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Obituary Addresses 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BAR 
 
 On the Occasion of the Death of 
 
 ABRAHAM 0. ZABRISKIE, LL.l), 
 
 Late Chancellor of the State of New Jersey. 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE HUDSON COUNTY BAR, 
 
 I I 
 
 JERSEY CITY: 
 Printkd by John H. Lyon, 
 
 —1874— 
 

 o.Ta. 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE HUDSON COUNTY BAR. 
 
 Proceedings of the uieetiug of the Bar of Hudson 
 county, lield in the Common Council Chamber, at the City- 
 Hall, in Jersey City, on Monday, the Vth day of June, IS'ZS, 
 to take suitable action upon the death of the late Chan- 
 cellor Abraham O. Zabriskie. 
 
 The Honorable Joseph D. Bedle was called to the chair, 
 and Isaac Romaine was appointed secretary. 
 
 REMARKS BY JUDGE BEDLE. 
 
 The death of Chancellor Zabriskie, so sudden and 
 unexpected, almost shocks us to silence. A few weeks 
 ago he left his home, just freed from the cares of a 
 great ofhce, apparently buoyant with health and giving 
 promise of a ripe old age, and to-day we meet to mourn 
 his loss and bear him to the tomb. The event has cast 
 a deep gloom over this community. Here he lived for 
 years, here he attained his greatest successes, and here, 
 amongst his professional brethren and friends, will he 
 
be mostly missed. His loss, however, is not confined 
 to us immediately, for his learning, ability and personal 
 worth were acknowledged and appreciated throughout 
 and beyond the State. T well remember the night of 
 his departure upon his fatal journey. To him, it was 
 the entrance upon a series of observations and enjoy- 
 ments, which would be a fitting change and relief from 
 the labors of his judicial career, and when ended, would 
 result in renewed vigor and preparation for further 
 usefulness and duty. He felt, as could be readily told 
 from his conversation, that he was fully able physically 
 to meet all the toil and exigencies of the trip. He 
 succeeded in crossing the continent, but on his return, 
 while tarrying at Truckee, a little village upon the 
 Sierra Nevada, he fell a victim to disease, and most 
 unexpectedly died. He intended, as I am informed, 
 to reach home in life, the very day his body was 
 brought thither by his faithful friend Mr. Knapp. 
 We meet now in the deep solemnity of the occasion, 
 to pay a last tribute to his memory and to give expres- 
 sion to our grief. 
 
 Chancellor Zabriskie was a most remarkable man, 
 both in physical appearance and in intrinsic mental 
 strength. Those who saw him for the first, knew 
 at once that he was no ordinary man, and those who 
 
were familiar with him, and especially those who 
 experienced the weight of his power as a professional 
 antagonist, well understood that it was great and for- 
 midable. He was a thoroughly read lawyer, and while 
 at the bar, excelled in the science of the common law. 
 His mind was eminently practical, and could easily 
 adapt itself to the plainest comprehensions. In this 
 was one of the secrets of his success as an advocate. 
 He was fertile in analogies', and used the plainest facts 
 and principles of every day life with wonderful facility, 
 to illustrate his arguments. In this he had no equal 
 at the bar. That quality was always felt before a jury, 
 and frequently was dangerously effective against an 
 adversary before educated minds. Though possessing 
 that faculty in so high a degree, he was always pro- 
 found and learned in a purely legal argument. His 
 research was careful and courts were always aided by 
 the results of his labor and reflection. I heard an 
 eminent judge, who for years adorned the bench of 
 the Court of Errors and Appeals of this State, and 
 whose just judgment of men all will concede, say that 
 Mr. Zabriskie had no superior in strength before that 
 court. 
 
 As a chancellor, he served the State with hiithful- 
 ness, and promptly, ably and satisfactorily performed 
 
the duties of the office. His judicial record will always 
 be regarded as a very valuable part of our juris- 
 prudence. 
 
 As presiding officer of the Court of Errors and 
 Appeals, he was dignified, yet genial, and in the labors 
 and conferences of that court I have seen some of the 
 most striking evidences of his learning and fertility 
 of thouo'ht. 
 
 o 
 
 As a neighbor and friend I shall miss him very much. 
 He had social qualities of a high order — cultivated, 
 rational and refined. To those who knew little of him, 
 his appearance might not always indicate how good a 
 heart he possessed, but all who partook of his hospi- 
 tality or saw much of his daily life, knew that he was 
 companionable, considerate and kind to others, in a 
 high degree. 
 
 To his great abilities was added great industry, and 
 these, with his integrity, which was undoubted, enabled 
 him under Providence to rise to the summit of his 
 profession, and now, after having served the State in 
 its highest judicial office with honor and usefulness, 
 and while his vigor was unimpaired, and death appar- 
 ently remote, he is taken from us most unexpectedly, 
 leaving by that very fact the prominence of his char- 
 acter more distinct, and the force of his example the 
 
greater. Such men are a serious loss to us all. For 
 life at best is but short to acquire a profound knowl- 
 ede-e of the law, and when obtained, accompanied 
 with the fruits of experience and a ripe judgment, the 
 benefit is not alone to the individual, but to the public 
 at large. His example is a bright legacy to the pro- 
 fession, and the qualities that made him great should 
 be noted and imitated. 
 
 On motion, the cliair appointed the following Committee 
 on Kesolntions: Aukaiiam S. Jackson, Isaac W. Souduer, 
 Pkter Bentlev, .Taoob Weaht, Washington B. Williams. 
 
 The committee retired and reported the following reso- 
 lutions, which were unanimously adopted : 
 
 Resolved, By the death of Chancellor Zabrtskte, New 
 Jersey has lost one of her most eminent citizens. 
 
 He was possessed of a mind stored with useful, practical and 
 scientific knowledge, whicli rendered his services of great value 
 in those enterprises of public improvement which has marked 
 the character and attended the progress of our country. IIis 
 judgment was sound and his sagacity far-reaching, and, as a 
 man, familiar with general aftairs, he achieved a distinguished 
 reputation. 
 
 As an Advocate, possessed of a facility of illustration, an 
 untiring energy and great scope of )uind, he was among the 
 most powerful men of his time. 
 
As a Lawyer^ he was among the most learned ; with the 
 ability to apply, with great etfect, his varied acquirements, 
 in the causes in which he was engaged. 
 
 As Surrogate and Prosecutor of the Fleas of the County of 
 Bergeu, he evinced a care, industry and ability, wluch gave 
 evidence of his iitness for those iini)ortant positions. 
 
 As a Member of the Legislative Department of the (lovern- 
 raent, lie left his impress on the laws of our State, many of our 
 important statutes having been framed by him and passed at 
 his suggestion. 
 
 He pel-formed the arduous duties of Chancellor of tlie State 
 with a promptness, energy and ability which challenged the 
 admiration and won the respect and confidence of the profes- 
 sion and the public. 
 
 The State Constitutional Convention, over whose deliber- 
 ations lie had been called to preside, had formed the highest 
 expectations from his mature judgment and large experience, 
 and will greatly miss him in their deliberations. 
 
 As a Man, he was kind, generous and Itenevolent. He culti- 
 vated with success those social virtues, which shed a charming 
 influence upon society, and in his frieiidsliips, iie was sincere 
 and devoted. 
 
 We, his associates, looked forward with the exjiectation that 
 our de}tarted Friend would have enjoyed an old age of useful- 
 ness and repose, shedding around his declining years, those 
 mellowed rays, which would attract l)y their charm and soothe 
 by their mildness ; but in this we have been disappointed. 
 Our memory of his eminence will be his monument, and our 
 grief the tribute to his loss. 
 
9 
 
 Pk,esoloed^ That we sincerely condole with the members of 
 his family, at their sudden bereavement, and tender to them 
 onr heartfelt sympathy. 
 
 liesolved, That the Secretary of this meeting transmit a 
 copy of these resolutions to his family, and cause the same to 
 be published in the daily newspapers, and that the courts of 
 the County of Hudson be requested to enter the same on their 
 minutes. 
 
REMARKS ON RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 REMAKKS BY MR. JACOB WEART. 
 
 Mr. Chairman — But a few days ago, we bore to the 
 tomb the remains of our lamented friend, the Hon. 
 Joseph F. Randolph, and before the year had com- 
 pleted the first half of its cycle, the sad announcement 
 fell upon our ears that the late Chancellor was no 
 more; and the bar is again convened, by that mes- 
 senger who comes so unexpectedly, and at an hour 
 that we know not of, to call us hence. To the de- 
 parted, death came without a warning, his sickness was 
 very short, and he passed out of the world unconscious 
 that his end was approaching. And we are assembled 
 to express our sentiments upon his worth as a man, to 
 extend our sympathies to his bereaved family, and to 
 put upon record a parting word of the loss which has 
 fallen to our profession. 
 
 When I came to Jersey City in 1852, a friendless 
 
11 
 
 stranger in this city, I soon found in Mr. Zabriskie a 
 warm personal friend; he was very kind to me, he in- 
 vited me into his family circle, he assisted me in every 
 way he could professionally, his extensive law library 
 was always open to me, and in this way we became 
 strong personal friends. I was a great admirer of his 
 profound learning and ability as a* lawyer ; and his 
 fame as a counsellor and advocate had became a house- 
 hold word to the bar and people of the State, as will 
 be seen by a short reference to our political history. 
 
 In the year 1859, His Excellency, William A. 
 Newell, selected Mr. Zabriskie as his first choice for 
 Chancellor, and nominated him to the Senate, and the 
 Senate being politically opposed to the Governor de- 
 clined to confirm the nomination, and the memorable 
 struggle was entered into, which left the State for a 
 year without a Chancellor. 
 
 At the ensuing election. His Excellency, Charles S. 
 Olden was elected Governor, but the Setiate remained 
 politically opposed to hiui. I remember to have 
 visited Governor Olden, at Princ(;ton, to present the 
 name of Mr. Zabriskie for the office of Chancellor, and 
 after the legislature convened, Governoi' Olden ad- 
 vised me that he Avould nominate Mr. Zabriskie as 
 Chancellor, provided he could be confirmed, but if he 
 
12 
 
 could not be confirmed, he thought the interests of the 
 State required that his name should not be sent in, but 
 another nomination made ; and he gave Mr. Zabriskie's 
 friends time to see if the confirmation could be secured; 
 but the memory of the struggle of the year previous 
 was too fresh and bitter to allow of his confirmation. 
 When His Excellency Marcus L. Ward was elected in 
 1865, and it became known that the ofiice of Chancel- 
 lor would become vacant, the bar of the State generally 
 looked to Mr. Zabriskie as the coming man, and he was 
 accordingly nominated and confirmed, I mention 
 these facts to show what a strong hold he had upon 
 the public confidence, having been the first choice for 
 the office of Chancellor of three successive Republican 
 Governors, 
 
 Our chairman having spoken of him as a Chancel- 
 lor, I desire to call attention to a few other remarkable 
 traits of his character. Mr. Zabriskie was a lawyer 
 and not a politician, yet he took a deep interest in all 
 of the affairs of State, and the crowning act of his life 
 was his opposition and defeat of the extension of the 
 monopoly grants to the Camden and Amboy Railroad 
 Company. 
 
