Authc le, but which could not make him swerve from a principle wliich he had intelligently and con- scientiously adopted. It may justly be added, that the political opponents of 26 Governor Baldwin, whatever they may have thought of his political positions and principles, have never questioned his moral courage, the purity of his motives, or liis lofty supe- riority to all mean policy and all selfish considerations. The reserve and reticence which were marked characteristics of Governor Baldwin, made him appear to those who did not know him somewhat distant and formal in manner, and perhaps produced on niany the impression of coldness, which, however, did him great injustice. Kindness of heart, sensitiveness to the suffering of those about him and readiness to relieve it, forwardness to give pleasure and confer happiness everj'where within his reach, were fundamental traits of his character. His tenderness of feeling extended itself even to the brute cre- ation, so that he could never willingly hurt or permit to be hurt any living creature, and was full of attentions to the do- mestic animals, the birds of the garden, and the like. He never failed to hang out liberally over his grounds in the early spring materials for the birds to build their nests with, and has sometimes, when a late snow had covered the ground, caused broad paths to be shoveled all about his j^ard and garden, that they might have access to their accustomed sources of food. During the sickness of a pet animal of one of his children, he has night after night got up from his bed and gone down to give it water or help it to an easier j)osition. This same softness of heart, deeper and stronger than mere politeness, was at tlie foundation of his uniform liberality, ur- banity, and courtesy, to which all who ever came in personal contact with him will bear willing witness. It now only remains to speak of Governor Baldwin's re- ligious character. Governor Baldwin never made any direct expression of his religious feelings — his views and hopes respecting himself — to 27 any one ; not, as it is believed, because his feelings were not engaged on that subject, or because they were not evangelical. He was very reticent as to his personal feelings on all subjects, and especially on the sacred subject of his relations to God. Many years since, (about twenty years), thinking it my duty, as his pastor, to endeavor to ascertain his religious condition, and to offer any aid that I could afford by private counsel, I sought an interview with him at his office. He treated me with marked civility and kindness. He said that he had great re- spect for Christianity, and fur its ordinances and ministers. He assured me that religion was a subject to which he was not indifferent, and which he did not neglect. But he added, that he felt an utter inability to express his personal feelings on that subject ; and was compelled to request his friends, who were anxious to know them, to judge of them by his course of life. Judging by this method, the one who has known him best, and who knows, if any one does, what practical Chris- tianity is, has been convinced for many years that he was a Christian man — ^^that his extraordinary devotion to the right included his relations to God, as well as his relations to men ; and that his conscientious regard to duty was the result of the essential religious principle, the principle of obedience to the will and authority of God. I have, myself, for some years past, believed that to be true, and that Governor Baldwin has regarded himself as a Christian. The inquiry, which has naturally arisen, whether he has not relied on his own righteousness for acceptance with God, has been satisfied by various indications that he believed in the gos- pel as it is — the gospel which reveals salvation by Christ alone, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. One of these indications was told me by a witness, a Christian friend of mine, not now among the living. More than twenty-five years ago, one of Governor Baldwin's sons, a 28 lad of eight years, was drawing nigh to death. The father stood by his sick and dying child, and directed him to Christ, and exhorted him to put his trust in Christ. This, in one of his sincerity and mental integrity, is decisive evidence that he believed, not in any system of self-righteousness, but in Christ as the Saviour of men. It has been evident that Governor Baldwin has frequently had the subject of professing religion in his thoughts, and I have no doubt that he has been kept from it by the fact, that it involved that expression and publicity of his personal feelings, for which he felt, as he stated it, an utter inability. In his recent fatal sickness he has received all its events with entire submission, and with the meekness of a child. Every- thing has been accepted as right. He has had evident satis- faction in the reading of the divine word ; and prayer offered daily at his bedside has been to him a manifest comfort and pleasure. He breathed his life away at last so gently that it was hardly known when he had gone. He has gone — and gone, we may believe, where the iniquity which he hated has no place, and the righteousness which he loved is pure and perfect.