 eldest son, and asked what he should do. He made 
 his motion to the court the next day for a continuance 
 of the cause, in consequence of my illness ; but there 
 being another counsel engaged on the same side, the 
 court refused his motion, and quite properly, too. Mr. 
 Sergeant was, then, to go into that cause Avithout the 
 aid of a pioneer, trusting to what the preceding coun- 
 sel, who was from the country, could furnish. That 
 counsel had worked for his own mind, but not for Mr. 
 Sergeant's. After he had spoken some forty minutes 
 to the cause, and had said all that he thought material, 
 but which was not all that was material for the cause, 
 nor for Mr. Sergeant, who was to follow him, he 
 said that no man of understanding would detain the 
 court by speaking for a longer period in such a cause 
 
30 
 
 than three-quarters of an hour. There was the pre- 
 dicament ; and how did he relieve himself from it ? 
 You know the discursive character of his reasoning 
 when he thought it necessary. You know the manner 
 in which his pregnant mind would throw off sugges- 
 tion after suggestion, always connected more or less 
 with the subject, having the due character and order 
 of ratiocination, tending apparently to the conclu- 
 sion, even when he saw himself that it was something 
 wide of it. This was his defensive speech against the 
 oi-der of the judge ; and, after he had talked the clock 
 down, he went into his office, and on the next morn- 
 ing — how much of the night he gave to it I do not 
 know, not less than the whole, if it were a short sum- 
 mer night — he came into court, and, as I understood 
 from those who witnessed it, made a most clear, ef- 
 fective, and decisive effort, which gained the cause. 
 During the session afterwards, we argued the same 
 case together at Washington, with the same success. 
 This was the character of his mind. When the burden 
 rested upon himself, he prepared his causes well ; but 
 when he had his choice, it was the delight of his mind 
 to think, speculate, to suggest, and to leave to another 
 mind the work of more precise preparation. 
 
 I need not say what was the extent of his learning, 
 or the effectiveness with which he handled every cause 
 that was submitted to him ; you have been the wit- 
 nesses of that. But I may speak of what were the 
 
31 
 
 moral qualities of the man during his whole career at 
 the Bar. His honour and integrity in all that regarded 
 the profession or the management of his cause, were 
 not only above impeachment or imputation, but be- 
 yond the thought of it. So distinct and universal was 
 this impression, that if any man had directed a battery 
 of that sort against him, the recoil would have pros- 
 trated him to the earth. His heart, his mind, his prin- 
 ciples, his conscience, his bond to man, and his bond to 
 Heaven, which he had given early, and which, to the 
 last, he never intentionally violated, would have made 
 it, humanly speaking, impossible to him to swerve from 
 his integrity. It is the best example for the rising 
 generation to have before them. He was perfectly fair. 
 There was no evasion, no stratagem, no surprisal, no 
 invocation of prejudice, no appeal to unworthy pas- 
 sions ; he was above, far above, all this. Mr. Sergeant 
 had too much strength, indeed, to make use of such 
 arts, to say nothing of his virtue. He was charitable 
 in doing work at the Bar without pecuniary compen- 
 sation, though not without reward ; he had that which 
 in his judgment was the best. But he did not do it 
 ostentatiously. He did not do it by proclamation, in- 
 forming the court in the presence of the bystanders 
 that he had not received a fee, but that it would make 
 no difference with him. He never let his left hand 
 know what his right hand did. Still less did he ever 
 impose upon the left hand of others, by informing them 
 
32 
 
 of what his right hand had not done. He was in every 
 respect internally, in the heart, a most kind man. I 
 do not mean that he was kind by routine — kind by 
 ceremonial courtesy. I mean that he was kind in 
 principle, and kind in the affections of his heart. Mr. 
 Sergeant was a man of a most refined, delicate, and 
 susceptible organization. His instincts, quicker than 
 his thoughts, would perceive, or think they perceived, 
 the appearance of a disposition to assail or wound him 
 personally ; and he would sometimes repel and retort 
 the injury or the sting, where there was no intention 
 of either the one or the other. But he was placable, 
 and not self-excusing. When the delicate tissue of 
 his nerves was smoothed and quieted down, and the 
 language of the heart came forth, it was not only 
 clear and plain, but the very countenance with which 
 he expressed it was both attractive and seductive. It 
 drew you more completely to him, and more away from 
 yourself. His best friends knew this quality, and 
 that it was the accompaniment of a sensitive and 
 rather susceptible nature, and it never diminished 
 their regard for him. 
 