 I attended the great public meeting at Park Hall, 
 in this city, where he was the chief public speaker, 
 
13 
 
 and his power and eloquence on that occasion was so 
 great, that he fairly thrilled his audience ns it were 
 by an electric shock ; he repeated liis speech before a 
 committee of the legislature at Trenton, and the ex- 
 tension of tlie monopoly was dead. Great as Mr. 
 Zabriskie's services were in the two higliest courts of 
 the State where he presided, in my judgment they fall 
 infinitely short of his great struggle for the rights of 
 the people of the State in his successful effort to defeat 
 the extension of the monopoly privilege, and the 
 result is, that to-day we have a free railroad law; with- 
 out his aid, we would most likely still have remained 
 under the monopoly power, and would have so con- 
 tinued until 1889. 
 
 Before I close I would like to add a tribute to him 
 as a student for the benefit of the young. Mr. Zabris- 
 kie started out in life with the design of acquiring 
 knowledge and making himself useful in his day and 
 generation. He told me that although his father re- 
 sided within twelve miles of Princeton college, and 
 that he kept horses and servants, so that he could have 
 sent for him at any time, yet when he went to Prince- 
 ton, at the opening of the session, he remained there 
 until the session closed, as he did not wish to have his 
 course of study l>.roken in upon by journeys to visit his 
 parents and friends. 
 
u 
 
 Mr. Zabriskie never got above tlie books, and always 
 consulted authorities. I was struck with this on one 
 occasion. I went to employ him as counsel in an im- 
 portant matter, and after a sliort consultation about the 
 case, he suggested that we turn to the books; he 
 said, I always like to consult autliority and be guided 
 by established principles and decisions. 
 
 He was a warm personal friend, T ever f)und him so 
 through life, but he has gone. He passed away distant. 
 from his home, and amid strangers, upon the western 
 slopes of the Pacific ; he was however full of years, 
 full of honors, he liad earned a fame which will go 
 down to posterity as long as reports are read, and the 
 law is lionored ; and the hist tribute that that we can 
 offer, is a tear by the side of his bier. 
 
 REMAl^vS BY PION. CHARLES TT. WINFIEI.D. 
 
 Mr. Chainnan — I cannot let tliis occasion pass with- 
 out bearing testimony to the worth of my former 
 teacher, guide and friend. No man, said tlie great 
 philosopher, can be considered great until ho is dead; 
 but those who best knew Chancellor Zabriskie will admit 
 
15 
 
 that it did not need death, in whose awlal presence envy 
 and all the baser passions of the soul are still, to issue 
 the patent of his nobility, lie was, while yet among 
 us, in himself and of himself, every inch a king ; not 
 from fortuitous circumstances, but from making hmiselt 
 an embodiment of the truth of the Roman maxim, 
 q u isq lie 81101 furtiiu ce faber. 
 
 Three years as a student under him, and part ot that 
 time at a table in his private office inspired me with a 
 high appreciation of his legal acquirements, and his 
 sterling qualities as a man. At that time he represented 
 this county in the State Senate, the only political office, 
 I believe, he ever held. Twelve years afterward, when 
 I had the honor to represent this county in the same 
 body, an incident occurred which it is now permissible 
 to make public, inasmuch as he whom it most concerned 
 is no more. The remarks of Mr. Weart have brought 
 it to my recollection. Pardon the reference which a 
 recital of the incident makes to myself: 
 
 Just previous to his nomination to the office of Chan- 
 cellor, and while those in the opposite political party 
 knew notliing of the Governor's plans, or that Mr. 
 Zabriskie's name was to be presented, he and 1 were 
 walking from the depot to our hotel in Trenton, when 
 he asked me if I had any objection to his being nomi- 
 
16 
 
 nated to the Chancellorship ; at the same time remark- 
 ing that he was getting somewhat advanced in years 
 and would like to close his professional life with that 
 honorable j)osition. Without hesitation the assurance 
 was readily given that, I not only had no objection, 
 but would gladly assist in furthering his wishes. To 
 understand the point of his inquiry, it may be proper 
 to observe that, at that time the Senate was composed 
 of eleven Republicans and ten Democrats. Mr. Za- 
 briskie, by "his manly course upon certain railroad 
 questions, a few years previously, had become ob- 
 noxious to a particular corporation which then held 
 no inconsiderable control in the State. At least one 
 Senator on the Republican side was of that corporation. 
 A few days afterward Mr. Zabriskie's nomination was 
 sent in by the Governor. Combinations were imme- 
 diately made for his rejection in the Senate. The 
 Democrats acting as a unit, with the assistance of one 
 Republican, were sufficient for that purpose, and that 
 assistance was assured. A caucus was called to com- 
 plete the plans. The ten of the opposition were there. 
 Among them were grey-headed men, men of ability 
 and experience. Views were expressed, and they 
 were adverse to the confirmation. Being the youngest 
 and least experienced of the body, my opinion was 
 
17 
 
 last called for. It was freely given. How could they 
 ask me to do such a great wrong to the man who had 
 guided my footsteps to an honorable profession, who 
 had given me his friendship when a poor, friendless 
 boy, and how could I, now that the opportunity was at 
 hand withhold my gratitude. I was sorry to differ 
 from my friends, but honor compelled me to vote for 
 his confirmation and a caucus had no right to decree 
 otherwise. If it insisted upon such right I must ask 
 leave to withdraw. Much to their credit, several 
 Senators approved of my course and we were all left 
 free to vote as we pleased. Thus the opposition was 
 disorganizf.d and the nominee's confirmation assured. 
 To me the result was profoundly gratifying, and the 
 privilege of doing what I did remains one of the 
 pleasures of memory. He died without knowing the 
 history of that struggle. 
 
 How often since his death have I recalled his wish 
 to close his professional life with the high oflice he so 
 ably filled. It has turned out to be more real than 
 either of us thought. But a few days intervened be- 
 tween the laying aside of his official robes and his 
 death. Bnt a few days ago we appeared before him, 
 the judge ; to-day, upon his coffin we mingle our tears. 
 He stepped from the bench to the tomb ; he filled his 
 
18 
 
 term of office and died. Thus he lives in our memory 
 as a Chancellor meeting in full the judicial require- 
 ments of Lord Bacon, rather learned, than witty ; 
 venerable, than plausible; and more advised, than 
 confident. 
 
 COMMUNICATION FROM MR. W. B. WILLIAMS. 
 
 Mr. A. S. Jackson stated that he had received fi-om Mr. 
 Williams, who was unavoidably absent, a few written re- 
 marks, with the sentiments of which lie fully concurred, and 
 which he would ask leave to read, as follows : 
 
 One of the most prominent figures which I recall in 
 looking back to the beginning of my professional life, 
 is that of Mr. Zabriskie. There were giants in those 
 days at the New Jersey bar, both in body and mind. 
 Mr. Asa Whitehead, Gov. Pennington, Mr. Whelpley, 
 Mr. Dayton, Chief-Justice Green and others, then in 
 full vigor, were all men of commanding presence as 
 well as of powerful intellect. We students used to 
 look up to their tall, dignified forms, so different from 
 our own and from the men of to day, and which united 
 
19 
 
 with courtly manners and with distinguished skill and 
 eloquence to fill out the ideal of the leading lawyer. 
 Mr. Zabriskie was their peer — and as early as I can 
 remember was among the foremost. In Bergen county 
 he had held almost absolute sway over juries, and it 
 did not take him long to show that he was worthy of 
 the utmost attention and confidence from our own 
 citizens. 
 
 His manner in court I remember with much pleasure. 
 He would often commence his address in a low tone, 
 scarcely audible, and with apparent embarrassment. 
 Then he would place one foot on a chair, and leaning 
 confidentially toward the jury, would attract their 
 attention by that wonderful illustration of the horse, 
 which he could somehow apply to every case as aptly 
 as ever an anecdote of Mr. Lincoln's fitted its object. 
 And soon he would glide into a copious flow of state- 
 ment and illustration supplied from his keen memory 
 of the testimony, and ingenious analogies, emphasized 
 often by the weight of his own assertion or opinion, 
 and sometimes rising into the plane of eloquence. 
 His strong points, however, were his clear and homely 
 way of putting the case to the jury, coupled with 
 untiring patience and Protean ingenuity in presenting 
 the law to the court. 
 
20 
 
 In the office he was a most valuable adviser. His 
 apprehension was as quick as the statement; he was 
 familiar with decided cases, and with principles, and 
 his strong practical sense showed him almost intuitively 
 how they would apply. His perception of character 
 was keen ; he was eminently a man fitted for active 
 life, not a literary man or a book- worm, though his 
 fine library attested his taste and love for books. His 
 manner and bearing: added m'eat weis^ht to what he 
 said in consultation, and he was both by his physical 
 and mental characteristics decided and positive in his 
 view^s. Yet he was not opinionated. When, as must 
 often happen even to the wisest, further discussion or 
 reflection indicated that he was mistaken, no man was 
 more ready to admit the error and correct it. 
 
 To some degree he paid the debt every good lawyer 
 owes to his profession, for he was the law reporter 
 from 1847 to 1853, and his reports are without doubt 
 the best we have had in this State. They set forth in 
 general, a clear statement of the case, and important 
 arguments of counsel ; and their head-notes are, so far 
 as I know, unexceptionable. Besides, it so happened 
 that during that period the Supreme Court discussed 
 many interesting and important legal rules. Local 
 and special legislation had not then attained such evil 
 
21 
 
 frequency and confusinn^ diversity as now, when they 
 overwhehii the court with dry and uninstructive con- 
 troversy, and follow us like the frogs of Egypt into 
 our towns, our streets, our sewers, our local adminis- 
 tration, and almost our bed-chambers. 
 
 The worthy aim of a lawyer's ambition, a dignified 
 post in the administration of public justice, where his 
 hard-earned knowledge and experience can be of the 
 greatest service in maintaining right and redressing 
 wrong, was attained by Mr. Zabriskie, as a fitting close 
 to his honorable career. 1 will not speak of any par- 
 ticular cases he decided, nor of his judicial qualities, 
 as others of greater experience will do this. 
 