* A chief pillar of our community has fallen! Oh! how * Mr. Baldwin was married in 1820, to Emily Perkins, daughter of Enoch and Anna (Pitkin) Perkins, of Hartford. They have had nine children, of whom four, two sons and two daughters, survive, viz : George William, a Yale graduate of the class of 1853, settled in the practice of the law at Worcester, Mass., but at present in the army; Simeon Eben, graduated at Yale College in 1861, and now preparing himself to follow his father's profession in New Haven ; Elizabeth Wooster, married to Prof. William D. Whitney of Yale College; and Henrietta Perkins, married to Dwight Foster, Esq., of Worcester, Mass. Their two eldest sons, Edward Law and Roger Sherman, both graduated at Yale College, and edu- cated to the practice of the law, died in early manhood. The others, two sons and a daughter, died in childhood. 29 many pillars have fallen here within a few years— in the College, and in professional and industrial life! May God give to our men in early and middle age, wisdom, fidelity, strength, and grace to be pillars in their places. May they imitate the virtues of him whom we mourn to-day, especially his devotion to the right ; and may they make their devotion to the right thorough and consistent, comprehending their rela- tions to God as well as to meiL [From the Neio Ilaven Journal and Courier, Feb. 21«<, 1863.] %%ix %\ixm.\\ ialliluin. The members of the New Haven Bar met at the Superior Court Room yester- day afternoon, to pay a tribute to tlie memory of the late Governor Baldwin. Hon. Ralph I. IngersoU, the " father of the Bar," was in the chair, and Arthur D. Osborne was Secretary. The meeting was a very impressive one, and exhibited a depth and warmth of feeling rarely drawn out on such an occasion. Gov. Baldwin was loved by all who had met him in professional life, and in addition to the admiration for himself, it was felt that his death, in connection with that of General Kimberly, which occurred but a few weeks ago, made a sad break in a bar noted for its abilitj', and nearly equally for its high-toned courtesy and up- rightness of practice. Judge Foster, the State Attornej', offered the following resolutions, which were unanimously passed; Resolved, That we have heard with deep and abiding sorrow of the death of the Hon. Roger Sherman Baldwin, who has been for many years without a superior at the Bar of this Court and that of the State at large ; and who, besides his eminent professional attainments, has been the honored Cliief Magistrate of this State, and one of its Senators in the Congress of the United States. Resolved, That we cherish with affectionate and most respectful regard the memory of the de- ceased, endeared to us by his public as well as private relations, his extensive learning, his love of justice, his unswerving integrity, and the uniform consistency and urbanity that have adorned his character as a jurist, a statesman, and a philanthropist. Residved, That in token of our regard for his memory, we will attend the funeral of the de- ceased in a body, and that we respectfully request the Superior Court, now in session, to adjourn. Resolved, That the Court be requested to order these Resolutions to be entered upon its min- utes, and that the Secretary of this meeting transmit a copy of them to the family of the deceased, and furnish a like copy to the newspapers of this city for publication. REMARKS OF HON. E, K. FOSTER. These resolutions, Mr. Chairman, doubtless embody the sentiment of this en- tire Bar. I cannot assume that there is ?inj' one member of this Bar, however long or however short his term of practice, who can dissent from any of the posi- tions taken in the resolutions. I might content myself simply with offering tliem, and let them pass to a vote without a word. Yet, although unprepared, I cannot forbear a single word. All that is there stated is true. It is not the language of eulogium merely, it is the language that comes from the heart. A great man — an eminent man — a learned man — a pure man — a spotless man, was 31 the late Governor Baldwin. I have seen him from childhood. He was among the earliest of those I recollect. He was made executor in the will of my father, whom I never knew. Among the earliest events that I remember, was a visit to his office in the Glebe Building, being sent to him by my mother. I have seen him all my lifetime. I lived in his immediate vicinity for nine years. For twenty years I have met liim at this Bar, and I cannot give full utterance to the feelings which possess me. It is not the time to speak for the sake of speaking, but I cannot omit to notice, in a little of detail, some of the characteristics of our departed friend. His industry was unsurpassed ; the purity of his life, of his thoughts and of his actions, no one could question. It was as unsullied as the mir- ror. His learning was profound ; his bearing courteous. I do not know that any here have ever suffered at his hands any act of discourtesy. It never has been my experience. His love of justice was eminent. Allow me here to men- tion a little circumstance which bears honorable testimony to the deceased. Not three months since, I was asking a gentleman, formerly a member of this Bar, whom he placed first and foremost at our State Bar for power and strength. It would not become me in this presence to state all that he said, but this he did say, that tmless Governor Baldwin gets an intimation or thought that his client is not exactly honest, I know not one more prominent; but if he gets a suspicion of that kind in his brain he is good for nothing. That was high praise. He would not allow himself to be accessory to any man who was endeavoring to get that which did not belong to him justly. Although his condition has been such for several weeks that we have heard from day to day that his recovery was doubt- ful, yet the blow is to us a stunning