 Having spoken of his manners at the Bar, and the 
 example he gave to the Bar, I ought to speak of the 
 range of his mind, as the conclusion of the whole 
 matter. The range of Mr. Sergeant's mind was just 
 as wide as the whole circle of his professional neces- 
 sities. He knew the bearings of every pax't of the 
 
33 
 
 law, although he had not penetrated into every nook 
 and corner of it. But he could draw his resources 
 from every part with equal ease when it was neces- 
 sary. And it was often a matter of doubt in my own 
 mind with what branch of the la^ he was most con- 
 versant. He had acquired an early training in crimi- 
 nal law, and in that he not only went before his co- 
 temporaries, but he stood on one side of them, walking 
 a different hne. He was, of course, generally accom- 
 plished, as you may judge from what I have said. 
 But if he had any predilection — and I think he had — 
 the discursiveness of his mind inchned him to such 
 questions as would not fetter him by the chains of 
 authority, but would suffer him to choose for him- 
 self the path in which his own suggestive powers 
 could work freely. Upon more than one occassion 
 he rose to the highest degree of excellence in the class 
 of constitutional questions. They were the best suited 
 to him. But he worked with ease and vigour in many 
 fields. It was not altogether so with our predecessors 
 at this Bar. Although they were all competent, able, 
 and effective men, there was a marked difference in 
 them in respect to their particular excellence. Mr. 
 Lewis was the crown lawyer — the crimirfKl lawyer by 
 way of eminence. Mr. Edward Tilghman was the 
 lawyer for estates and tenures, devises and remainders. 
 Mr. IngersoU, Mr. Dallas, and Mr. Rawle were most 
 able advocates, and more able than others in com- 
 
 5 
 
34 
 
 mercial law. And Mr. Du Ponceau was the prime 
 leader in maritime and public law. At that time the 
 preference was given by all of them to the leader in 
 that particular branch upon which the case might de- 
 pend. In modern times, I believe this practice is for- 
 gotten and passed away. General finish and accom- 
 plishment prevail, and there is no one now can claim 
 to himself a prominent ability in any particular branch. 
 So much for Mr. Sergeant's professional character and 
 professional life. 
 
 In early life he had a decided attraction to politics 
 and to political position. He left two of his cotempo- 
 raries in making that selection, and he was gratified 
 to the extent of his wishes by employments in public 
 life, frequently and generally, from the year 1805 to 
 1837; from 1805, when he was just known at the 
 Bar, to 1837, when he was at the head of the Bar, 
 and also at the same time at the head of the Conven- 
 tion for reforming the Constitution of the State. He 
 had affinities for public and political questions, and 
 felt a strong attraction to the incidents of public life. 
 How nobly he maintained himself afterwards ; how 
 truly he proved his qualifications for the position ; 
 with what fifte manners, pure morality, personal dig- 
 nity, and exalted talents he sustained himself there ; 
 how extensively and constantly he gratified the pride 
 of his constituents; what great profit accrued from 
 his services to the city, the State, and the country ; 
 
and how faithfully and strenuously he asserted the 
 authority of the Constitution, and of the whole Con- 
 stitution, I need not tell you. It was all a virtuous 
 delight to him. He loved the stirring debate, the 
 s}-mpatlietic combinations of men, the excitement, the 
 agitation, the hopes, and the very fears of the pending 
 issue, and the triumph of victory; and defeat was 
 no depression to him, nor did it bring the least de- 
 spondency. Nothing prevented him from immediately 
 rallying with new tactics and new vigour for another 
 campaign. I witnessed and sympathized with his de- 
 light, and he often spoke of it. But Mr. Sergeant was 
 not a man of affectation ; he had not a particle of it 
 in his nature. He was himself totus atque teres, as to 
 all his duties, private, professional, and public. He 
 reconciled every one of them with the others, and 
 with as much ability as any man I ever knew. He 
 reconciled all his public life with his professional life, 
 and carried on a regular and extensive practice in the 
 courts, while he held one of the highest positions in 
 Congress. I personally knew that he never lost sight 
 of them ; aiid, if he had, he knew that, in that sin- 
 cerity which was the bond of our common intercourse, 
 he would have received, and would have expected to re- 
 ceive, an admonitory suggestion from myself When he 
 was offered the mission to Panama, he consulted me in 
 reference to it ; for we were in a professional relation 
 in important causes — one particularly — that if I had 
 
 7f,-- ■ "* ' / /j"^ a^t-^it^ ^A /? y i j J^ 7 e / :. ^r C? tf^ ^ . 
 
 
36 
 
 thought it had been wrong, he would have thought it 
 a desertion, and would have declined the appointment. 
 He told me that he was prepared to do so. I told 
 him to go, and that I should be happy in bearing any 
 portion of the burden in his absence. He afterwards 
 consulted me in regard to a mission to England, which, 
 if my memory serves me, was a mission anterior to 
 that which is said* to have been offered him by General 
 Taylor. He wrote me a letter from Washington, ask- 
 ing me what I thought of it in all its relations ; and I 
 wrote to him, that if he could go to England, and after- 
 wards leave the mission without returning to the Bar, 
 he ought to do so ; but if he could not, that he ought 
 not to go ; and he refused it. He was a man who would 
 never sacrifice to public life his private or contracted 
 duties, in such times as we have lived in. Pie was a 
 man of too much discernment, and knew too well the 
 state of things in which we live, to have made a sacri- 
 fice there which would have involved a larger sacrifice 
 elsewhere. He was, no one can doubt, possessed of a 
 deep love of country, of patriotism in its highest sense, 
 of the desire of extensive usefulness ; but he never 
 thought, and it would be gross injustice for any one 
 to think, that a deep love of country, patriotism, and 
 a desire of extensive usefulness, cannot consist with a 
 devotion to the concerns of private and professional 
 life, and the rejection of public service. He never 
 
 * Perhaps inaccurately. 
 