 Bat I w^ould remind you of the patience and atten- 
 tion with which he listened, while Chancellor, to the 
 crude arguments of junior counsel ; and explained to 
 them the practice of the court, which he like his 
 learned predecessor, labored to make efficacious and 
 uniform. The rules of court and many decisions testify 
 to the pains he took in this direction. 
 
 But what is fir more and nobler than kind attention, 
 or forbearance, or practical skill, he loved justice as it 
 should be loved — not because it is on the whole the 
 best policy in human affairs, but for its own sake, for 
 its inherent beauty and fitness, and as the noblest 
 
attribute of either man or God. And he sought to 
 administer it, not like a calcuhiting machine or a logic 
 mill, but as a man with the feelings of humanity, to 
 whom nothing human was foreign, who could know 
 and sympathize with human passions and impulses ; 
 who could feel affectionate pity for oppressed inno- 
 cence, hatred of fraud, and holy anger against bold 
 and unblushing guilt. 
 
 With these convictions, I am full of sorrow that he 
 has so soon passed away. I could have wished him to 
 remain in his ripening old age to adorn the bench or 
 the Senate ; or if in this day of base rotation that were 
 too much to ask, then that he might have walked 
 before us slowly down the vale of years, the Nestor of 
 our bar. But all this is cut off: and we have suffered 
 a loss which we can only submit to, and which it is 
 useless to bewail. The death of a good and great 
 man leaves his good example cleared of his defects or 
 weaknesses, for us to follow. We have a right too, to 
 believe, that such noble and masterful faculties as his, 
 are not to be forever laid away in inaction or obscurity; 
 but that they will be brought out by the Lord of all 
 worlds to be put to some great and worthy purpose, 
 in those vast unknown regions which are full of all 
 past humanity, and whither we also are bound. 
 
23 
 
 BEMARKS BY MR. ISAAC S. TAYLOR. 
 
 Mr. Chairman — The sorrow that is felt and has 
 been so unmistakeably evinced, to-day, by those of 
 his professional brethren to whom through the asso- 
 ciation of many years, Chancellor Zabriskie had en- 
 deared himself, is I know fully shared by many who 
 have but recently entered upon their legal career, 
 and whose attachments to the deceased were formed 
 in later years. And we, young members of the bar, 
 have just cause for grief, in that one who was ever 
 ready to assist us by valuable counsel, and to encour- 
 age us by cheering words, has been suddenly claimed 
 and stricken down by death. 
 
 Especially do I — but a very few years since his 
 pupil in the law — desire to add at this time a slight, 
 but a heartfelt, tribute to his memory. And in so 
 doing I am confident that I shall speak the sentiments 
 of all who have been privileged to call him their 
 instructor. 
 
 It is not always — nor indeed very often — that the 
 preceptor acquires and retains a large and warm 
 place in the esteem of the pupil. And many an 
 instructor, in terminating his peculiar relation with 
 
24 
 
 his scholar, closes the latter's heart to affectionate 
 remembrances of him. 
 
 Particularly in a profession where the instruction 
 of others is but incidental to other duties, it would 
 not be surprising if amid the press of business, and 
 constant wear of mind and energy, the lessons taught 
 should be instilled with no accompaniment which in 
 after years would render the method of tuition a 
 pleasure of memory." 
 
 But I am sure that to-day, though saddened as 
 we are by the thought that he is no more, there is 
 nothing but pleasure and love in the breasts of his 
 students as they recall the days and years passed 
 under the tutelage of Mr. Zabriskie. 
 
 His careful work in establishing the principles of 
 the law in their minds — his willing explanations of 
 what was hard to be understood — the wonderfully 
 varied practical methods of illustration whereby he 
 made what were apparently the most obscure and 
 difficult matters perfectly intelligible to those under 
 his charge — and in short, his zealous and faithful 
 attention to their instruction cannot be forgotten by 
 them, or remembered with aught but happiness and 
 thankfulness. 
 
 He not only impressed their minds with a sense 
 
25 
 
 of his own deep researches in, and thorough mastery 
 of his profession, but produced in them an interest 
 in the object of their study, which under his guid- 
 ance could not lessen or grow cold. 
 
 He was as conscientious, and as ready to exert the 
 powers of his practical mind, in the discharge of 
 his duties to those whom he was instructing, as in 
 the fuUillment of his obligations to his clients — and 
 there was no faithlessness towards them. 
 
 To these characteristics he added the constant 
 exhibition of kindness, consideration and sociability, 
 and thus secured the respect and love of those 
 about him. 
 
 His students were always welcome to his home. 
 His general, as well as his law library was at their 
 disposal, and they were made to realize his interest 
 in them. Nor did this interest cease when their 
 formal relations to each other were at an end. Coun- 
 sel was as freely and fully given — assistance as gener- 
 ously bestowed, and the same genial, social qualities 
 as constantly evinced through succeeding years. 
 
 It is not for me to refer to his course at the bar 
 and on the bench, or in the various positions of trust 
 and confidence in which he was so frequently placed 
 — but I have spoken of him as he was known and 
 
26 
 
 loved of me. And now, realizing the fact that he 
 has gone, there shall remain in calling him to mind 
 only thoughts fragrant with gratitude, and memories 
 of respect and honor. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Weart it was ordered tliat the chair be 
 requested to pronounce, or appoint some person to pronounce 
 a eulogy on the life and character of the late Chancellor, 
 at the opening of the October Term of the Hudson County 
 Circuit Court. 
 
 Owing to Judge Bedle's constant engagements in Court, 
 he was prevented from preparing the eulogy himself, but 
 appointed the Hon. Isaac W. Scudder to j^^'^^i^ounce the 
 same. 
 
PROCEEDINGS AT THE COUllT HOUSE, 
 
 At the Opening of the October Term, 1873. 
 
 REMARKS BY MR. JACOB WEART. 
 
 May it Xilease the Court— \i becomes my painful 
 
 duty to announce to the court, that since the last 
 
 reo-ular term, our late lamented friend, Chancellor 
 
 Zabriskie, has passed away. For many years he was 
 
 the leading lawyer of this county, and we looked to 
 
 him as the Nestor of the bar— he participated in all 
 
 the struggles of this people, and was their counsellor 
 
 in public and private affairs ; from the scenes of his 
 
 labors here, he was asked by the State to come up 
 
 hio-her and was made Chancellor. It is fit and 
 
 proper that when one so distinguished in pubUc 
 
 and private station passes away, that we pause for 
 
 a while, and lay aside our business and cares, and 
 
 direct our thoughts to the memory of the dead. 
 
 The bar has taken suitable action in relation to 
 
28 
 
 their bereavement, and at a meeting held in the 
 Common Council Chamber, on the seventh day of 
 July last, a series of resolutions were unanimously 
 adopted, which it affords me great pleasure to now 
 read and present to the court; and at that meeting 
 a person was selected to prepare and pronounce a 
 suitable eulogy upon his life and character at the 
 opening of the term this day. 
 
 I would therefore move, your honor, that the 
 resolutions be entered upon the minutes of the 
 court, and that the court do now adjourn. 
 
 REMARKS BY JUDGE BEDLE. 
 
 The resolutions read, are a truthful and fitting 
 tribute to the memory of Chancellor Zabriskie. It 
 is just that this court should make a record of the 
 death of so distinguished a judge, and a lawyer so 
 learned and able. It is ordered that the resolutions 
 be entered at large upon the minutes, and also that 
 out of respect to the memory of the deceased, the 
 court do now adjourn. 
 
29 
 
 On motion, :i meeting of the bar was organized. 
 
 Judge Bedle was called to take the chair, and Mr. Jona- 
 than Dixon was appointed secretary. 
 
 The chair annonnced that the Hon. Isaac W. Scudder liad 
 been selected, as provided by a previous resolution, to pro- 
 nounce the eulogy. 
 
 Mr. Scudder then pronounced the eulogy. 
 
 After the eulogy had been pronounced, it was move<l that 
 the chair api)oint a committee of five to request a copy of 
 the eulogy for }»ublication, and that the committee prepare 
 and publish for the use of the bar, the eulogy, resolutions, 
 remarks made at the bar meeting, held at tlie Cit}' llall, 
 and such other matter as they may deem advisable. 
 
 The chair appointed Messrs. Weart, Dixon, Williams, Gil- 
 christ, and Ransom such committee. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 Jersey City, October 8, 1873. 
 
 Hon. Isaac W. Scudder : 
 
 Dear Sir — The bar of this county desire to express their 
 deep sense of gratitude for the eulogy pronounced by you 
 upon the character, life and public services of the late 
 lamented Chancellor Abraham O. Zabriskie. 
 
 At a meeting of the bar, a resolution was unanimously 
 passed requesting that you furnish a copy for publication, 
 and we the undersigned, were appointed a committee to 
 solicit from you a copy, and to publish the same. Hoping 
 that you. will comply with the request, w^e remain Avith great 
 respect, 
 
 Yours, very truly, 
 
 JACOB WEART, 
 JONATHAN DIXON, 
 W. B. WILLIAMS, 
 ROBERT GILCHRIST, 
 S. B. RANSOM, 
 
 Cotnmittee. 
 
31 
 
 Jersey City, October 15, 1873. 
 
 Jacob Weaut, Esq., Chairman: 
 
 2)grtr Sir^At your request I place in your hands the 
 address made by me at the opening of the court in Hudson 
 county, at the present October term, on the occasion of the 
 announcement of the deatli of our friend and neiglibor, 
 Chancellor Zabriskie, whose loss caused us so much grief. 
 I regret tliat the short time in which it was prepared did 
 not afford sufficient opportunity to do justice to a man, who 
 was so highly appreciated by us, as a judge, a friend and 
 a citizen. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 I. W. SCUDDER. 
 
n 
 
 ADDRESS BY HON. ISAAC W. SCUDDER. 
 
 It is well that there are periods io the history of 
 men when they are willing to forget their jealousies 
 and rivalries, and with a common sentiment and united 
 voice, both feel and express their appreciation for and 
 admiration of those who by labor and good conduct 
 have achieved eminence and distinction. We bestow 
 praise upon the artist who with great skill groups and 
 combines on the canvass scenes from nature or history; 
 we dwell with pleasure on the animated narrative of 
 the historian ; the genius of the poet kindles our en- 
 thusiasm ; deeds in arms excite our love of the heroic; 
 and we follow the grand discoveries of men of science, 
 wondering at the extent to which they can penetrate 
 the laws of the universe, and the facility with which 
 they can apply them to the advancement of mankind. 
 The statesman, though he may be covered with 
 obloquy in his time, has the appreciation of succeed- 
 ing generations. The eminence which is achieved 
 by the professional man, it too frequently happens, 
 lives only in the memory of his cotemporaries, and 
 the historian is scarcely alive to the consciousness 
 of his existence. Yet while this is so, the dis- 
 
33 
 
 cipline, the protracted labor, the abstraction of 
 mind, and the great struggle which gives dis- 
 tinction to the lawyer of rank and eminence, 
 would in some other pursuits win a degree of fame 
 which would be transmitted to many generations. 
 How much of patience, of labor, of tact, of endurance, 
 and even of heroic effort, is oftentimes displayed in 
 the hfe of the lawyer, which if evinced by the soldier, 
 the statesman, the man of science, or letters, would 
 win an enduring fame. 
 