one. He was here on the occasion of the dedication of this Hall. He was here on a like occasion to the present, to honor the memory of another deceased brother. He was here aj^parently in the full vigor of health, activity, and life. Sickness never visited him. The day before his death his oldest surviving son told me his father was never sick an hour be- fore in his life. He was as vigorous at the age of seventy as at the age of forty, to all human appearances. A member of the bar some four months ago called my attention to Gov. Baldwin as he was passing with his active, elastic steji, and said to me, " notice the Governor ; he will be j^racticing at eighty, when you and I are gone." I assented, and thought so, but the blow came. It came suddenly, it came like the thunderbolt. It struck this man of might with the fatal dart. His strength, jjower, jiassed away. He dropped away. He is gone — gone. Death has moved rapidly among us. IngersoU, Kimberly, Baldwin — all are gone ! Sir, I trust we may take the lessons the events furnish, and all find in the virtues and characters of the illustrious deceased, a fit example for imitation. KEMAEKS OF HON. HENKT B. IIAEEISON. Mk. Cii.urman : — I beg the privilege of seconding these resolutions. I speak, not because it is possible for me to add anything to what has been so well said by the learned State Attorney, but because I feel tnovedto speak, and cannot re- frain from speaking. It has been well said that Governor Baldwin Avas a great lawyer. I regret that the attention of the Supreme Court, during its session yesterday, was not called to the death of a man who was the peer, at least, if not the superior of 32 any judge who ever sat upon that bench, or any lawyer who ever practiced be- fore any Court in tlie State of Connecticut. It is well, Sir, to eulogize the dead who die honorable and honored. It is well to pause a moment, as the funeral train passes, and utter a word of eulogy over one whose life has deserved eulogy from our lips. It is well that the young should be inspired by the manly hope that when their career is ended those who know them best will not foi-get to speak for them a word of praise and of regret. Governor Baldwin was not merely a great lawyer. He was an upright, a just, a conscientious, and an honorable man. No praise of his personal qualities can be too high for us to utter; — and. Sir, although his manner was reserved, (a cir- cumstance attributable undoubtedly to tlie innate modesty of his simple, manly character), so that the public at large did not know him as y.ou knew him, and as most of us knew him, yet I believe that the truly upright, honest, and liberal man always possesses a kind and tender heart. Such, at any rate, as you know, Mr. Chairman, and as I know, was the heart of Governor Baldwin. Governor Baldwin was distinguished, not only as a lawyer and as a citizen, but as a Chief Magistrate of this State, and as her representative in the Senate of the United States. Into that Senate he carried the same high tone, the same fidelity to duty, which he always elsewhere displayed. He took into that Senate those rich resources of language which were always at his command ; and he took with him a mind profoundly versed in the history of his country, and es- pecially in the history of his native State. He knew, Sir — (what citizens of other States seldom care to remember and perhaps seldom know, and what we ourselves, some of us, are too apt to forget, and, at all events, often fivil properly to appreciate), — he knew that the State which he represented had a history, civil and military, which enabled her to compare favorably, not only with any other State in New England or in this Union, but with any com- monwealth that has ever existed on earth. Whoever else might speak ill of the State which had so highly honored him — whoever else might keep silence when she was spoken against — he was always the watchful, the eager, the sleepless guardian of her interests and her honor. Not from us only, but from the State of Connecticut, one tear, at least, is due to the memory of the man who, upon one occasion, never to be forgotten, when a Senator from Virginia ventured to institute offensive comparisons between that State and the State of Connecticut, caught up the gauntlet before it touched the ground, and startled the Senate by the eloquence, the dignity, the vehemence, and the overwhelming power of his rebuke, silencing and scorching and paralyz- ing the tongue that had dared to beslime with its venom the fair fame of this ancient Commonwealth. Governor. Baldwin was a ti'ue son of Connecticut. His memory deserves all honor from Connecticut and from every one of her children. Perhaps, Mr. Chairman, I have sj^oken too long, but I could not refrain from speaking, and could not say less. EEMARKS OF CHARLES IVES, ESQ. Ma. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Bar: — I can add nothing except the expression of my hearty concurrence to the remarks tliat have been so opportune- 33 ly made ; and yet I cannot let the occasion pass without dropping at least a green leaf in honor of the illustrious dead. The ancient Egyptians, if my memory serves me, before they permitted any of the marks of respect and honor to the deceased, common among them, held a sort of inquest, to which all were invited who had anything to say derogatory to the character of the departed ; and none but those who could pass such an ordeal un- harmed had sepulchral honors. We who claim more knowledge, more virtue, and a higher civilization, are much in the habit of placing the virtuous and the vicious at death upon the same footing, and if we hold inquests it is for the pur- pose of ascertaining the amount of real and personal estate which is to change hands. If the old Egyptian custom prevailed with us to day, and all who have known the illustrious man, whose departure we now mourn, during any part of his long and active career upon eartli, were challenged to produce all and every- thing that could be learned, calculated to stain the brightness and purity of a seemingly faultless character, I do not believe the man, woman, or child lives who could come forward in response to such a summons. While for natural gifts and the rich fruits of legal scholarship and experience he had no sujjcrior in the State, he was still more and justly eujinent for his moral rectitude. Though he had recently reached the limit of his threescore years and ten, yet he seemed to me capable of vigorous labor for a score of years more. I was engaged in a case with him which he has left half tried. I cannot realize that his labors on earth are ended, and that we shall see him and listen to his voice at this Bar no more. A few weeks ago the white walls of this new and beautiful room were at their dedication draped with crape for the loss of one of our oldest and most honorable and gifted practitioners. How little did we then think that at the same first term of the Court held in this room, the badges of mourning for another equally eminent ■would be seen here again ! Yet such is life, and so uncertain the future ! Between sixteen and seventeen years ago, when I first came to the Bar, there were four illustrious men who were its fathers. They were generally upon one side or the other of everj' important case. No Bar in the State — I think none in the Union — could boast their superiors in any respect. Three of these are gone. They have finished their labors, and are gathered to their fathers, and to the spirits of the illustrious dead. God grant that the time may be far distant, when we shall be again called to the performance of such a duty. These men left an im- press upon the Bar of New Haven County which I trust will always remain. In the severe struggles incident to the trials of imjiortant causes, where the attorney makes the cause of his client for the time being his own, there is always danger that friends and associates may for the moment forget the proprieties of the occa- sion, and what is due to themselves, so far as to apply to each other sharp and unkind remarks. Those fathers of this Bar to whom I have referred controlled and commanded their own spirits so as to be always eminently courteous to each other ; and to them we are indebted for the fact that our Bar has been so free from unpleasant and unprofitable persona] collisions and animosities. I trust that the influence of their example in this respect, and as patterns of high and honora- ble practice generally, will be felt for many years to come, as it has been in the past. When a giant of the forest falls, after having monopolized and exhausted for 34 one or more centuries the tree food in its vicinity, a large vacancy is left, which cannot be filled for years. Saplings spring up around its stump, and nature seems to struggle long and unsuccessfully to supply its place. So — with all due deference and respect to my brethren who are here assembled, and whom I do not tlunk by any means inferior to other practitioners elsewhere, of their official age — when I look at the vacant places of those eminent men to whom I have alluded, I feel that death has made vacancies that cannot be supplied, that he has " quenched stars " whose light in the legal firmament will be missed and mourned by their brethren and the community for years to come. Large harvests of death have been gathered for two years past, npon the fields- of bloody strife, in many parts of our country. Though our Bar is honorably and ably represented in the army, no member of it, I believe, has thus far, while thus engaged, lost either life or limb, and yet amid these peaceful scenes, in the most striking way, are we taught the sad lesson of mortality. I trust its teach- ings will not be lost upon us, and that we shall not only mourn, but emulate the justly honored and distinguished dead, whose lives were to so large extent spent in practicing at and giving character to the Bar of New Haven County. REMARKS OF CHARLES H. FOWLER, ESQ. Mr. Chairman: — A few weeks ago I looked on a scene like this, comparatively a spectator, but I am not merely a spectator now, for I kneiv Governor Baldwin. Among the kindest encouragements I have received, almost the first was from that honored man. I can never forget them. We shall miss his stately tread, we shall see that giant form no more. The cold grave claims him. He is dead ! God grant that we, the younger members of the Bar, may profit by his bright example. It has been a guide to the professional life I have but just now en- tered upon. I believe I shall always profit by the example of that eminent man. He speaks to me in tones that those who have been his familiar and everyday ac- quaintances cannot feel. We see him pass away. We feel his loss, but we feel also his bright example. We lost in him a friend and a pattern of excellence. I will not say more. I desire simply to pay this, my small, my honest tribute to the memory of this excellent man. May we all of us, when we shall lie down at last in the dust — may we all of us have a record as bright, as pure and beautiful as his. After the adjournment of the Bar meeting, Justice