37 
 
 spoke of his public life as a sacrijBice, nor was it so : 
 still less did he speak or think of professional life, or 
 any form of useful private hfe, as being a selfish seclu- 
 sion. He had too much sense, reason, and justice for 
 that. He would not surrender to rebuke, in that way, 
 the friends that were by his side, and were never from 
 his side. If this is a defensive word, let me remark 
 that it is on behalf of the dead, rather than the living. 
 In all points of his character, Mr. Chairman, in all 
 positions that he took, in all the manifestations of his 
 mind, he was open, sincere, consistent, and faithful to 
 that main principle within him, that he was bound, 
 and ever bound, to all that he had assumed towards 
 his friends, and towards his own family. That it 
 takes an iota from his praise, no one can suppose. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I have gone over Mr. Sergeant's life, 
 or parts of it, with as much detail as I can trust myself 
 with, at such a meeting, and at such a time. I have 
 endeavoured to forget my own feelings, by going, more 
 than is common on such occasions, into matters that 
 were professional, and that have a general reference 
 to his intellectual power and tastes. It has been a 
 relief to myself, and, I hope, not uninteresting nor 
 unprofitable to you. 
 
 Of Mr. Sergeant's relations to his family I need 
 not speak — I cannot speak. While the artery of do- 
 mestic love is bleeding, as theirs must now bleed, I 
 have no skill to bind it up — no styptic to staunch 
 
38 
 
 it. They have the deep, the most deep, and sin- 
 cere sympathy of the Bar and of the public. They 
 have higher and better consolations than this. They 
 have his example, Ms teaching, his personal prescrip- 
 tion for himself. They will look to all that, and that 
 is all they can or need look to. They will look to 
 God, the Saviour, and find the relief which he found. 
 They will take hold of the staff that supported him, 
 and it will support them. There is no other cure, 
 there is no other relief for such a wound. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen of the Bar, it has 
 pleased God that I should survive my two cotempora- 
 ries of more than half a century — Charles Chauncey 
 and John Sergeant. From the tenacity with which 
 most men hold to life, such a survivorship may seem 
 to be desirable ; but it is not wisely desirable by any 
 man, for it cannot be reverently asked of Heaven. 
 Mr. Webster, in his beautiful letter to his old school- 
 mastei', Mr. Tappan, has himself said to this effect : 
 Master Tappan, we may ask that God's kingdom may 
 come and be universally established upon earth ; we 
 may pray that His will may be done by us and by all 
 men ; we may ask for our dail}' bread ; we may pray 
 for forgiveness of sins, for escape from the snares of 
 temptation, and for deliverance from evil; but beyond 
 this, we hardly know for what good to supplicate the 
 Divine mercy. Doubtless Mr. Webster thought that 
 a prayer for iclsdoja \\«as included in our Lord's prayer; 
 
39 
 
 and so it is ; but we may ask directly and expressly 
 for wisdom, and if to the granted prayer there shall 
 be added length of days, the prayer will consecrate 
 the gift, and it will be safe. But we may not ask for 
 length of days. We ought not to ask it. Old age has 
 its pains, its disappointments, its mortifications, and 
 its evils ; and unless the Divine Wisdom shall over- 
 shadow and crown us, the boon we ask may make 
 that age worse than the " labour and sorrow" which 
 the Psalmist foreshadows for it. Ask it not. Ask 
 for wisdom, and length of days may be granted, if it 
 is in the pleasure of God. But ask not for length of 
 days. 
 
 It has been my most grateful, most painful duty to 
 declare to this Bar, upon two occasions, the impres- 
 sions that have been left upon me by the death of 
 these two eminent men. Let no man envy me the 
 task, however great the satisfaction may be, in short 
 retrospect to myself. Henceforth no such duty remains 
 to me. I have uttered the last words at a Bar meet- 
 ing upon the departure of friends. I have probably 
 uttered my final words to the Bar of Philadelphia, 
 except the expression of my most cordial regards, and 
 my most affectionate salutations to you all. 
 
KF 355 P5^ b6i 
 
 J 
 
 Author Vol. 
 
 Binney, Horace 
 
 Title Copy 
 
 Remarkd to the bar of Philadelphia 
 
 
 
 Date 
 
 Borrower's Name