 But let us pass from generalities to particulars. One 
 from among us, familiar to us by the intercourse of 
 every day life, distinguished as a lawyer and a judge, 
 has departed, and we are called upon on this occasion 
 to express our appreciation of his merits and his 
 character. 
 
 The family of Mr. Zabriskie was well known in New 
 Jersey, and this is not the occasion for a biography, 
 but for the expression of our views of his life and 
 character as a man, a lawyer and a judge. Like the 
 sturdy oak, he was somewhat slow of growth; no pre- 
 cocious brilliancy, no showy flowers of a short sea- 
 son marked his development. Amid a quiet, slow, 
 agricultural people, who held on to the traditions of 
 the past, rather than courted the developments of the 
 
34 
 
 future, lie grew to the maturity of bis intellectual 
 powers, and in the county of Bergen he gathered 
 strength which lasted during his life. In this, how 
 great was his advantage ! The man who at an early 
 age is thrown amid the stir, excitement and strife of 
 the city, even though careful not to waste his powers, 
 is apt to be forced to a too rapid growth. Early 
 brilliancy and energetic effort, stimulated by surround- 
 ing influences, oftentimes pass away before the meri- 
 dian of life has been reached. At Hackensack, Mr. 
 Zabriskie had time to lay broad and deep the foun- 
 dation for the superstructure which was afterwards 
 erected. Among the people of Bergen county, slow 
 to give their confidence, but which when once given 
 is lasting, Mr. Zabriskie won a degree of consideration 
 which probably they have never bestowed more fally 
 on any other man. 
 
 In the year 1838 he was appointed Surrogate of 
 the County of Bergen, and was reappointed to that 
 office, which he held for ten years. But he was not 
 content simply to learn the accurate statement of the 
 accounts of executors and administrators, (and in this 
 particular, the records of his office show that he was 
 not excelled), but he acquired a knowledge of the 
 history of ecclesiastical law as pertaining to the estates 
 
35 
 
 of decedents, which made his counsels valuable at 
 subsequent periods of his life. In the administration 
 of that office, he evinced a method and accuracy 
 which distinguished his life ; and the discipline and 
 care about minute details here acquired lasted him 
 ever afterwards ; and there was no man in the pro- 
 fession, in litigated ca,uses in the Orphans' Court or 
 Prerogative Court, whose services were more valuable 
 than his. One of his associates in the profession, 
 who, after he had left Hackensack, called him in to 
 aid in a difficult cause in the Orphans' Court of 
 one of our inland counties, the preparation of which 
 had not originally been made by Mr. Zabriskie, 
 said of him, that he readily mastered every detail 
 of an intricate transaction, and argued the cause as 
 if every witness had been before him, and every 
 minute particular had been familiar to him. To 
 use his expression, the dead manuscript on which 
 the testimony was written, seemed to be alive. 
 
 This illustrates in the man of intellectual power, the 
 value of the discipline acquired by what is sometimes 
 called useless drugery. 
 
 In 1842, Mr. Zabriskie was appointed Prosecutor 
 of the Pleas of the County of Bergen, an office 
 which among the . order-loving and law-enforcing 
 
36 
 
 people of New Jersey has seldom been bestowed 
 on the unworthy. In this office he became master 
 of the principles of the criminal law, and though 
 aided by that strong sense of justice which always 
 characterized the descendants of the Hollanders, no 
 man in that county, amenable to the criminal law, 
 went unpunished for lack of effort on his part. On 
 account of the ability thus displayed, he was called 
 upon frequently afterwards, both to prosecute and 
 defend in criminal causes. He was reappointed to 
 this office, and if I mistake not, before the expiration 
 of his second term, he removed to Jersey City. In 
 an agricultural county such as Bergen then was, Mr. 
 Zabriskie was frequently called on to prosecute or 
 defend civil causes, in which the title to land was 
 involved. In this way he either became experienced 
 as a practical surveyor, or developed that knowledge 
 as a mathematician and a man of figures, which he had 
 acquired, and which he took pleasure in exercising. 
 He was familiar with the proprietary history of New 
 Jersey, and he understood every patent in the old 
 Field Book of Bergen county, and the common lands 
 assigned to each patent. So much had this taste been 
 cultivated, that after he became Chancellor, he had a 
 copy of some portion of this ancient and valuable 
 
37 
 
 record hnng up in his office, where it was ready for 
 inspection. The reported cases in which he was en- 
 gaged showed how thoroughly he was a hmd-lawyer ; 
 and every member of the bar, in cases where the title 
 to land was involved, felt how formidable Mr. Z. was 
 as an adversary, and how much confidence and strength 
 he acquired by his assistance. Samuel Berry — the 
 old surveyor of Hackensack, who knew every tract of 
 land from the Bergen line to the Kills, and by whom 
 occupied, said to me, that Mr. Zabriskie was the 
 most useful counsel in a land cause, that he knew. 
 He thus acquired habits of patience and labor, so 
 that tedious details, from which many able and 
 brilliant men would turn away with aversion, became 
 to him matters of pleasure, so long as the pursuit 
 proved useful. 
 
 Before he left Hackensack, in 1849, he had so 
 impressed the Supreme Court by his thorough 
 research, and his capacity for patient labor, that he 
 was made reporter of that tribunal, and held that 
 position until some time in the year 1855. 
 
 He thus acquired a fondness for the pursuits of 
 his profession, so much so, that I once heard a 
 Hackensack lawyer, younger than Mr. Zabriskie, say 
 of him, that in those days he took as much pleasure 
 
38 
 
 ill the investigation and trial of a cause, as he did 
 in eating- liis breakfast. Thus disci})hncd, with his 
 armor well made and accurately fitted, he sought a 
 wider field for the display of his powers, when in 
 1849 he came to the county of Hudson to reside. 
 
 When Mr. Zabriskie made his residence in the 
 county of Hudson, he was no stranger among our 
 people. The county of Hudson was set off from the 
 county of Bergen in the year 1840. ILickcnsack, 
 previous to 1840, was the county seat. Jurymen 
 from the old township of Bergen, now Hudson 
 county, assembled four times a year at Hackensack. 
 These jurymen knew Mr. Zabriskie as a prominent 
 lawyer who was engaged in every cause of import- 
 ance in the county. Every man who proved a will, 
 or administered on an estate came in personal contact 
 with him. Political associations, which exert a large 
 influence in our country, in agricultural districts, made 
 the inhabitants from the New Jersey state line to 
 Kill Von KuU somewhat acquainted with each other. 
 The people of old Powles' Hook fought their political 
 battles at a place located on the road to Hackensack, 
 where the Tlirec Pigeons, perched on the top of the 
 tavern sign, looked down on the combat with the 
 
39 
 
 utmost complacency, without fluttering a wing or 
 winking an eye. 
 
 One of the results of this association of people was, 
 that when Mr. Zal)riskie came to reside among us, 
 having becMi to some extent a leader in politics in 
 Bergen connty, he was taken up by the people of 
 Hudson county and elected to the State Senate in 
 the year 1850, and served for three years in tliat 
 important post. His term of service included the 
 years 1851, 1852 and 1853. Here he took an im- 
 portant part in legislatio!i, and thus came in personal 
 contact with many leading men in the State of New 
 Jersey, which resulted greatly to his advantage in 
 after years. 
 
 He also took some part as one of the committee 
 of citizens who framed the voluminous charter lor 
 Jersey City, which was passed March 18, 1851, some 
 of the provisions of which were drafted by him. 
 
 His hand can be seen in many acts of the legis- 
 lature wliich were passed while he was in the Senate. 
 
 I will refer to two iin[)ortant bills drafted by 
 him, and which became laws. 
 
 The legislative enactments of a government are 
 the monuments, which to a great extent guide the 
 historian in tracing the progress of any people. The 
 
40 
 
 wants and necessities, as well as the passions and 
 prejudices of a nation are largely portrayed in the 
 statute book. The movement to abolish imprison- 
 ment for debt had its strongest impulse in the terri- 
 tory comprised in the county of Hudson. Situated 
 opposite the city of New York, we caught the im- 
 pulse which moved the people of the great metropolis, 
 and determined that the passenger who crossed our 
 borders should no longer dread the Hackensack jail 
 and its formidable keeper. Imprisonment for debt 
 was abolished in the year 1840, and subsequently its 
 perpetual prohibition was declared by the Constitu- 
 tion of 1844. 
 
 As a result new remedies were sousrht for. The 
 man who furnished materials, or bestowed his labor 
 in the erection of houses, desired to have a lien on 
 that which his property or his industry created. 
 The cautious lawyers, who held the doctrine, that 
 a contract could not be binding unless by the 
 consent of the party contracting, resisted the notion 
 that there could be a lien on a building erected, 
 except with the consent of the owner. The new 
 order of things arising to some extent from the abo- 
 lition of imprisonment for debt, led to the adoption 
 of a new remedy, and the law of lien, derived so 
 
41 
 
 largely from the civil law, arose in importance. Lien 
 laws, as applicable to the erection of houses, were 
 from time to time passed by the legislature, which 
 were crude and badly digested, and which had only 
 an application to certain districts in the State. 
 
 Some of our ablest and most learned lawyers de- 
 clared that these laws could not be carried into effect. 
 Mr. Zabriskie, however, saw the tendency of the 
 times, and with practical good sense and judgment, 
 embodied the laws in a compact and working system, 
 which has remained without serious alteration, and 
 he so framed it, that whilst it afforded proper pro- 
 tection to the material-man and the laborer, the 
 capitalist and the man who desired to erect his own 
 dwelling had a way pointed out, by which they 
 could have sufficient freedom to carry on their enter- 
 prises. 
 