Seymour took his seat on the Bench, and the Court was opened. In accordance with the vote of the meet ing, Hon. Ralph I. Ingersoll presented the Resolutions to the Court, and spoke as- follows : REMARKS OF MR, INGERSOLL. May it please your Honor : — I am instructed by the members of the Bar of New Haven County to present to the Court certain Resolutions that I hold in my hand, which have been read to the Bar, and have been unanimously adopted. [Mr. Ingersoll read the Resolutions.] Sir, these Resolutions embody the united sentiments of the Bar of this County, 35 and could they be submitted to our brethren in the State of Connecticut, in other counties, you know, /know, \oe all know, that they would meet with a response as unanimous as that which has been accorded them here. Sir, I may be per- mitted to say a word here in reference to this distinguished man, for my relations with him personally, professionally, and as a fellow-citizen, have been longer than those of any one else within the sound of my voice. Sir, I have known him from his boyhood, and in a recent interview I had with him, but a short time before he was taken away, he took from his pocket a list of the pupils of the school which we attended in our boyhood. He read them to me. I recollect the names of but three who survived at that time. He was one, a gentleman living in New Haven the second, and my humble self the third. And, Sir, it was these reminiscences that occasionally passed between us, of which the world knew nothing, that endeared me to the man. I respected, I honored, Sir, I loved him. I cannot realize that he has been taken from us. No, Sir ! from the time that I visited him in his early sickness, and when I feared the stroke of death was upon him, there has hardly been an hour, night or day, that he has not been in my thoughts. Waking, I have expected to see him coming into my office, and in my dreams at night I have been with him. Sir, these are personal matters, perhaps hardly to be talked of; but the occa^ eion seemed to call for them. I have kaown him well, and what lias been said by my brethren at the Bar meeting and in the hearing of the Judge, is every word true. I respond to it heartily. Sir, I have been associated with Governor Baldwin at this Bar, now for nearly fifty years. My brethren who surround me know that probably there were no two other members of the Bar who have been so frequently associated in causes, and who at the same time have been so frequent- ly opposed to each other, where there was a collision, I trust an honorable and manly collision, in argument. I know, and we all know, that the man never lived who felt his causes more thoroughly than Governor Baldwin. I also have my feelings, perhaps they were more ardent formerly than now, but it is one of the consolations of my life, one of my best and most consoling reflections, that during that long practice, the first word of uukindness, the first discourteous sentiment or look never, never ! passed between us. Nor do I believe that Governor Bald- win ever even in his thoughts entertained any but the most kind sentiments towards mj^self : for I know the man well enough to know that it was not in him to be otherwise than he appeared. Since this Court commenced another distinguished member of the Bar has been taken from us. On that occasion Governor Baldwin was in my office, and at my request penned the Resolutions that were introduced to the Bar on that occasion. I had thrown together something I thought might be presented to the Bar, but as soon as he presented his I told him those were what we wanted. He had the courtesy and kindness to say, " I like yours the best." I said " No ; I am the Chair- man of the Bar," and I put them in the fire. Oh ! how little did I think that, be- fore this Court should adjourn, my brethren would be doing for him what he was then doing for his and my friend and professional associate. If the thought had crossed the mind as to either of us, that one or the other were to go, the strong probability must have been that the summons would first come to the senior of the two. 36 Sir, it is a sad reflection, and it touched me peculiarly, when alluded to by the gentleman who has spoken on this subject, that of those who not lon^ ago were the senior members of this Bar — there was Gov. Baldwin, Gen. Kimberly, and another who was boimd to me by more than professional ties (whom it has pleased God to take before me) — of the four I was the senior of the whole, and yet a merciful God has permitted me to stand here, a sjjared monument. Sir, what an admonition ! This I will say, as I cling to life with the tenacity that human nature, with all its infirmities, does, and unfit as I feel myself to enter the future, yet, Sir, could I feel in my conscience that I had the purity, the spotless in- tegrity, the Christian virtues of this distinguished gentleman who now sleeps in death, much as I dread the future, I would willingly agree now that my poor frame should be this day enclosed in its coflRn. Sir, I will not detain you with further remarks. I could not refrain from saying this much. I might say more, less I could not. I leave these Resolutions, by di- rection of the Bar, with your Honor, and request that they may be entered on the Records of the Court. Judge Seymour briefly expressed his full concurrence in the Resolutions and speeches, and recognized the superiority of Gov. Baldwin as a lawyer and a citizen. He ordered the Resolutions to be placed on record. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 011446 907 5 ^