 Representing a county bounding on one of the 
 noblest rivers and greatest harbors on the continent, 
 destined to become great in the history of the nation 
 by reason of its proximity to the commercial metrop- 
 olis of this western empire, he became convinced 
 that his constituents should have the benefit of that 
 rule of the local common law of the State of New 
 Jersey, which held that the shore owner could dock 
 
42 
 
 out in front of his land below high water mark, so 
 far as might be proper or necessary for commercial 
 purposes. He framed, and by his influence passed 
 the wharf act, every line of which showed practical 
 wisdom; and though a different rule of law was de- 
 clared by the Court of Appeals from that which was 
 supposed to have prevailed in former years, yet in the 
 celebrated case of Stevens against the Paterson and 
 Newark Railroad Company, he maintained with great 
 learning and marked ability the opinion which he had 
 always held at the bar, and after he had ceased to 
 have any personal interest in that kind of property. 
 Though the riparian owner can now by making com- 
 pensation to the State, acquire in a full and ample 
 manner all the privileges of docking out into navi- 
 gable waters, yet so strong has been and still is the 
 feeling in those counties in New Jersey which border 
 on the sea and the great rivers, that with the excep- 
 tion of the Budd Tract and Black Tom's Reef, no 
 grant has been made in front of the shore except 
 to the riparian owner; and in those two cases, the 
 concessions have been practically rendered of no 
 avail, since the grants of the State have become 
 ultimately vested in the riparian owners. When Mr. 
 
43 
 
 Zabriskie left the Senate of New Jersey, he carried 
 with him the esteem of the people of the State. 
 
 In the year 1854, au act of the legislature of the 
 State of New Jersey was passed, by which it was 
 provided that the exclusive privileges commonly 
 known as the Camden and Amboy Railroad monop- 
 oly, should expire on the 1st of January, 1869. 
 About that time there was much discussion in the 
 State relative to the renewal of this monopoly grant. 
 Mr. Zabriskie at that period took strong ground 
 against the renewal of these monopoly privileges, 
 and at a public meeting in Jersey City, declared that 
 the people should, with pickaxe in hand, tear up the 
 rails, rather than have so odious a contract perpetu- 
 ated. For this expression of just indignation, he was 
 called the captain of the Pickaxe Guard. The inde- 
 pendent portion of the community, however, sus- 
 tained rather than condemned his earnest declar- 
 ations, and the State of New Jersey has been relieved 
 from the obnoxious restriction. 
 
 The practical character of Mr. Zabriskie's mind 
 was evinced by the ability which he displayed as a 
 railroad director, and to some extent a railroad man- 
 ager. 
 
 When it became necessary for the New York and 
 
44 
 
 Erie Railroad Company to make their terminus at 
 Jersey City, the manner in wliich that object should 
 be accomplished was of serious importance. The 
 finances of the company were not in the most pros- 
 perous condition. In 1857, commercial disasters and 
 bankruptcy came with their discouraging influences 
 upon the country. Money was to be raised, and it 
 required the credit of a new and distinct institution 
 to accomplish that object. The Long Dock charter, 
 which was passed February 2(j, 185G, was drawn by 
 Mr. Zabriskie. Tliat company in name and in title 
 to property was distinct from the New York and Erie 
 Railroad Company. They had power to raise money 
 by issuing bonds. The tunnel was built and the line 
 of rails was laid from the west side of the Bergen 
 Hill to the Hudson. The property purchased and 
 filled in was ample to secure the bonds which were 
 issued, and the Long Dock Company being a distinct 
 association from the New York and Erie Railroad 
 Company, had a character and credit of its own, and 
 was not involved by the encumbrance of the several 
 mortgages on the main line. The plan was a success, 
 and the Paterson and Hudson River Railroad Com- 
 pany was continued to the waters of the Hudson 
 River through the tunnel, on the lands of the Long 
 
45 
 
 Dock Company. Such is the recognized legal status 
 of the Patersoii and Hudson River Railroad Company 
 by the Supreme Court of our State — and such was 
 the design of Mr. Zabriskie. He was one of the 
 most trusted advisers of Nathaniel Marsh, under 
 whose careful, judicious and econoiiiical management, 
 the New York and Erie Railroad Company was con- 
 tinued after he was appointed receiver, as the Erie 
 Railway Company, and earned the dividends on the 
 common and preferred stocks which were paid under 
 his administration. 
 
 In the year 1856, Mr. Zabriskie was elected a 
 director of the New Jersey Railroad and Transpor- 
 tation Comjiany, and held that position until he was 
 made Chancellor in the year 18(50. 
 
 He was not a nominal director but was placed in 
 the important position of chairman of the executive 
 committee of that company. He soon became master 
 of all the affairs of the road, and gave his attention 
 to the number of cars and locomotives which were 
 required, the capacity of the work-shops, and the 
 requirements of the road, and such was the accuracy 
 of his mathematical mind, that he knew and retained 
 in his memory the most minute details of the affairs 
 of this corporation. 
 
46 
 
 I once heard a railroad man brought up in this 
 company say of certain plans which he suggested 
 with reference to the working of the road, and which 
 had received the approval of Mr. Zabriskie, that after 
 such a sanction he did not feel much doubt of the 
 result — such was his confidence in Mr. Zabriskie's 
 judgment. All the duties which he performed as 
 director of ihe road, were concurrent with an exten- 
 sive practice in the law, in the management of cases 
 which required learning, labor and sagacity, and in 
 which he met as adversaries the ablest counsel of the 
 State. 
 
 He performed the arduous duties of Chancellor 
 with a promptness which has never been surpassed 
 by any other officer who has held that position. No 
 cause ever unduly hung on his hands by reason of a 
 want of time for its examination and decision. There 
 was an increase of business in that court during his 
 term of office, arising out of the extension of com- 
 mercial and manufacturing affairs. He held his ollice 
 during a period of great progress and growth. The 
 business of the Court of Chancery was so arranged 
 as to give facility to suitors, and his motion days for 
 matters of practice and injunction were an exempli- 
 fication of the system which characterized the man. 
 
47 
 
 His decisions show a mind positive and independent, 
 evince labor and research, and have established for 
 Chancellor Zabriskie an enduring fame as a judge. 
 Though some reversals may be pointed to in the 
 Court of Appeals, it must be remembered that he 
 did not have the advantage of his distinguished pre- 
 decessor, Chancellor Green, who, before he became 
 Chancellor, as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, 
 wieldin2: to some extent the united influence of the 
 common law bench, exerted a controlling influence 
 over the Court of Appeals. 
 
 Men achieve distinction or acquire wealth by the 
 manner in which they use their time. There must be 
 a time for labor, for rest and recreation ; and the 
 systematic distribution of time for occupation or re- 
 pose becomes a matter of primary importance. When 
 enira^'cd in })usiness he gave his whole attention to 
 the matter before him. He had the power of ab- 
 stracting himself from all other concerns except that 
 which was before him. With him labor was a con- 
 centrated power and continued elfort. His labors 
 performed, he sought recreation. Ho attended the 
 social entertainments given by others, and bore his 
 part as if amusement and conversation were the sole 
 concerns of his life. He brought others around him 
 
48 
 
 at the social board, and then it appeared as if hospi- 
 tality was his chief pleasure. He read miscellaneous 
 literature and found time to keep up with the knowl- 
 edge of the various discoveries in science and im- 
 provement in art. He could and did give days, 
 weeks and months to travel in his own land and 
 European countries. The first time he went to 
 Europe, he fixed previously the day of his departure 
 and return, and mapped out his course of travel with 
 most undeviating accuracy. If he designed any day 
 to leave home and go to particular places, he fixed 
 the time of his departure and return, and estimated 
 with accuracy the period necessary to be occupied in 
 the accomplishment of the object before him. Mathe- 
 matical accuracy was one of the elements of his mind, 
 and without apparent labor it seemed to be diffused 
 over his life and controlled his conduct. To men of 
 business he seemed to be in a most eminent degree a 
 man of business. With those who sought to fill time 
 by amusement as an occupation, he seemed as if his 
 hours and days were given to similar pursuits. In his 
 office his papers were arranged with system. His 
 table was never encumbered by the broken piles of 
 manuscript which is too often apt to be the case with 
 the profession. 
 
49 
 
 The chaotic confusion which mars hibor and dis- 
 turbs the man of business, never diverted him from 
 the pursuit of the object before him. It was said of 
 Mr. Grattan, the distinguished Irish orator, that he 
 would have been far more eminent if he had only 
 known how to use red tape to tie up his papers. 
 
 In Chancellor Zabriskie's case, there was no lumber 
 garret, where documents and papers were piled away 
 without system or without order. 
 
 This was one of the characteristics of Mr. Horace 
 Binney, one of the most eminent lawyers this country 
 has produced. He could labor with patience and 
 system in a cause, before the stir of the impending 
 conflict aroused him to activity. I have heard busi- 
 ness men speak of calling on Mr. Binney. Nothing 
 but writing materials were found on his table to indi- 
 cate that he was a man of labor. The thing talked 
 of was in many cases done on the spot, and these 
 matters practically ended. These peculiarities of 
 business depended largely on the structure of the 
 mind, but they are also the result of habit enforced 
 by the power of the will. It is said of Cyrus the 
 Great, who established an empire that long survived 
 his own time, that being in a mechanic's shop and 
 observing the number of tools used, and that the 
 
50 
 
 master of the shop knew every tool by name, and the 
 purpose for which it should be used, he thought 
 it strange that a general should not know the names 
 of all his captains, who are the instruments he must 
 use in all his enterprises and operations. This ac- 
 complished commander following the suggestion, 
 made himself acquainted with the names, as well as 
 the capacity of all his captains. The genius of this 
 great monarch and soldier was thus aided by his 
 knowledge, which was a matter of detail in business. 
 Taking into consideration the combination of facul- 
 ties and powers possessed by Chancellor Zabriskie, 
 it may be said of him, that he was not surpassed at 
 the bar of New Jersey, when he was at the noon-day 
 of his career. He acquired a knowledge of a case 
 with facility, though possibly not as rapid in his sur- 
 vey as some of his cotemporaries. His industry 
 searched out and explored not only the most promin- 
 ent points, but also the most minute details. Though 
 somewhat involved in the presentation of a case, no 
 point of importance which would bear on the result 
 was omitted. His great power was to illustrate the 
 leading principles of a cause by practical examples. 
 He was never known to argue a cause in which he 
 took much interest, without presenting facts and 
 
51 
 
 truths which appeared to be analogous, and by mean^ • 
 of which he impressed his hearers with a conviction of 
 the soundness of his propositions. In the Court of 
 Appeals, where causes were decided with rapidity, 
 and where the judges were men widely differing in 
 education and habits of thought, apt illustrations 
 which appeared to cover in every particular the cause 
 before them, produced impressions which amounted 
 to convictions. 
 
 Talking before a jury in a simple and conversa- 
 tional way, with a manner which seemed full of 
 sincerity and truth, and illustrating point after point, 
 by some homely simile drawn from the affairs of 
 every day life, he arrested the attention, excited the 
 feelings whether of favor or prejudice, and secured 
 the conviction of the twelve. While he possessed 
 this wonderful facility of illustration, a faculty some- 
 what pecuHar to the poetical mind, he was not what 
 would be called a man of imagination. Nobody 
 would ever have accused him of writing a poem, or 
 of laying the dramatic ground-work and building the 
 fanciful structure of a novel. If we analyze the 
 powers of his mind, the wonder was, that while he 
 was in so eminent a degree mathematical, with an 
 accurate knowledge of physical laws, he should at 
 
52 
 
 the same time have been so fertile in illustrations and 
 analogies to explain and enforce his meaning, a 
 faculty which is generally supposed to be an element 
 of the imaginative mind, 
 
 Man's faculties are oftentimes like the minerals and 
 the metals. They run in veins, while all the imme- 
 diate surroundings are common earth or barren rock. 
 Not so with Mr. Zabriskie. He was a full man. He 
 evinced this in every occupation or position in which 
 he was placed. While there were some veins of 
 greater richness than others, the ore permeated the 
 mass. He was able as a man of business, competent 
 to direct in affairs small or large ; he was of great 
 learning as a lawyer ; whether at nisi prius or before 
 the bench, he had no superiors among his cotempo- 
 raries in New Jersey ; and he was able as a judge. 
 A person who can thus in varied positions display his 
 powers, may be called a full man. 
 
 Mr. Zabriskie was in the course of his life what our 
 American people call a successful man. He was suc- 
 cessful in many and varied ways. While he earned 
 a fame which made him generally known among the 
 people of the State and beyond our borders, he 
 acquired property, and was looked to by men of busi- 
 ness as eminently sagacious in the management of 
 
63 
 
 affairs. The good opinion of his fellow-men, in this 
 particular was manifested by his being made a di- 
 rector and a trustee in so many institutions by which 
 property and money were managed and controlled. 
 
 He was a director in railroads, in a bank, in a life 
 insurance and trust company ; a trustee of the old 
 Jersey City Savings Bank ; a director of the Jersey 
 City Gas Company; of a turnpike company, and of 
 other institutions by which property is managed. 
 
 In these places of trust he was not a mere nominal 
 or silent officer. He understood well the affairs of 
 each institution for which he was a trustee. He sug- 
 gested and advised, and his voice frequently con- 
 trolled the line of conduct which was pursued. He 
 was positive in his opinions, maintaining them with 
 firmness, and assigning reasons which frequently con- 
 strained the action of others who sat around the 
 board in like official positions with himself In these 
 positions he commanded and enforced attention by his 
 knowledge and will, rather than moved others by 
 sympathetic influences. 
 
 Under a manner which sometimes appeared cold 
 and repulsive, there was a warm and generous spirit. 
 He was ready and willing to serve his friends by 
 
u 
 
 spending his time, his efforts and his money in their 
 behalf. 
 
 He was a social man, and gathered around him not 
 only persons of rank and distinction, but those for 
 whom he felt a personal interest. When he went on 
 the last trip of pleasure and instruction, from which 
 he never returned, he felt that he would have little 
 enjoyment if he went alone. He sought the com- 
 panionship of one well known to him, who had been 
 an associate in professional struggles, and toward 
 whom he felt the regard of a genuine friendship. 
 Thus in his last hours he received that kind attention, 
 that genuine sympathy, due only to those who are 
 good and true, and which are among the highest 
 tributes which mortals can bestbw on each other. 
 
 He had passed through a life of labor, usefulness, 
 distinction and honor. He had seen the peoples of 
 the old world, and observed closely the operations of 
 their institutions and laws. He had acquired a com- 
 petency. He had retired from the highest judicial 
 position of his State. He sought a more intimate 
 knowledge of that vast continent, over a large por- 
 tion of which, in his own time, he had seen the power 
 and political institutions of his native country ex- 
 tended. He passed the Rocky Mountains and viewed 
 
55 
 
 that vast and varied domain, with all its beauty and 
 grandeur, which stretches to the setting sun. Ira- 
 pressed with glories of the most sublime natural 
 scenerj^, having witnessed the unparalleled progress, 
 of a great State, the offspring of our glorious Union, 
 glittering with the rich robes and jewels of a younger 
 sister, upon the shores of the Pacific ocean, he sought 
 to return to his home there to celebrate with his 
 family and his friends the nnniversary of that Declar- 
 ation of Independence which gave birth to an empire, 
 and to take his part among that body of men, who 
 had been selected to frame anew a charter for a con- 
 stitutional government. 
 
 From such scenes and under such circumstances, he 
 was called to that rest which belongs to the faithful 
 and the true. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 Jersey City, Jaxuary 3, 1874. 
 
 Rev. W. H, Campbell, L. L. D. : 
 
 Dear Sir — The friends of the late Chancellor Zabriskie 
 are about to publish a memorial book or pamphlet to per- 
 petuate his memory, containing the eulogy pronounced by 
 the Hon. I. W. Scudder, &c. 
 
 It would afford us much pleasure to be able to publish 
 your sermon, pronounced upon the occasion of his funeral. 
 
 If you can furnish us with a copy for publication, you 
 will greatly oblige, and I remain. 
 
 Very truly, yours, 
 
 JACOB WEART, 
 
 Chairman of Committee, 
 
57 
 
 New Brunswick, Jaxuart 12, 1874. 
 
 J. Weaut, Esq., Chairman, &c. : 
 
 Dear Sir — I have received your note requesting for pub- 
 lication a copy of the address delivered at the funeral of 
 Hon. A. O. Zabriskie. I send it to you with pleasure, 
 mingled with great sorrow at the loss of so dear a friend. 
 
 With great respect, 
 
 Yours, very truly, 
 
 W. H. CAMPBELL. 
 
58 
 
 SERMON BY DR. CAMPBELL. 
 
 Here lies your dead friend, and here seated around 
 his body are the living friends, who mourn his de- 
 parture and are about to bear him hence for burial. 
 And here, as is right, the ambassador of Christ is 
 called on to speak to the living words befitting this 
 occasion, and to speak of the dead those truthful 
 words, which may instruct, comfort, strengthen and 
 warn the living. And what shall be said to the 
 living ? Those words of our Saviour are the most 
 timely today : 
 
 "Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour 
 your Lord doth come." — Matt, xxiv., 42. 
 
 In these words the Master speaks of himself and 
 he speaks to you. He, who has come and taken away 
 your friend, tells you to watch, because he is coming 
 for you, and coming too without giving you any 
 warning as to the lime of his approach. And as 
 every one of these words is weighty, let us weigh 
 them well. 
 
 It is your Lord who here speaks, and who is 
 coming lor you. Jesus of Nazareth, who lived on 
 earth as a man of sorrows, and died as a malefactor 
 on the cross, is your Lord. 
 
59 
 
 Lord. His was a twofold nature. He was a true 
 man in body and soul, that he might obey and suffer 
 as a substitute for sinful men. He also became man 
 to show the possibilities of human nature, when divine 
 power had undertaken to raise it from its degrada- 
 tion. But he was God also, the eternal and only be- 
 2:otten Son of God. As such he thou2:ht it not 
 robbery to be equal with God, though he had emptied 
 himself of his glory, and made himself of no repu- 
 tation, that he might do good to men. But as the 
 Son of God he also holds and does the duties of a 
 divine office, as the Word of God. As such the Son 
 is the Spokesman of Deity, and every revehition of 
 himself, which God has ever made to men, has been 
 effected through the Son in his office of the eternal 
 Word. 
 
 I4 Thus it was he who spoke this world into being. 
 "All things were made by him; and without him was 
 not anything made that was made." And while "the 
 heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament 
 showeth his handy work," all this revelation of the 
 wisdom, power and goodness of God, as seen in the 
 visible creation, is made by the eternal Son, the 
 Word, the Spokesman of God. 
 
 2. By him too "all things consist," " upholding all 
 
60 
 
 things by the word of his power," We speak of the 
 physical laws by which the material world is kept in 
 being, but we mean thereby that fixed and uniform 
 course, whereby the Son of God holds in being the 
 world he has created, and by which sustenance he, 
 as the Word, makes a constant revelation of the wis- 
 dom, power and goodness of God. There was then a 
 depth of meaning in the Psalmist's words: "Day unto 
 day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth 
 knowledge. There is no speech nor language where 
 their voice is not heard." That voice is the utterance 
 of the divine Spokesman, making known with a 
 ceaseless reiteration the glory of God. This daily 
 upholding and governing of the physical world is 
 giving evermore a new revelation of the wisdom, 
 power and goodness of God. 
 
 3. So also the Word has done and is doing his 
 work of revealing God, by setting up and continuing 
 a moral government in the world. 
 
 It is necessary in order to have a moral govern- 
 ment among men, that the subjects of it should be 
 capable of knowing tlie just^ the good and the true, 
 and feeling the duty, beauty and desirableness of 
 having justice, goodness and truth' as the character- 
 istics of oneself Now conscience in man fits him to 
 
61 
 
 be thus a subject of moral government, and the Word 
 has placed it in the human breast to be man's monitor 
 and guide. Furthermore he has established here that 
 fixed order of sequences, whereby rewards and pun- 
 ishments are visited upon men according to their 
 deeds. And the Word speaks both in conscience and 
 this fixed order. That voice is ever audible. It says, 
 it shall be well with him who heeds the Itiw of God, 
 and it shall be ill with him who breaks its precepts. 
 And it is the voice of the eternal Word who thus 
 reveals the justice of God. 
 
 4. And now when, in utter disregard of God speak- 
 ing by conscience and the dispensation of rewards 
 and punishments, man had trodden under foot the 
 justice, goodness and truth of God, the Word comes 
 to make his fourth revelation, transcending all others, 
 the revelation of mercy, God pities sinners. He con- 
 tinues inflexibly just, and yet becomes a Saviour. 
 These two attributes, which appear to be so diametri- 
 cally opposed to each other, are to be manifested in 
 God, both in him in an infinite degree, and yet both 
 in perfect harmony. Justice demands and must have 
 full satisfaction for all the transgressions of the law, 
 while infinite mercy demands and must have the full, 
 free pardon of the transgressor. This revelation of 
 
62 
 
 something hereafter to be accomplished the Word 
 announced in Eden, when man began to sin. And 
 ever after down along the track of time he spoke, 
 unfolding little by little but ever more fully the 
 wondrous story of the blended justice and mercy of 
 God. At length the fullness of time having come, 
 the full revelation burst at once upon the view of 
 angels and men, when the incarnate Son of God was 
 seen nailed to the cross, the substitute of sinners, and 
 bearing for them the wrath of God. Thus the divine 
 justice was fully satisfied, and thus the way was 
 opened up for the mercy and love of God to be 
 poured out upon sinners. 
 
 Now then it is fully revealed. Man can become 
 once more a son of God through the obedience and 
 sufferings of Jesus the Mediator. He becomes too a 
 son in expectancy of an inheritance. A home awaits 
 him in the Father's house, and he is here preparing 
 for it. The mansion in heaven is being made ready 
 for him, and he on earth is being made ready for it. 
 And in this preparation the fourth revelation of the 
 Word has wondrous ejQficacy. What power is there 
 in the teaching and life of Christ to free a man from 
 the dominion of sin as well as from its guilt, when 
 the Holy Spirit applies to the soul the truth that 
 
63 
 
 there is in that life and teaching. Wonderful life, so 
 just, so pure, so tender, so kind, so unselfish, so self- 
 sacrificing, so unwearied in goodness, so perfect, in- 
 finite in its mercy for sinners. It was indeed a revel- 
 ation of God. And when the Holy Spirit opens a 
 man's heart to see its beauty, and creates his heart 
 anew so that he can feel that beauty, and love God 
 and Christ because of it, it works wonders in the 
 human soul. It transforms it into the divine image. 
 It makes man a partaker of the divine nature. It 
 begins in the soul a holiness like that of God, causing 
 a joy in thinking of God and becoming like him, 
 which is a foretaste of heaven as well as a preparation 
 for it. Oh, this wonderful fourth revelation of the 
 Son of God. What it has done for men ! What it 
 is now doing ! What it shall hereafter do for them ! 
 Blessed is he unto whom the Lord has thus come in 
 the power of his fourth revelation. 
 
 5. But the next revelation which the Word makes 
 unto men, is when he comes as the Lord to take them 
 away into the world of spirits. Then the unseen 
 world, of which we now have knowledge by revel- 
 ation alone, will be seen and known by consciousness. 
 Then the connection between the present and the 
 future, between the life here and the life after the 
 
64 
 
 death of the body, will be made clear. And it will 
 be seen that the present is the preparation for the 
 future life — that keeping the heart here is most im- 
 portant, since out of the kept heart alone are the 
 issues of life — that he who sows to the flesh shall of 
 the flesh reap corruption, while he alone who sows to 
 the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 
 
 This fifth revelation the Son of God, the Word, has 
 now made to your deceased friend. . And soon it will 
 be made to you. When, no one knows but the Re- 
 vealer, your Lord. And therefore he gives you this 
 exhortation, luatch. That is, be prepared for my 
 coming for you by believing on me as the sacrifice 
 for your sins, and as the source of grace by which 
 you shall be prepared to dwell in my father's house 
 above. Oh, what a revelation that new state of 
 existence after death will be ! That state, as the 
 Word shall make it known to each disembodied spirit 
 by the ministry of angels, will be a revelation of un- 
 speakable joy or of unutterable anguish, according as 
 each has accepted or rejected the gracious invitations 
 of Jesus Christ. All day long through the whole of 
 the earthly life the voice of mercy calls on men to 
 flee from wrath and to cast themselves upon the care 
 of him who is mighty to save. All, who do so, will 
 
65 
 
 have on dying a wondrous revelation of love and 
 blessedness, when the enthroned King- will own them 
 before the an^-els, who owned him araonn- men. And 
 they will tlien know as never before what sorrow is, 
 who, having despised the voice of mercy on earth, 
 have naught to expect at death but the revelation of 
 wrath. 
 
 6. The last revelation of God to men, will be made 
 by the Son of God, as all the others have been. This 
 is to be made at the general judgment, which is to be 
 conducted by Christ. "Because he hath appointed a 
 day, in the which he will judge the \Yorld in righteous- 
 ness by that man whom he hath ordained ; whereof 
 he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath 
 raised him from the dead." 
 
 There is a peculiar fitness in the committing of the 
 final judgment of the world to the Word. For since 
 he everywhere else has spoken for God unto men, so 
 here he speaks, making the last and fullest revelation. 
 Then all the dark problems of earth will be solved ; 
 its wrongs be made right, and all the ways of God to 
 men be justified in the vindication of everything that 
 is just, true and good, and in the condemnation of all 
 that is unjust, fiilse and evil. And in that last judg- 
 ment the glory of Christ will be plainly manifested. 
 
66 
 
 By his godhead he will know all hearts and all 
 actions. He will need none to help him in deciding 
 each case at once and with perfect justice. And 
 there will not be one in that vast assembly, countless 
 to men or angels, who will have a word to say against 
 his sentence, however heavily it may bear down upon 
 the soul. 
 
 The revelations at death and the judgment will be 
 in accordance with the life here on earth. As one 
 watches or neglects watching will there be hereafter 
 joy or woe. And to watch is to heed all the four 
 revelations of Christ, which have been already re- 
 ceived. Especially must one heed the revelation of 
 mercy, as made known in the gospel and displayed 
 at Calvary. Get near the cross to gaze not only upon 
 the dying lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of 
 the world, but to have his precious blood drop upon 
 you, sprinkle and save you. Say, as you dwell ever 
 watchfully near it : 
 
 " Nothing in my liand I bring, 
 Simply to thy cross I cling ; 
 Naked come to thee for dress, 
 Helpless look to thee for grace; 
 Foul I to the fountain fly, 
 Wash me, Saviour, or I die." 
 
 Be thus prepared for these awful future revelations. 
 
67 
 
 And now I am to speak of the dead. Nor is the 
 task difficult or irksome. It is botli easy and pleas- 
 ant. Easy because the character had strongly marked 
 features. It was, too, quite symmetrical. It had in it 
 no contradictions, no politic concealments, none of 
 the crookednesses, which spring from the hypocrisies 
 of selfishness. Mr. Zabriskie's character was an epistle 
 written in plain, legible letters, and it could be read 
 and known by all men. It is also a pleasant and not 
 an irksome task, say rather a privilege to describe 
 this character. For it was a good character. One 
 can dwell upon it with great satisfaction, mingled 
 only with the regret, that he, who bore it, will be 
 seen no more here. 
 
 Everything about Mr. Zabriskie's mind was massive 
 like his body. He had a great intellect. He was the 
 first in his class at school, first in his class at college, 
 first as a student of law, first as a lawyer at the bar, 
 and first as a judge upon the bench. A distinguished 
 lawyer, whose opinions have great weight with you 
 all, told me that A. 0. Zabriskie was a lawyer, whom 
 he always feared to have as his opposing counsel, 
 because he was never sure before hand what his line 
 of argument was going to be. And this remark of 
 the brother lawyer touches the very point of Mr. Z.'s 
 
68 
 
 intellectual character. He was a genias. He could 
 discern the new, where there was the new to be dis- 
 covered, and he could use it with all the powers of a 
 mind, that was well betokened by his strong arm, 
 which moved up and down, and back and forth most 
 enerjetically, as he gave forth his weighty arguments. 
 At the same time so well-balanced an intellect had he, 
 that no inventive powers could lead him to disregard 
 authority^ which ought to and must have so much 
 weight in the law. And this regard for authority 
 made him a diligent student in many departments of 
 knowledge. He was well-read not only in law, but 
 also in history, the natural sciences, anatomy, medi- 
 cine and theology. And especially as any of these 
 bore upon his own profession. And accuracy also 
 marked him in every department of his studies. 
 What he had studied at all, was thoroughly studied. 
 
 He had also a great soul. By this I mean that he 
 had large and strong affections. He had a large 
 heart in his large body. Some men's aftections are 
 strong, but their exercise is limited to kindred. Mr. 
 Z. loved his relatives dearly, but his regards, sym- 
 pathies and deeds of love extended far beyond the 
 circle of his kindred. He was very undemonstrative 
 as to what he felt and did in the wav of kindness and 
 
69 
 
 beneficence. Much of what he did has become 
 known by the information of the. benefitted. Nor 
 did he weary of doing kindnesses, when he was 
 treated ungratefully. Once when so treated a friend 
 said to him, '^I suppose you have learned a lesson, 
 which will keep you from ever doing a like deed." ' 
 His reply was: "I would do it again under like cir- 
 cumstances; for the needs of society require just 
 such acts." Could the two last letters which Mr. Z. 
 wrote (bearing dale a few days before his death and 
 addressed to persons not his blood-relatives) be read 
 to this assembly, none here would need further proof 
 of the largeness of his heart. 
 
 He was also a conscientious man. He took pains 
 to know his duty, and when known he faithfully dis- 
 charged it. As a boy, he was mirthful, full of fun, 
 and even of harmless mischief. When he became a 
 man, boyish fan gave place to cheerful manliness. 
 And yet boyhood, manhood, middle life and riper 
 years displayed a character without a blot. He has 
 gone in and out among you at Millstone, Princeton, 
 Newark, Hackensack and Jersey City, and bear wit- 
 ness, fellow-citizens, whom of you has he ever in- 
 . jured? Or who of you can accuse him of aught 
 evil? 
 
10 
 
 And now as to the greatest interest of all, was he 
 watching when his Lord came ? 
 
 On this point I have several remarks to make. Mr. 
 Z. was a firm believer in the doctrines of the Re- 
 formed Church, in which he was born, baptized, 
 reared and spent his life. And he was a firm believer 
 of these three vital truths of Christianity : 
 
 1. The Bible is the infalHble word of God, given to 
 teach men the way of salvation. 
 
 2. Man is a sinner, and can only be saved by faith 
 in the atonement of Christ the eternal and only be- 
 gotten Son of God. 
 
 3. The woi'k of the Holy Spirit is necessary for the 
 enlightenment, renewal and sanctification of the heart. 
 Except a man be born again he cannot see the King- 
 dom of God. 
 
 In view of this belief and of his upright, consistent 
 life, he was urged again and again to make a public 
 profession of his belief and purpose of life to obey 
 Christ. Had he applied to the Church, he would 
 have been received at once. Now why did he not thus 
 publicly profess? In my judgment he was in a large 
 measure deterred by a wrong view of the third article 
 of his belief, the necessity of the regenerating work 
 
71 
 
 of the Holy Spirit. He was waiting for some almost 
 miraculous manifestation of the presence and power 
 of the Spirit, which would put his Christian experi- 
 ence quite out of the domain of faith, and make it a 
 matter of sight. He foiled to see, that the power of 
 the Spirit is exercised in silence and unseen, and is 
 known only by its effects — that religion is not a 
 miracle but a life — that he who walks lovingly and 
 obediently in the path which the Spirit points out in 
 the Scriptures is led by the Spirit and is a son of 
 God. 
 
 Mr. Z. was waiting for something which never 
 came, and never would have come, if he had lived 
 on to the end of the century. And yet the Spirit 
 may have been with him all the time, though he 
 knew it not. As he read the Scriptures day by day, 
 as was his wont; and as he looked up to God for 
 guidance, and committed his way unto him ; who 
 are you and I to exclude him from the divine favor, 
 because he did not commune ? When we, notwith- 
 standing our frequent communions, may at last be 
 castaways. And just here comes in the lesson of 
 warning to the living. Sinful, helpless, cast your- 
 selves on the divine mercy, and do it in the divine 
 way. One can never get on earth so near to Christ 
 
72 
 
 as at the Supper of the Lord. The language of such 
 ail approach is : 
 
 " Just as I am — without one plea, 
 But that thy blood was shed for me, 
 And that thou bidst me come to thee. 
 Just as I am — Tliy love unknown 
 Has broken every barrier down, 
 Now to Ije thine, yea thine alone, 
 O, Lamb of God, I come ! I come ! " 
 
 This plea, excUiding all else but Christ, moves 
 heaven to do that, which heaven will never reverse. 
 
73 
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN THE COURT OF ERRORS AND APPEALS 
 AT TRENTON. 
 
 [Report taken from the True Americrui.] 
 
 Attorney-General Gilclirist called the attention of the Court 
 to the death of tlie late Chancellor. He said : 
 
 May it please your Honors : On Friday afternoon last, the 
 family of the late Chancellor Zabriskie received information 
 by telegram, dated at Truckee, California, from Mr. Knapp, 
 a member of the bar, that ChanceUor Zabriskie was very ill. 
 At ten o'clock on the evening of tlie same day, they received 
 a telegram that he was dead. No particulars of his death 
 have been received, excej)! that he died of erysipelas, and 
 from the fact that the two dispatches were from Truckee, and 
 several hours apart, it is concluded that the Chancellor did 
 . not die in the cars. News of his illness excited tlie sympathy 
 of his neighbors. News of his death startled the -whole State, 
 for he was widely and genei-ally known, respected and loved. 
 The death of so distinguished a man, so lately a member of 
 this court, seems to justify a departure from the general rule 
 that the court do not place upon its records a memorial of the 
 death of any but those who are members of the court, but it 
 is the duty of the living to bury the dead, and, though it is 
 no part of the duty of the living to praise them, yet when so 
 distinguished a man falls, under circumstances so peculiar as 
 those which attended the death of Chancellor Zabriskie, a 
 
74 
 
 death so sudden, while on a journey of intelligent observation 
 and recreation in a distant State, we must mourn our loss. It 
 assuages a grief that we feel to dwell upon his virtues ; and 
 if it be praise to speak of them, it is nature that speaks. 
 What was weak and mortal in him we find remaining in our- 
 selves. Wliat was good in him we have lost. We cannot 
 but mourn the loss of these. Mr. Gilchrist continued, at 
 some length, to extol the character of the Chancellor as a man, 
 a laAvyer and a judge ; and among other things, said that 
 even his errors and defects showed the greatness of his soul. 
 He remarked upon the simplicity, modesty and gentleness of 
 the Chancellor in social intercourse and even amid the under 
 contracts of professional life, and held up the Chancellor's 
 intellectual, moral and social character as one to be emulated 
 and imitated, remarkiug that from it not only the bar but the 
 bench could learn many lessons. During Mr. Gilchrist's re- 
 marks he developed the following facts: Deceased was born 
 at Greenbush, opposite Albany, N. Y., on June lOth, 1807, 
 and was taken to Millstone, N. J., in 1811. He was entered 
 at Princeton College in 1823, and graduated at Princeton in 
 1825. lie commenced to study law in 1825, with James S. 
 Green, Es<i., of Princeton, and was admitted lo j)ractice in 
 November, 1828. He was admitted a counsellor in 1831, and 
 settled first at Newark. In 1830 he removed to Ilackensack, 
 and there remained in practice until 1849. While in Ilacken- 
 sack he held the oflice of Surrogate and Prosecutor of Pleas. 
 He became Cliancellor on the 1st of May, 1866, served his 
 term and died of erysipelas at Truckee, Cal., June 27lh, 1873. 
 The Attorney-General concluded by moving the court, that 
 
75 
 
 out of respect to the memory of so great a jurist and man 
 the court do now adjourn. 
 
 Cliancollor liunyon replied : 
 
 The news of the death of the distinguished jurist, whose 
 demise has been so eloquently :ind feelingly announced to the 
 court by the Attorney-General, was received with the deepest 
 regret. Having just retired from a position he had filled 
 with great honor to himself and his State, having rounded up 
 a life of usefulness, full of years and full of honors; having 
 well served his generation, he has fallen asleep. His long 
 connection with this court as its presiding oflicer ; his long 
 and intimate connection with its business befoi'e he came to 
 its bench ; his identification with the administration of justice 
 as lawyer and judge, for nearly half a century, render 
 eulogium unnecessary among those with whom he has been 
 associated. His name is added to those of whose record New 
 Jersey is proud. Much as she prizes her history and its asso- 
 ciations, the valor and patriotism of her sons on field and 
 deck, proud as she is of the character of her peoi)le, of her 
 resources and the enterprise of her citizens, she reckons among 
 her brightest jewels the lives of such as he; the men who 
 have given her her great character for justice, for law and 
 order. To speak their names would be to utter the household 
 words of her firesides. The deceased was a consummate 
 lawyer, a just, patient and im]>artinl judge ; a citizen always 
 on the side of the right as iUul gave him to see the right ; 
 conservative in his views, firm and positive in his convictions, 
 an honor to the State and the"! nation. When he left us his 
 
76 
 
 eye was not dim nor his natural force abated ; he looked for- 
 ward, as well he might, to future useful labor for the State, 
 after that vacation which he intended should be but for a few 
 days, but which God, in His providence, has made eternal. 
 His life was full of high and honorable, example, of duty 
 conscientiously discharged and life's labor well and diligently 
 done. 
 
 The Attorney-General's motion was adopted. 
 
77 
 
 RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE COXSTiri'TIOXAL COMMIS- 
 SION OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY, JULY Stii, 1873. 
 ON THE DEATH OF HON. ABRAHAM O. ZABRISKIE. 
 
 While reverently bowing to the dispensation of" an all-wise 
 providence, which lias called iVoni the sphere of his earthly 
 influence, in the full vigor and maturity of his great powers, 
 the late President of this body, the Honorable A. O. Zabris- 
 kie, a due respect to the memory of a great life ended, sanc- 
 tions the expression of our sorrow at the irreparable loss this 
 body has sustained in his death. 
 
 Honored by the State and his fellow-citizens with high 
 trusts, he always merited the confidence reposed in him, by 
 the faithful and conscientious discharge of every duty ; as a 
 citizen he was patriotic and public spirited; as a lawyer, 
 learned, ingenious and faithful ; as an advocate, fearless, zeal- 
 ous and powerful ; as a jurist, able, just and upright; as a 
 legislator, while he tenaciously maintained and upheld all that 
 had been proved to be beneficial, he was willing and eager to 
 correct such portions of the law as experience had demon- 
 strated to be erroneous, and to eradicate provisions which 
 lapse of time had rendered obsolete. 
 
 Eesolved, That this Commission, charged by the Legislative 
 and Executive branches of the Government with the respons- 
 ible duty of suggesting amendments to the organic laws of. 
 the State, has by his death been deprived not only of its 
 President, but of its most valued adviser, Massive in inteb 
 
 tore. 
 
78 
 
 lect, rich in culture, varied in experience, w^ise in counsel, 
 noble in impulse, untiring in industry, exhaustive in research, 
 he was pre-eminently fitted properly and satisfactorily to dis- 
 charge the arduous duties with which he as a member was 
 entrusted. 
 
 Mesolved, Tliat we deeply sympathize with the family of 
 the deceased, and that a copy of these resolutions, properly 
 engrossed, be transmitted to them by the President and en- 
 rolled on the minutes of the Commission, 
 
79 
 
 PROCEEDINGS AT THE BOARD OF CHOSEN FREEHOLDERS OP 
 HUDSON COUNTY, AT THEIR MEETING, JULY 80, 1873. 
 
 Freeholder Van Nostrand announced tlie death of" the Late 
 Chancellor Zabriskie to the Board, and moved that the Coun- 
 sel of the Board prepare a suitable set of resolutions to be 
 presented to the Board. 
 
 Counsel Jacob Weart, Esq., reported the following resolu- 
 tions concerning the death of Hon. A. O. Zabriskie, which 
 were read and adopted unanimously, as follows : 
 
 Whereas, It has pleased God to call from our midst by 
 death the Hon. Abraham O. Zabriskie, late Chancellor of the 
 State of New Jersey, and also late the Cousel of this Board, 
 and huml)ly submitting to the dispensation of divine provi- 
 dence ; it is hereby 
 
 Resolved, That we, the members of the Board of Chosen 
 Freeholders of the County of Hudson, do deeply mourn the 
 loss of the late Chancellor, the Hon. Abraham O. Zabriskie, 
 who has been suddenly stricken down by death, in a distant 
 State, far aw^ay upon the slopes of the Pacific. 
 
 Resolved, That it is due that we express our feelings of 
 respect for the many wise and able opinions rendered upon 
 various matters to this Board, during the several years while 
 he was its legal advisor; and that his legal opinions, on file 
 with the Clerk of this Board, will be lasting monuments to 
 his great legal ability. 
 
 Resolved, That in the capacity of senator from this county, 
 
-N6 V 9 1 9 00 - 
 
 80 
 
 he (lid honor to us, great service to the State, and that his 
 senatorial term will ever be held in the highest estimation by 
 the people of this county. 
 
 Resolved^ That in the office of Chancellor he wore the 
 judicial ermine witli great lustre. Of untiring energy, great 
 industry, and a i)rofound knowledge of ihe law, he bi'ought 
 to the office every I'equisite which made him eminently useful 
 to the State ; and his reported legal opinions will lie read 
 and respected wherever the law is faithfully administered, and 
 equity jurisprudence is revered and esteemed. 
 
 Resolved, Tlmt we regard as the crowning act of his life, 
 the exercise of liis influence as a private citizen, and his great 
 eflibrts to prevent the extension of the monopoly privik^ges of 
 railroads, a measure which was defeated a few years since, 
 mainly by his voice and personal exertion. 
 
 Resolved, That we do deeply feel our loss as citizens, as 
 neighbors, and IViends, .as the departed filled up a full measure 
 of usefulness in all the Christian walks of life. 
 
 Resolved, That the clerk of the Board forward a cony of 
 these resolutions to the family of the deceased, and t]i;ii they 
 be entered upon our minutes, and that we do attend his 
 funeial. 
 
 HK22^^-78 
 

 
 
 
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